PECK
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PECK
"A Monograph on Pathology and
Rational Treatment in Infantile
Laryngo-traoheitis," New York, 1854.
"A Monograph on the Fetal Circula- tion," New York, 1854.
"Human Histology in its Relations to Descriptive Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology," Pliihuielphia, 1857.
" Ovarian Tmnours and Treatment (excepting Ovariotomy)," New York, 18(J4.
" Retroflexion of the Unimpregnated Uterus," Albany, 1866.
" Ovarian Tvunours, their Pathology. Diagnosis and Treatment, especially by Ovariotomy," New York, 1872.
J. E. .J.
.\in. .Tour. Obstet.. N. V.. 1S78, vol. xi. .Med. Kec, N. Y., 187S, vol. .\iii. Tr. .\ui. Gynec. Soc, 187S. Michigan Med. News, 1878, Detroit, vol. i. There is a portrait in the surg.-gen. collec- tion. Wa.sh., D, C.
Peck, William Dandridge (1763-1822).
William D. Peck, professor of natural history in Harvard University, son of John Peck, was born in Boston, May 8, 1763. His mother, whose original name was Jackson, died when he was seven years old. Though so young he felt it keenh' and cherished her memory with fond aflfection, and it is not improbable that the event contributed with other circum- stances, to cast that shade of melancholy over the mind of the son which at times required the best influence of his friends to disperse.
Admitted bachelor of arts at Cam- bridge in 1782, he was considered one of the best students of his class, being greatly in love with natural history, studies which occupied and delighted him through life. He was, however, destined for commer- cial pursuits and passed a regular appren- ticeship in the counting house of the Hon. Mr. Russell, where his exactitude and industry acquired for him the confidence and lasting friendship of that distin- guished merchant.
Mr. Peck's father was a man of very great genius in the mechanic arts. He was the most scientific, as well as the
iniist successful naval architect which
the United States had then produced.
The ships built by him were so superior
to any then known, that he attracted the
attention of Congress, and was employed
by them to build some of their war ships.
Hut he made very little money and, dis-
gusted with the world, retired to a small
farm in Kittery, resolved that his models,
fouiuk'd as his son always affirmed, on
matliematical calculations, should never
be possessed by a country which had
treated him with so much ingratitude.
The failure of his father's schemes
defeated j'oung Peck's prospects as a
merchant; and at an early age, he too,
with not a little of his father's discon-
tent edness. went to the same obscure
village and kept in touch with the scien-
tific world onl}' by correspondence and
occasional visits. For nearly twentj'
years lie led a most ascetic and secluded
life, seldom emerging from his hermitage.
But his mind, so far from being inactive,
was assiduously and intensely devoted to
the pursuits to which the bent of his
genius and taste inclined him. At a
time when he could find no companion
nor any sympathy in his studies, except
from the venerable Dr. Cutler, of Hamil-
ton, who was devoted to one branch
of them, botany, Peck made himself an
al)le and profound botanist and entomol-
ogist, under all the disadvantages of very
narrow means and the extreme difficulty
of procuring books. But his studies
extended to zoology, ornithology and
ichthyology, in which his knowledge was
more extensive than that of any other
man in this part of the United State.s.
During Mr. Peck's stay in Kittery and
during the two or three years when he
lived in a delightful spot in Newbury,
where the river Artichoke joins the
Merrimack, prior to his removal to
Camlsridge, he made a most beautiful
collection of the insects with which our
country abounds, with many fine pre-
servations of aquatic plants and of the
more rare species of fish to be found on
our coasts, rivers and lakes.
On March 27, 1805, he was elected first
