Engraving captioned: Benjamin Rush, MD Professor of Medicine, in the University of Pennsylvania. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) was a Founding Father of the United States. He was a physician, writer, educator, and humanitarian. He signed the Declaration of Independence, attended the Continental Congress, and served as Surgeon General in the Continental army. Rush was a leader of the American Enlightenment. He was prominent in many reforms, especially in the areas of medicine and education. As a leading physician, he had a major impact on the emerging medical profession. As an Enlightenment intellectual, he was committed to organizing all medical knowledge around explanatory theories, rather than rely on empirical methods. . He promoted public health by advocating clean environment and stressing the importance of personal and military hygiene. His study of mental disorder made him one of the founders of American psychiatry. |