Harlow Giles Unger - Dr. Benjamin Rush: The Founding Father Who Healed a Wounded Nation

Copyright 2018 Harlow Giles Unger

Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the authors intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authors rights.

Da Capo Press

Hachette Book Group

1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

dacapopress.com

@DaCapoPress, @DaCapoPR

First Da Capo Press edition 2018

Published by Da Capo Press, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Da Capo Press name and logo is a trademark of the Hachette Book Group.

The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to www.hachettespeakersbureau.com or call (866) 376 6591.

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Unger, Harlow G., 1931

Title: Dr. Benjamin Rush : the founding father who healed a wounded nation / Harlow Giles Unger.

Other titles: Founding father who healed a wounded nation

Description: First Da Capo press edition. | New York, NY: Da Capo Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018012566 (print) | LCCN 2018012680 (ebook) | ISBN 9780306824333 (e-book) | ISBN 9780306824326 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Rush, Benjamin, 1746-1813. | StatesmenUnited StatesBiography. | United States. Declaration of IndependenceSignersBiography. | RevolutionariesUnited StatesBiography. | PhysiciansPennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaBiography. | College teachersPennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaBiography. | University of PennsylvaniaFacultyBiography. | United StatesPolitics and government17751783. | Social reformersUnited StatesBiography. | Philadelphia (Pa.)Biography.

Classification: LCC E302.6.R85 (ebook) | LCC E302.6.R85 U55 2018 (print) |

DDC 973.3092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018012566

ISBNs: 978-0-306-82432-6 (hardcover), 978-0-306-82433-3 (ebook)

E3-20180730-JV-NF

Frontispiece: Portrait of Benjamin Rush, M.D., by Charles Willson Peale, 1783. (W INTERTHUR M USEUM )

To my father, Lester J. Unger, M.D., and five generations of physicians and surgeons in my family who, like Benjamin Rush, M.D., devoted their lives to the care and healing of humanity and advancement of science.

Herman Jarecky, M.D. (18631937)

Arthur S. Unger, M.D. (18831967)

Lester J. Unger, M.D. (18881974)

Jonas J. Unger, M.D. (18911967)

Roger H. Unger, M.D.

Harold M. Unger, M.D. (19262015)

James Edwin Unger, M.D.

Stephen Wise Unger, M.D.

Joshua Mostkoff Unger, M.D.

M Y SINCERE THANKS to the physicians who were gracious enough to vet this manuscript and its many sections dealing with technical and scientific aspects of eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century medicine and psychiatry. John A. Fracchia, M.D., was especially kind in sharing his knowledge of medicine, science, and American history. In addition, vascular surgeon Joshua Mostkoff Unger, M.D. was most helpful in checking the accuracy of the sections on blood, while psychiatrist Theodore J. Jacobs, M.D.an author himselfwas kind enough to examine the critical materials on psychiatry.

I am also grateful to Valerie-Anne Lutz, head of Manuscripts Processing at the American Philosophical Society Library in Philadelphia, for finding the Julia Rush letters cited in this bookand, to my knowledge, never before published. To that end, my thanks also go to Joseph DiLullo at APS for converting the delicate, difficult-to-read Julia Rush letters into legible documents. Ms. Lutz, Mr. DiLullo, and the staff at the American Philosophical Society Library made my research a rewarding and joyful experience.

Finally, I owe an enormous debt of thanks to Robert Pigeon, a great friend and mentor as well as executive editor at Da Capo Press of the Perseus Books Group and my editor for eight books over ten years. And although their names never appear on this or any other book covers, the members of the wonderful publishing and editorial team at Da Capo Press deserve recognition along with my personal thanks for the great skills they demonstrated in producing this bookand for their friendship. In addition to Robert Pigeon, they include John Radziewicz, Publisher; Lissa Warren, Vice-President, Director of Publicity; Kevin Hanover, Vice-President, Director of Marketing; Matthew Weston, Marketing Manager; Cisca Schreefel, Manager, Editorial Production; Justin Lovell, Assistant Editor; Trish Wilkinson, Designer; and Martha Whitt, Copy Editor. Im grateful to you all. My deepest thanks as well to website designer/developer Tom Bowler for his magnificent work on my website.

January 4, 1746 Benjamin Rush born in Byberry Township, on Delaware River near Philadelphia.

17541759 Attends uncles academy; prepares for College of New Jersey at Princeton.

17591760 Attends Princeton; graduates with B.A.

17611766 Medical apprentice to Dr. John Redman, Philadelphia.

17661768 Attends University of Edinburgh (Scotland) Medical School; graduates with M.D.; advance medical studies in London; befriended by Benjamin Franklin, other London luminaries; visits Paris.

1769 Begins practicing medicine in Philadelphia; named Professor of Chemistry, College of Philadelphia.

1770 Publishes first American chemistry text.

1772 Founds American temperance movement; publishes works on dangers of drink, tobacco.

1773 Joins abolition movement.

1774 Joins American Philosophical Society; publishes landmark work on native Americans; hosts Continental Congress leaders; helps Thomas Paine write Common Sense.

1776 Marries Julia Stockton; elected to Continental Congress; signs Declaration of Independence.

1777 Goes to war; appointed Surgeon General, Middle Department; serves in field and military hospitals.

1778 Resigns over mistreatment of wounded troops; publishes historic proposals for saving soldiers lives.

1780 Testifies in court martial of director of military hospitals; resumes practicing medicine.

1783 Joins staff of Pennsylvania Hospital; founds Dickinson College.

1786 Helps found Philadelphia Dispensary, the first free clinic in America for the poor.

1787 Joins College of Physicians of Philadelphia; helps found Franklin College in Lancaster; elected to Pennsylvania Constitution-ratification convention; emerges as leading American humanitarian: calls for free public schools and universal education, womens rights, penal reform, an end to capital punishment, humane care for the mentally ill, other social reforms.

1789 Named professor of medicine at College of Philadelphia; publishes first volume of epic four-volume Medical Inquiries and Observations. (See Appendix A, ).

1791 Helps found Philadelphias first church for African Americans.

1792 Appointed professor of medicine at University of Pennsylvania Medical School.