The Hunterian oration delivered February 14, 1883 at the Royal College of Surgeons of England / by T. Spencer Wells.

Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Hunterian oration delivered February 14, 1883 at the Royal College of Surgeons of England / by T. Spencer Wells. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    10/45 (page 8)
    of the stricture without opening the sac, his success was very remarkable. In his Hunterian Oration Mr. Luke refers to a letter of Hunter’s urging upon this College the establishment of a library, which he ‘ would consider one of the happiest events of his life,’ as a proof that he regretted his own deficient early educa- tion ; and Mr. Luke strongly insisted upon the necessity of a good general education for all medical men, and upon the study specially of French and German, and lie spoke with great satisfaction of the examinations in the classics recently instituted by the Council of this College. Turning to the study of Hunter’s character as an example to ourselves, he noted the ‘ perfect honesty and integrity of all his scientific and professional acts,’ his indifference to money—except as enabling him to pro- mote his favourite objects—his beneficence, his wonderful industry, and his careful subjection of all his doctrines to the test of fact or experiment. South was one of the last surviving relics of the staff of the then united hospitals of Guy’s and St. Thomas’s; apprenticed to the younger Cline of St. Thomas’s, and, after very many years’ service as assistant surgeon there, succeeding too late in life to the full surgeoncy. He was a Member of our Council from 1841 to 1871 ; was an Examiner for many years ; was Arris and Gale Professor ; delivered the Hunterian Oration in 1844; and twice, in 1851 and 1860, was honoured by the highest distinc- tion his colleagues on the Council could bestoAv. His works are translations of Otto’s Avell-lmown Compendium of Anatomy and of Chelius’s Surgery, which he greatly enriched by his own notes. His text-book on the Bones and Ids,Household Surgery have both done useful service. When Frank Buckland discovered the coffin of John