Thomsonian Medicine

"Thomsonian" in big blocky red text

Named after founder Samuel Thomson (1769-1843), the Thomsonian school of medicine was an American herbalist movement characterized by its use of purging and "heat," its mistrust of professional doctors, and its belief that the common person could treat their own ailments with no medical training.

Thomson believed that trained physicians were actively poisoning their patients through the injections of mercury and arsenic and the practice of bloodletting. This led him to develop his system, which allowed people to cure themselves with the use of botanic knowledge, thereby denoting medical training as unnecessary.

The herbal remedies were easily accessible to the average person, which meant that one could cure themselves at home instead of relying on professional physicians. As a result, medical remedies were also more easily affordable.

The Thomsonian materia medica : or, botanic family physician

Thomson lists Capsicum annum (aka Guinea red or Cayenne pepper) as a stimulant, aperient, aromatic, and expectorant in his botanical handbook. The plant is used for raising and retaining “the vital heat of the body” and for promoting “free perspiration,” which was then followed by induced vomiting using lobelia or other emetics.  

The Thomsonian materia medica : or, botanic family physician

Capsicum annum, aka Guinea red or Cayenne pepper. Listed as a stimulant, aperient, aromatic, and expectorant for the use of raising and retaining “the vital heat of the body” and for promoting “free prespiration.”

The Book of health

Thomsonian remedies often involved herbs with heat (such as ginger, cayenne, and cloves) to restore the body’s natural balance and ward off the cold that Samuel Thomson believed was the cause of all diseases.  

Flore médicale

Thomson also heavily advocated for the use of lobelia, a plant whose discovery and medical attributes he mainly attributed to himself (and a claim that was refuted by some of his contemporaries).  He described it as “of great value in preventing sickness, as well as curing it.”
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