Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/594

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KIRTLAND
KITCHING

He received the degree of A. M. from Washington college, Pa., in 1850, and that of LL. 1). from the University of Pennsylvania in 1852. Prof. Kirk- wood is a member of various scientific societies, and in 1851 was chosen a member of the American philosophical society. His contributions to scien- tific literature have been large, and include papers that have been published in the proceedings of societies of which he is a member, and in " The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical So- ciety," " The American Journal of Science," " The Sidereal Messenger," and other journals. Among these have been " Analogy between the Periods of Rotation of the Primary Planets " (1849) ; " Theory of Jupiter's Influence in the Formation of Gaps in the Zone of Minor Planets " (1866) ; and " Physical Explanation of the Intervals in Saturn's Rings " (1867). He has also published in book-form " Me- teoric Astronomy " (Philadelphia, 1867) ; " Comets and Meteors" (1873); and "'The Asteroids or Minor Planets between Mars and Jupiter " (1887).


KIRTLAND, Jared Potter, physician, b. in Wallingford, Conn., 10 Nov., 1793 : d. in Cleveland, Ohio, 10 Dec, 1877. He received his early educa- tion at the academies of Wallingford and Cheshire, Conn., and became an expert in the cultivation of fruits and flowers, and a close student of botany. At this time he made his first attempt in the pro- duction of new varieties of fruit, and he also managed a large plantation of white mulberry- trees for the rearing of silk- worms. In 1811 his grandfather died, leaving him a medical library, and sufficient money to permit him to attend medical lectures at Edinburgh ; but in 1813, on ac- count of the war with England, he entered the medi- cal department of Yale instead, where he was gradu- ated in 1815. He then settled in Wallingford, where he practised for about two years, devoting his unoccupied time to the cultivation of natural science. In 1818 he removed to Durham, Conn., and five years later to Poland, Ohio. He was elect- ed to the legislature in 1828, and served three terms, after which he was again occupied with his practice. In 1837-'42 he filled the chair of the theory and practice of medicine in Ohio medical college, Cincinnati, and he also served as assistant on the geological survey of Ohio, being appointed in 1837, when it was organized under William W. Mather, and during the first summer collected specimens in all departments of natural history, from which a report on the " Zoology of Ohio " was published in the second annual report of the sur- vey. In 1841, having previously removed to a place near Cleveland, he began a series of lectures on the theory and practice of medicine, and physi- cal diagnosis, in Willoughby medical school, and was then, till 1864, professor of the theory and practice of medicine in Cleveland medical college, of which he was one of the founders. During the civil war he was examining surgeon for recruits at Columbus and Cleveland, and devoted his pay to the bounty fund and to the Soldiers' aid society of northern Ohio. His many investigations were published in the " American Journal of Science " and in the "Journal of the Boston Society of Natural History." These include researches in all departments of natural history ; but perhaps the most conspicuous was his discovery of the sexual difference in the naiades, in which he showed that the male and female could be distinguished by the forms of the shells as well as by their internal anatomy. The truth of this discovery was ques- tioned by eminent naturalists, but in 1851 it was confirmed by Louis Agassiz. In 1861 he received the degree of LL. D. from Williams, and he was one of the founders of the Cleveland academy of science in 1845, becoming its first and only presi- dent. This society in 1865 became the Kirtland society of natural history, and his collections of specimens were given to this organization. Dr. Kirtland was also a member of other scientific associations, had held the office of president of the Ohio medical society, and was one of the early members of the National academy of sciences. He was a man of great learning and peculiar personal magnetism. His influence in improving agricul- ture and horticulture, and in diffusing a love of natural history, was felt throughout all the north- western states.


KISLINGBURY, Frederick Foster, soldier, b. in Ilsley, near Windsor Castle, England, 25 Dec., 1847; d. at Cape Sabine, Greenland, 1 June, 1884. When a mere boy he came to this country with his parents and settled at Rochester, N.Y. He received a common-school education, and began a mercantile career, which was cut short by his enlistment in a cavalry regiment during the civil war. He served two years, and after the war was stationed at Detroit as chief clerk of the Department of the lakes. A few years later he was placed in command of a band of scouts engaged in fighting the Indians, and later he became 2d lieutenant in the 11th infantry, serving on the plains. When, in 1881, the U.S. government decided to send an expedition to the far north (see Greely, Adolphus W.), Lieut. Kislingbury was among the first to volunteer, was made the second officer in the expedition, and participated in the scientific work of the next two years. In May, 1884, the supplies became exhausted. There had been one death early in the year, and others now followed in rapid succession, and when the relief-vessels reached the cape, 22 June, 1884, only seven of the party were found alive. One of the last to die was Lieut. Kislingbury. His remains were taken to Rochester, N.Y., and buried in Mt. Hope cemetery. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias, and a lodge of that order has been formed in Rochester as a monument to his memory. Gen. "Greely has joined other members of the party in testifying to his courage, ability, and enterprise.


K1SSAM, Richard Sharpe, physician, b. in New York city in 1763 ; d. there in October, 1822. He received his education at Hempstead, L. 1., and was graduated in medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1789. his inaugural discourse being published under the title of " De Rheu- matismo." He began practice in New York in 1791, and for thirty years was at the head of his profession. He was particularly noted as a lithoto- mist, only three out of his sixty-five operations proving fatal. In 1792 he declined the chair of botany in Columbia college, and for thirty years he was surgeon to the New York hospital.


KITCHELL, Aaron, senator, b. in Hanover, N. J., 10 July, 1744; d. there, 25 June, 1820. He was a blacksmith by trade, and was actively en- gaged in the pre-Revolutionary movements. He was in congress as an anti-Federalist from 1791 till 1797, and again from 1799 till 1801. In 1804 he w r as elected U. S. senator from New Jersey, and served till 1809, when he resigned. In 1817 he was a presidential elector on the Monroe ticket.


KITCHING, John Benjamin, merchant, b. in Horsforth, England, 20 April, 1813; d. in New York city, 19 July, 1887. He came to the United States in 1824, entered the business-house of Tomlinson and Booth, and afterward established himself independently. He rendered the telegraph important pecuniary aid in its early history, and