Page:The Hunterian Oration 1832.djvu/20

 scribed in Holy Writ by the "path of an arrow," which is immediately closed up and lost. His footsteps in the walk of science shall never be obliterated : the lamp, which his glorious hand first lighted up, and which yet serves to illuminate the medical philosophers of every country, shall never be extinguished.

It is delightful to trace every incident, however trivial in itself, that is connected with the history of a man of such preeminence. We are eager to glean some particulars of his family, native place, and youthful habits; of the manner, in which he spent his time; and of the way, in which he rendered himself at once an honour to his country and the age, in which he lived. As anatomists, as physiologists, and as surgeons, we must feel the same kind of curiosity, respecting John Hunter, as one of the greatest mathematicians of Newton's time felt towards this "Prince of Philosophers," when he inquired, whether he ate, drank, and