790 



W Y.MAN WYTIIK. 



first settlers of Springfield atnl Northampton. He 

 graduated at Middlcbury College. Yt.. Isl.'i. ami after 

 iidmir--iou to tin' bar in Isl'.i settled at Canton. St. 

 LnmnOi 00 I! lir Uvame an active memlx r ami 

 officer of militia, ami rapidly ro-o to ]>roinin. 

 Sate affair.-. opposing Clinton ami espousing the cause 

 of Van liuivn. He. \va.- sent to tin- State Senate in 

 l^-~. where lie helped to 



fiame the tariff of 1SJS. which In- afterwards consid- 

 ered "a great error." lie elected |s-_".i his scat was 



disputed, tod he resigned it to Muveed Marcy as comp- 



troiler of New York. This po>t he held tour year.-, 

 and during that time was a member of the Democratic 

 State and national conventions, lie Was sent to the 

 U. S. Senate Is:;:; tor an unexpircd term, ami re- 

 i ls;;7 ami I SI;!. In this Inxlv he won a hivh 

 reputation and the compliments of Webster. Bcnton 

 entitled him "the Catoof the Senate." lie supported 

 Pres. Jackson's measures, opposed the t'. S. Hank. 

 and voted for Clay s compromise bill. Ik: was a 

 delegate to the convention which nominated his friend. 

 Van Huren, and strove to prepare the public mind lor 

 the independent treasury plan. The bill, after three 

 failures, was passed July I, 1840. lie favored Van 

 liurx'ii's bankrupt bill, and labored for his re election 

 in 1S40; supported the tariff bill of IS4'_'. and the 

 bank vetoes of Tyler, but opposed the other measures 

 of that I'rcs'uLnt. On the slavery question he occu- 

 pied a middle ground, favorable neither to the med- 

 dling with the institution as it stood nor to the. exten- 

 sion of its area ; be resisted the extreme proposals of 

 Calhoun, and approved measures looking towards 

 abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. A 

 b at Canton, July 4, 1839, promulgated his opin- 

 ions on this topic. He declined the Chief-Justiceship. 

 offered by Tyler in 1844, and in that year he defeated 

 Fillmorc in the contest for the governorship of New 

 York, and resigned his seat in the Senate. This, as 

 the iue proved, was a mistake, for he was better 

 fitted to the national arena than to a smaller one. and 

 to a legislative than to an executive office. Long prac- 

 tice had made him more familiar with measures than 

 with men, a statesman rather than a politician. His 

 term was troubled by the agitations of the Anti-renters 

 and outrages of the " Indians ; " these he sup; 

 with a strong hand, putting down an insurrection in 

 Delaware co. . and declining to pardon perso 1 

 lenccd to t. rnis of imprisonment, though he advised 

 the mitigation of future laws by abolishing distress 

 for rent, and other measures to modify a system which 

 had IN-COHIC oppivs.-ivc. His party was then divided 

 into "Hunkers" and "Barnburners" (<i. r.) ; he 

 would lead neither, but followed a middle 

 lir.-t opposing revision of the Slate constitution and 

 then approving the bill for .1 convention after it had 

 I. He was rcnoniinatcd and defeated in Isfl'., 

 and died at Canton, Aug. L'T. IS 17. In manners he was 

 always a plain countryman, and this failure at home 

 may have rone to his heart. See hi- l.ij'i by J. S. 

 Jenkil ind by .1. l>. Hammond I 



W Y M A N. .1 KITKI i - ( M 4- 1 S74). comparative anal 

 omist. was bom in Chelmsford. Mass., Aug. II. ISI4. 

 his father, Dr. Hufus Wymaii. Ix'ing the first physi- 

 cian of the Maclean In.-anc Asylum, the ear!'. 

 htitiition of its kind in New Knirland. Young Wyman 

 Was prepared for college at 1'hillips Academy. Kxeter, 

 fiil( icd Harvard in I si!'.' and graduated in I88S. He 

 Hudied medicine with his father and Mr. Dalton and 

 took the degree of M. I), in !s:;7. His first appoint- 

 ment alter graduation was as demonstrator to Dr. J. 

 C Warren .professor in Harvard University. Soon 

 nftcrward lie received the ap|Miinimcnt of curator of 

 the I/owell Institute, and in 1S41 delivered a course of 

 lectures bet :ituto. Reused the inonoy earned 



by this for a voyage to Europe and attended the lec- 



I tures of the m"-t noted anatomists, physiologists, and 

 natural hi-toiians in r'raii'-e and Kngland. In 1843 h* 

 w.i- appointed prote.-.-or of anatomy and physiology 

 in Hampdcn College, Kichmoml, \'a., UM in 1H7, 

 Ibr-ev profe--or ot anatomy in Harvard; and bt 

 the formation of the museum of comparative anatomy 

 with which his nan :.acd. In it- behalf lie 



was wont to make ftt in America. Europe, 



and Asia. In Is.'.i'i he was made jiresidi nt of the 

 Boston Natural Ili.-tory Society, filling this position 

 till 1S70. and in Is.'. 7 was chosen preside nt of the 

 American Association lor the Advancement ol'Scii nee. 

 On the foundation of the archiCological museum by 

 Mr. 1'eaboily of London in Isr.r,. he was appointed its 

 curator, an office which, as Well as the Hcrscy pro- 

 ..rship, he held till bis death. 1'rof. W\ man 

 was one of the lour member.- in add it ion to 1'rof Agassiz 

 nstitnted the faculty of the Mu.-eiini of Com- 

 parative /oology, and entered with unflagging ii 

 into all the large designs of his illuMriou- i-ol'.eagius, 

 who regarded him as ranking among the g. 

 comparative anatomists. A threatened attack of peri- 

 odical catarrh compelled him in August, 1>74, to leave 

 Cambridge for the White Mountains, but before doing 

 so he put both his museums into the most perfect 

 order. On SeM. 4, 1S7I. lie succumbed to a 81 

 hemorrhage which proved almost immediately 

 the place of bis death being Bethlehem. N. II. l'i- f. 

 Wyman was the author of numerous scientific pa) ITS 

 on anatomical and physiological ,-ubjccts. the t: 

 64 of which appear in the ( 'ntnlnt/ni- >/ 



I'll/Hi-!!, published bv the Royal Society of London. 



WYTIIK, QEOBOI (1726^1806), statesman, jurist, 

 and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was 

 born in Klizabeth Cityco.. Ya.. of a wealthy family. 



His education was mostly private, and largely bis own 

 work in later years : his youth was spent in red. 

 dissipation. At thirty he altered his course, was ad- 

 mitted to the bar 17"i7. and the next year entered the 

 House of BnrgeStea, where he acquired the greatest 

 J consideration ami influence, lie was one of the earliest 

 and most ardent of patriots, and near the end of 1704 

 was a member of the committee appointed to draw up 

 a petition to the king and addresses to I'arlianunt. 

 The remonstrance to the Commons on the proposed 

 Stamp Act was written by Wythe, and his coll. 

 found it much too outspoken for prudence or proprii ty. 

 As a member of I lie Continental ( 'ongress, 177~>-7, he 

 held the same views, and was ripe lor indcj i m:i 006. 

 With Mas.. n ami K. II. I/ee be framed the Virginia 

 constitution in I77o ; some inonihs later, with I'cndlc- 

 t-.iu and his pupil Jefferson, he was set at a revision of 

 the State laws. The next year he was Speaker of the 

 House of Delegates and one of the three judges of 

 Chancery; in this court he disregarded his popularity 

 in maintaining the rights of British creditors. The 

 war. which he so strongly favored, cau-cd the loss of 

 much of his property. He was professor of law at 

 William and Mary College 177'.' s-.i. I,, ||,,. (Ynstitu- 

 tional Convention, and in that of Virginia, which rati- 

 fied the document, he was active and prominent on the 

 side of union. The court was reorganized in 17si. and 

 he made sole chancellor. He was " singularly able to 

 the latent powers of great men. and help them 

 to great careers." One of the most determined of the 

 Virginia abolitionists, his will freed his ,-la\ . 

 made provision for them. To legal abilities and ac- 

 quirements of a high order he united a liberal taste for 

 letters, eminent social gifts, and a fondness for instruct- 

 ing and influencing the young. He lived at Richmond 



from 17S'.i. and there died by poison. June S. ]Mid; 

 judicial proceedings failed to bring the supposed mur- 

 derer to punishment. Jefferson, to whom his library 

 and instrument.'* were lirqneathcd. said that "no man 



ever left a character more venerated." 



