Harrison Allen (April 17, 1841 – November 14, 1897) was an American

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

, and educator. He served as a surgeon in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and at several Philadelphia hospitals including

Wills Eye Hospital Wills Eye Hospital is a non-profit eye clinic and hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was established in 1832 and is the oldest continually operating eye-care facility in the United States. It is the ophthalmology residency program for T ...

, St. Joseph's Hospital, and Philadelphia General Hospital. He held multiple academic positions at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

including professor of comparative anatomy and zoology; chair of the institute of medicine; emeritus professor of the institute of medicine; and chair of comparative anatomy and zoology. He was professor of anatomy and surgery at Philadelphia Dental College. He published almost 30 papers related to

bats Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

and many other papers on human anatomy and craniology. He served as president of the American Laryngological Association in 1886; the

American Society of Naturalists The American Society of Naturalists (ASN) was founded in 1883 and is one of the oldest professional societies dedicated to the biological sciences in North America. The purpose of the Society is "to advance and diffuse knowledge of organic evoluti ...

from 1887 to 1888; and the Association of American Anatomists from 1891 to 1893

Early life and education

Allen was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, on April 17, 1841 to Elizabeth Justice Thomas and Samuel Allen. He was educated at local

grammar schools A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

and Central High School in Philadelphia. He studied

dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...

and graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1861. After graduation he worked as a resident physician at Blockley Hospital in Philadelphia. In 1862, he served as a

in the

during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. He was deployed to Washington D.C. hospitals which allowed him to visit the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

in his spare time where he became acquainted with

Joseph Henry Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American physicist and inventor who served as the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor ...

and

Spencer Fullerton Baird Spencer Fullerton Baird (; February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, Herpetology, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He ...

. He resigned from the United States Army on December 8, 1865, at the rank of brevet major.

Career

He began the practice of medicine in Philadelphia, and due to his dentistry background, he focused on surgery of the air passages. He was greatly influenced by his instructor

Joseph Leidy Joseph Mellick Leidy (September 9, 1823 – April 30, 1891) was an American paleontologist, parasitologist and anatomist. Leidy was professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, later becoming a professor of natural history at Swarth ...

and joined other scientists at the Philadelphia School of Anatomy and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.. In 1865 he was made professor of comparative anatomy and zoology in the auxiliary medical department at the

. He was made chair of the institute of medicine in 1878; emeritus professor of the institute of medicine in 1885; and chair of comparative anatomy and zoology from 1891 to 1895. He was professor of anatomy and surgery at Philadelphia Dental College from 1866 to 1878. He worked as an assistant surgeon at

from 1868 to 1870 and at St. Joseph's Hospital from 1870 to 1878. He worked as a visiting surgeon at Philadelphia Hospital from 1874 to 1878. He published almost 30 papers related to bats, including his ''Monograph on the Bats of North America'' published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1864 and revised in 1893. He published multiple other articles on human anatomy including the joints and muscles. He published several papers on craniology including ''Crania from the Florida Mounds'' and ''Hawaiian Skulls'' which attempted to correlate race with skull shape. He was the first to use the term pedomorphism to describe the retention of childish features in adults. In 1867, he was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. Allen served as president of the American Laryngological Association in 1886 and of the

from 1887 to 1888. He was a founding member of the American Anthropometric Society. He served as president of the Association of American Anatomists from 1891 to 1893. He was the curator of the Wistar Institute of Anatomy.

Death and legacy

He suffered from

angina Angina, also known as angina pectoris, is chest pain or pressure, usually caused by insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle (myocardium). It is most commonly a symptom of coronary artery disease. Angina is typically the result of parti ...

and died on November 14, 1897. He was interred at

West Laurel Hill Cemetery West Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869, is in size, and contains the burials of many notable people. It is affiliated with Laurel Hill Cemetery in nearby Philadelphia. ...

, Lansdowne Section, Lot 205, in

Bala Cynwyd Bala Cynwyd ( ) is a community and census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the Philadelphia Main Line in Southeastern Pennsylvania and borders the western edge of Philadelphia at U.S. Rou ...

, Pennsylvania. After his death, his brain was donated to the American Anthropometric Society. In 1907,

Edward Anthony Spitzka Edward Anthony Spitzka (June 17, 1876 – September 4, 1922) was an American anatomist who autopsied (29 Oct 1901) the brain of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of president William McKinley. (In 1881, his father Edward Charles Spitzka, a famous ...

published a paper of his analysis of six brains at the American Anthropometric Society, including Allen's. His personal collection of bats and other specimens was donated to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.

Personal life

In December 29, 1869, he married Julia A. Colton and together they had two children.

Publications

*
Outlines of Comparative Anatomy and Medical Zoology
', Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1869 *
Studies in the Facial Region
', Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1875 *
An Analysis of the Life Form in Art
', Philadelphia: McCalla & Stavely, Printers, 1875 *
A System of Human Anatomy Including Its Medical and Surgical Relations
', Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea's Son & Co., 1884 *
On A New Method of Recording The Motions of the Soft Palate
', Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co., 1884 *
A Clinical Study of the Skull
', Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1890 *
Description of Two New Species of Bats Nyctinomous Europs and N. Orthotis
', Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1890 *
On a New Subfamily of Phyllostome Bats
', Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1892 *
A Monograph of the Bats of North America
', Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1893 *
Two Scientific Worthies
', Popular Science Monthly, Volume 50, November 1896

References

Citations Sources *

External links

* * *
Harrison Allen papers at the American Philosophical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Harrison 1841 births 1897 deaths 19th-century American physicians 19th-century American zoologists 19th-century anatomists American male non-fiction writers American maxillofacial surgeons American medical writers Burials at West Laurel Hill Cemetery Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni Members of the American Anthropometric Society Members of the American Philosophical Society People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Phrenologists Physicians from Philadelphia Presidents of the American Society of Naturalists Union army officers Union army surgeons University of Pennsylvania faculty