Please note that page numbers are not accurate for the e-book edition.
Note: Page numbers in italics indicate illustrations.
Adams, Samuel Hopkins, 205
adjustments, chiropractic, 209–11, 220–21, 223
advertising: by homeopaths, 130; by hydropaths, 104; of manual techniques, 214, 220, 225; of patent medicine, 184, 185, 185, 188, 191–94, 199, 201, 207; by phrenologists, 77
AFH (American Foundation for Homeopathy), 144
African Americans, 20, 224
Agnes; or, The Possessed, A Revelation of Mesmerism (Shay), 164–65
AIH (American Institute of Homeopathy), 128, 129, 130, 132, 135–37, 141–42
alcohol, 189–90
Alcott, Bronson, 133
Alcott, Louisa May, 6, 9, 73, 134, 134–35
allopathy, 119
al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) (Avicenna), 211
alternative medicine, and antimicrobial drugs, 250–51; attacks on, 266; commonalities with regular medicine of, 259–60; and disillusionment with regular medicine, 253; and doctor-patient relationship, 252; and educational reform, 246–48; education level and use of, 256–57; Flexner report on, 246–48; and germ theory, 260–61; government funding for, 256; health-care costs and, 253, 256; and holistic medicine, 254–55; influence on regular medicine of, 258–59; and integrative medicine, 256–57; and licensure, 245; and medical bureaucracy, 251; and medical specialties, 252; multiple strands of meaning in, 265–66; persistence of, 261–62; and placebo effect, 263–65; and public health movement, 245–46; and reform movements, 257–58; renewed interest in, 253–54; and scientific advances, 243–44, 245, 250–52; and social change, 244–45; strengths of, 262–63; use of term, 2, 254; and women in medicine, 248–50. See also irregular medicine
AMA. See American Medical Association (AMA)
American Chiropractic Association, 227
American Dispensatory (King), 187, 188
American Foundation for Homeopathy (AFH), 144
American Holistic Medicine Association, 255
American Hydropathic Institute, 102–3, 137
American Indian remedies, 194
American Institute of Homeopathy (AIH), 128, 129, 130, 132, 135–37, 141–42
American Journal of Phrenology, 77
American Journal of the Medical Sciences: on over-medication, 17; on phrenology, 62
American Medical Association (AMA): and Flexner report, 246–48; and homeopathy, 128–29, 136, 139; and osteopathy, 239; and patent medicines, 199–200, 201, 205; and public health, 245–46; as unifying force, 260
American Museum, 169
American Osteopathic Association (AOA), 227
American Phrenological Journal, 66, 71, 91
American School of Chiropractic, 224
American School of Osteopathy, 217–18
amphetamines, 252
Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System in General and the Cerebrum in Particular (Gall), 58
Andrews, Edmund, 176
Angostura bitters, 204
animal magnetism: James Braid on, 161; commitment of mesmerists to, 168; Charles-Nicolas Deslon and, 156; and itinerant mesmerists, 167; Franz Anton Mesmer on, 150–51, 154, 157; Charles Poyen on, 161–63, 169; Marquis de Puységur on, 158–59; Phineas Parkhurst Quimby on, 170, 171; regular medicine on, 167; religious concerns about, 163–64; sexual overtones of, 165
animal spirits, 149
Anthony, Susan B., 72, 100
antibiotics, 250–51, 258
antimicrobial drugs, 250–51
AOA (American Osteopathic Association), 227
Avicenna, 211
Bache, Benjamin Franklin, 156
Backbone (journal), 227
back pain, 229–30
Baillie, Matthew, 15
Bailly, Jean-Sylvain, 155
Baker, Wyeth Post, 253
baquet, 152
Barnum, P. T., 71, 160
Barton, Benjamin Smith, 38
Barton, Clara, 72
Bartram, John, 27
Bath (England) spas, 86, 88
baths and bathing, 84, 86, 108–9
Bayard, Edward, 115
Beach, Wooster, 47–48
Beecher, Catharine, 97–98, 100, 104, 105
Bell, John, 60, 77
Biegler, Augustus P., 115
Bierce, Ambrose, 176
bitterroot, 31
black pepper, 31
Blackwell, Elizabeth, 66, 88, 102
bleeding, 7, 8
blistering, 7, 8
The Blithedale Romance (Hawthorne), 165
blood in osteopathy, 215–16
bloodletting, 7, 8
blood-sucking leeches, 7, 8
Bloomer, Amelia, 97
Bloomer costume, 97
bonesetters, 211–13
Boone, Nicholas, 184
Boston Daily Times on patent-medicine ads, 192
The Bostonians (James), 165
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal: on hydropathy, 91, 99, 105, 106; on mesmerism, 166; on patent medicines, 201–2; on Thomsonism, 33, 43
Boston Moral Reformer on hydropathy, 84
Boston News-Letter, patent-medicine ads in, 184
botanic medicine, 23–51; historical background of, 25–27. See also Thomsonism
Botanico-Medical College and Infirmary, 47
Botanico-Medical Recorder on Thomsonism, 45–46
Bowman, Julia C., 224
Braid, James, 160–61
brain: as electric battery, 215, 216; in manual medicine, 225, 229; in mesmerism, 149, 167, 168, 173, 180; modern science of, 79–80; in phrenology, 53–60, 69, 75, 78–79, 258–59; Swedenborg’s beliefs about, 56–57
Brattleboro Hydropathic Institution (Vermont), 95–96, 97–98, 104, 107
Brighton (England) spas, 88
Brisbane, Albert, 100
British Phrenological Society, 80–81
Broca, Paul, 79
Bryant, William Cullen, 73
Burkmar, Lucius, 169–70
bushmaster, 127
Cabot, Richard, 176–77
cadavers, 14–15
Caldwell, Charles, 60, 77
calomel, 8–9, 189, 198
Came, Charles, 196–97, 199, 203
cancer plaster, 38
capsicum, 30–31
Carlyle, Thomas, 88
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 246
Carter, John S., 201
Carver Chiropractic College, 234
Caster, J. S., 219
Caster, Paul, 219
Castoria, 193
cathartics, 8
cayenne pepper, 30–31, 32
celebrity endorsement of Thomsonism, 38
Central Medical College, 65–66
Chapelain, Pierre Jean, 160
Charcot, Jean-Martin, 168
childbirth: hydropathy for, 83–84, 103; mesmerism for, 166; osteopathy for, 218
children, homeopathy for, 130–31
chiropractic, 237–38; appeal of, 230–33; apprenticeship program in, 223–24; criticism of, 234–35; dissensions within, 229–30; “first adjustment” in, 209–10, 220–21; and Flexner report, 247–48; historical precedents of, 210–13; “Innate Intelligence” in, 221–22; naming of, 221; origins of, 218–21; of B. J. Palmer, 222, 224, 225–26; of Daniel David Palmer, 208, 209–10, 218–22, 223–25; professional journal and association of, 227–28; regulation and lawsuits of, 236–38; schools of, 224–27; and spirituality, 222, 229–30, 231; subluxations in, 221–22, 223; survival of, 239–41; theory of, 221–22; women in, 224
The Chiropractor (journal), 227, 236
cholera, 125–26
Chopra, Deepak, 256
Christian Science, 148, 173–78
Christian Science Journal, 175, 178
Christian Science Monitor, 178
Christian Science Reading Rooms, 178
Church of Christ (Scientist), 175
cinchona bark, 117
Cincinnati Daily Gazette on Christian Science, 176
Civil War: and heroic medicine, 189, 258; and hydropathy, 109, 110, 112; and patent medicine, 189–90; social changes after, 244
Clarke, Edward H., 249
Cloquet, Jules, 160
Coca-Cola, 204–5
cocaine, 204–5
coffee and homeopathy, 124
“coffee” enema, 31
cold and disease, 30
cold injections, 104
cold steam shower, 105
cold-water enemas, 104
cold water treatments. See hydropathy
College of Philadelphia, 15
Columbian Centinel American Federalist on Thomsonism, 38
Combe, George, 62–64, 67, 68
The Compleat Bone-setter (Turner), 212
The Compleat Housewife (Smith), 10
complementary and alternative medicine, 254. See also alternative medicine
The Complete Herbal (Culpepper), 9
W. H. Comstock Company, 194
Confessions of a Magnetizer (Anonymous), 164
The Constitution of Man (Combe), 63, 68
Cowell, Nathan P., 247
Crane, Stephen, 73
craniometer, 53, 69
cranioscopy, 58
Creel, George, 235
Crick, Francis, 251
“crisis” in hydropathic treatment, 85
Crumpler, Rebecca Lee, 20
Cullen, William, 117, 221
Culpepper, Nicholas, 9
Curtis, Alva, 46–47
Daffy’s Elixir Salutis, 184
Dake, Jabez P., 130
Darwin, Charles, 6, 67, 88
Davenport Democrat & Leader on chiropractic, 236
Davenport Directory, magnetic healing ad in, 220
Davidson, Peter, 38
DC (doctor of chiropractic), 224
DeForest, John W., 106
Deleuze, Joseph Francois, 165
democratization, 11–12
Dennett, Mary Ware, 144
Deslon, Charles-Nicolas, 153, 155–57
Dickens, Charles, 72, 88, 160
diet: in homeopathy, 120, 123, 132; in hydropathy, 87, 90, 103, 107, 110, 111
dilution in homeopathy, 118–19, 121–22
diphtheria, osteopathy for, 235–36
DO (doctor of osteopathy), 217, 238
doctor of chiropractic (DC), 224
doctor of osteopathy (DO), 217, 238
doctor-patient relationship, 252
Dods, John Bovee, 168
Dodson, John, 249
Drake, Daniel, 41
Dresser, Anetta, 178
Dresser, Julius, 178
Dr. Zay (Phelps), 135
Duane, James, 15
Dunham, Carroll, 141–42
“dynamization” in homeopathy, 123
Dyott, Thomas W., 186
Eclecticism, 188
Eclectic Medical Institute, 137
eclectic medicine, 47–48, 65, 245
Eddy, Mary Baker, 147–48, 173–78, 174
education: in chiropractic, 224; medical, 15–16, 246–49; in osteopathy, 217–19, 226–27, 238; phrenology and, 62–63, 68; in Thomsonism, 46–48
educational reform and alternative medicine, 246–48
education level and use of alternative medicine, 256–57
eighteenth century: botanic medicine in, 27; hydropathy in, 87; manual manipulation in, 211, 221; medical practice in, 7, 9, 12; medical societies in, 16; mesmerism in, 148–49, 164; patent medicine in, 186; phrenology in, 54
electrical devices, 196, 207, 230
electrical impulses, animal magnetism as, 168
electric battery, brain as, 215, 216
electric belt, 199
electric tractors, 38
Elliotson, John, 160
Elmira Water Cure, 94, 104
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 12, 63, 162
emetics, 8
emotional disorders, 171
employment counseling based on phrenology, 70
endorsements: of alternative medicine, 256, 265; of hydropathy, 105, 108–9; of patent medicines, 200–201; of Thomsonism, 38
enemas: “coffee,” 31; cold-water, 104
erectile dysfunction, 193, 198–99
Evans, Warren Felt, 178
Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia) on women in medical school, 19
exercise: in homeopathy, 132; in hydropathy, 87–88
“Family Rights,” 35–36, 38–39, 50
Ferrier, David, 79
Finger, Stanley, 56
Fishbein, Morris, 234–35
Flexner, Abraham, 246–48
Flexner report (1910), 246–48
Flourens, Marie-Jean-Pierre, 75, 79
Folger, Lydia, 52, 53–54, 64, 65–66, 68, 80
folk healers, 25
food vs. medicine, 124
Fountain Head News, 210
Fowler, Lorenzo Niles: advice offered by, 70–71; descendants of, 78; early life of, 64; later life of, 80–81; marriage to Lydia Folger, 52, 53–54; New York City offices of, 66–67; other causes championed by, 68; phrenology preached by, 64–65; publications by, 66, 91; public figures examined by, 71–72; rivals to, 77; Mark Twain on, 4–6, 74–75; and Walt Whitman, 73–74
Fowler, Lydia Folger. See Folger, Lydia
Fowler, Orson Squire: advice offered by, 70–71; descendants of, 78; early life of, 64; examination of Samuel Thomson by, 50–51; later life of, 80, 81; New York City offices of, 66–67; other causes championed by, 68; phrenology preached by, 64–65; publications by, 66, 91; public figures examined by, 71–72; rivals to, 77; and Walt Whitman, 73–74
Fowler Phrenological Institute, 80
franchise system of Samuel Thomson, 35–36, 38–39, 50
Franklin, Benjamin, 26, 151, 155, 156
Franklin, William Temple, 154
“free love,” 110
Freud, Sigmund, 54, 168, 171, 180
Friedan, Betty, 135
Friendly Botanic Societies, 36–37
Galen (Roman physician), 8, 100, 149, 210–11
Galileo, 196
Gall, Franz Joseph, 54–59, 69, 75, 78–79
Garfield, James, 71, 133
Garrison, William Lloyd, 133
Gedding, Eli, 122
Geneva Medical College, 66
germ theory, 140, 230–32, 260–61
glass armonica, 151
Gleason, Cynthia, 162, 166
Gleason, Rachel Brooks, 104
Gleason, Silas O., 104
Godey’s Lady’s Book: on hydropathy, 99; on phrenology, 70–71
Godey’s Magazine on osteopathy, 233
Goldstein, Michael, 265
Gove, Hiram, 93, 100
Gove, Mary. See Nichols, Mary Gove
government funding for alternative medicine, 256
Grafenberg House, 88
Grafenberg Water Cure, 85, 86, 88, 106
Graham, Sylvester, 93, 107
Gram, Hans Burch, 126
Grant, Ulysses S., 72
Greeley, Horace, 71
Green, Julia Minerva, 144
Guillotin, Joseph-Ignace, 155
Haddock, Frank Channing, 179
Hahnemann, Marie Melanie d’Hervilly, 126
Hahnemann, Samuel Christian Frederick, 116–26; on cholera, 125–26; clinical trials by, 119–20; on coffee, 124; criticism of, 120–22, 138–39; on “dynamization,” 123; early experimentation by, 117–18; early life of, 116; followers of, 143–44; honorary membership in medical society of, 130; later life of, 126; on mesmerism, 144–45; on “miasms,” 124–25; on patient involvement, 123–24, 131; publication of drug provings by, 120; on small doses (dilution), 118–19, 121–22; testing of remedies by, 120; and transcendentalism, 133; and updated view of homeopathy, 141; use of ancient authors and texts by, 138–39; on vitalism, 122–23
Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, 128, 137, 243
Hahnemann Society, 127
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine: on homeopathy, 142; on phrenology, 73
Harper’s Weekly on chiropractic, 235
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 165
head readings in phrenology, 53, 69
healing power of nature, 9, 122–23, 217, 228, 264
health-care costs, 253, 256
healthy lifestyle: hydropathy and, 87–88, 91–92; and prevention, 259
heat, 30–31
Heidelberg Institute, 193–94
herbal medicine. See botanic medicine
herb doctors, 25
Hering, Constantine, 126–28, 130–31, 132
heroic medicine: continued use by regulars of, 18; decline of, 258; defined, 7–8; harsh effects of, 8–9; Oliver Wendell Holmes on, 17; and homeopathy, 117, 120, 126, 129, 142; and hydrotherapy, 84, 102, 103, 106; irregulars’ view of, 13, 16; and osteopathy, 214; and patent medicine, 186, 188–89; and Thomsonism, 27–28, 30, 42, 44
Hicks, John, 14
Hildreth, Arthur Grant, 218
Hippocrates, 8, 9, 16, 56, 100, 124, 210–11
Holcombe, William, 141
holistic medicine, 254–55
Holman’s Liver Pad, 188, 200
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 76; expulsion of African American students by, 20; on homeopathy, 122, 138–39; on hydropathy, 105–6; on ignorance of general public, 35; on phrenology, 75–77; on placebo effect, 263; on shortcomings of regular medicine, 17, 139; and Thomsonians, 44; on women in medicine, 248–49
The Homeopathic Domestic Physician (Hering), 128, 132
Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, 128
homeopathy, 115–45; and AMA, 128–30; appeal of, 130–33; arrival in United States of, 126–28; for children, 130–31; for cholera, 125–26; and coffee, 124; criticism of, 120–22, 138–39; decline of, 143–45; “dynamization” in, 123; food vs. medicine in, 124; growth and popularity of, 142–43; of Samuel Christian Frederick Hahnemann, 116–26; of Constantine Hering, 126–28, 130–31, 132; historical precedents of, 117–18; home health guides and kits for, 115, 131–33; law of similars in, 117–18; legacy of, 142–43, 259; licensing for, 245; and mesmerism, 144–45; miasms in, 124–25; national medical organization for, 128, 130, 141–42; origins of, 116–17; patient involvement in, 123–24; prominent people using, 133–35; provings in, 119–20; vs. regular medicine, 128–30, 138–41; renewed interest in, 253, 255; schools of, 127–28; small doses (dilution) in, 118–19, 121–22; spread in Europe of, 125–26; Elizabeth Cady Stanton on, 115–16; testing remedies for, 120; theory of, 119, 122–23; and transcendentalism, 133; on vaccines, 118–19; as vitalist system, 122–23; women in, 129, 132–33, 135–38, 143
The Home Private Medical Advisor (Reinhardt), 194, 198
Hooker, Worthington, 13, 17
The House of Seven Gables (Hawthorne), 165
Howard, Horton, 46
Howells, William Dean, 73
Hughes, Howard, 234
humors, 8
The Husband’s Relief, or The Female Bone-Setter and the Worm Doctor (play), 211
The Hydropathic Encyclopedia (Trall), 87
hydropathy, 2, 82, 83–113; accessibility of, 100–101; Catherine Beecher on, 97–98; for childbirth, 83–84, 103; clientele of, 95; cold injections in, 104; cold steam shower in, 105; cold-water enemas in, 104; combined with other therapies, 107; cost of, 96, 100; critics of, 105–6; cures claimed by, 89; dangers of, 105; decline after Civil War of, 109; in England, 88; Fowlers on, 91; in Germany, 85, 86, 88; home use of, 100–101; hygiene and healthy lifestyle choices in, 87–88, 91–92, 107, 108–9, 111–12; of Sebastian Kneipp, 112; legacy of, 110–13, 259; locales for, 94; of Thomas and Mary Gove Nichols, 83–84, 93–94, 99–103, 109–10; popularity of, 91; precedents of, 86–87; prescription in, 99; of Vincent Priessnitz, 84–89; qualifications to practice, 101–2, 108; and regular medical therapies, 107–9; revival of, 112; of Joel Shew, 89; vs. spa therapy, 86–87; theories of, 85, 90; of Russell Thacher Trall, 89–90; treatment protocols for, 96–99; in United States, 89–92; unpleasant aspects of, 104–5; of Robert Wesselhoeft, 94–96, 98–99, 106, 107; wet dress in, 96–97; wet sheet in, 96, 104; women in, 97, 103–4
Hygeio-Therapeutic College, 102
hygiene: in chiropractic, 231; in homeopathy, 126, 132; in hydropathy, 87–88, 108–9, 111–12; in irregular medicine, 259; in regular medicine, 245–46
hypnosis, 160–61, 180
The Illustrated Self-Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology, 69
Improved System of Botanic Medicine Founded Upon Current Physiological Principles (Howard), 46
infinitesimals, law of, 118–19, 121–22
“Innate Intelligence,” 221–22
innovation, 257–58
integrative medicine, 256–57
irregular medicine: advocates of, 21; choice to use, 18; in eighteenth century, 12; exclusion of African Americans from, 20; inclusion of women in, 19–20; influence on regular medicine of, 258–59; in nineteenth century, 2–3, 12; persistence of, 261–63; and reform movements, 11–12, 257–58; vs. regular medicine, 2–3, 7, 12–13; removal of restrictions on, 16; renewed interest in, 253–54; similarities between regular and, 259–60; strengths of, 262–63; view of regular doctors on, 16–17; women in, 249–50. See also alternative medicine
itinerant healers: mesmerists as, 166–67; phrenologists as, 68–69; Samuel Thomson as, 28–29
Jackson, Andrew, 11
Jefferson, Thomas, 14, 161
Jenner, Edward, 118
Johnson, Andrew, 72
Jo’s Boys (Alcott), 135
Journal of Holistic Medicine, 255
Journal of Osteopathy, 218, 227
Journal of the American Medical Association: on chiropractic, 234–35; on patent medicines, 201, 205, 206
Karlsbad (Germany) spas, 86
Kellberg Institute, 1
King, Dan, 142–43
King, John, 187, 188
Kirksville College of Osteopathy, 227
Kneipp, Sebastian, 112
laboratory science, 140
Ladies’ Magazine on phrenology, 63–64
Lafayette, Marquis de, 154, 161
Lafontaine, Charles, 160–61
Laughlin, George, 227
Lavoisier, Antoine-Laurent, 155
law of infinitesimals, 118–19, 121–22
law of similars, 117–18
Law of the Artery, 216
laxatives, 8
leadership, 260
Leaves of Grass (Whitman), 73–74
Lectures to Ladies on Anatomy and Physiology (Gove), 99
leeches, 7, 8
licensing: for irregular medicine, 245; for manual medicine, 237–38; for regular medicine, 16, 245; and Samuel Thomson, 36–37
lifestyle choices: hydropathy and, 87–88, 91–92; and prevention, 259
Lillard, Harvey, 209–10, 220–21, 224
Lily (newspaper), 97
Lincoln, Abraham, 6
Ling, Per Henrik, 1–2
Little Women (Alcott), 134–35
lobelia, 24, 25, 27, 30–31
Locke, John, 38
London Mesmeric Infirmary, 160
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 73, 133
Loos, Julia M., 144
Louis XVI (King), 155, 161, 164
Lovett, Ezra, 43–44
Luden Brothers Cough Drops, 205
Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, 188, 190–92, 201, 206
Magendie, Francois, 100
magnet(s): medical, 255; in mesmerism, 149–50
Magnetic Cure Infirmary, 220
magnetic fluids, 170
magnetic healing: by Daniel David Palmer, 219–20; by Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, 147; by Andrew Taylor Still, 214
magnetic sleep, 158–60
magnetic substance in mesmerism, 150
magnetism, animal. See animal magnetism
magnetized objects in mesmerism, 110, 151, 152–53, 156, 158
magnetizer in mesmerism, 165, 167, 169, 180
malaria, 3, 117
Mann, Horace, 68
manual medicine, 209–41; appeal of, 229–31; chiropractic as, 209–10, 218–28, 229–30; criticism of, 233, 234–35; educational expansion of, 226–28; and germ theory, 231–33; historical precedents of, 210–13; lawsuits against, 235–37; licensing for, 237–38; osteopathy as, 210, 213–18, 226–29; supporters of, 233–34; survival of, 238–41
Mapp, Sarah, 211
Marie Antoinette, 155, 164
marriage: based on phrenology, 53–54, 63, 71; Thomas and Mary Gove Nichols on, 110
Martineau, Harriet, 62, 154
Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society, 136
Massachusetts Medical Association, 62
Massachusetts Medical Society, 189
Massachusetts Metaphysical College, 175
Master of Self for Wealth, Power, and Success (Haddock), 179
Materia Medica Pura (Hahnemann), 120, 121
Medical and Surgical Reporter on eclectics, 48
medical gymnastics, 1
Medical Record: on medical education, 16; on regular medicine, 14
medical schools, 15–16, 246–49
medical science, 15, 17, 139, 245
medical shows and lectures, 195–96
medical societies: African Americans in, 20; chartering, 16, 108; homeopathic, 137; on homeopathy, 129–30; lobbying by, 245; and manual medicine, 237; women in, 19
medicine vs. food, 124
Medico-Chirurgical College, 243
Melville, Herman, 73
Memoir on the Discovery of Animal Magnetism (Mesmer), 152
Mencken, H. L., 237–38
mental disorders, 171
mental healing systems, 179
mentalistic theory of disease, 170–73
mercury poisoning, 6, 8–9, 198
Mesmer Franz Anton, 145, 146, 148–57; and Charles-Nicolas Deslon, 153; disciples of, 154; early theories and experimentation of, 148–51; investigation of methods of, 155–57; legacy of, 180; and Marie Antoinette, 155, 164; and Maria Theresia Paradis, 151–52; public appearances by, 152–53
mesmeric somnambulism, 158–60, 180
mesmerism, 147–81; in America, 161–73; animal magnetism in, 150–51; baquet in, 152; for childbirth, 166; critics of, 167–68; decline of, 179; of Charles-Nicolas Deslon, 153, 155–57; and Mary Baker Eddy, 147–48, 173–78, 174; glass armonica in, 151; and homeopathy, 144–45; itinerant practitioners of, 166–67; lack of official recognition of, 154–55; legacy of, 179–81, 259; magnets in, 149–50; medical experiments with, 159–61; of Franz Anton Mesmer, 145, 146, 148–57, 164, 180; nervous fluids in, 149; and New Thought movement, 178–79; of Mary Gove Nichols, 110; origins of, 148–51; patient accounts of, 153–54; of Charles Poyen, 161–64, 166, 168–69; psychological aspects of, 158–61, 168, 170–73; public displays of, 168–69; of Marquis de Puységur, 157–59, 162, 168, 180; of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, 147–48, 148, 169–75, 178–79; religious concerns about, 163–64; sexual overtones of, 164–65; surgery performed with, 160; women in, 165–66
miasms, 124–25
midwifery, Samuel Thomson on, 42
mind cure, 172–73
Moby Dick (Melville), 73
Monster Brand Snake Oil, 183–84
Montaigne, Michel de, 263
morbid matter, 85
Mott, Elizabeth, 188
Mott, Lucretia, 115
Moulton, Thomas, 212
musculoskeletal pain, 230, 239–40
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Dickens), 160
naprapathy, 229
A Narrative of the Life and Medical Discoveries of the Author (Thomson), 40–41
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 256
National Institutes of Health, 136–37, 256, 265
natural healing power, 9, 122–23, 217, 228, 264
natural ingredients, 2
natural remedies, 13, 26, 255; hydropathy as, 107, 112; in Thomsonism, 30, 35–36, 41, 48, 49
Neal, Mary Sargeant. See Nichols, Mary Gove
nervous fluids, 149
nervous system: in homeopathy, 124; in mesmerism, 149, 150, 168, 171; in osteopathy, 216; in phrenology, 57, 58, 78
Neurocalometer, 229
neuropathy, 229
New England Magazine on phrenology, 61–62
New Guide to Health (Thomson), 39–40, 41, 49
New Lebanon Springs Water Cure, 99
New Thought movement, 178–79
New York Doctors’ Riot (1788), 14–15
New York Hydropathic School, 102
New York Medical Society, 237
New York Museum of Natural History and Science, 169
New York Observer on hydropathy, 105
New York Times: on osteopathy, 233; on patent medicine, 194, 202; on phrenology, 70, 72
Nichols, Mary Gove, 92; on childbirth, 83–84; early life of, 93; first marriage of, 93; hydropathy practice of, 99, 110; on importance of female doctors, 102–3; lectures and articles by, 99–100; on marriage, 109–10; medical school opened by, 102, 108; mesmerism by, 110; other practices used by, 110; and Harriet Judd Sartain, 137; second marriage of, 100; on self-care, 101; on sickness, 20–21; on women’s health, 93–94, 103
Nichols, Thomas Low, 83–84, 96, 100, 102–3, 108, 109–10
nineteenth century: ailments of, 3, 6; alternative medicine in, 10; botanical medicine in, 24, 44; democratization in, 11–12; eclectics in, 48; irregular vs. regular medicine in, 2–3, 12–13, 244–45; licensure and medical societies in, 245; living conditions in, 3–4; medical gymnastics in, 1; medical training in, 15–16; self-treatment in, 9–10; shortcomings of regular medicine in, 17–18; social reform in, 244; women in medicine in, 18–20, 248–49
nitroglycerine, 128
North American Academy of the Homeopathic Healing Art, 127
Nostrums and Quackery, 205
Oesterlin, Franziska, 149–50
Office of Alternative Medicine, 256
onsen (hot springs), 86
opium, 189–90
Organon of the Rational Art of Healing (Hahnemann), 123
osteopathic lesion, 216–17
osteopathy: appeal of, 230–31, 232–33; blood and Law of the Artery in, 215–16; for childbirth, 218; criticism of, 233–34; dissensions within, 228–29; historical precedents of, 210–13; licensure for, 237; location of lesions in, 216–17; vs. massage, 217; nervous system in, 216; professional journal and association of, 227–28; regulation and lawsuits of, 235–37; schools of, 217–19, 226–27, 238; separate identity of, 238; and spirituality, 214, 215, 222–23, 231; of Andrew Taylor Still, 213–19; “straights” vs. “mixers” in, 228–29; survival of, 238–39, 240; women in, 218
Paget, James, 212
“pain and agony” pitch, 193
Palmer, Bartlett Joshua (B. J.): adjustment technique of, 229; criticism of, 234; as early student of chiropractic, 224; on germ theory, 231; as outsider, 240, 241; and professional organization, 227; school leadership by, 225–26; spirituality of, 222
Palmer, Daniel David, 208; adjustment technique of, 229; apprenticeship system of, 223–24; charisma and leadership of, 260; chiropractic theory of, 221–22; disagreements with other early chiropractors, 229–30; early life of, 219; “first adjustment” by, 209–10, 220–21; imprisonment of, 236; magnetic healing by, 219–20; and osteopathy, 208, 218–19; as outsider, 241; recruitment by, 227; school founded by, 224–25; spirituality of, 222, 229–30, 231; struggles with son, 225; and subluxation, 223
Palmer Chiropractic School and Cure, 224–26
Paracelsus, 149
Paradis, Maria Theresia, 151–52
Paré, Ambroise, 211
Parsons, Mae, 224
patenting: of patent medicines, 186; by Samuel Thomson, 37–38, 49–50
patent medicine, 3, 183–207; advertising of, 184, 185, 185, 188, 191–94, 199, 201, 207; of Charles Came, 196–97; during Civil War, 189–90; in Colonial America, 184; critics of, 205; in early nineteenth century, 185–86; itinerant sellers of, 197; in late nineteenth century, 190; medical shows and lectures on, 195–96; in mid-nineteenth century, 189–90; and patenting, 186; of Lydia Pinkham, 182, 186–88, 191–93, 197–202; vs. regular medicine, 199–203; regulation of, 205–7; of Reinhardts, 193–94, 198–99, 203, 206; snake oil as, 183–84; success of, 203–5; women in, 191–92, 197–98
“pathies,” 48
Patterson, Mary. See Eddy, Mary Baker
Paxson, Minora, 224
Peabody, Elizabeth, 133
Peale, Ruben, 169
Peck, David Jones, 20
penicillin, 250
Pennsylvania State Homeopathic Society, 137
Pennsylvania State Medical Society, 201
Perkins, Elisha, 38
Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart, 135
Phrenological Cabinet, 66–67
phrenology, 53–81; animal vs. human traits in, 56, 67; arrival in United States of, 60–61; and brain function, 78–80; coining of term, 58; of George Combe, 62–64; and criminals, 55–56, 57, 60, 63; criticism of, 75–77; decline of interest in, 78; educational applications of, 62–63, 68; of Fowlers, 64–68, 80–81; of Franz Joseph Gall, 54–59, 78–79; head casts in, 55–56, 67; head readings in, 53, 69; innate human faculties in, 56, 59, 64–65; itinerant practitioners of, 68–69; legacy of, 258–59; marriage based on, 53–54, 63, 71; moral values in, 58; and “natural vitality,” 62; outlier cases in, 57–58; phrases based on, 74; popularity and influence of, 60–61, 63–64, 77–78; and potential for change, 58–59, 60–61; practical advice based on, 70–71; of public figures, 71–72; and racial stereotyping, 67; of Johann Spurzheim, 58–62; support for, 61–62; and Emanuel Swedenborg, 56–57; Mark Twain’s account of, 4–6, 74–75; Walt Whitman and, 73–74; women in, 66; in writing, 72–73
Physio-Medical College, 47
Pinkerton, Allan, 72
Pinkham, Daniel, 187, 188, 191
Pinkham, Isaac, 187
Pinkham, Lydia Estes, 182; advertising by, 191–93; advice by, 197–98; critics of, 199; early life of, 186–87; endorsement by regular doctors of, 200–201; family business of, 190–91, 206; first sales by, 187–88; home remedies of, 187, 202; ingredients used by, 188, 190; pamphlets by, 194; patents by, 188; women as customers of, 191–92
Pinkham, Will, 188
placebo effect, 263–65
Poe, Edgar Allan, 73, 99–100
Poyen de Saint Saveur, Charles, 161–64, 166, 168–69
Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism (Deleuze), 165
prepayment system of Samuel Thomson, 35–36, 38–39, 50
prescription in hydropathy, 99
preventative health care, 259
Priessnitz, Vincent, 84–89, 106
Primitive Physick (Wesley), 10, 87, 230
Principles of Psychology (James), 69
provings in homeopathy, 119–20
psora, 124–25
psychological aspects of mesmerism, 158–61, 168, 170–73
psychological origin for disease, 170–73
psychosomatic disorders, 170
public health, 245–46
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), 205–6, 207
purging, 7, 8, 31
Puységur, Marquis de (Armand-Marie-Jacques de Chastenet), 157–59, 162, 168, 180
quacks and quackery, 2–3, 15, 16–17; AMA and, 245; homeopathy as, 133, 140; manual manipulation as, 212, 233, 234, 239; patent medicine as, 184, 196, 199, 200, 201, 203, 205; phrenology of, 77; and renewed interest in irregular medicine, 254; Thomsonism as, 39
Quimby, Phineas Parkhurst, 147–48, 148, 169–75, 178–79
quinine, 3, 117
Race, Victor, 157–58
Rapport des Commissaires, 157
“Rattlesnake King,” 183
Reagan, Ronald, 226
reform movements, 11–12, 257–58
regular medicine: advances in, 244–45; African Americans in, 20; ambivalence toward, 262; bureaucracy of, 251; choice to use, 18; disillusionment with, 253; doctor-patient relationship in, 252; efficacy of, 17–18; fragmentation into specialties of, 252; “heroic” approaches to, 7–9, 13, 18; high cost of, 253, 256; Oliver Wendell Holmes on, 17; influence of irregular medicine on, 258–59; vs. irregular medicine, 2–3, 12–13; licensing requirements for, 245; loss of status by, 14–15; poor training in, 15–16; and public health, 245–46; shortcomings of, 17–18; similarities between irregular and, 259–60; view of irregular medicine of, 16–17; women in, 18–19, 102–3, 248–49; wonder drugs of, 251–52
Reinhardt, Willis and Wallis, 193–94, 198–99, 203, 206
rheumatism, 230
riots, 14–15
risk taking, 257–58
Rockefeller Foundation, 247
Roosevelt, Theodore, 234
Round Hill House, 95
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 105
Rush, Benjamin, 9, 14, 27, 38, 87, 221
sanitation, 245–46
Sappington, John, 2–3
Sartain, Harriet Judd, 137
scarificator, 7
scarlet fever, 134–35
science: laboratory, 140; medical, 15, 17, 139, 245; and medical practice, 260; of mind, 54–55, 59, 64; public interest in, 195
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (Eddy), 175, 176
“Science of Health” (Quimby), 173
scientific shows, 195–96
Scoresby, William, 153–54
Scultetus, Johannes, 211
self-treatment, 9–10
Seward, William, 133
Sewell, Thomas, 75
sexual dysfunction, 193, 198–99
sexually transmitted diseases, 193
Shay, Timothy, 164–65
Shepherd, J. P., 45–46
Shew, Joel, 89
Short’s Medica Britannica (Franklin), 26
showers, 105
similars, law of, 117–18
Similia similibus curantur, 117–18
Sinclair, Upton, 205
small doses in homeopathy, 118–19, 121–22
smallpox vaccine, 44, 118
Smith, E., 9–10
Smith, Elizabeth, 97, 115
Smith, J. Dickson, 35
Smith, Oakley, 224–25
Smith, William, 217
snake oil, 3, 183–84
snake venom, 127
social movements, 257
Society of Universal Harmony, 154
somatoform disorders, 170
somnambulism, 158–60, 180
spa therapy, 86–87
specialties in regular medicine, 252
spiritualist movement, 173–74, 179
Spurzheim, Johann, 58–62
Stanley, Clark, 183
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 97, 114, 115–16, 133, 144
STDs, 193
steam baths, 31
Still, Andrew Taylor: on blood and Law of the Artery, 215–16; diagnostic techniques of, 216–17; early life of, 213; loss of confidence in medicine, 213–14; as magnetic healer, 214; as medical circuit rider, 214–15; on nervous system, 216; and origin of osteopathy, 214–15; on osteopathic charlatans, 226; on osteopathy vs. massage, 217; school opened by, 217–19, 227; spirituality of, 214, 215, 222–23, 231; as “straight” vs. “mixer,” 228–29
Still, Charles, 235–36
Stille, Alfred, 250
Stillman, Benjamin, 195
Stone, William, 162
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 6, 95, 104
streptomycin, 250
subluxations, 221–22, 223
sulfonamides, 250
The Surgeons Store-House (Scultetus), 211
Swazey, George W., 136
sweating used by Samuel Thomson, 31
sweat lodges, 86
Swedenborg, Emanuel, 56–57, 187
Swedish massage, 1
Sweet, Benoni, 212–13
Sweet, Job, 212–13
sycosis, 124
syphilis, 124
systemic lupus erythematosus, 134
tartar emetic, 189
Temkin, Owsei, 266
Tennyson, Alfred (Lord), 88
TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation), 230
Thacher, James, 14
thalidomide, 252
Thomson, Cyrus, 36
Thomson, John, 33, 36
Thomson, Samuel, 16, 22, 23–51; books published by, 39–41; centralized business of, 38–39; charisma and leadership of, 260; democratic rhetoric of, 33, 34–35, 40; dysentery treatment of, 34; early life of, 25, 27–28; and homeopathy, 131; as itinerant healer, 28–29; lawsuits against, 43–44; on limitations of traditional medicine, 27–28, 29; on lobelia, 24, 25, 27, 30–31; patenting by, 37–38, 49–50; and patent medicine, 188; personal control over system by, 39; phrenological examination of, 50–51; poetry of, 23–24, 32, 37; publicity and advertising by, 38; start of medical career of, 27–28; successful approaches used by, 48–50; Thomsonism after death of, 46–48; yellow fever remedy of, 29–30
Thomsonianism. See Thomsonism
Thomsonian principles, schools founded on, 46–48
Thomsonian Recorder, 41, 44, 46
Thomsonian school of medicine, 45, 46–47
Thomsonism, 23–51; agents of, 37, 38–39; basis for, 24–25; cold and heat in, 30–31; after death of Samuel Thomson, 46–48; drive to reform, 46; elemental composition of body in, 30; Friendly Botanic Societies of, 36–37; herbs and plants used in, 30–31; immediate treatment effects of, 33–34; and medical licensing laws, 36–37; natural ingredients in, 49; number of followers of, 41; and patent medicine, 188; prepayment system (“Family Rights”) of, 35–36, 38–39, 50; regular medicine’s view of, 34, 43–44; self-treatment in, 35; simple instructions of, 32–33; on single cure for all diseases, 30; six core medicines of, 31–32; and social reform movements, 34–35; sweating and purging in, 31; used by regular doctors, 42–43, 44–45; women practitioners of, 41–42; women’s health in, 42
Ticknor, Caleb, 16
toxins, flushing of, 111
Trall, Russell Thacher, 87, 89–90, 102, 108
tranquilizers, 252
transcendentalism, 133
transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), 230
A Treatise on the Materia Medica (Cullen), 117
Trine, Ralph Waldo, 179
Trowbridge, John Townsend, 106
tuberculosis and manual manipulation, 211
Tucker, Henry H., 200
Turner, Robert, 212
Twain, Mark, 5; on homeopathy, 142; on hydropathy, 95, 100; on medical bureaucracy, 251; on osteopathy, 233–34; on phrenology, 4–6, 74–75
twentieth century: antibiotics in, 258; chiropractic in, 224, 232, 234; fall and rise of alternative medicine, 253–54; homeopathy in, 118, 136, 143; hydropathy in, 109; medical advances in, 250–51; medical bureaucracy in, 251; medical specialization in, 232; osteopathy in, 231, 237; patent medicine in, 194, 203, 206, 207; phrenology in, 78; public health in, 245–46; strengths of irregular medicine in, 262–63; trust in doctors in, 18; women in medicine in, 249, 250
unconscious mental state, 158–60, 171
Universal Chiropractors’ Association, 227
University of Michigan, 142
University of Philadelphia, 243
unorthodox medicine, 2, 3
utopian communities, 11–12
vaccines, 44, 118–19, 246, 251
Van Buren, Martin, 95
Vegetable Compound, 188, 190–92, 201, 206
venesection, 7
vis medicatrix naturae, 9, 217, 264
vitalist system: chiropractic as, 221; homeopathy as, 122–23; mesmerism as, 149, 150; Thomsonism as, 30
vocational guidance based on phrenology, 70
Warner, Charles, 234
Warren, John, 60, 77
Washington, George, 161
Washington Homeopathic Medical Society, 20
water cure. See hydropathy
Water-Cure Journal, 81, 83, 90–91, 92, 103
water drinking, 84, 85, 105, 111
Waterhouse, Benjamin, 44
“Water University,” 85
Watson, James, 251
Webster, Daniel, 71–72
Weed, Samuel, 221
Weil, Andrew, 256
Wells, Charlotte Fowler, 64, 66, 67, 68
Wells, Samuel, 64
Wesley, John, 10, 87, 230
Wesselhoeft, Conrad, 134, 135
Wesselhoeft, Robert, 94–96, 98–99, 106, 107, 134
wet-dress cure, 96–97
wet-sheet cure, 96, 104
Wharton, John, 36
white pond lily, 31
Whitman, Walt, 71, 73–74, 99
Wilson, James, 85, 88, 105, 110
Wilson, Jane, 220
Wisconsin Medical Institute, 206
Wistar’s Balsam of Wild Cherry, 204
witch hazel, 31
Witmer, Daniel, 37
WOC radio station, 226
women: as alternate healers, 10; in chiropractic, 224; in homeopathy, 129, 132–33, 135–38, 143; in hydropathy, 97, 103–4; in irregular medicine, 19–20, 249–50; in mesmerism, 165–66; in osteopathy, 218; in patent medicine, 191–92, 197–98; in phrenology, 66; in regular medicine, 18–19, 102–3, 248–49; as Thomsonian practitioners, 41–42
women’s health: homeopathy and, 136; hydropathy and, 83–84, 103; patent medicine and, 188, 191, 192–93, 197–98
Women’s Homeopathic Medical Club of Philadelphia, 137
Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, 19
women’s rights, phrenology and, 66, 68
wonder drugs, 251–52
worms, hydropathy for, 98–99
Young, Brigham, 100