An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

RUSH, Benjamin

9 entries
  • 9204

Syllabus of a course of lectures on chemistry.

Philadelphia: [Printer not identified], 1770.

Rush inaugurated the first regular course of lectures on chemistry taught in America, at the College of Philadelphia. Includes much on pharmaceutical chemistry. Facsimile reprint with an introduction by L. H. Butterfield, Philadelphia: Friends of the University of Pennsylvania Library, 1954.



Subjects: COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › United States , Chemistry, PHARMACOLOGY, U.S.: CONTENT OF PUBLICATIONS BY STATE & TERRITORY › Pennsylvania
  • 6451.90

An oration…containing an enquiry into the natural history of medicine among the Indians in North-America; and a comparative view of their diseases and remedies, with those of civilized nations.

Philadelphia: Joseph Cruikshank, 1774.

Rush was the first American physician to publish a detailed study of native American medicine. Digital facsimile from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.



Subjects: ANTHROPOLOGY › Medical Anthropology, BOTANY › Ethnobotany, NATIVE AMERICANS & Medicine, TRADITIONAL, Folk or Indigenous Medicine
  • 2157

Directions for preserving the health of soldiers: recommended to the consideration of the officers of the Army of the United States. Published by order of the Board of War.

Lancaster, PA: John Dunlap, 1778.

A reprint from the Philadelphia Packet, No. 284. The pamphlet was reprinted by the Massachusetts Temperance Alliance in Boston, 1865, for distribution to the Union soldiers.



Subjects: American (U.S.) REVOLUTIONARY WAR MEDICINE, MILITARY MEDICINE, SURGERY & HYGIENE
  • 5422

The new method in inoculating for the small pox.

Philadelphia: C. Cist, 1781.


Subjects: INFECTIOUS DISEASE › Smallpox › Variolation or Inoculation, U.S.: CONTENT OF PUBLICATIONS BY STATE & TERRITORY › Pennsylvania
  • 80

Medical inquiries and observations. 2 vols.

Philadelphia: Prichard & Hall, 17891793.

Rush was considered the ablest American clinician of his time. He was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His many writings are distinguished for their classical style.



Subjects: American (U.S.) REVOLUTIONARY WAR MEDICINE, Collected Works: Opera Omnia, Medicine: General Works
  • 5470

An account of the bilious remitting fever. In his Medical inquiries and observations, 1, 104-21

Philadelphia, 1789.

One of the first important accounts of dengue (“breakbone fever”). Rush described the Philadelphia outbreak of 1780.



Subjects: EPIDEMIOLOGY, INFECTIOUS DISEASE › VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES › Mosquito-Borne Diseases › Dengue Fever, U.S.: CONTENT OF PUBLICATIONS BY STATE & TERRITORY › Pennsylvania
  • 10348

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, February 7, 1789, at the conclusion of a course of lectures upon chemistry and the practice of physic.

Philadelphia: Printed and sold by Prichard & Hall, 1789.

Full text available from quod.lib.umich.edu at this link.



Subjects: Ethics, Biomedical
  • 5453

An account of the bilious remitting yellow fever, as it appeared in the city of Philadelphia in the year 1793.

Philadelphia: T. Dobson, 1794.

Benjamin Rush was the most eminent figure in Philadelphia medicine in his day. His description of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 is classic. He did magnificent work in treating the sick during the epidemic and in proposing measures to prevent a recurrence. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: EPIDEMIOLOGY, INFECTIOUS DISEASE › VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES › Mosquito-Borne Diseases › Yellow Fever, U.S.: CONTENT OF PUBLICATIONS BY STATE & TERRITORY › Pennsylvania
  • 4924

Medical inquiries and observations upon the diseases of the mind.

Philadelphia: Kimber & Richardson, 1812.

The first American textbook on psychiatry, and, considering the state of that science in Rush’s time, one of the most noteworthy. It underwent four editions.



Subjects: COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › United States , COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › United States › American Northeast, PSYCHIATRY