Alexander Small

alt=Alexander Small. Mezzotint by J. Faber, junior, after B. Dandridge. Alexander Small. Mezzotint by J. Faber, junior, after B. Dandridge. Alexander Small (c. 1710 – 31 August 1794) was a Scottish surgeon and scholar, and a friend and frequent correspondent of Benjamin Franklin.

Biography

Early life Dr. Alexander Small was born c. 1710 in Perthshire, Scotland, By 1733 he was serving as a surgeon for the British Royal Artillery in Menorca.

In 1736 Small arrived in London and began practising as a private surgeon. Benjamin Franklin may have assisted in the editing of the paper.

In 1783, an elderly Dr. Small was working with Charles Spalding on his designs for an improved diving bell, when Spalding drowned in the Irish Sea diving in a bell of his design. Charles Spalding was married to Dr. Small's niece, Susan Small, the daughter of his brother James Small of Kinloch Rannoch.

Correspondence with Benjamin Franklin Dr. Small and Benjamin Franklin were correspondents for at least thirty years, likely until Franklin's death. Franklin referred to them as "philosophers, who study and converse for the benefit of mankind."

At some point during their friendship, Dr. Small gifted a copy of the Iliad. Currently in the possession of the Library Company of Philadelphia, it is inscribed in Franklin's hand with the notation, "A Gift of Mr. Small, of London, Surgeon, to the Library."

In one of their earliest known letters, a 12 May 1760 letter from Franklin to Small, Franklin addresses the formation of Northeast storms in North America. In 1773 Small was elected to the American Philosophical Society, which was founded by Franklin.

In a letter written on 22 July 1780, while Franklin was in Paris, Franklin reconciles himself to the fact that Dr. Small will not be accepting a dinner invitation because of his concern for appearance's sake of them dining together due their differing politics, then closes the letter with an update on his recurring battle with gout. In lieu of dinner on this particular occasion, Franklin sent his grandson to pay his respects to the surgeon. He is buried in the churchyard of St. John the Baptist Anglican Church, Great Amwell, Hertfordshire, England.