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The medical counterculture
Published in Lois N. Magner, Oliver J. Kim, A History of Medicine, 2017
In contrast to the self-taught Thomson, Wooster Beach, the founder of eclectic medicine, had attended medical school. In The American Practice of Medicine (1833), Beach contended that orthodox medicine was “pernicious and dangerous.” The whole materia medica of orthodox medicine consisted of poisonous substances that did more damage to the human body than the diseases for which they were prescribed. Eclectism, Beach contended, was a philosophical school of thought based on “immutable and eternal principles of truth” that would reform medicine.
An Herbal Renaissance
Published in David J. Owen, The Herbal Internet Companion, 2001
John Uri Lloyd (1849–1936) was an important and well-known pharmacist of his time. He was editor of the first National Formulary and served twice as president of the American Pharmaceutical Association. With his brothers Nelson Ashley Lloyd and Curtis Gates Lloyd, he founded the company Lloyd Brothers, Pharmacists, Inc., which gained prominence as the manufacturer of a line of botanical products known as “specific medicines.” These were designed to meet the needs of the so-called “eclectic” physicians (discussed earlier in this chapter). The Lloyd Brother’s collection of books grew into the Lloyd Library and Museum, a 200,000-volume book and periodical collection largely devoted to botany, pharmacy, pharmacognosy, herbal and alternative medicines, natural products, eclectic medicine, and horticulture.
Echinacea biotechnology: advances, commercialization and future considerations
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2018
Jessica L. Parsons, Stewart I. Cameron, Cory S. Harris, Myron L. Smith
Currently popular as an immune stimulant, Echinacea species were used by North American Indigenous Peoples as a treatment for throat infections, wounds and pain, and was historically used in Eclectic medicine for septic conditions (Shemluck 1982). Related pharmacological activities and therapeutic uses continue to be explored, including anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anxiolytic and antimicrobial activities (Hostettmann 2003; Abbasi et al. 2007a; Haller et al. 2013; Cruz et al. 2014; Shin et al. 2014). The main bioactive compounds present in Echinacea extracts are the phenolics, alkylamides and polysaccharide/glycoproteins (Figure 1). The phenolics include echinacoside, cynarin, cichoric acid, caftaric acid and chlorogenic acids (CADs), and possess antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. The alkylamides are a group of more than 30 lipophilic compounds with anti-inflammatory properties mediated through activation of the endocannabinoid system, exhibit antifungal properties and inhibit cyclooxygenase and lipoygenase enzyme activities. Polysaccharides/glycoproteins include complex carbohydrate moieties such as arabinogalactans that act as immunostimulants. Barnes et al. (2005) give a thorough inventory of bioactive compounds isolated from Echinacea and new activities continue to be reported and reviewed (Cruz et al. 2014; Murthy et al. 2014; Manayi et al. 2015).