To John Jay from Benjamin Vaughan, 12 October 1789
From Benjamin Vaughan
London, Octr. 12, 1789.
Dear Sir,
Inclosed I trouble you with a bill of lading for some goods for Yale College, ordered by Dr. Price,1 & intended I believe to be consigned to a Col. Broome;2 but the clerk who has the directions being suddenly taken ill, & this opportunity going sooner than I was made to expect, I have no remedy but that adopted. Particulars will go by the next ship to the proper parties.— If my brother should be in New York, he will relieve you from trouble of forwarding these things.— They are insured.
One case is addressed to you. It contains some Solution of Terra Ponderosa Salita in dephlogisticated Marine Acid. It costs 1/2 crown per ounce, & should be taken care of, as being cautiously made. It is Dr. Crawford’s cancer medicine. From 2 to 8 & even to 12 drops may be taken twice or thrice a day, avoiding meals. It must be put into pure rain or distilled water, should the New York water tend to cloud & form salenite with it. I send some more to Philadelphia, wishing it to be distributed to the most skilful practitioners in each place.— In too great quantities it may occasion nausea, but otherwise it improves the general health, & where necessary may & ought to be persisted in a number of months. It is at first diuretic. Mr. John Hunter3 & others have used it with great success.— Besides cancer, it has cured dropsies, which often depend on obstructions, and scrophula.— By my own trials, I know it ^to be^ perfectly safe, which many other remedies are not.— The Dr. is soon about to publish a pamphlet respecting it.— The mark on the case (or box) is STP.
The inclosed comes from M. de Calonne’s messenger, & is to be taken cum grano salis. He publishes very inveterate accounts in the Times.
Brabant is on the eve of a revolution, which will probably be very desperate.4
The K. of Swn. made ^his^ war himself under such circumstances of profligacy, as will hereafter astonish you.—5 This to yourself.
My respects attend Mrs. Jay.— In the utmost haste I remain, my Dear sir, yours affy. & resy.
Benjn. Vaughan
My brother will pay freight, of which & insurance I make the College a compt.
ALS, NNC (EJ: 08146). Endorsed: “… medicine for cancer by Dr. / Crawford”. Enclosures not found.
1. Rev. Dr. Richard Price.
2. Samuel Broome, a New York merchant who settled in New Haven in 1784. His son, Samuel Platt Broome, attended Yale College in this period. , 4: 455.
3. John Hunter (1728–93), English anatomist and surgeon and frequent contributor of scientific papers to the Royal Society.
4. On 18 June 1789, the Emperor Joseph II abolished the charter of the Estates of Brabant—including Brussels, Louvain, and Antwerp—in retaliation for their resistance to his reform measures. In turn, the Estates took the initiative in establishing a short-lived Act of Union, creating the United States of Belgium, modeled on the American Articles of Confederation. R.R. Palmer, The Age of the Democratic Revolution (Princeton, N.J., 1959), 1: 345–57.
5. Gustavus III of Sweden invaded Russia in 1788 without securing the prior approval of the Riksdag. The failure of his attack sparked a counterattack by Denmark, Russia’s ally. The treaty of Värälä, August 1790, restored the status quo. Gustavus was assassinated on 16 Mar. 1792.