Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1906. 
Benjamin  Franklin. 
217 
in  the  project  and  how,  by  the  introduction  of  political  strategy,  he 
was  able  to  secure  from  the  members  of  the  Assembly  of  the  Prov- 
ince of  Pennsylvania  the  provisional  grant  of  a  considerable  sum  of 
money  to  be  applied  to  the  founding,  building  and  furnishing  of  the 
new  institution. 
This  provisional  grant  by  the  Assembly  was  in  turn  used  as  an 
incentive  tor  the  citizens  to  increase  their  contributions  and  thus 
worked  both  ways. 
Benjamin  Franklin,  in  addition  to  being  instrumental  in  founding 
the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  also  acted  as  clerk  to  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  for  a  number  of  years.  In  this  latter  capacity  he  prepared 
and  published  a  history  of  the  hospital  "  From  its  first  rise  to  the 
beginning  of  the  Fifth  Month,  called  May,  1754."  This  history  was 
designed  to  bring  the  institution  to  the  attention  of  prospective  con- 
tributors and  appears  to  have  been  considered  useful  in  this  respect, 
as  it  was  reprinted  on  several  occasions,  the  last  time  in  18 17. 
So  far  as  known  this  also  appears  to  be  the  first  attempt  to  record 
the  history  of  an  institution  of  this  kind  and  may  be  considered  as 
being  the  first  history  of  medicine  written  or  printed  in  the  United 
States. 
This  brings  to  mind,  too,  that  Benjamin  Franklin  appears  to  have 
been  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  publisher  of  medical  books  and 
pamphlets  in  the  British  Colonies.  As  early  as  1734  he  published 
an  edition  of  the  "  Poor  Planter's  Physician,"  under  the  title  of 
"  Every  Man  His  Own  Doctor,  or  the  Poor  Planter's  Physician. 
Prescribing  plain  and  easy  means  for  persons  to  cure  themselves  of 
all  or  most  of  the  distempers  incident  to  this  climate,  and  with  very 
little  charge,  the  medicines  being  chiefly  of  the  growth  and  produc- 
tion of  this  country."  This  book  was  probably  written  by  John 
Tennent  and  originally  printed  at  Williamsburg.  It  was  subse- 
quently reprinted  in  several  forms  and  also  translated  into  German. 
Among  other  medical  publications  from  the  press  of  Benjamin 
Franklin  we  find : 
"An  Essay  on  the  Iliac  Passion  "  by  Dr.  Cadwallader  Colden,  in 
1741. 
"An  Essay  on  the  West  India  Dry  Gripes,  with  the  method  of 
preventing  and  curing  that  cruel  distemper,"  by  Dr.  Thomas 
Cadwalader,  1745. 
"A  letter  to  a  friend ;  Containing  remarks  on  a  discourse  propos- 
