8 LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



during his life. He spared no pains to become a mas- 

 ter in the subject he would teach, and possessed the 

 power to strongly impress his thoughts upon others. 

 He was active in the Natural History Society, and 

 found there opportunity to study the anatomy of ani- 

 mals, a subject not unfamiliar to him from youth. 

 The department of Comparative Anatomy steadily in- 

 creased by his zeal and labor for some years. Through 

 correspondence with curators of this branch in other 

 countries he added to the collection a few specimens 

 rare in America, and he contributed many essays to 

 the meetings of the society. Generally his time was 

 devoted directly to his profession. He felt the high 

 degree of responsibility involved in its service, and 

 any thing which engaged his attention collaterally was 

 eventually made to subserve his chief aim. He ad- 

 vised students to select for their diversion what might 

 prove useful as well as pleasant to them. His own 

 recreation from the absorbing duties of his profession 

 was found chiefly in natural science. Every thing 

 living possessed to him an attraction. With his ex- 

 uberant spirits in early life, there were few fields 

 within miles of his home that had not contributed to 

 his pleasure in sport, and being a keen observer, his 

 education as a student of nature commenced uncon- 

 sciously even then. 



The inclination of his medical and surgical views 

 may be judged by the following extracts from his edi- 

 torials, taken from among many similar ones, and writ- 

 ten after years of practice : " Having been an advocate of 

 experimental knowledge, and often asserted that ideas 

 empirically developed were the most valuable, I am 

 pleased to see a confirmation of my views by persons 

 of eminence. Dr. Sawyer, in his presidential address 



