Thom-sō'ni-an-ĭsm, n.

(tom-sō'nĭ-an-), n. (Med.) A medical system, of which one of the leading principles is, that the human body is composed of four elements, earth, air, fire, and water; and one of its apothegms, that metals and minerals are in the earth, and, being extracted from the depths of the earth, have a tendency to carry all down into the earth who use them; that the tendency of all vegetables is to spring up from the earth, and therefore to uphold man from the grave; — so called from the founder, Dr. Samuel Thomson, of Massachusetts.