Dr John Kinnis (c. 1794- August 1852) was a medical superintendent to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

military forces in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in the nineteenth century, and wrote several papers for the ''Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal'' on, for example,

elephantiasis Elephantiasis is the enlargement and hardening of limbs or body parts due to tissue swelling. It is characterised by edema, hypertrophy, and fibrosis of skin and subcutaneous tissues, due to obstruction of lymphatic vessels. It may affect the genit ...

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

and military medical statistics. He retired from medical service in 1851. He was also an energetic and successful amateur naturalist and was seconded by

Robert Templeton Robert Templeton (12 December 1802 – 2 June 1892) was a naturalist, artist, and entomologist, and was born at Cranmore House, Belfast, Ireland. Life and work Robert Templeton was the son of John Templeton, and was educated in Belfast ...

of the Royal Artillery to investigate and collect the local flora and fauna. The Ceylon subspecies of the blackbird, ''Turdus merula kinnisii'', was named for him by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

zoologist and chemist

Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the museum of the Asiatic Society of India in Calcutta. Blyth was born in London in 1810. In 1841 ...

in 1841. He is buried on the north side of

Dunfermline Abbey Dunfermline Abbey is a Church of Scotland Parish Church in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. The church occupies the site of the ancient chancel and transepts of a large medieval Benedictine abbey, which was sacked in 1560 during the Scottish Refor ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinnis, John English zoologists Year of birth uncertain 1852 deaths