Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1856-04-04
DOCTOR E. *. KANE.---A Sketch

! BY DIR. WILLIAM ELDER. -' .-
When mans life is heroic, and his
name has passed into history. the world
wants to know him personally, intimately.
The "grave and reverend chronicler,"
passing over his beginnings. presents him
abruptly in his full grown greatness men
render the admiration earned. but the
sympathetic emulation awakened is con-
cerned to know how he grew into his matu.
rity 81 excellence. This curiosity is not an
idleness of the fancy, but personal in.
terest in the facts that springs out Of
those aspirations which put every man
upon the fulfillment Of his own destiny
\ How came this man to excel-what was
in him-what happened to develop 1t p
Some men are born great some achieve
their greatness some have greatness
thrust upon them" How came this man
by it? Is it within my reach also ? and,
By what means ? History provokes us
with such queries as these Biography
answers them. ... e.. .-
Doctor Elisha Kent Kane is not quite
thirty four years old, yet he has done
more than circumnavigate the globe;
he has visited and lraversed India, Africa,
Europe, South America, the Islands of
the Pacific, and twice penetrated the
tanned by civilized man. He has ems
countered the EXTREMIST perils of sea and
land, in every climate Of the globe he
has discharged the severcst duties of the
soldier aud the seamen attached to the
U S. Navy as a surgeon, he is, never
theless, engaged in the coast survey of
the tropical ocean. and in a month or So.
we find him exploring the frigid zone !;
and all the while that his personal expe-
riences had the character of romantic ad
venture, he was pushing them in the spi~
lit of scientific and philanLhropic enter
prise.
AS boy, his instictive bent impelled
him to the indulgence and enj oyment OF
such adventures as were best fitted to
train him for the work before him. His
collegiate studies suffered some postpone
ment while his physical qualities pressed
for the necessary training and discipline.
1t was almost in the spirit of truancy
that he explored the Blue Mountains Of
Virginia. as a student Of geology under
the guidance of Professor Rodgers, and
cultivated. at once, his hardihood of vital
ence which were to qualify him for his af-
ter services in the field Of physical geog-
raphy. But, in due time he returned to
the pursuit OF literature. and achieved the
usual honors, as we'll as his college stu
dies and received no diversion-his mus
cles and nerves were educated, and his
brain lost nothing by the indirectness of
its development, but was rather corrobo>
rated for all the uses which it has served
since. He graduated at the University
of Pennsylvania-frst in its collegiate,
and afterwards in its medical department.
His special relishes in study indicated his
natural drift: chemistry and surgery
natural science ia its most intimate con-
verse with substance, and the remedial
art in its most heroic function. He went
out from his Atma Mater good classical
scholar, good chemist, mineralogist, as
tronomer and surgeon. But he lacked,
robustness Of frame and soundness OF
health. He solicited an appointment in the
navy, and upon his admission demanded
active service. He was appointed upon
the diplomatic staff as surgeon to the first
American Embassy to China. This posi-.
ton gave him an opportunity to explore
the philippine Islands, which he effected
mainly on foot. He was the first man to
descend to the crater of Tael; lowered
more than hundred feet by BAN boo
rope from the overhangingclif and clam
bering some seven hundred more through
the scorie, he made a Typographical
sketch Of the interior Of this great vOlca-
no collected bottle Of sulphurous acid
from the very mouth of the crater and.
although he was drawn up almost sense.
less. he brought with him his portrait oi
this -hideous cavern, and the specimens
which it afforded. a e+'+'s
Before he returned from this trip, he
had assembled the Himalayas. and trisn-
gulated Greece, on foot ; he had visited
Ceylon, the Upper Nile, and all the my
thclogic region of Egypt traversing the
route, and making the acquaintance ol
the learned Lepsius. who was then prose-
cutting his archaeological researches.
At home again, when the Mexican wal
broke out, he asked to be removed from
the Philadelphia Navy Yard to the field
of more congenial service, but the gov.
ernment sent him TO the Coast OF Africa.
Here he visited the slave factories, from
Cade Mount to the river Bouny, and
through the infamous Da Souza, got ac>
cess to the baracoons Of Dahomey, and
contracted, besides, the Coast Fever. from
the effects of which he has never entirely
recovered.
From Africa he returned before the close
/ OF the Mexican war. and believing thai
Ibis constitution was broken, and his health