63 JNtKMOIIl OF JOHN HUNTEH. 
liave ncitlier spare nor iiirliiiation to enter into an 
investigation of these cliarges ; liut historical honesty 
required us to mention that they had been advanced ; 
we believe tliera to he untrue ; and having thus no- 
ticed them, we willingly dismiss the subject. 
At the time when the unfortunate accident we 
Itave jtist mentioned occurred, William Hunter was 
caressed by fortune, and abounding in wealth ; John, 
on the other hand, was poor, in these circum- 
stances, William, who had been the liberal patron of 
his brother early and late, may' perhaps have thought 
that he might he allowed to gratify himself in a tride, 
however unceremonious the mode he took of ob- 
tainitig it. But this was by no means in accordance 
with John’s nature. He wouhl not submit to what 
lie considered an insult as well as an injustice, and 
he determineil to resetit it. The affair of the ana- 
tomical discovery before alluded to (p. 31), iti which 
Dr Mackenzie had a part, had now slept for the 
best part of twenty years. In an unhappy hour 
John determined to revive it, and with that view to 
send a full account of the circumstances to the Royal 
Society. Tliis was five years after William had 
published his splendid work, in which only a gene- 
ral acknowledgment was made to his brother. Mi 
Hunter’s communication was accordingly read ; but 
at the next meeting Dr Hunter put in his claim to 
the discovery in question, and John replied. The 
Society manifested its sense of the affair, and its 
consideration for the brothers, by publishing none of 
