William W. Keen,
M.D.
WILLIAM WILLIAMS KEEN was born in Philadelphia, January
19, 1837, his parents being William Williams and Susan (Budd) Keen. His American
ancestry dates back to 1642, when Joran Kyn came over from Sweden with Governor
Printz. He was the founder of the town of Chester, Pennsylvania, then called
Upland. The name Kyn was first "Dutched" into Kien, and later "Englished" into
Keen. Many landmarks still survive as monuments to the memory of the early
American Keens. Doctor Keen's father was born near Tacony, opposite Keen's Lane,
in an old stone house which was built by his grandfather about the middle of the
Eighteenth Century, and which is still standing. Doctor Keen was educated in the
Newton Grammar School, Thirty-sixth and Chestnut streets, and in the Central
High School from 1849 to 1853, after which he entered Brown University, at
Providence, Rhode Island, graduating in 1859. After remaining a year as a
resident graduate, he entered the Jefferson Medical College in 1860. He
graduated with an M.D. in 1862.
In 1861, Doctor Keen was sworn into the service of
the United States as Assistant Surgeon of the Fifth Regiment, Massachusetts
Volunteers. In 1862, after passing the examining Board for the regular army, he
entered the service as Acting Assistant Surgeon, serving until 1864.
As he progressed in the practice of his profession, at
the close of the war, Doctor Keen began to take a sincere interest in the
affairs of various educational institutions and semi-religious organizations. In
1873, he was made Trustee of Brown University, and, in 1895, was made a Fellow
of the University. He has served as President of the Philadelphia County
Medical Society, in which office he attained considerable distinction for his
thorough progressiveness. Doctor Keen has received several degrees, including
that of LL.D. from Brown University in 1891.
Dr. Keen was a prolific writer on
anatomical and surgical subjects. His eight volume
System of Surgery
was the preeminent text for U.S. surgeons in the first decades of the 20th
century. Keen is also remembered for being the first surgeon in Philadelphia to
adopt Lister's principles of antisepsis (at St. Mary's Hospital in 1876). He
also participated in a secret operation performed upon President Grover
Cleveland in 1893 for a verrucous carcinoma of the mouth.
In 1866 he assumed charge of the Philadelphia School of
Anatomy, which he managed until 1875, when the Government took possession of the
building for the new post-office. In 1876 Doctor Keen became Professor of
Artistic Anatomy in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and he entirely
re-organized the teaching in this department. In I889 he was called from the
chair of Surgery in the Women's Medical College to the chair of Surgery in the
Jefferson Medical College as successor to the late Prof. Samuel W. Gross, a
position still held by him. As an author he has contributed largely to medical
journals, and has both edited and written a number of valuable text-books, many
of which are quoted as pre-eminent authority. He has edited "Heath's Practical
Anatomy;" "American Health Primers;" "Holden's Landmarks;" "Gray's Anatomy;" and
has written with colleagues, "Reflex Paralysis from Gunshot Wounds;" "Gunshot
Wounds and other Injuries of Nerves;" "The American Text Book of Surgery," and
papers on a large number of other subjects. These include some of the best known
works in medical literature.
Ass't Surgeon W.W.Keen's multiple citations in the
Medical and Surgical History: 115, 175, 176, 207, 370, 407, 430, 447, 475,
630
THOMPSON, KUND, Private, Co. I, 82d Illinois
Volunteers, aged 30 years, received, at the battle of Chancellorsville,
Virginia, May 3d, 1863, a wound by a pistol ball, which struck the head and
denuded the left parietal of periosteum. He was admitted to the field hospital
of the :hi division of the Eleventh Corps on May 4th, 1863, and transferred to
Douglas Hospital at Washington on July 21st. During the progress of the case,
paraplegia ensued. The patient also suffered from general and constant, pain in
the head. He was transferred to Christian Street Hospital at Philadelphia on
September 15th, 1863. Acting Assistant Surgeon W. W. Keen, jr., reports that, on
the date of his discharge, although suffering from an evident disease of the
brain, he had so far improved as to be able to walk. Discharged February 17th,
1864. His name does not appear on the Pension Rolls.
CASE.--Private Donald Gray, Co. E, 38th New York Volunteers, aged 38 years, was
wounded at Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 13th, 1862, by a round musket
ball, which entered just under the right eye, fractured the upper maxilla, not
materially separating the fragments, and lodged. On admission to the Satterlee
Hospital, Philadelphia, December 23d, 1862, the cheek was greatly swollen. On
January 3d, 1863, the swelling having considerably subsided, the ball was
removed from behind the masseter muscle by an incision. Numerous fragments of
bone were found firmly imbedded in the ball, and an abscess, which had formed in
its place of lodgement, discharged freely, and was kept open by the introduction
of a tent. On the 22d, the wound had entirely healed. Gray had been wounded
once, in the Crimea, in the head, and four times during the late war. One of
these wounds had disfigured his nose. The right side was slit, at the junction
of the ala and septum, for about half an inch, and on the left, a ^-shaped
portion was lost at the same place. On February 11th, 1863, Acting Assistant
Surgeon W. W. Keen, jr., operated on the right side, simply paring the edges,
and approximating by five sutures. On the left side, the mucous membrane and
fascia of the ala and septum were everted, their edges pared and approximated by
sutures. A plug was also placed in this side to prevent inversion, and cold
water dressings were applied. The edges united perfectly, except a portion of
the elevated flaps, which, after a second opening, March 1st, 1863, united
firmly, and completely filled up the gap. This man was discharged on March 14th,
1863, on account of inability to eat any hard food. He applied for a pension,
but his claim was rejected, there being no disability.
CASE.--Private August Beck, Co. D, 54th New York Volunteers, aged 42 years, was
wounded at Gettysburg, July 2d, 1863, by a musket ball, which passed laterally
through the thyroid cartilage, destroying the upper half and two-thirds of the
anterior part, thereby injuring the chordae vocales. He was, on July 9th,
admitted to Satterlee Hospital, Philadelphia. Respiration was carried on largely
through the apertures made by the ball, and when he attempted to speak, the air
passed through with a hissing or sibilant sound. His voice was gone, but he
could whisper with a strong expiratory effort; the sound, however never became
hoarse. The edges of the wound were approximated with silver sutures and
adhesive plaster, with head flexed on the chest. Cold water dressings were
applied. On September 1st, the wound had entirely healed, but the patient had
lost his voice, he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps on September
26th, 1863. The case is reported by Acting Assistant Surgeon W. W. Keen, jr. He
is not a pensioner.
CASE.--Sergeant Sylvester R-----, Co. B, 14th Indiana volunteers, was wounded at
Antietam, Maryland, September 17th, 1862, by a conoidal ball, which entered the
left lumbar region, half-way from the twelfth rib to the crest of the ilium, and
lodged. He was taken to the field hospital of the 3d division, Second Corps,
where he remained until the 29th, when he was sent to Hospital No. 1, Frederick.
On October 14th, the ball was extracted by Acting Assistant Surgeon Redfern
Davies. Cold-water dressings were applied. Obstinate diarrhœa. No feces passed
from the wound. Paralysis of the sphincters of the <ms_p1v2_447>bladder occurred
about October 20th, and continued until the 23d, when death occurred. Necropsy:
The ball did not penetrate either the abdominal or peritoneal cavities. It
fractured the left transverse process and pedicle of the third lumbar. The
pathological specimen is No. 806, Section I, A. M. M., and was contributed, with
a history of the case, by Acting Assistant Surgeon W. W. Keen, jr.
CASE.--Sergeant Adam Heim, Co. G, 105th Pennsylvania Volunteers, was wounded at
Malvern Hill, Virginia, July 2d, 1862, the missile entering the right lumbar
region, two inches from the spinal column, fracturing the body of the fourth
lumbar vertebra, and lodging close to the spinal canal. He was treated in the
field until July 7th, when he was admitted to Carver Hospital, Washington.
Faeces and gas passed freely from the wound. Opium, quinine, and stimulants were
given. He did well, the wound in the bowels closing, and his passages were
natural until an officious friend gave him fruit surreptitiously, when diarrhœa
supervened, and the wound reopened. He died on August 3, 1862. The pathological
specimen is numbered 148, Section I, A. M. M., and was contributed by Acting
Assistant Surgeon W. W. Keen, jr.
CASE.--Private Richard D. Phelps, Co. E, 25th Ohio Volunteers, aged 19 years,
was wounded at Gettysburg, July 1st, 1863, by a fragment of shell, which entered
one inch above and just to the inside of the right axilla, fractured the third
rib, and passed into the lung. He was treated in the hospital of the 11th Corps,
Surgeon Robert Thomaine, 29th New York Volunteers, in charge, until the 11th,
when he was transferred to Satterlee Hospital, Philadelphia. The patient stated
that on the reception of the injury he bled so profusely that the vein of the
left arm was opened, with the effect of soon checking the internal haemorrhages.
He spat up blood, however, until the 10th, but no secondary haemorrhage set in.
His strength was almost exhausted, but he gained daily. Cold-water dressings
were applied. When admitted to Satterlee Hospital, the wound, which was about an
inch in length, was nearly healed. The probe was soon arrested, the track having
closed centrally, but the direction of the wound was downward and forward. There
was but slight discharge and no expectoration. The lung, on percussion and
auscultation, revealed dulness and bronchial respiration over the central
three-fourths, with no respiration over the point of wound, Expectorants, extra
diet, and rest were ordered, and cold-water dressings applied to the wound. The
case progressed favorably, and by July 18th the patient's general health was
better; he suffered slight pain in the chest a little below the wound. On August
1st, he was transferred to the hospital at Camp Dennison, Ohio, at which time
the dulness had entirely disappeared, and he was doing capitally, with every
prospect of complete recovery. Phelps was returned to duty on September 22d,
1863; he is not a pensioner. The case is reported by Acting Assistant Surgeon W.
W. Keen, jr.
W.W.Keen's multiple citations in the Medical and Surgical History:
(The personal edited research
notes of Michael Echols, the source of which may or
may not be completely documented)
