Memoirs of the life and doctrines of the late John Hunter, esq. Founder of the Hunterian museum, at the Royal college of surgeons in London / By Joseph Adams.

  • Adams, Joseph, 1756-1818.
Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoirs of the life and doctrines of the late John Hunter, esq. Founder of the Hunterian museum, at the Royal college of surgeons in London / By Joseph Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    plete. Before it was sent to the press, he often de¬ clared, that no future edition should render the first useless. His name produced an immediate sale; but, on account of the obscurity universally complained of, the second edition lingered for thirteen years. In this edition, he new-modelled a passage, the perver¬ sion of which had given his enemies a great advan¬ tage. Most unfortunately, Sir Everard Home, in giving a third edition, has copied from the first, sub¬ joining a note, in which he adds his own censure to the passage expunged by the author, and restored by himself. This, if there were no other, is a suffi¬ cient apology for me in republishing the second edi¬ tion with explanatory commentaries. The haste with which Sir Everard*s was got up, may account for another note, in which one part of Mr. Hunter’s practice is condemned; a better is hinted at, as adopted by the writer, but is not explained. The following account of the Museum is copied from Sir Everard Home : u The collection of comparative anatomy which Mr. Hunter has left, and which may be considered as the great object of his life, must be allowed to be a proof of talents, assiduity, and labour, which can¬ not be contemplated without surprise and admiration. “ It remains an unequivocal test of his persever¬ ance and abilities, and an honour to the country in whose schools he was educated, and by the patronage of which he was enabled, on so extensive a scale, to carry on his pursuits. “ In this Collection, we find an attempt to expose to view the gradations of Nature, from the most sim¬ ple state in which life is found to exist, up to the