An improved system of botanic medicine : founded upon correct physiological principles : embracing a concise view of anatomy and physiology : together with an illustration of the new theory of medicine : to which is added, a treatise on female complaints, midwifery, and the diseases of children / by Horton Howard ; in three volumes. Vol. I.[-III.].

  • Howard, Horton, 1770-1833.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An improved system of botanic medicine : founded upon correct physiological principles : embracing a concise view of anatomy and physiology : together with an illustration of the new theory of medicine : to which is added, a treatise on female complaints, midwifery, and the diseases of children / by Horton Howard ; in three volumes. Vol. I.[-III.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    concerning the cause of health and disease, will be acknowledg- ed to form a necessary part of all rational education. And we, at least, are satisfied that public opinion, to a great extent in the United States, if not in many parts of Europe, is in unison with this sentiment. It has hitherto been the case, as the same author justly ob- serves, that the faculty have contrived to retain a privilege which the priesthood have lost. Only a few years since, it was generally believed that all the concerns of religion legiti- mately appertained to the clergy; and the bible, which was re- garded as the means of salvation, was printed in a dead language, and was considered as fitting only to be entrusted in the hands of the priests. They then exercised the same despotic sway over the minds of the people, in matters of religion, that the medical faculty now do in medicine. But the time has arrived when the people will have books on medicine which they can understand, and a mode of practice which they themselves can apply and comprehend. They will no longer be obliged to go to the doctor for every dose of medicine which the exigencies of sickness may require, any more than they are necessitated to go to the clergy for a knowledge of the scriptures or the means of salvation. The bible, which, with all its benefits and blessings, is within the reach of every family, informs us that the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men ; or, in oth- er words, that the means of saving the immortal soul are be- stowed upon or offered to all; and so there is no doubt that the means of saving the body from pain and sickness are, to a great extent, provided for us, without the necessity of applying to a physician. And a system of medicine, in accordance with these sentiments, is already before the world, for its adoption or rejection, which many have already embraced; rejoicing in the certain confirmation of being now released from the thraldom of medical bondage and scientific imposition, Avhich, for ages, has been increasing, and seems, in this enlightened day, to have arrived to a degree of oppression, only equaled, inversely, by the superior scientific attainments of the profession. We hope it will not be supposed that these grave assertions are lightly made ; for we have ample testimony from members of the faculty themselves, of the gross deception which they are practicing on the credulity of the people. If you wish to know, says Dr. Gunn, how much artifice is in vogue in the science and practice of medicine, ask some physician of emi- nence to give you in plain common English, the meaning of those mysterious and high-sounding names you see plastered on bottles, glass jars, gallipots and drawers in a drug store, or doc- tor's shop. After explaining many of those hard and difficult