May 27, 2024 • 13 mins
Who would've thought that a discussion about Benjamin Franklin's quirky eating habits could lead to an unsettling discovery in his London basement? Join Phoenix and I, Smarticus, as we munch through Franklin's amusing cranberry and apple cravings and ponder over his patriotic poultry proposal. But brace yourselves, for our conversation takes an eerie twist when we recount the hair-raising tale of over 1,200 human bones found beneath Franklin's residence. Get ready to sip on some 'crapple juice' and tackle a historical whodunit that's as captivating as it is creepy.
In the spirit of curiosity, we're toasting to the past and inviting you to bring your burning historical questions to the table. Be sure to subscribe and leave your mark with a review; our Facebook community awaits your presence for the freshest anecdotes from yesteryear. We promise to keep the stories riveting and the mysteries unraveling, as we cherish your company on these thrilling expeditions through the annals of time. Thanks for tuning in to 'Smarticus Tells History', where every episode is a clink to knowledge and intrigue.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Smartacus.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Tells History.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Alright, enough with the echo and fanfare.
You're here for history, right,and not that boring crap you
learned in high school.
This stuff's actuallyinteresting, like things you've
never heard about the Civil War,cleopatra, automobiles,
monopoly, the Black Plague andmore Fascinating stories,
interesting topics and somedownright weird facts from the
(00:28):
past.
It's a new twist on somestories you may know and an
interesting look at some thingsyou may have never heard.
So grab a beer, kick back andenjoy.
Here's your host.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Smarticus.
Hello, dear listeners, andwelcome back to another exciting
episode of Smarticus TellsHistory.
I am your host, smarticus,accompanied by my co-host,
phoenix.
Hello, an unfolding and jollyold London is where the story
takes place today.
Join us as we delve into thecurious secrets discovered in
Benjamin Franklin's London homebasement, but only after we talk
(01:03):
about the drink that we pickedfor this episode.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
And why we picked it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
So we did some digging into Ben Franklin's
preferred foods and beveragesand come to find out he loved a
snack on cranberries and apples.
Like, like a squirrel is whatI'm getting out of that.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, it says he preferred to snack on them all
the time and his, but his actualall-time favorite food was
turkey and I didn't want to doturkey.
You know, I don't think Phoenixwanted to do turkey either.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I would have done it for you, Smarticus.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So well, I didn't want to.
So I honestly thought aboutwell, honestly, like we just go
to go get turkey deli meat, justmake sandwiches out of it.
I didn't want to do that um anduh, but he loved turkey so much
that he actually suggested thatit should be our national
(02:01):
symbol.
Did you know that?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I did, I did, I did.
Yeah.
I further read in other placesthat the other founding fathers
were like Ben.
You know my brother in Christ.
No, Simmer down.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
That's not happening.
It's not always all aboutturkey.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Ben, oh my gosh.
Speaking of turkey, do you knowhow dumb they are?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, they're pretty dumb.
I mean like I read somewherethat they'll, if they hold their
head up somewhere and it'sraining, they'll, drown.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Domesticated turkeys.
Wild ones don't do it, butdomesticated turkeys if they are
.
If it starts to rain andsomething taps on their head,
they go what's that?
With their mouth open like anidiot, and then they drown
because they don't bother tolook down.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Jeez, that's ridiculous, it is Anyway sorry
readers, Listeners, not readers.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
We're drinking Cran Apple Juice.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh yeah, we didn't get to that.
So yeah, so, and that'sactually one of my favorite
drinks.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I love it too.
Yeah, and that's actually oneof my favorite drinks.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I love it too Quite lately, I've been just drinking
the snot out of it.
It's really good for yourkidneys, I hear.
Yeah, I was going to say notjust for the kidney stone
aspects, but because it justtastes good and it is more or
less healthy for you.
I like tart drinks.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
They make me happy, yeah, but anyways, I mean
healthy for you.
I like tart drinks.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
They make me happy, yeah, but anyways.
So that's what we chose.
We chose apple and cranberryjuice.
I like to call it crapple juice.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Because why not?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Because why not, but it's usually.
I mean you can put howeveramount of whatever in it you
want.
I usually do about half andhalf.
Sometimes I'll do, sometimesI'll do about a third of
cranberry juice and the restapple juice, but this time I
think I put more, half, more,half and half.
But, it tastes great.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
I bought the already packaged together stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Oh yeah, I don't do that, I mix.
I buy them separately and thenmix them.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Oh, that one's a purist.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I was going to say, because I'm stingy like that,
you're weird.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
We don't associate with you.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, there you go Buy that package crap.
It was even better, it was evenworse.
We got the generic Kroger brand.
It's not even name brand, it'sgeneric.
What kind of crap is that?
Speaker 3 (04:36):
and you know what?
I'm not sorry, I pinched thosepennies hard I made them squeal.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
It's oceans and mods, or nothing else I'm a heathen,
I'm sorry, it's all right, I'lllet it slide thank you, I
appreciate that well.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Benjamin franklin was a polymath, statesman and a
founding father of the unitedstates.
He is celebrated for hiscontributions to science,
politics and literature.
But in 1998, I know it seems solike so close.
I was reading, I started justwhen I was doing the research.
I was like 1998?
(05:16):
98.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Really, don't worry, I'm definitely not Googling what
a polymath is.
It's a person of wide rangeknowledge and learning.
In case anybody else waswondering you didn't know that,
I didn't know that You're soprecious.
I was like what the hell is apolymath?
I'll be honest, I thought itwas some sex thing or something.
To be honest, I was like whatthe hell's a polymath?
I'll be honest, I thought itwas some sex thing, or something
to be honest.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I was waiting for you to say it.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I was like I hear he was pretty crazy.
I wouldn't have put it past him.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
But in 1998, a group of construction workers were
working on conservation repairsof Franklin's former Craven
Street home.
As they excavated the basement,they stumbled upon a startling
find Over 1,200 human bones,neatly arranged in a pit.
The discovery sent shockwavesto the historical community and
(06:08):
ignited a wave of speculation.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
The bones believed to be from the late 18th century
posed a mystery that captivatedhistorians and archaeologists
alike.
Questions swirled who werethese individuals and how did
their remains end up in thebasement of one of America's
most iconic figures?
Was Benjamin Franklin?
A serial killer Was also asked.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
A coroner examined them first and found that they
were over 100 years old.
That meant that there was noneed for an investigation to
ascertain whether these peoplewere newly missing.
After that, the Franklin Houseteam invited Dr Simon Ilsen and
other colleagues from London'sInstitute of Archaeology to take
their turn at looking over thebones, as well as the pit they
were found in.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
What they discovered was that the remains belonged to
at least 15 individuals.
In addition to those 1200 bones, they found microscope slides,
a portion of a turtle spine andmercury, which sounds really
strange for someone to havedumped in a hole one meter deep
and one meter wide in what wasthe garden at the back of the
house.
Now it is under what is knownas a seminary room.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
The circumstances surrounding their burial and the
reasons for their presence inFranklin's basement remained
elusive until they looked intothe history of the people who
lived there over 100 years ago.
Franklin came to England in1757 as a diplomatic agent for
the William Penn family.
He was a boarder at the CravenStreet house from then until
1775.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
During that time he became quite close to the
landlady Margaret Stevenson andher daughter Polly.
They would write to each otherwhenever traveling separated
them.
In 1770, polly married WilliamHewson, an anatomist who is
famous even now for hisdiscoveries regarding blood
coagulation.
Hewson studied under WilliamHunter, a famous obstetrician
(07:57):
and anatomy lecturer.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Houston and Hunter were really chummy for a while
until they had a falling outover scientific discoveries
which Franklin actually tried tosmooth over, but to no avail.
However, houston was elected tothe Royal Society, which is the
UK's National Science Academy,thanks to some help from
Franklin, according to MarciaBeliciano, the director of the
Benjamin Franklin House.
She said Franklin thoughtHewson was a polite and
(08:22):
promising young man.
He further helped Hewson byencouraging him to create a
private academy at Craven Streetfor the further study of
anatomy.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
It is incredibly important to note that during
this time, dissections were notfully legal until the 19th
century.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
And neither was the acquisition of the bodies to
dissect.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, so he was, it was all for science.
Yes, it really was.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
And they were dead.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, they were dead.
I mean, when I'm dead, somebodycould do whatever to my body.
I don't care.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I'm donating my body to science.
They can do what they wantcremate it and give the remains
back to my kid.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
That's kind of what I said, although I wouldn't mind
being frozen either.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Why.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Then I can come back as a cyborg Metal body, but with
a little help fromresurrectionists, think grave
robbers, who dug up people andsold their bodies to science and
possibly a little bribe to thehangman.
Anatomy classes were a go.
Many of the bones found at theBenjamin Franklin House show
(09:30):
distinctive cut marks on themthat would suggest they have
been used to teach amputations,which, according to Bellassiano,
this is a good skill if youwere a surgeon.
Likewise, some of the skullshad cuts that were most likely
made by a trepanning device.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, that's a device that was used to make circular
holes in the skull.
Gross I know, but they believedat the time that it was a very
necessary procedure to alleviatepressure in the brain, you know
, for when an Advil just won'tsolve that pesky migraine.
Of course, this practice ofboring holes into someone's
skull had a high rate ofinfection and blood loss, which
(10:08):
eventually resulted in thepatient's death.
So maybe just drink some waterand take a nap.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah, that's probably the safest bet, right?
And the private schools, likethe one one Houston opened, were
growing popular and more common.
Because hospital teaching waslimited due to those murky
dissection and body snatchinglaws, they provided answers to
the growing interest in publichealth.
Even more useful was that thelessons by experts were
(10:35):
financially successful,encouraging growth not just in
academia but in the longevity ofthe schools.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Sadly, the physical discovery of anatomy was not
without its hazards.
In 1774, hewson contractedsepticemia from a dissection.
In case you're wondering,sepsis can take as little as 12
hours to see the infected persondie.
As it runs through the body, itcauses damage to the organs,
which is incredibly painful.
Hewson died at the age.
Person die as it runs throughthe body.
It causes damage to the organs,which is incredibly painful.
(11:03):
Houston died at the age of 34.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
That left Pauly with two children and one on the way.
Franklin wrote to his wifeabout the tragedy of his
friend's death and Pauly's loss,stating that he died last
Sunday morning of a fever whichbaffled the skill of our best
physicians.
He was an excellent young man,ingenious, industrious, useful
and beloved by all that knew him.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
In 1775, he left England after realizing that
reconciliation with England andthe colonies was impossible.
Once back in Philadelphia, hewas chosen as a delegate from
Pennsylvania to go to the SecondContinental Congress.
We aren't going to cover therevolution in this episode, but
we will tell you that Polly andher children moved to the city
of brotherly love after the warended so that she could be
(11:45):
closer to her very close friends, the Franklins.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Policiano has been quoted as saying Franklin was a
champion of science.
He was supportive of youngresearchers and others.
That could exemplify hispassion for knowledge and
innovation, and we think she wasspot on about one of our
founding fathers.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
So, in conclusion, was Franklin a serial killer?
Probably not.
Was he totally down for barelylegal learning about the human
body?
You betcha, If you dig deepenough in London can you find
all kinds of things, Absolutely.
Lastly, we should be verygrateful to the rule breakers,
innovators and knowledge seekersfrom 200 years ago.
Without them, medical sciencewould still be in the dark ages.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Thank you for joining us today, and if you have any
historical questions or topicsyou would like us to explore in
future episodes, don't hesitateto reach out.
Thank you for joining us, andif you enjoyed this episode,
please subscribe and leave us areview.
We'll be back with more storiesfrom the past.
Until then, keep exploring.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Thanks for listening to Smarticus Tells History.
If you enjoyed this episode,don't forget to rate and review
and make sure to subscribe andbe sure to follow the show at
facebookcom.
Slash Smarticus Tells Historyor just click the link in the
show description.
Thanks again for listening.
See you next time.
Welcome to Smartacus.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Tells History.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Alright, enough with the echo and fanfare.
You're here for history, right,and not that boring crap you
learned in high school.
This stuff's actuallyinteresting, like things you've
never heard about the Civil War,cleopatra, automobiles,
monopoly, the Black Plague andmore Fascinating stories,
interesting topics and somedownright weird facts from the
(00:28):
past.
It's a new twist on somestories you may know and an
interesting look at some thingsyou may have never heard.
So grab a beer, kick back andenjoy.
Here's your host.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Smarticus.
Hello, dear listeners, andwelcome back to another exciting
episode of Smarticus TellsHistory.
I am your host, smarticus,accompanied by my co-host,
phoenix.
Hello, an unfolding and jollyold London is where the story
takes place today.
Join us as we delve into thecurious secrets discovered in
Benjamin Franklin's London homebasement, but only after we talk
(01:03):
about the drink that we pickedfor this episode.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
And why we picked it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
So we did some digging into Ben Franklin's
preferred foods and beveragesand come to find out he loved a
snack on cranberries and apples.
Like, like a squirrel is whatI'm getting out of that.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, it says he preferred to snack on them all
the time and his, but his actualall-time favorite food was
turkey and I didn't want to doturkey.
You know, I don't think Phoenixwanted to do turkey either.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I would have done it for you, Smarticus.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So well, I didn't want to.
So I honestly thought aboutwell, honestly, like we just go
to go get turkey deli meat, justmake sandwiches out of it.
I didn't want to do that um anduh, but he loved turkey so much
that he actually suggested thatit should be our national
(02:01):
symbol.
Did you know that?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I did, I did, I did.
Yeah.
I further read in other placesthat the other founding fathers
were like Ben.
You know my brother in Christ.
No, Simmer down.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
That's not happening.
It's not always all aboutturkey.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Ben, oh my gosh.
Speaking of turkey, do you knowhow dumb they are?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, they're pretty dumb.
I mean like I read somewherethat they'll, if they hold their
head up somewhere and it'sraining, they'll, drown.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Domesticated turkeys.
Wild ones don't do it, butdomesticated turkeys if they are
.
If it starts to rain andsomething taps on their head,
they go what's that?
With their mouth open like anidiot, and then they drown
because they don't bother tolook down.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Jeez, that's ridiculous, it is Anyway sorry
readers, Listeners, not readers.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
We're drinking Cran Apple Juice.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh yeah, we didn't get to that.
So yeah, so, and that'sactually one of my favorite
drinks.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I love it too.
Yeah, and that's actually oneof my favorite drinks.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I love it too Quite lately, I've been just drinking
the snot out of it.
It's really good for yourkidneys, I hear.
Yeah, I was going to say notjust for the kidney stone
aspects, but because it justtastes good and it is more or
less healthy for you.
I like tart drinks.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
They make me happy, yeah, but anyways, I mean
healthy for you.
I like tart drinks.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
They make me happy, yeah, but anyways.
So that's what we chose.
We chose apple and cranberryjuice.
I like to call it crapple juice.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Because why not?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Because why not, but it's usually.
I mean you can put howeveramount of whatever in it you
want.
I usually do about half andhalf.
Sometimes I'll do, sometimesI'll do about a third of
cranberry juice and the restapple juice, but this time I
think I put more, half, more,half and half.
But, it tastes great.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
I bought the already packaged together stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Oh yeah, I don't do that, I mix.
I buy them separately and thenmix them.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Oh, that one's a purist.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I was going to say, because I'm stingy like that,
you're weird.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
We don't associate with you.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, there you go Buy that package crap.
It was even better, it was evenworse.
We got the generic Kroger brand.
It's not even name brand, it'sgeneric.
What kind of crap is that?
Speaker 3 (04:36):
and you know what?
I'm not sorry, I pinched thosepennies hard I made them squeal.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
It's oceans and mods, or nothing else I'm a heathen,
I'm sorry, it's all right, I'lllet it slide thank you, I
appreciate that well.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Benjamin franklin was a polymath, statesman and a
founding father of the unitedstates.
He is celebrated for hiscontributions to science,
politics and literature.
But in 1998, I know it seems solike so close.
I was reading, I started justwhen I was doing the research.
I was like 1998?
(05:16):
98.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Really, don't worry, I'm definitely not Googling what
a polymath is.
It's a person of wide rangeknowledge and learning.
In case anybody else waswondering you didn't know that,
I didn't know that You're soprecious.
I was like what the hell is apolymath?
I'll be honest, I thought itwas some sex thing or something.
To be honest, I was like whatthe hell's a polymath?
I'll be honest, I thought itwas some sex thing, or something
to be honest.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I was waiting for you to say it.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I was like I hear he was pretty crazy.
I wouldn't have put it past him.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
But in 1998, a group of construction workers were
working on conservation repairsof Franklin's former Craven
Street home.
As they excavated the basement,they stumbled upon a startling
find Over 1,200 human bones,neatly arranged in a pit.
The discovery sent shockwavesto the historical community and
(06:08):
ignited a wave of speculation.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
The bones believed to be from the late 18th century
posed a mystery that captivatedhistorians and archaeologists
alike.
Questions swirled who werethese individuals and how did
their remains end up in thebasement of one of America's
most iconic figures?
Was Benjamin Franklin?
A serial killer Was also asked.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
A coroner examined them first and found that they
were over 100 years old.
That meant that there was noneed for an investigation to
ascertain whether these peoplewere newly missing.
After that, the Franklin Houseteam invited Dr Simon Ilsen and
other colleagues from London'sInstitute of Archaeology to take
their turn at looking over thebones, as well as the pit they
were found in.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
What they discovered was that the remains belonged to
at least 15 individuals.
In addition to those 1200 bones, they found microscope slides,
a portion of a turtle spine andmercury, which sounds really
strange for someone to havedumped in a hole one meter deep
and one meter wide in what wasthe garden at the back of the
house.
Now it is under what is knownas a seminary room.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
The circumstances surrounding their burial and the
reasons for their presence inFranklin's basement remained
elusive until they looked intothe history of the people who
lived there over 100 years ago.
Franklin came to England in1757 as a diplomatic agent for
the William Penn family.
He was a boarder at the CravenStreet house from then until
1775.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
During that time he became quite close to the
landlady Margaret Stevenson andher daughter Polly.
They would write to each otherwhenever traveling separated
them.
In 1770, polly married WilliamHewson, an anatomist who is
famous even now for hisdiscoveries regarding blood
coagulation.
Hewson studied under WilliamHunter, a famous obstetrician
(07:57):
and anatomy lecturer.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Houston and Hunter were really chummy for a while
until they had a falling outover scientific discoveries
which Franklin actually tried tosmooth over, but to no avail.
However, houston was elected tothe Royal Society, which is the
UK's National Science Academy,thanks to some help from
Franklin, according to MarciaBeliciano, the director of the
Benjamin Franklin House.
She said Franklin thoughtHewson was a polite and
(08:22):
promising young man.
He further helped Hewson byencouraging him to create a
private academy at Craven Streetfor the further study of
anatomy.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
It is incredibly important to note that during
this time, dissections were notfully legal until the 19th
century.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
And neither was the acquisition of the bodies to
dissect.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, so he was, it was all for science.
Yes, it really was.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
And they were dead.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, they were dead.
I mean, when I'm dead, somebodycould do whatever to my body.
I don't care.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I'm donating my body to science.
They can do what they wantcremate it and give the remains
back to my kid.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
That's kind of what I said, although I wouldn't mind
being frozen either.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Why.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Then I can come back as a cyborg Metal body, but with
a little help fromresurrectionists, think grave
robbers, who dug up people andsold their bodies to science and
possibly a little bribe to thehangman.
Anatomy classes were a go.
Many of the bones found at theBenjamin Franklin House show
(09:30):
distinctive cut marks on themthat would suggest they have
been used to teach amputations,which, according to Bellassiano,
this is a good skill if youwere a surgeon.
Likewise, some of the skullshad cuts that were most likely
made by a trepanning device.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, that's a device that was used to make circular
holes in the skull.
Gross I know, but they believedat the time that it was a very
necessary procedure to alleviatepressure in the brain, you know
, for when an Advil just won'tsolve that pesky migraine.
Of course, this practice ofboring holes into someone's
skull had a high rate ofinfection and blood loss, which
(10:08):
eventually resulted in thepatient's death.
So maybe just drink some waterand take a nap.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah, that's probably the safest bet, right?
And the private schools, likethe one one Houston opened, were
growing popular and more common.
Because hospital teaching waslimited due to those murky
dissection and body snatchinglaws, they provided answers to
the growing interest in publichealth.
Even more useful was that thelessons by experts were
(10:35):
financially successful,encouraging growth not just in
academia but in the longevity ofthe schools.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Sadly, the physical discovery of anatomy was not
without its hazards.
In 1774, hewson contractedsepticemia from a dissection.
In case you're wondering,sepsis can take as little as 12
hours to see the infected persondie.
As it runs through the body, itcauses damage to the organs,
which is incredibly painful.
Hewson died at the age.
Person die as it runs throughthe body.
It causes damage to the organs,which is incredibly painful.
(11:03):
Houston died at the age of 34.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
That left Pauly with two children and one on the way.
Franklin wrote to his wifeabout the tragedy of his
friend's death and Pauly's loss,stating that he died last
Sunday morning of a fever whichbaffled the skill of our best
physicians.
He was an excellent young man,ingenious, industrious, useful
and beloved by all that knew him.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
In 1775, he left England after realizing that
reconciliation with England andthe colonies was impossible.
Once back in Philadelphia, hewas chosen as a delegate from
Pennsylvania to go to the SecondContinental Congress.
We aren't going to cover therevolution in this episode, but
we will tell you that Polly andher children moved to the city
of brotherly love after the warended so that she could be
(11:45):
closer to her very close friends, the Franklins.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Policiano has been quoted as saying Franklin was a
champion of science.
He was supportive of youngresearchers and others.
That could exemplify hispassion for knowledge and
innovation, and we think she wasspot on about one of our
founding fathers.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
So, in conclusion, was Franklin a serial killer?
Probably not.
Was he totally down for barelylegal learning about the human
body?
You betcha, If you dig deepenough in London can you find
all kinds of things, Absolutely.
Lastly, we should be verygrateful to the rule breakers,
innovators and knowledge seekersfrom 200 years ago.
Without them, medical sciencewould still be in the dark ages.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Thank you for joining us today, and if you have any
historical questions or topicsyou would like us to explore in
future episodes, don't hesitateto reach out.
Thank you for joining us, andif you enjoyed this episode,
please subscribe and leave us areview.
We'll be back with more storiesfrom the past.
Until then, keep exploring.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Thanks for listening to Smarticus Tells History.
If you enjoyed this episode,don't forget to rate and review
and make sure to subscribe andbe sure to follow the show at
facebookcom.
Slash Smarticus Tells Historyor just click the link in the
show description.
Thanks again for listening.
See you next time.
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