Benjamin Rush

The Savior Of The Plague

The PlagueIn 1793, disaster struck Philadelphia which

was the capital city of America at the time. In the city, malaria was thought to be spread by infect-ion (Its actually spread by mosquitoes) which caused yellow fever. Hundreds were dying by theday with a grand total of 5,000 dead out of the Population of 50,000. Scary isn’t it? The symptomsare even scarier. When infected by yellow feveryour eyes turn yellow and blood shot, you start vomiting black things from your mouth, and jaundice. In this plague it was every man for themselves. Parents would pitch out children just if they contracted yellow fever. The streets of Philadelphia looked as if 2012 hit 219 years early. Even though we do now know that yellow fever was spread by mosquitoes, Doctors were taking sides with each other with one side saying yellow fever was spread by poor sanitary conditions and etc, and with one side saying bad blood caused it all. This side followed behind one doctor who held the fate of Philadelphia in his hands, this one doctor was Benjamin Rush. And yes, he was the savior of the plague.

Dr. Rush

When you think of Dr. Rush, you think of the word awesome and genius (At least you should) That’s what this guy is. He is one of the best doctors in the history of the world. For all you accusers, guess what? This guy is innocent and one of the best guys in the world at the same time. He signed the Declaration of Independence, was an abolitionist, and worked 24/7 just to save the citizens of Philadelphia. For Everyone who thinks this guy is a blood sucking vampire. Too bad for you, now you know that the Declaration of Independence was signed by a blood sucking vampire. However, seriously Dr. Benjamin Rush is one of the soul-giving men out there. Even though he knew his methods weren’t 100% good, he fought for it and eventually the yellow fever went away. And if you still aren’t convinced. That’s too bad for you because in 1793 you’d be underground in a coffin. Benjamin Rush treated everyone as an equal until his fateful death. Benjamin Rush was born on December 24th, 1745and at childhood was inspired by medical practices. With not only performing his beliefs on his patients, he also let other doctors perform it on him. Unless Benjamin Rush was suicidal, that obviously states that he was a firm believer in himself and the others who supported him.

Blood LettingBlood Letting

Not for the Squeamish To Read!

Blood letting is the process of letting blood to quote “Get rid of the bad blood underneath”, of course now we use more modern techniques in order to treat cases such as Malaria and so. Since ancient times, blood letting has been employed to rid people of their ailments such as “Bad Blood”. In Blood Letting the simplest way to bleed someone is to use a lancet and drip the blood down in to the bowl until a substantial amount has been drained. There are wide varieties of tools available for use for example, some doctors may use leeches to get rid of the blood while some may cut you with something and then let your blood go into a bowl. Blood letting has long since gone out of date being replaced by many other treatments. Blood letting related with this power point, was used in 1793 and later during the malaria outbreaks to cleanse patients of their bad blood and make them healthier.

Why Should We Support Him

-He even had someone else perform a bloodletting on him showing that he actuallybelieved in it on his own life-Dr. Rush acknowledged that his methods may not be 100% good-Benjamin Rush worked almost everyday tirelessly for the people left behind in Philadelphia -He had yellow fever himself so he knows what to look for-Blood letting was not illegal-The government of the US even supported blood letting themselves-The patients knew what they were doing was risky but also helpful-There were many alternatives so its their fault if they died because they didn’t choose a treatment in time-He was widely supported and still should because of his actions-Benjamin Rush fought for everything that was true like supporting and signing theDeclaration Of Independence and being an abolitionist-It was 1793, and technology was not that advanced so you could not blame him since the modern world we have now was nonexistent.

CreditsHere are the main websites we used throughoutthe project: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/yellowfever.htmhttp://www.uh.edu/engines/epi739.htmhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/fever/peopleevents/e_philadelphia.htmlhttp://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/forrest/WW/fever.html

Pair39Mrs. Moore 8th PeriodWilliam Song & Aaron Mashallthe savior of the plague 2 http://feverquest.pbworks.com/the-savior-of-the-plague-2