Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Rush (December 24, 1745 - April 19, 1813) was an American physician, educator, chemist, writer, and Founding Father. He was one of Pennsylvania's delegates to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He is called the "Father of American Psychiatry" for his work with mental illness. Every physician in America up until the Civil War was influenced by the practices and teachings of Dr. Rush.
Early Life and Education
Rush was born on the outskirts of Philadelphia in Byberry Township. His father, a gunsmith, died when Benjamin was 6 years old and he was raised by his mother. He began his formal education at the age of 8 at the Nottingham Academy, under the tutelage of his Presbyterian uncle, the Reverend Steve Finley. At the age of 13 he was accepted into the College of New Jersey, a Presbyterian school which is known today as Princeton University. Two years later he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree decided to pursue a medical career. His uncle secured him a six year apprenticeship with the leading physician in Philadelphia, Dr. John Redman. Rush proved to be a skillful apprentice, and in 1766 he traveled to London and enrolled at the University of Edinburgh, the top medical school in the world. In London, Rush wrote to the most famous American in England, Benjamin Franklin, in hopes of having him write letters of introduction to his connections at Edinburgh. Although Franklin and Rush had never met, the letters were written and it began a lifelong friendship between the two men. Rush excelled at Edinburgh and after his first year he was admited into the exclusive Medical Society. Rush was also converted to republicanism by a schoolmate, who convinced him to redirect his anger at Parliament over the Stamp Act of 1765 towards the monarch instead. Rush would graduate from Edinburgh in 1768 and time in London and Paris cultivating his professional and political mind before returning to Philadelphia in 1769.
Philadelphia's Physician
Rush faced the challenge of establishing a practice in a city split among religious lines and already having a good amount of quality physicians. Consequently, he began his practice by focusing on the poor. He formed the Society for Inoculating the Poor which provided free smallpox vaccinations. He also had a profitable apprenticeship program, teaching seven or more apprentices at a time for a fee.
On August 1, 1769, Rush was chosen by the board of trustees of the College of Philadelphia (renamed University of Pennsylvania in 1789) as professor of chemistry. He was the first person to hold such a position in the colonies. He also wrote Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on Chemistry, the first American chemistry textbook.
Rush made his first medical publication on October 14, 1769, titled Dissertation on the Spasmodic Asthma of Children. He went on to write and publish a series of essays that dealt with dieting, physical exercise, and the gout. On November 2, 1770, in a speech before the American Philosophical Society, Rush attacked the popular medical practices of the day, which were influenced by Hermann Boerhaave. His radical new ideas on medicine caused him to be an outcast among his peers, who would subsequently stop sending him referrals.
Despite being at odds with the medical and religious communities, his success continued to grow. The income from his publications, his salary from teaching, and his number of patients doubling from 1772-1773, allowed for him to be financially secure enough to consider marriage and becoming more politically active.
Opposition to Slavery
Rush was also a prominent abolitionist,. In 1773, he wrote the pamphlet An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America, upon Slave-Keeping. The pamphlet, written in support of piece of legislation to increase import taxes on slaves, attacked the popular claim that by treating slaves well they were afforded a better life than if they were free.
Bibliography
- Brodsky, Alyn. Benjamin Rush: Patriot and Physician (New York: Truman Talley, 2004)