MSS 2/0046-02		       				Acc. 1990-008-03

COHEN, J. SOLIS
(1838-1927),
 collector

Scrapbooks concerning the case of 
Emperor Frederick III of Germany,
 1887-1888

Biographical

Jacob da Silva Solis Cohen was born in New York on 28 February 
1838.   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.

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).

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

The collection consists of three scrapbooks, 1887-1888, assembled 
by otolaryngologist J. Solis Cohen, documenting the case of 
the Emperor Frederick III of Germany, his treatment for a laryngeal 
tumor by Sir Morell Mackenzie, and accusations of medical malpractice 
levelled against Mackenzie by German physicians after the emperor's 
death on 15 June 1888.  

The scrapbooks, arranged chronologically, were compiled from contemporary 
articles printed in English, American, German, and French medical 
periodicals.  The malpractice accusations stemmed from a difference 
of opinion on the tumor's malignancy.  Mackenzie's did not believe 
the tumor to be malignant, while the German physicians believed 
in its malignancy from an early date and advised partial removal 
of the larynx.


Provenance

The scrapbooks on the case of Emperor Frederick III of Germany 
were probably donated to the Library of the College of Physicians 
of Philadelphia as part of a larger gift from J. Solis Cohen 
on 15 July 1921.

The scrapbooks were processed and catalogued in 1991.

1887-1888
3 v.

12/16/1991
je


MSS 2/0046-02		       	1990-008-03

COHEN, J. SOLIS
(1838-1927),
 collector

Scrapbooks concerning the case of 
Emperor Frederick III of Germany,
 1887-1888

Vol.

1	1887 June December	(1 volume)
	
2	1888 February September	(1 volume)

3	1888 October November	(1 volume)


1887-1888
3 v.

12/16/1991
je