Benjamin Franklin Would Get Social Distancing
America’s founding father was a scientist ahead of his time
Medical practices of the late 1700s were notoriously medieval. Though many people avoided physicians for as long as they could hold out, anyone seeking medical attention succumbed to a variety of procedures that would raise eyebrows today.
Notable treatments included cupping, the process of placing a very hot cup on a patient’s chest to make them sweat out a disease, and blistering, the process of intentionally harming a patient’s body in an attempt to divert a fever to the wound and away from vital organs. Bloodletting, the surgical removal of a patient’s blood in an attempt to also remove illness, was another common practice and among the most dangerous. Bloodletting historian Ron Chernow notes that on the last day he was alive, “(George) Washington surrendered five pints of blood altogether, or about half of his body’s total supply.”
To make matters worse, physicians at the time had no knowledge of bacteria, germs, or viruses or how they spread. This is one reason it’s believed that for every soldier who died in combat during the Revolutionary War, 10 more died from disease.
Though French microbiologist Louis Pasteur wouldn’t discover germ theory until the 1860s, Franklin determined viruses and germs existed and were being “spread by contagion” as early as 1770.
To his credit, General Washington diligently quarantined his troops whenever they exhibited symptoms of smallpox, but like almost everyone else in the 18th century, he didn’t know how diseases were transmitted or how to protect against them.
Benjamin Franklin, on the other hand, grasped such knowledge and was ahead of his time by nearly a century. Though French microbiologist Louis Pasteur wouldn’t discover germ theory until the 1860s, Franklin determined viruses and germs existed and were being “spread by contagion” as early as 1770.
Conventional wisdom of the day held that the common cold was caused by dampness in the air or from wearing wet clothing, but Franklin knew better. In 1773, he wrote to renowned physician Dr. Benjamin Rush: “People often catch cold from one another when shut up together in close rooms, coaches, etc., and when sitting near and conversing so as to breathe in each other’s transpiration.”
Such knowledge led to an amusing encounter in 1776 between Franklin and another Founding Father, John Adams. On the way to a meeting on Staten Island, Franklin and Adams spent the night in New Brunswick. The inn there was so full that Adams and Franklin had to share not only a room but also a bed. Franklin knew Adams was suffering from a cold, so he left the small window open in their room before retiring to bed. When Adams tried to close the window, Franklin said, “Don’t shut the window. We shall be suffocated.” When Adams protested, Franklin explained that Adams was “not acquainted with (his) theory of colds,” and that if he closed the window, “the air within this chamber will soon be worse than that (air) outdoors.” Adams conceded to his roommate’s wishes. Historian Walter Isaacson notes, “In addition to winning the argument over leaving open the window, it should be noted that Franklin did not catch Adams’ cold.”
Though the coronavirus is far more dangerous than the common cold, the principles of transmission are the same. Franklin understood such principles well enough that I suspect he’d no doubt appreciate all that Americans are doing today to flatten the curve and slow the spread of Covid-19.
Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan, describes Franklin as “one of our earliest American scientist(s)” and says Franklin was always “looking at the data” before drawing conclusions. If Franklin were alive now, he’d be studying the same data today’s experts are analyzing and likely arriving at the same conclusions.
What’s more, Franklin would probably be among those leading efforts to develop a vaccine. Though he wasn’t initially an advocate of inoculation (the 18th-century equivalent to the modern-day vaccine), he became one after his four-year-old son Francis died of smallpox in 1736. Franklin wrote in his autobiography, “I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it (smallpox) to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents, who omit that operation (vaccination) on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died.”
While many Founding Fathers would probably be scratching their heads if they could see how the nation they shaped was responding to this latest pandemic, Franklin likely wouldn’t be. I imagine he’d understand social distancing measures and would be wearing a face mask — of his own design, of course — along with everyone else. It was Benjamin Franklin, after all, who said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
