Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-03-07
Letter from Boston
Warrcn's Museum of Natural History
Elrs. LeOnOwens ut the MeiOnaOn-New
Lectures.
lFRom OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT


On the lower part of Chestnut street. there is
4 small frc-proof building, which stands little
back from the street, and looks utterly deserted
iron shutters cover the windows; an iron gate
and heavy prison-like door protect the en-
france. Once in a great while the gate is opened,
one or two shutters are taken down, and the
once popular Warren museum of natural his
DRY is open to the public. Here are stored, or
rather partially arranged, the valuable and curl
ous things which DR.. John c. Warren collected
With great care and at great expense, and for
which he built, more than twenty years ago,
ibis fire proof house. In the lower room are the
great skeletons Of the elephant Pizarro, and
nastodon; both of which have an important
place in DR.. Warren's published journal.
'Pizarro was imported in 1888. He backed off
me wharf after landing from the vessel at PhiIa-
lepniq, and fractured his thigh BONE He was
unable to walk for six months, and limped for
several years afterwards. He weighed 1880
pounds, and is supposed to have been
twenty years old. He has wounded large
number of persons at different times, but
never killed any one" Then follows the ac-
count of the difficulties attendant on buying,
packing and setting up the skeleton; and all
This gives an individual interest to it; when you
look at the immense frame you see not merely
IN ordinary elephant, but you remember Pizarro
with his severe wound, his years of lameness,
and his restrained wrath which always stopped
short of the fatal blow. Two years later, in
1S49, Pizarro received companion, the masto-
don, whose bones were dug up at Newburg, N.
T., in 1915. These bones, too, have a special
history, and have known ups and downs in pub
lie and fashionable life. First exhibited in New
York, they did not make hit, so were taken
INTO the country. and at Worcester they excited
some attention. DIR. J. c. Warren bought them
otfhe owner, Mr.. Brewster, and had them set
up and the skeleton exhibited for three DAYS at
Corinthian hall in this city, and then taken to
the more secure place where it is at present.
The record, made at the time, is that the skele-
ton was unique and likely to remain so, and
shat in England it would have sid for $1,000, or
more; that there was another mastodun at Cam.
bridge-the only two in this vcinity-that one
was male and the other female, probably, and
that the two ought to be together.
That the mastoIon soon became the fashion,
IS shown by an entry in DR. Warrens journal,
under the date Of Feb. 10, 1854. He saws:
Went to the mastodon room to meet the
audience of President Hitchcock's lecture,
to show the mastodou. Some one or
TWO hundred came. They seemedvery much
interested, particularly the ladies, who
predominated. ! passed three quarters of
IN hour in explaining; the audience were very
attentive. The crowd being dense, they squeezed
the mastodon badly; tumbled down one of the
'usks, and compelled me to order out the other.
They also trod down an ancient tusk and broke
it. Many Of them made their way into the dis
3eeting room, and amused themselves with look
ing at the relics of subjects. Zone would like
70 know how many of these inquisitive students
have since become physicians). After two
hours | succeeded in discharging the audience,
who retired reluctantly, and with many thanks,
some of them stealing little bits of the masto.
don tusks."
This picture is in striking contrast with the
present neglect, not only of the gigantic skele
tons, but Of the whole COLLECTION. By the terms
IF DR.. Warren's will, the building must be omen.
At certain times, to the public; but he
could never have dreamed how little.
after twenty years, the public would care
for his treasures. The lower room contains, be-
sides the elephant and the mastodon, a large
number of smaller skeletons, and some stuffed
animals. In the entry are great fossil bird
tracks, and in the "dissecting room" curious
and heterogeneous collection Of shells, minerals,
corals, exquisite French preparations" and mi.
mute skeletons, drawings and wax models of
hideous deiormiiies of face, strange creatures
preserved in alcohol, and row upon row of
chronological casts interspersed with skulls.
think this collection of casts belonged to Dir.
Spurzheim, and to the chronological society
which was formed here in consequence of his
lectures, and DR.. Spurzheim's brain holds the
place of honor in the collection. This view of
the room is comparatively cheerful, but on the
other side hangs life-size picture of group of
students with their teacher, standing round
dlssecting table on which the hand and arm of
a SUBJECT are laid open by the knife. Beneath
TINS picture crouch cTumbling mummies. with
Just enough scmOlance of humanity to make
them horrible; and then the eye is caugbt nv
the pure white, airy skeleton of some
| $500 'hN3 as NlcdH ana breezy thp
mummy is loathsome. There is one more
room, small aud shadowy. No doubt il was
light and sunny, with view of Charles river
and the pleasant country on the other side, in
the days when ladies crowded there and stole
bits of the mastodon tusk but now it is so dim
aud mysterious, that one can't help looking
with kind Of awe at the carefully sealed bot
ties with fantastic contents, and half expecting
to see one of them tighten, and to hear it wi.
brate with sweet and powerful tome" while in
the unnatural light appears the sardonic Me
phistopheles, and the eager Wagner question
ing the supernatural Homunculus. Yet w
know that diabolism IS impossible here, for w
can just see in the shadow picture OF The
"Holy Family" II is too dark 10 tell much
about It, we only see that it is an attractive, do
nestle group; and ii It were not at once recog
nihaoie, It might be catalogued as an interior
"ith hgures. Joseph is at work at bis bench
under which cat is cured up, safe out Of th,
\ way u tue saw. On the other side of the room