Note 849 — Chapter V · (continued 3)

Mr. Ottley (Life of Hunter, p. 186) says, ‘In his writings we occasionally find an obscurity in the expression of his thoughts, a want of logical accuracy in his reasonings, and an incorrectness in his language, resulting from a deficient education.’ But, a deficient education will never make a man obscure. Neither will a good education make him lucid. The only cause of clearness of expression is clearness of thought; and clearness of thought is a natural gift, which the most finished and systematic culture can but slightly improve. Uneducated men, without a thousandth part of John Hunter's intellect, are often clear enough. On the other hand, it as frequently happens that men, who have received an excellent education, cannot speak or write ten consecutive sentences which do not contain some troublesome ambiguity. In Hunter's works such ambiguities are abundant; and this is probably one of the reasons why no one has yet given a connected view of his philosophy. On his obscurity, compare Cooper's Life of Sir Astley Cooper, London, 1843, vol. i. pp. 151, 152; Paget's Lectures on Surgical Pathology, London, 1853, vol. i. p. 419; and the remarks of his enemy, Foot, in Foot's Life of Hunter, London, 1794, p. 59.