To Benjamin Franklin from John Thurston, 9 December 1777
From John Thurston7
ALS: American Philosophical Society
London 9th Decr. 1777.
May it Please your Excellency
From the Knowledge I have of your Goodness, and the Small acquaintance, I was Hon’d. with by you, at Philadelphia and New York, I hope you will Excuse the freedom I take, in recommending the Bearer Mr. Fowler, who Am Certain, you’l find to be a faithfull Honest Man. I am your Excellencys Most Obliged Humble Servant
John Thurston
PS. The Bearer is pofects [perfecting?] the Art of making a Powder to Stop the Blood, which you will find by due Examination.
JT
Notation: Jn Thurston
7. He has not appeared before, and we have found no other letter from him. The man he is introducing, Peter Fowler, was a British citizen who at some point became a naturalized American. He subsequently ran into trouble with his medicinal powder, mentioned in the postscript, when a Frenchman living in London, Jacques Feynard, claimed to be the inventor. See Feynard to BF, March 29, 1779, University of Pa. Library; Fowler to BF, [after March 25, 1780], Hist. Soc. of Pa.