WILLIAM THOMPSON SEDGWICK. 515 



Though Sedgwick's early inclination was towards the study of 

 physiology and medicine he later gravitated irresistibly into sanitary 

 science and conservation of the public health; and in this field he was 

 one of the earliest and most prominent pioneers. He and his many 

 pupils contributed more than any other to the emancipation of these 

 subjects from medicine in the narrower sense, and their recognition as 

 important independent branches of applied biology which offer the 

 widest opportunities for public service outside the practise of medicine. 

 To this end he contributed by important studies on epidemics, largely 

 in connection with the work of the State Board of Health of Massa- 

 chusetts and the Lawrence Experimental Station, by the work of 

 numerous students trained in his laboratory, and especially by the 

 publication in 1902 of his authoritative work on Sanitary Science and 

 the Public Health, referred to above, which has recently been charac- 

 terized by competent authority as still the best existing epitome of 

 the subject. 



The interest in public welfare displayed in these various activities, 

 was but one side of a larger interest in educational and civic problems 

 that drew him into many other forms of public service. He was a 

 valued member or trustee of many public institutions, in and outside 

 of Boston. He played a prominent part in the struggle for civil 

 service reform in Massachusetts in 1900-1901, and then and later 

 delivered many public addresses on subjects connected with the general 

 welfare. During his long service as curator of the Lowell Institute he 

 became widely known to the citizens of Boston, winning general 

 esteem by the breadth of view and enlightened regard for the public 

 interest with which for so many years he administered his important 

 trust. 



As one who had the privilege of intimate friendship with him for 

 more than forty years, the writer may be permitted finally to empha- 

 size Sedgwick's high minded and noble character. He was a man of 

 vision, of lofty ideals, of faith in the eternal fitness of things. No 

 man was less self-seeking or more appreciative of others. He was 

 kindly, generous and human, with a gift for friendship that made him 

 the center of an always enlarging circle of friends and enriched his life 

 with widely varied human interests. To those friends he gave a 

 loyalty and ever ready helpfulness that knew no change with the 

 passing years. He exemplified the best traditions of his profession as 



