Medical Inquiries and Observations. To Which Is Added an Appendix, Containing Observations on the Duties of a Physician, and the Methods of Improving Medicine.

RUSH, Benjamin. Medical Inquiries and Observations. To Which Is Added an Appendix, Containing Observations on the Duties of a Physician, and the Methods of Improving Medicine. London: Reprinted for C. Dilly, 1789. 2nd ed. [1st English ed.]. 261pp.

[with] Medical Inquiries and Observations, Volume II. Phila.: Printed by T. Dobson, 1793. 1st ed. [2],iv,321, [1, errata] pp.

[with] An Account of the Bilious Remitting Yellow Fever, as It Appeared in the City of Philadelphia, in the Year 1793. Phila.:printed by Thomas Dobson, 1794. 2nd ed. [same format and year as the 1st ed.]. x,363pp.

[with] Medical Inquiries and Observations: Containing an Account of the Bilious Remitting and Intermitting Yellow Fever, as It Appeared in Philadelphia in the Year 1794. Together with an Inquiry into the Proximate Cause of Fever; and a Defence of Bloodletting as a Remedy for Certain Diseases ... Volume IV. Phila.: Printed by Thomas Dobson, 1796. 1st ed. vii,[1] [viii]-ix,258pp.

[with] Medical Inquiries and observations: Containing an Account of the Yellow Fever, as It Appeared in Philadelphia in 1797, and Observations upon the Nature and Cure of the Gout, and Hydrophobia ... Volume V. Phila: Printed by Budd and Bartram, for Thomas Dobson, 1798. 1st ed. xii, 236 pp. 5 Vols.

Orig. paper-backed boards. Spines chipped, spine, corners, and boards worn, light scattered foxing, some very old water stains, some boards loose, some scattered in obtrusive library blind stamps, else a very good set. In two cloth folding boxes.

Rare; no set of the 18th-century edition has come up to auction since 1955 (which was also a mixed set). Even individual volumes are rare.

"Rush was considered the ablest American clinician of his time. He was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence. His many writings are distinguished for their classical style ... Rush probably had more influence on American medicine than any other single man."--Garrison and Morton, 80. The first two volumes consist of essays covering a wide variety of subjects, such as the history of medicine among the indians, the climate of Pennsylvania, diseases prevalent during the Revolution, the effects of spirits on the mind and body, old age, the duties of the physician, as well as observations on such diseases as pulmonary consumption, dropsy, gout, hydrophobia, measles, and influenza. Volumes Three, four, and Five are almost entirely devoted to Rush's writings concerning the yellow fever. Rush's description of dengue, "bilious remitting fever," is one of the first important accounts of the disease.

Volume 1 Contains:

1. An Inquiry into the Natural History of Medicine among the Indians of North America, and a Comparative View of their Diseases and Remedies with those of Civilized Nations

2. An Account of the Climate 85-Pennsylvania and its Influence upon the Human Body.

3. An Account of the Bilious Remitting Fever, as it Appeared in Philadel in the Summer and Autumn of the year 1780

4. An Account of the Scarlatina Anginosa, as it Appeared in Philadelphia, t the Years 1783 and 1784

5. Additional Observations upon the Scarlatina Anginosa

6. An Inquiry into the Cause and Cure of the Cholera Infantum

7. Observations on the Cynanche Trachaelis

8. An Account of the Effects of Blisters and Bleeding in the Cure of Obstinate Intermitting Fevers

9. An Account of the Disorder Occasioned by Drinking Cold Water in Warm Weather, and the Method of Curing it

10. An Account of the Efficacy of Common Salt in the Cure of Hamoptysis

11. Free Thoughts upon the Cause and Cure of the Pulmonary Consumption

12. Observations upon Worms in the Alimentary Canal and upon Anthelmintic Medicines

13. An Account of the External Use of Arsenic in the Cure of Cancers

14. Observations upon the cause and cure of the Tetanus

15. Additional Observations on the Tetanus and Hydrophobia

16. The Result of Observations Made upon the Diseases which Occurred in the Military Hospitals of the United States, during the Late War

17. An Account of the Influence of the Military and Political Events of the American Revolution upon the Human Body

18. An Inquiry into the Relation of Tastes and Ailments to Each Other; and into the Influence of this Relation upon Health and Pleasure

19. Appendix: Containing, the New Method of Inoculating for the Small-Pox. Delivered in a Lecture in the University of Pennsylvania, on the 20th of February, 1781; Also, Observations on the Duties of a Physician, and the Methods of Improving Medicine, Accommodated to the Present State of Society and Manners in the United States. Delivered in the University of Pennsylvania, on the 7th of February 1789 ("Observations on the Duties" was published twice more in the same year, see Fox 1789-7 and 1789-22)

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