The Eclectic Practice of Medicine*
- In 1906, Dr. Rolla Thomas completely revised the 1866 teaching
manual by John Milton Scudder, and revised it yet again in 1907.
This was the culmination of a thirty-year frenzy of published
creativity at the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio,
and was the main teaching text at that school until the1930s...the
college closed in 1939. Throughout can be viewed the primary
thesis of Eclecticism: No matter what the disease may be named,
treat the person with the symptoms first. Strengthen
the defenses and support the life energy. Of course medicine
as progressed exponentially since then...yet in some ways it
has been infeebled by not treating the person, the actual "translator"
of the disease, rather treating the pathology.
-
- The Eclectics were the most sophisticated of all the Medical
Reform Sects that arose from the mid-1800s, lasted the longest
and published the best books. This is a physician's manual, and
can be harrowing at times, but it offers a clear and precise
model for the clinical application of a vitalist healing philosophy.
Many potentially fatal disorders harried our foreparents, many
barely treatable by ANY physician, including the Eclectics...many
are now merely footnotes, so capable is current medicine and
public health. Yet, underneath it all is the basic tenant, still
important and applicable, that HOW a person gets sick is at least
equal to WHAT the name of the disease is. In this realm, much
of this book is still useful, even subversive.
-
- "...it were better for the doctor if he
can forget that his patient has typhoid fever, pneumonia,
dysentery, or whatever he may have, and study the conditions
that are present. This may be wrongs of the circulation,
of the nervous system, of the secretions, of digestion, of assimilation,
or wrongs of the blood, but whatever the basal lesion, it must
be overcome if the patient is to be benefited by medication."
- Introduction
-
- PART I - INFECTIOUS
DISEASES, section 1 - 124 pages, bookmarked Acrobat
(.pdf) file - 13 illustrations. 1.9 MB (12/02)
- INTRODUCTION. TYPHOID FEVER. TYPHUS FEVER. RELAPSING FEVER.
MALARIAL FEVER. YELLOW FEVER. CHOLERA. CEREBRO-SPINAL FEVER (Spinal
Menigitis). VARIOLA (Smallpox). VARIOLA VACCINIA (Cowpox). VARICELLA
(Chickenpox).
- PART I - INFECTIOUS
DISEASES, section 2 - 137 pages, bookmarked Acrobat
(.pdf) file - 5 illustrations. 371 K (12/02)
- SCARLET FEVER. MEASLES. RUBELLA. PAROTITIS. PERTUSSIS. DIPHTHERIA.
INFLUENZA. ERYSIPELAS. SEPTICEMIA. PYEMIA. TUBERCULOSIS. SYPHILIS.
DENGUE. THE PLAGUE. LEPROSY. GLANDERS. ACTINOMYCOSIS. ANTHRAX.
HYDROPHOBIA. TETANUS. "FEBRICULA."
- PART II - DISEASES
OF THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM - 107 pages, bookmarked
Acrobat (.pdf) file - 4 illustrations. 300 K (12/02)
- I. DISEASES OF THE NOSE. II. DISEASES OF THE LARYNX. III.
DISEASES OF THE BRONCHI. IV. DISEASES OF THE LUNG. V. DISEASES
OF THE PLEURA.
- PART III - DISEASES
OF THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM - 121 pages, bookmarked
Acrobat (.pdf) file - 6 illustrations. 316 K (12/02)
- I. DISEASE OF THE PERICARDIUM. II. DISEASES OF THE HEART.
III. CHRONIC VALVULAR DISEASES. IV. NEUROSES OF THE HEART. V.
DISEASES OF THE ARTERIES. VI. DISEASES OF THE STOMACH.
- PART IV - DISEASE
OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM, Section 1 - 75 pages, bookmarked
Acrobat (.pdf) file - 2 illustrations. 192 K (12/02)
- I. DISEASE OF THE MOUTH. II. DISEASES OF THE SALIVARY GLANDS.
III. DISEASES OF THE PHARYNX. IV. DISEASES OF THE TONSILS. V.
DISEASES OF THE ESOPHAGUS. VI. DISEASES OF THE STOMACH.
- PART IV - DISEASE
OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM, Section 2 - 112 pages, bookmarked
Acrobat (.pdf) file - 4 illustrations. 300 K (12/02)
- VII. DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. VIII. DISEASES OF THE LIVER.
IX. DISEASES OF THE SPLEEN. X. DISEASES OF THE PANCREAS. XI.
DISEASES OF THE PERITONEUM.
- PART V - DISEASES
OF THE URINARY TRACT - 80 pages, bookmarked Acrobat
(.pdf) file - 5 illustrations. 1.1 M (12/02)
- I. DISEASES OF THE KIDNEY. II. DISEASES OF THE BLADDER.
- PART VI - CONSTITUTIONAL
DISEASES - 54 pages, bookmarked Acrobat (.pdf) file
- 1 illustration. 136 K (12/02)
- DIABETES MELLITUS. DIABETES INSIPIDUS. LITHEMIA. RHEUMATISM.
(5 types) GOUT. RICKETS. SCURVY. PURPURA. HEMOPHILIA.
- PART VII - DISEASES
OF THE BLOOD AND THE DUCTLESS GLANDS - 32 pages, bookmarked
Acrobat (.pdf) file. 84 K (12/02)
- ANEMIA. LEUKEMIA. HODGKIN'S DISEASE. ADDISON'S DISEASE. MYXEDEMA.
GOITRE. EXOPHTHALMIC GOITRE.
- PART VIII - DISEASES
OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM - 121 pages, bookmarked Acrobat
(.pdf) file - 17 illustrations. 660 K (12/02)
- I. DISEASES OF THE PERIPHERAL NERVES. II. DISEASES OF THE
SPINAL CORD. III. DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND ITS MENINGES. IV.
DISEASES OF UNKNOWN PATHOLOGY.
- PART IX-XI, MISCELLANEOUS
- 76 pages, bookmarked Acrobat (.pdf) file - 17 illustrations.
1.9 M (12/02)
- PART IX. DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES.
PART X. THE INTOXICATIONS; SUNSTROKE; OBESITY.
PART XI. ANIMAL PARASITES.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
- IMPORTANT INCOMPATIBLES.
- POISONS AND ANTIDOTES.
- INDICATIONS FOR REMEDIES.
-
- INDICATIONS FOR
REMEDIES. a handy materia medica from the end of the
manual - 21 pages, 60K Acrobat (.pdf) file
- *If you would rather access this information as linked
text (rather than Acrobat) Henriette Kress has it all on her
site at:
- http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/thomas/
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