Finley Ellingwood, MD was a doctor of Eclectic Medicine

Eclectic medicine

Eclectic medicine was a branch of American medicine which made use of botanical remedies along with other substances and physical therapy practices, popular in the latter half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries....

 who is the author of the influential The American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy in 1919. Ellingwood was an active Chicago physician with many years experience, and an acknowledged expert in obstetrical/gynecological medicine. He was a vocal advocate of women physicians, and edited Ellingwood's Therapeutist for many years. His brand of Eclectic Medicine differed from the more subdued Cincinnati style as mentored by Scudder, Lloyd, Fyfe and Felter.

The American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy

Pharmacognosy

Pharmacognosy is the study of medicines derived from natural sources. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as "the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of drugs, drug substances or potential drugs or drug substances of natural origin as well...

 is a serious medical text from the early 20th century, intended for practicing physicians and surgeons, which refers to difficult medical situations found in that period. There is an emphasis on physical diagnosis. The book is organized by organ system affected instead of by herbal name, so it will have headings like "Agents Acting on the Nervous System

Nervous system

The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...

" or "Agents Acting on the Heart

Heart

The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...

". This type of listing is somewhat controversial as herbal medicines tend to work on more than one system. The book had been substantially lost until it was scanned by herbalist Michael Moore

Michael Moore (herbalist)

Michael Moore was a medicinal herbalist, author of several reference works on botanical medicine, and founder of the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine . Before he was an herbalist Michael Moore was a musician and a composer...

 in pdf format. The book is also available in html format at Henriette Kress

Henriette Kress

Henriette Kress, known as "cyberspace's herbal archivist" is a well-known Finnish herbalist who has developed one of the most encyclopedic noncommercial web sites on herbal medicine worldwide...

's website

Works

• American Materia medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy : developing the latest acquired Knowledge of Drugs, and especially of the direct Action of single Drugs upon exact Conditions of Disease, with especial Reference to the Therapeu tics of the Plant Drugs of the Plant Drugs of the Americas. - Evanston [Ill.] : Ellinwood's Therapeutist, 1919. digital
• A systematic Treatise on Materia medica and Therapeutics : with Reference to the most direct Action of Drugs. - Chicago : Chicago Medical Pr., 1902. digital