A school of natural medicine popular in 19th-century United States. Samuel Thompson was born in rural New Hampshire. As a youth, he was intrigued by the herbs and medicines used by an elderly woman, the village herbalist. He eventually married, settled down as a farmer, and raised a family. When one of his sons developed scarlet fever, Thompson resorted to steam inhalations and lobelia. His son recovered, and as a result Thompson gave up farming and became an itinerant herb doctor and salesman of the herbal remedies that he had studied.<\/p>\n
Thompson had his remedies patented in Washington, and by 1806 he was marketing them through the Friendly Botanic Company. He eventually settled in Massachusetts, where he was opposed by other, more traditional doctors. The death of one of his patients led to his being tried for murder. By the time he was found not guilty, he had become a celebrity. He relocated to Boston and continued to develop his herbal company. Throughout the 1820s, he had salesmen across the country distributing kits of his products. Thompsonism flourished until his death in 1843, after which his practice was absorbed into eclecticism, the continuing school of natural medicine.<\/p>\n
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A school of natural medicine popular in 19th-century United States. Samuel Thompson was born in rural New Hampshire. As a youth, he was intrigued by the herbs and medicines used by an elderly woman, the village herbalist. He eventually married, settled down as a farmer, and raised a family. When one of his sons developed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-t"],"yoast_head":"\n