KKDZIE
64
KEDZIE
and Child;" "Maternity;" "A Dic-
tionary of Medicine;" "Diseases of the
Heart and Circulation in Childhood."
Dr. Keatinji was al.so a fellow of the l^nivorsity of Pennsylvania and the American and British Gynecological Societies.
Trans, of Coll. of Phys. of Phila., 3d series,
vol. x^^, 1894.
.\rch. Pediat.. N. Y., 1893, vol. x (port.).
W. P. Wat.son.
Tr. Am. Pediat. Sor., N. Y., 1894, vol. vi.
Tr. Am. Gynec. Soc, Phila., 1894, vol. xix
(E. P. Davis).
Internat. Clinic, Phila., 1894, 3 series,
vol. iv.
Kedzie, Robert Clark (1823-1902).
Robert Clark Kedzie was born at Delhi, New York. January 28, 1823. His parents were of Scotch descent and when he was a small lad moved to three hundred acres of virgin forest west of Monroe, Michigan. In 1841, with a bar- rowed capital of twenty-five dollars, he entered Oberlin College, and on gradu- ating, in 1845, taught in Rochester (Mich.) Academy for two years. In 1851 he graduated in the first class of the medical department of Michigan University and settled in Vermontville, Michigan, until he enlisted for the war. In 1861 he entered the array as surgeon of the Twelfth Regiment of Michigan Volunteers. After the battle of Shiloh he was taken prisoner while caring for his wounded, and on release was so ill that he returned home. On his recovery he accepted the chair of chemistry in the Agricultural College at Lansing and in 1863 moved his family there. He was president of the Michigan State Medical Society in 1874; professor of chemistry, Michigan Agricultural College, 1867. Dr. Kedzie was a large man physicalh', mentally and morally; large head, high brow, firm chin, prominent nose, blue penetrating eyes, quick in movement and speech, his countenance kindly and expression winning. When he began his work at Lansing there was a widespread behef that the waters In flowing wells lined with iron tubing were magnetic
and their exploitation for gain was com-
mon. Dr. Kedzie made an exhaustive
study of the phenomena and showed
that it was due to the earth's magnetism
collected on the metal tubing and not in
the water.
Magnetic wells for medicinal purposes vanished, to be heard of no more. He demonstrated that the destruction of lives and property due to explosions of kerosene oil arose from improper methods of detecting explosive grades of oil. He showed the Legislature the proper methods and induced them to pass a law enforcing their adoption, and destruction of life and property ceased. He also conducted the studies which proved that sugar beets would grow profitably in Michigan, thus open- ing the way for a business of many millions yearl}-. By sanitary con- ventions under the direction of the Michigan State Board of Health, he induced every community by its lead- ing citizens to study its own sanitary conditions. Later he promoted farm- ers institutes, now numbering several hundreds, by which chemical science was applied to little communities of farmers, so helping them to larger prosperity, and some thirtj-two valu- able papers on "Municipal Health" testify to his keen oversight of the public good. In 1850 Dr. R. C. Kedzie married Harriet Fairchild of Ohio. A son, Frank Kedzie, succeeded his father in the chair of chemistry at the Mich- igan Agricultural College; the father died November 7, 1902, from apoplexy, at Lansing, Michigan. His valuable papers, chiefly state reports, included:
"Magnetic Conditions of Mineral Wells." ("Detroit Review of Medicine and Pharmacy," vol. vi.)
"Poisonous Paper." ("Report of Michigan State Board of Health," 1873.)
"Meteorology of Central Michigan." ("Transactions of Michigan State Board of Health," 1874.)
" Use of Poisons in Agriculture." (Ibid., 1875.)
