340 



Ten pamphlets on various electrical and physical subjects, by Prof. 

 Zantedeschi; from various European publications. — From the 

 Author, 



Dr. Dunglison, pursuant to appointment, read an obituary 

 notice of the late Dr. John K. JNlitchell, a member of the So- 

 ciety. 



Dr. John Kearsley Mitchell was born in Shepherdstown, Virginia, 

 on the 12th of May, 1793. His father was Dr. Alexander Mitchell, 

 a native of Scotland, and a member of a respectable family in Ayr- 

 shire, who came to this country in 1789, took up his residence in 

 Jefferson County, Virginia, and soon afterwards married into the 

 Kearsley family, who resided at that time in Pennsylvania. Dr. 

 Mitchell's father died before he was nine years old; and he was left 

 in charge of a guardian, who sent him to Scotland in 1807, to be 

 educated. In the town of Ayr he received his early instruction, and 

 it was here, in the land of Burns, that he imbibed that love for the 

 simple, but eminently expressive productions of Scotia's bard, which 

 led him, on many occasions, whilst, as he remarked, "he sat in his 

 office and waited for practice," to indulge in poetical compositions, 

 several of which were received with no little favour. From Ayr he 

 went to the University of Edinburgh, to complete his scholastic edu- 

 cation, and in the year 1816 returned to America, and commenced 

 the study of his profession with Dr. Kramer, of Jefferson County, 

 Virginia, for whom he ever felt the greatest respect and veneration, 

 and of whose character he often spoke enthusiastically in his lectures 

 before the class of Jefferson Medical College. Subsequently, he be- 

 came a pupil of Professor Chapman, of Philadelphia. His studies 

 were, however, interrupted by impaired health, which induced him to 

 take a voyage to China, from which he returned much improved; 

 and after having obtained his diploma in the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, in 1819, he twice repeated the voyage in the capacity of sur- 

 geon to a merchant vessel. On his return to America, he established 

 himself in Philadelphia, and, early in 1822, married a daughter of 

 Alexander Henry, Esq. In the same year he was appointed physi- 

 cian to the Almshouse Hospital, and, some years afterwards, to the 

 Pennsylvania Hospital. Between the years 1833 and 1838, he de- 

 livered a course of lectures on chemistry applied to the arts, in the 

 Franklin Institute, and as early as the year 1822, formed part — as 

 lecturer on medical chemistry — of the first summer association for 

 teaching medicine, established in Philadelphia. He lectured, also, on 



