THE HUNTERIAN ORATION.
Mr. President,
We are assembled in this place to do honour to the genius of Hunter, a name celebrated throughout the civilised world, and to record the merits of such recently deceased members of our profession, as, imitating his example, and possessed of a single spark of his genius, have claims on the respectful remembrance of their surviving brethren.
The period of Mr. Hunter has formed an epoch in the history of medical science. His wondrous and unceasing ardour, his genius for investigation, and no less his intellectual greatness, while they demand the homage of our veneration, leave competition far behind. In the race of modern physiological science, no one has approached his eminence, to participate in his exaltation, or to share his glory. His mind was the depository of the pure ore of true philosophy, in which neither bigotry nor selfishness could find a momentary resting place. No thoughts of private interest—no aspirations after posthumous fame—no ambition of personal distinction; neither the claims of anxiety, of sickness, nor of professional
