THE HISTORY OF HERBAL MEDICINE IN NORTH AMERICA (Part Five)

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THE HISTORY OF HERBAL MEDICINE IN NORTH AMERICA

 

(Part Five)

 

By RFD Columnist, Todd Caldecott

of Clinical Herbal Studies

Wild Rose College Of Natural Healing

Calgary, Alberta

 

Email: phyto

Website

 

In this major series, RFD Columnist, Todd Caldecott explores the history of

herbal medicine in North America, with the view of fostering a better

understanding of the issues that face modern herbalists and a greater

appreciation of the evolution of the relationships between alternative,

complimentary and conventional medicine.

 

Herbal medicine in North America has a long and venerable tradition, from the

First Nations practices that were in existence thousands of years before the

first colonists arrived, to the development of four-year clinical programs at

the turn of the last century.

 

Tribulations and trials: Thomson's medical heresy

 

In November of 1806, Thomson was in need of medicine, and headed off to Plumb

Island, just offshore from Newburyport, Massachusetts. On his way back, after

spending several days on the island, Thomson again passed through Newburyport to

gather a team of horses to carry his medicines back home. He stopped in at a

store, and while engaged in conversation a man burst in, saying that he was sick

and that his wife lay at home at death's door. Enquiring further, Thomson and

his companions learned that his wife had been treated by Dr. French, who after

extensive treatment, claimed his patient to be incurable. When this man learned

of Thomson's skill, he implored him to come back home and treat his dying wife.

" I commenced with her in my usual way, and in about fourteen hours her fever

turned, and the next day she was comfortable and soon got well. " Thomson's

'miraculous' cure soon became the talk of the town. No doubt chagrined that an

uneducated 'hick' had cured his dying patient, Dr.

French stated in defense that this woman had already been showing signs of

improvement. In what must have been a rather embarrassing moment for Dr. French

however, the patient's family promptly denied this.

 

Thomson was suddenly in great demand as a physician, and attended several cases

in Newburyport, all hopeless cases given over by the doctors to die. One young

man came in out of the cold, with three of his fingers deeply wounded from an

accident, and asked Thomson for his assistance. While Thomson cleaned his wounds

of mercury, the young man stated that Dr French had attended him for the past

few weeks, only to be advised afterwards by French that he should have his

fingers amputated. While Thomson attended to the wound a student of Dr. French's

came in, and after expressing his disapproval with Thomson, reminded the young

man that his account with the doctor was outstanding. When Thomson learned that

the debt was seventeen dollars, he stated that this was a large enough fee to

pay for both his and the doctor's service, and sent the young man on his way

without charging him anything at all. Thomson returned home shortly afterwards

and continued to practice, traveling where he was

requested, and in a very short while he had established himself as a kind of

medical savior, delivering countless patients from medical quackery and

desperate prognoses with relatively simple cures. Thomson wasn't content with

simply providing treatment however, but educated his patients, invoking the

importance of a good digestion, and how to use the local plants as medicines. Of

course his increasing popularity rankled the ire of many doctors, and no less so

than Dr. French, who became increasingly obsessed with Thomson.

 

In 1809 Thomson was asked to attend a Captain Trickey who was very ill, but when

he found him Thomson felt there was nothing he could do. The family was

insistent however, but Thomson refused, only suggesting to the distressed wife

what she could try if she felt inclined, which she did. With Thomson refusing to

treat the Captain, two doctors were sent for: the first arrived and bled the

patient, and when the second arrived he pronounced that the patient's breathing

was labored from Thomson's medicine. The next day Captain Trickey died, and the

attending doctors and their supporters began to spread rumors that Thomson had

killed him. After returning home Thomson learned that Dr. French had cited him

for murder, and had appealed for his arrest.

 

The details of Dr. French's accusation actually referred to an event two years

prior, in which Thomson had attended a young man by the name of Lovett. Similar

to Trickey, Lovett was also in a very desperate state, and Thomson had expressed

his doubts for recovery, although he was eventually persuaded to try. Thomson

provided a few treatments, and after several hours the young man had much

improved, and Thomson left him to attend others that required his services.

Unfortunately, Lovett did not listen to Thomson's counsel to stay home and keep

warm, and went down to the seaside where he subsequently caught a chill. Upon

visiting him again, Thomson felt that the young man was beyond his help, and

told the family that there was nothing he could do. As his services were

required elsewhere, Thomson recommended that the family secure another doctor to

manage the patient. Thomson stayed with the patient until two doctors arrived,

who then attended the young man until he died the following

evening. Based on these events, Dr. French accused Thomson of killing Lovett

with Lobelia.

 

In late November Thomson was arrested while visiting some patients in Salisbury,

and was soon confined to a dungeon with a man accused of sexually assaulting a

six year-old girl. From his description the dungeon must have been ghastly,

without any kind of furniture or windows, dark, unheated and cold, with raw

sewage dripping into it from the cells above. The many friends that visited him

could hardly bear the stench of his cell, and appealed to the jailer for better

treatment. An old bed and a few provisions were provided, which Thomson shared

with his grateful cellmate. The plan by Dr. French and his supporters was

apparently to kill Thomson by privation, as a court that could hear a charge for

murder wouldn't sit until next fall. Fortunately Thomson had many friends, and

no less among them than Judge Rice, whom Thomson had helped by curing his wife

of rheumatism. A petition was made to the grand jury, and after much effort on

the part of Judge Rice and his lawyer, a trial was set

for December 10, 1809.

 

The first witness to testify against Thomson was Lovett's father, who while

providing a fairly accurate rendition of the events did not portray Thomson in a

very flattering light. The next witness called to the stand was Dr. Howe; the

physician that attended Lovett after Thomson had left. Dr. Howe stated

unequivocally that Thomson had killed Lovett with Lobelia, and then, with a

flair for the dramatic, produced a supposed sample of the herb in question. The

root was handed around the room with much trepidation, and after all had

satisfied their curiosity with it, one of Thomson's lawyers took it in hand and

ate it, which caused quite a flap in the courtroom. Dr. Howe was then

cross-examined by Thomson's lawyers, and questioned if he actually knew what

Lobelia looked like, to which Dr. Howe could not reply. A Dr. Cutler was then

called up to the stand as an expert on medicinal herbs for the defense, and when

questioned about the herb produced by Dr. Howe, stated that it was not

Lobelia but in fact Marsh-Rosemary. The prosecution attempted to counter this

by calling up their other witnesses, people whom Thomson had never seen before,

including one woman who claimed that Thomson had forced his " puke " (i.e.

Lobelia) down Lovett's throat, the young man " crying murder " the whole time

(Thomson 1841, 546). To counter these wild claims a few more witnesses were

brought to the stand by the defense, including a former patient that was

administered Lobelia and who said that Thomson had cured him in one week, even

after medical treatments had failed. The last witness was Dr. French himself,

who, in a rather abrupt turn of events, stated that Thomson had employed his

herbal remedies with apparent success, and had never killed anyone to his

knowledge. After this the defense lawyers protested uproariously, and the

attending judge lost his patience with the proceedings, charging the jury to

acquit Thomson of all charges.

 

Although Thomson was honorably acquitted, the rumors that charged him as a

murderer persisted, only adding to the frustration of the doctors. But, in an

ironic twist, some of these physicians began to borrow treatment strategies from

Thomson, without giving him any credit. Dr. Manessah Cutler, who testified on

behalf of Thomson at his trial, is but one example of this, writing up a case

history on the successful use of Lobelia in asthma for a medical journal, even

while Thomson was languishing in prison. After the trial, Thomson attempted to

counter these rumors by suing Dr. French for slander, but lost the case, and had

to come up with more than $600 in costs and damages (Griggs 1981, 168).

Historians too, were unkind to Thomson, and in his entry under Lobelia, Dr.

Jacob Bigelow writes in his American Medical Botany that in the case of Lovett

this " pretending physician…terminated the disease and the patient " (Wood 1992,

95). Subsequent medical histories continued to repeat this

error, and it became enshrined as historical fact, casting doubt upon Thomson

as a healer and Lobelia as an important medicinal herb. Even today Lobelia is

regarded with great suspicion by medical authorities, which confer all manner of

toxic and even potentially fatal effects to Lobelia, even though Lobelia's

emetic properties would become active long before a potentially toxic dose could

be consumed.

 

 

 

CONTINUING

 

 

 

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