AMERICAN 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS. 
[THIRD SERIES] 
*. 
ArT. XXXI.—Dr. Jacosp BIGELOW. 
Dr. JacosB BigELow died, at his residence in Boston, on the 
“tii of January last, near the close of the ninety-second year of 
is age. 
While we would pay the tribute due to his memory as by far 
the most venerable of American botanists, the last survivor of 
a school in this country which culminated half a century ago, it 
should also be remembered that he was even at that time dis- 
tinguished in other scientific avocations, and that from middle 
to old age he was among the most eminent of physicians. It 
is not often that we can contemplate a life so long, so ric 
various, and so well-rounded as his. He was born in Sudbury, 
Mass., on the 27th of February, 1787; and his father was the 
minister of the town. That almost goes without saying, most 
of our distinguished professional men of his and the preced- 
ing generations in New England having been the sons of coun- 
try ministers. He was graduated at Harvard College in the 
year 1806, Alexander H. Everett and the late Dr. J. G. Cogswell 
being among the most notable of his class-mates, all of whom 
e long survived. He directly took up the study of medicine, 
was licensed as a practitioner in 1809, and after attending one 
Course of lectures in Philadelphia, took his degree of M.D. at 
Harvard in the year 1810, and established himself in Boston. 
There he was a practicing physician for about sixty years, and 
Since the death of his senior, Dr. James Jackson, probably the 
Most eminent one. What turned his attention to botany we 
know not. He early showed an abiding taste for poetry. His 
commencement part was a poem, and he delivered a @ B. K. 
Am. Jour. 8c1.—TurrpD tae Vou. XVIL—No. 100, Apriz, 1879. 
