Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 2027

RUEBEN CHAMBERS (fl. 1840) The Thomsonian practice of medicine. [Printed by the author] 1842 449 [2] pp. 17.8 cm.

Practitioners of the Thomsonian movement (see No. 1247) relied on botanic medicine and hot baths as their major remedies. This sect flourished during the first half of the nineteenth century and mounted a serious challenge to orthodox medicine at a time when the therapeutics of the latter physicians were chiefly emetics and bloodletting. The only requirement for becoming a Thomsonian practitioner was to purchase Thomson's New guide to health (see No. 1247) and pay a fee of $20.00. Chambers was a loyal follower of Thomson's system and commented that he had "owned a right to this incomparable system of medicine about seven years" (Preface, p. 3). His purpose in publishing the present work was to make Thomsonian remedies and information about curing a variety of disease more widely available to the general public. Chambers was careful not to divulge methods for preparation of the remedies covered by his rights but encouraged his readers to acquire the medications from a Thomsonian practitioner and use them as stipulated in the book to cure their ills.

See Related Record(s): 1247