142 ELISHA KENT KANE. 



the honorable title of Savant; and, had he lived, 

 those academical honors and distinctions which such 

 eminence merits, and generally secures, would pro- 

 bahly very soon have been conferred upon him. His 

 published works furnish the most abundant proof 

 of his scientific abilities. We have already spoken 

 of the superior merit of his narratives of his Arctic 

 expeditions, into whose rich and instructive pages 

 no competent reader can look without clearly ob- 

 serving repeated indications of the hand of a master, 

 whose works combine together in harmonious pro- 

 portion the brilliant descriptions of a Taylor, the 

 scientific details of a Humboldt, and the romantic 

 adventures of a Livingstone. 



The results actually accomplished by Dr. Kane 

 during the few years of his existence are almost un- 

 paralleled. If we consider the amount of physical 

 and mental labor, of active and sedentary toil, which 

 he accomplished during the thirty-seven years of his 

 life, it may well excite astonishment. He had visited 

 and examined the four grand divisions of the earth. 

 He had acquired a name and a place among the 

 eminent members of the medical profession. He 

 had made himself known by important and gallant 

 military services. He twice visited and explored the 

 most dangerous and difficult quarter of the globe. 

 And he produced two large and standard works in 



