Hunter, John

Hunter, John, 1728–93, Scottish anatomist and surgeon, studied under his brother, William Hunter. A pioneer in comparative anatomy and morphology who is sometimes called the father of modern surgery, he made many valuable investigations and introduced several surgical techniques, including a method of ligating aneurisms that is still in use. His writings include Natural History of the Human Teeth (1771), a work on sexually transmitted diseases (1786), and Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gunshot Wounds (1794). Hunter's anatomical collection, acquired in 1800 by the Royal College of Surgeons, London, formed the nucleus of the Hunterian Museum.

Bibliography

See biographies by E. A. Gray (1952), J. Kobler (1960), I. Noble (1971), and W. Moore (2005).

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Hunter, John

(born Feb. 13, 1728, Long Calderwood, Lanarkshire, Scot.—died Oct. 16, 1793, London, Eng.) British surgeon. He never attempted to become a medical doctor but assisted in the preparation of dissections for a course of anatomy taught by his brother William Hunter. In the early 1770s he began giving his own lectures on surgery, and in 1776 he was named surgeon extraordinary to George III. He carried out many highly diverse and important studies in comparative biology, anatomy, physiology, and pathology and is considered the founder of pathological anatomy in Britain. He was an important influence on Edward Jenner.