The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

[Born in Scotland, 1728. Died in London, 1793. Aged 65.] When John Hunter was twenty years old, he could scarcely read or write; but he could make chairs and tables. At the time of his death, forty-five years afterwards, he was the first anatomist in the country; and he left behind him a museum--the work of his own rare intelligence and industry--which the government purchased for the sum of £15,000, and conferred upon the Royal College of Surgeons. Hunter came to London, from his carpenter’s shop in Scotland, in order to serve as anatomical assistant to his brother William, who had already established a reputation as an anatomist, and was doing well. In a few months John had made sufficient advance to be able to give instruction in the dissecting-room. He then studied on his own account, went to Oxford, and became a surgeon. Intense application, profound observation, ceaseless experiments, and masterly skill and judgment, enabled him in time considerably to enlarge the knowledge of surgery, and to make valuable discoveries in connexion with his favourite science of comparative anatomy. He was, for England, the first great leader in the Science of animal life. He was a bold and clever operator; he wrote several professional treatises; and, besides being Surgeon Extraordinary to the King, he held the offices of Inspector-General of Hospitals, and Surgeon-General. His name is honoured in the profession to which he belongs, and he is justly regarded as the great and worthy guide and pioneer of all the seekers and successful discoverers, who since his time have explored the same paths. [By Flaxman.]