To Benjamin Franklin from Dufriche de Valazé, 15 June 1784
From Dufriche de Valazé
ALS: American Philosophical Society
à Essay par le Mesle sur sarthe En normandie,
le 15 juin, 1784./.
Monsieur
Le Porteur de cette lettre Est M. Dufriche desgenettes mon neveu qui part pour londres, où il va voir Comme on traite la Médecine qu’il Ètudie depuis __ quatre ans à Paris. C’Est un jeune homme sage Et de Bonne Éspérance, à qui je m’interesse Comme à mon fils. Permettez moi, Monsieur, de vous demander pour lui quelques Recommandations pour votre ancienne Patrie: Rien n’Est aussi nécessaire à un jeune homme qui veut tirer quelque fruit de ses voyages.2
Je suis avec le plus Profond Respect, Monsieur, Votre très humble Et très obèissant serviteur3
Dufriche De Valazé
2. BF wrote a now-missing letter introducing the nephew, René-Nicolas Dufriche Desgenettes (DBF), to John Coakley Lettsom. As Dufriche Desgenettes recounted in his memoirs, Lettsom invited him to dine and recommended that BF take bearberry for the pain of the stone. Upon his return to Paris in January, 1785, the young physician conveyed this advice as well as a now-missing letter from the Royal Society. BF evidently replied that he had used bearberry during his baths, but ascribed the relief to the bath, not the plant. Bailly, Le Roy, and Le Veillard were at Passy during this visit, and BF discussed with them the option of a cystotomy, relating that d’Alembert and Buffon, who were about his age, considered themselves too old for such an operation. Dufriche Desgenettes remembered visiting BF occasionally throughout the spring, and being among the cortege that escorted the departing BF through the Bois de Boulogne to the St.-Germain road: Souvenirs de la fin du XVIIIe siècle … (2 vols., Paris, 1835–36), 1, 95–7, 182, 184–5, 197. In 1821 he wrote the entry on BF for the Dictionaire des sciences médicales. Biographie médicale. (7 vols., Paris, 1820–25), IV, 254–60.
3. On Dec. 29, 1784, Dufriche de Valazé sent New Year’s greetings, wishing BF a long life and the United States a prosperous future: APS.