found one of these animals climbing up the wall to make his escape, and the other surrounded by the dogs. He immediately laid hold of them both and carried them back to their den! Amongst the other wild animals which he kept at this retreat of his, was a beautiful small bull he had received from the queen. With this animal he used to wrestle in play, and entertain himself with its exertions in its own defence. In one of these contests, however, we are told by Sir Everard Home, the bull overpowered him and got him down; and had not one of the servants accidentally come by and frightened the animal away, his frolic would probably have cost him his life. He had an open countenance, which, though "impressed with the lines of thought," was by no means habitually severe. When Lavater was shown his portrait he said—"This man thinks for himself." He was quick in manner, readily provoked, and when irritated not easily soothed; but his disposition was candid and free from reserve; he hated deceit, and as he was above every kind of artifice, he detested it in others, and often too openly avowed his sentiments. He never required more than four hours' sleep at night, but almost always slept an hour after dinner. John Hunter was not only one of the most profound anatomists of the age in which he lived, but he is by the common consent of his successors allowed to be one of the greatest men that ever practised surgery. One of the most striking discoveries in this part of his profession—indeed one of the most brilliant in surgery of his century—was the operation for the cure of popliteal aneurism by tying the femoral artery above the tumour in the ham, and without interfering with it. He improved the treatment of the rupture of the tendo achillis, in consequence of having experienced the accident himself when dancing. He invented the method of curing fistula lacrimalis by perforating the os unguis, and curing hydrocele radically by injection. His anatomical discoveries were numerous and important—amongst others the distribution of the blood-vessels of the uterus, which he traced till their disappearance in the placenta. He was the first who demonstrated the existence of lymphatic vessels in birds; described the distribution of the branches of the olfactory nerve, as well as those of the fifth pair; and to him we owe the best and most faithful account of the descent of the testicle in the human subject, from the abdomen into the scrotum. Physiology is also indebted to him for many new views and ingenious suggestions. His chief works are his "Treatise on the Natural History of the Human Teeth;" a "Treatise on the Venereal Disease;" "Observations on certain points of the Animal Economy;" and a "Treatise on Blood, Inflammation, and Gunshot Wounds." But as has been well observed by one of his biographers, "it was less by individual discoveries than by the general tone of scientific investigation which he gave to surgical practice, that he improved it. Before his time surgery had been little more than a mechanical art, somewhat dignified by the material on which it was employed. Hunter first made it a science; and by pointing out its peculiar excellence as affording visible examples of the effects and progress of disease, induced men of far higher attainments than those who had before practised it, to make it their study." The best monument of his genius and talents, however, is the splendid museum which he formed by his sole efforts, and which he made, too, when labouring under every disadvantage of deficient education and limited means. It shows that as an anatomist and physiologist he had no superior. A great object with him during the few last years of his life was to form a complete catalogue of the contents of this museum, which at his death consisted of ten thousand preparations illustrative of human and comparative anatomy, physiology, pathology, and natural history; the great end in view being to show "the gradations which nature follows from the simplest state of life to the most perfect—man." It is much to be regretted that Hunter did not live to finish this task; for had this been done science would have benefited to a great extent, as every year since his museum became public property, and its contents more closely studied, proves that Hunter had been well aware of many facts for the discovery of which other observers have since his death obtained the credit. The care of preparing this catalogue, which Hunter had commenced, was intrusted after his death to his brother-in-law, Sir Everard Home. This gentleman, however, after many delays, and only accomplishing a very small portion of his work, burned the manuscripts left by Hunter, and which he had abstracted from the College of Surgeons, asserting that this was done in accordance with the expressed wish of Hunter before his death. Sir Everard published several volumes of Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, which are said to be in a great measure compiled from Hunter's papers; and it has been asserted that fear lest his plagiarisms should be detected was the cause of the disgraceful act of destroying documents which, had they been published, would have still more highly raised the character of Hunter as a man of science. John Hunter left no fortune behind him; but government purchased his museum from his widow for the sum of £15,000, and handed it over to the College of Surgeons, upon condition that twenty-four lectures should be delivered annually to members of the college, and that under certain regulations the collection should be open to the public. These terms were complied with, the lectures are given, and the public are permitted on certain days of the week to visit the museum. John Hunter married in 1771 a daughter of Mr. Boyne Home, by whom he had several children. His marriage seems to have been a happy one, and his widow, an accomplished lady, survived him many years, dying in 1821 at the advanced age of seventy-nine.—W. B—d.
HUNTER, John, professor of humanity in the university of St. Andrew's, and a learned commentator of Latin classics, was born in 1747 at Closeburn in Dumfriesshire. Although his first publication was "An Essay on certain Conjunctions, particularly the Greek ΔΕ," contributed to the Transactions of the Society of Edinburgh in 1788, he is best known by his editions of Horace, Virgil, and Juvenal. His first edition of Horace was published in 1797, and was reprinted in 1813. It contains a variety of emendations on the text and punctuation of the recognized editions, illustrated by many valuable conjectural new readings. Great critical sagacity is also displayed in Dr. Hunter's annotations to Virgil, of which he published an edition in 1800. The preface especially contains a number of very interesting discussions. An account of this work may be seen in the Edinburgh Review, vol. iii. p. 60. Heyne himself publicly declared this edition of Virgil to be superior to any that he had previously examined. The edition of Juvenal appeared in 1806. Dr. Hunter became principal of the United college of St. Salvador and St. Leonard; and, having reached the unusual age of ninety years, died in 1837.—R. H.
HUNTER, Joseph, an eminent writer on British antiquities and local history, was born at Sheffield, on February 6th, 1783. His father being engaged in the cutlery trade of that town, and his mother dying while he was yet very young, Joseph was placed under the guardianship of Mr. Evans, the minister to a congregation of presbyterian dissenters. When a mere schoolboy he devoted his leisure time to the study of historical, topographical, and genealogical subjects, copying the monumental inscriptions in the neighbouring churches. In 1805, as a preparation for his destined calling, he was placed at a college in York, under Mr. Wellbeloved, to be trained for the ministry. He there acquired, in the study of the Greek and Hebrew scriptures, a habit of minute verbal criticism that characterized his mind through life. In his twenty-sixth year he became minister of a congregation of presbyterian dissenters at Bath, where he continued to reside for twenty-four years. Meanwhile the materials for a history of his native place had accumulated in his hand, and having been verified and arranged with all "the skill of a critic and the assiduity of a lawyer," were published in 1819, under the title of "Hallamshire: the history and topography of the Parish of Sheffield," &c., folio. This work at once took a high place in topographical literature; and Mr. Hunter's fame, as an accurate and interesting writer of local history, was fully and finally established by his "South Yorkshire: the history and topography of the Deanery of Doncaster," &c. 2 vols., folio, 1828-31. In an essay prefixed to the first volume of this work the scope and significance, the philosophy in short, of studies of this kind are admirably set forth. In 1833 Mr. Hunter's intimate acquaintance with ancient writings and minute points of history procured him the appointment of sub-commissioner of the public records, which office was, in 1838, on the reconstruction of the record department, exchanged for that of assistant-keeper of the first class. He edited some of the volumes published by the commission, and was engaged to the last in the special duty of calendaring the queen's remembrancer's records, a task that still remains to be finished by others. Soon after his removal to London, Mr. Hunter was engaged in the famous "Hewley lawsuit" which ended in depriving the uni-
