Bred from infancy in the Church of England, Dr. Oliver continued to the end a faithful member of that communion, and few persons have had a firmer faith in the sublime truths of revealed religion. It was no less to his deeply religious and truthful spirit than to his innate love of right that may be ascribed that regard for things sacred, that singular modesty, that unfailing courtesy, and the high sense of personal honor that distinguished him. It had been his desire, at a late period of his life, to become a candidate for Holy Orders, a step for which his ripe theological scholarship and his critical knowledge of Greek and Hebrew had already prepared him, but his age deterred him.
Dr. Oliver had published little. Besides the treatise on Physiology already mentioned, there are a few pamphlets containing addresses delivered on various occasions, the most important of which are one before the New Hampshire Historical Society in 1836, and that before the college at the time of his induction into the professorship of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy.
Among his medical manuscripts may be mentioned an unfinished work on General Pathology, which, had he lived to complete, would have added to his reputation as a medical author. Among his papers were also a few unpublished addresses and a few short and fragmentary poems, the effusions of his earlier years, all characterized by that elegance of style and fine poetic taste and feeling that marked their author.
A member of many learned literary and medical societies at home, Dr. Oliver was honored in 1835 with a diploma from the Academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres of Palermo, and in 1838 received the degree of Doctor of Laws.
The following notice of a gentleman of rare eminence in the scientific world, is from a reliable source:
James Freeman Dana, who was connected as a teacher with both the Academical and Medical departments of Dartmouth College, was born at Amherst, N. H., September 23, 1793. He was the eldest son of Luther and Lucy (Giddings) Dana, and grandson of Rev. and Hon. Samuel Dana. On the father's side he was descended from Richard Dana, who was among the early settlers in Massachusetts; on that of his mother he was a descendant in the seventh generation from Rev. John Robinson, the pastor of the noble band of Pilgrims who founded Plymouth, Mass.
Dana was fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H., entered Harvard in 1809, and graduated in 1813, his name standing on the catalogue as Jonathan Freeman Dana; the first name, by which, however, he had never been known, was changed to James, by act of legislature.
Immediately after entering Harvard, Dana showed a decided partiality for scientific pursuits. To Natural Philosophy, Natural History, and Chemistry, he mainly devoted his attention, making excursions into the surrounding country for the purpose of examining its geological structure, and collecting mineralogical and other specimens. The result of these rambles was embodied in a small volume, published in conjunction with his brother Dr. S. L. Dana, in 1819, entitled "Mineralogy and Geology of Boston and its Environs." While in college he formed, together with his brother and several classmates, a society for the cultivation of Natural Science and Philosophy, named at first for two distinguished French chemists, but afterward known as the Hermetic Society. Towards the close of his collegiate course he was appointed to assist Dr. Gorham, the professor of Chemistry, in preparing his experiments. That eminent physician and chemist soon became so much interested in the pupil who displayed such assiduity in scientific researches, that finding he intended to pursue the study of medicine, he kindly invited him to do so under his tuition.
In 1813, Mr. Dana commenced his studies with Dr. Gorham, attending lectures at the Medical College, but though he became well acquainted with the principles and practice of the profession, he never relinquished his preference for Chemistry and Mineralogy. He became an active member of the Boston Linnæan Society, and the first paper read before it, entitled "An Analysis of the Incrustation formed upon the Basket of Eggs from Derbyshire, England" (presented by Judge Davis), was read by him. In the spring of 1813, the Corporation of Harvard College employed Mr. Dana to visit England in order to procure suitable apparatus for its chemical department. During his stay abroad he studied, for a time, under the instruction of the somewhat distinguished Frederic Accum. In consequence of this absence he did not receive his degree of M.D. till 1817, that of A. M. having been previously conferred.
In the autumn of 1817, Dr. Dana was appointed to deliver a course of chemical lectures to the medical students of Dartmouth College. The professors in the Medical School were Dr. R. D. Mussey and Dr. Cyrus Perkins. These lectures were so satisfactory that the appointment was continued, and during the autumns of 1818, 1819, and 1820, he lectured at Dartmouth, residing during the intervals at Cambridge, where, in January, 1818, he was united in marriage with Matilda, third daughter of Samuel Webber, D.D., late president of Harvard College.