Page:The Hunterian oration, for the year 1819.djvu/30

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HUNTERIAN ORATION.

own enquiries and reflections; and its supreme excellence, at the time of its publication, was testified by the applause of every nation, and by proffers of invitation and reward to its author by various governments. The Nostalgia of Haller, however, induced him after seventeen years’ residence in Gottingen to return to Berne, where he became a magistrate and politician, without relinquishing his former studies. Such was the esteem with which Haller was regarded, wherever the sciences were cultivated, that most foreigners of distinction, and even princes, in passing through Switzerland, paid homage by their visits to the illustrious Haller.

John Hunter was born in the county of Lanark, in Scotland, in the year 1728, and he died in London in 1793. He had received but little education; his mind had not been taught to act in imitation of others; he disliked to read, as much as he liked to think. When Mr. Cline addressed the College on this anniversary, he said, “Much as Mr. Hunter did, he thought still more. He has often told me, his de-