a name given to a horse qualified to carry a person in the chase. The shape of the horse designed for this service, should be strong and well knit together, as the jockeys express it. Irregular or unequal shapes in these creatures are always a token of weakness. The inequalities in shape which show a horse improper for the chace, are the having a large head and a small neck, a large leg and a small foot, and the like. The head of the hunter should indeed always be large, but the neck should also be thick and strong to support it. The head should be lean, the nostrils wide, and the windpipe straight.

The hunter, in order to his behaving well in the field, ought to have great care and indulgence in the stable: he ought to have as much rest and quiet as may be, to be kept well supplied with good meat, clean litter, and fresh water by him; he should be often dressed, and suffered to sleep as much as he pleases. He should be so fed, that his dung may be rather soft than hard, and it must be of a bright and clean colour. All this may be easily managed by the continual observance and change of his food, as occasion requires. After his usual scourings he should have exercises and mashies of sweet malt, or bread and beans; or wheat and beans mixed together, are to be his best food, and beans and oats his worlft.

Some very great sportmen are for keeping their horses out at grafs all the buck-hunting season, never taking them up into the stable at all, but allowing them in the field as much oats with their grafs as they will eat. The horse may be thus rid three days in the week for the whole season, and never damaged by it, nor ever showing any marks of harm afterwards.

The whole shape of a horse intended for a hunter, should be this: The ears should be small, open, and pricked; or though they be somewhat long, yet if they stand up erect and bold like those of a fox, it is a sign of toughness or hardiness. The forehead should be long and broad, not flat, or, as it is usually termed, mare-faced, but rising in the middle like that of a hare; the feather should be placed above the eye, the contrary being thought by some to threaten blindness. The eyes should be full, large, and bright; the nostrils not only large, but looking red and fresh within; for an open and fresh nostril is always esteemed a sign of a good wind. The mouth should be large, deep in the wicks, and hairy. The windpipe should be large, and appear straight when he bridles his head; for if, on the contrary, it bends like a bow on his bridling, it is not formed for a free passage of the breath. This defect in a horse is expressed among the dealers by the phrase cock-throppled. The head should be so set on to the neck, that a space may be felt between the neck and the chine; when there is no such space, the horse is said to be bull-necked; and this is not only a blemish in the beauty of the horse, but it also occasions his wind not to be so good. The crest should be strong, firm, and well risen; the neck should be straight and firm, not loose and pliant; the breast should be strong and broad, the ribs round like a barrel, the fillet large, the buttocks rather oval than broad, the legs clean, flat, and straight; and, finally, the mane and tail ought to be long and thin, not short and bushy, the last being counted a mark of dulness. When a hunter is thus chosen, and has been taught such obedience, that he will readily answer to the rider's signals both of the bridle and hand, the voice, the calf of the leg, and the spurs; that he knows how to make his way forward, and has gained a true temper of mouth, and a right placing of his head, and has learned to stop and to turn readily, if his age be sufficiently advanced, he is ready for the field. It is a rule with all staunch sportsmen, that no horse should be used in hunting till he is full five years old; some will hunt them at four, but the horse at this time is not come up to his true strength and courage, and will not only fail at every tough trial, but will be subject to strains and accidents of that kind, much more than if he were to be kept another year first, when his strength would be more confirmed.

When the hunter is five years old, he may be put to grafs from the middle of May till Bartholomew-tide; for the weather between these is so hot, that it will be very proper to spare him from work. At Bartholomew-tide, the strength of the grafs beginning to be nipped by frosts and cold dews, so that it is apt to engender crudities in the horse, he should be taken up while his coat is yet smooth and sleek, and put into the stable. When he is first brought home, he should be put in some secure and spacious place, where he may evacuate his body by degrees, and be brought not all at once to the warm keeping; the next night he may be stabled up. It is a general rule with many not to clothe and stable up their horses till two or three days after they are taken from grafs, and others who put them in the stable after the first night, yet will not dress and clothe them till three or four days afterward; but all this, except the keeping the horse one day in a large and cool place, is needless caution.

There is a general practice among the grooms, in many places, of giving their hunters wheat-straw as soon as they take them up from grafs. They say they do this to take up their bellies; but there seems much reason to disapprove of this. The change is very violent, and the nature of the straw to heating and drying, that there seems great reason to fear that the astringent nature of it would be prejudicial, more than is at first perceived. It is always found that the dung is hard after this food, and is voided with pain and difficulty, which is in general very wrong for this sort of horse. It is better therefore to avoid this straw-feeding, and to depend upon moderate airing, warm clothing, and good old hay and old corn, than to have recourse to any thing of this kind. When the horse has evacuated all his grats, and has been properly flood, and the shoes have had time to settle to his feet, he may be ridden abroad, and treated in this manner: the groom ought to visit him early in the morning, at five o'clock in the long days, and at six in the short ones; he must then clean out the stable, and feel the horse's neck, flank, and belly, to find the state of his health. If the flank feels soft and flabby, there is a necessity of good diet to harden it, otherwise any great exercise will occasion swellings and goutiness in the heels. After this examination, a handful or two of good old oats, well sifted, should be given him; this will make him have more inclination to water, and will also make the water fit better on his stomach, than if he drank fasting. After this, he is to be tied up and dressed. If in the doing of this he opens his mouth, as if he would bite, or attempts to kick at the person, it is a proof that the teeth of the currycomb are too sharp, and must be filed blunter. If after this he continues the same tricks, it is through wantonness, and he should be corrected for it with the whip. The intent of currying being only to raise the dust, this is to be brushed off afterwards with a horse-tail nailed to a handle, or any other light brush. Then he is to be rubbed down with the brush, and dusted a second time; he should then be rubbed over with a wet hand, and all the loose hairs, and whatever foulness there is, should be picked off. When this is done, and he is wiped dry as at first, a large saddle-cloth is to be put on, reaching down to the spurring place; then the saddle is to be put on, and a cloth thrown over it that he may not take cold: then rub down his legs, and pick his feet with an iron picker, and let the mane and tail be combed with a wet mane-comb. Lastly, it is a custom to spurt some beer in his mouth just before the leading him out of the stable. He should then be mounted, and walked a mile at least to some running water, and there watered; but he must only be suffered to take about half his water at one drinking.

It is the custom of many to gallop the horse at a violent rate as soon as he comes out of the water; but this is extremely wrong for many reasons. It endangers the breaking a horse's wind more than any other practice, and often has been the occasion of bursting very good horses. It uses them also to the disagreeable trick we find in many horses, of running away as soon as ever they come out of the water: and with some it makes them averse to drinking, so that they will rather endure thirst, and hurt themselves greatly by it, than bring on the violent exercise which they remember always follows it. The better way is to walk him a little after he is out of the water, then put him to a gentle gallop for a little while, and after this to bring him to the water again. This should be done three or four times, till he will not drink any more. If there is a hilly place near the watering place, it is always well to ride up to it; if otherwise, any place is to be chosen where there is free air and fun. That the creature may enjoy the benefit of this, he is not to be galloped, but walked about in this place an hour, and then taken home to the stable. The pleasure the horse himself takes in these airings when well managed is very evident; for he will gape, yawn, and shrug up his body: and in these, whenever he would stand still to stale, dunge, or listen to any noise, he is not to be hindered from it, but encouraged in every thing of this kind.

The advantages of these airings are very evident; they purify the blood, teach the creature how to make his breathing agree with the rest of the motions of his body, and give him an appetite to his food, which hunters and racers that are kept stalled up are otherwise very apt to lose. On returning from airing, the litter of the stable should be fresh, and by stirring this and whittling, he will be brought to stale. Then he is to be led to his stall, and tied up, and again carefully rubbed down; then he should be covered with a linen cloth next his body, and a canvas one over that, made to fit him, and reaching down to his legs. This, as the duke of Newcastle observes, is a custom which we learned of the Turks, who are of all people the most nice and careful of their horses. Over this covering there should be put a body-cloth of fix or eight straps; this keeps his belly in shape, and does not hurt him. This clothing will be sufficient while the weather is not very sharp; but in severe seasons, when the hair begins to rise and start in the uncovered parts, a woollen cloth is to be added, and this will always prove fully sufficient.

Different horses, and different seasons, make variety of the degree of clothing necessary; but there always is an obvious rule to point out the necessary changes, the roughness of the coat being a mark of the want of clothing, and the smoothness of it a proof that the clothing is sufficient. Therefore if at any time the hair is found to start, it is a notice that some farther clothing is to be added.

If the horse sweat much in the night, it is a sign that he is over fed and wants exercise; this therefore is easily remedied. An hour or more after the horse is come in from his airing, the groom should give him a wisp of clean hay, making him eat it out of his hand; after this let the manger be well cleaned out, and a quartern of oats clean sifted be given him. If he eats up this with an appetite, he should have more given him; but if he is slow and indifferent about it, he must have no more. The business is to give him enough, but not to cloy him with food.

If the horse gets flesh too fast on this home feeding, he is not to be stinted to prevent it, but only his exercise increased; this will take down his flesh, and at the same time give him strength and wind. After the feeding in the morning is over the stable is to be shut up, only leaving him a little hay on his litter. He need be no more looked at till one o'clock, and then only rubbed down, and left again to the time of his evening watering, which is four o'clock in the summer and three in the winter. When he has been watered, he must be kept out an hour or two, or more if necessary, and then taken home and rubbed as after the morning watering. Then he is to have a feed of corn at fix o'clock, and another at nine at night; and being then cleaned, and his litter put in order, and hay enough left for the night, he is to be left till morning. This is the direction for one day, and in this manner he is to be treated every day for a fortnight; at the end of which time his flesh will be so hardened, his wind so improved, and his mouth so quickened, and his gallop brought to so good a stroke, that he will be fit to be put to moderate hunting. During the time that he is used used to hunting, he must be ordered on his days of rest exactly as he is directed for the fortnight when he is in preparation; but as his exercise is now greatly increased, he must be allowed a more strengthening food, mixing some old split beans at every feeding with his oats.

And if this is not found to be sufficient, the following bread must be given: let two pecks of old beans and one peck of wheat be ground together, and made into an indifferently fine meal; then knead it into dough with some warm water and a good quantity of yeast; let it lie a time that it may rise and swell, which will make the bread the lighter; then make it into loaves of a peck each, and let it be baked in a slow oven, that it may be thoroughly done without being burnt; when it is taken out of the oven, it must be set bottom upwards to cool; when it is one day old the crust is to be chipped off, and the crumb given him for food. When this is ready, he should have some of it at least once in the day: but it is not to be made the only food, but some feeds are to be of oats alone, some of oats and this bread, and some of oats and beans mixed together. The making a variety in this manner being the best of all methods for keeping up the appetite, which is often apt to fail.

The day before the horse is to hunt, he must have no beans, because they are hard of digestion, but only some oats with this bread: or if he will be brought to eat the bread alone, that will be best of all. His evening feed should on this day be somewhat earlier than usual; and after this he is only to have a wisp of hay out of the groom's hand till he return from hunting.

Dr William, a celebrated anatomist and physician, was born on the 23d of May 1718, at Kilbride in the county of Lanerk in Scotland. He was the seventh of the children of John and Agnes Hunter, who resided on a small estate in that parish called Long Calderwood, which had been long in the possession of his family. His great grandfather by his father's side, was a younger son of Hunter of Hunterston, chief of the family of that name. At the age of fourteen his father sent him to the college of Glasgow. In this seminary he passed five years, and by his prudent behaviour and diligence acquired the esteem of the professors, and the reputation of being a good scholar. His father had designed him for the church: but the idea of subscribing to articles of faith was so repugnant to the liberal mode of thinking he had already adopted, that he felt an insuperable aversion to his theological pursuits. In this state of mind he happened to become acquainted with Dr Cullen, the late celebrated professor at Edinburgh, who was then just established in practice at Hamilton under the patronage of the duke of Hamilton. Dr Cullen's conversation soon determined him to lay aside all thoughts of the church, and to devote himself to the profession of physic. His father's consent having been previously obtained, Mr Hunter in 1737 went to reside with Dr Cullen. In the family of this excellent friend and preceptor he passed nearly three years; and these, as he has been often heard to acknowledge, were the happiest years of his life. It was then agreed, that he should go and prosecute his medical studies at Edinburgh and London, and afterwards return to settle at Hamilton in partnership with Dr Cullen. He accordingly set out for Edinburgh in November 1740; and continued there till the following spring, attending the lectures of the medical professors, and amongst others those of the late Dr Alexander Monro, who many years afterwards, in allusion to this circumstance, styled himself his old master.

Mr Hunter arrived in London in the summer of 1741, and took up his residence at Mr, afterwards Dr, Smellie's, who was at that time an apothecary in Pall Mall. He brought with him a letter of recommendation to his countryman Dr James Douglas, from Mr Foulis, printer in Glasgow, who had been useful to the doctor in collecting for him different editions of Horace. Dr Douglas was then 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 abilities and industry whom he might employ as a dissector. This induced him to pay particular attention to Mr Hunter; and finding him acute and sensible, he desired him to make him another visit. A second conversation confirmed the doctor in the good opinion he had formed of Mr Hunter; and without any farther hesitation he invited him into his family to assist in his dissections and to superintend the education of his son.—Mr Hunter having accepted Dr Douglas's invitation, was by his friendly affluence enabled to enter himself as a surgeon's pupil at St George's Hospital under Mr James Wilkie, and as a dissecting pupil under Dr Frank Nichols, who at that time taught anatomy with considerable reputation. He likewise attended a course of lectures on experimental philosophy by Dr Desaguliers. Of these means of improvement he did not fail to make a proper use. He soon became expert in dissection, and Dr Douglas was at the expense of having several of his preparations engraved. But before many months had elapsed, he had the misfortune to lose this excellent friend.—The death of Dr Douglas, however, made no change in the situation of our author. He continued to reside with the doctor's family, and to pursue his studies with the same diligence as before.

In 1743 he communicated to the Royal Society an essay on the Structure and Diseases of articulating Cartilages. This ingenious paper, on a subject which till then had not been sufficiently investigated, affords a striking testimony of the rapid progress he had made in his anatomical inquiries. As he had it in contemplation to teach anatomy, his attention was directed principally to this object; and it deserves to be mentioned as an additional mark of his prudence, that he did not precipitately engage in this attempt, but passed several years in acquiring such a degree of knowledge and such a collection of preparations, as might insure him success. Dr Nichols, to whom he communicated his scheme, and who declined giving lectures about that time in favour of the late Dr Lawrence, did not give him much encouragement to prosecute it. But at length an opportunity presented itself for the display of his abilities as a teacher. A society of navy surgeons had an apartment in Covent Garden, where they engaged the late Mr Samuel Sharpe to deliver a course of lectures on the operations of surgery. Mr Sharpe continued to repeat this course, till finding that it interfered too much with his other engagements, Hunter, engagements, he declined the task in favour of Mr Hunter; who gave the society so much satisfaction, that they requested him to extend his plan to anatomy, and at first he had the use of their room for his lectures. This happened in the winter of 1746. He is said to have experienced much solicitude when he began to speak in public: but the applause he met with soon inspired him with courage; and by degrees he became so fond of teaching, that for many years before his death he was never happier than when employed in delivering a lecture. The profits of his two first courses were considerable; but by contributing to the wants of different friends, he found himself at the return of the next season obliged to defer his lectures for a fortnight, merely because he had not money enough to defray the necessary expense of advertisement.

In 1747 he was admitted a member of the corporation of Surgeons; and in the spring of the following year, soon after the close of his lectures, he set out in company with his pupil, Mr James Douglas, on a tour through Holland to Paris. His lectures suffered no interruption by this journey, as he returned to England soon enough to prepare for his winter-course, which began about the usual time.

At first he practised both surgery and midwifery: but to the former of these he had always an aversion. His patron, Dr James Douglas, had acquired considerable reputation in midwifery; and this probably induced Mr Hunter to direct his views chiefly to the same line of practice. His being elected one of the surgeon men-midwives, first to the Middlesex, and soon afterwards to the British Lying-in Hospital, assisted in bringing him forward in this branch of his profession, in which he was recommended by several of the most eminent surgeons of that time, who respected his anatomical talents and wished to encourage him. But these were not the only circumstances that contributed to his success. He owed much to his abilities, and much to his person and manner, which eminently qualified him for the practice of midwifery.

In 1750 he seems to have entirely relinquished his views in surgery; as in that year he obtained the degree of Doctor of Physic from the university of Glasgow, and began to practise as a physician. About this time he quitted the family of Mrs Douglas, and went to reside in Jermyn-Street. In the summer of 1751 he revisited his native country, for which he always retained a cordial affection. His mother was still living at Long Calderwood, which was now become his property by the death of his brother James. Dr Cullen, for whom he always entertained a sincere regard, was then established at Glasgow, and had acquired considerable reputation both as a practitioner and teacher of physic; so that the two friends had the pleasure of being able to congratulate each other on their mutual prosperity. During this visit he showed his attachment to his little paternal inheritance by giving many instructions for repairing and improving it, and for purchasing any adjoining lands that might be offered for sale. After this journey to Scotland, to which he devoted only a few weeks, he was never absent from London, unless his professional engagements, as sometimes happened, required his attendance at a distance from the capital.

In 1755, on the resignation of Dr Layard, one of the physicians of 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 continuing in it as one of the physicians;" so that he seems to have been established in this office without the usual form of an election. The year following he was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. Soon afterwards he was elected a member of the Medical Society; and to the Observations and Inquiries published by that society, he at different periods contributed several valuable papers.

In 1762, we find him warmly engaged in controversy, supporting his claim to different anatomical discoveries, in a work entitled Medical Commentaries, the style of which is correct and spirited. As an excuse for the tardiness with which he brought forth this work, he observes in his introduction, that it required a good deal of time, and he had little to spare; that the subject was unpleasant, and therefore he was very seldom in the humour to take it up. In this publication he confined himself chiefly to a dispute with the present learned professor of anatomy at Edinburgh, concerning injections of the teaticle, the ducts of the lachrymal gland, the origin and use of the lymphatic vessels, and absorption by veins. He likewise defended himself against a reproach thrown upon him by Professor Monro senior, by giving a concise account of a controversy he was involved in with Mr Pott concerning the discovery of the Hernia Congenita. It was not long before Mr Pott took occasion to give the public his account of the dispute; and, in reply, Dr Hunter added a supplement to his commentaries. No man was ever more tenacious than Dr Hunter of what he conceived to be his anatomical rights. This was particularly evinced in the year 1780, when his brother communicated to the Royal Society a discovery he had made 25 years before, relative to the structure of the placenta, the communication between it and the uterus, and the vascularity of the spongy chorion. At the next meeting of the society, a letter was read, in which Dr Hunter put in his claim to the discovery in question. This letter was followed by a reply from Mr John Hunter, and here the dispute ended.

In 1762, when the queen became pregnant, Dr Hunter was consulted: and two years afterwards he had the honour to be appointed physician extraordinary to her majesty.

About this time his avocations were so numerous, that he became desirous of lessening his fatigue; and having noticed the ingenuity and affiduous application of the late Mr William Hewson, F. R. S. who was then one of his pupils, he engaged him first as an attendant, and afterwards as a partner in his lectures. This connection continued till the year 1770, when some dispute happened which terminated in a separation. Mr Hewson was succeeded in the partnership by Mr Cruikshank, whose anatomical abilities were deservedly respected.

In 1767, Dr Hunter was elected a fellow of the Royal Society: and in the year following communicated to that learned body observations on the bones, commonly supposed to be elephants bones, which have been found near the river Ohio in America. This was not the only subject of natural history on which our our author employed his pen; for in a subsequent volume of the Philosophical Transactions, we find him offering his remarks on some bones found in the rock of Gibraltar, and which he proves to have belonged to some quadruped. In the same work, likewise, he published an account of the nyl-gau, an Indian animal not described before. In 1768, Dr Hunter became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries; and the same year, at the institution of a Royal Academy of Arts, he was appointed by his majesty to the office of professor of anatomy. This appointment opened a new field for his abilities; and he engaged in it, as he did in every other pursuit of his life, with unabating zeal. He now adapted his anatomical knowledge to the objects of painting and sculpture, and the novelty and justness of his observations proved at once the readiness and extent of his genius. In January 1781, he was unanimously elected to succeed the late Dr John Fothergill as president of the Medical Society. As his name and talents were known and respected in every part of Europe, so the honours conferred on him were not limited to his own country. In 1780, the Royal Medical Society at 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.

The most splendid of Dr Hunter's medical publications was the Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus. The appearance of this work, which had been begun so early as the year 1751 (at which time 10 of the 34 plates it contains were completed), was retarded till the year 1775, only by the author's desire of sending it into the world with fewer imperfections. This great work is dedicated to the king. In his preface to it, we find the author very candidly acknowledging, that in most of the dissections he had been assisted by his brother Mr John Hunter, "whose accuracy (he adds) in anatomical researches is well known, that to omit this opportunity of thanking him for that assistance would be in some measure to disregard the future reputation of the work itself." He likewise confesses his obligations to the ingenious artists who made the drawings and engravings; "but particularly to Mr Strange, not only for having by his hand secured a sort of immortality to two of the plates, but for having given his advice and assistance in every part with a steady and disinterested friendship." An anatomical description of the gravid uterus was a work which Dr Hunter had in contemplation to give the public. He had likewise long been employed in collecting and arranging materials for a history of the various concretions that are formed in the human body. Amongst Dr Hunter's papers have been found two introductory lectures, which are written out so fairly, and with such accuracy, that he probably intended no farther correction of them before they should be given to the world. In these lectures Dr Hunter traces the history of anatomy from the earliest to the present times, along with the general progress of science and the arts. He considers the great utility of anatomy in the practice of physic and surgery; gives the ancient divisions of the different substances composing the human body, which for a long time prevailed in anatomy; points out the most advantageous mode of cultivating this branch of natural knowledge; and concludes with explaining the particular plan of his own lectures. Besides these manuscripts, he has also left behind him a considerable number of cases of dissection; mostly relating to pregnant women.

The same year in which the Tables of the Gravid Uterus made their appearance, Dr Hunter communicated to the Royal Society an Essay on the Origin of the Venereal Disease. In this paper he attempted to prove, that this dreadful malady was not brought from America to Europe by the crew of Columbus, as had been commonly supposed, although it made its first appearance about that period. After this paper had been read to the Royal Society, Dr Hunter, in a conversation with the late Dr Mufgrave, was convinced that the testimony on which he placed his chief dependence was of less weight than he had at first imagined, as many of Martyr's letters afford the most convincing proofs of their having been written a considerable time after the period of their dates. He therefore very properly laid aside his intention of giving his essay to the public. In the year 1777 Dr Hunter joined with Mr Watson in presenting to the Royal Society a short account of the late Dr Maty's illness, and of the appearances on dissection; and the year following he published his Reflections on the Section of the Symphysis Pubis.

We must now go back a little in the order of time to describe the origin and progress of Dr Hunter's museum, without some account of which the history of his life would be very incomplete.

When he began to practise midwifery, he was desirous of acquiring a fortune sufficient to place him in easy and independent circumstances. Before many years had elapsed, he found himself in possession of a sum adequate to his wishes in this respect; and this he set apart as a resource of which he might avail himself whenever age or infirmities should oblige him to retire from business. After he had obtained this competency, as his wealth continued to accumulate, he formed a laudable design of engaging in some scheme of public utility, and at first had it in contemplation to found an anatomical school in this metropolis. For this purpose, about the year 1775, during the administration of Mr Grenville, he presented a memorial to that minister, in which he requested the grant of a piece of ground in the Mews, for the site of an anatomical theatre. Dr Hunter undertook to expend 7000l. on the building, and to endow a professorship of anatomy in perpetuity. This scheme did not meet with the reception it deserved. In a conversation on this subject soon afterwards with the earl of Shelburne, his lordship expressed a wish that the plan might be carried into execution by subscription, and very generously requested to have his name set down for a thousand guineas. Dr Hunter's delicacy would not allow him to adopt this proposal. He chose rather to execute it at his own expense; and accordingly purchased a spot of ground in Great Windmill-street, where he erected a spacious house, to which he removed from Jermyn-street in 1770. In this building, besides a handsome amphitheatre and other convenient apartments for his lectures and dissections, there was one magnificent room, fitted up with great elegance and propriety as a museum. Of the magnitude and value of his anatomical collection some idea may be formed, when we consider the great length of years years he employed in the making of anatomical preparations and in the dissection of morbid bodies, added to the eagerness with which he procured additions from the collections of Sandys, Hewson, Falconer, Blackall, and others, that were at different times offered for sale in this metropolis. His specimens of rare diseases were likewise frequently increased by presents from his medical friends and pupils; who, when any thing of this sort occurred to them, very justly thought they could not dispose of it more properly than by placing it in Dr Hunter's museum. Speaking of an acquisition in this way in one of his publications, he says, "I look upon every thing of this kind which is given to me, as a present to the public; and consider myself as thereby called upon to serve the public with more diligence."

Before his removal to Windmill-street, he had confined his collection chiefly to specimens of human and comparative anatomy and of diseases; but now he extended his views to fossils, and likewise to the promotion of polite literature and erudition. In a short space of time he became possessed of "the most magnificent treasure of Greek and Latin books that has been accumulated by any person now living since the days of Mead." A cabinet of ancient medals contributed likewise much to the richness of his museum. A description of part of the coins in this collection, struck by the Greek free cities, was afterwards published by the Doctor's learned friend Mr Combe. In a classical dedication of this elegant volume to the queen, Dr Hunter acknowledges his obligations to her majesty. In the preface some account is given of the progress of the collection, which has been brought together since the year 1770, with singular taste, and at the expense of upwards of 20,000l. In 1781, the museum received a valuable addition of shells, corals, and other curious subjects of natural history, which had been collected by the late worthy Dr Fothergill, who gave directions by his will, that his collection should be appraised after his death, that Dr Hunter should have the refusal of it at 500l. under the valuation. This was accordingly done, and Dr Hunter purchased it for the sum of 1200l. The fame of this museum spread throughout Europe. Few foreigners distinguished for their rank or learning visited this metropolis without requesting to see it. Men of science of our own country always had easy access to it.—Considered in a collective point of view, it is perhaps without a rival.

Dr Hunter, at the head of his profession, honoured with the esteem of his sovereign, and in possession of every thing that his reputation and wealth could confer, seemed now to have attained the summit of his wishes. But these sources of gratification were embittered by a disposition to the gout, which harassed him frequently during the latter part of his life, notwithstanding his very abstemious manner of living. On Saturday the 15th of March 1783, after having for several days experienced a return of a wandering gout, he complained of great headache and nausea. In this state he went to bed, and for several days felt 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. It was to no purpose that his friends urged to him the impropriety of such an attempt. He was determined to make the experiment, and accordingly delivered the lecture; but towards the conclusion his strength was so exhausted that he fainted away, and was obliged to be carried to bed by two servants. The following night and day his symptoms were such as indicated danger; and on Saturday morning Mr Combe, who made him an early visit, was alarmed on being told by Dr Hunter himself, that during the night he had certainly had a paralytic stroke. As neither his speech nor his pulse were affected, and he was able to raise himself in bed, Mr Combe encouraged him to hope that he was mistaken. But the event proved the doctor's idea of his complaint to be but too well founded; for from that time till his death, which happened on Sunday the 30th of March, he voided no urine without the assistance of the catheter, which was occasionally introduced by his brother; and purgative medicines were administered repeatedly without procuring a passage by stool. These circumstances, and the absence of pain, seemed to show, that the intestines and urinary bladder had lost their sensibility and power of contraction; and it was reasonable to presume that a partial palsy had affected the nerves distributed to those parts.

By his will, the use of his museum, under the direction of trustees, devolved to his nephew Dr Matthew Baillie, and in case of his death to Mr Cruikshank for the term of thirty years; at the end of which period the whole collection is bequeathed to the university of Glasgow, with eight thousand pounds sterling as a fund for the support and augmentation of the collection, which is now deposited at Glasgow.

Dr Hunter was regularly shaped, but of a slender make, and rather below a middle stature. His manner of living was extremely simple and frugal, and the quantity of his food was small as well as plain. He was an early riser; and when business was over, was constantly engaged in his anatomical pursuits, or in his museum. There was something very engaging in his manner and address; and he had such an appearance of attention to his patients, when he was making his inquiries, as could hardly fail to conciliate their confidence and esteem. In consultation with his medical brethren, he delivered his opinions with diffidence and candour. In familiar conversation he was cheerful and unassuming. As a teacher of anatomy he has been long and deservedly celebrated. He was a good orator; and having a clear and accurate conception of what he taught, he knew how to place in distinct and intelligible points of view the most abstruse subjects of anatomy and physiology. Among other methods of explaining and illustrating his doctrines, he used frequently to introduce some apposite story or case that had occurred to him in his practice; and few men had acquired a more interesting fund of anecdotes of this kind, or related them in a more agreeable manner.

John, an eminent surgeon, was the youngest child of John Hunter of Kilbride, in the county of Lanerk. He was born at Long Calderwood on the 13th of July 1728. His father died when he was about ten years of age, from which circumstance his mother was induced to grant him too much indulgence. In consequence he made no progress at the grammar-school, and was almost wholly illiterate at the age of 20, when he he arrived in London. His brother Dr W. Hunter was at that time the most eminent teacher of anatomy, and John expressed a wish to assist him in his researches. The doctor, anxious to make trial of his talents, gave him an arm to dissect for the muscles, with proper instructions how it was to be performed; and the dexterity with which he managed his undertaking exceeded the expectations of his brother.

Having acquired some reputation from this first attempt, his brother employed him in a more difficult dissection, which was an arm wherein all the arteries were injected, and these and the muscles were to be preserved and exposed. In the execution of this task he also gave the highest satisfaction, and his brother predicted that he would become a good anatomist, and never want employment. Under the instructions of his brother, and Mr Symonds his assistant, he enjoyed every favourable opportunity of increasing his anatomical knowledge, since that school monopolized all the dissections then carried on in London.

He was admitted into partnership with his brother in the winter of 1755, and a certain department of the lectures was allotted to him, and he also lectured when the doctor was called away to attend his patients. The mind of Mr Hunter was peculiarly fitted for the study of anatomy, and the indefatigable ardour with which he prosecuted it is scarcely to be equalled. He applied to human anatomy for ten years, during which period he made himself master of every thing then known, and also made some considerable additions. He was the first who discovered the existence of the lymphatic vessels in birds.

With such eagerness did he apply himself to the study of comparative anatomy, that he even applied to the keeper of wild beasts in the Tower for the bodies of such as died there, and to all those who were in the habit of exhibiting wild beasts to the public. He made a purchase of every rare animal that came in his way, which, together with those presented to him by his friends, he gave to the showmen to keep till they died, the more effectually to prevail with them to assist him in his labours. So much was his health impaired by unceasing attention to his favourite pursuits, that in 1760 his friends advised him to go abroad, as he exhibited many symptoms of an incipient consumption. In October that year he was appointed a surgeon on the staff by the inspector-general of hospitals (Mr Adair), and in the spring of the ensuing year he went to Belle-ile with the army.

He served during the continuance of the war, as senior surgeon on the staff, when he acquired his knowledge of gun-shot wounds. He settled in London on his return to England; but finding that his half pay and private practice could not support him, he taught practical anatomy and surgery for several winters. He built a house near Brompton, where he pursued the study of comparative anatomy with unabated ardour. He discovered the changes which animal and vegetable substances undergo in the stomach by the action of the gastric juice; the mode in which a bone retains its shape during its growth; and explained the process of exfoliation, by which a piece of dead bone is separated from the living.

On the 5th of February 1767, he was chosen F. R. S. In the year 1768 he became a member of the incorporation of surgeons, and in the following year was elected one of the surgeons of St George's hospital, through the influence of his brother. He published his treatise on the natural history of the teeth in May 1771, and in July the same year he married Miss Home, daughter of Mr Home, surgeon to Burgoyne's regiment of light horse. His private practice and professional reputation advanced with rapidity after his marriage, and although his family increased, he devoted much of his time to the forming of his collection. He discovered the cause of failure in the cure of every case of hydrocele, and proposed a mode of operating in which that event may certainly be avoided. He ascertained that simple exposure to the air can neither produce nor increase inflammation; and he considered the blood as alive in its fluid state. He also discovered that the stomach after death is sometimes acted on and dissolved by the gastric juice, respecting which he communicated a paper to the Royal Society.

Comparative anatomy occupied the greater part of his time and attention, and he suffered no opportunity to escape him. He dissected the torpedo in 1773, and laid an account of its electrical organs before the Royal Society. A young elephant which had been presented to the queen, having died, it was given to Dr Hunter, which afforded our author an opportunity of examining the structure of that monstrous animal, as did also two others which died in the queen's menagerie. In the year 1774, he published an account, in the Philosophical Transactions, of certain receptacles of air in birds, communicating with the lungs, and lodged in the muscular parts and hollow bones of these animals. Several animals belonging to the species called Gymnotus electricus of Surinam having been brought alive to Britain in 1773, their electrical properties excited a considerable share of the public attention, and Mr Hunter purchased many of them after they died, for the purpose of prosecuting his favourite experiments. He published an account of their electrical organs in the Philosophical Transactions for 1775; and in the same volume appeared his experiments on the power of animals and vegetables to produce heat.

Mr Hunter was appointed surgeon extraordinary to his majesty in 1776; in the autumn of which year he grew extremely ill, when both himself and his friends apprehended that his life was in danger, but he happily recovered so far as to be able to publish the second part of his treatise on the Teeth in 1778, which completed the subject; and in 1779 he published in the Philosophical Transactions his account of the Free Martin. He was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society of Sciences and Belles Lettres at Gottenburg, and in 1783 he became a member of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal Academy of Surgery in Paris.

In the building which he formed for his valuable collection, there was a room 52 feet by 28, lighted from the top, with a gallery all round, for containing his preparations. At this time he had reached the height of his career as a surgeon, with his mind and body in full vigour; and his hands were capable of performing whatever was suggested by his capacious mind, and his judgment was fully ripened by long experience.

He removed a tumor from the head and neck of a patient in St George's hospital, as large as the head to which it was attached; and by bringing the cut edges edges of the skin into contact, the whole was almost healed by the first intention. He dissected or cut out a tumor on the neck, which one of the best surgeons in this country declared that none but a fool or a madman would ever attempt; yet the patient perfectly recovered. He discovered a new method of performing the operation for the popliteal aneurism, by taking up the femoral artery on the anterior part of the thigh, without doing any thing to the tumor or the ham. This, from many subsequent experiments which have been successfully performed, must be allowed to stand high among the modern improvements in surgery.

Mr Hunter was engaged in a very extensive private practice; he was surgeon to St George's hospital; he gave a very long course of lectures during the winter season; he carried on his inquiries in comparative anatomy; he had a school of practical human anatomy in his own house, and was continually employed in some experiments respecting the animal economy. In 1786 he was chosen deputy surgeon-general to the army, at which time he published his work on the venereal disease, the first edition of which met with a very rapid sale.

In the year 1787 he published a treatise on the effect of extirpating one ovary on the number of young, which procured him the annual gold medal of Sir John Copley. His collection was now brought into a state of arrangement, which he shewed to his friends and acquaintances twice a year, and in May to noblemen and gentlemen, who were only in town during the spring. When Mr Adair died, Mr Hunter was appointed inspector general of hospitals, and surgeon-general to the army. This event happened in 1792, at which time he was elected honorary member of the Chirurgical-Physical Society of Edinburgh, and one of the vice-presidents of the Veterinary College of London, then first established. He published also three papers on the treatment of inflamed veins, on introfusction, and on the mode of conveying food into the stomach in cases of paralysis of the oesophagus.

The collection of comparative anatomy left by Mr Hunter remains an unequivocal testimony of his perseverance and abilities, and an honour to the country in which he was educated. In it is beheld the natural gradation from the lowest state in which life is found to exist, up to the most perfect and complex of the animal creation—man himself.

Mr Hunter enjoyed a good state of health, for the first 40 years of his life, during which he had no complaint of any consequence, except an inflammation of his lungs in 1759. The first attack of the gout which he ever experienced was occasioned by an affection of the mind, and every subsequent fit originated from the same source.

Mr Hunter was of a short stature, uncommonly strong and active, well formed, and capable of great bodily exertion. His countenance was open, animated, and deeply impressed with thoughtfulness towards the close of his life. Lavater seeing a print of him, is said to have exclaimed, "that man thinks for himself." For the last twenty years of his life he drank nothing stronger than water, and wine at no period agreed with his stomach. He was easily irritated, and not soon pacified when once provoked. He was an enemy to dissimulation, and free even to a fault. Few men require so little relaxation as Mr Hunter did, for he seldom slept above four hours in the night, but always an hour after dinner. In private practice he was scrupulously honest in declaring his opinion of the case before him, and ready on all occasions to confess his ignorance of what he did not understand. He sometimes spoke harshly of his contemporaries; which did not originate from envy, but from a full conviction that surgery was as yet in its infancy, and he himself a novice in his own art.

On October the 16th 1793, when in his usual state of health, he went to St George's hospital, and meeting with some things 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 Robertson, one of the physicians of the hospital, he gave a deep groan and dropt down dead, being then in his 65th year, the same age at which his brother Dr Hunter had died.