and sensible, he after a short time invited him into his family, to assist in his dissections, and to superintend the education of his son. Mr. Hunter having communicated this offer to his father and Dr. Cullen, the latter readily and heartily gave his concurrence to it; but his father, who was very old and infirm, and expected his return with impatience, consented with reluctance. His father did not long survive, dying Oct. 30 following, aged 78.

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Mr. Hunter,. having accepted Dr. Douglas's invitation, was by his friendly assistance enabled to enter himself as a surgeon's pupil at St. George's hospital under Mr. James Wilkie, and as a dissecting pupil under Dr. Frank Nichols, who at that time taught anatomy with considerable reputation. He likewise attended a course of lectures on experimental philosophy by Dr. Desaguliers. Of these means of improvement he did not fail to make a proper use. He soon became expert in dissection, and Dr. Douglas was at the expence of having several of his preparations engraved. But before many months had elapsed, he had the misfortune to lose this excellent friend. Dr. Douglas died April 1, 1742, in his 67th year, leaving a widow and two chil dren. The death of Dr. Douglas, however, made no change in his situation. He continued to reside with the doctor's family, and to pursue his studies with the same diligence as before. In 1743 he communicated to the royal society "An Essay on the Structure and Diseases of articulating Cartilages." This ingenious paper, on a sub. ject which till then had not been sufficiently investigated, affords a striking testimony of the rapid progress he had made in his anatomical inquiries. As he had it in contemplation to teach anatomy, his attention was directed principally to this object; and it deserves to be mentioned as an additional mark of his prudence, that he did not precipitately engage in this attempt, but passed several years in acquiring such a degree of knowledge, and such a collection of preparations, as might insure him success. After waiting some time for a favourable opening, he succeeded Mr. Samuel Sharpe as lecturer to a private society of surgeons in Covent-garden, began his lectures in their rooms, and soon extended his plan from surgery to anatomy. This undertaking commenced in the winter of 1746. He is said to have experienced much solicitude when he began to speak in public, but applause soon inspired him with courage; and by degrees he became so fond of teaching, that

for many years before his death he was never happier than when employed in delivering a lecture.

The profits of his two first courses were considerable*, but by contributing to the wants of different friends, he found himself, at the return of the next season, obliged to defer his lectures for a fortnight, merely because he had not money to defray the necessary expence of advertisements. This circumstance taught him to be more reserved in this respect. In 1747 he was admitted a member of the corporation of surgeons, and in the spring of the fol-. lowing year, soon after the close of his lectures, he set out in company with his pupil, Mr. James Douglas, on a tour through Holland to Paris. His lectures suffered no interruption by this journey, as he returned to England soon enough to prepare for his winter course, which began about the usual time. At first he practised both surgery and midwifery, but the former he always disliked; and, being elected one of the surgeon-men-midwives first to the Middlesex, and soon afterwards to the British lying-in 'hospital, and recommended by several of the most eminent surgeons of that time, his line was thus determined. Over his countryman, Dr. Smellie, notwithstanding his great experience, and the reputation he had justly acquired, he had a great advantage in person and address. The most lucrative part of the practice of midwifery was at that time in the hands of sir Richard Manningham and Dr. Sandys. The former of these died, and the latter retired into the country a few years after Mr. Hunter began to be known in midwifery. Although by these incidents he was established in the practice of midwifery, it is well known that in proportion as his reputation increased, his opinion was eagerly sought in all cases where any light concerning the seat or nature of any disease, could be expected from an intimate knowledge of anatomy. In 1750 he obtained the degree of M. D. from the university of Glasgow, and began to practise as a physician. About

* Mr. Watson, F. R. S. who was one of Mr. Hunter's earliest pupils, accompanied him home after his introductory lecture. Mr. Hunter, who had received about seventy guineas from his pupils, and had got the money in a bag under his cloak, observed to Mr. Watson, that it was a larger sum than he had ever been master of before. Dr. Pulteney, in his « Life of

Linnæus," has not thought it superfluous to record the slender beginning from which that great naturalist rose to ease and affluence in life. "Exivi patria triginti sex nummis aureis dives," are Linnæus's own words. Anecdotes of this sort deserve to be recorded, as an encouragement to young men, who, with great merit, happen to possess but little advantages of fortune.

this time he quitted the family of Mrs. Douglas, and went to reside in Jermyn-street. In the summer of 1751 he revisited his native country, for which he always retained a cordial affection. His mother was still living at Long Calderwood, which was now become his property by the death of his brother James. Dr. Cullen, for whom he always entertained a sincere regard, was then established at Glasgow. During this visit, he shewed his attachment to his little paternal inheritance, by giving many instructions for repairing and improving it, and for purchasing any adjoining lands that might be offered for sale. As he and Dr. Cullen were riding one day in a low part of the country, the latter pointing out to him Long Calderwood at a considerable distance, remarked how conspicuous it appeared. "Well," said he, with some degree of energy, "if I live, I shall make it still more conspicuous.' After his journey to Scotland, to which he devoted only a few weeks, he was never absent from London, unless his professional engagements, as sometimes happened, required his attendance at a distance from the capital.

In 1762 we find him warmly engaged in controversy, supporting his claim to different anatomical discoveries, in a work entitled "Medical Commentaries," the style of which is correct and spirited*. As an excuse for the tardiness with which he brought forth this work, be observes in his introduction, that it required a good deal of time,

In his "Medical Commentaries," to which a "Supplement" was afterwards added, he supported the priority of his discoveries over those of Dr. Monro, jun. professor of anatomy at Edinburgh, in respect to the ducts of the lachrymal glands, injections of the testicle, the origin and use of the lymphatic vessels, and absorption by veins. There is, however, some difficulty in adjusting the claims of contemporary anatomists. The great doctrine of the absorbent action of the lymphatic system, which is now fully received, at least by the anatomists of Great Britain, was taught and illustrated at the same time in the schools of London and of Edinburgh, and exercised the ingenuity of Hunter, Monro, Hewson, Cruikshank, and other anatomists. But Dr. Simmons has shewn, that the principal points of this system had been stated so long ago as 1726, by VOL. XVIII.

Mr. Noguez, in the second edition of a work entitled "L'Anatomie du Corps de l'Homme en abrégé," printed at Paris. Who may have first succeeded in a lucky injection, seems a matter scarcely worthy of contest; but Dr. Hunter was extremely tenacious of any claims of this kind, and would not suffer the interference even of his own brother. Some papers, in which a claim of Mr. John Hunter, relative to the connection between the placenta and uterus, was disputed by the doctor in 1780, are preserved in the archives of the royal society. In the "Commentaries" there are also some observations on the insensibility of the dura mater, periosteum, tendons, and ligaments, as taught with some slight difference by Haller; and likewise "Observations on the State of the Testis in the Fœtus, and on the Hernia Congenita, by Mr. John Hunter." Y

and he had little to spare; that the subject was unpleasant, and therefore he was very seldom in the humour to take it up. In 1762, when our present excellent queen became pregnant, Dr. Hunter was consulted; and two years after he had the honour to be appointed physicianextraordinary to her majesty. About this time his avocations were so numerous, that he became desirous of lessening his fatigue, and having noticed the ingenuity and assiduous application of the late Mr. William Hewson, F. R. S. who was then one of his pupils, he engaged him, first as an assistant, and afterwards as a partner in his lectures. This connection continued till 1770, when some disputes happened, which terminated in a separation. [See HEWSON]. Mr. Hewson was succeeded in the partnership by Mr. Cruikshank, whose anatomical abilities were deservedly respected.

April 30, 1767, Dr. Hunter was elected F. R. S. and the year following communicated to that learned body "Ob. servations on the Bones commonly supposed to be Elephants' bones, which have been found near the river Ohio in America." This was not the only subject of natural history on which Dr. Hunter employed his pen; for in a subsequent volume of the "Philosophical Transactions,” we find him offering his "Remarks on some Bones found in the Rock of Gibraltar," which he proves to have belonged to some quadruped. In the same work, likewise, he published an account of the Nyl-ghau, an Indian animal not described before, and which, from its strength and swiftness, promised, he thought, to be an useful acquisition to this country.

In 1768, Dr. Hunter became F. S. A. and the same year, at the institution of a royal academy of arts, he was appointed by his majesty to the office of professor of anatomy. This appointment opened a new field for his abilities; and he engaged in it, as he did in every other pursuit of his life, with unabating zeal. He now adapted his anatomical knowledge to the objects of painting and sculpture; and the novelty and justness of his observations proved at once the readiness and the extent of his genius.

In January 1781, he was unanimously elected to succeed the late Dr. John Fothergill as president of the society of physicians of London. "He was one of those," says Dr. Simmons," to whom we are indebted for its

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establishment, and our grateful acknowledgments are due to him for his zealous endeavours to promote the liberal views of this institution, by rendering it a source of mutual improvement, and thus making it ultimately useful to the public." As his name and talents were known and respected in every part of Europe, so the honours conferred on him were not limited to his own country. In 1780 the royal medical society at Paris elected him one of their foreigu associates; and in 1782 he received a similar mark of distinction from the royal academy of sciences in that city. We come now to the most splendid of Dr. Hunter's medical publications, "The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus." The appearance of this work, which had been begun so early as 1751 (at which time ten of the thirty-four plates it contains were completed), was retarded till 1775, only by the author's desire of sending it into the world with fewer imperfections. This great work is dedicated to the king. In his preface to it we find the author very candidly acknowledging, that in most of the dissections he had been assisted by his brother, Mr. John Hunter. This anatomical description of the gravid uterus, was not the only work which Dr. Hunter had in contemplation to give to the public. He had long been employed in collecting and arranging materials for a history of the various concretions that are formed in the human body. He seems to have advanced no further in the execution of this design, than to have nearly completed that part of it which relates to urinary and biliary concretions. Among Dr. Hunter's papers have likewise been found two introductory lectures, which are written out so fairly, and with such accuracy, that he probably intended no further correction of them, before they should be given to the world. In these lectures Dr. Hunter traces the history of anatomy from the earliest to the present times, along with the general progress of science and the arts. He considers the great utility of anatomy in the practice of physic and surgery; gives the ancient divisions. of the different substances composing the human body, which for a long time prevailed in anatomy; points out the most advantageous mode of cultivating this branch of natural knowledge; and concludes with explaining the particular plan of his own lectures. Besides these MSS. he bas also left behind him a considerable number of cases of