Hunter, john

(¤ 1728,  1793), Scottish anatomist and surgeon, born 13.2.1728 in Long Calderwood, East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He died on 16.10.1793 in London, England. John Hunter was one of the greatest anatomists and pathologists of his time and founder of English experimental pathology. His principle "Don't think, try the experiment" inspired generations of modern surgeons. In 1748 he received his first medical training from his older brother William. Further studies followed at St. George's and St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. He was also a pupil of William Cheselden (1688-1752) at Chelsea Hospital and in 1751 a pupil of John Percivall Pott (1714-1788) at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. From 1754 to 1756 he was a surgical assistant at St. George's Hospital. Hunter was a renowned venereologist and recognized and described the basic characteristics of sexual diseases. J.K. Proksch was very critical of J. Hunter's venereal work and activities. From a self-experiment he and with him almost all doctors of the world concluded that the secret of gonorrhoea can produce a chancres: "that matter from gonorrhoea can produce chancres". From this Hunter's experiment the victory for the so-called identity theory was born as an "undeniable consequence": "the contagium of gonorrhoea, chancres and syphilis is one and the same". Hunter also referred to syphilis as a systemic disease in the realm of fable: "we have not seen the brain affected, the heart, stomach, liver, kidneys, not other viscera".