Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 05 Nov 2007
William Hunter (1718-1783) As Natural Historian: His ‘Geological’ Interests
William Hunter (1718-1783) As Natural Historian: His ‘Geological’ Interests
and
Page Range: 9 – 24
Hunter was an influential figure who built up large natural history collections, amongst which minerals predominated. He was not a mere collector, however, and both his library and collections were sought out by contemporary workers. Analytical mineralogy only emerged from its alchemical background towards the end of Hunter's lifetime, and his library contains most of this early mineralogical literature, to some of which at least he was a subscriber. He also possessed a number of lapidaries, one of them a unique manuscript, and several specimens indicate his interest in medical mineralogy. The contents of Hunter's mineral and rock collections reflect the interests of his day: there is a piece of the Siberian iron mass which was only accepted as a meteorite in 1794, after Hunter's death, and lavas from Vesuvius, together with his subscription copy of Hamilton's classic 1776 study of that volcano. Lavas from Iceland - perhaps from Sir Joseph Banks - reflect the Plutonist - Neptunist debate, and Hunter's museum was also visited by Raspe, the German Neptunist. Hunter (1768) was the first to establish, on comparative morphological grounds, that the American mastodon differed from living elephants, and that it must therefore be extinct - an idea with which Buffon had toyed in 1761. A recently published manuscript of 1770-1773 shows that Hunter realised the Irish ‘elk’ was quite different from the living American moose, contrary to the then current opinion, and that it too must be extinct. It was to be another forty years before Cuvier demonstrated this difference in comparable detail. Hunter thus broke the Great Chain of Being twice, at the high level of quadrupeds, only one down the ladder of life from man and monkey. This was an important contribution to Enlightenment thought, since "one step broken, the great scale's destroyed" (Pope, 1733). Hunter acquired the foremost collection of Recent corals in Europe, on Fothergill's death in 1781. Corals not only linked inert with living parts of the Chain of Being but, with newly discovered coral islands, formed part of Whitehurst's 1778 theory of the Earth for constructing land. Between 1764 and 1778, Hunter commissioned many drawings of bodily concretions, which were primarily of medical concern. Hunter may also have had an interest in them as part of the ‘stoniness’ problem, for the light they might shed on the fossilisation question.
ADAMS, F.D., 1938, The birth and development of the geological sciences: London.
AGRICOLA, G., 1556, De re metallica libri XII: Basileae.
ALBERTUS MAGNUS, 1662, De secretis mulierum. Item De virtutibus herbarum, lapidum et animalium: Amstelodami.
ALLEN, D.E., 1979, The lost limb: geology and natural history: In Jordanova, L.J. and Porter, R.S. (eds.), Images of the Earth. Brit. Soc. Hist. Sci. Monogr., v.1, p.200-212.
AL-RAHMAN, I.A.B., 1647, De proprietatibus, ac virtutibus medicis animalium, plant-arum, ac gemmarum, tractatus triplex, autore Habdarrahmano: Ecchellensi.
ANDERSON, R.J., 1904, Mr. Janes of Aberdeenshire. Notes Queries (10) v.2, p.155-156.
BALDWIN, J., 1983, William Hunter, 1718-1783, book collector (exhibition catalogue): Glasgow University Library, p.8, 38.
BAUSCH, J.L., 1665, Schediasmata bina curiosa de lapide haematite et aetite: Lipsiae.
BECCHER, J.J., 1738, Physica subterranea profundam subterraneorum genesin, e principiis hucusque ignotis ostendens: Lipsiae.
BERGMAN, T.O., 1773, Variae crystallorum formae, a spatho ortae, explicatae: Nova Acta R. Soc. Sci. Upsal., v.1, p.150-155.
BORLASE, W., 1766, Extract of two letters dated 7th and 12th 1765 to Emanuel Mendes da Costa: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.56, p. 35-39.
BOWLER, P.J., 1974, Evolutionism in the Enlightenment: J. Hist. Ideas, 12, p.159-183.
BOYLE, R., 1672, An essay about the origine and virtues of gems: London.
BROCK, C.H., 1973, Dr. Hunter's South Seas curiosities: Scott. Art Rev., v.14(2), p.6-9, 37-38.
BROCK, C.H., 1977, Dru Drury's illustrations of natural history and the type specimen of Goliathus goliatus Drury: J. Soc. Biblphy Nat. Hist., v.8, p.259-263.
BROCK, C.H., 1980, Dr. William Hunter's museum Glasgow University: J. Soc. Bibliogr. Nat. Hist., v.9: p.403-412.
BROCK, C.H., ed. 1983, William Hunter a reassessment. In Simmons, S.F. and Hunter, J., An account of the life and writings of the late William Hunter (1783): Glasgow, 81 p.
BROMEHEAD, C.E.N., 1947, Aetites or the eagle-stone: Antiquity, v.21, p.16-22.
BROMEHEAD, C.E.N., 1948, A geological museum of the early seventeenth century: Quart. J. geol. Soc. Lond., v.103, p.65-86.
BUFFON, G. - L. Leclerc, Comte de, 1761, 1764, Histoire naturelle, generale et particuliere, v.9, v.13: Paris, 376, 452p.
BYNUM, W.F., 1975, The Great Chain of Being after forty years: an appraisal: Hist. Sci., v.13, p.1-28.
CAMPBELL SMITH, W., 1978, Early mineralogy in Great Britain and Ireland: Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. (hist. Ser.), v.6, p.49-74.
CAMPER, P., 1788, Complementa varia Acad. Imper. Scient. Petropolitanae communicanda, ad clar. ac celeb. Pallas. Nova Acta Acad. Scient. Imp. Petropolitanae, v.2: p.250-264.
CAROZZI, A.V., 1969, Rudolf Eric Raspe and the basalt controversy: Studies in Romanticism, v.8, p.235-250.
CARSWELL, J., 1950, The prospector: bring the life and times of Rudolf Eric Raspe (1737-1794): Cresset Press, London.
CLENDENING, L., 1960, Source book of medical history: Dover, New York, 685 p.
COHEN, I.B., ed., 1941, Benjamin Franklin's experiments: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
CORNER, B.C. and BOOTH, C.C., 1971, Chain of Friendship. Belknap Press, Cambridge, Mass.
CRAMER, J.A., 1744, Elementa artis docimasticae: Lugduni Batavorum.
CROCKER, L.G., 1959, Diderot and eighteenth century French transformism. In Glass, B. et al., eds., Forerunners of Darwin, 1745-1859: Baltimore, 471 p.
CRONSTEDT, A.F., 1770, An essay towards a system of mineralogy. Translated from the original Swedish, with notes, by Gustav von Engestrom: London, 329 p.
CROSS, S.J., 1981, John Hunter, the Animal Oeconomy and late Eighteenth-century physiological discourse. Stud. Hist. Biol. v.5, p.1-110.
DA COSTA, E.M., 1757, A natural history of fossils: London.
CUVIER, G., 1812, Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles: v.4, Paris.
DAWSON, W.R., ed., 1958, The Banks letters: British Museum (Natural History), London.
DEAN, D.R., 1979, The word ‘geology’. Ann. Sci. v.36, p.35-43.
DESMAREST, N., 1771, Mémoire sur l'origine & la nature du basalte: Mém. Acad. Sci. Paris., p.705-775.
DEZALIER D'ARGENVILLE A.J., 1755, Histoire naturelle éclaircie dans une de ses parties principales, l'oryctologie qui traité des terres, des pierres, des métaux, des minéraux et autres fossiles: Paris.
DOBSON, J., 1969, John Hunter: Edinburgh and London, 361 p.
DONOVAN, E., 1806, Catalogue of the Leverian Museum (sale catalogue; facsimile reprint with buyers, and the 1790 Companion, London, 1979): London, p.296, 17,35.
ELLENBERGER, F., 1978, Précisions nouvelles sur la découverte des volcans de France: Guettard, ses prédécesseurs, ses émules clermontois. Hist. Nat. v.12-13, p.3-42.
ELLENBERGER, F. and GOHAN, G., 1981, A l'aurore de la stratigraphie paléontologique: Jean-Andre de Luc, son influence sur Cuvier. Rev. Hist. Sci. v.34, p.217-257.
ELLIS, J., 1755, An essay towards the natural history of the corallines: London.
ELLIS, J., 1762, An account of an Encrinus &c.; Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.52, p.357-362.
ELLIS, J., and SOLANDER, D., 1786, The natural history of many curious and uncommon zoophytes: London.
ENGESTROM. G. von, 1770, A treatise on the pocket laboratory: London, see Cronstedt.
EYLES, V.A., 1970, Introduction to G.W. WHITE (ed.), James Hutton's System of the Earth, 1785 & c: Hafner, Darien, Conn. p. xi-xxx.
FAUJAS DE SAINT FOND, 1907, A journey through England and Scotland to the Hebrides in 1784: Hugh Hopkins, Glasgow.
FERGUSON, M., 1930, The printed books in the library of the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow, a catalogue: Jackson, Wylie, Glasgow.
FORDYCE, G., 1780, A new method of assaying copper ores: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.70, p.30-41.
FORDYCE, G., 1792, On the cause of the additional weight which metals aquire by being calcined: Phil Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.82, p.374-382.
FORDYCE, G. and ALCHORNE, S., 1779, An examination of various ores in the museum of Dr. William Hunter: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.69, p.527-536.
FORMIGARI, L., 1968, Chain of Being: Dict. Hist Ideas, v.1, New York, p.325-335.
FORSTER, J.R., 1768, An introduction to mineralogy: London.
FOTHERGILL, J., 1744, An essay upon the origin of Amber: Phil Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.43, p.21-25.
FOUCAULT, M., 1970, The order of things: London, 378 p.
FRONDEL, C., 1972, Jacob Forster (1739-1806) and his connections with forsterite and palladium: Min. Mag., v.38, p.545-550.
GESNER, K., 1565, De omni rerum fossilium genere gemmis, lapidibus, metallis….: Jacobus Gesnerus, Tiguri.
GILLISPIE, C.C., 1951, Genesis and geology: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 315 p.
GLASS, B., TEMKIN, O. and STRAUS, W.L., eds., 1959, Forerunners of Darwin: 1745-1859: Baltimore, 471p.
GOLDSMITH, O., 1774, A history of the Earth and animated Nature, v.3: London, 403 p.
GOULD, S.J., 1974, The origin and function of "bizarre"structures - antler size and skull size in the "Irish elk," Mega-loceros giganteus: Evolution, v.28, p. 191-220.
GOULD, S.J., 1978, Ever since Darwin, reflections in natural history: New York, 285p.
GREENE, J.C., 1959, The death of Adam: Ames, Iowa, 382 p.
GUETTARD, J.E., 1756, Mémoire sur quelques montagnes de la France qui ont été des volcans: Mém. Acad. Sci., p.1-8.
HAMILTON, W., 1776, Campi Phlegraei: Naples.
HENCKEL, J.F., 1757, Pyritologia: or, a history of the pyrites: London.
HERMANNSON, H., 1928, Sir Joseph Banks and Iceland: Islandica, v.18, p.1-99.
HEY, M.H., 1973, Mineral analysis and the analysts: Min. Mag., v.39, p.4-24.
HILL, J., (transl.), 1746, Theophrastus's History of Stones: London.
HILL, J., 1748, A history of fossils: London.
HUNTER, J., 1775, An account of the Gymnotus electricus: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.65, p.395-407.
HUNTER, J., 1795, Observations on the fossil bones presented to the Royal Society by His Most Serene Highness the Margrave of Anspach: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.85, p.407-417.
HUNTER, J., 1859, Observations and reflections on geology: London.
HUNTER, W., 1768, Observations on the bones, commonly supposed to be elephants bones, which have been found near the River Ohio in America: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.58, p.34-45.
HUNTER, W., 1771a, An account of the Nyl-ghau an Indian animal not hitherto described: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.61, p.170-181.
HUNTER, W., 1771b, Account of some bones found in the Rock of Gibraltar: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.60, p.414-416.
HUNTER, W. 1772, Account of the fusing of a bell-wire by lightning: (unpublished) Letters and Papers Roy. Soc. Lond., v.319.
HUNTER, W., 1784, Two introductory lectures, delivered by Dr. William Hunter to his last course of anatomical lectures, at his theatre in Windmill Street: London.
IMRIE, M., 1797, A short mineralogical description of the Mountain of Gibraltar: Trans. R. Soc. Edinb., v.4: p.191-202.
JOHNSON, S., 1775, A journey to the Western Isles of Scotland: London.
JONES, F.W., 1953, John Hunter as a geologist: Ann. R. Coll. Surgeons Eng., v.12, p.219-245.
KAEPPLER, A.L., 1978, "Artificial curiosities" …at the B.P. Bishop Museum: Spec. Publ. Bishop Mus., v.65.
KEIR, J., 1776, On the crystallisations observed on glass: Phil Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.66, p.530-542.
KENDRICK, T.D., 1956, The Lisbon Earthquake: Methuen, London.
KER. N. R., 1983, William Hunter as a collector of medieval manuscripts: University of Glasgow Press, 28p.
KIRWAN, R., 1784, Elements of mineralogy: London.
LASKEY, J., 1813, A general account of the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow: Glasgow, 133p.
LEONARDI, C., 1750, The Mirror of stones: London.
LETTSOM, J.C., 1786, Memoirs of J. Fothergill, 4th ed: C. Dilly, London, 280p.
LOVEJOY, A.O., 1936, The great chain of being: Cambridge, Mass., 382p.
LYNSKEY, W., 1945, Goldsmith and the Chain of Being: J. Hist. Ideas, v.6, p.363-374.
LYTE, C., 1980, Sir Joseph Banks, David and Charles, Newton Abbot.
MAULA, E., 1967, On Plato and plenitude: Ajatus, v.29, p.12-50.
MOLYNEUX, T., 1697, A discourse concerning the large horns frequently found under ground in Ireland, concluding from them that the great American deer, called a moose, was formerly common in that island: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.19, p.489-512.
MURPHY, A.R., 1978, Visions of Vesuvius: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
NICOLS, T., 1652, A lapidary: or the history of pretious stones….: Cambridge.
NORDSTRÖM, C. (ed.), 1965, Torbern Bergman's foreign correspondence, v.1. Stockholm.
OPPENHEIMER, J.M., 1946, New aspects of John and William Hunter, Heinemann, London
OWEN, R., 1846, A history of British fossil mammals and birds: London, 560 p.
PALLAS, P.S., 1769, De ossibus Sibiriae fossilibus: Novi Comment, Acad. Scient. Imp. Petropolitanae, v.13, p.436-477.
PALLAS, P.S., 1771-1776, Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs: St. Petersburg.
PENNANT, T., 1768, British Zoology (2nd ed.), v.1: London, 232 p.
PENNANT, T., 1771, Synopsis of quadrupeds: Chester, 382 p.
PENNANT, T., 1774, A tour in Scotland and voyage to the Hebrides, 1772: v.1, Chester, 379 p.
PENNANT, T., 1785, Arctic zoology, v.1: London, 185 p.
PITT, R., 1703, The craft and frauds of physick exposed: London.
POCOCKE, R., 1745, A description of the East, and some other countries, Vol.2, pt.1, London.
POPE, A., 1717-1735, Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. In The works of Mr. Alexander Pope: London.
POPE, A., 1733, Essay on Man: London.
PORTER, R., 1977, The making of geology: Cambridge, 288p.
PORTER, R., 1982, English society in the eighteenth century: Penguin Books, Hammondsworth, 424 p.
PORTER, T.M., 1981, The promotion of mining and the advancement of science: The chemical revolution of mineralogy: Ann. Sci., v.38, 543-570.
PRESTON, J. and ANGLESEA, M., 1980, "A philosophical landscape": Susanna Drury and the Giant's Causeway: Art Hist., v.3, p.252-273.
PRIESTLEY, J., 1775, The history and present state of electricity, 4th ed.: London.
PRYCE, W., 1778, Mineralogia Cornubiensis: London.
QUICK, L.,1963, The book of agate: Pitman, London.
RASPE, R.E., 1769, Dissertatio epistolaris de ossibus et dentibus elephantum, aliarumgue Belluarum in America Septentrionali. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.59: p.126-137.
RASPE, R.E., 1771, A short account of some basalt hills in Hessia: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.61, p.580-584.
RASPE, R.E., 1776, An account of some German volcanoes, and their productions with a new hypothesis of the prismatical basaltes; established upon facts: London.
RASPE, R.E., 1781, A critical essay on oil painting: Goldney and Cadell, London.
REYNOLDS, S.H., 1929, A monograph of the British Pleistocene Mammalia, v.3 (3): 1-62, The giant deer: Palaeantogr. Soc. [Monogr.]
RITTERBUSH, P.C., 1964, Overtures to biology: New Haven and London, 287 p.
ROBERTSON, W., 1777, History of America, v.1.
ROLFE, W.D.I., 1983a. William Hunter (1718-1783) on Irish 'elk' and Stubbs' Moose. Arch. Nat. Hist., v.11, p.263-290.
ROLFE, W.D.I., 1983b, A Stubbs drawing recognised: Burlington Mag., v.125, p.738-741.
ROLFE, W.D.I., 1984, William and John Hunter: breaking the Great Chain of Being. In Bynum, W.F. and Porter, R.S. (eds.) William Hunter and his world. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, (in press).
ROME DE L'ISLE, 1772, Essai de cristallographie: Paris.
RUSSELL, A., 1952, John Henry Heuland:Min. Mag., v.29, p.395-405.
RYMSDYK, J.VAN., 1778, Museum Britannicum: London.
SCHMEISSER, J.G., 1795, A system of mineralogy formed chiefly on the plan of Cronstedt: London.
SCHRODER, J., 1669, Compleat chymical dispensatory: London.
SCOTT, H.S., 1904, Mr. Janes of Aberdeenshire, Notes Queries (10) v.2, p. 54-55.
SCOTT, H.W., ed., 1966, John Walker's lectures on geology: Chicago University Press.
SEARS, D.W., 1975, Sketches in the history of meteoritics 1: The birth of the science: Meteoritics, v.10, p.215-225.
SHARP, L.W., e.d., 1937, Early letters of Robert Wodrow, 1698-1709: Scott. Hist. Soc. Publns., ser. 3, v. 24.
SHORT, T., 1734, The natural experimental and medicinal history of the mineral waters of Derbyshire…etc…Together with the natural history of the earths, minerals and fossils through which the chief of them pass: London, 362 p.
SHORT, T., 1766, A general treatise on the different sorts of cold mineral waters in England…. to which is added an account of several experiments made in search after a solvent of the human calculus….: London.
SIMMONS, D.A., 1983, Schweppes - the first 200 years. Springwood Books, London.
SIMPSON, G.G., 1943, The beginnings of vertebrate paleontology in North America: Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., v.86 p.130-188.
SLARE, F., 1715, Experiments and observations upon the oriental and other Bezoar stones, which prove them to be of no use in Physick: London.
SLEEP, M.C.W., 1969, Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803) his work and influence in Geology: Ann. Sci., v.25, p.319-338.
SMITH, B., 1960, European vision and the South Pacific, 1768-1850: Oxford.
SMOLLETT, T., 1752, An essay on the external use of water: London, 48 p.
SPENER, J.J., 1687, De gemmis errores vulgares: Leipzig University.
STEINPRES, M., ?c.1510, Lapidarium omni voluptate refertum: et medicine plurima notatu dignissima experimenta complectens: Vienna, Winterburger.
STRANGE, J., 1775a, An account of two Giant's Causeways: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.65, p.5-46.
STRANGE, J., 1775b, An account of a curious Giant's causeway or group of angular columns, newly discovered in the Euganean Hills near Padua: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.65, p.418-523.
STUKELEY, W.M., 1750, The philosophy of earthquakes: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. v.46, p.731-750.
TORRENS, H.S., 1979, Geological communication in the Bath area in the last half of the eighteenth century: In JORDANOVA, L.J. and PORTER, R.S. eds.,(a-v, sub Allen 1979) p.215-247.
TUNBRIDGE, P.A., 1971, Jean André de Luc, F.R.S.: Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond., v.26, p.15-33.
VALMONT DE BOMARE, J.C., 1774, Minéralogie, ou nouvelle exposition du regne mineral: Paris.
VON TROIL, U., 1780, Letters on Iceland; London.
WHEELER, A.C., 1976, Zoological specimens: In CHALMERS - HUNT, J.M. (ed.) Natural History auctions 1700-1972, p. 15-19, Sotheby, Parke, Bernet, London.
WHYTT, R., 1752, An essay on the virtues of lime water in the cure of the stone: Edinburgh, 178p.
WOLLASTON, W.H., 1797, On gouty and urinary concretions: Phil.Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.87, p. 386-400.
WOODWARD, J., 1728, An attempt towards a natural history of the fossils of England in the collection of John Woodward M.D.: London.
WOULFE, P., 1779, Experiments on some mineral substances: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., v.69, p. 11-34.
YOUNG, J., and AITKEN, P.H., 1908, A catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow; Glasgow
ZWINGER, T., 1697, Scrutinim magnetis physicomedicum quo mirifici illius lapidis natura viresque tum naturales tum medicae. … explicantur: Basileae.