A Discourse Before the Humane Society in Boston: Delivered on the Second Tuesday in June, 1787.
Boston: Printed by E. Russell, 1787. First edition. Unbound pamphlet (9.13 x 5.5 inches), 34, xiii, [4] pages, stitched. Moderately extensive insect predation or paper flaws to the first leaf, with loss and affecting letters of the text (especially on the verso), though with no loss of sense; some light stains and general toning and light wear; in good to very good condition. Item #22435
“Cases which afford hope of success are those in general called sudden death;—such as drowning, fainting, suffocating by the noxious vapours of burning coal, fermenting liquors, wells, cisterns, and other confined and deep places, to which we may add, strokes of lightning, strangling;—and in general all cases of apparent death, where there is reason to suppose the organization of the body remains intire.” An extended argument for the merits of this pioneering American coastal rescue group (est. 1785), here tending to point up the religious and social merits of rescue—with reference in the notes to such figures as Lavoisier, Priestley, and Franklin. With an appendix account of the work of the Humane Society, its recommended steps for the revival of the drowned (tobacco smoke blown up the fundament as one of the early steps; bleeding the victim never to be countenanced), and a list of the members of the society. Evans 20450; Austin 1125: “On the value of human life. Includes . . . a short account of humane societies formed within the last twenty years in Europe.”.
Price: $350.00