Benjamin Franklin’s place in the history of medicine

Abstract

Benjamin Franklin's seemingly endless curiosity and his prolific contributions in diplomacy, politics, literature, and science may well justify calling him the most eminent man in eighteenth-century American life. One portion of these contributions still striking for the insights and productivity it shows was in medicine. He saw the value in inoculation against smallpox. He was aware of the placebo effect. He, in effect, launched the first American medical school. He devised a flexible urethral catheter. He identified lead poisoning as a cause of abdominal pain and peripheral neuropathy. He accurately described psoriasis well before Robert Willan. These contributions in medicine of his time were not then notably influential, but they certainly illustrate the versatility of his intellect.