Page:The Hunterian oration, for the year 1819.djvu/55

 As a contrast, however, to that occasional want of temper which some may consider as a fault in the character of Mr. Hunter, I may mention that his habits of investigation, and his slowness in communicating his own opinions, had given him an admirable degree of patience and perseverance in accomplishing whatever he undertook, and this was conspicuous even in the common practice of his profession. In one of the cases which he has published, he says,—“After about an hour’s conversation with the patient, I made out a few simple facts.” If pressed for time, he was often known to say, “I cannot tell at present what to recommend: I must think of it.” For to Mr. Hunter almost every case was a study, and so indeed it must be to all those who practise their profession as a science. I will here relate one out of many instances that I could adduce of the pains which he took, from benevolent motives, to convince persons of what seemed to him essential to their welfare. A strong ruddy-faced farmer had a disease, which induced Mr. Hunter to enjoin a total abstinence from fermented liquors. “Sir,” said the farmer, “I assure