A Page from Benjamin's Book

Linda sent me a scan of one of the pages of the book.  She said the pages are quite brittle, and the cover is deteriorating.  But I may be looking at my ggggrandfather's own handwriting!  I cannot wait to read the rest of it!  Maybe there are more clues within!

Of great interest to me was the section about young cabbage leaves.  I looked up such a remedy, and found that one paragraph of the above manuscript is written - verbatim -- from many other texts. I assume they were all copied, at least in part, from other books. Benjamin's book goes in a different direction after this portion, perhaps because he had different opinions on some of the other remedy suggestions he found in the original text. His bio states he is not a fan of calomel medicine and mercurial remedies.

"LEAVES of various plants might likewise be applied to the patient's side with advantage. I have often seen great benefit from young cabbage-leaves applied warm to the side in a pleurisy. These not only relax the parts, but likewise draw off a little moisture."

FOUND HERE:

http://www.americanrevolution.org/medicine/med16.html