Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/104

164 Drowned." The able author of this paper draws the distinction between the mere suspension of the functions by which life is supported, and absolute death, which he illustrates by reference to various animals, in whom, under certain conditions, the actions of life are temporarily suspended. It further contains a description of the signs of life and death, which are of vast importance; indeed, notwithstanding the progress that has since been made, both in Germany and Britain, in medical jurisprudence, this paper contains information which has by no means been superseded.

In the autumn of this year, Mr Hunter was taken extremely ill, and the nature of his complaints induced both his friends and himself to apprehend that his life was in imminent danger. However, the anticipated calamity was averted; he rallied, and was restored to his friends and the public, to whom his subsequent services were of such vast importance. When on his sick bed, he reflected on his own worldly affairs, such as he was about to leave them; he perceived that all his fortune had been expended in his pursuits; that his family had no provision excepting what might arise from the sale of his collection; and he naturally, on this account, suffered much solicitude and anxiety. No sooner did he leave his sick chamber, than he commenced arranging his collection, so that it might, in whatever event, command its value, and with this view he began to make a catalogue of the collection; but the delicacy of his health obliged him to desist from his labours, and persuaded by his friends and relatives, he retired for a time to Bath. During his absence, Mr Everard Home was employed to draw out descriptions of the preparations, leaving blanks for those with which he was unacquainted. His complaints were considerably ameliorated by his residence at Bath; and though he returned to town before he was quite convalescent, he continued to amend, and was soon recovered.

In 1778, he published the second part of his Treatise on the Teeth, and also, in the Philosophical Transactions, a paper on the heat of animals and vegetables. "I had now," says Sir Everard Home, "lived six years with Mr Hunter and completed my education: his expenses had always exceeded his income. I had therefore no emolument to expect from remaining in his house, which made it necessary for me to take up some line for my own support, and admiral Keppel's action with the French fleet was the means of procuring me a very eligible situation."

Thus Mr Hunter was now deprived of the valuable assistance of his former pupil. And here we may pause to observe, both from the reflections which he made during his late illness, and the statement of Sir E. Home, that his expenditure had always exceeded his income, how slow are the emoluments of men whose scientific labours are nevertheless an advantage and honour to their country. Mr Hunter had now arrived at the age of fifty years, thirty of which had been devoted to his profession; he had been eleven years member of the Royal Society, and nine years an hospital surgeon; he was respected and esteemed by the most accomplished men of science, and his claims to honourable distinction recognized by the nobility and by royalty itself; but still his pecuniary circumstances were at so low an ebb, that, had he died during his late illness, his wife and children would have been left comparatively destitute. His expenses do not appear to have been great; his family had increased, but only two survived, and these were still of an age to be little expensive; his own personal expenses were not considerable; and yet five years after this period (says one of his biographers), when he purchased a leasehold in Leicester Square, he assured us that he was under the necessity of mortgaging before he could pay for it, and for some time afterwards he used to regret that all he could collect in fees "went to carpenters and bricklayers],