Harrison Allen

Harrison Allen (1841-1897)

Harrison Allen (born April 17, 1841 in Philadelphia , † November 14, 1897 ibid) was an American physician and anatomist . He was one of the pioneering researchers in paleopathology in the Pacific region.

Life

As a child, Allen showed a keen interest in natural history and science. Although he did not come from a well-to-do family, he completed general and dental studies at the University of Pennsylvania , which he successfully completed in 1861. During his studies he met Joseph Leidy (1823-1891), a well-known palaeontologist, anatomist, anthropologist and student and successor of Samuel Morton (1799-1851). From 1862 until the end of the Civil War in 1865, Allen served as a doctor and surgeon in the United States Army in Washington, DC. In 1869, he married Julia A. Colton, with whom he had a son and daughter. After retiring from the army, Allen went to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a professor of zoology, comparative anatomy and physiology until 1895 . He also became the first curator at the University of Pennsylvania's Wistar Institute in 1893. Allen published numerous monographs, scientific articles, and books, including Outlines of Comparative Anatomy and Medical Zoölogy (1867), Studies in the Facial Region (1874), An Analysis of the Life Form in Art (1875), System of Human Anatomy (1880) and A Study of Hawaiian Skulls . This work, published posthumously in 1898, is a study of 65 skulls discovered in Hawaiian caves and coastal locations and held in the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Princeton University, and Harvard University . These skulls are among the earliest human skeletal remains in the Hawaiian Islands. Allen's paleopathological observations were very detailed and extensive. They include descriptions and selected line drawings of osteoporosis , osteitis (suppuration of the bones), hyperostosis of the temporomandibular joint head , maxillary and tooth enamel damage, and tooth anomalies . By considering the skull characteristics and dimensions, Allen compared the cave skulls with the coastal skulls, assigning the former to the nobles and the latter to the common citizens. He also found differences in both data sets. Allen was primarily interested in the extent to which a particular disease affects skull morphology , rather than the disease itself. In addition to his anatomical research, Allen described several new bat species.

In 1867 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society .

Allen died of heart failure at the age of 56.

literature

• A cyclopedia of American medical biography, comprising the lives of eminent deceased physicians and surgeons from 1610 to 1910. 1912, pp. 12-14. (on-line)
• Biography of eminent American physicians and surgeons. 1898, pp. 9-10. (on-line)
• Jane Buikstra, Charlotte Roberts: The Global History of Paleopathology: Pioneers and Prospects. Oxford University Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-538980-7 , pp. 597-598.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Member History: Harrison Allen. American Philosophical Society, accessed April 9, 2018 .