DISSECTION IN MEDICAL SCHOOLS OF NEW ENGLAND I93 



cases in the Continental Hospital, of which he is the sole director 

 in every respect; and he can always have command of subjects 

 for dissection, without exciting alarm, or being reduced to the 

 necessity of taking bodies from the burying-ground, as most of 

 the inmates of the hospital were foreigners, and no one would 

 scrutinize into the matter. . . Now, Warren will be able to obtain 

 fees from the pupils who will attend his lectures on anatomy and 

 surgery, and turn it to pecuniary advantage. But he will not stop 

 there: he well knows that moneys have been left to the college 

 for such an establishment as he is appointed to, and he is looking 

 at the professorship. Mark what I say, Eliot: you will probably 

 live to see it verified'' (Harrington, '05). 



From this, it appears that John Warren was not profession- 

 ally popular; this was also manifest in other instances and it may 

 have been due, in part, to the envy and pettiness of some less 

 able colleagues. 



He graduated from Harvard in 1771 and thereafter began 

 to educate himself in medicine. Although he was largely self- 

 taught, he served an apprenticeship for two years under the 

 tutelage of his brother, Joseph. At no time, did he study under 

 any great masters in science. 



After serving in the Revolutionary War as a surgeon, he 

 was appointed superintendent of the Continental (Military) Hos- 

 pital in Boston. Before being elected to the Chair of Anatomy 

 at Harvard, he gave a series of three anatomical demonstrations 

 as follows: 



1. In 1780, during the winter, he gave a course to Army 

 and Boston physicians at the Military Hospital. This constituted 

 the first attempt in that city to teach anatomy by demonstration. 

 During these, he found it necessary to keep great secrecy because 

 of the prevailing prejudice against dissection. 



2. Warren conducted another session of anatomical demon- 

 strations, in 1781, under the auspices of the Boston Medical 

 Society. This was given publicly at the hospital and was attended 

 by literary and scientific men, including President Willard, mem- 

 bers of the Harvard Corporation and students from the college. 



3. The third presentation was given, in 1782, at "Molineaux 

 House," located on Beacon Street to an audience made up of the 



