MEMOIR OF DANIEL THEADWKLL. 3.'Vl 



slight acquaintance with Dr. John Ware, of Boston, then just commencing the practice in 

 Hanover Street, and, although he was my junior by four years, 1 began ;is a studenl under hi 

 direction. This was the commencemenl of a friendship, which has continued without inter- 

 ruption for thirty-six years, and from which 1 have derived many very grea< benefits. Dr, War.' 



had received the discipline of a regular college education, while my mind had been pursuing 



knowledge with great ardor, but wholly undirected, lie at once received me upon something 

 like terms of equality, considering my age as nearly an equivalent for his rank as master; and 

 in the free discussions which have been maintained between us durintr our lonir intimacv I 

 have received a constant advantage from the check of his organized Learning, mid, with the 

 exception of two or three subjects, admirably proportioned mind; while 1 hope he baa now 

 and then received some benefit from the more free and unfettered, not to iv original views, 

 that the mind without early discipline is likely to take of the real subjects of thought 



While studying with Dr. Ware, Mr. Treadwell made the acquaintance of spy ral 



young men, who were either students, or who had just commenced the practice 

 of medicine; among them Dr. Jacob Bigelow, and Dr. William Sweel r, after- 



wards Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in Bowdoin College and 

 at Castleton, Vermont. c< His fellow students/' says Dr. Sweetser, "held him in 

 much esteem and respect for Ids great scientific knowledge, and his intellectual 



superiority, which we, his friends, did not hesitate to acknowledge. I became 

 greatly attached to him at that time, and that attachment has never met with any 



interruption/ 5 



To an acute observer like Mr. Treadwell, trained in the practice of the me- 

 chanic and hydraulic arts, anatomy and physiology — the animal at rest and in 

 motion — must have been peculiarly attractive. He must have found in the animal 

 economy many illustrations of his favorite pursuits, — illustrations little noticed or 

 entirely overlooked by those who had acquired only the ordinary preparation for a 

 medical student. At this time, as appears from a rough draft among his papers, 

 he undertook the solution of that difficult problem, the work done by the heart. 

 Taking for his data the height of a jet of blood from a severed carotid artery, and 

 the diameter of the aorta, he compared them with what is known by mechanics as a 



ii k~_~ — ~.„«~ " 



by 



power." His conclusion, it is safe to say, was nearer that now accepted 

 most physiologists than that of many who had preceded him in similar inquiries. 

 Besides such investigations, he carefully considered the method by which the forces 

 of the human body can best be applied to the movement of machines, and soon 

 put his views in practice. Nor was his interest confined to the mechanical relations 

 alone ; as we shall see further on, he made investigations and experiments not 

 without interest to the physiologist. 



