Monroe to Rush
'Many years have elapsed since I had the pleasure to see you,' Monroe begins, 'tho' I have always taken a great interest in your welfare.' He is Secretary of State, writing from Washington about a medical procedure proposed for his daughter Eliza, and he asks Rush to 'shew the statement also to Dr. Physick and send me the result of your joint reflections on it.' He encloses twenty dollars as an introductory fee.
The letter is evidence of how Rush and Physick were seen from outside Philadelphia: as a pair to be consulted together. The collection keeps it beside the book Rush inscribed to Physick.
James Monroe/Benjamin Rush
The two friends in one letter, from a third great man. Monroe, then Secretary of State and five years from the presidency, writes to Rush about a medical procedure proposed for his daughter Eliza, and asks Rush 'to shew the statement also to Dr. Physick and send me the result of your joint reflections on it' — enclosing twenty dollars 'as an introductory fee.' It is evidence of how the two physicians were seen from outside Philadelphia: as a pair to be consulted together. It belongs with the book Rush gave Physick.