Rush, Benjamin, Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania

Autograph letter signed ("Benj^{n Rush"), 4 pages with integral address leaf(10 x 8 in.; 254 x 204 mm), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 23 May 1804, to Dr John S. Dorsey in London, American and British postal inkstamps; silked on recto, seal tear mended affecting one word, a few dampstains. Half-morocco clamshell box.}

Robert Proud (his sale, Henkels, Philadelphia, 8 May 1903, lot 86)

Letters of Benjamin Rush, vol. 2: 1793-1813 (1951), p. 883

silked on recto, seal tear mended affecting one word, a few dampstains.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

An intimate view of early American medical education at U. Penn.

Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) was an active and influential physician in Philadelphia from before the Revolution until his death. Appointed to the staff of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in 1783, he is the author of several important textbooks, including the first devoted to mental illness. Here he is writing to his nephew John S. Dorsey,  a surgeon who studied at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his M.D. in 1802, who had gone to London to augment his experience.

Rush earned his medical degree in Edinburgh and had the greatest respect for English medicine but, as a proponent of bloodletting, he notes: "Their practice in fevers is probably perfectly correct, notwithstanding they do not use the lancet as liberally as your fathers in medicine. The luxurious or scanty dirt, and the great excess which prevails among the citizens of London in labor and pleasure, all alike concur to prevent that reaction in the System which renders Bleeding necessary, and Bark, and other Stimulating remedies, hurtful in the fevers of your native country."

Dr. Rush encourages Dorsey to return and join him in Philadelphia: "A wide field opens for medical investigations in the United States. The walls of the 'Old School' are daily falling about the ears of its masters and Scholars. Come, and assist your Uncle and his friends in erecting a new fabric upon its ruins. ... We expect to confer the first medical honor of our university upon fifteen young men on the 6th of next June. Four of them are my pupils [he lists them, including his son, and their topics] ... The subjects of the Thesis of the young gentlemen who do not belong to my Shop are chiefly upon pathological or practical subjects." The letter closes with family news, and the expression of compliments to British doctors of his acquaintance.