Volume 1

Catalogue of the anatomical and pathological preparations of Dr. William Hunter; prepared by J.H. Teacher.

  • Hunterian Museum (University of Glasgow)
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Catalogue of the anatomical and pathological preparations of Dr. William Hunter; prepared by J.H. Teacher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    pride. I have given him all the little anatomical knowledge that I could communicate, and put him into the very best situation that I could for becoming what the society has, for some time, known him to be. May it be presumed, then, that I stand possessed of the discovery in question till proofs shall be brought to dispossess me. I shall most willingly submit to the pleasure of the society. If they signify an unwillingness that this emulation (shall I call it ]) should go on, I shall acquiesce and be silent. If curiosity, justice, or the laws and practice of the society should incline the council to seek out and determine upon the merits, I shall be equally ready to obey their commands. And if it should appear reasonable to them, I would first beg to know the grounds of Mr. Hunter's claim, as I am too well acquainted with his abilities not to think that he must be able to support his claim by something that I am ignorant of. And if I should receive that satisfaction, I shall immediately show that I am more tenacious of truth than even of anatomical discoveries. But if that information should not alter ray thoughts on the question, I shall show to the satisfaction of the society, if I can at all judge of my employments and pursuits, that my pretensions arise out of a long series of observations and experiments made with a view to the discovery in question; that it was not a random con- jecture, a lucky thought, or accidental occasion, but a persevering pursuit for twelve or thirteen years at least, the progress of which was always publicly known here, and admits of the most circum- stantial proof. ^ John replied by reasserting the truth of his story, and offering to share the credit of the discoveries. Reflection o^ the famous judgment of Solomon will not tend to confirm the long- delayed claims of John.^ Of the two accounts of the circumstances of the discovery that of William certainly seems the more probable. The society refused to admit the paper to the Transactions, as the facts had already been printed, and also declined to enter into the controversy, which there ended so far as the principals were concerned, but the quarrel remained. Apparently it was mended when John, three years later, asked to be admitted to the care of his brother in his last illness; but William did not alter the will by which everything he owned was left away from John. In 1786 John published the paper which was the cause of all the trouble,^ and therein inaugurated the errors which were destined to ^ Ottley's Life of John Hunttr, vol. i. of Workx,, Palmer's edition, p. 77. ^Duncan, Remarchea in Obnleirici, p. 230. 'In Obaervationn on the Animal Oeconomy, Wo7-k,i, Palmer's edition, vol. iv.