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American Medicine & Thomson 1.01
D. Mackay
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North America & Canada
Native American Indians Medicine Wheel
Elements, Humors, Nature Spirits, Directions,ancestors, mind, body, organs, tissues, colours
Man as part of nature (holism, ?gaia)
Regional differences bioregional Ritual, sacred sites, shrines, etc
Sweat lodges, scarring (phlebotomy) Purging
Water, Diet, exercise
Doctors, herbalists, shamans, midwives, etc
Nomadic hunter gatherer
+ crops and settlements (bioregional)
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Native American Map
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American Herbs
Including:
Hydrastis canadensis
Echinacea purpurea
Lobelia inflata Cayenne pepper
Canada fleabane (conyza)
Solidago canadensis
Pacific Yew**
.numerous ethnobotanical texts; tribal pharmacopeia'savailable + the works of Michael Moore are recommended
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Herbs from North America
Check your materia medica and see if you canfind any? Check Mrs Grieves website if you arehaving trouble finding any
Or check US ethnobotany websites and native
American resoures Susan Weed (author, healer, + website) = might
be a good gateway?
Michael Moore books = very good
Find an online copy of Thomsons book andinvestigate the herbs he recommends.
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From Britain to America
back to Britain
Amongst many other colonial powers, the
British landed and established colonies in
North America
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Samuel Thomson (1769 1843)
Highly influential figure in American medicine during the1700s early 1800s
Inspired a resurgence in British herbal medicine, an interestin American herbal remedies & greatly influencing the
physiomedical school
Seen as a major impact on medicine that played a majorrole in re-establishing Vitalistic medicine
The physiomedical medical model details Vitality as thefoundation of its practice (Vis medicatrix naturae)
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Thomson began to practice in a time whenmedicine was described as `heroic medicine
Doctors were heroes, frontiers men, typifying thebrave new era. Their medicines also part of thatclaim providing sometimes radical cure whereremedies of tha past had failed and alsoemploying extreme medicines to `fight disease
= remebering that these doctors believe diseaseis caused by external ills only
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Heroic medicine employed blood letting, mercurydrugs, high dose minerals and metals; chemicalpoisons; extreme therapies that pushed the client tothe extreme
Purging had a large place in medicine
If they did not kill the patient, they were often seen assuccessful and although they could providesymptomatic relief this system did not take intoaccount suppression of illness, internal factors, nor thedevelopment of chronic disorders
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Samuel Thomson life
Sick as a child
Fixed by (Widow) Mrs Benton
His mother dying during heroic medical treatmentsdisturbed him
Medical efforts during his childrens births disturbedhim
A sick daughter the medical establishment could notcure which he himself healed through `nativetheories and traditional practice (steam bath)
His visitations from early childhood with Mrs Bentonhad a lasting effect on Thomson
Also the herbal efforts of Dr Kitteridge impressed him
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Much of the US colony started to useThomsons methods
They say 60-80% of his colony (?Pennsylvania?) were using his methods
The Doctors were unhappy and tried to have
him imprisoned and barred from practice tono avail.
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How the body works Thomson style
Seen as a fountain; cycling water and energy
With surface valves opening and closing
Vitalist = vital force animates us
Holistic = environmental `participants
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Thomson pillars of health
`Thomsonianism
Thomson accepted Hippocrates as the fatherof medicine and his practices echoed those
that Thomson had learnt from the Americantradition
Thomsonianism resurrected the concept of
the vital force as a mainstream understandingof health and the human condition
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M. Moore on Thomson
Thomson's own description of his legal problems is given in flat,understated New England dryness and couched in seeming venalparanoia.... After finishing the later material, offering 3rd partyperspective, you realize that Thomson's movement had affected amillion or more Americans, started a medical reformation thatwould not peak for another 50 years, and the brightest medical
minds of the time were split vehemently both against and forThomson's right to practice...bitterly divided between Federalistsand Republican politics...Populists and Elitists...rural and urban. Thetribulations of this former pig farmer rocked the young republic forover a decade and were headlines everywhere. Because of thesuccess of Thomson and his followers, states began, for the firsttime, regulating medical practice along party and class lines. Messy
and fascinating stuff
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Thomsons `New guide to Health
Patent medicines
Index correlates conditions with formula and advice
Herbs, doses and formulas are given numbers e.g.spoon of number one, a spoonful of number 3 and ahandful of number 4.
This made is accessible to the common people
Each patent sold came with one year supply of herbs
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Who, what, when, how
During and after Samuel Thomson
The physiomedical school
The eclectic school
Dr Coffin, Dr Cook
Thurston, Lyle,
http://www.swsbm.com/ManualsOther/Samuel_Thomson-Lloyd.pdf
*Chiropractors (arose during the same time period)
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Coffin & Cook, et al
Alva Kurtis starts the `"Independent Thomsonian MedicalSociety from which formed the Eclectic school
The Physiomedical School largely
The information from Thomson was taken back to Englandand promoted by Doctor Coffin and Doctor Cook
They are notable amongst the physiomedical and eclecticpractitioners of the time.
Along with Lyle, Lloyd and Thurston
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Physiomedical Vitalism
& the Tissue States
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THE PRINCIPA
1. The Human organism is essentially a vital
commonwealth, dominated by the Vital
force, with integrative, constructive, and
regenerative instinct
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Tissue States & Medicinal Actions
Actions of plants can be described as a variety
of classes and categories
In regard to `tissue states we can categorisethe imbalance as:
Physiological imbalance
Physiological function Organ affinity
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Physiological imbalance
E.g. astringent, stimulant, sedative, aromatic,
antispasmodic
Physiological function
E.g. Diaphoretic, antipyretic, diuretic,emmenagogue, anodyne
Organ affinity
E.g. Nervine, nephretic/nephrotic, pectoral,stomachic, cardiac
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The relationship between tissue states can be
quite specific
Specific tastes and temperatures can bespoken of in relation to specific tissue states
The basic therapeutic correlations (forphysiological patterns) are:
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Tissue State Taste Actions
Excited Sour Refrigerant
Sedative
Constricted Pungent/Acrid
Bitter
Relaxant
Antispasmodic
Relaxed Astringent Astringent
Atrophy Mucilaginous, oily
Sweet, Salty, Bitter
Mucilage
Tonics
Stagnation Bitter
Other flavours
Alterative
Detoxifying
Aperients/laxative
Depression Aromatic, Spicy
Pungent, (pine oils)Fragrant bitters
Volatile oils
Stimulant
CarminativeAntiseptics
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Tissues States = and Greek/Tibb
Medicine The physiomedical tissue states and understanding of
energetics is little changed since the original premises setdown by the Ancients
The term `tissues is a more modern translation that is/was
suited to the paradigm of the day and a part of the greatresurgence led by people suck as Thomson, Cook, Coffin,Thurston, etc
The American traditions brought forth a renewedconfidence in the vitalistic appreciation of health
The similarities of the tissue states to Greek medicine.
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HEAT = exciting
COLD = Depression
DRY = Atrophy
Damp = Relaxing
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Tissue States
Pathologies of Tissues:
Heat
Wind Dry
Cold
Damp 1
Damp 2
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*Qualities of Humors*
Black Bile = Cold and Dry
Blood = Hot and Moist
Phlegm = Cold and Moist
Yellow Bile = Hot and Dry
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Too much Earth = melancholic
Too much Air = Sanguine
Too much Fire = Choleric
Too much Water = Phlegmatic
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Physiomedical libraries
Priest & Priest
Typify the Physiomedical approach
-- all physiomedical texts
Thurston, provides elaborate discussion of the
practitioners `duty to attend the vital force
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Physiomedical Framework
The framework has been associated with theEuropean Naturopathic theory
There are also the contributions and influences of
other medical systems such as iridology,homeopathy, mineral therapy, naturopathy,nutritional medicine, conventional medicine,pharmaceutical medicine, surgical, etc..
And cultural medicines, Chinese, Ayurvedic, etc
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What we need to appreciate is how the Americanknowledge spread from America toEngland/Europe and then back to America again.
Who took up this knowledge and used it torekindle an interest in the Western Vitalisttradition
And appreciate how this medical philosophy andpractice has developed into todays practice ofherbal medicine