The True Benjamin Franklin/Physical Characteristics
and his biographer, Parton, goes so far as to say so. But upon inquiry among learned physicians I cannot find that they recognize him as a dis- coverer, or that he has any standing on this ques- tion in medical history. It would seem that he merely collected and expressed the observations of others as well as his own ; none of them were en- tirely new, and many of them are now considered unsound. Nearer to the truth is Parton' s statement that " he was the first effective preacher of the blessed gospel of ventilation." He certainly studied that subject very carefully, and was an authority on it, being appointed while in England to prepare a plan for ventilating the Houses of Parliament It would, however, be better to say that he was one of the most prominent advocates of ventilation rather than the first effective preacher of it ; for in Bigelow's edition of his works* will be found an excellent essay on the subject in which the other advocates are mentioned. But Parton goes on to say, "He spoke, and the windows of hospitals were lowered ; consumption ceased to gasp and fever to inhale poi- son ;" which is an extravagant statement that he would find difficulty, I think, in supporting. In Franklin's published works there is a short essay called " A Conjecture as to the Cause of the Heat of the Blood in Health and of the Cold and Hot Fits of Some Fevers." The blood is heated, he says, by friction in the action of the heart, by the
- Vol. iv. p. 271.
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Changes THE TRUE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN distention and contraction of the arteries, and by- being forced through minute vessels. This essay is very ingenious and well written, and the position given to it in his works might lead one to suppose that it was of importance ; but I am informed by physicians that it was merely the revamping of an ancient theory held long before his time, and quite without foundation. Franklin's excursions into the domain of medicine are not, therefore, to be considered among his valua- ble contributions to the welfare of man, except so far as they encouraged him to advocate fresh air and ventilation, though they may have assisted him to take better care of his own health. Of the numerous portraits of him of varying merit, nearly all of which have been reproduced over and over again, only a few deserve consideration for the light they throw on his appearance and character. The Sumner portrait, as it used to be called, is supposed to have been painted in London in 1726, when he was there as a young journeyman printer, twenty years old, and was brought by him to America and given to his brother John, of Rhode Island. He evidently dressed himself for this picture in clothes he was not in the habit of wearing at his work ; for he appears in a large wig, a long, decorated coat and waistcoat, with a mass of white ruffles on his bosom and con- spicuous wrist-bands. The rotund and strongly de- veloped figure is well displayed. Great firmness and determination are shown in the mouth and lower part of the face. The animal forces are evidently strong. The face is somewhat frank, and at the same time 30 PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS very shrewd. The eyes are larger than in the later portraits, which is not surprising, for eyes are apt to grow smaller in appearance with age. This portrait, which is now in Memorial Hall at Harvard University, has been supposed by some critics not to be a portrait of Franklin at all. How, they ask, could Franklin, who was barely able to earn his living at that time, and whose companions were borrowing a large part of his spare money, afford to have an oil-painting made of himself in such expensive costume ? and why is there no men- tion of this portrait in any of his writings ? But, on the other hand, the portrait has the peculiar set ex- pression of the mouth and the long chin which were so characteristic of Franklin ; and it would have been entirely possible for him to have borrowed the clothes and had the picture painted cheaply or as a kind- ness. It is not well painted, need not have been expensive, and, as there were no photographs then, paintings were the only way by which people could give their likenesses to relatives. The Martin portrait, painted when he was about sixty years old, represents him seated, his elbows resting on a table, and holding a document, which he is reading with deep but composed and serene attention. It was no doubt intended to represent him in a characteristic attitude. As showing the calm philosopher and diplomat reading and think- ing, somewhat idealized and yet a more or less true likeness, it is in many respects the best picture we have of him. But we cannot see the eyes, and it does not reveal as much character as we could wish. 31 THE TRUE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN The Grundmann portrait, an excellent photograph of which hangs in the Philadelphia Library, was painted by a German artist, after a careful study of Franklin's career and of all the portraits of him which had been painted from life. As an attempt to reproduce his characteristics and idealize them it is a distinct success and very interesting. He is seated in a chair, in his court-dress, with long stock- ings and knee-breeches, leaning back, his head and shoulders bent forward, while his gaze is downward. He is musing over something, and there is that char- acteristic shrewd smile on the lower part of the rugged face. It is the smile of a most masterful and cun- ning intellect ; but no one fears it : it seems as harm- less as your mother's. You try to imagine which one of his thousand clever strokes and sayings was passing through his mind that day ; and the strong, intensely individualized figure, which resembles that of an old athlete, is wonderfully suggestive of life, experience, and contest But the Duplessis portrait, which was painted from life in Paris in 1778, when he was seventy-two, re- veals more than any of them. The Sumner portrait is Franklin the youth ; the Martin and the Grund- mann portraits are Franklin the philosopher and statesman ; the Duplessis portrait is Franklin the man. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get a good repro- duction of the Duplessis portrait, because there is so much detail in it and the coloring and lights and shadows cannot be successfully copied. But any one who will examine the original or any good replicas
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