Lloyd Library and Museum Samuel Thomson and the Poetry of Botanic Medicine, Chapter 2

Samuel Thomson and the Poetry
of Botanic Medicine, 1810-1860

Chapter 2 The Thomsonian System

Along with Thomson's decision to make a successful business of his medical practice, he knew that it was just as important for him to fix upon a plan or course of treatment. Taking nature as his guide, experience as his instructor, and whatever knowledge he had gleaned from texts, he concluded, along with the Greeks in the fifth century B.C., that animal bodies consisted of the basic elements of earth and water, kept in motion by fire and air. Earth and water constituted the solids while fire and air were the cause of life and motion. Where heat was extinct, the body was dead; but when heat and air combined, and modified in the living animal, they constituted the living state. A vital principle different from all chemical causation gave the human body its living fiber. Having deduced that the loss of heat constituted the immediate cause of disease, Thomson reasoned there should be a few simple remedies administered as a "course" of medicine. In the beginning, he relied almost entirely on two vegetable medicines: lobelia and capsicum. Over the years, he expanded his most frequently used medicines to six and his total armamentarium to seventy. During the early years, he kept the actual names of his vegetable medicines secret, using only the Numbers One through Six to designate their function; these six numbers represented the centerpiece of his method of cure.

Thomson's Number One medicine was the emetic herb lobelia (Lobelia inflata) that he administered in three dosage forms: as a powder made from the leaves and pods (green lobelia), as a tincture made from the green herb, or as a powder made from the seeds (brown lobelia). In later decades, preparations of lobelia were offered in expanded dosage forms: fluidextracts; acetous tinctures; acetous syrups; oxymel, honey of lobelia; oils; lozenges; compound tinctures of lobelia and capsicum; balsam of honey; pills and compound pills; and suppositories.

The purpose of Thomson's Number One was to cleanse the stomach, promote perspiration, and relax the muscular system. Its singular advantage was that it acted "in harmony with the principles of life," leaving no taint of disruption on the body. Professor William Tully of Yale College described it as more efficient than ipecac and "on the whole . . . one of the very best agents of this class in the whole materia medica." He preferred the tincture form that worked in about fifteen minutes. "I am confident," Tully observed, "that lobelia inflata is a valuable, a safe, and a sufficiently gentle article of medicine; and I think the time will come, when it will be much better appreciated."

But Thomson's emetic herb could not restore heat altogether. By itself, it was "like a fire made of shavings; a strong heat for a short time, and then all go out." To augment his emetic herb, Thomson turned to his Number Two remedy, a stimulant, which held heat in the stomach until the system cleared of obstructions; it generated heat by rousing the organism, giving energy to all other medicines, and causing free perspiration. Thomson's Number Two was cayenne pepper (Capsicum annum) made from the dried seeds or pods of the pepper plant. Although pepper was principally used for culinary purposes, Thomson considered it a safe and salutary stimulant to the exhausted body. The best pepper came from the town of Cayenne in French Guinea where the pods were gathered when still green, preserved in salt and water, and shipped to the United States . American manufacturers added vinegar and sold it as a pepper-sauce. Both the ripe red pod and the green pod were effective medicines; however, Thomson preferred the green pod believing that it kept its power longer.

When cayenne was difficult to obtain, Thomson substituted common red peppers, ginger, or black pepper (Piper nigrium). Ginger also made a good poultice, mixed with pounded cracker, or red slippery or sweet elm bark (Ulmas fulva). He also recommended chewing these substitutes like tobacco, but swallowing the juice, for cough and consumption. In their absence, Thomson turned to prickly ash (Zanthoxylon fraxineum) as yet another substitute.

At this stage of disease, particularly in cases of fever, Thomson also relied on steaming, or the vapor bath, followed by medicines to clear the stomach and bowels of canker. For this latter task, he turned to astringents, his Number Three remedy, which gathered all noxious substances made by the morbid action of the disease and removed them by way of injection or clyster (enema), leaving the body free to perform its natural functions with vigor. Number Three consisted of bayberry or candleberry root bark (Myrica cerifera) combined with the root of white pond lily (Nymphia odorata). When pond lily was unobtainable, he turned to the inner bark of hemlock (Abies or Penies canadensis); the root of marsh rosemary (Statice caroliniana); the bark, leaves and berries of sumac (Rhus glabrum); the leaves of witch hazel (Hamamelis virginica); the leaves of red raspberry (Rubus strigosus); or the roots and tops of squaw weed or black cohosh (Erigeron purpureum). Thomson discovered the use of the hemlock bark in 1814 and was particularly pleased with the effects of tea made from the bark. Along with bayberry bark and lily root, it formed the mixture commonly called "coffee" among the Thomsonians and was taken by mouth or by injection. Thomson had discovered the medicinal effects of sumac in 1807 while attending a patient with dysentery. Desiring something to clear the stomach and bowels, he found that the bark, leaves, and even the berries answered the purpose. Similarly, the leaves of witch hazel became an effective enema when made into a tea. Thomson also claimed to have first used the leaves of red raspberry, discovering their particular power when at Eastport after having depleted his supply of medicines. Left to his own devices, he resorted to tasting various leaves until he found one that would work.

Thomson used clysters (enemas) to remove fecal matter in the intestines and lower bowels, support the strength of the patient, and soothe and allay irritation. He and his followers administered enemas with the same certainty they gave their emetics. Thus, when the stomach was too irritable and an emetic could not be retained long enough to take hold of the morbid matter, they administered injections, repeating them as often as necessary. An infusion of "coffee" made from bitterroot and bayberry guaranteed a good evacuation; the same was true of slippery elm and nerve powder. Thomson discovered each of these herbs by chewing them; if they caused saliva to flow freely and leave the mouth clean and moist, he knew they would work as an enema. These he used to purify the blood, scour the stomach and bowels, remove the canker caused by cold, and cleanse the internal system. The degree of canker depended on the excess of cold over the inward heat.

After successfully removing the canker, Thomson then gave his Number Four remedy, a choice of bitters to restore the debilitated organs to their proper functions by correcting the bile and digestion, thereby encouraging the natural secretion of the fluids. These included bitter herb, or balmony (Chelone glabra); poplar bark (Populas tripida, or tremuloides); the bark of barberry (Berberis vulgaris); bitter-root, or wandering milk-weed (Apocynum and rosemifolium); and the root of goldenseal or Ohio kercuma (Frasera verticillata) sometimes called orange root, tumeric root, yellow puccoon, eye balm, and Indian paint. Made into tea and used singly or together, these herbs were calculated to stimulate an appetite and restore the digestive powers.

Thomson's Number Five restorative tonic remedies included the bark of poplar and bayberry, peach-meats (Amygdalus persica), or meats of cherrystones (Prunus virginiana), mixed with sugar and brandy. The resulting syrup worked well for dysentery since it strengthened the stomach and bowels. Similarly, a tea made of the same ingredients addressed bowel complaints in children. When neither peach-meats nor cherry-stones were avail ab le, Thomson substituted bitter almonds.

Finally, there was Thomson's Compound Tincture of Myrrh and Capsicum, known popularly as his Number Six, consisting of gum myrrh (Myrrha) and cayenne prepared with wine or brandy. Also called Rheumatic Drops, the tincture was intended to remove pain, prevent mortification, and promote natural heat. Number Six possessed all the qualities of Numbers Two, Three, and Four, and served as a powerful antiseptic to pacify the nerves. The capsicum-myrrh tincture even found its way into the United States Pharmacopoeia. For external applications, Thomson added turpentine and gum camphor. His first knowledge of gum myrrh occurred as a youth while working with his father at Onion River . An old Canadian who was passing through the area recommended some of the tincture to treat his injured foot. Following that experience, Thomson began carrying it around with him, and used it successfully to restore his wife after difficult labor. On mixing it with cayenne, he discovered that the combination was even more effective than using gum myrrh alone.

An additional favorite of Thomson was nerve powder, better known as American valerian, ladies' slipper, or simply umbil. The roots of the plant were pounded into a powder that Thomson used for nervous affections, including hysteria and spasmodic affections. He considered it much safer than opium and prescribed half a teaspoonful in hot, sweetened water; alternatively, it worked safely and effectively when administered as an injection or clyster.

The following short verse became a popular signature statement used by the Thomsonians through the first half of the nineteenth century.

UNTITLED

And let us all go hand in hand,
In social, strong Botanic band,
Till all our enemies shall say,
Sam. Thomson's teas have won the day.

(Robert Story) xix

Written by Thomson, the next several poems explain the basic elements forming life and the importance of heat and cold on health and disease.

AN EXAMINATION OF MAN
(As formed from the four elements, and the cause why
life is not prolonged to age, sect, or denomination.)

Attend my friends and lend an ear,
It is of consequence to hear,
How th' elements compose man's breath,
And heat and cold are life and death.
I shall at first my reason give,
Why sects or ages cannot live,
The fire that did uphold the life,
Is quench'd by water in the strife.
Soon as the heat or fire is lost,
The active part that rules the whole,
You find the line of life is crost,
The water has the full control.
From th' extract of elements we rose,
Which earth and water doth compose,
Fire must above the water sway,
If not we turn again to clay.
Disorders take their rise from hence,
The water has pre-eminence,
Then keep the fire to bear the sway,
And make the water waste away.

And when the water gains the day,
Or cold upon the heat doth play,
Then cold and heat do held their strife,
The battle is for death or life.
And if the heat shall gain the day,
Then life and health shall bear the sway,
But if the cold the victory gain,
Then death and silence hold their reign.
And this we have for our defense,
To temper well the elements,
Always have before our eyes,
The fever never to despise.
When e'er the fever struggles hard,
As your best friend do that regard,
Assist to overcome the cold,
Then nature will the vict'ry hold.

(Dr. Samuel Thomson)xx

ON THE BOTANIC SYSTEM OF PRACTICE

Attend, my friends, and lend an ear;
It is of consequence to hear.
And this remark, that through our days,
Heat's life and health, in different ways.

It animates our frame complete,
The sun is life, and full of heat;
With the glad influence of its beams,
He cheers the earth, warms the chill'd streams.

Makes all creation joy and sing,
To vegetation gives its spring;
Corn, wine and oil, herb, fruit, and flower,
Are ripen'd by his kindly power.

Fish, fowl, and beast, in diff'rent ways,
Feel life and health in his blest rays;
But man, creation's noblest boast,
Feels, and should own his blessings most.

I think you all will yield assent,
Whom nature's laws approve,
That heat's the only element,
That makes creation move.

Look at the earth in winter time,
Fields, trees, plants, flow'rs decayed.
Then view again when spring returns,
Them rising from the dead.

By this we find that coldness kills,
That heat makes all things rife;
And that the influence of the sun,
Gives all creation life.

When fire 'bove water bears the sway,
It through the pores wastes its away;
When this is general throughout,
The man is healthy, firm, and stout.

But when the water overpowers,
The stomach's chill'd and shut the pores;
The elements then temper well,
And health with you shall ever dwell.

Our Father, whom all goodness fills,
Provides the means, to cure all ills;
The simple herbs, beneath our feet,
Well us'd, relieve our pains complete.

While doctors rove in foreign parts,
And rack their powers and skill, and arts;
Health's medicines grow upon our land,
They're ours, by stretching forth our hand.

This art I studied from my youth,
And now assert it as a truth;
I can them use in different ways,
And turn a fever in two days.

If any one should be much bruis'd,
Where bleeding frequently is us'd;
A lively sweat upon that day,
Will start the blood a better way.

Let names of all disorders be,
Like to the limbs join'd on a tree;
Work on the root, and that subdue,
Then all the limbs will bow to you;
So as the body is the tree.

My system's founded on this truth,
Man's Air and Water, Fire and Earth;
And death is cold, and life is heat.
These temper'd well, your health's complete.

How oft we hear the doctors say,
"The Fever, it must have its way!"
If that's the case, I would ask you,
What good, they or their medicines do?

Man is perplext, and much to do,
Than has a talent forth to show;
Much opposition he will find,
If 'tis against the common kind.

Must man be silent, while he's breath,
And hide his talent in the earth;
When nature urges him to move,
And not the gift of heaven improve?

Like Absalom, I'd sooner bear,
To be suspended by the hair;
Than silent lie, devoid of good,
And not improve the gift of God.

(Dr. Samuel Thomson) xxi

UNTITLED

I think you all will yield assent,
Whom Nature's laws approve,
That heat's the only element
That makes creation move.

Look at the earth in winter time,
Fields, trees, plants, flowers decayed;
Then view again when spring returns,
Them, rising from the dead.

By this we find that coldness kills;
That heat makes all things rife,
And that the influence of the sun,
Gives all creation life.

(Dr. Samuel Thomson)xxii

Calvin Morrill of Ohio prepared this next verse which captured Thomson's hatred of the professions as well as his theory of heat and cold.

MEDICAL POEM

Out of the earth the Lord did man create,
And from her dreary bowels separate;
To occupy a more exalted sphere,
And be supported by the vital air.

Now, if the separation was complete,
From deathly cold to vivifying heat,
What sluggish matter could remain behind,
From which his vitals could sustenance find?

Or how did heaven's wisdom first contrive
To keep the living animal alive?
Did nature then his wasted flesh restore
With silver, copper, lead, or iron ore?

Were such the means that wisdom did prepare,
The wastes of perspiration to repair?
Nay, nay, the herb and vegetated fruit,
Man's constitution did much better suit.

But whence the fruit, the herb and healing weed,
Did they not also from the earth proceed?
Created by the lord upon a plan,
Congenial to the properties of man.

If wisdom, then, knew just what man would want,
And did provide the herb, and healing plant;
What must they get, who wisdom's path will shun
And after wicked men's inventions run?

Misguided men, called doctors and divines,
Bring their restoratives from hidden mines
Of silver, copper, iron, zinc, or lead,
Or systems of divinity as dead.

And to support this hellish two fold cause,
The learned lawyer forms his mistic laws;
These three professions working hand to hand,
Bring unremitting curses on the land.

The priest and doctor claiming the control,
One of the flesh, the other of the soul!
Hell and the pit, from whence they dig their stuff,
Are never filled, they never cry enough.

And as capacious is the thirst for fee,
From the estate divided by the three;
But dropping their divinity and law,
Some strictures on the doctor we will draw.

By pointing out a few of wisdom's rules,
Confounding to their college learned fools,
That wisdom's children, though they are but few,
Her simple paths may venture to pursue.

The life of man is hidden in his veins,
'Tis by the blood he senses all his pains;
Extract the blood, the sense of pain is lost,
But vital matter surely pays the cost.

The blood, which hath its motion from the air,
No damp or chilling medicine can bear;
For let the frigid matter touch the heat,
And from its opposite it must retreat.

(At least it must obstruct its course,
Till animated by superior force.)
Thus fever may be checked beyond a doubt,
Until the very life is checked quite out.

But by the truth I'm authorized to say,
Whoever checks a fever in this way,
Must bring the perspiration to a close,
and might as well stop up the mouth and nose.

The pressure of the air upon the heart,
Forces the fluid into every part;
Check it with some refrigerating damp,
You might as well pour water on a lamp.

'Tis from obstructions of the vital air,
That maladies are seated here or there;
The air then presses with redoubled force,
Which makes the blood muck quicker in its course.

Then if the blood is roused up to go
With such velocity against a foe,
Not mineral damps, but vegetable fire,
Must be the aid that nature doth require.

The more external air that's taken in,
The more must seek its exit through the skin;
And as the air is an elastic thing,
Heat in the stomach, gives it vital spring;
The heat will rarify it, and expand,
Until its power no demon can withstand.

Now, to prepare for the effects of heat,
And drive the foul obstruction from its seat,
The pores must all be opened, and stand clear,
To give free circulation to the air.

And if this moisture nature don't beget,
Produce it by an artificial sweat;
When this is done by means that's safe and mild,
Release the stomach from the surplus bile.

Then in it you may start a living blaze;
This in the air will vital action raise;
Which smites the heart with unexpected vim,
And drives the flowing blood through every limb.

The nurse's cry is now, good patient live,
For now the foul obstruction has to give;
The ghostly demon makes a quick retreat,
Completely vanquished by the force of heat.

The system now released from alloy,
And every part resuming its employ,
The patient must have something now to eat,
Which soon will teach him how to use his feet.
Such is the process of pure wisdom's plan,
to check a fever and restore the man.

(Calvin Morrill) xxiii

Like others before it, this verse by P. Standish of Vermont explains the significance of heat in Thomson's system of medicine.

HEAT

Of all the principles yet known,
There's none that is so great as heat--
That self-same principle alone,
Indeed doth all the rest complete.

Heat doth in motion all things keep,
The mighty universe around,
Where that goes out, all life doth cease--
All's dreary, silent, and profound;--

The forest's verdure doth decay,
Its lifeless leaves drop to the ground,
The warbling songster soars away,
There's naught delightful to be found;--

The liquid streams forbear to flow,
The sportive fish forgets his mirth--
The morning rose no more doth blow,
All nature dies a partial death.

But when the heat of sun draws near,
Oh, how quickly's changed the scene!
The grassy-blade now soon appears--
Creation greets the coming spring.

Earth shouts aloud the happy change,
And every object's crown'd with love;
The bleating-herds and hills now range--
All shout the praise of nature's God.

And as in nature, so in man,
The laws that rule are all the same--
All formed by one Great Author's hand--
All linked in one stupendous chain.

When heat on which depends our life
Is lowered, and nature's lost its power,
Then life and death create a strife,
To obtain the vict'ry of the hour.

Then medicines you should apply,
Which is composed of nature's friend;
In these you safely may rely--
In these have faith, in these depend.

Now all the art in this contained,
Is simple, plain, with ease to learn--
Remove obstructions from the man--
Unclog the stove, the fire will burn.

The surface warm with pure steam,
Cayenne doth raise the inward heat,
Lobelia makes the system clean--
When this is done the cure's complete.

But if such skill is taught of old,
For relief you e'er apply,
‘T destroys the heat, assists the cold;
You favor that which makes you die.

The doctor comes with hasteful skill,
Which does consist in learning great;
That he obtained at the' college-mill,
That fills his heart with self conceit.

He draws your blood, and blisters too,
He gives you opium, ars'nic, nitre;
He salivates and purges you--
Oh! to kill, what could be better?

Ah! blind man, thou art a dupe
To fools and quacks, and knaves besides;
In doubt and ignorance you grope,
While death goes on in mystic strides.

But t'is Thomsonians alone,
Who do the blindness comprehend--
To whom are health and peace e'er known--
Who do when sick use nature's friend.

And may the founder of the cause;
With joy and comfort e'er be blest--
And reach the land above the skies,
That will ensure eternal rest.

(P. Standish) xxiv

Written in 1840, this short verse captures Thomson's crafty doctors, the significance of heat, and the set of six numbers in his system.

ODE ON HEALTH

If you desire a length of days,
Then follow Wisdom's pleasant ways:
Beware you shun the tempting lures
Of poisonous bait and death.

Health is a blessing all must prize,
True wealth in it, tho' hidden lies,
We must beware of quack'ry's cries,
Or else resign our breath.

Our nature's may be understood,--
The wise, the blest, the truly good,
Have all combined to ease life's load
Of poisons, kin to earth.

Shall laws make inroads on our peace?
Shall crafty Doctors never cease?
Shall stern oppression mar our ease?
Oh, no! we've rights by birth.

Is heat the friend of life in man?--
Then Thomson's is the wisest plan
To lengthen out life's feeble span,
And walk in nature's truth.

If numbers, one to six be used,
Nor natural sent'nels be abused;
Then health with you shall ne'er be loos'd,
While heat you hold enough.

(S.) xxv

The following poems continue with the focus on the importance of heat as it applies to Thomson's theory of health and disease.

ODE TO HEAT

O wond'rous HEAT,
Grand agent of the great Creator,
Whose universal power pervades
All space, and penetrates all matter;
Expanding, rarifying every part;
Liquid from solid, and from liquid
Æriform producing. These states of
Being owe to thee, thou delegated
Power, their origin. 'Tis thou that
Makes creation's garden vegetate.
The seeds of life spring up in form of
Fish, fowl, insect, serpent, reptile, beast;
Or tree, shrub, plant, herb, grass and flower,
With intermediate links, to bind
Each kingdom to the other; causing
Variety unnumbered, and innumerable.
Thy genial influence causes all growth;
Matures and ripens all:--thus crowning
Earth with plenty, happiness, and peace.

But should the great Creator revoke thy
Agency entire, and thy expansive
Power withdraw from this our blooming
Earth for one short year;--Almighty Power!
What desolation, stern, and wild, would
Reign supreme, profound, o'er Earth's domain!
A gen'ral condensation of each part
Would supervene. All gaseous, into
Fluid; all fluid into solid--
Even the very atmosphere of which
We breathe, fixed like a crystal rock
Congealing, would stratify the earth,
And universal death ensue.
A cold, so cold, as ne'er before had been,
Would bind with chains of frost immovable,
Each element; while a universe of
Worlds were singing the requiem of
A sister world, in solid ice entombed!

(Anonymous) xxvi

UNTITLED

Disorder comes by losing inward heat,
That motion stops which renders health complete;
The system clogs, the juices petrify,
For want of motion only, people die.

That medicine which will the motion give,
Is near at hand, and by it we relieve;
Let no one suffer then, while nature lasts,
But application make, before 'tis past.

Let no tradition lead your mind astray,
Nor fashion keep you from the better way;
The God of nature has our wants supplied,
Would we submit, and in ourselves confide;
Obtain that information which we need,
Dismiss all learned quacks with care and speed.

(Anonymous) xxvii

UNTITLED

Go forth, little herald, with the speed of the dart,
To the sick and the dying consolation impart;
Make haste, delay not your counsels to give,
Aid the sick to recover, the dying to live.

For such is the power invested in steam,
That cures are effected much more like a dream;
No poisons are given to relieve them from pains,
And the pure natal blood flows free in their veins.

The Thomsonian system of practice is good,
For the sick by its rules are allowed genial food;
Such favors to man sure no one denies,
Advanced in old age, from their use, ere he dies.

In the Scripture (by reading) we off times are told,
That man used to live till some hundred years old;
Why was it so, had they doctors think you,
Who oft dosed them with physic, their age to renew?

Admit it was so, and the practice was good,
The art has been lost long since by the flood;
If the art had descended for the good of mankind,
Cures would be more frequent and disease would decline.

But the facts are far different, for seldom we see,
The sick so recovered as from pain to be free;
For if death they escape, there awaits yet a curse,
For the afflictions of poisons in their limbs are far worse.

(Anonymous) xxviii

The next several poems are classified as mnemonics. Once taken to memory, they aided the purchaser of Thomson's patent-right to remember the instructions and know how to administer a course of medicine. In an age when family members took to memory and entertained each other with whole stands of poetry, Thomson's verses were an important source of instruction. The first of these, written as early as 1812, included rules and regulations for sailors and for right-holders in Eastport and Portsmouth . The remainder were written by followers of Thomson and intended as an aid to others.

SEAMEN'S DIRECTIONS

Th' Emetic number ONE's design'd
A gen'ral med'cine for mankind,
Of every country, clime, or place,
Wide as a circle of our race.

In every case, and state, and stage,
Whatever malady may rage;
For male or female, young or old,
Nor can its value half be told.

To use this med'cine do not cease,
Till you are helped of your disease;
For NATURE'S FRIEND, this sure will be,
When you are taken sick at sea.

Let number TWO be used as bold,
To clear the stomach of the cold;
Next steep the coffee, number THREE,
And keep as warm as you can be.

A hot stone at the feet now keep,
As well as inward warmth repeat,
The fountain 'bove the stream keep clear,
And perspiration will appear.

When sweat enough, as you suppose,
In spirit wash, and change your clothes;
Again to bed, both clean and white,
And sleep in comfort all the night.

Should the disorder reinforce,
Then follow up the former course;
The second time I think will do,
The third to fail I seldom knew.

Now take your bitters by the way,
Two, three, or four times in a day;
Your appetite, if it be good,
You may eat any kind of food.

Physic, I would by no means choose
To have you first or last to use;
For if you take it much in course,
It will disorder reinforce.

If any one should be much bruis'd,
Where bleeding frequently is used,
A lively sweat upon that day,
Will start the blood a better way.

Let names of all disorders be
Like to the limbs, join'd on a tree;
Work on the root, and that subdue,
Then all the limbs will bow to you.

So as the body is the tree,
The limbs are colic, pleurisy,
Worms and gravel, gout and stone,
Remove the cause, and they are gone.

My system's founded on this truth,
Man's Air and Water, Fire and Earth,
And death is cold, and life is heat,
These temper'd well, your health's complete. xxix

BOTANIC DIRECTIONS

Disorder comes by loosing inward heat:
That motion stop which render health complete;
The system clogs, the juices putrify;
For want of motion only, people die.
Th' Emetic proves itself designed,
A gen'ral medicine for mankind,
Of ev'ry country, clime, or place,
Wide as the circle of our race;
In ev'ry cause, and state, and stage,
Whatever malady may rage;
For male, or female, young or old,
Nor can its value half be told.
To use this med'cine do not cease,
Till you are helped of your disease;
For nature's friend this sure will be,
When taken sick on land or sea.
Let comp'sition be used bold,
To clear the stomach of a cold;
Next take the compound strong and free,
And keep as warm as you can be;
A hot stone at the feet now keep,
As well as inward warmth repeat,
The fountain 'bove the stream keep clear,
And perspiration will appear:
When sweat enough as you suppose,
In spirits wash and change your clothes,
And then set up if you should choose,
Or else in bed in calm repose,
Should the disorder reinforce,

Then follow up the former course,
The second time I think will do,
The third to fail I seldom knew.
Now take your bitters by the way,
Two, three, or four times in a day,
And if your appetite be good,
Then you may eat most kinds of food,
Physic I'd have you seldom use;
Injections in its stead would choose,
For if you physic much in course,
It will disorder reinforce.
If any one should be much bruis'd,
Where bleeding frequently is us'd,
A lively sweat upon that day,
Will start the blood a better way.
Let names of all disorders be,
Like to the limbs joined on a tree,
Work on the root and that subdue,
Then all the limbs will bow to you,
So as the body is the tree,
The limbs are cholic, pleurisy,
Worms and gravel go, and stone,
Relieve the fountain and they're gone.
My system's founded on the truth,
Man's Air and Water, Fire and Earth,
And death is cold, and life is heat,
These tempered well, your health's complete.

(Dr. Samuel Thomson) xxx

DR. THOMSON'S MATERIA MEDICA

The coffee first steep, the pure number three,
With warm number two, then use them both free;
To clear off the cold and raise up the heat,
Now place a freestone xxxi quite warm at the feet;
The inward warmth raising, now often repeat,
And change the first stone xxxii when losing its heat.
The fountain above all obstructions keep clear,
And free perspiration will surely appear.

Then take the emetic, xxxiii the pure number one,
Until its full duty is faithfully done;
The stomach quite cleansed, and head just as free
From filth, pain and torment you'll equally be;
Then lying awhile in the sweetest repose,
You'll now wash all over and change all your clothes;
Again to your bed, both pure, clean and white,
And sleep in good comfort the rest of the night.

Now take the wine bitters, remember, I say,
Two, three, or four times in the course of the day;
Your appetite then, will surely prove good,
And you must appease it by sweet, wholesome food;
But vile sickening physic, I never would choose
To have you at first or at last to make use;
For, if you do take it, you may reckon in course,
The same vile disorder it will reinforce.

But should the disorder still not loose its force,
Pursue as directed, the former full course;
In nine often cases, I think it will do,
The third as to fail, I seldom have knew;
The Thomsonia Emetica xxxiv was surely designed,
A general specific for all human kind;
For every kingdom, country and place.
As wide as the circle that man does embrace.

In every case, and station and stage,
Whatever malady may be known to rage;
For male or for female, for young and for old,
Nor can its great value half ever be told;
To use this sure medicine, then never do cease,
'Til you are completely relieved of disease;
For nature's true friend it ever will be,
Its virtue and excellence you surely may see.

If any one's mangled, or very much bruised,
When taking of blood is so frequently used,
A good lively sweat on the very same day,
Will start circulation a much better way;
Let names of disorders, as they certainly be
Like limbs that are joined to the trunk of the tree,
Work on the root, the first cause to subdue,
Then sure all the branches will bow unto you.

Just so is your body, like the tree you may see,
The limbs are the chronics, and vile pleurisy.
Consumptions and dropsies, the gout and the stone,
Remove the first cause and they're perfectly gone.
The Thomsonian system is founded in truth;
Man's air, and he's water, he's fire, and he's earth;
And death is from cold, and life is from heat,
Then temper them well and your health is complete.

If fire from the elements abstracted should be,
Stillness and silence would reign you may see;
All life would then cease, you surely do know
Not a vestige of breathing would man ever show;
The earth, the sea, and all that remained,
As solid as marble would ever be chained;
The air that is fluid, to rock would be turned,
And all that now breathes in death would be turn'd.

Creation, a blank would ever remain,
Vitality gone from the earth and the main;
The whole would remain an immovable mass,
And death universal all kingdoms would blast,
Now think of these things, ye men of the schools,
Before you pronounce us illiterate fools;
The wisdom of ages xxxv are supporting this cause,
This system must stand, and here I will pause.

(A. A. Clark) xxxvi

UNTITLED

My worthy friend--dear E.E.F.
Health and long life to your dear self;
And, when life ends, be yours the story,
Your soul needs not a purgatory;
But, if good health be not your blessing,
I'll tell how patients get their dressing;
And, how, from them disease we force,
By giving a Thomsonian Course.
(When pen is bad, what plagues attend it,
If one has not a knife to mend it.
Such is my case--my double blader,
I purchased from an English trader;
I think it then, a dollar cost;
Alas! is to my sorrow lost.
[Not all the muses in the state
Instead of cash, would traders sate;
They're such a leech like craving set,
Cash, and not verses they must get:
And, the last cent I dare not take,
From ouch that's near dry-belly-ache.
And, so I'm forced to blur and stretch
The words my humble muse can catch.]
But, lest I should your patience tire,
Let introduction here expire.)

First, steep in water, boiling hot,
The comp. (1) or three (2) that you have got.
(If three,) when cool enough for you,
Add fourth of tea spoonful of two.(3)
In fifteen minutes do the same,
Or lack of heat may cause you shame.
This is the strength each dose may be;
Let patient drink it speedily.
Give then, injection, you should do--
One pine of three, teaspoon of two,
Two of hot Drops--one of nerve (4) too,
And just enough of number one (5)
To do the work you would have done--
(Nor e'en forget th' injections use
Whether or not the patient chooses)--
To equalize the heat throughout
As well as cleanse the bowels out.]

Now give the steam--his body be
Enclos'd, till face is sweating free;
And give cold show'r, (high heat his stood
If not, cold show'r will not be good.)
And wipe him dry, and put to bed,
And do not bundle up his head;
But, if it aches, in every troth,
You'll ease it with a cold wet cloth;
And you may change it oft, indeed,
Until his head from ache is freed.
You need not fear to do much harm
So long as body's sweaty--warm.
Great weakness, or a too cold place,
Steaming may hurt, and you disgrace--
Raise heat within--around him get
Hot stones enough to make him sweat;
And, ne'er omit to do the same
As often as the heat be tame.

Then give th' emetic--three, two, one,
Three times, in hour let it be done,
(Or composition for three, two;
Just as it pleases you to do.)
Change portions, times, as you may please,
To do him good--the least him tease;
But be thou careful, all the while
To treat in true Thomsonian style.
Keep all your thinking pow'r in use
Lest you good medicine should mis-use.
If when two portions (one) you've giv'n,
The filthy mass not forth is driv'n;
To make your patient heave and spew,
Give comp. and seal and number two,
Or salaeratus in warm water,
And soon round the bowl ‘twill spatter.
After full vomit does take place,
Porridge or gruel shows its face;
For it should not be giv'n until
Th' emetic works in right good will;
Else porridge chokes the mucous coat;
The useless medicine round will float;
And much of heavy mass will stay,
Which you would fain have got away.
An't please you, give herb tea enough,
Not to exclude the “hot and rough.”
Herb tea will do to wash about,
And help to rinse the stomach out.

If now, the cleaning work will do,
Raise well the heat, with number two--
Two doses give--and when you clean
The patient fit, you'll try the steam.
If right to do, give two quarts show'r,
To guard from atmospheric pow'r.
Yet, here, if right you still would do
Let reason good admonish you,
For, if its wrong to give, refrain,
Or all his ails may come again.
Much useless trouble you may save,
If reason's friend--not say so's slave.

If shower give the patient pain,
Just steam him till he sweats again;
Then wipe, to bed, and cover good
And give four tea and wholesome food;
But if not relished, let it be
Gruel and bitters, frequently;
Also, let not the heat subside--
Keep three and two close to bedside;
For while the canker doth remain,
These give, and give, and give again.

From poison, lancet, leech and devil
And all upon satanic level,
May Heav'n in loving mercy spare
You, and all others is my prayer.

And now, dear sir, my random racket
Ends with this scrawling wordy packet,
Hoping you'll beat my words, in work--
May Heav'n bless you, and

(Francis Burke)xxxvii

After selling a sufficient number of books and patents in a region, Thomson encouraged right-holders to form a Friendly Botanic Society and to meet regularly to exchange information. His network of societies, begun around 1811, extended through northwestern Vermont , New Hampshire , Massachusetts , and parts of New York . Members of these societies adopted a constitution, rules and regulations, including instructions for securing, using, and protecting Thomson's system of practice. Each society was limited to fifty members, with each member paying $20 for the right to use Thomson's information. Thomson turned one-half of the amount over to the society for its own use and benefit; the other half he kept. As these societies grew, he encouraged their members to appoint representatives or agents, who once authorized by Thomson, could sell additional rights and prepare medicines for the use and benefit of the association. Since the agents shared in the profits, the arrangement spawned jealousy among members who preferred to see the societies--and themselves as shareholders--benefit from any profits. Eventually Thomson stopped the practice but not before serious differences arose between him and both the agents and the societies, whereupon he chose his agents independent of the societies. Eventually Thomson disestablished the individual societies and organized them into a single United States Friendly Botanic Society in which all right-holders held membership. Rather than members viewing themselves as potential stockholders in a business enterprise, they were entitled only to communicate with other members for purposes of instruction and assistance. This poem, written by Thomson for his society members, makes yet another comparison between his system and that of regular medicine.

A NEW SONG COMPOSED FOR THE FRIENDLY BOTANIC SOCIETY

Here we, brethren, this day meet,
United in the plan,
To separate ourselves in part,
From speculative man.

The greatest speculation,
We all well understand,
Is that which skillful doctors make,
When they take us in hand.

I think this is the greatest day,
We, brethren, ever saw--
The separation of ourselves
From their oppressive law!

Their taxes were exceeding hard!
We thought our comforts dear,
To pay them such enormous bills,
Laid on us every year.

To overthrow their selfish plan,
We met in order bright,
The twenty-ninth of last July,
And 'stablished firm our right.

And what is in that right contained?
We hold our right in truth,
To use the med'cine if we please,
Of our own country's growth.

Now we'll defend each privilege,
Our liberty we'll hold,
The medicine of our country prize
Above the finest gold.

In spite of slander, we'll attend;
No monarchy is here;
Some information we shall gain,
While others stand in fear.

And great will be our blest reward,
When sickness sweeps around;
By keeping to our general rules,
Quick will relief be found.

While death stalks round in seaport towns,
And there rage pain and grief,
We have the balm to heal each wound,
And give a quick relief.

Attend, my friends, with honest zeal,
Still further knowledge gain;
Learn how great nature's God provides
The means to ease each pain.

To racking colic we'll attend,
While foes stand and admire,
To see our med'cine ease the pain,
As water quenches fire.

Our patients they are soon abroad,
With joy they meet their friends,
With gratitude praise nature's God,
Who vegetation sends.

Upon our system we'll attend,
And always keep in sight,
That fire, man's body purifies,
Tempers and keeps it right.

Tis now my object to unfold,
In a brief way to you,
My system, or the gen'ral rule,
Which you must keep in view.

See when the patient's taken sick,
The coldness gained the day,
And fever comes as nature's friend,
To drive the cold away.

And when the battle is severe,
For cold or heat to gain,
The patient in the engagement feels,
Cold chills and heavy pain.

And when the fever struggles hard,
The vict'ry to obtain,
Soon as you overpower the cold,
The patient's free of pain.

If heat is really not a friend,
Which doctors all deny,
They have been dying all their days,
And so have you and I.

But heat, if 'tis a faithful friend,
Which stands in truth so fair,
Cold med'cine has its thousands killed,
I solemnly declare.

I think you all will yield assent,
Whom nature's laws approve,
That heat's the only element,
That makes creation move.

Look at the earth in winter time,
Fields, trees, plants, flowers decayed,
Then view, again, when spring returns,
Them rising from the dead.

By this we find that coldness kills,
That heat makes all things rife;
And that the influence of the sun,
Gives all creation life.

But one thing further I'll relate,
To which I'll now attend;
'Tis fire upholds the human life,
The water makes it end.

In drowned people we perceive,
Water has quenched the fire;
To see the doctors them attend,
Is what I can't admire.

The dead man holds three elements,
He never held but four;
Instead of kindling life with fire,
Fresh air he blows in more.

Take any man that now is well,
And place him in his stead;
Blow with a bellows in his mouth,
How quick he would be dead.

Treatment like this I don't believe,
With letters I could spell;
The mode to cure a man when sick,
Would kill him when he's well.

It is a very trying scene,
To see our friends near dead;
Then by sure means to give relief,
We instantly are led.

And for the good will of my friends,
A method I will show,
That may be safely practic'd on,
When I am far from you.

If any cases of this kind,
Should happen e'er to be,
Then see what element's o'erpowered,
And strive to set it free.

The body now has lost its fire,
The water bears the sway;
Quick must the air be rarified,
Or it will turn to clay.

Then place a patient in a room,
A lively fire prepare;
And give him Nos. one and two,
As warm as he can bear.

And place hiser a steam,
With hot stones from the fire,
And keep a blanket round him wrapped,
To shield him from the air.

the body now receives the heat,
To overpower the cold;
If there be inward fire,
Life will the vic'try hold.

But if there is no inward heat,
For you to kindle to,
Then all your labor is in vain,
You must bid him adieu.

(Dr. Samuel Thomson) xxxviii

xix. Robert Story, "Untitled," Thomsonian Recorder, V (April 22, 1837), 228.

xx. Samuel Thomson, "An Examination of Man," in Samuel Thomson, An Earnest Appeal to the Public, Showing the Misery Caused by the Fashion ab le Mode of Practice of the Doctors at the Present Day; With the Fatal Effects of Using Poisons as Medicine, and the Advantages of Following the Course Pointed Out by Nature; Using Such Things Only as are the Vegetable Productions of Our Own Country (Boston: Printed for the Author by E.G. House, 1824), 32-33.

xxi. Samuel Thomson, "On the Botanic System of Practice," Thomsonian Manual, I (November 1835), 16.

xxii. Samuel Thomson, "Untitled," Philadelphia Botanic Sentinel and Thomsonian Medical Revolutionist, IV (December 13, 1838), 125.

xxiii. Calvin Morrill, "Medical Poem," in Cyrus Thomson (comp.), Learned Quackery Exposed; Or, Theory According to Art, as Exemplified in the Practice of the Honor ab le Doctors of the Present Day (Syracuse: Lathrop and Dean, Printers, 1843), 41-44.

xxiv. P. Standish, "Heat," Boston Thomsonian Manual and Lady's Companion, VI (January 1, 1840), 63.

xxv. S., "Ode on Health," Thomsonian Manual and Lady's Companion, VI (September 15, 1840), 332.

xxvi. Anonymous, "Ode to Heat," Bostonian Thomsonian Manual, VII (May 1841), 177.

xxvii. Anonymous, "untitled," Boston Thomsonian Manual, VII (November 1, 1841), 369. The author is probably either Samuel Thomson or his editor.

xxviii. Anonymous, "Untitled," Boston Thomsonian Manual, VII (September 1, 1841), 205.

xxix. Samuel Thomson, The Constitution, Rules and Regulations to be Adopted and Practiced by the Members of the Friendly Botanic Society at Eastport, Pass. [sic] and Portsmouth , N.H. Together With the Preparation of Medicine and System (Portsmouth: Printed for the Purchasers, 1812), 21-22.

xxx. Samuel Thomson, "Botanic Directions," in Cyrus Thomson (comp.), Learned Quackery Exposed; Or, Theory According to Art, as Exemplified in the Practice of the Honor ab le Doctors of the Present Day (Syracuse: Lathrop and Dean, Printers, 1843), 50-52.

xxxi. Limestone will sicken the patient.

xxxii. Wrap the stone in two, three, or four thicknesses of wet cloths.

xxxiii. "I had rather be without that very nauseous powder Ipecac, which makes me spit while I write, than to be deprived of the more agree ab le and efficacious Lobelia." (Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse).

xxxiv. "In honor and gratitude to Dr. Samuel Thomson, the Lobelia Inflata should be called the Thomsonia Emetica." (Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse)

xxxv. "With due submission to that privileged body of physicians, denominated through courtesy, The Faculty, I should place Samuel Thomson among the reformers of the healing art." (Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse)

xxxvi. A.A. Clark, T.B.D., "Dr. Thomson's Materia Medica," Southern Botanic Journal, I (January 20, 1838), 409-10.

xxxvii. Francis Burke, "Untitled," Maine Thomsonian Recorder, I (February 6, 1839), 89-90.

xxxviii. Samuel Thomson, "A New Song, Composed for the Friendly Botanic Society," in Cyrus Thomson (comp.), Learned Quackery Exposed; Or, Theory According to Art, as Exemplified in the Practice of the Honor ab le Doctors of the Present Day (Syracuse: Lathrop and Dean, Printers, 1843), 45-49.

Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8

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Lloyd Library and Museum

Bringing Science, Art, and History to Life

Samuel Thomson and the Poetry of Botanic Medicine, 1810-1860

Chapter 2

The Thomsonian System

Samuel Thomson and the Poetry
of Botanic Medicine, 1810-1860