John Hunter (surgeon)

Lore & Background

Hunter was born at Long Calderwood, the youngest of ten children. As a youth he showed little talent and helped his brother-in-law as a cabinet-maker. He studied under William Cheselden and Percival Pott, and also with Marie Marguerite Bihéron. That same year he acquired the skeleton of the Irish giant Charles Byrne against Byrne's deathbed wishes, bribing a member of the funeral party. His character was described as kindly and generous though outwardly rude; he later quarreled with his brother William over a priority dispute, but mourned his death three years later.

Reader's Guide

John Hunter's significance lies in his insistence on careful observation and scientific method in medicine at a time when practice was often based on tradition. He made contributions to understanding human teeth, bone growth, inflammation, gunshot wounds, venereal diseases, digestion, the lacteals, child development, the separateness of maternal and foetal blood supplies, and the lymphatic system. However, his erroneous belief that gonorrhoea and syphilis were caused by a single pathogen—based on an experiment likely performed on a third party—set back knowledge for 51 years until Philippe Ricord disproved it. His legacy includes the Hunterian Society of London and the Hunterian Museum, as well as the eponymous Hunter's canal in the thigh. Samuel Taylor Coleridge saw in Hunter's work the seeds of Romantic medicine.

Did You Know?

• Hunter acquired the skeleton of the 2.31-metre Irish giant Charles Byrne against Byrne's deathbed wish to be buried at sea, bribing a member of the funeral party.
• His wife Anne Hunter was a poet whose works were set to music by Joseph Haydn.
• Hunter's erroneous theory that gonorrhoea and syphilis were the same disease was not disproved until 51 years after his death by French physician Philippe Ricord.