New Guide to Health; or Botanic Family Physician. Containing a Complete System of Practice, on a Plan Entirely New: with a Description of the Vegetables Made Use of, and Directions for Preparing and Administering Them, to Cure Disease. To Which is Prefix…

228; 168 pp. 12mo, bound in sixes. An extremely popular and authoritative guide to domestic medicine. Thomson was the founder of Thomsonian Medicine, and alternative style of medical practice, and his guide influenced other authors of family medical guides throughout the 19th century. The original edition was printed in 1822, and numerous editions were printed subsequently. This edition is of particular note as the first to be printed by John Quincy Adams at the offices of the Boston Investigator, the first American newspaper dedicated to the philosophy of freethought. Hoolihan 3508. Sabin 95605. The significance of his work is not in any contribution to medical science but in the strong influence that he created against the prevailing practice of his day, in which bleeding, calomel, and opium were the ruling remedies. (American National Biography) Heirs of Hippocrates 1247: "The Thomsonian System, as it was termed, flourished in New England and Canada for over twenty years and was partially embraced by a few prominent physicians, including Benjamin Waterhouse. This guide is the Thomsonian textbook giving detailed descriptions for the selection, preparation, and administration of the vegetables used in treating various maladies."