American Physicians in the Nineteenth Century: From Sects to Science

In American Physicians in the Nineteenth Century, William G. Rothstein sombines sociological with historical analysis to explain the devlopment of the medical profession in nineteenth-century America. After describing how medicine first became a full-time vocation early in the nineteenth century, Rothstein examines the founding of medical schools and societies, regulatory efforts, and the development of "heroic medicine" as the accepted form of medical practice. But widespread public opposition to heroic medicine soon led to the rise of rival sets such as the botanics, who were popular among the rural population, and the homeopaths, who appealed to the urban upper classes. Excluded from the regular ranks of the medical profession, both sects organized their own schools and professional societies. As Rothstein explains, it was the advent of scientific medicine, with its breakthroughs in surgery and other medical specialties, public health, and bacteriology, that put an end to medical sectarianiam and commercialism. The new laboratory science could at last prove—or disprove—the theories and practices of the major sects.