Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/110

ALLEN He was dermatological consultant to the Randalls Island Hospital, New York, the Hackensack and Bayonne Hospital, New Jersey; a member of the medical societies of the State and County of New York, the New York Dermatological society and the American Dermatological Association.

He wrote "The Practitioner's Handy Book of Medical Progress" and the "Practitioner's Manual," and in collabo- ration with Drs. Franklin and Sterne published, in 1904, "Radiotherapy, Pho- totherapy, and High Frequency Cur- rents" and was on the editorial staff of the "New York Medical Record," also contributing frequently to various medical journals on dermatology.

Dr. Allen's vast experience and keen observation made him one of the most expert dermatologists in the United States; he was a ready debator and gave expression to ideas that were helpful to his confreres.

His death occurred at Genoa, May 17, 1906, while returning from the 1906 International Medical Congress.

J. M. W.

Allen, Harrison (1841-1897).

Harrison Allen, born in Philadelphia April 17, 1841, was the son of Samuel Allen and of Elizabeth Justice Thomas. On his father's side he was descended from Samuel Allen, who came over here from England with William Penn. He had his early education in the public grammar schools and at the Central High School of Philadelphia, and as a boy was greatly interested in natural history, and though afterwards he would have preferred pure science, financial considerations led him to study medicine, including dentistry.

It became necessary for Allen to leave school during his high school course and seek work. He tried two or three things and finally studied dentistry under Dr. J. Foster Flagg, devoting his spare moments to reading medical books, and taking the regular courses in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1861. Upon graduation he became a resident physician in the Blockley Hospital, Philadelphia.

He was for the greater part of the war stationed in hospitals in and near Washington where a large part of his little leisure was spent at the Smithsonian Institution where he came under the influence of Profs. Joseph Henry and Spencer F. Baird.

Upon his resignation from the army Allen entered upon the practice of medicine in Philadelphia. Partly owing to his dental education he was led to develop the special surgery of the air passages, and among his fifty odd papers on medical and surgical subjects, many relate more or less closely to this field of work.

At the time Harrison Allen entered upon the practice of medicine there was little opportunity for a man to earn his living by entire devotion to science and teaching. While he was forced into practice for a livelihood, his deeper interests were in natural science, and these led him to welcome the ill-paid teaching positions offered.

Meanwhile, in the midst of practice and teaching he was actively engaged in scientific investigation, much influenced at first by his teacher, Joseph Leidy. He joined the group of investigators, which worked in the building occupied by the well known Philadelphia School of Anatomy and became an active member of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.

The subject of his thesis at graduation was "Entozoa Hominis." This title suggests the guiding hand of Joseph Leidy, who did so much in this field. Allen's first published scientific paper, entitled "A Description of New Pteropine Bats from Africa," appeared in the "Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences" in July, 1861. This was the beginning of a series of some thirty odd papers relating to bats. Of these the most important was his "Monograph on the Bats of North America " published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1864 and brought out in a second revised edition in 1893. In the course of his studies on bats