MV 
m3?-*- 
\&57 A REPORT 
OF THE 
NEW HAVEN COUNTY 
MEDICAL SOCIETY, 
ON THE 
EXPEDIENCY OF REPEALING THAT SECTION 
OF THE 
V 
MEDICAL LAWS 
OF THIS STATE, 
WHICH EXCLUDES IRREGULAR PRACTITIONERS FROM THE 
BENEFITS OF LAW IN THE COLLECTION OF FEES. 
NEW HAVEN: 
PRINTED BY B. L. HAMLEN. 
1837. The General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, at their ses- 
sion in May, 1836, received petitions from various parts of the State, 
praying for a repeal of the 8th section of the “act to incorporate the 
Connecticut Medical Society.” By a vote of the General Assem- 
bly, these petitions were postponed to the next session of the As- 
sembly, with an order for a citation to the Medical Society. In con- 
sequence of this citation, the Medical Society of New Haven County, 
at their annual meeting in April, 1837, adopted the following Report, 
as expressive of their views in regard to the expediency of the pro- 
posed measure. .✓*- REPORT. 
The Medical Laws in this State were enacted fora two-fold pur-* 
pose. First, that our state might be furnished with an able and faith- 
ful medical faculty; and secondly, that the public might, as far as pos- 
sible, be secured from medical imposture and the evils which flow 
from it. In pursuing these objects, the public good, rather than the 
benefit of a profession, was the end and aim. With the design of 
promoting these views, the following act has been admitted to a place 
in our statute-book. It is part of an act entitled “ An Act in relation 
to the Medical Institution of Yale College.” 
“ Every medical student, shall be required to attend to the study 
of physic and surgery, for two years, with some medical or surgical 
professor or practitioner, who is in respectable standing, Provided, 
he shall have been graduated at some college; otherwise to study 
three years; to have acquired in addition to a good English educa- 
tion, a competent knowledge of the Latin language, and of the prin- 
ciples of Natural Philosophy ; to have arrived at the age of twenty 
one years; to be of a good moral character; and to deliver to the 
committee of examination a satisfactory dissertation upon some sub- 
ject in medicine or surgery, or the auxiliary branches. And every 
medical student shall attend one course of the lectures under the 
professors of the Medical Institution of Yale College, or of some 
other public medical institution, previously to his being admitted to 
an examination for a license.” 
In furtherance of these same views, the following provision, con- 
tained in an act entitled “ An Act to incorporate the Connecticut 
Medical Society,” has been made. “ No physician or surgeon, who 
shall have commenced practice since the year one thousand eight 
hundred, or who shall hereafter commence practice, shall be entitled 
by law to recover any debt or fees for such practice, unless he shall 
have been duly licensed by some medical society, or college of phy- 
sicians, and all persons licensed to practice physic and surgery, and 
practicing within this state, shall of course be members of the Medi- 
cal Society.” 
That portion of an act last quoted is the “ 8th section,” which it 
is proposed to repeal. It will be observed that it has (and was de- 
signed to have) the force and effect of a penalty for not complying 
with the conditions contained in that other act which, in these pages, 
precedes it. Without it, the law which makes a course of study 
necessary to the practitioner of physic is, of course, inoperative as a 
law ; for a law which may be violated with impunity, is a law without 
a penalty, or more properly, no law at all. 4 
It surely will be conceded that the public have a real interest in 
the character and qualifications of medical men—the acknowledged 
guardians of life and health. Their near relation to the very sour- 
ces of happiness and well-being has induced the civilized govern- 
ments of every age and country to make regulations and adopt meas- 
ures calculated to render them the more worthy the high trust confi- 
ded to them. 
That a successful practitioner of physic must be well acquainted 
with the principles of his art; that these principles are not to be learn- 
ed in a day ; and that the prescribed course of medical study in this 
state is not unnecessarily long, are truths which, in other circumstan- 
ces, we might feel ashamed to argue. These truths we should ordi- 
narily deem it necessary but to state; but the attempts which are 
now making to conceal or forget them, render it necessary, or at 
least, proper, that we cite proof. 
There is not, within the range of our knowledge, a more compli-. 
cated piece of mechanism than the human system. Taken in the 
number of its parts, and the variety and intricacy of its laws, it is 
without an equal. A perfect knowledge of its construction and com- 
position as a simple machine is the work of years; and this knowl- 
edge does not require a tithe of the study necessary to comprehend 
it fully as a living system. It is upon this system that the physician 
is obliged to operate. It is his business to understand its powers, to 
perceive the nature and seat of its disorders, and on proper occa- 
sions, to speed, to check, to modify, or in some way to correct its 
movements. Surely, then, two or three years is a period short 
enough in which to lay in a competent store of the knowledge in ques- 
tion. It is agreed that he who would put in order even the simplest 
mechanical contrivance, must inform himself regarding its construc- 
tion. An old wooden clock that needs repair is not put into the 
hands of a man who never saw the interior of a clock ; or if placed 
in such hands, the owner expects it will be spoiled. He who would 
prescribe successfully for a disordered time-keeper, must acquaint 
himself with the number and relation of its parts, and the mechan- 
ical forces which originate and regulate its motion; or, in other words, 
he must study its anatomy and physiology. And is a man fitted for 
the office of superintending, regulating and repairing the human 
machine—of prescribing correctly for its multiplied disorders, who 
knows nothing of its parts, powers and operations—nothing of its 
anatomy and physiology ? and would it not be well to require of him 
who takes upon himself this office, at least, that amount of knowl- 
edge regarding his business which we are accustomed to demand of 
our ordinary mechanics ? Undoubtedly, it is as difficult and intricate 
a piece of work to patch up a broken constitution as a leaky pair of 
boots—to keep a-going a rickety human system as a rickety time- 
piece ; while the consequences of blundering and bungling work- 
manship are even more momentous. 5 
But a knowledge of anatomy and physiology merely, is not all that 
is required of the physician. Besides being acquainted with disease 
in all its various and ever varying forms, he must know the means 
best adapted to cure it. Disease is to be removed by the applica- 
tion of certain agents or instruments which have power to modify 
the functions, to rouse or diminish vital energy, to correct disordered 
movements, and to restore the lost balance of the system. These 
agents are to the physician what tools are to the mechanic. They 
have multiplied powers, and multiplied and varying relations to our 
organs, which it is no easy matter to learn. To understand their 
nature fully, the purposes to which they may be applied, and the 
effects which they are calculated to produce, in all the different 
forms of disease, and under the different circumstances of constitu- 
tion, age, sex, season, climate, &c. is a task sufficient for the acutest 
mind and the most persevering industry. 
It cannot with reason be disputed, then, that medicine, in order 
to be understood, must be studied. Medical skill can be the result 
of nothing else than severe and protracted application. It is not a 
thing that men are born with, or purchase of strolling Indians and 
seventh sons, or learn by dreaming, or even discover by meditation, 
any more than shoe-making or ship-making. There is neither ma- 
gic or witchcraft about it. It cannot be acquired without some ex- 
pense both of time and money, and without, at least, a common 
share of understanding. The lazy and the lounging, as well as the 
weak and the ignorant, can never possess it. That which comes 
without industry is pretension, and makes up in bustling and boast- 
ing what it lacks of something better. 
But perhaps what we have said on this point is better than more. 
Those who look upon study and application as, of course, indispen- 
sable to true medical skill, will perhaps regard what has been offered 
as mere trifling, and unworthy even the little space which has been 
allotted it; while such as consider our art as nothing better than a 
sort of JcnrtcJc which certain men and women get by inheritance, or 
as a kind of juggling akin to fire-eating and best exercised by moun- 
tebanks and vagabonds, will hardly be convinced by any thing in the 
shape of argument. 
But though it be admitted that medicine is based on science, is a 
a comprehensive and difficult study, and has a most important bear- 
ing on the interests of the community, it may still be said that there 
are not sufficient reasons for legislative provisions and restrictions 
regarding its practice. To justify legislation in this matter, it will 
be necessary to show that the highest general good, or in other words 
the interest and safety of the public, requires it. This we are pre- 
pared to do. 
The ease with which imposition in the healing art is practiced af- 
fords one powerful reason why legislators should attempt something 
for the public security. In consequence of the peculiar opportuni- 
ties and facilities for imposture in our profession, the practice of it 6 
holds out great temptations to the idle, the artful, the unprincipled, 
and the thousands who hate any honest vocation. Hence comes 
charlatanism in all its extent and variety, from Mr. Swaim and the 
great nostrum-monger in New York, down to the obscurest root- 
doctor who strolls about from village to village. We had the curi- 
osity lately to inquire into the proportion of the advertising columns 
of the several daily newspapers of the city of New York, which was 
taken up with the advertisements of quack medicines. We found 
this proportion to be, in the penny papers, at least, one half, and in 
the larger papers, somewhat less than that. 
The reason that imposition is so easy and successful in medicine, 
is to be found in the general want of information regarding the nature 
of disease, the operation of remedies, and the powers of the human 
system. As a consequence, the skill and knowledge of a physician 
must, for the most part, be taken upon trust, except so far as evi- 
dence is to be obtained from his general character and acquirements. 
There is no subject which, by the mass of mankind, is so rarely 
made a matter of general study and investigation, even in its ele- 
ments, as medical science ; while, at the same time, there is no sub- 
ject regarding which men so universally consider themselves ade- 
quately informed, in all its practical applications, as this same medi- 
cal science. This want of knowledge, unfortunately not felt as a 
want, we deplore, because worth in our profession is, as a conse- 
quence, imperfectly appreciated, and because ignorance and impu- 
dence thereby gain an advantage of the utmost importance. It is 
well known, that the arts of intrigue, and the no less potent art of 
puffing, will oftentimes procure occupation and a name, when unpre- 
tending merit is left to perish unnoticed. This fact is well illustra- 
ted by the sudden and full employment frequently obtained by itin- 
erants and adventurers without character or merit, and of whose 
vaunted skill and cures we know nothing, except what is to be found 
in a pompous advertisement or handbill. 
The intense anxiety and apprehension of the sick and their friends, 
and the eagerness with which they grasp at the promise of relief, 
from however questionable a source it may come, give the arts of 
empiricism a ten fold efficiency, and villainy an advantage it would 
not otherwise possess. The powerful manner in which the fear of 
.death operates upon the discerning and judging faculty, particularly 
when the mind is enfeebled by sickness, can never be fully under- 
stood by those who have not often witnessed its effect. Under 
these circumstances, the understanding is, as it were, gone, and 
man is the creature of impulse and feeling. He is wavering, cred- 
ulous and superstitious. He is perhaps ready to bestow confidence 
on the most worthless objects ; to repose faith in the most trifling, 
ridiculous and hazardous means, provided his humor and hopes 
are encouraged. We have often witnessed, with the most painful 
emotions, the effects, immediate and remote, of extravagant and 
unwarrantable promises in such cases. 7 
The belief which still prevails to no inconsiderable extent, and 
which is the inheritance of a darker age,—the belief that medicine 
is an occult science ; that medical skill comes in some unknown or 
undefinable way—that it runs in the blood, or is a gift of nature or 
heaven—that it is a possession rather than an acquisition—has ex- 
erted a most powerful influence on the progress of quackery. We 
know that this belief will not often be acknowledged, but it is real 
and influential notwithstanding, as proved by the conduct and prac- 
tice of men. It cannot be expected, of course, that those who sup- 
pose disease to be cured by the exercise of a magical influence, or 
by tricks of legerdemain, will have a very large share of that salu- 
tary incredulity in reference to extravagant pretension and secret 
skill, which is the safety of the sick man. And when men cannot 
protect themselves, whether by means of ignorance, or prejudice, 
or passion, or superstition, or even obstinacy, it is the duty of go- 
vernment to become their protector. 
We do not mean to say that quackery never effects cures. We 
know that it is sometimes successful; but we also know that those 
who practice it deserve little credit for such success. There is an 
influence exerted on the mind by the imposing process of a mounte- 
bank, particularly in the case of nervous and susceptible persons or 
those given to superstition—an influence of which both patient and 
prescriber are probably ignorant—which is all-powerful in curing 
certain kinds of disease. Hope, expectation, confidence, or even 
the more violent emotions, such as anger, terror, astonishment, have 
cured many a case of sickness, when recovery has been attributed 
to some worthless medicine, or to the magical skill of a juggler. 
Besides, empirics sometimes employ powerful remedies, of real 
value in their place, which, being prescribed for every form of dis- 
ease, must infallibly produce relief in some, according to the laws of 
mere chance. It is well known that arsenic and corrosive sublimate 
are frequent ingredients in the “ vegetable” compounds and speci- 
fics of quacks. The real cures effected by empirics, or by medi- 
cines used in an empirical manner, suggest the case of a militia-man, 
who, “ being armed and equipped as the law directs,” is endeavor- 
ing, blindfold, to drive a bullet through some certain object within 
reach of a musket shot, but in an unknown direction. He bla- 
zes away most valorously, and at every point of the compass; 
and after having riddled and shivered almost every thing about 
him, he of necessity finally hits his mark, according to the laws of 
chance. But does this fact prove him a marksman ? Or is it best, 
from such an instance of blundering success, to blazon his name 
abroad as one prodigiously skilled in shooting ? And yet, such a 
course is much like that which is often taken with regard to the 
random successes of empirics, or those ignorant of the nature and 
situation of disease, he. And the declaration of a man who always 
shoots with his eyes shut, that he never misses his mark, and never 
yet killed the wrong game, is worth just as much as the common 8 
boast of the charlatan that he never fails to cure, that his means are 
perfectly safe, and that he has in no instance lost a patient. 
The want of a test, then, of easy application, by which medical 
qualifications can be determined by the public, the secrecy and de- 
ception with regard to the means employed, which are in the pre- 
scriber’s power, the generally unknown nature of the remedies he 
uses, even though their names be known, the debilitating effects of 
disease and anxiety on the mind of the sick man, and, consequently, 
the great temptations and opportunities afforded to unprincipled and 
unqualified men to enter upon the business of medical imposture ;— 
all these things, and the evils which flow from them, furnish so many 
reasons why the appointed guardians of the public safety should in- 
quire into the qualifications of medical men, and attach some speci- 
fic penalty to the practice of fraud and deception. That a govern- 
ment has a right, and, in fact, is obligated to do this, cannot be 
questioi&d ; indeed, it is for this very purpose, and others like it, 
that a government exists. 
The principle for which we would here contend is simply this— 
That it is the right and duty of government to protect the people 
in every possible ivay against any trade, or craft, or profession, in 
which the public has peculiar interest, and the temptations to de- 
fraud and deceive are great. This principle is recognized on al- 
most every page of our statute-book. In accordance with it, millers 
are forbidden to take but a certain amount of toll. No person can 
sell certain kinds of goods at auction without a license. “ No person 
shall set up or carry on the trade or mystery of tanning leather, ex- 
cept he prove his skill therein,” “ and obtain a license therefor,” 
under a penalty of sixty seven dollars.* Why ? Because the 
tanning of leather requires skill, and because leather is an article in 
which extensive fraud is practicable. No man can ship beef, fish, 
flour, onions, hay, shingles, &c., to a foreign market, unless they 
have been inspected and approved. Beef for exportation must be, 
at least, two years old, cut and cured in a certain manner, &,c. 
These inconveniences (restrictions on personal rights, if you please,) 
must be submitted to, to prevent imposition, and to secure a good 
character and market abroad. 
In accordance with this same principle, it has been farther enacted 
that “ no person shall keep a district school, until he lias been exam- 
ined and approved by the visitors of the school society,” and shall 
receive a certificate of his qualifications for a teacher. Why ? Be- 
cause the business of school-teaching requires some knowledge, and 
because evils would be the consequence of committing it to incompe- 
tent men. Neither shall any person practice as an attorney, unless 
he be approved, admitted and sworn “ agreeably to the rules estab- 
lished” by the court, unless it be in his own case; “ nor shall more 
than one attorney be allowed to plead on the same side of any cause,” 
* Revised Statutes. 9 
with certain exceptions; “ and in no case, shall more than two attor- 
neys be admitted to plead, on the same side.” All these embarrass- 
ments the friends of “ free trade” and “ equal rights” must submit 
to, because the public good, (always a higher object than individual 
good,) requires some such measures to prevent the evils of protracted 
litigation, and the imposition of unqualified and designing men. 
The whole license system recognizes and exemplifies the principle 
under consideration—that the free exercise of certain vocations by 
all, without restraint or condition, is not consistent with the highest 
general good. Inn-keepers are required to obtain a license, give a 
bond for the observance of the laws, conform to certain regulations 
regarding the selling of liquors and the preservation of morals, &c. 
All these restraints on the business of society and of individuals— 
constraints similar to those enacted by every civilized government 
on earth—sufficiently prove the truth and justice of the principle we 
have been considering ; or, at least, show that it is recognized and 
acted upon continually in our statute-book, which fact is all that is 
required for our present purpose. Therefore, in order to show the 
propriety of legislative interference in regard to the practice of physic, 
it only remains for us to prove that the medical art is similar in its 
nature, and in its relations to society, to other arts and occupations 
which, it is agreed, are proper subjects of legislation—a thing which, 
in fact, has already been done. If we mistake not, we have shown 
that the medical art, in its relation to the public welfare, holds a very 
high rank in importance, certainly as high as the art of the school- 
master or tanner. We have shown, too, that medicine is a difficult 
and comprehensive study, requiring natural talent, and a long period 
of diligent training, in such as would practice it successfully, and is 
not surpassed in these respects by any art or profession whatever, 
whether it be pleading, or tanning, or school keeping. Fartherrnore, 
we have shown that the business of a physician offers very great ad- 
vantages for imposition to artful, incompetent and irresponsible men, 
certainly as great as the advantages of the attorney, the pedagogue, 
the auctioneer, the taverner, or the tanner. Are we not right, then, 
when we contend that the present medical laws ought not to be re- 
pealed, that ignorant and unqualified men ought not to practice physic, 
and that the guards and barriers which the public now have against 
imposture ought not to be removed ? 
Certainly, no fault can be found with the medical laws in this state 
on the score of their severity. They are the mildest possible, con- 
sistent with any legislative restrictions. They say to the medical 
student—you shall study, at least, two years, be examined as to your 
qualifications, receive a certificate of your competency, &c. Are 
these terms hard ? Can a man of ordinary capacity acquire an ade- 
quate knowledge of our profession in less lime? or can any better 
way be devised to secure this knowledge? If so, let that better way 
be adopted. If the necessary qualifications can be better determined 
than by a committee of experienced medical examiners, why, let 10 
another mode of proving competency be tried. We are not so stren- 
uous about theform of the thing as the thing itself. 
But how far are the law-s relating to our profession really exclusive 
or oppressive in their operation, and what is the penalty attached to 
their neglect ? They do not prevent the freest competition, and all 
the benefits which flow from it; or a supply of licensed physicians at 
all times equal, at least, to the demand. They do not point out to 
the people the person they shall employ when they are sick. They 
allow all the utmost freedom of choice. A man who is ill, or even 
not ill, can employ a “ regular doctor,” or a “ botanic doctor,” or an 
“ Indian doctor,” or a doctress, one or more, until his means are 
exhausted and no one has business to interfere. He can swallow 
calomel, or lobelia, or tansy tea, or “ doctor Brandreth’s pills,” or 
nothing, as best suits his fancy. He can have the fullest benefit of 
that peculiar wonder-working skill which comes from inheritance, or 
purchase, or inspiration, or inoculation, or which is the possession 
of root-doctors, patent-doctors, cancer-doctors, &,c., and which a 
man whose knowledge is derived from observation and study can, of 
course, never learn. Nor does the law prohibit the man (or woman,) 
who has this skill from using it to the utmost advantage, either of 
himself or the world. He is not liable to a prosecution for improv- 
ing his faculty, like the unlicensed attorney, or tanner, or auctioneer. 
But the unlicensed practitioner cannot collect his fees! True, he 
cannot by law; or rather, he cannot enforce payment. This is the 
penalty, and the whole penalty, for neglecting to qualify himself for 
his business, and submit to an examination relative to his attainments. 
No inconsiderable part of the beneficial effects of the present med- 
ical laws is derived from the sanction and authority which they give 
to just and healthful sentiments on an important subject. They may 
be considered as the expression of an opinion, by wise and influen- 
tial men, that an intelligent, learned and faithful medical faculty 
should be sought, and encouraged, and trusted—an opinion, having 
no slight weight with the community at large. They virtually say— 
We, the enactors, representatives of the people, being impressed w'ith 
the importance of an able and skillful body of physicians, and the ne- 
cessity of education and a diligent course of training preparatory to 
the successful exercise of the medical art, do enact, &c. We need 
not say that the repeal of the medical laws, under present circum- 
stances, would have the effect to throw the whole weight of legisla- 
tive authority into the opposite scale. Such repeal would, virtually, 
be an expression of the opinion that medicine is not a science, and 
is not learned by observation and study ; that the art of curing dis- 
eases may be something akin to a knack or “gift;” that the igno- 
rance and stupidity of a man afford no ground for distrusting his 
competency and skill as a “ doctorand that mountebanks and 
knaves, and all that genus, are just as likely to be skillful and trusty 
physicians, as men of science, learning and honor, and therefore 
ought not to be discouraged. 11 
We now come to a topic we would gladly enough avoid, could 
we do it without having our motives misinterpreted, It has hitherto 
been our policy not to take notice, as a body, of particular forms of 
quackery occurring ivithout the profession, unless we have been dis- 
tinctly called upon to do so, as in the present instance. It has al- 
ways been one of the primary objects of empiricism, whatever its 
shape, to provoke the profession to take an attitude of open hostility 
against it—an attitude which our notions of self respect, as well as 
our interest, would lead us to avoid. There is no cry with which 
the public sympathize so warmly, or which will go so far in making 
an insignificant man a prodigy, as the well-founded cry of persecu- 
tion. The meanest pigmy who can make the world think that the 
world is conspiring to crush him, suddenly swells to the dignity and 
stature of a giant.—But we return to our more proper subject. 
It is well known that the petitions for the repeal of that section of 
the medical laws which says that the irregular practitioner shall not 
collect his fees by law, have been got up and principally signed by 
the friends of what purports to be a new system of medicine, called 
the “ Thomsonian system”—a system (we call it so by way of 
courtesy,) until lately not much known in this state. It is supposed 
that if this repeal can be effected, the “new system” will receive a 
great benefit. It now becomes our duly (not a pleasant one) to give 
some account of this system. 
Samuel Thomson, who claims to be its founder, was born in New 
Hampshire in 1769.* He claims to have discovered his “emetic 
weed” (lobelia) when he was four years old. He was brought up 
to hard work upon a farm. At eight years of age, he seems to have 
taken his first lessons in medicine of an old woman who lived in the 
neighborhood of his father’s, who was skilled in the use of “ roots 
and herbs,” and who, he affirms, cured him of canker-rash. He ap- 
pears to have had no education, not even such as is the privilege of 
the most destitute now-a-days in New England. He early became 
dissatisfied with the “regular doctors,” and, consequently, began to 
prescribe for himself, and subsequently for his neighbors and friends. 
In 1805, his practice had become so. extensive that he found it im- 
possible to attend to his farm, and as he “ had always a very strong 
aversion to working on a farm,” “ the reason of which he could not 
account for,” [his own words,] he finally, after “ having maturely 
weighed the matter,” “concluded to make use of that gift [his own 
words again] which I thought nature, or the God of nature, had im- 
planted in me ; and if I possessed such a gift, I had no need of learn- 
ing, for no one can learn that gift.”—And he immediately “thought 
of what St. Paul says concerning the different gifts by the same 
spirit; one had the gift of prophecy ; another, the gift of healing ; 
another, the working of miracles.” After these reflections, he con- 
* Our facts are all taken from his Narrative of his own Life, and New Guide to 
Health, written by himself, and edited by Abner Kneeland. 12 
eluded to consecrate his life to the exercise of his “ gift in healing 
the sick,” (his favorite mode of expression.) Since that period, he 
appears to have seen much hard and various service, and has spent 
his time in Portsmouth, Boston, Maine, and other parts of New Eng- 
land. Most of the latter part of his life seems to have been occupied 
in forming botanical societies, selling his “ family rights,” (the right 
of using his patent for families,) establishing agencies, and quarrel- 
ling with his agents, who, by his own account, (doubtless a true one,) 
have taken every opportunity to defraud him and usurp his honors. 
His chosen confidants and associates seem, in almost all instances, to 
have turned out plunderers and knaves! What a comment on the 
integrity of his followers !! One Horton Howard, an agent for the 
Western country, sold in three and a half years eighty thousand dol- 
lars worth of rights! In order to get a settlement with him, Thom- 
son was obliged “ to sacrifice about seven eighths of what should 
have been coming to me” (him)! 
Thomson appears never to have studied medicine at all, in any of 
its branches. All his discoveries he claims to have fished up from 
the depths of his own understanding ; though his knowledge of dis- 
ease and of remedies, (such as it is,) has evidently been picked up 
among the grandmothers and nurses of our country—those living re- 
positories of traditional medical lore, for wdiom we entertain, of 
course, a most profound respect. Though very clearly a man of 
considerable shrewdness, and for aught we know, mainly honest in 
his intentions, he gives proofs of the most perfect ignorance of what 
we call medical science. He shows himself entirely unacquainted 
even with botany, about which his followers make such a flourish. 
When applying for his first patent in 1813, he was obliged to go to 
Dr. Mitchell for the botanical names of the plants he used. As it 
regards anatomy, physiology, pathology, chemistry, &lc., they are 
not even mentioned in his book, except so far as they are under- 
stood or wm-understood by matrons and nurses. He says not one 
word from which we may infer that he ever saw the interior of a 
man. He professes great success in surgery and midwifery, as well 
as physic, notwithstanding. 
What may be called Doctor Thomson’s theory, invented by him- 
self, (we call him doctor to show that we are willing to share the 
honor of the title with any body who claims it,) seems to be a muti- 
lated copy of a very ancient one, originally the property of one Hip- 
pocrates, (who lived some three thousand years ago,) the remains of 
which are still to be traced among the medical wiseacres of our land 
—those skilled in traditional medical knowledge. It had its birth, of 
course, before the dawn of accurate science. We give the gist of 
the theory, as discovered by Dr. Thomson, in his own words. 
“I found, after maturely considering the subject, that all animal 
bodies are formed of the four elements, earth, air, fire and water. 
Earth and water constitute the solids, and air and fire, or heat, are 
the cause of life and motion. That cold, or lessening the power of 13 
heat, is the cause of all disease; that to restore heat to its natural 
state was the only way in which health could be produced; that the 
constitutions of all mankind being essentially the same, and differing 
only in the different temperament of the same materials of which 
they are composed ; it appeared clearly to my mind, that all disease 
proceeded from one general cause, and might be cured by one gen- 
eral remedy ; that a state of perfect health arises from a due balance 
or temperature of the four elements ; but if it is by any means de- 
stroyed, the body is more or less disordered. And when this is the 
case, there is always an actual diminution 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 I found that all 
the disorders which the human family were afflicted with, however 
various the symptoms, and different the names by which they are 
called, arise directly from obstructed perspiration, which is always 
caused by cold, or want of heat; for if there is a natural heat, it is 
impossible but there must be a natural perspiration.” 
All this, or rather the original of all this, (for the copy is mutilated 
and imperfect,) is ingenious enough, when it is considered as the 
product of pure reflection, without the aid of observation and experi- 
ment, or the lights of modern science, (and it should be so consid- 
ered in the case of Hippocrates, the author;) but what are we to 
say of such wretched stuff, put forth, at this day, as true and original 
doctrine? “ I found,” says Dr. Thomson, and “ I found,” he re- 
peats ; but how did he find what he describes? why, by “maturely 
considering the subject!” And is this the way to analyze a man’s 
frame ? Why did he not first look into the human body, and then tell 
us what it is made of, instead of staring on its outside, and after- 
wards “ maturely considering” its composition? Really, we feel 
that we are consenting to an act of humiliation in exposing such ob- 
vious absurdity—such nonsense, thrice distilled. To tell the truth, 
we feel ashamed of ourselves, ashamed of our common nature, and 
ashamed even of our country, that circumstances, aye, that public 
opinion, should require of us this exposure. What school boy does 
not know that neither of the above named elements are elements, 
with the exception of heat ? Earth consists of more than sixty ele- 
ments ; air, of at least three, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid 
gas ; and water of two, oxygen and hydrogen. 
“ Cold,” the doctor continues, “is the cause of all disease”—for 
instance, fever, itch, small pox, the inflammation which follows a 
scald, salivation from calomel, and, we suppose, broken bones and 
pregnancy, for we have noticed that Thomsonians steam for both! 
But if cold is such an enemy to life, how happens it that people 
should live in Lapland, or why should they die under the equator? 
But the doctor himself says, in another place, that bad food is a cause 
of disease, and in another that filth is a cause, and in a hundred 
other places, that sickness is produced by the “ regular doctors!” 
On one occasion, he estimates that nine tenths of all the sickness of 14 
our country is caused by calomel, opium, antimony and the lancet !* 
Can it be necessary to say more of Thomson’s theory ? 
Thomson’s principal remedies are the following. We prefix the 
numbers and names by which they are known.—No. 1. Lobelia. 
No. 2. Capsicum, or red pepper. No. 3. The bark of the root of 
the bayberry, and the inner bark of the hemlock tree. No. 4. A 
spirituous infusion of bitter herb, (balmony,) barberry bark and pop- 
lar bark. No. 5. A decoction of poplar bark, bayberry and peach 
meats, or cherry stone meats, with sugar, &tc. No. 6. High wines, 
myrrh, cayenne, and sometimes spirits of turpentine. Composition 
powder. Bayberry, hemlock, ginger, cayenne, and cloves. Nerve 
powder. The root of the lady’s slipper. 
These medicines, together with the use of steam, are embraced in 
Dr. Thomson’s patent. All of them, or nearly all, have been used 
in medical or domestic practice for a very long time, certainly be- 
fore Thomson was born. Even the lobelia, which he claims as pe- 
culiarly his own, has been known, in its more obvious properties, ever 
since the settlement of this country. It is a very active medicine, 
even dangerous when indiscreetly used, but has valuable properties 
in its place. It has been occasionally employed by regular physi- 
cians for more than half a century. Capsicum, too, is a valuable 
remedy in certain cases, and has been a favorite medicine with some 
physicians for more than a century ; though, (it is unnecessary to 
say,) it is not a specific. As for the other articles, it is sufficient to 
mention them in a general way. They are none of them of very 
much value as medicines; though all have been employed by phy- 
sicians or nurses for a long period, some of them time out of mind. 
Thomson and his followers have much to say about there being 
vegetables enough in every country to cure the diseases incident to 
its climate. When asserting this, they probably forget that capsi- 
cum, of which they make constant use, is not a native of New Eng- 
land, or even of the United States. For some very queer reasons, 
Thomson even condemns that which is cultivated at the south. 
Myrrh and cloves, too, grow no nearer us than Arabia and the East 
Indies, and ginger as far off at least, as Mexico. Of the eight com- 
pounds which Thomson has patented, four of them (Nos. 2, 5, and 
* The Thomsonians profess to use only vegetable remedies, and denounce all 
minerals as poisonous. They seem not to be aware that many minerals constitute 
a necessary part of our nutriment. Common salt is a mineral—of course “ pois- 
onous.” This “ poison” however is a necessary ingredient in the fluids of the an- 
imal system. Lime, magnesia, sulphur, and other minerals, are constituent parts 
of animal bodies, and every drop of blood is found to contain iron. The princi- 
pal portion of bones—that on which their strength depends—is a mineral. What 
a frightfully “poisonous” composition is the human system! Had the wisdom of 
Thomsonians been employed in the creation of man, surely he would have been 
formed of purer and more harmless elements. 
The shell of an egg is principally of mineral composition, and a fowl confined 
entirely to a vegetable diet lays an egg without any shell. We mention this fact 
to illustrate the benefits of a pure “ Botanic” diet. 15 
6, and “ composition powder”) always, and two others (Nos. 3 and 
4,) occasionally, contain articles of foreign growth ! 
It is mentioned, too, by the botanic faculty, as an insurmountable 
objection to the regular physicians, that they conceal their knowledge 
and deceive their patients by the use of hard, jaw-breaking names. 
But what are we to say of the patent doctors, who are so afraid of 
names of any kind, because they sometimes betray secrets, that they 
designate their medicines by numbers and arbitrary terms invented 
for the purpose, whose signification it is impossible to ascertain, ex- 
cept by the purchase of a “ right,” or by accident, as in the case of 
ourselves. The technical terms used by physicians are the received 
terms of science, whose meaning may be learned by any one igno- 
rant of it, by looking into such books as are to be found in the hands 
of every medical man, and in every book-store. Such terms are a 
lock to which every one has, or may have, the key ; whereas, num- 
bers are a lock to which there is no key, except to the initiated, or 
purchaser of a right. Here, again, we feel that the duty of expo- 
sing such pitiful objections is a degrading one ; but it has been im- 
posed upon us by authority which we could not disregard. A hun- 
dred other objections, like those already noticed, we might exam- 
ine—but we forbear. 
We shall allude but to one other topic. Much odium has been 
cast on our profession by fixing on it an unpopular name. It has 
been urged, sometimes with great vehemence, that our medical 
laws ought to be repealed, because they make the practice of physic 
a monopoly. This, possibly, may be brought forward as a reason, 
(a poor one enough, as we have already shown,) by those who are 
not themselves engaged in a monopoly ; but how can the friends of 
the botanic system, (as it is fondly called,) plead thus, when that 
same system is the most perfect monopoly in the world. No man 
has liberty to employ Thomson’s medicines, in the manner described 
in his patent, without purchasing a “ right!” Let a person’s disease 
or suffering be what it may, let him be in the agony of death even, 
and a sympathizing friend cannot so much as prepare and administer 
a single grain of Thomson’s No. 1, without exposing himself to a 
prosecution. Should Doctor Thomson himself be sent for in such 
a case, he would not give a single particle of medicine, (such has 
been his course for many years, as declared in his “ Narrative,”) un- 
less a right, costing twenty dollars, should forthwith be purchased. 
Was there ever so unwarrantable a use made of law ?* If Thom- 
son’s system possess but a tithe of the value which his advocates 
claim for it, he is beyond all comparison the greatest monopolist in 
the land. He holds in his fist a power which it is not easy to esti- 
* We have before adverted to the fact stated by Dr. Thomson, that one of 
his agents for the Western country, realized eighty thousand dollars for his sales 
in three and a half years. During the same period the rights sold by other agents 
named by him, produced an enormous amount. Yet his disciples ask for legisla- 
tion against medical monopolies! 16 
mate, and which should never be entrusted to any one man in this 
republican country. He has a certain patent mode of curing all 
diseases, of removing every pain and infirmity ; but no one can de- 
rive any benefit from it, either for himself or his friends, should his 
poverty or his principles forbid his paying twenty dollars for a patent! 
Let those who talk so much of “ equal rights” ponder this matter. 
A botanical doctor’s monopoly is founded entirely on purchase. 
His patent right is his license. Secure in the exclusive possession of 
this, and intrenched by laws which operate as though made expressly 
for his benefit, he laughs at competition, and bids defiance to the 
world. He needs no study, no science, no knowledge, no 
nothing but ample means of purchase, and he is a member of Dr. 
Thomson’s “Friendly Botanic Society”—one of a privileged class— 
and can threaten with the terrors of a prosecution all such as attempt 
to use lobelia, red pepper and steam, in the manner that he does. 
If our profession, then, under the present laws, is a monopoly, 
Thomsonism is a much greater one. The laws, in the first case, 
may be considered as reading thus—No man who shall practice 
physic, without having previously studied at least two years, been 
examined as to his qualifications, and received a certificate of his 
competency, shall be allowed to collect his fees by process of law. 
In the second case, they may be regarded as reading thus—No per- 
son shall practice as a botanic doctor, unless he shall have previously 
purchased a right of Dr. Thomson, under the pains and penalties of 
a prosecution before the United States court. As the present move- 
ment in regard to the repeal of the medical laws is made avowedly 
for the benefit of the steam fraternity, we would ask the question 
whether the friends of this movement would not find their account 
in dwelling no more on the odiousness of monopolies? 
For the reasons which have been given in the foregoing pages, we 
cannot but hope that the legislators of this highly enlightened state 
will weigh well the matter, before giving their solemn sanction to what 
we, in our hearts, conceive to be a great system of imposture. We 
cannot but look on the present endeavor to procure a repeal of the 
existing medical laws, as an attempt to break down and disgrace the 
regular medical faculty ; to bring learning and science into discredit; 
and to build up on the ruins thereof a set of idle and irresponsible 
men—adventurers in the great business of medical imposture—who, 
as a body, have no one of the numerous qualifications which we 
conceive to be necessary to a skillful and trusty physician. We 
have no doubt that this attempt, even though it attain its immediate 
object, will prove abortive in its ultimate aim. We know that this 
enlightened community will never countenance quackery as a gene- 
ral and permanent thing ; but, at the same time, we have good rea- 
son to believe that many honest men will be perplexed, many minds 
unhinged, and individual opinion in hundreds of cases unsettled, 
should the present excitement against medicine as a science, and in 
favor of medicine as a “gift,” be encouraged.