DR. CHARLES FOLLEN FOLSOM. 755 



period, and in this way Dr. Folsom made, in 18G8, the highly valued 

 acquaintance of Dr. H. I. Bowditch. In a letter to Mr. Gannett, 

 written in October of that year, he says: "Dr. Bowditch is simply 

 splendid. He is one of the purest-minded men I ever knew, and the op- 

 portunities for study are very great." I had the privilege of following 

 Dr. Folsom at this task and can warmly testify to its value. The duty 

 of the assistant was to receive the patients in an anteroom of the delight- 

 ful study at the house on Boylston Street, make full notes of their histo- 

 ries, which were to be submitted afterwards to close scrutiny, and a 

 preliminary diagnosis. Then came the physical examination by Dr. 

 Bowditch, at which the student was often invited to assist, and the 

 frank comments of one of the best men and best physicians of his day. 

 It was "section teaching" in its best form. Dr. Folsom's admiration 

 for Dr. Bowditch was so great and the understanding between them 

 became so fine, that the friendship then established proved one of the 

 great forces in Dr. Folsom's life. There was some question in the next 

 year (1869) whether he should become assistant at the City Hospital or 

 at the Massachusetts General, for which he first applied. It was to the 

 former that he went, and he found reason to congratulate himself for 

 so doing, largely because it brought him again under Dr. Bowditch. 

 It was not alone admiration for Dr. Bowditch's qualities as a man that 

 drew his younger friend so strongly, but similarity in sentiment and 

 opinion, likewise. Both of them had grown up in the atmosphere of 

 abolitionism, and Dr. Bowditch's ardent advocacy, both of that cause 

 and of the natural right of women to do what nature fitted them to do 

 and especially to practice medicine if they wished, was met with 

 quick and active sympathy on Dr. Folsom's part. In later years his 

 cautious and conservative traits came more prominently forward, but 

 the sentiments by which he was mainly moved ^ere always those of 

 unconventionality and freedom. 



He strongly advocated the plan of putting a woman physician on the 

 medical board of Danvers Hospital and took an active part in further- 

 ing the admission of women to Johns Hopkins Medical School. In the 

 bibliography which follows this paper a reference will be found to an 

 address of his upon this latter subject. 



The service at the City Hospital came to an end in the spring of 1870. 

 As soon as it was over Dr. Folsom opened an office on Leverett 

 Street and engaged in private practice, while at the same time he be- 

 came physician to the Massachusetts Infant Asylum, then recently 

 established. He was for a short time connected also with the Carney 

 Hospital. At these tasks he remained until the spring of 1872, when he 

 obtained a much desired position as assistant at the McLean Asylum, 



