340 HENRY JACOB BIGELOW. 



rather remarkable facility for mechanical work, — took early to shoot- 

 ing, a taste which lasted to the later years of liis life ; he was also 

 foud of bird's-nesting, with the usual knowledge, or rather more, of 

 birds and their haunts and habits ; like his father, he had a taste for 

 botany, which came agaiu very strongly in his later years. He was 

 a fair thouoh not remarkable scholar, through school and colleofe. 



He early showed his independence of character. There was a 

 rebellion while he was in college, and anxious parents went out to 

 look after their sons, — among them Dr. Jacob Bigelow, who remon- 

 strated with Henry. The latter reminded him that there was a re- 

 bellion in his own day. '• Yes," said his father, " but I have seen the 

 folly of it." " Well, I want to see the folly of it too," was Henry's 

 (characteristic) answer. 



He graduated with respectable rank in 1837. After leaving college 

 he had threatening symptoms of pulmonary disease, for which he went 

 to Havana ; but he was able to continue the study of medicine which 

 he had already commenced, in the prosecution of which he went to 

 Europe, passing his time chiefly in Paris, visiting London, more es- 

 pecially to hear the lectures of Sir James Paget. He took his med- 

 ical degree at Harvard University in 1841, and entered upon practice 

 in Boston. He had determined to devote himself to surgery, and soon 

 found himself in active business. 



In connection with Dr. Henry Bryant, he established a kind of 

 surgical dispensary, which was the subject of no little comment and 

 some harmless satire from unknown rivals, which amused him and his 

 friends as much as it did any of the medical community. 



He soon became known as an enterprising and aspiring practi- 

 tioner, who was mapping out his own path, deterred by no fear of 

 rivals, and not afraid of his critics. 



First on the list of Dr. Bigelow's publi>hed writings stands a 

 "Manual of Orthopedic Surgery," being a Boylston Prize Disser- 

 tation for the year 1844. 



The Boylston Prize Fund was provided by the generosity of Ward 

 Nicholas Boylston, a Boston merchant. Its two annual prizes of 

 fifty dollars each invited the competition of the younger members of 

 the medical profession, and the gaining of them was a favorable intro- 

 duction of the young practitioner to the medical world and the gen- 

 eral public. The question, or one of the questions, for the year 

 1844 was the following : " In what cases, and to what extent, is the 

 division of muscles, tendons, or other parts, proper for the relief of 

 deformity or lameness ? " Dr. Bigelow did not confine himself 



