[XVI] 



HUMAN DISSECTION IN THE MEDICAL 

 SCHOOLS OF NEW ENGLAND 



A. Harvard Medical School-A.D. 1748 to 1958 



JLhe idea of organizing a medical school in Boston began to 

 take shape within a small group of men in the late 1700's. As a 

 beginning, a small collection of anatomical parts was made and 

 kept in storage in the Harvard College Library. However, this 

 edifice was destroyed by fire in 1764. Besides the medical books, 

 two anatomical cuts and at least a male and female skeleton were 

 lost. The latter had been presented to the institution by a 

 Dr. Mead. A third skeleton, donated by Francis Archibald in 

 1748, may have fared similarly. In addition, a set of human 

 specimens, in which the arteries and veins had been injected 

 with wax were burned. An impetus to the concept of a medical 

 school was provided when Ezekiel Hersey, a 1728 graduate of 

 Harvard, bequeathed 1000 pounds in 1770, to his alma mater 

 to be used in establishing a professorship of anatomy and surgery. 

 The founding actually took place in 1782 (Harrington, '05; 

 Warren, 1860). 



A leading light during the formative years of the Harvard 

 Medical School was John Warren (1753-1815). It was his de- 

 termination, ambition and exertions which supplied the essen- 

 tial driving force. 



At this time, he was a marked man although only twenty- 

 seven years of age. A characterization of him is presented by 

 Dr. Ephraim Eliot on the basis of his behavior, during one of 

 the early meetings of the short-lived Boston Medical Society. Ex- 

 cerpts from his remarks are as follows: ". . . all were determined 

 to put down Warren; but they could not; he rose triumphant 

 over them all. Dr. Rand . . . addressing himself to me, . . . said, 



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