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A Commentary on W.Moore's Book "The Knife Man.."One of the amazing things in life is to find a young farm boy from the Scottish lowlands who hated books and despised reading learn to become a leading anatomist and to reach the highest professional ranks including the prestigious position of the King's Doctor. The road was long and the work was hard and demanding, but thanks to his older brother, William Huntor, the set up established in his residence down in London was ready for John to join him in his small school of anatomy.John, the wild boy of the Hunter family, was by nature gruff, crude and impatient; he was in fact written off by his mother as a hopeless case. But, hardly twenty, he immediately after joining William proved to be meticulous and hard working. It became clear that he had found his favourite occupation: dissecting carcasses. Initially it was difficult and definitely not for the faint hearted. But that did not bother John. Soon he joined the grave robbers and the cemetery body snatchers to ensure a supply of cadavers for the next day of dissection. Before long, and under the experienced eye of William, John made long and remarkable strides. After less than a decade he build up an impressive experience and became the talk of the London surgeons. However, his lack of formal education in addition to his crude and unorthodox manners caused him problems. In fact he was continually ridiculed by his colleagues and even turned down for new positions. Typically, he just ignored his critics and enemies, and went on accumulating valuable experience not only on the dead but also on live human beings and later even on animals. Medical students as well as patients,( including some from America ) came to work with him and seek his advice. Some whispered that he even surpassed his now famous brother William who had guided him all through. Ultimately, the Royal Society, ignoring his opponents and faced with his impressive performance was forced to admit him as a member into this elite London group, an unusual move given his lack of formal education.As we have seen, John was oblivious to his enemies and critics. However, something more serious started to bother him after achieving high acclaims from different institutions. He became aware that his brother was taking credit for all his discoveries and scientific papers and citing John merely as an assistant. William felt that John was not only his student but was working under his institution's name and its financial support. John did not share this reasoning especially as his discoveries were becoming more important. In addition, John's projects were not at all related to William's; e.g. his works on the lymphatic system, venereal diseases, dental growth, babies testis, and others. It was unfortunate to watch a gradual rift between the two brothers who worked so amicably and closely together for so long. To add insult to injury, John with his usual impetuous style, officially reported William's actions to the Royal Society, to William's shock and great embarrassment. Of course, the Academy refused to adjudicate. As a result John moved out and started his own business seemingly thankless for his brother's support and help through his early years.In a way, this book is not only about anatomy and dissections but about human relations too. It was touching in the beginning to see William embrace his young brother, a difficult teen ager, take him under his wings and get him started in business. But, was he later envious or just greedy to claim his brother's discoveries. On the other hand was John ungrateful, biting the hand that fed him all these years? Did John go too far in embarrassing his famous brother by accusing him of misconduct before the elite group of the Royal Society? Was it not more respectful to resolve this problem privately and amicably rather than publicly?It is sad that later on his deathbed William was still bitter about John's behavior. In his will, William generously distributed his vast wealth to a list of family members. Sadly, John's name was the only one not on the list, although he badly needed financial help. Equally unfortunate, when John died few years later, a victim of his own irritability, he was virtually bankrupt. All his possessions had to be sold to pay his debts, leaving his wife and two children, who were used to luxury, in a miserable situation.The author, Wendy Moore, must be commended on this engaging book with such extensive research behind the story. She made a difficult, medical subject that's so remote from our daily lives, very informative and yet so readable.Fuad R. QubeinMarch, 2016
