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Mrs. Pernilla Ogilvie
Dr. Rush was a revered doctor and also a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Though Dr. Rush advocated for many cutting-edge practices, his fever remedies—consisting of blood-letting and purgative medicines—were behind the times and may have been harmful. Dr. Rush invites the Free African Society to nurse fever victims throughout Philadelphia.
Dr. Benjamin Rush Quotes in Fever 1793
The Fever 1793 quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. Benjamin Rush or refer to Dr. Benjamin Rush. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 14 Quotes
“You’ll hear folks say that Dr. Rush is a hero for saving folks with his purges and blood letting. But I’ve seen different. It’s these French doctors here that know how to cure the fever. I don’t care if Dr. Rush did sign the Declaration of Independence. I wouldn’t let him and his knives near me.”
I shivered as I remembered the blood Dr. Kerr had drained from Mother. Maybe Grandfather should return to the house and bring her here. What if Dr. Kerr bled her too much?
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Dr. Benjamin Rush Character Timeline in Fever 1793
The timeline below shows where the character Dr. Benjamin Rush appears in Fever 1793. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9: September 2nd, 1793
...remains asleep. Finally, he pronounces that Mother’s illness is not yellow fever. Famous doctors like Mr. Rush , he claims, are being alarmist. The “pestilence” is a matter of fervent debate; people...
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Chapter 10: September 6th, 1793
Dr. Kerr says that Lucille must be bled; Dr. Rush has proven that this is the only way a yellow fever patient can be saved—the...
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Chapter 14: September 12th-20th, 1793
...explains that it’s the French doctors who really know how to cure the fever, not Dr. Rush with his bleeding techniques.
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Chapter 22: September 27th, 1793
Dr. Benjamin Rush had written to the Free African Society a few weeks ago, asking for help. The...
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Chapter 25: October 14th, 1793
...children’s condition worsens, Eliza frets that they should be bled. Mattie argues that even though Dr. Rush swears by the bleeding remedy, the French doctors reject it, and she survived without it....
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