Page:The Hunterian oration, for the year 1819.djvu/49

 more advantageous to his reputation first induced me to propose to him questions, merely in order to learn how he would answer them: yet this seeming desire of information on my part, acting on his benevolent mind, induced him to pay me much more attention than I had been accustomed to receive from others. He invited me to come to his house, to sit and converse with him. I now regret that I profited so little by the opportunities he offered me ; but I was at that time ignorant of the value of the information which I might have derived from him. That benevolence was a predominant sentiment of Mr. Hunter’s mind may be inferred from his fondness for animals, his aversion to operations, and from the zeal with which he assisted every poor man of merit. Upon mentioning my conviction on this point to a surgeon who knew him intimately, he replied, “I am sure I have reason to think so, for I was ill, and he kindly and diligently attended me; nay, he brought those of his medical friends to visit me in whose judgment he placed most confidence. My illness being, however, tedious, I was at