John Hunter: First Scientific Surgeon

In modern times when private cosmetic service and plastic surgery are available, in his day, Scottish
surgeon John Hunter was still on his way to pioneering scientific surgery. He started out when
people were just starting to discover how the body functioned then apply that knowledge to their
surgical work. Hunter was an early advocate of careful observation, surgical training and scientific
method.
Brief Biography of Surgeon John Hunter
John Hunter was born on February 13, 1728, in Long Calderwood, East Kilbride, Scotland. When he
was 20, he moved to London to assist in his brothers dissecting room. Later, he studied at Londons
three hospitals - Chelsea Hospital, St. Bartholomews Hospital and St Georges Hospital.
When he joined his brother, William Hunter, Johns elder brother had already established himself as
a physician and obstetrician. His brother had a dissecting room at the back of his house and was
preparing a series of lectures on dissection and anatomy. John impressed his brother with his work;
soon William enrolled him in surgical classes.
During the Seven Years War, Hunter served with the British army in France and Portugal, from 1756
to 1763, and he had the chance to employ his dissecting skills in repairing wounded casualties.
After the war he worked as a surgeon in Golden Square, London. A year later, he moved to work at
St. Georges Hospital, London, and started taking pupils, including Edward Jenner, the English
physician who developed vaccination as a means of preventing smallpox. Hunter also offered a
series of lectures on The Principles of Surgery.

Hunter married Anne Home when he was 43. He died on October 16, 1793 after suffering from heart
failure.
John Hunters Working Museum
Aside from dissecting human bodies, Hunter studied other animals. His interest was not so much on
the animals as individual species but to compare them and find common structures. After his return
from southern Europe, Hunter bought a land in Earls Court and built a house which he populated
with bizarre collection of dead and alive animals. The rooms of his house were inhabited by
mummified bodies, skeletons and cadavers.
John Hunter and Body Snatching
Finding human bodies to dissect wasnt that easy. Hunter and his anatomy colleagues made use of
bodies of people who had been hanged. That time, London had gangs of so-called resurrectionists
who stole bodies from mortuaries, a practice that was illegal and met with public anger.
Hunter was believed to have paid over the odds to obtain the corpse of an Irish giant, Charles Byrne,
who had made his living as a circus attraction. The Irishmans skeleton is said to be on display in the
Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons, in London.
Insight to John Hunters Life and Works
John Hunter was known to have a fierce temper and obsession to his work. In an act to determine
the nature of venereal disease, he purposely inoculated himself with an infected material from
someone suffering the disease. He was well aware of the dangers, that it will give him syphilis and
damage his heart and circulatory system. As to his temper, during an argument at St. Georges
Hospital, he suffered from heart failure during an argument and never regained consciousness.
John Hunter was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1767. His intricate knowledge of
anatomy enabled him to perfect his surgery. He analyzed many of the problems faced by surgeons
and developed rational strategies for dealing with them.
His acquaintances included Edward Jenner and John Bell.
Books by John HunterA Treatise on the Natural History of the Human Teeth, 1771A Treatise on the
Venereal Disease, 1786A Treatise on the Blood, inflammation, and Gunshot Wounds, 1794

(Published a year after his death)Sources:

Moore, Pete. E=MC: The Great Ideas That Shaped Our World. London: Quintet Publishing, 2002.
The Science Book. London: Wedenfeld & Nicolson, 2001.
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