Page:The Hunterian Oration 1832.djvu/15

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11

Hunter is no longer a living member of our profession; he has quitted the stage, on which he acted a most distinguished part; but his deeds live after him; and his name must continue to be revered, as long as the power of discriminating splendid merit shall bid defiance to all revolutions. To use a figurative expression, I may say, that, until the infernal waters of Lethe become the common beverage of the universe, his works shall never be forgotten, but that, as the record of them devolves from generation to generation, they shall continue to receive new honours at every transmission. His Museum is certainly a monument more honourable to him, than the finest piece of marble, sculptured by the hand of a Canova or a Chantrey; and, when the perishable materials, of which it is composed, shall have wasted away, and seemingly left "not a rack behind," the record of its contents, drawn up under the auspices of this College, shall still preserve to all posterity some reminiscence of his matchless labours, and transcendent discoveries.