Acknowledgments of Gratitude and Respect
Traditional medical systems throughout the world have preceded us.
The history of medicine tends to emphasize classical physicians and the learned few, with an emphasis on Europe and North America. However, naturopathy grows from roots deep and wide; the history of this medicine arises from many sources, including and beyond physicians and European classical lineages. This Timeline displays a broad tapestry of ancestral roots, people, institutions and unique events that have shaped the historical trajectory of naturopathic medicine, giving rise to the modern naturopathic medical profession. Still, as we define the focus of this timeline, we limit its scope.
Health and medicine are experienced and shaped by a full ecosystem of cultural influences, not just by doctors of any singular tradition. Here, we offer honor and respect for those many who aren’t awarded their own listing in this timeline. In this humble gesture of respect we acknowledge not only the nameless family doctor, but more fundamentally those of the mythic and historic lineages, practitioners from indigenous and animistic medical systems, from recognized traditional world cultures and communities of practice; ancient healing temples; practitioners embodying diverse genders, orientations, racial and ethnic origins and spiritual traditions; and itinerants and elders from recognized and unknown communities of practice.
Before history and medicines’ written traditions, these professional and nonprofessional caregivers evolved numerous deep lineages feeding into our profession, its principles and practices, and its values and approach to the therapeutic relationship. Traditional world medical systems have their own lineages, philosophies, practices, and ways of knowing that influence us today. We express our respect for, and gratitude to these systems and to the many unnamed midwives, medicine people, spirit workers, clergy, herbalists, cunning folk, bonesetters, nurses, curanderos, vegetalistas, and other health care providers stemming from the rich diversity of unwritten oral, animistic, folk, empiric, classical, vitalistic, natural, and holistic traditions.
“Preface” From Naturopathic Medicine: History and Professional Formation Timeline. Mitchell Bebel Stargrove, Pamela Snider, et al. (Unpublished)
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A Declaration of Deep Gratitude to and Respect for these Key Authors and Texts
Harvey Wickes Felter. 1902. History of the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1845-1902. Cincinnati, Ohio : Published for the Alumnae Association of the Eclectic Medical Institute
Max Neuburger, K. Sudhoff, and H. Magnus. 1930. Essays in the History of Medicine. Medical Life Press. Garrison, Fielding H. (Transl., Ed.) [Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Medicin, 1902.]
Alexander Wilder. 1904. The History of Medicine. Augusta, ME: Maine Farmer Publishing.
William Harvey King. 1905. History of Homoeopathy and its Institutions in America. Vol. 1-5. New York, Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company.
Max Neuburger. Playfair, Ernest, Transl. History of Medicine.1910 London: Henry Frowde. [Geschichte der Medizin. 1906. Stuttgart: Verlag Von Ferdinand Enke. German]
Benedict Lust, Ed. The Naturopath and The Naturopath and Herald of Health. 1902-1945. New York: Benedict Lust.
Arturo Castiglioni. 1941. A History of Medicine: Translated from the Italian and edited by E. B. Krumbhaar. New York: Knopf.
Joseph C. Keating, Jr.. Decades of research and publications focusing on the chiropractic profession, including:
Keating, Joseph C., Callender, Alana K., and Cleveland, Carl S. 1998. A History of Chiropractic Education in North America: Report to the Council on Chiropractic Education. Davenport, IA: Association for the History of Chiropractic.
Harris Coulter. 1975-1994. Divided Legacy: Volumes I-IV: A History of the Schism in Medical Thought. Berkeley: North Atlantic Press.
Richard Grossinger. 1980. Planet Medicine: From Stone-Age Shamanism to Post-Industrial Healing. (revised 1990). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Paul Starr. 1982. The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Paul U. Unschuld. 1985. Medicine in China: A History of Ideas. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Norman Gevitz. (Ed.). 1988. Other healers: Unorthodox medicine in America. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press.
John S. Haller, Jr. 1994. Medical Protestants: The Eclectics in American Medicine, 1825–1939. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Richard Grossinger. 1995; rev. 2003. Planet Medicine: Modalities. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
John S. Haller. 1997. Kindly Medicine, Physio-Medicalism in America 1836-1911. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.
Michael A. Flannery. 1998. John Uri Lloyd: The Great American Eclectic. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
Wade Boyle. 1998. Herb Doctors: Pioneers in 19th Century American Botanical Medicine and A History of the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati. Buckeye Naturopathic Press.
Julian Winston. 1999. The Faces of Homoeopathy: An Illustrated History of the First 200 Years. Great Auk Publishing.
Matthew Wood. 2000. Vitalism: The history of herbalism, homeopathy, and flower essences (2nd ed.). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Michael A. Flannery and Alexander Berman. 2001. America’s Botanico-Medical Movements: Vox Populi. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press.
James C. Whorton. 2002. Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Robert D. Johnston (Editor). 2004. The Politics of Healing: Histories of Alternative Medicine in Twentieth‐Century North America. New York: Routledge.
A. Williams. 2003. A Cultural History of Medical Vitalism in Enlightenment Montpellier. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Eric Blake. 2004. A History of Naturopathic Medicine [unpublished compilation].
Silvia Federici. 2004. Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation. New York, NY: Autonomedia.
Friedhelm Kirchfeld and Wade Boyle. 2005. Nature Doctors: Pioneers in Naturopathic Medicine. Portland: NCNM Press.
David J. Schleich. 2005. From Nature-Cure to Naturopathic Medicine: the Institutionalizing of Naturopathic Medical Education in Ontario. PhD dissertation, University of Toronto, June 2005.
John S. Haller. 2000. The People’s Doctors: Samuel Thomson and the American Botanical Movement, 1790-1860. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
Richard Grossinger. 2001. Planet Medicine: Origins. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
John S. Haller. 2005. The History of American Homeopathy: The Academic Years, 1820-1935. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press.
Monica H. Green. 2008. Making Women’s Medicine Masculine: The Rise of Male Authority in Pre-Modern Gynaecology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
John S. Haller. 2009. The History of American Homeopathy: From Rational Medicine to Holistic Health Care. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Iva Lloyd. 2009. The History of Naturopathic Medicine: A Canadian Perspective. Toronto: McArthur & Company.
Susan E. Cayleff. 2016. Nature’s Path: A History of Naturopathic Healing in America. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hannah Newton. 2018. Misery to Mirth. Recovery from Illness in Early Modern England. Oxford (UK): Oxford University Press.
George W. Cody. 2018-2019. “The Origins of Integrative Medicine — The First True Integrators.” series in Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal.
