Jeffries Wyman
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Jeffries Wyman (August 11, 1814 – September 4, 1874) was an American naturalist and
anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...
, born in
Chelmsford, Massachusetts Chelmsford () is a town in Massachusetts that was established in 1655. It is located northwest of Boston. The Chelmsford militia played a role in the American Revolution at the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill. ...
. Wyman died in
Bethlehem, New Hampshire Bethlehem is a hillside town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,484 at the 2020 census. It is home to Cushman and Strawberry Hill state forests. The eastern half of the town is within the White Mountain National ...
of a
pulmonary hemorrhage Pulmonary hemorrhage (or pulmonary haemorrhage) is an acute bleeding from the lung, from the upper respiratory tract and the trachea, and the pulmonary alveoli. When evident clinically, the condition is usually massive.
.


Career

He graduated
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
in 1833 and
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
in 1837. He was made
curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
at
Lowell Institute The Lowell Institute is a United States educational foundation located in Boston, Massachusetts, providing both free public lectures, and also advanced lectures. It was endowed by a bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell Jr., who died in 1836. ...
,
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, in 1839 and remained affiliated there until 1842. Fees from Lowell Institute lectures enabled him to study in Europe, from 1841-1842, where he had the opportunity to study under anatomist Richard Owen in London. Upon his return to the United States, he had hoped to gain a professorship at Harvard College but the position went to Asa Gray. In 1843, he was elected professor of
anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...
and
physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
at
Hampden-Sydney College Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. Hampden Sydney is the home of Hampden–Sydney College, a private all- ...
, Richmond, Virginia. A series of letters written between 1843 and 1848 to his Boston friend and fellow M.D.,
David Humphreys Storer David Humphreys Storer (March 26, 1804—September 10, 1891) was an American physician and naturalist. He served as dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard Medical School from 1855–1864, and published on the reptiles and fishes of New Englan ...
, reveal his unhappiness with the quality of the school, the treatment of the professors, and life in the South, writing "as soon as circumstances will permit I shall make my way back to the glorious city of Boston, the like of which exists not on the face of the earth." In 1847, he got his wish when he became Hersey Professor of Anatomy at Harvard College, where he remained until his death, becoming the first curator of the
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, with ...
there in 1866. He made extensive and valuable collections in comparative anatomy and archæology, and he published nearly 70 scientific papers. He was the
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1858. Although he did not achieve the fame of some of his contemporaries, he was respected by peers: "In his special branches his authority was recognized the world over." In 1866, he was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
. Wyman was elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...
in 1868.


Colleagues

In addition to studying with Richard Owen in London in 1842, Wyman also attended lectures by Achille Valenciennes,
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (16 December 1805 – 10 November 1861) was a French zoology, zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. In 1854 he coined the term ''éthologie'' (ethology). Biography He was born in Paris ...
,
Marie Jean Pierre Flourens Marie Jean Pierre Flourens (13 April 1794 – 6 December 1867), father of Gustave Flourens, was a French physiologist, the founder of experimental brain science, and a pioneer in anesthesia. Biography Flourens was born at Maureilhan, near Béziers ...
, and Etienne Serres in Paris. At Harvard, his colleagues included Oliver Wendell Holmes, Asa Gray, and Louis Agassiz. He also, with American physician and missionary Thomas Staughton Savage, first scientifically described the
gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...
.Conniff R. Discovering gorilla. Evolutionary Anthropology, 18: 55-61. Holmes also testified in the Parkman-Webster Murder Case. After Wyman's death, his former student Burt G. Wilder eulogized him as "regarded by all as the highest anatomical authority in America, and the compeer of Owen, Huxley, and Gegenbauer in the Old World."


Parkman-Webster murder case

In 1850, Wyman was called to testify for the prosecution in the trial of Dr.
John White Webster John White Webster (May 20, 1793 – August 30, 1850) was an American professor of chemistry and geology at Harvard Medical College. In 1850, he was convicted of murder in the Parkman–Webster murder case and hanged. Biography Born in Bo ...
, on trial for the murder of Dr.
George Parkman George Parkman (February 19, 1790November 23, 1849), a Boston Brahmin and a member of one of Boston's richest families, was a prominent physician, businessman, and philanthropist, as well the victim in the sensationally gruesome Parkman–Webste ...
. His recognized authority as a comparative anatomist caused the coroner, Jabez Pratt, to call upon him to examine the bones when they were found in November 1849. His testimony concerned the fragments of bones found in the furnace. He cataloged them as to the parts of the body to which they belonged (noting that no bones were duplicates so that the fragments belonged to a single body), and his testimony regarding the jawbone contributed to the belief that the bones belonged to Dr. Parkman. Wyman also testified as to the alleged bloodstains found on pantaloons and slippers belonging to Dr. Webster. Parkman's gaunt figure was known on the streets of Boston. A sketch of Dr. Parkman as he was last seen was published in the ''New York Globe's'' account of the trial. While the bones could not be definitively identified as Dr. Parkman, Wyman contributed to the belief that they were Parkman's by providing the court with a "diagram, exhibiting the position in the skeleton, of the bones found and showing, (in some degree,) what would be necessary to complete the body." This rendering was remarkably similar in stance to the sketch of Parkman striding and was labeled "Restoration of Dr. Parkman's Skeleton," no doubt influencing the jury. Coincidentally, Wyman's brother, Dr.
Morrill Wyman Morrill Wyman (July 25, 1812 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts – January 30, 1903 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an American physician and social reformer. Best known today for his work on hay fever, he was one of the most respected doctors o ...
, and his wife, had spent the evening of Parkman's disappearance with Webster and his wife at the home of Harvard professor
Daniel Treadwell Daniel Treadwell (October 10, 1791 – February 27, 1872) was an American inventor. Amongst his most important inventions are a hemp-spinning machine for the production of cordage, and a method of constructing cannon from wrought iron and steel. ...
.


Views on evolution and correspondence with Darwin

Wyman was a
theist Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to ...
who attended the Unitarian Church at Harvard and as such leaned toward a belief in a "theistic, morphological form of evolution rather than natural selection." Two historians of science who chronicles Wyman's career,
A. Hunter Dupree Anderson Hunter Dupree (29 January 1921 – 30 November 2019) was an American historian and one of the pioneer historians of the history of science and technology in the United States. He died in November 2019 at the age of 98. Early education T ...
and Toby Appel, disagreed as to Wyman's reception of Darwin's theories of
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
and
natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Cha ...
. Dupree believed that Wyman's religious beliefs caused him to struggle with Darwin's theories, accepting them "only by intense effort both as a scientist and a person." Appel disagreed with Dupree, believing that Wyman had no difficulty accepting Darwin's theory of evolution but that his work in philosophical anatomy made it "doubtful that he ever accepted natural selection." In her article, Appel makes a case for Wyman as a proponent of philosophical anatomy at Harvard, along with Louis Agassiz and Asa Gray. Philosophical anatomy, also known as transcendental anatomy, was the "search for ideal patterns of structure in nature." This search did not prevent Wyman and Gray in accepting evolution, although Agassiz never did. However, unlike Gray, Wyman could not accept natural selection as the method of evolution, believing instead in evolution as "directed by the Creator." When
On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
was published in 1859, Wyman's one-time mentor, Richard Owen came out against the book, while his colleague Asa Gray supported it. In 1860, Darwin went to Gray to enlist Wyman's support due to Wyman's work on higher apes and anatomy. Wyman wrote to Darwin agreeing that "progressive development is a far more probable theory than progressive creations", and the two men corresponded between 1860 and 1866, with Darwin writing at one point "I know hardly anyone whose opinions I should be more inclined to defer to."


Personal life

Wyman was married in 1850 to Adeline Wheelwright, with whom he had two daughters, Mary and Susan. Wheelwright died in 1855 and in 1861, he married Annie Williams Whitney, with whom he had a son, Jeffries Wyman, Jr. Whitney died in 1864, the year of their son's birth. In 1978, the Peabody Museum published ''Dear Jeffie,'' a collection of letters and sketches that Wyman had written to his son from 1866 to 1874 (the year of his own death) when he was doing field work in the states and abroad. His brother Dr.
Morrill Wyman Morrill Wyman (July 25, 1812 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts – January 30, 1903 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an American physician and social reformer. Best known today for his work on hay fever, he was one of the most respected doctors o ...
was a respected
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
doctor; their father Dr. Rufus Wyman was the first director of the
McLean Asylum McLean Hospital () (formerly known as Somerville Asylum and Charlestown Asylum) is a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. It is noted for its clinical staff expertise and neuroscience research and is also known for the large number of ...
. Ironically, Dr. George Parkman had sought the directorship of the asylum, another connection between Parkman and the Wymans.Sullivan, page 33. His grandson, also named Jeffries Wyman (1901–1995), was a molecular biologist and biophysicist, and he was also a professor at Harvard.


Notes


References

* Appel, Toby A. "Jeffries Wyman, Philosophical Anatomy, and the Scientific Reception of Darwin in America" in ''Journal of the History of Biology'' 1988 21(1), pages 69–94. * Appel, Toby A. "Wyman, Jeffries"; http://www.anb.org/articles/13/13-01864.html; ''American National Biography Online'' February 2000 * Bemis, George
Report of the Case of John W. Webster
CC Little and J Brown, 1850. * Dupree, A. Hunter. "Jeffries Wyman's Views on Evolution" in ''Isis'' 1953 44(3), pages 243-246. * Dupree, A. Hunter. "Some Letters from Charles Darwin to Jeffries Wyman" in ''Isis'' 1951 42(2), pages 104-110. * Gifford, George E. Jr. (ed.) "An American in Paris, 1841-842: Four Letters from Jeffries Wyman" in ''Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences'' 1967 22, pages 274-285. * Gifford, George E. Jr. (ed.) ''Dear Jeffie: Being the Letters from Jeffries Wyman, first director of the Peabody Museum, to his son, Jeffries Wyman, Jr.'' (1978) * Gifford, George E. Jr. (ed.) "Twelve Letters from Jeffries Wyman, M.D. Hampden-Sydney Medical College, Richmond, Virginia, 1843-1848" in ''Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences'' 1965 20, pages 309-333. *Hall, James. Whitney, J. "GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF STATE OF WISCONSIN, Vol. 1" 1862, CHAPTER VII - Observations upon the Mammalian Remains of extinct and existing Species found in the Crevices of the Lead-bearing rock, and in the Superficial Accumulations within the Lead Region of Wisconsin and Iowa. (By Prof. JEFFRIES WYMAN) * Stone, James Winchell
Report of the Trial of Prof. John W. Webster
Phillips, Sampson, & Company, 1850. * Sullivan, Robert. ''The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman.'' (1971) * Wilder, B. G. ''Leading American Men of Science'', edited by D. S. Jordan (New York, 1910) * Wilder, B. G. "Sketch of Dr. Jeffries Wyman" in ''Popular Science Monthly'' 1875 6, pages 355-360.


External links

*
Jeffries Wyman Papers,1832–1936 (inclusive), 1849–1874 (bulk). H MS c 12. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyman, Jeffries 1814 births 1874 deaths Hampden–Sydney College faculty American science writers Deaths from pulmonary hemorrhage Harvard College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Members of the American Antiquarian Society People from Chelmsford, Massachusetts Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Theistic evolutionists Harvard College faculty