The steam doctor's defence : exhibiting the superiority of the Thomsonian system of medicine, in relieving and curing disease : consisting of facts and extracts, from the writings of the most respectable authors on the system : to which is added, some account of the cholera, and its treatment on the Thomsonian plan : with an engraved frontispiece / by Benjamin Thompson.
- Liddell, Sophia.
- Date:
- 1833
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The steam doctor's defence : exhibiting the superiority of the Thomsonian system of medicine, in relieving and curing disease : consisting of facts and extracts, from the writings of the most respectable authors on the system : to which is added, some account of the cholera, and its treatment on the Thomsonian plan : with an engraved frontispiece / by Benjamin Thompson. 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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![sonian practice valuable, and that is its simplicity, or its plain, natural adaptation to the illiterate, untutored part of the human family. The poor and illiterate require the attention of the humane and benevolent in all countries, and such are the most numerous class in society: To such the Thomsonian practice holds out the helping hand, to snatch them from pain and death, and such he invites to a participation of its benefit-'. These are some of the considerations which have determined my judgment to the botanic practice of medicine. I am fully confident, that whoever will give it a fair trial will rejoice at the success. I am respectfully, yours, &c. Robert D. Montgomery. [from the botanic advocate.] The following letter, from a gentleman in Poughkeepsie, to Dr. Coffin, was handed us some days since, but its publication has been unavoidably delayed to the present time. We are rejoiced to find that Mr. Hanncy, the editor of the Dutchess Republican, has the' indepen- dence to advocate the Thomsonian cause—a cause which must prevail, notwithstanding the powerful opposition of the Medical Faculty is arrayed against it. Poughkeepsie, July 28, 1833. Dear Sir,—It appears, from accounts from your city, that you have at last had the calumny and inveteracy of the {earned ignorant faculty heaped upon your innocent head. And for what? Because you can relieve the distress of your fellow men where they cannot! Hut the result has been exactly as I expected ; by your being not only proved innocent, but useful to your fellow citizens. It is hard and unjust indeed, to be persecuted, when we are living and acting for the good of our fellow men: yea, when our efforts and exertions are spent day and night for the cause of truth—for bleeding and suffering humanity! But such is the prejudice of some, and the interest of others, that truth, undeniable truth, is spurned from the mind; and error, gross error, received instead thereof—Hut man cannot be enslaved forever. .Mankind are examining the smooth sayings of learned ignorance and setting aside and condemning the dogmas of the faculty. They begin to think that they have taken poison long enough,—that they have already swallowed loo much of the nostrums of the learned ignorant faculty. I term them ignorant because they know little about disease, and less about a remedy. What have all their writings amounted to for FOUR THOUSAND YEARS? To a Cypher! They have not im- proved mankind in the science of medicine a whit, since the days of Galen, and 1 might have said Ksculapius. When will the mind of man be free? The slumber of ages will ere lon<r be broken,—the chains of prejudice will be burst asunder, and mankind will rejoice in the change. Hitherto, you know, the press has been closed against us by the influence of designing men : and the Brunonians, Etusbites, and in fine, all the calomel swarm, could say and do as they pleased, without our having an opportunity of vindicating our just rights. And such has been the imbecility of man, that all the Doctors said was taken for granted to be truth. But, Heaven be](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21159282_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
