Samuel Thomson

Early life

Thomson was born in Alstead, New Hampshire, the second-eldest of six children. His father, John Thomson, was a farmer and the family lived in a remote country area which Thomson described as a "wilderness". Both of his parents were Unitarians.

From a young age he became curious about various plants and their medicinal uses. Much of his early knowledge was acquired from a local widow who had acquired a reputation as a healer by applying herbal remedies. Thomson also used to sample the plants he found growing in the wild, including Lobelia which became important in the system of medicine he later founded. Unaware at first of the medicinal properties of the plant, Thomson used to trick other boys into eating it, which caused them to vomit because of the leaves' emetic effect.

At the age of sixteen he had hoped to study with a local "root" doctor (at that time there was no official licensing of the medical profession) but his parents did not think he had the education and could not spare him from his work. Thus, he became resigned to his life as a farm laborer. At the age of nineteen, while he was chopping wood, his ankle sustained a severe injury which, despite the ministration of a local doctor, refused to heal. His condition worsened and the family feared for his life. He decided to treat the wound himself with a comfrey root and turpentine plaster—after some weeks he was able to make a recovery.

At the age of 21, Samuel's father left for Vermont, placing Samuel in charge of the farm and leaving his mother and sister in his care. Soon after, his mother became ill with measles, and in spite of the efforts of several doctors, Samuel's mother died when the measles turned into "galloping consumption". When Samuel also became ill with measles, he cured himself using herbal remedies.

One year later, Thomson married Susanna Allen on July 7, 1790, in Keene, New Hampshire. After the birth of their first child, Susanna became very ill, and a parade of seven conventional doctors were unable to cure her. Samuel arranged for two "root doctors" to treat his wife, who returned to health the next day. Thomson and Susanna went on to have eight children.

Development of the Thomsonian System

During his wife's illness, Thomson consulted two herbalists, who treated his wife and taught Thomson some of their methods. Subsequently, Thomson used steam baths and herbs to cure one of his daughters and a son, and a few of his neighbors.

In this way, Thomson developed his own method, the "Thomsonian System", and practiced in Surry, New Hampshire, and the adjoining towns. During the first half of the 19th century, his system had numerous followers, including some of his sons. It was based upon opening the paths of elimination so that toxins could be removed via physiological processes. This was not unique to Thomson: so-called "regular physicians" used calomel, a toxic mercury-based compound, to induce vomiting and purgation. Thomson's more moderate and less toxic means attracted large numbers of followers.

Displeased with the conventional medicines and enthusiastic about the results he had had by means of his system, he proposed it as a natural alternative, stating:

Much of what is at this day called medicine, is deadly poison, and were people to know what is offered them of this kind they would absolutely refuse ever to receive it as a medicine. This I have long seen and known to be true; and have laboured hard for many years to convince them of the evils that attend such a mode of procedure with the sick; and have turned my attention to those medicines that grow in our own country, which the God of nature has prepared for the benefit of mankind. Long has a general medicine been sought for, and I am confident I have found such as are universally applicable in all cases of disease, and which may be used with safety and success, in the hands of the people.After thirty years study and repeated successful trials of the medicinal vegetables of our country, in all the diseases incident to our climate; I can, with well grounded assurance, recommend my system of practice and medicines to the public, as salutary and efficacious.

Eventually, Thomson came to believe that the exposure to cold temperatures was an important cause of illness and that disease should be treated by restoring the body's natural heat. Thomson's methods for doing this included steam baths, the use of cayenne pepper, laxatives, and administration of the emetic Lobelia inflata (also known as "Indian tobacco" or "puke weed").

Reception

Despite Thomson's popularity, some licensed doctors came to resent his work, and he was criticized for his techniques. On the one hand, some people who received his training broke with him and went on to pursue advanced medical education, founding physiomedicalism, while on the other hand, some of his former apprentices like Miler Comings, acknowledged him as an early great mentor. His detractors like John Brown accused him of lack of anatomical and physiological knowledge, and they attributed Thomson's downfall to a reluctance to interact more with doctors.

Legalities and legal charges

In 1809, Thomson was accused of killing a patient, Ezra Lovett, through the administration of excessive amounts of Lobelia. He was legally charged by Lovett's father, but Thomson was acquitted when one of his defense counsel demonstrated that one of the prosecution's exhibits, labeled "Lobelia", was actually the plant marsh rosemary (Limonium), by consuming some in court. Also, the judge found no basis to establish Thomson's fault or negligence. Subsequent literature reviews have failed to demonstrate any deaths or symptoms more dangerous than emesis from even significantly larger doses than Thomson administered in the Ezra Lovett case; but, medical reviews about Thomson's trial were diverse at the time, sometimes very critical. Thomson, however, gave his own account of this case in two of his later books, where he wrote that first he had helped the young man get better, but after carelessness at home, he told the father to seek someone else, though the father refused:

I told the young man’s father, that it was very doubtful whether I could do any thing that would help him, but that I would try and do all I could. I found that the patient was so far gone that the medicine would have no effect, and in two hours told him that I could not help his son, and advised him to call some other advice; this was said in the presence of Elder Williams, and Mr. Raymond. Mr. Lovett made answer that if I could not help his son, he knew of none who could, and was very desirous for me to stay with him all night, which I did, and stood by his bed the whole time.

Nonetheless, and despite Thomson's acquittal, many states passed "Black Laws", restricting the practice of unconventional medicine. Black laws were labeled as such by unconventional medical practitioners as a way of comparing them with laws restricting African Americans from practicing medicine and engaging in other activities. The laws were of small practical effect and were mostly repealed by the 1820s. Thomson saw this as an attempt to destroy his personal career, as he had denounced some of the medical techniques of the time, in 1839, he wrote:

For more than twenty years the Faculty tried to destroy the Thomsonian system by holding it up as a quackery. In Massachusetts, they began in 1808 to get the Legislature to help them put me down, and in that State and many others, laws have been passed since that time to prevent my collecting my debts, and to make medical practice, without a college diploma, a crime. But in nearly every State where these unjust laws were passed, the people have caused them to be repealed.

Works

New Guide to Health, or, Botanic Family Physician (1822)

The Friend to Health (1826)

Four lectures on the Thomsonian practice of medicine (1828)

A course of fifteen lectures, on medical botany, denominated Thomson's theory of medical practice (1829)

A course of fifteen lectures, on medical botany : denominated Thomson's new theory of medical practice : in which the various theories that have preceded it are reviewed and compared (1832)

A narrative of the life and medical discoveries of Samuel Thomsom (1835)

Thomsonian Manual

Thomsonian Manual. (1835). Volume 1

Thomsonian Manual. (1837). Volume 2

Thomsonian Manual. (1838). Volume 3

Thomsonian Manual. (1839). Volume 4

Learned quackery exposed, or, Theory according to art (1836)

Report of the trial of Dr. Samuel Thomson, the founder of the Thomsonian practice, for an alleged libel in warning the public against the impositions of Paine D. Badger, as a Thomsonian physician sailing under false colors, before Judge Thacher, in the Mu (1839)