Francis Hunter MRCVS dies, aged 83

Francis Edgar Hunter: 27th May 1930–30th September 2013

Francis Hunter, UK veterinary homeopath, died on 30th September last year. A short obituary (which I missed) appeared in Veterinary Record on October 5th 2013 but another (which I did spot) has just appeared in the Homeopath Journal (http://ift.tt/1s3oZjT), written by his colleague, homeopath and radionics practitioner, John Saxton.



Most UK vets will have read his contributions to the debate on veterinary homeopathy in the veterinary press over the years. A leading light in the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons, his attitude to colleagues who declined to embrace his preferred mode of treatment or - worse still - criticised it, was probably best described as bemused contempt.



His defense of homeopathy seemed predicated on unrelenting optimism - he used it and thought it worked, thousands of people all over the world believed in it therefore, in his eyes, it had to be effective. One of his more notorious phrases in defence of homeopathy was "treatments will either stand or fall depending on how successful they are".



He was still writing up to recently, suggesting critics should "get a life" (Veterinary Times 1/4/13) and seemed increasingly out of touch with the modern profession, waxing nostalgically about the days when he believed vets "practised more 'the art' rather than 'the science' of veterinary surgery" (Veterinary Times 1/4/13). He was inclined too, to critise colleagues for charging for conventional treatments when, by using cheaper homeopathy, in his opionion, "the results will be just as beneficial" (Veterinary Times 11/2/13).



Some of his opinions on the subject can be read here: http://ift.tt/1i06uVr



Yuri

via JREF Forum http://ift.tt/1s3oXIY