HUNTER, WILLIAM, m.D., the elder brother of John Hunter, was b. at Long Calder wood, in the parish of Kilbride, Lanarkshire, in 1718, and died in London in 1783. After studying for five sessions in the university of Glasgow, with a view to entering the church, he determined to devote himself to the profession of physic. He passed the winter session 1740-41 in Edinburgh, and in the summer 1741 arrived in London, where he resided with Dr. James Douglas, the well-known anatomist and obstetric physician, for the double purpose of assisting in dissections, and superintending the 1 education Of his son. Hunter was then entered as a surgeon's pupil of St. George's hospital, and as a dissecting pupil of Dr. Frank Nicholls, who was then teaching anatomy with great success. To teach anatomy was now the object of his ambition, and in 1740 an opportunity of doing so occurred. A society of naval surgeons had for several years engaged Mr. Sharpe to deliver a course of lectures on the operations of surgery, and on his resignation, Hunter received the appointment. He gave so much satis faction, that the society requested him to extend his plan to anatomy. In 1747 Hunter was.admitted a member of the corporation of surgeons. In the early part of his career, lie practised both surgery and midwifery, but he gradually confined.himself to the latter line of practice. He was appointed one of the surgeous-accoucheur to the Middlesex hospital in 1748, and to the British lying-in hospital in 1749.
In 1702 Hunter was consulted by queen Charlotte, and two years aftcrWards was appointed physician-extraordinary to her majesty. In 1767 Bunter was elected a
fellow of the royal society, and in the following year was appointed professor of anatomy to the royal academy. In 1770 he removed to Great Windmill street, where he had built a house, in connection with which were a roomy amphitheater for lectures, a dissecting-room, and a magnificent room which was to form his museum, which con sisted of anatomical preparations executed by himself and his pupils, purchases from other museums, also minerals, shells, and other objects of natural history, together with a very rare cabinet of ancient medals and coins.
An estrangement which took place between Hunter and his brother continued till the former was on his death-bed, when his brother requested that he might be admitted to see him. This was acceded to, and he continued to visit him daily, and to afford him professional assistance, until his death. Together with the bulk of his fortune, Hunter left his museum to Dr. Baillie for a period of 30 years, after which it was to be handed over to the university of Glasgow, to which institution lie bequeathed £3,000 for its maintenance and increase.
Hunter excelled as a lecturer in clearness of arrangement, aptness of illustration, and elegance of diction. " He was, perhaps, the best teacher of anatomy that ever lived." He published several important contributions to medicine, of which the most important is his Anatomical Description of the Haman Gravid Uterus and its Contents, which did not appear in its perfect form till after his death.