754 DR. CHARLES FOLLEN FOLSOM. 



every morning, broom in one hand, water-bucket in the other, in my 

 bare feet, shirt sleeves rolled up to my elbows, pants rolled up to my 

 knees ; or could you but see my dignified roll as I cross the main deck, 

 slinging a tar bucket over one shoulder and the grease pot over the 

 other; or the sad amble as I pace the deck in the lonely midnight 

 watch, chanting the 'Gideonite's Lament' or 'Katie's gone to Rox- 

 bury.' I am exceedingly glad that I took the trip, and especially that I 

 returned a tarry sailor as I did. It gave me insight into a new phase of 

 life, and I am sure the benefit has been greater than if I had come back 

 a passenger." Mr. Gannett recalls the following incident, important 

 for our purpose: "A sailor fell from aloft, and broke himself all to 

 pieces so hopelessly that they left him in a huddle to die. Folsom * 

 could not stand that, went to w T ork with what knowledge he had, 

 patched him together as well as he could, nursed him, and brought him 

 through alive to New York." This was, as Mr. Gannett says, "his 

 first case," and a worthy one. 



In 1866 Charles Folsom decided, after some hesitation, to study 

 medicine. A small and favored portion of the would-be medical stu- 

 dents of that period used to spend a few months in taking a preliminary 

 course of Comparative Anatomy under Professor Jeffries Wyman. 

 Dr. Folsom and I took this course together, and vividly do I remember 

 our first meeting. I can see myself lingering about, on a summer morn- 

 ing, in the cool hall-way of Boylston Hall, where Professor Wyman's 

 laboratory lay, watching the door swing open and observing the tall 

 figure of Charles Folsom enter. I well recall his boyish yet thoughtful 

 and intelligent expression, his pleasant smile, his light hair and sun- 

 burnt face, and his plain suit of homespun gray. We were entire 

 strangers to each other then, but on the moment a bond of mutual sym- 

 pathy was established and we became good friends. Professor Wyman, 

 that rare man and teacher whom every one admired, loved, and trusted, 

 soon recognized Dr. Folsom's ability and worth, and secured for him, a 

 few years later, the Curatorship of the Natural History Museum, a posi- 

 tion w T hich he occupied for several years and abandoned with regret. 



Between 1866 and 1869 came medical studies, diversified by half a 

 year's tutoring in Charlestown, New Hampshire, which secured him 

 some pleasant acquaintances and a gain in health, though it was felt 

 as a somewhat rasping interruption to his work. 



The old custom of supplementing one's class-room studies by serving 

 as assistant in the private office of an established practitioner (even 

 during the medical course) was still followed, to some extent, at that 



* Not yet a medical student. 



