John Hunter, F.R.S. / by J.J. Merriman.

  • Merriman, John Jones.
Date:
[1890]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: John Hunter, F.R.S. / by J.J. Merriman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    itangington Mmfyw*—VII. JOHN HUNTER, F.R.S. By J. J. Merriman.J T AM inclined to believe that I should not at all exaggerate what we owe] X to John Hunter, if I were to assert that, with the exception of Sir Isaac! Newton, there has been no individual in these latter times who has done so much as he has clone towards altering and elevating the character of the peculiar! sciences to which he devoted his attention ; and, be it observed, these were notj sciences of limited extent. They embraced whatever belongs to the physical] phenomena of life; the natural and healthy structures of animals from the] lowest to the highest; and the aberrations and changes which constitute disHj ease, so wrote Sir Benjamin Brodie in 1837. Later on, Sir William Lawrence! says, he was the greatest man in the combined character of physiologist and| surgeon that the whole annals of medicine can furnish. And within our own| time Sii James Paget defines John Hunter as the greatest among the great,jj and the most renowned among the renowned men of science. John was thei youngest of ten children of John and Agnes Hunter, of Kilbride, in Lanark ;| he was born 13th February, 1728, at Long Calderwood, a small estate belonging! to the family ; his father was descended from the Hunters of Hunterstown, anj old family in Ayrshire, and his mother, whose maiden name was Paul, was thei daughter of a respectable citizen of Glasgow, who held the office of treasurer ofl that place, John Hunter, at the usual time was sent to school, and remainedj there til 1 his 17th year; he had little taste for books, preferred engaging in !< country sports to studying those elementary branches of knowledge which are! best acquired in youth. When about seventeen years old, he went to stay witty his brother-in-law, Mr. Buchanan, who had settled as a cabinet-maker in Glasgow,! and here his manual dexterity was developed, though the trade did not offer the|j means of earning a livelihood. So, in 1747, he came up to London to assist! his brother, Dr. William Hunter, in his dissections. Mr. Hamilton, a friend of! the family, accompanied him on horseback, and in a short time he fully entered ! on his professional studies, with what result we have to some extent anticipated,3 by quoting the opinions of those who have so worthily followed in his footsteps, [j Doubtless his future was largely influenced by his elder brother, who was a scholar, a great anatomist, and a man of gentlemanly manners, while Jack j Hunter, as he was called, belonged to the rough-and-ready class. The Monita of Dr. William Hunter, which I possess in Dr. Garthshore'sl handwriting, are, I venture to think, worth quoting in a parish Magazine, asj applicable to other callings also : — 1. Let a man be master of his business ; let him be known for one thatl spends his time at home, and at his business. 2. Let him be assiduous, diligent, never neglecting his patients on any account, but making them his principal study. 3. Let him act the open, fair, and candid part, and never submit to do a| low, dirty, or mean thing. In his MS. lectures the following appears :— These two qualities, viz.,I accuracy in observation and faithfulness in narration, do not combine together among philosophers once in a bundred times; most philosophers, most great l men, most anatomists, and most other men of eminence, lie like the devil. The Hunterian orator, in 1875, remarks especially on the truthfulness, accu- racy, indefatigability, humility, comprehensiveness, and philosophic example brought about in the character of the younger brother:—Lavater, when he saw the celebrated portrait of John Hunter by Sir Joshua Reynolds, exclaimed, that man thinks for himself, and in so doing he has left his own monument in the museum of world-wide renown, at the College of Surgeons of Eugland, and in the hearts of thoughtful people, so much does suffering humanity owe to his great discoveries. But I must hasten on to his 30 years' connection with