Jan. 16, 1885.1 (Curwen. 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 



HELD AT PHILADELPHIA, FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. 



Vol. XXII. PART IV. October, 1885. No. 120. 



Obituary Notice of Thomas S. Kirkbride, M. D. By John Curwen, M. D. 

 (_Read before the American Philosophical Society, Jan. 16, 1885.) 



In the company of those who left England with William Penn to seek 

 greater liberty of conscience and freedom of worship, was a family from 

 the northern part of the county of Cumberland, who settled on a farm on 

 the beautiful banks of the Delaware river, in Pennsylvania, a few miles 

 above what afterwards became the capital of New Jersey. On this farm 

 on July 31, 1809, was born Thomas Story Kirkbride, who inherited and 

 cherished the religious faith and strong love of freedom which had led his 

 ancestor to leave his native land and settle in what was then a wild and 

 unexplored section of the country. 



The early years of our friend was spent on this farm, and from the 

 pleasant surroundings and beautiful scenery which met the eye was early 

 derived that love of tlie beautiful in nature and fondness for laying out 

 and adorning the grounds which formed so marked a trait in his character. 



His academical education was received in the academy at Trenton, 

 "which attained a high reputation under a succession of able masters," 

 and was distinguished then and for years after for the excellent training 

 given to its scholars. 



He graduated from the medical department of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania in the Spring of 1832, and was very shortly afterwards appointed 

 Resident Physician of the Asylum for the relief of those deprived of the 

 use of their reason, at Frankford, remained there one year and was then 

 elected Resident Physician of the Pennsylvania Hospital, where he re- 

 mained two years, and had renewed opportunities of studying the subject 

 of mental disorders in the department of that Hospital which, for eighty 

 years, had been specially set apart for that class of disorders. 



After leaving the Hospital he opened an office in Arch street, below 

 Fifth street, and with a strong predilection for surgery he had intended to 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXII. 120. 2b. PRINTED APRIL 7, 1885. 



