Physician. Founder of Humphreys Homeopathic Medicines. A pioneer in the scientific application of herbal medicines and homeopathy, a treatment system based on the theory that disease may be cured by giving the patient minute doses of drugs which produce symptoms that stimulate the body's immune response, Humphreys founded the international company which still produces the famous "Humphreys Pills". Born in Marcellus, NY, the son of a physician, he was educated at nearby Auburn Academy, and as a youth initially joined his brother and uncle in the clockmaking trade. At age 21 he married Cornelia Palmer of Chillicothe, Ohio, where he entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry. Left a widower with a young son three years later, he returned to Auburn, and for a time eked out a living as an itinerant preacher. Criticized by church authorities for subsidizing his income by practicing medicine, he left the ministry and joined his father's medical practice in Utica. In 1843 he remarried, taking the former Frances Sperry as his bride, and their marriage, which produced four children, proved to be a happy one. Pursuing the study which would ultimately bring him fame and fortune, in 1850 he earned a degree from the Pennsylvania College of Homeopathic Medicine in Philadelphia, went into private practice, and taught at the State Medical College while continuing to develop a line of veterinary medicines and home remedies. Incorporated in 1854 as Humphreys Homeopathic Medicine Company in New York City, the company underwent a name change more than a century later in 1967, and is today known as Humphreys Pharmacal. Despite his resignation from the ministry, Humphreys remained a religious activist, and was instrumental in founding Methodist Episcopal churches in West Utica, New York City, and Asbury Park, NJ. Known as a family man and an animal lover, he died at age 84 in Monmouth Beach, NJ.