Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/688

NAME KISSAM 666 KLEINSCHMIDT Dr. Kirtland was appointed an assistant to Prof. W. W. Mather in the geological survey of the state of Ohio, authorized by the Legis- lature, and spent the summer in collecting specimens in all departments of natural his- tory for an extended report upon that sub- ject. This survey was suspended before com- pletion, and the legislature even refused to reimburse Dr. Kirtland for the expenditures which he had made from his own pocket in the performance of his part of the work. He accordingly retained the specimens already procured, and ultimately presented them to the Cleveland Academy of Natural Science, or- ganized in 184.^ chiefly through his influence and example. This society in 1865 became the Kirtland Society of Natural Historj'. In 1853, in company with Spencer F. Baird and Dr. Hoy, he traveled extensively throughout Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and even Can- ada, engaged in the study of the natural his- tory of these states, and in 1869-70, though now seventy-seven years of age, he made a trip to Florida, for similar purposes. As early as 1840 Dr. Kirtland had purchased a farm on the shore of Lake Erie, about five miles west of Cleveland, and now devoted his declining years to scientific agriculture, the cul- tivation of fruits and flowers and the manage- ment of bees, and his private grounds became one of the show-places of the neighboring city. Even in the art of ta.xidermy Dr. Kirt- land was an expert, and numerous specimens from his hands are found in the museums of both the United States and England. In 1861 he received from Williams College the degree of LL. D. He was a regular correspondent of Agassiz, Spencer F. Baird, Joseph Henry, Marshall P. Wilder and numer- ous other scientists. Dr. Kirtland died on his farm at Rockport, December 10, 1877, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. An excellent portrait is in Western Reserve Medical College, and a bust by Dr. Garlick may be seen in the Museum of the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland. Henry E. Handerson. Cleveland Med. Gazette, 1890-91, vol. vi. Nat. Acad. Sci., Wash., vol. ii. Clcave's Biographical Cyclopedia. Appleton's Cyclop. Anier. Biog., N. Y., 1887. Kissam, Richara Sharp (1808-1861) Richard S. Kissam was born in New York, October 2, 1808. In 1824 he entered Union College, Schenectady, and later Washington College, Hartford, Connecticut, in 1827 becom- ing a student of Dr. Cogswell (q. v.), and in 1828 attending at the Retreat for the Insane. He graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1830, his disserta- tion being on Iritis. For several years he practised surgery at Hartford, Connecticut, founded the "Eye and Ear Infirmary" and achieved a widespread reputation as an oper- ator for cataract. In 1834 he removed to New York, taking up the practice of his cousin, Dr. Daniel W. Kissam. The operation of trans- plantation of the cornea was performed by him in 1838 with at first apparently good results, but failure in a few weeks. During 1844-45 he gave instruction in surgery and was ap- pointed professor of the principles and prac- tice of surgery in Castleton (Vermont) Med- ical College, but declined the appointment. Kissam was dignified yet unostentatious, of the most prepossessing manners, scrupulously neat, fascinating by his wit and humor in or- dinary conversation, or drawing upon the more scientific treasures of his highly cultivated mind as occasion required. He died November 28, 1861. Harry Friedenwald. Araer. Med. Times, Dec. 14, 1861, vol. iii. Trans. Amer. Med. Asso., vol. xiv. Kleinschtnidt, Carl Hermann Anton (1839- 1905) In a small town called Petershagen, situ- ated on the Weser in North Germany, Carl Kleinschmidt was born in 1839 and educated at the public schools, enjoying the benefits of a g3'mnastic course at the Royal College, Min- den, Prussia. He came to Georgetown, Dis- trict of Columbia, with his parents in Novem- ber, 1857, when about eighteen, where he as- sisted his father in a little store, but continued his studies and soon mastered the English lan- guage. His education was first directed to- wards theology, but his aptitude for medicine and surgery attracted the attention of Dr. John Snyder, -of Georgetown, who persuaded his parents to let him study under him, so he entered Georgetown University and he gradu- ated thence in 1862. The war between the States was then actively going on and influ- ence was offered to obtain him a position in the United States Army. On account of his intimate association with southern people, his sympathies were with them, and he was ap- pointed assistant surgeon in the Confederate ranks. He was in most of the bloody conflicts in which the army of Northern Virginia was en- gaged, with all its hardships and trials and de- votion to suffering humanity ; he was at Get- tysburg with the rear guard during Lee's re- treat; at the Wilderness and the terrible series of battles that followed, and finally at Appo-