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• John Hunter was born in Scotland in 1728.
• He moved to London and trained as a surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
• His collection of human and animal body parts is now in the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons.

Hunter's key work

Hunter was keen to develop more scientific methods in researching medicine. For example, he carried out an experiment to prove his belief that syphilis and gonorrhoea - infections caused by two different types of bacteria - were caused by the same disease. To do this, Hunter deliberately infected a patient with pus from a gonorrhoea patient, but he ended up infecting them with syphilis as well. Hunter believed that the most effective treatment for the diseases was to give the patient mercury - a chemical element that is highly poisonous.

Some historians believe that Hunter actually experimented on himself, not a patient.

Many years later this theory was proved to be false and it is thought that the needle was already infected with syphilis from another source.

Hunter had a particular interest in anatomy. Over his career, he amassed a huge collection of animal and human skeletons, bones and body parts. He had over 14,000 items from more than 500 different species. Hunter encouraged other doctors to learn and study the anatomy of humans and animals, to increase their understanding of how the body works.

In his time working with the army, Hunter disproved the idea that a gunshot injury poisoned the area around the wound. This had led to unnecessary treatments - for example, cutting out the area around a wound. Hunter’s army work and observations also led him to argue that amputation should only be carried out as a last resort. He experimented with various ways to try to save wounded limbs.

Why was Hunter significant?

Hunter held high-profile positions. He was the surgeon to George III and was also surgeon general to the British army.

As a prominent doctor and leading member of the Royal Society, Hunter was responsible for the training of other doctors. These included Edward Jenner, who went on to discover the smallpox vaccine. Hunter was keen to encourage other surgeons to follow careful scientific methods when developing their practice. He argued that this would help surgeons to improve their methods and lead to better outcomes for patients.

Hunter wrote several books, including The Natural History of the Human Teeth, A Treatise on the Venereal Disease and A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gunshot Wounds. These helped other doctors to learn from Hunter’s scientific method.

The Hunterian museum is owned and operated by the Royal College of Surgeons. It displays the collection Hunter built up throughout his career.