Anatomist and ethnologist, born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, USA. The leading anatomist of his day, he lectured among other institutions at Harvard, where he was curator of what became the Peabody Museum (186674). His published work, renowned for its precision and accuracy, included the first description of the gorilla's skeletal structure, but he is best known by later archaeologists for his pioneering excavations and reports of shell middens in Florida.
Jeffries Wyman (August 11, 1814 - September 4, 1874) was an American naturalist and anatomist, born at Chelmsford, Mass. After studying on Europe, he was elected in 1843 professor of anatomy and physiology at Hampden-Sidney College, Richmond, Virginia. In 1847 he became professor of anatomy at Harvard, where he remained till his death, becoming the first curator of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology there. He made extensive and valuable collections in comparative anatomy and archæology, and he published nearly 70 scientific papers. His work as a comparative anatomist, a student of Native American antiquities, and as an early champion of evolution was of the first importance.
His brother Dr. Morrill Wyman was a respected Cambridge, Mass. Wilder, Leading American Men of Science, edited by D. Jordan (New York, 1910) This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
User Comments Add a comment…