New guide to health, or, Botanic family physician : containing a complete system of practice, upon 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 added, a description of several cases of disease attended by the author, with the mode of treatment and cure / by Samuel Thomson.

Samuel Thomson

Date:: 1829

Credit: New guide to health, or, Botanic family physician : containing a complete system of practice, upon 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 added, a description of several cases of disease attended by the author, with the mode of treatment and cure / by Samuel Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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$There are several vegetables that grow common in this coun- try, winch are poisons; and inorder,that the public may be on their guard against using them as medicine, I will here give a Jim of those within my knowledge, viz: Garden Hemlock], N,ight-sh de, Apple Peru, Pappy, tienbane, I'oke Root, Man- drake-root, (iarget-root, Wild Parsnip, lndigo-weed3 Ivy, Dog- wood^ Tobacco, and Laurel. Incase either of these articles, or any oilier poison should be taken through accident, or other- wise, t strong preparation ol .No. 1, with a small quantity of No. 2, will be found to be a sovereign remedy. Cfl es frequently occur in the country of being poisoned ex- ternally, by some of the above vegetable poisons, in which they swell very much. When this happens, by taking No. 2, or Composition, and washing with the tincture, or the third pre- paration of No. I,relief may be speedily obtained. It is a common thing \\ ith the doctors lo make use of many of the above mentioned vegetable poisons as medicine; but I would caution the public against the use of them many way whatever, as they will have no other effect than to increase the difficulty, and injure the constitution of the patient; being deadly poisons it is impossible flial they can do any good. No dumb beast will ever touch them, and they are correct judges of what is good lor food or medicine. Great use is made in many parts of the country of garden hemlock, (scicuta,) and is recommended by the doctors for many complaints, to be taken or applied externally. 1 have been credi- bly informed that large quantities of this article are collected and boiled down to a thick substance, by thepeoplein thecoun- try, and sold by them to the doctors and apothecaries, it is well known to be the greatest poison of any vegetable, and was used in ancient limes to put criminals to death; but this was before it was ever thought of, that the same article that would cause immediate death when taken for that purpose, would also cure disease. Many persons that pretend to make useof my system of prac- tice, re in the habit of using some of the vegetables that I have mentioned as poisonous. I wish the public to understand that it is entirely unauthorized by me as there is nolhing in my practice or wriiing,but what is directly opposed to every thing of a poison- ous nature being used as medicine; font has always been my aim to ascertain and avoid the use of every thing except such arti cles is I knew by actual experience 'o be agreeable to nature, and also free from all danger or risk in using them to cure disease.$

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