To Thomas Jefferson from Lyman Spalding, 22 February 1802
From Lyman Spalding
Portsmouth 22nd. Febry 1802.
Mr. Jefferson,
Will you please to accept the humble offering of a faithful citizen in the Republic of science. If you deem it worthy the attention of the American Philosophical Society, I should think myself highly honoured by their acceptance of a copy.
With great esteem, Sir, I have the honour, to be yours.
L Spalding.
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 5 Mch. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Lyman Spalding, “Bill of Mortality, For Portsmouth, Newhampshire, for A.D. 1801,” a printed table recording the number and causes of death, as well as the ages of the victims (MoSHi: Jefferson Papers).
Lyman Spalding (1775–1821) of New Hampshire earned his medical degree from Harvard in 1797, then went on to enjoy a distinguished career as a physician, educator, author, and inventor. He moved to Portsmouth in 1800, where he founded a medical society, established an anatomical museum, introduced smallpox vaccinations, and served on the town’s board of health. From 1801 to 1811, he published a yearly bill of mortality for Portsmouth, a compilation of vital statistics that detailed the number and causes of death of its residents, which he distributed to a variety of recipients. TJ received a number of these annual broadsides from Spalding, as well as a copy of his 1819 publication, A History of the Introduction and Use of Scutellaria Lateriflora, (Scullcap,) As a Remedy for Preventing and Curing Hydrophobia, Occasioned by the Bite of Rabid Animals. Spalding also played a leading role in the 1820 publication of The Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America ( ; J. Worth Estes and David M. Goodman, The Changing Humors of Portsmouth: The Medical Biography of an American Town, 1623–1983 [Boston, 1986], 1–41; TJ to Spalding, 11 Dec. 1819).