Thomsonianism

The most famous of the eclectics was Samuel Thomson (1769-1843), a self educated New England farm boy who developed a widely popular herbal medical system.

[1] He began full-time practice in 1805, set up the Friendly Botanic Societies in 1813, sold membership and a textbook for $20 that detailed his new methods.

Disease was a matter of maladjustment in the body's internal heat, and could be cured by applying certain herbs and medicinal plants, coupled with vomiting, enemas, and steam baths.

[5] Thomsonianism was characterized by historian Paul Starr as "a creative misreading of the Enlightenment because it viewed therapeutics within the framework of an equalitarian ideology that rejected monopolization of scientific expertise using state licensing laws.

Many herbs he popularized, such as cayenne pepper, lobelia, and goldenseal, remain widely used to this day in herbal healing routines.