LETTER CCXLIII. From the same. Philadelphia, Oct. 26, 1786. * You have suggested a number of excellent hints for the improvement and extension of knowledge in America. But, my friend, who shall undertake to carry such hints into execution? Philosophy does not here, as in England, walk abroad in silver slippers; the physicians (who are the most general repositories of science) are chained down by the drudgery of their professions; so as to be precluded from exploring our woods and mountains. Besides, there are not men of learning enough in America as yet, to furnish the stimulus of literary fame to difficult and laborious literary pursuits. I have felt the force of this passion; Alas! my friend, I have found it in our country to be nothing but "avarice of air." B. R. Dear Sir, LETTER CCXLIV. From the same. Philadelphia, May 18, 1787. To a person who rejoices in the extension of the empire of humanity, and above all, to a pupil and admirer of the celebrated Mr. Howard, the inclosed publication, I am sure, will be an acceptable communication. The institution has grown out of his excellent history of Prisons, aided in a small degree by the pamphlet lately published in this city upon the effects of public punishments upon criminals and society. The society at present consists chiefly of the people called Quakers: hence the peculiarity of the style of some of the sections of the constitution. I beg you would shew it to Mr. Howard, (if returned to London,) or publish it in some of your periodical papers. I have sent you a packet by Captain Willet, containing some copies of the constitution of the Society for abolishing Negro Slavery, to be distributed agreeably to their directions. Dr. Franklin is President of it. We expect to petition our Convention next week to make the suppression of the African trade in the United States an essential article of the new Confederation. Yours, sincerely, BENJAMIN RUSH. Dear Sir, LETTER CCXLV. From the same. Philadelphia, May 4, 1788. Nothing but a matter deeply concerning the interests of science and justice, should have induced me to trouble you with a letter by the packet. A certain Mr. Rumsay, from Virginia, (strongly recommended by General Washington,) lately produced a plan of a machine in our city, for improving the steam-engine, by reducing the fuel consumed by them to an eighth part of the usual quantity. This plan, it is suspected, has been copied, with a few trifling variations, by a person in this city, (equally known for plagiarism in philosophy, and a licentious opposition to the proposed constitution of the United States,) and transmitted to Mr. Bolton, of London, with a view of obtaining a patent for it. The only design of this letter is to request you to suggest the above information to Mr. Bolton, and to assure him that proper vouchers will be sent to him by Captain Willet, or Captain Sutton, in a few weeks; which will irrefragably prove that the sole honour of the invention belongs to Mr. Rumsay, and that if any emolument is to arise from it, he alone is entitled to it. Mr. Rumsay possesses a very uncommon mechanical genius. He has invented a boat which sails, by means of steam, four miles an hour, against the stream; he expects to increase the velocity of this boat to ten miles an hour, by the application of the principles of his new steam-engine to the discovery. His modesty is equal to his talents for invention. In behalf of his friends (who are among the worthiest citizens,) I write to you in his favour. Your name and character are well known in our city. We look up to you to protect genius, to detect and defeat fraud, and to reward industry and integrity in a country which has exhibited so many shining examples of them all in the promotion of science. Many thanks to you for the seeds of the Mangel Wurzel. I have distributed them extensively. To our great and good Virginia farmer, General Washington, I have sent the largest number of them. I have likewise published, in our papers, an extract from your preface to the third edition of the pamphlet respecting the English mode of cultivating them. I am, Yours, &c. BENJAMIN RUSH. Dear Sir, LETTER CCXLVI. From the same. Philadelphia, April 21, 1788. I sit down to inform you of the great pleasure I have enjoyed, from hearing and reading of the progress of justice and humanity in Great Britain as far as they relate to the abolition of the African trade, as also to communicate a few facts to you upon this important subject. In the year 1772, I published two tracts in defence of the poor Africans, both of which you will find, I believe, in the possession of Mr. Granville Sharp. In the last of those tracts I took a view of the effects of slavery upon the health and lives of the negroes, and mentioned from respectable authorities, the diseases which were entailed upon them by their peculiar situation. As few, or none of these facts have been taken notice of in any of the late publications upon this subject, I shall take the liberty of repeating them in this letter, in order to mix one more drop with the great stream of humanity which has lately been opened in England. 1. The locked-jaw, or, as it is usually called among the planters, the jaw-fall, is a very common disease among the children of the slaves, and carries off so many of them as evidently to affect their population. After many inquiries into the cause of it, |