Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ben Franklin Put an Abortion Recipe in His Math Textbook
Slate ^ | 5/5/22 | Molly Farrell

Posted on 07/06/2022 2:25:40 AM PDT by Callahan

e year was 1748, the place was Philadelphia, and the book was The Instructor, a popular British manual for everything from arithmetic to letter-writing to caring for horses’ hooves. Benjamin Franklin had set himself to adapting it for the American colonies.

Though Franklin already had a long and successful career by this point, he needed to find a way to convince colonial book-buyers—who for the most part didn’t even formally study arithmetic—that his version of George Fisher’s textbook was worth the investment. Franklin made all sorts of changes throughout the book, from place names to inserting colonial histories, but he made one really big change: adding John Tennent’s The Poor Planter’s Physician to the end. Tennent was a Virginia doctor whose medical pamphlet had first appeared in 1734.* By appending it to The Instructor (replacing a treatise on farriery) Franklin hoped to distinguish the book from its London ancestor. Franklin advertised that his edition was “the whole better adapted to these American Colonies, than any other book of the like kind.” In the preface he goes on to specifically mention his swapping out of sections, insisting that “in the British Edition of this Book, there were many Things of little or no Use in these Parts of the World: In this Edition those Things are omitted, and in their Room many other Matters inserted, more immediately useful to us Americans.” One of those useful “Matters” was a how-to on at-home abortion, made available to anyone who wanted a book that could teach the ABCs and 123s.

(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: abortion; benjaminfranklin; fakenews; foundingfathers; ketanjibrownjackson; medialiar; mollyfarrell; paulryan; plannedparenthood; righttolife; roevswade; scotus; servantofmolech; servantofmoloch; servantsofmolech; slate; wisconsin
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-63 next last
To: cornfedcowboy

I’ve often wondered what the French’s 17th century static electricity generators looked like. I’m sure it was just research and not practical application. But I bet they were interesting.


41 posted on 07/06/2022 9:06:08 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: viewfromthefrontier; Pontiac

That is the point Pontiac makes accurately. I was being lazy. There is not always a fertilized egg that gets dumped when the uterus sheds. So there is no abortion. But sometimes there is, and the pill then acts as an abortifacient, which is why there are people that oppose the pill.

I went through a period of life understanding that distinction but discarded it as unimportant, until I realized that if you present people like Leftists with a “gray scale” with zero at one end (an unfertilized ovum) and 100 at the other end (a fully formed human whose crown has exited the birth canal) they will place their “reasonable mark” on that gray scale at 99.9999999999999% (baby 1 mm from any sign of being out of the birth canal and even at 100.0000000009% (infanticide) because they don’t believe in rationality or reasoned discussion.

When I came to understand that, I realized that the “life begins at conception” concept was not unimportant. Ignoring it is someone giving an ovum split in two (an inch) and someone else taking an entire human life (mile).

They do that because that is who they are. I ignored that distinction due to my arrogance, and ignorance of human nature.


42 posted on 07/06/2022 9:17:37 AM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Texas Fossil
Yes...he was important. Funny, I watched (and enjoyed) the musical "1776" the other night, and I loved the scene where Adams said to Franklin something like "We will do all the work, and you will get all the credit in history"

LOL, Franklin was a lot more interesting than Adams, in many ways.

The movie is quite funny in that respect, in the script Jefferson says "Oh, Mr. Adams, you are driving me to homicide!" and Franklin, Sherman, and Livingstone come marching down the stairways singing "Homicide! Homicide!"

Well, given the context of this thread, perhaps not as funny, but...it still made me laugh.

43 posted on 07/06/2022 9:31:51 AM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: fruser1

Menstrual cramps, or irregular menstruation.

This appears to be quite a reach


44 posted on 07/06/2022 10:30:21 AM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

“an unmarried woman ... would be sure to know when her next period was due”

I never did. Many women are extremely irregular.


45 posted on 07/06/2022 10:36:23 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Joe Biden has been protected by assault weapons his entire adult life. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: MayflowerMadam

LOL, well...irregularity is one thing...being caught by “surprise” is something else.

I would think a woman would want to know around the time, give or take a few days, when she was due.

Some women who are very regular give a day or two of leeway, where those who are very irregular may give a week or two...:)

Being a guy, this was generally something opaque to a large degree, unless...it wasn’t!


46 posted on 07/06/2022 10:46:16 AM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

“I would think a woman would want to know around the time, give or take a few days, when she was due.”

Definitely ... a woman would WANT to know. Sadly, nature often doesn’t cooperate. First miss a couple months, then multiple in one month. Impossible for planning.


47 posted on 07/06/2022 10:51:11 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Joe Biden has been protected by assault weapons his entire adult life. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Callahan

Show the actual words, Molly, and dispense with your feminist BS ‘interpretations.’


48 posted on 07/06/2022 10:52:51 AM PDT by Gaffer (EA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Callahan

I just finished Walter Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin. His biography and the work he put into it is amazing. I did, however, come away from the book with a different view of Franklin. Simply put — Franklin was a jerk. Much of this I already knew, so it wasn’t Isaacson’s spin, but all put together, I really found myself not really respecting the man very much.


49 posted on 07/06/2022 10:56:17 AM PDT by Magnatron
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MayflowerMadam

I guess the bottom line would be not to wear white pants and be ready ALL the time!


50 posted on 07/06/2022 10:58:38 AM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

You got it!!! Also if considering “the rhythm method” as a birth control option — explore every other alternative.


51 posted on 07/06/2022 11:14:18 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Joe Biden has been protected by assault weapons his entire adult life. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: MayflowerMadam

My mother told my sisters to use an aspirin...:)


52 posted on 07/06/2022 11:17:02 AM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel
I would disagree. “Progression of the courses” seems to apply to “Unmarried women” which...if it were menstrual cramps, would that not apply to all women?

Married women would already have an understanding of their moon cycles, therefore it would be unnecessary to advise them.

Read the text as printed here:

https://compote.slate.com/images/0e7f0566-0fac-42b3-ae26-29a221d70a11.jpeg?width=960&rect=1560x1040&offset=0x0

Now I am upon Female Infirmities, it will not be unseasonable to touch upon a common Complaint among unmarry'd Women, namely the Suppression of the Courses.   This don't only disparage their Complexions, but fills them, besides, with sundry Disorders.   For this Misfortune, you must purge with Highland Flagg, ( commonly called Bellyach Root ) a Week before you expect to be out of Order; and repeat the same two Days after; the next Morning drink a Quarter of Pint of Pennyroyal Water, or Decoction, with 12 Drops of Spirits of Harts-horn, and as much again at Night, when you go to Bed.   Continue this 9 Days running; and every fair Day, Stir nimbly about your Affairs, and breathe as much as Possible in the open Air.

Clearly Ben Franklin was only referring to a remedy for an uncomfortable menstrual cycle.

53 posted on 07/06/2022 11:40:46 AM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: higgmeister

I can buy that.


54 posted on 07/06/2022 11:44:25 AM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel
You need to read it again.

Now I am upon Female Infirmities, it will not be unseasonable to touch upon a common Complaint among unmarry'd Women, namely the Suppression of the Courses.   This don't only disparage their Complexions, but fills them, besides, with sundry Disorders.   For this Misfortune, you must purge with Highland Flagg, ( commonly called Bellyach Root ) a Week before you expect to be out of Order...

Unwanted pregnancy was not a common complaint among colonial women.

He refers to Suppression of the Courses, [her period].   Painful menstrual cycle would have be a common complaint.

Then he refers to associated Disorders, and then proscribes a remedy for when you are out of Order.

My word, it even proscribes Bellyach Root for the cramps.

Women in those times never considered killing a baby.   They would kill themselves before that.

55 posted on 07/06/2022 12:12:03 PM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

I typed below before I saw your agreement.


56 posted on 07/06/2022 12:13:57 PM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: bwest; cornfedcowboy
He was the only President of the United States, who was never President of the United States.

Benjamin Franklin was the 6th President of Pennsylvania from 1785 to 1788. It is reasonable to assume that the office of POTUS derives in no small part from the office of President of Pennsylvania, which was created in the 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution.
57 posted on 07/06/2022 12:24:08 PM PDT by Dr. Franklin ("A republic, if you can keep it." )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Callahan

You have to wonder if they would be so hanging on every word of what Benjamin Franklin had to say about buggery.


58 posted on 07/06/2022 1:50:25 PM PDT by beef (Let’s go Baizuo!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: higgmeister

Lol, no problem…In any case, as a MAN…My thoughts on this are probably mine alone… :-)


59 posted on 07/06/2022 3:28:24 PM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel
I would disagree. “Progression of the courses” seems to apply to “Unmarried women” which...if it were menstrual cramps, would that not apply to all women?

There was an old-school thought that virgins would stop having menstrual cramps "when they got married"—i.e. that intercourse and having a baby would cure the cramps problem. There might be some basis in endocrinology for this theory for some individuals; that's above my pay grade. But I do remember hearing this wive's tale still around some years ago.

I read Franklin's "recipe" and agree that it is not about abortion, but about easing menstrual pain.

I've also read six or eight biographies of Franklin; and while he did like the ladies, some biographers believe his rakish reputation was exaggerated. There's a contemporary example with the fake news we have been inundated with as political weaponry.

60 posted on 07/06/2022 3:38:42 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (“Government is the problem.” --Milton Friedman)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-63 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson