Boston physician Benjamin Cotting graduated with honours from Harvard University in 1834 and received his degree from Harvard Medical School in 1937. In 1843 he became curator of the prestigious Lowell Institute where he encountered such famous scholars as Louis Agassiz, Sir Charles Lyell and others. He and his wife were among those who travelled to the Brazil with Agassiz his wife in 1865. He also made several recreational trips to Europe: in 1848, 1860, and 1865. Several speeches that he delivered before the Massachusetts Medical Society were published; in 1874 he became the society’s president. He was a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences.