Page:A History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania.djvu/60



next addition to the faculty was in the person of Dr. Adam Kuhn. He was born at Germantown, Philadelphia County, in 1741. His father was a native of Swabia, a physician by profession, and a man of bright parts and liberal education. Having removed to Lancaster in Pennsylvania, where he became a magistrate, “he was deeply interested in the promotion of classical learning amongst the youth of that place, and for this end procured the erection of a school-house, in which the Greek and Latin languages were taught by the best qualified masters.” Under such auspices Dr. Kuhn received his elementary education, and commenced his medical studies with the advantage of parental direction.

In 1761, Dr. Kuhn went to Europe, and, deviating thus far from the course pursued by his colleagues, resorted to Sweden for instruction in botany and materia medica, at the hands of Linnæus, then at the height of his renown. He subsequently went to Edinburgh, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from that University in 1767. The thesis, published by him on that occasion, “De Lavatione Frigida,” was dedicated to his friend and instructor Linnæus. The letters of that eminent naturalist to the father of Dr. Kuhn evince the deep interest he took in the son, and the particular estimation he had conceived of his abilities.