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DEAR DOCTOR FRANKLINEmails to a Founding Father about Science, Medicine and Technologyby Stuart A. Green, M.D.Published by Diane Publishing CompanySponsored by Friends of Franklin, Inc. |
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Before Benjamin Franklin died, he wrote that flies drowned in wine could be revived by putting them out in the sun. He proclaimed: "I should prefer to any ordinary death the being immersed in a cask of Madeira wine...to be then recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country!” In Dear Doctor Franklin: Emails to a Founding Father about Science, Medicine and Technology the author assumed that Franklin, near the end of his life and heavily medicated with opium, was immersed by his doctor in a barrel of Madeira and buried somewhere in Philadelphia to await future unearthing. (The corpse in his Arch Street grave, in the book, belongs to a pauper who died around the same time as Franklin’s mort-faux.) Presuming that Franklin will spend his first few weeks after disencaskment at Pennsylvania Hospital, Stuart Green sends him daily emails updating his conjectures, inventions and ideas.
While a book written in anticipation of someone’s resurrection seems unusual the format allows the author to offer advice to Franklin about the foibles of modern times.
175 illustrations grace Dear Doctor Franklin including 71 digital portraits of noteworthy individuals drawn by the author. Emailing the addressee dr_benjamin_franklin@yahoo.com will yield a reply, as will an email to the author, stuartgreenmd@yahoo.com.