Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1150

SIR EVERARD HOME (1756-1832) Lectures on comparative anatomy; in which are explained the preparations in the Hunterian collection. G. & W. Nichol 1814-1828 Front. (port.), 371 plates. 34.6 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 1148

Upon Hunter's death, Home became custodian of his manuscripts which included Hunter's own description of his anatomical collection. Thirty years later, Home deliberately burned the manuscripts and thereby began a controversy which remains to this day. Home claimed that Hunter requested him to destroy the papers, but it is suggested by some historians that Home later published much of the material (including portions of the present work) under his own name to further his reputation. Another, more charitable, explanation is that Hunter's unpublished views on comparative anatomy bordered on religious heresy and that Home, in a well-meaning but tragic gesture, burned the manuscripts to save Hunter's name. In any case the six-volume work is a fine piece of scholarship and printing. Three of the volumes are comprised entirely of illustrations in the form of 371 expertly rendered plates.

Cited references: Cushing H438; Garrison-Morton 315; Wellcome III, p. 294