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 A 
 
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 THE 
 
 COMPARATIVE MERITS 
 
 or 
 
 A L L (E O P A T H Y, 
 
 THE OLD Mf:DICAL PRACTICE; 
 
 AW 
 
 HOMOEOPATHY, 
 
 THE REFORMED MEDICAL PRACTICE; 
 
 PRACTICALLY ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 BY 
 
 J. G. ROSE^ STEIN, M.D. 
 
 " ?&a. Uas ncnn I 
 r:r^ rincn flirifirn ! Xic tiir fMafirficit ju 
 Frrl&r^lcn ! jf iir m .ailrg auf tras ftpicl 
 2u srtjcn ! ILtib unU arirnsglucfe unU Hint 1" 
 
 (ILfflstng, tin Xatljan, OL 7.) 
 
 :ti O ^ T R K A L : 
 
 PHINTKD BY H O I, I, O CAMPRKM,, 
 
 
 rLACK I) A RM y.S HILL. 
 
 184«. 
 
II 
 
 Oi 
 
 Al 
 Di 
 Ob 
 
 On 
 En 
 Blc 
 
 Pra 
 
 On 
 
 Af 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 2.5 
 
 .•37 
 
 CHAPTER I. ,,,„, 
 
 Sources of the All{L'oi)athic, or Common Materia Mc.lica ... I 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 Hahnemann, and the Sources of Homa'opathU- Materia 
 Medioa — By Dr. Chapman, Liverpool 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 On the Proving of Medicines on the healtliy body.— By Dr 
 Drysdale, Liverpool 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Allopathic Practice 50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Diagnosi.^ lio 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 Observations on some of the Principal Curative Mean.s made 
 use of in Allopathic Practice a:, 
 
 CHAPTER vn. 
 
 On Constipation.— By Dr. Kallenbach G8 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 Emetics m 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Blood-Lctting.— Dr. Simon's Lecture on the Thcrapia of 
 Acute Diseases y.j 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Practical Observations.— Pneumonia By J. Laurie, M. D., 
 
 I-ondon ' ,05 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 On the Treatment of Pleuritis.— By Dr. Wurm of Vienna ; 
 along virith some observations, by Dr. Trinks, of Dresden 108 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A few extracts from the Work, "Defence of Hahnemann and 
 his Doctrines," including an exposure of Dr. Alexander 
 Wood's " Homoeopathy Unmasked " \2l 
 
roNTKXTS. 
 
 VI 
 
 CIIAI'I'KK Mil. v»vn. 
 
 riu.> IMcii 111'. I ('iiiivc.t. — \i\ Dr. ('liapinaii, l-ivrrpfHil ... l-').> 
 
 CII.VPTKH XIV. 
 
 ObscrvMti'ins and ( 'a^w iV.nn IVactici*.— I'v ( ;('(irf.'(' W. Ciok, 
 M.l>.. Ill' Iludsdii. New York 
 
 ClIAl'TKR -W. 
 
 .Mi'i'i'iirv ... 
 
 ... !.•>;( 
 
 I(> 
 
 CIIAITEU XVI. 
 
 Acute niit'iimatisni. — On CalDinol comhiiu'd with Opium. — 
 Hy .1. Artliiir Wilson, M.I)., I'iiysician to St. (it'orye's 
 Jlospiial, London ... ... ... ... ... ... I7(i 
 
 ClIArTER XVII. 
 M. .Vudial's Iloniii'opatliic E.\i)orinit'nts at Lea Pitic. — Hy Dr. 
 
 V. W. Irvim', lidinhurfrh ... ... ... ITS 
 
 CHAITHK XVIII. 
 Krnptivc Dlsoaso ,.. ... ... ... ... ... l!)i 
 
 (•IIAPTKK XIX. 
 
 Modii'inal Diseases. — Hy Francis Blaek, M.l)., Edinl)urf;Ii ... -207 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Dispcnsinj-of the Remedy.— ]5y P. T. Curie, M.D.. London... '200 
 
 > CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Illustrations of IIom(ropathie Practice. — By .1. .1. Drysdalc, 
 
 M.D., Edinburfrh ' " ... '2\(\ 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Duty of Physicians of eitlicr School to study both System?. — 
 
 By Dr. Grey, New York '238 
 
 CHAPTER XXin. 
 
 Edm-ational Rcf|uireiiients ,i' the Hom(roi)atliic Physician. — 
 
 l{y the same author ... ... ... ... ... '2<t7 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Why will the Profession not .study Homcropatliy ^ — By 
 
 Franci.s Black, M.D -JfiS 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Comparative Results of Honid'opathic and Allo]>athic Treat- 
 ment, in their respective Hospitals ... ... ... -jy.t 
 
 I 
 
 The Montreal Medical (lazrtte ami Dr. Rovenstein 
 
 •'.SI 
 
... |:j.i 
 
 ... 17(i 
 
 ... -21)7 
 
 hi 
 
 i 
 
 \* K !•: I' A ( ' K . 
 
 A.M<>N(i iiK'ii of <l('Iil>('raU' and aciilc rcHccliitii, no (iin't'icnrti 
 (if (t|iiiii<)ii can exist rclaliv*' to tlic truth ol" a (',is<'(»v«'ry, wlin-li 
 I'l'sts n{)(>n ill*' liasls of attiial cxix'rinuMit. VV'lirn tlic aiillior 
 a[t|)('als to siu'li t'xp«'i'inu'nts, llioy must \w lead to a repetition 
 of tlieni, and not opjMJse their own opiuion-s to the dictates of 
 experience. In fine, tliey have no other way in forming; a 
 jndfi^nient, than that of accnnite and careful experiment. 
 
 Hahnemann^ new method of curing diseases is hased upon 
 the trials of medicines on healthy bodies. A refutation <)f 
 such a system, hy reasoning, without reference to experiment, 
 shows only that due encpjiry has not been made, and merits, 
 therefore, no attention. Those who have been more sincere, 
 and experimented for the sake of truth and conviction, have 
 be('(»me powerful friends and warm advocates of HomfBopathy. 
 
 Hahnemann has achieved what otluu- men of gev.ius liave 
 merely suggested.* Now, that the gigantic worl is done, 
 they would rather see it undone. Such is the nature of man. 
 The greater the truth the stronger the opposition ; but truth 
 is onniipotent and must prevail. For truth, like the infinitely 
 wise and gracious God, is eternal. Men may disregard it for 
 a tune, until the period arrives when its rays, according to the 
 determination of Heaven, shall irresistibly break through the 
 
 * In the course of twenty-five centuries, (says Hahnemann,) no 
 physician tliat I knuw of, except the immortal Haller, has ever thought jf 
 a melliod so natural — so absolutely necessary, and so perfectly true — ast 
 that of observinij the i)ure effects of each medicine individually, in order 
 to discover, by that means, the diseases they were capable of curing. Be- 
 fore me, Haller was ihe only one who conceived the necessity of pursuing 
 such a plan. Hut no physician has profited by this invaluable advice; no 
 one has paid the slightest attention to it. (See the preface to the Pharma- 
 eoiKeia Helvet. Hasil, 1771, page 12.) " Nempe primum in corpore sano 
 medela tentanda est, sine peregrina ulla miscela; odoroque et sapore ejus 
 exploratis, exigua illius dosis ingerenda, et ad omnes, qua; inde contingunt 
 attectiones, quia pulsus, quis calor, qua; respiratio, (|ua.>nam excretiones 
 attendenduui. Inde ad ductum phaMiomcnorum, in sano obviorum, 
 transeas ad expcrimont.i in corpnie .T^roto." 
 
Mil 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 mists 1)1 |tr<>jii(iii c, and likt> Aiirorn and tlic npoiiing' day, nlied 
 a IxMiollcont lifji'lit, clcnv and iiicxting'nisli iblo, over tlic gonera- 
 liniis of men. 
 
 The reader will perceive, l>y the perusal of tlu; followinf^ 
 pag(^s, that IIonuiHipathy Ik steadily prof^ressiiij^ in nil civilized 
 countries. In {'annda there are but few lalwurers in tlie great 
 field of truth. Houiampathy h.'is not been uuich cultivated 
 here ; hut there; ia an excuse for it. " It is a younjj; country, 
 (as they say,) and therefore, not much to ho expected." In 
 litne, we have no fear, this country will profit l)y the progress 
 which our science makes in "good C)ld-Knghuid," and they 
 will encourage and cultivate it. 
 
CIlAPTEli 1. 
 
 SOUnCES OF THE ALO:oi'ATHIC, Ott COMMON 
 MATERIA MEDICA. 
 
 Sixty years have elapsed since Samuel Hahnemann, 
 u native of Saxony, pive a new basis to the art of heal- 
 in<T, through the knowledge which he acquired, by the 
 trial of several hundred remedies on his own body, 
 assisted also, in these trials, by a large number of other 
 medical men. Tiie conclusions drawn from these experi- 
 ments Were, that overy medical man should first learn 
 the effects which a medicine produces on a healthy body 
 before he administers it to a diseased person. This great 
 truth has never been denied by those who have prac- 
 tically investigated this subject; those only oppose and 
 retard its progress, who are cither too lazy or too ignorant 
 to investifjate. "The indolent and the self-conceited of 
 every calling, arc generally contented with the most 
 restricted limits of the science, which is connected with 
 their pursuits ; and all innovations, whether advances of 
 improvements or not, they look upon only as the impo- 
 sition of additional labour." 
 
 We have hitherto acquired but a scanty knowledge 
 of a remedy; its powers, its admissibility in this or 
 that malady. It could not, in fact, be otherwise, when we 
 take into consideration the imperfect and unscientific 
 manner Materia Medica has hitherto been cultivated. 
 
 We propose to show, by an examination of the various 
 methods that medical men have resorted to, for ascertain- 
 ing the properties of medicines, how little could be 
 reasonably expected from any of these different plans. 
 
 In the early ages of human society, we may suppose 
 that accident gave rise to the discovery of curative virtues 
 in certain articles, and that random experiments, in the 
 
•0URCE8 OF TIIL ALOiOPATUIC, 
 
 Lopo of allcviatin«T pain, or averting death, may have 
 revealed others. By wliatever means tht; invention of 
 remedial agents fir^t took jilaee, their apidication in the 
 treatment of discjusea, so far as we are enabled to learu 
 from imj)erfeet historieal and traditionary reeords, was 
 eo mingled with priestly arts and religions etvemonies, 
 as to do l)Ut little towards eorreeting the mistakes, or 
 Bupplying the deficiencies of the first rude attempts at 
 the art of hcaliny;.* 
 
 Even these iniperfcct sources of information, however 
 it might be suggested, would, in the course of years, 
 furnish a store of experience sufiiicient for th;. purposes 
 of the i)hysician; or, at the least, su})ply such data as 
 would enable him to discover the principles of a correct 
 practice. liut, besides the very general belief in the 
 supernatural origin of diseases prevalent in those early 
 tunes, which lee to the employment of annilets, incanta- 
 tions, charms, and other superstitious practices, to proju- 
 tiatc the offended deity, or to exercise the evil-working 
 demons ; the attention was distracted from the prosecu- 
 tion of pure observation, by other causes scarcely less 
 disastrous, to the cause of science and humanity. The 
 confusion of names, the want of well-defined terms, im- 
 perfect knowledge of disease, the use of secret remedies, 
 arising often from the jealousies of physicians themselves; 
 the passion and folly for multifarious combination, of 
 drugs, often entirely incompatible in the same prepara- 
 tion, and the rapid succession of doses of the same or 
 different prescriptions, without allowing time for the 
 development of the effects of either, must have rendered 
 it impossible to acquire any considerable degree of availa- 
 ble information from any amount of such experience. 
 Indeed, every successive year of experimentation, con- 
 ducted under such circmnstanccs, would rather tend to 
 increase the confusion. It will appear in the sequel, that 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
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 * Materia Medica, by Henry D. Patne, M.D., Newburgh, published in 
 the Homosopathic Examiner, by Gerhard Huli, M. D. — Yoluina III, 
 Ho*. 1 and 2. 
 
OR COMMON MATERIA MEDICA. 
 
 nay httvo 
 eution of 
 ion in the 
 1 to learn 
 jrds, was 
 I'cnionies, 
 takcM, or 
 tempts at 
 
 Iiowcvcr 
 i>f' years, 
 purposes 
 duta as 
 I coriTct 
 f in the 
 )sc early 
 incanta- 
 o propi- 
 ^vorking 
 irosecu- 
 ely less 
 The 
 ma, ini- 
 mcdies, 
 iselvcs; 
 ion, of 
 repara- 
 imc or 
 br the 
 ndered 
 availa- 
 riencc. 
 ; con- 
 md to 
 I, that 
 
 shed in 
 na III, 
 
 the same confu?«lon of drufr-mixlnf:!^, and tlu^ paasion for a 
 too fVecpient use of powerful incdiciues, still exist. 
 
 That we are indebted lo accident lor a knowledge of 
 certain ine<licinal properti(!S possessed hy some particular 
 substances, cannot bo doubted; yet no physician, 
 earnestly desirous of establlshluf^ a correct mode of prac- 
 tice, couM, for !) moment, be satisfied with so imperi'jct 
 and uneertaiii a de]>endence. He would seek to dis- 
 cover some mode by which he could extend his know- 
 lcdp;o of medicines, without waitinfjf for the result of 
 accident. Accordingly, we find that very early in the 
 history of medicine, attempts were made to establish 
 rules for judiiin^ of the medicinal {jroperties of drugs. 
 
 One of the earliest modes resorted to for this purpose, 
 was the observation of their sensible cpialities, and from 
 the result to deduce their remedial powers. The colour, 
 taste, odv.ir, and specific gravity, and other evident pro- 
 perties, were supposed to indicate the otherwise unknown 
 virtues of all substances used as medicinal agents. This 
 mode of ascertaining the use of drugs, especially those 
 belonging to the vegetal)le kingdom, has even been re- 
 sorted to in more modern times, and has the sanction of 
 several names of high authority. Sir John lioyer, 
 David Abercrombie, and Hoffman, names well known in 
 the history of our subject, have not only sanctioned it, 
 but have prepared systems of the iNIateria Medica founded, 
 to a considerable extent, on the distinctions observed in 
 the taste and smell of the different articles. It would 
 seem to require but the slightest consideration, neverthe- 
 less, to demonstrate the utter insufficiency of these tests, 
 as a guide to the knowledge of their medicinal virtues. 
 Besides the difficulty, in many cases, of ascertaining and 
 of defining the differences in these respects, where they 
 exist, there are many medicines that have little or no ap- 
 parent taste or smell, and yet produce very powerful effects 
 on the human system. Thus arsenic, wdiich possesses so 
 few sensible and external qualities that distinguish it 
 from the most inert substances, an to be frequently taken 
 by mistake, is well known as one of the most active 
 
SOURCES or TIIK ALOtOPATHIC, 
 
 poisom that we possess. Were this j)i'iuciple true, we 
 should attribute tlie most active and well-defined pro- 
 perties to those substances in which the taste, smell, or 
 other qualities were strongest and most easily distinguish- 
 ed, which the least observation shows to be contrary to 
 experience. The onion, garlic, asal'a'tida, anise, amber, 
 and many others in the several kingdoms of nature, should 
 possess the most active and easily ascertained powers; 
 whereas their true, or, at least, their ordinary use, does 
 not by any means correspond to that idea. So, on the 
 other hand, who would expect to procure any prompt or 
 efficient action from the almost tasteless tartar-emetic, 
 calomel, &c. It is, indeed, a wise and beneficent provi- 
 sion of nature, that many things, especially among plants, 
 where they would be likely to be taken as food, which 
 are deleterious to the human frame, arc guarded by a 
 nauseous taste or smell, but which cannot guide us in 
 their application in diseases. The colour of plants has 
 been taken as an index to their medical properties, by a 
 no less celebrated author than Linmeus, who seems to 
 consider that, together with taste and smell, to designate 
 their peculiar virtues. The following are some of his 
 rules on this subject: — "A pale colour, indicated insipid 
 — green, crude — yellow, bitter — red, acid — white, sweet 
 — black, offensive." Although Dr. Cullen speaks so 
 freely respecting the insufficiency of external qualities, 
 in pointing out the virtues of medicines, he seems to 
 have sometiines fallen into the same error that he con- 
 demns in his predecessors and contemporaries. Thus he 
 attributes the effijcts of asafoetida and cuminum, against 
 spasms, &c., to their foetid odour ; and he explains the 
 operations of the Peruvian bark, in the case of inter- 
 mittent fever, by its sensible qualities of bitter and 
 astringent. This opinion has led to the adoption of other 
 substances, possessing, in a greater or less degree, the 
 same qualities, as substitutes for the Peruvian bark, 
 such as the salix alba, serpenturia, ignatia amara, 
 gentian, &c., yet without any such results as we should 
 have been led to expect, from the confidence with which 
 
 It \M 
 quel 
 (|uu| 
 eve] 
 j)ro.^ 
 the 
 11 
 not 
 mccli 
 dene 
 alto; 
 othc 
 
 I 
 
OR COMMON MATEIIIA MEDICA. 
 
 true, we 
 ned pro- 
 smell, or 
 tinguisli- 
 ntrary to 
 3, amber, 
 'e, should 
 powers ; 
 use, does 
 I, on the 
 I'ompt or 
 i-cmetic, 
 it provi- 
 g plants, 
 :1, which 
 cd by a 
 de U8 In 
 ants haa 
 es, by a 
 eems to 
 3signate 
 of his 
 insipid 
 , sweet 
 caks so 
 jalities, 
 ems to 
 le con- 
 hus he 
 igainst 
 ns the 
 inter- 
 r and 
 ' other 
 e, the 
 bark, 
 mara, 
 should 
 which 
 
 ii was asserted. Besides, as intermittent fevers are fre- 
 quently cured by other medicines, fur which no such 
 qualities have ever been claimed; we must conclude that 
 even this instance, sanctioned by such high authority, 
 presents only another evidence of the general fallacy of 
 the doctrine. 
 
 It is evident that this princijile, if canned out, could 
 not be otherwise than highly disasti'ous to the cause of 
 medical science and humanity, by enlisting the confi- 
 dence of practitioners, in certain remedies, on grounds 
 altogether fallacies us, and by inducing the neglect of 
 others of real value. That this has been, in I'act, the 
 case, a casual examination of medical history will de- 
 monstrate. 
 
 Somewhat allied to this mode of determining the 
 medical uses of drugs is another, which, so far as we 
 know, was derived from Hippocrates, but which was 
 greatly enlarged and strongly insisted upon by Galen. 
 It can scarcelVi however, be entitled to the name of an 
 investigation, as the ([ualities attributed to drugs were, 
 for the most part, rather imaginary than real. As many 
 diseases were supposed to depend upon an inequality in 
 the four qualities of heat and cold, moisture and dryness, 
 the different articles in the Materia ]\Iedica were sup- 
 posed to possess these qualities in different degrees, by 
 the due administration of which, the deficiency or excess 
 in any case could be rectified. For hundreds of years, 
 their principle of explaining the operations of medicines, 
 influenced the prescriptions of physicians, without, how- 
 ever, advancing medical science, as we may easily sup- 
 pose, a single step. It could not, indeed, be otherwise, 
 when so nmch of the practice of medicine consisted in 
 the application of dnags, possessing imaginary powers, 
 depending on supposed qualities for the relief of diseases 
 not less hypothetical in their nature. 
 
 After the age of Paracelsus, we find new doctrines of 
 disease dividing the medical world ; and as a consequence, 
 not only the introduction, into the practice of medicine, 
 of a large number of new and hitherto untried remedies; 
 
 J 
 
SOURCES OF TMi AL(EOI'ATUIC, 
 
 but such of the old ones as were retained, were adminis- 
 tered on entirely different principles. The Impulse that 
 was given about this time to the study of chemistry, led 
 to the application of chemical prlnci[)les to all the 
 phenomena of life ; the human l)()dy being considered 
 little else than a moving laboratory, in which was con- 
 stantly going on a series of chemical changes. The 
 operation of medicines was therefore thought to be regu- 
 lated by the same laws. Accordingly, various theories 
 were formed, to account for " all the Ills that ffesh Is heir 
 to," on the most approved systems of chemical reasoning 
 of the day. One of the most prevalent of these Avas, that 
 which attributed all diseases to an excess of acid or alkali 
 in the system. Of course, the powers of chemistry were 
 supposed to be sufficient to determine the applicability 
 of all drugs to the treatment of diseases, and to refer them 
 to their appi'oprlate classes. Every article in use was 
 subject to the requisite tests, and from its real or appa- 
 rent acidity or alkalinity, and the degree In which It was 
 manifested, Its appropriate range of action was decided. 
 Nothing could be desired more simple and philosophical, 
 had the theory of " fermentation," as it was called, on 
 which It was founded, proved a correct princi})le. But, 
 alas, the doctrine that diseases consisted in an undue 
 proportion of acid or alkali, was not susceptible of the 
 slightest proof, was a mere creation of the imagination, 
 and like the preceding fanciful hypothesis, that had 
 usui'ped the belief of medical men, it fell and carried 
 with it the whole elegant superstructui-e. 
 
 As chemistry, however, has within the last half century 
 acquired a certainty and perfection, to which it was 
 previously unknown ; it may be supposed that the results 
 of chemical analysis would natumlly throw much light 
 on the medical uses of the various substances submitted 
 to that process. This supposition arises from the mis- 
 taken views of the animal economy, which, undoubtedly, 
 arc derived from the coimtenance formerly so completely 
 given to the doctrine of animal chemistry. It assumes 
 that the human body is subject to the same laws as 
 
 inai 
 
 tiie 
 
 ther 
 
 obs( 
 
 tlon; 
 
 the 
 
 inde 
 
 to 
 
 mg 
 
 IS 
 
OR COMMON MATEHIA MLUKA. 
 
 I admlnl8- 
 )ulse that 
 listrv, led 
 ) all the 
 onsidercd 
 was con- 
 es. The 
 I be re^i- 
 i theories 
 ish is heir 
 reasoning 
 was, that 
 I or alkali 
 stry were 
 )licability 
 efer them 
 use was 
 i or appa- 
 eh it was 
 i decided. 
 )sophical, 
 illed, on 
 But, 
 in undue 
 )le of the 
 2;ination, 
 hat had 
 .1 carried 
 
 century 
 
 1 it was 
 
 e results 
 
 ich light 
 
 ibmitted 
 
 lie mis- 
 
 ubtedly, 
 
 npletely 
 
 assumes 
 
 laws as 
 
 e. 
 
 inanimate matter ; that the action of chemical affinity is 
 the same in the body as without : whereas, the fact is, 
 there is a very great and important diotinction to be 
 observed. The vital forces Avhich carry on the opera- 
 tions of the living body, present a strong resistance to 
 the ordinary action of chemical agents. They may, 
 indeed, be presented in such a state of concentration, as 
 to overcome the vital opposition, and disorganize the 
 parts with which they are in contact, or act as powerful 
 irritants. But, in these cases, if life is not actually 
 destroyed, a course of action is aroused in the system, 
 bearing no analogy to that of a mere chemical cff'ec... 
 Thus, if one swallows a quantity of corrosive sublimate, 
 oxalic acid, nitrate of silver, or any other irritant poison, 
 the vital principle may not be sufficient to overcome the 
 disoro-anizino- effects of the an'cnt on the stomach, and 
 the destruction of the organ, and death may ensue ; but 
 the process will produce effects throughout the system, 
 fever, inflammation, pain, which can only be referred to 
 the vital sympathies. Chemical agents may act accord- 
 ing to their natural affinities on the contents of the 
 stomach, as in the case of poisoning, where antidotes are 
 given, for the direct purpose of neutralizing or decom- 
 posing the irritating substance, but even in this most 
 favourable case, for the advocates of the chemical doctrines, 
 it is evident that the effect, as well of the antidote as the 
 poison itself, is not merely chemical. If it were so, t.e 
 decomposition of the poison, itself, should effect a cure ; 
 whereas, what arc called the constitutional or remote 
 effects, frequently require a long period of time for their 
 removal, and perhaps resist all the remedial means of the 
 medical attendants. What reason can the chemist give, 
 why corrosive sublimate produces effects upon the sys- 
 tem so very different from calomel, or the other forms 
 of mercury ? The difference in their chemical composi- 
 tion is comparatively triffing. To illustrate our position, 
 let us trace the changes of some substances, the effects of 
 which on the system are more or less known : Charcoal 
 18 described in the books aa an antisej)tic., tonic and 
 
 J 
 
1 1 
 
 8 
 
 SOURCES OF THB AL(EOPATH10, 
 
 febrifuge : Oxygen gas, wlien inliiilod iilcjue, ia reiuiu'kubh; 
 for its cxrhinj^ projjortics ; tlic pulse becoine-! rapid, llio 
 rcsjjiratlon greatly increased, and the whole system 
 highly excited. Like all other exciting agents, its action 
 is followed by debility, and if persisted in, by death. A 
 chemical union of these two substances forms carbonic 
 acid gas, which, so far from combining the properties of 
 both, is found, by sad and too frequently fatal exj)ericncc, 
 to 1)0 a highly deleterious and dangerous substance. 
 Potassa is a ])owerful caustic, destroying all animal sub- 
 stances with which it comes in contact. Unite this last 
 with the carbonic acid, and we have a mild alkali ; now, 
 it is evident, that no chemical knowledge, however 
 accurate or extensive, could exj)lain beforehand what 
 effect would follow the use of these articles, either in their 
 simple state or in combination. The imion of two or 
 more inert or innoxious substances, may form a highly 
 dangerous compound ; and, on the otiier hand, others 
 which alone ai*e very powcrfid age its, by combination 
 may become harmless or mild in the opei'ations on the 
 human organism. 
 
 If this little is to be learned of the eifects of drugs on 
 the living system, from the chemical analysis of minerals, 
 Btill less can wc dejjcnd upon any such process when 
 applied to j>lants. A early all plants, the most poisonous 
 as Avell as the most wdiolesome and nutritious, are found 
 to consist essei.tially of the same elements, and frequently 
 in proportions so much the same, as to defy all the skill 
 and acuteness of the chemist to detect the difference. 
 The uses of chemistry to the medical student are many, 
 and the science forms an essential part of his education; 
 but it cannot discover for him the effects of medicines on 
 the healthy or on the sick. 
 
 There is still another method, which has its advocates, 
 for establishing the medical qualities of drugs ; we refer 
 to the search after botanical affinities. In almost eve y 
 treatise on botany, we find certain general properties 
 attributed to the different order of plants; and there 
 would seem to be pome natural foundation for these 
 
OK COMMON MATEHIA MEDICA. 
 
 9 
 
 rcinju'kiiljlo 
 1 rapid, the 
 Ac system 
 5, its action 
 death. A 
 13 carbonic 
 operties oi' 
 ixpericncc, 
 
 substance, 
 nimal sub- 
 te this last 
 kali; now, 
 :, however 
 land what 
 ler in their 
 
 of two or 
 1 a highly 
 nd, others 
 )mbination 
 ons on the 
 
 f drugs on 
 
 ' minerals, 
 
 cess when 
 
 poisonous 
 
 are found 
 
 requently 
 
 1 the skill 
 
 difference. 
 
 are many, 
 
 education; 
 
 dicincs on 
 
 idvocates, 
 
 we refer 
 
 lost eve y 
 
 jroperties 
 md there 
 
 for these 
 
 opinions ; for it has been noticed, that where tlic groups 
 (»f jilants exhibit among themselves a strong botanical 
 resemblance, whore the structure, habits, and general 
 character are analogous, there is also a similarity, at least 
 in some points, in their effects upon the living system. 
 It is however unli/ in some points, and those not ahvjiys 
 the most important, and not even those, except in 
 strongly marked cases ; and we may add, that there arc, 
 after all, so many exceptions, ns to render the rule a very 
 unsafe one, and utterly inade<}uate to the purpose in- 
 tended. It is onl> necessary to instance a few of the 
 many discrepancies of this kind, to remind our readers 
 of others equally remarkable. The deadly nightshade, 
 the poisonous bittersweet, belong to the same genus with 
 the wholesome potatoe ; the drastic colocynth, and the 
 savoury inusk-melon, arc equally nearly related ; and it 
 would be sufficientlv easv to cite several other cases not 
 less striking, not to mention a multitude of those which 
 differ in a less degree. It will be noticed, however, that 
 botanists have, for the most part, made use of such vague 
 and general terms, that Avere their analogical influences 
 more correct than they are, the information derived from 
 them could not be safely applied to the use of medicines 
 in disease. Thus the whole nature and order of the 
 crucifcra: is designated as "antiscorbutic" and ^'^ nutritious i^ 
 which, however, the plants comprised in it (amounting to 
 several hundred) may agree in these particulars, never- 
 theless, greatly differ among themselves in many other 
 points equally important, the most heedless practitioner 
 would be utterly inexcusable, who should use or recom- 
 mend their indiscriminate use, on account of their botani- 
 cal affinity. Another reason for want of confidence in 
 any such gcnend classification, and will apply with 
 equal force against all those which have been already 
 mentioned, as well as to the theory of botanical affinities, 
 is, that those articles wdiich agree most nearly in their 
 ascertained properties, differ very considembly in the 
 degree of strength which they possess of thesv ^>roperties; 
 which difference is not indicated by any external marks 
 
T 
 
 10 
 
 SOLIIC'KS OF TilK AI-(K<>PATlirr, 
 
 or correspond injf variations in strnotiirc, coniposition, or 
 sensible (|iuilities. Bcsidos tlioso j)roj)ertit'S, wliiclj are 
 possessed in connnon by several ])liints; each one, no 
 doubt, has its peculiar virtues, and ])ro<luces some eft'ect 
 which belonj:js to it alone. From these* considerations, 
 therefore, avc may conclude, that any attemj)! to asc(!rtain 
 the medical virtues of plants by an !i])j)licatioii of the 
 rule of botanical aHinities, nuistbc, in the hiji;liest dei^Tce, 
 uncertain and unsafe; and therefore, an impro[)er test of 
 their appro[)riateness to the treatment of any disease. 
 
 Besides these methods we have mentioned, there are 
 two or three others which deserve some notice at our 
 hands, not so much from any real or even apparent 
 applical)illty to the end pro[)osed, as the extent to which 
 they have l)een employed. One of these modes arose 
 from the mechanical or mathematical theory of medicine. 
 Accordin<^ to this theory, drugs were sup[)osed to owe 
 their medical effects to certain real or supposed physical 
 properties Inherent therein. The specific gravity, the 
 iorm, sign, aiTangement of the atouis, the frictiou of 
 particles, &c., were the terms that were supposed to ex- 
 plain all the phenomena of therapeutical action ; so that 
 the principle:^ of hydrostatics and hydraulics were applied 
 to the living system, as if It were a mass of crude matter, 
 influenced and regulated by the same laws which govern 
 inanimate substances. It is really astonishing to look 
 back at the number of distinguished names that were 
 entirely in favour of this system ; but as, after a com- 
 paratively l)rlef reign, It fell of its own utter fallacious- 
 ness, it does not require any refutation from us. As 
 formerly, the best chemist was reckoned the best phy- 
 sician, so now the most accomplished mathematician 
 stood a chance of attaining the like reputation. 
 
 The last mode which we shall refer to, not founded 
 directly on experience, for discovering the virtues of 
 drugs, is known in the history of medicine as the 
 " doctrine of signatures." 
 
 This doctrine consists simply in tracing some real or 
 fancied resemblance to some organs, fluid, or part of the 
 
 huii 
 su|. 
 ihc 
 
 4 
 
(HI ( OMMON MATKUIA .MEUICA. 
 
 11 
 
 position, or 
 uliicli are 
 ;li one, IK) 
 ■ioine cJK'ct 
 iidcrations, 
 
 ascertain 
 ion of tlu; 
 cmt degree, 
 •per test of 
 liscase. 
 
 , there are 
 tlce at our 
 
 1 ap])ar(;nt 
 t to which 
 odes arose 
 ' medicine, 
 ied to owe 
 d physical 
 avity, the 
 riction of" 
 sed to ex- 
 1 ; so that 
 re applied 
 le matter, 
 L'h govern 
 ig to look 
 luit were 
 er a com- 
 ailacious- 
 
 us. As 
 )est phy- 
 jniatician 
 
 founded 
 irtues of 
 i as the 
 
 3 real or 
 rt of the 
 
 i 
 
 human franu;, in (Certain plants, which rcscnihlanco was 
 supposed to allord some iuihcation of the part to whicij 
 the remedial action was irhicfiy directed. 
 
 The lujjis-netitt'ii, or (iiiglc-stone, which was suj)poacd to 
 he found in the nests of this bird; hut which, in fact, is 
 nothing more than a variety of iron ore; was said to 
 ju'cvcnt abortion, if tied to the arm, and to accelerate 
 parturition, if atlixed to the thigh. This conceit arose 
 from the noise that seemed to arise from the centre of tlie 
 stone when it w;is shaken. " Aetites la[)is. agitjitus 
 souitum edit, velut ex altero laplde praegnans." From 
 this absurd hy])othesis sprung the doctrine ; and the 
 very names of plants were su])posed to indicate their 
 specific ipuditics. For instance, the ruplwusia, or eye- 
 bright, (ixiiibiting a dark spot in its corolla, rcseml)ling 
 the pujtil of the eye, was considered efficacious in affec- 
 tions of that organ. Tlie blood-stone, tiic hdiotr opium, 
 from its bcsing marked with red specks, was employed to 
 stop haiuiorrhage ; and is to this day resorted to in some 
 countries, even in England, to stop a bleeding of the 
 nose.* Xettle-tea was prescribed for the eruption called 
 nettle-rash. The scynecarpiis anacardlum bearing the 
 form of a heart, was recommended in tiie diseases of that 
 
 organ. 
 
 The cas.nivium occidentale, resembling the formation of 
 a kidney, was prescrilied in venal complaints ; and the 
 pulmonary lichens of the oak, the sticta pulmonaria, from 
 its cellular structure, was esteemed a valual^le substance 
 in morbid affections of the lungs. Deductions still more 
 absurd, if possible, were recorded. Thus saxifrage, and 
 other })lants that grow in rocky places, embodied, as it 
 were, in calcarit)us beds, were advised to dissolve the 
 stone. 
 
 Among the various influences and indications that 
 W(!re attibuted to colours, black was especially considered 
 as a mark of melancholy. Baptista Porta affirms, that if 
 
 The celebrated Boyle used to iipply to his wristifor the name purpone, 
 the mos» that jjrew from a human sktiJl, 
 
1 
 
 12 
 
 SOURCES OF THE AI.<EOrATlIIC, 
 
 i 
 
 a "black f<pot be over the spleen or in the nails, it 
 sijijnifics nuich care, grief, contention, and melancholy." 
 Cardan ansurea us, that a little Ijctbrc his son's death, he 
 had a black spot which api)eared on one of his nails, and 
 dilated itself as he apj)roached his end. John de Gad- 
 desden, mentioned by Chaucer, ordered the son of Edward 
 I, when labouring under the small-pox, to be wra[)i)ed uj) 
 in tcarlet. Tourtelle, a French army physician, has 
 made the following singular observations on this subject: 
 — " I ob^rved, that those soldiers of the llepublic Avho 
 were attected with diseases, connected with transpiration, 
 were more severely indisposed, and not imfrequently 
 exhibited symptoms of putrescency, when their wet 
 clothes had left a blue tinge on the skin, than when they 
 had been merely wetted by rain." The explanation of this 
 supposed phenomenon, says Dr. Millingen, is simply, 
 that those persons who had been coloured by their 
 uniforms had, no doubt, been long wearing them, 
 saturated by incessant rains ; whereas, the others had 
 merely been exposed to occasional showers. From this 
 observation, I do not pretend to affirm that any deleterious 
 substances in a dye might not occasion dangerous 
 absorption ; but the accidents that may result from such 
 a circumstance, could be easily explained, without having 
 recourse to any peculiar influence of colour. The colour 
 of cloth, especially in army clothing, may also materially 
 tend to influence cutaneous transpiration, as some colours 
 are more powerful conductors of heat than others ; and 
 it is not impossible that the French soldiers not belong- 
 ing to the French levies, and who had always been clad 
 in white, might have experienced some diflference of 
 temperature, when marching under intense heat, in dark- 
 blue and green uniforms. The older treatises on the 
 Materia Medica, abound with instances in illustration of 
 this doctrine; but as we are not aware that it has, at 
 present, any advocates in the profession, (although the 
 time has been when powerful names were enrolled as 
 strong adherents to it,) no necessity exists for any formal 
 refutation of so visionary a scheme. Though the doctrine 
 
 its< 
 fin 
 du 
 to 
 
 ta 
 
oil COMMON MATKRIA MEDRA. 
 
 i:} 
 
 ic nji'ils, it 
 
 eljincholv." 
 
 tj death, lie 
 
 \ nailn, hiuI 
 
 111 de Gad- 
 
 of Ed ward 
 
 rrap])ud up 
 
 jician, has 
 
 lis Huhject: 
 
 Hiblic who 
 
 iiHpiration, 
 
 frequently 
 
 their wet 
 
 when they 
 
 tion of this 
 
 is simply, 
 
 by their 
 
 nfv thcni, 
 
 others had 
 
 From this 
 
 leletcrious 
 
 dangerous 
 
 from such 
 
 ut having 
 
 'he colour 
 
 naterially 
 
 le colours 
 
 icrs; and 
 
 >t belong- 
 
 been clad 
 
 jrence of 
 
 , in dark- 
 
 s on the 
 
 oration of 
 
 t has, at 
 
 )ugh the 
 
 rolled as 
 
 y formal 
 
 doctrine 
 
 itself has no advocates, yet it would not be difficult to 
 find examples in the more modern collections, the intro- 
 duction and continuance of which it would not be easy 
 to defend on any better grounds. 
 
 The different modes by which physicians have under- 
 taken to acquire the knowledge of the general and 
 ])articular properties of reujcdial agents, necessary to the 
 successful i)rosecution of tlu; healing art, have been 
 j)assed in review ; and, it has been shown, that neither 
 chemical analysis, botanical affinity, mathcmatictJ calcu- 
 lation, nor sensibU; (jualities, not to mention the less 
 plausible doctrines of signatures and other exploded 
 dogmas of the past or i)resent age, are sufficient to sup- 
 ply the requisite infonnation. The power of a particular 
 drug to affect the living organism, either beneficially or 
 the reverse, consists, not in its specific gravity or colour, 
 taste or smell, or in any qualit} that may present itself 
 to tlv senses, or l)e developed l>y the crucible of the 
 philosopher, but in a peculiar dynamic* property, not 
 depending upon any of these, and which exhibits itself 
 only when brought into relation with the vital force. It. 
 is as unreasonable therefore, to expect to discover the 
 powers of a medicine, and its uses, by any of the modes 
 refenxKl to, as to undertake to ascertain its chemical 
 affinities, by its specific gravity or its colour. 
 
 Medical men have not failed in many instances to 
 discover and acknowledge this, and to teach that the only 
 sure guide to the selection of remedies is Experience. But 
 while admissions to this effect readily accumulate in the 
 hands of the careful student, he will not fail to observe that, 
 although the necessity of experiment is allowed in the 
 abstract, yet very few medical dogmas are founded thereon. 
 Nay, the most pertinacious supporters of the crudest theory 
 are frequently the most strenuous in their appeals to 
 experience, and the veriest charlatan will overwhelm the 
 man of science with his floods of wonderful facts. Dr. 
 
 • Dunamis, life, vital force, acting dynamically, not immediately, on the 
 material frame, but on the principle of life. 
 
 s 
 
14 
 
 sonicKK ()!•• Tin; AiAKorATiiic, 
 
 (yiillcn wiitcs that "an cxpiMiciu.'e oi' flu; clliicUs ol 
 sul)Htaiicc's ujXMi tlic liviiij;' liiiinaii Ixxly, is certainly the 
 only sure nuiiiis of us(!('i'(ainin;^ tlicir medical virtues ; 
 l)iit llie cinpldyiny- of this cxpcricnnu is extremely I'allu- 
 e.ious and uneertain, and llie writers on the Materia 
 Mediea ahuimd with nnmherless false eonelusicjns, which 
 an;, h()W(;v(!r, sn]>|)()sed or ])retended to he drawn from 
 cxperienee. Such indeed is tlu; state ol' this matter, that 
 nohody can consult these writers with any success or 
 safety, unli;ss he is jirepared with a j^reat deal of scepti- 
 cism on the subject. " Thus has it heen both before and 
 since his lime; you will find authors admittin^r the 
 necessity of experii'iice, a])j)ealinn; to it as evid(;nce in 
 fiivour of their adttpted theories, and lit the same time 
 conileuuiln^ tlu; expi-rienee of their ijredccessors as fal- 
 lacious and de(;eptive, or j)erh<1])s as entirely false or 
 pretended. That these e])ithets ha\e often been justly 
 applied, even by those whosearray of experimental results 
 as well as their teaching's, were obnoxious to the same 
 objections, is doubtless too true; and althouj^h it mi^ht 
 be hazardous for a homo'opathist to make these charj^cs 
 against the exjK'riencc, so called, of the "• ndiunar schools 
 on his own responsibility, he cannot be justly complained 
 of as indulging;' a captious and iimlt-findinu; temper, while 
 this position is so strongly fortified by the testimony of 
 the schools themselves. 
 
 The cx])erience of the medical ])roression, Avitli regard 
 to the iSIateria Mediea, has thus iiu- been chiefly useful 
 in revealing the falsity of the theoretical systems which 
 have successively risen ; without, however, doing any 
 thing toward the establishment of a truly scientific and 
 permanent system, as we might reasonaljly have expected 
 to be the case had this exi)criencc been properly conducted. 
 
 Girtanncr * says, — Our Materia Mediea is a mere 
 collection of fallacious observations. 
 
 * DarsU'lluni;, II. (iOn, 
 
 the 
 
oil H».M.>U»N MATI'.HIA MIIDIIA. 
 
 ir> 
 
 (•Il(!(!ls «>l" 
 
 taiiily tlu> 
 1 virtues ; 
 K'ly fiillii- 
 Q jMiitoriii 
 JDH, whicii 
 aw 11 from 
 iittcr, that 
 iuocebs or 
 of Kccpli- 
 let'ori! Jimi 
 ittiiij^ tlic. 
 Idniu'o in 
 iaiiie time 
 >v» as I'ul- 
 y false or 
 ecu justly 
 lal results 
 the same 
 it miolit 
 ie charges 
 t/" schools 
 jmi»lained 
 per, while 
 iiiioiiy of 
 
 th regard 
 ly iiseful 
 Ills Avhieh 
 oing any 
 itifie and 
 expected 
 :»nductcd. 
 s a mere 
 
 I 
 
 Hoffiium nay.'', — Few are tlu^ remedies whose virtues 
 jiiid o|»crati(»ns nw. certain : many ani those which art; 
 dmiliffnl, suspicious, fallacious, and llijse. 
 
 Medicine, says Sinhaldi, has euntrilmteil to deteriorate 
 the human race. 
 
 Frank says, — The nuidical [)(»licc is restricted to puliiic 
 husincss, and directed against contagion, epidemics, 
 quacks, ^:c., hut it is not considered that thousands ar(; 
 slaughtered in the (piietsick room. (Jovcrnment shouhl 
 at once either hanisli medical men and their art, or they 
 should taki! [>rop(!r measures that the liv(;s of peojih; may 
 Ik! safer than at pri'sent. 
 
 Kieescr says, — ^Kvery method and system has made a 
 (•Tcater number of victims than tlu; most (lontaj^ioua 
 epidemics and the longest wars. 
 
 Tlu! ibllowing passage; frctm Dr. liostock's History of 
 Mi'dicine, prefixed to J )r. 1 )oane's edition of ( Jood's Study 
 of Medicine, is applicahle to this suhject : — " In modern 
 times, and more remaikahly in ( Jreat Hritain, no one 
 thinks of proposing a new mode of [iractice witiioutsuj)- 
 porting it hy the results of ]»raetical exjierienee; yet in 
 the space of a few short years the boasted remedy lias 
 lost its virtue — the disease no longer yields to its power 
 — wliile its place is su[)i)licd by some new remedy, which, 
 like its pnidccessors, runs through the same career of 
 expectation, si ccess, and disapi)ointm(.'nt. I^et us apjily 
 these remarks to the case of fever, tlu; disease which has 
 been termed thetouchstime of medical theory, and which 
 may be pi*onounced its opiirobriuin. At the close of the 
 last century, while the doctrine of Cullen was generally 
 embraced, typhus fever was called a disease of debility, 
 and was of course to be treated with tonics and stimulants. 
 No doulit was entertained of their power over the disease ; 
 the only question in the mind of the practitioner was, 
 whether the patient could bear the quantity that would 
 be necessary for the cure. To this treatment succeeded 
 that of the cold effusions, and we flattered ourselves that 
 we had at length subdued the formidable monster. But 
 Ave were doomed to experience the ordinary process of 
 
IG 
 
 SOnuKS ()!• Tin: Al.iKOI'.VTIIIt', 
 
 «Hrtii|)iK)iiitnu'nt. The pnicticc, os nsnnl, wjw f'imiul />*- 
 vffirirnt or i/tjtin'ims, and it was, aj'tof ii sli(»rt time, miij>- 
 plaiitcd )»y tlio use oi' t\\v. lancet. Ji»it this practice wan 
 even inon^ Hhort-livcul than cither of its predeeenworrt. 
 And thus in th)' span' of fort tj yvars vr haro f/oim throuyli 
 three rt'Dolutions of opinion with rrsprrt to atlisvusc of vcri/ 
 frc(ini'nt ocrurrrnre, and of vrrif dcrisiiw and unjent symp- 
 toms." 
 
 In th(! eiiHi! of till' dise;i.-«e referred to, and tiie sanu; it* 
 true of the j^reat majority of wieknesses, (!Xperienet! has 
 nhown the inapplieahility of pa.'ticuhir reniediiiH, or of 
 parti(!ular modes of })raetiee, hut lias not pointed out to 
 U8 the true syatcnis to l»e pursued. It may have tau;;ht 
 us some of the ininuuerahhi shoals and breakers that dash 
 the ho])es of the medical practitioner, hut has left unde- 
 fined the course of saiety and success in a <lan^erous 
 channel. 
 
 We arc thus reduced to an evil extremity. It is 
 sliown that the indirect modes of invcsti<i;ation applied to 
 the discovery of remedies, and their api)lication, are in- 
 capable of 8Ui^)plying us with information deserving our 
 confidence, but are, on the contrary, liable to lead us 
 fatally wrong ; and it is also allowed that the results of 
 practical exi)cricnce have, in i\ great measure, failed to 
 correct the fidsc deductions of healing systems, and of 
 establishing definite and enduring principles of action. 
 The fault, we believe, lies not in experience, as a means 
 of testing medical doctrines, but in the imi)roper manner 
 in which the experience of physicians has been conducted, 
 and its results collected, generalized and api»lied. 
 
 The first fact that deserves attention in this view of 
 the subject is, that the immediate object most frequently 
 sought for by the principal experimenters in pathology 
 and therapeutics, has been to ])rocurc proofs and argu- 
 ments to sustain a previously adopted theory, and not the 
 discovery of facts, without reference to their bearing on 
 any medical doctrine. The mode of procedure more in 
 accordance with modern ])hilosophy of founding theory 
 on a basis of previously discovered truths, scarcely seems 
 
OK COMMON MATERIA MEUICA. 
 
 17 
 
 fouiul i/t- 
 
 tillK', HUj)- 
 
 •actici; was 
 cdcccrtHors. 
 me t/ir»ii</li 
 '•iiHV of vrri/ 
 'fjmt st/mji- 
 
 lic sanu! i^ 
 •ricncc^ has 
 Hliiis or ol 
 iti'd out to 
 avo tau<(ht 
 I'H tliatduHli 
 \i.)i't uiule- 
 dan^crous 
 
 ity. It is 
 
 1 applied to 
 
 on, arc in- 
 
 orving our 
 
 to lead us 
 
 results of 
 
 \ failed to 
 
 ins, and of 
 
 of action. 
 
 IS a means 
 
 )cr niann<n* 
 
 conducted, 
 
 icd. 
 
 is view of 
 frequently 
 ])athology 
 and argu- 
 .nd not the 
 )caring on 
 'c more in 
 ng theory 
 ccly seems 
 
 to have hecn admitted into medical rc8oarche8 ; and 
 |)hysi<'ians, instiad of iirococding canlully in the exten- 
 sive! observation of the (»perul'on and cMccts of medical 
 agents, hefore building their hy|)othetical structiu'es and 
 laying down their lules of practice, have; e.\pen<led their 
 energies in establishing a favourite system or subverting 
 an opposing dogma. 
 
 llow tile prepossession of the mind by a plausible 
 hypothesis is calculated to warp 'he judgment in the 
 observation of facts, the history o' every science Kuf- 
 liciently testilies, and none has sutlert il more from this 
 cause than that of medirine, and particularly the Materia 
 Medica. Under this iiiHuence, what is intended (often 
 honestly) for cxperienc;, proves to be a [)artial and par- 
 tisan efl()rt in favour of an opinion ; favourable points arc 
 brought out in • 'ulue prominence, while others that seem 
 opposed to the lavourite doctrine of the observer arc 
 suficrcd to ynias unnoticed, or are explained away, thus 
 giving to distorted truths and imperfect expenence a 
 foot-hold that years, and perhaps generations, cannot 
 entirely disjjlace. Sometimes the same effects have been 
 produced by an attachment to particular remedies, which 
 their authors supposed they had discovered or invented, 
 and which they have often supported by supposed facts, 
 V Inch perhaps their prejudices have made them suppose 
 to be true, but which they have admitted without rigorous 
 examination of their truths, and sometimes, it may be 
 suspected, when conscious of their falsehood. 
 
 From these considerations it is easily seen that the 
 Materia Medica had much to contend with and to oppose 
 its advancement, and that from the prevalence of hypo- 
 thetical reasoning in the formation of medical systems, 
 even the facts, so called, of system makers, are to be taken 
 with no little distrust in many cases. There have not 
 been wanting, it is true, some writers on the Materia 
 Medica, who have professed to disregard all theory, and 
 to give merely the effects of medicines as observed by 
 themselves or others. One of the earliest and most ex- 
 tensive writers of this class is Dioscorides, whose works 
 
18 
 
 SOUHCUfl OF THE AI-UiOl'ATUJl 
 
 Oil the Materia Medicu was, till within u comparatively 
 few years, held by a considerable portion of the medical 
 world in alii ist "superstitious reverence," but which 
 would seem to be, for the most part, a collection made 
 under the influence of the most powerful credulity of the 
 virtues attributed to all the difl'ereut druf^s and compo- 
 sitions then in use, compiled from every available source, 
 without the slightest examination into their correctness, 
 and thrown together without order. To later writers, 
 who have professed the same regard for experimental 
 knowledge of drugs, the same objections apply with 
 similar force, many of whom, indeed, have been content 
 to compile from Dioscorides, or to refer to him as suf- 
 ficient authority for any statement, however improbable. 
 
 A second fruitful source of error in the formation of a 
 Materia Medica from oxperionce and ol»servation may be 
 seen in the fact, that hitherto the observations and ex- 
 periments have been made exclusively on the sick alone. 
 From this may be excepted some observations accident- 
 ally made by persons in health — the effects of poison 
 taken by accident or design, and some experiments on 
 animals. The results furnished by these latter instances 
 arc, however, comparatively few, and but lightly es- 
 teemed in the prevalent schools. 
 
 The force of this objection to the ordinary experience 
 of the schools, may not be at once apparent to those who 
 are not already acquainted with the fallacies neccssa 'ily 
 attendant on this mode of proceeding, yet we think it 
 will not require a lo"g course of argument to show that 
 the position is correct, and that the Materia Medica owes 
 much of its pi'csent degraded condition to this cause. 
 
 We would not be understood to undervalue this kind 
 of experience, as a means of the merit of testing any 
 system of practice, and we maintain that its results should 
 be diligently observed and carefully collected. Indeed 
 we may claim for Homocopathists that they have set an 
 example in this respect to the whole world, and th?"^ they 
 cannot be accused of neglecting this branch of medical 
 enquiry, nor of fearing to submit to its ordeal. 
 
OR I'OMMON MATEHIA MEDICA. 
 
 19 
 
 iptiratively 
 lie medical 
 Dut whlcli 
 tioii made 
 ility of the 
 id compo- 
 ble source, 
 orrcctness, 
 jr writers, 
 perimciital 
 [)ply with 
 ;ii content 
 im as sut- 
 nprobable. 
 nation of a 
 Lon may be 
 is and ex- 
 sick alone. 
 I accident- 
 
 of poison 
 iments on 
 L* instances 
 
 ghtly es- 
 
 xperience 
 those who 
 leccssa "ily 
 i think it 
 how that 
 dica owes 
 Liause. 
 this kind 
 iting any 
 ts should 
 
 Indeed 
 ve set an 
 thf^ they 
 
 medical 
 
 There are, however, several difficulties in the way, 
 that must ever prevent the Materia JNIedica from derivirg 
 fixed principles from any ])racticable amount of such 
 experience alone. First in point of importance is, the 
 variety of cases in all respects identical. Cases of the 
 same name, it is true, are conunou enough, but it is well 
 known that there are almost as many varieties of the 
 same disease as there are individual cases, owing to 
 differences of age, sex, temperament, previous diseases, 
 hereditary influences, mode of life, clim.:te, and a multi- 
 tude of other motlifying causes, known and imknown ; 
 60 that although we find a certain medicine to have had 
 a salutary effect in a j)articular case, yet we arc by no 
 1 means justified in exjiecting certainly the same benefit 
 s from the same remedy in another case of the same name. 
 On the contrary, it is most probable that among many 
 cases of the same disease (according to the books) no two 
 will be found to agree in all particulars, or require the 
 same treatment ; nay, what is successful in one case may 
 be highly injurious in another. This fact will explain 
 the cause of the varying poj)ularity of different modes of 
 treatment ; as in the case of tyjjhus fever above referred 
 to, and in almost every disease in the nosology. As 
 every drug possesses some properties and uses peculiar to 
 ; itself, and as every disease ap]:)ears imder an infinity of 
 forms, it is manifestly necessary that every medicine 
 should be administered in every variety of disease, if we 
 would acquire a certain knowledge of all the uses of each 
 individual agent ; a thing evidently almost as impracti- 
 ; cable. The increased suffering, the loss of time, and we 
 I mav add, the loss of life that must sometimes occur to 
 3 patients from a mere experimental practice, must also 
 < present a powerful obstacle in the mind of the conscien- 
 i tious physician, to subjecting those committed to his 
 charge to many experiments with medicines of unknown 
 ' or uncertain power. There is a just and invincible pre- 
 judice in the minds of j)atients to " experimenting'' on 
 ^ themselves ; so that though any practitioner should be 
 willing to assume the I'esponsibility, he would find it 
 
«o 
 
 SOURCES OF THE ALCEOPATHIC, 
 
 impossible to carry on any regular plan of experimental 
 researches to any extent, without manifest injury to his 
 professional reputation. That some of the uses of drugs 
 have been discovered either by intentional or accidental 
 experience, (most frequently the latter,) is not denied. 
 The curative powers of Peruvian bark in intermittent 
 fever, of mercury in syphilis, of sulphur in itch, of iodine 
 in scrofulous tumours, are familiar examples. 
 
 While we admit that some of the uses of particular 
 drugs have been discovered — stumbled on we might say 
 — by empirical trials, or their random application in 
 disease, yet no development of principle can be expected 
 to arise from such imperfect experiments, to guide our 
 practice in new cases ; and many important properties, 
 even of medicines best known, would perhaps never be 
 discovered. As an illustration of our meaning, we may 
 refer to any of tlie numerous newly discovered, and 
 evidently powerful drugs that modern chemistry has 
 revealed to us. In how few cases have they been ad- 
 ministered with success, and how Uttle is known of their 
 effects on the living organism, or of their uses in the 
 treatment of the sick. There is, indeed, very little 
 satisfactorily known concerning them, although some of 
 them e. g. kreosot, has been before the profession several 
 years ; and it will be long before any definite rules for 
 their indication can be established, if we depend alone on 
 trials on the sick for the information. Nor will our ob- 
 servation be less confirmed if we take an example from 
 the ranks of the orthodox Materia Medica. There is no 
 drug in the whole range of the Pharmacopoeia that has 
 been employed in a greater number and variety of cases 
 than mercury, and that through a period of several hun- 
 dred years, and yet the medical world is to this day 
 greatly divided and unsettled in regard to its uses. 
 While general experience has taught us some of its indi- 
 cations, its admissibility in a large majority of the diseases 
 of ordinary practice is still a mooted point, and, it may be 
 added, always will be, unless a more decisive mode of 
 experimen'Ing is admitted. 
 
 f^iE 
 
OR COMMON MATKIUA AIEDKA. 
 
 21 
 
 cpcrimental 
 jury to his 
 ies of druga 
 ' accidental 
 not denied, 
 ntermittent 
 jh, of iodine 
 
 f particular 
 3 might say 
 plication in 
 be expected 
 ) guide our 
 I properties, 
 DS never be 
 ng, we may 
 3vered, and 
 jmistry has 
 !y been ad- 
 own of their 
 uses in the 
 very little 
 gh some of 
 sion several 
 te rules for 
 nd alone on 
 vill our ob- 
 imple from 
 There is no 
 ia that has 
 ;ty of cases 
 iveral hun- 
 to this day 
 I its uses, 
 of its indi- 
 the diseases 
 1, it may be 
 ^e mode of 
 
 Allowing, however, as we may, that mankind might, 
 under favoral)lc circuraHtances, in the course of time arrive 
 at tolerably correct conclusions with respect to the ap- 
 plication of the principal drugs, even from empirical trials 
 on the sick, there has hitherto been operating an addi- 
 tional obstacle that would efiectually prevent such a 
 desira]>lc consummation. In what we have already said 
 it has been supposed that the experiments, so called, have 
 been conducted with medicines in their simple forms, but 
 it is well known that the supposition is altogether incor- 
 rect. Usually several, often many different articles are 
 combined in a single preparation, '' ' administered at 
 the same time ; and tliis, we considc 'ustitutes another 
 cause of the uncertain results of ordinary medical exi)e- 
 rience. As the pure effects of each individual drug are 
 unknown, much more must it be true of the whole 
 composition ; but if the powers of each component part 
 were vrell understood, it would by no means follow that 
 the effects exhibited by the composition would correspond 
 to those of the several ingredients when administered 
 separately. The aid of chemistry has been called in to 
 assist in purging the Pharmacopoeias of heterogeneous 
 compounds, or those in which the articles introduced 
 were found to be chemically antagonistic, while others. 
 In which no such incompatibility was discovered, have 
 been allowed to remain. And it has been thought philo- 
 sophical to say, that because certain medicines may be 
 mixed together out of the body, without neutralizing 
 each other, therefore they will retain their individuality 
 of operation in the body. It is forgotten medicines do 
 not act as medicines by virtue of their chemical properties, 
 but by a peculiar relation existing between the remedy 
 and the vital principle, and that therefore every compo- 
 sition may, and most likely does, possess powers and 
 exhibit effects peculiar to itself, and not intermediate to, 
 or composed of, those of its several ingredients, — that in 
 fact, any number of drugs combined in one prescription 
 lose their individual identity, and form a new medicine, 
 which, if admitted into the Materia Medica at all, should 
 
32 
 
 SOURCES OF Tllli AL(E01'ATI1IC, ETC. 
 
 be subjected to the same rigid scrutiny and expsrlnien- 
 tation as if it were a Himple drug. 
 
 From this it can readily be seen how much uncertainty 
 and confusion must necessarily arise from the frequent 
 use of these multifarious compositions. Almost every 
 practising })hysician varies the number or proj)ortion8 of 
 his ingredients according to his fancy, or the hypothesis 
 that may be uppermost in his mind. . Vn error analogous 
 to that first referred to, and subject to similar objections, 
 is found in the almost universal custom of rapidly fol- 
 lowing one prescription by another and another, before 
 the effects of the first, either for good or evil, can be 
 fully known. 
 
 There is still another cause operating to restrict the 
 successful cultivation of the Materia Medica, and which, 
 there can be no doubt, has had great influence in nar- 
 rowing the field of investigation, as well as in giving 
 rise to many erroneous notions in practice. We now 
 refer to the passion for generalization, which has exhib- 
 ited itself in every branch of science, and especially in 
 the formation of systems of nosology, and in various 
 classifications of therapeutic agents. The natural eifect 
 of this grouping of diverse substances in classes and 
 orders, after the manner of a natural history, is to sink 
 the importance of many valuable and essential properties 
 belonging to the individuals composing the group, and to 
 elevate that of some property which they possess in 
 common. A glance at any of the most approved works 
 on this subject will be apparent. We have not men- 
 tioned all the causes that have operated to render the 
 experience of the medical profession, during so many 
 ages, ineflfectual in establishing the Materia Medica on a 
 sure basis, but the most important have been considered ; 
 and we cannot but think we have sufficiently accounted 
 for the imperfect condition of our knowledge of this 
 branch of medical science. * 
 
xperinien- 
 
 ncertainty 
 3 frequent 
 [lost every 
 [)ortion8 of 
 hypothesis 
 • analogous 
 objections, 
 apidly fol- 
 lier, before 
 ,'il, can be 
 
 estrict tlie 
 
 and which, 
 
 ce in nar- 
 
 in giving 
 
 We now 
 
 has exhib- 
 
 pecially in 
 
 in various 
 
 ural eifect 
 
 lasses and 
 
 is to sink 
 
 properties 
 
 )up, and to 
 
 possess in 
 
 ved works 
 
 not men- 
 
 ender the 
 
 so many 
 
 edica on a 
 
 jnsidered ; 
 
 accounted 
 
 ye of this 
 
 H 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 HAHNEMANN, AND THE SOLKCK8 OF IIOMCEOPATUIC 
 MATERIA MEDICA. 
 
 BY DH. CHAPMAN, LIVKUTOOI.. 
 
 After the health of the soul, that of the body is the 
 next important subject that can occupy the attention of 
 philanthropists. The dogmatic schools have done nothing 
 for the healing art. And while it has been generally 
 f.cknowledgcd that "Experience is the true teacher of 
 medicine," the practical efforts of medical men have been 
 generally biassed by some prevailing or fashionable 
 theory. We find from history that this has been the 
 case from Hippocrates to Hahnemann. 
 
 The history of medicine, while it is most interesting, 
 is also most painful. We believe that an honourable 
 feeling has been a characteristic of the profession in all 
 ages, and it is the interest, as well as the duty, of medical 
 men always to do all they can for their patients. It is, 
 therefore, melancholy to reflect how little advancement 
 was made in therapeutics for twenty centuries. The 
 accessory sciences have been greatly advanced ; some, as 
 anatomy, nearly to perfection : but the art to which they 
 were at first subsidiary was left as uncertain as ever. It 
 is confidently believed that under the influence of the 
 law Hahnemann declared, this art will henceforth ad- 
 vance and become more and more certain in Its results 
 with the continued improvement of therapeutics. 
 
 The doctrine of Homoeopathy is still subject to indis- 
 criminating censure on the part of its opponents ; whereas 
 it claims the most careful examination, as it professes to 
 be a reform or revolution In medicine. It is, at all events, 
 a thine/ and not a mere name. It is in the power of any 
 intelligent being to put it to the proof; and actual ex- 
 perience only can show whether it is true or false. Its 
 influence on the prevailing practice, in the Improvement 
 
24 
 
 HAHNEMANN, AND THE 8()U11CES OF 
 
 () 
 
 f dietetics, in the siniplifieution of prescriptions, and in 
 the diminution of doses, is notieeiible. It is not by 
 exaggertions of any sort, cither in its favour or to its 
 j)rejudi 'at its merits can be ascertained. Is the 
 homocoj, law true or not ? Is the system of thera- 
 
 peutics an advancement or not in the healing art ? These 
 are questions determinable by experience, and invectives 
 cannot be admitted in the place <^f exj)erimcnts. Yet, 
 Avhile the literature of the day abounds with passing 
 allusions to the subject, little or no notice of it is taken 
 in the medical journals, and by those whose province it 
 is to watch over and correct the delusions of opinion. 
 We have seen, in the history of medicine, school give 
 way to school, theory to theory, and " admired disorder" 
 throughout. A simple law of healing, similia similibus 
 curantur, like cures like, has been declared as the true 
 law by which all theories are brought under subjection, 
 and disorder reduced to order. We have now to speak 
 of the law-giver who has recently departed this life. 
 The good he did has not been interred with his bones, 
 but lives after him. 
 
 Samuel Hahnemann was born at Meissen, in Saxony, 
 on the 10th April, 175.5. His father was a man in ob- 
 scure circumstances ; but, by whatever means obtained, 
 the son received a sound education. It is recorded of 
 him, that he went at the age of twenty to Leipzig for 
 the prosecution of his studies, " with exactly the same 
 number of crowns in his pocket that he numbered years." 
 It may be inferred from the results, that he took with 
 him to that university a mind already addicted to studious 
 habits, and an ambition to excel in the studies he had 
 chosen. His energy and industry must have been great, 
 as he was obliged to maintain himself by tuition and 
 literary exercises at the same time he was devoting liim- 
 self to science. Two years later, we find hun a student 
 at Vienna, where he had excellent opportunities of 
 studying diseases in the Hospital of Leopold. We next 
 hear of him at Hermanstadt, in the double capacity of 
 medical attendant and librarian to a nobleman. He next 
 

 W'J 
 
 OF 
 
 iuiis, and in 
 t is not by 
 ur or to its 
 led. Is the 
 3in of thera- 
 iirt ? These 
 id invectives 
 iients. Yet, 
 ^vith passing 
 f it is taken 
 ! province it 
 J of opinion. 
 
 school give 
 red disorder" 
 'ilia similibus 
 
 aa the true 
 ir subjection, 
 LOW to speak 
 ted this life, 
 h his bones, 
 
 1, in Saxony, 
 
 L man in ob- 
 
 ms obtained, 
 
 recorded of 
 
 Leipzig for 
 
 ly the same 
 
 jered years." 
 
 le took witli 
 
 d to studious 
 
 idies he had 
 
 c been great, 
 
 tuition and 
 evoting him- 
 m a student 
 ortunities of 
 1. We next 
 
 capacity of 
 n. He next 
 
 HOM<E<>PATIIlC MATKUIA MKDICA. 
 
 2.3 
 
 went to Evlangcn, wliere he gi*aduated in medicine in 
 1779. During the next ten years he seems to have 
 practised his profession at several places, till he settled 
 at Lcipsic. It would appear that he was early dissatis- 
 fied with the results conducted according to theories ; and 
 with that intuitive presentiment of future achievement, 
 which has been so often recorded of remarkable men, he 
 set himself the task of discovering some way of escape 
 from the perplexities of the school, and the uncertainty 
 of the act he luid so sedulously cultivated, but in the 
 practice of which he found the success of medical treat- 
 ment so disproportionally small in comparison Avith the 
 lofty pretensions of tlieorists. Taking a review of the 
 revolutions in medicine from the time of IIii)pocrate3 to 
 his own, comparing school with school, and theory with 
 theory, and considering how little real advancement had 
 taken place in their practice, he felt the want of some 
 law to guide the practitioner in the choice of ijemedies ; 
 and this earnest aspiration, after a nobler act tlian had 
 yet been known, led to those reflections and investiga- 
 tions which afterwards resulted in the system of Homoeo- 
 pathy. 
 
 In the course of his reading, Hahnemann's mind was 
 always directed to facts ; and his researches into the 
 writings of eminent authors were not without their re- 
 sult, though in a very different way from what the author 
 might have expected. The attempt he subsequently 
 made to obtain successful results in practice, from admin- 
 istering pure medicines in their simple forms, w.as again 
 of ultimate advantage to him, though he failed in his 
 immediate object. His habits of translating foreign 
 authors into German, Avas another important link in the 
 chain of his history, as was also his devotion to chemistry 
 and mineralogy. We find these various occupations of 
 his to have influenced all his after career, more or less. 
 Thus, his early training, the habits of his life, his pursuits, 
 and his very disappointments, contributed their share to 
 the achievement which was to be wrought out by hid 
 patient, earnest, and vigorous intellect. 
 
26 
 
 HAHNEMANN, AND THE SOURCES Of 
 
 Our philosopher undertook a tninslation of Cullen's 
 Materia Medicu, and his attention was arrested by the 
 description of Cinchona, (Peruvian bark,) and its effects 
 in producing symptoms analogous to those of intermit- 
 tent fever. Hahnemann took Iwirk himself, and so pro- 
 duced in himself the symptoms of intermittent fever. 
 This induced him to try and note down the eft'ects of 
 other medicinal agents, when takiiu by persons in health. 
 Finding (on comparing his own experience of these 
 effects with the practice of different authors, and his 
 previous knowledge) that the remedies usually successful 
 in certain given cases, were such as would produce 
 symptoms an 1 »gous to those of the disease, he came to 
 the general ci Jiclusion, the law similia similibus curantur, 
 namely, that diseases should bo treated by close atten- 
 tion to the symptoms, and giving those remedies which, 
 in healthy persons, would produce effects very similar to 
 those symptoms, he chose the word Homceopathy to 
 express the law of the relations between the disease and 
 the curative agent. 
 
 He induced others to repeat his experiments ; and 
 their experience confirmed his. 
 
 His book-lore now served him well. He found in 
 ancient, as well as modern authorities, occasional glimpses 
 of the truths of the law of specifics. 
 
 The more extensive the experience — the more multi- 
 plied the experiments, the mt)re certain become the law. 
 By and by, when its truth is fully admitted, Hahnemann's 
 claims to originality will probably be denied, and the 
 authorities alluded to quoted : thus, it was said of Hai'vey 
 that he was the circulator of the circulation of the blood. 
 
 In one of the books ascribed to Hippocrates, it is said, 
 " By agencies producing effects similar to the symptoms 
 of the disease, and not by contraries, must it be treated." 
 
 Stoerks thought that stramonium might be used with 
 success in the treatment of mania, from his knowledge of 
 the halucinations it produced in persons in health. 
 
 Stahl has been quoted by Hahnemann to this effect : 
 •' The received method of treating diseases contraria 
 
or 
 
 nOMOEOPATniC MATERIA MEDICA. 
 
 37 
 
 of Cullen'8 
 isted by the 
 nd its effects 
 of intennit- 
 and so pro- 
 ittent fever, 
 [le effects of 
 ms in health, 
 cc of these 
 ors, and his 
 ly successful 
 uld produce 
 he came to 
 lus curantitr, 
 close atten- 
 edies which, 
 ry similar to 
 nceopathy to 
 disease and 
 
 tnents ; .and 
 
 le found in 
 nal glimpses 
 
 more m ulti- 
 mo the law. 
 [ahnemann's 
 ed, and tho 
 d of Harvey 
 )f the blood, 
 es, it is said, 
 e symptoms 
 be treated." 
 e used with 
 nowledge of 
 2alth. 
 
 this effect : 
 33 contraria 
 
 contrarits, is completely false and ai)surd. I was convinced, 
 on the contrary, that diseases are subdued by remediea 
 I which produce a similar affection, similia similibuc ; burns 
 l)y the heat of a fire to whicii the parts are exposed ; the 
 frost-bite by snow, or ice-cold water, and InHammations 
 'I and c(mtusions by spirituous aj>plications. I have cured 
 acidity of the stomach with small doses of sulphuric 
 acid." 
 
 Paracelsus, to whom chemistry is nmcli indebted, 
 
 1 notwithstandinj; all that has been said ajjainst him, 
 
 ') observes : — '* The method taugiit by Galenus, to givo 
 
 remedies which produce the contrary of the disease, is 
 
 a perverted one : remedies which act similarly should be 
 
 administered." 
 
 It can be proved from Suetonius that some of the 
 physicians ofliome treated some diseases on the principle 
 similia similibus. 
 
 The iherit, however, is Ilp.hnemann's, of having dis- 
 covered and pronmlgated their law, as being of universal 
 application in the treatment of disease: and it was 
 wrought out by him with deep thought and patient 
 . investigation. lie obviously came to the conclusion, that 
 v wherever disease was successfully treated, the success 
 } dependet' ')n the use of some remedy homoeopathic to the 
 disease : and with his usual industry, he collected exam- 
 ples in proof of the justice of this conclusion. It has 
 been admitted that any improvement in therapeutics 
 must be in the extension of the number of specifics. It 
 -| is in this right way that Hahnemann advanced the suc- 
 cessful pioneer to a realm of specifics. Had we faculties 
 J enlarged enough for the pursuit, the probability is, that 
 ^ there is no substance in nature which is not capable of 
 being appropriated to man's use and benefit; that for every 
 diseased action, every aberration from health, a specific 
 might be found. Constitutional tendencies to disease 
 may be overcome ; in the course of several generations 
 hereditary diseases may be mitigated or removed, as our 
 knowledge of specifics increases. Instead of three or 
 four specifics known to the practitioner of the old school. 
 
28 
 
 HAHNEMANN, AND TQE SOURCES OF 
 
 how many are already in use in the homoeopathic practice ! 
 What a fielil for observation, ntmly, mul practical obser- 
 vation has Hahnemann discovered to the Htudents and 
 practitioners of the healinj^ art ! 
 
 This earnest man, in the course of his experiments 
 with medicinal subsUm(!es, very soon discovered that the 
 doses usually given were unnecessarily large. When he 
 first applied Ids law to the treatment of disease he gave 
 the usual doses, which in practice he gradually reduced. 
 The size of the doses was therefore no part of his (jriginal 
 plan of pmctice. It was the result of a succession of 
 experiment . lie reduced his doses gradually, but found 
 even fractions of grains in some cases excited atjyravation 
 of the patient's symptoms. In foUowing his ])rocess of 
 reduction still further, he arrived at the discovery of the 
 power of those very minute doses since called injinitesi-' 
 mal. In pursuing the division of soluble substances, he 
 discovered that, by trituration with milk-sugar, insohd)lc 
 substances, formerly su[)posed to be inert, were rendered 
 soluble and displayed active powers. To these faets he 
 appended a theory, that the process of trituration of 
 solids, and the analogous one of succussion of fluids, added 
 new powers to medicinal substances ; hence he applied 
 to these processes the. term potentalization or dynamisa- 
 tion. Here, again, we must discriminate between fact 
 and theory : it is a fact that the above-Indicated j)rocess 
 of trituration does render insoluble substances active, 
 and thus certain of them are enabled to display their 
 medicinal properties ; but that new powers are added to 
 medicinal substances by succussion when fluid, or by 
 trituration when solid, remains yet to be proved. 
 
 We briefly recapitulate Hahnemann's doings as a re- 
 former in the art of medicine. He discovered the universal 
 application of the law, similia siviilibus curantur. Many 
 facts tending to the establishment of this Uw were to be 
 found in various authors, ancient and modern. He de- 
 clared it to be a law of general applicability — the law of 
 healing. He carried out to the full the method of dis- 
 
 co vti 
 
 I 
 
uo.>i(j-;(>rATm(' matiwiia mkdua. 
 
 29 
 
 c practice ! 
 inil obscr- 
 idents and 
 
 cpcrimcnts 
 1(1 thut the 
 
 W'llt'M ll(^ 
 
 c lie «ijiive 
 r reduced, 
 lis orif^inal 
 cesHion of 
 hut found 
 ffyravatioH 
 process of 
 ery of the 
 irifiidtesi' 
 tanccs, lie 
 , insoluble 
 ; rendered 
 ) facts he 
 iration of 
 ids, added 
 e applied 
 ynamisa- 
 veen fact 
 d process 
 ;s active, 
 lay their 
 added to 
 d, or by 
 
 • 
 
 i as a re- 
 aniversal 
 Many 
 ere to be 
 He de- 
 le law of 
 1 of dis- 
 
 rovcrin;^ llic properties of iiiediciiu's by /.'"ivirifr tlirni to 
 |icr>oiH in health, and caivrully watchiii}^ their cfK'cts. 
 
 lie tested their healing powers by ^ivin«^ them sinj^dj', 
 only one nieilicine at a time in a prescription, to patients. 
 He more strietlv than anv of his predecessors insiste«l on 
 the necessity of ascertainin}^ the proper charMcter of 
 disease, unmixed with many symptoms ])rodu('<'d by 
 iiiaiiy n-medles ; of distin«^uishiii^ y;enuine from liictitious 
 or medicinal diseas(>. 
 
 He discovered that medicinal substances act ettectivcly 
 
 ' in very minute doses. 
 
 We have so far no theorv at all ; recorded facts and 
 ex[Kriments arc jjiven, open to all the world to investi- 
 pite, to sift, to chiillenge, and prove false if they can. 
 His theories may or may not be <;orrect ; his facts and 
 exi)eriments remain. The Avorded thought, the exponent 
 of a thin*;, remains with its sug<^estive wisdom when time 
 has bh)tt{!d out vain opinions and idle speculations. 
 Hahnemann, fully aware of this truth, while he insisted 
 on the practical doctrine, was willin*^ that it should be 
 followed out ai)art from all consideration of his theory. 
 He knew that his small doses, for exam])le, would pro- 
 duce certain effects ; he would not have objected that the 
 sceptic, when persuaded, should account for their efficacy 
 by tlie aid of the chemist or the geometrician. The 
 latter can prove the infinite divisibility of matter; the 
 
 ' former can show that, if a quantity of mercury, ever so 
 nicely weighed, be put in water, this will be covered 
 Avith a metallic film and have a metallic taste, yet the 
 mercury will not have lost any of its sensible weight. 
 Hahnemann's great business was with effects ; we must 
 acknowledge them, employ ourselves as we will in 
 searching for their sources. Hear what Bacon says, and 
 estimate what Hahnemann has done : — " Subjectum 
 illud medicinae (corpus nimirum Immanum) ex omnibus 
 quae natura procreavit maxime est copax remedii ; scd 
 vicissim illud remedium maxime obnoxium errori. 
 Eadem namque subjecti subtilitas et varietas, ut magnum 
 medendi facultatem praebet, sit maximam etiam aberrandi 
 
so 
 
 HAHNEMANN. AND THB SOURCES OP 
 
 fiicilitutom." Under the guidiinco of the honiivopathic 
 law, thirt f'licility of error id diniiiUHhed in {iroportion un 
 that law irt Iiouestly observed; and from the treasury 
 of nature the eareful sludcutH of Hueccedin^ "jjeneration.i 
 will he evermore a<ldin}^ .somcthin;^ to true therapeuties; 
 
 Kt (|ui)Miiuii vnri.iiit iiiorhi, variahiniiis artos: 
 Millo iiiuli spt'cii's, iiiille saliitis crant. 
 
 The snj^e wa.s now to reap the hitter-sweet of the 
 discoverer. I lis own consciousness of the niij^iity lusneHt 
 lie had been the instrument of conferring on his fellow- 
 creatures ; the number of the converts and coadjutors 
 who subscribed to his law, and adopteil his methojl of 
 liealinfj; the testimonies to his jj^cnius and truthfulness 
 freely tendered by some of his ablest contemj)oraries, who, 
 from whati!ver cause, left not thi-ir ancient way ; it may 
 be the love of fame (" that last inlirmity in nolde minds :") 
 thia made the sweet of his portion. The bitter was found 
 in the oblofjuy and persecution which he was speedily to 
 experience. From the very nature of the case, his rivals 
 and opponents would be made furious by the success of 
 his practice, and the dispensers of drujjjs would look with 
 no favour, wao would have his fellow-citizens to dispense 
 altojjether with tlu^ir drufjs. He was obli<i;ed, from the 
 necessity of the case, independent of the wisdom of the 
 measure, to prepare and dispense his own remedies: 
 whereupon an obsolete law, that gave an exclusive 
 mono[)oly to privileged a[)othccaries, and refused to 
 physicians the power of disj)cnsing medicines, was revived 
 against him, and he was obliged to giVc way. Thus, like 
 the wise Ulysses, driven from place to place, he became 
 conversant with msiny men and many cities ; and thus 
 were his law and therapeutics more and more made 
 known. Nor was he wanting to himself in any available 
 way of disseminating the truths of which he was the 
 appointed interi)reter. He furnished article after article 
 to Hufeland's journal : was fiercely attacked, returned to 
 the charge, and ceased not till he had established the fact, 
 « hat there was something in the man, and something in 
 hie law of healing, and something in his therapeutics. 
 
 1 
 
 Th 
 
 
 th:> 
 
 1 
 
 as < 
 
 
 poi 
 
 j 
 
 syi 
 
 J 
 
 wit 
 
 ^ 
 
 the 
 
 » 
 
 vai 
 
 '' 
 
 not 
 
 << 
 
 sm 
 
 4 
 
 
 1 
 
 fee 
 
 ) 
 
 an( 
 
 
 po\ 
 
 
 we 
 
 
 cn( 
 
 1 
 
 ft 
 
 M. 
 
 i 
 
 ter 
 
 1 
 
 in 
 
 1 
 
 the 
 
 1 
 
 the 
 
 1 
 
 so 
 
 1 
 
 ex 
 
 3 
 
 thi 
 
 .i 
 
 
 t 
 
 sor 
 
 
 lilt 
 
 fas 
 
 
 in( 
 an( 
 
HOMO:OI'ATIIIC MATKIIIA MKDICA. 
 
 31 
 
 oiniiiopatliic 
 'oportioii a.i 
 ho treiisury 
 •^onemtioiirt 
 loriipoutics; 
 
 rcct of tho 
 ^lity lu'Ut'Ht 
 hirt ti'llow- 
 cujuljutors 
 llU'tludl of 
 ruthfuhie.ss 
 nirics, who, 
 ay ; it may 
 le minds :") 
 I' wa.s foil ml 
 speedily to 
 e, hirt rivals 
 success of 
 il look with 
 to dispense 
 , from the 
 om of the 
 remedies : 
 exclusive 
 refused to 
 i^as revived 
 Thus, like 
 le became 
 and thus 
 lore made 
 r available 
 D was the 
 'ter article 
 eturned to 
 d the fact, 
 lething in 
 'rapeutics. 
 
 The Hcarlct fever pivt; him an opportunity of proving; 
 that belladonna was in many cases iiroplijibtrtic as well 
 as curative in that disease, lie had noticed that children 
 poisoned with the; berries (»f belladonna were alh'cte<l with 
 svmploms similar to those of scarlatina. In accctnlance 
 with his law lu; used it as u remedy for the disease. He 
 then asked himself if the vaccine, whi(;h resend)les the 
 variolous disease, is pro]>hylaclic against small pox, may 
 not bi'lladonna be a pro|thyliictic a<;ainst scarlet fever, 
 since it produces symptoms similar to thos(> of that af- 
 fection ? Ex|»eriments ninri' sua were accordinj^ly made, 
 and the fact tliat belladonna does j)ossess, in "general, the 
 pow(!r of preventin<jf or miti^^atinj; scarK't fever, is now 
 well known. Thus did he indicate the ri<fht way of 
 endeavouring; to increase the number of prophylactics. 
 
 In 1H()5 lu! published his " Fra^^menta de Viribua 
 Medicamentorum [)ositivis," the germ of the "j)ure Ma- 
 teria Mcdica." 
 
 In IHIO he published his " Or;ianon of the healiufij art." 
 In IHll he published the " Pure Matiiria Mcdica," and 
 in 1S2H his book oii chronic diseases. In the first of 
 these publications we have the residt of fifteen, and in 
 the last of thirty-ei{j;ht years of Hahnemann's experience, 
 so patient was he, so willinjj; to repeat and verify his 
 experiments, so content to bide his time, and so desirous 
 that the seed of his doctrine should be cast on a soil in 
 some measure pre[)ared fen* its reception. We dwell on 
 the lateness of these publications because it has been the 
 fashion of some to admit his learning;, his prodigious 
 industry, and even his genius, but to class him with rash 
 and precipitate enthusiasts. That he was an enthusiast, 
 in the hiy;h and oriy-inal sense of the word, is most true : 
 
 or? ' 
 
 " Nemo vir magnus sine afflatu aliquo divino unquam 
 fuit." In the true sense of the word, he was also emi- 
 nently empirical ; but no man was ever more pmctical 
 in what was the proper business of his life, no man was 
 less of a dreaming enthusiast or rash empiric, in the de- 
 based and^vulgar sense of those words. He was a hero 
 of his art. His intellectual being overflowed with the 
 
 f 
 
32 
 
 HAHNEMANN, ANU TUL SOI IICES OK 
 
 delijjhtful conscioiirfiici^s of its heinn; cxcroisod as an in- 
 strumeut of Providence for the iH-ncfit of man. Hear 
 him speak on this tsul>ject in his ad(hx's.s on tlu; openin;j; 
 of the llonnropathic Society in Paris: — "1 present to 
 you a truth lonj^ soui^ht for — a (Uvino revelation of ;i 
 principle of eternal nature. 1 appeal to existing facts 
 alone to convince you; and when a conscientious and 
 complete course of study shall crown your researches 
 with success, then, as I have done, bless Providence for 
 the imm .nse benefaction he has allowed to descend upon 
 the earth through my humble agency, for I have been 
 but a feeble instrument of the Omnipotence l^efore which 
 we all bow in humility." 
 
 " I hold," says Lord Bacon, " that every man is a 
 debtor to his profession, from the which as men do of 
 course seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought 
 they of duty to endeavour themselves, by way of amends, 
 to be a help and ornament thereunto." This sentiment 
 influenced Hahnemann, and the great obligation of duty 
 which he owed to his profession and fellow-creatures, Ji-s 
 an instrument of the goodness of the All-giver, was ever 
 present to his mind. While he felt himself to be in the 
 dark in the former part of his medical career, — compelled 
 to use uncertain remedies without the guidance of any 
 certain principle, he almost altogether desisted from 
 practice ; but when light wad given to him, when he had 
 the compass to guide him, the voyage of the remainder 
 of his life was for honour, and knowledge, and the good 
 of man. He that was well skilled in " many a virtuo: s 
 plant and healing herb," and who knew " their strange 
 and vigorous faculties," was always sedulously engaged 
 as a healer and as a teacher. He felt always that he 
 must regularly and resolutely advance in the Avork 
 assigned him by his great Taskmastei. 
 
 We find him again at Leipzig in 1811, engaged in the 
 publication of his Materia Medica, and in the labours of 
 medical practice ; but he was obliged to leave the city, 
 after some years success, from the opposition of the 
 apothecaries. He went *o Coethen, in 1821, and waa 
 
 iuuuli 
 'ICoet 
 ]of tl 
 jinves 
 stheir 
 'iappci 
 fresh 
 jVoke( 
 ^facts 
 ^thou< 
 ieases 
 \si/phi 
 ^dies i 
 Itaintf- 
 ^he ha 
 idies. 
 Iby tl 
 :^eme( 
 icertai 
 *sition 
 theor 
 Ithe sa 
 I Th 
 |Halin 
 Ififtec: 
 slcft tl 
 Disci] 
 itrines 
 |loop-l 
 |looke( 
 |was g 
 iThou 
 ^ppre 
 |He w 
 ^ich. 
 ijofPe 
 i "I 
 ipfsyi 
 ^nclus 
 
OF 
 
 UOM(EOPATHIC MATERIA MEDICA. 
 
 S8 
 
 ;d as ftn in- 
 inan. Hear 
 tluj oi)enin^' 
 I prcdcnt t(i 
 eljitioii of ii 
 xistiiig facts 
 ieutious and 
 ir researches 
 evidence fur 
 Icsceud upon 
 [ have been 
 before whicli 
 
 ly man is a 
 men do of 
 fit, so ought 
 y of amends, 
 is sentiment 
 ition of duty 
 creatures, a^i 
 er, was ever 
 to be in the 
 — compelled 
 ince of any 
 sisted from 
 ^vhen he hatl 
 remainder 
 id the good 
 T a virtuoT s 
 leir strange 
 sly engaged 
 ays that he 
 the work 
 
 jaged in the 
 e labours of 
 e tlie city, 
 tion of the 
 tl, and was 
 
 nuule a Councillor of State by the Duke of Anhalt 
 ICoethen, and enjoyed an immunity from the monopoly 
 -of the apothecaries. He had already commenced his 
 linvestigations into the nature of chronic diseases and 
 Itheir treatment, which he now diligently pursued. The 
 {appearance of his work on this subject in 1828 gave a 
 *l'resh impetus to the extension of his doctrine, and pro- 
 •voked a new storm of hostility. Here, as always, his 
 jfacts and experience are invaluable, whatever may be 
 ^thought of his theory. He maintains that chronic dis- 
 |eases result from one or other of three miasms, psoruy 
 ^syphilis, and sycosis ; and he affirms that there are reme- 
 klies in the Materia Medica, cjipable of eradicating these 
 Itaints, in accordance with the homocopatliic law. Thus 
 4he had anti-psoric, anti-syphilitic, and anti-si^cotic reme- 
 idies. Certain it is, that many chronic diseases, incurable 
 ■|by the means in ordinary use, are curable by those 
 jremedies. We believe his theory to be correct, to a 
 ^certain extent, though far from being a complete cxpo- 
 Ssitlon of the etiology of chronic diseases. Whether this 
 theory of Hahnemann's be right or not, the facts remain 
 }ihc same. 
 
 I Though the storm of hostility raged against him, 
 |Halinemann enjoyed a peaceful residence at Coethen for 
 |iiftecn years : he took no notice of his assailants, and 
 .left the arbitr^.ment of his cause to time and posterity. 
 Disciples, worthy of him, gathered round hlra : his doc- 
 ftrines began to spread through Europe ; and from the 
 |loop-hole of his quiet retreat the medical philosopher 
 -jooked out patiently, but hopefully, on the struggle that 
 |was going on between his advocates and his adversaries. 
 ^Though a widower, he had affectionate children, who 
 Appreciated him as a sage, while they loved him as a man. 
 |EIe was as scrupulously attentive to the poor as to the 
 3rich. We quote, as belonging to his time, the testimony 
 pi Peschier of Geneva : — 
 
 4 " Hahnemann records with great precision the totality 
 jpf symptoms on entire groups of sufferings of the patient, 
 inclusive of all constitutional ailments, previously mani- 
 
 E 
 
34 
 
 HAHNEMANN, AND THE SOURCE3 OF 
 
 liaanj 
 
 |that 
 Ito ha 
 
 
 ft hat 
 ho io 
 [that 
 |1 lea 
 ijalso 8 
 |fbrt 
 |6o fa 
 !|remai 
 IVicfor 
 |to his 
 
 feisted in his own person, or of any hereditary taints 
 characteristic of his progenitors. On the completion ot 
 his record, the symptoms of the disease are most carefully 
 arranged, to correspond with the indications of the drug 
 he deems most appropriate to the case ; but in reaching 
 this conclusion, he neither confides in his memory, nor 
 relies solely upon his long experience, but has constantly 
 before him the Materia Medica and Ruckerfs Repertory, 
 from which he culls every remedy the emergency of the 
 disease demands. As he pursues this course towards 
 every patient, Ave can readily conceive how completely and 
 incessantly his time must be occupied by the history of 
 his consultations. It is not, therefore, by hap-hazard, or 
 by routine that Hahnemann treats the sick ; but, guided l^yho 
 by a pure conscience, and exercising a profound reflcc- j^nclo 
 tion, this medical philosopher not only expects himself to |iast 
 accomplish cures, but, if possible, to perfect the science |^f ^ o 
 of homoeopathy, by keeping up a course of continual 
 observations on the action of remedies, whether ancient 
 or recent, which are daily essayed in the crucible of 
 experience." 
 
 Compare this method of proceeding with the veni vidi 
 (but too often non vidi) Avay of routine practitioners ; the 
 tongue looked at, the pulse felt, half-a-dozen questions 
 asked, and away. The clinical accuracy of Hippocrates 
 and Sydenham, and the minute investigations of Halme- 
 mann, cannot be too much valued. 
 
 Hahnemann's second marriage to a French lady, in his 
 eightieth year, led to his final settlement in Paris, which | their 
 thus became the centre of the homoeopathic reform, the I medic 
 light of the truth having radiated in many lines to tlie I in clo 
 periphery of the civilized world. Though he sought |remai 
 retirement, he was speedily found out, and was for several | both 
 years engaged in practice. It has been reported that the | cratef 
 last few years of his life were employed in revising his ^ schoo 
 chief works, and in drawing up a summary of his views | of his 
 and his experience. A digest of his cases will prove ii I Luth 
 valuable bequest to his followers. He died at Paris on 
 the 2d of July, 1843. Though he had been ill for 
 
 Iwovei 
 I con so 
 
 I ^ 
 |Hahn 
 
 I'have 
 
 fobloq 
 
 I of for 
 
 I He 
 I; of m( 
 
 cndui 
 
 m ur 
 1 Luth 
 
OF 
 
 HOMCEOPATHIC MATEIUA MEDICA. 
 
 aA 
 
 ditary taints 
 omplelion ot 
 i08t careful!) 
 ! of the drug 
 , in reachinj; 
 memory, nor 
 Fis constantly 
 '^ Repertory, 
 gency of tlu 
 arse towards 
 rapletely and 
 le history of 
 ip-hazard, or 
 
 but, guided 
 found reflcc- 
 its himself to 
 ; the science 
 of continual 
 ther ancient 
 
 crucible of 
 
 the veni vidi 
 tioners ; the 
 sn questions 
 Hippocrates 
 s of Hahnc- 
 
 lady, in his 
 *aris, which 
 reform, the 
 ines to tlic 
 he sought 
 3 for several 
 ted that the 
 'cvising his 
 f his views 
 ill prove a 
 it Paris on 
 een ill for 
 
 aany weeks before, few of those around him anticipated 
 |that iiis demise was near at hand ; but ho himself seemed 
 Ho have been fully aware, some months before his death, 
 |that he was fjist approaching the natural termination of 
 |so long a life, us he observed to one of his friends about 
 |that time, " It is, perhaps, time that I quit this earth, but 
 1 1 leave it all, and always in the hands of my God." He 
 Jjalso said on the same occasion, " My head is full of truth 
 for the good of mankind, and I have no wish to live, but 
 ko far as I can serve my fellow-men." His intellect 
 |remained quite unclouded to the last, and a few moments 
 Ibcfore his death, he uttered some epithet of endearment 
 ito his wife, and pressed the hand of his favourite servant, 
 fwho was supporting him in his arms. The intellect 
 limclouded, and the heax-t warm in the affections to the 
 ?last, are pleasant images to associate with the death-bed 
 of a great and a good man. A natural piety was inter- 
 ^woven with his being : we hope he was cheered with the 
 ^consolations that are only derivable from revelation. 
 We have thus briefly traced the medical life of 
 
 ?!PIahnemann, from its commencement to its close. We 
 
 (I 
 
 I'have seen him, after many difficulties overcome, much 
 
 I obloquy and persecution outlived, and after many reverses 
 
 I of fortune, crowned with signal success — 
 
 :; " And that which should accompany ohl age, 
 
 ■, As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends." 
 
 ! He has been aptly compared with Hippocrates, the father 
 
 lof medicine. The Greek and the Saxon were alike in 
 
 /their resistance to dominant theories, which vitiated 
 
 medical practice ; alike in being medical reformers ; alike 
 
 ^ in close observations of the symptoms of diseases ; equally 
 
 I remarkable for their strict attention to dietetics ; and 
 
 s both were favoured with unusual length of days,(HippD- 
 
 * crates died in his ninety-ninth year,) and left flourisljing 
 
 schools. He may still moi'e aptly be compared with one 
 
 of his own country, but of a different profession — Martin 
 
 ',: Ijuther. They were alike in hardihood and powers of 
 
 : endurance and resistance ; in love of truth and intellect ; 
 
 : in untamed will, and untiring energy. What Martin 
 
 ' Luther effected in theology, Hahnemann did in medicine. 
 
36 
 
 HAHNEMANN, AND THE SOURCES, ETC. 
 
 The hierarchy of old authorities, only vcnemblc because 
 of their assumed right to dictate to men's consciences and 
 understandings, was unceremoniously toppled down by 
 both ; the stare super vias antiquas was the rule of neither. 
 Both were interpreters of truth ; both, after having stated 
 the truth, and opened out new views to meuj albeit their 
 hatred to dogmatism in others, had a tendency to dog- 
 matise themselves ; but each loved liberty, and achieved 
 it for themselves and their folloAvers. Luther's tway 
 in the realms of thought continues — and so will Hahne- 
 mann's. Both were trained up in trammels ; both 
 burst them, and cast them aside, with Titanic force. 
 Each was a Promotheus in his way — ^but Promotheus 
 unbound, and scattering blessings on the human family 
 which "e had loved so well, and for which he had suffered 
 so mucli. We trust both have the true reward : — 
 
 ON 
 
 % vioi 
 
 Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, 
 
 Nor in the glittering foil 
 
 Set off to the world, nor in broad rumours lies ; 
 
 But lives and spreads aloft by those pure Eyes 
 
 And perfect witness of the all-judging One ; 
 
 As he pronounces lastly on each deed 
 
 Of so much fame in heaven expect the meed." 
 
ETC. 
 
 •able because 
 iscienccs and 
 ed down by 
 lie of neither, 
 baving stated 
 ij albeit their 
 sncy to dog- 
 and achieved 
 ither's fc'way 
 will Hahne- 
 imels ; both 
 itanic force. 
 Promotheus 
 iman family 
 had suiFered 
 ard : — 
 
 lies ; 
 lyes 
 5 
 
 d." 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE PROVING OF MEDICINES ON THE HEALTHY BODY. 
 BY DR. DRY8UALE, I.lVERPOOl,. 
 
 The proving of medicines, i. e., the practice of ascer- 
 taining the action of medicines by experiment on the 
 healthy body, may be justly considered as having origi- 
 nated with Hahnemann ; for although Haller had pre- 
 viously recommended it, on the obvious princii)le, that it 
 is desirable to be acquainted with the properties of the 
 medicines we employ, and Alexander had even made a 
 few isolated and imperfect experiments on his own person, 
 there was still wanting a definite therapeutic principle, 
 to give the practice such value in the estimation of 
 medical men in general, as would induce them to act on 
 Haller's recommendation. This connecting link was 
 afforded by Hahnemann's discovery of the law similia 
 similibus. 
 
 The proving of medicines, therefore, was the first 
 offspring of Hahnemann's discovery, and a necessary 
 preliminary to the construction of a therapeutic system. 
 For the same reasons, unless it be continually carried on. 
 Homoeopathy must remain stationary ; in other words, 
 an increasing knowledge of the specific action of medicine 
 is a necessary condHion of the advancement of thera- 
 peutics. 
 
 Hahnemann himself set a noble example in this 
 respect to his medical brethren, for, not satisfied with 
 pointing out the proper paths to be pursued, he led the 
 way, by instituting a series of experiments on his own 
 person and many of his friends, with the view of ascer- 
 taining, on incontrovertible grounds, the physiologic{);l 
 action of the different articles of the Materia Medica. 
 These experiments, continued during upwards of thirty- 
 years, are still the most satisfactory on record, and must 
 
38 
 
 ON THK PKOVINC; OF MEDICINKR 
 
 ever leiuiiin a 8i)lendul monuniciit of the untiring zeal nntl 
 powers of })atient investigation, which distinguished the 
 founder of tlic lioinocopathic method. It is the duty of 
 all medical men to contribute tlieir share to this im[)ortant 
 work, and, in doing so, it must not be forgotten, that a 
 nioru direct advantage will accrue to them from the 
 personal knowledge they will thereby acquire of the 
 minuter shades of the specific action of medicinal sub- 
 etanccs. We propose, thei'eforc, in the j)resent paper, to 
 make some remarks on the proj)er mode of conducting 
 investigations of this kind, pointing out the principal 
 circumstances which must be attended to, and the cautions 
 to be observed, in order that the results arrived at may 
 be worthy of such confidence as to entitle them to be 
 applied to practice. We are led to do so, in the hope 
 that our remarks may be serviceable to those who feel 
 inclined to advance the cause of Homoeopathy, by 
 extending our knowledge of the pathogenetic eflPects of 
 medicines. 
 
 Age and Sex. — In investigating the action of medi- 
 cinal substances on the body, allowance must be made 
 for the modifying effects of all those circumstances which 
 influence the action of other morbific causes, for it is in 
 this light that medicines are truly to be regarded. Among 
 these modifying circumstances may be first mentioned, 
 age and sex. The medicine must be tried on individuals 
 of all ages and both sexes, for obvious reasons ; but, 
 besides the difference arising from the distinct nature of 
 the sexual organs, it is found that some medicines suit 
 one sex better than the other, even in complaints which 
 are co' mon to both, e. g., crocus and platina are par- 
 ticularly adapted to the female sex, and nux vomica for 
 the male. The same remark has been made with respect 
 to children and aged individuals, in complaints not con- 
 nected with the sexual functions. 
 
 Temperament. — Individuals of different tempera- 
 ments, also, should be chosen as subjects of experiment, 
 and all differences in the character and intensity of the 
 symptoms observed in each temperament should be care- 
 
 i 
 
ON "iPHE HEALTHY DODY. 
 
 S9 
 
 g zeal and 
 lished tlic 
 e duty of 
 im[)ortant 
 en, that u 
 
 from the 
 ire of the 
 cinal sul)- 
 t paper, to 
 onducting 
 ! principal 
 le cautions 
 ;d at may 
 icm to bo 
 
 the hope 
 : who feel 
 pathy, by 
 
 effects of 
 
 of medi- 
 ; be made 
 ices which 
 }r it is in 
 Among 
 mentioned, 
 ndividuala 
 ons ; but, 
 nature of 
 oines suit 
 its which 
 
 arc par- 
 omica for 
 th respect 
 
 not con- 
 
 tempera- 
 periment, 
 ty of the 
 i be care- 
 
 ; 
 
 fully noted, for it has been found that certain nKidicino* 
 are particularly adapted to certain temperaments, e. g., 
 nux vomica, bryonia, nitric acid, &c., to the nervous, 
 Idlious tctnperamont ; pulsatilla to the lym[)hatic, and so 
 forth. The inHuencc of habit of body is also not to be 
 overlooked. 
 
 Idiosyncrasy. — An important modifying influence ia 
 idiosyncrasy. Idiosyncrasy may be of two kinds, i. e., 
 it may give rise to an action differing altogether in its 
 nature, or differing only in degree from the normal action 
 of the substances. The effect of a substance administered 
 to a particular individual may be altogether peculiar, as 
 in those rare cases where odors, usually disgusting, pro- 
 duce a pleasant impression on the olfactory nerves, or 
 where simply nutritious articles give rise to anomalous 
 affections, or where particular medicines produce an action 
 altogether foreign to their usual symptoms. From such 
 peculiarities as these no useful instniction can be gained ; 
 but, in the majority of instances, idiosyncrasy is nothing 
 more than an increased susceptibility to the normal action 
 of the medicine, as, for example, where the dust of 
 ipecacuanha produces asthma, or a fraction of a grain of 
 mercury produces salivation. These arc merely the 
 normal effects of the substances in question, and their 
 inertness in similar doses in most cases is, as well remarked 
 by Hahnemann, only apparent, for they act, more or less, 
 on all individuals, in the same manner, but the suscepti- 
 bility is only developed in a few in health, to such an 
 extent as to make it perceptible. In disease, however, 
 they act in all cases when homoiopathically indicated, and 
 a diseased state of the system may thus be looked upon 
 as equivalent to an idiosyncrasy in relation to the 
 homoeopathic remedy. But the progress of chemistry has 
 furnished us Avith further confirmation of this opinion. 
 The excessive itching of the body, which has long been 
 observed in some rare cases to follow the exhibition of 
 opium, was generally looked upon as the effect of an 
 idiosyncrasy or peculiarity in the individual, and not to be 
 accounted for by any thing in the medicine itself; but 
 
40 
 
 ON THE PKOVINO OK MKUICINKS 
 
 binco clioiuicul analysis law aliuwn tliu coinpotiito nature 
 of opium, it has been found that one of its constituents, 
 viz., codeine, produces in ahnost all individuals, when 
 given in sufficient dose, a species of febrile nettle-rash, 
 attended with excessive itching over the whole body. 
 The itching occasionally observed to follow the exhibition 
 of opium may, consequently, be considered to have been 
 nothing more than the effect of an unusual susceptibility 
 to the normal action of codeine. Idiosyncrasy is, there- 
 fore, often a valuable adjutant in the i)roving of medicines, 
 as it gives a peculiarly distinct, and, as it were, exagge- 
 rated picture of the specific action of this subsUmce. 
 
 The Puovings must be often IIepeated. — Inde- 
 l»endcntly of the reason already given for multiplying 
 the experiments, it is desirable, for another reason, to 
 repeat the provings on a large number of individuals, 
 for, as slight variations in the different functions are 
 exixjrienccd by every one, even when in the best of 
 health, it is only from their repeated occurrence tha^ wc 
 are satisfied in ascribing many of the common symptoms 
 to the effect of the medicine.* 
 
 In order, therefore, to avoid the admission of accidental 
 symptoms, none should be adopted, unless they have been 
 foimd to be present themselves in several of the provers. 
 By comparing, also, one proving with another, and ascer- 
 taining the degree of constancy with which the different 
 symptoms have appeared, we may discover those most 
 characteristic of the action of the medicine. It is to be 
 remembered, also, that all individuals are not susceptible 
 of all the effects which a medicine is capable of producing, 
 one action appearing in one individual, and another in a 
 second, and S' i, and thus a large number of experiments 
 is required, before we can obtain a complete view of the 
 
 uctu 
 
 lor m 
 
 lany 
 Itheir 
 from 
 l^vere 
 
 * Widnmann, when in the best health, noted down for some time ail 
 his sensations, and was astonished at the number and variety which he 
 experienced ; and, if he had been proving any medicine at the time, these 
 symptoms might have been put down as the effect of the medicine, had 
 the precautions above-mentioned not been attended to. — Hufeland's 
 Journal, November, 1823. 
 
ON THK HEALTHY BODY. 
 
 41 
 
 osito nature 
 3oustUucnts, 
 duals, wlien 
 
 nettlo-ra«h, 
 k\liolo body, 
 ic exhibitiun 
 ;o have been 
 usceptibility 
 ay is, there- 
 )f medicineti, 
 ere, exaggc- 
 bstance. 
 TED. — Inde- 
 multiplying 
 r reason, to 
 
 individuals, 
 unctions are 
 the best of 
 jnce that wc 
 n symptoms 
 
 jf accidental 
 
 ;y have been 
 
 the provers. 
 
 r, and ascer- 
 
 the different 
 
 those most 
 
 It is to be 
 
 susceptible 
 
 f producing, 
 
 mother in a 
 
 3xperiments 
 
 view of the 
 
 some time all 
 riety which he 
 the time, these 
 medicine, had 
 — Hvfeland's 
 
 i action of a medicine, just as a correct idea of the character 
 I of an epidemic can only be obtained by the comparison 
 \ of a large number of cases. 
 
 I FoKM AND ruEPAUATioNS. — The mcdicincs should be 
 I used in the form that is most easily reproduced, as it ia 
 Jcsscntial that a preparation, precisely similar to that 
 I proved, should be always employed. Such specimens 
 ji should therefore only be chosen aa are well characterized, 
 
 iand of kno\vn genuineness and purity. The simplest 
 forms of administration should be adopted. Of fresh 
 ;j»lants the expressed juice mixed with a little spirit of 
 *\vinc may be given ; of dried plants a tincture, powder, 
 *or infusion fresh prepared. Salts should be dissolved, and 
 /gum resins mixed in a large quantity of water just before 
 jtakcn them. Insoluble substances triturated for a length 
 |of time with 5, 10, 50, or 100 parts of milk sugar. 
 ,■ Dose. — As a general rule we must begin with a small 
 adose, and increase it gradually till distinct symptoms 
 fnake their appearance. To obtain a complete knowledge 
 lof the action of a medicine, it is necessary to give it both 
 In large and small doses, but the latter are by far the 
 licst adapted to develope its specific effects ; for very 
 ^any medicines are evacuants in large doses, and produce 
 rfheir own expulsions, thus preventilig their specific action 
 jrom being fully developed ; for example, if mercury 
 |vere always given in purgative doses, one should learn 
 (Veiy little of its other infinitely more characteristic effects. 
 I^jarge doses of some substances produce also a certain 
 ;|iinount of chemical action, which either overpowers, or 
 |it least prevents us from observing distinctly their proper 
 Ipecific dynamic action. The most useful doses are 
 Jfherefore those which are just sufficient to produce distinct 
 ;*ymptoms ; such doses are also the best, as they produce 
 ^hiefly primary symptoms ; while large doses cause many 
 iecondary symptoms, and act so rapidly that the observer 
 18 confused. The dose may be repeated once or many 
 l^mes daily, and for many days in succession ; but in that 
 ^ase it is often difficult to separate the primary from the 
 condary symptoms, and also the course of the symptoms 
 
42 
 
 ON Tin; l'l«»VIN(» OK MEUU INKS 
 
 Ciiimot 1)0 so accunitcly ol)sci've(.l. It i.s thcrcfuri! often 
 useful to ^ive a siii<^l(! pivlly liir;:;(; dose, luul watch its 
 eflocts. TliiH plan is ciiicfly iiscCiii with sojiio voj^ctahk' 
 iiu'diciiu's whose splieri' of actiim is small, and of whicli 
 the first dose siMnetinies exhausts, for a time, tlu; su8- 
 ccptiliility of the system to the action of the substance. 
 
 Diet. — The diet and re;^iinen of the provcr nui«t be 
 regulated with f^rcat care. INIoderation in every thin;;-, 
 and abstinence from every thing tending to exercise any 
 medicinal or distra(!tlng influence are necessary. All 
 fermented and spirituous liquors, cofh'c and spices of 
 every des('ri[)tion, all green vegetables and roots, with 
 the exception of green peas, kidney beans, carrots 
 turnips, cauliflower, and ])otatocs ; and even any one of 
 these, should it disagree in the most trifling manner with 
 the stomach, nuist be avoided <luring flu; proving. Also 
 all over exertion of the mind or body, deep study, stroni;' 
 mental emotion, and violent i)assion, unfit the individujii 
 for these experiments. 
 
 D111F.CTIONS Foii Individual Pkovkrs. — JOach one 
 must write down his name, and age, and description ot 
 his pcrso.., indicating the temperament, com[)lexion, colour 
 of the hair and eycs^ stature and habit of l)ody, &c, 
 Anonymous observations shoidd l)e rejected, except in 
 the case of females and non-intelligent provers ; but, in 
 these instances, the person under whose direction the 
 experiments arc conducted is to be held responsible for 
 their accuracy. 
 
 SiGNALizATioN OF Proven Peksons. — Thcsc precau- 
 tions may seem unnecessary, but unfbrtiniately they an 
 not so ; for, incredible as it may appear, individuals have 
 actually been found base enough to sport with the live^ 
 of their fellow creatures, by the publication of false 
 provings for the sake of gains.* 
 
 * A miscreant called Fickel, published under feiirned names (Heyne and 
 Ilofbauer) two books of fictions provings. From their internal evidence 
 alone Drs. Trinks and Ilelbiij of Dresden, shewed that these were false, 
 and that both publications were the work of the same individual. They 
 were at length traced to Fickel, who was atthesame time detected in other 
 knavish practices, and was forced to fly from Ijcipzig, to avoid imprison- 
 ment. 
 
 
 ( 
 
 tiho 
 
 ,Vg 
 
 sum 
 
 C.NC 
 
 til. 
 tiiii 
 ace I 
 his 
 jus I 
 disc 
 mus 
 the 
 
 Wl'il 
 
 Iron 
 
 heal 
 
 org! I 
 
 enui 
 
 the 
 
 ])ro\ 
 
 won 
 
 sym 
 
 intei 
 
 is to 
 
 I] 
 tioni 
 who 
 alrcf 
 then 
 cura 
 
 P 
 mos 
 tion 
 funii 
 any 
 of q 
 sym 
 acti( 
 J'esu 
 
<»N THK IIKALTIIY 'M)I>Y. 
 
 43 
 
 orofore often 
 iiul wutt'h \l< 
 iiic vo<^('tiible 
 iiiid of wli'n.'li 
 
 IIIC, tll(! .sus- 
 
 j subrttiuice. 
 
 )vcr inuKt be 
 cvcrv tliinjj, 
 exercise any 
 
 .'es.'^iiiy. All 
 nd Hpices of 
 I roots, with 
 iuis, Ciirrot?' 
 u iiny one of 
 iiiiinncr with 
 uvinp;. Also 
 study, strouLi; 
 he individual 
 
 , — Each one 
 escri[)tion of 
 oxion, colour 
 uf body, ike. 
 ed, except in 
 vevs ; but, in 
 Llirection the 
 sponsible for 
 
 'hcsc [)rccau- 
 tcly they arc 
 ividuals have 
 t^ith the lives 
 ;ion of fali^c 
 
 kines (Heyneand 
 iiteninl evidence 
 hese were false, 
 dividual. They 
 detected in otiicr 
 avoid imprisoti- 
 
 ()ii>i;kvi; iii.msklf ukfoui: muiiNMNci — Tlu* provcr 
 ^lioithl clioose a ])eriod when lie la in the best iiealtli, and 
 rcifulate iiis diet according to llie abovi! directions, at the 
 same time avoidlni^ all (pauses of unsual mental and bodily 
 excitement. As every one, however, is liable, even in 
 tli(! best state of liealtb, to slirrht variation in the S(!nsa- 
 tioiis and I'unclions, ciieli j)rover should obsorvi; hintsiilf 
 accurately lor u week or tin days, i)ifore commcncinj.; 
 his experiiuents, and should write <lo\vnall his sensations 
 just as if he were taking;- the medicine, llavin*; thus 
 discovered what sym[)loms lu; is liable to naturally; he 
 must afterwards carefullv avoid settinii- ihcm down anion;' 
 the cfliicts of the mcdi(,'iiie. IMost persons have also some 
 1 weak point in their constitution, which is Hal>le to sutti'r 
 ^ I'l'oni any (!ause that in any way deranges the {^(Uieral 
 health, whether that cause nv.t specifically or not on the 
 origan in question. The j)rover must of course avoid 
 enumerating these symptoms also among the cfteets of 
 the medicine. Should these occur, in the course of the 
 proving, such a deviation from the diet or regimen, as 
 wimld throw d(mbt on the results, the subsequent 
 symptoms must bo included within l)rackets ; and if any 
 interruption of greater moment shouhl arise, the proving 
 is to be altog(^ther sus})endcd for a time. 
 
 Having duly attended to all these preliminary pnscau- 
 tions, the prover should bcg-n to take the medicine, 
 whose action he wishes to investigate, in any of the doses 
 already mentioned ; and when sym])toms begin to shew 
 themselves distinctly, he should describe them as ac- 
 curately as possible, observing the following cautions : — 
 
 Primary and Secondary Symptoms. — One of Lhe 
 most im})ortant things to be kept in view is the distinc- 
 tion of symptoms into primary and secondary ; for it is 
 familiar to all, that any unusual action or excitement of 
 any part is invari' bly followed by a corresponding degree 
 of quite the opposite state, and thev(*fore it is the primary 
 symptoms alone that are valuable, as shewing the specific 
 action of the substance ; the secondary being merely the 
 result of the previous excited action of the organism. For 
 
44 
 
 ON TUB PnOVINO OK MEDICINEi 
 
 cxiunplo, if u inecllcMic, by iU iinmcdiato and direct 
 opemtiou, excite purgin*;, tliis ih ncccaaarily followed by 
 a stttte of constiimtion for n lonpfer or nhortcr period, as 
 n mere consequence of the cxhauMtion which follows the 
 primarily excited action, and the constipation is therefore 
 not, in any way, a characteristic effect of the substance 
 which caused the purging. 
 
 The secondary action should, therefore, either not be 
 written down at all, or if written (which it sometimes 
 may be, as it may contain something expressive of the 
 precise character of the primary symptom), it should 
 only bo placed after the primary, and never as an inde- 
 pendent symptom. 
 
 In the proving of Chamomllla for instance, constipation 
 is mentioned several times, but I lahncmann * expressly 
 states, that on all these occasions, it is merely the 
 secondary effect of previous diarrhoea, and accordingly 
 it is never found useful in constipation, but is specific in 
 several forms of diarrhoea. This is a point also which 
 only the provcr himself can rightly distinguish; for we find 
 the exhibition of the medicine followed by two opposite 
 classes of symptoms, the one being the true specific 
 action of the medicine, while the other is of no value 
 at all. If these are then all simply written down, a 
 confusion arises which no one afterwards can unravel, 
 and the proving is consequently rendered worse than 
 useless. 
 
 Alternative Symptoms. — It is found that some 
 medicines proc' '^ at different times symptoms which 
 arc quite opr their character, both of which, how- 
 
 ever, are ^nary, not being the secondary results 
 
 of any >a8 excitement. These can easily be dis- 
 
 tinguisheu by the prover, who must carefully avoid 
 confounding them, with the really secondary symptoms. 
 
 Course of Symptoms. — It is to be remembered that 
 the object of proving is to ascertain, not so much the 
 mere symptoms which follow the administration of a 
 
 \ enab 
 
 tion ; 
 
 ' fever 
 
 comj 
 
 l8( 
 
 lost g 
 arise 
 are ( 
 i powc 
 Dj 
 and 
 sensfl 
 
 4 
 
 *Reine Arzneimittellehre, toI. 3. Art. Chamomilla, symp. 180, 183. 
 
 5 whic 
 I then 
 '\ diffei 
 t motk 
 * the c 
 ■] circu 
 - may 
 ;; of th 
 :t A 
 
 i *^ '" 
 
 I cxan 
 
ON TlIU IIUALTIIY IIODY. 
 
 45 
 
 unci direct 
 followed by 
 cr period, as 
 1 follows the 
 1 ia thercforo 
 he Hubstancc 
 
 Mthcr not be 
 it Homctiincs 
 jssive of the 
 i), it should 
 r as an inde- 
 
 constipation 
 
 1 * expressly 
 
 merely the 
 
 accordingly 
 
 is specific in 
 
 t also which 
 
 i; for we find 
 
 W'o opposite 
 
 ;rue specific 
 
 of no value 
 
 ten down, a 
 
 an unravel, 
 
 worse than 
 
 that some 
 toms which 
 which, how- 
 dary results 
 isily be dis- 
 fully avoid 
 ■ symptoms, 
 nbered that 
 much the 
 ration of a 
 
 np. 180, 183. 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 "t 
 
 raedicino, us the pathological state on which ihoy ilc|)end ; 
 and therefore it is not Hiitficieiit to note down the synip- 
 tonifl in a detached and isolated form, but their course and 
 connection nnist also be carefully observed and accurately 
 dcscribctl. Instances will no doubt occur to the reader, 
 in which the course of the symptoms furnishes one of 
 the best means of diagnosis between different morbid 
 affections of similar character. 
 
 Connection of Symptoms. — Attention to the con- 
 nection of the symptoms is still more important, iw 
 leading more directly to a knowledge of the i)recisc seat 
 and nature of the pathological change. For examph;, 
 pains in the lumber region, as an isolated symplom, is 
 of little diagnostic value; if it occur, however, in con- 
 nection with vomiting, it would lead us to suspect the 
 presence of some affection of the kidney ; yet without 
 enabling us to determine the precise nature of the affec- 
 tion ; but if to these two symptoms be superadded general 
 fever and ischuria, then the diagnosis of nephritis becomes 
 complete. 
 
 Isolated Symptoms. — But the fact must not be 
 lost sight of, that individual symptoms will frequently 
 arise in the course of the provings ; and as these symptoms 
 arc often of great value, as indicating the therapeutic 
 powers of the substance, they must be carefully registered. 
 
 Description of Symptoms. — The greatest minuteness 
 and accuracy must be observed; the character of the 
 sensation should be indicated as accurately as possible, 
 which is often best done by some familiar comparison ; 
 then should be stated how the symptom is affected by 
 different circumstances, such as positions of the body, 
 motion or rest, eating or fasting, day or night, in a room or 
 the open air, state of the loeather, 8fc. ; and in short, no 
 circumstance, however trifling, must be omitted, which 
 may in any way tend to indicate the characteristic action 
 of the medicine. 
 
 A few special examples may probably be the best way 
 to illustrate the minuteness with which it is necessary to 
 examine and describe the symptoms. 
 
 i 
 
46 
 
 ON TIIK TROVINO OF MEDICINES 
 
 Head. — To put down siinj)ly headiiclic as a syniptoiii 
 of a medicine, would give little inlonuation, an to it- 
 Hpocific action, as that in one of no general occurrence. 
 The })ain )nust be described as accurately as possible, and 
 this oftei> can be best done, by a comparison with soiiu 
 familiar sensation. It must be stated, for instance, If it 
 is shootiru;, tearhuj, tlirohhiur/, ^u:., or crcepliK/, buzzliKj, 
 vihrutliKj, ^c, or W jtrrssurc, iclicf her from within or witii- 
 ouf, or downwards ; or if it is like a chord round the head, 
 or a sensation of weight or lirjlitness, fulness or emptiness, 
 heat or cold, &;c. Also state accurately the part of the 
 liead affecLed ; or if it varies, state the course and direc- 
 tion of the piP At the same time state any symptom- 
 that accompany the headache ; this is of great importance, 
 as the accessory syin[)toms are often the best means ut 
 distinguishing the character of the aif'ectlon ; amonif 
 these arc usually affections of the eyes, nausea, variation 
 of the coiuitenance, shining or heat, &c. In short, any 
 sympathetic sym[)tom, however trifling, that may tend 
 to mark the character of the primary affection, should be 
 noted. The state of the mind that attends each variety 
 of headache, is als to be accurately noted. Also note 
 the circumstances in \vhich the pain is aggravated oi 
 ameliorated, such as lying down or walking about, time 
 of day, eating, &c. 
 
 As an example, we may take symptom G7, of Hahne- 
 mann's proving of Rhus toxicodendron.* " On awakenintj 
 from sleep, immediately on opening the eyes, he is seized 
 with violent headache, at first in the forehead behind tlio 
 eyes, as if the l)rains were torn, like that after intoxication 
 from brandy, increased by moving the eyes ; then in the 
 occiput, like a bruise of the cerebellum." 
 
 OrNux vomica,t 84, "•Headache, beginning some hour.- 
 before dinner, increased after eating ; then violent shoot- 
 ing pains in the left temple, with nausea and very acrid 
 vomiting, all which symptoms disappeared on lying down 
 iu the evening." 
 
 * Rcinc Ai'zncimittellelire, vol. 2. Jourdan's translation, torn. 3. 
 
 t Vol. I. 
 
.',' 
 
 ON TlIK IlKALTIIY KODY. 
 
 47 
 
 ^ a syinptoiii 
 un, 08 to it,< 
 i occurrence!, 
 possible, and 
 II with soiiu 
 i.stunce, If it 
 liu/, buzzint/, 
 thin or icitii- 
 iind the head, 
 or emptiness, 
 part of the 
 ic and dlrcc- 
 ly symptom- 
 t, Importance. 
 test means ut 
 ion ; among 
 ica, variation 
 [u short, any 
 it may tend 
 on, should be 
 each variet} 
 Also note 
 jQ-ravated oi' 
 J about, time 
 
 7, of Ilahnc- 
 11 aAvakeninii 
 s, he is seized 
 id l)ehind the 
 intoxication 
 then in the 
 
 o; some houi> 
 aolent shoot- 
 )d very acrid 
 1 lying down 
 
 Or Heliadoiuia,* symptom 1)G. " Pain close above the 
 orbits, with the feclinL!; as if the brains were pressed out, 
 prcventinii; the eyes being opened, and forcinp- the patient 
 to lie down, with strong contraction of the pupils and 
 ft'cble voice." 
 
 As another example, "we may take the urinary organs, 
 describe the state of the urine according to («), its physi- 
 cal and chemical characters, specific gravity, coloiu', 
 consistence, smell, acid or alkaline secretions, whether 
 all)nminous, &e. 
 
 ( i) Any sediment should be described, whether flocculcnt, 
 crystalline, what colour, &c. Also its nppearance under 
 the microscope, and chemical analysis, or at least the 
 action of a few of the connnon re-ay;ents. 
 
 (c) Its discliarge, Avhether frequent or seldom, copious 
 or scanty, difficult or painful, &c. 
 
 (d) The accompanying symptoms, belbre the discharge, 
 tluring and after it. Any pains or diseased sensations in 
 the lu'cthra, bladder, or other organs connected with the 
 functions. 
 
 As another illustration, we may take coughs. Their 
 
 character should be accurately describ* d, Avhether deep, 
 
 tickling, hollow, short, hard, spasmodic, dry, or moist, 
 
 &c. The expectoration should be minutely described, 
 
 whether easy or difficult, copious or scanty, mucous, 
 
 purulent, frothy, bloody, (if pure blood, ^vhether bright or 
 
 dark,) according to the colour, taste, and smell; and it 
 
 should also be examined with the micrc scope, and a few 
 
 simple chemical tests. It should also b(; stated what the 
 
 i cough is more immediately excited by, such as itchy, 
 
 i tickly, dryness, oppression, &c., in the larynx, trachea, or 
 
 I chest ; also the circumstances that bring on, or aggravate, 
 
 I or ameliorate the cous2;h. And not uc"jlect to mention 
 
 [minutely the sympathetic or accompanying symptoms, 
 
 j which arc very often the only means of obtaining a 
 
 ' characteristic of the substance ; such as pains (accurately 
 
 tioii, totn. 3. 
 
 * Reine Arzneimittellehre, vol. 2. Jourdau's tranilation, torn. 3. 
 
.., ^-..r-m 
 
 48 
 
 ON THE PROVINQ OF MEDICINES 
 
 ^> I 
 
 described) in the chest, head, or abdomen, dyspnoea, 
 palpitation, nausea, eructation, vomiting, epistaxis, pains 
 in the eyes, ears, &c. 
 
 Examples from Hahnemann's Materia Medica. — "Dry 
 cough during the night, which goes off on sitting up, but 
 returns on lying down again." Pulsat. sympt. 617. 
 
 " Dry cough, as if coming from the stomach, preceded 
 by a creeping and tickling at the epigastrium." Bryonia, 
 symptoms, 398. 
 
 " Tickling cough from irritation at the bifurcation of 
 the bronchial from the first loose, with nausea, sweetish 
 tasted, greenish expectoration, worse in the evening before 
 going to bed ; attended with hoarse voice and rawness of 
 the trachea after each cough." Stannum symptom, 364. 
 
 It is unnecessary to multiply examples, as these may 
 be deemed sufficient. I may therefore say, that the same 
 degree of minuteness is to be extended to the observation 
 of all the organs and functions of the system. The state 
 of the mind and temper arc also to be carefully observed 
 and noted. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In conclusion it must be observed, that, as the object 
 of proving is to obtain as perfect a knowledge as possible 
 of the artificial diseased states produced by the medicinal 
 substance, all the care, skill, and knowledge that are re- 
 quired for the diagnosis of natural diseases, are required 
 equally for investigations of this kind. Perhaps these 
 qualities are even more essential in this case, for we 
 have not, in the great majority of instances the aid which 
 pathological anatomy affords. The first step is to give 
 a perfectly faithful account of all the phenomena, quite 
 unbiassed by any theoretical views or speculations on the 
 part of the observer. The strong tendency to theorize 
 existing in the human mind, may render this task^diffi- 
 cult; but it is absolutely necessary to lay aside any 
 peculiar notions we may entertain, so that our knowledge 
 may be made useful only in directing our attention to 
 all the circumstances which might indicate the exact 
 
 i 
 
ON THE HEALTHY BODY. 
 
 49 
 
 , dyspnoea, 
 itaxis, pains 
 
 ica. — "Dry 
 ting up, but 
 3t. 617. 
 !h, preceded 
 " Bryonia, 
 
 furcation of 
 ea, sweetish 
 ening before 
 i rawness of 
 nptom, 364. 
 
 these may 
 lat tlie same 
 
 observation 
 . The state 
 Uy observed 
 
 .3 the object 
 
 as possible 
 
 le medicinal 
 
 that are re- 
 
 ire required 
 
 irhaps these 
 
 ise, for we 
 
 le aid which 
 
 p is to give 
 
 mena, quite 
 
 .tions on the 
 
 to theorize 
 
 3 task^diffi- 
 
 aside any 
 
 knowledge 
 
 ttention to 
 
 the exact 
 
 iiiiturc of the affection, carefully abstaining, however, 
 from drawing any deductions ; ibr by this introduction 
 of hypothetical reasoning, we should at once take away 
 tlic })uroly positive character of the observations. 
 
 The works of Hippocrates contain a d(.scription of 
 noavly all the dl.-eases that arc at present known, and 
 some of his descriptions are as characteristic as any to 
 be found in the works of modern authors, just because 
 he was content to be a faithfid observer of nature. His 
 observations arc consequently as fresh and correct as if 
 made yesterday ; but when he introduces any pathologi- 
 cal views, or attempts to theorize, his remarks bear the 
 stamp of the rudeness and ignorance of his times, in 
 like manner Ilahnemami, who may be regarded as oc- 
 cupying the same position with respect to the pathogenetic 
 effects of medicines, that Hippocrates does with regard to 
 diseases, has contented himself with giving pure observa- 
 tions of facts, Avithout ever attempting to theorize upon 
 them ; using his physiological and pathological knowledge 
 merely as a guide to what it might be useful to note. 
 His ijroving consequently contains the germs of all that 
 is DOW known of the specific effects of medicine, and they 
 are as fresh as if made yesterday, being remarkable for 
 containing nothing at all of the theories of the day, most 
 of which indeed are since exploded. A purely positive 
 observation is for all time, and possesses the same value 
 I after the lapse of centuries as it does at the momcyit when 
 • first made ; but any theoretical view, however scientific, 
 i or in accordance wdtli the state of knowledge of the day, 
 I nmst of necessity be inqierfect, and only of temporary 
 •t value. The prover should therefore confine himself 
 i entirely to the observation of facts, and leave it to others 
 I to draw deductions ; or if he does draw deductions, the 
 rt fact and the reasoning should be kept quite separate and 
 V distinct. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ALLOPATHIC PRACTICE. 
 
 Hahnemann has applied the name Allopathy to the 
 common practice. The means instituted for the restora- 
 tion of health are indirect^ often injurious. The manner of 
 treatment depends upon a priori made up theory, which 
 leads to the erroneous view the practitioner often takes of 
 the disease. He is guided in the application of medicine? 
 hy guess oxid chance, and when the patient recovers, "he 
 may well say, he had but a happy escape." We will 
 illustrate it by the following medical histories, which wc 
 have extracted from some of the most eminent Allopathic 
 writers of the day : — 
 
 * " Mrs. Darley, a young married lady, in the fourth 
 month of pregnancy, habitually costive. The preseni 
 
 ■ attack came on after much fatigue in travelling ; and 
 she is stated to have experienced a similar one formerly. 
 " On the 7th of October, she complained of pain ot 
 the head, and leeches were applied to the temples. On 
 the 8th the pain of the head was more violent, and 
 attended with much throbbing of the temples ; and tc 
 these symptoms, pain of the right side, under the breast, 
 a sense of tightness across the chest, and hurry in breath- 
 ing were superadded. Twelve ounces of blood were drawn 
 and an efficient aperient medicine was given ; and on tht 
 9th and 10th she was much better, and a saline mediciiit 
 was prescribed. On the 11 th she was again taken worse 
 after imprudently sitting up (?) ; the beating of th( 
 temples, tightness across the chest, and difficulty ii; 
 breathing returned, unattended by cough. Sixteei 
 ounces of blood were taken from the arm, with grea; 
 relief (I) and the aperient medicine was repeated; tht 
 patient was relieved, and continued better on the 12tli 
 
 * Practical Obsenrations and Suggestions in Medicine, by Marshal 
 Hall, M.D., &c., &c., London, 1845. 
 
 an 
 
 wit! 
 
 land 
 
 tion 
 
 and 
 
 witl 
 
 scons 
 
 *aper 
 
 .agai; 
 
 ' now, 
 
 Eigl 
 
 obtai 
 
 ten ( 
 
 njMjri 
 
 •eight 
 
 Ijouri 
 
 was { 
 
 f?till 1 
 
ALLOPATHIC PllACTICE. 
 
 51 
 
 opathy to the 
 3r the rcstora- 
 rhe manner of 
 theory, whicli 
 often takes ot 
 I of medicines 
 recovers, "he 
 e." We will 
 ies, which we 
 jnt AUopatliic 
 
 in the fourtli 
 The present 
 avelling; and 
 one formerly, 
 ed of pain ot 
 temples. Or 
 ! violent, and 
 nples ; and to 
 ler the breast, 
 irry in breath- 
 )d were drawn 
 m; and on the 
 aline mediciiK 
 Q taken worse, 
 eating of tlw 
 [ difficulty it 
 igh. Sixteet 
 m, with grea; 
 repeated; tlit 
 r on the 12tli 
 
 icine, by Marshal 
 
 In the night of the 13th, the medical attendant received 
 an urgent message to visit his patient, and found her 
 with severe pain and beating of the head, great tightness 
 ! and pain across the chest, and now with violent palpita- 
 tion of the heart. Twelve ounces of blood were taken, 
 iand calomel and other aperient medicines were given, 
 I with considerable relief (!) On the 14th a physician was 
 ; consulted, who prescribed the pill, hydrarg, with an 
 I aperient draught. In the night, the apothecary was 
 J again sent for, all the symptoms having returned ; and 
 I now, for the first time, with the addition of a slight cough. 
 I Eight ounces of blood being drawn, great relief! was 
 fobtained. On the 15th the physician was again sent for ; 
 |tcn ounces of blood were taken, with great relief (!) an 
 inperient, and a mixture for the cough prescribed, with 
 Icight drops of the tinctura digitalis purpurea} every four 
 |hours. In the night of the 16th the medical attendant 
 |was again sent for ; all the symptoms had returned in a 
 istill more aggravated form ; the pain of the head, tight- 
 ess across the chest, palpitation, and cough being 
 xtremely severe. Eight ounces of blood were drawn, 
 [without relief; the head was shaved, a cold lotion applied, 
 nd a blister ordered for the back of the neck." 
 "On the 19th I saw the patient, for the first time, 
 here were much pain and throbbing of the liead, which 
 fclt benumbed and heavy as if she could not raise it from 
 |the pillow; there had been no sleep, the pupils were 
 lExtremcly small, with intolerance of noise and disturban- o 
 iof any kind ; there were palpitation of the heart, and 
 pometimes faintness, and a feeling of sinking or dying ; 
 f here were a sense of tightness across the chest, oppres- 
 sion in the breathing, and a peculiar tracheal or laryngeal 
 jjough ; some pain in the region of the uterus (!) increased 
 ^j pressure, but no vaginal discharge ; the countenance 
 |vas usually pale, but sometimes flushed, the tongue 
 i^xtremely loaded, and even black at the back part. The 
 lilvine evacuations, on giving purgative medicine, were 
 |till at first, dark coloured, offensive, and scybalous ; and 
 ifterwurds, offensive and like yeast; the pulse was 120. 
 
.52 
 
 ALLOPATHIC PRACTrCE. 
 
 The Depicting plan already fully adopted and repeated,, 
 had proved ineffectual in affording relief ; the ])urgatives 
 hitherto given Avere, I believe, inetficicnt. The plan I 
 proposed was to give efficient j)urgative.s ; to restrain 
 their operation by draughts with tijictura opii and 
 spiritus ammonia ai^omaticus, to procure sleep Ijy anodyne 
 enemata." 
 
 ^V^e are told by Dr. Marshall Hall, that the patient 
 recovered under this treatment, and that " the r""ovcry 
 was uniformly progressive, and shoi'tly afterwards she bore 
 a long journey home without any ill consequence." (?) 
 
 We easily perceive by the manner of treatment, the view 
 the practitioner takes of the disease. lie calls it inflam- 
 mation "diagnosis,^'' and "revulsives," as blood-letting and 
 purging, therajna, he considers the appro})riate remedies. 
 His treatment is, with some modification, continually the 
 same, because his theory teaches him, that inflammation 
 must yield to bleeding, still in spite of his good theory 
 and prjictice, the patient Avas almost dying when Dr. INIar- 
 shall Hall was called in, who calms the nervous irritaliUty 
 at last (empirically) by anodynes. We discredit, how- 
 ever, the efficacy of a few anodynes in diseases of this 
 character, and we have not the least doubt, that the patient 
 remained in a weak state of health after siich a severe treat- 
 ment for some time, and proljably relapsed again into her 
 former malady. Noav Homocopatliy " tcitliout a remedy," as 
 Dr. Marshall Hall calls the Homoeopathic practice, Avould 
 have checked the progress of the disease, Avitli a fcAv doses 
 of mix vomica, belladonna, &c., in the very beginning, Avith- 
 out bleeding and purging, and Avithout endangering the 
 .^^fe of the patient ; but this is not scientific, not rational 
 enough ! 
 
 Case 5. — (Copied from the same Avork, page 297). 
 "Mr. T. H., aged 19, complained on Sunday evening, 
 September the 29th, of pain shooting through the region 
 of the stomach to the back, recurring at intervals ; he 
 took some ginger tea, was relieved, Avent to bed ; rose 
 in the morning, looking pale but expressing himself 
 better, Avent into the counting house, and ate his dinner 
 
 -■■* 
 
 I 
 
ALLOPATHIC PRACTKR. 
 
 53 
 
 rcpeatc'dj 
 )urfrativcs 
 he plan I 
 restrain 
 opli and 
 Y anodyne 
 
 10 patient 
 
 r""overv 
 
 s slie bore 
 
 icc'^'O 
 ;, tliG view 
 it infiani- 
 (tting and 
 remedies, 
 liually the 
 nuniation 
 d theory 
 Dr. Mar- 
 
 rrii 
 (dit, Iiow- 
 is of this 
 ic patient 
 ere treat- 
 1 into her 
 
 ic, would 
 few doses 
 ng;, with- 
 3rino- the 
 t rational 
 
 gc 297). 
 evening, 
 le region 
 vals ; he 
 sd ; rose 
 himself 
 s dinner 
 
 of cold roast beef as usual. About five o'clock in the 
 afternoon, he becanu! allectcd with coldness of the hands 
 and feet ; slight flushing of the face ; violent and constant 
 pain of the crown, or as lie said of the " boncs^^ (?) of his 
 liead ; numbness of the right hand, and contraction of the 
 right side of the lip ; an incoherence of manner, answer- 
 ing hastily and shar[)ly to any (luestions ; restlessness 
 and tossing about ; and extreme intolerance of light or 
 the least noise ; desiring that the shutters might be 
 accurately closed, and that the room door should Jiot be 
 moved. About two hours after this attack, sickness 
 came on ; a great load was vomited, and he became more 
 collected ; but still complained of })ains of the bones, and 
 of the sli2;htest lii!;ht or noise. In an hour he fell into 
 an mieasy slumber, breathed hard through the nostrils; 
 woke in half an hour a. little easiei', his hands and feet 
 becoming warmer. He took a cup of bohea tea, and a dose 
 of calomel and jalap. At ten o'clock, p.m., he lay more 
 composed, then dozed at intervals ; but always complained 
 on awaking of pain of the head. At two o'clock he slept 
 more quietly, his medicine acted three times ; he rose in 
 the morning nnich refreshed, but looking dull and sallo\v. 
 lie continued to recover during the day, rode out, but 
 still looked ill." 
 
 The symptoms of this case, like the above mentioned, 
 indicat" an affection of the brain. Dr. jMarshall Hall 
 prescribed to allay the nervous irritation, (?) calomel and 
 jalap, and at the close of the treatment, the patient looked 
 still dull, sallow, ill! why? because calomel and jalaj), 
 although it set the poor intestines at work, had no effect 
 upon the brain. A remedy should have been prescribed, 
 to touch the seat of the disease at once, directlt/ ; this 
 would liave been belladonna according to homtt'opathic 
 princi] les, and would ccrtaiidy have produced a better 
 effect than calomel and jalap. 
 
 Case 6. — The author continues, " In the cases already 
 given, the head was the part chiefly affected. In the 
 present case, the patient, jNIr. liastle, aged 40, was 
 attacked with symptoms, which ^^ ere 1 think mistaken 
 
54 
 
 ALLOPATHIC rilACTICE. 
 
 for pleurUis. He was bled profusely and lost nearly u 
 jijalion of blood. At first the pain was mitigated, but it 
 jdways returned with unremitted violence, especially at 
 the latter i)art of the treatment, when the relief aftbrded 
 Avas also of shorter duration. At this time I was consulted. 
 The pain was referred to the right side, over the false 
 ribs, nnd was excruciating on drawing a deep inspiration, 
 ])ut less so on breathing deep a second and third time ; 
 the pulse was about 86, the tongue Avhite and loaded. 
 As blood-letting had been fully tried without effect, and 
 na I entertained the opinion that the pain Avas symptom- 
 atic of intestinal irritation, (?) rather than inflammatory, 
 1 prescribed a brisk purge, the operation of which was 
 to be followed by the ammoniacal opiate draught. The 
 motions were dark and foetid. This plan was repeated 
 daily, with a strict attention to nourishment. The pain 
 moved to the right breast, and afterwards to the back, 
 and was extremely severe on drawing a deep breath. 
 By pursuing this mode of treatment, the pain gradually 
 Bubsided ; and on the ninth day of my visits and twenty- 
 fifth of the disease, it was nearly gone, and the pulse 
 natural. During the continuance of the pain, much 
 relief was obtained by the application of a liniment and 
 fomentation. 
 
 "At one time the pulse was 120 from mental agltation(?) 
 and continued frequent during several days ; and there 
 were hurry and agitation from any sudden noise, as that 
 of a knocker, or of any thing falling on the floor ; a 
 talking and delirium, restless, and picking of the bed- 
 clothes ; heat and perspiration during sleep. The opera- 
 tion of the medicine often induced faintness (no wonder !) 
 the fiice and hands were blanched. The purge was 
 given daily, the draught with tinctura opii and spiritus 
 ammonia aromaticus, three times a day; the liniment 
 and fomentation when required for pain. The recovery 
 was progressive, and without any untoward circumstances, 
 except! the eiFects of mental agitation just mentioned. 
 The patient, however, continued to labour under derange- 
 ment of the general health for some time." 
 
ALLOPATHIC I'HACTIC'K. 
 
 Ot) 
 
 jst nearly u 
 ated, but it 
 (Specially at 
 icf aftbrdcd 
 s consulted, 
 cr the false 
 inspiration, 
 liird time; 
 md loaded, 
 effect, and 
 ! symptoni- 
 ammatory, 
 which was 
 ght. Tiie 
 s repeated 
 The pain 
 ) the back, 
 ep breath, 
 gradually 
 m twenty- 
 thc pulse 
 lin, much 
 iment and 
 
 ?itation(?) 
 and there 
 3e, as that 
 ! floor; a 
 ' the bed- 
 'lie opera- 
 wonder !) 
 urge was 
 i spiritus 
 liniment 
 recovery 
 nstances, 
 jntioned. 
 derange- 
 
 In the cju<c stated, Dr. MarHliali Hall observes, that 
 the attcndirg physician had mistaken the disease. " It 
 was not lUeurltis^ but the pain was symptomatic of 
 intestinal irritation." A diagnosis of his own make, " to 
 suit the action to the word." Wc are de<;idedly of 
 opinion, that the ease was a species of plcuritis and not 
 symptomatic of intestinal irritation. That " the patient 
 was l)lcd j)rofusely, and lost nearly a gallon of blood 
 without mitigation ; and that the pains returned with 
 unremitted violence, ' does not prove the incorrectness of 
 the diagnosis of plcuritis. It only shows that " blood- 
 letting is objectionable, on the ground that it is unsuccess- 
 ful and dangerous." * " Though bleeding at first relieves 
 the patient at the time when he can scarcely draw his 
 breath ; yet subsequently, pain, and even difficulty of 
 breathing will return, which cannot be relieved by 
 repetitions of the bleeding, even if that were not inad- 
 missible from the danger of sinking by the loss of blood." 
 "VVe believe that Dr. Marshall Hall has rather produced 
 intestinal irritation and mental agitation, through the 
 abuse of opiates and purgatives. He has changed a 
 simple disease into a complicated one by his remedies ; 
 and " the patient continued to labour under derangement 
 of the general hesilth for some time," in consequence of 
 an injurious treatment. A few doses aconit, bryonia, 
 and rhus, homoeopathically indicated in the case described, 
 would have cured the patient in forty-eight hours. 
 
 " Of exhaustion in eakly infancy " — By the same 
 author. Dr. Marshall Hall observes, "the state of 
 exhaustion is very apt to be induced in early infancy ; 
 and as the reaction is feeble (?) at this period of life, the 
 case soon assumes the character of sinking." He illus- 
 trates his views by the following cases : — 
 
 Case 1. — " One little patient was reduced by too 
 copious and repeated bleeding, for croup. There super- 
 vened a state of irritability of temper; so that, when 
 greatly exhausted, it made great efforts to bite, scratch, 
 
 • First Principles of Medicine, by Archibald Billing, M.D., A.M. 
 
.w 
 
 Al.MU'ATJlIC I'llACTK'E. 
 
 suul boiit its iittciidaiit. This otiitoof Ji^ltiitioii eontimuil 
 until llic powers ul lii(! v.rro !L;T;i<liially oxIuuistcMl." 
 
 It is sur|»ri,-<iiij;" that practitiuucrH ol' the old t^choul 
 doiit perceive their (jwii iully, uiul the wretched condition 
 of their art ; when tlicy meet with ill succe.-^s, wlieii ji 
 patient dies under tlieir cure, they seldom attribute it to 
 mihUKinai^einent, to the so-called '^ actira trmtmenty" hut 
 to the teeblu reactive powers of nature or sonuithin^- else. 
 Dr. iMarsiiall Hull builds u[>a theory according to his own 
 fancy, (in which Ik; is well skilled.) He says " that many 
 children die oi" exhaustion i'or want of reaction." This 
 is but an erroneous assertion; the reactive powers of 
 children are well enou;i;h, but thortc//w ranirdies, — copioun 
 hlcediiKjy and inrnjuKji hurry thousands to an untimely 
 
 In the case mentioned, Dr. M. II. states that the 
 " little patient was reduced l>y too co[»ious and repeated] 
 l)lecdin^" foi' croup." Had the little patient been treated 
 homcoopathically, and hvpar sidphuris, spoixjld, &c., been 
 administered, in place of copious and repeated bleeding, 
 the little patient would surely have recovered. 
 
 Case 2. — " A little girl, aged four months, was seized 
 with II bowel complaint; the usual medical attendant 
 prescribed an aperient, wliicli acted too freely ; (vr/y/ 
 rathmal.) AVhen 1 saw it, on the second or third day of 
 the disorder, the countenance was pale and sunk, and the 
 cheeks cool; it started on being touched; there was a 
 peculiar huskincss of the voice, and the pulse beat from 
 144 to 150. Vty giving brandy the pnlse was, on the 
 succeeding day, reduced to 120, (Brownianism,) and 
 there was some apjmrcnt amendment, although a degree 
 of rattling in the breathing, or on coughing, was now 
 added to the huskincss of the voice. By continuing the 
 brandy, the cheeks became Avarm, and at length some- 
 what flushed ; and the pulse rose to 144. The quantity 
 of brandy was now diminished, and cautiously regulated ; 
 and the pulse very gradually lowered to the natural 
 standard. The condition of the cheeks, in respect to 
 colour and warmth, may be almost regarded as the pulse 
 
ALLOPATHIC PfiA'^'TICE. 
 
 57 
 
 IfS, — copiovs 
 
 of vei-y yoiuifr infunts. In thin awe, their pallidness nnd 
 eol'Incsrt, to^etiicr witli the stiito of the voice and hrcath- 
 in<^, indicate*! iihnost a, fUtjd ilcpjree of exlmuHtion. 'J'ho 
 fV(M|uency of the ]»ul8e, iirisinfij from this (uiuse, was 
 reduced by hrandy, l)ut it was afterwards n^^ain increased, 
 08 the ett'ect not of the exhaustion hitt of the stimulus; 
 and the cheeks recovered their warmth, and sometimes 
 even became flushed. In another case precisely similar, 
 the state of sinkinfr contimied in spite of every remedy, 
 and the little infant lingered and then expired." 
 
 What did this little patient die of, not of natural but 
 artificial exhaustion ; the puryativc, and the brandy have 
 destroyed it. 
 
 Had the child taken verati'uvi, chamomilla, &c., in place 
 <jf the remedies according to the incendiary method, it 
 would liave recovered. 
 
 So much for Alldjjatliy with a remedy, 
 and ^^ Horiutopnthi/ irithottt a remedy," 
 as Dr. Marjthall Hall understands it. 
 
 Dr. Marshall Hall gives the following advice to young 
 practitioners, which he may well take himself into 
 consideration. " Fertility in resources is not |)erhai)s, 
 the highest or most scientific branch of medicine ; but it 
 is indubitably that which, if judiciously applied in })racticc, 
 affords the greatest solace and benefit to the patient, and 
 may therefore be regarded as the vei*y highest faculty 
 which a physician can possess, in the actual exercise of 
 his art." 
 
 We will cite a few more cases, of the rational practice, 
 without making any comment upon them. They speak 
 enough themselves. 
 
 Dr. Eberle relates the following remarkable case : * 
 " Not long ago T met with an instance (in consultation) 
 of the most lamentable abuse of cathartics in a case of 
 fever. The patient, when I first saw him, had already 
 been sick about ten days. I was told by the attending 
 
 A Treatise of the Materia Medica nnd Thernpeutics, by J(»bn Eberle, 
 M.D. 
 
 U 
 
58 
 
 ALLOPATHIC PRACTICIi:. 
 
 physician, Uiat there \uu\ not been the slightest reiuiHsiun 
 for six (layH, notwithstundinf; the daily employment of 
 very ' active cathortirs.^ For four dayw m HuccoHHion, 
 the jMiticnt htul taken Henna and manna, calomel and 
 jalap, and Halts, and on the mornin'^ when 1 wiw him, he 
 had already swallowed a full dos<! of rhui>arl). I found 
 tho patient lyin^ on his back slijjjlitly delirious, his knees 
 constantly drawn up, the tongue dry and brown in the 
 midd'j, and deep red at the tip and edj^es, and the 
 abdomen tumid, tenso and exeeedin<rly tender to the 
 touch. lie died in two days after." 
 
 * Dehano prescribed for a i)atient labourinpj under a 
 slight affection of tetanus. A decoction of half a pound 
 Peruvian bark, mixed with one hundred drops tincture 
 of opium, powdered l*eruvian iMvrk two scruples, and two 
 scruples carbonate of ammonia. Every two hours four 
 table spoons full to be taken. The patient growing 
 worse, he ordered one pound carbonate of iron with 
 teriak, to be used in the course of a single day. Tincture 
 of opium for external use, and castor oil as a laxative. 
 
 Hutchinson ordered for a patient labouring under 
 St. Vite's danse, first a compound of calomel and extract 
 of colocynth, each six grains, every three hours to be 
 taken ; after which six drachms carbonate of iron, every 
 four hours to be taken ; again oik; ounce carbonate of 
 iron, besides one-eighth of a grain morphium with spirits 
 of turpentine. Eleven pounds and seven ounces iron was 
 the quantity used up from the 2d of July until the 12 th 
 August. 
 
 Stokes treated a patient with large quantities of tartar 
 emetic for some eye disease, with difficulty in breathing ; 
 which relieved the breathing, but the patient died on 
 vomiting and hiccup. The sectio post mortem showed 
 inflammation of the cardia. 
 
 Lisfranc prescribed for a patient labouring under 
 tetanus, bleeding eight times, at 16 ounces each time, 
 the application of eight hundred leeches, and large doses 
 of opium for internal use. 
 
 * London Medical Gaxette, 1833. 
 
AIXOPATHIC PHACTICK. 
 
 ^\> 
 
 ;8t reiui88loii 
 ployniont of 
 fiucccHHion, 
 t'jilonicl nnd 
 Huw him, ho 
 I). I found 
 i«, his knccM 
 rown in the 
 38, and the 
 idcr to tho 
 
 n^r under n 
 alf'a pound 
 •[)8 tincture 
 IcH, and two 
 • hours four 
 It growinjT 
 iron with 
 Tincture 
 laxative, 
 ring under 
 md extract 
 ours to be 
 iron, every 
 u'bonate of 
 vith spirits 
 es iron was 
 il the 12 th 
 
 A girl 16 years of age, labouring under a fever, with 
 great sensitiveness at the touch on the abdomen, was 
 treated by G. Hamilton in the following manner: — 
 
 2()th l)ec(!mber. — lilood drawn, twelve ounces, warm 
 fomentations over the alKlomen. Injections of salts and 
 senna, and one grain opiunj, every four hours, to be taken. 
 
 3()th Deccnd)er. — No change ; blood drawn, eight 
 ounces; leeches applied to the stomach ; a strong injec- 
 tion, and internally one grain opium, every hour, to bo 
 taken. 
 
 .'Jlst Dcceml)cr. — No evacuation ; three drops croton 
 oil. She died the second day, 5 o'clock in the morning. 
 
 We have no desire to follow up any further the black 
 register of sin of the old school pructiuoners. 
 
 I 
 
 8 of tartar 
 jreathing ; 
 it died on 
 m showed 
 
 ng 
 
 under 
 !ach time, 
 arge doses 
 
CHArXEK V. 
 
 DIAGNOSIS. 
 
 It ia certainly very desirable to know the nature, and 
 seat of the disease, yet in too many instances, accordinjr 
 to common doctrines, we can realize no such expectations ; 
 and the plan which Hahnemann proposed to trace the 
 totality of symptoms, physically and morally, without 
 confining ourselves to a name, is decidedly the most cor- 
 rect. It never leads ad ahsurdum. 
 
 The following cases extracted from a Treatise on the 
 more obscure aJfectio?is of the Brain, by A. P. fV. Philip, 
 M. D., &c., London, 1835, will show, that our present 
 pathological knowledge very often leaves us in the lurch, 
 in tracing the nature and seat of diseases ; and its imper- 
 fection is such, that the best pathologist unavoidably is 
 constantly liable to mistakes. 
 
 "The first case I shall mention," says Dr. Wilson Philip, 
 " is that of Mr. A., who was taken ill while pursuing his 
 studies at Oxford. His case was regarded by the 
 physicians of that city, as one of common indigestion. 
 His health not improving, he was brought to London, 
 and placed under the care of two physicians well known 
 to the profession here. After he had been in London a 
 few weeks, I was called in, in consultation, and expressed 
 my fears of a fatal termination ; and stated my opinion 
 in consultation, that although the stomach and duodenum 
 were the organs most prominently affected, I believed we 
 should find the origin of the disease in the brain ; and on 
 dissection after death, which happened in a fortnight or 
 three weeks after I saw the patient, the following 
 appearances presented themselves. 
 
 The body was examined by Mr. Walker, of St. George's 
 Hospital. In this and the following dissection, the 
 examination was made about twenty-four hours after 
 death. The following is his report : 
 
 bnui 
 
 perh 
 
 the 
 
 witli 
 
 rcdu( 
 
 bear 
 
 unus 
 
 from 
 
 callcc 
 
 more 
 
 pyloi 
 
 mud 
 
 natui 
 
 distei 
 
 The 
 
 pame 
 
 liavir 
 
 surpr 
 
 exam 
 
 it. : 
 
 appefi 
 
 degre 
 
 cases. 
 
 sinilli 
 
 brain 
 
 It 
 
 5 tion 
 
 phen 
 
 acute 
 
 livin< 
 
 A 'iiista 
 
 M case 
 
 I corny 
 
 I vomi 
 
 i Ibun 
 
 • I 
 
DIAUNOSrS. 
 
 61 
 
 lature, and 
 , accordin;^ 
 pectations ; 
 o trace the 
 y, without 
 B most cor- 
 
 atise on the 
 IV. Philip, 
 >iir present 
 [I the lurch, 
 .1 its imper- 
 A'oidably is 
 
 son Philip, 
 
 Lirsiiing his 
 
 l)y the 
 
 ndigestion. 
 
 o London, 
 
 ^^ell known 
 
 London a 
 
 expressed 
 
 ly opinion 
 
 duodenum 
 
 elieved we 
 
 n ; and on 
 
 )rtnight or 
 
 following 
 
 t. George's 
 ction, the 
 lours after 
 
 \ 
 
 " On opening the cavity of the cranium, the mem- 
 branes and the brain were {bund tolcraldy healthy ; 
 perhaps rather eot'ter than usual, j)i\rticuhirly as regards 
 the cerebellum and base of the brain, which together 
 with the nicdidla oblongata and cerebral ner\os, appeared 
 reduced to a pulpy state ; so much so tliat they would not 
 bear the slightest handling, 
 
 " The viscera in the cavity of the chest presented no 
 unusual appearances ; the stomach larger than usual, 
 from distension, and presented that appearance which ia 
 called the ' hour glass contraction,' of that viscus in a 
 more marked manner than is usually met with ; the 
 pylorus nnich more vascidar than usual, and the duodenum 
 much more dilated, vascular and attenuated than is 
 natural. The whole of the small intestines were more 
 distended with flatus, and much more gorged with blood. 
 The liver, spleen, kidneys, and pancreas were healthy." 
 
 " The following case was that of jNIiss C, which run the 
 same course as the preceding, but Avas of longer duration, 
 having hccn })rotractetl ibr mt)re than two years. Some 
 surprise was expressed that I should wish tlie head to bo 
 examined, as none of the symptoms had been referred to 
 it. The examination was made by Mr. Earle, and the 
 appearances in the l)rain corresponded, in a remarkable 
 degree, with those just detailed. The symptoms in these 
 cases, as well as the termination of the disease, had been 
 similar; and we find the chief organic affection of the 
 brain of the same kind, and seated in the same parts." 
 
 It is a well known fact, that a post mortem examina- 
 tion ver) often brings before tlie eye of the physician, 
 phenomena, structural changes of organs, which the most 
 acute observer could not discover Avhcn the person was 
 living. Ln the elaborate work of * IVIorgagni, many 
 instances of this kind are on record, f De Ilaen relatea a 
 case that a woman during her five days illness made no 
 complaint of any pain in the stomach, had no nausea, no 
 vomiting, took nourishment, and still the stomach was 
 found to l,>e in a state of gangrene after death. iV^'ho 
 
 De sedibus et caiiiii morborum f Ratio medendi, p. ix. p. 27. 
 
6-2 
 
 DIAUNUflS. 
 
 could expect mortification without having been able to 
 discover before death, symptoms of inflammation. 
 
 * Iliiguier saw a woman at the hospital St. Louis, in 
 Paris, whose disease, during two years time, was 
 declared to be hypertrophy of the heart. When the 
 body was examined after death, the lungs were found to 
 be full of tubercles, but the heart perfectly healthy. 
 
 Baylle says already, that diseases of the lungs are very 
 deceptive ; which f Gregory corroborates according to 
 his own observations. J Wynn, in Glasgow, dissected a 
 body, and found the kidneys totally degenerated, which 
 the symptoms during life did not indicate. The perso)i 
 died of dropsy. 
 
 § Horst found also the kidneys in a very diseased state 
 when the person did not seem to suffer in that region, 
 and had no difficulty in urinating. 
 
 With all the progress we have made in modem times 
 in physiology, pathological anatomy, &c., there are still 
 many maladies, the nature of which are almost entirely 
 unknown to us. What do we know of the diseases of 
 the pancreas, asthma thymicum, cerebral-tubercles, &c.|| 
 The (sminent Mr. Lawrence justly observes, " The 
 multitude and variety of organs in the human body, the 
 complexity of their structure, the modifications incidental 
 to each, and their natural influences, offer a most extensive 
 field of investigation ; requiring so much time and 
 assiduity, so much caution and discrimination, that the 
 qualities necessary to a successfu pursuit of phvsiology 
 cannot be often combined in one individual. 
 
 " When to man (says he) we add all the living beings 
 which fill every department of nature, and consider the 
 diversities and new combinations, by which they are 
 enabled to fulfil their various destinies, it will be hardly 
 
 • Archives General, Febr., 1834. 
 f In the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, No. civ. p. 24. 
 
 t Medical Journal, 1833. 
 § Krankheitsgeschichte einer merkwiirdigen Nierenschwindsucht in 
 Hufeland's and Osann's Journal des prakt Heilk. 1836, 8 stiick. 
 
 II Ravin Traite des tubercules ; Memoires de I'Academie Royale, vol. 
 iv, cahier 3, 1835. Romberg iiber die Gehirntuberkln ; in Caspers 
 Wochenschrift, 1834, Nov. 3. T. Constant, Gazette Medical de Pari*. 
 30 Juil., 1836. Jadelot Journal de Medecine de CorviBart, vol. 10. 
 
DIAGNOSIS. 
 
 6S 
 
 >eeii able to 
 
 tion. 
 
 [. Louis, in 
 time, was 
 When thi! 
 
 re found to 
 
 3althy. 
 
 igs are very 
 
 3Cording to 
 dissected a 
 
 ited, which 
 
 The person 
 
 seased state 
 that region, 
 
 Ddem times 
 sre are still 
 ost entirely 
 I diseases of 
 lercles, &c.| 
 res, "The 
 1 body, the 
 8 incidental 
 t extensive 
 time and 
 m, that the 
 physiology 
 
 dng beings 
 
 onsider the 
 
 they are 
 
 be hardly 
 
 3iv. p. 24. 
 
 windsucht in 
 stiick. 
 
 Iloyale, vol. 
 in Caspers 
 ical de Pari*. 
 
 vol. 10. 
 
 figurative to sa), that the objects of inquiry are infinite 
 
 and inexhaustib'e. 
 
 " In this, as in most other subjects, the quantity of 
 ;. .«oIid instructior is an inconsiderable fraction of the 
 I Hccunuilated nia3s. A few grains of wheat are buried 
 * and lost amid hon])s of chaflt'. For a few well observed 
 i facts, rational deductions, and cautious generalizations, 
 I we have whole clouds of systems and doctrines, of 
 I speculations and fancies, built merely on the workings 
 
 of the imagination, and the labours of the closet." 
 I Upon these imperfect conclusions, drawn by individuals 
 1 from their partial inquiries, it has been well observed by 
 I another writer (Sir C. Morgan) that "in every thing 
 I that concerns vital action, there are so many points to 
 I consider, so many discounts and allowances to be made, 
 I before the result of experiments can be obtained, with 
 ;i purity aud precision, that almost every writer has given 
 \ a different sum total to his labours. The chemist is not 
 I necessarily a good physiologist, nor the physiologist an 
 I accurate experimenter ; so that it is rare to find a person 
 ^uniformly well qualified to discuss the questions which 
 |arise in these investigations. But as every one relies on 
 
 his own observations, theories have been formed hy an 
 
 abuse of inductions from the partial restdts of individual 
 %inqidry, by almost every aidhor who has tvritten on the 
 
 sid)ject" 
 
 He also, viewing the numerous difficulties by which 
 |the subject is surrounded, says, " Considered in insulation, 
 
 ;thc moral and physical history of man is an inextricable 
 Jlabyrinth. His various and complicated functions refuse 
 jto submit to analysis, and the origin and end of his being 
 |are alike placed beyond the reach of definition and 
 fkionjecture." 
 
 We may account for the imperfections of pathological 
 |ind therapeutical knowledge, by the manner in which 
 |;hese sciences have been cultivated. In taking into 
 :|consideration the seat, the nature, and the extent of the 
 Misease, the mural or psychological phenomena are entirely 
 Most sight of. In this respect our works on pathology. 
 
 4 
 
64 
 
 DIAGNOSIS. 
 
 and tlieraj)eiitlcs but cshow, how little physicians hitherto 
 have be(!n <:!;iii(l(;(l in thoir researches by nature's own 
 sufi^ge.stlon.s, ami how anxious they have been at all times, 
 to display rather their own wisdom, to f^o upon conjecture, 
 than listeninrij to the ins})iration of nature. For, as 
 Bacon has pithily observed " non levc qiiiddam interest, 
 inter humana mentis idola ct divincc mentis idcas,^^ — the 
 difference is not small, between the '.dols of the human 
 mind, and the Ide.'W of the divine mind, that is, between 
 the notions and arbitrary landmarks of men, instituted 
 on nature, and those veritable distinctions and signatures 
 wiiich are originally Impressed upon her. 
 
 The homwopathlst interrogates nature, as she Is inter- 
 rogated by the chemist, through the appc^arances Avhich 
 she presents to his senses ; and interrogating her closely, 
 without suffering his imagination to wander in search (jf 
 hidden causes, (air castles) he receives from her answers 
 which guides him in the selection of the specific remedy. 
 He investigates the condition of all the organs and func- 
 tions from head to foot ; every thing pccidlar ; every 
 sensatloD unusual with the patient, whether painful or 
 otherwise, the hours of the day Avhen they Averc felt, 
 the circumstances which heightened or allayed them, the 
 posture of the body with which they were accompanied, 
 the expression of the countenance, the peculiar tempera- 
 ment of the individual, the state of the feelings, and ol 
 the intellect, both before and during the illness; his 
 l^revious hal/its, and previous diseases ; with a multitude 
 of other particulars; of all Avhich he makes a careful 
 recoi'd in writing, presenting as far as possible a complete 
 portraiture of the particular case, in which all that I P^eva 
 distinguishes it from others is noted with the same 
 fidelity as the portrait painter preserves in his likenessc; 
 the individual markings,proportions and expression, Avhicli 
 distino-uish the orlijinal of his work from all other men. 
 
 *'■' In this system," as Dr. Curie says, " nothing is left 
 undetermined, nothing left unexplained ; neither is there 
 any useless hypothesis ; riffid observation being the basis 
 upon which the Judgment is established.^^ 
 
 I else 
 
ins hitherto 
 iturc's own 
 at all times, 
 conjecture, ;| 
 e. For, as I 
 am inter est, | 
 ideas,"' — the 
 the liiiman 
 is, between 
 1, instituted ?^ 
 [1 ijij^naturcs 
 
 she is intcr- 
 
 uices which 
 
 lier closely, s 
 
 in search (jf | 
 
 her answers I 
 
 iific remedy. | 
 
 IS and func- ^ 
 
 diar ; every k 
 
 !r painful or i 
 
 f were felt, | 
 
 d them, the | 
 
 ccompanied, I 
 
 ar tempeni- | 
 
 ings, and ol | 
 
 illness; jiis | 
 
 a multitude | 
 
 !S a careful 
 
 a complete 
 
 ch all that 
 
 1 the same 
 
 IS likenesscj 
 
 ssion,whicli 
 
 )ther men. 
 
 thing is left 
 
 her is there 
 
 mg the hash 
 
 CHAPTER Vl. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL CURATIVE 
 MEANS MADE USE OF IN ALLOPATHIC PRACTICE. 
 
 1. PURGATIVES. 
 
 Purgatives take a wide range in the common practice, 
 there being scarcely a disease in wliich they are not 
 prescribed. The profession at large has the liighest 
 opinion of the efficacy and usefulness of cathartics. 
 " Throughout the range of the Materia Medica," says 
 * Sir Anthony Carlisle, " there is no class of remedies 
 possessing such extensive efficacy as the medicines which 
 operate as purgatives." " The use of purgative medi- 
 dicines," says f Dr. Alexander Macaulay, " is of great 
 importance in the preservation of health and the cure of 
 disease." % Dr. J. A. Paris says — "From the indica- 
 tions which cathartics are capable of fulfilling, their 
 utility in many diseases must be apparent. The extent 
 of their importance and value was, however, never justly 
 appreciated until the valuable publication of Dr. Hamil- 
 ton on this subject. Physicians were not aware of the 
 necessity of carrying the plan {of purging) to an extent 
 beyond that of mei'cly emptying the primee vies, and they 
 did not continue the free use of these remedies through 
 the whole progress of the disease." 
 
 Among the different medical systems which have been 
 prevalent since ages, humoral pathology alone keeps its 
 terrible sway. 
 
 Like the humoral pathologists, who thought on nothing 
 else than on the Materia Peccans, which must be dis- 
 charged in abundance before the patient was considered 
 well, so still at present the same principle {with other 
 
 * The Means of Preserving Health, by Sir Anthony Carlisle, 
 t A Dictionary of Medicine, by Alexander Macaulay, M.D. 
 % Pharmacologia, by J. A. Paris, M.D. &c. 
 
66 
 
 PRINCIPAL CURATIVE MEANt< 
 
 words) are taught, uikI carried out in practice. The 
 public are so trained to the necessity of purging, that they 
 never receive a prescription from a medical man without 
 putting the question, " Will the medicine i)urge me ?" 
 and generally the answer is given in the affirmative. 
 Shall we blame the impudent quack when he speaks of 
 bad humours, sickly secretions, abundance of bile, impurities 
 of the blood, &c., and recommends hia pills in all maladies 
 " to which human flesh is heir to," when men like Dr. 
 Paris, a Professor of the healing art, holds up like an 
 oracle the Hamiltonian purgtitive system, and points out 
 the necessity " of not emptying only the bowels, l)ut 
 continuing the free use of these remedies through the; 
 whole progress of the disease !" " How contradictoiy," 
 saya * Dr. Francis Black, " is the allopath to despise 
 purgatives administered by empirics ! Morrison and all 
 his followers argue in this way, that if the licensed i)ro- 
 fession administer purgatives successfully in every di- 
 sease, if they consider the bowels to be the sink whose 
 part is to drain all noisome filth, and keep the kitchen 
 clean, why should he not ?" 
 
 Diseases of the digestive organs, acute as well as 
 chronic, are more judiciously treated by French than by 
 English practitioners. A loaded tongue, fulness of the 
 stomach, a want of appetite, constipation, &c., does not 
 Indicate, according to their views, sicMi/ secretions, bad 
 humors, too little or too much bile, — which would require, 
 according to English practice, calomel and jalap, senna 
 and salts, pills of aloes, colocynth, scammory, calomel, 
 &c. ; but they attribute disorders of this kind to irritation 
 of the mucous membrane of the intestinal canal ; and low 
 diet, acidulated drinks, and lavements, is all they usually 
 presleribe, which does more good, and less harm, than 
 purgatives and calomel. I will not investigate here how 
 far the theory of irritation is correct, but I know as much 
 that there are less liver complaints and dyspeptics in 
 
 
 *A Treatise on the Principles and Practice of Homoeopathy, by Francis 
 Black, M. D. Edinburgh, 19, Lyndoch PJace. 
 
IN ALLOPATHIC PRACTICE 
 
 67 
 
 tice. Tlio 
 f, thiit they 
 an without 
 urgo mo?" 
 xffirmative. 
 I speaks ot 
 , impurities 
 ill maladicrf 
 n like Dr. 
 up like an 
 [ points out 
 lowcls, hut 
 irough th(! 
 ;radictory,"' 
 to despise 
 son and all 
 sensed pro- 
 i every di- 
 sink whose 
 he kitchen 
 
 as well as 
 
 ch than by 
 
 less of the 
 
 ., docs not 
 
 'etioiis, had 
 
 Id require, 
 
 •Jap, senna 
 
 y, calomel, 
 
 o irritation 
 
 and low 
 
 icy usually 
 
 arm, than 
 
 e here how 
 
 w as much 
 
 peptics in 
 
 France than 1 have seen in England, which I must 
 attribute altogether to the abuse of purgatives and calo- 
 mel. * Dr. Harris Dunsford says, " Constipation ap- 
 pears to be in a great measure an artificial complaint in 
 this country, (England,) for it is comparatively rare in 
 other climates. But in truth the same may be said of 
 many other diseases, which are evidently produced solely 
 by medicine. 
 
 " One of the greatest evils of the old school is the 
 constant use of aperients. It is impossible to reprobate 
 in terms sufficiently strong, the pernicious practice so 
 generally prevalent in this countiy of having recourse to 
 laxative medicine on the least appearance of sluggishness 
 of the bowels. Frightful arc the numbers brought to an 
 early grave by this violation of the laws of nature. The 
 })ractice is commenced even from the earliest age, for no 
 .sooner is an infant born than it is dosed with an aperient ; 
 as it grows, every uilment is laid to the charge of the 
 unfortunate bowels ; and these, by the repetition of the 
 aperient, become the more unruly ; until, at length, the 
 peristaltic action can only be forced by the most drastic 
 jmrgatives. It is, indeed, quite time that this irrational 
 treatment should be abandoned, and that organs, on the 
 tranquil performance of whose functions health mainly 
 depends, should not be thus stimulated to disease." 
 
 I * The Practical Advantages of Homoeopathy. DetlScated by permission 
 ?to Heu Majesty Queen Adelaide, by Harris Dunsford, M. D. 
 
 y, by Francis 
 
CHAPTER Vll. 
 
 ON CONSTIPATION. 
 BY DA. KAIiLENDACIl. 
 
 ( Translated by James M. Quin, M. !>., Iloinceopathic 
 Practitioner in London. J 
 
 Chronic constipation (or that which has become ha- 
 bitual,) can never be regarded as a form of special disease ; 
 it is but the consequence, or more correctly speaking, 
 the symptom of another pathological state. But as the 
 pathological circumstances which may be the cause of 
 constipation are of a very different nature, frequently 
 opposed to one another, sometimes impossible to be re- 
 cognized or easily confounded, the distressing symptonw 
 of habitual constipation have always been a stumbling 
 block to physicians. The treatment of this aftectioii 
 reflects little credit on the old school. Instead of a sound 
 diagnostic, it ordinarily advances a crowd of words, as 
 abdominal plethora, atony of the intestinal canal, hcBmorr- 
 hoides, bad qualities of the bile, and intestinal secretion, 
 which do not prevent them from combating with the 
 same weapons, i. e. purgatives, all these diseases so various 
 in their character. They are contented, for the most 
 part, with distinguishing whether it be a drastic, a salt, 
 or an oil that is indicated, and they pour the medicament 
 into the stomach of the patient, for the purpose either of 
 correcting the bile, or of increasing the secretions of it; 
 either of provoking the serous secretion of the intestinal 
 canal or of stimulating its sluggishness ; or in fine, of 
 destroying the cause of constipation, whatever it may be. 
 In the most fortunate cases, such a procedure producer 
 but a temporary alleviation ; and we could cite thousands 
 of patients who take several times a week their pUls of 
 aloe or some other wonderful remedy, even to satiety, 
 (so much do they abuse the use of them,) and who. 
 
CONSTIPATION. 
 
 69 
 
 become lia- 
 !cial disease ; 
 ly speaking, 
 But as the 
 the cause of 
 !, frequently 
 le to be rc- 
 ig symptoinsi 
 a stumbling 
 his aftection 
 ad of a sound 
 of words, as 
 lalf hcBmorr- 
 nal secretion, 
 njr with the 
 ses so various 
 m the most 
 •astic, a salt, 
 medicament 
 oosc either of 
 ctions of it; 
 the intestinal 
 r in fine, of 
 er it may be. 
 ire produces 
 ite thousands 
 t;heir pills of 
 n to satiety. 
 1,) and who. 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ncvcrtlieless, see the evil that they have been opposing 
 for years, become more and more ol)stinate and painful. 
 
 Homoeopathy can boast of happier results in a large 
 niunbcr of cases. 
 
 When we speak of habitual constipation, wo exclude 
 therefrom even all the cases of acute diseases, oi' fevers, 
 of henias, of ileus, of poisoning, &c., with which consti- 
 pation is symptoniatically connected ; and we understand 
 only that state in which there arc no regular alvine 
 evacuations but at intervals of two, three, or eight days, 
 and even more, the health being otherwise relatively 
 good, or general troubles, more or less considerable, being 
 habitual. 
 
 The ancient pathologists have scarcely given themselves 
 the trouble to investigate the diilerent causes of this 
 affection. Hippocrates says not a word on the subject 
 in his work De llcemurrliodibus, and only speaks of it in 
 a very vague manner in the treatise De Flatibus, which 
 is not considered genuine. Stahl and Kaenipf are the 
 first who have directed their attention, in the eighteenth 
 century, to the chronic obstruction ; but they have as- 
 signed only a single cause for this affection. The former* 
 ascribed it to hajmorrhoids, and the latterf regarded it 
 as a concomitant symjjtom of his infarctus, and treated 
 it accordingly. It is only of late years that the French 
 and English physicians especially, have given particular 
 attention to the chronic diseases of the lower belly, and 
 have cultivated the pathological anatomy of the parts. 
 They have collected valuable materials on this subject. 
 And yet, our knowledge of the remote causes of these 
 diseases cannot but be still very imperfect, because the 
 autopsy only enables us to discover the results of a di- 
 sease frequently of several years standing, and does not 
 permit us to follow its successive progress. 
 
 In the present state of the science, we may attribute 
 
 • G. E. Stahl, Medica Vera. Hal. 1737, 
 
 t Kaempf, Abhandlung von einer neuen methode die hartniickigsten 
 Kraiikheiten, die ihren sitz im Unterleib haben, sicher iind giiiiidlich zii 
 heilei). Leipzig, 1786, 
 
70 
 
 CONKTIPATION. 
 
 the proximate eiiUHc of luihituiil condtipation to the fol- 
 lowiii*^ patholojiical ('(jndltioiw : — 
 
 1. Atony of the hitcsthial cai.al, especially of the 
 lower portion. 
 
 2. Irritative conJition of the intestinal canal, emhra- 
 cinj.^ nervoiw ditfieulty, intlaiumations, uutl rheunmtic 
 irritiition. 
 
 'A. I Iicniorrhoids. 
 
 4. ()r}i;anic disejines of the liver. 
 
 5. Stenosis and disorj^anization in the intestinal canal. 
 We do not pretend that habitual eonstij)ation cannot 
 
 depend uj)on other causes,* but the above are the most 
 eonunon and are most frequently met with. We ab- 
 stained from any severely 8y8t(!matic classifications, such 
 as functional disturbances, ornjanic destractions, &c., be- 
 cause such classifications are true only on pajjcr; in life, 
 they arc modified and complicated in a thousand ways. 
 
 I. ATONY OF TUE INTESTINAL CANAL. 
 
 The atony of the intestinal canal, which occasions habit- 
 ual constipation, never has its seat In the small intestines ; 
 for by its structure, and principally by the irritability of 
 its mucous membrane, It cannot long sup[)ort the pre- 
 sence of foreign bodies ; but a more copious secretion of 
 mucousity, or the contraction of the nuiscular fibres, soon 
 either provokes diarrhoea or at least propels the excrement 
 towards the lower portion of the intestinal canal. The 
 
 * Dr. Harris Dunsfurd snys : — " It is perhaps wiieii ihe duodenum, 
 which mny be in some decree raiilced as a second stomacl), is the chief seat 
 of the disease, that liomutopathy more especially shows its superiority to 
 the old system. The turnings of the duodenum, which bring it into con- 
 tact with the gall bladder, pancreas, and right I(idney, account for many of 
 the anomalous symptoms of indigestion simulating disease in those organs ; 
 and it is to be feared that, in ordinary practice, the treatment is often 
 directed to those organs which are only sympathetically atfected, until at 
 length disease is actually produced in them by the violence of the remedies 
 employed. Errors of this nature, which even those of the old school most 
 skilful in diagnosis may fall into, cannot possibly occur in homwopathic 
 practice ; since also we carefully inquire into all symptoms whether sym- 
 pathetic or truly morbid, the doses we administer will only ati'ect the 
 immediate seat of the disease, whicli is susceptible to the slisjhtest im- 
 pression." 
 
C0N.-tTirATIO*\. 
 
 71 
 
 liU'fjo intostiiu', on llu; contrjiry, tlu" «'(ilon, piiiticulaily 
 tlio tnuHvcrsc^ and (Icsccnd'mn; portions, a.s well us the 
 icctuni, wliuli arc intcndoil, by their physiological fiinc- 
 tioHH to Collect, and to retain t<'niporarily the fa-ccs ; and 
 where, c()nRie«|iiently, a moderate rpiantity of cxercnicnt 
 ill the normal state scarcely excites an irritation, can 
 endure a prolonged stay of their contents without beinf; 
 incommo(l(!(l thereby, or provoked to reaction. Hut if, 
 from any cause whatever, this irritability, already incon- 
 siderable of itself, becomes still less, a jrreater (piantity 
 of excrement collects there ; the larj^e intestine becojiica 
 accustomed to hold it lonn;er, and contraction only takes 
 place when these contents o[)erate as a forei<j;n botly, 
 either by their mass, or by the absorption of their liciuid 
 parts. The natural consequence is a projjjressive dilata- 
 tion of the intestinal canal, which in its turn becomes the 
 cause of a new accumidation of faecal matter, and, con- 
 sequently, a new cause of disease, so that the entire lower 
 tract of the intestinal canal reaches u state of relaxation 
 more or less considerable. 
 
 Some cases of obstinate constipation prove lijw far the 
 organism can become accustomed to an abnormjil state, 
 wlicn it is gradually develo])ed. Ilcbcrdcrt tells us of a 
 person who had regularly but one stool a month, and 
 who, nevertheless, enjoyed good health. Tornaasini cites 
 the case of anotlier person, who had one every twenty- 
 four days. Chaptal another, who visited the closet only 
 cvciy foiu' months. Cramj)t(m and (X Deirne have seen 
 those who had but one alvine evacuation every eight 
 months. Rust tells of a captain of a vessel who never 
 evacuated his ficces as long as he was at sea. Admitting 
 that there is some exaggeration in these extraordinary 
 cases, we cannot deny, and every practitioner has had 
 occasion to convince himself of the truth of the fact, that 
 constipation of four to six and eight days are not inju- 
 rious, at least immediately, to the general state of the 
 mdividual. It is not rare, cither, after a constipation of 
 several days to see an evacuation of an enormous amount 
 of fflccal matter, which could not have been contained 
 within the organ destined for its rece})tion without a 
 
1-i 
 
 CONHTIl'ATION. 
 
 (•»»n,><i(l(nil»l(' (liliiliitioii. Alurrrombir, :uul niurc recently 
 lioldtaushif, of Viciiiiii, luivc very iViM|ueutly met with an 
 uniConiitliliiUition of the colon, wliich hiul not ( wired double 
 its ordiniiry eiip.icity, so thiit the entire fiiniill iiite.stiiiert 
 «ecnied exee.s.sively thinne<l, and the inuaeular fibres 
 absolutely incapable of energetic contraction. 
 
 Aetiolofjy. — 'I'he atonic state of the lower tract of the 
 intestinal canal nuiy present itself at every age, but 
 particularly in old age. It extends not only to the mu- 
 cous membrane, but also, and especially, to the muscular 
 fibres. The causes which diminish the irritability of the 
 large intestines, and thus provoke the tlisease, are very 
 varied, but nuiy, nevertheless, be reduced to three. 
 
 1. The over-excitation of this organ by a temporary 
 local disease, or by the abuse of unsuitable food, or by 
 medicines. Among the number of the diseases which 
 induce it, we should place above all <liurrh(ras of long 
 duration, dysenteries, lead colics, and inHannn-tion of the 
 intestinal canal ; affections which leave behind them 
 thickening and degeneration of the mucous membrane, 
 which most frequently produce, in like manner, disturb- 
 ances in the muscles, and consequently iu the functions 
 of the entire organ. 
 
 ILcmorrhoids act in like manner, when the repetition 
 of acute attacks carries the irritability of the rectum to a 
 too high degree, and puts it In a condition bordering upcm 
 exhaustion. Among the medicines which occasion the 
 over-excitation of which we are speaking, we may men- 
 tion drastic cathartics, aloes, Morrison^ s pills, BrandretlC 
 pills, Cooper's pills, Moffatt''s pills, calomel and jalap, and 
 calomel and rhubarb, which still form almost the nour- 
 ishment of infants in the cradle.* 
 
 * Perhaps it would not be superfluous to mention here what the eminent 
 medical-jurist, Alfred S. Taylor, says on the subject of "■* poisoning by the 
 vegetable irritants" (what the public and quacks merely call vegetables ! — 
 Very nutritious indeed ! — ) *' Aloes, coi.ocyntii, gamboge, jalap, 
 nnd scAMMONV. These different substances which are used in small doses 
 as medicine, (small in the homceopatliic sense of the word, not in grains or 
 scruple doses,) are liable, when taken in large quantities, to give rise to 
 vomiting, purging, and other symptoms of irritation. C'olecynth has 
 occasioned death in several instances, and aloes and colocynth mixed are 
 said to be the basis of a certain quack medicine sold under the name of 
 Morrison's pills. (I should think croton oil makes also the basis of 
 
 1 
 
lONrtTIPATION. 
 
 78 
 
 •ccntly 
 vitli uii 
 (luuhlc 
 
 of th(5 
 
 lontr 
 
 i 
 
 *2. A more frccjiusnt ciuise, iKTliups, of tlit.- rcluxution 
 of the I II t est i mil ounul i.s tliu pernicious Imhit ui' not iiii- 
 uiediutcly HUtiHfyiii}; the desire to j^o to ntool. The larj^o 
 liiteHtine iri, lui we liave ulreiuly miid, only inodenitely 
 
 many C)'l)>lirat)-il qiiitrk |>IIIn.) Tliriir )mv« proved fntnl lo many InttnnctMi 
 from III)' cxIiiinNtiiin |ir<Mlii<:i'iJ liy ••xtirnNivo |iiirt(ini;. Our kiiitwli>il)(n of 
 t)M> Nyni|it(MnH iind |i<mt miirtt-ni iip|M'iiriiiii'i*it iirotlurod liy lli)"4)> irritnntN, Ik, 
 iiidi-fd, chirfly d«rlv<-d t'ntin tlin itiineii which have proved fiitiil under thi4 
 |)iTniciouH trf.itnii'nt. 
 
 Ill the Hfvpiitpptith voliimi' of llin Meilicnl Cazftttf will be found four 
 cn«pH of thU deHrription. Th<* moHt prominent Nymptom U exceNnlve 
 illarrliii'ii, with the disehiirK*' of \urnn ijiiMntitii'ti <d' niuruii ; the individiinl 
 lipCiimeM finnoiiited and wlowly HirikN. In itom)> instniict'H (very often) thn 
 MyinptuinH lire IlioNe of liillnniinntion and nirerntion of the liowelM. In 
 IH3I> Ik niitn wiih convicted of hiiviiiK cnoHi-d the deHth of ii perNon liy the 
 mlniinNtratlon of these plllH. In thin InHtance, thu death of the decenned 
 WIIH clearly due to the medicine ; iind on hmpection the Ntomach was found 
 iiitlnined and ulcerated ; the miiciiii!i membrane of the Rmnll inteiitlnea 
 waH injected and Hoffencd, and there wan the appearance of etTimed lymph 
 npon it. An inKeniouH iittem|il waH made in the defence to draw n Ntnte- 
 nieiit from the meiliual witneHH that the )>ood elfectM of Home mediciiieH in- 
 creaNed in proportion to the 4|nanti(ieii taken, (whiuli principle holdii |{ond, 
 nevertheleMM, in allopathic prarti'!e). 
 
 In all cuseti, it mutit be remembered, that these draMic piirt;HtIveH may 
 rautie Herioim nymptomH or even death when adniinitttered to yonii^ infanta, 
 itr to persniiH dcbilitate<l by age or diseaNe ; nor Ih it necL'«sary that the 
 doHe hliotild hi! very large for the effect to follow." 
 
 It in very remnrkable with old nchool practitionern to condemn the 
 practice of other!), and perhap'4 their own is worm; still. The celebrated 
 Dr. Mai'Mliall Ilnll, in liis preface ufthe work already mentioned above, 
 unys : — " The sugjjestion of new remedieM, niid of i;reater caution in the 
 use of the old liaH also occupied my attention. In re^jard to the latter, I 
 may mention my obMervation on the due iiHe (?) nnd the abuse of blood- 
 lettinfT, (! ! !) and I may allude to n paper in preparation on that of calomel 
 nnd other murcuriaU, which have become lamentably popular in very in- 
 jurious doses" And who bleeils more, nnd prescribes more rj»lomel than 
 the Doctor liimself ? Dr. Archibald liillinfr remarks that Dr. M. II. teaches 
 that a man can lose two gallons of blood in pleurisy ; and that Dr. liillini; 
 wns once called to see n medical student before dissolution, who, after 
 hearin)r the lecture of n popular teacher on the subject of " knocking; 
 down" inflammation by depletion, had made his fellow-atudent bleed him 
 till be sank never to rise. 
 
 Sir Anthony Carlisle, disapproving the use of domestic receipts and 
 ready-made doses of all kinds of cathartic medicines, remarks that — "The 
 very pharmncopdeins of the medical Colleges tend to propagate these popular 
 errors," 
 
 Dr. .Tonatban Perelra, Professor of Materia Medica, who is also bitterly 
 opposed to quack medicine, prescribes drastics in doses which perhaps many 
 (juncks would use with more moderation. His explanations about the 
 effect of drugs are certainly not very conclusivt!. We will give a few 
 examples : — 
 
 " Scammony It operates energetically when there is a deficiency of 
 
 'ntcstinal mucus ; again, it is well adapted for torpid and inactive condi- 
 tions of the abdominal or>;ans, uncompanied witVi much slimy muc is in 
 the intestines. It is principally valuable as a smprt purgative (a smart 
 
 K 
 
74 
 
 CONSTirATION. 
 
 irritated by the normal mixture of foeeal matter until 
 they act as a foreign body, after the absorption of the 
 liquid particles, and the contraction of the muscular 
 fibres is inconsiderable. If the spontaneous force of the 
 sphincter opposes the evacuation of the excrement, the 
 contraction of the intestine is easily rendered ineffectual, 
 and the irritation is not sufficiently energetic to produce 
 a new and more powerful contraction of the intestine. 
 We do not know whether the mucous membrane, in 
 order to quiet the irritation caused by the presence of 
 the fojces, secretes a greater quantity oi' mucosity, or 
 whether the aptness of all organic parts ^to accustom 
 themselves to an abnormal state, acts in this instance with 
 still greater intensity ; but experience has clearly shown 
 that children especially, who do not immediately satisfy 
 the desire for stool, very easily contract the habit. 
 Among pregnant females, the pressure of the uterus 
 
 i 
 
 whip) for children. When used for them, it is generally assocliited with 
 calomel ; when a milder purgative is required, it may be conjoined with 
 rhubarb and sulphate of potash." Srch a mingle-mangle he calls mild! 
 Dose, ten grains to a scruple. T/iis !te calls a smuU dose ! ! 
 
 " Jalap He recommends it as an active purgative in various diseases 
 
 both of children and adults; in constipation attended with retention of the 
 catamenia. No wonder that there are so many women labouring under 
 organic affections of the womb, when the faculty recommends such reme- 
 dies. Dose, ten to thirty grains. For uhildren under twelve months old 
 the dosp from two to five grains. Fifteen grains of jalap and two or three 
 grains of calomel, form an efficient purge. 
 
 " Gamboge, is recommended in constipation and in ciirebral affections, as 
 apoplexy. Gamboge, usually associated with other purgatives, is a highly 
 valuable counter-irritant purgative, liy stimulating and rousing the nerves, 
 (what does he mean ?) blood-vessels, and secretory apparatus of the abtio- 
 men, it is often calculated to relieve determinations of blood to other parts. 
 It is very evident ! that it is a remedy well adapted for acting as a stimulus 
 to the abdomen and pelvic viscera, either to rouse them when in a torpid 
 state or to give them preternatural activity (?) and thereby to relieve some 
 distant organ on the principles of counter-irritation." There is reason for 
 you ! " They purge," says Dr. Hull , " in New York to rouse the bowels, 
 and by sympathy the liver, and by sympathy again with the liver the lungs, 
 or skin, or brains, or kidneys, to increased action when these are imagined 
 to be torpid, by a sort of flaggellation, as a smart drover rouses the lazy 
 animals cut of his reach by whipping those in the rear, whether they do 
 their duty or not." In w! at way, I would ask, do the arg.mrnts of the 
 Professor differ from those of the quatk ? Both esoon alike ; both have 
 the same object in view ; correcting ticklg secretions by medicine com- 
 pounded from tbe same materials. 
 
 Take then, my good public, your p!lls of Brandreth, of Moffatt, of 
 Evans, of Morrison, of Lee, &c., until the faculty has come to the know- 
 ledge thAt purging is poisoning, and give no more of it. 
 
CONSTIl'ATION. 
 
 /.> 
 
 mechanically disturbs the functions of the intestines, and 
 thus very frequently induces a relaxation of the muscular 
 fibres. 
 
 3. Individual constitution, especially a phlegmatic 
 temperament, and the torpid fonn of scrofula which is 
 often connected with it, are no less favourable to consti- 
 pation ; and in such persons this affection presents itself 
 mostly with the etiological characteristics laid down in 
 Xo. 2. 
 
 Diagnosis. — In a case of chronic constipation, it is 
 difficult to determine with certainty whether atony of the 
 intestinal canal be the occasional cause, especially when 
 we can get no information from what has gone before. 
 A great number of physicians lay down as general effects 
 and concomitant symptoms of < very habitual constipa- 
 tion furred tongue, distress, distension of the abdomen, 
 foul breath, frequent eructations, vertigos, headaches., 
 and other symptoms of congestion. These various 
 phenomena, in the majority of cases of constipation caused 
 
 '?| by atony of the intestinal canal, do not continue for a 
 long time, at least at the beginning of the disease, or 
 manifest themselves to a remarkable degree only when it 
 exists with some complications. With regard to the 
 tongue, we may admit as a general axiom, that its con- 
 dition is of no importance in affections of the large in- 
 testine, and that it ac([uires a semiotic value only when 
 the disease attacks the small intestine, or when general 
 febrile symptoms show themselves. 
 
 In the case of atony, habitual constipation may gener- 
 ally continue four or five days without particular incon- 
 venience ; especially in plilegmatic persons. It is only 
 when it continues for a longer period, or when the indi- 
 \ vidual is very irritable, that we observe in a slight degree 
 
 i the symptoms above-mentioned. An attentive exami- 
 nation of the patient proves also that the activity of the 
 kidneys and of the skin is greater than ordinary, and 
 
 4 these organs seem to discharge the functions of the in- 
 testinal canal. 
 
 A remarkable circumstance as contrasted with consti- 
 
n 
 
 7(> 
 
 CONSTIPATION. 
 
 pation caused by irritation, is that in the obstruction 
 proceeding from atony, nutrition .^ulfcrs less, and that if 
 the patient experience considerable inconvenience from 
 the prolongation of this state, it does not diminish in a 
 very marked manner after a stool, but ceases only at the 
 expiration of some days, as if the ivlative well-being of 
 the organ dependetl on a certain engorgement. 
 
 What then are the signs by which we can ascertain 
 with certainty whether a constipation has for its cause 
 atony of the intestinal canal ? To this question we can 
 only give a negative answer : that is, we can only note 
 the absence of symptoms which marks another disease, 
 especially a state of irritation or of organic changes in the 
 intestinal canal : an absence which indicates, with great 
 probability, the existence of atony. If a constipation of 
 several days be, besides, relatively less painful, and if 
 nothing in the preceding condition contriuiict the diag- 
 nostic, we may safely affirm it, and direct the treatment 
 of it accordingly. 
 
 Treatment. — Of the numerous medicines, palliative 
 or empirical, of the old school, there arc some which 
 ought to be mentioned, because their effects may, in all 
 probability, be reduced to the principles of homoeopathy. 
 Quinquina has been lately recommended by Howship,* 
 as well as by Wilson Philip in cases of chronic constipa- 
 tion caused by the sluggishness and relaxation of the 
 rectum, as a sure and radical cure, which has many a 
 time restored the function of the intestinal canal to the 
 normal state. 
 
 In our time, M. Fleurif\ has described the state of 
 atony under the name of idiopatlilc obstruction, and has 
 advised, as a specific means against this disease, the in- 
 troduction into the anus, to the distance of three or four 
 inches, small pieces of cotton-wick smeared with an 
 ointment made of extract of belladonna, or of hyos- 
 
 * Practical Observations on the Symptoms, Discrimination, and Treat- 
 ment of the most important Diseases of the lower intestine and anus, by 
 Solon Howship. London, 1821. 
 
 t Archives Generales de Mudecine, Mars, 1838, pp. 336 — 345. 
 
 i 
 
CONSTIl'ATIOX. 
 
 I t 
 
 (liag- 
 
 oyanius und lard. Thid treatment, iu hia liaudt«, has 
 succeeded in many eases. He leaves these pieces of wick 
 from t\velv(5 to eighteen liours in the rectum ; and he 
 assures us that he has cured the most obstinate constipa- 
 tions in a few days by means of fifteen 1o twenty pieces 
 of wick. According to him, the wick acts on the relaxed 
 rectum as a foreign body, and provokes therein a reaction 
 which restores the filjres to their contractibility. The 
 ointment of belladonna or hyoscyamus only serves to 
 diminish the too great irritation produced in the rectum 
 by the suppository, and to accustom the intestine to 
 retain it. But we may object that the rectum may be 
 sometimes too much and sometimes too little irritated ; 
 and there are few physicians who Avould ascribe the cure 
 to the mechanical irritation of the pieces of wick^ (which 
 reminds us of the soap suppositories of former days,) and 
 not rather to the specific virtue of the belladonna or 
 hyoscyamus. It is at least certain that the symptoms of 
 belladonna and hyoscyamus favor a like specific relation. 
 Of all the homoeopathic remedies hitherto recom- 
 mended, aurum miiriaticurn appea to us most suitable 
 for the state of atony. We have lately found it very- 
 efficacious in two cases. M. Legrand* who belongs to 
 the old school, has already said that metallic gold, reduced 
 to a very fine powder, revives the vital force and gives 
 tone to the stomach and the whole digestive apparatus. 
 And M. Baudeloque, who has administered very recently 
 aurum. oxyd. hydrochlor. in doses of 15 to 20 grains a day 
 against scrofula, but without success, equally extols its 
 tonic action on the muscular system. The happy results 
 which homoeopathists have obtained in employing it 
 against hernia, prove the strong specific relations which 
 it has with the functions of the intestinal canal. A great 
 number of striking experiments demonstrate its eflficacy 
 against the obstruction which results from inactivity of 
 the rectum ; notwithstanding, wc must acknowledge 
 that sometimes its effects are only transient, and that 
 
 • Ilevue Mcdicale de Paris. April, 1838. 
 
! '' 
 
 7H 
 
 CONSTIPATION. 
 
 Sifter its use for Beveral weeks, even for several months, 
 the disease which we had supposed conquered reappears. 
 Sucli cases of constipation are very obstinate, and of very 
 long standing, which scarcely ever present themselves 
 except in individuals of advanced age, whose intestine is 
 probably so much dilated that it is impossible for art to 
 restore it to its natural state. 
 
 The ])runus padus, and more frequently natrum mu- 
 riaticum, 2d and 4th dilution, have, in such cases, ren- 
 dered us important service. If we administer these two 
 medicines in alternation, at suitable intervals, we shall 
 rarely have occasion to have recourse to other means ; 
 nux vomica, lycopodlum, sulphur, nitric acid, veratrum, 
 album, alumina, and bryonia, may also be used Avith ad- 
 vantage, as the law similia similibus directs. 
 
 As a local means, we ought to mention clysters and 
 cold applications. 
 
 Clysters are indispensable in all cases wherein the ob- 
 ject is to procure a prompt evacuation, while they form 
 a valuable means in other respects ; for they favour and 
 facilitate the action of the internal medicaments. Still, 
 we should not recommend the unconditional use of them 
 in cases of obstruction proceeding from atony of the 
 intestinal canal ; indeed we must have recourse to them 
 only as little as possible, because they do more harm than 
 good. The effect of clysters is two-fold. First, they 
 facilitate the evacuation of the foccal matter, by rendering 
 it liquid ; next they mechanically dilate the intestine, 
 thus exciting it to reaction and contraction. The irri- 
 tation which they produce is evidently only transitory. 
 And if we add to them, as is frequently done, some 
 soothing substances, as oil, soap, &c., or if we administer 
 them warm, they relax still more the large intestine ; so 
 that to produce the contraction necessary to the natural 
 functions of this organ, we must have recourse to a repe- 
 tition of the means. 
 
 In atony of the intestinal canal clysters ought not to 
 be administered warm, but cold, (from 6 to 10 degrees of 
 Reaumur,) at which temperature they radically heal the 
 relaxed intestine. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 CONSTIPATION. 
 
 ro 
 
 What we have just said leads us directly to the use of 
 cold applications, especially of water, which has lately 
 been recommended as the true panacea against diseases 
 of all kinds. The enthusiastic partisans of the treatment 
 by water, greatly deceive themselves, if they imagine 
 that the use of applications of cold water against consti- 
 pation, or other chronic affections of the lower belly, is 
 a discovery of Oertel or Priessnietz. Wright, and after 
 him Ahcrcrombie, in his admirable researches on the dis- 
 eases of the intestinal canal, have quoted striking exam- 
 ples of the lower belly ; of ileus and of volvulus cured by 
 local application of cold water. Cold water has often 
 even proved serviceable in cases of chronic constipation, 
 against which all other means have failed. The most 
 simple mode of employing it, is to apply to the lower 
 belly, naked, a cloth dipped in cold water, and to leave 
 it there one or two minutes. The effect will be still 
 more energetic, if we sprinkle, with a certain degree of 
 force, against the lower belly, the cold water, contained 
 in a large sponge. 
 
 In both cases the patient will do well to wipe the belly 
 briskly, immediately after the application ; to cover the 
 part warmly, and to take a little exercise in the apart- 
 ment. A more violent application of cold water, by 
 means of baths, Avill seldom be found necessary ; for, in 
 habitual obstruction, the object is less to produce a great 
 irritation, than a continuous one. Persons subject to 
 rheuiiiatism will do well, after the application of cold 
 water, to induce a perspiration, by covering themselves 
 warmly ; because their rheumatic pains may easily be 
 brought back by a chill. 
 
 Drinking cold water is a means that we may also 
 recommend to every person subject to affections of the 
 lower belly. It is impossible to determine the quantity 
 precisely ; it is for the patient to judge, by the result, 
 how much he ought to drink, and at what temperature. 
 In ordinary cases we may take from a half pint to a quart 
 in the morning, fasting, or shortly after breakfast ; that 
 will be sufficient to render the secretion of the intestine 
 normal : and if we take an equal quantity sometime after 
 
80 
 
 CONSTIPATION. 
 
 dinner, and in the cvenin<^ bcl'urc licd-linu', wc shall be 
 doin<^ all that the regimen requires. A very large 
 <|uantity of water is never useful, and will only do harm, 
 like every thing that ia not natural. Expcrienee has 
 proved to us that it only serves to over-excite the a(;tion 
 of the kidneys, without j)roducing the least efteet on 
 other oi'gans. On the contrary, as long as the force of 
 reaction is occuj)ied ])y the increased activity of the kid- 
 neys, necessary for the secretion of that excess of licpiid, 
 the other functions of the organism are, as it were, 
 benumbed, and the eciuilibrlum between them broken. 
 It is necessary to say that the patient should observe a 
 suitable regimen during the treatment. If he will not, 
 from the beginning, abstain from all articles of food which 
 might hinder the cure, he ought at least to use them only 
 as little as possible, and especially to take nothing highly 
 spiced, or which contains much ligneous and fibrous 
 matter, as cabbages, radishes, turnips, green fruits, &c., 
 because these articles leave comparatively the greatest 
 amount of f(rcal matter. In fine, to obtain a radical 
 cure, wc must not forget that the alvinc evacuation is a 
 function, neither purely involuntary, as respiration and 
 digestion, nor totally dependent on our will, and that 
 we may justly apply to it the proverb : " Habit is a 
 second nature." Smokers and coiFee-drinkcrs do not 
 ordinarily experience the desire to go to stool, except after 
 having smoked their pi})e in the morning, or drunk their 
 first cup of coffee ; and })ersons who lead a sedentary life 
 often suffer from constipation as long as they are tra- 
 velling, or taking some unaccustomed exercise. We 
 should, then, when nature is accustomed to an abnormal 
 state, by habitual constipation, seek to bring back the 
 normal state by an o})posite habit. Thus the patient will 
 do well to remain every day, at a certain hour, for a long 
 time, on the close stool, to wait until the desire, w'hich he 
 docs not feel, f)r feels but faintly, is experienced in a 
 stronger or more regular manner. The precaution will 
 be very useful, especially in young people, among whom 
 a considerable dilatation of the intestinal canal is not yet 
 to be feared, and the reaction is still energetic. 
 
CIIArTER vin. 
 
 \ 
 
 EMMTKS. 
 
 Tlic American reviewer of Professor Duiiglison's work 
 — " General Theraj)euticr*, or Principles of INIedical 
 Practice" — referring to the author's fsinciful explanations 
 of tlie " hows,''^ and " wlii/s,'^ and " wherefores' of the 
 operation of medicinal sul>stances, remarks that, " It is 
 difficult to Bay wliether medicine has suffered most from 
 a partial and one-sided observation, or from premature 
 and hypothetical generalizing — from false facts, or from 
 false reasoning," It seems to me that the medical prac- 
 tice has not suffered so much from false reasoning, but 
 from false deductions, which brings about fidse facts. 
 " What we have principally to guard against," says the 
 eminent *W. Lawrence, " in oiu* professional researches 
 and studies, is the influence of partial and confined views, 
 and of those favourite notions and speculations which, 
 like coloured glass, distort all things seen through their 
 medium. Thus we have had a chemical sect which could 
 discern in the beautifully-varied appointments and nice 
 adaptations of animal structure, nothing but an assemblage 
 of chemical instruments ; — a medico-mathematical doc- 
 trine, which explained all the phenomena of life by the 
 
 4 sciences of number and magnitude — by algebra, geometry, 
 
 ''' mechanics, and hydraulics, &c. It is amusing to observe 
 the entire conviction and self-complacency with which 
 such systems are brought forward." The doctrine of 
 " irritation of Broussais," which in our own time has led 
 captive the whole medical w^orld, is now found to be, at a 
 
 ■ close examination, untenable in practice. 
 
 The stomach he considers the " fons et origo mall," and 
 leeches and gum water constitute the only proper treat- 
 
 : mcnt. 
 
 * Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Man, 
 by W. Lawrence, &c. 
 
82 
 
 EMETICS. 
 
 The allopath c: plains the beneficial results of* emetics, 
 in a variety of human maladies, to be consequent upon 
 the sympathetic controul exerted by the stomach and 
 alimentary canal on distant parts. The concussion (they 
 assert) of the body during; their operation is the circum- 
 stance which is of great service. Fevers, catarrh, hooj)- 
 ing-couyh, jaundice y croup, ^c, asthma, and blood-spitting, 
 (almost every disease,) are pointed out as diseases to be 
 benefitted by emetics. Allopathy iw very rich in theory, 
 but poor, very poor, in practice. 
 
 The good effect, however, to be d^irived from emetics 
 m most cases is but momentary ; generally they do more 
 harm than goo<J. Besides, it is not tC' be expected that 
 the generality of medical practitioners should have judg- 
 ment und penetration enough to distinguish with accuracy 
 and precision when the remedy should be prescribed, if 
 not with advantage, at least with no ill consequences, of 
 which there are but too many cases oa record. There 
 have not been wanting eminent practitioners, amongst 
 others Hoffman and De Haiin particularly, who have not 
 pointed out the danger in prescribing emetics. S. G. 
 Boisseau makes very judicious remarks on the subject. 
 He says : — ^' What is meant by the favourable shock 
 occasioned by the emetic ? Does it indicate the abun- 
 dant transpiration which this medicine determines, and 
 the afflux towards the head, so often dangerous, which 
 it occasions ? or, is the expression used to designate a 
 special and unknown action ? This last hypothesis 
 merits no consideration. As to the sur-excitation, more 
 or less permanent, of the skin, determined by the action 
 of this therapeutic agent, there is an important distinction 
 to be observed which has not yet been made with suffi- 
 cient care. The sur-excitation of the skin and the per- 
 spiration always occur during vomiting ; but the melio- 
 ration of the state of the stomach, the mtestines, and the 
 liver, follows it only in a very limited number of cases. 
 It is not, then, to these sympathetic phenomena, purely 
 secondary, that we should attribute the diminution of 
 the irritation of the digestive passages, when we are so 
 
EMETICS. 
 
 83 
 
 3mctip», 
 it upon 
 ich and 
 vn (they 
 circum- 
 h, hoop- 
 
 !S to be 
 theory, 
 
 1 emetics 
 do more 
 ted that 
 vc judg • 
 iccuracy 
 ribed, if 
 jnccs, of 
 
 There 
 amongst 
 nave not 
 
 S. G. 
 subject. 
 iC shock 
 ic abun- 
 incs, and 
 8, which 
 ignate a 
 rpothesis 
 on, more 
 le action 
 stinction 
 Lth suffi- 
 the per- 
 e melio- 
 , and the 
 of cases. 
 1, purely 
 lution of 
 c are so 
 
 fortunate as to obtain it. This opinion would be equally 
 erroneous with that of those authors who attribute the 
 oure of fever to the profiinc perspiration observed at tlie 
 decline of many febrile diseases. 
 
 It is projjcr to remark, that emetics sometimes procure 
 a marked melioration during some hours, or for the space 
 of one or more days, but that, after this period has elapsed, 
 we observe a renewal of all the symptoms. How grea*. 
 is the imprudence of those physicians who, notwith- 
 standing the return of the 6ymj)toms, repeat tlic admin- 
 istration of this medicine. In vain they cite certain cases 
 in which they have triumphed over the maJady by means 
 of a second, or even a third emetic. Like most of the 
 rare cases of the successful employment of therapeutic 
 agents, those instances have been productive of the most 
 ttnhappy results to humanity, because they have induced 
 practitioners to prescribe emetics in a number of circum- 
 stances in winch they are deleterious. From not comparing 
 attentively the few instances of success with the numerous 
 failures, they constantly do harm, without the probability of 
 ever being useful.'^ 
 
 Professor Paris recommends emetics in ha;morrhages. 
 Cullen says that blood-spitting is aggravated by emeticis. 
 The value of ipecacuanha, in doses of a scruple given in 
 the evening, has lately been established by Dr. Oshborae, 
 of Dublin, ii'i cases of menorrhagia (?). He administers 
 on the following morning an acidulated saline purge, and 
 he says that by such means the discharge has ceased in 
 twenty-four hours. For how long a time ? How many 
 have been injured by it he does not say. AVTiat judicious 
 practitioner would be willing to follow liis example? 
 Professor Paris seems to advocate this pernicious practice ! 
 
 Tlie homoeopathist rejects the use of emetics and pur- 
 gatives. The relief given is but momentary, and the 
 injury done often never to be repaired. 
 
 It has been my lot to witness, in this city, the fatal 
 oflPects of emetics which a young girl about 17 years of 
 age took, perhaps on her own accord, and caused a rup- 
 ture of a blood-vessel, on which she died. 
 
CUAPTEK IX. 
 
 ULOOU-LETTINO. 
 
 Without entering into miiiutia) oi' the <^i'cat nuniher of 
 futile uUoiMithio theories aljout infliunmution, J will con- 
 fine mystilf merely to nhow pnictictilly that blood-lettin*^ 
 \» but an improper and an unsafe metliod to cure in- 
 flammatory mahulicH. This suhject has been most 
 Bcientifically discussed by a Parisian homnnopath, Dr. 
 Leon Simon, in a Lecture delivered at the Koval Athen- 
 a)um of Paris. Translated into Pvnglish by James M. 
 Quin, M. D.* 
 
 [By an arranpjcment contrary to its unual practice, the 
 Royal Athcnieum of Paris resolved to j^ive two courses 
 on Medica! Science, to take place on the same cveninf^, 
 one to be delivered by M. Alphonse Sanson, one of the 
 Faculty of Medicine, and the other by Dr. Leon Simon. 
 The subject of M. Sanson's Lectures was " l^ublic 
 Hygiene," that of Dr. Leon Simon, Homoeopathy. This 
 arrangement went on harmoniously for a short time, and 
 was attended with this advantage, that the respective 
 claims of allopathy and homreopathy were placed before 
 the same audience, and at the same meeting, so that tlu; 
 means of judging between the rival systems, zealously 
 supported by the respective champions, were put within 
 the reach of all the auditors. 
 
 Had this course been continued in the true spirit 
 which should animate those in search of truth, the results 
 could not but have been highly favourable to the cause 
 of science. But in a short time, with characteristic in- 
 tolerance, M. Sanson made a most unjust and illiberal 
 attack upon Dr. Simon and his doctrines, thereby at once 
 degrading the controversy to one of a personal nature, 
 
 * Dr. Quin was the first physiciiut who introduced Ilomwopathy in 
 England. 
 
 i 
 
ni,()()i)-i,i:TTiK(i. 
 
 H;-, 
 
 :iml clcj^troying nil lulvuntai^o to he dorivod from the 
 iirnvnj^cinopt. Ah a Hpcoiiucn of tho Htylc of Af. Sunson, 
 and to show h'n ideas of st'lf-rt'Hpcct an<l hiw rtffrard lor 
 the ronvcntionalitu'rt of Hociety, wo will }^ive one of hit) 
 illustnitionH. Ho coinparort tlu; homu'oi»athio phyrticiiin 
 to the hiffhway rohbor I hut with thin difflTonco, that tho 
 advantage wan in favour of tho latter. That the bnj^and, 
 with his piHtol at your breast, gave you your choice, 
 A "your purse, or your life," while tho houio-opathist 
 ' demanded at once ])otli purse; and life ! Such are the 
 resorts to which ignorance and error drive their udvocutea 
 when sound arguments fail them. 
 
 Dr. Simon, thus attacked, did not reply in like style, 
 hut simply laid down the fundamental principles of tho 
 J science, and sup[)orted them by facts and argiuiients 
 innumerable and irrefutable. When he approac led the 
 f^ubject of vital ilijiiamizutinn (tho groundwork of bonuro- 
 pathy) the rage of IVI. Sanson know no bounds ; ho 
 fulminated all the thunders of his ehxjucnce at his ad- 
 versary's devoted head, and concluded by giving a fidso 
 account of the case of a well-known individual, recently 
 deceased. Dr. Simon thought that ho could not, in jus- 
 tice to himself and to the cause he was advocating, allow 
 such an attack u])on his principles to go imanswored, and 
 accordingly delivered the following Lectuie on the sub- 
 ject, and subsequently pid)lished it. It will iunj)ly repay 
 pcnisal, and place tho subject of which ii, treats in a clear 
 and true light. — Trans.] 
 
 " Gentlemen, — T have announced to you that I would 
 occujiy to-day with the t/wj-apia of acute diseases, diseases 
 which require tried means, by reason (jf the grave ap- 
 pearance which they often present : by reason also of 
 the rapidity of their progress. Against these affections, 
 the old school believe they have found in bleeding a 
 therapeutic means Biifficlently powerfid, to dare to say 
 that henceforth death is only an exception in tho treat- 
 ment of acute diseases.* The hardihootl of this assertion. 
 
 * Vide Bouillaud, Cliniquc Mcdicalo. Tome 2. 
 
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 O 
 
86 
 
 DR. SIMONS LECTUllE ON 
 
 the confidence with which it is put forth, the strange 
 polemic which has arisen in this place between homoco- 
 j)athy and allopathy, a polemic which I had no reason to 
 dread, in which I have engaged without seeking it, all 
 impose on me the duty of recurring to the higher pro- 
 blem of practical medicine, the theory of vital dynamism. 
 Well understood, this theory becomes the key-stone of 
 the arch of every system that has the least chance ol' 
 puccess and permanent duration. Without it the phy- 
 sician proceeds at random, and descends from the cha- 
 racter of a reflective and intelligent practitioner to tliat of 
 a blind empiric. 
 
 " What idea have I sought to give you of the vital 
 dynamism ? What part have I assigned it in the pro- 
 duction of diseases ? What regard must we pay to it in 
 their treatment ? 
 
 *' These questions comprehend, in my opinion, all that 
 can possibly be said, and all that can possibly be know^n 
 with i-egard to the vital force. The answers to them 
 determine, in the most unequivocal manner, the in^mensc 
 distance between the two schools. Indeed, on the em- 
 ployment of the infinitesimal doses and on the law of 
 similia, the discussion has soon defined its limits. Though 
 scarcely begun, we find ourselves brought back to ques- 
 tions of fact, which experience either rejects or confirms ; 
 and experience suggests neither idle discussions nor use- 
 less words. 
 
 " But when the controversy is in reference to the fact, 
 the most general which the study of organized bodies 
 presents, we must not be astonished if, on that subject, 
 the discussions have been numerous and animated, and if, 
 as I will shortly prove, authors have not always been 
 consistent. 
 
 *' I have said to you that, in reference to the question 
 which now occupies our attention, homoeopathia teaches 
 three principles : — 
 
 ^' 1. That all the physiological and pathological 
 phenomena observed in the human body, are governed 
 by a force, unknown in its nature, but appreciable by its 
 
 ^ 
 
 rcsull 
 
THE THEBAPIA OF ACUTE DISEASES. 
 
 87 
 
 strange 
 homoco- 
 reason to 
 ig it, all 
 her pro- 
 /namism. 
 ■stone of 
 hance oi' 
 he phy- 
 the clia- 
 io tliat of 
 
 the vital 
 the pro- 
 ^ to it in 
 
 , all that 
 ; known 
 to them 
 in^mensc 
 the em- 
 e law of 
 Though 
 to ques- 
 onfirms ; 
 nor use- 
 
 the fact, 
 d bodies 
 subject, 
 cl, and if, 
 lys been 
 
 question 
 teaches 
 
 lological 
 governed 
 Ic by its 
 
 results ; a force, one and invisible, although multiplied 
 in its manifestations, called the vital force. 
 
 " 2. That every disease is the result of an inharmo- 
 nious impression made by an external agent en that vital 
 force. 
 
 " 3. That every mod^ of treatment ought to have for 
 its object, the modification of rhe force of which we arc 
 speaking, and to bring it back to the normal type, from 
 which it has temporarily strayed ; and that on this single 
 condition it is granted us to obtain radical cures : i. c. to 
 destroy the disease in its cause and in its effects. What 
 has been objected to this ? 
 
 **' No one has had the hardihood to question the idea 
 of the vital force. This idea has been too long introduced 
 into the science ; it has there taken too deep root, to allow 
 of its being successfully assailed. 
 
 " Leaving, then, the question of principles, vague and 
 indefinite, they have contested the consequences which 
 necssarily flow from it. 
 
 " It has been said that, if it were correct to acknow- 
 ledge that at the beginning every disease were dynamic 
 in its nature, the vital force would soon re-act on the 
 organs, and that the organic modifications resulting from 
 that re-action would be the only thing that the physician 
 should have in view in the treatment, and the only 
 enemy that he would have to combat. 
 
 " It is not sufficient, it has been added, to attack the 
 cause of a disease, although it may be useful to remove it 
 to a distance. We must occupy ourselves with the effect 
 produced, and combat it. 
 
 " In fine, it has been concluded that in adopting the 
 theory of the vital dynamism, and in allowing ourselves 
 to be guided exclusively by it in practice, we propose a 
 problem composed of an infinite number of elements, 
 having regard to but one of them, and neglecting all the 
 others. 
 
 " In support of these assertions, an appeal has been 
 made to facts and reasoning. It has been asked if, in 
 the case of hanging, the first thing to be done was not to 
 
88 
 
 1)U. SIMON S HiCTUttE ON 
 
 cut the cortl tliut is .strivii_iilin<i- the victim, and it' it would 
 not he l(jsin<5 precioud time to iit tempt to modify tlie vital 
 force nccesfbarily injured, in u ease so serious and so ra- 
 pidly mortal. 
 
 " You have been told of ].i/uumoHi(i, an acute disease, 
 serious on account of the rapidity of its i)roj5resrf and the 
 importance of the oij^anlc apparatus in which it displays 
 itself. You have also had cited the example of ossifica- 
 tion of the valves of the heart. To all these objections 
 I Avill icply during- the present meeting; not that the 
 examples chosen are felicitous ones; not that the rea- 
 sonings to which they have given rise can weaken the 
 proposition that I have maintained and developed ; but 
 because they both present me the oi)poi;,^nity of giving 
 a new support to the doctrines which I am defending, 
 and because they form a very happy introduction to the 
 therapeutics of acute diseases. 
 
 " I beg, gentlemen, that you do not mistake the object 
 which I propose to myself. It is exclusively scientific ; 
 and I cannot give you a better proof of it than by giving 
 to my convictions the immoveable foundation of positive 
 facts, for the most part acknowledged by the tAvo schools. 
 In our day, protestations of sincerity have but little value, 
 and I will not accordingly spread them lavishly before 
 you. Bu^. I cannot help expressing my astonishment 
 that the cri;.ic to whom I am about replying, should have 
 dared to doubt my sincerity. If I did not know the 
 important pai't which the smaller passions play in the life 
 of men of science, my jistoninhment would be still greater. 
 William Harvey discovers the circulation of the blood, 
 and forthwith he meets with numerous enemies, among 
 whom, and at the head of whom, we must place B-iolan, 
 the first of the French anatomists of the age. Broussais 
 undertakes in our day to reform the art of healing in all 
 its parts; and for many years Broussais heaps injury 
 upon an old man, almost an octogenarian, who was his 
 master — against Pinel, a man most justly beloved for his 
 character, and whose works were enjoying a deserved 
 reputation. A rapid popularity, but alas! of short 
 
THE THEllVriA OK ACLTK DISEASES. 
 
 89 
 
 giving 
 
 blood. 
 
 (lunation, encircles the work of Broussals, and soon the 
 (lemon of envy is let loose upon him, pursues him to his 
 chair, in his clinicjue, and obliges him to waste his health 
 in the heat of a polemic, ever springing up ancM' ; and 
 iiiiiny of those who j)ersecuted him with the greatest 
 fury, felt themselves honored, at a later period, in sitting 
 i)eside him, whetlier at the Academy or at the Faculty. 
 You see, then, that in the sciences, as elsewhere, fortune 
 lias her ca})riccs ; opinion is readily tossed to and fro ; 
 the enemy of to-day becomes the friend of to-morrow ; 
 ill proportion as truth becomes mighty, .he obliges the 
 most refractory to l)Ow l)cncath her sceptre. Let us then 
 patiently wait for th(! day of justice. Jf I give utterance 
 to some expressi(ms insjtiivd l)y a just indignation, do 
 not suppose, as you have been told, that I have rebelled 
 against criticism, llevolt is legitimate in case of op- 
 ))ression, and oppi'ession is always derived from the 
 possession of power. I do not think that there is in this 
 instance anv room for revolt. 
 
 '•' Let us resume the question where T had left it. 
 
 " The existence of the vital force being conceded, I 
 think it useless to return to this point. However, I wish 
 you to observe how much I have been misunderstood by 
 the critic to ^^ l^om I am replying. ' He has supposed that 
 r had represented to you the vital force as a spiritual 
 being, lodged in the organism, and influencing it, entirely 
 distinct from it. lieasoning on this hypothesis, he has 
 granted that, in every disease, the vital force received the 
 first morbid impression, that it repeated this impression 
 on the organs, and that disease did not truly exist except 
 at the moment when the organs received that influence. 
 I have not adopted a similar mode of reasoning, because, 
 gentlemen, this Avould be restoring to honour an hypo- 
 thesis long since justly despised. I wish to speak of the 
 hypothesis of Stahl, and of all the animists. It Avould 
 be, moreover, going beyond the observation of facts. 
 
 " I have adopted the position of Newton, and not that 
 <^f Stahl, of Yanhelmont, or of Barthez. Newton has 
 
 M 
 
90 
 
 OR. SfMUN 8 LRCTITRE ON 
 
 said, that all the phenomena of phyaicul order Avere niaiii 
 Tested, as if all the bodies of nature were incessantly acted 
 on by a force which he named attraction. We, in our 
 turn, say that all the phisiological and pathological 
 phenomena develop themselves, as if there existed in 
 man a force ever present, inherent in the organism, which 
 should be the pi'incipal director of all those phenomena. 
 There is our opinion^ and we say nothing more, nothing 
 less. What is the essential nature of that force, what 
 becomes of it when, after death, the body falls again 
 under the influence of physical laws, I know not ; and I 
 deplore my ignorance the less, since a little more light 
 would add nothing to the power of the physician. The 
 law of Newton, applied to the study of the bodies of 
 physical order, has enabled us, as you know, to explain 
 them all, to calculate their return, tlieir extent, and their 
 degree of force ; it has added to the power which man 
 has, in all times, exercised over nature ; what more do 
 we desire ? 
 
 " The nature of the vital force tlissipates the greater 
 part of the obscurities of physiology and of medicine, 
 and presents to the observation a fixed point, and a di- 
 recting principle ; why should we go beyond it ? In 
 what, then, does the idea which I present to you resemble 
 the ideas which were current in the science before Hah- 
 nemann? In what does it differ from them? It re- 
 sembles them in this, that by the impression of the vital 
 force, we wull designate the mysterious and profound 
 CAUSE which animates the whole living being, constitutes 
 with it the body, presides over all its functions, and is 
 the starting point and termination of all the modifications 
 which disease produces. It differs from them in this, 
 that the principle once admitted, we know how to undergo 
 the consequences of it, when we maintain that all rational 
 medicine ought to have for its object the modification of 
 the vital force ; in other words, to act on that sole cause 
 of the phenomena, so varied, which the life of organized 
 bodies presents. We can no longer say with Vanhel- 
 mont that the spirit which has formed the various parts 
 
THK TIIERAIMA OK ACVTE IMSKASKS. 
 
 f)l 
 
 sre niani 
 itly acted 
 3, in our 
 hological 
 xisted in 
 m, which 
 3noniena. 
 , nothing 
 •ce, what 
 lis again 
 t; and I 
 are light 
 M. The 
 )odie8 of 
 explain 
 md their 
 ich man 
 more do 
 
 i greater 
 ledicine, 
 ad a di- 
 it? In 
 •esemble 
 re Hah- 
 It re- 
 he vital 
 (rofound 
 istitutes 
 , and is 
 fi cations 
 in this, 
 undergo 
 rational 
 ation of 
 le cause 
 ganized 
 V^anhel- 
 la parts 
 
 of the body, and has distinguished them one from another, 
 has therein assumed also the modifications peculiar to 
 those same parts j)roduccd from the seed ; the injluent 
 spirit being there determined by that which is inherent. 
 We can no longer say that each one of tlwse particular 
 lives, in the various organs, is separated from the common 
 life of man, as much as things could be which have different 
 existences* 
 
 " This notion of the vital force differs equally from the 
 opinion of Blumenbach, who, in his physiology, establishes 
 several classes of vital forces, which is admitting multi- 
 j)licity in a condition in which, by the sternest necessity, 
 the most perfect unity should reign. Wc may well say, 
 with Barthez, that the principle of life, by which man is 
 animated, should be considered as the most gencTal ex- 
 perimental cause with which the phenomena of health 
 and of disease present us ;t without, however, going so 
 far as to assert, with that same author, that the vital 
 principle exists independently of the mechanism of the 
 human body, and of the affections of the thinking soul.J 
 
 " Thus, gentlemen, the existence in man of a principle 
 of life, one, and indecomposable, which binds together all 
 the functions and all the actions of human life, and makes 
 them all tend to one common end — this is the first fact 
 that I establish, and which cannot be controverted but 
 l>y destroying life itself. But this principle of life mani- 
 fests itself differently by reason of the difference in the 
 j)hysiological functions, and in the structure of the organs 
 which are the instruments of it. This is the second fact 
 of the theory of the vital dynamism, and this fact is too 
 evident to render it necessary to insist upon it. Each 
 function, and consequently each oi^anic apparatus, has a 
 relation of affinity to an order of modifiers : as the affinity 
 
 * Spiritus enim, qui partes ab invicem distinxit et fornaavit, mox in 
 ipsispartibu8, determinatiuneaomnessuscepit . . . quiainfluensspiritui 
 ab insUo ibidem determinatur . . . Quae singulte a vita communi homi- 
 iiis sunt direptse, quantum ilia qu8e diversas exiHtentiaH habent. Yauh. 
 Vita brevis Op. Omnia p. 451. 
 
 t Nouvcttux elemens de la Sc, de I'H. ch. 2. 
 
 t lb. p. 81. 
 
92 
 
 1)K. SIMO.N S LIX TlUIi OX 
 
 of the rcsplmtoiy sii)[)aratu?3 tu iitinosplicrio uir, of tlie 
 digestive apparatus to alinient^, of the nervous system to 
 the iinpontleral)le fkiitls, &c. As these inodiHers, at the 
 same time that they are the elements of life, may and do 
 often beeome tlie causes of disease, be not astonished if, 
 in the pro(hiction of these hitter, the iiiliarmonious action 
 of the vital force manifests itself variously by reason of 
 the diversity of the cause which has acted on it; so that 
 it is sometimes the digestive ai)})aratus, sometimes tlu; 
 circulating system ; at one time the ])ulmonary apparatus, 
 at another, the nervous system, ice., which become the 
 principal, though not the exclusive seat of disease. 
 
 " If, instead of being dynamic or general, as I have 
 proved, diseases were local or organic, according to the 
 doctrine of the allopathic school, how ccadd we explain 
 the existence of the symptoms called si/mjHithclic, symp- 
 toms so numerous that, to the attentive observer, in every 
 disease, whether acute or chronic, there is not a single 
 system nor a single function that is really in a healthy 
 state not only at the counnencement, but throughout the 
 entire course of the disease ? 
 
 "Will any one say that scrofulous subjects, those la- 
 bouring under pulmonary phthisis, cancer, or herpetic 
 affections, have a single point of their organization truly 
 free from the pathological disorder ? Will any one say 
 that persons sick of eruptive fevers, of the cholera, of 
 influenza, of acute peritonitis, of pleuro-[)neumony, are 
 in like manner healthy in any respect ? And if, in reality, 
 this imposing train of sympathetic symptoms, considered 
 as accessory symptoms, Averc nothing more than the con- 
 sequence of the primitive alteration of a particular organ, 
 why, I ask you, should it happen that these secondary 
 symptoms manifest themselves at the very beginning 
 (and this often happens) in organs which are not in direct 
 physiological connection with the diseased organ ? Thus, 
 in jaundice the sclerotica will become yellow from the 
 commencement of the disease, while frequently the 
 stomach and the intestines will present no appreciable 
 pymptom. In coryza, the patient will I'ccl painful lassi- 
 
 1 . 
 
TIIK TllKKAI'IA OF A( LTK DISKASLS. 
 
 93 
 
 ir, of tlif 
 .s}st(jm to 
 !iy, at the 
 ny and do 
 •nisjlu'd if, 
 oils action 
 reason of 
 ; ; bo that 
 times tJu! 
 ip|)aratu!S, 
 come tlie 
 ise. 
 
 13 I have 
 
 iji' to the 
 
 exj)lain 
 
 ic, synip- 
 
 , in every 
 
 a single 
 
 Ileal thy 
 
 hout the 
 
 those la- 
 hcrpetic 
 ion truly 
 one say 
 lolera, of 
 lony, are 
 n reality, 
 jiisidered 
 the con- 
 ar organ, 
 ocondary 
 cginning 
 in direct 
 ' Tluis, 
 Tom the 
 itly the 
 areciablo 
 ful lassi- 
 
 tude in the limbs, before luuing litiier .^;ugh of j)alii in 
 tlie tiiroat. Certain species of ervsijK-las of the fai;e will 
 provoke bilious vomiting, without developing any cerebral 
 t«yni])toni. The reason is, that the devehipment of the 
 symptoms called sympathetic always bearri a relation to 
 tlie nature of the morbiil i;ause, and that by reason ol' 
 that cause, the inhannonious action manifests itself 
 variously ; that, In line, if tlu-re be any given disease, 
 some symptoms jirimary, and others secoiidaiy, tliis fact 
 still further con inns the unity of our I'luulamental 
 j)nncij)le. 
 
 •' See, moreover, the strange contradictions which the 
 advocates of locuUzatioa have been uiuil»le to escape. 
 Hronssais who was, if not the author of this system, (for 
 at the })resent day it is traced as I'ar back as Galen,)* at 
 least its most zealous and violent defender, after ha\ ing 
 estaljlished in ItSjJ}), as one of the ])riiici|)al axioms of his 
 (hjctrine, that uU diseases are oriijiiutlli/ local,] Jiroussais, 
 carried away by the Ibrce of truth, does not hesitate to 
 contradict himself in another of Ills Avrltings. 'We are 
 sick,' said he, ' before the tissues are altered : spontaneous 
 disease is always vital in its commencement, and conse- 
 fpiently, to make a useful interiKd j)athology, we must 
 endeavour to ai)preciate the value of the group of symp- 
 toms from the moment they present themselves, in order 
 to 1)0 able to act l^elbre the alteration in the structure of 
 the organs takes place, since the cure is more difficult at 
 that period than previously.'^ Let us com[)are with this 
 quotation the observation so remarkable and so profound 
 made by M. Dubois, of Amiens, in his Traitc tie Patho- 
 logic Gcnerale. ' We have sought to establish the prin- 
 ciple,' says this author, ' that excei)tlng cases (jf traumatic 
 lesions, of humoral infections, and some others, diseases 
 at their commencement were all vital ; that the causes 
 
 * See Bulletin de I'Arademie Royale de Med., Jiuuiary, 1842, tlie 
 discustiiuii on this subject between M. M. Double and Dubos D'AmieriK. 
 
 t Commciitaire des prop, de path. Tome 1 p. 10. 
 
 \ Exainen des Doct. Med. 'J'ome 4 p. (542. 
 
«4 
 
 I)U. MMONS LlU'TrUK ON 
 
 ol' disojtscs (.lid not at nil, in ^oncnil, iiflict the tissiic ol' 
 tlic orj^iins, Imt their inode of vitality ; tlmt Jitmosphcric 
 <'han«i;c's, iimnil emotions, ike, eonld not at lirst net on 
 the Hubstiinoe of the eeononiv."* 
 
 " What, more does honi(Co[)athy assert ? It eompletes 
 und defines whatever is vagnc and incomi)k'te in the jtre- 
 ccding proposition. Withont mentioning the execptions 
 which the author does not desi<^nate, it range's humoral 
 infections under the eonmion law, and makes an exception 
 in favour of traumatic lesions only in reference to the 
 mechanical treatment. ^^ hy, 1 ask you, should we sup- 
 pose that in the infection of itch, in scrofidous or in 
 cancerous cachexies, the cause of the disease woidd be 
 directed against the tissue of the organs rather than 
 ugainst the mode of vitality, wliile wc maintain the 
 reverse in other diseases in which the immediate contact 
 is quite as easy to prove ; as, for exami)le, in the pro- 
 duction of certain aftectioni! under the influence oi' 
 atmospheric changes ? It must be a cou-^equence, or at 
 least wc must give experimental proofs to justify the 
 anthwmia which we arc obliged to admit. 
 
 "In regard to traumatic lesions, mentioned by M. 
 Dubois, of Amiens, and A^rhicli the critic to whom I am 
 replying has seized and made an argument against us, the 
 exception must be maintained, but with the reservation 
 that wc consider as dynamic also the affections which are 
 the consequence of their action. M. Sanson has thought 
 to triumph over homoeopathy by asking us if, in case of 
 hanging, our first care would not be to cut the cord 
 which is strangling the patient? Undoubtedly. The 
 critic should have generalized the question, and then we 
 would have answered him in the language of Hahne- 
 mann, — ' It is taken for granted, that every intelligent 
 physician will commence by this causa occasionalis ; thus 
 the indisposition usually yields of itself. Thus it is ne- 
 cessary to remove flowers from the room when their 
 odors occasion paroxysms of fainting and hysterics ; to 
 
 * V. Piiitlioloijie Gcneiale. Toine 1 p. It)8. 
 
THE TIIKUAPIA OF ACUTE DISEASES. 
 
 d:» 
 
 rxtract from the eye the foreign sul (.stance wlileh ocea- 
 Hions ophthalmia; to remove the ti^^lit handat^os IVom a 
 woumlecl Hmb which thrcateiirt n;aii{;rene, and a|»i»ly others 
 more suitahh; ; lay bare and tie u\) a wounded artery 
 where hicmorrhajj;e produees fainting; evaeuate the berries 
 of bfjlladonna, &c., which may have been swallowed, by 
 vomiting ; extract the foreign particles whieii have in- 
 troduced themselves into the openuig of the body ; grind 
 down a stone in the bladder,' &c.* 
 
 " \Ve pursue this course because the wounding body 
 here performs the part of cnnsa occasionalis. But as we 
 have seen that the vital force, in its essential character- 
 istics, is ever active, everywhere present, and inherent in 
 the organism, that force cannot possibly remain free from 
 the disorder induced by the cause mentioned. Again, it 
 has been usual to consider diseases which arc the result 
 of traumatic lesions as coming within the scope of medi- 
 cine, and to treat them as such. What course does 
 allopathy pursue in cases of asphyxia by drowning, or 
 asphyxia properly so called ? It removes the occasional 
 cause, endeavours to awaken vitality by all the means of 
 excitation, then watches the reactions which will develop 
 themselves at the moment when the vitality is re-estab- 
 lished, and treats those reactions by themselves and for 
 themselves ; i. e. exactly in the same manner that it 
 would do for simple congestions. If a wound be the 
 cause of disturbance, allopathy again hastens to remove 
 the occasional cause, dresses the wound in order to faci- 
 litate cicatrization, and is again constrained to watch 
 until the vital reaction point out the line of conduct. 
 For us the indication to be answered is exactly tlie same ; 
 all the difference lies in the difference of the means em- 
 ployed. This first objection, derived from traumatic 
 lesions, was, we see, badly chosen, for if there be a point 
 on which, theoretically, the two doctrines agree tolerably 
 well, it is evidently the present. 
 
 * Organon. Section 7, note. 
 
96 
 
 int. SI.M(»\ s I,Kt TLHK OM 
 
 " Jiiit till* oapital oltjcctltiii, and to which I owe u 
 |H'r('tii|»t<»ry jinswcr, consists in asHcrtitiLr, that when once 
 tho vital toi'cc ha* rt'tlcolcd on the «»r;^ans tli" n)orhi(l 
 impression roccivod l)v it, its action ccascn, and that we 
 ti('> d no h)nii'er attend to anythini>* except the ciVoet pro- 
 diu'cd; i. e. to treat the or;;;anic inodilieation. 
 
 " Th(> action ot' the vital I'orcc can lUiver be sns])ended 
 for a ><in^l(! moment. As I have said, with Hahnemann, 
 it is ever active, ever present. Facts and reasoning hear 
 witness to the truth of this law. 
 
 " In fact, there are diseases which allopathy often 
 abandons to themselves, without o])posin_i^ any actives 
 means to them, — eruptive fejcrs arc of this number — 
 and in which the ci.re nevertheless takes place. [Hut 
 Avhen allopathy interferes, when diilieulty of breathing, 
 or a disordered din'cstion re([niri! assistance, and tartar 
 rmrfir, h/cctl/'tif/, rtifonirf, ^-t: ^•r., co\m'. into play, then iro 
 to the little patient, its little s[):u-kU! is soon extinguished. 
 The measle epidemy of ^lontreal tells a sad tale I] In 
 this case, and in many others of the same kind, to what 
 can wc ascribe the honor of the cure, if not to that fi)rcc, 
 ever active, ever present, and which essentially preserves 
 its own nature? And how could it brinjji; abont a result 
 so happy if its beneficent opei'ation were sus[)ended for u 
 sinfijle instant? So nuich for the facts, now for the 
 
 reason m<i:. 
 
 *' The vital force, wc have said, is the cause of all the 
 phenomena of life. -Now, as there is no eifect without a 
 cause, no vital phenomena can be manifested without the 
 continued intcrvenlion of a force. To admit that this 
 force ceases to act durins; a single moment, however short, 
 is to annihilate life, to destroy the living^ bcinp;. If you 
 grant that at the beginning every disease is dynamic, you 
 will be obliged to admit that its continuance cannot 
 change its nature ; that, in other words, it cannot be 
 maintained but by the ])ower that has produced it. Kow, 
 you grant that modification of dynamic nature is the 
 initial of every disease ; you must then go to the end of 
 the reasoning, and pursue it to its furthermost limit. In 
 
THE TUKKAIMA Ol At ITK DIHKASKS. 
 
 97 
 
 I owe !i 
 hen (>!!(•(' 
 > morbid 
 that we 
 li'ct p ro- 
 lls J )oiul('(l 
 iiKMiiaiin, 
 liii^ hear 
 
 \y often 
 
 V active 
 
 iiinhcr — 
 
 [Hut 
 
 rcatliinix, 
 
 1(1 tartar 
 
 then iro 
 
 Lriiislii'd. 
 
 If.'] In 
 
 to wiiat 
 
 lat force, 
 
 )rcservc.s 
 
 : a rofiilt 
 
 iletl for a 
 
 for the 
 
 fall the 
 ithout a 
 hout the 
 hat thi.s 
 er short. 
 If you 
 nic, you 
 1 cannot 
 nnot be 
 Now, 
 B is the 
 1 end of 
 lit. Ill 
 
 short, Hupportc the vital force of the human orfranirim to 
 be 8us|)en(led, there remains nothin<^ hut inert matter, 
 incapable in itself ol producui^ disease or of maintaining 
 it, much le«rt of hrinj^injif about a cure, incapable even of 
 hein^' affected by the o[»emtionfi oi'urt. 
 
 "There ia no greater medical hensy than that which 
 has been advanced in this room. On what i)roof of fact 
 or reasoning can we biise the assertion, that in thera- 
 peutics we nmst attend only to the result |)rotluccd by 
 the disturbance of the vital fo.ce, and not to t|ic lesion 
 of that force itself? 
 
 " Three instances have beer, quoted : 1. lunojlmj, and 
 you have seen to what this objection reduced itself; 2. 
 jincumonia ; and 3. ossification of the valves of the heart. 
 I will say l)ut two words about ossification of the valves 
 of the heart, wishing to concentrate the discussion to the 
 essential instance, pneumonia. 
 
 " To whatsoever system we may direct our attention, 
 the ossification of the valves of the heart is, and always 
 will be, an incurable disease. \n this malady there is a 
 change of the cartilaginous tissue into the bony, and I 
 l)resume it will be acknowledged that we must abandon 
 the hope of restoring a transformed tissue to its primitive 
 organization. Whenever, then, you api)roach a patient 
 laboring under a similar affection, the treatment must be 
 directed to soothe, not to cure. Similar instances can 
 never serve either to strengthen or to weaken a general 
 therapeutic law. The example was badly chosen. Let 
 us remark, en passant, that there is but little logic in the 
 system pursued by criticism when it - jizcs on exceptions, 
 instead of attacking ordinary facts. Pneumonia was of 
 the latter number ; it was an example well chosen ; that 
 is why I will speak of it in some detail. In pneumonia, 
 gentlemen, allopathy bleeds, and cure I acknowledge 
 often follows the employment of bleedings. By this 
 practice it acts directly on the effect, indirectly on the 
 cause. Considered in reference to its external causes, to 
 the nature of the lesions which it produces, to its pro- 
 gress, to its different periods, pneumonia is certainly at 
 
98 
 
 DR. SIMON s li:cti;ri: on 
 
 this ttiiy one oi* tlio morljld states with which we uro be.st 
 acquaintcil. If, then, bleeding be ii means as powerful, 
 as direct as it is supposed, the residts shoidd necessarily 
 be magnificent. AVell I the works of the rmmencnl school 
 (considered at present the most scientific bleeders) enable 
 us to settle our ojunions on this point in an irrefutable 
 manner. 
 
 " Here are tlvc residts : — 
 
 " M. Andral gives a digest of Q5 pneumonic patients. 
 Out of this number 36 died, 27 were cured ; giving the 
 proportion of 1 death out of 1 |f .* 
 
 " Out of 123ggitients ill with peripneumony treated by 
 M. Chomel at Inc hospital of La Charite, there were 4(J 
 deaths, about one-third of the whole number ; an enor- 
 mous mortality, says M. Bouilkiud, nearly the same as 
 that of typhoid fever. 
 
 " Out of 90 pneumonic patients treated oy M. Gue- 
 ncau de Mussy, 38 died ; mortality f , or about 42 out 
 of every 100. 
 
 " Out of 63 pneumonics received in the hospital Cochin, 
 under the care of JVI. Bciuln, 16 died; mortality, about 
 1 out of 4. The same proportion was observed at the 
 Clinique of the Faculty while M. Cayol had charge of 
 the treatment, t ' If we could believe Lajnnec, out of 30 
 cases of [xsripneumony treated by stibiated tartar, admin- 
 istered according to the formula of Rasori, 27 got well. 
 But besides that this result has not been proved by an 
 exhibition of facts, it would prove nothing even if we 
 should admit it as true. All the patients treated by 
 stibiated tartar had been previously subjected to bleeding ; 
 Avliich renders it very difficult to estimate the comparative 
 value of these two means. In fine, M. Bouillaud, from 
 whom I borrow the above-mentioned details, by making 
 a bolder use of bleeding than any who have preceded 
 him, arrives, I must say, at a more satisfactory result. 
 He loses but one out of eight or nine.| 
 
 • Andral Cliii. Med. Tome 1. 
 
 t Bouillaud Cliniquc Mud. de la Charite. 
 
 «tuoted by me are recorded. 
 
 J BouUI md Clini({ue Medicalc de la Charite. Tome 2. 
 
 Tome 2, where all the cases 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 TIIK TIIKRAPIA OF ACUTE DISEASES. 
 
 99 
 
 c are best 
 powerful, 
 ^cessarily 
 cnl school 
 "A) enable 
 refutable 
 
 patients, 
 ving the 
 
 eated by- 
 were 40 
 an enor- 
 samc as 
 
 M. Gue- 
 
 t 42 out 
 
 I Cocliin, 
 ty, about 
 d at the 
 harge of* 
 ut of 30 
 ', admin- 
 ^ot well. 
 I by an 
 in if we 
 ated by 
 leedlng ; 
 parative 
 id, from 
 makinff 
 receded 
 result. 
 
 I the cases 
 
 " Let US compare these different results. 
 
 " I grant three pohits : 1. l)lceding effects adi!?:^orge- 
 nient of the organ [)riucipjilly affected in pneumonia: 2. 
 it facilitates absorption: 3. by weakening the vitality of 
 the ])atient it diminishes equally the intensity of the 
 morbid cause. 1 can veiy well uuderstiuid, tlien, that 
 under the inthience of bleeding (experience proves it) luul 
 in the most favourable view, the cure is the proportion 
 of one to eight or nine. But I demand in retiu'u, that 
 they grant me I . that bleeding, even in pneumonia, acts 
 only on the phenomena of disease, in other words on the 
 effects : that consequently it is an indirect means of 
 healing, which does not allow u.s to obtain all that we 
 might possibly expect from a direct means, that is from 
 one Avhich would act on the cause and necessarily on the 
 effect : 2. that bleeding is attended with the very great 
 inconvenience of weakening the patient (not only of 
 weakening, hut there is danger of sinking hy the loss of 
 blood hy this ' knocking down method'' as it is justly called)* 
 in consequence of diminishing his powers of reaction ; in 
 consequence also, of bringing about convalescences always 
 tedious and often dangerous : 3. that it often leaves be- 
 hind it the germs of the disease which developc themselves 
 at a subsequent period under the influence of the slightest 
 excitement, that is, predisposes to relapse, (and also to 
 many oi-ganic affections, particularly of the lungs and 
 heart) : 4. that the proportion of one death out of eight 
 or nine patients, is but a feeble result for a disease as 
 well understood as pneinnonia, Eacli of us in the 
 homoeopathic practice being limited to his individual 
 experience, it is im[)ossible for me to give you the com- 
 parative numei'ical results in the disease before us, as 
 favourable (?) and imposing (!) as those contained in the 
 writings of the allopathic physicians. All that I can 
 affirm is, that out of 17 cases of peripneumony, I have 
 
 * When pain and dyspneea nre urgent, says Dr. Billing, we must try f 
 what can be done with antimony, ipenaciianlia, mercury, opium, digitalis, 
 Ific. lie tliinks the abstraction ot^t-e or six pints of biood in intiainmations 
 M ill do, tojretlKT with .wttivc troiifinent ! I 
 
100 
 
 DR. Simon's lecture on 
 
 had Jut 2 deaths. I have [aiblished the account of one 
 of them,* in which the plcuropncumony was complicated 
 with pulmonary apoplexy. The other was an intercur- 
 rent-pncumonla in a phthisical young female. Among 
 the other cases which terminated favorably, there is one 
 Avhicli is too precious to me, in several respects, to allow 
 me to omit it here. 
 
 " In 1831 my son was attacked with acute pneumonia, 
 for which he was bled five timet*, and had several blisters 
 applied to tlie sides and chest. His life was in danger 
 for more than six weeks, and the pneumcmia did not truly 
 yield till the stibiated tartar was administered according 
 to the formula of Kasori. Even after the emiJoyment 
 of this medicine, his convalescence was most imperfect, 
 as I have elsewhere stated,! and he owed his perfect 
 restoration, which did not take place till 1833, to the 
 employment of the Homoeopathic doctrine. In 1837 ne 
 had another attack ; the disease occupied the inferior 
 lobe of the right lung. The disease yielded completely 
 in three days, to one dose of aconite, followed by one of 
 hryonia. On the eighth day from the beginning of the 
 attack, the patient had resumed his studies. 
 
 " Multiplicity of facts is certainly of great weight in 
 medicine, but the just appreciation of them has also its 
 worth. If, in regard to an olyection which presents 
 itself to me, it were in my power, nay farther, if it were 
 my duty, to enter into a detail of facts, one thing would 
 strike you : that is, the difference in the modus operandi 
 of Homoeopathic agents, compared with that of Allopathic 
 agents. Read the observations of the teachers of Allo- 
 pathic medicine, and see how under the influence of 
 bleeding the cure is obtained. Scarcely has a bleeding 
 been finished, before you perceive a decided improve- 
 ment in the local symptoms of the disease. The cough 
 becomes more easy, the xpectoration less viscous, the 
 respiration more free, and the fever diminished. But 
 
 * Journal de la doctrine Hahnemann. Tome 1, p. 29, and passim, 
 f Ije9on8 de Med. Horn., Paris, 1825, p. 128, and passim. 
 
THE TIIEUAPIA 01<' ACUTE DISEASES. 
 
 101 
 
 it. of one 
 nplicatcd 
 intercur- 
 
 Amonn; 
 re is one 
 
 to allow 
 
 eumonia, 
 il blistei'ri 
 n clanp;cr 
 not truly 
 iccordlng 
 
 loymcnt 
 rnpcrf'cct, 
 perfect 
 3, to the 
 1 1837 iic 
 
 inferior 
 mpletely 
 ly one of 
 ig of the 
 
 rcight in 
 s also its 
 
 presents 
 if it were 
 ig would 
 
 operandi 
 Jlopathic 
 
 of AUo- 
 uence of 
 bleeding 
 improve- 
 le cough 
 cous, the 
 3d. But 
 
 pnsiiiin. 
 
 ordinarily, this amelioration is of short duration. The 
 recurrence of the original synn)toms soon obliges us to 
 have recourse to new sanguineous evacuations, and it is 
 only after the repetition, more or less fre(iuent. of the 
 same means, that the restoration is (jlfci.'ted. Can there 
 be a stronger proof of the fact, which I advanced an 
 instance since, that even when bleeding cures, it is only 
 indirectly ? To what can we ascribe the return of the 
 symptoms after a longer or shorter remission, if it be not 
 that, the therapeutic agent expending its power on the 
 effect and not on the cause, the latter follows its own 
 natural tendencies in continuing to act ? 
 
 " In homeopathy the reverse takes place. The "general 
 symptoms are the first to Ix litigated, and the local 
 symptoms next disappear ; and when tlie remedy has 
 been well chosen, every amelioration is obtained for 
 jjood. We never witness those exacerl)ations which 
 l)ring the patient back to the starting point. 
 
 " Let me now generalize the question. 
 
 "Pneumonia is not the only acute disease against 
 which the virtues of bleeding have been heralded. In 
 the epidemics of inlluenza, of cholera* {and what else has 
 
 * "Bearing in mind," says Dr. James Rush of Philndolplila, " that wc 
 have now in medicine the recorded science and practice of more than two 
 thousand years, let the reader refer to the proceedings of the so-called 
 ' Asiatic cholera," and he will see their history every where exhibiting an 
 extraordinary picture of prefatory panic, vulgar wonder, doubt, ignorance, 
 obtrusive vanity, plans for profit and popularity, fatal blunders, diKtractiiig 
 contradictions, and egregious empiricism — of twenty confounding doctors 
 called in consultation to mar the sagr ions activity of one — often thouisaiid 
 books upon the subject, with still an unsatisfied call for more — of expe- 
 rience fairly frightened out of all its former convictions, and of costly 
 missions after moonshine returning only with clouds. 
 
 •' Now I do assert, that uo art which has a sufficiency of truth, and the 
 least logical precision, can ever wear n face so mournfully grotesque as this. 
 In most of the trarisactions of men, there is something like mutual under- 
 standing and collective agreement, on some point at least ; but the history 
 of the cholera, summoned up from the four quarters of the earth, presents 
 only one tumultuouH Babel of opinion, and one unavailable farrago of 
 practice. This even the populace learned from the daily gazettes ; and 
 they hooted at us accordingly. But it is equally true, that if the inquisitive 
 fears of the community were to bring the real state of professional medi- 
 cine to the bar of public discussion, and thus array the vanity and interests 
 of physicians in the contest of opinion, wc should find the folly and con- 
 fusion scarcely less remarkable on nearly all the other topics of our art." 
 
102 
 
 DU. SIM(yw S LKCTlJUli ON 
 
 not been recommended for the cholera,) of typliup, of scar- 
 latina, in catarrhal, and otlicr aficctions, bleeding has, in 
 like manner, been jiroijosed and employed. Against 
 each of these affections homaiopathy possesses means 
 proved by experience. AVell, wlien u country is sub- 
 jected to any of these epidemics, the means recognized 
 as curative possesses also prophylactic powers. Who 
 would ever dare to assert tliat bleeding would protect 
 against the disea^^o ? 
 
 " Every proj)hy lactic means necessarily addresses itself 
 to the morbid cause. Now if bleeding were directly 
 curative in acute diseases, the absorption of blood would 
 be sufficient to pi'otect against an attack of typhus, of 
 influenza, of cholera, of scarlatina, or of ci)idemic catarrh, 
 just as it has sufficed (und Hahnemann, whose authority 
 on this point has been confirmed by the testimony of 
 llufeland, has recognised the })rinciplc) to take belladonna 
 as a preservative against scarlatina, or to have recourse 
 to veratrum alburii, or cuprum metalUcuni in cholera, a^? 
 Hahnemann has advised, and as a large number of 
 Homceopat lists in the north of Europe have proved; 
 properties v.''ich we have found again and again in 
 bryorda, nux vumica, acid, pliosphoricum, for the different 
 epidemics of influenza which have visited us. 
 
 " I will return, gentlemen, in conclusion, to the method 
 of repeated bleeding, vaunted by M. Bouillaud. Allo- 
 pathy owes to him its greatest success, and may be justly 
 accused of ingratitude towards the author of this practice, 
 in refusing to acknowledge the fact. Judging from the 
 contempt which he affects to feel for the theory of vital 
 dynamism, M. Bouillaud ought to reckon on the most 
 happy results. Indeed no one disgorges the affected 
 organ more generally than he does ; no one facilitates 
 absorption more largely, no one, in fine, weakens more 
 the morbid cause and the vital force. But as the morbid 
 force can never equal the vital force, (for if these two 
 forces were equal, death worM immediately follow,) as 
 on the other hand, the promptitude of his action enables 
 him to shorten the duration of the pains, which is a case 
 
THE TIIEIIAPIA OF ACUTE DISEASES. 
 
 103 
 
 , of scar- 
 i<^ liiis, in 
 Against 
 26 means 
 Y is sub- 
 ;cognizc(l 
 s. Who 
 1 protect 
 
 sscs itself 
 directly 
 3d would 
 ^phus, of 
 ; catarrh, 
 luthority 
 mony of 
 'lladonjia 
 recourse 
 lolera, as 
 niber of 
 jiroved ; 
 igain ill 
 different 
 
 ; method 
 . Allo- 
 bcjustlj'^ 
 practice, 
 rom the 
 of vital 
 lie most 
 affected 
 icilitates 
 IS more 
 i morbid 
 ese two 
 low,) as 
 enables 
 s a casjc 
 
 of weakness, he ought to o})tain a more prompt triunij)!! 
 over the morbid phenomena : still there remains the 
 capital vice with which the practice of repeated bleeding 
 is tainted, viz., it cures only one out of 8 or 9. For a 
 disease like pneumonia, we can, we ought to do more. 
 
 " Gentlemen, I here end my reply to the strictures of 
 M. Sanson, in recalling to your mind that by the dis- 
 covery of Homccopathy, Hahnemann has realized the 
 wish of the master spirits in medicine ; a wish so finely 
 expressed by the greatest genius that has illustrated the 
 art of healing in modern times, Thomas Sydenham. 
 
 " Jam vero si quaerat aliquis, an ad praedicta in arte 
 mcdica desiderata duo (veram scilicet et genuinam mor- 
 burum historiam, et certam confirmatamquc medendi 
 mcthodum) non ctiam accedat tertium illud, remediorum 
 ncmpe specificorum inventio ? Assentientem me habct 
 et in vota festinantem. Et si cnim methodus sanandis 
 morbis acutis, maxime accommoda mihi vidcatur, qui- 
 bus exigendis cum natura ipsa certum aliquem evacua- 
 tionis modum statuerit, qua^cunque methodus eidem 
 fert opem in promovenda dicta evacuatione ; ad morbi 
 sanationem neccssario confcret ; optandum est tamen, 
 ut beneficio specificorum, si qua) talia invcniri possint, 
 acger rectiori semita ad sanitatcm proficeret ; et (quod 
 majoris ctiam momenti est) extra aleam malorum, qua? 
 sequntur aben-ationes istas, in quas saepc invita dilabitur 
 natura in morbi causa expelleiida (ut potentcr et doctc 
 ei ab assistente medico subveniatur) possit collocari. 
 
 " Ad hanc pariter normam alii etiam morbi aliis 
 evacuationibus curantur ; enim tamen qua) adhibentur 
 remcdia, non magis propric competant immediatae cura- 
 tioni istorum morborum, qui eis sanantur evacuationibus^ 
 quibus faciendis ejusmodi remcdia maxime proprie desig- 
 nantur, quam scalpellum 'phlcbotomum pleuritidi ; quod 
 tamen nemo, opinor, specificum hujus morbi facile 
 appelaverit." 
 
 " In this direction, gentlemen, lies the truth in medi- 
 cine : there is its fulurit}'." 
 
104 
 
 DH. SIMUNti LECTL'Uli, KTC. 
 
 [Tlic principled cxprcsseJ in llio Jibovo pasisu<^c arc so 
 important, and the opinions of the autiior of'such weight, 
 that we are induced to (juote the tninahition of the paa- 
 Bix^ii from Swan's edition of S} denham, London, 174y. 
 — Trana.] 
 
 " But if any one were to ask whetlier, besides the two 
 foregoing desiderata in physic — viz., I, a true liistory of 
 diseases, and 2, a certain and established method of cure 
 — a third should Ijc added, namely, the discovery of 
 specific remedies? I answer in the affirmative, and 
 proceed to do my part towards it. For though that 
 seems to me the best method of curing acute diseases, 
 which after nature has pitched upon a certain kind of 
 evacuation, assists her in promoting it, and so necessarily 
 contributes to cure the distemper ; it is, nevertheless, to 
 be wished that the cure might be shortened by means 
 of specifics, (if any such medicines can be discovered,) 
 and which is of more importance, that the patient might 
 be preserved from the evils which are the consequence of 
 those errors that nature often imwillingly makes in 
 expelling the cause, even though she is assisted in the 
 m'^ot effectual and skilful manner by the physician. 
 
 *' For other diseases are cured in the same way by 
 other evacuations, and, nevertheless, the medicines ex- 
 hibited for this purpose do no more immediately con- 
 tribute to the cure of the diseases that yield to those 
 evacuations, which these medicines are principally de- 
 signed to promote, than a lancet does towards the cure 
 of a jdeurisy, whicii nobody, I imagine, will call a specific 
 in this disorder." 
 
 Hi 
 
uch weight, 
 of the paa- 
 11 don, 1741). 
 
 dcs the two 
 
 iiistory of 
 hod of cure 
 iscovcry of 
 native, and 
 hough that 
 ,te diseases, 
 [lin kind of 
 • necessarily 
 3rthcless, to 
 
 1 by means 
 iiscovcred,) 
 tient might 
 sequence of 
 ■ makes in 
 sted in the 
 sician. 
 
 ne way by 
 jdicines ex- 
 liatcly con- 
 ild to those 
 icipally de- 
 ls the cure 
 ill a specific 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IMIACTICAI. OllSKUVATIONS — rXKUMONIA. 
 nv .1. i.AniiK, M.i>., i-oNnoN, 
 
 Case 1. C. D., aged 30, of lymphatic, sanguine tern- 
 pcrament, had been affected with a cutaneous cniptiori 
 of some kind, four months previously, which was treated 
 hy external applications, (the source of unaccountable 
 evils, of which the allopath has not the least idea) ; was 
 seized on the 7th of March, 1844, with violent shiveringj 
 Ibilowed by heat ; lancinating paini iii the Ifeft side of 
 tlic chest, excessive thirst, cough, aild aching pains in 
 the back and extremities. On the 9th, I found him in 
 the following state: — Laborious, short, and hurried 
 breathing, Avith constant, dull pain in the upper part of 
 the left chest ; incessant, short, dry cough ; on auscul- 
 tation distinct crepitation, but sound on percussion, 
 nearly normal ; skin intensely hot and dry ; thirst ex- 
 ( cssive ; tongue dry and glossy, face flushed, giddiness, 
 and severe headache,; pulse 115 strong and hard, aconi- 
 tiim napellus gtt. ^, in 3 ounces of water; a desert- 
 spoonful every two, then every three hours. 
 
 March 10. — Patient passed a restless night, but is 
 much less feverish, pulse 105, face not so flushed, tongue 
 dry but not so glossy, skin moist ; urine high-coloured ; 
 other symptoms unchanged as above. Phosphorus 3, 
 gtt. 3, 1 every 4 hours. 
 
 March 11. — Patient reports himself better, but the 
 respiration evidently more laborious ; constant cough, 
 with scanty expectoration of very tenacious mucus, oc- 
 casionally tinged with blood ; considerable dulness at the 
 inferior scapular region of the left chest, imperfect bron- 
 chophony ; patient complains of no pain, but experiences 
 a suflfocatinff fcelinsr of tightness in the chest ; urine not 
 so highly coloured. Phosphorus gtt. f ; j: powders^ 
 1 e^crv 3 hours. 
 
 o 
 
10(1 
 
 rilACTICAI. OBSEHVATIONS. 
 
 March 1*2. — Patient complains of a pain of h dull 
 lancinating description, in the left Huhclavicular region ; 
 Bound on percussion though dull, and no respiratory 
 murmur can be detected at the spot ; and for the most 
 part the respiration in the entire chest very imi)ci'fect. 
 Marked bronchial respiration on auscultation, at the in- 
 ferior scapular region, left side ; expectoration increased, 
 and more deeply tinged with blood; less thirst; tongue 
 coated white, oftbnsive taste in the mouth ; nausea ; m'ine 
 very turbid and dark-coloured, motions watery, yet passed 
 with difficulty. Phosphorus 3, 1 drop every two hours. 
 
 March 13. — Increase of cough during the early part 
 of the night, followed by disturbed sleep; little or no 
 pain in the chest ; respiration freer ; diminished secretion 
 of urine, copious perspiration, no stool. Phosphorus gtt. 
 §, in half a pint of water, a table-spoon full every 2 
 hours. 
 
 March 14. — Cough not so troublesome, expectoration 
 diminished, ])ut still very viscid, sputa present, scarcely 
 any traces of blood ; respiration much easier, |)ulse weak 
 and slow, copious sweating, particularly at the chest. 
 
 March 15.— ^Expectoration less tenacious, and ft'cn 
 from blood. Respiratory murnmr, anteriorly, extremely 
 weak, but more audible posteriorly at the inferior scapular 
 region ; no crepitation ; still a degree of bronchophony, 
 urine clear. Phosphorus as before. 
 
 March 16. — Dulness on percussion, at the left subcla- 
 vicular region less marked^ but the vesicular respiration 
 lower down very loud ; behind, at the inferior scapular 
 region, very little dulness, and distinct respiratory mur- 
 mur; patient feels very much better, can lie on both 
 sides, but prefers lying on the back, which he has done 
 almost constantly from the commencement of the attack ; 
 tongue clean, but somewhat parched, slight thirst ; desire 
 for nourishing food. Phosphorus gtt. |, in 3 powders, 1 
 to be taken every 4 hours. 
 
 March 17. — Very little cough, excited only on turning 
 in bed, or sitting up ; sliffkt crepitation at the subcla- 
 vicular region, sound on percussion much diminished ; no 
 
PNEUMONIA. 
 
 107 
 
 ' u dull, 
 rcf^ion ; 
 spiratory 
 the most 
 npeifcct. 
 b tlie in- 
 ncrcascd, 
 ; tongue 
 a; urine 
 et passed 
 70 liours. 
 irly part 
 ie or no 
 secretion 
 loriis gtt. 
 every 2 
 
 ctoration 
 scarcely 
 ilsc weak 
 sliest. 
 and ft*eo 
 xtremely 
 ' scapular 
 iiophony, 
 
 :t subcla- 
 spiration 
 
 scapular 
 3ry mur- 
 
 on both 
 has done 
 e attack ; 
 b ; desire 
 )wders, 1 
 
 1 turning 
 } subcla- 
 shed ; no 
 
 dulness at the posterior part of the att'ected lung, and 
 vesicular respiration completely re-established. 
 
 March 18. — Patient continues in an improved state. 
 Phosphorus repeated, as on the 16th. 
 
 March 20. — Dulness under the left clavicle very 
 triHing ; respiratory murmur returning, and by no means 
 HO sonorous as formerly at the sound portions of the lung, 
 anteriorly ; respiration free, patient feels perfectly well, 
 and complains only of weakness, tongue clean and moist, 
 no thirst, digestion good, urine natural in colour ; bowels 
 regulai". Medicine allowed to finish its action. 
 
 March 22. — Sounds on percussion normal ; respiration 
 perfectly unobstructed. Patient has nothing to complain 
 of but a trivial degree of weakness, which is disappearing 
 under a more nourishing diet. 
 
CHAPTER XL . 
 
 ON THE TREATMENT OF riiEUniTIS. 
 
 ai on. wunM, or vienna: ai.onq with homk onsEuvATioNs* 
 
 UY DH. TniNKB, OF DRESDEN. 
 
 We may define pleuritis as tliat morbid condition of 
 the pleura which is attended by an exudation of plastic 
 lynjph. Along with the plastic lymph, there ia always 
 a greater or less quantity of serous fluid. Those cases 
 in which the quantity of this fluid is great, are always 
 the result of very moderate inflammation, and to them 
 >vc shall apply the name of pleuritis serosa. Where there 
 is but little scrosity and a great (quantity of plastic lymph, 
 the inflammation has been very violent, and this class of 
 cases wc may designate by the term of pleuritis plastica. 
 Between these two extremes every gradation of the 
 disease is met with. When the plastic lymph has been 
 secreted in considerable quantity, it sinks to the bottom 
 of the cavity of the jjleura, where it either remains in the 
 form of an albuminous-like mass, or more commonly is 
 formed into a false membrane, Avhich is at first red and 
 full of blood-vessels, but afterwards ])ecomes pale aid 
 bloodless. Sometimes the plastic lymph degenerates into 
 a purulent fluid. In tuberculous persons pleuritis usually 
 terminates in the formation of tubercles. Tubercles are 
 :(bund in greatest abundance between the layers of the 
 exudation, while on the free edge they are larger, thougli 
 never so numeroiis. In these cases, also, the serous fluid 
 is tinged red by the colouring matter of the blood, and 
 this form of the disease has received the name of pleuritis 
 ha^moiThagica. Every possible variety, both in the 
 amount of fluid secreted and in the colour of the pleura, 
 
 * Abridged by the Editors of the British Journal on Homceopathy, froir: 
 a German Journal " Uygea," vol xii. p. I. 
 
THEATMENT i)V IMJauITiS. 
 
 10!) 
 
 SUV.VTlO^Ji. 
 
 dition of 
 jf plastic 
 a ulwayH 
 Dso curies 
 
 alway.s 
 to them 
 
 icrc there 
 ic lymph, 
 8 class of 
 
 1 plastica. 
 1 of the 
 las been 
 i bottom 
 ns in the 
 nonly is 
 
 red and 
 pale aid 
 atcs into 
 s usually 
 rclcs arc 
 8 of the 
 , though 
 ous fluid 
 ood, and 
 pleuritis 
 
 in the 
 i pleura, 
 
 athy, fioin 
 
 :l 
 
 irf met with, the vessels of tliis membrane being some- 
 times so strongly injected as to give it (juite u reil 
 appearance. 
 
 The lung becomes comi)resseil by the ell'usion ; if tliu 
 ([uantity of the exudation be inconsiderable, the Umg still 
 continues to contain air, and is only reduced in size ; but, 
 if the quantity be great, the lung beconjcs gradually 
 iiirless, deprived of ncjurisiiment by the pressiuv, atrophieil 
 and pressed against the vertebra;. Wiien the two sur- 
 faces of the pleura are united, by means of false mem- 
 I)ranc, incysted exudation may, and often do, take 
 place. 
 
 DiAONosis, Percussion. — It is generally supposed 
 that, in cases of [)leurisy, percussion gives a dull sound. 
 Dr. Skoda, in his admirable critical treatise on percussiou 
 and auscultation, has shewn that, under certain eircum- 
 stanccs, there may be a layer of iluid of considerable 
 thickness, nearly one inch, without its considerably 
 artecting the clearness of the sound. The greater or less 
 clearness depends U[)on theao two conditions, ^/'Af, the 
 (^tate of the lung under the efliision, whether it contains 
 air, or is depi'ived of its air by compression; aid, 
 sccoiuUi/, the more or less elastic conditions of tlie parietes 
 that cover the effusion. AVhen the lung below the 
 effusion contains air, it will emit more a tym[)anitic, and 
 sometimes even a louder sound than the normal expanded 
 lung, cpecially if at the same time that part of the walls 
 of the chest which corresponds to the scat of the effusion 
 be elastic. Afterwards, however, if the pressure be 
 continued, the lung will be deprived of its air, and the 
 part that before gave a tympanitic will then give a dull 
 sound. Ilencc, the duration of the disease has a great 
 effect on the character of the sound elicited by percussion. 
 If the lung be airless the sound is dull. If the quantity 
 of the pleuritic exudation be very considerable, filling 
 perhaps the whole cavity of the pleura, the sound on 
 percussion is uniformly dull. If the exudation is not 
 incysted, and can consequently obey the law of gravita- 
 tion, the fluid collects at the lower i)art ; this must always 
 
110 
 
 TIIKAT.MKNT OK IMJil.IUTIH. 
 
 lie hunie in iiiiiul in iiiiikin;^ tin; cxiiinitiiitioii. The houikI 
 on [)cr(;uH.sion nnint Ikj vuriuusly niudiHotI, an well by tlu; 
 I'rciJ tw the incyytod oxudiitiun. 
 
 Auscn/rATioN. — Wlicn the luuount of efl'uaioa in 
 ineonsidcnihle, the iinwcnltatory jihenonieim nnnalu un- 
 chim^^od, and the cliiiractci* of the chunj^oH that take 
 place, when the elliision in conwlchji-ahle, depend ou its 
 anionnt and upon th(; coiuHtion of the htn^ on which it 
 lies. If the lun^ .still contains air, then holh voice and 
 rcspinitory nuirnuu* are indistinct or inandi'ule. If the 
 portion of the lnn<!f, I'roni the (piantity of ettiision or 
 long" duration of the disease, be wholly en)[)tied of air, 
 then weak bronchophony and bronchial respiration are 
 audible ; and, if the amount of exudation be very jjrcat, 
 all sound is aijscnt. Of course these observations apply 
 only to simple pleuritis. Oegophony has, by some, been 
 considered as characteristic of i)leiu'Itis, and this vi of 
 the matter is still not unconunon. Skoda has shewn, 
 however, that oegoi)hony has no necessary connection 
 with the presence of liquid in the sac of the pleura, aini 
 is of little use in the diagnosis. 
 
 The rubbing sound is an important indication. It is 
 not frequently heard at the beginning of the Attack, 
 because the exudation is not then suffioiently consistent ; 
 at a later period it is seldom absent (during deep respira- 
 tion, for the absorption of a part of the fluid brings into 
 contact the lymph-covered surfaces of the pleura, not as 
 yet firmly united by false membrane, and thus gives rise 
 to this phenomenon. When the lymph becomes purulent, 
 gas is not Ui:* frequently likewise generated, and then the 
 phenomena of pncvmio-thorax make their appearance. 
 
 The vibrations of the voice, felt when the hand is 
 applied to the side of the chest, is also a useful corrobora- 
 tive indication. When the quantity of effusion is great, 
 the side of the chest on which it has occurred may be 
 unnaturally expanded ; if it has been all re-absorbed, 
 then our abnormal contraction of the chest produces per- 
 manent deformity of that side. 
 
 13 
 
TUK.VTMKNT OV I'U'.IMTIB. 
 
 Ill 
 
 he Houiid 
 11 l»y till! 
 
 fusion is 
 iiiiiii un- 
 hiit luk(; 
 id ou lia 
 wiiicli it 
 oico tiiid 
 If the 
 fusion or 
 d of air, 
 Litiou are 
 ry great, 
 lis apply 
 •me, been 
 i vi of 
 3 ahewn, 
 jnnection 
 3ura, an(| 
 
 n. It is 
 i Attack, 
 nsistent ; 
 ) respira- 
 ings into 
 •a, not as 
 ^ives rise 
 purulent, 
 then the 
 ranee. 
 
 hand is 
 
 3rrobora- 
 
 is great, 
 
 may be 
 
 ibsorbed, 
 
 uecs per- 
 
 liy means of the physieal indications, we are enabled 
 to (letermini' the (|niintity only of the exudation ; it is, 
 however, not less iin[»()rtant to iK^tcnuini; the (|uality also. 
 :uid for this end an exact description of theloe.'. and 
 j^ciicral .'•yniptonjs is indispensable. 
 
 FiiH AL Symi'Tomj*. — Pain is an almost conslant atten- 
 dant of pleurisy. The degnse of |)ain depends chielly on 
 two conditions — the r<ipl(Uti/ and the tjiuililii of the effu- 
 sion ; the more rapidly it occnrs, and the greater the 
 <|uantit\ of jdastic lymph it contains, proportionally 
 greater ,. '1 be the pain. There are, however, some 
 cases of rapid elfusion, without any ])ain ; tnu; of these 
 \vc met with last winter, in which a very riipid luemor- 
 liagic effusion occurred, in a remai-kably short space of 
 time, without the 'lightest pain attending it. Were the 
 stcthescope always carefully used, such eases would bo 
 oftcner detected. The [)resenee and severity of the ])ain 
 is thus of great use in determining (along with the other 
 signs) the amount as well as nature of the effusion. At 
 first the i)ain is indistinct and transient, afterwards it 
 becomes constant, ])riekrmg, and even tearing ; it is 
 increased by respiration, motions of the bc)dy, and external 
 pressure ; after a time the pain disappears, either per- 
 manently or temporarily ; if it returns, this generally 
 indicates a fresh efi'usion. The resi)iratit)n in pleuritia 
 may be entirely imaltored, or disturbed to the degree of 
 extreme dyspnea. This depends on the quantity of 
 effusion, the rai)idity with which it has taken place, 
 whether it be confined to one or occupy l)otli vlcural 
 sacs, and on the healthy or unsound condition of the 
 lungs. 
 
 In the case of hajmon-haglc pleurisy alluded to above, 
 there was no difficulty of respiration, although the whole 
 of the left lung, from being infilrated with tubercle, was 
 unserviceable for respiration. In the writings of tiic 
 French physicians, several similar eases of great interest 
 are to be met with. 
 
 Cough. — Simple plcuritis does not give rise to any 
 cough. Cough, when present, depends on pneumonia or 
 
112 
 
 TREATMENT OF I'LEriUTIS. 
 
 t-) 
 
 bronchites ; in hicniorrliaglc j)leuritls it is usually caused 
 l)y the tubercles, which iirc almost never absent in this 
 variety of the (liseasc. 
 
 Position. — The posture of tlic patient is usually on 
 the back. If the effusion be free and partial, a change 
 to the SOU'' 1 side gives rise to great uneasiness ; if it 
 occupy the entire side of the pleura, or is srtccalated, then 
 change of position, according to Skoda, has little influenre 
 on tlie symptoms. 
 
 General Symptoms. — ^^Yhen the quantity of the 
 ciFusion is trifling, there is no fever present, Avhen that 
 is considerable, fever is seldom absent ; but there arc 
 great differences in this respect, which are determined 
 chiefly by the quality of the effusion. In pleuritis 
 serosa, the fever is of a slow and often of an intermittent 
 character, so as sometimes to be with difficulty distin- 
 guished from a true intermittent. 
 
 The hosmorrhagic pleurisy is accompanied with those 
 Avhich so constantly attend tuberculosis. When there 
 is much plastic lymph in the effusion, and the quantity 
 is considerable, an inflammatoiy fever is almost never 
 absent, and is usually severe in proportion to the degree 
 o" the pleuritis. 
 
 Fever. — Between the inflammatory fever that attends 
 plastic pleurisy, and the slow fever that attends serous 
 l^leurisy, innumerable gradations, which do not admit of 
 detailed description, occur. 
 
 The habit of body of the individual exerts a great 
 influence on the character of the effusion ; in the robust 
 it is likely to be of the plastic, and in the feeble of the 
 serous kind. 
 
 Etiology. — Mechanical causes affecting the thorax, 
 diseases of the lungs, particularly pneumonia and tuber- 
 culosis, arc very important exciting causes of this disease. 
 In cases of tolerably severe pneumonia, pleuritis is seldom 
 altogether absent ; and also, in the course of tuberculosis 
 of the lungs, pleuritic Ciiusioii usually occurs. How it 
 happens that in some cases of tuberculosis, an attack of 
 plastic pleurisy occurs, while in others the effusion is 
 
 J 
 
 ;» 
 
Treatment of pleuritis. 
 
 Uli 
 
 rcTOUS, and still more commonly hicmorrhaglc, is not to 
 Ijo explained in the present state of our knowledge. We 
 find in books a " cliill" given as the most frequent causa 
 of pleurisy. We do not mean to deny that pleurisy may 
 l»c so induced, but certainly this is a much rarer cause 
 than is commonly supposed. This word " chill" is much 
 misused in medicine, for, with the exception of hydro- 
 pliobia and syphilis, and a few other diseases, there is 
 scarce a disease which is not ascribed to a " chill." All 
 pathologists demonstrate this most satisfactorily. It is 
 by all means inost convenient, and requires very little 
 mental exertion to explain the origin of diseases in this 
 way ; but this will hardly be wondered at when it is 
 considered how superficially our science has been and still 
 Iri cultivated. But if this etiological cause be tested, not 
 lit the student's desk, but at the sick man's bed and the 
 dissecting table, — if we regard the thing as it is in 
 itself, not as imaged by a fertile imagihation — if farther 
 experience, which alone decides practical questions, be 
 interrogated, this explanation will not be found satisfac- 
 tory. Is pleuritis more common among those, who, from 
 their pursuits, cannot avoid frequent chills ? Is pleuritis 
 ever caused by the sudden and severe changes of tem- 
 perature undergone in tlie Russian baths and water-cure 
 of Priessnitz ? In our climate here in Vienna, it ia 
 impossible to avoid frequent chills ; so, here, according to 
 the theory, pleuritis should be more frequent than else- 
 where. But, unhappily for the theory, and happily for 
 us of Vienna, this is by no means the case : besides, 
 phthisical patients are often attacked with it while in 
 their beds and covered with perspiration. 
 
 In my opinion, the cause of pleurisy is to be sought in 
 a pathological change of the blood. The frequency of 
 pleurisy in persons affected Avith some dyscrasia, and the 
 resemblance between the so-called " crusta inflammatoria" 
 and the false membrane of pleurisy, may be considered 
 to favour this view. What the changes of the blood are 
 •—and how produced^— arc questions which must be left 
 
114 
 
 THliATiMENT Of l'I.K(!l«TIS. 
 
 to our better-Informed successors, and at present we must 
 be content to have pointed it out, tor, while our acquain- 
 tance with tlie physiological condition of the blood is 
 scarce worth notice, our knowledge of the pathology of this 
 fountain of life is almost at— 0. Attention has lately been 
 directed to the blood, but as yet little has been accom- 
 plished, and still less have we attained to a hKmo])a- 
 thology, for Piorry's work, which bears this fair title, is, 
 to say the least, nothing but a romance, which, like other 
 growths of a luxuriant imagination, does not enrich our 
 science. 
 
 Complication. — The most complications of pleuritic 
 arc i)neumonia, tuberculosis pulmonum, acute and 
 chronic bronchitis, and pericarditis, and numerous gastric 
 and bilious derangements. 
 
 Course and Duration. — The duration of the disease 
 Is very uncertain ; the plastic pleurisy runs in general a 
 rapid, and the serous, a slow course, but it is affected, 
 likewise, by very many other circumstances. 
 
 Termination. — AVhcn the termination is favourable, 
 the serous fluid is absorbed, and the plastic lymph formed 
 into organized bands, which, though they unite the two 
 surfaces of the pleura, yet afford little imjoediment to 
 respiration. If a part of the plastic lymph has become 
 purulent, this will gradually be changed into a thick, and 
 ultimately a calcareous deposit. It is very important for 
 the physician to know the process of cure, as it affords au 
 indication for art to induce or encourage the necessary 
 changes. By many the fever is esteemed a necessary 
 condition of cure, or, to express it more learnedly, the 
 fever is welcomed as an expression of the re-action of the 
 organism. Nothing is less true, for experience teaches 
 that the cure does not begin until the fever has ceased. 
 
 When the event is fatal, death sometimes occurs very 
 rapidly, from the compression of both lungs ; generally, 
 however, death is occasioned by the gradual atrophy of 
 the lungs and the diseases of the heart, produced by the 
 great exertion required to propel the blood through the 
 
TREAT.MEXT OV PLKLUITIS. 
 
 11^ 
 
 I 
 
 it wc must 
 ir acquain- 
 c blood is 
 logy of tills 
 lately been 
 en accom- 
 i lia?mopa- 
 nir title, is, 
 , like other 
 enrich oiu- 
 
 )f pleuritic 
 ^cutc and 
 •ous gastric 
 
 the disease 
 I general a 
 is affected, 
 
 favourable, 
 iph formed 
 te the two 
 3diment to 
 las become 
 L thick, and 
 iportant for 
 t affords an 
 ; necessary 
 L necessary 
 rnedly, the 
 ction of the 
 ice teaches 
 as ceased. 
 )ccurs very 
 generally, 
 atrophy of || 
 iced by the 
 brough the 
 
 coinprcssed lung, jind this gives rise to dropsy and 
 exhausting emaciation. 
 
 Before detailing the homoeopathic or specific medicines 
 which may be adviuitageously employed, wo shall give 
 somewhat narrowly the allopathic practice. Of course 
 it is not to be expected that wc detail all the remedies 
 which have been proposed by the old school,* it will bo 
 enough to notice those in most repute : and first upon 
 the list stands — hleciUmj. 
 
 Ill the allopathic school, it is especially in pleuritis 
 plastica that recourse is had to the lancet, and if there 
 is much pain and fever present, and the patient bo 
 oppressed - '"^h dyspnoea, the first step is to bleed, and 
 this rude J dure they arrogantly style rational treatment 
 We have seen that the process of cure in pleuritis con- 
 sists in the absorption of the fluid, and organization of 
 the plastic lymph ; and all that the physician can do is 
 to assist nature to effect this, either in the way of assist- 
 ance or direction. lie must, therefore, endeavour to 
 arrest the progress of the disease, and to remove the 
 obstacles that oppose the cure. It is hard to see how 
 bleeding can effect these indications, and experience 
 cannot boast of the success of practice. Does blood- 
 letting favour absorption ? Experience says no. On the 
 contrary, morbid secretions commonly take place after 
 much blood-letting, and effusions arc particularly frequent 
 in patients in a state of anoemia. 
 
 Does blood-letting favour the organization of the 
 effused lymph ? This no one v:ill in earnest maintain, 
 although, according to Magendie, there never was an 
 absurdity which physicians did not defend. Perhaps it is 
 supposed that bleeding prevents the effusion taking 
 place, or at least its recurrence. But if the pleuritis 
 begins with severe febrile symptoms, the effusion takes 
 place with such rapidity, as to anticipate the arrival of 
 the physician ; and if this should not be the case, the 
 
 * Blood-letting, tartarized antimony, and mercury, and blisters, are the 
 remedies commonly used by Allopathists for pleuro-pneumonia U. 
 
116 
 
 TUKATMENT OF PLEURITI8. 
 
 cautious physician will certainly wait to see in what these 
 febrile symptoms issue, as they may as well terminate 
 in typhus or somo exanthemutic fever, in which the with- 
 drawal of blood would not be justifiable, even according; 
 to the prevailing principles ; (such blunders arc never- 
 theless frequently made by allopathists ;) and just as 
 little could he prove that pleuritis would have come on 
 had he not pre /ented it by the blood-letting. Besides, 
 it is false that blood-letting arrests the advancing disease, 
 and prevents the deposition of fresh plastic lymph. Any 
 one Avho carefully uses the stethoscope and plessimeter, 
 will soon learn that bleeding has absolutely no influence 
 upon the deposit that occurs in pleuritis. If it were 
 possible in bleeding to withdraw only that part of the 
 blood which fed the disease, then were bleeding an 
 inestimable measure ; but while we withdraw only a 
 small portion of that part of the blood which fosters the 
 disease, we withdraw a large quantity of good blood, the 
 pabulum vita, and hence its inutility. We have before 
 observed that the cure begins after the fever has ceased ; 
 perhaps, then, blood-letting can mitigate and arrest the 
 fever. But since the fever depends on the exudative 
 process, as blood-letting does not arrest that, it is obvious 
 it cannot arrest the fever either ; hence, also, the reason 
 why it does not allay the pain. But some reason must 
 exist for its employment. Certainly ; but the reason is 
 insufficient. It is, that the quantity of the blood in the 
 lungs is lessened, and the dyspnoea relieved. This relief, 
 as we have shewn above, can only be temporary ; it does 
 not cure the cause of the dyspnoea, nor justify the waste 
 of the most important fluid of the body.* In regard to 
 local bleeding, the same applies. Magendie observes :— 
 " Between the leeches that cover the breast, and the seat 
 
 ' Dr. Trinks, in Dresden, observes: — "In a fifteen years' practice, I have 
 never ordered a blood-letting, and I can assert upon my conscience, that I 
 never have liad cause to repent not having done so. 13ut I have seen many 
 cases in which, in spite of repeated bleedings, the disease had taken n 
 dangerous turn, and in which the fatal termination was only averted by 
 the administration of the specific iQedicine— particularly cases of intlam- 
 mation of the lungs and bowels." 
 
TREATMENT OF PLEUKITIS. 
 
 117 
 
 k^liat these 
 terminate 
 
 the witli- 
 according 
 re never- 
 d just as 
 
 come on 
 
 Besides, 
 
 g disease, 
 
 )h. Any 
 
 cssimcter, 
 
 influence 
 f it were 
 irt of the 
 seding an 
 w only a 
 bstcrs tlic 
 blood, the 
 vc before 
 IS ceased ; 
 irrest the 
 
 xudative 
 s obvious 
 10 reason 
 3on must 
 
 reason is 
 od in the 
 his relief, 
 
 ; it does 
 he waste 
 •egard to 
 erves :— 
 I the seat 
 
 ;tice, I havo 
 ence, that I 
 
 seen many 
 ad taken n 
 averted by 
 
 of intlam' 
 
 I 
 
 of the disease, lies the whole thickness of the parietes of 
 the chest, a distance as great as between rude enn)iricisni 
 and enlightened medicine." After the inflanunatory 
 process has subsided, the intrepid allopath advances 
 straightway with his blister or sinapism. In vain is 
 benefit expected from these measures, although Piorry 
 naively expresses his opinion that the sci'um of the blister 
 must have a marvellous effect in lessening the effusion ; 
 and Andral attributes wonderful benefit to the irritation 
 of the skin. Are these gentlemen in earnest ? If so, 
 ray own explanation is, that blisters operate in Franco 
 very differently from what they do in Vienna. At tho 
 desk, indeed, the necessity and propriety of derivative 
 measures in plcuritis may be beautifully demonstrated ; 
 but is not this silently refuted by the sober observations 
 of the sick-bed and the dissecting room ? And we cannot 
 but pity those who praise or adopt a rude practice, sprung 
 from the infancy of the science. It were, indeed, well, if 
 the so-called derivative applications were of a tythe of 
 the advantage that are so elegantly described in books. 
 Sometimes, by the greater severity of the pain of the 
 irritated skin, the pleuritic pain is not so much felt ; 
 generally, however, the pain continues, despite all our 
 derivations, and when the pain abates, during the appli- 
 cation of the would-be derivative measures, this is not in 
 consequence of these, and would have occurred of itself 
 at any rate, without torturing the patient. It may be 
 a question, however, whether homoeopathic medicines 
 may not, in some cases, be at the same time endermically 
 employed with advantage, and to satisfy the patient, there 
 is small objection to the use of hot or cold embrocations. 
 As to the other remedies in use in pleuritis, as many of 
 them are fast losing credit, and others, such as tart, 
 emetic, digitalis, &c., are homoeopathic in their action, 
 their minuter examination need not detain us longer, and 
 we shall pass at once to a consideration of the strictly 
 homoeopathic treatment. 
 
 Aconite. — When the pleuritis is characterized by the 
 plastic nature of the elFusion, and the sc\crity of its 
 
118 
 
 •rUEAT.MLNT OK I'MiUKlTlS. 
 
 iufhuinnutoiy i\'\cv, thore I.s no lacclicinc so ire([iicntly ol' 
 use at the coinmcuceineut as aconite. I have never 
 observed aconite exert a direct ett'ect in promoting the 
 absorption of the effusion ; but as the process of cure 
 does not l)ej2;in while tlie fever lasts, of course it is oi' 
 great consequence to allay tliis as soon as possible. 
 Whatever cxphmation wc choose to ado{)t of the theory 
 of its operatit)ns, of the fact there can be no d(^ubt, that 
 aconite is the best specific against inllanuiiatory fever. 
 According to our ex[)eriencc, when aconite is to be of 
 use, its good effect is quickly manifested ; if the abate- 
 ment of the fever does not shew the success of its 
 administration, we very soon select some other medicine. 
 Arnica i.s of great use wlien the pleuritis is caused by 
 external injury. 
 
 Arsenic* is especially indicated in serous pleurisy, and 
 our confidence in it is so great, tliat we wlioUy despair of 
 the possil^ility of curing a case of serous pleurisy in 
 which arsenic has produced no beneficial change at all, 
 as in the art-defying luemorrhagic effusiou. The first 
 good effects of arsenic arc manifested by the alleviation 
 of the painfully asthmatic respiration ; after this tlie 
 dropsical swellings abate, the febrile attacks become less 
 frequent, and at length the absorption of the effusion 
 takes place. It is very remarkable that iho. dyspncca 
 should be relieved before the effusion is diminished, and 
 is explicable only by supposing the arsenic to take effect 
 on the heart and large vessels, which Ave know are impli- 
 cated in the disease, and very much under the influence 
 of this medicine. Yet it is singular that this remedy 
 should temporarily or permanently cure those affections, 
 which depend on organic lesions of the heart, which arc 
 of themselves incurable. Arsenic is also one of those 
 
 * The public are l)orror-struck by the name of arsenic. " Doctor ! 
 I atn told you use arsenic in your practice !" " So I do." " But that is 
 a great poison, even worse than calomel." "Let me explain to you, the 
 only difFfrence between a poison and an active medicine is the quantity ; 
 in large dnsea we call them poisons, in homwopathic doses they are valua- 
 ble medicines; therefore, arsenic, copper, lead, mcr curt/, ^c.,nre excellent 
 remedies." — R. 
 
TREATMENT OF PLEUIUTW. 
 
 119 
 
 ucntly of 
 vc never 
 jtiii}^ the 
 s of cure 
 ! it is of 
 possible, 
 le theory 
 ubt, that 
 ry fever, 
 to be of 
 he iibate- 
 ss of lU 
 tncdieine. 
 ;aused by 
 
 irisy, and 
 lespair of 
 eurisv in 
 ige at all, 
 The first 
 ^leviation 
 
 this the 
 
 come less 
 
 effusion 
 
 dyspnoea 
 shed, and 
 ike effect 
 ire impli- 
 
 influcnce 
 s remedy 
 iffections, 
 ^vhich arc 
 
 of those 
 
 " Doctor ! 
 ' But that 19 
 I to you, the 
 le quantity ; 
 (y are valua- 
 cxcelleiit 
 
 nre 
 
 which do good si)e(!dily, if they arc to do good at all. It 
 is a good sign, if (hu'ing its employment, the <[uantity 
 of urine bo increased. Arsenic and Carlo will sussrest 
 themselves when the plastic lymph l)ec()mes purulent. 
 
 BiiYOXiA — Is known by experiment and observation 
 to exert a specific infiucncc over the serous membranes ; 
 and after aconite has allayed the fever, bryonia is very 
 useful in furthering the cure. When the i)leurisy, either 
 plastic or serous, has become chronic, we luive not much 
 to expect from bryonia, although in some reported cases 
 it seems to have been useful in removing collections of 
 fiuid. 
 
 Caubo AMMALI9 ET VEGET. — Thcsc ai'C Specifically 
 indicated when the patient's appearance is bad, his skin 
 of an earthy hue ; when he is emaciated and hectic at 
 night, and presents the other symptoms of a tendency to 
 a purulent degeneration of the effusion. Carbo is only 
 applicable in the advanced state of the disease. The effect 
 upon the effusion is not decided, but the more on that 
 account have we been surprised at the general improve- 
 ment it seemed to cause. We have foimd it particularly 
 useful against asthmatic complaints, wdiich are seldom 
 absent after a pleurisy has terminated; and it is an 
 admirable remedy when the plcuritis is complicated with 
 chronic bronchitis. 
 
 China — Is useful in much the same circumstances as 
 carbo, and is particidarly indicated when the patient has 
 been drained of much blood by allopathic treatment. 
 
 Digitalis. — There is a great difference between a 
 serous plcuritis arising from increased secreting power of 
 the vessels, and a hydrothorax occasioned by mechanical 
 obstruction, a distinction only observed in recent times 
 by the light of pathological anatomy and diagnosed by 
 means of the stethoscope. To the previous confusion on 
 this point, we must ascribe the discrepancy of opinion 
 that has hitherto prevailed as to the utility of digitalis. 
 The well-informed physician never will expect benefit 
 from the administration of digitalis in cases of hydro- 
 thorax, occasioned by the inefficiency of the valves 
 
120 
 
 TREATMENT OF PLEUUITIH. 
 
 ol" the heart; unJ cortuinly, on tliat account, not 
 (Icprcciiitc ita worth in cases of serous [)lcurisy, when 
 properly indicated. Dr. Fleischmann has found the best 
 effects attend its axhninistration in serous pleurisy ; and 
 estiniatin}^, as we do, the experience of this a])le practi- 
 tioner, very hi<]jh, it is with the more confidence wo 
 rcconuuend the medicine. We always give tlie first 
 dilution. The higher ones wc have often foimd power- 
 less. 
 
 IIepau bulpiiuris Calcareum — Has not as yet been 
 employed generally in pleuritis ; and yet we know of no 
 better remedy when the effusion is i)lastic, and the 
 disease has lasted some time, or where it threatens, even 
 at the commencement, to linger in its course. Wc have 
 seen the most marked benefit derived from it in cases of 
 long standing, and never have known it fail to do good 
 when the specific indications are present. When the 
 disease is complicated with pericarditis or bronchitis, 
 that is an additional reason for its use; while, on tlic 
 other liand, it is of little use when the effusion is serous. 
 Ipecacuanha — Is useful as an intermediate remedy to 
 allay the troublesome severity of the attacks of dyspnoea 
 and convulsive cough. 
 
 Kali Carbonicum — May be useful in pleuritis affect- 
 ing tuberculous subjects. 
 
 SciLLA. — The symptoms which squill produces have 
 a great resemblance to those of pleuritis ; and although 
 Hahnemann himself has recommended its use, hitherto it 
 has been but little homocopathically employed. 
 
 Sulphur. — If the effusion be serous, sulphur is of no 
 use ; but if it be plastic and recent, there is nothing equal 
 to it after aconite has been given ; in chronic plastic 
 pleurisy it is much inferior to hepar sulphur. Wlien the 
 fever is not so virulent as urgently to require aconite, wc 
 give drops of the tincture of sulphur frequently repeated, 
 and it alone is generally successful in subduing the 
 disease in a short time, although the fever is very violent, 
 yet if aconite be not immediately useful in allaying it, 
 we do not delay to prescribe sulphur, and hitherto have 
 
int, not 
 ly, wlicu 
 ; the best 
 isy; ami 
 c practi- 
 cncc wo 
 tlio first 
 1 powcr- 
 
 yct been 
 3\v of no 
 and the 
 sns, even 
 Wc liavc 
 
 cases of 
 do good 
 hen the 
 onchitis, 
 
 on the 
 3 serous, 
 medy to 
 lyepnoea 
 
 8 affcct- 
 
 es have 
 Ithough 
 therto it 
 
 Is of no 
 ig equal 
 ! plastic 
 hen the 
 iiite, we 
 peated, 
 ng the 
 violent, 
 ring it, 
 have 
 
 Treatment ok pleiiritw. 
 
 121 
 
 8een no cauao to repent doing so. Wlicn tlio pleurIti^4 
 hiw lasted some days, complicated with pneumonia and 
 the lung is becoming hc[)atized, aconite will be I'ound of 
 no service, and wc must look to sulphui* as our ehcct 
 anchor. Two years ago we had the treatment of a 
 Painter, who, in the opinion of the previously consulted 
 allopathic physicians, suffered under a violent pneu- 
 monia. Of course they thought it necessary to bleed, 
 and drained the patient of 8 pounds of blood in the course 
 of 11 days, covered the chest with leeches, blisters, while 
 nitre, calomel, and the like, were not forgotten in their 
 prescriptions. As the patient did not get Ijctter, not- 
 withstanding the valiant manoeuvring against the disease, 
 it was determined, at length, to try wliat homoeopathy 
 could do. We were sent for, and found (it was on the 
 12th day of the disease) the following status morbi: — 
 The whole of the right side of the chest gave forth a dull 
 sound, and the respiratory murmur was quite inaudible. 
 There was considerable dyspnoea, and a deep breatli and 
 cough gave great pain ; the sputa were of tough sangui- 
 neous mucus ; the patient could only lie upon his back ; 
 the pulse was 120, and the other febrile symptoms were 
 equally well marked. There was no difficulty in the 
 diagnosis ; it was an unusually extensive plastic effusion, 
 complicated with pneumonia ; for although the quantity 
 of effusion prevented the auscultatory signs of pneumonia 
 from being heard, yet the colour of the sputa, and other 
 symptoms, sufficiently indicated it ; besides the fact that 
 so severe a plastic pleurisy is always attended by pneu- 
 monia. The severity of the fever seemed to indicate 
 aconite, but we preferred sulphur, owing to the length of 
 time it had lasted, and the hepatization that complicated 
 it. Six drops of the tincture of sulphur were given in 
 half-a-pint of water, and a table-spoonful of the mixture 
 was ordered to be taken every hour. The consequence 
 fully answered our expectation, for, on the following day, 
 percussion under the right clavicle gave a clearer sound, 
 and the vesicular breathing could be perceived. The 
 
122 
 
 TREATMENT OF PLKUUITIS. 
 
 amendment advanced, and after one week, witli the ntinosf; 
 attention and the uho of the sthethoscope, wc; could not 
 detect any trace of local disease. The only wy rn})tom that 
 remained was the great weakness — the consequence of 
 the wanton blood-letting. Sulphur was the only remedy 
 employed againsf tlie inflammation, and afterwoixls 
 China {well imdirstood in homccopntluc doses) wod given, 
 on account of the weakness. We have often cured 
 similar cases with sulphur alone, and if we could not 
 always produce such a ra[)ld ett'ect, yet wc did not require 
 to wait loner for a beneficial action.* 
 
 What is to be done, wlicn all our measures are fruitless, 
 and an agonizing cough and dreadful paroxysms of asthma 
 torment the patient. In recent times parecenthesis pec- 
 toris has been frequently made, yet hitherto made only 
 after the lung has been compressed and atrophied by long 
 pressui'e, the benefit could only be very temporary. If 
 the operation is to be performed at all, it should be decided 
 on as soon as it is found that there is a considerable 
 effusion which resists our efforts to promote its absorption, 
 arid is worthy of attention as it is neither dangerous nor 
 painful, and not difficult to perform ; it never fails to give 
 great relief, and sometimes it is certainly by this alone 
 that an incurable atrophy of the lung can be prevented. 
 
 Prognosis. — The principal circumstances to be attend- 
 ed to in forming our prognosis VLTQ—Jirstf the quantity 
 of the effusion ; the smaller the quantity the more 
 favourable : it is also more favourable if the effusion be 
 confined to one side. Second, the quality. If the 
 effusion be plastic, the cure is for the most part rapid ; 
 the mitigation and disappearance of the pain, fever, and 
 dyspnoea, are favourable indications. If these symptoms 
 continue in a moderate degree after the acute symptoms 
 are alleviated, we must fear a tedious course, and all the 
 
 1 
 
 • " I miss" — observes Dr. Trinks — " in the enumeration of the medi- 
 cines, one which has performed the greatest service to me, and which well 
 deserves to be borne in mind, viz., rhus toxicodendron. This medicine has 
 a specific effect upon the serous membranes, and seems to bear a closer 
 relation to them than hryonia. It will certainly be of use in serous 
 pleurisy, as it has so powerful au etfect on serous exudations generally." 
 
TREATMENT OF TLEUIUTIS. 
 
 123 
 
 ovils arlsinj;]; I'ruiii a contimicJ comprcsHiuu of the lungs. 
 'I'lu! Ho-callc(l typhoid ui)j)eaninceri, arc always bad, indi- 
 cutinjj; as they do a purulent or sanlous deposit; and if 
 pneumothorax bo already present, there is little hope. 
 In eases in whieh the deposit is more serous, the prog- 
 nosis is uniavourable. A sudden additional effusion, 
 attended with aeute symptoms, is always to be dreaded. 
 In lucmorrhagic pleuritis, euro is never e fleeted ; and wo 
 .should be exeeedingly oautious in stating our opinion of 
 the course of the disease whenever we have recognised a 
 hiemorrhagic cffut;ion ; for tuberculosis is u very proteua 
 of diseases, and the anticipations of to-day arc stultified 
 by the events of to-morrow. The fatnl termination alone 
 is certain, but the turns and duration of the disease is 
 altogether uncertain. The prognosis is naturally ren- 
 dered unfavourable by all complications of the disease, 
 with other dangerous affections, as well as by debility 
 and bad habit of body of the patient. 
 
 t 
 
ClIAPTEU XII. 
 
 A rEW EXTRAdH FROM THE WORK, ** DKFENCE OF HAHNEMANN 
 AND HI8 DOCTHINEH," INCI.IIDINU AN fiXVOHIIRE OF DR. ALEX' 
 ANDEH WOOU'b '* IIOMffiOl'ATH Y UNMASKED." * 
 
 It would nppoar that in every nji^c the reluctunco of 
 mankind to relonn their opinions luis hetmyetl itself in 
 the same way, and that the peniua of discovery has a 
 heavy penalty to endure — a sort of tax to the demons of 
 falselKMxl and i}jjn<jranco, l)y way of eompensation for the 
 injuries they receive. Truths in all departments of 
 research arc so far akin, that every genius of evil bands 
 with liis fellows, as in a common cause, be the discovery 
 of what sort it may, to stinudatc the works of perversion 
 and abuse. The demon of false science needs his tribute 
 of distortion and so}>hi8tiy ; and the demon of profligacy 
 must have his due in personal calumny and fold insinua- 
 tion, llarvcy did not escape the universal lot. When 
 his discovery could no longer be gainsay ed, the rancour of 
 liis adversaries was turned against his moral character. 
 
 We may inform the general reader, that the office- 
 bearers of the Royal Society of London declined to print 
 the " Inquiry into the causes and effects of the Variola) 
 Vaccina;" in its transactions ; and in rci)ly to Jenner's 
 application, gave him the " friendly admonition, that, as 
 he had gained some reputation by his former papers to 
 the Royal Society, it was advisable not to print tliis, lest 
 it injure his established credit." f Jenner was, therefore, 
 obliged to publish his treatise for himself in 1798, confi- 
 dent that no patronage was needed for a work which 
 promulgated a discovery of such incalculable utility. 
 
 * In the conclusion of his work, the learned author observes, — " That the 
 fact of this pamphletbeing anonymous should not impair its authority, as the 
 original sources from which the statements are derived are cited ; — and 
 that our only reasons for withholding our name, is, that we would not 
 have it coupled even in the way of opposition, with that of the author of 
 " Homoiopathy Unmasked." 
 
 t Moore, p, 20. 
 
I)EFEN<.'K OF HAHNEMANN 
 
 I2rj 
 
 IINEMAIilN 
 1)11. AI.EX- 
 
 !tunco of 
 
 itself in 
 
 ry Uvm u 
 
 cuioiis ol' 
 
 »n for the 
 
 inenta of 
 
 n\ buiulH 
 
 liscovcry 
 
 crvcrsion 
 
 la tribute 
 
 iroliigacy 
 
 insinua- 
 
 Whcn 
 
 incour ol' 
 
 huractcr. 
 
 le officc- 
 
 to print 
 
 Variolaa 
 
 Jcnner's 
 
 that, as 
 
 apcrs to 
 
 this, lest 
 
 icreforc, 
 
 8, confi- 
 
 which 
 
 llity. 
 
 ." That the 
 [>rity,a8the 
 ted ; — and 
 would not 
 author of 
 
 J 
 
 " A f»rcat fernientulion InHtuntly anwe, iiiul llie subject 
 w!L<i hotly di.scussed, both in proli-'^ftioual (circles and in 
 ^rcneral society. Many of the Haiigiiine, and a lew of the 
 juofound, were at once convinced uf the truth of tienner's 
 opinions ; but the cautious suspended their judgntent, 
 wliile the .suprr/iridl unci .si'lj-siif/iritnt pronounced ut once 
 tiuit the whole was an absnrtlity.'" Wo may safely pre- 
 sume that the gentlemen who deserved to be distinfjjuished 
 hy the e[)ithets which we have put in italics, formed u 
 very notable majority of the profession in that day, as 
 they do in the present. Yet, besides these gentlemen of 
 the Wooil class, it appears that " some grave and learned 
 jM'rsons doubted all the assertions contained in the in- 
 (|uiry, anil of course set no value on the reasoning con- 
 nected with them."* The "ignoble opposition" will he 
 Ibund, in all its humiliating details, in the works from 
 which we have quoted; and we reconnnend to Dr. Wood 
 the attentive perusal of those sami)lcs of kindred liberali- 
 ty, truthfulness, and wisdom which he will find in the 
 productions of «loughty Jicnjamin Mosely and veracious 
 William liowlcy ; because, as he has an aptitude for 
 blushing, he will have abundant or 'sion ibr the exercise 
 of his talent, when ho perceives how closely liis sjjirit 
 resembles theirs, and how surely he is destined — if'destiny 
 can be p/cdicated, without a laughable use of the term, 
 of a writer so ephemeral — soon to oecui)y the same place 
 with them in the estimation of the public. 
 
 Does the parallel between the persecutions of former 
 times and our own hold good in respect to the motives as 
 well as to the conduct of the opposition ? " The present 
 controversy (says the historian of vaccination) did not 
 arise, like many medical disputes, from the obscurity of 
 the subject but from another prolific cause. The small- 
 pox was a source of considerable emolument to every 
 member of the Faculty of Physic. So perilous a lever 
 called for the costly, regular attendance of physicians ; 
 and as the act of inoculation was in the surgeon's i)rovince, 
 
 BHron's Life of Jcuiier, Vol. I p, 302 
 
126 
 
 AND HIS DOC'l'IllNES. 
 
 tills often secured to lilni the future treatment ; vvliile the 
 a})otliccarics profited by coniiioundlng the prescriptions 
 ofl)Otli. Unless, then, the whole practitioners of medi- 
 cine had also lieen practitioners of virtue, they could not 
 unanimously have approved of a project likely to destroy 
 so lucrative a branch of business." — p. 37. ■ ' 
 
 The homoeopathic system threatens far more grievous 
 detriment to all classes of pi*actitioncrs than vaccination 
 could ever have done. The greater part of the emoluments 
 of medical men of the old school arises from the imper- 
 fections of their practice. Whetlier they have the wis- 
 dom as many, especially the more experienced of them, 
 profess, to " do very little, and let nature take her own 
 way ;" or, with the impatience of youth and inexperience, 
 deal pill and potion right and left, cut, burn, blister, 
 Ijleed, and purge, in abundant pennyworth for their fee ; 
 their patients lie long on their hands, for the most part, 
 and the attendance is profitable in proportion. Again, 
 the utter incompetency of the means they use to cure a 
 multitude of chronic ailments, so far from being an evil 
 to them. Is a great and universal benefit ; for the unhappy 
 persons on whom they practice, failing to find relief from 
 one, hie to another of the same trade ; and thus, from 
 year to year, make the dismal round, spending, it may 
 be, all their substance on physicians, like Ihe woman of 
 old. Homoeopathy, by curing recent diseases more 
 promptly, and besides curing more certainly, demanding 
 less frequent visits to those labouring under the more 
 protracted, just because the ope 'ation of its medicines 
 does not need to be suspected and watched, as is notorious 
 in the case of the allopathic drugs, — cannot fail to make 
 deep inroads into professional incomes, and to lessen very 
 much the nmiiber of practitioners that shall be needed to 
 meet the altered circumstances of the public. Then, as 
 to the apothecaries, they of all persons connected with 
 the profession have the most reason to dread the general 
 adoption of homoeopathy ; whether, as In Scotland, they 
 subsist by merely vending drugs ; or, as Is the case in 
 England, arc at the same time practitioners, who arc 
 
 I 
 
DEFKNCK OF HAHNEMANN 
 
 127 
 
 paid by the quantity of medicine wliicli tlieir employers 
 Hwallow. The reader will perceive what .sort oi' motives 
 these " practitioners of virtue" have for their opposition 
 to homo-opatlly. And if there arc some whose disincli- 
 nations to examine the improved system we cannot fairly 
 ascribe to such sources, wc shall not be far Avrong in 
 suspectlnjTj that nine-tenths of them owe their reluctance 
 to a dislike of innovations which would overturn the 
 system with which all their own laboui*s are identified, 
 and necessitates the relinquishing; of dogmata and methods 
 by which they have been accustomed to be guided, for 
 elementary studies and a new experience, not to be ac- 
 quired without much application and fatigue, both of 
 body and mind. 
 
 Vaccination w.-vs not many years in triumphing over 
 all opposition ; but we question if many of our readers 
 have sufficiently considered the means by which its 
 general adoption was so speedily effected. The simplicity 
 of the subject, and the ease with which its pretensions 
 could be determined, gave it, doubtless, a great advan- 
 tage over Homoeopathy, in respect to the time during 
 which the opposition to its claims could be successfully 
 exerted. The latter docs not aim at the introduction of 
 a new practice into a solitary branch of the medical art, 
 but demands for the field of its sweeping reformation the 
 whole territory of practical medicine ; joins issue with 
 the old system on every inch of its possessions, and has 
 to beat it from its fastness among the morasses of false 
 experience, and the jungling of crude hypotheses. Yet 
 it was not to the mere limitations of its object and the 
 simplicity of Its character that Vaccination owed its rapid 
 extension among the practitioners of medicine. It is a 
 fact, not the less undeniable because overlooked, that the 
 part which the general public, and especially persons of 
 rank and Influence, took in I'cference to It, had a pro- 
 digious effect in converting the profession to the practice, 
 and In silencing the clamour of opposition. The King, 
 the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Yoi'k and Clarence, 
 Lords Egrcraont, Hervey, Aylesbury, Ossory, and many 
 
128 
 
 AND HIS DOCTRINES*. 
 
 besides among the nobility and gentry of England, 
 gave Jenuer the support of tlieir countenance and 
 encouragement, at tlic very time that he was engaged, 
 within little more than a year from the publication of 
 his discovery, in contending with the prejudices and 
 calumnies of his professional ])rethren. We find it stated 
 in a letter from Edinburgh by Mr. (afterwards Sir 
 Matthew) Tierney, of date March, 1800, that the then 
 Professor of Practice of Physic in the University of that 
 city. Dr. Gregory, " knew very little about it, (Vacci- 
 nation,) and of course did not encourage it," though by 
 that time it had received the favourable notice of the 
 distinguished persons we have mentioned, and had been 
 practised by a private gentleman and his lady, in Eng- 
 land, on about 600 persons. So much for the eagerness 
 of the profession. From this let the public learn to judge 
 and to act for themselves, if thcv arc desirous of soon 
 reaping the benefits of important advances in the art of 
 healing or mitigating diseases ; and let them beware of 
 delegating their concerns in matters so momentous to 
 those who have interests so much at variance with theirs. 
 We might occupy the space we have proposed for our 
 whole reply with similar examples of our eagerness to 
 investigate whatever promises to advance the healing art, 
 but we must limit ourselves to just one more. About 
 the year 1820, Lajnnec gave to the world an account of 
 his discoveries in Auscultation, — a new method of ascer- 
 taining during life, and with previously unexampled 
 accuracy, the nature and extent of diseases of the lungs, 
 bronchiai, pleurre, and heart, — diseases which had, before 
 his time, so bafi^^ed the diagnostic acuteness of physicians, 
 that their detection, distinction, and treatment, had been 
 deemed among the most difficult and uncertain tasks in 
 the whole scope of the art. The new method revealed 
 expedients, simple, direct, and sure, by which the former 
 sources of embarrassment to the practitioner might be 
 easily avoided ; yet, to this day, the knowledge and 
 employment of these expedients are confined at the 
 most, we venture to say, to a tenth of those who prac- 
 
DEFENCE OF HAHNEMANN 
 
 129 
 
 ^^nglantl, 
 nee ami 
 jnjraged, 
 ation of 
 ices and 
 it stated 
 ards Sir 
 the then 
 y of that 
 
 (Vacci- 
 ough by 
 e of the 
 lad been 
 in Eng- 
 cagerness 
 to judge 
 
 of soon 
 le art of 
 cwarc of 
 ntous to 
 th theirs. 
 \ for our 
 erness to 
 iHng art, 
 
 About 
 count of 
 of ascer- 
 xampled 
 le lungs, 
 d, before 
 ysicians, 
 had been 
 tasks in 
 revealed 
 e former 
 night be 
 dge and 
 I at the 
 bo prac- 
 
 tice medicine. The discoveries of La5nnec have not been 
 merely neglected, but they have been so actively con- 
 demned, as unsuited for practice, that in 1830, ten years 
 after their promulgation, the late Dr. James Gregory, of 
 Edinburgh, wrote a paper, partly devoted to a formal 
 refutation of ihajive principal objections which were then 
 commonly urged against the use of the only means by 
 which the physicians can be enabled to determine, with 
 accuracy, and to treat successfully, many of the most 
 formidable diseases to which the human frame is subject. 
 " In the course of time," he observes, " it is highly 
 probable that the practice will be as widely diffused as 
 its wi*rmest friends could desire. But, in the mean time, 
 I believe there are few, comparatively, among the great 
 body of practitioners throughout the country, who employ 
 auscultation and percussion, at least to any considerable 
 extent." He alludes in the previous page to the ** hostility 
 and ridicule" with which the discoveries of Lajnnec had 
 been met, and to " that still more powerful enemy, the 
 abstract dislike of all innovation which pervades so large 
 and 80 respectable a portion of the medical public." 
 
 The reader has had now a few specimens of Dr. Wood's 
 capacity to do justice to medical history, and will be 
 able to judge of the eagerness with which gentlemen of 
 the old school might have been expected to embr.ice 
 Homoeopathy, seeing that it promises so much to advance 
 the healing art. 
 
 Perhaps some of our readers may desiderate a few 
 specimens of the harmony and certainty of those practical 
 rules of the old system which are boasted to be the 
 touch-stones of fallacy and error of the new. "We can 
 very readily believe that Dr. Wood is not aware of any 
 contradiction existing among the practical views of hia 
 brethren ; to have known that, would have required the 
 perusal of at least two authors on the art. He does not 
 stand on the theories of the old schoql, but is content, 
 it seems, that the whole matter should be a contest 
 "between two experiences, — the one the mushroom 
 experience of Homoeopathy, the other, that which has 
 
 B 
 
130 
 
 AN1> HIS DOCTllINKS. 
 
 been increasing t'roiu the age of Hippocrates to the present 
 day." Fix)ni thia it would appear that he knows of only 
 one experience as pertaining to Allopathy. In one sense 
 we admit that he is right, and the quotations we recently 
 afforded will serve both to establish the fact and to illus- 
 trate the nature of the uniformity. This, however, is not 
 exactly the sort of experience at whidi he points, and we 
 shall give him credit for believing, thnt^. from the age of 
 Hippocrates to the present day, the ait of medicine, of 
 the Galenists, Chemists, Mathematicians, and Vitaiists, 
 of the past eras of medicine, and in those of the nameless 
 multitude of discordant practitioners of the present, has 
 presented the most harmonious and uniform results — 
 constitutes one undivided and indivisible whole, suitably 
 made up of parts which correspond to admiration ; that 
 the days in whidi " the left foot of a tortoise, the urine 
 of a lizard, the dung of an elephant, the liver of a mole, 
 blood drawn from under the wing of a white pigeon, 
 (and for us who have the stone, so scornfully they ose us 
 in our miseries,) the excrement o^ rats, beaten to powder, 
 and such like ape's tricks,"* yielded their contingent to 
 the " accumulated stores of the experience of many suc- 
 cessive ages <^' observation," witnessed but the one 
 experience, which has been increasing since the age of 
 Hippocrates, and which, in the present day, is founded on 
 extracts, prepared in vacuo; vegetable alkaloides and 
 essences, due to the laborious ingenuity of the chemist ; 
 ethereal solutions, and aerated waters, dainty lozenges, 
 " elegant chalybeates," and cold drawn oils. 
 
 "The^ac^s remain the same ; the differences lie only 
 in the explanations which each successive theory has im- 
 posed upon them !" Confining ourselves to the highly 
 cultivated condition of allopathic practice in the present 
 day, it will be profitable to consider for a little the unique 
 experience which it presents. 
 
 To begin with those acute affections which Dr. Wood 
 considers peculiarly the tests of remedial prowess, and on 
 the treatment of which we should expect the powerful 
 
 * Montaigne, chap. 27. 
 
DEFENCK OF 11AUNENANN 
 
 lat 
 
 the present 
 [)W8 of only 
 1 one sense 
 we recently 
 nd to illus- 
 ever, is not 
 nts, and we 
 I the age of 
 aedicine, of 
 d Vitalists, 
 lie nameless 
 jresent, has 
 Q results — 
 le, suitably 
 ation; that 
 I, the urine 
 
 of a mole, 
 itc pigeon, 
 they Bse us 
 to powder, 
 itingent to 
 
 many suc- 
 it the one 
 the age of 
 founded on 
 doides and 
 e chemist; 
 lozenges, 
 
 !es 
 
 lie only 
 )ry has im- 
 the highly 
 he present 
 the unique 
 
 Dr. Wood 
 
 ess, and on 
 powerful 
 
 agents of allopathic experience to be the most in har- 
 mony with one another ; what will he say to the follow- 
 ing unity of opinion and practice, in reference to the 
 treatment of fever ? 
 
 " The other active remedy which I have naentioned as 
 capable of abridging the course of fever, if employed 
 early, is blood-letting." — Bateman, p. 97. 
 
 " The power of this remedy at this jxiriod of the fever 
 cannot, I think, be questioned by those who have wit- 
 nessed its effects." — II. p. 100. 
 
 And respecting the latter periods of fever, he says : — 
 " If delirium come on of an active kind, with rapid and 
 continued talking, or attempts to get out of bed, or with 
 a more quiet confusion and slowness, approaching to 
 stupor, &c., some evacuation of blood is absolutely ne- 
 cessary, whatever the state of tlie pulse may he. The 
 temporal artery may be opened with great advantage 
 under these circumstances." — Ih. p. 112. 
 
 *''Thaiigh this remedy was shown by I>over to be 
 beneficial in the malignant spotted typhus, a great pre- 
 judice appears to have risen against it by the authority 
 of Huxham, Pringle, and others, who dreaded what they 
 termed putrescence." — Craigie^ Tract of Phys. Vol. 1 
 p. 338. 
 
 " In young, vigorous adults, I have generally drawa 
 from 18 to 24 ounces, or even 30 ounces, with benefit; 
 and in most instances it will be requisite to draw not less 
 than 18 ounces at the outset of the disease." — Ih. p. 343, 
 
 Dr. Southwood Smith's experience suggested tiie fol- 
 lowing : — The physician in the first stage of fever, armed 
 with his lancet, is to his patient what the fireman, with 
 his engine, before the flames have had time to kindle, is 
 to a building that has taken fire." — Williams^ p. 80. 
 
 We may refer also to the works of Clutterbuck, Mills, 
 Beddoes, &c. &c., for a similar advocacy of venesection 
 in fever. Such, then, is one experience on tiie subject. 
 
 Dr. Copeland, in describing the treatment proper to 
 the premonitory and invading periods of the disease, 
 nbservep. " As to blood-letting in this disease, it ii? per- 
 
132 
 
 AND UI8 DOCTRINES. 
 
 nicious in many, If not in most coses, and not merely in 
 the nervous, but even in this stage." — Diet. p. 1026. 
 
 Dr. Alison :- - •" Jiut we know, also, that in most 
 epidemics the mortality among those bled early in the 
 disease has been obiserved to be unusually great," p. 455, 
 Outlines. 
 
 And Dr. Little : — " I have not seen a single case of 
 genuine contagious fever, where the loss of blood appeared 
 to diminish its duration. On the contrary, I have seen 
 many cases where depletion, to the amount of 12 or 16 
 ounces, had the most decidedly injurious effects. Among 
 some of the bad effects resulting from the loss of blood, 
 I may mention delirium^ muscular tremors and restless- 
 ness.*^ — Dublin Journal. 
 
 These, it will be admitted, constitute another expe- 
 rience. Then, as to the use of wine and other stimulants 
 in the same disease : — 
 
 " It has appeared to me, however, that this quantity 
 (even four ounces in 24 hours) of diluted stimulus was 
 injurious, and inadmissible whenever the tongue remained 
 parched, the skin dry, and the pulse above 120, with the 
 slightest perceptible sharpness in its beat." — Batemany 
 p. 120. - 
 
 ** Whenever we observe the circulation become feeble, 
 or even (in epidemics, where we know that much debility 
 is to be expected) before it has become feeble, we use the 
 stimulants, chiefly wine—in bad cases, spirits, ammonia, 
 or sether — in small, but frequent and gradually increasing 
 doses." — AlisorCs Outlines, p. 461. 
 
 In like manner we find two opposite experiences in 
 respect to the use of opium, cold effusion, mercury, 
 bark, antimonials, &c. &c. Will the reader believe after 
 this, that continued fever is the most common acute 
 disease in this country — that which should have afforded, 
 therefore, the best opportunity of establishing a unifor- 
 mity of practice. 
 
 Let us next exhibit some examples of the one experience 
 and practice in acute peritonitis. Of the use of calomel 
 Dr. M'Adam says, after recommending it to be given 
 with opium until the mercury has affected the system. 
 
crely in 
 026. 
 in most 
 J in the 
 " p. 455, 
 
 1 case of 
 ippeared 
 Eive seen 
 
 2 or 16 
 Among 
 
 )f blood, 
 restless- 
 ox expe- 
 imulants 
 
 quantity 
 ilus was 
 'emained 
 with the 
 3ateman, 
 
 le feeble, 
 I debility 
 use the 
 mmonia, 
 icreasing 
 
 ences in 
 nercury, 
 Bve after 
 )n acute 
 afTorded, 
 k unifor- 
 
 perience 
 calomel 
 
 )e given 
 system. 
 
 I 
 
 DEFENCE OP HAHNEMANN 
 
 133 
 
 " as soon as salivation is established, we have generally 
 found the symptoms become much mitigated ; and our 
 experience accords with that of Dr. Gooch, who remarks 
 that, whenever the gums were affected in this disease, the 
 patients invariably recovered." — /*. 307, Cj/cl. of Pract, 
 Med. 
 
 Dr. Alison's concurrence in this experience is expressed 
 in the following words : — "When its action on the mouth 
 has been excited in the course of acute internal inflam- 
 mations, we have not only been very generally disap- 
 pointed of seeing improvement of tlie symptoms imme- 
 diately follow that change, but are constrained to add 
 that we have more frequently seen an aggravation of 
 them."— /<^. p. 96. 
 
 Then, in reference to water in the head, we have on 
 the one side Dobson, Hunter, Haygarth, Percival, and 
 others, recording their successes by the method of mer- 
 curial inun'^-tion, &c., until the gums became aifected ; 
 and Warren, Quin, Cheyne, Golis, Abercrombie, Alison, 
 &c., either simply denying its efficacy, or affirming it to 
 be positively injurious. Thus Golis says, — " Many times 
 I saw under these large and long-continued doses of 
 calomel, the hydrocephalic symptoms vanish, and inflam- 
 mation of the intestines arise, and terminate in death." 
 
 " Mercury has been strongly recommended in that 
 class of cases which terminate by hydrocephalus ; but its 
 reputation seems to stand on very doubtful grounds." — 
 {Abercrrmhie, p. 162.) 
 
 Similarly discordant experiences will be found recorded 
 respecl;ing all the most important and dangerous acute 
 diseases, such as erysipelas, dysentery, hepatitis, cholera, 
 articular rheumatism, &c &c. And let it be noted, that 
 these discordances are not what may be termed of a ne- 
 gative kind, hutva.os,i\y positive and opposite in the highest 
 degree. 
 
 So thoroughly and pervadingly true is it, that almost 
 every man has his own distinct views and methods of 
 practice, that we defy the best digester of contradictions, 
 allowing him all the advantage of a ventriculus callosus to 
 break down ordinary difficulties into something like 
 
134 
 
 AND 1118 DOCTRINES. 
 
 lKirmony> — to tell iia what is the practice of the counnon 
 Hystcm ill any one diseasic wiiich flesh is heir to — to tell 
 us what is tlie principle, view, or l)elicfj which jifuides the 
 selection of remedies. No man will venture to undertake 
 such a demonstration of the wnty of experience which 
 pervades the profession. The one experience in allopath) 
 is foimd in acute rheumatism, illustrated by the large 
 bleedings of IJouUlaud, M'Leod, and Dr. Craigie ; in the 
 condemnation of large bleedings as dangerous, by causing 
 the heart to be implicated, of Dr. Alison ; in the dose 
 of calomel at night, and a purgative in the morning, of 
 Dr. Hope ; in the bark of Haygarth and the quinine oi" 
 Monneret ; in the opium practice of Corrigan, the col- 
 chicum of Law, &c. ; the nitre, tartar emetic, and mer- 
 curial saturations of a great many. Now of these 
 remedies some are termed anti-phlogistics, one a tonic, 
 one a narcotic, one a sedative and specific, and two, no 
 one can tcli wiiat. 
 
 Then, take among chronic diseases, phthisis pulmonalis, 
 and let us see what are the principles on which the suf- 
 ferings of the consumptive are attempted to be relieved, 
 — if we must not speak of cure. Inhalations of steam, 
 of the foetid animal oil, of chlorine, of iodine, vapours of 
 tar, swallowing alkalis, antimony, taraxacum, sarsaparilla, 
 barytes, aconite, digitalis, ipecacuanha, sulphate of zi»e, 
 cod liver oil, and a host of other substances, ranked under 
 every head of the Materia Medica. Now we introduce 
 this list of drugs, not with the view of condemning the 
 system which adopts one or all of them, but simply to 
 ask whether, with these multifarious, and many of them 
 dissimilar agents of the modus operandi of which, on con- 
 sumption, no one can give an adequate or even an intel- 
 ligible explanation, the Allopathic physician is entitled 
 to say of any other remedy or catalogue of remedies, that 
 it is opposed to the experience of men who use their own 
 remedies without knowing why, and condemn those which 
 the Homoeopathists recommend, without once giving them 
 a trial. So much for the ignorant condemnation which 
 Dr. Wood has ventured to pronounce on the Homoeopathic 
 Jaw, as opposed to the " accumulated storci?," &c. 
 
conunun 
 —to tell 
 uidcs tho 
 ndertako 
 30 which 
 illoi)ath) 
 the largo 
 13 ; in the 
 ^ causing 
 the (lose 
 fning, of 
 lininc of 
 
 the col- 
 [ind mcr- 
 of theae 
 
 a tonic, 
 1 two, no 
 
 dmonalis, 
 the 8uf- 
 reheved, 
 )f' steam, 
 ipours of 
 saparilla, 
 ! of ziwc, 
 :ed under 
 ntroduce 
 ning the 
 imply to 
 of them 
 , on con- 
 an intel- 
 entitled 
 dies, that 
 heir own 
 )se which 
 ing them 
 Dn whicii 
 (Eopathic 
 
 CI.lAPTEil XIII. 
 
 THE PLEA OF A CONVEIIT. 
 UY DU. ClIArMAN, nvEurooi,. 
 
 The duties a medical man owes to tlic public, tho 
 profession, and himself, can only he neglected or tampered 
 witii at the expense of his conscience and self-respect, 
 lie owes it to the pid)lic and himself to investigate any 
 method of cure tliat may from time to time be proposed ; 
 and he owes it no less to the profession to declare, if it 
 1)0 needed or called for, the grounds of his decision on 
 any disputed points. If this holds true on any and every 
 question of practical import, it is imperatively necessary 
 when the question is of a doctrine that implies the 
 necessity of an entire revolution in the practice of 
 medicine. 
 
 It AviU be confessed by all that none can be bound, in 
 the exercise of their art, by any rules or doctrines of 
 teachers or academies. To impose such a restriction is 
 impracticable ; and if it were practicable, it would most 
 completely prevent all progress and improvement. On 
 the contrary, it is the object of most of our earnest pro- 
 fession to keep pace with the knowledge of the day ; 
 and if any new remedy or plan of treatment is suggested, 
 it is at once made the subject of experiment. The case is 
 different when a new doctrine is proposed ; and especially 
 if, as in the case of Homoeopathy, it is at once opposed 
 to the prejudices of education, and acquired or long- 
 fostered opinions, and furthermore demands a long and 
 patient investigation. 
 
 It is with some hesitation, that after several years 
 experience of this method of practice, I venture to give 
 my reasons for adopting it. I have been told that I 
 ought to do so ; and it is in compliance with this call on 
 me, and not for any confidence in my powers as an 
 advocate, that I make — it may be prematurely, in respect 
 
I'M) 
 
 THK PI.KA OF A CONVKHT. 
 
 of my own fitncsH for the tiunk — u brief statement of tlic 
 circumstancos that \v\\ inc to try this method, and my 
 reiiHons for the conviction I entertain of its truth and 
 value. 
 
 " A clear stage and no favour" is the Briton's motto. 
 
 I had no unworthy motives in the course I have 
 pursued ; those who know mc will i^clievc me ; the 
 opinion of those who know mc not is of no consequence, 
 excepting in so far as it may discredit my statement. 
 Therefore, I susk for a fair hearing. My prejudices, and 
 the opinion of those I most value and respect in our 
 profession, some my teachers and some my contempo- 
 raries, and some my relatives, were directly opposed to 
 my adopting this doctrine. I t once lost some of my 
 best patients (I do not mean by death, but the with- 
 drawal of their confidence) from my change of practice. 
 My nearest and dearest friends urged their eager remon- 
 strances ; but my duty was plain so soon as I became 
 convinced ; and it was the sincerity of my conviction 
 which gave me the courage to persevere. 
 
 I had been for some years in the number of those who 
 ridiculed this doctrine. I not only considered it senseless 
 and absurd, but I thought the practice a positive crime 
 in acute cases, as I understood that so much time was 
 lost in doing nothing, during which the patient's life 
 might, perhaps, with the use of energetic means, have 
 been saved. My feelings and my opinions were as much 
 against the system as it is possible for any one's to be. 
 
 This was my character of opposition. It may be per- 
 mitted me to say a few words on the subject of my 
 predisposition to entertain this doctrine, should I in any 
 way be satisfied of the efficacy of the treatment. In the 
 first place, I had little or no confidence in the ordinary 
 therapeutics — not from want of experience — for I had a 
 very extensive practice for some years in British Guiana, ; 
 not from want of opportunities of seeing the practice of 
 others, and some of them the most eminent men in the 
 empire — for I had been nine years a student at the me- 
 dical schools, four of which I passed at Guy's Hospital 
 
TJIK PI.KA OF A CONVLHT. 
 
 137 
 
 IMlt of tllC 
 
 I, and lay 
 truth und 
 
 'a motto. 
 G I hav(; 
 inc ; the 
 iscqucnt'c, 
 (tatcnient. 
 dicca, and 
 ct in our 
 jontempo- 
 pposed to 
 nc of my 
 the vvith- 
 ' practice, 
 er remon- 
 I became 
 sonviction 
 
 those who 
 ■j senseless 
 ive crime 
 time was 
 ient's life 
 ans, have 
 3 as much 
 5 to be. 
 ly be per- 
 ct of my 
 
 I in any 
 In the 
 
 ordinary 
 [* I had a 
 
 Guian&; 
 ■actice of 
 n in the 
 
 the me- 
 
 Hospital 
 
 In London. Nor waa I nn unsuccessi'ul practitioner (I 
 owe it to myself to say this) in comparison witii others. 
 A<^ain, 1 knew that many of those wliose opinion I most 
 viilucd, were almost us sceptical as myself on tlie subject 
 of medical treatment in many, if not most, of the diseadcH 
 they had to treat. 
 
 I had always a strong objection to givlii'^ many medi- 
 cines in one prescription, and had been in tiie iiabit of 
 giving single medicines in many discjises, as ipecacuaniia 
 alone in dysentery, &c. 
 
 1 had always faith in specifics, though my medical faith 
 fulled me when I had to use medicines that were not 
 si)ecifics to the disease under treatment. I may mention, 
 by way of Illustration, that I made use of many native 
 remedies I became acquainted with while I was in 
 Guiana, and for the most part with signal success. I 
 had always a great objection to much medicine and large 
 doses, especially of acrid or poisonous substances. 
 
 I found, moreover, when I was engaged in practice, 
 that I had to unlearn most of what I had been taught in 
 the treatment of disease, and in the application of theories. 
 My want of confidence, then, in tlie ordinary therapeu- 
 tics ; my knowledge that this want of confidence waa 
 also the unhapplness of not a few of my professional 
 brethren ; my conviction that any advance In the healing 
 art must be made in the way of increase In the number 
 of specifics ; and my having learned, by sad experience, 
 that medical theories were no safe guide at the bedside of 
 the patient ; and my having been obliged to unlearn and 
 try to forget what I had been taught in the practice of 
 medicine, were so many predispositions, if I may use the 
 expression, for ray reception of the doctrine of Hahne- 
 mann, if T should once be satisfied that the practice 
 founded on it was efficacious. 
 
 One of my children was subject to fits. On any cause 
 of irritation she had one of these frightful attacks. I had 
 exhausted all the resources of art in this case, excepting 
 that of reducing her by frequent doses of calomel, which 
 I would not have recourse to. I had occasion, in the 
 
138 
 
 Till: I'LKA OF A CONVERT. 
 
 bep^'innln{v of 1 84 1 , to write to r medicnl friend in Lon- 
 don, and I Hinted the cliikrH cumc, and asked if he could 
 BUggest any thing for her. I was not aware that he wan 
 pnictifling at all, and still len.s that he wan pnictising 
 homu'opathlcally. He replied to mc innnediately, and 
 informed me of hia conviction of the truth of this method, 
 and sent mc some medicine, requesting me to try it. I 
 did 80, and the child has never had a fit since. The effect 
 at the time somewhat flur})ri8ed me ; hut still thinking 
 such treatment absurd, 1 considered that the disiiasc! had 
 worn itself out, that a critical change had taken place in 
 the child's constitution ; and, in fact, attributed her 
 freedom from fits to any cause whatever but the [jowders 
 of aconite, belladonna, and chamomilla I had given her. 
 A few months after I met at Cheltenham another 
 medical friend, who was acquainted with Hahnemann, 
 and was quite an enthusiast for liis doctrine. I had some 
 conversation with him on the subject, but set him down 
 for a mere unreflecting zealot. Up to this time my only 
 acquaintance with any writings about Homoeopathy was 
 through the objections of its adversaries. It happened 
 that, during my absence from Liverpool, some of my 
 patients had been induced to try the homoeopathic treat- 
 ment. Some of the cures could be explained away, but 
 several of them could only be honestly accounted for by 
 admitting the full efficacy of the treatment that had 
 been pursued. It will be sufficient to mention one of 
 these. 
 
 A gentleman had been subject to haemorrhoids for some 
 years, and the loss of blood was sometimes fearful. His 
 bowels were habitually and obstinately constipated ; and 
 any medicine but the most gentle laxatives brought on 
 the hacmorrhoidal flux. Astringents, by way of injec- 
 tions, were of no use during the discharge ; they produced 
 mischief when taken internally. He had been under the 
 care of several eminent men in London, and had tried 
 many medical men in this town. His condition was 
 made rather worse than better by the efforts of all and 
 each of us to relieve him. His life was a misery. Two 
 
THE PLKA OV A CONVEHT. 
 
 139 
 
 in Tion- 
 l»e could 
 tit he wuM 
 (nictiHin^ 
 itely, and 
 -4 iiu'tluxl, 
 try it. I 
 rhe eft'cc-t 
 
 tliinkinfjj 
 scasi! luul 
 I place in 
 utcd her 
 ) powders 
 iven her. 
 
 another 
 memann, 
 had some 
 liin down 
 3 my only 
 )athy was 
 happened 
 le of my 
 hie treat- 
 tway, but 
 2d for by 
 that had 
 in one of 
 
 i for some 
 Pul. Plis 
 ted; and 
 ought on 
 of injec- 
 produced 
 under the 
 had tried 
 ition was 
 f all and 
 y. Two 
 
 or three months after he had l)cen under homoeopathic 
 troiitment, I met him one day in the street, and wag 
 udtonished at the alteration in his appearance. From 
 hein^ emaciated he had grown stout, and Avas altogether 
 in excellent condition. I asked him what he had been 
 doing, and thereupon he told me of his having swooned 
 away in London from the loss of blood ; that a homcco- 
 puthic physician had attended him ; that he suffered no 
 loss of blood since ; that his bowels were regular; and 
 that he no longer suflered any inconvenience from the 
 trying and, in his case, dangerous complaint he had 
 suffered from a dozen years or more. This, and several 
 other concurrent cases of my own patients, successfully 
 treated by this method at the same time, induced mc to 
 lay aside my prejudice against the apparent absurdity of 
 the doses, so far as to test by actual experiment their 
 efficacy and value. The state of my health did not allow 
 me to make experiments on myself, but I tried them in 
 my family, and began to apply them in the milder cases 
 of disease among my patients. I was immediately con- 
 vinced that the doses were efficacious, and conviction of 
 the truth of the doctrine followed. I then began to read 
 some of the writings of English homoeopathic practi- 
 tioners, though I must confess that from them I should 
 have derived no satisfaction or conviction, had I not 
 previously had experience of the efficacy of the treat- 
 ment. I should except from this remark, Dr. Simpson's 
 "practical view," which (whatever be the errors of his 
 book) is the only address to the profession at large that 
 is likely to carry conviction with it. As I am altogether 
 impartial on this subject, I may state my opinion, 
 that it is more calculated than any publication that has 
 yet issued from the British press, to further the progress 
 of Homoeopathy, by enforcing the attention of the pro- 
 fession to a subject which they have hitherto either dis- 
 regarded altogether, or affected to treat with contempt. 
 It has this great merit, that it is not addressed to the 
 public, but to the profession. It deals with scientific as 
 well as practical discussions. While on the subject of 
 
140 
 
 THE PLKA OF A CONVERT. 
 
 lEngllsh writings on our method, I would direct the atten- 
 tion of the reader to Dr. Millingen's remarks on the 
 homoeopathic doctrine in his "Curiosities of Medical 
 Experience." This gentleman, an allopathic Surgeon to 
 the Forces, adorned with honorary titles, a man of great 
 experience and practical knowledge, dedicates his book to 
 the Director-General of the Army Medical Department. 
 While he ridicules some of the theories of Hahnemann, 
 he admits the value of the law and the efficacy of the 
 remedies, and, indeed, gives cases of cure performed by 
 them. I quote his concluding remarks : — " I trust that 
 the few cases I have related will afford a convincing 
 proof of the injustice, if not the unjustifiable obstinacy, 
 of those practitioners who, refusing to submit the homoeo- 
 pathic practice to a fair trial, condemn it without inves- 
 tigation. That this practice will be adopted by quacks 
 and needy adventurers, there is no doubt ; but Homoeo- 
 pathy is a science on which numerous voluminous works 
 have been written by enlightened practitioners, whose 
 situation in life placed them far above the necessities of 
 Bpeculation. Their publications are not sealed volumes, 
 and any medical man can also obtain the preparations 
 they recommend. It is possible, nay, more than proba- 
 ble, that physicians cannot find time to commence a new 
 course of studies, for such this investigation must prove. 
 If this is the case, let them frankly avow their utter 
 ignorance of the doctrine, and not denounce a practice of 
 which they do not possess the slightest knowledge. 
 
 " Despite the persecution that Hahnemannism (as this 
 doctrine is ironically denominated) is at present enduring, 
 every reflecting and unprejudiced person must feel con- 
 vinced, that, although its mild and untenable theories 
 may not overthrow established systems, (if any one sys- 
 tem can be called established,) yet, its study and appli- 
 cation bid fair to operate an important revolution in 
 medicine. The introduction of infinitely small doses 
 when compared, at least with the quantities formerly 
 prescribed, is gradually creeping in. 
 
THE PLEA OF A CONVERT. 
 
 141 
 
 t the attcn- 
 rks on the 
 3f Medical 
 Surgeon to 
 an of great 
 his book to 
 'epartment. 
 ahncmann, 
 acy of the 
 'formed by 
 [ trust that 
 convincinjj 
 obstinacy, 
 he homoco- 
 lout inves- 
 by quacks 
 it Homoeo- 
 nous works 
 lers, whose 
 icessities of 
 !d volumes, 
 •reparations 
 han proba- 
 lence a new 
 nust prove, 
 their utter 
 L practice of 
 ledge, 
 ism (as this 
 t enduring, 
 it feel con- 
 )le theories 
 ly one sys- 
 and appli- 
 s^olution in 
 small doses 
 !S formerly 
 
 The history of medicine affords abundant proofs of the 
 acrimony, nay, the fuiy with which every new doctrine 
 has been impugned and insulted. The same annals will 
 also shew that this spirit of intolerance has always been 
 in the ratio of the truths that these doctrines tended to 
 bring into light. From the preceding observations, no 
 one can accuse me of having become a blind bigot of 
 Homoeopathy; but I can only hope that its present 
 vituperators will follow my example, and examine the 
 matter calmly and dispassionately, Ijcfore they proceed 
 to pass a judgment, that their vanity may lead them to 
 consider a final sentence." 
 
 The next advance in my progress, was being associa- 
 ted with Dr. Drysdale in the medical charge of the 
 Dispensary he had just established. I had previously 
 been using the remedies in my private practice, and, for 
 some time, in complete ignorance of the fact, that there 
 was a homa3opathic practitioner in Liverpool. From 
 this gentlem",n, who had studied the doctrine and i)rac- 
 tice to the greatest advantage in Vienna and Paris, I 
 derived much assistance. 
 
 From the time I commenced this method of practice, 
 until now, I have never wavered, nor seen reason vo 
 doubt the truth of the doctrine, or efficacy of the remedies. 
 
 I should also mention, that I have also had the advan- 
 tage of seeing the practice of the London Homoeopathic 
 Institution, during brief visits to the metropolis, where 
 I saw undoubted cures of well-marked and long-standing 
 diseases ; and to Dr. Curie, the chief medical officer, I 
 am indebted for much valuable information. I also de- 
 rived great benefit from my correspondence with my 
 friend Dr. Partridge, a man of great talent and profes- 
 sional acumen, who was at that time acting as an assis- 
 tant at the London Institution. 
 
 I have thus briefly stated the circumstances that 
 induced me to adopt Homoeopathy, and the training 1 
 went through. 
 
 The result of my practice has been to convince me 
 that our therapeutics arc safer and more efficacious than 
 
142 
 
 THE PLEA OF A CONVERT. 
 
 the means I formerly employed. Whatever comparative 
 failure may have occurred, I have attributed to myself 
 and not the method ; but all things considered, I honestly 
 believe that mv success has been nmch greater in a ffiven 
 number of cases, than had I depended on my former 
 resources. 
 
 I have seen about seven thousand cases in dispensary 
 and private practice treated with these remedies during 
 the two past years. The efficacy of the dispensary prac- 
 tice is proved by the numbers applying for relief. 
 
 During the two years, six deaths have occurred in my 
 practice, which has been extensive, and has given me 
 opportunities of testing the method in the treatment of 
 whatever diseases have been endemical or epidemical. 
 
 The cases of death were the following : — 
 
 1. An infant who had been for some time treated by 
 a very respectable allopathic practitioner, who continued 
 to see the case with me. He despaired of it, when I was 
 sent for : the disease was hydrocephalus. 
 
 2. A lady, nearly fifty years of age, who died of con- 
 gestive typhus. 
 
 3. A gentleman who died of consumption. 
 
 4. A lady who had disease of the valves of the heart. 
 
 5. A case of tabes dorsalis. 
 
 6. An old lady, nearly eighty, who had been cured of 
 influenza, but who died after the operation for umbilical 
 hernia. I had obtained for her the best surgical advice, 
 but she speedily sunk after the operation. 
 
 I think no candid person will say that any one of the 
 above cases could surely have been saved by any treat- 
 ment he could have pursued, or that any hope could 
 liave been entertained for any, but the second case. 
 
 Having thus stated my unwavering conviction of the 
 truth of the doctrine, I may be permitted, perhaps, to 
 proceed a little further in considering the general ques- 
 tion. That it is one of vast moment, no one will doubt 
 who will dispassionately consider it. The practitioners 
 of this method are now numbered by hundreds, some 
 say by thousands. The established system of medical 
 
THE PLEA OF A CONVERT. 
 
 143 
 
 practice is uncertain and wavering : many of its ablest 
 professors are secret sceptics : some of the most renowned 
 trust only in the medecine expcctante. In tliis state of 
 things a doctrine is propounded, which declares a law of 
 healing of general applicability : embracing and absorb- 
 ing every tiling of practical import that can be deduced 
 from the experience of the past : availing itself of all the 
 accessaries of modern science, and opening out a field of 
 therapeutical agents, whose limits no man can determine. 
 Yet, this doctrine, so steadily advancing, that has engaged 
 so much of the public attention, has never been combated 
 nor examined legitimately by any medical journal or 
 authority. In one or two journals it has been super- 
 ficially and contemptuously handled. In one case it was 
 treated as a fantastic absurdity, and the chief arguments 
 were derived from the rich comic treasury of rare Ben 
 Johnson. The comedies of Moliere might, in like way, 
 be made still more effectual against the allopathic method. 
 It has been the fashion for wits to ridicule that method 
 from time immemorial. 
 
 In another journal, the unfortunate issue of an indivi- 
 dual case, which, from the nature of the malady, was 
 necessarily hopeless, was made the subject of rash cen- 
 sure and ill-disguised malice. No doctrine was ever yet 
 put down in this way. 
 
 A method of practice now pursued in every civilized 
 country, by regular and well-educated practitioners, 
 surely demands a fair and liberal examination. Many a 
 doctrine has attracted notice for a time, and after its brief 
 day has been lost in the lumber of forgotten things, or 
 only been remembered for its absurdity ; but, after half 
 a century, the Homoeopathic doctrine remains. The 
 " stet pro ratione voluntas'^ of the medical writers in this 
 country, cannot much longer pass as a sufficient excuse 
 for their silence on this subject. The spirit of inquiry 
 is already stirring among the junior members of the 
 profession : a new and a purer light will draw them away 
 from the " veteris vestigia fiammo^^ of their seniors. They 
 who search for truth, Avill find it ; but it is necessary to 
 search. 
 
144 
 
 THE PLEA OF A CONVERT. 
 
 The Jovian bolt, witli its broken barb, of a royal col- 
 lege, except sustained by the power of reason and the 
 might of truth, can only prove a brutum fulmen/mmged, 
 in a remarkable way, by the hostile but important attempt 
 
 of ased Priam 
 
 against 
 
 the 
 
 vigorous 
 
 and victorious 
 
 Pyrrhus : — 
 
 " Sic fatiis senior, telurnque imliplle sine ictii 
 
 Conjecit ; rauco quod protinus aere repulsuin, 
 
 Et Bummo clypei nequicquam uinbone pependit." — JEs, 1 1. 
 
 " Then the old man feebly cast his feeble dart, 
 Dintless ; which by the jarring brass rfipulsed 
 From the shield's boss hung idly, idly thrown." 
 
 Have the thousands on thousands who have been treated 
 homnoopathically in Great Britain, been all treated inef- 
 fectually ? Have all those who have considered themselves 
 cured by the use of remedies, deceived themselves? I hold 
 that if there had been only a thousand, a hundred, ten, 
 even one authentic case of cure, fairly due to this method, 
 it demands investigation, instead of contempt, — earnest 
 inquiry, instead of abuse, or assumed indifference. 
 
 Audi alteram partem, was the language of the heathen, 
 or, as we say in English, " hear both sides of the ques- 
 tion." This is plainly the duty of the profession in res- 
 pect to our doctrine. To be satisfied, without investiga- 
 tion, that we are right, and that our opponents are 
 wrong, may be a very pleasant way of deceiving our- 
 selves, but is not the method of ascertaining the truth of 
 any question. There can be, at least among medical 
 men, neither neutrality nor indifference on the subject of 
 Homoeopathy. " The snail," says the Hindoo proverb, 
 *' sees nothing beyond its shell, and believes it the finest 
 palace in the world." This kind of complacency, this 
 indifference to what others are doing, neither is, nor can 
 be tolerated in this age of movement, either in the indi- 
 vidual practitioner, or in any school of medicine. 
 
 There should be nothing one-sided in our profession. 
 Controvert and convict us if you will, but do not speak 
 of us and our way of practice as if this were a mere 
 absurdity, and ourselves either knaves or fools — or both 
 together. 
 
THE PLEA OF A CONVERT. 
 
 145 
 
 oyal col- 
 and the 
 , imaged, 
 t attempt 
 victorious 
 
 r. 11. 
 
 n treated 
 ited inef- 
 lemselves 
 ? I hold 
 h'cd, ten, 
 3 method, 
 — earnest 
 
 heathen, 
 
 he ques- 
 
 n in res- 
 
 nvestiga- 
 
 ents are 
 
 ing our- 
 
 truth of 
 
 medical 
 
 ubject of 
 
 proverb, 
 
 ;he finest 
 
 ncy, this 
 
 nor can 
 
 the indi- 
 
 rofession. 
 ot speak 
 ; a mere 
 —or both 
 
 Such an attempt to put down a science, is neither 
 professional nor dignified. 
 
 Considering the confessed uncertainty of medicine 
 under the guidance of theories without end, the mere 
 announcement of a law of healing that professes to be of 
 general applicability, should be hailed with joy by the 
 profession, and be examined with hopeful practice, and 
 yet with fear and trembling, lest it sliould be found 
 Avanting ; but still, for the very hope's sake, it should be 
 examined carefully and dispassionately. 
 
 If, as it must be confessed, the most certain cures 
 made with allopathic treatment are of those few diseases 
 for which there are recognised specifics, the proclamation 
 of a vast increase in the number of specifics should 
 be gratefully welcomed. For such a boon the necessary 
 time should be cheerfully given to making experiments 
 with medical substances on the healthy, Avith a view to 
 verify our Materia Medica. Those who are healthy 
 should take the medicines themselves, and a speedy con- 
 viction of the truth of our doctrine would follow. This 
 should be done according to the necessary conditions 
 which are detailed in our books. 
 
 The experiments should be made with directness of 
 purpose in a loyal spirit of truth. The effects of the 
 remedies could then be tried in the treatment of disease. 
 
 The manner in which some aifect to have given our 
 medicines a trial, is most ridiculous. An eminent surgeon 
 is represented to have emptied a tubeful of globules into 
 the palm of his hand, anu said, " There, I have taken 
 all, and what harm or good can they do me" — swallow- 
 ing an infinitesimal dose ! Such a proceeding shewed 
 his unfairness, or his entire ignorance of our doctrine and 
 practice. This is quite unworthy. But try the medi- 
 cines fairly on yourselves according to the doctrines given; 
 do this patiently and perseveringly ; and then, if you 
 find no effects, such as are recorded in our Materia 
 Medica, you will have a right to declare your opinion of 
 our fallacy. Until you examine the subject thoroughly. 
 
140 
 
 THE PLKA OF A (.'ONVEUr. 
 
 wc hold you to be no lit judges; we maintain that you 
 denounce our method while you are in a state of igno- 
 rance concerning the merits or demerits of the doctrine, 
 and we altogether deny your right to condemn us. 
 
 Such is the language that may fairly be used to such 
 of the profession as, without any real knowledge of the 
 subject, are opponents, as I once was, to Homoeopathy. 
 Let us consider briefly the points of opposition or difier- 
 encc between this and the oitlinary practice. 
 
 1. The fundamep'^d law — sltnilia similibus curantur. 
 This, which is the exception in the ordinary method, is 
 the inilc in the homoeopathic. 
 
 All believers in Homoeopathy receive this as the 
 general and comprehensive law of their practice. They 
 insist that experiments should be made on persons in 
 health with medical substances, in order to ascertain the 
 properties of these substances, and the similarity between 
 the symptoms produced by them and those produced by 
 various diseases. While symptoms, however, arc closely 
 attended to, the pathological character of disease must 
 be minutely studied. "With this knowledge of the pro- 
 perties of drugs, of the similarity between the symptoms 
 of disease and those of medical substances, and of the 
 pathological character of the particular disease under 
 treatment, the homoeopathic law is applied in practice. 
 Compare the simplicity and uniformity of this principle 
 with the innumerable theories that are 'o be found in 
 books, and that float through the minds of medical men, 
 to the prejudice of their own faculties, and the inevitable 
 disadvantage of their patients. The truth of the law 
 has been partially, and, to a certain extent, recognised in 
 all ages, from Hippocrates to Hahnemann. To the 
 latter of these two great medical reformers belongs the 
 glory of having discovered the general applicability of the 
 law. It is true, that, in some few cast -;, on a sudden 
 emergency, to obtain instant relief, a homoeopathic prac- 
 titioner might have recourse either to the antipathic or 
 to the het^ropathic method; but that object being accom- 
 plished, he will proceed to the cure according to the 
 
THE I'LEA OF A tONVEllT. 
 
 147 
 
 that you 
 
 I of igno- 
 
 doctrinc, 
 
 ; US. 
 
 tl to such 
 
 ge of the 
 
 loeopathy. 
 
 or ditter- 
 
 curantur. 
 method, I3 
 
 IS 
 
 as the 
 ^. They 
 ■)ersons in 
 ;ertain the 
 y between 
 aduced by 
 irc closely 
 case must 
 f the pro- 
 symptoms 
 md of the 
 ase under 
 I practice. 
 3 principle 
 ! found in 
 dical men, 
 inevitable 
 f the law 
 ognised in 
 To the 
 ilongs the 
 ility of the 
 a sudden 
 ithic prac- 
 ipathic or 
 ng accom- 
 tig to the 
 
 fundamental law. There is no abnegation of common 
 sense in this j)racticc ; on the contrary, the principle — 
 sirnilia similibus — is the truly useful and rational one. 
 
 We have, then, in clear and well-defined opposition to 
 the ever-shiftinuj theories of disease, taug-ht ex catliedrd 
 in the medical schools of these kingdoms, a simple law, 
 capable of general application. The ap])lication of this 
 law involves the necessity of a practical knowledge of 
 •Jisease, and of a true pharmacology. 1 think myself 
 warranted in calling on those who dift'er from us on the 
 medical question, to institute experiments to ])rove 
 whether we are right or wrong before they condcnm us. 
 They must make those experiments, however, with fair- 
 ness and patience. 1 may be permitted just to mention 
 two cases, in confirmation of the truth of the law and of 
 the efficacy of the practice. I saw one morning a lady 
 who was suffering agony from quinsy. There was pro- 
 fuse salivation (she had takcd no mercury) which had 
 given her no relief. I gave her mercury in frequent 
 doses, and saw her again in the evening : the uneasiness 
 had ceased. The next day she was in her dining-room 
 when I called : I was then able to look into her throat, 
 and I found that there was still considerable enlargement 
 of the tonsils. In two or three days she was quite well ; 
 and she was positive there had been no discharge of pus : 
 the salivation had ceased on the day after she took the mer- 
 cury. The following case shews remarkably the specific 
 action of a medicine rightly chosen in accordance with 
 the law : — 
 
 The servant of a gentleman at Bootle was seized in 
 the morning with falntness ; soon after, constant vomiting 
 and diarrhoea set in ; cold sweats over the whole body ; 
 the pulse scarcely to be felt ; excessive tenderness at the 
 epigastrium, and of the abdomen ; icy coldness of hands 
 and feet. He had been suffering through the whole 
 day, and there was vomiting of blood towards evening, 
 with complete exhaustion. I gave him vcratruin. After 
 the first dose, the vomiting and diarrhoea entirely ceased ; 
 before an hour ho fell asleej), slept the whole night, and 
 
148 
 
 TUB PLKA OK A CONVEUT. 
 
 felt 80 well in the morning, that he was with difficulty 
 restrained from going to his work till I should sec him. 
 He was at once cured by a single dose of a specific me- 
 dicine. 
 
 Of the worst and common effects of much-abused 
 mercury, all medical men are aware; but of the properties 
 of veratrum few are. Let them consult our pharmaco- 
 peia, and they will see why this medicine was chosen in 
 the case of cholera just mentioned ; if they will, they 
 may verify, by experiment, the medical symptoms of the 
 remedy which acted in this case like a charm. They 
 have no right to refuse my testimony, or to discredit my 
 statements, on the mere assumption of the impossibility 
 of cures with such remedies. The time will soon come, 
 nay, is already come, when bold assertion and denial in 
 this matter will not be accepted by the enlightened por- 
 tion of the public. 
 
 2. The doses of medicine. It has been repeatedly 
 answered to objectors, that the amount of the dose was 
 not primary characteristic of homoeopathy — that it is not 
 essential to it. 
 
 The minute doses we give resulted not from theory, 
 but from experience. The rationality of small doses 
 has been admirably shown by a philosopher and a 
 man of genius, in the first volume of the British 
 Journal on Homoeopathy. It were easier to acquire 
 the power of Mithridates, to take poison to any 
 amount without injury, than to gainsay or disprove 
 the beautiful logic which has so clearly demonstrated the 
 reasonableness of small doses. If minute and infinitesimal 
 doses will cure, without the slightest injury to the patient, 
 for what reason in the world should large and dangerous 
 doses be given ? We are not, however, bound to use 
 always infinitesimal doses. All of us are agreed that 
 more depends upon the proper selection of remedies than 
 upon the size of the dose. The constitution of the pa- 
 tient, the nature and character of the disease, the quality 
 of the remedies, are all to be taken into consideration. 
 We know that some patients, of peculiar susceptibility, 
 
THE PLKA OF A CONVERT. 
 
 140 
 
 difficulty 
 sec him. 
 cific me- 
 
 ih-abuscd 
 )ropertic3 
 harmuco- 
 choscn ill 
 i^ill, they 
 ma of the 
 1. They 
 ;redit my 
 ossibility 
 on come, 
 denial in 
 !ned por- 
 
 jpeatedly 
 Jose was 
 t it is not 
 
 1 theory, 
 all doses 
 r and a 
 British 
 I acquire 
 
 to any 
 disprove 
 rated the 
 ttitesimal 
 3 patient, 
 angerous 
 d to use 
 eed that 
 dies than 
 
 the pa- 
 B quality 
 ieration. 
 ptibility, 
 
 cannot take, without suffering, our low dilutions : what 
 must be the amount of injury done by the huge doses 
 tliat are still given by many practitioners ! One of the 
 most able and experienced physicians of London told me 
 a few years ago, that most of the cases he saw had been 
 80 much damaged by the heroic practice before he saw 
 them, that nothing remained for him to do but to endea- 
 vour to palliate the sufferings caused by the previous 
 treatment. 
 
 We know by experience that our remedies, whether 
 in high or low dilutions, according to the circumstance 
 of the case, are efficacious. Hahnemann has again and 
 again said, " Refute these truths if you can, by showing 
 a still more certain and efficacious method than mine ; 
 refute them not by words, of which we have already too 
 many, but by facts." 
 
 We may here observe, that some persons have practised 
 according to the homoeopathic law without using the 
 infinitesimal doses, as Hahnemann himself did at first, but 
 the ordinary, till the multitude of successful results with 
 the homoeopathic preparations induced them to test, and 
 verify, afiid adopt them. 
 
 3. The symptomatic method of curing diseases. It is 
 still asserted that we only pay attention to symptoms, 
 and neglect pathology. Hahnemann's own words are 
 these : " Collect the totality of the symptoms, and cling 
 to the essential and characteristic." It is undeniable, 
 that the group of symptoms must be our study, if w^e 
 would have a safe guide in the consideration of disease. 
 It is on a knowledge derived from this sour chiefly, 
 that we ground our diagnosis and prognosis ; but every 
 skilled practitioner, of whatever school, views the symp- 
 toms in connection with the particular disease, of which 
 they are the diagnostic sign. We deny utterly that we 
 are indifferent to, or careless of, pathology, as the objec- 
 tors assert. It is true that we pay more minute attention 
 to symptoms than they in general dc : this is our merit, 
 and their demerit. It is not true that we neglect the 
 essential disease, and attend to symptoms that may be 
 
150 
 
 TllK rLKA Ok A CONVEKT. 
 
 non-essential. AVe study ])iitholo<i;y, thoujrh wc Imve uo 
 great respect for existing nosoloj^ie;*. 
 
 4. The pnictice \)y specifics. On this point our op- 
 ponents tlieniselves lire !it variiuice. One authority asserts 
 tluit tliere is no such thinjij as s[>ecilic ; another declares 
 that any prof^ress made in j)ractical medicine must be in 
 the extension of specifics. Wherever there are venomous 
 reptiles there are also indi^^cnous antidotes. 'J'hese 
 creatures, as well as the fera; natura*, disappear before the 
 udvanciuf^ march of civilization. But the savajje has his 
 remedy for the venom of the rattlesnake. J believe that 
 the All-Merciful Author of our beinj^ has everywhere 
 scattered, with a lavish hand, materials for resisting the 
 diseases lie has permitted to invade the human family. 
 Animals, l)y what is called instinct, have remedies ibr 
 their ailments ; and man, whether from the instinctive 
 sagacity of the savage, or the accidental discovery of the 
 civilized, has fallen on various specifics. 1 have cured 
 ciiscs of purulent ophthalmia with an Indian remedy in 
 Guiana : it is the specific of the natives of that country 
 for that disease. 
 
 To extend the number of specifics is, therefore, a right 
 exercise of the rational faculties with which our Creator 
 has graciously endowed us To one rightly-minded, to 
 discover a specific is a greater thing than to win a king- 
 dom. Here we are at direct issue with the great majority 
 of the allopathic ])ractitioners. Ours is the law of spe- 
 cific — we use specific remedies — specific in their propor- 
 tions, and rehitivelv to the disease. 
 
 5. The diet There is a difference in this respect be- 
 tween our practice and that of the allopathic school. 
 We prohibit whatever is indigestible, and whatever con- 
 tains medicinal properties that might be positively inju- 
 rious medicinally, or interfere with the action of the 
 remedies we employ. The rules of diet are only enforced 
 on those who are under treatment. 
 
 Our opponents assert that our cures are the result of 
 diet only. Animals, however, are cured by these reme- 
 dies; so are infants, for whom no change of diet is neces- 
 
THK PLKA OF A t ONVEUT. 
 
 Ijl 
 
 liave 110 
 
 our op- 
 y asscrt.i 
 
 declares 
 List be in 
 
 (MIOUIOUS 
 
 Tliese 
 
 efore the 
 
 je has his 
 
 ieve tiiat 
 
 ;;ry where 
 
 iting the 
 
 1 family. 
 
 etlies ibr 
 
 istinctive 
 
 ry of tlie 
 
 ;VC cured 
 
 medy in 
 
 country 
 
 re, a right 
 r Creator 
 linded, to 
 in a king- 
 ; majority 
 V of spe- 
 r propor- 
 
 jspcct be- 
 ic schooh 
 ever con- 
 rely inju- 
 »n of the 
 ' enforced 
 
 result of 
 ese remc- 
 t is neces- 
 
 sary. It has ha])p(!n<'(l, moreover, that many patients 
 liave consulted n)e, who, tor some time previously, wero 
 nuieh more strictly diijted than I thought necessary, and 
 yet had not been relieved: some had taken medicine the 
 while, others none at all: some had rigidly j)ursued the 
 Ilonuropathic diet rides without the slightest benefit; 
 hut when the right remedies were employed their symp- 
 toms were relieved, and their ailments removed. It is 
 absurd to .supj»ose that diet can cure hepatitis or hydro- 
 cephalus ; ])neumonia or pericarditis ; tlu; eruptive fevers, 
 or any acute disease!. To refuse to receive evidence that 
 we do cure such affections with our remedies, is undigni- 
 fied and })uerile, not to use harsher terms. 
 
 Having thus briefly touched on the principle points of 
 opposition or difference between ours and the ordinary 
 school, 1 may be allowed to state that our practice has 
 already influenced, in some degree, that of our opponents. 
 Prescriptions are much more simple; some even pre- 
 scribe only single remedies at a time: much smaller 
 doses arc for the most part given ; and many even use 
 some of our remedies as specifics, of which belladonna, 
 given as a prophylactic against scarlet fever, may be cited 
 as an instance (not in Montreal). It is obvious that all 
 such medical men must hold homeopathy in some 
 respect. 
 
 The relation of the homcxjopathic to the other methods 
 of practice has yet to be duly considered by medical men 
 of all schools. MVc reject not the good that can be de- 
 rived from the archives of the past: we ought not to 
 reject the good that may be derived from the teeming 
 experience of the present. It behoves us all — members 
 of the same liberal profession, — whose studies and whose 
 life have been directed to the healing art, to exercise good 
 will to one another, and to express in our conduct the 
 spirit of the motto — " in certis unitas, in dubiis libertas, 
 in omnibus charitas." The time will assuredly come 
 when the sectarian spirit which now distinguishes the 
 different schools, will be lost in a pi*actical science, based 
 
15'2 
 
 TUK PLUA UK A CONVXIlT. 
 
 on un immutable law, uixl riHin^ uut of an art that htm 
 hwAx lor loij}^ «)f Uoubtl'ul value, and certainly one most 
 puint'ul to exercise. 
 
 I, for one, am no believer in Inmian perfectability, but 
 I indulj^e a confident hope that Iloiiueopathy will Hooncr 
 or later exercise such an influence on the profession at 
 large, that all will concur in aiding its development, as 
 being the true foundation of a science of practical me- 
 dicine. 
 
 It is high time that all practitioners should take this 
 thought into serious consideration — "non qua itur, scd 
 qua eundum est." 
 
thut has 
 nc mo^t 
 
 lity, but 
 11 Hooner 
 iHuiun at 
 inont, as 
 ical me- 
 
 ako this 
 itur, Bcd 
 
 , ■:■ .i 
 
 II 
 
 ciiAPTEtt xrv. 
 
 OD8ERVATIUN8 AND CASES FROM PRACTICE. *' 
 nr OEOROR w. cook, m. p., or Hudson, nkw tore. 
 
 The steady advance ofHahnernnnn's great fundamental 
 principles in tlic healing art, wherever they have been 
 introduced, is extremely gratifying to all who understand 
 their merits, and cun appreciate the vast amount of good 
 which this, and all succeeding generations, must devive 
 from their propagation and diffusion. But in no city or 
 county in <hw United States has this new science advanced 
 with more rapid strides than in this. Scarce 1 .vo yeara 
 have elapsed since an unwilling convert to its powers 
 dared to proclaim and defend its truths, at the risk of 
 professional reputation and emoluments, and amid the 
 jeers and sarcaamsof an incredulous population. And now 
 mark the change ; more than one-hall' of that population 
 are warm and abiding supporters and defenders of this 
 so recently derided system. Confident of its superior 
 powers, they certainly trust the lives of themselves and 
 families in the hands of those who practice it ; and I may 
 he allowed to say that, nearly all are compelled to respect, 
 while a few, impelled by more sordid motives, are made 
 to dread its commanding influence. What has produced 
 this wonderful change ? is a question which very natu- 
 rally suggests itself to our minds. The history of 
 homocopathia here is not unlike that of all true sciences. 
 The brief and ready answer is, that homocopathia, with all 
 its fundamental principles, has been put to the extreme 
 test, under the most rigid scrutiny, and has not been 
 found wanting. It has borne more than an equal part in 
 arresting diseases of all grades and characters, shoulder 
 to shoulder with allopathia ; it has traversed our city and 
 county, flinching from no responsibility, operating per 
 te, making no draughts from allopathia — resting on its 
 own inherent resources— provided by nature's Architect 
 
 u 
 
154 
 
 OBSERVATIONS AND 
 
 — and reduced to a system^ not a mere principle, by the 
 illustrious Hahnemann; and whenever both have been 
 equally tested, the palm has invariably been borne oil' 
 triumphantly by homoeopathia. In support of this as- 
 sertion, I might cite numerous cases from clinical obser- 
 vation ; but my purpose for the present will be answered 
 by reporting from those which have recently occurred. 
 The line of demarcation is so distinctly drawn, that 
 common discrimination will enable us to decide, without 
 much consultation, to amputate allopathy, and safely 
 prognosticate a healthy stump, and a purified constitution, 
 with homooopathia as a complete system, and not a mere 
 principle in medicine. 
 
 This brings to mind a subject which it has been painful 
 to me, as it must be to all true disciples of Hahnemann, 
 to observe some recent converts expressing an opinion, 
 that the new practice will answer in part, but not inde- 
 pendently. They should recollect that they have em- 
 braced one of nature's fundamental laws, which are as 
 unchangeable as the great Architect, and we should 
 weigh well the evidence of those venerable sages who 
 have arrived at these conclusions by the development of 
 facts — facts too, the offspring of years of indefatigable 
 industry, and midnight vigils. We should ask ourselves 
 whether we have applied those remedies with skill and 
 discrimation, or have tested their powers with one iota 
 of the care that Hahnemann has, from whose hard-earned 
 fame presumption, ingratitude, and indolence would fain 
 detract. 
 
 It may be with Hahnemann as with Pythagoras, and 
 many other of the discoverers of the exact sciences, who 
 have not only passed oif the stage of life before their 
 worth was duly appreciated, but have had their disco- 
 veries veiled in obscurity by that fatal trio. Ignorance, 
 Indolence, and Prejudice, for thousands of years, until 
 some more fortunate genius, a second Copernicus, may 
 succeed in riveting a sufficient degree of attention to 
 develope its merits. He can fear no such results from 
 any other source than those who seek to satisfy the pre- 
 
CASES FROM PRACTICK. 
 
 155 
 
 , by the 
 Lve been 
 )ornc olf 
 this as- 
 al obser- 
 uiswered 
 jccurred. 
 ivn, that 
 , without 
 id safely 
 stitution, 
 ;jt a mere 
 
 ill painful 
 inemann, 
 
 opinion, 
 not indc- 
 bave em- 
 :h are as 
 e should 
 iges who 
 pment of 
 efatigable 
 ourselves 
 skill and 
 
 one iota 
 rd-eamed 
 -^ould fain 
 
 joms, and 
 ices, who 
 :bre their 
 eir disco- 
 r^norance, 
 !U-s, until 
 cus, may 
 ention to 
 lilts from 
 the pre- 
 
 judice of the public by professing to blend It with allo- 
 pathia. From such disciples are we to apprehend the 
 greatest amount of evil, for the fundamental principle 
 (similia similibus curantur) is as true as the polar star, or 
 it is as destitute of the qualities requisite for a land-mark 
 as the flitting meteor ; it is a sure beacon-light which 
 will always lead us to a safe haven, or it is a will-o'-the- 
 wisji, which will only lead us into a quagmire. Although 
 I am not apt to bow submissively to the laconic senti- 
 ment of the Roman satirist — 
 
 '* Did Marcus sBy 'twas fact ! (hen fact it is, 
 No proof 80 valid aa a word of his." 
 
 yet, my own experience concurring, during my allopa- 
 thic as well as homoeopathic career, with the sentiments 
 expressed by able experimenters, that this is an immu- 
 table law of nature, who maintain from facts, that all the 
 skill in prescribing for diseases depends upon the acute- 
 ness with which this law has been discerned, through 
 ages past, I feel that it would be more modest for me to 
 acknowledge my own inability to detect the organ or 
 time affected, and select the remedy homcEopathic (or 
 specific) to that disease, and press on endeavouring to 
 reach the mark of perfection which others have attained, 
 than to denounce the system as imperfect. But suppose 
 a disease should arise which would baffle the skill of the 
 most experienced and skilful homoeopathic practitioner, 
 one who at a glance was capable of surveying the dynamic 
 effects of the whole catalogue of remedies introduced into 
 practice, would this prove an error in the law similia 
 similibus curantur ? Could you then say that one of the 
 three kingdoms of nature would not yield the specific ? 
 Tlie old school recognize a few specific remedies, reduced 
 to practice by the experience of many centuries. The 
 new school goes far beyond this. Hahnemann and his 
 disciples not only account for the specific action of these, 
 but extend the inquiiy, and find that all remedies are 
 governed by a known law, and inasmuch as the distinction 
 between the various r? mic conditions of the system is 
 important, so is the necessity of selecting the suitable 
 
156 
 
 OBSERVATIONS AND 
 
 remedy indispensable to the cure. Sulphur has been for 
 ages past accepted as a cure for the itch, but has been 
 found totally inert when used for a great variety of cu- 
 taneous diseases assimilating itch. Hahnemann extends 
 the enquiry, and shows that the remedies arc as various 
 and multiplied as the diseases of the skin. Allopathia 
 professes to believe mercury the only specific against 
 lues venerea, and pushes it to the extent of ptyalism ; 
 homoeopathy acknowledges its specific power, but reduces 
 it to its curative powers, divesting it of all those unne- 
 cessary powers which leave in its train diseases (if pos- 
 sible) worse than the one it was intended to cure. 
 
 This brings to mind a case directly in point, and shows 
 how important it is to draw from our own rejison when 
 the beaten track has failed, and admonishes us that we 
 may do much in this country towards adding to the 
 general stock of homceopathic practice. 
 
 M. W., a builder by trade, had been gradually run 
 down by cough and expectoration, which became worse 
 and worse, from mucous to muco-purulent, until the 
 latter part of the spring of 1841, when he called on me, 
 presenting the following symptoms : — Countenance pale, 
 ghastly and emaciated, shoulders thrown forwrird, chest 
 bent, coughing deep, hollow, and laborious, ending in 
 expectoration of heavy pus, occasionally streaked with 
 blood, regular return of fever twice in twenty-four hours, 
 termina ''ig in profuse perspiration, vomiting his food 
 after co;.ghing; steth.ocopic examination showed the 
 cavernous respiration throughout cne vescular, bronchial, 
 and tracheal region, at first, and afterwards, the rale 
 muqueux. A family predisposition to phthisis alarmed 
 me as to the result. I, however, prescribed some of the 
 leading remedies, with no other than a mitigation of the 
 symptoms, and it was evident that my patient was fast 
 hastening to that bourne whence no traveller returns, 
 when the group of symptoms indicating Proto lod. Hyd. 
 I prepared the first dilution of Proto lod. Hyd. and gave 
 him grain powders twice a day, and in tlbe course of a 
 few days had the satisfaction to see a clear and decided 
 
8 been for 
 has been 
 ty of cu- 
 n extends 
 s various 
 illopathia 
 against 
 ptyalism ; 
 it reduces 
 )se unne- 
 (if pos- 
 re. 
 
 ind shows 
 
 3on when 
 
 that Ave 
 
 ig to the 
 
 lally run 
 
 ae worse 
 
 until the 
 
 d on me, 
 
 mce pale, 
 
 ird, chest 
 
 mding in 
 
 ked with 
 
 >ur hours, 
 
 his food 
 
 )wed the 
 
 bronchial, 
 
 the rale 
 
 alarmed 
 
 ne of the 
 
 on of the 
 
 was fast 
 
 returns, 
 
 od. Hyd. 
 
 and gave 
 
 irse of a 
 
 decided 
 
 CA»EB FROM PRACTICK. 
 
 157 
 
 amelioration of all his symptoms. I tried higher dilu- 
 tions, and other preparations of the Hyd., but my patient 
 would immediately relapse ; but uniformly whenever he 
 was under the use of the first dilution of the Proto lod. 
 Hyd. he continued to improve ; and so positive was the 
 action of the remedy, that he often remarked that he 
 believed he would always be obliged to take that medi- 
 cine and live upon it. This was continued about three 
 months, occasionally intermitting as the disease gradually 
 wore off, and the cavernous res{)iration changed to mu- 
 cous, and from that to a state of health, and in less than 
 five months my patient returned to his avocation in per- 
 fect health, and continues so to the present day, to the 
 astonishment and gratification of his numerous friends. 
 I treated another case similar, with a like result, with the 
 same remedy. 
 
 Either of these cases was manifestly beyond the reach 
 of all my former knowledge of the medical art ; and this 
 brings to mind how much a practitioner of homceopathia 
 has to contend against, and make friends from those 
 Avhose prior prejudices have rendered them averse to the 
 practice, unless it accomplishes its cures, and speedily 
 too, which have imiformly resisted the most skilful 
 practice from the old school. But let not the recent 
 convert to the new practice be discouraged at this. 
 Homceopathia, rightly administered, is equal to the task 
 imposed upon it, and when conviction is sent in this way, 
 it makes friends which all the misrepresentations of de- 
 signing knaves can never circumvent. 
 
 As an illustration of the manner in which homceopathia 
 has had to climb the elevation which it now occupies 
 here, I will give briefly a few cases which occurred in a 
 highly respectable family, who were much attached to 
 their former family physician, and very reluctantly gave 
 him up. 
 
 The lady, aged fifty, had been subject to the inflam- 
 matory rheumatism ; each paroxysm was protracted to a 
 greater length than the former, and her convalescence 
 was rendered very tedious hy the active antiphlogistic 
 
158 
 
 011SERVATI0N8 AND 
 
 treatment heretofore adopted. Perfectly incredulous na 
 to the power of homccopatliiii, pIic was induced to make 
 a trial I'rom having heard of many cures of rheumatism 
 in the city ; but, as she expressed herself, slie reserved 
 the privilege of returning to the old system if not cured 
 in a few days. Here, then, was a case of inflammatory 
 rheumatism, ali'cady well established, under her own 
 domestic remedies ready, as on former occasions, for an 
 allopathic course of bleeding, blisters, cathartics, anodynes, 
 and mercurial salivation, to pass through a month's siege, 
 and to satisfy the patient and family must be cured in 
 one week, and an improvement must be manifest in a 
 day or two at most. I prescribed aeon, and bell., to 
 subdue the inflammatory fever, folLived in due time by 
 T. sulph., and finally china. The improvement was im- 
 mediate, and the seventh day I dismissed my patient 
 cured, and she has scarcely had a pain since, now more 
 than a year. This made an impression on the patient, 
 as to the power of the practice in this disease, at least ; 
 but I have since had to treat one case of acute hepatitis, 
 three of scarlet fever , one of measles, and one of influenza, 
 in the same family, comprising every member, to make 
 them firm and unwavering supporters of the reformation. 
 Allopathy has now taken its final leave of their home. 
 
 In presenting the following eases for the consideration 
 of all candid readers, I shall confine myself to such points 
 as came under my immediate observation, such Allopathic 
 treatment as was pursued in the first two cases before 
 they came under my care, or after they passed out of my 
 hand. I will give briefly, as it came to my knowledge, 
 either from the physician prescribing, or from the atten- 
 dants. The two cases that follow were under Homoeo- 
 pathic trexitment throughout, and he must be a sceptic 
 indeed who will doubt medical agency in the restoration 
 of the three last cases, and the futility of expecting any 
 relief or advantage by exchanging Homoeopathic for 
 Allopathic treatment. My experience goes to prove that 
 when the practitioner of medicine, after Allopathic ex- 
 perience, has made himself acquainted with the resources 
 
C'ASKt) FIIOM PHAtTK K. 
 
 159 
 
 dulous as 
 to make 
 eumatism 
 ! reserved 
 not cured 
 immatory 
 her own 
 18, for an 
 anodynes, 
 ith's siege, 
 cured in 
 lifest in a 
 I bell., to 
 c time by 
 it was im- 
 ly patient 
 now more 
 e patient, 
 , at least; 
 s hepatitis, 
 influenza, 
 to make 
 brmation. 
 .r home, 
 isideration 
 Lich points 
 rVllopathic 
 3es before 
 out of my 
 nowledge, 
 the atten- 
 riomcco- 
 a sceptic 
 estoi'ation 
 cting any 
 )athic for 
 jrove that 
 )athic ex- 
 resources 
 
 of IIoraaoi)atlila, and fails under the latter to give quick 
 and ready *eliet', the patient's cliances of recovery arc 
 materially lessened, nay, hazarded, if he is placed in the 
 hands of a strictly Allopathic practitioner. There is 
 something about Homccopathia, when it is used in 
 incurable diseases, that contracts, holds the disease at 
 bay, and smooths the pillow of the patient ; thus we see 
 in those cases of confirmed consimiption, which are so 
 distressing in their latter stages, under ordinary practice. 
 Under the controlling influence of the reformed practice, 
 although the lungs are far gone with ulceration, or filled 
 up with tubercles, the pulse almost countless, and inter- 
 mittent, the feet swollen, the mouth sore, the stomach 
 and bowels racked with the pains peculiar to this disease, 
 attended with bursts of diarrhoea ; all these are rapidly 
 and soothingly controlled by the remedies which Homa-o- 
 pathia affords; and keeping these principles directly before 
 us, who can say but that niany of those diseases which 
 have heretofore always baffled the most skilful of those 
 practitioners who have only the Allopathic principles to 
 guide them in their choice of remedies, may not only be 
 controlled, but actually cured by a skilful discrimination 
 of the pathogenesis, and suitable selection of a highly 
 indicated remedy. I might cite in support of this some 
 cases, which had been pronounced by skilful Alloi)athic 
 physicians, confirmed and incurable. One occurs to my 
 mind • at present, which Avas the case of J. V. V., of 
 Cattskill, of catarrhal phthisis pulmonalis, in that stage 
 in which his physicians had given him up, and were 
 allaying his sufferings by morphine, when I was called to 
 see him. Satisfying myself by minute examination, that 
 his difficulties were still confined to the membraneous 
 tissues, I commenced an energetic treatment from the 
 resources of Homaopathia, and have now the gratification 
 (six months after) to see him restored to health and use- 
 fulness to his family. If a disease of the periosteum, 
 producing an open tumour, can be removed by an inter- 
 nal specific, which I have done from the os mala;, with a 
 few doses of Silicca and Calc.Carb. after 1 had m vself, while 
 
160 
 
 OBVERVATIONH AM) 
 
 practising the old Bystem, vainly endeavoured to dispcrso 
 by blisters, liniments, iodine plasters, &c.; if such tumours, 
 manifest to the eye and touch, are quickly dispersed by 
 a suitable highly adapted remedy, who will deny that 
 much may not yet be learned, both in the selection of a 
 remedy already in the catalogue, or in the discovery of 
 some from the bountiful stores of nature ? 
 
 Case 1. — J. S., aged twenty, was taken with pains in 
 the head, back and limbs, loss of appetite, acid eructations, 
 irregularity of the bowels, which for some days had been 
 either costive or loose, sleeplessness, confusion of intellect, 
 and other usual accompaniments of bilious fever. An 
 Allopathic practitioner was called, who gave cathartics, 
 diaphoretics and refrigerants as usual, the patient growing 
 rapidly worse ; the remedies not reaching the cause, of 
 course tended rather to aggravate than allay the excite- 
 ment, and those friends with whom he resided called on 
 me, and dismissed his present medical attendant. I found 
 him labouring under the following discouraging train of 
 symptoms : dull pressivc pain in the head, across the fore- 
 head and eyes, with confusion of ideas, sleepless — restless 
 — talking and muttering whenever he closed his eyes, 
 injected face flushed, tongue coated, whitish, yellow on 
 the edges, with a brownish dry centre, breath foetid, res- 
 piration hurried and oppressed, with an occasional hacking 
 cough, soreness around the hypochondria, scorbiculus ten- 
 der, full ; tympanitis, which extended over the abdomen, 
 alvine evacuation sparing and light coloured, urine thick, 
 and depositing a heavy sediment, skin dry, pulse 120 in 
 a minute, wiry and intermittent, and altogether the case 
 presented features which would justify an unfavourable 
 prognosis. Not relishing the chance of taking a case 
 from another, who had occupied the best period to apply 
 suitable remedies, and having had some experience of the 
 difficulty of treating a case when the specific character of 
 the disease was changed, and new symptoms developed 
 by medication, I could not feel confident of a favourable 
 convalescence, excejjt after a tedious medication. How- 
 ever, a few doses of nux vom., to relieve the chylopoetio 
 
CA8ES FROM PRACTICK. 
 
 161 
 
 to dlsperso 
 1 tumours, 
 pcrsed by 
 deny that 
 ution of a 
 :*covery of 
 
 :h pains in 
 nictations, 
 s had been 
 >f intellect, 
 ever. An 
 cathartics, 
 it growing 
 3 cause, of 
 he excite- 
 
 called on 
 . I found 
 ig train of 
 ss the fore- 
 s — restless 
 . his eyes, 
 yellow on 
 foetid, res- 
 al hacking 
 iculus ten- 
 : abdomen, 
 rine thick, 
 Ise 120 in 
 ir the case 
 favourable 
 ing a case 
 d to apply 
 ince of the 
 laracter of 
 
 developed 
 favourable 
 n. How- 
 
 hylopoetic 
 
 tmccra, and change the evacuations, in their frequency, us 
 well as colour, followed by aconite, which relieved the 
 fever, with the aid of belladonna, and then bryonia, pro- 
 duced 80 marked a change in six days, aa to induce a hope 
 of a more favourable and rapid result than I had a right 
 to anticipate; but the imprudent ingestion of chicken soup 
 disappointed my ho])es, and the fever returning did not 
 give way during the following week, which terminated 
 my attendance. His friends fi'oni abroad had called 
 another practitioner, whom I met in consultation, for the 
 purpose of placing the patient in his hands understand- 
 ingly ; wc agreed as to the nature of the case, and also 
 in our prognosis, Avhich was favourable, but the next 
 point was not likely to be so easily Jigrecd upon ; saliva- 
 tion being the inainshect-anchor of Allopathy in these 
 cases, was, of course, urged, my convictions being strong 
 that the patient's chances of recovery would be lessened 
 by this result. I, of course, yielded the case to Allopathy 
 and mercury, harmoniously, however, for I agreed to see 
 the patient as a friend occasionally, that I might note the 
 rapid recovery. As soon as the gums were touched, 
 as the doctor expressed it, an emetic was the entering 
 wedge, followed by calomel and opium in repeated doses, 
 and on seeing him twenty-four hours after he had the 
 opium pulse, delirium settling down into a low mut- 
 tering character, and no amelioration of the disease. 
 Ipecacuanha, spirit, mindcreri, spirit, nitri, Dover's 
 powders, and calomel, blisters, and irritating mustard 
 plasters, were all very frequently given, and applied 
 in rapid succession. During the course of the treatment, 
 two other physicians Avere called in after the fourth day, 
 when salivation was distinct, but not beneficial, and, of 
 course, a great deal must be done where three physicians 
 are in attendance, for according to the rules of Allopathy, 
 there can be no sins of commission, they know of no 
 medicinal disease, and dread the sin of omission, and he 
 who gives the most medicine satisfies his conscience that 
 nothing has been left undone that could be done in the 
 way of doing. His strength sunk in proportion as he 
 
162 
 
 OBSKUVATIONS AND 
 
 became huI united with mercury, without the least mi<i- 
 ^ation of any of the difficulties. In ten days the patient 
 could not speak so as to be understood, his mouth and 
 throat being in a shocking state of ulceration, tongue 
 swollen, dry and brown ; now (juinine with nervines and 
 wine, were given, up to the last hour of his existence, 
 which terminated just two weeks after I withdrew. 1 
 have been thus minute in recording the treatment in this 
 case, for the purpose of showing that salivation is not tho 
 best way of curing a fever, and have not had the least 
 intention of detracting from the merit of the practitioners, 
 who, no doubt, did all in their power, I mean all they 
 supposed was in their power, to snatch this young man 
 from the grave ; and they never Avill know of any other 
 remedy until they study Homocopathla. It would be un- 
 becoming in me to say that its resources would have 
 altered the case if it had been continued ; but the fol- 
 lowing case will prove, that after salivation had been 
 pronounced indispensable by the attending physician, I 
 had the satisfaction to prove the contrary, directly upon 
 the heels of the other case. 
 
 Case 2. — F. H., aged 21, had been under Allopathic 
 treatment a few days, and salivation was pronounced 
 indispensable, by one of the physicians who attended in 
 the previous case ; the family objecting to this sent for 
 me ; previous engagements precluded the possibility of 
 my seeing him for twenty-four hours thereafter, when I 
 found his case to present most of the characteristics of 
 the above case, in its early stage, except that his congestive 
 difficulty was most prominent in his bowels, which were 
 very much bloated, and somewhat tender, a paroxysm 
 came on every night, and dysenteric discharges v/ere 
 rapidly depressing the vital powers. Merc. sub. for that 
 condition of the alvine evacuations, with aeon, and bell., 
 during the paroxysm of fever, improved his case rapidly ; 
 arsenic and then china was followed by convalescence. 
 Tinct. sulph. for a torpor of the intestines, and my patient 
 was about again without salivation. 
 
iiiat mifi- 
 lio patient 
 louth und 
 II, ton<;ue 
 :vincs and 
 existence', 
 idrcw. 1 
 cnt in this 
 is not the 
 the least 
 ctitioncrs, 
 1 all they 
 )ung man 
 any other 
 uld be un- 
 ould have 
 t the fol- 
 had been 
 lysician, I 
 ctly upon 
 
 iUopathlc 
 'onounced 
 ;ended in 
 
 sent for 
 iibility of 
 ', when I 
 eristics of 
 'ongestivc 
 hich were 
 paroxysm 
 w^cre 
 
 for that 
 
 and bell., 
 
 3 rapidly ; 
 
 alescence. 
 
 ly patient 
 
 •ges 
 
 ), 
 
 CA8E8 rUOM rUACTICE. 
 
 163 
 
 Inasmuch as I have taken the liberty to repeat two 
 axscs in the treatment of wliich Alloi)athy had a share, 
 the one ending fatally under salivation — the other favour- 
 ably without salivation, it is no more than meet that I 
 rci)eat two more cases of parallel types, which occurred 
 at the same time, and were entirely under my care from 
 beginning to end, and, of course, Homa3opathia is entirely 
 responsible for the results. 
 
 Caae 3. — J. D., aged 62, for some time felt an inability 
 to perform his accustomed exercise, both mental and 
 physical, gradually progressing to loss of appetite, rest- 
 lessness, and sleepless, confused dreams, muttering, noc- 
 turnal delirium. The delay in obtaining medical advice 
 arose from an aversion to giving up to be sick, until the 
 disease was well established. When I was called, I found, 
 in addition to the above symptoms, wild expression of the 
 eye — nausea — tongue coated deep greyish, and dry and 
 brown in the centre, lips parched, breath offensive, fauces 
 inflamed, skin dry, hot and parched, chest oppressed, 
 cough deep and suffocating, scorbiculus and hypochondria 
 tender, sore, and distended, while he complained of a 
 sensation as if girt around tight with a cord, bowels 
 sluggish, painful and full, limbs aching and numb, urine 
 high coloured, depositing a reddish sediment, pulse 120. 
 I brought liis system under the influence of aconite, 
 as soon as possible, and subdued the active character of 
 the attack. Nux. vom., followed by bryonia, then had 
 a happy effect, in keeping up a soft skin, and restoring 
 the biliary secretions, and together with bell, in attenua- 
 tion, subdued the delirium and congestion of the brain, 
 and larger viscera ; these were followed by Ipecac., wliich 
 dispersed the remnant of cough, tongue cleared off, and 
 all the organs gradually performed their accustomed 
 functions, and convalescence was not retarded by any 
 undue medicinal action. 
 
 Case 4. — P. S. W., aged 23, sanguine, nervous tem- 
 l)crament, had suffered from erysipelas of the face and 
 rfcalp, hair had fallen out nearly to baldness, with patches 
 of scaly ulceration interspersed over the scalp ; took a 
 
 ^^ 
 
164 
 
 01WEUVATI0N8 ANU 
 
 severe ccilJ from ex|»8Ui*e on horseback, in hail woatlicr, 
 neglected hinisclf, and gradually sunk down into a low 
 fever, attended with [)ain in the whole head, cyea dull, 
 heavy, conjunctiva injected, tongue coated, deep yellowish 
 on the edges, with a dry, brown thickly coated centre, 
 lips dry and cracked, teeth covered with dark brown 
 sordes, face flushed, skin hot, dry, and im[)arting a burning 
 sensation to the hand when applied, chest ojipressed, 
 re8i)iration rapid, pulse 130, haixl and wiry, cough fre- 
 quent, rapid and distressing, scorbiculus and hypochon- 
 dria tender, bowels sluggish and bloated, aching of tin; 
 extremities, sleepless nights brought on furious delirium, 
 so much so OS to render it difficult to control him, or keep 
 him in bed ; at one time supposing himself in prison, at 
 another in the most loathsome i)lace, crowded between 
 horses, and spitting out the filth from his mouth, and 
 again supposing his bed filled with ice and ice water. 
 These furious symptoms yielded to an energetic admin- 
 istration of belladonna, and after the fourth night he 
 awoke from some hours' sleep, and a gradual restoration 
 to health, under the various remedies which were called 
 for, OS in the former cases ; but no mercury was called 
 into aid in the treatment. And this case was important in 
 establishing the reformed practice, for the first case in 
 this series had just terminated, and the physicians as well 
 as laymen opposed to the practice were using all their art 
 to induce the friends to call in a practitioner of Allopathy, 
 alleging that the patient would die for want of medicine. 
 How grievously disappointed they must have been ! 
 Their kind interference has cost many a poor patient his 
 life, and this case was a strong lesson to them ; a rebuke 
 which they ought not soon to forget, and those who were 
 foremost in obtaining a change of practice in the first case 
 in this series, would have felt the awful responsibility 
 which they had drawn upon themselves, if they had had 
 one spark of the anxiety and solicitude which a physician 
 often feels when he knows that he has the life of a fellow 
 mortal entrusted to his charge. 
 
CA8KH KHOM I'UAC'TICK. 
 
 16o 
 
 wcatlicr, 
 ito u low 
 yvM dull, 
 yellowish 
 d centre, 
 •k brown 
 a burnin*:; 
 ppressed, 
 t)ii<i;h frc- 
 ypochon- 
 )yr of tlu! 
 delirium, 
 n, or keep 
 prison, at 
 between 
 Duth, and 
 ce water. 
 c adniin- 
 niglit he 
 estoration 
 ere called 
 ^18 called 
 porttint in 
 it case in 
 ,ns as well 
 1 their art 
 Lllopathy, 
 medicine. 
 Lve been ! 
 aticnt hia 
 a rebuke 
 who were 
 5 first case 
 onsibility 
 jT had had 
 physician 
 )f a fellow 
 
 1 have treated Bcvcral cjiscs of stronfrly marked dropwy 
 of the heatl, since I communiciited my firnt case to you. 
 They bcinp^ mostly like that reported, need not be repoi-ted 
 here ; some were more decided ; one hail been under 
 Allopathic treatment, and the family iiavin<^ lost one 
 before under the same treatment, made it worth nothing, 
 and another had 8(,:ne features worth recording. A boy 
 about four years old had a violent catarrhal fever, with 
 cough and congiistion to the head, which wsis largt;, but 
 well shaj)ed. Without detaining you with particulars, it 
 will be sufficient to state, that when my attention wjis 
 called to him, he had sunk down into that state, which is 
 chanicterized by moaning, rolling the head, moving the 
 right arm and leg up and down, pupils dilated, urine and 
 focccs soon passed involuntarily. I gave bryonia and 
 belladonna alternately, and in the first dilutions, so that 
 he might feel an impression soon. The patient being 
 four miles in the country, I could not see him as often 
 as would have been useful, but there was no positive 
 amendment for near a week, although the iictive character 
 of the disease was arrested, but I could not give encour- 
 ajxement in the case until about one week, when he 
 gradually began to emerge from this condition, by an 
 occasional scream, and finally a returning conriciousness, 
 80 as to be able to notice when food was given, and in a 
 few days more in attempting to use his hands, he had no 
 control of them ; they would pass beyond the object, or 
 fall far short of it, error in vision assisted this condition ; 
 his head would fidl on one side in attempting to sit erect ; 
 soon it was discovered that he could not speak, and 
 finally, as he recovered strength, and began to totter 
 about, there was just cause for apprehending that he 
 might never speak ; however, his hearing being good, I 
 assured his father that his power of speech would return, 
 and after some months he began to try his skill at 
 speaking, and has now, after a period of six months, 
 nearly recovered, although he speaks much slower, and 
 more carefully than he did before his attack. Can any 
 one doubt that this disease was on the brain ? There 
 
IGO 
 
 OlKSKUVATIONH, ETC. 
 
 cci'tutnly WiiH Inlliiininatlon uiul cil'uHion tu produce tills 
 condltiun, and the efloct of the troutmcut wiin clear ; just 
 tu) he he}j;aii to eiuerj^e I'rouj a Htate of uucouaclouHueHH, my 
 tittentiou wsus directed by the nurae to u j;reat number of 
 Hmall blisters or vesicles, of a deep red colour filled with 
 water, all over the extremities and trunk. Was not this 
 an ettect brought about by the Belladonna / Compare 
 it with the pathogenesis of that remedy, in Hull's iFahr, 
 under the Hcctioii of Trunk. I have a great many facts 
 to prove the ])athogenetlc powers of the hist remedy in 
 scarlet fever, which has been prevident here for most of 
 the time of my Ilomoupathic career, but as 1 shall endea- 
 vour to collect and arrange them under an appropriate 
 hetul in an article on the scarlatina, an soon an my time 
 will permit, it is not worth while to introduce any of the 
 facts here. 
 
CllAl^TIOK XV. 
 
 MEKCUllY, 
 
 This iviiKMly pluyn a ronspicuoiis jmrt In Allopathic 
 practice. What (;ann()t bo done witli tlic timcli/ use of 
 nieirury ! What is to be done without it? Th(! main 
 p(/int (to be Hetth'd yet) is, how to a(hninister it, in 
 Idrfjc or in umall (piantities ? The eminent Dr. Jiobert 
 raven, in Dul)lin, reconunendrt thin medicine in hir<i;e 
 doses,* particidarly in acute maladies. Accordinjj to him, 
 hlood-lettinji; takes the first rank, and calomel the Hccond 
 \\\ the treatment of inflammation. lie gives it in the 
 dose of a scruple, twice in the twenty-four hours. lie 
 remarks: — The opponents of this practice here, have 
 frequently observed tliat such doses of calomel may, it is 
 true, be given with advantage in hot climates, and may 
 be well suited to the constitutions of persons inhabiting 
 tropical countries, but we cannot thence infer, that they 
 may be exhibited either with safety or benefit to Euro- 
 peans in their native climate. This observation, no doubt, 
 deserves attention; but its weight must fall to the ground 
 if experience contrary to the generally received opinion 
 shows, that with proper precautions, calomel may bo 
 given in as large doses here as in the East Indies. In 
 chronic complaints, he is against the use of mercurj'. 
 The blue pill system of Abemetly and others has been 
 productive of Infinite mischief. Although Dr. Graves 
 undervalues the blue pill system of Abernethy, he, 
 nevertheless, enjoyed as a dyspeptic doctor a great repu- 
 tation in his time. It was generally thought, that the 
 blue pill operates gently, and "brings all In order again." 
 
 The celebrated Dr. Wilson Philip is quite opposite In 
 opinion. His immediate purpose is to recommend the 
 use of minute doses of mercury. His work also contains 
 
 • A System of Clinical Medicine, by Robert James Graves, M. D., 
 &c., p. 804. 
 
 I 
 
168 
 
 MERCURY. 
 
 !i i)liysIok){4'ical view of its motliis operandi in general.* 
 Accortlin<^' to tliis author, the operation of mercury is 
 two-fold, local and j^cncral. The general operation on 
 the whole system takes place partly ])y means of the 
 nerves of the part to which it is applied, partly through 
 absorption and circulation. By absorption, it exerts the 
 greatest influence on distant parts, because it comes in 
 immediate contact with the various organs, and acts 
 directly u[)on them, more or less as a stimulant, exalting 
 their functions. To the alimentary canal and the salivary 
 glands it is also evidently a stimulus, even when applied 
 to the skin, and this irritati(m may pass into inflammation, 
 if not immediately relieved by increased secretion. But 
 by this power which mercury possesses of promoting 
 various secretions, Ave can effect only a transient and 
 imperfect relief, for a check of the secretions is but a 
 secondary effect of the disease. It must, therefore, have 
 another effect, and this is exerted upon the liver. On 
 this organ, the remedy not only has a specific power to 
 exalt its functions, but also to correct various functional 
 abnormities, and to affect the structure of the organ itself, 
 in a degree in which it can act on no other organ, and in 
 which no other remedy can act upon this. Now the 
 sympathy between tlie stomach, liver, and duodenum is 
 80 great, that whatever benefits or injures the one must 
 affect the other in like manner. Again, whatever affects 
 tlie digestive system, must have an influence on the 
 disease, for scarce a deviation from health occurs in which 
 these parts are not concerned. Farther, one of the great 
 causes of the influence of the digestive system, is its 
 sympathy with the brain. This directly influences the 
 action of the heart and its vessels to their smallest rami- 
 fications. The secerning and assimilating processes are 
 entirely dependent on it, and on the spinal marrow. If 
 such are the conclusions we obtain respecting the use of 
 the liver a priori, they are abundantly confirmed by ob- 
 servation. In the most important diseases, local and 
 
 On the Influence of Minute Doses of Mercury, London, 1834. 
 
MEUCl.UY. 
 
 I6y 
 
 gcncriU, the function of the liver is more or less disturbed, 
 mid on the condition of this organ, the treatment indi- 
 cated more or less depends. 
 
 The operation of small doses frequently repeated is, 
 according to Wilson Philip, of great practical importance. 
 According to his experience, the quantity of quick-silver 
 usually given, is, on the whole, at least ten times greater 
 than is necessary to develope its beneficent operation. Its 
 favourable influence upon the liver has enabled physicians 
 to give it in too large quantities. He exjjlains the 
 innocence of twenty and thirty grain doses of calomel, 
 by the rapidity w ith which they are conveyed out of the 
 system. He now obtains decisive benefit from a single 
 dose of mercury, as from a half to one-eighth grain of 
 blue pill. The cause of its powerful action is the absence 
 of aperient eifects. It is fully absorbed into the general 
 system, and as it causes but slight irritation, is not 
 eliminated therefrom. It is by maintaining this constant 
 general influence that it is made to work upon the gums 
 and produce salivation, while large doses often fail. It 
 must be remarked also that one-half grain of blue pill is 
 estimated equal to one-twentieth or one-thirtieth grain 
 of calomel, for one grain of calomel is equivalent in 
 aperien ' and alterative power to ten grains of blue pill. 
 Thus far Wilson Philip. 
 
 We will not take it upon us to decide which of the tw^o 
 methods above stated is the most preferable. We con- 
 sider both systems injurious, either a rapid mercurializa- 
 tion in scruple doses according to Graves, or a slow process 
 of impregnation of mercury, through the " medium of the 
 Ziuer," according to Wilson Philip. It never fails to shatter 
 the constitution ...i the end. 
 
 Salivation, desired and kept in view by English prac- 
 titioners, we always regarded as an evil. Pereira 
 says : — After absor^^tion, mercury eflfects change? ''n the 
 qualities of the blood, and in the action of tl: ^ole 
 organism, but especially the apparatus of orga^xC life. 
 Soon after salivation has been established, t.ie blood 
 exhibits an infl 'm n^atory cruiJt. At a later period its 
 
 w 
 
170 
 
 MISUCUUY. 
 
 colour deepens, and its coagulability ic> dlniiuishcd. Ac- 
 cording to Dr. Farrc, it diminishes the number of red 
 globules of the blood.* 
 
 When our object is to obtain the salivating operation 
 of mercurials, says Dr. Pcreira, we give them in some- 
 what larr/er doses. Of all the secretions, none are so 
 uniformly and remarkably augmented as those of the 
 mucous foUiculcs of the mouth and the salivary glands ; 
 and the increased secretion is accomi)anied with more or 
 less tenderness and inflammation of these parts, the whole 
 constituting what is termed salivation or ])tyalism, {sali- 
 vatio, ptyalismus, sialismus). The first symptoms of 
 this affection are slight tenderness and tumefecation of 
 the gums, which acquire a pale rose colour, except at the 
 edges surrounding the teeth, where they arc deep red. 
 Gradually the mouth becomes exceedingly sore, and the 
 tongue much swollen ; a coppery taste is perceived, and 
 the breath acquires a remarkable fctidity. The salivary 
 glands soon become tender and swollen ; the saliva and 
 mucus of the mouth flow abundantly, sometimes to the 
 extent of several pints in the twenty-lour hours. During 
 this state the fat is rapidly absorbed, and the patient 
 becomes exceedingly emaciated. The blood when drawn 
 from a vein puts on the same appearance as it does in 
 inflammatory diseases. 
 
 There arc many cases on record of the fatal effects of 
 mercury. 
 
 Mr. Pearson, a physician in London, observesf : — " In 
 the course of two or three years after my appointment 
 to the care of the Lock Hospital, I observed that, in 
 almost every year, one and sometimes two instances of 
 sudden death occurred among the patients admitted to 
 that institution : that these accidents could not be traced 
 to any evident cause : and that the subjects were com- 
 
 * Dr. Farre says : — " That he attended a full plethoric woman for 
 haemorrhage from the stomach, and by the use of mercury blanched her in 
 six weeks as white as a lily." Will any other poison not produce the same 
 effect ? tempora ! mores ! 
 
 f See Marshall Hall, Principles of the Theory and Practice of Medicine. 
 
id. Ac- 
 21* of red 
 
 operation 
 in somc- 
 ic are so 
 3e of the 
 glands ; 
 I more or 
 ;he whole 
 sm, {sali- 
 ptoms of 
 cation of 
 pt at the 
 leep red. 
 and the 
 ived, and 
 ; salivary 
 iliva and 
 Ds to the 
 During 
 e patient 
 en drawn 
 ; does in 
 
 effects of 
 
 t :— " In 
 
 ointment 
 that, in 
 tances of 
 nittcd to 
 be traced 
 ere com- 
 
 woman for 
 iched her in 
 iice the same 
 
 >f Mediciue. 
 
 MERCURY. 
 
 in 
 
 monly men who had nearly, and sometimes entirely, 
 completed their mercurial course. I consulted Mr. 
 Bromfield and Mr. Williams upon this interesting sub- 
 ject, but they acknowledged themselves unable to com- 
 municate any satisfactory information : they had carefully 
 examined the l^odies of many who had died thus unex- 
 pectedly, without being able to discover any morbid 
 appearances ; and they confessed that they were equally 
 ignorant of the cause, the mode of prevention, or the 
 method of treating that state of the system which imme- 
 diately preceded the fatal termination. 
 
 As the object of my enquiry was of considerable 
 importance, I gave a constant and minute attention of the 
 operation of mercury on the constitution in general, as 
 well as to its effects on the disease for which it Avas 
 administered ; and after some time had elapsed, I ascer- 
 tained that these sinister events are to be ascribed to 
 mercuiy acting as a poison on the system. Mr. Pearson 
 calls this state mercurial excitement, tvhich is the second 
 staff e of salivation, {erethismus mercurialis.) The gradual 
 a} roach of this diseased state (he says) is commonly 
 indicated by paleness of tac countenance, a state of 
 general inquietude, and frequent sighing ; the respiration 
 becomes more frequent, sometimes accompanied with a 
 sense of constriction across the thorax, the pulse is small, 
 frequent, and often intermitting, and there is a sense of 
 fluttering about the pnccordia. And further, the ere- 
 thismus mercurialis is characterized by great depression 
 of strengtli, trembling, partial and universal, occasional 
 vomiting, a pale contracted countenance, a sense of cold- 
 ness. When these or a greater part of these symptoms 
 are present, a sudden and violent exertion of the animal 
 power will sometimes prove fatal; for instance, rising up 
 hastily in bed to take food and drink, walking hastily 
 across the ward, &c. 
 
 The eminent Dr. Bateman fell a victim to a similar 
 mercurial treatment. It was remarked that the action of 
 the heart and arteries, which was extremely feeble as well 
 as irregular wliile awake, wa« so nuicli more enfeebled 
 
172 
 
 MERCURY. 
 
 during sleep as to be in fact almost suspended, and thus 
 to occasion alarming faintings and sinkings, so that it 
 became necessary, notwithstanding the extreme drowsi- 
 ness which had succeeded the long continued watchful- 
 ness, to interrupt the sleep at the expiration of two 
 minutes, by which time, or even sooner, the sinking of 
 the pulse and countenance indicated the approaching 
 languor. 
 
 Dr. Marshall Hall relates also the following case : — 
 
 " Mr. , a West Indian Surgeon, called upon me 
 
 to hold some conversation on his own case. He attributed 
 his unhappy condition to a malignant fever, with ery- 
 sipelas, dm-ing which there had been exhibited a great 
 deal of calomel, as much as thirty grains at one dose, 
 which removed the disease ; but he thought it left'' him 
 subject to an inflammatory state of the digestive organs. 
 
 However that may be, this is his present condition. 
 On falling asleep, just at the moment when volition and 
 sensibility cease, the involuntary motions also stop, with 
 a sensation of death, under which he awakes generally 
 convulsed. 
 
 His medical friends have sat by him, and watched 
 him, and they have found, when sleep is overpowering 
 him, the breathing becomes slower and weaker ; the heart 
 and pulse also fall low, and cease to beat as sleep co.nes 
 on, and after a short time he awakes in tremor." 
 
 The following are the ill effects which have been 
 ascribed to this metal, and which Dr. Dietrich* regards 
 as so many forms of the mercurial disease : — 
 
 1. Mercurial Fever — (Febris mercurialis Dietr.) — 
 Under this name Dietrich has included two febrile states. 
 One of these {Febris erethica, f. salivosd) comes on a few 
 days after the use of large doses of mercury, and is char- 
 acterized by great restlessness, dryness of the mouth, 
 headache, loss of appetite, nausea, hot and dry skin, quick 
 pulse, red gums, swollen tongue, &c. The affection 
 which Mr. Pearson denominated mercurial erethism. 
 
 Die Merkurial Krankheit, Leipzig, 1837. 
 
and thus 
 
 that it 
 J drowsi- 
 kvatchful- 
 
 1 of two 
 inking of 
 )roaching 
 
 case: — 
 upon me 
 ittrlbuted 
 vith ery- 
 1 a great 
 one dose, 
 left' him 
 e organs, 
 condition, 
 ition and 
 top, with 
 generally 
 
 watched 
 powering 
 
 the heart 
 ep co.nes 
 
 avc 
 
 been 
 
 * regards 
 
 Dietr.) — 
 ile states. 
 I on a few 
 d is char- 
 e mouth, 
 dn, quick 
 affection 
 erethism^ 
 
 MERCURY. 
 
 173 
 
 {erethismus mercurialis,) is regarded by Dietiich as Aa 
 adynamic mercurial fever, {fehris adynamica.) It is 
 characterized by great depression of strength, a sense of 
 anxiety about the prajcordia, frequently sighing, tremb- 
 ling, partial or universal, a small quick pulse, sometimes 
 vomiting, a pale contracted countenance, a sense of cold- 
 ness ; but the tongue is seldom furred, nor are the vital 
 or natural functions much disordered. When these 
 symptoms are present, a sudden and violent exertion of 
 the animal power will occasionally prove fatal. 
 
 2. Excessive Salivation — {Ptyalismvs stomachalis 
 mercurialis Dietr. Stomatitis.) — The gums are tumefied 
 and ulcerated ; the tongue is often swollen to such an 
 extent that it hangs out of the mouth, incapacitating the 
 patient from either eating or speaking; the salivary 
 glands are enlarged, most painful and inflame J, (^parotitis 
 mercurialis,) and the saliva flows most copiouisly from the 
 mouth. In one instance sixteen pounds arc said to have 
 been evacuated in twenty-four hours. In some cases the 
 gums slough, the teeth loosen and drop out, and occa- 
 sionally necrosis of the alveolar process takes place. 
 During this time the systera becomes extremely debili- 
 tated and emaciated, and if no intermission be given to 
 th(> use of mercury, involuntary action of the muscular 
 system come on, and the patient ultimately dies of ex- 
 haustion. I have repeatedly seen inflammation and 
 ulceration of the mouth, and profuse salivation, induced 
 by a fexo grains of calomel, or some other mercurial. A 
 very frequent consequence of excessive mercurial sali- 
 vation, and the attendant vdceration and sloughing, is 
 contraction of the mucous membrane in the anterior 
 arches of the palate, whereby the patient is prevented 
 from opening the mouth except to a very slight extent. 
 I have met with several such cases. In one (that of a 
 female) it followed the use of a few grains of blue pill, 
 administered for a liver complaint. The patient remains 
 unable to open her mouth wider than half an inch. 
 Several operations have been performed, by different 
 surgeons, and the contracted parts freely divided, but 
 the relief was only temporary. In another instance, 
 
174 
 
 MEUCUIIY. 
 
 (tliat of a child four years of age) it was produced by a 
 few grains of calomel. Though several years have elajjscd 
 since, the patient is obliged to suck his food through the 
 spaces left between the jaws by the loss of the alveolar 
 process. 
 
 3. Mercurial Purging — {Diarrhoea mcrcurialis.) — 
 Violent i)urging is a very frequent consequence of the 
 use of mercury. It Is frequently attended with griping 
 and sometimes with sanguineous evacuations. In some 
 cases there is fulness of the left hypochondrium, burning 
 pain and tenderness of tliC region of the pancreas, and Ihu 
 evacuations are frothy, whitish, tough, and most times 
 greenish.* 
 
 4. HiDROsis MERCURiALis. — Profusc swcating ^"is 
 another occasional effect of mercury. 
 
 5. Skin Diseases. — Several forms of skin diseases, 
 both acute and chronic, have been regarded as part of the 
 ill effects of mercury. 
 
 7. Eczema mercuriale, Pearson ; {Erythema mercn- 
 riale, Spens and IMuUins ; Lepra mercurialis, Stokes 
 and Moriarty ; Hydrargyria, Alley, Rayer ; Erysipelas 
 mercuriale, Cullericr, Lagneau ; Spilosis mercurialis, 
 Schmalz.) This disease appears occasionally during the 
 progress of a mercurial course. Some writers have fre- 
 quently met with it — thus Alleyf (Observ. on the 
 Hydrargyria, 1810) saw forty-three cases in ten years, 
 and of this number eight terminated fatally. The disease 
 consists of innumerable minute and pellucid vesicles, 
 which have been mistaken for papula;. These give the 
 appearance of a diffused redness to the skin, and a sen- 
 sation of roughness to the touch ; sometimes it is preceded 
 and attended by febrile disorder. In two or three days 
 the vesicles attain the size of a pin's head, and the inclu- 
 ded serum becomes opake and milky. It soon extends 
 over the body, and is accompanied by tumefaction, ten- 
 
 • Dr. namilton observes : — In several cases he lias decidedly ascertained 
 that alteration of the villous coat of tlie intestines of infants and young 
 children have been induced by the frequent use of doses of calomel, 
 
 f Dr. Alley also observes : — That he has seen the mercurial eruption over 
 the entire body of a boy about seven years old. for whom but three grains 
 pf calomel liad been prescribed, inelTcrtually as a puritntive. 
 
iced by iv 
 vc elapsed 
 irough the 
 c alveolar 
 
 ?irialis.) — 
 ICC of the 
 ;h griping 
 In some 
 n, burning 
 18, and tlio 
 nost times 
 
 seating ^ is 
 
 n diseases, 
 part of the 
 
 'ma mercu- 
 lis, Stokes 
 Erysipelas 
 nercurialis, 
 during the 
 
 5 have fre- 
 V. on the 
 ten years, 
 rhe disease 
 d vesicles, 
 give the 
 md a sen- 
 is preceded 
 three days 
 1 the inclu- 
 )n extends 
 iction, ten- 
 
 ily ascertained 
 its and young 
 siilomel. 
 
 I eruption over 
 jt three grains 
 
 MEllCUrtY. 
 
 173 
 
 (Icniesd and itching. It usually torniinates by des(|uani- 
 ination, but in some cases a copious discharge takes place 
 (roni the excoriated and tender surface, and when this 
 ceases the epidermis comes off in lai'gc flakes : in somo 
 instances the hair and nails fall off, and the eyes and 
 eyebrows become entirely denuded. There is usually 
 some affection of the respiratory organs, indicated by dry 
 cough and tightness of the pnccordia. 
 
 8. Inflammation of the eye, mouth, diseases of the 
 bniin and bones, arc but too often produced by the abuse 
 of mercury. 
 
 9. Hypertrophies — {Ilijyertroyldoe. ) — Enlargement 
 of the inguinal, axillary, and mesenteric glands, {adeno- 
 phyma inguinale mercuriale,) have been ascribed to tho 
 use of mercury. 
 
 10. Ulceration and Sloughing. — Ulceration of the 
 mouth is a well known effect of mercury. Ulceration of 
 the throat is lilicwisc a consequence of the use of this 
 mineral. 
 
 11. Neuroses Mercuriales. — Various symptoms, 
 indicating a disordered condition of the ner\ous system, 
 are met with in persons who have been in the habit of 
 taking mercury : such as wandering pains; (neurulyiamer- 
 curialis ;) a trenmlous condition of the nmscular system, 
 [tremor mercuriaUs,) sometimes accompanied with stam- 
 mering, {psellimus metallicus,) and occasionally termi- 
 nating in paralysis, [paralysis inerciirialis,) epilepsy, or 
 apoplexy, {apoplexia mercu7'ialis.) To these Dietrich 
 adds asthma, [asthma mercuriaUs,) amaurosis, {amaurosis 
 mercuriaUs,) and hypochondriasis, [hypochondriasis mer- 
 curiaUs.) 
 
 12. Cachexia — [Cachexia mercuriaUs.) — This con- 
 dition is characterized by disorder of the digestive organs, 
 loss of appetite, wasting, incapability of much exertion, 
 with increased secretion from all the organs. Mr. Travers 
 [Further Inquiry concerning Constitutional Irritation^ 
 p. 87) says, mercurial cachexia is characterized by irritable 
 circulation, extreme pallor and emaciation, an acute and 
 rapid hectic, and an almost invariable termination in 
 phthisis. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ACUTE RHEUMATISM, 
 nr J. ARTiiun wilson, m. d., physician to st. georoe's 
 
 HOSPITAL, LONDON. 
 
 ON CALOMEL COMBINED WITH OPIUM. 
 
 It is rude empirical practice wliich seldom succeediJ, 
 and, failing of success, is most injurious to the patient. 
 In its routine application to the languid, weak, and ex- 
 hausted, as to the full and vigorous habit of body, there 
 is reason to believe that it has destroyed very many who, 
 under less popular and energetic methods of treatment, 
 would in due time have recovered. 
 
 It does not necessarily coimteract inflammation of the 
 heart, lungs, or pericardium. Again and again it has 
 been observed in practice, that " heart symptoms" have 
 been rapidly developed in cases of rheumatic fever, while 
 under treatment by large and frequent doses of calomel 
 and opium. In many of these cases, is it not more than 
 probable that the fevered masses of blood in circulation 
 through the chest are directly influenced to their further 
 prejudice by admixture with the drug and the mineral ? 
 With a full belief in the special curative agencies of 
 mercury, yet knowing, in certain constitutions, how 
 entirely it disagrees, and how dangerous it occasionally 
 becomes from coincident effects of functional disorder or 
 organic disease, we cannot be too careful in opposing it 
 specifically to the fever of acute rheumatism. When I 
 first entered on hospital pi axis, though continually de- 
 precating the reckless use of mercury which then pre- 
 vailed, I fell much into the habit of prescribing two 
 grains and a half of calomel, with the fourth, or the half 
 of a grain of opium, at intervals of four or six hours, in 
 the early stages of rheumatic fever. I have now for 
 many years past discontinued the use of this compound 
 alterative, and see no reason to recur to it. 
 
 
CALOMEL COMDINEI) WITH OPIUM. 
 
 177 
 
 >RUG S 
 
 mcceedti, 
 patient, 
 and cx- 
 ly, there 
 any who, 
 eatraent, 
 
 on of the 
 in it has 
 ns" have 
 er, while 
 ' calomel 
 lore than 
 rculation 
 r further 
 mineral ? 
 Dncies of 
 >ns, how 
 asionally 
 3order or 
 )osing it 
 When I 
 lally de- 
 hen pre- 
 )ing two 
 
 the half 
 lOurs, in 
 
 now for 
 )mpound 
 
 There han hccn of late yearn, such a crying up, among 
 certain pcctarlans in London physic, of calomel in com- 
 hination with opium, m specific in all inflammations, 
 general, local, and special, tliat holding this prescription 
 on a three-fold trust, we are compelled to it, on every 
 count, in the cardiac aggravations of rheumatic fever. 
 Yet who could with confidence attirm, that by the em- 
 ployment of this formulii, he had, in any one instance, 
 prevented adhesion to the pericardium, or arrested the 
 vegetations by fibrinous deposit, on tiie cardiac auricular 
 valves. iVssuredly, under the free use of calomel with 
 opium, the symptoms, as obtained by sound, or otherwise, 
 that are observed in coincidence with these states of the 
 heart, and its mcmljrancs, have not unfrcqucntly been 
 known to subside ; but it is equally certain that the same 
 effects of relief have followed, on very different and less 
 energetic modes of treatment. The question remains, 
 whether the mercurial salt, not being always needful in 
 cardiac rheumatism, may not sometimes be injurious. 
 
 In exhausted cachectic habits, with which this form 
 of the disease is frequently associated, there is great reason 
 to believe, that mercury determines a further mischievous 
 activity in the structures, which, by a process of inflam- 
 mation, arc already abusing the material and business of 
 tlunr own nutrition. There is a large body of medical 
 practitioners, happily not increasing in tliis country, in 
 whose small code of physic " iri/lammation^ is the universal 
 bane, and calomel the only antidote. To these off-hand 
 prescribers, exclusively " practicaF and supereminently 
 " regular, " it is matter hard of belief, that lymph 
 may be fast exuding on the serous surfaces of the chest, 
 while a mercurial saliva is flowing largely from the mouth. 
 I have never seen more of ragged pvUpy deposit on the 
 surface of the hcai't, from recent inflamra: ion of its 
 investing membrane, than in the case of a young woman, 
 who was brought, some five or six years ago, into St. 
 George's Hospital, (shortly l)cforc her death,) profusely 
 .salivated in se([ucl of rheumatic fever. — Lancet, Nov. 
 23, 1844, jK 203. 
 
 X 
 
CHArXEIi XVII. 
 
 W. ANI)H.\l,'s ll()M(EOI'A'riII( KXPKIUMKNTS AT LA I'lTIE 
 
 nv I>n. F. W. IRVINE, EDlNIIUnOlI. 
 
 Tlio adhcrcnta oi" IIonKcopiithy have much reason to 
 complain of the want of interest in the subject displayed 
 by the heads of the profession. It is indeed matter of 
 surprise and regret, that they should persist in a resolu- 
 tion not to examine into the merits of a system whose 
 value is attested, on the ground of personal experience, hy 
 hundreds of their medical brethren, a system whoso 
 claims arc set forth in able and accessible works, and 
 whose success, — both as exhibited in the tables of public 
 hospitals, and the less imposing but more penetrating 
 results of private practice — is making appeal from the 
 bigoted love of the old, and dislike of the new in medicine, 
 to that candour and love of tnith which are looked for in 
 the practitioner of the healing art, and arc nowhere more 
 requisite. 
 
 But great as is the evil resulting from non-enquiry, it 
 is small compared with that arising from the nugatory 
 results attendant on trials of Homojopathy, ignorantly or 
 disingenuously nmde by Allopaths of renown; for it 
 cannot bo doubted that many, and these jxirhaps the most 
 candid among the adherents of the dominant school, 
 whom the mere novelty and strangeness of our doctrine 
 might not have prevented fi*om examining into its prac- 
 tical working, have been deterred from so doing by the 
 consideration that it were at once superfluous and pre- 
 sumptuous in them to attempt success in a path which 
 men whom they are wont to look up to have already 
 trodden, and declared to lead to nothing but disappoint- 
 ment. When Homoeopathy has thus been put upon its 
 trial, it has been the practice to conduct the proceedings 
 with closed doors. Advocates for the accused have been 
 excluded, and the witnesses (i. c. the cases treated) have 
 
A IMTIK. 
 
 'cason to 
 liHplayctl 
 natter oi' 
 a rcsolii- 
 m whose 
 •iencc, l)y 
 n whoso 
 )rk8, and 
 of public 
 netrating 
 from the 
 medicine, 
 cod for in 
 lerc more 
 
 iquiry, it 
 nugatory 
 )rantly or 
 i; for it 
 the most 
 t school, 
 doctrine 
 its prac- 
 y by the 
 and pre- 
 th which 
 ) already 
 sappoint- 
 upon its 
 iceedings 
 lave been 
 ted) have 
 
 M. ANDUALtt 
 
 179 
 
 Jjcen examined, and the evidence sununod up in secret ; 
 the damnatory verdict alone hius l)een promulgated, un- 
 ttccomf)anie(l by any recommendation to mercy ; and the 
 public have had the genend character of the .Judge for 
 ability and uprigiitness as sole guarantee for the legality 
 of the proceedings and the justness of the sentence ; that 
 ficntencc being usually no less than perpetual banishment 
 from the domain of science. 
 
 Such trials are (piite beyond our reach, and therefore 
 we shall say nothing further of them ; but we propose 
 dwelling at some length on one to whlcii the preceding 
 remarks are but partially aiypllcable, and whicli has been 
 made amenable to criticism by the jjublication of the 
 details. We refer to the series of experiments, instituted 
 several years ago, by Professor Andral, at tlu; Hojjital 
 de la Pitie at Paris, and it seems of peculiar importance 
 to take \i\) these experiments, first, because none are so 
 frequently and so triumphantly referred to by the oi)po- 
 nents of llomceopathy in proof of the iuetticiency of the 
 system ; and, secondly, be(;ause the high standii\^ of M. 
 Andral, both at home and abroad, entitle us to consider 
 this trial as a favourable specimen of the class, the more 
 80 as the Academy of Science evinced the high value they 
 placed upon it, by making it the main ground of their 
 decision against Homoeopathy in the year 1835. We 
 have, therefore, made a careful study of the published 
 account of these experiments, contained in the sixth 
 volume of the Bulletin General de TherapeuLique, (Sept. 
 1834,) and would invite such of our candid opponents as 
 Hiay chance to peruse these pages, to look with us for a 
 little into the details of these vaunted experiments, wheu 
 we trust we shall be able to show that no argument un- 
 favourable to Homccopathy is deducible from them. 
 
 When wo arc told (p. 3 1 9) that a faithful application 
 was made of the " principles and ideas" of Hahnemann ; 
 that the diet was such jis he prescribes ; that the expe- 
 riments were made on an extensive scale, and continued 
 uninterruptedly for several months ; fiaally, that tho 
 L'iiscs were noted down with " .scrupidou!; attention,'" and 
 
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180 
 
 HOMCEOPATIIIC EXrEIlIMENTS, 
 
 digested in " immense and well drawn-up tables," Ijy M. 
 Andral's "interne," H. Maximo Vernois, the reader is 
 inclined to suppose that all the conditions requisite to 
 make such a trial conclusive were observed ; and w^hen he 
 then learns that of fifty-four cases treated, only eight 
 made permanent recoveries, he is ready to conclude that 
 the trial was most damaging to homoeopathy. Such an 
 inference would, however, be premature, and we think 
 erroneous, and we proceed to adduce our reasons. 
 
 We may first notice the manner in wliich the " prin- 
 ciples and ideas" of Hahnemann, with respect to diet, 
 were observed. We are told (p. 319) that wine was 
 administered to all the patients who could cat. This is 
 manifestly an infraction of the principle on which the 
 peculiarities of the homoeopathic diet all depend, viz., 
 that no substance possessed of any but purely nutritive 
 properties should be given tc a person under treatment ; 
 for what is not nutritive is medicinal, and thus we should 
 have two medicinal forces in play, whose resultant wc 
 have no means of calculating. But we may object also, 
 on principles acknowledged by every school, that wine 
 should not have been given to patients suffering from 
 chronic inflammation of the stomach, of whom, as well as 
 of other inflammations to which the same remark applies, 
 several cases were submitted to the homoeopathic treat- 
 ment. To the rest of the diet table (soup, boulli, roast 
 meat, fish, bread, and sugai'cd water,) there can be no 
 objection, except that to deprive the patients of salt with 
 their food, as was done, is not sanctioned by any of Hah- 
 nemann's writings. Let it not be supposed, however, 
 that we imagine that departures from the rules of diet 
 that could have had any material effect in paralysing the 
 influence of the medicines, had the more important items 
 in the treatment been observed ; for we are not disposed 
 to assign so important a part to diet as our opponents 
 are in the habit of claiming for it, when homoeopathic 
 cures are to be accounted for ; we merely notice it as an 
 illustration of the little care that was taken to observe 
 Hahnemann's principles, of which wc shall obtain more 
 
s," by M. 
 reader ia 
 ;[uisitc to 
 I when he 
 Qly eight 
 ludc that 
 Such an 
 we think 
 
 IS. 
 
 lie " prin- 
 t to diet, 
 wine was 
 This is 
 ivhich the 
 end, viz., 
 nutritive 
 reatment ; 
 we should 
 ultant wc 
 bjcct also, 
 that wine 
 ring from 
 as well as 
 k applies, 
 hie trcat- 
 ulli, roast 
 !an be no 
 ■ salt with 
 y of Hah- 
 however, 
 38 of diet 
 lysing the 
 ;ant items 
 disposed 
 )pponents 
 loeopathic 
 e it as an 
 [) observe 
 ;ain more 
 
 M. ANDRALS 
 
 181 
 
 proofs as we pi'oceed. The moral eircunistances in wlilch 
 the patients who submitted to houKcopathic treatment 
 were placed, were not favourable to the cumtive action 
 of the medicine s While tlicy saw around them, in full 
 operation, the nivdtifbrm and imposing appliances of 
 allopathy, the lancet, leech, and cupping-ghiAs ; the 
 blister, the cautery, the nauseous powder, and the Ijitter 
 draught, the unfortunate patients who, by ones and twos, 
 were selected for experiment, were made to swallow each 
 a tasteless, inodorous globule of starch, amidst the smiles 
 of physician and pupils, without the smallest expectation 
 by any party of the least benefit accruing. It is impos- 
 sible to assign the exact amount of influence exerted by 
 moral causes on the curative effects of medicines ; per- 
 haps it is not very great, but whatever it may be, it 
 ought, in justice, to have been made to act equally on 
 the two sets of patients, which we have just seen was 
 not the case. But we proceed to much more weighty 
 objections. They relate to the actual treatment ; but wc 
 think it right first to lay the cases themselves before our 
 readers, as committed to writing, with " minute atten- 
 tion," by M. Maximo Vernois himself, and made public 
 in the journal referred to. We shall thus at once escape 
 any risk of unconsciously mis-stating the facts, and avoid 
 the charge of intentional perversion of them. W^e only 
 regret that, for some reason unassigncd, nineteen of the 
 fifty-four cases, or more than one-third — those namely 
 occurring in the two first months — have been kept back. 
 That there were good and sufficient reasons for so doing, 
 we are willing to believe, but should have been better 
 pleased had such been assigned ; for not only is it not 
 consonant with the usual procedure in matters of science 
 to give but a partial view of the facts, but, considering 
 the great importance and the public bearing of the sub- 
 ject in hand, nothing but the most cogent consideration 
 could justify tha withholding of any of the data on which 
 the conclusions were based. If the results of these 
 nineteen cases were less favourable to homoeopathy than 
 tliose of the thirtj^^-five which are given, M. Andral nuist 
 
183 
 
 IIOMOJOrATIIIC EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 have felt that, by detailing them, he would have addal 
 to the force of his Goiiclusions, and would thereby have 
 been able to deal a more effectual blow at tlie inefficacious 
 and, therefore, dangerous system ; if, on the other hand, 
 they showed homoeopathy in a more favorable light, one 
 would have supposed that candour and impartiality would 
 liavc secured their publication. 
 
 We proceed to the cases, of which there are thi''ty-five, 
 which we have numbered for facility of reference. 
 
 Aconite, 24th dilution, Ist patient, aged 25. Disease, 
 gastritis ; predominating symptom, intense fever. Ef- 
 fect, the pulse fell 2 beats in 24 hours ; next day the 
 eruption of small-pox appeared. 
 
 2d. Patient, intermittent fever of a quotidian type ; 
 predominant symptom, action of the heart. No effect. 
 
 3d. Acute angina ; predominant symptom, intense 
 fever. Effect, diminution of the sore throat, and falling 
 of the pulse. 
 
 4th. Phthisis; predominant symptom, frequency of 
 the pulse. Effect, falling of the pulse. 
 
 5 th. Acute arthitris; predominant symptom, frequency 
 of the pulse. Effect, a violent headache. 
 
 Arnica, 6th dilution, 6tli pulmonary symptoms ; pre- 
 dominant symptom, great giddiness. No effect. 
 
 7th. Cerebral congestion ; predominant symptom, 
 violent vertigo. Effect, the patient said he experienced 
 immediate relief. 
 
 8th. Hydro-pericarditis ; predominant symptoms, gid- 
 diness and vertigo. No effect. 
 
 9th. Dysmenorrhoca, with chronic gastritis ; predomi- 
 nant symptom, very violent headache. No immediate 
 effect ; improvement on the third day. 
 
 Belladonna, 24tli dilution. 10th. Hemiplegia; pre- 
 dominant symptom, confusion of sight. No effect. 
 
 11th. Bronchitis; predominant symptom, violent 
 No effect. 
 
 I2th. Bronchitis ; predominant symptom, violent 
 No effect. 
 
 cough. 
 
 cough. 
 
M. ANDllALS 
 
 iH'.i 
 
 vc added 
 cby have 
 sfficacious 
 hci" hand, 
 light, one 
 ity would 
 
 rrty-fivc, 
 ice. 
 
 Disease, 
 vcr. El- 
 t day the 
 
 ian type; 
 10 eifect. 
 1, intense 
 ,nd falling 
 
 i[iicncy of 
 
 frequency 
 
 )ms ; pre- 
 t, 
 
 symptom, 
 perienccd 
 
 toms, gid- 
 
 prcdomi- 
 mmediate 
 
 gla; pre- 
 fect. 
 I, violent 
 
 , violent 
 
 l.'Uh. Affection of tlie optic nerve; predominant 
 symptom, cx)nsiderablc confusion of sight. No effect. 
 
 14th. Heart disease; predominant symptoms, giddi- 
 ness, vertigo. No effect. 
 
 Bryonia, 3()th dilution. 15th. Intermittent fever; 
 predominant symptom, flying pains. No effect. 
 
 16th. Hypertrophy of the heart ; predominant symp- 
 tom, acute pain at the epigastrium. No effect. 
 
 17th. Acute arthritis ; predominant symptom, pain at 
 the shoulder. No effect. 
 
 18th. Pleurodynia, with bronchitis ; predominant 
 symptom, continual fits of coughing. No effect. 
 
 1 9th. Chronic gastro-enteritis ; predominant symptom, 
 violent pain in the left knee and shoulder. No effect. 
 
 Colchicum, 15th dilution. 20th. Acute arthitrls; 
 predominant symptom, violent pain, with redness and 
 swelling of both wrists. Effects, abatement of the 
 pains. 
 
 21st. Lumbago; predominant symptom, violent pain 
 in the loins. No effect. This woman was bled. 
 
 22d. Tubercular consumption ; predominant symptom, 
 stitch in the left side. Effect, abatement of the pain. 
 
 Hyoscyamus, 12th dilution. 23d. Pulmonary con- 
 sumption ; predominant symptom, violent cough. No 
 effect. 
 
 24th. Pleurisy, with bronchitis ; predominant symp- 
 tom, violent cough. No effect. 
 
 25ih. Bronchitis ; predominant cymptom, violent 
 cough. No effect. 
 
 Mercuriua solubilis, 6th dilution. 26th. Mercurial 
 trembling of upper and lower limbs. No effect.* 
 
 * This ca^e shows how little M. Andral understood the systein he un* 
 dertook to subvert. Homoeopathy (as the name, indeed, indicates) cur as on 
 the principle of similarity, not identity, and we challenge any one to point 
 out a single passage in all Hahnemann's writings to justify ^uch a practice 
 as was here followed. Indeed, such an idea as is implied in ihis experi- 
 ment is refuted by daily experience, for were it true, the lost dose of a drug 
 should neutralize the eifect of its predecessors, and there could be no such 
 thing as lasting medicinal disease. This case, then, has no title to the 
 place it occupies in a series of experimBnts on Homwopathy, 
 
184 
 
 lIOMtEOPATIIU; EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 27tli. Syphilid, ulcerations on the {rljinda. No effect ; 
 the ulceration making [)rogress; the disease was checked 
 with mercurial ointment. 
 
 Nux vomica, 24th dilution. 28th. A woman aged 21. 
 Dysmcnorrhoca, with chronic gastritis ; predominant 
 symptoms, very great dyspncra. No effect. 
 
 29tli. A woman aged 22. Dysmenorrhoca, witli 
 clironic gastritis ; predominant symptom, dyspnoea. No 
 effect. 
 
 3()th. Female aged 18. Amonorrlirea ; i)redominant 
 symptom, inclination to vomit. No eftcct. 
 
 Pulsatilla, 24th dilution. 31st. Chronic gastro- 
 enteritis ; predominant symptom, diarrhoea. Effect, 
 sensible improvement. 
 
 32d. A woman aged 22. Chronic gastritis ; pre- 
 dominant symptoms, dian-hoca, with colic. No effect. 
 
 Chamomilla, 12th dilution. 33d. Diarrlioca Avithout 
 colic. No effect. 
 
 Opium, 6th dilution. 34tli. Affection of the uterus 
 and tlic heart ; predominant symptom, obstinate consti- 
 pation. No effect. 
 
 Plumbum mctallicum, (dilution not stated.*) 
 
 35th. Obstinate constipation, Avhich had lasted eight 
 days. No effect. It only yielded to purgatives. 
 
 Let us now inquire if there is virtue in these 35, or 
 say 54, experiments to shake our confidence in Homoeo- 
 pathy. 
 
 The first condition which must be fulfilled to make 
 experiments on this or any otlier system of any value is, 
 that the experimenter be thoroughly conversant with the 
 principles of that system. Tliis is so obvious as to need 
 
 * Though quite a novice in Ilomoiopathy, M, Andr.il has contrived to 
 be original — in the matter of the dose. Amidst all the differences of 
 opinion existing among homa;opatt)ists on tliis subject, there is unanimity 
 on one point, viz., that the circumstances to be looked to as determining; 
 the dilution to be given, arc the acutoness or chronicity of the disease, and 
 the age, sex, constitution, and temperament of the patient ; in short, that 
 it depends on the nature of the case, more than on that of the remedy. 
 M. Andral, however, while he gives some medicines at high, and others 
 at low dilutions, gives a particular medicine always of one invariable 
 strength, whatever the disease, and whatever the peculiarities of thi' 
 patient. 
 
■ 
 
 M. ANDUALS 
 
 185 
 
 L) effect ; 
 checked 
 
 aged 21. 
 iominant 
 
 ca, with 
 cca. No 
 
 Iominant 
 
 ) gastro- 
 Effect, 
 
 tis ; pre- 
 I effect. 
 L without 
 
 be utema 
 ;c consti- 
 
 ) 
 
 ted eight 
 
 sc 35, or 
 Komoco- 
 
 to make 
 ■f value is, 
 t with the 
 [13 to need 
 
 contrived to 
 liffcrences of 
 is unanimity 
 
 di'termininj; 
 i disuasc, and 
 n sliort, tliat 
 
 tlic remedy. 
 I, and otliers 
 lie invariablf. 
 ritics of thi' 
 
 no proof. Now, we mulntuin tliat M. Andral liad either 
 never read, or having read, had forgotten the Organon 
 of Hahnemann, when he made the experiments in ques- 
 tion. Let any one peruse that part of the Organon 
 which relates to the taking of the case, (par. 84 — 105), 
 and then say if every one of tlic cjiscs we have transcribed 
 does not manifest, on the part of Andral, an utter igno- 
 rance or neglect of the fundamental principles of the 
 doctrine. Hahnemann repeatedly and earnestly enforces 
 the maxim, that it is only by attending to the totality of 
 tlie symptoms that wc can obtain such an image of the 
 disease as shall then be serviceable in determining the 
 choice of the remedy. M. Andral, however, instead of 
 drawing a finished picture of the disease, contents him- 
 self with indicating a single feature, that, namely, which 
 he conceives to be the most prominent, thus acting with 
 iibout the same degree of reason as a painter who should 
 confine himself to the delineation of the nose, the mouth, 
 or whatever feature happened to be most marked in each 
 particular instance. Portraits of this sort must be quite 
 irrccognizable, wholly destitute of character or expression, 
 and for the purposes of comparison, which is the object 
 of drawing them in homoeopathy, utterly useless. In 
 some rare instances, it is true, extreme precision is not 
 requisite ; and had M. Andral determined with accuracy 
 the condition of time, position, &c., under which the 
 predominating symptom was aggravated or ameliorated, 
 some possibility would have existed of finding its coun- 
 terpart among artificial (medicinal) diseases; in other.,, 
 words, of discovering what medicine would be most 
 likely to neutralize the diseased action, in virtue of its 
 similarity. M. Andral, however, by uniformly neglect- 
 ing to determine the conditions affecting this or any- 
 other symptom, deprived himself of oven this chance of 
 success. As if to make his infringement of Hahnemann's 
 canons complete, the learned professor never takes any 
 notice of the remote cause of the disease, (except in the 
 26th case, which we showed was not treated homocopa- 
 thically,) or of the temperament and moral state of the 
 
isfi 
 
 II0M(E01'ATlIIt' EXrEUIMENTV, 
 
 pationt ; on all wliicli i)oint8 the founder of lioina'opatli) 
 strongly insists oa essential to the i)ropcr treatment ot 
 the case. 
 
 M. Andral occasionally displays considerable orif^lnality 
 in the selection of the " predominating symptom," on 
 which so much is miule to hang. We were nut prei)arod 
 to find him, when j)rescribing for an affection of the heart 
 and uterus, (case 34,) select the remedy by a reference; 
 to the state of the bowels ; nor could we have anticipated 
 that a professor of pathology would have considered gid- 
 diness so important a circumstance in phthisis, (case 6,) 
 as to make it the therapeutic indication, to the neglect 
 of the pulmonary symptoms. 
 
 We object further to the conclusiveness of the expe- 
 riments of La Pitie, on the very serious ground, that M. 
 Andral had not the means of applyiriff liomGCopathic 
 principles to practice. We might grant, for argument's 
 sake, that his conception of the homoeopathic law was as 
 accurate as we have seen it to l)e erroneous, and that the 
 symptoms had been noted down with as much circum- 
 stantial detail as they were with inexcusable brevity ; 
 still the experiments would be without value, for without 
 facts to work with, where is the use of principles on 
 which to work ? M. Andral, not having a knowledge 
 of the German language, was unable to consult Hahne- 
 mann's Materia Medica in the original ; no Frencli 
 translation was extant at the time he undertook these 
 experiments, and an acquaintance with English was as 
 yet equally useless to the student of homoeopathy. A 
 seaman wishing to find his longitude, thougli thoroughly 
 acquainted with navigation, and though perfectly exact 
 in his observation, is yet quite imablc to discover his 
 position without a reference to his nautical tables. In 
 like manner, an accurate conception of the horaoeopathic 
 law, and a scrupulous conformity to the rules for taking 
 the case, are of no avail to one who, as in the instance 
 before us, has not the means of consulting the Materia 
 Medica, 
 
M. ANDIIAI.S 
 
 187 
 
 mrcopatli) 
 latmcnt ot 
 
 orlf^inality 
 ptom," on 
 )l, prepared 
 )f tlie heart 
 I rcfercnci! 
 anticipated 
 iJcrccl gid- 
 rt, (case 0,) 
 .he neglect 
 
 ' tlic cxj te- 
 nd, tluit M. 
 )niccopathic 
 ursumcnt'rt 
 law wa8 iia 
 ,nd that the 
 ch circuui- 
 le brevity ; 
 for without 
 •inciples on 
 knowledge 
 Lilt Hahnc- 
 no French 
 rtook these 
 lish was as 
 )pathy. A 
 thoroughly 
 cctly exact 
 liscovcr his 
 tables. In 
 omoDopathic 
 8 for taking 
 he instance 
 he Materia 
 
 But while these considerations HufFice to show that 
 diesc experiments were [)erfornie(l in sucli circumstances 
 as dei)rivo them of all pretensions to scientific value ; 
 and while, therefc^rc, they cannot be allowed the slightest 
 weight in determining the (juestion at issue, it would 
 still bo grjitiiying, could we award merit to M. Andral 
 in taking tlie earliest opportunity of testing the practical 
 value of an important truth. Did such a line of conduct 
 proceed from an earnest desire to secure, without delay, 
 for the alleviation of disease, the benefits accruing from 
 each discovery in therapeutics as it arose, while wc might 
 be inclined to question the wisdom of attempting tho 
 solution of 80 intricate a j)roblem with means so inade- 
 quate as he possessed, wc could not but feel respect for, 
 and express approbation of, the motives that led to it. 
 It is, therefore, painful to find that fucta will scarcely 
 allow us to put so favourable a construction on the con- 
 duct of M. Andral. A French translation of Hahnemann's 
 " Chronic Diseases" was published at Paris in the year 
 1832, and had therefore been a considerable time before 
 the public when the trial at La Pitie was Instituted. 
 This work contained a most minute account of the action 
 of twenty-two remedies, the names of which wc subjoin, 
 and which, with scarcely an exception, are of tho highest 
 value to the practitioner.* 
 
 Had M. Andral been anxious to practice the system 
 to the best of his ability, he would have found in these 
 medicines a rich store of materials for the cure of tho 
 most obstinate diseases. If, however, our readers will 
 take the trouble to compare the list they have just read, 
 with that of the medicines used in Andral's experiments, 
 they wiU find that they have not one remedy in common ; 
 in other words, that Andral abstained from using the onhj 
 medicines ofiohich he had the means of making a right 
 application. Does this look like an anxiety to get at tho 
 
 • Graphites, Lycopodiiim, Magnesia, Magnesias Murlas, Ammonium 
 Carbonicum, Baryta Carbonica, Caloarea Carbonica, Natrum Carbonioum, 
 Acidum Nitriciim, Pctrolfum, Phospliurus, Sepia, Silicea, Zincum, Carbo 
 Vegetabilis, Carbo Animalis, (\iusticiim, Ciciita, Kali Carbonicum, Katrmr* 
 ]\luriaticum, and Sulphur. 
 
188 
 
 lIOM(£OrATlIlC EXrEIUMENTS. 
 
 truth? Agnin, several years have elapsed since the 
 Materia Metlica wtvs published in French ; but we hear 
 of no trials of llomccopathy at the Parisian hospiUds. 
 
 M. Maxime Vemois, while admitting (in the pamphlet 
 already referred to) the incapacity of his professor to 
 perform homoeopathic experiments from not knowing the 
 action of the medicines, excuses his ignorance by saying 
 it was unavoidable, (ignorance obligee.) What we have 
 juet mentioned shews this not to be wholly correct ; but 
 from whatever cause his ignorance proceeded, surely the 
 consciousness that he did not possess the means of testing 
 the system, should have prevented him from stating before 
 tlie Academy that he had given it a fair trial in liis wards, 
 and found it wanting. ' 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to prove that M. Andral gave 
 the wrong medicines in the majority of the cases above 
 detailed, after shewing that by chance only he could b" 
 right. In fact, he was reduced, partly by the want of 
 the Materia Medica, partly by his wilful neglect of sucli 
 remedies as had been published, to guessing at the medi- 
 cine which would be prescribed by Homoeopathy ; and 
 as he did not avail himself of the assistance of any one 
 better acquainted with the subject than himself, he ob- 
 tained such results as might have been anticipated. These 
 considerations make a detailed examination of the practice 
 adopted quite superfluous ; we will, however, notice one 
 or two of the cases, in order to shew into what an inex- 
 tricable maze of difficulties a man is thrown, when 
 deprived of the clue, the knowledge of the pure effects of 
 the medicines. 
 
 Let us take as examples the four cases treated with 
 arnica. As the symptoms, with a single exception in 
 each case, are not recorded, it is quite impossible to de- 
 termine on the proper remedy to be given ; but we may 
 remark on the first case, that arnica is very seldom used 
 in phthisis. If the reader wishes proof of this, lot him 
 turn to that article in Jahr's Repertory, and he will find 
 that arnica is not to be found among the eighteen medi- 
 cines most useful in alleviating the sufferings of the con- 
 sumptive. The next case is one of cerebral congestion.. 
 
M. >^N DUALS 
 
 189 
 
 uliioc the 
 t wc hear 
 >5<plt{ila. 
 pamphlet 
 ofc8dor to 
 owing the 
 by saying 
 it wc have 
 Tcct; but 
 Burcly the 
 of testing 
 ing before 
 Ilia wardii, 
 
 idral gave 
 ises above 
 could b" 
 3 want of 
 !Ct of sucli 
 the medi- 
 ithy ; and 
 [' any one 
 jlf, he ob- 
 )d. These 
 le practice 
 notice one 
 t an inex- 
 wn, when 
 3 effects of 
 
 atcd with 
 jcption in 
 ble to de- 
 it wc may 
 dora used 
 s, lot him 
 c will find 
 ieen medi- 
 f the con- 
 Dugestion., 
 
 witii great giddiness. This was probal)ly a case to which 
 arnica wjia adapted, ft)r we find its iuhninistratlon was 
 followed by good effects ; but this good fortune was 
 plainly owing to chance, for there in nothing in the case 
 to point out to us, without trial, whether arnica, bella- 
 donna, or nux vomica, not to mention others, would 
 prove specific ; so that there was at least twice as nuich 
 probability of the wrong medicine being chosen as the 
 right, and, in the former CJisc, the ill success which nmst 
 have followed, would have been laid to the bhimc of the 
 system. Wc arc at a loss vo know why arnica was given 
 in a case of hydropericarditis ; wc do not remember of a 
 single case in which it was indicated ; the presumption 
 is, that arsenic, lachcsis, or spigelia, were more ajjpro- 
 priatc to the case. -As to the last case, we may observe, 
 that it would perhaps be impossible to select any medi- 
 cine out of the whole pharmacopoeia less likely to })rove 
 beneficial in dysmcnorrhoca than arnica. That this is 
 not a simple assertion on our part, may be seen by once 
 more turning to the Repertory of Jahr, when it will be 
 found that, though no less than thirty substances arc 
 enumerated as occiisionaUy remedial in this complaint, 
 arnica is not there. Wc might proceed in this way 
 tlurough the remaining cases, but we think tsufficicnt has 
 been said to convince every one that these experiments 
 had nothing of homccopathy but the name. Wc may 
 just refer, however, to two cases of diarrhoea (cases .32 
 and 33) which Andral, by departing from his usual 
 practice of mentioning but a single symptom, has un- 
 wittingly given us the means of showing to have been 
 wrongly treated. The diarrhoea of pulsatilla, though not 
 unfrequently accompanied with colic, is for the most 
 part more free from pain than that produced by other 
 medicines ; so that, when wc meet with such a case as 
 No. 33, for which chamomilla is certainly not suited ; so 
 that, in these two cases, the only ones in which there 
 are any land-marks by which to guide our course, 
 Andral chose the medicine least likely, on homoeopathic 
 principles, to effect a cure. 
 
lUO 
 
 MOMO'OrATIIU' KXFKUIMliNTS. 
 
 It rfur[)nric.s us to find eases of intermittent fever 
 .■inionfi^ tlione cxiu riniontod on, for these afrcetions iire, 
 without ex('i'|)ti(»n, ihi; most diHieult of any to treat on 
 liomo'o[>athie priiKjipleH ; re((uirinj^, in the first jdaee, 
 that the synij>toms he detailed with extraordinary minute- 
 ness; and, in the next, tliat th(! jdiysician have the most 
 thorouf^h a(!(|uaintan(H! with the intiinattM'haraeter of the 
 ntnneroiis meihcjines. (IJiinin^hausen enumerates nearly 
 Hixty whieh arc re([uired in their treatment.) Much 
 judgment is also re(|iiirc;d to know at what period to 
 a(hninis!er the remedy. 
 
 We have now to state a cireumstimee lor whieh our 
 rejiders are scarcely prepared. It is seldom, whatever 
 system we follow, that one medicine suffices for the cure 
 of a clironic complaint, even when the experience of years 
 has f^uided the choic(>, and it is rare indeed that one dose 
 of the medicine brings about the desired result. To this 
 obvious princi[>le, however, M. Andral shut his eyes 
 when experimenting hom(ropathically ; for we gather 
 from an attentive perusal of the article already referred 
 to, what the author was doubtless ashamed to state in so 
 many words, that tlioufjk three-fourths of the cases treated 
 were suck as required a long course of treatment to cure, 
 none of them received more than one dose of the homoeopa- 
 thic rcmedij, the administration of which was followed by 
 some days (" quelques jours'^) of cxactiou, at the expiry 
 of which, if not cured, the patient was handed over to 
 allopathy. It was expected, it would seem, that scarcely 
 had the globule been swallowed, but the ciu'c should Ix) 
 effected, if it lay in the power of Ilomoeopathy to cure 
 at all ! Diseases of every kind, bronchites, pleurisy, and 
 consumption, chronic inflammatlou of the stomach, and 
 hypertrophy of the heart, diseases which had existed 
 weeks, months, and perhaps years, — Ilomoiopathy must 
 cure them all by one dose each, or it is held to be a delu- 
 sion ! Were ever conditions like these imposed upon a 
 system before ? 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, however, we learn that, of 
 fifty-four cases thus treated, eight made permanent re- 
 coveries, and seven others were better the day after (jet- 
 
 
M. AMUIALS 
 
 1I>1 
 
 nt (over 
 
 iollrt lUV, 
 treat <jii 
 st ])lact', 
 ' ininutc- 
 thc moft 
 ter ot'tl'o 
 us nearly 
 ) Much 
 )cru)(l to 
 
 hich our 
 whatevor 
 ■ tho cure 
 Q ot'year!^ 
 Olio (loso 
 
 To this 
 airf eyes 
 c gather 
 
 referred 
 tate in so 
 es treated 
 t to cure, 
 homceopa- 
 lowed by 
 le expiry 
 I over to 
 t scarcely 
 should 1x3 
 r to cure 
 irisy, and 
 lach, and 
 d existed 
 thy must 
 je a delu- 
 d upon a 
 
 n that, oi 
 anent re- 
 (ifter ffct- 
 
 fill!/ the mi'iiniiifi: \Ve arc* told, lliat time ol' itscll lirinf^ri 
 alM»ut Hucli rcsidtH ; (" le feinj>s .seal anune ce resnUat ;") 
 hut we would just su^j^cst, that, in chronic diseases, und 
 in many acute ones, time is just nx likely to hrin^ ahout 
 progress us retrocession of llui disease ; and, to say the 
 least, it is rcniarkaltle thai (he iin|»rov( inent coincided so 
 closely with the takin<j; ol' the nu'dicinc ; at all events, it 
 Avould havt! been hut liiir to I'ullow u[), hy a repetition of 
 the medicine, the jjjood a!'*eady begun ; instead of this, 
 these seven [)aticnts were allowed to relapf?e, and thus to 
 swell the list of failures. These facts recpiire no com- 
 ment. 
 
 The professed olnject of such trials as these, is to obtaiti 
 such u body of evidence as shall, on the acknowledged 
 princi])les of medical statistics, suffice to establish the 
 comparative etticacy of the old systc.n and the new. 
 Were it demonstrated by adecpiate statistics, that Ho- 
 moeopathy came short in its results of the dominant 
 system, and that this inferiority depended not on any 
 weakness incident to its recent birth and fettered growth, 
 nnd which it might reasonably be expected to outgrow, 
 l)ut on some inherent and irremediable defect ; we say, 
 were this satisfactorily proved, we should feel boimd at 
 once to abandon it ; but we are not sure that we shoidd 
 think the utter inefficiency of its iiifinitesimal doses to b'* 
 thereby demonstrated. On the contrar}', our respect foi 
 Allopathij, all defective as it is, would preserve us from 
 such a conclusion. We would ask those who adduce tho 
 supposed inferiority of homoeopathic practice, as proving 
 its absolute powcrlessness, " Do you not perceive that in 
 so speaking you arc costing a slur on the system you 
 practice ? Do you not see that you are saying, in other 
 words, ' Every system that has any ctticacy in it, nmst 
 be equal or superior to ours ; our system luus so little 
 power over disease tliait to have /t'ss is to have wmic.'" 
 Happily for Allopathy, and for the mass {>f mankind who 
 must long continue to be treated on its principles, the 
 reasoning of such wholesale declaimers against Homoco- 
 })athy is false, and therefore, the degradation of the old 
 
1!>2 
 
 II(JM(E01'AT1IIC EXl'ERIMENTS. 
 
 Hyritcni, wliich it imi)lio3, cannot be niaiutained. It 
 would be just as rcasonal)le to conclude tiiat, because one 
 body A, Avas proved to be hotter than other body B, 
 therefore, B contained no heat. The abso'.utc powcrless- 
 ness of a system of therapeutics, can only be i)roved ])y 
 comparing ic with the true zero of medicine, that is to say, 
 the expectant method, and shewing that the results are 
 similar. This has not been done ; till it be, the enemies 
 of any new system dare not in conscience say it haj no 
 power. 
 
 But we are very far from anticipating any injury to 
 Ilomaopathy from a statistical comparison of its results 
 with t]ie old system. On the contrary, we look forward 
 with confidence to statistics, as one of the means destined 
 to be I'lost powerful in establishing the value of the sys- 
 tem. Before, however, cither favorable or adverse con- 
 clusions can })c drawn from a body of causes, wc must be 
 assured that the system was fairly and intelligently ap- 
 plied, which wc have shown was by no means the case 
 in those before us ; €.:-A it is therefore useless to proceed 
 to consider the inferences deducible from them, for from 
 false facts no ingenuity can obtain true deductions. 
 But wc think it may not be an.iss to consider for a little 
 whether, even supposing the facts to have been good, 
 they were of such a nature as to be of service in a sta- 
 tistical inquiry. 
 
 The object of such trials being, as wc have already 
 observed, to institute a comparison between the merits 
 of the two rival systems, it is obviously requisite that 
 such diseases be chosen to operate upon, as admit of the 
 display of the powers of medicine ; for, where both sys- 
 tems arc powerless to cure, no deduction favourable to 
 cither one or the other can be drawn. It is therefore 
 matter of suq^rise, that so intelligent a man as M. Andral 
 (and a statistician withal) should have included in his 
 trials so large a proportion of intractable or absolutely 
 incurable cases. Nothing would have been easier than 
 to have avoided this, for M. Andral did not take indis- 
 criminately all patients entering his wards during a 
 certain period of time (which, though on the whole the 
 
M. ANDUALS IIOMffiOl'ATHIC EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 19.'} 
 
 tied. It 
 au3c one 
 body 15, 
 )vvcrlcsd- 
 ovcd l)y 
 is to say, 
 suits arc 
 enemies 
 t haj no 
 
 njury to 
 ts results 
 : forward 
 destined 
 ' the sys- 
 !rse con- 
 ! must be 
 intly ap- 
 thc case 
 > proceed 
 for from 
 ductions. 
 3r a little 
 en good, 
 in a sta- 
 
 alrcady 
 e merits 
 site that 
 lit of the 
 >oth sys- 
 irable to 
 therefore 
 . Andral 
 id in his 
 jsolutcly 
 iier than 
 cc indis- 
 luring a 
 hole the 
 
 f'liircst mode of proceeding, inasmuch as it secures an 
 unbiassed allotment of cases, would also be in some mea- 
 sure objectionable, as it would necessarily include some 
 patients incurable by any system, and theref(>i'e make 
 tlie results, quoad these cases, indecisive of the question ; 
 on the contrary, he selected his patients, as we infer from 
 tlic following considerations. The experiments, of which 
 we have a particular account, lasted 242 days, or thirty- 
 five weeks ; each experiment lasted " some days, " say 
 a week, or at most a fortnight ; they were carried on 
 continuously, and were thirty-five in number. Putting 
 these things together, it is evident that there can have 
 l)cen but one, or at most two or three, patients treated 
 homocjopathically at a time, so that M. Andral had ample 
 opportunity for selecting, out of a ward of at least twenty 
 beds, cases amenable to treatment, and therefore of use 
 in determining the question at issue. Why did be not 
 do so? 
 
 Further, had the mode of proceeding so far been un- 
 objectionable, still we should have been unable to state 
 the results made for or against the new system, for we 
 are as yet unprovided with any statistics parallel to these 
 in Allopathy ; to obtain such, it would be necessary to 
 institute expeiiments on cases treated with single doses 
 of the appropriate medicine. We might make some ap- 
 proach to the results, by ascertaining what per-centage of 
 patients are cured in the first week of treatment. 
 
 Lastly, even had the cases been judiciously selected, 
 we have Andral's own authority for stating, that their 
 number was far two small to make the conclusion trust- 
 worthy. One of his pupils, Gavarret, (Principes G6ne- 
 raux de Statistique Medicale, p. 108, note,) quotes 
 Andral as saying, "With thirty or forty observations, one 
 may determine the diagnosis and pathological anatomy 
 of a disease, but it needs years of research to arrive at a 
 satisfactory result in therapeutics." M. Andral has thus 
 pronounced his own condemnation. 
 
CHAPTER xvrn. 
 
 ERUPTIVE DISEASES. 
 
 Among the great class of human maladies, none are 
 less understood, none more mismanaged and carelessly 
 treated, than cutaneous maladies. The pathology is well 
 enough, but t'^c cure stands upon a very poor basis, it, 
 indeed, it has any. 
 
 What the old school practitioner calls curing, is but a 
 suppression of the eruption, if such a thing were possible. 
 In most cases the poor sufferer does not even receive 
 mitigation from their hands : he scratchef and tears his 
 skin to pieces, until he wears himself out. 
 
 Most of the remedies that are empirically employed 
 in eruptive diseases, says Dr. Ticknor, are such as 
 remove rather than cure ; repel rather than eradicate ; 
 or, in common parlance, they "strike the complaint 
 in.''^ (?) Such a result is most easily obtained ; and 
 from the similarity of structure of the internal mucous 
 membrane to that of the skin, eruptive diseases have 
 almost as great an affinity for the one as the other. 
 
 The greater number of the exanthemous inflamma- 
 tions, measles, scarlet, nettles, 8fc., says Rayer, attack both 
 divisions of the tegumentary membranes simultaneously. 
 The nmning of the eyes, the nasal, laryngeal and tra- 
 cheal catarrhal affection of measles, corresponds to the 
 exanthema of the skin, which characterises the diseases 
 on the general surface, and the matter secreted by the 
 bronchi, presents a peculiar character in relation with the 
 species of inflammation which is going on. In scarlatina, 
 the mucous membrane of the mouth and pharynx almost 
 always, and that of the stomach and intestines occasion- 
 ally, presents a dotted redness altogether analogous to 
 that which is observed upon the surface of the skin. 
 The eruption in this disease is followed by desquamraa- 
 
ERUPTIVE DISEASES. 
 
 195 
 
 none are 
 carelessly 
 gy is well 
 
 basis, if, 
 
 i;, is but a 
 
 B possible. 
 
 n receive 
 
 tears his 
 
 employed 
 such as 
 eradicate ; 
 complaint 
 ned ; and 
 d mucous 
 lases have 
 ther. 
 
 inflamma- 
 ttack both 
 taneously. 
 [ and tra- 
 ids to the 
 e diseases 
 id by the 
 tt with the 
 scarlatina, 
 nx almost 
 occasion- 
 logous to 
 the skin, 
 iquamraa- 
 
 tion of the cftticle and the mucous membranes, iiirnished 
 with an epithelium which cast the pellicle off, in a precisely 
 similar manner. 
 
 Observation has taught us, (says Beclard,) that a 
 healthy state of the skin coincides with that of the 
 mucous membrane. Persons of a delicate whitish skin, 
 are very apt to suffer under morbid secretions of the skin 
 and mucous membranes, and on many other diseases 
 which affect both membranes at the same time. 
 
 Hippociates knew already that an increased secretion 
 of the mucous membranes is consequent upon a dimin- 
 ished cutaneous secretion. 
 
 Anatomy teaches us tha< ic skin and lining membrane 
 of the digestive and respiratory organs are similar in 
 structure ; and physiology teaches us that they are also 
 analogous in function. We learn also from the obser- 
 vation of our predecessoi's, for ages past as well as from 
 the facts we daily witness, that a disease commencing in 
 a part of any tissue is easily propagated throughout its 
 whole extent, and therefore an irritation commencing in 
 the mucous membrane of the stomach or bowels, lungs, 
 or any other of the internal organs, may, as it often does, 
 by this facility of transmission, show itself upon the skin. 
 Again, affections that primarily make their appearance 
 upon the skin are, by the same law, transferred to inter- 
 nal organs ; and, by a rapid and sudden retrocession, in 
 a short time prove fatal. If such is the case, how comes 
 it that local treatment in cutaneous affections is so much 
 made use of? What are all the plasters and ointments 
 commonly used in skin diseases, but compounds of the 
 most irritating ingredients, which must injure the coh- 
 stitution arid endanger life through the absorption of the 
 poison in the system. 
 
 " What mother or what nurse has not seen children 
 suddenly die from an affeotion of the lungs, or of the 
 brain, caused by the sudden suppression of some seem- 
 ingly trifling cutaneous eruption ?" 
 
 " Any physician of no more than ordinary practice 
 must have seen many cases of obstinate and severe disease 
 
196 
 
 EnUPTIVli DISEASES. 
 
 llUH 
 
 consequent upon repelled eruptions ; anil he who 
 experienced it knows full well how to appreciate the 
 difficulty of recalling these affections to their original 
 location. And indeed, there is no hazard in saying that 
 the danger and obstinacy of a disease consequent upon 
 a retrocession of a cutaneous affection, is increased many 
 fokL" 
 
 *" Ail interesting child of eighteen months old had an 
 eruption on the face. The mother thought tlie child's 
 appearance was rendered unpleasant and less interesting ; 
 she procured an ointment with which she succeeded, to 
 her entire satisfaction, in healing the sores. Scarcely a 
 single day had been allowed her for self-congratulation 
 before the child waa seized with convulsions, which 
 proved fatal in a few hours." 
 
 " A lady had, for several successive winters, been af- 
 flicted with what is called salt rheum. It always appeared 
 on the hands at the commencement of cold weather. It 
 was alwavs I'-oublcsome from its peculiar itching, burn- 
 ing, and marting sensations tliat accompanied. A suc- 
 cession ot ^medics had been tried in vain. At last a 
 lemedy wa^ applied at night, which, by next morning, 
 had wrought a most miraculous cure. Her joy, however, 
 was but short-lived ; in less than twenty-four hours she 
 was attacked with violent pain in the head, pain in the 
 side, with a ohill, the precursor of a raging fever. For a 
 few days this patient seemed in imminent danger of dying 
 from inflammation of the brain, then suddenly the disease 
 left the head and attacked the lungs. There now oc- 
 curred an obstinate and trou];)lesome cough, wliich was, 
 sometimes for hours, almost incessant ; and to this was 
 superadded all the prominent and characteristic symp- 
 toms of pulmonary consumption. This state continued 
 for two or three days, when all disease at once vanished 
 from the lungs, and seized upon the bowels ; here, for a 
 few days, it played off its vagaries, and after threatening 
 to terminate the cxistenof of the patient, sought another 
 
 * A popular Treatise on Medical Philosophy, by Caleb Ticknor, M.D. 
 
who huH 
 iciate the 
 L" original 
 ,ying tlmt 
 ent upon 
 sed many 
 
 )ld had an 
 he child'rf 
 tcresting ; 
 ceeded, to 
 Scarcely a 
 ratulation 
 18, which 
 
 1, been af- 
 3 appeared 
 ather. It 
 ing, burn- 
 . A suc- 
 
 At last a, 
 
 morning, 
 , however, 
 hours she 
 un in the 
 er. For a 
 
 r of dying 
 the disease 
 D now oc- 
 i^liich was, 
 o this was 
 3tic symp- 
 
 oontinued 
 3 vanished 
 here, for a 
 hreatening 
 ;ht another 
 
 icknor, M.D- 
 
 LRLTTIVJ; DISEASES. 
 
 19: 
 
 domicile in the glands of the neck. Here it finally 
 stayed; and after a suppuration of the glands, and dis- 
 charge of matter from the throat internally, and from the 
 neck externally, during three weeks, the patient began 
 to recover — and in just two months after the ap^jllcation 
 of the remedy to the hands, and alter having her life 
 despaired of for weeks in succession, she was in a con- 
 dition to leave her room." 
 
 " A gentleman, somewhat advanced in life, had been 
 for many years ti'oublcd with an eruption on one of his 
 lower limbs. He made no complaint of this, only that it 
 took too much of his time to scratch, and this in fact 
 ought not to have been regarded as much of an evil, since 
 he was in independent circumstances, and coidd avcU 
 afford the time." The author would not be as jocose, 
 had he the misfortune to be troubled with such a tenant. 
 
 " He applied external remedies, and all went on well 
 for a time. But the train was laid — the match had been 
 applied — and an explosion was soon to follow. Numb- 
 ness, and a pricking sensation, were first experienced in 
 the foot of one side — then a weakness and loss of control 
 over the foot when walking ; and, suljscquently, volun- 
 tary motion Avas lost — the one half of the body became 
 paralytic, and the unfortunate man, on the fifth day of 
 being unwell, died of apoplexy." 
 
 Ancient as well as modern medical authors, seem to 
 have been aware of the dangerous consequences which 
 may follow the use of local remedies in eruptive diseases. 
 Still, before the immortal founder of Homeopathy had 
 discovered a more suitable plan, this injurious method has 
 been and still is put into practice. 
 
 Ilildanus* attributes the suppression of the catamenia, 
 with a diseased state of the mind of a woman, to a sudden 
 disappearance of an itch, to which she had been subject 
 in her infancy, f Friedrich Hoffmann has collected a great 
 number of different diseases, which he traces to an 
 
 • Observat. ct < nt. medico chirurg. Francofurt, 1682. Obscrv. 21. 
 t Medicinic rational systeinat. Tom. iv. 6, v, p. 1 !t3, s<{<i[ii. 
 
198 
 
 luHirTIVK DISKASKS. 
 
 imj)roi)C'r treutineiit of the itcli. Wagner d(;feniled and 
 published a thesis, ontithHl : — " l)e inorl)is ex scabie 
 ()rientlbus,inagistratuin attentione noii indignls." * Wen- 
 zel has also dcseribed many serious inahidics, the unhappy 
 results of a suppressed itch, f Von Autcnricth details 
 many striking cases of the evil effects resulting from 
 suddenly suppressing scabies. The repeated occurrence 
 of these cases has led him to conclude that the psonc 
 virus frequently gives rise to epilepsy, phthisis, palsy, &c. 
 J Broussais considers scabies and dartres as frequently 
 the cause of dropsies. 
 
 Bouilland admits that certain diseases of the heart, and 
 more especially its hypertrophy, may succeed certain 
 cutaneous affections. 
 
 Albers says that organic disease of the licart is no 
 iinrare occurrence after scabies is repelled. Well marked 
 cases, in which obstinate diseases have arisen from sud- 
 denly repelled scabies, have also been remarked by various 
 homoeopathic writers, by Rau, Griesslich, Gastier, &c. 
 
 *' We learn, that after the existence of internal chronic 
 eruptions had been insisted upon by J. P. Frank, in his 
 Prax. Med. Univ. the reality of internal psoric eruptions 
 was enthusiastically advanced and defended by Auten- 
 rieth, who says that " the commencement of secondary 
 chronic diseases is characterized by the development of 
 pustules internal organs, which pustules may be recog- 
 nized by the eye, provided the patient die early enough, 
 of this, or some other disease. If they be of a lymphatic 
 and grayish appearance, and are seated upon the perito- 
 neum, they are apt to cause dropsy. If they select the 
 intestines and develop themselves in groups upon the 
 mucous surface, idcers ensue and cause incurable diarr- 
 hcca. When seated in the chest, they not unfrequently 
 excite psoric-phthisis ; the lumps which are expectorated, 
 are the product of the breaking down of psoric pustules 
 
 * Die Nachkrankheiten von zurilcksgetretencr Kratze. 
 t Versuche uber die prakt. Heilkuiist Tiibingen, 1807. 
 X Coinmuut, dea prupubitiuns de Patliologie. Tom. ii., p. 
 
 C2;J. 
 
EI{ri»TlVt: I>1SKA«ES. 
 
 HiSi 
 
 ifeiult'd and 
 ex scabii! 
 IS." •Wen- 
 he unhappy 
 ieth details 
 ilting from 
 occurrence 
 the psorie 
 3, palsy, &e. 
 frequently 
 
 c heart, and 
 eed certain 
 
 heart is no 
 V^ell marked 
 I from sud- 
 d by various 
 istier, &c. 
 rnal chronic 
 rank, in his 
 •ic eruptions 
 
 by Auten- 
 f secondary 
 elopment of 
 y be rccog- 
 irly enough, 
 a lymphatic 
 
 the perito- 
 y select the 
 )s upon the 
 rable diarr- 
 mfrequently 
 xpectorated, 
 iric pustules 
 
 p. 023. 
 
 •eatod in the trachea. Tlieso pustules may be found at 
 times in great numbers in the lungs, and are easily to be 
 distinguished from tubercles. At times the choroidea is 
 attacked by these pustules, antl a si)eeies of glaucoma 
 ensues, and if we look into the eye in all directions, we 
 may be able to distinguish a pustule, as through a magni- 
 fying glass. Such pustules may developc themselves 
 upon the nerves of the extremities, and give rise to 
 epilepsy. The psorie ulcers, which nature excites iu 
 order to cure the internal psorie diseases, generally com- 
 mence with several pustules, which finally inflame ; they 
 have this characteristic sign, tha<; fresh psorie pustules 
 continually develop themselves about their circumference. 
 Nature may also cure t?uch intei'ual diseases, by re- 
 developing primitive psora upon the skin. 
 
 " Jahn adds, that in this representation, the presence 
 of psorie eruptions upon the peritoneum, the intestinal 
 mucous membrane, the tracheal and pulmonaiy umcous 
 membrane, upon the choroidea, and the nervous sheaths, 
 is conjectured. This great physician has also detected 
 them upon the surface of the liver, spleen, mesentery, 
 pericardium, external surface of intestines, on the mem- 
 branes of the brain, and in the joints, and, in fact, in the 
 shape of small, white, barley-seed-like pustules; he 
 strengthens his position by appealing to the distinguished 
 morbid anatomist, Baillie, who found pea-sized pustules 
 in the lungs, after repelled itch; and to Morgagni. 
 Autenrieth mentions that he possesses a choroidea, taken 
 from a subject laboring under repelled itch, which is 
 covered with white, hard, pustules, of the size of a com- 
 mon pin's head. He also states that a watery, at times 
 frothy, colorless expectoration, in which are found only 
 single and small lumps of thick, yellow pus, which does 
 not dissolve in the watery fluid, may be looked upon as 
 characteristic of psoric-phthisis. 
 
 " P. J. Frank, to whom we have before alluded, says 
 in part 4, p. 13, of his work; 'That there are internal 
 chronic eruptions, is evident from the tedious chronic 
 mflammations which arise when skin-eruptions are badly 
 
200 
 
 KRUI'TIVK DISK ASKS. 
 
 treated or re|»elleil, ami (Voiii the niurhici alterations whleli 
 wc find after death, viz., spots, vesieles, pustules, and 
 supcrfic^ial ulecrs, ciriisin<f purulent or ichorous fluids, 
 especially in the trachea, the nose, intestines, and urethra ; 
 tliis view is further corroborated from the ett'ects which 
 wc observe to arise from the reiJeUinj:^ of clironic erup- 
 tions from the skin, and Avhich cftects only cease, after 
 the restoration of these symptoms upon the skin.' 
 
 "Puchelt(scc System, vol. .'{, p. 150): The serous 
 and mucous membranes arc especially exposed to itch- 
 metastasis ; and iu j)ost mortem examinations, vesicles 
 which resemble the itch vesicles have been found upon 
 these membranes. 
 
 " IH[)pocratcs recor^nized a psoric and leprous aft'ection 
 of the urinary bladder : he says : ' Theophorbi filio 
 Larissic vesica foeda scabic, lepram dicunt, laboravit.' 
 And in another passage : * Quibus cum urina crassa 
 furfuri similia quaedam simul exeunt, iis vesica psora 
 laborat.' Alibcrt, in his work on skin diseases, regards 
 the affection of tiie bladder alluded to by Hippocrates, 
 cither as a porriginous or herpetic disease, and says that 
 the urine quickly putrifics in children, when porrigo is 
 suddenly repressed; while, ho adds; * under such cir- 
 cvnnstanccs the observation made by Hippocrates is cor- 
 rect; for we find branny like fragments in the urine, 
 which arc of an albuminous nature, and ([uite similar to 
 the flakes which fall off from the scalp in porrigo ; Ap- 
 parerc in urina velut furfures.' 
 
 " Jahn also states that the existence of angina psorica, 
 and of ophthalmia psorica, are undoubted, and evidently 
 arise from a psoric exanthem seated upon a mucous, or 
 muco-serous membrane. 
 
 " Buddens found pustules on the pericardium, and on 
 the surface of the heart, in a child who died from repelled 
 itch. 
 
 " Bergman found papulous excrescences in the brain or 
 on its membranes, which, according to hinj, arc very fre- 
 quently connected with maltreated itch. 
 
KIUPTIVE DISF.ASKS. 
 
 201 
 
 )ns wliic.li 
 ulcH, ami 
 us fluids, 
 1 urethra ; 
 ;t3 which 
 nic eiiip- 
 jase, after 
 n. 
 
 lie serous 
 1 to itcli- 
 ^, vesicles 
 und upon 
 
 3 aft'ection 
 lorbi filio 
 laboravit.' 
 ina crassa 
 !sica psora 
 2S, regards 
 ippocratea, 
 
 says that 
 porrigo is 
 
 such cir- 
 Ltes is cor- 
 tlic urine, 
 
 similar to 
 rigo; Ap- 
 
 na psorica, 
 
 evidently 
 
 nucous, or 
 
 m, and on 
 Dm repelled 
 
 he brain or 
 c very fre- 
 
 " According to J:ihii, Niipoleon died from maltreated 
 itch; i'or an evident [)ai)ulou8 ('rui»tion was found upon 
 liis peritoneum. 
 
 " Jahn further states, that he hlniHelf has found vesicu- 
 lar, pustular, and granular formations upon the pleura 
 and peritoneum, and in the intestines of persons suttcring 
 from repelled itch, and in whom he had diagnosed phthisis 
 svahiosa during life : he says these formations were 
 widely diflerent from tubercles or miliary granulations. 
 
 " The great pathologist Stiuk admits the presence of 
 psoric pustules on the pleura, pericardium, and in the 
 lungs. 
 
 "The equally gi^cat Ilartmann [not the llomocojm- 
 thist] says, in his Theorie tier Krmtkhnty p. 150: 'In 
 inveterate itch, the; peculiar diseased metamorphosis does 
 not confine itself to the skin merely, but attacks, although 
 in a less degree, the internal membranes, especially the 
 nmcous. But now, if from any cause, it be prevented 
 from secreting upon the skin, in common parlance, if it 
 be dried up, or repelled, then an opposite relation takes 
 place ; for the previously scarcely pei'ceptible affection of 
 the internal organs ra[)idly increases to such an extent, 
 that vesicles, pustules, ulcerations, and pmiiient or o....er 
 secretions are formed.' 
 
 " Ophthalmia psorica is characterized by swelling of 
 the edges of the lids, which become the seat of burning 
 pains. Upon a reddened face, vesicles arise, Avhich are 
 filled with a thin ichorous lymph ; they break and change 
 to small ulcers, the pus secreted from which forms crusts. 
 This process projects itself upon the blepharo and 
 ophthalmo-conjunctiva, as also upon the sacks in which 
 the hairs of eye lashes are seated. Itch pustules have beeii 
 found upon the conjunctiva of the eyelids. Beer, 
 Walther, and Benedict, attribute this affection to an im- 
 mediate deposition of itch-pus upon the eyelids. Beck 
 attributes the disease to a simple projection of the disease 
 from the skin to the eyes. 
 
 " Hedwig and Rudolphi have seen itch affections of 
 the intestines in dojjs aflected with psora. 
 
 AA 
 
202 
 
 r,m I'TivF nit^EASKs. 
 
 "Jnlin rorraril:; IVnrlfjoaH :i (l('('i(l(!<lly |»s(ni(' alli'olion." 
 
 ThiiH far wo liiivc fninsliitcd from .l:ilui. W'liilr njul- 
 uv^ l»ii'li:it's I'alli(»Io;il(':il An!it(»iny some tiino since, (uir 
 uttciilion wiiH fixed by tlu; followin*; pasfiifijo, son piij^e 42. 
 
 *' Soroup incnihvanoa arc also subject to oilier ossenlial 
 alleetionH, and which beloii*ij exehiHlvely to them. There 
 is firrtt a miliary eruption, resemblinj^ itch, which writers 
 have not considered in a {general manner. ]VIor<ra<i;ni 
 speaks of a peritoneum covered with these pustules; but 
 he considered tluiiu to be syinjitomatic; of other diseases. 
 We oj'frn meet with them in the dissectinn;-rooms ; they 
 arc observed on all serous membranes, but particularly 
 upon the peritoneum. The whole surface of this meni- 
 brano is then very red ; and from it arise small tubercles 
 extremely variai)le in size and fipjure. They are i'ound 
 full of a steatomatous substance, and they arc almost 
 always accompanied with dropsy. Some have taken 
 them for results of chronic enteritis ; pcrha])s it is only 
 a variety of intlanunation. Besides, a sufHcient niunber 
 of comparisons, as yet, have not been made between the 
 observed symptoms and post-mortem appearances. 
 
 " A negro affected with a considcmble looseness, 
 caused it to cease by a repellent glister. From that 
 time, there occurred tenesmus, dropsy of the peritoneum, 
 tension of the intestines, and violent pains in the abdo- 
 men — the dropsy did not diminish, and the patient 
 grew weak rapidly. At the ])ost-mortem exanunation, 
 the intestines were found healthy, but the peritoneum 
 was found covered with miliary eruptions full of scrosity, 
 mixed with whitish flakes. We arc ignorant of the 
 nature of these eruptions, and their cause. Some phy- 
 sicians have said that itch and small-pox can be thus 
 rc-pcrcusscd." 
 
 On page 48, Bichat says : " The pleura, as well as 
 other serous surfaces, may also be the seat of miliary 
 eruptions of which we have already spoken ; they end 
 ordinarily by a serous effusion, which is more or less 
 turbid. 
 
EIUl'TIVl; IHSLASEa. 
 
 203 
 
 ItTtion." 
 ilr rcnd- 
 hn'x\ (lur 
 
 essontiiil 
 
 1 writers 
 
 I()r<!;iiy:iu 
 
 lies; but 
 
 diseases. 
 
 ns ; tlicy 
 
 ticuliirlv 
 
 lis inoiii- 
 
 tuhcrcles 
 
 re i'oiind 
 
 'c alinoi^t 
 
 ,ve taken 
 
 t is only 
 
 t number 
 
 ween the 
 
 looseness, 
 rom that 
 ritoneum, 
 the abtlo- 
 c patient 
 imination, 
 jritoneum 
 f scrosity, 
 nt of the 
 omc phy- 
 1 be thus 
 
 IS well as 
 
 3f miliary 
 
 they end 
 
 re or less 
 
 On pau;e 70, he says: we sometimes see small ulcers 
 appear in the nasal passaj^es, caused by the revulsion of 
 an herpi'tic alhclion. 
 
 On paj^e 122 — that the cure of an inveterate ulcer, 
 the re-perinission of certain cutaneous diseases, aa ring- 
 worm, itch, &c., may cause phthisis. 
 
 On pai^e KJO — that the re-percussion of itch may al.>-o 
 produce fatal ellects in the interior. 
 
 llufeland, in his Kncluridiint Mcdicnm, American 
 edition, j). 4lH, says, many dillicullies and considerations 
 ]»resent themselves in the treatment ol' itch. We may, 
 i'or instance, by a merely local ap[)licalion, suppress the 
 morbid cutaneous action ; but the conla<2;ion which has 
 already penetrated dee[)er is not destroyed, and in conse- 
 (pience itch reajujcars, or what is still worse, is transhited 
 to internal oroans, and causes dan;^erous and (jbstlnate 
 diseases. Thus it can i^enerate consumption, dropsy, 
 spasm of the stomach, e[iilepsy, and various kinds of 
 nervous diseases. 
 
 Schonlein says of Scabies Papulosa, (see All(jvmi'in€ 
 Hiid ajjcciella Pathohxjk und Tltcritpic, vol. 3, p. .'i9,) if it 
 be repelled, asthma may set in, viz., asthma i)so 'icum, or 
 true apo[)lexia nervosa, or dropsy, rarely anasarca, fi;en- 
 erally abdominal drofjsy, or chronic hydrocei)halus. 
 These secondary diseases are always diflicult to cure, as 
 the attempt to restore the eruption to the skin rarely 
 succeeds. 
 
 Of crusta sorpiginosa, the psoric character of which 
 was first demonstrated by Autenrieth, Schonlein remarks, 
 (see page 40,) il'it be rei)elled, secondary diseases arise, 
 which almost always afl'cct the nervous system, such as 
 hydroce[)halus Jicutus, eclam[)sia, ])soric ei)ilepsy, &c. 
 
 Of scabies vesicularis, Schonlein remarks, (see page 
 42,) if it be repelled, either itch-vertigo, itch-rheumatism, 
 itch-ainaurosis, itch-paralysis, itch-neuralgia, either in the 
 limbs or abdomen, itch-e[)ilepsy, chlorosis })Sorica, mania, 
 inllannnations of the joints, esi)ecially of the knee and 
 hi]) joints, or phthisis pulmonalls scabiosa or [)hthisit 
 vcntriculi .-cabiosa, &c., will develope itself. 
 
2()4 
 
 KUUI'TIVK DIHLAStKti. 
 
 Hclionluin odiuitH, tiiid doscrihos nn UHthiiiii pHoricuin : 
 the cpilojKsiu tliuriiLicu, wliicli in tilwiiyc* iiucturnul, 1k>, 
 toj^ether with Autcnrieth, iittril»uU'.s alinuHt excluHively 
 to iiuiltmitcd pHoru ; tlio former ulxo lulmltH that ('i»ilc|wiu 
 pcriphcrica, and oven ahdoiniiiahs, may ari.so from repelUd 
 itch. Schoulein adinita and dcscrihcs a rluiumatismurf 
 pdoricus ; and u form of tuheroidar diseaac, whicli \w 
 terms impetif^inons tubtircuhwlrt. 
 
 Every admirer of Armstrong must remember the 
 simple bnt deep (Mirnestness of his advice rpon tlie snb- 
 jcct before ua. He says, on i)a<re 444 of his Essay on 
 Fevers, " Wo find tiiat many diHeases of the skin are in- 
 compatible with those of the lungs — hence it is, even in 
 Great IJritain, that those persons afHicted with eutaneoud 
 diseases arc the least obnoxious to pidmonary consump- 
 tion ; but lot their cutaneous diseases be incautiously 
 cured, and they often afterwards fall victims to ippU' 
 ration in the lungs, as 1 well know from personal obser- 
 vation. IJesides, in some instances I have seen coughs 
 of a phthisical tendency disiijipear on the coming out of 
 a spontaneous eruption of the skin ; and I have occa- 
 sionally seen a similar cHTeot from piinfjles artificially 
 induced on the surface by an irritating unguent. Phthi- 
 sis, too, is apt to supervene those fevers which are 
 actended with afi'ections of the skin." lie repeats these 
 remarks on page 404 ; while on page 497 he informs us, 
 that " sometime ago a poor woman applied to him for 
 advice, who seemed to be lun'rying towards the grave, 
 from tiic force of a recent, but rapid consumption. She 
 happened to be attacked by an eruption resembling the 
 common itch, and the alleviation which it gave the chest 
 was so striking, tliat he resolved to let it spread upon the 
 skin. The phthisical symptoms wlioUy disappeared under 
 its progress, and it was, after some weeks duration, cured 
 by sulphur. In the case of another female, who was 
 nearly in the same state, the cough and fever gradually 
 abated on the coming out and continuance of a sponta- 
 neous rash, and she recovered apparently from its influ- 
 ence alone. One patient was always relieved of a con- 
 stitutional sort of cough, when {)imples came freely out 
 
tlllM'TIVE l)Mk:ASKS. 
 
 '206 
 
 moru'Uiii : 
 iiriml, lie, 
 xcliwively 
 ti'i>ilo|Ksiu 
 n rejK'llcd 
 
 \viru;h he 
 
 'inber tlio. 
 I the sul>- 
 Kssay on 
 kill are in- 
 itj, even ill 
 cutancoiu 
 consuni|)- 
 iciuitiously 
 to ippu- 
 )n!vl obser- 
 ;eii coiigln 
 ing out ol' 
 liavc occa- 
 artificially 
 t. Phthi- 
 which are 
 )cats these 
 informs us, 
 to him for 
 the grave, 
 tlon. She 
 nbling the 
 e the chest 
 ,d upon the 
 arcd under 
 fction, cured 
 , who was 
 gradually 
 a sponta- 
 (\ its influ- 
 of a con- 
 frcely out 
 
 ii|K)n the fac(!; but they disiippeared entirely iiii<l«'r the 
 use of a lotion, and hlie short ly iil'terwards K;ll ii vi(;lini 
 to true eoiiriiunptioii of the lungs. Armstrong adds, 
 these and similar facts which he could mention made a 
 deep, an indelible impression on his inind ; and says if 
 his desire be great to make their results recollected by 
 others, the vital importance of the subject must plead lii«t 
 (!xcii8e. 
 
 lii Forbes' translation of Laennec, p. .GOO, we read: 
 .( \y.. ^^y^, j^j, ijyi^. ;„ (|„. l,.i|,',t^ j,, (l,i.^ country, of ad- 
 
 vcrti .;' to the ancient do(!trines of repulsion as a «;aus(! of 
 internal disease. 1'here can, however, be no doubt of 
 their truth ; and this I [Forbes] believe, is as conspicuous 
 in the case of diseases of the heart, as in any other. The 
 foreign writers -u'e perhajjs as much disposed to ovcri.te 
 ns wc are to uuden'ate the inlluencc of this class of causes. 
 For many eases ol' disease of the heart supposed to have 
 originated in the repulsion of cutaneous eruptions, the 
 reader is referred to the works of Testa (t. 1, p. 110) 
 and Krcysig (sect. 11, cap. iii.) The last-named author 
 considers the membranes of the heart, both external and 
 internal, to be the parts chieHy affected in such cases, a 
 circumstance which he attributes to similarity of texture ; 
 and he states, moreover, that in certain febrile eruptive 
 diseases, particularly measles and scarlatina, he has 
 found these membranes simultaneously inllamed with the 
 skin. 
 
 In Johnson's Med. Chir. Kev. vol. 19, p. .'561, we find 
 the detiiil of a case of fatal hydrocephalus, jn-oduced by 
 the suppression of itch, related by a Dr. Walker, while 
 Dr. Johnson sidds in a note, to the paragra})h which is 
 entitled, " Bad effects from the cure of Itch." Wc [Dr. 
 Johnson] have seen three or four cases of fatal muco- 
 enteritis following the speedy cure of itch, by the use of 
 sulphur ointment. 
 
 There is no such a disease which should be looked upon 
 as local, tumors of all kinds, eruptions, eye diseases, &c. 
 All have a deep-seated dyscrasy for their cause, and 
 should be properly cured by internal remedies. All 
 external remedies arc useless — injurious. 
 
20() 
 
 EiiurrivL nisLASEs. 
 
 " The local diseases of recent orij^in," siiys Iliihneiniinii, 
 " urisinu; cliieHy from external causes, are alone cntitK'd 
 to this name, liiit the injury nuist then he very triilinji' ; 
 lor it' the evils which attack the body externally are ol' 
 inif)ortance, the entire system synii»athises, and f'evei 
 declares itself. The treatjnent of these maladies ljelon<i,> 
 to surgery, so far as it is necessary to hrinuj mechanical 
 aid to the suflering parts, in order to remove and anni- 
 hilate mechanical obstacles to the cure, which can only 
 be expected from the powers of the organism itself 
 Among these nuiy be ranked, for example, the reduction 
 of dislocations, uniting wounds by bandages, extracting 
 ibreign substances that have i)enetrated the living [)arts, 
 o[)ening the cavity of the abdomen, either to remove a 
 substance that is burdensome to the system, or to give 
 ,'cnt to effusions and collections of licjuids ; placing in 
 opi)osition the extremities of a fractured bone, and con- 
 solidation of the fracture by means of an approi)riatc 
 bandage, &c. But if, when the injuries occur, the entire 
 organism requires dynamic aid to be ],)laced in a condition 
 to accomplish the cure, — when, for instance, it is neces- 
 sary to have recourse to internal remedies to extinguish 
 violent fever, arising from a severe contusion, a laceration 
 of the soft parts, viz., muscles, tendons, and blood-vessel.j 
 — or when it is reciuireil to combat the external pain 
 caused by a burn, &c., then commence the functions of 
 the dynamic i)hysician, and the aitl of Honueopathy be- 
 comes necessary." 
 
 But it is very different with the changes and maladies 
 which occur on the surface of the body, not originating 
 from any external violence, or merely from the conse- 
 quences of some slight external injury. These owe their 
 source to an internal affection. It is therefore equally 
 absurd and dangerous to regard these diseases as symp- 
 toms that are purely local, and to treat them exclusively, 
 or nearly so, {perhaps ivith purfji/u/,) by topical a})[)lica- 
 tions, as if they wo^'c surgical cases, in which manner 
 they have been treated till the present day." [This i - 
 decidedly the worst blunder which the old school prac 
 titioners could possibly make.] 
 
Iinenuuui, 
 i entitled 
 f inHiii;^- ; 
 ly arc ol' 
 ind fcv(!i 
 L'S bcloiif^H 
 icchanical 
 and aiini- 
 
 cau only 
 ism itsoU'. 
 
 reduction 
 extractiuj; 
 zing" parts, 
 
 remove ;i 
 ar to give 
 placing in 
 , and con- 
 ippropriate 
 , the entire 
 \ condition 
 t is neccs- 
 extinguisli 
 
 laceration 
 Ljod-vesj*el.j 
 
 eriial pain 
 
 met ions of 
 opatliy be- 
 
 d maladies 
 oriiiinatinix 
 the conse- 
 e owe their 
 »re eciually 
 as symp- 
 xclusively, 
 al applica- 
 ch manner 
 [This i.- 
 .•hool prae 
 
 CIIAPTFJl XIX. 
 
 Mr.DIcrXAI. DISKASKP. 
 BY FUANriS m..\«,K, M. I)., KDINUUnr.!!. 
 
 Tliis is a most obstinate and rrocpient class of disease. 
 l)nt one which, as ansin"; from Allo[)athi(' pnictico. will 
 l)e niiieh diminished by the introduction of HonKeopathy. 
 That diseases arise from the indiscriminate use of large 
 (loses, is a fact which the hardiest of our opponents can- 
 not deny, and which the homa?opathlst, from his peculiar 
 position, has daily an opportunity of observing, and it 
 may also be added, frequently of ciu'ing. 
 
 Medical literature abounds with many treatises des- 
 cribing the injurious cft'eets of mercury, especially in some 
 diseases and constitutions. Works upon domestic medi- 
 cine teem with most valuable warnings as to its employ- 
 ment. So deeply rooted is the dread of this drug, that 
 the very quack has to conceal its presence in his vegetable 
 nostrum. But with all these salutary advices, its exces- 
 sive use is still very general, and the injurious conse- 
 quences become too frequently the subject of homoeopa- 
 thic practice. 
 
 In another chapter we have spoken of the injurious 
 effects of purgatives ; and in addition to their common 
 cause of disease, we may allude to the general employ- 
 ment of stimulants. The administration of wine, bitters, 
 ether, tea, and coffee, &c.,* may appear a harmless prac- 
 tice ; but were the profession less prejudiced, less partial 
 to the only means they resort to in relieving debility, 
 nervousness, &c., they would soon be convinced of the 
 evils, physical and moral, they entail upon their unfor- 
 tunate patient. The excitement, or what is often des- 
 cribed by the patient as comfortable feelings, arising from 
 
 * Althoui;h many persons, particiilitrly tlios« of a snnguinoiis tempera- 
 mont, may bear tlie use of tea and coffee apparently without any ill effect 
 to their health, yet it doci* not agree witii individuals of a nervous, lym- 
 phatic temperament. It inclines them to constipation, headache, palpitatiorj 
 i>f tlip heart. Sir. 
 
208 
 
 MICDiLlXAL DISEAfiKS. 
 
 tljcfe means Is ?onn followed hy ijepre^ision ; the dose h 
 increased, repeated, and eontinued, until heailaehes, dys- 
 pepsia, &c., arise ; and a nioi'c careful investigation would 
 discover that these latter symptoms are the pathogenetic 
 effects of the means employed. But the evil docs not 
 fiuish here ; the little stinuilant connnenced for the 
 stomach's sake, increases to a large quantity for the 
 body's sake ; and the sad sequel is too often seen. The 
 employment of large doses of cinchona and quinine is 
 also a frequent cause of disease, which shows chiefly in 
 enlargement of the spleen, swelled legs, &c. 
 
 Another medicine, the excessive employment of which 
 is attended with many bad results, is chamomilla, — a 
 plant very extensively used in some parts of Germany. 
 In the lying-in hospitals, where it is given as a diet-drink, 
 its evil effects are not immediately seen, but as soon as 
 the patient has left, the symptoms begin to manifest 
 themselves.* 
 
 In the treatment of chronic diseases, It is important, in 
 gathering the previous history of the patient, to observe 
 especially the course of treatment which he may have 
 undergone. For example, when mercury and quinine have 
 been largely administered, we may conclude that they 
 have aggravated, and probably changed the disease, and 
 accordingly, in the selection of the remedy, be guided to 
 some one of the various antidotes to these drugs. These 
 antidotes are homoeopathic to the pathogenetic effects of 
 the drug, and are to be selected In strict accordance with 
 the law similia similibus curantur. 
 
 Our opponents may deny the existence of medicinal 
 disease ; nothing is more natural : It is rare to find men 
 who will plead guilty to injurious practice ; but a short 
 glance at the records of homoeopathic practice, or, if this 
 will not be conceded, an Impartial view of their vivn, will, 
 we hope, convince them that many a train of injurious 
 symptoms stand to the means employed in the relation 
 of cause and effect. 
 
 * The remedy is to my knowledge not as great a favourite there at pre- 
 sent as it formerly was R, 
 
e Jose i:} 
 hcs, dys- 
 011 \vouhl 
 logcnctlc, 
 does nut. 
 [ for the 
 r for the 
 en. The 
 [uinlne is 
 chiefly in 
 
 t of whiclj 
 omilla, — 11 
 Germany, 
 liet-clrink, 
 vs soon 5i» 
 a manifest 
 
 portant, in 
 to observe 
 
 may have 
 linine have 
 
 that they 
 isease, and 
 
 iruided to 
 trs. These 
 effects oi 
 dance with 
 
 ' medicinal 
 o find men 
 )ut a short 
 ;, or, if this 
 r uwn^ will. 
 »f injurious 
 he rektion 
 
 te there at pre- 
 
 cnAi*TKK >::'. 
 
 DISPENSIXd Of THK REMEDY. 
 
 JJisyuit and Danger produced by Druijs AUupathicnlly adminis- 
 tered. — Patients not subject to such Disgust and J)amjer 
 under the use of IIora(coputhic Medicines. 
 
 HY V, T. CUUIE, M. I)., LONDON. 
 
 In the routine mode of administering drugs, besides 
 their violent and injurious action upon healthy organs, 
 and tl? ' *;er uncertainty of their curative effects, every 
 one ca stify as to the disgust and nausea invariably 
 excited in the individual doomed to be the subject of their 
 influence ; and especially is this the case in children and 
 delicate females, who indeed constitute the great majority 
 of medicine-takers. 
 
 Who, without a shudder, can contemplate the powders, 
 the drops, the pills, the draughts, in a thousand nauseous 
 forms, causing the poor patient to dread the arrival of the 
 moment when he is to swallow them, even though he 
 believes they are to restore him to health.* 
 
 Add to this the painful consequences ever attendant 
 on taking these health-destroying doses — the retching 
 and straining caused by emetics, the griping by purga- 
 tives, the salivation and emaciation by mercury, the 
 lassitude, fainting and weakness, caused by leeches or the 
 lancet ; the smarting, burning, and intolerable itching 
 produced by blisters, the running sores by setons, the 
 tonnents by caustics. Nor is this all : still greater tor- 
 
 * None are woriie off in this respect than the children. Adulta have 
 become UHed, by their daily habits, to black pepper, cayenne pepper, inuit* 
 tard, vinegar, brandy, tea and coflPee. Their palates and •tomachs may 
 liave become somewhat obtuse. They do not feel, and may even relish the 
 nauseous drui;. As I heard some people say, in sviralloviring two or three 
 tumblers of Caledonia water, " That it tastes very nice !" — but the delicate 
 children must suffer greatly by the use of rhubarb, jc lap, calomel, opium, 
 tartar emetic, &c., and we have not the least doubt, that thousands perish 
 in consequence of it. . 
 
 BB 
 
210 
 
 DISPENSING OF THF. HEMEDY. 
 
 ture is reserved for the poor patient wlio may unfortu- 
 nately be afflicted with disease of the chest or spine, for 
 which moxa or red-hot iron is applied. 
 
 It would be easy to draw a frightful yet faithful picture 
 of the consequences resulting from the medicinal and other 
 curative means resorted to by the common practice. 
 That, however, is not my object : it is sufficient for my 
 purpose to show, that by the rational and scientific doc- 
 trines here recommended, the human race will be delivered 
 from the torments of such cruel, unnecessary, and dan- 
 gerous treatment. [When?] 
 
 In its vast resources, Homceopathy is not restricted to 
 its immutable law, which directs the choice of curatives ; 
 neither is it restricted to an immense Materia Medica, 
 from which to select Independently of these great ad- 
 vantages, it possesses others, which arise from the mode 
 of preparing the medicines, and from the excessively 
 minute doses in which they are prescribed ; thus wholly 
 exempting the patient from the dreadful consequences 
 we have just detailed, as accompanying the old pre- 
 scriptions. 
 
 As an advantage of no small importance, it supersedes, 
 and consequently abolishes, blood-letting, whether by the 
 lancet, by cupping, or by leeches, as well as the employ- 
 ment of blisters, cauteries, setons, moxa?, and every other 
 process which produces pain or debility. It abolishes, 
 also, pills, draughts, and disgusting potions. 
 
 The homoeopathic physician, in the place of all these, 
 substitutes doses of medicine, minute, tasteless, but effi- 
 cacious — in efficacy indeed, over disease, far surpassing 
 the violent means enumerated above ; and so minute and 
 tasteless, that they may be administered to the youngest 
 infant, without exciting repugnance. These doses do not 
 consist of compound medicines, for the homojopathlc 
 principle does not admit of them ; they invariably contain 
 but one simple ingredient, and they are all reduced to a 
 liquid state, viz., to an alcoholic tincture. 
 
 The method of giving homoeopathic medicines, most 
 generally pursued, is that of dispensing in globules. These 
 
DISPllNSINU OF THE RKMKDY. 
 
 211 
 
 unfortii- 
 spine, for 
 
 ul picture 
 1 and other 
 I practice, 
 nt for my 
 iitific doc- 
 e delivered 
 , and dan- 
 
 jatricted to 
 curatives ; 
 ia Medica, 
 3 great ad- 
 1 the mode 
 excessively 
 hus wholly 
 nsoquences 
 e old pre- 
 
 supersedes, 
 ther by the 
 16 cmploy- 
 ivery other 
 ; abolishes, 
 
 ►f all these, 
 ss, but effi- 
 surpaasing 
 minute and 
 e youngest 
 loses do not 
 )moeopathic 
 ibly contain 
 iduced to a 
 
 cines, most 
 lies. These 
 
 consist of sugar and starch, substances without medicinal 
 property, and perfectly calculated to absorb the alcoholic 
 tincture, and to retain for years the medicinal properties 
 imparted to them. 
 
 The globules are usually given in a very small quantity 
 of sugar of milk, which contains no medicinal property. 
 The dry powder is either taken on the tongue, or dis- 
 solved in a little clear water. 
 
 The administration of small dotses of homoeopathic 
 remedies do not always {)roduee a prompt effect. In 
 many cases, particularly in acute maladies, lower dilu- 
 tions, or the mother tinctures, must be given, in order 
 to obtain a favourable result. This is in accordance with 
 the experience of the most eminent homoeopathic prac- 
 titioners. All acknowledge that Hahnemann has been 
 too positive, in recommending tlie higher dilutions in all 
 cases, under all circumstances, but we must overlook some 
 of his errors. Perfection is to be expected from no 
 person. 
 
 The ingenious Dr. J. C. Peters, New York, in his 
 admirable production, A Recieto of the late Reforms in 
 Pathology and Therapeutics, makes the following just 
 remarks : — " As we regard Pathological Anatomy, and 
 Physical Diagnosis, as the greatest advances which have 
 as yet been made in the study of disease, so do we regard 
 Homoeopathy as the greatest advance which has yet been 
 made in the study of the cure of disease. But a century 
 may tell a different tale. Much has been done, but much 
 more remains to be done. In like manner, as Morgagni, 
 the father of Pathological Anatomy, has been far out- 
 stripped by Andnil, Louis, Crevelhier, Rokitansky, &c., 
 and Laennec, the father of Physical Diagnosis, has been 
 far sui-paased by Piorry and Skoda, so will Hahnemann, 
 the father of Specific Medicine, be far outstripped in the 
 study of the cure of disease. The labours of those who 
 came after them only served to reflect credit upon Mor- 
 gagni and Laennec — so will the labours of those who come 
 after him, reflect more and more credit upon Hahnemann. 
 
212 
 
 DISPRNilINU OF THE HEMEDY. 
 
 Dr. Lobcthal* makes very judicious rcniui*ks» on the 
 subject of homoeoimthic doses. 
 
 The idea of greatness or littleness is but relative : we 
 cannot say, in a general manner, that some drojw of the 
 mother tincture, of a certain medicine, will be a strong 
 dose, nor yet, perhaps, that the 24th or 30th dynamization 
 of every medicine should be regarded as a feeble dose. 
 The dose of every medicine should be strong enoiujh to 
 provoke the ■necessary reaction of the organism. Naturally, 
 the reaction of the organism cannot be determined but 
 by very different doses of diverse substances, so various 
 in their physical properties, and while the 30th dynami- 
 zation (which is a decilion part of a grain) suffices to pro- 
 duce the desired effect, it may require some drops of the 
 mother tincture, of less active remedies, to attain our 
 point. 
 
 Between the great, and the too great, there is this 
 difference : while the sufficient dose secures a peaceable 
 reaction, the excessive dose occasions accidents too violent, 
 and sometimes even dangerous. 
 
 Homoeopathic remedies, generally administered iu 
 feeble doses, provoke the necessary reaction of the or- 
 ganism much easier than the medicines chosen according 
 to the principles of the old school, a,nd provoke, in the 
 feeblest proportional quantity, the necessary reaction of 
 the affected systems or organs. 
 
 "VVhilst the Allopathist, with his strong mixtures, the 
 constituent principles of wliich mutually combat each 
 other, depends upon a multitude of medicings, the 
 Homoeopathic physician plays a perilous game, if he 
 excite beyond measure the vital forces directly provoked. 
 It is sufficient in many cases, as experience has proved, 
 to use a feeble dose, and often even a dose infinitely feeble ; 
 again, the low dilutions sometimes produce the primitive 
 effects too energetically. 
 
 * It is taken from Revue Critique et Retrospective de la Mati^re 
 Medicate Specitique, vol. troisieme, 1841. Translated by Dr. Henry G. 
 Dannel, New York. 
 
niSl'KNSINfJ OK TUli UU.MEDY. 
 
 213 
 
 * Oil the 
 
 tlvc : wc 
 [w of the 
 a strong 
 imization 
 ;ble (lose. 
 cnoiujh to 
 S^aturally, 
 nlncd but 
 50 varioua 
 \\ dynanii- 
 ccs to pro- 
 rops of the 
 attain our 
 
 crc is this 
 
 peaceable 
 
 too violent, 
 
 ii.stcrc(l in 
 
 of the or- 
 
 according 
 
 cc, in the 
 
 reaction of 
 
 xtures, the 
 ►mbat each 
 icincs, the 
 ic, if he 
 ■f provoked, 
 las proved, 
 tely feeble ; 
 ic primitive 
 
 de la Mati^re 
 Dr. Henry G. 
 
 In the same manner, as the sole plausible mode of 
 rea.soning, we are able to give the difference observed in 
 the reciprocal reaction oi'chemical agents. It is experience 
 alone proves it to us more or less sensitively. 
 
 And in like manner, as we are unal)lc to show how 
 this faculty of reaction is found to be the same in all 
 inorganic, or in all organic bodies, that are ciii)able of 
 being submitted to chemical analysis, still less are we 
 willing to admit, as founded upon a rational or stable 
 principle, the necessity of en)ploying exclusively doses 
 large or sinall. I am decidedly convinced, that in order 
 to apply the Iioma'opathic treatment with success, the 
 physician should take cognizance of the whole scale at 
 his disposal, from the actual dose of the old school, up to 
 the highest dilutions of which any medicine is susceptible. 
 The greatness or littleness of a dose depends upon the 
 physical properties of the article, and its divisibility ; that 
 is to say, that its medicinal virtue be not enfeebled by 
 the division of its atoms, farther than necessary to render 
 it fit to be assimilated with the human organism ; and, 
 consequently, it depends upon the absolute virtue of the 
 medicinal substance, it depends again upon the suscep- 
 tibility of the diseased organ, or the system for its specific 
 irritation ; also, upon peculiar circumstances, suoli as the 
 age, sex, temperament, habits, idiosyncrasies, &c., of the 
 patient. 
 
 My intention has been solely to give certain indica- 
 tions which have served me in practice to determine the 
 dose with greater facility, and I hope no other motive 
 may be imputed to me than the desire to enlighten 
 myself by the collision which my ideas will be likely to 
 meet with. We dynamize a medicine for the pui-]^)ose of 
 rendering it more proper for its destined use ; the poi- 
 sonous and corrosive substances, for the purpose of taking 
 away by degrees their chemical qualities, deleterious or 
 hurtful to the human organism, and to develope its vir- 
 tual properties ; others, more especially plants, by sepa- 
 rating their gross and useless parts, and, at the same 
 time, rendering their essential forces more active ; a 
 
214 
 
 nUPENSINO OF TUE HEMKDY. 
 
 inultitudu of substances again, which in their priniitivc 
 8ta*e seem inert, arc thus enabled to exhibit their latent 
 virtues by the rupture of tlicir cohesive property. 
 
 The manipulation is sometimes a necessary corrective 
 of our medicines, and sometimes an electro-magnetie 
 operation, according to the nature of tlie medicine and 
 its reaction on the human organism. 
 
 The metals, and easily oxydiscd earths, such as arsenic, 
 copper, lead, zinc, iron, barytcs, talcosc earth, calcaria, 
 &c., are generally susceptilile of a high dynamization. 
 The perfect metals, on the contrary, gold, silver, platina, 
 have not in general a certain efficacy, except in lower 
 dynamizations, up to the second and third triturations 
 only. Mercury, in most cases, where it is specific, it is 
 necessary to administer it in one of the first trituration. 
 
 Among the acids, the muriatic and sulphuric render 
 little service when dynamized ; whilst the nitric acid is 
 again in the thirteenth attenuation, an excellent medicine 
 in a great number of diseases. The phosphoric acid 
 shows itself less efficacious in a dynamized form. Among 
 plants, there are the narcotics and the acrid narcotics, 
 which are again the most energetic in the highest at- 
 tenuations. I regard as true, this remark, that those 
 medicines which show themselves efficacious in a high 
 potcnce, are, for the niajor part, those mea. ' to which 
 the old school attribute a direct efficacy upon the nervous 
 system, and in which chemistry has more or less proved 
 the existence of an alcoloid. In this number, I class 
 aconite, belladonna, bryonia, capsicum, cocculus, conium, 
 nux vomica, rhus toxicodendron, &c. 
 
 The most aetherial oily medicines loose all their 
 efficacy by a high attenuation ; but each according to its 
 own natural laws. 
 
 It is impossible to speak with precision upon the abso- 
 lute efficacy of the means employed by Homoeopathy, 
 because we are unable to follow the laws of organic pro- 
 duction and existence into their most mysterious labora- 
 tories, where we never shall penetrate ; it is not the same 
 relative to the danger in a certain case of disease, after 
 
DISPKNSI.VO OK Tllli KEMKDY. 
 
 1^1.1 
 
 primitive 
 iiv latent 
 
 orrcctivc 
 magnetic 
 cine and 
 
 s arsenic, 
 calcaria, 
 mization. 
 •, platina, 
 in lower 
 iturations 
 cific, it is 
 turation. 
 ic render 
 Ic acid is 
 , medicine 
 loric acid 
 Among 
 narcotics, 
 ijrhest at- 
 hat those 
 In a high 
 to which 
 le nervous 
 ss proved 
 jr, I class 
 i, conium, 
 
 iii>8eB more or Icbs strong, seeing that we have for guides, 
 besides an impartial experience, tijc invariable laws of the 
 sound and diseased body. 
 
 We may establish it as a princil)le, that the adminis- 
 tration of large or small (loses is in iniwrse proportion to 
 the richness in iierves of the ijulividual onjanism, and the 
 species of diseased organs ; that is to say, the more the 
 sentient sphere of the organism, in a given case, ahoirs itself 
 predominant, the more the dose of the indicated specific 
 medicine should be feeble ; and that the more the individual 
 organismy or in local affection, the diseased organ, is poor 
 in nerves, the more the dose should be large. 
 
 In general, the younger the organism the more 
 active the temperament; the less the subject has suf- 
 fered from disease, the more the perception of ex- 
 ternal influences is sound and pure ; and the easier 
 will the Homoeopathic physician attain his object by 
 the small and the very small doses. Also, the first 
 diseases of infancy, the numerous accidents of the physi- 
 cal development, and during the years of puberty of 
 both sexes, are cured by the feeblest doses. 
 
 In tlie old man, fallen into childhood, or the young 
 man, exhausted with pleasure, tlie high dilutions, even of 
 the most energetic medicines, produce at the most but a 
 momentary influence. 
 
 The more the reproductive draws upon the other 
 agents of life, the more there exists functional trouble 
 or disorganizations, the less can the small doses render 
 service. 
 
 i'i 
 
 all their 
 iing to its 
 
 the abso- 
 nocopathy, 
 ganic pro- 
 lus labora- 
 t the same 
 ease, after 
 
CIIAITKR XXI. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OP llOAKEOl'ATHIC PUACTU't:. 
 
 II Y 
 
 J. UllVSDALU, M. I)., KDINUL'lUill. 
 
 Wliiitc'vor weifjht may be attached to the arguments !>}' 
 Avliicli the various Hy.stems of medical treatment have 
 been suj)|)orted by their advocates, still, in the end, the 
 practical value of such systems can be decided by the 
 test of experience alone. 
 
 liut to furnish data by which the comparative merits 
 of dift'erent methods of practice may be estimated, it 
 is clear, that, from want of control over the patients, 
 neither private nor dispensary practice will suffice. This 
 can only be done in hosi)itals, where the patients are 
 entirely under the control of the physician, and the results 
 may be exposed in a statistical form. 
 
 Although, therefore, we cannot here disi)lay the rela- 
 tion in point of efficacy, which the Homoeopathic bears 
 to the ordinary method, nor even prove its applicability 
 to general practice, still ourobject will l>e amply fulfilled, 
 if by the narration of a few well marked cases, we can 
 demonstrate, experimentally, the reality of the Homoeo- 
 pathic method of cure, which is still doubted by many 
 persons who have not taken the trouble to investigate 
 the subject ; and, at the same time, illustrate some of its 
 most obvious practical advantages. 
 
 These advantages we consider of sufficient importance 
 to induce all reflecting medical men, who are sincerely 
 desirous for the advancement of our art, when once con- 
 vinced of the truth of the Homcjeopathic principle, to 
 devote themselves with zeal and energy to the study 
 and further development of the method of practice 
 founded on it. 
 
 Viewed in a purely })ractical light, apart from all 
 theoretical speculations. Homoeopathy is exceedingly 
 simple, and may be defined to be the art of curing diseases 
 
HO^UK.OPATllIC PRAlTICfc;. 
 
 217 
 
 'U't:. 
 
 ;iments by 
 lent have 
 c end, the 
 ed by the 
 
 ive merits 
 :imated, it 
 ! patients, 
 fice. This 
 ttients are 
 the results 
 
 T the rela- 
 ^.thic bears 
 plicability 
 y fulfilled, 
 cs, we can 
 [J Ilomoco- 
 l by many 
 nvcstigate 
 !omc of its 
 
 mportance 
 ; sincerely 
 
 once con- 
 inciple, to 
 
 the study 
 f practice 
 
 from all 
 xceedingly 
 ng diseases 
 
 by the upeeific action of medicines, or the power which 
 medicines possess of rtim[>ly and dinu-tly curing disease 
 without the intervention of any otlur apparent a(;ti()n on 
 the system. Tiu! fundamental pro[»ositions on which it 
 is based are : — The adoption of the; hom<roj»athi<! principle 
 as the law of specifies, according to wiiich the remedy is 
 to be chosen, and the; administration of the remedy in 
 (loses so small, that they do not exert any physiological 
 influence on the o'conoiny, and are in almost all cases 
 destitute of sensibK; properties, such as colour, taste, 
 smell, &c. 
 
 From these arise all the practical differences between 
 the homo-opathlc and the ordinary method of practice, 
 which frequently afford a contrast so strong, and, in 
 many respects, so favourable to the former; as, for ex- 
 ample, the precision often attained in the choice of the 
 remedy ; the absence of dej)letive measures, thus ren- 
 dering it peculiarly applicable to comj)licated cases ; the 
 Bimplicity of prescription ; the tastelessness of the 
 medicine ; and, among many otliers that might be enu- 
 merated, one that is no little recommendation in dispen- 
 sary practice, the very small cost of drugs. 
 
 There are several other points of great interest in 
 Homoeopathy, but as the two above-mentioned proposi- 
 tions are by far the most important, we shall confine 
 ourselves chiefly to the illustration of them in selecting 
 the following cases* : — 
 
 Enteritis Mucosa. — We may first notice a simple 
 case of subacute inflammation of the mucous membrane 
 of the intestinal canal. The patient, M. W., was a girl 
 five years old, of sanguine, lymphatic temperament, and 
 had previously enjoyed good health. Three or four weeks 
 before admission, she began to lose her appetite and ap- 
 pear ill, but had continued to go to school till about a 
 week before, when she was seized with shivering, cough, 
 pains in the bowels, tenesmus, &c. For these symptoma 
 
 * These cases are taken from the practice of the Liverpool Homoeopathic 
 Dispensary. 
 
 'i 
 
 cc 
 
218 
 
 ILLUHTiiATIONS UK 
 
 she f^ot u " powdor" Ironi a (lmgp;irit, which did no goud, 
 and Hhc continued tn get more, till hrought to the diti- 
 ixsnsftry, when hIic presented the following Hyniptonis : — 
 
 Ist. Freciucntly, in the courne of the day, piiin in the 
 boweln, nnd pivsHing of wc^suity, black fd'tid stool, followed 
 by tein'Muius ; belly swollen and tender to the touch ; no 
 worms |)a.sH('d. 
 
 2d. T()n;i;ii(! furred and pale, with red spots ; lipa dry, 
 cracked, and foul ; picks the nose much ; fuco pulu and 
 pulletl, with rttupid expres«ion. 
 
 3d. No appetite ; great thirnt. 
 
 4th. Somnolence in the day ; sleep restless, starts, 
 screams tliat she ist falling ; pupils dilated and Hluggish. 
 
 /ith. Emaciation; great weakness and languor, some 
 sliort cough. This is a very simple case, it may be said, 
 and, if treated on rational principles, would eaaily bo 
 cured in no long time. It may, therefore, be useful to 
 examine what is called by practitioners of the ordinary 
 method, treatment on rational principles, and compare it 
 and its issue with the homoeopathic treatment. 
 
 An opinion of the nature of the case such as this would 
 first be formed ; " the seat of the primary pathological 
 change in this case, is evidently the mucous membrane 
 of the intestinal canal, especially the colon, and this is 
 indicated by the first and second groups of symptoms. 
 The symptoms of deranged digestion and nutrition, are 
 evidently consecutive, and those of disordered cerebral 
 action and the cough, are sympathetic. The only mtional 
 mode, therefore, of curing such a case, is to remove the 
 primary diseased state ; and the cause being thus removed, 
 the consecutive and sympatlietic symptoms, which are 
 merely effects^ will also be removed." 
 
 Thus far the mode of procedure is perfectly rational, 
 and thus far both methods are agreed ; but in the manner 
 in which the desired object is to be effected, they differ 
 widely ; a very little reflection will show that the ordinary 
 method is in reality in many respects pure empiricism 
 (and that often of the grossest kind) ; while the homoeo- 
 pathic method, if it be empirical, may at least aspire to 
 
llO.M(F.UI>ATIII(' PUACTHIi. 
 
 219 
 
 no good, 
 the di«- 
 toiuH : — 
 in in the 
 followod 
 tucli ; no 
 
 lipa dry, 
 pule and 
 
 B, siortfl, 
 sluggish, 
 lor, some 
 y be said, 
 easily be 
 useful to 
 ordinary 
 loniparc it 
 
 his would 
 thological 
 ncmbrane 
 id this is 
 yuiptoms. 
 rition, arc 
 I cerebral 
 y mtional 
 move the 
 removed, 
 which are 
 
 rational, 
 le manner 
 hey differ 
 e ordinary 
 mpiricism 
 e homoeo- 
 
 aspire to 
 
 ihu title of rutiunul cntpiriciitn). Let us examine iirttt 
 the way in which such a case would In; treated according 
 to the ordinary sm-dimnt rutumal mvtlunL One of tho 
 first things tluit strikes us is the extrenic diversity of tho 
 means employed by different practitioners in a cjisc like 
 tiiis : scarcely any two, it may Ik; said, would treat it 
 precisely alike, each founding his treatment on his notions 
 of pathology and the action of medicines, which, in many 
 cases, (es[)ocially in respect to the latter,) nuist Ix; ex- 
 ceedingly vague and imi)erfect. We can, therefore, 
 scarcely Imj surprised to find among these means many of 
 the most inconsistent and contradictory ehanicter. These, 
 it is clear, cannot idl be right, and doubtless many of 
 them, if not positively injurious, are at least useless. 
 Among tho most common modes of treating the case 
 before us, we may notice castor oil, or some other mild 
 purgatives; leeches and fomentations to the abdomen; 
 calomel, mercury with chalk ; Dover's powder, or opium 
 in some otlier form ; ipecacuanha alone, or with rhubarb ; 
 astringents, &c. &c. 
 
 Any one. or several of these, would be given almost 
 quite indiscriminately, according to the prevailing fashioQ 
 or fancy of the practitioner int^ ♦vhose hands the patient 
 happened to fall ; and n(^t unfrequeutly the whole list 
 would be gone through, and a great many more besides, 
 before tho termination of the case. 
 
 How far these means, even when successful, act 
 according to the reputed rational principles, it may be 
 not amiss to enquire a little more in det^iil. 
 
 To begin with castor oil, one of the commonest modes 
 of treating niild eases of diarrhoea and dysentery. It is 
 difficult to conceive on what rational principle any one, 
 who does not admit the truth of the homoeoi)athic prin- 
 ciple, can administer in these diseases a medicine which 
 produces purging and even tenesmus, l^he common 
 explanation of its action, viz., that it acts by removing 
 diseased secretions, is obviously a mere attempt to get 
 over a difficulty which it is quite inadequate to resolve, 
 as in nearlv all cases these diseased secretions r.re tho 
 
220 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
 
 effect, and not the cause, of the disease ; and, therefore, 
 this procedure would be about as rational as attempting 
 to cure a cold in the head by blowing the nose, or a 
 haemorrhage by wiping away the blood. But, in reality, 
 most practical men do not pretend to administer it 
 according to any rational principle, but admit that they 
 give it simply because they know by experience that it 
 produces good effects ; but as to how it acts, they know 
 nothing, and, in truth, generally do not care, i. e., the 
 practice is purely empirical. 
 
 The means usually termed anti-phlogistic, when con- 
 sidered as a whole, have as little pretension to rationality ; 
 for, to begin with inflammation, its nature is as yet fur too 
 imperfectly known to enable us to understand thoroughly 
 the ultimate action of any remedial agent upon it. 
 Indeed, on one of the fundamental points in the nature 
 of inflammation, viz., whether it be an increased or 
 a diminished vital action — two diametrically opposite 
 opinions — the profession are nearly equally divided, so 
 that as both, with singular inconsistency, use the same 
 curative means, at least one-half must act (luitc empiri- 
 cally. And as there are a great many other points in 
 inflammation, on which most practitioners hold no opinion 
 at all, in reality the vast majority treat that diseased 
 state in a p-Trely empirical manner. 
 
 Among the so-called anti-phlogislic means that might 
 be used in this case, the detraction of blood by leeches 
 applied to the abdomen may, with propriety, to a certain 
 extent, be called rational ; for whatever other changes 
 occur in inflammation, one of its principal features is 
 unquestionably a preternatural accumulation of blood in 
 the capillary vessels, and any beneficial effect produced 
 by means which directly diminish this preternatural 
 accumulation of blood are thus susceptible of a rational 
 explanation. Still that does not explain all the action 
 of the leeches, for it is well known that they are more 
 eificacious when applied to the abdomen in such affections 
 than to any other part, although, as remarked by Ma- 
 gendie, there is no direct communication between the 
 
lIOMniOPATfllC rilACTK L. 
 
 221 
 
 theretore, 
 ttempting 
 Qosc, or a 
 in reality, 
 linister it 
 that they 
 ce that it 
 ;hey know 
 3, i. c, the 
 
 when con- 
 itionality ; 
 yet far too 
 jioroughly 
 ■j upon it. 
 the nature 
 creased or 
 y opposite 
 divided, so 
 ; the same 
 [ite empiri- 
 r points in 
 [ no opinion 
 a,t diseased 
 
 that might 
 l)y leeches 
 to a certain 
 icr changes 
 
 features is 
 of blood in 
 :t produced 
 'etcrnatural 
 !* a rational 
 
 the action 
 y are more 
 ;h affections 
 :ed by Ma- 
 >etween the 
 
 vessels of the intestine, and those of the intcgunients of 
 the abdomen ; so that even here there is something 
 empirical. 
 
 Our only objection to leeches in this case is, that, as 
 wo shall see presently, they are wholly unnecessary, for 
 it can be cured as well, if not better, without them. The 
 beneficial operation of calomel in such a case is usually 
 referred to its action as an anti-[)hlogistic, a purgative, 
 or an alterative. 
 
 The first of these, meaning simply anti-inHniumatory, 
 is on a par, in its pretensions to be an cxi)lanation, with 
 the celebrated answer about tlie cause of the hypnotic 
 power of opium. " Quia est in eo virtus dormitiva." 
 And if we study the physiological action of mercury, and 
 endeavour to discover on what action on the healthy 
 body this supposed anti-inflammatory power of that 
 medicine depends, we shall find that, so fur from pos- 
 sessing any power of lowering capillary action, as might 
 have a priori been expected, it has quite the opposite 
 effect, and, in fact, produces inflammation ; so that here 
 again the only rational way of explaining its action, is the 
 admission of the homccopatliic principle. 
 
 The action of purgatives has already been noticed, and 
 that of alteratives will be considered presently. The 
 exhibition of astringents, in a case like this, can have no 
 pretensions to rationality, as the diarrha>a is a mere 
 symptom of an ulterior morbid state, the removal of 
 which latter necessarily entails that of the former also. 
 The same objection applies to opium, if, indeed, the 
 cerebral symptoms be not considered a sufficient counter- 
 indication for its use here. The use of diaphoretic and 
 other so-called derivative or counter-irritant means, must, 
 however, be admitted to be rational ; for although prac- 
 titioners have not in general the remotest idea of the way 
 in which they act, still as experience has shown it to be 
 a general laAV, that a diseased action may often be cured 
 by setting up another disease in a different part, this is, 
 to all intents and purposes, a sufficient explanation to 
 entitle the practice to the title of rational. But this 
 
222 
 
 ILLUSTUATIONS OF 
 
 painful and uncertain indirect method cannot be com- 
 pared with the direct or specific method in a caae like 
 this, as we shall see presently. 
 
 The last of the medicines which we shall notice, that 
 might be given in this case, are those belonging to the 
 class of alteratives ; if, indeed, this can be called a class ; 
 which is really little better than a rece[)tacle for all those 
 remedies that cannot be forced into any other class, and 
 to which the pride of fancied rationalism ia unwilling to 
 give their true name, — specifics. In the present case, 
 Ihjd. c. cretd would probably be given for the ostensible 
 purpose of correcting or altering the secretions. But a 
 very little reflection will show us that this intention is at 
 least an exceedingly vague one ; for the intestinal canal 
 is susceptible of hundreds of distinct kinds of action, and 
 hundreds of medicinal agents are capable of producing 
 each its own peculiar action ; it is, therefore, a very easy 
 matter to alter the action in any case, but as there are 
 80 many different kinds of morbid states, and different 
 kinds of medicinal action, and only one kind of healthy 
 action, how are we to know that the alteration will be 
 precisely that suited to the case, and calculated to restore 
 health, and not quite unsuited to it, and therefore an 
 alteration for the worse ? 
 
 It is certainly a fair question to ask the prescriber of 
 any of these medicines. Do you know the action of this 
 medicine on the healthy body, and if so, have you any 
 law which assures you that that action is such as will 
 counteract the morbid action in this case ? He would be 
 compelled to answer, " No, I never studied its action on 
 the healthy body, and the knowledge of it would be of 
 little use to me, as I do not know any law or principle 
 that expresses the relation between the action of a medi- 
 cine on the healthy body, and its specific effects in 
 disease; my only reason for giving it in this case, is 
 simply that I know from experience that it has been 
 useful in similar cases." In this instance likewise, there- 
 fore, the treatment is empirical. 
 
HOM(EOPATHlC PilACTICE. 
 
 223 
 
 ye com- 
 .asc like 
 
 ice, that 
 T to the 
 , a class ; 
 all those 
 ilass, and 
 illing to 
 ent case, 
 )sten8ible 
 . But a 
 ition is at 
 nal canal 
 ction, and 
 producing 
 very easy 
 there are 
 I different 
 )f healthy 
 n will be 
 to restore 
 erefbre an 
 
 scriber of 
 on of this 
 
 you any 
 ch as will 
 
 would be 
 
 action on 
 
 )uld be of 
 
 principle 
 of a medi- 
 effects in 
 is case, is 
 
 has been 
 me, there- 
 
 Thua in the treatment of the case before us, the de- 
 sign, as we have seen, is perfectly rational, but in the 
 execution of it, the soi-disant rational practitioner dis- 
 plays the greatest empiricism, and in general goes through 
 a mere routine of remedies, till at last he either stumbles 
 by chance on the homoeopathic remedy, or nature con- 
 ducts the case to a termination in spontaneous recovery, 
 or marasmus and death. 
 
 The homoeopathic method of treatment differs widely 
 from the foregoing modes, and is conducted on far more 
 scientific and rational principles. The case before us is 
 looked upon as a special affection of a portion of the in- 
 testinal canal, the ultimate pathological nature of wliich 
 our knowledge does not enable us to determine, but 
 which wc know we could cure if we could find a medi- 
 cine capable of producing, in a healthy subject, a precisely 
 similar pathological state. Now, to select among a great 
 variety of medicinal substances whose effects on the 
 healthy body have been ascertained by experiment, and 
 accurately registered — the only Materia Medica properly 
 so called — requires precisely the same amount of diag- 
 nostic and pathological skill as to form an accurate idea 
 of the seat and nature of the disease itself. 
 
 Without, therefore, any conjectures or a priori specu- 
 lation about the virtues of medicines, the homoeopathic 
 practitioner proceeds to search, among those medicines 
 whose effects have been ascertained by experiment on the 
 healthy body, for the medicine capable of producing an 
 affection the most nearly resembling the case under con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The case, as indicated by the first group of symptoms, 
 would seem to be met by a great number of medicines, 
 such as, for exjimple, mercury, chamomilla, belladonna, 
 arsenic, sulphur, colocynth, veratrum, 8fc. Mercury es- 
 pecially, produces, in a marked degree, diarrhoea, with 
 colic, tenesmus, and all the other symptoms in the group ; 
 but neither it nor any of the others produce stools of a 
 
2*24 
 
 ILLUSTRA.TION8 OP 
 
 black* colour so churacteristiciilly jw arsenic, which pro- 
 duces Jilso all the other pymj)toins ol'the jrpoup. 
 
 lu the second group of symptoms, the state of the 
 tongue in this case is little characteristic. The dry, 
 cracked, -and foul state of the lips is of more value as a 
 symptom, and is produced by a good many meilicines, 
 such as arnica, hrijonia, mercury, veratrum, c^'c. ; but some 
 of these do not suit the ])rimary symptoms, and none 
 have this symptom more characteristically than arsenic.f 
 
 The pale and puffed face is also to be found as an effect 
 of many medicines, but of scarcely any so marked as 
 
 arsenic-l 
 
 In the third group, the want of appetite is a symptom 
 of no value ; but the thirst is evidently a sympathic 
 symptom, as there is no particular heat of skin, or 
 sweating, or other cause to account for it, and is there- 
 fore, to a certain extent, characteristic of the primary 
 affection. In respect to this symptom, no medicine is 
 more suitable than arsenic. § 
 
 The fourth group of sym]' ;oms is suited by several 
 medicines, for example, hclladonna, hyosciamus, opium, 
 stramonium, digitalis, mix vomica, arsenic, Sfc. Of these, 
 belladonna certainly suits, in this instance, better than 
 arsenic ; but as they are merely sympathetic symptoms, 
 and the primary and other sym])toms are so much better 
 met by arsenic, it is to be preferred here also. 
 
 The other symptoms are of little value, except that 
 the weakness was greater than might have have been 
 expected from the duration of the disease ; it is, there- 
 fore, to a certain extent, characteristic, and, in this respf^ct, 
 no medicine is so suitable as arsenic.\\ 
 
 Arsenic, therefore, corresponding perfectly in all the 
 essential symptoms, is obviously a medicine completely 
 homoeopathic in this case, and, if the principle be correct, 
 must certainly be the specific remedy. Accordingly, a 
 
 • Hahnemann's ChronUche Krankheiten, 2d edit. art. Arsenik Symp- 
 toms, 585 and 586. 
 
 t Ibid. 289 to 297. J Ibid. 263 to 274. § Ibid. 372 to 365. 
 
 II Hahnemanti'ii loc. cit. Symptoms, 934. 
 
 kno^ 
 pear 
 dark! 
 Iperftf 
 (lilutl 
 fore 
 watei 
 Tl 
 after I 
 the 
 
 in Ul 
 palpif 
 
HOMtEOPATHIC PRACTICE. 
 
 225 
 
 liich pro- 
 
 Lte of the 
 
 The dry, 
 /aUie as a 
 medicines, 
 ; but some 
 
 and none 
 n arsenic, t 
 as an eftcct 
 marked as 
 
 a symptom 
 sympathio 
 )f skin, or 
 id is therc- 
 hc primary 
 medicine is 
 
 by several 
 
 mus, opium, 
 
 Of these, 
 
 better than 
 
 symptoms, 
 much better 
 
 except that 
 
 i have been 
 
 it is, there- 
 
 this resp'^.ct, 
 
 y in all the 
 I completely 
 e be correct, 
 ;cordingly, a 
 
 Arsenik Symp- 
 ■2 to 365. 
 
 dose of the 12th dilution (quadrillionth of a grain) was 
 prescribed to be dissolved in a tcacupful of water, and a 
 teaspoonful taken twice a day. The result was, that in 
 a few days, without the use of any other means, the 
 patient was perfectly free from all complaint. 
 
 Menorrhagia. — M. B., aged 28, of lymphatic san- 
 guine temperament ; pale, leuco-phlegmatic. Had had 
 three children, and been previously healthy. On admis- 
 sion, 2d January, 1842, she stated that six weeks ago, 
 when three montha pregnant, she had a fall, which 
 brought on abortion, attended with profuse haemorrhage. 
 vShe recovered so far as to feel tolerably well, when about 
 a fortnight before she was seized with gnawing pains in 
 the stomach, and other gastric symptoms, and two days 
 after, the catamenia came on ; but the discharge was so 
 copious, that it soon assumed the character of hsemorrhage, 
 and had continued increasing till the date of admission. 
 
 Her present state is — discharge profuse, dark-red 
 blood, with clots ; great pain across the small of the 
 back, and pains like labour pains. 
 
 Face and lips pale, ringing in the ears, and palpitation 
 of the heart — pulse rapid and feeble — appetite bad — 
 tongue flat, flabby, and pale — ^gnawing pain in the 
 stomach. 
 
 The influence of secale comutum on the uterus, and its 
 power of producing hasmorrhage and contraction of that 
 organ, and, in fact, bringing on labour pains, is well 
 known to practitioners generally. In addition, the ap- 
 pearance of the patient, the previous abortion, and the 
 dark colour of the discharge, showed that medicine to be 
 perfectly homoeopathic in this case. A dose of the 2d 
 dilution (10,000th of a drop of the tincture) was there- 
 fore given, and ordered to be dissolved in a teacupful of 
 water, and a teaspoonful taken every three hours. 
 
 The patient returned in a week, and reported, that 
 after the first dose the pains went away completely, and 
 the haemorrhage began to diminish, and ceased entirely 
 in two days. Tongue natural, appetite better, and 
 palpitation gone. 
 
 DU 
 
226 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
 
 Effects of a Blow, Concussio CEiiEnRL — A. C, it 
 boy of three years old, of lymph.'itic-sanfTuinc tompera- 
 Aent. The child had been healthy at birth, and remaiMctl 
 so till a year ago, when he was found paralytic on one 
 side, without any known cause or previous illness, as ro- 
 ported. Under the use of blisters and leeches he hud 
 recovercu in tluve months, and seemed well up to the 
 present time, except that the affected limb seemed smaller 
 and colder than the other. 
 
 A fortnight ago he received a violent blow on the nose, 
 and soon after was seized with headache, fever, and sick- 
 ness, which have continued since. His present symp- 
 toms are, — 
 
 He complains constantly of pain in the head, great heat 
 in the head. In the morning coldness and shivering, fol- 
 lowed about 2 o'clock p. m., by heat and dryness of the 
 skin all over the body, not succeeded by perspiration. 
 The heat continues during the greater part of the night, 
 attended with great thirst, sleeplessness, restlessness, and 
 sickness, and towards morning he falls into a heavy sleep 
 with sonorous breathing. 
 
 No appetite — foul tongue and breath. Does not pass 
 urine during the day, but at night passes a considerable 
 quantity of strong smelling high coloured urine. No- 
 thing remarkable was observed in the state of the pupil. 
 
 In this case, another feature almost peculiar to homoeo- 
 pathic or specific practice is brought prominently forward, 
 viz., the aid that is derived in therapeutics from taking 
 into consideration the character of diseased action, as 
 manifested by the nature of the exciting cause. In the 
 ordinary practice, the most skilful detection of the ex- 
 citing cause is often of little use in the treatment, for in 
 general it is either a poison circulating in the system and 
 incapable of being directly removed, or it has already 
 ceased to operate before the physician is called, as in the 
 case of mechanical injuries, cold, mental emotions, &c., 
 and he has to combat their dynamic effects, which he can 
 only do on the common principles suggested by their seat 
 and more general pathological nature, such as inflamma- 
 
IIOMCEOPATUIC IMlAt'TlCK. 
 
 227 
 
 —A. C.,a 
 tempcra- 
 l rcmiiiiK'd 
 ic on one 
 icss, as re- 
 iC8 he had 
 up to the 
 icd sinullci' 
 
 »ii the nose, 
 i; and sick- 
 jcnt symp- 
 
 , great heat 
 ivcring, fol- 
 ness of the 
 icrspu'ation. 
 f the night, 
 essness, and 
 , heavy sleep 
 
 oes not pass 
 considerable 
 urine. ISo- 
 )f the pupil, 
 r to homoco- 
 itly forward, 
 from taking 
 d action, as 
 ise. In the 
 1 of the cx- 
 ment, for in 
 e system and 
 
 has already 
 led, as in the 
 notions, &c., 
 which he can 
 
 by their scat 
 as inflamma- 
 
 tion, spasms, &c. But, in addition to these, the homoeo- 
 pathic practitioner takes into consideration the character 
 or kind of inflannnation or spasm produced by a particu- 
 lar exciting cause. For example, if we suppose two cases 
 of colic, in every respect, apparently, exactly alike, but 
 the one produced l)y wet feet and the otlier by anger or 
 vexation of mind ; in the former case. Dulcamara would 
 be the specific, and in the latter Colocynth. In like 
 manner, in the case before us, the remarkable influence 
 noticed by Hahnemann of arnica, in the dynamic eft'ects 
 of mechanical injuries, at once suggests to us the pro- 
 priety of administering tliat remedy, provided that, in other 
 respects also, it is homoeopathicaU// suited to the case. But, 
 before going farther, the question will naturally present 
 itself to the minds of many persons, " How can arnica 
 or any other medicine be, strictly speaking, homoeopathic 
 in mechanical injuries, it cannot jiroduce wounds or 
 injuries ?" No, certainly not ; but it is to be recollected 
 that bruises, &c., are not simply mechanical, breaking or 
 tearing, compression of the living tissues, but are accom- 
 panied (or rather followed) by a peculiar morbid process, 
 in fact, an inflammation of a peculiar kind (generally tend- 
 ing to effusion of blood.) Now, arnica produces effects 
 very similar to those which follow injuries, and In this 
 respect it is homoeopathic, not only to the affection of the 
 bruised part, but also in many sympathetic effects in other 
 parts of the system. To return to our case, we shall now 
 see if it is homoeopathic in other respects as well as the 
 exciting cause. 
 
 The first symptom, " pain in the head," is too indefinite 
 to lay any stress on ; the next, viz., heat in the head, is 
 of more importance, and is one of the characteristic 
 symptoms of arnica.* 
 
 The shivering in the morning and forenoon,t followed 
 by heat without perspiration, the heat with thirst, and 
 
 * See Hahnemann's Reine Arzneiinittellelire, Rd. i. art. Arnica Symp- 
 toms, 1(} — 20. 
 
 t Loq. cit. Symptoms, 673. 
 
228 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
 
 rostlcssncsB and sleeplessness,* and the heavy sleep with 
 loud breathing,t are quite homoeopathic to the action of 
 arnica. Also the foul tongue and breath,! and likewise 
 in a marked manner the dysuria.§ 
 
 The arnica being then perfectly homoeopathic, both in 
 respect to the etiological condition and the existing 
 affection, it was accordingly administered in the 6th di- 
 lution, (billionth,) to be taken night and morning. The 
 result was, that in a few days the child was perfectly 
 relieved from all the above symptoms. 
 
 Sciatica. — W. J., aged 44, a tall man of sanguine, 
 bilious temperament; had previously enjoyed perfect 
 health. Five months ago, while at work, he felt a sud- 
 den pain across the loins, so that he could not straighten 
 himself. The puin soon extended to the hip, where it 
 has affected him ever since, and latterly to such an extent, 
 that he has been unable to work for the last seventeen 
 weeks ; and is pale and emaciated, and worn out with 
 Buffering. Dtjring that time he had been subjected to a 
 variety of different modes of treatment, but without any 
 relief. His sjnnptoms, when admitted on the 10th 
 March, were violent pain in the hip joint, moving in 
 shocks down the thigh ; pain greatly aggravated at night, 
 and is accompanied by great shivering ; he is unable to 
 stand upright; the hip feels cold; urinary and other 
 functions normal. 
 
 The charocteristie symptoms in this case, viz., the 
 aggravation of the pain at night, and its being attended 
 with shivering, corresponding completely to the action 
 oipuUatilla,^ that remedy was accordingly administered 
 in the 18th dilution, (sextillionth) twice a day. 
 
 17th. Pain not so bad; in other respects the same. 
 Continue Pulsatilla in the 6th dilution (billionth). 
 
 29th. The pain is quite gone from the hip, and he is, 
 on the whole, so much better as to be able to return to 
 
 * Loc cit. Symptomt, 575 and 579. f Ibid. 554—569. X Ibid. 151—^15. 
 
 § Symptom, 279. 
 
 n HabDemann Seine, A,. M., Lelire., 3d edition, vol iL, pp. 274, 318. 
 
IIOM(EOPATIIIC PRACTirE. 
 
 22 U 
 
 leep with 
 action of 
 I likewise 
 
 c, both in 
 
 I existing 
 ic 6th di- 
 ng. The 
 perfectly 
 
 sanguine, 
 ed perfect 
 felt a 8ud- 
 Btraighten 
 (, where it 
 an extent, 
 
 seventeen 
 I out with 
 jected to a 
 ithout any 
 
 the 10th 
 moving in 
 id at night, 
 
 unable to 
 
 and other 
 
 , viz., the 
 g attended 
 
 the action 
 Iministered 
 
 T- 
 
 I the same. 
 
 ath). 
 
 , and he is, 
 
 return to 
 
 [bid. 151— ol5. 
 , pp. 274, 318. 
 
 his work. lie complains still of pain in the calf of the 
 leg, shooting down the feet, worse at night, accompanied 
 by numbness of the leg. 
 
 This last circumstance points now to chamomilla* as 
 the proper remedy ; it was therefore given in the third 
 dilution, (millionth.) 
 
 14th April. — The affected leg is quite well, but on 
 change of weather he has had occasionally slight pain in 
 the other leg. Rhus toxicodendron, 6 th dilution. 
 
 On inquiring about the beginning of June, the patient 
 had recovered. 
 
 In this case we have to remark the much greater 
 efficacy of the 6th over the 18th dilution of pulsatilla. 
 
 Spinal Irritation. — J. Q., a married woman, 19 
 years of age, lymphatic temperament, delicate as a child, , 
 and subject to headache and pain in the back ; since 16 
 has menstruated regularly. On admission, 18 th January, 
 she stated that she had for some months constant pain in 
 the back, shooting through the body to both sides, and 
 along the spine to the occiput, and even to the temples 
 at times; it is increased by walking and stooping. 
 Tenderness on pressure on the vertebral spine from the 
 last dorsal vertebra down to the sacrum. Frequent 
 giddiness. Does not fall asleep till late on account of the 
 pain. 
 
 She received a dose of the third dilution, (millionth,) 
 ofcocculus indicus, to be dissolved in water, and taken 
 twice a day. 
 
 25th. — The pain and tenderness of the spine are quite 
 gone, but the pain in the loins is worse ; sleeps better ; 
 giddiness better, but no appetite. Arnica 6, in water. 
 
 3d February. — She came to report herself free from 
 complaint. 
 
 Pertussis, Diarrhcba, and Epilepsy— The next case 
 that we notice is one of peculiar interest, as it displays in 
 9, striking manner one of the most brilliant features of 
 the homoeopathic method, viz., its peculiar fitness for 
 
 * Habnemann Reine, A.M., Lehre., 2d edition, vol. iii, p. 86. 
 
TM) 
 
 II.LUSTUATIONS OF 
 
 ronipllcntiHl oa.-Ort. Tliis i^ ii flaws of cases in wliicli all 
 Inily practical men will liail with ^ladiicHs any Iiuprovc;- 
 rncnt in the practice of our art; for how often tloea it 
 hai>[>en that, the physician is obliged to stand by, as it 
 were, with his hands tied, and witness tiie progress of the 
 disease to a i'atal termination, the patient being too weak 
 to admit of the (supposed) necessary depletive or other 
 energetic measures being i)ut into operation ; or in u 
 complicated case, that the treatment necessary for one 
 affection is counter-indicated by another : nay, even, 
 has it not unfrequently happened, that the [)atient has 
 been cured of the disease under which he laboured, and 
 yet sunk from the effects of the treatment ? 
 
 M. W., a delicate child, aged 2. Since the commence- 
 ment of teething, has been subject to epileptic fits, which 
 come on quite irregularly. They arc preceded by a 
 scream, and in the fit the eyes arc open and convulsed, 
 and the whole body convulsed. 
 
 For many months she has had diarrhoea with frequent 
 thin dark motions. Not vaccinated. Four weeks ago 
 took small-pox, and when scarcely convalescent, a week 
 ago was attacked with hooping-cough. 
 
 When brought to the Dispensary on the 8th of 
 January, the following symptoms were observed : — 
 
 Pale and emaciated appearance ; livid marks from the 
 small-pox still visible on the back, legs, &c., cough, with 
 distinct whoop ; it comes on chiefly at night, when she 
 has seven or eight fits, accompanied by pain in the 
 sternum, and blucness of the face, but without expecto- 
 ration or vomiting. In the interval the breathing is short, 
 and she complains of pain in the anterior part of the 
 chest. Thin, watery, dark colored, sometimes bloody 
 stools, seven or eight times a day. Up to the 25th, she 
 received belladonna 12 and 6, ipecacuanha 3, arnica 6, 
 tart. cmet. 4 ; but the attendance was irregular, and the 
 disease on the whole continued to make progress. The 
 diarrhoea ceased, but the cough became more violent, and 
 was accompanied with more pain and with prolapsus 
 ani ; it assumed also this peculiarity, that in the middle 
 
lIOMiKOl'ATIIK rUACTICli. 
 
 231 
 
 rhlch nil 
 luprovc- 
 1 does It 
 by, us it 
 itifl ol'tlie 
 too weak 
 or otlicr 
 or in u 
 for one 
 y, even, 
 tient has 
 ircd, and 
 
 nmicncc- 
 ts, whicli 
 led by a 
 onvulsed, 
 
 I frequent 
 'ceks ago 
 b, a week 
 
 3 8th of 
 d:— 
 
 from the 
 ugli, with 
 when she 
 in in the 
 , cxpecto- 
 o; is short, 
 irt of the 
 cs bloody 
 
 25 th, she 
 , arnica 6, 
 r, and the 
 ess. The 
 olent, and 
 
 prolapsus 
 he middle 
 
 of e;;(ii fit there was a pause for ab(jut two minutes, and 
 then it began again. Within the hist few days, also, the 
 dyspncra beeame greater, and there was constant, great 
 thirst, general iever, and general soreness of the whohi 
 body. On the 2oth, she was too ill to be brought to tiie 
 Dispensary, but the course of the disease, and the above 
 8yni[)toms, left no doubt that inflaiuuiation of the lungs 
 had su[>ervened, although a personal examination was not 
 obtained tiiat day ; accordingly, phosphorus G, was given 
 to bo dissolved as usual, and administered every four 
 hours. 
 
 The result was highly satisfiictory, though not more 
 so than we had reason to expect from what we have often 
 seen of that truly admirable remedy in [)neumonia of 
 adults. On the 27th, the pain in the chest Wiis much 
 diminished, the breathing freer, and the other symptoms 
 much relieved. Cont. medicam. On the 29th, she was 
 free from pain in the chest, in all respects better, and the 
 cough had assumed the character of simple whooping- 
 cough, and not so frequent nor so violent. The fit ends 
 in sneezing. To have two single doses of liepar sulphu- 
 ris. dil. 3. 
 
 On the 3d February, it was reported that on the 1st 
 she had had a bad epileptic fit, in which she bit her 
 tongue, " turned black, and lay aa dead for about two 
 hours." Since then she has been delirious, grasi)ing at 
 every thing, kicking, and apparently terrified at imagi- 
 nary objects ; she is quite sleepless, and cannot lie still 
 in one position for a minute, but is constantly tossing 
 about ; much thirst ; skin alternately hot and bathed in 
 perspiration ; bowels confined ; the cough is not so bad. 
 Belladonna 12, every six hours. 
 
 5th. — Has slept a good deal ; no longer delirious ; less 
 feverish ; cough more frequent, and during a fit of it she 
 grasps the head and supports it with her hands ; head 
 hot, and tender to the touch ; she lies in a dosing state, 
 waking often ; some appetite ; bowels open. Conium 
 3, every six hours. 
 
'2V2 
 
 ILI.USTHATION8 OF 
 
 7th. — All cercbml atid fel>riln pymptonifl liavo subsidcil, 
 and tiio cough is not ho bud. Droacra 2, three timofl n 
 day. 
 
 llrnler thw whe recovered rapidly and completely, and 
 when again seen, (in June,) had remained perfectly well, 
 with the exception of one slight epileptic fit. 
 
 LiJMnA(S(). — M. Y., aged 50. A palo emaciated 
 female. Comphiined on admission April .'ith, that a fort- 
 night before she strained her back in lifting a heavy 
 weight, and has sinoxj been affected with violent pain 
 " as if the back was broken" in the lumbar region, on tho 
 least movement or coughing. 
 
 She is otherwise quite well, except a slight hacking 
 cough, which she has had for many years in winter. Tho 
 specific action of rhus toxicodendron, discovered by 
 Hahnemann, in strains of muscular and tendinous parts,* 
 point it out at once as the proper remedy in this case. 
 A dose of the third dilution (millionth) was accordingly 
 given to be taken dissolved in water in tho usual way. 
 The patient returned on the 12th to report herself quite 
 well. 
 
 Chronic BRONCuiTis. — R. F., aged 58, of nervous 
 bilious temperament, had been previously quite healthy, 
 with the exception of weakness in the back, which had 
 troubled him since he had a fall fifteen years ago. 
 
 March 22, 1842. — A year ago, when working In a 
 damp cellar, he was attacked with cough, &c., which 
 have continued to trouble him since in spite of various 
 remedial means. His present symptoms are : — 
 
 Cough, coming on in fits, particularly after lying down 
 at night ; these fits of coughing are accompanied by great 
 dyspnoea and pain in the back, and last till he expecto- 
 rates a small quantity of tough, yellow mucus, generally 
 about half an hour ; appetite bad ; gnawing pain in the 
 epigastrium an hour or two after meals ; for the last 
 month diarrhoea, six or seven loose motions daily ; fre- 
 quent desire to pass urine, which is scanty, clear, and 
 passed with difficulty. 
 
 • Reine, A. M., Lehre., vol. ii, p. 360, Dresden, 1833. 
 
lloyKKOFATIIlC rHAt'TICK. 
 
 833 
 
 which 
 
 He received arnonic llj, tu be taken in water, a doflo 
 twice a day. 
 
 On the 12th of April iie returned and reported himself 
 (Completely relieved in all the above syniptomt), except 
 the pain in the back. 
 
 (jrAHTHOi)YNiA. — G. W., a man a^ed 'M, of bilious, 
 nervous temperament. His lu;alth had been otherwinu 
 generally ^ood, with the excot)tion of a Himihir Htouiiu'.h 
 com|)laint about Vi\ years aj^o, and G years a^o he had 
 typhus fever, which was followed by ulcca'ation of the 
 loft lej,'. 
 
 For his present complaint he had taken, without any 
 benefit, almost every kind of medicine that could be 
 thou«i;ht of, (excej)t the rijj;ht one, it would appear, and 
 lliat was hit on at once under the guidance of the 
 hom<eopathic principle.) 
 
 When admitted t)n the 22d April, ho presented the 
 following symptoms, which had aftected him for the last 
 three years : — 
 
 Sharp pain in the cpiga.strium,. like a knife, shooting 
 through his back, and sometimes to the right side ; worse 
 before mesds, and on stepping hard, though he is never 
 ([uite free from it. It comes sometimes in paroxysms so 
 violent tliat he is obliged to bend double, and cannot 
 straighten himself. These paroxysms are accompanied 
 by eructation of wind and sour fluid, and sometimes by 
 sickness, and vomiting of yellowish fluid, occasionally 
 tinged with blood ; the epigastrium is tender to touch, 
 and the pressure of tight clothes insupportable ; appetite 
 good, and tongue pretty cleau ; bowels costive ; lightness 
 of the head, and occasional dimness of vision. 
 
 A dropof the second dilution of nux vomica(i-,rTo?r)wa8 
 administered dry on the tongue at the Dispensary, and 
 he was told to come back in a week, a few powders 
 being given with him to take in the interval. 
 
 On the 30th he stated that, for the first three days 
 after taking the medicine he felt aggravations of his 
 complaints, but since then he has been gradually getting 
 better ; bowels still confined. 
 
 EE 
 
234 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
 
 A drop of the first dilution (rV^h) was now given in 
 a powder of milk sugar, along with several powders. 
 
 On the 10th May he stated that he had been quite free 
 from cramp, or any pain in the stomach for several days. 
 The bowels arc now regular ; lightness of head and dim- 
 ness of sight relieved; he complains of distension and 
 nausea after meals. He perceived no aggravation after 
 any of the powders. 
 
 Three doses of chamomilla 1 (yV) one every other day. 
 
 17th May; no sickness or distension after meals, but 
 he has had some smarting raw pain in the stomach and 
 under the breast, relieved by eating. Arsenic 12 (quad- 
 rillionth) one dose, and 6 (billionth) one dose, to be 
 taken at an interval of a week. 
 
 On the 7th June he came back on account of a blow 
 he had received on the leg, which had caused the old 
 ulcer to break out afresh. He stated that, for some time 
 he had been quite free from complaint in the stomach ; 
 and said " he felt as if he had a new stomach." 
 
 This case is interesting in respect to the dose. After 
 the first dose of nux vomica, there was a marked aggra- 
 vation of the symptoms, followed by decided amelioration. 
 This affords an example of what is called the homojopathic 
 exacerbation — a phenomenon which is generally to be 
 looked on as a favourable sign, as it shows that the 
 remedy is quite homoeopathic to the case , but its occur- 
 rence is by no means necessary to the cure, nor is it even 
 a common attendant on it ; on the contrary, as far as our 
 experience goes, it is met with only in a small number 
 of cases, being in fact a rather rare phenomenon. It is 
 generally attributed to the dose being too large, while, 
 at the same time, the remedy is quite homoeopathic. 
 This is undoubtedly true in many cases ; but there are 
 nevertheless other cases in which it will not apply at all 
 as an explanation. In the case before us, had it been 
 acted on, the practitioner would have reasoned and acted 
 thus — " the medicine is evidently rightly chosen, but the 
 dose was too large ; it had better, therefore, be repeated 
 
 ■ 
 
ftOMffiOPATHIC PRACTlca. 
 
 •235 
 
 given in 
 lers. 
 
 c[uite free 
 era! days. 
 
 and dim- 
 ision and 
 tion after 
 
 )ther day. 
 neals, but 
 mach and 
 12 (quad- 
 Dse, to be 
 
 of a blow 
 
 id the old 
 
 some tinie 
 
 stomach ; 
 
 3e. 
 
 After 
 ced aggra- 
 lelioration. 
 moeopathie 
 ally to be 
 8 that the 
 t its occur- 
 >r is it even 
 8 far as our 
 ill number 
 ion. It is 
 irge, while, 
 oaoeopathic. 
 b there are 
 ipply at all 
 lad it been 
 d and acted 
 sen, but the 
 36 repeated 
 
 1.. „ Higher dilution, the 12th or 18th for example." 
 Undoubtedly, if this had been done, the improvement 
 would have continued to make progress, and no further 
 exacerbation would have been experienced, and the case 
 woidd then have been quoted as a proof of the correct- 
 ness of the above opinion. Xevertlicless, nothing could 
 be more false than such a conclusion, for there was ac- 
 tuaUy given a second dose, in quantity a thousand times 
 greater than the first, (in fact, one of the largest doses 
 used in homoeopathy, viz., y^th of a drop of the strong 
 tincture of nux vomica,) and yet not the least exacerba- 
 tion was produced, but merely a rapid and permanent 
 amelioration. 
 
 There is another circumstance that has been observed 
 in reference to the dose of homoeopathic medicines, which 
 appears to us to afford a much more satisfactory expla- 
 nation of the fact above narrated ; but we forbear to 
 enter further into the subject here, as we think it desi- 
 rable that all theoretical speculation should be avoided as 
 much as possible in Homoeopathy, till a greater number 
 of facts have been collected by competent observers. 
 
 In selecting the foregoing cases it is not at all intended 
 to hold them up as specimens of extraordinary cures 
 which we are enabled to effect by the increased resources 
 of Homoeopathy, but merely as examples of the difference 
 of modes of treating ordinary cases, such as we meet with 
 in practice every day ; nor is it meant to imply that all 
 cases are equally successful. On the contrary, we are 
 quite aware and ready to admit that, in many cases, we 
 are able to give only partial relief, or none at all, which 
 indeed we can easily conceive must of necessity occur, 
 when we consider, on the one hand, the nature of dis- 
 ease, many forms of which are necessarily irremediable, 
 and others are so variable and uncertain in their symp- 
 toms, as to make it impossible, even when they are 
 curable, to fix at once, in every case, on the appropriate 
 remedy ; and on the other hand, from the still imperfect 
 
236 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONe OF 
 
 state of pathology, and the comparatively limited re- 
 sources afforded by our Materia Medica.* 
 
 But, as before said, our object is not hero to give a 
 comparison between Homojopathy in its present state, 
 and the ordinary method, but merely by a few well- 
 marked cases to shew the truth of the homoiopathic law, 
 and the practical application of it 
 
 This, we conceive, is the only way in which the 
 superiority of any mode of treatment over others can be 
 forcibly impressed on the mind ; for, in a statistical cal- 
 culation made from a number of cases, the mere difference 
 of a few per cent, in the treatment of cases, often very 
 different, although nominally arranged under the same 
 head, gives far too vague and abstract an idea to make 
 much impression on the mind of an enquirer, and in reality 
 affords but too often food for the doubts of the sceptic 
 of the utility of medical treatment altogether. 
 
 It is indeed only by having constantly in mind striking 
 examples of homoeopathic cures, and thus keeping in view 
 the degree of perfection to which the practice of medicine 
 might be raised if we could carry out the application of 
 the principle to its full extent, that we can derive en- 
 couragement to undertake the arduous task of adopting 
 a new therapeutic law, involving no less than a complete 
 reformation of medical practice. For much yet remains 
 to bo done before Homoeopathy can approach the degree 
 of perfection to which it is susceptible of being raised, 
 and the practice of it at present is beset with numerous 
 difficulties, some of which will always attend it, as being 
 inseparable from specific treatment. 
 
 It requires in practice, a more careful examination of 
 the case, a more accurate knowledge of pathology and 
 discrimination of nicer shades of diseased action, aban- 
 donment of the complicated and useless classifications of 
 the nosologists, extension and improvement of our means 
 of diagnasis, and, above all, a more extended and accurate 
 
 * Although limited, our medical code tiirpaueB by far, the number of 
 medicines used in the common practice. Calomel, bleedirtff and purgatives 
 are almost the pau-par-toul in most maladies. 
 
rtited ro- 
 
 ;o give a 
 mt state, 
 'ew well- 
 ithic law, 
 
 rhich the 
 rs can be 
 itical cal- 
 diiFerence 
 ften very 
 the same 
 to make 
 [ in reality 
 le sceptic 
 
 id striking 
 ig in view 
 [' medicine 
 lication of 
 derive en- 
 ' adopting 
 I complete 
 et remains 
 the degree 
 ng raised, 
 numerous 
 it, as being 
 
 lination of 
 Lology and 
 tion, aban- 
 ications of 
 our means 
 id accurate 
 
 the number of 
 and purgativet 
 
 nOMCEOrATlIIC PRACTICE. 
 
 237 
 
 knowledge of the action of medicines, both on the lioahhy 
 and diseased body, but more especially the former. But 
 as our knowledge advances in these respects, we may look 
 for the attainment of a degree of perfection in the healing 
 art hitherto considered beyond our reach. 
 
 It behoves, therefore, all medical men to join earnestly 
 in the work of reformation of the practice of medicine, 
 the road to which has been opened by the discovery of 
 Hahnemann ; and it is the peculiarity as well as the ex- 
 cellence of this method that it is in the i)0wcr of every 
 one to contribute his share to the work, aa it requires 
 merely careiul and accurate observation of the specific 
 action of the individual articles of the Materia Medica. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 r. DUTY OF PHYSICIANS OP EITHER SCHOOL TO STUDY 
 
 BOTH SYSTEMS. 
 
 BY DR. GRAY, NEW YORK. 
 
 We contend that physicians of both schools are under 
 the strongest possible obligation to examine the rules of 
 practice from which they habitually dissent, with an 
 attentive and tolerant spirit, not only because such study 
 produces greater circumspection in the care of the sick, but 
 because it promotes the progress of truth and sound con- 
 ciliation. In the records and theoretic writings of both 
 ischools, there certainly Is much error, but assuredly also 
 a great deal of truth, and the sooner a catholic eclecticism 
 inspires both parties, the better for mankind at large, and 
 for the true honour of the medical profession.* 
 
 It is not true that the homoeopathic method is inert, 
 or fanciful, or quackery, as is gravely asserted by writers 
 of the old school ; on the other hand, it is not true that the 
 many methods pursued hitherto, are all "totally depraved," 
 void of good results, and to be instantly and wholly aban- 
 doned, as is affirmed by many of the new school. The 
 homoeopathists, whatever the ultraists may please to aver 
 to the contrary, not unfrequently find cases which are 
 
 * Since I practiced Homoeopathy, I have met with many so-styled 
 Homeopathic Doctors, Pseudo-IIonnEopathg I would say. Who consider 
 Jahr's Manuel, with some kind of Repertory, a " Receipt- Book," as it 
 were, all-sufficient to cure "all the ills that flesh is heir to! " Many of 
 these gentlemen have received but a superficial medical education, if any. 
 Some carry in their pocket a box of little pills, bound in one with the 
 Repertory. The Germans call this " Eine Eseh-hruche, (an ass's bridge.) 
 Such pretenders degrade the science, and should be strictly dealt with. 
 
 I saw lately, in this city, a so-called Homoeopathic Pocket Case, bought 
 in New York, two dollars a box, real value certainly not more than one 
 dollar. The box is bound like a pocket book, containing seventeen small 
 vials, which are partly filled with tinctures, partly with globules. The vials 
 with tinctures, 1. Aconite. 20. Secale cornutum, 3. Arnica, 7. Colchicum. 
 \7. Pulsatilla. II. Ipecacuanha. 10. Hyoscyamus. b. Cannabis. The 
 tinctures, if good, which don't appear to me to be genuine, are undiluted. 
 What do these numbers mean ? The other viala are filled with globules, 
 ^sfollons: — \A9. Awa-fatida. W, Mercurius aolub. 100, Cina. \b. Nux 
 
 pu 
 
 tb( 
 
DUTY OF PHYSICIANS, ETC. 
 
 239 
 
 J STUDY 
 
 ire under 
 I rules of 
 with an 
 ich study 
 ; sick, but 
 >und con- 
 s of both 
 redly also 
 jlecticism 
 large, and 
 
 I is inert, 
 jy writers 
 le that the 
 lepraved," 
 oily aban- 
 ool. The 
 ise to aver 
 which are 
 
 any so-styled 
 Who consider 
 Book," as it 
 Many of 
 ation, if any. 
 one Arith the 
 ass's bridge.) 
 lealt with. 
 Case, bought 
 aore than one 
 venteen small 
 les. The vials 
 7. Colchicum. 
 annabis. The 
 are undiluted, 
 with globules. 
 Una. 16. Sux 
 
 not well covered by the drugs most indicated, but wliich 
 imperatively demand help, and help which the records of 
 Allopathy demonstrate may be attbrded. On the other 
 hand, the allopathist not unfrequently finds his patient 
 in circumstances of danger and suffering, to which not 
 one 'of his so-called general principles will apply, and in 
 which he finds allopathic experience at fault entirely. 
 Should he reject, without trial, the method of all others 
 which proposes to find a specific for every curable malady, 
 whether new or old, known or unknown before ? Cer- 
 tainly not. He is bound to make the attempt, whatever 
 
 vomica. 6. Chamomilla. 193. Spigelia. 4. BeUadonna. 16. Opium. 
 54. Arsenic. On the inside of the box is pasted a printed sheet, with the 
 following directions: — 
 
 ABBREVIATIONS. 
 
 Di., dilution. Gl., globulrs. Grs., grains. P., powder. Sol., solution. 
 
 T., tincture. 
 
 Aconite, colds, sore throat, fever, hsemorrhage Di.Dose 3 to 10 drops. 
 
 y4ci(/ iSu/pAMric, chapped and scaly diseases " " 3 10 *' 
 
 Ammonia Curb., fever, giddy headache, vomiting, 
 
 catarrh " " 3 10 " 
 
 Antimony Phosphate, fawBT P. " 3 6 grs. 
 
 Antim., fever, nausea, vomiting •« "3 — 
 
 Arnica, shocks, bruises, sprains, burns Di. " 3 10 drops. 
 
 /jr«enic, intermittents, dropsies, epilepsy, eruptions. Gl. " 3 10 " 
 
 Assa-fietida, fainting, dizziness, hysteria, vapours.. " " 3 10 " 
 
 i?«//a(fonRa, pain, spasms, eruptive fevers Di. " 3 10 " 
 
 Bryonia, aching pains, constipation " " 3 10 " 
 
 Cannabw, pains, spasms, dropsies " " 3 10 " 
 
 CaZcarta Carbonica, aching sensations P. " 3 10 grs. 
 
 CAina, pains, intermittents, debility T. " 5 30 drops. 
 
 Cauatic Po<a«A, catarrh, hoarseness, expectoration.. Gl. " 3 10 " 
 
 (7Aamomi7/a, pains, worse at night, indigestion Di. " 3 10 " 
 
 Ctna, cough, fever, nausea, worms T. "1 5 " 
 
 Co/cAtcum, acute pains, spasms " •« 6 30 " 
 
 Co/ocynM, spasmodic pains, >lic Di. "1 5 " 
 
 CrotoA OiV, cathartic, dropsy.... <« .« ^ 5 ti 
 
 GoZc^ M., tubercula, diarrhoea •« i« j 5 « 
 
 .ffepar. <S'u/p/iur, aching sensations P. "1 5 grs. 
 
 //j/ofciamtM, spasmodic cough, dizziness Di. " 3 5 drops. 
 
 /ofificfe PotcwA, tubercula, diarrhoea P. "I 5 grs. 
 
 /pecacuan^a, nausea, retching, diarrhoea Di. " 5 10 drops. 
 
 /^matta, hysteria, spasms, vapours Gl. "3 5 " 
 
 Xycopoeftum, aching sensations T. " 5 10 " 
 
 Phos. Ti'ncf., pains, cold sensations, spasms Di. " 5 10 " 
 
 Pu2«ah7/a, pains, worse at night, palpitations " " 5 10 " 
 
 itA«« Tox., pain, worse at night, eruptions T. "3 5 " 
 
 £mettc Tar/ar, pain in chest or stomach P. "1 6 grs. 
 
 Whoever has fabricated this miserable piece of work, merits the severest 
 punishment. What a mean, low, wretch that man must be, who degrades 
 the Kience in such a maoner ! 
 
U40 
 
 DUTY OF PHYSICIANS 
 
 may be his prejudices or doubts. Neither of these par- 
 tiet* I an be competent to his task in the predicaments 
 quoted, unless he is a jj^ood student of botli methods. 
 It would by no means be difficult to exemplify this 
 position, and all the foregoinj^ assertions, from the prac- 
 tice of both schools ; but we pass, for the present at least, 
 to the consideration of some of tlie many ascertjiined facts 
 of allopathic practice, whicli sustain the doctrine of 
 llomooopathy. Of the absolute cures by single drugs, 
 known to tlie old school, those by mercury, cinchona, 
 arsenic, and sulphur, have been, we think, fully (incon- 
 trovertibly) explained by Hahnemann and his early 
 disciples, as demonstrations of the truth of their funda- 
 mental dogma. There have been many attempts to 
 explain the principle of cure involved in the application 
 of these drugs, by the allopathists, and especially of 
 mercury in syphilis, and of cinchona and arsenic in fever 
 and ague, but these explanations have in each case fallen 
 short of demonstration, and have proved unsatisfactory 
 to tlic great body of the medical profession, who have 
 contented themselves, as far as possible, with simply 
 saying that these are " specifics," which is no explanation 
 at all, but only an assertion of the fact, (which an un- 
 lettered clown may know iis perfectly as the wisest 
 physician,) that they do cure such and such maladies. 
 The homocopathist does not lay claim to any more 
 acutcness of perception than he willingly concedes to his 
 allopathic brethren ; he does not preten 1 to show how 
 mercury cui'cs syphilis, for example, but he avers that 
 mercury is rightly administered in that malady, (at least 
 in many forms of it,) because it produces very similar 
 appearances and sufferings in the healthy, who are subject 
 to it, till they are fairly under its poisonous influences. 
 He finds a certain and clear rule of practice — of applying 
 drugs to the sick for their restoration, ujion this analogy, 
 between their powers .and the unknown powers which 
 have disturbed the health, — the causes of disease. It 
 cannot be denied that mercury produces what has been 
 tr-nned by allopathists pseudo-syphilis : nodes, nocturnal 
 
280 par- 
 camcnt8 
 ncthods. 
 iify this 
 ic prac- 
 at least, 
 led f'actrt 
 trine of 
 Q drugs, 
 nnchona, 
 ' (incon- 
 is early 
 r funda- 
 impts to 
 plication 
 cially of 
 ; in fever 
 ISC fallen 
 isfactory 
 rho have 
 1 simply 
 )lanation 
 I an un- 
 c wisest 
 maladies, 
 ly more 
 les to his 
 low how 
 fcvs that 
 (at least 
 ' similar 
 e subject 
 ifluences. 
 applying 
 analogy, 
 rs which 
 case. It 
 lias been 
 locturnal 
 
 TO STIUY BOTH SYSTKMki. 
 
 241 
 
 bone-aehing, durable throat clmncrcf, scabby sores, and 
 cojiper-polourcd spots on the skin, caries of the bones, &c. 
 Nor will it bo denied, that wh(Mi these snflferings arise 
 from venereal infection, mercury wholly and elK'Ctually 
 cures them, if it be administered in sufficiently minute 
 doses, and be not disturbed by improper diet, or by too 
 frequent re[)etition of the dos(\^. 
 
 Opium produce.-" a malady very closely resembling that 
 form of mrmia apotu in which there are hallucinations of 
 the sense of seeing. The opium subject sees a great 
 variety of spectres, as demons, assassins, reptiles, ike, in 
 his chamber, and around his bed and person, while his 
 int'^llect is otherwise aj>parently sane; ho acts madly 
 indeed, but not more so than a sound man would, were 
 he in fact assaulted, as the patient's morbid sight con- 
 vinces him he is. When this species of delirium tremens 
 arises from the abuse of alcohol, opium is a perfect and 
 speedy remedy ; and as this is the most frequent form of 
 delirium tremens, it of course follows, that opium is more 
 often used with success than any other drug. There are, 
 howevei', unimpeachable records to show that this drug 
 has not only failed to cure some forms of delirium tremens, 
 but also that it has, in many cases, very directly con- 
 tributed to the destruction of the patient. Eberle relates 
 a case, in which he saw coma, convulsions and death follow 
 its exhibition, within tiaelve hours, although he says it was 
 " a pure and uncomplicated case of delirium tremens." 
 The symptoms of this case are not given, (Pract. Med., 
 vol. ii. 175-177,) but it is quite probable, that if the 
 opium was indicated, the patient was destroyed by too 
 large doses.* The doctor does not attempt to ex[)lain 
 the unfortunate result, nor give any clue by which his 
 readei*s are to avoid reproducing it in other cases. He 
 advises its use to a sufficient extent, to producxj a soporific 
 effect, remarking simply, that the quantity required for 
 
 ' The Allopathic practitioner does probably the most mischief, when he, 
 by accident, stumblfs upon remedies which are homoeopathically indicated, 
 which aggravate the symptoms of the disease to a degree, so as to endanger 
 the life of the patient. 
 
 FF 
 
342 
 
 DUTY OF rilYSICIANi* 
 
 this purpose is " often truly cnnrmnus." Tlio hom(joopa- 
 tliist ini<^lit have pfiven opium in the above case, hut 
 havin}^ liis eye upon the symptoms which bespoke its 
 a(lo[)tion, instead of goinp^ to the extent of producin<; a 
 fatal stupor, he would have ceased the moment those 
 Hymptoms changed in degree, and have completed the 
 cure by other appro{)riatc remedies, also in mild doses, 
 with the same cardinal and always safe rule in view. 
 Knowing why the opium should be applied, and knowing 
 when he ought to desist from its repetition, he has by far 
 the advantage of the allopathist, who learns, in the first 
 instance, from accident, or blind empiricism, that this 
 drug had cured some kinds of mania a potu, and then 
 invents an hypothesis, which any one may adopt or re- 
 ject at will, as a guide for his case in hand, and for all 
 future ones, by means of which he tries to show how it 
 was useful, and how frequently and to what extent it 
 should be given ; for example. Dr. Ebcrle and Dr. 
 Coates say that delirium tremens " consists in a morbid 
 activity of the brain, from the sudden abstraction of an 
 habitual stimulus, by which its excitability had long been 
 repressed or blunted. A heightened activity of the sen- 
 sorium, from the generation, as it would seem, of an 
 inordinate degree of vital activity in the brain." (Ut 
 Supra, p. 174.) In this wild kind of impracticable 
 phantasy. Dr. Eberle affirms that Dr. James Johnson, 
 and many eminent British physicians, concur. That is, 
 there is a taller kind of life in the brain, produced by an 
 extraordinary degree (quantity) of vitality, or vital 
 activity in the brain, which last is caused by taking 
 away a stimulus which had habitually blunted or pressed 
 down the excitability (the life) of the brain. Ergo, 
 opium, which it is assumed possesses the power of re- 
 pressing, curtailing, or diminishing the extraordinary 
 degrees or quantities of the vital activity of the brain, 
 through which the activity of the sensorium has been 
 unhappily heightened — opium should be exhibited against 
 delirium tremens. But why not bleed, cup, leech, and 
 blister the head ? These are the allopathic means for 
 
TO 8TUDY BOTH SYSTEMS. 
 
 :i4a 
 
 ;aflc, but 
 jpoke its 
 iluclnp; u 
 ;nt those, 
 lotccl tlic 
 ild closes, 
 in vimo. 
 knowing 
 has by fir 
 I the first 
 that this 
 , and then 
 opt or rc- 
 ,nd for all 
 )W how it 
 ; extent it 
 3 and Dr. 
 I a morbid 
 jtion of an 
 1 long been 
 of the sen- 
 iem, of an 
 •ain." (Ut 
 kpracticable 
 8 Johnson, 
 •. That is, 
 .need by an 
 or vital 
 by taking 
 or pressed 
 iin. Ergo, 
 iwer of re- 
 traordinary 
 the brain, 
 has been 
 »ited against 
 leech, and 
 means for 
 
 taking down vital activity, when it is too tall. Why not 
 give antimony and saline purges, and apply ice to the 
 head, if there he an undue (juantity of life in the brain? 
 This is the way all allopathists diminish vital activity in 
 the sensorium. The trutii is, these means have been 
 applied thousands of times, but the patients nearly all 
 died* — they coidd not be cured upon general princi[)les, 
 and they continued to die till the brandy and laudanum 
 practice forced its way up from the stews into the hos- 
 pitals and halls of |)hysic, and then the post hoc ergo 
 propter hoc expedient gave birth to the above farrago of 
 fancies. 
 
 Other doctors, no less eminent, have said that the rum 
 potations inflame the stomach, and this is the first link in 
 the disease, and they seek to remove their favourite by 
 giving vomits. Does Allopathia give emetics lor gastritis ? 
 Certainly not ; ask Broussais ! But now and then a 
 vomit cures a case of some kind of delirium tremens, 
 without the application of opium, or camphor, or brandy ; 
 and as Allopathia knows of only one disease under that 
 title, and will recognize only one internal " proximate 
 cause," these doctors say that because the emetic re- 
 moved one or more cases of this imaginary morbid ex- 
 istence, therefore it is not in the head, but it certainly is 
 in the stomach. They have as good a right to ihcpost hoc 
 ergo propter hoc as the other eminent men, and they cer- 
 tainly make as brave and fair an application of it. 
 
 But, if delirium tremens be gastritis, why not apply 
 leeches, cups, and blisters over the stomach, and ordain 
 ice water and very low diet ? This is the v ' to cure 
 (jastritis scientifically. The truth is, that in some cases 
 of secondary symptoms, produced by alcohol, which aj)- 
 proximate that group commonly called delirium tremens. 
 
 • Dr. Marshall Hall says, in reference to rlellrium tremens, I liave 
 known free blood-letting induce a degree of sinking, both in young and 
 old, from which no means could restore the patient. Opium, with a strict 
 attention to the diet, and to the secretions? ! constitutes the most effica- 
 oious remedy. On the diseases and durangomunt of the nervous tiystcai, 
 page 3()0. The effects of alcohol. 
 
 lie also recommends the strait-waistcuat. 
 
f'^w'i 
 
 344 
 
 DUTY UF PUYSIClANt 
 
 there 18 ^reiit anxiety in tlio region of the stunmcii, 
 oppression of the chest, great irregnhirity of the action 
 of the heart, profuse sweatings, prostrations of the 
 strength, depression of spirits, furred tongue of a peculiar 
 kind, and nausea and vomitina — and of course, in such 
 cases, ipecacuanha is indicated and will heli) the patient, 
 whether given in minute or very gross <piantities. 
 Hom(copathists a(lo[)t no conjectures about the seat and 
 nature of delirium tremens, they avoid them as giving 
 rise to dangerous experiments ; but they adoi)t all of the 
 known reme<Ual means for application according to their 
 rule of [)ractice, in regard to the selection of remedies, 
 and they derive confirmation of their selections of reme- 
 dies from every well defined case which the records oi 
 the old methods furnish; as in the case of delirium tre- 
 mens properly detailed, they find their choice of opiunj, 
 which is pointed out by the symptoms, according to 
 IIouKcopathia, doubly assured by the good results con- 
 tained in the looser writings of Allopathia. 'J'iiero exists, 
 it appears to us, no reasonable objection to the allopathist 
 making use of Hahnemann's niethod, so far, at any rate, 
 as to help him to decide between two or three different 
 remedies, which have in his mind about e([ual claims : 
 thus, in a case oi' mania o potu, in which inunediate hel[) is 
 imperatively called for, why should he not be in the pos- 
 session of the momenta, which would plainly decide the 
 choice of a honioeopathist between oi)ium and ipecacu- 
 anha ? He is not, by such means of deciding this impor- 
 tant question, forced to adopt the extreme division of 
 doses which some homoeopathists would adopt ; he may 
 choose the more satisfactorily to his reason, and the more 
 safely for his patient, by the aids of Homccopathy, and 
 still, if he insist upon it, determine his dose by other 
 considerations. On the other hand, the homocopathist 
 may learn to distrust his over-caution as to doses, by 
 witnessing the sometimes (not very often) favourable issue 
 of even enormous doses of the same drugs, which, under 
 the same circumstances, he would, in obedience to 
 
 casi 
 
TO STUDY HOTH STSTEMR. 
 
 24 .'i 
 
 stomach, 
 le iiction 
 I of the 
 t peculiur 
 , in such 
 [> piitieiit, 
 uaiitities. 
 seat and 
 aH ^iviut; 
 , all of tlu! 
 it to tlicir 
 remedies*, 
 i of renie- 
 recovds of 
 lirium trc- 
 of opium, 
 -ordin«; to 
 \<ults con- 
 liere exists, 
 allopathirit 
 ,t any rate, 
 !e different 
 lal claims : 
 liate help is 
 in the pos- 
 decidc the 
 ul ipccacu- 
 this impor- 
 division of 
 )t; he may 
 lid the more 
 ipathy, and 
 jc by other 
 •mocopathist 
 ,0 doses, by 
 lurable issue 
 hich, under 
 bedience to 
 
 verba mat^irttri,* feel otherwise bound t»t exhibit in 
 itiji/iifrsiinals. 
 
 Allo))athist.'<, in jjfoneral, certainly assume veiy njuch 
 too hi^h a tone of contt nipt in nj^ard to the h-adiii;:; 
 doctrine of the new school. They should not tbij^el that 
 the do^ma, siuillia siinilifjiis curaiUiir may be written over 
 a great deal of their own practice, (with that dilUrence, 
 that their doscH are too large, and do harm.) 
 
 Do tlK'v not a[iply nux vomica, in paralysis ;f |>urges in 
 diarrho'a;| emetics, (particularly ipijcaciianha,) in small 
 doses, in obstinate vomiting; (tartar cmctii', in inilam- 
 mation of" the lungs, according to Kassori and Lacnnec. ) 
 Nor shonld it be forgotten that apoplr.n/ ran be caused 
 hi) hlood-lt'ttiiKf, contradictory us it may appear to the 
 speculative allopathist, and subversive as this astonishing 
 ])roposition may and must prove to the fundamental 
 dogmas of all allopathia. That ha>morrhages produce 
 ditiicult resj)iration, even stertor and aj)oj)lcctic coma, is 
 placed beyond a doubt, by the united testinujuy of many 
 eminent writers of the old school. 
 
 * Jurnrt' in vwrbn ma;;i»tri, is but ttie murk of a sliallow liriiin. Most 
 \vull-i'e(,'iiliited ininds ri'lim« to nr4:e<l)- to a iii'iipnttitioii wiinKe tPiiiifiicy \% 
 to excluMivencKM. The finiiient H(»n(uii|iati)i>t, Dr. lintli. In I'liriH, !t!iy> : 
 — Je considcre tmite theiTif, que ce soit (cIIl' (Ik rirritiilion on cflle dc la 
 psore, tout systeme, que I'auteur sapclle Brous^aiN, Hasori ou llaliiifinann, 
 coinine une route particniiui'o |t«Mir »"ji|ipr()(!lirr An la verile. II n'y a pas 
 uii ^eul systoinv, qu'il ait KulisiNtu liiiii;-t<'iiipN uii non, qui n'air iinic.laiiiti 
 qu«lque verite, et qui n'ait fait faire qiiitl(|UHs pas a la ^(;lent;(•. Alais aussi 
 il n y en u pas un beul qui ait ilonnu la vuriiu tout (>titiuri>. '1 nun iios 
 trax'aux, toutes nos connnisiiances ne sont que telnpo^air<■^ ; \\» st'cveitt <ln 
 transition, a quelque choHe <le inieux *>t inalheur ii la vaniiu qui rouiiirait 
 (le le reconnaitre, qui voudrait s'oppDser a la loi (hi prouro^ et (|U(> s'iina- 
 ^enerait renfermer en elle toute la science ! Quant a uioi, toule en re;;arilaiit 
 la uiethode specitique conKne oc(;iipant acluelleiiient le premier rani; |iar- 
 mi les doctrines inudicaleii. .le saluerai aveu jiiie Tinistant qui nous 
 iipportera une doctrine plus parfaite encore, tt cet instant viendnt. Revue 
 de la Medicine Specitique, Paris, 1842. 
 
 t The eminent Dr. Jahn, in Germany, cautions practitioners against the 
 too free use of strychnia in paralysis, as very small quantities, such n^i 
 |th, jlh, l-16th of a grain, have produced fatal results in many paralytic 
 cases. 
 
 % Purges ill diarrhosa, although the action may be homonopathically ex- 
 plained, yet they «ill never hv made use of by a hoinieopathic practitioner. 
 The primitive effect being too iitron^, the patients, particularly children, 
 »iiik under il. 
 
24Ci 
 
 DITY OK I'llYHlCIANH 
 
 IthliouMalstt 1)0 rciiK'Mihcivdjtliiit turlurt'iiieticliiwU'cn 
 i:.\liil)itcil\vith ^^rciitriiiccertu in nitoplixy; yettiirtiiremetic, 
 Mhortot' vomiting, will ()C('aiHi()iuilly|)riHlu(;e |)r(>loiiiul(;oiiui, 
 luul cnit'ticsi ccrtiiiniy proclucc very Herioiw con^^estioiw. 
 The olHorviitioii of biich pnirtioal triitli.s luw led miiiiy h 
 oarcl'iil tliiitkcr to rcwpcct tliu researches ami doctrinetj 
 firdt i)r(>iiiul<^ated by Samuel llahiieiiianti ; and their 
 recurrence — for nature is true to herself, and they will 
 recur — inurtt finally ehauf^e the tone of the profeasion 
 concernin<^ lionKeopathia. The time in certainly not fur 
 distant, when the lew who lead in allopathia, will find u 
 remark made hy Morvcau, respecting chemical theories, 
 ut the time when that science was burstinj^ its shapeless 
 chrysalis mould, e(|ually aj)plicable to medicine: — "Wo 
 never i)roHt more than by those unexpected results of 
 experiments which contracted our anaU)gies and precon- 
 ceived theories;" and, when that day arrives, the ultra 
 honi(eo[)athiHt ninst, we think, be ready to retrace many a 
 Btepof Jissumption in reference todoses, which the wide and 
 manifold ex[)erience of the great body of the profession 
 may expose. Both must quit the pernicious and dis- 
 honest practice of cxplainiiKj aiiay the unexpected results 
 which contradict their theoretic prejudices. It is wiser, 
 with Cicero, frankly to admit our humble position : — 
 " Prcastdt luituroi twee doceri, quain ingeniu iuu sajxre." 
 
 The allopathlst must inevitably cease to dream that 
 he explains the mode by which o})Ium cures delirium 
 tremens, by talking of heightened or shortened, blunted 
 or sharpened, vitality in the brain or stomach, or else- 
 where ;* and the homa'opathlst must cease to assert that 
 ipecacuanha will operate in excessively small doses, 
 
 * About fifteen years ago, there existed in Germany n Medical School, 
 which was called, " Die Natui-P/iilosophische Schule," (The Natural- 
 Philosophical School.) In practice, the usual method was applied, ns, 
 bleedin,;, leeching, purging, vomiting, &c. ; but in theory, explanations 
 were given, about the etfects of these means, in a language which nobody 
 could understand. It would have appeared too unlearned to speak plain ; 
 tu speak and write in prose sounds too familiar. No ! Poetry is the thing. 
 A professor must be poetical. The Germans have got over their reveries, 
 hut the present English medical authors have taken the infection. In 
 practice, as usual, calomel, blue-pills, senna and talts, excessive bleeding. 
 
TO 8Ti;i>Y UOTIl SYiJTEMrt. 
 
 247 
 
 I' I lie tic, 
 (.Icoiiui, 
 estioiiri. 
 many li 
 DCtriut'ri 
 d their 
 icy will 
 ut'ertrtioii 
 iu)t far 
 11 liiul u 
 tliooricrt, 
 hupclcrtri 
 — « Wo 
 jriults of 
 procuu- 
 ,hc ultra 
 c many a 
 wide and 
 irofcsiiion 
 and dia- 
 ' rcsulta 
 16 wiser, 
 sition : — 
 
 I ])(•!'€.'''' 
 
 vni that 
 delirium 
 
 blunted 
 
 or else- 
 sert that 
 
 I doscH, 
 
 ical School, 
 le Nutural- 
 npplied, as, 
 >xplaiiatiuii!i 
 licli nobody 
 peak plain ; 
 is tlie iWwii. 
 eir reverii'M, 
 iction. Ill 
 ve bleeding. 
 
 Itt'can^e mcivury (locn, and that the infiiiite.simal.H of all 
 (lie nii'dicini's are at all times better, nnfer, and more 
 **ni(.'aciouH than the ru<ler ])re|iaratioiis and huyer (jiian- 
 tltiea. 
 
 It irt at all times ass(>rted hy the alhipathists, that the 
 n(!W method does not re(|uire a knowledge of the nature 
 of disease, that it in fact iVjwiHjxifholot/t/, and that, there- 
 fore, it manifestly is nnworthy tlu; attention of leartied 
 men. This certainly is an error which many sentences 
 in the *' Ori^anon of the IIearm<? Art" have contribntinl 
 to conlirm. It is hy no means im[)ossil)le that Hahne- 
 mann has {.(one somethin<j; beyond proper limits-, in his 
 en{i;rossin<ij zeal for the rejection of the hypothesis of the 
 books — a few of his oldest and ablest disciples think he 
 rejects more of this 8j)ecies of reasonin<2; thn it is needful 
 ov proper to reject. Wc, however, arc unwilling to tender 
 a judj^ment in the slightest degree reflecting discredit 
 upon any part of that great work ; and after many years 
 patient study, wc feel rather disposed to doubt the fact 
 of his rejecting pathology an a distinct and important part 
 
 Sec. Hut tliR theorit'H — the explanation!) given, why calomel pnTges, afTectii 
 the liver, inakex the mouth vore, Ike. ; why opium is aNoporifir.&c. ; theHH 
 are nothing but the work of a sickly imagination. Rilling explaining thn 
 efff ct8 of opium in delirium tremcnt), makes the following remark : — " The 
 stimulant natcntic opium, or the simple narcotic morphiit, Hhould be used — 
 not the seditlive narcotic lii/osci/amus, which, itself, produces delirum 
 tremens?" Hynscynmuses, like all other narcotics, produce a species of 
 delirum, but certainly not delirium tremens. Had the doctor seen many 
 opium-enters together in Asia, observed their wild pranks, cutting capers 
 drunkard-like, he would have become convinced, at once, that: opium in- 
 toxication is similar to the effects of alcohol ; and that opium, alone, in 
 most cases create phantasmata, very similar tu those who are under the 
 intluenco of ardent spirits. 
 
 '* The standard writers of the present day, (says an Americitn author,*) 
 on Materia Medica and Therapeutics, are constantly indulging in what 
 they may deem very philrsophical, but in what seems to us very fanciful 
 explanations of the intiin.ite and peculiar actions of medicines on the living 
 tissues with which they c^me in contact, or which they may affect more 
 remotely. More pages are often taken up with elaborate disquisitions on 
 the hidden, mysterious, and utterly unascertainable method of the operation 
 of remedies, than are given to the therapeutical properties and uses them- 
 selves." 
 
 " Review in the American Journal of Medical Science, August, 1837, 
 on Professor Dungleson's work, '• General Therapeutics, or Principles of 
 Medical Practice." 
 
:^48 
 
 DITY iir FMYSIflAN*; 
 
 of medical cdiicrition, and to constriK! the tenor of his 
 remarks In reference to tlii.s suhjeet, as rather rejecting 
 the loose and hold modes of the i)atholoiiieal reasoninir 
 hitherto prevalent, than as entirely discarding pathology.* 
 
 T !»niiulit, Intfly, n linctk nt an Auction. \vlii(^li licars tlie followitii; 
 title : — Di'i-iiiH/ejnciits, I'riiiinri/ !iii(| Reflex, of tlif oriiiius of l)i|;P8tioii, witli 
 ;iii .-idditiiiii (■iiiitaiiiiii>> Xuticcs of Urundi/ mid Suit, Jfamivupat/ii/, the Cnlii 
 Wafer Tieiitment. Lifliiu's new vieus in Aniinii! Cticmistry, witli n ncu- 
 HipiImk' of trt'iitiiii; ('iisi's of /''«Hf//o««/ [^eunilyiu. By tlie Author. JJy 
 Roni-:iiT Dn'K, !M. J)., Author of a Tre.uttse on Diet and Itegimeii, 
 ndinhnrijh. .'580 p.-igps. 
 
 Till' Ixiinhastic title iiloiio may, to a certnin extent, suffice to judge of 
 the intrinsic value of the contents of the hool<. There is hardly a pa^H 
 which does not contain more or less paper spiiilerl, and worse than spnilerl, 
 with explanations to which the words of the great hard of nature may 
 he applied, " () judgment, thou art Jlcd to brtttish beasts, and nien have 
 lost their teaaon." 
 
 liet us hear some of his arguments. Flatulence, the " meieorisme" of 
 Louis and Andral, it is to he observed, whether [iroceeding i'r(nn stomachic 
 dehiliti/, or from improper food. Flatulence of the c(dciTi may, as LouIm 
 justly remarks, he ^' pendinil la vie la cause d'un profond malaise" may 
 I'orm " nil grand obstacle ji taction de viscures de rabdomen et de la 
 poitrine," may "' masque" the stomach, l)y lying in front of it, and deceive 
 us info belief of hepatization of the lower part of the right lung, by pressing 
 the liver up within the usual limit of the thorax. Will llatulence ever 
 deceive a sound observer into belief of sfune organic affections of the 
 lung ? ! — 
 
 AVhat is the precise modus operandi of leeching in the ensiform 
 cartiloge ? 
 
 " I have already stated my belief, that besides the effect produced by the 
 .'(bstraction of blood from the epigastrium, whiiih, from the circuitousness 
 of its operation on the citomach, canimt be considered in any other light 
 than that of a general blood-letting (? — ,) the henelit must be owing to 
 the rechnttion of the tempemture of the abdominal parietes in contact with 
 the stoma<-h ; (if that is the object, will cold water not answer as well ?) 
 and pMssibly, also, to some <;onsequent alteration in the chemical! and 
 electiicul relations ! of the parts there. I have endeavoured, elsewhere, to 
 ex)ilain the way in which contiguiuis parts communicate their vascular 
 irritation to each other when in juxta-position, yat without dny direct con- 
 nexion by vessels or nerves. (?! ) //'(If) that explanation be just, 
 it is easy to see how the epigastrium will, sooner or later, be affected liy the 
 heightened temperature of an irritated stomach ; and becoming itself 
 irritated, will, by the increase of its own temperature, reflect irritation in 
 its turn on the stomach / .' Iiy reducing the vascular excitement and heat 
 of the |)art secondarilg affected, will exert an iuHuence on the part primarilg 
 irritated, bg annihilating the reflex irritation of the secondarily affected part. 
 It is probable that blisteis and warm plasters also intluence the chemical 
 and electrical relations of the parts over which they are placed, and of 
 subjacent tissues or organs." 
 
 Such produ(!tions the old school calls wisdom. "What is to be learned 
 from such a giblierrish, or jargon ! and what does the book end with ? 
 With some purges : — 
 
 1. Aloes, assii-ffBtida, extract of rubarb. of each a scruple, divided in fifteen 
 
 pills; oni\ two. or three, may be taken each night. 
 3. The compound senna composition is also an innocent purge. 
 
 scro 
 
 enti 
 
 the 
 
 disc; 
 
 darii, 
 
 to tl 
 
 fortl 
 
 to pr 
 
 marl 
 
 deals 
 
TO ST[ DY UOTH SYSTKMS. 
 
 LMy 
 
 of liis 
 
 jectlng 
 isoninf? 
 oloffv.* 
 
 foUiiwiiii; 
 tiiiii, wiiJi 
 
 f, fhp <'"/«' 
 
 thor. Hy 
 Regimen, 
 
 » jildfic of 
 Uy a pi»i:« 
 all s|)iiili'<l. 
 lature may 
 men have 
 
 mrisme ni 
 fi sto inn chic 
 r, as Louis 
 laise" may 
 III »!t (le 111 
 and deceive 
 by prwbsin* 
 iileiice ever 
 0118 of the 
 
 le ensiform 
 
 uced by the 
 
 •cuitousneas 
 
 ither light 
 
 owing to 
 oiitact witli 
 
 as well ?) 
 mical ! and 
 sewhere, to 
 ir vascular 
 direct con- 
 m be just, 
 yc'i:ted hy the 
 )ming itself 
 
 ritution in 
 ttt and heat 
 rt prima rill/ 
 ffected part, 
 le chemical 
 
 ed, and of 
 
 be learned 
 end with ? 
 
 led in fifteen 
 
 Sound and aeeunite physloli»<riciil knowledge ia cer- 
 tui.'dy possessed by most if" not all the writers of the new 
 echool. It is evinced by the j^rouping of the syniptonui 
 in the Materia INIedica, to whieh very many of them have 
 largely contributed ; and, also, by the arrangement of 
 morbid phenomena in their published eases of homa'opu- 
 
 3. Take of rhnharli root, one ounce ; senna leaves, an ounce ; boiltnfr 
 
 water, twelve ounces ; extract of danileiioii, one ounce ; acetate of 
 potass, six drams; tincture of •rentiaii, half an ounce, will be found 
 very efficient. 
 
 4. If a pill b-> desired ; take of the u'.uc pill mass, one dram and u half; 
 
 of |irecip'itated sulphiiret of antiiiioiiy, half a drum; of guujac guni- 
 rcsiii, two drams — divide in five grains pills. 
 
 This injudicious scribbler lias the arrogance of pronouncing Ilomveo- 
 patby an immurul ux well as a Jhlne and cisiontiry system. And what 
 knowledge has he or any of his vonjreteg ahuut the system ? ! Yes I 
 the knowledge to slander and to revile it. 
 
 " Various are the expedients fallen upon by our opponents to prejudice 
 llomwopathy in the minds of the public; {^siiys Di. Black,') n great ma- 
 jority, trusting to misrepresentations, and a few, we are forced to say, (like 
 Dr. Thick,') actuated by a malevolent spirit : all betraying a woeful igno- 
 rance of the subject, all busily attacking, not Homienpathy, but a man of 
 5traw, a system of their own creation, which, Don Quixote-like, they have 
 overthrown again and again." 
 
 One of the most common modes adopted of disposing of our cures is, to 
 deny the facts as they are related by us. No matter whether the facts are 
 clearly described, nut admitting of a doubt that they are such and such 
 diseases ; no matter whether they are related by men of greater experience, 
 better informed, and quite as reputed for honesty and candour as those 
 who deny the facts; notwithstanding all this corroborative evidence, the 
 mere i.otion that they are homoiopathic, that they are opposed to the ordi- 
 nary treatment, condemns them. The argument is just this — A. has never 
 cured a case, as H. declares he has; and, therefore, A. insists that it can- 
 not he done. Is this rational or philosophical ? If our evidence, without 
 examination, is scouted at, upon what premises can we reason? Is it just 
 to condemn before being judged? 
 
 The diseases the homoBopathist is most confident of curing, are those of 
 cliildren at the breast, in them no diet is employed, and surely there can 
 be no imagination exercised by the helpless infant: it must then be nature; 
 hut if nature is sufficient to effect a cure, why do our opponents torture 
 them with physic? I^et such of our opponents as attribute our cures to 
 diet, nature, and imagination, honestly examine the recorded homoiopatbic 
 cures of the disuases of children, of cholera, inflammation of the lungs, of 
 scrofulous diseases, of gout and rheumatism, and if they can still consci- 
 entiously attribute them to diet, nature, and imagination, let them mark 
 the dilemma into which they fall. Such avowals are simply this, that 
 diseases incurable by allopathy, or against which the most violent and 
 dangerous measures are used, are cured by homoeopathy, whi(h agreeable 
 to their views, is simply diet, nature, and imagination. Let them give 
 forth to the public this much-to-be-desired information; let thiam continue 
 to preach, as virtually they do, that medicine is a humbug; but let them 
 mark, in their blindness, tl le weapons they wield against homoeopathy, 
 deals the covp de grace to allopathy. 
 
 GO 
 
2.'i(> 
 
 1)1 TV OK 1>HYSI(IAN!S 
 
 I:*,. 
 
 thic treatment. StJipf's iVreliives, ILirtmann's Tlierii- 
 peutics of Acute Diseases, and Ilahnemaiui's own great 
 Avork on Chronic jNIaladics, certainly exhibit strong 
 evidence of the virtue of phys^iology, in the arrangement 
 of practical writings. 
 
 It is not, however, by giving blindllng technology to 
 the wild speculations of the doctor, concerning the seat 
 and nature of diseases, that i)liy slology proves of service ; 
 but in a far simpler, safer, and more tangible manner. 
 For example : the homa>oj)athic physician makes use of 
 his physiology to aid him in detecting the essential and 
 durable symptoms in a case of disease, (esiiecially in a 
 dangerous and frequent one, as some epidemics,) and to 
 enable him, as far as possible, to distinguish such symp- 
 toms from those commonly called consensual or sympto- 
 matic; and this distinction is made, not for the purpose of 
 divining hidden and inexplicable causes, as in Allopatliia, 
 but for the plainest and most important practical end. 
 
 The homocopathlst wishes to know which of the suf- 
 ferings of his patient it is necessary to cover with the 
 greatest exactitude, by his j)athogcnetic calendar ; to 
 know which circle of functions, or which single function, 
 it Is most important he should I'cach and control with his 
 remedy ; and physiology is his guide, and excepting 
 some few empirical observations, which now and then in 
 the practice are haply analogous, it Is his only guide. 
 The u. ' ipathist, on the other hand, makes use of phy- 
 siology to help him to frame notions of the seat and na- 
 ture of disease, which he calls par excellence pathology. 
 (Like Dr. Wood's and Dr. Dick's notions.) He appears, 
 also, to make physiology subserve the same purpose as 
 the homocopathlst actually executes with It ; he tries to 
 determine the essential and Important symptoms, but it 
 is to get at the characteristic state, the proximate cause, 
 rather than to help him in the choice of remedies ; he 
 blends the pathology and physiology together, not to 
 choose remedies, l)ut to help him to ac(j[ulre ol)jectlvo 
 ideas of the nearest cause, always assuming, mentally, 
 that the medication will go on well of course, by itself, 
 
 l.y 
 ui( 
 
 /ii/i 
 
TO STl UY BOTH SYSTEMS. 
 
 231 
 
 n great 
 
 strong 
 
 lo-euicnt 
 
 ulogy to 
 the seat 
 ■ service ; 
 manner. 
 es vise of 
 ntial and 
 lally in a 
 5,) an'l to 
 ch synip- 
 r sympto- 
 pnrpose of 
 Ulopatliia, 
 cal end. 
 )f the suf- 
 r with the 
 lendar ; to 
 ,c function, 
 ■ol with hid 
 excepting 
 .nd then in 
 Lilly gnidc. 
 Isc oi' pl^y- 
 lat and na- 
 pathology. 
 ;c appears, 
 purpose as 
 jhe tries to 
 inis, but it 
 \mate cause, 
 medics; he 
 |her, not to 
 •c objective 
 mentally. 
 
 as it were, if lie can only kn(jw the cause, for he is beset 
 with his ignis fatuus, " toUe causain." What wonder 
 tiiat such intatuatiou of physiology should never lead to 
 sound and appreciable results.* 
 
 Without physiology, the honuvopathic physician would 
 be obliged, as laymen and mountebank ini{)ostors are, 
 ( ii'c hiivc many such in the lionidoputhic achnol, ) to treat 
 by collecting numerically one row of sym^jtoins with 
 anotlu;r, comparing merely two registers, the one of dis- 
 ease and the other of the drug symptoms. The attempt 
 
 by itself, 
 
 • Tolle cansum ! To trace the proximate cavse In diseases has always 
 been the hohhij-lwrse of medical men. How is tliis to be discovered V 
 Who will lift the veil which man's creator has interposed? Who can 
 unravel the mysteries of nature? 
 
 " Telluric, atmospheric, electrical, |>alvanic, lunar inlluences. Sympa- 
 thetic affections, imitation, how utterly incompetent the faculties of man 
 are to (;rasp them in the slii^htest deijree ! distressing; news, a word mis- 
 construed — nay ; love or hope, noon or ni};ht, music, colours — everythini; 
 has its own peculiar power over us. I^i;fht or darkness, cold or heat, 
 veni^eance, pity, hatred, avarice, fear, how little material are all these 
 inlluences! yet they avail not only to chan^;e the traits, the state the 
 structure of our bodies, but, under certain circumstances, give birth to long 
 and painful maladies." 
 
 Chancellor Bacon was subject to syncope, during eclipses of the moon. 
 A younf? ijirl is reported by IlofVmann, as labouring under an extraordinary 
 painful swelling, beginning and tinishing with the increase and decrease of 
 the moon, &c. Dr. Jackson states, that in Ja.naica, the febrile intermit- 
 tent and lunar periods correspond. Dr. Lind observed the same phenome- 
 non, and adds, that deaths occur mostly during the ebb of the tide, and 
 that eclipses ]iroduce dangerous relapses in those ills of fever. I\I. de 
 
 Ilumbold mentions the case of a noble lady, the Countess de K r, who 
 
 lost her voice when the sun disappeared, and only recovered it at his 
 rising in the morning. The tables of mortality in England have also 
 shown the preponderance in the ninnber of deaths is regulated by the sea- 
 son, and that those months commonly considered the most fatal are not so 
 in fact. At the approach of the thunder storms, and still more during 
 those electrical states of the clouds, which so often occur, without any vio- 
 lent explosion, men and animals are atfected with peculiar sensations — 
 uneasiness, heaviness, torpor, headache ; and at such periods, persons of 
 certain nervous temperaments catiniit move out, without danger to their 
 health. In I7(i2, a bed-ridden Kentish shepherd, palsied by an apoplectic 
 seizure, suifering constantly from palpitations, convulsions, was suddetily 
 cured by an electric shock he experienced in his bed. How heavy was 
 the dose, I would ask the allopathic doctor, that cured this man? In 
 sickness, light and sound aggravate, or even occasionally produce fever, 
 fear, anger, all strong excitement may kill on the spot, &.c. &c. 
 
 The causes of man's sulFerings, as yoa perceive, are not so easily trace«l 
 by coming and going, seeing the tongue, feeling the pulse, which concludes 
 with that hcic/tnrt/ ])hruse, I think vour stomach is out of order. T<i/ie 
 pilh .1 
 
 '■ It is the very error nf tlii! moon. She comes moi'e near tlir e:ii'lh 
 than tthe was wont, and makes men mad, — f>i/iell<>. 
 
252 
 
 DUTY OF PHYSICIANS* 
 
 to decide upon analogies, between natural and dnig dis- 
 eases, requires, absolutely, a recognition of the functions 
 of the several organs, separately considered, and, as far 
 as possible, a comprehensive and minute recognition of 
 the dynamic relations between remote and anatomically 
 separate organs ; as, for example, the consensual relation 
 between the kidneys and the skin, or between the skin 
 and the lunris or stomach, and the like. Without this 
 kind of knowledge, and a great deal of it is extant in the 
 medical world, it would occur tha^ apparent similarities 
 would be adopted as i-cal, and acted u[)on when there were 
 real and essential dissimilarities. No one unacquainted 
 with physiology, can be competei.t to decide upon the 
 similarities which must be ascertained clearly ])efore 
 choosing a remedy, agreeably to the fundamental rules 
 of Homoeopathy. 
 
 The homoiopathist must also, as far as possible, know 
 the morbid sympathies between separate organs, the most 
 Interesting and im})ortant part of pathological research, 
 not so much on account of the plausible speculations he 
 may make in respect to etiology and semiology, as for 
 the direct practical aid he derives from this knowledge 
 in ascertaining similarities, i. e., in choosing remedies. 
 The difterence between the two schools respecting phy- 
 siology and pathology is not, therefore, properly as to 
 the fact of their forming a part of medical studies, but as 
 to the manner in which these branches of knowledge shall 
 be applied in the art of healing. 
 
 The allopathist begins his study and a^jpllcatlon of 
 pathology in the " theory of fever, ^^ which composes the 
 greater part of his Institutes of medicine, and a cursory 
 examination of this subject avIU serve to Illustrate what 
 we have before asserted respecting the universal appli- 
 cation of physiology and pathology to the practice ac- 
 cording to Allopathla. The predominant theories of 
 fever at the present time are, 1. That of Broussais 
 Insisting that it Is in all cases essentially a commotion of 
 the pvstem, caused bv an inflammation of tlie mucous 
 surface of the stomach and bowel? ; 2. The theory of 
 
TO STirnY noTU systlms. 
 
 2r>.'i 
 
 •ug dis- 
 inctioiiri 
 !, as far 
 itiou of 
 )inically 
 relation 
 the skin 
 out tliift 
 lit in the 
 nilarlties 
 lerc were 
 quainted 
 ipon tlie 
 y before 
 ital rules 
 
 )le, know 
 , the most 
 
 research, 
 lations he 
 ky, as for 
 ;no\vlcdge 
 
 remedies, 
 ting phy- 
 2rly as to 
 
 ies, but as 
 
 edge shall 
 
 Ication of 
 poses the 
 a cursory 
 rate what 
 rsal appli- 
 actice ac- 
 heories of 
 
 Broussais 
 amotion of 
 le mucou? 
 
 theory ol 
 
 Cluttcrbuck, that fever is always caused hy infiamniatiou 
 «jf th' ')rain and its membranes ; and 3. The idea ol* Dr. 
 South vvood Smith, that fever consists in three series ol" 
 symptoms, the first of which is an irritation in the ner- 
 vous system, ^-c. AVith precisely the same [)hysiological 
 facts before them, these three masters in All(>i)athia, with 
 their several followers, insist with equid vehemence each, 
 that his doctrine is par cxccllcnrt' the physiological expo- 
 sition of fever, and that the others a)'e wliolly erroneous. 
 Each resorts to the dvnamic relations oi' the several 
 functions, that is to say, tiie natural and morbid sympa- 
 thies between the organs, to substantiate Jiis system, and 
 to overthrow those of the other two. " Such are the con- 
 tradictory extremes," says Dr. Ebcrle, " to which thcori/ 
 is ai)t to lead the understanding." If for tlie word 
 " theory," we sul)stitute the phrase, " the vain attempt 
 to divine the hidden nearest cause of disease, by decep- 
 tive appeals to physiology," we concur most heartily in 
 the doctor's objurgation. After framing the hypothesis, 
 the farther use of j)hysiology is abandoned. It is not, 
 therefore, of any real value in allopathic practice ; it does 
 not contribute any sul)stantial basis upon M'liich the 
 remedial means are chosen, as in riom(jco])athIa ; the 
 hypothesis, commonly called etiology or genei'al pathology 
 of fever, built out of the facts of physiology, however 
 fanciful, gratuitous, or absiu-d it may be, usurps the })lace 
 and offices of such facts, and governs the medication. 
 The discrepancy between these hypothesis, based upon 
 the same data, and bearing about equal ])lausil)ility, 
 should, it appears to us, create a salutary cc^nvlction of 
 their weakness, and awaken quite another sentiment than 
 the pride of utility and exactitude, which is a false 
 characteristic of allopathic writings. 
 
 The real fevers, those of miasmatic origin, as, for 
 example, fever and ague are, when at all palpably cured 
 by drugs, cured by such as contradict the pathologic 
 dreams of the writers. The most efficient remedies in 
 fever and ague are quinine. l>lack pepper, arsenic, coflec. 
 
2.14 
 
 DITY OF I'llYSU'IANS 
 
 wine, SiC. According to which of tliorfc hypotliusin 
 rc!:t|)ectinf]j the proxliiuite Ciiiiric, is hliick popjxii- simi)o?«L'(.l 
 to cure an inteniiittent? That dvug i.s not, iiccoi'uin<; to 
 jMlopathia, caj)abli! ofdiniinishinj^ f;aritritiH, or phrcnitis, 
 nor is it very allo[»atI»ic to say that |)ej)iH!rs will allay 
 irritation of" the nervous strueturcs. By what mode of 
 lo<^ie can a IJroussaisist explain the cure of his ijastro- 
 eiiteritc, the Hine qua non of fever, by pepper, quinine, or 
 any dru;^ that does actually destroy fever ? He dare not 
 call these drugs tonics, stinudants, roborantia, and cannot 
 deny that they irritate, inHanie, or stinmlatc. What can 
 lie do with his fever patient, and act consistently toward 
 his fever pathology ? Nothing but to refuse him b(jth 
 food and remedies till he dies, or gets well of himself, 
 neither of which events occur very speedily in an inter- 
 mittent fever. Such is actually the practice in the 
 " systcme nouvelle [)liysiologi([ue."'* The adherents of 
 this scluMil must either deny their fundamental pathelogy, 
 or be a very long time indeed in curing their cases of 
 intermittents. This inconsistency is clearly set forth by 
 allopathists opposed to the school of Broussais ; but these 
 writers nowhere f^pi'ly the same practice as an olyection 
 to their own pathologies. It is equally absurd for 
 Clutterbuck or Southwood Smith, or their inujcnious 
 annotator Dr. Eberle, to attempt to reconcile a cure of 
 an intermittent by either of the remedies cited, upon 
 their respective hypothesis of the disease, as it is for 
 J^roussais. By which possible turn of allopathic inven- 
 tion can it be shown that black pepper, or red peppei-, oi- 
 quinine, or arsenic, or coftee, or any other remedy is 
 enabled to cure an inflanmiation in the brain, or in the 
 
 * I have seen in Paris some ultra-Broussaisists curing febres intermit- 
 tenti's in the followiii;; manner : — They apply a blister in the regit) epit;;is- 
 trica, and when sufficiently drawn remove the skin, and put quinine upon 
 the bare surface, covering it with empl. ndhesivum. Their idea is that the 
 " gaistro-entcrite" would not allow the use of this remedy internally, and 
 externally applied it will be more safe, and answer the purpose just as well. 
 I have seen this method prove successful in many eases. How larj;e was 
 the quantity of quinine absorbed in the system that cured the intermittent 
 fevers ? 
 
supposed 
 
 Di-Uin^ tu 
 )luvuiti>5, 
 vill alluy 
 mode of 
 is (jastru- 
 Li'mine, or 
 J dare not 
 ud cuiuiot 
 What can 
 Lly toward 
 him botli 
 )f' hiiusclf, 
 an intcr- 
 ice in the 
 Ihercnts of 
 pathology, 
 ir CJises ol 
 set forth by 
 1; but these 
 11 objeetion 
 absurd for 
 iniicnious 
 a euro of 
 iited, upon 
 IS it is for 
 lie inven- 
 pepper, or 
 remedy is 
 ov in the 
 
 ■bres int«rinit- 
 le les'io cpi^iis- 
 quiiiine upon 
 idea is that the 
 iiteiiiiiUy, ami 
 se just as well. 
 low lar^e wmn 
 le iiiteiiniittMil 
 
 TO STLDY UOTH SYSTKMsl. 
 
 25J 
 
 nuMiibrane.s of the brai i — or in tlie hning membrane (jf 
 the blood-vessels, as Ebcrle supposes, or to remove any 
 irritation in the nervous system. 
 
 Tliese are eertainlv the main indieations of euro, 
 if the etiology be correet. And why are they not pursued ? 
 why, in every instance of fever, and in fact, every other 
 disease, in which a drug is found to act as a positive 
 remedy, as a specific, are these sage results of physiology, 
 these etiologic indications of cure, wholly abandoned and 
 lost sight of — nay, absolutely contradicted, in most cases? 
 Is it not because there has been no just application of 
 physiology to therapeutics in the old school ? We con- 
 tend, as before stated, that the new school possess the 
 true key to the rightful and efficient application of ])hy- 
 siological knowledge in the practice, and wc think it by 
 no means impertinent to ui'ge the study of the homoeo- 
 pathic mode, as a means of enal)ling allopathists to supply 
 this very palpable deficiency in the ordinary exercise of 
 their art. 
 
 With respect to semiology, (diagnosis and prognosis,) 
 the well educated in both schools concur in esteeming 
 physiology as the basis for observation, and as indispen- 
 sable to sound judgments; and no unprejudiced allopathist 
 Avill think of asserting that the enlightened disciples of 
 Hahnemann are, by their pains-taking accuracy as to all 
 the signs and sufferings of disease, qualified from making 
 as adroit and sound an application of physiological know- 
 ledge to this department of medicine, as their allopathic 
 brethren are in the habit of doing. 
 
 If there be homoeopathists who deny physiology and 
 pathology to be useful, nay, even essential aids to therapia, 
 we beg leave to state our most unqualified disapprobation 
 of such a preposterous idea. They cannot, it appears to 
 us, determine similarities without such knowledge. It is 
 not enough to find two rows of symptoms that appear to 
 he similar, the sufferings must be parallel as to occasional 
 causes, as to times of day, attitudes of l)ody, motion and 
 rest, &c., and more especially, as to their order in reference 
 
2.V} 
 
 DUTY OK PHYSICIANS, KTC. 
 
 tu thiiir essciitiiil, or iirirmiry iind ctiHiml, or Hyiiiptonmtio 
 rliiiracttir, Jiiid the powtjr of (HMtin!i;uisirnif;f l)ot\vecn the 
 idiojxilhic iuul the si/nipfoinatir,'* In rcj^ard to 8utKnur)<^s, 
 the phcuoineim of disease caimot be conferred upon any 
 person ijjnorant of physiology. 
 
 * Tt N<>enm to int) (hut t)ie i>tnini*iit ullopiithist. Dr. Dick, fnim the city 
 of I^l^Ulbll^^h, iinmt Up n vory itrofourid rhyNiii)(i(;iHt iitid I'litholo^^JHt, in 
 iiiiikint; a stomach full of wind nppenr to bo uii ulTectiuii ui' thu luiij;. 
 Wbiit u juil^jineut ! A second Daiiiul indeed! 
 
iiptoiimtic 
 ween the 
 
 upon any 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 11. KDirCATIONAL UEQUIREMENTS OF THE lIOM(E0l'ATIirC 
 
 niYSICIAN. 
 
 rimi tl'B city 
 iit>iulo^;ii«t, ill 
 of thu lull);. 
 
 II r TUB SAME AUTIIOn. 
 
 It w erroneously supposed by many intelligent persons 
 in this country, that lioinocopathi.sts do not belong to the 
 medical lu'ofession, or arc not recognized as physicians 
 l)y the laws of the land. 
 
 This mistake sliould be rectified. It has arisen In 
 part, no doubt, from the ill offices of those of our pro- 
 fession of the old school, who, though associating with 
 us in medical Colleges and Societies, are willing to sac- 
 rifice truth at the shrine of prejudice. There are a few 
 quacks who pretend to practice medicine in our mode, 
 with precisely the same kind of falsehood as thousands of 
 pretenders and mountebanks offer their services to the 
 public as allopathic physicians; but all those who aro 
 recognized as adherents of homocopathia by Hahnemann 
 and his disciples, are legally licensed as physicians, and, 
 after being thus admitted to the profession, have pursued 
 the other and farther researches which belong peculiarly 
 to our school.* Tiic quack of either school should be 
 
 * The advantage which the old school practitioner takes of the ignorance 
 of the public is, to nail Hom(vopathy quackery^ and those who practice it 
 as n *^ conditio sine qua non" must therefore be quacks. Although the 
 public is well aware, at least the well-informed, that every medical prac- 
 titioner, particularly in British dominions, must prove liy examination and 
 diplom.is that he has received a regular medical education, without which 
 the law would not grant him a license to practice ; still our allopathic 
 brethren keep their iron sway. Inquisition like, over the mind of the public, 
 watching their actions, and prejudicing them against us. Such malicious 
 proceedings may retard the progress of a science for a little while, but 
 '* truth is omnipotent and mil prevail" Let it be understood that I am a 
 regular practitioner, and that I have received from the first Colleges In 
 Europe, in the United States, and also in Canada, the permission to 
 hleed, to blister, to purge, to vomit, to calomelize, &c., if I chose to do so. 
 I make here, also, the public confession, that I -insider the common 
 practice injurious, and that I always thought that systematic way of 
 'Iroguing, prescribing medicines at random, a great evil to mankind. 
 
 im 
 
258 
 
 EDUCATIONAL UEQUIUKMENTtfl OF 
 
 equally rejected by both, ns a worthlcnH iinpofltor, whose 
 repugnance to the humble toiln, by which honcHt men ot" 
 the ignorant cliisriea acciuirca Hubsi.steiicc, liaH led him to 
 assume the insignia of a profession whose every avemic in 
 overshadowed by the most sacred trusts and respon- 
 sibilities. Devoid alike of conscience and of knowledge, 
 the quack crawls, with lying pretences, to both, into the 
 chambers of sorrow and death, a poor, blind, inii)otent 
 spectator of sufltbrings which call for the sagacious masters 
 of the sublime art of healing, in tones to which Chris- 
 tianity and civilization respond with holy solicitude. 
 
 Well and truly did the venerable Ilufeland say, in his 
 last great testament to the medical profession, " Every 
 sick man is a temple of nature." The echo of footsteps, 
 which are lawful within the sacred precints of that tem- 
 ple, fill the bosom of the conscientious physician with 
 painful emotion. His brow is corrugate with premature 
 lines of a care which the world knows not. lie expects 
 to give an account of his work ; he knows that his work 
 is fraught with profound results. By what imhallowed 
 license does the venal quack, the son of itUeness and 
 ignorance, usurp the place of the true priest at the altar 
 of science and humanity ! 
 
 The false pretender to homoeopathic knowledge and 
 skill is, in our estimation, by so much the more deserving 
 of exposure and contempt, as our method is more difficult 
 of acquirement, and more beneficent in its proper admin- 
 istration than that of our allopathic brethren. Not that 
 wc would bo understood to palliate in the slightest de- 
 grcci the inhuman offence of a mere pretender to their 
 method, but that we hold his offence to be aggravated 
 and injurious to society, who lays false claim not only to 
 the important branches of our science, which both schools 
 assiduously cultivate in common, (surgery and mid- 
 wifery,) but also to the possession of the pharmacology 
 and therapeutic philosophy which we have acquired, in 
 addition to the research of the old school. 
 
 We shall now proceed to demonstrate the necessity of 
 a higher grade of scientific and literary acquirements, on 
 
 tl 
 
 tl 
 
THE UOMtKOl'ATUIC IMIYSK'IAN. 
 
 250 
 
 , whoflc 
 men ot" 
 , him to 
 venue w 
 rcspon- 
 )W ledge, 
 into the 
 mpotent 
 \ masters 
 li Chris- 
 udc. 
 
 ay, in his 
 « Every 
 [botstcps, 
 that tem- 
 jian with 
 ircmaturc 
 c expects 
 his work 
 ahallowed 
 csncss and 
 the altar 
 
 ledge and 
 deserving 
 re difficult 
 )er admin- 
 Not that 
 htest de- 
 • to their 
 ggravated 
 lot only to 
 )th schools 
 and mid- 
 xmacology 
 squired, in 
 
 ecessity of 
 ements, on 
 
 the part of the hom<Topathic pmctitioner, than is for 
 pructieal purjxwes retjuired of the allopatliliit. It must 
 Ije i)iemiried, that we are now speaking exclusively of the 
 art of healing diseases, irrespective of the appliances of 
 surgery jia a distinct art, i. e., of oiKirativo surgery. 
 
 It will scarcely he contradictctl, that if Hippocrates 
 could rise i'rom tlie tomb, with no other and no less skill 
 than that which he possessed at the time of his death, 
 more than two tliousand years ago, he would be employed 
 by our allopathic brethren for themselves, in preference 
 to any living professor of the art. The same choice 
 would probably hold good in favour of several of the great 
 succeeding masters, as of Galen, Celsus, or Aviccnna ; 
 and perhaps, also, of a few of the more iiuxlern, as 
 Sydenliam, Friedrich Hoffinann, and StaliL 
 
 Yet these all flourished before descriptive anatomy was 
 at all perfected, before morbid matomy was cultivated, 
 before botany was a science ; long before chemistry was 
 known as an exact science, or even as a reputable art 
 — and when physiology waa enveloped in more than 
 Cimmerian darkness. The preference of these masters to 
 any of our own times, would, we believe, bo most fully 
 justified by the results, if it were not embarrassed by the 
 few cases in which mere blind chance has thrown specific 
 (^homceopathic) remedies into the common stock, as bark 
 in intcrmittents, mercury in syphilis, &c. 
 
 How then can it be said that pathology, as taught in 
 the schools, is progressive? or how proven that the 
 pathology of the allopathists makes real application of 
 these modern discoveries to the cure of diseases ? 
 
 The truth is, that the allopathist makes a most inge- 
 nious resume of these sciences in his pathology. But it is 
 a vain and fruitless process ; he cannot cure the sick one 
 whit the better, for being a better anatomist, chemist, 
 botanist, or physiologist, than his colleague who knows 
 but little, and practices none, of these sciences. He may 
 write exactly, talk learnedly, be indeed a luminary in 
 the company of davans, while his humbler neighbour, who 
 never reads a book of any science, dissects cither plant 
 
2G0 
 
 EDUCATIONAL UEUt'lHKMENTti OF 
 
 or aniinol, or knowa a chomist's retort from n musical 
 instrument may, ncvcrthcle»d, far outntrip him in the 
 fearful combat witli actual diacasc. If thin he true, if 
 indeed we Imve stopped within the acknowledj^ed UmitH 
 of every day's experience ; if it be true that tlie practical 
 man of the least exact knowledge be the safest or luckiest 
 [Jiysician, what resixjct is due to the manner in which 
 the schools make use of anatomy, physiology, botany, and 
 chemistry, to construct a science of curing the sick? 
 The common practitioner only begins to be eminently 
 successful wiien he begins to retiixj from the scic^nce of 
 Allopathy ; to forget the pathoh)gy of the schools ; to 
 forget the sharp lines of anatomy ; and when the day- 
 dreams of philosophies of living processes have melted 
 into undistinguishable oblivion. Then, when the trans- 
 cendental stilts of the theorist are awkward to him, he 
 takes to plain walking in the paths of exi>crience ; and, 
 though he still theorize some to form a kind of mnemonic 
 net-work for liis empiricism, he makes his hypothesis the 
 servants of his exiKjrience, however tliey may contradict 
 each other, and so gains in real skill as he advances in 
 years. Not so with the scientific allopathist. Like 
 Brown, Rassori, Broussais, he follows his theory, a blind 
 leader of the blind, wise and studious, and profoundly 
 ambitious — his career is only limited by ill results, by the 
 thick coming deaths which hang around it, and is never 
 stayed till he falls by his own weapons of relief 1 
 
 Our case is certainly, clearly, demonstrably the reverse 
 of this disheartening picture. We must make real, cor- 
 rect, living, and unceasing applications of anatomy and 
 physiology, of botany and chemistry ; we may not forget 
 them, or any part of them, without treason toward our 
 patients, our school and our consciences. 
 
 1. Anatomy, for example, is indispensable to the 
 homoeopathists : not the far off, half-forgotten lessons of 
 the college hall of dissections, but the anatomy which 
 distinguishes the tissues, which awakens us to the dis- 
 tinctions between the ganglionic and the cerebral ncrvc;->, 
 which keeps us aware of the discrete process of life in the 
 
TUE I10M(I:()1>ATII1C rUYSItlAN. 
 
 201 
 
 A inuaicul 
 iin in the 
 )c true, it' 
 ircd liinitH 
 
 practicul 
 or luckicut 
 
 in which 
 
 lotiuiy, and 
 
 the siekV 
 
 eminently 
 
 Hcience of 
 
 schoolrt; to 
 
 n the day- 
 
 avc melted 
 
 1 the tranrt- 
 to him, he 
 iencc ; and, 
 if mnemonic 
 pothesis the 
 y contradict 
 advanced in 
 thist. Like 
 cory, a blind 
 
 profoimdly 
 suits, by the 
 md is never 
 Uef! 
 
 y the reverse 
 
 vc real, cor- 
 
 natoray and 
 
 ay not forget 
 
 toward our 
 
 sable to the 
 en lessons of 
 itomy which 
 to the dis- 
 rcbral nerves, 
 ; of life in the 
 
 luinmn t<yi3tcm, which t^hnrpcns our utteulion to the 
 natural j^roupH of primary htyniputhiiH and of tlair more 
 and more cxtcndcil ri'lations, till we are able to ccMieeive 
 t4om(;what of the whole living phenouienal comjtlex. 
 
 Tliirt sharp, descriptive, and i>hilo.Hophie anatomy, Hueh 
 as Morgngni began and Hiehat left uh, la indiHi)enHable tu 
 UH, l)ecau8o without hucIi science wu cannot detect ua 
 readily and perfectly iw we ought, the analogy between 
 the drug dijieaserf and the natural diseiwes — the Himilarity 
 between symptoms, wlietluir singly connidered or taken 
 in primary, binary, and ternary groupa ; and upon the 
 right detection of hucIi analogies or .similarities the sueoesej 
 of tt science of healing depends. Anatomy and [»hysiok)gy 
 aid us materially In establishing in our minds the true 
 diagnosis, that is, in finding whether tlu; locality of the 
 ])rincipal sufferings of the two diseases, the artificial and 
 the natund, be identical. This is a cunditlo sine qua nou 
 to the safe, easy, and durable cure of the natural disease : 
 and it is so nuich the better when the secon<]ary or con- 
 sensual sufferings also correspond as to locality, as well 
 as all other conditions. We do not make use of anatomy 
 to aid us in the vain art of conjecturing the nature of 
 disease, to inflate our pride of pathologic invention ; for, 
 between anatomy, as an exact science, and these visionary 
 pursuits, there can never be the slightest affinity ; exact 
 science and gratuitous hypothesis cannot be interwoven, 
 any more than alchemy and chemistry, or the practice of 
 signatures, and the true mode of discovering the virtues 
 of drugs, can be made to coalesce. 
 
 It is, wc think, most unjustly commented on Hahne- 
 mann's Organon, by nearly all allopathic writers on the 
 subject, and by some of the uneasy neologists of his own 
 school, (such as Rau, Gricsselich, Prof. Werber,) that 
 the important moment of locality Is disregarded or grossly 
 underrated. All that can possibly elucitlate the semeio- 
 logy of disease belongs most naturally, and we may say 
 j)ar excellence, to Hahnemann's metlaxl. It follows as u 
 corollary to the firtt maxim of his therapiu, that dc-icrip- 
 
KDUCATIOXAL REQL'IKKMKNTS OF 
 
 live anatomy and niorl)id anatomy, usal legitimutoly, are 
 of the utmost intoroat and importance in determining the 
 existence of an a})t and real similarity between the ett'ccts 
 of drugs and tlie phenomena of disease ; for though the 
 sufferings in two given cases be similar in all other res- 
 pects, yet they arc materially dissimilar, if their interior 
 locality can be known to be unlike ; the absence of this 
 moment destroys the analogy essential to a favourable 
 result. 
 
 The force of Hahnemann's argument on this, bears 
 against the erroneous purpose which these researches arc 
 made to subserve by our allopathic brethren — the attempt 
 to detect the inscrutable essence of diseased vital action, 
 to disclose for objective annihilation the causa proxima 
 morbi. He cannot, with fairness, be understood to op- 
 pose the gathering of any sign, circumstance, or condition, 
 which our senses, aided in every proper way, may help 
 us to recognize, because these belong to, and form a part 
 of, the totality of the phenomenon upon which we found 
 our plan of cure, and from which we make the choice of 
 remedies. Anatomy, therefore, is to be thoroughly 
 studied and constantly cultivated by the practical 
 homoiopathist, as indispensable to success. 
 
 2. Botany is an indispensable part of his education. 
 Vegetable dissections are as important to him, in many 
 instances, as the animal. Many of our remedies arc de- 
 I'ivcd from plants in a particular stage of their develop- 
 ment, and their juices must be expressed immediately 
 after they are taken from mother earth. 
 
 The ability to discriminate with certainty the [)lant wc 
 may seek from any and everj'^ other in the universe, (an 
 ability which this beautiful science confers,) is often of 
 the utmost importance to a fellow-being in his darkest 
 moment of peril ; and in such a case it is not conscientious 
 c~ s..fe to depend on the ordinary apothecaries, even if 
 they profess to have the very preparation we require ; 
 uor is it always prudent to rely on remedies scut to us 
 
 ot 
 
 th,-i 
 ho 
 
 the 
 
 (lie 
 
THE HOMffiOPATIIIC niYSICIAX. 
 
 26;^ 
 
 Ay, arc 
 iiig the 
 I ett'ectd 
 Ml the 
 lur rcs- 
 intcrior 
 of this 
 ourablo 
 
 s, bears 
 chcs arc 
 attempt 
 1 action, 
 proxima 
 \ to op- 
 ondition, 
 nay help 
 L'ln a part 
 wc found 
 choice oi' 
 oroughly 
 practical 
 
 ucation. 
 in many 
 s arc de- 
 
 develop- 
 mediately 
 
 ])lant wc 
 verse, (an 
 
 often of 
 .8 darkest 
 scientious 
 s, even if 
 
 require ; 
 cut to us 
 
 from distant lands ])y tjiosc of our own t*chool.* W c 
 should bo able to go to the field^i, the woodn, or the 
 morass, and lay our own hand upon the specific means 
 which the beneficent and unerring Creator has phintcd 
 for these hours of need, and stamixid with the infinite 
 signet of hving truth. 
 
 Cases of this kind have occurred to us and to tomo 
 of our colleagues in New York. AV'e have thus gathered 
 and successfully applied the veil,vtrum, apocynum, rhus, 
 
 DROSERA, CONIUM, STRAMONIUM, AND THUJA. 
 
 No physican Is entitled to the confidence of the sick 
 as a homccopathist, who is not a tolerable proficient In 
 the science of botany. By it, he is not only furnished 
 for single emergencies of the kind we liave stated, but 
 he can always replace of his remedies afresh, and of 
 undoubted purity, if a sudden and devastating epidemic 
 should overtake the community in which he resides. 
 By it, he is always able to remove the painful douht as 
 to truthfulness of a large portion of his drugs, or as to the 
 accuracy and purity of their preparations. The allopathist, 
 on the contrary, has no such need of botanic knowledge. 
 Of the vegetable drugs, he gives enormous doses, chicfiy 
 with a view to their being immediately expelled by 
 vomiting, or purging, or profuse sweating ; and it makes 
 but little dlflTcrence whether anv single one be active or 
 inert, since if it fail entirely, it is just as well to supply 
 its place with salts or calomel, or some compound of 
 various drugs possessing the desired quality. 
 
 The allopathist, therefore, has no such pressing need 
 of this science. He docs not prescribe with reference to 
 
 " "We fully coincide with Dr. Gray, that every homtBopathic praetrtioner 
 should preptire his own remedies, and not depend upon others in this 
 respect. There are but few among those who sell homo'opathic drogues 
 that are to be depended upon. They have neither the tr'-'it to prepare 
 homoeopathic medicines as exactly as it is required, nor c « vouch for 
 
 the genuineness of the medicinal article. Ihe welUk author in 
 
 homoeopathic literature. Dr. Wilhehn Gross, recommends „.it one homoeo- 
 pathic apothecary, (in die Homofiopatische Zeitung), Mr. ^eters, in Dessau, 
 in Pruisia, as a conscientious and able Pharmacnpolist. 
 
 As the miscreant ""^ickle has published two l)ooks of fictitious provings, so 
 there are mar ;-a(i-intentionpd men who sell hnnunnpathic medicines, for 
 the gcrniineness of whicli I would not vouch. 
 
:^G4 
 
 EDUCATIONAL nKQUIUEMRNTS OF 
 
 i 
 
 llic iiiiivorfial I'orcc? of dni^^^. 1)ut with rcfcroncc to their 
 jxnvor to excite voniitini!;, pur<;in^', or sweating, or to the 
 iillaylnt; of pain h}' one or two properties only. It, 
 therefore, m of quite minor importance to him, whether 
 in a given case, requiring either of these effects, say 
 [)urging for example, a drug l)e recent, pure, and efficient 
 in all respects, or the contraiy, as some one of the many 
 purgatives it his custom to give with it, is \cry likely to 
 produce the required effect, and if the whole compound 
 fail entirely, it can very readily be followed by some other 
 j)urgative compound. -(Vccordingly, botany forms no 
 part of the ordinary courses of instruction in the colleges 
 of physic at the present day, and no candidate for license 
 is rejected for any lack of botanical knowledge, however 
 great, which certainly would not be the case if the allo- 
 pathists were in any event obliged to make indispensable 
 use of such knowledge. Whatever an allopathist, while 
 he is a student, may learn of botany for its own sake as 
 a delightful science, finding no practical need of it in his 
 subsequent career, he invariably suffers it slowly to pass 
 away from him for ever. The practical })otanists of our 
 country arc not practitioners of physic in any respect but 
 the name. 
 
 The respectable Shaker rier])alist, of New Lebanon 
 Springs, monopolizes at present all the practical botany 
 for the medical profession of this empire state. 
 
 3. Languages. — All well educated physicians are 
 able to read medical essays in the Latin tongue, and have 
 at least some little acquaintance with the Greek. In 
 our medical schools this knowledge is not re.j^nired, as it 
 h in most of the European schools, though it should by 
 all means be made an indispensal)le pre-requisitc by 
 law.* But in addition to the Latin and Greek, the 
 
 • "To any one extensively acquainted with the medical profession in 
 this country, it cannot fail to be clearly manifest that there is a general 
 lack, as well of preparatory as of more classical and scientific education. 
 How often is it that one who has failed to succeed in some other occupa- 
 tion, has, in three or four short years, without being blessed with talents 
 nbove mediocrity, come out a full-grown, thorough-bred M. D." — Dr. 
 Ticknnr. 
 
 a: 
 
 t 
 w 
 
 51 
 
THE IIOMQIOPATHIC PHYSICIAN. 
 
 265 
 
 to their 
 r to the 
 
 ly. It, 
 vhethcr 
 
 its, BJty 
 
 efficient 
 ic many 
 likely to 
 impound 
 me other 
 orms no 
 5 colleges 
 or license 
 however 
 the allo- 
 spensablc 
 ist, while 
 n sake as 
 )f it in his 
 ly to pass 
 ists of our 
 cspect but 
 
 Lebanon 
 ;al botany 
 
 icians arc 
 , and have 
 reck. In 
 lired, as it 
 should by 
 quisitc by 
 rrcck, the 
 
 profession in 
 • is a general 
 ific education, 
 other occupa- 
 with talents 
 
 M. 1). "— ^'' 
 
 student ol' homccopathia must understjuid Uie German 
 and French languages, and particularly the German, very 
 perfectly. 
 
 The first and most important records of our school — 
 the eftects of drugs on the healthy human body, were 
 •viade in German ; and much of the testimony is of such 
 a character, as effectually to preclude the possibility of 
 ample and perfect translation. A homoeopathist cannot 
 prescribe with the accuracy which a good conscience 
 requires, unless he is able to imbue his mind most per- 
 fectly with the meaning of every expression adopted by 
 those by whom the drugs in each case were originally 
 tested undc" Hahnemann's instructions. The sufferings 
 and sensations described by these individuals, constitute 
 the essentia), basis of pure Materia Medica, and conse- 
 quently of the homoeopathic art of choosing medicines 
 for the sick. Translations cannot convey the whole 
 truth ; and all extant truth must be known by every 
 conscientious follower of Hahnemann in every case, 
 before he can presume to prescribe the course to be 
 pursued. 
 
 Translations can only, at the very best, confer a second 
 hand and seriously defective impression of pharmaco- 
 dynamics ; and, therefore, they make at best but a second 
 rate and seriously defective homoeopathist. 
 
 Inasmuch as at the present day considerable contribu- 
 tions to the archives of our art being made in Paris, 
 Geneva, Lyons, Montpelicr, and in several places else- 
 where in Europe by French physicians, and by those of 
 other countries who use the French language with ease 
 and accuracy, it is of almost equal importance to the 
 homoeopathist to be a perfect master of the French as 
 well as of the German. Indeed no man should be trusted 
 as a homoeopathist, who is not known to be thoroughly 
 versed in these languages of the school. 
 
 Having thus hastily sketched a few of the outlines of 
 the rc(iuirements of our school, and glanced at the reasons 
 why in it the most scientific is the most successful phy- 
 sician, (the reverse of v,rhich is the rule of the old school 
 
 1 1 
 
266 
 
 EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF 
 
 at the present day,) it remains that wo explain why mere 
 laynicn do occaBionally succeed in cfFceting real and 
 durable cures of serious maladies by the use of our 
 method. This would seem to be an argument a fortiori 
 against us of a similar quality to that used by us in this 
 paper respecting the unscientific practitioners of the old 
 mode; but proper examination of the two cases w'll 
 clearly show that the analogy is only apparent — by no 
 means positive and real. The practitioner of the old mode 
 is successful in proportion as he forgets or disregards the 
 essential of his school — the reasoning a priori, respecting 
 proximate causes, and relies upon mere clinical memory 
 — in proportion as he ceases to be scientific (as that school 
 must term it) and becomes purely empirical. 
 
 Whereas, the practitioner of the new mode must bo 
 useful to the sick, in proportion as he becomes better 
 acquainted with anatomy, descriptive and morbid, with 
 physiology, with botany, and with the records of the 
 effects and results of drugs and remedies, contained in the 
 German and French languages. 
 
 The unscientific man may, it is very true, now and 
 then luckily find a well defined case, one in which the 
 symptoms are so plainly covered by the records of a drug 
 as not to admit of mistake, and thus perform a cure, 
 which will fill the patient with surprise and gratitude. 
 But he is not a whit the more competent or more apt to 
 succeed as a physician, than is the inaker of gunpowder 
 eompetent and apt as a chemist The quack cannot dis- 
 criminate where discrimination is at all necessary. Take, 
 for example, a case in which twenty-five symptoms are 
 present. If a drug be found, the effects of which cover 
 all these symptoms, in all respects, perfectly, it will 
 necessarily be chosen by the quack as certainly as by the 
 physician ; but if, aa frequently happens in cases of great 
 peril, several drugs be found to cover a majority only of 
 the symptoms, and no one of them covers the whole case, 
 the quack is utterly at a loss, and is just as likely to 
 administer those drugs in the list, which have no real 
 relation to the case, and cannot possibly do good, as he 
 
THE IIOMOCOI'ATUIC IMIYSICIAN. 
 
 267 
 
 y mere 
 al and 
 of our 
 fortiori 
 in this 
 the old 
 3CS w'U 
 -by no 
 lid mode 
 ards the 
 spectiug 
 memory 
 at school 
 
 must bo 
 es better 
 bid, with 
 is of the 
 led in the 
 
 [now and 
 vhich the 
 of a drug 
 a a cure, 
 ratitude. 
 irc apt to 
 .npowder 
 mnot dis- 
 Take, 
 itoras are 
 ich cover 
 it will 
 as by the 
 !S of great 
 ■,y only of 
 hole case, 
 likely to 
 e no real 
 •od, as he 
 
 would be to apply those which the physician would know 
 to be remedies, and promptly select and apply them as 
 such, for reasons which the quack could by no means 
 appreciate. 
 
 In trutli, the quack must, in a great majority of his 
 cases, be wholly at fault, and at least as frequiently apply 
 drugs which fail to cure, and therefore i)rove injurious, 
 as he applies the actual remedies, and that, too, wlicn the 
 latter are plainly and clearly indicated by the records and 
 rules of practice. 
 
 In the one case the practitioner is guided by a gcnei-al 
 memory as to the effects of vomiting, purging, bleeding, 
 blistering, &c., in cases he has seen, which have some 
 few points of resemblance ; whilst in the other, reliance 
 can only be placed upon the specific powers of drugs, 
 independent of all evacuations of the important fluids, and, 
 therefore, generalities cannot be trusted. 
 
 Books and sciences are forgotten with impunity by 
 allopathists, in much of their practice, whereas, in no case 
 can we dispense with either. 
 
 It is well known that even Hahnemann, after more 
 than half a century spent in learning the specific Materia 
 Medica, does not attempt to prescribe for any new case 
 without faithfully consulting his own records and those 
 of all his school afresh. 
 
 'HI 
 
ClIAPTEK XXIV. 
 
 WHY WILL THE IROFE8SION NOT 8TUDV lIOMaCOPATUY ? 
 
 UT FRANCIS ULACK, U. D, 
 
 Viirioiis and mocHficcl may be the answers, but all arc 
 traceable to prejudice,* that ancient baiTicr to truth. If 
 we had nothing but the uncorrupted reason of man to 
 deal with, it would be a matter of no great skill or labor 
 to convince him of old errors, or gain his consent to plain 
 
 * We may attribute also the reluctance against new discoveries of many 
 of the profession, to n wrong education. What is equivalent to a lack of 
 education, or what virtually amounts to the same thini;, (snys Dr. Ticb- 
 norj, is a wrong direction not unfrequently given to the studies of a medi- 
 cal student. His preceptor has already his own mind fixed ; his opinions 
 arc formed, not to be changed by improvements and discoveries, and he 
 swears in the dicta of some celebrated master; he can, therefore, train his 
 pupil to tread only in his own footsteps, and teach him, by rote, his infal- 
 lible precepts; while the language of the pupil is, " Lead on master, and 
 I will follow, to the last gasp, with truth and loyalty." Thus error is 
 perpetuated, and the miiul which was at one time clear and equally ready 
 to receive truth or falsehood, becomes obscured and clouded, and the rays 
 of a true philosophy are never able to penetrate the gloom and mist in 
 which it is enveloped. In the hands of no class of men is a little learning 
 or bad learning so dangerous as when possessed by physicians ; thny are 
 then like the maniac who madly discharges a blunderbuss at a crowd — 
 sonip. must fall hy his madness. 
 
 One principal cause which tends to the production and perpetuation of 
 error, is the prejudice of the teacher in favour of fixed and established 
 habits, and modes of practice. The vulgar saying, that " it is hard to 
 learn old dogs new tricks," is most conspicuously manifest — the opinions 
 of the older class of practitioners being in general as unalterably established 
 as the laws of the Medes and Persians. ]$y a change of sentiment, they 
 virtually acknowledge their fallibility that they have been wrong, and 
 that, therefore, doubtless, they have done mischief; — a concession which 
 human nature is not over ready to make. By a change of opinion, other 
 concessions, no more readily granted than the preceding, are also implied, 
 80 that the mind clings to its previous conclusions, although convinced 
 that they may be wrong, than appec;ir to be unstable and vacillating, by 
 embracing a truth which must produce a revolution in sentiment or in 
 practice. " What !" says the veteran in the healing art, " am I wrong — 
 have I been wrong all my life ? No! it is impossible." Old errors are 
 more fondly cherished and more easily propagated, than newly discovereil 
 truths. Thus, then, it is to teachers, either public or private, that medi- 
 cal students are indebted in the first place (or what they know, either 
 right or wrong, i-i our profes<sion ; and many of our errors we owe to 
 their obstinacy, and blindly yielding to the influence of their own prejudices. 
 
WHY wii-i- Tin; i'non>hi()N, kt(". 
 
 20 
 
 (I'ATHY 
 
 it all arc 
 •uth. If 
 i" man to 
 I or labor 
 t to plain 
 
 riesofmany 
 to a lack of 
 ,s Dr. Tick- 
 et of a medi- 
 his opinions 
 jries, and hn 
 ire, train liis 
 )te, his infi»l- 
 I niatiter, and 
 hus error is 
 qually ready 
 and the rays 
 and inist in 
 ittle learning 
 ,n8 ; th«y are 
 ,t a crowd — 
 
 rpetuation of 
 id established 
 it is hard to 
 the opinions 
 ly established 
 ntiinent, they 
 1 wrong, and 
 jession which 
 )pinion, other 
 
 also implied, 
 <;h convinced 
 kracillating, by 
 itiment or in 
 n I wrong— 
 )ld errors are 
 vly discovered 
 W, that mcdi- 
 
 Unow, either 
 rs we owe to 
 wn prejudice!*. 
 
 and obvloiisi truths. Hut, iiiit'ortunatcly, niaiikiiKl wtand 
 wrapt up in oKI c'stablisjlu'd opinions, cnlronchcd with h) 
 many prejudices, »?o that reiuson can rarely be appeale<l 
 to. 
 
 Thi.s blind and prejudiced oijjiositio)! to new truths has 
 not only been frequently manifested in mcdieiuf!, but the 
 folly of it has sufficiently been evinced by tlie history of 
 relij^ion and philosoi)hy. Great changes have taken jilace 
 in both, and what our ancestors considered undisputed 
 truths, their posterity discovered to be «;ross errors. In 
 medicine, perhaps more than in any other science, have 
 been too often displayed the obstinacy with which errors 
 have been dmv^ to and improvement resisted, ll' the 
 innovations which various schools have effected for a 
 longer or a shorter period in medicine have been bitterly 
 opposed, although received by the majority, can it be 
 matter of astonishment that I Iomoeoi)athy has been oj)- 
 poscd ? nay more, that it has been scouted at and con- 
 demned without judgment ? The various j)athol()gical 
 schools have differed more in name than in reality ; their 
 arguments were founded upon matters which none un- 
 derstood fully ; not upon facts, but upon empty distinc- 
 tions. Each Incorporated itself or gave way to the other ; 
 each was comparatively well received, as it effected little 
 reform in practical medicine ; the same thera[)eutical 
 precept was acted upon, the same medicines were ad- 
 ministered. But how different with IIouKcopathy I 
 Based upon pure induction, it starts with an established 
 law ; steadily guided by this law, it adopts whatever is 
 consonant with it, and dismisses whatever is opposed, no 
 matter how great a favourite it may be with the schools ; 
 it rises superior to the thought that scholastic opinions 
 are to be venerated for their antiquity ; it avoids the 
 error of deriving truth from rules, and not rules from 
 truth ; it makes no compromise with the present system 
 of therapeutics. Is it to be wondered at, then, that Ho- 
 moeopathy is opposed? ^To opposition with even a show 
 of reason we do not object ; but we regret, for the cause 
 of suffering humanity, that it should l)e marked bv a1)use, 
 
270 
 
 WIIV WILL Tin: PnOFESSIOM 
 
 lulicuU', and miij-stiitcinciit. It'cxporicncc is n beacon to 
 lij^ht Uri on our onward cour.sc, docH it not, an oilen jw 
 conrtultod, teach us that sucli a course of opposition, 
 though it may for a time retard and obscure truth, can 
 never destroy it : " the burning of a little straw may hide 
 the stars of the sky, but the stars arc there, and will rc- 
 a[)i)ear." Why call a system absurd which is founded 
 upon observation and experiment? Why call its sup- 
 porters (quacks and knaves, when their uniform course 
 has been an open disclosure of their doctrines and an 
 earnest appeal to investigation. 
 
 Questions of greater and eternal impoi'tancc have met 
 with the same reception. " What are these Lutherans ?" 
 exclaimed the Pope's Nuncio, " a motley rabble of inso- 
 lent grammarians, licentious priests, disorderly monks, 
 ignorant advocates, degraded nobles, misled and perverted 
 plebeians. IIow greatly superior is the Catholic party in 
 num])cr9, in intelligence, in power 1" All great discoveriea 
 have commenced by appearing absurd, but they who 
 advocate them dread no ridicule, such a weapon is without 
 force when despised, and appears only powerless when 
 dreaded. If you will employ ridicule as your offensive 
 weapon, reflect again and again, and bo sure that you 
 understand the doctrine before you determine on ridicu- 
 ling it. Whatever must be misrepresented in order to 
 be ridiculed, is in fact not ridiculed, but the thing sub- 
 stituted for it. It is a satire on something else, coupled 
 with a lie on the part of the satirist, who calls one thing 
 by the name of another. 
 
 IIow often it is urged as an apology for not studying 
 Homoeopathy, that it is as yet avowed by so few, and 
 these few such obscure i)e^son3 that it is excluded ffom 
 universities, and condemned wholesale by Royal Colleger. 
 This ret!,soning, if auch it cj^n be called, ia chatacfceristic 
 of the a.!;e in which we live. Wc have now singing for 
 the million, teaching lor the million, cheap publications 
 lor the million, and alas, truth, unless supported 1>y the 
 luillion, can be no truth at all ! 
 
3acon to 
 )flen tw 
 )oaitioii, 
 iitli, can 
 nay hide 
 will rc- 
 I'oundcd 
 its eup- 
 i\ course 
 I and nn 
 
 Imvc met 
 herana ?" 
 3 of inso- 
 f monkjs, 
 perverted 
 c party in 
 iscovcries 
 ihey who 
 id without 
 CS8 when 
 offensive 
 tliat you 
 3n ridicu- 
 order to 
 hing 8ub- 
 , coupled 
 one thing 
 
 studying 
 
 few, and 
 ided ftoni 
 
 Colleges, 
 facfccristic 
 nging for 
 
 blications 
 cd hv the. 
 
 NOT 8Ti:i)V HOMiEOl'ATlIY? 
 
 271 
 
 Ilow truly has that niastrr-Hpirit, (.'arliHlo, pourtrayod 
 this featiu'c as a sign of the tinu's. " We figure socit'ly," 
 Hays he, " as a niaehine, ami that mind is ()j)[»(>se(l t(» inind 
 as body is to hody ; wheri;hy two, or at most ten little 
 minds must be stronger than one great mind. Notable 
 absurdity I For the plain truth, very plain we think, is, 
 tiiat minds are op[)ost'd to minds in (juite adilli;rent way, 
 and oju; man that has a higher direction, a hitherto un- 
 known spiritual truth in iiim, is stronger than ten men 
 that have it not, and stands among them with a quite 
 ethereal, angelic power, as with a sword out of Heaven's 
 own armoury, sky-temj)ered, which no buekler and no 
 tower of brass will finally withstand." 
 
 Because nomoco[)athy is not believed in (it slumld 
 always be added, because not studied) by the majority of 
 the great ones in medicine, therefore, it is unworthy of 
 attention. Such is the argument of vciy weak minds, 
 unable to observe and reason for themselves ; like blind 
 men they must be led l)y others, sueh slaves to opinion 
 that they can never break through the magic circle of 
 prejudice which a favourite master may have woven 
 around them. If wc wait until a new system finds its 
 way into universities, which have been so aptly called by 
 the greatest ornament of our own " those dormitories nut 
 nurseries of learning ;" if we wait until it be invested in 
 the gown of state, we may act prudentl}', but we shall 
 act very differently from the way that thoj'o great men, 
 for whose approval we now delay, acted in their younger 
 days. If we only commence to examine truths, when 
 they have received the patronising hand of incorporated 
 bodies, we will be sad laggards in science ; our life will 
 be passed in waiting, not studying. If the argument be 
 good, it must also follow that such bodies throw a lustre 
 upon truth, and by their condescension ordain it to be 
 truth ; whereas, we have always believed that the reverse 
 was the case, and that distinctions arose from the adop- 
 tion of truth. Is not reason given to all men ? Are we 
 not to utter a thought or follow a course, however hon- 
 ouraVjle, })ccause inimical to those in power? (This is 
 
21-1 
 
 WHY WIl-l. Tllli I'HOFKSSION, ETC. 
 
 > i 
 
 L^ctu'iMlly ix (lr;iw-l)!ick to wciik-iMindiitl nicii.) Docs 
 iH'sjtoMsihility iipply to ciich iikui iiuHvidiiiilly ? II' wc do 
 not rciisoij, wu iiri; l>i;^ot.^ ; if wo ciiiinot, we uru foold; 
 if wc dun; not, wo arc sliives. 
 
 Ill conclusion, if our opponents, \\A\\\f ar<^unicntrt in- 
 stciid (tf personalities, would wish to put down Ilonuro- 
 [lalliy, we ofler tliein tlie means. In the words of our 
 venrrahK; foundi'r, they have it in their power to f^ive 
 1 louKcopathy \w.\' dcath-lilow. Taki; cases of disease one 
 after anolher, descrihe them according to the iutitruction 
 w(! have! already <;iven, paint the totality of the i)ercep- 
 liMe symptoms of each so well that the author of IIo- 
 m(e<)i)athy himself could not com})lain of the want of 
 jtrecision in the picture, — and (sui)})Osinj^ that these are 
 cases wdiose sym[)t(jms are found amoupj the j)athoyenetic 
 effects of any of those medicines already proved) choose 
 that nuidicine which, honKeopathically s[)eakin<^, is best 
 suited to each case ; give it alone, uncompounded, in such 
 ?rt'«/d doses (so prepared) as the doctrine prescribes, keci)- 
 ing the j)atient carefully out of the reach of every me- 
 dicinal influence, and if the patient be not cured quickly, 
 ijentli/, and pcrnKinentlij, relate the whole number of cases, 
 and cover Ilonueopathy with disgrace, by proclaiming 
 the want of success of treatment adopted rigorously after 
 its principle. 
 
 3 
 
 R( 
 
 o. 
 
 I 
 
) Doca 
 It' we do 
 re f«»oln ; 
 
 lenta in- 
 I loHuro- 
 Is of our 
 ;r to give 
 seiirie one 
 ritructioii 
 J pcrcep- 
 r of IIo- 
 want of 
 these lire 
 lujgenetic 
 1) choose 
 <«•, is best 
 d, in such 
 hes, kecp- 
 ivery me- 
 ;d quickhji 
 r of cases, 
 ocliiiminfT 
 
 )usly after 
 
 CIIAPTKU XXIV. 
 
 COMPAHATIVK HE8ULT8 * OP 
 irOM(T:OPATHIC AND ALLOPATHIC TREATMENT 
 
 IN TIIEIIl HKSI'KCTIVFi IIOSI'ITALS. 
 
 The followinf; tabkvs as publislied in Ilygca, vol. xviii. 
 p. 2, 1843, were collected by Councillor Kurtz, j)hysi- 
 eian to a princess of Prussia, and an eminent homceo- 
 patliic practitioner. ^ 
 
 The works used in the collection of these data, were 
 1. Hygca, 1472. 2. The same, xiii, 553. 3. T. T. 
 Knolz Darstellung der honiceopathischen Ileilanstalt 
 Wicn, 1840. 4. Med. Statistik der innerlichcnn Ab- 
 theilung des Catharinen Hospitals zu Stuttgard. 5. 
 Journal fUr Natur und Heilkunde herausgcgebcn von 
 der Kaiserl. Med. Chir. Academic; zu St. Petersburg. 
 As regards the Homa")j)athic Institutions, the different 
 reports in 1. Jahrbiicher der Honucopatischcn Ileilan- 
 stalt zu Leipzig. 2. Stapf. und W. Gross Archiv der 
 Ilomocopatischen Ileilkunst, xviii. 2, 141, xix. 2, 106, 
 108. 3. Thorcr, Praktische beitriigc im Gebiithe der 
 Horaa'opathic iv. 70. 4. Vchsemeyer und Kurz Med. 
 Jahrbiicher der specifischen Hcilkunst iii. 502. 5. All- 
 gcraeine Homocop. xxi. 47, 89. 6. Hygea, viii., 311, 
 314, 325,xii. 223,xiv. 357. 
 
 PROPORTION OF DEATHS TO THE NUMBER OF 
 CASES TREATED. 
 
 Berlin Charite 
 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 
 ALLOPATHIC INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Died in 100. 
 1796—1817 16—17 
 
 ••■ ••■ at* ••• 
 
 • •• • t« • •• 
 
 •■• ••• ••• »•• 
 
 Institution for Patients able to pay 
 Klinik. of Prof. Bartel's, (year not stated,) 
 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 1831 
 
 14—15 
 
 1838 
 
 11 — 12 
 
 1839 
 
 10—11 
 
 1839 
 
 11—12 
 
 
 7— 8 
 
 • Copied from the Hnmtpoputhk Examiner, vol. iii,, edited by A. 
 G. Hull, M.D., New York. 
 
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274 
 
 COMPAIIATIVE RESITLTS OF 
 
 lireslau, Allsaints Hospital ••• 
 
 Do. do. do 
 
 Dresden, City Hospital 
 
 Do. Hosj)ital for the Indigent 
 Leipzig, St. James' Hosjntal 
 
 Do. Hospital for the Poor . . . 
 Gottingen Polyclinique 
 Hamburg General Hospital, 5th report 
 Paderbom Hospital 
 Wurzburg, Julius Hospital 
 Miinich, General Hospital... 
 Vienna General Hospital 
 
 Do. do. do. 
 
 Do. Provincial House of Correction 
 
 Do. Inquisition (?) Hospital 
 
 Do. Professor Hildebrand Clinique 
 
 Do. Brethren of Charity 
 
 Do. do do. ... 
 
 Do. Elizabeth Sisters ... 
 
 Do. do. do. ... 
 
 Do. Lunatic Asylum ..% 
 
 Do. Saint Mark's ... 
 Mauerback, near Vienna ... 
 Ybbs, in Austria 
 Pesth Citizen Hospital 
 Lemberg, Austria, General Hospital 
 Stuttgard St, Catharine's Hospital 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do.' 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Strasbourg, Clinique of Professor Forget 
 Montpelier, all the Hospitals ... 
 Bordeaux, Hospital St. Andr^ 
 Lyons, Hotel Dieu ... 
 Do. do. year not stated 
 
 Toulouse, year not stated 
 Marseille, do. do. ... 
 Reunes, do. do. 
 
 Geneva Hospital... 
 Paris, Hotel Dieu 
 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 
 do. 
 Pitie ... 
 Charite 
 St. Antoiue 
 Necker 
 Cochin 
 Baujon 
 
 Died 
 
 in 10<y. 
 
 1831 
 
 18—19 
 
 18.38 
 
 17—18 
 
 1816 
 
 14—13 
 
 1839 
 
 11 — 12 
 
 1838 
 
 11—12 
 
 1839 
 
 2— 3 
 
 1838-9 
 
 2— 3 
 
 
 6— 7 
 
 1831 
 
 8— 9 
 
 1833 
 
 6— 7 
 
 1813-32 
 
 7- - 8 
 
 1826 
 
 16—17 
 
 1838 
 
 13—14 
 
 1838 
 
 3— 6 
 
 1838 
 
 3— 4 
 
 1824 
 
 3— 4 
 
 1830 
 
 10—11 
 
 1838 
 
 8— 9 
 
 1830 
 
 7— 8 
 
 1838 
 
 9—10 
 
 1838 
 
 20—21 
 
 1838 
 
 20—21 
 
 
 13—16 
 
 
 16—17 
 
 
 16—17 
 
 
 11—12 
 
 1828-29 
 
 2— 3 
 
 1829-30 
 
 2— 3 
 
 1830-31 
 
 2— 3 
 
 1831-32 
 
 3 4 
 
 1832-33 
 
 3— 4 
 
 1833-34 
 
 3 4 
 
 1834-35 
 
 2— 3 
 
 1833-36 
 
 4— 3 
 
 1836-37 
 
 3 4 
 
 1837-38 
 
 3— 4 
 
 1833-38 
 
 15—16 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 10 
 13—14 
 
 1837 
 
 
 14—13 
 
 7— 8 
 12—13 
 
 
 
 
 12—13 
 
 1823 
 
 9—10 
 
 1822 
 
 14—13 
 
 1833 
 
 9—10 
 
 1822 
 
 12—13 
 
 1822 
 
 18—19 
 
 1822 
 
 14—13 
 
 1822 
 
 18 
 
 1822 
 
 12—13 
 
 1822 
 
 16—17 
 
HOMOlOrATHK' AND ALI.orATIIIf TREATMENT. 275 
 
 >icd 
 
 -9 
 
 ^32 
 
 i 
 \ 
 \ 
 
 ) 
 
 [) 
 B 
 8 
 8 
 
 !8-29 
 19-30 
 10-31 
 1-32 
 12-33 
 3-34 
 14-35 
 13-36 
 16-37 
 17-38 
 13-38 
 
 in 10«/ 
 
 18—19 
 
 17—18 
 
 14—13 
 
 11 — 12 
 
 11—12 
 
 2— 3 
 
 2— 3 
 
 ()— 7 
 
 8— 9 
 
 6— 7 
 
 7— - 8 
 16—17 
 13—14 
 
 3— 6 
 
 8— 4 
 3— 4 
 
 10—11 
 8— 9 
 7— 8 
 9—10 
 20—21 
 20—21 
 13—16 
 16—17 
 16—17 
 11—12 
 2— 3 
 2— 3 
 
 2— 3 
 
 3— 4 
 3— 4 
 
 3— 4 
 
 2— 3 
 
 4— 5 
 
 3— 4 
 3— 4 
 
 15—16 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 13—14 
 
 14—13 
 7— B 
 
 12—13 
 
 12—13 
 9—10 
 
 14—13 
 9—10 
 12—13 
 18-19 
 14—13 
 18 
 
 12—13 
 16—17 
 
 Paris, St. Louis 
 Do. Venereal Hospital ... 
 Do. Maison Roy, de Sante ... 
 
 Do. Val deGrace, under VaidiDcsgcnettcs Pierre 1813-19 
 Do. d'l. do. under Broussais 
 Jkussels, St. Peter's Hospital ... 
 Amsterdam, St. Peter's Hospital ... ...1 
 
 Turin and Genoa 
 
 Milan, Large Hosjntal 
 
 Pavia, St. Mathews ... 
 
 Bologna, Tomassini's Cliniquo 
 
 Padua, Brera's Clinique, year not stated ... 
 
 Leghorn, year not stated ... 
 
 London, St. Thomas Hos])ital ... 
 
 Do. St. George's do. 
 Edinburgh Royal Infirmary 
 Christiana State Hospital ... 
 St. Petersburgh, St. Mary's Hospital 
 
 Do. Citizen's do. ... 
 
 Do. Military do. ... 
 
 Do. Dr. Seidlitz'pClini(iuo... 
 
 Do. do. preceding years 
 
 Average 
 
 Died 
 
 in k)0. 
 
 1822 
 
 6— 7 
 
 1822 
 
 2— 3 
 
 
 17—18 
 
 1813-19 
 
 3— 6 
 
 1813-19 
 
 7— 8 
 
 1823 
 
 11—12 
 
 98-1817 
 
 8— 9 
 
 1821 
 
 14—13 
 
 1812-14 
 
 16—17 
 
 1823 
 
 9—10 
 
 1816-19 
 
 12—13 
 
 
 8— 9 
 
 
 13—14 
 
 1803-13 
 
 6 7 
 
 1823-27 
 
 11—12 
 
 1809-18 
 
 6— 7 
 
 1829 
 
 3— 6 
 
 1837 
 
 23—26 
 
 — ... 
 
 20—30 
 
 
 5— 7 
 
 1830-40 
 
 13—14 
 
 • • ••• 
 
 8-- 9 
 
 9—10 
 
 IIOMCEOPATIirC INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 
 
 
 Died in 100 
 
 Leipzig... 
 
 • •• 
 
 1832-33 
 
 2— 3 
 
 J-)o, ••• ••• ••• ••• 
 
 
 1839-tO 
 
 4— 3 
 
 XjO» ••« ••■ ••• ••■ 
 
 • •• 
 
 1840-41 
 
 4— 3 
 
 Vienna, Hospital of the Sisters of Charity 
 
 
 1884-35 
 
 6— 7 
 
 Do. do. do. do. 
 
 • •• 
 
 1836-38 
 
 6— 7 
 
 Do. do. do. do. 
 
 
 1838^39 
 
 3— 6 
 
 Do. do. do. do. 
 
 • •• 
 
 1839-40 
 
 4— 5 
 
 Do. do. do. do. 
 
 
 1840-41 
 
 6— 7 
 
 Miinich... 
 
 Brieg, in Silesia, Institution for sick female sei 
 
 
 
 
 • •• 
 
 •vant 
 
 S1837 
 
 1— 3 
 
 Hungary, Hospital in Gyongyos ,.. 
 
 
 1840-41 
 
 4— 3 
 
 Do. do. Guns 
 
 »'• 
 
 1833-39 
 
 4— 5 
 
 Do. do. do. ... ... 
 
 
 1840 
 
 4— 3 
 
 Average 
 
T" 
 
 276 
 
 COMPARATIVE RESULTS OF 
 
 Average number of days of treatment in the respective 
 
 Hospitals. 
 
 ALLOPATHIC 
 
 INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Died in 100 
 
 Charitc, in Berlin ... ... ... 34 — 35 
 
 Polyclinique, in Giittingen... 
 
 
 ... .33—34 
 
 St. Catharine's Stuttgard 
 
 
 
 1828-29 23—24 
 
 Do. do. 
 
 
 
 ... 1829-30 24—2.5 
 
 Do. do. 
 
 
 
 1830-31 23—24 
 
 Do. do. 
 
 
 
 ... 1831-32 23—24 
 
 Do. do. 
 
 
 
 1832-33 22—23 
 
 Do. io. 
 
 
 
 ... 1833-34 24—25 
 
 Do. do. 
 
 
 
 1835-36 21—21 
 
 Do. io. 
 
 
 
 ... 1836-37 18—19 
 
 Do. do. 
 
 
 
 1837-38 19—20 
 
 Paris, Hotel Dieu 
 
 
 
 ... 1822 25—26 
 
 Do. I'itie ... 
 
 
 
 28—29 
 
 Do. Charite 
 
 
 
 ... 30—31 
 
 Do. St. Antoine 
 Do. Necker 
 
 
 
 Ql qo 
 
 
 
 ... 33—34 
 
 Do. Cochin 
 
 
 
 25—26 
 
 Do. Beaujon 
 
 
 
 ^n '11 
 
 
 Do. St. Louis 
 
 
 
 60—61 
 
 Do. Venereal Hospital .. 
 
 
 
 ... 66—67 
 
 1 lr\ iV/l n 1 c*/\Yt \i /~ii7 n 1 ^ 
 
 
 n* or 
 
 x/0. iTiaison ivoydiy •»• ••• ■• 
 
 
 Average 
 
 28—29 
 
 
 HOM(EOPATIIIC INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Died in 100 
 
 Leipzig 
 
 ••» ••• 
 
 ... ... 
 
 
 1839-40 
 
 17—18 
 
 Do. 
 
 • •• • 1 • 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 1840-41 
 
 37—38 
 
 Vienna, 
 
 Sisters of Charity 
 
 ... ••• 
 
 
 1834-35 
 
 19—20 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. do. ... 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 1835-36 
 
 23—24 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. do. 
 
 ... ... 
 
 
 1836-38 
 
 15—16 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. do. ... 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 1839-40 
 
 21—22 
 
 Do. 
 
 do. do. 
 
 ... ... 
 
 
 1840-41 
 
 21—22 
 
 Miinich 
 
 ... ... 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 1836-37 
 
 10—11 
 
 Average 
 
 20—21 
 
cspectivc 
 
 Died 
 
 I in 
 
 100 
 
 .. 
 
 
 34- 
 
 -35 
 
 _ 
 
 
 33- 
 
 -34 
 
 B-29 
 
 23- 
 
 -24 
 
 9-30 
 
 24- 
 
 -25 
 
 0- 
 
 -31 
 
 23- 
 
 -24 
 
 1- 
 
 -32 
 
 23- 
 
 -24 
 
 2- 
 
 -33 22- 
 
 -23 
 
 3- 
 
 -34 24- 
 
 -25 
 
 5- 
 
 -3G 
 
 21- 
 
 -21 
 
 6- 
 
 -37 
 
 18- 
 
 -19 
 
 7- 
 
 -38 
 
 19- 
 
 -20 
 
 t2 
 
 
 25- 
 
 -2G 
 
 _ 
 
 
 28- 
 
 -29 
 
 .» 
 
 
 30- 
 
 -31 
 
 -M 
 
 
 31- 
 
 -32 
 
 ... 
 
 
 33- 
 
 -34 
 
 .« 
 
 
 25- 
 
 -26 
 
 _ 
 
 
 30- 
 
 -31 
 
 ..^ 
 
 
 eo- 
 
 -Gl 
 
 .^ 
 
 
 G6- 
 
 -67 
 
 
 
 24- 
 
 -25 
 
 28—29 
 
 Died in 100 
 
 )-40 
 
 17—18 
 
 )-41 
 
 37—38 
 
 t-35 
 
 19—20 
 
 j-36 
 
 23—24 
 
 3-38 
 
 15—16 
 
 )-40 
 
 21—22 
 
 )-41 
 
 21—22 
 
 3-37 
 
 10—11 
 
 20—21 
 
 1I0M(E0PATI1U' AND ALLOPATHIC TKK A'r.-MKNT. 277 
 
 Respective Exjmiscs of AUojuifliic and Ilomccoputinc 
 
 '^rreuttiKtit. 
 
 The average cxi)enses for tlie treatiuont oi' each indi- 
 vklual patient, were — 
 
 1. In St. Catharine'.s II().<j)ltal, Stuttgard, })er day, 
 for medicines, 5^ kr. rhein., about 2d. Engli.sh currency ; 
 board, &c. &c., 29 kr., about lOd. oui- currency. 
 
 2. In the IIouKeopathic Ilo.spital of Leipzi;^;, 1840, 
 jier day, for all expenses, 4 s. f>,r. 5, 93 pi'., about -Hd. ; 
 in 1841, 4 s. p;r., about 5d. 
 
 In the Homoeopathic Hospital of the Sisters of Charity, 
 in Vienna, were treated in 1840-41, 910 patients, and 
 polyclinically 4367. The total ex})ense for medicines, 
 which have to be newly prepared every year, was 
 200 fi. conv. m., about $107. The expense of the medi- 
 cines for each patient, therefore, was but f th of a penn}-. 
 
 Such arc the simple, unadorned facts ; and they most 
 satisfactorily prove, that of 100 patients, 9-10 died under 
 allopathic treatment — 4-5 under homceopathic treatment. 
 The average duration of treatment was 28-29 days under 
 allopathic treatment, 20-21 days under homoeopathic 
 treatment ; and that under allopathic treatment, the 
 average expense was for each patient nearly 2^ times 
 as much per day as under homoeopathic treatment lor the 
 whole course of the disease. I leave it to every indivi- 
 dual to draw his conclusions from tliese facts ; to me they 
 are beyond contradiction to prove. 
 
 1. That supposing homoeopathy to do notkimj^ allo- 
 pathia, in spite of its doing so imich, frequently is only 
 injurious. 
 
 2. That supposing homoeopathy to do something, it 
 is fully able to compete with its adversary. Therefore, 
 wc ask once more — What are the conclusions ? We ask 
 from every individual an answer, xn^from every govern- 
 ment, action. 
 
 Dr. Kurtz, in a note to these tables, makes the follow- 
 ing remarks with regard to these rcsuhs : — 
 
278 
 
 COMI'AnATIVi: RESULTS OF 
 
 " Tliiit the conclusions drawn from the totality of facts 
 ai)])ioacli llic truth very closely, will be most strikingly 
 evident, if wc compare the results of the treatment of each 
 school, of the same year and in the same place, with 
 each other, liy doing so, wc will perceive that — 
 
 In 18:18, in tlic General Hospital of Vienna ... 
 In the same year, at the Sisters of Cliarity, at 
 
 tlie same jilaee 
 In Ijeip/i^', in 18;}i>, in St. Jaeob's Hospital ... 
 In the Hi>niteo])atliie Hospital of the same i)laee, 
 
 in the same year 
 
 died 
 
 (I 
 
 Per cent. 
 13—14 
 
 5- 
 5- 
 
 • G 
 
 • 12 
 
 4— 5 
 
 The fidlowimj is extracted from BlacKs Princtples and 
 Practice of Humceopnthy. 
 
 Dr. IVIal'it* (in Bourdeaux) hiis collected from authen- 
 tic sources the results of the allopathic and homoeopathic 
 systems in the treatment of cholera. In his table he 
 gives the comparative trial each town or country sepa- 
 rately, and also the period at which the cholera raged. 
 
 The following arc the results : — 
 
 Treated allopathically— 495,027. Cured, 254,788; 
 died, 240,239 ; giving 49 as the per centage of deaths. 
 Treated hoipocopathically in the same districts — 2239. 
 Cured, 2069 ; died, 170 : giving 1h as the per centage of 
 deaths, t 
 
 • •* Dr. Mabit hns been created Knight of the Legion of Honour, — 
 n recompense rendered to his devotion and exertions on the appearance of 
 the .\siatic (cholera, ns well its to his steadfast zeal and continued researches 
 fur the interests of humanity and progress of medicine." 
 
 t See Etude sur le Cholera, par Mabit : Paris, 1833. This work is 
 well worthy of attentive perusal. It was the successful results of homoeo- 
 pathic treatment in cholera which led Mabit and many distinguished prac- 
 titioners to embrace homwupathy. The successful treatment of choler.a 
 in Vienna, where, under allopathy, two-thirds died, while under horau'.o- 
 pnthic treatment, two-thirds recovered, as attested by a commissioner 
 appointed to examine the result!;, led to the repealing of certain laws 
 unravourablo to homceopathy. 
 
y of fiicts 
 triklngly 
 it of each 
 with 
 
 ice, 
 t— 
 
 Per cent. 
 13— U 
 
 5— G 
 5—12 
 
 4— 5 
 
 iciples and 
 
 oin authcn- 
 imocopathic 
 is Uible he 
 iiitry sepa- 
 ra raged. 
 
 254,788 ; 
 of deaths, 
 tots— 2239. 
 eentagc of 
 
 of Honour, — 
 
 appearance of 
 
 lucd researdies 
 
 This work Is 
 ults of homoBO- 
 nguished pruc- 
 leiit of cholera 
 under horaoio- 
 coinmissioner 
 f certain laws 
 
 IIOMOJOPATIIIC AND ALLOrATlIIC TREATMENT. 27!) 
 
 The following rosulti^ of the h()in(eo[)atliic treatment 
 of cholera, in Wischney-Wolotschek, in Russia, we ex- 
 tract from the Prussian State (razetto, No. 310, 14th 
 November, 1831. The rej)ort is drawn up by Dr. 
 Sieder, a stadt-physicus : — 
 
 Cured by Ilonia'opathy ... ... ... HO »nit of l(l!> 
 
 Do. Allopathy ' (iO " l)>!) 
 
 Do. Nature witiinut the aid of pliysic l(i " 40 
 
 The cholera attiicked the territory of Kaub, in Hun- 
 gary, with great violence. Dr. Bakody undertook the 
 honitt'opatiiic treatment of cholera patients ; and his 
 official reports were placed iii the i)ublic arcliives by the 
 imperial health commissioner, Count Franz Ferraris.* 
 
 Population of the city, 16,239. 
 
 UE8ULT9 OF THE IIOMaX)rATllIC TKEVTMENT. 
 
 No. of Patients. 
 Cholera ... ... 154 
 
 Sporadic Afl'ections... C9 
 
 Cured. 
 
 Died 
 
 148 
 
 G 
 
 67 
 
 2 
 
 Total 
 
 223 
 
 215 
 
 UE8ULT8 OF THE ALLOVATHIC TREATMENT OF THE 
 SAME El'lDi;MIC. 
 
 No. of Patients. Cured. Died. Removed. 
 Cliolera in the Hospital. ..284 154 122 8 
 
 Private Houses 1217 699 518 9 
 
 Total ... 1501 853 G40 
 
 During the existence of Cholera, the deaths from 
 
 Sporadic diseases amounted to 140 
 
 8 
 
 Total of deaths durinj? the Cholera 
 
 ... 780 
 
 The proportion then for allopathic treatment is five 
 deaths for seven recoveries, f 
 
 * Aua der nllgemeinen Zeitung, No. 321, besonders abgedruckt. 
 
 ■)■ It were easy to multiply proofs of the efficacy of homoeopathy. "Wo 
 refer those who wish to examine the subject more minutely, to the work 
 of Dr. Quin on Cholera, published in Paris, 1832; also, to the official 
 documents nolleeted by Adn.iral Mordvindoif concerning the homteopathic 
 treiitment of cholera in Russia during 1830 and 1831. Tlie results of 
 these official documents are — Total treated, 1273. (Uired, ll()2; ilied, 
 111. .Mean projiortion of rures, 01. J. ptr cent. ; dtatlis, s,J per cent. 
 
2«)) 
 
 lOMl'ARATIVK UKSULTS, ETC. 
 
 In (•()iulii.<^i(Hi, we <i\\r ;i foinparntlvc; view of" tlu; 
 rosiilts of both syritciud in vaiious iicutc. didf afics f : — 
 
 Name of Disuarie. 
 
 I'liciiinoniit 
 
 Pi'ritotiitis 
 
 {''rysipelfiii 
 
 Ili-patitis 
 
 Variola 
 
 Ilydt'oci'plialus... 
 
 Allopathic Treatment. 
 
 Ilumiun 
 
 pntlilc T 
 
 \o. of 
 
 Xo. of 
 
 Deaths 
 
 No. of 
 
 No. of 
 
 Casust. 
 
 Deaths 
 
 1 
 per (tent. 
 
 Ciwes. 
 
 Denth8 
 
 3fi2 
 
 38 
 
 10-5 
 
 178 
 
 14 
 
 34 
 
 11 
 
 32-3 
 
 58 
 
 5 
 
 f)3 
 
 8 
 
 8-« 
 
 122 
 
 2 
 
 J»l» 
 
 14 
 
 14-0 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 155 
 
 53 
 
 33-3 
 
 54 
 
 10 
 
 70 
 
 63 
 
 90-0 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 Deatlm 
 per cent. 
 
 8-0 
 
 ()-!) 
 
 1-(J 
 
 
 
 18-5 
 
 57-1 
 
 REPORT OF VIENNA HOSriTAL. 
 
 NOVEMBER 1832 JANUARY 1841. 
 
 ( Cholera omitted, ) 
 
 Total of cases of whicli tlie treatment was finished, 41G5. 
 *• of deaths, 313 — 7.5 per cent. 
 
 of cases dismissed as incurable, 93 — 2.2 per cent, 
 of cases not cured, 406 — 9.7 per cent. 
 
 
 " Factd are nhiels that winna ding, 
 And dow' na be disputed." 
 
 We trust we liave succeeded in proving that acute 
 diseases are treated successfully by homoeopathy. 
 
 j" The allopathic results iire taken from Hawkins' Medical St.itistics ; 
 the homwopathic results are drawn from the Report of the llomwopathiu 
 Hospital at Vienna. 
 
^v of tlie 
 
 J Treatment. 
 
 of Deaths 
 
 hs percent. 
 
 4 
 
 8-0 
 
 5 
 
 ()-!) 
 
 2 
 
 1-6 
 
 
 
 
 
 18-5 
 
 4 57-1 
 
 THE MONTREAL MEDICAL (lAZETTE. 
 
 shed, 4165. 
 .2 per cent. 
 
 tliiit acute 
 Lliy. 
 
 ical Statistics ; 
 llomujopatliic 
 
 OiniiCH nrto'i, (|ii.-i> nil Immiuiltntoni |iprtini>nt,lial)ont i|iinil(lnm riiininuno vlnruliiin, 
 ot quasi coKoatiuiie ({uudoin inter se cootiucutur.— Cicitci. 
 
 MONTUEAL, JULY I, 1«44. 
 
 It was truly remarkeil by Dr. Clutterbuck, in one of his admirable 
 lectures, *' that the progress of our art is impeded by tho mystery in 
 whicii it is involved ; that the public know hardly any tiling of its real 
 nature, and think it consists merely in the exhibition of nauseous drugs." 
 Daily experience abundantly proves, that so loni; as any particular 
 theory or art is enTclopcd in n certain degree of mystery, so long will the 
 supporters of that theory, or the practitioners of that art, be able to carry 
 on their covert dealings, and impose upon the unwary, the partially edu- 
 cated and the ignorant portion of mankind, with a certain degree of suc- 
 cess ; and each sect will continue to exercise their swny, until, by some 
 unlucky accident, some new doctrine is broached, which in its turn, con- 
 veys to the minds of the same portion of humanity some most extraordi- 
 nary illuminating influence, and which all of a sudden satisfies them ibat 
 all their previous opinions were founded in error ; or perhaps exhibiting 
 some more captivating feature in its mode of mystifying its victims, suc- 
 ceeds for a time in carrying to their empty brains an amount of conviction, 
 that this last and its advocates can alone be right, and that all others must 
 of necessity be wrong. Medicine, practised purely as an art, as a moyen 
 de vivre, by clever but designing and inconsistent men, affords the most 
 abundant field for carrying on these deceptions. Every one can feel pain; 
 every one is forced to submit to the inconvenience, if not to the distress, 
 induced by faulty performance of function, or absolute organic lesion. 
 Such an one seeks not to know the cause of this inconvenience or suffer- 
 ing, unless it be to such an extent as actually to make him dread that 
 death is becoming too near a neighbour of his own tabernacle of clay ; he 
 flies for relief; it matters not to him, whether he obtain it from an edu- 
 cated or ignorant man, so long as the painful sensation is removed — that 
 is the ultima thule of his wishes — that is the one thing needed — and for 
 that he is prepared at suck a moment, to pay. He cares not whether it be 
 effected by the result of hours of deep study, by potations of water, vary- 
 ing from 10 to 30 pints at a time, or by a grain or two of sugar of milk, 
 administered with an air of the most pertinacious effrontery ; he has swal- 
 lowed the dose, he has paid for it, and a short time suffices for the trial of 
 the experiment. Such must continue to be the case as long as persons in a 
 certain station of society, from whom, in consequence of previously received 
 education, (albeit it may have been small in amount,) or who, from 
 their whole time being engrossed in the frivolities of civilized life, cannot 
 or will not allow their mind (that grand characteristic feature between 
 God's noblest work and the brute,) to reason upon, or be educated upon, 
 
 LL 
 
•/H2 
 
 IIIL; MONTllK.VI, JIKDIC.U, OAZETTK 
 
 the luitiirni cuuritu of cnuitu uiid efYfc-t ; ainl iim loii;; nit they refunii tu udiiiil, 
 Ihiit the iiioHt iiitcri-ntiiit; Mtiiily in natiiri! im the study oriiiaii, no hiii;; tlifii, 
 we n^NiTt, will tlii!t baiu-rul ititliifiita' bt; uxerciittMt ovur society at larK'i. 
 
 TlieitH ri'iiiarkH liav<> bcuii cikiltid forth, in cmitLMiiiuiirK (il'itn haviii); coma 
 to (iiir knovvled^L', that within thu lasit month Komt; half ii do/.uii <ir dozen 
 (we care not for the number, if there were but one,) of the imtieiitH in the 
 Montreal General Iloiipital have been entrusted to the care (tender, no 
 doubt, conMidertiit; the weii|ions uned,) of an individual |)rn('tiHin^ hoiiiwo- 
 |iathy in thitt city. Now with re)(ard to this KtMitlL-nian'!* professiunul 
 •{uidificationH, we know nothin)^; we heard himuiisert, that he ha<l Htudied 
 his prufusbion according to the old system, but that, from " conviction of 
 the incorreclncsmif itn i>rincijilc», //" hud Lrcoiiu <t disciiite of Jluhnimunn," 
 W«- accord to him, and to every one, our full permission to be a follower 
 of the original minded liahneiiutn, or of the veriest <|uuck in the world; 
 but this (havin){ some re^^ard for consistency) we will not accord to him, 
 without remarking upon the paradox, that, to suit his convenience, Iim 
 shall offer, while sailinir under the colours of his reputed patron, to treat 
 patients hoinuH)pathically,allo|iuihically,ur perhitps hydropathically, just as 
 </i('y shall chuuHe. No, no; uur own impression is, that the practitioners i>f 
 homuiopathy practise too much under dolluroputhic intluunces, us lou); as any 
 dollars may be forthcoming; ; and, iihould a crisis arrive, and this secretion 
 be checked or exliuu8ted, their patients are then permitted tu adopt any 
 other " pdthy," for the ussiuigement of their feelinj^s, however dolorous 
 these may have become. We do not write unadvisedly; wo could detail 
 Home curious histories of this description, which have come under our own 
 immediate kiiowledKe in the largest metropolis in the world, as well as in 
 this city of ours. We may, perhaps, on u future occasion, be V iipted to 
 lay some of these curious and instructive cases before our readers. Such, 
 then, beinfT the ciise, we usk what was the object in intrusting to the care 
 of un individual, who has not yet ((uite made up his own mind as to what 
 he practices, cases in an Hospital, thu governors of, and subscribers to 
 which, certainly entertained the opinion, (however erroneous it may be 
 regarded by the advocates of Hahnemann,) that their contributions were 
 tu be consecrated to the treatment of diseases, according to generally re- 
 cognized principles ? Were the Governors consulted as to the propriety of 
 adding to the Medical Staff of thfir Institution ? or were they invited tu 
 behold the miracles to be wrought, or the fallacies tu be exposed ? We 
 regret that such a step has been taken by the present Stuff of the Hospital, 
 presuming, as we du, that they must have sanctiuned it in a body ; and, 
 setting aside all private considerations, we regret it the more, because such 
 a step must necessarily bring down a certain amount of discredit upon one 
 uf the most valuable Institutions in the country ; arid, what is of even 
 greater consequence to our profession, a suspicion of the confidence enter- 
 tained by the Medical Officers themselves in their own principles uf treating 
 disease. la conclusion, we declare uur full belief, with all educated prac- 
 titioners o';' our art, that many Medical men, instead of acting as the hand- 
 maids of r<i'aturc, and pursuing a legitimate expectant system, tun often, 
 by their desire to du tno much, or tu perform professiuoul miracles, du 
 mislead f I'ature entirely, and get themselves into a perplexity ; and, at the 
 same time, we protest with all our power against the preposterous absur- 
 dities vomited furth by Hahnemann and his followers, — and of these none 
 more abiiurd than that all diseases of a chronic kind depend upon the 
 presence in the system of the poisons of " itch or syphilis." AVe wonder 
 what th( female clients of Hahnemann would say to an allopathist, were 
 he to declare this axiom to them. Verily, he would be scouted as one of 
 the most brutul monsters in the world ; and yet " La Doctrine Ilomu^o- 
 patbique," without distinction or qualification, pronounces this judgment 
 against thoni. 
 
AM) Dit. UOSIONSTKIN. 
 
 2H3 
 
 jmi tu udinil, 
 to Ion;; tlivii, 
 ■ at larn«. 
 hiiviiii; tMiiiiu 
 /.fii or tloziMi 
 nti«Mt>t ill tlio 
 
 (tP.iKlcr, no 
 iHinn homu;o- 
 
 jirot'essionul 
 le liiul stutlif il 
 conviction ot 
 lldhminunn.' 
 1)0 II follower 
 II the world ; 
 xord to him, 
 nvenience, li« 
 tron, to treat 
 liically, just as 
 iractitioiiers ol 
 , us Ion;; as any 
 1 this secretion 
 
 to adopt any 
 vcver dolorou* 
 i» could detail 
 under our own 
 1, as well as in 
 
 be t. iipted to 
 eaderw. Sucli, 
 \\\g to the care 
 nind as to what 
 I subscribers to 
 ;ous it may be 
 tributions were 
 
 generally re- 
 the propriety of 
 they invited to 
 exposed ? We 
 of the Hospital, 
 
 1 a body; and, 
 re, because such 
 .credit upon one 
 vhat is of even 
 )ufidencB enter- 
 
 ^iplesoftreatius; 
 I educated prac- 
 ing as the hand- 
 stem, too often, 
 lal miracles, do 
 .ity ; and, at the 
 [)osterou8 absur- 
 ;iil of these none 
 epend upon the 
 " We wonder 
 Jlopatliist, were 
 jouted as one of 
 octrine Iloinwo- 
 s this judgment 
 
 We mny he nrciispd of prcjudicn, of nnri'ow-mintlednest, perrhnnce of 
 iiinoriinci', with rt'^'iird to tbii ni'w doctriiu* ; but wr are quitf prcpiiri'd 
 <-iilmIy mid diKpnsNinniifcly to " prove" ilic abNiirdity both of " the theory 
 .'Hid prai-lice of Ilomiropathy," froiii be^iiinini; to end, and determined, 
 moreover, to "ImM fa>«t lliat whii'h \n (food," we are ho far coiminteut ns to 
 aftirm, that K'c belji-ve in no otiier Hysilcm of thernpeutics, but tiiat which 
 is liased upon nounil jihijuinloify and souail ptithulni/i/. 
 
 Til takiii;; leave of the " Ilomieopntliie I'rarlitioiier of the rity of Mon- 
 treal," we must lie^ file favour of his fnrnisliini;; ns with the lor.des of thn 
 " tffi Ifomtvnpiithic Jfnnfiitnls mid Jiispeimnririi ' wliich be Mtnted, in his 
 first lecture to the members of the Meeliniiies' Institute, existed in London. 
 They rertainly did nut exist, tn the bent of our knowledge, up In tlie 20th 
 March, 1B43. 
 
 '• VlSU CAfiFNTEM 1IIAG5A PARS VEniT I-ATET." — SeilCCft in (Kdip. 
 " TnET THAT ABE DIM OF 8ICTIT, BEE TUL'TII IIY IIAt.VES." 
 
 The above is a specimen of a Montreal critic. Tlio 
 wlioie tenor of tliis opns jiihil snpra shows tliat the animal 
 proj)cnsities are the mot^t prominent in his character. Ho 
 is deficient in moral and intellectual ca])acities. Wo 
 may gather from his writing the following character- 
 istics : — An uneasy, luult-linding temper, a tendency to 
 scandalize, depreciating the merits of others, in order to 
 elevate his own, more desirous to sully a man's reputation, 
 than to search after truth. Three fourths of the author's 
 belaboured production is couched in coarse language, 
 degenerating into Avitticism, in order to ridicule our 
 science, to defame and to lower our character in the 
 estimation of others. Hear his words : — " We will not 
 accord to him, that to suit his convenience Jie shall offer, 
 while sailing under the colours of his reputed patron, to 
 trciit ])'M'icnis homa;opat/nrallt/,ollopathicolli/, or perhaps{?) 
 hjdropathirnllf/, just as t/iej/ shall choose." This is but a 
 a false assertion. \A'^e have never, to the best of our 
 knowledge, asked any ])erson's o])inion how he wished to 
 be treated. We prescribe what we consider the most 
 suitable for our patients. A homccopathic practitioner 
 may prcscrilx? in t<ome cases allnpathically. which, never- 
 
2H4 
 
 THE "ONTUEAL MEDICAL OAZETTi: 
 
 tliclcsfi, ig in accordanro with hoiiKPopftthic principlci<. 
 We liiive advocattid and practised IIonKiopathy, from the 
 very first day of my arrival in Montreal. This, we hope, 
 ia here generally known. Again, lu; sayH, " Our own 
 inii)rc8sion is that the practitioners of llonuropathy 
 pmctice too nuich under dolldropntluc (very good En- 
 glish) influences, as long as any dollars may be forth- 
 coming ; and should a crisis arrive, and this secretion bo 
 checked or (jxhausted, their [)aticnts arc then permitted 
 to adopt any other * patlii/ (moaning assistance; for the 
 assuagement of their feelings, however dolourous these 
 may have become. We do not write unadvisedly ; we 
 could detail some curious histories of this descri[)tion, 
 which have conu; under our own inmiediate knowledge, 
 in the largest metro[)()lis in the world, as well as in this 
 city of ours. We may, perhaps, on a future occasion, 
 be temi)ted to lay some of this curious and instructive 
 cases before our readers." To spy other men's actions, 
 and expose their faults to the public lias never been 
 considered an ui)right course by right-minded men. 
 Should the author be tempted in futui'e, to Ijring bcfcrc 
 the world such infamous libels, he will gain nothing by 
 it but contempt. " Such, then, being the case," con- 
 tinues the unmannerly author, "we ask what Avas the 
 object in intrusting to the care of an individual, who has 
 not quite made np his mind as to ivhat he practices, Ciises 
 in an hospital, the governors of, and subscribers to which, 
 certainly entertained the opinion, that their contributions 
 were to be consecrated to the treatment according to 
 genemlly recognized principles ?" 
 
 " Such, then, being the case" — but such is not the 
 case — it is a falsehood, a machination of his own ; there 
 is among homoeopathic practitioners none who would be 
 so uncharitable as to withdraw his medical aid if the pa- 
 tient's resources were exhausted, And if there arc any 
 among them guilty of such a vice, is it to be presumed 
 that all homoeopathic practitioners are such unprincipled, 
 immoral persons as the author expressly states? But 
 
AND I>ll. llOSliNSTKIN. 
 
 28.-) 
 
 »rinc»plci<. 
 , IVom the 
 , \vc hope. 
 Our own 
 iKropiitliy 
 |r(K)(l En- 
 bo tortli- 
 icrctlon 1)(5 
 permitted 
 ic; lor tlie 
 rous thcwc 
 rtctlly; we 
 cscrii)tion, 
 Liiowledge, 
 as in tliis 
 i occasion, 
 instructive 
 i\s actions, 
 levcr been 
 iidcd men. 
 ring bctlrc 
 lothing by 
 case," con- 
 tit was the 
 d, who has 
 dices, Ciisea 
 •8 to which, 
 ntributions 
 •cording to 
 
 is not tho 
 awn; there 
 would be 
 d if the pa- 
 crc arc any 
 e presumed 
 nprincipled, 
 atcs ? But 
 
 grantctl it were the antv, that the h<»in(i'opatliic practi- 
 tioners would be unwilling to attend any person unless 
 they are fee<l, we ask what have these privatt; afliiirs to 
 do with hospital praxis, where advi(;e and medicine ai-e 
 gratuitously administered. " What was the object of 
 intrusting to the care of an individual who has not yet 
 (piite made up his mind as to what he practices, cas(>s in 
 an hosj)iud." 
 
 The object was, to ascertain if ])atients could not be 
 cured without /> lis, ailomrl, vomits, and jmrf/rs, by an 
 individual who has (piite »>iade up his mind what he 
 pmctices. He is a follower of the " oiuoiNAL-MiNOKn 
 Hahnemann," and he adheres to tliat system from the 
 conviction of the incorrectness of the principles <f the allo- 
 pathic practice. The author remarks, " with regard to 
 this gentleman's professional (lualifications ire know 7io- 
 thinff." We (piite agree with the author that he knows 
 nothing, and is therefore incapable of judging of our 
 professional qualification. The author regrets that such 
 a step had been taken of introducing Ilonueopathy in the 
 hospitid. What a terrible thing it is to get cured without 
 mixtures, powders, pills, blisters, cu[)s, bleeding, &c, 
 The discovery of lionuEopathy is certainly an itchy [)oint 
 for the profession. Your craft is in danger ! Thus far 
 the piece of scandal. 
 
 UEASONlNd PAUT. 
 
 " It was truly remarked by Dr. Chitterbuck in one of 
 his admirable Lectures +hat the prof/ress of our art is 
 impeded by the mystery in which it is involved." 
 
 Any art or science which is involved in mystery must 
 of course be impeded in progress. The name of an art 
 or a science cannot be applied to them, if that is the case. 
 They are incapable of reaching a point of perfection, and 
 carry within themselves the germ of dissolution. Ex- 
 amine the medical history. Yon will find nothing bu( 
 confusion. No art or science has made lc?^s progress in 
 
•Jbf) 
 
 THIi MONTREAL MEDICAL GAZETTE 
 
 proportion to the time, than the medical practice. " That 
 tlie public know hardly anything of its real nature." 
 It is hardly to Le expected that an art, which is involved 
 in mystery, the public should know much about it. 
 Besides, it would be very unfortunate for the faculty 
 were the public more enlightened, and better informed 
 ul)out flic fallacies ol mysterious allopathy. They would 
 think it preferable to leave their diseases rather to Na- 
 ture's own exertion, than entrusting themselves in the 
 hands of an allopathic Doctor. " And think it consists 
 merely in the exhibition of nauseous dnigs." And the 
 public think correctly that your art consists merely in 
 t!ie exhibition of nauseous, disgusting drugs. Had they 
 the least idea of the injuries done to the system by your 
 medlies, they would exclaim with the great bard of 
 nature, 
 
 " Throw physic to the dogs, I'll none of it." 
 
 " Daily experience abundantly proves, (continues the 
 author,) that so long as any particular theory or art is 
 enveloped in a certain degree of mystery, so long will 
 the supporters of that theory, or the practitioners of that 
 art, be able to carry on their covert dealings, and impose 
 upon the unwary, the partially educated, and the ignorant 
 portion of mankind, with a certain degree of success." 
 
 The Montreal critic perverts and misconstrues liis 
 master's words, changing the word our into any to suit 
 his purpose. He intends to point out Homoeopathy as a 
 something involved in mystery, which carries on its covert 
 dealing, imposing upon the unwary, ih^ partially educated, 
 and the ignorant portion of mankind. Homoeopathy, 
 however, is not a science wrapt up in mysteiy. It may 
 appear so to ignorant men — to men not trained to study 
 — but those who liave investigated the subject know that 
 it is based upon sound principles — a science altogether 
 experimental, which makes it capable for development 
 and improvement ; by no means to be compared to yours, 
 purs, according to Clutterbuck, which with all the labors 
 
 ^ 
 
w 
 
 AND DR. KOSENSTEIN. 
 
 287 
 
 !. « Tliat 
 ,1 nature." 
 is involved 
 
 about it. 
 he faculty 
 ' informed 
 hey would 
 lier to Na- 
 ves in the 
 it consists 
 
 And the 
 merely in 
 
 Had they 
 m by your 
 ,t bard of 
 
 bestowed upon it since ages, still remaiiid us iiMi)iifi;ct iw 
 
 it was centuries ao;o. 
 
 "VVe have no necessity of carryin<j on our deiiliii"-s 
 covertly, as the author pretends; such i)roceedings we 
 leave to others, darkUiifjs, who are better used to it than 
 we are. Neither do we deal with the scum of society — 
 the most elite, the best educated have ado[)ted Honi(jeo[)athy 
 in the whole world. 
 
 In taking leave of the allopathic pnictitioncr of the 
 city of Montreal, we would advise him not to enter upon 
 topics which are beyond the sphere of his mental capa- 
 cities. 
 
 itinues the 
 J or art is 
 » long will 
 lers of that 
 !ind impose 
 lie ignorant 
 success." 
 istrues his 
 iny to suit 
 opathy as a 
 m its covert 
 ly educated, 
 imocopathy, 
 y. It may 
 ed to study 
 t know that 
 
 I altogether 
 evelopment 
 •ed to yours, 
 
 II the lal)ora 
 
nOLLO CAMPBELL, 
 PLACR D'aRMBS hill, MONTRBAl.