Between 1809 and 1813 leading American physician Benjamin Rush (1745–1813) devoted a significant portion of his time to the production of “American Editions” of four British and colonial medical texts by Thomas Sydenham (1624–1689), Sir John Pringle (1707–1782), William Hillary (1697–1763), and George Cleghorn (1716–1789). This occurred during a period where Rush might have written a textbook detailing his preferred medical system for students outright. Instead, he opted for a different form of knowledge production and proliferation that focused on creating fictive conversations and encouraging critical reading rather than rote memorization. He dedicated these heavily annotated documents to the medical students of the United States of America and set them up as a pedagogical tool. Analysis of these texts helps uncover the reading practices of Rush and the manner in which he expected Americans to mediate their usage of foreign texts and theories after the American Revolution.

1809 年至 1813 年间，美国著名医生本杰明·拉什（1745-1813 年）将大部分时间用于制作托马斯·西德纳姆（1624-1689 年）、约翰·普林格尔爵士（1707 年）的四本英国和殖民地医学文本的“美国版” –1782)、威廉·希拉里 (1697–1763) 和乔治·克莱格霍恩 (1716–1789)。这发生在拉什可能会写一本教科书的时期，详细说明他为学生直接选择的医疗系统。相反，他选择了一种不同形式的知识生产和传播，专注于创造虚构的对话和鼓励批判性阅读，而不是死记硬背。他将这些带有大量注释的文件献给美国的医学生，并将它们设置为教学工具。