HENRY JACOB BIGELOW. 349 



born iQ an alcove and cradled on a book-shelf. He got what he 

 wanted out of his authority, and the next day the volume he had evis- 

 cerated would be kicking about his floor, in the midst of the pam- 

 phlets, instruments, and all sorts of learned litter, which half covered 

 his carpet. This power of finding what he wanted in the midst of 

 rubbish he did not want, was hereditary. I remember Dr. James 

 Jackson's saying to me, that, if there was a grain of wheat in a bushel 

 of chaff. Dr. Jacob Bigelow would lind it quicker than any man he 

 ever knew." 



Though Dr. Bigelow was not as much given to general reading as 

 many less occupied professional men, it is not to be supposed that his 

 active mind could fail to find subjects enough to interest it when not 

 absorbed in some important investigation. He had many tastes and 

 fancies which furnished him abundance of pleasant work, and called 

 forth all his enthusiasm, each special pursuit in its turn. To this one 

 object, whatever it might be, he gave himself enthusiastically for the 

 time. When he had mastered all its details, when he had got at 

 all its secrets, he left it for some new and inviting subject. 



At one time he undertook the keeping and raising of fancy pig- 

 eons. For this purpose he established a columbarium at the top of his 

 house in Chauncy Place, and showed his fantails and pouters, and 

 other curious varieties, with great satisfaction, until he had learned 

 their ways and become familiarly acquainted with their various graces 

 and accomplishments. At another time his visitor would be startled 

 by a most unceremonious address from a mino bird, to which he had 

 taught certain phrases which could not fail to arrest the attention of 

 his visitor. Another of his pets was a little bird which used to run 

 up his sleeve in the most uncanny way. Between these two familiar 

 spirits, he might well have been hanged as a wizard in the days of 

 witchcraft. At another time he amused himself with the study of 

 the ways of ants, placing the sand for their dwelling between two 

 plates of glass, so that their operations could be observed. Again, 

 he found his recreation in the royal handicraft of the locksmith, and 

 studied the intricate contrivances of Bramah and Hobbs as he has 

 studied the arrangements of the hip joint. With this fondness for 

 animal life it is not strange that he held in great aversion the too 

 frequent abuse of vivisection. I have often heard him express himself 

 very strongly on this subject. I think his longest and strongest fancy 

 was for paintings. He did not care to refer to the fact that he was 

 color-blind, so far as the difference between red and green was con- 

 cerned. When he was a boy he could not distinguish between the 



