Elisha Kent Kane essay on dropsy

Collection — Folder: 1

Identifier: MSS 2/100

Scope and Contents

Holograph essay defines dropsy and cites three cases of an anomalous form of the disease which Kane had seen while in residence at Philadelphia Hospital (18401841). Kane maintains that this "local dropsy" does not occur with typical symptoms or respond to accepted treatment. Essay addressed to the U.S. Navy’s Board of Medical Examiners.

Also published as Horrocks, Thomas A. "Elisha Kent Kane’s Unpublished Treatise on Dropsy," Transactions & Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, ser. 5, vol. 13, no. 2 (1991), pp. 173176.

Dates

Creation: undated

Creator

Kane, Elisha Kent (Person)

Biographical / Historical

Elisha Kent Kane, physician and explorer, was born in Philadelphia on 3 Feb. 1820. He died in Havana, Cuba, on 16 Feb. 1857. Kane attended the University of Virginia (18381839), but returned to Philadelphia because of ill health. He had an internship at Philadelphia Hospital (18401841), then received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1842. He then entered the U.S. Navy and was commissioned as Assistant Surgeon on a voyage to China in 1843. Kane made numerous journeys and was a member of the first and second U.S. Grinnell Expeditions in the Arctic.