THE INCORPORATORS 1 97 



signal service between Cambridge and Boston. In 1874 he was 

 appointed by the Secretary of the Navy chairman of a commis- 

 sion established by Congress for the purpose of investigating the 

 causes of the explosions of steam boilers and formulated plans 

 for experiments which should test the truth or falsity of the 

 accepted theories, but he was not destined to see them carried 

 into execution. He died suddenly at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 

 on June 1 1, 1875. 



(From Joseph Lovering, in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy 

 of Sciences, vol. I, 1877, PP- 329-343-) 



JEFFRIES WYMAN 

 Born, August 11, 1814; died, September 4, 1874 



Jeffries Wyman, the third son of Dr. Rufus Wyman, was 

 born on August 11, 1814, at Chelmsford, near Lowell, Mas- 

 sachusetts. In 1818, his father moved to Somerville where he 

 was one of the physicians at the McLean Asylum. The early 

 schooling of Jeffries Wyman began in Charlestown, Massachu- 

 setts, and later he was sent to the Academy at Chelmsford. He 

 became interested in natural history when very young, and often 

 searched for objects of interest along the Charles River, near his 

 home. His talent for drawing also developed early, and he 

 afterwards used it to great advantage in the lecture-room. He 

 entered Harvard in 1829, was graduated in 1833, and the next 

 year took up the study of medicine with Dr. John C. Dalton. 

 He received his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1837, and 

 began his work in Boston by acting as demonstrator of anatomy 

 under a well-known comparative anatomist, Dr. J. C. Warren. 

 This occupation was not very lucrative, and was often a source 

 of discouragement, but Wyman pursued his scientific studies in 

 connection with his medical work, and never entirely gave them 

 up. 



At about this time the Lowell Institute was founded, and John 

 A. Lowell, who was then in charge of its affairs, offered Wyman 



