480 TI U N 
fiurifice at Briftol Hot-wells, on the 17th of October, in 
the fixty-fecond year of his age. 
The tranllations of foreign works which Dr. Hunter 
pubiifhed, befides his verfion of Lavater, were, 1.-Letters 
of Euler to a German Princefs, on different Subjects in 
Phyflcs and Philofophy, 1795, 2 vols. 8vo. 2. The Stu¬ 
dies of Nature, by James Henry Bernardin de Saint Pierre, 
&'C. 179s, 5 vols. 8vo. 3. A volume of Sermons, from 
the French of Saurin, in continuation of the plan of Mr. 
Rohinfon, 1796, 8vo. 4- Sonnini’s Travels in Upper 
and Lower Egypt, &c. 1799, 3 vols. 8vo. 5. Caltera’s Me¬ 
moirs'of Catharine II. Emprel’s of Ruflia, &c. in 2 vols. 
8vo. Since his death, 2 vols. of Sermons, and other 
mifcellaneous Pieces, have been publilhed from his manu- 
icripts, with a biographical fketch of his life prefixed. 
HUN'TER (William), a moft eminent anatomift and 
phyfician, born in 1718, at Kilbride, in Lanerkfhire. His 
father, John Hunter, deicended from a younger branch 
of the family of Hunter of Hunterftown, lived upon a 
finall eftate which he had purchal’ed in that parifh, and 
which, after the education of a^large family, was the only 
poffeflion remaining- to him at his death. William, the 
leventh child, was lent at the age of fourteen to the uni- 
vcrfity of Glafgovv, as a ftudent of divinity. But liften- 
ing- to a propofal from Mr. Cullen, afterwards the cele¬ 
brated medical profellor, to -become a domeitic pupil of 
medicine with him at Hamilton, he embraced the invita¬ 
tion in 1737 ; and a co-partnerfhip afterwards took place 
between them ; and it was agreed that each of them fliould 
alternately purfue further improvement in lbme medical 
ichool. Hunter, in confequence, repaired to Edinburgh 
in November 174.0, where he attended the winter courie 
of lectures of Dr. Alexander Monro, fen. in anatomy. 
In the fum.mer of 174.1, he arrived in London, with a re¬ 
commendation to Dr. James Douglas, an eminent teacher 
of anatomy, and a pradtitioner in midwifery. Thefavo ar¬ 
able opinion of his talents and character with which he 
infpired Dr. Douglas, produced an invitation from him to 
relide in his family as’an alfiftant in his difledtions, and a 
private tutor to bis only Ion.. This offer was too flatter¬ 
ing to be rejected,. Dr. Cullen readily gave his' afient to 
n change of plan which opened a path to his friend’s ad¬ 
vancement; and Mr. Hunter entered as a pupil at St. 
■George's hofpital, and as 3 djffecting-pupil under the able 
anatomift Dr. Frank Nichols. His generous patron, Dr. 
Douglas, was, however, taken from him by death in 174.2 ; 
nnd Hunter, though continuing to refide in the houfe of 
the widow, found that he was to depend upon his own 
exertions for profeffionul fuccefs. He now pubiifhed a 
paper On the Structure and Difeafes of articulating Car¬ 
tilages, which was printed in the Philofophical Tranfac- 
tions, vol. x]ii. and greatly admired for the novelty and 
ingenuity of its obfervations. It was now his determi¬ 
nation to eftablifh him.felf as an anatomical teacher in 
.London ; and he began bis firft courie of anatomical lec¬ 
tures in 174.6. His commencement was in confequence 
of the dcfire of a fociety of navy-furgeons, laudably bent 
upon profeffional improvement, who had engaged Mr. Sa¬ 
muel Sharpe to deliver to them a courie of ledtures on the 
operations of i’urgery at a private apartment which they 
hired. On Mr. Sharpe’s .declining the office, Mr. Hunter 
was folicited to continue it. In 174.8, he, made.a tour to 
the continent with his pupil yefung Douglas, of which 
the moft remarkable circumftance was his introduction to 
Albinus at Leyden, whole admirable anatomical prepara¬ 
tions augmented his zeal to excel in the art of injection, 
fo eifenml to the progrel's of ,phyfiological fcience. He 
had been received into the corporation of furgeons; but 
he confined his profeifibnal exertions to the, two charac¬ 
ters of an anatomical teacher and a practitioner of mid¬ 
wifery. His progrel’s in parturition was accelerated by 
his being elected furgeon-accoucheur, ririt to the Middle¬ 
sex Hofpital, and afterwards to the Britilh Lying-in Hol- 
pital. The delicacy of his perfon and manner, and the 
perfect propriety of his behaviour, did not a little contri¬ 
bute to hie fuccefs. In 1750, he obtained the degree of 
TEH. 
M. D. from Giafgow ; and, as. his reputation increafed, 
was much confuted as a phyfician. He now quitted the - 
family of Mrs. Douglas, and took a houfe in Jermyn-ftreet. 
So rapidly had Dr. Hunter rifen to profeffional emi¬ 
nence, that in 1762 he eyas confuted in the-pregnancy of 
the queen, and in 1764. was appointed" phylician-extraor- 
dinary to her majefty. For thel’e diftinctions he was in¬ 
debted to his merit alone. He was elected into the Royal 
Society in 1767, and in the next year communicated to 
that body a curious memoir relative to the bones found 
near the Ohio in America, which, principally from the 
ftrudture of the teeth, he proved to have belonged to fome 
large quadruped diftincl from the elephant, to which they 
had been commonly alcribed. This was printed in the 
fifty-eighth volume of the Tran fad! ions ; and he enriched 
the Jixtieth andTixty-firft volumes of the fame collection 
with remarks on foffil bones found at Gibraltar. Tfie 
Society of Antiquaries alfo admitted him as a member ; 
and in 1768, on the inftitution of the Royal Academy of 
Arts, Dr. Hunter was appointed to the profelforlhip of 
anatom}-. This appointment induced him to apply his 
knowledge to thofe parts of the fcience which particularly 
relate to external form, as ftudies for-the painter and 
lculptor; and the novelty and ingenuity of ids obferva¬ 
tions in thel’e points djfplayed the veriatility of his talents. 
After this he was elected a foreign afi'oeiate of the Roval 
Medical Society, and of the ( Royal Academy of Sciences, 
at Paris. ’ 
A profeffional undertaking which had engaged his at¬ 
tention for a number of years, and had colt much labour 
and expence, was brought to a concluilon in 1775. This 
was his Anatomy of the Gravid Uterus, illuftrated in 
thirty-four large plates made from capital drawings of 
lubjedts and preparations, and engraved by the firft mat¬ 
ters. 'This great work, equally eltimable for its accuracy, 
and admirable for its l'plendour, exhibited, in a manner- 
greatly fuperior to any former attempts,, .the principal 
changes occurring during the nine months of pregnancy. 
Some of its delineations were entirely new, and prefented 
dilcoveries of the author’s own. He drew up a detailed 
anatomical defeription of the figures, which he did not 
live to finiffi. It was completed and publilhed by bis 
nephew, Dr. Matfhew Baillie, in 1794., under the title 
of Anatomical Defeription of the Gravid Uterus and its 
Contents. In 1778 he thought it advifable fo give to the 
public his Refledtions on the Sedtion of the Symphylis 
Pubis, a new operation introduced in France, and received 
with the favour ulually attending a hold novelty in that 
country, butabfolutely rejedted from practice by the cooler 
judgment of this. The Two introductory Lectures to Ids 
Anatomical Courie, which he had prepared for the prefs, 
appeared after his death, in quarto, 1785. 
The benefits Dr. Hunter conferred upon his profeffion 
as a writer and lecturer, lurpafled every thing that had 
gone before him'; but he did not flop here. When luc.- 
cefs had placed him in the road to fortune, his firft ob- 
jedt was to accumulate Inch a lum as might lecure to him 
eal’e and independence. His induftry and frugality loon 
accompliihed this purpofe; and his next view was to em¬ 
ploy his fuperfluous wealth in lbme l’cheme of public uti¬ 
lity which' might perpetuate his name with honour. The 
foundation of an anatomical Ichool in the metropolis, 
fuggefted itfelf to him as a delign of tins' kind ; and, about 
1765, he prefented a memorial to the minilter, requelting 
a grant of ground in the King’s Mews, on which he of¬ 
fered to conitrudt an edifice of great expence, and to en¬ 
dow a profelforlhip in perpetuity, both at his own charges. 
The offer was Goldly received ; and Dr. Hunter at length 
purchafed a l'pot of ground in Great Windmill-ltreet, on 
Which lie built a houfe, anatomical theatre, and mufeum; 
and he removed thither in 1770. A very extenfive and 
valuable collection of anatomical preparations,-in which 
no labour or colt was fpared, was firft deposited in his 
mufeum. Befides folfils and other fubjedts of natural biff 
tory, he all'o accumulated a valt treafure of Greek and 
Latin books in the rafeft'editions; to which he added a 
, cabinet. 
