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The term was coined by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque ( 1784 to 1841 ), a Physician living among the Native American s, and observing their use of Medicinal Plant s. Rafinesque used the word "eclectic" to refer to those physicians who employed whatever was found to be beneficial to their patients (eclectic being derived from the Greek word "''eklego''", meaning "''to choose from''"). Therefore, "''Eclectics''" were doctors who practiced with a philosophy of "alignment with nature," learning from and using concepts from other schools of medical thought. They opposing the techniques of bleeding, chemical purging and the use of Mercury compounds common among the "conventional" doctors of that time.http://oneearthherbs.squarespace.com/principles-traditions/ Alan Tillotson ''Philosophies and Traditions of Herbal Medicine'' HISTORY Eclectic Medicine appeared as an extension of early American herbal medicine traditions, such as " Thomsonian Medicine " in the early 1800s, and Native American medicine. Regular medicine at the time made extensive use of purges with Calomel and other Mercury -based remedies, as well as extensive bloodletting and Eclectic medicine was a direct reaction to those practices as well as the need to professionalize the Thomsonian medicine innovations. Alexander Holmes Baldridge (1795-1874) suggested that the Eclectic Medicine should be called the ''American School of Medicine'' instead, given its American roots. It however bears resemblance to Physiomedicalism which is practiced in the United Kingdom . In 1827, a medical doctor named Wooster Beach who broke with Thomson over professionalism founded the ''United States Infirmary'' in New York in 1827 and the ''Reformed Medical College'' in 1829, practicing and teaching ''Eclectic Medicine''. [http://www.chanchalcabrera.com/articles/hm_history_wherbal_medicine.php ''The History of Western Herbal Medicine''], Chanchal Cabrera, 2006. The ''Eclectic Medical Institute'' in ''A Profile in Alternative Medicine: The Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, 1835-1942'' , John S. Haller, Kent State University Press, 1999, ISBN 0585262209 Eclectic Medicine expanded during the By the 1850s , several "regular" American doctors, especially from the New York Academy Of Medicine , had begun using herbal Salve s and other preparations. The movement peaked in the 1880s and 1890s. The schools were not approved by the Flexner Report (1910), which was used to decide on accreditation.'' Flexner Report '', 1910. By World War I , states and provinces were adopting curriculum requirements that followed those articulated by the AMA. Those schools preferred pharmaceutical medicines to botanical extracts and eschewed a Vitalist Model . This effectively forced the Eclectic Medical Schools to either adopt the new model or fold. The last Eclectic Medical school closed in Cincinnati in 1939. The Lloyd Library And Museum still maintains the greatest collection of books, papers and publications of the Eclectic physicians, including libraries from the Eclectic schools.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Library_and_Museumhttp://www.lloydlibrary.org/ Michael Moore recounts:
Major Eclectic physicians include John Uri Lloyd , John Milton Scudder , Harvey Wickes Felter , John King, Andrew Jackson Howe, Finley Ellingwood , Frederick J. Locke, and William N. Mundy. http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/ephemera/lloyd-bios.html Felter's 1912 biography of Scudder, Howe and King http://www.herbalstudies.org/dwchs/classroom/ResearchLibrary/tabid/203/Default.aspx list of publications by Eclectic physicians scanned by David Winston In 1934 the president of the Eclectic Medical Association J. C. Hubbard, M.D. decried the artificial hurdles of modern medical education and put forth a vision for the vitalist, mentor-led eclectic tradition:
Eclectic medicine is practiced in a modernized form today, but mainly by medical ,http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/index.html Linked list of Eclectic texts on Henriette's Herbal Homepage on their webpages. REFERENCES |
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