Illustrated Phytotherapy by Thomas Deschauer, D.Sc, N.D.,
D.C.
- An enigma, Deschauer wrote a number of self-published books,
maintained a practice and ran an herb and vitamin business in
Maywood, Illinois up until, I gather, the late 1940s. It would
seem, from his exhaustive knowledge of rural German plant names,
that he was one of the German nature-cure charismatics that immigrated
to the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. Others include Benedict
Lust, Arnold Ehret and Otto
Mausert. Going by the appearance of Dr. Deschauer in his
photograph in volume one, he was already an aged man, and perhaps
he died before finishing the planned third volume of this series.
As a former printer, I presume that these (as well as his other)
books were published on a small press (an A.B.Dick or Multilith,
most likely) and bound by hand, with staples and binding tape...Old-School
desk-top printing. The illustrations appear to have been carefully
cut out of existing books (I know most of them by sight), photographed
and burned into metal plates for in-house printing. I know nothing
more about the good doctor (he is quoted several times by John
Christopher in HIS books) except that the first volume has been
reprinted a few times over the years by others and that his several
other books are unknown by anyone I have contacted. Nonetheless,
except for some peculiar latin names (retained) and several (noted)
misidentifications of American plants (understandable if one
were of German training), there is a sure and experienced hand
at work in these two books and they deserve to be available.
-
- Volume one (1945), 113
pages, 147 illustrations of about 150 distinct plants, bookmarked
Acrobat (.pdf) file, 2.4 MB
- Volume two (1945)
116 pages, 155 illustrations of about 160 distinct plants, bookmarked
Acrobat (.pdf) file, 2.7 MB
A Therapeutic Guide to Alkaloidal Dosimetric Medication by
John M. Shaller M.D.
- The complete bookmarked manual
(1907) - Acrobat file, 282 pages, 532K
-
- In the early 1860's, Professor Adolph Burggaeve, of the University
of Ghent, conceived of a model of medicine that used small, frequently
dispensed granules of refined drugs administered to control inflammation
and its resultant damage. This was in direct opposition to the
conventional model of heroic, confrontational medicine that was
current then (and, to some degree, is current still). This was
mostly a philosophical concept, with many followers but few practitioners
(at least in the U.S.) until the Chicago physician/pharmacist
Dr. Wallace C. Abbott began manufacturing unique small-dose water-soluble
granules of drugs in 1888; this enable "Dosimetry"
to explode, amongst both regular-school and eclectic American
physicians. The Abbott Alkaloidal Company had great success,
often unable to keep up with demand, changed its name to Abbott
Laboratories and, by the late 1920s had begun to phase out its
"granules" business and change into the run-of-the-mill
pharmaceutical giant it is today.
-
- For a few decades, this model of medicine flourished, both
in North America and Europe but as the physicians got older,
none replaced them and it is a sadly forgotten medical paradigm.
It has two practical problems: it is very labor-intensive (bad
news these days) and the granules are no longer manufactured.
Still, it is intriguing...the monographs in this, the best-known
of the American Dosimetric manuals, are articulate and practical...there
is even an extensive section on cancer salves and their recipes
-
- Whether theories are right or wrong, this one fact will
remain-your patients will get well speedily and safely. It might
seem that too much prominence is given to the one symptom, fever.
But the fact is, that if fever can be controlled and can be reduced
at will, the disease that produces the fever is virtually under
control. By keeping track of the fever alone, a very excellent
and tolerably sure index is obtained of the progress of the disease.
The slightest decline is favorable and may show that treatment
is effective, while the slightest increase shows advancement
of pathologic conditions and that the remedy used has so far
failed to impress or control the disease. - Shaller
Transactions of the National Eclectic Medical Association
Papers on botanical medicine and sundry from the annual convention
report
- Transactions 1881-2
- VOL 9 - Acrobat file, 37 pages, 148K
- NEW REMEDIES.
- RHUS AROMATICA.
- Transactions 1882-3
- VOL. 10 - Acrobat file, 88 pages, 220K
- GELSEMIUM IN OBSTETRIC PRACTICE. - ASCLEPIADACEAE (Milkweed
Family). - SANGUINARIA CANADENSIS. - CHELIDONIUM MAJUS. - GELSEMIUM
SEMPERVIRENS. - MANGIFERA INDICA. - NEW REMEDIES. - THE MEDICAL
FLORA OF KANSAS;
Transactions 1888-9 - VOL.
16 - Acrobat file, 24 pages, 80K
- WHY PHYSICIANS SHOULD BE LIBERALLY EDUCATED. - POSSIBILITIES
OF UNITING THE SEVERAL SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE - MEDICAL EXCERPTS.
(JOHN KING, M. D.) - COLLINSONIA CANADENSIS. - DOSIMETRIC MEDICATION.
- Transactions 1895-6
- VOL. 23 - Acrobat file, 25 pages, 80K
- THE EPIDEMIC REMEDY. - PASSIFLORA. - MEDICINAL VALUE OF THE
SARATOGA WATERS. - CIGARS AND CIGARETTES (their dangers).
- I will add more of these as I can obtain them (locating them
is a tad dicey). A pattern does emerge, however. The first 10-12
Transactions deal heavily and gleefully with an almost adolescent
joy at existence...new remedies, new methodologies, growing members
and many new schools, a sense of purpose and intent. As the years
go on, fewer joys, longer discourses on how to stay afloat as
a movement, against the country-wide pressure of "regular"
medicine to push the American School (Eclectic) physicians into
oblivion...long discourses by the various state delegations of
the rigours of survival...grim, trench politics dominating over
content. As the body of compared information, experience and
sophistication of Eclectic Medicine increased, its numbers dwindled.
As mentioned elsewhere, the last Eclectic Medical School closed
in 1939.
-
- The revised version of the booklet, published in 1942 by
the Ministry of Agriculture of British Columbia, offers a remarkably
reasonable methodology for the sustained harvesting of Rhamnus
purshiana for the world's drug trade, assessing and correcting
damages and defining methods for planting an over-harvested botanical...plus
revealing the little-known fact that the WOOD is equal in strength
to the "official" bark. This even-handed and humane
approach (...sooo Canadian) is one that should offer a model
to eleviate some of the current problems of herb overharvesting.
-
- Acrobat file (.pdf) 32 pages, 10 illustrations, legislative
regulations and a sample picker's tag. 470K
Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants by A.R. Harding
- Written in 1909 and 1912, from the final revision of 1936,
this was THE book on Ginseng and Golden Seal cultivation for
many decades. I have added a few better plates to the last few
chapters...reprinted for so many years, I can just imagine the
dried ink caked on the 17-year-old zinc plates in the ancient
galleys...some things even might Photoshop cannot repair digitally.
-
- Section 1 - I.
Plants as a Source of Revenue, II. List of Plants Having Medicinal
Value, III. Cultivation of Wild Plants, IV. The Story of Ginseng
- Acrobat file (.pdf) 31 pages, 9 illustrations 640K
- Section 2 - V.
Ginseng Habits, VI. Cultivation
Acrobat file (.pdf) 28 pages, 16 illustrations 336K
- Section 3 - VII.
Shading and Blight, VIII. Diseases of Ginseng, IX. Marketing
and Prices
- Acrobat file (.pdf) 39 pages, 14 illustrations 372K
- Section 4 - X.
Letters from Growers, XI. General Information, XII. Medicinal
Qualities, XIII. Ginseng in China, XIV. Ginseng- Government Description,
Etc.
- Acrobat file (.pdf) 47 pages, 7 illustrations 308K
- Section 5 - XV.
Michigan Mint Farm, XVI. Miscellaneous Information, XVII. Golden
Seal Cultivation, XVIII. Golden Seal History, Etc, XIX. Growers'
Letters, XX. Golden Seal-Government Description, Etc.
- Acrobat file (.pdf) 47 pages, 17 illustrations 1.3M
- Section 6 - XXI.
Cohosh-Black and Blue, XXII. Snakeroot- Canada and Virginia,
XXIII. Pokeweed, XXIV. Mayapple, XXV. Seneca Snakeroot, XXVI.
Lady's Slipper
Acrobat file (.pdf) 17 pages, 9 illustrations 368K
- Section 7 - XXVII.
Forest Roots, XXVIII. Forest Plants, XXIX. Thicket Plants, XXX.
Swamp Plants
- Acrobat file (.pdf) 33 pages, 19 illustrations 552K
- Group 8 - XXXI.
Field Plants, XXXII. Dry Soil Plants, XXXIII. Rich Soil Plants,
XXXIV. Medicinal Herbs, XXXV. Medicinal Shrubs
- Acrobat file (.pdf) 39 pages, 26 illustrations 672K
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