STATE OF NEW-YORK. 
No. 354. 
IN ASSEMBLY, 
May 12, 1840, 
REPORT 
Of the minority of the select committee, to which 
was referred numerous asking a change 
of the law towards Thomsorifan physicians. 
Mr. C. E. Clarke, from the minority of the select committee to 
which was referred the numerous petitions asking a change of the law 
towards certain practitioners in medicine, known as Thomsonian prac- 
titioners, 
REPORTS: 
That the petitions are very numerous, perhaps more so than on any 
other subject which has occupied the attention of the present Legisla- 
ture. The rolls of petitions, and the list of names, are amazing; 
amounting to moie than 36,000. On examining them, however, it ap- 
pears that they are not the growth, produce and manufacture of any one 
single year, but of ten long years-the same length of time that was oc- 
cupied in the siege of Troy-the tithe of a century. On inspection of 
these antiquated rolls, some of which bear that smoky and venerable 
appearance which characterizes the manuscripts which are excavated 
from the ruins of Herculaneum, the committee discover the names of 
many who have long since departed-left the warm precints of celes- 
tial day, and who, by the act of their departure, have given another 
melancholy proof that man is mortal; and that though his life may be 
sweetened and his days prolonged by that ministering angel, the phy- 
sician, that to man there is an appointed time, even though he may have 
full faith and confidence in the infallibility of the doctor of his choice. 
[Assembly, No. 354.] 1 2 
[Assembly 
The committee are the friends of petition in its most enlarged sense ; 
but they think that there should be some limit even to this right; and 
that as all temporal rights and privileges close with life, it seems that 
a good stopping place should be the grave, the more especially, as in 
the grave there is neither knowledge nor device. 
In this enterprising, stirring, speculating, go-ahead country, changes 
of location and changes of opinion are of every day occurrence ; and it 
is by no means to be inferred, that because an individual signed a pe- 
tition ten years since, that he is in favor of the principles of that peti- 
tion now. 
This fact is illustrated in the petitions now under consideration. In 
1830, a law existed which imposed a fine of $25 on eveiy person who 
should, without being authorized by law, practise physic or surgery; 
and no person was authorized by law to practise physic or surgery, 
till he had arrived at the age of twenty-one years; and until he should 
have pursued the study of physic and surgery four years with some 
physician and surgeon authorized by law to practise as such, and had 
been duly examined by and received a diploma from the censors ap- 
pointed by law to take such examination. 
At the instance and request of those styling themselves Thomsonian 
doctors, and those friendly to them, this law was so far modified, as not 
to prohibit any person from administering to the sick, any roots, barks 
or herbs, the produce of the United States. 
There is still a further provision, that any person not authorized by 
law to practise physic and surgery, shall be incapable of recovering by 
suit, any debt arising for such practice. 
The essence of the law is this : any person, whether young or old, 
male or female, in short, any being who can be distinguished by the 
name of " person," may practise as a physician and administer to the 
sick, roots, barks or herbs, the growth of the United States. But 
shall not, unless authorized by law to practise as a physician and sur- 
geon, be allowed to sue for and recover at law, for such services. 
But if any person, not an authorized physician, shall administer to 
the sick any roots or herbs, or barks not the growth of the United 
States, or any other medicines, he shall not be allowed to collect pay 
for the same, and shall be subject to a fine of $25. No. 354.] 
3 
He who should as a physician administer a portion of sulphur, or 
salts, or magnesia, or Peruvian bark, aloes, gum arabic, or myrrh, or 
camphor, or opium, medicines of well known properties, and of most 
salutary effect, cannot collect pay for his services, and is subject to a 
fine of $25. 
While he who shall adminster lobelia, or tobacco, or red pepper, or 
any other poisonous root, herb, or bark, is exempt from any such fine, 
provided the poison grew in the United States. 
It is not the object or intention of the minority of the committee to 
criticise this law, though they cannot discover any reason why it should 
not be as safe and proper, and lawful to administer salts and sulphur, 
or camphor, or gum arabic, or Peruvian bark, as the meats of the 
peach stone, red pepper, or lobelia. 
The committee only refer to the fact to show that so far from dealing 
harshly towards this class of physicians, the Legislature has actually 
strained a point in their favor, and have treated the person who uses 
the medicines which have been in use a thousand years, as though he 
was a dangerous man, and his medicines exclusively to be guarded 
against. 
Of the 36,000 petitioners, whose names have been this winter pre- 
sented to the Legislature, 12,413 pray for the repeal of the law which 
subjected to a fine of $25, any person who should practise as a physi- 
cian without being authorized by law. The committee take leave to 
say that so far as this class of physicians is concerned, this law has 
been repealed many years since. This class of physicians and their 
peculiar medicines, have been exempted from the operation of a law 
which they stigmatize as severe, against natural rights, inhuman and 
unconstitutional, while those who presume to practise as physicians 
without a license, with myrrh, aloes, salts, camphor, and Peruvian 
bark, are still subjected to this same " inhuman" and unconstitutional 
law, and submit without murmur or complaint. 
It appears to the minority of the committee, that the law thus far, 
so far from being partial against the Thomsonians, is very partial in 
their favor, and that if any persons have occasion to complain of " mo- 
nopoly" and " severity" of law, it is those who have been prevented 
from using, as physicians, those medicines which have been known as 
salutary for thousands of years. 4 
[Assembly 
The committee further report that it is idle, to say the least, to over- 
whelm the Legislature with petitions for a redress of a grievance which 
has long since been redressed, to petition the Legislature for the repeal 
of a law which has long since been repealed. 
Of the remaining petitions 6,476 pray for the repeal of that portion 
of the law which prohibits any persons, practising as a physician or 
surgeon, without being licensed, from collecting pay for his services. 
This law is equal and impartial; it extends to all. The legal quali- 
fications required in order to enable a physician to collect pay are the 
same to all; the Thomsonian may, if he chooses, become licensed 
just as easily as any other, and being thus licensed, has full liberty to 
practise in his own peculiar way and with his own peculiar medicines, 
and to recover by law for his services. 
It must always be borne in mind that this class of physicians are not 
prohibited from using their own peculiar medicines and practising in 
their own way, and that if they will study the prescribed length of 
time and in the manner prescribed by law, they have full liberty to 
receive whatever compensation the person administered to sees proper 
to pay; and that this is greater liberty than is granted to any other unli- 
censed physician. The question then is simply this: Shall the law 
give to any person, no matter who or what, the power of the law to 
enforce the payment of a claim for medical services? No fact is better 
established than this, that diseases become less dangerous, far less dead- 
ly, as we become acquainted with their nature and cause. It would 
seem that to become acquainted with the nature and cause of disease, 
an intimate knowledge of anatomy and physiology was absolutely neces- 
sary; and that to administer successfully, to their age and experience, 
the knowledge of the nature and power of medicines was equally ne- 
cessary; and this would imply a knowledge of materia medica and 
chemistry. 
The committee had progressed thus far in the investigation and 
discovering that there was a great diversity of opinion amongst the 
petitioners, and that while about 6,000 prayed for unrestricted liberty, 
17,000 prayed for restrictions, took some pains to ascertain what was 
the nature and extent of the restrictions for which the 17,000 petitioners 
prayed, and for that purpose they gave notice to Dr. John Thomson 
of this city, through whose means most of the petitions were presented Nc. 354.] 
5 
to this House, and who is the son of the founder of this system of 
practice. 
It was ascertained that there is a medical society in this State known 
as the New-York State Medical Thomsonian Botanical Society; that 
Dr. John Thomson, of the city of Albany, is its president. 
This gentleman furnished the committee with his views in writing 
upon this interesting subject, which cannot, perhaps, be better expressed 
than in his own words, which the committee take leave to present. 
It seems that the learned President of the N. Y. S. M. B. T. S. is 
himself of opinion that one year's study is necessary in order to qualify 
a physician; and that he should be of mature age, and should be exa- 
mined by Thomsonian censors, and should have a diploma from the 
said society, as evidence of such qualifications, before he was admitted 
to practise or collect pay. 
This he explains is the meaning of the 17,000 petitioners who have 
signed the following petition. 
" To the Honorable Legislature of the State of New York, in Senate 
and Assembly convened: 
"We whose names are hereunto subscribed, being citizens of the 
county of Orleans and State of New York, most respectfully beg leave 
to state to your honorable body, that there exists in this Stale a nume- 
rous and respectable class of medical men, called " Thomsonian Phy- 
sicians," whose theory and system of medical practice differs so es- 
sentially from the legally established medical practice, that the existing 
medical laws of this Stale, instead of encouraging and protecting them 
in their efforts to improve and simplify the healing art, tend materially 
to embarrass and paralyze their exertions, by depriving them of legal aid 
in collecting their dues. 
"We therefore pray your honorable body, during your present session, 
to enact a law, which shall enable this class of physicians to collect pay 
for services rendered in attending the sick; especially those who are, 
or may hereafter, become members of the Thomsonian Medical Society 
of the State of New York, and have received, or may hereafter receive, 
diplomas therefrom." 
The committee at this point encountered a disagreement amongst doc- 
tors-and the duty seemed to devolve upon them of solving a difficulty 6 
[Assembly 
which was embalmed in an adage a thousand years ago-"when doctors 
disagree who shall decide." 
According to modern political parlance, here are 6000 petitioners 
asking for the " largest liberty," and 17,000 with the learned Dr. 
Thomson at their head asking for restriction-monopoly. This great 
discrepancy of opinion strikingly illustrates a well known principle in 
human nature. 
Our good ancestors, the Puritans, took much merit to themselves, 
for crossing the wide ocean, bidding their native land good night, and 
taking up their abode in voluntary banishment, that they might enjoy 
religious liberty; but they had no sooner got here than they showed 
that though Puritans, they were still men, and thought that true genuine 
religious freedom consisted in every man being subjected to the same 
rules, belief, faith, and practice as the Puritans ; and when a few plain 
Quakers appeared amongst them, they were banished by these lovers of 
religious freedom, for opinion's sake. 
Here are the same men who ten years ago, only wanted the liberty 
of administering to the sick without being subjected to a fine. 
Next, they want that the law should sanction their practice by enabling 
them to collect their debts by law. Now they say and pray that no one 
should be permitted to collect debts except they have studied a year and 
received a diploma from the N. Y. S. T. B. M. S. 
Behold-" the advocates of the largest liberty"-of inherent rights- 
of alleged constitutional liberty-have become the open and avowed 
advocates of restriction-of monopoly. 
With the intention of ascertaining whether it would be for the health 
of the people of this State to encourage by legal enactments a new 
system of medical practice, the committee took some pains to ascertain 
the principles upon which the Thomsonian theory was based, and 
were informed that a fundamental principle was this ; that all disease 
consisted in obstruction-that obstruction produced irritation-irritation, 
suppuration, and suppuration, death. 
That the first object was to remove obstruction-the second to allay 
irritation-the third to prevent suppuration, and that failing in this, 
death must ensue. No. 354.] 
7 
Q. Who are those whom you wish should have lawful authority to 
collect their debts ? 
A. Those only who have studied and practised in company with a 
member of this society one year, and has undergone an examination 
before the board of censors, and received a diploma as evidence 
thereof. 
Q. What books do you and your pupils study ? 
A. Thomsonian Guide to Health, by Sam. Thomson; Hearsey's Mid- 
wifery ; and Barton's and Bigelow's Botany ; the Thom- 
sonian Recorder, a semi-weekly medical paper, published at Columbus, 
Ohio, and Botanic Sentinel, Philadelphia. 
Q. Do you think the study of anatomy or physiology of the least 
use to a Thomsonian doctor ? 
A. We do not, nor do we recommend the studies. We do not con- 
sider ourselves as surgeons, and those studies are useful only to them. 
Q. Are the Thomsonian doctors midwives ? 
A. We are midwives, and the most successful of any in the country. 
Q. Do you ever, in any case, bleed ? 
A. Never, in any possible case. 
Q. What stimulant do you use ? 
A. Our chief stimulants are cayenne pepper, lobelia and aromatic 
herbs ; no alcohol, no wine, no opium, no ether. 
Q. Do you use any things as medicines, except vegetables ? 
A. No ; we consider all other medicines poisonous, whether they be 
elementary or natural or artificial compounds ; every metal or compound 
of a metal. This extends to all mineral waters, no matter how popu- 
lar ; we consider them all deleterious, and of course poisonous. One 
of our apothegms is, that the metals and minerals are in the earth, and 
being extracted from the depths of the earth, have a tendency to carry 
all down into the earth, or, in other words, the grave, who use them. 
That the tendency of all vegetables is to spring up from the earth. Their 
tendency is upwards ; their tendency is to invigorate and fructify, and 
uphold mankind from the grave. 8 
[Assemble 
Q. In what light do you view, and in what estimation do you hold 
those who, having little experience, and under your father's patent, 
have a right to practise as a Thomsonian doctor ? Do you view them 
qualified or not; skilful or not ? 
A. We do not consider them fit, as general practitioners ; they havo 
merely the right to compound their own medicines, and practise in 
their own families ; and have no right or business to practise on com- 
munity ; they are not presumed to be acquainted with disease or medi- 
cine, and should not be tolerated to practise, or to collect their pay for 
their services ; community is in danger from these unskilful practition- 
ers. There are thousands of this stamp all over the United States. 
If these men ever acquire experience and skill, it is by practising upon 
community and at its expense. 
To the Hon. Messrs. Farrington, Clarke and Wheaton, to whom were 
referred the petitions of the Thomsonian Botanic Physicians of the 
State of Nexu York. 
Gentlemen, you have propounded to me the following questions, to 
be answered in writing, viz : 
Firstly. What reason does Doct. Thomson give for asking that the 
right to collect pay by law, should be confined to those who shall 
hereafter become members of the New-York State Thomsonian Bo- 
tanic Medical Society ? 
Secondly. Docs he want that society to be incorporated, and if so, 
under whoso diicction and superintendence shall it be ? 
Thirdly. Who shall prescribe the course and length of study for 
students ? 
Fourthly. What principles do you practise on ? 
Fifthly. What books do you study ? 
Sixthly. How long a time ? 
Seventhly. What studies are those which the old practitioners pur- 
sue which you deem useless ? 
In the first place, why is here a system of medicine springing into 
existence so opposite to the principles of the long established and 
popular systems of the present age ? I answer that it was by the fail 
ure of this old established system of medicine, to restore those to No. 354.] 
9 
health whom we are accustomed to cherish above all other earthly ob- 
jects ; that the human mind was led to wander into the wide regions of 
philosophy, unguided by any human theory except reason and common 
sense. My father had been much subject to sickness in his family, 
and was anxious to have the best medical attendance in his vicinity; he 
actually employed the best physician within several miles to remove 
and locate himself upon his farm, and while the doctor was yet a re- 
sident upon his farm and within the space of a few years, five different 
members of his family had been pronounced as incurable by this same 
physician, and when the patient had been thus abandoned, my father 
was first stimulated to try what he could do to alleviate or mitigate the 
sufferings of the patient, and happily succeeded in restoring every in- 
dividual to health ; now, says my father, if this long established system 
of medicine fails to restore the different members of my family, and I 
then take hold and do for them what was expected from those who 
professed superior skill, is not my treatment the best. From that time 
forward which is now near fifty years, he has never employed a regular 
physician to the knowledge of the writer. The neighbors who were 
called together to assist at his house as is usual in country neighbor- 
hoods in time of sickness, and more especially when the patient was 
supposed to be dangerously ill, were led to observe the least change 
that took place with the patient, and observing the happy effects of my 
father's nursing upon the members of his own family, became the first 
messengers to herald the Thomsonian system of medicine to the 
world. In the course of time many of the relatives or friends of those 
kind neighbors were stricken down by the hand of disease, and the phy- 
sician being employed as usual, as the best judges of remedies for the 
sick, as in the case of my father's family, in many instances gave the 
patient over as incurable. The human mind being now upon the rack 
for any thing that would in the least mitigate the pains of the sufferer, 
it would be remarked, why not send for Samuel Thomson, and have 
him nurse the patient as he does those of his own family. This course 
was usually adopted and I have no knowledge of his ever losing a 
patient in his own neighborhood. 
Thus his plan of nursing was adopted by the near neighbors, and 
from them it went from house to house, from town to town, and from 
State to State, until it is now more or less known in every State in the 
Union; and the advocates or friends to the system arc computed by the 
celebrated Doct. Benson Waterhouse to amount to upwards of 3,000,- 
000. It was by their philosophical experiments and the happy results 
[Assembly, No. 354.] 2 10 
[Assembly 
attendant upon the same, that first led my father to exclaim, in the lan- 
guage of the poet, surely the " greatest study of mankind is man." 
Having been thus successful in his nursing, he was led to inquire 
upon what principle the animal functions were brought into action, and 
by what principle they ceased to act. The practical operations of his 
medicines were narrowly investigated ; and a reason for the specific 
operation of each medicine upon the system was required. My father 
at last settled down in the belief that the human system was a species 
of animal machine, subject to the action of the elements, and when 
deranged, was to be put in order by a judicious temperament of the 
same elements by a skilful repairer, whose duty it is to know, particu- 
larly, the principle by which the machine is deranged; and, under- 
standing the deficiency, may know how to restore the absent principle 
in all cases where the principle of life is not so far gone as not to have 
sufficient to build to, or the machine so far decayed as to be be- 
yond restoration. For example ; the foetus, before it comes into exist- 
ence, is formed by nature with all those little intricacies of machinery 
that are designed for usefulness in life, viz : the organs of respiration, 
digestion, the nervous and arterial systems, &c. &c. But in its pre- 
sent state, the mother's breath, food, and beverage, and other support, is 
that of the child. Its birth changes the scene ; the child then acts for 
itself: it changes a temperature of about 102 degrees of Fahrenheit for 
one of about 65 to 80. The moment this low temperature strikes the 
surface, the outward warmth is slacked or reduced; the atmospheric 
pressure being very near 16 lbs. weight upon the square inch, presses in 
upon the organs of respiration and the lungs are at once inflated : the 
temperature being so much greater upon the lungs, (say 102 degrees,) 
than upon the surface (from 65 to 80,) that the warmth of the lungs 
immediately rarifies the air to near the temperature of the blood; by 
which means it becomes so light and expanded that the 161bs. upon 
the square inch of the surface pressure will not admit of its continu- 
ance longer upon the lungs ; and the air, from the buoyancy it has ac- 
quired from the warmth, seeks an equilibrium by rising above, in con- 
sequence of the heavy external pressure upon the region of the chest 
upwards, which crowds it out, and with it, the first sound of the voice is 
a cry. This is the first movement of the machine in producing sound, 
which, by cultivation, is made to express every passion and want that 
the body may require : and a judicious practitioner of medicine is its 
xepairer; and to keep it in active operation until it wears out, and in No. 354.] 
11 
old age every wheel having borne its proportion of labor, it voluntarily 
falls to pieces. 
This frail bark was thrown into life, and he that modeled it, pro- 
nounced it perfect: therefore, he does not design that we should take 
any part away, any more than that we should add to it; as we can do the 
one, in a philosophical point of view, as well as the other. The phy- 
sician, as the repairer, has no more to do than to remove the clogs and 
obstructions that retard the motion of the geering, without removing 
any part of the machinery ; for if you take out any part of this compli- 
cated machine it is never as perfect afterwards; and you obstruct, to 
a certain degree, the whole work, the same as any artificial machine ; 
for instance; a clock or steam-engine. The child, if healthy, contin- 
ues to grow : his arms, legs, body and face are plump and full: we 
see no indications of old age, such as wrinkles or loss of flesh: he 
comes up to youth, to manhood, or the meridian of life, which is from 
25 to 35 years of age : the members of his body may now be said to 
have acquired their full vigor. It may now be truly said of the man, 
as of fruit, he is ripe. He turns the point of life from the zenith and 
begins to wear or decay. You will hear him remark, I cannot do quite 
as much as I could once : my food does not appear to afford that sub- 
stantial support it did once : my rest is deficient: my nerves have be- 
come tremulous : wrinkles are fast gathering in my face and hands : 
my limbs fall away; and why is all this decay ? The man does not 
know: he says, I am growing old; but that does not answer the 
question. The fact is, the first part that gives away is, the organs of 
digestion by which the whole fabric is supported, these organs have 
become first blunted, and are not capable of extracting the same quan- 
tity of nourishment from a given quantity of food as before the man 
had attained the meridian of life or before the fruit became ripe. 
Well, under this state of things, something must be done to keep up 
vital energy. It will be remembered that while the man was coming 
to maturity he was laying up in store, strength of blood, size of muscle 
and bone, and a good store of flesh-the fuel of life. If his appetite 
should fail, you know the man would not die until all his flesh was 
nearly gone, and he a mere skeleton ; for in proportion as the appetite 
fails, nature calls upon the stock of flesh already in store, which was 
laid up in early life to support the body in the decline of life, the same 
as a man who is ambitious in youth to lay up a sufficient competency 12 
[Assembly 
for the income to support him; but if the income fails to give him a 
a good and sufficient support, he must make drafts upon the principal, 
light or heavy, as the circumstances of the case may require. 
It is precisely the same with the human system. You will perceive 
an old gentleman far advanced in life, if he has not injured his consti- 
tution in his younger days by taking medicine, or lost any of the vigo- 
rous properties of the first stock of his blood, by taking a part of it 
away or weakening the same by injuring the digestion, through which 
the blood receives its support, by animal or vegetable poisons, he will 
run gradually down. As the digestive powers fail, the drafts upon the 
flesh are more urgent and heavy, and it is not unfrequent that we see 
the person at the advanced age of seventy, eighty, ninety and even 
one hundred years of age, while apparently in his usual health, die 
sitting in his chair, or in the field, or in the midst of his avocation, the 
fuel of life having become completely exhausted, or the lamp of life 
being drained to the very bottom and the light has become extinct for 
the want of oil, or nature having completely exhausted from her store- 
house the means necessary to sustain life. Such a machine we consi- 
der has been under the management of a judicious repairer, engineer, 
or physician if you please ; has been brought to maturity by judicious 
management; has nurtured a vigorous constitution and by prudent ma- 
nagement has laid aside for future use, a suitable quantity of the mate- 
rial to sustain and prolong life after the person has passed the meridian 
to its last moments. 
Thus you will perceive that the Thomsonians, by understanding 
the above theory, and practising upon the same principles, are treating 
the system philosophically. As our theory was formed from our prac- 
tice, and our remedies are in harmony with life ; as they will assist na- 
ture in her most depressed situations, or when there is a sufficient 
spark left to build to, and the remedies will not prove detrimental if 
given by the practitioner whose judgment has been matured and regu- 
lated by a scale established by extensive experience and observations 
by the bedside of the sick, no other standard can be depended upon. 
It may be said, why not let any person, who feels so disposed, try the 
same kind of experiments as my father did, and run the risk of esta- 
blishing a theory for himself; to which I reply, has every person, or 
one in 10,000,000 if you please, the same capacity of mind for in- 
quiry as my father had ? if so, is it probable he would have the same No. 854.] 
13 
chance to bring his unpolished judgment in contact with the regular 
physician, and have them balanced in the true scale of practical utili- 
ty ? After all where is the uncultivated mind sufficiently strong to buf- 
fet the rough torrent of popular prejudice, and maintain principles di- 
rectly at war with the long established practices of the day, and work 
out, as it were, from the rough, a system so philosophical as to be ca- 
pable of being brought home to the understanding of every mind of 
moderate capacity, without at once adverting to the old system of prac- 
tice as a guiding star, as was the case of Samuel Thomson, who 
proved every principle of his theory by his practice as he progressed, 
and is ever ready to assign a philosophical reason for every principle 
advanced. 
You now see the Thomsonian system of practice, as patented by 
my father, used by millions of the inhabitants of these United Slates, 
and it must be expected that whenever a system of medicine has been 
discovered, or any new theory been brought to bear so extensively upon 
the welfare of community, it will be liable to abuse, and must eventu- 
ally become subject to legislative regulation. By some, the Thomso- 
nian system of medicine has been made a matter of speculation, by 
which there has been much complaint by the people. Those who 
have been the greatest cause of these complaints, were those who have 
failed in other pursuits in life, such as mercantile, mechanical or com- 
mercial, and casting about for an avocation by which to obtain a sure 
livelihood with the least trouble and expense, and have adapted the 
Thomsonian system as the one best calculated to bring about so de- 
sirable an object. It is against this class of practitioners the commu- 
nity wish to be protected. Such individuals commence their practice 
from reading, not having had any previous knowledge practically with 
the experienced practitioner. 
My father's patent-right extends only to the purchaser, and his fami- 
ly right; it docs not contemplate that a person who has purchased the 
right to compound and vend the Thomsonian medicine is also entitled 
to set himself up as a practitioner, without first obtaining a know- 
ledge of the principles and practice with some person who is well quali- 
fied to instruct practically. Now if there is a law compelling the students 
to comply with the terms of the New-York State Thomsonian Bota- 
nic Society before they shall be able to collect pay by law, it will be a 
stimulus for the student to prepare himself to be legally allowed to 
practise. From those persons who have only purchased a family right, 14 
[Assembly 
the correct practitioner suffers much wrong from the hands of commu- 
nity, who invariably class them together; while the one has an exten- 
sive practical knowledge and a good understanding of his theory, the 
other has only a slight knowledge of the theory by reading only, without 
any practice. 
Secondly. All that is required by the New York State Thomsonian 
Society is, that those who wish to practise shall not be able to collect pay 
by law, until they have subscribed to the rules and regulations of the 
society in every particular. 
Thirdly. The State Society in general convention shall adopt such 
course of studies as they shall tnink proper. 
Fourthly. The text books are, Thomson's Guide to Health, Hear- 
sey's Midwifery, Rafinesque's Botany, Thomsonian Recorder, and se- 
veral other works. 
Fifthly. One year to be devoted in study and practice, with a com- 
petent practitioner. 
Sixthly. You ask what studies are those which the old practitioners 
pursue which you deem useless ? 
Wc deem nearly the whole of the theory and practice of medicine 
as fallacious, and not to be depended upon; as the medicines are what 
we consider, and what are generally termed poisons, or articles that 
are detrimental to health and life. The same articles are used to re- 
store the sick to health that a well person would take to destroy life, 
if he wished to commit suicide. Now, we can never subscribe to the 
doctrine that what will kill in the hands of an assassin or suicide, will 
prove a balm to heal the sick and restore consolation to the afflicted, 
because the hands are changed that administer the article. 
Our medicines are calculated to assist nature and comfort the sick in 
their affliction, and lift up as it were with a helping hand such as are 
infirm ; to ease pain and quiet the excitability of the system, and bring 
the body back to the state, as near as possible, of healthy action, and 
will do no harm if it does no good. 
The regular practice makes sick or reduces the patient, and makes 
him much worse than when first taken; and after it has operated, by a 
violent effort of nature to throw it off, if the constitution is strong- 
enough to bear the shock of the medicine together with the disease, 
both will be thrown off together. The medicine is then stopped to No. 354.] 
15 
give the patient a chance to gain ; but if the constitution is not strong 
enough to throw off the medicine, it is sufficient to take life of itself. 
We see opium used frequently to take life, also to cure the sick; also 
mercury for the same purposes. The knife is used to take the life- 
blood of animals, to sustain life. The lance is used to save the life of 
the sick-to restore that same principle that the knife is used to take 
away. 
Under these considerations, we think the materia medica useless to 
the Thomsonian practitioner, as they take away what we wish to re- 
store. The Thomsonian system of medicine is, thank God, founded 
on no such system of philosophy." 
The committee, it is well known, are not physicians, and of course 
cannot be expected to combat this theory. They must be pardoned, 
however, for not giving their assent to a theory, the proof of which 
could only be obtained by long experience and close observation of 
every variety of disease, and by the performance of the nicest and most 
scrutinizing anatomical inspections, operations and dissections. 
This class of physicians scout anatomy, as to them a useless science ; 
they do not bleed, because the lancet is steel and the assassin's knife is 
steel, and you must not say they use that tool to cure, which may be 
used to kill. By a parity of reasoning, a boil, or an abscess, or a blood- 
blister, must not be opened, because the tool by which the operation is 
performed, is composed of the same material as a deadly weapon. How 
can the man who has only looked on the surface of a human being, tell 
what is the cause of disease ? What obstruction can he discover ? 
Is lock-jaw, or tic doloureux, or gout, or rheumatism, or the tooth 
ache, occasioned by obstruction ? if so, what obstruction ? And it is an 
internal obstruction, if obstruction at all; and as dissections are un- 
known and anatomy useless, the theory must be founded on mere guess 
work, and according to all philosophic rules, is entitled to no credit. 
Another of the leading principles of this class of physicians is, that 
the human body is composed of four elements, earth, air, fire and 
water. 
Now, as this class of physicians never dissect a human body, and 
are not chemists, how can they inform us of its component parts ? 
If we wish to ascertain the component parts of any material thing, 16 
[Assembly 
we submit it to the chemist; we analyze it, resolve it into its elemen- 
tary principles. This theory was not arrived at in any such way ; but 
to use the words of the founder of this system, he arrived at it by the 
" mature consideration." 
Methinks, that if the qualities of a newly discovered ore were to be 
ascertained, its elements discovered and its value made known, the 
process wrould be something besides consideration. 
Were consideration the test of component parts and value, there 
would probably be as many opinions as men. 
In this very instance, unfortunately for the theory, and the " mature 
consideration" on which it is founded, the very things called elements 
are falsely so called ; earth, air, fire or water, are not elements. The 
heat produced by combustion, may perhaps be denominated an element, 
but who does not know that earth, air, and water are compounds ? who 
is it that presumes to speak of elements and of compounds, unless a 
chemist himself, or adopting the opinions of chemists. 
It will not be denied, that it is the duty of government to protect, by 
laws aptly fitted to the case, the people against the impositions which 
any trade, craft, occupation or profession may practise upon them. 
Custom or statute, or both, have established certain rates or toll for 
the miller. We test, by certain standards, the weights and measures 
which are in use; we establish the weight of a given measure of grain ; 
we exact a license from the pedler, auctioneer and dealer in liquors ; 
we establish an inspection over the productions of the butcher, the fish- 
erman, the tanner, the lumberman, and the miller, to protect commu- 
nity against imposition, interposing the skill of the inspector as a shield 
for the ignorant. This we do in the arts. 
In the sciences we have laws for the protection of the people against 
pettifogging. 
In the ecclesiastical world, the State, out of regard for perfect reli- 
gious freedom and perfect toleration in all matters of faith, abstains from 
intermeddling; but even here, the different societies of Christians, one 
and all, have their laws, as certain and as effectual too, as to the moral 
and literary qualifications of their spiritual guides. No. 354.] 
17 
In medicine, too, the law has prescribed the moral character, the 
term of study, the examination and the age of the practitioner. 
Are all these laws founded in folly ? Are they deserving of being 
stigmatized as monopolies; as interfering tyrannically and unnecessarily 
with common rights and constitutional privileges ? 
In whose behalf is it that we are called on to deviate from a course 
practised and sanctioned by the wisdom of ages ? Who are they, who 
talk so much of inherent rights and constitutional privileges, and of mo- 
nopoly, and of the ignorance and unskilfulness of others ? 
They are men who claim to practise under a patent, who have the 
exclusive right to compound, vend and administer certain medicines ; 
their existence is predicated on monopoly and exclusive chartered pri- 
vileges. 
Who are they who stigmatize others with the mystery thrown around 
their science ; of their learned technical terms; terms known and un- 
derstood alone by the medical world; and from their uniformity, afford- 
ing a wonderful facility for the dissemination of learning, terms, of ne- 
cessity, learned but always descriptive, and founded on a common lan- 
guage ? Terms which any man may learn and understand, if he will 
just take the trouble to open the dictionary, and no patent lock inter- 
posed. 
They are men who practise under a patent, granting exclusive privi- 
leges ; and who give the names of No. 1 and 2, as words to their 
medicines. Are numbers, digits, Arabic figures, more descriptive of 
the nature, power and properties of medicines, than the most abstruse 
word used in materia medica ? 
" Physician heal thyself," was never more appropriately applied, than 
in this case. Render simple and plain your own vocabulary; call your 
medicines by plain English names, and then criticise, ad libitum, the 
mystery or pedantry of others. 
The committee, with the view of discovering whether there was 
any thing real in the objection to the use of mineral medicines; whe- 
ther the principle laid down by this class of physicians, that all metals 
and minerals, in their state of purity, and all compounds of them, whe- 
ther natural or artificial, were poisonous, took some pains to ascertain 
[Assembly, No. 354.] 3 18 
[Assembly 
into what substances metals and minerals entered and formed an essen- 
tial component part, and found that there was scarcely an article of 
food or medicine but was composed in part of a metal or mineral. That 
the healthiest human being is composed, in part, of metallic and mine- 
ral substances. The colour of the blood is occasioned by a compound 
of iron it contains ; the bones are a mineral substance, and these com- 
ponent parts are as necessary as any other which enter into the system. 
Salt itself, so necessary to the enjoyment of life and the promotion 
of health, is a mineral, and has for its base a metal; one of these poi- 
sonous metals. The body of man being composed in part of both me- 
tals and minerals, it would seem that a constant supply of these mate- 
rials in some form was necessary to the development, and sustenance, 
and health of the animal system. The committee cannot come to the 
conclusion that metals or minerals, or their compounds are, as a general 
rule, poisonous : on the contrary, that both in sickness and in health, 
they are necessary to our existence. 
The fancy, that because the metallic and mineral kingdom is in the 
ground, and the dead body of a man is deposited in the ground, and 
that the former has an affinity for the latter, and therefore has a ten- 
dency to drag down the body to the grave, is hardly worthy of com- 
ment. Water lies as deep in the ground as the metal; its tendency is 
as essentially downwards. Rum has no such downwaxd tendency. Rum 
does not exist in the ground ; the tendency of rum is upwards. If the 
theory were correct, the conclusion would seem to follow that water is 
poisonous and rum is healthy. 
This class of physicians use roots, and their tendency is downwards. 
The committee have also taken some pains to examine the vegetables 
which this class of physicians use, and behold, there is not one but is 
composed, in part, both of metals and minerals. This is true of the 
whole animal and vegetable kingdom. Out of a great number of ana- 
lytical experiments performed by Sir Humphey Davy, the committee 
take leave to select the following: 100 parts of wheat flour contain 
43 parts of soluble salts, 13 of phosphates and carbonates, | a part of 
metal, 32 parts of silica ; so that the material out of which our daily 
bread, the " staff of life" is made, is composed of these poison- 
ous metals and minerals which have such a tendency to drag down 
men to the grave. No. 354.] 
19 
The Indian corn, the native grain, and of which above all others, the 
American is proud, and of which the poet Barlow said, that half the 
bor.es of New-England's sons are made, is composed of .78 of me- 
tallic and mineral substances. 
It would be a waste of time, to show the component parts of diffe- 
rent vegetables. It is sufficient to say, that there is not a single vege- 
table in the world of plants which is not composed, in part, of metallic 
and mineral substances. 
Even the red pepper, which is the great stimulant used by this or- 
der of physicians, is found on analysis, to contain ten per cent of me- 
tallic matter. The lobelia inflata is not more fortunate. 
This plant, vulgarly called Indian tobacco, and which occupies so 
high a rank in the materia medica of this class of physics, is thus de- 
scribed by Barton. 
It will be borne in mind, that Barton's Medical Botany is one of the 
few books which this class of physicians claim that it is useful to read. 
" Lobelia inflata," says Barton, " is decidedly one of the most active of 
our native vegetables. It might, perhaps, be said with truth, that the 
United States does not yield a plant of more powerful and unequivocal 
operation on the human system; and since poisons are, generally, under 
judicious use, good medicines, the Indian tobacco seems to have an 
undoubted claim to a place in the materia medica; it is possessed of an 
emetic, sudorific and powerful expectorant effect. 
" Not only horses and cattle have been supposed to be killed by eat- 
ing it, but a remarkable instance of its deleterious effects on the human 
system is related in the report of a trial for murder, of a notorious em- 
pyric, in Massachusetts, who caused lobelia to be used to a pernicious 
extent as a nostrum. This daring and ignorant man (Samuel Thom- 
son, by name,) is said to have usually prescribed it, and frequently 
with impunity, in the dose of a common teaspoon full of the powdered 
seeds or leaves, and often repeated. If the medicine does not puke or 
evacuate powerfully, it frequently destroys the patient, and sometimes 
in five or six hours." 
How this author, who calls lobelia a poison, and the founder of 
this system of medicine a notorious empyric, and a daring and igno- 20 
[Assembly 
rant quack, should have found favor with his son, the president of the 
N. Y. S. M. T. B. S. who has so high a regard for his father as to 
think his equal is not to be found amongst 10,000,000 of men, seems 
inconsistent with a knowledge of the author. The committee have 
come to the conclusion that Barton's Medical Botany might, perhaps, 
have been read, as bills are in this house, by its title only. 
The committee, with the view of showing that the sciences of ana- 
tomy, physiology and chemistry were useful to be studied by the prac- 
titioner of medicine, take leave to express an opinion, that disease con- 
sists in a change, either of structure or function, in the human system, 
and that the object of the physician is to bring the system back to its 
original healthy condition. 
Now anatomy teaches that the body consists of a great variety of 
tissues, and that the progress of disease in each is different. This is 
proved by an examination and comparison of symptoms, and it is in the 
union of a certain number of symptoms which constitutes a particular 
disease. 
It has been ascertained by long practice and experience, that certain 
medicines or remedies have removed such disease. If such medicines 
occasionally prove ineffectual, an examination of the dead body will 
show that such disease had advanced too far before the application of 
the remedy to be arrested by it. 
A moment's reflection will satisfy all that the progress of medical 
knowledge, the science of treating disease with skill, must, of neces- 
sity, be slow, and owing to the complex nature of the human body, to a 
certain extent, imperfect. 
But if any truth has been established by the of ages, 
it would seem to be this, that there is a variety of disease, and that it 
cannot be successfully treated by a single class of medicines. A ne- 
cessary inference from this is, that the physician needs all the light 
which can be derived from the study of the human system, when in a 
state of health. Taking this view of the subject, the committee come to 
the conclusion that an intimate knowledge of anatomy and physiology 
are absolutely necessary to the physician. 
Chemistry teaches the nature and properties of all material bodies ; 
of course of the nature of all medicines. No. 354.] 
21 
Can it be doubted then that this science which teaches the nature, 
and the power of medicine is useful and necessary to a physician. As 
well might the mechanic doubt the utility of understanding the power 
and use of the tools of his trade, as the physician doubt the necessity 
of knowing the component parts, the nature and strength of the medi- 
cines he uses. 
Had this class of physicians been chemists, they would not have 
leveled their sweeping denunciation on all metals and minerals, and 
compounds thereof, for that science would have taught them that every 
medicine which is prescribed by them contains both these substances. 
One of the greatest discoveries which crowned the labor and research 
and learning of the medical world, is the discovery of the theory of 
the circulation of the blood, by Harvey. 
This great man after going through the preparatory studies at the 
grammar school, studied five years in the University of Cambridge. 
As a traveller he performed the tour of Europe, and desirous of accom- 
plishing himself as a physician, he pursued his studies some years in 
the medical school of Padua, then one of the most celebrated in Europe, 
and there he took his degree as Doctor of Medicine, in 1602. He after- 
wards became a fellow of the College of Physicians in London, and 
a professor of anatomy and surgery in that college, and in 1616 first 
disclosed his great discovery of the theory of the circulation of the 
blood. 
Harvey was at that time 38 years of age, and his whole life had 
been devoted to the cause of science, and the greater part of it to that 
particular science in which his great discovery was made. 
Jenner, that great benefactor of mankind, who disarmed a disease 
more deadly than the plague of all its terrors, was the son of an En- 
glish clergyman, received a most excellent classical education, and stu- 
died medicine the usual length of time with a country practitioner, not 
content with the education thus obtained, better probably than that usu- 
ally allowed, he went to London to attend the hospitals there, and be- 
came a private pupil for two years of the celebrated John Hunter, a 
name dear to every medical student. He cultivated natural history with 
great ardor and success, and was in the opinion of Hunter, the first 
scholar in Europe in the science of human and comparative anatomy. 22 
[Assembly 
The tendency of this last science was the discovery, which immor- 
talized his name, and which has saved, and which will continue to 
save, to youth its beauty, and has prolonged, and will continue to pro- 
long the lives of millions. 
This great discovery engaged the attention of Jenner for more than 
twenty years; and an acquaintance with his experiments would con- 
vince all that the occasional failure of vaccination was owing to a 
neglect of the rules which he prescribed. 
The names and short biographical sketches of these great men are 
introduced merely to authorize the inquiry whether these discoveries ever 
would have been made, by and with the aid of such an education as 
the Thomsonian physicians think is all sufficient. 
Science is always progressive, and it requires very little of the virtue 
of humility to say and believe that it is yet in its infancy. Sir Isaac 
Newton, the great, the intellectual, the almost pure intelligence, the con- 
necting link between men and angels, if such a thought may be indulged, 
said, when speaking of his great learning, his wonderful discoveries, that 
he considered himself but a child, amusing himself by picking up shells 
on the shore of the great ocean of science. 
This is a world of humbugs ; and with all our keen sightedness, 
adroitness, skill and ingenuity in all we undertake, we are, perhaps, 
the most easily humbugged of any nation in the world, and in nothing 
is this alacrity to be deceived more fully manifested than in the 
eternal, never ending, still beginning, doctoring still and still destroying 
patent medicines : perhaps one-fourth of the advertising patronage of 
a country newspaper consists in puffing patent medicines, and this 
great tariff is levied on credulity afflicted with disease. If there were 
truth in the advertisements of a single paper, attested to by the learn- 
ed, the wise and the pious, there is not a disease to which poor huma- 
nity is heir, but what is susceptible of speedy relief and ultimate cure. 
It is the duty of a wise government to study the character and pro- 
pensities of the people for whom it makes laws ; and if it is forced so to 
shape the law as to correct fallacy and vice. Whether the Legislature of 
this State, when it gave to a German quack $1,000 to disclose a pre- 
tended specific for the bite of a mad dog, was guided by that wisdom 
which checks imprudence, restrains credulity in its race of folly; or 
whether it gave countenance to our innate gullibility and love of the No. 354.] 
23 
marvellous, the committee do not pretend to decide. One of the pro- 
minent weaknesses of man is the love of the marvellous. When, superad- 
ded to this, the fear of death operates upon a mind, enfeebled by dis- 
ease, and upon the minds of friends full of apprehension and anxiety, 
we arc apt to repose confidence in worthless objects ; and to use the 
most ridiculous and hazardous means which ignorance may prescribe or 
impudence administer. The Leyden phial, the touch of the king or 
the seventh daughter for scrofula, the patent tractors, the philoso- 
pher's stone and animal magnetism, have each in their turn occupied 
the attention and preyed upon the powers and credulity of mankind; 
and one folly seems to give way only to make room for another; and 
the committee are of opinion that no legislation should be indulged, 
which is calculated to encourage the love of the marvellous, to encou- 
rage credulity, or to countenance those who practice upon these infirmi- 
ties in our nature. 
The committee are of opinion that the very foundation of all this 
theory which is sought to be upheld by law, is founded in ignorance 
and error; and that it would only set at nought most of those lights 
which are necessary to guide the physician in the intricate path which 
he is obliged to travel. 
That to say that a man ignorant of anatomy, of physiology, of patho- 
logy, of chemistry, of materia medica, may be safely trusted to admi- 
nister to the human system, which is so fearfully and wonderfully 
made, would be saying more than to say, that he who never saw the 
inside of a watch, was fit to repair the most valuable time piece. 
That to give legislative countenance in such case would be to en- 
courage gullibility and credulity; to advocate the cause of quackery 
in the case of medical science ; to set at nought all those rules of plain 
common sense, which in other matters usually govern mankind.