RUSH, Benjamin, Signer (Pennsylvania) . Autograph letter signed ("Benj; Rush") to Dr. John Stevenson of Snowhill, Maryland; Philadelphia, 14 June 1802. 1½ pages, 4to. Integral address leaf, minor seal hole. RUSH EXTOLLS JENNER'S DISCOVERY OF VACCINATION: "THE GREATEST DISCOVERY, AND THE MOST EXTENSIVE BLESSING TO MANKIND, OF THE 18TH CENTURY" Rush, who at this date was serving a director of the U.S. Mint, sends an evident former pupil at the University of Pennsylvania directions for inoculation and vaccination, as practiced by Edward Jenner, and heaps superlatives on Jenner's remarkable discovery: "The printed directions which accompany this letter contain everything that is necessary to be known to enable you to vaccinate with safety & success. We have adopted the practice universally in Philad a., and consider it as the greatest discovery, and the most extensive blessing to mankind, of the 18th century." He expresses pleasure at Stevenson's "success in the treatment of Dropsies by the use of remedies taught in our University. It helps to console your Professor for the oceans of abuse that have been poured upon him by his medical brethren in Philad a. For his attempts to extend the usefulness of the Science of Medicine. I thank you for your account of the weather, products of the earth...The most apparently uninteresting words of that kind are necessary to form a complete system of Epidemics...." Rush, who had briefly served as physician to the Continental Army, had become embroiled in the Conway cabal and resigned in 1778; returning to private practice, he became an influential teacher at the University of Pennsylvania medical school; he argued for the simplification of diagnosis and treatment, established the nation's first free dispensary (1786), lobbied for the humane treatment of the mentally ill and actively promoted innoculation and vaccination against smallpox.
RUSH, Benjamin, Signer (Pennsylvania) . Autograph letter signed ("Benj; Rush") to Dr. John Stevenson of Snowhill, Maryland; Philadelphia, 14 June 1802. 1½ pages, 4to. Integral address leaf, minor seal hole. RUSH EXTOLLS JENNER'S DISCOVERY OF VACCINATION: "THE GREATEST DISCOVERY, AND THE MOST EXTENSIVE BLESSING TO MANKIND, OF THE 18TH CENTURY" Rush, who at this date was serving a director of the U.S. Mint, sends an evident former pupil at the University of Pennsylvania directions for inoculation and vaccination, as practiced by Edward Jenner, and heaps superlatives on Jenner's remarkable discovery: "The printed directions which accompany this letter contain everything that is necessary to be known to enable you to vaccinate with safety & success. We have adopted the practice universally in Philad a., and consider it as the greatest discovery, and the most extensive blessing to mankind, of the 18th century." He expresses pleasure at Stevenson's "success in the treatment of Dropsies by the use of remedies taught in our University. It helps to console your Professor for the oceans of abuse that have been poured upon him by his medical brethren in Philad a. For his attempts to extend the usefulness of the Science of Medicine. I thank you for your account of the weather, products of the earth...The most apparently uninteresting words of that kind are necessary to form a complete system of Epidemics...." Rush, who had briefly served as physician to the Continental Army, had become embroiled in the Conway cabal and resigned in 1778; returning to private practice, he became an influential teacher at the University of Pennsylvania medical school; he argued for the simplification of diagnosis and treatment, established the nation's first free dispensary (1786), lobbied for the humane treatment of the mentally ill and actively promoted innoculation and vaccination against smallpox.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
