200 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



or corresponding, speak unceasingly of the value of their labors. And the magnificent 

 development of the Society until it has become what it now is, with its great collections 

 and its wide felt influence, — how much of this is due to their early strivings who shall 

 say ? Certainly all is but the fruition of their hopes and desires. 



Among these early members were Dr. Benjamin D. Greene, an accomplished botanist and 

 the first President of the Society ; Dr. Augustus A. Gould, the author of the Report upon 

 the Invertebrates of the State, and who became one of the most able naturalists of New 

 England ; Dr. D. Humphreys Storer, the author of the very valuable Report upon the 

 Fishes of New England ; Dr. Amos Binney, an accomplished conchologist, afterwards 

 President ; George B. Emerson., author of the great w^ork upon the Trees and Shrubs of 

 the State, and who also subsequently became President of the Society ; Dr. Martin Gay, an 

 able chemist ; Dr. Charles T. Jackson, well-known as an accomplished chemist, mineralo- 

 gist and geologist ; Francis Alger, the author of a valuable work on mineralogy ; the Rev. 

 Dr. F. W. P. Greenwood, who seemed more divine than human in the loveliness of his char- 

 acter ; Dr. T. W. Harris, author of the Report on Insects injurious to Vegetation, and last 

 o mention, though by no means the least in his influence upon the affairs of the Society 

 and its character. Dr. J. B. S. Jackson, whose loss we now deplore. 



The particular investigations of Dr. Jackson were generally not of a nature to bring him 

 prominently before the Society as an instructor in any branch of natural history, his 

 labors being largely confined to a class of subjects more generally interesting to students 

 in pathology. Yet the Journal of the Society presents to us several papers of great value 

 to naturalists, and the Proceedings contain remarks made by him at various times embody- 

 ing much useful information. 



Dr. Jackson was elected a member in the fall of 18-31, the Society having been incorpo- 

 rated the previous February. 



In 1837 he read before the Society a paper which was published in the Journal, giving 

 an anatomical description of the Gallapagos Tortoise, which was a valuable contribution. 



In 1842 the Journal gives an account read by him of the dissection of two adult drome- 

 daries, male and female. 



In 184:5 there is in the Journal a paper upon the dissection of a spermaceti whale and 

 three other Cetaceans. 



Of his remarks made from time to time upon scientific subjects and published in the 

 Proceedings of the Society, may l^e found some of interesting character upon the teeth of 

 Dcljjhbms glohicej^s., upon fossil bones of the Mastodon gir/anteus from Schooley's Moun- 

 tain, N. J., and upon bones from Indian tumuli. 



As said before, Dr. Jackson's most important work was in pathology rather than natural 

 history. He became Professor of Pathological Anatomy in the Medical School of Harvard 

 University in 1847, and was ever after a most diligent laborer in its interests, investigat- 

 mg with great patience and with keenness of observation arising from constant experi- 

 ence, the morbid effects of disease upon the organs, and writing out fully and carefully 

 the results of his examinations, wdaich have been of invaluable service in the cause of 

 medical science. Much of his work for many years was in the building of the Cabinet of 

 the Society of Medical Improvement and its arrangement for study, and in the care and 

 arrangement of the Warren Museum. Of these two fine collections Dr. Jackson published 



