H. C. Yarrow

Henry Crécy Yarrow (November 19, 1840 – 1929) was an American ornithologist, herpetologist, naturalist, and surgeon.

Biography

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, studied in Pennsylvania and Geneva, Switzerland; earned his M.D. in 1861. From 1861 to 1862, he was the Asst. Surgeon, 5th PA Cavalry. Served in Virginia, then appointed Acting Asst. Surgeon. Worked as the executive officer of the Broad and Cherry Street Hospital of Philadelphia. In 1866 he was appointed Acting Assistant Surgeon. Ordered to Atlanta, Georgia. Served through a severe cholera epidemic. Aided troops suffering from cholera on Tybee Island, near Savannah, Georgia. In 1867 he served at Fort Wood in New York Harbor during a cholera outbreak there as well as at Baltimore, Maryland, and North Carolina. Met Elliott Coues, a noted naturalist and author in 1871. It may be that Coues awakened Yarrow's interest in ornithology.

From 1871 to 1876 Yarrow was on the Wheeler Survey West of the 100th meridian west, as surgeon and naturalist. Collected in portions of Nevada, California, Colorado, and New Mexico.

From 1886 to 1917 he held various positions including:

• Assistant to the commander of the model military hospital at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Worked in the Surgeon General of the United States office, War Department and was assigned to the Section of Comparative Anatomy at the Army Medical Museum.
• In charge of the Barnes Hospital, US Soldier's Home.
• Accompanied Pan American delegates on their travels in the US. Remained as a medical officer of the Pan American Congress until its adjournment.
• Appointed Professor of Dermatology at the National Medical College (Geo. Washington University Medical Department).
• Appointed a trustee of George Washington University.
• Appointed Curator of the Division of Reptiles at the US National Museum (Smithsonian).
• 1908 Joined the Medical Reserve Corps of the US Army as a First Lieutenant.
• 1917 Major, Medical Section of the Officers' Reserve Corps.

Before the end of World War I promoted to Lt. Colonel, Medical Corps of the Army of the US.

A collection of his correspondence is held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.^[1]

Species named for him

Edward Drinker Cope named the lizard Sceloporus jarrovii for him in 1875.^[2]

References

External links

• Works by H. C. Yarrow at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about H. C. Yarrow at Internet Archive
• Henry Crecy Yarrow Papers from the Smithsonian Institution Archives