John Whittaker Hulke

John Whittaker Hulke FRCS FRS (November 6, 1830–February 19, 1895) was a surgeon, ophthalmologist, geologist and fossil collector who became a Huxleyite despite being deeply religious. [Desmond, Adrian 1982. "Archetypes and ancestors". Muller, London. p134-5]

Hulke became Huxley's colleague at the Royal College of Surgeons. He was a long-time collector from the Wealden cliffs of the Isle of Wight, and his work on vertebrate palaeontology included studies of "Iguanodon" and "Hypsilophodon" from the Wealden (Lower Cretaceous).

He became President of the Geological Society (1882–4); and was awarded Wollaston Medal in 1888. He was President of the Pathological society in 1883, and President of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1893 until his death.

Life

Born in Deal, Kent the son of a general practitioner; educated partly in England and partly in Germany. Of Dutch Reformed descent, and Calvinist leanings, he held strict views: "his Protestantism was of the intolerant kind". [Anon 1895. John Whittaker Hulke. "The Lancet" 510-511.] He got on well with Huxley, whose agnosticism was also rather straight-laced.

After his death his collection was donated to the Natural History Museum.

Career

In the early part of his career, Hulke was a well-known ophthalmologist. From human eyes his interest moved to the reptilian retina, and then to "Iguanodon" and its allies.

After returning from Germany, he entered King's College School, and later started work at King's College Hospital He qualified MRCS in 1852. In the Crimean War he volunteered, and was appointed (1855) assistant-surgeon at Smyrna and subsequently at Sebastopol. On returning home he became medical tutor at his old hospital, was elected FRCS in 1857. He became assistant-surgeon to the Moorfields Eye Hospital (1857), and surgeon (1868-1890). In 1870 he became surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital, and here much of his more important surgical work was accomplished. His skill was widely appreciated: he was an excellent general surgeon, but made his special mark as an ophthalmologist. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1867 for his researches on the anatomy and physiology of the retina in man and the lower animals, particularly the reptiles.

He subsequently devoted all his spare time to geology and especially to the fossil reptilia, describing many remains of dinosaurs from the Isle of Wight. [Encyc Brit 1911.] He had access to one of the best private collections of the day: that of Rev. W. Fox on the Isle of Wight. Hulke located a complete "Iguanodon" braincase in 1869, and offered it to Huxley to describe. Huxley was too busy, but helped Hulke prepare and describe it. Hulke published a string of papers in the Geological Society's "Quarterly Review" [Hulke J.W. 1871. Note on a large reptilian skull from Brooke, Isle of Wight, probably Dinosaurian, referable to the genus "Iguanodon". "Quart J. Geol Soc" 27, 199-206.] [Hulke J.W. 1878. Note on two skulls from the Wealdon and Purbeck formations, indicating a new sub-group of Crocodilia. "Quart J. Geol Soc" 34, 377-382.] [Hulke J.W. 1882. An attempt at a complete osteology of "Hypsilophodon foxii": a British Weadon dinosaur. "Phil Trans Roy Soc" 173, 1035-1062.]

In all, he published over fifty papers, 28 on dinosaurs.

References

Hulke JW 1861. "A practical treatise on the use of the ophthalmoscope". Churchill, London.

Anon 1895. John Whittaker Hulke. "The Lancet" 510-511.

obit:Hulke, John Whitaker 1896 "QJ Geol Soc" 52