Am.  Jour.  Puarm.  ) 
February,  1910.  j 
The  American  Materia  Medica. 
83 
persecution) ,  and  trial  of  Thomson,  and  next  the  famous  trial  of 
Dr.  Frost.  This  persecution,  as  the  Thomsonians  accepted  it  to 
be,  did  not  dismay  Thomson's  votaries  or  discourage  their  leader. 
On  the  contrary,  it  led  to  the  more  pronounced  arraying  of  the  forces 
of  Thomson  against  the  legalized  medical  profession.  Thomson  be- 
came a  martyr  in  the  eyes  of  thousands  of  adherents  from  Massa- 
chusetts to  the  Carolinas.  A  mighty  rebellion  had  been  bred  among 
the  people,  having  as  its  centre  Thomson  and  his  system  of  medi- 
cation, its  object  being  the  extermination  of  the  "  fashionable 
methods  "  of  treating  disease  by  what  was  accepted  as  death-dealing 
processes  imported  from  Europe.  It  was  a  second  American  Revo- 
lution, that  marshalled  in  its  ranks,  as  insurgents,  a  far  greater 
army  than  had  marched  under  the  flag  of  Washington,  an  army 
made  up  of  those  who  fought  in  the  other  Revolution  as  well  as 
their  descendants.  The  prison  cell  of  Thomson  and  the  prosecution 
of  Dr.  Frost  became  living  watchwords  and  mighty  battle  cries. 
Forgotten  was  the  good  of  established  therapy.  Overlooked  were 
the  sacrifices  as  well  as  the  kindnesses  of  physicians  engaged  in 
orthodox  medication.  All  who  practised  by  authority  were  thrown 
into  one  group,  and  that  group  received  the  titles  already  mentioned, 
"  bleeders/'  "  blisterers,"  "  salivaters,"  and  even  "  murderers  !  " 
Most  excruciatingly  did  they  picture  the  process  of  salivation  by  the 
mercurials,  the  depleting  effect  of  cantharides  blister,  the  exhaustion 
of  those  bled  of  their  life  blood,  the  terrible  suffering  of  those  to 
whom  were  applied  the  horrible  tartar  emetic  plaster.  In  every 
family  was  an  object  lesson. 
Through  it  all,  such  men  as  Barton,  Dunglison,  Zollickoffer, 
Tully,  and  others  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  their  way,  seemingly 
unaffected.  But  yet  the  influence  of  Thomsonianism  was  fast  under- 
mining orthodox  heroic  medication.  It  is  questionable,  as  this 
speaker  looks  back  at  those  days  and  events,  whether  any  other 
process  or  mode  of  action  could  have  accomplished  that  which  fol- 
lowed the  methods  of  the  revolutionists,  although  many  believe  that, 
had  plain  discussions  in  a  balanced  way  been  employed  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  schools  of  medicine,  the  cruel  features  of  such  medication 
as  then  prevailed  would  sooner  have  disappeared.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
the  regular  medical  profession  generally,  conceding  nothing,  arrayed 
itself  against  the  outsiders.  It  protected  the  theory  and  maintained 
the  practice  based  on  the  application  of  the  heroic  in  medication. 
The  Cruelties  of  Thomsonianism. — But  the  Thomsonian 
