Introduction to the scanned version.

A comment about Scudder and this book, from Paul Bergner:

"Herbal Classics by John Scudder, MD.

Dr. John Scudder's career spanned the period from the resurrection of the nearly defunct Eclectic medical profession during the 1860s, to its maturation in the late 1890s. Indeed Scudder himself initiated that resurrection, first by taking over administration of, and keeping open, the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati, and then by reframing the basis of practice of Eclecticism with his classic Specific Medication. He taught on the faculty of the institute for the next 30+ years, wrote the key texts in medical education for the era, and formed a critical alliance with pharmacist John Uri Lloyd that became the foundation of twentieth century Eclecticism.

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We highly recommend the 12th Edition of Scudder's American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics. Coming at the end of his career, this represents his most mature work. Many of the specific indications of herbs published originally in 1870 are updated here. The structure of the materia medica, based on herbal actions, also demonstrates how Scudder viewed the specific indications of herbs. It was not, for him, a matter of looking for a few key signs, as in homeopathy, and then prescribing a single magic bullet. Rather this text shows the process of physical exam to assessment of organs and tissues involved, to herbal action desired, and only then differentiating between them on the basis of specific indications. His introductory sections on the importance of lifestyle and diet also show that he was not using single herbs and their indications as cure-alls."

The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1898, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.