320 JOHN DEAN. 



School, in 1852-53, and soon afterward went to Germany to pursue his 

 studies in that science. He took the degree of Ph. D. at the Univer- 

 sity of Gottingen. He entered the Harvard Medical School in 1856, 

 and graduated in 1860. There is still in the Museum a beautiful dis- 

 section of nerves bearing his name and that of Charles F. Crehore. 

 During his medical course he must have found time for original 

 research; for his first important work, on the" Lumbar Enlargement of 

 the Spinal Cord," was presented before the Academy of Arts and Sci- 

 ences, by Prof. Jeffries Wyman, on November 14, 1860. A still larger 

 work, illustrated by photographs of his sections as well as by plates, was 

 that on the " Gray Substance of the Medulla Oblongata and Trape- 

 zium," published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1864. His reputa- 

 tion was thus made, and in a field which in America, at least, was 

 absolutely new. Unfortunately his health now failed him. He suffered 

 from nervous exhaustion, and from chronic bronchitis and asthma, from 

 which after that time he was rarely free, and which repeatedly brought 

 him into a critical condition. For many years he was a complete 

 invalid. 



He married, in 1859, Miss Eliza Philbrick Southwick, whose care of 

 him was tender and constant till his death. He went abroad for several 

 years, and made several fruitless attempts to resume his work. At 

 last, feeling that his case was hopeless, some twelve years ago, being at 

 that time in America, he gave his entire scientific library, which con- 

 tained files of valuable scientific periodicals and many rare and costly 

 works on the nervous system, his instruments, and a choice collection 

 of microscopic specimens to the Physiological Department of the Har- 

 vard Medical School. He went abroad for the last time in the spring 

 or summer of 188*2, and from that time made his home in Florence, 

 where he died on January 13, 1888. 



It was a severe blow to him to give up his scientific labors ; but he 

 bore it with characteristic patience, and took pleasure in thinking that 

 he had so disposed of his books and preparations that they would be of 

 use to others. Dr. Dean was of a most amiable character, — affection- 

 ate, modest, and submissive. Many years ago, both Dr. and Mrs. Dean 

 became converts to the Roman Catholic Church, of which he died a 

 zealous and devout member. * 



* Abbreviated from a notice in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. 



