John Brown's system of medicine and its introduction in Denmark around 1800.

Abstract

At the end of the eighteenth century a scientific basis for medicine was called for. The Scottish physician John Brown proposed an all-comprising medical system in 1780. A surplus or lack of stimulating factors, the prime movers of life according to Brown, was supposed to explain all diseases and indicate their treatment. Individuals only subjected to a small degree of stimulation became affected by "asthenic diseases" which were the most frequent diseases. They should be treated with abundant food and wine, supplemented with camphor, opium, or other drugs considered to be stimulating. Conversely, individuals with "sthenic diseases" should reduce their intake of food and beverage. Brown's system was received with transient approval by some Danish physicians from the late 1790s. But it soon proved to be of no value in medical practice, and its success dwindled within academic medicine around 1814. On the other hand, it seemed to generate new ideas. It became linked with the German Romantic Movement and "Naturphilosophie." The widespread use of camphor and opium in both academic and folk medicine, continued throughout the nine- teenth century and into the twentieth century.