HUNTE R. 
4 81. 
cabinet of ancient medals, progreffively formed at an ex¬ 
pence exceeding twenty thouland pounds. An.eafy ac- 
cefs was always given to perfons who wifhed to view and 
confult his mufeum, and its reputation among foreigners 
reflected honour upon the capital containing it. The 
great intereft he took in it was the caufe of his continu¬ 
ing his profeffi'ohal labours to the laft, notwithftanding 
an impaired ftate of health had given him warnings to re¬ 
tire. But, confidering the habits he had acquired, there 
is little doubt that he confulted his happinefs in adhering 
to his plan of life. He had the' fatisfaftion of feeing part 
of his numifmatical treafures made known to the learned 
world in a publication by his friend Dr. Combe, which 
■was entitled, Nummorum Veterum Populorum (3 Urbiinn qui in 
Mufeo Gulielmi. Hunter a/fervantur Deferiptio Figuris illujtrala. 
Opera & Studio Caroli Combe, S. R. & S. A. Soc. 4-to. 1783. 
His afiiduity as a teacher and practitioner continued 
unabated till March 1783, when an attack of a wandering 
gout, to which he was fubjeCt, obliged him to keep the 
houfe for fome days. An apparent recovery induced him, 
contrary to the advice of his friends, to deliver a leCture; 
but the effort fo much exhaufted him, that he fainted 
away, and a paralytic feizure ffrortly followed. His in¬ 
tellects remained clear, and he furveyed the approach of 
death with fo much tranquillity, that in his laft moments 
he laid to Dr. Combe, “ If I had ftrength to hold a .pen, 
1 would write, how eafy and pleafant a thing it is to die.” 
He expired on March 30th, 1783. No man has fo much 
contributed to the propagation of anatomical knowledge 
in this kingdom, and to the reputation of London as a 
fchool for that fcience. His pupils were extremely nu¬ 
merous, and many of them became eminent teachers. By 
his will he bequeathed his mufeum to his nephew', Mat¬ 
thew Baillie, M. D. for a term of thirty years, with a turn 
for its augmentation, and truftees for the care of it while 
in London. After that period it is to go entire to the 
univerfity of Glafgow. 
HUN'TER (John), a very eminent furgeon, brother 
of the preceding, born in July 1728. As he W’as the 
youngeft child, and his mother’s favourite, and his father, 
through age and indifpofition, was unable to pay much 
attention to him, he was brought up in a courfe of in¬ 
dulgence which proved extremely injurious to his pro- 
grefs in learning. It was late and with great difficulty 
that he was taught to read ; and he acquitted himfelf fo 
ill at the Latin fchool, that he was foon removed from it. 
After his father’s death, he was fent to a brother-in-law, 
who was fettled in Glafgow, as a carpenter and cabinet¬ 
maker. This perfon’s ill fuccefs in bufinefs threw the 
youth again into an unemployed condition; when, hear¬ 
ing of his brother William’s fuccefs in London, he re- 
quefted to be allowed to vifit him, and try whether he 
could not make himfelf ufeful as an anatomical affiftant. 
William accordingly embraced the propofal, and John ar¬ 
rived in London in September, 1748. He foon lhow'ed 
himfelf dexterous at diffeCtion, and was put into a courfe 
of inftruCtion and practice, which could not fail of mak¬ 
ing him an expert anatOmiff. He was far enough advanced 
in the winter of 1749 to undertake the inftruction of the 
differing pupils. In the mean time he was initiating in 
the practice of furgery, firft at Chelfea hofpital, and after¬ 
wards at St. Bartholomew’s. It does not appear with 
what intention he was entered as a gentleman-commoner 
at St. Mary’s-hall, Oxford, in 1733; literary diftinCtion 
feems never to have been his ambition, nor, indeed, within 
his reach. This he probably foon difeovered, for'we find 
no intermiffion of his profefiional purfuits in London. He 
was admitted by his brother to a partnerfhip in his lec¬ 
tures in 1755, and was houle-furgeon at St. George’s hof¬ 
pital in 1756. His labours in diffeCtion and anatomical 
preparation were affiduous almoft beyond example, and 
were of great fervice to his brother’s collection. 
When he had made himfelf complete mailer of human 
anatomy, he began to profecute enquiries into that of 
other animals, particularly for the purgofe of elucidating 
Vol. X. No. 677. 
the vital functions by analogical obfervations. With the 
ardour of an enthufiaft, he profited of every opportunity 
to examine rare animals, and procured from the Tower, 
and from the keepers of wild beafts for (how, the bodies 
of all thofe which died in their cuftody. His exceffive 
application injured his health ; for which realon, in 1760, 
he went abroad as a furgeon on the ftafF, and lerved in 
that capacity at the expedition againft’Beliifte, and in 
Portugal, till 1763. After his return he fettled in Lon¬ 
don as a furgeon, and added to his income by giving 
winter courfes of practical anatomy,- and the operations 
of furgery. He ftill with unabated ardour purfued the 
ftudy of comparative anatomy ; and, for the convenience 
of carrying on experiments, purchased a piece of ground 
at Earl’s-court, Brompton, where he built a houfe.", At 
this place he kept leveral foreign and uncommon animals, 
of whofe manners and habits he was a fcdulous obferver. 
He was elected into the Royal Society in 1767. On his 
brother, Dr. Hunter, removing to Windmill-ftreet, he 
fucceeded him in his houfe in Jermyn-ffreet, in 1768. In 
the lame year he became a member of the corporation of 
furgeons, and in the following year, through his brother's 
intereft, he was eleCted one of the furgeons to St. George’s 
hofpital. His firft publication, On the Natural Hiftory 
of the Teeth, 4to. appeared in 1771. It was iiluftrated 
with excellent plates, and displayed great accuracy of re- 
fearch. His bufinefs increafing with his reputation, he 
concluded, in 1771, a marriage with a lady to whom he 
had been long engaged, the eldeft daughter of Mr. Home, 
a military furgeon. She was a perfon of elegant accom- 
plilhments, and has lately obliged the public with a vo¬ 
lume of poems. His houfe was now' frequented by medi¬ 
cal lludents, who came to finifti their education in Lon¬ 
don, and w'ho were defirous of a relidence in a fituation. 
fo favourable to their improvement. In the winter of 1773, 
he began a Courfe of leCtures on the theory and principles 
of furgery, in which he brought forward many opinions 
peculiar to himfelf, which were the fubjeCt of much dif- 
culfion, and introduced a peculiar language and reafoning 
into the London fchools. He never attained his brother’s 
facility in leCturing, nor did he ever acquire that metho¬ 
dical way of arranging his ideas, and clearnefs in expreff- 
ing them, which are feldom found apart from a regular 
literary education. Little converfarit with books, and 
following the train of his own thoughts, he adopted no¬ 
tions often highly ingenious, but liable to objections 
which he had not confidered. He was, however, a real im¬ 
prover in his profefiion, both in a theoretical ar.d practical 
view; and fome of his experimental attempts have efta- 
blithed new and approved modes of treatment in various 
cafes. His perfeCt knowledge of anatomy rendered him a 
bold and fuccefsful operator, and enabled him to under¬ 
take fome cures which others had pronounced impracti¬ 
cable. His new method of operating for the popliteal an- 
eurifm, by taking up the femoral artery on the anterior 
part of the thigh, is perhaps the molt important of his 
chirurgical improvements. But the fame of John Hunter 
will principally refult from his difeoveries in comparative 
anatomy. This never ceafed to be his favourite employ; 
and he enriched the Philolophical TranlaCtions with many 
papers in this interefting branch of fcience. Three of 
thefe, communicated in one year, procured for him the 
honorary prize of Copley’s gold medal. 
An objeCt which may be regarded as the main bufinefs 
of his life, was the formation of an anatomical mufeum 
upon a plan abfolutely new, and which he brought to a 
perfection that rendered it the admiration of all who were 
capable of judging of its value. It embraced the grand 
defign of expoiing to view the gradations of nature, from 
the molt fimple ftate in which life is found to exift, to the 
raoft perfeCt and complete piece of animal mechanifm, 
that of the human fpecies. The preparations elucidating 
this fyftem were arranged into four claffes, according to 
the functions meant to be explained, and comprifed an 
amazing number of objects taken from the different or- 
6 G ders 
