Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/81

 KEERL

65

KEYT

"Yellow Fever at Memphis." (Ibid., 1880.)

"Relations of Soil Water to Health." ("Transactions of Pontiac Sanitary Convention," 1883.)

L. C.

Representative Men in Mich., West, Bio- graphical Co., Cincin., O., vol. vi.

Keerl, Henry (1755-1827).

Henry Keerl was descended from an old Bavarian family. He was born in the town of Mainbernheim, thirteen miles from Wiirzburg, in the year 1755, the only child who .survived infancy and was educated by a wealthy uncle. He completed his medical studies at Gottingen University and obtained a commission as surgeon in one of the He.ssian regiments, which were being hired by the British Gov- ernment of the petty German poten- tates to aid in subduing the rebellious American colonies. But it was des- tined that he should not see his native land again.

After the defeat of his Col. Von Rail the privates and non-commissioned officers were sent for safety to the interior of Pennsylvania. The officers peti- tioned to be permitted to accompany them, but were sent on the sixth of January, 1777, to Baltimore, where they were paroled.

Dr. Keerl spent some time traveling through the country. With a friend he visited the Carolinas, where family tradition asserts they "were solicited to remain and marry among the rich widows whose husbands had been killed in the war." But having form- ed agreeable acquaintances and find- ing a favorable opening in Baltimore, he finally settled and practised, about 1782, and in connection with his profes- sion kept a drug, instrument and glassware store at the "Sign of the Golden Swan, upper end of Market Street, New Congress Hall."

He early became a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty. He died July 6, 1827. He was twice Vol. II-5

married, first to Anna Maria Myers, of Baltimore, afterwards to Margaret Kandel, of Frederick, Maryland, and left numerous descendants. His life was spent in the habitual practice of virtue and piety. E. F. C.

.Johns Hopkins Hosp. Bull. 1005. xvi.

A picture of him is in the possession of

his family.

Keyser, Peter D. (1835-1897).

Peter D. Keyser was born in Phila- delphia, February 8, 1835, obtaining his collegiate education at the Del- aware College, graduating as A. B. in 1852, and later as A. M. He studied chemistry for two years under Dr. F. A. Genth of Philadelphia, then spent several years as a medical student in Germany, and at the beginning of the Civil War entered as captain of the ninety-first Pennsylvania regiment, until after the battle of Fair Oaks, when he resigned on account of ill health and injuries and again visited Europe, studying medicine in Munich, taking his degree in 1864 at Jena and subsequently visiting clinics at Berlin, Paris, and London. In 1865 he enter- ed upon private practice, and became surgeon in charge of the Philadelphia Eye and Ear Hospital, which he had founded. In 1868, 1870, 1871, 1872, he delivered courses of lectures on dis- eases of the eye. For many years he served as ophthalmological surgeon to the Wills Eye Hospital. He became professor of ophthalmology in the Medico-Chirurgical College of Phila- delphia in 1889, and dean of the institu- tion. His writings were numerous and were chiefly clinical contributions. After a short illness he died March 9, 1897. H. F.

Medical Record, vol. li, 1897.

Keyt, Alonzo Thrasher (1827-1885).

Alonzo Thrasher Keyt was born at Higginsport, Ohio, January 10, 1827, the son of Nathan and Mary Thrasher Keyt. His father was of Dutch ancestry, his mother of Quaker