posted July 02, 2010 11:51 AM
Most people don't know this...In the early 1900's,
doctors were divided into two camps:
Allopaths and Homeopaths
These terms don't have the same meanings today, but the former meanings are still useful for understanding the conflict and division that still exists within medicine. Briefly, the homeopathic method is to treat disease naturally in order that the body's immune system may rebuild and defend itself, while the allopathic method is to treat merely the symptoms of disease by using synthetic and abrasive methods.
An example of allopathic medicine that was wildly popular in the Middle Ages was bloodletting. One famous example relates the experience of George Washington, who was bled of half the blood in his body by allopathic physicians seeking to cure his strep throat. When this didn't work, they gave him a 650mg pill of Mercury to swallow. He died the next day.
At the turn of the last century, the conflict between these two schools was at a fever pitch. Allopaths were quickly losing their patients to homeopaths, and the future of medicine looked bright. The AMA (American Medical Association) was created as a brotherhood of allopathic doctors, seeking to defend their methods against the rampant success of the homeopaths.
"... we have never fought the homeopath on matters of principle. We fought him because he came into our community and got the business."
(~ Dr. J.N. McCormack, AMA, 1903)
The AMA, in its mission to destroy the homeopaths, began a sustained campaign to slander homeopathy and its practitioners as "charlatans" and "quacks". Big business was quick to ally itself with the AMA, seeing a source of potential wealth in their methods, as opposed to the homeopaths, whose patients were too quickly cured, and, so, could not remain patients (i.e.paying customers). Once this happened, it was all downhill. With the help of big business, the AMA was able to take control of the press, and to change the curriculum, graduating requirements, and licensing laws in the medical schools of the time. This all served to drive out the competition -- the true doctors. Allopathic medicine emerged as the victor, and the vast majority of us have been the unwitting victims of this scandal ever since.
For more information,
see the documentary:
Healing Cancer
from inside out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xkyMAYmrQY