[Born in Scotland, 1728. Died in London, 1793. Aged 65.]
When John Hunter was twenty years old, he could scarcely read or write;
but he could make chairs and tables. At the time of his death,
forty-five years afterwards, he was the first anatomist in the country;
and he left behind him a museum--the work of his own rare intelligence
and industry--which the government purchased for the sum of £15,000, and
conferred upon the Royal College of Surgeons. Hunter came to London,
from his carpenter’s shop in Scotland, in order to serve as anatomical
assistant to his brother William, who had already established a
reputation as an anatomist, and was doing well. In a few months John had
made sufficient advance to be able to give instruction in the
dissecting-room. He then studied on his own account, went to Oxford, and
became a surgeon. Intense application, profound observation, ceaseless
experiments, and masterly skill and judgment, enabled him in time
considerably to enlarge the knowledge of surgery, and to make valuable
discoveries in connexion with his favourite science of comparative
anatomy. He was, for England, the first great leader in the Science of
animal life. He was a bold and clever operator; he wrote several
professional treatises; and, besides being Surgeon Extraordinary to the
King, he held the offices of Inspector-General of Hospitals, and
Surgeon-General. His name is honoured in the profession to which he
belongs, and he is justly regarded as the great and worthy guide and
pioneer of all the seekers and successful discoverers, who since his
time have explored the same paths.
[By Flaxman.]