ELISHA KENT KANE. 141 



Every observer of Dr. Kane's career lias been 

 struck with the singular restlessness, the persistent 

 pertinacity, with which he pursued one object of 

 usefulness and ambition after another. The key to 

 this strange mystery is to be found in the precarious 

 state of his health, and in the peculiarity of the 

 disease which afflicted him. He was constantly 

 threatened with an enlargement of the heart, re- 

 sulting from the too great nourishment to which 

 that organ in his instance was subjected. In such 

 cases inactivity is death ; motion, excitement, and 

 fatigue are life. There is no doubt that his constant 

 activity prolonged his existence for some years ; and 

 had not the peculiar nature of his pursuits entailed 

 upon him other diseases in addition to his primeval 

 one, his journeyings by land and sea, his explora- 

 tions, conflicts, and convulsive enterprises, would 

 have effectually contributed to the preservation of 

 his life. 



Dr. Kane's mental acquisitions, especially in his 

 favorite departments, were accurate, extensive, and 

 rich. He had remedied his deficiencies in classical 

 studies, in a great measure, at a later period. He had 

 acquired the knowledge of a foreign language even 

 during tne uneasy and uncomfortable vicissitudes 

 of a sea-voyage. But his scientific attainments were 

 of a high order. He deserved even at his early age 



