NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE Bethesda, Maryland KP-3 DQ-QQ-CQ ZQZQ ZQvQ CO Zj&O&OQ I r Surgeon General's Office Cftc/ton,. ...O...rC.._;......(_?............. No....-' .£>V>..X. SAM. THOMSOlt-M OH1.YIST. NARRATIVE, OF THE LIFE AND MEDICAL DISCOVERIES op / SAMUEL THOMSON; CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS SYSTEM OF PRACTICE, AND The manner or curing Disease with Vegetable Mbdicjne, UPON A PLAN ENTIRELY NEW J to Which is added An Introduction to his New Guide to Health, or Bgtttliic Family Physician%containing tlie principles upon which the system is founded, with remarks on Fevers, Steaming, Poison, dfc. SECOND EDITION. WRITTEN BY BIM3EUV ~v BOSTOIf* *$>,; <> t-or POINTED FOR THE AUTHOB, BY B. "*. »0f SB, Ac* 13, Merchants-Hatt DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to- wit: District Cltrk^s Office^ BEit remembered, that on the thirty-first day of July, A. D. 1822, in the forty-seventh year of the Independence of the United States of America, Samuel Thomson, of the said District, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right ^vhereof he claims as author and proprietor, in the words follow- ing, to wit: A Narralive of the Life and Medical Di-coveries of Samuel Thomson, containing an account of his System of Practice, and the manner of curinz disease with vegetable medicine, upon a plan entirely new ; to which is added an introduction ro his new guide to health, or botanic family physician, containing1 the priu- ■ciples upon which the system is founded, with remarks on fevers, •teaming, poison, _c.— Written by himself. In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, en- titled " AnAct for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and pro- prietors of such Copies, during the time therein mentioned ;" and •also to an Act entitled " An Act supplementary to an Act, emi- tted an Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Pooks, to the Authors and Proprie- tors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving »bI Etching Historic*! and other Prints. JOHN W. DAVIS, Clerk of Mass. District. 4-f / r. r VsjZ. ADVERTISEMENT. It has for a long time been a subject in which I have> felt a deep interest, to publish something which should not only be interesting to the public, but should convey to them a correct knowledge of my system of practice, in order that they might reap the advantage of the ex- perience I have had in curing disease by a safe and sim- ple method of my own invention; and putting it in their poiver at all time?, to relieve themselves and families from pain and sickness, without having to be at the risk and expense of employing a fashionable doctor. One other object I have also had in view, and that is, to lay before the public, a fair statement of facts, that they may have a correct knowledge of the trials, persecutions and determined opposition 1 have received from the. medical faculty, in bringing my system and medicine into use among the people. The following work contains a correct narrative of my life, as far as it has been connected with my medical practice ; and the treatment I have received from those whom I have had to deal with in my endeavours to relieve the distress of my fellow creatures,by informing them how they might prevent or cure disease. I have added a number of certificates and statements from others, who have had much experience, and are well qualified to form a correct view of the utility and safety of the prac- tice. 1 have also inserted in this volume, the Introduc- tion to my New Guide to Health, or Botanic Family Physician, in which is fully explained the principles up- on which the system is founded, and remarks on fevers, steaming, poison, &c. ADVERTISEMENT. By a careful examination of this Narrative, the read- er will be enabled to form a pretty good knowledge of my whole system of practice, and the different vegeta- bles that I make use of in every disease ; and will be found to contain much useful information on the subject generally. The other part, which is intended as a book, of practice, contains a description of the vegetables made use of by me, and the manner of preparing and adminis- tering them, and general directions for the treatment of all cases of disease. This book will not be put into the bands of any except those who purchase a family right. The preparing, compounding and administering the • medicine contained in my system, in manner and form as laid down in my book of practice, I claim as my own discovery; all of which has been secured to me by letters patent; and whoever makes use of it without authority from me or my agents, make themselves liable to the penalties of the law. Those who wish to pur- chase the ri*ht of using them in their families, will be accomodated, by application to me or any of my agents duly authorised. UA3imATIT2 OF THE LIFE, &c. OF SAMUEL THOMSON. 1 HERE is nothing, perhaps, more unpleasant than to write onesown life ; for in doing it we are obliged to pass over again, as it were, many scenes, which we might wish to have forgotten, and relate many particulars, which, though they may seem very important to our- selves, yet would be very uninteresting to th.- reader. It is not my intention to attempt to write a history of my life, nor would it be in my power to do it if 1 had such a wish ; but as 1 have been the greater part of my life engaged in one of the most important pursuits, and which is of more consequence to the great human family, than any- other that could be undertaken by man ; that of allevi- ating human misery, by curing ail cases of disease by the most simple, safe an J certain method of prac- tice, I think the public will be interested to know something of me, and the cause of my having taken up- on myself so important a calling, without being regular- ly educated to the profession, which is (bought by the world to be indespensihly necessary ; but I sh * 1 i take the liberty to disagree a littie with them in this particular; for, although learning may be a great advantage in ac- quiring a profession, yet that alone will never make a great man, where there is no natural gift. By giving a short sk.-tc'i of the early part of my ex- istence, and relating those accidental circnmstar.re »tint have occurred during my life, and w!>ich were princi- pally the cause of my engaging in the healing art, will enable the public to judge more correctly, whether I 14 Narrative of the Life, &c. have taken that course, in fulfilling my duty in this life, which the God of nature hath pointed out for me. In do- ing this, 1 shall endeavour to give a plain and simple nar- rative of facts as they took place, and relate only those particulars of my life, with such of the cases that have come under my care, as will best convey to the reader the most correct information of my system of practice in curing disease. I was born Feb. 9, 1769, in the town of Ateted, coun- ty of Cheshire, and State of New-Hampshire. My fa- ther, John Thomson, was born in Norlhbridge, county of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts ; he was twen- ty-five years old when I was born. My mother's name wa» Hannah Cobb; she was born in Medway, Mass. and was four years older than my father. 1 had one sister older than myself, and three brothers and one sister younger, who are all living except my second brother, who died in his fourteenth year. My oldest sister mar- ried Samuel Hills, and lives in Surry, New Hampshire, and my two brothers live in Jericho, Vermont. My youngest sister married Waters Mather, and lives in the state of Ohio. That country was a wilderness when I was born ; my father had began there about a year before, at which time there was no house within three miles one way, and about one the other; there were no road?, and they had to go by marked trees. The snow was verv deep when they moved there, and my mother had to"travel over a mile on snow shoes through the woods to get to their habitation. My parents were poor, bavin" no- thing to begin the world with ; but had to depend upon their labor for support My father had bought a piece of wild land on credit, and had to pay for it by his labor in what he could make off the land, which caused us greit hardships and deprivations for a long time. As soon as 1 began to form any correct ideas of things, my mind was much irritated By the impressions made on it by my parents, who, no doubt with very good inten- tions, filled my young head with a! I kinds of hob-goblins and witch stones, which made a very deep impression en my mind, and which were not entirely irradicatedfor muny years. I mention this as a caution to parents, not Of Samuel Thomson. 15 to tell their children any thing but the truth ; for young children naturally believe whatever their parents tell them, and when they frighten them with such stories, for the purpose of making them behave well, it will most generally have a very bad effect : for when they arrive at years of discretion, and find that ail those sto- ries are falsehoods, they will naturally form very unfa- vourable opinions of their parents, whose duty it is to set them better examples. My father and mother were of the Bnptist persuasion, and were very strict in their religious duties. They at- tended meeting every Sabbath, and my father prayed night and morning in his family. One day they went to meeting, and left me and my sister at home alone, and fold us that if we were wicked they should send the bear or the knocker to carry us off. While they were ab- sent I was at play, when we heard a hard knocking on the outside of the house, which frightened us vf ry much, and when they came home I told them what had hap- pened; but instead of letting us know w.'iat it was, they told us it was the knocker they had told us of, and that or the bear would always come if we were wicked and did not mind and do as they told us. It was several years after that my reason taught me that this knocker as they called it, was a wood-pecker that came on the end of the house. Parents ou^htto be careful toimpre«s on the minds of young children, correct ideas of things, and not mislead their uu.lerstandings by telling them falsehoods ; for it will be of the greatest importance as respects their future conduct and put suits in life. When I was between three and four years old, my father took me out with him vo work. The first hu-i- ness I was set to do was to drive the cows to pasture, and watch the geese, with other small chore*, which occupation kept me all day in the fields. I was very curious to know the names of all the herbs which 1 saw growing, and what they were good for ; and to satisfy my curiosity was constantly making enquiries of those persons that I happened to be with, for that purpose. All the information I thus obtained, or by my own ob- servation, I carefully laid up in my memory, and never forgot. There was an old lady by the name of Ben- J 6 Narrative of the Life, Sfc. ton lived near us, who used to attend our family when there was any sickness. At that time there was no such thing as a Doctor known among us ; there not be- ing any within ten miles. The whole of her practice was with roots and herbs, applied to the patient, or given in hot drinks, to produce sweating; which always answered the purpose. When one thing did not pro- duce the desired effect, she would try something else, till they were relieved. By her attention to the family, and the benefits they received from her skill, we be- came very much attached to her; and when she used to go out to collect roots and herbs, she would take me with her, and learn me their names, with what they were good for ; and I used to be very curious in my en- quiries, and in tasting every thing that I found. The information I thus obtained at this early age, was after- wards of great use to me. Sometime in the summer, after I was four years old, being out in the fields in search of the cows, I discov- ered a plant v\ Inch had a singular branch and pods, that I had never before seen; and I had the curiosity to pick some of the pods and chew tbem; the taste and operation produced, was so remarkable, that I never forgot it. 1 afterwards used to induce other boys to chew it, merely b^- way of sport, to see them vomit. 1 tried this herb in this way for nearly twenty years, without knowing any thing of its medical virtues. This plant is what 1 have called the Emetic Herb, and is (he most important article I make use of in my prac- tice. It is very common in most parts of this country, and may be prepared and used in almost any manner. It is a certain counter-poison, having never been known to fail to counteract the effects of the most deadly poi- son, even when taken in large quantities for self-des- truction. There is no danger to be apprehended from its use, as it is perfectly harmless in its operation, even when a large quantity is taken—it operates as an eme- tic, cleanses the sU.mach from all improper aliment, promotes an internal heat, which is immediately felt at the extremities, and produces perspiration. The ex- clusive right of using this plant for medical purposes is secured to me by patent, and my right to the discovery Of Samuel Thomson. 17 has never been disputed; though the Doctors have done every thing they could to destroy the credit of it, by false statements, representing it to be a deadly poi- son, and at the same time they knew to the contrary, for they have made use of it themselves for several years, and have tried to defraud me of the discovery. i feel perfectly convinced from near thirty years expe- rience of its medical properties, that the discovery is of incalculable importance, and if properly understood by the people, will be more useful in curing the diseases incident to this climate, than the drugs and medicines sold by all the? apothecaries in the country. At five years of age my lather put me to hard work, and was very strict, using the greatest severity towards me. 1 used to suiter very much from pains in my hips and back, being lame from my birth, and the hard work made me so stiff, that in the morning it was with diffi- culty I cou!d walk. My father's severity towards me made me very unhappy, for I was constantly in fear lest he should call and I should not hear him, in which case, he used to punish me very severely. I continued in this situation till I was eight years old, when my bro- thers be^an to be some help, which took part of the burthen off from me. We suffered great hardships and lived very poorly; but we always had something to eat, and were contented, for we knew of nothing better ; a dish of bean porridge and some potatoes, were our con- stant fare, and this wa« better than many others had. The greatest part of ibis winter we had to live in the barn. In J*jl v my father had got a part of the roof of a new house covered, and we moved into it; which was more comfortable than the barn. About this time my mother was taken sick, and was carried to Mrs. Benton's, for her to tko care of, where she remained for sever- a4 weeks, during which time, by using such means-as this? old lady prescribed, tiie recovered. At this time I had never been to school, or had any chance whatever to learn to read. My father kept me constantly to- work all week days, ani on Sunday I had to go a con- siderable distance on foot to meeting, and the rest of the. day was kept on my feet in hearing him read thecate- n2 18 Narrative of the Life, Ike. chism, creed and prayeis, sol that I had little time to rest on that day. The winter 1 was eight years old, .1 was very sick with the canker-rush ; but was attended by the widow Benton, who cured me by making use of such medicine as our country afforded, and I was in a short time able to be about. After I had got well, my mind was more attentive to the use of roots and herbs as medicine, than ever. I had at that time a very good knowledge of the principal roots and herbs to be found in that part of the country, with their names and medical uses ; and the neighbours were in the habit of getting me to go with them to show them such roots and herbs as the doctors ordered to be made use ol in sickness for syrups, &c. and by way of sport they used to call me doctor. While in the field at work 1 used often to find the herb, which I tasted when four years old, and gave it to those wiio worked with me, to see them spit and often vomit ; but I never observed any bad effect produced by it, which simple experiments eventually led me to observe the value of it in disease. When I was about ten years old, there was a school a little mote than a mile fiom my fat .er's, where 1 hnd the opportunity of attending for one month. The wea- ther was coid and the going bad, which caused me to make very slow progress in my learning; but the chance we considered a great privilege, for the coun- try was new and people poor, and the opportunity for child' en to get learning very small. 1 took a great dis- like to working on a farm, and never could be recon^ oiled to it; for nothing could strike me with greater dread than to hear the name of a plough, or any other thing used on a farm meut.ooed. This I have always attributed to the hardships I underwent, and the severi- ty which my father used constantly to exercise towards me from the time I was five to ten year* old At that time, I used to think that if I ever had any land I would aot plough it; and if my father's treatment of me was the effect of his religion, 1 never wished to have any. This was vi hen be was under the stronge.-t influence of the Laptist} ersu ;sicn, and used to be very zealous in. ftts religious duties, praying night and morning, and Of Samuel Thomson. 19 Sometimes three times a day He was a man of violent and quick temper, and when in his fits of passion, my mother used frequently to remind him of certain parts of his prayer; such as this, which I never forgot: '• May we live soberly, righteously, and godly, in the present evil world." She was a woman much respect- ed in the town where we lived. About the time I was fourteen years old, my father left the baptist persuasion and embraced that of uuiver- sal salvation—By grace are ye saved, through faith not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. If he ever ex- perienced a change of heart for the better, it wasat this time ; his love to God and man was great, and I had great reason to rejoice, fur he was like another man in his house. He continued to enjoy the same belief with much comfo; t to the time of his death, which took place in August, 1820, a:^ed 76.. My mother remain- ed m my years in the full belief of the salvation of ail men. and continued so till her death. Sor.ieiiine during the year that I was sixteen years ol«l, I heard my p:irents say, that as my mind was so much taken up with roots and herbs, they thought it best to send me to live with a Doctor Fuller, of West- moreland, who was called a root doctor. This pleased me very much, and in some measure raised my ambi- tion ; but I was soon after disappointed in my hopes, f. r they said 1 had not learning enough, and they did not know h'-'w to spa e me from my work, which depressed my spirits and was very discouraging to me. I now gave up all Imp.^s of going to any other business, and tried to reconcile mvself to spend u-y days in working on a firm, \hich made me very unhappy. I had little learning and was awkward and ignorant of the world, as my father had never given me any chance to go into company, to learn how to behave, which caused me great uneasiness. In the year 1788. when I was in my ninr(en,ith year, my father purchased a piece of land on Onion river in the State of Vermont, and on the 12th day of October he started from Msread, and took' me with him, to ge to work on the land and clear up some of it to build a house on, as it was all covered with wood- In about 20 Narrative of the Life, <$*c. four days after our arrival, we were enabled to clear a small spot and to build us a ramp to live in ; we had to do our own cooking and washing ; our fare was poor, and we had to work very hard ; but we got along tol- erably well till the 2d of December, when I had the mis- fortune to cut my ancle very badly, which accident pre- venied me from doing any labor for a long tinv, and al- most deprived me of life. The wound was a very bad one, as it split the joint and laid the bone entirely bare, so as to lose the juices of my ancle joint to such a de- gree as to reduce my strength \ery much. My father sent for a Doctor Cole, of Jericho, who ordered sweet appletree bark to be boiled, and the wound to be wash- ed with it, which caused great pain, and made it much worse, so that in eight days my strength was almo>t ex- hausted ; the flesh on my leg and thigh was mostly gone and my life was dispaired of; (he liocicrsaid be could do no more for me; my father was greatlv alarmed about me, and said that if Dr. Kitteridge. of Walpole could be sent for, he thought he might help me; but I told him it would be in vain to send for him, for 1 could not live so long as it would take to go after him, with- out some immediate assistance, Jic said he did not know what to do—I told him that there was one thing I had thought of, which I wished to have tried, if it could be obtained, that I thought would help me. He anx- iously enquired what it was, and I told him if he could find some romfrey root I would try a plaister made of that and turpentine. He immediately went to an old place that was settled before the war, and had the good luck to find some ; a plaister was prepared by my directions and applied to my ancle the side op. posite to the wound, and had the desired effect; the juices stopped running in about six hours, and I was very much relieved; though the pain continued to be very severe and the inflammation was great; the juices settled between the skin and bone and caused a suppuration, which broke in about three weeks- during which time I did not have three uights sleep' nor did I eat any thing. This accidental remedy was found through necessity, and was the first time the mother of invention held forth her hand to me. The Of Samuel Thomson. 2.1 success which attended this experiment, and the natu- ral turn of my mind to those things, I think was a prin- cipal cause of my continuing to practice the healing art to this time. Our stock of provisions being now exhausted, and my wound somewhat better, my father was very anxious to return to Alstead. He asked me if I thought I could bear the journey if he should place me on a bed laid in a sled. I answered that 1 was willing to try.— He immediately went to work and fixed a sled, and put me in it on a straw bed ; and on the first day of Jan- uary, 1789, we began our journey. There was very lit- tle snow, and the road rough, which caused the sled to jolt very much and my sufferings were great. It was very doubtful with my father, and likewise with me, whether I should live to perform the journey; but we proceeded on however, without any thing important happening, except wearing out the runners of our sled and having to make new ones, and accomplished twen- ty miles the first day. At a place where we stopped all night, there was a woman whose situation appeared to me so much worse than my own, that 1 felt much en- couraged. She had been sick with a fever, and the doctor bad given so much poisonous medicine, to break the fever, as he called it; she was left in a most miser- able situation. Her side and shoulder were in a putrid state, and in full as bad a condition as my ancle. My father in dressing my wound had drawn a string through between the heel-cord and bone, and another between that and the skin ; so that two thirds of the way round my ancle was hollow. At a place where we stopped on the third night, a circumstance had occurred which from its novelty I think worth mentioning A young woman who lived in the family had discovered a strong inclination to sleep more than what is common ; and had expressed a wish that they would let her sleep enough once. She went to bed on Sunday night, and did not wake again till Tuesday morning, having slept thirty six hours. On awaking, she had no idea of having slept more than one night; but began to make preparation for washing, as rvas the custom on Mondays, till she was informed that 22 Nurrative of the Life, §c. they had washed the day before. Her health was good and she never after that required more sleep than other persons. W hen we got on to the high land there was consider- able snow, and we sot along much more comfortably. I had to be carried in on the bed and laid by the fire every night, during the journey. The people general- ly where we stopped, treated me with kindnes«, and showed much pity for me in my distressed situation ; but they all thought that [should not live to get through the journey The doctors had advised to have my leg cut off, as the only means of saving my life, and all those who saw me during our journey expressed the same opinion ; and I think it would have been done had I given my consent; but I positively refused to agree to it, so the plan was given up. I preferred to take my chance with my leg on, to having it taken off; which resolution I have never repented of, to this day. On arriving in Walpole, my father proceeded imme- diately to the house of the famous Dr. Kitteridge, to nave him dress my wound, and get bis opinion of my •ltuation ; he not being at home, and it being nearly dark, we concluded to put up for the night, and 1 was car- ried in on my bed and laid by the fire. The doctor soon came home, and on entering the room where I was, cried out in a very rough manner, Who have you here .' His wife answered, a sick man. The devil, repli- ed he, I want no sick man here. I was much terrified l>y his coarse manner of speaking, and thought if he was so rough in his conversation, what will he be when he comes to dress my wound ; but I was happily disappoint- ed for he took off the dressing with great care and han- dled me very tenderly. On seeing the strings that were h„l,Pr T r \G f/fXC^me,,' what the de*» are these halters here for? My father told him they were put in to keep the sore open.-He said he thought the sore open enough now, for it is all rotten—Being anxious to know his opinion of me, ray father asked h?m what he t? h?,Slt,la'r,VVhat(l01 think? ™* he, Why f think he will die—and then looking very pleasantly at me, said, though I think young man. Of Samuel Thomson,. 23 you will gel well first. In the morning he dressed my ancle again and gave me some salve to use in future ; and my father asked him for his bill, which was, 1 think, for our keeping and his attending tne, about fifty cents. A great contrast between this and what is charged at the present time by our regular physicians; for they will hardly look at a person without making them pay two or there dollars. I have been more particular in describing this interview with Dr. Kitteridge, on account of his extraordinary skill in surgery, and the great name he acquired, and justly deserved, among the people throughout the country. His system of practice was peculiarly his own, and all the medicines he used were prepared by him-elf, from the roots and herbs of our own countiy. He was a very eccentric character and uncouth in his manners; but he possessed a good heart, and a benevo- lent disposition. He was governed in his practice by that great plan which is dictated by nature; and the un- common success he met with is evidence enough to sat- • isfy _ny reasonable mind, of the superiority of it over what is the practice of those who become doctors by reading only, with their poisons and their instruments of torture. We leftWalpole and arrived at our home about noon, and my mother, brothers and sisters, were much rejoic- ed to see me, though grieved at my distressed situation ; and never was any one more in need of the tender care of friends than I was at this time. My mother proved to me the old saying, that a friend in need is a friend indeed. My case was considered doubtful for some time. I was from the first of Decemher to the first of March unable to walk; but by good nursing and con- stant care, 1 was enabled in the spring to attend to the business at home, so that my father left me in charge of the farm, and went with my brother to Onion river, again to work on his land. On the 9th of February, 1790, 1 was twenty-one years of age, and my father gave me a deed of one half of his farm in Alstead, consisting of one hundred and twenty-five acres; and 1 carried it on for three years, and he had the liberty to take sucb stock as lie pleased. 24 Narrative of the Life, &c. He then made preparations and removed to Onion ri- ver, and left my mother and sister in my care. Soon after 1 took a bad cold, which threw me into a slow fe- ver. In the month of March we all had the meazles, and my mother had what the doctors called the black kind, and was so bad that her life was dispaired of. The disease turned in and seated on her lungs, and she nev- er recovered her health. Several doctors attended her without doing her any good ; her cough was very se- vere .md her mouth was sore, and she was greatly dis- tressed I attended upon her under the direction of the doctors, and took the cough and had much the same symptoms. She continued to grow worse daily ; the doctors gave her over, and gave her disease the name of galloping consumption, which 1 thought was a very appropriate name—for they are the riders, and their whip is mercury, opium and vitriol, and they galloped her out of the world in about nine weeks. She died on the 13th of May, 1790. I was at this time very low with the same disorder that my mother died with, and the doctor often impor- tuned me to take some of his medicine ; but 1 declined it, thinking I had rather die a natural death. He tried to frighten me by telling me it was the last chance of getting help, and he thought he could cure me ; but I told him I had observed the effect his medicine had on my mother, for she constantly grew worse under the operation of it, and I had no desire to iisk it on myself. I have always been of the opinion, that if I had follow- ed his advice, I should have been galloped out of the world the same as my mother was; and I have never repented of my refusal to this day. After my mother died, L unde took to doctor myself, and made some syrrups of such things a^ I had the know- ledge of, which r. hv ved my cough ; and with the warm weather, I so far recovered cm health, as to be able to work some time in June. Being without women's help, I was obliged to hire such as I could get. which proved a disadvantage to my interest, md I thought it, would be best to find some poison who would take an' interest in saving my property. On the 7th day of July, 1790, I was married to Susan Allen. We were both young and had great hardships to encounter, but we Of Samuel Thomson. 25 got along very well, and both enjoyed good health un- til our first child was born, which was on the 4th day of July following. My wife was taken ill on Saturday, and sent for help; she lingered along till Sunday night, when she became very bad; her situation was dange- rous, and she was in hand constantly the whole night, until sunrise the next morning, when she was deliver- ed : but her senses were gone. During the whole night it was one continued struggle of forcing nature, which produced so great an injury to the nervous sys- tem, as to cause strong convulsion fits in about an hour alter her delivery. The witnessing of this horrid scene of human butchery, was one great cause of my paying attention to midwifery, and my practice has since been very successful in it. Her fits continued and grew worse; there were six doctors attended her that day, and a seventh was sent for; but she grew worse under their care; tor one would give her medicine, and another said that he did wrong—another would bleed her, and the other would say he had done wrong, and so on through the whole. 1 heard one of them say that his experience in this case was worth fifty dollars. 1 found that they were trying their practice by experiments; and was so dis- satisfied with their conduct, that at night I told them what 1 thought; and that I had heard them accusing each other of doing wrong; but I was convinced that they had all told the truth, for they had all done wrong. They all gave her over to die, and I dismiss- ed them, having seen enough of their conduct to can- vince me that they were doing more hurt than good. After they were gone, I sent for Dr. Watts and Dr. Fuller, who were called root doctors. They attended her through the night and in the morning aboi.t the same hour that they began, the fits left her. She had in the whole eighteen, of the most shocking convulsion fits that had been ever seen by any one present. The spasms were so violent that it jarred the whole house. After the fits had left her, she was entirely senseless, and was raving distracted for three days; and then be- came perfectly stupid, and lay m that situation for three -days; she then laughed three davs, and then cried threa 0 Narrative of the Life, <$c. days; after which she seemed to awake like a person from sleep, and had no knowledge of what had passed, or that she had been sick, or had a child. These two doctors continued to attend her, and used all the means in their power to strengthen the nervous system. She gained very slowly, and it was a long time before she got about; but she never got entirely over it. This sickness put me back in my business very much, and the expense was above two hundred dollars. In about a month after my wife had recovered from her sickness, she was attacked with the cholic, which required all my attention and that of the two doctors who attended her before; but all our exertions ap- peared to be in vain, for the disease had its regular course for several days and then left her. These at- tacks continued once a month, or oftener, and it was so much trouble to go for the doctor so often, as I had to during these turns, that I let a young man who studied with Dr. Watts, have a house on my farm, so as, to have him handy ; but I soon found that by having a dec- tor so near, there was plenty of business for him ; for there was not a month in the year but what I had some- body sick in my family. If a child was attacked with any trifling complaint, the doctor was sent for, and they were sure to have a long* sickness; so he paid hi* rent and keeping very easy. This doctor lived on my farm seven years, during which time I had a very good knowl- edge of all the medicine he made use of, and his man- ner of curing disease, which has been of great use to me, Finding that I had a natural turn for medical prac- tice, he spared no pains to give me all the information in his power; but I had no thought at that time of ever practicing, except it was to be able to attend my own family. During the first of his practice he used chiefly roots and herbs, and his success was very great in cur- ing canker and old complaints ; but he afterwards got in- to the fashionable mode of treating his patients.by giving them apothecary's druga, which made him more popular with th;> faculty, but less useful to his fellow creatures. My mind waslient on learning the medical proper- ties of such vegetables as I met with, and was constantly in the habit of ^sting every thing of the kind I saw; Of Samvcl Thcmson. 27 and having a retentive memory I have always recol- lected the taste and use of all that* were ever shown me by other-, and likewise of all that 1 discovered myself. 'i'.-.is. practice of tasting of herbs and roots has been of great advantage to me, as I have always been able to ascertain what is useful for any particular disease by that means. I was often told that I should poison my- self by tasting ever thing I saw; but 1 thought 1 ought to have as much knowledge as a beast, for the Creator bad given them an instinct to discover what is good for tood, and what is necessary for medicine. 1 bad bu,c very little knowledge of disease at this time; but had a great inclination to learn whatever 1 had an opportu- nity ; and my own experience, which is the best school, had often called my attention ti» the sulject. The herb which I had discovered when four 3 ears old, I had often met with: but it had never occurred to me that it was of any value as medicine, until about this time, when mowing in the field with a number oi men one day, I cut a sprig of it, and gave to the man next to me, who eat it; 'when we had got to the end of the piece, which was about six rods, he said that he believed what I had given him would kill him, for he never felt so in his life. 1 looked at him and saw that he was in a most profuse perspiration, being as wet all over as he could be ; he trembled very much, and there was no more colour in him than a corpse. I told him to go to the spring and drink seme water; he attempted to go, and got as far as the wall, but was unable to get over it, and laid down on the ground and vomitted sever. al times. He said he thought he threw off his stomach two quarts. 1 then helped him into the house, and in about two hours he ate a very hearty dinner, and^ in the afternoon was able to do a good half day's labour. He afterwards told me that he never had anything do him so much good in his life ; bis appetite was remarkably good, and he felt better than he had for a long time. This circumstance gave me the first idea of the medical virtues of this Valuable plant, which I have since found by twenty years experience, in which time I have made use of it in every disease 1 have met with, to great ad- vantage,that it is a discovery of the greatest importance 28 Narrative of the Life, Sfe. In March 1794, my second daughter was born; and my wife had no medical assistance except what I could do for her, with the advise of the doctor who lived on my farm. After this she was never again afflicted with the cholic. In the course of this year the lease of my father's half of the farm expired, and we made D division »f the stock. My half was five yearlings and half a oolt; this, with half the farm, containing about one hun- dred and twenty-five acres, was all the property I pos- sessed, and I was qjostly clear of debt. Soon after. I purchased of my father the other half of the farm, for ' hich I gave six hundred and thirty-six dollai?, payable m stock, one halt' in two years and the other in iour. Fn order to meet these payments, I purchased calves and colts ; but it proved hard for me, as they brought when the payment became due dut little more than the tirst cost, after having to keep them two years : I offer- ed them to my father for what the hay would have sold for they eat the last year, but he would not agree to it. I settled with hiai, however, and paid him according to contract. I afterwards purchased of a neighbour a small piece of land, which incommoded me by keeping the •urn from my bouse part of the forenoon; for which I agreed to pay him seventy three dollars and thirty-three cents in three j'ears, with interest. 'I his turned cat a troublesome affair for me, for when I came to pay the interest the second year, the note was more than when :i:st given, having been altered; and I refused to pay any thing. When the note became due, 1 would pay wo more than what it was given for, and it was sued and my cattle and horses were attached. It went through a course of law and cost us both a great deal of expense and trouble; but I finally beat him; he lost his no^e and 1 recovered damage for bis taking my cattle and horses. This was the first time 1 had any thing to do with the law, and in the whole it cost me about one hundred dollars; but it was a good lesson, and has been worth to me the expense. When my second daughter was about two years old she was taken sick, and had what is called thf canker- rash. Dr. Bliss, who lived on my farm, was sent for, and he said she had that disorder as bad as any one he Of Samuel Thomson. 25 ever saw. He tried his utmost skill to prevent petri- faction, which he feared would take place ; but after using every exertion in his power without doing her any good, he said he could do no more, she must die. She was senseless and the canker was to be seen in her mouth, nose, and ears, and one of her eyes was cover- ed with it and closed ; the other began to swell and turn purple also. I ask.d the doctor it he could not keep the canker out of this eye ; hut he said it would be of no use, for she could not live. I told him that if he could do no more, 1 would try what 1 could do myself, I found that if the canker could not be stopped immedi- ately she would be blind with both eyes. She was so distressed tor breath that she would spring straight up on end in struggling to breathe 1 sat myself in a chair, and held her in my lap, and put a blanket round us both ; then my wife held a hot spider or shovel between my feet, and 1 poured on vinegar to raise a steam, and kept it as hot as I found she could bear, changing them as soon as they became cold; and by following this plan for about twenty minutes, she became comfortable and breathed easy. I kept a cloth wet with cold water on her eyes, changing it often, as it grew warm. I follow- ed this plan, steaming her every two hours, for about a week, when she began to gain. Her eyes came open*. and the one that was the worst, was completely covered' with canker, and was as white as paper. I used a wash of rosemary to take off the canker; and when the scale came off, the sight came out with it; and it entirely per- ished. The other eye was saved, to the astonishment of all who saw ber, particularly the doctor, who used fre- quently to call to see how she did. He said she was saved entirely by the plan I bad pursued, and the great care and attention paid to her. She entirely recovered from the disease, with the exception of the loss of one eye, and his enjoyed good healthto this time. This was the first of my finding out the plan of steaming am- using cold water. After this I found by experience that by putting a hot stone into a"thing of hot water,. leaving it partly out of the water,, and then pouring vinegar on the stone, was an improvement. Care should: be taken not to raise the heat too fast; and I used t«» c2 30 Narrative of the Life, 4«c. put a cloth wet with cold water on the stomach, at the same time giving hot medicine to raise the heat inside ; and when they had been steamed in this manner as long as I thought they could bear it, then rub them all over with a cloth wet with spirit, vinegar, or cold water, change their clothes and bed clothes, and then let them go to bed. A short time before this daughter was sick, my oldest son was born, and was very weakly in consequence of his mother's having previous to his birth, what is called a three months' fever, which experience gave me a pretty good knowledge of the practice of the doctors in prolonging a disease; for 1 never could reconcile myself to the idea, that a doctor could be of any use if the fe- ver must have its course, and nature had to perform the cure, at the same time the doctor gets his pay and the credit of it. If the patient's constitution is so strong as to enable them to struggle against the operation of the medicine and the disorder, they will recover; but if not they run down in what the doctors call a galloping consumption. The doctor proceeded in this way with my wife until I was satisfied of his plan, when 1 inter- fered and dismissed him. As soon as she left off taking his medicine, she began gradually to gain her health and soon got about. Wnen this son was about six weeks old, he was at- tacked vvito the croup, or rattles. He was taken a lit- tle before sunset with a hoarseness, was very much clogged with phlegm, and breathed with so much diffi- culty, that he could be heard all over the house. I sent for the doctor, and he attended him till about ten o'clock at night without doing him any good, and then went away, saying that he would not live till morning. After he was gone, 1 was again obliged to call on the mother of invention, and try what 1 could do myself. 1 searched the house for some rattlesnake's oil, and was so fortunate as to find about three or four drops, which I immediately gave him and if loosened the phlegm,and he soon began to breathe easy; by close attention through the night, the child was quite comfortable in the morn- ing. The doctor came in the next day and expressed f£eat astonishment on finding the child alive j and was Of Samuel Thomson. 31 anxious to know by what rneai.j he had been relieved from so desperate a situation. On my informing him, he seemed well pleased with the information; and ob- served that he was willing to allow, that the greatest knowledge that doctors ever obtained was either by ac- cident or through necessity, feo the discovery of a cure for this desperate disease by necessity, was of great use both to me and the doctor; notwithstanding, however, the information he gained of me, instead of giving me credit for it he charged me for his useless visit. I was in the habit at this time of gathering and pre- serving in the proper season, all kinds of medical herbs and roots that 1 was acquainted with, in order to be able at all times to prevent as well as to cure disease; foi- I found by experience, that one ounce of preventative was better than a pound of cure. Only the simple ar- ticle of mayweed, when a person has taken a bad cold, by taking a strong cup of the tea when going to bed, will prevent more disease in one night, with one cent's expense, than would be cured by the doctor in one month, and one hundred dollars expense in their charges, apothecaries drugs, and nurses, I had not the most distant idea at this time of evec engaging in the practice of medicine, more than to as- sist my own family ; and little did 1 think what those se- vere trials and sufferings 1 experienced in the cases that have been mentioned, and which I was drove to by ne- cessity, were to bring about. It seemed as a judgment upon me, that either myself or family, or some one living with me, were sick most of the time the doctor lived on my farm, which was about seven years. Since 1 have had more experience, and become better ac- quainted with the subject, I am satisfied in my own mind of the cause. Whenever any of the family took a cold, the doctor was sent for, who would always either bleed •rgivc physic. Taking away the blood reduces the heat, and gives power to the cold they had taken, which in- creases the disorder, and the coldness of the stomach causes canker ; the physic drives all the determining powers from the surface inwardly, and scatters the canker through the stomach and bowels, which holds the cold inside and drives the heat on the outside, 32 Narrative of the Life, $-c. The consequence is, that perspiration ceases, because internal heat is the sole cause of this important evacu- " ation ; and a settled lever takes place, which will con- tinue as long as the cold keeps the upper hand. My experience has taught me that by giving hot medicine, the internal heat was increased, and by applying the steam externally, the natural perspiration was restor- ed ; and by giving medicine to clear the stomach and bowels from canker, tiil the cold is driven out and the heat returns, which is the turn of the fever, they will recover the digestive powers, so that food will keep the heat where it naturally belongs, which is the fuel that continues the fire or life of man. After the doctor, who lived on my farm, moved away, I had very little sickness in my family. On the birth of my second son, which was about two years from the birth of the first son, we had no occasion for a doctor ; my wife did well, and the child was much more healthy than the others had been ; and i have never employed a doctor since ; for 1 had found from sad ex- perience, that they made much more sickness than they cured. Whenever any of my family were sick I had no difficulty in restoring them to health by such means as were within my own knowledge. As fast as my chilj dren arrived at years of discretion I instructed them bow to relieve themselves, and they have all enjoyed good health ever since. If parents would adopt the same plan, and depend more upon themselves, and less upon the doctors, they would avoid much sickness in iheir families, as well as save the expense attending the employment of one of the regular physicians, whenever any trifling sickness occurs, whose extravagant charges is a grievous and heavy burthen upon the people. I shall endeavour to instruct them all in my power, by giving a plain and clear view of the experience I have had, that they may benefit by it. If they do not, th* fault will not be mine, for 1 shall have done my duty. 1 am certain of the fact, that there is medicine enough in the country within the reach of every one. to cure all the disease incident to it, if timely and properly ad* ministered. At the birth of our third son ray wife was again giv- Of Samuel Thomson. ?3 en over by the midwife. Soon after the child was born, she w..s taken with ague-fits and cramp in the stomach ; i-he was in great pain, and we were much a'armed at her situation. I proposed giving her some medicines, but the midwife was much opposed to it; she said she wished to have a doctor, and the sooner the better. I immediately sent for one, and tried to persuade her to give something which 1 'bought would relieve my wife until the doctor could come ; but she objected to it, saying that her case was a very difficult one, and would not allow to be trifled with ; she said she was sensible of the dangerous situation my wife was in, for not one out of twenty lived tnrough it, and probably she would not be alive in twenty-four hours from that time. We were thus kept in suspense until the man returned and the doctor could not be found, and there was no other within six miles. I then came to the determination of hearing to no one's advice any longer, but to pursue my own plan*. 1 told my wife, that as the midwife said she could not live more than twenty four hours, her life could not be cut short more than that time, therefore three would be no hazard in trying what 1 could do to relieve her. I gave her some warm medicine to raise the inward heat, and then applied the steam, which was very much opposed by the midwife; but I persisted in it according to the best of my judgment and relieved her in about one hour, after she had laid in that situa- tion above four hours, without any thing being done. The midwife expressed a great deal of astonishment at the success 1 had met with, and said that 1 had saved her life, for she was certain that without the means I had used, she could not have lived. She continued to do well and soon recovered. This makes the fifth time I had applied to the mother of invention for assistance, and in all of them was completely successful. These things began to be taken some notice of about this time, and caused much conversation in the neigh- bourhood. My assistance was called for by seme of the neighbours, and I attended s< veral cases with good suc- cess. I had previous to this time, paid some attention to the fairier business, and had been useful in that line. This, however, gave occasion for the ignorant and ere. >1 Narralive of the Life, &c. dulous to ridicule me and laugh at those whom I attend- ed ; but these things had little weight with me, for I had no other object in view but to be serviceable to my fellow-creatures, and I was too firmly fixed in my de- termination to pursue that course, which I considered was pointed out as my duty, by the experience and ma- ny hard trials I had suffered, to be deterred by the fool- ish remarks of the envious or malicious part of society. The last sickness of my wife, 1 think took place in the year 1799, and about two years after she had another son and did well, making five sons that she had in suc- cession ; she afterwards had another daughter, which was the last, making eight children in the whole that she was the mother of: live sons and three daughters. 1 mention these particulars in order that the reader may the better understand many things that took place in my family, which will give some idea of the experience and trouble I had to encounter in bringing up so l.irge a family, especially with the many trials i had to go through in the various cases of sickness and troubles, which are naturally attendant on all families, and of which 1 had a very large share. The knowledge and experience, however, which I gained by these trying scenes, I have reason to bless God for, as it has proved to be a blessing not only to me, but many hundreds who have been relieved from sickness and distress, through my means ; and 1 hope and trust that it will eventually be the cause of throvvm^ off the vail of ignorance from the eyes of the good people of this country, and do away the blind confidence they are so much in the habit of placing in those who call themselves physicians, who fare sumptuourly every day ; living in splendour and magnificence, supported by the impositions they prac- tice upon a deluded and credulous people ; for they have much more regard for their own interest than they do for the health and happiness of those who are so unfortunate as to have any thing to do with them. If this was the worst side of the picture, it might be borne with more patience ; but their practice is altoge- ther experimental, to try the effect of their poisons up- on the constitutions of their patients, and if they happen to give more than nature can bear, they either die or Of Samuel Thomson. 35 become miserable invalids the rest of their lives, and their friends console themselves with the idea that it is the will of God. and it is their duty to submit; the doctor gets well paid for his services, and that is an end of the tragedy. It may be thought by some that this is a highly coloured picture, and that I am uncharitable to apply it to all who practice as physicians; bnt the truth of the statements, as respects what are called re- gular physicians, or lhose who get diplomas from the medical society, will not be doubted by any who are ac- quainted with the subject, and will throw aside preju- dice and reflect seriously upon it—those whom the coat suits I am willing should wear it. There are, however, many physicians within my knowledge, who do not fol- low the fashionable mode of practice of the day, but are governed by their own judgments, and make use of the vegetable medicine of our own country, with the mode of treatment most consistent with nature; and what is the conduct of those who have undertaken to dictate to the people how and by whom they shall be attended when sick, towards them? V-rhy, means that would disgrace the lowest dregs of society, that sav- ages would not be guilty of, are resorted to for the purpose of injuring them, and destroying their credit with the public. 1 have had a pretty large share >f this kind of treatment from the faculty, the particulars of which, and the sufferings I have undergone, will be given in detail in the course of this narrative. Sometime in the month of November, 1802 my chil- dren had the meazles. and some of them had them very bad. The want of knowing how to treat them gave me a great deal of trouble, much more than it would at the present time, lor experience has taught me that they are very easy to manage. One of the children took the disease and "gave it to the rest, and I think we had four down with them at the same time. My third son had the disorder very bad ; they would not come out, but turned in, and he became stupid. The canker was much in the throat and mouth, and the rosemary would have no effect. Putrid symptoms made their appear- ance, and I was under the necessity of inventing some- thing for that, and for the canker. I used the steam of 36 Narrative of the Life, &{c. vinegar to guard against putrefaction, and gold thread (or fellow root.) with red oak acrons pounded and steeped together, for the canker. These had the de- sired effect; and by close attention he soon got better. The second son was then taken down pretty much in the same manner, and I pursued the same mode of treat- ment, with similar success ; but the disease had so ef- fected his lungs, that I feared it would leave him in a consumption, as was the case with my mother. He could not speak loud for three weeks. I could get no- thing that would help him for some time, till at last I gave him several portions of the emetic herb, which re- lieved him and he soon got well. During this sickness we suffered much from fatigue and want of sleep ; for neither my wife nor myself had our clothes off" for twelve nights. This was a good fortnight's school to me, in which 1 learned the nature of the meazles; and found it to be canker and putrefaction. This experience en- abled me to relieve many others in this disease, and like- wise in the canker-rash ; in these two disorders, and the small pox, I found a b»oking-giass, in which we may see the nature of every other disease. I had the small pox in the year 1798, and examined its symptoms with all the skill I was capable of, to ascertain the nature of the disease ; and found that it was the highest stage of can- ker and putrefaction that the human system was capable of receiving—the meazles the next, and the canker-rash the third ; and other disorders partake more or less of the same, which I am satisfied is a key to the whole ; for by knowing how to cure this, is a general rule to know how to cure all other cases; as the same means that will put out a large fire will put out a candle. Soon after my family had got well of the meazles, I was sent for to see a woman by the name of Redoing, in the neighbourhood, she had been for many years afflicted with thecholic, and could «et no relief from the doctors. I attended her and found the disorder was caused by canker, and pursued the plan that my former experience had taught me, which relieved her from the pain, and so far removed the cause that she never had another attack of the disease. In this case the cure was so simply and easily performed, that it became a Of Samuel Thomson. W subject of ridicule, for when she was asked about it, she was ashamed to say that I cured her. The pop- ular practice of the physicians had so much influence on the minds of the people, that they thought nothing could be right but what was done by them. I attended in this family for several years, and always answered the desired purpose; but my practice was so simple, that it was not worthy of notice, and being dissatisfied with the treatment I received, refused to do any thing more for them. After this they employed the more fashionable practitioners, who were ready enough to make the most of a job, and they had sickness and ex- pense enough to satisfy them, for one of the sons was soon after taken sick and was given over by the doctor, who left him to die; but after he left off giving him medicine he got well of himself, and the doctor not on- ly had the credit of it but for this job and one other sim- ilar, his charges amounted to over one hundred dollars. This satisfied me of the foolishness of the people, whose prejudices are always in favour of any thing that is fashionable, or that is done by those who profess great learning; arjd prefer long sickness and great ex- pense, if done in this way, to a simple and natural re- lief, with a trifling expense. Soon after this,I was called on to attend a Mrs. Wether- by, in the neighbourhood, who had the same disorder. She had been afflicted with the cholic for several years, having periodical turns of it about once a month ; and had been under the care of a number of doctors, who had used all their skill without affording her any relief, excepting a temporal y one by stupifying her with opium and giving physic, which kept her along till nature could wear it off when she would get a little better for a few days, and then have another turn. After hearing of my curing Mis. Redding, they sent for me ; I gave her my medicine to remove the canker, and steamed her. which gave relief in one hour. She had a very large family to attend to, having thirteen children, and before 6he had recovered her strength she exposed her- self and had another turn ; 1 attended again and relieved her in the same manner as before ; but she could not wait till she gained her strength, and exposed herself 38 Narrative of the Life, &c. again as before, took cold, and had another turn. Her husband said 1 only relieved her for the time, but did not remove the cause, and being dissatisfied with what I had done, he sent for a doctor to remove the cause ; who carried her through a course of physic, and reduc- ed her so low, that she lingered along for eight weeks, being unable te do any thing the whole time ; they then decided that she had the consumption, and gave her Over to die. After the doctors had left her in this situation as incurable, she applied again to me ; but I declined doing any thing for her, as I knew her case was much more difficult than it was before she applied to the doctor, and if I should fail in curing her, the blame weuld all be laid to me, or if she got well I should get no credit by it; for which reasons I felt very unwilling to do any thing for her. After finishing my forenoon's work, on going home to dinner I found her at my house waiting for me, and she insisted so much upon my un- dertaking to cure her, and seemed to have so much faith in my being able to do it, that I at last told her if she would come to my house and stay with my wife, who was sick at the time, I w uldtlo the best 1 could to cure her She readily consented and staid but three days with us; during which time ( pursued my usual plan of treatment, giving her things to remove the can- ker, and steaming to produce a natural perspiration ; at the end of the three days she went home, taking with her some medicine, with directions what to do for her- self, and in a short time entirely recovered her health. In less than a year after she had another child, which was a conclusion of her having children or the cholic, and she ever after enjoyed as good health as any wo- man in the neighbourhood ; but this cure was done in so unfashionable a way, that they were hardly willing to acknowledge it, and they would not apply to me for relief when any of their family were sick, till they had failed in getting it in any other way. In about a year after the above case, one of this family, a young man about sixteen years old, was at- tacked with a fever; the' doctor was sent for, who fol- lowed the fashionable course of practice, and reduced hiaa with mercury and other poisons, so that he linger- Of Samuel Thomson. 39 ed along for three or four months, constantly growing worse, till the doctor said it was a rheumatic fever, and afterwards that he was in a decline. He had taken so much mercury that it had settled in his back and hips, and was so stiff that he could not bring his hands lower than his knees. By this time the doctor had given him over as incurable, and he was considered a fit subject for me to undertake with. They applied to me and I agreed to take him home to my house, and do the best I could to cure him. It was a difficult task, for I had in the first place to bring him back to the same situation he was in when he had the fever, and to destroy the effects of the poison and regulate the system by steam- ing, to produce a natural perspiration ; by pursuing this plan, and giving such things as I could get to restore the digestive powers, in two months he was completely restored to health; for which I received but five dol- lars, and this was more grudgingly paid than if they had given a doctor fifty, without doing any good at all. In the spring of the year 1805, I was sent for to go to Woodstock, in Vermont, to attend a young woman, who was considered in a decline, and the doctors could not help her. I found her very low, not being able to set up but very little. I staid and attended her about a week, and then left he*, with medicines and directions what to do, and returned home. In about a month I went again to see her and found her much better, so that she was able to ride to her fathers, which was above twenty miles. All this time 1 had not formed an idea that 1 possessed any knowledge of disorder or of medicine, more than what I had learned by accident; and all the cases I had attended were from necessity ; but the success I had met with and the extraordinary cures I had performed, made much talk, and were heard of for fifty miles around. 1 began to be sent for by the people of this part of the country so much, that I found it impossible to at- tend to my farm and family as 1 ought; for the cases £ had attended, 1 had received very little or nothing, not enough to compensate me for my time ; and I found it to be my duty to give up practice altogether or to make a business of it. I consulted with my wife and asked 40 Narrative of the Life, §c. the advice of my friends, what was best for me to do 7 they all agreed, that as it seemed to be the natural turn •f my mind, if I thought myself capable of such an important undertaking, it would be best to let my own judgment govern me, and .to do as I thought best. I maturely weighed the matter in my mind, and viewed it as the greatest trust that any one could engage in. I considered my want of learning and my ignorance of mankind, which almost discouraged me from the under- taking; yet I had a strong inclination for the practice, which seemed impossible to divest my mind of; and 1 had always had a very strong aversion to working on a farm, as every thing of the kind appeared to me to be a burthen ; the reason of which I could not account for, as I had carried on the business to good advantage, and had as good a farm as any in the neighbourhood. I fi- nally concluded to make use of that gift which I thought the God of nature had implanted in me ; and if I pos- sessed such a gift, I had 110 need of learning, for no one Can learn that gift. 1 thought of what St. Paul says in his epistle to the Corinthians, concerning the different gifs by the same spirit; some had the gift of prophecy, another, the gift of healing, to another the working of miracles. I am satisfied in my own mind, that every man is made and capacitated for some particular pmsuit in life, which if he engages in it, he will be more use- ful than he would if he happens to be so unfortunate as to follow a caibng or profession, that was not allotted to him by ins maker This is a very important consider- ation for parents, not to make their sons learn trades or professions which are contrary to their inclinations and the natural turn of their minds; for it is certain if they do. they never can be useful or happy in following them. 1 am convinced myself that 1 possess a gift in healiDg the sick, because of the extraordinary success I have met with, and the protection and support Providence has afforded me against the attacks of all my enemies. Whether I should have been more useful had it been my lot to have had an education, and learned the profes- sion in the fashionable way, is impossible for me to say with certainty; probably I should have been deemed more honourable in the world ; but honour obtained by Of Samuel Thomson. 4! learning, without a natural gift, can never in my opinion make a man very useful to his fellow-creatures. I wish. my readers to understand me, that I do not mean to con- vey they idea, that learning is not necessary and essential in obtaining a proper knowledge of any profession or art; but that going to college will make a wise man of a fool, is what I am ready to deny; or that a man can- not be useful and even great in a profession, or in the arts and sciences, without a classical education, is what I think no one will have the hardihood to attempt to support, as it is contrary to reason and common sense. We have many examples of some of the greatest phi- losophers, physicians, and divines the world ever knewv who were entirely self-taught; and who have done_ more honor and been greater ornaments to society, than a million of shose who have nothing to recommend them but having their heads crammed with learning, without sense enough to apply it to any great or useful purpose. Among the practicing physicians, I have found, and 1 believe it to be a well known fact, that those who are really great in the profession and have had the most experience, condemn as much as I do, the fashionable mode of practice of the present day, and use very little medical poisons, confining themselves in their treat- ment of patients to simples principally, and the use of such things as will promote digestion and aid. nature ^ and many of them disapprove of bleeding altogether. Those of this description, with whom I have had an opportunity to converse, have treated me with all due attention and civility; have heard me with pleasure,. and been ready to allow me credit for my experience and the discoveries I have made in curing disease. The opposition aud abuse that I have met with, has beet* uniformly from those to whom I think I can with pro~ priety give the name of quacks,.or ignorant pretenders ; as all their merit consis's in their self importance and* arrogant behaviour towards all those who have not had: the advantages of learning, and a decree at college.. This class compose a lar„e proportion of the medical feculty throughout our country: they have learned just enough to know how to deceive the people, and keep them in ignorance, by covering their doings undes ^ 42 Narrative of the Life, &c. language unknown to their patients. There can be no good reason given why all the medical works are kept in a dead language, except it be to deceive and keep the world ignorant of their doings, that they may the better impose upon the credulity of the people ; for if it was to be written in our own language every body would understand it, and judge for themselves; and their poisonous drugs wouid be thrown into the fire before their patients would take them. The ill-treat- ment that I have received from them, has been mostly where 1 have exposed their ignorance by curing those they had given over to die; in which cases they have shown their malace by circulating all kinds of false and ridiculous reports of me an my practice, in order to destroy my credit with the people ; and I am sorry t« say that I have found imay too ready to join with them, ffven among those who have been relieved by me from pain and sickness. Such ingratitude I can account for in no other w;>y. tbhn by the readiness with which the people follow wnatevcr is fashionable, without reflect- ing whether it be right or wronf. After I had come to the determination to make a business of the medical practice, I found it necessary to fix upon some system, or plan for my future govern- ment in the treatment of disease ; for what I had done had been as it were from accident, and the necessity arising out of the particular cases that came under my care, without any fixed plan; in which I had been joverned by my judgment and the advantages I had received from experience. I deemed it necessary not •nly as my own guide ; but that whatever discoveries I should make in my practice, they might be so adapted to my plan, as that my whole system might be easily taught to others, and preserved for the benefit of the world. 1 had no other assistance than my own observ- ations and the natural reflections of my own mind, un- aided by learning or the opinions of others. 1 took na- ture for my guide, and experience as my instructor; and after seriously considering every part of the subject, 1 came to certain conclusions concerning disease and the whole animal economy, which thirty years' experience _as perfectly satisfied me h the only correct theory. Of Samuel Thomson. & My practice has invariably been conformable to the general principles upon which my system is founded, and in no instance have 1 had reason to doubt the cor- rectness of its application to cure all cases of disease when properiy attended to : for that all disease is the effect of one general cause, and may be removed bv one general remedy, is the foundation upon which i have erected my fabric, and which I shall endeavour- to explain in as clear and concise a manner as I am ca- pable, with a hope that it may be understood by my readers, and that they may be convinced of its correct- ness. I found, after maturely considering the subject, that all animal bodies are formed of the four elements, t'arth, air, fire, and water. Earth and water constitute the solids, and air and fire, or heat, are the cause of lite and motion. That cold, or lessening the power of heat, is the cause of all disease—that to restore heat to its natural state was the only way by which health could be produced; and that after restoring the natural heat, by clearing the system of all obstructions and causing a natural perspiration, the stomach would di- gest the food taken into it, by which means the whole body is nourished|and invigorated, and heat or nature is enabled to hold its supremacy—that the constitutions of oil mankind being essentially the same, and differing only in the different temperament of the same materials of which they are composed ; it appeal ed clear to my mind, that all disease proceeded from one general cause and might be cured by one general remedy—that a state of perfect health arises from a due balance or tem- perature of the four elements ; but if it is by any means destroyed, the body is more or less disordered. And when this is the case, there is always an actual dimin- ution or absence of the element of fire, or heat; and in proportion to this diminution, or absence, the body is affected by its opposite, which is cold. And 1 found that all disorders which the human family were afflicted with, however various the symptoms, and different the names by which they are called,.arise directly from ob- structed perspiration, which is always caused by cold, •r want of heat; for if there is a natural heat, it is itOf possible but that there nauat be • natural perspiration-. 44 Narrative of the Life, &{& Having fixed upon these general principles, as the enly solid foundation upon which a correct and true understanding of the subject can be founded, my next business was to ascertain what kinds of medicine and treatment would best answer the purpose in conformi- ty to this universal plan of curing disease ; for it must, I think, be certain, and self-evident to every one, that whatever will increase the internal heat, remove all obstructions of the system, restore the digestive powers of the stomach, and produce a natural perspiratien, is universally applicable in all cases of disease, and there- fore may be considered as a general remedy. The first and mesi important consideration, was to find a medicine that would establish a natural internal heat, so as to give nature its proper command. My emetic herb, (No. 1,) I found would effectually cleanse the stomach, and would very essentially aid in raising the heat and promoting perspiration; but >vould not hold it long enough to effect the desired object, so but that the cold would return again and assume its power. It was like a fire made of shavings ; a strong heat for a short time, and then all go out. After much experi- ence, and trying every thing within my knowledge to gain this important point, 1 fixed upon the medicine which 1 have called No. 2, in my patent, for that pur- pore ; and after using it for many years, 1 am perfectly convinced that it is the best thing that can be made use of to hold the heat in the stomach until the system can be cleared of obstructions, so as to produce a natural digestion of the food, which will nourish the body, es- tablish perspiration and restore the health of the pa- tient 1 found it to be perfectly safe in all cases, and never knew any bad effects from administering it. My next grand object was to get something that would clear the stomach and bowels from canker, which are m..re or less effected by it in all cases of disease to which the human family are subject. Can- ker and putrefaction are caused by cold, or want of heat; for whenever any part of the body is so affected by cold as to overpower the natural heat, purtrefactioa •ommences, and if not checked by medicine, or the na- tural constitution is not strong enough to overcome, its. Qf Samuel Thomson}, 4J5 progress it will communicate to the blood, when death will end the contest between heat and cold, by decid- ing in favour of the latter. I have made use of a great many articles, which are useful in removing canker; but my preparation called No. 8, is the best for that purpose, that has come to my knowledge ; though ma- ny other things may be made use of to good effect, all of whfch I shall give particular description ef in my general directions hereafter. Having endeavoured to convey to my readers in a brief manner a correct idea of the general princi- ples upon which I formed my system of practice, 1 shall now give some account of the success 1 met with in the various cases that came under my care, and the difficulties and opposition that I have had to en- counter in maintaining it till this time, against all my ememies. My general plan of treatment has been in all cases of disease, to cleanse the stomach by giving No. j, and produce as great an internal heat as I could, by giving No. 2, and when necessary made use of steaming, in which I have always found great benefit, especially in fevers; after this, I gave No. S, to clear off the can- ker; and in all cases where the patient had not previ- ously become so far reduced as to have nothing to build upon, I have been successful in restoring them to health. I fmnd that fever was a disturbed state of the heat, or more properly, that it was caused by the efforts which nature makes to throw off disease, and therefore ought to be aided in its cause, and treated as a friend ; and not as an enemy, as is the practice of the physicians. In ail cases of disease I have found that there is more or less fever, according to 'he state of the system; but that all fevers proceed from the same cause, differing only in the symptoms; and may be managed and brought to a crisis with much less trouble than is generally considered practicable, by increasing the internal heat, till the cold is driven out, which is the cause of it. Thus keeping the fountain above tfce stream, and every thing will take its natural course. During the year 1805, a very alarming disease pre- vailed in Alsted and Walpole, which was considered the 46 Narrative of the Life, 8fc. yellow fever, and was fatal to many who were attacked by it. I was called on and attended with very great success, not losing one patient that I attended; at the same time those who had the regular physicians, near- ly.one half of them died. This disease prevailed for about forty days, du.'iug which time I was not at home but eight nights. 1 \\\\* obliged to be nurse as well as doctor, and do every thing myself, for the people had no knowledge of my mode of practice, arid I could not depend upon what any person did, except what was un- der my own immediate inspection. I pursued the same general plan that I had before adopted; but the expe- rience i had from this practice, suggested to me many improvements, which I had not before thought of, as respects the manner of treatment of patients to effect the objects 1 aimed at in curing the disease, which was to produce a natural perspiration. 1 found great bene- fit in steaming in the manner that I had discovered and practiced with my little daughter; but I found by ex- perience, that by putting a hot stone into a spider or iron bason, and then wetting the top of the stone with vinegar, was an important improvement; and with this simple method, with a little medicine of my own pre- paring, answered a much better purpose, than all the bleeding and poisonous physic of the doctors. While I was attending those who were sick, and they found that my mode of treatment relieved them from their distress, they were \evy ready to flatter and give great credit for my practice ; but after I had worn myself out in their service, they began to think that it was not done in a fashionable way ; and the doctors made use of every means in their power to ridicule me and my practice, for the purpose of maintaining their own credit with the people. This kind of treatment was a new thing to me, as I did not at that time so well understand the craft, as I have since, from hard earned experience. '1 he word quackery when used by the doctor against me. was a very important charm to prejudice the peo- ple a^a.nst my practice ; but I would ask all the candid and reflecting part of the people, the following ques- tion, and I will leave them to their consciences to give an an.swer—Which is the greatest quack, the one who Of Sajnuel Thomson. 47 relieves them from their sickness by the most simple and safe means, without any pretentions to infallibility or skill, more than what nature and experience has taught him ? or the one who, instead of curing the dis- ease, increases it by administering poisonous medicines, which only tend to prolong the distress of the patient, till either the strength of his naturd constitution, or death relieves him ? I was called upon to attend a man by the name of Fairbanks, who lived in Walpole; he was taken with bleeding at the lungs. I found him in a very bad con- dition; the family judged that he had lost nearly six quarts of blood in twenty four hours. He was in de- spair, and had taken leave of his family, as they con- sidered there was no hopes of his living The doctor was with him when I first entered the house; but he fled at my approach. l»oth his legs were corded by the doctor, and the first thing I did was to strip off the cords from his legs; and then gave medicine to get as great an internal heat as 1 possibly could produce; got him to sweat profusely; then gave him medicine to clear the canker ; and in four days he was so well as to be able tp go out and attend to his busjnass. Sometime in October, 1805, I attended a Mrs Good- ell of W alpole ; she had been confined and had taken cold. The most noted doctors in the town had attended her through what they called a fever, and she was then pronounced by them to be in a decline. After three months practice upon her, they had got her into so des- perate a situation, that they gave her over, and said that her case was so putrid and ulcerated that it was utterly incurable. She had in addition to the rest of her diffi- culties, a cancer on her back. In this desperate situa- tion, it was thought by her friends that she was a prop- er subject for me to undertake with. I with a great deal of reluctance undertook with her at her earnest solicitation and that of her husband ; but met with much greater success than I expected. In four weeks she was able to be about the house and do some work. In the same year I was sent for to attend a womaa who had been in a dropsical way for a number of *years. The disease had of late gained with raptf 48 Narrative of the Life, S^'c progress. Her husband had previously conversed with me upon the subject and said tha< he had applied to Dr. Sparahawk, and others, and they had agreed to make a trial of mercury. I told him that it would not answer the purpose; he said he was afraid of it himself: but the doctors said there was no other possible way. The doctor tried his mercurial treatment for several days, which very nearly proved fatal ; for I was sent for in great haste, with a request that I would attend as soon as possible, as they expected she would not live thro1 the day. I found her situation very distressing; she said it appeared to her that she was full of scalding wa- ter. She began to turn purple in spots, and it was expected that mortification had taken place. In the first place I gave her about a gill of checkerberry and hemlock, distilled, which allayed the heat immediate- ly. This answered the purpose, till I could clear her stomach, and by the greatest exertions,and close atten- tion through the day, 1 was enabled to relieve her. I attended her for about a week, and she was so far recov- ered as to enjoy comfortable health for twelve years. Notwithstanding this desperate case was cured, to the astonishment of all who witnessed it, the doctors had so much influence over the people, and made so many false statements about it, that I got no credit for the cure. This woman's brother had said that her hus- band wanted to kill her ©r he would not have sent for me. Such kind of ingratitude was discouraging to me; but it did not prevent me from persevering in my duty. A short time after the above case happened, that wo- man's brother, who made the speech about me, was ta- ken very sick, with what was called the yellow fever, and sent for me. 1 attended him and asked him if he wanted to die. He raid no; why do you ask that? I told hirn, that \ should suppose from the speech he made about my being sent for to his sister, that he did, or he would not have sent for me, if he believed his own words. He said he thought differently now. I attended him through the day with im new prac'ice To sweat him I took hemlock houghs, and put a hot stone in the middle of a large bunch of them, wrapping the whole in a cloth and poured on hot water till 1 raised a lively Of Samuel Thomson. 49 ^team, and then put one at his feet and another near his body. I gave him medicine to raise the inward heat, and for the canker; after attending him through the day, 1 went home ; and on calling to see him the next morning, found his fever had turned, and he was quite comfortable, so that he was soon about his business. I was about this time sent for to see a child in Surry, a neighbouring town, which was taken very sick, and was entirely stupid. 1 told the father of the child that it had the canker, and made use of my common mode of practice for that difficulty. Being sent for to go to Walpole tosee two young men who had been taken the day before with the prevailing fever, I left the child, with directions how to proceed with it. I then started for Walpole, and found the two young men violently attacked with the fever. They had a brother who had been attended by the doctor for above four weeks tor the same disease, and was then just able to sit up. It was thought by all, the two that were attacked last, wore as violently taken as the other was; and they ex- pressed a strong wish, that they might be cured with- out so long a run as their brother had. 1 was as anx- ious as they were to have a short job, and exerted all my powers to relieve them, which I was enabled to do that night, and left them in the morning quite comforta- ble, so that they were soon able to attend to their work. The brother who had the doctor, was unable to do any thing forseveral months. The doctor was paid a heavy bill for his visits; but my cure was done so quirk, that it was thought not to be worthy of their notice, and I never received a cent from them for my trouble. On returning to the child that I had left the day before, I found that the doctor had been there and told t!; m that I did not know wh:it was the matter with the child ; and had persuaded them to give him the care of it He filled it with mercury and rua it down ; after having gi- ven as much mercury-inside as nature could move, and the bowels grew silent, he then rubbed mercurial oint- ment on the bowels as long ;s it had any effect ; after which he agreed that the chilJ ha I the canker very badly; but he still persisted in the smie conr-e till the child wasted away and died, in about two months after it E 50 Narrative of ilyc Life, - did not attempt to carry his threat into execution, so I have escaped his whip and his poi- son: -but the people were justly punished for their in- gratitude and felly, in preferring death and misery, be- cause it was done more fashionably ; to a mode of prac- tice by which they might relieve themselves in a simple and safe manner. I hare been more particular in relating these cir- cumstances, in order to show my reasons for refusing to practice so near home ; for I had been in constant prac- tice among them for four or five years, and had been very successful, not having lost one patient during the whole time. My house had been constantly filled with patients from all parts of the country, for which I had received very little pay; myself and family were worn out with nursing and attending upon them; so-that 1 % was compelled in a measure, to leave home to free myself and family from so heavy a burthen. Betides I felt it more a duty to assist the people in those parts where I had bcen'treated with more friendship, and had received more assistance through my troubles, than what I had experienced from those whom 1 had rea- son to consider as under the greatest obligations to me. In the spring of the year 1806, I came to a deter- mination to go to New-York, for the purpose of ascer- taining the nature of the yellow fever, having been impressed with the idea, that this disease was similar to that which had been prevalent in different parts of the country, only differing in causes which were local. I made arrangements with a man to take charge of my farm, and on the 26th of June started for Boston, where I took passage for New-York, and sailed on the 3d of July. In passing through the Sound, I was very sensi- bly affected by the cold chills I experienced in conse- quence of the sea air; having never been on the salt water before, this was ne*v to me ; although the wea. ther was very hot on the land. I suffered with the cold. We arrived at New-York in eight days; and the wea- ther was extremly hot when 1 landed; this suddee 5& Narrative of the Lfe, 4"c- change produced a powerful effect on my feelings; the1 cause of which I was satisfied in my own mind, was in consequence of the cold I had experienced on the wa- ter h.iving reduced the natural he it of the body; thus coming into a very warm atmosphere, the external and internal heat were upon nearly an equal scale, and when there is an exact balance, so as to stop the deter- mining powers to the surface, mortification immediately fakes place, and death follows. This is the cause why the fever is so fatal to those who go from the north- ward into a warm climate. On my arrival 1 looked round to find a place to board, and took up my lodgings with a Mr. Kavanagh, an Irishman, and a Roman Catholic. After spending some time in viewing the city, I applied to the Mayor of the city, and to the Board of Health, to ascertain whether 1 could have an opportunity to try the effect of my medicine and system of practice on the prevail- ing fever. They told me that I could; but that I could get no pay for it by law 1 went to see Dr. Mil- ler, who was then President of the board of health, and had some conversation with him upon the subject. He told me the same as the Mayor had, and enquired of me in what manner I expected to give relief; 1 told him my plan was to cause per»piration. He said if I could cause them to sweat, he thought there was a good chance to effect a cure. After spending several days in New York, I went to Westchester Creek to procure some medicine. I thought that I was going to have the yellow fever, for I felt all the symptoms, as I thought, of that disease ; my strength was nearly gone, my eyes were yellow, and a noise in my head; my tongue was black, and what passed my bowels was like tar. 1 was among strangers, and had little money; I went to the house of a quaker woman, and asked her to let me stay with her that day ; she gave her consent. Had but little medi- cine with me, and could find nothing that I could relish but salt and vinegar; I used about half a pint of salt and double that quantity of vinegar, which gave me relief, and 1 gained so much strength, that the next day I was able to return to the city of New-York. On my Of Samuel Tlv.mso-q,, 57' arrival there, I was so weak that it was with the great- est difficulty 1 couid walk to my boarding hause, which was about forty rods from the place where we landed. I immediately tcok Nos. 2 and 3, steeped, and Aro. 4, in a short time 1 began to bave an appetite ; the tii.-t food that I took was a piece of smoked sal- mon, au.l some ripe peach sauce. Soon recovered my strength and was able to be about. This satisfied me that I had formed a correct idea of this fatal disease; that it was the consequence of losing the inward heat of the body, and bringing it to a balance with the sur- rounding air ; and the only method by which a cure can be effected, is by giving such medecine as will in- crease the fever or inward heat, to such a degree as to get the determining power to the surface, by which means per.-;>irafion will take place, and which is called the turn of the fever; if this is not accomplished ei- ther by medicine, or by nature being sufficient to over- come the disease, mortification will be as certain a con- sequence as it would be if a person was strangled. The reason why they lose their strength in so short a time, is because it depends wholly upon the power of inward heat; and as much as they lose that, so much they lose their strength and activity, I had a good opportunity to prove these facts and to satisfy myself, by attending upon a Mr. Mc'Gowan, who bad the yellow fever. He was the teacher of the Ro- man Catholic school, and an acquaintance of Mr. Ka- vanagh, with whom 1 boarded, and who recommended him to my care. He was attacked about noon, was very rold, and had no pain ; his eves were half closed, and appeared like aper.-on half way between sleeping and waking; he lost so much strength that in two hours he was unable to walk across the room without stagger- ing. I began with him hy giving Nos 2 and 3, to raise the inward heat and clear the stomach, and in an hour aft. r getting him warm, he was in very extreme pain, ?' much so that his friends were alarmed about him; but 1 told them that it was a favourable symptom. Af- ter being in this situation about an hour, perspiration begKn and he grew easy; the next day be was cut about his business. The effect in these cases is exact- 5& Narralive of the Life, &c ly similar to a person being recovered after having been drowned. The cold having overpowered the in- ward heat, all sensation or feeling ceases, and of course there is no pain ; but as soon as the heat begins to in- crease so as to contend with the cold, sensation returns, and the pain will be very great till the victory is gained by heat having expelled" the cold from the body, when a natural perspiration commences, and nature is restor- ed to her empire. I will here make a few remarks upon the food takeh into the stomach, which is of the utmost importance to the preservation of health. While I was in New-York, took particular notice of their manner of living; and observed that they subsisted principally upon fre^i pro- visions, more particularly the poorer class of people; who are in the habit in warm weather of going to mar- ket at a late hour of the day, and purchasing fresh meat that is almost in a putrid state, having frequently been killed the night previous, and being badly cooked, by taking it into the stomach, will produce certain disease; and I am convinced that this is one of the greatest causes that those fatal epidemics prevail in the hot sea- son, in our large seaports. Mutton and lamb is often drove a great distance from the country, and having been heat and fatigued, then are cooled suddenly, which causes the fat to turn to water ; and often when killed are in almost a putrid state, and the meat is soft and flabby. Such meat as this, when brought into the mar- ket on a hot day will turn green under the kidneys in two or three hours, and taken into the stomach will pu- trify before it digests, and will communicate the same to the stomach, and the whole body will be so affected by it, as to cause disorders of the worst kind. If people would get into the practice of eating salt provisions in hot weather and fresh in cold, it would be a very great preventative to disease. One ounce of putrid flesh in the stomach is worse than the effect produced by a whole carcase on the air by its afiluvia. Much more might be said upon this important subject; but I shall defer it for the present, and shall treat more upon it in another part of the work. It is a subject that has been too much neglected by our health officeisin this country, Of Samuel Thomson. ' 5*) While in the city of New-York, I attended an Irish- man by the name of Doyle, who had the fe*er-and-ague. This disease gives a complete view of my theory of heat and cold; for it is about an equal balance between the two. heat keeping a little the upper hand. He had be«n ufflcted with this distressing disorder about four months ; he had the fits most of the time every day and was very bad I began by giving him such medicine as I usually gave to increase the inward heat of the body? wh ( h subdued the cold, and gave heat the victory over it; and by strictly attending him in this way four days, he was completely cured. Being short of money I ask- ed him for some compensation for my trouble; but he refused and never paid me a cent; observing that he must have been getting well b'fore, for no one ever heard ot such a disorder being cured in four days. A gentleman whom I had formed an acquaintance with, by the name of James Quackenbush,* who had the care of the state prison warehouse, finding how I had been treated, invited me to go to his house and live with him, which I thankfully accepted. I was treated with much kindness by him, for which he has ■my most sincere thanks. On the 16th of September I started for home, and took passage on board a'packet for Boston, where I ar- rived in five days; and on the 26th reached my home, after an absence of three months, and found my family well. I was often called on to practice in the neigh- bourhood ; but declined most part of the applications in consequence of the treatment 1 had received from them, which has been before related. In November I went to Plum Island to collect medicine; on my way I called on Joseph Hale, Esq. of Pepperell, and engaged him to oome down with his waggon in about three weeks, to bring back what medicine I should collect. I went by the way of Newburyport; and ufter being on the island three or four days, collected such roots as 1 want- ed and returned to that place. While there, being in a store in conversation with some persons, there came in a man from Salisbury mills, by the name of Osgood, who stated that he was very unwell, and that his wife lay at the point of death, with the lung fever f that she 6© Narrative of the Life, Sfc. had been attended by Dr Freueh, who had given her over. One of the gentlemen standing by told him that 1 was a doctor, and used he medicine of our own coun- try, lie asked me if I would go home with him and see his wi*e ; as I wa* waiting for Mr. Hale, and no- thing to do, I told him I would, and we immediately started in the chaise for his home, which was about six miles. On our arrival he introdo-.'ed me to his wife as a doctor who made use of the med <-;ne of our country ; and asked her if she was wdling that I should under- take to cure her. She said if 1 thought that I could help her, she h-ul no objection. I gave my opinion that I could, and undertook, though with some reluctance, as 1 was in a strange place and no one that I knew. I proceeded with her in my usual method of practice, and in about fourteen hours her fever turned, and the next day she was comfortable, and soon got about. This cure caused considerable talk among the peo- ple in the neighbourhood, who thought very favourably of me and my practice; but it soon came to the ears of Dr. French, who was very much enraged to think one of his patients, that he had given over, should be cured by one whom he called a quack; and attempted to counteract the public impression in my favour, by circulating a report that the woman was getting better and sat up the greatest part of the day before I saw her; but this was denied by the woman's husband, and known by many to be false. While I remained in this place, waiting for Mr. Hale to come down with his waggon to carry home my me- dicine, I was called on to attend several cases, in all of which I was very successful; most of them were such as had been given over by their doctors. One of them was a case of a young man, who had cut three of his fingers very badly, so as to lay open the. joints. Dr. French had attended him three week-, and they had got so bad that he advised him to have them cut off as the only alternative. The young man applied to me for advice. I told him that if I was in his situat.on, I should not be willing to have them cut off till 1 had made some further trial to cure them without. He requested me to undertake to cure him, to which I Of Samuel Thomson. 61 t nod began by clearing the wound of mercury, by wash- ing it with weak lye : I then put on some drops, and did it up with a bandage which was kept wet with cold wa- ter. While I was dressing the wound, a young man who was studying with Dr. French, came in and made a great fuss, telling the young man (hat 1 was going to spoil his hand. I told him that I was accountable* for what was doing, and that if he had any advise to offer I was ready to hear him ; but he seemed to have nothing to offer except to find fault, and went cff, after saying that Dr. French's bill must be paid very soon. I continued to dress his hand, and in ten days he was well enough to attend bis work, being employed in a nail factory. Soon after, I saw him there at work, and asked him how his fingers did, he said they were per- fectly cured; he wished to know what my bill was for attending him. I asked him what Dr. French had charged, and he said he had sent his bill to his mother, amounting to seventeen dollars; I told him I thought that enough for us both, and I should charge him no- thing, llis mother was a poor widow, depending on her labour and that of her son for a living. I remain- ed in this place about two weeks, and the people were xery urgent that I should stay longer; but Mr, Hale having arrived. I left them with a promise that I would visit them again in the spring. We arrived at Peppe- rell, where I remained several days with Mr. Hale, who was an ingenious blacksmith and a chymist, having been much engaged in the prep ration of mineral me- dicine He had an enquiring turn of mind and was very enthusiastic in his undertakings ; although he pre- pared medicines from minerals, he r.cknew ledged that he was afraid to'use them on account of his knowing their poisonous qualities. I convinced him of the su- periority of my eysiem of practice, and instructed him in the use of my •;. dxine, so that he engaged in it and soon had as much practxe as he could attend to ; being so w.ll saft*:i?d of its general application to the cure of all cases of disease, that he looked no more for it in bis mineral preparations. In the winter of 1807, I went with my wife to Jeri- cho, Vermont, to visi' my father and friend?, who lived F 02 Narrative of the Life, §'6. there. While there I was called on to see a nurrlber who were sick, among whom was a young man that bad been taken in what is called cramp copvuision fi's. He was first taken on Sunday morning, and continued in fits most of the time till I ues lay '•. he was a' ended dur- ing this time by the best doctors that could be procured, without doing him any good. They could not get their medicine to have any effect upon him; In continued in convulsions most of the time, every part of him was as stiff as a wooden image; after trying every thing they could they gave him over. His father came aftei me, and just as we entered the room where the young man was he was taken in a fit. His feet and hands were drawn in towards his body, his jaws were set. his head drawn back, and every part of him as completely fixed as a statue. The first difficulty was to get him to take any thing; his jaws were set as tight together as a vise. 1 took a solution of Nos. 1, 2, and 6, as strong as it could be made, and putting my finger into the corner of his mouth, making a space between his cheek and teeth, poured some of it down; and soon as it touched the glands at the roots of his tongue his jaws came open, and he swallowed some of the medicine; which had such an effect upon the stomach, that all the spasms immediately ceased. I left him some medicine with di- rections, and he entirely recovered his health; I saw him three years after, and he told me that he had not had a fit since the one above described. I was convinc- ed from this circumstance, that the cause of all cramps or spasms of this kind, is seated in the stomach, and ' that all applications for relief in such cases should be suade there; as it will be of no service to work on the effect as long as the cause remains. Before returning home 1 was called on by Captain Lyman of Jerico, to advise with me concerning his son, who had a fever sore on his thigh, which he had been afflicted with for seven years. He had been at- tended by all the doctors in that part of the country to no advantage. They had decided that the only thing which could be done to help him, was to lay open his thigh and scrape the bone. I told him that 1 did not see how they could do that without cutting the great Of Samuel Thomson. §3 artery, which lay close to the bone, where they would have to cut. He said he was satisfied that it would not do, and was very urgent that I should undertake with him. I told him that it was impes-dde for me to stay at that time ; but ii his son would go home with me, I would undenake to cure him; to which he consented, and the young man returned with me; which was in the month of March. 1 began with him by giving medicine to correct and strengthen the system ; bathed the wound with my rheumatic drops, or No. 6, sometimes bathing with cold water to strengthen if, and after proceeding in this manner for about a month, he was well enough to do some work; he remained with me till August, when he was entirely cured, so that he was able to return to hi-? father's on foot, a distance of one hundred miles. In the fall of this year, the dysentary, or camp distem- per, as it was called, was very prevalent in the above named town of Jericho; and was so mortal that all but two who had the disease and were attended by the doc- tors died, having lost above twenty in a short time. The inhabitants were much alarmed and held a consultation, to advise what to do; and heing informed by the young man above mentioned, that I was at home, they sent an express for me, and 1 immediately made arrangements to comply with their request. In twenty-four hours I started, and arrived there on the third day after, and found them waiting with great anxiety for me, having refused to take any thing from the doctors. I had in interview with the selectmen of the town, who had tak- en upon themselves the care of the sick ;Jhey informed me that there were about thirty then sick, and wished me to undertake the care of them. I agreed to take charge of them on condition that I could have two men to assist me ; this was complied with, and I commenced my practice upon thirty in the course of three days. The disorder was the most distressing of any that 1 had ever witnessed. One man had been speechless for six hours, and was supposed to be dying ; but on my giving him some medicine.to warm him, be seemed to revive like an insect that was warmed by the sun after having laid in a torpid state throught the winter. I had but little medicine with me and had to use such as I could 63 Narrative of the Life, &c. procure at this place. I found the cause of the disease to be coldness and canker; the digestive powers being lost, the stomach became clogged so that it would not hold the heat. I made use of red pepper steeped in a tea of sumach leaves, sweetened, and sometimes the bark and berries, to raise the heat and clear off the can- ker, which had the desired effect. After taking this tea, those who were strong enough, I placed over a steam,' as long as they could bear it, and then put them in bed. Those who were too weak to stand I contrived to have sit over a steam ; and this repeated as occasion required. To restore the digestive powers, I made use of cherry stones, having procured a large quantity of them, that had been laid up and the worms had eaten off all the outside, leaving the stones clean. I pounded them fine, then made a tea of black birch bark, and after cleaning them, by putting them into this tea hot and separating the meats from the stone part, made a syrup by putting from two to three ounces of sugar to one quart of the liquor; this was given freely and answered a good pur- pose. I continued to attend upon my patients, aided by those appointed to assist me, and in eight days I had completely subdued the disease. They all recovered / except two, who were dying when I first saw them. 1 gave the same medicine to the nurses and those ex- posed to the disease, as to them that were sick, which prevented their having the disorder. The same thing will prevent disease that will cure it. After finishing my practice at this place, I was sent far and went to the town of Georgia, about thirty miles distance, where 1 practiced with general success for one week, aud then returned to Jf r.eho. Those patients whom I had attended, were comfortable, and soon entire- ly recovered. The doctors were not very well pleas- ed with my success, because I informed the^peopie bow to cure themselves, and they have had no need of their assistance in that disorder since. They circulated re- ports for twenty miles round, that I ki.led all that 1 at- tended; but the people were all ptrfectly satisfied with my pi actice, and were willing to give me all credit for my skill, so their malice towards me was of no avail. About this time being in the tawn of Bridgwater, Vt. Of Samuel Thomson. 65 I was called on to see a young man about 18 years of age, vvho had lost the use of his arm by a strain ; it had been in a perishing condition for six months The flesh appeared to be dead, and he carried it in a sling; his health was bad. Being unable to stop to do any thing for him at this time, he was sent to my house. 1 began with him in my usual manner by giving him warm medicine, and bathed his arm with the oil of spearmint; in about ten days he was well enough to use his arm and do some work ; in about two months he wi'5 entirely cured and returned home. In the spring of the year 1807, 1 went to Salisbury, according to my promise when there the fall before. On my way there I stopped at Pelham; the man at whose house I staid, insisted on my going to see his fa- ther in law. who hud the rheumatism very bad, having been confined two months. I attended him three days, when he was able to walk some, by the assistance of a cane ; he soon got about and was comfortable. While at this place I was sent for to a young woman, sick of a consumption ; she had been a long time attended by a doctor, who seemed very willing for my advice ; I car- ried her through a course of my medicine, and the doc- tor staid to see the operation of it; be seemed well pleased with my system of practice, and gave me much credit, saying that I was the first person he ever knew that could make his medicine do as he said it would. I was sent for to attend several cases of consumption and other complaints at this time, in all of which 1 met with success, and gave general satisfaction to the peop'e. After stopping at Pelham three weeks, in which time I had as much practice as I could attend, I went to Sa- lisbury milh, where 1 was very cordially welcomed by all those vvho had been attended by me the season be- fore. I was called on to practice in this place and New buryport, and my success was so great that it caused much alarm amongst the doctors, and a class of the peo- ple who were their friends, who did all they could to injure me, and destroy my credit with the people. A considerable part of the patients, who were put under my care, were such as the doctors had given over, siw those being cured by me, had a tendency to open ih_.. tj6 Narrative of the Life, Sfc. eyes of the people, and give them a correct under- standing of the nature of their practice, and convince them that a simple and spee iy cure was more for their interest and comfort, than long sickness, pain and dis- tress; besides having to pay exhorbitant doctors' bids, for useless visits and poisonous drugs, which have no other effect than to prolong disease, and destroy the natur il constitution of the patient. Among those doctors who seemed so much enraged against me, for no other reason that 1 could learn, than because 1 had cured people whom they had given over, and instructed th m to assist themselves when sick, without having to apply to them; there was none that made themselves so con-picuous as Dr. French. 1 had considerable practice in his neighbourhood, and was very successful in every case; this seemed to excite his malice against me to the greatest pitch; he made use ©f every means in his power, and took every opportu- nity to insult and abuse me both to my face and behind my back A few of the inhabitants who were his friends joined with him, and became his instruments to injure me ; but a large proportion of the people were friendly to me, and took great interest in my safety and success. The doctor and his adherents spread all kinds of ridiculous reports concerning me and my prac- tice, giving me the name of the old wizzard; and that my cures were deno under the power of witchcraft. This foolish whim was too ridiculous for me to under- take to contradict, and I therefore rather favoured it merely for sport; many remarkable circumstances took place tending to strengthen this belief, and some pf the ailly and weak-minded people really believed that I possessed supernatural powers. This will not appear »o strange, when we take into view, that the people generally were ignorant of my system of practice, and when they found that 1 could cure those diseases that the doctors, in whom they had been in the habit of put- all their confidence, pronounced as incurable; and that I could turn a fever in two days, which would often lake them as many months, they were led to believe that there was something supernatural in it. A man who was one of the friends of Dr. French} Of Samuel Thomson. o-t and who had been very enemical to me, doing all in his power to injurv and ridicule me. sent word one day by a child, that his calf was sick, and he wanted me to come and give it a green powder and a sweat. Know- ing that his object was to insult, I returned for answer, th.it he must send for Dr. French, and if he could not cure it, 1 would come, for that was the way that 1 had to practice here. It so happened that the calf died soon alter, and his youngest child was taken suddenly and very dangerously sick. Not long after he found. another calf dead in the field, and about the same time his oldest son was taken sick. These things happening in such an extraordinary manner, caused him to reflect on his conduct towards me, and his conscience con- demned him, for trying to injure me' without cause. He had the folly to believe, or the wickedness to pre- tend to believe, that it was the effect of witchcraft ;• and wishing to make his peace with mo, sent me word, that if 1 would let his family aLne, he would never do or say any thing more to my injury. This I readily assented to; and his children soon after getting well, though there was nothing very extraordinary in it, as it might all be easily accounled for by natural causes ; yet it afforded much conversation among the gossips, and idle busybodies in the neighbourhood; and was made use of by my enemies to prejudice the people against me Being in company with a young woman who be- longed to a family that were my enemies, she, to insult me, asked me to tell her fortune. I consented, and knowing her character not to be the most virtuous, aud to amuse myself at her expense, told what had taken place between her and a certain young man the night before. She seemed struck with astonishment; and said that she was convinced that I was a wizzard, for it was impossible that! could have known it without the devil had told me. She did not wish me tell her any more. I practiced in this place and vicinity a few months and returned home to attend to my farm for the rest of the season. While at home I was sent for, and at- tended in different parts of the country, and was very successful in my mode of practice, particularly in places where the dysentery and fevers were most prevalent; 65 Narrative of the Life, fyc. never failing in any instance of giving relief, and com- pletely putting a check to those alarming ep.demies, which caused so much terror in many places in the in- terior of the country In the year of 1808, went again to Salisbury, and on my vvay there stopped at Pelham and attended and gave relief in several cases of disease. Cm my arrival at Salisbury Mills, where I made it my home, 1 was im- mediately called on to practice in that place aifci the adjacent towns. Many came to me from different part-;, whose rases were desperate, having been given o^er by the doctors, such as humors, dr<»p.si^s, mortifications, felions, consumptions, &.c. Fevers were so quickly cu - ed, and with so little trouble, that many were unwilling to believe they had the dicease. My success was so great that th1 people generally were sa isfied of the superiority of my mode of practice over all others. This created considerable alarm wdh the doctors, and those who sided with them Dr. French seemed to be much enraged, and having failed to destroy my credit with the people by false reports, and ridiculous state- ments of witchcraft, shifted b.s course of pi oceeding, and attempted to frighten me by threats, which only tended to show the malice he bore me; for no other reason, that I could conceive of. as I had never spoken to him, than because of my success in relieving those he had given over to die. He would frequently cause me to be sent for in great haste to attend some one in his neighbourhood, who was stated to be very »ick: but I saw through thesa tricks, and avoided all their snares. It seemed to be his determination, if he failed in des- troying my practice, to destroy me. Being in compa- ny one day at Salisbury village, with Mr. Jeremiah Eaton of Exeter, whose wile was under my care for a dropsical comp'aint, I was sent for four times to visit a young man at the house of Or. French ; the last time a man came on horseback in the greatest haste, and insisted that I should go and see him. I asked why Dr. French did not attend him; he answeied that he had rather have me; being convinced from the appear- ances of things, that it was an attempt to \. t ome trick Upon me, 1 refused to go, and the man returned. In a Of Samuel Thomson. $*> short time arter Dr. French came into the village, and Mr. Katon who was present when they came after me, asked him what ailed the young man at his house; he said nothing, but that he was as w ell as any body. This revealed the whole secret. Mr. Ealon then asked him why he caused me to be sent for so: many times, under a false pretence.—He said to see if I dared to come in- to his neighbourhood—that he did not care how much I practiced on that side of the river; but if I came on his he would blow my brains out—that 1 was a murder- er and he could prove it. Mr. Katon observed that it was a heavy accusation to make against a man, and that he ought to be made to prove his words, or to suffer the consequence—that his wife was under my care, and if I was n murderer he ought to see to it. Dr. French again repeated the words, with many threats against me, and showed the spite and malice of a savage. Mr. Eaton and others of my friends considered my life in danger ; and came immediately to me and rela'ed what had been said by the doctor; and advised me to be on my guard. I had to pass his house every dtty to visit my patients; but did not consider myself safe in going in the night, nor in the day time without some one with me. I continued in this manner for several days, and finding his malice towards me to be as great as ever, and still continuing his threats; with the ad- vice of my friends, I was induced to have resort to the law for protection. 1 went to Newburyport and enter- ed a complaint against him before a magistrate, who granted a warrant and he was brought before him for a trial My case was made out by fully proving his words; he asked for an adjournment for three hours to make his defence, which was granted. He then brought forward evidence in support of his character, and proved by them that he had always been a man of his word. The justice told him that he thought he proved too much, and to his disadvantage, lor it had been fully proved that he had made the threats alledg- ed again-t him, and to prove that he was a man of his word, went to satisfy the court that the complaint was weii grounded. He was bid under two hundred dollar bonds to keep the peace and appear at the next court •70 Narrative of the Life, §'c of common pleas, fie appeared at the next court, wtf1? ordered to pay ail the cosfs, and was discharged from his bail. This was an end of -our controversy for that lime; but his malice continued against me long after; seeking every means to destroy me and prevent my practising, that he could devise ; but proceeded with more caution, which caused me a great deal of trouble and much differing, as will be hereafter related I continued to practice in this place, and had as many patients a« I could possibly attend upon, notwithstanding fbe opposition I constantly met with from the doctors and (heir friend"; for with all their arts and falsehoods they were not able to prevent those labouring under complaints, which they had found could not he remov- ed by the fashionable mode of treatment, from applying to me for relief; none of whom but what were either cured or received great relief by the practice. Some of the most extraordinary cases I shall give a particu- lar account of for the information of the reader. Mr. Jabez True, the minister of Salisbury, was afflict- ed with what the doctors called nettle-rash, or what is commonly called St. Anthony's fire. He stated to me that it was caused by fighting fire, about twenty-five years before, and that he had been subject to a break- ing out ever since; which at certain times was very painful and troublesome, as it felt like the sting of bees, and would swell all over bis body. He had applied to all the doctors in those parts for their advice, but gqt no assistance from them. I told him that he had heated himself to such a degree by violont exercise and being exposed to the fire, that there was nearly a balance be- tween the outward and inward heat, and then cooling too sudden, the inward heat had fallen as much below the natural state a^ it had been above it before, and the only way to effect a cure was to bring him into the same state as he was in when fighting the fire. He wished me to undertake his case 1 carried him through a course of my medicine, and made use of every means in ray power to raise the inward heat, pursuing my plan with all zeal for two days: when he became alarmed, and said he felt as though he should die, for he felt the same as he did when he was fighting the fire. I then Of Samuel Thomson. 71 kept him in that situatiou as much as possible, and it went down gradually so as to hold a natural proportion ol beat My plan succeeded so compUteiy. thai he was perfectly cured and has enjoyed good health ev. r since. 1 attended upon his wife at the same time, vvho had beeu long it a con umpfion, and had teen given over. Hie was peri ctly cured ; and they are now living in good healrh and are ready to testify to the truth-of these statements Previ> u'-ly to my difficulty wi h Dr. French, as has bee-u . eloie mentioned, N'rs. Eaton and another woman b_y the name of Lifford, came, to me at Salisbury mills from Exeter. 1 heir complaint was dropsy ; and were both desperate case*, having been given over by the doctor who had attended them Mrs. Eaton was swell- ed to such a degree, tint she could not see her knees as she sat in a chair, and her limbs in proportion I felt unwilling to undertake with them, as 1 considered there would be but little chance of a cure ; and declined do- ing apy thing for them, and sent them away, stating that there was no place that they could ^et boarded. They went away as I supposed to go hom.>; but they soon returned, and said they had found a place where they could stay, and a young woman had agreed to nurse them. I undertook with them very reluctantly ; but could not well avoid it. I gave them some medicine, and it operated favourably on both, especially on Mrs. Lifford; then gave strict orders to the nurse, to attend them attentively through the night, and keep up a per- spiration; but she almost totally neglected her duty, spending her time with the young people. On visiting them in the morning, 1 was very much hurt to find my directions neglected. Mrs. Lifford was quite poorly; and stated to me that the nurse had neglected her, and that she had got her feot out of bed; her perspiration had ceased and other symptoms appeared unfavourable. I attended upon her through the day and did all 1 could to relie%e her, but could not raise a perspiration again. She continued till the next night about mid- night and died. My hopes of doins* her any good were small; but think that if she had not been neglected by 4he nurse, there might have been some small chance 72 Narrative of the Life, 4'C for her, as the first operation of the medicine was so favourable. Her bowels were in a very bad state, and had been almost in a mortified condition for three weeks, and what passed her was by force, and very black. This caused great triumph among my enemies, and Dr. French tried to htive a jury on the body; but he could not prevail; for the circumstances were well known to many, and all that knew anv thing about it, cleared me from all blame. The nurse said that 1 did all I could, and if there was any blame it ought to fall on her and not on me. So they failed in their attempt to make me out a murderer; but this case was laid up to be brought against me at another time. This shows what may be done by the folly of people, and the ma- lice and wickedness of designing men, who care more for their own interested ends, than for the health and happiness of a whole community. The fashionable educated doctor may lose one half hi& patients without being blamed ; but if 1 lose one out of several hundred of the most desperate cases, most of which were giv- en over as incurable, it is called murder. Mrs. Eaton remained under my care about three weeks, in which time she was reduced in size eight inches, she then returned home to Exeter. 1 had sev- eral cases of dropsy and consumption from the same town, about this time, who were all relieved; all of them were very solicitous for me to go to Exeter and practice. As soon as I could get the patients under my care in a situation to leave them, I left Salisbury Mills, and went to Exeter, and commenced practising in my usual way, and vvus applied to from ail parts. 1 had not so many to attend as I had in some places; buf they were all of the most desperate nature, such as had been given over by the doctors, in all of which I met with great success. Many of the cases had been attended by Dr. Shephard ; he had attended with me upon his patients at Salisbury ; was a very plain candid sort of a man, and treated me with much civility I well re- member his "first speech to me, which was in the fol- lowing words:—" Well, what are you doing here, are you killing or curing the people ?"—I replied you Of Samuel Thomson. 73 must judge about that for yourself.—" Well, said he, "-1 will watch you, not for fear of your doing harm, but for my own information—1 wish you well, and will do you all the good I can." I always found him candid and friendly, without any hypocrisy. He once called on me to visit with him one of his patients in the town where he lived, who had the rheumatism in his back and hips. The doctor had attended him about two month", and said he had killed the pain, but his back was stiff, so that he could not bring his hands below his knees. I attended him about forty-eight hours, and then went with h»m to see the doctor, which was half a mile ; the doctor appeared to be much pleased to see him so well, and have the use of his limbs; for he could stoop and use them as well as he ever could. He said that he was as glad for the young man's sake as though he had cured him himself. He frequently came to see Mrs. Eaton, whom I was attending for the dropsy; and expressed much astonishment at the effect the medicine • I gave had in relieving her of a disease which he had considered incurable. At one time when conversing with her upon her situation, and finding her so much better, having been reduced in size above fifteen inch- es, he expressed himself with some warmth on the occasion, saying lhat it was what he had never seen or heard of being done before, and what he had consider- ed impossible to be done with medicine. Addressing himself to me with much earnestness, enquired how it was that I did it. I replied, you know doctor that the heat had gone out of the body, and the water had filled it up ; and all I had to do was to build fire enough in the body to boil away the water. He burst into a laugh, and said that it was system very short. While practising in Exeter, I had many desperafe cases fi om the different parts of the country, and from Portsmouth. One from the latter place I shall mention, being different from what I had before witnessed. A woman applied to me who had the venereal, in conse- quence, as she stated, of having had a bad husband ; which I believed to be true. She had been attended by the doctors in Portsmouth for nearly a year, who had filled her with mercury, for the purpose of curing 74 Narrative of the Life, fyc. the disorder till the remedy had become much worse than the disease. Her case was alarming, and very difficult; she was brought on a bed, being unable to sit up ; and seemed to be one mass of putrefaction. 1 pro- ceeded with her in my usual way of treating all cases where the system is greatly disordered, by giving medi- cine to promote perspiration, steaming to throw out the mercury, and restore the digestive powers ; and in three weeks she returned home entirely cured. Another woman came to me from the same place, who had been sick five years, which had been in consequence of hav- in had the same disease, and the doctors had filled her with mercury to kill the disorder as they called it, then left her to linger out a miserable existence. When she stated her case to me, I felt very unwilling to under- take with her, apprehending that it would be very un- certain whether a cure could be effected, having been of so long standing ; but she insisted upon it so strongly, that I could not put her off. After attending upon her three weeks, however, her health was restored, and she returned home well; and in less than a year after she had two children at one birth. She had not had a child for eight years before. This disease is very easily cured in the first stages of it, by a common course of medicine, being nothing more than a high stage of can- ker seated in the glands of certain parts of the body, and if not cured, communicates to the glands of the throat and other parts; by giving mercury the whole system is completely disordered, and although the dis- ease may disappear, it is not cured; and there is more difficulty in getting the mercury out of the body of one in this situation, than to cure a dozen of the disease who have not taken this dangerous poison. While in Exeter I had a case of a young man, son of Col. Nathaniel Oilman, who was in a decline. He was about fourteen years old, and had been troubled with bleeding at the nose. They had made use of such pow- erful astringents, wich corrosive sublimate snuffed up bis nose, that the blood vessels in that part seemed to by shrunk up, and his flesh much wasted away; I carried him through a course of medicine, and gave an equal circulation of blood through the body, and stopped its Of Samuel Thomson. 7^> course to the head ; then raised a natural perspiration, restored the digestive powers, and regulated the sys- tem, so as to support the body with food instead of me- dicine. In a short time he recovered his health so that he commanded a company of militia at the alarm at Portsmouth, during the late war. My success while at this place, and the many extra- ordinary cures I performed, gained me great credit among the people ; but the medical faculty became much alarmed, and made use of every artifice to preju- dice them against me. The foolish stories about witch- craft, which had been.made a handle of at Salisbury, were repeated here, with a thousand other ridiculous statements for the purpose of injuring me; but I treat- ed them with contempt as not worthy my notice, except in some instances, to amuse myself with the credulity of the ignorant, who were foolish enough to believe such nonsense. I will relate one circumstance for the purpose of showing upon what grounds they founded their belief of my possessing supernatural powers, and which caused much talk among the people fit the time it happened. Mrs. Eaton, where I boarded, had a five dollar bill stolen out of her pocket-book. She made enquiry of all the family, who denied having any know- ledge of it. A girl that lived in the family denipd it so strongly, that I thought she discovered guilt, and led me to believe that she had taken the money. I pre. tended that I could certainly discover who stole the money, which was believed by many; and told Mrs. Eaton in presence of all the family, that if I did not tell who took it by the next day at twelve o'clock, I would pay the amount lost myself. In the evening I had them all called into the room, and took the bible and read frcm the law of Moses the penalty for stealing, then took the purse and put it into the place and shut the book and give it to Mrs. Eaton, with strict injunction to put it under her pillow and let no one touch it; and that the person who stole the money could have no peace nor rest till they confessed their guilt. They then all retired to bed. As soon as it was daylight in the morn- ing, the girl came down stairs crying, and went to the bed where Mrs. Eaton lay, and confessed that she took 16 Narrative of the Life, Sfc. the money ; saying that she had not slept any during the night, as I had said would be the case. It will be unnecessary to inform the reader, that this wonderful discovery was brought about by the effect of a guilty conscience on a credulous and weak mind. WThile I was at Exeter, a woman brought her son to me, who had a fever-sore, (so called) on his hip; he had been iffthis situation so long, without any assistance, that bis legs had perished, and he was so much wasted away by the continual discharge of the sore, and his nature had become so far spent, that I felt perfectly satisfied that a cure was impracticable, and declined un- dertaking with him. This Tionest declaration on my part very much affronted the boy's mother, and she turned against me, and did me all the hurt she could, because I would not undertake to do what 1 knew was impossible for any one to accomplish. She went with her son to a fashionable doctor, who said he would cure him out of spile to me. They continued with the doc- tor several weeks, till the expense amounted to about fifty dollars; the lad continued to grow worse till he died. This woman seemed satisfied with having her son die, after spending fifty dollars, because it was done in a fashionable manner; but my refusing to undertake to cure him, was sufficient reason for her to circulate all kinds of false and ridiculous reports about me. How- ever strange this may appear, it is no more strange than true, for this is but one out of many hundred similar cases, where I have received injury, when 1 was enti- tled to credit, by being honest and sincere in my endea- vour to do what 1 conceived my duty towards my fel- luw creatures. About this time, among the rest of my troubles, I met with a new difficulty with an apprentice that I had talteu, by the name of William Little; whom I had tak- en from a state of poverty and sickness, cured him and supported him for two years, until he had gained know- ledge enough of my medicine and system of practice to be useful to me, he then proved dishonest. While I was absent at home, he collected all the money he could, and sold all my medicine, and then went off. On my return I found my debts collected and my medicine Of Samuel Thomson. 77 gone, so that I was obliged to go back immediately, to collect more before I could attend to my practice. This was the first time I had met with difficulty by employ- ing agents; but since then I have had experience e- nough to satisfy me of the difficulty of trusting to other people ; having found but very few of those I have been under the necessity of employing, who have prov- ed trusty and honest. 1 have suffered much pecuniary loss in this vvay. besides in some instances, those I have assisted and given instruction to, so as to be useful in the practice, have become my enemies, and been made instrumental to destroy me. A son of John Underwood at Portsmouth, was brought to me while at Exeter, who had what is called a scalt bead. He had been afflicted with it for nine years. The doctors had been applied to, to no pur- pose ; and when he brought him to me, agreed to give a generous price if I would cure him. 1 took charge of him and after pursuing my usual plan of treatment three weeks he returned home entirely cured, and has not since hod any appearance of the disease. This man had the meanness, in order to get clear of paying any thing for curing his son, to turn against me and my practice, although he had acknowledged that I had sav- ed his life, and had recommended me to many others, whom I had relieved; yet to get clear of paying a tri- fling sum according to his agreement, he did all he con Id to injure me, and through his influence many were kept from being cured. He was taken sick, and notwithstanding he had said so much against my medi- cine, he applied to some who had the right of using it, and was relieved thereby. Sometime towards the close of the summer, while I was at Exeter, I was sent for to go to Portsmouth to see a young man by the name of Lebell, who was in a very dangerous situation, supposed by his friends to be in _ dying state, having been given over by Drs. Cutler and Pierpont at ten o'clock that morning. I arrived about two in the afternoon. He had been attended by the two doctors above named for upwards of a month to cure the venereal; they had filled him with mercury- so that he had swelled all over with the poison. The g2 ', ii Narrative ofjhe Life, %c. doctors pronounced it to be the dropsy. His leg-, nad been scarafied to let off the water; the disorder and the mercury had gained the power, and nature had sub- mitted. I at once pronounced it to be a desperate case, and told the French Cbnsul, who had the care of him, that I could give no encouragement that I could do him any good ; but he was very solicitous for me to do something for him. , I told him the only chance was to raise perspiration, and that twenty four hours would determine his case; for he would either be better in that time, or be dead. The idea of perspiration caused him to urge me to try ; and he said if I could effect it he vvouid give me one hundred dollars: the doctors had tried for a month and could not succeed. 1 gave him some medicine, then put on the clothes by degrees un- til he was shielded from the air, and he sweat freely in about an hour. The two doctors were present, and seemed astonished $t my success; they walked the room, talked low, then went out. I staid with him till six o'clock and the symptoms seemed to be favourable; he sweat profusely, and spit much blood. 1 told the nurse to keep him in the same situation till I returned, went out and was gone about an hour and come back again with Mr. Underwood. When we came into the room, found that the doctors had taken him out of bed and sat him in a chair, and opened the window against him. I told them that their conduct would cause his death and i would do no more for him ; but should give him up as their patient. It appeared to me that they were afraid I should cure him, and thus prove the superiority of my practice over theirs, for they had tried a month to get a perspiration without success, and 1 had done it in one hour. The man fainted before I left the room. I went home with Mr. Underwood and staid that night, and left them to pursue theii own course; the man died before morn- ing. Instead of getting the hundred dollars as was agreed, I never got a cent for all my trouble of coming fifteen miles and returning back again on foot; and be- sides this loss, afterwards when I came to be persecut- ed by the faculty, the above two doctors gave their depositions against me, in which I was informed they Of Samuel Thomson. 79 swore that 1 killed this man, notwithstanding they had given him over to die the morning before I saw him, and they had taken him out of my hands, as above stat- ed. On being iuformed that they were trying to sup- port a complaint against me, I got the depositions of Mr. Underwood and others, who were knowing to the facts, to contradict these false statements; on finding that I was determined to oppose them, and prove what they had sworn to be all false, they thought proper to d;up the matter; but 1 was informed they had sworn that my medicine was of a poisonous nature, and if it did not cau-e the patient to vomit soon after being tak- en, they wouid certainly die. It is unnecessary for me to contradict this, for its incorrectness and absurdity is too well known to all who have any knowledge of the medicine I use. 1 was frequently in Portsmouth to visit those who had been sent to ms to be attuned upon at Exeter. Some- lime in September in 1808, when there, I was called on to visit Mr. Richard l'.ice, who was sick with the yellow fever, as it was called. The reason for his sending for me was in consequence of having heard the reports of the doctors, that I sweat my patients to death. lie conceived an idea that if he could sweat he should be better; but they would not allow him to be kept warm, taking the clothes off of him and keeping the vvindcws and doors open—no fire was permitted in the room, while he was shivering with the cold. The plan was to kill the fever, and to effect this with more cer- tainty, the doctor had bled him, and told his sister that he had given him as much ratsbane as he dared to give, and if that did not answer he did not know what would. 1 began to give him medicine a little before night, and in one hour perspiration look place. He was so weak that he was unable to help himself. " In the morning the doctor proposed to bleed him; but he was dismiss- ed. I was with him till the symptoms were favourable, and then left him in the care of three persons whom I could confide in. After I was gone, Dr. Brackett came into the room where the patient was, in a great rage, saying that they were killing him; for the mortification would sooa take place in consequence of keeping him 80 Narrative of the Life, 4-c. so warm. He was asked by one of those present, in" which case mortification was m >st likely to laketplace, when the blood was cold and thick, or warm and thin. He suspected some quibble and would not give an an- swer; and it was immaterial which way he answered; for in either case he had no grounds to support an argu- ment upon, but what might be easily refuted. After be hid failed in the interference with those who had the care of the patient, he went to his wife and oth-r rela- tions, and tried to frighten them ; but he did not suc- ceed, for they were well satisfied with what was doing. The patient was much out by spells, sometimes im- agining himself to be a lump of ice; but my directions were persoed by the person I left in charge of him dur- ing the night, keeping up a perspiration, in the morn- ing he was much relieved and had his right mind. He had no pain except in the lower part of the. bowels; to relieve which he was very anxious that I should give him some physic; 1 opposed this, bein^ confident that it would not do in such putrid cases. He was so urgent, however, I gave him some, which operated very soon ; and the consequence was, that it reinforced his disorder, and threw him into the greatest distress. He asked for more physic, but I told him that 1 would not give him any more, for I was satisfied of the impropriety of giving it in such cases, and I have never given any since. It checked the perspiration, and drew the determining powers from the surface inward; so that I had to go through the same process again of raising perspiration, and vomiting, which was much more difficult than at first, and it was with the greatest attention that 1 was able to keep off the mortification for twelve hours that he was kept back by taking this small dose of physic. I kept up the perspiration through Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday morning when I called to see him, he was up and dressed; on asking how he did, he said as strong as you are, and took me under his arm and car- ried me across the room. On Monday he was down on the wharf attending to his busiuess. This cure caused considerable talk in the town, and because it was done so quick, the doctors said that there was but little ailed him, and he would have got well * Of Samuel Thomson. 81 himself if he had taken the physic and been left alone ; but those who saw it were convinced to the contrary; others doubted, and said among themselves, how can a man who has no learning and never studied physic, know how to cure disease. Mr. Rice, however, gave me credit for the cure, and was very grateful for it, and 1 made his house my home, when in Portsmouth, and was treated with much respect. He introduced me to his uncle, Alexander Rice, Esq. a man of respectability, and high standing in that place; who at first could not believe that so valuable a discovery could be made by a man without an education 1 conversed with him up- on the subject, and explained the principles upon which my system was founded—how every thing acted under the nature and operation of the four elements, and by one acting upon another caused all motion—how the element of fire by rarifying water and air keeps the whole creation in motion—how the temperament of the body, by adding or diminishing heat and cold would promote either life or death. After hearing my expla- nation, he became satisfied of its correctness, and con- fessed that my natural gift was of more value than learning. He then made known to me bis infirmities, and wished me to take the care of his family and give him and his wife such information asVould enable them to attend upon themselves and family in case of sick- ness. 1 readily agreed to this, and soon after carried some of the family through with the medicine, and gave them all the information in my power, of the principle, and the medicine with which it was done. Mrs. Rice undertook the management of the business; she was a kind and affectionate woman, possessing a sound judg- ment without fear. Afn-r she had gained the informa- tion, she wished me to attend to carrying her through a course of the medicine, for a bad humour, called the salt rheum, which she had been long afflicted with; she was attended a few times, which effected a complete cure. Major Rice had been for many years subject to turns of the gout; and had been in some instances confined by it for six months at a- time, and for six weeks not able to sit up, much of the time not able to lift his hand 82 Narrative of the Life, &c. to his head. He had been constantly under the care of the most skillful doctors, who would.bleed and blister, and physic him, till his strength was exhausted; after attending him in this way through the winter, they said he must wait tilt warm weather, before he could get about. When the warm weather come he would crawl out in the sun side of the house, and in this way he gra- dually gained his strength; after this he was afflicted with a violent burning in his stomach, which was al- most as troublesome as the gout. After he had the right of my medicine, he had fre- quent turns of the gout; but no attack of this disease has continued more than twenty-four hours, before he was completely relieved; and he has been, but little troubled with the burning of the stomach since. *He has told me since, that if he could have been as sure of relief, when he was first subject to the disease, as he is now certain of it in twenty-four hours, he would have been willing to give all he was worth. This family has been so much benefitted by the use of the medicine, that no sum of money would be any temptation to them to be deprived of it. This man has never been lacking to prove his gratitude to me ; in the time of my trou- bles his assistance was of the greatest importance to me, and 1 shall ever feel grateful to him and his family for their goodness. Soon after I went to Portsmouth, I was sent for to go to Deerfield, where the dysentery prevailed and had become very alarming. A young man by the name of Fulsom came after me, and said that the doctor had lost every patient he had attended, that seven had died, and many were sick—that his father and two brothers were given over by the doctor that morning to die. The young man seemed so anxious, and was so much frightened that I concluded to go with him; the distance was twenty-eight miles. We started a little before nighr, and arrived there about ten o'clock. I found the father and the two sons, as bad as they could be and be alive; they were stupid and cold. I told the mother that it was very uncertain whether I could help them. She begged of me to save her husband's life if possible. 1 told her that I could not tell whether they were dying,. Of Samuel Thomson. 83 or whether it was the deadly effect of opium. I gave them all medicine—the two children died in about three hours; but Mr. Fulsom soon grew better by taking my medicine. I had not only the sick to attend to, and do every thing myself; but the opposition of all the neigh- bourhood ; there was eight of the family sick, and if I went out of the house, some person would open the doors and windows, which would cause a relapse ; while perspiration continued they were easy, but as soon as they grew cold, the pain would return and be very vio- lent. In the morning 1 was preparing to come away ; but the father urged me so hard to stay, promising that I should be treated in a better manner than I had been, that 1 consented, and remained with them about ten days. 1 caught the disorder myself and was very bad; on taking the medicine, the operation was so violent, that the neighbours were much frightened, and left the house, and were afraid to come nigh us, leaving us to die altogether. I soon got better and was able to carry Mr. Fulsom through for the first time ; which relieved him, and he soon got better. In the mean time a small child was brought home sick, that had been carried away to prevent it from taking the disorder. It was so far „ gone, that the medicine would have no effect upun it, and it soon died. All that were not in a dying situation before they took the^medicine, were relieved and got well. I attended some that had the disorder in other families, all of whom got well; fifteen in the whole re- covered and three died. Two years after, the death of these three children was brought against me on a charge of murder. All that I ever received for my trouble in these cases, was fifteen dollars; there was no credit given me for curing the fifteen out of eighteen, when the doctor had lost all that he attended ; and although he had giv- en over three to die, I cured one of them twelve hours after. When 1 left this place, the doctor adopted my mode of practice as far as he knew it, particularly in sweating, and about one half lived. Notwithstanding all this, the doctor as I was informed, made oath that the three children died in consequence of taking my medi- cine ; and the good minister of the pariah, I was also in- 84 Narrative of the Life, <3*c formed, testified to the same thing; though I am confi- dent that neither of them knew any thing about me or my medicine. A judgment seemed to follow this clergy- man, for a short timea'ter he hidlent his aid in promot- ing the prosecution against me. a circumstance took place in°his family, which if it had t ot been done by a fash- ionable doctor, might have been called murder. His wife was at times troubled with a pain in her face, something like a cramp; a certain doctor said that he could help her by cutting. He used the knife and other instruments of torture for four hours, which stopped her speech, and let loose the juices that filled the flesh from her breast, so that the blood and water crowded out of her ears in striving for breath. She remained in this distressed situation about seven days and died. This information I had from two respectable men. who were present at the time of her sufferings and death. I continued to practice in Portsmouth and vicinity during this autumn, and while there, was sent for to go to Salisbury to see a child that had been attended by a woman for several days, who 1 had given information to, but they said the perspiration would not hold ; and they wished for further infurma*ion. On seeing the child, I at once found that they had kept about an equal balance between the outward and inward heat; when they gave medicine to raise the inward heat and start the deter- mining power to the surface, they at the same time kept the outward heat so high as to counteract it. Af- ter explaining to them the difficulty, I raised the child up and poured on to it a pint of cold vinegar, and it im- mediately revived. Applied no more outward heat, but only to shield it from the air ; and gave the warmest medicine inward, on the operation of which, the child grew cold and very much distressed. v.s soon as the inward heat had gained the full power and drove the cold out, the circulation became free, and the child was relieved from pain and fell asleep; the next day the heat was as much higher than what was natural, as it had been lower the day before ; and when heat had gained the victory over cold, the elwid gained Us strength and was soon about, perfectly recovered. 1 had not practised in Salisbury before, since I went Of Samuel Thomson. 85 to Exeter, which was in June, and my returning there seemed to give Dr. French great offence. He had been to see the child mentioned above, and tried to discour- age the people from using my medicine; and threaten- ed them that he would have them indicted by the grand jury, if they made use of any without his consent; his threats, however, had very little effect, for the people were well satisfied of the superiority of my practice over his. About this time the bonds for his good behaviour were out; I did not appear against him, and when the case was called the court discharged him and his bail, on his paying the cost. The action was brought on a complaint in behalf of the commonwealth; but I had caused another action of damage to be brought against him, which was carried to the Supreme Court, and tried at Ipswich the spring following. I employed two lawyers to manage my case, and brought forward two witnesses to prove my declaration, who swore that the defendant made the assertion,that I was guilty of murder and he could prove it. His lawyer admitted the fact, but pleaded justification on the part of his client, and brought witnesses un the stand to prove that what he had said was true. The young woman who nursed Mrs. Lifford, and by whose neglect she took cold, swore to some of the most ridiculous occurrences concerning the death of that woman, that could be uttered, which were perfectly contradictory to every thing she had before confessed to be the truth. Another young woman, the daughter of a doctor at Deerfield, made a statement to make it appear that I was the cause of the death of the three children, vvho died as has been before related. I had no knowledge of ever seeing this woman, and have since ascertained that she was not at the house but once during the sickness, and then did not go into {he room where the sick were ; and her exaggerated account must have been made up of what she had heard others say. These things were a complete surprise to me, not thinking it possible that people could be induced to make such exaggerated statements under the solemnity of an oath. I could liave brought forward abundance of tes- timony to have contradicted tjie whole evidence ^against H 86 Narrative of the Life, Sfc me if there was time, but not expecting that the cause would have taken the course it did, was unprepared. There appeared to be a complete combination of the professional craft against me, of both the doctors and lawyers, and a determination that I should lose the cause, let the evidence be what it might. My lawyers gave up the case without making a plea ; and the judge gave a very partial charge to the jury, representing me in the worst point of view that he possibly could, saying that the evidence was sufficient to prove tbe facts against me, and that if I had been tried for my life, he could not say whether it would hang me or send me to the state prison for life. The jury of course gave their verdict against me, and I had to pay the ccst of the court. The counsel for Dr. French asked the judge whether a warrant ought not to be issued against me, and be compelled to recognize to appear at the next court, to which he answered in the affirmative. This so fright- ened my friends, that they were much alarmed for my safety, and advised me to go out of the way of my ene- mies,, for they seemed to be determined to destroy me. I went to Andover to the house of a friend, whose wife I had cured of a cancer, where I was very cordially re- ceived, and staid that night. The next day I went to Salisbury-mills, and made arrangements to pay the costs of my unfortunate law suit. In the fall of the year 1808, I was sent for to go to Beverly, to see the wife of a Mr. Appleton, who was the daughter of Elder Williams, the Baptist Minister in that town, and was very low in a consumption. She had.formerly been afflicted with (he salt-rheum on her hft'nds, and had applied to a doctor for advice; he had advised her to make use of a Sugar of lead wash,, which drove the disease to her lungs, and she hid been in that situation f»r a long lime, and very little hopes were en- tertained of her ever being any better. I carried her through a course of the medicine, with very <*ood suc- cess. 1 remained in Beverly about a week; and while there, became acquainted with Mr. Williams, and also Mr. William Raymond, to whom 1 afterwards gave in- formsuion of my practice and he assisted me to attend op nay patienfs. Then returned to Portsmouth, where Of Samuel Thomson. 87" I was constantly called on to practice, and had all the most desperate cases put under my care,in all of which 1 met with very great success. • After staying here about two weeks 1 returned fo Beverly, to see Mrs. Appleton and other patients there, snd found them all doing well: was called on to attend many desperate cases ; in all of which I effected a cure, except one. who was dying before 1 was called on. While practising in Beverly was called on by a Mr. Lo- vetl, to attend his son, who was sick, as they supposed with a bad cold, some thought it a typhus fever. I was very much engaged in attending upon the sick at the lime, and could not go with him; he came after me three limes before I could go. On seeing him found that he complained of a stiff neck, and appeared to be very stupid, and had no pain. His aunt who took care of him, said that he would certainly die, for he had the fame symptoms us his mother who died a short time before. I gave some medicine which relieved him; the next day carried him through a course of the medicine, and he appeared to be doing well. Being called on logo to Salem, 1 left him in the care of Mr. Raymond, with paiticular directions to keep in the house and not ex- pose himself. This was on Wednesday, and I heard no- thing from him, and knew not but what he wa- doing well, till the Sunday afternoon following, when 1 was informed that he was worse. 1 immediately enquired of Mr. Raymond, and learned from him that he I ad got so much better, he had been down on the side of the water, and returned on Friday night: that the weather was very cold, (being in the month of December;) that he had been chilled with the cold, and soon after his re- turn had been taken very ill; he staid with him on Sa- turday night, and that he was raving distracted all night : that he had not given any medicine, thinking that he was too dangerously sick for him to undertake with. I told the young man's father, that it was very doubt- ful whether I could do any thing that would help him: but that 1 would try and do all l could. I found that the patient was so far gone that the medicine would have no effect, and in two hours told him that I could not help his son, and advised him to call some other ad- £>8 Narrative of the Life, Sfc. t vice; this was said in presence of Elder Williams, and Mr. Raymond. Mr. Lovett made answer that if 1 could not help his son he knew of none who could ; and was very desirous for me to stay with him all night, which I did, and stood by his bed the whole time. He was much deranged in his mind till morning, when he came to himself, and was quite sensible. I then again request- ed the father to send for some other doctor, as I was sensible that I could do nothing for him that would be any benefit. He immediately sent for two doctors, and as soon as they arrived, 1 left him in their care. The two doctors attended him till the next night about tea o'clock when be died. 1 have been more particular in giving the history of this case, because two years after it was brought as a charge against me for murdering this young man. The father and friends expressed no dissatisfaction at the time, in regard to my conduct, except they thought I ougbt not to have neglected the patient so long; hut it was a well known fact, that I at- tended as soon as 1 knew of his being worse, and that the whole cause of hh second attack was owing to his going out and exposing himself, and could not be im- puted as any fault of mine. In the latter part of December 1808, I was sent for to attend Elder Bowles, the Baptist minister of Salem. 1 was introduced to him by Elder Williams, and found him in bed. and very weak and low, in the last stage of a consumption ; all hopes of a recovery were at an end —his doctors had left him as incurable. He asked my opinion of his case; I told him that 1 could not tell whether there was a possibility of a cure or not till after using the medicine ; being doubtful whether there w.is mortification or not. He was a man very much respected and beloved by his people, and the public anxiety was very great about him. He expressed a strong desire that I should undertake with him; but I declined doiDg any thing until he consulted his deacons and other members of his church, who were his partic- ular friends, and their advice taken ; which being done, they offered no objection, but wished him to act his own mind, and whatever the result should be they would be satisfied. He replied thut ho was convinced that he Of Samuel Thomson. 89 could not live in his present situation more than a week, and therefore his life could not be shortened, more than that time; and it was his wish that I should undertake to cure him. His strength was so far exhausted that it was with the greatest exertions and difficulty that they could get him to sit up about three minutes in a day, to have his bed made. I gave his friends as correct an account of his disorder and the operation of the medicine, as I could; and that 1 did not wish to do any thing which might cause reflec- tion hereafter; but they promised that let the result be what it might they should be satisfied and would not think hard of me. On these conditions I undertook, and told them that twenty-four hours time would decide whether he lived or died. I began to give the medicine in the morning, which had a very calm and easy opera- tion; the emetic herb operated very kindly, and threw oft' his stomach a large quantity of cold jelly, like the white of an egg; the perspiration moved gently on and was free ; the internal heat produced by the medicine fixed the determining power (o the surface, and threw out the putrefaction to such a degree that the smell was very offensive. Mr. Bowles had a brother present who was a doctor; he observed that he did not know whether the medicine made the putrefaction, or whether it made visible what was secreted in the body ; but he was sooa convinced on tbat head, for when the medicine had cleaned him, all this putrid smell ceased. While the medicine was in the greatest operation the perspiration brought out the putrefaction to such a degree,'that the nurse in making his bed was so affected with it,, that she fainted and fell on the floor. I attended on him for about three weeks, in which time he was able to set up two or three hours in a day; his food nourished his body, and his strength gained very tast, considering the season of the year being unfavourable. I gave him my best advice and left directions how to proceed, and re- turned home to my family to spend the rest of the win- ter with them. I returned in the spring to see Mr. Bowles, and found him so far recovered as to be able to ride out, and in good spirits. He soon gained his % h2 DO Narrative of the Life, 4-c. health, and is now well and ready to give testimony of the facts as I have related them. In the season of 1809, I suffered much. In the first part of the summer, attended many patients of old com- plaints ; in particular one case that I shall mention of a young woman, in Kittery, in a consumption. She had been confined to her house four months; her flesh was exhausted, and had a violent stricture of the lungs, which she -said seemed as though there was a string that drawed her lungs to her back; this caused a dry, hacking couch, which was very distressing. 1 could give her friends no encouragement of a cure; but the young woman and her friends were so urgent, that I undertook with her. Her courage was very great, and she took fhe medicine and followed all my directions with great perseverance. She said she wished that it might either kill or cure, for she did not desire to live in the situa- tion she was then in. 1 left her medicines and directions, and occasionally visited her. My plan of treatment was followed with much attention and zeal for six months, before I could raise an inward heat which would hold more than six hours. She then had what was called a settled fever; and I gave her medicine to get as great an internal heat as I possibly could; this caused much alarm among her friends, as they thought she would certainly die. I told them that the heat holding, w hich was the cause of the fever, was the first favourable symptom that I had seen in her favour. She soon gain- ed her health, to the astonishment of all her friends and acquaintances. She continued to enjoy her health till the next season, when she had another turn of the fever. 1 attended her in my usual way, and raised the heat till it completely overpowered the cold, when she was en- tirely cured, and has ever since enjoyed good health. During this summer a woman applied to me from a ■eighbouring town, who had the dropsy, and brought with her a little girl, that had the rickets very bad, so that she was grown much out of shape. I carried them both thro' a course of the medicine, attended them for three or four weeks, and then gave the woman infor- mation how to relieve herself and the girl, occasionally visiting them ; (hey both recovered of their complaints Of Sunu'd liiomson. 91. and have enjoyed perfect health since. This woman paid me the most liberally of any that I had attended, and has on all occasions manifested her gratitude for the assistance I afforded her. Another woman from the same town applied to mo, who had a cancer on her breast. She had been under the care of several doc- tors, who had by their course of practice made her worse. 1 undertook with her and by giving medicine to check the canker and promote perspiration, effectually reliev- ed her from the disease. Many other desperate, cases, such as consumptions, dropsies, cancers. &x. most of which had been given over by the doctors, were at- tended by me about this time, which it will be unneces- sary for me to particularize ; all of them were either completely cured or essentially relieved and made com- fortable by the system of practice. One case 1 shall, however, stale, being rather of an extraordinary na- ture, to show the absurdity of the fashionable manner of treating disease by the doctors of the present day. A young lady applied to me who had been much troubled with bleeding at the stomach. She stated to me that she ha! been bled by the doctors forty-two times in two years; and that they had bled her seven t:ii)cs in six weeks. So much blood had been taken from her, that the blood vessels had contracted in such manner that they would h.ild very little blood; and the heat being thereby so much diminished, the water filled the flesh, and what little blood there was rushed to her face, while all the extremities were cold; this produced -a deceptive appearance of health, and caused those who judged by outward appearances, to doubt whether there was any disease; so that she had not only to bear her own infirmities, but the reproaches of her acquaintances. 1 kindled heat enough in the body to throw off the use- less water, which gave the blood room to circulate through the whole system, instead of circulating as it had done before, only in the large blood vessels, and they being much extended by not having heat enough to give it motion, leads the doctors into the erroneous idea, that there is too much blood, and resort to the practice of bleeding, which reduces the strength of the patient, and increases the disease. There is no such 92 Narrative of the Life, fyc< thing as a person having +00 much blood, no more than there is of having too much bone, or too much muscle, or sinews ; nature contrives all things right. The blood may be too thick, so as not to circulate, and is liable to be diseased like all other parts of the body; but how taking part of it away, can benefit the rest, or tend in any way to remove the disease, is what 1 could never reconcile with common sense. After I had carried this woman through a full operation of the medicine, and got the heat to hold, so as to produce a natural perspi- ration, she at once exhibited a true picture of her sit- uation ; instead of appearing to be so fleshy and well as she had done, she fell away and became quite emaciat- ed ; but as soon as the digestive powers were restored, so that food could nourish the body, she gained her strength and flesh, and in a short time was completely restored to health. 1 was about this time called to attend a woman who was very severely attacked with the spotted fever, i he' first appearance of it was a pain in her heel, which s;;On moved up to her hips and back, from thence to her stomach and head; so that in fifteen minutes her sight was gone, and in less than half an hour she was sense. less and cold; about this time I saw her, and examined well the cause of the disease; 1 was well satisfied that it was the effect of cold having overpowered the inward heat. By confining her from the air, giving her Nos. 1 and 2, and keeping her in a moderate steam, she in a short time came to her senses; and the symptoms were exactly similar to a drowned peison coming to, after havino- life suspended by being under water. As soon as the perspiration became free all pain ceased, and she was quite comfortable ; in twenty-four hours the disease was completely removed, and she was able to attend to her work. The same day I had another ease of a child which the doctor had given over. When 1 came to this child it was senselesj, and I expected in a mortified state; I gave it the hottest medicine I could get,with the emetic; it lay about six hours silent, before the medicine had kindled heat enough to cause motion in the stomach and bowels, when it began to revive, and what came from it Of Samuel Thomson. 93 was black and putrid ; the bowels just escaped mortifi- cation. The child was soon well. These two cases were both cured in twenty-four hours time. When the spotted fever first appeared in Portsmouth, the doctors had five cases and all of them died. I had five cases similar, which all lived. Because my patients did not die, the doctors said they did not have the fe- ver. In this they had much the advantage of me, for there could be no doubt of theirs all having it, as death was, in most of the cases under their care, on their side and decided the question. I have had a great number of cases of the spotted fever under my care, and in all of them used the remains of heat as a friend, by kindling it so as to produce heat enough in the body to overpow- er and drive out the cold; and have never failed of suc- cess, where there was any chance of a cure. Sometime this season 1 was sent for to attend Captain Tiickey, who was very sick; I examined him and was confident that I could not help him, and took my hat in order to leave the house His family Insisted on ray stoppng and doing something for him ; but I told them that 1 thought he was in a dying state, and medi- cine would do no good. 1 told his son that in all pro- bability, he would not be alive over twenty-four hours, and that he had better go for some other help, for I could do him no good. I told the wife that I should give no medicine myself, but as they had some in the house that they knew the nature ofj she might give some of it to her husband, which she did. Two doctors were sent for—the first one that arrived bled him, and he soon breathed very short, and grew worse ; the other doc- tor came, and said that his breathing short was in con- sequence of the medicine I had given him; but by this be did not gain credit, for all the family knew to the contrary; and the woman soon after told me of his speech. The patient continued till the next day about ten o'clock and died. Soon as he was dead the doctors and their friends spared no pains to spread the report in every direction, that I had killed this man with my screw auger, a cant name given to my emetic herb, in consequence of one of my patients when under the oper- ation of it, saving that it twisted in him like ascrew-au- "U Narrative of the Life, $e; ger. This was readily seized upon by the doctors, an.! made use of for the purpose of trying to destroy the re- putation of this medicine by ridicule—they likewise gave similar names to several other articles of my med- icine for the same purpose, and represented them as (he names by which 1 called th**m. They had likewise given me several names and titles, by way of reproach ; such as the sweating and steaming doctor—the Indian doctor—the old wizzard—and sometimes the quack. Such kind of management, had a great effect on the minds of many weak minded people; they were so afraid of ridicule, that those who I had cured were un- willing to own it, for fear of being laughed at for em- ploying me. The circumstance of the death of the above mention- ed Capt. Trickey, was seized upon by the doctors and their friends, and the most false and absurd representa- tions made by them through the count,'y, with the inten- tion of stopping my practice, by getting me indicted for murder, or to drive me off; but my friends made out a correct statement of the facts, and had them published, which put a stop to their career for that time. I con- tinued my practice, and had a great number of the most desperate cases, in most of which I was successful. The extraordinary cures I had performed, had the tendency to make many people believe, that I could cure every one who had life in them, let their disease be ever so bad; and where I had attended on those who were given over as incurable, and they died, whether I gave them any medicine or not, the report was immediately circulated that they were killed by me, at the same time the regu- lar doctor i wou!d lose their patients every day, without there being any notice taken of it. When their patients died, if appearances were ever so much against their practice, it was said to be the will of the Lord, aud sub- mitted to without a murmur; but if one happened to die that I had any thing to do with, it was readily reported by those interested in destroying my credit with the people, that 1 killed them. I could mention a great number of cases of the cures that I performed, if I thought it necessary; but my in- tention is to give the particulars of such only as will • Of Samuel Thomson. have the greatest tendency to convey to the rqader the most correct information of my mode of practice, with- out repeating any that were treated in a similar manner, to those already given. I shall now proceed to give the particulars of one of the most important circumstances of my life, in as correct and impartial a manner as I am capable to do from memory ; in order to show what I have suffered from the persecutions of some of the me- dical faculty, for no other reason, as I conceive, than that they feared nvy practice would open the eyes of the people, and lessen their importance with them ; by giving such information as would enable them to cure themselves of disease without the aid of a doctor; and from many others, who were governed altogether by the prejudices they had formed against me by the false re- ports that had been circulated about my practice, with- out having any other knowledge of me. Many of the latter, however, have since been convinced of their er- ror, have a very favorable opinion of my system, and are among my best friends. After practicing in those parts through the season of 1809, I went home to Surry, where I remained a few weeks, and returned back to Salisbury; on my way there I made several stops in different places where 1 bad before practised, to see my friends and to give in- formation to those who made use of my medicine and practice. On my arrival at Salisbury, my friends in- formed me that Dr. French had been very busily em- ployed in my absence, and that he and a deacon Pecker, who was one of the grand jury, had been to Salem, to the court, and on their return had said that there had been a bill of indictment found against me for wilful murder. They advised me to go off and keep out of the way ; but \ told them I should never do that--for if they had found a bill against me, the government must prove the charges, or I must be honorably acquitted. About ten o'clock at night Dr. French came to the place whore I stopped, with a constable, and made me a prisoner in behalf of the commonwealth. I asked the constable to read the warrant, which he did ; by this I found that Dr French was the only complainant,and the justice who granted the warrant ordered me before 9G Narralive of the Life, <$-c. him to be examined, the next morning. I was then taken by the constahle to Dr. French's house, and keep- ers were placed over me to prevent me from escaping. While at his house and a prisoner. Dr. French took the opportunity to abuse and insult me in the most shameful manner that can be conceived of, without any provoca- tion on my part; he continued his abuse to me till be- N tvveen two and three o'clock, when he took his horse and sat out for Salem to get the indictment. After he « was gone. I found on enquiry of the constable, that af- ter he had been before the grand jury and caused me (o be indicted, he came home before the bill was made out, and finding that I was at Salisbury, fearing I might be gone, and he should miss the chance of gratifying his malrcious revenge against me, he went to a brother doc- tor, vvho was a justice of the peace, before whom he made oath, that he had probable ground to suspect, and did suspect, that I had with malice aforethought, mur- dered sundry persons in the course of the year past, whose names were unknown to the complainant; upon which a warrant was issued against me, and I was ar- rested, as before stated, in order to detain and keep me in custody, till the indictment could be obtained. In the morning 1 was brought before the said justice, and he not being ready to proceed in my examination, the court was adjourned till one o'clock; when I was again' brought before hi in and he said he could not try me until the complainant was present, and ad- journed the court again till near night. The constable took me to his house in the mean time, and put me in a back room and left me alone, all of them leaving the house. When they came back, some of them asked me why I did not make my escape, which I might very ea- sily have done out of a back window ; but 1 told them that I stood in no fear of the consequence, having done nothing whereby I ought to be punished; that I was tak- en up as a malefactor, and was determined to be con- victed as such, or honorably acquitted. Just before night, Dr. French arrived with a Sheriff, and ordered me to be delivered up by the constable to the Sheriff; and after Dr. French had again vented his spleen upon me by the most savage abuse that language could ex- Of Samuel Thomson. 97 press, saying that I was a murderer, and that I had murdered fifty and he could prove it—that I should be either hung or sent to the State prison for life, and he would do all in his power to have me convtcted. 1 was then put in irons by the sheriff, and conveyed to the jail in Newburyport, and confined in a dungeon, with a man who had been convicted of an assault on a girl six years of age, and sentenced to solitary confinement for one year. He seemed to be glad of companj'; and reminded me of the old saying, that misery loves com- pany. I was not allowed a chair or a table, and nothing but a miserable straw bunk on the floor, with one poor blanket which had never been washed. I was put in- to this prison on the 10th day of November, 1809; the weather was very cold, and no fire, and not even the light of the sun, or a candle—and to complete the whole, the filth ran from the upper rooms into our cell, and was so offensive that I was almost stifled with the smell. I tried to rest myseff as well as I could, but got no sleep that night,, for I felt something crawling over me, which caused an itching, and not knowing what the cause was, enquired of my fellow sufferer; he said that it was the lice, and that there was enough of them to shingle a meeting-house. In the morning there was just light enough shone through the iron grates to show the horror of my situ- ation. My spirits and the justness of my cause pre- vented me from making any lamentation, and I bore my sufferings without complaint. At breakfast time I was called on through the grates to take our miserable breakfast; it consited of an old tin pot of musty coffee, without sweetening or milk, and was so bad as to be unwholesome; with a tin pan containing a hard piece of Indian bread, and the nape of a fish, which was so bard I could not eat it. This had to serve us till three o'clock in the afternoon, when we had about an equal fare, which was all we had till the next morning. The next day Mr. O-good came from Salisbury to see me, and on witnessing my miserable situation he was- so much affected that he could scarcely speak. He brought me some provisions, which I was very glad to receive; and when i described to him my misera- I 98 Narralive of the Life, ^-c. ble lodgings and the horrid place I was in, he wept like a child. He asked liberty of the jailer to furnish me with a bed, which was granted, and brought me one, and other things to make me more comfortable. The next day I wrote letters to my family, to Dr. Fuller, and to Judge Rice, stating to them my situa- tion. The bed which was brought me 1 put on the old one, and allowed my fellow sufferer a part of it, for which he was very thankful. I had provisions enough brought me by my friends for us both, and I gave him what I did not want; the crusts and scraps that were left, his poor wife would come and beg to carry to her starving children, who were dependant on her. Her situation and that of her husband were so much worse than mine, that it made me feel more reconciled to my fate; and I gave her all 1 could spare, besides making his condition much more comfortable, for which they expressed a great deal of gratitude. In a few days after my confinement Judge Rice came to see me and brought with him a lawyer. On con- sulting upon the case, they advised me to petition to the Judges of the Supreme Court to hold a special court to try my cause, as there would be no court held by law, at which it could be tried, till the next fall, and as there could be no bail for an indictment for murder, I should have to lay in prison nearly a year, whether there was any thing against me or not. This was the policy of my enemies, thinking that they could keep me in prison a year, and in all probability I should not live that.time, and their ends would be fully answered. I sent on a petition agreeable to the advise of my friends, and Judge Rice undertook to attend to the busi- ness and do every thing to get the prayer of the peti- tion granted. He followed the business up with great zeal and did every thing that could be done to effect the object. 1 think he told me that he or the lawyer, Mr. Bartlett, had rode from Newburyport to Boston fifteen times in the course of three weeks, on the bu- siness. At length Judge Parsons agreed to hold a spe- cial court at Salem, on the 10th day of December, to try the cause, which was one month from the day I Of Samuel Thomson. 99 was commilted. My friends were very attentive and zealous in my cause, and every preparation was made for the trial. During this time the weather was very cold, and 1 suffered greatly from that cause, and likewise from the badness of the air in our miserable cell, so that I had not much life or ambition. Many of my friends came to see me, and some of them were permitted to come into the cell; but the air was so bad and the smell so offensive, that they could not stay long. My friend, Dr. Shephard, came to see me and was admitted into our dungeon. He staid a short time, but said it was so offensive he must leave me ; that he would not stay in the place a week for all Newburyport. On thanksgiv- ing daj' we were taken out of our cell and put in a room in the upper story, with the other prisoners., and took supper together; they consisted of murderers, robbers, thieves, and poor debtors. All of ns tried to enjoy our supper and be in as good spirits as our con- dition would permit. The most of their complaints were of the filthiness and bad condition of the prison, in which we all agreed. Before it was dark I and my companion were waited upon to our filthy den again. There was nothing in the room to sit upon higher than the thickness of our bed; and when I wrote any thing, 1 had to lay on my belly, in which situation I wrote the Medical Circular, and several other pieces, which were afterwards printed After I had been in prison about two weeks, my son- in-law came to see me ; I had before my imprisonment sent for him to come to Portsmouth on some business. and on hearing of my being in prison he immediately came to Newburyport, to see me. He seemed much more troubled about my situation than I was myself. I felt perfectly conscioustof my innocence and was sat- isfied that 1 had done nothing to merit such cruel treat- ment ; therefore my mind was free from reproach ; for I had pursued the course of duty, which I con- ceived was allotted me by my maker and done every thing in my power to benefit my fellow-creatures. These reflections supported me in my troubles and persecutions, and was perfectly resigned to my fate 100 Narrative of the Life, Sfc. About this time a lawyer came into the prison and read to me the indictment, which was in the common form, that I with malice aforethought, not having the fear of God before my eyes, but moved by the instiga- tion of the devil, did kill and murder the said Lovett, with lobelia, a deadly poison, &c.; but feeling so per- fectly innocent of the charges, which the bill alleged against me, it had very little effect upon my feelings ; knowing them to be false and that they had been brought against me by my enemies, without any provo- cation on my part. In the morning of the day that was appointed for me to be removed to Salem for trial, I was taken out of my loathsome cell by the jailor, who gave me water to wash myself with, and I was permitted to take my breakfast by a fire, which was the first time I had seen any for thirty days, and could not bear to sit near it in consequence of its causing me to feel faint. As soon as i had eat my breakfast the iron shackles were brought and put on my hands, which I was obliged to wear till I got to Salem. The weather was very cold and the going bad; we stopped but once on the way, the dis- tance being about twenty-si:c miles. On our arrival I was delivered over to the care of the keeper of the prison in Salem, and was confined in a room in the se- cond story, which was more comfortable than the one I had left. I was soon informed that Judge Parsons was sick, and had put off' my trial for fen days ; so 1 had to reconcile myself to the idea of being confined ten d tys more without fire. However I was not with- out friends; Elder Bowles and Capt. Russell came to see me the first n'ght, and Mrs. Russell sent her servant twice every day with warm coffee, and other things for my comfort, for which I have always beep grateful; and Mis. Perkins whom I had cured of a dropsy, sent tor my clothes to wash against the day of my trial. Many of my friends came to Salem to attend my tri- al ; some as witnesses and others to afford me any as- sistance in their power. A few days before my trial, Judge Rice and Mr. Bartlett, whom I had employed as my lawyer, held a consultation with me, as to the ar- rangements necessary to be made ; when it was decid- Of Samuel TJwmson. 101 ed that it would be best to have other cousel; and Mr. Story was agreed upon, who engaged in my cause. 1 had also engaged Mr. Bannister of Newburyport to assist in the trial: but he was of no benefit to me, and afterwards sued me for fifty dollars at fifty miles dis- tance, to put me to great expense. In order to be prepared for the trial, my counsel held a consultation together and examined the principal witnesses in the defence. Mr. Bowdes, Judge Rice, and several others gave great satisfaction as to the value and usefulness of the medicine, and the variety of cures, that had been performed with it within their knowledge. Dr. Fuller of Milford, N. H. was present and made many state-. ments in my favour as to the value of the medicine, and advised to have Dr. Cutler of Hamilton summon- ed, which was done. Every thing was done by my friends that was in their power to assist me and give me a chance for a fair trial, for which I shall always feel very grateful. On the 20th day of December, 1809, the Supreme Court convened to hear my trial, at which Judge Par- sons presided, with Judges Sewall and Parker, assist- ant Judges. The case -was called about ten o'clock in the morning, and the chief justice ordered me to be brought from the prison and arraigned at the bar for trial. I was waited on by two constables, one on my right and the other on my left, in which situation I was brought from the jail to the court-house and placed in the bar. The court-house was so crowded with the people, that it was with much difficulty we could get in. After 1 was" placed in the criminal seat, a chair was handed me and I sat down to wait for fur- ther orders. Here I was the object for this great con- course of people to look at; some with pity, others with scorn. In a few minutes I was directed to rise and hold up my right hand, to hear the indictment read, which the grand jury had upon their oaths pre- sented against me. It was in common form, stating that I had with malice aforethought, murdered Ezra Lovett, with lobelia, a deadly poison. I was then di- rected by the court to plead to the indictment, guilty or apt guilty—I plead not guilty, and the usual forms is J 02 Narrative of the Life, fyc. such cas :■?, were passed through, the jury called and s vorn, and the trial commenced. The solicitor general arose and opened the case on the part of the commonwealth, and made many hard statements against me, which he said he was about to prove; he stated that 1 had at sundry times killed my patients with the same poison. The first witness call- ed to the stand on the part of the government, was Mr. Lovett, the father of the young man that I was ac- cused of killing. He made a tolerable fair statement of the affair in general, particularly of coming after me several times before I could attend ; though I think he exaggerated many things against me, and told over several fictitious and ridiculous names, which people had given my medicine, by way of ridicule, such as bull-dog, ram-cat, screw-auger, and belly my-grizzle; all which had a tendency to prejudice the court and jury against me ; and 1 also thought that he omitted to tell many things in my favour, that must have been within his knowledge; but there was nothing in his evidence that in the least criminated me, or supported the charges in the indictment. The next witness called was Dr. Howe, to prove that 1 had administered the poison alleged in the in- dictment. He stated that I gave the poison to the said Lpvett, and produced a sample of it, which he said was the root of lobelia. The Judge asked him if he was positive that it was lobelia—he said he was, and that I called it coffee. The sample Was handed round for the court to examine, and they all appeared to be afraid of it, and after they had all satisfied their curi- osity, Judge Rice took it in his hand and eat it, which very much surprised them. The solicitor general asked him if he meant to poison himself in presence of the court. He said it would not hurt him to eat a peck of it, which seemed to strike the court with as- tonishment. Dr. Howe was then called at my request for cross-examination, and Mr. Story asked him to de- scribe lobelia, how it looked when growing, as he had sworn to it by the taste and smell. This seemed to put him to a stand, and after being speechless for several jpafnutes, he said he had not seen any so long, he should Of Samuel Thomson. J03 not know ii if he should see it at this time. This so completely contradicted and did away ail that he had before stated, that he went off the stand quite cast down. Dr. Cutler was called on to inform the court what the medicine was that Dr. Howe had declared so posi- - tively to be lobelia, and after examining it, he said that it appeared to him to be marsh-rosemary, (which was the fact.) So far, all they had proved against me was that I had given the young man some marsh^rosemary, which Dr. Cutler had declared to be a good medicine. Some young women were brought forward as wit- nesses, whom I had no knowledge of ever seeing be- fore. They made some of the most absurd and ridicu- lous statements about the medicine, thafthey said I gave the young man, that were probably ever made in a court of justice before—some of which were too inde- cent to be here repeated. One of them said that I crowded my puke down his throat and he cried murder till he died. This was well known to be a falsehood, and that the story was wholly made up by my enemies, as well as what had been before stated by those women, for the purpose of trying to make out something a- gainst me. I had two unimpeachable witnesses in court ready to swear that I never saw the young man for more than fourteen hours before he died, during ail which time he was in the care of Dr. Howe ; but by not having an opportunity to make my defence, in con- sequence of the government not making out their case against me, could not bring them forward. John Lemon was the next witness brought forward on the part of the Commonwealth, and was directed to state what he knew about the prisoner at the bar. He stated that he had been out of heaith for two years, being much troubled with a pain in his breast, and was so bad that he was unable to work ; that he could get no help from the doctors; that he applied to me and I had cured him in one week; and that was all he knew about the prisoner at the bar. By this time Judge Parsons appeared to be out of patience, and said he wondered what they had for a grand jury, to find a bill on such evidence. The solicitor general said 104 Narrative of the Life, fyc. lie had more evidence which he wished to bring for- ward. Dr. French was called, and as he had been the most busy actor in the whole business of getting me indict- ed, and had been the principal cause, by his own evi- dence, (as I was informed,) of the grand jury finding. a bfll against me, it was expected that his evidence now would be sufficient to condemn me at once; but it turned out like the rest to amount to nothing. He was asked if he knew the prisoner at the bar; he said he did. He-was then directed to state what he knew about him. He said the prisoner had practiced in the part of the country where he lived with good success; and his medicine was harmless being gathered by the children for the use of the families. The judge was about to charge the jury, when the solicitor general arose and said, that if it was not proved to be murder it might be found for manslaughter. The judge said,. you have nothing against the man, and again repeat- ed that he wondered what they had for a grand jury. The charge was given to the jury, when they retired for about five minutes and returned into court and gave in their verdict of not guilty. I was then honorably acquitted, without having had an opportunity to have my witnesses examined, by whom I expected to have proved the usefulness and importance of my discovery before a large assembly, of people, by the testimony of about twenty-five credi- table men, who were present at the trial; besides. contradicting all the evidence produced against me. After the trial was over I was invited to the Sun tav- ern to supper, where we enjoyed ourselves for the evening. When we sat down to the table, several doctors were present, who were so offended at my be- ing acquitted, that they left the table, which made me " think of what the scripture says, that " the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion." During the evening 1 consulted with my friends up- on the subject of prosecuting Dr. French and making him pay damages for his abuse to me when a prisoner at liis house, in saying that I had murdered fifty and. Of Samuel Thomson. 105 he could prove it; and after having had a fair chance and having failed to prove one, it was thought to be a favorable opportunity to make him pay something for his conduct towards me, in causing me so much suffer- ing, and for the trouble he had made me and my friends. A prosecution was agreed upon, and to bring the ac- tion in the county of York. Judge Rice agreed to be my bail, and likewise he undertook to pay my lawyers and witnesses for the above trial, and paid Mr. Bart- lett forty dollars that night. Mr. Story was paid twenty dollars by a contribution of my friends in Sa- lem. I staid at Mrs. Russell's that night ;* 1 had but little sleep, for my mind was so much agitated, when I came to consider what I had gone through, and the risk I had run in escaping the snares of my enemies; with the anxiety of my family till they got the news of my acquittal, that sleep fled from my eyelids, and I was more confused than when in prison. The next daj' I Went to Salisbury, and stopped with Mr. Osgood, where I was first arrested. Mrs. Osgood1 and a young woman who had been employed by me as a nurse, assisted to clean my clothes, and clear me of some troublesome companions I had brought with me from the prison ; and when I had paid a visit to all my old frictids, who were very glad to see me, I went to Portsmouth, to recover my health, which was very much impaired, by being confined forty days in those filthy and cold prisons, in the coldest part of a remark- ably cold winter. My friends attended upon me, and carried me through a regular course of medicine ;• but the first operation of it had little effect, in conse- quence of my blood being so much chilled, and it was a lon°- time before I could raise a perspiration that would hold. I am confident that I should not have lived through the winter in prison, and believe that this was their plan ; for which reason they managed to have me indicted for murder; knowing in that case there could be no bail taken, and there would be no court at which I could be tried, for nearly a year, 1 thould have to lay in prison that time, and- that I should pro- bably die there, or in any case they would get rid of me for one year at least, whether there was any thing 106 Narrative of the Life. Sfc. proved against me or not; and that in that time the doctors and their dupes would be enabled to run down the credit of my medicine and put my practice into disrepute among the people; but I have been aide by srood fortune and the kind assistance of my friends, to defeat all their Hans. Most of those that have been instrumental in trying to destroy me and my pnetice, have had some judgment befall them as a reward for their unjust persecutions and malicious conduct towards me. 1 was credibly informed that Deacon Pecker, one of the grand jury that found a bill against me, went with Dr. French, to hunt up evidence to come before himself, in order to have me indicted. A short time after I was put in prison, he had a stroke of the pal- sey, and has remained ever since, one half of h.s body and limbs useless. Dr. French one year after 1 was acquitted, was brought to the same bar in which I was placed, and convicted for robbing a grave yard of a dead body, which it was reported he sold for sixty dol- lars. He lost all his credit, and was obliged to quit his country. In the month of January, of 1810, I returned home to my family, and staid till I, had in some measure re- covered my loss of health by imprisonment. In March I returned to Portsmouth, and after taking the advice of my friends, made arrangements for my prosecuting Dr. French. The prosecution was commenced and he was summoned before the court of common pleas, in the County of York. Judge Rice undertook the principal management of the business, and became my bail. The action was called and carried to the Su- preme Court by demurer, which was to set at Alfred, in October. I attended with my witnesses, and ex- pected to have gone to trial; and after waiting sever- al days to know what the defence was going to be, the counsel for the defendant male their plea of justifica- tion. 1 found that their plan was to prove that I had murdered sundry persons whom I had attended, and by that means to make it out thar any one had a right to Cidl me a murderer; and that for this purpose. Dr. French had beea *o every place wliere I had practis- ed, collecting every case of the deat!i of any that I had Of Samuel Thomson. 107 attended in this part of the country, and had made out eight cases, all of which have been before mentioned in (his narrative, most of whom had been given over by the doctors as past cure, and the others known to be desperate cases. He had obtained the depositions of all that were prejudiced against me, and had collect- ed a mass of evidence to support his defence. After finding what their plan was, it was thought necessary for me to go to all the places where they had been, and get evidence to contradict these highly coloured and exaggerated statements, and was under the necessity of requesting a delay of the trial for one week, which was granted. 1 proceeded immediately and took the depositions of those who were knowing to the facts ; but found that these were not sufficient and went again to Decrfield and summoned two men to appear at court and give their verbal testimon}'. When I had got rea- dy to come to trial, the defendant was not ready and got it put off to the next term, which would be hold- en at York the next year In the spring, before the setting of the court, I went to the clerk's office to find what the depositions were that weie filed against me ; and the whole appeared to be a series of exaggerated statements, made by those who were governed by their prejudices, without having but very little, if any know- ledge of the facts, more than what they obtained by hearsay. This caused me to redouble my diligence and get witnesses to appear on the stand to contradict their testimony, on each case they had alledged against me. On the day appointed for the trial, every thing was prepared on my part, to have a fair hearing. Judge Parsons was on the bench, and seemed, as I thought, to be determined to have the case go against me; for he appeared to know every thing that was to be in the defence before hand. I made out my case by proving the words uttered by the defendant, which were in my declaration. 1 hey then proceeded in the defence, to make out the eight" cases of murder, which were al- ledged against me. The first was the case of a man by the name of Hubbard, of Eliot, who had been dead above two years, the particulars of which I have be- 103 Narrative of the Lfe, Sfc. fore stated. The witness brought to support this case. told a very lamentable and highly coloured story; and I brought on to the stand, a very respectabfe wit- ness, who completely contradicted the whole state- ment. The next cases brought up were the three children of Mr. Fulsom, of Deerfield, the particulars of which have been before related. A number of depositions were read, which the defendant had obtained of those that had been my enemies, and who knew nothing of the matter more than hearsay reports among them- selves. The}' gave a very highly coloured account of my treatment of the children; so much so, that it would appear by their stories, that I had taken them in health and had roasted them to death; never saying a word about the fifteen that I cured, some of which had been given over by the doctors. To rebut the evidence that was produced to prove that I had killed those children, I brought on to the stand, two respectable witnesses, who were knowing to all the circumstances, being present at the lime of my attending the family. They gave a correct and particular account of all the circumstances as they took place—of the situation of the family when I first saw them, and the violence of the disorder—how the doctors had lost all their pa- tients that had been attackod with the disorder before I came—with the number that I cured by my mode of practice ; and that the doctors afterwards adopted my plan, and saved the lives of a number by it. The judge interrupted them and read some of the deposi- tions over again ; but these witnesses stated, that they were not true, and , went on to give some of the par- ticulars of the opposition I met with in my practice from those very persons whose depositions had been read, when the judge seemed put out, and attempted to stop them, saying they had said enough. They said that having sworn to tell the whole truth, they felt it their duty to do if. They next brought on the case of a woman who had died at Beverly, that 1 had attended, and with it the case of Ezra Lovett, who I had been tried for mur- dering. I was very glad to have this case brought up Of Samuel Thomson. 109 again, as I wished to have an opportunity to prove all the facts relating to it, which I had been prevented from doing on my trial, in consequence of being acquitted without making any defence. The evidence brought forward to support this case, were the depositions of fhose who had testified against me on my trial at Salem ; they were pretty near the same as then given. After those depositions were read, I had called on to the stand Elder Williams and Mr. Raymond, who gave all the par- ticulars of my attending upon the young man, as has been before related, which completely contradicted all the depositions they had read in the case. The Judge interrupted these witnesses and read the deposition of the girl, who stated that I crowded my pukes down the ' patient's throat and he cried murder till he died. They both positively testified, that there was not a word of it true; for wheD he died, and for twelve hours before, he was under the care of Or. Howe, during which time I did not see him. As to the woman in Beverly, whom they tried to make out that I murdered, it was proved by these witnesses, that she was in a dying condition when 1 first saw her, and that 1 so stated it as my opin- ion at the time,and that my medicine w ould not help her-. The next case was that of Mrs. Lyfford, who died at Salisbur}', the particulars of which have been before given. The evidence brought to prove this case of murder was the deposition of the woman who nursed her, and by whose neglect the patient took cold, after the medicine had a very favourable operation, and ap- pearances were much in her favour; in consequence of which sbe had a relapse, and I could not produce any effect upon her by the medicine afterwards. This wo- man confessed at the time, that she was the only one to blame, and that no fault ought to be attached to me ; but she afterwards was influenced by Dr. French to turn against me, and made threats that she would swear fo any thing to injure me. After her deposition was read, I brought witnesses on the stand, Who completely contra- dicted every thing contained in it; but the judge read her deposition to the jury, and directed them to pay at- tention to that in preference to the witnesses on the stand. The eighth and last case was that of the son of Thomas K 110 Narrative of the Life, <§-C Neal of Portsmouth, vvho was very violently attacked, and was attended by Dr. Cutter. I was called on at uightto attend him, and thought there was a possibility of helping him ; but the man whom he lived with would not consent that I should do any thing for him, and I went away, after telling them that he would be either worse or better before morning, and if he was worse he would die I was called to visit him in the morning, and was informed that he was worse, and that his mas. ter had consented to have me attend upon him. 1 told his father it was undoubtedly too late; but he insisted upon it so much, 1 attended, and told them the chance was very small for doing him any good, as 1 considered it a desperate case. Alter being very hardly urged by his friends, I gave him some medicine, but it had no effect, and about sundow n he died. The doctor vvho attended him was brought forward to prove that I mur- dered the patient. If I recollect rightly, he swore that the patient had the dropsy in the brain, and that the disorder had turned and he was in a fair way to recov- er ; but I came and gave him my poison pukes and kill- ed him. I brought forward evidence who swore to the facts as I have above related them, and that the doctor would give no encouagement of helping the patient. The father of the young man gave his evidence, and stated that his son was in a dying situation when 1 gave him medicine ; but the judge interupted him, and asked if he was a doctor, to which he answered no. He then said the doctor has stated that his disorder had turned and he was getting better—are you going to contradict the doctor—and thus managed to do away his testimony. I h.ive thus given a brief sketch of the evidence in the eight cases, which were attempted to be proved as murder, in order to make out justification on the part of the defendant, with my defence to the same, in as correct a manner as I am able from memory; and am confident that every circumstance as I have related it, can be substantially proved by living witnesses. After the evidence was gone through, the lawyers on both sides mad;? their pleas, making the case on my part as good and as bad as they could. The Judge then gave hia charge to the jury, which was considered bv Of Samuel Thomson. Ill m those who heard it to be the mod prejudiced and par- tial one that had been ever heard before He made use of every means to raise the passions of the jury and turn them against me ; stating that the defendant was completely justified in calling me a murderer, for if I was not guilty of wilful murder, it was ba:barous igno- rant murder; and he even abused my lawyers for tak- ing up for me, saying that they ought to be paid in screw-auger-:, and bull dogs. i he people that were present were very much disgusted at his conduct, and" they expressed themselves very freely upon the sub- ject ; it w as said by some that our courts instead of being courts of justice had become courts of prejudice. One man said that he hoped Judge Parsons would never have another opportunity to set on a cause ; which prediction turned out true, for he soon after had a stroke of the pal- sy, and as I am informed died before the next court met. The jury brought in their verdict of justification on the part of the defendant, and throwed the whole costs on me, which amounted to about two thousand dollars. When I found how the case was going to turn, I went to Portsmouth, and soon after made arrangements to pay the cos's. Judge Rice was my bail and undertook to pay all the bills that I had not paid at the time. On my settlement with him I owed him six hundred dollars for money that he had advanced on my account; for which 1 had no way to secure him, but by giving him a mort- gage of my farm ; which I did, and it was put on record, and never known, to any of my friends till 1 paid it up. He charged nothing for all his time and trouble, through the whole of my persecutions and trials, for which and for his kindness and friendship on all occasions, 1 shall ever consider myself under the greatest obligations. Sometime in the spring of the year previous to this trial at York, a young man came to me at Portsmouth, Lv the name of Alfred Carpenter, from the town where%iy family lived ; he was recommended to me by his neighbours, as being lame and poor, and wanted my assistance. 1 took him out of pity and instructed him in my mode of practice, under the expectation that it would be a benefit to him and thereby be would be able to assist me in attending the sick. .*....•.•'■ 115 •' .Narrative of the Life, #c^ About the first* o? June, 1811,1 received a letter from Eastport, where I had been the fall before and shown some of my mode of practice. Some of the people in that place were so well satisfied with it, that seven men had subscribed their names to the letter, requesting me to come theie and practice in the fevers, which pre- vailed in those parts. I left the care of my business at Portsmouth with Mr. Carpenter, my apprentice, and immediately took passage for Eastport, where 1 arrived about the middle of June. 1 was very gladly received by those who had wrote to me, and by those with whom I had become acquainted when there before. I agreed to practice under the protection of those who had sent for me, until I had convinced them of its utility, to which they consented, and promised me all the assistance in their power. I was soon called on to practice, and had all the most desperate cases that could be found, in all of which I met with very great success. There was, I think at that time, five practising doctors on the island, among whom my success in curing the sick caused great alarm; and I soon experienced the same determined opposition from them, with all the arts and plans to de- stroy me and my practice, that 1 had experienced from the same class of men in other places. In order to show some of their conduct towards me, I shall relate the particulars of some of the cases 1 attended; but most of the numerous cases which 1 had under my care, were so nearly similar to those that have been already given, and my mode of treating them being about the same, that it will be unnecessary to repeat them I was sent for to visit a Mrs. Lovett, who was the daughter of Mr. Delisdernier, at whose house 1 attend- ed her. She had the dropsy and had been under the care of one of the doctors, till he had given her over as incurable. 1 went to see her in company with the doctor; but we could not agree as to the cause and remedv. I asked him several questions concerning the power of the elements, and the effect of heat on the human system. He answered that the elements had no- thing to do with the case After giving him my ideas on the subject which all appeared to be new to him, I told him that the contending powers in this case was between Of Samuel Thomson'., '•• 113 » the fire and water; and if I could get heat enough in the body to make the water volatile, it could not stay in the body. He said that any thing warm would not answer for her. I then asked him how he thought the hottest medicine would do. He said it would produce immediate death. I then told him that if I did any thing for her, I should administer the hottest medicine I could give. Finding there would be a disadvantage on my part in doing any thing for her, as the doctor and I could not agree, 1 left the house. I was followed by the fa- ther and mother and the doctor, who all insisted on my returning; but I told them that notwithstanding the doctor had given her over, if I was to attend her and she should die, they would say that I killed her. They promised that let the consequences be what they might no blame should be alleged against me. Upon which I agreed that I would stop on condition that two of my friends should be present as witnesses to what was said, and see the first process of the medicine, which was agreed to and they were sent for, and heard the state- ments of the doctor and family. A Capt. Mitchell from New-York, was also present, and heard the conversation between me and the doctor; and being pleased with the principles that I laid down, which excited his curiosity so much that he expressed a wish to be present and see the. operation of the medicine, and staid accordingly. The doctor pretended to be going away till alter I had given the first medicine, and appeared to be very busy going out and coming in,, and had much conversa- tion with Mrs. Lovett, the husband's mother, who w i* the nurse. After the first medicine had done, which operated very favourably, gave directiocs what to do, and particularly to keep the patient in perspiration during the night, and left medicine for the purpose ; we then went home. In the morning I called to. see hec and to my surprise found her sitting with the window up, and exposed to the air as much as possible;. oa examination I found that no medicine had been used. On enquiry I found that the doctor had been in fre- quently to see her; and on asking why they had not followed my directions, the nurse appeared very, cross,. and said she would not take any of my medicine.. J_ _2 114 Narrative of the Life, Sfc. told them that they had not killed her, but I did not thank them for their good will any more than if they had done it. 1 was about leaving the house, as I found my directions would not be attended to by the nurse; but Capt. Mitchell was very urgent for me to continue. I told him that if he would attend upon her and see the medicine given and every thing done according to my directions, I would continue, to which he agreed. I left the patient in his care and he attended her faithful- ly through the day; at night I visited her and found the swelling began to abate. He continued his care of her, and in three days she was able to go up and down stairs, and in one week she was well. By the influence of the doctor, the woman and the husband all turned against me, and I never received any thing for my trouble but their abuse and slander. The woman's far ther and Capt. Mitchell, however, gave me all credit for the cure, and they both purchased a right. About a year after at a private assembly of women, this Mrs. Lovett the mother-in-law of the sick woman, gave an account of the whole transaction, and stated that there was a private interview between her and the doc- tor, and it was agreed to go contrary to my directions, and the doctor said she would die in the course of the night; and that he should take me up for murder, and that she must be an evidence. This appeared to be al- most incredible, that they should be so void of all human feelings, as to be willing to have the woman die, in order to have the opportunity to take me up for murder; but two women who were present when she told the story, gave their deposition proving the facts as above stated. 1 continued my practice on this island, at Lubeck, and •n the main, paying my most particular attention to those who sent for me, and wanted information. I practised under their inspection about five weeks, and then told them that I had done enough for a trial, to prove the use of the medicine, and should do no more till I knew whether a society could be formed. They expressed their entire satisfaction, and wished to have a society formed; a meeting was called for that purpose, and 16 signed the articles at the first meeting. After this a meeting was held every week, at which a lecture was Of Samuel Thomson. 115 given for the purpose of giving information, and for the admission of members; and eight each week was ad- ded during the summer. In the fall I went back to Portsmouth to attend to my business there, and see to the society which had been formed in that place. After staying in Portsmouth a few weeks to give in- formation to the people, and procuring a stock of medi- cine, 1 made arrangements to return to Eastport; and sometime in the month of October, I set sail for that place, taking with me my apprentice and Stephen Sew- cll. On my arrival I introduced Mr. Carpenter as my apprentice, and got Mr. Sewell into a school as an as- sistant ; in which he had fifteen dollars a month, and all his leisure time he attended to gain information of the practice. 1 took a small shop and put into it a good as- sortment of medicine, and attended to practice till 1" had got Mr. Carpenter introduced among the people. While practising here I frequently heard of the abuse and scandal towards me and my practice from Mrs. Lo- vett, the old woman before mentioned, as the nurse of her son's wife, whom I cured of the dropsy. This old woman was a singular character; and was called a witch by the people; 1 have no faith in these kind of things, yet her conduct, and certain circumstances, that took place, were very extraordinary, and puzzled and astonished me more than any thing I had ever met with, and which I have never been able to account for to this day. Mr. Carpenter was attending a man, where this woman often visited, who had the consumption, and his child, which was sick awd had fits. He came to me and said that the medicine he gave would not have its usual effect; ihat the emetic instead of causing ihem to vomit would make them choak and almost strangle. I attended them myself, and on giving the medicine it would operate on the man, and not on the child at one time, and the next time on the child and not on him. Sometimes the child would lay in fits, for a whole night, and nothing would have any effect upon it; in the morn- ing it would come out of them and appear to be quite bright and lively. I had never known the medicine to fail of producing some effect before, where the patient was not so far gone as not to have life enough left to 116 Narrative of tfie Life, <$-c. build upon. 1 can give no reason for this strange cir- cumstance, satisfactory to myself, or which would be thought reasonable by the readers. The old woman, before mentioned,was frequently in and out of the house where the man and child were, and seemed to be very much interested about them; when she was gone the child would frequently go into violent fits, and when I steamed it, it was said the old woman would be in great distress. It caused much conversation among the neighbours ; they believed it to be the power of witch- craft; and that the old woman had a controul over the destinies of the man and child, and was determined to destroy them in order to get her revenge on me. I have no belief in these things; but must confess that her strange conduct, and the extraordinary circum- stances attending the whole affair, baffled me more than any thing 1 had ever met with before. 1 was un- able to do any thing for these two patients, except sometimes by a temporary relief; they continued to grow worse, and finding it not in my power to do them any good, left them and they both soon after died. Whether the extraordinary circumstances attending the two cases above stated, were caused by a stratagem of the doctors, in which the old woman was made their agent, to injure me by causing in some way or other poisonous medicines to be administered to them in order to prevent my medicine from having any salutary effect,. is what I do not feel disposed to assert as a fact; but the many cases in which I have been certain that such things have been done by the faculty, and their enmity and uniform opposition to my practice, both at this place and elsewhere, as well as the confession made by the old woman, would tend strongly to confirm such a belief. I could mention a great number of facts in addition to what I have said in regard to this affair if necessary, which appeared very extraordinary to me and all who witnessed them; but think that enough has been said on the subject, and shall leave it to the public to decide be- tween us. There were five doctors at Eastport when I went there, who had a plenty of business; but my suc- cess was so great and the people became so well satis- fied of the superiority of my system of practice over Of Samuel Thomson. 117 theirs, that tbey were soon relieved from most of their labours ; and in a short time after, three of them had to leave the place for want of employment. I made arrangements to go back to Portsmouth to spend the winter, and to leave Mr. Carpenter with the care of my business and practice at Eastport, under the protection of John Burgin, Esq. a man who has been particularly friendly to me on all occasions. I told him if he would be faithful in my business and in selling me- dicine, that he should have half the profits after the mo- ney was collected ; and in December I took passage for Portsmouth. Wre had a long and tedious passage of eighteen days; the vessel took fire and our lives were exposed ; but we were fortunate enough to extinguish it without much damage. I stopped in Portsmouth and practised some lime, then went to see my family, where I remained the rest of the winter, in which time I was employed in collecting and preparing medicine. I re- turned to Portsmouth in the spring of 1812, and after making the necessary arrangements, I set sail for East- port, where I arrived about the first of May. I made a settlement with Mr. Burgin, and paid him sixty-three dol- lars for the board of Mr. Carpenter, and for shop rent. Then furnished the shop with a complete stock of me- dicine, to which I added cordials and spirits, the whole of which amounted to about twelve hundred dollars. There was a great call for medicine this spring, and also for practice. After arranging my business, 1 concluded to return to Portsmouth ; a short time before I came away, a Mr. Whitney came to me for assistance, and purcbased a right. About the same time a Mr. McFadden applied also for assistance, who had the consumption. I left them both under the care of Mr. Carpenter, and immediately sailed for Portsmouth, where I arrived in safety. Soon after my arrival there, 1 found there was going to be a rvar with Great Britain; in consequence of which 1 re- turned immediately back to Eastport to settle my affairs in that place. In a short time after my arrival there, the declaration of war came on, and I made the best ar- rangements of my business I could, leaving Mr. Carpen- ter with directions, if there should any thing happen in 118 Narrative ofthe Life, 8fc. consequence ofthe war, so as to be necessary for him to leave the island, to come to Portsmouth. Before leaving the place, I called on him for some money, and all he could pay me was sixty-four dollars, which was but one dollar more than 1 had paid for his board and shop rent. The people were in such confusion it was impossible to get a settlement with any one. I left Mr. Whitney and Mr. McFadden in his care, and left the island about the middle of June, and arrived in Portsmouth in forty-eight hours, where I remained the greater part of the sum- mer ; during which time I had constant practice, and formed some regulations for the society, which was es- tablished there, for the purpose of greater facility in com- municating information of my system of practice to the people who wished my assistance. In the fall of this year I published my pamphlet of directions, as many were urgent that I should not leave the place destitute ofthe knowledge of my practice and medicine. Many persons who had been the most urgent for me to give them.information, now became the most backward, and complained that the restrictions wcretoo hard with re- gard to their giving the information to others ; some of whom had never done the least thing to support the practice or me. When any of them were sick they were ready enough to call on me for assistance ; and if I re- lieved them quick, they thought it worth nothing, and they run out against my practice, saying I deserved no pay. This sort of treatment I have met with from a certain class of people in all places where I have prac- ticed. 1 was treated with much attention when they were in danger from sickness; but when 1 had cured them I was thought no more of. 1'his kind of ingrati- tude 1 have experienced a pretty large share of during my practice. In the month of October, having got my business ar- ranged, and a stock of medicine prepared, 1 returned to Eastport. On my arrival there 1 went to my shop, and found that Mr. Carpenter had gone home, and Mr. Mc- Fadden and a Mr. Harvey left very sick, and only a boy to take care of them and the shop Mr. McFailden was very low with a consumption, and unable to lay down. I found there was no regulations of the business in the Of Samuel Thomson. J 1Q shop, and the property I had, chiefly-'gone. I was obliged to pay every attention to the sick men that had been left in ibis manner without assistance; I attended Mr. Harvey, and got him well enough to go home in a few days; and IM r. McFndden was so put to it for breath and was so distressed, that 1 had to be with him night and day for six weeks and thiee days, when Mr. Car- penter returned. Previous to this I found that Mr. Mc- Fadden had put his farm into the hands of Mr. Carpen- ter as security for his attending him in his sickness; and as he had no relations the remainder to go to him and me. On enquiry into the business I found that he had tak- en a deed in his own name, and that all the bills and ac- counts for his practice and medicine in my absence were in his own name. I asked him for a settlement and he re- fused; I then asked him what he meant by his conduct; he said he owed me nothing, and bid me defiance, saying if I chose I might take the steps ofthe law. I could not conceive what he meant by treating me in this manner, till .after making further enquiry I found that he had for- med a connection in a family-that he had been advised to take the course he did, and as I had no receipt for the property, or any written agreement to support my claim, he could do with me as he pleased, and keep every thing for his own benefit. The night after he returned and before I had any knowledge of his intentions, he had robbed the shop of all the accounts, notes, bills, and all other demands, so that I knew no more about the busi- ness than a stranger. I frequently tried to get a settlement with Carpenter; but he said he had none to make with me. Mr. Mc- Fadden died shortly after, and Carpenter came forward and claimed all his property, saying that it was all wilt- ed to him. I asked him why it should be willed him, when 1 had borne the expense and done the principal part ofthe labour in taking care of him in his sickness. He said I must look to him for my pay. 1 told him that it was very singular that my apprentice had become my master in one year ; he denied that he was my appren- tice, and said that he was a partner ; but I had said in order to encourage him to be faithful and do well by me, he should have half the profits of the practice, and that 120 Narrative of the Life, fyc. I had no idea of his having the whole of my property, because I made him this promise. All I could say 1 found would have no effect, for the more I tried to rea- son with him, the more obstinate and impudent ho was. He even went so far as to say that the shop and all that was in it was his, and that I had nothing to do with it; he called a witness and forbid my having any concern in the shop. I found there was no other way for me, but to turn him out and get rid of him in the best manner I could ; to effect which 1 applied to the owner ofthe shop and got a writing to prove my claim to the possession and immediately took measures to get rid of him. He made all the opposition, and gave me all the trouble he could; he went into the shop while I was absent, and began to throw the property out into the street; but I soon put a stop to his career, and secured the property from his reach. He still held all my books and accounts, which put my business into such confusion that I was un- able to collect any ofthe demands that were due ; and the only remedy I had was to advertise him as my ap- prentice and forbid all persons having any dealings with him on my account, or settling with him. My loss by the dishonest conduct of this man was very considerable, besides the injury to my feelings from his base ingrati- tude to me ; for I had taken him from a stale of poverty and distress; supported him for a long time when he was very little benefit to me ; and had instructed him in my system of practice and given him all the information in my power ; had introduced him into practice, and given him every encouragemeut to enable him not only to as. sist me in supporting my system of practice, but to benefit himself; and after all this, for him to turn against me aud treat me in the manner he did, was a deeper wound to my feelings than the loss of my property. After having got clear of Carpenter, I hired a young man whom I had cured and given information to, and put him into the shop, and agreed to pay his board for one yea., and then returned to Portsmouth. As Car- penter had bid me defiance, and threatened to sell my rights and give information to any one who would buy of him; and likewise I found that there was another plot got up to destroy me; a petition had been sent on Of Samuel Thomson. 121 to the Legislature to have a law passed against quacke- ry, in which I was named; and there can be no doubt but what the whole object of it was to stop my prac- tice ;—I was at a stand, and put to much perplexity to know what course it was best to stear. I found I had enemies on every hand, and was in danger of falling by some one of them. Every thing seemed to conspire against me; but I had some friends who have never for- saken me: my courage remained good, and my spirits were never depressed; and it appeared to me that the more troubles I had to encounter, the more firmly I was fixed in my determination to persevere unto the last. When I had maturely considered the subject in all its bearings, and exercised my best abilities in devising some plan by which I could extricate myself from the dangers which threatened me on every hand; and to prevent those rights, which twenty years' labour, with much suffering ami great expense had given me a just claim to, from being wrested from me—1 finally came to the conclusion that there was only one plan for me to pursue with any chance of success; and th?t was to go on to Washington and obtain a patent for my discoveries; and put myself and medicine under the protection of the laws of my country, which would not only secure to me the exclusive right to my system and medicine, but would put me above the reach of the laws of any state. After coming to the conclusion to go on to the sent of government and apply for u patent, made all necessa- ry preparation for the journey, and started from Ports- mouth on the 7th of February and arrived at Washing- ton on the 23d. The next day after my arrival I waited on Capt. Nicholas Oilman of Exeter, showed him my credentials and asked his advice, what I must, do to obtain my object. He said that he thought it could not be made explicit enough to combine the system and prac- tice, without being too long; he however advised me to carry my petition to the patent office ; which was then under the controul of Mr. Monroe, Secretary of Stale. I went to the patent office and found that Dr. Thornton was the Clerk, and presented him my petition. He asked me many questions, and then said I must call again; I called again the next day, and he said the |,eti- L 122 Narrative of the Life, fyc. tion was not right—that I must specify the medicine, and what disorder it must be used in—he said that those me- dicines in general terms to cure everything, was quack- ery—that I must particularly designate the medicine, and state how it must be used, and in what disease. I then waited on Martin Chittenden, late governor of Vermont, who was at Washington, and asked his assist- ance ; he was from the same town where my father lived, and readily consented. We made out the specifi- cations in as correct a manner as we could, and the next day I carried them to the patent office, and gave them to Dr. Thornton; he complained much about its being too short a system, and put me off once more. I ap- plied again and asked him for my paient; but he said 1 had not got the botanic names for the articles, and referred me to Dr. Mitchell of New-York, who was in the House of Representatives. I applied to him, and requented him to give the botanic names to the articles mentioned in my petition. He wrote them and I car- ried them to Dr. Thornton; but he was unable to read some of the names, one in particular, he said I must go again to Dr. Mitchell, and get him to give it in some other words, and not tell him that he could not read it. I went and the doctor wrote the same word again and then wrote, or " Snapdraggon ;" which I carried to Dr. Thornton, and requested him to put in the patent my names, and record it for himself snap-draggon, or any other name he chose. He then talked about sending me to Philadelphia, to Dr. Barton, to get his names. 1 found he was determined to give me all the trouble he could, and if possible to defeat my getting a patent, and I intimated that 1 should go with my complaint to Mr. Monroe, upon which he seemed a little more dis- posed to grant my request, and said he would do without Dr. Barton's names. He then went to work to make out the patent, and when he came to the article of myrrh, he found much fault about that, and said it was good for nothing. I told him that I paid for the patent and if it was good for nothing it was my loss. After m-ch trouble 1 got it made out according to my request, and the medicine to be used in fevers, chohes, dysen- teries, and rheumatisms; be then asked me if I wanted Of Samuel Thomson. 12T> any additions, and I told him to add. " the three first numbers may be use in any other case to promote per- spiration, or as an emetic," which he did. 1 then had to go to the treasury office and pay my money and bring him duplicate receipts. After all this trouble I at length succeeded in obtaining my patent according to my request, which was completed and delivered to mo on the 3d day of March, 1813. The next day after I had completed my business, was the day of inauguration of the President of the United States ; and 1 had the curiositv to stay and see the ceremonies on that occasion. After the ceremo- nies were over I went to the stage office and found that the seats were all engaged for a fortnight; and wan obliged to stay till the 13th before I could get a p issage. I then took passage in the stage and came on to Phila- delphia, where I remained several days for the purpose of seeing Drs. Rush and Barton, to confer with them upon the subject of introducing my system of practice to the world. I spent considerable time with Dr. Bar- ton ; but Dr. Rush was so much engaged, that I was unable to have but little conversation more than stating my business. He treated me with much politeness ; anil said that whatever Dr. Hat ton agreed to he would givj his consent, so that my business was chiefly with the lat- ter gentleman. 1 asked him many questions concerning my system and patent, and requested his advice of the best mode of introducing it. He advised me to mako friends of some celebrated doctors and let them try the medicine and give the public such recommendation of it as they should deem correct. I told him that 1 feared that if I should do so, they would take the discovery to themselves and deprive me of all credit or benefit from my labors; and asked him if he thought that would not be the case. He said it might w ith some, but be thought there were some of the profession honourable enough not to do it. I asked him if he would make a trial of it himself, and give it such credit as he should find it to de- serve. He said that if 1 would trust it in his hands, he should be pleased, and would do justice to me and the cause. I accordingly left some of the medicine with him, with directions how to ;.;>■ . t; but before 1 received 124 Narrative of the Life, fyc. any return from him he died; and Dr. Rush also died sometir.it previous ; by which means I was deprived of the influence of these two men, which I was confident would otherwise have been exerted in my favour. During my interviews with Dr. Barton, we had much conversation upon the subject of the medical skill, and he being quite sociable and pleasant, I expressed myself very freely upon the fashionable mode of practice, used by the physicians of the present day. He acknowledg- ed there was no art or science so uncultivated as that of medicine. I stated to him pretty fully my opinion of the absurdity of bleeding to cure disease; and pointed out its inconsistency, in as much as the same method was made use of to cure a sick man as to kill a well beast. Me laughed and said it was strange logic enough. While in the city of Philadelphia, I examined into their mode of treating the yellow fever; and found to my astonishment that the treatment prescribed by Dr. Rush was to bleed twice a day for ten days. It appear- ed to me very extraordinary to bleed twenty, times to cure the most fatal disease ever known; and am confi. dent that the same manner of treatment would kill one half of those in health. This absurd practice being followed by the more ignorant class of the faculty, merely because it has been recommended in some par- ticular c.i>>es by a great man, has, 1 have not the least doubt, destroyed more lives than has ever been killed by powder and ball, in this country, in the same time. Those I met in the streets who had escaped the fatal effects of bleeding, mercury, and other poisons, carried death in their countenance ; and on conversing with them, they said they had never been well since they had the fever—that they took so much mercury and opiuiru ihey were afraid that they were in a decline. After remaining i;i Philadelphia about two weeks, I went in the stage to New \ ork, where I obtained a pas- sage in a coaster, and arrived in Portsmouth on the olh day of April. Immediately after my arrival at Ports- mouth, I gave public notice in the newspapers, of my having obtained a patent, and forbid all persons tres- passing upon it under the penalty of the law in such rases- provided; and prepared and published a handbill, Of Samtrel Thomson. 125 ro which I gave a description ofthe nature of disease on the constitution of man ; and also the conditions of dis- posing of the right of using my system of practice; and taking a number of Jjke handbills with me, sat out for Eastport, where 1 arrived about the first of May. On my arrival the handbills were circulated among the peo- ple, which caused considerable stir among them, parti- cularly with the doctors, who seemed surprised that I had obtained a patent. I again called on Mr. Carpenter for a settlement, but could obtain none, for his friends advised against it, telling him that he could still pursue the practice in spite of my patent, by calling the medi- cine by different names. I furnished my shop with a- stcck of medicine, and made an agreement with Mr. Mowe, the young man that I had employed since Car- penter was dismissed, to continue the practice for me, and take charge of my business at this place. My ex- penses for his wages, board, and shop rent was about on© dollar per day ; and the amount of the practice and sale of medicine, was about one hundred dollars per month. While at Eastport 1 met with a loss, which I will mention to show the hard fortune I had to contend with. Wishing to send one hundred dollars to my friend Judge Bice, in part payment for what 1 owed him, took two-- fifty dollar bills and went to the post-office and gave then* to the post master, with a letter directed to Alexander Rice, Esq. Portsmouth, requesting him to secure them in the letter in a proper manner and send it or*. The let- ter was never received in Portsmouth, and no traces of" it could be found. I had strong suspicions that the post roaster at F.astport destroyed the letter and kept the money. I made arrangements to enquire further into- bis conduct; but shortly after he fell from a precipice-- and was killed, which put-a stop to pursuing the sub- ject any further; so it turned out a-total loss to me. After settling my business in Eastport, I returned to> Portsmouth, where I stopped but a short time ; and tak- ing Mr. Sewell with me, went to Portland to introduce- my practice in that place On our arrival I advertised my patent in the newspapers, and had handbills printed^ and circulated among the people, giving the conditions?; on which I should practice and the manner of selling %.- 12o Narrative of the Life, Sfc mily rights, to those who wished the use of my practice and medicine ; and that I should attend to no case ex- cept such as wished to purchase the rights, to give them information, and prove the utililjj_of the medicine. I gave the information to Mr. Fickett, where we boarded, and a right of using the medicine for himself and family ; and gave information to several of his workmen. Soon after making myself known, had a great number of des- perate cases put under my charge, |all of which were cured or essentially relieved. My success in the cases I attended, most of which were such as had been given over by the doctors, caused great alarm among those professional gentlemen who are styled regular physi- cians ; and I experienced the same opposition from them that I had met with in other places. I was followed by them, or their spies, and all kinds of false and ridiculous reports were circulated among the people to frighteu and prejudice them against me and my medicine. Soon after coming to this place, I was called on by Capt. John Alden to attend his wife, who was in a very alarming situation. She was in a state of pregnancy and had the dropsy, and was then as she supposed, se- veral weeks over her time. She had been in the same situation once before and was delivered by force, and came very near losing her life ; the doctors gave it as their opinion that if she should ever be so again she would certainly die. I told him that I did not attend on any except those who wished to purchase the right, in which cases I would give them the information. I ex- plained to him the principles upon which my system was founded, and he purchased a right; after which I attended upon his wife, and found her very low; she had not laid in bed for three weeks, being so put to it for breath when she lay down, was obliged to get im- mediately up again. I carried her through a course of the medicine every day for five days, during which she was reduced in size about eight inches ; her travail then came on natural, and in about two hours she was deliv- ered of a daughter, and they both did well. She was able to come down stairs in one week, and in two weeks was well enough to be about the house. This cure so alarmed the doctors, that they circulated a story at a Of Samuel Thomson. 127 ^stance, where the facts were not known, that I was so ignorant of this woman's situation, that 1 killed her immediately ; but the woman and her husband gave me all credit for the cure, and appeared very grateful to me for it During the summer a son of Capt. Allen was vio- lently seized with the spotted fever; lie was taken very suddenly, when at the pump after water, fell and was brought into the house senseless—I attended him, and bis jaws being set, administered a strong solution of Nos. 1,2, and 6, by putting my finger butween his cheek and teeth, and pouring in the medicine; squeezing it round to the back of his teeth, and as ?oon as it reach- ed the roots of his tongue, his jaws came open ; 1 then poured down more of the medicine, and soon after swallowing it, his senses came to him, and he spoke; he appeared like a person waking out of a sleep. As soon as the warm effect of the medicine was over, he i elapsed, and life seemed to go down with the heat. 1 found that I could not restore him till I could rarify or lighten the air—I laid him across the laps cf three per- sons, shielding him from external air with a blanket, and put under him a pan with a hot stone in it about half im- mersed in hot water ; whilst over this steam, again gave the medicine, which raised a perspiration; and as the heat raised inside,life gained in proportion ; and when the perspiration had gained so as to be equal to a state of health, the natural vigor of life and action was restored. I was called on to attend a woman who had a relax, and in a few visits restored her to health. One night about midnight was sent for to visit this woman in con- sequence of their being alarmed about her, the cause of which I could never learn ; for on my arrival she was as well as usual. I returned immediately home and was soon after taken in a violent manner with the same dis- ease ; and vyas so bad as not to be able to do any thing for myself. Mr. Sewell attended upon me and did all he could, which had no effect. 1 was persuaded that I should not live three days unless I could get some re- lief. I had no pain and every thing 1 took passed through me in tw» minutes ; nothing seemed to warm me. I sent and obtained some butternut bark, boiled ir? 128 Narrative of the Life, 8{c. and took some as strong as it could be made ; as soon as it began to operate, I followed it with brandy and. loaf sugar burnt together, till it became a syrup; this soon put me in pain—I then followed my general rule of treatment, and was soon relieved. While at Portland was sent for to see a Mr. Mason, who was very sick, and it was expected that he would not live through the night. He had been attended by the doctors of the town for a sore on his nose, which was much inflamed; they had given him so much salt petre to kill the heat, that they almost killed him. 1' had the hardest trial, to save his life of any one I ever attended ; and was obliged to carry him through a course;of medicine two or three times a week for three months, besides visiting him every day. The doctors said he would certainly die, and if he did, they rneint to take me up for murder ; and every means were re- sorted to, by discouraging him and other ways, to pre- vent his getting well; and when he got so as to he about, and it was decided that he was going to recover under the operation ofthe medicine, one who pretended to be his friend gave him a bottle of pepper vinegar—I had made a free'use of this article m his case, and he took some of what was given him by this friend, and he soon grew worse. The man who gave him the pepper vinegar often enquired how he did, and when told that he was worse, he would say that I should kill him. I could not ascertain the reason of this patient being af- fected in the manner he was, till Mr. Sewell took some of the same, and was immediately taken in the same manner as the sick man. He took medicine and got over it, and a shoit time after, took some more, and was attacked in a similar manner. I then began to mis- trust that there was something in the pepper vinegar, and on examining it, was satisfied that it had been poison- ed to destroy the patient in order to take advantage of me. I was obliged to carry them both through a course of the medicine, and they afterwards had no such turns This patient after about three months' close attention gained so as to enjoy a comfortable slate of health. The undertaking was very tedious on my part; I should be hardly willing to go through the same process again, for. Of Sam-uel Thomson-. 12# any sum whatever. The destructive effects of salt petre is the worst of any poison I ever undertook to clear the system of. The only method I have found successful, is to give No. 1 and No. 2, and throw all of it.out ofthe sto- mach that can possibly be done; and by steaming keep the heat ofthe body above it—all other poisons can be eradicated by the common course of medicine. I was called on to attend the sick from all quarters; but few of them were able to purchase the information, and ninny who had it have never paid any thing. The people gen- erally were well satisfied with its utility; my friends were very zealous in introducing it among the people ; but my opponents were not slack in doing every thing in their power to prejudice the public against me and the medicine. The doctors seemed much troubled at the success ofthe practice, many having been cured who were given over by them.—One woman, who had been unable to walk for about nine months, after having been confined, and the doctors could not help her, was attend- ed by Mr. Sewell and in a short time restored to a com- fortable state of health, which gave them great offence ; and some of them published in the newspapers, part of my trial for murder, in order to prejudice the public against me. I prepared an answer, but they had so much influence with the printers, that 1 was unable to get it inserted ; they had the meanness to circulate the report that 1 acknowledged the fact, because I did not answer their statement. Thus have the faculty, by such un- principled conduct, managed to keep the people blind to the benefit they might receive from the use of the medicine, for the purpose of keeping up their own cred- it and making them tributary to themselves, without re- gard to the public good. This season I went to Eastport and collected some mo- ney to pay my friend Rice ; and thinking to make some profit, laid it out in fish, and sent it to Portland, consigned to my friend Fickett. When 1 went there myself, sold the fish to him. I afterwards made a settlement with him, and look his note for one hundred and sixty three dol- lars, which he agreed to pay Judge Rice ; as he was go- ing to Boston in a short time, and he would call on him v. Portsmouth for that purpose. I then went home to KiO . Narrative, of the Life, Qc see my family, and in 'about six months after, returned to Portsmouth, and on Cdlling on Judge Bice found to my surprise (hat Mr Fickett had not paid the money, that he bad failed and there was no chance for me to get any thing of him. So I was again disap. pointed in my expectations of paying this demand, and it appeared to me that all my hard earnings would be sacrificed to pay the expense of persecutions ; but my friend Rice was very indulgent; and instead of com- plaining, did all he could to encourage me and keep up- my spirits. In the fall of the year 1813,1 started from Portland to go to Eastport; and took Mr. Sewell with me, in order to try to get a settlement with Mr. Carpenter ; as he knew all the particulars of the agreement between us. After suffering many hardships, and being at great expense, in consequence of having to go part ofthe vvay by water and part by land, owing to the war that then existed, we arrived there on the twelfth day of November. On my arrival I made enquiry concerning my affair with Carpenter, and ascertained what proof I could obtain to support an action against him for the property he had wronged me out of; and after making an unsuccessful attempt to get my account books out of his hands,brought an action against him for the property left in his posses- sion ; this being the only way m which I could bring him to an account. After much time and expense I at last obtained a judgment against him, got out an execution, which was levied on the land he had unjustly got a deed of,and it was finally appraised to me ; and after hav- ing to get a writ of ejectment to get Mr. Tuttle out of possession ot it, who claimed it under a pretended deed from Carpenter, to prevent it from being attached, 1 at last got the farm which had cost in getting it more than it was worth ; so I had to put up with the loss of all my earnings at Eastport for two years, with the loss of me- dicine sold by Carpenter, all of which amounted to not less'than fifteen hundred dollars. I returned to Portland, where I remained to attend to my practice and the society that had been formed there, for considerable time; and after settling and arranodn" my business as well as I could, left Mr. Sewell in charge Of Samuel Thomson. . 131 •» ♦ of all my affairs there, and in January 1814, returned to Portsmouth, which place I s,\- wk> \h<- p;*i cipal depot of my medicines; having previous to iny returning from the eastward, made arrangempnts with my agent-- to sup- ply them, and all others who had .urchased the ri"-ht=. with such medicine as they might want, by their applying to me for them. I had laid in a large stock, the value of which I estimated to be about one thousand dollars. I went to Boston and Salem to procure some articles that could not be obtained elsewhere, in order to complete my stock ; when absent the great fire took place at Portsmouth, and all my stock of medicine was consumed. This was a very serious loss to me, not only in a pecuni- ary point of view, but it disaranged all my plans, and put it out of my power to supply those who I knew de- pended upon me for all such articles as were most importaut in the practice. The season was so far advanced that it was impossible to obtain a new recruit of most of the articles; and I was obliged to collect a part of what had been sent to different places, in order to be able to supply in the best manner I could, such de- mands for medicine, as 1 should be called on for. In do- ing this 1 was put to great trouble and expense, and in order to make myself whole, was under the necessity of raising the price of the medicine fifty per cent; this caused much grumbling and complaint from the mem- bers of the societies in different places, and was taken advantage of by my enemies to injure me all they could. I sent in the estimate of my loss, to the Committee, who had the charge ofthe money contributed by the peo- ple in different parts, for the relief of the sufferers by the fire, and afterwards called on them, with an expectation of receiving ray share ; but they said my loss was of such a nature that they could not give me any thing, as I should be able to collect another supply the next season, and I never received a cent from them. In addition to my loss by the fire, and other difficulties I had to encount- er ; and while I was at Portsmouth using all my exertions to replenish my stock of medicine, and assist those who were suffering from disease and needed the benefit of my practice, I received informatien from Portland that the l.;2 Narrative of the Life, tyc. doctors had obtained one of my books of direction, which was published expressly for the information of those vvho purchased the right of using my system of practice, and had some knowledge ofit by verbal and other instruct- ion, had printed an edition ofit, and advertised them for sale at 37 1 -2 cents a copy. They stated in their adver- _ tisements, that " this invaluable work which had hereto- fore been selling'for twenty dollars, may now be had for 37| cents ; and sent them to all places where my socie- ties had been formed, and my practice had been intro- duced, for the purpose of putting me down and prevent- ing the use of my medicine ; but after all this pitiful at- tempt to do me the great injury which they so fondly anticipated, they gained nothing by it, except it was the contempt of all the honest part of society, who were knowing to the circumstances. To put a stop to these practices and prevent the public from being imposed up- on, 1 caused a notice to be published in the Portsmouth and Portland papers,cautioning the people against buying these books, or making use ofthe medicine, and trespass- ing on my patent, under the penalty ofthe law in such cases provided ; and also offered a reward of fifty dollars to any one who w ould give information of any doctor,who should trespass on my patent, and ten dollars for any one who should be found guilty of selling the books. This put a stop to the sale ofthe books, and prevented them from doing me any injury by this trick; for those concerned in this disgraceful manoeuvre, were compelled to ac- knowledge that my agents could sell more books at twenty dollars, than they could at 37$ cents. I continued in Portsmouth, after the loss I met with from the fire, informing the people in that place and vi- cinity, until I collected another assortment of medicine, during which time fifty members were added to the socie- ty there. I appointed Mr John Locke as my agent in Portsmouth, and the society accepted of him as such, to take the management of the practice and supply them with medicine ; I agreed to allow him twenty-five per cent, on the sale of rights, and in eighteen months he added about forty members to the society. He conduct- ed himself with the greatest propriety in performance of all the duties assigned him, and in this, as well as in Of Samuel Thomson. 133 all other concerns, which I had with him, has given me the highest satisfaction. 1 mention this tribute of praise to his fidelity, the more readily, as he is one of the ve- ry few whom I have put confidence in. that 1 have found hone-t enough to do justice to me and the people, ft has generally been the case, with those I have appoint- ed as agents, that as soon is they have been sufficiently instructed to attend to the practice with success, and give satisfaction to the people, that they have made it a matter of speculation; and have, by all the means that they could devise, attempted to get the lead of the prac- tice into their own hands, and deprive me of the credit and profits of my own discovery ; and when I have found out their designs, and put a stop to their career by depriving them of their agency, they have uniform- ly turned against me and done every thing in their pow- er to injure me and destroy the credit of the medicine. This kind of conduct has been a very serious evil, and has caused me much trouble and expense, besides des- troying the confidence of the people in the beneficial effects of the medicine and practice, and keeping back the information necessary for its being properly under- stood by them. This, however, has not been the case with all that I have entrusted with the care of my busi- ness as agents, for some of them have been uniformly honest and faithful, both to me and to those to whom they have given the information. While Mr. Locke was acting as my agent at Ports- mouth, he gave offence, by his faithful and upright con- duct, to some members of the society, who wanted to reap all the advantages and profits without any labor or expense. I hey made complaint to me of his conduct, and wished him turned out; but on asking them for their charges against him, they said he speculated on the me- dicine, and sold it one third higher than I did. I tobl th< m that I had been obliged to raise the price in con- sequence of my loss by the fire, and that he was r>ot to blame for it. 'I bey, however, persisted in their com- plaints and after finding that they could not make mo turn against him, they turned against me. After making further inquiries into the subject, I satisfied rmsiif of their reasons for wishing Mr. Locke turned out of tha M 134 Narrative ofthe Life, 4*c. agency. A man by the name of Holman, whom I had four years previous cured of a consumption, as has been before related, and to whom I had given the information and authorised to form a society at Hopkinton, where he had practised three years without making me any returns, had returned to Portsmouth and practised with Mr. Locke as an assistant. This man formed a plan to have Mr. Locke turned out in order to get his place himself, and had managed so as to gain over to his side a number of the society, who joined with him in effect- ing this object. They made use of all kinds of intrigue to get the controul of the practice out of my hands, by offering to buy the right for the county, and many other ways; but I understood their designs and refused all their offers. At the next annual meeting of the society, Holman was chosen their agent without my consent, and I re- fused to authorise him to give information ; for he had deceived me before by saying on his return to Ports- mouth, that he could not form a society at Hopkinton, which I had found out to be false; and many other things in his conduct had caused me to be much dissat- isfied with all he did, that I declined having any thing further to do with him. He persisted in practising and in eighteen months by his treacherous conduct, run down the credit of the medicine and practice, and broke up the society, after it had, the eighteen months previ- ous, got under good way by Mr. Locke's agency, and was in a very prosperous condition 1 had good reason to believe that Holman was employed by my enemies to break me up in this place and destroy the credit of the .medicine; for when 1 was absent I ascertained that he gave saltpetre and other poisons, under the pretence that by giving it .the night before it would prepare the stomach for my medicine to be taken in the morning. This was like preparing over night to build a fire in the mftrning, by filling the fire place with snow and ice. After preparing the stomach in this way. the me- dicine would have no beneficial effects; and he would then phce tlie patient over a steam, which caused them to faint, hi this way he proved to the members of the society that my mode of practice was bad, and thus used Of Samuel Thomsbn. 135 his influence to destroy the credit of my medicine in their minds, and make them believe that I had deceived them. His practice turned out very unsucct-s-ful, and he lost many of his patents. He had lost more in six months, than I had lost in six years, which I imputed entirely to his bad conduct. After my return, finding how things were situated in regard to the practice ; that all the credit I had gained by seven years1 labour, had been destroyed in eighteen months, led me to make a particular enquiry into the cause. On visiting his patients 1 found some ofthe pills made of saltpetre, and also some opium pills, which he had been in the habit of administering secretly to his patients under the name of my medicine ; and after col- lecting an assortment of his poison, I called a meeting of the society, and proved to them that he bad made. use of these poisons under the pretence of giving my medicine ; and also that he had confessed to have given tobacco when called on to administer my medicine ; all of which satisfied the society so well of the baseness of the conduct of their agent, that they immediately pass- ed a vote dismissing him from his agency. A committee was appointed to investigate the whole of his conduct, and publish a statement of the same, in order to do away the false impression that had been made on the public mind, and convince them that the bad success of this man's practice, had been owing to his own wicked conduct; and not to any fault in the medicine. I was never able, however, to get this committee to meet and attend to the duty assigned them by the society, although they confessed themselves satisfied of the truth of my charges against Holman, and ofthe injury I had sustain- ed by his conduct; and after waiting six months and finding that they were more willing that 1 should suffer, than that the blame should fall where it justly belong- ed, 1 left them to their more fashionable practice, and withdrew all my medicine from the place. In the spring of the year of 1814, 1 wrote to Mr. Mowe, my agent at Eastport, to leave that place in con- sequence of the war becoming troublesome, and come to Portsmouth. He came up in May. I took him with me and went to Surry, where we continued through the 136 Narrative of tht Life, ($•<". summer, and he assisted me in carrying on my farm and collecting an assortment of medicine. In August we went to Onion Kiver, where my father resided, to make a vist and collect some articles of medicine, that could not be obtained in Surry. After my return Mr. Mowe went to Portsmouth, and I remained at home till after the harvesting was over, then went to Portsmouth, to collect medicine, and attended to some practice. Some time in December, 1 returned home and found an ex- press had been there for me to go to Guildford, sent by Mr. Davis, whom 1 had attended the year before at Portsmouth. I went with all speed and found his wife sick with a consumption. I attended her a few days to give them information, and sold him the right of using the medicine; and also sold some rights to others ; I then returned to Portsmouth, and sent Mr. Mowe to Guildford to practice and give informution to those who had purchased the rights, where he remained till spring. During the time Mr. Mowe was at Guildford, he was very successful in the practice, and made some remark- able cures. Great opposition was made to his practice, by the doctors, and all the false representations made about it that they could invent, to prejudice the minds ofthe people against the medicine and stop its being in- troduced among them. After this another plan was got up to injure me ; societies were formed in the manner I had formed mine, and members were admitted for two dollars; the only information given them was to furnish each member with one of the pamphlets, containing my directions, which had h..-?s stolen from a woman and published at Portland, without my knowledge. In this manner my system of practice in the hands and under the superintendance of those who were endeavouring to destroy me, became popular in Guildford and the towns adjacent; and had become so important, that a general invitation was given throughout the neighbouring towns for the people to come and join them in the great im- provement of restoring the health of mankind Thus did these profession.;! gentlemen tamper with my rights and the credulity of the people, for the pitiful purpose of injuring me, by pretending to sell all my information for two dollars, for which I asked twenty ; and in their Of Samuel Thomson. - 137 hands called it honourable scientific knowledge. After these trespasses had become open and general, and the people had been invited to join in it, my agent at Guild- ford wrote me a letter giving information of the trans- action, and I went there to see to it; on my arrival I conversed with those who had purchased their rights of me or my agent; they informed me of the facts as above related, and said that they had been solicited to join the society, that had been formed ; and they wished my ad- vice, whether they should attend a general meeting which was to be held in about a fortnight. I told them that they had better attend—they then asked me if they should be asked for information what they should" do about giving it—I told them that 1 thought people joined societies to get information and not to give it. I employed an attorney to proceed against those who trespassed, and have them punished according to law in such cases provided, and returned to Portsmouth. In the month of February, 1815, I had an application to go to Philadelphia and introduce my societies and sys- tem of practice in that city. Thinking it not proper to go alone, 1 made an agreement with Mr. John Locke to go with me ; and after we got every thing prepared, he started on the 7th in the morning to go in the stage and 1 chose to go by water, and sailed the same day in a ves- sel for New York. We had a long and tedious passage, suffering very much from the cold. We had a gale of wind which blew us off into the Gulph Stream, and we were two hundred miles south of our port; on getting: into a warmer latitude the weather became warmer, when we were enabled to get clear of the ice with which the vessel was much burdened, and could set: some sail ; and we arrived at New-York after a very rough passage of seventeen days. During the passage one of the crew had frozen his bands and feet very badly, and when we had got where the weather became warmer he was in the most extreme pain. He said that it seemed as though the benes of his hands and feet were coming in pieces ; his suffering was so great that the tears would run from his eyes, and the sweat down his cheeks with the pain. I was re- quested by the captain and crew to do something to re^ M.2 138 . Narrative ofthe Life, §'c- # lieve Jiim. I agreed to do the best I could for him, in the cold and comfortless situation we were in. There was no place to keep a fire under decks, and the weath- er was so rough that we could seldom keep any in the caboose on deck. 1 was obliged to administer the medi- cine according to my judgment in the best manner I could. In the first place 1 procured handkerchiefs and cloths enough to wrap his hands and feet up in several tbicknesses, then wet them well with cold water, and wrapped his hands and feet as well as I could, wetting them with cold water, and put him in his birth, covered well with blankets, and gave him the warmest medi- cine to take I had with me, and repeated it to keep the inward heat sufficient to cause a free circulation in the limbs; and if his hands and feet grew painful, poured cold water on the cloths; and continued this course of treatment, of keeping the inward heat above the out- ward, by raising the one and letting down the olher, till I got the fountain above the stream ; and in about two hours, freed him from all pain, to the surprise and as- tonishment of all the hands on board. When I come to take off the cloths the blood had settled under the nails and under the skin, which came oft' without any blister being raised, and before we arrived at New-York, he was able to attend his watch. It was said by the captain and crew that this was the most remarkable cure they had ever known ; and that if he had been attended in the common form, he would have lost his toes if not his feet, besides suffering much pain and a long confinement. It will be necessary to remark that the greatness of this cure consisted in its simplicity ; any person could have performed the same, who had come to years of discretion, by adopting the same plan, and many times be the means of saving the amputation of limbs. There is no mystery in it, the whole plan consists in keeping the determining power to the surface, from the fountain of the body, which is the stomach; from which all the limbs receive their support and warmth, and when you cannot raise the fountain suf- ficient to give nature its proper course, you must lower the stream, or outward heat, by keeping the heat down •n the limbs, and raising the inward heat, when there Of Samuel Thomson. ' 139 can no mortification ever return from the limbs *o the body, any more than a log can float against a stream. In the case above stated, before I began to do any thing for the man, 1 duly "considered his situation; he had been almost chilled to death by the extreme cold weather, so that his limbs h..d very little warmth from ^he body, not enough to bring them to their feeling, un- til the warm weather raised a fever on the limbs faster than in the body, and in proportion as the heat in the extremities is raised above that in the body, by applying hot poultices or other similar applications, so much will the whoie system be disordered, and the parts that have been injured will be extremely painful, and by a contin- ued application of such means, the fever or outward heat will increase by the current being turned inward, tili mortification takes place, when the linii'S have to be taken off to save life ; and in most cases the body has become so much disordered, that they die after all. This may, I am confident, be avoided by understanding my plan of treatment and pursuing it with zeal, particu- larly in all cases of burns or freezing. On my arrival at New-York I found Mr. Locke, who had come in the stage, aud had been waiting for me ten d-iy-. The next morning we started in the stage for Philadelphia, where we arrived that evening, and went to a boarding house and put for the night. In the morning we went in search of Flder Plummer, with whom I I ad engaged the fall before, to go to Philadel- phia ; we found him in the course vf the f >renoon, and he expressed much joy at our arrival. He preached a lecture that evening and appointed a meeting at the same place the next evening for me ; at which I attended and gave a lecture; there was a large collection of peo- ple attended this meeting, and I gave a full and explicit explanation of the principles upon which my system is founded. There were two medical students present, and while I was endeavoring to give a view of the for- mation of the animal creation out of the four elements ; that heat was life, and cold death ; and that the blood was necessary to life, a* being the,nourishment of the flesh, and inasmuch as it was taken away, so much was life and health diminished, one of them interrupted me and said, 140 Narrative of the Life, §'c. that cold was a promotion of life, and that bleeding was beneficial to preserve life also. I answered him by stat- ing, that admitting his doctrine to be true, an animal that had the blood taken from it and was frozen, would be the liveliest creature in the world. This unexpected retort caused a laugh and the two medical gentlemen left the room. I then went on and concluded the explanations I wished to make, which gave general satisfaction to the people present; and sixteen signed the articles of agree- ment that night, to obtain the knowledge of the medicine and practice, to whom I engaged to give information by lectures. We remained there about a week, in which time about twenty bought the right. When we had completed our business at Philadelphia, we went on to Washington, where we remiined several days, and had a view of the ruins of the public buildings, which had been destroyed by the British, when they took possession of that city about six months previous to our being there. While at the capitol 1 had an inter- view with General Varnum, and some conversation pass- ed between us concerning the pipsisway, which had been found useful in a case of cancer for which 1 attend- ed his wife when practising at Pelham in ti gyear 1807. He said that it having been found so useful in all cancer- ous cases, he thought it ought to be published in the newspapers or almanack, for the benefit of those who were afflicted with this dangerous disease, and expressed a wish that I would do it. I told him that I thought it would be better for him to publish it than for me, and he consented; and the next year he published it in the al- manack, which was the cause of much speculation in this article, and of which 1 shall give some account in another part of this work. After staying in Washington a few days we went to Alexandria, where we remained about a week, in which time I collected some Cyprus bark, which is known there by the name of^oplar, and what we call poplar, is by tbem called quakingasp, on account ofthe constant shak- ing of its leaves. While at this place I fell in company with Capt. Davis, of Portsmouth, and agreed to take pas- sage with him and return to that place. Arrangements were made for Mr. Locke to return by land; and I Of Samuel Thomson. ' 141. directed him to stop at Washington and get a copy of my patent, then to go on to Philadelphia and remain there as long as it should be necessary to give information to those who purchased the rights, or any that should wish to purchase them in that city, and after paying proper attention to them, to return to Portsmouth. I then went on board the vessel and we set sail; and after a long passage arrived safe at Portsmouth about the same time that Mr. Locke got there. During this summer 1 visited Eastport, Portland, Chalestown, South-Reading, and other places where so- cieties had been formed, or rights sold to individuals, to give information to the people ; and in all places where I went, found the book of directions, which had been clandestinely obtained and published by the doctors and others, to injure me by stopping the sale of rights, selling at 37£ cents. 1 was under the necessity of putting an advertisement in the papers, cautioning the people against this imposition, which put a stop to their sale ; but great pains were taken by my enemies to circulate them among the people; and this is the way that some of my articles of medicine came to be made use of through the country in colds, such as cayenne, ginger, &c. In 1815 ('published anofher edition of my booR.of direc- tions, and secured the copy right; but this was reprint- ed at Taunton, and I advertised it as before, and stopped i'.s progress. In the fall ofthe year 1815, I went to Cape Cod to procure some marshrosemary, and collected a quanti- , ty, carried it to Portsmouth and prepared it for "Use. This is the last time 1 have collected any of this article, and as it becomes scarce, think I shall not make any more use ofit. It is too cold and binding, without using a large share of bayberry bark and cayenne with if, to keep the saliva free. I have found other articles as substitutes, which answer a better purpose, such as hemlock bark, which I have of late made use of, and found very good, white lily roots, witch-hazle and raspberry leaves, and sumach berries; the last article is very good alone, steeped and sweetened, and is as pleasant as wine ; it is good for children in cases of canker, especially in long .< cases of sickness when other articles become disagreea- ble to them. 142 Narrative of the Life., fyc. In the spring ofthe year 1816, I went again to Cape Cod, for medicine, and found that the spotted fever, or what was called the cold plague, prevailed there, and the people were much alarmed, as they could gel no help from the doctors. I told them I had come after medi- cine where they were dying for want ofthe knowledge how to use it. They were desirous for me to try my prac- tice and satisfy them of its utility. A young man in the next house to where I was, being attacked with the fever the day before, I went to see him, and the family express- ed a wish to have me try my medicine. I put a blanket round him and put him by the fire ; took a teaspoonful of composition, and added more No. 2 and as much sugar, put it in a tea-cup, and poured to it a wine glass of hot wa- ter, when cool enough to take, added a tea spoonful of the rheumatic drops ; he took it, and in fifteen minutes was in a free perspiration—he was then put in bed and a hot stone wrapped in wet cloths put to his feet to raise a steam. I then left him in the care of his friends, with some medicine to be given during the night; they kept the perspiration free all night, and in the morning heat had gained the victory, the canker was destroyed, and he was comfortable and soon got well. I atteftded three other persons in one bouse, who had been sick a longer time, and had taken other medicine, so that it was more difficult to cure them. I steeped No. 3 and poured off' half a tea cup full and sweetened it, and added half a tea spoonful of No. 2, when cool enough to take, put iu one tea spoonful of No. 1, and gave it to each ofthe patients, repeating it once in fifteen minutes, till they had taken it three times, whether they puked or not in that time—kept a hot stone wrapped in wet cloths at their feet, to keep up a steam ; while they were under the operation ofthe puking and sweating, gave them as much cider or water to drink as they required—When they had done vomiting, gave milk porridge freely. As soon as they had done sweating, and their strength had returned, got them up and steamed them as long as they could bear it; then rubbed them over with spirits, water j or vinegar, changed their clothes, and they went to bed, or sat up as their strength would permit. I will here ~ remark for the information of the reader, that when the Of Samuel Thomson. 115 patient is so bad as not to be able to get up, they must be steamed in bed as hot as they can bear it, then set them up on end, and rub as before mentioned, change their clothes and bed clothes. This last direction i> important to be attended to. for if their own clothes are changed without changing the bed clothes, they will absorb a part of the filth that has been discharged through the pores and add to what remains ofthe disorder. This precau- tion is all important in every case of disease, and should be paid particular attention to, in order to guard against tak- ing back any part of what has been thrown off by the operation of the medicine. The nurse or those who at- tend upon the sick, are also in danger from the same cause, and should be particularly careful to guard against taking the disorder by breathing in the foul vapourfrom the bed clothes, and standing over the patient when un- der the operation ofthe medicine, the principal effect of which is to throw off by perspiration and other evacua- tions, the putrefaction that disease has engendered in the body. To guard against this, take some hot bitters and keep a piece of ginger root in the mouth, occasionally swallowing some of it, when most exposed; also take a tea spoonful of Nos. 2 and 3, steeped in hot water, when going to bed; one ounce of preventative in this way, is better than a pound of cure when sick. After relieving these four cases, I was sent for to at- tend a woman, who had been sick for a long time: 1 de- clined attending any more unless they would buy the right—this displeased her so much, because I was not willing to pi actice and cure all of them for nothing, that she abused me for my declining to attend her. Two men bought the right, and they asked me how much I would take for the right of the whole town. I offered it to them for the price of twenty rights; but they said that the sickness had so much abated that the alarm was nearly over, and declined my offer. This disease first appeared in Eastham the fore part of February, in which month 27 died, in March 14, and 5 in April, making in the wholj 46 in three months in this small place. I left some medicine with those who had purchased the rights and returned to Boston. Within a week after my return from Cape Cod, I re- 144 Narrative ofthe Life, Sfc. ceived a letter from Eastham to come there as soon as possible ; I took a stock of medicine and went on there as quick as 1 could ; and on my arrival found that the fever had again made its appearance among the people, with double fatality. 1 soon found enough ready to purchase the twenty rights, for which I had offered to sell the right of the whole town. I attended on many of those^ who had the disease, in company with the two men who had purchased the right of me when here before, and instruc- ted them how to carry the patients through a course ofthe medicine; and they attended and gave information to others; when they could meet together I gave informa- tion by lectures ; those who got the information attended wherever they were wanted I pursued my usual mode of treatment, by administering the medicine to promote a free perspiration, and when necessary steamed and gave. injections, cleansed the stomach, and cleared off the can- ker ; .the success in curing this alarming disease was very great. I staid about two weeks, during which time there were attended with my medicine, thirty-four cases, of whom only one died, the rest got well. At the same (ime, of those who were attended by the regular doctors, eleven out of twelve died, making in the whole upwards of fifty deaths in a short time in this place, which was a- bout one twelfth part of the inhabitants that were at home. The truth ofthe above statements is authenti- cated by the certificates ofthe Selectmen ofthe town and other respectable inhabitants, w hich will be inserted in another part of the work. During my stay this time, I attended the husband ofthe woman who had* abused me when here before, at the house of his sister ; she came there while I was attending upon her husband, and treated me and him in a most abusive manner, saying that she would die sooner than take any of my medicine, or have any thing to do with me. .' fter she had vented her spite to her own satisfac- tion, she went home, was taken sick on the way, and was one ofthe last who died with the fever at this time. The people generally heated me with kindness and res- pect, and took great interest in my cause ; and the suc- cess of my system of practice in relieving them from this alarming disease, gave universal satisfaction. Of Samuel Thomson. 145 1 formed those who purchased the rights, into a soci- ety ; and they chose a committee, whom I authorised as agents to sell rights and medicine; but this caused a jealousy among the rest of the members, who said I gave privileges to some more than to others. I have formed four societies and given them certain privileges, by allowing them part of the profits on the sale of rights and medicine ; but as soon as there was any funds, it has always created uneasiness among the mem- bers. Some of the ignorant and selfish, would call for their dividends, as though it was bank stock, instead of feeling grateful for the advantages they enjoy by having their diseases cured and their minds relieved from the alarming consequences of a disease, with a trifling ex- pense. 1 have since altered my plan, and now have but one society. Every one who purchases a right for him- self and family, becomes a member of the Friendly Bo- tanic Society, and is entitled to all the privileges of a free intercourse with each other, and to converse with any one who has bought a right, for instruction and as- sistance in sickness, as each one is bound to give his as. sistance, by advice or otherwise, when called on by a member. In this way much more good can be done, and there will be much more good will towards each other, than where there is any money depending. I had now been in practice, constantly attending up- on those laboring under disease, whenever called on, for about thirty years; had suffered much both in body and mind, from the persecutions I had met with, and my unwearied exertions to relieve the sick ; and to establish my system of practice upon a permanent basis, that the people might become satisfied of its superiority over that which is practised by those styled regular physi- cians ; putting it in their power to become their own physicians, by enabling every one to relieve themselves and friends, from all disease incident to our country, by making use of those vegetable medicines, the produce of our own country, which are perfectly safe and easily obtained ; and which, if properly understood, are fully sufficient in all cases of disease, where there can be any chance of cure, without any danger of the pernicious, and often fatal consequences attending the adminislerinc N 146 Narrative ofthe Life, «$-c. those poisons that the fashionable doctors are in the habit of giving to their patients. After having discovered a system, and by much labor and constant perseverance reduced it to practice, in a manner that had given general satisfaction to all who had become acquainted with it, and having secured the same by patent; in order that I might reap some benefit from my discovery, to support me in my old age, having by a long series of attendance on the sick, both as phy- sician and nurse, become almost worn out, I came to the#determination to appoint some suitable person, who would do justice to me and the cause, as a general agent, to take the lead in practice, and give the necessary information to those who should purchase the rights, which would enable me to retire from practice, and re- ceive a share of the profits as a reward for my long suf- ferings. After considerable enquiry I became acquaint- ed with Elias Smith, who was recommended as a man in whom 1 could confide, and who was every way qualifi- ed as a suitable person to engage in the undertaking. I found him in Boston, and in very poor circumstances; having been for many years a public preacher, but in consequence of his often changing his religious princi- ples and engaging in different projects in which he had been unsuccessful, he was now without a society or any visible means of supporting himself and family. He readily engaged with me, and promised to do every thing in his power, to promote my interest and extend the usefulness of my system of practice. I sold him a family right in December, 1816, and was in his family during the winter, for the purpose of in- structing him in the practice, to qualify him to attend upon the sick and give information to others. I put the utmost confidence in his honour, and spared no pains in communicating to him, without any reserve whatever, all the knowledge I had gained by my experience, both by practice and verbal instruction; under the expectation, that when he became sufficiently acquainted with the system and practice, I should be rewarded for my trou- ble, by his faithfully performing his duty towards me ac- cording to his promise. I shall make no remark upon my being disappointed in all my expectations in regard Of Samuel Thomson. 147 to Mr. Smith's conduct, and the treatment 1 received from him after he had gained a knowledge of the prac- tice from me, to enable him to set up for himself; but shall proceed to give a short account of what took place during my connection with him. The first case I attended with him was in his own fa- mily. His son had the itch very badly, so that he was nearly one half of him one raw sore. They had tried the usual remedies without any benefit. I showed him the use of No. 3, to wash with to stop the smart of the sores ; then took some rheumatic drops and added about one fourth part of spirits of turpentine and washed him with it; this is very painful when applied where the skin is off; to prevent which mix with it some of the wash made of No. 3 ; at the same time of applying the above, give some of the composition, especially when going to bed ; and occasionally give about fifteen of the drops, shaken together, on loaf sugar. By pursuing this treatment one week this boy was entirely cured. The next case, which was the first'we attended toge- ther out of his house, was a young woman who had the ague in her face. I showed him the whole process of curing this complaint; which was done by putting a small quantity of No. 2 in a cloth, and placing it between her cheek and teeth; at the si>me time giving her some of Nos. 2 and 3 to take, and in two hours she was cured. I was constantly with him in practice from February till June ; during which time we attended many bad cases with great success. A Mrs. Grover carne to his house to be attended, who had the dropsy. She had been giv- en over by her doctor as incurable, and was so much swelled as to be blind, and her body and limbs in propor- tion. Mr. Smith undertook her case under my direction, and carried her through a course ofthe medicine every day for nine days, and then occasionally once or twice a week till she was cured, s^he was thus attended under my inspection for three weeks, and in four was entirely cured; for which she gave Mr. Smith about forty dollars. In this case I did a great part of the la- bour and he got the pay. About the third time of car- rying her through a course of the medicine, I was ab- sent; her symptoms appeared unfavourable, and he got 1.48 Narrative ofthe Life, §'c frightened ; a nurse woman, to whom I had given infor- mation, and vvho had more experience than he had, came to his assistance, and by using injections relieved her, apd prevented mortification. The circumstance of this woman proving that she was forward of him in in- formation, seemedto fix in Mr. Smith's mind a dislike to her ever after, as his subsequent treatment of her will show, the particulars of which will be hereafter related. Another case was of a man that came to his house, who was in a declining way, and had taken a great quan tity of physic before he came, which would not operate. On taking my medicine, as soon as he began to be warm, so as to cause motion in his bowels, the physic he had before taken operated and run him down with a relax ; then the dysentery set in and he suffered much with pain and had discharges of blood. I gave Mr. Smith directions to use injections, to clear his bowels of canker and prevent mortification; but he neglected it until I had told him three days in succession. He then got alarmed and sent for me ; but before I arrived he had — given an injection which had relieved the patient. He remained and was attended about three weeks and went home in a comfortable state of health. This man paid Mr. Smith about thirty dollars. About the same time a man by the name of Jennings applied to Mr. femith, who had lost the use of one of his arms by the rheumatism. He had been attended by the doctor for nine months, and had been given over by him as incurable. His arm wa? perished, and was in poor circumstances, having paid all he had to the doctor; he wanted relief, but said he could pay nothing for it unless he was cured, so that he could earn something by his labor. Mr. Smith asked me if I was willing to assist to cure him on these terms, to which 1 agreed. We carri- ed him through a course of the medicine and steaming twice or three times a week for four weeks, when a cure was effected. The last time he was carried through was on election day, and he expressed a wish to go on the Common in the afternoon, to which 1 gave encour- agement. The medicine was done about ten o'clock; he was then steamed and washed all over witb peppei- sauce. He complained bitterly of the heat and threw Of Samuel Thomson. 149 himself on the bed ; I took a tea spoonful of good cay- enne, and put in two spoonfuls of pepper sauce and gave it him to take. This raised the inward heat so much above the outward, that in two minutes he was^uite comfortable ; and in the afternoon he went on the Com- mon. His arm was restored and he was well from' that time ; he afterwards, as 1 have been informed, paid Mr. Smith forty dollars for the cure A Mrs. Burleigh came to his house about this time, who had the rheumatism very badl), so that her joints were grown out of place ; and I assisted in attending her. She had never taken much medicine, w Inch made it the easier to cure her ; as we had nothing to do but remove the disease, without having to clear the system of poi- sonous drugs, as is the case in most of those who apply for relief in complaints of long standing. She was carri- ed through the medicine several times and steamed ; the last time I attended her, and gave the medicine three limes as usual, which raised a lively perspiration and a. fresh colour, showing an equal and natural circulation ;. but did not sicken or cause her to vomit, as is the case most generally. I mention this to show that the emetic qualities of the medicine will not operate where there is no disease. She was then steamed and washed,. and went out of doors, being entirely cured of her complaint, Sometime the last of April or first of May, a woman thatwasa relation of the nurse, vvho assisted Mr. Smith and of whom 1 have before spoken, hired a revn of him and moved into his house, and the nurse lived with her She had more experience than he had; I had put the utmost confidence in her, and she had in many instances proved her superiority in a knowledge of the practice over him A singular circumstance took place, the par- ticulars of which I shall relate aiid leave the reader to make his own inferences.—Sometime in May, while ' boarded with Mr Smith, I lost my pocket-book, which contained upwards of thirty dollars in bank bills,and notes to the amount of about five huudred dollars. I made • strict search for it, and advertised in the papers, bur have never gained any information of it or the contents. to this day. It was in my coat pocket, and 1 could think of no way in which 1 had been exposed, or could !oseif;« 1^0 Narrative of the Life, A/c. except in his house. 1 lost it between Friday night and Monday morning, during which time I attended a woman in his chamber, and several times had my coat off, which appeared to me to Be the only time that it could be taken, or that 1 could lose it. The only persons present in the room were Mr Smith and his wife, and the nurse ; I had no. suspicions .of any person at the time. About ten days after, being alone with Mr. Smith, he asked me if I ever mistrusted the nurse being dishonest. I told hiiu no, for if 1 had I should not have introduced her as a nurse. He then said that there had been a number of thefts committed since she had been in the house, both from him and other people, and nam d the articles and circumstances. He further said that the girl who lived with him had said that she thought the nurse was as likely to take my pocket-book as to take the things she had undoubtedly stolen. The circumstances which he related and the interest he seemed to take in my loss, convinced me beyond a doubt that this woman had tak- en my property. During this conversation with him, he said, that if she did not move out ofthe house he would. The consequence was that the family moved out of his house, and I dismissed the nurse from having any more to do with my practice. Since Mr. Smith has taken to himseh the lead in my system of practice, he has ac- knowledged, that he has become convinced beyond a doubt, that this woman was not guilty of taking the things whi'.h she had been accused of; without assigning any reason, as I have been able to learn, for his having altered his opinion. During the time the above circumstances happened.his son Ira came home, after being absent about four years; but was not treated with that affection a child expects to receive in a father's house, he was sent off to seek lodgings where he could. About twelve o'clock he re- turned, not being able to obtain lodgings, and called up a youug man who boarded with Mr. Smith, made a bitter complaint, on account of the treatment he received from his father, which he attributed to be owing to the influ- ence of his mother-in-law; he took a phial and drank lrom it, and soon alter fell on the floor. The young man being alarmed, awaked his father, and informed him Of Samuel Thomson. lul of the circumstance ; before he got to his son he was senseless, and stiff in every joint. I was in bed in the house, and Mr. Smith came immediately to me, and re- quested my assistance, said that he expected Ira ha4Ja'l- ed himself. He showed me the phial and asked what had been in it—I told him it had contained laudanum. I got up as soon as possible and on going down, met Mr. Smith and the young man bringing Ira up st.tirs. I di- rected them to lay him on the hearth, and took a bottle from my pocket, which contained a strong preparation of Nos. 1, 2, and 6—took his head between my knees his jaws being set, and put my finger between bis cheek and teeth, and poured in some ofthe medicine from the bottle; as soon as it reached the glands of his throat, his jaws became loosened, and he swallowed some of it —in five minutes he vomited—in ten he spoke—in one hour he was clear of the effects of the opium, and the next day was well. After this the affection of the fa- ther seemed in some measure to return; he clothed him, took him to Taunton and introduced him into practice as an assistant. He did very well till bis mother-in-law arrived there, when a difficulty took place between them, and he went off. His father advertised him, for- bidding all persons from trusting him on his account. He was absent four years, when he returned again to his father's house, and was received in the same cold and unfeeling manner as before, was not allowed to stay in the house, but was obliged to seek an assylum among strangers. He staid in town several days, became de- jected, in consequence, as he said, of the tjeatment he had met with at his fathers house, went over to Charles- town, took a quantity of laudanum, and was found near the monument senseless ; was carried to the alms-house, where he died, and was buried from there. I continued with Mr Smith, as has been before men- tioned, giving him instruction, till the first of June, when 1 appointed him agent, with authority to sell family rights and medicine. An agreement was drawn up and signed by both parties, in which it was stipulated, that I was to furnish him with medicine, and allow him 25 per cent, for selling ; and he was to have 50 per cent. for all the rights he sold; which was ten dollars for Ip2 Narrative of the Life, 4-c. each right, for giving the necessary information to those who purchased, and collecting the pay. His principal dependance at this time was upon me and the practice, for his support. He paid me one half of what he re- ceived for family rights as he sold them. The first of July I contemplated going home to get my hay; but Mrs. Smith expecting to be confined soon, was very urgent that I should stay till after she was sick, which detained me three weeks. I staid accordingly and at- tended her through her sickness, for which they gave me great credit and praise at the time. 1 then went home to attend to my farm and get my hay ; after which I returned to Boston, and in the fall went to Cape-Cod, to attend to some business there, and on my return to Boston, 1 found Mr. smith's youngest child sick with the quinsey, or rattles; he had done all he could and given it over to die. The women had taken charge of the child, after he had given it up, and bad given it some physic. When I saw the child 1 gave some en- couragement of a cure, and they were very desirous for me to do something for it. 1 told them they had done very wrong in giving physic, for it was strictly against. my orders to ever ^,ive any physic, in cases where there was canker. They observed that there was no appear- ance of canker. I t:id them it would never appear when they gave physic, for it would remain inside, till mortification decided the contest. I began with the child by giving No. 2, which caused violent struggles and aroused it from the stupid stata in which it had laid, until the moisture appeared in the mouth ; then gave some No. 3, steeped, and Nos. 1 and 2, to start the canker, and cause it to vomit. This soon gave relief. The women who were present accused me of the greatest cruelty, because 1 brought the child out of its stupid state, and restored its sense of feeling, by which means the life of the child was saved. The next morning its mouth was as white as paper with canker; they were then all satisfied that 1 knew the child's situation best, and that 1 had saved its life. I con- sidered the child so much relieved, that the father and mother would be able to restore it to perfect health, left. it in their care and went out of town. I returned the Of Samuel TJiomson. 153 next day about noon, and found that they had again^given it up to die; its throat was so filled with canker that it had not swallowed any thing for four hours. 1 was in«us- pense whether to do any thing for the child or not; but told the father and mother I thought if it was mine, I would not tive it up yet; they wished me to try. I took some small quills from a wing, and stripped them, except about three quarters of an inch at the point, tied several of them together, which made a swab, dipped it in canker tea, and began by washing the mouth ; then rinsing it with cold water—then washed with the tea again, putting the swab down lower in the throat which caused it to gag, and while the throat was open, put it down below the swallow, and took off scales of canker, then rinsed again with cold water. Soon as it could swallow, gave some tea of No. 2, a tea spoonful at a time, and it soon began to struggle for breath, and ap- peared to be in great distress, similar to a drowned person coming to life. In its struggling for breath discharged considerable .phlegm from its nose and mouth; 1 then gave some more of the emetic with canker tea, which operated favourably ; in two hours it was able to nurse and it soon got well, to the great joy of the father and mother, who said that the life of the child was saved by my perseverance. Soon after this child got well, which was in the fall of the year 1817, Mr. Smith moved to Taunton. Previous to his removal a man from that place by the name of Eddy applied to him to be cured of a bad humour, caused by taking mercury. I assisted in attending upon him part of the time. Mr. Smith began with him, and on the turn ofthe disorder, the man and he got frightened and sent for me. He had been kept as hot as he could bear, with the medicine, for six hours, which increased the heat of the body sufficient to overpower the cold, the heat turned inward and drove the cold on the outside ; this produces such a'sudden change in the whole system, that a person unacquainted with the practice would suppose they were dying ; but there is no danger to be apprehended, if pro- per measures are taken and persevered in by keeping up the inward heat. In such cases steaming is almost indis- pensable ; for which reason 1 have been obliged to steam 154 Narratirve ofthe Life, Sfc. the patient in most cases where the complaint has been of long standing, especially when much mercury has been taken, as nothing will make it active but heat. This man soon got well and returned home. I furnished Mr. Smith with a stock of medicine, and in the winter paid him a visit, found him in full practice and Mr. Eddy assisting him. I carried with me a quantity of medicine, renewed his stock, and stored the remainder with him. He had sold several rights, and was very suc- cessful in his practice, which caused great alarm among the doctors ; they circulated all kinds of false and ridicu- lous reports about his practice, to break him up ; but not succeeding, they raised a mob and twice broke open Mr. Smith's house, in his absence, and frightened his family. In the spring of this year Mr. Smith moved to Scituate, to preach there and attend to practice; and the medicine left with him, I consigned to Mr. Eddy by his recommen- dation. The amount ofthe medicine was about one hun- dred dollars, and I sent him a note for twenty dollars, which he collected, and afterwards went off, and I lost the whole amount. During this season I went to Ply- mouth to visit some there who had bought family rights, and returned by the way of Scituate, in order to visit Mr. Smith, look over his books, and have some settlement with him. I had let him have medicine as he wanted it, trusting him to give me credit for what he sold or used. I think he had given me credit, so that the balance due me at this time, for what be had, was four hundred dol- lars. He was unable to pay me any thing and I return- ed to Boston. ' Mr. Smith afterwards removed bis family to Boston, and in the fall ofthe year 1818, he said that he was not able to pay me any money; but he would let me have such things as he could spare. 1 was disposed to be as favourable towards him as 1 could and took what he chose to offer at his own price.—He let me have two old watch- es at one hundred dollars, and au old mare at eighty, which was for medicine at cash prices. 1 gave him all the chance of selling rights and medicine, in hopes that he would be able to do better by me. I often bad-re- quested him to deliver lectures on my system of practice, as this had been a favourite object with me in appointing Of Samuel Thomson. 155 him agent; but never could prevail with him to do any thing in that way. Another important arrangement I had made with him was, that he was to assist me in prepar- ing for the press, a work to contain a narrative of my life, and a complete description of my whole system. I had written it in the best manner I could, and depended on him to copy it off and prepare it in a correct manner to be printed; but he put me oft' from time to time and was never ready to attend to it. All this time I never had any suspicion of his having a design to wrong me, by usurping the whole lead of the business, and turning ev- ery thing to his own advantage. I continued to keep medicine at his house, which he had free access to and took it when he pleased, giving me credit for it according to his honesty. There was two or three thousand dollars worth at a time, in the house. He charged me three dollars per week for board, for all the time 1 was at his house, after he returned from the country ; and he had given me credit for only eighty dollars for medicine the year past. On a settlement with him at this time, (1819) he owed me about four hundred dollars; I asked him for a due bill for the balance, but he refused to give one—and said that Mr. Eddy had received two hundred dollars worth of the medicine, for which he had received nothing, and he ought not to pay for it. I agreed to lose one half of it, and allowed one hundred dollars the same as if I had received cash of him. I took a memorandum from his book of what was due me, which was all I had for secu- rity. In the fall ofthe year 1820, I had another settle- ment with Mr. Smith, and he owed me about four hun- dred dollars, having received no money of him the year past. He told me that all the property he had was a horse and chaise, and that if I did not have it, somebody else would. 1 took the horse and chaise at three hun- dred dollars, and the hundred dollars I agreed to allow on Mr. Eddy's account, made us, according to his ac- counts, about square, as to the medicine he had given me credit for. He made out a statement of fifty-seven fami- ly rights that he had sold at twenty dollars each, twenty- three of which he had never paid me any thing for ; his plea for not paying me for them was, that he had not 156 Narrative of the Life, fyc. received his pay of those who had bought them. Hii agreement with me was, that he should account to me for ten dollars, fcr each right sold, and he was to hive ten dollars each for collecting the money and giving the necessary info: mation to the purchasers. In the winter of 1819, I went to Philadelphia, and previous to mv going made arrangements with Mr. Smith to publish a new edition of my book of directions ; we revised the former edition and made such additions as we thought would be necessary to give a complete and full description of my system, and the manner of prepar- ing and using the medicine; and I directed him to se- cure the copy-right according to law. I left the whole care with him, to arrange the matter, and have it prinf- ed. On my return to Boston in March, he had got it done: but in a manner very unsatisfactory to me, for he had left out twelve pages ofthe most useful part ofthe remarks and directions, and it was otherwise very incor- rectly and badly printed. I asked him the reason of this, and he said a part of the copy had got mislaid, and the printer had not done his work well ^ L had no idea at the time, that he had any design in having this pamphlet printed in the manner it was ; but his subsequent conduct would justify the belief, that he had previous to this, for- med a plan to usurp the whole of my system of practice, and turn every thing to his own advantage; for he has since attempted to satisfy the public that my system was no system ; and has brought forward this very book, which was printed under his own inspection and arranged by him, as a part of his proof that I was incapable of man- a^ino- my own discoveries, and of communicating the ne- cessary information in an intelligible manner to make my system of practice useful to those who purchase the rights. It is a well known fact, that some ofthe most es- sential parts ofthe directions was to be verbal; and 1 had allowed him ten dollars each, to give the proper in- structions to all those to whom he sold the rights. Another circumstance that I have recently found out, goes to show a dishonesty in design, to say the least of it. He deposited the title page of the above mentioned pamphlet, and obtained a certificate from the clerk, in the name of Elias Smith as proprietor, and caused it to be Of Samuel Thomson. 157 printed in the name of Samuel Thomson as author and proprietor. What his intentions were in thus publishing a false certificate, I shall not attempt to explain ; but leave the reader to judge for himself If I had been taken away, he possibly might have came foward and claimed under it a right to all my discoveries, and even- tually to substitute himself in my place as sole proprietor. From that time he neglected the sale of rights, and turn- ed his attention mostly to practice and preparing his own medicine. During the summer of 1820 he employed Mr. Darling to assist him in practice and prepare medi- cine, and while with him he prepared 38 bottles ofthe rheumatic drops, which by agreement he was to have of me ; he also directed him to take the meterials from my stock, which was in his house,and prepare 25 lbs. of composition, and this was kept a secret from me. The reason be gave Mr. Darling for not having medicine of me according to his agreement, was that he owed me so much now that he was afraid he should never be able to pay me. 1 thought his taking the preparing and selling my medicine to himself, was a very singular way to pay an old debt. In May 1820, Mr. Smith collected together those in Boston who had bought rights of me or my agents, and formed them into a society, under a new name ; he wrote a constitution, which they signed ; and the members paid one dollar entrance and were to pay 12 1-2 cents per month assessment, for which he promised them important instructions and cheap medicine. He was appointed pres ident and treasurer, and after he had obtained their money,the meetings were discontinued anJ the society was broken up in the course of nine months, in this he appears to have taken the lead of all those who had pur- chased the right of me, and make them tributary to himself. In November I returned from the country and found that he hai advertised, without my knowledge or con- sent, in the Herald, a periodical work published by him at that time, " proposals for publishing by subscription, a book to contain the whole ofthe system and practice discovered by Samuel Thomson, and secured to him by patent__The price to subscribers to be five dollars—By 158 JVar> of my country for justice, and brought an aciio.i against him for a tresspass on my pa- tent, to be tried at the Circuit Court, at the October terra 1821. The action was continued to May term, when it was called up and the judge decided that the specifica- tions in the patent were improperly made out, not being sufficienly explicit to found my action upon. In conse- quence ot which I had to become non-^.ikl, and stop ali fui.i.er proceedings against him, till 1 could make out new specifications aad obtain a new patent from the gov- ernment. Mr. Smith h is lately published a book, in which he h's given my system of pia .hca, with directions for pre. paring and using the vegetable medicine secured to me i'v patent, and my plan ot treatment in curing disease as far a? he knew it. In the whole of this work there is not one principle laid down or one idea suggested, ex- cept what is taken from other authors, but what he has obtained from my written or verbal instructions ; and still he has the effrontery to publish it to the world as his own discovery, without giving me any credit whatever, except he has condescended to say, that "Samuel Thomson has made some imperfect discoveries of disease and medi- cine, but has not reduced any thing to a regular sys- tem." This assertion will appear so perfectly ridiculous Of Samuel Thomson. 16l to all fhose who have any knowledge of my practice, that 1 shall forbear making any comment upon it. It is true that he has made alterations in the names of some of the preparations of medicine ; but the articles used and the manner of using them is the same as mine. It- is also a well known fact, that he had no knowledge of medicine, or of curing disease, until I instructed him-; and if what he says be true, the effect has been very remakable, in as much as his magnerica! attraction has drawn all the >kdl from me to himself, by which he has taken upon himself the title of Physician, and left me nothing but the appellation of Mr. Thomson, the imper- fect projector. I have been more particular in describing Mr- Smith's conduct, because it has been an important' crisis in the grand plan for which I have spent a great part of my life, and suffered much, to bring about; that of establishing a system of medical practice, whereby the people of this highly favored country may have a knowledge of the means by which they can at all times relieve themselves from the diseases incident to out country, by a perfectly safe and simple treatment, and thereby relieve themselves from a heavy expense, as well as the often dangerous consequences arising from the employing those who make use of poisonous druge and other means, by which they cause more disease than they cure ; and in which I consider the public a* well as myself have a deep interest. I have endeavor- ed to make a correct and faithful statement of his con- duct and the treatment I have received from him; eve- ry particular of which can be substantiated by indispu- table testimony if necessary. I now appeal to the public, and more particularly to all who have been benefitted by my discoveries, for their aid and countenance, in support- ing my just rights against all encroachments-, and secur- ing to me my claims to whatever of merit or distinction I am honorably and justly entitled. While 1 assure them that I am not to be discouraged or diverted from my grand object by opposition, or the dishonesty of those who deal deceitfully with me; but shall persevere in ail honorable and fair measure* to accomplish, what my life has principally been spent in fulfilling,. 162 Nan-alive of the Life, #c. Additions to second Edition—Nov. 1825. Since the first edition of my narrative was published, some circumstances have occured which I think worth relating ; and shall, therefore, continue to give the read- er an account ot all those things relating to my system of practice, and the success it has met with, up to the present time. After having failed in my attempt to obtain justice, by prosecuting Klias Smith for trespass, as has been before related, 1 found it necessary to adopt some new plan of prooeedure in order to meet the universal opposition I have in all cases met with from not only the medioal faculty, but from all those who belong to what are call- ed the learned professions. Judge Story decided that the action could not be sustained, because the specifica- tions in my patent were not so explicit as to determine what my claim was. He said it contained a number of recipes, which no doubt were very valuable; but I did not say what part of it I claimed as my own invention. How far this opinion was governed by a preconcerted plan to prevent me from maintaining my claim as the original inventor of a 3ystem of practice, and proving its utility in a court of justice, it would not be proper, for me to say; but 1 have an undoubted right to my own opinion on the subject; besides 1 had it from very high authority at the time, that this was the fact, and that I should always find all my efforts to support my claim, frustrated in the same manner. When I obtained my patent, I had good legal advice in making out the speci- fications, besides it was examined and approved by the Attorney General of the United States; and it was said at the time of the trial, hy several gentlemen learned in the law, to be good ; and that the very nature and meaning of the patent was, that the compounding and using the articles specified in manner therein set forth, was what I claimed as my invention. There was, however, no other way for me to do, but to obtain another patent; and immediately after the above decision, 1 set about getting one that would meet the objections that had been made to the first. In mak- ing new specifications, 1 had the assistance of several Of Samuel Thornton. 163 gentlemen of the law and others, and every precaution was taken to have them according to law; but whether my second patent will be more successful than the first, time must determine. It embraces the six numbers, composition or vegetable powders, nerve powder, and the application of steam to raise perspiration; and to put my claim beyond doubt, I added at the end as fol- lows, viz :—*' The preparing and compounding the fore- going vegetable medicine, in manner as herein describ- ed, and the administering them to cure disease, as here- in mentioned, together with the use of steam to produce perspiration, I claim as my own invention." My second patent is dated January 28, 1823. In obtaining a patent, it was my principal object to get the protection of the government against the mach- inations of my enemies, more than to take advantage of a monopoly ; for in selling family rights,! convey to the purchaser the information gained by thirty years prac- tice, and for which I am paid a sum of money as an equiv- alent. This I should have a right to do if there was no patent in the case. Those who purchase the right have all the advantages of my experience, and also the right to the use of the medicine, secured to me by patent, and to the obtaining and preparing it for themselves, without any emolument to me whatever. And in all the numerous cases where I have sold rights, there has been very few instances where any objections have been made to paying for them, where notes had been given, and these were by those who had been persuaded by men opposed to me and my practice, and who had in- terested views in doing me all the injury they could; but where suits have been commenced to recover on notes given for rights, it has been decided that the de- mand is good in law, and the plea set up of no value re- ceived, is not valid; because the information given, and the advantages received, is a valuable consideration, without any reference to the patent right. In all cases where a person possesses valuable information from his own experience or ingenuity, there can be no reas- on why he should not have a right to sell it to another as well as any other property; and that all contracts made in such cases should not be binding, provided there is no fraud or deception used. 1G4 Narrative ofthe Life, fyc. V hen a suitable opportunity offers, 1 shall avail my- self of my patent rights, for the purpose of stopping tne people being imposed upon by those wl o pretend to practice by my system, having ho authority from ms, and hue not a correct knowdedge of -the subject ; but are tampering with all kinds of medicines »o the injury of their patients and the great detriment ofthe credit of my svstem of practice ; for when they happen to be successful, they arrogate to themselves great credit for the cure; but when the patiens die, it is all laid to the door of my system. The doctors are ready enough to avail tlnmsfdves of these cases, and to publish exagger- ated accounts of them, to prejudice the minds of the people against me. Whenever I again make an attempt to vindicate my rights, by appealing to the laws of my country, I am determined, if possible, to take such meas- ures as shall give me a fair chance to obtain justice. All 1 ask is to have a fair opportunity to prove my med- icine to be new and useful, which is all the law requires to make the patent valid. In doing this I shall spare no expense to have the most able council in the coun- try engaged, and shall not stop at any decision against me, till carried to the highest judicial tribunal in the country. It is a matter of much gratulation to me, and a balm for all my sufferings, that my system of practice is fast gaining ground in all parts ofthe country. The people wherever it is introduced, take a lively interest in the cause, and family rights sell rapidly; and all who pur- chase give much credit to the superior and beneficial effects ofthe medicine above all others. The prejudi. ces ot those who have been opposed to it seem to be fast wearing away before the light of reason and com- mon sense. A number of gentlemen eminent for their scientific researches and usefulness in society, have become advocates for the cause ; and although they may not be perfectly converted so as to give up all theh? former opinions, yet they allow that the system is inge- nius and philosophical, and that the practice is new and safe. In introducing my new mode of practice to the peo- ple of this country, I have neyer sought the patronage Of Samuel Thomson. 165 or assistance of the great; and the success it has met with has been altogether owing to it| own merit. There has been no management, or arts, used to deceive or to flatter the vanity of any one; hut in all cases have en- deavoured to convince by demonstrating the truth, by the most plain and simple method of practice, to effect the object aimed at, and to «ure disease by such means as I thought would cause the least trouble and expense. This probably has been one of the greatest causes of the opposition I have met with from the people ; for they have so long been in the habit of being gulled by designing men,and th3 ostentatious show of pompous dec- larations and high sounding words, backed by the rec- ommendations of those they have flattered and decieved, that nothing brought foward in a plain and simple dress seems worthy of notice. If I had adopted a more de- cep'ive plan, to suit the follies of the times, I might have been more successful; but I am satisfied I should have been less useful. There is one thing which I think cannot be matter of doubt, that I have-been the cause of awakening a spirit of enquiry among the people of this country, into the medical practice and the fashionable manner of treat- ment in curing disease, from which great benefits will be derived to the community. Many new contrivances and plans have been introduced by different men, to produce perspiration by steam and other methods, by the use of vegetables, which unquestionably have taken their origin from my practice. When I began to make use of steam, a great deal of noiso was made about it throughout the country, and I was called the steaming and sivrating doctor by way of rid.rule. it was even stated by the doctors, that I steamed and sweat my pa- tients to death. '1 his no doubt led some ingenius men to investigate the subject by experiments, and on dis- covering that it was useful in restoring health to the af- flicted, particularly in scrofulous complaints, different contrivances have been introduced to apply steam to the sick. Jennings' vapour bath was highly recommended and considerably used a few years ago ; but it has been found not to be safe in cases where there is a high state of inflammation, without the use of my 16* Narrative of the Life, .mily, and prepared and offered it for sale to otlnrs. In the course ofthe examination, El as Smith was brought for- ward by the defendant to prove, as I presume, that I Of Samuel Thomson. 169 wa« not capable of giving information on my own system of practice; but his testimony was so contradictory, to say the least ofit, that it did more harm than good to the defendant's cause. There was also a doctor of the regular order introduced in the defence ; but he seemed to know nothing about the practice or the case before the court, and of course his evidence amounted to very little, as his opinion upon a subject that he knew noth- ing about, was not of much value, and was very prop- erly objected to by the plaintiff's council. In the course ofthe trial, a great number of gentlemen of undoubted veracity, were brought forward to prove the utility of my system of practice, who gave the most perfect testimony in its favor. Several stated, that they were so well convinced of its superiority over all others, and they were so well satisfied with the benefits they had derived from its use, that no sum of money whatev- er would induce them to be deprived of a knowledge of it. Among the witnesses, an eminent physician of Bos- ton, who has on all occasions been very friendly and shown a warm interest in support of my system of prac- tice, voluntarily came forward and gave a very fair and candid statement in favor of its utility, the value of my discoveries, and the important additions I had made to the Materia. Medica. The judge took several days to make upliis judgment, and finally decided in my favor, giving me the full amount of my claim; thus settling the principle, that obligations given for family rights were good in law. This was the first time I have ever had a chance to prove the utility of my medicine and system of practice before a court of law ; having always before been prevented by some man- agement of-tlft court. A knowledge ofthe vegetable medicine that I have brought into use in curing the diseases incident to this country, and u hat the faculty call, my tl novel mode of practice," is fast gaining ground in all parts of the United States ; but in no part at the ford is not w
, n, at the hazard of any forfeiture the faculty may challenge Notwithstanding all these thugs how true are 'hr wo; ds ofthe inteligent Dr. Hervey, who says, " B? what unaccountable perversity in our frame docs it appear, that we set ourselves so muth against any thing (hat is 202 Narrative of the Life, ifc. new ? Can any one behold, without scorn, such drones of physicians, and after the space of so many hundred years experience and practice of their predecessors, not one single medicine h .s been detected, that has the least force directly to prevent, to oppose, and expel a continued fever? Should any, by a more sedulous ob- servation, pretend to make the least step towards the discovery of such remedies, their hatred and envy would swell against him, as a legion of devils against virtue ; the whole society will dar> their malice at him, and torture him with all the calumnies imaginable, with- out sticking at any thing that should destroy him root and branch. For he who professes to be a reformer of the art of physic, must resolve to run the hazard ofthe martyrdom of his reputation, life and estate." Tbe treatment which the writer has received from some of the learned physicians since his discovery of the remedy for the fever, and various other diseases, is a proof of the truth of this last saying of Dr. Hervey. They have imprisoned him, and charged him with every thing cruel and unjust; though upon a fair trial their violent dealings have come down upon their heads; while he has not only been proved innocent before the court, but useful; having relieved many which the oth- er physicians had given over to die. I will now take notice of the yellow fever. The cause of this fatal disease is similar to the spotted fever. The cause of death in the latter, is in consequence of its producing a balance by cold, outward and inward; and in the former there is a balance of heat outward and inward; both produce the same thing, that is a total cessation of motion, which is dea.b. The colour ofthe skin has given name to both these disc uses. The yellow is caused by tbe obstruction of the gall ; instead of being discharged through its proper vessels, it is forced and diffused through the pores of the. skin. The same effects that are ptoduced by the^e two fevers may be el served in the motiou of the sea; when the tide i9 done running up, there is what is called slack water, or a balance of power, and the same thing takes place when it is done running down ; when the fountain is raised, the water runs from it; but when it is lowered Of Samuel Thomson. 203 the water runs towards it. The same cause produces the same effects in the spotted and yellow fevers ; for when a balance of power between the outward and in- ward heat takes place, death follows. Having described the two kinds of fever which are the most alarming, they being most fatal, 1 shall pass over those of a less alarming nature, and merely observe, that there is no other difference in all cases of fever, than what is caused by the different degrees of cold, or loss of inward heat, which are two adverse parties in one body, contending for power. If the heat gains the victory, the cold will be disinherited, and health will be restored : but on the other hand, if cold gains the ascendancy, heat will be dispossessed of its empire, and death will follow of course. As soon as life ceases, the body becomes cold, which is conclusive evidence that its gaining the vic- tory is the cause of death. When the power of cold is nearly equal to that of heat, the fever or strife between the two parties, may continue for a longer or shorter time, according to circumstances ; this is what is called a long fever, or fever and ague. The battle between cold and heat will take place periodically, some times every day, at other times, every other day. and they will' leave offabout equal, heat keeping a little the upper hand. In attemp4ing to cure a case of this kind, we must con- sider whether the fever is a fi iend or an enemy ; if it is a friend, which I hold to be the fact, when the fever fit is on, increase the power of heat, in order to drive off the cold, and life will bear the rule ; but, on the con- trary, sh>u'd cold be considered a friend, when the cold. fit is on, by increasing its power, you drive off the heat, and death must ensue. i hus you may promote life oc deaths by tempering cold and heat. Much has been said by the doctors concerning the turn of a fever, and how long a time it will run. When. it is said that a fever will turn at such a time, I presume it must mean that it has been gone ; this is true, for it is then a pump to drink, by swallowing something hot before drinking the water, and swallow- ing a little at a time, which will prevent any fatal effects. This si range circumstance of being cold on a hot day, and which has never been accounted for in a satisfacto- ry manner to the public, I shall endeavour to explain in as comprehensive and plain lan-uage as lam capable. The component parts of animal bodies are earth, nod water, and life and i.i:;:on aie caused by fire and air. The inward beat is the fountain of life, and is much as th.it has the power above the outvvtrd heat, so much we h: ve life and strength, and when we lose this power of beat, our slrfiiglh a,.d tacibin sdeca* in proportion; and it .s immaterial wbetuer we lose th.s power by losing ;be inward heal or nusmg th.- outward heat above i\, i* the efl-i . the -uiic. i f y ou r. se the sire >Q5 I v el \ ith th*- iou:.t .u, .1 .vi-p*- the t .: i-_nt and m. mot and heat caused by steam in the manner that 1 Of Samuel Thomson. 209 use it, is more natural in producing perspiration, than any dry heat that can be applied to the body in any other manner, which will only serve to dry the air and prevent perspiration in many cases of disease, where a steam by water or vinegar would promote it and add a natural warmth to the body, and thereby increase the life and motion, which has lain silent in consequence of the cold. Dr. Jenniugs has contrived a plan to apply heat to the body by a dry vapour, caused by burning spirit, which he calls a vapour bath, the idea of which was I have no doubt, taken from hearing of my steaming to raise the heat of the body. It may answer in some cases and stages of disease ; but in a settled fever and other causes where there is a dry inflammation on the surface ofthe body, it will not answer any good purpose, and I think would be danger..-.-, without the use of my m-.-dicinc to first raise a free perspiration; for when the surface ofthe body is dry the patient cannot bear it, as it will crowd to the head and cause distress, the same as is produced by burn- ing charcoal, or from hot stoves in a tight room, and will bring on a difficulty in breathing, which is not the case in steaming in my way This machine can only be used in bed, wbere the vapour cannot be applied to the body equally at the same time, therefore is no better than a hot dry stone put on each side and to the feet of the patient, for he can turn himself and get heat from them as well as to have all the trouble of burning spirit and turning to the vipour ofit, to get warm by this dry heat. When the patient stands' over a steam raised by putting a hot stone in water, which gives a more equal heat all over the body than can be done in any other manner, it can be raised higher, and may be tempered at pleasure by wetting tbe face and stomach witb cold water as occasion requires. The method adopted by me, and which has always answered the desired object, is as follows—Take several stones of different sizes and put them in the fire till red hot, then take the smallest first, and put one of them into a pan or kettle of hot water, with the stone about half immeiscd—the patient mu-t be undressed and a blanket put around him so as to shield his whole body from the air, and then place him over the steam. Change the 210 Narrative of the Life, #c. stones as often as they grow cool, so as to keep up a lively steam, and keep them over it; if they are faint, throw a little cold water on the face and stomach, which will let down the outward heat and restore the strength —after they have been over the steam long enough, which will generally be about 15 or 20 minutes, they must be washed all over with cold water or spirit and be put in bed, or may be dressed, as the circumstances of the case shall permit. Before they are placed over the steam, give a dose of No. 2 and 3, or composition, to raise the inward heat. When the patient is too weak to stand over the steam, it may be done in bed, by heating three stones and put them in water till done hissing, then wrap them in a number of thicknesses of cloths wet with water, and put one on each side and one at the feet, occasionally wetting the face and stomach with cold water, when faint. Many other plans may be contrived in steaming, which would make less trouble and be more agreeable to the patient, especially where they are unable to stand over the steam. An open worked chair may be made, in which they might sit and be steamed very conveniently ; or a settee might be made in the =ame manner, in which they might be laid and covered wish blankets so as to shield them from the surrounding air. Such contrivan- ces as these would be very convenient in ca-es where the patient would have to be carried through a course of medicine and steamed a number of times, as is fre- quently necessary, particularly in complaints that have been of long standing. As I have frequently mentioned a regular course of medicine, i will here state what is meant by it and the most proper way in which it is performed. Firstly, give No. 2 and 3, or composition, adding a tea spoonful of No. 6; then steam, and when in bed repeat it, adding No. 1, which will cleanse the stomach and assist iu keep- ing up a perspiration ; when this has done operating, give an injection made with the same articles. Where there are symptoms of nervous affection, or spasms, put half a~ tea spoonful of the nerve powder into each dose given, and into the injection. In violent cases, where immedi. ate relief is needed, N03. 1, 2, 3, and 6, may be given, Of Samuel Thomson. 211 together. Injections may be administered at all times and in all cases of disease to advantage; it can never do harm, and in many cases, they are indispensably necessa- ry, especially where there is canker and inflammation in tbe bowels, and there is danger of mortification, in which case, add a tea spoonful of No. 6. In cases of this kind, tbe injection should be given first, or at the same time of giving the composition, or No. 3. The use of s'eamingis good in preventing sickness as -well as curing it. When a person has been exposed to the cold, and. is threatened with disease, it may be pre- vented, and long si kness and expense saved by a very- little trouble, by standing over a steam and following the directions before given, till the cold is thoroughly thrown offand a lively perspiration takes place ; then go to bed, taking the stone from the kettle, and wrap it in wet cloths and put it to the feet. This may be done without the medicine, when it cannot be had ; but is much better to take something to raise the inward heat at the same lime. A tea made of mayweed or summer-savory, or ginger and hot water sweetened, may be given, or any thing that is warming. This advice is for the poor and those whoha\e not a knowledge ofthe medicine; and will many times save them much trouble and long sick- ness. Steaming is ofthe utmost importance in cases ofsu-- pended animation, such as drowned persons; in which case, place the body over a moderate steam, shielded by a blanket from the weight ofthe external air, and rari- fyin» the air immediately around them with the steam. Pour into the mouth some ofthe tincture of Nos 1, 2. and 6; and if there is any internal heat remains, there will be muscular motion about the eyes, and in the extre- meties If this symptom appears, repeat the dose seve- ral times, and renew the hot stones, raiding the heat by degrees ; if the outward heat is raised too sudden, so as to balance the inward you will fail of the desired object, even after life appears. This is the only danger of any difficulty taking place - -always bear in mind to keep tbe fountain above the stream, or the inward b^at above the outward, and all will oe safe. Alter life is restored, put them in bed and keep the perspiration free for twelve 212 ' Narrative ofthe Life, ty-c. hours, by hot stones wrapped in cloths wet with wafer, and occasionally giving the tincture as before mentioned, when the coldness and obstructions are thrown off, and the patient will be in the enjoyment of his natural strength. Beware of bleeding or blowing in the mouth with a bellows,' as either will generally prove fatal. In many cases of spotted fever steaming is as necessary as in drowned persons; such as when they fall apparent- ly dead ; then the same treatment is necessary to lighten ,the surrounding air till yon can raise the inward heat so as to get the determining power to the surface. Begin wilh a small stone and as life gains increase the steam as the patient can bear it; if the distress is great, give more hot medicine inside, and as soon as an equilibri- um takes place the pain will cease. In all cases of this kind the difficulty cannot be removed without applied heat to the body, and is more natural by s'team than by any other means that can be made use of. In cases of long standing, where the patient has been run down witb mercury and left in a cold and obstructed state, lia- ble to rheumatism and other similar complaints, they cannot be cured with medicine without applied heat by steam, as nothing will remove mercury but heat. When a patient is carried through a course of my me- dicine and steamed, who has been long under mercurial treatment; and while under the operation of the steam, when the heat is at the highest, the face will swell, in consequence ofthe poisonous vapour being condensed by the air, the face being open to it. To relieve thin, put them in bed. and take a bot stone wrapped in several thicknesses of cloth wet vvith water, pouring on a little vinegar, and making a lively steam ; put it in the bed and Cover the head with the clothes and let them breathe the steam as hot as can be borne, until the sweat covers the swelled part. This will in about tift^m or twenty minutes throw out the poison and the swelling will abate. rl his method also is of great service in agues and teeth- ache caused by cold ; and many other cases of obstruc- tion from the same cause, especially young children stuffed on the lungs. To steam small children, the best way is to let them sit in the lap of a person, covering both with a blanket Of Samuel Thomson. 213 and set over the steam, pouring a little vinegar on tbe stone : or it may be done in bed with a hot stono, wrap- ped in cloths wet with water, putting on a little vinegar ; and covering them with the bed clothes laid loosely over them ; but in this way you cannot exercise so good judg- ment in tempering the steam, as when you are steamed with them. If the chihl appears languid and faint, the outward heat is high enough; put a little cold water on the face or breast, which will restore the strength, then rub them in a cloth wet with vinegar, spirit or cold wa- ter, put on clean clothes, and put them in bed, or let them set up as their strength will permit. This is safe in all cases of cold and obstructed perspiration. It ought always to be borne strongly in mind to give a child drink -often, when under the operation of medicine, or while steaming ; if this is not done, they will suffer much, as they cannot ask for it. In all cases of falls or bruizes, steaming is almost infallible ; and is much better than bleeding, as is the common practice, which only tends to destroy life instead of promoting it. If the person is not able to stand over the steam, it must be done in bed, as has been describ- ed. Give the hottest medicine inside that you have, and keep the perspiration free till the pain and sore- ness abates, and the strength will be soon restored. If the advantages of this mode of treatment was generally known, bleeding in such cases, or any other to remove disease, would never be resorted to by the wise and prudent. The use of steaming is to apply heat to the body where it is deficient, and clear off obstructions caused by cold, which the operation of the medicine will not raise heat enough to do ; for as the natural heat of fhe body becomes thereby low^r than the natural state of health, it must by art be raised as much above as it has been below ; and this must be repeated until the diges- tive powers are restored, sufficient to hold the heat by digesting the food, then the health ofthe patient will be restored by eating and drinking such things as the appe- tite shall require. In this way the medicine removes disease, and food, by being properly digested, supports nature and continues that beat on which fife depeuds. T 2 14 Narrative of the Life, Sfc. Some who practice according to my system, boast of carrying their patients through in a shoiter time without the trouble of steaming; this is easily accounted for; steaming is the most laborious part ofthe practice for those who attend upon the sick, and the most useful to the patient; as one operation of steaming will be more effectual in removing disease, than four courses without it; and to omit it is throwing the labour upon the pa- tient, with the expense of three or four operations more of the medicine than would be needed, did the person who attends do his duty faithfully. ON GIVING POISON AS MEDICINE. * The practice of giving poison as medicine, which is so common among the medical faculty at the present day, is of the utmost importance to the public ; and is a sub- ject that I wish to bring home to the serious consideration ofthe whole body ofthe people of this country, and en- force in the strongest manner on their minds the perni- cious consequences that have happened, and are daily taking place by reason of giving mercury, arsenic, nitre, opium and other deadly poisons to cure disease. It is admitted by those who make use of these things, that the introducing them into the system is very dangerous and that they often prove fatal. During thirty year's prac- tice, I have had opportunity to gain much experience on this subject, and am ready to declare that I am perfect- ly and decidedly convinced, beyond all doubt, that there can be no possible good derived from using in any man- ner or form whatever, those poisons ; but on the other hand, there is a great deal of hurt done. More than nine tenths of the chronic cases that have come under my care, have been such as had been run down with some one or the whole of the above named medical poisons; and the greatest difficulty 1 have had to encounter in re- moving the complaints which my patients laboured under, has been to clear the system of mercury, nitre, or opium, and bring them back to the same state they were in be- fore taking them. It is a very easy thing to get them into the system, but very hard to get them out again. Of Samuel Thomson. 215 Those who make* us<> of these things a? medicine, seem to cloak th administering them under the specious preb nee of great skill and art in preparing and using them ; but th.s kind of covering will not blind the people, if they would examine it and think for themselves, in- stead of believing that every thing said or don« by a learned man must be right; for poison given to the sick by a person ofthe grento-'t skill, will have exactly the same effect as it would it given by a fool.— 1 he fact is, the operation of it is diametrically opposed to nature, and every particle of it, that is taken into the system, will strengthen the power of the enemy to health. If there should be doubts in the minds of any one of the truth of what I have said concerning the articles 1 have named being poisonous and destructive to the con- stitution and health of man, I will refer them to the works published by those vvho recommend their use; where they will find evidence enough to satisfy the mos* credulous, of the dangerous consequences and fatal ef- fects, of giving them as medicine. To remove all doubts of their being poison I will make a few extracts from standard medical works, as the best testimony that can be given in the case. '• Muriate of Mercury, is one of the most violent poi- sons with which we are acquainted. Externally it acts as an escharotic or a caustic; and in solution, it is used for destroying fungous flesh, and fur removing hepetic eruptions; but even externally, it must be used with very great caution." Yet, reader, this active poison is used as medicine, and by being prepared in a different form, and a new name given it, (Calomel) its good qual- ities are said to be invaluable, and is a certain cure for almost every disease u Oxyd of Arsenic, is one ofthe most sudden and vio- lent poisons we are acquainted with. In mines, it causes the destruction of numbers of those who explore them: and it is frequently the instrument by which victims arc sacrificed, either by the hand of wickedness or impru- dence—The fumes of Arsenic are so deleterious to the lungs, that the artist ought to be on his guard to prevent their exhalation by the mouth ; for if they be mixed aqd. swallowed with the saliva, effects will take place, *_- 21G Narrative ofthe Life, &c Similar to those which follow its introduction into the stomach in a saline slate ; namely, a sensation of a pierc- ing, gnawing, and burning kind, accompanied with an acute pain in the stomach and intestines, which last are violently contorted; convulsive vomitting; insatiable thirst, from the parched and rough stale of the tongue «nd throat : hiccough, palpitation of the heart and a deadly oppression of the whole breast, succeed next; the matter ejected by the mouth, as well as tbe stools, exhibit a black, footed, and putrid appearance ; at length with the mortification of the bowels, the pain subsides, and death terminates the sufferings of the patient."— '• W hen the quantity is so very small as not to prove fatal, tremors, paralysis, and lingering hectics succeed." Notwithstanding this terrible description ofthe fatal effects of this article, the author says, "though the most violent of mineral poisons, arsenic, according to Murray, equals, when properly administered, the first medicines in the class of tonics." " Of all the diseases, fsays Dr. Duncan) in which white Oxyd of Arsenic has Been used internally, there is none in which it has been to frequently and so successfully employed, as in the C.ure of int.ermittant fevers. We have now the most fcctisfiictory information concerning this article, in the I^cdical Reports, of the effects of arsenic in the cure fof Agues, remitting fevers, and periodical headaches, fcv Dr. Fowler of Stafford.'' "Such are the powers of. this medicine, that two grains of it are often sufficient to cure an intermittent that has continued for weeks !" —" As an external remedy, arsenic has long been known i.s the basis of the celebrated cancer powders ;—" Ar- renic has ever been applied in substance, sprinkled upon the ulcer; but this node of using it is exceedingly pain- ful, and extremely dangerous. There have been fatal effects produced from its absorption.''—No.other escha- rotic possesses equal powers in cancerous affections; it not unfrequently amends the discbarge, causes the sore to» contract in sizv, and Cases have been related of its hav- ing effected a cure.1"—But, says Dr. Willich, " we are, on the combined testimony of many medical practition- ers, conspicuous for their professional zeal and integri- ty, irresistibly induced to declare our opinion, at least. Of Samuel Thomson. 21? against the internal use of this active and dangerous medicine." I shall leave it to the reader to reconcile, if he can, the inconsistencies and absurdities of the above state- ments, of the effects of ratsbane ; and ask himself the question, whether it can be possible, for an article, the use of which is attended with such consequences, can be in any shape or form, proper to be used as medicine ; yet it is a well known fact, that this poison is in con- stant use among the faculty, and forms the principal ingredient in most of those nostrums sold throughout the country, under the names of drops, powders, washes, balsam^, &c. and there can be no doubt that thousands either die, or become miserable invalids inconsequence. "Antimony, in the modern nomenclature, is the name given to a peculiar metal.—The antimonial metal is a medicine ot the greatest power of any known substance ; a quantity too minute to be sensible in the most deli- cate balance, is capable of producing violent effects, if taken dissolved, or in a soluable state."—"Sulphureted antimony vvas employed by the ancients in Collyria, against inflammation of the eyes, and for staining the eyebrows black. Its internal use does not seem to have been established till the end of the fifteenth century; and even at that time it was by many looked upon as poisonous."—" All the metalic preparations are uncer- tain, as it entirely depends on the state ofthe stomach, whether they have no action at all, or operate with dangerous violence."—"the principal general iiiedrc-^ inal application of antimony has been for the use of fe# Lrile affections."—In the laiter stage of fiver, where debility prevails, its use is inadmissible." Ofthe pro- priety "of using this metal as me.!.cine, I shall leave ft to the reader to judge for himself. "Nitre. Salt Petre. This salt, consisting of nitric acid and potash, is found ready formed on the surfate of the soil in warm climates."—"Purified nitre ri pre- scribed with advantage in numerous disorders. Us vir- tues are those of a refrigerent and diuretic. It is usu- ally given in doses from two or three grains to a scru- ple, being a very cooling and resolvent medicine, wnich by relaxing the spasmodic rigidity of the vessels, pro- 218 Narrative ofthe Life, cy"c. motes not only the secretion of urine, but at tbe same time insensible perspiration, in febrile disorders; while it allays thirst and abates heat; though in malignant cases in which the pulse is low, and the patient's strength exhausted, it produces contrary effects.''—This power- ful salt, when inadvertantly taken in too large quanti- ties, is one of the most fatal poisons." For some inter- esting observations relative to the deleterious proper- ties of salt petre, the reader is referred to Dr. Mitchell's letter to Dr Priestly." I have found from a series of practical experiments for many years, that salt petre has the most certain and deadly offects upon the human system, of any drug that is used as medicine. Although the effects produced by it are not so immediately fatal ;,s many others, yet its whole tendency is to counteract the principles of life, and destroy the operation of nature. Experience has taught me that it is the most powerful enemy to health, and that it is the most difficult opponent to encounter, with any degree of success, that 1 have ever met with. Being in its nature cold, there cannot be any other ef- fects produced by it, than to increase the power of that enemy of heat, and to lessen its necessary influence. " Opium, when taken into the stomach, to such an extent as to have any sensible effect, gives rise to a pleasant serenity ofthe mind, in general proceeding to a certain degree of languor and drowsiness."—" It ex- cites thirst, and renders the mouth dry and parched."— "" Taken into the stomach in a larger dose, gives rise to ■confusion ofthe head and vertigo The powers of all stimulating causes of making impressions on the body are diminished; and even at times, and in situations, when a pe son would naturally be awake, sleep is irre- sistably induced. In still larger dos<- s,it acts in the same manner as the narcotic poisons, giving rise to vertigo, headache, temors, delirium and convulsions; and these terminating in a state of stupor, from which 'h"> person cannot be roused. This stupor is accompanied with slowness of the pulse, and with slertnr in breathing, and the scene is terminated in death, attended with the same appearances as take place in an ap;x;pi>xy."'— " In intermittents it is _ ?■£*"* <&+*i/ &^&\*A'%f jr^**9~ ■-*■*'r #>+* ^ x. -^.^ Leaves deacidified non-aqueously with nethyl magnesium carbonate. Book re- bound in full cloth with unbleached linen hinges • acid free end signatures. Original front board paper hinged in at end of volume. Sky Meadow Bindery April 1991