John Hunter / [J. Menzies Campbell].

  • John Menzies Campbell
Date:
[1952]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: John Hunter / [J. Menzies Campbell]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    it has been recorded that, when describ¬ ing a case of gun-shot wounds, he re¬ ferred to the ball as “having gone into the man’s belly and hit his guts such a damned thump that they mortified’’. Also, on numerous occasions, he re¬ counted his own case, in which secon¬ dary symptoms resulted from his hav¬ ing inadvertently inoculated himself, in 1767, with pus from a chancre, and de¬ clared “I knocked down the disease with mercury and killed it”. His liberal outlook is, nevertheless, unquestionably confirmed by this inci¬ dent. Astley Cooper once queried a statement of Hunter’s as being contrary to that uttered by him a year earlier. Hunter’s characteristic rejoinder was: — “Very likely I did. I hope I grow wiser every year”. It was about 1780 that the deplorable disagreements and alienation, existing between William and John Hunter, reached a climax and they finally sep¬ arated. It is, more or less generally, believed that these resulted from the fact that both brothers—equally ambi¬ tious, jealous and vying with one an¬ other—claimed to have executed certain preparations, which are now in the Hunterian Museum (William’s collec¬ tion) of the University of Glasgow. So profound was the resentment and es¬ trangement that, when William died, John did not even attend his funeral. Further, William failed to mention John’s name in his will; and be¬ queathed Long Calderwood to his nephew, Matthew Baillie (1761-1823). However, when the will had been proved, Baillie very generously ceded it to his uncle, John. In 1786, John Hunter installed a pri¬ vate printing-press in 13, Castle Street for publishing his books. The reason for this was that, when manuscripts were sold to booksellers (as had been done with those on the teeth), proof- sheets of any outstanding work were, not infrequently, sent to Dublin. This resulted in a cheap edition being on sale in London, contemporaneously with the original. The books printed at 13, Castle Street were:— A Treatise on the venereal disease (1786), with the second edition (1788); Observations on v ' -T it if certain parttfof the human ceconomy (1786), with its second edition (1792); and Directions for preserving animals, and parts of animals, for examination, anonymously with neither place nor date. William Sharp! (1749-1824), the cele¬ brated engraver, was a staunch friend and admirer of John Hunter. It was he, who persuaded him (much against his will) to have his portrait (Fig. I) Fig. I JOHN HUNTER by Sir Joshua Reynolds (From the original in the possession of the Royal College of Surgeons of England)
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