CHAPTER V.

THOMPSONISM, 103

Principles of the system as promulgated by its founder. Bold confidence of Thompson in his mode of practice. Points in his theory. Obstructed perspiration. Strife between the heat and the cold. Simplicity of the system. No need of “learned doctors.” Thompsonian views of the _modus operandi_ of medicines. Radicalism of Thompsonism. Prejudice against mineral medicines. No article injurious simply _because_ it is mineral. The most deadly poisons in nature vegetable. Effects of vegetable poisons generally as abiding as those of mineral. Lobelia a poison, sometimes fatal, though Thompsonians claim it to be perfectly harmless. Definition of _poison_. Some poisons more rapid than others in their effects. Poison sometimes used in a relative sense. This word one of the watch-words of Thompsonians, though they daily use poisons as common articles of food. Changes in Thompsonian practice since the system was first promulgated.