16 Introduction 



such as Headland, while crediting botanic rem- 

 edies, exploited little that was new. The rage for 

 plant remedies had subsided, largely due to chemical 

 advance in Europe. 



Not so in America. There lies before me a quaint 

 and not particularly creditable book, "The Prac- 

 tice of Medicine on Thomsonian Principles," by 

 J. W. Comfort, M.D., and published in Phila- 

 delphia, in 1845. In the materia medica section, 

 the first mentioned drug is lobelia inflata, to which 

 is ascribed truly remarkable virtues and concerning 

 which many foolish statements are made. Then 

 follow capsicum, Thomson's composition powder 

 (bayberry root bark, ginger, cayenne, and cloves), 

 black pepper, ginger, bayberry, upland sumac, white 

 pond lily, wild red raspberry, witch hazel, evan root, 

 marsh rosemary, and numerous other American 

 plants, few of which survive to-day as remedies. 

 Nevertheless, some do remain, including lobelia, 

 hydrastis, wild cherry, and some minor ones; so 

 Samuel Thomson did not live in vain. His most 

 creditable successors in the botanic field were 

 Scudder and King of the Eclectic or "American" 

 School, and who, despite a minority following in 

 American medicine, really developed much of true 

 value. 



But the dominant wing of the American medical 

 profession were opposed to Thomson, Beach, Scud- 

 der, and all of the so-called "Botanies." The works 

 of Trousseau, of France, dominated the thought of 

 our writers on materia medica; and, indeed, this 

 was rather fortunate, for Trousseau was a thought- 

 ful and able man, whose writings were the very 

 opposite in spirit from the vagaries of Thomson. 



