Charles Hunter (18358 August 1878) was an English

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

best known for coining the word "

hypodermic A hypodermic needle (from Greek ὑπο- (''hypo-'' = under), and δέρμα (''derma'' = skin)), one of a category of medical tools which enter the skin, called sharps, is a very thin, hollow tube with one sharp tip. It is commonly used w ...

" and for realising that injections of

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a analgesic, pain medication, and is also commonly used recreational drug, recreationally, or to make ...

could relieve pain anywhere in the body, regardless of where the injection was delivered.

Life

Charles Hunter was the only son of surgeon Dr John Charles Hunter of

Belgrave Square Belgrave Square is a large 19th-century garden square in London. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and its architecture resembles the original scheme of property contractor Thomas Cubitt who engaged George Basevi for all of the terraces for t ...

, London. Hunter qualified as a

Member of the Royal College of Surgeons Membership of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (MRCS) is a postgraduate diploma for surgeons in the UK and Ireland. Obtaining this qualification allows a doctor to become a member of one of the four surgical colleges ...

in 1856. He then became House Surgeon at St George's Hospital in London and also worked at the Royal Pimlico Dispensary.

Hypodermic research and debate over injection methods

Hunter was very early in his career when he became interested in using syringes to administer injections of pain relief. In the 1860s, he improved on the design of the

syringe A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...

that had been invented by Alexander Wood by adding the needle point and lateral opening. He also created a locking mechanism to prevent the needle from becoming detached when the plunger was pushed. Hunter initially followed Wood's method of using syringes to inject morphine locally, into the area where pain was located. However, when this area became infected for one of his patients, he injected elsewhere and realised that the results were still effective. After conducting tests on animals to establish his findings, Hunter campaigned for the "general therapeutic effect" of what he initially called the "ipodermic" method, later inventing the term "hypodermic". He published his findings in 1865, and popularised the use of the syringe in medical circles by speaking at medical society meetings and publishing papers on the subject of hypodermics. Hunter and Wood then entered into a debate about whose theory was correct. Wood wrote to the ''Medical Times and Gazette'' both challenging Hunter's idea that injected drugs could work across the body and also emphasising that he had been the first to look into the effects of injecting. Hunter replied, saying that he had cited Wood and never claimed to have been first, and that his belief in the generalised effect of injected narcotics was correct rather than Wood's belief that morphine only worked locally. By 1867, the

Medical and Chirurgical Society of London The Medical and Chirurgical Society of London was a learned society of physicians and surgeons which was founded in 1805 by 26 personalities in these fields who had left the Medical Society of London (founded 1773) because of disagreement with th ...

appointed a committee to investigate whether injections were best delivered subcutaneously in the area of pain (as Wood insisted), or elsewhere to systemically deliver relief (as Hunter claimed). They emphatically supported Hunter. Francis E. Anstie also recommended Hunter's method, proclaiming that there was absolutely no danger in administering opium hypodermic injection.

Death and legacy

Hunter died on 8 August 1878 in a

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

vicarage after two months of illness, at the age of 43. His early death and Wood's popularity meant that Hunter's legacy in the history of medicine has not endured particularly well by comparison. Hunter's archive is held at the

Wellcome Library The Wellcome Library is founded on the collection formed by Sir Henry Wellcome (1853–1936), whose personal wealth allowed him to create one of the most ambitious collections of the 20th century. Henry Wellcome's interest was the history of med ...

in London, with shelfmark MS.6892.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Charles 1835 births 1878 deaths British surgeons 19th-century British medical doctors