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 CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 
 
 THE 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
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 FOR THE USE OF 
 
 THE N. Y. STATE VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
 
 1897 
 
Cornell University Library 
 R 489.H9P13 
 
 John Hunter, man of science and surgeon 
 
 3 1924 000 275 705 
 
 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
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The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000275705 
 
m^ASTERS OF mEDICIS^E 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 ERNEST HART, D.C.L. 
 
 '% |!*HOMINES AD DEOS NULUA IN UE r|* 
 
 ■ PROPIUS 'ACCEDUNT QJJAM ' 
 TH^S'ALUTEM HOMINIBUIS DXNDOVH^ 
 
Masters of Medicine 
 
 Title. 
 
 John Hunter 
 William Harvey 
 Edward Jenner . 
 Sir James Simpson 
 Hermann von Helmholtz 
 William Stokes 
 Claude Bernard 
 Sir Benjamin Brodie 
 Thomas Sydenham 
 Vesalius 
 
 Author. 
 Stephen Paget 
 ly Arcy Power 
 Ernest Hart 
 H, La'ing Gordon 
 John G. McKendrick 
 Sir JVilliam Stokes 
 Michael Foster 
 Timothy Holmes 
 y. F, Payne 
 C. Louis Taylor 
 
M 
 
 ASTERS 
 
 OF 
 EDICINE 
 
 JOHN HUNTER 
 
 MAN OF SCIENCE AND SURGEON 
 
.Jy^ jTtiynJ-e^ 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 90an Of Science ann ^utgeon 
 
 (1728— 1793) 
 
 Stephen Paget, M.A., 
 F.R.C.S. 
 
 3^EW rORK 
 LONGMANS, GREEN & CO. 
 
 91 & 93, FIFTH AVENUE 
 i8q8 
 
 k 
 
>iol3a: 
 
 fl3 
 
EDWARDO BURD, M.D. 
 
 SALOPIENSI 
 
 CARISSIMjE CONJUGIS PATRI 
 
 AMICO PATRIS CARISSIMI 
 
 DEDICO 
 
PREFACE 
 
 MISS BAILLIE'S name must come first of those 
 who have helped me. The Baillie manu- 
 scripts, her gift to the Royal College of Surgeons, 
 are of the very highest value, full of facts about 
 Hunter ; and she has allowed me to publish other 
 letters and papers concerning him from her private 
 collection of autographs and records of her family. 
 
 Mr. J. B. Bailey, the late Librarian of the College, 
 collected and gave to the Library a great number of 
 photographs, drawings, newspaper cuttings, &c., re- 
 lating to Hunter. I hope that I have made good 
 use of them. 
 
 I thank Sir William MacCormac, President of the 
 College, for permission to publish some of these letters 
 and records ; Mr. D'Arcy Power, who has most 
 kindly looked over what I have written ; Mr. Charles 
 
 9 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Louis Taylor, assistant editor of this series, and Mr. 
 Hewett, who have helped me in many ways. The 
 praise of John Hunter, and the long list of his 
 achievements, are known to all of us : I have only 
 tried to draw a plain sketch of him as he was seen 
 by the men of his own days. 
 
 London, September, 1897. 
 
 10 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 introduction 1 3 
 
 i. long calderwood, i728-i748 . i9 
 
 ii. the two brothers . . . -44 
 
 iii. london, 1763-177 1. golden square : 
 
 earl's court .... 83 
 
 iv. london, 1 772-1 783. jermyn street . 95 
 
 v. hunter and jenner . . . 121 
 
 vi. london, 1 783-1 793. leicester square 150 
 
 VII. ST. George's hospital . . . -194 
 
 VIII. AVE ATQUE VALE .... 220 
 
 IX. AFTER HUNTER . . " . . . 235 
 
 APPENDIX 261 
 
 (A) The Hunters and the Baillies. 
 
 (B) Chief References. 
 
 II 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 IF we try to find, in Hunter's mental character, 
 the facts to which may be ascribed his great in- 
 fluence in the promotion of medicine and surgery, I 
 think it may justly be assigned to the degree in which 
 he introduced the exercise of the observant scientific 
 mind into the study and practice of surgery. In his own 
 mind the chief attraction to science may be traced in his 
 love of collecting. He collected " everything " — as if 
 by natural disposition and in imitation of his brother 
 William — but I think there is no evidence that he 
 studied any part of his collection except that which 
 became the Hunterian museum. This he studied in 
 its widest range : and thus became — as no one else 
 in his time was — a comparative anatomist and a path- 
 ologist ; and he brought the knowledge of all that he 
 thus acquired into union with his knowledge of medical 
 and surgical practice. , Through him, medicine and 
 surgery came to be practically studied in the light of 
 
 13 B 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 all these sciences. Naturally, he had been brought to 
 the study of them after what may still be considered the 
 best and most perfect system — that of scientific obser- 
 vation : he himself probably regarded it as only natural ; 
 but there is no clear evidence of his being self-studious. 
 
 Till he came to the teaching of other students, 
 Hunter probably never taught himself any of the rules 
 of scientific study : he was one of the kw rare men to 
 whom the love of carefully observing the course of 
 Nature is sufficient for the motives and safe methods 
 of scientific study. 
 
 For he saw the right method, and when he wanted 
 to teach it he told it in words, quoted in Baron's 
 Life of Jenner, "Don't think, try ; be patient, be 
 accurate ; " plain words still useful in the whole 
 range of medicine and of knowledge relating to it. 
 We may believe that in what he read and what he heard 
 in conversation with most of the leading medical men 
 of his time, it was evident that they thought they 
 could make what they believed to be knowledge more 
 nearly complete, and more accurate, by "thinking" 
 over what they already believed they knew to be 
 true and fit to be expressed in "general principles." 
 But the facts were rarely quite true ; the general 
 principles deduced from them were still more rarely 
 true or safe for further guidance. 
 
 Hunter's rule may be well used in the promotion ot 
 all science. It so often seems safe to believe that by 
 careful thinking over the facts already found and even 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 repeatedly tested and confirmed, we may be able to 
 think of others which appear naturally to follow them, 
 and thus, by thinking, to enlarge our knowledge. 
 But the history of science may teach that this is rarely 
 safe ; and that every " thinking " must be " tried " 
 patiently and carefully, by experiment or repeated care- 
 ful observation, before it can be safely accepted as truth. 
 Hunter held by this rule. He did indeed think ; he 
 spent long times in only thinking ; but we may 
 believe that in many of these long times his conclusion 
 was that in thus thinking he was tempting himself to 
 the wrong way, and that, at most, it could only 
 suggest how he should patiently and carefully " try " 
 what he had been led to think. Thus at least we 
 may test his writings, and much of his museum work. 
 The same may be held now ; facts are more numerous, 
 and more nearly fully known ; but few are even now 
 so complete as to be safe for generalising, and so it 
 must yet be for a long time in all the divisions of 
 medical science. The surety of every belief can only 
 be sure after it has been "tried" by experiment or 
 further observation. 
 
 The influence of Hunter may be observed in a com- 
 parison of the progress of medical science and practice 
 in the present and in the last century. It is impossible 
 to tell how much of the change may be due to him ; 
 but the increase of accurate scientific observation, and 
 the reliance on it rather than on theories, are clearly 
 in accordance with his rule of study. And on the 
 
 15 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 whole the amount of good done, as measurable at this 
 time, has been greatest in proportion as it has been 
 done by men working with scientific minds, both 
 observing and thinking. Men have varied in their 
 tendency to careful observation or to mere thinking ; 
 they have varied as have the several individual mental 
 fitnesses or inclinations ; but the general tendency has 
 been to observation, to the accumulation of facts — as 
 in the work of Pasteur and Lister. 
 
 This, then, was Hunter's chief distinction : that his 
 mind was set on science, while his business was 
 practical surgery. He was not, at first, scientific ; he 
 had mere business-teaching in his boyhood and a 
 natural love of collecting ; but, after maturity, he 
 became scientific, and then was made constantly 
 active in science by his continued love of collecting, 
 and by the use of his collection for the advancement 
 of pathology, and by the study of all structures even 
 remotely connected with the specimens in his collec- 
 tion. Thus his mind, given to science, was engaged 
 in practice ; he associated surgery with science, and 
 made them mutually illustrative. Before his time, 
 surgeons had been " empirical " ; and this word had 
 been used not in its real sense of " experimental," but 
 as meaning something discreditable, something not 
 founded on " principles." Yet these " principles " 
 were only thoughts exercised on insufficient facts, 
 gradually but very slowly becoming more nearly sure 
 but hardly applicable from one century to the next. 
 
 i6 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Each mind has its personal incHnation — either 
 toward thinking, or toward observation — and the one 
 should be balanced by the other : that is, the complete 
 scientific mind should be carefully observant, looking 
 into everything, recording or collecting, and then 
 thoughtfully repeating observations and comparing 
 what had seemed most different ; testing the obser- 
 vations in one range of facts by those in all others. 
 
 Therefore Hunter's lesson, — " Don't think, try," — 
 is admirable for all pursuit of science ; a great con- 
 tribution to scientific work, from one who was a 
 surgeon, and most truly a " naturalist." For, in all 
 retrospects of medical practice, where one sees the 
 continued use of modes of treatment now deemed use- 
 less or mischievous — such as long or frequent bleeding, 
 either local or general — there was no want of thinking 
 that these were useful. So with the frequent use 
 of mercury and of purgatives, there were ample 
 "reasons" for these methods of practice; and the 
 reasons seemed so good that observations were really 
 not made. The thinking was clearer than the facts ; 
 the thinking determined the observations, till the facts 
 became too frequent and too hard ; and then, 
 commonly, the real facts were for a time put aside. 
 
 JAMES PAGET. 
 
 17 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Long Calderwood. i 728-1 748. 
 
 "I believe that I was in many ways a naughty boy. . . . The school 
 as a means of education to me was simply a blank," — Darwin, 
 
 WE who write this series of the "Masters or 
 Medicine " must address all readers, and set 
 forth the work of the Masters as physicians and 
 surgeons ; but we cannot offer to everybody an un- 
 reserved account of the processes of disease and their 
 treatment. I will do my best, avoiding this oiFence, 
 to steer clear of the opposite folly of giving a trivial 
 or gossiping account of John Hunter. 
 
 He came of a very old Scotch family, probably 
 of Norman origin, the Hunters of Hunterston in 
 Ayrshire, whose history goes back to the thirteenth 
 century. The old manor-house of Hunterston, with 
 its tower of great antiquity, is still standing ; once a 
 
 19 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 stronghold, now a farm-house. The Hunters of 
 Long Calderwood in Lanarkshire were a younger 
 branch of this family, through Francis Hunter, grand- 
 father of John Hunter. Long Calderwood is a small 
 estate, seven miles from Glasgow, and one mile north 
 of the village of East Kilbride ; with a good stone 
 house, two stories high. Here John Hunter, son of 
 John Hunter, was born on February 13, 1728,1 the 
 last of ten children. Death came again and again to 
 Long Calderwood : of all the brothers and sisters — 
 John, Elizabeth, Andrew, Janet, James, Agnes, 
 William, Dorothea, Isabella, and John — the first three 
 died in childhood, and four others — Janet, James, 
 Agnes, and Isabella — died in the prime of life. 
 
 Of their father, Dr. Matthew Baillie said that he 
 was a man of good understanding, of great integrity, 
 and of an anxious temper. There is a portrait of him 
 in the entrance hall of the Royal College of Surgeons, 
 which was originally drawn in crayons by his son 
 James, and was afterward copied in oils for his son 
 William. Their mother, Agnes, was a daughter of 
 Mr. Paul, a maltster, and treasurer of the City of 
 Glasgow : " a woman of great worth and of consider- 
 able talents." (M. Baillie.) 
 
 ' The parish register says the 13th ; he himself observed the 14th as 
 his birthday, and that is the day of the Hunterian Oration at the Royal 
 College of Surgeons. Probably he was born during the night of the 
 I3th-I4th, and in the room over the kitchen. A report of the 
 house, written in 1867, says that it has not changed since 1728, except 
 that it was then thatched and is now slated, and two rooms downstairs 
 have been thrown into one. 
 
 20 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1 728-1 748 
 
 The home at Long Calderwood could afford only 
 what was most necessary for the children : — 
 
 " Their father, from the expenses of a large family, 
 altho' managed with great frugality, was occasionally 
 obliged to sell portions of his estate. This increased 
 the constitutional anxiety of his mind, and he was 
 often kept awake in the night from thinking upon the 
 difficulties of his situation." 
 
 James, the first son who lived to grow up, died of 
 phthisis when he was twenty-nine years old. He was 
 handsome, clever, and beloved by all of them ; and 
 William Hunter used to say that he was the cleverest 
 of the family, and that if he had lived nothing could 
 have prevented him from being the first physician in 
 London. He was educated to be a Writer to the 
 Signet ; but he gave up law for medicine, and went 
 to London, and began to work at anatomy, living 
 with William ; then broke down with haemorrhage 
 from the lungs, went home in 1743, and died there. 
 
 Janet married a young timber merchant, named 
 Buchanan, who had come from London and settled in 
 business at Glasgow. He was good-looking, un- 
 businesslike, and fond of society ; and there is a 
 further charge against him, that he "joined to his 
 other companionable talents the unfortunate endow- 
 ment of a good voice and a musical ear." Having 
 become bankrupt, he took to teaching music in 
 Glasgow ; " and besides teaching, was appointed 
 Clerk to an Episcopalian Society of Christians. To 
 
 21 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 this day he is recollected by the familiar name of 
 Amen'' (Adams.) Janet died within a year after 
 her marriage, and left no child ; and Buchanan, in his 
 old age, married again. 
 
 Dorothea was more happy in her husband ; she 
 married the Rev. James Baillie, the minister at Hamil- 
 ton, near Kilbride, afterward Doctor of Divinity and 
 Professor of Divinity (November, 1775) at Glasgow. 
 He died in 1778, leaving his wife poor. They had 
 three children, Matthew, Agnes, and Joanna. 
 Matthew became a famous physician in London, a 
 " Master of Medicine " whose name is still honoured. 
 Joanna had the gift of poetry, and was of great renown 
 in her day ; she was " the immortal Joanna," one of 
 Sir Walter Scott's closest friends. Agnes lived to the 
 extreme old age of a hundred years and seven months. 
 
 William was of himself enough to make the name 
 of Hunter for ever memorable. He too was one of 
 the Masters of Medicine. If John did at last sur- 
 pass him, it was William who set him on the way 
 to do it : and until John Hunter went to London, 
 William was the Elder Brother of the parable, and 
 John was the Prodigal Son, in the Kingdom of 
 Science.! 
 
 » And in the little home-kingdom of Long Calderwood there was, we 
 may believe, the same difference between them. See the reminiscences 
 of their niece, Mrs. Joanna Baillie, at the end of this chapter. Note 
 that those children who lived to grow up had pet names— James was 
 Jamie, Dorothea was Dolly, Agnes was Nannie, Isabella was Tibbie, 
 John was Jockie or Johnny at Long Calderwood and Jack in London, 
 William was Willie. 
 
 22 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1 728-1 748 
 
 William was born ten years before John, on May 
 23, 1718. He was diligent at school; and in 1731 
 went with a bursary to Glasgow College for five 
 years. Then he began to read for the ministry, but 
 changed his mind, and made application to be school- 
 master in his native village, and happily failed to get the 
 appointment. Next came his friendship with CuUen, 
 in the days when Cullen had yet to make a name ; and 
 from 1737 to 1740 William lived with him at Hamilton, 
 helping him in the uphill work of a scattered country 
 practice.! " His conversation was remarkably lively 
 and agreeable, and his whole conduct was more strictly 
 and steadily correct than that of any other young per- 
 son I have ever known : " this was Cullen's estimate 
 of him. In 1740, he attended Alexander Monro's 
 lectures at Edinburgh ; in the summer of 1741, he 
 set his face toward London. Here he lived for a short 
 time with Dr. Smellie, of Lanark, who had come to 
 London two years before him, and was laying the 
 foundations of great success, practising as an apothecary 
 and accoucheur, having a shop in Pall Mall. Then he 
 became assistant to Dr. John Douglas, and was 
 resident in his house on the Piazza, Covent Garden ; 
 and entered as a surgeon's pupil at St. George's 
 
 ' " Their principal ambition was to procure the means of improving 
 their medical education and grade ; and in order to further this honour- 
 able object it was stipulated that one of them should be allowed to study 
 during the winter in some medical school, while the other should con- 
 tinue to carry on the business in the country, for the profit of both 
 parties." (" Lives of British Physicians," London, John Murray, 
 1830.) 
 
 23 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Hospital, which was then only seven years old, and 
 as a dissecting pupil under Dr. Frank Nicholls : he 
 also attended lectures on experimental philosophy. 
 Next year, 1742, Dr. Douglas died. William 
 Hunter still lived with the family, and was paying his 
 addresses to Miss Douglas, and acting as tutor and 
 guardian of her brother. In 1743, he contributed his 
 first paper to the Transactions of the Royal Society, 
 " On the Structure and Diseases of Articulating 
 Cartilages." 
 
 There was at this time a society of naval surgeons 
 in London, who met at a house in Covent Garden 
 to hear Samuel Sharpe lecture on the operations of 
 surgery. He gave up the lectures, from ill-health, and 
 increase of practice ; and in 1746 William Hunter 
 took his place, and ad4ed to the course on operative 
 surgery a set of lectures on anatomy. Here is the 
 advertisement of them, from the London Evening 
 Post, of January 9-12, 1748 : — 
 
 On Monday, the 1st of February, at Five in the 
 Afternoon, 
 Will Begin 
 A Course of Anatomical Lectures, 
 To which will be added, the Operations of Surgery, 
 with the Application of Bandages. 
 By William Hunter, Surgeon. 
 Gentlemen may have an Opportunity of learning the 
 Art of Dissecting during the whole Winter Season, in 
 the same manner as at Paris. 
 
 24 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1 728-1 748 
 
 Printed Proposals to be delivered at Mr. Millar's, 
 Bookseller, opposite to the End of Katherine Street in 
 the Strand. 
 
 He made about seventy guineas in fees for his first 
 course : a larger sum of money, he said, than he had 
 ever been master of before ; but the money went to 
 help his friends, and in 1747 he had to put off the 
 lectures for a fortnight, because he could not afford 
 to pay for the advertisement of them. That year 
 (August 6) he was admitted to the Corporation or 
 Surgeons of London : and in 1 748 ' made a tour through 
 Holland to Paris, and on his way visited Albinus at Ley- 
 den. He came back to London in time to prepare his 
 lectures for the winter ; and in September, a fortnight 
 before the course began, John Hunter joined him. 
 
 Their father did not live to see the beginning or 
 their success; he died on December 30, 1741, seventy- 
 eight years old. Their mother died on November 3, 
 1 75 1, aged sixty-six. At the Royal College or 
 Surgeons there is a letter from the father, only three 
 months before his death, to William Hunter : on the 
 question whether he should come home and enter into 
 partnership with Cullen, or stop in London and be 
 assistant to Dr. Douglas. The letter is in James's 
 handwriting, only signed by the father : — 
 
 " Nothing has proved a greater comfort than the 
 
 ' This is the date assigned to the tour by Simmons, on good evidence. 
 William also went to Paris with young John Douglas, soon after Dr. 
 Douglas's death in 1742. See the letters at the end of this chapter. 
 
 25 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 hopes of seeing you here soon ; but your letter has 
 cast a very great damp upon us all. ... I surely must 
 soon expect to be beyond this side of time, considering 
 my age and present indisposition, being for some days 
 past confined to my bed with sickness, and a severe fit 
 of the gravel, and w^ould be glad to have you near me 
 for the little wrhile I shall be in this world ; though at 
 the same time I should be sorry to hinder you from 
 making your way in the world, the best way you can. 
 I wish you to consider well what you do. With Dr. 
 Cullen you may be very comfortably settled, and make 
 money, and if you miss this opportunity now, you can- 
 not be sure of it at another time. Dr. Douglas's kind 
 offer is only for a time. He may die before you come 
 home or are settled, and leave you without friends at 
 a great enough uncertainty. I suppose now you 
 know very well the difference between the expense of 
 living at home and abroad, and that perhaps cloaths and 
 pocket-money may cost you more than your whole 
 expense at home would do. You know my willing- 
 ness to assist you, but you know too, that already I 
 have gone fully as far as my numerous family will 
 allow of. You must now do something for yourself. 
 Consider all these things, and if you can persuade me 
 that it is for your good, I will not be against it." 
 
 The old home at Long Calderwood passed through 
 many hands after the father's death : it came to James, 
 to William, to Matthew Baillie, to John, to his son, 
 and to Matthew Baillie's son, William Hunter Baillie ; 
 
 26 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1728-1748 
 
 to whose daughter, Miss BaiUie, it now belongs. It 
 was Mrs. Joanna Baillie's home for a time ; and it 
 was John Hunter's world till he was seventeen years 
 old. 
 
 Throughout his boyhood he was good at such games 
 as the village afforded to boys, and observant of Nature ; 
 but deficient in self-control, idle, and ignorant — a great 
 disgrace for a Scots boy living within walking distance 
 of Glasgow College, whose father was a gentleman, 
 whose brothers were studying law and medicine. He 
 afterward said of himself: "When I was a boy, I 
 wanted to know all about the clouds and the grasses, 
 and why the leaves changed colour in the autumn ; I 
 watched the ants, bees, birds, tadpoles, and caddis- 
 worms ; I pestered people with questions about what 
 nobody knew or cared anything about." He hated 
 his school-books ; nor did he see the good of learning 
 even at Oxford, in a couple of months that he wasted 
 there long after boyhood was over. " They wanted to 
 make an old woman of me, or that I should stuff Latin 
 and Greek at the University ; but these schemes I 
 cracked like so many vermin as they came before me." 
 
 When he was seventeen, he went for a short time 
 to the Buchanans at Glasgow, and amused himself 
 in the timber-yard, but did not set his hand to 
 anything, and soon returned home. At last, when 
 he was getting on for twenty, he came to himself, and 
 London began calling in his ears, as is her way with 
 all the best men in Scotland. He wrote to William, 
 
 27 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 asking leave to come and work under him ; else he 
 would enlist in the Army. He got a kindly answer, 
 bidding him come and stay. He started at once, 
 riding with Francis Hamilton, a friend of the family ; 
 and in September, 1748, the two brothers joined hands 
 to work together in London. 
 
 From a Letter written by Mrs. yoanna Ba'tllie. 
 
 . . . Dr. William Hunter was the son of John Hunter 
 of Long Calderwood in the parish of Kilbride, this 
 place being a small possession upon which he lived 
 many years, and the only remaining one, of several 
 which he had purchased in or near the same parish, 
 that he died possessed of. 
 
 I mention this, because it has been said by mistake 
 in one of the late published lives of John Hunter, that 
 this small, farm or estate had been in the possession 
 of the family for several generations ; whereas Dr. 
 Hunter's Father, who was the son of a younger son of 
 the family of Hunterston obliged from some domestic 
 unhappiness to leave his home at an early age, had no 
 patrimony of any kind, and the money which enabled 
 the Doctor's Father to purchase lands — which the pres- 
 sure of a large family that he wished to educate 
 liberally obliged him afterwards to sell — arose from his 
 Father marrying a woman who was in those days a 
 pretty considerable heiress. 
 
 28 
 
a 
 
 LONG CALDERWOOD, 1728-1748 
 
 William Hunter, whilst a boy and a young man in 
 (, his Father's house, was of a diligent and careful disposi- 
 tion, indefatigable in making himself master of any- 
 thing that he wished to know, but at the same time 
 having a great relish for everything droll or character- 
 istic, and taking great pleasure in conversing with the 
 country people in the neighbourhood, and amusing 
 himself with their peculiarities, which he had a par- 
 ticular turn for drawing out. He was of principles to 
 be depended upon at all times for doing what is right, 
 affectionate to his family, and ready to lift up his hand 
 in defence of his brothers and sisters, but not of that 
 frank and open disposition which makes those of less 
 steady principles and weaker affections more beloved. 
 
 His elder brother, James Hunter, who died in the 
 twenty-ninth year of his age, a man of the most 
 promising abilities, handsome in his person, and so 
 engaging in his manners that his friends — ^amongst 
 whom were Dr. Smollett and Dr. Cullen — always 
 spoke of him with strong marks of attachment and 
 admiration, being looked upon by his Father as the son 
 most likely to make his way in the world was sent to 
 Edinburgh to be bred to the Law, and intended for a 
 Writer ; whilst William was destined for a quieter pro- 
 fession requiring a less expensive education, and became 
 a student of divinity for the Scotch Kirk. This, how- 
 ever, he quitted after some time, and from motives of 
 conscience, we have good reason to believe, rather 
 than from fickleness. Having a disposition to examine 
 
 29 c 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 thoroughly every subject he wished to be connected 
 with, he read a great deal of theology and Church 
 controversy, and, in consequence of it, imbibed the 
 opinions of Arius, which were probably strengthened 
 by the conversations of a brother of his Mother's, a 
 man of some learning, and strongly attached to those 
 opinions. 
 
 I have asked my Mother whether she remembers any 
 anecdotes of his youth that could throw light upon his 
 character, but if there are any that might have been 
 remembered, they have now escaped from her, and 
 cannot be recovered. In regard to one circumstance 
 her memory is not at all impaired, that he was to her 
 a steady friend and affectionate brother, and to her 
 children a steady and liberal benefactor. She adds 
 that to her certain knowledge, though putting a con- 
 siderable value upon money, and having always before 
 him some object for which he wished to spend it, he 
 not unfrequently accommodated his friends with con- 
 siderable sums, and at one time when he had been 
 rather blamed as not being grateful to the Widow of 
 a Friend to whom he lay under great obligations, it 
 was found after the Lady's death, upon examining her 
 papers, that the accusation was unjust. 
 
 John Hunter was nearly ten years younger than his 
 brother William, and the youngest of a large Family. 
 Being the youngest, and a very great favourite of his 
 Mother, whilst his Father — who was an old man and 
 suffering very much from disease for some years before 
 
 30 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1 728-1748 
 
 his death — could attend to him but little, he was 
 extremely indulged, and so humoursome that he would 
 often, when a pretty big boy, sit for hours together 
 crying when he could not get what he wanted ; and 
 could not be taught to read but with the greatest 
 difficulty, and long after the age when other children 
 read English fluently, and have even made some 
 progress in Latin. However, great as his aversion 
 was to his book, he was by no means considered as a 
 stupid boy; and tho' retaining, long past the age 
 when such things are tolerated, that childish habit of 
 crying, when occasion called upon him he was bold 
 and intrepid, which the following little anecdote will 
 show. 
 
 One night, when he was about twelve years old, 
 having gone to chat a little with some neighbours 
 who lived in a cottage near his Father's house, whilst 
 he was sitting by the fire with two or three country 
 people, a most terrible apparition, with a face resembling 
 the Devil's, opened the door and looked in upon them. 
 The company, which consisted of a woman and two 
 men, believing it really to be what it represented, were 
 petrified with fear and remained immoveable ; but John 
 Hunter — who was, as he confessed afterwards, by no 
 means certain that it was not the Devil — snatched the 
 tongs from the hearth, and attacking the spectre, made 
 it roar with pain and run out of the house. This 
 terrible figure proved to be a man dressed up with a 
 painted mask, which in those days none of the country 
 
 31 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 people would have any idea of ; and so terrible was the 
 face, that amongst the people which he visited that 
 night, going about from one cottage to another, one 
 man fevered immediately, and died of the fright. 
 
 Before his Father's death, he was sent to a Latin 
 school at Kilbride, where his Brothers had been taught 
 with success, but making no progress at all, he was 
 taken away from it. After his Father's death he 
 remained an idle, uneducated Boy upon his Mother's 
 hands, who — though a sensible woman and one who 
 had been herself much better educated than women 
 generally were in those days, being taught Music and 
 other accomplishments not so common then as they 
 are now — had, from her great indulgence, but little 
 influence over him, notwithstanding he was by no 
 means destitute of warm affections. 
 
 Her husband, eldest son, and greater part of the 
 family being now dead, her second son William gone 
 to push his way in London, and the property of the 
 family much reduced by the expenses of education and 
 sickness, &c., she had now to consider what she should 
 do with a lad who showed great neatness of hands and 
 quickness of perception in anything that regarded 
 mechanism, but remained obstinately impenetrable to 
 everything in the form of book-learning. She there- 
 fore, with the advice of her friends, sent him to 
 Glasgow, to be some time with a relation, with whom 
 he continued for a short time. 
 
 32 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1728-1748 
 II. 
 
 From a Letter written by Mrs. Agnes Baillie to her 
 brother. Dr. Matthew Baillie. 
 
 My Mother's family came from an old Family of that 
 name, in Ayrshire, Hunter of Hunterstone ; the Laird 
 from which our immediate Ancestor sprung had been 
 3 times married and had a Family by all his Wives ; 
 our immediate branch came from a second son of the 
 first marriage, so that except the eldest son, who by 
 entail inherited the landed property, all the rest were 
 obliged to shift for themselves. 
 
 My mother's mother was the daughter of Mr. Paul, 
 one of the Baillies of the City of Glasgow ; he was also 
 the Treasurer, and had the superintendence of all the 
 Public Works carried on by the City during his being 
 in Office. 
 
 Your uncle William went to try his fortune 
 in London, with good recommendations ; and Dr. 
 Douglas, who was one of the first medical prac- 
 titioners in London, took him into his family, as an 
 Assistant in his dissection-room and in the surgery. 
 Here he made himself so useful from his skill, and fine 
 hands in operating, and ingratiated himself so much 
 with the family, that Dr. Douglas did not object to 
 his paying his addresses to his daughter Miss Douglas 
 — which marriage never took place, as she died soon 
 after it was agreed upon.^ Dr. Douglas's son, who it 
 
 • " Mrs. Douglas survived her husband till May 5, 1752. Her daughter, 
 
 33 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 would appear was intended for the Medical line, was 
 sent over to Paris for his improvement, for then the 
 French were the best anatomists, from their greater 
 facility in procuring Bodies to dissect, and from their 
 instruments being better — as then they far excelled us 
 in Cutlery, as much as we do them now in both. 
 Young Douglas was very dissipated and would do 
 nothing, so after being in France for some time they 
 returned. 
 
 Your uncle, at his return, set up for himself : his 
 first house was in Covent Garden, his dissection-room 
 behind. Here he very soon was known as the best 
 Anatomist and Accoucheur in London — to the great 
 dislike of the English Surgeons, who could not bear 
 that two Scotch-men should presume to rival them : 
 for another Scotchman, a Dr. Smellie from Lanerk, had 
 settled in London in Wardour-street a few years before, 
 and succeeded very well. Dr. Hunter was the second, 
 and he did still better ; but when his brother John came 
 up — and by his excellent hands and head for dissection — 
 the anger of the English practitioners knew no 
 bounds, and learning that he had been with a Brother- 
 in-Law who was a Carpenter (altho' that was quite 
 untrue) they said he was an ignorant Carpenter — 
 however, that did not hinder him from becoming the 
 first Anatomist of this or any age. 
 
 Martha Jane Douglas, died in 1744, aged 28 ; her son, James Douglas, 
 ruined himself by his indiscretion, and died about the year 1755, aged 30 
 years," (Simmons.) 
 
 34 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1728-1748 
 
 Your uncle William was the first man that ever 
 attended any Queen in the Country — Queen Char- 
 lotte had been attended by a Woman in her first 
 confinement — and these Medical Ladies were well 
 educated for their profession, and were commonly the 
 Daughters of Medical Men or Clergymen's Daughters. 
 
 John Hunter was the youngest son, and his Mother 
 spoiled him. He would do nothing but what he liked, 
 and neither liked to be taught reading nor writing nor 
 any kind of learning, but rambling amongst the woods, 
 braes, &c., looking after Birds'-nests, comparing their 
 eggs — number, size, marks, and other peculiarities : 
 whilst his two elder brothers had both been to College, 
 and got the same education that the sons of country 
 gentlemen then got. 
 
 My Mother's eldest sister Janet was very handsome, 
 and after refusing one of the best matches in Glasgow 
 married Mr. Buchanan, a young handsome Man, with 
 a very good Patrimony, and a branch of an old Family 
 of that name. He had, along with others as partners, 
 a large wood or timber-yard — where seasoned Wood 
 ready for building Houses could always be had, and 
 also, which was the custom of the times, wood of all 
 kinds for making Furniture, Mahogany, Walnut, and 
 other sorts, properly seasoned for making the Furni- 
 ture : for in those days there was no such thing as an 
 Upholsterer. So in the Wood-yard there were Car- 
 penters, of all sorts, for making Tables, Chests of 
 Drawers, Book-cases, according to the taste of their 
 
 35 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Customers : and those old antique Wardrobes, with 
 heavy carved work, now valued as Antiques, were the 
 workmanship of these branches of the trade. 
 
 At his sister's marriage, Johnny, as they called him, 
 being quite unsettled, was sent down to his sister's, 
 to see what could be made of him. So it was natural, 
 as he was very curious and ingenious, when it pleased 
 him, to go frequently into the workshop, amongst the 
 carpenters there, and try his hand, and I daresay he 
 did : but no scrap of paper, or letter, or anything my 
 Mother ever said, gave the least intimation of anything 
 as to his being bred to it. At any rate, he had but a 
 very short time of it — for he went to stay with his 
 sister after the marriage, and she died before the 
 twelvemonth was over — and he returned before her 
 death — so that he was but a very few months with his 
 Brother-in-law, Mr. Buchanan — and was only about 
 seventeen when he went to his brother Dr. William 
 Hunter in London. ... As for Mr. Buchanan, as 
 he spent his fortune in giving dinners, and in going 
 to them — where his very fine voice was an attraction 
 the gentlemen of Glasgow were not accustomed to — 
 his fortune was spent, he became insolvent, and after 
 leading a very various life, sometimes a Precentor in 
 Church singing and giving out the Psalms, and some- 
 times another occupation, he when an old man 
 married a Lady of good family and with a pretty good 
 Fortune. 
 
 36 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1728-1748 
 in. 
 
 From William Hunter to his Mother. 
 
 Dr. Mother, — Jamie and I have both great 
 comfort from your letters, and we hope you'l con- 
 tinue to write often yourself and influence our sisters 
 to follow your example. Jamie approves of your 
 conduct very much, and returns you the inclosed 
 which he has subscribed. If I could have thought 
 that Dr. Douglas' death would have come to your 
 ears so soon, I should have prevented the fears you 
 may have had on this occasion. 'Tis in vain to say 
 that neither Jamie or I are losers by the accident ; 
 but still we are in a very good way. Jamie is just 
 falling upon a way of supporting himself here in 
 London honestly and genteely ; and at last I'm per- 
 swaded will be able to do something honourable to 
 himself and reputable to his relations. Those who 
 have been his friends in Scotland will 'tis hoped in 
 a few years rejoice with him, and if he had any 
 ennimys 'tis to be fear'd that their own hands and 
 a halter will become their onely surviving well-wishers. 
 
 You'l no doubt wish to hear of my affairs, and to 
 satisfy you I'll be a little particular. Tho' Dr. Douglas 
 during his short sickness minded his worldly concerns 
 but little, yet he died not without recommending me 
 warmly to his family. No friends or relations were 
 admitted to see him, his fever being tumultuous and 
 precipitant, and leaving him onely a few intervals of 
 
 37 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 ease or tolerable composure of mind. During the last 
 of these I received orders from him of being in the 
 way, and that he wanted to speak with me as soon as 
 his head was a little settled. But immediately I had 
 another message telling me he was worse and must 
 defer seeing me. This was the night before his death. 
 Early next morning I was call'd at his desire, when 
 he thought himself pretty easy. I went in, he snatch'd 
 my hand, and spoke a few words with too great affec- 
 tion for his giddy disorder. Immediately his fancy 
 wander'd, and tho' he could not talk sensibly, yet he 
 still knew me, and would not let me go out of the 
 room. I sat on his bed till after noon, when he expir'd 
 with his hand locked in mine. At his death I had 
 mournings and a Ring from Mrs. Douglas. Then I 
 was told that on his death-bed he acquainted the 
 family that I should go to Paris, and that I must go. 
 At present I sleep and eat with the young Dr., his 
 son, and in Harvest I go to France with him, if a war 
 does not prevent our intension for one season. I 
 have the happiness of being aggreable to the whole 
 family so far as I can guess by their beheaveour. After 
 I come from Paris I have a scheme laid out of settling 
 here, and certainly nobody can say that it will not 
 succeed. But I'll say no more of projects lest you 
 think me a Castle builder. 
 
 I'm heartily concerned for my little dear sister 
 Tibbie, but I hope the Mare's milk and the Fole 
 together will surely recover her, for you know she 
 
 38 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1728-1748 
 
 likes Foles and Calfs. Tell her she must write me 
 about the White Hamilton Stork, and that Jamie and 
 I will pay her a visit as soon as we have got our 
 pockets full of gold to buy her a country seat, and 
 give her what horses or other things she wants. My 
 Brother and I remember you all with great love. 
 I am 
 
 Dear Mother 
 
 Your Affectionate Son 
 
 William Hunter. 
 London, June 2^ 1742. 
 
 IV. 
 
 From William Hunter to James Hunter. 
 
 zA'ddressed, To Mr fames Hunter, Longcalderwood, 
 To the care of the Post Master of Hamilton, North Britain. 
 
 Dear Jamie, — 'Tis now after dinner, I have a 
 great deal to do, and we take Coach tomorrow by 
 4 in the morning, so you have as little reason to expect 
 a connected Letter, as a short one. ... I have not 
 time for endeavouring to be humorous, tho' I know 
 you have a great Gusto that way ; but faith that is 
 what I make as little progress in as drawing ; I like 
 both and think both easy, but when I attempt either 
 I throw aside my pen or pencill, and snuff as 
 voraciously as James Warnok's Wife would swallow 
 meal, seed and all, out of another person's pock at the 
 
 39 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Mill. But to dispatch, I have just receiveid a Letter 
 from dear Dr. Cullen which gives me a deal of 
 concern, and indeed so much that I wrish it had 
 miscarried. I heartily pity him, and w^ish him all 
 happiness, and am sorry I can neither help nor well 
 advise him ; but pray comfort him. As to yourself, 
 I beg again and again that you will persecute your 
 studies with resolution and never fear the event. I 
 cannot learn why you throw Monro out of your 
 scheme. I really think his a good course, and so fit 
 for you that I would by no means have you neglect 
 it, except you cannot otherwise attend enough to 
 Pharmacy and Surgery which are truly the chief 
 points. As to all my friends in Scotland especially in 
 Longcalderwood and Glasgow, let them know I pray 
 for them and that they ought to pray too for me, and 
 my prosperity in the world ; because I shall always 
 think it the happiness of Riches to support Relations ; 
 not only to assist them, but make them sharers in the 
 greatest prosperity. May God for their sakes second 
 my endeavours ! But to leave oiF writing, tho' I 
 shall never cease thinking of my dear Mother Sisters 
 and Brothers, let me now tell you something of my own 
 aiFairs. ... I have taken leave of all the great men 
 with a deal of satisfaction, and indeed I have the 
 pleasure of thinking that every soul of my acquaint- 
 ance wish me well and would be ready to serve me, at 
 least I have of late had many protestations and some 
 examples of this kind. My dear Jamie you who 
 40 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1728-1748 
 
 know that my duty is to communicate all to you 
 will excuse my freedom and attribute nothing of this 
 to vanity. The kindness that I have met with in this 
 family of late is infinitely more than I deserve and a 
 great deal more than I expected. In your prayers put 
 in a word for good Mrs. Douglas. I need not mention 
 particulars but everything will be to my wish. But 
 as I have now given you my past History I must now 
 let you into my view^s after I come home. I need not 
 tell you that John Douglas died about 2 months agoe, 
 and communicated his knowledge in the cure of 
 venereal disorders to Dr. Owen, who managed all 
 his business in that way during his Illness and has 
 carried it on since his Death for the Widow's benefit. 
 This gentleman you know married Dr. Douglas' 
 Dau"^. As he was not capable for the surgery part, 
 and wanted to be in the country during the summer 
 seasons, he choosed to have a partner. The offer was 
 made me, and after consulting Dr. Armstrong, Mr. 
 Smellie, and my own inclinations, I accepted of it. 
 ... I thought it the only way to settle in my 
 darling London, to give Lectures and be useful to 
 you or Jockie. . . . The proposals are that we keep 
 John Douglas' house, which Dr. Owen is to go into 
 this winter, and I am to succeed him in the Spring 
 when he goes out of Town. The house is to be 
 fitted up with Dr. Owen's own furnishing, so that I 
 shall be at no expenses on that score, and he is to have 
 a footman at his own expense likewise. The house- 
 
 41 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 rent, Taxes, and maid-keeping, which will come to 
 £()0 per An., is to be a common burthen, as are 
 Medicines, &c. On the other hand all the profits are 
 to be equally divided, and if the profits of the first 
 year do not discharge the expenses I am neither to 
 receive nor pay ; so that upon the whole I think I am 
 upon a very good footing. I have no more time and 
 therefore can neither tell you what friends desire to be 
 remembred to you nor what Blessings I send to you 
 all. Once more let me pray for all happiness to the 
 dear family, and then Farewell. 
 
 William Hunter. 
 London, Sept. iph. 
 
 In London, June 22, 1 744, William wrote again to 
 James, giving a long account of the journey to Paris, 
 via Calais, Boulogne, Montreuil, Abbeville, and 
 Amiens ; with a description of Chantilly, the vine- 
 yards, and much beside. "I'm heartily glad to hear 
 that you are in the recruiting way. I wish you all 
 pleasures in your Whey-drinking ; and indeed, from 
 the accounts I have had of these expeditions, I'm per- 
 swaded you will pass time very agreeably. There you 
 will be introduced to my dear Idol Nature, simplex 
 munditiis. There you can with more attention 
 observe the handywork of that Lady's fond father. 
 Every Rock will seem his strong tower, every flower 
 his little fairy mistress. Believe me I could wish to 
 accompany you. ..." 
 
 42 
 
LONG CALDERWOOD, 1728-1748 
 
 These is also, in the College of Surgeons, a letter 
 from James to William (March 24, 1741) giving an 
 account of the death of their sister Nannie (Agnes). 
 She died on Sunday, March 20th. 
 
 ... If you happen to see any print or picture resem- 
 bling her in London, I beg you'll mind to purchase it. 
 ... As Nannie was averse to my going into the 
 Army, at any rate I'll delay it for some time upon her 
 account ; and as she was always fond of my engaging 
 with the painting, I'll humour her and try it. I 
 expect you won't neglect every opportunity of writing, 
 they give incredible pleasure to the whole family, and 
 I am sure you would not willingly let slip any occasion 
 of comforting them at this time. Take care of your 
 health, my dear Willie, forget not to pray to Nannie, 
 imagine you have a Sister in Heaven who is as able I 
 hope as willing to hear and do for her friends here. 
 Farewell. 
 
 I am 
 
 Your dear brother 
 
 James Hunter. 
 
 43 
 
II 
 
 The Two Brothers. 
 
 "Who then are the men in the profession, that would persuade 
 students that a little of Anatomy is enough for a physician, and a little 
 more, too much for a surgeon ? God help them ! They have it not 
 themselves, and are afraid that others should get it." — William 
 HxmxER. 
 
 THOUGH the two Hunters were far apart in 
 temperament, yet we seem always to see them 
 together ; we know they went different ways at the 
 last, but we feel that they followed the same star, up 
 to the day when William Hunter, on his death-bed, 
 had his brother back again at his side, and said, " If I 
 had strength enough to hold a pen, I would write how 
 easy and pleasant a thing it is to die." This chapter is 
 therefore given to some account of their work 
 together, and the later years of the elder brother's life. 
 That they were not of the same temperament is 
 shown by their portraits. Reynolds, ZofFany,i and 
 Pine have presented William Hunter as a fine 
 
 " William Hunter is the chief iigure in Zoffany's picture of the 
 Academicians round the model in the Life-school ; which was exhibited 
 in 1772. The portrait of him, attributed to Zoffany, in the Royal 
 College of Surgeons, is a replica of the Reynolds portrait at Glasgow. 
 
 44 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 gentleman, well dressed, carefully posed. His hands 
 are delicate, his features are regular and remark- 
 ably handsome : in the portrait by Reynolds, 
 his mouth has become thin and very sensitive, his 
 eyes have an air of fatigue, his whole look is 
 sharpened and restless. These pictures are in notable 
 contrast with Robert Home's portrait of John Hunter. 
 Home has painted him in his working dress, a loose 
 dissecting-apron with long sleeves ; the cufFs are 
 turned back, the garment is caught round him any- 
 how with a single button ; his attitude is clumsy, and 
 he seems to be in a hurry to be gone ; his features 
 have none of his brother's good looks, they want 
 fineness ; but the whole face and figure are full of 
 indomitable strength. 
 
 The brothers began work together in Septem- 
 ber, 1748 : about which time William Hunter wrote 
 to Cullen — " I want to tell you many things about 
 colleges, hospitals, professorships, chariots, wives, &c., 
 &c. I'm busy in forming a plan for being an author. 
 In short, my head is full of a thousand things." The 
 winter course was to begin in a fortnight : William 
 set his brother to show his skill at dissection, was 
 delighted with it, and made him assistant in the dis- 
 secting-rooms. That same year William Hunter was 
 appointed physician - accoucheur to the Middlesex 
 Hospital, and, next year, surgeon -accoucheur to the 
 British Lying-in Hospital. Fortune was prepared to 
 favour him, and after her usual fashion, at the expense of 
 
 45 D 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 others, his seniors in the practice of midwifery. Dr. 
 Smellie had the advantage of him in experience, had 
 been lecturing and writing these many years ; but " his 
 person is said to have been coarse, and his manners awk- 
 ward and unpleasing" ; and Fortune had treated William 
 Hunter more generously. Sir Richard Manningham 
 was growing old, and died in 1759 : Dr. Sandys, about 
 the same time, retired from practice. The furious 
 opposition of the midwives to men practising mid- 
 wifery was coming to an end. All was going well 
 with him : in 1750 he graduated Doctor of Physic at 
 his old University ; in 1751 he was admitted to the 
 Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow ; and 
 that summer he went home to Long Calderwood, now 
 by the death of James his own property, saw his 
 mother — she died in November of this year — and 
 visited CuUen ; then came back to London, bade fare- 
 well to the Douglases, and settled in practice at 42, 
 Jermyn Street. 
 
 John Hunter, in these three busy years, 1748 — 1751, 
 was laying the foundations of his power over anatomy, 
 and for his lighter studies was seeing something of the 
 hospital practice of Cheselden and Pott. Already 
 William Hunter had made a man of him, but not yet 
 a gentleman I : John had given himself body and 
 
 ■ " He was fond of company, and mixed much in the society of young 
 men of his own standing, and joined in that sort of dissipation which 
 men at his age, and freed from restraint, are but too apt to indulge in. 
 Nor was he always very nice in the choice of his associates, but some- 
 times sought entertainment in the coarse, broad humour to be found 
 
 46 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 mind to his task in the dissecting-rooms : " he did not 
 work in Anatomy, as is usually done, for a few hours 
 in the day, but was employed in it from the rising to 
 the setting of the sun." When the winter course of 
 1749 began, he was advanced to be demonstrator to 
 the students : thus, only a year after he left home, he 
 held in his hands the honour of the new school. It 
 was but a few years old, a private venture, unendowed, 
 unsupported by any hospital ; but the two young men 
 together drove it on to success : and the younger 
 brother bore the rough work, hobnobbing with the 
 resurrection-men, slaving all day long in unwhole- 
 some air, dissecting, demonstrating, and putting up 
 specimens. This giving of demonstrations is an 
 arduous office, and in Hunter's time it was horribly 
 unwholesome. For example, Jesse Foot wrote in 1 794 : 
 " Within these last ten years, five lecturers in Anatomy 
 are now fresh upon my memory, who have fallen the 
 victims of putrid myasma in the prime of life." 
 
 But the end of the winter session brought change : 
 the lectures and demonstrations ceased for a time,^ and 
 
 amid the lower ranks of society. He was employed by his brother to 
 cater for the dissecting-room, in the course of which employment he 
 became a great favourite with that certainly not too respectable class of 
 persons the resurrection-men ; and one of the amusements in which he 
 took special pleasure, was to mingle with the gods in the shilling gallery, 
 for the purpose of assisting to damn the productions of unhappy authors, 
 an office in which he is said to have displayed peculiar tact and vigour." 
 (Ottley.) 
 
 " " I have always given two courses of lectures every winter, each 
 course lasting about three months. The first, and what is called the 
 Autumn course, is finished before New Year's Day ; and the second, 
 
 47 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 William Hunter set his brother's steps along fresh 
 paths. He obtained leave from Cheselden for John to 
 see something of the practice at Chelsea Hospital. 
 Cheselden was now more than sixty years old ; his 
 name was famous both in England and on the Conti- 
 nent ; his love of art, his courtesy, gentleness, and 
 sympathy made his pupils devoted to him. " John 
 Hunter probably got some practical work entrusted to 
 him — the dressing and bandaging of wounds, and what 
 is called minor surgery. He followed Cheselden in 
 the summers of 1749 and 1750, and to the end of his 
 career ; for the master had an attack of paralysis in 
 1751, and died the year after. Therefore, in 1751, 
 John Hunter became a surgeon's pupil at St. Bartholo- 
 mew's Hospital, where Percivall Pott was rising to 
 that zenith of success whence Cheselden had just 
 declined. He walked the wards, and was present at 
 grave operations : which things a student may do 
 without much profit ; but it was his privilege to go 
 straight from one good master to another, and to 
 see the simplicity of treatment, and avoidance of 
 
 called the Spring course, begins about the 20th of January," (William 
 Hunter.) 
 
 ' " Cheselden's manners were exceedingly kind and gentle, and not- 
 withstanding the extensive practice he had enjoyed, he always, before an 
 operation, felt sick at the thoughts of the pain he was about to inflict. 
 . . , He displayed considerable taste in the fine arts ; he was fond of 
 poetry, and an intimate friend of Pope ; he had also made architecture 
 his study, and it was from his plans that Putney Bridge, and the former 
 Surgeons' Hall in the Old Bailey, were erected." (Ottley.) He was 
 born in 1688, and died April 10, 1752. 
 
 48 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 officious interference, which made Pott so great in 
 surgery. And when the winter of 1751-52 was 
 over, he took a holiday; went home to Long 
 Calderwood — if that can be home where neither 
 father nor mother are still living to meet a man — and 
 brought his sister Dorothea back with him to London. 
 It was in the autumn of this year, 1752, that he made 
 what William Hunter claimed for him as a new dis- 
 covery in anatomy : of this and other discoveries 
 achieved by John during his work in the dissecting- 
 rooms, and of the claims and counter-claims that arose 
 over them, some sort of account is given later in this 
 chapter. 
 
 The year 1753 passed without changing the even 
 course of the life of the brothers together. In 1754 
 John Hunter was now so set on surgery that he must 
 attach himself to some hospital once and for all, in the 
 hope of becoming at last a member of the staiF.^ 
 Early in the year he entered as a surgeon's pupil at St. 
 George's Hospital, within whose walls he was after- 
 ward to serve the hospital as surgeon for twenty-five 
 years. 
 
 In 1755, William Hunter had a further plan to 
 ensure the full success of his brother's life. He per- 
 
 ^ " His prospect of obtaining the situation of surgeon to the Chelsea 
 was too uncertain and too remote to be calculated on ; and at St, 
 Bartholomew's it would have been necessary for him to serve an appren- 
 ticeship of five years to one of the surgeons, which at his age and with 
 his occupations was quite out of the question. Fortunately, no such 
 obstacle offered itself at St. George's.'' (Ottley.) 
 
 49 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 suaded him to go for a time to Oxford ; ' and Mr. 
 D'Arcy Power, whose knowledge of all things 
 relating to John Hunter is unequalled, found not 
 long ago the entry of his name in the matricula- 
 tion list of June 5th — "Johannes Hunter, ex aula 
 Santas maras virginis Arm. Fil." — thus he wrote it 
 himself as a freshman ; his first opportunity in Oxford 
 of showing his contempt for good Latin. Mr. Power 
 believes that he left Oxford after less than two months' 
 residence. Next year he took his name ofF the books ; 
 he had indeed " cracked the scheme." We need not 
 be tragical over the matter ; nor did this failure to see 
 any advantage in Oxford shake William's faith in him. 
 Already, in 1754, the brothers were almost on an 
 equality in the school : John had to give some of the 
 lectures, and to lecture if William should be called 
 away to a patient.^ 
 
 In May, 1756, John Hunter was appointed sole 
 house-surgeon at St. George's Hospital ; but he held 
 this most delightful office for five months only, and 
 resigned it in September.3 We do not know the 
 
 ' He entered at St. Mary's Hall as a gentleman commoner, thus 
 escaping his matriculation examination. He lodged outside the Hall. 
 See Mr. J. B. Bailey's Catalogue of the Exhibition of Hunterian Relics 
 at the Royal College of Surgeons, 1893, 
 
 = Four years later, in 1758, the elder brother proposed that they should 
 enter into partnership ; but this plan was not carried out. 
 
 3 " To my own knowledge I can speak it, that the period of five months' 
 duration at the hospital in the office of house-surgeon is the shortest 
 which can be found in the unerring journals of hospitals. The usual 
 time for the residence of a house-surgeon is generally twelve months, but 
 sometimes it has been extended to two years." (Jesse Foot, 1794.) 
 
 50 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 reason of his resignation, and not even Jesse Foot can 
 find any evidence that it was Hunter's fault. Probably 
 he could not bear to be avi^ay from his work at the 
 school. 
 
 All this time he was only laying the foundations of 
 the vast extent of his real work that was yet to come. 
 Human anatomy was taking its place in his mind as 
 but a part of all anatomy ; he must know the whole 
 animal world, every living structure in it ; must dissect 
 everything, noting all different forms and arrangements 
 of the organs, each method of nature to adapt them to 
 the necessities of life. He was now, in 1757, twenty- 
 nine years old — Darwin's age when he happened to 
 read "Malthus on Population." Thus far Darwin 
 and Hunter, in so many ways alike, went both of 
 them along the same highroad ; here the road divides, 
 at a narrow angle. Hunter went forward from human 
 anatomy to all anatomy and physiology, and from these 
 to medicine and surgery ; from all of them together to 
 profound study of life, alike in health and in disease, in 
 all structures, at all stages. 
 
 Of his work about this time in general anatomy 
 and physiology, Everard Home says : — 
 
 "It was not his intention to make dissections of 
 particular animals, but to institute an inquiry into the 
 various organisations by which the functions of life 
 are performed, that he might thereby acquire some 
 knowledge of general principles. This, I believe, had 
 
 51 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 never been before attempted, or certainly had never 
 been carried far into execution. So eagerly did Mr. 
 Hunter attach himself to comparative anatomy, that 
 he sought by every means in his power the opportunities 
 of prosecuting it with advantage. He applied to the 
 keeper of wild beasts in the Tower for the bodies of 
 those which died there, and he made similar applications 
 to the men who showed wild beasts. He purchased all 
 rare animals which came in his way ; and these, with 
 such others as were presented to him by his friends, he 
 entrusted to the showmen to keep till they died, the 
 better to encourage them to assist him in his labours." 
 
 Ill health compelled him to take for a season some 
 active occupation less unwholesome than demonstration 
 and dissection. In 1759 he had inflammation of the 
 lungs, attributed to overwork in the rooms, and in 
 1760 he was advised to go abroad, "having complaints 
 in his breast, which threatened to be consumptive." 
 He could not neglect this warning, for his brother 
 James had died of consumption ; and in October he 
 was appointed a stafF-surgeon in the army, by Mr. 
 Adair,': then Inspector-General of Hospitals. The 
 appointment gave him change of work, a voyage, and 
 abundance of surgery ; like Ambroise Pare, he began 
 his practice with gunshot wounds. Early in 1761 he 
 
 " Robert Adair, born 171 1, became a member of the Company of 
 Barbers and Surgeons in 1738 ; was with the armyatthe siege of Quebec. 
 Became surgeon to Chelsea Hospital, and Surgeon-General of the Army ; 
 died 1790. 
 
 52 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 went with the fleet under General Hodgson and 
 Commodore Keppel to Belleisle, a small island off the 
 west coast of France, which was captured after a short 
 siege. The next year brought war with Spain, and he 
 was a staff-surgeon on the expedition to protect the 
 frontier of Portugal, then allied with England. With 
 the end of 1762 came peace ; and in May, 1763, he 
 returned to London, took a house in Golden Square, 
 and started practice as a surgeon. He was already 
 thirty-five years old. " He found himself, in point of 
 fortune, better than nothing by his half-pay ; that 
 enabled him to pay his house rent and some other 
 necessaries requisite ever for those who sit down in 
 practice waiting for patients." 
 
 These two years with the army produced the last 
 part of Hunter's magnificent " Treatise on the Blood, 
 Inflammation, and Gunshot Wounds," and some of 
 his physiological observations on digestion, and on the 
 organ of hearing in fishes. The treatise was the final 
 work of his life, written thirty years after he had 
 served at Belleisle and in the Peninsula ; it was in the 
 press when he died, and was published a year later, 
 a quarto of 575 pages. The chapters on gunshot 
 wounds are but a small portion of the book, only 
 forty-five pages altogether. It is plain that he had 
 seen both naval and military warfare : — 
 
 " The effects of cannon-balls on different parts of 
 the ship, either the containing parts, as the hull of the 
 ship itself, or the contained, are the principal causes 
 
 S3 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 of wounds in the sailor ; for a cannon-ball must go 
 through the timbers of the ship before it can do more 
 execution than simply as a ball (which makes it a 
 spent ball), and which splinters the inside of the ship 
 very considerably, and moves other bodies in the ship." 
 
 The observations on the arrest of digestion by hiber- 
 nation, and on the sense of hearing in fishes, are two 
 good examples, out of a vast number, of his simplicity 
 of method, wherever it was possible to be simple : — 
 
 "At Belleisle, in the beginning of the winter 
 1761-62, I conveyed worms and pieces of meat down 
 the throats of lizards when they were going into 
 winter quarters, keeping them afterwards in a cool 
 place. On opening them at different periods I always 
 found the substances, which I had introduced, entire, 
 and free from any alteration : sometimes they were in 
 the stomach ; at other times they had passed into the 
 intestine ; and some of the lizards that were preserved 
 alive voided them towards the spring, with but very 
 little alteration in their structure." . . . 
 
 "In the year 1762, when I was in Portugal, I 
 observed in a nobleman's garden, near Lisbon, a small 
 fish-pond full of different kinds of fish. The bottom 
 was level with the ground, the pond having been made 
 by forming a bank all round, and had a shrubbery close 
 to it. Whilst I lay on the bank observing the fish 
 swimming about, I desired a gentleman who was with 
 me to take a loaded gun and fire it from behind the 
 shrubs. The moment the report was made, the fish 
 
 54 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 seemed to be all of one mind, for they vanished instan- 
 taneously, raising a cloud of mud from the bottom." 
 
 Some letters that he wrote from abroad to his brother 
 are put at the end of this chapter. Jesse Foot, who 
 raked together all the gossip against him, says that he 
 fell foul of his colleagues in the Peninsula.^ 
 
 William Hunter, meanwhile, was hard at work in 
 London. It is said that he never left town, from the 
 time that he went to Long Calderwood in 1751 to 
 the time of his death in 1783 — save to see some 
 patient in the country. He never married, he had no 
 country-house ; he looks, in his portraits, a fastidious 
 fine gentleman ; but he worked till he dropped, and he 
 lectured when he was dying. His school was at its 
 zenith, and he gave his whole mind to it : he stood high 
 above the men of his time for the charm and eloquence 
 of his lectures ; he held two hospital appointments, 
 and his private practice was one of the largest in 
 London. Moreover, he must be doing literary work 
 
 ' " He had scarcely arrived at Portugal, before he excited an uneasiness 
 among the faculty, which their situations had never experienced before. 
 He turned the common intercourses of social good humour into suspicious 
 tauntings of jealousy : he created a faction and a consequent disgust. 
 This brought on an explanation from one who was his senior in the army 
 by ten years ; — from one who had been a faithful follower of the Duke 
 of Cumberland, and had dressed his wounds in battle. He was roused to 
 draw his sword upon John Hunter, which was sheathed without the 
 quarrel being reconciled — for what reconciliation can remove suspicion ? 
 The confirmation of this I am not disposed to doubt, but some there are 
 who may : those I will assist as far as it is in my power by assuring 
 them — that the manly -veteran Ttmkim, of Park Place, is very capable of 
 explaining tie fact," 
 
 55 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 — monographs on matters of pathology — and already, 
 so early as 1751, he had made a beginning of that 
 magnificent Atlas of the " Anatomy of the Gravid 
 Uterus," not published till 1775, which is perhaps the 
 greatest book that has yet been written on this special 
 subject. 
 
 For all this, he found time to proclaim and protect 
 his brother's discoveries in anatomy. ^ In 1 762, the year 
 John was in the Peninsula, William Hunter published 
 his " Medical Commentaries. Part I." : surely one of 
 the strangest books that a physician or a surgeon ever 
 wrote.2 From beginning to end, it is an incessant 
 attack on those who discovered what the brothers also 
 discovered ; every device of italic type, notes of excla- 
 mation, and long quotations, interrogation and inter- 
 jection, heavy sarcasm, charges of stupidity, falsehood, 
 and flagrant theft — all these things make the book, 
 and there is nothing else in it, hardly one line that 
 
 ' " It is certain that Dr. Hunter took every opportunity of acknow- 
 ledging to his audience the obligations he owed to his absent brother. 
 My friend Dr. Cogan, who, happily for all who share his acquaintance, 
 lives to relate transactions of more than half a century past, informs me 
 that in the winter of 1762-3, Dr. Hunter would frequently introduce in 
 his lectures — ' In this I am only my brother's interpreter ' — ' I am 
 simply the demonstrator of this discovery ; it was my brother's.* Dr. 
 Cogan adds, ' The frequency of such expressions naturally inspired all his 
 pupils with admiration of Mr, Hunter's skill in anatomical researches, 
 and of the Doctor's ingenuous conduct.' " (Adams.) 
 
 ° " Medical Commentaries. Part I. Containing a Plain and Direct 
 Answer to Professor Monro, jun.. Interspersed with Remarks on the 
 Structure, Functions, and Diseases of Several Parts of the Human Body. 
 By William Hunter, M.D. London, 1762." Small quarto, 113 pp. 
 With a Supplement, 1764, 33 pp. 
 
 56 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 is quiet. It was the method of controversy fashion- 
 able in his time, full of sound and fury. The points 
 at issue lay between the brothers on the one side, and 
 the Monroes of Edinburgh on the other side ; and 
 to these disputes was added a controversy with Per- 
 civall Pott. The claims and counter-claims must be 
 put here ; but this is not the place to decide, even if 
 it were possible, between the disputants. 
 
 I. The discovery of the lachrymal ducts in man. This 
 was not so much a discovery as a demonstration. It 
 was common knowledge that many animals have 
 them, and it was no new thing to try to find them in 
 the human body. In 1747, during his first course of 
 anatomical lectures, William Hunter succeeded in 
 demonstrating them. Dr. Alexander Monro, junior, 
 gave a similar demonstration of them, at Edinburgh, 
 for the first time, in 1753 ; but when he published an 
 account of it, he made no mention of William Hunter, 
 though he had by that time attended a course of his 
 lectures. "Is it not very singular," says William 
 Hunter, " that he should have made so many disco- 
 veries in the year 1753 at Edinburgh, and that all of 
 them should have been published before that time at 
 my lectures in London ? Is it not pretty plain how 
 he came by them, when we are informed, that every 
 winter there were some students at Edinburgh who 
 had attended my lectures ; and about this very time 
 some of these gentlemen belonged to a society, of 
 which he was a member, instituted by the students for 
 
 57 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 talking and disputing upon medical subjects ? Does it 
 not agree with and support this insinuation, that he 
 published such things as his own, after he had heard 
 them from my mouth before a numerous audience, 
 without doing me the justice of putting my name into 
 a marginal note ? I am resolved to take no further 
 notice of him." 
 
 2. The discovery of the tubuli seminiferi. Here again 
 the question is not of discovery, but of successful 
 demonstration. Wherever there is a duct, there must 
 necessarily be minute sacs or tubules, secretory cavities 
 of some kind, opening into it : the difficulty was to 
 inject mercury into the duct so skilfully that it should 
 fill the tubules and define them without rupturing 
 them. This delicate bit of work was done by the 
 brothers in 1752, and by Dr. Alexander Monro, at 
 Edinburgh, two or three weeks later. William Hunter 
 vehemently asserted that the news of his own success 
 must have reached Monro in some underhand way. 
 Dr. Garrow, a physician practising at Barnet, had 
 been writing to Monro, and must have told him the 
 news ; and Monro must have stolen the discovery. " I 
 wish it were possible to prove that he did not learn it 
 of me at second hand : I wish it for his sake, because 
 it would clear him, and take nothing from me. But 
 considering that letter of Dr. Garrow, and the constant 
 intercourse between the schools of anatomy at London 
 and Edinburgh, the presumption must always be 
 against him." William Hunter got six medical men 
 
 58 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 to write letters, which he published, to prove the exact 
 date at which he showed the injected specimens to his 
 class : he claimed priority as eagerly as if he had 
 discovered the law of gravitation. Dr. Donald Monro 
 answered for his brother, that Haller had done much 
 the same thing at Gottingen in 1751, and had pub- 
 lished it before William Hunter had done it ; and that 
 the name of Hunter was hardly a household word in 
 Edinburgh. " What Dr. Hunter means by saying he 
 published this discovery before my brother, is what 
 I do not comprehend ; if he means by publishing, 
 showing it in his private colleges, he puts a meaning 
 upon the word publishing different from what I under- 
 stand by it ; for I dissected five years for my father, 
 from 1745 to 1750, and had in the winter constantly 
 numbers of the pupils about me, and was intimate with 
 many of them, especially of the English young gentle- 
 men : yet while I remained at Edinburgh, I never 
 could know one thing Dr. Hunter was doing : and 
 since I have been in London, I have not heard more, 
 except some few things relative to the present dispute, 
 and what I heard accidentally from the Doctor himself 
 in private conversation." 
 
 3. The discoveries relating to congenital hernia. In 
 1755, Haller in his " Opuscula Pathologica " suggested 
 that the form of hernia called " congenital " was not 
 an ordinary hernia that had undergone secondary 
 changes, but was due to a persistent embryonic state 
 of the parts concerned in its production. William 
 
 59 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Hunter read Haller's work that same year, and urged 
 his brother to make a whole series of dissections of the 
 parts. This John did during the winter of 1755-56 : 
 and in April, 1756, William Hunter, in the course of 
 his lectures, gave a general account of these observa- 
 tions. A few months later, Percivall Pott published 
 his book on hernia. Though he had not read Haller, 
 he gave much the same account of the embryonic 
 arrangement of the parts, and of congenital hernia ; 
 saying, " This has always appeared to me to be the 
 case." John Hunter went on with his dissections, to 
 such good purpose that William, in the autumn course 
 of 1756, was able to demonstrate the whole matter in 
 a complete series of preparations. Then, in November, 
 Percivall Pott called one morning at Covent Garden, 
 saw John Hunter, and went over the specimens with 
 him. Next March, he published a pamphlet of forty 
 pages on the subject ; in which neither of the brothers 
 was so much as named. It is no wonder that William 
 Hunter was furious. " Mr. Pott called at my lecture- 
 rooms in the morning, because he knew I was there 
 only in the evening. . . . His treatise hardly con- 
 tained one new idea ; it was what any of my pupils 
 might have written, and yet neither my brother's name 
 nor mine was mentioned : I complained of this at my 
 lectures. ... In this production of Mr. P., the 
 doctrine being transplanted from its native soil, and 
 nursed up in the dark, was imperfect ; the pamphlet 
 was a time-serving composition, which was hurried 
 
 60 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 into the world, to snatch the only possible moment 
 for raising reputation. ... I complained of him 
 by name, in the most open manner, in my lecture, to 
 about an hundred gentlemen." Percivall Pott answered 
 that William Hunter had no right thus to abuse him in 
 public to a set of people who could not possibly know 
 anything of the matter ; that he himself had stolen 
 nothing either from Haller or from the Hunters, but 
 had worked the subject out for himself, with one of 
 his dressers at St. Bartholomew's Hospital ; that John 
 Hunter had shown him only one preparation of the 
 parts, and had said nothing about congenital hernia. 
 The brothers answered him, William with angry 
 rhetoric, John with a plain statement of all that he 
 remembered of Percivall Pott's visit to the rooms. It 
 is impossible to determine the rights of the case ; but 
 the dissections that John Hunter made, and his account 
 of them, are work of the very highest order, patient, 
 skilful, and original. 
 
 4. The discovery of the absorbent system. Here was 
 a new truth of vast importance, second only to 
 Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood ; it 
 changed the whole character of medical science and 
 practice. That the lacteals, which carry food-pro- 
 ducts into the blood, were absorbent vessels, men 
 knew already ; but they had not realised that the 
 whole body, every organ and tissue of it, is penetrated, 
 and drained of all excess of fluid, by a special system 
 of interstitial spaces and canals — the lymphatic vessels, 
 
 61 E 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 with their glands — discharging the fluid back into the 
 general circulation. They had believed that this 
 work of absorption was done by the veins, and that 
 the lymphatic canals were connected with the terminal 
 branches of the arterial system. But William Hunter, 
 in the very first course of his anatomical lectures, 
 1746-47, taught the true nature of the absorbent 
 system, and brought arguments and preparations to 
 support his teaching. He spoke with some reserve 
 and uncertainty, his views were not yet confirmed by 
 experiment, and he did not commit himself to print. 
 Still, he taught the new knowledge year after year. 
 In 1752-53, young Alexander Monro, at Edinburgh, 
 after much thought and many experiments, arrived at 
 the same truth, and would have published his results, 
 in his thesis for the M.D. degree of Edinburgh, but 
 they were too lengthy ; so he gave a sort of abstract of 
 them, and a promise of more. The thesis was pub- 
 lished in October, 1755 ; a copy was sent to William 
 Hunter ; then its author came to London, and at- 
 tended William Hunter's lectures, 1755-56; then, in 
 the summer of 1756, he went to Berlin to study, and 
 there, in the beginning of 1757, published a treatise, 
 " De venis lymphaticis valvulosis." " And though he 
 knew," says William Hunter, " from my own mouth, 
 in I the presence of a great number of students, that 
 I had taught the same doctrine, and supported it by 
 the ver'i same arguments several years before, he did 
 not mention my name, not even in a marginal note. 
 
 62 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 . . . Upon inquiry, I found that manuscripts of my 
 lectures were very common among the students at 
 Edinburgh about the time that Professor Monro pre- 
 tends to have made his discoveries. That he should 
 expose himself thus to the world ! That his father 
 should suffer him to do so ! " 
 
 The fierceness of the quarrel was in proportion to 
 the value of the discovery ; all three Monroes, the 
 father and his sons, threw themselves into it against 
 the Hunters. On his way back from Berlin to 
 Edinburgh, the offender called on William Hunter in 
 Jermyn Street to make his peace with him, but did 
 not find him at home. " He called upon me indeed 
 at my house in Jermyn Street, but it was when I was 
 reading my lecture at Covent Garden ; that is, when he 
 was certain I was not at home" 
 
 To prove that he had described the absorbent system 
 before Monro, William Hunter published thirteen 
 letters from old pupils who had attended his lectures ; 
 to prove that Monro had called at his house knowing 
 he was out, he published an affidavit from his own 
 butler. Monro's father replied on the whole case, 
 asserting that his son had stolen nothing from any 
 notes of William Hunter's lectures, but that the latter 
 had stolen what was best in his lectures from young 
 Monro's thesis. Later, in 1758-59, John Hunter 
 made a series of very valuable experiments and dissec- 
 tions, which established the whole truth about the 
 absorbent system ; and he was preparing to carry his 
 
 63 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 work yet further, when his health gave way, and he 
 joined the expedition to Belleisle. 
 
 These famous disputes of the Hunters with the 
 Monroes and with Percivall Pott must not be taken 
 too seriously : it was the fashion of the time to con- 
 duct every controversy, after the example of Dr. 
 Johnson, as though it were a criminal case at the Old 
 Bailey. Yet it is evident that William, more than 
 other men, was proud of his success, irritable, and sus- 
 picious ; that John, less apt for rhetoric, was not less 
 obdurate over facts, or less conscious of his strength ; 
 and that each of them alike would have his rights, and 
 would hold it a point of honour to fight against the 
 least infringement of them. Therefore, since it was 
 neither sentiment nor temperament that bourwi the 
 brothers together, nor anything else but work, they 
 would break the bond between them, so soon as they 
 began to dispute over their work ; and the very 
 vehemence with which they had fought side by side, 
 against men who claimed the discoveries that they had 
 made working side by side, would at last thrust them 
 apart, whenever they should both lay claim to the 
 same discovery. 
 
 For the remainder of this chapter, some short 
 account must be given of the latter half of William 
 Hunter's life, the final estrangement of the brothers, 
 and the death of William Hunter in 1783.' He 
 
 ' "About ten years before his death, his health was so much impaired 
 that, fearing he might soon become unfit for the fatigues of his profession, 
 
 64 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 remained faithful to his " darling London " ; and 
 consoled himself for his loneliness with the fine arts, 
 and with hard work. He made a yearly allowance to 
 his sister Dorothea, after her husband's death in 1778 ; 
 she and her daughters, Joanna and Agnes, had his house 
 for their home ; her son Matthew was treated as his 
 own son. He had the friendship of Reynolds, Gains- 
 borough, Hogarth, Johnson," and all the great men of 
 his time ; he stood well with the King, who appointed 
 him in 1764 Physician Extraordinary to the Queen, 
 and in 1768 Professor of Anatomy to the new Royal 
 Academy 5 and he had an immense practice. He 
 spent his money on science and art ; he gathered for 
 himself, and gave to the nation, that most wonderful 
 art-collection which alone would perpetuate his name : 
 pictures, portraits, engravings, books, manuscripts, 
 coins, and curiosities. There are more than 12,000 
 books, with specimens of almost every press since the 
 introduction of printing ; almost every work in classic 
 
 he began to think of retiring to Scotland. With this view he requested 
 his friends Dr. Cullen and Dr. Baillie to look out for a pleasant estate 
 for him. A considerable one, and such as they thought would be 
 agreeable to him, was offered for sale about that time in the neighbour- 
 hood of Alloa. A description of it was sent to him, and met with his 
 approbation. The price was. agreed on, and the bargain supposed to be 
 concluded. But when the title-deeds of the estate came to be examined 
 by Dr. Hunter's counsel in London, they were found defective, and he 
 was advised not to complete the purchase. After this, he found the 
 expenses of his museum increase so fast that he laid aside all thoughts of 
 retiring from practice." (Simmons). 
 
 ' In the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons, there is a letter 
 from Dr. Johnson to him, thanking him for his promise to present to 
 the King a copy of Dr. Johnson's "Journey to the Hebrides.'' 
 
 65 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 and foreign literature known to exist previous to the 
 sixteenth century. The coins and medals are of 
 incalculable value : a hundred years ago, the trustees 
 of the British Museum offered ^20,000 for only a 
 portion of them. It was one of the finest private 
 collections in the virorld. There are six hundred 
 manuscripts : gems, minerals, corals and shells, speci- 
 mens in natural history and geology.'' 
 
 Nevertheless, neither practice nor art was the ruling 
 passion of his life, but anatomy ; and it is no wonder 
 that men have put him equal with Vesalius. So early 
 as 1765, he offered ^^7,000 to found a central school 
 of anatomy in London ; he would give the money at 
 once, and at some later date his books and specimens : 
 " My library has already cost me between ^^3,000 and 
 jf 4,000 ; and my anatomical museum is of more 
 worth to the public, because they are things that can- 
 not be bought ; " he would build and enrich the. 
 school, if Government would give him a site. His 
 offer was refused. Then, in 1768, he built himself a 
 house, lecturing-theatre, dissecting-rooms, and museum, 
 in Great Windmill Street ; ^ here he worked hard 
 
 ' This magnificent collection, and his anatomical museum, he left to 
 the University of Glasgow. A full account of them is given in Dr. 
 Mather's delightful book, "Two Great Scotsmen," and in Professor 
 Young's "Address on the Hunterian Library." Glasgow, 1897. 
 
 ' " In this building, besides a handsome amphitheatre and other con- 
 venient apartments for lectures and dissections, there was one magnificent 
 room fitted up with great elegance and propriety as a museum." 
 (Simmons.) When the school in Great Windmill Street, long after his 
 death, came to an end, the buildings were at one time used as a restaurant ; 
 
 66 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 till he died, dissecting, lecturing, and collecting speci- 
 mens and preparations. In 1775, he published his 
 Atlas, the work of thirty years. " There was, per- 
 haps, never a book published by any physician, on 
 which longer and severer labour was bestowed." In 
 its preface, he spoke in general terms of the help that 
 his brother had given him — " whose accuracy in ana- 
 tomical researches is so well known that to omit this 
 opportunity of thanking him would be in some 
 measure to disregard the future reputation of the work 
 itself" — but made no mention of any special know- 
 ledge he had learned from him. 
 
 The passion for anatomy that had united the 
 brothers was now to separate them ; yet the blow did 
 not fall, for some reason not known to us, for five 
 years. Then, early in 1780, John Hunter communi- 
 cated to the Royal Society a short paper " On the 
 Structure of the Placenta." Its first paragraph is a 
 direct challenge to his brother, and shows that a dispute 
 had already taken place between them : — 
 
 " The connexion between the mother and foetus in 
 the human subject has, in every age in which science 
 has been cultivated, called forth the attention of the 
 anatomist, the physiologist, and even the philosopher ; 
 but both that connexion, and the structure of the parts 
 
 now, they form the back-part of the Lyric Theatre, and the stage-door is 
 where the bodies used to be taken into the house for dissection. He had 
 thought of living in Whitehall, but gave up this plan in favour of Great 
 Windmill Street. The site that he desired for his Central School was 
 where the National Gallery now stands. 
 
 67 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 which form the connexion, were unknown till about 
 the year 1754. The subject is certainly most interest- 
 ing, and the discovery important ; and it is my 
 intention, in the following pages, to give such an 
 account of it as I hope may be acceptable to the 
 public ; while, at the same time, I establish my own 
 claim to the discovery. But that I may not seem to 
 arrogate to myself more merit than I am entitled to, 
 let me, in justice to another person, relate what 
 follows." 
 
 This other person was not William Hunter, but Dr. 
 Maclcenzie, Dr. Smellie's assistant, who procured and 
 prepared the specimen which John Hunter dissected, 
 in May, 1754. "The examination was made in Dr. 
 Mackenzie's presence, and in the presence of several 
 other gentlemen, whose names I have now forgotten. 
 ... It may be suspected by some (but none I hope 
 to whom I have the pleasure of being known) that I 
 am not doing Dr. Mackenzie justice, and am perhaps 
 suppressing some part of that share of the discovery to 
 which he is entitled. This idea (if ever it should arise) I 
 may probably not be able to remove ; but I hope it 
 will also be seen that I myself have given rise to it ; 
 believing, if I had been so inclined, that I might have 
 suppressed Dr. Mackenzie's name altogether without 
 ever running the hazard of being detected. I was in- 
 deed so tenacious of my claim to the discovery, that I 
 wrote this account in Dr. Mackenzie's lifetime, with 
 a design to publish it ; and often communicated my 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 intentions to Dr. George Fordyce, who I knew was 
 very intimate with the Doctor, in consequence of both 
 teaching in the same place, and making many experi- 
 ments together ; therefore he is a kind of collateral 
 witness, that what I now publish is the same account 
 which I gave in Dr. Mackenzie's lifetime." 
 
 John Hunter goes on to describe how he dissected 
 and demonstrated the preparation : " But the com- 
 pany, prejudiced in favour of former theories, combated 
 my opinion. ... I returned home in the evening, 
 and communicating what I had discovered to my 
 brother. Dr. Hunter, who at first treated it and me 
 with good-humoured raillery ; but on going with me 
 to Dr. Mackenzie's he was soon convinced of the 
 fact. Some of the parts were given to him, which he 
 afterwards showed at his lectures, and probably they 
 still remain in his collection. . . . The facts being 
 now ascertained and universally acknowledged, I con- 
 sider myself as having a just claim to the discovery of 
 the structure of the placenta and its communication 
 with the uterus, together with the use arising from such 
 structure and communication." 
 
 He mentions William Hunter's discovery of the 
 decidua reflexa. He makes allusion to the Atlas, 
 "that very accurate and elaborate work which Dr. 
 Hunter has published on the Gravid Uterus, in which 
 he has minutely described and accurately delineated 
 the parts, without mentioning the mode of discovery." 
 And he quotes some manuscript notes, taken by one 
 
 69 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 of the audience at his brother's lectures in i755-5^> 
 to prove that William Hunter, even then, a year after 
 the discovery of the placental structure, neither spoke 
 of it nor understood the meaning of it. 
 
 Time has not softened the ugliness of this astonish- 
 ing communication to the Royal Society. It was 
 read, but not published in the Transactions. We look 
 for some sort of excuse for it, and find only such 
 gossip as makes it worse — that William Hunter had 
 disapproved, nine years earlier, of John Hunter's 
 marriage ; that they had disputed over the possession 
 of certain anatomical preparations ; that John Hunter's 
 judgment had been weakened by ill-health. We are 
 still left wholly unable to see why he waited twenty- 
 six years, and then, when he was fifty-two years old, 
 raised a storm over a dissection that he had made when 
 he was twenty-six. 
 
 William Hunter forthwith wrote to the Royal 
 Society ; then John wrote. I give the letters at 
 length.^ The Society refused to take up the dispute, 
 
 I.' 
 
 Windmill Street, Feb. 3, 1780. 
 
 Dr. Hunter begs the favour that the Secretary to the Royal Society 
 will read to the Society what follows. 
 
 Mr. Hunter's account of the structure of the human placenta, explaining 
 the connexion and circulation between the mother and fcetus in utero, 
 which was read at the last meeting of the Royal Society, informs us that 
 it was a discovery which he made with Dr. Mackenzie, and that it was 
 not claimed by me. The Society will be sensible that I am reduced to 
 the necessity of taking notice of this mistake, when they are informed of 
 the following facts : 
 
 First. That the doctrine has been many years ago published in printed 
 70 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 or to publish the paper. Three years later, on Sunday, 
 March 30, 1783, William Hunter died, sixty-four 
 years old ; and said, as he was dying, " If I had 
 strength enough to hold a pen, I would write how 
 easy and pleasant a thing it is to die." On Saturday, 
 March 15th, he had taken to his bed, after some 
 days of illness from gout. On Thursday, the 20th, 
 he must give the introductory address of his course of 
 lectures on the operations of surgery ; he would not be 
 advised, gave the lecture, then fainted from exhaustion, 
 and was taken home. On the 22nd, he told Mr. 
 Combe that during the night he had certainly had a 
 paralytic stroke ; and now John Hunter was allowed 
 to do him those services that a paralysed man may 
 need of a surgeon. His mind remained clear ; the last 
 
 books as my discovery, and had been communicated as such by myself. 
 See Baron Haller, for instance, in the second part of the eighth volume 
 (p. 220) of his great Physiology in quarto, printed thirteen or fourteen 
 years ago. 
 
 Secondly. Besides treating of it as my own discovery in my lectures 
 on the subject, I have always done so, for many years past, in the very 
 first lecture of my course, which is the most public of all, because the 
 door is then open to every person whose curiosity prompts him to be 
 present. 
 
 In the third place, occasionally in what I have printed, and in my 
 lectures, I hope I have not overlooked opportunities of doing justice to Mr 
 Hunter's great merits, and of acknowledging that he had been an excel- 
 lent assistant to me in this and in many other pursuits. By doing so, I 
 always felt an inward gratification, shall I call it, or pride ? I have 
 given him all the little anatomical knowledge that I could communicate, 
 and put him into the very best situation that I could, for becoming what 
 this Society has, for some time, known him to be. May it be presumed 
 then that I stand possessed of the discovery in question, till proofs shall be 
 brought to dispossess me ? I shall most willingly submit to the pleasure of 
 
 71 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 words of his life were those that he spoke in praise ot 
 the ease and pleasantness of his death. He did not 
 make his brother his executor, and left nothing to 
 him ; neither money, nor the care of the museum, nor 
 the old home at Long Calderwood. 
 
 From John Hunter to William Hunter. 
 
 Dear Brother, — I wrote to you a good while ago 
 and should have wrote often if anything had hapen'd 
 concerning our affairs here worth writing, we are all 
 here very impatient for Letters ; none have come to 
 this Island these five or six weeks ; but we are here 
 full of news coming round by Guernsey, &c. We 
 talk of going home, and then to go out upon another 
 expedition, viz,, to Martinico, if there is anything in 
 
 the Society ; if they signify an unwillingness that this emulation (shall I 
 call it ?) should go on, I shall acquiesce, and be silent. If curiosity, justice, 
 or the laws and practice of the Society should incline the Council to seek 
 out and determine u|)on the merits, I shall be equally ready to obey their 
 commands. And if it should appear reasonable to them, I would iirst 
 beg to know the grounds of Mr. Hunter's claim, as I am too well 
 acquainted with his abilities not to think that he must be able to support 
 his claim by something that I am ignorant of. And if I should receive 
 that satisfaction, I shall immediately show that I am more tenacious of 
 truth than even of anatomical discoveries. But if that information should 
 not alter my thoughts on the question, I shall show to the satisfaction of 
 the Society, if I can at all judge of my own employments and pursuits, 
 that my pretensions arise out of a long series of observations and experi- 
 ments made with a view to the discovery in question ; that it was not a 
 random conjecture, a lucky thought, or accidental occasion, but a perse- 
 vering pursuit for twelve or thirteen years at least, the progress of which 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 it, I would beg of you to see if I could possibly avoid 
 it, and be put upon some land service as the Sea plays 
 the Devil writh me. I would rather stay here in this 
 place (if a surgeon is to be left with the Troops) than 
 go to the west or east Indies ; but if there was no 
 chance of going to either, I would come home with 
 the forces that comes home ; as I can have it in my 
 power to do either, I'll beg that you'll inquire of Mr. 
 Adair, with my most Humble respects. I don't suppose 
 that a pourvaiour (purveyor) will be left here, as no 
 hospital will be left, but this is only conjecture. Mr. 
 Adair knows these things best. 
 
 I should like to know how anatomy is to go on this 
 
 was always publicly known here, and admits of the most circumstantial 
 proof. 
 
 William Hunter. 
 II. 
 
 To the President of the Royal Society. 
 
 Jermyn Street, Feb. 17, 1780. 
 Sir, — Though I know the constitution of the Society over which you 
 preside too well to suppose that they will give their judgment on any 
 subject, and respect it too much to think it a proper field for waging the 
 war of controversy, I cannot avoid requesting you to lay before that 
 learned body a short answer to the paper given in by my brother, Dr. 
 Hunter ; as silence on my part, after his charge, may be interpreted by my 
 enemies into an acknowledgment that I have intentionally claimed to 
 myself a discovery in reality his due. I am as tenacious as he is of 
 anatomical discovery, and, I flatter myself, as tenacious also of truth. 
 The discovery was made in the manner in which I stated it in my paper. 
 Dr. Mackenzie had injected the subject, and being unable, as I conceived, 
 to explain an appearance which he had found in dissecting it, sent for me. 
 I came to him, and having examined it further, explained the appearance 
 in question, then, for the first time, to my own satisfaction and that of 
 Dr. Mackenzie ; and in the evening of the same day, full of the dis- 
 covery, I came to Dr. Hunter, and brought him with me to Dr. Mac- 
 
 73 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 winter. Let me know how Dr. Pitcairn is and Dr. 
 Makauly, give my Compts. to them. 
 
 I forgot to ask how our sister Doritha and Mr. 
 Baily are. Let me hear from you as soon as you can 
 as perhaps no time is to be lost. 
 
 From your most affectionate Brother 
 
 John Hunter. 
 Belleisle July nth ijbi. 
 
 When you write let your Letter be directed to the 
 care of some person at Plymouth as no letters comes 
 from Portsmouth. 
 
 kenzie, to see and judge of the explanation I had given and Dr. Mackenzie 
 had agreed to. This is my state of the fact upon which I ground my 
 belief of myself being the author of this anatomical discovery ; but as my 
 brother thinks differently, after a period of twenty-five years, I am content 
 to abolish all remembrance of the successions of time in the course of 
 that day, and to suppose that Dr. Mackenzie, Dr. Hunter, and myself 
 inspected the parts together, and made the discovery, by which means the 
 honour of it will be divided into three, one of which I may surely be 
 allowed to take to myself, the other two may appertain to Dr. Mackenzie 
 and Dr. Hunter, if they choose to claim, and be content with them ; 
 though in this division we must make some reserve for the claims of 
 several ingenious young men, at that time pupils, who were with us, and 
 of course entitled to some proportional share in the discovery, though 
 their present situations, settled at a distance from this town, have pre- 
 vented them from getting early notice of this present claim, and of course 
 of making application to the Society for their share. However, I may 
 here declare that if Dr. Hunter will produce to me any claim, which I 
 can allow, of his having discovered this anatomical fact at any period of 
 time prior to this conference at Dr. Mackenzie's, I shall first declare, in 
 excuse for having troubled the Society, that I was not before acquainted 
 with it, and immediately after declare that he is entitled to the sole 
 honour of it, at least in preference to myself. 
 I am. Sir, 
 
 Your much obliged, and most obedient humble Servant, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 74 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 II. 
 
 From yohn Hunter to William Hunter. 
 
 Dear Brother, — I reed, yours, from General 
 Hodgson who has rather been more free ever since, 
 however, he is not burthend with that disposition yet. 
 I was very Glad to hear from you, for here we seem to 
 be a people almost distinct from the rest of the world. 
 I am very much obliged to you for the trouble that 
 you have been at in enquiring after my future steps 
 that I am to take ; and shall still beg your assistance, 
 in letting me know any news that may concern me, 
 with your oppinion of it ; and if you should be so much 
 hurried as not to have time to write I'll beg Mr. 
 Pittegrew to call, to know your mind. My scheme at 
 present is this ; If we are order'd home, and a surgeon 
 is to stay here, I propose staying (if there is any chance 
 of another expedition) and if I do stay, I propose 
 applying for the deputy parveorship (purveyorship), 
 which is ten shillings a day, and if I get that I can 
 give my Prentice a place of five shillings a day, so that 
 I can make it worth my while, this is my present plan. 
 
 I am very much obliged to Col, Mackinzie for his 
 good character, but these things are all blawflum : 
 however it is a sort of acknowledgemint of my services 
 to him. Thank God I have succeeded in everything 
 that I have attempted, but my practice in Gunshot 
 wounds has been in a great Mesure different from all 
 others, so that I have had the eyes of all the surgeons 
 
 75 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 upon me, both on account of my suppos'd knowledge, 
 and method of treatment. My fellow Creatures of the 
 Hospital are a damn'd disagreeable set. The two 
 Heads are as unfit for their employment, as the devil 
 was to reign in Heaven, but more of all this hereafter. 
 I shall be glad of hearing that you have got a good 
 place, and a good assistant for your anatomy, likewise 
 what you have done with Monro. There is a Gentle- 
 man here that attended Douglas at the time of the 
 dispute, and he says that Douglas give it to you in his 
 Lectures, but more so in his privit conversation. I 
 wanted a letter from him on that head, but he declined 
 it, as he had formerly been a Pupil of old Monro's, but 
 if you think that it is a great deal to your purpose, I'll 
 do all I can to get it. Please to give my best respects 
 to Sr. John Haukins' family, to Drs. Pitcairn, Smollet, 
 Pringle, and Macauly. 
 
 From your affectionate Brother 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 Belleisle Septr. 2Sth 1761. 
 
 N.B, — General Hodgeson desired that any letters of 
 mine might come over in his packet. 
 
 III. 
 
 From "John Hunter to William Hunter. 
 
 Dear Brother, — There is nothing here talkd of 
 but Portugal, Mr. Smith our apothecary is appointed 
 as one there ; but no accounts of my going. If I am 
 
 76 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 to leave this place I should like to go there, but should 
 chuse to stay here, if an Hospital was to be keept, as I 
 suppose that I shall loose my ten shilling by going (but 
 that as it may be). I am told that our arreas are to 
 be paid in two months. I wrote some time ago to 
 Mr. Young about it, and now to Mr. Hope. I think 
 that it should amount by that time to a ^i6o for my 
 Prentice and myself. I hear that Dr. Blyth is to go 
 to Portugal, I suppose that Mr. Young goes as 
 Surgeon-General, God help the Hospital when directed 
 by such two. I wonder who will be purveyor, for 
 Young's commission is changed. If you can learn how 
 things are likely to go on, I wish you would write me ; 
 or I'll order Pettigrew to call, in case your time should 
 be taken up, which I dare say is very much the case. 
 I have enclosed a Letter for Mr. Adair, if you think 
 that it is a proper one, you'll be pleased to seal it and 
 send it to him, if not there is no harm done. 
 
 From your most affectionate Brother 
 
 John Hunter. 
 Belleisle, Jpril 12th 1762. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Frofn "John Hunter to William Hunter. 
 
 Dear Brother, — I have read your answer to 
 Monro, I think that it is just the thing that it should 
 be. It would give me great joy to see him read it. 
 I am very much obliged to you for your introduction 
 
 77 ^ 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 of me ; I think my name will live, now that it is 
 joind with yours. Mr. Pettigrew gives me strong 
 hope of your being imployed by the Queen. I think 
 after all that I may come in for something. We are 
 all busie making ready for Portugal but there seems to 
 be no great signs. I'll refer you to Mr. Pettigrew for 
 particulars, with regard to our situation here, I had 
 almost forgot to mention the Medical observations, I 
 think that they are good upon the whole, but that case 
 of Ingham's is shurly a Lie, and I think there is too 
 much Splutter about the coros. Sub. I am vastly 
 pleasd with your second case of the aneurism, it is 
 entirly new to me ; the other papers of yours I in 
 some measure knew before. 
 
 Believe me to be dear Brother your's 
 
 John Hunter. 
 Belleisle, June 6th, 1762. 
 
 V. 
 
 From John Hunter to William Hunter. 
 
 Dear Brother, — When I reed, your Letter at 
 Belleisle informing me that the Secretary at War had 
 promised me the Deputy Directorship, I was in hopes 
 of getting it ; and when I came to Lisbon Mr. Young 
 told me that I was the person. I had no sooner heard 
 this, than Mr. Madox (one of our Surgeons) produces 
 a warrent for the imployment, granted by my Lord 
 Tyrawly 5 and at the same time. Lord Loudoun's 
 
 78 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 promise that he should keep it. Upon enquiry, we 
 were told by the Surgeon that it was only granted 
 conditionaly, viz., if I came from Belleisle it was to 
 have no effect ; which shows that they knew of my 
 being appointed, or approved of. From this declara- 
 tion of the Surgeon's he was led to give up all preten- 
 tions to it, and even to write Lord Loudoun a letter 
 to that eiFect ; when Lord Loudoun was asked what 
 he chused to do, he put us off till he saw Lord 
 Tyrawly, — they met, but this meeting determined 
 nothing : only that the person should be appointed at 
 home by the Secretary at War, and he receive advice 
 of it from thence. 
 
 Now as there has been so many promises of the 
 Surgeon's to give it up, and that my Lord Tyrawly 
 allowed him to do it ; but yet it is never done ; and 
 my Lord Loudoun's leaving it to be done in London ; 
 makes me suspect, that they want to cheat me out of 
 it, because Lord Tyrawly and the Surgeon goes home 
 in the same ship with this Letter and (most likely) will 
 make immediate application to the Secretary at War 
 for a warrant, which will determine it at home. This 
 I suspect to be their drift, and I would therefor dis- 
 apoint them, by being before hand with them. From 
 what has hapen'd in London concerning my being the 
 person, I should suppose that I am look'd upon there 
 as the person that has it. If this is the case, I should 
 look upon it as an easy thing to get a warrant or an 
 acknowledgment from the war office, that I am the 
 
 79 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 person appointed ; now all this must be done before 
 Lord Tyrawly gets to London. If you could have 
 time to wait upon Mr. Tyrwhitt, Deputy Secratory at 
 war, and ask to see Mr. Young's return of those that 
 were to act under him ; and ask at the same time if 
 Mr. Townsand has seen it ; it proves that he approved 
 of me by his not contradicting it, and if he has 
 aproved of it he cannot be against granting a warrant 
 or fixing it for me. From what I can learn. Lord 
 Loudoun would be my friend if he would appear in it. 
 Mr. Young is my stance friend and does everything 
 in his power to serve me. I wish I could get it as 
 it makes a vast difference with me here. I am Dear 
 Brother Your &c., John Hunter. 
 
 Lisbon, July 25 1762. 
 
 Please to direct for me at Mr. Christr. Hake's, mar- 
 chant in Lisbon. You are to show Mr. Young's 
 letter to y* Secratory. 
 
 VI. 
 
 From yohn Hunter to William Hunter. 
 
 Dear Brother, — Nothing could give me more 
 pleasure than seeing your advertisment in the papers, 
 excepting a peace. I expected to have heard from you 
 about my Directorship, therefore have done nothing in 
 it till I should hear from you ; but I am inform'd by 
 the bye that Lord Loudoun must have a Letter from 
 the Secretary at war before he will interfear in it. I 
 
 80 
 
THE TWO BROTHERS 
 
 am now applying for Phisician, if I get that I shall be 
 a Dr. as well as the best of you. I have attended 
 his Lordship in all his marches, and have reason to 
 believe that I am well with him. I should like to 
 read a letter from you. I am Dear Brother Your's 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 PORTALEGRA NoV. l6th. 
 
 VII. 
 
 From William Cullen to William Hunter. 
 
 Edinbr., 2()th Augst., 1776. 
 My dear Friend, — I have wished to have your 
 opinion on many subjects, and if I was near you I 
 should be very troublesome. Your distance has 
 hitherto saved you, but I must now break thro that 
 obstacle. . . You will perceive that I have decided 
 many controversies which you are a much better judge 
 of than I am, and I expect your opinion, without 
 reserve. . . I am this day to pay my last duty to 
 David Hume, and you may believe with great concern. 
 By Dr. Black's nonchalance there has been no dis- 
 section, so that I can tell your brother John nothing 
 more exactly concerning his disease. Believe me to be 
 with great affection. 
 
 My dear Friend, Yours &c., &c., 
 
 William Cullen. 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 VIII. 
 
 From William Cullen to William Hunter. 
 
 Edin., \']th Septr., 1776, 
 ... He (Mr. Hume) was truly an example des 
 grands hommes qui sont marts en plaisantant. Not many- 
 days before his death, a friend found him reading, and 
 upon enquiring what was the book, Mr. Hume told 
 him it was Lucian, and that he had been just reading 
 the dialogue entitled KarairXovQ, in which Megapentes 
 arriving on the banks of the Styx urges many pleas for 
 being allowed to return for some time to the world. 
 Mr. Hume said the fancy had struck him to think 
 what pleas he himself might oiFer upon such an occa- 
 sion. He thought he might say that he had been very 
 busily employed in making his countrymen wiser, and 
 particularly in delivering them from the Christian 
 superstition, but that he had not yet compleated that 
 great work . . . These are a few particulars which 
 may perhaps appear trifling, but to me no particulars 
 seem trifling that relate to so great a man. It is per- 
 haps from trifles that we can best distinguish the 
 tranquillity and chearfulness of the Philosopher at a 
 time when the most part of mankind are under disquiet, 
 anxiety, and sometimes horror. I consider the sacrifice 
 of the Cock as a more certain evidence of the tran- 
 quillity of Socrates than his discourse on Immortality. 
 
 82 
 
III. 
 
 London, 1763-1771. — Golden Square : Earl's 
 Court 
 
 " Well, Lynn, I must go and earn this damned guinea, or I shall be 
 sure to want it to-morrow." 
 
 JOHN HUNTER, when he came back from the 
 Peninsula in 1763, and started practice in Golden 
 Square, was thirty-five, and had thirty years more to 
 live. First came the years of waiting for practice ; that 
 rise from the river of Time like the lean kine in Pha- 
 raoh's dream — " poor and very ill favoured and lean- 
 fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for 
 badness." There were many difficulties in his way. He 
 was only one more surgeon in London, against men of 
 greater experience : and the good things of practice 
 were in the hands of the leaders — Percivall Pott above 
 all : Bromfield and Caesar Hawkins, of St. George's 
 Hospital ; Sharp and Warner, of Guy's Hospital. He 
 had no hospital appointment ; he had already lived 
 twelve years in London, but in all that time had not 
 
 83 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 published one word of writing : then, for two more 
 years, he had disappeared out of England, his place in 
 the school had been filled by Mr. Hewson, and things 
 had gone on well without him. He had not the art 
 of making patients ; and his age was not altogether in 
 his favour, for people would ask what he had been 
 doing all this time. 
 
 Moreover, his passion for scientific work delayed his 
 success as a surgeon ; it dominated the opinions which 
 men had of him, and made him impatient of the 
 common things of practice. To the profession, he 
 was known as a good anatomist, subordinate to his 
 brother ; he had given twelve years to a science which 
 they considered not essential to surgery, still less to 
 medicine ; and had made some original observations, 
 that his brother had lately published in his Medical 
 Commentaries. To the people round Golden Square, 
 he was a zealous student of the human body, who 
 might or might not restore you to health, but would 
 certainly wish to anatomize you if he failed. And to 
 himself, practice appeared subordinate to anatomy and 
 pathology ; and the fees that he made by it must all be 
 spent on scientific work. " To this object was devoted 
 every hour that he could spare from his daily avoca- 
 tions, or snatch from the time allotted by others to 
 sleep . . . To witness an interesting or extraordinary 
 case, he would take any trouble, or go almost any 
 distance, without a chance of pecuniary recompense ; 
 but to the daily routine of practice he always returned 
 
 84 
 
LONDON, 1763-1771 
 
 unwillingly ; and even when he had acquired a 
 lucrative and extensive business, he valued it only 
 as affording him the means of pursuing his favourite 
 studies." And then Ottley quotes that brave saying 
 about the guinea, which is put at the head of this 
 chapter — words Hunter often used, as he laid aside 
 his dissecting instruments, and went out to see a 
 patient. 
 
 " What happened to John Hunter, happens to every 
 surgeon in the beginning ; there was not employment 
 enough furnished by the practical art, to fill up the 
 active hours of the day. . . . He opened a room for 
 dissections, and demonstrated subjects to his pupils : he 
 began to make preparations upon his own account. . . . 
 He had not at this time exacted those rigid severities 
 of temperance to which he was observed to adhere at 
 his latter part of life. John Hunter at this time, and 
 for some time after, was a companionable man : he 
 associated in company, drank his bottle, told his story, 
 and laughed with others." (Jesse Foot.) 
 
 That he might study living animals, both by 
 experiment and by observation of their habits, he 
 must have a foothold outside London ; he found 
 it "about two miles from London, near Brompton, 
 at a place called Earl's Court." Here, in 1764, he 
 bought two acres of land, and built a small house to 
 suit himself. It so expressed his work and character 
 that the accounts of it suggest something endowed 
 with life ; and the news of its demolition, ten years 
 
 85 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 ago, came like the announcement of a man's death. 
 It was not only alive, but highly organised, a most 
 complex or heterogeneous structure ; a farm, a 
 menagerie, an institute of anatomy and physiology, 
 and a villa decorated in the fashion of the period. 
 
 " Nobody of common curiosity could have passed 
 this original cottage w^ithout being obliged to inquire 
 to wrhom it belonged. By observing the back of the 
 house, a law^n was found, stocked with fowls and 
 animals of the strangest selection in nature, as if it had 
 been another repository belonging to Brooks ; and in 
 the front there were to be seen four figures in lead or 
 stone representing Lions, two in a form passant placed 
 upon the parapet, and on the ground two more 
 couchant, guarding the double flight of steps leading to 
 the vestibule. On the sides of the area were seen two 
 pyramidal collections of shells, of a very contracted 
 base, and mean height, each of them seeming to con- 
 ceal a subterraneous entrance to a Golgotha. Over 
 the front door was presented the mouth of a crocodile 
 gaping tremendously wide. Here it was, that he 
 pastured those Buffaloes which he so lately as in 1792 
 put into harness and trotted through the streets of 
 London ; not judging, that he might have been fairly 
 outrivalled by a showman's Dromedary." i . . . 
 
 * This, of course, was written by Jesse Foot ; a year after Hunter 
 died. The Morning Fast of August 30, 1793, only a few weeks before 
 his death, says, " In the gardens of Mr. John Hunter, surgeon, at Earl's 
 Court, are seen buffaloes, rams, and sheep from Turkey, and a shawl- 
 goat from the East Indies, all feeding together in the greatest harmony ; 
 
 86 
 
LONDON, 1763-1771 
 
 At the east end of the grounds, near the gates, was 
 an artificial mound of earth, having an opening in its 
 side, which led into three small vaults or cellars 
 beneath it. On the top of the mound, was a little 
 rampart of bricks and tiles, making a toy fortress of 
 it ; and there is a tradition that a gun was put here, 
 and sometimes fired. This mound was the " Lions' 
 Den " ; here he kept such animals as were most 
 dangerous. In a field facing his sitting-room was a 
 pond, where he kept for experiment his fishes, frogs, 
 leeches, eels, and river-mussels ; and it is said the pond 
 was ornamented with the skulls of animals. The 
 trees dotted about the grounds served him for his 
 studies of the heat of living plants, their movements, 
 and their power of repair. He kept fowls, ducks, 
 geese, pigeons, rabbits, pigs, and made experiments on 
 them ; also opossums, hedgehogs, and rare animals — a 
 jackal, a zebra, an ostrich, buffaloes, even leopards ; 
 also dormice, bats, snakes, and birds of prey. Some- 
 times the large beasts were troublesome, or worse : — 
 
 " The fiercer animals were those to which he was 
 most partial, and he had several of the bull kind from 
 different parts of the world. Among these was a 
 beautiful small bull he had received from the Queen, 
 
 besides a prodigious variety of other beasts and birds supposed to be 
 naturally hostile to each other." Long afterward, in 1886, just before 
 the house was demolished, Dr. Merriman wrote an excellent account of 
 it, with the assistance of Frank Buckland. It has been said that Hunter 
 must have had early success in practice, to aiTbrd the purchase of land at 
 Earl's Court in 1764 ; but it was in the country then, and so late as 
 1775 the house was rated at only ^Qi^ a year. 
 
 87 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 with which he used to wrestle in play, and entertain 
 himself with its exertions in its own defence. In one 
 of these contests the bull overpowered him, and got 
 him down ; and had not one_ of the servants 
 accidentally come by, and frightened the animal 
 away, this frolic would probably have cost him his 
 life." . . . 
 
 " Two leopards, which were kept chained in an 
 outhouse, had broken from their confinement, and got 
 into the yard among some dogs, which they immediately 
 attacked ; the howling this produced alarmed the whole 
 neighbourhood ; Mr. Hunter ran into the yard to see 
 what was the matter, and found one of them getting 
 up the wall to make his escape, the other surrounded 
 by the dogs ; he immediately laid hold of them both, 
 and carried them back to their den ; but as soon as 
 they were secured, and he had time to reflect upon 
 the risk of his own situation, he was so much agitated 
 that he was in danger of fainting." 
 
 All round the house was a covered area or cloister, 
 about six feet below the level of the ground, useful for 
 keeping small animals in cages, and for the rough 
 work of anatomy. The way into this underground 
 area was through a sunken passage, " very dark, and 
 like an enlarged fox's earth," says Buckland, but large 
 enough to admit a small cart or truck ; and the 
 stables were near the entrance of this passage. In 
 them were stalls and kennels for all kinds of animals, 
 tame or wild, that he kept for breeding, and for 
 
LONDON, 1763-1771 
 
 observation of their ways. In the conservatory 
 w^ere several hives of bees, and the wall-fruit in the 
 garden was their sole property. There were also 
 small dens close to the sunken passage : and a room 
 with a large copper boiler for the making of skeletons. 
 
 Thus the house was beset on all sides by strange 
 creatures, and witnessed a vast number of experiments 
 on the living and dissections of the dead. Here he 
 dissected the rorqual, seventeen feet long, mentioned 
 in his " Observations on the Structure and CEconomy 
 of Whales" ; and here, in 1783, he made the skeleton 
 of the Irish Giant : — 
 
 " Byrne, or O'Brien, the famous Irish giant, died 
 in 1783. He had been in a declining state of health 
 for some time previously, and Hunter, anxious to pro- 
 cure his skeleton, set his man Howison to keep watch 
 on his movements, that he might be sure of securing 
 his body at his death. Byrne learned this, and as he 
 had a horror of being dissected, determined to take 
 such precautions as should ensure his not falling into 
 the hands of the doctors ; he accordingly left strict 
 orders that his body should be watched day and night, 
 until a leaden coffin should be made, in which it was 
 to be inclosed, and carried out to sea and sunk. 
 Byrne died soon after, and, in compliance with his 
 directions, the undertaker engaged some men to 
 watch the body alternately. Howison soon learned 
 this, found out the house where these men went to 
 drink when oiF duty, and gave information to Hunter, 
 
 89 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 who forthwith proceeded thither with the view of 
 bribing them to allow the body to be carried oiF. He 
 had an interview with one of the party at the ale- 
 house, and began by offering him fifty pounds if he 
 would allow the body to be kidnapped ; .the man 
 agreed, provided his companions would consent, and 
 went out to consult them. He returned shortly, say- 
 ing that they must have a hundred pounds. Hunter 
 consented to this, and thought the affair settled ; but 
 the men finding him so eager, soon came back with 
 an increased demand, which was also agreed to ; when 
 further difficulties were found, and larger and larger 
 demands made, until, it is said, they raised the price to 
 five hundred pounds ! The money was borrowed to 
 pay them ; and in the dead of night the body was 
 removed in a hackney-coach, and after having been 
 carried through several streets was transferred to 
 Hunter's own carriage, and conveyed immediately to 
 Earl's Court. Fearing lest a discovery should take 
 place. Hunter did not choose to risk the delay which 
 the ordinary mode of preparing a skeleton would 
 require ; accordingly, the body was cut to pieces, and 
 the flesh separated by boiling ; hence has arisen the 
 brown colour of the bones, which in all other respects 
 form a magnificent skeleton." ^ 
 
 Earl's Court House, thus set in the midst of 
 wonders, was at first a plain square brick house ; later, 
 
 ' This is the account given by Ottley ; a somewhat different version 
 is given by Tom Taylor, on the authority of Clift. 
 
 90 
 
LONDON, 1763-1771 
 
 it grew with the growth of Hunter's work there. His 
 study was on the ground floor, looking over the garden 
 toward the Lions' Den ; the drawing-room, or morn- 
 ing-room, was also on the ground floor, opening into a 
 conservatory. The best bedroom, on the first floor, 
 was well decorated ; " the panels were enriched with 
 drawings representing Cupid and Psyche, finished in 
 water-colours with true classic chastity by a near rela- 
 tion of Mrs. Hunter, a gentleman who had studied in 
 the Italian school. Each compartment was bordered 
 with a circular ornament, which concealed the nails 
 by which it was attached to the wall, that the whole 
 might be readily removed when the house was deserted 
 for the winter season." ^ 
 
 We do not know how long Hunter had to wait for 
 a fair amount of practice ; and probably he did not 
 care. Home says that his income, for the first eleven 
 years of his practice, 1 763-1 774, never amounted to a 
 thousand pounds ; and that he always purchased some 
 addition to his collection so soon as he had saved ten 
 guineas in fees. But the years 1767 and 1768 brought 
 with them some reward for him : first, as a man of 
 science, then, as a surgeon. 
 
 In February, 1767, when he was now thirty-nine 
 years old, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal 
 Society, though he had not yet submitted to the 
 
 ' Faulkner's " History of Kensington," 1820. 
 91 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Society any of his work, except an appendix to a 
 paper contributed, a few months before, by Mr. Ellis. 
 It is strange that he should have received this honour 
 ten years earlier than his brother : perhaps J:he publi- 
 cation of William Hunter's " Medical Commentaries " 
 had given offence. This same year was marked by an 
 event very different from his election to the Royal 
 Society ; he ruptured his Achilles tendon, and that by 
 dancing : — 
 
 "I believe fracture of this tendon often happens 
 when a person is fatigued and off his guard, as after 
 dancing, &c., and after the muscles have acted spon- 
 taneously, as in the cramp ; at least it happened to me 
 after dancing, and after a violent fit of the cramp." 
 
 He refused to keep his bed, and got about on the 
 third day, keeping his heel raised, his knee straight, and 
 his leg bandaged ; and in this fashion he afterward 
 treated other cases like his own. He also made experi- 
 ments on dogs, dividing the tendon subcutaneously, 
 killing the dogs at different periods afterward, and 
 examining the repaired tendons ; thus foreshadowing 
 Stromeyer's work in subcutaneous surgery. 
 
 On the 9th of December, 1768, on the resignation 
 of Mr. Gataker, John Hunter was elected one of the 
 surgeons to St. George's Hospital, by 114 votes, against 
 his opponent Mr. Bayford, who received 42 votes. 
 He was at this time forty years old, and he had before 
 him twenty-five years yet to come. His election to 
 St. George's Hospital was of infinite value to him. It 
 
 92 
 
LONDON, 1 763-1 77 1 
 
 has been said that a surgeon without a hospital is like 
 a gardener without a garden. Now at last Hunter 
 had got his garden, and he made it bear fruit a hundred- 
 fold. As his brother once said, " Were I to place a 
 man of proper talents in the most direct road for 
 becoming truly great in his profession, I would choose 
 a good practical anatomist, and put him into a large 
 hospital, to attend the sick, and dissect the dead." 
 
 One of the benefits that this appointment brought 
 to John Hunter, was the right to have " house-pupils." 
 They were bound to him for one or more years of 
 teaching and of training ; they paid a fee of jf 100 per 
 annum, and received from him not only education, but 
 also board and lodging. Among his house-pupils — 
 Mr. John Kingston, Mr. Guy of Chichester, Dr. 
 Physick of Philadelphia, and others — one of the first 
 of all, and the most famous of all, was Edward Jenner. 
 
 Soon after his appointment to St. George's Hospital 
 he was made a member of the Corporation of Surgeons ; 
 and in the years 1 768-1 771 he published his first book, 
 moved house, and was married.'' 
 
 His book, the first part of the "Treatise on the 
 
 ' From John Hunter to William Hunter. 
 
 Dear Brother, — To-morrow morning at eight o'clock and at St. 
 James'a Church I enter into the Holy State of Matrimony. As that is 
 a ceremony which you are not particularly fond of, I will not make a 
 point of having your company there. I propose going out of Town for 
 a few days ; when I come to Town I shall call upon you. Married or 
 not married, ever yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 Jermyn Street, Saturday E-vcning. 
 
 93 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Natural History of the Human Teeth," was published 
 in May, 1771, two months before his marriage, and 
 tradition says that he spent the profits of it on the 
 expenses of the wedding. It was the only one of his 
 writings that he sold to the booksellers ; the rest were 
 all published on his own account, or contained in the 
 Transactions of different Societies ; and it was translated 
 into Dutch (Dordrecht, 1773) and Latin (Leipzig, 
 
 1775)- 
 
 In 1768, when William Hunter moved house from 
 Jermyn Street to Great Windmill Street, John 
 Hunter took over the lease of the house in Jermyn 
 Street, and moved into it from Golden Square.^ It 
 was a wise move, into a good house, in a fashionable 
 part of London, near the hospital, and already known 
 to everyoody as a doctor's house. Henceforth the 
 resident pupils would have no need to complain ot 
 their lodging ; as for their board, Hunter might be 
 somewhat forgetful. But he did not marry Miss 
 Anne Home to get a housekeeper, for they had been 
 engaged many years. 
 
 " The exact date of his moving house is not known ; but we know 
 that William Hunter's address was Jermyn Street in 1767, and Great 
 Windmill Street in 1768. 
 
 94 
 
IV 
 
 London i 772-1 783. — ^Jermyn Street 
 
 " That the blood has life is an opinion I have stated for above thirty 
 years, and have taught it for near twenty of that time in my lectures. 
 . . . Organisation and life do not depend in the least upon each other : 
 organisation may arise out of living parts, and produce action ; but life 
 never can arise out of, or depend on, organisation." 
 
 MRS. HUNTER was the elder daughter of Mr. 
 Robert Boyne Home, surgeon to Burgoyne's 
 Regiment of Light Horse, afterward of Greenlaw 
 Castle, Berwickshire, and of Mary, daughter of Colonel 
 Hutchinson. Even Jesse Foot found no fault in her. 
 Ottley, fourteen years after her death, wrote : " She was 
 an agreeable, clever, and handsome woman, a little of a 
 has bleu, and rather fond of gay society, a taste which 
 occasionally interfered with her husband's more philo- 
 sophic pursuits." But he must have said this for the 
 sake of leading up to the well-known story about 
 him : — 
 
 " On returning home late one evening, after a hard 
 day's fag. Hunter unexpectedly found his drawing- 
 room filled with musical professors, connoisseurs, and 
 other idlers, whom Mrs. Hunter had assembled. He 
 
 95 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 was greatly irritated, and walking straight into the 
 room, addressed the astonished guests pretty much in 
 the following strain : ' I knew nothing of this kick-up, 
 and I ought to have been informed of it beforehand ; 
 but as I am now returned home to study, I hope the 
 present company will retire.' This intimation was of 
 course speedily followed by an exeunt omnes," 
 
 Her name occurs many times in Hunter's letters to 
 Jenner. " Mrs. Hunter and I were at Bath the other 
 day ; we wished much we could have staid a day, to 
 have waited on you. . . . Mrs. H. desires her compli- 
 ments to you. . . . Anny sends her compliments, and 
 thanks you for all favours. . . . Anny sends, with little 
 John, their compliments." There are two portraits 
 of her, many years apart, in Miss Baillie's possession ; 
 they give evidence that in her old age she lost neither 
 her wit nor her beauty ; and her husband's letter at 
 the end of this chapter, and the reminiscences of her 
 grand-niece at the end of Chap. VI., show that Ottley 
 had a wrong idea of her. They also suggest that 
 Hunter, between thirty and forty, conquered the 
 roughness, ignorance, and isolation of his earlier life, 
 or she would not have accepted him and waited for 
 years for him. 
 
 She was twenty-nine when she married John Hunter 
 (July, 1771), and he was forty-three. Their first child 
 was born in June, 1772, and was named after his father. 
 They had another son, James, who died in infancy ; a 
 daughter, Mary Ann, who died young ; and another 
 
 96 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 daughter, Agnes. John went to Cambridge, and then 
 into the army, and became a Colonel ; he left no 
 children. Agnes, who like her mother was beautiful 
 and clever, married Captain Campbell, afterward Sir 
 James Campbell ; after his death she married Colonel 
 Charleywood. She had no children by either marriage. 
 At the time of their fether's death, John had lately left 
 Cambridge, and Agnes was between seventeen and 
 eighteen years old. 
 
 When Hunter was at the zenith of his life, Mrs. 
 Hunter was something more than the reflection of his 
 light; she shone of herself; took her place high in 
 society ; was the friend of other clever and famous 
 women — Madame D'Arblay, Mrs. Montagu. She 
 wrote " My mother bids me bind my hair," which lives 
 for ever in the setting that Haydn gave it,i and in 
 her widowhood she published a volume of poems, and 
 composed an epitaph, eleven years after Hunter's 
 death, for a memorial tablet to him in St. Martin's- 
 in-the-Fields : — 
 
 Here rests in awful silence, cold and still, 
 
 One whom no common sparks of genius lirec] ; 
 
 Whose reach of thought Nature alone could fill. 
 Whose deep research the love of Truth inspired. 
 
 Hunter ! if years of toil and watchful care, 
 
 If the vast labours of a pow erful mind 
 To soothe the ills humanity must share, 
 
 Deserve the grateful plaudits of mankind — 
 
 ' She also wrote the words for Haydn's " Creation.'' The rough draft 
 of them, and a manuscript volume of her poems, are in the possession of 
 Miss Baillie. 
 
 97 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Then be each human weakness buried here 
 Envy would raise to dim a name so bright : 
 
 Those species which in the orb of day appear 
 
 Take nothing from his warm and welcome light. 
 
 The colossal weight of Hunter's work, his over- 
 whelming energy, then the slow ruin of his health, 
 and the abiding fear of his death — these things ran up 
 the price she paid for the honour of being his wife. 
 In her widowhood, she became companion to two 
 young ladies with fortunes, wards of Dr. Maxwell 
 Garthshore, a kindly old gentleman, whom Hunter 
 had been used to treat with good-natured contempt : — 
 
 " Dr. Garthshore was quite a physician of the old 
 school, always well dressed and exceedingly polite, and 
 a great favourite with the dowagers. He was intimate 
 with John Hunter, who did not, however, treat him 
 with much courtesy. One day the doctor, on entering 
 the dissecting-room where Hunter was at work, began 
 as usual, with great empressement, ' My d-e-a-r John 
 Hunter.' 'My dear Tom Fool,' replied Hunter, 
 looking up and imitating the tone and manner of the 
 astonished doctor.' " (Ottley.) 
 
 " One morning, finding Mr. Hunter very busy in 
 his Collection, Dr. Garthshore observed, 'Ah, John, 
 you are always at work ! ' 'I am,' replied Mr. Hunter, 
 ' and when I am dead, you will not soon meet with 
 another John Hunter.'" (Adams.) 
 
 Turned for a time from John Hunter's wife to Dr. 
 Garthshore's young ladies' companion, " in the receipt 
 
 98 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 of a very handsome salary," and afterward living in a 
 small house in Lower Grosvenor Street, first with her 
 sister, finally alone,i Anne Hunter wore through 
 twenty-seven years of widowhood, and died on 
 January 7, 1821, seventy-nine years old. She kept 
 her wit and her beauty to the end of her days ; and 
 the Hunterian Orator of 1821 paid to her memory 
 this heavy compliment — that " she had sustained an 
 honourable widowhood, estimable for talents of her own, 
 and venerable as the relict of her illustrious husband." 
 
 In 1772, Mrs. Hunter's young brother, Everard 
 Home, makes his first appearance on the scene ; and 
 for the part he played in and after Hunter's life, he 
 must here introduce himself in his own words : — 
 
 " While Mr. Hunter was paying his addresses to my 
 sister. Miss Home, I was a boy at Westminster School. 
 During the holidays I came home, and Mr. Hunter, 
 who was frequently there, always showed me particular 
 kindness ; he made my father an offer to bring me up 
 to his profession, a proposal which I readily accepted. 
 I was struck with the novelty and extent of his 
 researches, had the highest respect and admiration for 
 his talents, and was ambitious to tread the paths of 
 science under so able a master. It is a tribute 
 which I owe to his memory to declare that an 
 intimate knowledge of him for one-and-twenty years 
 
 ' Ottley appears to be wrong in saying she was companion to the young 
 ladies till her death (see Mrs. Milligan's Reminiscences, chap. vi.). 
 
 99 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 ( 1 772-1 793) has increased my admiration of his un- 
 common exertions, and my respect for his abilities. 
 
 "After finishing my education at Westminster School 
 as a king's scholar, and being elected off to Trinity 
 College, Cambridge, I found that no advantages which 
 I could have derived from a scholarship in the University 
 could compensate for the time I must have given up in 
 keeping my terms, to the disadvantage of my chirurgical 
 education ; I therefore thought it prudent to forego my 
 claims upon the University as a king's scholar, and 
 instead of going dow^n to Cambridge, though elected, 
 went immediately to Mr. Hunter. 
 
 "At this time his private practice and his professional 
 character were advancing very fast, and his family had 
 begun to increase, but still no small part of his time 
 was devoted to his collection, which, as it daily became 
 larger, was also attended with greater expence. The 
 whole suite of the best rooms in his house was occupied 
 by his preparations ; and he dedicated his mornings 
 from sunrise to eight o'clock (the hour for breakfast) 
 entirely to his pursuits. To these he added such parts of 
 the day as were not engaged in attending his patients." 
 There is something v/rong with these cool sentences, 
 written so soon after Hunter's death. For the present, 
 young Home was set to his work, and learned the 
 dissection and putting-up of specimens ; and was told, 
 he who had foregone his claims on a University, that 
 his fingers were all thumbs, and that he would never 
 have sense enough to tie down a bottle, 
 100 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 Next year, 1773, John Hunter suffered his first 
 attack of angina pectoris : — 
 
 " I had the gout in my feet three springs successively, 
 and missed it the fourth. In the fifth spring, one day 
 at ten o'clock in the forenoon, I was attacked suddenly 
 with a pain nearly about the pylorus ; it was a pain 
 peculiar to those parts, and became so violent that I 
 tried every position to relieve myself, but could get no 
 ease. I then took a teaspoonful of tincture of rhubarb, 
 with thirty drops of laudanum, but still found no 
 relief. As I was walking about the room, I cast my 
 eyes on a looking-glass, and observed my countenance 
 pale, my lips white, and I had the appearance of a dead 
 man looking at himself This alarmed me. I could 
 feel no pulse in either arm. The pain still continuing, 
 I began to think it very serious. I found myself at 
 times not breathing ; and being afraid of death soon 
 taking place if I did not breathe, I produced a volun- 
 tary action of breathing, working my lungs by the 
 power of my will. I continued in this state three- 
 quarters of an hour, when the pain lessened, the pulse 
 was felt, and involuntary breathing began to take 
 place. During this state I took madeira, brandy, 
 ginger, and other warm things ; but I believe nothing 
 did any good, as the return of health was very gradual. 
 About two o'clock I was able to go about my business. 
 
 " Here, then, was a suspension of the most material 
 involuntary actions, so much so that the involuntary 
 action of breathing stopped, while sensation and all the 
 voluntary actions were as strong as before. 
 
 loi 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 " Quaere, what would have been the consequence if 
 I had not breathed ? At the time, it struck me that I 
 should have died ; but that most probably would not 
 have been the consequence, because, most probably, 
 breathing is only necessary for the blood when it is 
 circulating ; but as there was no circulation going on, 
 so no good could have arisen from breathing." 
 
 He remained free till 1776 from further attacks; 
 and for several years after 1776 he had long intervals 
 of freedom ; but at last he came to be in pain every 
 day. It will be best not to write out his case here, 
 but to note its phases as they occurred : rememberirtg 
 that he was exposed by his life and temperament to 
 the utmost heaviness of the disease. 
 
 This same year, 1773, he gave the first course of 
 his lectures on the Principles of Surgery : thus he 
 extended his work in the autumn, as it were in answer 
 to the challenge Death had thrown him in the spring. 
 Here is the advertisement of them : — 
 
 " On Monday Evening, the ^th of October^ at Seven 
 o'clock^ Mr. John Hunter will begin, at No. 28, in 
 the Hay-market, a Course of Lectures on the Prin- 
 ciples and Practice of Surgery, in which will be 
 introduced so much of the Animal Oeconomy as 
 may be necessary to illustrate the Principles of those 
 Diseases which are the Object of Surgery. This 
 course will be continued on Mondays, Wednesdays, 
 and Fridays, through the whole Winter, at the Hour 
 above mentioned. Proposals may be seen, and Tickets 
 102 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 will be delivered, in Jermyn-Street, No Person will 
 be admitted to the first Lecture without a Ticket for 
 the Course." 
 
 The labour of preparing and delivering these mag- 
 nificent lectures was very heavy ; there was nothing 
 like them in London, for their comprehension of the 
 whole circle of the sciences round surgery. The 
 European Magazine of 1782 says, "This very cele- 
 brated Course consists of near an hundred Lectures. 
 It begins in the month of October, and continues till 
 April, and is given every other evening, from seven 
 to eight o'clock, the honorarium being four guineas. 
 Thus the lectures cost his hearers tenpence apiece for 
 each lecture. What did they cost Hunter ? We have 
 Home, Abernethy, and Cline to answer this question : — 
 
 " Giving lectures was always particularly unpleasant 
 to him : so that the desire of submitting his opinions 
 to the world, and learning their general estimation, 
 was scarcely sufficient to overcome his natural dislike 
 to speaking in public. He never gave the first lecture 
 of his course without taking thirty drops of laudanum 
 to take off the effects of his uneasiness. He was so 
 diffident of himself that he trusted nothing to memory, 
 and made me draw up a short abstract of each lecture, 
 which he read on the following evening as a recapitu- 
 lation, to connect the subject in the minds of the 
 students." ( Home. ) 
 
 " I was acquainted with Mr. Hunter at a period of 
 his life when he must have greatly interested any one 
 103 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 who duly appreciated the results of his talents and 
 labours, or who had any sympathy for the highly 
 susceptible mind of genius, rendered still more so by 
 excess of exertion, and the perturbed feelings incident 
 to bodily disease. He seemed to me conscious of his 
 own desert, of the insufficiency and uncertainty of his 
 acquirements, and of his own inability readily to 
 communicate what he knew and thought. He felt 
 irritated by the opposition he had met with . . . ' I 
 know, I know,' said he, ' I am but a pigmy in know- 
 ledge, yet I feel as a giant, when compared with these 
 men.' " (Abernethy.) 
 
 "When only twenty-four years of age, I had the 
 happiness of hearing the first course of lectures which 
 John Hunter delivered. I had been at that time for 
 some years in the profession, and was tolerably well 
 acquainted with the opinions held by the surgeons 
 most distinguished for their talent then residing in the 
 metropolis ; but having heard Mr. Hunter's lectures 
 on the subject of disease, I found him so far superior 
 to anything I had conceived or heard before, that there 
 seemed no comparison between the great mind of the 
 man who delivered them, and all the individuals, 
 whether ancient or modern, who had gone before 
 him." (Cline.) 
 
 Tenpence apiece for lectures thus wrung out of 
 
 Hunter's life was not excessive ; yet Jesse Foot called 
 
 at Jermyn Street, asked for a syllabus, found he could 
 
 get nothing for nothing, and declined paying anything ; 
 
 104 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 and wrote, so soon as Hunter was dead, " Instead of 
 lecturing at the hospital, free of expense to its pupils, 
 as was done by Pott, and of openly imparting his 
 system to those who were desirous of increasing the 
 stock of surgical knowledge, Mr. Hunter could by 
 lecturing at home ^ shut out every one capable of 
 comparing his dogmas with established doctrines, 
 infuse without contradiction his principles into the 
 minds of his pupils, and take their money into the 
 bargain." 
 
 The first two courses of lectures were given, free of 
 all payment, to the pupils of St. George's Hospital 
 and a few of Hunter's friends. The dissecting-room 
 at Jermyn Street was open to those who attended the 
 lectures : preparations from the museum were shown at 
 each lecture, and at the end of it questions were asked 
 and answered. The lectures were not a compulsory 
 part of medical education ; at some of the courses he 
 had fifty men listening to him ; later, in 1786, he had 
 only twelve. The immeasurable extent of his thoughts 
 over-strained the attention of these young men. The 
 Principles of Surgery were not practice, but embry- 
 ology, physiology, and animal chemistry ; the pro- 
 perties of matter, the vital principle, the life of the 
 blood. He himself was not at ease : he read his 
 manuscript, keeping his eyes upon it, and having 
 recourse to rough notes to correct the text. He loved 
 
 " In 1779, the lectures were given at 28, Haymarket ; in 1783, at 
 Hunter's house in CastLe Street. 
 
 105 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 to sacrifice the outward form of his teaching, that he 
 might be for ever improving the substance of it : — 
 
 "To Astley Cooper, w^ho asked with surprise whe- 
 ther he had not, the year before, stated an opinion on 
 some point directly at variance with one he had just put 
 forth, he replied ' Very likely I did : I hope I grow 
 wiser every year,' and to the same purport he an- 
 swered another of his pupils, who asked whether he 
 had not written so-and-so, ' Never ask me what I have 
 said, or what I have written ; but if you will ask me 
 what my present opinions are, I will tell you.' Occa- 
 sionally too he would say to any of the pupils whom 
 he saw taking notes, ' You had better not write down 
 that observation, for very likely I shall think differ- 
 ently next year ' : and on one occasion, after lecturing 
 for a considerable time, he stopped short, raised his 
 spectacles, and said, ' Gentlemen, I think you had 
 better omit what I have been saying : the fact is, I 
 had an idea when I wrote down this, but I have lost 
 the train of thought connected with it, and I cannot 
 now recall it.' This was a difliculty he not unfre- 
 quently experienced.'" (Ottley.) 
 
 Certain phrases, which were no more than meta- 
 phors, he overburdened with meaning, if by any 
 method he could describe life : such were sympathy, 
 affinity, the irritation of imperfection, the stimulus of 
 death, the blood's consciousness of its being a useful 
 part of the body, the consent of the fluids with the 
 solids, the stimulus of nature, the stimulus of necessity 
 1 06 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 for coagulation of the blood. A curious instance of this 
 abuse of words occurs in his account of the absorption 
 of diseased or superfluous tissues within the body : — 
 
 "The remote cause of absorption of whole and 
 living parts implies the existence of two conditions, 
 the first of which is a consciousness, in the parts to 
 be absorbed, of the unfitness or impossibility of re- 
 maining under such circumstances, whatever they 
 may be, and therefore they become ready for removal, 
 and submit to it with ease. The second is a con- 
 sciousness, of the absorbents, of such a state of the 
 parts. Both these concurring, they have nothing to 
 do but to fall to the work. Now the part that is 
 to be absorbed is alive, it must feel its own inefKcacy 
 and admit of absorption. The vessels must have the 
 stimulus of imperfection of this part, as if they were 
 sensible that this part were unfit ; and therefore take 
 it up. There must be a sensation in both parts. 
 When the part to be absorbed is a dead part, then 
 the whole disposition is in the absorbents." 
 
 But his genius m^de him practical in the things ot 
 practice. It was the same John Hunter who said to 
 Cline, " I love to think," who wrote to Jenner, " But 
 why think ? Why not try the experiment ? " When 
 he came to lecture on this or that disease or injury, the 
 diagnosis and treatment of it, he was plain-spoken, full 
 of hard common sense, a rough critic, fond of a good 
 anecdote. Sometimes he quoted cases from his private 
 practice : " This kind of fracture happened to the 
 107 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. . . . When the Duke of 
 Queensberry broke his tendo Achillis. . . . Lord 
 Cavendish's father always felt pain in the left arm 
 from a stone in the bladder. . . . General Murray, to 
 whom I have often expressed a wish to peep into his 
 chest, was twice wounded in this way." Sometimes 
 he used phrases more strong than elegant ; but he 
 never told coarse stories. He confessed repeatedly his 
 own ignorance, and sometimes his own mistakes ; he 
 was ready to find fault with other men, especially with 
 the physicians. Thus he says of phthisis, "The 
 physicians here keep their patients as long as they can, 
 and then send them away to Bristol and other places 
 to die ; " and of tetanus, " I attended another case, 
 with Sir N. Thomas. Assafoetida and opium were 
 given without effect ; these were left off, and bark 
 given in large quantities. Dr. Warren being called in, 
 advised among other things a bath prepared of milk 
 and water. After this he seemed better, but died soon 
 after. I discovered to my amazement the different 
 methods of different physicians. Sir N. Thomas had 
 read much, and knew all the antispasmodics from the 
 days of Hippocrates downwards. Dr. Warren, having 
 just cured his son of locked jaw, implicitly followed 
 the same practice in this case, being unable to alter his 
 rules of practice in the smallest degree as occasion 
 might require." Certainly Hunter was not thus 
 straitened in his treatment of a case of carbuncle : — 
 " As neither bark nor calomel nor opium had been 
 io8 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 of any use, I said to Dr. David Pitcaim, ' Now do 
 not let us permit this patient to be lost, whilst we are 
 only using such means as experience shows to be of 
 little or no effect ; for, David, this is a case more be- 
 longing to my province than yours, and I, being an 
 older man, have seen more of them than you have, 
 and can tell you what perhaps you did not know, that 
 we have no powers in this case that are known.' Now 
 David is a truly sensible man, and not governed by 
 form ; he therefore agreed, but wanted to know where 
 we were to begin. ' Why, with the first letter of the 
 alphabet, and go through the catalogue of the materia 
 medica ; so as we do not stop too long on the letter B 
 (bark) as is generally done.'" 
 
 After this treatment, the patient recovered. Or we 
 may take, as one more illustration of Hunter's unri- 
 valled straightforwardness of words, the following 
 paragraph : — 
 
 "Arsenic is a remedy which enters into the empi- 
 rical nostrums which are in vogue for curing cancer ; 
 and among which Plunkett's holds the highest rank. 
 But this is no new discovery : for Sennertus, who 
 lived the Lord knows how long ago, mentions a 
 Roderiguez and Flusius, who obtained considerable 
 fame and fortune by such a composition. I was 
 desired to meet Mr. Plunkett, to decide on the pro- 
 priety of using his medicines in a particular case : I 
 have no objection to meet anybody : it was the young 
 one ; the old one is dead, and might have died himself 
 109 H 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 of a cancer for aught I know. I asked him what he in- 
 tended to do with his medicine. He said, ' To cure the 
 patient.' * Let me know what you mean by that ; do 
 you mean to alter the diseased state of the parts ? or do 
 you mean by your medicine to remove the parts 
 diseased ? ' ' I mean to destroy them,' he replied . ' Well, 
 then, that is nothing more than I or any other surgeon 
 can do, with less pain to the patient.' Poor Woollett, 
 the engraver, died under one of these cancer-curers ; he 
 was under my care when this person took him in hand 
 — he had been a life-guardsman, I think, and had got 
 a never-failing receipt. I continued to call on Woollett 
 as a friend, and received great accounts of the good 
 effects ; upon hearing which, I said if the man would 
 give me leave to watch regularly and see ftiyself the 
 good effects, I would exert all my power to make him 
 the richest man in the kingdom. But he would have 
 nothing to do with me, and tortured poor Woollett 
 for some time, till at length he died." 
 
 Ten pence apiece for a hundred lectures such as these ! 
 Happy pupils — privileged for four guineas to sit at 
 Hunter's feet for six months ! From their notes, copies 
 of the lectures were made, which were passed from hand 
 to hand. There are several such manuscripts in the 
 possession of the Royal College of Surgeons. Palmer's 
 edition of the lectures (1835) was printed from short- 
 hand notes, taken in 1786-87 by Mr. Nathaniel 
 Rumsey, of Chesham ; and from copies belonging to 
 Sir Benjamin Brodie and others, 
 no 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 In 17755 Hunter first earned above a thousand pounds 
 by one year's practice. But he never dropped one 
 burden because he had shouldered another ; in spite of 
 the lectures, the increase of his private practice, and 
 his wfork at the hospital, he was engaged on innumer- 
 able dissections, observations, and experiments. In 
 the years 1772-1776, he contributed seven papers to 
 the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 
 five of them in comparative anatomy or physiology, 
 one in pathology, and one only, out of the seven, con- 
 cerned with treatment. Moreover, he was for ever 
 adding to the preparations in his museum ; " his first 
 floor, and back apartments, were filling apace, inso- 
 much that he was not able to find room for the 
 
 Camela Perda^ given him by Lady S , the tallest 
 
 animal known, and which browses upon the branches 
 of trees ; he therefore, that it might be in sight, cut 
 ofF its legs, and fixed it in the passage." 
 
 From 1772 onward, he made frequent use of Earl's 
 Court House, sleeping there during the autumn 
 months, coming into the town in the morning, return- 
 ing to dinner. Mrs. Hunter must choose between 
 the house in Jermyn Street, with her rooms invaded 
 by anatomical preparations, and the villa at Earl's 
 Court, with its grounds full of strange or hostile 
 animals. He could do with only five hours of sleep ; 
 and of his daily life for many years Ottley gives this 
 account : — 
 
 " He commenced his labours in the dissecting-room 
 III 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 generally before six in the morning, and remained 
 there till nine, when he breakfasted. After break- 
 fast, he saw patients at his own house until twelve, 
 when he made it a point to set forth on his rounds, 
 even though persons might be in waiting for the pur- 
 pose of seeing him. ... He dined at four, then the 
 fashionable hour, and gave strict orders that dinner 
 should be ready punctually whether he was at home 
 or not. He was a very moderate eater, and set little 
 value on the indulgence of the palate. During many 
 of the latter years of his life, he drank no wine, and 
 therefore seldom remained long at table after dinner, 
 except when he had company. After dinner he was 
 accustomed to sleep for about an hour, and his even- 
 ings were spent either in preparing or delivering 
 lectures, in dictating to an amanuensis the records of 
 particular cases, of which he kept a regular entry, or 
 in a similar manner committing to paper the substance 
 of any work on which he chanced to be engaged. 
 When employed in the latter way, Mr. Bell ^ and he 
 used to retire to the study, the former carrying with 
 him from the museum such preparations as related to 
 the subject on which Hunter was engaged ; these 
 were placed on the table before him, and at the other 
 end sat Mr. Bell, writing from Hunter's dictation. 
 The manuscript was then looked over, and the gram- 
 matical blunders — for Bell was an uneducated man — 
 
 ' William Bell, anatomist and artist, came to Hunter in 1775, and 
 lived in the house for fourteen years. 
 
 11% 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 corrected by Hunter. At twelve, the family went to 
 bed, and the butler, before retiring to rest, used to 
 bring in a fresh argand lamp, by the light of which 
 Hunter continued his labours until one or two in the 
 morning, or even later in winter. Thus he left only 
 about four hours for sleep, which with the hour after 
 dinner was all the time that he devoted to the refresh- 
 ment of his body. He had no home amusements, no 
 cards, for the relaxation of his mind ; and the only 
 indulgence of this kind he enjoyed consisted in an 
 evening's ramble amongst the various denizens of earth 
 and air which he had congregated at Earl's Court." 
 
 In January, 1776, he was appointed Surgeon Extra- 
 ordinary to the King ; his brother had been twelve 
 years already a member of the Household. The same 
 year, he gave the first of his Croonian Lectures before 
 the Royal Society, on Muscular Motion. The 
 lectures, six in all, were read during the years 1776- 
 1782 ; and included his observations on the move- 
 ments of plants. " These lectures were not published 
 in the Philosophical Transactions; for they were with- 
 drawn as soon as read, not being considered by the 
 author as complete dissertations, but rather as materials 
 for some future publication." (Home.) 
 
 Early in 1777, he had a strange illness, closely re- 
 lated to angina ; in its general features, and resem- 
 blance to the night-terrors of children, it might be 
 called epileptiform. "He had no sooner lain down 
 than he felt as if suspended in the air, and soon after 
 
 "3 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 the room appeared to go round ; the quickness of this 
 motion seemed to increase, and at last became very 
 rapid. ... If he but moved his head half round, it 
 appeared to be moving to some distance with great 
 velocity ; the idea he had of his own size was that of 
 being only two feet long, and when he drew up his 
 foot, or pushed it down, it appeared to him to be 
 moving a vast way. His sensations became extremely 
 acute or heightened ; he could not bear the least light, 
 he kept his eyelids closed, his hearing was also pain- 
 fully acute. ... At the end of ten days, all his ideas 
 of his present state became more natural, the strange 
 deception concerning his own size was in part cor- 
 rected, and the idea of suspension in the air became 
 less ; but for some time after, the fire appeared of a 
 deep purple red. When he got so well as to be able 
 to stand without being giddy, he was unable to walk 
 without support, for his own feelings did not give him 
 information respecting his centre of gravity, so that 
 he was unable to balance his body." (Home.) 
 
 After this illness, he went to Bath, and drank the 
 waters there. But before he left town, he made 
 arrangements for a catalogue of his museum, that it 
 might be sold at a fair price if he should die ; he had 
 nothing else to leave his family. Everard Home and 
 Bell were set to write descriptions of the preparations ; 
 but some of them Hunter himself must describe ; 
 and anxiety about the catalogue, and inability to live 
 without work, brought him back to London in less 
 114 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 than three months, not yet restored to his former 
 health. 
 
 Back in Jermyn Street, he took up everything 
 again, and added to his other occupations a further 
 series of experiments on the heat of animals and 
 vegetables, wfhich were published in the Philosophical 
 Transactions of the Royal Society. 
 
 In 1778, he published the second part of his Treatise 
 on the Natural History of the Human Teeth ; on the 
 diseases of the teeth and of the adjacent parts, and 
 their treatment. This same year, Everard Home left 
 him, and he had only Mr. Bell to help him in all the 
 work of the lectures and the museum : — 
 
 " I had now^ lived six years writh Mr. Hunter, and 
 had completed my education : his expenses had always 
 exceeded his income. I had therefore no emolument 
 to expect from remaining in his house, which made it 
 necessary for me to take up some line for my 
 own support ; and Admiral Keppel's action with 
 the French fleet was the means of procuring me a 
 very eligible situation. The newly finished naval 
 hospital at Plymouth received the whole of the 
 wounded men from Admiral Keppel's fleet, and Dr. 
 Farquarson, the first commissioner of sick and hurt, 
 at the request of Mr, Adair, the present surgeon- 
 general to the garrison of Gibraltar, gave me the 
 appointment of assistant-surgeon, with apartments to 
 reside at the hospital. ... In this situation many 
 opportunities occurred to me of adding to Mr. 
 "5 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Hunter's collection ; the sea furnishing curious fish 
 and other marine productions ; and the hospital 
 practice, preparations of morbid parts." 
 
 When Home went off to his eligible situation at 
 Plymouth, John Hunter was fifty years old ; Surgeon 
 Extraordinary to the King, Surgeon to St. George's 
 Hospital, and a Fellow of the Royal Society ; having 
 a large practice, and a name known everywhere. 
 Yet he never saved money ; he was for ever adding to 
 his museum, till he had spent no less than;^70,000 on 
 it, and he died scarce able to pay his debts. To have 
 an idea of his absolute devotion of himself to scientific 
 work, we must realise that he lavished on science the 
 income that he made at the risk of his life by the hard 
 work of practice, and even in ill-health and under the 
 shadow of death never rested from his incessant task 
 of collection, dissection, observation, and experiment. 
 The letters to Jenner show the marvellous restlessness 
 of these years from 1779 to 1783, full of science and 
 of practice, added or rather multiplied together. 
 Honours came to him from abroad, from Gothenburg 
 and Paris. The house in Jermyn Street could now no 
 longer hold his collection, and he must move else- 
 where, even at the cost of a bad bargain. Over 
 everything hung the clouds of want of money, ill- 
 health, and estrangement from his brother. 
 
 WiUiam Hunter died on Sunday, March 30, 
 1783. In his will, he did not so much as name John 
 Hunter ; he left Long Calderwood away from him to 
 116 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 Matthew Baillie ; he left nothing to John, entrusted 
 nothing to his care. Adams tells the story to the end : — 
 
 " Whatever may have been the coldness of this dying 
 philosopher, John felt the parting scene most severely. 
 This was remarked by us all, as he entered the lecture 
 room, and most when a particular circumstance 
 obliged him to mention his brother's death. 
 
 " The spring was advancing, and his course was 
 finished. On this occasion I shall transcribe from my 
 notes, taken at the time, the conclusion of his per- 
 oration, which was given extempore. 
 
 " Having finished his course, Mr. Hunter affection- 
 ately addressed his pupils in the usual form, expressing 
 his gratitude for the tribute they had paid his abilities 
 in attending his course during the winter ; assuring 
 them that he should ever be happy to see or hear from 
 them, and to assist them with his advice — with a fee, 
 if his patient's circumstances should admit, if not, as 
 readily without, begging that the latter might never 
 prevent their applying to him. It was, at present, his 
 intention to continue lecturing in the same way as 
 he had hitherto done. Some persons had suggested to 
 him that he should lecture on anatomy ; but he did 
 not scruple to say that he thought himself superior to 
 describing the origin and insertion of muscles, and the 
 course of blood-vessels. He assumed the privilege of 
 teaching the action of parts whose situation common 
 application might easily demonstrate. Mere human 
 anatomy was too small a scale for him to move in ; 
 117 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 he had never been contented with it, and he trusted 
 he had done as much in comparative anatomy, as it is 
 called, as any one before him. Should his life and 
 health permit, it was his wish at some period to under- 
 take physiological lectures, not on the human alone, 
 but on animals at large. He had neither sufficiently 
 arranged his ideas, nor made up his opinion on some 
 things, to begin for years. 
 
 "Some other remarks followed, on his prospects and 
 on the new house he was preparing, which prevented 
 his exhibiting his museum, as was his custom at the 
 end of each course. 
 
 " Here Mr. Hunter seemed to finish, yet to have 
 more to say ; at length, endeavouring to appear as if 
 he had just recollected something, he began : 'Ho, 
 gentlemen, one thing more, I need not remind you of 
 — you all know the loss anatomy has lately sustained ! ' 
 He was obliged to pause, and turn his face from his 
 hearers. At length, recovering himself, he proceeded, 
 ' Though it would be unfair to compare Mr. 
 Cruikshank with Dr. Hunter, yet much allowance 
 should be made for Mr. Cruikshank, in being obliged 
 at present to give lectures for which he could have 
 made no preparation, as he could not expect that 
 he should have occasion to give them ; I have there- 
 fore only to beg you will make this allowance for him, 
 and to acquaint you that the lectures will be con- 
 tinued as usual.' 
 
 " This, and a few words more, were not spoken 
 u8 
 
LONDON, 1772-1783 
 
 without great emotion, nor with dry eyes. The 
 scene was so truly pathetic, that a general sympathy 
 pervaded the whole class ; and every one, though all 
 had been preparing to leave the place, stood or sat 
 motionless and silent for some minutes." 
 
 From John Hunter to the Rev. James Baillie, his 
 brother-in-law, on his appointment to the Professorship 
 of Divinity at Glasgow, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I thank you for your very kind and 
 obliging Letter. I also congratulate you upon your 
 preferment. Altho you modestly say it was upon 
 your family's account that you received it, yet it is 
 what you should not have refused upon your own. 
 There is hardly any character so low, or so high, but 
 what will receive dignity from Title, and when it is 
 given as a reward for merit, it gives the graces to it. 
 
 As to myself, with respect to my family, I can only 
 yet say, that I am happy in a wife, but my children 
 are too young to form any judgment of. They 
 consist of a stout red-headed Boy, called Jock, three 
 years and some months old, and a weakly girl call'd 
 Mary-Ann, near two. We lost a fine boy call'd 
 Jemmy who would have been now about twelve 
 months ; and Anny is near her time of a fourth. 
 
 I am not anxious about my children but in their 
 doing well in this world. I would rather make them 
 feel one moral virtue, than read Librarys of all the dead 
 
 119 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 and living languages. You know I am no Scholara, 
 therefore do not feel the beauty of Language, when I 
 do not see the use of it ; but if that should be the line 
 which I meant they should follow, I should think 
 myself happy in having such a Brother, and in such a 
 situation. As to myself, I am pursuing business, and 
 pursuing my studies. As to my business, it is very 
 nearly what I want, because it very nearly gets me 
 what I want ; beyon which I have no ambition. As 
 to my studies, I am following my business as a student, 
 pursuing my comparative anatomy ; for two or three 
 months in the year, pretty much in the country 
 making experiments upon animals and vegetables, and 
 it appears to be Anny's enjoyment, in seeing me 
 pleasing myself; while all these concurring circum- 
 stances go on, I must continue to be one of the 
 happyst men living. I am sorry my sister is not well, 
 health is one of the first principles in life, but I hope 
 the complaint is such as not to be very uneasie to her, 
 at least they are such as are not dangerous. 
 
 Anny joins with me in our best wishes to you and 
 Dolly, and also to our young Nephew and nieces ; 
 and may hope to see the young man in London soon. 
 I am Dear Sir 
 
 Your most affectionate Brother 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 Nov. 23ri, 1775. 
 
 120 
 
V 
 Hunter and Jenner 
 
 " I don't know any one I would as soon write to as you, I do not 
 know anybody I am so much obliged to." 
 
 SIXTEEN years ago Prof. S. D. Gross, of 
 Philadelphia, himself one of the " Masters of 
 Medicine," published a short Life of Hunter, with 
 some account of the more famous of his pupils. 
 Among them were Astley Cooper, Abernethy, 
 Physick, Thomson, Cline — ^who had the spirit of 
 Hunter, " et quasi cursores vital lampada tradunt." 
 One of the first of these pupils was Edward Jenner, 
 who became a resident pupil so early as 1770, when 
 he was but twenty-one years old ; and lived two years 
 in Hunter's house. He came to be of that inner 
 circle of friends who called Hunter " the dear man " ; 
 and when he settled in practice at Berkeley in 
 Gloucestershire, the friendship made in London was 
 maintained and strengthened by the interchange of 
 letters between the two men on every subject at 
 which they could work together. He was the faithful 
 121 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 image of Hunter, his second self down in Gloucester- 
 shire ; and in 1777, when Hunter visited Bath after 
 his second attack of angina, Jenner had already 
 guessed the nature of his disease, but had said nothing 
 to him about it, only writing what he thought of him 
 to Dr. Heberden, who had charge of Hunter's case. 
 
 The letters to Jenner were first published in 1835, 
 in Ottley's " Life of Hunter." i They make no 
 mention of vaccination ; the discovery was not firmly 
 and finally established in Hunter's lifetime. They are 
 most of them undated : and Ottley has corrected their 
 spelling. I add only a few words of preface here and 
 there, and omit only such details of anatomy, surgery, 
 and experimental work, as must be read in their 
 relation to the rest of Hunter's observations. 
 
 I (? 1772). 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I received yours, and was ex- 
 tremely happy to hear of your success in business ; 
 
 ' " Dr. Jenner set a great value upon these letters. They were care- 
 fully preserved in a cover, which was inscribed in his own handwriting, 
 ' Letters from Mr. Hunter to E. Jenner ' ; an honour which he was not 
 always in the habit of conferring on more dignified communications. . . . 
 It was a truly interesting thing to hear Dr. Jenner, in the evening of his 
 days, descanting with all the fervour of youthful friendship and attach- 
 ment on the commanding and engaging peculiarities of Mr. Hunter's 
 mind. He generally called him ' the dear man,' and when he described 
 the honesty and warmth of his heart, and his never-ceasing energy in the 
 pursuit of knowledge, it was impossible not to be animated by the 
 recital." (Baron's " Life of Jenner.") 
 
 122 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 I hope it will continue. I am obliged to you for 
 thinking of me, especially in my natural history. I 
 shall be glad of your observations on the cuckoo, and 
 upon the breeding of toads ; be as particular as you 
 possibly can. If you can pick me up anything that is 
 curious and prepare it for me, either in the fish or 
 flesh way, do it. Pictures have been very cheap, but 
 the season is now over. There will be but one sale, 
 viz., Fordyce's ; but I believe all his pictures are 
 exquisite, and will go beyond you or me. Since 
 you wrote to me I purchased a small landscape of 
 Barrett's, of cattle and herd ; I gave five pounds seven 
 shillings and sixpence ; it is one of his eight-guinea 
 pictures. You shall have it or not, as you please, 
 I have one of the same size, that I bought of him 
 some time ago. 
 
 I saw the young lady, your patient ; I do not know 
 well what can be done. . . . Let me hear from you 
 soon. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 II (?i773). 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I received yours, as also the 
 cuckoo's stomach : I should like to have a few more, 
 for they do not all show the same thing. If possible, 
 I wish you could remove the cuckoo's egg into 
 another bird's nest, and tame the young one, to see 
 what note it has. There is employment for you, 
 
 123 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 young man ! If you collect eggs, you should also 
 collect the nests, and I do not care how many you 
 send. I wanted a crow's nest, as also a magpie's, in 
 the branches of the trees where they are built, but I 
 am afraid it is now too late. 
 
 This evening, looking into my book of patients to 
 scratch out the name of one who had paid me, and 
 whose name began with M, I saw a Mr. Matthews or 
 Berkeley, recommended by you. He did not pay me. 
 I forget whether he was recommended by you as a 
 friend to serve him or me ; if it was to serve him, 
 I scratch him out of my book. Do you keep an 
 account of your observations on the cuckoo, or must I 
 refer to your letters ? I want a nest with the eggs in 
 it ; also one with a young cuckoo ; also an old 
 cuckoo. I hear you saying, there is no end of your 
 wants. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 Jenner did keep an account of his observations on 
 the cuckoo, and many years afterward communicated 
 them to the Royal Society. The next two letters 
 were written in 1775 ; they refer to Hunter's plan of 
 founding a school of natural history in London, with 
 Jenner to help him ; but the scheme was not carried 
 out. 
 
 124 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 III. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I have received many things from 
 you, and will thank you in the lump ; but while I 
 thank you, I have a great scheme to communicate 
 to you, and I want you to take part in it ; but 
 remember, it is as yet a most profound secret. My 
 scheme is to teach natural history, in which will be 
 included anatomy, both human and comparative. 
 The labour of it is too much for one man, there- 
 fore I must have some one to assist ; but who that 
 person shall be is the difficulty. When running over 
 a variety of people, you have come into my mind 
 among the rest. Now, if it is a scheme you would 
 like, and a possibility of your leaving the country, — 
 at the same time, able and willing to lay down one 
 thousand guineas — I will send you the whole pro- 
 posals ; but if you cannot leave the country on any 
 terms, then it is unnecessary to go any further ; 
 and all I have to beg is to keep it a secret. I 
 would not have you mention it to Ludlow, &c. I 
 
 proposed it to L before he left London, but his 
 
 father objected, I believe, to the money. I know 
 the scheme will be to your taste. Before you ask 
 any of your friends, consult with yourself, and ask. 
 Can I go to London, and can I give one thousand 
 guineas for any chance that may be worth it ? Let 
 me hear from you very soon. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 London, May 2^th. John Hunter. 
 
 125 I 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 IV. 
 
 August ind. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I received yours in answer to 
 mine, which I should have answered. I own I sus- 
 pected it would not do ; yet as I did intend such a 
 scheme, I was inclinable to give you the offer. 
 
 I thank you for your experiment on the hedge- 
 hog ; but why do you ask me a question by the 
 way of solving it ? I think your solution is just ; 
 but why think ? why not try the experiment ? 
 Repeat all the experiments upon a hedgehog as 
 soon as you receive this, and they will give you the 
 solution . , . and let me know the result of the 
 whole. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 The next six letters were probably written between 
 the end of 1775 and the spring of 1777 ; about the 
 time of Hunter's earlier work on the vital heat of 
 vegetables and animals. 
 
 v. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I don't know any one I would 
 as soon write to as you. I do not know anybody 
 I am so much obliged to. I thank you for a fish, 
 but I should thank you more if you had let me 
 know who it comes from. 
 
 I beg for the future you will always write when 
 126 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 you send me anything. Somebody sent me a cheese, 
 with a fish upon it ; perhaps it was you ; you know 
 I hate to be puzzled. Also let me know what things 
 you have sent me lately. I have not received the 
 cuckoo's nest yet. Now for your patient. I believe 
 the best thing you can do is to do little. I would 
 not touch the fungus with an escharotic, for fear 
 the brain should be near : I would also use but 
 very slight compression, as the fungus will be a 
 bandage to the brain ; and as to the fungus itself 
 you have nothing to fear, for wherever the parts 
 underneath are sound, the fungus will subside of 
 itself. Keep your patient rather low, and quiet. 
 Let me know how he goes on, and anything else 
 you can. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 VI. 
 
 yan. loth. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — You must think me very fond 
 of fish when you send me cheese as much fishified 
 as possible ; however, it is an excellent cheese, and 
 every country has laid claim to its birth. I have but 
 one order to send you, which is, to send everything 
 you can get, either animal, vegetable, or mineral, 
 and the compound of the two, either animal or 
 vegetable mineralised. 
 
 I would have you do nothing with the boy but 
 127 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 dress him superficially ; these funguses will die, and 
 be damned to them, and drop off. 
 
 Have you large trees, of different kinds, that you 
 can make free with ? If you have, I will put you 
 upon a set of experiments with regard to the heat 
 of vegetables. 
 
 Have you any eaves, where bats go to at night ? 
 If you have, I will put you upon a set of experi- 
 ments concerning the heat of them at different 
 seasons. I should have been extremely happy to 
 have had the honour of a visit from Lord Berkeley. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 Anny sends her compliments, and thanks you for 
 all favours. Write down the case. 
 
 VII. 
 
 fan. iznd. 
 Dear Jenner, — I did not understand that the 
 funguses which you described were brain ; and I 
 should still very much doubt that they are brain, 
 for their keeping into one substance would make me 
 inclinable to believe that it is a new substance : but 
 let it be what it will, I would advise you not to 
 meddle with it : if it is brain, let it drop off ; if it 
 is fungus, let it either drop or waste off: therefore 
 be quiet, and think yourself well off that the boy is 
 not dead. You do not mention a word about bats. 
 I have no particular experiments at present about 
 
 128 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 fixed air ; it is such a wide field that a man may 
 make a thousand experiments before he determines 
 anything. Have you got the bones yet of a large 
 porpoise ? I wish you had. Is ever the salmon 
 spawn seen after she has parted with it ? If it is so, 
 I would you could get me some ; I want to examine 
 the spawn of fish in the progress of the formation of 
 the young one. 
 
 I am, dear Jenner, 
 
 Your most obedient Servant, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I received the box ; also your 
 letter. I am very much obliged to you for your kind 
 attention to me, and how to reward you I do not 
 know. Let that be as it will, I must still give you 
 commissions. If you can get me easily salmon 
 spawn, I should like to have it, and out of different 
 places, as it will be of different ages. It should be put 
 into bottles immediately, with spirits. The spirits 
 should be proof, and there should be rather more 
 spirit than spawn. I will also take any specimens 
 of fossils you may send me, or indeed anything else. 
 Did I send you any of my publications in the 
 Philosophical Transactions ? If I have not, let me 
 know. I want to put you upon some experiments 
 this winter. What do you think of examining eels ? 
 Their sexes have not yet been found out, nor their 
 129 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 mode of propagation ; it is a thing of consequence in 
 natural history. I began it, but could not get eels 
 immediately from the river, and to get them of fish- 
 mongers, who buy them in custom, does not do. My 
 intention was to examine several pretty large eels on 
 the first and fifteenth of every month. If the eels are 
 plenty with you, and if you like the proposal, let me 
 know, and I will give you full instructions how to 
 proceed. Also, next spring, I would have you make 
 the experiments on the growth of vegetables ; and if 
 you have no objection, I will set you upon a set of 
 experiments upon the heat of vegetables in the winter. 
 If, in any of these pursuits, you discover any principle 
 worthy of the public, I will give it to the Royal 
 Society for you. I must pick you up a picture this 
 winter. I saw Mrs. Black i at Mr. Drummond's ; 
 I suspect Mr. Black is dead, but I durst not enquire. 
 Cannot you get me a large porpoise for love or money ? 
 What is the bird you sent me ? also the young ani- 
 mals, which I imagine to be guinea-pigs. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 IX, 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I received your salmon, and very 
 fresh, and just examined enough to want another, but 
 will wait till another season. If I was to have 
 
 ■ Mrs. Black was Jenner's elder sister, Mary, wife of the Rev. G. C. 
 Black, of Norwood. 
 
 130 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 another, it should be one that had just spawned ; I 
 will take a cock salmon when you please. If you 
 catch any bats, let me have some of them ; and those 
 you try yourself, observe the heat ; observe the fluidity 
 of the blood. . . . Do all this in a cold place. Ex- 
 traneous fossils are all vegetable and animal substances 
 found in a fossil state. See if you can catch the 
 number of pulsations and breathing in a bat without 
 torture. If the frost is hard, see what vegetables 
 freeze : bore holes in large trees, and see whether the 
 sap runs out, which will show it is not frozen. I am 
 afraid you have not a proper thermometer : I will send 
 you one. I 
 
 Your very much obliged Servant, 
 
 J. Hunter, 
 I have not seen Dr. H., but I dare say he will be 
 glad to have the cases. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I can never be offended with you. 
 The reason for not sending the thermometer was I 
 entirely forgot it, but it shall be sent next week. I 
 shall be glad to present your paper if you mean to 
 give it to the public. The large porpoise I would 
 have coarsely stripped, and the bones put into a cask 
 and sent ; the young one, if not too large, put into 
 spirits, to be able to inject it. . . . Did I write to 
 
 ' For his observations on animal heat, Hunter had made for himself a 
 small thermometer, like the clinical thermometers of the present day. 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 you some time ago about cuckoos ? I have forgot : 
 if I did not, I must give you a long order. 
 I am, dear Jenner, 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 Friday night. 
 
 I was at my club last night, and not coming home 
 till twelve is the reason I did not write. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I have received your fish, as also 
 your letter ; for both I thank you. It came quite fresh, 
 and it is under dissection and drawing. ... I will 
 leave it to you what is to be done at present with the 
 bones ; either send them as they are, or steep them in 
 water. ... I have got the thermometer, but let me 
 know to whose care I am to send it. You did not 
 in your last tell me if I wrote to you about the 
 cuckoo. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. Hunter, 
 
 The next three letters were written soon after 
 Hunter's illness in 1777. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I have before me two letters ot 
 yours, which I should have answered much sooner. 
 Your friend Dr. Hicks I have not seen. I was not at 
 132 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 home when he called, and I have not had time to 
 wait on him, as he lived entirely out of my walk. I 
 should have been glad to have seen him, but I suppose 
 he stood upon ceremony. I received the fossils, and 
 should be glad of any that you can get. If any bones 
 of animals are found, be sure and get them for me. I 
 should be glad to have some of the salmon-fry. I had 
 the pleasure of seeing your brother, but only for a 
 time. I received the bird ; I am not acquainted with 
 it : send me some more if you can get them readily. 
 I sent with Mr. Jenner the thermometer ; if you do 
 not understand it, let me know. 
 
 Not two hours after I saw your brother I was taken 
 ill with a swimming in my head, and could not raise 
 it ofF the pillow for ten days : it is not yet perfectly 
 recovered. Have you begun the eels ? No porpoises. 
 No salmon spawn before it has hatched. You see I 
 am very greedy. Be sure to keep an account of all 
 outgoings. 
 
 My compliments to Mrs. Black and your brother, 
 and let me hear from you. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 London, Mav ii, 1777. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Dear Jenner,- — Excuse me for not answering 
 your letters as soon as you could wish. Send me all 
 the fossils you find. What I meant by bones was all 
 133 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 the bones that are found any depth below the surface 
 of the earth : many are found in stones, &c. I sup- 
 pose those skeletons are not complete, but send me 
 some of them ; and if any history can be given, 
 send it also. The thermometer is a very useful one 
 when understood. You will observe the scratch upon 
 the glass stalk, perhaps about two inches from the 
 globe, which is the freezing point ; put o, or nought, 
 which is upon the ivory scale, two degrees below the 
 scratch, then o becomes the thirtieth degree, and the 
 scratch, being two degrees above it, stands at the 
 freezing point ; then, from that count upwards ; or if 
 the cold is below 30°, then put i or 2 at the scratch, 
 and count down ; every No. is ten degrees. What 
 the devil becomes of your eels in the winter ? but try 
 them in summer, and see what you can make of them. 
 
 I do not i-emember Dr. Fordyce ever supposing a 
 polypus vascular. I should rather believe that he sup- 
 posed the contrary ; you know that it comes near my 
 idea that the blood is the bond of union everywhere. 
 But I should very much suspect that a polypus formed 
 after death is not of that kind. I am pretty certain 
 that I have injected them in arteries after amputation. 
 I have a preparation which shows it, and which 
 supports my theory. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J. Hunter, 
 
 London, July 6, 1777. 
 
 134 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Aug. 6, 1777. 
 Dear Jenner, — I just now found your last letter. 
 I think I answered it, but am not sure ; if I did not, 
 let me know. Is there any judging whose these 
 human bones are ? Let us have some of them, 
 especially skulls, as complete as possible, with the 
 lower jaw, &c. I am very well, but for all that I set 
 out, in a few days, for Bath. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 The next letter was written rrom Bath, whither 
 Hunter had gone to recover his strength, and to be 
 near his friend. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — Till yesterday we did not know 
 from whom the hare came ; but the cook found it 
 out. We thank you : it was a very fine one. By 
 your not taking any notice of my letter, I do suppose 
 you did not receive it. Near three weeks ago I wrote 
 to you to meet us at the Hot wells, Bristol. Some 
 days after the date of my letter we went to the 
 appointed place, by ten o'clock in the morning ; but 
 no Jenner there. We breakfasted, we dined, we 
 staid all night, and set out for Bath the next day. 
 We would have come on to Berkeley, but we were 
 afraid you might not be there. I am afraid it will not 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 be in my power to come and see you, though I wish 
 it much. I shall be obliged to take Southampton in 
 my way home. Are the hedgehogs so saucy as to 
 refuse coming without coming for them ? See if you 
 can coax them. We are alive here. The downs 
 look like a beehive. Let me hear from you. Mrs. 
 Hunter gives her compliments to you. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 Bath, i8th. 
 
 My letter was sent to your friend in Bristol by the 
 coach, but perhaps the coachman forgot to deliver it. 
 
 When he came back from his enforced rest at Bath, 
 Hunter again took up his experiments on vital heat, 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I wrote to you twice from Bath 
 since I saw you, and have had no answer to either ; 
 what the devil is become of you ? I have got your 
 candlesticks : to where shall I send them ? Let me 
 know by return of post ; and all the news you can. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 Nov. 6, 1777. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Dear Jenner,— I have sent you the candlesticks 
 as you desired. I hope you will like them. They 
 cost five pounds and a shilling ; so I owe you four 
 136 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 shillings. I have received the hedgehogs. If you 
 have time, see their natural wrinter haunts. . . . Ob- 
 serve their heat ; you may do all this in a very few 
 minutes. Observe the fluidity of the blood, by com- 
 paring it writh another that has been kept warm for a 
 few days. I have heard of Mr. Cattgal's collection of 
 fossils, and not till I came to London ; I suppose he 
 will not sell any. I shall think of your lymphatics ; 
 and if I can pick up a preparation or two, I will. I 
 am sorry you did not get my first letter, as we 
 intended to go to Berkeley with you, but did not 
 choose to come without an answer, as it was possible 
 you might not be at home. I have seen your old 
 master, who has given me the use of a very curious 
 bone : I hope he will give it me altogether. 
 
 Dear Jenner, yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 Nov. 23rd. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I am always plaguing you with 
 letters, but you are the only man I can apply to. I 
 put three hedgehogs in the garden, and put meat in 
 different places for them to eat as they went along ; 
 but they all died. Now I want to know what this is 
 owing to : therefore I want you to find out their 
 haunts, and observe, if you can, what they do : if 
 they make a warm place for themselves ; if they have 
 any food by them, &c. I would have you kill one, 
 137 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 and see its heat. ... In short, make what observa- 
 tions you can. Let me hear from you when you have 
 nothing else to do. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — Your letter of December has lain 
 before me ever since I received it, to put me in mind 
 that it was not answered. I am glad you liked the 
 candlesticks : I thought them pretty. The fossils 
 were none of the best ; but I know you did not make 
 them, therefore it is not your fault. The particular 
 one you put the ^F on is only the cast of a bivalve. 
 I wish I had seen E.'s collection. I am matching my 
 fossils, as far as I can, with the recent. Have you 
 made any experiments with the hedgehogs, and can 
 you send me some this spring .? for all those you sent 
 me died, so that I am hedgehogless. 
 
 Mr. Luders sent me the bone ; it is a very curious 
 one ; whether he will let me keep it or no I do not 
 know. I received yours by Mr. Jones, with the bird. 
 I thank you for thinking of me. Frogs live an 
 amazing while after they are dead ; as also all animals 
 of that tribe. The directions I gave you about the 
 blackbirds were, when you have a blackbird's nest, 
 viz., with four young ones, take one and put it bodily 
 into spirit by the head, extending the wings and legs. 
 Observe when the feathers begin to sprout ; then take 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 another, and serve it in the same way ; then a third, 
 and a fourth, so as to get a series of the growth of the 
 feather ; but the last, or fourth, must not be so old as 
 the feathers to cover other parts where feathers do not 
 grow. This you will better understand when you 
 come to make the trial. I have a picture of Bassan's 
 that I lent a poor devil three guineas upon : he died 
 and never redeemed the picture. I intend sending it 
 to you : it is a good deal damaged, but some of the 
 figures are very good. Get a frame for it, and hang it 
 in a strong light. There are some experiments of 
 mine publishing in the Philosophical Transactions, 
 which I will send you with the picture ; accept them 
 as a remembrance of the trouble I put you to. Let 
 me hear from you when convenient. Mrs. Hunter 
 desires her compliments to you. 
 
 I am, dear Jenner, 
 
 Your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 London, March 29, 1778. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I received yours by Dr. Hicks, 
 with the hedgehog alive. I put it into my garden : 
 but I want more. I will send you the picture, but by 
 what conveyance ? or to what place ? I have a 
 picture by Barrett and Stubbs. The landscape, by 
 Barrett ; a horse frightened at the first seeing of a 
 lion, by Stubbs. I got it for five guineas. Will you 
 
 139 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 have it ? I have a dearer one, and no use for twro of 
 the same masters : but do not have it excepting you 
 would like it, for I can get my money for it. 
 
 I am glad you have got blackbirds' nests. Let me 
 know the expense you are at, for I do not mean the 
 picture to go for anything, only for your trouble. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J.H. 
 
 N.B.-^I should suppose the hedgehogs would come 
 in a box full of holes all round, filled with hay, and 
 some fresh meat put into it. 
 
 The next three letters, of the summer of 1778, were 
 written when Jenner was crossed in love. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I don't know when I wrote to you 
 last. I do not know if I thanked you for the cider. 
 The hedgehogs came, with one dead, which was a 
 female, which I made a preparation of. I have since 
 got the blackbirds, which I think will do vastly well. 
 I have not yet sent the picture ; it is packed up ready 
 to go, and shall be sent immediately. 
 
 I was told the other day that you was married, and 
 to a young lady with considerable fortune. I hope it 
 is true, for I do not know anybody more deserving of 
 one. Let me know whether it is so or not. I hope 
 you keep an account of all expenses. What is become 
 of your paper on lead in cider ? Let me have it, and 
 140 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 I will send it to the Medical Society. How do the 
 fossils go on ? 
 
 XXII. 
 
 August '7,0th. 
 Dear Jenner,- — I hope this winter to be able to 
 get you some preparations of the eye and lymphatics ; 
 but Hewson's preparations are to be sold this month ; 
 now perhaps for four or five pounds some preparations 
 may be picked up. If you have no objection to throw 
 away so much money, let me know, and what subjects 
 you would like best. I shall give you some commis- 
 sions about heat, cold, &c. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 xxiir. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I own I was at a loss to account 
 for your silence, and I was sorry for the cause. I can 
 easily conceive how you must feel, for you have two 
 passions to cope with, viz., that of being disappointed 
 in love, and that of being defeated ; but both will wear 
 out, perhaps the first soonest. I own I was glad when 
 I heard you was married to a woman of fortune ; but 
 "let her go, never mind her." I shall employ you 
 with hedgehogs, for I do not know how far I may 
 trust mine. I want you to get a hedgehog in the 
 beginning of winter, and weigh him ; put him in your 
 garden, and let him have some leaves, hay, or straw to 
 141 K 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Cover himself with, which he will do ; then weigh him 
 in the spring and see what he has lost. Secondly, I 
 want you to kill one in the beginning of winter, to see 
 how fat he is, and another in spring, to see what he 
 has lost of his fat. Thirdly, when the weather is very 
 cold, and about the month of January, I could wish 
 you would observe their heat. ... So much at 
 present for hedgehogs. I beg pardon, — examine the 
 stomach and intestines. If Hewson's things go cheap, 
 I will purchase some that I think proper for you; 
 those you mention will, I am afraid, be everybody's 
 money and go dear. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 London, September 25, 1778. 
 
 There are yet six more letters that were written 
 before 1783 ; I put them here. A few letters, written 
 in or after 1783, had best be put in the next chapter, 
 with the events of 1 783-1 793. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 London, November 9, 1778. 
 Dear Jenner, — I received yours, with the eel. 
 The spawn of the salmon was lost. I shall send you 
 back the eel again, with the liver, stomach, and gut 
 removed, and nothing left but a fringe which passes 
 down the sides of the backbone, which I took, and 
 still take to be the spawn ; but I never saw any 
 difference in it at any time of the year ; and this one 
 142 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 you have sent is similar to all I have yet seen. I 
 think your stopping the eels a good plan, if you can ; 
 but I should suspect they would be more slippery than 
 hedgehogs. I do not know if hedgehogs burrow. 
 About a month hence examine another, and compare 
 him with your notes and memory also. Examine his 
 heat, &c. ; a month after that, another, &c. I like 
 your experiment with the toad and snake ; but bury 
 them rather deeper, and let the ground be kept moist 
 about them, especially in summer. I shall keep all 
 your letters, but I expect in the end all your notes. I 
 like your friend Ludlow much ; he is a lively sensible 
 fellow. I have got a few preparations for you ; I am 
 getting them put into a little order for you before I 
 send them. Are there no bats in the old castle of 
 Berkeley ? I should like similar experiments to be 
 made upon them to those of the hedgehog. Mrs. H. 
 desires her compliments to you. 
 
 Believe me to be, most sincerely yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — What are you doing ? How do 
 
 the hedgehogs get on ? How cold are they in the 
 
 winter ? &c., &c. Let me hear from you. I have 
 
 not yet sent the preparations for you. I have added 
 
 an eye to one of them of my own making. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 London, fanuary i6, 1779. 
 
 143 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I thank you for the trouble you 
 have taken. I do not see another experiment to be 
 made writh the hedgehogs, but one : get a piece of 
 meat into the stomach of one during the very cold 
 weather, and kill him tv/enty-four hours after, to see 
 'f it is digested, which I have done with lizards. This 
 may be difficult, but suppose he was made lively in a 
 warm room, and then fed, and put out into the cold 
 immediately, with a little hay over him. If this does, 
 two or three may be served in the same way, and kill 
 them at different distances respecting time. Observe 
 their breathing when in the cold ; if possible, the 
 quickness of the pulse and fluidity of the blood. If 
 you chance to get more than you use, I would take 
 a few to put into my garden, to walk about in the 
 evenings. 
 
 Is there no chance to see you in London this 
 winter ? Do come and see us. I shall send you a 
 paper of mine on the free martin, also one to Ludlow. 
 If a good deal of that air in the hog's guts could be 
 collected, see if a candle would burn as large in it as 
 in common air. I had a letter from Mr. Cheston, of 
 an ossified thoracic duct ; I wish he would let me 
 have it. You see how greedy I am. You will hear 
 from me soon. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 144 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I have not troubled you with anj 
 
 letter this long time, nor have I heard from you. This 
 
 moment, I do not know if I sent you the butterflies ; 
 
 if they are not sent, they shall this week. I want you 
 
 to pursue the experiments on the heat of the hedgehog 
 
 this winter ; and if you could send me a colony of 
 
 them, I should be glad, as I have expended all I had, 
 
 except two : one an eagle ate, and a ferret caught the 
 
 other. Mrs. Hunter and I were at Bath the other 
 
 day, and came home by way of Gloucester ; we wished 
 
 much we could have staid a day, to have waited on 
 
 you. Let me hear from you soon. 
 
 I am, dear Jenner, 
 
 Yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 London, Nov. 8, 1779. 
 
 xxviii. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — This very evening I was going to 
 write to you, when behold a basket came with pea- 
 fowls, lizards, and birds' legs. I know nothing of the 
 natural history of the viviparous lizard, but shall ask Sir 
 Joseph Banks, who, I dare say, knows ; but I should 
 like to have them when with young, therefore beg you 
 will give a genteel reward to those who will bring you 
 several ; and let me know in what situations they are 
 commonly found, that I may employ others to hunt 
 for me. How did the puppy and you agree ? 
 
 145 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Last night I looked over all your letters, to see the 
 one giving me the account of the porpoise, but I could 
 not find it ; therefore I must beg your account of them, 
 and the milk, &c., which I hope you will send soon. 
 Lord Berkeley has not sent for his dog. Have you 
 had any account of the bustard ? 
 
 Monday morning has produced nothing new, so 
 good-day to you. 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 March ^.th. 
 
 XXIX, 
 
 DearJenner, — I could not buy a single prepara- 
 tion for you, they all went so dear. Injections of 
 the lymphatics of a turtle sold for guineas, an eye 
 not injected for 15 shillings, and so of all the rest. 
 I know of a young man who wants to sell some 
 of his preparations ; if they are good and cheap I 
 mean to purchase them for you, but not if they 
 are not a good bargain. I want two or three 
 hedgehogs to complete my expt. upon living sleeping 
 animals. Let me know how the world goes with 
 you. 
 
 I am, dear Jenner, 
 
 Yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 London, October 10th. 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 These wonderful letters are above the level oi 
 commonplace praise, with its italics and notes of 
 admiration. We seem to read them over Jenner's 
 shoulder. There is another letter, not to Jenner, 
 more notable than any of them ; for it was written 
 only a few months before Hunter died, to a friend 
 in Africa. The spelling of it has been left un- 
 changed : — 
 
 Dear Sir,— I was favoured with your letter of 
 September 31, informing me of 2 birds called the 
 Habanah being shipped on board the Bull Dog, 
 but unluckly the birds died on the passage home. 
 I consider myself as equally obliged to you for 
 thinking of me and taking so much trouble. I was 
 sorry at the loss of your insects, after all the trouble of 
 collecting them, but I hope you will be more succes- 
 fuU in future. I mentioned your proposal to Sir 
 Joseph Banks of having a gardiner sent out, he 
 told- me he had had a letter or letters to that 
 same purpose from you, therefore I suggested, if 
 it was a scheme he approved of, he could settle 
 that with you, therefore I dropd it. There is 
 one thing I wish very much to have settled in 
 Natural History, which is the Natural History 
 of Swallows ; they breed with us in the summer, 
 and leave us in the winter, and it is what becomes 
 of them in our winter ; now if they are with you 
 in the winter, and if they should breed with you 
 
 H7 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 in that season, it would be a proof that they are birds 
 of passage, and upon the same principle you should 
 have many more in the winter than in the summer, 
 as there are four or five different species in this 
 country in the summer. I should like to have speci- 
 mens of those that are with you in the winter. I 
 remember seeing swallows in Portugal in the winter, 
 but I cannot say what species they were. It would 
 hardly be possible to get ostrach eggs just going to 
 hatch, and to crush the shell and put them into proof 
 spirits to preserve them till they came to England. 
 If a Foal camell was put into a tub of spirits and sent, 
 I should be glad. Is it possible to get a young tame 
 lion, or indeed any other beast or Bird ? If camelions 
 were sent it should be in the spring, as then one could 
 feed them with Flys through the summer. Are there 
 any cuckews with you ? We have none in the 
 winter. I want everything respecting the Bee tribe, 
 such as wasps with their nests, also hornets with 
 theirs. They are a very large tribe. I would have 
 sent you a paper I wrote on the anatomy of the Bees 
 which was published in the Philosophical Trans- 
 actions, but upon enquiry I found that it would cost 
 you more than it is worth. I am a subscriber to the 
 African Society, but I have not heard of the cachuna 
 things &c., but as I cannot always attend, they may 
 have come without my knowing it. I consider my- 
 self very much obliged to you for your attention to 
 me, and I wish I knew how I could return it, which 
 148 
 
HUNTER AND JENNER 
 
 would give me pleasure, I hope you keep your health 
 well. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 Your much obliged and humble servant, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 January 15, 1793. 
 
 There could be no better example than this letter 
 of the vehement energy of Hunter's life. In his old 
 age, full of suffering, over-worked, and close to death, 
 he was yet writing to Africa for swallows, ostrich- 
 eggs, a camel, cuckoos, a young lion, everything 
 respecting the bee tribe, chameleons, and any other 
 beast or bird. 
 
 149 
 
VI 
 
 London, i 783-1 793. — Leicester Square 
 
 " My life is in the hands of any rascal who chooses to annoy and tease 
 me,*' 
 
 TOWARD the end of Hunter's life, his attacks 
 of angina occurred so often and came from such 
 slight provocation, that he was not for one day free 
 from pain. Of one such attack (April, 1785) Home 
 writes : — 
 
 " I was with him during the whole of this attack, 
 and never saw anything equal to the agonies he 
 suffered ; and when he fainted away, I thought him 
 dead. These affections at last seized him when lying 
 in bed, and in his sleep, so as to awaken him. . . . 
 The exercise that generally brought on the spasms 
 was walking, especially on an ascent, either of stairs 
 or rising ground ; the affections of the mind, that 
 brought them on, were principally anxiety or anger ; 
 the anxiety about the swarming of a hive of bees 
 brought it on ; the anxiety lest an animal should 
 make its escape before he could get a gun to shoot it, 
 150 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 brought it on ; even the hearing of a story would 
 bring it on ; anger brought on the same complaint, 
 and he could conceive it possible for that passion to be 
 carried so far as totally to deprive him of life. But 
 what was very extraordinary, the more tender passions 
 of the mind did not produce it ; he could relate a 
 story which called up the finer feelings, as compassion, 
 admiration for the action of gratitude in others, so as 
 to make him shed tears ; yet the spasm was not 
 excited." 
 
 The winter of 1789-90 left its marlc on him for 
 the rest of his life, after a severe attack of giddi- 
 ness with loss of memory and derangement of 
 vision : — 
 
 " His recovery from this indisposition was less 
 perfect than from any of the others ; he never lost 
 entirely the oblique vision ; his memory was in some 
 respects evidently impaired ; and the spasms became 
 more constant. He never went to bed without their 
 being brought on by the act of undressing himself; 
 they came on in the middle of the night ; the least 
 exertion in conversation after dinner was attended by 
 them ; he felt therefore obliged to confine himself 
 within a certain sphere of action, and to avoid dining 
 in large companies. Even operations in surgery, if 
 attended with any nicety, now produced the same 
 effects. . . . His coachman being beyond his time, or 
 a servant not attending to his directions, brought on 
 the spasms. ... In the beginning of October, 1792, 
 151 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 one at which I was present was so violent that I 
 thought he would have died." 
 
 Each attack might be the last ; and he had no 
 desire, natural or philosophical, of death. Once, 
 when he spoke his thoughts concerning it, some- 
 body asked him if it were true that his own brother, 
 when he came to die, praised its ease and pleasantness ; 
 and he answered, " Aye, 'tis poor work when it comes 
 to that." He had saved no income for his wife and 
 children, and he could not insure his life ; his museum 
 must be sold to keep them after he was dead, or, if not 
 sold to Government, then bought under the hammer ; 
 and the greater part of his writings was still in manu- 
 script. To add to his distress, the pathology of 
 angina pectoris was not understood, and the disease 
 itself was scarce recognised. He never solved the 
 problem of his own case. They treated him with a 
 host of remedies, many unpleasant, all inefficient. 
 And he was by occupation and by character exposed 
 to the fullest penalties that angina can exact. 
 
 He watched and noted himself, talked over his 
 symptoms, quoted them in his lectures : — 
 
 " Each symptom was described at the time it 
 occurred, and either noted by himself, or dictated 
 to me when Mr. Hunter was too ill to write ; they 
 will therefore be found more accurately described than 
 in ordinary cases." 
 
 And Home, after this preface, gives twenty quarto 
 pages to a minute account of the case. Light became 
 
 152 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 painful to him, and everything looked yellow ; up- 
 right objects appeared sloping, things near seemed 
 far off; he felt only four feet high, and as if he 
 had no head ; dreams were as real as anything else, 
 and he slept hardly two hours in the twenty-four ; 
 so the notes of his illness in 1789 run on, written or 
 dictated by Hunter himself. To the very last, three 
 days before he died, he was still watching himself : — 
 "I had a very long conversation with him, on the 
 Sunday, in which we were insensibly led to his com- 
 plaint ; a subject of all others the most interesting to 
 his friends, and on which he was never backward in 
 conversing. He was -willing to hear every argument 
 against the probable existence of an organic infirmity ; 
 but it was easy to see that his own opinion remained 
 the same. Nor did he fail, on this occasion, to revert 
 to the effect it had on his temper." (Adams.) 
 
 In 1783, the year his brother died, John Hunter's 
 lease of the house in Jermyn Street came to an end. 
 He was now fifty-five, had been twenty years in 
 practice, and fifteen years surgeon to St. George's 
 Hospital ; and his professional income, which up to 
 1774 never reached a thousand pounds, had risen to 
 about five thousand. But he saved little of it, always 
 investing his savings, a most unprofitable investment, 
 in his collection : till it outgrew and over-ran the 
 house in Jermyn Street, and he must move else- 
 where. So he bought the twenty-four years' lease 
 
 153 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 of a large house on the east side of Leicester Square, 
 and, with the house, he bought the ground behind it, 
 and a house in Castle Street, now part of Charing 
 Cross Road. On the ground between the two 
 houses, he built a suite of rooms and a great mu- 
 seum. It was a terribly bad bargain ; he spent 
 altogether nearly ^6,000; he died in 1793, and to 
 the end of the lease, in 1806, his collection was still 
 where he had left it. But he must find room for the 
 work of his hands, and a house worthy of the greatness 
 of his practice, without waste of time and temper over 
 house-hunting. He began to build at once, and had 
 to wait till 1785 before all the building was finished. 
 
 We owe to Dr. James Finlayson our knowledge of 
 the cost of the establishments in Leicester Square and at 
 Earl's Court. Seven years ago,i he published portions 
 of an account-book kept by William Clift, whose 
 story is told in Chapter IX. So soon as Hunter died, 
 Clift's first care was to keep things together, and to 
 mount guard over the vast store of preparations and of 
 manuscripts. He made the first entry in his accounts 
 on the day of Hunter's death ; and added to them 
 an estimate of the almost ruinous expenditure of his 
 later years. Behind the great house, with its four tall 
 drawing-room windows opening on the Square, lay the 
 lecturing-theatre, and the meeting-room or salon, the 
 " Conversazione Room." Above the theatre and the 
 salon was the Museum, a long galleried room, fifty- 
 
 ^ See British Medical Journal, 1890, i. pp. 738, 865. 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 two feet by twenty-eight, lighted from the top. The 
 house beyond, in Castle Street, was used for dissec- 
 tions, preparation of specimens, printing, and all the 
 general work of the Museum. In the Royal College 
 of Surgeons, there is a sketch by Clift of the 
 ground-floor of the Leicester Square buildings. He 
 marked on it, in his love of Hunter, everything : 
 where Mrs. Hunter's sedan-chair stood in the hall, 
 where the clock, Hunter's sofa-bed in the back par- 
 lour, the Reynolds portrait and the big Zuccarelli 
 cartoons in the salon, the drawbridge to admit car- 
 riages from the square into the stables, the yard where 
 they kept the whale's skull, and the spot " where Mr. 
 Huger met the Irishman," and every least detail of 
 the arrangement of the furniture. 
 
 After Hunter's death, his great rambling mansion, 
 three blocks thrown into one, passed through many 
 hands. Till 1806 the Museum was still filled with 
 his collection. Later, the premises were used as a 
 gallery for the exhibition and sale of pictures, then as 
 a Museum of the Mechanical Arts and National 
 Manufactures, then (1874) as the Headquarters of the 
 Middlesex Volunteer Artillery. And there is a tra- 
 dition that Stevenson drew from them his picture of 
 the house and museum of Dr. Jekyll.' 
 
 ' The house is No. 28, on the east side of the Square, immediately 
 next the south side of the Alhambra. At the present time (Sept., 1897) 
 the premises are in course of demolition. The front of the house is 
 hidden by a hoarding covered with advertisements, leaving visible only 
 the fine mouldings on the top of the front. The central buildings are 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 It was a ruinous bargain, to spend ^^ 6,000, with a 
 lease of only twenty-four years, on vast premises that 
 would not sell for half that money. But he liked 
 things done in the grand style, and kept a costly 
 establishment. We have Clift's account of it all : — 
 
 " Notwithstanding the very large eating and drink- 
 ing establishment on the preceding Pages ; and the 
 Host of Tradesmen employed, as the Bills hereafter 
 will show, together with the large outstanding Debts, 
 and money borrowed at Interest, of Gawler ; old 
 Mr. Clarke, Cuttler, of Exeter Change ; of Hannah 
 Appleby ; of Mrs. Home, etc., and the great expense 
 of increasing and supporting the Museum, and the 
 large prices he gave for individual Preparations ; and 
 the large sum he expended in building the stabling, 
 Conzersatione and lecture room, and Museum over 
 them, with an immense Skylight over the yard to 
 protect the Whale's Skull — of perhaps 500 superficial 
 feet of Glass — with Entrance Galleries, &c., and the 
 expensive but ineffectual Empyreal warm-Air Stoves 
 by Jackson & Moser, with the Great Draw-bridge and 
 slope made to let the Chariot down from the Street, 
 and consequent necessary great alterations of the 
 House, in Windows and Doorways for that purpose — 
 at more than ^6,000 — on a lease of about twenty 
 years. Notwithstanding the expence of keeping up 
 
 almost swept away. The Castle Street house (it was No. 13) is 
 half pulled down, just an empty shell still left. The last occupants of 
 the Leicester Square house were Messrs. Hawke, music publishers. 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 two establishments of Coaches and 6 Horses, Coach- 
 men and Footmen, &c., &c. ; Mr. Hunter was always 
 on the look-out for bits of Land adjoining to his 
 previous possessions at Earl's Court ; and for bargains, 
 many of them of little use, as an enormous Electrifying 
 apparatus ; a splendid but unfinished Air Pump invented 
 by the Earl of Bute, together with a grand Chemical 
 furnace and apparatus by ditto ; a magnificent and 
 highly finished Turning Lathe which was made for 
 the great Duke of Cumberland ; several beautiful and 
 large pieces of Tapestry ; Chinese Ivory puzzle-Balls ; 
 Armour of all sorts and kinds ; an acre of Landscapes 
 and figures painted by Zuccarelli as models for Tapes- 
 try, which covered the walls and doors of the Conver- 
 satione room ; as well as a very fine collection of proof 
 prints by Hogarth, Strange, Woollett, Sharp — of the 
 latter artist several hundred pounds' worth ; besides 
 Chinese Josses and beautiful nodding mandarines ; and 
 several original pictures by Zofi^any, Vandevelde, 
 Xuys, Ostade, Teniers, Stubbs, &c., &c. The large 
 number of animals, both tame and wild, that were 
 kept both in London and at Earl's Court, which 
 consisted not only of presents, but often considerably 
 expensive purchases ; serve only to make one Wonder 
 that Mr. Hunter had not died more involved, or that 
 he should have left anything for the support of his 
 family after all his Debts had been liquidated." 
 
 Clift's list of Hunter's household is of amazing 
 length : — 
 
 157 L 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 In the year 1792 Mr. Hunter's Family consisted of 
 the following Number of Persons : — 
 
 In Leicester Square, 
 
 r. John Hunter, Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 2. Mrs. Anne Hunter, his Wife, elder Sister to 
 Everard Home, Esq. 
 
 3. John Hunter, the Son ; from St. John's College, 
 Cambridge. 
 
 4. Agnes Hunter, the Daughter (now Lady Camp- 
 bell). 
 
 5. Everard Home, Esq. (afterwards Sir Everard 
 Home, Bt.). 
 
 6. Thomas Nicol, Esq., Son of the Rev. Dr. Nicol, 
 Articled Studt. 
 
 7. Dr. Edward Bradley, of Alresford, Hants, House 
 Pupil, I yr. 
 
 8. Mr. Francis Kinloch Huger, N. Carolina, House 
 Pupil, I yr. 
 
 9. Mr. James Smith, of Ecclefechan, N. Brit", 
 House Pupil, I yr. 
 
 10. Mr. Henry Jenner, nephew of Dr. Jenner, 
 Berkeley, i year. 
 
 Servants. 
 
 11. Robert Adcock, Butler (after Mr. Dewell). 
 
 12. Ann Martin, from Southampton, House Keeper. 
 
 13. Elizabeth Roby, from Rochester, Lady's Maid. 
 
 14. Mr. Hunter's Coachman, Joe. 
 
 158 
 
LONDON,- 1 783-1 793 
 
 15. Mr, Hunter's Footman, John. 
 
 16. Mrs. Hunter's Coachman, James Goodall. 
 
 17. Mrs. Hunter's Footman, George Smith. 
 
 18. Mary Edwards, from Llanbeder, cook (Ann 
 Denny, do.). 
 
 19. Martha Jones, House-Maid. 
 
 20. Little Peggy, do. {a great laugher). 
 
 21. Mrs. Long (Constant Needlewoman). 
 
 In Castle Street House. 
 
 22. Robert Haynes, Dissecting room and Lectures. 
 
 23. Elizabeth Adam, House and Door-Keeper. 
 
 24. William Clift, Museum and Amanuensis. 
 
 At EarPs Court, Kensington. 
 
 25. Peter Shields, Gardener. 
 
 26. Mrs. Shields, House-Keeper and Dairy Woman. 
 
 27. Betty, Laundry-maid. [Butter would not melt 
 in her mouth, but somehow she became enceinte by an 
 equally bashful Kensington sweetheart.) 
 
 28. Tom Barton, Carter. 
 
 29. Scotch Willie, Half-witted, employed in the 
 fields, 
 
 30. Old David, Head Under Gardener, Hot-houses, 
 &c. 
 
 31. Alexander, Out-door Gardener, and Spring- 
 guns. 
 
 32. Woman to weed in Garden, and fetch the 
 Cows, 
 
 159 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 33. Tom Barton's Wife, Assistant-Laundress. 
 
 34. Monsieur St. Aubin, Draughtsman, in House, 
 I yr. 
 
 35. Mr. Dupre, Secretary for Surgeon and Inspector 
 Gen'-. 
 
 36. Mr. Walker, Teacher of Elocution to John. 
 
 Outdoor Tradesmen, nearly constant employ. 
 
 37. Sawyer Carpenter in London. 
 
 38. „ Carpenter at Earl's Court. 
 
 39. Piper, Bricklayer and Mason, Earl's Court. 
 
 40. Benjamin Harris, Blacksmith, Castle Street. 
 
 41. Jas. Weatherall, Cabinet Maker and Joiner, 
 Upholsterer. 
 
 42. Painters and Glaziers, Hot and Green Houses. 
 
 43. \ Printers, nearly constant in Castle Street. 
 
 44. i-John Richardson, Compositor ; Long, Press- 
 
 45. J man, 
 
 — Mrs. Hunter's Livery Stable Keeper, Mr. Rand, 
 Golden Sq. 
 
 — Cart, Harness, and Collar-maker, Earl's Court. 
 ■ — Farrier, nearly Constant, from Under-ground 
 
 Stables. 
 
 — Stewardson, an old Butler^ a constant Visitor. 
 
 " From the above List, which is but Imperfect, and 
 
 Several of the Master Tradesmen sending Two or 
 
 more men, besides occasional helpers to the Coachmen, 
 
 Gardeners, and in the Grounds, &c., there were never 
 
 160 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 fewer than 50 Persons daily provided for at Mr. 
 Hunter's expence, exclusive of the House-Pupils, who 
 paid for their Board." 
 
 This list throws light on the fashionable side of 
 John Hunter's life. So near his death as 1792, in 
 spite of his enfeebled health, he would keep Clift 
 writing while he dictated, from seven to eleven at 
 night, " and sometimes an hour or two later ; " and Sir 
 Richard Owen, who married William Clift's daughter, 
 has said, "My father in law has described to me the 
 scene he often stayed to witness with sleep-laden eyes, 
 when the master could no longer dictate, and issued 
 from his study on the ground floor, to take his much- 
 needed repose, on one of Mrs. Hunter's reception- 
 nights, with difficulty stemming the social stream on 
 the staircase." 
 
 In August, 1784, Everard Home came back from 
 Jamaica, where he had been stafF-surgeon.i He says 
 that Hunter appeared to him much altered in his looks, 
 and much older than his years : — 
 
 " I found Mr. Hunter now advanced to a very con- 
 siderable share of private practice, and a still greater 
 share of the public confidence. His collection had 
 
 ' " I returned to England from Jamaica, where at the close of the war 
 I had been appointed stafF-surgeon. Sir Archibald Campbell, the gover- 
 nor, coming home, gave me leave of absence on account of my health, 
 and allowed me to attend him. We arrived in August, 1784, and I was 
 permitted to exchange upon half-pay.'' Sir Archibald Campbell was 
 brother' of Captain, afterward Sir James, Campbell, who married Hun- 
 ter's daughter Agnes. 
 
 161 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 increased with his income. In this he was materially 
 assisted by the friendship of Sir Joseph Banks, who 
 not only allowed him to take any of his own specimens, 
 but procured him every curious animal production in 
 his power, and afterwards divided between him and the 
 British Museum all the specimens of animals he had 
 collected in his voyage round the world. To his 
 friends the honourable Mr. Charles Greville and Mr. 
 Walsh he was also under particular obligations. 
 
 " Drawing materials from such ample sources, stand- 
 ing alone in this branch of science, and high in the 
 public estimation, he had so much attention paid to 
 him that no new animal was brought to this country 
 which was not shown to him ; many were given to 
 him ; and of those that were for sale he commonly 
 had the refusal. Under these circumstances his collec- 
 tion made a progress which would otherwise have 
 been impossible." 
 
 By his brother's death in 1783, Hunter was left 
 unrivalled in anatomy ; and by the death of Percivall 
 Pott in 1788 he became the first surgeon in London. 
 For these last few years he bore a stupendous burden 
 of work. As Thackeray says of Swift, he " tore 
 through life " : and the two men are not unlike in 
 temperament and suffering. His letters to Jenner, 
 about 1783-84, take up fresh subjects without drop- 
 ping those of former years. Two of them are con- 
 cerned with a case of colour-blindness : one giving 
 minute directions how Jenner is to test his patient's 
 162 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 judgment of colours and shades, the other worth 
 quoting as an example of Hunter's strange affection 
 for a sham sort of philosophy : — 
 
 Dear Jekner, — I received your's, with the heron's 
 legs. Could you get a live heron or bittern — 
 or see how they make the noise — and send them to 
 me ? I will pay expenses. 
 
 By the by, you were to have sent me some hedge- 
 hogs. I am putting my things into some order, and 
 shall find some Don Saltero's for you. 
 
 My proof of the non-existence of matter is in 
 colours, there being no such thing as a primary colour, 
 every colour being a mixture of two, making a third. 
 . . . All colours are compounds. But what are they 
 compounds of? Of nothing but themselves. And 
 what are themselves ? Nothing. If there were three 
 colours that were permanent (for with less than three 
 we can hardly compound to any extent), which could 
 not be produced from any compounding of colours, 
 then I would say there is something immutable in 
 matter, although metaphysicians might say this was 
 only an immutable idea, or an idea of immutability ; 
 but that is only applying abstract reasoning to matter, 
 or what we call matter ; but when we see that there 
 is no such thing as permanency in one species of 
 matter, viz., light, and that it can be proved from the 
 matter itself, it then comes more home to our under- 
 standings than all the reasoning in the world. — Yours 
 
 always, J. H. 
 
 163 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Other letters are about a discovery that Jenner 
 made at this time — a new method of preparing tartar 
 emetic ^ : — 
 
 I. 
 
 Nov., 1783. 
 Dear Jenner, — I received yours, w^ith the experi- 
 ments on heat and colours, but have not had time to 
 pay sufficient attention to the colours. I also received 
 your little publication w^ith the Tart. Emet. I have 
 a great deal to say about it. First, do you mean to 
 take out a patent ? Do you mean to advertize it ? 
 or do you mean to let it take its chance ? I approve 
 of it much, and will do all in my power to promote 
 the sale ; but I would advise you to give it a new 
 name, expressive either of the composition or of its 
 virtues on the body, viz., sal antim., or sal sudorif , or 
 sal antim. sudorif. I would also desire you to burn 
 your book, for you will have all the world making it. 
 Let me have your answer to all this. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 II. 
 
 Dec, 1783. 
 Dear Jenner, — I have delayed writing longer than 
 
 ^ " He had been often foiled and disappointed in practice by the 
 uncertainty of the action of this very useful medicine, arising from the 
 imperfection of its preparation. He therefore instituted some experi- 
 ments for the purpose of obtaining one more regular in its strength, and 
 consequently more uniform.in its operation.*' (Baron*s "Life of Jenner,") 
 
 164 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 I intended, and longer than what I should have done, 
 and even nowr I do not know^ what well to write. I 
 love a new name so well that I could have wished it 
 had been christened, Mr. Jones informed me that 
 there was a man of some fortune making experiments 
 with the same view ; he may hit on some method 
 much better than the present, and which may or may 
 not be as good as yours, or it may be thought to be as 
 good. I asked Jones if he had any objection to have 
 it advertised at his shop : he did not give me a direct 
 answer, and he is now out of town. I should be glad 
 to have a few of the printed accounts. I could send 
 them to different people — to Black and Cullen, &c., 
 among the rest. I like your experiment upon the 
 dogs with it : if you make any more, let me have 
 them. . . . Let me know what service I can be to 
 you. 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 III. 
 
 7«K., 1784. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I am pufEng ofF your tartar as 
 the tartar of all tartars, and have given it to several 
 physicians to make trial, but have had no account yet 
 of the success. Had you not better let a bookseller 
 have it to sell, as Glass of Oxford did his magnesia ? 
 Let it be called Jenner's Tartar Emetic, or anybody's 
 else that you please. If that mode will do, I v/ill 
 speak to some, viz., Newberry, &c. 
 
 165 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 You are very sly, although you think I cannot 
 see it ; you very modestly ask for a thermometer ; I 
 wrill send one, but take care those damned clumsy 
 fingers do not break it also. I should be glad to have 
 a particular account of the cuckoo, and, as far as 
 possible, under your ovi^n eye. To put all matters 
 out of dispute, if the cuckoo's eggs w^ere taken out 
 of the hedge-sparrow's nest in wrhich they w^ere laid, 
 and put into another's, by human hands, there could 
 be no supposition that the parent cuckoo wrould feed or 
 take care of them. I also want some young ones. I 
 had a series from you, but a moth got in among them, 
 and plucked them. Let me hear from you when 
 you can. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Jan. 26, 1784. 
 Dear Jenner, — To show you how much I am 
 pleased to hear from you, I- sit down to acknowledge 
 the receipt of yours this evening. Somebody before 
 told me of your experiment on swallows ; but you 
 should not have made the same experiment on both 
 the old and the young of the same nest, for you do 
 not know whether it was the old or the young that 
 returned. I have been for some time going to write 
 to you, to inform you that there is a medical society 
 set up here, who intend to give papers in medicine and 
 
 166 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 surgery, and also to receive. I think your paper on the 
 Tart. Emetic would make a good paper, and probably 
 the one on the ophthalmia, which you may probably 
 take a little more pains about. If you should like to 
 have them published, I can communicate them. If 
 your account of the cuckoo is not so full as you see it 
 may be, keep it to another year, for I am in no hurry. 
 I am, dear Jenner, 
 Ever yours,- 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 V. 
 
 May 29, 1784. 
 Dear Jenner, — You must excuse me if I am not 
 very punctual in my answers ; it is my loss, not yours. 
 In my last but one you mention my having anything 
 of the porpoise I wanted. . . I hope you have got the 
 thermometer. I want the cuckoo cleared up : I am 
 afraid it is now too late. I wish you would shoot an 
 old one for me, and send its gizzard in spirits. 
 
 I wish you would draw out the process of making 
 the tartar emetic. The physicians that I have given 
 it to speak well of it as a more certain medicine than 
 the other ; however, I am afraid it will be too late for 
 this year's publication ; but put it to paper. Your 
 paper must be published before you can think of being 
 a member, and then we will stir for you. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 167 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 In Hunter's time the possession of secret remedies 
 (Letter I.) was not thought wholly disgraceful. 
 Hunter would meet Plunkett, the cancer-curer, in con- 
 sultation — "I have no objection to meet anybody" — 
 and there is a good story of his meeting a famous 
 quack, Taylor, of Whitworth, whom the Lord Chan- 
 cellor Thurlow had got to see his brother, Thurlow, 
 Bishop of Durham. Several members of the faculty, 
 Hunter among them, met Taylor to consult over the 
 Bishop's case. Hunter was late, and they asked Taylor 
 to examine the case without delay ; but he said he 
 would do nothing till Jack Hunter came, for he had 
 no opinion of anybody but him. When Hunter 
 arrived, he took up a box of ointment that Taylor 
 was using, and asked what the ointment was made 
 of Taylor turned to the Lord Chancellor, and said, 
 " That's not a fair question ; no, no, Jack, I'll send 
 you as much as you please, but I won't tell you what 
 it's made of." Jenner might have kept his method to 
 himself; but he followed the advice of Hunter's 
 second thoughts, and in June, 1784, his paper was 
 read before the Society for the Promotion of Medical 
 and Chirurgical Knowledge. It was in February of 
 this year that the Society received Hunter's memorable 
 paper on " Inflammation of the Veins." 
 
 The next year, 1785, was half wrecked by angina 
 and gout together. He had his first severe attack in 
 April ; again, in May, he was taken ill, and on 
 May 20 told Pitcairn that six weeks ago he had 
 
 168 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 cut his hand examining the body of a patient who 
 had died of hydrophobia, and that he had gone in 
 fear of it for the last fortnight. In June he began 
 to amend, but still had attacks of pain : — 
 
 " He continued very much in the same way till 
 August, when he went to Tunbridge, and drank 
 the waters for about a fortnight, without the least 
 benefit, but rather conceived he was worse. From 
 thence he hurried to Bath,i the first week in Septem- 
 ber, and drank the waters for four weeks, twice before 
 breakfast and once at noon. Having drunk them for 
 about a fortnight, he began to bathe every other night 
 in the hot-bath, and on the intermediate nights put 
 his feet into the hot-bath waters, and sometimes rode 
 on horseback. After being there three weeks he did 
 not find the least benefit ; but on Monday, the begin- 
 ning of the fourth week, he found that his walking to 
 the pump-room did not bring on the spasm as usual, 
 and found also that he could extend his walk very 
 
 ^ From Mrs. Hunter to Edward yenner. 
 
 Bath, Sept, 13, 1785. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I take it for granted you will not be sorry to hear 
 
 Mr. Hunter is so near you, though you will lament that want of health 
 
 is the occasion. He has been tormented with a flying gout since last 
 
 March, and we are come here in hope of some favourable crisis before 
 
 the winter. He has been inquiring for the post to Berkeley, and I find 
 
 within this hour that it goes off this evening ; as he is now asleep after 
 
 dinner, I rather write myself than disturb his nap, to inform you of our 
 
 being in your neighbourhood, and that Mr. Hunter will be glad to hear 
 
 from you. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your obedient Servant, 
 
 A. Hunter. 
 169 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 considerably on that day ; on Tuesday he was not 
 quite so well, although when he compared that day 
 with the preceding days, or rather months, he could 
 say that he was better. This seemed to be a step 
 gained. In this state he left Bath, and continued the 
 same throughout the whole winter." (Home.) 
 
 Henceforth he must have some help in his practice 
 and affairs : and from this time till 1 792 Everard Home 
 lived with him, helped him at operations, took any 
 work that came at night, and attended to his general 
 business ; and in 1792 married, and took a house for 
 himself only a few doors off. 
 
 The move into the new premises in Leicester Square 
 was made in the summer of this same year 1785. 
 Everard Home, William Bell, and a new assistant, Mr. 
 Andre, all helped to move the preparations and store 
 them in the new museum. There are two letters to 
 Jenner, written a short time before Hunter moved 
 house : — 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I am very much obliged to you 
 for your attention to me. I will very readily give 
 three guineas for the bustard, therefore give such 
 orders as you think fit. I request the whole history 
 of the cuckoos this summer from you. I have bought 
 a house in Leicester-fields, and shall move this 
 summer, when I shall be able to pick out some things 
 for you. Give my compliments to Clench, and I 
 170 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 hope to see him before he sets out for Newfoundland ; 
 if I do not, let him think of the white hares, to tame 
 a buck and doe, and send them to me. Let me know 
 in your next what you are doing. I hope to see you 
 in London in about two years hence, when I shall be 
 able to show you something. 
 
 I am, dear Jenner, 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 When the bustard arrives, I will write you. 
 
 II. 
 
 April %% (1785). 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I have received the bustard safe, 
 as also the bones. Your friend Mr. Hazeland has 
 been very kind, for which I wrote to him and 
 thanked him ; but when you see him or write to him, 
 express the same, as an indirect thank is better than a 
 thousand direct ones. Are hedgehogs in great plenty ? 
 I should like to have a few. You must pursue the 
 cuckoo this summer. I am employed building, mov- 
 ing, &c. I wish this summer was well over. When 
 I am fitted up, I hope you will come and see me. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 The year thus interrupted by illness and by house- 
 moving was yet the annus mirahilis of Hunter's life as 
 a surgeon ; in December he performed for the first 
 time the operation for aneurysm which will always be 
 171 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 associated with his name — tying the main artery high 
 up above the disease, and leaving the collateral circu- 
 lation to nourish the parts beyond the ligature. This 
 operation, wrhich has saved thousands of limbs and 
 lives, w^as the result of work in many fields of 
 thought ; in it he united a whole multitude of facts 
 from anatomy, physiology, clinical experience, post 
 mortem examinations, and experiments on animals ; it 
 remains one of the best deductions ever made in 
 surgical practice. And to show that he was not over- 
 adventurous in thus altering the rules of his art, we 
 have his own words concerning the operation : — 
 
 "In this account it may be supposed that I carry 
 my notions too far ; but it is to be understood that I 
 only give my own feelings upon this subject, and I go 
 no further in theory than I would perform in practice, 
 if patients, being acquainted with the consequences of 
 the disease, would submit to, or rather desire, the 
 operation ; nor do I go further than I now think I 
 would have performed on myself were I in the same 
 situation. Not that I would have it supposed that 1 
 would recommend this at large ; I would have no 
 one perform an operation that he is not clear about 
 the propriety of himself. . . , Although I would 
 perform the operation on all the arteries I have 
 mentioned, and if I laboured under them myself 
 would have them performed on me, yet I would wish 
 every person to judge for himself, and not attempt an 
 operation if he is fearful." 
 
 172 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 The next year, 1786, found and left Hunter less fit 
 for work, yet ever engaged in it. From June to 
 September, says Home, he was able to take a long walk 
 slowly, but would have a slight attack of pain on the 
 least exertion ; in October he was obliged always to 
 use his carriage, because he could not walk fast enough 
 to keep himself warm ; he had now given up wine, 
 and was beginning to get fat from want of exercise. 
 This was a year of much writing ; in the spring, he 
 published his " Treatise on the Venereal Disease," and 
 a few months later his "Observations on Certain 
 Parts of the Animal CEconomy." Both these books 
 were printed under his own supervision, at his own 
 house, and thence published : — 
 
 " His reason for doing this was that before the 
 Irish Union it was no infrequent proceeding with 
 booksellers to send a copy of the manuscript, or else 
 the proof sheets, of any valuable work to Dublin, 
 where a cheap edition was hastily got up and imported 
 to England so as to be ready for sale as soon as the 
 original work ; by which means the author was de- 
 prived of the profits which would have accrued to him 
 from a second edition being called for. This proceed- 
 ing, however, gave great offence to the booksellers ; 
 and as some of them were old friends, with whom he 
 did not wish to quarrel, he gave the publication of the 
 second edition of the ' Animal CEconomy ' to Mr. 
 Nicol, of Pall Mall, and Johnson of St. Paul's 
 Churchyard." (Ottley.) 
 
 173 M 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 The Treatise, every page of it, was submitted to a 
 committee of friends — Sir Gilbert Blane, Dr. Fordyce, 
 Dr, David Pitcairn, and Dr. Marshall. It was a 
 quarto volume of 398 pages, with plates, price a 
 guinea. " The sale of it was rapid at first, from 
 curiosity being artificially raised, as the papers of the 
 day had announced that it was to throw all former 
 productions at a humble distance " — (Jesse Foot) — 
 and a second edition was published in 1788. He had 
 spent an infinity of trouble over it, and had laid a 
 heavy task on his four friends to give lucidity and 
 style to what was laboured and obscure ; unwilling, 
 as he often said, that any future edition should make 
 the first edition useless. A third edition was pub- 
 lished, the year after Hunter's death, by Everard 
 Home, with omissions and additions of his own inven- 
 tion. 
 
 The "Animal CEconomy," most characteristic of 
 all Hunter's works, was a reprint of nine monographs 
 already published in the Transactions of the Royal 
 Society, with others added to them ; a wonderful 
 series of experiments and observations. A second 
 edition was published in 1792, to which were added 
 two more monographs and some more illustra- 
 tions. 
 
 This same year, 1786, on the death of Mr. Middle- 
 ton, Hunter was appointed Deputy-Surgeon-General 
 of the Army. There are two letters about this time 
 to Jenner : — 
 
 174 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 I. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I have been long expecting a long 
 
 letter from you, informing me of your method of 
 
 curing ophthalmias, history of cuckoos, &c. I received 
 
 your dog-fish ; are you sure that the spaw^n or egg 
 
 came from her ? There were none in her ; if it did, 
 
 then there is a species of dog-fish oviparous. Let me 
 
 hear from you soon. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 Sept. yth. 
 
 II. 
 
 Dear Jenner, — I have all your letters before me, 
 but whether I have answered any of them or not I 
 cannot recollect. First, I thank you for your account 
 of the cuckoo, and what further observations you can 
 make I shall be glad to have them, or even a repetition 
 of the former will be very acceptable. I received the 
 bird : it is well known ; but I look upon myself as 
 equally obliged to you. I also received your cocks, 
 which were very good. I have bought the print of 
 Wright, viz.. The Smiths, which is his best. There 
 is one more I would have you have, I mean Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds's print of Count Ugolino ; it is most ad- 
 mirable, and fit only for a man of taste. We had a 
 sale of bad pictures lately, but there were some good 
 heads : I gave a commission for them for you, thinking 
 they would come cheap, but unluckily there were some 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 that saw their merit as well as I, and they sold above 
 my commission. Pictures seem to be rising again. I 
 will not send you yours till I hear from you. 
 
 I am told there is the skin of a toad in Berkeley 
 Castle that is of prodigious size. Let me know the 
 truth of it, its dimensions, what bones are still in it, 
 and if it can be stolen by some invisible being. I 
 buried two toads last August was a twelvemonth ; 
 I opened the grave last October, and they were well 
 and lively. 
 
 Have you any queer fish ? Write to me soon, and 
 let me have all the news, &c., &c. 
 
 Anny sends, with little John, their compliments. 
 
 From yours, &c., 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 In 1787, Hunter communicated to the Royal Society 
 three papers ; one giving some experiments on the re- 
 productive power of animals ; another on the identity of 
 species of the wolf, the jackal, and the dog ; the third 
 was his famous account of the structure and ceconomy 
 of whales. For the first of these papers, he had kept 
 note for five years of the fertility of two similar animals 
 under different conditions : — 
 
 " It may be thought by some that I should have 
 repeated the experiment ; but an annual expense of 
 twenty pounds for ten years, and the necessary atten- 
 tion to make the experiment complete, will be a 
 sufficient reason for my not having done it." 
 176 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 The second paper gives a glimpse of shops that have 
 long vanished from the London streets — Mr. Brookes, 
 who dealt in animals, and lived in the New Road ; 
 Mr. Gough, who sold birds and had a collection of 
 animals on Holborn Hill ; Mr. Bailey, bird merchant, 
 in Piccadilly. And it shows how Hunter worked by 
 correspondence, writing to any one who would answer 
 a question or make an observation for him — Sir Joseph 
 Banks, Lord Wilton, Captain Mears, Mr. Flaw of 
 Tottenham Court Road, and Mr. Cameron of Titch- 
 field Street, who had lived many years among the 
 Cherokees. 
 
 The monograph on the " Structure and CEconomy 
 of Whales " occupies more than sixty pages of Palmer's 
 edition of Hunter's works. It begins with regret 
 that his opportunities had been so few ; yet he had 
 examined or dissected several porpoises, two grampuses, 
 two bottle-nosed whales, a rorqual, a narwhal, a sperma- 
 ceti whale, and a large whalebone whale : — 
 
 " Such opportunities too seldom occur, because these 
 animals are only to be found in distant seas, which no 
 one explores in search of natural history ; neither can 
 they be brought to us alive from thence, which pre- 
 vents our receiving their bodies in a state fit for 
 dissection. Some of them are sought after as objects 
 of profit ; but gain being the primary view, the re- 
 searches of the naturalist are only considered as 
 secondary points, if considered at all. At the best, our 
 opportunities of examining such animals do not often 
 
 177 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 occur till the parts are in such a state as to defeat the 
 purposes of accurate inquiry. The parts of such 
 animals being formed on so large a scale is another 
 cause which prevents any great degree of accuracy in 
 their examination, more especially when it is considered 
 how very inconvenient for accurate dissections are 
 barges, open fields, and such places as are fit to receive 
 animals or parts of such vast bulk. 
 
 "As the opportunities of ascertaining the anatomical 
 structure of large marine animals are generally acci- 
 dental, I have availed myself as much as possible of all 
 that have occurred ; and, anxious to get more exten- 
 sive information, engaged a surgeon, at a considerable 
 expense,! to make a voyage to Greenland in one of the 
 ships employed in the whale fishery, and furnished him 
 with such necessaries as I thought might be requisite 
 for examining and preserving the more interesting 
 parts, and with instructions for making general observa- 
 tions ; but the only return I received for this expense 
 was a piece of whale's skin, with some small animals 
 sticking upon it." 
 
 In spite of the difficulties of his work, he found 
 pleasure in dissecting such vast creatures : — 
 
 " In our examination of particular parts, we behold 
 them vs'ith astonishment in animals so far exceeding 
 the common bulk as the whale. Thus the heart and 
 aorta of the spermaceti whale appeared prodigious, 
 being too large to be contained in a wide tub, the 
 
 ' It is said that Hunter paid ;f 500. 
 178 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 aorta measuring a foot in diameter. When we con- 
 sider these as applied to the circulation, and figure to 
 ourselves that probably ten or fifteen gallons of blood 
 are thrown out at one stroke, and moved with an 
 immense velocity through a tube of a foot diameter, 
 the whole idea fills the mind with wonder." 
 
 This year, 1787, he received the Copley medal of 
 the Royal Society, and was elected a member of the 
 American Philosophical Society. His immense collec- 
 tion was now at last arranged in perfect order in the 
 new Museum, and he set aside two months in the year 
 to show and explain it to visitors : October for the 
 profession. May for the " noblemen and gentlemen who 
 were only in town during the spring : " and this custom 
 he observed for the rest of his life. 
 
 About this time, Sir Joshua Reynolds painted the 
 portrait of him which is in the possession of the Royal 
 College of Surgeons. Hunter had often been asked by 
 his friends to sit for his portrait, but had refused : he 
 did not wish that they should pay the hundred guineas 
 for it, he could not well afFord them himself, and he 
 hated the business of sitting. But his friend William 
 Sharp, the engraver, persuaded him ; and Reynolds 
 promised to paint a masterpiece. Hunter was a bad 
 sitter, and the portrait came to be nearly finished 
 without being successful ; then one day Hunter, as he 
 was sitting, fell into deep thought. Reynolds silently 
 turned his canvas upside down, and sketched a new 
 head between the legs of the figure he had already 
 
 179 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 painted. Thus he obtained the fine contrast between 
 Hunter and the things round him — the manuscripts, the 
 jars containing preparations, and the dangling feet of 
 the Irish giant's skeleton. On the occasion of each 
 Hunterian Oration at the College, this picture is hung 
 opposite the audience, and above the Orator. Then 
 one sees it at its best, set for commemoration and 
 oration : the image of Hunter, and the praise of him, 
 are for the hour united to give one impression ; and 
 that is the right way to see a portrait. 
 
 The friendship between Hunter and William Sharp 
 is to be noted ; for the two men were wholly unlike : — 
 
 " Poor Sharp, though a man of extraordinary talent 
 in his art, was singularly devoid of common sense. 
 He was a firm behever in the pretensions of the 
 prophet Brothers, and in Joanna Southcote ; but at 
 the same time a man of profligate habits. Hunter 
 was a great admirer of his talents as an artist, and 
 possessed a large portfolio of splendid engravings by 
 Sharp and other eminent masters in the art. Sharp 
 always considered his engraving of Hunter (the 
 Reynolds portrait) as one of his happiest efforts, and 
 was found poring over it with admiration forty years 
 after he had executed it. Hunter took fifty copies of 
 the engraving at two guineas each." (Ottley.) 
 
 The next year, 1788, Hunter had the pleasure of 
 
 seeing through his own press, and publishing from his 
 
 own office, a second edition of his two-year-old book, 
 
 the first thousand copies having all been sold within 
 
 180 
 
LONDON, 1 783-1 793 
 
 twelve months. He published no other work this 
 year ; and suffered innumerable attacks of angina. 
 He was still compelled, since he could not save money, 
 to work for it : — 
 
 May^ 1788. 
 " Dear Jenner, — I have been going to write to 
 you some time past, but business and a very severe 
 indisposition for three weeks past has prevented me ; 
 but when two guineas rouse me, I cannot resist. He 
 should be very temperate in eating, drinking, and 
 exercise ; eat no salt nor made dishes ; drink no fer- 
 mented liquors. . . . Your paper has been read, 
 passed the Council, and is in print, for I had a proof 
 sheet this day, and I have ordered fifty copies, twenty- 
 five for you, and twenty-five for myself, to give to 
 friends. . . . Mrs. Hunter's and my compliments to 
 Mrs. Jenner. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 
 Your most obedient Servant, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 At the end of the year, on the 22nd of December, 
 Percivall Pott died, midway between the threescore 
 years and ten and the fourscore years ; and Hunter 
 was now the head of his profession. Even Jesse 
 Foot admits this : " I think I may affirm that his 
 consultations were more in fashion than any other 
 surgeon's, and that his range of practice was more 
 extensive ; that we heard more of the name of John 
 
 181 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Hunter than of any other surgepn." And Adams 
 gives a pleasant picture of the rush of practice that 
 came to the big house in Leicester Square : — 
 
 " He had now arrived at the highest rank in his 
 profession ; was consulted by all those surgeons who 
 were attached to Mr. Pott during that gentleman's 
 lifetime ; he was almost adored by the rising genera- 
 tion of medical men, who seemed to quote him as the 
 schools at one time did Aristotle. . . . His town 
 house was beginning to return all the sums it had cost 
 him ; it was spacious, and exactly suited for his 
 residence. The ground floor was occupied for pro- 
 fessional purposes ; and such was the afflux of morning 
 patients, that to find room for them the drawing-room 
 sometimes was so suddenly deserted that the French 
 grammar and other implements of instruction were 
 left behind." 
 
 The premises in Leicester Square were used for 
 many purposes. In the great house in front he saw 
 his patients ; and Foot says he often came to them 
 with signs of the dissecting room about him. There 
 was a sofa-bed in his study, for his use when he was 
 exhausted or in pain. The house at the back, facing 
 into Castle Street, was used for dissections and museum 
 work, and probably received, through a back-way, 
 bodies brought for dissection ; and the place was 
 duly marked on Clift's pen-and-ink sketch, "Where 
 Mr. Huger (one of the house-pupils) met the Irish- 
 man," as if the Irish giant's skeleton had been brought 
 182 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 back from Earl's Court to Leicester Square. The 
 
 Castle Street house also contained a printing-room, 
 
 and an office where Hunter's books were sold ; Jesse 
 
 Foot went to the warehouse in 1786, to buy the new 
 
 book, and found his friend Andre folding up the 
 
 sheets, and women stitching them. "Such are the 
 
 ludicrous sports of Fortune. It is with infinite 
 
 pleasure I am able to tell that he has found a 
 
 retreat, secure from the perilous peltings of adversity, 
 
 as domestic librarian to a nobleman." The central 
 
 suite of rooms, below the Museum, was used for a sort 
 
 of medical conversazione every Sunday evening during 
 
 the winter ; " they were regaled with tea and coffee," 
 
 says Foot, "and treated with medical occurrences." 
 
 It was also the meeting-place of the Lyceum Medicum 
 
 Londinense, a medical society founded by Hunter and 
 
 Fordyce in 1785 ; "a society for disputation," says 
 
 Foot again, "where all were of the same opinion, and 
 
 which consisted of the same members who visited his 
 
 levee. The room was called Lyceum Medicum ; 
 
 galleries were erected round it, the president wore his 
 
 hat on, and John Hunter was the patron." Dr. 
 
 Newton Pitt's account of the two medical societies 
 
 especially associated with Hunter is put at the end of 
 
 this chapter. 
 
 In 1789, after fourteen years, Mr. Bell left Hunter's 
 service, and went to Sumatra as an assistant-surgeon in 
 the employ of the East India Company, " to improve 
 his fortune, and to collect specimens in natural 
 
 183 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 history." Three years later he died of fever 
 there. 
 
 This same year, 1789, Mr. Adair died ; who thirty 
 years ago had given Hunter his first appointment in 
 the service. Hunter now succeeded him both as 
 Surgeon-General and as Inspector-General. The 
 salary of these two appointments was in time of 
 war j^ 1,200 ; he might seem to be at last free 
 from all want of money; but if 1789 lightened 
 one load, it made another more heavy : — 
 
 "About the beginning of December, in the evening, 
 when at the house of a friend on a visit, he was 
 attacked with a total loss of memory ; he did not know 
 in what part of the town he was, not even the name 
 of the street when told it, nor where his own house 
 was ; he had not a conception of any place existing 
 beyond the room he was in, and yet was perfectly 
 conscious of the loss of memory." (Home.) 
 
 He regained his memory in half an hour ; but a 
 fortnight later he was attacked with giddiness, derange- 
 ment of vision, and loss of sleep ; and was ill for some 
 weeks. His health was impaired from this time 
 onward; "in the autumn 1790, and in the spring 
 and autumn 1791, he had more severe attacks than 
 during the other periods of the year, but of not more 
 than a few hours' duration ; in the beginning of 
 October, 1792, one at which I was present was so 
 violent that I thought he would have died." 
 
 Of three letters to Jenner in 1789, two are but a 
 184 
 
LONDON, 1 783-1 793 
 
 few lines long, on Jenner's election to the Royal 
 Society ; the third speaks for itself : — 
 
 Jan.^ 1789. 
 Dear Jenner, — I wish you joy ; it never rains 
 but it pours. Sooner than the brat should not be a 
 Christian I will stand godfather, for I should be 
 unhappy if the poor little thing should go to the devil 
 because I would not stand godfather. I hope Mrs. 
 Jenner is well, and that you begin to look grave now 
 you are a father. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 J. Hunter. 
 
 This year he gave to the Society for the Improve- 
 ment of Medical and Chirurgical Knowledge his paper 
 on Intro-susception ; '■ and next year, 1 790, that on 
 Paralysis of the Muscles of Deglutition, with the 
 method of feeding the patient through a tube. On 
 Dec. 8, 1790, he writes to Jenner on some surgical 
 questions, and adds, " I should be glad to employ you 
 if I knew in what, but if anything comes across my 
 imagination I will think of you. How does Mrs. 
 Jenner do ? Do you bring her to London ? What 
 family have you got ? My compliments to Mrs. 
 Jenner." Later, he writes, " What are you about ? I 
 have not heard of you or from you this long time. 
 You must certainly be about some mischief that keeps 
 
 ' For an account of this paper, see British Medical Journal^ 1897, ii. 
 p. 300, "An Interesting Document," 
 
 185 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 you so quiet. Let me know what you are doing, or 
 else I will blow you, and have you brought to town as 
 a criminal." And on Dec. lo, 1791, he writes again, 
 asking for more hedgehogs, and urging Jenner and 
 Mrs. Jenner to come to town. 
 
 In 1792, he was made a member of the Royal 
 College of Surgeons in Ireland, and of the Chirurgico- 
 Physical Society of Edinburgh, and a Vice-President 
 of the new Veterinary College of London. This year 
 he published in the Transactions of the Royal Society 
 his observations on Bees — twenty years' work, which 
 alone would have made his name memorable ; and he 
 was busy finishing his Treatise on the Blood, Inflam- 
 mation, and Gunshot Wounds. But he was now 
 growing old, more from illness than from age ; and 
 angina had got the upper hand of him. In 1787 he 
 had obtained the help of an Assistant-Surgeon for his 
 hospital work ; in 1 790, after nearly twenty years, 
 he gave up lecturing. Everard Home became his 
 Assistant-Surgeon ; he took the lectures ; ^ he even 
 
 ' The advertisement of them, in the World, Sept. 4, 1790, says : 
 
 SURGERY AND ANATOMY. 
 
 On Monday, October the 4th, 
 
 At Seven o'clock in the Evening, 
 
 Mr. Hunter's Course of Lectures on the Theory and Principles 
 
 of Surgery, will be begun and continued as usual. 
 
 The Lectures will be read this Winter by his Brother-in-Law, 
 
 Me. Home. 
 
 At the same time will be opened the Rooms for 
 
 Practical Anatomy. 
 
 For particulars of the Lectures and Dissections, incjuire at No. 13, 
 
 Castle Street, Leicester Square. 
 
 186 
 
LONDON, 1 783-1 793 
 
 began to write the monographs, "from materials 
 furnished by Mr. Hunter." 
 
 Dr. Newton Pitt, in his Hunterian Oration, Feb. 
 13, 1896, gave a most valuable account of the 
 Medical Societies of Hunter's time. Unhappily there 
 is only room here to reprint a small part of it ; but 
 the whole Oration should be studied for the light it 
 throws on medical affairs in those days. It was 
 published in the Lancet^ May 9, 1896. He says 
 of the Society for the Improvement of Medical and 
 Chirurgical Knowledge : — 
 
 " This Society issued three volumes of Transactions 
 between 1793 and 18 12. The Society was founded 
 by John Hunter and George Fordyce, senior physician 
 to St. Thomas's Hospital, in 1783, which is the date 
 of delivery of the first paper, but none were published 
 till ten years after. The society originally consisted 
 of nine members, with power to increase up to twelve, 
 but not beyond ; and only eighteen, whose names are 
 given in the minute book, joined during the thirty 
 years of its existence. They met once a month at 
 Slaughter's Coffee-house, and after dinner read and 
 discussed the papers. Members to be eligible were 
 required to be living in the neighbourhood so as to 
 
 187 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 attend regularly, and they were required to be 
 physicians or surgeons of five years' standing, or to 
 be on the staff of St. Bartholomew's, St. George's, 
 Guy's, or St. Thomas's Hospital. The first volume 
 of Transactions was published in 1793, the year of 
 Hunter's death ; and after 1812, when the last volume 
 was issued, the society continued merely as a club of 
 ten, who dined together once a month. They had 
 been, according to their last secretary (Mr. Benjamin 
 Brodie), a very exclusive society ; and finally dissolved 
 in 1818." 
 
 The Lyceum Medicum Londinense was very dif- 
 ferent, having a very large membership, mostly or 
 men not yet qualified : — 
 
 " The society was established under the patronage 
 of John Hunter and Dr. George Fordyce in January, 
 1785. The meetings were held every Friday evening 
 from 8.30 p.m. to 11 p.m. between October and May, 
 in Hunter's lecture-room. . . . The Royal College 
 of Surgeons of England possess a copy of the rules of 
 the society, and a list of members from the foundation 
 to the date of publication, 1792, from which we learn 
 the following particulars. The society consisted of 
 honorary, corresponding, and ordinary members ; the 
 latter being divided up into three classes. The 
 six honorary members were the following teachers : 
 John Hunter, lecturer on Surgery in the Hay- 
 market ; George Fordyce, lecturer on Physic at 
 Essex Street ; William Saunders, lecturer on Physic 
 i88 
 
LONDON, 1 783-1 793 
 
 at Guy's Hospital ; William Osborn and Thomas 
 Denman, lecturers on Midwifery at Leicester Square ; 
 and William Cruikshank, lecturer on Anatomy at the 
 Hunterian Museum, Great Windmill Street (William 
 Hunter's school). The corresponding members, 21, 
 were teachers or members of hospital stafis in the 
 country. The ordinary members were (i) those 
 who had taken a qualification or were in practice, 
 78, including Baillie, Home, Babington, Adair, 
 Abernethy, and Astley Cooper ; (2) those, 314, who 
 had attended a hospital, and one course of lectures 
 on Anatomy and the practice of Physic; (3) those, 
 only 7, who were commencing their studies. Those 
 belonging to (i) and (2) were required in turn to 
 read a dissertation which, on the following Friday, 
 was read out by the President and discussed. The 
 first hour of each meeting was devoted to the narration 
 of medical cases. The society possessed a library, 
 and presented a gold medal annually for the best 
 dissertation on a set subject. Fines were inflicted on 
 a member who left a meeting without publicly standing 
 up and asking permission, and for each time he failed 
 to attend the meetings until he had read a dissertation, 
 after which he attended at his convenience. There 
 was an entrance fee of a guinea." 
 
 The whole of Dr. Newton Pitt's Oration should be 
 read. At the end of it, he quotes from a pamphlet, 
 " Reflexions on a Letter addressed to the Governors 
 of St. George's Hospital by John Hunter in 1792." 
 
 189 N 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 The writer, after abusing Hunter for his want of 
 education, says — 
 
 " Your disputing societies, several varieties of 
 lectures in a day, and a squint at an operation, are the 
 fashionable attendances of the modern student. Since 
 the Medical Tea-sipping Society was commenced, 
 mankind has been classed to view the wonders of your 
 museum, and the world indulged with a volume of 
 your notions at the common price. It is ridiculous to 
 observe how this tea-kettle invitation has spread. An 
 apothecary may now take his tea gratis and have a 
 game of whist for only the price of the cards every 
 evening in the week, if he keeps a regular list of the 
 bread-and-butter manufactories." 
 
 II. 
 
 Miss Baillie has kindly allowed me to print the 
 following account of Mrs. Hunter, written by Mrs. 
 Milligan, daughter of Matthew Baillie. 
 
 " I will begin my reminiscences with the account of 
 Mrs. John Hunter, who, except my grandfather 
 (Thomas Denman), is the earhest living link to 
 remote times. She was born 1742, and remembered 
 when a young child the panic at the rising of Charles 
 Edward in 1745, and on hearing the people around 
 her speak of where they should go for safety, she said 
 that she had heard Heaven was a very good place to 
 go to, and that she would like to go there. She 
 married my Father's Uncle, the celebrated John 
 190 
 
LONDON, 1 783-1 793 
 
 Hunter, and was very much distinguished in the 
 Society of her day. She was very handsome, tall, and 
 singularly dignified and ladyhke in appearance, and 
 she had a generally cultivated mind, with special gifts 
 for poetry and music. . . . She had during the season 
 a party on one regular day in the week, when in 
 addition to her own, there were the attractions of her 
 sister Miss Home, who had a beautiful voice, and sang 
 charmingly. Her conversation was bright and spark- 
 ling, and her manners were gentle and unassuming. I 
 have heard my Aunt Agnes speak of the celebrated 
 people she met at Mrs. Hunter's, amongst whom she 
 mentioned Lord Orford, Madame D'Arblay, Mrs. 
 Ehzabeth Carter (between whom and Mrs. Hunter was 
 a personal regard) and also Mrs. Montague, whom my 
 Aunt admired much. It may be supposed that many 
 persons were desirous to join these assemblies, but Mrs. 
 Hunter wished to keep them select, and knew well 
 how to repress intruders. One lady was so anxious to 
 obtain admission that she resorted to the expedient of 
 sending to Mr. Hunter to bleed her, in the hope of 
 thus producing an acquaintance, but I do not know 
 whether the plan succeeded. Mrs. Hunter never 
 entertained company after Mr. Hunter's death in 1793. 
 His magnificent museum was bought by Government, 
 and an annuity was purchased for Mrs. Hunter with 
 the sum paid for it, so that tho' with limited means she 
 had enough not only for comfort but for ladylike and 
 suitable arrangements. Her beautiful daughter married 
 
 191 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Captain, afterwards Sir James, Campbell ; who tho' not 
 rich promoted the purchase of the annuity, obviously 
 to his own disadvantage. 
 
 " When I first remember Mrs. Hunter, which was 
 in my earliest childhood, she was about 60, but there 
 was still much to be admired in her appearance. She 
 was delicately fair, and her features were delicate as 
 well as her complexion. She was very tall and singu- 
 larly dignified and ladylike in her appearance and 
 manners, and her dress and everything about her had a 
 stamp of refinement. When I first recollect her, her 
 sister Miss Home lived with her, but tho' younger she 
 died before Mrs. Hunter, who hved alone for many 
 years before her death, which took place in 1821. 
 She resided in a small house in Lower Grosvenor 
 Street, in order to be near my father and mother, 
 who showed her constant and affectionate attention. 
 She was very kind to me. 
 
 " Lady Campbell afterwards married Colonel Charley- 
 wood, but had no children by either marriage. She 
 was very beautiful, and was much admired for her 
 charm of manner and sparkling conversation." 
 
 HI. 
 
 From Mrs. Hunter to Mrs. Joanna Baillie. 
 Lower Grosvenor Street, 
 
 Wednesday, Oct. 20th. 
 I have to thank you Dear Joanna for your kind 
 note enclosing Miss Edgeworth's letter ; which has 
 192 
 
LONDON, 1783-1793 
 
 been to me highly gratifying. I do not mean to 
 answer it, because I have no wish to draw her into a 
 correspondence, and which if she even were disposed 
 to, I am unable to support ; but I will thank you 
 to say that her and her family's approbation gives me 
 infinite pleasure, and that if I am alive when she 
 next visits London, to see her and her sisters will be a 
 real gratification to my feelings ; her letter is better 
 than compliraentery, it is kind and Friendly. I had 
 an opportunity yesterday to call on Lady C. She has 
 been very unwell, and tho' now better looks thin and 
 pull'd — poor soul ! Your letter to Lady Byron went 
 by 10 o'clock, so I hope was in good time. I am 
 afraid this rain will interfere with your Sister's labour 
 of love, if her task be not finished with the Lock- 
 smiths. Give my love to her, I know no one I should 
 prefer to her as an active agent in the service of 
 Friendship. 
 
 I am but a shabby person ; however, we scramble 
 on thro' Weeks, and Months, somehow or other, as 
 well as we can. . . . Adieu ! Dear Joanna, 
 Ever yours very Affectionately, 
 
 Anne Hunter. 
 
 193 
 
VII 
 
 St. George's Hospital 
 
 "We are but beginning to learn our profession." 
 
 '"T^^HE history of St. George's Hospital goes back 
 X to the year 1734, at which time John Hunter 
 was six years old. The hospital arose out of a dispute 
 among the supporters of the old Westminster Infirm- 
 ary. This charity, founded in 17 19 in Petty France, 
 Westminster, and removed in 1724 to Chappell 
 Street, was in 1733 compelled to move a second time ; 
 for the premises in Chappell Street were neither com- 
 modious nor wholesome. Two houses were offered to 
 the subscribers ; one was in Castle Lane, Pimlico, the 
 other was Lord Lanesborough's house at Hyde Park 
 Corner. There was vehement disputation over the 
 two sites ; finally, at a general meeting of the sub- 
 scribers, it was resolved that the house in Castle Lane 
 should be purchased for the infirmary. Hereupon the 
 minority, having on their side all the physicians of the 
 infirmary, and many of its most clearsighted friends, 
 194 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 would have nothing to do with the scheme, and took 
 a lease of Lanesborough House, " which on account 
 of the strength of the building and the airiness of the 
 situation is much more convenient to answer the ends 
 of the charity." Having moved to Castle Lane, the 
 infirmary grew and prospered ; and in 1834 built for 
 itself its present home in Broad Sanctuary, the West- 
 minster Hospital. Thus, out of a most fortunate 
 quarrel, one infirmary became two hospitals. 
 
 At a meeting of the supporters of the Lanesborough 
 House scheme, held on October 19, 1733, commit- 
 tees were appointed to fit up Lanesborough House 
 with all convenient speed for the reception of patients, 
 and to draw up bye-laws for the management of it 
 upon the model of St. Thomas's Hospital. Six phy- 
 sicians and three surgeons, all honorary, were elected ; 
 and a few days later, that the new venture might have 
 the assurance of a great name, Cheselden was added 
 to the list of surgeons. Henceforth many meetings 
 were held — rules were framed, contracts made for 
 stores, governors appointed, subscriptions received — 
 from Dr. Mead and Sir Hans Sloane among others — 
 and an attempt was made, but in vain, to obtain a part 
 of the funds of the old infirmary. 
 
 On New Year's Day, 1734, Lanesborough House 
 was opened for the admission of patients, with thirty 
 beds. The board met every week at the hospital ; the 
 various committee meetings were held at the coffee- 
 houses, to save the trouble of going out to Hyde Park 
 
 195 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Corner, which was then almost country. Within two 
 years, they had sixty beds instead of thirty, and the 
 money was coming in fast. In 1735 came the chance of 
 buying the freehold of Lanesborough House, with two 
 houses near it belonging to the Dean and Chapter of 
 Westminster, and two acres of the field adjoining the 
 hospital to the south. The three houses they bought 
 for ;^500 ; the land, after long delay, they bought in 
 1767 from Lord Grosvenor, on a lease of ninety-eight 
 years at a peppercorn rent, so long as the premises 
 should be occupied as a public hospital. Then they 
 enlarged the building, and started afresh with two 
 hundred beds. This was Hunter's hospital. In the 
 years 1824 — 1834, the whole hospital was rebuilt from 
 the designs of Mr. Wilkins, architect of the National 
 Gallery and of University College. At the present 
 time, it has three hundred and fifty-six beds, and serves 
 a whole city that has grown round it. In the days of 
 Hunter, Hyde Park Corner was on the horizon of 
 London, Kensington was almost country, Earl's Court 
 was " a hamlet two miles from London." There is 
 in the Foundling Hospital a picture of St. George's 
 Hospital, as it was in 1746. Hyde Park, in the fore- 
 ground, is a stretch of fields or of common land ; then 
 comes a country road, and then the hospital, blank and 
 isolated ; there is but one other house visible, about a 
 hundred yards away. 
 
 The outward form of the hospital is not more 
 changed than its inner life ; and if Hunter could see 
 196 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 it again now, he would wonder less at its material 
 advancement than at the school that it has created. 
 In his lifetime, there was no medical school, in our 
 sense of the words. The physicians and surgeons had 
 each of them their own pupils, who followed them, and 
 saw what they could of the work of the other men ; 
 the pupils were present at operations, consultations, 
 and post mortem examinations ; and here their privileges 
 came to an end. For everything else they must go 
 outside the hospital : " they have to go for their An- 
 atomy to Windmill Street; for their Midwifery to 
 Queen Street, Golden Square ; for their Chemistry, 
 Materia Medica, and Practice of Physick to Leicester 
 Fields." (1793.) There were no lectures given in the 
 hospital ; no notes kept by the pupils, no special 
 departments, no museum, no classes, no hospital ex- 
 aminations. When Hunter came on the staff in 1768, 
 St. George's was but thirty-two years old, a new 
 venture, having neither charter nor endowment nor 
 tradition ; governed by borrowed rules. It had grown 
 rapidly, and such quick growth endangers the stability 
 of hospital life. His disputes with his colleagues were a 
 phase of the development of the hospital, not a violation 
 of any fixed and traditional order of administration. 
 He found a young and hardly settled institution, six 
 years younger than himself ; he saw it slowly lose its 
 first enthusiasm ; and then quarrelled with his col- 
 leagues for this very reason, that they would not do 
 enough for the pupils of the hospital. There came a 
 
 197 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 final stage of the quarrelling, wherein he appears in a 
 less favourable light ; but it remains true that he was 
 fighting for things essential to the success of a great 
 hospital ; and he fought, literally, at the risk of his 
 life. We are free to believe that for fifteen years, up 
 to 1783, he worked fairly well with his colleagues; 
 nor was his quarrel with the physicians, but only with 
 the surgeons. To some of the stafF, his passionate 
 love of science was wholly unintelligible ; to him, for 
 example, who said that Hunter's museum was no more 
 use than so many pigs' pettitoes. Yet they could 
 bear with his superiority here ; what galled them was 
 the crowd of pupils that entered under him, not under 
 them ; the rush to go round the wards with him, and 
 his name in everybody's mouth, his rough jokes at 
 their expense, his outspoken contempt of their patho- 
 logical doctrines. Neither Gunning nor Walker nor 
 Keate was either a fossil or a failure ; and Hunter's 
 pre-eminence over them was won in fields outside 
 surgery, and he wore his laurels with an aggressive air. 
 For a quarter of a century, he was surgeon to the 
 hospital. When he came on the staff in 1768, 
 the other surgeons were Cagsar Hawkins, William 
 Bromfield, and John Gunning. Caesar Hawkins re- 
 tired in 1774, Bromfield in 1780. Later, Bromfield 
 was opposed to Hunter's operation for aneurysm ; and 
 in his opposition was neither wise nor straightforward : 
 unwise because he advised that no operation of any 
 kind should be done for aneurysm, and backed this 
 
 198 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 advice by saying that in such cases the whole arterial 
 system is diseased ; and not straightforward, because he 
 wrote of Hunter's first operation, " I once saw an 
 attempt of this kind, in which I shall only remark that 
 the patient died ; and I do believe that the embarrass- 
 ments which occurred, as well as the event of the 
 operation, will deter the gentleman who performed it 
 from making a second attempt in a similar case." But 
 the patient died fifteen months after the operation, 
 neither of it nor of the aneurysm. 
 
 The vacancies caused by the retirement of Caesar 
 Hawkins and of Bromfield were filled by two of Cassar 
 Hawkins' family : Charles, his son, and George, his 
 nephew; but the latter ceased to hold office in 1783. 
 His place was taken by William Walker ; so that the 
 surgical staff was now Gunning, Hunter, Charles 
 Hawkins, and Walker. This year a proposal was 
 made by Hunter, or at least supported by him, that a 
 medical school should be created, after the model of 
 the Guy's Hospital school, and that each surgeon 
 should give six lectures on surgery. " It was not 
 approved by Hunter's colleagues, and reasons were 
 assigned by them for the rejection of it, which for 
 the most part seem to have been dictated by a feeling 
 of opposition to Hunter, and cannot be said to be based 
 on any valid ground of argument." (Page.) 
 
 In 1787, application was made by Gunning and 
 Hunter, that each of them might have an assistant 
 surgeon : — 
 
 199 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 " Mr. Gunning and Mr. Hunter present their com- 
 pliments to the gentlemen of the weekly board, and 
 beg the favour of them to summon a Special General 
 Court for the purpose of electing two assistants, a 
 favour which has been formerly shown to Mr. 
 Middleton, Mr. Hawkins, and Mr. Bromfield, in 
 consideration of their many years' services to the 
 hospital. 
 
 "The persons whom they beg leave to recommend 
 to this situation are Mr. Keate, Surgeon in ordinary to 
 His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and Mr. 
 Home, who has been bred up under Mr. Hunter. 
 
 " They flatter themselves the propriety of their 
 recommendation will render this indulgence the less 
 exceptionable." 
 
 Thomas Keate and Everard Home were duly ap- 
 pointed assistant - surgeons ; and the two surgeons 
 assured the Board that they had no intention of 
 giving up their own attendance at the hospital on 
 all necessary occasions. 
 
 Next year, 1788, Hunter had so exasperated his 
 surgical colleagues by insisting that they ought to do 
 more for the pupils, that in September they addressed 
 a memorial to the Governors, in which they said : — 
 
 " On the subject of lectures — to take leave of this 
 point which has been so much insisted on — we must 
 declare our joint opinions, and they are incontrovertible. 
 If they had been practical and contained principles and 
 rules founded upon judgment and experience, with a 
 200 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 regard to the authority of others as well as their own, 
 they would have been highly useful ; if, on the con- 
 trary, they had leaned to physiology and experiment, 
 with a contempt for all other opinions but their own, 
 they would have been pernicious. The good therefore 
 arising from lectures, unless under certain conditions, 
 must be at least problematical." 
 
 Thus, in 1788, there was already war between 
 Hunter and his colleagues : they refused to work with 
 him for the school, and addressed the Board with a 
 memorial against him. He was not likely to make 
 peace with men who used these weapons ; and in 1792 
 came a crisis which forbade all hope of peace. Early 
 that year Charles Hawkins resigned, and Keate and 
 Everard Home both became candidates for the vacant 
 office of surgeon to the hospital. Home was supported 
 by Hunter, and by Dr. Matthew Baillie, Hunter's 
 nephew ; against them were all the rest of the staff, 
 in support of Keate. " The contest was perhaps the 
 warmest in the annals of hospital electioneering, and 
 several of the Royal Dukes attended in person to vote 
 for Mr, Keate, who was chosen by a majority of 134 
 against 102." (Ottley.) 
 
 Henceforth Hunter was in vehement opposition to 
 all the other surgeons, and exposed himself to such 
 provocation as must endanger his life. The quarrels 
 of the surgical stafF were all over London, for they 
 were all of them men of high position in the pro- 
 fession. Jesse Foot's account of them is to be 
 201 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 noted here, allowance being made for his hatred of 
 Hunter : — 
 
 "John Hunter could never separate the loss of Chelsea 
 Hospital from the person of Keate ; nor would he 
 permit himself to reflect that he had not the influence 
 for obtaining what Keate had, and what, if Keate had 
 not obtained, another might ; and that whoever had 
 succeeded to it would have been equally obnoxious to 
 him, as long as such a malignant impression remained 
 upon his distempered mind. With Gunning he had 
 been acquainted more than thirty years ; and notwith- 
 standing he had made man the study of his life, the 
 book of nature must have been blotted on that page 
 which could have informed him that Gunning would 
 never tamely submit to a personal insult from any one. 
 To Walker he had been well known only a few years 
 less ; and he must have evinced a superiority in the art 
 of tormenting, above all competition, v/hen he urged 
 his good nature to enmity. He certainly misjudged 
 his own power when he broke a lance with Keate in 
 trying to keep him out of St. George's Hospital. 
 Besides the mortification he experienced from finding 
 that Keate's influence was superior to his own, he 
 brought another proof, fatal to his ambition, to the 
 test — that in the contest almost the whole of the 
 respectable part of the faculty, in Westminster, were 
 against him." 
 
 With 1793, the year of Hunter's death, his fight 
 against his colleagues became less honourable to him. 
 202 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 He declared that the entrance-fees of the pupils should 
 no longer be divided equally among the surgeons : he 
 would keep for himself the fees of those pupils who 
 entered under him. How far he wanted the money, 
 or thought by this plan to force his colleagues to do 
 more teaching, or was only moved by dislike of them, 
 we do not know. Against this extraordinary policy 
 the three surgeons said they would appeal to the 
 Governors. Then Hunter wrote to them : — 
 
 Gentlemen, — As the time approaches when you 
 propose referring to the Governors of St. George's 
 Hospital my determination respecting the money 
 arising from the surgeons' pupils, I beg leave to 
 acquaint you that I entirely agree with you in the 
 mode that you have proposed, a mode I did not 
 myself adopt, as it took from you the power of 
 acceding to my proposal, and made me appear to 
 the Governors as an accuser. But when you bring 
 it before them I shall meet it fairly and very willingly. 
 I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 Your most obedient Servant, 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 Leicester Square, Feb. 8, 1793. 
 
 Messrs. Gunning, Walker, and Keate. 
 
 A Special Court was summoned to meet in March. 
 Before the meeting, Hunter sent to every subscriber a 
 long printed letter,saying thatall his attempts to improve 
 203 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 the teaching of the hospital had been frustrated ; there- 
 fore he had resolved not to encourage the idleness of 
 his colleagues, and had given up trying, and the 
 number of pupils had at once gone down : and the 
 great majority had alwrays entered under him, not 
 under his colleagues, and each surgeon ought to get 
 the profits that he deserved, neither more nor less : — 
 " When I solicited to be appointed one of the sur- 
 geons to St. George's Hospital, it was not with a view 
 to augment my income, either immediately by the 
 profits of the hospital, or in a secondary way by in- 
 creasing my practice ; but to acquire opportunities of 
 extending my knowledge, that I might be more useful 
 to mankind, not only by improving my private practice, 
 but if I should be enabled to make discoveries even in 
 the art itself. I had a view also to the instruction of 
 those who were studying under me, particularly to that 
 of the pupils of the hospital, whose improvement is one 
 principal benefit accruing to the public from such in- 
 structions, and I have reason to believe that my 
 intentions and endeavours in all these points have been 
 attended with some success. ... I conceived that 
 the governors would wish that not only immediate 
 relief should be given to the poor and distressed, but 
 that the hospital should diffuse its influence to mankind 
 in general ; and by these means, even to themselves. 
 I concluded that to render the hospital of such uni- 
 versal use would be agreeable to the feelings of the 
 governors of this charity, and probably considered by 
 204 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 them as the most important service. I conceived to 
 give an hospital a reputation for improvement it was 
 to invite the philosopher as well as the charitable to 
 contribute to its support. Other hospitals were 
 beginning to participate in the improving spirit of 
 the times, more especially those into which the 
 younger surgeons had been elected. They united 
 their powers and had lectures given to their pupils not 
 only in surgery, but in every branch of the healing 
 art. Mr, Pott, though one of the senior surgeons in 
 London, gave lectures to the pupils of St. Bartholomew's 
 Hospital, which lectures became the basis of his works 
 on the operations in surgery, and do credit to the 
 governors of that charity for their choice of one so able 
 to instruct. . . . Finding the pupils of St. George's 
 Hospital fewer than they had formerly been, I imputed 
 it to the want of that increasing attention which the 
 surrounding improvements in the art required, for one 
 part should keep pace with the other. My practice in 
 the hospital soon convinced me that this observation 
 was just, and having been long in the habit of im- 
 proving myself along with others, it had become in a 
 manner natural to me. . . . 
 
 " When I mentioned what the medical ' gentlemen 
 of other hospitals did, and what I thought we should 
 do, one gentleman said ' He did not choose to lose any 
 reputation he might have in surgery by giving lectures,' 
 which at least was modest. Talking of the improve- 
 ment of the art, one of the surgeons confessed ' He did 
 205 o 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 not see where the art could be improved.' The 
 natural conclusion from this declaration was that such 
 a man would never improve it ; but the answer then 
 made was, ' To see where anything could be improved 
 might be considered as going almost halfway towards 
 the improvement itself ; and that Lord Bacon was the 
 cause of all the advances in philosophy since his day, 
 by seeing and pointing out where and how they might 
 be made.' "... 
 
 Hunter goes on to say, of Keate's election as sur- 
 geon the year before : — "In this, as in most other public 
 contests, the mind, inflamed by opposition, lost sight 
 of the great object, by which means private friendships 
 and connections had more weight than public utility, 
 to which object the governors will not on the present 
 occasion confine themselves. My motive was in the 
 first place to serve the hospital, and in the second to 
 diffuse the knowledge of the art, that all might be 
 partakers of it ; this, indeed, is the highest office in 
 which a surgeon can be employed ; for when consi- 
 dered as a man qualified only to dress a sore or perform 
 a common operation, and perhaps not all of those that 
 may be reckoned common, he cannot be esteemed an 
 ornament to his profession. . . . The governors will 
 consider how far a numerous class of pupils increases 
 the reputation of the hospital ; they will consider 
 whether those numbers do not produce the secondary 
 good arising from an hospital, which is the effectual 
 diffusion of knowledge, and, if so, whether every sur- 
 206 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 geon should not be in duty bound to contribute his 
 share towards this good purpose. . . . 
 
 " I hope this Court will not consider this as similar to 
 a contested election between two men. It is of general 
 interest ; it concerns no individual, or, if any, only four 
 men who are servants of the hospital ; and though in 
 one point of view I may appear to stand single, yet I 
 stand on equal ground with the governors of this 
 charity, who formerly established the very law the 
 advantages of which I have now illustrated. Indeed, 
 from a consciousness of- the disinterestedness of my 
 motives, and a conviction of the clearness of the 
 question in point of public utility, which I trust they 
 cannot overlook and will not disregard, it would give 
 me more pleasure to see the friends of the other gentle- 
 men here to-day than my own. In whatever way it 
 may be determined to me is personally immaterial ; 
 the good of mankind, the improvement of the healing 
 art, and the character of the hospital, are the motives 
 of my conduct, and according to which, whatever may 
 be the decision of the present question, I shall continue 
 to do my duty to the hospital as a charity, and confine 
 myself to the laws of the institution. 
 
 John Hunter. 
 
 Leicester Square, February 28, 1793. 
 
 Then came a counter-blast from the three surgeons. 
 True, there had been more pupils since Hunter had 
 joined the hospital ; but that was because of the wars, 
 207 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 not because of him. True, there had been fewer 
 pupils of late years ; but other hospitals had started 
 schools, and had drawn men away from St. George's. 
 True, again, Hunter had more pupils than any of them ; 
 thanks to his connection with his brother's school in 
 Great Windmill Street, and to his having military 
 appointments to give away. They had done their 
 work on the old lines ; and it was not their fault if the 
 young men went straying after physiology. They 
 had opposed, in 1783, the giving of lectures : for there 
 were three reasons against the scheme : ( i ) Lectures 
 were not so useful as bedside teaching, (2) The lec- 
 tures would be copied out and passed from hand to 
 hand till they were everybody's property. (3) They 
 would involve raising the entrance fees. Finally, it 
 the pupils' fees were not divided among all the surgeons, 
 then each pupil would see the work of one surgeon 
 only, and the other three would do nothing for 
 him. 
 
 The Special Court decided against Hunter. The 
 entrance fees were to be equally divided. They fur- 
 ther appointed a Committee to draw up rules for the 
 admission and teaching of the pupils. Hereupon the 
 three surgeons, without consulting Hunter, submitted 
 to the Committee the following proposals. I give 
 their letter at length, for the account that it contains 
 of the surgical work of the hospital a hundred years 
 ago : — 
 
 208 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 To the Committee at St. George^ s Hospital^ appointed to 
 examine the Laws relative to the Surgeons' Pupils, 
 and to consider of the best methods of Improving their 
 Education. 
 
 We, the undersigned, beg leave to make the follow- 
 ing statement. 
 Gentlemen, 
 In moving for the present Committee w^e have two 
 principal objects in view. The one is a restoration, as 
 far as may be useful, of the antient discipline of the 
 hospital respecting the surgeons and their pupils. The 
 other is the introducing of such improvements for the 
 purposes of instruction as are now, and have been for 
 some time, adopted by hospitals of the first consequence. 
 In the first place, therefore, as far as relates to them- 
 selves, they leave all such rules now existing, as are not 
 become useless, in statu quo, but they are of opinion 
 that it will be indispensably necessary for the four 
 surgeons belonging to this hospital to visit all their 
 patients twice a week, and to be present themselves 
 at the dressing of them once, and to visit them on the 
 remaining days of the week as often as may be 
 necessary. They further think that they ought to 
 meet every Friday in consultation without being sum- 
 moned, and that any defaulter ought to be reported to 
 the weekly board, and from thence referred to a general 
 court, to be dealt with for such breach of duty as they 
 shall see proper ; the surgeons being perfectly satisfy'd 
 that such a regulation is of the utmost importance for 
 209 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 the good of the patients ; and that the close attendance 
 of the surgeons is indispensably necessary for the 
 instruction of the pupils. 
 
 They wish also to have it resolved that no operation 
 shall be performed but on extraordinary occasions, such 
 as accidents, except on Mondays, Wednesdays, and 
 Fridays, and that no summonses shall be sent out for 
 that purpose. If any particular day is assigned for 
 operations, as was formerly the practice, and is common 
 now at other hospitals, the pupils are ready to attend 
 on that day, but frequently discontinue or relax in their 
 attendance on other days, and by that means are 
 ignorant of many essential parts of that knowledge 
 which can only be attained by a general attendance at 
 an hospital. The pupils, therefore, should be taught 
 that a sufficient knowledge of their profession cannot 
 be acquired without a constant and daily attendance. 
 
 They hope the Committee will determine that 
 there shall be two hours allowed for the chirurgical 
 business of the hospital — from eleven o'clock till one — 
 that the dressings shall be finished at a quarter after 
 twelve, and that the time that remains shall be appor- 
 tioned for extra business if there be any. By extra 
 business is understood the attendance on the board, on 
 operations, on consultations, and the examination of 
 morbid bodies. They hope your Committee will direct 
 that every surgeon shall examine, or cause to be 
 examined by some other surgeon of the hospital, the 
 morbid bodies in the presence of all their pupils, of 
 
 210 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 which notice shall be given on the preceding day unless 
 there be a convenient time for the examination on the 
 immediate day. 
 
 We are further of opinion that it will be proper for 
 the Committee to resolve that an operation shall be 
 performed on a dead body, attended with explanations, 
 or a lecture be given on some of the principal parts of 
 surgery, once a week, by one of the surgeons in rotation, 
 during nine months of the year, and that gratis. 
 
 We recommend it further to the Committee, and 
 propose it as an object of great utility, that they will 
 direct that a book shall be kept by the house surgeon 
 for the instruction of the pupils, wherein shall be 
 entered the material cases, the admission of the patients, 
 their treatment, and the event, together with the: 
 appearances on the examination of morbid bodies ; that 
 each pupil shall be allowed to take a copy of such 
 entries at his leisure, and that Saturday in every week 
 shall be set apart for that purpose. 
 
 In the second place, respecting the pupils, we wish 
 that the Committee will resolve that to whomsoever 
 the pupils pay the fee for attending this hospital, they 
 shall bring certificates of their having been bred up to the 
 profession, and of their good behaviour, as till of late 
 has been customary there, and in some degree the 
 practice at other hospitals ; that they shall be entered 
 at the weekly board by the junior surgeon, and that 
 they be told that if they do not comply with the rules 
 enjoined them, they may be reprimanded or expelled 
 211 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 without returning any part of the fee paid down on 
 entering. This rule ought to be strictly enforced, as 
 it will cause good behaviour and subordination, and 
 prevent ignorant and improper persons from intruding 
 themselves into the profession. 
 
 We wish the Committee further to resolve that no 
 pupil shall be entered for a less period than one year, 
 or half a year, except during the time of war, when it 
 may be necessary for young men destined for the sea 
 or land service to get what knowledge they can, and 
 such as the usual short notice will admit of. The last 
 regulation, allowing the attendance of quarterly pupils, 
 is of a private nature, and was never sanctioned by the 
 board ; it was first adopted in the time of war, and 
 afterwards improperly continued, as it must be readily 
 admitted that no material knowledge can be acquired 
 within so short a space as that of a quarter of a year. 
 
 We are further of opinion that it will be proper for 
 the Committee to resolve that every pupil shall be 
 considered as receiving his instructions from the hos- 
 pital at large, and consequently under the care of all 
 the surgeons alike. That no pupil shall be allowed to 
 dress the patients unless he has attended the hospital 
 three months. That no pupil shall be capable of 
 being chosen the house surgeon unless he has been a 
 dresser for six months, and unless he is at the time of 
 his election a yearly pupil of the hospital. That they 
 dress in turn, and according to seniority. That their 
 time of attending the hospital shall be every day from 
 2U 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 the hour of eleven till one. That they shall be sent 
 for in case of operations arising from accidents if they 
 lodge within a reasonable distance. That no leave ot 
 absence shall be granted for a longer time than three 
 months. That no pupil shall be allowred a certificate 
 but in cases of strict attendance, and that it be apply'd 
 for at the time of his leaving the hospital, unless he is 
 absent on foreign service. 
 
 Our first object, the restoration and the melioration of 
 the antient discipline of this hospital, being thus effected 
 and straightened by the addition of the rules above 
 mentioned, we will pass to our second object, and 
 consider the improved state of other hospitals, and 
 compare it with our own as far as relates to lectures 
 and the establishment of medical schools, which are 
 now so universally prevalent, and which have been 
 allowed and provided for by the governors of other 
 hospitals. In St. Thomas's and Guy's Hospitals, 
 which are contiguous and united for common instruc- 
 tion and emolument, in St. Bartholomew's and in the 
 London, the whole course of lectures for the improve- 
 ment of pupils in chirurgical and medical knowledge, 
 except the lectures in Midwifery at St. Thomas's, 
 which are not yet brought home, are concentrated 
 within the verge of the respective hospitals. They 
 consist of Midwifery, Surgery, the Materia Medica, 
 with the Practice of Physick, of Chymistry, and 
 Anatomy. The fees arising from an attendance on 
 either or all are appropriated to the different professors 
 213 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 only (for none are read gratis) and are not shared by 
 either the physicians or surgeons belonging to the 
 hospitals. 
 
 The obvious advantage of such an arrangement is 
 this, that the pupils designed for either profession have 
 not only set before them a complete class of such 
 lectures as they may choose to attend, but do not lose a 
 very considerable portion of their time in the morning 
 nowr appropriated to these pursuits, by running about 
 perhaps at great distances from one lecture to another 
 and to the hospital ; alvv^ays inconvenient, and some- 
 times impracticable. They have formed there a com- 
 plete school, at each of w^hich, w^ith respect to the 
 arrangement of time, it is a principal object amongst 
 the surgeons, however the lecturers may divide theirs, 
 that there shall be an allowance of two hours, from 
 eleven to one, for the attendance of pupils at either 
 hospital. 
 
 The number of patients at St. Thomas's and Guy's 
 is about 700, at St. Bartholomew's about 400, at the 
 London Hospital about 140. 
 
 As to fees for attendance — those for apprentices ex- 
 cepted, which are always private, as are those for the 
 dressers, indeed, at the hospitals of St. Thomas's and 
 Guy's and St. Bartholomew's, and belong to their 
 respective surgeons — for dressing they pay ;^50 each, 
 or guineas, for one year ; for general attendance only, 
 j^25 ; for the half-year, ^TiS. The fees for the 
 pupils at large are divided among the surgeons alike. 
 214 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 They admit no quarterly pupils. At the London 
 Hospital, where the patients are not so numerous as at 
 our own, and the discipline the same with respect to 
 pupils and dressers, they are higher by one-third in 
 their price, and take quarterly pupils as we do. They 
 receive thirty guineas for the year, eighteen guineas 
 for the half, and twelve guineas for the quarterly, 
 compensating, we suppose, for the inferior number of 
 their patients by the regularity and instruction of their 
 school. 
 
 With respect to our own hospital, the price for the 
 yearly pupil is twenty guineas ; for the half-yearly, 
 fifteen guineas ; for the quarterly, ten guineas. We 
 are then upon the lowest footing of all with respect to 
 price. 
 
 As to the attendance of our pupils on lectures, they 
 have to go for their Anatomy to Windmill Street ; for 
 their Midwifery to Queen Street, Golden Square; for 
 their Chymistry, Materia Medica, and Practice of 
 Physick to Leicester-fields. There are other lectures 
 likewise, we believe, but all a considerable distance 
 from the hospital, and there is probably an hour and a 
 half lost every morning in the course of this diffused 
 attendance ; and it is but seldom that three-quarters of 
 an hour or an hour, and this at an average not above 
 three or four times a week (the dressers excepted), 
 can be allotted for their chirurgical attendance at the 
 hospital — a space too short for acquiring this kind of 
 knowledge, or even of any knowledge at all. The 
 215 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 barely seeing operations in a theatre, at a distance, 
 half of which perhaps they will never be called upon 
 to perform, is but a trifling advantage, but this in 
 general is what they content themselves with ; and 
 hence it is that it is possible, and even probable, that 
 they may pass through an hospital after a year of such 
 attendance without acquiring any substantial know- 
 ledge at all. The mode of attending so many lectures 
 at a time, and those crowded and compressed within 
 the morning, cannot add much to this superficial 
 knowledge. However, they are not under the neces- 
 sity of attending them' all, and it must be confessed 
 that there is an advantage in having them all to choose 
 from. 
 
 A great part of this inconvenience you may 
 remedy, by giving them the time they so much want ; 
 it will be giving them in reality a three years' attend- 
 ance for one. To finish, therefore, this detail : it is 
 obvious from the above statement, and comparing the 
 course of improvement, adopted by the diiFerent 
 hospitals, with our own, which has been hitherto 
 chirurgical, and was at its first institution excellent, 
 but is now become inferior from the causes we have 
 explained, that we cannot stand our ground, and much 
 less advance, unless the governors will give us leave to 
 adopt the mode of discipline and instruction used by 
 other hospitals, wherever it shall be found superior to 
 our own, and unless they give us leave likewise to 
 bring home the different professors to the hospital as 
 216 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 soon as they can be engaged ; and, in one word, to 
 permit us to act upon that extended plan which has 
 been so wisely established and so fortunately executed 
 by others. 
 
 May ye 2"] th, 1 793. J. Gunning. 
 
 Wm. Walker. 
 
 T. Keate. 
 
 Next month Hunter wrote to the Governors : — 
 
 To the Chairman of the Special General Court, St. 
 George's Hospital. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, — Having on most occasions been 
 desirous of promoting the surgical education at the 
 hospital, my name not appearing to the present pro- 
 posals may give an idea of my being less zealous than 
 usual on that subject. I beg leave to say that this is 
 not the case ; but not having been consulted by my 
 colleagues who drew them up, nor the Committee by 
 which they were approved, my assistance has been 
 supposed unnecessary. 
 
 They certainly appear to me in many respects very 
 incompleat, and in some altogether unpracticable ; but 
 if they meet with the approbation of the governors, 
 it is my business, as a servant of the charity, to do the 
 duty of my situation. 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 John Hunter, 
 
 Leicester Square, yune 14, 1793. 
 217 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 The proposals of the three surgeons were accepted ; 
 now there was at least a possibility of peace. But 
 Hunter could not forego his distinctive position as the 
 surgeon who had most pupils, who was the great 
 central figure of the hospital. That autumn, two 
 young men came to be admitted under him, without 
 certificates that they had been " bred up to the 
 profession," and he promised that he would never- 
 theless ask the Board to let them enter ; they must 
 draw up a statement of their case, and he would lay 
 it before the Board, at their meeting on Wednesday, 
 October i6th. 
 
 On the Sunday before the Wednesday, he had a long 
 talk with Mr. Adams about his own case. 
 
 On the Wednesday morning, he saw one of his 
 friends who called at his house ; he told him what was 
 to happen at the meeting, and said that he was afraid 
 there would be a dispute, and was sure it would be the 
 death of him. He went into the work-rooms, and 
 told his resident pupils some droll stories how children 
 counterfeit disease. He left his house, to pay a visit 
 before he drove to the hospital ; he was in good spirits, 
 whistling a Scotch air as he went out. He had for- 
 gotten his visiting list ; William Clift took it after him 
 to York Street, St. James's, the first place on the list. 
 Hunter came out of the house, took the list, and in 
 an animated tone told the coachman to drive to the 
 hospital. The meeting had already begun ; he pre- 
 sented the memorial from the young men, and spoke 
 2i8 
 
ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL 
 
 on their behalf. One of his colleagues flatly contra- 
 dicted something he had said. Then came the end. 
 Angina seized him ; he turned toward another room, 
 to fight out his pain by himself, and Dr. Matthew 
 Baillie followed him ; he went a few steps, groaned 
 and fell into Dr. Robertson's arms, and died. 
 
 To set the time of Hunter's death by the course of 
 history, Clift wrote this title on his account-book :— 
 
 JOHN HUNTER, ESQ., F.R.S., 
 
 Surgeon-General to the Army, and 
 
 Inspector-General of Hospitals ; 
 
 Surgeon to St. George's Hospital ; 
 
 Surgeon-Extraordinary to the King ; 
 
 &c., Sec, &c., 
 
 DIED OCTOBER I 6tH, 1793, 
 
 On the same day, and perhaps hour, 
 
 that the unfortunate Marie Antoinette 
 
 Queen of France was beheaded in 
 
 Paris. 
 
 W. Clift. 
 
 219 
 
VIII 
 
 Ave Atque Vale 
 
 " Here was a Caesar I When comes such another ? " 
 
 IT is impossible to include in one view the mul- 
 titudinous forms of Hunter's work ; you can- 
 not see the wood for the trees. He was anatomist, 
 biologist, naturalist, physician, surgeon, and patho- 
 logist, all at once, and all in the highest. Nor is it 
 possible to reproduce the lights and shadows of that 
 aspect of his life which was not turned toward 
 science. Yet an attempt must be made here to draw 
 him as it were in outline. 
 
 The visible John Hunter was five feet two inches 
 high, strongly built, and toward the end of his life 
 somewhat corpulent ; his shoulders were broad and 
 high, his neck very short ; he was " uncommonly 
 strong and active, very compactly made, and capable 
 of great bodily exertion." His hair was of a reddish 
 or auburn tint, afterward grey, at last white ; he wore 
 it curled at the back, not tied ; his eyes were light- 
 coloured ; he dressed plainly, and not always neatly — 
 
 220 
 
AVE ATQUE VALE 
 
 in the Reynolds portrait, he has an old coat of crimson 
 velvet, loosely buttoned. His attacks of angina had 
 given him a sort of trick in breathing — " by the ex- 
 ertions which he constantly made, after the manner 
 of a cough, he seemed as if he solicited to set the 
 circulation of blood a-going." 
 
 Both Adams and Abernethy praise his pleasant way 
 of talking. The former says : " Mr. Hunter's manners 
 were extremely companionable. His wit, or more 
 properly his archness, was always well directed, and 
 the slowness of his articulation enabled him to point 
 and correct it almost as soon as it was uttered." 
 Abernethy says : "Mr. Hunter was a man of very con- 
 siderable humour. His views of subjects in general 
 were quick and peculiar, and when so disposed he 
 could place them in very ludicrous points of view." 
 Once Mrs. Hunter had to defend Sir William 
 Blizard — Mr. Blizard he was then — from her hus- 
 band's pleasantries. It was at a dinner party, and 
 Hunter dared not drink the wine, and his guest would 
 not : — 
 
 " ' Come, fellow,' said he, in his usual blunt way, to 
 Mr. Blizard, ' Why don't you drink your wine ? ' 
 Mr. B. pleaded in excuse a whitlow, which caused 
 him much pain. Hunter would not allow the validity 
 of the plea, but continued to urge him and ridicule 
 his excuse. ' Come, come, John,' said Mrs. Hunter, 
 •■you will please to remember that you were delirious 
 for two days when you had a boil on your finger some 
 
 221 P 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 time ago.' This turned the laugh against Hunter, 
 who now ceased from importuning his guest." 
 
 There is more humour in his vehement appeals to 
 his friends for contributions towards his collection : — 
 
 " The late Dr. Clarke had a preparation on which 
 he set a high value, and Hunter had often viewed it 
 with longing eyes. ' Come, Doctor,' said he, ' I 
 positively must have that preparation.' 'No, John 
 Hunter,' was the reply, 'you positively shall not.' 
 ' You will not give it to me, then ? ' ' No.' ' Will 
 you sell it ? ' ' No.' ' Well, then, take care I don't 
 meet you with it in some dark lane at night, for, if I 
 do, I'll murder you to get it.' " 
 
 " He was not unfrequently obliged to borrow of his 
 friends, when his own funds were at a low ebb, and 
 the temptation was strong. ' Pray, George,' said he 
 one day to Mr. Nicol the bookseller, ' have you got 
 any money in your pocket ? ' Mr. N. replied in the 
 affirmative. ' Have you got jfive guineas ? because it 
 you have, and will lend it to me, you shall go halves ? ' 
 ' Halves in what ? ' inquired his friend. ' Why, halves 
 in a magnificent tiger which is now dying in Castle 
 Street.' Mr. Nicol lent the money, and Hunter got 
 the tiger." 
 
 Next may come three stories how he treated young 
 men who were or wished to be his pupils : quick to 
 understand them, and not unwilling to answer a fool 
 according to his folly : — 
 
 " He was one morning at breakfast, when a young 
 
 222 
 
AVE ATQUE VALE 
 
 man, who was on intimate terms with him as a friend 
 and pupil, mentioned, as if casually, that he had some 
 thoughts of giving a course of lectures on compara- 
 tive anatomy. Hunter looked up, and drily replied, 
 ' Sir, that is a bold undertaking ; I had thoughts once 
 myself of doing the same thing, but the difficulties 
 and necessary qualifications were so great that I did 
 not think myself competent to the task ; but you, I 
 dare say, may feel yourself quite equal to it.' " 
 
 " On his arrival in London, Mr. Thomas, in com- 
 pany with Mr. Nicol, by whom he was to be intro- 
 duced, called on Hunter ; they found him dressing. 
 ' Well, young gentleman,' said Hunter, when the 
 first ceremonies of introduction were over, 'so you 
 are come to town to be a surgeon. And how long 
 do you intend to stay ? ' ' One year,' was the reply. 
 ' Then,' said he, ' I'll tell you what, that won't do. 
 I've been here a great many years, and have worked 
 hard too, and yet I don't know the principles of the 
 art.' After some further conversation, Mr. T. was 
 directed to call again in an hour, which he did, and 
 accompanied Hunter to the hospital, where he said 
 to him, after the business was over, ' Come to me 
 to-morrow morning, young gentleman, and I will put 
 you further in the way of things ; come early in the 
 morning, as soon after four as you can.' It was 
 summer ; Mr. Thomas kept the appointment, and 
 found Hunter, at that early hour, busily engaged in 
 dissecting beetles." 
 
 223 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 " Sir Anthony Carlisle, whilst a pupil at the West- 
 minster Hospital, was anxious to become personally 
 acquainted with Hunter. He introduced himself by 
 calling and requesting his acceptance of a very delicate 
 and well-executed preparation of the internal ear. 
 Hunter was highly delighted with it, detained him 
 to breakfast, and in the course of conversation en- 
 couraged him by saying, ' Any man who will set 
 about a business, and do it as you have done that 
 ear, may do anything he pleases in London.' On 
 finding that Mr. Carlisle had not yet attended his 
 lectures — as a reason for which he assigned his not 
 being sufficiently advanced in professional knowledge 
 to profit by them — ' That, Sir,' said Mr. Hunter, ' is 
 very complimentary, but I will give you a perpetual 
 ticket, and shall be glad to see you whenever you will 
 call.'" 
 
 In consultation, he was deliberate and of many 
 words ; for often he must put forward views that were 
 strange and hard to accept ; he would start with 
 relating a case in point, and go on to a long discourse. 
 With his patients, he made no mystery of their cases ; 
 and enjoyed illustrating them from the natural history 
 of lower forms of life : — 
 
 " When the Duke of Queensberry broke his tendo 
 Achillis, he was immediately aware of what had 
 happened, and pointed out to me the broken ends. 
 He readily submitted to my reasoning, walked about 
 the room, and found it impracticable to contract his 
 224 
 
AVE ATQVE VALE 
 
 gastrocnemius muscle. Some surgeons thought the 
 tendon could not be broken, because he was walking 
 about his room ; but in such a case the patient has no 
 more power to contract his gastrocnemius and soleus 
 muscles than to jump over St. Paul's." (Lectures on 
 Surgery.) 
 
 " A gentleman begged that I would do it (a small 
 operation) for him before he went to Paris. I ob- 
 jected, telling him, my reasons. He was pleased 
 with them, and postponed the operation until his 
 return ; and fortunately for himself." (Lectures on 
 Surgery.) 
 
 " Mrs. Nicol, who was a sister of Cruikshank, 
 had lost five children, and was in the family way for 
 the sixth (the present Mr. N.). Hunter, in passing one 
 day, dropped in, and asked Mr. Nicol whether he 
 intended to kill this, as he had killed all the rest of his 
 children. Mr. N., who was a North-countryman, 
 had on false principles endeavoured to inure his 
 children to cold and rough usage. He demanded of 
 Hunter what he meant. ' Why,' said Hunter, ' do 
 you know what is the temperature of a hen with her 
 callow brood ? Because if you don't, I'll tell you.' 
 He then proceeded to explain the necessity of warmth 
 to young animals, and convinced Mr. Nicol of the 
 propriety of changing his plan." 
 
 " A strong, ruddy-faced farmer had a disease which 
 induced Mr. Hunter to enjoin a total abstinence from 
 fermented liquors. ' Sir,' said the farmer, ' that is 
 225 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 impossible, for I cannot relinquish my employment ; 
 and ypu know, sir, it is impossible to work without 
 some support.' Mr. Hunter, perceiving that his 
 patient was not likely to be readily convinced, en- 
 quired how many acres of land he cultivated, and 
 what number of them was arable. He next asked, 
 how many horses were kept upon the farm : and then 
 boldly asserted that they were too few in number for 
 the quantity of land. The farmer maintained that 
 they were sufficient, but was at length brought to 
 confess that they were worked hard. ' Allow me 
 then,' said Mr. Hunter, ' to enquire what it is that 
 you give them to drink.' " 
 
 Once only, so far as we know, was he rough or 
 brutal toward his patients or their friends ; he asked 
 leave to make a post-mortem examination, and it was 
 refused. Over this loss of precious knowledge, he 
 forgot himself ; Abernethy tells the story, as he heard 
 it from an eye-witness : — 
 
 " When he became conscious that his object was 
 unattainable, he was standing with his back to the 
 fire, and he put his hands into his pockets, I saw 
 by his countenance that a storm was brewing in his 
 mind. He gravely and calmly addressed the master 
 of the house in the following manner, ' Then, sir, you 
 will not permit the examination to be made ? ' 'It is 
 impossible,' was the reply. ' Then, sir,' said Mr. 
 Hunter, 'I heartily hope that yourself and all your 
 family, nay, all your friends, may die of the same 
 226 
 
AVE ATQUE VALE 
 
 disease, and that no one may be able to afford any 
 assistance ; ' and so saying he departed." 
 
 Faults of temper do not count heavily against a 
 man afflicted with angina ; and the stories of Hunter's 
 want of self-control, his rage when he was crossed 
 over some trifle, belong most of them to his later life. 
 They are not worth re-telling here ; sometimes his 
 anger was so irrational and so soon past that it might 
 be regarded rather as the effect than as the cause of 
 the instability of his nervous system. For he knew that 
 every time he lost his temper he stood to lose his life, 
 and he had a steady hold over himself in everything 
 else : — ^he abstained from wine at a time when wine 
 was drunk like water, forced himself to give lectures 
 and write books, made men work under him, took his 
 place high in London society, and crowded every sort 
 of hard work into a life that was full of pain. 
 
 There are many stories of his generosity ; ^ how he 
 remitted or returned his fees, and kept "the grandees" 
 waiting, while he saw some patient to whom time was 
 money. He was especially kind to poor artists and 
 poor doctors ; there was, for example, Mr. Lynn, who 
 
 ' " In regard to fees, Hunter was extremely liberal. He used gene- 
 rally to reply, when asked to say what was due to him, ' Why, that you 
 must determine yourself ; you are the best judge of your own circum- 
 stances, and it is far from my wish to deprive you of the comforts of 
 life.' He never allowed himself to accept any remuneration from non- 
 beneficed clergymen, professional authors, or artists of any sort, and 
 sometimes returned large fees when he found that the parties were in 
 embarrassed circumstances" (Ottley), 
 
 227 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 became inoculated, at 2i post-mortem examination, with a 
 grave contagious disease : ''■ — 
 
 " When I was ill, he kindly and diligently attended 
 me ; nay, he brought those of his medical friends to 
 visit me in whose judgment he placed most confidence. 
 My illness however being tedious, I was at length 
 obliged to go into the country for the recovery of my 
 healthri Mr. Hunter called on me before my depar- 
 ture, and said, ' I have been thinking that you might 
 want a little money ; if so, I can procure you ;^200 ; 
 though in general I am the most unlikely person in 
 this town to have money at command.' I thanked 
 him, but told him I had been more provident than 
 perhaps might have been expected, therefore I did not 
 want money. On my return to town, and re-estab- 
 lishment in business, which did not take place for a 
 considerable time, I took an opportunity of expressing 
 to Mr. Hunter my continued sense of gratitude for his 
 kindness in attending me, and for his offer of pecuniary 
 assistance. ' Hah,' said he, ' I offer you money ! that 
 is droll indeed ; for I am the last person in this town 
 to have money at command. I have entirely for- 
 gotten it. But of this I am assured, that what I 
 offered I meant to perform.' " 
 
 He found time for a pleasure now and again ; he 
 speaks of his club, of a few days in the country, of a 
 
 ' William Lynn, born 1753. He assisted Hunter, for twelve years, 
 in the work of the Museum : member of the Corporation of Surgeons, 
 1786: surgeon to Westminster Hospital: President of the Royal 
 College of Surgeons, 1825 : died January 24, 1837. 
 228 
 
AVE ATQUE VALE 
 
 visit to the theatre to see Mrs, Siddons, and of going 
 to see a mesmerist, who tried in vain to mesmerise 
 him ; and he gave dinners, and wrent to them ; but in the 
 later years of his life he could not stand what is called 
 " sustained conversation." He hated ceremonies ; 
 when he had to attend the public funeral of Reynolds, 
 he wished Reynolds and his friends would go to the 
 devil ; and he was present at one meeting only of the 
 Court of Assistants of the Corporation of Surgeons. 
 But where he could teach or learn, as at the Societies, 
 he was zealous in attendance ; and was called the 
 Cerberus of the Royal Society. Perhaps it was this 
 dislike of public formalities that made him give 
 evidence so badly in the sensational trial of Captain 
 Donellan, in March, 1781, for the murder of his 
 brother-in-law. Sir Theodosius Boughton, by giving 
 him laurel-water in his drink ; dislike of formalities, 
 and indignation that the evidence against Donellan . 
 was supported by experiments made without ex- 
 perience.i He would say nothing certain, was taken 
 to task, severely cross-examined, bullied by Mr. Justice 
 Buller ; yet he had administered laurel-water to him- 
 self, to see how it acted. He often experimented 
 on himself; so early as 1765, he inoculated himself, 
 by a most unhappy mistake in the experiment, with 
 
 " " A poor devil was lately hanged at Warwick upon no other testi- 
 mony than that of physical men whose first experiments were made on 
 this occasion." (Lectures on Surgery, *' Of Humours,") Mr. Shelton, 
 the Coroner for London, afterward said that Hunter had been treated 
 very badly at the tria I, 
 
 229 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 the wrong virus, and suffered two years from the 
 effects of it— an error which served only to support 
 false notions in pathology. 
 
 He loved his home-life, and often said that if he had 
 been allowed to bespeak a pair of children, they should 
 have been those with which Providence had favoured 
 him. He liked his friends to call him by his Christian 
 name ; and the doorplate in Leicester Square bore only 
 his name, without Mr. before it or letters after it. In 
 politics, he was a Tory, and would say that he wished 
 all the rascals who were dissatisfied with their 
 country would be good enough to leave it : and near 
 the end of his life, in reply to a request that some 
 foreign gentleman might be allowed to go over his 
 Museum, he wrote, "If your friend is in London in 
 October (and not a Democrate) he is welcomb to see 
 it ; but I would rather see it in a blaze, like the Bastile, 
 than show it to a Democrate, let his country be what 
 it may." In religion, he was silent alike in his letters, 
 his lectures, and his books : and that at a time when 
 silence in such lectures and books was the exception 
 rather than the rule. When he was dead, a war arose 
 over his belief regarding life, Lawrence against 
 Abernethy, each with their followers ; the same war- 
 fare that was roused over Darwin's work. There is 
 in Hunter's writings a very slight preponderance of 
 the transcendental interpretation of life as against the 
 materialist ; and here and there phrases occur which 
 are irreconcileable with the strict logic of materialism. 
 230 
 
AVE ATQUE VALE 
 
 But he had neither the education nor the tempera- 
 ment for philosophy ; and he used a sort of psycho- 
 logical language that had not any relation to it. "Of 
 all things on the face of the earth, definitions are the 
 most cursed ; for if you make a definition, you may 
 bring together under it a thousand things that have 
 not the least connection with it." (Lectures on 
 Surgery.) 
 
 In the British Museum there is a copy of the 
 auctioneer's catalogue of his books, which were sold 
 on Feb. i, 1794; some 1300 or 1400 volumes, in 
 171 lots ; but we do not know which were his own, 
 and which belonged to Mrs. Hunter. Beside surgical 
 and scientific works, there was a good store of classics ; 
 some perhaps had been bought by the yard — a French 
 History of England in 28 volumes, Shakespeare in 20, 
 Pope in 20, Swift in 17 ; Chaucer, Rabelais, Ben 
 Jonson, Bacon, all in many volumes. But there was 
 another Shakespeare, in 8 volumes, and an Index, and 
 a Concordance ; probably he read Shakespeare ; and he 
 quotes Swift in his Lectures. There were several 
 Bibles, and Cruden's Concordance ; he may have read 
 or learned his French and Spanish in the Bible, for 
 there were copies of it in both languages, and more 
 than twenty lexicons and dictionaries, English, French, 
 Spanish, and Italian. Not a word of German. The 
 number of Spanish books was considerable — Don 
 Quixote in French, and in Italian, and in several 
 Spanish editions ; and there was a good quantity of 
 231 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 French classics. It is all guess-work ; the books may 
 have been used only by Mrs. Hunter and the children 
 and the elocution-master. But the catalogue does 
 suggest that Hunter kept up the French and Spanish 
 that he learned at Belleisle and in the Peninsula. 
 
 Here and there in his Lectures he lets us see 
 something of his character and his method of work. 
 In illustration of his unwearied patience in thinking out 
 a case — his habit of saying, " I cannot tell at present 
 what to recommend ; I must think of it " — these two 
 remarks are worthy of note : — 
 
 " After about an hour's conversation with the patient, 
 I made out a few simple facts." 
 
 " I called with a friend to pass a day or two in the 
 country. The lady of the house had had her knee frac- 
 tured. . . . She recovered from the accident, but was 
 totally unable to use the limb. . . . Having spent a 
 whole night in considering the probable cause of her 
 loss of power, it appeared to me," &c. 
 
 His distrust of rapid thinking, his hatred of work 
 published in a hurry, come again and again into the 
 Lectures : — 
 
 "It is surprising to see how a young man, if he 
 catches an idea which has any novelty, will write away 
 on it and tell you wonders." 
 
 "Although the theory (of the cure of hydrocele) is 
 
 very simple, yet no disease affecting the human body, 
 
 and requiring an operation for its cure, has called forth 
 
 the opinions and pens of surgeons so much as this 
 
 232 
 
AVE ATQUE VALE 
 
 disease. The reason of this is easily accounted for ; for 
 they have gone so fer as to find out that every mode 
 of operating but their own has failed, but have not 
 noticed the cause of failure. It w^as enough for them 
 that they could condemn. They rested contented 
 with having recommended a method which was to 
 them infallible ; nor did the condemnation of this 
 fevourite method of theirs by others rouse them into 
 an enquiry as to the cause of its failure." 
 
 Therefore he published nothing, save a few short 
 notes added to the writings of other men, till he was 
 forty-three years old ; and his indifference to books, 
 which has been somewhat exaggerated, was mostly 
 because books hindered his pupils from observing and 
 thinking for themselves. When Mr. Physick brought 
 his son as a new pupil, and asked what books he should 
 read. Hunter said, " Sir, follow me ; I will show you 
 the books your son has to study " ; took him into the 
 dissecting-room, and showed him the bodies ; " these 
 are the books your son will learn under my direction, 
 the others are fit for very little." 
 
 He is like Vesalius ; he made his name immortal 
 by the labour of his own hands outside the sphere 
 of surgery. Apart from all his hospital and 
 private practice, and all his writing and lecturing, 
 the actual manual work that he accomplished in 
 dissections and post-mortem examinations is past all 
 telling. Twelve years before he died, at Captain 
 Donellan's trial, he was asked, " You have been 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 long in the habit of dissecting human subjects ; I 
 presume you have dissected more than any man in 
 Europe?" and he answered, "I have dissected some 
 thousands during these thirty-three years." His 
 dissections of animals must also be reckoned in 
 thousands. Literary work was uncongenial to him, 
 and against the grain ; he took no pleasure in style 
 and no pains over spelling, submitted his writings to 
 the correction of his friends, adopted at their suggestion 
 Greek words," and that most foolish phrase "materia 
 vitas diffusa," But in anatomy and experiment he had 
 the strength and patience of ten ; and Clift often saw 
 him, in his old age, standing like a statue for hours 
 over some delicate bit of dissection. 
 
 The whole output of his working life is fourfold — 
 literary, surgical, anatomical, physiological and experi- 
 mental ; but the multiplication together of these factors 
 does not give the whole result of his work. He 
 brought surgery into closer touch with science. 
 Contrast him with Ambroise Pare, a surgeon in 
 some ways like him, shrewd, observant, ahead of his 
 age ; the achievements of Pare, side by side with those 
 of Hunter, are like child's play in comparison with 
 the serious affairs of men ; Pare advanced the art of 
 surgery, but Hunter taught the science of it. 
 
 ^ " Jesse Foot accuses me of not understanding the dead languages ; 
 but I could teach him that on the Head body which he never knew in 
 any language, dead or living." 
 
IX 
 After Hunter 
 
 THE body of John Hunter was taken in a sedan- 
 chair from the hospital to Leicester Square, 
 followed by his colleagues. He had said, more than 
 once, that he should wish his body to be examined, 
 and this was done ; the funeral was attended by those 
 only who were in close friendship with him. He was 
 buried in the vaults of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. His 
 widow could not afford the fees for his burial in 
 Westminster Abbey ; and it was against the rules 
 that she should put a monument to him in St. 
 Martin's church. In 1859, when the coffins in the 
 vaults were moved for re-interment, Frank Buckland 
 undertook to find Hunter's body. He began on 
 January 26th, and searched for sixteen days, by which 
 time he had viewed three thousand and sixty coffins ; 
 then he found it, when only three still remained for 
 him to examine. On March 28, 1859, Hunter was 
 buried with great honour in the North aisle of the 
 235 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 Abbey. There is a window to his memory in the 
 church of St. Mary Abbott's, Kensington. 
 
 By his will, made July ii, 1793, he appointed 
 Matthew Baillie and Everard Home executors. 
 Long Calderwood he left to his son ; Earl's Court 
 House was to be sold ; his collection was to be 
 offered to the Government in one lot, then to any 
 Foreign Government, then sold by auction in one lot. 
 
 " And I hereby direct that all my just debts be paid 
 by and out of the monies to arise by sale of my real 
 estate so directed to be sold as aforesaid ; and out of the 
 rents and profits thereof until such sale shall be had, 
 and also by and out of the monies to arise by sale of 
 my Natural History, and also by and out of my other 
 personal estate. And I give and bequeath the residue 
 and surplus of all such monies, and all other my 
 personal estate, unto Ann, my dear and esteemed 
 wife ; John, my son ; and Agnes, my only daughter ; 
 share and share alike ; provided that, in case of the 
 death of my son before he attains twenty-one, or 
 of my daughter before she attains twenty-one, or 
 marriage, then it is my will and intent that the 
 capital of the share or part of such of them so dying, 
 shall go and be paid to the survivor of them. And I 
 do hereby nominate and appoint my said wife, and also 
 the said Matthew Baillie and Everard Home, Guardians 
 to my two children until they shall severally attain 
 twenty-one years of age ; and also Executors of this 
 my will." 
 
 236 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 Long Calderwood had been left by William Hunter, 
 ^"- 1 7^35 to his nephew, Dr. Matthew Baillie, who 
 was then twenty-two years old. He had been 
 educated first at the grammar school at Hamilton, 
 where his father was minister, then at Glasgow 
 College, then at Oxford. i During the vacations 
 (his father died in 1778), he lived in William 
 Hunter's house in Great Windmill Street, working 
 and demonstrating for him, and at last taking the 
 place of a son to him. The praise of Matthew 
 Baillie cannot be set down here, nor what he did 
 for medicine ; we are concerned only with one of 
 
 " I. 
 
 From Thomas Rcid to William Hunter, 
 
 Glasgow College, May 6, 1778. 
 Dear Sir, — I cannot help condoling with you on the loss of our worthy 
 Friend, Dr. Baillie (Matthew's father). The Family deserve great 
 sympathy. Mrs. Baillie is one of the best of women, and the children 
 all very hopeful!. Matthew has all along given uncommon application 
 to his Studies. I hope he will have the first Baliol exhibition that falls 
 which is expected very soon . . . 
 
 From Archbishop Corrvwallis to William Hunter. 
 
 Lambeth House, March 29, 1780. 
 Sir,— I would not trouble you with an answer to your letter till I 
 could give you a positive one. I have now the pleasure to inform you 
 that I have been able to comply with your request, and have concurred 
 with the Bishop (of Rochester) in appointing Mr. Baillie to the Exhibition 
 at Balliol College. I am sorry I was not at home when you did me the 
 favour to call. 
 
 I am, Sir, your most humble Servant 
 
 Fred. Cant. 
 
 237 Q 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 his many acts of generosity. Long Calderwood 
 had belonged to William Hunter unconditionally ; 
 he had bought back much of the land that his 
 father had sold ; and he was free to leave the estate 
 to whomever he chose. But Matthew Baillie, though 
 in 1783 he was poor, and not even within sight of 
 success, insisted that John Hunter should have the 
 estate. "Dr. Baillie conveyed these lands to Mr. 
 John Hunter, because he thought he had a better 
 natural claim to them than himself. Dr. Baillie's 
 conveyance to Mr. John Hunter is dated October, 
 1784. Mr. John Hunter, in taking up the estate, 
 preferred doing it in the line of succession, which it 
 was in his power to do ; for having got the conveyance 
 from Dr. Baillie, no person had any right to oppose 
 him." (Adams). I 
 
 It is not likely that John Hunter in the later years 
 of his life found time to visit Long Calderwood ; but 
 one of the last letters that he wrote was concerned with 
 
 * From Matthew Baillie to Robert Barclay^ Esq. 
 
 ..." With regard to the transferring of the estate, I can have no 
 objection to any consultation, but the names must be conceaVd, and no 
 circumstance brought forwards which may tend to discover the parties 
 engag'd in the transaction. The more every matter of this kind can be 
 done with secrecy, it is the better. I have never ventured more than 
 once to talk of it myself to J. Hunter. He refus'd the offer, but not 
 with any decided tone. I do not mean to talk of it again to him untill 
 I have the deeds in my pocket ready to give him. This is a matter in 
 which I am very much interested, and I think I shall nearly feel as 
 much satisfaction in delivering over the deeds to J. Himter as if a sum of 
 the same value was to be given to myself." 
 
 238 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 the management of it. His son died and left no 
 children, and it came to Matthew Baillie's son, Mr. 
 William Hunter Baillie, and after his death to Miss 
 Baillie, his daughter, the present owner. 
 
 Earl's Court House had a very different fate. 
 Hunter had added wings to the house, and stables, 
 and farm buildings, and conservatories ; the gardens 
 were of considerable extent, and well planted with 
 trees. The Duke of Richmond had it for a time, then 
 (1811) the Earl of Albemarle; the little Princess 
 Charlotte used the Lions' Den as an excellent resort 
 for hide and seek.i Later the Den became a cow-stall, 
 and the house was taken as a private asylum. In 
 February, 1886, there was a public auction, and 
 the whole place was pulled down. The relics of 
 John Hunter were not such as to command a high 
 price ; the copper where the Irish giant had been 
 boiled was sold for thirty-six shillings ; the panelled 
 doors in the best bedroom fetched three pounds twelve 
 shillings apiece. Earl's Court District Railway Station 
 is opposite the site of the old house. 
 
 Photographs and drawings of Long Calderwood, 
 Earl's Court House, and 28, Leicester Square, are 
 in the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons. 
 
 The Leicester Square buildings are now in course 
 of demolition (Sept., 1897) and will be gone in a few 
 months. The pictures, engravings, and books were 
 sold by Messrs. Christie and Manson, at a four days' 
 
 ' Lady de Clifford, Lord Albemarle's mother, was her governess. 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 auction, in January and February, 1794. Among the 
 pictures, 120 altogether, were works by Hogarth, 
 Reynolds, ZofFany, and the big Zuccarelli cartoons, 
 and a portrait of Harvey by Janssen ; but the whole 
 collection fetched only ^TSoo. The engravings, in- 
 cluding many by Hogarth, WooUett, and Sharp, were 
 sold for ^^140 ; the books for ;^i6o. Later, in July, 
 there was a sale of the curios — armour, weapons, the 
 big turning-lathe, and so forth ; these went for ;^20o. 
 The whole sum raised by the sale was about j^ 1,500. 
 The museum also must be sold ; but in 1794 
 the Government was not in the mood for spending 
 money on anatomy. " What ! Buy preparations ! " 
 said Mr. Pitt, "why, I have not money enough to 
 purchase gunpowder." He gave a grant of money to 
 Mrs. Hunter, for 1794 and 1795 ; but it was no time 
 for applying Government funds to the advancement 
 of science. 
 
 From Lord Auckland to Sir Joseph Banks. 
 Jan. 25, 1796. 
 
 ..." Our late friend John Hunter left nothing for 
 the support of his widow and children, after the pay- 
 ment of his debts, but his collection of anatomical 
 preparations. From respect for his memory, and from 
 regard for Mrs. Hunter, whose conduct in such a 
 position has been highly becoming, I have concurred 
 with the Chief Baron during two years in obtaining 
 for her, through Mr. Pitt, the aid of His Majesty's 
 240 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 bounty ; and I have been of some use to her in other 
 respects. But the Act of Parliament does not allow 
 the King's bounty to be given a third year. In the 
 meantime the trustees of the collection (Mr. Home 
 and Dr. Baillie) have not been able to induce the 
 House of Commons to purchase it, or even to consider 
 the subject. In truth, the agitation of their minds 
 amidst the great scenes which are going forward, as 
 well as a general impression that all avoidable expenses, 
 not essential to the purposes of the war, should be 
 postponed, have combined to make it difficult to 
 recommend the purchase to the public. The delay is 
 most distressing to the family, who have no other 
 resource ; the mere expense of keeping the collection 
 is an overwhelming weight to those who have nothing. 
 
 " I do not pretend to be able to form any adequate 
 idea of the value and importance of the collection to 
 science ; it is quite out of my line of observation. 
 But I have always understood that your scientific 
 leaders concur in thinking it highly curious, and well 
 calculated to do service in the school both of medical 
 and of natural philosophy in general. 
 
 " I trust that as the worthy President of the Royal 
 Society, as an old and respected friend of a distin- 
 guished person whose family is left destitute, and, in 
 short, as a man of science and of benevolence, you will 
 turn this subject in your thoughts. If the purchase 
 could be properly and effectually recommended, with 
 the King's approbation, to the House of Commons 
 241 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 and to the Minister at the head of the Treasury, it 
 would be the best result." 
 
 From Sir Joseph Banks to Lord Auckland. 
 
 " My dear Lord, — Had I thought my friend John 
 Hunter's collection an object of importance to the 
 general study of natural history, or indeed to any 
 branch of science except to that of medicine, I hope 
 that two years would not have elapsed without my 
 taking an active part in recommending to the public 
 the measure of purchasing it. I was consulted in the 
 first instance by the gentlemen concerned, who, if I 
 rightly understood them, agreed with me in thinking 
 that the history of diseases was the only interesting 
 and valuable part, and the natural history was not of 
 consequence sufficient to be brought forward as an 
 object of public purchase, 
 
 " Concluding that the history of diseases arranged 
 itself naturally under the protection of the College of 
 Surgeons, and knowing that the corporate mansion of 
 that learned body was roomy enough to receive the 
 collection ; being well aware that matters of abstract 
 medicine did not come within the province of the 
 Royal Society, knowing that the apartments of that 
 body are scarce able to contain the property they 
 already possess, and thinking the museum, to which, 
 from the nature of its institution, students could not 
 have a convenient access, an improper deposit, I 
 declined, with the full approbation as I thought of 
 the parties concerned, taking any lead in the matter." 
 242 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 Still, Sir Joseph Banks would gladly help Lord 
 Auckland so far as he could. The House of Com- 
 mons appointed a Committee to take evidence as to 
 the value of the collection, and the cost of its main- 
 tenance ; and on June 13, 1799, the sum of ^15,000 
 was voted for its purchase. There was some idea that 
 it should be transferred to the Royal College of 
 Physicians, or to the British Museum ; but the Cor- 
 poration of Surgeons, by a unanimous vote taken on 
 December 23, 1799, agreed to receive it under con- 
 ditions fixed by the Government. 
 
 Till 1806, the collection remained in Leicester 
 Square, guarded by William Clift ; it was accessible to 
 visitors, he says, but very few came. Of all the men 
 whose lives came close to Hunter's life, the two most 
 romantic figures are his brother Jamie, who died when 
 Hunter was a boy, and Clift, who was a boy when 
 Hunter died. He was born on Hunter's birthday, 
 February 14, 1775, at Burcombe near Bodmin. He 
 was brought up in poverty, went to school at Bodmin, 
 had a taste for drawing, and used to adorn the kitchen 
 floor with sketches in chalk. Mrs. Gilbert, of The 
 Priory, Bodmin, who had been a schoolfellow of 
 Mrs. Hunter,! took notice of him, and sent him up 
 
 'Mrs. Gilbert died in 1818, and left a legacy of ^^50 to Mr. Clift ; 
 
 Mrs. Hunter wrote of it to him ; her letter is in the possession of the 
 
 Royal College of Surgeons :— 
 
 Saturday, April 11, 18 18. 
 
 Lr. Grosvr. Str. 
 
 I have this day had a letter from Bodmin, announcing the death of my 
 
 desrest and oldest friend ; I know this news will grieve you, my good 
 
 24,3 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 to London to her old friend. Young Clift came to 
 Leicester Square on February 14, 1792 ; again, John 
 Hunter's birthday. Board and lodging were given to 
 him in Castle Street, and he was set to write and 
 to make drawings, to dissect, and to take part in the 
 charge of the museum. For a year and eight months 
 he saw and wondered at the incessant rush of work 
 and fashion through the great house in Leicester 
 Square ; then came the end of it all, and he took up 
 again with poverty, and lived, year after year, with an 
 old housekeeper, in the dreary Castle Street house, on 
 seven shillings a week 5 and at one time, from the war 
 with France, a quartern loaf was two shillings. He 
 kept things together, watched over the museum, 
 had access to Hunter's manuscripts, and was without 
 books of his own ; therefore, he set himself to tran- 
 scribe the manuscripts.'' 
 
 The Government had given ^^ 15,000 for the col- 
 lection on June 13, 1799 ; the Corporation of Surgeons 
 had agreed, on December 23, to take charge of it. 
 With the coming of the nineteenth century, the old order 
 changed. In 1800, the surgeons, by a charter dated 
 March 22, became the Royal College of Surgeons 
 
 Clift, but let it be some comfort to know, she did not suffer, but merely 
 went to sleep without a groan, or even a sigh. . . . 
 
 " "After Mr. Hunter's death, till 1806, I had the key of the cases 
 which contained the manuscripts, and was anxious to make myself 
 acquainted with the nature of their contents, as they related chiefly to 
 the preparations. I had also, I may say, no other books to read at that 
 time ; so I frequently availed myself of the opportunity to read them, 
 ?nd make extracts from them." 
 
 244 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 in London ; they gave up Surgeons' Hall, and took a 
 house in Lincoln's Lin Fields, on the site of part of 
 the present buildings. In 1806, they received from 
 Parliament a grant of ^/^ 15,000 to build a museum 
 in Lincoln's Inn Fields ; three years later, a second 
 grant of ^^ 12,500 ; and they spent, of their own 
 money, more than j^ 2 1,000. By the charter of 
 1800, they were empowered to examine candidates 
 for the membership of the College ; and the examin- 
 ation-fees helped them to support this heavy expendi- 
 ture of so many thousand pounds. Other charters 
 were granted to them in 1821, 1843, and 1888 ; 
 under the charter of 1843 ^^^Y received the title of 
 the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the 
 Fellowship was instituted. 
 
 The Museum and Library, begun in 1806 and 
 finished in 18 13, became in a few years overcrowded 
 with preparations and books ; and in 1835-36 the 
 whole building was reconstructed by Sir Charles 
 Barry. In 1847, the College bought Mr. Copeland's 
 premises in Portugal Street, and in 1852 built on them 
 the Eastern Museum. In 1888, the premises were 
 again enlarged ; two more museums were added, and 
 the Conservator's house on the Eastern side of the 
 building was pulled down, making room for the 
 extension of the Library. 
 
 From 1793 to 1800, Clift was left to fight poverty 
 in Castle Street, on seven shillings a week, all that 
 245 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 John Hunter's executors could afford, with permission 
 to use enough spirits to keep the preparations from 
 spoiling. When the Royal College of Surgeons came 
 into existence, he was made Conservator of the 
 collection (July, 1800) and received ;^I00 a year; 
 and seven members of the Council were appointed 
 Curators, to write a catalogue, and to determine rules 
 for the safe keeping of the specimens. 
 
 In 1806, the collection was removed from Castle 
 Street to the house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Here, 
 says Clift, it was wholly inaccessible ; " it was in 
 store-rooms, in fact, in the dwelling-house, from the 
 top to the bottom." When a half of the new museum 
 was built, the preparations were moved into that half; 
 and in 18 13, when the museum was finished, they 
 were at last properly arranged, and displayed to 
 visitors ; the chief of whom, that year, was Cuvier, 
 who had thirty or forty drawings made for him. 
 
 John Hunter had passed his thirtieth year before he 
 made a single preparation for himself; all that he 
 made before that time were added to his brother's 
 collection. He died when he was sixty-five, and his 
 life was so full of other work — writing, lecturing, 
 hospital and private practice, experiments on animals, 
 duties administrative and social — and this work was 
 so often stopped by sickness, that we should still 
 praise his unwearied industry, though he had never 
 put two specimens together. But he had dissected 
 with his own hands, and had described — ■ 
 2^6 
 
AFTER 
 
 HUNTER 
 
 
 
 Of Quadrumana 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 species 
 
 Carnivora ... 
 
 
 
 51 
 
 J5 
 
 Rodentia ... 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 )5 
 
 Edentata . . . 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 » 
 
 Ruminantia 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 )> 
 
 Pachydermata 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 55 
 
 Cetacea 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 55 
 
 Marsupiata... 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 55 
 
 Birds 
 
 
 
 84 
 
 55 
 
 Reptiles . . . 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 55 
 
 Fishes 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 55 
 
 Insects 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 55 
 
 Other Invertebrata 
 
 
 20 
 
 55 
 
 315 
 
 " From the titles of his manuscripts, it appears that 
 Hunter possessed, at the period of his decease, original 
 records of the dissection of three hundred and fifteen 
 different species of animals. In addition to these, 
 Hunter's preparations testify that he had dissected 
 twenty-three species of mammalia, sixteen species of 
 birds, fourteen species of reptiles, forty species of 
 fishes, forty-two different mollusca, and about sixty 
 species of articulate and radiate animals ; all species 
 of animals of whose anatomy we have no evidence 
 that he left written descriptions. So that by adding 
 these undescribed dissections to those of which we 
 derive the evidence from the list of the manuscripts, 
 247 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 there is proof that Hunter anatomised at least five 
 hundred different species of animals, exclusive of re- 
 peated dissections of different individuals of the same 
 species^ besides the dissection of plants to a considerable 
 amount. With regard to the rarer and less known 
 invertebrate animals, he was not content with merely 
 recording their structure, and displaying its leading 
 peculiarities in preparations ; but he caused most 
 elaborate and accurate drawings to be made from the 
 recent dissections." (Owen.) 
 
 But these specimens illustrating comparative ana- 
 tomy or physiology were but a small part of the 
 collection. He added to them, by the work of his 
 own hands, or by incessant expenditure of money, 
 thousands of preparations in human anatomy, and in 
 pathology ; skulls of all nations, stuffed animals, fossils ; 
 two thousand stuffed animals, three thousand fossils. 
 Prof. Charles Stewart and Mr. Timothy Holmes have 
 estimated the sum of the whole collection at more 
 than 1 3,000 specimens :— 
 
 Physiological preparations, in spirit 3>745 
 
 Osteological preparations ... 
 
 965 
 
 Dry preparations ... 
 
 ... 617 
 
 Zoological (stuffed animals) 
 
 ... 1,968 
 
 Fossils — 
 
 
 Vertebrate 
 
 ... 1,215 
 
 Invertebrate ... 
 
 ... 2,202 
 
 Plants 
 
 292 
 
 248 
 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 Pathological preparations, in spirit... 1,084 
 
 Dry preparations ... ... ... 625 
 
 Calculi ... ... ... ... 536 
 
 Malformations ... ... ... 218 
 
 Microscopic preparations ... ... 215 
 
 13,682 
 
 Yet these figures represent but a part of his work. 
 Over and above his endless toil for his collection, and all 
 his other daily tasks for surgery, he was for ever making 
 experiments. He studied the development of eggs, 
 and pursued his studies for fifteen years ; " surely one 
 might suppose that this was the great work of his life ; 
 yet it seems to have been rather a casual by-the-way 
 pursuit." For years he watched the habits of bees 
 and wasps ; " he says that in his experiments on bees 
 he killed several hives and examined every single bee, 
 to assure himself that no male was left after the 
 fertilisation of the queen bee had been effected. Now 
 the number of labourers in a hive amounts to at least 
 4,000, so that he must have examined twelve or 
 fifteen thousand bees one by one, to determine this 
 point alone." (Power, Hunterian Oration). 
 
 Finally, he recorded, with infinite patience, all that 
 he did. At his death, he left an enormous quantity of 
 manuscripts ; and the strange story of these manu- 
 scripts must be told here, so far as possible, in -Mr. 
 Clift's own words. 
 
 249 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 " At Mr. Hunter's death, all his papers came into 
 the possession of his executors, Dr. Baillie and Mr. 
 Home. Mr. Home was the acting executor. The 
 cabinets which contained these papers stood in Mr. 
 Hunter's study, that he might have ready access to 
 them in the evenings ; and scarcely a single evening 
 occurred, except Sundays, during my attendance on 
 Mr. Hunter for the last twenty months of his life, in 
 which something was not added to the contents of 
 these volumes and papers. I wrote for him constantly 
 during that period from seven o'clock till eleven p.m., 
 and sometimes an hour or two later, as did also Mr. 
 Haynes for a great part of that period. The greatest 
 part of these papers were in the handwriting of Mr. 
 Bell, who lived fourteen years in Mr. Hunter's house 
 for the purpose of writing and making drawings. 
 
 " Mr. Hunter kept an account of the various 
 animals that came under his inspection ; and whenever 
 he re-examined an animal, he overlooked his previous 
 account, and corrected or added to it. Also an 
 account of all remarkable and interesting cases that 
 came under his observation, as well as others furnished 
 by his friends. 
 
 " He generally wrote his first thoughts or memo- 
 randa on all subjects on the slips torn off from the 
 ends and the blank pages and envelopes of letters. 
 Thousands of these were copied by Haynes and myself 
 into the different papers and volumes, being generally 
 inserted and frequently pinned into the place where 
 250 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 they were to be written in. He appeared to have no 
 desire for preserving his own handwriting, as we 
 always scored these slips across, and returned them to 
 Mr. Hunter, who usually folded them up, and put 
 them on the chimney-piece to light the candles with ; 
 and the rough or waste copies on all subjects, when 
 copied out fair, were taken into his private dissecting 
 room as waste paper to dissect upon. 
 
 " From the time of Mr. Hunter's death, and during 
 nearly two years before that, while I was Mr. Hunter's 
 apprentice, I had the entire charge of the collection. 
 Shortly before the collection was transferred to the 
 College of Surgeons (Dec, 1799), the manuscripts were 
 taken by me in a cart to Sir Everard Home's house, 
 by his order. He merely said that these papers, being 
 a very large proportion of them loose fasciculi, were 
 not fit for the public eye ; and therefore he should 
 take them into his keeping, for the purpose of using 
 them in describing the collection." 
 
 For twenty-three years, from i8oo to 1823, the 
 manuscripts remained in the possession of Sir Everard 
 Home. The story how he then destroyed them was 
 told by Mr. Clift in 1834, when he gave evidence 
 before the Parliamentary Committee on Medical 
 Education. An abstract of his evidence was published 
 in the Lancet, July 11, 1835. Home had been urged 
 by the trustees, again and again, to write the long- 
 promised catalogue ; he neither did this, nor allowed 
 any one else to do it. In 181 7 he rearranged the 
 251 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 specimens, in 1818 he wrote a sort of general account 
 of them ; but the catalogue he never wrote. From 
 the manuscripts, he conveyed what he wanted into 
 the numerous papers that he read before the Royal 
 Society, and into his Lectures on Comparative 
 Anatomy ; then, in July, 1823, having made this 
 use of Hunter's writings as materials for his own 
 advancement, he burned them. 
 
 From Mr. Cliff's evidence before the Parliamentary 
 Committee. 
 
 ".^. The Council have stated that in 18 16 it was 
 proposed that all the Curators should become jomt 
 labourers in drawing up a descriptive catalogue, when 
 Sir Everard Home declared, they say, that it was his 
 special duty, and that he would admit of no participa- 
 tion in its performance. Do you know anything of 
 that allegation ? 
 
 " A. Yes, every word or it is perfectly true ; I 
 heard him declare it. The trustees had been fre- 
 quently urging the Board of Curators to make 
 progress in the catalogue, and as they saw that no 
 progress was making in it, they became anxious on 
 the subject. . . . From 1817 to 1823, 1 had no access 
 to any of the manuscripts, except such as he brought 
 with him to compare with specimens in the collection, 
 for his own special purposes. 
 
 ".^. What do you mean by his own special 
 purposes ? 
 
 252 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 "^. When he was preparing for his lectures, or 
 drawing up papers for the Philosophical Transactions, 
 
 "^. When was it that you first received any in- 
 formation as to the destruction of the manuscripts ? 
 
 "^. In July, 1823, I first obtained a knowledge of 
 the circumstance from Sir Everard himself. He began 
 by telling me that on that very week his house had 
 nearly been on fire ; that the engines came, and the 
 firemen insisted upon entrance, as they saw the flames 
 coming out of the chimney. Then he told me that it 
 was in burning the manuscripts of Mr. Hunter that 
 the fire occurred. This conversation passed in a 
 chaise on our road to Kew, where there was a monthly 
 meeting called the ' medico-botanical.' I can hardly 
 describe my feelings on receiving this information. I 
 said to him, ' I hope. Sir Everard, you have not des- 
 troyed those ten volumes relating to the gallery, and 
 Mr. Hunter's lectures.' He replied that he had ; and 
 then I mentioned to him perhaps twenty others, of 
 which I had a very perfect recollection (and I felt 
 that all the hopes which I had entertained were 
 entirely frustrated and destroyed ; my life had been 
 spent in the service of that collection, and I hoped to 
 have lived to see those papers beneficially employed); but 
 he told me that they were all gone, and then I said to 
 him, 'Well, Sir Everard, there is only one thing- 
 more to do, and that is to burn the collection itself.' 
 That week Sir Everard had received back from the 
 printer the last proof of his second volume of ' Lectures 
 253 R 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 on Comparative Anatomy ' ; and I knew that he had 
 used these papers very largely in the preparation of 
 that work." 
 
 When Mr. Clift gave his evidence, eleven years 
 after the destruction of the manuscripts, he broke down 
 and cried. Sir Everard, of course, defended himself. 
 He said that Hunter, when he was dying, told him to 
 destroy the manuscripts.' He said they were in such 
 a state that they were unfit for publication ; but 
 Hunter had so prized them that three of the folios 
 were put at his side when Reynolds painted him, 
 Finally, he said he had destroyed every one of the 
 manuscripts ; yet when the trustees brought pressure 
 to bear upon him, he returned several. He faced the 
 matter out, kept his seat on the Council, wrote to the 
 Secretary of the College : — 
 
 Sackville Street, March 9, 1824. 
 
 Sir, — I beg you will acquaint the Board of Curators, 
 that Mr. Hunter desired that, after his death, his 
 manuscripts should not be entrusted to anybody, but 
 were to be destroyed, being in too imperfect a state for 
 the public eye. 
 
 With a view to afford every material that could 
 assist in the formation of the Catalogue, I spent my 
 
 ' See Mr. Clift's evidence, ^ 230. But probably Sir Everard did not 
 say that Hunter, when he was dying, told him to destroy the manu- 
 scripts ; but said that Hunter told him to destroy the manuscripts when 
 he was dead. Even this statement is hard to believe. 
 
 254 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 leisure hours in the Museum for ten years, taking 
 every assistance these papers could afford, and at the 
 end of thirty years (1793-1823), my own health 
 becoming precarious, I closed my executorship by 
 destroying them. 
 
 I am. Sir, yours truly, 
 
 EvERARD Home. 
 Mr. Belfour, Secretary, Royal College of Surgeons. 
 
 He was nearing old age — sixty-seven — when he 
 burned the manuscripts ; had been Master and Presi- 
 dent of the College, twice Hunterian Orator, fifteen 
 years Serjeant-Surgeon to the King, ten years a 
 Baronet. He had been appointed Surgeon to St. 
 George's Hospital when Hunter died, had taken 
 Hunter's lectures, and was Mrs. Hunter's brother ; 
 he stood in the dead man's shoes, a great man 
 himself, always under the shadow of the dead man's 
 memory ; it is not strange that as he came to- 
 ward the threescore years and ten he got weary of 
 the sight of the manuscripts, and persuaded him- 
 self that they might be burned, now that Hunter 
 had been dead for thirty years. Unhappily for his 
 good name, he had made use of them in his own 
 writings. " As he grew old, he became, I believe, the 
 subject of one of those forms of senile degeneration in 
 morality against which all men growing old need to 
 guard. He stole from the Hunterian manuscripts, and 
 then burnt them, after publishing many of Hunter's 
 255 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 observations as his own." And Sir Benjamin Brodie, 
 praising him in the Hunterian Oration for 1837, yet 
 admitted that "unfortunately for his reputation, his 
 ambition rather increased than diminished, while his 
 mental powers were gradually declining. In his latter 
 days, he had an overweening anxiety to appear before 
 the world as a discoverer ; and many of his later 
 communications to the Royal Society are of such a 
 nature that his friends must now regret that they 
 were ever published." 
 
 The manuscripts that he destroyed are enumerated 
 in Mr. Clift's evidence ; nine folio volumes of notes 
 on the dissections of animals, and one on the natural 
 history of vegetables ; the lectures on surgery ; notes 
 for the Croonian lectures ; the natural history of 
 fossils, observations on surgery, cases, and a very large 
 quantity of notes on comparative anatomy, physiology, 
 and experiments. Two of the folios, supposed to be 
 burnt, were afterward recovered. 
 
 The loss was remedied by the transcripts made by 
 Mr. Clift. He had copied all the nine folios ; the 
 folio on vegetables had not been burned, nor had the 
 notes on fossils, and on the development of the chick. 
 He had moreover copied twenty-six other monographs. 
 The lectures on surgery were saved, for Hunter's pupils 
 had taken shorthand notes of them. The observations 
 on surgery, and on scrofula and cancer, and some of 
 the cases, were lost. In 1861, Sir Richard Owen 
 edited Mr. Clift's copies, and such other monographs 
 256 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 as had been saved, in two volumes, under the title 
 "Essays and Observations on Natural History, 
 Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology, and Geology, by 
 John Hunter." 
 
 Dr. Matthew Baillie died on September 23, 
 1823, a few weeks after the burning of the manu- 
 scripts. Sir Everard Home died in 1832. Mr. 
 Clift died in 1849, having devoted himself for more 
 than half a century to the cause of Hunter's work. 
 His son, Mr. Home Clift, and his son-in-law, Sir 
 Richard Owen, assisted him ; and after him came 
 men having the spirit of Hunter, who are still 
 among us ; one, above all others, the true heir ot 
 all that he left. I have tried to put in a straightfor- 
 ward way the facts of Hunter's life, illustrating them 
 from his own writings, and from the letters and 
 reminiscences of those who were nearest to him. His 
 praise is in every Hunterian Oration, from men most 
 famous in his profession ; I have only put together 
 such notes about him as may show to all readers some- 
 thing of his character, something of his work. 
 
 I. 
 
 London, August 31, 1804. 
 
 My dear Mrs. Baillie, — I rejoice that I had 
 not heard any of your misfortunes till I heard from 
 yourself this day ; here is weather to make you forget 
 
 257 
 
JOHN HUNTER 
 
 them all, and to render even your Rocky coast, and 
 stormy Waves chearful. . . , Poor Baillie, he must pay 
 the price of his celebrity ; if he will be eminent, he 
 must take the consequences ; and who will pity him, 
 I wonder ? I am in hopes, however, he will soon be 
 quite well, and injoy his short excursion, and the sea 
 breezes. We have been gay this week, with all these 
 jaunts, and on Wednesday evg. were at the Play : 
 we had a very good bargain of laughing for our five 
 shillings, and so we ought, for it was extremely warm : 
 ... So that you see we have still some shreds and 
 patches remaining of the Beau Monde in London. 
 The idea of Invasion is not very strong here, yet we 
 do think of it occasionally, and wish his Majesty 
 would not make such wide sailing excursions from 
 Weymouth ; it would be rather awkward if he were 
 to be caught, and carried over to the Enemy. We 
 are thinking of Preferment and Military Rank in this 
 House from Morning to Night. . . . We have no im- 
 mediate prospect of John's leaving us,i and have some 
 thoughts of making a Party, when Lady Susan leaves 
 us next week, to visit the General and his Lady for a 
 few days . . . All our loves attend you, Baillie, and 
 the Children, compts. to your Brother, and present 
 our kind remembrances to your Neighbour the Ocean, 
 
 ' This is her son, who was in the Army. The next letter shows that 
 he became estranged from her : I have omitted part of it on that account. 
 We know very little about him : I believe he was married, for notice 
 was sent to Mr. Clift, in 1830, of the death of Mrs. Hunter, of Gateshead. 
 His mother died in 1821. 
 
 258 
 
AFTER HUNTER 
 
 for whom we have a very unfeigned regard. Adieu, 
 my Dear Mrs. Baillie, and Believe me £ver with 
 sincere Attachment very Affectionately yours 
 
 Anne Hunter. 
 
 ir. 
 
 When Mrs. Hunter died, her property was sworn 
 at under ^6,000. Eleven years before her death, she 
 wrote to Dr. Matthew Baillie about her affairs. The 
 letter is dated December 9, 18 10, Lower Grosvenor 
 Street : — ■ 
 
 My dear Baillie, — As ^t any Age it is but 
 prudent to settle ones Worldly Affairs, at mine it is 
 peculiarly proper. Before I became acquainted with 
 the situation of my poor unhappy Son, I had conceived 
 that leaving behind me a mere Memoir of my Wishes, 
 to be fulfilled after my Death by my Children, 
 would be sufficient : but circumstances are now 
 changed, and I am obliged to think differantly. As 
 in case of my Death, I believe Agnes would not 
 immediately be capable of acting, I have one favour 
 to ask of your Friendship, in addition to many already 
 received, which is, that you will join your name with 
 my Brother, as my Executors. My funded property 
 is, as you know, small. ... I have drawn out a 
 sketch of my Will, which I daresay is very awkwardly 
 done, but you shall see it, and give me your opinion. 
 I have, in fact, so little to leave, that it is principaly 
 259 
 
TOHN HUNTER 
 
 made up of little remembrances to friends, which were 
 the articles in my former Paper of Memoirs, and which 
 I have now only put in a new form, that I might 
 make one principle , alteration. I have not made the 
 proposition yet to my Brother, but I think he cannot 
 well refuse me this last act of complaisance. Adieu, 
 my Dear Friend, I am to the last moment of my life. 
 Affectionately Yours 
 
 A. Hunter. 
 
 260 
 
APPENDIX 
 
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CHIEF REFERENCES 
 
 1. "The Works of John Hunter, F.R.S. : with Notes." 
 
 Edited by James F. Palmer. In four volumes. 
 London, Longmans, 1835. With a Life, by 
 Drewry Ottley. 
 
 2. " Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gunshot 
 
 Wounds." By John Hunter. With a Life, by 
 Sir Everard Home. Edited in 1794. 
 
 3. "Essays and Observations on Natural History, 
 
 Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology, and Geology." 
 By John Hunter, F.R.S. Being his posthumous 
 papers on those subjects. In two volumes. 
 Edited by Richard Owen, F.R.S,, D.C.L. 
 London, Longmans, 1861. 
 
 4. The Baillie Letters. Presented by Miss Baillie to 
 
 the Royal College of Surgeons. Also letters, 
 &c., from Miss Baillie's private collection. 
 
 5. Mr. J. B. Bailey's Collection, at the Royal College 
 
 of Surgeons, of pictures, newspaper cuttings, &c., 
 relating to Hunter. 
 
 6. " Memoirs of the Life and Doctrines of the late John 
 
 Hunter, Esq." By Joseph Adams, M.D. London, 
 1817. 
 
 7. "The Life of John Hunter." By Jesse Foot, 
 
 Surgeon. London, 1794. 
 264 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 8. "Two Great Scotsmen (William and John Hunter)." 
 
 By George Mather, M.D. 
 
 9. " William Smellie and his Contemporaries." By 
 
 John Glaister, M.D. Glasgow, 1894. 
 
 10. Pettigrew's " Medical Portrait Gallery." 1838. 
 
 1 1. "Dictionary of National Biography.'' 
 
 12. " Lives of British Physicians." London, John Murray, 
 
 1830. 
 
 13. "Life of Edward Jenner." By John Baron, M.D. 
 
 Two volumes. London, 1838. 
 
 14. "Leicester Square." By Tom Taylor. 
 
 15. "An Account of the Life and Writings of the late 
 
 William Hunter, M.D., F.R.S." By Samuel 
 Foart Simmons, M.D., F.R.S. London, 1783. 
 
 16. "John Hunter at Earl's Court, Kensington." By 
 
 8. S. M. (Dr. Merriman). 1881. 
 
 17. "Introductory Address at St. George's Hospital on 
 
 the Centenary of John Hunter's Death." By 
 Timothy Holmes, F.R.C.S., Consulting Surgeon 
 to the Hospital. London, Adlard & Sons, 
 1893. 
 
 18. "Autobiography of the late Sir Benjamin Brodie, 
 
 Bart." Edited by his son. London, Longmans, 
 1865. 
 
 1 9. " St. George's Hospital : Some Account of the 
 
 Hospital and School." By William Emmanuel 
 Page, M.D. London, 1866. (From the first 
 volume of the St. George's Hospital Reports.) 
 zo. The Lancet, July 11, 1835. (Mr. Clift's evidence 
 before the Parliamentary Medical Committee.) 
 
 21. The Hunterian Orations, from 18 14 onwards. 
 
 22. " Physiological Lectures." By John Abernethy, 
 
 F.R.S. London, Longmans, 1817. 
 
 23. British Medical Journal. Medical Institutions. 
 
 265 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 24. "Catalogue of the Hunterian Relics exhibited at 
 
 the Royal College of Surgeons of England on 
 Wednesday, July 5, 1893." By J. B. Bailey. 
 
 25. "Only an Old Chair." By D. R. A. G. M. (Dr. 
 
 Goodsir). Edinburgh, 1884. 
 
 26. "Catalogue of the Portraits at the Royal College of 
 
 Surgeons." By E. Hallett. 
 
 27. The Lancet,Ms.Y q, i?,<)6. Dr. Newton Pitt's Oration. 
 
 28. "Hunter and his Pupils." S. D. Gross, i88i. 
 
 29. British Medical Journal, 1890, i. 738, 865. Dr. 
 
 Finlayson's Account of Mr. Clift. 
 
 30. Hunterian Society's Transactions, 1896-97. The 
 
 Annual Oration. By Dr. Kingston Fox. 
 
 266 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abernethy, 104, 121, 221, 
 
 226, 230 
 Adair, 52, 73, 115, 184 
 Adams, 153, 218, 221, 238 
 Albinus, 25 
 Alloa, 65 
 
 Antoinette, Marie, 219 
 Armstrong, 41 
 Auckland, 240 
 
 B 
 
 Baillie, Agnes, 22, 23 
 Baillie, James, 22, 74, 119 
 Baillie, Joanna, 22, 27, 119, 
 
 192 
 Baillie, Matthew : birth, 
 22 ; education, 237; with 
 Wm. Hunter, 65, 237 ; 
 gives Long Calderwood to 
 John Hunter, 237 ; his 
 executor, 236 ; death, 
 257 ; letters from Mrs. 
 Hunter, 257-260 
 Baillie, William Hunter, 26 
 
 Baillie, Miss, 27, 190, 239 
 
 Banks, Sir J., 145, 242 
 
 St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 
 
 48, 213, 214 
 Bath, 114, 135, 145, 169 
 Bay ford, 92 
 
 Bell, William, 112, 183 
 Belleisle, 53, 72-77 
 Berkeley, Lord, 121 
 Black, Mrs., 130 
 Blane, Sir Gilbert, 174 
 Blizard,- Sir William, 221 
 Blyth, Dr., 77 
 Boughton, Sir Theodosius, 
 
 229 
 Bristol, 135 
 Brooks, 86, 177 
 Buckland, Frank, 88, 235 
 Buller, Mr. Justice, 229 
 Byron, Lady, 193 
 
 Campbell, Sir James, 191 
 Carlisle, Sir Anthony, 224 
 Carter, Mrs. E., 191 
 
 267 
 
INDEX 
 
 Castle Lane, 194 
 
 Castle Street, 154, 159, 182, 
 244 
 
 Cattgal, 137 
 
 Chappell Street, 194 
 
 Charleywood, Col., 192 
 
 Cheselden, 48, 195 
 
 Cheston, 144 
 
 Clarke, Dr., 222 
 
 Clench, 170 
 
 Clift, William : birth and 
 boyhood, 243 ; work with 
 Hunter, 244 ; Conser- 
 vator of Museum, 246 ; 
 transcribes Hunter's 
 manuscripts, 244, 256; 
 evidence before Com- 
 mittee, 250-254 ; death, 
 247 
 
 Cline, 104 
 
 Cogan, Dr., 56 
 
 College of Surgeons, 229, 
 243-245 
 
 Combe, Dr., 71 
 
 Cooper, Sir Astley, 105, 
 121 
 
 Covent Garden, 23, 34, 41, 
 60 
 
 Cruikshank, 118, 225 
 
 Cullen, 23, 29, 40, 45, 65, 
 81 
 
 D 
 
 D'Arblay, Mme., 191 
 Darwin, 19, 51 
 
 Donellan, Captain, 229, 233 
 Douglas, James, 24, 28, 38 
 Douglas, John, 23, 33,37,41 
 Douglas, Miss, 24, 34, 41 
 Douglas, Mrs., 33, 38, 41 
 
 Earl's Court, 85-91, in, 
 
 120, 239 
 Edge worth, Miss, 192 
 
 Farquarson, 1 1 5 
 Finlayson, Dr., 1 54 
 Foot, Jesse, 32, 85, &c. 
 Fordyce, 69, 123, 134, 174, 
 
 187 
 France, 38, 42 
 
 Gainsborough, 65 
 Garrow, Dr., 58 
 Garthshore, Dr., 98 
 Gataker, 92 
 St. George's Hospital, 49, 
 
 50, 194-219 
 Giant, the Irish, 89, 155 
 Gilbert, Mrs., 243 
 Glasgow, 27, 36 
 Glasgow College, 23, 237 
 Golden Square, 53, sqq. 
 Gross, Prof., 121 
 Grosvenor, Lord, 196 
 Gunning, 198, 202, sqq. 
 
 268 
 
INDEX 
 
 Guy, 93 
 
 Guy's Hospital, 214 
 
 H 
 
 Haller, 59 
 
 Hamilton, Francis, z8 
 
 Hawkins, Caesar, 198 ; 
 Charles, 199 ; George, 199 
 
 Haydn, 97 
 
 Haymarket, the, 102 
 
 Haynes, 250 
 
 Hazeland, 171 
 
 Heberden, 122 
 
 Hewson, 84, 141 
 
 Hicks, 132, 139 
 
 Hodgson, Genl., 53, 75 
 
 Hogarth, 157 
 
 Holmes, Mr. T., 240 
 
 Home, Miss (Mrs. Hunter's 
 sister), 191, 192 
 
 Home, Robert, 45 
 
 Home, Robert Boyne, 95 
 
 Home, Sir Everard : his 
 account of himself, 99 ; 
 goes to Plymouth, 115; 
 comes back, 161 ; at 
 Leicester Square, 1 70 ; 
 assistant surgeon at St. 
 George's, 200 ; surgeon, 
 255 ; takes Hunter's 
 lectures, 186 ; his ex- 
 ecutor, 236 ; the story 
 of the manuscripts, 250- 
 255 ; death, 256 
 
 Howison, 89 
 
 Hume, David, 81 
 
 Hunter, John : his father, 
 20, 25 ; his mother, 20, 
 25, 33 ; brothers and sis- 
 ters, 20-45 ; birth and 
 boyhood, 20-32, 35 ; at 
 Glasgow, 27, 36 ; early 
 years in London, 46, 5 2 ; 
 Oxford, 27, 50 ; Belleisle 
 and Portugal, 52-55, 
 72-80 ; Golden Square 
 and Earl's Court, 83-91 ; 
 F.R.S., 91 ; Surgeon to 
 St. George's Hospital, 92 ; 
 marriage, 93 ; lectures, 
 102 ; Jerymn Street, 95 ; 
 Surgeon to the King, 113; 
 Croonian lectures, 113; 
 work on the teeth, 93, 
 115; death of William 
 Hunter, 117; letters to 
 James Baillie, 119, to 
 Jenner, 121, sqq. ; ill- 
 nesses, 52, loi, 150-172, 
 1 84, sqq. ; operation for 
 aneurysm, 1 7 1 ; works on 
 venereal disease and on 
 animal oeconomy, 173 
 183 ; Deputy-Surgeon- 
 General, 174 ; work on 
 whales, 177, on bees, 186, 
 249, on the blood, in- 
 flammation, and gunshot 
 
 269 
 
INDEX 
 
 Hunter, John [continued) — 
 wounds, 53 ; Copley 
 medal, 179 ; portraits by 
 Home, 45, Reynolds, 1795 
 Surgeon-General, 1 84; St. 
 George's Hospital, 49, 50, 
 1 94, iqq. ; death, 2 1 9 ; 
 Westminster Abbey, 2355 
 sale of his property, 236, 
 239 ; his museum, 243- 
 249 
 
 Hunter, William : birth 
 and boyhood, 22, 29 ; 
 early life in London, 24, 
 sqq. ; letters to his mo- 
 ther, 37, to James, 39, 
 42 ; appointments, 45, 65 ; 
 school of anatomy, 46 ; 
 Medical Commentaries, 
 56, sqq. ; museum and 
 art collection, 65 ; Great 
 Windmill Street, 66 ; 
 Atlas, 67 ; quarrel with 
 John Hunter, 67-70 ; 
 death, 71 
 
 Hunter, Mrs, 95-99, 120, 
 158, 221, 232, 235 ; re- 
 miniscences of her grand- 
 niece, 190 ; letters, 169, 
 192, 257—260 
 
 Hunter, Agnes (J. H.'s sis- 
 ter), 20, 43 
 
 Hunter, Agnes (J. H.'s 
 daughter), 97, 191, 192 
 
 Hunter, Andrew, 20 
 
 Hunter, Dorothea (Mrs. 
 Baillie), 22, 49, 64, 237 
 
 Hunter, Elizabeth, 20 
 
 Hunter, Francis, 20, 28 
 
 Hunter, Isabella (Tibbie), 
 20, 38 
 
 Hunter, James (J. H.'s 
 brother), 21, 29, 39, 42 
 
 Hunter, James (J. H.'s son), 
 96, 119 
 
 Hunter, John (J. H.'s 
 father), 20, 25 
 
 Hunter, John (J. H.'s son), 
 8, 158, 236, 258 
 
 Hunter, John (J. H.'s bro- 
 ther), 20 
 
 Hunter, Janet (Mrs. Bu- 
 chanan), 21, 35 
 
 Hunter, Mary Ann (J. H.'s 
 daughter), 96, 119 
 
 Hunter, Mrs. (J. H.'s mo- 
 ther), 20, 25, 33 
 
 Hunter of Hunterston, 19, 
 
 33 
 
 I 
 
 Ingham, 78 
 
 J 
 Jenner, Edward, 1 21-146, 
 
 163-186 
 Jenner, Henry, i 58 
 Jermyn Street, 46, 95, sqq. 
 Johnson, Dr., 65 
 
 270 
 
INDEX 
 
 K 
 Keate, 200-zo2, 217 
 Keppel, Commodore, 1 1 5 
 Kingston, John, 93 
 
 Lanesborough House, 195 
 Lawrence, Sir William, 230 
 Leicester Square, 154-160, 
 
 182, 239 
 Lions' Den, The, 87, 239 
 London Hospital, 214, 215 
 Long Calderwood, 20, sqq., 
 
 49. 237 
 Loudoun, Lord, 78 
 
 Luders, 138 
 
 Lyceum Medicum, 183,188 
 
 Lynn, William, 228 
 
 M 
 Macaulay, Dr., 74, 75 
 Mackenzie, Col., 75 
 Mackenzie, Dr., 68 
 Madox, 78 
 Manningham, Sir Richard, 
 
 46 
 Marshall, Dr., 174 
 Martin's-in-the-Fields, St., 
 
 97> 235 
 Mather, Dr., 66 
 Mead, Dr., 195 
 Merriman, Dr., 87 
 Middleton, 174 
 Milligan, Mrs., 190 
 
 Monro, Alex., sen., 23, 40 
 Monro, Alex., jun., 57, 58, 
 
 62, 77 
 Monro, Donald, 59 
 Montagu, Mrs., 192 
 
 N 
 
 Nicholls, Frank, 24 
 Nicol, George, 173, 222, 
 225 
 
 O 
 
 Orford, Lord, 191 
 
 Ottley, 46, 87, III, 122, 
 
 &c. 
 Oxford, 27, 49, 237 
 Owen, Dr., 41 
 Owen, Sir Richard, 161, 
 
 248, 256 
 
 Paris, 25, 34, 42 
 
 Pettigrew, 75, 77 
 
 Physick, 121, 233 
 
 Plunkett, 109 
 
 Pine, 44 
 
 Pitcairn, 74, '](>, 108, 168, 
 
 174 
 Pitt, William, 240 
 
 Pitt, Dr. Newton, 187 
 Portugal, 53, 76 
 Pott, 48, 60, 181 
 Power, Mr. D'Arcy, 49 
 
 271 
 
INDEX 
 
 Q 
 
 Queensberry, Duke of, 224 
 Queen Street, 215 
 
 R 
 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 44, 
 
 179, 229 
 Robertson, Dr., 219 
 Rumsey, Nathaniel, no 
 
 Sandys, Dr., 46 
 
 Sennertus, 109 
 
 Sharp, W., 157, 179, 180 
 
 Sharpe, S., 24 
 
 Sloane, Sir Hans, 195 
 
 Smellie, Dr., 23, 34, 41, 46 
 
 Smollett, 29, 76 
 
 Societies, Medical, 183, 187 
 
 Stevenson, R. L., 155 
 
 Stewart, Prof., 248 
 
 St. Thomas' Hospital, 195, 
 
 214 
 Swift, 2 3 1 
 
 Taylor of Whitworth, 168 
 Thomas, Sir N., io8 
 
 Thomas, 223 
 Thomson, 121 
 Thurlow, Bishop, 168 
 Townsend, 79 
 Tunbridge, 169 
 Tyrawly, Lord, 78 
 Tyrwhitt, 79 
 
 V 
 Vesalius, 66, 233 
 
 W 
 Walker, William, 199, 202 
 Warren, Dr., 108 
 Westminster Abbey, 235 
 Westminster Hospital, 195 
 Westminster Infirmary, 194 
 Wilkins, 196 
 Windmill Street, 66, 215 
 Woollett, no, 157 
 
 Young, Prof., 66 
 Young, 77-79 
 
 Zoffany, 44, 157 
 Zuccarelli, 157 
 
 UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LOXDOX. 
 
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