Refr: G-M 80 Prov: Bookplate of Robt. Ritchie MD Note: Benjamin Rush was born in Byberry, Pennsylvania, and studied medicine at Edinburgh where he graduated M.D. in 1768. In 1769 he became professor of chemistry at Philadelphia. A friend of Benjamin Franklin and one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence, Rush was one of the most influential figures in the first hundred years of American medicine. His greatest contributions were his clinical observations, first published between 1789 and 1793. Volume 1 includes an account of the habits, diseases and remedies of the Indians of North American, and a description of the climate of Pennsylvania and its influence upon the human body. Other volumes contain descriptions of various epidemics in Philadelphia, and a defence of bloodletting. (See Major, A history of medicine, pp.724-730) "Rush probably had more influence on American medicine than any other single man." (G-M)
