Page:The Hunterian Oration1843.djvu/24

 aim and scope of his labours ; whether we view him investigating the properties of the seed or of the egg, where life lies sleeping; displaying each form and variety of organization ; tracing its de- velopments ; observing its aberrations; deducing the laws of life; or applying his knowledge of these laws to the explanation of the phenomena of dis- ease, to the prolongation of the existence, or to the relief of the sufferings of his fellow-creatures.

Of the vast basis on which Mr. Hunter raised his superstructure, and of the soundness of the materials of which it is composed, his Museum is the best evi- dence. At the period of his death, and he was adding to it with unabated zeal up to the last day of his existence, the number of preparations of na- tural structure alone amounted to nearly 4000.

It is impossible to form a just conception of the beauty and value of these preparations without a detailed examination of the Museum itself, and of the excellent catalogues which have now been drawn up. But you may form some idea of the industry and vast labour expended in its formation, when I state to you, on the authority of one who has had the best means of knowing, Mr. Owen, that there is proof of Hunter having dissected above 500 species of animals, exclusive of repeated dissections of difter- ent individuals of the same species, besides those of plants to a considerable amount; and of his dili- gence in recording the details of his observations, that at the same period he possessed original records of the dissections of 315 different species of animals.

Not contented with displaying the peculiarities of