The Midwest pioneer, his ills, cures, & doctors - University Library ...

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or health can be maintained. This system is applicable to
all diseases in all mankind, for the only differences the doctor
meets are individual variations in temperaments of the
constituent elements.
To cleanse the stomach and to aid in raising heat and
promoting perspiration Dr. Thomson found Lobelia inflata,
the "Puke Weed," most useful. Another concoction, con-
Man in whom the "four elements" have jailed to maintain the
required "definite
balance."
tents secret and known to his followers in later years as
"No. 2," was effective in maintaining the heat in the stomach
until the body could be cleared of obstructions,
whereas "No. 3" was best for removing "canker" from the
alimentary tract.^ Other supplementary preparations had
similar uses. Experience in the yellow fever epidemic of
1805 in Alstead and Walpole had proved the eflScacy of
parboiling the patient to restore his natural heat. After
much experimenting Dr. Thomson decided that the best
method was to:
"Take several stones of dilQferent sizes and put them in
the fire until red hot, then take the smallest first, and put
one of them into a pan or kettle of hot water, with the
stone about half immersed— the patient must be undressed
and a blanket put around him so as to shield his