Page:The Hunterian Oration, delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons on the 14th of February, 1834 (IA b31879792).pdf/15

11 raries, has never been surpassed in the art of communicating knowledge, and of exciting in the minds of others that enthusiastic ardour which was so conspicuous in himself. CHESELDEN and POTT were his masters in surgery, which he studied at Chelsea, St. Bartholomew's, and St. George's Hospitals.

It has been a trite, but, I believe, most unfounded complaint, that genius is neglected, and that men of talent and information are precluded from opportunities of exertion and display by favouritism, monopoly, or other obstacles. Within my own experience, the difficulty has always been to find talent for the place, not opportunity for the talent. This indeed is natural; genius being rare, while fit occasions for its exercise are of constant occurrence. Genius will never be neglected by the public, unless it neglects itself: it must not dis- dain the humble alliance of industry: how can it expect encouragement, unless its existence be manifested by performances? The chemist can apply tests for latent heat, but what criterion is there for latent ability? The surest evidence of superior talent is, that it forces itself into notice in spite of adverse circumstances; that it makes a road where it finds none. Such, no doubt, would have been the case with JOHN HUNTER, even if he had not enjoyed the advantages already specified. He had that insatiable thirst for knowledge which is the surest mark of a master-mind; which, in such