Page:A descriptive catalogue of the Warren Anatomical Museum.djvu/11

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

INTRODUCTION.
—————

The Medical Department of Harvard University was es-
tablished in the year 1782. In 1808 Dr. John C. Warren was appointed Adjunct Professor of Anatomy and Surgery; and, when that chair was vacated, in the year 1815, by the death of his father, Dr. W. was appointed to fill his place. How faith-
fully and honorably to himself, and to the College, he per-
formed the duties of his office, and during a long period of years, is well known to the profession. The zeal with which he pursued his favorite studies, and with which he improved the opportunities that a very extensive professional practice afforded him, led to the collection of a great number of patho-
logical and other specimens ; and, on resigning his professor-
ship, in 1847, the greater part of this collection was presented to the College, and with it the sum of $6,000, for its preserva-
tion and increase. In acknowledgment of so valuable a dona-
tion, the Corporation of the University voted that the Museum should be called by the name of its founder. Unfortunately, Dr. W.'s time was so fully occupied by his professional prac-
tice, that but little was left to him for those records, or even references, upon which the value of the pathological portion of a museum so much depends. Before the transfer, however, was made to the College, Dr. W. had a record made of the specimens, from his dictation; but it was, for the most part, and excepting a few references, a mere enumeration. The tendency to preserve interesting specimens is very strong in so devoted an anatomist and surgeon as Dr. W. always had been; and the consequence was, that he collected a large num-
ber of what might essentially be called duplicates. Patholog-
ical specimens that resemble each other very closely are often preserved in reference to their clinical history; and the diver-