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This chapter describes homeopaths who have contributed to gymnastics (Lewis), massage (Taylor), chemistry (Remsen), pediatrics (Fischer), Native American Indian health (Eastman), and immunization (Cronin Lowe).

Gymnastics, Education, Temperance, and Social Reform

Diocletian Lewis

From the purist’s perspective, it may be argued that Diocletian (“Dio”) Lewis (1823–1886) was not a fully qualified homeopathic doctor, but for all practical purposes, he can be regarded as legitimate under the rather loose training standards of the time (Fig. 13.1). To call him “no doctor,” as did Okrent, seems an injustice [1]. Lewis entered Harvard Medical School in 1843 but dropped out, probably for financial reasons [2, p. 36]. He later entered the Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital College and was awarded an honorary MD degree. For some years, he practiced homeopathy and founded the lay journal The Homeopathist. By 1852, Lewis gave up full-time medical practice in order to pursue other health initiatives and social causes, some of which still reflect his influence. It is claimed that his wife’s illness was a determining factor in Lewis’ change of course: he was persuaded that she could regain her health by taking up a course of exercise [3]. Okrent likened Lewis to a “harvesting machine of causes and campaigns” [1], of which can be counted education, temperance, healthy eating, and gymnastics.

Fig. 13.1
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Bust of Dio Lewis, 1868. By Edmonia Lewis, first African-American sculptor to gain national recognition (Source: Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Image in the public domain)

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Lewis was a man of imposing presence brought to life by the following vivid descriptions: “Here is an original character. Nobody will ever mistake Dr. Dio Lewis for Dr. somebody else. His large, rotund body and well-formed head make him at once a striking and conspicuous figure. He stands nearly six feet high and weighs over two hundred pounds…. His nature is peculiarly sympathetic…. He is overflowing with good feeling, affection, charity, aspiration and adoration…. He is, in brief, a live, original, energetic, enthusiastic, sympathetic, emotional gentleman. He is emphatically Dr. Dio Lewis.” He was a compelling and confident orator. In speech, Lewis “stated his thought briefly, illustrated it with a spirited and pointed anecdote … or personal sketch, and stopped” [2, pp. 337–339, 372].

It is for his original work in physical culture, education, and temperance crusading that Lewis is best known. While in medical practice, Lewis originated a system of gymnastics that did not require the use of apparatus and which he taught to student teachers in gymnastics class. Lewis predicted that the Americans’ increasingly sedentary lives would result in loss of physical fitness, and as a result, he set about promoting a user-friendly regime of exercise and gymnastics, which did not require expensive or unwieldy equipment [4]. His program used light, portable aids such as dumbbells, rings, and the beanbag: to Lewis goes credit for inventing the latter [1]. This work then took a backseat as Lewis immersed himself in the nascent temperance movement: in 1853, he gave his first public talk about temperance on The Influence of Christian Women in the Cause of Temperance. In the years that followed, the temperance movement gathered steam and, partly as a result of Lewis’ efforts throughout the country, had driven more than 250 liquor businesses out of town within the first 3 months due to demonstrations. Of course, many saloons reopened once the protests stopped, but at least these efforts drew attention and garnered support for the temperance cause.

All the while, Lewis remained committed to improving physical fitness, and he therefore limited temperance work to Sundays, freeing up the week for other activities. In 1858, on a visit to Dixon, IL, he lamented not going the extra step in his temperance campaign, because “I was burdened with what I felt to be my life-work, that of urging upon the people their right to a ‘sound mind in a sound body,’ and the introduction of a new system of physical training into the schools of the country, and I therefore gave only Sundays to the temperance work” [2, pp. 66–67]. However, perhaps his greatest achievement on behalf of temperance occurred in 1874, when he founded the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the outcome of a characteristically inspirational speech given in 1873 at Hillsboro, Ohio [5]. The WCTU continues in existence today, representing the basic principles on which it was founded and embracing over time other causes such as illegal drug use, gambling, pornography, and tobacco control. Information about the WCTU can be found at the organization’s website [6].

Lewis advanced the cause of physical fitness education when he founded the Boston Normal Institute for Physical Education in 1861. The charismatic Lewis was able to recruit the president of Harvard, Cornelius Felton, to serve as president of the institute. Directors included John Andrew, the governor of Massachusetts, and Walter Channing, professor of hygiene at Harvard. None of these men would be remotely expected to sanction homeopathy, and Lewis was shrewd enough to keep his homeopathic sympathies to himself. The Normal Institute was the first physical education teacher-training school in the United States, and it gave rise to the nationwide spread of an educational system. Three years later, Lewis founded a girls’ school in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he implemented his education philosophy, promoting informal relations between pupil and teacher and banning corporal punishment; one of its teachers was the well-known pioneer in women’s education, Catherine Beecher. The school burned down in 1867 and was not rebuilt. Among the school’s alumnae were Louisa Alcott and Una Hawthorne, daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Those who attended the school attested to its rejuvenating effect as in the case of Lillie Chase Wyman, who said: “I attended his school worn out in body and mind and a mere bundle of damaged nerves, but gained there courage and strength to take up the battle anew” [3]. Several graduates went on to direct similar programs at Vassar, Smith, and Mount Holyoke colleges.

Even prior to opening of the Normal Institute, Lewis had widely promoted his system in books and pamphlets; he was a prolific writer – one book, The New Gymnastics for Men, Women and Children, went through 25 editions (Figs 13.2 and 13.3). In 1860, Lewis received a major boost when the leading educational authority of the time, the American Institute of Instruction (AII), endorsed his program [7]. At its annual meeting that year, a discussion of the following question was on the agenda: “Is it expedient to make calisthenics and gymnastics a part of school training?” Straightaway, Lewis took the institute’s committee to see a demonstration of his methods and quickly persuaded them of its merits. On short order, the AII unanimously passed a resolution to introduce Lewis’ gymnastic system into all schools. The program has been described in further detail by Welch, who credits Lewis as the first in this respect. He included in the teacher-training curriculum courses on anatomy, physiology, hygiene, gymnastics, and Swedish massage. The scientific content of Lewis’ course provided a sound basis for the new field of study, and it “reveals a prototype upon which contemporary pedagogy is founded” [7, p. 31]. Although the institute had a short life, it graduated between 250 and 421 women [8], whose influence was profound. One well-known pupil, Adele Parot, was solely responsible for introducing Lewis’ gymnastics into the California school system [9, 10].

Fig. 13.2
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Title page, The New Gymnastics by Dio Lewis (Image in the public domain)

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Fig. 13.3
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Dedication page, The New Gymnastics (Image in the public domain)

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The influential abolitionist, writer, and supporter of homeopathy, Thomas Wentworth Higginson acclaimed Lewis’ ideas and called for their wider dissemination to colleges and seminaries [11]. Welch sees Lewis as the standard-bearer of physical education for women: “When American society embraced few career opportunities for women, Dio Lewis wrote and spoke of their abilities to succeed as teachers of gymnastics. His standards … led the way nearly a century and a half ago” [7, p. 34]. Blocker (2000) noted that, in style, Lewis was an individualist who rejected collective or organizational solutions to social problems. As a result, by the time of his death in 1886, his “voice no longer commanded assent,” even though the causes he championed largely proved successful. Nevertheless, as is clear from this review, his influence has been enduring, for example, with respect to the WCTU and the educational approach to physical fitness in the nation’s schools. Despite this long-lasting influence, Lewis has been practically forgotten, but in his day he was celebrated, fêted with testimonial dinners, and was the subject of an honorific novel written by Moses Coit Tyler called The Brawnville Papers. Lewis’ concern with the perils of an increasingly sedentary society remains as relevant today as ever, and the alarm has again been sounded that its menace needs to be addressed: the solutions are simple [12].

Swedish Massage

Matthias Roth, George Taylor, and Charles Taylor

Swedish massage includes the application of kneading, stroking, stretching, and pressure. It was developed by the Swedish fencing instructor Per Ling (1776–1839), who combined established techniques with newly designed exercises. It is said that Ling, who was not a doctor, at first intended the exercises to remedy his stiff elbow and later for application in other diseases [13]. Ling had studied anatomy and physiology and based his massage on sound medical principles. Because he never qualified as a doctor and presented his ideas in somewhat mystical language, he was ignored by the medical profession for about 20 years. Ling was nonetheless awarded a license to practice, opened an academy in Stockholm, and successfully promulgated his methods via international lecture tours and training seminars. Ling’s system became quite popular in Europe, being helped along in this process by translation of his works into English. Ling’s influence is also evident in the work of Ita Wegman, who developed a modified form of rhythmical massage, partly based on Ling’s methods (see Chap. 12).

As far as Britain and the United States are concerned, three physicians are of particular importance in spreading the gospel of Swedish massage: Mathias Roth and George Herbert Taylor, who were homeopaths, and George Taylor’s younger brother, Charles Fayette Taylor, a non-homeopath.

Matthias Roth (1818–1891) was of Hungarian origin and settled in London, where he practiced orthopedics and homeopathy. As with Lewis in America, Roth championed the cause of physical education in British schools, claiming that without attention to physical education in the school system, the nation’s health would surely deteriorate. Roth saw the benefits that came from Ling’s massage and he translated one of Ling’s essays into English, as well as writing his own book, The Prevention and Cure of Many Chronic Diseases by Movements. He became an activist for better physical health by lobbying the government, politicians, and army. He attracted the attention of many, including the Taylor brothers, one of whom (Charles) came from the United States to train under Roth in London, while the other (George) travelled to Sweden to study at Ling’s academy. Both returned to the United States, where they introduced Swedish massage in their practice and promoted its wider dissemination.

George Taylor (1821–1896) came from Williston, Vermont. As a youth, he was plagued by mysterious illnesses that were unsuccessfully treated. Taylor was self-taught and himself became a teacher at age 18, later becoming the town’s school superintendent. For a period of time, he practiced hydropathic medicine and then furthered his medical studies at the New York Medical College, graduating in 1852. He entered medical practice as an allopath, but some time later, his wife fell sick with tuberculosis and was cured homeopathically by Dr. Federal Vandenburgh in Connecticut. After this experience, George Taylor was converted to homeopathy [14]. In 1858, Taylor travelled to study Swedish massage at the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute in Stockholm under Lars Branting, who had succeeded as director after the death of Per Ling. In 1860, Taylor published a book entitled Exposition of the Swedish Movement Cure and, over the next 30 years, at least five other books. One of these, Diseases of Women, extolled the virtues of mechanotherapy, or massage, for gynecological disorders and was the first book written about massage for gynecological problems [15]. Taylor also gained a reputation as a specialist in pelvic and hernia surgery and designer of exercise and mechanical massage equipment. George Taylor’s views on massage and practice in general were in line with the teachings of homeopathy. He saw movement therapy as “a means of enabling the natural tendencies of the system … to act more powerfully and effectually” [16]. Taylor subscribed to the belief that with better education, patients could take more responsibility for their health, daily function, and quality of life [17].

In terms of historical attribution, it is of some interest that an editorial written in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported favorably on the benefits of Ling’s massage and structured gymnastics yet, hewing to the allopathic line, nowhere referred to George Taylor or Dio Lewis, who introduced their techniques many years previously. Instead, the article applauded two later non-homeopaths in Germany, dating from 1876 to 1886, as though they were the first to communicate on the subject [18].

Charles Taylor (1827–1899) studied medicine at the University of Vermont and graduated in 1856. He immediately travelled to London for an instruction in Swedish massage from Matthias Roth and then returned to set up practice in New York as an orthopedic surgeon; he was the first to introduce Swedish massage to the United States. Charles remained true to the allopathic school. Although there is one reference to his being converted to homeopathy, this seems chronologically impossible, since Taylor would have been only 6 years old at the time [17]. Taylor invented various orthotics, including the Taylor Brace for spinal tuberculosis. Both he and his brother published papers and books on a variety of topics.

The brothers worked together for a time, setting up the Improved Movement Institute, where they incorporated exercise, massage, and hydrotherapy, as well as “common sense” psychotherapy [19, pp. 84–87, 20]. They were well respected, particularly among eclectic medicine circles, and attracted the patronage of celebrities such as Theodore Roosevelt, his sister Anna, and Mark Twain’s wife Olivia (“Livy”) Clemens. Although both Taylors have a hand in bringing about Livy’s recovery, for some reason, Mark Twain gave all the credit to George [19, p. 93]. Both Taylors occupy a secure place in the popularization of Swedish massage, which remains in use today and is often referred to as therapeutic massage.

Chemistry and Administration

Ira Remsen

Ira Remsen (1846–1927) was a pioneer in chemistry and the food industry (Fig. 13.4). He began his professional life as a medical student at the New York Homeopathic Medical College, from which he graduated in 1865. Because Remsen had not yet attained the minimum age required by NYHMC as a condition of graduation, he was at first awarded only an MD degree, with the diploma to be withheld until he reached the proper age. Therefore, his name did not appear in the roster of graduates for 1863–1864, but it did appear the following year, along with mention that he had completed a graduation thesis on changes in the urine. In the college’s Seventh Annual Prospectus and announcement for 1866 and 1867, Ira Remsen is listed as an assistant chemist, that is, a junior faculty member, with responsibility for the chemistry course. In 1869, the college trustees published a report from the committee of nominations who appointed three new professors, one of whom was Ira Remsen, professor of chemistry. (Although the term “professor” was used, it is likely that the position was at a more junior level comparable to an assistant or associate professor in today’s academic rankings.) The report was officially accepted and confirmed, and the three new faculty members were duly elected to their positions.

Fig. 13.4
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Ira Remsen. Graduate of New York Homeopathic College and President of Johns Hopkins University (Image in the public domain. Popular Science Monthly 1901;(July):59)

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From the above, it would seem clear that Remsen was a product of the homeopathic system, yet biographical accounts rarely make mention of his training at NYHMC, eliding this detail in favor of his later training at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Remsen’s own attitude to his homeopathic background was mainly one of denial, or at least minimization. In this, he was far from being alone as many other onetime homeopaths renounced their medical heritage in order to gain wider acceptance. In Remsen’s case, writing later, and with the benefit of half a century’s reflection, he stated that while at the homeopathic college, he “became dissatisfied with the whole situation and decided to go over to the regular school” [21]. For a man of Remsen’s ambition, this may not have been too surprising, given the shaky status of homeopathy. Moreover, there may have been family influences at work, since his entry into NYHMC was largely determined by Remsen’s father and their family doctor, Dr. D.D. Smith, a homeopath and professor of chemistry at NYHMC. Smith was to be Remsen’s preceptor, but from Remsen’s account, he was not too happy with the arrangement. So as far as Remsen was concerned, in a letter written shortly before his death in 1926, he opined that “I do not know whether I am regarded as a graduate of the College or not but it is certain that I am not entitled to be so regarded.” He claimed that the 1869 faculty appointment had been made while he was in Germany and that he never accepted it: “… I cannot in any sense be regarded as an early Professor of Chemistry there.” Notwithstanding, in a 1916 issue of The Chironian, the student newspaper at NYHMC, under “Alumni Notes,” the following announcement appeared: “Ira Remsen [1865 graduate], formerly Professor of Chemistry in the New York Homoeopathic Medical College in 1869, has recently resigned as president of Johns Hopkins University” [22]. Two different views prevailed. Even today, NYMC includes him in its list of distinguished alumni.

Considering late in life his connections to homeopathy, Remsen may have been colored by the exalted position which he reached in the world of regular medicine. He served as president of Johns Hopkins University which, under his leadership, set the standard for science-based and anti-sectarian medicine that swept across the United States. His vision of medical training as being heavily structured around laboratory research was a legacy of his time in Germany and fully in accord with his personal identification as a chemist rather than a clinician. With Johns Hopkins having been upheld in the Flexner Report as the model medical school, it is to be expected that Remsen would distance himself from any personal association with homeopathy. However, all was not ideal at Hopkins, and Sir William Osler, one of Johns Hopkins’ most distinguished faculty, wrote a critical letter to Remsen on September 1, 1911, taking him to task both for Flexner’s biased and incomplete presentation of their institution and more generally for the kind of medicine that Remsen stood for. It was Osler’s fear that a medical school dominated by research and laboratory science would lead to the production of “clinical prigs, the boundary of whose horizon would be the laboratory, and whose only interest in human research” [23].

In 1884, Remsen was asked by the National Board of Health to investigate the best method of determining the character and amount of organic matter in the air, as well as researching the amount of “carbonic oxide” in furnace-heated rooms [24]. (As noted elsewhere, Tullio Verdi, another homeopath, served on this committee.)

Remsen achieved fame as the lead discoverer of saccharin in 1878, although he was excluded from the patent by his opportunistic Russian graduate student, Constantin Fahlberg, who presented himself as the sole discoverer. Remsen was displeased but did not challenge Fahlberg on the matter. In 1908, Remsen was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to chair a committee that addressed questions of food safety. This position was offered to Remsen in the wake of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act (PFDA), once it had become apparent that the latest scientific evidence should be considered in implementing the PFDA. Specifically, the pressing question at the time was whether sulfur dioxide and sodium benzoate were safe food preservatives. In 1909, the “Remsen Board” as it was known issued a report affirming the safety of these two preservatives, which set off a heated debate between those who supported the committee’s ruling and those opposed to it, led by Harvey Wiley, chief chemist at the Department of Agriculture. Later, President Woodrow Wilson took a critical stance against the Remsen Board, largely for political reasons. Despite Wilson’s opposition to benzoate, it has stood the test of time and remains in use today in some foods and drinks [25].

The board also ruled on the safety of saccharin after Harvey Wiley’s Bureau of Chemistry had tried to impose a ban on the grounds that it was an adulterant. Wiley’s challenge drew a testy reaction from Roosevelt, who enjoyed his daily saccharin [26].

Ira Remsen was appointed professor and chair of chemistry at Johns Hopkins in 1876 and later became president of the institution in 1901, a position he held until ill health forced his retirement in 1912. In 1879, he founded the American Chemical Journal and authored many papers and three textbooks, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Theoretical Chemistry, which remained standard for several years. He received numerous awards and honorary degrees from Europe and the United States, including the Priestley Medal, the American Chemical Society’s highest award.

Pediatrics

Carl Fischer

Carl Fischer (1902–1989) graduated from Hahnemann in 1928 and went on to specialize in pediatrics, becoming departmental chairman and professor at his alma mater (Fig. 13.5). During 1961–1962, he served as president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Fischer was the last of Hahnemann’s “old guard” to retain departmental leadership, retiring in 1968. According to Barbara Williams [27], he was open-minded about homeopathy, telling her that “[at Hahnemann] we had the best of both worlds, could use whichever we needed, when we needed it.”

Fig. 13.5
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Carl Fischer. Graduate of Hahnemann, Philadelphia, and president of American Academy of Pediatrics (Image courtesy of National Library of Medicine, in the public domain)

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Fischer’s presidency of the academy took place in the wake of recommendations made by the reorganization committee in 1961. One outcome of this reorganization was the establishment of a committee on the infant and preschool child, which tackled the growing problem of child abuse, and resulted 5 years later in a report. Fischer issued a call to fellows of the academy to become involved in the ongoing legislation proposed by President John F. Kennedy, which addressed three issues concerning pediatrics: universal immunization, the creation of a separate child and developmental institute at the National Institutes of Health, and provision of improved services for those with mental retardation [28]. In the early 1960s, the academy, which had primarily been an organization of scholars, was threatened with a split among its members over the extent to which it should be involved in social and legislative aspects of pediatrics, a cause which was close to Carl Fischer’s heart. The academy was able to avoid fragmentation and thereafter embraced social and legislative activities with more vigor, while still preserving its principal mission as a scientific and educational organization, rather than a guild or political body [29]. Shortly after the end of Fischer’s term, a meeting took place between senior officials of the academy (including Fischer) and the secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the surgeon-general, and other government leaders. This meeting was important as it began a process of dialog between the academy and government, as well as heightening awareness within government of the academy’s concerns.

Fischer authored a book on the physician’s role in environmental pediatrics [30], in which he stressed that the physician had a broader responsibility than to the individual child’s health, extending to the child as a member of the community and society. Chapters covered topics such as adoptions, accidents, adolescence, the handicapped, and school health. Fischer concluded with a call for the pediatrician to dedicate himself/herself to this newer concept of pediatrics. He had for some years been active in the local tri-county adoption program and the Pennsylvania State Governor’s Committees on Children and Youth and on Handicapped Children. These experiences lead him to recognize that physicians too often steered clear of social and community aspects of pediatrics because they had not been adequately trained. To remedy this deficiency, he introduced a didactic course at Hahnemann and wrote the aforementioned book. Fischer continued to publish in the homeopathic literature for many years, including papers on the thymus gland in infancy, a study of modern infant feeding trends, and the biochemistry of pediatric disorders [31–33].

Fischer was honored at Hahnemann in 1980 by its naming of the Carl C. Fischer, M.D. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Hahnemann University Hospital.

The First Native American Indian in Modern Medicine

Charles Eastman

Charles Eastman (1858–1939) was a Native American Indian member of the Santee Sioux (Fig. 13.6). His birth name was Hadakh, which means “pitiful last,” in recognition of the fact that Eastman’s mother had died in giving birth. When, at a later date, Hadakh led his tribal lacrosse team to victory against another Indian tribe, his grandmother changed his name to Ohiyesa, or “the winner.” At the urging of his father, Ohiyesa adopted the name by which he is widely known: Charles Eastman. Eastman aspired to great things and entered Dartmouth University, graduating in 1887. His undergraduate years were filled with athletic and academic success, and the university has perpetuated his name in the Chavez-Eastman-Marshall Dissertation Fellowship, awarded annually to promising students from underrepresented minority groups who have ambitions to pursue an academic life at Dartmouth. From there, he went on to medical school at BUSM, becoming in 1890 the first Native American Indian to obtain a regular medical degree. At BUSM, he distinguished himself and was selected by his classmates to present the graduation address, for which he chose the topic The Comparative History of the Art of Healing.

Fig. 13.6
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Charles Eastman, first Native American to graduate from a US medical school (Image from Smithsonian Institute, in the public domain)

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In October 1890, he took up medical duties on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. One of his first actions was to tighten up the clinic’s practices by putting an end to the reckless way in which medicines have been dispensed and to conduct thorough physical examinations. He gained the respect of tribal healers, even though the form of medicine he practiced was not based on Indian tradition [34]. There is no evidence one way or the other as to whether he prescribed homeopathic remedies. At Pine Ridge, Eastman dispensed cod liver oil and alcohol mixtures and the salves, ointments, and cough syrups that the Indians favored. He also abolished the custom in which previous doctors have given medicine through a small portal in the wall without even seeing the patient, who had usually self-diagnosed their problem. Eastman insisted on an examination first. At Pine Ridge, Eastman instituted a number of important public health measures, including the removal of decaying animal carcasses from the streets, quarantining Indians when they returned from tours to Europe, and improving living conditions in the overcrowded Indian school dormitories [35].

Eastman and his fiancée, Elaine Goodale, were present at the Wounded Knee Massacre, which took place December 28, 1890. Three hundred Indians were killed in a matter of minutes, as well as a number of US Seventh Cavalry troops. Eastman rode out to the snow-covered battlefield to recover the bodies and transported survivors to his hospital, where he treated Indians and cavalry alike. He also solicited food and clothing from Boston.

Eastman grew increasingly disenchanted with government corruption, found himself in conflict with authorities, and in 1891 left the Bureau of Indian Affairs. With his wife, Elaine, they moved to St. Paul to set up private practice. Business was slow, but while there, he became involved in the YMCA, organizing regional chapters for Indian youth. This was the start of a life of public service and lobbying that required extensive travelling and public speaking. Around 1910, Eastman played a leading part in formation of the Boy Scouts of America.

In 1897, Eastman began to lobby for Indian rights in Washington, DC. He spent years attempting to settle claims and treaty payments that have been promised to the Sioux. Although these initial efforts bore little success, they did earn for Eastman a reputation as one of the most influential Indians in the white world. He later returned to medical practice in the Indian Service and embarked on a productive writing career about his life, Indian health, and education. In this, he was greatly encouraged by his wife, who played a seminal role – indeed, she contributed much of the writing herself. In 1903, President Roosevelt assigned him to help Sioux members regain or retain their allotted lands, and under President Coolidge, he was a US Indian inspector. Coolidge invited Eastman to serve on the Committee of One Hundred, a reform panel created to recommend on matters of health, civil rights, justice, and schools for Indians. The deliberations of this committee gave rise to the Meriam Report, which in turn was an anchor of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal for the Indian. Among the honors bestowed on Eastman were invitations to represent the American Indian at the First World Races Congress in England in 1911 and again to speak in England at Oxford, Cambridge, and other universities in 1927. In 1933, he received the medal of the Indian Council Fire for the most distinguished achievement by an American Indian. Towards the end of his life, Eastman retired to the Canadian wilderness and once again took up the practice of medicine when he wintered with his son in Detroit.

Eastman has been misunderstood by some who have tended to view him pejoratively as an “apple,” that is, red on the outside and white on the inside, and thus traitorous to the Indian cause, but this is far from the case. He was fully dedicated to rights and justice for his people, but could only do so much against a government that at best was ambivalent towards the American Indian. Milroy commented that Eastman had “the courage to accept new challenges and the determination to advance to successive heights of achievement” [36]. In similar vein, Graves wrote that “Dr, Charles Eastman … worked first to improve himself, something he did not least during his years at the Boston University School of Medicine, then to improve the condition of his people.… Though accomplishing less than he hoped, through a lifetime of disappointments Charles Eastman persisted in faith and works. One feels he represents a kind of success not measured by the common gauges” [37].

Pathology

Edward Cronin Lowe

Edward Cronin Lowe (1880–1958) was born in New Zealand and trained in London at Guy’s Hospital, receiving his MD degree in 1905. He subsequently obtained homeopathic training and became a member of the British Homoeopathic Society, taking up appointments as consultant pathologist at the Liverpool Homeopathic Hospital and the Southport Infirmary. Rather unusually, Lowe was able to blend homeopathic and allopathic identities together. For example, he sponsored the homeopathic Anglo-French homeopathic war hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine in World War I and was later chair of the Southport division of the British Medical Association and its representative at two national meetings.

During World War I, he served as a captain in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and was recognized with the award on an MBE (Member of the British Empire) medal for his work in reducing the toll of influenza. Lowe and his colleague John Eyre conducted an immunization program for New Zealand servicemen, by means of a compounded mixed catarrhal vaccine (MCV) which contained seven bacteria responsible for respiratory infections and reported their work in two Lancet publications. Their 1918 publication represented the first long-term observations of the effects of MCV in military personnel and demonstrated a much lower incidence of influenza in those who received inoculation [38]. A second article in 1919 presented a follow-up of the cohort through the ensuing influenza epidemic later that year: the results again showed lower morbidity and mortality in those who had been inoculated [39].

For many years, Lowe was known in British medicine as an authority on vaccines and published repeatedly in leading journals such as the British Medical and British Dental Journals. His work in cancer detection was less successful as he attempted to refine a diagnostic test which was in use. Lowe was known for pioneering contributions to blood transfusions. Although one source credits him with “inventing the concept of the blood bank” [40], this is not corroborated in any of the main historical accounts of the bank. Nevertheless, in an obituary, the British Medical Journal does credit Lowe in the following way: “In the early days of blood transfusion Dr. Cronin Lowe was the first man in the district to type donors and recipients and carry out transfusions in suitable cases” [41]. The obituary was fulsome in its praise, describing Lowe’s personality as “vivid and lovable” and noting that Lowe was “an indefatigable research worker, always feeling for a deeper and wider understanding of disease and not afraid of being unorthodox.” It observed that Lowe’s MBE (Member of the British Empire) award was given for achievements in the 1918 influenza epidemic, and that his work on pathogen selection for vaccine preparation and creation of oral vaccines was well known. The obituary concluded that Lowe was deeply religious and actively involved in foreign missions: a significant reminder of family tradition, for Lowe’s grandfather, Edward Cronin (1801–1882), a homeopath and medical missionary, was one of four founders of the Plymouth Brethren religious movement.