Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/113

Rh regular order of progressive classification every species of animate being, or link in the chain of organization, from the lowest vegetable, in which life can be scarcely recognized, up to man ; but no account or description, however minute, can do adequate justice to such a collection. By his will he left it, under the discretion of his executors, to be sold for the benefit of his family, in one entire lot, to the government of Great Britain ; or in case of refusal, to any other government or state which would offer such a price for it, as all parties might consider reasonable. Six years after his death, it was purchased by the British parliament for fifteen thousand pounds, and given to the College of Surgeons, on condition that twenty-four lectures should be delivered annually to members of the college, and that under certain regulations it should be open to the public. We thus find that, while his elder brother completed a museum which does honour to the university in which it is preserved, the younger, by his industry and perseverance, completed another, which has been pronounced by the most competent judges to be an honour to his country. How practical a lesson does this afford of the prodigious achievements which may be accomplished by the sustained perseverance and labours of a single individual!

In personal appearance, John Hunter was much below the ordinary middle stature; but his body was well formed for muscular exertion, and when in health he was always extremely active. His countenance was open, and although impressed with lines of thought, was by no means habitually severe; on the contrary, its expression soon softened into tenderness, or became lighted up by mirth, according as the impression swept across his mind. When Lavater saw his print, he said "That man thinks for himself," an opinion which the whole tenor of his actions will be seen to have verified. An admirable portrait of him was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, of which a spirited engraving was executed by Mr Sharpe. A bust also of him was modeled by a Mr Bacon, in the modeling of which he was assisted by a cast taken during life. He was quick in manner, and "in conversation," says Sir Everard Home, "spoke too freely and harshly of his contemporaries;" but this, we are given to understand, arose rather from his conviction that surgery was still in its infancy, than from any uncharitable motive, or wish to depreciate his contemporaries. From almost the earliest periods in society, medical men have been stigmatized for displaying the "odium medicum;" but the fact is, that men educated to the practice of an art, the principles of which are not cognizable to the public, are apt to treat with intolerance the pretensions of men who, they have reason to know, notwithstanding they may have crept into a certain degree of favour, are ignorant perhaps of the most elementary principles of their profession. The observations of John Hunter, even on casual occasions, were often remarkably pointed, and significant of his very acute and discriminating mental powers. On one occasion, having been heard to express regret that we must all die, a physician present took advantage of the opportunity to inquire whether it was true that his brother had in his last moments expressed how "pleasant a thing it is to die?" to which he immediately replied, "'tis poor work when it comes to that," evidently insinuating a doubt as to the moral correctness of any such sentiments, which, as we have before hinted, we regard as a rash declaration, incompatible with the sufferings, condition, and mysterious, yet infinitely important prospects of any man on the brink of that future world, which, seriously regarded, must suggest reflections of a very different, and far more solemn nature. Few men were more generous than John Hunter, and the only fault which can impugn his memory is, that in executing his designs for the benefit of science, he neglected too much the interests of his wife and children. It is to be regretted that the