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0-'ANATOMYAND SURGERY IN MAKVAWt UNIVEKl
m; TO 1846 
 
 
  MEMOIR  OF  JOHN  COLLINS  WARREN,  M.D.




        [Reprinted from the Historical and Genealogical Register for Janttary, 1866.]
  Jon.\ Collins Warren was born in Boston, Massachusetts, August
 1st, 17*8, in a house at the corner of Avon Place and Central Court,
 where his father, Dr. John Warren, then resided.
  At  the age  of  eight years he entered the  public Latin School,
 under Master Hunt,  for which he had been fitted in the  Elementary
 School of Master Vinal,  in West  Street.   During  these years the
 family had removed, first  to Washington Street, corner of Sheafe's
 Lane (now Avery Street), thence to Sudbury Street, and finally, in
 1785, to School Street.  For seven  years he continued a pupil of the
 Latin School, during which time, with the single exception of a hard
 contest with a "North End"  boy named  Howard,  he easily main-
 tained the first rank in his class.  The struggle with Howard was ter-
 minated by the latter leaving the school, but while it lasted  it was a
 constant source of excitement and uneasiness to Warren, who even at
 this early age  could ill endure the rivalry even of  a friend.  With
 this exception he used  to refer to the years spent  in the Latin School
 as the most agreeable portion of his life.
  At the first distribution of the  Franklin medals, in  1792, Warren's
 name stood at the  head of the list; and on leaving school  for college,
 in 1793, he delivered, as head scholar, a public valedictory address.
  In his fifteenth year he entered the freshman class of Harvard Col-
 lege, and  occupied a room  on the lower floor of Massachusetts Hall.
 He received some prizes during his college course, and is known to
 have enjoyed an honorable standing with his class, as may also be in-
 ferred from the fact that on graduation he was made valedictorian, an
 honor which was at that time conferred by the votes of the graduating
 class.   But  little  is  known of his college life, farther than that he
 found it very pleasant,  and acquired a useful knowledge of the ancient
languages, which then  formed the chief part of the established course
 of instruction.
                 1 
I CO
  Graduated in 1797, he did not immediately enter upon  the study of
a profession, but devoted a year to the study of French with  Mr.
Sales, afterwards  for many years instructor  in modern  languages in
Harvard College.   This delay arose from the reluctance of Dr.  War-
ren to choose for his son a profession so laborious as that of medicine,
especially as he appeared to have no decided inclination  for such pur-
suits ; but after waiting a year, and failing  to  secure a suitable posi-
tion in a counting house, it was at length decided that he should com-
mence with his father the study of that  profession  in which he after-
wards attained such distinguished success.
  The position of a medical student was at this time rather that  of an
apprentice  than that of a student of the present day ;  and it is by
no means surprising  that disgust  at  the drudgery of compounding
medicines, and the want of hospital advantages at home, soon led to
the decision to visit Europe.
  lie accordingly embarked for England, June 16th, 1799, and landed
at Deal after a voyage of twenty-four days.  He proceeded at once
to London, and after a few weeks  spent in  seeking information  and
forming plans  for future study, he  made a short journey in the south
of England and along the coast as  far as Southampton, visiting  Mar-
gate (where he met with Gen. Benedict Arnold and family), Dover,
Hastings, Brighton, the Isle of Wight, &c.
  In the autumn of this year he entered  Guy's Hospital  as dresser to
Mr. William Cooper, then  senior surgeon, by the payment of a fee of
fifty guineas.  His duties included the general  charge of about forty
surgical patients, sleeping in the hospital for a week at a time in turn
with the other dressers.  Mr. Cooper, who was quite old and already
contemplating an early retirement from active professional life, made
only two regular visits weekly, leaving the patients  in the mean time
pretty much to the direction of his assistants.  The next summer Mr.
Cooper resigned his position in the hospital, and was  succeeded as
surgeon and lecturer by his  nephew, Mr.  Astley Cooper, to whom
Warren became deeply attached on account of  his constant and  kind
attentions.   The daily routine of hospital life afforded few incidents
that have been  remembered, the  time of the student being divided
between the practical  duties of the ward and the study of anatomy and
surgery by lectures and dissections.  Dining out on Saturday or Sun-
day, and an occasional visit to the theatre to witness the sublime per-
sonations of Siddons and Kemble, were the chief recreations admitted
in the brief intervals of professional study.
  An adventure which occurred at this time is related by Dr. Warren
in his " Biographical  Notes,"  and is perhaps worthy of repetition as
illustrating the interest he always manifested in public affairs, and es-
pecially his lively sympathy for the oppressed or suffering masses of
the people :—
mt2 
3
  " One evening " he says, " in going from my lodgings to the West
End of the town, I fell in with a mob, which was raised on account of
a scarcity of bread.   Instead of keeping clear of it, as would  have
been wise, 1 entered into  it, and talked with the people, to ascertain
what their views and objects were.   At this time, a charge was made
upon the mob by a body of dragoons ; and every one was obliged to
save himself as  he could.  This attack irritated me  among others ;
and we rallied, and made  preparations for defence,  Soon after,  we
were  assailed by a body of police.   Sympathizing  with  the people,
who were in a state of starvation, and irritated by the attacks,  I  got
on  the edge of the sidewalk, and began to address the crowd on their
unhappy coudition.   They were highly delighted to find a person,
dressed like a gentleman, haranguing in their favor ; and loudly cheer-
ed, and demanded a repetition of the harangue.  At  this  moment, a
gentleman spoke to me, drew  me aside,  and  represented the dange-
rous  position I was taking ; and that, although the people were in a
 suffering state, they were  not  likely to get any remedy in this way.
 I readily understood this, of course; and, having  no great desire to
be  apprehended as the leader of a mob, I walked off with him in the
 direction 1 had been going ; and he, having  ascertained what course
 I was taking, offered to show me the way ;  for it so happened, that,
 in  following the mob, I had been drawn entirely away from the  usual
 route from the east  to west, into the complicated streets and lanes of
 the northern part of London.  However, this  gentleman  went with
 me a good distance, told me he was an officer in the army, that he had
 no connection with  the police, and that his speaking to me was acci-
 dental.  1 then as  freely told  him who 1 was, and made  him under-
 stand I had no desire to overturn the British government.   By a long
 and perilous route, I reached my destination,  and  walked back to the
 borough the same evening."

    Among the friendships formed at this time,  that of Dr. Wm. Roots,
 of Kingston on Thames, then a fellow student and dresser, was espe-
 cially valued, and the very pleasant  relations which subsisted between
 tbeni are attested by many letters which are still preserved.
    While in London he lived in the usual  manner of medical students,
 at  a cork-cutter's house in St. Thomas's street, Borough, close to the
 hospital, occupying two  rooms in  the  third  story, and taking his
 meals, which were provided  by the  landlady,  in his own sitting-room
 —a style of living not  materially different from that of a medical stu-
 dent in London at the present time.
   In the autumn of 1S00, having completed his year at Guy's Hospi-
 tal, ho left London for Edinburgh, travelling in a post-chaise and visit- 
4
ing many places of interest on the route.  Arrived  in  Edinburgh he
took lodgings in the Old Town,  occupying a large room on the sixth
story and living much as in London.
  The plan of study in Edinburgh at  this time closely resembled that
adopted in our own medical schools during the winter session :—viz.,
lectures and hospital visits from 9 A.M., to  2 P.M., with  the  after-
noon free for private  study and  necessary recreation.  Among the
distinguished lecturers whom he followed were Dr. Gregory on  medi-
cine, Dr. Hope on chemistry, and  John and Charles Bell  and Munro
on anatomy, physiology, and surgery.
  After spending half  a year in a very profitable course  of study in
Edinburgh, he sailed, on the 4th of June, 1801,  for Rotterdam, and
visited the principal cities of Holland  and Belgium.  From Brussels
he travelled by Diligence to Paris,  being compelled to take this some-
what circuitous route  on account of the  war between England and
France.
  In Paris he resided in the household of the celebrated Dubois, after-
wards Baron, then sole surgeon to the Clinique de l'Ecole de Mede-
cine.  From the great influence of this  distinguished man he derived
many important advantages in  the way  of forming acquaintances and
in increased facilities for study.
  His chief pursuits  in  Paris were chemistry, under Vauquelin," and
anatomy with Ribes, Chaussier,  and Dupuytren, the latter  not yet
known to  fame.  These courses, together with scientific  lectures at
the Jardin des Plantes and the daily visits to  the hospitals, occupied
him somewhat more than a year ; and at the end of the  next  summer
he returned to  London, where,  after a short  visit, he  embarked for
New York on the 17th of October, 1802.
  Upon his return home a largo practice almost immediately devolved
upon him, owing in part to the ill health of his father, Dr. John  War-
ren,  who had been for many years the leading practitioner in Boston.
He acted also, during  the next winter, as prosector to his father for
the anatomical lectures in Cambridge.
  Nov. 17th, 1803, after an engagement of six months, he married
Susan Powell  Mason, daughter of lion. Jonathan Mason,  of Boston.
For a time he resided on Tremont street, in a house belonging to Mr,
Samuel Eliot, where the Pavilion now stands,  and in 1805 removed to
the house in Park street, which he occupied during the remainder of
his life.
  During this year he gave a course of  public demonstrations in ana-
tomy to a large class composed  principally of the younger members
of the medical  profession  in Boston  and vicinity.   He also took an
active interest in the  Massachusetts Medical Society, and supcrin- 
5
tended, with Dr. James Jackson, the publication of its proceedings.
During the next four years he contributed several important papers,
and was also co-editor, with Dr. Jackson, of the Pharmacopoeia, pub-
lished  by  the Society in 1808.
  In 1806, he was  appointed adjunct  professor of anatomy and sur-
gery in Harvard University, and for several  years lectured  in Cam-
bridge to  the medical students.   By the removal of the Medical School
to Boston in 1810, the labors of the professors  were materially light-
ened, and  in  1815 the School was established  upon a much enlarged
scale by the acquisition of a new building and the accession of several
additional professors.  The death of Dr. John Warren in April, 1815,
a few months before the completion of the new college, had left vacant
the chair  of anatomy and surgery, which was however promptly filled
by the election of his son; Dr. James Jackson had been previously
appointed professor of the  theory and practice of medicine as succes-
sor to  Dr. Benjamin  Waterhouse ; and  the duties of the old professor-
ship of chemistry and materia medica, which  had been performed by
Dr. Aaron Dexter,  with  Dr.  John Gorham as  adjunct, were divided
between Dr. Gorham as professor of chemistry, and Dr. Jacob Bigo-
low  as professor of materia medica : Dr. Walter Channing- was  also
appointed to the new department of obstetrics.
  Clinical instruction in medicine and  surgery  had  been given for se-
veral years at the City Alms  House in  Leverett street, by Drs. James
Jackson and J. C. Warren, who attended gratuitously for the privilege
of exhibiting  the cases to the  medical class.  The resources of the
Alms House were, however, manifestly insufficient for the proper care
of very sick persons, and the need of a liberally endowed hospital had
become urgent.  After the removal and reorganization of the Medical
School, Drs. Warren and Jackson set themselves  earnestly at work
to interest the public in this important undertaking, with what suc-
cess is showrn from the fact that in 1818, when  the building was com-
menced, more than $150,000  had been  collected for the purpose from
various sources.  On the  3d of September, 1821,  the  hospital  was
opened for  the reception of patients, under the  professional charge
of Drs. Jackson and Warren, who  had been appointed four years be-
fore to the responsible positions of physician and surgeon.
  Dr. Warren's practice, which was  very large  almost from the begin-
ning, gradually improved in quality, so that on the death of his father
in 1815, he was already one of the leading practitioners of the town,
and  without a competitor  as a surgeon.   Ilis  accession therefore to
the chair of anatomy and surgery,  and his appointment as surgeon to
the hospital, are to  be viewed  rather as a spontaneous recognition of
his  especial  fitness  than as the result  of any  choice between  the
claims of rival candidates. 
6
  Another event, which occurred in 1818, shows the enviable reputa-
tion to which he  had already attained with  his medical brethren in
other parts of the country.  Early in that year Dr. Caspar Wistar, of
Philadelphia, died, leaving vacant the chair of anatomy in the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, then as now the  most celebrated school of medi-
cine in America.  Dr. Warren was strongly urged to become a candi-
date for the place, but declined competing with his friend Dr. Dorsey.
On the death of Dr. Dorsey, however, in the fall of the same year, he
was again solicited in a manner even more urgent  than before,  and it
was only after several months of negotiation which  cost  him, as he
said, much thinking, much writing, and much anxiety, that  he  finally
returned a decisive answer in the negative.  A similar invitation  was
extended  to him  in 1838 to become professor of anatomy in the  Uni-
versity of New York.
  A Board of Consulting  Physicians to the City of Boston was creat-
ed in 1824, consisting of Drs. J. C. Warren, Aaron Dexter,  James
Jackson, Horace Bean, and John Gorham.  To  this Board  many im-
portant questions relating to public health were from  time to time re-
ferred, and some of their  reports were drawn  up with  much care and
exerted a deservedly great influence.  One of the most  important of
these reports is that  on  the cholera, made in 1832, and  preserved in
the sixth volume of the  Boston Medical and  Surgical Journal;  ano-
ther, on the  smallpox, in 1837, led to the abandonment of the then
prevailing practice of removing all cases of this disease to a distant
hospital or pest-house.
  Prior to 1812, there had been no Medical Journal published in Bos-
ton.   This  defect  was supplied in January of that year by the appear-
ance of the  " New England  Journal  of  Medicine  and  Surgery," a
quarterly publication, issued  under  the auspices of the  Medical  Col-
lege, and edited under the supervision of its professors.   The earlier
numbers, especially, contained important papers by Drs. Warren and
Jackson, and the Journal soon acquired a high reputation throughout
the country.  The subscription list was, however, at no  time very
large, and  in 1828 the Journal was merged  in the weekly "Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal" of which Dr.  Warren assumed the du-
ties of editor, assisted by Dr. John Ware, who had been  with Dr.
Channing joint editor of the  New  England Journal.  After a year
or two,  it  was found that  the expense  of publishing  this Journal
exceeded the income from subscribers, and it was given up to the  pub-
lisher, by whom it has since been  conducted.
  As illustrating  the systematic division of his lime, for which  Dr.
Warren was always distinguished, a brief account may be given of
his daily  routine of labor in the year  1828, when,  in addition to the 
7
varied duties of active practice, he filled  the  chair of anatomy and
surgery in the  College, was surgeon in chief  to  the  Hospital, and
performed  the  arduous labor of editing a weekly professional jour-
nal.   At this  period he rose in winter and breakfasted by candle-
light, and went directly out to visit  his patients  until  one ;  except
during the lectures, when he passed usually two hours  at the Medical
College.   From one to two he received patients at  his house.   He de-
voted about twenty minutes to his  dinner ; after which he retired  to
his room  for an hour.  In the latter part of the afternoon he  visited
such patients as required a second  visit, and then took a cup of tea
in his study at seven ; after which  he wrote and worked often, if not
generally, until two  in the morning.   The greater part of this time
he devoted to the " Medical Journal," preparing the Hospital Re-
cords, selecting extracts from  foreign journals, and writing original
 articles.
   Dr. Warren  became early interested  in the temperance movement
and in physical education.   In his lectures to  the students in  Cam-
bridge he had been accustomed to dwell upon the great importance of
physical exercise in developing the organic structure of the body, as
well as  its necessity for maintaining it  in a normal  state of  vigor.
This led to the establishment of a  Gymnasium  in connection with the
 University, which flourished for a time, and is now  again, after a lapse
 of many years, in successful operation.   About the year ls2<>, a so-
 ciety for  establishing a Gymnasium was  formed  in Boston, and Dr.
 Warren was chosen president.  A Gymnasium  upon a large  scale
 was opened in the " Washington Gardens," on the corner of Tremont
 and West streets, and was attended  by a large number of gentlemen
 of the different professions.   The contagion spread  rapidly, and smaller
 establishments of a similar  character were formed throughout many
 parts of the country, but the enthusiasm with which the new idea was
 at first hailed, gradually abated.  In August, 1830, Dr. Warren deli-
 vered an address upon " Physical Education,"  before  a convention of
 teachers and  friends of  education,  which formed  the basis of a little
 work " On the Preservation of  Health," which he published in 1840,
 and which has had a very extensive circulation.
   In 1827 he joined the  Temperance Society, of which  his father, Dr.
 John Warren, had been vice president in  1813.   He was ever a zeal-
 ous  advocate of temperance, and, a few years  after his  return from
 his  second visit to Europe,  gave up entirely the use of even the lighter
 wines except as an article of medicine.  In his " Biographical Notes "
 he observes, " On the whole, I can with confidence say, that,  if I had
 never tasted wine, my life would have been more  healthy, and longer,
 and more comfortable.   The efforts which I have  been called to make 
8
in the temperance reformation, operating, as they have done, more ex-
tensively on the prosperity and happiness of the community, are a
source of more satisfaction than any other labors.  Probably my other
occupations might have been as well or better performed by some one
else ; but perhaps it would have been difficult to find  another person
who would have been willing to  undergo the opposition, ridicule, la-
bor and expense in the cause of temperance."
   Dr. Warren was one of the  first members, and for  many years an
active officer of St. Paul's Church, which he joined in 1820.  As a child
he had attended with his father's family at the church in Brattle street,
then strictly Calvinistic in creed.  For a few years after  his marriage
he attended the " Old Brick," or First Church,, which then stood upon
the present site of Joy's Building, nearly opposite the  head of  State
street.   On  the death of the pastor, Rev. Wm. Emerson, he returned
to Brattle street, then under the pastoral charge of Mr. Buckminster.
After the death of this gentleman and the resignation of his successor,
Mr. Edward Everett, who was called to the  professorship of Greek in
Harvard College, Dr. Warren was led to make a careful study of theo-
logy, and having decided  in favor of the Trinitarian doctrine, was
naturally led to attach himself to the new organization of St.  Paul's.
He took  an  active part in all the affairs of the church, and was for
seventeen years  one of the wardens ;  he continued a member of the
vestry until  removed by death.
   In 1823, Dr. Warren purchased three acres  of land, including the
top of Bunker Hill, where  the action of June  17, 1775, was fought,
with  the view to the erection of a monument  to commemorate that
event.  A large sum was raised  by subscription, and  advantage was
taken of the visit of Lafayette to this country to lay  the corner stone.
As chairman of the building committee, Dr. Warren  devoted much
time and labor to the work, and at one time  became, with Col. Per-
kins, Wm. Sullivan,  and  Amos Lawrence, jointly responsible  for the
sum of 32,000 dollars for the advancement of the building.  The two
brass field pieces, the "Hancock" and  "Adams,"  now in the cham-
ber near  the summit of the Monument,  were procured by Dr. Warren
in 1825, from the Commonwealth, and were presented to the Bunker
Hill  Monument Association on the completion of the structure, in
1842.
  In 1837, Dr. Warren published his " Surgical Observations on Tu-
mors," an illustrated octavo volume of over six hundred pages, which
was the first extensive work of the kind ever published, if we except
the collection of cases by John Bell, published in his  " Principles of
Surgery."   This  work was favorably noticed  by the principal medi-
cal journals in this country and in Great Britain.  Of the cases which 
9
form the subject of the " Observations,"  a notice in the " British and
Foreign  Medical Review," then under  the  editorial charge of Dr.,
now Sir John Forbes, contains the following remarks, which are alike
commendatory of the work and complimentary to the author:—" Clear,
simple, and graphic, they bear the unaffected impress of truth ; and re-
port, with manifest candor and honesty, as medical writings ought, the
opinions that influenced the treatment, and the motives that guided
the surgeon in performing or abstaining from operations.   In fact,
throughout the work, the author proves himself to be a worthy disci-
ple of the  school  in  which he received his  early instructions ; and
which, connected  as  it is  with the names and celebrity of Cooper,
Bright, and others of hardly less eminence,  he seems proud to  ac-
knowledge as his alma mater.  And surely that school need be no less
proud to claim him as a pupil.  And we  believe there are  few mem-
bers of our profession who  are more entitled to the consideration of
his brethren than Dr. Warren.  Distinguished as a zealous and suc-
cessful teacher for the  last  thirty years,  foremost in every  undertak-
ing calculated to improve medical literature  and science, and never
weary in the cause of benevolence, he  has earned  for  himself in his
native country a reputation of the most enviable kind, and to which
mere literary distinction, more especially  in foreign countries, can add
but little of value."
   On the 12th of June, of this year, he sailed for Europe from New
York, in company with about thirty passengers ; among  them Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte, now Emperor of the French.  This journey was
undertaken mainly for relaxation and for the gratification of his family,
several members of which accompanied  him; but  he also labored to
improve every opportunity of procuring such  information as could be
made available on  his return  home.  Of this tour, which was extend-
ed somewhat beyond a year, he has left a journal,  of which extracts
are published in the " Autobiography."
   On his return from Europe, immediately upon his landing in New
York, Dr. Warren was solicited to accept the office of professor of
anatomy in  the  University of New York.  Many important induce-
ments were offered, but the same reasons which early in life had led
him to decline a similar position in Philadelphia were now equally de-
cisive against this new proposal to leave  Boston.
   At  this time Dr. Warren commenced a domestic journal, which he
continued, with but a few months interruption, throughout the remain-
der of his life.  Soon after  this he seems to have conceived the idea
of collecting materials for a biography;  he accordingly commenced
two collections of memoirs, which he entitled " Biographical Notes"
and " Surgical Notes," the  former devoted, to reminiscences of the
                2 
10 "
earlier years of his life prior to the date of his "European Journal,"
the " Surgical Notes " consisting chiefly of recollections of eminent pro-
fessional men and comments on their contributions to surgery, toge-
ther with some brief statements of conclusions drawn from his own ex-
perience.   He also left a large number of records of cases which he
appears to  have kept originally with a view to publication, but which
remain in too fragmentary a state  to make it quite clear what parti-
cular use he intended to make of  them.
   In resuming the practice of his  profession, Dr. Warren sought a
partial relief from the labor of daily visits,  but devoted himself with
renewed energy to his  duties as a teacher.   He also engaged with in-
creased zeal in scientific pursuits, and especially in plans  for the pro-
motion of the public welfare.  At  the  very beginning of his profes-
sional  career  he  had been a prominent member  of a society for the
study  of natural  philosophy.  In  this  society he once lectured upon
the water of Boston, showing its many impurities, and  its unfitness
for many of the ordinary purposes of life. He availed himself through-
out life of every opportunity of urging on the public the importance
of an abundant supply  of pure water, and had at length the high sat-
isfaction of seeing, in the inauguration of the Cochituate water works
in 1848, the consummation of this cherished  desire.  As a member of
the Monthly Anthology Club, in  1803,  he was for several  years co-
editor  of the " Monthly Anthology and Boston Review,"  a  magazine
of which President Quincy has justly remarked, it  "may be consider-
ed as a true revival of polite learning in this country, after that decay
and neglect which resulted from the distractions of the Revolutionary
war, and as forming an epoch in the intellectual history of the United
States."  The labors  of this Club embraced also the formation of a
reading room, and subsequently a library for consultation in connection
with it; a modest beginning from which the Boston Athenaeum had
its origin.  A private society for professional improvement, and a Fri-
day-evening Club for social  intercourse, in both of which he was se-
conded by  his constant friend Dr. Jackson, were also  the theatre of
frequent discussions of matters bearing on the general welfare.
   On the 7th of November following  his  return from Europe, Dr.
Warren delivered the introductory address to the medical class, giving
a general view of the state of medical science abroad.  On the 8th, a
public dinner was given by the physicians of Boston in honor of Drs.
Warren and Jackson, an  event almost without precedent in Boston.
A full account of  the incidents of this interesting occasion is preserv-
ed in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. xix.
  May 30th, 1841, he notes  in his journal the severe illness of Mrs.
Warren,  who died on the third of June. He remarks, " the vacancy 
11
 caused by the rupture of associations of thirty-eight years is greater
 than can be described."
   During the  year 1842, he published a series of cases in the Boston
 M<;di.cal and Surgical Journal, one of which,  " on the removal of the
 upper jaw-bone for malignant disease," also appeared in the American
 Journal of the Medical Sciences.  Tie also wrote,  during the following
 three or four years, a number of important papers for the Bost. Med.
 and Surg. Journal, the Am.  Jour, of the Med. S.-iences,  and for the
 London Medico- Ghirurgical Transactions.
   In November,  1846, the Medical College having outgrown its build-
 ing, in Mason  street, was removed to its present site in North Grove
 street;  and in December of the next year,  Dr. Warren presented to
 the University the magnificent museum of  anatomy which he had col-
 lected  for the illustration of his  lectures,  and which  now bears his
 name.
   On  the 16th of October, 1846, at the Massachusetts General Hospi-
 tal, Dr. Warren performed the first surgical operation upon a patient
 previously rendered insensible to pain by the inhalation of ether.
   In  February, 1817, he resigned the chair of anatomy and surgery
 in the College, and on the 2d of March, delivered  his farewell lec-
 ture to the medical class.
   May 6th, 1847,  Dr. Warren was elected  president of the Boston
 Society of Natural History, a choice, as he  says, quite unexpected.
 The year before,  he had the good fortune to procure, by purchase, the
 finest and most perfect Mastodon skeleton  yet discovered, an acquisi-
 tion which afforded the opportunity, and in fact imposed  the duty, of
 a careful anatomical description of that wonderful animal.   The skele-
 ton was set up in Boston and exhibited to the public for several days,
 after which it  was removed to the Medical College in  Mason street,
 and finally to the fire-proof building of the Warren Museum of Natu-
 ral History in Chestnut street, where it is  now preserved.  He also
 purchased several other collections of mastodon bones, including  one
 of the Prale skeletons which  had belonged  to the museum at Balti-
 more.   With these materials before him, and with the additional means
 of comparison furnished by the Cambridge skeleton and crania, and by
three  fine elephant  skeletons, one of which he obtained by purchase,
 he proceeded to  prepare a methodical anatomical description of the
whole osteology of the  mastodon, admirably printed and  elaborately
illustrated by lithographs.  Of this magnificent work,  Professor Owen
remarks, in a private  letter to Dr. Warren, " The study of the rich
scries of facts contributed by your personal and original observations
to the natural history of the Mastodon Giganteus has afforded me the
highest satisfaction; and the profound learning on the subject which 
12
the references to other writers manifest, places your monograph in the
first rank of original treatises in pulcontological science."  During
the presidency of Dr. Warren he made many communications to the
Society upon scientific  subjects.   The last of these, and indeed- the
last paper he ever wrote, was read before the Society after his death,
having been completed but a few days before.   Its subject was the
anatomy of the argonaut,  and was illustrated by the dissection  of a
beautiful and rare specimen preserved in spirit.
   In  1849,  the American  Medical Association  held  its third annual
meeting in  Boston.  Dr. Warren was chosen president  for the year,
and in accordance with the custom of the Association  delivered  the
annual address at  the next ensuing meeting, which was  held at  Cin-
cinnati.
   The next  year he presided over a great union meeting of citizens at
Faneuil Hall.
   December 15th, 1851, his second wife, Mrs. Anne Warren, daugh-
ter of  Lieutenant-Governor  Thomas L. Winthrop, whom  he  had mar-
ried in October, 1843, died.   He felt  her  loss deeply, and his health
was evidently much affected by it.  He therefore  undertook a short
journey as far South as Richmond,  from which he returned much  bet-
ter, but still subject to wakefulness and mental  disturbance at night.
He finally decided upon a short trip to Europe, and sailed June 18th.
He met many old friends, and revisited many familiar scenes.  After
an absence of a little more than three months, he returned  much im-
proved in  health, and  almost immediately resumed his  duties at the
Hospital.
   February 8th, 1853,  Dr.  Warren made  his last official visit as at-
tending surgeon to  the Hospital,  after thirty-one  years of constant
service.  From this  time his career as an  active surgeon may be  said
to have terminated, although he still held  the position of consulting
surgeon, and frequently performed operations  for private  patients.
After his retirement from active practice he devoted his leisure hours
to scientific studies and to the enjoyment of the  society of friends.
   In March he received information of his election  as associate mem-
ber of the  French Academy of Medicine.
   During the year 1854, he  published a  small work of 52 pages, 8vo.,
on "Fossil Impressions;"  completed and published the  "Warren
Genealogy," a fine  quarto volume; reviewed the first edition of the
" Mastodon,"  and made some additions to be incorporated in a second
edition.  He also published a stereotyped edition of his work  "On
the Preservation of Health."
   In May, 1855, he published his last  surgical paper in the Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal; it is an interesting and important  case
of " Section of the os Femoris." 
13
  The  early  part of 1856 was occupied principally with scientific
studies and investigations, and it was in February of this year that he
procured the fine argonaut which furnished the subject of his last sci-
entific paper.
  After February of this year he began to suffer severely from an in-
flammatory affection of the right eye, which confined him to the house
during several weeks.   In April, he had several  attacks of dizziness,
but was still able to ride out almost every day.   On the 2*th he  rode
to Brookline, when he  probably took cold, and suffered from chills
and severe pains.  From that day he became gradually more feeble,
but still refused  to pass the whole day in bed.  From day to day his
strengtli declined, and  on  Saturday, the 3d of .May, his mind  began
to wander.  He died the next morning, May 4th, 1854, at 3, A.M.

  The account of the last years of Dr. Warren's life would be incom-
plete without some notice of the  " Thursday-evening Club," founded by
him in 1846, and from whose meetings he scarcely ever absented  him-
self.  The following brief sketch of the origin  and purposes of the
club, is taken from the eloquent and feeling address delivered by the
Hon. Edward Everett at the meeting next succeeding Dr. Warren's
decease :—

  " Dr. Warren, as you know, gentlemen, was the founder of the
Thursday-evening club, and in this character alone his memory invites
our grateful recollection at this time.  From a paper  written  to his
dictation about four years ago, it appears that he had, as long ago as
the year 1841, been deeply impressed with the importance of bringing
together persons of different professions  and pursuits, to converse
and communicate with  each other on the Scientific improvements of
the day, and other topics connected with social culture and progress.
Dr. Warren had been of opinion that there was a want of intercourse
between the active and the professional, the scientific and business,
classes of the community ; and that if they could be regularly brought
together in a friendly circle, it would not  only  promote social  enjoy-
ment, but mutual  improvement.  He believed  there  was no city on
the continent where ampler materials exist  for an enlightened and in-
telligent society, and that they needed  only to be brought statedly
together.   These views and feelings were communicated by Dr. War-
ren to his neighbor ana friend, the late honored and  lamented Mr.
Abbott Lawrence, who fully concurred with him, and avowed his
readiness to take part with him, in forming an  association like  that
proposed.  The  plan was soon after mentioned  to another neighbor
and friend, Mr. Francis C. Gray, who cordially  entered into it. * *  * 
14
* * *  * * After two or three additional conversations  with Messrs.
Lawrence and Gray, a meeting was called  in concert with these gen-
tlemen, at Dr. Warren's house, on the 27th of October, 1846. * * * *
From this time forward, for two or  three  years,  the meetings -were
continued weekly.  It was then  judged advisable to have them  once
a fortnight, which has been the practice ever since.  *  * * *  Dr.
Warren's paper  closes  with the  following remarks: 'During  nearly
six years the club has been in steady and harmonious operation.  Much
scientific  matter has been communicated in a novel and agreeable
way, and much pleasant intercourse  has brightened the long evenings
of autumn and winter, without any organization but the appointment
of a secretary.'   Such, gentlemen,  are the material  portions of a pa-
per drawn up by Dr. Warren,  and perhaps read to the club some four
or five years ago.  It gives an authentic  account of the origin and
progress of the association; and if, in the  last paragraph, we substi-
tute ' ten' years for  ' six,' it relates our  history to  the close of the
last season.  It  may be doubted whether  there was  ever an associa-
tion, so large as  ours, which  has existed for so long a time, which
has held so many meetings, and carried  out the  design of its forma-
tion so efficiently, with so little of the ordinary machinery of a society.
This result is mainly to be ascribed to the vigilant and thoughtful atten-
tion of Dr. Warren, spontaneously bestowed  upon the  affairs of the
club, and upon the simple arrangements necessary to secure a meeting
once a fortnight,  with some communication more or less formal, of a
scientific or practical  nature,  for the instruction and entertainment  of
the members."

  Dr. Warren made provision in his will for the preparation  of a bio-
graphy, for which he had been for many years collecting and preserv-
ing the necessary materials.   This work was entrusted to his brother,
Dr. Edward Warren, and was  published in 1860,  in two  elegant octa-
vo volumes.*  To this biography, and to the extracts from the journals
contained in it, the  writer is indebted for most of the facts, and often
for the very language embodied in^he present sketch.
 * The Life of John Collins "Warren, M.D., compiled ehieflv from his Autobiography and
Journals. By Edward Warren, M.D.  Boston:  Tieknor & Fields.  1860. 
 
 
 

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