S Edward Jcfiner as Naturalist. 
53 
animals. He obtained the refusal of all creatures dying in 
the menageries, at the Tower and elsewhere, and even 
bought outright rare living specimens, which he allowed to 
remain upon exhibition on condition that he should receive 
the bodies at their death Sir Everard Home, his brother- 
in-law — and the treacherous executor who after Hunter’s 
death, having his papers confided to him by the Royal Col¬ 
lege of Surgeons, with whom they had been placed by the 
English Government, burned ten folio volumes of most 
valuable mememoranda of his dissections and anatomical 
discoveries, that he might appropriate them as his own — 
states that as often as he made ten guineas by professional 
fees he added something of importance, living or dead, to 
his immense collection. Upon one occasion he borrowed 
five guineas from the King’s bookseller, G. Nichol, to buy 
a dying tiger. He purchased two acres of land at Earl’s 
Court, Kensington, where he fitted up a building with every 
convenience then known for dissection and the preparation 
of skeletons by maceration, or the softening of the muscular 
from the osseous tissues, as well as with cages for living 
animals. In its garden he had a pond where he made ex¬ 
periments on the artificial formation of pearls by oysters. 
He was so fond of studying the habits of bees that he had 
several hives of them in his conservatory. He was most 
interested, however, by the fiercer quadrupeds. Once he 
was thrown down by a bull which Queen Charlotte had 
given him. At another time two of his leopards broke 
loose, but he himself mastered them, though unarmed. 
He made to the Royal Society a communication, with ana¬ 
tomical description, concerning a siren, or fresh-water am¬ 
phibian, from South Carolina. He acquired a favorite 
specimen, the skeleton of O’Byrne, the Irish giant, at a 
cost of ^500. The giant had tried by his will to prevent 
Hunter from obtaining his skeleton, by ordering his coffin 
to be securely sunk in deep water, but Hunter bribed the 
undertaker heavily, and the body was stolen, either on its 
way to the sea or after it had reached its place of anchor- 
