50 
MEMOIR OF JOHX £IUNTER. 
1)6 literally awanliiig. Mr Hunter's inquiries on tlie 
subject of digestion here came to his aid, and lie in- 
formed tlieni that he did not participate in their sur- 
prise — that the appearance was not new to him — 
and that it arose from tlie peculiar |iropertie8 of the 
gastric juice, which, under certain rare and peculiar 
circumstances, possessed the power of destroying, 
itnmediately after deatli, to a greater or less extent, 
the very organ which liad secreted it. This was not 
only an important fact in general pathology which 
Mr Hunter had ascertained, and which was pre- 
viously unknown, and subsequently denied, but it 
bore, in an important way, on the subject of death 
by poisons, and shortly led to Mr Hunter’s taking 
a prominent part, as a witness, in a case of life and 
deatl), to which we shall presently advert. 
In the early part of 1773, Mr Hunter was the 
subject of a very violent and alarming, though tran- 
sient attack of illness, which came on unexpectedly, 
and apparently in consequence of an affair which 
acutely affected his mind. It exhibited itself under 
the form of an excruciating pain at the pit of the 
stomach. So violent was the pain, that he tried 
every position to procure ease: he sat down, walked, 
laid himself on the carpet, then upon chairs, but 
could find no relief. When he was walking about 
the room, he cast his eyes on a looking-glass, and 
observed his countenance to be pale, his lips white, 
having the appearance of a dead man. This alarm- 
ed him, and led him to feel for his pulse ; but he 
