Frozen sections of a child
Dwight, Thomas, 1843-1911
Quincy, Henry Parker, -1899
Anatomy
Instructions (document genre)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
<p>Thomas Dwight, Instructor in Topographical Anatomy and Histology, made these sections of a three-year-old child for use in his lectures at the Medical School in 1880-1881 and were some of the first frozen sections in use in this country. The plates are life-size. As part of the preface, Dwight includes his directions for making such specimens.</p>
<p><em>First, be very sure that the body, or part, to be frozen is in precisely the position you desire, and that there are no folds or indentations in the skin. I always use natural cold when possible. Weather much about zero (Fahrenheit) is unsatisfactory; but if the part is thoroughly chilled by several days' exposure to a pretty low temperature, a night of 10? may possibly finish it. Salt and ice, or snow, no doubt, will answer the purpose, but much time and patience are required</em></p>
Dwight, Thomas, 1843-1911
Quincy, Henry Parker, -1899
William Wood & Company
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image
English
DigID0003232
Anatomy : descriptive and surgical
Gray, Henry, 1825-1861
Anatomy
Medical illustrations
<p>With dissections by Henry Gray, lecturer on anatomy, and H. V. Carter, demonstrator of anatomy at Saint George's Hospital, London, Gray's <em>Anatomy</em> quickly became a standard text for medical students. It first appeared in the U.S. in 1859 and became required reading for first-year students at Harvard as early as 1861. The fortieth edition appeared in 2008, 150 years after its first publication.</p>
<p>This copy of the first edition was in the library of Oliver Wendell Holmes.</p>
Gray, Henry, 1825-1861
John W. Parker and Son
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image
English
still image
DigID0003236
Practical dissections
Hodges, Richard M. (Richard Manning), 1827-1896
Anatomy
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Photographs
<p>Richard M. Hodges held the position of Demonstrator of Anatomy under Oliver Wendell Holmes from 1853 to 1861. He published this manual on human dissection for the student in 1858, then revised it thoroughly and reprinted it, as here, in 1867.</p>
<p>This is a presentation copy from Hodges to Oliver Wendell Holmes; a photograph of Hodges at work, labelled <em>"Richard M. Hodges, M.D., princeps sectorum"</em> has been inserted on the front flyleaf.</p>
Hodges, Richard M. (Richard Manning), 1827-1896
Henry C. Lea
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image
English
still image
DigID0003246
A hebdomadal reminiscence of diurnal events
Emmerton, James A. (James Arthur), 1834-1888
Excerpts
Diaries
Harvard Medical School
James Arthur Emmerton (HMS 1858) of Salem used this diary every Sunday to record his experiences a student at Harvard Medical School from 1855 through 1857. He then returned to it to document life in the 23rd Massachusetts Volunteers during the Civil War. Here he describes a demonstration of Oliver Wendell Holmes with the microscope in May 1856.
Emmerton, James A. (James Arthur), 1834-1888
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text
English
DigID0002815
Teased nerve fixed in osmic acid, magnified twenty times
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Histology
slides (microscopy)
nerves
Osmium Tetroxide
human remains
Microscope slide of a human nerve, teased out and fixed in osmic acid. Nerve image is magnified twenty times
Unknown
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model
physical object
CHSI 1092A
Section of human incisor, magnified by two times
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Slides (microscopy)
Incisor
Histology
human remains
Microscope slide of a cross section of a human incisor
"Mc N"
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model
physical object
CHSI 1092A
Small intestine of a lizard, magnified four times
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
slides (microscopy)
Anatomy - Comparative
Histology
Hett, Alexander (1807-1870)
Microscope slide of the small intestine of a lizard. Small intestine composed of a thick section of tissue encased in clear resin. Tissue image is magnified four times.
Hett, Alexander (1807-1870)
1850
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model
physical object
CHSI 1092A
Muscle sarcolemma of a frog, magnified four times
Sarcolemma
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Slides (microscopy)
Histology
Microscope slide of the muscle sarcolemma of a frog, stained and mounted by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Tissue is magnified four times.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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model
physical object
CHSI 1092A
Transverse section of muscle tissue, magnified ten times
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Muscles
Histology
Slides (microscopy)
human remains
Microscope slide exhibiting a transverse section of human muscle tissue, stained and mounted by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Tissue is magnified ten times.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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model
physical object
CHSI 1092A
Sweat glands, magnified ten times
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Sweat Glands
Histology
Slides (microscopy)
Microscope slide of human sweat glands stained and mounted by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Tissue is magnified ten times.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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model
physical object
CHSI 1092A
Catalog entry for Oliver Wendell Holmes denture
Harvard University. Dental School. Museum
Catalogs (documents)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
This version of the Museum's catalog was in use from the 1890s through 1907.
Here among the entries for items of mechanical dentistry are specimens 1562 and 1565
Harvard University. Dental School. Museum
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text
English
text
DigID0002331
Preparation showing internal mammary artery
Anatomical preparations
Dried preparations
Arteries
Internal mammary artery
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
human remains
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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image
physical object
WAM 07061
Plaster cast of acephalic fetus
Boston Society for Medical Improvement
Casts
Fetus
Twins
Acephaly
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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image
physical object
WAM 05758
Mounted preparation showing antrum and sinuses opening into nasal cavity
Anatomical preparations
Dried preparations
Cranial sinus
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Hodges, Richard M. (Richard Manning), 1827-1896
human remains
Hodges, Richard M. (Richard Manning), 1827-1896
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image
physical object
WAM 04237
Plaster cast of chimpanzee hand
Casts
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Pan trogloytes
Wyman, Jefferies, 1814-1874
Wyman, Jefferies, 1814-1874
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image
physical object
WAM 03306
Wooden models of teeth
Dentition
Models
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Tooth
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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image
physical object
WAM 00567-00570
Mounted preparation showing first intercostal arteries
Anatomical preparations
Arteries
Blood vessels
Cardiovasclar system
Dried preparations
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
human remains
Dried and injected anatomical preparation mounted onto black wooden base. Coated with unknown preservative.
Back of wooden base has red diagram showing origin and distribution of intercostal arteries.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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image
physical object
WAM 00316
Mounted preparation of snapping turtle
Osteological preparations
Zoology
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Anatomy, comparative
Turtles
Unknown
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image
physical object
WAM 00179
Mounted preparation of eagle skeleton
Osteological preparations
Zoology
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Anatomy, comparative
Eagles
Unknown
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image
physical object
WAM 00161
An answer to the homœopathic delusions, of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Neidhard, C. (Charles), 1809-1895
Pamphlets
Title pages
Homeopathy
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
This is one of the pamphlets printed in reaction to the Holmes lecture on homeopathy. In responding to Holmes' criticism of the use of infinitesimal doses, Charles Neidhard states, "We, with many Homœopathic physicians, have never believed in the necessity of carrying the dilutions to that extent, which Hahnemann at once time recommended…. It is true that Hahnemann, elated by the magnitude of his discoveries, imagined at one time, that the highest dilutions were exclusively to be relied upon in all cases. He shared in this error the fate of all great discoverers, and he was always the first to rectify a statement, when it no longer accorded with his experience. Thus the new method, for ever progressing, has also in this respect undergone such changes, as a more mature experience warranted."
Neidhard, C. (Charles), 1809-1895
J. Dobson
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text
English
text
DigID0002238
Homœopathy : with particular reference to a lecture by O. W. Holmes, M.D.
Okie, A. Howard (Abraham Howard) (author)
Pamphlets
Title pages
Homeopathy
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Pamphlet printed in reaction to the Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) lecture on homeopathy.
Okie, A. Howard (Abraham Howard)
Otis Clapp
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text
English
text
DigID0002233
Oliver Wendell Holmes in his study
Photographs
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
These two photographs show Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) in his office in 1890. Two of Holmes’ chambered nautilus shells are visible on top of the bookcase.
Unknown
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image
still image
DigID0002218
DigID0002219
Facsimile telegram
Telegrams
Poetry
Drawings (visual works)
Ipsen, Ludvig Sandöe
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Following Holmes’ resignation of his professorship at Harvard, the physicians of New York hosted a public dinner in his honor. Each guest was given a mock telegram from “The American Rabid Telegraph Company,” quoting lines from Holmes’ poem, “A noontide lyric,” and reproducing a cartoon by L. S. Ipsen, showing Holmes carrying bones and books, greeted at Delmonico’s by Fordyce Barker. In the background is a policeman, representing Governor Benjamin F. Butler, in front of the Boston State House where investigative hearings into the use of anatomical specimens from inmates at the State Almshouse at Tewksbury were underway.
Ipsen, Ludvig Sandöe
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002132
DigID0002133
Menu and program from Delmonico's dinner
Covers
Menus
Programs (documents)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Delmonnico's Restaurant (New York, N.Y.)
Following Holmes’ resignation of his professorship at Harvard, the physicians of New York hosted a public dinner in his honor. The dinner was held at Delmonico’s on April 12; the symbol of the event, embossed on the cover of the menu and a souvenir booklet of the proceedings, was a crossed scalpel and pen, as Holmes was <em>“skilled to dissect with both.”</em> Dr. Fordyce Barker, president of the New York Academy of Medicine, was the honorary chairman of the event, and notable figures among the two hundred guests included Drs. Alonzo Clark, S. Weir Mitchell, Austin Flint, John Shaw Billings, Henry Jacob Bigelow, Samuel D. Gross, and William Pepper. In response to the toasts and speeches, Holmes delivered a 2,000 word poem.
Unknown
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text
English
text
DigID0002186
DigID0002187
Over the teacups
Covers
Inscriptions
Chadwick, James R. (James Read), 1844-1905
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
The poem "To the eleven ladies who presented me with a loving cup" was reprinted in <em>Over the teacups</em> (1891), Holmes’ late collection of essays and poems following in the vein of <em>The autocrat of the breakfast-table</em>. This copy of the first edition bears an author’s presentation inscription to Dr. James Read Chadwick of the Boston Medical Library, dated November 9, 1890, the day immediately after its first publication.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Houghton, Mifflin and Company
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text
English
text
DigID0002179
DigID0002180
To the eleven ladies who presented a loving cup to me
Poetry
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Holmes responded to the gift of the cup with a poem, “To the eleven ladies who presented me with a loving cup.” The poem was first printed privately, in just twelve copies; each was signed by Holmes and copies sent to his eleven admirers. One of those copies is displayed here. The poem alludes to the eleven names inscribed on the base and only visible when the cup is empty.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Riverside Press
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text
English
text
DigID0002175-0002178
Letter from Annie Fields to Sarah Orne Jewett
Correspondence
Fields, Annie, 1834-1915 (author)
Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909
Annie Fields was the wife of James T. Fields, the publisher of <em>The Atlantic monthly</em>, and a close friend of Holmes. Here, in this letter to novelist Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909), she describes a visit with Holmes who speaks of his reverence for the late Henry Jacob Bigelow and recalls the formation of <em>The Atlantic</em> and his early literary career and experiences on the lecture circuit. <em>“In 1857 Lowell wrote me that a magazine was to be started in Boston and if I would write for it he would edit it. I thought that a great compliment of course but it seemed to me he was out of his head—but as it proved he showed great discernment because without vanity I may say I helped to make the magazine a success and to sustain it.”</em>
Fields, Annie, 1834-1915
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text
English
text
DigID0002159
DigID0002160
Letter from Oliver Wendell Holmes to William Hunt
Correspondence
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 (author)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1841-1935
Hunt, William
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., abandoned his studies at Harvard College to join the Massachusetts Volunteers at the outbreak of the Civil War. He was wounded on October 21, 1861, at the battle of Ball’s Bluff, in Virginia, and attended by a Philadelphia physician, William Hunt (1825-1896). Wendell Holmes returned to active duty and was again wounded, on September 17, 1862, at Antietam. Holmes wrote about his son’s recuperation to William Hunt—later referring to Wendell’s injuries as <em>“those two new button-holes in his congenital waistcoat.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
1863 May 25
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text
English
text
DigID0002212-0002214
Lectures on anatomy and physiology at Harvard Medical School
Lecture notes
Scientific illustrations (images)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
After receiving his medical degree from Harvard, Holmes was granted the Boylston Prize in 1836 for his essay responding to the question <em>“How far are the external means of exploring the condition of internal organs to be considered useful and important in medical practice?”</em>The essay makes frequent reference to the lectures and clinical demonstrations of P. C. A. Louis which Holmes had recently attended in Paris. This copy was presented by Holmes to his mentor, Dr. James Jackson (1777-1867).
<p>Holmes was also awarded two Boylston Prizes in 1837 for separate essays on neuralgia and intermittent fever in New England.</p>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002169
DigID0002170
1836 Boylston Prize Dissertations
Dissertations
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Boylston Prize
After receiving his medical degree from Harvard, Holmes was granted the Boylston Prize in 1836 for his essay responding to the question <em>“How far are the external means of exploring the condition of internal organs to be considered useful and important in medical practice?”</em>The essay makes frequent reference to the lectures and clinical demonstrations of P. C. A. Louis which Holmes had recently attended in Paris. This copy was presented by Holmes to his mentor, Dr. James Jackson (1777-1867).
<p>Holmes was also awarded two Boylston Prizes in 1837 for separate essays on neuralgia and intermittent fever in New England.</p>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Perkins and Marvin
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text
English
text
DigID0002210
DigID0002211
Letter from Oliver Wendell Holmes to John Collins Warren
Correspondence
Phrenology
Homeopathy
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 (author)
Warren, John Collins, 1778-1856
While Holmes' views on homeopathy are well attested, this letter to Dr. John Collins Warren (1778-1856) indicates he had at least some early interest in the concurrent phrenological movement. Holmes here invites Warren to attend his lecture on the subject at Harvard and modestly states, <em>"I can truly say that the limited time and attention, which the hurry so apt to attend the close of lectures has allowed me, render me very diffident in approaching the subject at all, and especially so in the presence of one who, however lenient in his judgment, could hardly avoid seeing the imperfections which must attend my brief glance at the subject."</em>In 1849, Warren had taken possession of the Boston Phrenological Society's collection of casts and skulls, including the skull of Johann Gaspar Spurzheim. That collection now resides with the Warren Anatomical Museum.
<p>By 1861, however, Holmes’ views on phrenology were set. He said, <em>“I am not one of its haters; on the contrary, I am grateful for the incidental good it has done…. Yet I should not have devoted so many words to it, did I not recognize the light it has thrown on human actions by its study of congenital organic tendencies. Its maps of the surface of the head are, I feel sure, founded on a delusion, but its studies of individual character are always interesting and instructive.”</em></p>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002201
DigID0002202
A dissertation on acute pericarditis
Theses
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
This is the manuscript of Holmes' thesis, submitted as part of the degree requirements at Harvard Medical School. Following his return from his sojourn in Europe, he compiled the thesis from lectures of Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis he had attended and cases seen at La Pitié, but <em>"rapidly, for circumstances obliged me to prepare it entirely in the space of little more than three days; imperfectly, for I had only the resources of my own library and notes, and had scarcely time to analyse any cases besides those I had reduced to the tabular form two years before."</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002166
DigID0002167
Dedication of the new building and hall of the Boston Medical Library Association
Invitations
Programs (documents)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Boston Medical Library Association
Following the formation of the Boston Medical Library in 1875, Holmes agreed to be the Association’s first president. He delivered the dedicatory address at the opening of the library’s new building at 19 Boylston Place in 1878 and here makes the case for inclusion of <em>“works which we are in the habit of considering as being outside of the pale of medical science,”</em> particularly Thomsonian and homeopathic literature.
Boston Medical Library
Riverside Press
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text
English
text
DigID0002163-0002165
Trials of a public benefactor, as illustrated in the discovery of etherization
Correspondence
Excerpts
Anesthesia
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Rice, Nathan P. (author)
Commissioned by William T. G. Morton, <em>Trials of a public benefactor</em> attempts to provide support for his claim to precedence in the discovery of ether anesthesia. Here, as part of the story, Oliver Wendell Holmes coins the term in a letter to Morton written on November 21, 1846, shortly after the first public demonstrations at Massachusetts General Hospital. Holmes wrote, <em></em>
Rice, Nathan P.
Pudney and Russell
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text
English
text
DigID0002195
A mortal antipathy : first opening of the new portfolio
Title pages
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
First edition of Holmes' novel, <em>A mortal antipathy : first opening of the new portfolio</em>. After Holmes’ death, his friend and fellow novelist William Dean Howells (1837-1920) said of Holmes' work, <em>“His novels all belonged to an order of romance which was as distinctly his own as the form of dramatized essay which he invented in the Autocrat. If he did not think poorly of them, he certainly did not think too proudly, and I heard him quote with relish the phrase of a lady who had spoken of them to him as his ‘medicated novels.’ That, indeed, was perhaps what they were; a faint, faint odor of the pharmacopoeia clung to their pages; their magic was scientific. He knew this better than any one else, of course, and if any one had said it in his turn he would hardly have minded it. But what he did mind was the persistent misinterpretation of his intention in certain quarters where he thought he had the right to respectful criticism in stead of the succession of sneers that greeted the successive numbers of his story; and it was no secret that he felt the persecution keenly.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Houghton, Mifflin and Company
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text
English
text
DigID0002192
The guardian angel
Title pages
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
First edition of Holmes' novel, <em>The Guardian Angel</em>. After Holmes’ death, his friend and fellow novelist William Dean Howells (1837-1920) said of Holmes' work, <em>“His novels all belonged to an order of romance which was as distinctly his own as the form of dramatized essay which he invented in the Autocrat. If he did not think poorly of them, he certainly did not think too proudly, and I heard him quote with relish the phrase of a lady who had spoken of them to him as his ‘medicated novels.’ That, indeed, was perhaps what they were; a faint, faint odor of the pharmacopoeia clung to their pages; their magic was scientific. He knew this better than any one else, of course, and if any one had said it in his turn he would hardly have minded it. But what he did mind was the persistent misinterpretation of his intention in certain quarters where he thought he had the right to respectful criticism in stead of the succession of sneers that greeted the successive numbers of his story; and it was no secret that he felt the persecution keenly.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Ticknor and Fields
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text
English
text
DigID0002191
Elsie Venner : a romance of destiny
Title pages
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
First edition of Holmes' novel, <em>Elsie Venner</em>. This is a presentation copy from Holmes to Henry Jacob Bigelow (1818-1890). After Holmes’ death, his friend and fellow novelist William Dean Howells (1837-1920) said of Holmes' work, <em>“His novels all belonged to an order of romance which was as distinctly his own as the form of dramatized essay which he invented in the Autocrat. If he did not think poorly of them, he certainly did not think too proudly, and I heard him quote with relish the phrase of a lady who had spoken of them to him as his ‘medicated novels.’ That, indeed, was perhaps what they were; a faint, faint odor of the pharmacopoeia clung to their pages; their magic was scientific. He knew this better than any one else, of course, and if any one had said it in his turn he would hardly have minded it. But what he did mind was the persistent misinterpretation of his intention in certain quarters where he thought he had the right to respectful criticism in stead of the succession of sneers that greeted the successive numbers of his story; and it was no secret that he felt the persecution keenly.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Ticknor and Fields
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text
English
text
DigID0002190
Medical directions written for Governor Winthrop
Covers
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Stafford, Edward, b. 1617 (author)
English physician Edward Stafford compiled a book of basic recipes for medical disorders such as madness, vertigo, and the king’s evil for John Winthrop (1588-1649), the governor of Massachusetts. At the request of Robert C. Winthrop, president of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Holmes annotated the text and presented a paper on it to the society in 1862; he also then incorporated the Stafford recipes into his introductory lecture at Harvard that November. Holmes said, <em>“Whatever we may think of Dr. Stafford’s practice, it is not certain that his patients would all have done better under the treatment of the present day. Some differences there would certainly be in our favor…. But slight cases of disease would commonly get well under his treatment, and severe ones often die under ours…. Though some of his prescriptions may cause us to smile or shudder, it would be well if a physician of our time, whose prescriptions should be exhumed in the year 2080, were able to stand the examination of posterity as creditably as the very respectable Dr. Stafford.”</em>
Stafford, Edward, b. 1617
John Wilson and Son
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002189
Receipts to cure various disorders for my worthy friend, Mr. Winthrop
Formularies
Excerpts
Stafford, Edward, b. 1617 (author)
Winthrop, John, 1588-1649
English physician Edward Stafford compiled this book of basic recipes for medical disorders such as madness, vertigo, and the king’s evil for John Winthrop (1588-1649), the governor of Massachusetts.
Stafford, Edward, b. 1617
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English
text
DigID0002209
Address on medical education
Speeches
Harvard Medical School
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Despite Harvard’s renowned faculty members and array of courses, the students themselves in the mid-19th century were often poorly trained. Few of the matriculants had formal college degrees upon entering the school, the required course of study was short, and the medical examinations at the end were haphazard. It was the advent of President Charles William Eliot (1834-1926) in 1869, which brought about a complete revolution in the medical curriculum. Eliot faced resistance from the faculty but ultimately managed to institute a new set of statutes for the Medical School in 1870, insisting on more stringent entrance requirements. He also increased the size of the faculty, extended the medical course to three years with examinations throughout, and even began the academic year in September rather than November. Of these changes, Holmes said, <em>"Our new President, Eliot, has turned the whole University over like a flapjack. There never was such a bouleversement as that in our Medical Faculty."</em> This manuscript essay by Holmes, expressing his cautious views on the Eliot reforms (<em>“I am ready for a step onward, perhaps for a stride, but not quite ready for a leap,”</em>) was probably one presented to the Medical Faculty at its meeting on March 16, 1871, when the new plan of instruction was being debated.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002161
An introductory lecture, delivered at the Massachusetts Medical College
Speeches
Massachusetts Medical College
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Holmes assumed the professorship of anatomy and physiology at Harvard in the fall of 1847 and delivered this introductory lecture to the students on November 3. In an overview of the medical developments of Boston, Holmes alludes here to <em>“the strange magic of the enchanted goblet”</em>—the first administration of ether anesthesia in operative surgery just a year before: <em>“The knife is searching for disease, the pulleys are dragging back dislocated limbs, nature herself is working out the primal curse which doomed the tenderest of her creatures to the sharpest of her trials, but the fierce extremity of suffering has been steeped in the waters of forgetfulness, and the deepest furrow in the knotted brow of agony has been smoothed forever.”</em>
<p>The lecture prompted <em>The Boston medical and surgical journal</em> to aver that <em>“it is the best discourse ever delivered in the Medical School of Harvard University. It abounds with bright thoughts, and there is a kind of elasticity and vigor running through its pages, that refreshes the reader.”</em></p>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
William D. Ticknor and Company
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text
English
text
DigID0002199
Program from Harvard Medical School centennial celebration
Programs (documents)
Harvard Medical School
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
During the 1880s, Holmes was involved with the fund-raising appeals for the Medical School’s Boylston Street building. As part of the centennial celebration and dedication of the new building in 1883, he delivered this oration, tracing the history of medicine in Boston and Harvard Medical School from the Revolutionary War up to the present day.
Unknown
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text
English
text
DigID0002207
Notes on anatomy lectures taken by Edward A. Whiston
Excerpts
Lecture notes
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Whiston, Edward Andem (1838-1919) (author)
Edward Andem Whiston (1838-1909) of Framingham received a medical degree from Harvard in 1861, then served as a surgeon with the 1st and 16th regiments of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. He was later the port physician of Boston and a founder and manager of the Newton Hospital. These are some of his notes on Holmes’ introductory lectures during the fall term at Harvard, probably from 1858.
Whiston, Edward Andem (1838-1909)
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text
English
text
DigID0002156
Homϗpathy, and its kindred delusions
Excerpts
Prefaces
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Homeopathy
Holmes delivered this critical address on homeopathy to the Boston Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge on February 16, 1842, and then published it with a companion lecture, "Medical delusions of the past," later that spring. Although Holmes would deal with homeopathy <em>"not by ridicule, but by argument; perhaps with great freedom, but with good temper and in peaceable language; with very little hope of reclaiming converts, with no desire of making enemies, but with a firm belief that its pretensions and assertions cannot stand before a single hour of calm investigation,"</em> the lecture ignited a war of words in newspapers and pamphlets.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
William D. Ticknor
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text
English
text
DigID0002185
Letter by Oliver Wendell Holmes to Alexander Ireland
Correspondence
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 (author)
Ireland, Alexander, 1810-1894
After the death of transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1882, Holmes was approached to write his biography for the “American Men of Letters” series. After publication, he received this letter from journalist Alexander Ireland (1810-1894), long a close friend of Emerson’s, who had himself printed a memorial volume and reminiscences of his visits to England in 1882. Holmes wrote of his own efforts, <em>“I considered the task more than difficult…. The difference in the estimate of his writings is so great that any analysis of them with comments, interpretations, judgments, must fail to satisfy some, must exceed the estimate of others. I tried to be fair; I endeavored to follow as well as I might the course of Emerson’s thoughts and to reach as far as in me lay the inner nature of the man. On the whole I have been satisfied with the verdicts passed upon my book.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002206
Poems
Title pages
Poetry
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
In addition to <em>The collegian</em>, some of Oliver Wendell Holmes's (1809-1894) poems then appeared in <em>Illustrations of the Athenæum gallery of paintings</em> (1830) and <em>The harbinger : a may-gift</em> (1833). Holmes’ <em>Poems</em> (1836) represents the first collected edition of his work.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Otis, Broaders and Company
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text
English
text
DigID0002184
The collegian, no. I
Covers
Magazines (periodicals)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
The first published poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes were printed in the six issues of a monthly Harvard undergraduate student magazine, <em>The collegian</em>, from February through July, 1830. Some of his poems then appeared in <em>Illustrations of the Athenæum gallery of paintings</em> (1830) and <em>The harbinger : a may-gift</em> (1833). Holmes’ <em>Poems</em> (1836) represents the first collected edition of his work.
The collegian
Hilliard and Brown
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text
English
text
DigID0002198
Minute book
Boston Society for Medical Improvement
Minute books
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Puerperal septicemia
During the summer of 1842, the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, a scientific organization of which Holmes and many of his friends from his European sojourn were members, began to consider the question of puerperal fever. Following reports of an outbreak of cases in Salem, Walter Channing’s presentation of thirteen fatal cases in Boston in June, and news of the illness and deaths of some physicians and students, J. B. S. Jackson<em> “asked the opinion of the Society as to the contagion of puerperal fever and the probability of physicians communicating it from one patient to another.”</em> Holmes proceeded to research the matter through case reports and medical literature at the Boston Athenaeum and delivered his findings at this meeting of the Society.
Boston Society for Medical Improvement
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text
English
text
DigID0002183
Puerperal fever, as a private pestilence
Articles
Puerperal septicemia
Inscriptions
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
There was a great deal of initial resistance and hostility to Holmes’ ideas, particularly from two noted Philadelphia obstetricians, Charles D. Meigs and Hugh Lenox Hodge. In 1855, a reprint of the article appeared as <em>Puerperal fever, as a private pestilence</em>, containing a lengthy introduction and additional cases and evidence to support the initial assertions. Holmes stated that the original journal <em>“never obtained a large circulation, and ceased to be published after a year’s existence, and as the few copies I had struck off separately were soon lost sight of among the friends to whom they were sent, the Essay can hardly be said to have been fully brought before the Profession.”</em> The copy displayed here, with a presentation inscription to Henry Jacob Bigelow, contains marginal annotations, corrections, and notes by Holmes.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Ticknor and Fields
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text
English
text
DigID0002182
The contagiousness of puerperal fever
Articles
Puerperal septicemia
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Following his presentation on puerperal fever to the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, Holmes first published his findings in this journal in April 1843. The article was also reprinted in pamphlet form. The passage displayed here contains Holmes’ recommendations for the physician’s proper care and hygiene in obstetrical cases.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Printed and published by D. Clapp, Jr.
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text
English
text
DigID0002181
Prescription
prescriptions
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
This handwritten prescription for a friend, probably to treat bronchitis, was made by Holmes shortly before his death.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002152
Remarks on the case of Dr. Spurzheim
Case files
Autopsies
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Spurzheim, J. G. (Johann Gaspar), 1776-1832
During the early 1830s, Holmes was enrolled at Harvard Medical School, but also sought tuition privately with Dr. James Jackson. Of Holmes, Jackson said to his son, <em>“He can tell you much that is interesting. Do not mind his apparent frivolity and you will soon find that he is intelligent and well-informed. He has the true zeal."</em>
<p>Two volumes of Holmes’ notes on Jackson’s lectures have survived. Here, on November 15, 1832, Jackson comments on the fever and death of phrenologist Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, who had been lecturing in Boston and died five days earlier. Jackson had attended Spurzheim at his death, and John Collins Warren performed the autopsy.</p>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002174
Memoranda of patients and cases treated
Patients
Case files
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Jackson, Charles (1775-1855)
Little is known of Holmes’ private medical practice, but this volume of case notes derives from the period while he was on the Tremont School faculty and immediately following his research into the contagiousness of puerperal fever. The Judge Jackson being treated here is probably Charles Jackson (1775-1855), formerly of the Massachusetts Supreme Judiciary Court—and, since 1840, Holmes’ father-in-law.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002173
The army hymn
Hymns
Lyrics
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Atlantic Monthly
This patriotic musical poem was first printed in the June issue of <em>The Atlantic monthly</em> and also as part of a program for a prize-giving ceremony at the Boston Latin School on May 25, 1861, just a few weeks after Confederate forces began firing on Fort Sumter. Many handbill printings of the hymn followed, including this one from New York.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
H. DeMarsan
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text
English
text
DigID0002215
My hunt after 'The Captain'
Articles
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 (author)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1841-1935
Atlantic Monthly
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., abandoned his studies at Harvard College to join the Massachusetts Volunteers at the outbreak of the Civil War. He was wounded on October 21, 1861, at the battle of Ball’s Bluff, in Virginia, and attended by a Philadelphia physician, William Hunt (1825-1896). Wendell Holmes returned to active duty and was again wounded, on September 17, 1862, at Antietam. His father left Boston to seek his son after this second incident and subsequently published an account of this affair in <em>The Atlantic monthly</em>. Here, he describes some of the aftermath of the battle which he observed.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Ticknor and Fields
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text
English
text
DigID0002208
Clinique de M. Louis
Lecture notes
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Louis, P. C. A. (Pierre Charles Alexandre), 1787-1894
After studying medicine with James Jackson, Holmes continued his medical education in Europe, beginning in the summer of 1833. He studied with some of France’s most famous physicians, including Marjolin, Roux, Velpeau, and Andral; this is Holmes’ notebook from the clinical lectures and demonstrations of Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis (1787-1872) at the Hôpital de la Pitié. In his letters home and recollections from this period, Holmes said, <em>“I have more fully learned at least three principles since I have been in Paris: not to take authority when I can have facts; not to guess when I can know; not to think a man must take physic because he is sick …. Many a long and wearying hour I have passed on the stone floor of the autopsy-room at La Pitié, wasting my time over little points which, a few years later, would have been easily settled by the microscope …. As for the science of England and France, or rather Paris and London—to judge by their books and their students, and the reports of the intelligent young men who have seen both, the Frenchmen have half a century in advance.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002197
Teaching from the chair and at the bedside
Covers
Speeches
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Harvard Medical School
At the opening of the term and the beginnings of debate over educational reform at the Medical School, Holmes gave this address to the students, partly in defense of the summer term of practical instruction over the formal lectures of the winter. <em>“The bedside is always the true center of medical teaching. Certain branches must be taught in the lecture-room, and will necessarily involve a good deal that is not directly useful to the future practitioner. But the over ambitious and active student must not be led away by the seduction of knowledge for its own sake from his principal pursuit. The humble beginner, who is alarmed at the vast fields of knowledge opened to him, may be encouraged by the assurance that with a very slender provision of science, in distinction from practical skill, he may be a useful and acceptable member of the profession to which the health of the community is entrusted.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
David Clapp and Son
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text
English
text
DigID0002172
Letter from Oliver Wendell Holmes to Charles Brooks
Correspondence
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 (author)
Massachusetts Colonization Society
Laing, Daniel, Jr.
This letter from Holmes’ tenure as dean of Harvard Medical School relates to the education of two African-American students, Daniel Laing, Jr., and Isaac H. Snowden. Here, at Brooks’ appeal, Holmes waives the lecture fees for Laing (<em>“his habits of study good & his talents most promising”</em>). Snowden’s fees were assumed by the Colonization Society.
<p>Laing, Snowden and a third student, Martin Robison Delany, enrolled during the winter term in 1850 but were forced to withdraw following a protest by some of the Medical School students. Both Laing and Snowden went on to pursue medical studies at Dartmouth.</p>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002153
Letter from the Massachusetts Colonization Society to the Medical Faculty of Harvard College
Correspondence
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Massachusetts Colonization Society (author)
Laing, Daniel, Jr.
Snowden, Isaac H.
This letter from Holmes’ tenure as dean of Harvard Medical School relates to the education of two African-American students, Daniel Laing, Jr., and Isaac H. Snowden. The Massachusetts Colonization Society promoted the education of Laing and Snowden, planning to send them out to practice in the Republic of Liberia.
<p>Laing, Snowden and a third student, Martin Robison Delany, enrolled during the winter term in 1850 but were forced to withdraw following a protest by some of the Medical School students. Both Laing and Snowden went on to pursue medical studies at Dartmouth.</p>
Massachusetts Colonization Society
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text
English
text
DigID0002162
Poem delivered at Dartmouth College
Poetry
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
In 1838, Holmes was offered the professorship of anatomy and physiology at Dartmouth and held that position for two years before joining the faculty of Harvard. He was also asked by the New Hampshire Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Kappa to deliver a poem at Dartmouth’s commencement in 1839. Although Holmes never intended the poem for publication—it was not, in fact, printed in its entirety until 1940—a newspaper correspondent at the time said, <em>“The transitions from the grave to gay were very happy, and kept the audience in a state of alternate gravity and mirth. The imagery and descriptive portions of the poem—particularly those relating to rural scenes—were exceedingly beautiful and poetical, and I am confident, if it should be given to the public, that it will be pronounced one of the most beautiful metrical performances that has ever emanated from the pen of an American writer.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002168
Poem at the centennial anniversary dinner
of the Massachusetts Medical Society
Poetry
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Massachusetts Medical Society
Holmes recited this poem at the anniversary celebration of the Society, held on June 8, 1881, and it was subsequently printed in the Boston medical and surgical journal. The poem contrasts the fortunes of priests, lawyers, and physicians but <em>“I have not hesitated to emphasize those specially belonging to the medical profession. I owe to my friends the physicians so much more than the practice of medicine owes to me that I feel at liberty to praise their calling without reserve, but no more than I think its due.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002196
Matriculating book
Signatures (names)
Matriculating book
Laing, Daniel, Jr.
During the 19th century, every incoming medical student signed this volume at the beginning of the academic session and so agreed to follow the statutes of Harvard University and the direction of the Faculty of Medicine. On the page on the right can be seen the signature of Daniel Laing, Jr.
Harvard Medical School
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text
English
text
DigID0002194
A poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D., delivered before the Society for
Medical Improvement
Poetry
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Boston Society for Medical Improvement
This lengthy poem by Holmes—never published during his lifetime—was probably recited at one of the anniversary dinners of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement; Holmes frequently composed and presented his poetic efforts for its celebrations and special occasions. The passage displayed refers to the Society's Pathological Cabinet—its extensive museum collection, which was eventually incorporated with the holdings of the Warren Anatomical Museum.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002193
Letter from Oliver Wendell Holmes to Harold C. Ernst
Correspondence
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 (author)
Ernst, Harold C. (Harold Clarence), 1856-1922
Composite photographs
As this letter attests, Holmes was less than enchanted with his composite photograph: <em>“I thank you for them. They are curious, interesting—and fearfully truthful. I do not think much is gained in this instance by the multiple process. I like best the single photograph. That certainly looks like me, and is not to blame for not being more attractive…. but if [Henry Pickering] Bowditch has any curiosity for one of the compound ones, you can let him have it, and welcome.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002157
Tremont Street Medical School Prospectus
Academic prospectuses
Tremont Street Medical School
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Holmes was one of the founders and faculty members of the Tremont Street Medical School; he offered courses in anatomy, physiology, and, as attested by this prospectus for the 1848 course, regular instruction in microscopic anatomy, and was one of the first physicians in America to do so. The microscopic demonstrations are described in an 1853 catalogue of the Tremont School: <em>"These will be given by Dr. Holmes, weekly, through the Spring months…. They will illustrate by recent specimens, and a large number of carefully selected English and French preparations, the leading facts of animal and vegetable structure and development, and will be enforced by practical tests of the students' knowledge."</em>
Tremont Street Medical School
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text
English
text
DigID0002143
Classified index to specific medical periodicals
Periodical indexes
Excerpts
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
As part of his dedicatory address at the Boston Medical Library, Holmes praised, in particular, the development of periodical indexes. <em>“This idea has long been working in the minds of scholars, and all who have had occasion to follow out any special subject. I have a right to speak of it, for I long ago attempted to supply the want of indexes in some small measure for my own need. I had a very complete set of the </em>‘American Journal of the Medical Sciences’<em>; an entire set of the </em>‘North American Review,’<em> and many volumes of the reprints of the three leading British quarterlies. Of what use were they to me without general indexes? I looked them all through carefully and made classified lists of all the articles I thought I should most care to read. But they soon outgrew my lists…. Nothing, therefore, could be more pleasing to me than to see the attention which has been given of late years to the great work of indexing.”</em> This notebook of Holmes almost certainly contains the classified lists he mentions, with references to articles on anatomy, pathology, surgery, midwifery, chemistry, and therapeutics.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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text
English
text
DigID0002158
Stella musculosa nuchae
Cervical vertebrae
Muscles
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
human remains
<em>Border lines of knowledge, in some provinces of medical science</em> is a published and somewhat expanded version of Holmes’ introductory lecture to the students at Harvard Medical School at the opening of term on November 6, 1861. Although he refers to human anatomy as <em>“an almost exhausted science,”</em> Holmes goes on to list some of his own anatomical observations: <br /><br /><em>“The nucleated cells found connected with the cancellated structure of the bones, which I first pointed out and had figured in 1847, and have shown yearly from that time to the present, and fossa masseterica, a shallow concavity on the ramus muscle, which acquires significance when examined by the side of the deep cavity on the corresponding part in some carnivore to which it answers, may perhaps be claimed as deserving attention."<br /><br /></em>Holmes continues, commenting on the discovery of this artifact, as he notes how<em>: <br /><br />"I have also pleased myself by making a special group of the six radiating muscles which diverge from the spine of the axis, or second cervical vertebra, and by giving to it the name<strong> stella musculosa nuchæ</strong>. But this scanty catalogue is only an evidence that one may teach long and see little that has not been noted by those who have gone before him.”</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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image
physical object
DigID0002217
R & J Beck classroom demonstration microscope
Microscopes
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
A classroom demonstration brass monocular microscope with mirror and oil lamp, used by Oliver Wendell Holmes. It is mounted onto a wooden base with a heavy wooden handle.
R & J Beck, London, Philadelphia
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image
physical object
DigID0002220
Oliver Wendell Holmes at Beverly Farms
Photographs
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Rideing, William Henry, 1853-1918 (photographer)
Photograph of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) at Beverly Farms, taken by William Henry Rideing (1853-1918) in October 1887
William Henry Rideing (1853-1918)
image
still image
DigID0002137
The Holmes stereoscope, with the inventions and improvements
added by Joseph L. Bates
Advertisements
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Bates, Joseph L.
Advertisement for the stereoscope designed by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) and Joseph L. Bates
Unknown
image
still image
DigID0002136
Photographic studies for a bust of Oliver Wendell Holmes
Photographs
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Bartlett, Truman Howe, 1835-1923 (artist)
Sculptor Truman Howe Bartlett made these photographs and measurements of Holmes at the age of 75 with the intention of making a bust, but the project was abandoned as <em>“the necessary sittings were irksome to the subject.”</em> After Holmes’ death, the City of Boston commissioned a bust to be made, and Bartlett secured the work for one of his former students, Richard Edwin Brooks (1865-1919), and passed over to him the glass negatives of the photographs. The original bronze bust was sculpted in Paris by Brooks in 1896 and presented to the Boston Public Library; a copy was made for the Boston Medical Library and placed in Holmes Hall.
Bartlett, Truman Howe, 1835-1923
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image
still image
DigID0002135
Watercolor autocrat of the breakfast-table
Watercolors (paintings)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
A watercolor illustration that accompanied an 1890 version of Oliver Wendell Holmes' (1809-1894) <em>The autocrat of the breakfast-table</em>
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
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image
still image
2134
Proceedings at the Delmonico's dinner
Frontispieces (illustrations)
Portraits
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Following Holmes’ resignation of his professorship at Harvard, the physicians of New York hosted a public dinner in his honor. The dinner was held at Delmonico’s on April 12; the symbol of the event, embossed on the cover of the menu and a souvenir booklet of the proceedings, was a crossed scalpel and pen, as Holmes was <em>“skilled to dissect with both.”</em> Dr. Fordyce Barker, president of the New York Academy of Medicine, was the honorary chairman of the event, and notable figures among the two hundred guests included Drs. Alonzo Clark, S. Weir Mitchell, Austin Flint, John Shaw Billings, Henry Jacob Bigelow, Samuel D. Gross, and William Pepper. In response to the toasts and speeches, Holmes delivered a 2,000 word poem.
Unknown
G. P. Putnam
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image
English
still image
DigID0002188
The health-lift reduced to a science
Advertisements
Brochures
Testimonials
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
The Reactionary Lifter was sold by the Health-Lift Company of New York as a muscle exercise and strength-building device, suitable for men and women. A testimonial letter by Holmes appears in this marketing brochure: <em>“My three months’ experience of the Health Lift has been entirely satisfactory. It furnishes a concentrated form of exercise which I have found salutary, agreeable and exhilarating. It calls the blood into the muscles and leaves them ready for further action, so that I have found myself more disposed to take a long walk after four or five lifts than before. I may add that the particular apparatus used at your rooms, ‘The Reactionary Lifter,’ is a most ingenious, convenient, compact and serviceable arrangement, by which the lifter’s own weight is made to do service, and by an easy and simple adjustment of leverage, to furnish a resistance to be overcome, all the way from 20 to 1000 pounds and more.”</em>
Health-Lift Co., New York
the Company
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English
still image
DigID0002131
Harvard Medical School in 1883
Frontispieces (illustrations)
Harvard Medical School
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
During the 1880s, Holmes was involved with the fund-raising appeals for the Medical School’s Boylston Street building. As part of the centennial celebration and dedication of the new building in 1883, he delivered this oration, tracing the history of medicine in Boston and Harvard Medical School from the Revolutionary War up to the present day.
Unknown
John Wilson and Son
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English
still image
DigID0002200
Stereographic view of Old Elm, Boston Common
Stereoscopic photographs
Elm
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Around 1861, Holmes devised what would later be known as the “American” type of stereoscope—an inexpensive handheld device with slots to hold the stereographs at different distances and a hooded eyepiece overall, distinct from the box-shaped stereoscopes then in common use. Joseph L. Bates of Boston crafted the initial model for Holmes and then made his own improvements on the design and patented it in 1867. Holmes had no interest in patenting or marketing the stereoscope but said of Bates, <em>“I was very glad to have somebody get profit and pleasure from my contrivance, and made him quite welcome to whatever there was to be gained by its manufacture…. From his establishment have come certain improvements of much value, particularly the sliding arrangement for adjusting the focus, in place of the original slots, or narrow grooves, and the method of holding the pictures.”</em>
<p>The Wheeler and Bazin-type folding stereoscope, with its own sliding focus, was patented in 1863. The stereographic view displayed here belonged to Holmes who mentions it in a letter to Mrs. Asa Gray, in 1871: <em>“I have stereographs of the Boston Elm, before its present condition of decadence, and one of the Washington Elm, the last a fair specimen of the tree….”</em></p>
Unknown
C. H. Wheeler and Co
image
still image
DigID0002130
Friendship cup
Loving cups
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Fields, Annie, 1834-1915
Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909
On his 80th birthday, Holmes received this silver cup, inscribed with a quotation from “A sentiment,” one of his early poems. The gift was from Annie Fields, Sarah Orne Jewett, and nine other women.
Unknown
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image
physical object
DigID0002129
Nautilus bookplate
Bookplates
Nautilus shell
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Boston Medical Library
On January 23, 1889, Oliver Wendell Holmes presented his book collection of over 900 volumes to the Boston Medical Library, with holdings ranging over four centuries, from the most current publications back to the beginnings of printing. A copy of Avicenna is the oldest volume in the Holmes collection.
Spenceley, J. Winfred, 1865-1908
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English
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DigID0002216
Sarah H. Furber
Portraits
Furber, Sarah H., 1825-1848
In 1848, after millworker Sarah H. Furber died following an abortion, physician John McNab (1783-1878) brought her body to Boston and offered to sell it to Holmes as a subject for dissection at the Medical School. The offer was refused, but Holmes and J. B. S. Jackson were subsequently asked to make a postmortem examination of the body, and Holmes was called in to testify during the course of the McNab trial. The Medical School’s steward, Ephraim Littlefield, was examined about his role in the McNab incident. Both Holmes and Littlefield were also called to the witness stand during the infamous murder trial of Dr. John White Webster in 1850.
<p>John McNab later went on to be president of the White Mountain Medical Society and the New Hampshire Medical Society.</p>
Carroll, George
Fisk & Moore
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still image
DigID0002128
Bust of Oliver Wendell Holmes
Busts (figures)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Brooks, Richard Edwin (1865-1919)
The BPL original was “ordered by the Mayor of Boston, on authority of the City Council, and was paid for by the city,” according to Annual Report of the Trustees and received at that time (January, 1896).
<p>The Boston Medical Library copy was certainly in the library by 1900; incised “Richard E. Brooks, Paris, 1896” on side, and was possibly a gift of James Read Chadwick.</p>
<p>A photographic series of studies was made of Holmes “aet. 75,” or circa 1884. According to the BMSJ (1894), v. 131, p. 376, <em>“The portrait of Dr. Holmes which we publish this week is at once an excellent likeness and a very pleasing picture of him in his later years—for us by far the most so of any which we know. The photograph was taken by the Boston sculptor, Bartlett, with a view to making a bust. The design was given up, as the necessary sittings were irksome to the subject, and we are indebted to Mr. Bartlett and Dr. J. R. Chadwick for the right to the picture. It was not easy for the painter’s brush or the sculptor’s chisel to do justice to Dr. Holmes’s mobile features.”</em></p>
Brooks, Richard Edwin (1865-1919)
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image
physical object
DigID0002151
Wedgwood medallion of Oliver Wendell Holmes
Medallions (medals)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Medallion of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) for Richard Briggs Co., Boston around 1895.
Wedgwood, Josiah
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image
physical object
DigID0002127
Cast of the fist of Oliver Wendell Holmes
Bronze (metal)
Casts (sculpture)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Bartlett, Truman Howe, 1835-1923 (artist)
Made at the request of librarian James Read Chadwick, the bronzed fist of Holmes was displayed in the original Holmes Hall of the Boston Medical Library’s building following the memorial meeting on October 30, 1894. The sculptor, Truman Howe Bartlett, claimed that when asked if he would hold a pen while the mould was being made, Holmes refused and, doubling up his fist like a prizefighter's, said,<em>"Take it that way; that does not show the old man’s wrinkles, does it?" </em>
Bartlett, Truman Howe, 1835-1923
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image
physical object
DigID0002126
Watercolor sketch of old Holmes house
Watercolors (paintings)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Holmes was born and grew up in the “gambrel-roofed house,” facing Cambridge Common, where the Littauer building now stands. In 1870, he and his brother sold the house to Harvard University and in—to use Holmes’ words—<em>“a case of justifiable domicide,”</em> it was demolished in 1883.
Unknown
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still image
DigID0002125
Chambered nautilus shell
Nautilus shell
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
The nautilus shell, formerly on display in the Boston Medical Library’s building at 8 The Fenway, was probably originally in Holmes’ study. A second nautilus shell is housed with other Holmes items at Harvard’s Houghton Library.
Unknown
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image
physical object
DigID0002124
The autocrat of the breakfast-table
Frontispieces (illustrations)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Beyond the sphere of poetry, the literary reputation of Oliver Wendell Holmes rests largely on the loosely connected series of essays, poems, and aphorisms which forms <em>The autocrat of the breakfast-table</em>. The essays were originally printed in issues of <em>The Atlantic monthly</em>, beginning in November 1857; this is a first edition of their appearance in book form. Three separate impressions of <em>The autocrat</em> were printed between November 12 and December 7, 1858, and, reputedly, some 20,000 copies sold during that period—half of them during the first three days following publication. The passage displayed here reprints Holmes’ own favorite of his poems, “The chambered nautilus.”
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Phillips, Sampson
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English
still image
DigID0002171
Portrait of Oliver Wendell Holmes
Portraits
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Billings, E. T. (artist)
Holmes said of this portrait, which was acquired by the Boston Medical Library at the time of his book collection and displayed in the original Holmes Hall, <em>“It is there; the age is there; the wrinkles are there. It is a likeness. It is the portrait of an old man, dew-lap and all.”</em> He later wrote, <em>“I consider Mr. Billings’ portrait of myself an excellent likeness and so far as I can judge a good painting. I have had many pictures and photographs taken, but it seems to me that no one of them has been so satisfactory as this.”</em>
Billings, E. T. (Edwin Tryon), 1824-1893.
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DigID0002123
The celebration of Oliver Wendell Holmes's seventieth birthday
Magazine illustrations
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Daily Graphic
The famous "Atlantic Breakfast," given by the publishers of <em>The Atlantic monthly</em> on December 3, to honor Holmes at 70 and his contributions to the success of the magazine, was covered in local newspapers. Guests at the event included literary figures Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Dean Howells, Sarah Orne Jewett, and John Greenleaf Whittier, along with Harvard's president, Charles W. Eliot. Holmes later wrote to Howells, <em>"You showed, I thought, great tact, and savoir dire and faire in your management of the south pole of the festival. Of course I was pleased—how could I help being pleased—with the penetrating and nicely accented praise you awarded me…. I hope you will live to see your septuagenarian breakfast and many a breakfast on the other side of it, not only famous, but happy in all that surrounds you.”</em>
Unknown
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DigID0002122
Farewell Address of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Heliotypes (prints)
Photographs
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Harvard Medical School
This photograph was taken on the occasion of Holmes’ retirement from teaching anatomy at Harvard and just after the opening of the school's new facility on Boylston Street. Some years later, Thomas Dwight recalled, <em>“The scene was most impressive as the whole audience arose on his entrance. A member of the first class stepped forward, and in a few words, carefully prepared but rather tremulously delivered, presented a silver loving-cup as a gift of the class and expressed their regret at the separation. Dr. Holmes was so surprised and affected that for once his readiness failed him. He could but utter a few disconnected sentences of thanks, and say that lest his feelings should overcome him, it were better he should keep to the lecture he had written.”</em>
Unknown
Heliotype Printing
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still image
DigID0002121
Paper knife
Letter openers
Ivory (tooth component)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Mitchell, S. Weir (Silas Weir), 1829-1914
Philadelphia's analogue to Holmes was neurologist and novelist S. Weir Mitchell (1829-1914). The two were well-acquainted and corresponded from the 1850s until Holmes' death. Weir Mitchell sent this ivory paper knife to Holmes in 1882 and composed the riddling poem inscribed on it. In a letter to Mitchell, Holmes said the knife was <em>"too gorgeous—too grand—for such a humble literary work-bench…. The riddle on it is one of the best in the English language. I doubt if there are ten, or even five—I am not sure there are three which can compare with it in finish and in the perfection of its graceful double-meanings…. If you meant it for me, I can only say I thank you most heartily for a gift of which any author might be proud, engraved with lines which he will never look upon without wishing he had written them."</em>
Unknown
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image
physical object
DigID0002150
Boat race on the Charles River
Magazine illustrations
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
This illustration was printed in the edition of <em>Ballou’s pictorial</em> for June 20th and depicts the finish of a race of club boats on the Charles at Western Avenue a few days earlier. Holmes <em>“who is very partial to this manly exercise”</em> is shown rowing in the lower left-hand corner.
Unknown
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DigID0002120
Oliver Wendell Holmes, circa 1855
Daguerreotypes (photographs)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Daguerreotype portrait of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), taken around 1855
Unknown
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still image
DigID0002119
Oliver Wendell Holmes and members of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement
Photographs
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Boston Society for Medical Improvement
This rare photograph depicts physicians (standing, left to right) Charles Eliot Ware, Robert William Hooper, Le Baron Russell, Samuel Parkman, (seated, left to right) George Amory Bethune, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Samuel Cabot, Jonathan Mason Warren, William Edward Coale, and James Browne Gregerson, near the period of Holmes’ presentation on puerperal fever. The photograph was possibly taken at one of the events for which Holmes wrote and delivered a celebratory poem.
Unknown
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still image
DigID0002141
Composite photograph of Oliver Wendell Holmes
Composite photographs
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Ernst, Harold C. (Harold Clarence), 1856-1922 (photographer)
A composite photograph of Oliver Wendell Holmes by Harold C. Ernst
Ernst, Harold C. (Harold Clarence), 1856-1922
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DigID0002118
Oliver Wendell Holmes, circa 1872
Photographs
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
The original of this photograph is preserved in an album of the members of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, compiled in 1872. Holmes was elected to membership in the society in 1836, just after his graduation from Harvard Medical School.
Unknown
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still image
DigID0002140
Oliver Wendell Holmes with his microscope
Photographs
Albumen prints
Holmes was offering practical instruction in the use of the microscope to medical students at Harvard by 1855. In an address to the Boston Microscopical Society in 1877, Holmes said, <em>“My dealing with the instrument has been principally as a teacher, and not of microscopy as a specialty, but as a fractional portion of long-extended courses on anatomy, delivered to large classes. The most I could hope for was to teach them the rudiments of histology, and more especially to give them knowledge enough to make them wish for more. I have therefore aimed at having perfectly and easily manageable instruments, at selecting the more important and interesting objects, and at making everything as plain as practicable, knowing well that if a mistake in looking through a microscope is within the bounds of possibility, the young student will be certain to make it.”</em>
Unknown
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still image
DigID0002142
Turtle skeleton being photographed on the Harvard Medical School quad
Baker, Kathryn Hammond
image
image
Warren Anatomical Museum Catalogue Number 00179
Eagle skeleton [WAM 00161] prepared by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Art Institute of Boston
Photograph of eagle skeleton [WAM 00151] prepared by and donated by Oliver Wendell Holmes to the Warren Anatomical Museum in 1851. Eagle skeleton is being photographed on the Harvard Medical School quad by artists from the Art Institute of Boston in November 2011.
Baker, Kathryn Hammond
Center for the History of Medicine, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine
Center for the History of Medicine, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine
Dominic Hall
See Warren Anatomical Museum Catalog Number 00161 for record of eagle skeleton
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Warren Anatomical Museum Catalogue Number 00161
Cast of the fist of Oliver Wendell Holmes
Wendell Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Made at the request of librarian James Read Chadwick, the bronzed fist of Oliver Wendell Holmes was displayed in the original Holmes Hall of the Boston Medical Library's building following the memorial meeting on October 30, 1894. The sculptor, Truman Howe Bartlett, claimed that when asked if he would hold a pen while the mould was being made, Holmes refused and, doubling up his fist like a prizefighter's, said,"Take it that way; that does not show the old man's wrinkles, does it?"
Bartlett, Truman Howe