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John
Hunter
(1728-1793)
Born
near Glasgow, in East Kilbride, Scotland, John Hunter studied
anatomy and surgery in London, first at St. Bartholomew's
Hospital under the direction of Percivall Pott, then at St.
George's, where he spent twenty-five years as an instructor
of anatomy and surgery. He also served as a surgeon with the
British army during the Seven Years' War (1756-63).
Hunter
is considered, with Ambroise Paré and Joseph Lister,
one of the three greatest surgeons of all time. He is credited
with having raised English surgery from a mere "technical
trade" to its position as equal to other medical specialties.
He rejected academic speculation and insisted on experimentation
and direct observation. Hunter expressed this basic tenet in
an often-quoted remark to his most famous student, Edward Jenner:
"Don't think, try."
Aside
from his research and teaching in anatomy and surgery, Hunter
wrote important works on teeth (he coined the terms cuspids,
bicuspids, molars, and incisors), sexually transmitted disease,
and inflammation. A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and
Gun-shot Wounds, a compilation of Hunter's observations during
the Seven Years' War, was published posthumously in 1794. The
Natural History of Human Teeth, which is regarded as the first
scientific basis for dentistry, was produced in 1778.
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