Some people collect coins, some people collect supermarket club card points. Scottish Surgeon John Hunter, born in 1728, collected Foetuses and body parts, both Human and animal and preserved them in jars. John Hunter was one of the most distinguished scientists and surgeons of his day. He was an early advocate of careful observation and scientific method in medicine. He was a teacher of, and collaborator with, Edward Jenner, pioneer of the vaccine. He was fanatical about teaching others in anatomy and taught in privet medical schools. When the students were short on Cadavers, Hunter sometimes would use shady methods and underworld contacts to obtain bodies, and he is alleged to have paid for the stolen body of Charles Byrne, (curiosity or freak in London in the 1780s) and proceeded to study and exhibit it against the deceased's explicit wishes. Hunter was also fascinated with and researched Venereal diseases and sometimes used his own body to experiment on. He once injected his penis with puss from a prostitute’s genital sore and gave himself syphilis. His patients, although trusted him, also feared that they would end up as his exhibits if he failed to cured them. If you want to see his exhibits, They are at The Hunterian Museum at The Royal College of Surgeons of England, in London.
