JEFFRIES WYMAN 181 



and admired the powers of his zob'logic colleague; and Agassiz, 

 for his part, never tired of praising Wyman, and of advising his 

 students to attend his lectures; his good opinion of the teacher 

 was tranf erred to the pupils of the latter; and indeed, in all ana- 

 tomical and medical circles Wyman's name was a passport to 

 favor and opportunity. 1 



From personal participation in the Civil War Wyman was 

 excluded by his age and health; but his lively interest in it was 

 practically shown in various ways and is evinced by the following 

 extracts from letters dated, respectively, August 20, 1862, Decem- 

 ber 21, 1862, May 8, 1863, May 26, 1864, and January 15, 1865: 



"Knowing how many there are connected with the hospitals 

 who shirk their duties ... I do not know when you and Adams 

 (see p. 201, note) will have a better chance to do good than that 

 now at your disposal." "The weather here is severely cold, and 

 if such prevails on the Potomac the sufferings of the soldiers must 

 be fearful." "I presume you will have enough to do for the 

 present to take care of the wounded from the Fredericksburg dis- 

 aster, the consequences of downright folly on the part of the man- 

 agers of the war." "I could not help feeling indignant when I 

 read the account of the attack at Honey Hill, to find that our 

 troops were again marched, as they have been so often, in the 

 face of a battery where it was equally disastrous to advance or 

 retreat; it does seem to me that there was a disgraceful blunder 

 on the part of some one. ... At Thanksgiving time I visited 

 the Army of the Potomac. I went to the picket-lines and took a 

 deliberate look with my glass into a rebel battery; they did not 

 pay me the compliment to offer a single bullet; of course I don't 

 complain." 



On the 8th of October, 1866, Mr. George Peabody gave one 

 hundred and fifty thousand dollars "in trust for the foundation and 



1 The writer is sure that to Wyman's name more than to his own merits 

 were due the invitation from Dr. Francis H. Brown, also a pupil, to serve 

 under him as medical cadet at the Judiciary Square Army Hospital in Wash- 

 ington in July, 1862; the request to perform the necropsies there; the proposi- 

 tion to give the course in anatomy at a medical college; the detail to assist 

 Dr. John H. Brinton on "The Surgical History of the War "; and the special 

 opportunities for taking examinations for higher grades in the service. 



