What did john hunter do for medicine
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John Hunter: learning from natural experiments, ‘placebos’, and the state of mind of a patient in the 18th century
Introduction
Maverick, Scottish-born 18th-century surgeon John Hunter was Georgian London's most popular surgeon in the late 18th century.1,2 He made exceptional contributions to advancing the understanding and practice of medicine through observation and experiment. John Hunter studied anatomy for 12 years alongside his brother William, at their school in Covent Garden. After a few short spells of hands-on surgical practice in London hospitals, he signed up in 1760 as a surgeon in the British army.
Learning from natural experiments
In March 1761, aged 33, John Hunter set sail from Portsmouth as part of an undercover expedition to capture the island of Belle-Île, off the coast of Brittany, in a reckless effort to determine the outcome of the Seven Years War. After the troops succeeded in conquering the island, Hunter and his fellow surgeons were kept busy treating hundreds of wounded British and French soldiers in filthy conditions, without the benefit of either
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John Hunter (physician)
Scottish physician and medical writer
Dr John HunterFRSE (1754–1809) was a Scottish physician[1] linked to Jamaica.
Life
Hunter was born in Perthshire, and studied medicine at Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.D. in 1775. He was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians of London in 1777, and appointed physician to the army through the interest of George Baker and William Heberden.[2]
From 1781 to 1783 Hunter was superintendent of the military hospitals in Jamaica. On returning to England he settled in practice as a physician in London, first in Charles Street, and then in Hill Street. Elected a fellow of the Royal Society by 1787, he was admitted a fellow of the College of Physicians speciali gratia in 1793, and was made censor the same year.[2]
As Gulstonian lecturer in 1796, Hunter lectured on softening of the brain, which he is said to have been the first to treat as a distinct pathological condition; the lecture was not published. He was later physician extraordinary to the Prince o
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John Hunter (1728-93), surgeon of St George's Hospital, was a brilliant observer, naturalist, and thinker, as well as being an innovative doctor. His philosophy of surgery and his teachings were based on his close observation of his patients, both in life and after death, and on a truly amazing study of the whole field of biology, from the artificial fertilisation of moths' eggs to dissection of the whale. He proudly claimed to pay little attention to the writings of his contemporaries or his predecessors. Although he cannot be said to have made a particular major advance in surgery, his fresh approach to the subject entitles him to be regarded as the father of scientific surgery in the United Kingdom.
Figure 1.
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Hunter's life is a biographer's dream. Born a farmer's son in a village outside Glasgow, he was slow in learning to read and write, disliked school, and preferred to wander through the countryside observing nature. At the age of 20, having failed to find any vocation, he joined his brother William, 10 years his seni
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