Jeffries Wyman: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|American anatomist (1814–1874)}} |
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{{for|his grandson the American molecular biologist and biophysicist|Jeffries Wyman (biologist)}} |
{{for|his grandson the American molecular biologist and biophysicist|Jeffries Wyman (biologist)}} |
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{{Infobox |
{{Infobox academic |
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| name |
| name = Jeffries Wyman |
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|image = Jeffries Wyman.jpg |
| image = Jeffries Wyman.jpg |
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| birth_date |
| birth_date = {{birth date |1814|08|11}} |
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| birth_place |
| birth_place = [[Chelmsford, Massachusetts|Chelmsford]], [[Massachusetts]], U.S. |
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| death_date |
| death_date = {{death date and age |1874|09|4 |1814|08|11}} |
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| death_place |
| death_place = [[Bethlehem, New Hampshire]], U.S. |
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| fields = |
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| nationality = American |
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| fields = Natural history<br>Anatomy |
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| known_for = [[Parkman–Webster murder case]] |
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| occupation = College professor and museum curator |
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| known_for = |
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| discipline = Medicine |
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| sub_discipline = Anatomy |
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| workplaces = [[Harvard Medical School]] |
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[[Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology]] |
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| notable_students = [[Burt G. Wilder]] |
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}} |
}} |
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'''Jeffries Wyman''' (August 11, 1814 – September 4, 1874) was an American |
'''Jeffries Wyman''' (August 11, 1814 – September 4, 1874) was an American [[anatomist]], [[curator]], and professor. He was the first curator of the [[Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology]] and taught anatomy at [[Harvard Medical School]] from 1847 to 1874. |
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== |
==Early life== |
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Wyman was born in [[Chelmsford, Massachusetts]] in 1814. His father, [[Rufus Wyman]], was the first director of the [[McLean Hospital|McLean Asylum]].<ref name=":0" /> |
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He graduated [[Harvard College]] in 1833 and [[Harvard Medical School]] in 1837. He was made [[curator]] at [[Lowell Institute]], [[Boston]], 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.<ref>Appel, T. "Wyman, Jeffries," ''American National Biography Online'' http://www.anb.org/articles/13/13-01864.html</ref> 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]] and [[physiology]] at [[Hampden-Sydney College]], [[Richmond, Virginia]]. A series of letters written between 1843 and 1848 to his Boston friend and fellow M.D., [[David Humphreys Storer]], 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."<ref>Gifford, G., "Twelve Letters from Jeffries Wyman, M.D.: Hampden-Sydney Medical College, Richmond, Virginia, 1843-1848" ''Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences'' 1965, page, 315.</ref> 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]] there in 1866. He made extensive and valuable collections in [[comparative anatomy]] and [[Archaeology|archæology]], and he published nearly 70 scientific papers. He was the [[President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science|president]] 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."<ref>Wilder, B. "Jeffries Wyman" ''Leading American Men of Science'' 1910, page 171.</ref> In 1866, he was elected as a member to the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1866&year-max=1866&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-21|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> Wyman was elected a member of the [[American Antiquarian Society]] in 1868.<ref>[http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistw American Antiquarian Society Members Directory]</ref> |
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Wyman attended [[Phillips Exeter Academy]]. He graduated [[Harvard College]] in 1833 and [[Harvard Medical School]] in 1837. |
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==Colleagues== |
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In addition to studying with Richard Owen in London in 1842, Wyman also attended lectures by [[Achille Valenciennes]], [[Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]], [[Jean Pierre Flourens|Marie Jean Pierre Flourens]], and [[Etienne Serres]] in Paris.<ref>Gifford, G. "An American in Paris, 1841-1842: Four Letters from Jeffries Wyman" ''Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences'' 1967, pages 275-6.</ref> At Harvard, his colleagues included [[Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.|Oliver Wendell Holmes]], Asa Gray, and [[Louis Agassiz]]. He also, with American physician and missionary [[Thomas Staughton Savage]], first scientifically described the [[gorilla]].<ref name="Conniff">Conniff R. Discovering gorilla. Evolutionary Anthropology, 18: 55-61. {{DOI|10.1002/evan.20203}}</ref> Holmes also testified in the [[Parkman-Webster murder case|Parkman-Webster Murder Case]]. After Wyman's death, his former student [[Burt Green Wilder|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."<ref>Wilder, B., "Sketch of Dr. Jeffries Wyman," ''Popular Science Monthly'' 1875, page 355.</ref> |
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== Career == |
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He was made [[curator]] at [[Lowell Institute]], [[Boston]], in 1839 and remained affiliated there until 1842. Fees from Lowell Institute lectures enabled him to study in Europe, from 1841 to 1842, where he learned from anatomist [[Richard Owen]] in London.<ref name=":2">Appel, Toby A. "[http://www.anb.org/articles/13/13-01864.html Wyman, Jeffries]". ''American National Biography Online,'' February 2000. |
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In 1850, Wyman was called to testify for the prosecution in the trial of Dr. [[John White Webster]], on trial for the murder of Dr. [[George Parkman]]. 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.<ref>Bemis, G. ''Report of the Case of John W. Webster,'' 1850, page 61.</ref> 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. |
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</ref> In addition to studying with Owen, Wyman also attended lectures by [[Achille Valenciennes]], [[Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]], [[Jean Pierre Flourens|Marie Jean Pierre Flourens]], and [[Etienne Serres]] in Paris.<ref>Gifford Jr., George E. (ed.) "An American in Paris, 1841-842: Four Letters from Jeffries Wyman". ''Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences,'' vol. 22 (1967): 275-276.</ref> |
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⚫ | Parkman |
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Upon his return to the United States, Wyman hoped to gain a professorship at Harvard College but the position went to [[Asa Gray]]. In 1843, he was elected professor of [[anatomy]] and [[physiology]] at [[Hampden-Sydney College]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]]. In a series of letters written between 1843 and 1848 to his Boston friend and fellow medical doctor, [[David Humphreys Storer]], Wyman revealed his unhappiness with the quality of the school, the treatment of the professors, and life in the South.<ref name=":1" /> He wrote, "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."<ref name=":1">Gifford Jr., George E. (ed.) "Twelve Letters from Jeffries Wyman, M.D.: Hampden-Sydney Medical College, Richmond, Virginia, 1843-1848". ''Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences'' vol. 20 (1965): 315.</ref> |
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In 1847, Wyman became Hersey Professor of Anatomy at Harvard College, where he remained until his death. He was also the first curator of the [[Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology]], holding that position until 1866. He made extensive and valuable collections in [[comparative anatomy]] and [[Archaeology|archæology]] and published nearly seventy scientific papers. With American physician and missionary [[Thomas Staughton Savage]], he was the first to scientifically describe the [[gorilla]].<ref name="Conniff">Conniff, R. "Discovering Gorilla". ''Evolutionary Anthropology'', vol. 18, pp. 55-61. {{doi|10.1002/evan.20203}}</ref> |
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Wyman was a [[Theism|theist]] 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."<ref>Appel, "Wyman, Jeffries" ''American National Biography''</ref> Two historians of science who chronicles Wyman's career, [[A. Hunter Dupree]] and Toby Appel, disagreed as to Wyman's reception of [[Charles Darwin|Darwin's]] theories of [[evolution]] and [[natural selection]]. 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."<ref>Dupree, A., "Jeffries Wyman's Views on Evolution" ''Isis'' 1953, page 246.</ref> 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."<ref>Appel, T. "Jeffries Wyman, Philosophical Anatomy, and the Scientific Reception of Darwin in America," ''Journal of the History of Biology'' 1988, page 71.</ref> 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."<ref>Appel, page 71.</ref> 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."<ref>Appel, page 91.</ref> |
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Although he did not achieve the fame of some of his contemporaries, he was respected by his peers: "In his special branches his authority was recognized the world over."<ref>Wilder, B. G. "Jeffries Wyman" ''Leading American Men of Science.'' [[David Starr Jordan|D. S. Jordan]], editor. New York: 1910, p. 171.</ref> In 1866, he was elected as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1866&year-max=1866&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-21|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> Wyman was elected a member of the [[American Antiquarian Society]] in 1868.<ref>[http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistw American Antiquarian Society Members Directory]</ref> He was the [[President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science|president]] of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] in 1858. |
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After Wyman's death, his former student [[Burt Green Wilder|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."<ref>[[Burt Green Wilder|Wilder, B. G.]] "Sketch of Dr. Jeffries Wyman". ''Popular Science Monthly'', vol. 6 (1875): 355.</ref> |
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In 1850, Wyman was called to testify for the prosecution in the [[Parkman–Webster murder case]], where Dr. [[John White Webster]] was on trial for the murder of Dr. [[George Parkman]].<ref>Stone, James Winchell. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gpQ8AAAAIAAJ&q=stone+webster/ ''Report of the Trial of Prof. John W. Webster'']. Phillips, Sampson, & Company, 1850.</ref> Wyman's recognized authority as a comparative anatomist caused the coroner, Jabez Pratt, to call upon him to examine and testify about bones found in a furnace in November 1849.<ref>Bemis, George. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-HIDAAAAQAAJ Report of the Case of John W. Webster]. C.C. Little and J. Brown, 1850, p. 61. via Google Books. |
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</ref> He cataloged them and noted that the fragments belonged to a single body; his testimony regarding the jawbone contributed to the belief that the bones belonged to Parkman. Wyman also testified about the alleged bloodstains found on pantaloons and slippers belonging to Webster. |
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⚫ | Parkman's gaunt figure was known on the streets of Boston.<ref>Sullivan, R. ''The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman'' 1971, p. 5.</ref> A sketch of Dr. Parkman as he was last seen was published in the ''New York Globe's'' account of the trial.<ref>New York Globe, ''Trial of Professor John W. Webster,''1850, p. 77.</ref> 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."<ref>Bemis, George. ''[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Report_of_the_Case_of_John_W_Webster/-HIDAAAAQAAJ?hl=en Report of the Case of John W. Webster]''. C.C. Little and J. Brown, 1850, p. 88. via Google Books</ref> This rendering was remarkably similar to the sketch of Parkman striding and was labeled "Restoration of Dr. Parkman's Skeleton," no doubt influencing the jury.<ref>New York Globe.''Trial of Professor John W. Webster,'' 1850, ''p.'' 21.</ref> |
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Wyman was a [[Theism|theist]] who attended the [[Unitarian Universalism|Unitarian Church]] at Harvard and, as such, leaned toward a belief in a "theistic, morphological form of evolution rather than natural selection."<ref name=":2" /> Two science historians who chronicled Wyman's career, [[A. Hunter Dupree]] and Toby Appel, disagreed as to Wyman's reception of [[Charles Darwin|Charles Darwin's]] theories of [[evolution]] and [[natural selection]]. 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."<ref>[[A. Hunter Dupree|Dupree, A. Hunter]]. "Jeffries Wyman's Views on Evolution" ''Isis,'' vol. 44, no. 3 (1953): 246.</ref> |
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Appel believed 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."<ref name=":3" /> Appel made a case for Wyman as a proponent of philosophical anatomy at Harvard, along with his colleagues Louis Agassiz and Asa Gray. Philosophical anatomy, also known as [[transcendental anatomy]], was the "search for ideal patterns of structure in nature."<ref name=":3">Appel, Toby A. "Jeffries Wyman, Philosophical Anatomy, and the Scientific Reception of Darwin in America". ''Journal of the History of Biology'' 1988 vol. 21, no. 1 (1988): 71.</ref> This search did not prevent Wyman and Gray from 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."<ref>Appel, Toby A. "Jeffries Wyman, Philosophical Anatomy, and the Scientific Reception of Darwin in America". ''Journal of the History of Biology'' 1988 vol. 21, no. 1 (1988): 91.</ref> |
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When Darwin's ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'' 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, [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]] went to Gray to enlist Wyman's support, due to Wyman's work on higher apes and anatomy.<ref>[[A. Hunter Dupree|Dupree, A. Hunter]]. "Some Letters from Charles Darwin to Jeffries Wyman". ''Isis'' 1951 vol. 42, no. 2 (1951):105. |
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⚫ | </ref> Wyman wrote to Darwin agreeing that "progressive development is a far more probable theory than progressive creations".<ref name="Letter2901">{{cite web |url=http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/darwinletters/calendar/entry-2901.html |title=Darwin Correspondence Project - Letter 2901 — Wyman, Jeffries to Darwin, C. R., (c. 15) September 1860 |access-date=2009-03-04}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Letter2936">{{cite web |url=http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/darwinletters/calendar/entry-2936.html |title=Darwin Correspondence Project - Letter 2936 — Darwin, C. R. to Wyman, Jeffries, 3 October (1860) |access-date=2009-03-04}}</ref><ref>[[A. Hunter Dupree|Dupree, A. Hunter]]. "Some Letters from Charles Darwin to Jeffries Wyman". ''Isis'' 1951 vol. 42, no. 2 (1951): 106.</ref> |
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==Personal life== |
==Personal life== |
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Wyman |
Wyman married Adeline Wheelwright in 1850. They had two daughters, Mary and Susan, before Adeline died in 1855. 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.<ref name=":2" /> |
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Wyman died in [[Bethlehem, New Hampshire]] of a [[pulmonary hemorrhage]] on September 4, 1874. 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 when he was doing fieldwork in the states and abroad.<ref>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).</ref> |
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⚫ | His brother [[Morrill Wyman]] was a respected [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] doctor.<ref name=":0">Sullivan, Robert. ''The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman.'' (1971) , p. 33.</ref> His grandson, also named [[Jeffries Wyman (biologist)|Jeffries Wyman]] (1901–1995), was a molecular biologist, biophysicist, and professor at Harvard. |
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==Notes== |
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== Selected publications == |
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*Wyman, Jeffries; “Fossil Mammels” - “The U.S. Navel Astronomical Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere During the Years 1849-‘50-‘51-‘52: Volume II.” |
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* 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. |
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* Appel, Toby A. "Wyman, Jeffries"; http://www.anb.org/articles/13/13-01864.html; ''American National Biography Online'' February 2000 |
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* Bemis, George. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-HIDAAAAQAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0/ Report of the Case of John W. Webster]. CC Little and J Brown, 1850. |
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* [[A. Hunter Dupree|Dupree, A. Hunter]]. "Jeffries Wyman's Views on Evolution" in ''Isis'' 1953 44(3), pages 243-246. |
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* [[A. Hunter Dupree|Dupree, A. Hunter]]. "Some Letters from Charles Darwin to Jeffries Wyman" in ''Isis'' 1951 42(2), pages 104-110. |
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* 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. |
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* 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) |
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* 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. |
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⚫ | * |
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* Stone, James Winchell. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gpQ8AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=stone+webster/ Report of the Trial of Prof. John W. Webster]. Phillips, Sampson, & Company, 1850. |
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* Sullivan, Robert. ''The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman.'' (1971) |
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* [[Burt Green Wilder|Wilder, B. G.]]. ''Leading American Men of Science'', edited by [[David Starr Jordan|D. S. Jordan]] (New York, 1910) |
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* [[Burt Green Wilder|Wilder, B. G.]]. "Sketch of Dr. Jeffries Wyman" in ''Popular Science Monthly'' 1875 6, pages 355-360. |
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== External links == |
== External links == |
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* {{BHL author}} |
* {{BHL author}} |
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* [http://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/med00424/catalog Jeffries Wyman Papers, |
* [http://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/med00424/catalog Jeffries Wyman Papers, Harvard Medical Library] |
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{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:People from Chelmsford, Massachusetts]] |
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[[Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni]] |
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[[Category:Harvard College alumni]] |
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[[Category:Harvard Medical School alumni]] |
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[[Category:Hampden–Sydney College faculty]] |
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[[Category:American science writers]] |
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[[Category:Members of the American Antiquarian Society]] |
[[Category:Members of the American Antiquarian Society]] |
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[[Category:People from Chelmsford, Massachusetts]] |
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[[Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni]] |
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[[Category:Theistic evolutionists]] |
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[[Category:American Unitarians]] |
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[[Category:19th-century American physicians]] |
Revision as of 09:20, 23 May 2024
Jeffries Wyman | |
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![]() | |
Born | Chelmsford, Massachusetts, U.S. | August 11, 1814
Died | September 4, 1874 Bethlehem, New Hampshire, U.S. | (aged 60)
Occupation(s) | College professor and museum curator |
Known for | Parkman–Webster murder case |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Harvard College Harvard Medical School |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Medicine |
Sub-discipline | Anatomy |
Institutions | Harvard Medical School Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology |
Notable students | Burt G. Wilder |
Jeffries Wyman (August 11, 1814 – September 4, 1874) was an American anatomist, curator, and professor. He was the first curator of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and taught anatomy at Harvard Medical School from 1847 to 1874.
Early life
Wyman was born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts in 1814. His father, Rufus Wyman, was the first director of the McLean Asylum.[1]
Wyman attended Phillips Exeter Academy. He graduated Harvard College in 1833 and Harvard Medical School in 1837.
Career
He was made curator at Lowell Institute, Boston, in 1839 and remained affiliated there until 1842. Fees from Lowell Institute lectures enabled him to study in Europe, from 1841 to 1842, where he learned from anatomist Richard Owen in London.[2] In addition to studying with Owen, Wyman also attended lectures by Achille Valenciennes, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Marie Jean Pierre Flourens, and Etienne Serres in Paris.[3]
Upon his return to the United States, Wyman hoped to gain a professorship at Harvard College but the position went to Asa Gray. In 1843, he was elected professor of anatomy and physiology at Hampden-Sydney College in Richmond, Virginia. In a series of letters written between 1843 and 1848 to his Boston friend and fellow medical doctor, David Humphreys Storer, Wyman revealed his unhappiness with the quality of the school, the treatment of the professors, and life in the South.[4] He wrote, "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."[4]
In 1847, Wyman became Hersey Professor of Anatomy at Harvard College, where he remained until his death. He was also the first curator of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, holding that position until 1866. He made extensive and valuable collections in comparative anatomy and archæology and published nearly seventy scientific papers. With American physician and missionary Thomas Staughton Savage, he was the first to scientifically describe the gorilla.[5]
Although he did not achieve the fame of some of his contemporaries, he was respected by his peers: "In his special branches his authority was recognized the world over."[6] In 1866, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.[7] Wyman was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1868.[8] He was the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1858.
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."[9]
Parkman–Webster murder case
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/George_Parkman.gif)
In 1850, Wyman was called to testify for the prosecution in the Parkman–Webster murder case, where Dr. John White Webster was on trial for the murder of Dr. George Parkman.[10] Wyman's recognized authority as a comparative anatomist caused the coroner, Jabez Pratt, to call upon him to examine and testify about bones found in a furnace in November 1849.[11] He cataloged them and noted that the fragments belonged to a single body; his testimony regarding the jawbone contributed to the belief that the bones belonged to Parkman. Wyman also testified about the alleged bloodstains found on pantaloons and slippers belonging to Webster.
Parkman's gaunt figure was known on the streets of Boston.[12] A sketch of Dr. Parkman as he was last seen was published in the New York Globe's account of the trial.[13] 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."[14] This rendering was remarkably similar to the sketch of Parkman striding and was labeled "Restoration of Dr. Parkman's Skeleton," no doubt influencing the jury.[15]
Coincidentally, Wyman's brother, Dr. Morrill Wyman, and his wife, had spent the evening of Parkman's disappearance with Webster and his wife at the home of Harvard professor Daniel Treadwell.[16]
Views on evolution
Wyman was a theist 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."[2] Two science historians who chronicled Wyman's career, A. Hunter Dupree and Toby Appel, disagreed as to Wyman's reception of Charles Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection. 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."[17]
Appel believed 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."[18] Appel made a case for Wyman as a proponent of philosophical anatomy at Harvard, along with his colleagues Louis Agassiz and Asa Gray. Philosophical anatomy, also known as transcendental anatomy, was the "search for ideal patterns of structure in nature."[18] This search did not prevent Wyman and Gray from 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."[19]
When Darwin's On the Origin of Species 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.[20] Wyman wrote to Darwin agreeing that "progressive development is a far more probable theory than progressive creations".[21] 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."[22][23]
Personal life
Wyman married Adeline Wheelwright in 1850. They had two daughters, Mary and Susan, before Adeline died in 1855. 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.[2]
Wyman died in Bethlehem, New Hampshire of a pulmonary hemorrhage on September 4, 1874. 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 when he was doing fieldwork in the states and abroad.[24]
His brother Morrill Wyman was a respected Cambridge doctor.[1] His grandson, also named Jeffries Wyman (1901–1995), was a molecular biologist, biophysicist, and professor at Harvard.
Selected publications
- Wyman, Jeffries; "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" in Geological Survey of State of Wisconsin, vol. 1, 1862.
- Wyman, Jeffries; “Fossil Mammels” - “The U.S. Navel Astronomical Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere During the Years 1849-‘50-‘51-‘52: Volume II.”
References
- ^ a b Sullivan, Robert. The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman. (1971) , p. 33.
- ^ a b c Appel, Toby A. "Wyman, Jeffries". American National Biography Online, February 2000.
- ^ Gifford Jr., George E. (ed.) "An American in Paris, 1841-842: Four Letters from Jeffries Wyman". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, vol. 22 (1967): 275-276.
- ^ a b Gifford Jr., George E. (ed.) "Twelve Letters from Jeffries Wyman, M.D.: Hampden-Sydney Medical College, Richmond, Virginia, 1843-1848". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences vol. 20 (1965): 315.
- ^ Conniff, R. "Discovering Gorilla". Evolutionary Anthropology, vol. 18, pp. 55-61. doi:10.1002/evan.20203
- ^ Wilder, B. G. "Jeffries Wyman" Leading American Men of Science. D. S. Jordan, editor. New York: 1910, p. 171.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- ^ American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
- ^ Wilder, B. G. "Sketch of Dr. Jeffries Wyman". Popular Science Monthly, vol. 6 (1875): 355.
- ^ Stone, James Winchell. Report of the Trial of Prof. John W. Webster. Phillips, Sampson, & Company, 1850.
- ^ Bemis, George. Report of the Case of John W. Webster. C.C. Little and J. Brown, 1850, p. 61. via Google Books.
- ^ Sullivan, R. The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman 1971, p. 5.
- ^ New York Globe, Trial of Professor John W. Webster,1850, p. 77.
- ^ Bemis, George. Report of the Case of John W. Webster. C.C. Little and J. Brown, 1850, p. 88. via Google Books
- ^ New York Globe.Trial of Professor John W. Webster, 1850, p. 21.
- ^ Sullivan, Robert. The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman. (1971) p. 118.
- ^ Dupree, A. Hunter. "Jeffries Wyman's Views on Evolution" Isis, vol. 44, no. 3 (1953): 246.
- ^ a b Appel, Toby A. "Jeffries Wyman, Philosophical Anatomy, and the Scientific Reception of Darwin in America". Journal of the History of Biology 1988 vol. 21, no. 1 (1988): 71.
- ^ Appel, Toby A. "Jeffries Wyman, Philosophical Anatomy, and the Scientific Reception of Darwin in America". Journal of the History of Biology 1988 vol. 21, no. 1 (1988): 91.
- ^ Dupree, A. Hunter. "Some Letters from Charles Darwin to Jeffries Wyman". Isis 1951 vol. 42, no. 2 (1951):105.
- ^ "Darwin Correspondence Project - Letter 2901 — Wyman, Jeffries to Darwin, C. R., (c. 15) September 1860". Retrieved 2009-03-04.
- ^ "Darwin Correspondence Project - Letter 2936 — Darwin, C. R. to Wyman, Jeffries, 3 October (1860)". Retrieved 2009-03-04.
- ^ Dupree, A. Hunter. "Some Letters from Charles Darwin to Jeffries Wyman". Isis 1951 vol. 42, no. 2 (1951): 106.
- ^ 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).
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- 1814 births
- 1874 deaths
- People from Chelmsford, Massachusetts
- Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
- Harvard College alumni
- Harvard Medical School alumni
- Hampden–Sydney College faculty
- American science writers
- Deaths from pulmonary hemorrhage
- Members of the American Antiquarian Society
- Theistic evolutionists
- American Unitarians
- 19th-century American physicians