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SOME
LOCAL AND GENERAL
EXCRESCENCES OF HOMEOPATHY.
BY JOHN F. GEARY, M. D.
PHILADELPHIA.
1858.
}
"WE ARE NOT AS BAD AS WE SEEM."
80320
SOME
LOCAL AND GENERAL
EXCRESCENCES OF HOMEOPATHY,
BEING
REVIEWS OF
DR. HERING'S
"HOMEOPATHIST, OR DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN,"
AND OF
THE HOMEOPATHIC "MATERİA MEDICA PURA,”
BY JOHN F. GEARY, M. D.
These Articles have already appeared in the "Philadelphia" and "North Ameri-
can" Journals "of Homœopathy," as portions of the series called "Our Literature."
PHILADELPHIA:
HENRY B. ASHMEAD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER,
GEORGE STREET ABOVE ELEVENTH.
SOLD BY ALL
BOOKSELLERS.
1858.
י
刚
​
Dedication.
TO THE FRIENDS AND OPPONENTS OF HOMEOPATHY.
I DEDICATE the following pages to the professional and lay friends
and opponents of Homœopathy:-to its friends, because they must
regret whatever has a tendency to injure the good name, retard the
progress and pervert the character of a system of medical treatment,
which investigation and experience have proved to be both salutary and
effective, a blessing by the bed of sickness, a boon to humanity! To
its opponents, since to ridicule its misrepresentations and caricature
the mere eccentricities of individual practitioners have been their
strongest and only arguments;-to the learned and candid who should
not be deterred from the pursuit of great principles by the short-
comings and weaknesses of solitary professors;-to the ill-informed
and narrow-minded, that they may learn one lesson, at least, neither
to denounce nor deride what they have not knowledge enough to
pursue or genius to appreciate.
No. 1427 ARCH STREET, PHILADELPHIA,
October, 1858.
JOHN F. GEARY.
Introduction.
THERE is no cause so bad that may not be made to appear worse by
the unfairness of its opponents, by the imprudence of its advocates,
or their unfitness for the task they assume. It would indeed be dif-
ficult to say which can inflict the greater injury. Still we are inclined
to the conclusion, that it may suffer more in the hands of its reputed
friends, than it can from all the efforts of its enemies. The latter
have never been able to repress the truth, or effectually to delay
its progress; while the very revelations of the Almighty have been
crushed, retarded, overlaid, and shut up in the very depths of darkness,
for ages after ages, by their self-constituted ministers and reputed
guardians! Whatever those who may deem it their duty to sneer at
any medical reform, or those who have been turned away disgusted
from its consideration by silly caricatures and unfounded statements,
may think of that commonly known as homœopathy, it can no longer
be denied, that it is at present a great fact; that in this country
alone there are nearly one thousand seven hundred medical men who
adopt the therapeutic law of cure implied in that designation. Its
position and standing in England and continental Europe, may be
gathered from the fact, that a large proportion of the best and noblest
in these lands, whether distinguished by social position or education,
are its advocates.* But, be that as it may, we want only a fair field
* “ Festival in Aid of the London Homœopathic Hospital.-A public dinner in aid
of the building fund of this charity took place on Wednesday, April 21, 1858, at Willis's
Rooms, when the Duke of Wellington presided. His Grace was supported by the
Duke of Beaufort, Viscount Lismore, Viscount Maldon, Lord Rokeby, Lord Grey de
Wilton, Lord Cosmo Russell, the Hon. R. Grosvenor, Mr. Truman, M. P., Major
Blake, Captain Fishbourne, R. N., Mr. Pritchard (High Bailiff of Southwark,) Mr.
Sheriff Rutherford, Dr. Chepmell, Dr. Clarke, Dr. W. Bell, Dr. G. N. Epps, Dr. Baikie,
Dr. Kidd, Mr. Yeldham, Dr. Wyld, Mr. de Michele, Dr. Tuckey, Dr. Bayes, Dr.
McKechnie, Dr. Ryan, Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Metcalfe, Dr. de Brereton, Dr. Dunn, Dr.
Drury, Mr. Battye, Dr. Ransford, Dr. Guinness, Dr. Morgan (Plymouth,) Dr. Morgan
(Dover,) Dr. Joce, Mr. Ayerst, Dr. Quin, Dr. Hamilton, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Leadam,
Dr. Phillips, Mr. Mackern, Mr. D. Smith, Dr. R. Russell, Dr. Henriques, Dr. Hart-
mann, and about 150 other gentlemen, known as supporters of Homœopathy in the
metropolis and in the provinces.
"The Chairman's appeal was liberally responded to by the company, and contribu-
tions were announced amounting to about £1,000-including twenty guineas from
the Chairman, fifteen guineas from the Duke of Beaufort, £100 from the Earl of
Wilton, and £100 from Captain Felix V. Smith.
"A grand fancy bazaar was held on Friday and Saturday last, in the Riding School
of the Cavalry Barracks, Knightsbridge, in aid of the funds for the necessary altera-
tions, &c., in the freehold premises, Great Ormond street, recently purchased for the
London Homœopathic Hospital. The bazaar was originally fixed for Wednesday
and Thursday, but the Queen's state-ball on Wednesday, and other fashionable
1*
6
CO
and no favor here, to be taken only for what we are worth, and
be allowed to bide our time, either to rise or fall as truth and
humanity, which we all are trying to serve, may in time decide
for or against. We shrink from no field to which honest convic-
events on Thursday, rendered it desirable, in deference to the wish expressed by
many lady-patronesses, to postpone the bazaar until the two following days.
"The bazaar was one of the gayest and most aristocratic re-unions that has been
seen in the metropolis for a long time. The Riding School, a large, lofty, and well-
ventilated building, was decorated with the flags of all nations. The stalls ran
round the sides of the building, leaving a large open area in the centre for the prome-
naders, except opposite the entrance, where there arose a vast military trophy, hav-
ing for its base the silver kettle-drums presented to the first regiment of Life Guards
by George IV., a superstructure of cuirasses, swords, helmets with nodding plumes,
&c., completed the trophy.
66
The list of lady-patronesses of the bazaar comprised five duchesses, three mar-
chionesses, eleven countesses, six viscountesses, and thirty-one additional ladies of
title. The stall-holders were the Duchess Emily of Beaufort, Maria Marchioness of
Aylesbury, the Countess of Craven, the Countess of Wilton, Lady Willoughby de
Broke, Lady Ebury, Lady Rokeby, Baroness Alphonse de Rothschild, Duchess of
St. Arpino, Viscountess Newport, Lady Augusta and Lady Honora Cadogan, Mrs.
Moore, of Liverpool; Mrs. Drysdale of Liverpool; Mrs. Fussell, Mrs. Joseph Hoar,
and Miss Wilkinson, Mrs. Rosher and Mrs. Yeldham, Mrs. Hamilton and Miss Cris-
pin, Mrs. Leadam and Miss Mey mott, the Ladies of the Committee of the Subscrip-
tion Society, Mrs. and the Misses Parry, &c.
"The lady stall-keepers were early at the bazaar on Friday morning, in order to
receive her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge, the Hereditary Grand Duch-
ess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and the Princess Mary of Cambridge. The Royal
visitors, who, attended by Baron Knesebeck, arrived about twelve o'clock, after
passing amongst the flower-stalls, entered the bazaar proper, making purchases at
almost every stall, and instituting the most affable inquiries relative to the articles
for sale. At Mrs. Drysdale's stall the royal visitors purchased a little card box,
which, the Duchess was informed, was made by a poor girl who had been a Dispen-
sary patient, and who had lost her arm. At the Fine Arts stall, kept by Lady
Augusta and Lady Honora Cadogan, the Princess Mary purchased a water-color
drawing, by Lady Augusta Cadogan, entitled "Homage to Raglan." The Grand
Duchess also made some purchases of paintings and drawings, which reflected great
credit on the amateur artists by whom they were executed. At Lady Rokeby's
stall the Princess Mary, with her winning smile, called the attention of the Duchess
and her sister to some Berlin work of her own; to some bijoux sent by the Princess
Alice; to some bead-work by the Duchess of Kent; to packets of gourd-seed from
the celebrated collection of Sans-Souci, and to a silver filagree basket, contributed
by the Princess of Prussia. The Duchess of Cambridge, who is the patient of a
metropolitan practitioner of homeopathy, had herself sent some little offerings in
knitting and bead-work to Lady Rokeby's stall. Lady Wilton's stall exhibited
some magnificent embroidery and Berlin work, which obtained for the amiable
Countess a well-deserved compliment to the taste and industry of the young ladies
of Heaton-Hall. After a lengthened inspection of the bazaar, and expressing their
gratification at the numerous objects of taste and utility which they had witnessed,
the royal party took their departure.
"About two o'clock the band of the Horse Guards (Blue) takes up its station outside
the Riding School, and gratifies the company with operatic selections, waltzes, pol-
kas. The company now begin to arrive, and the scene becomes very animated.
Muslin of course carries it over silk, as becomes the heat of the weather, and every
year these summer robes become lighter in texture and more graceful and artistic
in design. Fair Floras, bareheaded with ravishing chevelures, who were presented
at the first drawing-room this season, and have already made a dozen conquests, trip
lightly about with fanciful flower-baskets and put a posy in your hands with such
a simple and winning grace, that your half-a-crown seems a paltry return for the
condescension. The sisters of one of the proudest dukes in the peerage, the friends
and companions of a royal duchess, sell you a pen-wiper or a traveling cap, knit by
their own fair hands; and a young duke, who is anxious to speak to them about
7
tion may challenge us to open advocacy, and we refuse no issue that
can be justly demanded. But if the public have been imposed on,
and the profession mislead by the so-called "homœopathy" of per-
sons whose medical education must appear doubtful and very
deficient to every candid and competent judge, it is hardly fair to
charge the individual acts of the presuming and the unqualified
upon the educated members of the profession, who are not, and can
never be a party to acts by which men of this stamp, every where
and in every system, endeavor to force themselves into undeserved
notice.
The author of these pages has for years labored to defend himself
and others from the sneers and insults directed against them in private
conversation and social intercourse-upon the gratuitous assumption
that they were the advocates of that extraordinary system foisted into
this community by certain self-styled homoeopathists-and which
has passed too long in this city for homœopathy; although these men
have never been fair exponents of the system, nor has the miserable
mysticism with which they have confounded and confused a clearly
demonstrated medical reform any claim to the respect due to our
school. To this day, every medical man of the opposite school whom
we meet asks, in derision, "if we practice medicine on the plan laid
down in Hering's book?" and insists on the fact, that "he is the
head of our heap!" Tired of being twitted and misunderstood, the
series of articles from which the following are taken, were commenced
in this city, as above stated, and are still continued in our Journal
published in New York. Time, however, has proved that the circula-
tion of these periodicals has been too limited, or the prejudice against
them too strong to allow these strictures to have their due weight,
and to produce the effect intended on those without our ranks;
whether lay or professional. It is to this fact alone their appearance
in their present form must be attributed. We, individually, claim no
consideration; we seek no favor, we desire no indulgence, we shrink
not from being considered, and even called, "outsiders;" since out-
siders have had their place not unfrequently in the advance guard of
all great movements;-even among the pioneers of mental enlighten-
ment, material progress, and divine evangelization! Galileo was an
outsider, Columbus an outsider and an enthusiast; and even the per-
a raffle, waits until your purchase is completed, that he may not interrupt the com-
mercial transaction. The daughters of a countess talk to you about art, and when
you praise the pose of a figure in crayons, or the perspective of a water-color lands-
cape, you find you have been whispering your eulogies in the ear of the fair artist
herself. A fasionable viscountess, who presides over the refreshment-table, and who
has a half-dozen obsequious and much be-floured flunkeys behind her to bring her
hot-water and cakes, will do that for you which she never does for her guests, and
will pour you out a cup of tea with her own fair hands. The viscountess was in the
Book of Beauty a few years ago, and still preserves the engaging smile which led
enthusiastic admirers to cut out her portrait and hang it up, Madonna-wise, upon
their walls."
"NOTE.-The receipts were between £1700 and £1800."-(See " Illustrated London
News,” under the above date.)
8
secuted and crucified "Nazarene," was the outsider of his day! Let
the craven who would shrink from what he feels convinced is a good
and a true principle, because it is neither the fashion, nor in the ascen-
dant, go down to his obscure and soon-forgotten grave! He wants
the pluck of the hero, and the courage of a man! Whatever obloquy
belongs to the name of homœopathy in the eyes of many, we, there-
fore, willingly bear, convinced from actual experience, and some
reading and thinking, that it is associated with the useful and the
good. But we cannot submit to the degradation of being linked with
the fanaticism, superstitions, and ignorance revealed in Hering's book
and provings! If these were homoeopathy, we should scorn to wear
the badge. Our reviews will speak for themselves; their imperfections
will be forgiven for the sake of the motive that prompted the efforts
of their author-to shake himself clear of what no honorable or liber-
ally educated man could suffer to hang to his skirts.
Should the quotations and extracts seem to any reader too absurd
and flagrantly ridiculous, easy access may be had to the book itself,
at the publishers. We have two copies at our office, and hundreds
are in circulation throughout the country and city.
And at the best, who that has any professional pride or standing
would lend, or has ever lent himself to the fabrication of books for
"domestic" quackery? None, but those who are ready to feed upon
the offals of a respectable calling, can stoop to a species of clap-trap,
whose only advantage can be to inveigle old women and hypochon-
driacs into the absurd notion, that "they can doctor themselves."
He who lowers the medical profession to this standard is recreant to
his brethren, arrays himself with charlatans and empyrics, and there-
fore loses all right to consideration or notice.
The quack and the caterer for "domestic treatment," belong to the
same hungry and pilfering herd, who prefer to prowl in darkness and
seize a portion of what belongs to others, rather than undergo the
toils and fatigues of honest and hard labor in the clear light of day
and under the eyes of honest men.
Europe and America have produced other exponents than these by
whom this new system of therapeutics is to be judged, and in whose
hands it must stand or fall. We have, therefore, the right to demand
at the hands of all honest opponents not to be classed in the same
category with men whose only medical education is that derived from
a contemptible symptom list, and whose only practice is founded on
a combination of old wives' fables and German superstitions. We
repudiate all connection with men of this stamp, we desire to be
judged by other works than theirs.
OUR LITERATURE.
A REVIEW.*
"2D CIT. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in
great danger, I re-cover them."-JULIUS CESAR. ACT I.
WHEN the spirit of freedom first shines upon the ·
minds of men, who have suffered from time immemorial
under the heavy hand and the galling chains of des-
potism, inspires them to break their bondage, and hurl
the tyrant from his seat of power, nothing is more
natural, than that the laws and usages under which
they had been held in thraldom-whether written in
statute-books, or received from father to son, as indis-
putable tradition-should follow the fate of the despot,
and be wiped out from the archives of the nation, or be
nullified by new codes; and that their memory should
perish as the days of darkness and fear had faded from
the minds of the people. Or when, in days of moral
gloom and unholy superstition, a light from heaven
breaks in upon the soul of some anchorite, in his
secluded cell, directs his researches to hidden records
in which are stored the disused, overlaid and forgotten
truths of everlasting life, and prompts him to lift them
up as a standard to the nations; and when these nations
kneel in simple reverence and unaffected adoration,
* See Philadelphia Journal of Homœopathy, for August and Sep-
tember, 1855.
JorM
2
10
would it not be reasonable to suppose that the degra-
ding ceremonials and childish follies of the dark ages
should disappear with the errors under whose shadow
they were fostered? But although these results do
finally spring from all reformations, whether political,
religious or medical, yet undeniable experience, and a
long array of those stubborn things, called facts, furnish
proofs that results linger long and depart but slowly,
after their causes have disappeared. It would be easy
to show, by the history of ancient nations, and even by
"modern instances," that the chains and fetters which
vanquished tyrants had left to rust on the fields, from
which they fled discomfited, have not unfrequently been
picked up, furbished and fondly treasured,-by many
who looked back with reverence on the "olden and
better times,"-not only as mementoes, but in their
peevish and fretful moods to shake them in the faces of
those whose liberties they would still gladly see re-
stricted. And who needs to be told how often the
stake-bound victim has lifted up his eyes to heaven,
through the flames that consumed him, according as
rival sectaries were able, in their turn, to command
the arm of the civil power?-or how vigilantly and suc-
cessfully the witch-finder magnified his office, and with
what sage wisdom and holy indignation the legal func-
tionary pronounced his verdict upon some wretch who
was the subject of old age, decrepitude and mental
imbecility, rather than the specially authorized "ser-
vant of Satan," many years after the New Testament
had been recovered from its too careful conservators,
and scattered far and wide among the people? But
11
time works wonders; and, as light diffuses, the very
footprints of the messengers of darkness fade from the
face of the earth! All we attempt to show by these
illustrations, is, that however sudden and effectual the
first and great efforts that introduce reformations, still
their final consummation is but a thing of gradual
growth under favorable auspices.
Now, there is no reason why medical reformation
should differ in its development and progress from those
noted above. Medicine being purely founded upon
facts and experience, must needs be more slow in
advancing, and longer in coming to maturity: if indeed
such a thing as maturity can be predicated of a science,
which must always change with every new disease, or
with the new phases of old ones that must inevitably
spring up among different races of men, as they change
their climates, their habits of life and their occupations.
The reformation which, about sixty years ago, took
place in our science, has been steadily progressing ever
since; and seems to obey the laws, or yield to the neces-
sities, which govern and modify all similar movements,
whilst plodding its onward way through evil and good
report; and in spite of determined and often ungenerous
foes without, and many imprudent and incompetent,
though well-meaning friends and advocates within. As
we look to the literature of a nation for its progress
and history, so it is to the books of our school in this
country we must look for the facts that lead to this con-
clusion. And as "the written letter remains," and our
writings may any day be brought up in evidence for or
against our system, we believe we can do no better ser-
12
vice to the cause, than by taking a retrospective glance
at the records of our science since it was introduced
into this country, and openly and candidly avowing how
much can fairly be endorsed by us, and how much we
feel bound, in self-justification, to disown and put aside,
as forming no part of our literature.
There are so many examples of childish folly and
silly superstition-demonstrating a total want of, and
disregard to, sound medical science-in some of our
earlier records, that we are almost daily made to blush
for them by those opponents who are too much in the
habit of overlooking great virtues and dwelling upon
small vices. And to cut even this narrow ground of
argument from under their feet, we have determined to
take up our goose-quill and, with a few brushes of its
feathers, wipe out, or nullify these exceptionable acts of
old and partially enlightened legislators. And if they,
their followers or their descendants, should feel ag-
grieved when we are compelled to raise a smile at their
expense for that is all the mischief we mean them-
they must forgive us for the sake of that good cause
for which they, like ourselves, should be ready to sacri-
fice even a little feeling. But should they not meet us
in this spirit, we shall try how we may outlive their
frown, and survive even their malice; whilst we answer
them and all objectors with this argument and apology:
"Not that I loved Cæsar less, but that I loved Rome
more.". "I have done no more to Cæsar, than you
should do to Brutus." And, as before remarked, if we
may not at all times be able to suppress a smile, we
shall be fair, candid and charitable, make full and
13
ample excuse for human frailty and short-comings, and
consistently with the just claims of our cause," which
is above all,”—pass over every thing but palpable error
and downright folly.
our name.
We must, according to our plan, first direct the atten-
tion of the reader to a small duodecimo edition, published
at Allentown, Pa., in 1835, called "THE HOMEOPA-
THIST, OR DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN," as we know of
nothing produced in this country at a prior date-a
circumstance not at all to be regretted, if, as may be
naturally supposed, an earlier effort must needs have
been more feeble. Taking the book as a whole, and
and making full admission for all it contains worth the
perusal even of those for whom it was intended, it can
only be a cause of sincere regret to our school that such
a production should ever have gone into the world in
We doubt not but even the author himself
will now agree with us in this opinion.
Whatever may be the character or the real value of
the work before us, we have no wish to detract from the
motives which prompted its author in sending it into the
world. These, we are bound to admit, must have been
of the highest order, a sincere desire to serve the com-
mon cause of humanity and of science. And, if we
except the common but small weakness of men in gene-
ral, the desire to see oneself in print, the "cacoëthes
scribendi," or the scribbling itch,—which, alas, even
"psorinum" fails to remove,-we cannot conceive that
any thing short of a desire to place the means of an
easy and pleasant cure for all human ailments within
the reach of every individual and family could have
2
1
14
tempted him to risk his professional reputation upon
this manual.
But purity of intention, loftiness of motive, and even
self-denying toil do not always imply soundness of judg-
ment, scientific acquirements, extensive and solid infor-
mation, or even elementary knowledge in any given
case. And all must admit that authors, whose mission
it should be to enlighten the people upon the subject on
which they write, can hardly be excused if totally want-
ing in these departments. It is not, however, by any
means a rare occurrence for men of defective or narrow
education, with some claims to natural, though ill-culti-
vated talents, to mistake their resources, if not their
powers, and to engage in undertakings for which they
are altogether unqualified. And it is this which renders
their intended good and well-meant efforts positive evils:
-makes them unwittingly injure the cause they would
more effectually have served by quiet and unassuming
labors in the domain for which education, if not nature,
had fitted them. Of such men we commonly say,
"that their hearts are better than their heads;" that
they meant well, but acted unwisely. And of them
every good cause has reason—if it may find a tongue-
to exclaim, “save me from my friends!" We sincerely
regret to be compelled by the task we have assumed to
allow no higher place to the author of the work under
consideration,-Dr. Constantine Hering-than that of
one of the above class-that of a man whose zeal outran
his knowledge and judgment: and who has by this one act
-to mention no others of a later date at present-
given our opponents a decided advantage by laying our
15
system open to serious and most injurious charges, from
which we suffer to this day. And these must remain as
a stigma upon us as long as by our cowardly silence and
guilty connivance, we permit them to stand as items in
our professional bill of fare. From this charge we must,
individually, make an effort, though it be but feeble, to
clear ourselves. And now to our task. It will not be
needful to make any strictures upon the language and
style of this book, simply because there is not a line of
tolerably correct English from its beginning to its end,
and it has still less claim to style. It is deformed by
every imperfection of speech and diction which is com-
monly heard in the mouths of the vulgar every where
—without connection, order, propriety of expression
or accidence. In style we can only pronounce it an
amalgam of the colloquial, the grave, the solemn, the
didactic, the mystic and the slang-thrown together in
chaotic confusion, with an apparent obliviousness of
there being any such things as laws and rules in lan-
guage by which writers are governed on all subjects and
in all tongues. Lest we may be accused of making
assertions without proof, by such as have not read this
extraordinary book for themselves, we will cite the fol-
lowing examples taken at random. The page on which
they may be respectively found is indicated by the num-
bers set down.
22. "When any one has sweaty feet." The model
for this elegant form of expression may be found in one
English classical author. One of the "two fine ladies
from town," introduced to the family of the Vicar of
Wakefield, says in the midst of the dance, "by the liv-
16
ing jingo I'm all of a muck of sweat.'
35. "When
a person is so tired as to feel fainty!" very feeble in-
deed. 58. “A feeling of emptiness in the pit of the
breast!" This is a very queer pit for a medical philo-
sopher to tumble into-why not say stomach? it would
not be half so bad; but in avoiding this Scylla of
the stomach, he falls into the Charybdis of "the breast.”
59. "Tedious consequences from immoderate smoking
are difficult to cure!"-we should think they would, in-
deed, and much more difficult to diagnose, since they
form a new addition to the practice of physic, upon which
we should like to see a thesis. 60. "When suddenly
dangerous symptoms appear,"an attempt at, when
dangerous symptoms appear suddenly. 63, "Rising
of the blood into the head,"-fine, very fine! 81. "We
are apt to inhale poison through the AIR !"—indeed we
apt" to do no such thing, and for two very good
reasons; first, because we are very reluctantly compelled
sometimes to admit poisons through the mouth and nos-
trils; and second, because there never was any poison
in the air, its component parts being oxygen, nitrogen
and carbon.-But let the learned author explain his
own meaning; he says, "old wells, caves, cellars, vaults,
and particularly old privies, contain frequently air that
is deadly poisonous." In all deference we submit that
this is not philosophy or fact, as, in the conditions at-
tempted to be described, they contain no air at all, but
deleterious gases, called by the uneducated "foul air,"
which is capable of destroying animal life. 84. "What-
ever has gone into putrefaction!" can't easily go out, of
course. 137. "The bite of a mad dog, or of a raving
are “
+
17
animal." We know of no animal addicted to "raving"
but the human animal, and he furnishes numerous well-
marked instances of the disease; one of its character-
istic symptoms is "to talk irrationally," and "when
men thus rave we may conclude their brains are turned.”
140. "The endless variety of remedies increase with
every year, deserve," &c.; how can an endless variety
increase? A school-boy would write, "increases," "de-
serves." 140." With such any remedy will answer”.
a housemaid would say "for such." 142. "When
pregnant women from a fall, misstep, or violent motion
and concussion of whatever kind, receive pain!" &c.
There are upon record numerous strange and miraculous
conceptions, and this one, produced at Allentown, Pa.,
in 1835, is the latest, as far as we have been able to
learn, and certainly the most wonderful. The preg-
nancy of Rhea Sylvia was decently and indulgently at-
tributed to Mars,—and
"Of Brian's birth strange tales are told,"-
as we are informed in the "Lady of the Lake," canto
3d; but so remarkable a cause of gravidity as
as "a fall,"
"misstep," or "violent motion and concussion" is
without parallel in sacred or profane history. And
even at the risk of being charged with want of due rev-
erence for the mysteries of nature, we feel inclined to
deny the main proposition implied in the learned Dr.'s
words, whilst we freely admit that cases of pregnancy
may occur on which each, or all, of these counts may be
attendant circumstances, or incidents; though in strict
medical jurisprudence they would not be allowed indi-
2*
18
vidually or collectively to stand "in loco parentis.
Still, we have classic authority for the above form of
words;
"Her apron grew short, and her heart it did ache,
And she thought upon the fall coming home from the wake,
She thought upon the fall coming home!"—Old Song.
But, to be serious, if the above were written in Eng-
lish, it would run thus,-"When pregnant women are
hurt by a fall," &c.-and be no laughing matter. 144.
"Dislocation is when a joint has been put out of its
proper place!" This definition of dislocation is as great
a curiosity in surgery as the last case is in obstetrics.
Ordinary books and surgeons tell us that a joint is the
union of two bones, and that dislocation occurs when the
head of a bone is forced from its place. 146. "The
most important means of healing wounds is by combina-
tion." We should think that a "combination" of wounds
would be an odd mode of healing them,-one in one
place being deemed quite enough. The ordinary mode
in cases of simple incised wounds we rather suppose to
be by coaptation, or by bringing the edges together. So
at least say Liston and Miller:-but what of them? 150.
"Let him lay high with the wounded part, and see that
no part of his body be pressed." This seems to us a very
strange piece of medical advice, as it would not at all
seem unreasonable that the act of incubation or hatch-
ing should succeed that of "laying." It would, to say
the least of it, be no fowl play.
ני
158. "Heterogeneous particles in the body," is the
heading of a chapter treating of the extraction of for-
19
eign bodies—a truly singular, though high-sounding,
caption. It would, indeed, seem from this and many
others, that, by a studied system, erroneous and unmean-
ing expressions and collocations had been sought out in
order to supersede plain, correct and popular language.
170. "When molestation remains after the danger is
passed"!! Here we confess ourselves at a dead stand;
to this description of a diseased condition we have no-
thing to say, so we leave it un-molested.
173. "Potashes, it is well known, are a substance
very fretting and burning!" it are, are it? the school-
master was certainly abroad at Allentown, Pa., in 1835.
"If it have been occasioned by too great joy,"-cer-
tainly whether "it have" or not, one thing is certain,
that if we pursue this detail longer we shall either split
our sides with laughter, or go mad with indignation.
But may we not ask, in all seriousness, why this com-
pilation of unmitigated trash has been allowed to re-
main for so many years to compromise and disgrace our
cause? And how it has happened that, with so many
able men in our ranks in this country, no one has had
the courage to disclaim this thing and so disarm those
opponents who are always ready to judge us "by our
works."
But verbal deformities and inaccuracy of diction are
the lightest charges we have to make against this work.
We would be willing, indeed, to pronounce an exemp-
tion in favor of an author who, through the medium of
"broken English," conveyed great ideas, or even cor-
rect and useful information; we might, it is true, desig-
nate them "diamonds in mud," but who would quarrel
:
20
with the mire that soiled his fingers, when it expiates
the offence with a gem ?
66
We must arraign this book before the supreme court
of our Profession, and charge it with capital crime; as
being guilty of violating our cause by false therapeutics,
gross empiricism and vulgar superstition; by all which
incalculable damage has been sustained by pure homoeo-
pathy! In a word, it stands at the bar indicted for
High Treason" against the Majesty of Science! The
evidence we shall bring forward shall admit of no doubt,
even cross-examination can be dispensed with. It shall
be acquitted or found guilty upon the confessions and
admissions of its own pages. These witnesses must
needs be few, though fitly chosen, as the limits of our
time and space restrict us from calling the array we
have ready to attend. The plan of the work is highly
objectionable and ill-judged. It savors of mysticism and
quackery; you are always prescribing a number,—19 or
21, as the case may be-instead of a medicine. Thus
one is eternally groping in the dark, and the mind, in
vain, looks out for some ray of light as to what these
ever-recurring figures signify-a state of mind that
would at once be relieved by simply giving the names
of the medicines, as Hahnemann and all other wri-
ters since his time have done. But some men are so
fond of being in the clouds themselves that they will
scarcely allow the light of the sun to break in upon
others. To say the least of this feature, it was a great
error in judgment, and implies want of sufficient caution
and care in the author. On page 8 we find directions
given for the administration of the remedies in these
܀
21
words: "How to apply the medicine"-"1st, by smell-
ing; 2d, by taking one or two globules; 3d, dissolved
in water." Upon the first of these modes the greatest
stress is laid, from which we are to infer that Dr. Her-
ing deems it to be the most efficacious, as well as from
the minute directions given as to the mode of closing
one of the nostrils and then "smelling at the lower part
of cork”—doing which once or twice is thought suffi-
cient, and in dealing with children it is thought best
"to hold it to the nostril when asleep!" Now a careful
perusal of Hahnemann's works will show that he was
by no means so confident on this point, and that his
faith was wavering, weak and unsettled in the efficacy of
"smelling." Nor have the credible records of the qua-
lified practitioners of our school in this country or
abroad, been more fortunate in confirming the advan-
tages claimed for it by Dr. Hering. Indeed, it seems
very clear to us that the reputable members of the pro-
fession have studiously "turned up their noses" at this
dogma. One of the best informed, most accurate and
reliable members of our school-Dr. Dudgeon, of Lon-
don, says with regard to it: "I confess I have never
had the courage to employ it in acute diseases, nor the
impudence to use it in chronic ones. I cannot conceive
a case in which it would ever present advantages over
the other methods of administering the remedy."-Lec-
ture 18, page 511. So that, on the whole, we feel jus-
tified in pronouncing it one of those wild vagaries, which
men, like Dr. Hering, who are more singular than
sound, adopt for the sake of doing something out of the
common way, and for which vagaries we should not, as
22
a body, be judged. So much for the general character-
istics of the work, for we must now turn to its particu-
lar marks of deformity.
1
On page 43 we are gravely told, "when the stomach
suffers from eating short fish or spoiled meat, give some
finely pulverized charcoal mixed with brandy." "Brandy
and water" is so well known and so fully established,
that we need not add a word. Some time ago "brandy
and salt" was the universal remedy for all ailments.
We believe it answered very well for liquor merchants
as long as the rage lasted; but it remained for Dr.
Hering to sound the praise of brandy and charcoal,
and to him belongs the doubtful honor of blacking the
face of homœopathy with a filthy compound that hardly
deserves the credit of being a cross between an allopathic
dose and the bolus of an itinerant herb doctor, In
holding forth upon drunkenness at pages 51 and 52, we
see the amiable blending of the clerical office with that
of the medical philosopher; and a little homily is given
in the usual style of prayer-meeting doctors upon the
religious aspect of the "disease;" after which, on page
53, the drunkard is desired to "put a drop of sulphuric
acid in a tumbler with water, stir it well, and drink it in
the morning, and to repeat it every two or three days till
it occasions uneasiness, against this smell of camphor."
And in case sulphuric acid, cant, and camphor should
fail, the doctor goes on and says,-"we would advise
his unfortunate wife, his children, or brothers or friends.
to administer to him the following remedy in a secret
manner"
"Put a live eel into a bucket or narrow tub; pour
23
wine over it, and let it die. Draw this wine in bottles,
and give it to the drunkard, and let him drink as much
as he will. You may proceed in the same manner with
brandy; which, however, ought to stand for a short time
before being put into decanters." There is in this piece
of sage wisdom another "tale of a tub," and a wonder-
ful "fish story"-but in thinking of swallowing this dis-
gusting compound,—though we get new ideas of "wine
negus" and "brandy toddy,"-we confess ourselves
compelled to hold our nostrils strongly compressed
between our fore-finger and thumb, and cry "stinking
fish!" And with strange inconsistency, and more strange
want of faith in so purely seientific a draught as a rot-
ten eel in a bucket of wine or brandy, it is said once
more on the 54th page, "should this prove abortive,
try sulphuric acid!" and then the drunkard's friend
must mix it, diluted with water, in the food and drink
of the patient, morning, noon and night,—his coffee,
tea, soup, &c., &c., must be in part, at least, made of
sulphuric acid, till it affects his stomach, when he must
have tea of bitter herbs, oranges or roots, and still his
sulphurated "meat and drink" in tact-"until the
mouth gets sore, then cease;"-and then, "in case
weakness of stomach, diarrhoea, vomiting, or giddiness
be the consequence, give No. 8; if the mouth becomes
ulcerated, give No. 7." These would certainly be very
likely results from the large quantities of sulphuric acid
the poor drunkard is to have smuggled into his stomach
with every morsel of food and every drop of drink he
swallows, according to the advice and directions of the
author of "The Homœopathist," of Allentown, Pa., in
24
1835! An advice which the veriest tyro in science and
homœopathy must laugh to scorn, and which the most
superstitious and gullable old woman would think be-
neath her notice.
Among the curative methods for mania a potu, on
page 56, "blood-letting, from five to six ounces, is fre-
quently of service, at first daily, then every other day,
and let the patient drink plenty of cold water," &c., &c.
It is a relief to us once more to find something we can
refer to learned authority. If any reader of this article
has not read GIL BLAS, we pity him, and beg that he
will oblige us by reading, as he can, the second and
third chapters of Book the Second; he will find there
honorable mention made of Doctor Sangrado, "who had
acquired a great reputation with the public by a pomp
of words, a solemn air, and some lucky cures, which had
done him more honor than he deserved."—Of the great-
ness of the man he may judge from these words address-
ed by him to his pupil: "Thou art learned, Gil Blas,'
said he, "before thou turnest physician; whereas others
prescribe a long time, generally all their lives, without
ever becoming learned." His mode of treating each
and all of his patients was short, easy and simple. "He
must be bled every day, and drink hot water in abun-
dance." The reader can here see the striking analogy
between the formula of "The Homoeopathist" and that
of Sangrado,—the difference being simply that the for-
mer recommends hot, whereas Dr. Hering prefers cold,
water after the bleeding. Of the many other points of
resemblance between the two cases, the reader must
judgé for himself.
+
25
On page 166, we find, "Whoever is troubled with
dyspepsia, should eat much butter, and have daily an
injection administered of warm water or milk"!-A no-
table prescription, truly, for curing or preventing dyspep-
sia! Most medical men of both schools agree that butter
and fatty substances in general are the greatest promoters
of this disease; but we live in an age of discoveries, and
who, in the grand march, would not say with Horace-
"Occupet extremum scabies; mehi turpe, relinqui est."—
(May the itch seize the hindmost; I am ashamed to be left last.)
On the 7th page, Part the 2d, as a cure for rheu-
matic headache," the steam of hot mush drawn into
the nose, and the hair combed every evening," is the truly
homoeopathic and scientific prescription!
The mode, or one of the modes, of dealing "with
shortness of breath" is, by "anise-seed tea at night, and
smoking tobacco every morning"!!-page 89.
On page 92, Part 2d, in pleurisy the patient is direct-
ed that he will "do well to have a vein opened, and
when it is once done, make a large incision and allow a
good quantity of blood to escape." Now, with the ut-
most consideration for this author's word, we distinctly
assert that we think he would do much better to do no
such thing! And we would like to know to what other
respectable homoeopathic authority Dr. Hering can refer
us for recommending this practice in a case where the
patient is presumed to have the remedies usually given
in the disease, at his elbow ?-It has not often fallen to
the lot of men who have studied medicine from good
books and at colleges only, to meet with such a remedy
3
26
as that to be found on the 102d page, part 2d, of this
truly extraordinary work; it runs in these words: "we
may in many cases, relieve by tying, over night, around
the throat, the woollen stocking of a healthy person, and
who is not of the same sex as the patient." Now, this
prescription, as before intimated, being entirely out of
our sphere of knowledge and experience, we will not
presume to pronounce on its efficacy in the face of so
high a sanction. But with respectful humility we sub-
mit that its administration is surrounded with a net-
work of difficulties. We will suppose, for instance, that
the patient is a young gentleman, still unmarried; he
must in that case, lay his mother or sisters under con-
tribution for the "loan of a stocking!" And should he
not be blessed with these tender relatives, he must pre-
sent his petition at the feet of "that idol whom every
young man has enshrined in his heart."-Now if the
season should happen to be that in which ladies prefer
silk or cotton, or if it should be the evening of the
day on which either of the ladies in question had taken
a long walk, we are sure they might justly feel some he-
sitancy in lending the doctor's prescription. We will
neither present the other side,—that is, the female as-
pect of this question-nor pursue it further, but leave
it to the gentle reader to follow out the train of thought
for himself: and we feel fully assured that he will agree
with us that this remedy is one of some delicacy and
great difficulty, on whatever footing he may place it.
The next advance upon the foregoing "specific" is
no nearer than the moon! Treating of tape-worm-
page 165, those who may suspect this parasite to hold
27
his revels in their intestines, must look out for him
"about the new and full moon," at which time he may
be expected to come forth to pay his respects to "the
glimpses of the moon!" But the remedy which is to
compel the monster to reveal himself to the full light of
day, must be administered "at the waning of the moon,
and the next full moon!" Well,
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Who does not like, when the hour for rest has arriv-
ed, and Nature has drawn her night-cap over her wrink-
Jed forehead, to enjoy the refreshing luxury of her
'sweet restorer, balmy sleep"? Who does not, as he
lays down his weary limbs, address the brother of
Death, and, with Ovid, say,
66
"Somne, quies rerum, placidissime Somne Deorum,
Pax animi, quem cura fugit, qui corpora duris
Fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque labori.”
But the god, however smooth and soft the accents of
prayer and fervent the spirit, will not always shed his
oblivious influences upon mortal eyes, but frequently
deserts his post, perhaps, to spend the night with
Cupid and the other troublesome deities, whose special
office it is to disturb the children of men both night
and day. For such sleepless eyes and restless heads
"The Homœopathist" has a ready cure at page 252,
-Sleeplessness may be relieved or cured "by rubbing
the forehead with the palm of the hand, particularly if
it be done accurately 101 times and counted; if you
count wrong, still go on; if it do not help, begin anew
from the beginning, without losing patience. It also
28
•
contributes much to sleep to fancy you had to write with
a very long pole, on a high, exceeding high wall, the
year and date in very large letters, first in figures, then
with letters"! There is only one thing that could at
all improve this piece of medical wisdom, which is, that
the long imaginary pole were a real pole, and that the
sleepless man would actually use it upon the "very high,
exceeding high wall;" in that case we assure him he
would, after the necessary muscular effort, sooner sleep,
and be less a dreamer. Perhaps it would make this re-
sult doubly sure if he were to go out and collect 101
"decent-looking" paving-stones and bring them in a bag
into his bed-room.
In no less than three different places, pages 223,
and 274–5, is MESMERISM called into requisition, with
full directions how to make the passes in straight lines
and high curves! so that it is not thought sufficient that
homoeopathy should be an improvement and an advance
upon the old system, but this contemptible humbug, ex-
ecrated and despised by all sound thinkers and well
educated men, must be foisted in to patch up what Dr.
Hering thinks the failures of the former. We trust it
will be henceforth distinctly understood that these abom-
inations are anything but. Homoeopathy.
One more novelty from this mass of confusion and
folly, and we have done with it.
Page 245. "Lying oneself sore. This may be avoid-
ed when a vessel of water is placed under the patient's
bed, and renewed every day. If water alone does not
serve, then dissolve some globules of No. 15 in it"!
And in case this never-to-be-forgotten remedy should
fail to cure "lying oneself sore,"-bed-sores, we should
29
think there is another more far-fetched remedy still.
"A soft buck-skin may be laid under the patient, the
hair turned down and the tail end toward the feet of the
patient! by these means it may be avoided or cured!"
Now, then, surely, "thereby hangs a tail!" Upon the
surface of "the water under the patient's bed" we shall
not raise a ripple, nor shall we disturb the globules that
sleep in its silent depths and send up their healing
powers through bed and bedding, by virtue of some
profound mystery of nature revealed only to Dr. Her-
ing, doubtless, by divine ordination! But on taking our
leave, permit us to take also one turn out of the "buck-
skin :”—and while thus pleasantly shaking it up, let us
part with friendly smiles and merry faces, with the sat-
isfaction, that, if in this book we have found no philo-
sophy, we have found plenty of "fun :”—
"Semel Bryanus O'Linn bracca indigebat,
Frater dedit rubræ bovis pellem quam habebat,
Hocque corpus cruraque noster induebat,
'Frigido jucundum est,' Bryanus dicebat."
"Brian O'Linn had no breeches to wear,
So they bought him a buck-skin to make him a pair;
The wooly side out and the fleshy side in,
'It is pleasant and cool,' says Brian O'Linn!"-BRALLAGHAN.
Reader, the case for the Crown and Majesty of Ho-
mœopathy and Science is before you; would that the
counsellor had been more capable and the pleading of
a higher order, for your sake,—but a noble and a just
cause can well dispense with the outward display and the
extraneous circumstances of pompous show.-It is yours
to pronounce the verdict; it shall be, it must be, "guilty
upon all the counts!"
3*
1
OUR LITERATURE-A REVIEW.*
"Samuelis Hahnemanni Materia Medica Pura. E Germanico sermone in
Latinum conversa. Conjunctis studiis ediderunt Dr. E. Stapf, Dr. Gross,
et E. G. a Brunnow. Dresdæ et Lipsiæ, anno, 1826."
"Jahr's New Manual," translated by Chas. J. Hempel, M.D. New York, 1853.
"Hull's Jahr." New York, 1851.
"Therapeutic Pocket Book," by Dr. C. Von Bonninghausen. Edited by
Chas. J. Hempel. New York, 1847.
"Jahr's and Possart's New Manual," By the Same. New York, 1853.
“米
​*
* rudis indigestaque moles,
Nec quicquam nisi pondus iners, congestaque eodem,
Non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum.”—OVID.
There is a far distant period dimly seen through the
mist of years, when the few and scattered inhabitants of
the globe dwelt in those regions of Eastern land where
humanity is said to have found its first cradle; where,
as we are told, our forefathers first propagated their
species, first put forth their new and wondrous powers,
first developed their full and perfect proportions-glow-
ing in the joy and beauty of health-first felt the sting
of disease, drooped under the hand of decay, and tasted
death. It was then that necessity and experience first
taught them to provide weapons of offence and defence
against the fierce denizens of the field and forest, and
to seek appliances against the occult and stealthy
attacks of pain and disease in their myriad aspects,
"the pestilence that walked in darkness, and the des-
* See North American Journal of Homœopathy for August, 1858.
31
truction that wasted at noonday." Urged by unceasing
pressure, and guided by that singular faculty, shared in
common with the lower order of animals, they sought
with eager solicitude whatever curative or palliative
means nature had fostered in her bosom in pity to the
wants of her children, and liberally yielded to the re-
searches of rudimentary science as well as to those
instinctive yearnings that, without reason or art, de-
tected in a moment the medicinal products of hill and
dale, of mountain, sea and forest.
Through the uncertain vision which the glimmerings
of historical light afford us of a later period in the career
of our race, we behold the wayside sufferer in painful
and prolonged expectancy, even of years' duration, sit-
ting in pitiable solitude awaiting the advent of some
wanderer from a distant land, whose wisdom might sup-
ply, and whose charity might administer the required
medicament. But, alas, how often did the burning
tears of disappointment stain his cheeks while even in
sight of the water troubled by the flutter of the
angel's wings, it became the restorer of some more
nimble sufferer who was able to step in before him!
In those days of scientific twilight and helpless afflic-
tion, whether in Assyria, Egypt, Greece, or Judea,
the necessities of the diseased first called into being the
office of the physician. The urgent and ceaseless de-
mands of the sick taxed to their utmost the genius and
inventive faculties of the doctor, who must be always
ready with means to cure, to relieve, or to amuse the
fancy of his patient till nature restored him, or till
death with a single pang dispensed with his services for
32
ever. It was at this time and under such pressure, that
the appliances of cure in the shape of drugs began to
expand in bulk and number; and with the addition of
charms, incantations, exorcisms and assumed super-
natural agency, under their dark and varied hues, pro-
gressed so rapidly and multiplied so vastly, that in a
brief period the world itself had hardly room to contain
them. The first-born of these twofold elements, science
and superstition, appeared afterwards to the world under
the classic title of "MATERIA MEDICA!" And however
difficult and prolonged the struggles by which it was
forced into existence, it does not seem to have fared
any better in after years under its new dignity.
To those who have watched its progress, it appears ad-
vancing and retrograding, succeeding and failing, curing
and killing! Lauded to-day, execrated to-morrow; now
moving with stately and dignified step, and anon stum-
bling with tottering gait and tipsy uncertainty! Here
basking with serene and scientific aspect in the face of
day, there with shaded and downcast brow sneaking and
skulking, like a knight of the post. By and by lifting
on high the mace of accredited authority, and exclusive
privilege to kill and to slay "according to law," and
then, in mountebank garb and grinning gyrations, like
the merry-andrew at a country fair, proclaiming with
unblushing impudence the virtues of its "patent pre-
scriptions" and quack nostrums; as duly protected by
Royal Decree, or the edict of a Republic! It would
indeed seem as if in these latter days Mercury had stolen
his medical sceptre from Apollo, and in one of his merry
moods lent it as a wand to Momus, that he may amuse
33
the gods at the expense of mortals, by turning some of
the gravest efforts of their medical faculty into feats of
legerdemain !
""
"A drowning man will grasp. at a straw;" but the dis-
ease-stricken sufferer will often trust the empty jargon
of the most insolent knave that ever vended a "specific,"
whether he pretend to diagnose his condition "by ap-
plying a glass tube to the eye,"* or attempt to cure by
holding a globule of "the eight-thousandth dilution” at
the distance of a yard from the nose. Indeed it is, and
has always been, one of the we::k points of humanity to
commit its highest and most serious interests into the
most unsafe hands, provided that they are recommended
by improbable or supernatural assumptions in science
or religion! This should, perhaps, reconcile us to the
strange and anomalous condition of medicine, while
Science herself has taken up her abode with men on
the earth, and hourly guides their fingers with uner-
ring certainty to every triumph that can be achieved
within the wide range of the material universe. And
yet, how singularly indifferent does she appear in the
one department that mostly affects human happiness
and health; or, is it because we stupidly and stubbornly
refuse to follow her leadings and at her bidding apply
the resources which Nature at her command has so
abundantly provided?
Materia Medica, to be all that is claimed for it by
* In this enlightened city, a fellow whose only mode of diagnosis
is that stated in the text, enjoys a most extensive practice, and is
accumulating the largest fortune of any man in Philadelphia.
34
t
our opponents of the old school, (when contrasting it
with new discoveries and innovations, at other times
they ever lament its uncertainty and defects,) should
stand out as a distinct and well-defined branch of medi-
cal knowledge; it should be founded on known and unde-
niable elemental principles, and be able with reasonable
certainty to answer its intended object. In other words,
it should be the clear development of practical thera-
peutics, and furnish ready to the hand of the medical
man, reliable means of relief or cure. Pathology clearly
and unhesitatingly points out the true characteristics of
a given disease, denotes its class, states its name, de-
monstrates its local boundaries and the point at which
it concentrates its greatest intensity, as well as its reflex
action on tissues or organs at a distance from its imme-
diate neighbourhood. Why should not Materia Medica
be equally clear in responding to our reasonable claims?
Or must we conclude that the assumptions of its advo-
cates, when tilting against Homoeopathy, are, for the most
part, "sound and fury," an empty profession, unreliable
and fictitious? It is not intended here to swell the echo
of that silly and thoughtless cry-equally foolish and
unfounded—that would deny to the medical appliances
of the old school any salutary or curative effects, nor to
rank them in the category of "unmitigated evils." It
is more rational to admit that most of them are excel-
lent tools, often unskilfully handled, and very fre-
quently effective in a high degree, in spite of the rust
with which they are coated, and some clumsiness in
their use. We desire to confine ourselves to such state-
ments as can be sustained by undeniable facts, whether
35
we deal with the defects of the old or the new system of
Materia Medica. But whatever be the redeeming quali-
ties of the old method it cannot be considered as resting
upon a scientific basis. Its sturdiest advocates cannot
show that it is a series of inductive conclusions from
unassailable facts which may again be reproduced if
necessary; nor can they show us the definitions, axioms
and postulates on which it rests. And, still more im-
portant, let them show us a scientific classification, clear,
sound and practical, in which each division shall rest on
its individual utility and prove its inalienable relation to
the grand superstructure. But is the sense of security
produced by such a combination that which is experi-
enced by the student at every step of his progress?
Does he not rather feel himself left in a state of painful
bewilderment as to the selection of his remedy in the
hour of need? Has he not the widest latitude of choice
among a countless variety of dubious agents? Must he
not submit to the wildest hap-hazard empiricism in their
administration? Science confines herself within known
boundaries, and owns no possessions in the dominions
of chance. It is true that the student of the old school
system, in his perplexity can fall back on a certain
time-honored classification of drugs, but of so singular
and fictitious a character that it only serves as the ignis
fatuus of the wanderer, to lead him off from the safe and
solid road to sink in darkness and dismay into the depth
of the quagmire. It is conceded by the very highest
authority that this classification is neither scientific
nor useful, and only allowed by sufferance to occupy
a place from which the boasted advancement of our
36
brethren has never been able to remove it; because
there was nothing rational to take its place! But let
us glance at it for a moment, and then turn to our more
immediate object.
In any attempted classification of Materia Medica, it
would naturally suggest itself to a reflecting mind that
some arrangement of medical substances in accordance
with their effects upon the different organs and tissues
of the human body, should be deemed a sine qua non
in their successful administration. But instead of any
such approximation towards a scientific standard, we
find them so grouped as merely to indicate their effects
on the active functions of the system; as if these abnor-
mal deviations, however produced, were the cause rather
than the effects of a diseased condition! This conclu-
sion must necessarily divert the attention from the wise
precept, "ferre causas," to a mere trifling with results;
the suppression of which (their removal by such means
is impossible) can neither aid the patient toward reco-
very, nor the physician in arriving at a philosophical
appreciation of his condition. What does it avail us
to know that there are "Emetics," "Cathartics," and
"Expectorants," with all those other nauseous com-
pounds which make up the useless and arbitrary cata-
logue which has come down to us from the dark days
of empiricism, through all "that blaze of light and
knowledge" so vauntingly set forth, but which, in this
department, has only served to deepen and extend the
shadows cast by these mystic tumuli across the highways
of science and art? It is not necessary that we should
indulge in strong expressions in condemnation of this
37
arrangement, when the very highest authorities among
themselves have spoken in deeper and more emphatic
terms of depreciation than we should like to employ;
the only exceptions being those creatures of mere terms
and technicalities-too numerous in both schools-
whose opinions always go for nothing, save where par-
tizan clamor requires the aid of empty noise to shout
down formidable and fatal opposition.
So that while we feel called upon to make some
severe but just strictures on the manifest defects of
our own, it must not be supposed that they imply any
commendation of a system whose disposition has shown
it to be too proud to acknowledge its errors, too slothful
for advancement, and too conservative even to replace
positive and self-evident evils by manifestly practical
benefits.
But our own "MATERIA MEDICA PURA" is "very con-
siderable" in bulk of volume, extent of phraseology, and
multiplicity of meaningless words. But how are we to
deal with it? since we must candidly acknowledge at
once, whether the admission prove our native obtuseness
or not, that in dragging our weary and almost hopeless
way through its winding and tangled mazes, we feel com-
pelled to inscribe each of the rather singular "pocket-
books" at the head of our article with the title, Materia
Medica Obscura!
Let it, however, be distinctly understood that it is not
our intention, nor do we consider it our province, to sit
in judgment on the translation of these works. Favor-
able opinions have already gone forth of the arduous
labors of Dr. Hempel and others in the same field; and
4
38
doubtless from many who are competent judges, as well
as from some who evidently know nothing of German,
and very little indeed of English; whether "to the manor
born," or sprung from continental Europe. Our present
review must, therefore, take another direction.
We premise that these compilations in their present
form cannot be considered as having any claim what-
ever to the style or title of "Materia Medica Pura" in
the strict and scientific sense attached now by learned
men of the medical profession to these words. They
form neither the Materia Medica of our school, nor in-
deed of any other. What elementary principles, or
great fundamental truths lie buried in their depths is
another question. A block of marble is not a Venus de
Medici or a "Greek Slave," till the cunning chisel of
the artist has reduced it to either "thing of beauty."
When we consider the singularly arduous and important
labors of Hahnemann, his revival and establishment of
the great law of cure, in spite of the most powerful
opposition, his careful and elaborate pathogenetic inves-
tigations, we are surprised that even before his death,
they had not terminated in some well-knit and concise
system, convenient and satisfactory for the practical
purposes of the medical profession;-a body of tangible
facts enforcing their irresistible conclusions on every
cultivated man whose mind was open to conviction.
But words are not always things, and if, with our-
selves, some of our readers have despaired of gleaning
any satisfactory information after much labor and toil
among these "provings" and "repertories," "manuals
and "keys," let them remember that it is a common
""
39
•
peculiarity of the most gifted minds to reject a mass of
mere words, while they eagerly embrace new ideas,
grapple with new propositions, and store up new facts
for future use.
These form the elements of the man of
genius. The great work which stands at the head of
our list, taken as a whole, must be allowed to be un-
questionable in its integrity as a history of such prov-
ings as were made by the founder and those who aided
him in his personal labors, and must necessarily form
the solid ground-work of a true system of Materia Medi-
ca. It was by these provings that the clear light of
medical reformation first broke through the clouds of
time-honored fallacies and superstitions.
But if Hahnemann intended to claim any higher
place for this work than that of a mere symptom list,
it is certain that, like many other great men, his judg-
ment was led captive by his zeal, and caused him to
overlook all scientific method, while he threw together
in one confused heap grand masses of purely elemental
principles, which require some less gifted hand to dis-
entangle, arrange and mould them into a shape that
shall subserve the great object he had so much at
heart.
Great discoverers have seldom been mechanical
enough to turn to practical advantage the truths which
their genius had drawn from heights and depths beyond
the reach of ordinary workers. And it is but fair to
admit that in recording his drug-symptoms, Hahnemann
did not display such acuteness and clearness in arrange-
ment and system, as one would expect from so sound
and original a thinker. Or, perhaps, in his earnestness
40
to be clearly and fully understood, his anxiety carried
him too far, leading him to multiply his indications and
symptoms to such a degree, as to render it often difficult
to discover the wheat among the chaff, or to detect that
which is often of the highest consequence among the
useless, the puerile and the contradictory. But if this
great man has erred a little, many of his self-constituted
followers have done nothing else but copy his mis-
takes and enlarge on his blunders. Indifferent to the
grand fundamental principle which lies at the root of all
medical science, and which has made its reviver immor-
tal, they seized on his trifling eccentricities as well as
on the weakness of his advanced age, when second
childhood had succeeded the mental vigor of manhood,
and exhibited the small points of his character and the
excrescences of his system in so strong a light as to
expose us to the ridicule and scorn of such as would
look no deeper than this outer surface into Homoeo-
pathy!
Entirely unscientific themselves, they had no strong
appreciation of, or warm sympathy with his great law
of cure; being mere mechanics in theory and practice,
they have only rung the changes on the "original prov-
ings,"—
"Still heaping mountains piled on mountains to the skies,”
until every other branch of the noblest of all sciences
seemed lost in one universal fog of symptoms, extend-
ing to the very verge of the rational horizon, and dark-
ening the whole heavens; till even by the closest scrutiny
no other object revealed itself to the eye of the student
Į
41
but an unsightly, lame and forbidding dwarf-an
Asmodeus in everything but intellect!
"The Symptomatology," the "New Manual," (a
pocket-book (!) of two octavo volumes, embracing twelve
hundred pages each, full of nothing, but symptoms!)
"Hull's Jahr," "Jahr and Possart's New Manual"—
another of the polyphemous pocket-books—and Hering's
inflated "gas-bags," form the protean monstrosity which
has sprung from the laboratory of these enchanters!
These have now assumed so formidable an appearance
and so forbidding an aspect, that scarcely a man of large
views or scientific acquirements thinks it worth while to
lose a thought on what seems only fit capital for broken-
down mechanics, charlatans, and quack doctors. And
which has become, indeed, the means of flooding the pro-
fession with a race of symptom-doctors, dubbed by one
another, whose only qualifications for their assumed
calling is a total ignorance of every branch of medical
and general knowledge. It would be both useless and
indeed impossible to attempt a detailed criticism of the
contents of these productions, in which all that was ori-
ginally sound, simple and reliable, has been so overlaid
as to render it as rational to seek useful information in
them as it would be to turn single-handed into the sta-
ble of Augeas. Here we have layer upon layer of iso-
lated indications, useless repetitions, and long-labored
lines of little words and phrases, which no human intel-
lect can grasp, and no amount of human industry turn
to any useful purpose. The brain on which they could
be stamped must needs be of the fossil class.
It is a very singular feature, and one which very rea-
Dorm
4*
42
dily impresses itself on the mind of the student of our
provings, in their present state of crude and conglome-
rate amalgamation, that every medicine on the list is
made to produce similar, and indeed almost identical
conditions. So closely do these approximate, that one
name might well indicate every abnormal change which
they are said to produce in the human system! Nor is
this all, for the converse is made to appear also true.
For the same substance that brings about a series of
given symptoms now, is forced, by and by, to pro-
duce the very opposite phenomena; till every single me-
dicine, without one word of qualification or explanation,
seems to embrace within its expansive range every ail-
ment incident to the human family, rendering it a work
of supererogation to call in at any time the aid of the
other, equally potent, and no less effective, agents!
To fortify us with greater strength, so that at all times
we may go forth armed to the teeth, we are gravely
presented with a long array of drugs "that act on the
right side," and another battalion "to act on the left;"*
about one hundred "to act on the angles of the eye,"
fifty-nine or sixty "for the external angle," and sixty-
four "for the inner angle!" some to act "before the
ears," some "behind the ears," some "below the ears,"
and some "on the lobes of the ears!" Surely seeing
and hearing, even in the case of the blind and deaf,
* A few days ago, a grave medical philosopher of this city, asked
a lady patient, if "the pain in the side was better?" she replied in
the negative; and he, looking at his notes, said, "he did not wonder,
since she had been taking à left side, instead of a right side medi-
cine !"
Maou
43
should be matters of course after this. The male gen-
itals have one hundred and ten remedies to fall back
upon in time of need; the penis one hundred and eight,
the glans, the prepuce, the testicles, the scrotum, &c.,
have separate resources proportionately large! The
"heel," the "back of the foot," the "sole," the "toes,"
the "big toe," the "tips of the toes," the "ball under
the toes," the "toe-nails," and "corns," may in all
cases of trouble come to a fair understanding with no
less a force than six thousand and three well chosen and
carefully adapted medical aids! (Vide Bönninghausen,
pp. 130, 131, et passim.) But how hopeless and vain
the task to seek for information among this hocus-pocus
of vulgar jargon, huddled together by a half-crazy en-
thusiast, to say no worse of him; who had the impudence
to assert "that he killed two mad dogs on the spot"
with one globule of Jenichen, the horse-trainer's high
potency! It is not then in this, so-called, "Materia
Medica Pura," that we can hope to find a classification
or analysis of medicines which should naturally and ne-
cessarily lead us to a knowledge of those lesions they
are most likely to relieve or cure. We find ourselves
sent at every step, on a "wild-goose chase," hunting up
fractional atoms of "pains," "aches," "feelings," and
"sensations," till it becomes a matter of doubt with
the mere symptom-hunter whether his patient is in the
wholesome and natural throes of child-birth, or writhing
in the agonies of the worst form of colic. And it is
very
certain that he who exclusively devotes himself to this
miserable and bewildering system of symptoms, must be
ignorant that there is such a thing as a disease having a
44
specific character, a period of invasion, growth, crisis,
decrease and termination. Having his head full only of
these disjecta membra, how can he refer each symptom
for a correct idea of its meaning, as well as the cause of
its appearance to some known form of disease to which
it points as an index?
But if for a moment we admit that every one of these
almost countless symptoms or indications, is a positive
and reliable fact-which every one knows is not the
case-of how much value could they be to the medical
profession in general, as they have been huddled toge-
ther in these books by editors who have strained their
ingenuity to its utmost tension in order to weave puzzles
and enigmas out of Hahnemann's provings? Collec-
tions of facts intended to bear on any given subject,
must cease to be useful when neither synthesis can give
force to their combined testimony, nor analysis add
weight to their individual declaration. But that the
deduction of general scientific conclusions should be the
great end of such collected information, does not seem
to have passed before the minds of our great compilers.
They remind one of a miser, who, having spent a barren
and useless life in collecting in one sack, pieces of all
denominations-gold, silver, copper-should in the end,
as he sits in misery and rags, estimate his wealth by the
bulk of the bag!
The great architects of our mighty "manuals" had
forgotten, doubtless, that a student of medicine would
naturally desire to learn something of the history of
each medical substance, of the source whence it is de-
rived, of the manner in which it came to be used for
45
curative purposes-by instinct, accident, or experiment
-and why it is possessed of medical virtues at all. It
would not, we conceive, have been beneath the notice of
even the most distinguished thinkers to dwell a little on
these points, and tell us of the mine whence the mineral
is drawn, of the climate which the animal inhabits, of the
region which affords sap to the herb and the plant;-
why and how our great predecessors had happened to
choose any one or more of the same order or class in pre-
ference to others? Nor would it be amiss to know that
Nature "the kindest mother still"-has wisely and
providently provided in every clime and country effec-
tive means for the relief or cure of such forms of dis-
ease as are peculiar within its limits. As natives, or in-
habitants of the American continent, we should not lose
sight of the circumstance that the constitutional and
hereditary tendencies of the human family accompany
them in their constant migrations, and assume new as-
pects under distant and different climates. Here where
the children of all lands seek and find a home, and
bring with them their vices and their virtues, their
strength and their weakness, it would seem peculiarly
desirable that our medical studies should embrace a wider
and more generous range than that prescribed to them
by the feeble and barren capacities of the symptomat-
ologists.
The collectors of our provings have overlooked their
true design, and thus far most effectually contracted
their utility, since they ought to have known that the
value of every new truth in this field is only seen as it
forms a link in a chain of evidence that unites the rela-
46
tion between the effects of any given drug on the heal-
thy human organism, and the pathological developments
of some known form of disease. We conclude, there-
fore, that in spite of our boasted progress and new
light, a Materia Medica, that shall command the respect
of enlightened and learned men everywhere, challenge
the esteem and defy the cavils of our opponents and be
valuable in the hands of the practitioner, has yet to be
evolved from this mass of crude and chaotic materials,
which have been thrown together, mainly by our German
brethren, with more industry than skill, and with an
evident design "to make a new book," rather than com-
pose one which should contain anything new or useful.
It would not be generous to close these remarks with-
out an expression of commendation due to the scientific,
extensive and accurate labors of Dr. Teste, the first who
has made some approximation towards supplying this
great want of our school, and who has tried to reduce
to something like order the fragments left us by our
great discoverer,-whose mission, never perhaps under-
stood by himself, went no further than to indicate the
great leading truths of a medical reformation, leaving
it to minds of more limited inspiration and less compre-
hensive grasp to mould into an art the scientific deduc-
tions he had initiated. Still Dr. Teste's very important
and valuable work falls far short of the present require-
ments of our practice, whilst its plan seems to us open
to objections which it would be out of place to canvass
here.
An effort is being made in another quarter which we
can only notice now as affording a hope that at some fu-
47
ture period, apparently distant, a work may be produced
which should make us independent of the symptom rolls.
Although it would be premature to judge of an unfin-
ished work, its character so far compels us to express
our regret that it only appears from quarter to quarter as
addenda to a quarterly Journal, which necessarily defers
to a very far off time a book that promises fair to fill the
vacuum so prejudicial to our cause and the cause of suf-
fering humanity, as well as to the individual interests of
every member of the profession. And though we would
not urge too much the "willing steed," we must ven-
ture the hope that the gentlemen who have undertaken
this arduous and useful labor, may find it in their power
to hasten it to a more speedy termination, and add to
the value of their gift by contracting the length of our
season of expectancy.
THE END.
.
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