Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/432

NAME FRANKLIN 410 FRANKLIN freres, was born in New York City, December 26, 1835, the son of Dr. John Wakefield (q. v.) and Maria Eliza Cutler Francis. His mother was a grandniece of Gen. Francis Marion and a relative of Charlotte Corday. Samuel Ward took his A. B. and A. M. from Columbia College, New York, in 1857 and in 1860 respectively, and his M. D. in the latter year from the University of the City of New York, having been a student of most of the noted physicians and surgeons of the city, at various times. In 1859 he married Harriet H., daughter of Judge McAllister of California. When he became M. D. he also became physician for diseases of the head and abdomen at the Northern Dispensary. After two years' practice in New York, Dr. Francis moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where, with the exception of three years, he lived until his death, which occurred at New- port. March 25, 1886. For the last thirteen years of his hfe he was in active practice. He was a proHfic writer. Some of his best known writings were: "Report of Prof. Valentine Mott's Surgical Clinics in the University of New York," 1859-60 (Mott prize essay) ; "Life and Character of Prof. Valentine Mott" ; "Curious Facts Concerning Man and Nature," 1874, and with additions in 1875 ; "Invention of Transparent Treatment." His Biographical Sketches of Distinguished Living New York Surgeons" and "Distin- guished Living New York Physicians," pub- lished in 1866 and 1867 respectively, are fine pieces of work and give the reader many per- sonal touches of Hosack, Mitchill, Mott and others. Dr. Francis patented twelve inventions, in- cluding a gynecological examining table and a device for heating and ventilating railroad cars. Obituary. Newport Daily News, 1886, March 26. Amer. Phrenol. Jour. New York, 1857, vol. xxvi. Med. Rec, New York, 1886, vol. xxix. Trans. Rhode Island Med. Soc, 1886; Providence, 1887, vol. iii. Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790). The medical side of Franklin — little known — is, necessarily, the only one to be dealt with in a book about physicians. Born January 17, 1706, he was the youngest of seventeen children of Josia Franklin of Boston, Massa- chusetts. The whole family some thirty years later were glorified by the fame of the mem- ber who had become statesman, diplomat, philosopher and author, and when he died in Philadelphia April 17, 1790, at the ripe age of eighty-four, did not see him descend into the obscurity his early modesty had predicted when he wrote: The Body OF Benjamin Franklin Like the Cover of an Old Book Its Contents torn out And stripped of its Lettering and Gilding Lies here. Food for the Worms. But the Work shall not be lost. For it will, as He believes appear once more In a New and More Elegant Edition Revised and Corrected BY The Author. He married, in 1730, a widow named Read who had been one of his early loves, and they had a son and daughter. Although not a' graduate of any medical school, he was elected member of several medi- cal societies. In those days many practised who had no degree, and an old engraving by P. Maren has under the bust "A. Benjamin Franklin, Docteur en Medecine." Among the many medical subjects he dis- cussed with his doctor friends was one on which he afterwards wrote ; this was "Diet and its Effect on Health and Disease," in which he remarked that "in general, mankind, since the improvement of cooking, eat about twice as much as nature requires." He also remarked that bathing would quench the thirst and stop diarrhea, and that bathing or sponging with water or spirits would re- duce the temperature by evaporation in fevers. One of his most valuable letters is on the heat of the blood and the cause thereof, and also upon the motion of the blood, and he had in his library a glass machine demonstrat- ing this motion through the arteries, veins and capillaries. He discussed learnedly the absor- bent vessels and perspiratory ducts of the skin and carried on experiments to prove his theories, while sleep, deafness, and nyctalopia all engaged Franklin's attention. He invented bifocal lenses for spectacles and a flexible catheter and was much interested in medical education, holding decided views on the subject. He helped many young medical students in their desire to study abroad, among them Rush. Morgan, Shippen, Kuhn, and Griffitts (q. v.). His letters on lead poisoning are remarkable, and would have been a credit to any physi- cian of that age ; his observations upon gout — and they were personal observations — are shrewd and exact. Much could be written of his treatment of nervous diseases by elec- tricity, for many patients consulted him ; many doctors wrote to him for advice ; even Sir John Pringle begs him to come and treat the daughter of the Duke of Ancaster. Frank- lin was not carried away by his temporary successes with his method of treatment —