The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1837-06-28

| Even the writer of this article has seen, in
two or three instances, from twenty to sixty
grains IAN ordinary Thomsonan .dose) CIV
en- without any other apparent effect than
I slight perspiration. Its failure to act as an
emetic, was said to be, " because the pa
tient was not sick" Here, then, the Thorn
sonians dcmonmonstrate that many of the
statements in DR.. Thatcher's and DR.. Bar
tons works, are incorrect Therefore, they
/ place no confidence in any of the rest, ex-
cept what they know to be true. Dr. Ii.
has given an excellent drawing OF the plant
and accurate description. lie states, that
I" the United States do not yield plant Of
more powerful or uneqnivocal operation on
the human system" Thomsolians do not
object to its power, because they maintain
that this power is altogether in favor of life.
I If. as they also declare, " its operation is
unequiyocal," that is, uniformly tie. same
on the same person, at different times, and
on different persons at the same time, then
" its action is" not like that of the RENE
dies of which DIR. Abercrombie speaks
I" fraught with the highest degree of uncer-
tainty." Indeed, that its action is tune
quivocal," have the best reason to be-
titoner say to his patients, that they should
he detained only so many hours and min
utes, or vomit only so many times, "with
n confidence bordering on that with which
we calculate that the phenomena OF nature
will continue to observe the same order"
and his predictions have been fulfilled with
surprzing accuracy. In one instance, ]
knew him to guess within two minutes of
the time iE which an emetic would COM
plete its operations, aud he rarely varies
more than half an hour. | am informed
that his Judgment, in these matters, is foun-
ded principally on his confidence in the
certainty Of its medical action, combined
" ith his knowledge Of the peculiar temper
alncnt of his patient and the degree of dis
ease present.
"Dr. Barton, from whose work you have
derived your description of its poisonous
qualities, informs us, in his sketch of the
charge Of the Chief Justice, that death by
Lobelia is preceded by conyulsion fits
and loss of reason, See, also, u. $. Dis |
pensatory, page 395, where the same doc
Irine is taught, upon the same authority, !
viz: that of DIR. Thatcher, who, in this in-
stance, has illustrated the proyerb that "one
sinner destroyelh much good" DIR. Thatch-
er published, upon the authority of the
malicious reports that were then, and ure
still busly circulating against DIR. Thorn
sons practice, the base libel on Lobelia,
that it is dangerous article, capable of
destroying life in u few hours. And the
whole tribe of learned Dspensatory and
Pharmacopia makers, from that day to this
have copied the slander, 81 endorsed it with
all the security that cadalstic shecps!Iin can
confer. Still, would rather my infant
child would drink pint Of the strongest
Lobelia ten, than take three grains of calo-
mel The learned authors Of The "Physi-
clans Pocket Synopsis" however, do not
|" follow suit" in charging Lobelia Infata
with any deIe,erious quality. They agree
with DR.. Thomson in describing it as " en-
etic, aniispasmodic, and dinphoretic.
"To conclude, what could have been
your obiec, in dragging into your article the
Lobelia Longihora, am at a loss to de-
termne.-If you mean to argue that, be-
cause these plants belong to the same gem
US, Lobelia Inhata must be as poisonous as
Lobcia Longihora, the same evidence will
prove that the Irish potato, the sweet potato
the egg plant, and tho delicious tomato, are
as poisonous as the Jerusalem cherry or
the deadly niehtshade; /; for they all belong
to the genus Solanum. You certainly did
not intend to insinuate that Thomso mans
send to the West Indies after their Lobella /;
for you are aware Of their incessant boast,
in the words of their leader, that their
food and medicines grow in the same field
4 IA, f.. nJn mi ctp rod
by the same hand" Surely, my dear sir,
your assertions in this last paragraph, can
be accountcd for only upon the principles
laid down in the introduction TO this letter
"As Physicians differ in their accounts of
the nature and effects Of this plant, and
as the Thomsonians all agree in their state
ments, which they are ever ready to verify,
by experiments upon themselves, that 1t is
powerful only against disease, unequiv-
ocally" acting in harmony with life; !
think that, for the present, we must give
up the point thar they know more about
it than the members of the Regular Facul-
here and there stray case OF death under
their practice, to countcrbaance the hun
dreds that they have completely restored
after all hope was lost of their recovery,
through the ins,rumentality of the Regular
Faculty, we had better let them alone.
al know one Thomsonian who has prac-
tised two years, and never lost single pa
tient where he was the first aud only prac-
iitioner in the case. know another who
cured fifty six cases Of Scarlet Fever. and
never lost one. When men will fight n
gainst the combined opposition aud appro-
brium of large portion of refined and in
fluentinl society, to do deeds of bcuevolence
like these; let you aad me, my dear sir, il
we cannot lend them hand, at least :" let
them alone"
"That lohelia is poisonous, is what no :