H. Fergie Woods

H. Fergie Woods
LRCP MRCS
Born
Harold Fergie Woods

1883
Died15 January 1961
Occupation(s)Physician, writer

Harold Fergie Woods LRCP MRCS (1883 – 15 January 1961) was an English physician, homeopath and anti-vivisection activist.

Biography

Woods qualified L.R.C.P. and M.R.C.S. from Middlesex Hospital in 1908.[1][2] After he qualified, he went to the United States with John Weir to study homeopathy under James Tyler Kent.[3] Woods had a long career at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital where he was Resident Medical Officer, Physician for Diseases of Children and a Consulting Physician.[2][3] In 1925, he co-founded the International Homoeopathic League.[3]

Woods was a staunch opponent of vaccination and vivisection. He was a member of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection and gave speeches at anti-vivisection meetings. He stated that animal experimentation is scientifically useless and unethical as the animals are kept in mutilated and suffering conditions for considerable periods.[4] Woods concluded that abolition of vivisection is the only way to protect animals.[5][6] He was a Vice-President of the National Anti-Vaccination League. In 1945, Woods signed a petition for the formation of a group of homeopathy within the British Medical Association.[7]

Woods was a germ theory denialist who held the view that germs were the result, not the cause of disease.[4] He was an elected medical member of Douglas Macmillan's Society for the Prevention and Relief of Cancer, an anti-vivisection cancer organization.[8]

Woods died on 15 January 1961.[9]

Selected publications

  • The Futility of Animal Experiments (1920)
  • Homoeopathic Treatment in the Nursery (1948)
  • Essentials of Homoeopathic Prescribing with Rapid Repertory (1949)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Medical News". The Lancet. 2: 510. 1908.
  2. ^ a b The Medical Directory, 1961. J. & A. Churchill. p. 72
  3. ^ a b c Séror, R. (1961). "Biography of Dr Harold Fergie Woods (1883-1961)". Homéopathe International. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b Anti-Vivisection. Chichester Observer (April 4, 1928). p. 5
  5. ^ Nothing Less than Abolition. Chelsea News and General Advertiser (October 30, 1925). p. 7
  6. ^ Anti-Vivisection. Chelsea News and General Advertiser (September 30, 1932). p. 3
  7. ^ "Homoeopathic Medicine. Petition For Formation Of A Group". The British Medical Journal. 1 (4397): 56. 1945.
  8. ^ Rossi, Paul N. (2009). Fighting Cancer with More than Medicine: A History of Macmillan Cancer Support. The History Press. pp. 29-49. ISBN 978-0-7524-4844-2
  9. ^ "Medical News". The British Medical Journal. 1 (5224): 518–520. 1961. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.5224.518. S2CID 30400077.