Gillette, H. F., Cuba, N.Y., 16 November 1908

File — Box: 1

Scope and Contents

From the Series: This extensive collection of correspondence, addresses, and published and unpublished manuscripts of articles and textbooks documents J. Solis Cohen's research, labors, and concerns in the fields of laryngology and tuberculosis throughout most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.