美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Rush': The Other Founding Father From Philadelphia Named Benjamin

 

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And now let's go to Philadelphia, the first capital of the United States, and retrace¹ the steps of a lesser-known but fascinating Founding Father, a Benjamin who does not have his face on the $100 bill. His name is Benjamin Rush. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a doctor who became known as the American Hippocrates and a pioneer in the field of mental health. Our Philadelphia tour guide is Stephen Fried, author of the new biography "Rush: Revolution, Madness And The Visionary Doctor Who Became A Founding Father." And we start at the country's first hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital, where Dr. Rush worked for many years.

STEPHEN FRIED: Rush was a blacksmith's son. He did not have a lot of money. So he was the young star of that era and trying to make a living as a doctor, which was hard. The good thing about him trying to make a living as a doctor is he had to treat poor patients. He had to treat patients of all races. So it's not surprising that he became the Founding Father most interested in diversity issues because he was astonished at racial prejudice. He was astonished at religious prejudice. And so he really paid attention to these things pretty early on.

BLOCK: When you say he's a pioneer or that he revolutionized how we think about mental health, describe how the mentally ill would have been treated in this hospital...

FRIED: Sure.

BLOCK: ...In Pennsylvania Hospital back then.

FRIED: Since Pennsylvania was - Pennsylvania Hospital was the first hospital - was also one of the first places that people with mental illness were treated away from their homes. And sadly, they had no idea what how to treat people. They warehoused them. They locked them. They chained them to the floor. They slept on straw. It was believed then that people with mental illness were impervious² to cold or heat. And actually, after the Revolution, we can see him trying to get funding for better care, trying to get people to understand that both mental illness and addiction³ - which, at that time, was mostly alcoholism - were medical problems and try to de-stigmatize them and try to get people in here for treatment. I would argue the history of modern mental health care starts here in this building with Rush.

BLOCK: Yeah. The way you describe it in your book, at the time, the mentally ill were seen as damned, not diseased.

FRIED: I think the people saw this as demonic possession. Or they saw people just being weak of will. And if they would just buck⁴ up, which we still hear today, they wouldn't drink so much. They wouldn't be so depressed⁵. They wouldn't be so manic.

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BLOCK: OK. Stephen Fried, we have left Pennsylvania Hospital. We are now sitting behind Independence Hall, the room where it happened because, along with his active medical career, Benjamin Rush was deeply, deeply embroiled⁶ in the political conversations of his time.

FRIED: Yes. Actually, as a young doctor, he gave inoculations here. And then several years after that, he was in the Continental⁷ Congress signing the Declaration of Independence.

BLOCK: What did he write about what that moment meant, to be signing that declaration declaring independence from England?

FRIED: Rush had actually just joined the Continental Congress when he got the chance to sign the declaration. He considered it to be a very solemn moment, a very scary moment. They were very cognizant - at least, he was - that they were basically signing something that was treasonous. And they could be taking their life in their hands.

BLOCK: And what were his beliefs? What were his core beliefs that led him to be one of these, ultimately, Founding Fathers?

FRIED: Rush really believed in equality. And so I think that that informed his decision to be in favor of independence. He was on line with independence very early on, even though this was dangerous for his career here in Philadelphia. Philadelphia had the largest percentage of loyalists.

BLOCK: One thing we should mention here is that even though Benjamin Rush was an ardent⁸ abolitionist, he owned a slave named William Grubber. It seems like hypocrisy⁹.

FRIED: First of all, it was interesting to try to do the research to nail down when he owned a slave. We don't know why he bought a slave. It was in the later years of the war. And he had a slave for a number of years. And he freed him. And since he didn't write about it except to write about his freedom - and when William Grubber died, Rush had him treated at Pennsylvania Hospital and paid for his funeral. He wrote about their relationship a little bit. So not every story is sort of a straight-through story. So it's not my place to apologize for anything he did but just to show this was a very complicated man who made an enormous contribution to America.

BLOCK: Stephen Fried, we are leaving Independence Hall. We have one more stop, a final stop on our Benjamin Rush tour of Philadelphia. Where are we going?

FRIED: We're heading to Christ Church burial ground, which is the final resting place of both of our Benjamins, Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush. It's three blocks.

BLOCK: Short blocks or long blocks?

FRIED: Medium blocks.

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FRIED: This is Rush's sarcophagus here.

BLOCK: Raised marble sarcophagus, well-worn...

FRIED: Well-worn - yes.

BLOCK: Some of the letters are wearing away underneath¹⁰ a towering oak tree. What do you think about when you come?

FRIED: I've come here often. And I'm here in my head a lot often when I'm not here. This is a sarcophagus of a very important man. I mean, the funeral of Benjamin Rush is something that almost every civic¹¹ group sent people to. It was described in the newspapers as being second only to Washington's burial and Franklin's burial. Franklin's is the one that's probably visited the most. But I think the Rush grave is the one that really - it provides the most thought. I mean, I do think that you can come here and think about mental health advocacy and advocacy for addiction. You can come here and talk about public education because Rush is really one of the first people to talk about that. You can talk about religious freedom. And it's also - it's beautiful. And even on a 95-degree day, it's cool and breezy. And the birds are chirping¹².

BLOCK: In the far corner of the cemetery¹³, we walked by the grave of Benjamin Franklin, the other Benjamin.

FRIED: Yeah.

BLOCK: And I'm struck. In your book, you quote from a letter that John Adams wrote after Benjamin Rush died to his son, to Richard Rush. And this is what he said. Dr. Rush was a greater and better man than Dr. Franklin. Yet Rush was always persecuted¹⁴ and Franklin always adored. Rush has done infinitely¹⁵ more good to America than Franklin.

FRIED: Well, I would, of course, agree with John Adams. But this isn't a score card here. What's interesting is that if Benjamin Rush was here, he would say, you're going to question whether Benjamin Franklin is important? Rush was Franklin's protege. He adored Franklin. In Franklin's later years, Rush made sure that people paid attention to Franklin when he seemed too old and sick. But Franklin died in 1790. And Rush very much, I think, wanted to be the next Benjamin and be that person who carried on the traditions of Franklin into the next century. And I think he did as a scientist, as a teacher, as a writer. And I think Franklin would admit that.

BLOCK: Stephen Fried, thanks for taking us on a Benjamin Rush tour of Philadelphia - appreciate it.

FRIED: Thanks so much for coming.

BLOCK: Stephen Fried's biography of Benjamin Rush is titled "Rush: Revolution, Madness And The Visionary Doctor Who Became A Founding Father."

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1 retrace   

v.折回；追溯，探源

参考例句：

• He retraced his steps to the spot where he'd left the case.他折回到他丢下箱子的地方。
• You must retrace your steps.你必须折回原来走过的路。

2 impervious   

adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的

参考例句：

• He was completely impervious to criticism.他对批评毫不在乎。
• This material is impervious to gases and liquids.气体和液体都透不过这种物质。

3 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

4 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

5 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

6 embroiled   

adj.卷入的；纠缠不清的

参考例句：

• He became embroiled in a dispute with his neighbours. 他与邻居们发生了争执。
• John and Peter were quarrelling, but Mary refused to get embroiled. 约翰和彼得在争吵，但玛丽不愿卷入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

8 ardent   

adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的

参考例句：

• He's an ardent supporter of the local football team.他是本地足球队的热情支持者。
• Ardent expectations were held by his parents for his college career.他父母对他的大学学习抱着殷切的期望。

9 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

10 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

11 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

12 chirping   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The birds,chirping relentlessly,woke us up at daybreak. 破晓时鸟儿不断吱吱地叫，把我们吵醒了。
• The birds are chirping merrily. 鸟儿在欢快地鸣叫着。

13 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

14 persecuted   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• Throughout history, people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. 人们因宗教信仰而受迫害的情况贯穿了整个历史。
• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。

15 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。