MSS 2/0046-01 Acc. 1990-008-01
COHEN, J. SOLIS
(1838-1927)
Papers,
1751 (1853-1922)
Biographical
Jacob da Silva Solis Cohen was born in New York on 28 February
1838. He was the eldest son of Myer David and Judith Simirah
da Silva Solis Cohen. The Cohens moved to Philadelphia in 1840.
J. Solis Cohen married Miriam Binswanger on 10 February 1874.
They had nine children. Cohen died in Philadelphia on 22 December
1927.
Cohen attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College (1857-1858),
then travelled to Memphis, Tennessee. Upon his return to Philadelphia,
he entered the University of Pennsylvania and received his M.D.
in 1860. He served a brief residency at the Pennsylvania Hospital,
but resigned due to the Civil War. During the war, Cohen served
as Assistant Surgeon to the 26th Pennsylvania Regiment (1861), Acting
Assistant Surgeon to the United States Navy (18611864), and,
finally, Visiting Surgeon to army hospitals in Philadelphia
until the war's end.
In 1866, Cohen opened his private practice in Philadelphia; he
concentrated on diseases of the throat and chest. In 1867,
he became the first American to perform a successful laryngotomy
for removal of a cancerous growth, although he opposed this
operation because of its high risks. Cohen also performed the
first closed field laryngotomy in 1892. He had a strong interest
in tuberculosis as well and was a vigorous supporter of Edward
Livingstone's work at Saranac.
In 1866, Cohen established regularly organized lectures in laryngology
at the Philadelphia School of Anatomy. In the following year,
he assumed the post of Lecturer in Electrotherapeutics at Jefferson
Medical College, then became Lecturer in Laryngoscopy and Diseases
of the Chest in 1869. In 1882, Cohen helped to establish the
Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for Graduates in Medicine
and became Professor of Diseases of the Throat and Chest there.
He was also Professor of Physiology at the Wagner Free Institute
of Science, Visiting Physician to the German Hospital, Physician
to St. Mary's Hospital, and Consulting Physician to the Jewish
Hospital. An honorary professorship in laryngology was created
for J. Solis Cohen at Jefferson in 1890-1891. By 1895, he had
virtually retired from teaching.
Cohen published several works including Inhalation: its therapeutics
and practice (1867); Diseases of the throat (1872
and revised as Diseases of the throat and nasal passages
in 1879); Croup and its relation to tracheotomy (1874);
and The throat and the voice (1879).
His professional activities and affiliations were numerous.
He helped to establish the American Laryngological Association
in 1878, served as President from 1880 to 1882, and edited Archives
of laryngology in 1880. He was also president of the Northern
Medical Association (1875) and the Philadelphia County Medical
Society (1887-1888). He became a Fellow of the College of Physicians
of Philadelphia in 1871, but failure to pay the annual dues
caused him to forfeit his fellowship in 1904.
Scope and Contents
This extensive collection of correspondence, addresses, and published
and unpublished manuscripts of articles and textbooks documents
J. Solis Cohen's research, labors, and concerns in the fields
of laryngology and tuberculosis throughout most of his professional
career.
Cohen's correspondence in Series 1 is divided into four sections;
this division may reflect different accessions, but there is
no firm evidence to support this assumption. The correspondence
(1869-1922) is primarily concerned with laryngological research,
cases, and procedures or tuberculosis. Cohen often noted the
subject of each letter at the head of the page. There are also
several letters from colleagues thanking Cohen for a copy of
his Diseases of the throat and nasal passages
(1879) and commenting on the work. Notable correspondents in
the series include: Lennox Browne, Ephraim Cutter, Charles Fauvel,
Samuel D. Gross, Morell Mackenzie, Ferdinando Massei, Max Schede,
Felix Semon, and Laurence Turnbull. Letters of particular interest
are from: Lawrason Brown on the administration of tuberculin
(1907); Hubert C. Carel on the use of benatol (1911); J. Leonard
Corning on air chambers (1893); H. F. Gillette on asthma and
the use of horse serum (1908); A. H. Smith on tracheotomy (n.d.);
Otis Lee Wingate of the South Mountain Camp Sanitorium in Franklin
County, Pa. (1904); Francis L. Parker, describing a case of
abscess of tonsils, pharynx, and tongue (1888); D. Sulzberger
on fluid extracts (1878); Sara Greene on the voice (1910); A.
M. Holmes on the tent system of treatment for tuberculosis (1903);
C. W. McConnell on the Widal test for typhoid fever (1905);
and Edward H. Bennett on lupus of the larynx (1882). There
are also letters from Mo [otherwise unidentified] concerning detection
of tuberculosis through palmistry (1897-1910).
Series 2 consists of one folder of physicians' autographs (1751-1892)
taken from the half title pages or endpapers of medical works.
Several autographs convey copies of the works to J. Solis Cohen.
The bulk of this collection of Cohen's manuscripts is contained
in Series 3, material on the production of three editions of
Diseases of the throat and nasal passages. Series
3.1 contains proof sheets of pages 380-432 of the first edition
(1872) with Cohen's manuscript emendations. Series 3.2 contains
manuscript versions of chapters 11 (Affections of the nasal
passages), 12 (Affections of the septum narium), and 14 (Affections
of the larynx and trachea), circa 1879. For many sections,
Cohen typically mounted passages from the previous edition on
blank sheets of paper, writing links or revisions around the
printed text. Both Series 3.1 and 3.2 follow the order of material found
in the published volumes.
Series 3.3 contains 141 folders of material for an unpublished
third edition of Cohen's textbook. The manuscript seems to have
neared completion in 1891. A provisional chapter outline [refer
to Appendix 1] was made, but material in this subseries is divided
alphabetically by subject heading in an attempt to recover the
history of the manuscript. Some headings represent entire chapters,
others subsections within a chapter. For most affections, Cohen presented
his information through a sequence of categories: clinical history,
pathology, symptomatology, etiology, diagnosis, prognosis, and
treatment. Major subjects are coryza, diphtheria, esophagal
and pharyngeal diseases, and tonsillitis. Dates for material
in each folder have been derived from references in the texts
or comparison with other versions of the same section and may
be inaccurate; the bulk of the manuscripts were composed in
1890 and 1891.
Cohen revised his work constantly on the basis of new information
or research of colleagues. Certain sections, such as chronic
coryza and special affections of the pharynx, were revised many
times. It is almost impossible to determine the chronological
sequence of composition, but generally Cohen made, first, emendations
to the printed text of the second edition; then a manuscript
revision; a typescript with heavy manuscript emendation; and
a final typescript. Whenever it has been possible to isolate
a typescript section and its direct manuscript antecedent, the two
items have been filed together.
Manuscripts and typescripts of several of Cohen's scientific
addresses on laryngology or tuberculosis (18801911) are preserved
in Series 4. These addresses were delivered to professional
organizations including the American Laryngological Association,
the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the Medical Society
of the Statejof Pennsylvania, the New York Academy
of Medicine, and the Philadelphia County Medical Society.
Series 5 contains manuscripts and typescripts of some of Cohen's
published scientific articles and book reviews, mostly concerning
laryngology or tuberculosis. This series includes a lengthy
published condensation of Cohen's lectures on diphtheria delivered
at Jefferson Medical College in 1875.
Notes on several laryngological topics (1853-1886) are contained
in Series 6. Series 7 contains miscellaneous material (1859-1893)
including: a folder of case notes (1859-1877) and drawings of
laryngological patients (18911893); Cohen's translations of
texts by Carlo Labus (circa 1880), Hubert von Luschka (circa
1869), and Johann Ritter von Oppolzer (circa 1872); and one
folder of reports (circa 1866-1888), possibly assembled for
publication in an unidentified medical journal, from European
physicians on current laryngological developments.
Provenance
The source of this collection of J. Solis Cohen's papers is unknown,
though certainly some of the papers were donated to the College
of Physicians of Philadelphia by Dr. Cohen himself as part of
a large gift on 15 July 1921. Additional material may have
been donated by members of the Cohen family after Cohen's death
in 1927. A considerable portion of the material in Series 3
was examined in January 1932 by Emlen Wood, Assistant to the
Librarian at the College. W. B. McDaniel II, Curator of the
Historical Collections, reviewed the letters in Series 1.4 in
June 1962.
The collection was isolated on the 7th floor of the Library Cage
in 1988. It was processed and catalogued in January 1990.
Approximately 1 1/2 boxes of material in Series 3.3 were previously
catalogued as 10d/32; this material was probably separated inadvertently.
It was reintegrated during processing.
1751 (1853-1922)
9 boxes
1/29/1990
je
MSS 2/0046-01
Appendix 1
COHEN, J. SOLIS
(1838-1927)
Papers,
1751 (1853-1922)
Series 3.3: Diseases of the throat and nasal passages (third edition (unpublished)
PROVISIONAL CHAPTER OUTLINE:
1. General considerations
2. Examination of the throat and nasal passages
3. Acute sore throat
4. Diphtheria
5. Syphilis of the throat
6. Lupus and lepra of the throat
7. Chronic sore throat (chronic folliculous sore throat and
atrophic pharyngitis)
8. Special affections of the palate and uvula
9. Special affections of the tonsils
10. Special affections of the pharynx
11. Diseases of the oesophagus
1/29/1990
je