THE ECLECTIC MEDICAL SYSTEM. 
BY 
J. BEN NICHOLS, M.D., 
UNITED STATES SOLDIERS' HOME, WASHINGTON, D. C 
FROM 
THE MEDICAL NEWS, 
April 6, 1895. [Reprinted from The Medical News, April 6, 1895.] 
THE ECLECTIC MEDICAL SYSTEM. 
By J. BEN NICHOLS, M.D., 
UNITED STATES SOLDIERS' BW^IT^WASHINGTON, D. C. 
Among the more prominent medical sects that 
engage public attention in the United States at the 
present time is eclecticism. 
While this system, unlike most medical sects, 
was not the creation of any single individual, yet 
to the teachings of Wooster Beach may be credited 
the main influence that ultimately resulted in its 
development. Beach, who was a regular medical 
graduate, early turned his attention to "botanic" 
methods; he practised in New York City, and be- 
gan promulgating his theories about 1827 by the 
establishment of an infirmary and school there. 
About 1833 he published a large work on his system, 
which (especially in a condensed and popular form) 
during the next thirty years went through many 
editions and had a very large sale. He posed as a 
reformer of the current medical practice, and styled 
his teachings the American system of medicine. 
In 1830 measures were taken by the " Reformed 
Medical Society of the United States," founded by 
Beach, in pursuance of which a school was two or 
three years later established at Worthington, Ohio, 
to teach the reformed system, under T. V. Morrow, 
a pupil of Beach. This school died out about 1839, 2 
but was revived by Morrow in Cincinnati in 1842, 
and in 1845 was chartered as the Eclectic Medical 
Institute, which to the present time has continued 
the leading and most permanent influence in the 
propagation of eclecticism. In connection with it 
has been published the chief organ of the system, 
styled the Western Medical Reformer from 1836 
to 1848, and the Eclectic Medical Journal since. 
During the two or three decades following 1830 
several groups of medical sects, mostly styled re- 
formed systems or botanic systems, arose and ex- 
isted in the United States, from the amalgamation 
of which modern eclecticism is derived. The lines 
separating most of these groups were exceedingly 
vague and indefinite. They had much in common : 
in their opposition to certain methods of contem- 
porary medicine ; in their attitude as medical re- 
formers ; in their advocacy of vegetable remedies, or, 
in general, of mild and easily obtainable means of 
medication. One large group, the Thomsonians, 
arose about 1810, and was in 1830 already widely 
disseminated. This system was quite distinct and 
independent from the others, but exerted much in- 
fluence upon eclecticism, and ultimately most of its 
following was merged into the latter system. From 
the group represented by Beach, Morrow, and the 
Cincinnati school modern eclecticism can be lineally 
traced. Other groups arose under other "botanic " 
teachers or under influences which about that time 
seem to have had general operation. Their dif- 
ferences were slight, though at times giving rise to 
controversy. 
The term eclectic was first used in 1840 by a 3 
botanic society and journal in Pennsylvania. Mor- 
row was on friendly terms with this organization, 
and when the Cincinnati Institute was chartered, in 
1845, name eclectic was given to it. In the 
course of twenty or twenty-five years, with one or 
two exceptions, the various groups of botanies and 
reformers gradually dropped their differences, 
adopted the same name, and became consolidated 
in one body, the eclectics. 
The period from about 1845 to i860 was one of 
comparatively vigorous development. Literature 
was produced in some abundance. Periodicals 
came into existence, most of them as short-lived as 
the schools in connection with which they were 
chiefly published. Ten or twelve schools were or- 
ganized in this period in various States, which, in 
most cases, expired after a brief existence. A na- 
tional eclectic association was formed in 1848, but 
died out in a few years. 
The two or three years following i860 constituted 
a period of depression, and the system nearly went 
out of existence. Its patronage had declined; its 
societies, schools, and journals had mostly expired ; 
many of the objectionable features of regular med- 
icine had been abandoned, and many of its ad- 
herents desired to abandon the sect for the regular 
profession. The parent school and journal in Cin- 
cinnati, however, survived, and since that time, 
largely under the influence of John M. Scudder, 
eclecticism has had another period of development. 
New adherents have been gained, new schools, so- 
cieties, and journals established, and new literature 
produced. New doctrines were developed to keep 4 
up the sect. At present there are claimed to be from 
ten-thousand to fifteen-thousand physicians prac- 
tising the system, widely distributed, in the United 
States, besides some in England. There are numer- 
ous State societies, and a national association, which 
was reestablished in 1870. Several journals and 
about ten schools devoted to the system now exist 
in this country, and it is legally recognized in 
many of the States. 
The characteristic principles on which eclecticism 
s based were gradually developed in different pe- 
riods of its history. As medical reformers Beach 
and his contemporaries started out vigorously oppos- 
ing certain harsh and depressing methods of treatment 
practised in that period, especially bleeding and 
the use of drugs like mercury, antimony, and ar- 
senic. This point is still emphasized by eclectic 
writers. The eclectics have always advocated the 
use of "safe and mild remedies," especially those 
of vegetable origin (overlooking the fact that some 
of the most potent and poisonous substances known 
are derived from the vegetable kingdom); for this 
reason they called themseves botanies. They have 
recommended and investigated the medicinal em- 
ployment of native and easily obtainable plants, 
whence, largely, the early designation " American 
system." The doses given are now generally small, 
and administration in pleasant form is sought after. 
Methods of making concentrated preparations of 
drugs have been developed. The eclectics have 
great faith in the curative properties of drugs and 
oppose therapeutic nihilism ; and they claim not to 
select, indiscriminately, simply curative means, but 5 
to make a critical selection of remedies based on 
the recognized nature of disease-processes and drug- 
action. 
The group of ideas embodied in the name eclec- 
ticism developed shortly after the sect was first 
originated. The eclectics recognize the necessity 
of thorough and scientific knowledge of medical 
facts, profess a spirit of broadness, liberality, and 
individual liberty of opinion, and assert the right 
and obligation to adopt that which is true and best 
from whatever source or system. 
The doctrine of specifics, which has been de- 
veloped since i860, and is now a prominent ar- 
ticle in eclectic faith, is an amplification of the 
foregoing ideas. It comprises specific diagnosis, 
critical analysis of each individual case of disease, 
not only as to the general pathologic process, but as 
to the minutest details of symptoms, causes, and 
pathology, and, in pursuance of such a diagnosis, 
specific medication, the use of such remedies as are 
known to affect favorably the particular disease ex- 
pressions present. Thus, for itching of the skin 
with a burning sensation, rhus toxicodendron is in- 
dicated ; with stinging, apis mellifica. 
The eclectics assert that disease is an impairment 
of the vital power-a glittering generality that may 
mean anything or nothing-and they emphasize the 
vis medicatrix natures. They claim (apparently 
from post hoc, ergo propter hoc considerations) that 
the teachings of eclecticism have wrought a revolu- 
tion in regular medicine. They charge the regular 
profession with prejudice, narrowness, and exclu- 6 
siveness. Superior results are claimed from their 
methods of treatment. 
On general considerations it is difficult to see 
why the eclectics should separate themselves as a 
medical sect. The principles relating to medical 
investigation which the eclectics so loudly profess, 
and from which they name themselves, are certainly 
for the most part admirable ; but precisely those 
critical methods of research and that spirit of broad- 
ness and liberality are followed by regular medicine, 
as well as by the other branches of modern science. 
It is absurd for the eclectics to set themselves apart 
on these principles and to claim that they alone of 
medical investigators pursue truly scientific methods 
of research. Indeed, the innate spirit of contro- 
versy and opposition manifested by the sect must 
operate against the formation of perfectly logical 
and liberal conclusions. Sectarianism and exclu- 
siveness are never the best agencies to elicit truth; 
the bias present necessarily distorts the judgment 
and colors the opinions. As a matter of fact, the 
intellectual plane of the school, while much superior 
to that of other sects, is not of the highest order, 
and the eclectics are not so eclectic and liberal as 
they claim. Liberty of opinion is permitted only 
within the limits of established eclectic practice, 
and those who depart from fixed standards are 
branded heretics. The organization probably af- 
fords a convenient shelter for quacks, fanatics, and 
disaffected or inefficient persons; the proportion of 
eclectic colleges which have been closed as fraudu- 
lent, for instance, is noticeable. 
At the present time the differences of actual 7 
theory and practice between the eclectics and reg- 
ular physicians are, perhaps, of not so great con- 
sequence as absolutely to preclude intellectual and 
professional fellowship. As a protest against the 
excessive and indiscriminate employment of bleed- 
ing and a few drugs in theearly part of this century, 
the origin of eclecticism may have had a shadow of 
justification ; but that is a dead issue, and with the 
abandonment of such practice the sect nearly ex- 
pired. Its continued existence appears to be due 
to its traditional spirit of controversy and bigotry. The Medical News. 
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