In November, 1740,
William Hunter went to Edinburgh, where he remained until the following
spring, attending the lectures of the medical professors there, among
whom he had the advantage of attending Dr Alexander Monro, who was one
of the most talented and able professors, who, perhaps, ever adorned
that university. In the summer of 1741, he proceeded to London, and
resided with Mr afterwards Dr Smellie, then an apothecary in Pall Mall.
He took with him a letter of introduction from Mr Foulis, the printer at
Glasgow, to Dr James Douglas. At first, Mr Hunter commenced the study of
anatomy under the tuition of Dr Frank Nicholls, who was the most eminent
teacher of anatomy then in London, and who had formerly professed the
science at Oxford. It appears that Dr Douglas had been under some
obligation to Mr Foulis, who had collected for him several editions of
Horace, and he naturally, therefore, paid attention to young Hunter,
whom he at once recognized to be an acute and talented observer. Dr
Douglas was at that time intent on a great anatomical work on the bones,
which he did not live to complete, and was looking out for a young man
of industry and ability whom he might employ as his dissector. He soon
perceived that his new acquaintance would be an eligible assistant to
him, and after some preliminary conversation invited him into his
family, for the double purpose of assisting him with his dissections,
and directing the education of his son. The pecuniary resources of young
Hunter were at this time very slender, and the situation was to him
therefore highly advantageous; but it was with difficulty that he could
obtain the consent of his father for him to accept it, who being now old
and infirm, awaited with impatience his return to Scotland. Ultimately,
however, he was prevailed on to acquiesce in the wishes of his son,
which he did with reluctance; he did not, however, long survive, as he
died on the 30th of the October following, aged seventy-eight. Mr
Hunter’s previous arrangements with Dr Cullen formed no obstacle to his
new views; for he had no sooner explained his position, than Dr Cullen,
anxious for his advancement, readily canceled the articles of agreement,
and left his friend to pursue the path which promised to lead him to
fame and to fortune. At liberty now to take advantage of all the means
of instruction by which he was surrounded, he pursued his studies with
assiduity. By the friendly assistance of Dr Douglas he was enabled to
enter himself as a surgeon’s pupil at St George’s hospital, under Mr
James Wilkie, and as dissecting pupil under Mr Frank Nicholls. He also
attended a course of experimental philosophy, which was delivered by
Desauguliers. He soon became very expert as a dissector, insomuch that
Dr Douglas went to the expense of having several of his preparations
engraved. But he did not enjoy his liberal patronage and aid long, for
many months had not elapsed when his kind benefactor died, an event
which happened April 1, 1742, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Dr
Douglas left a widow and two children;—but his death made no alteration
in respect to Mr Hunter, who continued as before to reside in his
family, and perform the same duties which he had previously done.
In the year 1743, the
first production from the pen of Mr Hunter was communicated to the Royal
Society. It was an "Essay on the Structure and Diseases of Articulating
Cartilages," a subject which had not been at that time sufficiently
investigated, and on which his observations threw considerable light.
His favourite scheme was now to commence as a lecturer on anatomy;—but
he did not rashly enter on this undertaking, but passed some years more
in acquiring the necessary knowledge, and in making the numerous
preparations which are necessary to exhibit in a complete course of
anatomy. There is, perhaps, no branch of medical science which demands
more patient and assiduous toil than this; it was more especially so at
that period, when there were few aids to anatomical knowledge. He
communicated his project to Dr Nicholls, who had declined lecturing, in
favour of Dr Lawrence, who gave him little encouragement, and he
retired, as many others similarly situated have done, to meditate on his
own secret hopes, and to await a fit opportunity for commencing his
designs. It thus happens in the lives of many young men, that wiser
heads caution them against embarking in schemes they have long
cherished, and in which, after all, they are destined to be successful.
The ardour and perseverance of youth often accomplish undertakings which
appear wild and romantic to the sterner and colder judgment of the aged.
To William Hunter the wished-for opportunity soon occurred, whereby he
was enabled to put his plans to the test of experience. A society of
navy surgeons at that time existed, which occupied rooms in Covent
Garden, and to this society Mr Samuel Sharpe had been engaged as a
lecturer on the operations of surgery. This course Mr Sharpe continued
to repeat, until finding that it interfered too much with his other
engagements; he resigned in favour of William Hunter, who gave his first
anatomical course in the winter of 1746. It is said that when he first
began to speak in public he experienced much solicitude; but the
applause he met with inspired him with that confidence which is so
essential an element of all good oratory. Indeed, he gradually became so
fond of teaching, that some few years before his death, he acknowledged
that he was never happier than when engaged in lecturing. The profits of
the first two courses were considerable; but having with much generosity
contributed to supply the pecuniary wants of his friends, he found
himself so reduced on the return of the next season, that he was obliged
to postpone his lectures, because he had not money to defray the
necessary expenses of advertising. An anecdote is mentioned by his
biographer Symmons, very characteristic of the early difficulties which
are experienced by many men of genius. Mr Watson, one of his earliest
pupils, accompanied him home after his next introductory lecture. He had
just received seventy guineas for admission fees, which he carried in a
bag under his cloak, and observed to his friend, "that it was a larger
sum than he had ever been master of before." His previous experience now
taught him more circumspection;--he became more cautious of lending
money, and by strict economy amassed that great fortune, which he
afterwards so liberally devoted to the interests of science. His success
as a lecturer before the society of navy surgeons was so decided, that
its members requested him to extend his course to anatomy, and gave him
the free use of their room for his lectures. This compliment he could
not fail to have duly appreciated, and it may be regarded as the
precursory sign of that brilliant career which he was soon afterwards
destined to pursue.
In the year 1747, he was
admitted a member of the Incorporation of Surgeons, and after the close
of his lectures in the spring of the following year, he set out with his
pupil, Mr James Douglas, on a tour through Holland and Paris. At Leyden,
he visited the illustrious Albinus, whose admirable injections inspired
him with the zeal to excel in this useful department of anatomy. Having
made this tour, he returned to prepare his winter course of lectures,
which he commenced at the usual time.
Mr Hunter at this time
practised surgery as well as midwifery; but the former branch of the
profession he always disliked. His patron, Dr Douglas, had acquired
considerable reputation as an accoucheur, and this probably induced him
to direct his views to this line of practice. Besides this, an
additional inducement presented itself, in the circumstance of his being
elected one of the surgeon accoucheurs to the Middlesex hospital, and
afterwards to the British Lying-in Hospital. The introduction of male
practitioners in this department of the profession, according to Astruc,
took place on the confinement of madame la Valliere in 1663. She was
anxious for concealment, and called in Julian Clement, an eminent
surgeon, who was secretly conducted into the house where she lay,
covering her face with a hood, and where the king is said to have been
hidden behind the curtains. He attended her in her subsequent
accouchments, and his success soon brought the class of male
practitioners into fashion. Nor was this a matter of minor import, for
hereby the mortality among lying-in women has been materially reduced.
Mowbray is said to have been the first lecturer on obstetrics in London,
and he delivered his course of lectures in the year 1725. To him
succeeded the Chamberlains, after whom, Smellie gave a new air of
importance and dignity to the science. It is said that the manners of
Smellie were by no means prepossessing—indeed they are described to have
been unpleasing and rough; therefore, although a man of superior talent,
he necessarily found a difficulty in making his way among the refined
and the more polished circles of society. Herein, Hunter had a decided
advantage, for while he was recognized to be a man of superior
abilities, his manners and address were extremely conciliating and
engaging. The most lucrative part of the practice of midwifery was at
this time divided between Sir Richard Manningham and Dr Sandys;--the
former of whom died, and the latter retired into the country just after
Mr Hunter became known as an accoucheur.
The field was now in a
great measure left open to him, and in proportion as his reputation
increased, he became more extensively consulted. His predecessor Dr
Sandys, had been formerly professor of anatomy at Cambridge, where he
had formed a valuable collection of preparations, which on his death
having fallen into the hands of Dr Bloomfield, was now purchased by Mr
Hunter for the sum of £200. There can be no doubt that the celebrity of
Mr Hunter as an anatomist contributed to increase his practice as an
accoucheur, as it was reasonably expected that his minute knowledge of
anatomy would give him a correspondingly great command in difficult and
dangerous cases. Acting now principally as an accoucheur, he appears to
have entirely relinquished the surgical department of his profession;
and desirous of practising as a physician, obtained in 1750, the degree
of doctor of medicine from the university of Glasgow. The degree of
doctor of medicine at that and other universities of Scotland, was at
this period granted, on the candidate’s paying a certain sum of money
and presenting a certificate from other doctors of medicine of his being
qualified to practise the healing art—but so much was the facility of
obtaining these degrees abused that this method of granting them has
been very properly abolished. Shortly after obtaining his diploma, Dr
Hunter left the family of Mr Douglas, and went to reside in Jermyn
Street, Soho Square.
The following summer he
revisited his native country, for which, amidst the professional
prosperity of a town life, be continued to entertain a cordial
affection. He found on his arrival that his mother was still living at
Long Calderwood, which was now become his own property, in consequence
of the death of his brother James, who died in the 28th year of his age.
It is worthy of notice, that this young man had been a writer to the
signet in Edinburgh; but disliking the profession of the law, he went to
London, with the intention of studying anatomy under his brother
William—so that it would almost appear, that in the family of the
Hunters there was an hereditary love for medical science. Ill health,
however, which bows down the intellectual power of the strongest of
mankind, preyed upon his constitution; so that he could not carry his
plans into execution, and he therefore returned to his birth-place,
where he died. At this period, Dr Cullen was progressing to that fame
which he subsequently attained; and was residing at Glasgow, where
Dr Hunter again met him, to take a retrospect over the eventful changes
which had signalized the progress of their separate lives. Such a
meeting could not, under the peculiar circumstances, fail to be
interesting to both; for there scarcely can be any gratification
superior to that of meeting in after life, the friend of early youth,
pursuing successfully the career which at one time was commenced
together, and who is still opening up the paths to new discoveries, in
which both sympathize and delight, while, at the same time, the same
sentiments of personal friendship remain undiminished in all their
original strength and sincerity.
On the return of Dr
Hunter to London, he continued corresponding with Dr Cullen on a variety
of interesting scientific subjects, and many of the letters have been
published by Dr Thomson, in his life of this eminent physician, a work
which should be familiar to all who take any interest in the history of
medical science.
On the return of Dr
Hunter to London, on the resignation of Dr Layard, who had officiated as
one of the physicians to the British Lying-in Hospital, we find the
governors of that institution voting their "thanks to Dr Hunter for the
services he had done the hospital, and for his continuance in it as one
of the physicians." Accordingly he was established in this office
without the usual form of an election. He was admitted in the following
year licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, and was soon after
elected a member of the Medical Society. His history of an aneurism of
the aorta appears in the first volume of their "Observations and
Enquiries," published in 1757. In 1762, we find him in the "Medical
Commentaries," supporting his claim of priority in making numerous
anatomical discoveries over that of Dr Monro Secundus, at that time
professor of anatomy in the university of Edinburgh. It is not easy to
adjust the claims of contemporary discoverers in numerous branches of
science; and though, on this occasion, a wordy war of considerable
length was waged concerning the real author of the great doctrine of the
absorbent action of the lymphatic system, yet the disputants seem to
have left the field, each dissatisfied with the conduct of his
antagonist, and each equally confident of being entitled to the honour
of being regarded as the real discoverer. It is not worth while to rake
up the ashes of any such controversy; but it is no more than justice to
assert, that Dr Hunter vindicated his claims in a manly and honourable
tone, at the same time acknowledging that "the subject was an unpleasant
one, and he was therefore seldom in the humour to take it up."
In 1762, when the queen
became pregnant, Dr William Hunter was consulted, and two years
afterwards had the honour to be appointed physician extraordinary to her
majesty. We may now regard him as having attained the highest rank in
his profession; and avocations necessarily increasing very considerably,
he found himself under the necessity of taking an assistant, to relieve
him from the fatigues to which he was now subjected. Accordingly he
selected Mr Hewson, an industrious and accomplished young man, to be his
assistant, and afterwards took him into partnership with him in his
lectures. This connexion subsisted until the year 1770, when, in
consequence of some misunderstanding, it was dissolved, and Cruickshank
succeeded to the same situation. In the year 1767, Dr William Hunter
became a fellow of the Royal Society, to which the following year he
communicated his observations on the bones, commonly supposed to be
elephants’ bones, which were found near the river Ohio in America. At
this period the attention of men of science had been directed to the
large bones, tusks, and teeth, which had been found on the banks of the
above river, and the French Academicians came to the conclusion that
they were, in all probability, the bones of elephants. From the
different character of the jaw-bone, and other anatomical signs, Dr
William Hunter, however, came to the conclusion that they did not belong
to the elephant, but to an animal incognitum, probably the same
as the mammoth of Siberia. [Philosophical Transactions, vol. 58.]
Nor was this the only subject of natural history on which Dr
Hunter exercised his ingenuity, for in a subsequent volume of the
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. Further, we find an account published by him of the Nylghau,
an Indian animal not before described. Thus, amidst the anxious duties
of that department of the profession in which he excelled, we find his
active mind leading him into investigations on subjects of natural
history, which are eminently interesting to all who delight in examining
into the mysteries, and beauties, and past history of the surrounding
world.
In the year 1768, Dr
William Hunter became fellow of the society of arts, and the same year
at the institution of an academy of arts, he was appointed by his
majesty professor of anatomy. His talents were now directed into a new
sphere of action; in which he engaged with unabated ardour and zeal. He
studied the adaptation of the expression of anatomy to sculpture and
painting, and his observations are said to have been characterized by
much originality and just critical acumen.
In January, 1781, he was
unanimously elected successor to Dr John Fothergill, as president of the
Royal College of Physicians of London, the interests of which
institution he zealously promoted. In 1780, the Royal Medical Society of
Paris elected him one of their foreign associates, and in 1782 he
received a similar mark of distinction from the Royal Academy of
Sciences in that city. Thus, in tracing the life of this eminent
physician, we find honour upon honour conferred upon him, in
acknowledgment of the essential services which he rendered to the cause
of science. But his chef d’oeuvre yet remains to be noticed; it
was consummated in the invaluable "Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus,"
one of the most splendid medical works of the age in which he lived. It
was commenced in 1751, but not completed until 1775, owing to the
author’s desire to render it as complete as possible. It contains a
series of thirty-four folio plates, from superior drawings of subjects
and preparations, executed by the first artists, exhibiting all the
principal changes which occur during the nine months of pregnancy. Here
we find the first representation that was given of the retroverted
uterus, and the membrana decidua reflexa discovered by himself. He did
not live however to complete the anatomical description of the figures,
which his nephew the late lamented Dr Baillie did in 1794. [Anatomical
Description of the Gravid Uterus and its contents, 1794.] He dedicated
this valuable work to the king; and it needs only to be added, in
testimony of merit, that notwithstanding the march of medical knowledge,
it has not been superseded by any rival author. It remains now, and will
go down to posterity, as a standard work complete in its designs, and
admirable in its execution. But this was not the only service which Dr
William Hunter rendered to the profession; it remains for us yet to
record the circumstances under which be founded a museum which has
justly called forth the admiration of every medical man by whom it has
been visited. When Dr William Hunter began to reap the fruits of his
professional skill and exertions, he determined on laying aside a fund
from which he would derive support, if overtaken by the calamities of
sickness, or the infirmities of age. This he very shortly accomplished;
and it is said, that on one occasion he stated that having borrowed from
this fund a sum to defray some expenses of his museum, he felt very much
dissatisfied and uneasy until it was replaced. His competency having
been obtained, and his wealth continuing to accumulate, he formed a
laudable design of founding a school of medicine, and for this purpose
addressed a memorial to Mr Grenville, then minister, in which he
requested the grant of a piece of ground in the Mews for the site of an
anatomical theatre. He undertook to expend £7000 on the building, and to
endow a professorship of anatomy in perpetuity; but the scheme did not
meet the reception it deserved, and fell to the ground. It is said that
the earl of Shelburne, afterwards in conversation with the learned
doctor, expressed his approbation of the design, and desired his name to
be put down as a subscriber for £1000. But Dr Hunter had now it would
appear determined on other arrangements, having purchased a spot of
ground in Great Windmill Street, which he determined to appropriate to
the proposed use. He there built accordingly a house and anatomical
theatre, and removed from Jermyn Street to these premises in 1770.
Medical men engaged in active practice, who have a taste for the study
of morbid anatomy, have little difficulty in obtaining specimens; and by
his own exertions and those of his pupils, many of whom engaged
zealously in the cause, he soon succeeded in bringing together a vast
number of morbid preparations, to augment the number of which he
purchased numerous collections that were at various times exposed to
sale in London. The taste for collecting, which all acquire who commence
founding a museum, "increased by what it fed on," and he now, in
addition to the anatomical specimens, sought to accumulate fossils,
curious books, coins—in short, whatever might interest either the man of
letters, the physician, the naturalist, or the antiquary. We are
informed that in respect to books he became possessed of "the most
magnificent treasure of Greek and Latin books that has been accumulated
since the days of Mead;"--furthermore, Mr Combe, a learned friend of the
doctor’s, published a description of part of the coins in the
collection, under the following title:—"Nummorum Veterum Populorum et
Urbium qui in Museo Gulielmi Hunter asservantur, descriptio, figuris
illustrata. In the preface to this volume, which is dedicated by Dr
William Hunter to her majesty, some account is given of the progress of
the collection, which had been accumulating since 1770, at an expense of
upwards of £20,000. In 1781, a valuable addition to it was received,
consisting of shells, corals, and other curious subjects of natural
history, which had been collected by the late Dr Fothergill, who gave
directions by his will that his collection should be appraised after his
death, and that Dr William Hunter should have the refusal of it at £500.
This was accordingly done, and Dr Hunter purchased it eventually for
1200 pounds. To complete the history of this museum, we may here add,
that on the death of Dr William Hunter, he bequeathed it, under the
direction of trustees, for the use of his nephew Dr Matthew Baillie, and
in case of his death to Mr Cruickshank, for the term of thirty years, at
the expiration of which it was to be transmitted to the university of
Glasgow. The sum of £8000 was furthermore left as a fund for the support
and augmentation of the collection, and each of the trustees was left
£20 per annum for the term of thirty years—that is, during the period
that they would be executing the purposes of the will. Before the
expiration of the period assigned, Dr Baillie removed the museum to
Glasgow, where it at present is visited by all who take an interest in
medical or general science.
We have followed Dr
William Hunter through the chief and most remarkable events by which his
life was characterized, and now pausing to contemplate his having
arrived at the summit of his ambition,—honoured by the esteem of his
sovereign, complimented by foreign academies, and consulted by persons
of all ranks--with an independence of wealth which left him no desires
for further accumulation of riches—we must acknowledge that the cup of
human enjoyment, while it mantles to the brim, must still contain some
bitter drop—that there is in this world no happiness without alloy. Ill
health now preyed, with all its cankering evils, upon his constitution,
and he meditated, indeed seriously made up his mind, to retire from the
scenes of his former activity to his native country, where he might look
back upon the vista of his past life and die in peace. With this view he
requested his friends Dr Cullen and Dr Baillie to look out for a
pleasant estate for him, which they did, and fixed on a spot in
Annandale, which they recommended him to purchase. The bargain was
agreed on, at least so it was concluded, but when the title deeds were
submitted to examination they were found to be defective—and accordingly
the whole project fell to the ground, for although harassed by ill
health, Dr Hunter found that the expenses to support the museum were so
enormous, that he preferred still remaining in his practice. He was at
this time, dreadfully afflicted with gout, which at one time affected
his limbs, at another his stomach, but seldom remained in one part many
hours. Yet, notwithstanding this, his ardour and activity remained
unabated;--but at length he could no longer battle the destroying power
which preyed upon his being. The attacks became more frequent, and on
Saturday, March 15, 1783, after having for several days experienced a
return of wandering gout, he complained of great headache and nausea, in
which state he retired to bed, and felt for many days more pain than
usual, both in his stomach and limbs. On the Thursday following, he
found himself so much recovered, that he determined to give the
introductory lecture to the operations of surgery, and it was to no
purpose that his friends urged on him the impropriety of the attempt.
Accordingly he delivered the lecture, but towards the conclusion, his
strength became so much exhausted that he fainted, and was obliged to be
carried by his servants out of the lecture room. We now approach the
death-bed scene of this eminent man, and surely there can be no
spectacle of deeper or more solemn interest than that presented by the
dissolution of a man, who adorned by intellectual energy and power, the
path which it was in this life his destiny to tread. The night after the
delivery of the above lecture, and the following day, his symptoms
became aggravated, and on Saturday morning he informed his medical
adviser, Mr Combe, that he had during the night had a paralytic stroke.
As neither his speech nor his pulse were affected, and as he was able to
raise himself in bed, Mr Combe was in hopes that his patient was
mistaken; but the symptoms that supervened indicated that the nerves
which arise in the lumbar region had become paralyzed; for the organs to
which they are distributed, lost the power of performing their
functions. Accordingly he lingered with the symptoms, which in all
similar cases exist, until Sunday the 30th March, when he expired.
During his last moments he maintained very great fortitude and calmness,
and it is reported that shortly before his death, he said, turning round
to Mr Combe, "If I had strength enough to hold a pen I would write how
easy and pleasant a thing it is to die." Such a sentiment as this,
breathed by one under the immediate dominion of death, strikes us with
peculiar wonder and awe, for it is seldom in such an hour that suffering
humanity can command such stoical complacency. During the latter part of
his illness, his brother John, with whom he had previously been on
unfriendly terms—requested permission to attend him, and felt severely
the parting scene. His remains were interred on the 5th April, in the
rector’s vault of St James’s church, Westminster.
The lives of all eminent
men may be viewed in a double relation,—they may be contemplated simply
with a reference to their professional and public career—or they may he
viewed in connexion with the character they have displayed in the
retired paths of domestic life. It would appear that Dr Hunter devoted
himself exclusively to the pursuits of his profession; nor did he
contract any tie of a gentler and more endearing nature to bind him to
the world. His habits were temperate and frugal. When he invited friends
to dine with him he seldom regaled them with more than two dishes, and
he was often heard to say, that "a man who cannot dine on one dish
deserves to have no dinner." After the repast, the servant handed round
a single glass of wine to each of his guests; which trifles show the
economical disposition he possessed, and which enabled him to realize
£70,000 for the purpose of completing a museum for the benefit of
posterity. He was an early riser, and after his professional visits was
to be found always occupied in his museum. He was in person "regularly
shaped, but of slender make, and rather below the middle stature." There
are several good portraits of him, one of which is an unfinished
painting by Toffany, which represents him in the act of giving a lecture
on the muscles at the royal academy surrounded by a group of
academicians. Another by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and of which a correct and
elegant facsimile is given in connexion with the present work, is
preserved in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow.
The professional
character of Dr Hunter is deservedly held high in the estimation of all
who are acquainted with the history of medicine. His anatomy of the
Gravid Uterus is alone a monument of his ability; but, besides this, he
made discoveries for which his name deserves the highest possible
respect. His claims to being the discoverer of the origin and use of the
lymphatic vessels were, it is true, warmly contested; but many who have
taken pains to examine the merits of the controversy, among whom we may
mention the celebrated Blumenbach, agree in awarding to him the honour
of the discovery. He had the merit also of first describing the varicose
aneurism, which he did in the Observations and Inquiries published by
the Medical Society of London. His discovery and delineation of the
membrana decidua reflexa in the retroverted uterus, deserves also
honourable mention; in short, both the sciences of anatomy and midwifery
were materially advanced by his labours. He was a good orator, and an
able and clear lecturer; indeed the extent of his knowledge, more
especially in physiology, enabled him to throw a charm of interest over
the dry details of descriptive anatomy. His general knowledge was, as we
have seen, very extensive; and his name and talents were respected in
every part of Europe. Among the MSS. which he left behind him, were
found the commencement of a work on biliary and urinary concretions, and
two introductory lectures, one of which contains the history of anatomy
from the earliest period down to the time when he wrote; also,
considerations on the immediate connexion of that science with the
practice of physic and surgery. Among other of his works, which are
highly esteemed by the profession, we may notice his "Essay on the
Origin of the Venereal Disease," which he communicated to the Royal
Society; and also his "Reflections on the Symphisis Pubis."
By his will Dr Hunter
bequeathed an annuity of £100 to his sister, Mrs Baillie, during her
life, and the sum of £2000 to each of her daughters. The residue of his
estate and effects went to his nephew.
We may conclude our
memoir of this eminent physician by relating the following anecdote,
which is said to have occurred in his visit to Scotland, before he had
acquired the celebrity he so earnestly desired. As he and Dr Cullen were
riding one day in a low part of the country, the latter pointed out to
him his native place, Long Calderwood, at a considerable distance, and
remarked how conspicuous it appeared. "Well," said he, with some degree
of energy, "if I live I shall make it more conspicuous." We need not add
any comment on his having lived to verify fully this prediction. Such
are the achievements which assiduity and perseverance are ever enabled
to accomplish. The moral deducible from the lives of all eminent men
teaches the same lesson.
JOHN HUNTER, younger
brother of the preceding, was one of the most profound anatomists and
expert surgeons of the age in which he lived. We have already seen how
much his brother did to promote the interests of medical science, and we
shall find in the sequel, that the subject of our present memoir
accomplished still more, and attained even to a higher and prouder
eminence, insomuch that his name is, as it were, consecrated in the
history of his profession, and respected and esteemed by all who are in
the slightest degree acquainted with the science. The exact date of his
birth has been a subject of some dispute:—by Sir Everard Home it is
placed in July 14, 1728; and this day has been celebrated as its
anniversary by the College of Surgeons of London;--Dr Adams, however,
has dated it on the 13th of February, on the authority of the parish
register shown to him by the Rev. James French, the minister of the
parish. This evidence is sufficiently satisfactory; and we, therefore,
consider that the latter is the correct date of his birth. He was, as we
have already stated, the youngest of the family, and born when his
father had nearly reached the age of seventy. Being the youngest, he was
a great favourite with both of his parents; indeed, they allowed him to
enjoy without restraint all the pleasures and pastimes which are the
delight of early life, without imposing on him those tasks which are
essential to an early and good education. Ten years after his birth his
mother was left a widow, and he was then the only son at home, one or
both of his sisters being now married. Herein, therefore, we may find
every apology for the indulgence of his mother, who, doubtless, regarded
him with an eye of no ordinary interest and affection. He was,
accordingly, not sent to school until he had arrived at the age of
seventeen, when he was placed at a grammar school—but not having the
patience to apply himself to the cultivation of languages, and
furthermore disliking the restraint to which he was subjected, he
neglected his studies, and devoted the greater part of his time to
country amusements. Numerous are the instances of men of genius, who,
like Hunter, neglected their education in youth; but who, subsequently,
by assiduous application and diligence, recovered their lost time, and
attained to high eminence. Such was the case with Horne Tooke, Dean
Swift, and others, whose names are honourably recorded in the history of
literature. Care ought to be taken, however, to impress it on the minds
of youth, that the general rule is otherwise, and that early application
is necessary in by far the majority of cases, to produce respectable
attainments in mature life. About this time, Mr Buchanan, who had lately
come from London to settle at Glasgow as a cabinet-maker, paid his
addresses to Mr Hunter’s sister Janet, and having many agreeable
qualities she accepted his offer, and contrary to the advice of her
relations, was married to him. Mr Buchanan was a man of agreeable and
fascinating address, and, besides other pleasing and companionable
qualities, displayed the accomplishments of a good singer;—so that his
company was continually in request, and he yielded too freely to the
pleasures and festivities of society. His business being in consequence
neglected, his circumstances became embarrassed, and John Hunter, who
was now seventeen, went to Glasgow on a visit to his sister, for whom he
had the greatest affection, to comfort her in her distress, and
endeavour to assist in extricating her husband from the difficulties in
which he was involved. There is a report that Mr Hunter was destined to
be a carpenter, and one of his biographers ventures to affirm that "a
wheel-wright or carpenter he certainly was;" however, the only ground
for such a statement seems to have been, that when orders were pressing
he occasionally did assist his brother-in-law, by working with him at
his trade. The occupation of a carpenter is, in towns distant from the
metropolis, often combined with that of a cabinet maker;—and thence
arose the report to which we have just alluded. His assistance could
only have been very slight, and it being eventually impossible for Mr
Buchanan to retrieve himself from his difficulties, he relinquished his
business, and sought a livelihood by teaching music, besides which, he
was appointed clerk to an Episcopal congregation. Thus the marriage of
his sister proved so far, in a worldly sense, unfortunate; and the
predictions of her relations were too truly verified. Her brother John
soon became tired of witnessing embarrassments he could not relieve, and
finding that his sister preferred grieving over her sorrows alone, to
allowing him to be the constant witness of her grief, he returned to
Long Calderwood, after an absence which had so far had a beneficial
effect on him, that it weaned him from home, reconciled his mother to
his absence, and in all probability suggested to him reflections and
motives for future activity, which never otherwise might have occurred.
It is no wonder that the village amusements to which he had been
accustomed, now lost their wonted charms;—it is no wonder that he felt
restless and anxious to enter on some useful occupation, for already he
had witnessed what were the bitter fruits of idleness and dissipation.
He had often heard of his brother William’s success in London, and he
now wrote to him requesting permission to pay him a visit, at the same
time offering to assist him in his anatomical labours;—and in case these
proposals were not accepted, he expressed a wish to go into the army.
His brother William
returned a very kind answer to his letter, and gave him an invitation to
visit him immediately, which he cheerfully accepted, and accompanied by
a Mr Hamilton who was going there on business, they rode together on
horseback, and in September, 1748, he arrived in London. About a
fortnight before the winter session of lectures for that year, his
brother, anxious to form some opinion of his talents for anatomy, gave
him an arm to dissect the muscles, with some necessary instructions for
his guidance, and the performance, we are informed, greatly exceeded
expectation. William now gave him a dissection of a more difficult
nature,—an arm in which all the arteries were injected, and these as
well as the muscles were to be exposed and preserved. His execution of
this task gave his brother very great satisfaction, nor did he now
hesitate to declare that he would soon become a good anatomist, and,
furthermore, he promised that he should not want for employment. Here we
may observe, that the manipulation in dissecting requires a species of
tact, which, like many other acquirements, is best obtained in early
life; and now under the instruction of his brother, and his assistant Mr
Symonds, he had every opportunity for improvement, as all the
dissections carried on in London at this time were confined to that
school.
In the summer of 1749,
the celebrated Cheselden, at the request of Dr Hunter, permitted John to
attend at the Chelsea hospital, where he had ample opportunities for
studying by the sick-bed, the progress and modifications of disease. At
this time surgical pathology was in a rude state; and, among other
absurd doctrines, the progress of ulceration was held to be a solution
of the solid parts into pus, or matter. When the mind, however young,
enters fresh and vigorous into the field of inquiry, untrammelled by
early prejudices, it is apt to observe phenomena in new relations, and
to discover glimmerings of paths which lead to the knowledge of
unsuspected truths. Such, at this time, we may consider to have been the
state of John Hunter’s mind;—acute in all its perceptions; discriminate
in all its observations; and free to embrace fearlessly whatever new
theories his reflections might suggest. Here, therefore, in learning the
first rudiments of surgery, he first began to suspect the validity of
the doctrines which were promulgated, which some few years afterwards,
it was his good fortune to combat, and overthrow.
In the succeeding season,
Mr Hunter was so far advanced in the knowledge of practical anatomy as
to relieve his brother from the duty of attending in the
dissecting-room. This now became the scene of the younger brother’s
employment during the winter months, whilst William confined himself to
delivering lectures in the theatre. In the summer he resumed his
attendance at the Chelsea hospital, and in the following year, 1751, he
became a pupil at St Bartholomew’s hospital, where he was generally
present at the performance of the most remarkable operations. At this
time Mr Pott was one of the senior surgeons at the latter institution,
and no man operated more expertly, or lectured with better effect than
he did; and although his pathological doctrines were subsequently, and
with justice, arraigned by his present pupil, his name is nowhere
mentioned by him but with the highest respect.
In the year 1753, Mr
Hunter entered as a gentleman commoner in St Mary’s Hall, Oxford;
probably with the view of subsequently becoming a fellow of the College
of Physicians. But his matriculation was not afterwards persevered in,
and the following year he entered as surgeon’s pupil at St George’s
hospital. His object in taking this step, which might appear to have
been superfluous, is obvious. He desired to obtain the appointment of
surgeon to some public hospital; and he well knew, that while his chance
of success at Chelsea hospital was very remote, he was precluded from
competing for the appointment at St Bartholomew’s, from the circumstance
of his not having served an apprenticeship to any surgeon of that
hospital, a qualification expressly required by every candidate for that
office. He accordingly calculated that the chances were more in his
favour at St George’s, where he hoped to obtain sufficient interest
among the medical officers to facilitate his wishes. To this hospital he
was, in two years afterwards, appointed house-surgeon. This, we may
observe, is a temporary office, the person holding which may be regarded
as a resident pupil, who resides in the house, and is expected to be
always in readiness to attend to any accident that may be brought to the
house, or may occur in the vicinity.
In the winter of 1755, he
was admitted to a partnership in the lectures of his brother, a certain
portion of the course being allotted to him, and he being required to
lecture during the occasional absence of his colleague. Probably from
the neglect of his early education he was little qualified to compete
with his brother as a lecturer, a task he always performed with very
great difficulty. For making dissections, and anatomical preparations,
he was unrivalled in skill; and this was of no mean importance when we
remember, that this art was at that time very little known, and that
such exhibitions were of great utility during the public lecture. "Mr
Hunter worked for ten years," says Sir Everard Home, "on human anatomy,
during which period he made himself master of what was already known, as
well as made some addition to that knowledge. He traced the
ramifications of the olfactory nerves upon the membranes of the nose,
and discovered the course of some of the branches of the fifth pair of
nerves. In the gravid uterus, he traced the arteries of the uterus to
their termination the placenta. He was also the first who discovered the
existence of the lymphatic vessels in birds." The difficulty of
unraveling all the complex parts of the human frame, induced him to
extend his inquiries, and examine into the structure of the inferior
animals, nature having, as Dr Geoffroy St Hilaire has more recently
demonstrated, preserved one type in the organization of all animate
beings. He applied to the keeper of the tower, and the men who are the
proprietors of the menageries of wild beasts, for the bodies of the
animals which died under their care, besides which he purchased such
rare animals as came in his way, and many were presented to him by his
friends, which he very judiciously intrusted to the showmen to keep
until they died, the better to secure their interest in assisting him in
his labours.
Ill health is too often
the penalty of unremitting application, and Mr Hunter’s health now
became so much impaired by excessive attention to his pursuits, that in
the year 1760, when he had just completed his thirty-second year, he
became affected by symptoms which appeared to threaten consumption, and
for which a milder climate was deemed advisable.
In October, 1760, he was
appointed by Mr Adair, surgeon on the staff, and the following spring he
embarked with the army for Belleisle, leaving Mr Hewson to assist his
brother during his absence. Both in Belleisle and Portugal he served as
senior surgeon on the staff, until the year 1763, and during this period
amassed the materials for his valuable work on gun-shot wounds. Nor is
this all; taking advantage of the opportunities presented to him, he
examined the bodies of many of the recently killed, with the view of
tracing the healthy structures of certain parts, as well as the nature
of particular secretions. After the peace in 1763, Mr Hunter returned to
England, "which," says one of his biographers, "I have often heard him
say he had left long enough to be satisfied, how preferable it is to all
other countries."
Mr Hewson had now
supplied the place of Mr Hunter in superintending dissections and
assisting in the anatomical theatre during the space of two years, and
it was scarcely to be expected that he would resume his connexion with
his brother. During his absence, the interest he had previously acquired
in the profession, naturally became diminished; for it is the fate of
all who are either by necessity or choice induced to leave their native
country, to find on their return, the friendship of some alienated, and
that death, or worldly circumstances have compelled others to leave the
circle of their former acquaintance. Here then we find Mr Hunter at the
age of thirty-six, with very limited means, and with few friends,
settling in London to commence the great professional struggle which all
are destined to encounter who enter on this particular path of life,
which is generally found to be crowded with competitors whom good
fortune has already signalized with success. Scarcely can any situation
of greater anxiety be conceived, than that of an able and active-minded
man sitting down to practise medicine in a city in which he is
comparatively a stranger, and which is already supplied with numerous
rival practitioners, on whom the public has already pronounced a
favourable verdict. Such at this time was the position of Mr Hunter, as
one of his biographers simply but emphatically expresses it, "the
practice of surgery now and for a long time afterwards afforded no
opening for him; Hawkins, Bunfield, Sharpe, Potter, embraced almost
the whole of family practice, whilst Adair and Tomkins carried from him
the chief of the practice derived from the army." Disheartening, and
indeed gloomy as these prospects now were, he returned with unabated
ardour to his scientific pursuits, and laid the foundation of that
eminence which he afterwards attained. If the difficulties of this world
be met with philosophy, and with a firm resolution to overcome them,
they may generally be surmounted, and they then leave the moral victor
both the wiser and the happier for the conflict. So was it with John
Hunter, who, finding the emoluments from his half-pay and private
practice insufficient to support him, determined on teaching practical
anatomy and operative surgery. With the pecuniary means which he was
thus enabled to raise, he purchased about two miles from London a piece
of ground near Brompton, at a place called Earl’s Court, and there built
a house for the purpose of experiments, which he could not carry on
successfully in a large town. Here, in the course of his inquiries he
made several important discoveries. He ascertained the changes which
animal and vegetable substances undergo in the stomach, when acted on by
the gastric juice; he also, by feeding animals with madder, which tinges
growing bones with a red colour, discarded the principles observable in
the growth of bones; and, furthermore, succeeded in explaining the
process by which a dead piece is separated from the living bone. During
his absence from England, his name had in some degree been kept up
before the attention of the public, by his brother’s essays in the
Medical Commentaries, where we find several allusions to his experiments
and observations. In consequence of these scientific researches, while
he was yet, as a practitioner, overlooked by the public, the Royal
Society, much to its honour, elected him a fellow, in which title he
preceded his brother, who was ten years older, and had been known ten
years earlier in the metropolis. The adjudgment of this honour, and the
recognition of the merit which it necessarily carried along with it,
must in Mr Hunter’s circumstances, have been to him peculiarly
gratifying. It was to him a proud incentive to further exertion; and a
strong inducement to bear up against the difficulties, which, as we have
explained, at this time retarded his professional advancement.
The love of science leads
us at all times to resources which lie beyond the neglect and injustice
of the world, and the mind of Hunter, untutored as it was in early life,
now sought relief, occupation, and improvement in the paths which it
opened up. Among other instructive amusements, he engaged in watching
the peculiar habits and instincts of various animals, for which purpose
he kept several, which should have been domiciled in menageries, in his
own house. Sir Everard Home relates the following anecdote: "two
leopards which were left chained in an out-house, 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 climbing 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 on the risk of his own situation, he was so much
agitated that he was in danger of fainting." Incredible as to some this
anecdote may appear, we hesitate not to accord our implicit belief,
knowing how remarkable a control men have exercised even over the most
savage animals, when themselves actuated by great courage and
strong power of resolution.
This year, by a strong
exertion in dancing, Mr Hunter unfortunately broke the tendo Achillis,
(the strong and broad tendon felt at the back of the foot,) in
consequence of which he introduced an improvement on the mode of
treating this accident, which was superior to that recommended by Dr
Alexander Munro, who had himself at a more advanced period of life
experienced a similar misfortune.
We have no account from
Sir Everard Home of Mr Hunter’s town residence, until his brother,
having completed his house in Windmill Street, assigned over to him the
lease of his house in Jermyn Street. It is presumed by one of his
biographers, that on his first arrival in London he lodged, for the
purpose of being near to his brother’s dissecting rooms, in Covent
Garden, and another informs us that on his return from abroad he resided
in Golden Square. Be this as it may, he appears to have lived in Jermyn
Street until the expiration of the lease in 1783, a period of fifteen
years. Whatever may have been the slight difference which existed
between him and his brother, the latter appears still to have interested
himself in his welfare, as we find that, chiefly through his interest,
he was, in 1768, (on the authority of Dr Symmons,) elected surgeon to St
George’s hospital. He had now acquired the desired means for giving his
talents and industry full scope; for, as fellow of the Royal Society, he
gained the earliest notice of every scientific discovery and improvement
which might take place in Europe; and as surgeon to this hospital, he
had the means of extending his observations, and confirming his
pathological doctrines. His whole time was now devoted to the
examination of facts, and the patient accumulation of such knowledge as
he could gradually attain; nor did he, as many others have done,
captivated by love of fame, rush prematurely before the notice of the
public. "With the exception," says one of his biographers, "of what was
published in his name by his brother William, in the year 1764, there
does not appear to be anything by John up to the year 1772. If there
were any publications, they must have terminated like many more by
others; they must have experienced the fate of abortions, or at least I
know nothing of them." Herein he showed very considerable wisdom, and
well would it have been for many authors, had they, like John Hunter,
persevered even in obscurity in maturing their knowledge before
surrendering themselves to a tribunal, whose verdict will always in the
end be found to have been dictated by the severest and most rigid
principles of justice.
The surgeons of most of the public
hospitals in this country have the privilege of selecting, on their own
terms, house-pupils, who reside with them a year or two after the
completion of their education. Among many who became pupils of John
Hunter, and afterwards acquired celebrity in their profession, we may
notice the famous Dr Jenner, who boarded in his house in 1770 and 1771,
and lived in habits of intimacy with him until his death. "In every
conversation," says a friend of Dr Jenner’s, "as well as in a letter I
received from him, he spoke with becoming gratitude of his friend and
master." Even the slightest recollection, or testimony of esteem, from
such a man as Dr Jenner, in favour or illustration of the character of
John Hunter must be received with interest. In 1771, Mr Hunter published
the first part of his Treatise on the Teeth, a very valuable work, the
merit of which has not been surpassed by any later production. It may be
observed en passant, that this was the only work he sold to the
booksellers, all his others being published on his own account, or
communicated to miscellaneous collections, chiefly periodicals. Between
the appearance of the first and second part of his treatise, Dr
Fothergill published his paper on that painful affection of the facial
nerve, denominated Tic Doloureux.
While thus rising in
eminence, Mr Hunter became attached to the daughter of Mr Boyne Home,
surgeon of Burgoyne’s regiment of light horse, who was also the father
of the celebrated Sir Everard Home. The young lady received his
addresses favourably; but the feelings of human nature, impassioned as
they may be, must succumb to the cold reality of worldly circumstances;
wherefore, their marriage was necessarily delayed until he had obtained
a sufficient competency to maintain her in that rank of society, which
for their mutual happiness was desirable. When the passions are staked
on the success of such an attachment, and are in fact concentrated in
the welfare of a being so chosen, disappointment annihilates all moral
energy, and reduces the prospects of life into painful ruin;—but when
hope is allowed to feed itself on encouragement, and the future alliance
definitively fixed, there is an object for exertion;—a stimulus to
action which will not allow of rest, until the means of gaining the
promised end have been accomplished. This John Hunter appears to have
duly felt, and his exertions therefore were correspondingly increased;
and during this time, when he could suspend his professional and
scientific toils, nothing gave him greater gratification than the
pleasure of enjoying her society. "The expenses of his pursuits," says
Sir Everard Home, "had been so great, that it was not for some years
after his first engagement with this lady, that his affairs could be
sufficiently arranged to admit of his marriage. This happy period at
length arrived, and he was married to Miss Home in 1771."
"Whilst he was paying,"
continues Sir Everard, "his addresses to my sister, 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."
The year after his
marriage, at the request of Sir John Pringle, he read to the Royal
Society a communication showing that after death the gastric juice has
the power of dissolving the coats of the stomach. This paper he was
persuaded to read to the society, before he had entirely completed the
investigations which he further meditated;—but it appears that he did
not afterwards return to the subject, considering that the fact on which
any further inquiries might be formed had been sufficiently
demonstrated.
In the winter of 1773, he
formed a plan for giving a course of lectures on the theory and
principles of surgery, with the view of vindicating his own principles,
which he frequently heard misquoted or ascribed to others, and of
teaching them systematically. The first two winters, he read his
lectures gratis to the pupils of St George’s hospital, and the winter
following charged the usual terms of other teachers in medicine and
surgery. "For this, or for continuing them," says one of his
biographers, "there could be no pecuniary motive. As he was under the
necessity of hiring a room and lecturing by candle light, his emoluments
must have been trifling. The lectures not being considered a part of
medical education, his class was usually small; and of the few that
heard him, the greater part acknowledged their difficulty in
understanding him, which was often proved by their incapacity of keeping
up their attention. The task itself was so formidable to him, that he
was obliged to take thirty drops of laudanum before he entered the
theatre at the beginning of each course. Yet he certainly felt great
delight in finding himself understood, always waiting at the close of
each lecture to answer any questions; and evincing evident satisfaction
when those questions were pertinent, and he perceived that his answers
were satisfactory and intelligible." In addition to this, Sir Everard
Home, after stating the fact of his having recourse to laudanum—the
elixir vitae of the opium eater—"to take off the effects of uneasiness,"
adds, "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
recapitulation to connect the subjects in the minds of the students."
Amidst all his avocations, both as a lecturer and practitioner, he still
pursued with an unabated zeal and industry his researches into
comparative anatomy. No opportunity for extending his knowledge on this
interesting department of science did he permit to escape him. In the
year 1773, at the request of Mr Walsh, he dissected the torpedo, and
laid before the Royal Society an account of its electrical organs. A
young elephant which had been presented to the queen by Sir Robert
Barker, and died, afforded him an opportunity of examining the structure
of that animal; after which two other elephants in the queen’s menagerie
likewise died, which he also carefully dissected. The year following,
1774, he published in the Philosophical Transactions an account of
certain receptacles of air in birds, showing how these communicate with
the lungs and are lodged in the fleshy parts, and in the bones of these
animals; likewise a paper on the gillaroo trout, commonly called in
Ireland the gizzard trout. In 1775, several animals of the species
called the gymnotus electricus of Surinam, were brought alive into this
country, and by the curious phenomena they exhibited the attention of
the scientific world was greatly excited. After making numerous
experiments on the living animals, Mr Walsh purchased those which died,
and gave his friend Mr Hunter an opportunity of examining them. This he
readily accepted, and drew up an account of their electrical organs,
which he published in the Philosophical Transactions. In the same volume
of that valuable work will be found his paper containing experiments
respecting the powers of animals and vegetables in producing heat. Thus,
in the paths of natural history did he find a recreation from the more
serious, and often irksome duties of his profession;--and by his skilful
dissections, and acute observations, enriched our knowledge in this
interesting and fascinating department of science. While thus engaged,
Mr Hunter found a great difficulty in showing to advantage the natural
appearances of many parts of animals which he wished to be preserved. In
some instances the minute vessels could not be seen when the preparation
was immersed in spirits; in others, the natural colour of the parts
preserved, and even the character of the surface, faded and underwent a
change after being some time immersed in this liquid,—a circumstance
which, to this day, diminishes very much the value of almost all the
morbid preparations which are preserved in private and public museums.
The only method, therefore, of accomplishing the object he had in view,
was to have them carefully and correctly drawn at the time of the
dissection. The expense of engaging draftsmen, the difficulty of
procuring them, and above all their ignorance of the subject to be
delineated, were considerable objections to their employment.
Accordingly, he engaged a young and talented artist named Bell, to live
with him for ten years, during which period it was agreed that he should
be employed both as a draftsman and in making anatomical preparations.
This young man soon imbibed the spirit of his master; he worked
assiduously with his knife, his forceps, and his pencil; he engaged
himself during part of his time in copying out Mr Hunter’s lectures, and
in less than ten years became a skilful anatomist and surgeon. By his
labours, Mr Hunter’s collection became enriched with many very accurate
and spirited drawings; and a variety of curious and delicate anatomical
preparations. This skilful artist, by the interest of his friend Sir
Joseph Bankes, obtained the appointment of assistant surgeon in the
honourable East India Company for the settlement of Bencoolen in
Sumatra, whither he set out with the view both of improving his fortune,
and collecting specimens of natural history. He was in both successful
beyond his most sanguine expectations. He sent home some very rare
specimens of animals and corals, and two papers which appeared in the
Philosophical Transactions,—one giving a description of the double
horned rhinoceros, and the other of an uncommonly formed fish.
Unfortunately for the cause of science, he died of fever in 1792, being
one of the many who have been summoned from this world, amidst early
promises of future excellence and success.
In January, 1776, Mr
Hunter was appointed surgeon extraordinary to his majesty,—an honour
which contributed still farther to advance his professional interests.
About this time the attention of the public was much directed to the
efforts of the Humane Society. Dr Cogan was the first who introduced the
subject from Holland; and after him, Dr Hawes did not suffer it to rest
until it experienced the royal patronage. Here again we find Mr Hunter
zealously engaged in endeavouring to ascertain the best mode of
restoring apparently drowned persons, the consequence of which was the
production of a paper which he read to the Royal Society, entitled
"Proposals for the Recovery of Persons apparently Drowned." The able
author of this paper draws the distinction between the mere suspension
of the functions by which life is supported, and absolute death, which
he illustrates by reference to various animals, in whom, under certain
conditions, the actions of life are temporarily suspended. It further
contains a description of the signs of life and death, which are of vast
importance; indeed, notwithstanding the progress that has since been
made, both in Germany and Britain, in medical jurisprudence, this paper
contains information which has by no means been superseded.
In the autumn of this
year, Mr Hunter was taken extremely ill, and the nature of his
complaints induced both his friends and himself to apprehend that his
life was in imminent danger. However, the anticipated calamity was
averted; he rallied, and was restored to his friends and the public, to
whom his subsequent services were of such vast importance. When on his
sick bed, he reflected on his own worldly affairs, such as he was about
to leave them;—he perceived that all his fortune had been expended in
his pursuits; that his family had no provision excepting what might
arise from the sale of his collection; and he naturally, on this
account, suffered much solicitude and anxiety. No sooner did he leave
his sick chamber, than he commenced arranging his collection, so that it
might, in whatever event, command its value, and with this view he began
to make a catalogue of the collection; but the delicacy of his health
obliged him to desist from his labours, and persuaded by his friends and
relatives, he retired for a time to Bath. During his absence, Mr Everard
Home was employed to draw out descriptions of the preparations, leaving
blanks for those with which he was unacquainted. His complaints were
considerably ameliorated by his residence at Bath; and though he
returned to town before he was quite convalescent, he continued to
amend, and was soon recovered.
In 1778, he published the
second part of his Treatise on the Teeth, and also, in the Philosophical
Transactions, a paper on the heat of animals and vegetables. "I had
now," says Sir Everard Home, "lived six years with Mr Hunter and
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."
Thus Mr Hunter was now
deprived of the valuable assistance of his former pupil. And here we may
pause to observe, both from the reflections which he made during his
late illness, and the statement of Sir E. Home, that his expenditure had
always exceeded his income, how slow are the emoluments of men whose
scientific labours are nevertheless an advantage and honour to their
country. Mr Hunter had now arrived at the age of fifty years, thirty of
which had been devoted to his profession; he had been eleven years
member of the Royal Society, and nine years arm hospital surgeon;—he was
respected and esteemed by the most accomplished men of science, and his
claims to honourable distinction recognized by the nobility and by
royalty itself; but still his pecuniary circumstances were at so low an
ebb, that, had he died during his late illness, his wife and children
would have been left comparatively destitute. His expenses do not appear
to have been great; his family had increased, but only two survived, and
these were still of an age to be little expensive; his own personal
expenses were not considerable; and yet five years after this period
(says one of his biographers), when he purchased a leasehold in
Leicester Square, he assured us that he was under the necessity of
mortgaging before he could pay for it, and for some time afterwards he
used to regret that all he could collect in fees "went to carpenters and
bricklayers; whilst the sum expended was scarcely sufficient to furnish
the library of a literary character." But the calamities and poverty of
men of genius are so proverbial, that the hand of humanity willingly
draws a veil over their sufferings; and yet there is something higher
than riches to be obtained in this world, and amidst all the
difficulties he has to encounter, happy is he who can command the power
of contributing even in the slightest degree to the well-being and
happiness of the human race. It is this high hope, this internal moral
conviction, which always has, and ever will support genius along the
difficult and thorny track which it is its destiny to tread. In 1780, Mr
Hunter laid before the Royal Society an account of a woman who had the
small pox during pregnancy, and in whom the disease seems to have been
communicated to the fetus. The following year he was elected fellow of
the Royal Society of Sciences and Belles Lettres at Gottenburg.
During this period, he
read before the Royal Society many valuable communications; among which
we may notice, a paper on the Organ of Hearing in Fish, and six Croonian
lectures on Muscular Motion. In these lectures he collected all the
observations that had been made on the muscles, respecting their powers
and effects, and the stimuli by which they are excited; and to these he
added comparative observations concerning the moving powers of plants;
but these lectures were not published in the Philosophical Transactions,
as they were not considered by the author to be sufficiently complete
dissertations.
Sir Everard Home informs
us, that in the year 1783, Mr Hunter was chosen into the Royal Society
of Medicine and Royal Academy of Surgery in Paris. In this year,
continues the same writer, the lease of his house in Jermyn Street
expired, and his collection being now too large to be contained in his
dwelling house, he purchased the lease of a large house on the east side
of Leicester Square, and the whole lot of ground extending to Castle
Street, in which there was another house. In the middle space between
the two houses he erected a building for his collection. Upon this
building he expended above three thousand pounds, and, unfortunately for
his family, the lease did not extend beyond twenty-four years. * * * * *
"During the execution of this extensive plan I returned to England from
Jamaica, where, at the close of the war, I had been appointed staff
surgeon. * * * * I found Mr Hunter now advanced to a considerable
practice, and a still greater share of public confidence. His collection
had increased with his income. In this he was materially assisted by his
friendship with Sir Joseph Bankes, 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. Drawing materials from such ample sources, standing 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 these which
were for sale he had commonly the refusal; under these circumstances his
collection made a progress which would otherwise have been impossible.
In April, 1785, his new rooms were completed, and I devoted the whole of
the summer to the object of assisting him in moving his preparations,
and arranging them in their proper order." [Life of John Hunter by Sir
Everard Home, prefixed to his Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and
Gun shot wounds.]
The surgical practice of
Mr Hunter now daily increased, and he performed with great skill and
judgment numerous operations, which were at that time new in the art of
surgery; but whatever may have been the multiplicity of his professional
engagements, his mind was still devoted to effecting improvements in
medical education, and with this view, assisted by his friend the
celebrated Dr Fordyce, he instituted a medical society, called the
Lyceum Medicum Londinense, the meetings of which were held in his own
lecture-rooms, and which acquired no inconsiderable reputation, both
from the numbers and character of its members. Institutions of this kind
have been of eminent importance in fostering and eliciting talents that
have done honour to medical science; and this under the patronage it
enjoyed did not fail to flourish.
In the year 1786, in
consequence of the death of Mr Middleton, Mr Hunter was appointed deputy
surgeon general to the army; shortly after which he published his work
on the venereal disease, and another entitled "Observations on certain
parts of the Animal Economy;" both which works rank high in the
estimation of the profession. Sir Everard Home mentions the curious
fact, that he chose to have his works printed and published in his own
house, but "finding," he adds, "this measure to bear hard upon the
booksellers in a way which had not been explained, and which was not
intended, the second editions were sold by Mr Johnson in St Paul’s
Church-yard, and Mr Nicoll, Pall Mall." In the spring of this year he
had another very severe illness, which confined him to bed, and rendered
him incapable of any kind of business. "In this state," says his
biographer, "I was obliged to take upon myself the charge of his
patients, as well as of his other affairs; and these were so extensive,
that my residence in his house became absolutely necessary. His recovery
was very slow, and his health received so severe a shock, that he was
never afterwards entirely free from complaint or capable of his usual
bodily exertion. After his recovery from this illness, he was subjected
to affections of the heart upon every occasion which agitated his mind.
In this infirm state he was unable to attend patients upon sudden calls
in the night, or to perform operations without assistance; and for these
years I continued to live with him until within a year of his death, and
then took a house within a few doors, which, in no respect detached me
from his pursuits, or prevented me from taking a part in his private
practice. The uncertainty of the continuance of life under this
affection; the mental agitation, and frequent depression with which it
is almost invariably attended, render the victims of such generally
anxious and unhappy; the canker worm is felt to be preying within the
living frame, and there is no hope of restoration to permanent health.
But notwithstanding all this, his energies remained unabated, and he
still toiled with his wonted alacrity in the pursuit of knowledge. In
the year 1787, he submitted to the Royal Society a paper giving an
account of the experiment he had made to determine the effect of
extirpating one ovarium, on the number of the young; also another
communication, in which he proves the wolf, jackall, and dog to be of
the same species; and another on the anatomy of the whale tribe. In
return for these labours, having been twelve years a fellow, he received
the gold Copleyan medal. Distinctions of this kind, although abstractly
no stimulus to men who are actuated by higher motives in pursuit of
knowledge, when conferred on men of such eminent abilities, not only do
honour to the individual to whom they are presented, but to the
institution by which they are awarded; and certainly, on reviewing the
labours of John Hunter, there was perhaps no man who ever lived, better
entitled to this honour. In the July of this year, he was chosen a
member of the American Philosophical Society; and the same year, on
account of his continued ill health, he applied to the governors of St
George’s hospital to allow him an assistant surgeon, to which request
they readily acceded; and Sir Everard Home was appointed to the office.
In the year 1789, he succeeded Mr Adair as inspector general of
hospitals, and surgeon general of the army, and about the same time was
admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
In the year 1792, Mr
Hunter found that the period which he allotted to lecturing interfered
so much with his other avocations, that he gave his materials for the
lectures into the hands of Sir Everard Home, who relieved him of this
duty. He now therefore began to prepare for the press his "Treatise on
the Blood, Inflammation, and Gun-shot wounds," the data for which he had
been collecting for many years. In his dedication to the king, he states
that his appointment as surgeon on the staff in the expedition against
Belleisle afforded him the opportunities of attending to gun-shot
wounds, of seeing the errors and defects in that branch of military
surgery, and of studying to remove them. He further adds, that it drew
his attention to inflammation in general, and enabled him to make the
observations which form the bases of that doctrine, which has since his
time excited so much controversy among physiologists. By a series of
very interesting experiments, and by a very ingenious mode of reasoning,
he came to the conclusion maintained by this doctrine, which holds, that
the blood as existing in its fluid state is alive, and that its death
causes the changes which are observed to take place when it is
abstracted from the body. In the Old Testament we read, "ye shall eat
the blood of no manner of flesh; for the life of all flesh is the
blood," (Levit. xvii. 14.) The same doctrine too seems promulgated in
the Alcoran—and appears to have been maintained by the celebrated
Harvey;—but notwithstanding these facts, there is no reason to presume
that the idea was plagiarized by John Hunter: on the contrary, his
opinion was with him original, inasmuch as it was elicited by the
experiments which he himself performed. This would by no means be an
appropriate place to discuss the general merits of this physiological
doctrine; but we do not err in stating that it is supported by very
plausible evidence, and is maintained by many eminent men of science.
The nature and seat of the living principle which raises man above the
inanimate beings by which he is surrounded, is manifestly beyond the
reach of human investigation; but it must be satisfactory to those who
have not time nor inclination even to examine the evidence which has
been on either side adduced, to find, that such men as John Hunter and
Abernethy recognized the existence of something beyond the mere
mechanism of the human frame; that they in their acute reasonings
urged the existence of an internal and self-sustaining principle, which
modifies the different conditions of matter, and must be therefore
superior to its decay.
In the year 1792, Mr
Hunter was elected an honorary member of the Chirurgico-Physical Society
of Edinburgh, and likewise connected himself with the Veterinary
College, then just projected in London. "The origin of this
institution," says Dr Adams, "was at Odiham in Hampshire; the
Agricultural Society of which had offered a premium for the best account
of the glanders. Mr Sergeant Bell was the fortunate candidate, and the
society was so well pleased with his piece, that in a little time after,
a Veterinary College was projected, over which that gentleman should
preside. As soon as the proposal was known to Mr Hunter he eagerly
joined it, urging the advantages which might be derived from it, not
only to quadrupeds, but to man, by extending our knowledge of physiology
and more especially of pathology. In order to forward the plan, several
gentlemen, the duke of Bedford at their head, deposited £500 on the
chance of its being never returned. Mr Hunter was one of the number. It
was proposed that he should examine Mr Sergeant Bell, to which he
readily assented. It will easily be conceived by those who are not at
all acquainted with the continental pathology of those days, that the
examination proved unsatisfactory. Mr Hunter would have gladly
introduced another gentleman; but this did not at all lessen his zeal in
promoting the object of the institution." Such was the origin of his
connexion with the London Veterinary College, of which he now became one
of the vice-presidents.
In the transactions of
the Society for improving Medical Knowledge, of which Mr Hunter was one
of the original and most zealous members, he published about this period
papers on the Treatment of Inflamed Veins, on Introsusception, and on a
mode of conveying food into the stomach in cases of paralysis of the
esophagus. He likewise finished his Observations on the Economy of Bees,
and presented them to the Royal Society. These observations he finished
at Earl’s Court, which was his place of retirement from the toils of his
profession, but by no means a retreat from those intellectual labours
which diversified the whole tenor of his life. "It was there," says Sir
Everard Home, "he carried on his experiments on digestion, on
exfoliation, on the transplanting of teeth into the combs of cocks, and
all his other investigations on the animal economy, as well in health as
in disease. The common bee was not alone the subject of his observation,
but the wasp, hornet, and the less known kinds of bees were also objects
of his attention. It was there he made the series of preparations of the
external and internal changes of the silk worm; also a series of the
incubation of the egg, with a very valuable set of drawings of the whole
series. The growth of vegetables was also a favourite subject of
inquiry, and one on which he was always engaged making experiments. In
this retreat he had collected many kinds of animals and birds, and it
was to him a favourite amusement in his walks to attend to their actions
and to their habits, and to make them familiar with him. The fiercer
animals were those to which he was most partial, and he had several of
the bull kind from all parts of the world. Among these was a beautiful
small bull he had received from the queen, 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, his frolic would probably have cost him his life." [Life of John
Hunter, by Sir Everard Home.] The pleasure which a man of
high intellectual endowments, and refined sensibility, takes in watching
the habits, and in a manner sympathizing with the feeling exhibited by
the lower classes of animals, constitutes one of the most amiable and
noble features which his disposition can pourtray, and doubtless must
give rise to some of the finest and most generous feelings of which
human nature is susceptible. Man is in all cases the representative, or
rather the repetition of mere man, and in the sufferings of one of his
own species he sees reflected as in a mirror the miseries he himself may
possibly have to endure; wherefore the chords of pity are by a latent
feeling of self-interest vibrated, and he enters into commiseration with
his fellow man; but to extend his thoughts and feelings beyond the
possible range of his own experience to the commonly despised, or
perhaps maltreated lower animals, manifests a high and generous tone of
feeling independent of all such collateral selfishness, and in perfect
consonance with the most elevated principles of Christian philosophy.
Here then we have before us the instance of a philosopher whose profound
knowledge had already, in no trifling degree, contributed to the
advancement of science and the benefit of the human race, familiarizing
himself and with child-like simplicity playing with animals, which,
although of a lower order of classification, possess senses as acute,
feelings as strong, and necessities as urgent as our own, and which, by
their complex and equally perfect organization, prove themselves to be
as much the subjects of divine care,—and in their own spheres as
important in carrying out and completing the great scheme of the
universe.
We have thus already
traced the life of John Hunter from youth to middle age; from obscurity
to eminence; from adversity to prosperity; and it remains for us now to
notice those accessions of disease which rendered the tenure of his life
one of extreme uncertainty. We have already stated that in the spring of
1769, he was confined to bed by a serious illness,—an acute attack of
gout, which returned the three following springs, but not the fourth. In
the spring of 1773, he became affected with very severe spasmodic
symptoms, owing to disease of the heart. His next illness took place in
1776, and this appears to have been occasioned by inflammation in the
arteries of the brain, which gave rise to morbid appearances that were
recognized after death. It is said that this attack was occasioned by
mental anxiety, arising from the circumstance of his being obliged to
pay a large sum of money for a friend for whom he had become security,
and which his circumstances rendered extremely inconvenient. After, on
this occasion taking certain refreshments, and feeling relieved, he
ventured on attempting a journey of eight miles in a post-chaise; but he
became so much worse that he was obliged to go to bed, and was
afterwards brought home in a post-chaise. The determination of blood to
the head in particular, gave rise to many very remarkable symptoms. When
he went to bed he felt giddy, and experienced a sensation of being
suspended in the air. This latter painful feeling increased. The least
motion of his head upon the pillow seemed to be so great that he
scarcely dared attempt it. If he but moved his head half round, it
appeared to be moving from him 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 seemed to be moving a vast way. His
sensations became extremely acute or heightened; he could not bear the
least light, a curtain and blanket were obliged to be hung up before it,
and the bed curtains closely drawn. He kept his eyes firmly closed, but
if a candle was only passed across the room he could not bear it. His
hearing was also painfully acute; as was likewise his sense of smell and
of taste; every thing he put into his mouth appearing of a higher
flavour than natural. After being bled, and subjected to other reducing
treatment, he recovered from this severe attack; but his constitution
had received a shock, which nothing could surmount. An organic disease
lurked within, which every excitement would aggravate, if not lead to
direct and suddenly fatal consequences. He had no particular illness,
however, from this period until 1785, "although," says Sir Everard Home,
"he appeared much altered in his looks, and gave the idea of being much
older than could be accounted for from the number of years which had
elapsed." The physiognomy of death is often impressed on the features of
the living, for some time before the fatal event occurs which severs
them from their relations with the world. So was it with John
Hunter;—but in the beginning of the April of this latter year, he became
attacked with a dreadfully severe spasmodic disease, which, like his
similar attacks, was induced by mental anxiety. His feet, his hands, and
then his chest became successively affected; and in effect the extension
of the spasm became so considerable that he repeatedly swooned. "I was
with him," says his accomplished brother-in-law, "during the whole of
this attack, and never saw any thing equal to the agonies which he
suffered; and when he fainted away I thought him dead, as the pain did
not seem to abate, but to carry him off, having first completely
exhausted him." Such were the intense sufferings he endured:
nevertheless, he rallied, and partially recovered, nor did any thing of
the kind particularly recur until the December of 1789, when at the
house of a friend he became afflicted by a total loss of memory. He did
not know in what part of the town he was; nor even the name of the
street when told it; nor where his own house was, nor had he any
conception of any place existing beyond the room he was in, yet in the
midst of all this was he perfectly conscious of the loss of memory. He
was sensible of impressions of all kinds from the senses, and therefore
looked out of the window, although rather dark, to see if he could be
made sensible of the situation of the house; at length this loss of
memory gradually went off, and in less than half an hour his memory was
perfectly recovered. About a fortnight afterwards when visiting a
patient, an attack, somewhat of a similar nature, recurred; and during
this illness he was attended by Dr Pitcairn and Dr Bathe. Amidst all the
diseases and sufferings to which the living body is subjected, the
changes which in an especial manner affect the mind, are interesting to
all—whether professional or non-professional. His mental impressions
during this attack were lively, indeed, often disagreeably so. His
dreams had so much the strength of reality that they often awakened him;
but the remembrance of them remained perfect.
"The sensation," says Sir
Everard Home, "which he had in his head was not pain, but rather so
unnatural as to give him the idea of having no head. The organs of sense
(as in the former illness,) were painfully acute. He could not endure
the light; and every thing had a yellow cast. Sounds were louder than
natural, and every object had lost its true direction, leaning, as
nearly as he could guess, to an angle of fifty or sixty-degrees. His
recovery from this attack was less perfect than from any other; he never
lost the obliquity of vision; and his memory became much impaired. The
recurrence too of the spasms became more frequent. The slightest
exertion induced them. He never went to bed without their being brought
on by the act of undressing himself;—they came on during the middle of
the night;—the least excitement in conversation was attended by them;
and even operations in surgery, if requiring any nicety, occasioned
them. It is remarked by Sir Everard Home, that as his mind was irritated
by trifles, these produced the most violent effects on his disease. "His
coachman," says he, "being beyond his time, or a servant not attending
to his directions, brought on the spasms, while a real misfortune
produced no such effect. He thus continued to drag on a painful and
precarious existence, with the grave every moment threatening to open
beneath his feet. At length the fatal event so long anticipated by his
friends occurred; it was sudden; and occasioned, as his former fits had
been, by mental excitement. The circumstances by which this was
occasioned, are thus detailed by Dr Adams, who had a personal knowledge
of them. "A law," says he, "concerning the qualifications required for
the admission of pupils, had been carried contrary to the wishes of Mr
Hunter. At this time he was applied to by a youth ignorant of the new
regulation and consequently unprovided with any documents. His former
residence was at a great distance, and he was anxious not to lose time
during an expensive stay in London, in fitting himself for professional
service. Mr Hunter, to relieve himself from the irksomeness of pleading
or explaining, requested the case might be drawn up in the form of a
letter addressed to himself. This he proposed to bring with him at the
meeting of the next board. Notwithstanding this great caution, however,
he felt the probability of a contest which he might prove unable to
support. On the succeeding day the writer of this, (Dr Adams,) had a
very long conversation with him, in which we were insensibly led to his
complaint; a subject of all others the most interesting to his friends,
and on which he never was 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 which it had on his
temper. On the following day, I am informed from good authority, he told
a baronet, who called on him in the morning, that he was going to the
hospital; that he was fearful some unpleasant rencounter would ensue,
and if such should be the case, he knew it must be his death."
Notwithstanding this presentiment, he chose to hazard the event, for the
purpose of defending a youth, against what appeared to him an oppressive
and unjust regulation. The generosity of such a motive is the best
apology for the indiscretion in attending the meeting, at which such
fatal consequences were, even by himself, apprehended. "On the 16th
October," says Sir Everard Home, when in his usual state of health, he
went to St George’s hospital, and meeting with something which irritated
his mind, and not being perfectly master of the circumstances, he
withheld his sentiments; in which state of restraint he went into the
next room, and turning round to Dr Robinson, one of the physicians to
the hospital, he gave a deep groan, and dropped down dead." His body was
conveyed from the hospital in a sedan chair, and underwent a careful
medical examination, by which it appeared that among other morbid
changes that had occurred, the arteries both of the heart and brain had
undergone ossification. His funeral was attended by a few of his oldest
medical friends, and his remains interred in the vault under the parish
church of St Martin’s in the Fields. He expired, it may be added, in his
sixty-fifth year, the same age, at which his brother Dr William Hunter
died.
We have now noticed
seriatim the principal events which characterized the life of this
eminent surgeon, and throughout them we notice the manifestation of
great mental energy, combined with considerable powers of originality.
His early education had it is true been grievously neglected; but this
very fact left him at liberty to explore more freely new and untrodden
paths, which men shackled by scholastic dogmas, and bowing with undue
reverence to preexisting authorities, seldom have the courage to
attempt. With such men the deviation from established rules is regarded
as a species of heterodoxy; and their learning, therefore, chains them
down to a fixed and never improving system. Thus it was with the
majority of physicians who embraced, and then promulgated ex
cathedra, the doctrines of Galen, Boerhaave, Stahl, and others; but
it was otherwise with John Hunter; he was of no school; he went with an
unprejudiced mind to nature, and examined into all her operations with
that freedom and independence which can alone advance the true interests
of philosophy. He read very little. "I have learned," says one of his
biographers, "from a gentleman who was very intimate with him, that when
he had made a discovery, it was his custom to relate it to Mr
Cruickshanks, who frequently informed him that Haller had made the same
observation before." In every department of science, and even in general
literature, such coincidence of observation will often occur; and these
too frequently have given rise to charges of wilful plagiarism, of which
the suspected author was never guilty. John Hunter was a man of truly
original observation; and distinguished himself as much by the practical
application of his knowledge, as by the ingenious theories which he
adopted. As a surgeon, he was a bold but judicious, a quick yet skilful
operator; and suggested many improvements in the mode of performing
difficult operations. He discovered the method of operating for
popliteal aneurism by taking up the femoral artery on the anterior part
of the thigh without interfering with the tumour in the ham, by which
the pain, and danger, and future sufferings of the patient are
materially mitigated. This indeed ranks among the most important of the
improvements which have recently been introduced into the practice of
surgery. It may be added, that John Hunter always held the showy part of
surgery in the lowest estimation. "To perform an operation," said he,
"is to mutilate a patient whom we are unable to cure; it should
therefore be considered as an acknowledgment of the imperfection of our
art." How different a sentiment is this from that entertained by some
eminent surgeons, who, with much surgical skill but little
humanity, recommend operations at the risk of the patient’s life, and
handle the knife, when in the public theatre, rather with the view of
exhibiting their own dexterous manipulation, than with that of relieving
the condition of the unfortunate being who writhes beneath the torture
which is so coolly and ostentatiously inflicted.
In the former part of our
memoir we adverted to the difficulties which this eminent surgeon
experienced for some years in struggling against those pecuniary
adversities, which seem in an especial manner to oppress men of superior
mental endowments. But the subsequent tenor of his career teaches a
lesson which cannot too strongly be inculcated;—that resolution,
industry, and perseverance, will in the end baffle the evil genius which
seems at first to throw thorns and impediments around our path. During
the first eleven years of his practice, which, it must be admitted, was
for him a long and tedious mental probation, his income never amounted
to a thousand pounds a year; however, the four succeeding years it
exceeded that sum; and for several years previous to his death, it
increased to five, and was at that period six thousand pounds a year.
Whatever difficulties, therefore, at first beset his progress were
eventually surmounted; he attained the highest rank in his profession;
he was universally esteemed and extolled as a man of general science; he
had as much practice as he could attend to; his emoluments were
considerable; and if we raise up the curtain of domestic life, we shall
find him cheered by the society of a wife whom he loved; whose superior
mental accomplishments rendered her a fine companion even for a man of
his elevated scientific rank; besides all which, he was the parent of
two children, in whom, it was natural that his best hopes and warmest
affections should be centered. "Nor," says Dr Adams, "was he insensible
of these blessings; he has often told me, that if he had been allowed to
bespeak a pair of children, they should have been those with which
providence had favoured him." But the cup of human enjoyment seldom
mantles to the brim without containing some drops of alloying
bitterness; and there is no doubt but that professional anxieties and
ill health rendered his temper irritable and impetuous. He was, says Sir
Everard Home, readily provoked, and when irritated not easily soothed.
His disposition was candid and free from reserve, even to a fault. He
hated deceit, and as he was above every kind of artifice, he detested it
in others, and too openly avowed his sentiments. His mind was uncommonly
active; it was naturally formed for investigation, and that turn
displayed itself on the most trivial occasions, and always with
mathematical exactness. What is curious, it fatigued him to be long in
mixed company which did not admit of connected conversation, more
particularly during the last ten years of his life. He required less
relaxation than other men; seldom sleeping more than four hours in the
night, but almost always nearly an hour after dinner; this probably
arose from the natural turn of his mind being so much adapted to his own
occupations, that they were in reality his amusements, and therefore did
not fatigue.
We have already seen how
much time, even amidst his arduous professional toils and miscellaneous
pursuits, he devoted to comparative anatomy, and in collecting
preparations to illustrate every department of that interesting science.
The museum which he succeeded in founding, remains to this day a
monument of his industry, perseverance, and ingenuity. Here we find
arranged, in a regular order of progressive classification every species
of animate being, or link in the chain of organization, from the lowest
vegetable, in which life can be scarcely recognized, up to man; but no
account or description, however minute, can do adequate justice to such
a collection. By his will he left it, under the discretion of his
executors, to be sold for the benefit of his family, in one entire lot,
to the government of Great Britain; or in case of refusal, to any other
government or state which would offer such a price for it, as all
parties might consider reasonable. Six years after his death, it was
purchased by the British parliament for fifteen thousand pounds, and
given to the College of Surgeons, on condition that twenty-four lectures
should be delivered annually to members of the college, and that under
certain regulations it should be open to the public. We thus find that,
while his elder brother completed a museum which does honour to the
university in which it is preserved, the younger, by his industry and
perseverance, completed another, which has been pronounced by the most
competent judges to be an honour to his country. How practical a lesson
does this afford of the prodigious achievements which may be
accomplished by the sustained perseverance and labours of a single
individual!
In personal appearance,
John Hunter was much below the ordinary middle stature; but his body was
well formed for muscular exertion, and when in health he was always
extremely active. His countenance was open, and although impressed with
lines of thought, was by no means habitually severe; on the contrary,
its expression soon softened into tenderness, or became lighted up by
mirth, according as the impression swept across his mind. When Lavater
saw his print, he said "That man thinks for himself," an opinion which
the whole tenor of his actions will be seen to have verified. An
admirable portrait of him was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, of which a
spirited engraving was executed by Mr Sharpe. A bust also of him was
modeled by a Mr Bacon, in the modeling of which he was assisted by a
cast taken during life. He was quick in manner, and "in conversation,"
says Sir Everard Home, "spoke too freely and harshly of his
contemporaries;" but this, we are given to understand, arose rather from
his conviction that surgery was still in its infancy, than from any
uncharitable motive, or wish to depreciate his contemporaries. From
almost the earliest periods in society, medical men have been
stigmatized for displaying the "odium medicum;" but the fact is, that
men educated to the practice of an art, the principles of which are not
cognizable to the public, are apt to treat with intolerance the
pretensions of men who, they have reason to know, notwithstanding they
may have crept into a certain degree of favour, are ignorant perhaps of
the most elementary principles of their profession. The observations of
John Hunter, even on casual occasions, were often remarkably pointed,
and significant of his very acute and discriminating mental powers. On
one occasion, having been heard to express regret that we must all die,
a physician present took advantage of the opportunity to inquire whether
it was true that his brother had in his last moments expressed how
"pleasant a thing it is to die?" to which he immediately replied, "’tis
poor work when it comes to that," evidently insinuating a doubt as to
the moral correctness of any such sentiments, which, as we have before
hinted, we regard as a rash declaration, incompatible with the
sufferings, condition, and mysterious, yet infinitely important
prospects of any man on the brink of that future world, which, seriously
regarded, must suggest reflections of a very different, and far more
solemn nature. Few men were more generous than John Hunter, and the only
fault which can impugn his memory is, that in executing his designs for
the benefit of science, he neglected too much the interests of his wife
and children. It is to be regretted that the ambition of being
serviceable to mankind, should hurry any man away from the more
immediate consideration of the wants and condition of his own family;
for not all the advantages conferred on posterity, nor all the fame that
is trumpeted abroad in his honour, can compensate for a single pang of
that widowed bosom which, from such neglect, may have to endure the keen
and bitter sorrows of unpitied poverty. We say this without
disparagement to the many excellent qualities which distinguished the
character of John Hunter, a name which will be ever highly esteemed in
the annals of British surgery.
We cannot, however,
conclude this memoir without pausing to notice more fully the estimable
qualities of the lady to whom it was his good fortune to be united. She
possessed personal attractions of the highest order; "into whatever
assembly she entered," says one who appears to have been acquainted with
her, "the delicacy of her face, with the commanding grace of her person,
gave her a peculiar air of distinction, and seldom failed to attract
attention. But she never ascribed to her own merit the notice she
received in society; feeling herself the wife of a celebrated man, she
was fond of imputing the attention she received to the influence of his
character; doing injustice to herself from a generous pride of owing
every thing to him; and she never appeared so much gratified by
attention as when she supposed it was shown to her for his sake." The
same competent authority states, that "during her husband’s life they
lived in a liberal and hospitable manner. Mr Hunter was too much devoted
to science to attend much to his worldly affairs, and too careless of
money to be rich. He did not leave his family in affluence, yet so
circumstanced that his widow always supported a most respectable
appearance, and was visited by the first society." We repeat that we do
not think that any man’s devotion to science affords the slightest
apology or ground of excuse for leaving those to whom he should be bound
by the most sacred ties of attachment, in neglected circumstances. On
the death of her husband, Mrs John Hunter withdrew from society, and
spent her life almost entirely in retirement. After a lingering illness,
which she bore with much patience and resignation, she died on 7th
January, 1821, in the 79th year of her age, leaving behind her a son and
daughter, the former a major in the army, and the latter the widow of
general Campbell, son of the late Sir James Campbell of Inverneil.
Besides her many amiable
domestic qualifications, to which all who knew her bore testimony, she
was exceedingly accomplished; and occasionally during her husband’s
lifetime, mingled in society with Horace Walpole, Mrs Carter, Mrs Vesey,
and other characters well known in the literary world. She sang and
played with admirable taste, and had a talent for poetry which she
chiefly displayed in the production of songs and poems, which were
characterized by much refinement of thought, sensibility of feeling, and
delicacy of expression. Among the former, "The Son of Alknomook" and
"Queen Mary’s Lament," became extremely popular; among the latter, her
verses "On November, 1784," a beautiful address to fancy, under the
title of "La Douce Chimere," with several other minor poems, display
much feeling and imagination. [She collected her poems and songs and
published them in a small volume in the year 1806.] We cannot
conclude this memoir more appropriately than by transcribing the
following little poem of hers, not that we have selected it as a
specimen of her general poetical power, but because it was for the first
time published in the Scots Magazine for March, 1821, and may not, on
that account, be generally known:--
THE LOT OF THOUSANDS.
How many lift the head, look gay,
and smile,
Against their consciences?—Young.
When hope lies dead within the
heart,
By secret sorrow close concealed,
We shrink, lest looks or words impart
What must not be revealed.
‘Tis hard to smile when one could
weep,
To speak when one would silent be;
To wake when one should wish to sleep,
And wake to agony.
Yet such the lot by thousands cast,
Who wander in this world of care,
And bend beneath the bitter blast,
To save them from despair.
But nature waits her guests to
greet,
Where disappointment cannot come,
And time guides with unerring feet
The weary wanderers home.