Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/676

NAME KERLIN 054 KEYT called from the ranks by Surgeon-General H. Smith and placed in charge of the night work of an impoverished hospital at Hagerstown, Maryland. Having held several positions of responsibility in the army, in November, 1863, he was recalled to the Pennsylvania Training School to be superintendent. He took up the work at a discouraging time, and early saw that, without association and intercourse the best results could not be obtained, and at a meeting at Elwyn in 1876 a national association was formed with Dr. Seguin as president and Dr. Kerlin as secretary, an office which he held almost uninterruptedly until his death. Other members were rapidly added, and the asso- ciation soon included all in the country who were prominent in the care and training of the feeble-minded. He began a series of autop- sies at the Elwyn institution, and accom- plished a considerable work during his life- time, laying a foundation for much more in the future. He believed that the feeble-minded of all grades were the wards of the state and early advocated the erection of detached build- ings adapted to their care. In the spring of 1883 the first arf these buildings was opened for 112 children. At the close of his labors, besides the central school department build- ings providing school rooms and accommoda- tions for 400 feeble-minded children of the teachable class, these stood also, on llie grounds at Elwyn, four detached buildings ac- commodating 400 children of the custodial and unteachable class. As his work reached the limit he had set for thorough and economical management, his labors began to show their effect upon his health and strength. The trustees of the in- stitution, appreciating his services, gave him liberal time for recuperation ; but the resolute energy which had characterized his life al- lowed him to be happy only when busy, and he struggled for four years with the combined cardiac and renal disease which during this period threatened his life. He married, in 1865, Miss Harriet C. Dix, of Massachusetts, whose cordial aid and sym- pathy were acknowledged factors in his suc- cess. He was prevented by the numerous cares of a rapidly growing institution from writing any extended work on juvenile mental defects. His numerous short articles were characterized by profound knowledge of his subject, a ready wit, and a striking originality of expression, which made them not only instructive but entertaining. He published a paper on classi- fication of the feeble-minded, based upon their mental pov»ers. He also issued a statistical paper on the causation of idiocy, based on a critical examination of 100 cases. As secre- tary of the National Association, he was in close correspondence with specialists abroad ; he spent the summer of 1889 in examining for- eign institutions to acquire new ideas for his work at Elwyn. He died October 25, 1893, and was buried, at his request, in a beautiful grove on the grounds of the charity in whose creation he had taken so active a part. His name and his fame have grown with the buildings on the Elwyn grounds, and thej' are his monu- ment.. Institutional Gare of the Insane in the U. S. and Canada, Henry M. Hurd, 1917. Keyser, Peter Dirck (1835-1897) Peter Dirck Keyser was born in Philadel- phia, February 8, 1835, obtaining his collegi- ate education at the Delaware College, gradu- ating as A. B. in 1852, and later as A. M. He studied chemistry for two years under Dr. F. A. Genth of Philadelphia, and made analysis of minerals, the results being published in the American Journal of Science, and afterwards incorporated in Dana's "Mineralogy." Then he 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 entered upon private practice, and became surgeon in charge of the Philadelphia Eye and Ear Hospital, which he had founded. In 1868 he delivered a course of lectures to physicians on refraction and in 1870, 1871, 1872, he delivered courses of clinical lectures on diseases of the eye, the first in Philadelphia. For many 3'ears he served as opthalmological surgeon to the Wills Eye Hospital. He be- came professor of ophthalmology in the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia in 1899, and dean of the institution. His writ- ings were numerous and were chiefly clinical contributions. After a short illness he died March 9, 1897. Harry Friedenwald. New York Med. Record., 1897, vol. li. Bull. Amer. Acad. Med., Easton, Pa., 1897-8, vol. iii, No. 5, 258-260. Keyt, Alonzo Thrasher (1827-188S) Alonzo Thrasher Keyt was born at Higgins- port, Ohio, January 10, 1827, the son of Na-