This full length work is a treatment of the topic of Thomsonian medicine (also reckoned vegetable medicine) which came into some prominence in the 19th century. The system sought to replace the use of arsenic, mercury, and other drastic "medicines" in usage with herbal materials, especially lobelia, and also cayenne pepper, for complaints. The system was designed by a simple farmer named Samuel Thomson, who probably saved millions of lives by simply not poisoning his patients as doctors were doing at the time. The entire premodern field of herbal medicine owes part of its existence to the man. A few herbal recipes are related verbatim from Thomsons' work, and a lengthy description of competing systems such as atmopathy and hydropathy is given.
250 pages.
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