of me, or that I should stuff Latin and Greek at the university; but,' he added, significantly pressing his thumbnail on the table, `these schemes I cracked like so many vermin as they came before me.' Both Home and Ottley state that Hunter began to assist his brother in lecturing in 1754. In the 'European Magazine' for October 1782 (ii. 247) it is stated, on the other hand, apparently on John Hunter's authority, that his brother wished to take him into partnership with him, and in 1758 declared him fully competent, but that he declined on account of his aversion to public speaking and extreme diffidence. Assisting in lecturing did not, however, involve partnership, and the two statements are not incompatible. There is evidence that during this period John traced the descent of the testis in the fœtus; made discoveries as to the nature of the placental circulation; investigated the nasal and olfactory nerves; tested the absorbing powers of veins; studied the nature of pus, and did a great deal, in concert with his brother, to determine the course and functions of the lymphatic system. Although William often acknowledged that he was in certain points simply his brother's interpreter, John thought his acknowledgments insufficient. Weakness of health, after an attack of inflammation of the lungs in 1759, induced him to leave his brother and accept in October 1760 a staff-surgeoncy in Hodgson and Keppel's expedition to Belleisle, which sailed in 1761. While off Belleisle he was studying the conditions of the coagulation of the blood (Treatise on the Blood, &c., p.21). In 1762 he served with the British army in Portugal, and acquired an extensive knowledge of gunshot wounds and inflammation, pursuing at the same time his study of human anatomy and of the physiology of hibernating animals.
Returning to London on half-pay in 1763, Hunter started in practice as a surgeon in Golden Square, and soon formed a private class for anatomy and operative surgery; but owing to his ineffective delivery and exposition, his pupils never numbered more than twenty. He also took resident pupils. His studies in comparative and human anatomy and in surgery he continued with indefatigable zeal. He obtained the refusal of all animals dying in the Tower menagerie and other collections, and in some cases bought rare animals, which he allowed to be exhibited on condition that he received the carcases at death. Sir Everard Home stated that as soon as he accumulated ten guineas by fees, Hunter always made some addition to his collection. On one occasion he borrowed five guineas from G. Nicol, the king's bookseller, to buy a dying tiger (Ottley, p. 29). Every hour he could snatch from practice or sleep was devoted to dissection, experiment, and reflection. In 1764 he bought two acres of land at Earl's Court, Kensington, and built a plain house on it, which he afterwards greatly enlarged (see Frank Buckland in Hunter at Earl's Court). Here he had all kinds of conveniences for dissection, maceration, &c., as well as cages for living animals. He had a pond ornamented with skulls in the garden, where he made experiments on the artificial formation of pearls in oysters. He was very fond of bees, having several hives in his conservatory, but he was fondest of the fiercer quadrupeds. Once he was thrown down by a little bull which Queen Charlotte had given him. On another occasion two leopards broke loose, but, though unarmed, he mastered them both. In 1766 he made his first communication to the Royal Society, an anatomical description of a siren from South Carolina, and was elected F.R.S. on 5 Feb. 1767 (earlier than his elder brother William). In 1767 he ruptured his tendo Achillis by an accident, and his study of his own case and of the mode of repair of ruptured tendons led to the present improved practice of cutting through tendons under the skin for the relief of distorted and contracted joints. In 1767 he became a member of the Surgeons' Corporation, and in the following year was a candidate for the surgeoncy to St. George's Hospital, in succession to Gataker. His brother supported him, and he was elected on 9 Dec. by 114 votes to 42 given for D. Bayford. His practice increased, and in 1768 he removed to the large house in Jermyn Street which his brother had vacated. Here he took house-pupils, who were bound to him for five years, at a premium of five hundred guineas. Among them was Edward Jenner [q.v.], to whom Hunter became much attached, and whom in 1775 he begged to join him in lecturing. Many of his interesting letters to Jenner are given in Baron's 'Life of Jenner,' and others are in Ottley's 'Life of Hunter.' In May 1771 Hunter published the first part of his ' Treatise on the Human Teeth,' and in July of the same year he married Miss Anne Home [see Hunter, Anne] . Though they got on well together, her taste for fashionable society sometimes irritated Hunter, who once, upon finding his drawing-room full, said that he had not been informed of ' this kick-up,' and requested the guests to disperse. In June 1772 he contributed to the Royal Society his celebrated paper' On the Digestion of the Stomach after Death,' the first of many important papers. In the autumn of 1772 his brother-in-law, Everard Home [q.v.],
