Cullen, William. First Lines of the Practice of Physic

New York: Printed by L. Nichols and Company., 1801. 2 vols. 326;294, [10, index] pp. Contemporary early 19th century tree calf, gilt-ruled spines, red morocco spine labels. Occasional light scattered foxing. Uniform toning, else a very good or better copy.

With the ownership signature "Bush. Washington, Mount Vernon" on the verso of both title pages.

Tipped in 15 a receipt April 12th 1805 Received in full of all accounts of Col. William

A. Washington for hack hire & four Dollars in full for hack hire to Mr. Bushrod Washington Junr, Thos. Banwise.

"Thos. Banwise Paid in full for for an Hack hired by my Son to arry the Misses Crawtord to the Ball Geo. Town.

Bushrod Washington 1762-1829) served in the Continental Army, was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by President Adams in 1798, serving until his death. He became his uncle George Washington's heir and inherited Mount Vernon. William Augustine Washington (1757-1810) was the son of George Washington's brother Augustine and Bushrod's cousin. The Bushrod Washington Jr. referred to in the receipt is William's son Bushrod (1785-1831).

William Cullen was a Scots physician who practiced in Edinburgh where he was respected as both physician and academician. He is remembered for being the first to give his clinical lectures in the vernacular rather than in Latin. One of Cullen's best-known

American students was Benjamin Rush who became one of Cullen's greatest acolytes, spreading his medical philosophy in America.

Rush was also one of the great proponents of bloodletting and, for many years, Washington's attending physicians were blamed for using bloodletting while the President was on his deathbed.

From Catalog II

Cullen's textbook — the system Rush carried home from Edinburgh — in the copy of Bushrod Washington, with his ownership signature 'Bush. Washington, Mount Vernon' on both title pages and a family receipt of 1805 tipped in. Washington's nephew and heir, and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, kept Rush's master on the shelf at Mount Vernon; the President's own physicians had been blamed for bleeding him to death on Rush's principles two years before this edition.