apparent there as DATE DUE 1 Cl i I >9/ /f^'^ I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/medicalsideofben01pepp THE IMEDICAL SIDE OF BENJMIIN FRANKLIN. By "William Pepper, AI.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathologj’, University of Penns3'lvania. Bexjamix Fe.an'Klix lived in an age when men of education and genius in varying paths of life did not consider it strange or peculiar to think, discuss, or write about medical matters. These men did not feel that they were intruding on any ground sacred to the physician in so doing. Thus we find Matheiv Carey, the publisher, who worked so heroically on the committee of safety during the yellow fetter epidemic of 1793 in Philadelphia, writing an Account of the Malignant Fever, that ran through four editions within two months; Noah W’ebster, the lexicographer, compiling a History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases; Thomas Jefferson receiving from Edivard Jenner vaccine virus, of which he made good use. Franklin, however, just as he surpassed in some other lines of thought these men, outdid them in his knowledge of medical affairs. “The study of medicine was one of Franklin’s chief interests, and it is one of the least known,” said Professor Smyth in the introduction to his splendid edition of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin; and so, although perhaps few new facts can be added, the compilation of the following abstracts from Franklin’s writings, together with a few statements taken chiefly from Smyth, from Paul Leicester Ford’s The Many-sided Franklin, and from Sydney George Fisher’s The True Benjamin Franklin, will impress upon us how much of a physician Benjamin Franklin really was. The recently published calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin, in the library of the American Philosophical Society, so ably edited by Dr. I. iMinis Hays, has also been a great help in discovering references to medical matters in the many letters to Franklin in that large collection. As Atkinson says in his Medical Bibliography: “Vie must all plagiarize from each other, or little will be made out, in so intricate an art as medicine. W’hen 2 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin a writer affects to despise the works of others, and ventures to produce his own as valuable and original, we may be assured that, in this instance at least, he is an original fool at any rate.” Although Franklin was not a graduate of any medical school, still he was elected a member of several medical societies; and it must not Fig. 1. — Benjamin Franklin, Docteur en Medecine. From a rare engraving by P. Maren, in the author’s collection. be forgotten that in those days many of the physicians had no degrees. Although he did not practise medicine as a profession and receive pay- ment for his medical advice, still he nevertheless did treat a number of people for various ills. Never calling himself physician, he was, however, so considered by some, as the engra^■ing here reproduced shows. The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 3 He never actually studied medicine, but yet he purchased and borrowed many medical works, read them, commented on them, and discussed with his friends various diseases and their method of treatment. He was a keen student of such diseases as came under his observation. He was an early an d great hyg ienist. All of which, though not entitling him to write Doctor of Medicine after his name, would in those days of common lack of medical education and frequent disregard of collegiate instruction have permitted him, had he not had other work to perform, to haA’e called himself physician and to haA'e actually practised medicine. The University of St. Andrews conferred upon Benjamin Franklin, when he was fifty-three years of age, the honorary degree, by virtue of which he Avas eA’er after known as Dr. Franklin. In the records of the Senatus Academicus of that University, occurs this entry: U--S 12 Feb., 1759. Conferred the Degree of Doctor in Laws on Mr. Benjamin Franklin, famous for his writings on Electricity, and appoint his diploma to be giA'en him gratis, the Clerk and Archbeadle’s dues to be paid by the Library Quaestor. He had in July, 1753, receiA’ed the honorary degree of Master of Arts Af, " ■ from HarA’ard College, and the same degree in September of that year from Yale College. Among the many medical subjects that Dr. Franklin discussed Avith his friends, might be mentioned “Diet and its Effect on Health and Disease.” Franklin AATote in a letter that “In general, mankind, since the improA'ement of cooking, eat about tAvice as much as nature requires. Suppers are not bad, if we have not dined, but restless nights naturally folloAv hearty suppers after full dinners. Indeed, as there is a difference in constitutions, some rest well after these meals; it costs them only a frightful dream and an apoplexy after AA'hich they sleep till doomsday. Nothing is more common in the neAA’spapers than instances of people, who after eating a hearty supper, are found dead abed in the morning.” He discussed exercise as a means of preserA'ing health and the best forms to use, the influence of swimming, cold baths and fresh air. The I taking or catching of colds was a A^ery faA'orite topic of Franklin’s and his nearest approach to a real medical article is on this subject. He^ 4 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin held very sensible views, considering his day, and gave much sensible advice, which the world has been slow to accept. The modern treat- ment of tuberculosis is based largely on the open air mode of life Franklin so persistently advocated. ^Vhen he had unacceptable advice to give of any kind, he made people swallow down the bitter pill by giving it a sugar coating of humor or jest. So Ave find him in his bagatelle “The Art of Procuring Pleasant Dreams,” telling us, “It is recorded of iNIethu- salem, aaTo, being the longest liA^er, may be supposed to haA^e best pre- serA-ed his health, that he slept alAA'ays in the open air; for, AA'hen he had liA'ed fiA-e hundred years, an angel said to him, “Arise, Methusalem, and build thee an house, for thou shalt live yet fiA'e hundred years longer.” But Methusalem ansAA'ered and said, “If I am to liA’e but fiA’^e hundred years longer, it is not Avorth AA’hile to build me a house; I Avill sleep in the air as I haA’e been used to do.” He repeatedly stated that colds AAere caught by being in close, unventilated rooms in AA’hich AA'ere other people who possibly AA^ere already affected. He thought that damp clothes might cause colds, but that clothes A\'et Avith sea AA'ater AA’ould not, because, as he says, no clothes could be AA’et as Avater itself, and one did not catch cold Avhile bathing and SAvimming. He recognized the epidemicity and contagiousness of colds. He also remarked that bathing AA Ould quench the thirst and stop diarrhea, and that bathing or sponging Avith Avater or spirits AA’ould reduce the temperature by eA-aporation in feA'ers. He wrote a A'ery capable letter on the heat of the blood and the causes thereof, and also upon the motion of the blood, and had in his library a glass machine that demonstrated this motion of the blood through the arteries, veins and capillaries. He discussed, learnedly, the absorbent A^essels and perspiratory ducts of the skin and carried on experiments to proA'e his theories. Sleep, deafness, and nyctalopia all engaged Franklin’s attention. He inA-ented bifocal lenses for spectacles and a flexible catheter. He AA^as much interested in medical education and had decided vieAA's on the subject. He helped many young medical students in their desire to study abroad, among them Rush, Morgan, Shippen, Kuhn, and Griffitts. Although Thomas Bond originated the idea of the Pennsylvania Hospital, Franklin created it and Avas its first President. I His letters on lead poisoning are AAmnderful, and would have been a credit to any physician of that age; his observations upon gout, and personal observations they Avere, are shreAA’d and exact. Smallpox The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 5 and inoculation, cancer, yellow fever, fever and ague, sea-sickness, all claimed liis attention. In many of Franklin’s letters we note his interest in various drugs and in various methods of cure. He showed a healthy skepticism of all empirical remedies, when one considers the time in which he lived. Much could be written of his treatment of nervous diseases by electricity. Many patients consulted him; many doctors wrote to him for advice; even Sir John Pringle begs him to come and treat the daughter of the Duke of Ancaster. Franklin was not carried away by his temporary successes with this method of treatment, Franklinism, as it has been called, but gives a very reserved opinion upon its value. There are a number of letters in the American Philosophical Fig. 2. — Dr. Thomas Bond. From an old minature belonging to the author. Society’s collection asking for details of a cure for dropsy, that Franklin was supposed to have discovered, but of which he disclaimed any knowledge. He was interested in vital statistics and the mortality of different diseases. He wrote about the great death rate of foundlings and among children not nursed at the breast by their own mothers, and the growing habit among the French to neglect this duty. He discussed the doctrines of life and death. On several occasions he wrote about the possibility of infection remaining for long periods in dead bodies after burial, and the effect of electricity on animals killed by electricity. His ability and knowledge in everything pertaining to medicine led the King of France to appoint him a member of the commission which investigated 6 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bidletin ^IMesmer, and it was Franklin who wrote the report. He proved himself a comparative anatomist in a description which he wrote about some fossil elephant’s teeth that he examined. Even Dr. Jan Ingenhousz, physician to Maria Theresa and Joseph II, before inoculating the young- princes, sought Franklin’s advice. One cannot help being impressed by the fact that the majority of Franklin’s friends seem to have been medical men, at least if we judge from the letters to and from Franklin. He corresponded, visited, and travelled with them, and they seem to have been his most congenial friends. Physicians dedicated their works to him, translated his writings into Fi’ench, invited him to their meetings, made him a member of their societies, and received him always as one of their own body. It is interesting to speculate upon the kind of physician Franklin would have made, and I believe all will agree with me, after reading the following pages, in feeling that with his great common sense, his so pleasing' personality, his wonderfully wide knowledge, his extraordinary tact, his way of always getting what he wanted, his ability to make friends, his insight into human character, his love of investigation, and in fact everything that goes to make up the truly big man in the medical pro- fession, he would, had he devoted himself to medicine almost exclusively, now be considered, one of the greatest physicians of our country. Well indeed, even as it is, did he merit the title of Doctor of Medicine, and it is our loss that we can only claim him as a sort of adopted father of the profession. I have thought it best for the sake of clearness to reprint first from Franklin’s Autobiography and then in chronological order, abstracts from Franklin’s writings. In the Antohiography but few references appear worthy of quotation. The following account, however, shows his interest in dietetic matters even when he was a lad. He was actuated not alone, however, by mere thoughts of health. When about sixteen years of age I happened to meet with a book, written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it. My brother, being yet unmarried did not keep house, but boarded himself and his apprentices in another family. My refusing to eat fiesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity. I made myself acquainted The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin with Trvon’s manner of preparing some of his dishes, such as boiling potatoes or rice, making hasty pudding, and a few others, and then proposed to my brother, that if he would give me weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I would board myself. He instantly agreed to it, and I presently found that I could save half of what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books. But I had another advantage in it. My brother and the rest going from the printing-house to their meals I remained there alone, and, despatching presently my light repast, which often was no more than a bisket or a slice of bread, a handful of raisins or a tart from the pastry-cook’s, and a glass of Fig. 3. — Sir Hans Sloane. water, had the rest of the time till their return for study, in which I made the greater progress, from that greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension, which usually attend temperance in eating and drinking. . . . Franklin says in another place: I had brought over a few curiosities, among which the principal was a purse made of the asbestos, which purifies by fire. Sir Hans Sloane^ heard of it, came to see me, and invited me to his house ’ Sir Hans Sloane, 1660-1763. Born in Ireland. Studied and practised medicine in London. Travelled widely and made large collections of plants and other objects in natural history. Physician-General to the Army. President of the College of Physicians. President of the Royal Society, etc. On his death, his library of fifty thousand volumes and his various collections were purchased by the nation for £20,000, and formed the nucleus of the British Museum. 8 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin in Bloomsbury Square, where he showed me all his curiosities, and persuaded me to let him add that to the number, for which he paid me handsomely. . . . In the British iNIuseum there is, however, the following letter, which puts a slightly different aspect upon the sale of the purse: (London) June 2, 1725. To Sir Hans Sloane, Sir: Having lately been in the Nothern Parts of America I have brought from thence a Purse made of the Stone Asbestus, a Piece of Wood, the Pithy Part of which is of the same Nature, and call’d by the Inhabitants, Salamander Cotton. As you are noted to be a Lover of Curiosities, I have inform’d you of these; and if you have any Inclination to purchase them, or see ’em, let me know your Pleasure by a Line directed for me at the Golden Fan in Little Britain, and I will wait upon you with them. I am, Sir Your most humble Servant Benjamin Franklin. P. S. I expect to be out of Town in 2 or 3 Days, and therefore beg an Immediate Answer: — A short piece from his Autobiography gives his views succinctly on inoculation. His point of view might well be urged nowadays on many who fear vaccination. . In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the siuall-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen. . . There is a memorandum of Franklin’s that states that Sally (his daughter) was inoculated April IS, 1746. The Medical Side of Be7iiamin FranMin 9 In the Pennsylvania Gazette of December 13, 1736, his own newspaper, Franklin printed the following notice: Understanding ’tis a current Report, that my Son Francis, who died lately of the Small Pox, had it by Inoculation; and being desired to satisfy the Publick in that Particular; in as much as some People are, by that Report (join’d with others of the like kind, and perhaps equally groundless) deter’d from having that Operation perform’d on their children, I do hereby sincerely declare, that he was not inoculated, but receiv’d the Distemper in the common Way of Infection, and I suppose the Report could only arise from its being my known Opinion, that Inoculation was a safe and beneficial Practice; and from my having said among my Acquaintance, that I intended to have my child inoculated as soon as he should have recovered sufficient strength from a Flux with Avhich he had been long afilicted. B. Franklin. Benjamin Franklin, it is often stated, was the founder of the Pennsyl- vania Hospital, but he gives in his Antobiogj-aphy full credit to Dr. Thomas Bond for originating the plan. The story of the foundation of this our oldest hospital in this country is worth quotation if for no other reason than to prove that “political manoeuvres” may serve bene- ficial ends at times. . In 1751, Dr. Thomas Bond,^ a particular friend of mine, j 7 / conceived the idea of establishing a hospital in Philadelphia (a very beneficient design, Avhich has been ascrib’d to me, but was originally his), for the reception and cure of poor sick persons, whether inhabitants of the province or strangers. He Avas zealous and active in endeaA'our- ing to procure subscriptions for it, but the proposal being a novelty in America, and at first not Avell understood, he met with but small success. ' Thomas Bond, 1712-1784. Born in Calvert Co., Md. Came to Philadelphia and began to practice medicine in 1734. Physician to the Pennsyh^ania Hospital from its foundation in 1751 until 1784. In 1766 in that Hospital, he gave his first course of clinical lectures, the first of their kind in this country. Founder of the American Philasophical Society. An original trustee of the University of Pennsyl- A'ania. During the Revolution, although over sixty, he served as one of the exami- ning surgeons of the Colonial Medical Department. 10 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin At length he came to me with the compliment that he found there was no such thing as carrying a public-spirited project through without my beino; concern’d in it. “For,” says he, “I am often ask’d by those to whom I purpose sub- scribing. Have you consulted Franklin upon this business? And what does he think of it? And when I tell that I have not (supposing it rather out of your line), they do not subscribe, but say they will con- sider of it.” I encjuired into the nature and probable utility of his Fig. 4.— The Pennsylvania Hospital. From a student’s certificate of the year 1792. Engraved by R. Scot. In the possession of the author. scheme, and receiving from him a very satisfactory explanation, I not only subscrib’d to it myself, but engag’d heartily in the design of pro- curing subscriptions from -others. Previously, however, to the solicita- tion, I endeavoured to prepare the minds of the people by writing on the subject in the newspapers, which was my usual custom in such cases, but which he had omitted. The subscriptions afterwards were more free and generous; but, beginning to flag, I saw they would be insufficient without some assist- ance from the Assembly, and therefore propos’d to petition for it, which was done. The country members did not at first relish the project. The Medical Side of Beniamin Franklin 11 they objected that it could only be serviceable to the city, and therefore the citizens alone should be at the expense of it; and they doubted whether the citizens themselves generally approv’d of it. My allegation on the contrary, that it met with such approbation as to leave no doubt of our being able to raise two thousand pounds by voluntary donations, thej considered as a most extravagant supposition, and utterly impos- sible. On this I form’d my plan; and, asking leave to bring in a bill for in- corporating the contributors according to the prayer of their petition, and granting them a blank sum of money, which leave was obtained chiefly on the consideration that the House could throw the bill out if they did not like it, I drew it so as to make the important clause a condi- tional one, viz., “And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid that when the said contributors shall have met and chosen their managers and treasurer, and shall have raised by their contributions a capital stock of . . . value (the yearly interest of which is to be applied to the accommodating of the sick poor in the said hospital, free of charge for diet, attendance, advice, and medicines), and shall make the same appear to the satisfaction of the speaker of the Assembly for the time being, that then it shall and may be lawful for the said speaker, and he is hereby required to sign an order on the provincial treasurer for the payment of the two thousand pounds, in two yearly payments, to the treasurer of the said hospital, to be applied to the founding, building, and finishing of the same. This condition carried the bill through, for the members, who had oppos’d the grant, and now conceiv’d they might have the credit of being charitable without the expense, agreed to its passage; and then, in soli- citing subscriptions among the people, we urg’d the conditional promise of the law as an additional motive to give, since every man’s donation would be doubled; thus the clause work’d both ways. The subscriptions accordingly soon exceeded the requisite sum, and we claim’d and receiv’d the public gift, which enabled us to carry the design into execution. A convenient and handsome building was soon erected; the institution has by constant experience been found useful, and flourishes to this day; and I do not remember any of my political manoeuvres, the success of which gave me at the time more pleasure, or wherein, after thinking of it, I more easily excus’d myself for having made some use of cunning. 12 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin In ]\Iorton’s History of the Pennsylvania Hospital occur many references to Franklin’s connection with the hospital, and from them we Fig. 5. — Title-page of PTanklin’s Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital. From a copy in the author’s library. learn that in 1754 he was requested to prepare a brief account of the Penn,sylvania Hospital, and on May 28, 1754, he presented his manu- script “Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital from its First The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 13 Beginning to the Fifth Month, called May, 1754.” It was ordered that the Clerk, John Smith, get fifteen hundred copies printed, in quarto. On May 2S, 1755, the corner-stone of the hospital on Eighth Street, ■ 7 between Spruce and Pine Streets, was laid; the inscription, which was written by Franklin reads: IX THE YEAR OF CHRIST MDCCLV. GEORGE THE SECOXD H-CPPILY REIGXIXG (for he sought the h.\ppixess of his people) PHILADELPHIA FLOURISHIXG (for its ixh-cbitaxts were publick spirited) THIS BUILDIXG BY THE BOL'XTY OF THE GOVERXMEXT, AXD OF MAXY PRIVATE PERSOXS, WAS PIOUSLY FOUXDED FOR THE RELIEF OF THE SICK AXD MISERABLE; MAY THE GOD OF MERCIES BLESS THE UXDERTAKIXG. On June 30, 1755, Dr. Franklin was unanimously elected President ' of the Board, to succeed Mr. Crosby, and he presided at the first meeting held in the new building. Franklin’s fines for non-attendance and for lateness at the Manager’s meetings, from May, 1755, until May, 1756, amounted to ;£l.ll, he having been fined -^2.6 for total absence eleven times, besides two smaller sums of .;!^1.6 each for lateness. At a meeting of the Board held INIarch 28, 1757, it was resolved that “The President of the Board, Benjamin Franklin, being appointed Provincial Aaent to England and is about to sail in a short time, he is requested after his arrival there, to use his interest in soliciting Donations to the Hospital whenever he may have a Prospect of success therein.” Franklin’s own description of his election to the Royal Society and of his receiving the Copley medal, tells how much he was indebted to his medical friends for those honors. 14 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin Dr. Wright, an English physician, when at Paris, wrote to a friend, who was of the Royal Society, an account of the high esteem my experiments were in among the learned abroad, and of their wonder that my writings had been so little noticed in England. The Society, on this, resum’d the consideration of the letters that had been read to them; and the celebrated Dr. Watson drew up a summary account of them, and of all I had afterward sent to England on the subject, which he accompanied with some praise of the writer. This summary was then printed in their Transactions, and some members of the society in London, particularly the very ingenious Mr. Canton, having verified the experiment of procuring lightning from the clouds by a pointed rod, and acquainting them with the success, they soon made me more than amends for the slight with which they had before treated me. Without my having made any application for that honour, they chose me a member, and voted that I should be excus’d the customary payments, which would have amounted to twenty-five guineas; and ever since have given me their transactions gratis. They also presented me with the gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley for the year 1753; the delivery of which was accompanied by a very handsome speech of the President, Lord Macclesfield, wherein I was highly honoured. These abstracts above quoted include practically all that appears in regard to medical matters in the Autohiogra'phy , and I will, therefore, now quote from Franklin’s other writings, trying to give them in somewhat chronological order. One of the earliest medical allusions is in a letter to his sister. Philadelphia, June 19, 1731. To Mrs. Jane Mecom. We have had the small-pox here lately, which raged violently while it lasted. There have been about fifty persons inoculated, who all recovered except a child of the Doctor’s upon wTom the small-pox appeared within a day or two after the operation, and who is therefore thought to have been certainly infected before. In one family in my neighborhood, there appeared a great mortality. The dissolution of this family is generally ascribed to an imprudent use of quicksilver in The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 15 the cure of the itch. iNIr Claypoole applying it as he thought proper, without consulting a physician for fear of charges, and the small-pox coming upon them at the same time, made their case desperate. But what gives me the greatest concern, is the account you give me of my sister Holmes’s misfortune. I know a cancer in the breast is often thought incurable, yet we have here in town a kind of shell made of some wood, cut at a proper time, by some man of great skill, (as they say), which has done wonders in that disease among us, being worn for some time on the breast. I am not apt to be superstitiously fond of believing such things, but the instances are so well attested, as sufficiently to convince the most incredulous. This, if I have interest enough to pro- cure, as I think I have, I will borrow for a time and send it to you, and I hope the doctors you have will at least allow the experiment to be tried and shall rejoice to hear that it has the accustomed effect. An interesting letter to his father and mother tells us that he at times meddled in the doctor’s sphere, but not to excess. Philadelphia, Sept. 6, 1744. Honoured Father and Mother: I apprehend I am too busy in prescribing and meddling in the doctor’s sphere, when any of you complain of ails in your letters. But as I always employ a physician myself, when any disorder arises in my family, and submit implicitly to his orders in everything, so I hope you consider my advice, when I give any, only as a mark of my good will, and put no more of it in practice than happens to agree with what your doctor directs. Your notion of the use of strong lye I suppose may have a good deal in it. The salt of tartar, or salt of wormwood, frequently prescribed for cutting, opening, and cleansing, is nothing more than the salt of lye procured by evaporation. Mrs. Steven’s medicine for a stone and gravel, the secret of which was lately purchased at a great price by the Parlia- ment, has for its principal ingredient salt, which Boerhaave calls the most universal remedy. The same salt intimately mixed with oil of turpentine, which you also mentioned, made the sapo philosophorum, wonderfully extolled by some chemists for like purposes. It is highly probable, as your doctor says, that medicines are much altered in passing between the stomach and bladder; but such salts seem well fitted in their 16 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin nature to pass with the least alteration of almost anything we know, and, if they will not dissolve gravel and stone, yet I am half persuaded that a moderate use of them may go a great way toward preventing these disorders, as they assist a weaker digestion in the stomach, and power- fully dissolve crudities such as those which I have frequently experienced. As to honey and molasses, I did not mention them merely as openers and loosers, but also from conjecture, that, as they are heavier in them- selves than our common drink, they might when dissolved in our bodies increase the gravity of our fluids, the urine in particular, and by that means keep separate and suspended therein those particles, which, when unused, form gravel. . . . In a very long letter to Cadwallader Golden,^ of New York, which I cannot give in full, Franklin discusses very logically various anatomical theories, and at the end apologizes for “meddling with matters directly pertaining to your (Golden’s) profession, and entirely out of the way of my own.” After reading the whole letter one feels that Franklin was well able to discuss such matters, and that he need not have apologized to Golden at all. Philadelphia, August 15, 1745. To Gadwallader Golden. I am extremely pleased with your doctrine of the absorbent vessels intermixed with the perspiratory ducts, both on the external and internal superficies of the body. After I had read Sanctorius, I imagined a constant stream of the perspirable matter issuing at every pore in the skin. But then I was puzzled to account for the effects of mercurial unctions for the strangury, sometimes occasioned by an outward applica- tion of the flies, and the like, since whatever virtue or quality might be in a medicine laid upon the skin, if it would enter the body, it must go against wind and tide, as one may say. Dr. Hales helped me a little, when he informed me, in his Vegetable Statics, that the body is not always in a perspirable, but sometimes in an imbibing state, as he expresses it, and will at times actually grow heavier by being exposed to moist air. But this did not quite remove my difficulty, since, as these fits of ^ Cadwallader Golden, 1688-1776. Born in Scotland, came to America about 1708. Practised medicine in New York, where he was Lieutenant-Governor from 1761 until his death. Wrote a History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada. The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 17 imbibing did not appear to be regular or frequent, a blistering plaster might lie on the body a week, or a mercurial unguent be used a month, to no purpose, if the body should so long continue in a perspirable state. Your doctrine, which was quite new to me, makes all easy, since the body may perspire and absorb at the same time, through the different ducts destined to those different ends. I do not remember, that any anatomist, that has fallen in my way, has assigned any other cause of the motion of the blood through its whole circle, than the contractile force of the heart, by which that fluid is driven with violence into the arteries, and so continually propelled by repetitions of the same force, till it arrives at the heart again. iNIay we for our present purpose suppose another cause producing half the effect, and say that the ventricles of the heart, like syringes, draw when they dilate, as well as force when they contract? That this is not un- likely, may be judged from the valves nature has placed in the arteries, to prevent the drawing back of the blood in those vessels when the heart dilates, while no such obstacles prevent its sucking (to use the vulgar expression) from the A’eins. If this be allowed, and the insertion of the absorbents into the veins and of the perspirants into the arteries be agreed to, it will be of no importance in what direction they are inserted. For, as the branches of the arteries are continually lessening in their diameters, and the motion of the blood decreasing by means of the in- creased resistance, there must, as more is constantly pressed on behind, arise a kind of crowding in the extremities of those vessels, which will naturally force out what is contained in the perspirants that communicate with them. This lessens the quantity of blood, so that the heart cannot receive again by the veins all it had discharged into the arteries, which occasions it to draw strongly upon the absorbents, that communicate with them. And thus the body is continually perspiring and imbibing. Hence after long fasting the body is more liable to receive infection from bad air, and food before it is sufficiently chylified, is drawn crude into the blood by the absorbents that open into the bowels. In another letter to Colden he continues this discussion. Philadelphia, Nov. 28, 1745. . . . If there is no contrivance in the frame of the auricles or ventricles of the heart, by which they dilate themselves I cannot conceive IS University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin how they are dilated. It is said, by the force of the venal blood rushing into them. But if that blood has no force given to it by the contraction of the heart, how can it (diminished as it must be by the resisting fric- tion of the vessels it has passed through) be strong enough to overcome _ jJH B AEB . Fig. G. — Dr. John Bard. From an engraving by Lene}’, after Sliarpless. In the author’s collection. that contraction? Your doctrine of fermentation in the capillaries helps me a little; for if the returning blood be rarefied by the fermentation, its motion must be increased; but as it seems to me that it must by its ex- pansion resist the arterial blood behind it, as much as it accelerates the The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 19 venal blood before it, I am still somewhat unsatisfied. I have heard or read somewhere, too, that the hearts of some animals continue to contract and dilate, or to beat, as it is commonly expressed, after they are sepa- rated from the other vessels, and taken out of the body. If this be true, their dilatation is not caused by the force of the returning blood. . I have not the original of Dr. Mitchell’s^ tract on the Yellow Fever. IMine is a copy I had taken, with his leave, when here. I have a friend gone to New York with a view of settling there, if he can meet with encouragement. It is Dr. John Bard,^ whom I esteem an ingenious physician and surgeon, and a discreet, worthy, and honest man. If, upon conversation with him, you find this char- acter just, I doubt not but you will afford him your advice and counten- ance, which will be of great service to him in a place where he is entirely a stranger, and very much obliged. Sir, Your most humble servant. B. Franklin. In a letter to his mother he exhibits his natural curiosity about diseases: Philadelphia, Oct. 16, 1749. To Mrs. Abiah Franklin. Pray tell us Avhat kind of a sickness you have had in Boston this summer. Besides the measles and flux, which have carried off many children, we have lost some grown persons, by what we call the Yellow Fever; though that is almost, if not quite over, thanks to God, who has preserved all our family in perfect health. ^ Dr. John Mitchell, physician and botanist, who settled early in the eighteenth centiirj' at Urbanna, on the Rappahannock. A friend of Benjamin Franklin's. - John Bard, 1716-1799. Born near Philadelphia; moved to New York, where he practised medicine many years. He was the first President of the Medical Society of New York. Begged Frankhn to accept the dedication of one of his works. THE MEDICAL SIDE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. By William Peppeb, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology, University of Pennsylvania. The following short article was found by Sparks in Franklin’s hand- writing among the papers of Cadw^allader Golden. It was undated. It is a very clever and concise exposition: A Conjecture as to the Cause of the Heat of the Blood in Health, and of the Cold and Hot Fits of Some Fevers. The parts of fluids are so smooth, and roll among one another with so little friction, that they will not by any (mechanical) agitation grow warmer. A phial half full of water shook with violence and long con- tinued, the water neither heats itself nor warms the phial. Therefore the blood does not acquire its heat either from the motion and friction of its own parts, or its friction against the sides of its vessels. But the parts of solids, by reason of their closer adhesion, cannot move among themselves without friction, and that produces heat. Thus,' bend a plummet to and fro, and in the place of bending, it shall soon grow hot. Friction on any part of our flesh heats it. Clapping of the hands warm them. Exercise warms the whole body. The heart is a thick muscle, continually contracting and dilating nearly eighty times in a minute. By this motion there must be a con- stant interfriction of its constituent solid parts. That friction must pro- duce a heat, and that heat must consequently be continually communi- cated to the pel-fluent blood. To this may be added, that every propulsion of the blood by the contraction of the heart, distends the arteries, which contract again in the intermission, and this distension and contraction of the arteries may occasion heat in them, which they must likewise communicate to the blood that flows through them. That these causes of the heat of the blood are sufficient to produce the effect, may appear probable, if we consider that a fluid once warm 22 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin requires no more heat to be applied to it in any part of time to keep it warm, than what it shall lose in an equal part of time. A smaller force will keep a pendulum going, than what first set it in motion. The blood, thus warmed in the heart, carries warmth with it to the very extremities of the body, and communicates it to them; but, as by the means its heat is gradually diminished, it is returned again to the heart by the veins for a fresh calefaction. The blood communicates its heat, not only to the solids of our body, but to our clothes and to a portion of the circumambient air. Every breath, though drawn in cold, is expired warm, and every particle of the materia perspirabilis carries off with it a portion of heat. While the blood retains a due fluidity, it passes freely through the minutest vessels and communicates a proper warmth to the extremities of the body. But when by any means it becomes viscid, as not to be capable of passing those minute vessels, the extremities, as the blood can bring no more heat to them, grow cold. The same viscidity in the blood and juices checks or stops the per- spiration, by clogging the perspiratory ducts, or, perhaps, by not ad- mitting the perspirable parts to separate. Paper wet with size and water will not dry as soon as if wet with water only. A vessel of hot water, if the vapour can freely pass from it soon cools. If there be just fire enough under it to add continually the heat it loses, it retains the same degree, If the vessel be closed, so that the vapour may be retained, there will from the same fire be a continual accession of heat to the water, till it rises to a great degree. Or, if no fire be under it, it will retain the heat it first had for a long time. I have experienced, that a bottle of hot water stopped, and put in my bed at night, has retained so much heat seven or eight hours that I could not, in the morning, bear my foot against it, without some of the bed- clothes intervening. During the cold fit, then, perspiration being stopped, great part of the heat of the blood, that used to be dissipated, is confined and retained in the body; the heart continues its motion, and creates a constant accession to that heat; the inward parts grow very hot, and, by contact with the extremities, communicate that heat to them. The glue of the blood is by this heat dissolved, and the blood afterwards flows freely, as before the disorder. The Medical Side of Benjamm Franklin 23 To the Rev. Samuel Johnson^ he freely gives medical advice and good sensible advice it is : Philadelphia, September, 1750. Dear Sir: I am sorry to hear of your illness. If you have not been used to the fever-and-ague let me give you one caution. Don’t imagine yourself thoroughly cured, and so omit the use of the bark too soon. Remember to take the preventing doses faithfully. If you were to continue taking a dose or two every day for two or three weeks after the fits have left you, ’twould not be amiss. If you take the powder mixed quick in a tea-cup of milk, ’tis no way disagreeable, but looks and even tastes like chocolate. ’Tis an old saying, that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and certainly a true one, with regard to the bark; a little of which will do more in preventing the fits than a great deal in removing them. But if your health would permit, I should not expect the pleasure of seeing you soon. The smallpox spreads apace, and is now in all quarters; yet, as we have only children to have it, and the Doctors inoculate apace, I believe they will soon drive it through the town, so that you may possibly visit us with safety in the spring. Franklin was a good prognostician judging from his letter to Jared Eliot in which he says: Philadelphia, Dec. 10, 1751. Dear Sir: The Rector of our Academy, Mr. Martin, came over into this country on a Scheme for making Potash, in the Russian method. He Promis’d me some written Directions for you, which expecting daily, I delay’d writing, and now he lies dangerously ill of a kind of Quinsey. The Surgeons have been oblig’d to open his Windpipe, and introduce a leaden Pipe for him to breathe thro’. I fear he will not recover. . . . * Samuel Johnson, 1696-1772, of Stratford, Connecticut, scholar and divine. In 1743 was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Oxford. Franklin went to Stratford to trj^ and persuade Johnson to accept the position as head of the Acad- emy, which later became, as is well known, the University of Pennsylvania, but he became President of King’s College, later Columbia. Mr. David Martin was the Rector or chief professor. Dr. Johnson later suggested the name of William Smith as a likely man and he was chosen the first Provost of the College and Academy of Philadelphia. 24 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin He tells us of the fulfilment of this prophecy in a letter to Samuel Johnson, D.D. Philadelphia, December 24, 1751. I wrote to you in my last that Mr. Martin, our Rector, died suddenly of a quinsey. . . . / A sentence in a letter to Cadwallader Golden shows Franklin’s interest / in therapeutics. Philadelphia, April 23, ’52. . . . I am heartily glad to hear more Instances of the success of the Poke-Weed, in the Cure of that horrible Evil to the human Body, a Cancer. / Another reference to smallpox appears in the following letter, and demonstrates very plainly how closely Franklin studied this subject. Philadelphia, Aug. 13, 1752. To John Perkins, Sir: I received your favor of the 3rd instant. Some time last winter I procured from one of our physicians an account of the number of persons inoculated during the five visitations of the small-pox we have had in 22 years; which account I sent to Mr. W. V., of your town, and have no copy. If I remember right, the number exceeded 800, and the deaths were but 4. I suppose Mr. V. will shew you the account, if he ever received it. Those four were all that our doctors allow to have died of the small-pox by inoculation, though I think there were two more of the inoculated who died of the distemper, but the eruptions appearing soon after the operation, it is supposed they had taken the infection before in the common way. I shall be glad to see what Dr. Douglas may write on the subject. I have a French piece printed at Paris, 1724, entitled Observations sur la Saignee du Pied, et sur la Purgation, au commencement de la Petite Verole, et Raisons de Doubte contre V Inoculation. A letter of the doctor’s is mentioned in it. If he or you have it not, and desire to see it, I will send it. Please to favour me with the particulars of your purging method, to prevent the secondary fever. . . . On February 17, 1752, John Perkins had written to Franklin telling him that Boston was threatened with an epidemic of small-pox and that The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 25 some people Avere trying tar-water as a preventative. He would gladly try anything Mr. Franklin may have heard of. The next letter is worth quoting in full, giving as it does an account ! of Franklin’s invention of a flexible catheter: ^ Philadelphia, December 8, 1752. To John Franklin, Dear Brother: Reflecting yesterday on your desire to haA-e a flexible catheter, a thought struck into my mind, how one might probably be made, and lest you should not readily conceiA'e it by any description of mine, I went immedi- 17 -^ ately to the silA'er-smith’s and gaA^e directions for making one (sitting by till it was finished), that it might be ready for this post. But now it is done I liaA’e some apprehensions that it may be too large to be easy; if so, a sih’er-smith can easily make it less by twisting or turning it on a smaller wire, and putting a smaller pipe to the end, if the pipe is really necessary. This machine may either be covered with small fine gut, first cleaned and soaked a night in a solution of alum and salt and water, then rubbed dry, which Avill preseiwe it longer from putrefaction; then wet again and drawn on and tied to the pipes at each end, where little hollows are made for the thread to bind in and the surface greased. Or perhaps, it may be used without the gut, having only a little tallow rubbed OA^er it, to smooth it and fill the joints. I think it is as flexible as would be expected in a thing of the kind, and I imagine Avill readily comply with the turns of the passage, yet has stiffness enough to be pro- truded; if not, the enclosed Avire may be used to stiffen the hinder part of the pipe while the forepart is pushed forward, and as it proceeds the wire may be gradually withdrawn. The tube is of such a nature,, that 1 when you occasion to withdraw it its diameter will lessen, whereby’ it j will moA'e more easily. It is a kind of screw and may be both Avithdrawn and introduced by turning. Experience is necessary for the right using of all new tools or instruments, and that will perhaps suggest some improA^ements to this instrument as well as better direct the manner of using it. I have read Whytt^ on Lime-Water. You desire my thought on Avhat 1 Robert Whytt (1714^1766), President of the Royal College of Physicians, of Edinburgh, author of, “On the Virtues of Lime Water in the Cure of Stone.” His treatment for stone was simply lime water and soap. 26 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin he says. But what can I say? He relates facts and experiments, and they must be allowed good, if not contradicted by other facts and experiments. May not one guess, by holding limewater some time in one’s mouth whether it is likely to injure the bladder? I know not what to advise, either as to the injection or the opera- tion. I can only pray to God to direct you for the best and to grant success. I am, my dear brother, yours most affectionately, B. Franklin. I found Whytt’s experiments are approved and recommended by Dr. Mead. He never missed an opportunity to stock his mind with information about even the simplest matters of living and health. Philadelphia, June 6, 1753. To Joseph Huey, Sir; I received your kind Letter of the 2d inst, and am glad to hear that you increase in Strength; I hope you will continue mending, ’till you recover your former Health and firmness. Let me know whether you still use the Cold Bath, and what Effect it has. . . . There are several references to Franklin’s treating patients with ‘ ' appears in a letter to John Lining under date of - hlarch 18, 1755, in which he says: . . . You suppose it a dangerous experiment, but I had once suffered the same myself, receiving by accident, an equal stroke through my head, that struck me down, without hurting me; and I had seen a young woman, that was about to be electrified through the feet, (for some indisposition) receive a greater charge through the head, by in- advertently stooping forward to look at the placing of her feet, till her forehead (as she was very tall) came too near my prime-conductor She dropt, but instantly got up again, complaining of nothing. . . . A curious reference is the following: The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 27 Philadelphia, June 26, 1755. To Peter Collinson.^ Please to give the enclos’d concerning an extraordinary Worm bred in a Woman’s Liver to Dr. Clephane^ . . . In 1754 Dr. Thomas Bond published in Vol. I of The Medical Observa- tions and Inquiries, an article entitled “A Worm, and a Horrid One, Found in the Liver.” This was written in the form of a letter to Dr. Clephane. A sample of Franklin’s medical treatment is here shown: Frederictown, Virgmia, March 21, 1756. Sunday. To Mrs. Deborah Franklin, My Dear Child: We got here yesterday Afternoon, and purpose sailing to-day if the Wind be fair. Peter was taken ill with a Fever and Pain in his Side before I got to Newcastle. I had him blooded there, and put him into the Chair wrapt up warm, as he could not bear the Motion of the Horse, and got him here pretty comfortably. He went immediately to bed, and took some Camomile Tea, and this Morning is about again and almost well. The next reference to the treatment of cases of nervous diseases by electricity is given in a letter to John Pringle® in which Franklin describes ' Peter Collinson, 1693-1768, English naturalist. Member of Royal Society. Did much for the Philadelphia Library. Franklin’s first papers on Electricity were originally communicated to him and were presented by him before the Royal Society. “Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia, in America, by Mr. Benjamin Franklin, London: E. Cave, 1751.” This pamphlet was given to the press by Collinson and again, “Supplemental Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Part II, made at Philadelphia in America, by Benjamin Franklin, Esq., and communicated in several Letters to P. Collinson, Esq., of London, F.R.S. London: E. Cave, 1753.” ^ Dr. John Clephane . . . 1758, Physician to St. George’s Hospital. ^ Sir John Pringle, 1707-1782. A British physician born in Scotland, Chief Physician to the Army in Flanders, Physician to the Queen, President of the Royal Society from 1772 until 1778, when he resigned upon the King’s suggestion. The story being that the question arose as to the relative merits of sharp or blunt points on the proposed lightning rods of Kew Palace. The King and his friends beUeved in blimt points, while the scientists held that sharp points would be preferable. Pringle was asked by the King for his opinion, and was given to understand that he 28 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin Ij his method of treatment and his candid opinion upon the results to be !! expected. A thoroughly unbiased opinion it seems to be. A very interesting letter: Craven Street, Dec. 21, 1757. To John Pringle, Sir: In compliance with your request, I send you the following account of what I can at present recollect relating to the effects of electricity in paralytic cases, which have fallen under my observation. Some years since, when the newspapers made mention of great cures performed in Italy and Germany, by means of electricity, a number of paralytics were brought to me from different parts of Pennsylvania, and the neighboring provinces, to be electrised, which I did for them at , their request. My method was, to place the patient first in a chair, on |; an electric stool, and draw a number of large sparks from all parts of the affected limb or side. Then I fully charged two six gallon glass I jars, each of which had about three square feet of surface coated, and I sent the united shock of these through the affected limb or limbs, re- ' peating the stroke commonly three times each day. The first thing observed, was an immediate greater sensible warmth in the lame limbs that had received the stroke, than in the others; and the next morning the patients usually related, that they had in the night felt a pricking sen- sation in the flesh of the paralytic limbs; and would sometimes shew a number of small red spots, which they supposed were occasioned by those prickings. The limbs, too, were found more capable of voluntary motion, and seemed to receive strength. A man, for instance, who could not, the first day, lift the lame hand from off his knee, would the next day raise it four or five inches, the third day higher, and on the fifth day was able but with a feeble languid motion, to take off his hat. ( should decide for blunt points. This Sir John refused to do, and hinted that the laws of nature were not changeable at Royal pleasure; and so he lost his place as President. An epigram written by some wit of the time describes this squabble: “ While you, great George, for safety hunt. And sharp conductors change for blunt. The nations out of joint. Franklin a wiser course pursues. And all your thunder fearless views. By keeping to the point.” The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 29 These appearances gave great spirits to the patients, and made them hope a perfect cure; but I do not remember that I ever saw any amend- - ment after the fifth day, which the patients perceiving, and finding the shocks pretty severe, they became discouraged, went home, and in a oJ'-- 3'- short time relapsed, so that I never knew any advantage from electricity in Palsies that was permanent. And how far the apparent temporary advantage might arise from the exercise in the patents’ journey coming daily to my house, or from the spirits given by the hope of success enabling them to exert more strength in moving their limbs, I will not pretend to 7 say. Perhaps some permanent advantage might have been obtained, if I the electric shocks had been accompanied with proper medicine and ' regimen, under the direction of a skillful physician. It may be, too, that a few great strokes, as given in my method, may not be so proper as many small ones, since, by the account from Scotland of a case in^’ which two hundred shocks from a phial were given daily, it seems, I that a perfect cure has been made. As to any uncommon strength supposed to be in the machine used in that case, I imagine it could have no share in the effect produced, since the strength of the shock from charged glass is in proportion to the quantity of surface of the glass coated, so that my shocks from those large jars must have been much greater than any that could be received from a phial held in the hand. I am, with great respect. Sir, Your most obedient servant, B. Franklin. That Sir John thought well of Franklin’s views on this subject is apparent in this letter that he WTOte him. Dear Sir: I take the liberty to beg that you would come as soon as you can to I the Duke of Ancaster’s in Berkely Square, as His Grace and the Duchess are in the greatest distress about their daughter, who has been long in a most miserable condition with spasms and convulsions. After all that we have done, the distemper remains obstinate and therefore the Parents have thought of electrifying Her. I have recommended the operation to be performed by Spence and the rather as the present spasm has shut 30 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin the young Lady’s jaw and deprived Her both of speech and swallowing. I ventured to name you as the person most proper for directing the operation, trusting to your friendship to me and humanity towards the distressed. Their Graces both join in begging this favour, and I gave them hopes that you would not refuse it. I am Dr Sir, Your most affectionate humble servant John Pringle. Fig. 7. — Sir John Pringle, M.D. Engraved by Mote, after the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 31 Berkeley Square, Friday, 11 o’cl. As the young lady is at Chelsea, the Duke’s coach is sent to bring ' you first to the Duke’s house in Berkeley Square and afterwards to Chelsea. In a very long letter to John Lining^ under date of June 17, 1758, in which Franklin discusses the subject of evaporation and its effect upon bodily temperature, a very readable discourse, but too long for^ quotation, he ends with the to him never-to-be-neglected practical side of the subject thus: . . . To these queries of imagination, I will only add one practical observation, that where ever it is thought proper to give ease, in cases of painful infiamation in the flesh (as from burnings, or the like), by cooling the part, linen cloths wet with spirit, and applied to the part inflamed, will produce the coolness required, better than if wet with water, and will continue it longer. For water, though cold when first applied, will soon acquire warmth from the flesh, as it does not evapor- ate fast enough, but the cloths wet with spirit, will continue cold as long as any spirit is left to keep up the evaporation, the parts warmed escaping as soon as they are warmed, and carrying off the heat with them. I am. Sir, etc., B. F. The following quotation from George W. Norris’ The Early History of Medicine in Philadelphia, published in 1886, shows Franklin’s interest in inoculation and how he helped the good cause. “Inoculation, however, did not make that progress among the people which was looked for, and Dr. Franklin, at that time in London, who was now a warm upholder of the practice, believing that the expense of the operation, which he says ‘was pretty high in some parts of America,’ might have been in the way of its adoption, judged that a pamphlet written by a skilful practitioner, showing what preparation should be used before the inoculation of children, and the precaution necessary to avoid giving the infection at the same time in the common way, how the operation was to be performed and ‘on the appearance of what symptoms a physician was to be called,’ might be a means of removing ' Dr. John Lining, 1708-1760, practised medicine in Charlestown, South Carolina. Wrote in 1753 a “History of Yellow Fever.” 32 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin that objection of expense, render its adoption more general, and thereby save the lives of thousands, 'prevailed upon Dr. William Heberden' to write some account of the success of Innoculation, and Plain Instruc- Fig. 8. — Dr. William Heberden. Engraved by J. Thomson, from the portrait by Sir W. Beechey. tions for the same,’ and that gentleman generously, at his own expense, printed a very large impression of the work, which was distributed in America. It was handsomely issued in a cjuarto form in 1759.” 1 William Heberden, 1710-1801. An eminent English physician. Fellow of the Royal Society. Great classical scholar. Author of “Medical Commentaries.” The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 33 A number of Franklin’s letters to Miss Stevenson^ contain pertinent allusions to medicine, among them the example here copied: Fig. 9. — Dinner Invitation of Dr. Heberden to Franklin. From the original in the possession of the author. Craven St., Aug. 10, 1761. Dear Polly. I have a singular Opinion on this subject, which I will venture to com- municate to you, tho’ I doubt you will rank it among my Whims. It is certain that the Skin has imbibing as well as discharging pores, witness the Effect of a Blister Plaister, etc. I have read, that a Man, hired by a physician to stand by way of Experiment in the open Air naked during a moist Night, weighed near 3 Pounds heavier in the jNIorning. I have often observed myself, that however thirsty I may have been going into the Water to swim, I am never so in the Water. These imbibing Pores, however, are very fine, perhaps fine enough in filtring to separate Salt from Water, for, tho’ I have soak’d by Swimming, when a Boy, several Hours in the Day for several Days successively in Salt water, I never found my Blood and Juices salted by that means, so as to make me thirsty or feel a salt Taste in my Mouth; and it is re- markable, that the Flesh of the Sea Fish, tho’ bred in Salt Water, is not Salt. Mrs. Margaret Stevenson kept a boarding house at No. 7 Craven St., London, and here Benjamin Frankhn hved during the fifteen years of his stay in London. Her daughter, Mary Stevenson, was a great friend of Benjamin Frankhn’s and to her he wrote many of his most interesting and dehghtful letters. Miss Stevenson married Dr. Wm. Hewson, and after her husband’s death, at Dr. Franklin’s sugges- tion, she removed with her children to Philadelphia. 34 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin Hence I imagine, that, if People at sea, distress’d by Thirst when their fresh Water is unfortunately spent, would make Bathing Tubs of their empty Water-Casks, and, filling them with Sea Water, sit in them an hour or two each Day, they might be greatly reliev’d. Perhaps keeping their Clothes constantly wet might have an almost equal Effect, and this without Danger of catching cold. IMen do not catch Cold by wet Fig. 10. — Dr. William Shippen, Jr. Etched by H. Wright Smith after the painting by Stuart. Clothes at Sea. Damp, but not wet Linen may possibly give Colds, but no one catches cold by Bathing, and no Clothes can be wetter than Water itself. \^Tiy damp Clothes should then occasion Colds, is a curious Question, the Discussion of which I reserve for a future Letter or some future Conversation. Adieu my dear Little Philosopher. Present my respectful Compli- The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin 35 merits to the good Ladies, your Aunts, and to Miss Pitt, and believe me ever. Your affectionate Friend, and Humble Servant, B. Franklin. The following letter demonstrates how much Dr. Shippen^ and Dr. Morgan were indebted for their reception in Edinburgh, where they both graduated. x'Vs is of course welt known, these two young men were the Fig. 11. — Dr. John Morgan. Etched by H. B. Hall after the portrait by Angehca Kauffman in the possession of the University of Pennsylvania. ^ WiUiam Shippen, Jr., 1736-1808. Graduated from the College of New Jersey and then went abroad, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1762. He studied Anatomy with John Hunter, and Midwifery imder William Himter and Dr. McKenzie. On his return home in 1762, he dehvered private courses of lectmes upon Anatomy, with dissections, and upon Midwifery, which were the first given in this country. He was largely instrumental in insti- tuting the practice of this branch of medicine among physicians. On September^ 17, 1765, he was elected Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the College of Philadelphia. In 1777 he was appointed by Congress to succeed Dr. Morgan as Director General of the Medical Department of the Army. 36 University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin founders of the present Medical Department of the University of Penn- sylvania. London, Oct. 21, 1761. To William Cullen, ' M.D. . . . I thank you for the civilities you were so good as to shew my friend, Mr. Shippen, whom I took the liberty of recommending to your notice the last year. The bearer, Mr. Morgan, who purposes to reside 0 . {('ADjpjfLU uamffXmmp IIIOIII l(. III ta. ;'^,iiniBiK ni'5ifc^miT)atror(:|.^v.?r^ nantit artio, lolomitullint n'u ]K||cti|/c^inG