Rush, Benjamin

(born Jan. 4, 1746, Byberry, near Philadelphia, Pa.—died April 19, 1813, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. physician and political leader. He attended the College of New Jersey at Princeton. As a doctor, he was a dogmatic theorist who proposed that all diseases are fevers caused by overstimulation of blood vessels, with a simple remedy—bloodletting and purges. He advocated humane treatment for insane patients; his idea that insanity often had physical causes marked a significant advance. He wrote the first chemistry textbook and the first psychiatry treatise in the U.S. An early and active American patriot and a member of the Continental Congress, Rush drafted a resolution urging independence and signed the Declaration of Independence.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica