BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 173 



fever of the country, from which, he suffered severely, and recovered slowly. Again, in 

 1858-9, accepting the thoughtful and generous invitation of Capt. J. M. Forbes, he made 

 a voyage to the La Plata, ascended the Uraguay and the Parana in a small iron steamer 

 which Captain Forbes brought upon the deck of his vessel ; then, with his friend George 

 Augustus Peabody as a companion, he crossed the pampas to Mendosa, and the Cordilleras 

 to Santiago and Valparaiso, whence he came home by way of the Peruvian coast and the 

 Isthmus. 



By such expeditions many of the choice materials of his museum and of his researches 

 were gathered, at his own expense, to be carefully prepared and elaborated by his own 

 unaided hands. A vast neighboring museum is a splendid example of what munificence, 

 called forth by personal enthusiasm, may accomplish. In Dr. Wyman's we have an exam- 

 ple of what one man may do unaided, with feeble health and feebler means, by persistent 

 and well-directed industry, without eclat, and almost without observation. While we duly 

 honor those who of their abundance cast their gifts into the treasury of science, let us 

 not — now that he cannot be pained by our praise — forget to honor one who in silence 

 and penury cast in more than they all. 



Of penury in a literal sense we may not speak ; for although Prof Wyman's salary, 

 derived from the Hersey endowment, was slender indeed, he adapted his wants to his 

 means, foregoing neither his independence nor his scientific work ; and I suppose no one 

 ever heard him complain. In 1856 came unexpected and honorable aid from two old 

 friends of his father who appreciated the son, and wished him to go on with his scientific 

 work without distraction. One of them, the late Dr. William J. Walker, sent him ten 

 thousand dollars outright ; the other, the late Thomas Lee, who had helped in his early 

 education, supplemented the endowment of the Hersey professorship with an equal sum, 

 stipulating that the income thereof should be paid to Prof. Wyman during life, whether 

 he held the chair or not. Seldom, if ever, has a moderate sum produced a greater benefit. 



Throughout the later years of Prof. Wyman's life a new museum has claimed his inter- 

 est and care, and is indebted to him for much of its value and p]»omise. In 1866, when 

 failing strength demanded a respite from oral teaching, and required him to pass most of 

 the season for it in a milder climate, he was named by the late George Peabody one of 

 the seven trustees of the Museum and Professorship of American Archaeology and Eth- 

 nology, which this philanthropist proceeded to found in Harvard University; and his 

 associates called upon him to take charge of the establishment. For this he was pecu- 

 liarly fitted by all his previous studies, and by his predilection for ethnological inquiries. 

 These had already engaged his attention, and to this class of subjects he was thereafter 

 mainly devoted, — with what sagacity, consummate skill, untiring diligence and success, 

 his seven annual Keports — the last published just before he died, — his elaborate memoir 

 on shell-heaps, now printing, and especially the Archaeological Museum in Boylston Hall, 

 abundantly testify. If this museum be a worthy memorial of the founders liberality and 

 foresight, it is no less a monument of Wyman's rare ability and devotion. Whenever the 

 enduring building which is to receive it shall be erected, surely the name of its first cura- 

 tor and organizer should be inscribed, along with that of the founder, over its portal. 



Of Prof. Wyman's domestic life, let it here suffice to record, that in Dec, 1850, he 

 married Adeline Wheelwright, who died in June 1855, leaving two daughters; that in 



