Catalogue of Anatomical Preparations

William Hunter’s anatomical and pathological collection numbers more than three thousand specimens, making it one of the outstanding assemblages of its kind in the world. Housed in the Museum of Anatomy at the University of Glasgow (which also holds post-Hunter materials), the Hunter specimens—in most cases, still in their eighteenth-century glass jars—remain an...

This essay explores the nature of William Hunter’s museum and seeks to identify the underlying concepts that connect together the diverse elements of his extensive collections. Recovering these is no easy task, since the museum encompasses academic disciplines that are now considered separate, as well as a multiplicity of artefacts and objects with distinct histories. Despite this apparent...