INTRODUCTION.
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The Medical Department of Harvard University was es-
tablished in the year 1782. In 1808 Dr. John C. Warren was
appointed Adjunct Professor of Anatomy and Surgery; and,
when that chair was vacated, in the year 1815, by the death of
his father, Dr. W. was appointed to fill his place. How faith-
fully and honorably to himself, and to the College, he per-
formed the duties of his office, and during a long period of
years, is well known to the profession. The zeal with which
he pursued his favorite studies, and with which he improved
the opportunities that a very extensive professional practice
afforded him, led to the collection of a great number of patho-
logical and other specimens ; and, on resigning his professor-
ship, in 1847, the greater part of this collection was presented
to the College, and with it the sum of $6,000, for its preserva-
tion and increase. In acknowledgment of so valuable a dona-
tion, the Corporation of the University voted that the Museum
should be called by the name of its founder. Unfortunately,
Dr. W.'s time was so fully occupied by his professional prac-
tice, that but little was left to him for those records, or
even references, upon which the value of the pathological
portion of a museum so much depends. Before the transfer,
however, was made to the College, Dr. W. had a record made
of the specimens, from his dictation; but it was, for the most
part, and excepting a few references, a mere enumeration.
The tendency to preserve interesting specimens is very strong
in so devoted an anatomist and surgeon as Dr. W. always had
been; and the consequence was, that he collected a large num-
ber of what might essentially be called duplicates. Patholog-
ical specimens that resemble each other very closely are often
preserved in reference to their clinical history; and the diver-
