A history of the Eclectic Medical Institute (EMI), and an account of the history of eclectic medicine, which competed with regular medicine in the 19th century. It recounts the feuds, successes, adversity and ultimate failure of this bastion of freedom in medical thought.
The Eclectic Medical Institute was an American institution in origin, concept, and practice. For nearly a century, EMI was known as the "mecca of eclectic thinking" and the "Mother Institute" of reformed medicine. This history of EMI is set within the broader context of American medicine and recounts the internal feuds, successes, adversity, and ultimate failure of this bastion of freedom in medical thought.
