Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/79

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KEARSLEY


63


KEATING


ship which sails into the land of shadows and does not return.

Of his marriage there is no public record, but there is extant a curious little volume called "The Love-life of Dr. Kane," containing the correspondence and a history of the acquaintance, en- gagement and secret marriage between Elisha K. Kane and Margaret Fox (18G6). Truly the warm glow of affection in the letters forms a good contrast to any other account of Kane's life story found in his " United States Grinnell Expe- dition" (1854) or in the second volume in 1856. Yet a third aspect of him, in his home life, may be gained by reading William Elder's "Biography" of him right away from his boyhood's days to that on which men of science and art and rich and poor marched sorrowfully beside the coffin of this good man.

D. W.

Biog. of Elisha Kent Kane, W. Elder, Phila., 1858.

Charleston, Med. Jour., 1S57, xii. Appleton's Cyclopedia of Am. Med. Biog. The Love-life of Dr. Kane, N. York, 1866.

Kearsley, John, Sr. (1685-1772).

He emigrated from England to Penn- sylvania in 1711, and acquired a very large practice in Philadelphia where he had for apprentices Drs. Zachary, Red- man, and Bard. Kearsley was promi- nent in public affairs, serving as a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. He also possessed considerable ability as an archi- tect, as shown by Christ Church in the city of Philadelphia, designed by him.

In 1750 Dr. Adam Thomson published his pamphlet entitled "On the Prepara- tion of the Body for the Small-pox." Dr. Kearsley attacked Dr. Thomson's con- clusions in a publication entitled " Re- marks on a Discourse on Preparing for the Small-pox, "which in turn was repHed to by Dr. Alexander Hamilton, of Annap- olis, Maryland, in "A Defense of Dr. Thomson's Discourse."

Kearsley died in 1772, aged eighty- seven, leaving a large part of his property to found Christ Church Hospital, a still flourishing institution for the support of


poor widows who are members of the Episcopal Church. F. R. P.

Keating, John M. (1852-1893).

William V. Keating, professor of ob- stetrics in the Jefferson Medical College, married in 1851 the daughter of Dr. Ren6 La Roche, a writer on yellow fever, and in 1852 their son, John M. Keating, was born in Philadelphia.

From the Polytechnic the lad went to the University of Pennsylvania graduat- ing thence in medicine in 1873 and serv- ing afterwards as resident physician at the Pennsylvania Hospital. As physician to the Blockley Hospital and lecturer there on diseases of children he carried on a good work done by his father and was, moreover, gynecologist to the St. Joseph's Hospital. Mothers and Children, how to make them Healthy and Happy, was the chief life-work and pen-work of the genial John Keating, especially in editing the "Archives of Pediatrics" and "The International Clinics, " and in working as the president of the Pediatric Society. He was wholly absorbed by his work and a progressive failure of health which ne- cessitated an annual residence and prac- tice in Colorado was undoubtedly brought about partly by his unsparing use of his energies. When his brief yearly visits to Philadelphia came, if he was asked to go to the hospital he used to say the sight of such an institution made him feel " so horribly homesick." At his last visit he seemed so well that everything seemed on the mend, but a slight cold developed into pneumonia and on November 17, 1893, the kindly and coiu-ageous doctor died.

His wife was Edith McCall, daughter of Peter McCall of Philadelphia, and he had three or four daughters and a son.

His most important work was his " Cy- clopaedia of Diseases of Children" in which he succeeded in associating with himself many of the best known men of America and England and producing a valuable and representa- tive book. Some of his other works were: "The Mother's Guide;" "Mother