62 
MEMOIR OF JOHN HUNTER. 
in Jermyn Street, on the terms of other teachers. 
Delivering lectures was always particularly unplea- 
sant to him ; so that his desire of submitting his opi- 
nions to the world, and learning its general estimate 
of them, were scarcely sufficient to overcome his 
natural dislike to public speaking. He never gave 
the first lecture of his course without taking lauda- 
num, to take off the effect of the uneasiness. 
His class was not large, and of those who attended 
iiira, the greater part acknowledged the difficulty 
they had in comprehending him, which was often 
proved by their incapacity of keeping up their atten- 
tion. He seemed quite conscious of the difficulty 
he experienced in making himself understood, and 
yet appeared delighted when he succeeded, always 
waiting at the close of each lecture to answer in- 
quiries, and evincing evident satisfaction when the 
questions put were pertinent, and when he perceived 
that his answers were satisfactory and intelligible. 
He was so diffident of himself, that he trusted 
nothing to memory. He wrote his lectures on de- 
tached pieces of paper, and, such was his confusion, 
that frequently he found himself incapable of ex- 
plaining his opinions from his notes ; and, after ha- 
ving in vain attempted to recall the transitory ideas, 
now no longer floating in his mind, nor obedient to 
his will — after having in vain rubbed his face, and 
shut his eyes, to invite disobedient recollection, he 
would throw the subject by, and take up another. 
Although a great part of the contents of his lectures 
