Dear Sir, LETTER CCXLVIII. From the same. Philadelphia, June 8, 1789. You oppress me with favours; accept of my thanks for the copy your friendship has procured me of Mr. Howard's late work. It is not yet come to hand. As soon as I receive it, I shall do. myself the honour of thanking him for it: in the mean while please to assure him, that I shall prize it as much as if it was a bequest from one of the first and best characters of antiquity. I have derived many advantages from reading his first work; and can add further, that all the improvements in the treatment and punishment of criminals in our country, are derived from it. I inclose you a small root, three of which were sent to me from Dauphin County in Pennsylvania, a few days ago. It possesses a most extraordinary glutinous quality. A small quantity of it, scraped or grated, and afterwards made into paste with water, forms a cement of so cohesive a nature, as perfectly to unite broken glass, china, or earthen-ware; insomuch that it will endure, when dry, the greatest heat. Two of the roots always grow together, connected by a fibre about an inch in length; one of them swims, and the other sinks, in water. The adhesive quality is confined, it is said, wholly to the heavy one. It throws up above the ground. only a single leaf without any stalk, one of which I have enclosed you. This leaf appears in May or June, and decays about the latter end of July. Some of the country people call it Adam-and-Eve, while others (the Germans) call it the Devil's-bite, from a story that is propagated about it, that the devil, foreseeing that it would be very useful to man, tried to destroy it, by biting off all its leaves, except one; hence, they say, the solitary leaf which accompanies it. It is, much used in the place where it grows, not only for domestic and culinary purposes, but for the cure of diarrhoeas and dysenteries. I have sent for a peck, or half a bushel, of the root, and intend to give it a fair trial as a demulcent and astringent in those disorders. From its pleasant taste, I think it probable it will make an agreeable article of diet for sick people. I am, &c. BENJAMIN RUSH. Dear Sir, LETTER CCXLIX. From the same. Philadelphia, May 28, 1792. I inclose you an Essay on the disease produced by the bite of a mad animal, by an ingenious young gentleman of this city. It was published as an Inaugural Dissertation a few weeks ago. To accommodate it to the meridian of London, I have, with the consent of the author, changed its title, and called it an Essay. I now transmit it to you, to be re-published, if you think in London. The performance proper, has great merit; and promises to lead to something more rational and successful upon the subject of that terrible disease, than any thing that has yet appeared on that subject. Perhaps a recom. mendation prefixed to it, subscribed by your name, would help to bring it into notice, You may safely inform the public that the author is a young man of uncommon talents, and bids fair to do equal honour to medicine and to his country, I inclose you a new edition of my Essay on the unlawfulness, &c. of punishing murder by death, The opinion (though once very unpopular) gains ground in every part of the United States. Many of your society are open advocates for it. I wish Christians of all denominations would unite in enforcing it. Death, for any crime, is certainly as contrary as War, to the spirit of the Gospel. I am, Dear Sir, Yours, sincerely, BENJAMIN RUSH, Dear Sir, LETTER CCL. From the same. Philadelphia, April 26, 1793. Your long political letter, referred to by you in your short letter by the Wm. Penn, came safe to hand. I deplore with you the death of the late King of France. His execution was unjust, unconstitutional, illegal, impolitic, and cruel in the highest degree. From the private history of his life, and the public history of his death, I am disposed to believe that he was the best king in Europe, and the honestest man in the French nation. Ninety-nine of our citizens out of a hundred, have dropped a tear to his memory. He was the father of the freedom and independence of the United States. But one wicked act does not justify another. We deplore and reprobate likewise the interference of Great Britain in the dispute between the French nation and their late king. What can she expect to gain by it, equal to the loss of an hundred thousand men, and a hundred millions of pounds? She must at last acknowledge the independence of the French Republic, and submit to negociate with her Convention; for the noble cause in which she is engaged, though much disgraced by her rulers, must finally, prevail. The infidelity and cruelty of the French nation do not militate against this opinion; for they are qualified in a peculiar manner by both, to be the scourge of nations as wicked as themselves. I beg you would present my most respectful thanks to Mr. How for his elegant present of Lady Rachael Russel's letters. He could not have sent a book that would have been more acceptable in my family; for my wife had read it hastily some years ago, and had long wished to possess a copy of it. I have inscribed on the inside of the cover of it "Julia Rush, presented by Richard How of England, 1793." It is an invaluable work, and the public will long owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. How for giving it to the world. I am, &c. BENJAMIN RUSH. LETTER CCLI. Rev. JOHN LATHROP, D. D. to Dr. LETTSOM. Boston, Jan. 3, 1789. I know, Sir, you will be pleased with the following extract from a letter, which I received not long since from General Washington, and therefore I make no apology for sending it. "I observe with singular pleasure the cases in which your benevolent society has been instru |