The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1917-01-25
BENJAMIN FRANKLlN'S
MEDICAL PHILOSOPHY

Dialogue between Franklin II the
govt, October 20, 1850.
Franklin--Eh! o! Eth! What have
I one to merit these cruel su~fferings?
Gout-Many things. You have eaten
and drunk too freely and too much in
dulged those legs Of yours in their in
| dolence.
Franklin-Who Is 1t that accuses
me2
Gout-It is l, wen I, the govt.
Franklin-What! My enemy In per-
son?
Gout-No, not your enemy.
Franklin repeat 1t; my enemy; for
you would not only torment my body
to death but ruin my good name; you
reproach me as a glutton and a tippler;
now all the world that knows me we'll
allows that l am neither the one nor
the other.
Gout-The world may think as 1t
pleases. it Is always complaisant to it
self and sometimes to its friends, but I
well know that the quantity Of meat
and drink proper for a man who takes
a reasonable degree of exercise would
be too much for another who never
takes any.
How Franklin solved the high cost of
living Is told in his autobiography.
When 16 years Of age he read a book by
Tryon advocating an exclusively vege-
table diet.
II made myself acquainted with Try
on's method Of preparing dishes-and
then proposed to my brother that II he
would give me weekly half the money
he paid for my board l would board
myself. He instantly agreed to 1t, and
l presently found that I could save half
Of what he paid me-" he said.
I'm 1746 lost one Of my sons, a fine
| hnu nf a Nynnt.n ~ tha .-aaa~. 4l.--
in h common a 1 long regretted,
and l still regret, that / had not given
it TO him by incubation"
more h a once advocated
incubation, the method Of vaccination
then in vogue.
He gave good advice on malaria as
we'll. In 1850 he wrote to the Rev. Sam
used to the fever and ague, let me give
you n caution, dom imagine yourself
thoroughly cured and 80 omit the use
Of the bark too soon"
He wrote on seasickness in 1867: IF
ever you go to sea take my advice and
live sparingly a day or two before hand.
The sickness, II any,, will be lighter and
sooner over"
To william Franklin Q772) he
wrote: "The resolution you have taken
to use more exercise is extremely prop
er, and l hope you will steadily per-
form it. 1t Is of the greatest import
ance to prevent diseases since the cure
of them by physic is too p~recarious
|. . . The dumbbell is another ex-
ercise Of the latter compendious kind"
To DR.. Barbeau Dubourg he wrote:
THE exercise Of swimming is one OF
the most healthy and agreeable in the
world"
In 1878 he wrote to lie Roy: "Our
physicians have begun TO discover that
fresh air Is good for people In the
smallpox II other fevers. / hope in
time they will find out that 1t does nc
harm to people in health" About this
time Franklin prepared notes for a.
essay on colds and fresh air. The fol-
lowing are n few extracts from the
notes taken for this essay:
People think they get cold by com
Ing out of such hot rooms; they get
them by being in"
Mos follies arise from full feeding
Scarce any air abroad is so un-
wholesome as air In a close room often
b~reathed."
"Costlveness occasions colds"
"A general service to redeem people
from the slavish fear of getting cold by
showing them when the danger is not
and that where 1t is, 1t is In their power
to avoid it."