1. Born in Braintree, Dr. Ebenezer Crosby graduated from Harvard in 1777, completed his medical education at the University of Pennsylvania, and served as surgeon at George Washington’s headquarters during the Revolution. After the war he established a practice in New York City and in 1785 was appointed professor of midwifery at Columbia College, a post he held until his death in 1788 (Thacher, Amer. Medical Biog., description begins James Thacher, American Medical Biography: or Memoirs of Eminent Physicians Who Have Flourished in America, Boston, 1828; 2 vols. description ends 1:57). Crosby would spend time with JQA after the younger Adams’ arrival in New York (JQA, Diary description begins Diary of John Quincy Adams, ed. David Grayson Allen, Robert J. Taylor, and others, Cambridge, 1981–. description ends , 1:295, 296, 303).

2. The “Female-Apparatus” that Crosby sought is generally called an “obstetrical phantom,” a mannequin of a pregnant woman’s torso used to teach midwives and physicians the mechanics of childbirth. The device that Crosby purchased was likely made of wood, leather, and canvas and was necessary to his teaching because cultural restrictions would have made it impossible to use a live subject for instruction (Michael W. Propper and Virginia G. Campen, “Wooden Woman: Cherchez le Fantôme!,” OB/GYN World, April 1985, p. 2–5).

3. JA replied on 3 Sept. 1785 that Dr. Wright Post, then studying in London and later a noted physician and professor of surgery at Columbia College, had procured the apparatus at a cost of seventeen guineas, leaving a balance of twelve guineas that he should pay to Charles Storer (LbC, APM Reel 107; DAB description begins Allen Johnson, Dumas Malone, and others, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928–1936; repr. New York, 1955–1980; 10 vols. plus index and supplements. description ends ). For Crosby’s settlement of the account, see AFC description begins Adams Family Correspondence, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, Richard Alan Ryerson, Margaret A. Hogan, and others, Cambridge, 1963–. description ends , 7:5, 53.