This remarkable and eminent man, who enjoys the distinction of having been one of the most accom-plished anatomists that ever lived, was born at Long Calderwood, in the county of Lanark, on the 13th of February, 1728. The place of his birth was an estate of which his father was laird, as the proprietors of the Scottish soil are indiscriminately termed; but, as the acres were few and the family numerous, he was not, of course, reared in anything like enervating affluence or corrupting luxury Nevertheless, it appears that he did not in boyhood exhibit an iota of that dauntless industry which characterised his later years and made him the greatest of English surgeons Gibbon says with truth, that every person who rises above the ordinary level receives two educations—the first from his instructors, the second, the most personal and important, from himself; and it appears that Hunter was almost, if not altogether, indebted to self-culture for any learning he was ever master of. Indeed, in his earliest years he was allowed, and perhaps even to some extent encouraged, to neglect the opportunities of improvement within his reach. Being his father's youngest and favourite child, he was not required to apply himself with any earnestness to study, and it appears that he afterwards experienced no inconsiderable disadvantage from the want of proper and regular tuition.

At the age of ten he lost his father, and about the same time was sent to the grammar-school of Glasgow; but, owing to the unfortunate system of indulgence which was injudiciously continued by his mother, he arrived at his seventeenth year without having made any progress worthy of the name. It was the laudable and wholesome custom of his country, pursued originally in deference to a statute of one of the Jameses, that the sons of "lairds" should learn Latin. Accordingly, an effort was made to convey some knowledge of that language to Hunter, but with so little success that the attempt was abandoned in utter despair. Indeed, it was with no small difficulty that he was taught to read and write with as much proficiency as must have been manifested by his father's ploughman, shepherd, or cow-boy.

On leaving school he contrived for some time to amuse himself with such rural sports as his native district afforded, probably also employing himself in switching hedges, digging in the kail-yard, or driving cows from the meadows; but it was certain that he could not permanently lead such a life. The paternal estate had, as usual, gone to the eldest brother, the other sons being left to sink or swim, just as fortune and their own exertions might befriend them. More-over, the days were gone by when the youths of Scotland bartered their services and their blood for foreign pay, otherwise Hunter might have been recruited by some veteran Dalgetty on the common of the neighbouring village, shipped off forthwith to France or the low countries, and ere long won high fame and a bloody grave. As it happened, he went to stay with a sister, who had been married to a cabinet-maker in Glasgow, took to his brother-in-law's trade, and began to learn the manufacture of furniture. Luckily for himself, though by a circumstance which must at the time have been considered unfortunate, he was not permitted to spend his time in, and devote his labours to, the construction of beds, chairs, and tables. His relative became bankrupt, and having no prospect of pursuing the trade with success, Hunter was compelled to look abroad for some other occupation; and fortune was eminently propitious.

An elder brother, William, the seventh of the brood, and ten years older than our hero, having studied medicine at the Scottish Universities, had some time before this repaired to London, and laid the foundation of the extraordinary reputation, which he was destined to attain. The report of his success had possibly awakened in the young artificer a feeling of ambition, and his "mounting spirit" began to soar above the humble station which he was then occupying. He, therefore, wrote to his already celebrated brother, proposing to proceed to London, and become his anatomical assistant; stating, at the same time, his intention, in case of the offer not being accepted, of enlisting in the army. The proposal, however, was treated with fraternal generosity; and the medical profession received into its ranks a man capable of adding immensely to its importance.

On arriving in London his first efforts at dissection were made with a skill, dexterity, and judgment, which augured most favourably for his future career; and he pursued his first success so effectually that, before the expiration of a year, he was employed in the instruction of his brother's pupils.

He was now twenty-one, and his subsequent surgical achievements were worthy of the auspicious commencement he had made. He pursued his investigations at a cost of money and labour seldom paralleled; and the interesting museum, which after his death was purchased by Parliament and deposited in the Royal College of Surgeons, is a striking memorial of the efforts and exertions he made in pursuing his object, as well as a worthy monument of his greatness.

He shortly became a member of the Corporation of Surgeons, and was appointed surgeon to St. George's Hospital. He was subsequently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, in whose proceedings he acted a conspicuous part, and was selected as Inspector-general of the Hospitals, and Surgeon-general to the Army. His time was so incessantly occupied with his various important avocations, that he only allowed himself four hours in the twenty-four for rest and repose. He died while in the discharge of his laborious functions at St. George's Hospital, on the 16th of October, 1793.

No stronger instance of the advantage of study, application, and industry, could be cited than the rise of this wonderful man, from the upholsterer's workshop to the highest and most honourable position in the important profession, which he adorned by the results of his independent thought and by the operations of his philosophic genius. "That man thinks for him-self," exclaimed Lavater, when he looked on the face of this "Prophet of the Healing Art," as it seems to live and breathe on the canvass of Sir Joshua.