Samuel Thomson

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For other persons named Samuel Thompson, see Samuel Thompson (disambiguation).

Samuel Thomson (born 9 February 1769, died 5 October 1843 in Boston, Massachusetts) was the founder of the "Thomsonian System" of medicine. He was born in Alstead, New Hampshire, the son of John Thomson (1744-1820) and his wife, formerly Hannah Cobb. He married Susanna Allen on July 7, 1790 in Keene, New Hampshire and together they had eight children.

[edit] Development of the Thomsonian System

When his wife nearly died after being treated via conventional medicine, Thomson brought her to a herbalist, who treated his wife and taught Thomson some of her methods. Thomson developed his own method, the Thomsonian System, and practiced in Surry and the adjoining towns. During the first half of the 19th century his system had numerous followers, including some of his sons.

His system of medicine appealed to the egalitarian anti-elitist sentiments of Jacksonian America, and families far from established towns came to rely on it. Licensed doctors, along with many other professionals, and their methods (such as bloodletting) came under intense scrutiny during this period, and Thomson's system appealed in that it allowed each individual to administer his or her own treatment.

Eventually, Thomson came to believe that cold was an important cause of illness and that disease should be treated by restoring the body's "natural heat;" his methods for doing this included steam baths, cayenne pepper, and causing emesis by administration of Lobelia. After practicing this form of medicine for about ten years, Thomson wrote his New Guide to Health; or Botanic Family Physician in 1822, and sold "patents" to use his system of medicine to any family for $20. He sold over 100,000 patents by 1840.

Thomson took great care to guard his patented cures, and used legal authority to prevent others from manufacturing and selling lobelia pills. Thomson's monopoly was broken by Alva Curtis, who created the "Independent Thomsonian Medical Society" to train practitioners, who in turn gave rise to the "Eclectic medicine" movement.

[edit] Taken to court

Licensed doctors, however, came to resent Thomson's popularity, as well as his criticisms of their techniques. In 1809, a physician named French accused Thomson of killing a patient through the administration of excessive amounts of Lobelia. Thomson claimed his patient died (after being cured) when he unwisely ventured into the cold instead of recuperating in his warm home. The prosecution claimed excessive vomiting, brought on by Thomson's administration of lobelia, was to blame. Ultimately, Thomson was acquitted when the defense demonstrated that one of the prosecution's exhibits, labeled "Lobelia", was in fact rosemary.

Despite Thomson's acquittal, many states passed "Black Laws", prohibiting the sale of Lobelia and similar patent medicines. The laws were of small practical effect and were mostly repealed by the 1820s.