198 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



the curatorship. During the season of 1840-41, he delivered 

 twelve lectures on comparative anatomy and physiology, and 

 with the means thus procured went to Europe, where he came 

 in contact with many prominent men of science, such as De 

 Blainville, St. Hilaire, and Valenciennes. His sojourn was 

 shortened by the illness and death of his father. In 1843, after 

 his return, he was made Professor of Anatomy and Physiology 

 at Hampton Sidney College in Richmond, Virginia. In 1847 

 he succeeded Dr. Warren to the Hersey chair of anatomy at 

 Harvard College. 



While here he established and developed a museum of com- 

 parative anatomy to which he devoted all of his spare time. 

 On the many trips he made both North and South, he gathered 

 great numbers of valuable specimens and added them to the 

 collections in his museum, which was afterwards incorporated 

 with that of the Boston Society of Natural History. 



He spent the winter of 1852 in Florida on account of bad 

 health, but in spite of his malady he was able at intervals to 

 make investigations of the Indian shell-heaps, the results of 

 which were afterwards published. Later, he made many trips 

 to the coast of Maine and Massachusetts, and examined shell- 

 heaps in as many as twenty-five localities, securing several thou- 

 sand specimens. In 1856 he made an expedition to Surinam, and 

 the same year was elected President of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History, which office he held for fourteen years. In 

 1858-9, he went to the La Plata, and after ascending the Uruguay 

 and Parana rivers crossed the continent to Santiago and Val- 

 paraiso, with his friend G. A. Peabody, returning home by the 

 Isthmus of Panama. 



In 1866 the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and 

 Ethnology was founded by George Peabody, and Wyman was 

 appointed one of the seven trustees. By vote of the board, he 

 was named as curator of the museum. In the duties of this office 

 there was great scope for Wyman's ability and enthusiasm and 

 though he worked at all times under the disadvantage of ill 



