| My friend Thomas Andrews periodically posts short pieces, with photos, about his walks in Mt. Auburn Cemetery. I love these pieces, which constitute brief rambles through a scenery with which I am intimately familiar. Mt. Auburn, the first landscaped rural or “garden” cemetery in the United States, was founded in 1831 on a site that spread along the Cambridge and Watertown, MA line. In honor of election day 2016 (US), I am reproducing here (with permission) his entries from today. Text and photos, unless otherwise credited, are all Thomas's. |  Meandering Paths at Mount Auburn--Ann Chapman (click photo for linked source) |
| Less than 100 years ago, Helen Taussig was allowed to take medical classes at BU and Harvard, but not allowed to earn a medical degree from either school. Her Harvard histology professor only allowed her to take his class if she did not talk to any classmates, for fear of "contaminating" them. She eventually got her MD at Johns Hopkins. She was part of the team, with Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas, who invented the first heart surgery, solving a common heart issue common to newborns. |  ©2016 Thomas O. Andrews. Grave of Helen Brooke Taussig, Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA. |
 ©2016 Thomas O. Andrews. Grave of Dorothy Dix, Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA. | Dorothea Dix worked tirelessly for the more humane treatment of the mentally ill. During the Civil War, she was the Superintendent of Army Nurses. She was never allowed to vote. |
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