A branch of alternative medicine which makes use of herbal remedies along with other remedies.

The term was coined by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1784-1841), a physician living among the Native Americans, and observing their use of medicinal plants.

He coined the word "eclectic" to refer to those physicians who adopted in practice whatever was found to be beneficial to their patients.

The Eclectics were doctors with a philosophy of "alignment with nature", learning from and using concepts from other schools, and opposing the practices of bleeding, purging, and the use of mecuricals common among the "regular" doctors of that time.