David Humphreys Storer

David Humphreys Storer

David Humphreys Storer (born March 26, 1804 in Portland , Maine , † September 10, 1891 in Boston , Massachusetts ) was an American physician and zoologist ( ichthyologist and herpetologist ). Its author's abbreviation is Storer .

Storer initially studied at Bowdoin College , including at Alpheus Spring Packard . He later studied medicine and earned an MD from Harvard University in 1925 . Among other things, he studied with John Collins Warren . First he settled as a general practitioner in Boston and after some difficulties was able to establish himself as a leader. From 1830 he was one of the early and leading members of the Boston Society of Natural History . In 1837 he founded the Tremont Street Medical School with Jacob Bigelow , which would later have a significant influence on the medical curriculum at Harvard University. From 1837 Storer belonged - alongside Augustus Addison Gould and others - to a commission that was supposed to systematically record the zoological inventory of the state of Massachusetts . When Louis Agassiz came to the United States, he was a frequent guest at Storer. From 1854 Storer held chairs at Harvard for obstetrics and forensic medicine . He campaigned against abortion .

In 1837 Storer was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1872 to the American Philosophical Society . From 1855 to 1864 he was the Dean of the Medical School at Harvard University . In 1876 he received an honorary doctorate from Harvard University.

Storer is the first to describe numerous species and genera, including Cryptacanthodes (crooked mouths, 1839), Limanda ferruginea (yellow-tailed flounder 1839) or Syngnathus fuscus (1839). The snake genus Storeria is named in his honor.

Since 1829 Storer was married to Abigail Jane Brewer († 1855), a sister of the ornithologist Thomas Mayo Brewer . The couple had three sons (including Francis Humphreys Storer and Horatio Robinson Storer ) and two daughters. Storer was a passionate collector. In addition to fish and mussels, he also collected coins. When he died in 1891, he was the oldest doctor in Boston.

Fonts (selection)

• General species and iconography of recent shells. Ticknor, Boston, 1837 (as a translation of 6 chapters from Spécies général et iconographie des coquilles vivantes by Louis Charles Kiener )
• Report on the fishes, reptiles and birds of Massachusetts. Dutton and Wentworth, State Printers, Boston, 1839 ( digitized )
• A report on the fishes of Massachusetts. In: Boston Journal of Natural History. 2 (3-4) (art. 12): 289-558, Pls. 6-8, 1839. ( digitized version )
• A report on the reptiles of Massachusetts. In: Boston Journal of Natural History. 3: 1-64, 1 pl., 1840.
• A synopsis of the fishes of North America. In: Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. New series, 2 (art. 7): 253–550, 1846. ( Digitized 1 , 2 )
• A History of the Fishes of Massachusetts. In: Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. New Series, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 122-168, 1853. ( digitized version )
• A History of the Fishes of Massachusetts. In: Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. New Series, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 309-372, 1859. ( digitized version )
• A history of the fishes of Massachusetts. Welch & Bigelow; Dakin & Metcalf, Boston, 1867 ( digitized )

Sources and References

literature

• Samuel H. Scudder : David Humphreys Storer . In: Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . tape 27 , 1891, p. 388-391 , JSTOR : 20020490 .

Web links

Commons : David Humphreys Storer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Past Deans of the Faculty of Medicine - HMS. In: hms.harvard.edu. Retrieved June 5, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present (PDF, 1.6 MB) at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org); Retrieved June 5, 2017.
3. ^ American Philosophical Society - Member History. In: amphilsoc.org. Retrieved June 5, 2017 .