HUNTER,
a surname obviously derived from the chase, and from the great
superiority of the Normans in the sports of the field, it is
supposed, on good grounds, that the families of this surname in
Scotland are of Norman extraction. They are accustomed to carry in
their armorial bearings three dogs of chase with three hunting
horns. “In the castle and domains,” says Robertson, “of the great
barons, who were ‘lords of entire bailiwicks,’ appropriated
frequently for the accommodation of the sovereign, it appears that
various offices exclusively belonging to the sports of the field
existed. Johne le Hunter de la foreste de Paisley and Hugh and
Richard, the hunters of Stragrife (Renfrewshire), appear in the Rag
Roll Caled. iii. P. 118; as also does Aylmer de la Hunter of the
county of Ayr,” (Ayrshire Families, vol. iii, p. 168.] the
office, whatever it was, held by the original bearers of this name,
is supposed to have been similar to that of forester, from the fact
that the motto of the Foresters of Corstorphine (now represented by
the earls ov Verulam, in England) was “Hunter! Blow your horn.” In
the remarks on the Ragman Roll, the Aylmer de la Hunter above
mentioned is said to be the ancestor, “for certain, of the Hunters
of Arneil, designed of Hunterston and of that ilk.”
Nisbet (System
of Heraldry, vol. i, p. 332) says: “As for the antiquity of the
name, Gulielmus Venator, (which I take for Hunter,) is a witness in
the charter of erection of the bishopric of Glasgow by David I.,
when he was prince of Cumberland. In a charter of King Alexander
II., of the lands of Manners to William Baddeley, upon the
resignation of Nicol Corbat of these lands and others, the lands of
Norman Hunter are exempted, as the charter bears ‘Quas Nicolaus
corbat nobis reddidit, excepta terra quondam Normani Venatoris quam
Malcolmus frater Regis Willielmi ei dedit.’ for which see the
Haddington collections.”
The most
ancient families of the name in Scotland were the Hunters of Polmood
in Peebles-shire, and the Hunters of Hunterston in Ayrshire. With
regard to the former, which is now extinct, Dr. Pennecuik, in his
Description of Tweeddale, has inserted a copy (of a translation) of
a charter, pretending to be from Malcolm Canmore, to the ancestor of
the family, which, says Robertson, if not a foolish translation of a
genuine charter, is certainly framed on the traditionary story of
the origin of the family, and even in that light possesses
considerable interest. It is in these words: “I Malcolm Kenmure,
king, the first of my reign, gives to thee Normand Hunter of Polmood,
the Hope up and down, above the earth to heaven, and below the earth
to hell, as free to thee and thine as ever God gave it to me and
mine, and that for a bow and a broad arrow when I come to hunt in
Yarrow.
And for the mair suith,
I byte the white wax with my tooth,
Before thir witnesses three,
May, Mauld, and Marjorie.”
A subsequent
writer says, “From the strictest inquiry no such charter exists,
though there is strong presumption that William the Lyon did make a
similar grant of lands to Norman Hunter, a refugee, who having
followed William the Conqueror into England, fled from the arbitrary
oppression of his successors to seek shelter in Scotland.”
Thomas
Hunter of Polmood, who died 20th March 1765, had executed
a disposition and deed of entail on the 28th of the
previous January, in favour of Alexander Hunter, merchant in
Edinburgh, who, though bearing the same name, was no relation. As
this deed was executed on deathbed, it was liable to reduction, if
an heir could be found. Thomas Hunter, the last possessor of the
estate, was descended from a natural son of Robert Hunter of Polmood,
who died in 1689. The estate had been destined to the bastard and
the heirs of his body, with a special declaration that, in the event
of failure, it should return to the granter, his nearest heirs male,
and assignees whatsoever. On the death of Thomas Hunter two persons
came forward, each claiming to be the heir to the estate, one an old
man called Adam Hunter, and the other a man of the name of Taylor,
who afterwards withdrew his claim. After nearly fifty years’
litigation, both the court of session and the House of Lords, to
which the case had been appealed, decided that Adam Hunter had not
established his pedigree. An ancient prediction that “The Hunters of
Polmood were never to prosper,” seems in this case to have been
verified. Mr. Alexander Hunter died at Edinburgh, 22d January 1786,
and was succeeded by his nephew, Walter Hunter, Esq. of Polmood and
Crailing, whose eldest daughter, Elizabeth, the wife of the
eighteenth Lord Forbes, came into possession of Polmood.
_____
Of the
Hunterston line, Crawford (Officers of State, p. 360 Note)
says that he had “very carefully perused their writs,” and that
“from charters they appear to have had at least a part of the estate
they possess in Cunningham while the Morvilles were lords of that
country, as far back as the reign of Alexander II.” (Between 1214
and 1249.) From Mungo or Quintegern Hunter, the tenth in possession
of Hunterston, and the ninth in direct descent from Norman le Hunter
above mentioned, descended the Hunters of Abbotshill. Andrew Hunter,
D.D., the eighth of this family, was the eldest son of Andrew
Hunter, Esq. of park, writer to the signet, and Grizel Maxwell, a
daughter of General Maxwell of Cardoness, in the stewartry of
Kirkcudbright, one of those who, at the Revolution, accompanied the
prince of Orange to England. He was born at Edinburgh in 1743, and
having studied for the church, was in 1767 licensed by the
presbytery of Edinburgh. In 1770 he was presented to the New church
of Dumfries, and soon after he sold Abbotshill, and purchased
Barjarg in Nithsdale, which had previously belonged to James Erskine
of Barjarg and Alva – one of the lords of session – and which is now
the designation of the elder branch of the Hunterston family. In
1779 Dr. Hunter was presented to the New Greyfriars church,
Edinburgh, and whilst there, was appointed the colleague of Dr.
Hamilton in the divinity professorship of the university. In 1786 he
was translated to the Tron church of that city. Several of his
sermons on particular occasions have been published. He died on 21st
April 1809. By his wife, Marion Shaw, eldest daughter of the sixth
Lord Napier, he had four children. His eldest son, William Francis
Hunter of Barjarg, advocate, married Jane St. Aubyn, daughter and
eventually heiress of Francis St. Aubyn of Collin-Mixton, by Jane
Arundel, coheiress of the Arundels of Tolverne and Truthall in
Cornwall, and through them representative of the earls of Devon. In
compliance with the wishes of his wife, he assumed the name of
Arundel. Dr. Hunter’s youngest son, the Rev. John Hunter, was
appointed in 1832, one of the ministers of the Tron church,
Edinburgh. From the Hunters of Abbotshill, the Hunters of Doonholm
and Bonnytown, Ayrshire, the Hunters of Thurston, East Lothian, and
the Hunters of Brownhill, of whom sir David Hunter Blair of
Blairquhan, Ayrshire, is the head, are descended.
The
above-mentioned Mungo Hunter of Hunterston’s eldest son, Robert,
succeeded to the estate, and was one of the ayrshire gentlemen who
subscribed the band in defence of the reformed religion, 4th
September, 1562. His grandson, Patrick Hunter of Hunterston, was a
member of the committee of war for Ayrshire during the troubled time
of 1647; and, in 1662, he was fined £600, by one of the arbitrary
acts of the earl of Middleton. His third son, Francis, is supposed
to have been ancestor of the Hunters of Long Calderwood in
Lanarkshire, of which family was the celebrated Dr. William Hunter
and his brother John, the eminent surgeon and anatomist, memoirs of
whom are subsequently given below. Their sister, Jane, was the
mother of the celebrated Dr. Mathew Baillie, and the distinguished
poetess Joanna Baillie.
Patrick’s
eldest son, Robert Hunter of Hunterston, had four sons. The second
son, Robert, acquired by purchase in 1686, the lands of Kirkland,
Ayrshire, and was the ancestor of that family. The fourth son, John,
was father of General Robert Hunter, who died governor of Jamaica in
1734, and was ancestor, – by his lady, Elizabeth, daughter and
heiress of Sir Thomas Orby of Burton Pedwardine in the county of
Lincoln, baronet, and widow of Lord John Hay, second son of the
second marquis of Tweeddale, – of the Orby-Hunters of Croyland
Abbey, Lincolnshire.
The male
line of the family of Hunterston terminated with Robert Hunter of
Hunterston, who died in 1796, leaving a daughter, Eleonora, who
married her cousin, Robert Caldwell, when the latter assumed the
name of Hunter, having in his wife’s right become proprietor of the
estate of Hunterston. He died in 1826, leaving issue.
_____
The firs
Hunter of Burnside, of “the lands and barony of the Dod,”
Forfarshire, David Hunter, is noted as having, when a member of the
Scots Estates, protested against the delivering up of Charles I. To
the English parliament in January 1647. A descendant of his, the Mr.
Hunter of Burnside of that day, was “out” in the rebellion of 1745,
and afterwards escaped to France. He is mentioned in ‘Roderick
Random.’ He was killed by a Frenchman in a brawl. His grandson,
General David Hunter of Burnside, married a daughter of William
Douglas, Esq. of Brigton, Forfarshire, a descendant of Archibald
fifth earl of Angus, called ‘Bell-the-Cat,’ and great-granddaughter
of Robert Douglas, bishop of Dunblane, who was deprived of his see
at the Revolution. She died in 1846. Her son, Major William Hunter,
younger of Burnside, was military secretary at Sidney, when Sir
Richard Bourke was governor of New South Wales. He afterwards went
to India, as aide-de-camp to his uncle, General George Hunter, in
Scinde, and died there in 1845, before his father, General David
Hunter of Burnside. His eldest son, David Hunter, succeeded to the
estate, and died at Prospect-hill, Douglas, Isle of Man, October 1,
1847, aged 26 years, leaving a son, William George Hunter, born at
Prospect-hill, Isle of Man, on the 5th May preceding.
HUNTER, WILLIAM,
M.D.,
an eminent physician and lecturer on anatomy, elder brother of the
celebrated John Hunter, a memoir of whom follows, was born May 23,
1718, at Long Calderwood, Lanarkshire. His father, whose grandfather
was a younger son of Hunter of Hunterston, was proprietor of the
estate of Calderwood, and he was the seventh of ten children. With
the intention of studying for the church, he was, at the age of
fifteen, sent to the university of Glasgow, where he spent five
years. But having become acquainted with Dr. Cullen, then
established in practice in Hamilton, he chanted his views, and
devoted himself to the profession of medicine. In 1737 he went to
reside with Dr. Cullen, and remained with him for three years, when
it was agreed, that, after completing his studies, he should be
received into partnership with him. In November 1740 he repaired to
Edinburgh, to attend the medical classes, and in the ensuing spring
proceeded to London, and at first lived as a pupil in the house of
Dr. Smellie, the accoucheur. Having become known through a letter of
introduction from Mr. Foulis, printer in Glasgow, to his countryman,
Dr. James Douglas, that eminent physician engaged him as an
assistant in making dissections for a splendid work on the anatomy
of the Bones, which he was then preparing for publication. Dr.
Douglas died in the following year, but Hunter continued to reside
in the family to superintend the education of his son. During this
period he attended the anatomical classes in St. George’s Hospital.
In 1745
Mr. Hunter communicated a paper to the Royal Society, respecting the
structure of the cartilages of the human body; and in the following
winter he commenced a course of lectures on surgery and anatomy. In
1747 he was admitted a member of the college of surgeons; and in the
subsequent spring he accompanied his pupil on a tour through Holland
to Paris. On this occasion he visited the anatomical museum of the
great Albinus at Leyden.
In 1750 he
obtained the degree of M.D. from the university of Glasgow, on which
he quitted Dr. Douglas’ family, and, taking a house in Jermyn
Street, began to practise as a physician. He had previously
practised surgery and midwifery, and was appointed accoucheur to the
British Lying-in Hospital. He now relinquished the surgical
department of his profession, and soon became the first accoucheur
in London. In 1756 he was admitted a licentiate of the Royal college
of physicians, and was soon after elected a member of the Medical
Society. In the first volume of their ‘Observations and Inquiries,’
published in 1757, appears Dr. Hunter’s History of an Aneurism of
the Aorta; and he was an important contributor to the subsequent
publications of the Society. In 1762 he published his ‘Medical
Commentaries,’ and subsequently added a supplement, the object of
which was to vindicate his claim to some anatomical discoveries, in
opposition to Dr. Munro, Secundus, and others. The same year he was
consulted on the pregnancy of Queen Charlotte, and in 1764 was named
one of the physicians extraordinary to her majesty. In 1767 he was
elected a fellow of the Royal Society, to which, the year following,
he communicated his Observations on the Bones of a supposed Mammoth,
found near the river Ohio, in America. In 1768 he became a fellow of
the Society of Antiquaries, and the same year, at the institution of
the Royal Academy of Arts, he was appointed by his majesty professor
of anatomy. The most elaborate and splendid of his publications,
‘The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus,’ folio, illustrated by
thirty-four large plates, appeared in 1775. In 1778 he published
‘Reflections on the Section of the Lymphysis Pubis,’ designed to
show the inutility of that surgical operation. In 1780 he was chosen
a foreign associate of the Royal Medical Society at Paris, and in
1782 of the Royal Academy of Sciences in that city. On the death of
Dr. Fothergill, in January 1781, he was unanimously elected
president of the Royal College of physicians of London. His
portrait, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, is preserved in the
Hunterian museum, Glasgow. An unfinished painting by Toffany,
represents him in the act of giving a lecture on the muscles, at the
royal academy, surrounded by a group of academicians.
He is
described as having been in person “regularly shaped, but of slender
make, and rather below the middle stature.” Devoting himself
entirely to his profession, he was remarkable for his simple,
frugal, and temperate habits. When he invited company to dinner he
seldom offered them 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.” A single glass of wine was handed to each of his guests,
and so finished the repast. He was an early riser, and spent all his
leisure time in his Museum. He ever retained a warm feeling for his
native country, and on one of his visits to Scotland, before he
became famous, as he and Dr. Cullen were riding one day in
Lanarkshire, the latter pointed out to him his native place, Long
Calderwood, at a considerable distance, remarking how conspicuous it
appeared. “Well,” said he energetically, “if I live I shall make it
more conspicuous.”
Having, by
his extensive practice and economical habits, acquired a large
fortune, he determined to set apart what was sufficient for his own
wants, and devote the remainder of his wealth, which continued to
accumulate, to the founding of a museum. Accordingly, in 1770, he
purchased a spot of ground in Great Windmill Street, London, where
he built a house and anatomical theatre, and collected a most
extensive and magnificent museum, which, after his death, was valued
at £150,000. It consisted of specimens of human and comparative
anatomy, fossils, shells, corals, and other curious subjects of
natural history, with the most splendid collection of Greek and
Latin books that had been accumulated by any person since the days
of Dr. Mead. It was also enriched by a cabinet of ancient coins and
medals, for the duplicates of which government paid his executors
£40,000, and added them to those in the British Museum. Of a part of
this collection, his friend Dr. Combe published an accurate
catalogue in 4to, in 1783.
Dr. Hunter
had been subject to attacks of irregular gout since 1773, and at one
time he intended to pass the remainder of his days in retirement in
his native country; but the expenses of his museum prevented him
from relinquishing his practice. He died, unmarried, at London,
March 30, 1783; bequeathing the whole of his extensive museum to the
university of Glasgow, with £8,000 in cash for an appropriate
building for its reception, and a further sum of £500 per annum to
bear the charges of its preservation.
One of his
sisters had married the Rev. James Baillie, professor of divinity in
the university of glasgow, and was the mother of the celebrated Dr.
Matthew Baillie, and Joanna Baillie the eminent poetess. The family
property of Long Calderwood was left to his nephew, Dr. Baillie, who
generously gave it to John Hunter, who had unfortunately had a
quarrel with his brother some years before. – Dr. William Hunter’s
works are:
Medical
Commentaries, part i.; containing a plain answer to Dr. Monro, jun.
Lond. 1762, 4to.
Supplement
to the first part of Medical Commentaries. Lond. 1764, 4to.
Anatomical
Description of the Human Gravid Uterus; illustrated with thirty-four
plates. Lat. And Eng. Birmingham, by Baskerville, 1775, large folio.
Anatomical
Description of the Human Gravid Uterus, and its contents. Lond.
1794, 4to. Edited by Dr. Baillie. A superb Work, and of uncommon
merit.
Lectures
on the Gravid Uterus, and Midwifery. London, 1783, 8vo.
Two
Introductory Lectures to his Anatomical Course of Lectures; with
Papers relating to a plan for establishing a Museum in London, for
the improvement of Anatomy, Surgery, and Physic. Lond. 1784, 4to.
Posth.
On the
Structure and Diseases of Articulating Cartilages. Phil. Trans. Abr.
viii. 686. 1743.
Observations on the Bones, commonly supposed to be Elephant’s Bones,
which have been found near the river of Ohio in America. Ib. Abr.
xii. 504. 1768.
Account of
the Nyl-ghau, an Indian Animal, not hitherto described. Ib. xiii.
117. 1771.
A New
Method of Applying the Screw. Ib. Abr. xiv. 28. 1781.
History of
an Aneurism of the Aorta; with Remarks on Aneurisms in general. Med.
Obs. And Inq. I. 323. 1755.
History of
an Emphysema. Ib. ii. 17. Cured.
Singular
Observations on particular Aneurisms. Ib. 390.
Summary
Remarks on the Retroverted Uterus. Ib. v. 388. 1778.
On the
uncertainty of the signs of Murder in the Case of Bastard Children.
Ib. vi. 266. 1784.
Cases of
Mal-conformation of the Heart. Ib. 291.
The Cure
of a severe Disorder of the Stomach by Milk, taken in small
quantities at once. Ib. 310. Appendix to the same, by Mr. Hay. Ib.
319.
HUNTER, JOHN,
a celebrated anatomist and surgeon, and medical writer, younger
brother of the preceding, was born at Long Calderwood, of which his
father was proprietor, parish of Kilbride, Lanarkshire, February 13,
or, according to some accounts, July 14, 1728. The former is the
date in the parish register. He was the youngest of ten children,
and at the time of his birth his father was nearly seventy years of
age. His education was neglected, and it appears that when about the
age of seventeen he went to Glasgow, and assisted his
brother-in-law, a Mr. Buchanan, in his trade as a cabinetmaker.
Hearing of the success of his elder brother, William, in London, he
offered his services to him as an anatomical assistant, and was
invited by him to the metropolis, where he arrived in September
1748. Having immediately entered upon the study of surgery, first at
Chelsea Hospital, and afterwards at St. Bartholomew’s, his
improvement was so rapid, that in the winter of 1749 he was able to
undertake the charge of the dissecting-room. In 1753 he entered as a
gentleman commoner in St. Mary’s Hall, Oxford, and the following
year he became surgeon’s pupil at St. George’s Hospital, London. In
1755 he was admitted to a partnership in the lectures delivered by
his brother, when, applying himself assiduously to the acquirement
of a knowledge of practical anatomy, he extended his inquiries from
the human body to the structure of the inferior animals, and
procured from the Tower, and from the keepers of menageries,
subjects for dissection.
His health
became so much impaired by his constant application, that he was
obliged to retire from the dissecting-room; and, in May 1756, he
became house surgeon of St. George’s hospital. In October 1760 he
was appointed, by Mr. Adair, surgeon in the army, and in 1761 was at
the siege of Belleisle. In the subsequent year he accompanied the
army to Portugal, and served as senior surgeon on the staff till the
peace in 1763, when he returned to England on half-pay, and
immediately commenced practice. Having purchased a piece of ground
at Brompton, about two miles from London, he there formed a
menagerie, and carried on his experiments in a house which he built,
for the purpose of studying the habits and organization of animals.
In the beginning of 1767 he was elected a fellow of the Royal
Society. The year following he was appointed surgeon to St. George’s
Hospital. Among others of his house pupils was the celebrated Dr.
Jenner, the introducer of vaccine inoculation, who boarded in his
house in 1770 and 1771. Mr. Hunter’s first publication, a treatise
‘On the Natural History of the Teeth,’ appeared in 1771. In the
winter of 1773 he commenced a course of lectures on the theory and
principles of surgery, in which he developed some of those peculiar
doctrines which he afterwards explained more fully in his printed
works. His profound acquaintance with anatomy rendered him a bold
and expert operator, but his fame chiefly rests on his researches
concerning comparative anatomy. In January 1776 he was appointed
surgeon extraordinary to the king.
In 1781
Mr. Hunter was chosen a member of the Royal Society of Sciences and
Belles Lettres at Gottenburg, and in 1783 of the Royal Society of
Medicine and Academy of Surgery at Paris. In the latter year he
purchased a leasehold in Leicester Square, where he erected a
building for his museum, lecture-room, &c. He now became one of the
first surgeons in London, and acquired an extensive practice. With
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. In 1786 he was appointed
deputy-surgeon-general to the army, and the same year he published
his celebrated work on the venereal disease. About the same time
appeared a quarto volume by him, entitled ‘Observations on Various
Parts of the Animal Economy,’ consisting of physiological essays,
most of which had been inserted in the Ph8losophical Transactions.
Having, at various times, read before the Royal Society many
valuable communications, in 1787 he received the gold Copleyan
medal. In July of the same year he was chosen a member of the
American Philosophical Society. On the death of Mr. Adair, in 1789,
he was appointed inspector-general of hospitals, and surgeon-general
to the army, and about the same time was admitted a member of the
Royal College of surgeons in Ireland. In 1792 he was elected an
honorary member of the Chirurgico-Physical Society of Edinburgh, and
became one of the vice-presidents of the Veterinary College, then
just projected in London. The last of his publications that he
prepared for the press was his ‘Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation,
and Gun-shot Wounds,’ which was published posthumously in 1794, with
an account of his Life by his brother-in-law, Sir Everard Home, who
had been for six years a pupil in his house, after Mr. Hunter’s
marriage to his sister, and in the last years of his life became his
assistant, and also succeeded him in the lecture room. Mr. Hunter
died suddenly in the board Room of St. George’s hospital, October
16, 1793, in the 64th year of his age. He had long been
afflicted with an organic disease, which on occasions of excitement,
affected his head and his memory, and brought on severe spasms; and,
on a post mortem examination of his body, it was discovered
that, among other morbid changes that had occurred, the arteries
both of the heart and brain had undergone ossification. His museum
was purchased by Government for £15,000, and transferred to the
Royal College of Surgeons for the benefit of science. His portrait
is subjoined.
[portrait of John Hunter]
He
had married, in 1771, the daughter of Mr. Robert Home, surgeon in
the army, by whom he had two children. His widow, who was an
accomplished lyric poetess, and the authoress of ‘The Son of
Alknomook,’ and ‘Queen Mary’s Lament,’ which, with other pieces,
were collected into a volume, and published in 1806, survived him
till January 7, 1821. – Mr. Hunter’s works are:
The Natural History of the Human Teeth; explaining their
structure, use, formation, growth, and diseases. London, 1771, 4to.
Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Teeth; intended as a
Supplement to the Natural History of those parts. Lond. 1778, 4to.
A Treatise on the Venereal Disease. London, 1786, 4to.
Observations on certain parts of the Animal Economy. London,
1786, 1787, 4to.
A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gun-shot Wounds; by
the late John Hunter. To which is prefixed, an Account of the
Author’s Life, by Everard Home. London, 1794, 4to.
On the Digestion of the Stomach after Death. Phil. Trans. Abr.
xiii. 354, 1772.
Anatomical Observations on the torpedo. Ib. 478. 1773.
On certain Receptacles of Air in Birds, which communicate with
the Lungs, and are lodged both among bye fleshy parts and in the
hollow bones of those animals. Ib. 530. 1774.
Observations of the gillaroo Trout, commonly called in Ireland
the Gizzard Trout. Ib. 530.
Account of the Gymnotus Electricus. Ib. 166. 1775.
Experiments on Animals and Vegetables, with respect to the
Power of producing Heat. Ib. 685.
Proposals for the Recovery of People apparently Drowned. Ib.
xiv. 63. 1776.
A short Account of Dr. Maty’s Illness, and of the appearances
in the Dead Body, which was examined on the 3d August, 1776, the day
after his decease. Ib. 217. 1777.
Of the Heat, &c., of Animals and Vegetables. Ib. 278. 1778.
Account of a Free Martin. Ib. 521. 1779.
Account of a Woman who had the Small-Pox during Pregnancy, and
who seemed to have communicated the same Disease to the Foetus. Ib.
628. 1782.
Of an Extraordinary Pheasant. Ib. 723.
`On the Organ of Hearing in Fishes. Ib. xv. 308. 1782.
An Experiment to determine the Effect of Extirpating one
Ovarium on the number of young produced. Ib. xvi. 256. 1787.
Observations, tending to show that the Wolf, Jackal, and Dog,
are all of the same species. Ib. 264.
Observations on the Structure and Economy of Whales. Ib. 306.
Some Observations on the Heat of Wells and Springs in the
Island of Jamaica, and on the Temperature of the Earth below the
Surface, in different Climates. Ib. 377. 1788.
A supplementary Letter, on the Identity of the Species of the
Dog, Wolf and Jackal. Ib. 562, 1789.
Observations on Bees. Ib. xvii. 155. 1792.
Observations on the Fossil Bones presented to the Royal
Society, by his Serene Highness the Margrave of Anspach, &c. Ib.
440. 1794.
His Opinion of the Nature of Puerperal Fever. Med. Com. Iii.
322, 1775.
Observations on the Inflammation of the Internal Coats of the
Veins. Trans. Med. And Chir. I. 18. 1793.
An Account of the Dissection of a Man who died of the
Suppression of Urine, produced by a collection of Hydatids between
the Neck of the Bladder and Rectum; with Observations how Hydatids
grow and multiply in the Human Body. Ib. 34.
Case of a Gentleman labouring under the Epidemic Remittant
Fever of Bussorate, in 1780; drawn up by himself, with an account of
various circumstances relating to that Disease. Ib. 53.
Observations on Intersusception; with an appendix, by Mr.
Home. Ib. 103. 1793.
A Case of Paralysis of the Muscles of Deglutition cured by an
artificial mode of conveying Foods and Medicines into the Stomach.
Ib. 182.
`Experiments and Observations on the Growth of Bones. Ib. ii. 277.
1800.
HUNTER, ALEXANDER,
an ingenious physician and naturalist, was born in 1730. He studied
at Edinburgh, where he took the degree of M.D. He afterwards
established himself as a medical practitioner first at Gainsborough,
then at Beverly, and finally at York, where he attained high
reputation in his profession, and was a principal contributor to the
foundation of an asylum for lunatics. He was a fellow of the Royal
Societies of London and Edinburgh. He died in 1809, in the 80th
year of his age. – His works are:
Georgical Essays; in which the Food of Plants is particularly
considered, several new Composts recommended, and other important
articles of Husbandry explained upon the Principles of Vegetation,
(by a Society instituted in the North of England, for the
improvement of Agriculture.) London, 1770-74, 4 vols. 8vo. Vols. v.
and vi. Lond. 1804.
Outlines of Agriculture; addressed to Sir John Sinclair,
Bart., President of the Board of Agriculture, York, 1795, 8vo.
A New Method of raising Wheat for a series of years on the
same Land. York, 1796, 4to.
An Illustration of the analogy between Vegetable and Animal
Parturition. Lond. 1797, 8vo.
Culina Famulatrix Medicinae; or Receipts in Cookery, worthy
the notice of those Medical Practitioners who ride in their Chariots
with a Footman behind them, and who receive Teo-Guinea Fees off
their rich and luxurious Patients. By Ignotus; with a Medical
Commentary. York, 1804, 8vo.
Lecture on the Sulphur Water of Harrowgate. York, 1806, 8vo.
Men and Manners; or, Concentrated Wisdom. York, 1809, 12mo.
New edition of Evelyn’s Sylva and Terra. Lond. 1812, 2 vols.
4to.
HUNTER, HENRY, D.D.,
a distinguished divine, was born, of poor parents, at Culross, in
1741. After studying theology at the university of Edinburgh, he
became tutor to Mr. Alexander Boswell, afterwards a judge of the
court of session, under the title of Lord Balmuto; and,
subsequently, he was employed in the same capacity in the family of
the earl of Dundonald. In 1764 he was licensed to preach the gospel,
and two years afterwards was ordained one of the ministers of South
Leith. In 1769 he visited London, when his sermons attracted so much
attention that he received a call from the Scots congregation in
Swallow Street, Piccadilly, which he declined; but, in 1771, he
accepted an invitation from the congregation at London Wall, and
about the same time received from the university of Edinburgh the
degree of D.D. He first published several single sermons, preached
on different occasions, which, with some miscellaneous pieces,
appeared in a collected form in two volumes after his death. In 1783
he published the first volume of his ‘Sacred Biography, or the
History of the Patriarchs, and Jesus Christ,’ which was completed in
seven volumes, and has gone through several editions. Having entered
upon a translation of Lavater’s writings on ‘Physiognomy,’ he
visited that celebrated philosopher in Switzerland, and, in 1789, he
published the first number of the work, which ultimately extended to
five volumes 4to, embellished with above eight hundred engravings,
the cost price of each copy being thirty pounds! In 1793 he
reprinted a Discourse, by Robert Fleming, first published in 1701,
‘On the Rise and Fall of the Papacy,’ supposed to contain some
prophetic allusions to the events of the French Revolution, which
has frequently been reprinted since. He had likewise begun the
publication, in parts, of a popular ‘History of London,’ which his
death prevented him from completing. Dr. Hunter was for many years
secretary to the corresponding board of the Society for Propagating
Christian Knowledge in the Highlands and Islands, and chaplain to
the Scots corporation in London. He died, October 27, 1802, in the
62d year of his age, leaving a widow, with two sons and a daughter.
His works are:
Sacred Biography; or the History of the Patriarchs and of
Jesus Christ. Lond. 1783, &c. 7 vols. 8vo.
Essays on Physiognomy, designed to promote the knowledge and
love of mankind; by John Casper Lavater. Translated from the French,
and illustrated with more than 800 engravings, accurately copied;
and some duplicates added from originals. Executed by or under the
inspection of Thomas Halloway. Lond. 1789-98, 5 vols. 4to.
Sermon, preached February 3, 1793, on the occasion of the
trial, condemnation, and execution of Louis XVI., late King of
France; with some additions and illustrations. London, 1793, 8vo.
Letters of Euler to a German Princess, on different subjects
in Physics and Philosophy. Translated from the German; with original
Notes, and a Glossary of foreign and Scientific Terms. Lond. 1795, 2
vols. 8vo. Afterwards reprinted with notes by Sir David Brewster.
Sermons. Lond. 1795, 2 vols.
Studies of Nature. Translated from the French of St. Pierre.
Lond. 1796, 5 vols, 8vo. The 5th volume of this work is
supplemental, and contains the much admired Tale of Paul and
Virginia.
Saurin’s Sermons. Translated from the original French. Lond.
1796, 8vo.
A History of London and its Environs. 1796, &c. Published in
parts.
Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity; being the
completion of a plan begun by Mr. Fell. 1798.
Travels to Upper and Lower Egypt; undertaken by order of the
old Government of France. Translated from the French of C.S. Sonnini.
Illustrated with 40 engravings. Lond. 1799, 3 vols. 8vo.
Sermons, and other Miscellaneous pieces; to which are
prefixed, Memoirs of his Life and Writings. Lond. 1805, 2 vols. 8vo.
Posthumous.
HUNTER, JOHN, LL.D.,
an eminent classical scholar and philologist, the son of a
respectable farmer in the upper district of Nithsdale, was born in
1747. While yet a boy, he was left an orphan in straitened
circumstances, but received a sound elementary education, and
studied at the university of Edinburgh, supporting himself by
teaching, like many others similarly situated, who afterwards
attained to a high rank in literature. His scholarship attracted the
notice of Lord Mondoddo, who for some time employed him as his
clerk. In 1775 he was elected, by competition, professor of humanity
in St. Andrews, and he continued to teach that class till the close
of the session 1826-27, a period of more than half a century, when
he was appointed principal of the united college of St. Salvador and
St. Leonard. In 1797 he published a correct and valuable edition of
Horace, extended into two volumes in 1813. In 1799, he brought out
an edition of the works of Virgil, with Notes. He also published an
annotated edition of Livy, and composed an invaluable disquisition
on the Verb, printed as an Appendix to Ruddiman’s Rudiments. An
extremely beautiful and subtle grammatical essay, written by him,
‘On the Nature, Import and Effect of certain Conjunctions,’ is
inserted in the Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions, 1788. The
article ‘Grammar,’ in the seventh edition of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, contains a digest of his most valuable speculations
regarding the Nature of the Relative Pronoun, the Tenses of the
Verb, &c., chiefly collected from his own verbal communications, by
the then sub-editor of that extensive and useful work.
Dr. Hunter died of cholera, January 18, 1837, in the 91st
year of his age. He married while in the employment of Lord Monboddo,
and left a large family.
HUNTER, WILLIAM,
a medical writer and naturalist, was born in Montrose, and studied
at Marischal college and university, Aberdeen, where he took the
degree of M.A. in 1777. He served an apprenticeship to a surgeon,
with whom he remained four years, and after acquiring a thorough
knowledge of medicine, he obtained a situation on board an East
Indiaman; from which he was transferred in 1781 to the East India
Company’s medical establishment at Bengal. Between 1784 and 1794 he
acted as secretary to the Asiatic Society, and professor and
examiner at the college of Calcutta, and also as surgeon to Major
Palmer’s embassy with Dowlat Raj Scindia; in which capacities he had
the best opportunities of studying the languages and literature of
India. From 1794 to 1806 he was surgeon of the marines, and for some
years inspector-general of hospitals in the island of Java. He died
of a fever in India in 1815, when preparing to return to Scotland,
after an absence of 38 years. – His works are:
Concise Account of the Kingdom of Pegu, its Climate, Produce,
Trade, Government, and Inhabitants; with an Inquiry into the Causes
of the variety observable in the Fleeces of Sheep, in different
climates. And a Description of the Caves of Elephanta, Ambola, and
Canara. Lond. 1785, 8vo.
Account of some artificial Caverns near Bombay. 1788, 12mo.
The same. Archaeol., vii. 286. 1785.
An Essay on the Diseases incident to Indian Seamen, or
Lascars, on Long Voyages. Calcutta, 1804, fol.
History of an Aneurism of the Aorta, Memoirs Med., v. 349.
1799.
On Nauclea Gambir, the Plant producing the Drug called Gutta
Gambier. Trans. Linn. Soc., ix. 218. 1807.
