62 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



vices, prepared at the request of the Society, by Dr. Jeffries Wyman, and published in 

 the fifth volume of its Proceedings. What follows is but a brief abstract of this paper. 



Waldo Irving Burnett was born in Southboro', Mass., July 12, 1828. He early mani- 

 fested a strong love of study, and became so much absorbed in that of insect life as to 

 cause a fear on the part of his father, who was a distinguished physician, that his health 

 would suffer, and he was therefore subjected to some restraint. The passion for investiga- 

 tion was, however, too strong to be more than temporarily checked. His mental activity 

 was remarkable, enabling him to master all- the studies of the academy where he was 

 placed, with ease. In mathematics he became so efficient as to lead the teacher to confess 

 that he was no longer able to instruct him. Later he became familiar with the French, 

 Spanish and German languages, and had made progress in the Swedish. 



At sixteen years of age he manifested a strong inclination to learn the nature of things, 

 and became interested in all that claimed to give an explanation of the phenomena wit- 

 nessed about him. He had, young as he was, commenced the study of medicine with his 

 father, accompanying him on professional visits and being present at examinations of bod- 

 ies after death. His father died when he was of the age mentioned, and he afterwards 

 studied with Dr. Joseph Sargent of Worcester, in the Tremont Medical School of Boston, 

 and in the Massachusetts General Hospital. He did not receive a collegiate education. 



In 1849, at the age of twenty-one, he graduated in medicine, and soon after visited 

 Europe, where he spent much of his time in attention to natural history and microscopic 

 observations. There the symptoms of disease manifested themselves, and he returned to 

 the United States with the hope that the climate of the more southern portion would be 

 beneficial. For several years he was obliged by increasing illness to pass his winters in 

 the South, but wherever he was he kept incessantly at work, accomplishing more than it 

 would be possible for. many well men to do, in investigation with the microscope ; in wri- 

 ting the results of his investigations ; and in giving lectures on microscopic anatomy. 



While a medical student he became an active member of our Society, and soon after Cu- 

 rator of Entomology. He also was admitted at the early age of twenty-three to the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 



His communications to different scientific bodies and journals, considering the circum- 

 stances of his waning health and frequent travel, were astonishingly numerous and mani- 

 fested a degree of activity, mental and bodily, that few could exert. Many of these com- 

 munications may be found in the Journal and in the Proceedings of the Society. 



To a speculative and inquiring mind like that of Dr. Burnett's, there would of necessity 

 arise questions of perplexing character involved in the problem of life, and doubts did 

 arise of a disturbing nature, which however, were afterwards replaced by a settled and 

 firm conviction, that if there was much to live for, and no man valued life more, there was 

 still more to die for. He passed away on July 1, shortly before he completed his twenty- 

 sixth year. 



Resolutions, expressive of the great loss the Society had sustained by his death, and of 

 condolence with his family, were passed by the Society. 



At a meeting of the Council in November, the Cabinet keeper exhibited several cases 

 of insects destroyed by the pests that finally caused the great loss of nearly all the valua- 

 ble collection. 



