The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-15 00:00:00

[TWOPENCE

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND.

The Hunterian Oration, now biennially delivered
in the large and commodious theatre of the above institu-
tion was yesterday given by Professor Hilton, F.H.S.,the
senior vice-president of the college, before an unusually
large numberof the dile of the learned professions, that
of the surgical of course predominating. The orator oom-
menoed by stating that one of the signs by which the in-
tellectual pews of nations might be measured was to
be found in their just appreciation of those of their coun-
trymen, past and present, who bad given evidence of un-
usual mental endowment. It had, however, 'commonly
happened that a new line of thought, or the opening up of
a new track of mental or philosophical inquiry, had escaped
the attention, or even excited the opposition of contem-
porary thinkers, seemingly became their minds were pee-
'recopied in the elaboration of ideas antecedently
a
He then proceeded to imptire into the reason wht:CU:tit-
preciation of phileaophiad knowledge 'herald have been so
prominent a feature of one age, and so uttterly led sight
of in another, and added that necessarily the ages of strife
could not nurture philosophy, inter brim(' cedunt arts, fur-
nished the one prominent cause for the indifference to
mental culture in many epochs of the world's history, but
careful consideration would elicit causes other than those
of the sword and the battle-field for the different capacity
necessary to the intellectual appreciation of oontem
labour at different periods of time. He then .;,.......:01111ffiErfr-sPv •
bat analytical review of the 'teat men who
during the reign oapprenaf queend nintieth, and how grest?rtlalk "—""
wnte te comparison with them et Atm
present day, and instanced Rester as a mind Jammu-
tan of this defective estimation by contemporaries.
succeeding generations bad, however, done mach to atone
fur the indifference of his own, and added that it would be
difficult to find another instance in which so large a awed
of posthumous fame had been, as it were, extracted from
the dry bones which he had bequeathed, although the
minds of the professional men of his day appeared to have
failed in measuring the extent and depth of the great
truths !which he had enunciated, or in appreci-
ating the value of those which he was then ela-
borating. The progressive knowledge of several
succeling year. appeared to laws been necessary to evoke
the earliest public attempt to establish the true relation
which his marvellous labours bore to the development of
science. The period of Hunter's most zealous
laboars—
the latter portion of the eighteenth centry—was marked
by the limited application of mental activity to the culti-
vation of science. The UAW of the nation appeared
solely directed to the cultivation of the high statesman-
ahip requisite to contend with the grave and startling
petaled events of the European and the American conti-
nents. Hunter was at this period labouring patiently and
perseveringly, but alone, with a sagacious and primitive
simplicity. He was reading nature . facts, as exhibited in
the organised world, with a zeal unexampled, an industry
scarcely ever surpassed, questioning her in her own language,
and, slowly understanding her tardy, and, oftentimes to
him, obscure responses. Mr. Hilton then entered into
the early history of Hunter, his struggles, &c., until the
latter were surmounted, and he appeared the accomplished
surgeon ; and added, that a re-perusal of Hunter's works
excited his amazement at the extent to which our surgery
of the present day was guided by his comprehensive teach-
ings. The learned orator then occupied some time in re-
viewing the great works of Hunter, with which the pro-
fession is now so well acquainted, and stated that the mu-
seum of the College of Surgeons contained 10,000 prepa-
rations, the work of his own hands, a striking instance
how fascinated he was in the pursuit of nature. After
alluding to the want of public recognition of the merits of
our great surgeons, Mr. Hilton concluded by stating that
popular appreciation was matter of small account, that
lack of interest in our labors be professional contempora-
ries was hard to bear, that to condemn or damn with faint
praise the honest worker, without taking reins to obtain
an accurate knowledge of the value of his discoveries, was
still harder ; that Hunter bad to endure all this, and right
manfully he bore it all, from his inner conviction that,
let the world say what it would, no dogmatism, no vague
denial, no sneer, could make any impression on his preyed
facts. Above all, his conscious love of truth, for truth's
own sake, produced in Hunter only the high minded in-
differeuce of the philosopher to the petty assaults of
ignorance. Mr. Hilton advised his hearers not to strive for
the brittle fame of the meteor dazzling only for a short
time, to be extinguished for ever.