73 



December 17, 1856. 



The President in the Chair. 



The President, in accordance with a vote passed at 

 the Annual Meeting, read a Memoir of the late Presi- 

 dent, Dr. John C, Warren. 



NOTICE OF DR. JOHN C. WARREN, READ BEFORE THE BOSTON 

 SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, DEC. 17, 1856. 



The resolutions which were passed in this and other Societies, 

 on the occasion of the death of our late President, his public 

 funeral, the expressions of the press, and, above all, the impres- 

 sion which the announcement of his decease made upon the 

 community, are sure indications that a man of no ordinary claim 

 upon public attention had passed away. The explanation of 

 this feeling, and of these honors, is to be found in a life of entire 

 devotion to the duties of his profession, and to the various rela- 

 tions in which he was publicly or privately placed. What these 

 relationships were, and how he sustained them, can receive here 

 but an inadequate notice ; yet the duty devolves upon us of 

 placing upon the records of our Society some account of his 

 history, some acknowledgment of his services to us, and some 

 notice of his scientific labors. 



John Collins Warren was born in Boston, August 1, 1778, 

 and was graduated at Cambridge in the class of 1797. He was 

 distinguished as a general and classical scholar, was of a genial 

 disposition, active, influential, and highly esteemed by his fellow- 

 students, who conferred upon him nearly every office of honor 

 in their gift. He was elected class orator, and, according to the 

 custom of the times, pronounced his oration in Latin. 



He studied medicine under the direction of his father. Dr. John 

 Warren, who had attained great eminence as a skilful surgeon, 

 and is still remembered by those who listened to his instructions 

 as an admirable teacher and an eloquent lecturer. Having 

 finished his labors as a pupil at home, the son visited the great 



