Sibling Rivalry in the Eighteenth Century - The Hunter Brothers and Displays of the Natural Oeconomy

In this podcast I introduce the Hunter brothers in their social and aristocratic milieu. The beginnings of the Great Windmill Street School of Anatomy and the availability of the Parisian method of dissection is mentioned as is William’s great book The Human Gravid Uterus published in 1774 with spectacular images by Jan van Rymsdyk.  John Hunter’s obsession with obtaining the body of the giant Charles O’Byrne is elucidated. Part 2 of this episode discusses the two competing Hunterian museums and the developing rift between these two men as well as the contrasting lives of two other brother anatomists, John and Sir Charles Bell.