Photo from A Profile in Alternative Medicine by John S. Haller, Jr.

Why did I wait so long to visit the Lloyd Library? The Lloyd is a charming independent research library dedicated to plant-based science, medicine, conservation, art, and history housed in a Cold War-era building in Downtown Cincinnati. Its current exhibition includes an original print of Darwin's On The Origin of Species, a letter from Thomas Jefferson, a book from Houdini's personal collection, beautiful etchings of Fungi, and so much more. What grabbed my attention the most was an image of the Eclectic Medical Institute (EMI) that once existed at the corner of Court in Plum (also in Downtown Cincinnati). Flying high above the institute waved an oversized flag with the word ECLECTIC in all caps. I had to know what that place was (and where I could get a reproduction of the flag).

EMI was a school that taught Eclectic Medicine for about 100 years up until the late 1930s. "Eclectic medicine was a branch of American medicine which made use of noninvasive therapies and healing practices popular in the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries." [1] A man by the last name, Rafinesque, came up with the term. He used it "to refer to those physicians who employed whatever was found to be beneficial to their patient." [2] Essentially, it was an "anti-regular medical movement," not unlike the Arts & Craft Movement was to the Industrial Revolution. It's a response to less humane and unnatural practices prevalent at the time. Contemporary herbalist Michael Moore wrote, that Eclectic medicine, "treated the patient, and not the pathology." [8]

"Standard medical practices at the time made use of extensive use of purges with calomel and other mercury-based remedies, as well as extensive bloodletting. Eclectic medicine was a direct reaction to those barbaric practices…" [7]

Rafinesque came up with the name for the movement from group of ancient Greek philosophers who were called the Eclectics. They were known for selecting doctrines from every system (that was unusual). The Greek term is "eklego" and means to select, pick out, gather or choose. By the mid 1800s, the word eclectic meant to "borrow from diverse sources." [3]

"Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws from multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases." [4]

The term spans across many fields. Though it appears to be most know in architecture, where, in one building you would see an diverse array of elements from different historical styles. [5] It's also known in psychology where rather than be stuck in a particular frame, practitioners select the best approach for their client.

The sampling of eclecticism reminds me of the book Range by David Epstein. The main drive of the book is not unlike the practice of the Eclectics in Greece. In a world of specialists, it's okay to be a generalist. In the closing chapter Epstein writes:

Approach your own personal voyage and project like Michelangelo approach a block of marble, willing to learn and adjust as you go, and even abandon a previous goal and change directions entirely should the need arise. Research on creators in domains from technological innovation to comic books show that a diverse group of specialist cannot fully replace the contributions of [eclectic] individuals. Even when you move on from an area of work or an entire domain, that experience is not wasted. [9]

Specialization is a lot like optimization. There’s the pressure to find one right way to solve a problem or one perfect job to call a career. There's a sense of safety or simplicity in the route of the specialist. Eclectics throughout the years are often criticized for being the opposite–messy, inconsistent, or inelegant. Epstein's response?

Experimentation is not a tidy prescription, but it has advantages, and it requires more than the typical motivational-poster lip service to a tolerance for failure. Breakthroughs are high variance. [10]

Perhaps more than a motivational-poster, eclectics once again need a flag? Something to wave proudly above our desks and buildings to say, we're here, the world needs us! Below is a rendition of the ECLECTIC flag seen above the EMI in the photo above. Sadly, it's only in my digital imagination, for now…

Bibliography

[1][2][7][8]
- “Eclectic Medicine.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 May 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclectic_medicine.
[3]
- “Eclectic (Adj.).” Index, www.etymonline.com/word/eclectic#etymonline_v_976.
[4][5]
- “Eclecticism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclecticism.
[9][10]
- Epstein, David. Range. Penguin USA, 2020.

Celebrating Eclecticism.