visible in many parts of Hunter's character. The sterner virtues of his mind were not mitigated by that courtesy which characterises the high-caste surgeon and physician of the present day; his manners were often rude, his language frequently coarse; and his delivery of himself, as well orally as in composition, alike deficient in grace and perspicuity. Mr. Locke somewhere observes, that want of perspicuity of expression is always the effect of confusion of thought; but this is one of that class of dogmas, which, however untrue, it is difficult to controvert. If we may judge of a man's thoughts by his deeds (the truest of all tests), Mr. Hunter's perceptions were not less clear and accurate than those of Locke himself. In his Museum, which is the standard by which we would try Hunter's merits, no such defects are apparent.

"Nature is here made to be her own expositor, and the treasures she has poured forth come fresh to the mind from the fountains of knowledge, unimpaired by passing through the imperfect medium of language, and unimpeachably proclaiming the genius of him, by whose labours they were brought to light."

Lord Bacon has an observation, which accounts more satisfactorily for Hunter's great achievements than any other that we have met with. "Whoever," he says, "hath anything fixed in his person that doth induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself from scorn. It stirreth in him industry." We doubt not it was some such consideration as this that operated as the motive to Hunter's incredible exertions; for feeling, as regards the exterior graces of breeding and the accomplishments of literature, that he could not stand on the same level with men of education, he resolved to revenge himself on nature by establishing a claim of a different sort. After the manner of King Richard, he may be supposed to have apostrophised:

"I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty,

since I cannot prove a lover,

To entertain these fair well-spoken days,-

I am determined to prove a villain."

Of course, we cannot be supposed to mean this in a literal sense, but simply that the whole tide of Hunter's ambition was directed into one channel, in consequence of the usual avenues to distinction being closed against him. "Jesse Foot," he says, "accuses me of not understanding the dead languages; but I could teach him that, on the dead body, which he never knew in any language, dead or living." Perhaps it may be accounted a fortunate circumstance, that a great similarity of character existed between Sir Joseph Banks and Mr. Hunter in this respect, as it served to

cement the friendship of these great men, from which the latter reaped many advantages.

We are far from wishing to appear paradoxical, and yet we cannot but refer the extraordinary developement of Hunter's mind to the absence of that discipline which is usually required to call its powers forth. One of the chief objects of study is to strengthen the reasoning faculty, which faculty in Hunter was of so powerful a cast by nature, that it scarcely needed artificial training. Scholastic exercises and irresponsible debate may sharpen men's wits, but it requires the real business of life to strengthen their judgments. Hunter constantly appealed to observation and experiment in all his researches, and drew all his information from the undeviating dictates of nature; but whoever will consult such oracles must exercise his own judgment. Nature only furnishes the raw materials of knowledge, but leaves the office of converting them to any useful purpose to the industry of her votaries. Proceeding on the golden rule of taking nothing upon trust, Hunter examined every subject for himself, scrutinized every fact, viewed it in every possible relation, and that with so much accuracy and patience as often to discover those remote analogies which are the first harbingers of discovery. To his friend Jenner he writes as follows: "I thank you for your experiment on the hedgehog; but why do you ask me a question by way of solving it? Why not try the experiment? repeat all the experiments upon a hedgehog as soon as you receive this, and they will give you the solution," an apt and significant commentary on Lord Bacon's precept: "Non fingendum aut excogitandum quid natura faciat aut ferat, sed observandum et experiendum." We are bound, however, to state, that this distrust of authority was too often carried to excess, and this confidence in himself. too often verged into contemptuousness of others. These were the infirmities of a great mind.

"Some have lamented," Mr. Lawrence observes, "Mr. Hunter's deficient education, his ignorance of languages and books: I think unreasonably. From his brother, who was intimately versed in the literature of his profession, ancient and modern, and from other well-informed men, his contemporaries and fellow-labourers, he could learn in the easiest way all that had been done and thought in other times and countries. His whole life was spent in dissection, observation, experiment, and reflection. How could he have been better occupied? So precious are the fruits of his enquiries into all the actions and sufferings of organised beings, that we should not be willing to part with the least of them for a whole load of scholastic erudition and book learning.

"It is instructive to observe the course which Mr. Hunter pursued in his early studies, and which he followed throughout life with undeviating constancy. Without wasting time on the opinions of lecturers and

writers, he resorted at once to nature, to the source from which the masters of our art have derived their knowledge, from which lecturers and writers must draw their information, unless they should be contented, as too often happens, with copying from others. Having reached London at the beginning of the anatomical season, he immediately entered the dissecting room; and we find him, in the following spring, at Chelsea Hospital, with Cheselden. He would not take his knowledge at second hand, but was determined to see with his own eyes, and to examine everything for himself, He was incessantly occupied with the great volume of nature, appealing ever to those pure springs of knowledge which she pours out with unsparing hand at the bidding of her industrious worshippers. No one could have said with greater truth, -'Juvat integros accedere fontes atque haurire.'"-p. 12.

In common with other men who have achieved to themselves great names, or accomplished revolutions in science, Hunter possessed an unwearied industry, which the iron strength of his physical constitution enabled him to endure. The poet says, that " some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." In one sense Hunter was born great, for he was born with a vigorous understanding; but in another sense he achieved greatness, in so far as his understanding was accompanied with those accessories of industry and patience, which alone lead genius on to greatness. The qualities of his mind were, in fact, admirably tempered for the investigation of abstruse truths depending on accurate observation, and the comprehensive survey and comparison of facts. No object was too minute, none too large, for his attention. We are equally astonished at the minuteness of his information, and the extent of his views. His ardour was restrained, but never abated, by his patience. His imagination was discursive, fertile in expedients, and in pointing out new tracts of enquiry; and yet it rarely misled him to any extent into the doubtful regions of hypothesis. His love of truth was more than a counterpoise to his love of fame, while his extensive knowledge of facts was ever at hand to counteract a precipitate tendency to generalization.

The extraordinary compass of Hunter's intellect is in nothing more remarkably displayed than in his Museum, in which we see figured forth a conception of the utmost magnitude, embracing the whole organized world, arranged according to their functions in an ascending series, and illustrated by apposite specimens from every rank of creation. Nor did his view stop here, but it extended to every deviation from the healthy structure and every anomaly of form; by which arrangement disease is made to be the interpreter of health, and the abnormal productions of nature the exponent of those recondite processes which terminate

in the evolution of the fœtus. We do not dwell on the perfect manner in which this scheme has been carried out, the diversified nature of the illustrations, or the minute and skilful manner in which they are displayed (although in these respects they have never been surpassed), but on the grandeur and comprehensiveness of the scheme itself. We conceive that it would not be difficult for a very second-rate order of understanding to complete a sketch thus once given, or to modify it in some unimportant particulars; but we can imagine no higher exertion of intellect than the embodiment of such a conception in the first instance out of the scattered elements of science. The symmetry of the plan conceals from us, in fact, the vastness of the proportions, and our present familiarity with the subject the extent and difficulty of the undertaking. We should, in order to judge rightly of this, carry back our minds to the same period of time, and contemplate physiology as it then existed; for, without doing this, we cannot institute a parallel between Hunter and those who have followed in the same track. What was said of his great prototype, Lord Bacon, may, with equal truth, be affirmed of him-" If a second HUNTER arise, he must be ignorant of the first."

This happy conjunction of a comprehensive with a minute turn of mind-faculties so seldom found united in the same individual-is the cause why Hunter's principles have remained unshaken by the advances of science, and his writings have preserved their full value to the present period-the former for their comprehensiveness and soundness-the latter for the choice and variety of their facts. It is owing to the same cause that the casual hints of such minds often assume the guise of prophetic, or at least intuitive, anticipations of truth, and prove the pregnant germs of future discoveries. They are, in fact, those remote and conjectural analogies which occur to enlarged minds in the progress of reflection; which have only not been expanded into established principles of science, from want of time to follow up the enquiry. We might adduce numerous examples of this kind, both from the writings and museum of Hunter, if our time and space did not fail us.

It is probable, that Hunter was the first who had a full perception of the inaptitude of all the former methods of physiological investigation; and that to him we must ascribe the honour of introducing a more philosophical method of research. Haller lived about the same period, and in many respects is deserving of a comparison with Hunter; but their methods of investigation were totally different. In medical literature Haller had no equal. His capacious mind grasped, without difficulty, the whole circle of existing knowledge; his conclusions were always those of a judi

cial understanding; his reasonings were uniformly luminous, and his hints were invariably stamped with the character of sense; but his genius was not of an original turn, and he, personally, did not materially advance the boundaries of science; although his labours very much contributed to this effect, by concentrating, with incredible research, all the knowledge of his time.

But Hunter did not only possess a truly philosophic mind, but he was at the same time a great practical surgeon, who considered that there was no real distinction in nature between what is termed a principle of science and a rule of art. Under this latter view he has been compared with Pott and Desault, the respective leaders of the profession in France and England about this period; but the genius of the latter was altogether of an inferior order, and rarely went to the establishment of general principles. Possessing great natural endowments, eminent for their sound sense and knowledge of the resources of their art, and distinguished for their literary acquirements, it was to be expected that they would reach a high station in public estimation; but as they rarely employed physiological reasoning as the guide of their practice, they are not entitled to the first honours of the profession. Like mariners in the ancient times, they steered their course by direct observation of the coast, but dared not trust themselves, like modern navigators, to the abstract revelations of astronomy.

The character of Pott is well drawn by Mr. Ottley :

"Pott was a man of great natural talents, and of sound sense, which had been improved and strengthened by a good classical education, and by constant assiduous attention on his own part in after life. As a surgeon, he was thoroughly versed in the history of medicine in all ages, and knew well how to bring this knowledge to bear on the practice of his profession. His correct observation enabled him to discover many of the errors of his predecessors, and his ingenuity and judgment to correct them; and thus, by the combined efforts of his own and others' experience, he was the means of introducing many valuable improvements into the practical departments of surgery. He was not fond of employing physiological reasoning to guide his practice, but aimed rather at founding his treatment on immediate analogy and induction from established facts, than on broader general principles. The theoretical part of our profession, therefore, he did little to improve. As an operator, Pott was eminently skilled; as a lecturer, clear, energetic, and fluent; as a writer, especially correct and elegant. In society he was agreeable, witty, and abounding in anecdote, and at the same time kind and gentlemanly in his manner. Though hospitable in his mode of living, he was prudent in regard to pecuniary matters; and though he commenced his profession poor, brought up a large family liberally, and left them well provided for at his death.

"The account already given of Hunter has sufficiently shown how