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That Mr. Hunter was also a man of constant and deep reflection, that he pos

sessed this enviable power of mind, so

essential to the perfection of the intel-
lectual character, is to me sufficiently ap-
parent; for I know of no opinion of his
that was lightly or loosely formed, or
that was not logically and cautiously de-
duced from the facts before him: and
though from the subsequent increase of
knowledge, the validity of some of his
opinions may now be doubted, yet most
of them have from the same cause become
more firmly established. With all his
genius, knowledge, and reflection, Mr.
Hunter was not, however, a brilliant cha-
racter amongst us. He had not the happy
talent of displaying the stores of his mind,
nor of communicating to..
to others the
same perception of the importance of
his facts and opinions as he himself
entertained. Perhaps it may have arisen

ing, as it were, in review, a series of facts or propositions, and steadily contemplating them so as to arrange, assort, or compare them till we form some de duction respecting them. This power seems to belong exclusively to man, and is the basis of his reasoning faculty. That mind is the strongest which can contemplate the greatest number of facts or propositions with accuracy; and his judgments are generally the most correct, who omits to review none of the facts belonging to the subject under his consideration. It was this power of mind that so eminently distinguished Newton from other men. It was this power that "enabled him to arrange the whole of a treatise in his thoughts, before he committed a single idea to paper. In the exercise of this power, he was known occasionally to have passed a night or day entirely inattentive to surrounding objects.

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sessed this enviable power of mind, so essential to the perfection of the intellectual character, is to me sufficiently apparent; for I know of no opinion of his that was lightly or loosely formed, or that was not logically and cautiously deduced from the facts before him: and though from the subsequent increase of knowledge, the validity of some of his opinions may now be doubted, yet most of them have from the same cause become more firmly established. With all his genius, knowledge, and reflection, Mr. Hunter was not, however, a brilliant character amongst us. He had not the happy talent of displaying the stores of his mind, nor of communicating to.. others the same perception of the importance of his facts and opinions as he himself

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entertained. Perhaps it may have arisen

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from my attending more to his facts and opinions than to his mode of explaining

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them, that I have been led to form so high an estimate of his intellectual powers. I can draw no other inferences from the facts than those which he has drawn, and therefore am I a convert to his opinions.

I proceed now to consider the structure and functions of those fibres which constitute the muscles, in order to introduce the discussion of the probability and rationality of Mr.

as a cause of irritability.

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Hunter's Theory

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Muscular fibres

are soft and readily lacerable in the dead body, and even during life when they are in a state of inaction. They are composed of that insoluble substance which we meet with in the blood, and which, from its disposition to concrete in a fibrous form, is called the fibrous part of that fluid. The threads and flakes

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of common cellular substance, which connect the muscular fibres, and every where pervade the structure of a muscle, may be removed by boiling, and then the muscular fibres may be separated, till they become too minute to admit of further separation, and almost elude our unassisted sight. Yet there are some who assert, that by the aid of powerful lenses each fibre, though slender as the threads of flimsy gossamer, appears but as a muscle in miniature, being composed of a number of smaller fibres. There are others who maintain the contrary, and affirm that they can see the ultimate muscular fibres. It would seem to me a waste of time to detail to you the reports of various microscopical observers, respecting the ultimate fibres of muscles, since there is so little concurrence or certainty in their descriptions. The opinion which such contradictory statements have impressed

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