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1
ARTES
LIBRARY
1837
VERITAS
SCIENTIA
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PLURIBUS UNUM.
TUEGOR
QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
}
1
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1

R
Dr.v. Granargl
TEXT BOOK
OF
HOMEOPATHY
BY
Eduard
DR. v. GRAUVOGL,
A
OF NUREMBURG.
TRANSLATED BY GEO. E. SHIPMAN, M.D.,
AT THE REQUEST OF THE AUTHOR.
PART I.
CHICAGO:
C. S. HALSEY.
WESTERN NEWS CO.
NEW YORK:
BOERICKE & TAFEL, No. 145 GRAND STREET.
LONDON, ENG.:
S. COMPSTON, 2 FINSBURY CIRCUS, E. C.
1870.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by
GEORGE E. SHIPMAN,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the North'n Distric: of Illinois
!
CONTRARIORUM EADEM EST SENTENTIA;
SI VIS VERO TIBI OMNIA SUBJICERE, TE SUBJICE RATIONI
LEGIBUSQUE NATURE!
}
1
A
ite
PREFACE.
to every
The text book of Homeopathy is HAHNEMANN'S "ORGANON."
Though this Organon, however, had appeared in many editions,
some of its empiric data still lacked foundation according to
natural laws. Nevertheless his doctrines afforded to
physician, who would allow himself to be governed thereby, such
strikingly favorable results that, as statistics at the close of this
work show beyond dispute, they always and everywhere threw
physiological medicine, vulgo Allopathy, quite in the shade.
But since Homeopathy is nothing but a system of Thera-
peutics resting upon the foundation of all the natural sciences,
Chemistry, Physics, Physiology, etc., a confirmation of the Organon
and the proof of its conformity with natural sciences may—
according to the experience of theoretical and practical progress
made therein - be required often and at various times. And,
if the practice of life has a word to say; then it is the duty
of every practical physician, which he should perform to the
best of his ability, to make public the knowledge and experience
which he has acquired, no matter whether, at the present
moment, they shall be regarded favorably or unfavorably; for,
frequently, their real value is finally settled by the future only.
A text book, however, which should give nothing but theor-
etical indications, would come short of its aim; it must present
examples; its principles must be demonstrated and set forth by
cases and comparisons taken from life. Then every one can
accurately apply what he has learned, to his patient, and, at
the same time, confirm it by the test of success.
Furthermore, a text book, where it has matters to treat
of concerning which opinions are as yet divided, not only should
give the convictions of its author, or any other authority, but
6
PREFACE.
it should set these matters forth in a true light by means of a
critique in conformity with natural laws, so that one's con-
clusion should not be confined to the result alone.
Every criticism which my writings have experienced at
home and abroad, has been conscientiously considered; unscientific
expositions, however, preclude any farther discussion.
When I committed to the press, seven years ago, the
"Principles of Physiology, Pathology and Therapeutics of
Homœopathy," I did not wish to undertake to elaborate a text
book of the comprehensive art and science of Homeopathy; for
such an undertaking many dark places were first to be lighted
up. Thus that work of mine, remodeled and thoroughly com
pleted, only now appears under the title of a text book.
I resign all pretence to any party stand-point, since there
should be no party in science, consequently none in Therapeutics;
I desire, on the contrary, that every reproach and every attempt
at contradiction should be sustained not only subjectively, but,
as becomes every science, at least predominantly objectively.
Aside from its contents, as indicated by the title, this work
has also the intention to respond to the necessary though not
easy demands of a medical logic elucidated by practical examples;
for "opinions"-and those, unfortunately, mean nothing but
"faith in authorities" - separate physicians still more into
hostile camps and paralyze medical activity which, were
united, would always be attended by the happiest results; these,
however, are not attainable under such lamentable circumstances.
it
The cause of this state of things clearly cannot lie in the
subjects themselves about which medical factions contend, since
these subjects stand to each other in the natural relation of cause
and effect, but is brought about by arbitrary "conceptions"
thereof.
Hence the necessity is abundantly apparent of intertwining
the instruments of logic with the contents of a therapeutic
text book.
THE AUTHOR.
NUREMBERG, December, 1865.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
SOME competent authority his name escapes me
says that
if one volunteers to sing before a company, his singing is open
to criticism; but not if he sings by request. I may justly hope,
therefore, for some indulgence, when I state that the labor and
responsibility of translating this great work of VON GRAUVOGL was
not sought by me. The work was sent me by the author, with
a request to translate it. While I will own that many were
much more capable to do the author justice than myself, I
did not hear of any who were willing to undertake the labor,
especially when no publisher could be found who would assume
the risk of publishing the work. I did not feel at liberty to
shrink from the task set before me, neither from a sense of my
own unfitness, the difficulty of the translation, the mechanical
labor incident to such a work, nor the responsibility of procuring
the means for printing the translation when done. The work
has not been performed in hours of literary leisure, but in hours
which should have been given to rest or recreation, since the
cares of a city practice and
practice and the management of a medical
quarterly left no other time for its performance. If any one
thinks that he could have made a better translation, I can only
regret that his ability was not accompanied with a readiness to
exercise it. I am gratified with the reflection that I have done
the very best I was capable of doing under the circumstances,
and I now commit the work to the public with the hope that
its imperfections may not be found such as will materially hinder
its usefulness, and that it may shed some ray of light upon the
path of the physician, often obscure, and some new ray of hope
and comfort in the bed-chamber of the sick.
I should be more than unjust if I failed in this connection
to give due credit to those who have assisted me in this arduous
undertaking. Especial acknowledgment is due to my highly
esteemed friend, E. TIETZE, M.D., of Philadelphia, for the care with
8
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
which he has revised the whole work; to his kind assistance I
am more indebted than words can express-truth requires me
to say that if the translation has any merits, it is due rather to
his learning than mine. I am also indebted to DR. C. HERING,
for the revision of the proving of Benzoic acid and for many
useful hints, as well as to Dr. CARROLL DUNHAM, of New York,
for many timely suggestions regarding difficult passages.
Nor should I fail to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr.
O. S. WESTCOTT, of this city, for his revision of the mathematical
portions of the work, and for many valuable criticisms.
Some acknowledgments are also due to the friends who have
aided me in this enterprise by their subscriptions. Without their
aid this work would not have seen the day, and the names are
given in this edition that the friends of Homœopathy may know
to whom they are indebted for the appearance of this translation.
GEO. E. SHIPMAN.
CHICAGO, June 1, 1870.
CONTENTS.
4
5
123&SON
OsascoOVIDIIcon
9
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I I
I 2
cascascasa
PART I.
INTRODUCTION.
Tendency of all Science. Art of Observation.
Objectivity and Subjectivity.
Conviction, Perception and Deduction.
The Incomprehensible..
Prejudice from the neglect of Experiment..
• •
Tactics of Physiological Medicine in general
Conceptions, Ideas, Judgments and Conclusions, in Therapeutics..
Explanation according to the Laws of Nature….
•
Liebig's idea of a Law of Nature. The rising of the Quicksilver in
Torricelli's Tube. Causes and Conditions.
The Constancy of Bodies and Forces....
Law of Reciprocal Action, the mediate and immediate.
Change..
LIFE.
Necessity of a Comparison between the Doctrines of Physiological
Medicine and those of Homeopathy...
$ 13
pen
14
15
The Actual and Necessary. The
§ 16
Vital Forces, Molecular Forces, Cell-forces, Latent, Penetrating Force,
according to Virchow.
Virchow's idea of Health.
Refutation of Virchow's Views.
Causal Law and the Reciprocal Action. Fundamental Laws of
Nature...
•
The Unchangeable and Changeable. Chemical and Physical Forces.
Ability. Fundamental Forces of Nature. Natural process. Sim-
ple, Specific, Elective, etc., Cells of Virchow. First attempt at
Circulation
Vital Force. Force.
open
ONI
17
IS
H H
Life. Natural and Ideal View of the World..
Putrefaction, Oxidation and Reduction.
$ 19
20
Ferment, Fermentation.
Organic Resistances.
Interchange of Substance in the Muscular Fibre.
Fermenting Fluids according to Pasteur and Brücke. Organization of
Microscopical Forms………….
Grohé's Process of Fermentation, Oxidation and Reduction. Effects
by Contact.
• •
e
21
S
27
Life and Machine. Self-activity, Excitability. Rest and Moveable
Equipoise. Reproduction. Tension, Tensive Forces. Electricity,
Magnetism, Equivalence of Forces. Motor Nerves, and Nerves
checking motions, according to v. Bezold. Virchow's Forces.... § 23
Normal Proportion, Mean Proportion, Proportion of Weight. Law of
Proportional Oscillation. Idea of Health..
§ 24
ΙΟ
CONTENTS.
Periodicity in Nature.
Oscillation of the Excretion of Carbon and
the Pulse..
• •
$ 25
Cells. Connective Tissue and Membrane. Diosmosis. Frog's Larva.
Remedies.
•
§ 26
$ 27
Vital Force. Superstition. Conformity to Natural Law. Perception
of Reasons. Necessity and Accident. Law of Specification.
Effect of very small quantities of matter.
In what quantity are the various nutritive substances distributed in
the body. Elementary part of Life. Virchow's Question to
Nature
• •
Law of Attraction of Dis-
Formative activity of the Cell, according to Virchow. Egg-cell and
Seminal Animalcules. Catalysis according to Virchow. Omnis
cellula e cellula, omne vivum ex ovo.
similars and of Repulsion of Similars...
Function comes from without. Function of the Pancreas. All organs
of the body respire..
§ 28
8 29
§ 30
DISEASE.
Virchow's Common Ground of Health and Disease. Reasons of Know-
ing and Reasons of Being. Conditions for the possibility of Dis-
ease.
•
$ 31
Theory and Practice of the Physiological School. Scepticism and
Dogmatism.
States and Processes of Disease according to Virchow. Abstraction.. § 33
Theory and the Critique according to Natural Law.
Elements of Decomposition of Ileo- and Petechial-Typhus. Specific
Diffusion of a Morbid Matter. Form of Disease. Presupposition
of Physiological Life for the Knowledge of the Pathological.
The idea of Change is Pathological. Accidence, Reality and
Negation....
cavesen
$ 32
333
34
§ 35
$ 36
Disease inexplicable from Physiological Laws. Its Character is that
of Danger, according to Virchow.
Physiological Patterns or Types according to Virchow. Aberration. § 37
Two Things are necessary to becoming Sick: an External Cause and
the Inner Conditions for the possibility of its Effect..
Morphological and Pathological Ideas. Law of Constancy.
Virchow's Homology and Heterology..
Function and Nutrition.
•
$ 38
$ 39
40
Passive and Reactive.
Comparisons and
Analogies
$ 41
Nature and Art. The Healing Art. To be Like and to be Similar.
Periodical Regeneration. Self-Support. Regeneration. Resti-
tution. Spontaneous Cure.
Regulating Contrivances according to Virchow.
Life
Laws of the Nerve
§ 42
§ 43
•
Material Regulations. Water, Fat, Albumen. Virchow's Freeing
Acts. Antagonism to Diseases. Combating them.
Healing Power of Nature and the Expectant Method
The Maxim to Guard against the Needless Multiplication of Prin-
ciples. The Aim-Theory. Crisis. Antagonism according to
Virchow
Health and Crisis.
Critical Days.
The Idea of Health is a Negative Idea
The Crisis has Nothing to do with the Improvement of Diseases.
Virchow's Catalysis. Cure rests upon the Laws of Nutrition. Hered-
itary Diseases are, according to Virchow, the Secondary Effects of
an Exciter as in the Phenomena of Reproduction. Constitution-
alism according to Virchow. Exception. Death. Cellular and
Molecular Pathology
•
49
50
$ 51
Cures. The
§ 44
$ 45
$ 46
$$47,48
CONTENTS.
I I
Diseases and Processes of Disease. Groups of Symptoms and Stages.
Virchow's Conditions of Disease...
DIAGNOSIS, INDICATION, PROGNOSIS.
· •
Analysis of Homeopathy. Construction of the Physiological School.
Abstraction of the bodily Constitution in Homœopathy.
Wunderlich's Requirements of a Constitutional Therapy.
The Etiological Therapy of Rademacher, in contrast with the Consti-
tutional Therapy of Wunderlich. The aim of Homœopathy is to
follow up both. Comparisons from the Homœopathic Drug prov-
ings. The General and the Particular.
Virchow's Conditions for the future establishment of a Rational
Therapy..
Curability. Incurability. Pathological Anatomy and Therapeutics.
Source of remedies in Physiological Medicine. Cessante causa
cessat effectus. Concomitant Circumstances.
Inventive Maxims. Biology, Etiology. Erroneous Maxims of the
Physiological School for the attainment of a Therapy. Its indica-
tions according to Inevitable Necessity. Studies of the Physio-
logical School to find Remedies. What is not Empirical is, ac-
cording to Virchow, not Logical.
•
The Induction of the Physiological School for the discovery of Reme-
dies...
§ 52
§ 53
54
$ 55
$ 56
$ 57
$ 58
$ 59
Laws and
$ 60
Rationality and Prescriptions of the Physiological School.
Conditions of Disease, according to Virchow..
Fever, according to Virchow. Heat is the Pathognomonic symptom of
Fever, but the frequency of the Pulse is not, and the simple object
in the treatment of Fever is to lower the temperature. According
to Homœopathic provings, every substance in the external world
can produce Fever...
Nature of Fever, according to v. Bezold.
Fever, according to Virchow, is an Oxidation process.
Functions of
Oxygen and Water in the Organism. Bodily Heat.
Material conditions of Fever. Sources of Heat in the body from pro-
cesses of Oxidation and Reduction. Ozone. Antozone. The
chilly stage.
Fever, according to Virchow, may be defined by
Heat; it is not a disease sui generis.
Inflammation, according to Virchow.
•
Principles. Real and Subjec-
tive Differences. Virchow's Physiological Types of Diseases.
Analogy. Judgment. Antiphlogistic Method.
Inflammation is a process of Reduction, and the Fever its physical
accompaniment. The General and Particular. Progressive and
Regressive method. Fever and Inflammation are no general
morbid phenomena.
According to Homeopathic drug provings, every substance of the ex-
ternal world may produce an Inflammation. Example thereof.
The effect of Belladonna, according to Dr. Böcker. Fever and
Inflammation are only parts of a Pathological process, and hence
cannot be subjects of a special treatment. Virchow's treatment
of Fever and Inflammation. Reflective Ideas.
Categories of Diagnosis. Prognosis..
Indicatio causalis, essentialis, symptomatica of Physiological Medicine.
Causal cure..
•
Mill.
Combating the symptoms of Disease by Physiological Medicine.
The Art of Observation, according to Liebig. Experience.
Apelt. Perceptions from Recollection. Expectation of similar
cases from habit. Rational Method. Art of Experiment.
Experiment alone is nothing decisive..
Judgment and Comparison. Analytic and
Poison a Relative idea.
Thought and Perception.
$ 61
62
63
ن کر گرم
§ 64
$ 65
SIT
SISS
66
67
68
69
71
$ 72
I 2
CONTENTS.
Synthetic. Reasons of Knowing. Reasons of Being. Cause and
Condition. The Categorical and Hypothetical Judgment. Life
in Health and Sickness
1
The Divisive Judgment. The Whole. Composition, Circumference,
Sphere. Diseases are Nameless.
Conclusions from the Effect to the Cause. The History of the Growth
of the Animal Body. Concluding too Much and too Little. The
Tettery and Fever Dyscrasiæ, mere Imperfect Inductions.
Newton's Induction..
Conclusions from one Sphere to a different one are False.
Induction and Abstraction. Fallacy from the Non-observance of
Facts. Provings with Phosphoric Acid. Small Doses of Drugs
act conversely to Larger.
Conclusions in Diagnosis and Indication from the Effect to the Cause.
Prognosis, Effects of Drugs and the Effects of Morbid Causes.
Imperfect Induction. Duchenne's Experiment. The Lower Train
of Thought..
The Empiric Indication. Conclusions from Ideas of Relation. Pneu-
monia and the Numeric Method. Measure of Punishment. The
so-called Law of Great Numbers.
The Rational Induction. Example. Typhus and Crisis.
MODES OF TREATMENT IN THERAPEUTICS.
§ 73
$ 74
TAND
76
77
$ 78
$ 79
·
$ 80
$ 81
Empiric and Rational, Palliative, Expectant Methods. Method of
the Agreement of Similar Cases. Reflexion and Motive..... $ 82
Reflexions of the Physiological School. Hydrocephalus Chronicus.
Curative Plan. Similarity between Symptoms from Excess and
Deficiency.
The Idea of a Specific Remedy. Intermittent Fever. Force. Homœo-
pathic Drug Provings.
Rational Method.
Homeopathic and Allopathic Method of Treatment. Balance and
Test-tube
•
Chemical and Therapeutical Treatment. Drug Provings.
Force. Equivalent of Motion.
·
·
Reciprocal Action, the United Result. Induction. The Lower Train
of Thought and Abstraction. Reverse Effects of Remedies,
$ 83
دردرر
8+
85
86
87
SS
*3 858
nnn
according to their Longer or Shorter Use. Authority. Oxyures. § 89
The Three Operations of Deduction. Primitive and Demonstrative
Experiment
▸
The Signatures of the Old Physicians
Example of a Logical Deduction.
Effect of Acid. pulmonum
•
-
Ons SDSDSD
90
91
92
93
94
95
Edema of the Lungs
Empiric Facts contain no Law explaining them
The Result from the Leading Maxim...
Deception by Auscultation at $72. Abstraction as a ground of Justi-
fication for recommending a Remedy.
Liebig's Example of the Inductive Method. The Indispensableness
of Logical Instruments demonstrated by this Example. Theory. § 97
Drug Provings upon the Healthy according to the Practice of Hahne-
mann. Diosmosis. Curative means and Nutritive Means.. $ 98
• •
•
$ 96
MODE OF ACTION OF THE REMEDY.
Ferments in the diseased Organism according to Polli
Homœopathic Attenuations. Meissner's Ozone and Antozone. The
Ozonides act as Reducing where the Antozonides have acted as
Oxidizing, and vice versa. Ozana Nasalis Syphilitica...
$ 99
•
$ 100
CONTENTS.
13
•
The
Localization of the Remedy with Avoidance of Particular Parts,
according to the Laws of the Organism $98.
Diosmosis and Fermentation. Dead Chemismus. Protozoa
Nutrition and Function-remedy. Quality and Quantity of a Morbid
or Curative Matter. Opium and Scarlatina-contagion.
Quantity determines merely the Intensity of the Quality. Only
the Quality determines Specific Dose
Substances contained in the organism are not always there by immedi-
ate reception (from without), but are often formed in the organ-
ism from their proximate constituents
Change of the effect of a substance into the contrary effect. The
quality localizes the quantity of a Drug
The lines of direction which Remedies pursue. Their specific cor-
• •
$ ΙΟΙ
102
§ 103
§ 104
$ 105
relatives
$ 106
The Laws of Phoronomy. Tensive Force and Living Force. Symp-
toms. A change of Function induces often a change of Nutri-
tion, and vice versa.
$ 107
Primary and Secondary Action.
Treatment of Ulcers. Allowing a
§ 108
Laxatives. Opium.. 109
Remedies accelerating
remedy to expend its action.
Continuation. Sulphur. Series of Effects.
Effect of Belladonna in large and small doses.
and retarding exchange. Effect of Coffee. Antagonistic action.. § 110
Idea of the Contrarium. Dynamics. The Unchangeable Changeable.
Arising and Disappearing. There is no change of quality. Ideas
and Reality...
Lines of direction of the action of a remedy.
Keratitis..
•
Pathological Symptoms and Secondary Effects.
§ III
Rheum. Ipecac.
§ 112
The habit of our
ideas regarding the Causal Law. The operation of a remedy is
inseparable from the counter operation of the organism. Small
and large dose
§ 113
AJALNA
§ 114
$ 116
•
§ 117
$
IIS
119
The similar effect of Aconite and of Belladonna as to form and external
phenomena. The different effect according to internal processes.
Function-remedies may become Nutrition-remedies...
Function remedies. Metals. Iodine. Contrast and diversity of action § 115
(uxtaposition of remedies. Hydragyrosis and Kali hyd..
Capability of becoming sick. Disposition. Drug proving. Con-
comitant conditions. Specific relation of the remedy to the sub-
stances of the organism
To combat and to lull diseases. Narcotics. Magnitudes of motion of
the quantities of remedies, and Extension of their qualities...
The determination of the dose, a problem of the Physiological School.
The measure of Force constitutes the effect. The Quantity of the
Qualities cannot be
morbid cause is the measure for the dose.
measured by quantities. Antidotes.
The Art of Experiment for finding the dose, according to the Laws of
Chemistry.
The quantity of the dose does not change the specific lines of direc-
tion of the quality, but rather their succession. Belladonna. Qui-
nine...
The quantities of Function and Nutrition-remedies stand in an inverse
ratio to their quality, in regard to the forms of their reciprocal
actions with the organism. Consultations
·
$ 120
$ 121
$ 122
123
124
The Mathematics of Medicinal Physics
Agreement in form of phenomena, arising from morbid causes, with
those of the effects of the remedy. Syphilis. Country Practice.. $ 125
Quicksilver and Syphilis. Clinical Teachers...
$ 126
With the change of the dose, there is a change also in the quality of
the effect upon the organism. Repetition of the dose..
$ 127
14
CONTENTS.
THERAPEUTICAL SYSTEMS.
PHYSIOLOGICAL MEDIcine.
The Problem of Diagnosis, according to Wunderlich.
Synthesis of Diagnosis.
Analysis and
Pathological and Physiological ideas.
The idea of Disease is Synthetic..
Wunderlich on Pneumonia..
$ 128
$$ 129-143
The Physiological and Pathological state. The indication of the pro-
priety of a sub-division. Drug provings. Imperfect Induction.. § 144
The descriptions of Disease in the Physiological school are only
Analytical, and hence lack the possibility of being connected
with an essential Indication....
§ 145
The special Pathologies and Therapeutics of the Physiological school
contain nothing but Generalizations, which admit only of a
Symptomatic Indication
•
Wunderlich's Therapeutics of Pneumonia.
The means of perception of this Therapeutics is the accident; their
sources of knowledge are their empirical, and hence their self-
contradictory Materia Medicæ. Examples.
§ 146
147
§ 148
§ 149
$ 150
The Therapeutics of the Physiological school is directed simply
and solely to the causal law, is only palliative or prophylactic,
and without certain conclusions. The synthetic instrument of
Homœopathic Therapeutics is the comparison with the results
of the Drug Provings. Antiphlogistic Treatment. Inflammation.
The Prescriptions of the Physiological school are appeals for
primary experiments upon the Sick..
The empiric acquisitions in the Materia Medica of the Physiological
school may be made to-day, to-morrow may be called in question
or decided to be false. Example. Antagonism between asser-
tions regarding Therapeutic observations of the Physiological
school. Dilatation of the Pupil. Pilfering of the Physiological
school from the doctrines of Homeopathy.
Example of false judgment of Remedies tried by the Physiological
school. Pharmacy of this school. Examination. Coloring matter
of the Urine.
When in doubt the Physiological school increases the dose, and hence
can never arrive at any law of the dose. It knows nothing of the
effect of Drugs in the Molecular state. Molecular matters effect
changes, and thereby suffer changes themselves. Heat. Con-
cussion. Molecular motions. Hypotheses and Abstraction.
Physics occupies itself with qualities, Chemistry with quantities.. § 152
Quantity is the measure of the Physiological school...
Rejection of facts without test. The characteristic fundamental traits
of the Physiological school..
•
§ 151
§ 153
§ 154
Nothing is to be rejected which can be of use to the patient.
•
HYDRIATICS.
§ 155
The results of the Water Cure are often accidental.
Elimination-cures. Relation of the Water Cure to the excretions and
§ 156
to the amount of water held by the individual..
Insane Asylums are recruited from the Water Cures.
Sun Stroke. Nature of Homœopathy. Instruments of logical com-
parison
•
$ 157
•
$ 158
$ 159
MOVEMENT CURE.
The double movements and Gymnastics.
§ 160
One cause of Tuberculosis curable by the Movement Cure..
$ 161
•
CONTENTS.
15
ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM.
Neuropathic and Myopathic Paralysis. The Galvanic Current..
Dr. Streinitz's use of the Horse Shoe Magnet. Valentin on Animal
Magnetism. The Zoo-Magnetic manipulation of Dr. v. Gardos.
Eruption of Etna. Homœopathic provings of the Influence of
Electricity..
$ 162
Schopenhauer's Stratagems.
§ 163
§ 164
RADEMACHER'S SCHOOL.
General Ideas and Methods
ср
§ 165
•
The proving of drugs upon the healthy can lead to nothing. Prin-
ciples of experience.
§ 166
The Epidemic character.
Essence of morbid processes
•
Relation of the essence of the disease to certain bodies in nature.
Remedies of the three specific states...
Contingent properties of specific remedies
·
Must we throw ourselves into the arms of Empiricism?.
Exclusive means and rank of the various remedies.
Curative Method and Fool's Maxim..
• •
•
Normal dose. Party and Science.
Mutual relation of the Outer World with the Diseased.
SNIPSPSISISISISIIDIN
§ 167
$ 16S
$ 169
$ 170
$ 171
$ 172
$ 173
174
$ 175
176
The Conclusions of Rademacher's School from Empirical Induction,
their Etiological causes of Disease..
§ 177
Rademacher's Indications rest upon Abstraction.
Rademacher's Therapy frees from scepticism and dogmatism, depend-
ent as it is upon experiment and observation on the sick...
Normal dose.
$ 178
Copper symptoms. Involuntary Homœopathy.
•
Saltpetre symptoms..
·
Epidemic of Measles..
•
•
•
Drug provings of this School.
Historic basis of Therapeutics.
Pneumonia curable by Saltpetre.
Pneumonia curable by Iron...
Pneumonia curable by Copper.
•
• •
Similarity of these Pneumonias, and their difference under treatment.
The difference of these Pneumonias, curable by Iron, Copper and
Nitrum, to be found in the Homeopathic drug provings. Symp-
toms of Iron..
The Primitive Experiment of this School, and the Homeopathic drug
provings
The points of union for Rademacher and Hahnemann.
Time, place and circumstances.
Various forms of diseases cured by remedies which, in their general
character, corresponded to a certain form of disease appearing,
as we say, epidemically..
ALSPAPADAJAJADAJ
$ 179
$ ISO
$ ISI
IS2
183
IS+
185
186
STRINID
§ 187
$ ISS
$ 189
•
STADSDSD
$ 190
191
192
193
§ 194
Aconite. Specific. Drug-forms and Disease-forms.
•
$ 195
Diseases to be designated by their Drug-forms...
Epidemic of Measles. The proving of drugs not yet comprehensive
enough...
$ 196
$ 197
Experiments upon the effects of Copper and Iron.
Iodosmon. The
most sensitive re-agent is the human organism.
Saltpetre. Glauber's Salts. Bleeding and Iron. Effect of the Salts
in respect to the absorption of Oxygen and Nitrogen, according
to Liebig..
$ 198
$ 199
16
CONTENTS.
Every living thing moves in an oscillating rhythm. Historical knowl-
edge. Treatment of diseases not yet known. Pyæmia..
§ 200
Pyæmia. Pus and the formation of the Cicatrix. Effect of Arnica.. § 201
Programme of the Physical School of the year 1842. Skepticism, Em-
piricism, Dogmatism...
Allowing a remedy to work itself out.
•
§ 202
§ 203
8 205
The products of disease are the points of attack of Physiol. Medicine. § 204
Reasons of Knowing of Rademacher's School....
PART II.
HOMEOPATHY.
HOMEOPATHIC DRUG PROVINGS.
How and where we must seek our remedies.
and Authority. Science and Faith..
•
Virchow's Tradition
•
§ 206
207
We can only proceed by Experiment from the Known to the Unknown.
History of Benzoic Acid.
Cases cured by Benzoic Acid.
•
• • •
Provings of Benzoic Acid on the healthy
Clinical Remarks upon Benzoic Acid
Homœopathic and Allopathic use of Benzoic Acid.
Conclusions. Apparent contradiction in the results of the proving.
Opinion.
THE LAW OF SIMILARITY.
Faults of Observation. Errors from Non-observing. Perception and
Conclusion. Similarity. Contraria Contrariis and Similia Sim-
ilibus. Lippspringe. Explanation according to Natural Law.
Harmony according to Nature and Form. Contrarium...
In Homœopathy, Diagnosis and Indication coincide in the same line.
Contrast of similar effects from various causes. Intellectual Acci-
dent
Ileo-typhus and Phosphoric Acid..
"
+
The law of Similarity relates only to the Indication, and the effect
which results from it must naturally be a Contrarium. The Phys-
iological school measures things by themselves; it lacks the per-
ceptible contrast of a form corresponding to a pathological state.
Lightning, Thunder, and the Electric Machine. Proving of
various substances upon the healthy in comparison with the
effects of morbid matters.
Principle of Therapy. The Medical activity of Physiological Medi-
cine is chiefly confined to the Dissecting room. Inhalation
Therapy. Subcutaneous Injection. Local Therapy. Medical
Guild
$ 208
209
cascasca DDaca
210
211
212
§ 213
§ 214
§ 215
§ 216
အာ
§ 217
$ 218
The Herring Brine experiment. What is Just and what is Healthy.
Causality
§ 219
THE HOMOEOPATHIC DOSE.
Virchow. The belief is preposterous that a less quantity of any sub-
stance will produce more effect than a larger of the same sub-
stance. The surface action of substances..
§ 220
CONTENTS.
17
• •
Dr. Jolly's experiments. The contraction co-efficients of the Molecule.
An Arithmetical calculation of Homœopathic Attenuations in
respect to their efficiency, is a false rule to go by..
The Rock of the Attenuation Question. Experiments hereupon.
Experiments restrict those calculations to the limits of their
doubtful significance and importance. Relation of the Molecule
to the vehicle..
Solution and Mixture.
Contractive force of the Molecules.
Percentage of Iron in Mineral Springs.
•
•
§ 221
§ 222
§ 223
carcas
§224
§ 225
Every attenuation produces
a considerable minus of the previous entire volume..
Spectrum Analysis, by Dr. Ozanam..
Opinion and calculation of the Academy of Sciences, in France, re-
garding the Homœopathic attenuations reduced ad absurdum.
Truth, correctness and completeness of Thought. Idea of Quality.
Antipodes. Quantity of Chlorate of Potash in the Blood corpus-
cles and the quantity of Alcohol required for the 11th attenuation. § 226
Attenuations tested by the Electrometer.
cascasca
§ 227
Manner of preparing Homœopathic Drugs. Potentizing.
Liebig's Opposition to Homeopathy easily to be overthrown on his
own ground. His judgment is formed merely according to the
category of quantity...
§ 228
$ 229
The quantity of earthy phosphates which is taken up by solutions of
salt, does not increase in proportion to the amount of salt con-
tained in the fluid; on the contrary, more is taken up in propor-
tion as the fluid is more attenuated. The effect of common salt
actually increases with its attenuation. Causality and Reciprocal
Action .
Specification. Lemma trisulea.
§ 230
•
Liebig's experiences speak for, not against, Homœopathy.
Liebig speaks of Homœopathy not as an expert. Dependency and
contemporaniety of organic movements. Ideas of Relation.....
Position of Homœopathy brought about by the error of learned men.
Virchow as a partisan of Liebig.
§ 231
232
•
§ 233
§ 234
•
Liebig's various forces without objects. Chemistry and Physiology
run blindly into the laws of Homœopathy..
Liebig's source of Animal Heat. Error and Ignorance. The Therapy
according to Natural laws is emancipation from Tradition and
Authority
Apothecaries and the right of Physicians to dispense their own
Remedies
§ 235
§ 236
§ 237
Newton's Letter. Incomprehensible lack of Conscience of the oppo-
nents of Homœopathy..
§ 238
•
He is the most skillful who can accomplish the most with the smallest
doses
Why do large quantities sometimes cure, too?.
239
240
METHODS OF USING THE REMEDY.
Dynamics. Food and Drugs. Palliatives.
§ 241
Cochineal. Inflammation of the Kidneys. Helminthiasis.
One remedy, or two to be used in alternation.
Depression of the Vital Force. Curative Force. Idea of Homœo-
pathic Reciprocal Action. Copper. Posology. Particular affirm-
ative opinion. Idea of the contrary, like and similar. Sulphur.
Calc. carb.
$ 242
§ 243
Constituents of Aconite. Opposite, in the sense of Homœopathic
posology means only different. Changes in the cell. Function
and Nutrition-Remedies
Homœopathic Primary effect. Belladonna. The Indication accord-
ing to the law of Similarity; the Effect according to the Con-
§ 244
§ 245
18
CONTENTS.
trarium. Inflammation of the Eye.
Homœopathic secondary
and alternate effect.
§ 246
External use of Remedies.
Irritation of the Skin. Panaritia. Car-
buncle. Arnica
§ 247
Sensations aggravated in damp or dry weather with East or North
wind, morning or evening. Aggravations from drugs. Bella-
donna. Stramonium in Poisonings with Animal Matter. Law
Books of Homœopathy.
§ 248
Cataract. Calc. carbon. Diosmotic Motions according to Liebig. § 249
Drug Provings and Chemistry. Dat Nutrimentum Salutem.
Con-
trarium Contrariis.
§ 250
Benzoic Acid and Acute Articular Rheumatism.
Indication of the Physiological School and that of Rademacher. Fun-
damental Principles.
§ 251
§ 252
Differential Diagnosis of Homœopathy..
•
§ 253
To Individualize. One can most surely convince himself of the truth
of Homœopathy by Drug Provings upon himself...
Indication of Benzoic Acid in Acute Articular Rheumatism.
Cure by a Nutrition-remedy. Enchondroma. Absorption of the Mole-
cular Bodies by the Blood. Place of Application for that
In Homœopathy there is no Convalescence.
§ 254
•
§ 255
purpose.
Diet in Diseases..
Surgery and Obstetrics. Specialities.
cascascas
256
257
258
Chlorosis. Copper. Drug Provings and Names of Diseases. Denial
of the Observations of others. The Scheme. Obstetrics.
Conversion to Homœopathy. Typhus Abdominalis. Homœopathic
Aggravations
§ 259
§ 260
Broncho-Pneumonia. Drug Aggravations..
Rheumatismus Articul. Acut
§ 261
§ 262
From Principle they dare not allow Homœopathy to gain Recognition.
Study of Homœopathy in cases declared Incurable by the Physio-
logical School. Homœopathic Aggravations..
§ 263
§ 264
Homœopathic Treatment of Mental Diseases
$ 265
§ 266
§ 267
The Minimal Dose is not the Characteristic of Homœopathy. Typhus
Petechialis. Temperature of the Body. Pulse. Constituents of
the Urine. Expectant Method. Palliation. Nitrate of Silver.
Acid phosphor. The Errors of the Physiological School are Dis-
eases which can only be Cured by the Study of Homœopathy.
Method of Quantitative Analysis of the Urine…..
Confirmation of Homœopathy by Clinical Cases of its Opponents.
Coal Mines and Consumption. The Immediate Cause of Tuber-
culosis and the Remedies to be used against it. Phosphates....
Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Quinine, Cod-liver Oil, Digitalis, Sugar
of Lead.
Conclusions from the Effect of a Drug to the Bodily Constitution. Poi-
sons by Lead cured, even by Hahnemann, with Electricity.
Rationalism. Empiricism. Homœopathy a Positive Science.
Method of Criticism in Physiological Medicine. Criticism and Review. § 271
The Cessation of the Effect of a Remedy obviated by using a Higher
potency or Antidotes. Vaccination. Syphilisation. Immunity
of Laborers in Percussion-cap Factories against Cholera. Serpent
Catchers. Valentin on the Various Minute Causes of Infection.. § 272
Blepharadenitis cured by Iron.
•
•
Neuralgia Femoralis. Hooping Cough.
iting and Erysipelas of the Feet.
Rectum. Diarrhoea..
•
D
Erysipelas of the Face. Vom-
Gastralgia. Prolapse of the
§ 268
§ 269
§ 270
§ 273
§ 274
•
§ 275
The Homœopathic Concordances. Intermittent Fevers. Anomalies
The success of Rademacher's School. No Opinion can be a Reason
for rejecting Facts. The False Generalization of Contrarium Con-
trariis. Blood Letting..
CONTENTS.
19
in Menstruation and Imbecility. Quinine, Kreosote, Nux Vom.,
Antidotes. Contra-indication....
Mistakes of Apothecaries in Dispensing Drugs. Alleged Poisonous
and inefficacious character of the Homœopathic Attenuations.
Eating the contents of Homœopathic Drug-cases. To train Igno-
rant persons for Homœopathic Physicians. The Homeopathic
Physician renders his patients capable of an insight into the
Natural Laws of Therapeutics. Homeopathy is a Protest against
Mysticism and Quackery.
Rademacher's Intercurrent Diseases. Local Exciting Causes of Inter-
mittent Fever. Scurvy. Typhus and Varicella.
Learning and Language of the various Sciences..
Example for Beginners. A Specific Fever and Ague.
Rules of Homœopathy to find Remedies for Cases, in which no other
School knows how to help itself. Accident and Natural Law.
Allopathic Tortures and Expenses. The Pleasantness and Cheap-
ness of Homœopathic Treatment. Difference between the Allo-
pathic and Homœopathic modes of Treatment..
Mutual Complement of Various Therapeutic Laws.
without Examination of the Urine. Diabetes Mellitus.
§ 276
§ 277
§ 278
$ 279
2So
$ 281
Drug Proving
$ 282
THE BODILY CONSTITUTION AND THE ACCOMPANYING CONDITIONS.
The Original and the Derived. The General and the Particular. The
Homœopathic Comparison. The Periodical Pressure of the
Blood. Hahnemann's Concomitant Circumstances. Our Organ-
ism is a System of External Causes and Internal Re-actions..... § 283
Morbid Causes and Drugs acting upon the right and left side of the
body. Half-sided Paralysis. Aggravation and relief after rest or
motion. Rheumatism. Rhus tox., Bryonia.
Result of Accident and Adjuvants. Chlorosis. Pulsatilla and Iron.
The Element of Time
§ 284
§ 285
§ 286
دورم
$ 287
Total Effect of Causes and Conditions. Arsenic and Ipecac. Consti-
tutional Symptoms. Constitutional Effects of Drugs. Allopathic
Evidence for Homœopathy....
Under Various Conditions the same Remedy may be indicated in damp
and dry weather. Nux Vom
Extension of the Doctrine of Concomitant Circumstances, according
to the appearance of Contemporaneous forms of Disease. With
the Disappearance of the form of Disease, the Patient is not cured.
Duty of the Family Physician....
Wunderlich's Constitutional Therapy. The Co-ordination of Consti-
tutional and Etiological Fundamental Characteristics known only
in Homœopathy. Separation of these Characteristics in Various
Curative Methods...
$ 288
$ 289
THE VARIOUS BODILY CONSTITUTIONS.
Biological Laws.
Permanent Causes. Virchow's Construction of
Etiological Systems. History of Medicine..
§ 290
The Acute Diseases run in those tracks which are marked out by the
Bodily Constitution. Hahnemann's Three Biological Forms..
Dr. Reuter's Succession of Diseases. The Itch Mite and its Results.. § 292
The Law of Constancy surmised even by Virchow. Symptom of the
Productive Stage of Psora, according to Hahnemann. Hahne-
mann's Sycosis and Syphilis...
$ 291
Ricord's Recantation of his Doctrine of Syphilis, by Michalis.
Virchow's Leucemia..
ށ...
§ 293
§ 294
295
Fibrine, White Blood, Thrombosis, Embolia, etc., according to
Virchow...
§ 396
20
CONTENTS.
All these Diseases in §§ 295 and 297 were known, even by the earliest
physicians, under the title of Sycosis, as results of Gonorrhoea, to
which they added many others also. They knew also the differ-
ence between the Sycotic Exanthems, Ulcers and Localizations.
Metastasis, according to Virchow...
§ 297
The older Physicians were led to these Differential Diagnoses by the
Effect of their Drugs. Chemistry. Similarity of Leucemia and
Sycosis. Expectant Method. Division of Hahnemann's Antip-
sorics. Ritter and Wolf on the Diagnosis of the Sequelæ of
Syphilitic Diseases. Rademacher's School..
According to Admiral Fitzroy, certain Diseases appear suddenly with
an increasing amount of Ozone in the Atmosphere.
Diseases. Names of Diseases. The Study of the various states
of the Atmosphere. Leucæmia is no Disease sui generis. The
necessary Knowledge and Experience often render superfluous the
numerous Instruments of Diagnosis. Combinations.
Diderot and Bacon on the Teachers of Science. Practice and Skepti-
cism. The Homeopathic and Allopathic Maxim....
HYDROGENOID BODILY CONSTITUTION.
Chronic
§ 298
§ 299
§ 300
Diagnosis of this Bodily Constitution. Processes of Reduction...... § 301
OXYGENOID BODILY CONSTITUTION.
Diagnosis thereof. Difference between the Hydrogenoid and Oxyge-
noid Constitutions. Mühry's Meteorology. Processes of Oxi-
dation
§ 302
CARBO-NITROGENOID CONSTITUTION.
Skepticism. Negation and Connexion of Events. Astronomy.
Opinions and Conclusions. The Itch Mite already known by
Hahnemann. Its Causes according to him...
Perception and Judgment. To Pathological Anatomy a Dyscrasia
Scabiosa is unknown. Negations of the Psora Theory
According to the Teachings at the Universities, our Treatment at the
Sick Bed bears the character of the Instinctive. Effects of Sul-
phur. Diagnosis and Physiology of the Carbo-Nitrogenoid
Constitution
§ 303
§ 304
§ 305
Continuation. Processes of Retention.
Resumé. The way to arrive at a Practical Knowledge of the Charac-
teristics of the various Bodily Constitutions. Water Cure and the
Electric Current...
$ 306
•
§ 307
REMEDIES FOR THE BODILY CONSTITUTIONS.
$ 308
§ 309
The special Indication arises from the Homœopathic Law of Simi-
larity. Wunderlich's Collapse.
Many Remedies are Indicated alike in one or the other Constitution,
according as the Disease has arisen Nutritively or Functionally,
but, on this account, in various doses. Confirmation of this in the
experience of Dr. Gross in Barmen, and in connection with the
experiences of Rademacher's School..
Aside from the Indication according to the Law of Similarity, there is,
with Hahnemann, yet another ground of perception to find a
further Indication, which presupposes the Law of Similarity.... § 310
On Rademacher's Treatment of the principal Pathological Forms by
Dr. Latz. Diseases of the Brain, the Spinal Marrow, the Respir-
Diseases of the
atory Organs, the Larynx, the Heart, Croup.
•
CONTENTS.
21
Gastric Organs, the Kidneys, the Bladder. Gonorrhoea. Non-
Syphilitic Diseases of the Genital Organs. Diseases of the Outer
and Inner Membranes. Diseases of the Nerves, of the Blood.
Dropsy. Worms. Diseases of the Bones. Syphilis. Nervous
§ 311
Fever. Intermittent Fever...
Right of Free Inquiry. The Connection of the Homœopathic Compari-
son between the Drug-forms and the Disease-forms may sometimes
be lost by reason of the insufficient clearness of the latter. The
Empirical conclusion from the expectation of similar cases is jus-
tified so far as this: if the general leads with certainty to the
characteristics of the particular. The chief principle of every
Therapeutics is to consider Diseases from the stand point of Natural
Law. The Natural Law only is Practical. Dr. Bazin………
THE EXAMINATION OF PATIENTS.
§ 312
Catarrh and the Clergyman's Disease..
§ 313
Kafka and Bæhr. To know one's self. The Analytic and Synthetic. § 314
PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF THE CARBO-NITROGENOID CONSTITUTION.
•
A Nameless Disease. Nitrate of Silver and Chloride of Silver.
A Nameless Disease. We should not be led by the Subjective Views
of the Patient.
§ 315
$ 316
Nephritic Colic...
A nameless disease. Phthisis?
Paralysis of the Diaphragm.
Hæmorrhoids?
$ 317
$ 318
·
$ 319
Mental disease?.
$ 320
•
Triumph of the Reactive Force over the Morbid Disturbance.
Bloody Expectoration.
•
$ 321
$ 322
Incontinence of Urine?.
•
Malarial Ataxy. Eisenmann's Remedy against Locomotor Ataxy.
Amblyopia. Ŏrgans of Labor and those Interrupting Labor. The
Nervous System offers the greatest Resistance to Hunger.....
OF THE OXYGENOID CONSTITUTIONS.
§ 323
$ 324
8 325
Hereditary Diseases and the Results of Diseases. Those from Living
Molecular Bodies. Protozoa, Fungi. Vibriones. The Homeo-
pathic Attenuations. Periodicity.
Dr. Stamm's Nosophthorie. Syphilis and Sycosis. Their Eradication
and their Results. The Contagion of Chancre and Gonorrhea... $ 327
Dr. Felix Niemeyer's Opposition to Homœopathy..
$ 326
$ 328
PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF THE HYDROGENOID
CONSTITUTION.
• •
A Nameless Disease with Catalepsy, etc. Homœopathic Clinical Cases.
Aranea Diadema
§ 329
Intermittent Fever Cachexy.
$ 330
•
Relations of the Water in the Atmosphere to that of the Organism,
according to Flemming
$ 331
•
Sycosis. Glauber's salts
$ 332
Swelling of the Cervical Glands.
$ 333
Phthisis Pulmonalis...
Fibroid...
Pneumonia..
$ 334
$ 335
$336
Caries of the Bone of the Heel. Hay Baths.
$ 337
22
CONTENTS.
Hydrocephalus Acutus.
Sycosis. Eisenmann's Locomotor Ataxy. Doubter, Dogmatist, Em-
piric. A persona ex mination essential to the Physiological
School, for the establishment of a Diagnosis, Indication and Prog-
nosis, but the Homeopathic School can, in many cases, dispense
with it. Drug Provings and their use To give two Remedies in
alternation. Wunderlich. Eisenmann's Locomotor Ataxy.
Advance in Homœopathy....
Personal Examination of Patients. Pedantry. The General in Hom-
œopathic Drug Provings. Arsenic, Digitalis. Dr. Espanet………..
§ 338
An
§ 339
§ 340
THE HIGH POTENCIES.
Clinical Cases. Nux Vom., Ipecac, Arsen., Thuya.
Perception, Experience, Conception, Contradiction, Idea.
about the finite and infinite Divisibility of Matter: .
Rules for the use of the High Potencies. Negation. French Academy
of Sciences. Idea and Perception. Denial...
Chemistry and Physics. Schopenhauer on General Opinion.
Reason of the hatred against Homœopathy. Manual of General Path-
ology and Therapeutics, by Dr. Lebert, 1865. Refutation of the
Objections to Homœopathy therein contained. Generalizations.
The Nescimus of Physiological Medicine.
§ 341
Strife
§ 342
§ 343
§ 344
casco
•
•
•
§ 345
§ 346
The Instrument of Measure for the Judgment.
The Means of Measure of the Indication. Relative Ideas. Curative,
Morbid and Nutritious Matter. The Law of Similarity, accord-
ing to Lebert. Quinine. To Resolve the Doubts of the Learned. § 347
Right of Dispensing. The Macanas of Homœopathy, according to
Lebert. Physics and Chemistry..
•
§ 348
Everything in Homœopathy is developed according to Physical Laws.
Science, System, Theory. Medicine, according to Natural Laws. § 349
CONCLUSION.
Astronomy and Homœopathy. Conclusions. Certainty. The Hom-
œopathic Treatment of every Disease is no child's play...
We must abandon the idea of placing the leading points for our Thera-
peutical action in the seats and forms of Diseases, and must find
them in their material causes and conditions..
Evidences in favor of Homœopathy are found also in the other branch-
es of Natural Science. History of Medicine, by Dr. Wunderlich. § 352
The truth yet to be sought by Physiological Medicine is to be found in
Homœopathy. Vox Populi...
$ 353
§ 350
§ 351
HOMEOPATHY AND PHYSIOLOGICAL MEDICINE vulgo ALLO-
PATHY, BEFORE THE BAR OF STATISTICS.
Mortality under Homœopathic and Allopathic Treatment, with the cost
thereof. The English Life Assurance Companies converted to
Homœopathy by the Evidence of Statistics. The Extraordinary
falling off of the public from Allopathy, and its adhesion to Hom-
œopathy. The workmen in France present a Petition to the
Senate for the introduction of Homeopathy into the Hospitals.
Concluding Remarks..
§ 354
:
INTRODUCTION.
§. I.
THE aim of all science must be directed to this: in the place of the
contingent to set up that which law makes necessary, and every par-
ticular to refer to its universal: for these two predicates connect science
with things.
That this postulate is not yet put at the head of every branch of
medical science and art, is one of the greatest riddles of this enlight-
ened age, as we are wont, euphemistically, to style it. In truth, the
nature and character of the structure of non-Homeopathic therapeu-
tical theories, is in the most direct opposition to this postulate, as will
be more readily seen anon. Even in the sciences elementary to Ther-
apeutics, in Chemistry, Physiology, and Pathology, we find a great
number of accidental observations; these are partly collected and
proved to be correct by that art of experiment which is now-a-days
exclusively practiced, partly rejected, or, we find those already thrown
away, are brought into use again, and this uncertainty is the charac-
teristic of contingent, empirical knowledge.
The subsequent pages will show, that the purely empirico-experi-
mental acquisitions of the dominant physiological school in therapeu-
tics are nothing but accidental, acquired without any principle, hence
doubtful in particulars and, as to generals, without any value. Only
the art of observation, i. e., the mental capacity of connecting our
perceptions, which, in the Homœopathic school is cultivated simul-
taneously with the art of experiment, has been able to find ways and
means, by which the contingent, which is nothing but the result of
casualties, thus far unknown, is eliminated from medical practice.
New experiments are, indeed, made every day, and in every direc-
tion, by the adherents of physiological medicine, but without any
connexion; and the demand of modern times for isolated experiments,
is set up as an excuse.
But this accidental demand of the times, what has it not to excuse?
This symbol of instability should rather admonish us incessantly, that
26
the present hour, must throw the past into utter oblivion, unless we
hold fast, intellectually, to the useful things which the past has pro-
duced. We must gain space in time, but living space. Not by the
empiric accumulation of facts perceived (facts of perception), but by
their well-weighed appreciation, according to the eternal laws of
nature, is their existence secured for all time. Facts, which this
criterion rejects, are scientifically worthless.
Hence in Homœopathy, we strive, not only to separate the con-
tingency from the event, i. e., to determine the causal succession from
what has taken place, but we also strive to become master of that
contingency which makes our judgment uncertain. Although we
seek to prevent, but often in vain, the contingencies of the event,
according to the rules of experiment, analytically, yet, on the other
hand, we remove the contingency from the judgment, synthetically
only, by the connection of the laws of nature with these events, hence
in this way, it is, that we understand how to explain the dependence
of the latter upon the former, and shape our judgment and actions
accordingly. In this synthesis, consists the art of observation.
But one of the greatest hindrances to the formation of correct judg-
ment, is the subjective opinion, which, in physiological medicine, meets
us at every step, so persistently, and which rests upon the accidental
degree of individual knowledge. Hence, to-day, the weight of the
current opinion in the old school, or the so-called physiological medi-
cine, inclines considerably to the side of subjectivity, consequently, in
therapeutics, we must divest ourselves of all subjective opinions and
be studious to turn ourselves to the objectivity of facts, as well as to
that of the laws of nature, which govern these facts; for, the con-
necting of facts with a conclusion drawn therefrom, does not lie in
the arbitrary will of the subject forming it, but in the laws, in accord-
ance with which these events had necessarily to occur as they did
occur, and must occur, in all future time.
§. 2.
But this can never come to pass without a strife with the predomi-
nant subjective tendency of the physiological school. Void of inde-
pendence, i. e., ever without any tenable principle hitherto, it is
irrevocably linked with the changing authority of its leaders.
Men thus inclined become so subjective, that, with every thing
which comes in question, they first think of themselves; and its rela-
tion to their own personality, so utterly arrests their whole attention,
that no time is left to them for the comprehension of any subject pre
27
sented. Hence, their egotism so benumbs their capacity of perception
that they are just as easily offended and hurt, as flattered and won.
On the other hand, their conclusions are naturally corrupt and in favor
of their own side; the most evident token of intellectual incapacity,
of which examples enough will follow. But, if we turn to objectivity,
quite another view presents itself; for the contingent subjective mode
of connecting the mental associations of our ideas and the necessary
objective oneness of our perceptions are of very different nature.
Thence we learn, at once, the incontestible truth of logical laws, that
every opinion has claim to validity in so far as it is the product of the
value of the object, in connection with the perceptive capacity of the
one forming the opinion; that one, for instance, can only comprehend
and understand another, according to the measure of the knowledge.
which he may have acquired, and he will never feel and realize this
subordinate point so long as he does not take the trouble to increase
his knowledge by that of others.
Predominant subjectivity forms, in this way, a complete armory
of natural weapons against intellectual superiority, which everywhere,
and at all times, has been the most hated and the most feared, because
every view of another will thrust itself, in a hostile manner, into the
midst of its (subjective) connections already entertained, and call it to
renewed labors, which threaten to shake unpleasantly the system
laboriously completed; that system of all those who, though not neces-
sarily old in body, have prematurely grown old in mind. Thus it
befel Pater Scheiner. He was rebuffed, when he told his Prior of
the spots on the sun, which he had seen with his telescope, with these
words: I have read Aristotle through, and find nothing of the kind,
and you may therefore rest assured that what you have seen is only a
deception of your senses, or of your glass, and I warn you against
such a heresy.
§. 3.
But what does it mean to have a conviction of the truth or falsity of
a thing? Nothing more than, from subjective grounds, to believe it
or not believe it. Conviction is a matter of reflection and feeling; but
the domain and object of knowledge is nature. In natural sciences,
then, we never have to do with belief and conviction, but only and
simply with knowledge. Every expression of subjectivity, thus every
belief and conviction, in questions of natural science, is void, a mere
subjective status, which has not the least scientific value, so long as the
28
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reasons thereof are not gathered from the objective state of the object
considered.
Perception and deduction form, it is true, the sources of our knowl-
edge, but to find out which knowledge is the subject of perception,
and which of deduction, to do this secure from error, requires mani-
fold intellectual operations, sometimes entirely overlooked; for we may
fancy that we see something, and really see it, and yet our statement
concerning it is, in truth, nothing but deduction. The perception that
it is day when the sun rises, and night when it sets, is a ready deduc-
tion to every rustic. But if I should say to him: "That which
you see, as well as that which you deduce therefrom, is false; the sun
does not rise and set, and that which seems to you to cause day and
night is, that you yourself are moving around the sun," he would stare
and thank Heaven that he was not so stupid as the one who would
try to palm such sheer nonsense as that on him. But how would it
help the matter, in such a case as this, to go with him into the laws
of Astronomy? Thus, many a one may say that he is convinced that
such a patient was made better or worse by such and such a treatment,
because he himself had been injured or benefited by this or that treat-
ment; but what he actually saw, as regards time, place, circumstances,
art and science, in order to enable him to draw his conclusions, this is
a matter very difficult or utterly impossible for him to comprehend, and
just as impossible would it be to bring him to any other conviction,
because such conviction must be drawn from a region as utterly
unknown to him as is that of astronomy to the rustic.
§. 4.
Another chief source of sluggish habits of thought, and prejudices
arising from the laws of mental association, is found in the habit of
considering that which is incomprehensible to be utterly impossible.
But as little as the conviction of a thing lies in the thing itself, just so
little does its incomprehensibility; this rather lies in the contingent
and insufficient perceptive faculty of him who cannot comprehend it.
Every fallacy from the source of convictions and incomprehensi-
bilities may, for the ignorant, assume even the appearance of science,
owing to the position of its originator, as long as the former is so
absurd as to believe that we now know all the laws of nature, and
forms his opinions accordingly, or as long as the latter are disposed to
announce objects of their perceptive faculty to be laws of the perceived
objects. With this fallacy, Des Cartes kindled a furious war against the
theory of gravitation, on the ground that it is incomprehensible how
1
29
bodies, not in contact, can affect each other. He could only maintain
this position because, of the primary forces of matter, that of attraction
at a distance was unknown to him.
§. 5.
Hence, it is preconceived opinion, it is prejudice, which has, at all
times, made the whole human race inattentive to facts which ran
counter to propositions once accepted, let these facts be ever so abun-
dant and striking. And, by reason of this ineradicable prejudice,
regarding the indisputable truth of this position, once received as cor-
rect, all attempts were at once branded as useless, even were it only to
make an experiment, which might have led one to the truth or falsity
of those alleged facts. The opponents of Copernicus, for example,
maintained that the earth stood still and could not move, because other-
wise, a stone let fall from the top of a tower, could not strike at the
foot of the tower, but at a little distance from it, and that, too, in a
direction different from that required by the motion of the earth, as
assumed by Copernicus. They cited the case, also, of a swiftly sail-
ing ship, from the mast-head of which if a ball were dropped, it would
strike, not at the foot of the mast, but nearer the stern.
But if any
one had really made this experiment, he would have observed that the
ball would fall just at the foot of the mast, and that this, further, was
no proof against the theory of Copernicus, but for it. The neglect.
of an experiment, which might settle a dispute, originates in the fact
that we are often more foolish than we think we are.
§. 6.
The foregoing paragraphs present a faithful picture of the most
usual and most popular fallacies which have been, and still are, used,
in vain, as weapons in the strife against Homœopathy, alike by the
learned and unlearned. Would that every one who undertakes to
render a verdict against the Theory and Practice of Homœopathy,
without previously studying the science thoroughly, and putting it to
a practical test, might have them ever before him as warning exam-
ples, setting forth, as in a mirror, his own intellectual weakness, lest
the mishap might overtake him of willfully abandoning himself to the
company of the ignorant; for, in the forum of science, no other explan-
ation of the lamentable misconception and persecution of this science,
can be given, than to attribute them to a blind abandonment of one's
self to these paths of error.
30
Were the fact not established, that the science and art of Homœo-
pathy were rejected by the Professors of the great schools on the
ground of such fallacies as these, it would be held impossible that
teachers in Universities should really presume to know more than the
daily practice teaches. The tendency of these fallacies arises from
discontent that Homœopathy has sprung up, not from the barren soil
of such men, but from the laboriously cultivated field of practical
physicians. But these gentry make public opinion; they have patient,
and, every year, new hearers, who, perfectly incapable of forming an
opinion or judgment of their own, are the mere echoes of their teach-
ers, hence all the more zealous and bigoted partisans, all their lives
long, of the doctrines taught them.
But if one brings these Professors to a stand and calls them to
account for their strife against Homœopathy, they avail themselves of
the subterfuge that, for lack of evidence in favor of the truth of
Homœopathy, they are unable to recognize it.
This declaration, now, is sufficiently characteristic; it does not give
evidence of logical reflection; for, that a want of evidence does not
affect the truth of a conclusion, this, one would think, "Professors of
the High School" should know well enough; they surely should per-
ceive, that, from lack of evidence they were only in a state of doubt, in
which they could give no opinion worthy consideration; they should
know that, in such a state, the result of their opinion could only be
the expression we do not know it," but not "it is not so," as Homœo-
pathists assert it is, (Vide, System der Logik: ein Handbuch, “für
Lehrer,” etc., von Dr. Jakob Freidrich Fries, Heidelberg, 1837, p. 140.)
It seems that the stand-point of the Professors of the High School is
unhappily such that we must quote a school-book to them.
§. 7.
But since a logical manner of thinking is evidently strange to these
opponents of Homœopathy, controversies rage between these adhe-
rents of physiological medicine, who form the overpowering majority,
and the followers of Hahnemann, who are in a clear minority; and
this strife still rages, as unchecked as ever, now somewhat under
the ashes, then again breaking forth with new energy, while the
weapons which the physiological school uses in these controversies,
disgrace more and more shamefully the medical profession, as well as
medical science and art. However, this might be allowed to go on,
if no one else should suffer thereby, and were it not exerting an infi-
nitely injurious and disturbing influence upon the most important
31
interests of the rest of human society. This injurious influence must,
however, itself have a powerful tendency to bring this strife to a set-
tlement, in which strife, notwithstanding its surprisingly long duration,
the minority has not only not given way to the majority, but is gaining
more and more in the estimation of the public every year.
But if, in the following pages we search thoroughly into these
controversies, it will be apparent that any thought of an immediate
reconciliation between the extremes at present existing, by means
thus far used, is utterly out of the question. On the contrary, here,
in close connection to the laws of nature, the fundamental laws of
physiology, pathology and therapeutics, as well as some important
complements thereto, must develop themselves spontaneously from
the solutions of numerous problems, whence every other composition
of the strife must be superfluous.
All conceptions of our inner being are finally based upon the per-
ceptions of our senses, by which they are created and deduced from
external things even. But the formation of our ideas, judgments and
conclusions is not permitted to take place at any subjective pleasure or
caprice, but must result from determinate objective laws, inherent in
the very things themselves and their constitutions.
The great question, however, is to arrive at an understanding as
regards the conceptions, ideas, judgments and conclusions found in
physiology, pathology and therapeutics, which are, by no means, all
correct. This is all the more pity, since the whole of therapeutics
rests upon diagnosis, indication and prognosis, and the solution of
these problems is again simply and solely dependent upon just con-
ceptions, ideas, judgments and conclusions, a requisition, which, unfor-
tunately, has been hitherto overlooked or neglected, without exception,
in all our therapeutics; as soon as this is carelessly neglected and not
taken hold of with all the acuteness of the intellect, and prosecuted
with all the vigor of an orderly and well-practiced mind, the whole
success of medical art and science is unavoidably frustrated.
§. 8.
In the circle of natural phenomena, among which accidental diseases
must be reckoned, as well as the processes of cure produced by art,
every event possesses, on the one hand, a conditional necessity, since
it can only result from its precedents and depends upon them; while,
on the other hand, this conditional necessity itself flows again from
the remote unconditional necessity of the original laws of nature and
their recognized absolute truth.
32
But from these laws results the existence of no single event; for every
one is composed of elements which have met accidentally or by means
of experiment. Only the magnitude, the quality of their composition,
thence ensuing, and their relations to other events and conditions, i. e.,
the whole complexity of their existence, can be determined according
to the laws of nature.
An explanation (Erklärung) according to the laws of nature is con-
fined, therefore, to the course of events from given elements, and a
law of nature is the form, by which the constant course of a natural
phenomenon from given causes and conditions, may be expressed.
§. 9.
Let now one of the first scientific magnates of the day, as he is
called, (Freiherr von Liebig,) tell us what a law of nature is.
On page 36, vol. I., Ed. 4th, of his Chemical Letters, we read as
follows: "When the observer has learned the reason of a phenome-
non, and he is able to combine its conditions, then, in seeking to repro-
duce the phenomenon at will, he demonstrates the correctness of his
observations by experiment. To make a series of experiments, often
means to separate a thought into its component parts, and to prove
the same by a sensible phenomenon. The natural philosopher makes
experiments in order to prove the truth of his assumption, he makes
experiments in order to show a phenomenon in all its various parts.
When he can prove, of a series of phenomena, that they are all effects
of the same cause, then he arrives at a simple expression of the same,
which, in this case, is a law of nature. We speak of a simple phe-
nomenon as a law of nature, when this serves for the explanation of a
natural phenomenon or of several."
"We refer, for instance, the rising of the mercury in Torricelli's
tube, and the ascent of a balloon, back to the law that air has weight.
But a single natural phenomenon is never, according to our experience,
produced by a single cause, but always rests upon the combined opera-
tion of several laws of nature. The setting forth of the dependence
of these natural laws is called the theory of the phenomenon. The
theory of the barometer embraces three laws of nature; the law that
the atmosphere is heavy, the law that pressure on fluids operates
equally in every direction, the law that pressure, acting in any direc-
tion, if it is not overcome by an equal counter-pressure, produces
motion, which continues till the equilibrium is restored, Upon this
latter law, as well as upon the law that the air has weight, and, upon
a fourth law, that a body floating in any fluid, loses just so much of
33
its weight as the fluid weighs which it displaces; upon these rests the
theory of the balloon."
Do we know now what a law of nature is? At one time we are
told that the law of nature originates in this, that we have observed
by experimentation in a series of phenomena the effects arise from the
same cause; at another time, however, this law is said to serve us in
explaining one or more phenomena. Hence, in the first case, the law
is to flow from experiment and observation; in the second, on the
contrary, it is understood to exist previously in our consciousness before
a phenomenon can be explained thereby.
Thus both cases exclude each other, and hence, taken together, they
cannot be what we have to understand by a law of nature.
When Liebig sees the mercury rise in the barometer, he by no
means sees, for instance, that air has weight, for weight is no phenom-
enon, and no object of sensible perception, and hence can be known
only intellectually, only learned by induction from observation.
Herein consists the character of the laws of nature, that, by virtue of
them we may explain to ourselves intellectually, not the existence, but
the connection, of phenomena, by means of which we afterwards
gain the perceptive reasons (rationes cognoscendi) as regards their
development and conditions. The warrant for this lies not in the
apparent properties of phenomena themselves, but in the immediate
consciousness of the fundamental laws of nature, as of the law of
causality, the equilibrium of action and counter-action, the constancy
of bodies and forces, etc., as the ultimate reasons, in short, of which
we can have any knowledge.
Neither does it suffice to prove that a series of phenomena has a
common cause, in order to be able to define, from the simple expres-
sion of this cause, what a law of nature is; for, from causes and
effects, we gain only categories of such laws of nature as may be
arranged under the law of causation, but none which can come under
the law of the equilibrium of effect and counter-effect, and none under
that of the constancy of bodies and forces, etc.
Hence, if, in the foregoing, Liebig meant to give a definition of a
law of nature, subject to no doubt, it is incorrect in many regards, for
it refers only to the rules of experience according to the law of causa-
tion. The demonstration of the connection of such laws of nature
under which Liebig understands, as we see, those obeying the laws of
causation, is not the theory of a phenomenon, but, on the contrary,
the theory of a science in which the phenomena can be recognized in
their subordination to the laws of nature, and thus the connection of
the phenomena can afterwards be explained by these laws of nature.
PART I.
3
34
Moreover, a phenomenon never serves as a law of nature by which
other natural phenomena may be explained, else I must be able to
explain the lightning from the thunder; however, even if I can explain
to myself the thunder from the simple phenomenon of the lightning,
yet the lightning is no law of nature, for all that.
Liebig is also in error in maintaining that a single phenomenon of
nature is never produced by a single cause, but that it depends, on the
contrary, upon the joint effects of several laws of nature. Hence, the
remarkable feat of making cause and effect to be the same thing.
But laws of nature, in general, are laws of experience with regard
to the necessary course of phenomena, from given elements; that
which, however, changes the regular course of events and states,
results in consequence of a cause.
If I put a spark of fire into a barrel of powder, then this spark is
the simple and sole cause of the instantaneous change of the original
state of the constituents of the powder, and this state presented the
necessary conditions for the change. If a vessel moves with the
rapidity of the current of a stream, and suddenly comes to a stand-
still, that has always but one single cause, for example, the object upon.
which it struck; while the current of the river and the construction
of the vessel, which is lighter than the water, offer the necessary con-
ditions thereto; for the conditions must, necessarily, be given before
an accidental cause can change their motions.
Hence, Liebig confounds also the causes with the conditions.
For, that the column of mercury in the barometer undergoes a
change in its position, must, of course, have a cause, for only the
change in the status of a thing, prompts the inquiry after a cause, and
this is answered here according to the law of causality. If the phys-
ical conditions are given, and the construction of the barometer, and
given for the purpose also that the weight of the column of mercury
may stand in equipoise with the weight of the atmosphere, then every
change in the position of the column indicates that the only cause of
this phenomenon in nature lies in the varying weight of the atmos-
phere.
§. 10.
What is now the reason which leads Liebig to declare that a single
phenomenon is, according to our experience, never produced by a
single cause, but always depends upon the combined action of several
laws of nature?
35
To answer this question, we must consider the fundamental law of
the constancy of bodies and forces, and that of reciprocal action.
We ask Liebig, for instance, in what Hydrochloric acid consists,
and he replies, 97.76 of Chlorine and 2.24 of Hydrogen.
This, experience with the balance, teaches to Chemistry.
From similar investigations, in great numbers, it drew the induc-
tive conclusion, that, in every chemical union, its several constituents
are present in unvarying proportions, and, in the same proportions,
enter into more complex combinations. These empirical facts lead to
the law of specific weights and equivalents.
But Chemistry has, hitherto, neglected to seek the ultimate legiti
mate cause of this; it rests in the natural law of the constancy of
bodies and forces.
•
All bodies in nature remain, in conformity with this law, the same
under all circumstances, else there could be no analysis, no chemistry.
Chlorine remains Chlorine, Hydrogen, Hydrogen as long as the
world stands; only in combination with other bodies do they change
their forms and enter into other combinations, as Chlorine and Hydro-
gen into Hydrochloric acid. Were this law of nature not given, then
Chemistry, with its balance, would have discovered nothing.
If we, by experiment, combine Chlorine and Hydrogen to form
Hydrochloric acid, the causes of this result lie in the art of experi-
ment to change states; the conditions for the change lie in the specific
affinity of these bodies to each other and to other bodies; the effect
thereof, in the changing of their two states into the single one of the
specific form of Hydrochloric acid.
In order to explain this complex result, according to the laws of
nature, many laws of nature, it is true, come up for consideration;
however, we see already in this simple example of the barometer, not
only causes and effects, but conditions and reciprocal causalities, thus
at the same time the law of the equilibrium of effect and counter-effect,
or, in brief, of reciprocal action.
S. II.
But there is a mediate and an immediate reciprocal action of bodies
and forces. Within the human organism, these bodies and forces act
immediately, the one upon the other; in a mechanical construction,
only mediately.
The difference in the reciprocal action of inanimate machines, and,
in that of a living organism, consists in the first place, in this, that
the motion of all parts of the machine depends, at every moment,
36
upon the force of the external cause only. In the machine, the external
cause contains the active momentum which may equally diffuse itself
through all its parts, only for the reason that the machine itself remains
passive to it, so that all its motions are made the more readily, the
fewer obstacles the construction of the machine presents to its motor
power.
If the machine could supply itself with oil, and repair the losses
which it suffers from friction, rust, etc., then it would no longer
perform its motions mediately, from mere external causes, but imme-
diately out of itself, by virtue of the living fellowship of all its parts.
Secondly, it is true, we see external substances and their forces
received into the organism also, yet not as sole causes of motion, but
only for the nourishment of the parts in constant activity. But sub-
stances brought into the organism from without, ever remain passive
within the organism, while the organism towards them is active; for
substances from the external world, do not pass into the blood spon-
taneously, nor do they in the blood spontaneously change into bile or
urine, but this happens by virtue of living reciprocal causes and effects
residing and taking place within the organism, according to determi-
nate specific laws.
The machine knows no necessity for motion or nourishment, but
the organism does, and this necessity has its source in those very recip-
rocal causes and effects, which again are the reason that man engages
in the chase for food. Again, the kind of supply, both for the
machine, and the organism, is furnished through man; hence, the
machine, regarded in every light, is the complete opposite of the
organism, and the inanimate whole of a mediate reciprocal action,
brought about from without.
§. 12.
Thus now even the Barometer is a physical instrument, like every
other machine. Every machine is the form of the whole of a mediate
reciprocal action of its parts, one upon another, and the construction
of these parts must contain the conditions of the possibility by which
it can be set in motion by a cause, be it weight, elasticity or steam
power.
The construction of the Barometer, and its state, give, therefore, the
conditions for the reciprocal action of its column of mercury with the
atmosphere. By this construction, the form of the mediate reciprocal
action between the constant weight of the mercury and the varying
weight of the air, becomes possible, by which the cause of the change
!
37
in the position of the column of mercury is simply and solely the
varying counterpoise of the atmosphere. The quantity of this change
is hence measured by the constant weight of the mercury.
Every change, therefore, presupposes something constant, i. e., an
object with at least two opposed tendencies.
Thus it is proved that to Liebig, all these essential differences are
unknown, and, in this, that question is answered.
Finally, the laws of nature, under which those changes of motion
in the barometer occur, and can occur, are not three merely, but a
good many more, among which, at least, belong the laws of capillary
attraction.
38
§. 13.
LIFE.
What, now, are the causes and conditions of Life, in health and in
sickness? Even upon these questions, the views of the Physiological
school and the Homœopathic, are far apart, and still farther apart as
regards the causes and conditions necessary for the attainment of
health when sick.
Since nothing can be measured by itself, the doctrines of Homœo-
pathy are most briefly and clearly set forth, when they are compared
with those of their opponents, upon the ground of the laws of nature,
and Homœopathy is fortunately in such a position that it can endure
this comparison with advantage. It is only by such a comparison
that we can settle, conclusively, what we mean by ideas which are used
by both sides, often in the very same words, in order to designate dif-
ferent objects and events; otherwise, even in a scientific point of view,
we should see no end of the strife, as, even in Mathematics, the strife
over the quantity of force, sprang only from this, that the contestants.
did not agree about the meaning of terms; for it continued till they
learned to discern that a force was represented, not merely by the
body set in motion, but also by the amount of motion which the force
produced in a given time.
§. 14.
The fundamental physiological views, which are held forth at the
Universities, are sufficiently known, and I shall only take up those
here which are peculiar to Virchow. What he teaches about the cell,
as the elementary part of life, are facts of direct perception which con-
stitute the extreme limits of that kind of knowledge of the physiolo-
gical school. But this does not suffice for Therapeutics at all; however
it may satisfy Physiology, Therapeutics must reach further than the
physiological observations of the dominant school go. He nowhere
gives us any intimation touching the chemical composition of the cell,
and, as regards its physical peculiarities, his statements are extremely
vague. Regarding the nature of the cell, we learn nothing, nothing
of its matter (Stoff) and forces in the various organs, tissues, etc.,
39
either in its physiological or pathological state. Hence, all therapeu-
tics, all operating upon such a structure by remedies, must logically
be declared nonsense. He speaks, it is true, of molecular forces, but
not of molecular substances. He opines only that since the vital force
would be gradually exhausted by the resistance of matter, we must,
therefore, suppose that this is continually regenerated by the molecular
forces; that it constantly receives reparation from the molecular forces;
that it is strengthened by these; he speaks "of a certain independence
of the cell which qualifies it to supply its own necessities to a certain
extent out of itself," and maintains "that Radicalism, which seeks the
mechanism of Life only in the reciprocal action of those molecular
forces which are immanent to the particles (molecules) of the organic
elements (cells) is not empiric, hence is illogical. He thinks "that
there must be certain external influences which call forth and sustain
the vital movements of the cell. These might be called vital irri-
tants, which maintain in constant activity the tension (Spannung) of
the most minute particles, and we might assume three irritants accord-
ing to the three directions in which life manifests itself, to wit, nutri-
tive, formative and functional irritants."
Regarding the cell itself, he says, "the relatively permanent parts
of the cellular elements are the membranes and the nuclei; the more
variable, the cell contents."
"If the membrane exerts a certain elective influence upon the
transit of matter from without inwards and vice versa, the nucleus is,
notwithstanding, that formation which arranges the matter within the
cell, and serves as an internal centre of attraction, as the true central
point of the sustaining activity; the contents of the cell, on the con-
trary, form the relatively varying elements between nucleus and
membranes." Besides the molecular force and the vital force, Vir-
chow has, for the explanation of life, "a still more noble vital force in
a higher sense, a penetrating force," and, aside from molecular forces
of the cell, Virchow has cell-forces of which he says that we may
comprise them, perhaps, under the term "vital forces in a more extended
sense of the word." But this is not enough; he knows yet other forces.
"Rest is death; life presupposes unrest," he maintains, and only as
long as the internal motion of the substance continues in the appointed
direction which is established for it in the typical limits of the indi-
vidual, does life continue. The nature of every motion, however,
requires change, whether of space or matter, and since we treat here
of a motion essentially internal, which, for the most part, is accom-
plished by setting free, and rendering active, latent forces, it is self-
40
evident, that a change of matter takes place and new material must
be subjected to motion."
§. 15.
Regarding the idea of health, Virchow expresses himself thus, as
he proceeds: "Hence, with all the independence of the elements,
their reciprocal dependence explains itself, and only by their co-opera-
tion, by the affinities and repulsions of their matter, by their changes
as to space, are they able to maintain the integrity of their composi-
tion, to cast off what has been used, to obtain what is needed, and
finally, in the entire sum of the elements which compose the body, to
maintain the equipoise of functions which we group together in the
picture of health, and which we perceive in ourselves with a sense
of comfort."
§. 16.
No one will deny that these views and definitions of ideas are set
forth ambiguously and subjectively to the last degree, and that they
leave behind them the greatest room for doubt.
The knowledge of Nature, however, does not consist in a recording
of facts and representing them under arbitrary views, but in the con-
nection of facts with laws which express the form of their necessity.
These laws are not the object of any mediate sensible perception
and representation; they do not arise from any sensible science; either
from Physiology, Pathology, Chemistry or Physics; on the contrary,
these sciences rest on these laws; for the source of all our knowledge
of Nature is two-fold; first, the knowledge of the facts, then the
insight into the necessary laws in accordance with which they occur,
and the two stand side by side with the same objective value. Thus,
from the law alone, the actual never can be made out, and no fact, by
itself, can be set down as necessary; but only when a fact is given,
can its necessary consequence, according to law, be determined.
Thus the law of causation tells us, in considering the succession of
two different states of the same body, that no effect can arise without
an external cause, and that the effect itself may, in its turn, become a
cause.
The law of vis incrtiæ requires us to consider the changes of bodies
in nature as the effect of an external cause, for, without this, all bodies
in nature would remain in the same state in which they were placed.
An effect upon a body, according to the law of causation, without
4I
this vis inertia, would, hence, be inconceivable. Without this law,
for instance, the study of the pulse would be impossible; for the state,
the peculiar motions of objects must be first given, before we can
perceive changes in them. Hence, the reasons of the states in which
our organism remains, are the conditions under which, simply and
solely, it can be changed by any external cause.
That we must, in medical sciences, discriminate rigidly between
these two relations of state and change, according to these two laws,
is as clear, as every therapeutic attempt without it must be obscure;
thus, for instance, no cure could be predicted, if we had not previously
taken the material which we may acknowledge as curative agents, as
external causes, in order to infuse them into our healthy body, in its
various conditions, as regards age, sex, constitution, etc., thereby to
change these conditions and thus to learn the changes wrought by
these substances.
But, in order that we may be able to form a correct conclusion in
this respect, it is first essential that we should know that, according to
the law of constancy of substances and forces, in all the universe, there
is no atom, with its unchangeable chemical and physical powers, which
ever ceases to exist, however many forms it may be compelled, by
external circumstances, to assume in the rounds of nature.
As now, on the one hand, according to the law of constancy of sub-
stances and forces, every thing which changes is stable, and only
changes its conditions, so, on the other hand, the co-existence, i. e., the
existence of manifold things at the same time, the community of parts
in the whole, is a reciprocal activity of the permanent influence of
substances upon each other, in the interior of our organism; evidently
thus a balancing of effects and counter-effects going on in the constant
alternation of mutual causes and effects; hence a reciprocal action.
None of these laws are to be inferred or deduced from other princi-
ples; they can only be learned by thinking, and consequently are
fundamental laws of nature.
Hence they are valuable as most important premises in the natural
sciences to which Physiology, Pathology and Therapeutics, belong,
and every natural Philosopher, consequently every physician, knows,
or should know, that he can never make any experience which runs
counter to them; at the same time he should know, however, that
such laws, although not given by experience, nevertheless prove their
truth and objective validity at all times by experience.
42
S. 17.
Forces are properties of bodies, which may be divided into change-
able and unchangeable. Properties of bodies which can only be con-
ceived of from the existence of the bodies, which isolate them perfectly
from other bodies, as regards quality, and which are necessary and
constant, hence specific of bodies under all circumstances, these only
can we call forces, as, for example, the property of each single element
by which it determines the constant equivalents of its combination
with hydrogen or oxygen; the specific gravity of each separate body,
the specific qualities even of organic forms, etc. But, if we see a
change in bodies produced by any external cause, it is evident that
this can take place at first only within their changeable forces, that is,
within their different properties, as their volume, density, color, their
various manner of chemical combination, etc.
Hence, should we, with Liebig, speak, for example, of a peculiar
chemical or physical force, we should not thereby extend our knowledge
at all; these ideas are mere generalizations, without any definite limit,
mere inventions of our reflective faculties.
The basic forces of matter, however, are properties of its masses,
immediate and inalienable, which are divided into forces either of repul-
sion or attraction. Both may operate either at a distance or by contact.
Since, now, every action in nature is reciprocal action between bodies
(in nature,) such a basic force of the motion of a body does not belong
to the body alone, but belongs to it in the ratio of its relations to other
bodies, and here we find that the like repel, while the unlike attract,
each other. Every form of an organic reciprocal action is hence called
a process of nature, in which, so long as it continues, its atoms and
their forces must constantly remain in the equilibrium of rest or motion.
Every whole stands, on one side, under the conditions of combination;
on the other side, the combination of its parts creates a dependence of
the parts upon each other, and upon the specific form of the whole.
Hence, there are no simple cells, although Virchow declares, “there
are simple cells containing a solution of albumen holding substances
with a small quantity of salt and fat, and specific cells, in which
especially substances capable of action are formed as the material of
muscles and nerves. The latter, it is presumed, sustains the functions
which are essentially connected with their specific contents.
besides functions, they also possess the capability of nutrition and
regeneration, so long as they have nucleus and membrane." Mere
assertions with exceptions.
But
Abstract atoms and mathematical points are simple, but nothing is
43
The difference
simple which is composed of chemical elements.
between simple and specific cells cannot be established by natural law;
for it can only give cell-forms which are homogeneous according to
number, which differ, however, from others, according to kind, and
hence specifically. Not only is the muscle and nerve-cell specific, but
also all other forms of all organs and systems are specific, and the
homogeneous in them all is the fundamental law; their fundamental
forces, however, are different according to their form and composition.
Even the supposition of an elective influence of the cell membrane
upon substances passing toward the interior, or vice versa, and pre-
sented from without, contradicts, likewise, those basic forces of matter.
For, even for the constituent parts and molecules of cells, there can be
but forces of attraction and repulsion, by contact and at a distance,
which are dependent upon volume, density, form, and upon the chem-
ical composition of their parts. Now, since attraction can only take
place between two heterogeneous parts, the cell can have no choice,
but must necessarily take from its surroundings everything which is
heterogeneous to it, and must expel again everything which has
become homogeneous to it.
It is true there is a reciprocal motion between the cell and its sur-
roundings, and one within its interior. This is, however, only an
effort towards circulation, according to the law of reciprocal action,
and this effort comes to the cell from a series of events which have
preceded it (the cell) and which have necessarily determined its definite
state of formation.
From its form, density, volume, and chemical constituents, which it
has thence received, the power is given it to carry on its formations
and transformations through a determinate series of formative changes.
The law of its reciprocal action depends, therefore, entirely upon its
specific entire form. Every cell-form elaborates the matters presented
to it, in the intercellular substance, in a specifically appointed manner,
and, compelled by the same necessity, it acts again specifically upon its
surroundings; and where the cell-life shows itself most active and
vigorous, there decomposition goes on most rapidly, and vice versa.
Were this not the case -did the cell possess only an elective, and thus
an arbitrary power over its surroundings—a disturbance of its life
I would be inconceivable, it would live forever; and, just because the
cell does not possess, according to the laws of nature, the power to
draw from its surroundings, merely according to its choice, the mate-
rials for its nutrition and the performance of its functions, just for this
very reason, if those materials are not presented to it which it can
attract, by virtue of the laws of the specific form of its reciprocal
44
action, then it must become diseased. In the capillary vessels of the
lungs, for instance, the blood-cell throws off carbonic acid, and attracts
in its place oxygen from the air; in the capillary vessels of the aorta,
however, it throws off oxygen, and attracts in its place carbonic acid;
and no one would like to assert that this counter-action, going on in
the blood-cell, was an act of its own choice.
S. IS.
Virchow separates the so-called vital force from the molecular and
other forces. The idea of a vital force is not yet dead. Life, however,
means the self-acting form of a totality of reciprocal action; by force
we understand the property of a body in its relation of cause and effect
to another. Now, some hold fast to the idea of force, and develop
their proof against the vital force from the law of constancy of matter
and force, and, indeed, quite conclusively; others, however, draw their
proof from the law of reciprocal action; and they likewise are right
enough, in so far as they set out from the idea of life.
The opponents of the vital force appeal to this: that there is no
beginning or end of matter, for this is eternal and changes its conditions
merely, i. e., one manner of existing is the cause of another, and an
immaterial cause is inconceivable; for all life is a manifestation of
matter. Those who hold fast to a vital force refer to the co-existence
of the manifold, to the change of formation and transformation under
the ægis of a higher agent, which transplants itself from father to child.
This is clear from the analysis of the words vital force, which compre-
hend two ideas of relationship contradictory to each other, for there is
only a possibility of living according to the reciprocal action of sub-
stances brought in contact and their forces.
For the study of Therapeutics, it is needless to invoke the aid of a
vital force. This idea cannot even be elevated to become the basis of
a physiological explanation, and rather remains itself a problem, since
no object can be defined by an idea.
The strife turns upon two opposite pivots: Some of the contestants
occupy the standpoint of perception; others move in the realm of
reflexion, as regards a subject which cannot be given in the shape of
definite knowledge, and is an incomplete thought, like any other trans-
cendental idea.
Virchow, however, likes ideas of relation, which never have any
real substance, but, apparently only, sustain this or that opinion, and
which can only state relations arbitrarily assumed, such as these: "The
vital force even in a higher and more extended sense," "forces of a
45
nobler kind," etc. The world of phenomena, it is true, seems to con-
tain the world of things in the ideal also. If we expose this pretence
by the natural laws of criticism, then this strife disappears in the two
diverse views of the world—in the natural (i. e., the one based on
Nature's laws,) and, in that quite distinct therefrom, the ideal.
§. 19.
Thus the matter stands, also, with the various other forces which
Virchow sets forth, as with his molecular force. It will be more useful,
however, to gain, for the molecular motions, a more practical value as
regards therapeutics and a more material basis.
Physiological chemistry presents evidence enough that, in the inner
organism, mutatis mutandis, the same physical and chemical laws
prevail as in the outer world.
The division or separation of an organic compound into more
simple combinations, under the influence and contact of some
other definite matter, which is usually called ferment, is that
process which is designated as fermentation. Under the influ-
ence of a ferment contained in the tonsils, and the ferment of the
saliva, Salicin, for instance, which physiological medicine often uses in
intermittents, is separated into Saliretin and Grape-sugar.
But putrefaction, also, not unfrequently occurs in the organism—
the decomposition of nitrogenous organic matter.
As regards these occurrences in the organism, the following, among
other deductions, may be drawn from the exact experiments of Dr. M.
Traube, which have now been made for some years:
1. Organic bodies putrefying in the air, have the property of readily
absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere, and of throwing it off to other
bodies.
2. The transition of oxygen to other bodies, produced by such
elements, rests upon the succession of their oxidation and reduction.
3. If no body is present which is capable of reducing putrefying
and fermenting matters, then they use the absorbed oxygen for the
oxidation of their own substances: they develop carbonic acid.
4. If it is established that the putrefaction of albuminates is nothing
else than their decomposition with water, then it must follow as a
second deduction therefrom, that they (the albuminates) possess the
power, even within the organism, to decompose water, and to beget
ferments, which, however, being formed under peculiar conditions,
must have also other properties and another composition, than the
usual putrefactive ferment.
46
5. If the albuminates generally have the power in ordinary temper-
ature, and still more, in an elevated temperature to decompose water,
this does not show us why they should lose this power, resulting from
their molecular decomposition in the organism.
6. The most, and perhaps all the ferments which we find in the
organism are nitrogenous.
7. The albuminates must enter into the most active processes of
transposition in warm blooded animals, under that temperature which,
according to all experience, the most accelerates their spontaneous
decomposition. In fact, in warm blooded animals, in a relatively short
space of time, enormous quantities of ferments are formed in the sali-
vary glands, in the stomach, in the pancreas, liver and blood. But
we find, in them, products of decomposition going still further, as
leucin, for example.
S. We know that the non-nitrogenous are organic bodies utterly
passive, bereft of the possibility of decomposition with water under
ordinary temperatures. Nevertheless, we see these materials (non-
nitrogenous) constantly suffering changes in the organism, which
changes, on closer examination, always present themselves as produced
by nitrogenous ferments, just exactly as, out of the organism, it is the
nitrogenous ferments arising from the transposition of the albuminates,
which produces the metamorphosis of non-nitrogenous bodies.
9. Many, perhaps all ferments have, under ordinary temperatures,
a strong reducing power, and possess it in a higher degree than all
other organic combinations.
10. The property of putrefying matter, to deprive other bodies of
their ogygen, has long been known. The strongest affinities are
overcome by this power. It is probable, that all other ferments,
occurring in the organism, as well as yeast, have reducing properties.
II. The ferments possess the property of giving up, to a third body,
the oxygen taken from other bodies. Not only the ferments, but other
combinations also, have the property of giving, to a third body, the
oxygen taken from other bodies.
Sal ammoniac and the Tartrate of ammonia render difficult the
reduction of the Oxide of copper and Sulphate of indigo, probably
because, by their attraction they render difficult the decomposition
of water, to which (attraction) they probably owe their antiseptic
power.
12. Related to this species of peculiar phenomena of affinities, is
the observation of Schönbein, that the Oil of turpentine, which, under
the influence of sunlight takes up oxygen, may give it off, not directly,
but under the influence of blood corpuscles, to Tinct. Guaiac. A
47
similar relation has been observed between the Oxide of bitter almonds,
solution of Guaiac, and blood corpuscles.
13. The peculiar processes of the transference of oxygen, have their
basis in resistances which oppose the direct manifestation of affinities
and demonstrably appear, not merely in putrefactions and fermenta-
tions, but also in other chemical processes.
14. We must assume three different kinds of such resistances, which
oppose the manifestation of affinities. 1. The resistance of elasticity.
2. The resistance of the cohesion of solid bodies. And, 3. The mole-
cular resistance which is given in the arrangement of the atoms of a
molecule.
15. The repeatedly substantiated fact that Indigo is eliminated, as
Indigo-white, through the arterial blood into the urine, is an expe-
rience, which cannot be explained by the energetic processes of oxida-
tion in the blood, and points to a process of de-oxidation going on in the
blood. (Benzoic acid, also, and Uric acid, are reduced, by the activity
of the human organism, to Hippuric acid.)
§. 20.
This subject is too little considered in Physiology, Pathology, and
Therapeutics, yet of too much importance to allow it to pass without
a practical example from the same learned man.
66
According to the thorough experiments of Magnus, who first
taught us the changes which the arterial blood undergoes in the capil-
laries, this blood, while passing through the capillaries of the muscles,
and through the carbonic acid which is always present there, sets at
liberty a part of its oxygen. The process here is the reverse of that
which takes place in the capillaries of the lungs, where the oxygen
inhaled expels carbonic acid.
The oxygen, set free, passes, in a state of solution, through the
walls of the capillaries, and unites itself with the muscular fibre in a
loose chemical combination, which is prepared to surrender this oxygen
thus taken up, to other matters in solution in the muscular fluid,
which have a stronger affinity for oxygen, and then, to take up oxygen
again anew. The process here is the same as with all the processes
of putrefaction.
The muscular fibre, according to this, bears the same relation to the
reducing substances on the one side, and to oxygen on the other, as
Indigo, Nitrous oxide, the sulphates of the copper oxides, acetous
ferments and many other substances.
48
The de-oxidation of the muscular fibre, however, goes on with the
greatest intensity by the interposing action of its proper nerve. If
this is irritated, then the chemical process of the de-oxidation of the
muscular fibre is accompanied by a physical change in the attraction
of its molecules, which announces itself as contraction. This differ-
ence of the conduct of the muscle undergoing de-oxidation, under
the concurrent action of the nerve and without it, calls vividly to
mind the behavior of Zinc, as regards its chemical action, with and
without the contemporaneous influence of a negative metal.
If the Zinc is simply dissolved in an acid, it gives off heat only;
but, if the action of Copper intervenes, then the molecules of the cop-
per are brought into galvanic action, while the chemical process itself
is not changed, but only accelerated. While amalgamated Zinc is
scarcely at all affected by diluted Sulphuric acid, its solution takes
place with great energy under contemporaneous action of a negative
metal.
The muscular fibre itself loses its oxygen, more or less, through the
process of contraction, according to the energy and frequent return of
the nervous irritation, and would finally lose, under complete de-oxida-
tion, the faculty of farther contraction, if it did not constantly receive
fresh supplies of oxygen. In fact, in the very muscular action itself,
lies the cause for an increased supply of this gas.
Since, for instance, the working muscle, by its oxygen, oxidizes
more combustible matter within a given time, and consequently pro-
duces more carbonic acid than in a state of rest, the increased quan-
tity of carbonic acid must also expel more oxygen from the arterial
blood.
By very severe and continued labor, so much oxygen is at length
used, that the respiratory apparatus can no longer supply a sufficient
quantity of this gas for continued labor.
Besides this, so much carbonic acid is produced, that by its exit
from the blood and entrance into the cells of the lungs, it even renders
the entrance of oxygen into the pulmonary capillaries difficult. Then
ensues, as always is the case when there is lack of oxygen in the
blood, shortness of breath, and, at the same time, and from the same
cause, incapacity of the muscles to continued energetic contraction,
till the blood gradually relieves itself of its carbonic acid, the respira-
tion assumes again its equilibrium, the muscles are again supplied
with an abundance of oxygen, and can again resume their labor.
When fully saturated with oxygen, the muscle is most ready for
contraction and exertion. Its complete de-oxidation, on the contrary,
corresponds to the state of the rigor mortis. Warmth must hasten
49
the rigidity of the muscular fibres; cold delays it, as generally, indeed,
an elevated temperature produces an essential acceleration of all pro-
cesses of putrefaction.
The access of oxygen must again relax the rigor mortis as long as
the muscle has suffered no other change by reason of fermentation.
In all cases, however, this rigidity gives way without the access of
oxygen, upon the occurrence of the mortification of the de-oxidized
muscular fibre.
By the de-oxidation itself, even the physical properties of the mus-
cular fibre are changed; it is harder and less transparent than when
supplied with oxygen, as, in general, de-oxidized substances are essen-
tially different from their oxides, as, for example, Indigo-white from
Indigo-blue.
Hence the fibrinous body contained in the muscular fibre is a vital
putrefactive ferment, which carries the oxygen, received from the
blood, to the substances dissolved in the muscular fluid, but at the
same time thereby suffers no destruction itself. The chemical change,
during the action of the muscle, does not concern the organic part of
the muscle, insoluble in water, but the substances dissolved in the
muscular fluid.
§. 21.
The experiments of Pasteur confirm and illustrate this subject from
another, no less instructive side. It is especially interesting to observe,
that, under certain circumstances, several kinds of cells, specifically
different, may exist in fermenting fluids, of which cells some always
strive to appropriate to themselves the nutritive matter of others, in
which case the acidity and alkalescence of the solutions are of the
greatest influence. Pasteur discovered, also, the arising of a second
ferment, when more yeast is taken than is necessary for the fermenta-
tion of a certain quantity of sugar; the yeast, at first, consumes the
sugar presented to it, but thereupon also decomposes the sugar present
in its own constituent parts, that is to say, the already decomposed
yeast-cells, furnish those substances which serve as nutriment for the
newly-formed cells. The first generation requires oxygen, while the
second is destroyed in it, and both generations present different species
of Vibriones.
All these examples teach, that all protozoa, all vibriones, etc., and
all cells of every kind, are hence products of still more simple matter,
and even, according to my previous declarations, as well as according
to Dr. Brücke, are of much more complicated formation than one
PART I.
4
50
would suppose from Schwann and Virchow. According to Brücke,
also, and in accordance with my experiments already given, a deter-
minate molecular construction pertains to all microscopic forms, and
indeed is so complex that we must indicate it by the term organi-
zation.
All these facts give us a far deeper insight into the laws of cell-life
than the theories of Virchow, heretofore promulgated.
§. 22.
A new and far-reaching discovery of Dr. F. Grohé, in the year 1864,
must yet be mentioned.
The fermenting influence of saliva and the pancreatic and intestinal
juices upon the carbo-hydrates supplied from without, is well known,
and the fact is established that the metamorphosis of the carbo-hydrates,
within the body, takes place in accordance with the same laws as it
does outside of it.
But, according to the investigations of Grohé, the ferment of the
chyle also presents a great analogy with the ferment of the saliva, pan-
creas and liver. The chyle of the thoracic duct contains, during
digestion and absorption, cellular elements from the lymphatic glands,
which, introduced into the blood, are distinguished as colorless blood-
cells; and Grohé presents evidence to this effect, that the lymph-cells
and white blood-cells stand connected with the fermentative processes
of the blood, while the red blood-cells mainly operate as bearers of the
oxidizing oxygen. The chyle possesses a saccharifying property, and
the flow of chyle and lymph serves, together with its other functions,
as a constant source of a ferment for the blood and the various organs,
especially the liver.
The transpositions of the ferment in the animal organism hence
show the greatest accordance with the processes of fermentation.
Since, finally, the contents of the cells and the inter-cellular sub-
stance stand in such a close reciprocal action to each other, so, even
here, neither the lymph nor the chyle cells form the effective part, but
the substances contained therein, out of which they are composed, i. e.,
the nutritious matter assimilated in the intestinal canal, and the mate-
rial of the active digestive juices in connection with the oxygen brought
from the lungs.
It is clear, from the foregoing, that the existence of the organism is
closely connected with the processes of the oxidation and reduction of
the materials introduced into it, with a mutual, and in general, two-
51
fold function of its various formations (Gebilde) existing for this pur-
pose.
This suffices to indicate, at the outset, that, although no text-book of
Therapeutics treats of the constant alternation of oxidations and reduc-
tions of matter within our organism, it will yet be seen, from what is
to follow, that this alternation forms the material foundation, not only
of Pathology, but also of Therapeutics.
In a quantitative respect, the influence of contact is yet to be dis-
cussed.
These materials, of which we have just been speaking, do not thus
act chemically, nor according to the laws of chemical affinities. They
need to be present in very small quantities only, to force the greatest
quantities of organic combinations, qualified for this process, to their
own decomposition. Hence, they do not always combine chemically
with those bodies, or the products of their decomposition, and the
changes which they cause often occur suddenly and often not till after
a long period.
The mere presence of organic substances induces, therefore, such
decompositions. The powder of Gold, Platina, Silver, the peroxide
of manganese, or the Oxide of lead, decompose the hydrate of the
peroxide, even of the human organism, into water and oxygen,
without the latter going over to the former. The most minute subdi-
vision favors this phenomenon, and the addition of a minimum of
Sulphuric acid suppresses it. If we expose, for instance, a watery
solution of Spirits of wine to the atmosphere, it does not combine at
all with the oxygen of the atmosphere. If it falls, however, in drops.
upon Platina powder, it takes up the atmospheric oxygen actively and
Hence the Platina produces this effect, that the previously
unexcited oxygen becomes excited, and receives oxidizing powers
which it previously lacked.
at once.
Many drugs return through the urine and the sweat unchanged, as
is well known, hence they can only have acted through the influence
of contact, and produced cures in this manner.
All these are facts which give us the deepest insight into the econ-
omy of the organism, and advise us, as regards therapeutics, to take
our measures in strict accordance thereto, before we throw ourselves
blindly into the arms of an empiric or merely traditional method of
treatment, which considers the organism as a mere retort, in which we
must produce great secretions by means of great quantities (of drugs),
whereas almost all interchange of matter rests upon the change of
oxidation and reduction, which is induced by the influences of
contact.
52
§. 23.
What now does the life-force accomplish in all these processes?
Life and living is that which has the ground of its activity in itself;
while a machine, which is likewise a form of reciprocal action, does
not receive its motion from the forces of the iron, supposing it to be
made of iron. It is dead; it is under the power of the law of vis
inertia; but when we see an organism, which is itself the cause of
effects which it can produce only by the help of certain influences
upon it, we ascribe to it a power so to act.
Hence it (the organism)
is an excitable cause which possesses self-activity in combination with
receptivity or excitability. Thus our body possesses the capability of
growth; it develops its very form from its germ, but only when it is
excited by the influences of heat, light, and the reception of nutriments
to this development.
This excitability is nothing but the receptivity for outer and inner
irritants; the cause of every inner activity is not any longer something
accomplished from without, but something produced within, and the
interchange of these internal activities occurs without our aid.
Hence, in all the functions of the organism, we observe a state of
rest or of movable equipoise — of tension, upon which that of motion
may follow.
Rest is not, therefore, as Virchow has it, identical with
death of the organism; on the contrary, the law of self-preservation
announces itself here, . e., the law of the periodical return of organic
activities, of reproduction, or the periodic return of a play of repara-
tion and exhaustion in a round of reciprocal action.
If we imagine a system of organs, as our organism, in which these
organs stand to each other in certain relations of space, and, under the
influence of their reciprocal forces, are reciprocally brought into
motion, from which motion they pass again into certain other condi-
tions, as the diastole follows upon the systole, expiration upon inspir-
ation, after a longer or shorter period of rest; then we might consider
these functions as a certain mechanical labor, but as a two-fold labor,
from zero upwards, and again to zero downwards, in which, however,
the zero should not represent the negation of motion, but a living
strife, which, for a conceivable point of time, has not yet set itself into
The forces of labor which are thus attained and used, may
be represented, as is well known, as a weight raised to a determined
height. Moreover, we call the forces which strive to move the point,
so long as they have not completed this motion, forces of tension
(Spannkräfte), and the state of rest, tension. Tension is here equal
to subsided motion, for the purpose of a new charge, and the same as
motion.
53
resistance. But to all powers of labor consumed by relaxation, an
acquired equivalent of imponderables always corresponds, as warmth,
electricity, and magnetism, the sum of which must always be supplied
by food, drink, and atmospheric air, so that this sum also, always
remains constant. Thus is the law of the equivalence of forces of the
organism expressed.
Material obstacles of various kinds lie in the way of this alternation
of tension and relaxation. We have already spoken of the obstacles
of elasticity, cohesion, and molecules, and we shall anon come to treat
of the diosmotic obstacles; here we introduce an example of excite-
ment and depression (Hemmung) in the nervous system, from the
experiments of von Bezold.
"We can form an idea of the process which takes place in the
heart, by means of simultaneous activity of the spinal marrow and
nervus vagus.
"Let us imagine that the ends of the vagus are interposed between
the origins of the motor nerves, arising from the cardiac ganglia and
their terminations in the muscles of the heart. By some kind of inter-
ference, an obstacle is interposed between the point where the source
of the rhythmic excitement is to be sought, and that where its activity
is manifested. This obstacle will delay the irritation coming from the
cardiac ganglion, until the excitement has risen to such a pitch that it
is no more to be restrained thereby. The nervous excitement is inter-
rupted, somewhat as the steam, when raised to a certain degree of
tension in the boiler, will open a valve closed by a spring or weight,
and, in proportion to the amount of excitement actually present, will
a pulsation more or less forcible take place. But the checking force
of the vagus is in operation again now, the supply of excitement has
diminished by reason of its passage to the muscles of the heart; again
the spring, rendered extremely tense by the irritation of the vagus,
closes the valve; after the contraction, a pause follows, the length of
which will depend upon the time which the excitement in the heart
occupies, in order to overcome the obstacle lying between the very
ends of the nerves and their starting points. At the instant the valve
yields again, the second pulsation occurs, the strength of which is
evidently proportional to the actual amount of excitement which has
been stored up during the closing of the valve.”
Analogy perfectly unites the facts which von Bezold discovered by
his experiments regarding the antagonism between the motor and
checking (depressing) nerves. He had ascertained that the frequency
and the force of the contractions of the heart depended, in a great
degree, upon the condition of the medulla oblongata and cervicalis;
54
that the exciting system of the heart lies in the spinal marrow, the
regulating in the vagus, etc., all facts of two-fold, opposing motions,
important, not only for Physiology and Pathology, but also for Thera
peutics, which are not to be explained by the idea of a life-force, or a
penetrating force, or any other force of Virchow.
§. 24.
Before we can form ideas of abnormalities and diseases, we must set
forth clearly the nature of the normal and healthy. Virchow's defini-
tion, just given, only presents an idea of a picture of health.
Should we desire to seek in an empirical manner, a normal propor-
tion of any sort, we must necessarily deduce it from proportions of the
same sort, diverging from one another, as the physiological school has
heretofore done, and thus fallen into devious paths. Empiricism leaves
us here a long way from truth. A great degree of uncertainty attaches
even to the favorite mean proportion, because it remains only approxi-
mative. If we take the doctrine of proportions as help, then we find
in the proportion 0:1 an absolute diversity, but in the proportion 1:1
absolute equality. Hence, that proportion which shows itself to be
the complete adjustment and accommodation of these two proportions,
and of all others resulting from them, is manifestly the actual mean
and the normal proportion.
To discover this mean proportion, Zeising set to work in the right
way, partly by addition and partly by the doctrine of the golden
section, and he found that, in every organic form, the smaller
part (minor) bears such a proportion to the larger part (major) as this
larger part does to the whole, that is, to the sum of the two parts.
Now, if we add 0:1 to 1:1, we have the proportion 1:2. But this
adjustment is not satisfactory, for the difference between 1:1 and 1:2
is still too great. But if we add still further, this difference becomes
constantly smaller, and thus we finally arrive at the proportion: 0:1,
1:1, 1:2, 2:3, 3:5, 5:8, 8:13, 13:21, 21:34, 34:55, 55:89, 89: 144,
144:233, 233:377, 377:610, 610:987, and so on, the final value.
of which is derived from t,,,, etc., and may be expressed by
√5-1
2
2,236—I
= 0,618.
2
3 5
89
The following maxim leads almost to the same numerical value.
If we denote the value of the whole by T, the major by M, and the
minor by m, then is M =
√ T² + T²
T
or, if we take as the
4
2
55
whole (the unit) the number one in the form of 1000 thousandths, then
we find the major to be 618.0339 thousandths, the minor to be 381.9660
thousandths, because M also is equal to T
= T (0.61S....).
=T
= T
2
=
(2,236—1)
•
If, now, that major 618.03.... be taken as the unit and be divided
according to the same proportion, then we shall have, according to the
nature of the proportion, in the previous minor 381.966 the major,
and, in the difference of the minor and the major 236.06, the minor
of the same. In this manner the proportional progression of numbers
presents itself 1000,0. : 618,03....: 381,96....: 236,06....:
145,89.... 90,16....: 55,72....: 34,44....: 21,28....: 13,15.
8,13.... 5,02....: 3,10....: 1,91....: 1,18....: 0,72....: 9,45,
etc., in which, between every two adjacent terms, one and the same
proportion is maintained, with very minute oscillations, viz., 1000:618
or 1:0,618, so that always three terms, standing together, form a con-
stant geometric proportion, in which the first term is the whole, i. e.,
the sum of the two following, the second is the major, and the third
the minor. At the same time, every term of the series stands in
the same relation to every second successive term, as obtains between
the squares of the nearest adjacent terms, i. e., the minor bears the
same proportion to the sum of the minor and major as the square
of the minor does to the square of the major, or vice versa, as
10002:6182=1000: 381. In the third successive term, however, the
minor is related to the sum of the major, and of the whole, as the cube
of the minor is to the cube of the major, e. g., 10003: 6183=1000: 236.
The cipher of the power is thus constantly the same as the cipher
which indicates the distance of the terms. These proportions express
most completely the nature of all proportions, which nature rests upon
a harmony of relations in which the parts of the whole stand, on one
hand to each other, and on the other to the whole. Herein is given the
relation of the reciprocal complement and the general mean proportion
and the normal proportion, so, indeed, that in all the series proceeding
from these, whether upwards or downwards, an oscillating approxima
tion exists, i. e., when, in any term, the deviation exists in the formation
favoring the minor, then, in the next succeeding term, it is found in
the formation favoring the major. These proportions are hence, in
spite of their precision, not rigid, immovable, but living, free and
infinitely variable, within the normal limits of all formations in nature.
Upon inquiring into the proportions of weight, we find, for instance,
according to the law of nature, the proportion of the cube, since weight
is conditioned by the expansion in all three directions of space. In
56
order, then, to be able to compare the actual proportion with the normal
proportion, we must either extract the cube root from the given weight,
or, once for all, raise the proportionate number of the proportion
(1: 1,618) to the cube, which is the more simple. For, since, as above
shown, 131,6183=1:4,236..., so of the weights under comparison,
we need but divide the larger by the smaller, and compare the quotient
with the number 4,236, in order that we may determine the nearer or
more remote relation to the normal proportion. This may also be
found in the higher powers, since they are always but terms of a suc-
cession corresponding to this proportion, since, for example 5,0....5:
8,1....5=5,0:55,7; where also, 55,7 may be the sum of 21,2....
and 34,5....
Example: The number of the front teeth is, to that of the molars,
as 3:5; of the former, the canine teeth are to the incisors as 1:2, and
of the latter, the false molars are to the true as 2:3; and the dental
system thus has the proportion 1:2: 3:5: 8.
According to the measurements which Zeising made of one hundred
men, the mean length of the spinal column is 71.05 centimetres; from
its upper end in the pit of the neck, over the vertex, to the root of the
nose, 37.91; from there to the upper margin of the alveolar process,
6.33. The two last dimensions amount to 44.25 centimetres. The
length of the spinal column is thus related to the bones of the arch
of the skull as the major to the minor (618: 382 71.05: 44.04.).
The chief ingredient of the cerebral fat is the combination of soda
with a peculiar acid, the cerebric acid; this contains, in one hundred
parts, as is well known,
Carbon,
Hydrogen,
Nitrogen,
Phosphorus,
Oxygen,
66.7
10.6
=
So.5
2.3
0.9
19.5
= 19.5
100.0
100.0
4
Too
=
e.,
Here then, the proportion of the oxygen to the acid of the remaining
constituents, stands as 19.5: 80.5, and varies from the normal proportion
of 19.1: 80.9 only by the inconsiderable fraction of of the whole,
but bears a still closer proportion to it than the proportion 1:1, i.
nearer than the modification favoring the minor 52: 82 19.6: S0.4.
The carbon here bears relation to the sum of the hydrogen, nitro-
gen and phosphorus as 66.7: 13.8, that is in inverse order, 1:4. S;
here then, the major departs from the major of the normal proportion
only about from to, and from the major of the modification of
5
=
57
0
40
the normal proportion favoring the major, i. e., out of 0:1 (3³:53
1:4. 62…..) only about from to of the whole. Hence, if in the
above case, the proportion of the oxygen to the other substances was
favorable to the minor, so here it is, on the contrary, one favoring the
major. Consequently, between the two departures, we find that a
mutual compensation takes place. The proportion of the nitrogen to
the hydrogen is 2.3: 10.6 = 1:4.6, and thus corresponds exactly to the
modification favoring the major 33: 53: on the contrary, the propor-
tion of the phosphorus to the nitrogen is 0.9: 2.3 = 1:2.55, and cor-
responds again to a strong modification favoring the minor, i. e., about
the proportion of 33: 43 = 1:2.37.
All the results of nutrition proceed according to these laws of
proportion.
§. 25.
But, as regards the functions of the organism, there are general laws
of its change, since the same phenomena return periodically at deter-
minate times. Throughout all nature, periodicity is a prevailing
phenomenon.
The bodily heat increases after waking, and gains its maximum at
about nine and ten A. M.; from this time forth it sinks, increasing
again, however, during the digestion of the dinner; from this time it
begins to sink again, and this sinking is not sensibly arrested by sup-
per. Between nine and eleven P. M. it is still one-tenth per cent.
higher than on awaking.
The change in the intensity of the functions alternates, also, every
other day. In thirty-two experiments, by Bischoff and Voit, it is true,
on a dog only, but four exceptions were observed as regards this alter-
nation. Even as regards the urea, this type returns again, and seems
to hold good, also, as regards respiration.
The most remarkable periodicity, in the organic functions, is that
which occurs within twenty-four hours, and is contained in the follow-
ing table of Horn:
58
Time of day
of Observa-
tion.
Hours of
Observation.
Number of
Pulsations
in the minute
Quantity of
Carbonic acid
exhaled from the
Lungs in a
minute, in C. C.
Numbers of Hours
of Diminished and
Increased Pulsa-
tions and Excre-
tions of Carbon.
I
7 hours.
Decrease
Increase
3 hours.
5 hours.
Decrease
hours.
Increase
Noon.
11.30
12.30
78
76
Eve'g.
Afternoon.
1.30
74
2.30
72
3.30
70
4.30
68
5.30
70
6.30
72
7.30
74
8.30
76
9.30
10.30
72
Midnight.
11.30
12.30
Morning.
1.30
66
2.30
3.30
66
2
∞O INOCONTOZNO:8*88
140
135
130
125
I 20
115
120
125
130
135
74
130
125
70
120
68
115
IIO
64
105
IIO
4.30
68
115
5.30
70
120
6.30
72
125
Foren❜n.
7.30
8.30
9.30
100%
74
130
76
135
78
1234567 H 2 3H 2 M+SH 2 3+56 78
I
I
3
4
I
4
140
So
145
9
10.30
From these experiments, it appears that the quantity of the Car-
bonic acid excreted, and the number of pulsations in twenty-four
hours, is increased from 6.30 to 9.30 P. M., and from 8.30 to
11.30 A. M.
§. 26.
As regards the interchange of matter itself, the cells are the labor-
atories for the substances introduced into the organism, and the connective
tissue forms, in general, the frame for the organs, nerves, vessels, etc.,
in which there are cavities and small canals. The latter furnish the
means of communication to and fro — between the organs and the
blood of the capillaries. The sanguineous as well as the lymphatic
capillaries, are always found without a wall of their own capable of
isolation. They are canals, sunk in the tissue of the organs, which
canals stand in direct connection with the cells of the organs.
Now, having previously paid attention to the oxidizing and reducing
processes of the interchange of matter, we next come to speak of the
mechanical factors which at one time foster these processes, and at
another restrain and modify them.
59
Capillary attraction supplies, in the capillaries, the pressive force of
the regulators of circulation, for the purpose of moistening and sat-
urating the adjacent organic parts, which are all porous. Now,
although there is immediate contact in the capillaries, between the
blood and lymph on the one hand, and the parts of the organ on the
other, yet the blood and lymph meet many a resistance, preventing
the immediate combination with the fluids of the cells. These resist-
ances are presented in the porous membranes of the cells. Although,
now, various fluids are separated by porous partition walls, yet they
do not maintain their chemical differences very long, but seek to har-
monize these differences, and if a true chemical combination is
impracticable, a change of location of the minutest portions of the
fluids will take place, at any rate.
The blood-corpuscles, for example, are also cells, which float in an
abundant inter-cellular substance, in the fluid of the blood. This
belongs, in the minutest portion, to the cells, and is also introduced
from without. This holds good with almost all inter-cellular fluids.
The inter-cellular substance, however, surrounds the cells, now in a
fluid, and now in a solid form.
The contents and surroundings of the cells may have a two-fold
origin; they are either the products of cells or they flow around and
are absorbed by them. The direct afflux of the blood, however, is
not everywhere necessary, for the moistening fluid of the organs suf-
fices, as in case of the cartilages and the capsule of the lens, which, in a
healthy condition, appear to be without any vessels; even the nervous
influence is not always necessary, as, for example, in the nerveless
cornea.
Thus, amid all these conditions, a partition wall is always found
between these motions, through which the taking in and giving out,
i. e., diosmosis, takes place, and in accordance with the following laws
of nature. This diosmosis reduces the law of gravity to the indi-
vidual cell. Hence thus, the diosmotic equivalent, i. e., the particular
quantity of water, which is different for the diosmosis of different
fluids, it is true, depends upon the chemical properties which those
fluids, which are to come into contact with each other, have among
themselves, but principally upon the differences and affinities which
exist between the fluids and the membranes of the cells and tissues,
and, at the same time, upon the degree of their concentration, tem-
perature and velocity.
Diosmosis, hence, proceeds the more rapidly, the more different, as
to their chemical composition, are the fluids in motion on each side of
the membrane; but it is the membrane, the specific anatomical con-
60
struction, material constitution and molecular motion of which pro-
duce various further modifications. Solutions of sugar, for instance,
which are thrown into the veins, do not pass into the milk, but into
the bile. If one takes a solution of Hydriodate of Potash, it appears
in the pancreatic juice and in the tears, long before it does in the bile
and the urine; Strychnine operates upon the ganglion cells. of the
spinal marrow, but not upon the peripheric nerves, while Opium
affects both. This proves that the various cells, as long as they are
alive, have, according to their construction, specific attraction for
various substances.
Gerlach declares, “Frogs' larvæ lived four weeks in a mixture of
five or six drops of a concentrated solution of carminate of Ammonia
in an ounce of water. The epithelial cells of the intestine and of the
outer skin had received no coloring matter. Only single nuclei of the
epithelial cells of the skin showed a reddish color. This occurred com-
pletely, however, in frogs' larvæ, even twenty-four hours after death.
If we inject carminate of Ammonia into the stomach of a living frog,
the acid of the gastric juice will precipitate the carminic acid, while
the cells of the intestinal epithelium, on the contrary, absorb not a
trace of coloring matter. Two specimens of ascaris acuminata, died
in the colored solution, and lay there a day after they were dead. The
dead tissue of the mother ascaris was saturated with the coloring
matter; this was lacking, however, in the eggs which were being
developed in the still living young. The nuclei of the cells of the
ciliated epithelium did not become colored, so long as the motion lasted,
and even for some hours later. The color appeared, however, in ten
minutes after the death of these cells. Something similar was repeated
in the Spermatozoids and in muscle-cells. The living membranous
obstacles limit the dead chemistry, and all physiologists and physicians
(Berger, die cellul. Path.) acknowledge the fact as beyond dispute,
that some substances can be eliminated from the blood only by certain
definite routes, which the various excreting organs offer, while others
take or prefer this or that way; they admit, too, that certain remedies
act upon these constituents rather than upon those, and that their influ
ence manifests itself in certain parts of the body in a determinate
way, without any variation."
§. 27.
From the natural laws of Physiology, thus far presented, no vital.
force can be inferred. The idea of a vital force is only a predicative
abstraction, and neither subject nor object. It is a conception, but
61
no object of the senses; a subjective perception, as that of the vault
of the heavens. Should that high authority of the present day say,
for instance, “the balance is the vital force of chemistry," the form
of the opinion is at least logical. But if I say, "the vital force is
that which necessitates, forms and sustains life," one must first ask
what this 'that' may be, and for this there is no other answer than
the vital force; hence this 'that' indicates nothing but a vacuum (in
ideas). The vital force is a teleological phantom, in spite of Liebig
and Virchow.
Nothing is more convenient, and nothing more dangerous for
science than the use of any abstract ideas whatever, as the basis of a
definition. We rock ourselves on the surface and let our hands rest
idle, thinking that the depth is fathomless; why, therefore, should any
one ask for the bottom? Of course, the fundamental law of our
reason is that of necessary unity, but in a two-fold manner. First, as
the harmony of our material knowledge with the laws of nature, and
then under the form of ideas, as the direct perceptions of reason.
Thus there is a separation of two legislations, mutually opposed, the
one for the idea, the other for nature. The source of the superstition
about the vital force, as well as a host of equally valuable errors of
learned and unlearned, arises from an involuntary confounding of the
law of the spiritual world with that of the material world.
In the material world, which is the world of Chemistry as well as
that of Physiology, Pathology and Therapeutics, the subject appears
very different. In it "necessity" is the determination of a whole.
by law, and, in connection with necessity in the mutual influence
of its masses and forces, the contingency of the mathematical form
of the organism comes in, or that of the combination, according to
the laws of its specification.* Examination finds, for instance, nothing
permanent in the organism, but the specific form of the mutual action
of its substances, and forces, which undergo an incessant growth and
decay. Its specific form is thus nothing, but the result of the mutual
action of its substance. The whole interchange of substance is
nothing but a change of form of unchangeable, indestructible
elements.
According to this law of specification there thus always results,
from an entirely similar material combination of an organic body,
the same form and function; according to this law, the first product
from division in the seed of the plant is asparagin; in the animal egg,
Specification. Our author uses this word in a manner peculiar to itself;
it is untranslatable, but its meaning will be obvious from the context.—
TRANS.
62
urea; according to it, the liver-cells, for example, excrete carbonaceous
matter; the kidney-cells nitrogen; the lung-cells hydrogen, etc., as
long as they live and are sound; according to it, from the very same
blood, the bony substance may take a specific quantity and quality of
earthy constituents, the muscle-cells, their peculiar coloring matter, the
milk-cells, their fat, etc., just as, from the same earth, the oak may take
twenty-nine per cent., while the vetch takes but three per cent. of
silicic acid; according to it, though at the expense, indeed, of the
nitrogenous elements, occurs the deposit, increasing with years, of
earthy constituents in the human, as well as in the vegetable organ-
ism, and with which, also, a change of function keeps pace, and the
organism itself, as we are wont to say, gradually meets its inevitable
death.
But the permanence of the organism, even in this succession and change
of its states, is the unchangeable identity of its kind in its whole and
its parts, so that the oak remains an oak, no matter whether it grows,
becomes green, flourishes or dries up, and never becomes an ash.
Virchow gave a striking example of his ignorance of these laws,
by believing, as he did, that he had found a cellulose in the
human body, consequently a vegetable substance, because it presented
the re-action to the iodine-test peculiar to vegetables. Nevertheless,
this discovery must be false, a priori, according to the law of specifi-
cation, and chemistry also has shown it to be false, since it has found
that this cellulose is not free from nitrogen.
Vegetable forms can no more be found in animal bodies, than inor-
ganic forms can be found in animal or vegetable organisms. Thus,
also, the so-called blood crystals of Virchow are not crystals at all, for
their forms are capable of imbibition, and may undergo modifications
which are foreign to crystalline formations.
It is only in the consideration of the laws of nature that we find
ourselves safe from such errors.
I have shown, in previous paragraphs, that our organism, to insure
its perpetuity, has to comply constantly with two material conditions:
it must, for instance, in due proportion with the oxidizing influences.
of its oxygen, have reducing ferments, which are introduced into it
uninterruptedly, by the food, and we have to hold fast to the expe-
rience, that the products formed by putrefaction, or fermentation, are
not usually different from those into which organic bodies are sepa-
rated by the action of acids and alkalies, although they differ according
to the different substances with which they are brought in contact;
but now it is further known that very small quantities of the most
diverse substances, suffice, under favorable conditions, to produce such
63
an effect upon large quantities of other substances, as to reduce the
latter to more simple combinations.
§. 28.
Hence the inquiry is also to be made, in what quantities are the
various nutritious substances distributed in the organism? On this
point, a couple of examples:
According to C. Schmidt, 1000 grammes of blood corpuscles con-
tain, of Chloride of potash, 1.62, Soda, 0.52, Phosphate of soda, 0.16,
Potash, 0.17, Phosphate of potash, 1.01, Sulphate of potash, 0.06,
Phosphate of magnesia, o.oS, Salts, 3.64, Haematine, 7.18, Globulin,
132.6, Water, 311.13; the liquor sanguinis contains, Water, 495.4,
Phosphate of magnesia, 0.29, Sulphate of potash, 0.13, Phosphate of
soda, 0.20, Soda, 0.70, Chloride of potash, o.22, Chloride of soda, 3.06,
Salts, 4.14, Fibrine, 3.92, Albumen and extractive matter, 39.34.
Of these bodies again, the Haematine consists of Carbonic acid,
65.35, Hydrogen, 5.44, Oxygen, 10.40, Iron, 11.SS. Of 100 parts of
Globulin, there are of Carbonic acid, 54.5, Hydrogen, 6.9, Nitrogen,
16.5, Oxygen, 20.9, and Sulphur, 1.2. Of the Fibrine, in 100 parts
we have, Carbonic acid, 52.6, Hydrogen, 7.0, Nitrogen, 17.4, Oxygen,
21.8, and Sulphur, 1.2. In 100 parts of Albumen, there are of Car-
bonic acid, 53.5, Hydrogen, 7.0, Nitrogen, 15.5, Oxygen, 22.4, and
Sulphur, 1.6.
In order to learn the distribution of these substances of the blood,
we must first compute how much of them every blood cell possesses.
1000 grammes of blood cells (1 gramme = 1 cubic centimetre) thus
contain, according to Schmidt, of Chloride of potash, 1.62, and of
Phosphate of magnesia, 0.06 parts of a gramme, etc.
A blood cell, as is well known, measures, in its breadth, 0.0072 of a
millimetre, and its height is a fourth of its breadth. The cubic con-
tents of the blood cell are, therefore, considering its disk, a cylin-
der r². f 0,0072 x 0,0072 x 3.14. 0.0012= 0,00000029299968,
= × × 0·0072
c, m, m. 1000 grammes of blood cells (1 gramme = 1 cubic centi-
metre) contain of Chloride of potash, 1.62, and Phosphate of mag-
nesia, 0.06 parts of a gramme, etc. How much of each of these
substances now does a blood cell contain?
1000 grammes=1000 cubic centimetres.
1000 cubic centimetres contain 1.62 parts of
a gramme of Chloride of potash.
I cubic centimetre contains 16 parts of a
gramme of Chloride of potash.
1 cubic centimetre = 1000 cubic millimetres.
64
1
1.62
000 To
Hence, one cubic millimetre contains 16 parts of Chloride of pot-
ash, and a blood cell which equals 0.00000029299968 cubic millimetres,
contains 10%, 0, 0.00000029299968 = 0.0000000000004746594816
1.6 2
1000
1
10009
parts of a gramme of Chloride of potash.
A blood cell, furthermore, contains 0.00000029299968, 10, T00
1000 1000
parts of Phosphate of magnesia, which equals 0.000,000,000,0000175-
999808 parts of a gramme of Phosphate of magnesia.
Thus, a blood cell containing 0.00000029299968 cubic millimetres,
contains 0.000,000,000,000,4746594816 parts of Chloride of potash, and
0.0000000000000175799808 parts of a gramme of Phosphate of mag-
nesia, and this unit of course becomes infinitely smaller when diffused
over the whole blood cell.
To this we may be allowed to add a few words of the celebrated
physiologist, Dr. H. Valentin: "The extreme minuteness, and the
immense quantity of the ultimate elements, everywhere engage our
attention. The smallest image observable by the eye originates in mil-
tions of atmospheric vibrations. A grain of salt, hardly large enough to
taste, contains billions of groups of atoms, which no mortal eye can
ever grasp. Nature works everywhere with an infinite multitude of
infinitely small magnitudes, which, homogeneously or heterogeneously
aggregated, become appreciable to our comparatively dull organs of
sense, in their ultimate masses only."
It appears from this, that the elementary part of life is not the cell, but
the manifold substances out of which each cell is composed; and all the
vital, molecular and other forces, which Virchow has invoked for the
explanation of physiological life, resolve themselves into quality,
quantity, and relation of the various substances of which our organisın
consists, and their forces.
But Virchow avoids chemicals illustrations and the use of numerical
proofs. As little of one as of the other is to be found in his writings,
and of chemical illustrations he thus speaks, in his latest work, “Die
krankhaften Geschwülste:"
"Every possible tumor has been, as we may well say, chemically
maltreated. We do not, as yet, understand how to put the question
aright. At all events, we have never found anything which might be
called the specific material, the peculiar substance of a tumor; it was
finally concluded that the worse a tumor was, the more albuminous
matter it contained, while very peculiar substances were found rather
in homœoplastic formations, from which gelatin, peculiar kinds of
fat, etc., could be obtained. Under chemical examinations, the benign
tumors yielded more results than the malignant, as is readily under-
65
stood, because there we meet with forms of tissues more familiar, and
better known according to their composition," etc.
But if Virchow himself does not know how to put questions to the
organism aright, he cannot avoid uttering such distorted views as these;
he does not know yet that the organism itself is the most sensitive
re-agent, that we can put productive questions to it only when we
introduce into it various substances and observe the results which, in
that case, issue from the laboratory of the organism.
§. 29.
From all this, it is evident that there is no ground for accepting a
peculiar formative activity in the cell, according to Virchow, and this
is clear from the history of embryotic developments.
Experiments with the semen of animals have shown that its sub-
stances contain albumen in an undeveloped state only, and that this
albumen decreases in proportion as the seminal animalcules are more
developed. In the developed condition, they consist of the same sub-
stance as the epitelium, and especially the corneous formations, and
possess, by virtue of their compositions, such a power of resistance
that they undergo no change when treated with concentrated Sulphuric,
Nitric, Hydro-chloric acids, and Caustic alkalies, nor even when boiled
in concentrated Acetic acid. While, at the same time, the seminal
animalcules represent the nuclei of the seminal cells, set free, we find
in the egg itself just the opposite of all these properties.
But all the properties of the egg-cell do not proceed from an inde-
pendence, which enables it, to a certain extent, to supply its own wants
within itself, as Virchow thinks; but all these properties come to it
from without, as the seminal animalcule from the man, and the ovum
from the woman.
The further significance of the seminal animalcules is shown by this,
that the first event after the entrance of the seminal animalcule into the
egg is the division of the yolk, consequently a union of originally
separate constituents of the egg into single cells, into determinate round
forms, which keep themselves separated from others again. Corres-
ponding to this, the experience of life shows us that the form of the
connective tissue comes from the father, the form of the cell-life from
the mother.
But even at the moment of sexual union, functions are given which
take place under a proportionately higher paternal than maternal
temperature.
PART I.
5
66
Hence both the egg-cell and the seminal animalcula take from the
parental organism, molecular motions as a viaticum for their journey.
These motions in the egg-cell, though imparted to it from the copu-
lative function of the mother, nevertheless soon reach a complete
equilibrium; the egg goes on to chemical decomposition and thence to
destruction. If, however, the seminal animalcula of the father reach
this egg-cell before this catastrophe, it is at once rescued, and we see
that it increases and grows in size and weight; we consequently
observe the nutritive importance of the seminal animalcula which
manifests itself thus, that after their reception, as above stated, divis-
ions and separations take place within the body of the egg. But
ruin would threaten these organic activities also, were it not that,
while this primitive growth is taking place, an exudation, an albu-
minous deposit is thrown out upon the mucous membrane of the
tubes, which serves to the further nourishing of the egg; for, imbed-
ded in this, the egg constantly increases both in magnitude and weight,
while, at the same time, within, the yolk divides itself into two, four,
six or more little yolks, and continues in this progression, till, with
the entire disappearance of the last trace of the seminal animalcula,
it becomes an apparently homogeneous mass, while a single, distinct,
circumscribed globule remains, the area pellucida, which has already
clearly separated itself into an animal and vegetative membrane. In
the meantime fourteen days have passed, and the egg has now reached
the cavity of the uterus, where it is received by a new exudation
thrown out during this period — the chorion
and thus constantly
finds new means of nutriment. Amid these changes of form and
place it finally sinks deeper into the cavity of the womb, where, sur-
rounded by the cells of the chorion, it comes now, through these, into
contact with the blood of the mother, which it will attract and appro-
priate to itself as still further nourishment. Thus, under influence
of the maternal blood only, the organs and systems continue to
develop themselves till ready for birth, after which the vagus and
sympatheticus assume sway in the child, which craves, henceforth,
air and nourishment from the external world.
Thus, in all these earliest stages of human existence, we clearly see
a succession of functional and nutritive processes, under which the
specific form of the human organism is constructed. Of the nutri-
tive, functional or formative irritations of the cells, we have thus far
observed nothing; on the contrary, just as the possibility of nutrition
and function must be given to it (the cell) from without, so also are the
form and figure of the cells the result of motions of material sub-
69
stances, which have found themselves united according to the laws of
their surroundings.
The cell-life alone would never bring the sex to completion; this is
inconceivable without the connective tissue, and, in fact, is never other-
wise accomplished; the motto omnis cellula e cellula, every cell from a
cell, is the greatest error which a learned man can commit; it is false
according to the laws of nature, as is that earlier dictum, omne vivum
ex ovo, every living thing from an egg.
Even a priori, and intuitively, we may see that nothing can origi-
nate homogeneous to itself, and even the local metamorphosis of some
cells, their endogenous propagation, is not possible without connective
tissue, without inter-cellular substance, by which they come into con-
tact with structures which bring them nourishment and take away
that which has become effete. Where the conditions of life are wanting,
death ensues; but the cell, even the egg-cell, as we have seen, does
not nourish itself from itself. The endogenous propagation, or that
by division, etc., takes place only when, after the complete growth of
the egg-cell, its similar has formed within itself in such a surplus, that,
according to the laws of nature it must be expelled, just as occurs after
the formation of the spermatozoa in the mature man, or, that of the
ovum in the mature woman. Both these cell-structures, as soon as
they have become homogeneous with their male or female parent-cells,
must go forth as daughter-cells, either in normal congress, or, by dis-
integration and absorption, or by spontaneous discharge.
The organism consumes an amount of nutriment which seems quite
considerable when we reflect that its growth has a limit set to it, and
then it happens to it as it happens to the endogenous cell-structure; it
must find ways and means to rid itself of its overplus, which has
become homogeneous with it. Even plants bloom only when they have
com to full growth, and every twig of a tree which bears flower-
bud, has, for the time, ceased to grow.
§. 30.
As the nutritive activity of the cell, which receives, from without,
the material necessary for the formation and preservation of its form,
so every function is thus called forth from without, although it be
only relatively from without, i. c., within the limits of the organism.
itself, according to the laws of reciprocal action. Thus, for example,
the pancreas does not find, except during the time of digestion, those
elements which might serve for the formation of its ferments, in order
to digest albumen, which leaves the stomach undigested in no small
68
A
quantity. This ferment is not present in the pancreas when fasting,
notwithstanding that the gland actively throws out its peculiar secre-
tion. It is, however, very heavily laden with its ferment, if we cause
the peptogene to be withdrawn from the stomach.
The substances which cause the pancreas to become heavily loaded,
are such as are principally and almost exclusively taken up by the
lymphatics; the others, which, during the presence of peptone, load
the pancreas but little, are such as are chiefly absorbed by the blood,
so that but very little of them remains to pass on into the lymphatics.
Dr. Schiff, who made these investigations, thought it highly prob-
able, that the absorption by the lymphatics in the stomach alone
produces that change which induces the materials appropriate to
the production of the pancreatine, when these are found in the blood,
to localize themselves in the pancreas.
Although material, sufficiently prepared, is given to load up the
pancreas by the very presence of peptone in the blood, yet we find,
nevertheless, in the spleen, the second condition for acting upon the
state of this gland itself, and so modifying it, that now more and other
constituents of the blood can find entrance into the gland and its
secretions, than before.
This discovery was made by the experiments which Schiff set on
foot in this direction; they have shown that where the spleen is want-
ing, the pancreas cannot digest albuminates, and that, then, on the con-
trary, the digestive faculty of the stomach increases in a great degree.
The loading of the pancreas with peptone is thus the condition of
its digesting albuminates; this loading is a secretion, which, however,
does not proceed direct from the pancreas, but it receives this faculty
from without. If this is to many the most striking phenomenon of
this kind within the organism, it is, nevertheless, true that every func-
tion is always excited only from without.
The influence of oxygen, coming from without, upon the organic
functions, is, indeed, the most universal. "Even the fact that all
organs of animal bodies need arterial blood, indicates this, that not
merely the blood, but all the organs of the body respire, and though
in several organs, for example, in the lungs and kidneys, which
perform merely mechanical functions, oxygen may be necessary to
nutrition only, it is yet necessary to the most of them for the pres-
ervation of their function; to the glands, for example, for the produc
tion of their secretions; to the spinal marrow, brain and the nerves
as well as to the muscles, for the development of their peculiar
powers." (Traube.) Here we find implicit mention made of the
reduction process, but not a clear statement. The independence cf
69
the cells, hence, is nothing more or less than their peculiar interchange
of matter according to the laws of diosmosis.
The laws for the nutritive and functional motions of physiological
life, are, in their general outlines, now sufficiently developed, as far as
they relate to their connection with therapeutics, for professional men,
and this is as far as my present purpose extends.
DISEASE.
§. 31.
Now, as we may venture to presume, it is understood how Virchow
expresses himself upon fundamental pathological views, and it only
remains to overthrow their error.
reasons
His opinion that the common cause of all the phenomena in sickness,
as well as in health, is life itself, and that the very essential difference
between them consists only in their conditions, is an erroneous view
at the very outset; for there are only reasons of perception — perceptive
rationes cognoscendi — and reasons of existence — essential
reasons rationes essendi — of which the former have to express the
logical, the latter, the real connection of things. Only on giving the
essential reasons can we speak of conditions; for the condition is the
cause of a thing being so, and not otherwise, in the succession of space
and time. So far would the assertion, that life is the common cause
of sick as well as of healthy phenomena, be a proper expression; for,
in the space of the healthy life, the diseased life develops itself in
course of time. But in the logical relation, life cannot be accepted
as the common cause of diseased and healthy phenomena; for the law
of causation assures us, with conformity to law, which admits of no ex-
ception, that a body cannot contain the only conditions of its various forms
of existence, for nothing consists of itself, but must have a cause, and
the equally inevitable law of vis inertiæ adds to this, that this cause
can only come from without. Hence if life, according to its physio-
logical laws, comprises the one presupposition and the one inner side
of the conditions of the possibility of a diseased process or condition
in itself, then must the exciting cause of this (process or condition) be
another, external thereto, and this must present the other side of the
conditions of this process, whether they are hereditary or acquired.
Further, since the essence of a thing is its cause, because every thing
which exists, contains only expressions of cause which have of neces-
sity called it forth, so must there be also, as will be clear from what
follows, a causal and hence an essential, or what here amounts to the
70
same thing, a very essential difference between those substances and
forces, by virtue of which healthy, and those by virtue of which
diseased, life exists.
§. 32.
On what now is the very remarkable appearance of such unwar-
ranted but specious assertions founded, in the minds of all the learned
ones of the physiological school? Indeed, one of its best writers
says, in his "Clinic of diseases of the Liver," almost with the very
same words: “In our times we are all agreed that the science of life
is indivisible, that between its various forms of phenomena in healthy
and diseased conditions, there are no essentially marked lines, but the
same laws govern in one as in the other." For the sake of gaining
some kind of a foundation for his ideas, this writer, like Virchow,
resorts to an obsolete mode of considering the subject, continuing, as
he does, "the general points of view have become more simple, since
we have ceased to separate the disease from the sum of the phe-
nomena of life, as something foreign, existing by itself, and inde-
pendent."
In the previous century, even, and in the early part of this, Pinel,
Bichat, Corvisart, and Broussais, were the authors and founders of
these views which yet prevail in Germany. It is true that they were
the physicians who first gave prominence to the importance of objec
tive phenomena, but they sought to demonstrate, according to physio-
logical laws, from its anatomical tissues and systems, why the
organism became diseased; and the schools which they established are
still called the physiological.
The idea of the foreign and independent in diseases (as if some
especial spiritual beings were underlying them, as, with the Romans,
nymphs were supposed to dwell in the streams, or fauns in the woods),
just as it certainly existed in pathology before the appearance of these
learned men, so in due course, was long since abandoned.
But on what grounds have the learned men of the physiological
school in Germany, for the last twenty-five years, in almost all their
works, come to accept these views of former times? Is it, perchance,
that they wish thus to excuse their own lack of advance in therapeutics,
which they themselves acknowledge? The author of that "Clinic of
diseases of the liver" gives this very answer in these words: "Between
the scientific contents of clinical medicine, and practice — its peculiar
mission — is an abyss over which only a few insecure ways are found.”
That painful sense of the practical impotence of this school, or, as
71
they have begun quite lately to re-christen it in clinical medicine, its
poverty in therapeutics, are the very reasons for which these learned
men seek to excuse themselves by making comparisons with former
times, and to delude their pupils into errors. And this delusion has,
in the course of years, proceeded so far; these false doctrines, the
most prominent of which we shall learn in the following pages, have
become so deeply rooted, that they stand undisturbed in the very front
of every new medical work, and every one thinks it praiseworthy to
copy them bona fide from others.
The answer to this question points at the same time to the twin
brothers of subjectivism- the incomprehensible things of skepticism,
and the dogmatic fidelity to conviction, ever the greatest enemies of all
science.
The history of philosophy has already taught us, that after sub-
jective tendencies, after stoicism and epicurism, skepticism has always
followed as the highest development of these tendencies of sub-
jectivism.
Doubters are to-day, as ever, arrayed against the certainty of knowl-
edge. Hence the attacks of skepticism have been especially directed
against causality. But if this be overthrown, the very thread of being
and thinking is broken.
The skeptic Hume, for instance, called the law of causality the
unfounded habit of the mind, arising only from repetition. What
have we gained by that?
As result of such a habit of thought, the determining of the uni-
versal and necessary must be abandoned, and every opinion of the
physician at the sick-bed must be set down as error, a priori.
Skeptical opinions always remain unfruitful, since they do not
advance us a hair's breadth. At no time has any creation belonged
as yet to a doubter, as his own production; hence the doubter leads the
unfruitful life of a nun. He who doubts judges first, and has
nothing to tell him, whether truly or falsely; hence he will never
know any thing; for, as soon as he knows any thing, he must change
his programme.
But to know any thing, facts are necessary above
all things; facts which can not be doubted, and of which we know
also that they happen according to necessary laws. Knowing and
doubting then, form contradictory antitheses, from their very origin;
and to doubt is a subjective condition of the human mind, just
because it lacks the objective law.
The scientifically observed fact does not doubt. Hence he who
doubts about therapeutics. has observed nothing of it; but, neither
has he brought any proof of its non-existence. Now this indeed
72
characterizes the doubt of the analyzer. But the word "doubt" may
create misapprehension in the unlearned. The analyzer doubts and
denies, and that is the end of it. But the doubt of the synthetizer is
no doubt merely, but rather a demand for proof of the subject.
Hence, the synthetizers are never reckoned among doubters, because
they seek after laws, and thus neither deny or affirm, till they have
found the law of the course of events as yet to them unknown. They
have become scarce at the present day.
Dogmatism would like to proceed from a principle, from the con-
sideration of a problem, e. g., of the life-force, and from this seek
to obtain illustrations. It has constructed for itself knowledge from
empty ideas, without inquiring after the right by which it has obtained
it. If its principle, however, should contain a fundamental law of
nature, or be opposed to none, it could not make the assertion, that
the common cause of all phenomena, diseased as well as healthy, is
life itself, for this assertion contradicts the natural law of causality, and
hence is false.
The dogmatism of the physiological school, it is true, does not con-
sist in credo ut intelligam — I believe that I may understand but in
the I believe only just so much as the knowledge which I have acci-
dentally obtained expresses. The argumentative force of this article.
of faith, which is also brought to bear against Homœopathy, needs no
further comment.
a
§. 33.
Virchow says:
"What we call disease is a mere abstraction, an idea,
by which we separate certain complex phenomena of life from the
sum of the rest, while no such separation exists in nature."
For rep-
resentation, for speech, he thinks such abstractions may be necessary,
for the reason that only thus the reciprocal relation can be understood.
With regard to practice, and for the comprehension of separate cases,
they must be abandoned, since they bring with them the danger of
neglecting the patient for the disease, and the reality for the idea. The
patient only, he thinks, is the object of medical activity, and the phy-
sician should never forget that his aim must be an aim of humanity.
To form an abstraction, without any separation in nature corres-
ponding thereto, would be, he thinks, an impossibility for a philoso-
pher; it is, in his eyes, a self-contradiction. But is what we call
disease really only an abstraction? We make use of the expression
only in a three-fold manner:
73
First. When we abstract a law from a given case, and recognize
it as holding good for all other cases. In §. 25 it is stated, for example,
that Horn made experiments upon himself, with regard to the excre-
tion of Carbonic acid, and found that it increased and diminished
again twice in twenty-four hours, and that at particular times of day.
From this every one can form the abstraction for himself, that the
same change in this function must take place with all other men.
Hence, by virtue of abstraction, the mind may infer these phenomena,
already perceived by the senses, as being peculiar also to those men in
whom the phenomena have as yet not been immediately observed.
At this separated possession of consciousness, that this occurrence
must be universal, the mind arrives, as we see, only through the first
form of abstraction. This meaning, however, cannot be applied to
the above quoted assertion of Virchow.
Further. We can abstract, and conceive as separated, marks or
properties from an object, analogous to subtraction, e. g., an aggrava-
tion from bad weather, or good, etc., hence, the presence of many
conditions accompanying the diseases, as if they were not present, or
deserved no regard, as unhappily too often occurs in physiological
medicine, because it does not know how to connect with it a practical
judgment.
Thirdly.-A view or idea may be abstracted from all its phenom-
ena, e. g., the idea of a disease-form, by a comparison of all its
symptoms with those most prominent, as the idea of fever, according
to Virchow, from the phlogosis, in order to gain a general idea by
separating all other peculiarities.
Of all these forms of abstraction, Virchow must surely have had
the second in view, for he defines a definite succession of pathological
disturbances to be the simple negation of the physiological. To this,
in his opinion, also belong morbid states, for he proceeds: "The
merely negative disturbances are no phenomena, no processes, no real
diseases, but either primary changes, which may become the points of
departure of morbid phenomena, or final results of morbid pro-
In opposition to these negative conditions we find the positive,
active, reactive phenomena of the disease."
cesses.
In affirmative opinions, the mind comprehends the real as positive;
the negation, however, is formed arbitrarily. Proceeding critically, I
hence may set down nothing else as negative than the direct opposite.
But Virchow denies this over and over again, for according to him,
e. g., the same phenomena must be at once physiological and patho-
logical.
74
What now is really the view held by Virchow is not easy to unravel
from such a confusion of ideas.
§. 34.
But if a man, in his expressions, intends to proceed at all logically,
what he needs for expressing himself in speech, he must also need in
practice, for theory never can outstrip practice with impunity.
Language, which serves to express the theory of practice, and to
communicate it to others, has, however, nothing more important to do
than to be clear. But the theory itself must be such that it can be
based, in conformity with the laws of nature, upon facts given by
practice, in order to be ready for all future cases; for the connection
of facts cannot be explained from a problem of the reasoning powers,
but only from the laws from which this connection arises. Hence, to
protect ourselves from dogmatism and skepticism, we must always
follow the path of the Critique based upon the laws of nature.
But this Critique is not a doctrine or a particular system, and no
theory, but the demand rightly to conclude and to judge. Hence this
Critique alone is able to form correct opinions in therapeutics, by the
aid of which the physician can, a priori, establish the connection of
events prior or subsequent to phenomena at the sick-bed, i. e., by which
he can establish his anamnesis, diagnosis, or prognosis.
§. 35.
Let us take, now, a single example, and we shall find that the views
of Virchow assume a very different shape.
Dr. Schram, in course of his many scientific investigations, made the
discovery, highly important for therapeutics, that ileo-typhus occurred
only in regions in which meat was eaten, while petechial typhus origin-
ated in consequence of using insufficient and decaying vegetable food.
Hence the decomposing element of ileo-typhus is a nitrogenous one.
All ferments, however, possess the property of very powerfully attract-
ing free and combined oxygen. Upon this rests their capability to
change, with a minimum, an unlimited mass of another organic body.
Where the resistance to such an influence is relaxed, we observe,
further, that such ferments possess also the property to withdraw the
oxygen from every adjacent molecule, i. e., to de-oxidize it. The
ferment of the ileo-typhus, after being introduced into the circulation
by respiration, meets, as is well known, the least resistance in the
intestinum ileum.
Here now, investigation shows, that the substance of the glands,
besides the lymph-cells which remain unchanged, contains an innu-
merable quantity of larger round cells, with many nuclei as new
75
formations; further on we have necrosis, which appears as dissolving
soft foci, as small abscesses or caverns in the layers of the cortical
substance, (Rindenschichte) and leads to the formation of the well
known ulcers of typhus. If not cured, the disease extends only in a
specific way, since, in regular order, well known changes of nutrition
and function occur also in various other, but well-defined, parts of the
organism.
What now shall we conclude from this? In the first place, in the
foregoing paragraph, we have seen that the variable (within the inva-
riable of the organism) is the very specific form of its existence, pro-
ceeding from, and consisting in, these lawful conditions of its existence,
and that this variability is to be as little identified with the pathologi-
cal ideas of a change in this existence as wheat is to be identified with
wheat-smut.
If, on the contrary, a causality, the typhus ferment, for example,
has succeeded in changing the specific form of the organic reciprocal
action and in producing the so-called new formations and ulcers, then
we must necessarily observe a changed specific form of the reciprocal
action of the organism into which it was compelled to enter against its
laws, with the ferments of the outer world, which are foreign to it.
Such a changed form we then call a disease-form, e. g., a typhus
form, as we recognize wheat, upon which an excess of nitrogen has
been forced, contrary to its laws, no longer as wheat, but as uredo
fætida as a disease.
Thus, led by experience, we must at first presuppose tne organism,
not only as a whole, in the constant normal sum of its substances and
forces, in its specific form of reciprocal action, but we must also learn
the laws of causation, from which is derived its peculiar composition,
and by which it preserves the fellowship of its parts. Physiology
teaches us the respective position of organs, systems, etc., as well as
their modes of motion, the forms of their functions, the quality of
their substances, i. e., the whole mathematical form of the shape of
the body. But a dynamic form, which is to bind all the separate
parts into one whole, cannot also be expressed by one law, by one
power, since we find, represented in the organism, all the funda-
mental forces of matter, which exist upon the earth, of which it is the
child.
In such a system, which is constant, but whose physiological states
or conditions are subjected to ever new changes, from external influ-
ences, as in the human organism, a change in the harmony of its
being, of its constant physiological life process, may lead us as surely
to the contingent existence of some object, as yet unknown, as, in the
76
planetary system, the changes in the motions of Mars led to the dis-
covery of Neptune.
The idea of change is added thus to that of the effect of a cause,
and is not contained in the idea of the effect. The What of the effect
is always the change. This is the succession of two opposite condi-
tions of the same organism. Now, if there is a physiological state of
the organism and of its existence, then the idea of a change in the
conditions of this existence-the pathological state, consequently that
of disease— is given in connection with the one previous to it, the
physiological, no matter whether the changes produced are partial or
general. Hence, a condition by itself is never a pathological idea.
The existence of the organism according to its qualities and relations
to a specified time, is always its status in which we have to separate
the constant from the changeable.
The latter are accidents, and accidents are always real, whether they
appear in form of altered conditions, or disturbances, interruptions,
debilities, or diminished power of reaction, i. e., of increased irrita-
bility. Reality and negation are, however, two ideas excluding
each other. In accordance with these laws of logic, the vacillating
and confused ideas of Virchow, above mentioned, are to be explained.
and understood.
§. 36.
The whole of the reciprocal action in the organism rests thus, not
always, upon the laws of the efficiency of its own powers alone, but
is often influenced, as in disease, by the laws of one or more bodies
from the external world, foreign to it. The How of the change is always
chemical, in company with the physical phenomena, since every cause
of disease changes a definite quantity of constant equivalence of
organic substances and forces. Thus, e. g., the connection of a miasm
with the organism can no longer be understood from the physiolog-
ical laws of life alone, but only from the form of reciprocal action
specifically changed thereby, i. e., changed as regards its kind, hence,
newly produced.
The cause of these complex phenomena, including the symptoms
of the disease, lies, therefore, in a certain newly-given form, according
to experience, e. g., in typhus, which brings to view the combination
of movements which belong neither to the organism nor to the cause
of the disease alone, and just in this way the various specific forms of
disease have arisen.
77
In opposition to these facts, however, Virchow affirms "the charac-
ter of the disease is that of danger."
One might doubt the assertion that a scholar had made use of this
expression, were it not literally and repeatedly expressed in several
places and quoted from various authors.
The character and the nature of a thing lie in its causes and condi-
tions, hence the character of the disease flows entirely from them.
One may say that a fatal disease has a dangerous character, but there
are many diseases of which this cannot be said absolutely. "Disease"
expresses a quality of our organism which is only perceived by the
senses, and which can be measured only by extensive quantities, since
it is itself an intensive quantity. It may gradually increase, decrease
and disappear. Thus it is the degree which subjects the disease to
the power of calculation. Danger is only a single and not a constant
eventuality of this calculation, which can go from zero upwards, and
from zero downwards, and it is not this calculation, but reflection,
which is able to perceive the danger at every stage, and the oftener,
indeed, the more the physician lacks the knowledge to effect a cure.
§. 37.
Virchow offers to science an equally unfruitful and erroneous train
of thought as concerns therapeutics, by his denial of specific substances
in various diseases, and by the apparent substitute therefor offered
in the hypothesis of the so-called physiological anti-types or types of
diseases. This idea pursued him even into his most recent work:
"Morbid tumors." Thus he says, "The type which generally deter-
mines the development and formation of the body, is also determin-
ing as regards development and formation of tumors. There is no
such thing as another, a new, independent type. What may be
logically determined in this manner, announces itself empirically
also by the immediate examination of tumors. Hence I deny that
any heterology exists in that sense in which it has been maintained
since the days of Bichat, as it existed in a certain manner, even before
him, in the heads of the people, that the tumor was formed and existed
in the body, according to an entirely different plan, an entirely new
law. I rather find that every manner of tumor-formation, whatever
it may be, essentially agrees with well-known typical formations of
the body, and that the most essential difference between various
tumors consists in this, that tissues of the body, which of themselves
are normal, arise in the forms of tumors, now in the midst of places
which contain these tissues in their normal state, and then again in
78
others which do not normally contain these tissues. The first I call
Homology, and the second Heterology."
For he thinks "that we must always maintain that the swelling,
let it be as parasitic as it may, is yet always a constituent part of the
body, which proceeds immediately from the body," and that "the laws
of the body govern also the tumor."
Yet he acknowledges the existence of dyscrasia, but with the follow-
ing mental reservation: " Although from the same source homologous.
and heterologous products may arise, yet we certainly cannot be allowed
to conclude, from the nature of the separate products, to the special
quality of the dyscrasia; for, if I take the syphilitic exostosis as a
point of comparison, I must construct a kind of osseous dyscrasia.
which should be the foundation of exostosis. If I take buboes as the
subject of my consideration, which are chiefly formed out of lymphatic
cells, then I must suppose a sort of lymphatic-cell dyscrasia," etc.
Further, "Bones produce bone, upon slight irritation; connective
tissue, connective tissue; glands bring forth new gland-substance.
Each one of these tissues has an activity which corresponds to its
nature; the irritation which it receives from the dyscrasia operates in
every part according to the manner in which the part is adapted to act.
There is needed a certain amount, a certain energy of specific sub-
stance, to beget specific products. Only then we see in the bones, as
in the skin, as in the glands, gummose, hence specific products arise.
The same holds good with the other so-called dyscrasia. I refer to
Tuberculosis," etc.
At present, I will point only to the contradictions in which Virchow
has involved himself. Here he denies specific elements; there he pre-
sents them to us. Now he maintains that the human type determines
the development and formation of tumors; now he teaches the exist-
ence of greater or less irritations of specific substances, which appear
in dyscrasiæ.
The human type, however, never alone determines the development
and formation of morbid swellings; but every pathological tumor, and
every disease, shows only that here the human type has undergone a
change; that, consequently, the cause of this, according to the laws of
nature, must have come from without.
Hence, these assertions of Virchow are far from logical, and the
results of chemistry are in no wise complete, so long as they are unable
to discover what material quality becomes the cause of the formation
of tumors.
To a Physiology which dispenses with logic to so great a degree,
such an homologous heterology, or heterologous homology, might
79
well serve as a ground of explanation. For Pathology and Thera-
peutics, it is quite indifferent whether a gland-like swelling arises in a
gland, or whether it arises where the human type has presented no
glands; for in both cases a pathological, and not a healthy state, is
manifest.
In the assertion, bordering on dogmatism, that the laws of the body
control the tumor also, there is a broad contradiction; for the physio-
logical life is there before the tumor, and the very succession, the
following of a pathological state upon the physiological, is the scheme
of causality. On this very account it is not only admissible, but neces-
sary, out of the nature of single products, which do not belong to the
human type, to make a deduction as regards the necessary presence of
a peculiar material quantity which operates upon quite another plane,
after a law entirely new in the body. Nothing but an utterly corrupt
process of reasoning could hence deduce the paradox of an osseous
dyscrasia, or seek to compare anything with it.
Virchow's whole doctrine of aberration is only a variation of his
previous proposition, "that the sole basis of healthy and diseased life,
is life itself," and the quintessence of it is contained in these words:
"The product of diseased life can agree essentially with that of the
normal, only being greater or less, or, it may produce an entirely
different result, which, however, would be normal only for another part.”
This would be as much as to say, in practice, that an exudation, for
instance, which is formed during an inflammation of the lungs, con-
tains the constituents of normal blood, only they are no longer contained
in the blood alone, but a part of them is now deposited in the pulmonary
tissues; hence, inflammation of the lungs is no morbid process, and the
exudation in the lungs is no morbid condition, but they are merely
healthy aberrations with the character of danger.
Did Virchow ever consider that, according to his doctrine, to estab-
lish a diagnosis and indication, or even a prognosis, is a useless and
impracticable undertaking? Surely nothing else remains, then, but to
cut off diseases, or else to destroy them, some how or other, by forces
which would have to be directed at the same time against the organism
itself; and it is just in this very thing that the wretched Therapeia of
the physiological school consists.
We shall allow practice to settle this question also at another time,
and merely remark now that Virchow has an easy part to teach such
errors, for he cannot point to a successful practice. Under such circum-
stances, one may also advance the absurdity, "the same process must be
physiological and pathological," or, plainly speaking, must be changed
and unchanged at the same time; or, as in another place, where he
80
thinks he expresses himself more strongly, perhaps, "Pathology is
physiology, with hinderances." To make up in poetic license what we
lack in ideas and understanding, that be far from us! otherwise, Ther-
apeutics would be a steeple chase.
§. 38.
All these gross errors of Virchow arise from the disregard of the
difference between that which is constant and unchangeable in the life
of the organism and that which is changeable. The constant and
unchangeable are the laws of its specific forms, which forms we have,
in general, learned in the cells and connective tissues, etc.; these forms
also spring from parents; the changeable are the chemical and physical
properties of these constituents, which its connection with the external
world adds to it from beginning to end. Hence, it lies also in the
nature of the thing that the pathological form-elements must be like
the physiological, because the organism cannot form anything in its
economy against its unchangeable laws, and a minus or plus of chemical
and physical influences can only compel it to produce, in connection
with its laws, such pathological new formations.
Virchow's whole view of physiological types is shattered upɔn
the law of specification. According to this universally recognized law
of nature, every change of form or function, in whatever parts of the
organism it may occur, must always be accompanied pari passu, with
a changed combination of matter. Even when we observe phenomena
merely physical, undergoing a change in the organism, as, e. g., eleva-
tions of temperature, we know, first of all, that, at the same time
herewith, chemico-vital changes have also begun and are not yet com-
pleted. Hence we can designate the physiological cells as arising
from legitimate succession, but the pathological, never.
Thus there are two things which constitute disease first, “the
qualities of the organism," i. e., the conditions for the disease; second,
the external causes of the disease, which do not immediately emanate
from it (the organism).
§. 39.
All pathological new formations are not to be reckoned as typical
forms, nor as forms specifically belonging to man. The scirrhus
[Krebsknoten] which, according to Virchow, "is quite similar to a
lobular pneumonia in the stage of metamorphosis of the fibrinous
exudation into pus (!) the fibroma, the enchondroma, of which Vir-
81
chow has learned to recognize many varieties, and from the very
nature of the subject will learn still many more, without ever coming
to an end, but also without enriching the Therapeia, all these con-
tain, of course, cells and connective tissue, as they occur in physio-
logical parts of the organism, just as grain, flour, and bread, consist of
the same starch-cells and fibrine; yet we comprehend under grain, flour,
and bread, very different forms of the combination of starch, owing
to external causes; and no one would be so foolish as to believe, and
to assert that he had said any thing worth considering, when he said
that flour and bread agreed in essence with starch-cells and gluten.
But to physiology this is possible; it rejects, owing to its morph-
ology, pathological ideas, and esteems it not well founded to consider
cancer-cells as something heterologous. Skepticism alone can err so
far as this, and then efforts are made to cut off, with dogmatic assertions,
any deeper investigation into the history of evolution of a pathological
condition, although it is much more obvious that all forms of disease
must obey a fixed law of constancy; that they should not surprise the
physician as lightning out of a clear sky, for they are connected so
closely together, as we shall see further on, that entire groups of
chronic and acute diseases, externally the most various, form a unit in
their succession, although one form produced by the same morbid
cause occurs in early childhood, another in youth, and still another in
advanced years. This surprises physicians of the physiological school,
who seek the cause at a recent date and near at hand, and betake
themselves to chemistry and the microscope, in order to discover the
character of the presenting form, the cause of which could and should
have been learned years and years before.
Yes, the confusion has already reached such a height that, while
Virchow does not count disturbances of continuity and necrosis
among diseases, the author of the "Clinic of Liver diseases,” on the
other hand, reckons even the natural confinement of woman, and the
natural acceleration of the activity of the heart, from bodily motion,
among the abnormalities.
§. 40.
Although chemistry has discovered no specific elements in morbid
tumors, it has, nevertheless, discovered many things, and far more of
what is important for therapeutics, than Virchow thinks himself per-
mitted to believe.
While he evades chemical investigations, he seeks to shine rather
with morphological varieties, a field which, for those who seek nothing
PART I.
6
82
more, is quite inexhaustible, but which, for Therapy will always
remain barren. Thus he now calls rachitic bony tumors, Enchon-
dromata, and for the following reasons:
"In earlier times, as more importance was given to general dys-
crasiæ, physicians, in investigations regarding the origin of bony
tumors, frequently fell back upon other diseases of the bones, e. g.,
upon rachitis. Subsequently, this was rejected, and it cannot be
denied that, just in the case of enchondromatous persons, a fully
formed rachitismus has but seldom been demonstrated. Nevertheless,
I cannot forbear asserting expressly, in accordance with my observa-
tions, as to the several stages of the rachitic processes, that this, or a
similar process of disturbance, really produces the predisposition."
Do we know now just where we are? He proceeds: "The line of ossi-
fication does not advance as a straight, but a zig-zag line; it thrusts
itself here and there with prongs or runners of marrow and bone-sub-
stance into the cartilage. As is the case with the synchondroses ossi-
fying at a late period, so do we find in case of rachitis, in the most
various parts, cartilages still behind bone already completed, and more
than that, there are even isolated bits of cartilages found enclosed in
the spongy substance of the bones. The supposition is certainly
plausible that a fragment of cartilage thus enclosed, were it further
developed, would become the point of departure of a tumor, some-
what as a tooth-sack enclosed in the jaw, becomes the point of depar-
ture, frequently years after, for the development of the teeth." (?!)
That is surely meant to be an evidence of the homology of an
enchondroma with Rachitis; but immediately thereafter Virchow
teaches, "the striking phenomenon that the very beginning of the
growth of bony tumors may so frequently be traced back into the
early periods of life, and that just those very parts of bones which
normally ossify at a late period, are immediately exposed, is most easy
to understand, if we assume such a state of predisposition. But I
expressly affirm it is only a supposition. I have never observed that
such an enclosed portion became the point of departure of a further
development, and it is certain, that, in many cases, the formation of
tumors occurs in riper years, although nothing of the kind was pre-
viously observed. In fact, we shall see, further on, that, even when
something of the kind had been demonstrated with regard to the
starting point, at the same time the indubitable fact could not he
rejected, that the enchrondroma in its further growth was entirely
heterologous."
Do we know anything now about this enchrondroma? Is it homol-
ogous or heterologous, and, whichever it is, what is the cause of the
83
disease? Of what good is all this morphology, and all this talking
back and forth about possibility or probability. The main thing,
after all, is the material difference between physiological and patho-
logical forms, in order that we may devise some Therapeia.
If one reads the chemical investigations of the bones, by Dr. A.
Friedleben, and compares the proportions of organic to inorganic sub-
stances, as well as the proportions of their several constituents to each
other, and to the aqueous particles of the bones, the conclusion must
force itself irresistibly upon him, that even the lack or excess of fat,
albumen, magnesia, iron, fluor, potash, alumina, lactic acid, of the
phosphate and the carbonate of lime, etc., can only arise from dis-
turbed function and nutrition, for material reasons; that the entire
morphology of diseases of the bones teaches nothing but forms; that
from these forms, at the best, the degree of the disease is to be gathered,
but never its material quality; that from the intensity, form and
spread of a disease, we can draw no conclusion as to an indication for
a cure, yet very well from the material changes in function and nutri-
tion which accompany them.
§. 41.
Function is the property of a body to produce a change in an out-
ward direction, whether it consists in the production of a simple
movement, or relates to the begetting of a new body. The process
of nourishment, however, of nutrition, consists not alone in the intro-
duction or removal of various materials, and not alone in this, that
the magnitude and weight of bodies which are being nourished,
increase or diminish, or remain in an oscillating equipoise; but all
this takes place mainly by maintaining an incessant reciprocal action
of the constituent parts of the body, according to law, by which every
part of the whole is at the same time passive and active.
Hence disease is no reaction or passion, and its cause is no action.
The verbals Agens and Patiens are both only the combined conditions
of the phenomena of a new form of the whole of a reciprocal action,
where cause and effect are ever conjoined. The whole cause of the
phenomenon lies in the given form of reciprocal action, in conse-
quence of the connection of an external cause with the inner condi-
tions of the organism, and not in the forces of the parts.
It is not given, however, to every scholar to form just conclusions;
even scholars frequently confound the conditions for the forming of a
conclusion, with those required for mere analytical comparisons.
84
From these two sources, both the physiological and pathological
errors of Liebig proceed.
To say that "the lungs are by themselves passive organs, that the
chief process going on in them is not produced in the glands, and the
secreting organs, by an internal, but an external cause; that, in them-
selves, they lack the powerful activity which in other organs opposes
external disturbances and neutralizes them; that the mere inhalation
of dust (of solid organic or inorganic particles) produces organic
deposits in the tissue of the lungs, which are produced in quite a sim-
ilar manner by internal causes," (Page 19, B. II. der chem: Br.)
these views cannot be based upon any laws of nature.
These few short sentences show, indeed, a marked ignorance of
physiological and pathological processes; for, in the first place, it is
impossible that a part of the human organism should be passive or
active, because it [the organism] exists, with all its parts, as a form of
the whole of an immediate reciprocal action, in opposition to artificial
mechanisms. The construction of the barometer renders possible
only one motion and a counter-motion, and this is brought about only
by an external cause, and in succession. In the organism, on the
contrary, all the movements of all its parts, occur always at the same
time and independently and directly through each separate part,
according to the law of its specification, and what Liebig thinks he
may designate as the external cause of the process of respiration, viz.,
the atmospheric air, belongs to the external conditions of our organ-
ism of necessity, and causes a change in its functions, as little as water
does in the functions of the fish. Thus the lungs are no passive
The organism lives in the atmosphere, which, hence belongs,
necessarily, to the law of the specification of this organism, and is no
cause, but one of the conditions of its existence. Hence we cannot
speak of the air as being an external cause of the lungs, in opposition
to the internal cause for the secreting organs, so long as in this chief
process, no changes have occurred against the law of the specification
of the organism, which would then first move us to inquire after a
cause, consequently, after a pathological cause.
organs.
Finally, the lungs possess just the same powerful activity, which, in
other organs also, counteracts external disturbances, and seeks to
neutralize them, so long as it is possible for all the organic parts to do
this spontaneously. As regards dust, inhaled beyond a certain quan-
tity, the lungs are just as powerless as other parts of the organism,
into which dust might be introduced; for dust may operate every-
where as the cause of changes in nutrition and function. Even the
organic deposits in the tissues never occur from internal causes, for in
85
the sense of Liebig, there is no such thing in the organism, since
nothing can be its own cause.
Comparisons and analogies, as we find them in Virchow and
Liebig, are spots in science; for, in all such analogies, it is clear that
far from being able to prove anything, the adaptation of the analogy
is the very thing to be made out. The results of all such comparisons
and analogies, hence, have the full significance of a paralogism of a
petitio principii.
§. 42.
If nature is that which takes place without human intervention,
then art is that which the human mind, of its own will, strives to
form. And since it lies in the purpose of Therapeutics to neutralize,
in a manner conformable to natural law, a form of reciprocal action
of the organism with the outer world, by which the natural state of
its existence seems changed, so it is evident that art has no other
means of effecting this than to induce such a reciprocal action with
the organism, with the help of the outer world. But since I can only
bring such a Restitutio ad integrum, conformable to natural laws,
under the idea of "cure," "I can call only the art, that effects this,
the healing art."
We know clearly, from perception, how one condition follows
another with regard to time, but how one proceeds from another, we
know only according to the law of causality or effect. In this logical
sense, since the idea of change rests upon that of constancy, we must
designate what remains unchanged during a disease, as its physiolog
ical residue, and the changed as its pathological momentum, and by
diseased state, we understand the present form of a morbid recip-
rocal action, and, by morbid process, the process of that form.
According to the intensity and the extent, as well as according to
the relation between the cause of the disease and the conditions of the
disease, not a single form of the reciprocal action, within a patient,
can be entirely the same as another, but can be only corresponding in
form, i. e., similar, since the causes, as well as the sphere of their
activity are most manifest, partly in an etiological, and partly, in an
individuo-biological respect according to time, place and circum-
stance.
The changes, now, of the organism, which lead us to recognize it
as sick, are either mechanical, external or internal alterations of its
interchange of matter, always in consequence of its relations to the
outer world, to which, also, its fathers and forefathers belong. That
86
which remains unchanged, and, which, in this play of changes, pre-
serves the whole of the organism, consists in the periodical re-creation,
or regeneration, or, if we will, in its self-preservation in the constant
change of form, according to the law of individual specification.
This, the constant, in the midst of changes of formations and trans-
formations, shows itself in sickness so fixed and unchanging, that, by
itself and by means of its own action, it can overcome many forms
of sickness, to which, frequently, only slight palliative aid, according
to the causal law, is necessary. Such an overcoming of sickness is
called a process of recovery, regeneratio, by way of distinction from
an artificial cure, restitutio, and only the latter, can, according to the
law of reciprocal action, neutralize in the whole of the organism.
a changed form of this action. Cures must so closely follow the
specific laws of Therapeia, and quite other laws than those of the
sciences elementary to Therapeutics, that they must indeed be obtain-
able without palliation and prophylaxis, for we are but seldom in
condition to ward off all external accessory injurious influences.
Finally, cure by nature is hence a nonsensical combination of
opposed and contradictory ideas, expressed by one term.
§. 43.
As regulating contrivances, which make possible the compensation
of disturbances, Virchow considers "the compensations in the nervous
system, which result either by way of nutrition or by transfer of the
disturbances upon other parts; further, the relieving critical act;
finally, the mutual relation between the blood and the organs, and
compensation within the tissues, which also may become possible,
by the removal of the changed parts, and by their renewed reparation
in the way of nutrition.”
According to Herrmann, however, the closer observation of the
nervous system shows that, not only its effects upon the working
organs of the body (and such he styles, by way of distinction from
the nervous, those organs in which considerable quantities of force
are set free, the labors of which are demonstrable and in which heat
is evolved and mechanical labors are performed, hence the muscles,
glands, parenchyma,) but also the effect of its parts upon each other,
are to be considered as lyses. [Auflösungen.]
The following of his propositions are of weight in Pathology and
Therapeutics:
1. If a nerve is no longer united with a living central organ, its
excitability is, at first, increased in a marked degree, but then decreases
87
to total extinction. The course of this process follows more promptly
in the nervous tracks nearer the centre, than in those more remote.
In a nerve separated from its centre, but remaining in the body, chem-
ical and morphological changes subsequently ensue, as the so-called
fatty degenerations. 2. Constant rest, even of the nerves diminishes
and destroys the excitability, and leads, finally, to fatty degeneration.
Sensitive nerves, separated from the central organ, degenerate, as well
in the peripheric as in the central portion; in the former, because it
is separated from the central organ; in the latter, because it is no
longer excited. 3. Continuous activity diminishes also, for a time,
the excitability, and may even destroy it forever, as in case of weari-
ness and exhaustion. In the first case the original condition may be
restored by rest (reparation). 4. After the cessation of the polarizing
stream, the excitability returns gradually to its norm again after a
change in the opposite modification, in increased excitability after
anelectrotonus, and, in deereasing irritability after catelectrotonus.
5. After an irritation, viz., from an excitement of a motor nerve, the
result in the organ in which the nerve terminates is all the stronger,
the more remote the irritated part of the nerve is from the organ of
its termination.
These laws of nerve-life may be observed in a similar manner in
spontaneous diseases, as well as in those produced by art in drug-
proving, and from all it is clear that the nervous system has the same
significance for our organism that electricity has for that of the earth.
§. 44.
Finally, there are three material regulators in the organism, to be
found, as may easily be seen, in those bodies which are present in the
organism in the greatest quantity, in water, fat, and albumen. This
is the case not only in healthy but in diseased life.
We observe in many diseases, which, in and of themselves, occa-
sion great loss of matter, that no nourishment is taken for weeks
together, and yet the organism does not die; it does not even change,
in fact, during this constant lucrum cessans and damnum emergens,
the quality of its usual excretions. The whole mass of the body
decreases, indeed, constantly, and the quantity of fat, especially,
is subject to loss; the reception of granular fat frequently precedes,
for a long time, the destruction of the cells. Deposited, more or less,
in the cellular tissue, the fat holds the equipoise in many cases of
The amount of fat contained, for instance, in the brain,
varies, indeed, within certain limits, in health and in sickness; but
waste.
88
although the latter causes a loss of fat in the rest of the body, often in
the highest degree, yet, in the organs most essential to life, in the brain
and its annexes, it is, nevertheless, not at all diminished.
Thus, also, the organic progressive, as well as the retrogressive
metamorphosis proceeds uninterruptedly in diseases. Even the
sources of reparation in the wasted parts of its organs, which are
restored, in the form of lymph, to its blood, by means of the connec-
tive tissue, belong to the regulators of the interchange of matter, and
must, as is, upon the whole, the nature of nitrogenous combinations,
undergo very many degrees of change, before they pass over into the
complication of atoms necessary for excretion, so that the albuminates,
as the basis of the organism, for the production of new elementary
forms, can make reparation for the parts lost in disease. Even parts
of several secretions are taken up again, as of the bile in the intestinal
canal, of the gastric juice, of the pancreatic and intestinal juices, and
that in no small quantities.
The fat, as a poor conductor of heat, serves also to signalize the
difference of temperature between the organism and the outer world,
and, if the organism in its food, receives a greater quantity of albu-
minates and carbo-hydrates than is required for keeping up the function
of life and respiration, then the former accumulates in the form of flesh
and cell-tissue, etc., while the non-nitrogenous are changed into fat.
A part of the fat is hence not only supplied by food, but is produced
by a process of reduction out of the carbo-hydrates. Hence the
organism possesses the property of forming the greatest part of its fat
by de-oxidation of albuminates and carbo-hydrates.
While, as a rule, at an advanced age, the amount of water decreases
and that of connective tissue increases, water is nevertheless always at
hand, here and there in varying quantities, in order to meet other con-
tingencies of loss. Even the amount of water in the entire brain is
changed by age and disease, and oscillates within defined limits, and
even in hydrocephalus it fills up a hiatus. While, further, carbon
has great relationship to oxygen, the organism itself retains the power
to possess itself constantly of the elements of water. The water
of the organism is also a regulator of heat; it is at the same time
matter for imbibition, provides for the permeability of the most varied
substances, and influences their electric power of conduction.
Without these functions, the support of the organism during a con-
tinued sickness were impossible.
Fat, water, and albuminates, we hence see, hold the scales for the
most varied pathological conditions and occurrences, as real tempering
moderators of the interchange of matter.
89
As far now as the organs are concerned, we know surely that their
functions are increased in proportion as one of them becomes sick,
and, in so far, compensations may occur. The nervous system, how-
ever, when it is once concerned in an altered interchange of matter,
and is not itself diseased, can do nothing, either for or against it, and
remains, as long as it lives, dependent upon the state of the blood,
and can assume no other form of compensation, even as regards
space, beyond the tension and relaxation which is left to it.
But to think of active moderators, of relieving acts, can only happen
to the physiological school, since in the whole organism, whether in
its physiological or pathological states, it sees only the causal law pre-
vailing and not the reciprocal action. From this arises also the idea
of antagonism which expresses a hostile opposition of diseases. But
in the organism, even in its morbid changes, every thing is "on good
terms." Its motions, in connection with causes of disease, consist in
the repulsion or attraction according to the laws of matter coming in
contact with it and those of its own matter. But it can combat nothing;
still less can the physician. Because in social life the superficial view
makes all effects dependent upon active causes, as in case of a machine,
so the folly is perpetrated, of transferring these current views to the
movements within the organism; active moderators are set up which
shall rectify disturbances. In obedience to this, one must seek, then,
to imitate the motions of the so-called crisis, or, resist or remove, by
derivation, whatever will not obey, and when all this does not suffice,
then a vis medicatrix naturæ must be brought into action, or a cura-
tive power, under the ægis of an expectant method, à la Fabius
cunctator. If one thinks, however, of appealing to the waiting,
expectant method, then the combating or derivating means have no
other significance than that of a very doubtful a priori experiment.
§. 45.
Though teleological views are allowed in biology, they yet cannot
suffice either in pathology or therapeutics. We can only rely upon
the activity of the organism in sickness, in so far as we have
investigated its activity according to the laws of nature. But we have
shown in §. 41, that the organism, in its interior, is never moved
merely actively, but always according to the laws of reciprocal action,
actively and passively at the same time. Hence the supposition that
the crisis, or the compensations and disturbances consist in a freeing,
or antagonistic, or reactive action of the organism is, accordingly, to
the laws of nature false, a teleological fiction. Molecular substances
90
and their forces witnin tne organism, as out of it, conauct_tnemselves
according to the relations into which they are brought. The simul-
taneous activity and passivity of the body announces itself even under
the most varied circumstances.
When, for instance, salt is dissolved in water, it remains passive,
one may say. But since it changes the properties of the water, it
may also be called active. That is not, however, the language of
science, and hence the empty phrases about freeing critical acts must
be rejected.
This idealism of an aim-theory is opposed in natural sciences not
only by reason, by virtue of its maxims, everywhere to guard against
the needless reduplication of principles in every possible way, but
nature itself shows us nothing but mechanics, chemistry, etc.
Hence, if we find an event conformable to an end, we learn noth-
ing new thereby; we attribute this peculiarity even as a predicate
thereto, as the freeing act to the crisis; hence such aim-ideas are
utterly different from logical and theoretical inferences, and neces-
sarily lead to errors, when phenomena in bodies are to be explained,
as the so-called critical movements of the diseased organism.
Two principles, for example, the mechanical and teleological, can
not be united for the sake of giving an explanation of one and the
same natural event. From the ovum to death the self-activity of the
organism operates constantly according to mechanical laws also, and
it has no conception of what it shall produce, because all this occurs
from logical necessity, and the organism consists of an entwining of
cause and effect, so that no part is in vain. Were any phenomena
in the organism possible by any causality according to an aim, then
the mechanics of nature, without design or aim, would be able
neither to
to produce nor to cure them. Were there really an
artificial activity in nature, and did an aim lie at the bottom of its
formations and transformations, as there is with the physician when
he undertakes a cure, then there must be certain products of nature
which should be considered not as products of nature, but as products
of art, the possibility of which could not be conceived of from the
laws of nature, but only according to a purpose, that is, from a
causality according to ideas. In fact, the idea of a crisis, according
to Virchow, presents itself in this way. Supposing the crisis itself to
be an actual purpose of nature, he fell into an error of judgment,
which has a certain similarity to an optical delusion.
91
§. 46.
It is well known that the greatest sages have stumbled over this
problem. But to define disease, and that which is connected there-
with, we need, first of all, to establish that of which disease is a real
accident; without this the idea of a disease ever remains incomplete.
But no one in the physiological school has, to this day, an idea of
health. To the question, who is sick, every one is ready with an
answer, giving this or that name of a disease, but, for the question,
who is well? the answer is lacking, because the idea of health con-
tains a negative deduction, which is based upon the positive fact of
disease. Could we give life to the works of plastic art, then should
we realize the ideal of health. But every mortal varies, more or less,
from the form of an Apollo or Venus.
Thus the idea of health seems to be a mere speculation, a bare
intellectual product, not realized in the life of man, nor an object of
sensible perception; hence these very numerous pictures of fancy
concerning what shall be called healthy.
Through the midst of the apparently infinite varieties of forms,
there run, however, many phenomena which point to a law as their
cause. In the forms of human individuals, we find either a minus or
plus in relation to the never-attained end of an artistic ideal. If we
now have to do with relations of a unit of reciprocal action, whose
forins and motions oscillate between a plus and a minus, then this must
have a limit. All forms and functions, obedient to one and the same
law of specification, must move, as regards that which is constant in
them, around a quantitative proportion common to them all, from
which they cannot deviate too far, without undergoing a change.
Hence health rests upon a harmony of the relations in which the
parts of the organism stand, on one side to each other, and on the
other to its whole, and this harmony is grounded upon the laws of
proportionality, set forth in §. 24, which must govern, not only the
forins, but, according to the law of specification, the functions also of
the organism.
§. 47.
Let us seek to apply this mathematical law of proportionality to
that function which is called crisis, whose law, since the days of
Hippocrates, himself included, to the present hour, has troubled all
physicians with its obscurity; for with the numbers of the days, chiefly
92
critical, 3, 5, 7, 13, 21, it seems impossible to connect any normal rela-
tion whatever, and least of all, a natural law.
But, since nothing is explained or proved by itself, we must at
present, set aside the critical days and choose experiments which were
undertaken without any thought whatever of critical days, in order to
discover the same or similar relations; for the organism must exhibit
the laws pertaining to it under the most varied conditions, and that
without any and every exception, else it would be without law.
We will observe, first, the organism in its specific activity, without.
any disturbing influence but that of deprivation of food. To this
point we find, in Ludwig's Lehrbuch der Physiologie, (1. Aufl., pag.
432), a series of experiments, and the following statements:
A cat weighing a kilogramme gave, in twenty-four hours, in grammes.
I
2
3
4
5
6
7
со
Day
after the
last
Water
through
Sum of
Kidneys
Urea.
SO 3
PO
Inorganic Carbon
Constitu- Exhaled Faces.
Dry
Feeding
and Intes-
ents.
tines.
Ι
123456 7∞ a
37,09 +
22,00
3,437 + 0,133 +
0,144 +
0.518 +
5,641 +0.503
2.298
0.092
0,109
0,359
5,620
0,540 +
19,39
1,887
0.080
0, 104
0,309
19,80 +
1,732
0,077
0,104 O
0.294
25.39 +
2,227
0.091 +
0.129 +
0,333 +
20,31
2,133
0,079
0,114
0.281
5,883 + 0,484
5,658 0.502 +
5,594 0.779 +
5:712 +0,291
19,25
1,968
0,075
0,113
0,271
5.642 0.339 +
8
21,35 +
2.091 +
0,083 +
0.131 +
0,301 +
5,670 +0.592 +
9
23,26 +
2,263 +
0,083 0
0,119
0,301 O
5,971 +0.982 +
ΙΟ
19,82
1,907
0,077
0,113
0,277
ΙΙ
IS,22
1,723
0,073
O, I IO
0,264
6,127 0,745
6,024
0.643
12
18,11
1,648
0.062
0,093
0,227
6,310+ 0.525
13
23.33 +
14
25,07 +
15
26,76 +
| ++
2,166 +0.087 +0,115 +
0.303 +
6.439 +0.287
2,224 + 0,095 + 0,113
0,321 +
6,423 0,224
2,052
0,084
0,104
0,296
6.534 +0,223
16
32,78 +
17
| +
19,93
1,216
2,154 + 0.085 +
0,049
0,109
0,307 +
6,350
0,172
18
I0,21
0,065 +
0,036 0,095
0,182
5.850
0,119
4,791
0,244 +
0,597 +0,024
From these laborious experiments it was concluded, “1. That the
daily expired amount of Carbon absolutely considered, is greatest in
the first eight days of starvation, and least in the last two days before
death; relatively to the weight of the body, however, it maintains
itself about the same in the first nine days; in the succeeding days it
increases, and diminishes in the last two days, very decidedly. 2. That
the amount of urea excreted, diminishes very considerably during the
first two days of starvation, then remains about the same to the last
two days before death, and in these last two days decreases in a very
93
3
5
marked manner. 3. That the quantity of SO, and PO, in the urine
increases during the period of starvation, on the contrary, the Cl. dis-
appears entirely. The proportion of SO, to PO, remains the same
till death."
That is all which Physiology can gather from such experiments.
It will be readily seen that the observation is directed to the causal law,
viz., to discover in what direct proportion the loss of various parts of
the body stand to the time in which food is withheld.
§. 48.
But the quantitative causal law is not the law of the organism, and
far more may be inferred from such experiments. It would have been
of far greater worth for Pathology and Therapeia, to have discovered
in what proportion we find the specific form of reciprocal action to
have taken part in these experiments.
For this purpose we will arrange the losses for the separate days, as
they appear, with the signs + and - appropriate to them, so that the
following table shows the change of the increasing and diminishing
loss:
I
Days after
the last
Feeding.
I
1234567∞ a
ΙΟ
II
12
456700
13
14
15
H H
16
17
IS
2
Water
through Kid-
neys and
Intestines.
++
++
++++
3 4
5
6
7
со
Urea.
+
+
+ ||
PO É
| SO3
Sum of
Inorganic
Carbon
Dry
Exhaled.
Fæces.
Constituents.
+
+
+ ++
++
++
++
+
+
+ +
+
+
+11
+ ++
+ +
++ 1 +
++
+
This result is surely something more than chance, for by far the
greatest losses fall on the 5th, 8th and 13th days. If we should often
94
find this to be the case, it would clearly indicate an organic law of
reciprocal action.

2
I
0,188
2
0,106
I
3 0,078
con ac AW N
4 0,068
0,092 +
0,077
0,089 +
0,106 +
For this purpose, I will introduce two more exam- I
ples, taken from the same work, and prefer, first, that
regarding the opposite treatment of the organism, by
the withholding of water from doves, in which the
figures of the second column denote the weight of the
daily final expenditures for the unit of the weight of
the body; the figures in the first column, the days in
which water was withheld. Here again, the most
striking loss was on the 5th, 8th and 13th days. The
next example relates to the human organism, in its
undisturbed reciprocal action with the external world,
during its growth in years. Whether we observe days
or years in their relations, it must remain just the
same, as long as stated, and not interrupted periods,
can be taken into the account. If a law lies concealed in such pro-
portions, it must, a priori, according to the parts therein interested, be
related during the period of growth, inversely as during the depriva-
tions of food, or other disturbances.
I I
9 0,085
IO
0,102 +
0,098
0,094
13
0,134 +
14
0,019 —
I 2
I
Years.
2
3
Increase of the Weight of the Body, reduced
to Kilogrammes.
Male.
I
1,960
8
123456 7∞ a
Female.
2,020
0,200
0,099
0,214 +
0.105
0,141 +
0,103
0,108
0,093
0,108 +
0,087
0,091 +
0,082
0,105 +
0,100
0,153 +
0,138 +
0,074
0,095 +
0,105 +
0,115 +
0.096
0,087
0,119 +
O. IOI
0,900
0.162 '+
0,104
0.114 +
0,100
0.079
0.083 +
0,078
IO
II
12
13
13
15
0,027
0.125
56 7∞
16
17
18
95
Thus the increments of weight according to years, fall here upon
the same figures in case of the male sex, as according to days, do the
changes which the organism had experienced and under which it
brought about increased secretions, as the so-called critical days teach.
The female sex, on the contrary, which represents chiefly the cell-life,
follows quite another proportion, a fact which may serve as a leading
maxim for investigations upon the variations of the functions of the
brain and spinal marrow in its whole historic range, as well as in a
smaller sphere, e. g., in relation to the greater viability of children
born on the seventh, over those born on the eighth month. These
examples might be easily increased, but these few, point with all pre-
cision to an organic law. Let us now compare all the days in which,
in various acute diseases, critical motions and lyses, or losses at the
sick-bed, have been observed by practical physicians in all ages.
They were observed on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 17th,
19th, 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th, 29th, etc., days of the sickness; most regu-
larly and most frequently, however, on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 13th, and
21st; manifest lyses or death sometimes even on the 35th. While
in the first series, the constant difference of 2 exists, the second seems
to be void of all regularity; and while it is easy to explain the first,
from the causal law, this law cannot be applied to the second. No
doubt, however, that even in the latter series, but parts of a whole, as
regards its functions of accumulation [growth] or excretion are pre-
sented. Hence, if we hold fast to the experiences that in 34 or 35
days the organism regenerates itself in its component parts, according
to the weights of the receipts and expenditures, and, without hesitating,
assume the period of 34 days as a unit, since on the 35th, as a critical
day, increased expenditures are made again, then we can, with this
figure, proceed according to the mathematical proposition of the
linea media et extrema ratione secta.
Accordingly, the following law of a constant proportion results.
therefrom; for we find, in accordance to it, 34.0000: 21.0131: 12.9869:
8.0262; 4.9607: 3.0655. Comparing these numbers with the critical
days, we have the following:
Linea media et extrema
ratione secta.
34,0000
Difference.
Critical Days.
35
21,0131
12.9869
8.0262
+ 1,0000
· 0,0131
+ 0,0131
1,0262
+ 0,0393
21
13
753
4.9607
3,0655
— 0,0655
3
96
It is remarkable in this difference that 131 +131=262; 262 +131=
393; 393+262=655.
§. 49.
As we see, from these tables and calculations, the 21st, 7th, and 3rd
days are found just in the minus of difference, and, it is these very
days which have been acknowledged always as the most unequivo-
cally critical, although the others also, the 5th, 13th, and 31st, can
mathematically be proved as such. That the 3rd day does not stand
out so prominently in the tables, is explained by the manner of the
experiments.
We find, according to this mathematical law of the first series, pro-
portional oscillations, which all nature seems to obey forever. All
phenomena, which we see connected with the laws of life, all self-
activity from the molecular powers, to the very motion of the earth
itself, we observe in constant change of equipoise, within determinate
limits of accommodation. Such proportions of accommodation.
between the extremes, which, in the series of differences, express the
maximum and minimum of possible positions of equipoise, we find
at the sick-bed, and, for centuries have called them crises, up to the
present day, because man interprets every phenomenon which indicates
to him a change of ordinary relations, as he receives it by his organs
of sense. But a law must be at the bottom of that which returns
periodically. The crisis is unintelligible by itself; nevertheless, no
one ever tired in his attempts to explain the crisis from itself, and every
one, on account of these false leading maxims, must make a wreck
with his inquiries on the sands of hypothesis. However we know the
south pole to be inconceivable without the north pole — man without
woman, hence should the crisis, the excretion be possible and intelli-
gible without the accumulation? Each individual being exists always
in the midst of such oscillations only, as we observed in the functions
of the adult, and, even in its egg-cell, which constantly oscillates
between life and death.
Hence, if we take, in our case, the period of 34 days, which passes
in the alternations of formations and transformations, in the organism,
as a unit, and this to be = G, the variation denoting the maximum of
every motion to be M, and the motion expressing the minus of differ-
in; then we have, according to that mathematical law,
the general formula, for investigations of this kind:
ence to be
2
G
(G² + G 4
2
97
and thus we have m = G―M, consequently, a law which indicates
the constant self-active motions of the organism, from one state of
equipoise into the other, so that, in order to understand this, we have
no need to substitute a moderator, made for the very purpose, or any
relieving acts, as is still necessary for the physiological school. I leave
to the reader other details and the collection of more combinations
and experiments according to this guiding maxim. To him, then,
the application of the numeric method avails in further investigations,
but only in those cases for which the natural law, that governs them,
has already been found. But to discover laws of nature, for that, the
numeric method is insufficient.
For my present object, I have, in the meantime, established, that
the organic motions of function and nutrition cannot be measured
according to the round numbers of the causal law, nor be confined
within the idea, therewith connected, of simple factors, nor be used,
as they are in physiology and chemistry, by addition and subtraction
and simple equations; but only by the general law of the periodic
return of the organic activities, of which that law of nature, found by
calculation, forms a species, just like another, the law of equivalence of
heat and labor. Zeising established this proportional law as a funda-
mental law, for the articulation and formation of the human body,
and I, for its functions, and, as this law contains definitions regard-
ing the proportional oscillations of the organism, I leave it, under this
name, to further inquiries. Why it was so clearly perceptible ir the
organism in its changed form only, while it holds sway just as con-
stantly in the unchanged organism, lies not in the law itself, but in
this, that the operations of nature are generally most easily and suc-
cessfully observed where it [nature] seems to be the most passive; that
we generally consider the chief thing, to be that which is within
grasp, and so much so, that what is less accessible, remains uncon-
sidered.
This law, the anatomical basis of which is the cell, and the physi
cal basis of which is the specific diosmosis of the cell, must hence be
that of critical motions also.
These critical motions are merely the expression of the extremes of
the same oscillations, which, in the unchanged condition of the organ-
ism, complete, within more narrow limits, those motions which are
called health. The condition of health is thus one which can be seized
in no moment of time, hence is a negative idea, and this law belongs
essentially in the circle of the collective idea of life force, and indeed
forms its centre, if it were not better to give it up altogether.
PART I.
7
98
The idea of health is a negative idea, without reality; it is taken
from the observation of contingent conditions of equilibrium, which
are so far from being positive, that any one of them may, at any
moment, be turned to the contrary, in alternating forms, of which one
is always the negation of the other.
The idea of health declares that a definite reality belongs indeed to
the organism, but it is one which is limited, for the want of an
unchangeable form.
If, hence, the conception of health exists only in the idea, there
exists, on the other hand, no idea of disease, but only one of its reali-
ties, since its cause is constantly operative so long as the conditions
thereto are present, and the fluctuations which we therein observe
arise, not from the causes of disease, but only from the natural sym-
pathy of the oscillations of the organism, as long as these also are not
The idea of disease is hence of a concrete, that of health,
overcome.
of an abstract nature.
§. 50.
The crisis is hence a process which, dependent upon physiological
laws, quite as necessarily accompanies the pathological process, just as
the evening exacerbations, in diseases, occur at the time of increased
excretion of carbon, without reparation by means of increased receipt
of oxygen.
Because improvement follows the so-called crisis, the crisis is hence
taken, in childish simplicity, for the cause of the improvement, but,
according to the same fallacy by which night might be taken for the
cause of day. These periodic, so-called critical, phenomena of increased
discharge, hence, have nothing to do with the improvement in disease,
as cause, but are only concomitants, for physiological reasons.
Since these so-called crises ensue at the same time at which those
excretions occur periodically in a physiological state, the question,
whether these periodical oscillations belong also to the life of the dis-
eased organism or not, is decided by the law of causation, for, since
the subsequent cannot be the cause of the antecedent, and the healthy
life must always be assumed before the diseased, so the so-called crisis
is a necessity of the healthy organism, hence, accidental as regards
disease, and not dependent upon it.
The physiological school, holding fast to Virchow's freeing act,
must, on the contrary, under all circumstances (and closely bound by
this false notion), spur up every delay of this freeing act, it must force
the perspiration and give remedies promoting urination, etc. But
99
who shall tell us whether we shall discipline this delaying freeing act,
in any given case, by the production of sweat, or of diarrhoea, or by
the disturbances of other functions, and of what?
Instead of a crisis resulting in spite of all these proceedings, the
patient dies on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 13th, 28th, 35th day; or if he survives
these days, he gets better, subjectively as well as objectively, while
regularly, upon these very days, in the midst of increased evacua-
tions, all the phenomena show themselves aggravated. This process,
which never is, nor can be, brought into immediate connection with
an external cause, expresses only a law peculiar to the organism, in
accordance with which it spontaneously produces, on those very days,
much more copious evacuations. If we add thereto the remaining
conditions of waste, in acute diseases, taking place concurrently with
the others, it appears natural that, on these days, the disease should
appear externally more severe and only on this account, that, after
their cessation, there should be a striking improvement. It is a well
known observation, that this periodical change always ceases to accom-
pany the course of a disease when it is suppressed by unsuitable medi-
cation, or by marked debility produced thereby, or when the curative
effect of a remedy has been decidedly established. In the spontaneous
course of an acute disease, the critical movements never fail, and
thereby give a very powerful differential diagnosis between a success-
ful and unsuccessful treatment.
§. 51.
Having now specified the most important physiological laws,
according to which the spontaneous processes of re-formation of the
organism from sickness take their course, i. e., the processes of
recovery from sickness, it now remains to combat still other errors
of Virchow. For the explanation of the processes of disease and
of cure, he points to the process of catalysis. The so-called catalytic
process, however, itself needs explanation, so this attempt to explain
a problem by an hypothesis, not yet established, does violence to the
first rules of logic, which rejects such conclusions as fallacies in the
form of a petitio principii.
But just as disease is a disturbance of nutrition and function, so
the process in healing can depend upon nothing else but on the laws
of nutrition.
Virchow, in setting up his catalysis, not only makes an exception
to his vital force and his other forces, but, in so doing, becomes quite
untrue also to his cellular pathology.
UorM
100
As little as the hereditary origin of many diseases needs the vain
assumption of catalysis, as explanation, so little can the succession of
acquired diseases be explained, according to Virchow, as the after-
effect of any exciter, not closely connected with the presence of the
latter, and if this after-effect, together with the hereditary origin, were
to present the so-called constitutionalismus, this, Virchow holds,
would, nevertheless, bear no comparison with the analysis of the
phenomena of reproduction. Regarding this comparison, we only
know that the qualities of the cell-life of the child come from the
mother, and those of the connective tissue from the father. The
organ most rich in cells, for instance, is the brain, and so we observe,
in the first respect, that the man of the greatest genius may have a
son far inferior to him in intelligence, if this is also the case with the
mother. In the latter respect, on the contrary, the form of the body,
which depends upon the connective tissue, is improved by the father.
The older physicians discriminated between strict and lax-fibre, but
we, between predominant development of the connective tissue or of
the cells. Although the former generally characterizes the masculine,
and the latter the feminine sex, yet there are marriages, as we have
noticed in many families, in which, in this mutual relation, for exam-
ple, the cell-nature of the father overbalances that of the mother, and
so, for a long time, daughters are born, until, in the course of years,
this relation becomes balanced or reversed.
But if the relation is well balanced, then, naturally, the sex of the
child is determined by the greater or less intensity of the functions.
The natural dissimilarity between the ovum and the spermatozoa can
be so far diminished by intermarriages continued among relations,
that manifest sterility, diminished capacity for conception ensues, or,
where children are nevertheless born, they carry with them that
impoverishment of vitality which announces itself by death shortly
before or after birth, or, if they hold out longer, by nervous diseases
of all kinds, epilepsy, deaf-mutism, idiocy and cretinism.
We must not, however, confound this manifold variety of form,
which is permitted in the wide compass of the constant, with the
presence of an exception.
Such hereditary productions are no more subsequent effects than
exceptions; they result according to known rules, even with, appa-
rently, the greatest irregularity.
Ignorance of the ever-present laws of Nature permits the mind to
set up subjective judgments, and notions void of significance, such as
that of catalysis or secondary effects, as bases of explanation, as it
does, also, the far-spread prejudice that all general truths are subject to
IOI
exceptions, by which the back-door is ever left open to skepticism and
dogma. Only the crude generalizations of insufficient observations
have exceptions, for there is no law of nature for ninety-nine cases,
and an exception for the hundredth. No, there are ever laws for at
least two bodies, as the law of the seminal animalcule and that of the
ovum, each one of which, in all cases, strives to maintain itself, and
both form, by their reciprocal action, within a surrounding, prior to
them, a new specific form. What is called exception, depends only
upon the surrounding, upon the outer world, not upon the laws of the
bodies with their effects and counter-effects themselves; the accidental
influences of the external world modify the form only within the law.
Hence, also, physiological death, the reduction (no longer compatible
with life) of the organism to carbonic acid, water, ammonia, and
ashy constituents, forms no exception to the natural laws of life, but
inheres in life and its surroundings, and, if the balloon seems to rise,
contrary to the law of gravitation, yet it forms an exception to the
laws of Nature only to superficial observation, for it must obey them,
as life, according to its physiological laws, must indeed necessarily
lead to death, but not necessarily to disease.
But how apparently insignificant those and other hereditary dispo-
sitions to disease are, as regards matter, is seen by the seminal and
ovular cells, which forward to each other the material causes of disease
in infinite invisibly small quantities, i. e., in molecular form. This
relation also corresponds to the laws of nutrition; for, since its forma-
tions and transformations are much better brought about by the
smallest molecular quantity, than by the larger, we are thus shown
that the nutritive material necessary for the organism, cannot be con-
sidered according to weight alone.
Hence the future pathology is not cellular, for I maintain, and have
shown, that we can have only a molecular pathology and therapeutics;
for the cells are not the ultimate elements of life; these we find in the
molecules and forces which construct the cell with the help of the
surrounding structures.
We, hence, can never expect, in therapeutics, to act upon the cell-
and connective-tissue-forms as a whole, but only upon their mole-
cules and their molecular forces, as every rational practice teaches;
such a practice must rest upon the reciprocal action of the organism
with bodies of the external world, and not merely upon quantitative
causal, progressively increasing influences, as usually occurs in the
physiological school, and which must ever be of an injurious nature.
Acquired diseases, finally, are by no means the only conditions of the
character of the constitution [constitutionalismus]; on the contrary, this
I02
rests partly upon hereditary and partly upon acquired conditions;
while diseases themselves, without exception, are caused from
without.
§. 52.
By diseases of the organism, we must consequently understand
specific states and processes, which present changed forms of its
specification, proceeding from the combined operations of inward
conditions and outward causes, and are inconsistent with the change
of its physiological conditions and processes. We call these forms
processes of disease. In them, we discriminate according to the law
of continuity the succession of motions appearing with them, in groups
of symptoms and stages.
Virchow holds, on the contrary, "Because the same law of nature
manifests itself differently, according to the conditions under which it
appears, the difference between the sick and the sound body could like-
wise be based only upon the difference of conditions under which the
laws of life manifest themselves. Hence, if we would have patho-
logical systems, we are not allowed, as readily appears, to construct
nosological, but aetiological systems only. Not the disease, he thinks,
is that which determines, but the conditions. Thus the question is, to
know under what conditions, in a particular disease, a particular
medicine is to be chosen.”
Even this discrimination, which Virchow makes between the sick
and the sound body, is just as false, according to the foregoing, as his
notions about the conditions of disease.
If now we wish to construct nosological systems, that, it is true,
is taught us by Virchow, but, by Rademacher, the construction of
ætiological systems.
§. 53.
DIAGNOSIS, INDICATION AND PROGNOSIS.
But if a Homœopath sees pass before him, e. g., a succession of
symptoms of disease, partly subjective and partly, by diagnostic aids
established objective, and he asks himself, on what do these depend?
he then seeks the basis for one and the other, analyzing them, as he
does, singly according to their pathological significance, in order to
abstract the general, which is not given him with the perception of
the separate symptoms, upon which, however, they must depend.
103
The symptoms of the patient we indicate only by ideas. They come
separately in the course of the process of the disease, and in succession,
and, in so far, are removed from their connection.
Hence we must bring them together again logically, by inference,
and put them where they originated. To this end we must first
learn analytically the manner of their connection, and, synthetically,
rise to the grounds which teach us, whence they have arisen.
The physiological school proceeds in the case, not by abstraction,
but constructively. It represents to itself the various symptoms of
disease by grouping them into general ideas, gained by sensible
observation, i. e., it constructs, for this purpose, forms, its forms of
disease, as, inflammation, fever, cholera, epilepsy, etc., and thinks, in
this manner, to have found out realities.
But these pictures of disease are no realities, from which we can
learn the manner of connection of their various symptoms, which is
already apparent from this, that all forms of disease present different
pictures, with different individuals, out of which, hence, it is impos-
sible to construct a general predominant unit.
Hence, these pictures, or forms of disease, cannot be the ground
from which their symptoms arise, and hence must, for the practice
of the physician, be void of any and every value, and something else
must lie at the bottom, some necessity which precedes them. But
because this is unknown to the physiological school, therefore with
its constructing method, it naturally falls into the other error of its
arbitrarily adopted fundamental principle, into the contraria con-
trariis curantur.
66
The Homœopath constructs nothing at the sick-bed, least of all this
or that picture of disease, all of which are void of reality, hence use-
less as regards every exact judgment, and leading, in spite of all
superfine" diagnosis, to erroneous indications and prognosis; but he
abstracts, first from the symptoms, the individuality of the patients in
connection with the state of the outer world, in which, from the begin-
ning of their lives to the present day, they existed, and out of which,
as a result, the bodily constitution is developed.
The bodily constitution is hence the general; the constitutional
states present, therefore, those very realities from which the kind of all
symptoms of disease originates, since they alone can contain the con-
ditions for becoming diseased, and must not be confounded with the
causes of disease.
104
§. 54.
In Wunderlich's Archiv für Heilkunde, (the predicate "physio-
logische" has been left off since 1860,) there is, in that very year,
H. 2, a remarkable article from Wunderlich himself, where he says,
among other things: "the points of attack for therapeutics are, causal
and urgent symptomatic indications excepted, not the local disturb-
ances which give name to the disease, but it is the entire organism;
this must be the object to be aimed at.” An assertion which sounds
as if it might have been borrowed from me; but, impossible, for how
did he think to make it good?
He says, "the degree of depression, of nervous excitement, the
conditions of the circulation, the fever, the collapse, the composition
of the blood, the increase and decrease of the weight of the body, are
the things upon which chiefly hang the prognosis of the disease; upon
these the chief indications of the treatment have to be based.”
But it is impossible that the results of causes and conditions of dis-
eases can lead to that constitutional Therapy which Homœopathy
possesses, and he seems himself to mistrust the fruitfulness of his train
of thought, for he proceeds: "here is the widest and, hitherto, most
unwrought, field for practical observation, and for the establishment
of the most certain rules, and thus also have analysis and measurement
to consider the relations of the constitution.”
Thus Wunderlich even is unable to rise above the constructive
method which, as well as local pathology, must lead to errors in
Therapy, because it aims at ideal representations, hence at constant
forms and conditions of our organism, while this organism brings to
our view only changing conditions.
Besides, Wunderlich means to infer from the above mentioned results
of disease, instead of from their conditions, the character of the bodily
constitution, which clearly is a preposterous, and hence a nonsensical,
undertaking.
§. 55.
In opposition to Wunderlich's views, Dr. Kissel, a pupil of Rade-
macher, in the Prospectus to his Manual of Special Pathology and
Therapy, (1863) asserts: "It is the etiological Therapy to which alone
the future belongs, since it rests upon the relation of nutritive and
remedial agents to physico-chemical fundamental disturbances, in con-
sequence of which the morbid processes of the organism are formed.”
105
Leaving out of view that this relation hardly stands out very
prominently in this Manual, yet it is established, by both these
examples, that, while Wunderlich has only the bodily constitution in
view, Kissel, on the other hand, bases his (Rademacher's) doctrine
upon the outer surrounding of the organism; he is led, nevertheless,
by his principle, as well as by his Therapy, into a multitude of doubts,
since, for example, p. 136, he gives a prominent position to the follow-
ing opinion: "A criticism of the etiology of the individual disease,
makes it clear that it is very deficient, and, in concrete cases, does not
suffice to discover the primary seat, the kind and proximate cause, or
ætiological fundamental conditions of the sickness of the individual.”
This school of Rademacher does not construct anything, it is true,
but, nevertheless, combines, from the peculiarities of the several symp-
toms, compared with previous observations, the so-called epidemic
constitution, the presence of a cause as yet unknown; however, on
the strength of this combination, it makes a so-called therapeutic
experiment, e. g., with Natr. nitr.; if that does not relieve, with Iron,
and if this again fails, then with Copper, etc. Hence, it is, as regards
its therapy, in a state of imperfect induction, even though one of their
remedies, which has once hit the mark, possibly affords help in various
diseases, so long as ætiological conditions, thereto necessary, apparently
exist.
Thus to discover a rational Therapy, Wunderlich first attempts to
construct various constitutional patterns. A vain attempt, because
this construction strives to fix the movable life in set forms; Kissel,
however, has a combination, although an unsuccessful one, for this
end, and an imperfect induction, hence a Therapy, even if it is but a
fragmentary one; thus something is accomplished; although, by it,
truth and falsehood cannot be discriminated a priori, but must first be
known ex juvantibus et nocentibus, hence ex post, thus, only empiri-
cally.
On the contrary, the whole tendency of Homœopathy shows, as I
was the first to point out, that it alone knows the law of the relation
of constitutional and aetiological fundamental views, because, in
Homœopathy, by its drug-provings the organism may be recognized
as a system of external influences and internal counter-actions, and
the cleaving of this truth into two different curative methods, foreign
to it, is, therefore, and naturally must be, without any sure result.
Hence, we have in diseases, only that which the senses can compre
hend, and then, as already said, we have to abstract from this the
general, the prominent bodily constitution by means of comparison
106
with the drug-provings, out of which, as we shall see anon, for each
individual, a peculiar combination called constitution presents itself.
This general is just the important thing, because it precedes the
particulars; it is this general, by which peculiarities of both ætiologi-
cal and constitutional necessities become clear to us.
But a picture, a
form of a bodily constitution, never can be constructed, even out of
the anatomico-physiological composition of our bodies; these forms
[of a bodily constitution] can only be abstracted; for that composi-
tion teaches us only various parts of our bodies, as organs, tissues,
cells, etc., while the bodily constitution makes us know the various
materials of all these parts.
The opponents of Homœopathy form quite different ideas in this
important question, because they adopt, neither the Homœopathic
drug-provings, nor the Homœopathic dose, and hence, know nothing
of the action and counter-action of the molecular bodies in our organ-
ism, nor even have the faintest idea thereof.
§. 56.
Virchow holds, finally, "that were biology complete, did we know
the laws of life and the conditions of their manifestations exactly, did
we know precisely the result of every change of these conditions,
then would we have a rational Therapy."
We may twist and turn this proposition as we will, it remains and
contains an impracticability. Let us take the eye, for example, whose
biological and ætiological conditions we know just as exactly as the
manifestations of the laws of its life, yet I could, under the change of
these biological conditions, as they occur, for instance, in Keratitis,
certainly never have hit upon anything exact in the choice of the
remedy, nor ever have found any rational Therapy, or, indeed, any at
all, for this form of inflammation.
In the midst of the strife between physiological and pathological
conception, a collaborator of the Archiv für physiologische Heilkunde
for the year 1847, exclaims in triumph, among other things, "It is
surely very strange, though, for writers to call an inflammation Scle-
rotitis, in which the part chiefly suffering, is not the sclerotica, but
the cornea or iris,” having invalidated the doctrine set forth by Beer,
Walther, Jäger, Sichel, "that one could discern from an inflamma-
tion of the eyes, whether it be caused by a scrofulous, rheumatic
catarrhal, arthritic, or abdomino-hæmorrhoidal dyscrasia," by the
recent physiological, or rather pathological experience, that that red
ring about the cornea, (which, according to Walther, indicates a rheu-
107
matic sclerotitis), is the result of a Keratitis. He thinks that this
discovery has a purely practical, i. e., therapeutical significance. This,
however, has not been, as yet, exemplified in his school, for they still
attempt to cure this inflammation with the same external and internal
remedies as before. In our day, moreover, the specific distinction of
these inflammations has been discovered. It has been found that
Keratitis occurs as a pure disturbance of nutrition, as parenchymatous,
lymphatic, chronic, or as a secondary disturbance, which, in every
case, is preceded by hyperæmia in other structures of the bulb, and,
in which, the increased nutritive plasma shows itself mingled with
variously constituted fibrinous matter. Nevertheless, these investi-
gations have hit upon nothing decisive, as regards the choice of a
remedy, for now, as heretofore, in this school, they seek to cure these
inflammations of the eyes with outward applications of præcipitate,
lunar caustic, calomel, etc., and internally with Tart. emetic, Bella-
donna, Sambucus, Kali hyd., Colchicum, Digitalis, Conium, Sarsa-
parilla, etc., which, to-day, as formerly, fail oftener than they succeed.
Where, even in this example — and this may serve for all without
exception, since the system of the school announces itself everywhere
quite the same where has a sure remedy become known, notwith-
standing all the physiological or pathological discoveries, or even an
empirical remedy founded upon natural laws? In regard to Therapy,
everything remains the same. All the decidedly great advances in
Pathology and Physiology contribute literally nothing to the choice
of a remedy, still less have they discovered any sure one. Never has
any discovery been made which would lead to the indications for Bel-
ladonna, Tart. emetic, etc.; on the contrary, one practitioner simply
copies after another.
§. 57.
Hence, in cases for which the physiological school knows no remedy
at all, not even an empirical one, it very rashly comes to the conviction
that they are altogether incurable, or must be delivered over to
surgery.
We shall have sufficient opportunity to show that, by means and
upon the strength of physiological and pathological researches of this
sort, the domain of indication is far from being defined, so little indeed,
that in determining the indications for the use of a remedy, they might
often lead us quite astray, provided we were inclined to close the mat-
ter with science thus brevi manu. Very many cases are known, and
I could adduce, out of my own practice alone, a great many more
108
than the limits of this work admit of my presenting, in which numer-
ous physicians of this school have decided upon the certain incurability
of many cases of disease, and expressed themselves thus with one
accord, which, nevertheless, were perfectly cured. Even pathological
anatomy takes upon itself to decide upon the curability or incurability
of pathological exudations, for which it has no right. In the cadaver,
many products of disease appear so very extensive that faulty physio-
logical and therapeutical knowledge doubts of their reduction-but
the cadaver is not life. Clearly, from the products of disease, especially
from those in the cadaver, a rational conclusion regarding a remedy
for future cases, can never be drawn; for the product is silent as
regards its causes and conditions. Nevertheless, the physiological
medicine lives in the conviction, that it can find an indication for a
remedy in the products of disease, e. g., to deduce from the presence
of an exudation, an anti-inflammatory treatment. These sources of
remedies, peculiar to physiological medicine, are hence false.
Here we may just mention, that the measure of the incurability,
which must be looked upon as identical with the character of the
greatest danger, (if it were permitted to entertain such notions in
science,) is not to be determined merely by the disease or its causes,
form and products, but chiefly by the quantity and quality of the parts
spared by the morbid cause, that is, the healthy parts of the organism,
in relation to the diseased parts, and to the Homeopathic indications.
But what does indicate to us the measure of the complete or incom-
plete cure? We cannot put this question to the physiological school,
for it has no idea of the matter. It would simply answer, a disease is
cured when it is no more to be found; when, for example, the inter-
mittent is driven away, when the diarrhoea is checked, etc., and as
soon as it happens through the use of antiphlogistics, antipyretics,
de-obstruents, diuretics, narcotics, etc., (hence indirectly,) that no more
morbid symptoms shall be perceived; as soon, accordingly, as satisfac-
tion has been given to the causal law, or a transient disease, as for
instance, a catarrh has got well of itself. This is all false, and to the
last degree irrational, because all these antis can reach neither the
cause nor the conditions of the intermittent, the inflammation, etc.
What is the reason, now, that this dominant school should occupy
itself with such studies, which direct the attention only to the
examination of the products of the causes and conditions of the
disease?
This merely happens for the reason that it never considers that, in
all attempts at a cure, the conditions of the disease should be brought
into the calculation; hence, on the ground that it closely clings to the
109
old maxim, cessante causa cessat effectus, and if this does no good, that
it destroys the product itself; and finally, it arises from its inability to
rise above its limited circle of thought, to perceive the whole of a
phenomenon of nature, and to study and observe the whole process of
nature.
But to this whole belong also all the circumstances which accom-
pany a disease. If, for example, a patient with intermittent fever,
even before his sickness, was always affected by damp weather, he is
not cured, even though his last paroxysm occurred years ago, so long
as he does not feel quite as well in damp as in dry weather. Or, if a
patient, who has been for a long time annoyed by this circumstance,
that every draught of air affects him unpleasantly, he is not cured,
even if, for instance, many years have elapsed since he recovered from
his last pneumonia, as long as the disposition to take cold is not
removed from him, for every relapse, to which he is exposed under
such circumstances, is proof of the still present conditions for the same
or a similar disease, and hence, a proof that he is not wholly cured.
Such constitutional conditions, which make themselves known by
such accompanying circumstances, give us, hence, the only right
indication.
§. 58.
It has now been made sufficiently clear that, for a proper choice of
a remedy, more is requisite than the analogy and teleology of the
physiological school. Here the chief demand is for the formation of
correct inferences and conclusions.
But if we maintain, with Virchow, that "that which is not empi-
rical is not logical," then, a priori, correct inferences and conclusions
are made impossible. The ideas of inflammation, for example, and
of anti-phlogosis, are, in the physiological school, certainly empirical
enough, and, alas! but too much so; but they are not logical.
Before one seeks and uses remedies, he must have made experiments,
in order to draw therefrom inductive conclusions, and hence must
know first what one should look for, how and where it is to be sought,
i. e., one must possess an inventive maxim which may serve as a
guide. The rules for this lie in the laws of nature, and of our own
knowledge, so that, with them, the discovered facts may be connected.
Authority and accident give leading maxims to the physiological
school. For three decades, for instance, it still felt obliged to hold on
to the law of causality, since it sets up as a maxim that it must seek
there for the causes of diseases, where the products of diseases show
themselves, and these it studied by the help of pathological anatomy
IIO
on the cadaver, so that it might be able therefrom to found a rational
Therapy. These products of disease it found so great and extensive,
that only in the fewest cases could a cure be thought of, but it never
hit upon the cause of disease and their results. Yet it has never
ceased from prosecuting these empirical curative experiments, because
that deduction did not, as yet, contain the criterion of a truth.
On the contrary, they have lately reversed this fundamental maxim,
and said, that to attain a rational Therapy, one must examine physio-
logically in the living for the abnormalities which present themselves
in diseases. But just here, this school found itself annoyed by the fact,
that there are, in the organism, no morbid heterogeneous forms at all,
but that, for example, (as we have just been speaking of cancer dys-
crasia), the cancer-cell at first resembles the recent connective tissue-
cells, then the epitelial cells, somewhat later, the granular, fatty cells,
and finally goes over into complete connective tissue, which crowds out
all the cell-forms of the cancer at one place, in order to see them make
their appearance again at another part of the system. But the causes
of diseases again were not found, and much less any conclusion touch-
ing a therapeutic treatment.
These inquiries after these leading maxims and principles have
claimed attention during the last twenty-five or thirty years, and have
brought forth, it is true, very valuable knowledge in the domain of
pathology and physiology, but have entirely missed their aim to find
the conditions of disease, in order thereby to procure a guide in the
choice of a remedy. Had it been previously considered that the laws
of morbid processes must flow from various external conditions in
connection with the internal, of which the diseased forms made the
united result, it would then have been seen that the problem set before
them could not be solved by the investigations pursued upon the dead
or living body. But, finally, we will not grieve too much over
these blunders, for it has happened as with the alchemists, in their
attempt to make gold; although they did not find the philosopher's
stone, and could not find it, yet they paved the way for Chemistry and
Physics. It was to be shown only that those leading maxims are
false, and do not lead to that to which it was hoped they would lead,
while, on the other hand, they have laid the foundation for a scientific
Physiology and Pathology, but none for Therapeutics.
There was, then, as it seemed, nothing left but the study of Biology
and Ætiology, and the results of every change of their conditions.
The completion of this, however, lies, as yet, in the far-off future, and
Therapy, meanwhile, would have to be laid ad acta.
1
III
This is, in brief, the latest history of developments, and with it, the
present stand-point of the physiological school, proceeding from erro-
neous leading maxims.
If now we wish to speak of the results of the change (?) of those con-
ditions, we must discriminate between them and the consequences of
the state changed by them. Man is no absolute, independent being,
but only a constant form of changing substances, remaining during a
certain course of time, and, in so far, we may aim to study the change
of his substances according to biological and etiological conditions.
This never leads, however, to the study of a change in its existence,
in the form of the organism, consequently, also, to no study of its
diseases. For those conditions are, as regards that which is condi-
tioned, the existence of men, already presupposed, and to be considered
as given with it. At the same time, however, the conditions are not
given which are able to change the permanent form of his changing
substances, and thus make him sick, either in bodily, spiritual, or
intellectual respect.
While thus the physiological school, in consequence of its experi-
ments, thinks it may venture to conclude that a natural Therapy is, for
the present time, an impossibility; it comes, thereby, in conflict with
its calling. To fulfill this calling, in some measure, it was determined
to depend upon dietetics and prophylaxis, expecting by each of these
to ward off new injurious influences, till the urgent necessity to
attempt to use an empirical or traditional, so-called curative agent,
should occur.
We can only inquire why not do this at first, since,
indeed, the scientific value of this treatment is not changed by the
greater or less intensity of a disease?
Aside from such inconsequences of the thinking faculty, all these
fallacies regarding the ways and means to find out a rational Therapy
by pathological, physiological, biological or etiological studies, rest
upon the fallacy of not observing essential circumstances, and here,
the circumstance that the laws and influence of a substance, to be
used upon the organism, with a curative end, cannot be obtained by
those studies, but simply and solely from them in connection with laws
of that substance itself. For how should the physiological school ever
succeed in discovering from biology and etiology, and in determining
beforehand, the sum of the phenomena, which must proceed from the
connection of the physiological or changed form of the reciprocal
action of the organism, with the specific laws of some substance
introduced into it from the external world? Neither by the study of
the organism and its biological and etiological conditions alone, nor
alone by the chemical and physical properties of a body, can it be
112
known, what necessarily changed form of its reciprocal action can be
produced by the influence of any matter from the external world,
within the organism.
Since thus the leading maxim of the physiological school for the
foundation of a rational Therapy is absurd, up to this day, and hence.
false, so must the indications to be hoped for from it, in the future,
always prove to be negative, though centuries be employed in con-
tinued experiments; and among all their assertions regarding Therapy
within their ranks, the truest is, that a Therapy at present is an impos-
sibility, which, with a remarkable love of truth, they confess without
disguise.
§. 59.
There is yet a source of impossibility, formally logical, for this
school to attain to a Therapy. It plumes itself on its use of the
logical instrument of induction in its inquiries. But the inductive
conclusion can never reach over from one domain of science into
another; can never draw a single conclusion from events according to
the law of causality, to events according to the law of a reciprocal
action. Thus it wishes, for instance, to know the motions of a disease
in order to oppose it according to the law of causality, e. g., to measure
the degree to which the elevation of temperature reaches in fever, in
order to destroy the disease by the annihilation of the febrile heat. Its
interference by means of the powerful use of cold, consequently,
occurs according to the laws of effect or causality, and the leading
maxim for this interference is derived from the technicism of social
life. The febrile heat, however, is a partial phenomenon; one of the
manifold fractional phenomena of the reciprocal action between the
cause of the disease and the organic motions which have thereby suf-
fered a change. It will finally overcome the febrile heat by the con-
tinuous application of cold, but the cause of the heat it can never
reach with these means, and quite as little can it render harmless the
further products of the reciprocal action.
On the contrary, we can inductively, and quite properly, draw the
conclusion, for instance, that no muscle can subsist without albumen,
no bones without phosphate of lime, no brain without fat; these
materials must be contained in the food. But if we have a disease of
the bones before us, for example, this conclusion can in no wise justify
a further conclusion, that a cure is only to be looked for from the
exhibition of the phosphate of lime, and quite as little is it permitted
113
to conclude that, if in any fever there is an undue excretion of uric
acid, it must hence be cured by the supply of this acid.
Logical induction characterizes the inductive sciences, which, by it
alone, can make progress. To these belong Astronomy, Mineralogy,
Botany, Zoology, Chemistry, Physics, Physiology, in short, all which
can remain with their conclusions quite at home in their own domains.
But Pathology and Physiology have to do with reciprocal effects, with
the changed form of the reciprocal effects of the organism, through
its connection with the substances of the outer world, and Therapy
has, moreover, to learn, and make use of, influences in order to resolve
these changes; it must have learned to investigate the effects of two
domains upon each other, and learn to turn them to its uses; hence it
must pursue its own course, which cannot be the inductive alone.
The physiological school, with its guiding principles and inductions,
on the contrary, never can step out from Physiology and Pathology;
it remains necessarily confined in these elementary sciences, without
ever being able to determine an indication for a remedy for a disease.
Is it any wonder, if, as justly affirmed, this school, on account of
its sticking fast in those sciences [Physiology and Pathology], can
never acquire a Therapy conformable to natural laws, and never can
be a science as regards its Therapy?
§. 60.
The physiological school thus denies the possibility of a rational
Therapy, or any Therapy whatever; a Therapy in general for the
present and for an unknown period in the future; nevertheless it gives
itself, at the sick-bed, the appearance of the greatest rationality, pre-
scribes every day long receipts, and I refrain from characterizing such
a course as it deserves. It teaches us, however, to be on our guard,
not to be thus led astray also. The therapeutic phantom of physio-
logical, or as it thinks better to style itself, clinical medicine, stands as
a warning meteor in the firmament of medical schools. But instead
of calling upon a criticism based upon natural laws, to separate the
true from the false, it still ever blinds the unguarded eyes of the medical
majority.
Striving, it is true, against ontological designations and ideas of dis-
eases, it is yet too weak to carry out these good purposes. While it
promises that it certainly will do so no more, it falls back again into
its radical errors, but it always has the excuse at hand, that the neces-
sity of language compels it thereto. He who thoroughly understands
a subject, knows how to express it in the right words, but where this
PART 1.
8
114
is not the case, and the corresponding observations are lacking, a word
must fill the vacancy, and no manner of speech can well leave behind
it a more painful impression, than when scientific discussions, as is the
case in these extracts just given, are clad in diplomatic forms, with
which most of the declarations are, in the next moment, cast again
into doubt.
The physiological school, that much is sure, carries the burden of
dogmatic assertions and skeptical opinions, and it cannot absolutely
throw these off. Would it overcome them by knowledge, and
accept critical results according to the laws of nature, it would long
ago have found out, that its maxim according to Virchow, "although
the phenomena of life may appear ever so changed, yet they are never
new laws, but always only new conditions come to favor," is false in
every view.
The results of this, run like a dark thread of evil omen through the
whole of their views.
§. 61.
Let us, at present, entirely lose sight of the names with which this
school seeks to impress special forms of disease upon the memory,
and let us consider the ideas of the most general of their pathological
forms, that of fever and inflammation.
Virchow thinks, that we can refer fever to an increased process
of combustion, without considering necessary the presence of the last
product of oxidation or an increased supply of burning oxygen, since,
even to a less quantity of oxygen, the production of greater chemical
transpositions may be assigned. He affirms, "if we hence must con-
sider heat as the pathognomonic symptom of fever, and as dependent
upon an increased waste of the parts of the body, so must the
causes exciting the fever necessarily produce the possibility of a further
waste."
Homœopathic provings, however, teach us that all substances of the
external world excite fevers, as well those which suppress the influx
of the oxygen, as those which further the same, hence Virchow's
hypothesis is false.
He says further, and in opposition to this hypothesis, "In the degree
that the power of the moderating centres is restrained, does the con-
sumption of matter increase, and to the same degree the peculiar
warmth of the body increases, by which then the particular point at
which the fever begins is given." The frequency of the pulse, he
says, is no sign of fever.
115
His treatment of fever has, "according to what has just been said,
a simple object, the cooling, but this does not, as such, remove the
fever, since the removal of the heat can only be useful when it destroys
the springs of abnormal production of heat, and relaxes the tension
in the regulatory nervous system." Here belong those remedies which
limit the respiratory process in its operation, bleeding, neutral salts,
vegetable acids, oleaginous remedies. The special fever remedies are
essentially nervines, Digitalis, Quinine, Arsenic, some vegetable alka-
loids, and since the effect of many of them in lowering the tempera-
ture is established (?) they must hence of course operate especially
upon the regulatory centres. To relax the central tensive relation,
recourse must be generally had to sudorifics and diuretics, emetics and
purgatives."
Who can tell from that what we should do in this fever or that?
Who finds here the leading principle which shows us whether
we shall operate against the heat, the moderating centres, or the
respiratory process? and if we knew that we should do the latter, for
example; then the inquiry comes up, according to what rule shall we
give the neutral salts, or what salts shall we give, or, in other cases,
emetics or purgatives? This doctrine is silent here, and if no other
reply is at hand, it is out and out impracticable; for where are the
proofs, according to which these remedies limit the operation of the
respiratory process, those relax the central tension relations, while the
third, are essentially febrifuge? Thus do Virchow's statements give
room every where for every doubt and every fancy.
§. 62.
Truly, according to v. Bezold, there exists in the medulla oblongata
an automatic centre of nerves exciting the heart. The heart receives
motor fibres which take their course within the sympathetic, and arise
in the spinal marrow, and restraining fibres, which run along in the
track of the cerebro-spinal vagus.
The origin of rhythm in the heart can be represented, according to
v. Bezold, by a scheme, by which we assume that continuous excite-
ments arise in the central nervous apparatus of the heart, which, how-
ever, since they constantly meet opposition in the nerves present in the
heart, are only periodical, i. c., they recover their tone after every over-
coming of such an obstacle in the cardiac muscles, and he holds that,
supported upon the facts of those exciting cardiac nerves, we can
come nearer to the nature of fever, by way of experiment.
116
Had we merely to do with functions, then would this be the right
way, but where and what is the exciter of fever? here the art of
such experiments does not suffice; here the act of observation decides
at the sick-bed, by comparing with drug-provings.
§. 63.
What does it finally signify to say that fever can be referred back to
an exalted process of combustion, without considering necessary an
increased access of the burning oxygen?
Oxygen burns up a part of the organic elements of the body, and
thus produces water and carbonic acid. The greatest part of the
latter is neutralized by the bases of the blood. Another part of the
oxygen unites itself with the Sulphur and Phosphorus of the albu-
minous bodies to form Sulphuric and Phosphoric acid. The insoluble
basic phosphate of lime of the bones, changes itself thereby partially
into acid soluble phosphate, which by means of the bi-carbonated
alkalies is decomposed in the blood. Hence arise the soluble combin-
ations of bi-carbonate of lime, phosphate of potash and soda, which
go over into the blood and thence into the urine.
This is surely work enough to produce the necessary equivalent of
heat for the usual bodily temperature. But to this are further to be
added the functions of the hydrogen. It is just the water and not
the oxygen which is the preponderant constituent of the body, which
consists of two-thirds of water. It is used for keeping up the physical
properties of the body, and renders function and nutrition possible.
It is a universal solvent, chemically employed, for dissolving solid
substances, and mechanically, as a carrier of the insoluble. Water is
lacking in no part of the organism, and it is, in relation to the mani-
fold solid matters, its most universal unit. The whole nutrition con-
sists in the new formation of hydrates for supplying the place of that
which is dissolved and excreted, and forms, by this alone, an immense
source of heat; the water of the body absorbs all kinds of gases,
and thus alone respiration and access of oxygen becomes pos-
sible. Every process of combustion is preceded by a polarization
of oxygen. Ozone vanishes in the combinations which arise as pro-
ducts of combustion; the antozone remains with the water, to which
it has an affinity. The water can also supply the place of acids and
bases, and is amphoter [both], and with a mixed food, oxygen is
expired, which is followed at the expense of that [oxygen] contained
in the carbo-hydrates, while, with the exhaled hydrogen, a small quan-
tity of per-oxide of hydrogen is mixed. Water maintains the equilib
117
rium of the normal temperature of the organism; it is the most
powerful heat-regulator of the organism, while neither the blood nor
the nerve centres alone regulate the production of heat. With this
old chemical generalization, to seek to explain all motion by the pro-
cess of combustion, nothing is gained for therapeutics, but to lead the
physician into a chimerical anti-phlogosis. Every generalization of
that sort is a veritable clog. [Hemmschuh.]
If, to physiological minds, facts represent themselves as clad only in
numerous particular properties, they constantly underrate the impor-
tance of the general, of the gradation of measure and number
according to time and space. How shall we sustain to the manifold
nature of the progressive and retrogressive changes in the organism,
if everything burns up in oxygen?
§. 64.
Let us, hence, seek material conditions for fever. Since the warmth
of our bodies is a product of export, which originates from the num-
ber of physico-chemical operations, therefore these operations on organic.
matters must act in the ratio of the obstacles which the operation-object
opposes to the operation-force. The obstacles, however, act in the
ratio of labor expended, the result of which we see in the separation
of water, peroxide of hydrogen, carbonic acid and nitrogen. If we
see now that nitrogen is excreted in fever as uric acid, and not
as urea, then is that the surest proof that the supply of oxygen in
fever is decidedly diminished, although, at first, at least, no less oxygen
is received. If thus this increased heat cannot arise from increased
processes of oxidation, then it must evidently depend upon prepon-
derating processes of reduction, or de-oxidation, which set no less heat
free than the oxidation processes necessary for physiological life, which
is also no slight work.
Now, as concerns the alternation of this increased fever temperature
with the chill, this is explained again from the law of physiological
life, and here from the law of proportional oscillation, which law is
based in the nervous system.
Finally, we cannot, at the present day, speak exactly of oxygen, but
either of neutral oxygen or polarized oxygen, since it distinguishes
itself as ozone and antozone; for, with every oxidation and de-oxida-
tion, the chemical polarization of the neutral oxygen takes place, and
thus, as never but one of the kinds of electricity can be excited, so, in
all cases, where the question is of exciting the inactive oxygen to
chemical actions, the positive active oxygen, antozone, and the nega
118
tive active, the ozone, must always appear at the same time, so that
in healthy organisms, oxidation and de-oxidation always proceed hand
in hand, if no morbid cause is present which may disturb this rela-
tion.
Although physiology, with its thermometer, can find no such
lowering of the temperature, in the cold stage, as the violent chill
announces, yet we cannot be justified in asserting, on such grounds,
that it [the physiological school] can no longer discriminate the cold
stage as one sharply defined. The task of physiology is not to make
chemical and physical experiments on the sick, in order to set them
up as results of observation and illustrations; its art of observation
must begin with the healthy.
To hold fast to an idea, as that of phlogosis, to define fever, is an
unpractical demand. Ideas are schemes of the imagination, and
explain nothing; they are only subjectively valuable, and the objective
law only has validity. Such formations of ideas falsify facts.
Fever is nothing but the physical consequence of the altered divis-
ion and decomposition of the materials of the organism, which is
produced by an external cause. Figuratively, fever is perfectly analo-
gous to storms; it is an alternation of tensions and discharges. Hence
the favorite discrimination between simple, torpid, synochal, etc., fevers
is fictitious, and has no existence by itself. This distinction does not
refer merely to the degree of the change pre-induced, but also to its
extent, and hence is not to be comprehended by itself, but as the fever
in general, as a result of a new form of reciprocal action, which has
entered the organism with the disease-making causes. Fever is, under
all circumstances, in all times, in all places, the resultant of two or
more components, and presents itself with its heat, its frequency of
pulse, its chill, its increased frequency of respiration, simultaneously,
according to the law of proportional oscillation, with all other morbid
phenomena, which it is wont to accompany periodically.
Hence the significance of a pathognomonic symptom can never
attach to fever, since it is nothing sui generis, but only a part of the
totality of any specific form of disease. It is not a general form
under which acute forms of disease can be summed up; it is, indeed,
only one of the expressions of their causes; hence, also, it would be
absurd to attempt to speak of the treatment of a fever, although a
Virchow submits to it.
119
§. 65.
While Virchow can bring forward no physiological type for the
explanation of fever, which indeed would have to be the case if this
perception were to be justified by logical consequence, he thinks he
has found a physiological analogy for the explanation of inflammation;
"it may be a mere disturbance of nutrition, induced by a disturbance
of nutritive distribution, but it may be, nevertheless, according to
circumstances, now rather nervous, now degenerative, now connected
with pain, redness, swelling and heat, which depends upon the anat-
omical arrangement of the parts, and clearly includes no fundamental
difference."
"Thus there exists," he argues, "between nutrition and the disturb-
ance of nutrition, clearly, no fundamental difference.”
But principles belong to the faculty of judgment. However, there
is a real and a subjective difference. The real cannot consist in a mere
affirmation or negation of an idea, but only for the so and otherwise
of a mediate perception. Indeed, even the difference in the anatomi-
cal locality of inflammations is ground for a discrimination, and an
inflammation in the region of a splinter thrust into the flesh, is, in its
manifestations, quite another thing from a spontaneous inflammation
of the lungs, although both are alike in the idea.
Moreover, the idea of nutrition cannot be confounded, as Virchow
would have it, with that of exudation and absorption. The forming
of the exudation occurs in consequence of the operation of a patho-
logical cause; no process of digestion precedes the absorption of the
exudation; after the absorption of food, follows its change; after that
of the exudation, its removal, and so this comparison will become the
more untenable the further it is pursued. To trifle with ideas corrupts
science.
Our knowledge of inflammation is also a relative one. That which
is constant therein is the mathematical contingency of the individual
specific forms of reciprocal action; but the cause, which begets the
changed form of the reciprocal action of an inflammation, is its
nature. So many causes, so many individualities and specific forms
of inflammation are there, differing from one another, in which many
parts of the one case are lacking in the other; here no pain, there no
swelling; but yet, inflammation. How is that possible? From the
simple fact that pain, swelling, heat, redness indicate pathological pre-
cursors, in which, however, there is nothing steadfast, but all of which
vary according to time, place and circumstance, and this complex of
varieties must be the basis of our diagnosis. If, indeed, there should
120
be any physiological pattern for any form of disease, there would be a
most beautiful one for this. It is the formation of the area pellucida
in the egg that thus produces swelling, and physically necessitates the
formation of the vascular and circulatory system as entirely new local
phenomena. While this happens, while the serous membrane rises up
from the vascular and mucous layer, it exudes, on the inner side, the
liquor amnii, etc. In this, surely, we have the whole idea of inflam-
mation, functionally and nutritively illustrated.
Such analogies, however, do not enter into the relations of form
and combination; they are mere results of analytical comparisons.
According to function, the beginning of inflammation is like an act
of nutrition; but the area pellucida floats in its own nutritive mate-
rial, and acquires size in inverse ratio to it; its expansion, its growth,
takes place, not contrary to the law of its life, forcibly and unforeseen,
but it belongs to its life, just as does the temperature which surrounds
it. Within an organ of the complete organism, however, the swelling
and exudation of inflammation are not, at the same time, also within
their physiological necessary means of nutrition; this must be brought
in by vessels already at hand. The whole process of inflammation
belongs not to local physiological nutrition, it is even foreign thereto;
it is so limited, that it appears at the cost of its surrounding, which
does not form the element of its nutrition, and which it compresses
and injures. If the pathological form of its appearance has already been
given, it announces itself in consequence of its mechanical impression
by pain, and by an increased local development of warmth or heat.
Further, there is a difference as regards the combination, since the
conditions in the egg lead to the formation and development of the
specific form of the human organism; inflammation, however, is a
combination of the specific form of the organic reciprocal action in
connection with its external causes, whereby that change arises in
some place, which is called inflammation.
Such analogies as the physiological school loves, hence, give only
relations of conception. A perception according to analogy, presents,
it is true, a perfect similarity between two relations, but between
things which are utterly unlike as regards cause, time, place and cir-
cumstances — perceptions, hence, which, for a Therapy based upon
natural laws, must be considered as utterly useless, although they may
contain weighty leading principles for other purposes. Had we to do,
in Pathology and Therapeutics, merely with this or that opinion, one
might put up with all this. But the evil consists in this, that, with
such opinions, ontological ideas are connected. One abstracts from
such views, ideas which are taken for the objects themselves, as if they
121
really existed, in order thereby to regulate his conduct, and therein
lies the deception and the injury.
Under such suppositions, nothing comes more natural than, that,
with the idea of inflammation one should think at once of something
that quenches, or, of an antiphlogistic method, whose chief object
should be, as our author himself confesses, to lower the temperature
by the abstraction of heat. The result of this, at the sick-bed, we shall
learn hereafter. For these very reasons, there is a special medication
for this idea as little as for the fever.
§. 66.
The physical reasons of inflammations rest upon the law of attrac-
tion. The so-called inflammation, produced by any morbid cause in
any part of the human body, the local attraction of blood produced
by the irritation of any morbid cause, takes place through the paren-
chyma, through the irritated tissue elements, which, increased in their
functions, draw constituents from the capillary blood, and this increased
demand for material must not only have as results, an increased attrac-
tion of blood from the large vessels, but also a stronger current, an
accumulation of the same in the vessels present, and the new forma-
tions of vessels. Since, finally, a vacuum in the circulatory system is
impossible, acceleration of the whole movement of the blood always
takes place herewith, consequently an increased frequency of the
pulse, and this, indeed, quite independent of the nervous system, or
any other hypothesis of paralysis of the blood vessels, etc. These
increased functions produce increased warmth, and the continuance
of this state is connected with the natural further local result of
swelling and exudation, as long as they are not therapeutically
removed.
Hence, in Homœopathy, there is neither a specific fever nor a
specific inflammation, since all substances, proved on the human body,
are capable of producing both fever and inflammation, though each
one is different from the other according to the kind of irritation
present, the formation of the various organs affected thereby, and a
multitude of other qualities of causes and conditions. To present a
picture of inflammation in general, even for a single organ, belongs
hence to the realms of impossibilities, though of this, physiological
medicine has no idea.
Inflammation is, according to quantity, nothing but diosmosis,
changed by an external cause and according to various inner condi-
tions; qualitatively, it is a chemical reduction process, the physical
I22
expression of which consists in the fever accompanying it. Of what
use now can an "antiphlogosis" be in opposition to a process of
reduction?
Fever, says the physiological school, is, moreover, a far more general
morbid phenomenon than inflammation, and this latter again is more
general than many others. Almost all works on Special Pathology
and Therapeutics, we know, place fever at the head of their teaching,
then follow inflammations, etc. Thus the progressive course is marked
out for the construction of a system. Accordingly, considerations of
the general must precede those of the particular, because the latter
must be contained in the former, and it is only the artistic success of
the thorough perfection of a deductive science that permits of this
progress of the summing up power of judgment. But the investiga-
tion of this school, its practice, use, as a matter of fact, only the
inductive method. It gives itself entirely to the art of experiment
and neglects the art of observation, whose instruments are the logical
forms of deduction. It seeks to peer even deeper into the particular
of its objects, and, the more it experiments, the less is it led to the
general, to the law of connection; moreover, it does not labor viribus
unitis, and each one who has, for curiosity's sake, undertaken an
experiment for the solution of any question upon which he has
stumbled accidentally, never neglects to make his own verse over it,
according to his own perceptive capacity, and thus the difficulties of
gaining an insight into connection infinitely increase.
The course,
which it has taken in its compendiums of special Pathology and
Therapy is, hence, in comparison to the course of its investigations,
the converse; it is apparently the deductive but under the inductive
method. To do justice to its inquiries, it should have given its results
without any system, without any theory; logically, it should at the
beginning of endless investigations — endless, because undertaken
without any available leading maxim― have proceeded regressively
and have stepped, from the special, back to the general; a proceeding,
however, that would be incompatible with the claims of a science
half-way perfect. But just on this account, it would like very much
to conduct itself deductively, as do mathematics. In this, however, it
will not and cannot succeed, because lines taking two opposite direc
tions can never coincide even in a single point. What happens? It
turns idiomatic somersaults, though not one of its devout pupils has
ever noticed it, and each one swears, even to-day, that just therein
it has spoken the truth. How is that? It confounded the idea of the
general with the common.
123
Thus fever is nothing that generally belongs to diseases, not even
to the acute; nothing under which, as parts of a whole, they were to
be summed up; it is only a thing common to many diseases; just so
with inflammation; there is no inflammation in general, but only
forms of disease, the localizations of which may have transiently the
symptom of inflammation in common with each other.
Huge volumes would not suffice to contain all the comical blunders
and self-deceptions, merely of a year of the medical literature of the
physiological school. Yet, for our present object, that just given may
suffice, offering one example to enable the reader to find many.
§. 67.
But really to determine what inflammation is, we must set out from
that which produces inflammation. According to Homœopathic drug-
provings, every substance of the outer world may produce inflammations
of various kinds, and in various places, and, indeed, now with increased
and now with diminished excretions, and with various processes within
the organism, which are often far distant from the point where the
inflammation begins, but none the less standing in an intimate relation
of dependence therewith. Even an Allopathist, Dr. Böcker, may be
cited, out of respect for the opponents of Homœopathy, and his drug-
provings have demonstrated the same thing.
Thus he observed under the use of Belladonna, for instance, that it
chiefly increased the excretion of solid matter, of urea, of the vesical
mucus, of the fusible salts, and extractive matters, and diminished the
uric acid, and infusible salts. Under the use of a couple of drops a
day, it delayed the pulse two to three beats in the minute, while at the
same time an accelerated, i. e., an increased secretion from the mucous
membrane of the organs of deglutition took place. On its continued
use, injection and inflammation of these parts occurred, but now
accompanied with an increase of the pulse, four or five beats in the
minute. Thus if the capillaries of one part are filled, the stroke of
the heart is correspondingly diminished; but if inflammation and
swelling, with pain and redness take place, then the number of the
beats of the heart is more frequent, and remains also at this height
for three or four days, yet without any more Belladonna having been
taken. Again, it is a circumstance worthy of observation, that, under
this use of Belladonna, in the beginning, and in small doses, and for
some days thereafter, a manifestly greater quantity of carbonic acid
was excreted, and, during the use of a larger dose, a less quantity.
124
At no time, in no place, and under no circumstances is inflamma-
tion thus an object to be considered by itself alone, but only a part of
the whole of a pathological process.
Since thus to fevers, as well as to inflammations, only the signifi-
cance of separate symptoms in company with various diseased pro-
cesses attaches, since they are always wont to occur as parts of an
entire form, so, as already said, it would contain a contradiction in
itself to speak of a special treatment of fever or of inflammation. Hence
we will adduce but a single example to show what forms of judgment,
the physiological school is nevertheless wont to use, in order to speak
of the treatment of inflammation, and how it seeks to make this pos-
sible by ideas of reflection, leaving the inductive method of experiment
entirely out of view.
Virchow lays down in his Text-Book upon the treatment of fever
and inflammation, among other things, the following indications:
"Narcotic remedies follow closely upon general blood-letting. Even
they scarcely produce a direct change in the condition of the centre
of inflammation, but either work palliatively (symptomatically) or
preparatively." (That is now putting palliative on a par with symp-
tomatic. There are no palliative cures; palliation is only help for a
moment, without duration, and seeks to remove, if for a moment
only, a prominent symptom temporarily hindering the cure, as, for
instance, by emetics or laxatives to remove remaining and injuriously
acting substances, etc. The symptomatic, the doctrine of the signs of
disease, however, relates to the entire form of the disease, to the
so-called essential indication.) But to proceed. "In the first rank
of preparatory remedies, we find Digitalis, the extended use of which
has been brought into fashion by Schönlein; it operates chiefly as a
febrifuge, and, indeed, sometimes produces the general relaxation, if
the local inflammatory process still progresses. Its retarding effect
upon the heart is, however, surely not to be slightly rated, even for
the local relaxation. Next to Digitalis, Aconite may partially find
a place; Opium, Hyoscyamus, Aq. Laur., and others are to be used
more symptomatically for the removal of nervous phenomena, and
especially to be used with asthenic inflammations, yet we do not like
to use these remedies in the beginning of inflammations, except when
the general disturbances very early take on the paralytic character;
on the other hand, they are of all the greater significance for the final
reparation, since they remove many phenomena of irritation, which
might again give new ground for disturbance, as, for instance, vom-
iting, cough."
125
I have only taken the liberty to mark the qualifying phrases, numer-
ous out of all proportion for so short a passage, in order to let the
reader form his own opinion of its practical worth.
§. 68.
In Canstatt's Jahresbericht, the work entitled "The Fundamental
Laws of Physiology, Pathology and Homoeopathic Therapeutics,"
was not criticised, because it displayed too rich an imagination.
But can there be more imagination than is shown in this short
extract? With it we have, it is true, arrived at a point where the
question no longer concerns mere ideas, but correct deductions. If I
have already shown that the notions of the physiological school, in
reference to fever and inflammation, are false, it only yet remains to
add that Homœopathy recognizes no such notions, that it never con-
siders any forms of disease as products, but as parts, whose whole is
to be taken into view, if one would establish a diagnosis of diseases,
and still more, a prognosis thereof. Two forms of deduction, essen-
tially different, comprise the sum and substance of diagnosis and
prognosis; to the physiological school, these are strangers. Diagnosis
is a perceptive knowledge, and rests upon the art of experiment and
the art of observation. But it has never yet occurred to any one,
seriously to reflect what requisition is made upon the physician when
a correct prognosis is demanded of him. Had this been the fact, it
must long ago have been perceived, that the Therapy of physiological
medicine is not in a condition to prognosticate, even though, prior to
this, it had become a science based upon natural laws; for prognosis
indicates a kind of knowledge which permits us to know the termina-
tion of future events, without any previous observation thereof; prog-
nosis is thus a knowledge acquired by reasoning, a priori. All
diagnosis is useless, and no indication is possible, if I am not capable
of knowing, a priori, that, in any diagnosticated case, after the use
of any drug it must so occur, as I maintain, even before any expected
events have happened, and before I have observed them; and although
the school bases the prognosis merely upon the course of the disease
from its cause, and upon the danger possibly therewith connected, yet
is this basis always false, as soon as a therapeutic act has taken or
shall take place, for now, in this direction, also, we must be able to
prognosticate. The opinion, a priori, refers to future things; the
opinion, a posteriori, to present and past perceptions. Hence we must
possess another source of knowledge, besides that merely of percep-
tions, and this source can be no other than the necessary laws of
126
nature. Hence, it follows, that even Therapy, be it otherwise called
by what name it may, must be based upon natural laws.
§. 69.
Of no less significance are the forms of deduction necessary to the
establishment of a diagnosis; for it is only from the diagnosis and
prognosis that the indication results.
In regard to the objects of Therapy, those things which point to a
cure are called indications. In the physiological school, according to
Wunderlich, we have, of these, the following:
66 I. The indicatio causalis, the end of which is to destroy or remove
the causes of disease, or to moderate their power.
2. The indicatio essentialis, which takes hold of the essential pro-
cess in a case of disease, under the supposition that all other distur-
bances depend on that and stand or fall with it.
3. The indicatio symptomatica, which seeks to remove or destroy
single distressing symptoms only, to anticipate intercurrent events or
accidents [in the disease], and to avert dangers from secondary affec-
tions. The pursuance of this latter indication may lead to the finest
Therapy, as well as to the grossest routinism. It finds, however, its
full justification in this, that, in the majority of cases, ailments and
dangers depend more upon secondary and tertiary disturbances, than
upon the essential process. It is permitted and even demanded to
have recourse to this. Ist. In diseases which get well, when left to
themselves. 2nd. In case of annoying or exhausting phenomena.
3rd. Where a symptom, only loosely connected with the main disease,
hinders the cure, or prevents the use of an appropriate remedy. 4th.
In case of dangerous secondary disturbances, where life is threatened.
(indicatio vitalis). 5th. In all incurable diseases. 6th. In cases
where one is not sure of his diagnosis, and where often only a prudent
sounding, by means of a symptomatic curative treatment, is possible
and permitted."
Since the physiological school is directed in its doing and leaving
undone only by the law of effect, and not by the law of reciprocal
action, it is left to follow such vague indications.
Since the nature, the essentialof a disease lies in the sum of its causes
and conditions, and hence comprises the outer as well as the inner
conditions, so there can be no indicatio causalis in the sense of the
physiological school. One expresses himself falsely, in using the
common phrase, a dagger has caused this or that wound. The
dagger was not the only cause, but one of the conditions, as also
127
case.
another condition thereto was a body which could be wounded. It
I draw the dagger from the wound, I have met a conditio causalis,
but no curative indication. In the fundamental maxim, cessante
causa cessat effectus, there hence lies a very common therapeutical
fallacy, according to which the duration of the effect is dependent
upon duration of the cause; that is sometimes, but not always the
This fallacy is only to be avoided by always remembering that,
as a rule, every cause is composed of many conditions, of which each
one may produce different effects. It is false to maintain, for exam
ple, that, by producing a violent perspiration, the cause of the cold is
removed. This cause already belongs to the past, and we may expe-
rience every day, that such attempts leave us in the lurch, or have
only afforded momentary relief, while the introduced diseased process
rages still, or returns in another form. To oppose the atmospheric or
telluric, in short, the aetiological conditions, the physiological school
feels itself confessedly powerless; they are, for it, un fait accompli,
beyond their reach.
That physiological medicine can only dream of causal cures is nat-
ural, because this is the readiest method to every superficial mind, for
it would simply put the fire out, bring the drowning man into the air,
establish quarantines against epidemics, provide antidotes for poison,
etc., all of which, under the circumstances, may be very praiseworthy,
but it thinks that, with this, it has done all which is possible.
But that a Homœopath, at this day, should still find his El Dorado
in such a cure, and so far misunderstand his great object as to wish to
show that he pays no regard to constitutional conditions, which, under
all relations, are as necessary to the possibility of any sickness, as the
causes of disease introduced from without; this is unhappily new,
because just the regard to the kind of conditions of the disease which
is foreign to physiological medicine is peculiar to homeopathic.
The Editor of the Zeitschrift für homöopathische Klinik, is cer-
tainly not at all particular about what he sets before his readers, and
thus we find therein (September 1st, 1864) the assertion, as one being
clear enough by itself: "While the cause of the disease is still efficient,
the patient exposed to this cause cannot be permanently cured." As
a confirmation of this proposition, the "well-known" fact is adduced.
that in fever and ague districts, during the malaria, in spite of all use
of the specific (?) quinine, frequent intermittent cachexias occur,
which can be cured only (?) by removing the patient from the sickly
neighborhood, i. e., by a causal cure.
These are clearly assertions of physicians of as yet not much expe-
rience, but one may read them if he wishes to waste time. In the
128
first place quinine is a specific only for certain forms of intermittents,
sharply defined by Homœopathy; secondly, we cannot send all our
patients out from their unhealthy districts, unless we have the money
to give them, needful to carry out this advice; thirdly, they can,
declining this advice, remain and be cured, while they live in marshy
districts, not only by me, but by many other Homœopathists, since
we know how to remove, homeopathically, the constitutional condi-
tions to the formation of an intermittent; in the fourth place, it must
be acknowledged, that, not only in spite of, but in consequence of the
inappropriate use of quinine, the so-called intermittent cachexy-
which is really a quinine cachexy — arises.
This is not the place to speak of these constitutional conditions for
the possibility of a disease, in contrast with the causes of disease; this
will be done subsequently, while here we treat the subject promiscu-
ously, to mark out the error.
There are, however, permanent causes, full of danger; those, for
instance, established by an apoplectic centre. The indications for the
cure of such a case, however, naturally coincide with the essential
indications, and here again are not at all causal.
The indicatio symptomatica is thrown, by the physiological school,
into one heap with palliation and prophylaxis, but by a misunder-
standing; for a disease without symptoms would be a non-entity. The
essential indication and the symptomatic are of like significance,
because the former must refer to the symptoms of all conditions of
disease. The difference lies only in this, that the indicatio symptom-
atica announces why chiefly a remedy is to be given, while the essen-
tial, on the contrary, shows what remedy is indicated. The two are
as inseparable as cause and consequence, and all these, hence, form
together but one, the only possible curative indication. Not till I know
what lies before me, and what may thence arise, what the complex of
symptoms expresses, whether physical or chemical, and, in short, all this
is brought to light by the art of experiment and observation, can it be
determined what is to be done under the circumstances. Hence, all
the subdivisions of the Professor, under the title of indicatio symp-
tomatica, belong to palliation and prophylaxis, the indicatio vitalis
excepted, which again forms no indication by itself, but is always a
part of the essential indication.
§. 70.
But even these mistaken classifications spring from the impossibility
for the physiological school to rise above the causal law. In conse-
quence of this law of effect, which comprises all the aid which this
129
school, notwithstanding its physiological types, can offer, it is always
ready to begin an exterminating strife against everything which
appears to it abnormal. Unconscious of having to do with two-folà
conditions in diseases, which form the united result of two existences.
it ever attacks the organism and its parts, according to the presenting
symptoms, the results of those reciprocal actions, as if, with the results,
the causes and conditions could be annihilated. As long as this unhappy
idea of combating continues to prevail, a rational Therapy, even on
this ground, is not to be thought of, even if we had learned to under-
stand all objective reasons for the disease. What good can it do, for
instance, to strive against the water on the brain, in hydrocephalus,
and to seek in every possible way to remove it, while it just fulfills the
condition of the continuance of life? What can it avail in fever and
inflammation, to lower the temperature at any price, the very temper-
ature which, being the result of internal processes, presents to us a
means for its relief? And so it goes with all the indications of this
school.
But, in therapeutics, our object is never to engage in a struggle
with disease; this would necessarily produce a partial result to the
injury of other parts even; on the contrary, our object is to satisfy the
necessities of the organism which it requires by reason of the disease.
To perceive these necessities the symptoms are specially necessary, by
which is expressed what is going on, and he who seeks to blot out
these symptoms partially, not only does a manifest injury, but deprives
himself of the most valuable material for his observation and his
indications; he thus confuses his diagnosis, his insight into the course
of the disease, and throws away the means of proving the correctness
of his observation. This precipitate officiousness is a sad mark of the
Therapy of this school. To adduce only one example of a most
palpable kind, I select ulcers. All ulcers, arising from the most varied
causes, it plasters and anoints, by which they must lose the character
of their surfaces, which alone may announce what is the condition of
the cause still working in the organism.
§. 71.
In these few previous lines, so many confusions and fallacies which
adhere to the physiological school present themselves, that, in order to
proceed further, it is first necessary to draw the attention, by exam-
ples, to the instruments of the art of observation, with which no
physician can dispense at the bed-side, though these are taught in no
PART I.
9
130
clinic: here, for the time, the art of experiment is adopted as the
primum movens of the teaching.
"There is no art which is so difficult as the art of observation,"
says Liebig, in the fourth edition of his Chemical Letters, Vol. I, page
34, but in order to make this clear, he adds thereto a literal extract
from the inductive logic of Mr. Arthur Mill, as it is found in the
translation by Dr. Schiel, 1849, page 86, where he uses language
similar to that of Liebig, and thus proceeds: "for he is not the
observer who sees the thing before his very eyes, but he who sees of
what parts the thing consists, and in what connection the parts stand
with the whole. Many overlook the half from inattention, another
tells more than he sees, confusing it with what he imagines; another
sees the parts of the whole, but he throws parts together which should
be separate."
As an example of this proposition of Mill, Liebig adds: “In the
Görlitz trial, in Darmstadt, the women who washed and dressed the
corpse, saw neither arm nor head on the body; another witness saw
an arm and a head as big as his fist; a third (a physician) saw both
arms and a head, just about the usual size of a woman's head. From
these expressions, it is easy to recognize the degree of culture of the
witnesses, their capacity for observing."
Mill and Liebig here confound the art of observation with the medi-
ate perceptions of the external senses. The faculty to make perceptions
every child possesses, more or less, as well as many adults, and it is
no art. To the art of observation belong continuance of perceptions
and, at the same time, synthetic comparisons of the same with each other.
From this art, that knowledge arises which is termed experience.
Observations and experiences must be made of events which we
cannot see through the medium of the senses; hence the idea of the
art of observation comprises, in itself, the accurate sensible perception
as presupposed; but the art to discover the connection of sensible
perceptions accurately comprehended, by means of synthetic compari-
sons and all the logical instruments essential thereto, and to form the
correct judgment thereupon, that is the art of observation; this art
children do not possess, and, as it seems, not even every learned man;
but truly, it is the most difficult which man can acquire.
Hence, that example from the Görlitz trial, which Liebig thinks he
may use as demonstrating the lack of the art of observation, is impert-
inent; for, if the opinion of the physician, as an expert, is taken, as it
is here, to be sufficient for the overthrow of the other witnesses, the
example contains, at least, nothing but errors of the mediate percep-
tion of the external senses, and such errors clearly have nothing to do
131
with the definition and the illustrative demonstration of the art of
observation.
66
Neither is Mill just the one who may truly set forth the laws of
induction, for he himself asks, page 32, Why in many cases is a
single example sufficient for a complete induction, while in others,
myriads of agreeing cases, without a known or supposed exception,
make so little advance towards the establishment of a fact?"
“He who can answer this question," says Mill, "understands more
of the philosophy of logic, than the wisest of the ancients; he would
have solved the great problem of induction."
One should, therefore, not copy him verbatim without quoting him!
But we were so happy as to possess this wisest of the wise of anti-
quity, in Prof. Apelt, in Jena, up to the year 1859, during which year,
unhappily, he died.
His theory of induction, published in the year 1854, in Leipzig, by
William Engelmann, is unsurpassable, as are all his philosophical
works. His immense discoveries in the domain of thought will crown
him with immortality.
That question now of Mill is thus answered, that the first case,
which he calls a complete induction, is an abstraction, and not remotely
an induction; that the other myriads of cases can only lead to an
Induction according to the rule of addition; for an induction requires
many cases, but abstraction only one.
Observations by the senses, the making of perceptions, requires just.
as much practice as the art of observation, which must be preceded
by these exercises.
The entomologist sees, at a distance, a caterpillar hidden under the
leaves and twigs, while an unpracticed one does not think it present,
because he lacks the exercised, or, so-called, practical sight. It is just
the same, at the bed-side, as regards differential diagnosis, and still
more clearly is shown the necessity of practical exercise as regards
indication.
What was called the luck of the physician, or his tact, is really
his knowledge from memory. At first glance he knows what one
unpracticed seeks to unriddle by the use of all technical means. But
not only that, he knows not only, by practice, the necessary indications
of his remedies, but also the effects of those which he remembers to
have used in like cases, since the forms of the reciprocal action, in
which the remedy was wont to engage with the organism, when used
in these previous cases, became known to him and still remain so.
He does not know this in consequence of an expectation of similar
cases from habit, or from statistical enumeration, but, from remem-
132
bering an objective law, in remembrance of the observed forms of
reciprocal actions, in their constant course, produced by his remedies,
hence by the connection of previous facts, which come under these
laws, with the later forms which follow.
Hence the recollection of favorable results pertains not to empiricism,
but to rational treatment, and only ignorance of the art of observation
could lead that author to the error of considering these forms of judg-
ment empirical.
This has its natural reason in the method of teaching of this school,
which surely can teach nothing of such distinctions. The clinique
is used, at present, mostly for diagnostic and experimental technics.
But medical art and science can never prosper except by the
technics of experiment in connection with the technics of the intellect,
and, as is well known, practice underlies all technics, if we mean not
to lose them. What the technics of experiment has disclosed, possesses
no more value than the accident itself; it presents merely accidentally
acquired facts, which are undecided, till the technics of the intellect
can connect them, dependently with those laws of nature, under which
alone they are possible.
Then, however, they have become the imperishable property of
human society and need no diplomatic language, into which the
technics of the dominant schools is wont, perforce, to indulge.
The rules and technicisms of experiment, of chemical or physical,
physiological, pathological, microscopical, technic-diagnostic, surgical
or obstetric operative, in short, all requisite arts of experiment, all
this, is very easily acquired by that dexterity, of which every phy-
sician must be conscious, before he undertakes the study of his calling.
It is otherwise with the hereto indispensable art of observation, the
general lack of which has brought the reproach upon these branches
of science, that they are only of to-day, since to-morrow even may
show the falsity of the conclusions, drawn from an experiment. This
clearly cannot lie in the thing, but only in us. In fact, the instru-
ments of the art of observation are to be found neither in the
laboratory, nor at the bed-side, for each one must bring them with
himself.
§. 72.
The assertion, for example, that Caffeine and Theobromine, sub-
stances the richest in nitrogen, are not poisonous, but are even the
most precious articles of food, belongs to modern times. But it is an
older, and still daily experience, that the use of strong coffee is fol-
133
lowed by marked weakness, trembling of the limbs, with violent and
irregular palpitations of the heart, etc., and the latter may, according
to the teachings of auscultation and percussion, indicate a complete
and far-advanced aneurism of the left ventricle, with insufficiency of
the aortic valves. These accidents increase to confusion of the senses,
visions and delirium, with constant inclination to urinate. Since all
these changes in physiological functions arise from Caffeine, it is hence,
as we may say in opposition to the above assertion, a poison.
Now, on which side lies the truth? To learn this we must first
inquire what idea is contained in the term "Poison," used by both
parties.
There are but two kinds of general conceptions; the problematical
conception is the idea; the apodictic [demonstrative] is the law. The
first has only subjective validity; the latter only objective, and each by
itself alone is void, and only in their relation to each other do they
attain the general validity of truth.
The idea "Poison" is, for the time, a subjective idea, thus void;
hence the question is as to its law. The law of specific reciprocal
action is one condition of the self-maintenance of the organism; the
reception of nutritive and functional means from the outer world, the
other. Hence, that which is once known according to its quality as
nutritive, cannot, at the same time, be a poison, in which the idea of
hurtfulness inheres. Hence this idea of poison must be explained by
the quantity of the substance, which is designated as poison, and that,
in relation to the laws of the self-maintenance of the organism. In
this relation, it is seen truly, that all nutrient and functional means
may produce even injurious, i. e., poisonous effects. Poison is thus a
relative idea, just as remedy is, and food; for every power of a body
consists causally or essentially in this, that it strives to change the con-
dition of some other, according as a relation between the two exists.
Hence, neither quality by itself nor quantity by itself, decides the
question, whether any substance from the external world operates as
food, or as a remedy, or as a cause of disease, i. e., a poison; but this
is decided only by its quantity and quality in the relations to the phys-
iological and pathological form of the reciprocal action of an organism.
Hence, according to the qualitative form of judgment, both may be
right, he who affirms that coffee is a poison, as well as he who denies
it this property; but, in this, both think no further than their noses
reach.
But if we wish to form a judgment for ourselves, we must, as has
been said, first compare the given ideas with all forms of judgment,
according to quality, quantity, relation and modality.
134
Wine may also, like Caffeine, according to its modality, he at one
time a poison, at another a food, and at another a remedy. In the same
quality, the same quantity of wine in its relation to the organism of
a diabetic patient, may serve as a precious remedy, while, in relation
to another organism, it appears so much a poison that it may strike it
down in an attack of apoplexy. Poison is, hence, a relative, and not
at all a scientific idea; it signifies only the injurious quantity of a
given quality. This is the whole pith of the simple strife about
poison and no poison.
He who has not yet attained a proper understanding of such ideas,
must refrain from speaking of Therapeutics.
Moreover, I wished to prove by this example, that the art of obser-
vation, above everything else, rests upon the instruments of the logical
forms of judgment. And, if the indispensableness of forms of judg-
ment according to quality, quantity, relation and modality is undenia-
ble, I must here draw attention chiefly to the indispensableness of
modality, since the experiment by auscultation and percussion might
diagnosticate hypertrophy of the heart, with valvular insufficiency;
although nothing of the kind were really present. Civil and military
surgeons may every year convince themselves of this. Functional
disturbances of the heart, intentionally produced, by the use of coffee,
perfectly simulate the above mentioned affections of the heart. But
if we subject young people to medical observation, under the privation
of coffee, the whole disturbance disappears in a short time of itself.
Hence it is clear, that the experiment alone never forms the decisive
instance, but always leaves open the question of being or not being,
possibility or contingency, while the other forms of judgment give
the decision.
Thus one authority cries out, Me hercle, opium sedat! the other,
Me hercle, opium excitat! or Rhubarb is held to be a laxative by one,
while another says, no, it constipates. However, both may be right
and both wrong. Laxans, obstruens, excitans, sedans, poison, remedy,
food, are merely relative ideas, taking their rise from the arbitrariness
of the power of judging and have, in themselves, no scientific value.
§. 73.
The usage of language, which has a double form for almost every
proposition, breeds the greatest mischief. The three forms of preposi-
tions-in, by, with-indicate the categorical, hypothetical, and divis
ive form of proposition. But there is certainly a great difference
135
between the mere thinking and the perception in thinking; between
the analytical and synthetical comparison and deduction.
The deduction must have a subject, and a connection with a predi-
cate. Comparison takes place between two subjects or two predicates.
Now, when I say, the difference between health and sickness lies not
in its object, it is the same process, it must be pathologically and phys-
iologically the same, I express no deduction, but only a comparison
by which my knowledge is not at all extended, but only confused; there
is given only a subjective difference of an individual kind of percep-
tion, a dogma. We make, for instance, at one time synthetical, at
another, analytical comparisons, which latter refer only to character-
istics already known, which belong to two objects as such; while the
synthetical comparison flows from characteristics which do not belong
to the objects as such. Gold and silver compared with each other
give merely analytical ideas. But if I know the specific effects of
gold in connection with the organism, and that of silver, then I com-
pare the effects of both synthetically upon the basis of the law of
specification. §. 27, etc.
But every science may be discriminated from others objectively
also. As plants are the object of Botany, and minerals that of
Mineralogy, so is the object of Physiology, the relative healthy, i. e.,
Oscillating life; that of Pathology the diseased. If we were only to
engage, in the natural sciences, in analytical comparisons, then we
might also say, for example, there is a botanical mineralogy, and a
mineralogical botany, if we could identify the living plants with the
petrified flora. Logically, in the domain of perception, from mere
conceptions, it is possible, but really, not. For the physiology of
plants, important knowledge may be obtained from the petrified flora;
but, for its pathology, this is impossible. Logically, in a categorical
deduction, every characteristic may be set forth as a subject; but really
the subject is always that which exists by itself, and the predicate is its
property. All analytical deductions and comparisons are logically cor-
rect, being based upon the proposition of contradiction; the real are
only the synthetical.
One may allow himself to be beguiled into the thought that in this I
am touching upon the unessential. No, the difference between this
analytical and synthetical comparison is so important for physiology,
pathology and therapy, that just this very mysterious neglect of it
furnishes the chief cause for the modern boundless confusion in the
physiological school. Hence, when I express deductions or compari-
sons, which already lie in the idea of the subject, then I merely
dismember, I analyze. In the idea of sickness already lies that of
136
disturbance, that of the "character of danger," of fever, of pain; in
short, the modality of all symptoms lies there; they contain only parts
of the conception of the subject "disease" dismembered, be they ever
so many, and my knowledge gains thereby, at the most empirical, but
no rational, extension.
It is different with synthetical comparisons. When I say, disease is
a change of the physiological state of the specific form of a whole of
the individual reciprocal action, in consequence of an external cause,
I have not dismembered the idea of disease into its phenomena, and
the characteristics which might be counted as constituting this idea;
but I have, with the idea of the subject, connected a new one, that of
the cause, and added a new predicate, diametrically opposed to the
specific form of the organism, that of change, and hence extended the
idea of the disease synthetically, and even established it according to
natural laws by its subjection under the causal law.
The grandest dialectic errors and delusions, from overlooking this
Janus-face of categorical deduction and comparison, pervade whole
volumes of the medical literature of the physiological school.
But this school fares no better as regards the hypothetical form of
deduction, from lack of observation of the difference between reason,
cause and condition A reason is either a reason of perception (ratio
cognoscendi) of a logical, or, a reason of being (ratio essendi) of a real
connection of things. When I say, in the sense of the physiological
school, Pathology must disappear in Physiology, for the diseased
life is nothing else than the healthy, because it has its physiological
types, that is a subjective reason of perception, an analytical compar-
ison which is by no means justified in combining the two subjective
ideas of Pathology and Physiology otherwise, i. e., really in one
unity. One may, at the best, confess that such irregular views are
possible to a luxurious fancy. But, in inquiries into natural sciences,
we can use no fancies, no fiction, we must simply inquire after the
reason of being, and be able to bring it into connection with a law of
nature; there is nothing more to be done. The cause of being of the
diseased life, however, is the external disease-producing cause which
changes the healthy life in its function and nutrition, and, only to per-
ceive that, the analytical comparison with the so-called physiological
types suffices.
Finally, the reason of being is that which also divides itself into
cause and condition, of which we have already spoken largely. When
the art of observation is not even so far cultivated that such striking
differences are confounded together, and hence lost, then fire (flame)
137
and water may be identified with each other, because both contain
oxygen and hydrogen.
§. 74.
Even with the judgment that distinguishes between the whole and
its parts, there must be a two-fold discrimination, because a real
whole may consist, either of a mere chemical, physical, or other com-
bination, or of the organic reciprocal action of its parts. The logical
whole consists of its schema, whatever it be, of its circumference,
mostly contingent, its sphere, its domain. It is true, the inductive
sciences are logically comprehended as a whole, but, for example, in
the whole of zoölogy, every part forms again a whole of reciprocal
action, according to the law of its specification.
The physiological school, indeed, takes the organism as a complete
unit, now anatomically, according to the composition of its parts, now
physiologically, as simple reciprocal action of its parts among them-
selves, but without ever strictly holding fast to one of these distinctions.
But the organism is never a complete whole, not for the least
moment of time, according to the law of proportional oscillation. As
long as this mighty all-embracing motion remains excluded from the
observations and reckonings of Physiology and Pathology, so long are
thesc inexact; so, indeed, that the one thinks he has discovered a result,
though the other may deny it on the ground of the very same
experiment.
"In all times, "declares Mill, very pointedly, "men have inclined to
conclude that when there is a name, there must be a special distin-
guishable entity corresponding thereto; every complex idea which the
mind formed for itself, out of its ideas of individual things, was looked
upon as if it possessed a corresponding external objective reality."
This lamentable personification of forms of disease, led to the greatest
errors in diagnosis of the physiological school, and puts an end to any
intelligent discussion: for every adherent of this school thinks that, by
adhering to those ideas, arbitrarily formed, he can read what takes
place in the patient.
Hence, according to the laws of nature, diseases are nameless; each
one, it is true, can be specified by ideas, but, in general, only arranged
in a schema. Admitting the latter, i. e., denouncing on one side, the
ontologies in use, this school cannot avoid arranging the disease, at
least, anatomically, according to tissues and manifold localizations.
This contradiction would cease, if they would ascribe value to these
divisions only as forms.
138
But as soon as this school begins to speak of forms of reciprocal
action, it is exposed again to the danger of being unintelligible.
Thus, for example, in this respect it divides forms of diseases into
acute and chronic, but no pathologist or therapeutist has as yet suc-
ceeded in defining where the acute forms cease and the chronic begin;
the cause of this lies in their vague knowledge of the subject. But,
according to the law of proportional oscillations, all acute diseases
must end with the 35th day, and whatever goes beyond this, or
relapses in greater intervals, belongs to the chronic forms.
All the unmentionable strivings and self-sacrificing efforts of the
physiological school, in the analytical comparison of the pathological
processes with the physiological, in the hope thereby, at some future
time, to discover the laws of the former and then, from these, those of
Therapy, must, from these very reasons, be without result, even from
the first.
Positive results and experiments upon the so-called physiological
organism, amid the uninterrupted change of its functions and trans-
formations, (which take place according to that law of proportional
oscillations,) can be gained only when the influence of this law is con-
sidered, on every side, according to the method of the change of con-
ditions, and the experiments themselves are carried on, and that
uninterruptedly, at least for 35 days.
§. 75.
To the art of observation belong also the conclusions from the effect
to the cause. These we obtain by the rules of the logical instruments,
Induction, Abstraction and Deduction. Even with these, such an
inconceivable abuse is practiced, that, to an ignorant one, X may easily
be offered for U.
ΤΣ
A notice, which I take from Virchow's Archives, contains as a
leading idea, an attempt to attain, by experiment and observation, a
statistical synopsis of the history of the growth of the body of an
animal. The whole result was about as follows: The ovum of the
badger dog has a diameter of fromto of a French line, and is
to be considered, in proportion to the animal when born, as an infin-
itely small body. A badger dog, born May 5th, weighed 230,62
grammes, after having been 63 days in its mother's womb, and being
then two hours old. A similar dog, of the same breed, and born at
the same time, weighed, after 25 hours, 237,67 grammes. A like dog,
born at the same hour, weighed, after it was 76 days old, having
taken food mean time, 3178,72 grammes. Its mean daily gain was
139
38,80 grammes. A fourth hound, born and nourished as the former,
weighed, after 113 days, 4788,55 grammes, and its mean daily increase
was 40,63 grammes, etc. These observations form the major propo-
sition. From this the following minor propositions were drawn.
From the inconsiderable weight of its ovum to its birth, the animal
had attained 230,62 grammes. But since nothing grows from itself,
but only by appropriations from without, this phenomenon shows
that the ovum must have received nourishment from without, hence,
from the mother's womb. That the animal also increased in weight,
on receiving proper nourishment, shows that this increase, also, can
only come by means of the food received. Hence, finally, the follow-
ing conclusions: when, from the supply of food, the animal body
develops itself, increases in weight and grows, it is in consequence of
this reception of food. The experimenter, however, comes to a much
wider conclusion, from his highly interesting experiments, since he
believes that he has thus succeeded in establishing the definition of
food, and says:
"Food is, thus, every substance which, by reason of
the nature of its molecules, and of its molecular forces, is adapted,
under certain conditions, to the formation, progress and renovation of
the organism." This is manifestly inferring too much, for, in his
experiments, nothing appeared relative to the nature of molecules and
the molecular forces of the food, and nothing of the particular condi
tions for the formation, progress and restoration of the organism.
Here I must again call attention to the hereditary errors of experi
menters: to these, for instance, that they, by reason of their igno-
rance of the art of observing, always conclude more or less than thei
experiments have demonstrated. Although this experimenter had
laid, not only the whole animal, but also each separate organ, upon
the scales, every time, and calculated the per cent. differences and
proportions, etc., according to the various ages of the animals, yet he
had no right to speak of molecules and molecular forces, otherwise
than by subordination of facts to the laws of molecular forces, con-
cerning which nothing appeared.
Moreover, to be able to speak of determinate conditions under which
the nutritive substances become adapted to the growth and restoration
of the organism, he should not found his opinion upon the experiment
on young animals alone; he should rather have taken into his calcula-
tion, besides the productive, the declining years also, and then those of
decrepitude, before he could advance to the establishment of a definition
of food, as he said, from the stand-point of the most rigorous science.
The whole experiment is not carried out scientifically at all; the infer-
ences are false, and even the kind of experiment was not half sufficient
140
for the solution of the problem. Hence, we have gained no proof, no
definition, but a subjective criterion. In the meantime, he leaves,
unconsidered, an important indication. Thus, he makes prominent
the fact, obtained by his experiment, that the brain of the new-born
dog is from 3 to 4 per cent. of the whole mass of the body, while the
brain of an older dog is but 2 per cent., and that of a still older dog
but 1 per cent. of the gross amount; that, further, the fat of the new-
born dog is from 21 to 22 per cent. of the whole, and that the fat of
older dogs now increases and now decreases in per cent., just as, in
consequence of the particular kind of food, more or less fat is deposited
under the skin, while, in two dogs, the fat amounted to 25 per cent. of
the whole, though these very dogs consumed a larger proportion of
vegetable food than any other. Surely, these are results which consid-
erably promote science, and from which new inductions may be
formed, but inductions very different from those which were formed
by the experimenter, but which may go to confirm the views already
advanced in previous paragraphs upon the significance of the connective
tissues, of the cells and of fat. What can the art of experiment do,
if it does not go hand in hand with the art of observation?
Let us not neglect to select here a practical example out of Thera-
peutics itself, to show expressly how utterly indispensable, to none
more than to physicians at the sick bed, are the instruments of logic;
not understood by them, however, and falsely brought into use.
In Vol. I., of Prager Vierteljahrschrift, 1864, Dr. Poor, of Pesth,
gives the Ætiology and Therapeutics of tetters [Flechte].
He had found that, in Pesth, every tetter patient had a swelling of
the liver, and, more than this, a swelling of the spleen. The swelling
of the spleen, he found at the beginning, during the progress, and at
the acme of every case of Herpes, Eczema, Lichen, Prurigo, Pityriasis
and Psoriasis. 66
Hence, I must either think," he proceeds, "that, in
Hungary, every man has an enlarged spleen, which would be nonsense,
or, that the swelling of the spleen was no accidental complication of
the tetters; but that it, and the eruption of the skin, form two mutually
connected phenomena of one and the same disease; else it were
incomprehensible why, among 459 tetter patients, there should not
have been even a majority without affection of the spleen."
Further, he proceeds thus: "In investigating the cause of the tetter,
I followed, hitherto, the synthetic method, as I endeavored, in the way
of logical induction, to raise myself from the data of experience to a
universal [general] truth. In 459 cases observed, the tetters showed
themselves 455 times, together with swelling of the spleen, intestinal
catarrh and periodic attacks; from nearly the entire sum of these
141
numerous cases, I might, also, with almost perfect certainty, conclude
that the tetter appeared in every case in connection with tumor of the
spleen, intestinal catarrh, and periodical attacks of fever. When two
similar subjects (diseases, for instance,) are like each other in many
essential peculiarities, then we may conclude, with probability (accord-
ing to the law of analogy), that they will be alike in their other pecu-
liarities also. The tetters and chronic fever and ague are like each
other, as regards the tumor of the spleen, the intestinal catarrh, the
periodicity, and even as regards the Therapeutics; hence, they probably
accord also, in their properties and in their essence."
This is followed by a comparison of the tetter with the chronic
intermittent, i. e., with the fever dyscrasia, in regard to the similarities.
of the accompanying circumstances, the Therapeutics and the anti-
febrile treatment of the tetter with Arsen., Quin., Capsicum, Digitalis,
Apiol., Salicin, Phloridizin, Tannin, Coniin., Kreosote, Tar, change
of place, etc., which always had the most favorable results.
Finally, Dr. Poor quotes the assertion ex post of Van Swieten,
"Non est anxie disputandum quomodo remedia propinata agunt, modo
constet, ea profuisse." [We should not anxiously dispute how remedies
administered act, if it is only clear that they were of use]. And, in
conclusion, says: “I venture to assert that the tetters and the fever
crasis were induced by the same forces (causes); that the nature of
both diseases is the same; and, finally, that the tetters and the fever
crasis yield to the same treatment."
Hence, in order to discover by induction a necessary truth, the
opposite of which is impossible, we must seek for the cause of Dr.
Poor's finding exceptions in his observations, which disturb the exact-
ness of his operations, and finally compel him to speak only of a
probability; for, where the probability determines the conclusion, there
we have only imperfect inductions, which can lay no claim to being.
necessary truths. The actual relation between tetters, etc., and fever
crasis is quite another, as will be seen hereafter; and it is too hasty to
draw inferences from Pesth to Hungary, and from Hungary to every-
where. Hence, from this example of the connecting together of
similar cases, we only learn the fact that some rule must lie at the
bottom of them; while that rule is, as yet, by no means discovered, as
such a rule would admit of no exceptions.
§. 76.
As a most brilliant example for the history of induction, the follow-
ing induction of Newton is always adduced: Major proposition,
142
1. The radius vector describes
2. The figure of the orbit of
from experiment and observation: The planets move about the sun
according to the three laws of Kepler.
equal areas in equal periods of time.
the planets is an ellipse, in one focus of which is the sun.
3. The
squares of the sidereal revolutions are as the cubes of the mean dis-
tances. Minor proposition. The first law indicates that the central
force, which always draws the planets from the tangents of their course,
has its seat in the sun. The second shows that this force operates in
the inverse ratio of the square of the distances. The third, finally,
announces that this law of the efficiency of the force, holds good, not
only in the course of single planets, but from orbit to orbit. Induc-
tive conclusion. The planets are attracted by a force of the sun, which
decreases with the square of the distance. The phenomenon of the
planetary motions is hence, by this conclusion, recognized as the result
of gravitation, of the law of gravity.
From the stand-point of natural history, however, this very induc-
tion, so celebrated and even to-day received as incontrovertible, is, if
rigorously examined, undeniably partial and dubious. For the attrac-
tion of the sun truly directs the planets constantly from the tangents
of their orbits, according to the law of gravitation, but only when a
second force is given, which prevents it from yielding to this central
force, so as not to fall into the sun, of which force nothing appears in
this induction. However, according to the dualism of mechanics and
of the reciprocal action between the earth and the sun, a reciprocal
action between the earth and a third mass must hold the equilibrium
of the entire movement, without which, the wonderful harmony and
obedience to law, in the midst of the apparent lawlessness of position,
the proportion of dimensions and the times of transit of all the planets,
could not be explained. It would militate directly against the funda-
mental law of nature to assume the partial effect of an attraction
without any effect of repulsion; neither of the two can exist in isola-
tion. Every motion has two conditions, of which one belongs to the
body, the other to an external cause, so that an individual and uni-
versal motion are always perceptible, alike in organic and inorganic
nature.
Wherein, now, rests the error in this celebrated conclusion, set forth
as a master-piece of induction? Clearly in this, that Newton trans-
ferred a perception, plain to him, from the sphere of the earth, to the
sphere of the planetary system. The apple, for instance, which falls
from the tree, lies entirely in the sphere of the powers of the earth;
but if anything without the earth should have influence upon its fall,
and could disturb it, then it must, in the short course of its fall,
143
describe a curved line, as does every object thrown by us horizontally,
the curved line of which object shows the resultant of two forces.
I adduce this most remarkable of all examples of inductive con-
clusions, in order to show that every inductive conclusion which
transcends the sphere of its major and minor propositions, especially
the limits of the domain which is to be investigated, and which is
scientifically marked out, must necessarily be inexact or false, and just
as false, according to the laws of Nature, as it is false to seek to draw
a conclusion from the domain of physiology to that of pathology, or,
from both to that of Therapeutics. Again, it is striking, that, log-
ically the conclusion may be justified, while, in reality, it contains a
contradiction, just as is the case with the law of gravity in its applica-
tion to the planetary movements. At the bottom of this, again, lies
the difference (which is overlooked) between the cause and the con-
ditions, between the causal law and that of reciprocal action.
§. 77.
To these cases I also add, for instance, experiences in Chemistry in
their unrestrained application to Therapy. If I have a patient in
whom the excessive secretion of gastric acid, after digestion, corrodes
the mucous membrane of the stomach and produces cardialgia, and a
chemist says to me that I must give some neutralizing substance, e. g.,
Natr. carb., to effect a cure, then this hope is without foundation, and
not to be realized. It will, to be sure, neutralize the acids formed,
i. e., one condition of cardialgia, but not the other, which must be
present, in order to make possible the general result of the excessive
formation of acid; or, when a physiologist says, de-odorize your drains.
and cholera will cease, for it frequently depends upon the drains filled
with cholera dejections: this supposition, also, is partial and doubtful,
because cholera disappeared in a hundred places, in which all the
drains were full of cholera dejections, and so remained for a long time.
These are merely forms of induction from one sphere of operation to
another, or, from this to one of reciprocal action. They all belong,
as we shall see anon, to the second deductive operation, and this deter-
mines their true worth. The sphere of the conditions for the forma
tion of an excess of acid in the stomach, is not that of the chemical
laboratory and of the laws of nature discovered there, but it is the
sphere of the laws of a changed form of reciprocal action of the
organism itself, which have but little in common with those of chem-
istry, which can reach its separate parts only. The sphere also of
effluvia and emanations, is likewise not that of the reciprocal action
144
between two specific miasms and the organism. Such conclusions.
remain fallacious, whether they come from Chemistry, Physics, Phys-
iology or Pathology.
§. 78.
Induction is thus the connection of a law with the facts of a department
of science, while abstraction is the separation, or the presenting of a
part, from the sum total of our perceptions. Both, however, form a
thick net for a defective art of observation in which many a bird per-
mits itself to be ensnared. In the Journal der Pharmacodynamik by
Dr. Reil, a skillfull experimenter presents highly interesting results of
his provings with Phosphoric acid. He observed, after taking Phos.
ac. to the amount of sixty drops, that it was found in the urine in
greater quantities than after a larger dose. It surprised him to have
found that, in proportion to the amount of Phosphoric acid taken, the
organism discharged a greater quantity of acid when a smaller dose
was taken, than when a larger one was taken.
"Hence it appears,"
he says,
"that although we were accustomed from small doses of
drugs, to expect small effects, and more marked effects from larger
doses, there may be circumstances under which small doses of drugs
may produce the inverse of larger. If Homœopathists would "make
these facts of use in the support of their principles of cure," he con-
tinues, "it is first to be shown that all other remedies act like Phos.
acid, as they claim for their principles universal validity.”
With this unjustifiable abstraction, to which that fact did by no
means lead, we stumble anew, as we have so often done, upon the
pest of the experimenters of the day, their failure in the art of
observing. By these experiments, no relations whatever to Homœop-
athy could be inferred, and those affirmed flow from the fallacy of
not observing given facts; for the observations of Homœopathy with
Phos. ac. are far older and more numerous, so that the efforts of this
experimenter can only be considered as yielding a very moderate
addition to our knowledge, and this [addition] was obscured by his
skepticism. If, on the other hand, the experimenter had known the
laws of induction and abstraction, he would then, instead of hitting
upon a subjective, and hence an empty opinion, have gained, from his
thankworthy experiments, the most brilliant pearl in the crown of his
acknowledged industry.
145
§. 79.
In every diagnosis and indication which we seek to establish, we
have to reason from the effect to the cause in a two-fold manner.
In the first place, we have, as regards the diagnosis, to infer, from
the symptoms of the disease, the quantity and quality of the cause of
the disease. The quantity of this cause we learn from the intensity
of the disease; the quality from the nature of the altered function and
nutrition of the diseased part, from its opposition to the physiological
life. All these things we learn by mediate perception. If, now, one
side of the indication consists in this, to know what effect those sub-
stances have, which we wish to use as causes of cure, so that we may
possess, from their effect, a surer prognosis for the success of the cure;
then the other side of the indication, on the contrary, consists again
in an inference from the effect to the cause, in so far as that we may
recognize the action of these substances as that specifically belonging
to them, so as not to fall into doubt, and not to confound these effects
of the drug, in a given case, with the symptoms of the disease.
We no longer learn this by mediate perception, however, but
abstraction and induction must separate for us the true from the false.
In order to meet all possible errors, we must hold fast to the rules
of the various forms under which we are in position to form abstract-
ive and inductive conclusions. There is, for instance, an incomplete,
an empirical and a rational induction.
To the incomplete induction belong probable conclusions. It arises
from the incomplete knowledge of the rules of spherical division, or
of the parts of a whole. It is indicated in conversation by the
adverbs "mostly, usually, sometimes," etc. Thus, for instance, it is
stated in §. 61, that Digitalis operates chiefly as a febrifuge. That is
an arbitrary division of the whole sphere of operation of Digitalis,
which, on the other hand, appears also as a so-called diuretic, and an
antiphlogistic also, in the Materia Medica of the physiological school.
In the midst of such conclusions, the region of truth borders upon
the domain of error. All is left to contingency, and that is contingent,
the diametrically opposite of which is possible.
What physician could ever follow up a therapeutic treatment which
might possibly produce the opposite from what he had intended? A
useless question; for it happens daily in the course of physiological
medicine, as is plain enough from the manner of their prescriptions.
and conclusions. Conclusions from the frequent similar return of the
same events are probable conclusions; they characterize the incomplete
induction, and do not exclude the contingent failure.
PART I.
IO
146
From the current literature, I do not remember at this moment an
example more appropriate for showing what an incomplete induction
is, than the following:
"Duchenne had been treating, for a month, with good results, a
patient suffering from one-sided paralysis of the muscles of the face,
by means of inductive electricity. At the request of the inventor of
a new galvanic apparatus, he passed a very feeble current from the
instrument upon the paralyzed muscles, which contracted very slowly.
In the same moment, however, the patient saw a blinding flame in
the eye of the same side, and cried out, I see the whole room in
flames.' The patient was blind, and remained amblyopic in spite of
the most energetic treatment." Duchenne made use of the knowledge
thus obtained, of the powerful action of galvanism upon the retina,
and, supported by further investigations, he subsequently cured entirely
a very sad case of weakness of sight, with diplopia, by galvanism.
As soon as the moistened exciters were laid upon the closed eyelids,
the subjective appearance of light (phosphene) was observed, and the
patient, given up by the best oculists, after years of treatment, suddenly
saw, and could discover the smallest objects, so that he could pursue his
calling undisturbed. (Duchenne-Erdmann, The local use of electricity,
etc., page 17, Leipzig, 1858).
Had Duchenne sought to give account to himself of what he
intended, had he sought, not to expose himself to accident; in a word,
had he thought of this, that he must form a guiding principle for him-
self, before he ventured upon his work, then this logical rule would
have at once reminded him (though, truly, it is nowhere to be found
in the physiological school,) that he committed a great sin, not only
against humanity, but also against the art of experiment and observa
tion, when he hoped to be able to determine, a priori, the What, the
result of his investigation upon premises, as yet unknown, while he
knew not the action of the new apparatus, either upon the human
organism, or upon the diseased eye.
Further, he would not have fallen into this inexcusable error, had
he considered the How and the Where. For he could and should use
a new apparatus, upon a patient, not before he had sufficiently proved
it upon the healthy, as regards quantity, quality, relation and
modality.
Or must we not clearly know beforehand what necessity of laws
prevails in the domain of the experiment to be undertaken, in order
to escape the danger of irreparable accident?
That every opinion should be considered according to these four
147
momenta, is an old discovery of the great Kant, but it remains ever
new.
Why did so eminent, immortal a mind ever live, when his very
greatest service, the setting forth of these four categories, remains, for
us, unused? why do we build monuments to him, forgetting mean-
time, what infinite labor he has saved us forever?
But our skeptical time discovered some mistakes in him, and,
forgetting that we ourselves can produce nothing perfect, rejects, with
them, all his works, as if it were better, with Sisyphus, ever to begin
anew.
Duchenne was, without doubt, ignorant of the law of Relation; it
never occurred to him, first, to study the law of the reciprocal action
of the galvanic stream with the organism, before he used it on the
sick; he formed his opinion, then, according to the laws of the lower
train of thought, according to those of custom, of the power of asso-
ciation of his subjective ideas, and expected, from the newly discovered
apparatus, the same effects, while a change in the cause must of neces-
sity bring with it a change in the effect.
But no one of the physiological school blames him for this error,
because they themselves, aside from the empirical, have no other logi-
cal instrument than the imperfect induction according to conclusions.
upon probability, and all of their therapeutical attempts must bring
with them like errors. On the contrary, the translator says expressly,
on this occasion, "this observation, to wit: that of the subjective appear-
ance of light after the galvanic current, we owe to that sad experiment
made by Duchenne."
Did the physiological school possess the guiding principle, unhappily
not universal, of first making experiments upon the healthy, then this
terrible mishap would never have occurred. But it possesses so little
of this principle, that it even makes merry over it, as Virchow does
over drug-provings upon the healthy, which he holds to be useless.
As Duchenne, however, after this sad observation, now used the
galvanic current, on one really blind, for the purpose of curing him, he
lacked again the leading principle founded on a natural law, and sinned,
even against the fundamental law of the physiological school, the
contraria contrariis curantur, and exposed himself and his patients
repeatedly to accidents.
Whoever can find in such motives, a trace of rationality, will, not-
withstanding his asserted rationality, expose his patients, at any
moment, to the greatest danger.
Hence, in such probable conclusions, the sum of objective reasons
148
is wanting, and the attempt is made to supply these by the
subjective.
§. So.
Empirical induction is formed from the stand-point of a train of
thought furnished by memory, through the blind force of association,
which expects similar effects from similar causes, in which, however,
the rule is wanting. In dyspepsia, for instance, the physiological
school gives emetics; but the emetic, instead of vomiting, sometimes
produces diarrhoea. Or, the physiological school is used to seeing
increased transpiration follow the exhibition of diuretics; but it is
very often deceived in its expectations without knowing why. To be
able to answer this why, which presents itself at every step, the physi-
ological school makes use of statistics, and all statistical tables lead
only to empirical inductive conclusions.
By empiricism, or what is tantamount, by the numerical method,
we, gain, indeed, empirical cognitions, proportions and similarities,
but it never gives us a law or a cause for them, never rational cogni-
tions. Hence, the numerical method comes under the category of
conclusions from circumstantial conception; and from the propor-
tional number of like qualities and quantities of individuals and forms,
no law can be abstracted; would we find this, we must bring into
consideration the question of relation and modality.
Thus, when physicians of the physiological school make the experi-
ment, and leave pneumonia, for instance, to get well itself, without
bleeding or other help, they have nothing to look for but numerical
results, which can not be free from exceptions. But they do not make
the least discovery of what might be done better; since, for that, the
law is required. And if, for example, as a proof of the favorable
result of any method of cure, the small mortality in one and the same
disease might be adduced; this would be at most a logical proof, but
none according to any natural law, for the logical proof consists in
nothing else than in the enumeration of the characteristics of that
which is to be proven.
Here, however, the most necessary characteristics are not enumer-
ated, even, and among these clearly should be enumerated, not only
the number of the cases of disease, in proportion to the cures and
deaths, but, among others, for example, the proportion also of the
relative duration of the disease. For it may happen, that, among fifty
cases of pneumonia treated under one method, there may be one
death, and under another, ten. This might have happened merely by
149
accident, i. e., from causes, which are unknown to us. But if the
characteristic, the duration of the disease, were adduced for each one
of these fifty cases of pneumonia, and had been compared with that
of fifty other cases treated differently, then the influence of the accident
would have already lost considerable ground. The spontaneous course
of pneumonia, for instance, follows rules, which do not depend upon
cure or death. Hence, when of fifty pneumonic patients, one dies,
and all the fifty are sick, on an average, twenty-one days, that is,
require in all one thousand and fifty days, while, on the contrary, under
another treatment of another fifty of similar cases, ten die, the mean
duration of their sickness being thirteen days, and the aggregate six
hundred and fifty days, while all the hundred cases occurred at the
same time, in the same place, and under the same external circum-
stances, then this proportion, notwithstanding its ten per cent. of
deaths, declares in favor of the latter method.
In the same way we should proceed with the other characteristics
of pneumonia, with the presence or the absence, and with the quality
and quantity of the exudation, the dyspnoea, the nervous phenomena,
the expectoration, the crises; with the complication with other dis-
eases, with the quality of the fever, the pulse, the sounds of the heart,
the secretions and excretions, etc., etc. But from this would arise
such an infinity of empirical permutations of combinations, that the
end would never be seen, even if men could be found who would
engage in such an enterprise for their whole lives.
From such experiments and numerical facts, to seek to maintain that
any method of treatment was right or wrong, is just as erroneous as
if a judge should seek to determine, that such a measure of punish-
ment was right or wrong, because in one year there was a greater or
less per cent. of crime than in another. Even crime is a natural event,
a result which flows from the reciprocal action of conditions, some of
which lie in the individual, and others in the external world.
Here, also, we must inquire in what period of time a certain amount
of right force of the will or of an idea, was overpowered by the wrong,
and within what space of time it is possible to overcome this wrong
force again by the new formation of a right one. The law of the
equivalent of this force is the law for the degree of punishment, and
gives at the same time the quality of the punishment justified by a
law of nature. These laws truly can never be reached by the numeric
method. Hence this method is impractical, in every respect, for the
establishment of leading principles, and all the more impractical, for
gaining an indication.
150
From these examples, I think, the difference between incomplete
and empirical induction in matters of natural science, can scarcely be
any longer mistaken.
The law of the greatest number also, so-called by Liebig, after
Quetelet, is nothing but the form of empiric induction; an empiri-
cism which lacks the knowledge of the laws which govern it, hence
it is no law, because knowledge of the causes and conditions from
which those numbers proceeded, is lacking.
The existence of things can not be known either from, or according
to, their number.
Considered in every aspect, from the numerical method, we can only
look for an empirical conclusion, as regards a limited portion of the
present time, but not in the remotest degree for any rational manner
of treatment, whether it is therapeutical or juridical, or what not.
§. 81.
Finally, rational induction finds, from the combination of like facts,
and occurrences, according to the maxims of mathematical natural
philosophy, that is, synthetically, the law which governs them.
Rational induction requires, first, facts or experiments, then the
explanation of the same according to the existing laws of Nature, from
which again specific rules must arise.
Thus we know, for instance, from the experiments of Prof. Wun-
derlich, in exanthematic typhus:
I. That in favorable circumstances the roseola begins on the third,
fifth, sometimes on the seventh day, in which case the remissions
occur on the seventh, thirteenth, fifteenth, or seventeenth day.
II. That the failure of the remissions on the seventh day was
observed in the severe, fatal cases.
III. While, in this form of typhus, the morning and evening tem-
peratures show but slight differences, in enteric typhus, these differences
are such decisive momenta, that it is most favorable, when the morn-
ing temperature in the second week is from one-half to one degree
lower than the evening temperature, and the exacerbations do not
begin before ten A.M., and the remissions occur before midnight.
In the first three or four days of the enteric typhus, the temperature
increases one degree from morning till evening, and falls from evening
till morning about one-half a degree. In the second half of the week
the evening temperature stands at 31.7, and most frequently at 32.
IV. Irregularities in this course, during the first week, are always
alarming.
151
V. In this typhus the period of development proportionally seldom
leads to death, though it often prepares the way for it. The severest
symptoms in the worst cases, the most dangerous events occur in the
period of the curative process, and death depends oftener upon sec-
ondary disturbances than upon the essential process.
VI. Even a very marked improvement of the symptoms, if not
occurring according to the type (?) of the disease, is of proportionally
little importance compared with more insignificant improvement cor-
responding to the type, and all irregularities are dangerous, and then
relapses, exacerbations, complications, hypostrophes are usual.
These are all facts developed by experiment; what is now the logic
thereof? of what avail are these observations and conclusions, or rather
inferences of Wunderlich, according to the categories of Modality,
Quality, Quantity and Relation?
As regards modality, the first question we meet with undoubtedly
is: Does this type, observed in the course of both forms of typhus,
belong to healthy or diseased life? for upon this depends, whether we
have to contribute something or not for the right quantity or quality
of the crisis.
In order to determine this, experiments upon physiological life are
necessary, of course, because this precedes the pathological, as has
been said in §§. 25 and 48. In consequence of these latter experi-
ments it is evident:
VII. That these so-called critical events, according to Wunderlich,
occur exclusively on the same days and at the same times of day, as,
during health, the increased and diminished excretions occur in their
alternations, according to the law of proportional oscillation.
VIII. That thus the quantity of carbonic acid given off, and the
number of the pulsations are increased, during twenty-four hours, at
from 5.30 to 8.30 P. M., and S.30 to 11.30 A. M.
Now, from these facts, the following inductive conclusions are
drawn:
1. It follows, from I., III., VII. and VIII., that both the exanthematic,
and the enteric typhus, in their favorable course, have their remis-
sions, exacerbations and crises precisely at those periods in which, in
physiological life, the periodical variations between delayed and accel-
erated excretions occur.
2. From II., IV. and VI., it is clear, that all irregularities in these
phenomena, in both forms of typhus, thus in life changed from exter-
nal causes, indicate, or accompany even, aggravations in the phenom-
ena of the disease.
152
3. From V., it is clear, even that, in enteric typhus, the period of
convalescence is the most dangerous.
4. These major and minor propositions, consequently, contain the
proof that no crisis, i. e., that no critical or so-called typical movement,
occurs in consequence of the favorable course of the processes of dis-
ease, but that it ensues merely from the conditions of the organism,
not yet diseased, and accompanies only the favorable course; that, on
the other hand, the cause of disease operates even upon these oscil-
lating movements of physiological life to change them in unfavorable
cases; and hence, that only these changes, which occur contrary to the
law of proportional oscillation, belong to the process of disease.
Now, were that regularly oscillating, so-called, type, the type of the
disease also at the same time, and thus, that of the changed physiolog-
ical life, as Wunderlich assumes, then this would justly lead to the
assumption of an end which Nature strives to attain by the production
of crises.
On the contrary, it is well established, that the organism, with those
normal movements (so-called, critical or typical) in the diseased life,
pursues no special end; that these movements are rather grounded in
its self-activity, and that by their abnormal course, nothing else is indi-
cated, than that, in consequence of causes and conditions of disease,
marked disturbances have taken place in the interior of the organism,
and that they had not been prevented by therapeutics, even during their
curative processes.
That is a rational induction upon the basis of the art of experiment
and the art of observation.
Now, since, above all things, a rational induction must precede the
indication for a remedy, one would think that the demand for this
would clearly arise from the very subject itself. But it was reserved
for the mind of a Hahnemann only, to enter upon this only right
way, since he, by experiment and observation, proved the effects of
remedies upon the relatively healthy, and not till then, drew his deduc-
tive conclusions touching their effects and counter-effects upon the
sick; but to the Professors of the Universities, to the teachers of youth
was it reserved, even to the present day, not to recognize this way,
and to be led by, and hold fast to, incomplete and empiric induc-
tions.
Only a very few of them have attempted within a few years, and
made drug-provings upon themselves; still more upon animals; in
this, however, they pursued this object, to find means with which they
could in the future combat disease. At the same time, they forgot,
in so doing, the deductive method, which will be unfolded hereafter,
153
and which would have served them as a guide, who would have taught
them that they had fallen again into the old error, for experiment alone
is not the last instance of knowledge.
§. 82.
MODES OF TREATMENT IN THERAPY.
As a result of this error, they naturally labor under its consequences.
Besides their problematical indications, they have also various modes of
treatment in Therapy, as the Grundriss der speciellen Pathologie und
Therapie of Prof. Wunderlich teaches. He entangles himself in a
contradiction, since he says, first, "that the statistic method is impossi-
ble, on account of the complete and never-to-be-supplied want of this
one and only true basis for an empiric treatment, the basis of the cases
enumerated." Subsequently, however, he maintains, "that it is only
the statistical proving of drugs that can lead to a firm establishment of
knowledge as regards their efficacy, and hence to a firm foundation of
Therapy." Further on we read, "Although the empirical treatment
is to be rejected upon principle, yet it cannot be dispensed with in cases
where, in a rational way, no therapy is to be found."
Nevertheless, the physiological school always appeals to its ration-
ality. But the Rationalists hold fast to a principle, the Empirics alone
merely to a subjective perception; hence, in Therapy, neither Ration-
alists nor Empirics are of use to us; we must, on the contrary, seek to
combine their two sources of knowledge, and that can be done in no
other possible way than by that method which I have called the crit-
ique in accordance with the laws of nature [naturgesetzliche Kritik].
Wunderlich knew, also, a purely empiric treatment, with the char-
acter of accident and the expectation of similar cases, as a norm;
hence an empiric treatment, which leans upon authority, the numeri
cal method, and the remembrance of favorable results, finally, a rational
treatment, which, undertaken with reflection, must have motives and
material obtained by experience.
What a strange mixture and confounding of various forms of induc-
tions is here presented, will be very clearly seen from what has gone
before. That now is called a curative treatment, forsooth!
Reflection and motive, moreover, are subjects of judgment, and
never rational; a material obtained by experience, also, is not
rational; it is nothing more than the accumulation of facts, which have
no scientific value, if they cannot be brought into connection with a
lawful course of things. But the most exhaustive diagnosis contains
154
no natural law in the physiological school; how could I bring it into
connection with any material obtained by experience? No theory,
whether physiological or pathological, leads me to the law of the form
of reciprocal action, which any extolled remedy from the so-called
"material obtained by experience" enters into with the organism.
Hence, nothing can be said here of a rational motive, which is capa-
ble of guiding any treatment at the sick-bed.
Thus, the physiological school is supported by a Therapy, the ration-
ality of which, however, may be denied, and by nothing else but acci-
dent and probability, hence, at the best, by an empirical or incomplete
induction or faith in authority; but it has no rational induction, and
a curative plan devised by it, hence, is and must be and remain non-
sensical.
Now the method: By the removal of that, the continuance of which
hinders the cure, only single phenomena of disease can be palliatively
relieved, but no disease can be directly cured or cut short. For the
tapeworm itself, the ejection of which Wunderlich adduces as an
example of a direct curative cutting short method, (coupirende
Methode) is not the only cause of the disease, but the individual
disposition also is a cause, under the influence of which, the tape-
worm could develop itself, else everybody, whose wells are very
near a hog-yard, must have tapeworms; this worm, however, may be
found with many members of a family, but not with all. Hence,
with the ejection of the worm, no direct cure is accomplished, and the
disease is not cut short; there is not even a hindrance to the cure
removed with the worm. Only as we regulate the disposition of the
organism, i. e., the functions of the intestinal canal, do we deprive the
worm of the support of his life, and render it and its progeny impos-
sible. The newest discoveries, also, in trichiniasis, have shown that
this disease does not attack all who have eaten the meat containing the
trichinæ, and that we do not succeed in developing muscle-trichinæ in
herbivora. In this category of palliation belong artificially produced
vomiting, purging, profuse sweat, diuresis, etc.
The expectant method is also a part of palliation, a superficial post-
ponement; no cures arise therefrom, and with regard to what Wun-
derlich says of Rademacher and Homœopathy, I refer him, for the
present, to §§. 1 to 8, inclusive.
The solution of this enigmatical confusion in the therapeutical pre-
cepts of the physiological school, lies, as has been already indicated,
in mistaking the difference between the incomplete, the empiric and
the rational forms of inductive conclusion, as well as in adducing
arbitrary reflections, which have only subjective value, arising from
155
the lower train of thought of association in which we permit ourselves
to be led by the uniformity of previous events. Such a degree of
perception permits every thing to be called rational, every thing empir-
ical, and that is very convenient; thereby bolts and bars are thrown
open to the arbitrary adoption of opinions, excusing or condemning a
treatment, just as may seem best to the individual interest.
The whole method of the physiological school rests-to touch the
This
very bottom-upon the method of harmonizing similar cases.
method fails in this respect, that it proves no causality. It is, more-
over, incomplete; for, although it is possible that two or more cases,
in which the cure of a disease a has taken place, have had no other
common antecedent than the remedy A, yet this does not at all
demonstrate what connection there is between a and A.
Hence, from a cure which the physiological school observes at the
sick-bed, a conclusion can never be drawn from this result to the remedy
exhibited as having been the cause of the cure.
Such a conclusion could only be drawn if it had learned to recog-
nize, by the proving of drugs, the effect of the remedy used, hence,
previously had changed the conditions, and had used some substance
as cause. in order to learn its effect; only thus can the physiological
school, or Homœopathy either, draw conclusions, with any certainty,
from the effect to its cause.
§. 83.
If the physiological school will account for its actions and omissions,
it must abandon all reflections.
This school has, we will assume for instance, to treat a hydroceph-
alus chronicus not arisen after any exanthem, etc. Now, above all,
it seeks for physiological types and finds a similarity between the
serosities of dropsy in general and the cerebro-spinal fluid, the watery
fluid of the eye and the juices of the parenchyma. It, moreover,
examines these dropsical fluids chemically, as well as the state of the
blood in dropsical affections. A difference appeared here between fibri-
nogenous and fibrinous transudations, while the fluid of hydrocephalus
is distinguished by its sameness with that of spina bifida, i. e, by a very
small quantity of albumen, with a relative increase of potassa and the
phosphates, in comparison with the soda and the chlorides, so that the
composition of the salts less closely resembles that of the serum of the
blood than that of the blood corpuscles; while, on the other hand, the
oedema of the pia mater contains a proportion of potassa and soda
very nearly approaching that of the blood-seruin.
156
Now how does it reason in consequence of these experiments of
its own, and the results therefrom, as regards the cure of hydro-
cephalus? None of these results finds in its practice a ready ear.
One of its adherents affirms that the collection of water in the ven-
tricles is the main object [of treatment], and gives anti-hydropics,
Digitalis, Cantharides, Squills, etc. to evacuate by the kidneys.
Another selects, in preference, the intestinal canal for this purpose,
and uses Elaterium, Colocynth, etc., while a third seeks to strengthen,
and gives Iron, China, etc.
This is what the physiological school calls giving account of its
doing and not doing, but what becomes of the rational induction, the
rational treatment?
For the formation of inductions we first require abstractions or
leading principles. Now this school says that "Diseases consist of
disturbances of function and nutrition." Hence it devolves upon it,
not only to discover the disturbances of function, and, in consequence
of the results drawn therefrom, not so hastily to count hydro-
cephalus among the dropsies, where it is still arranged in the text-
books; but also to consider the disturbances of nutrition, by which
the quality of the fluids of hydrocephalus and those of spina bifida
might have offered it still further leading principles. If we scek,
however, something common both to spina bifida and hydrocephalus,
we find that both diseases begin with diseases of the bones, which
arise from lack of nutritive material, of phosphate of lime.
From this point of view, all the symptoms accompanying hydro-
cephalus, and belonging to it, would appear in a very different light.
It [the physiological school] would have discovered as cause, the
deficient nutrition of the osseous system, in consequence of which the
cranial bones cannot grow and cannot unite with each other. It
hence follows that the brain, being without the necessary bony sup-
port, falls apart, and since no vacuum can be endured in its sub-
stance, water, that most powerful regulator of the organism, is
appointed to fill it; for the ventricles of the brain, and their contents,
are the changeable moderating magnitudes, by means of which the
change of size of the brain may often be regulated without disturbing
its functions; they take up water or not, in conformity to this change.
The osseous system, on the contrary, presents no changeable magni-
tude of this kind; a minus or plus in its development is then always
indications of a disturbance of nutrition.
From these results of various experiments and observations, the
inductive conclusion follows that, since, in this kind of hydrocepha-
lus, the phosphate of lime is lacking in the bony system, this substance
157
is not drawn in proper quantity from the food, whether this arises from
changes in the process of digestion, or in consequence of improper
food, and all the phenomena pertaining to hydrocephalus may be
explained from this cause. Hence, from reasons based upon natural
laws, phosphate of lime is to be given to the patients.
That would have been a rational induction and indication; its lead-
ing principle pointed to the law of nutrition, and this to the remedy,
although on account of various conditions it alone does not always
suffice.
To this is added, now, the deductive confirmation of a cure, the
exhibition of the proper dose being presupposed; for, after the use of
this remedy, the bones of the skull begin sensibly to increase, and,
with proportional absorption of the fluid in the ventricles, they close
and not unfrequently their circumference is diminished with remission,
and, finally, disappearance of all the other symptoms accompanying
the hydrocephalus.
After such experience every physician should watch the size of the
fontanelles of children entrusted to his care, and interfere, as soon as
the fontanelles increase in size, and not wait till the disease reaches
the last stage of hydrocephalus, and, in similar cases, he will then, with
certainty, predict the same result. In this process the expectation of
similar cases does not arise from an incomplete or numerical induc-
tion, but rests upon a law which is called to mind by former facts,
and hence, in this form, belongs to the category of rational induc-
tion.
It must be clear where that empirical, that pure empirical and that
so-called rational treatment of the Professor is to be placed. That
the physiological school is without rational induction is easy enough
to be shown by its practice. I can give one example for all, from the
same category, in proof of this assertion, from this very disease of
hydrocephalus.
To many adherents of the physiological school, the curative effect
of phosphate of lime in hydrocephalus is known empirically. How-
ever, since, according to the only law by which they allow themselves
to be governed, viz., the law of causality, they follow the maxim to
continue with a remedy from the use of which they have seen a favor-
able turn in the course of a disease, and continue till the cure is com-
pleted, they deprive themselves of the most happy results.
Thus, in hydrocephalus, they give this medicine uninterruptedly,
although a favorable result has already become apparent; yes, indeed,
even because they have observed a favorable effect from the drug, to
wit, that the child shows appetite again, its increased thirst dimin
158
ishes, the vomiting, the pain in the bowels, the diarrhoea do not return,
and, on the other hand, the growth of the bones of the skull notably
increases, for this very reason they give the remedy all the more per-
sistently, even if not in increased doses. Thus, however, they neces-
sarily change the former lack of phosphate of lime into an over
supply, and, as soon as the children are over-fed with it, these gentle-
men are surprised that the same children begin again to be affected in
the bowels, vomit all their food again and suffer with diarrhœa,
while the fever returns, the fontanelles begin to re-open, the skull
increases again in circumference, the brain-symptoms, once lost to
view, return again with asthma, photophobia, sleeplessness, softening
of the stomach, hippocratic face, in short, just the symptoms, corres-
ponding exactly with all those by which previously they ought to have
recognized the lack of phosphate of lime in the organism of the child.
Now, while they have used this great remedy according to the empir-
ical rule of looking for similar cases, upon the recommendation of
others, and, hence do not know how to explain the return of the pre-
vious symptoms, they frequently fall into the error of thinking that
they have given too little yet, and hence give more, and thus, in their
innocence, produce an over-supply of the drug, which must neces-
sarily occasion death. It happens by far the most frequently, how-
ever, that, on the occurrence of such aggravations, these gentlemen
of the physiological school, on account of their incapacity to establish
a differential diagnosis, between the consequences of a morbid cause,
and the effects of the remedy given, think of nothing else, than that
these aggravations must have been produced by newly occurring
injurious influences, taking cold, errors of diet and the like, and now
make the most unjustifiable, utterly arbitrary and blind attacks, and,
with the treatment, thence arising, lay the foundation for the greatest
mischief. Thus, had they had at their command, instead of their
leading maxim of effect, a rational induction for the establishment of
their indication and their curative plan, then would they not only have
seen clearly the only possible ground for the curative influence of the
phosphate of lime, but they would also have known, at the first sign
of the relapse, if not sooner, yes, even from the similarity of the
present with the earlier symptoms of disease, how to diagnosticate
differentially they would have known that the quality of the drug
had now become injurious by reason of the excessive quantity, and
they could have known how to remove all impediments to the cure
by ceasing to administer the remedy and allowing the given quantity
to work out its effects. Their curative plans are thus characterized;
they seek to treat actively in order that the organism may maintain
159
itself passive and should be compelled to yield. But the organism is
not willing to do this, or rather cannot do it.
§. 84.
Of the direct curative methods of the Professor, I have yet to men-
tion the specific empiric neutralization, as he expresses himself.
The idea of specification is borrowed by the Therapy of the school
from speculative Philosophy. Nevertheless, this school labors inces-
santly to define a specific treatment from its Therapeutics. Every
force of the corporeal world consists, according to its nature, in this,
that it seeks to change the state of some other body and thereby
experiences a change itself. The sum of the mutual changes is then
called the reciprocal action; hence, every reciprocal action of two bodies
and their forces has a quality or form peculiar to itself alone, hence
specific, which is distinguished again according to its degree. Hence
Quinine, by itself, is not a specific, but only in relation to the form of
the reciprocal action into which it enters with the organism. This
may, indeed, be various, according to its degree, but this, as is mani-
fest, does not affect its specific nature. Accordingly, Quinine itself
can only be called specific, in so far as every substance of the external
world is in general a specific; as it is dissimilar to certain parts of the
organism, and thus is attracted by them, or similar and is repelled. It
is impossible that all parts should be thus; but only separate and par-
ticular parts.
The idea of a specific remedy expresses thus a mutual relation
between it and parts of the organism, and this must be found out
empirically by physiological drug-provings. For some parts of the
organism it is a relation of immunity; for others one of attraction;
for others still, one of repulsion, and this ever vice versa.
There is,
for example, a specific form of intermittent fever which is cured by
Quinine on these grounds, and, as regards its intensity, by the quan-
tity, or, the dose of Quinine thereunto corresponding.
On the other hand, there are many forms of intermittent fever which
show, by their symptoms, that they do not come into the sphere of the
specific effects of Quinine, at the best in part only, and then they are
not cured by Quinine; sometimes, it is true, they are suppressed for a
while, but the general state of the patient has thereby become worse,
the fever returns again, or instead of that, sequelæ ensue.
Thus, for example, one of these forms of intermittents is specifically
characterized as follows: the chill occurs every evening at eight o'clock,
continuing the whole night through, with no heat or sweat following,
160
and not till four A. M. is the apyrexia complete. This form of inter-
mittent does not yield at all to Quinine. If we misunderstood, now,
the law of specification, according to the doctrine of the physiological
school, which considers an emetic likewise as a specific, because it
almost always produces vomiting, then we shall often apply the causal
law no less amiss, and often think that the quantity may have been too
small. We should, perhaps, in such cases, increase the dose of Qui-
nine, but find that, in consequence thereof, the fever not only did not
cease, but dropsy or consumption would ensue, because Quinine must
necessarily produce these sequelæ, which belong, according to experi-
ence, to the specification of its reciprocal action with the organism;
must produce them, according to the degree of its intensity, which
naturally increases with the quantity, hence, when given in larger
quantities, and for a long time, as is the rule in the physiological
school, in the so-called obstinate cases.
According to this law of specification, §. 27, or, of the difference of
species, the laws of formation and shape are permanent, through all
changes of phenomena, as long as the conditions thereto exist. The
designation "specific” thus belongs, not only to separate bodies of the
external world and their forces, but also to their combinations, with
the organism, into a new form of reciprocal action, and this we
observe most manifestly in drug-provings, which are undertaken
according to the rules of the art of observation and of experiment.
§. 85.
Hence Quinine is no specific against intermittent fever in general,
but only in relation to a particular specific form thereof. Still more
untrue is it to say, with Wunderlich, that the Sulphate [of Quinine]
is a specific against lead poisoning, or that it produces an empirical
specific neutralization; for the sulphates, in lead poisoning, enter into
a chemical combination with the lead itself, without the aid of the
organism, and form a third body, foreign also to the organism, although
at the same time harmless, while the Quinine, unchanged, is dis-
charged by the urine, as at least the experiments of the physiological
school teach.
The ignorance of this school, touching the law of specification,
cannot be more clearly expressed than in its own words, where it
identifies it with neutralization. Only such a substance is to be called
a specific which, alone and without other aid, in its reciprocal action.
with a specific form of disease, can restore again, without fail, the
previous normal type in a functional or nutritive manner, just as the
161
malarial air of the marshes, under certain conditions, times and places,
always produces the same specific form of intermittent fever. That
many physicians, on account of the similarity of the reciprocal effects
and forms of marsh atmosphere, with those arising from the abuse of
Quinine, often cannot tell whether a case of intermittent is produced
by the former cause or the latter, does not at all change the immutable
laws of nature; though the character of danger will naturally stand
out all the more prominently. The physiological school lacks the law
of prognosis for differential diagnosis and for answering the question,
which is the effect of the morbid cause, and which of the remedy.
In short, a so-called rational therapeutic method or manner of treat-
ment, can and must rest on natural, and hence, necessary laws, and
not be regulated according to other subjective ideas. It has to con-
sider, not only one or another part of the disease, it must, on the
contrary, always seek to act curatively upon the whole form of the
disease in hand, upon its totality in the strictest sense of the word, and,
where it is possible, with only one substance from the outer world,
because, generally, but one cause produces the totality of the disease.
There is, hence, only this so-called rational therapeutic method, and
thus only one.
That physiological medicine is certainly incompetent for such a
task, does not alter this truth at all. This school has, thus far, reached
the point only of contesting, on the ground of its customary patch-work,
this truth, (the reality of which we shall hereafter demonstrate,) while
it would be more rational, by experiment and observation, to acquire
the necessary knowledge thereof.
§. 86.
Before we can speak, in general, of a treatment or method, accord-
ing to which cures should be undertaken, we must have examined
the way in which drugs operate. Even in this respect, there is a great
difference between the experiments of Homœopathy and those of the
physiological school, as regards principles. The principle of the Hom-
œopathic school consists in this, to find the law of reciprocal action
between any single drug and the organism; that of the physiological
in this, to discover a causality, which may be directed against the
disease. Hence the experiments differ less than the conclusions based
upon them.
Let us return again now, to our Professor extraordinarius, Privat-
docent., §. 78, because his experiments, and the assertions based upon
them, present many points of view, as examples of a neglected art of
PART I.
II
162
5
observation, and, upon the whole, he does not belong to the Diis
minorum gentium, but is the one who has furnished decidedly the
most, and the most prominent items, as regards a fundamental knowl-
edge of Materia Medica, under the banner of the physiological school.
In the same work on the relation of the size of the dose to the
amount of the effect, he says, among other things, that, if P. Og owes
its efficiency to its remarkable relation with Kali, it would make a
very great difference, according to the end to be attained, in case of
patients in whom it would develop similar affinities as with those in
health, whether it produces a retention of the Kali, when given in
small doses, or an active excretion of the same, when given in larger
doses.
In the meantime I take notice of this confession, accidentally
uttered, less because it may serve as a confirmation of what has
been adduced in the foregoing paragraphs, than because the phys-
iological school seeks to establish the opposite view, whenever it
undertakes to attack Homœopathy.
"Thus it is. the balances and burette," cries this same extraor-
dinary Professor again, "by which we can learn, without any doubt,
whether any substance deserves the name of drug. One will not,
henceforth, venture to speak of the so-called dynamic drugs, for we
know, that force is the expression of matter. As those instruments in
chemistry and physics made a final end of forces without ponderable
and measurable matter, so they will, in materia medica, furnish the
proof that curative forces are dependent upon the chemical and phys-
ical properties of ponderable matter."
5
The latter, in some respects, no one will deny; nevertheless, in sub-
sequent paragraphs, we will demonstrate that curative forces are
dependent upon the chemical and physical properties even of impon-
derable matter. Moreover, it by no means follows from these experi-
ments with P. Og that it is the balance and burette which, under all
relations, mark substances as drugs. It is all the same whether we
speak of matter which produces diseases or of substances which pro-
duce cures, because, in both cases, the same general laws hold good,
so that, indeed, each may be measured by the other. But I should
like to ask for that balance and that burette with which the Professor
could have weighed or determined the physical quality of a motion,
for example, of a fever produced by a remedy, etc.; then I could very
easily reach the bottom of the laws of therapeutics. Neither can we
wait till chemistry has found, for us, the affinities which exist between
the substances of the external world and those of the organism,
together with their equivalents; hence we must, for the present,
163
measure the motions, which we see appear in such chemical combi-
nations, and that will be quite sufficient.
§. 87.
Having, in the above, discussed the contrast between pathology and
physiology, I must now, in opposition to such assertions, indicate the
difference between chemistry and therapeutics.
The chemist takes a substance which he wishes to examine, in order
to learn how it is related to others, hence, he must also take these
others and bring them into such a form that they may, with certainty,
enter into combinations.
By this he learns the combinations and separations, according to
the laws of the force of attraction or affinities of bodies, but a force
of repulsion he knows not at all; for even chemical separation, accord-
ing to chemical observation, is only accomplished by the variety in the
degree of the attraction of separate bodies. Hence we have chemi-
cally the simple, double or predisposing affinity. In this, weight is
decisive here; the qualities may be weighed together with the quan-
tities, because, for chemistry, no discrimination can be made between
the two, and the most decisive token of a chemical union is made only
by the proportions of weight under which this union takes place,
from which finally the combining weights, or the equivalent, are
determined. This, naturally, can only be accomplished by means of
balance and ournette, and with bodies which can be had separate.
In comparing relations of combination, either oxygen or hydrogen
have been taken as units, to which all results are to be referred.
The great difference, however, between this chemical process and
that of Therapeutics, consists in this, that Therapeutics has to do with
bodies of the internal economy of the organism in their combinations
with those of the outer world. But, in order to learn how they are
related to each other, it is impossible for us to take separately, parts
of the living organism from its whole, in order to establish their rela-
tions to other bodies, provided we wish to go to work in an exact
manner, according to the rules of the art of experiment; for, we find
in the organism, not only forces of attraction between its substances,
but also forces of repulsion, as in all processes which occur in mole-
cular motions, and these can only be observed in the form of a unit,
while, in the parts separated from the whole, they can be observed
only in a changed state, or not at all. Hence, there follow, from com-
binations of the outer world, forms of reciprocal action in the organ-
ism, whereby, from the quantities, only the degree of the intensity,
164
but, from its motions, its qualities announce themselves; particular
relations to particular organs, tissues, etc., which can be recognized
by changed forms of nutrition and function. These combinations,
too, we must be able to refer back to two units, viz., first to that of
the proportional oscillation within the constant sum of the substances
and forces of which the specification of the organism is composed,
and then to that of the changed form of these substances, forces and
oscillations in consequence of pathological causes.
But since, in gen-
eral, with no quantity of substances of the external world, which are
intended to be used in proving the form of their reciprocal action with
the organism, any unit is given, to which such obtained combinations
could be referred, it is necessary that these quantities should be proved
or observed, not only from their medium, for which the traditional
doses might answer, to their maximum of intoxication, but also from
their medium back again to their minimum. Hence these provings
could not be considered as complete with any one particular quantity.
§. 88.
The essential differences between chemical processes, those of phys-
iological provings and therapeutical treatment, are thus evident, so that
chemical experiences may, indeed, throw some light upon a few of
these latter, but never can furnish any governing principles for a
curative procedure. Hence the balance and burette can only be
used in a very limited manner, and only for ascertaining the final pro-
ducts of such provings, from which alike restricted conclusions may
be drawn, regarding Physiology and Therapeutics, in the form of the
second deductive operation. Force is, indeed, the expression of mat-
ter, but the force of matter does not act according to its volume
merely, but also according to the velocity which it is capable of
imparting to another body. In the chemical combination of two
simple bodies, the specific gravity naturally decides, for it gives, at the
same time, the measure of the quality for this end; but with drugs,
the force of their quantity within the indivisible organism is to be
separated essentially, for the art of observation, from their motion or
quality, which latter must exert a different influence upon different
qualities of the organic parts. Whether a substance deserves the
name of a drug, hence, depends not upon its quantity as shown by
the balance and burette but, mainly upon its imponderable quality.
We observed, after various doses of Belladonna, a series of phenom-
ena occurring in various progression, one after the other, according to
time, and these momenta of time, within which the quality of the
165
Belladonna produced changes according to form and locality, we can
as easily measure, as the intensities resulting from the quantities
thereto used. We have, hence, in this respect also the advantage over
chemistry, which keeps a measure only for quantities, but not for
qualities.
While, moreover, these reciprocal effects of drugs determine for us,
at the same time, the measure of the organic, physiological or patho-
logical resistance, we possess in therapeutics, with them also, a meas-
ure for the movements of the pathological qualities and their quantities,
as soon as we do not start arbitrarily, with a traditional medium of
dose, but proceed according to the law of the art of experiment. For,
what we perceive in bodies and designate as qualities, is nothing
more than the variety of their quantity.
Thus we obtain, by such investigations, the most exact equivalents
of motion between the accidental influences of substances of the outer
world upon the organism, and those of drugs. Even upon these
grounds, Therapy must go its own way, undiverted by its elementary
sciences, and can very well dispense with the late annoying demands
of physicians, upon chemists, as soon as these gentlemen have learned
their own powers.
§. 89.
In the inductions from his experiments, we miss, moreover, in the
case of that Professor, every useful leading principle; they were experi-
ments from curiosity. Unable to raise himself above the usual level
of his powers of thought, he is surprised by his own experiment, and
overlooks the very principal thing, viz., to reflect upon the circum-
stances under which small doses of drugs can produce the converse of
larger. He is blind to the law, that the effect never can be explained
by a cause, where a reciprocal action comes into play, but only by the
conditions which form the combined event. All this happened to
him according to the law of the lower train of thought. The habit
of thinking, according to this lower train of thought, as heretofore,
and not otherwise, is so firmly rooted in him, that not even an experi-
ment is able to resolve his doubt; on the contrary, it adds new doubts
to his old, and he prefers rather to despise those who would have led
him into the right path, than to ask for their counsel.
If his inductive conclusions are erroneous, it happens in consequence
of his extreme adherence to the modern experimental tendency of our
times, and he is all the less able to raise himself to abstractions.
While induction rests upon external observation of the material
166
world, abstraction draws its conclusions partly, indeed, from external
observation, but partly, also, from observation of our inner self.
Without all mathematics, without an extensive acquaintance with
the laws of Nature, abstractions are impossible; they degenerate
always into empty hypotheses. It is impossible for a child, who has
once seen the blade of a knife in water, at once to make the abstrac-
tion that all other bodies would be similarly refracted. Not induction,
but abstraction is the indication not only of a microscopical thinking,
but also of one according to natural laws. The faculty of thought,
however, is not simply born; it develops itself the more rapidly when it
is educated. With the art of experiment alone, the teachers do not
attain to making discoveries, and so little do the pupils attain to it,
that, for many years, the young gentlemen often have been sent home
from the universities with such a want of experience in the art of
abstraction, that they are hardly qualified for assistants. On the con-
trary, they possess all the greater practice in the art of experiment, by
which they stupefy many a Nestor of medicine who has kept behind
in these things, but who, on the other hand, has to complain of their
practical uselessness in consequence of their acquired fidelity to con-
victions, which, in every other direction, is as much to be praised as
it is to be condemned in the domain of science.
If our experimenter had become familiar, if not with the laws of
proportional oscillation thereto belonging, at least with the laws of
reciprocal action, then, in the place of his unfruitful conclusions, he
would have abstracted, from his experiments, this law: in the reciprocal
action with the organism, all substances of the external world produce
a specific form of this action to a certain degree, from which point,
onward, the form of this reciprocal action is so changed, that it, as we
are wont to say, turns into its contrary. Then would he, instead of
throwing a skeptical crumb at the feet of Homœopathy, which is
simply ignored, have cried out, cùpýza! Hahnemann gave you an
hypothesis, I—the law! and the blame lies upon the prevailing
uncritical skepticisms, that this could not have happened.
Finally, it was not worth the while to make such a bustle
about the results of these experiments, as others have already found
the same. Thus, both Kali and Natr. nitricum, when taken inter-
nally, during the first days, produce an increased excretion of urea, but
under a continued use, a diminished one. The same holds good, also,
with the eliminations of Quinine. Indeed, in the Materia Medica of
the physiological school even, there are many such occurrences to be
read.
167
Another adherent of this school, made, for four months, the most
exact observations upon himself possible, and found that nearly three-
fourths of the oxyures were passed when the moon was waning, and
only about one-fourth, while it was waxing. The greatest results
were observed during the last quarter, up to the new moon, both as
regards the number of days and the quantities in which the worms
were discharged. Hence, he considered that the popular opinion
about the more copious discharge of oxyures during the waning of
the moon, was well founded, and found it rational to commence worm
cures, as far as oxyures are concerned, at the time of the waning moon,
especially eight days after the full moon, although, in this statement,
he guards himself against all exclusiveness. The good man did not
know that the proscribed Homœopathy had attained this truth long
ago. At the same time, the corresponding remedies are in her posses-
sion, and she knows that, under certain circumstances, just the contrary
obtains from what the learned gentleman observed in his own person.
But now, upon his high authority, the popular worm-cure will become
rational. We cannot obtain a Therapeia according to the laws of
nature, nay, not even a rational one, so easily as that.
§. 90.
The confirmation or non-confirmation of such assertions is furnished
only by the logical instrument of Therapeutics in specie; for all
previous forms of the art of observation do not suffice thereto.
It is not incumbent upon Therapeutics to solve the problem of
progress within one given domain; it must discover the law of effect
from various efforts, that is from those even of the changed organism;
it must hence learn to know the laws of causes and conditions of two
domains, quite distinct from each other in their mutual effects, and
must also be able to determine beforehand the common result thereof.
I intentionally touch lightly, in the course of these lines, upon sub
jects which cannot be investigated by experiment. In such cases,
natural laws and forms of inference must serve us as clues, and facts
as verification. In this situation, the practicing physician daily finds
himself with his peculiar art of observation.
Experiment, truly, permits innumerable combinations of circum-
stances, which are not found in nature. But, along with this, it is
necessary that we should be able to separate for ourselves a natural
phenomenon which shall be the subject of investigation; then we can
transpose it in unlimited extent as to circumstance, in order to inquire
168
after its laws, while we introduce one known object after another into
the experiment.
But, if it is not in our power to produce or separate a natural phe-
nomenon, then an experiment is impracticable. Thus it is in Therapy.
Here, then, we cannot assume as causes, morbid matters, or the
so-called remedies, and see for the first time, at the bed-side, what
they bring forth; that we must know beforehand. But even the effects,
the pathological processes and products, cannot be taken, in order to
inquire by what they have been brought forth.
Hence it only remains that we take causes outside of Therapeutics,
and previously observe their effects upon the relatively healthy, and
this can be done by physiological drug-provings. Then we can take
the same causes in order to observe whether the same effect does not
fail in the sick, and whether they fulfill the object therewith connected.
For this, now, the logical instrument of deduction serves us.
It con-
sists in three operations. The first is a direct induction, from experi-
ments and observations already completed, hence from the physiological
provings of drugs in relation to the circle of the reciprocal action of
each substance proved, with the organism.
The second is a further leading principle, deduced from the first, for
the undertaking of new experiments and observations, which principle
is directed to this, to inquire whether those substances, proved even in
the altered combinations of diseased life, find useful application for
curative purposes or not.
But the third operation, without which the two previous have no
other value than that of a supposition, presents the verification or falsi-
fication of the two previously made suppositions, with regard to the
aim contemplated at the sick-bed.
If, now, the first and third operations have been completed, accord-
ing to the necessary and fully expressed rules, then a law of specifi-
cation is always found, from which then, according to the no less com-
pletely fixed rules of abstraction, such indications and prognoses may
be established, as will permit us to look no longer for a contingent,
but a necessary result, for all future similar cases, and which are free
from the fallacies ex post and present the surest token of a Therapy
based upon natural laws; for if the sphere of the effects of a remedy
have become known to us by its proving upon the healthy; if we have
further, a case of disease, in which the morbid cause has affected the
same parts as that drug did in the healthy, then there is given to us,
with the drug, as soon as we have applied it, the known cause which
must have produced a change in the same organic parts, whether in
case of alleviation or aggravation. In both cases must this effect of
169
the drug be different from the morbid cause, and correspond with it
only as far as the form is concerned. Hence, we possess, in conse-
quence of this procedure, a conclusion from the specific range of an
effect which has ensued, to a known cause, hence, no ex post conclusion,
as is the case in the physiological school, which does not know the full
compass of the effect of its remedies.
Moreover, because the physiological school utterly lacks this logical
instrument, all its remedies have become gradually obsolete. The
most precious remedies, approved for centuries, it throws away, but
not at all because they have actually become unfit for use, as might
chance from the tooth of time, but because, in want of deductive
reasons for using them according to natural laws, all remedies, with-
out exception, refuse their services. It hence rightly despises on theo-
retical grounds, or rather it would, according to its pretended exact
tendency, rightfully despise all authority and commendations, if it
would conform thereto confessedly in practice, which it apparently
carries on independently of its theory; for it has no substitute for that
which is rejected, and knows not how to deliver itself from the
dilemma of this theory and practice.
What an uproar there was, for instance, at the wonders that Kreo-
sote, Napthalin, etc., did — in many cases and now no adherent of
this school thinks any more of using these indispensable remedies,
because they are, for him, without indications based on natural laws,
to seek which, the prevalent skepticism does not permit, and for
which the prevailing curiosity for experimental results finds no time.
Thus the Therapeutist needs two different experiments to acquire that
experience, which he must carry with him to every sick-bed. To dis-
tinguish between them we may call the first experiment, for the first
deductive operation, the primitive; the second, for the third deductive
operation, the demonstrative, since it has to furnish the confirmation
of the presumption from the second deductive operation.
§. 91.
Proud of its physiological acquisitions in modern times, the phys
iological school labors to repudiate everything old, a priori, as if our
predecessors had been incapable of making observations and practical
experiences. It rejects them, however, as it does everything not
brought forth by itself.
Nothing in the history of medicine, does it condemn and despise
more than the signatures of the old physicians, who are said to have
drawn conclusions from the external characteristics of a substance as
170
regards its effect in diseases. Thus, according to the ancients, Dig-
italis must be of use in blood-diseases, because its flowers are adorned
with blood-colored dots; Euphrasia was famous as a remedy for the
eyes, because it had a black spot in its corolla, which looked like the
pupil. The lungs of a fox must be a specific against asthma, because
this animal has a very vigorous respiration, and, forsooth, what is
called nettle-tea must afford relief in nettle rash, etc. The physiolog-
ical school of the present day, on the contrary, knows no other point
of support than the biological and ætiological conditions, or the path-
ological products, in order to find a substance which may serve as a
remedy. But are its conclusions a whit better than the conclusions
of the ancients from their signatures? Because fever has the signa-
ture of heat, remedies must be used which abstract heat; this is a
conclusion the same in form and value as that, because nettle-rash
burns, stinging nettle-tea must be drank. I am free to confess that I
have more respect for the physicians of earlier times, and presume that
they made those so-called conclusions from signatures a posteriori,
though incorrectly. It is very probable that they first observed the
success of these remedies, and then sought, from some of their exter-
nal peculiarities, a suitable characteristic according to the notions of
those times; that thus the result was the main thing, and the explana-
tion entirely a secondary matter; that, consequently, in the making of
new experiments with such substances, a guiding principle, not at all
useless, is presented; for, to subordinate accidentally observed facts
to the necessary laws of nature, ever remains a maxim of science.
Thus, the only question is, to institute new experiments and observa-
tions to be able to meet the demands of this maxim, rather than to
reject them with self-complacent conceit of wisdom.
§. 92.
As an example of a logical deduction, the following may serve :
Among other diseases, I sought a remedy for the so-called humid
asthma, notwithstanding it is held incurable by the school. This
disease, usual with people of advanced years, begins with chronic
catarrh and the symptoms of œdema of the lungs, Over the whole
chest may be heard strong, snoring, bubbling, now rattling and now
whistling sounds; frequently the hand laid upon the chest perceives
them, and they are heard at some distance, and are always associated
with accelerated, short breath, amounting to suffocation even, without
corresponding heaving of the chest, and frequently with cough and
inability to expectorate. Sometimes, in light cases, however, there is
171
no catarrh present, and only persistent shortness of breath, which does
not permit the least bodily motion without provoking a paroxysm of
asthma.
It never afforded me any consolation, on the death of a patient, who
had intrusted himself to my care, to assume that this event had been
declared inevitable by the school. I cannot quiet myself by the unsat-
isfactory results of others. For it is essentially in the calling of the
physician to emancipate himself from the school, and never to forsake,
for a moment, the path of progress. Though I had sought in vain
for long years, yet the observation would give me no rest, that in
examining patients who had died of humid asthma, I generally found
nothing of that which auscultation and percussion indicated during
life, that is, none of those enormous accumulations of mucus in the
lungs. This fact led me to conclude that there was a disturbance of
nutrition or a paralysis of the cells of the lungs. At length I found,
with our predecessors in their signatures, the connection of the lungs
of a fox with the asthma.
If, now, any organ or tissue lacks the substance specifically belong-
ing thereto, or if it cannot be introduced or prepared in the laboratory
of the organism, then it must naturally perish with hunger; that such
a process was probable in humid asthma, followed from experiments
and observations on the living and the dead. The experiment of
using the lungs of a healthy animal was now permitted.
The physiological school announces, indeed, that, in humid asthma,
we must seek to promote expectoration, even by emetics, because the
removal of the masses of mucus preventing respiration and the form-
ation of the blood, is the main thing; or, it gives diuretics because
this asthma becomes dropsy of the chest; or narcotics, to diminish the
necessity for respiration, or to relieve the paroxysms of suffocation.
The ancients, however, thought the lung of a fox to be a specific
remedy against asthma, because the fox had powerful lungs. Which
indication, now, is the better founded? The ancients sought to con-
ncct, with a rule, an effect frequently observed at the bed-side; the
moderns seek no rule, but to combat the phenomena seen at the bed-
side as abnormal. But we know that the curative method the
moderns, in these cases, cannot prevent death; thus, it ought to be our
task to investigate the usefulness of the other. In such cases, the
ancients gave fox lung as a food, without hesitation.
But since heat, and especially boiling or roasting, partially changes
the molecular states of all bodies, I wished to avoid this, as well as
the influence of the stomach upon it, etc., in fine, I triturated a grain
of the dried lung of a fox with a hundred grains of sugar of milk, in
172
order, as much as possible, to set free the molecules. Since, further, fox
lung is used by many as an article of diet, there could be no special
danger in using it on the sick, without a previous proving upon the
healthy.
§. 93.
The results surpassed all expectation. The first patient was a woman
sixty-five years of age, much reduced in flesh; in consequence of the
persistent condition of asthma humidum above described, she could
only live sitting up bent forward; there was always lividity of the
countenance, lips and extremities, together with dropsical swelling of
the legs; the pulsations of the heart were irregular, and, in short,
death stood at the door and was already looked for by the relatives
with resignation. After this woman had taken two grain doses of
the above trituration, at an interval of an hour, an improvement set
in, apparent even to the relatives, but without increased expectoration,
and, after the third powder, she could lie down, and fell into a refresh-
ing sleep which lasted several hours, and which she had been entirely
deprived of for three days. On the next day, auscultation revealed
only a slight trace of the so-called rhonchus mucosus which had been
extended over both lungs; the strokes of the heart could be counted
again, and intermitted but very seldom; the respiration was so free,
that the patient had no trouble to keep up a prolonged conversation,
while the day before she could speak but with the greatest effort, and
then only short and broken words and in a low tone. The improve-
ment continued every day at this rate, so that after eight days she
engaged again in her domestic affairs, which she has continued to do
now for five years. The fox lung operated here essentially, and made
all the diuretics, expectorants, narcotics, etc., of the physiological
school, superfluous. I commit this precious remedy to practical physi-
cians, because I have proved it sufficiently according to the rules of
experiment and observation, to know that, in like cases it always has
like results, and chiefly for this reason, that every physician who uses
it, will consider, with me, that the doctrine of signatures of the ancients.
is a secondary affair, but, with me, will greatly esteem their thera-
peutic perceptions, and set them far above those of the modern
physiological school.
173
§. 94.
But though the much derided signatures of the physicians of past
ages, (ages which an adherent of the physiological school would say
that we had outgrown,) led me upon the track of this remedy, though
the result was brilliant, though the lungs may contain an acid, the
so-called pulmonic acid, which possibly in asthmatic lungs might be
lost, or might not be introduced or prepared by physiological nutrition,
and this lack might be the cause of the disease, yet these latter are,
for the time, only hypotheses, and the first success was nothing but an
experiment, only an isolated empirical fact, and might even have been
an accident.
Empirical facts, however, contain no final, self-illustrating law, and
Therapeutics needs such a law for its practice in conformity with the
laws of nature. Therefore in the example of the first cure of asthma
humidum, with the problematical pulmonic acid, or rather with por-
tions of the lungs of a fox, the demands of science have not been
satisfied in every respect. For this end, the proving of this substance
on the healthy, for the purpose of a comparison, should have preceded
the experiment, in order that the entire sphere of operation, in its
reciprocal action with the organism, might previously have been
determined, and this should have been done, according to the rules of
experiment and of observation, by a prover's union.
§. 95.
In the above quoted precept and detailed statement of the physio-
logical school, regarding the properties which should characterize a
rational Therapeia as such, an explanation is of course omitted from
the very beginning, as regards this subject," on account of the uncer-
tainty of our knowledge of the special effects of remedies to be used.”
Aside from this, however, I have been quite in accord with the other
requirements made by this school, as regards a rational Therapy, in
my use of the fox lung; for "I felt the necessity of accounting to my-
self for my doing and not doing; acted under motives; proceeded at
the outset, according to an anatomico-physiological diagnosis as par-
ticular as possible; I further considered with what remedy, under the
circumstances, the experiment could be most appropriately made," and
thus pursued no other than a rational treatment, in the sense of the
physiological school.
But how happens it that the extolled rationality of this school says
nothing of results, as if these were of no value and of no moment?
174
Is not that the most manifest sore spot of this "rational" Therapy,
that it cannot become security even for any result whatever? Thus
I can lose sight even of this postulate, and, hence the most complete
proof is given, that I proceeded in a manner entirely rational, in the
sense of this school; nevertheless, I maintain that this is really not
the case.
I made, at first, a demonstrative experiment; for, as the
primitive one, auscultation and post-mortem examination preceded.
the treatment, as well as the observations of the ancient physicians,
and, from the inductive conclusion regarding changed nutrition, even
the necessary principle according to the law of nature preceded it.
But what justified me then, in committing this remedy to practical
physicians, with the assurance that they will always have the same
effect therefrom; what justified me thus to go out of the circle of my
own observations, and to extend my assertion from the case which I
saw, to those cases which I could not see?
I propound these questions in order to oppose the too ready com-
mendation or rejection of drugs by the physiological school; finally to
show up their inadmissibility and to set forth that which should pre-
cede such commendation.
One ground of justification for my commending this remedy lay, I
repeat, in the leading principle begotten by experiment and observa-
tion upon the sick and the cadaver. But the basis of the physiological
school rests simply and solely upon their chemical and physical exper-
iments and post-mortem examinations, and this school is so vain, that
it really cherishes the conviction that, with them, it has taught its
pupils all that may be of avail to them in practice. None, not even
a single one of these experiments, etc., is referred back to the natural
laws of reciprocal action or of the specification of the organism.
Each and every one, hence, is void of absolute truth, as can easily be
demonstrated. Should it ever happen that such an experiment should
be connected with any law of nature, this school would be quite
unconscious thereof, and the fact would remain unknown to it.
§. 96.
Here, in case of the so-called oedema of the lungs, asthma humi-
dum, the inspection of the body gave the lie to the experiments prac
ticed upon the living by auscultation and percussion. Something
similar must also have occurred to the professors of the physiological
school.
In view of the autopsical results, the thought must, however, have
occurred to every physiologist or pathologist, of the insufficient nutri-
175
tion of the pulmonary organs, and, with the intention of removing
this fatal hunger of the lungs, by meeting its demands, the leading
principle in accordance with the law of nature was given, i. e., a
conclusion, a logical induction from the observations and experiments
upon the sick and their cadavers. Consequently, the first and second
deductive operations were also completed. The only question now
was about the third, i. e., the confirmation which, as we have seen,
also followed. Thus far, hence, a deduction is formed, from which
now the utterly unassailable abstraction is drawn, from a case deduc-
tively concluded, to all others of a similar kind.
Now in this abstraction lay the second ground of justification, for
my recommendation of that remedy. But my treatment was, in this
first case, in spite of the criteria set forth in §. 95, nothing less than
rational; on the contrary, it presented, through deduction and abstrac-
tion, only the necessary presumptions to characterize it as rational for
all future cases. This case may thus serve as an example for §. 90.
§. 97.
In order, finally, to prevent the possible opinion that all these detailed
arguments for the indispensableness of logical instruments, in dealing
with men of learning, were not in place, and that they were not the
pillars, sustained by which we can venture only to form conclusions;
the following example may serve as a proof, one for all, and all the
more, as it contains, not only the forms of abstraction and induction,
but also of deduction, and consequently ensures a suitable critical view
of all these three instruments of the art of observation.
Thus in the Chemical Letters of Liebig, 4th Ed., Vol. II., p. 240,
we read as a specimen of the inductive method, the following, which
I here indicate with figures, according to its principal forms of infer-
ence:
1. The favorable effect of manure always depends, a, upon a certain
physical property of the soil and upon the presence of a second sub-
stance; b, of a third; c, of a fourth; etc., etc.
2. If one has discovered all these, he then subjects his conclusions
to a test, which must show whether he has all his conditions before
him, and has overlooked none.
3. Thereupon he attempts in another soil to produce, by the union
of the discovered conditions, the same effect, and, if the result corres-
ponds to the supposition, and is alike favorable, he has made a
remarkable stride forward.
176
4. From this special case he can now, in all similar cases, predict
the like or unlike effects of the manure, the like, mainly, where he
knows that the same conditions are present in the same manner, the
unlike where he knows that one of these conditions is lacking or
deficient.
5. The expression for the combined action, and, the presence of all
the conditions of the effect observed, is now called a law, a special
law, because it refers to a special case, a particular plant, for instance.
If this law holds good for acid phosphate of lime, and “esculent roots,”
[Rüben] it is not on that account, applicable also to "wheat.”
6. But, for every manure, and every plant, similar special laws may
be discovered, from which general laws can then be developed, which
are expressions for the conditions of the growth, and development of
all kinds and varieties of cereals, all esculent, all bulbous roots, etc.,
expressions, which, in their connection, now receive the name of
theories.
7. Every mind, be it ever so limited, must see that, in this pro-
cedure, there is nothing hypothetical. It is only distinguished from
the procedure of the art of experimenting, in this, that thoughts are
connected with it, and, since these thoughts have a quite determinate
direction, the procedure has itself received a special name, that of the
“inductive method."
8. The conclusions, to which one arrives after this method, are, as
we may readily see, nothing more than the intellectual expression for
experiences and facts.
ments.
No. I contains an induction arising from previous chemical experi-
No. 2 contains an inference after the manner of the second
deductive operation. No. 3 has, at the start, a guiding principle,
drawn from that inference, for the undertaking of further experiments,
and, at the same time, the formula of the third deductive operation,
for the value thereby determined, i. e., the confirmation or falsification
to be looked for in the experiments hereafter to be undertaken.
Hence in Nos. 1, 2 and 3, the three elements of deduction are con-
tained. No. 4, however, gives the formula of an abstraction from
one special case to all others, thus an indication of the prevalence of a
law of nature, and No. 5 alludes to this law, although in a very
dubious manner, that is, to the law of modality, that, with the pres-
ence of acid phosphate of lime in the soil, esculent roots will grow, if
they are sowed, and none without it. But the inference of modality
does not suffice; for, whether every such seed will push its roots into
the soil, or into the air, can not be necessarily gathered from this
deduction, without a knowledge of the natural law of specification.
177
By this law, is the necessity of the forms and figures of nature
expressed according to modality, quantity, quality, and relation; with-
out this, our brains, which are placed above our shoulders, might as
well be between them, in the cavity of the chest.
Now, if we would give examples for the use of logical instruments
for the practice of the art of observation, we must not disregard a law
of nature, for we are allowed to judge further only upon the basis of
this law. But this disregarded law of nature is unknown to Liebig,
at least nothing of the kind is found in his writings.
No. 6 seeks to indicate by a special application of the law of specifi-
cation, that a further abstraction may be formed, namely this, that, to
speak correctly, from the specific form of one plant, whether grain,
root or tuber, we may abstract the laws for all species of grains, roots
and tubers.
All this, then, we cannot call an induction, and least of all a theory;
because, for a theory, Liebig lacks the very law of nature necessary,
and the subjugation of the facts gathered from the experiments, to this
law, by which the connection of those results, with that law of nature
in question, can be made clear, and by which means alone a theory
can finally be formed. §. 9.
The definition of the inductive method in No. 7 is quite too void
of all characteristics; for "thoughts," even, if they are directed towards
an object, are always arbitrary conceptions without any rule whatever,
only subjective, and in themselves inadequate for the formation of a
conclusion, at least, for the formation of an induction.
As regards No. S, it may, moreover, be remarked that this so-called
inductive method of Liebig contains thus an arbitrary succession of
induction, deduction and abstraction, which is not instructively worded
even, and, for one not practiced in thinking, is utterly unintelligible;
that, further, the inductive method cannot give "the intellectual
expression" of experiences and facts, but must draw experiences from
facts, not to mention that even the negation of the same object could
have the same value for Liebig as "intellectual expression."
Herewith, it is shown from the first scientific authority, that this
school cannot teach the art of observation, because it is utterly without
any itself. It is true, it has a faint idea that there might possibly be
logical instruments for the practice of the art of observation, but does
not understand how to use them with that success which must lead it
to necessary laws.
When, on the contrary, in this manner, the most ridiculous fallacies
must be uttered by the lips of the learned, the blame thereof never
lies in the facts and laws, but in those who originate them by
PART I.
12
178
"intellectual expressions," according to their subjective powers of
perception.
§. 98.
The doctrine of Hahnemann, that we must try substances of the
external world, on the well, before we use them on the sick, created,
for many physicians, quite a different interest in this subject. Thus
the Homœopathists never ask how such a substance affects single parts
of the organism, but, into what reciprocal action it enters with the
entire organism. Now quite other results appeared than those known
to the physiological school.
They found, in the first place, that all substances known for a long
time as remedies, or not yet used as such, produced symptoms quite
similar to those of diseases which were wont to arise accidentally.
They found that all these substances, proved on the healthy, effected
changes on the intellect, the morale [Gemüth], the sleep and the senso-
rium, as well as upon various parts of the body, yet always in a
different manner, and according to the quantity of any given substance
taken. In this manner they brought out groups of symptoms, to
which almost all forms of diseases, from other spontaneous causes,
corresponded, and, indeed, in a very remarkable manner, just such
forms of disease have arisen from the provings of various remedies
upon the healthy, which were known to have already often cured
similar forms of disease. Thus, Cinchona produced intermittent fever,
while Mercury produced symptoms, which, according to locality,
even, were quite similar to syphilis, etc.
From these facts various therapeutic laws were deduced.
As regards their reception into the organism, it appeared, there-
from, that all substances of the external world, as well as nutritive
substances, were subject to the law of diosmosis within the organism,
and, indeed, the more so, the more attenuated were their solutions.
But the most important fact, for our subject, that came to light, was
this, that the specific anatomical construction of the separating walls
determined the possibility or impossibility of the diffusion of various.
chemical or graduated fluids. Every membrane, and even that of
every cell, possesses the law of its specification in its structure, and
even within this membrane itself, peculiar modifying movements
sometimes take place.
While. in consequence of these conditions of the membranes, the
blood-corpuscles take up iron, the cartilages chloride of soda, the
bones silica, the muscles potash, etc., the vessels of the liver draw
179
from the blood alkaline bile, the vessels of the kidneys nitrogen, the
pulmonary vessels carbon, the lacteal glands lactic acid, etc.
But, whenever any of these structures experienced any want, it vig-
orously draws a supply of its wants from its surroundings, and every
over-supply it constantly rejected. Hence, these tissues take up abso-
lutely nothing which they are not enabled to take up by virtue of their
structure, and their contents, and the same holds good regarding what
is thrown off. §. 26.
Examples have already been given, as in the case of Hydrocephalus
in its relation to the phosphate of lime, and thus also in pathological
conditions. §. 83.
A solution having been given, in the degree of saturation suitable
for absorption, the therapeutic addition of the phosphate of lime, in
case of a pathological state of the system even, will hence, in conse-
quence of this natural law, pass by, without producing the least
change upor them, all other parts of the organism, which likewise
require the phosphate for the maintenance of their existence, but
already have it in sufficient quantities, while only the parts adjacent
to the portions of the bone diseased in consequence of the deficiency
of the phosphate, can take, from this supply, what they need.
Even in these natural relations there is no difference established
between curing and nourishing, between remedy and food. Even,
for the purpose of curing, it is hence indispensable to give drugs in
such quantities and in such degrees of saturation as may exactly meet
these conditions; for every excess would operate as a cause of patholog-
ical changes against the laws of specification, and could not any
longer be solely of therapeutic influence upon the diseased parts by
making a circuit around those still remaining healthy, for it must, finally,
also affect the parts remaining healthy in their function and nutri-
tion; consequently, it must operate as a new and additional cause of
new changes, aside from the changes already produced by the pre-
viously present morbid cause —an all too frequent result of that incon-
siderate quantitatively counteracting medication, unhappily in but too
common use, to which physiological medicine is wont to give room
among its notions of indication, and by which it produces such abun-
dant, and often irreparable, injury.
180
§. 99.
MODES OF OPERATION OF REMEDIES.
As a counterpart to the processes of physiological life, giver. n
§§. 19, 20, etc., I present the following modes of operation of nn-
edies:
Giovanni Polli, during the last year, made experiments with sub-
stances "which, brought into contact with one another, enter into
such an energetic attraction and repulsion, between the various mole-
cules of which they are composed, that the one changes the aggregate
conditions and properties of the other into such as are directly oppo-
site. These substances are called ferments."
"In contact with them, fatty, insoluble substances, Glycerine, for
example, became soluble; bitter substances, as Salicin, were changed
into sweet; odorless into odorous, as Myronic acid into Oil of mus-
tard; Urea was changed into Ammonia, Starch into Alcohol, and
substances of but little effect upon man, as Amygdalin, into bitter
Olive oil and Hydrocyanic acid." Schmidt found something similar,
to wit: that blood freshly drawn, from a healthy man, produces fer-
mentation neither with Sugar, Urea, Amygdalin, nor Asparagin;
but, if this blood be exposed to the air a few days, an element is
developed therein, which, in substances containing Sugar, produced
Alcoholic fermentation, and, after fourteen days' exposure to the air,
another element develops itself in the same blood, which is capable
of throwing Urea as well as Asparagin, into fermentation. Such
blood, however, exposed, no matter for what length of time, to the
air, will never be capable of producing fermentation in Amygdalin,
while blood from individuals suffering from cholera, is capable, even
after a few hours, of producing fermentation, not only with Sugar
and Urea, but also with Amygdalin.
From this, now, Polli concludes "that the albuminoids of the blood,
under certain conditions, may undergo changes which give rise to
specific ferments, not existing in normal healthy blood, and that, in
the course of certain diseases, not only is the blood adapted to the
production of such so-called ferments, but, in such diseases, the
origin of other ferinents is also produced, which, at the same time, are
more active than those which are met in the simple spontaneous change
(?) of the blood."
I take the liberty of merely remarking here, that a normal cannot
be at the same time a changed blood.
181
The experiments undertaken by Polli, upon animals, have led to the
following results:
I. "The injection of a certain quantity of pus into the blood
vessels, produces such diseases as characterize themselves by numerous
abscesses.
2. The injection of substances, in a state of putrefaction, produces
the so-called septicemia which makes itself known by typhoid (?)
gastro-enteritis.
3. The injection of substances discharged during contagious diseases,
as glanders and farcy, produces again the same diseases.
Assuming, now, that the so-called zymotic diseases, as cholera,
typhus, child-bed fever, glanders, poisoning from dissecting wounds,
etc., depend upon the presence and operation of specific ferments in
the blood, then the question arises, whether it is possible to neutralize
and render inactive, these ferments, as soon as they are introduced
into the living body, or are spontaneously developed therein."
A question, by the way, which Homeopathy long ago settled in
the affirmative. Now, on the ground of his further experiments,
Polli thinks that, in the bases combined with Sulphuric acid, we pos-
sess a remedy capable of neutralizing morbid ferments in the blood of
living animals, and of destroying their effects, without thereby so
changing the character of the blood, as to render it unsuitable for
the maintenance of life.
That the Sulphate of soda can accomplish this, I had already prac-
tically demonstrated, two years before, in gonorrhoea, as is well known,
and this practical experience has since been abundantly confirmed by
other physicians.
Polli finally arrived, after many experiments and counter-experi-
inents, at the conclusion, "that the sulphites possess the faculty of
putting a period to all the so-called processes of fermentation, as well
as to the putrefactive metamorphosis of animal tissues and fluids; that,
further, the effect of Sulphurous acid does not consist in this, that it
decomposes the fermenting substance, but rather in this, that it changes
its molecular aggregate condition." On this point he thus expresses
himself: "These occurrences confirm my (?) theoretic views, and I
hence conclude that, if the sulphites introduced by the mouth, can
thus change the tissue of the living animal, they hereby acquire the
property of resisting putrefactive fermentations for a long time after
death even; and further, that the presence of these very sulphites in
the living tissues might render these tissues capable of withstanding,
even during life, the action of these morbid elements, which constitute
the essence of the zymotic diseases.”
182
But the physiological school, to which Polli also belongs, is so sunk-
en in the quagmires of skepticism and dogmatism, that, notwithstand-
ing these precious experiments, it ever falls back into its old errors,
and for the purpose of curing, chooses, as a dose, the quantity of the
sulphates equivalent to that of the ferments which was injected into
the animals, as if the whole quantity of that ferment were necessary
to produce that pathological change; thus they give of the Sulphate
of magnesia ten grains at a dose, and from half a drachm to two
drachms a day.
Herefrom a new source of controversy naturally arose; for Polli
recommended, on the other hand, instead of the Sulphite of lime, the
Bi-sulphite and Hypo-sulphite, in the suppurative stage of pulmonary
tuberculosis, in the dose of three or four grains a day; other physicians,
however, thought that these remedies were as effectual here as others,
and while Polli recommends these salts against malignant small pox,
scarlet fever, measles, pemphigus, pyæmia, hospital gangrene, puer-
peral fever and dissecting wounds, an English correspondent remarked,
on the other hand, that it was only in the last mentioned (?) diseases
that the curative effect of the sulphites was very striking.
§. 100.
Although these questions can be decided exactly in Homœopathy
only, and, for the most part, are decided already, yet I will adduce a
few discoveries of Prof. Meissner, which may throw a new light upon
the internal process occurring under the use of such remedies; but first,
for a better understanding of the subject, I will briefly notice a well
known experience.
"Since all parts of the body respire, Oxygen is found in all, but in
what form, is not experimentally determined. Yet it is clear enough
from other experiments, that it sometimes appears as Ozone, and, at
others, as Antozone." Now, according to Meissner, one rôle of water
consists in this, by its greater affinity to positive oxygen, i. e., Antozone,
than to metals, to assist the polarization of neutral oxygen, i. 2., the
separation of Ozone from Antozone, just like Kalium and Natrium;
only these latter have this peculiarity, that their oxides very readily
form per-oxides with Antozone. Here, the metal polarizes the
neutral Ozone first, and the oxide, next produced by combination with
Ozone, takes up, at once, the Antozone. Moreover, the molecular
condition changes the relations of the oxidizable bodies to oxygen
and increases their oxidizability, a circumstance which, in the Hom-
œopathic attenuations and triturations, is much to be regarded.
183
Ozone forms the negative end of the tension series of the body,
Antozone the positive, and the intermediate members are to be judged
accordingly. All bodies, pertaining to the tension series, attract Ozone
and Antozone, but some, more powerfully than others, according to
their position, relatively to Ozone and Antozone.
Hence the electro-negative peroxides of Lead, Silver, Manganese,
Nickel, Cobalt, Bismuth, as well as Permanganic, Chromic, and Vana-
dic-acids operate as ozonides, reducing, where the electro-positive anto-
zonides, the peroxides of Barium, Strontium, Calcium, the other
alkaline metals, also the peroxide of Hydrogen and certain organic
bodies which become slowly oxidized, as Oil of turpentine, for
example, have acted as oxidizers, and, vice versa.
As I shall again return to these facts, so highly important for Ther-
apeutics, a mere mention of them may suffice here, because Liebig
has shown and fully demonstrated that the laws, in accordance with
which these phenomena occur without and within the organism, are
entirely the same, and that, in fact, a multitude of processes of oxida-
tion and reduction are going on within the organism, since, with every
oxidation, a chemical polarization of the inspired neutral oxygen takes
place; thus when inactive oxygen is to be aroused to chemical
action the positive and negative active oxygen always must appear
simultaneously, just as never but one kind of electricity can be excited
by itself.
As regards the new discovery, that, together with Nitrogen, Car-
bonic acid and Hydrogen, we exhale Peroxide of hydrogen also, it is
worthy of remark, that Zinc, Cadmium, Lead, Copper, during their
oxidation in atmospheric air, and, in presence of water, produce the
Peroxide of hydrogen, while they combine with Ozone, and the water
with Antozone. In this reciprocal attraction between water and
Antozone, consists, mainly, the chief part which water assumes in all
processes of oxidation in atmospheric air. But Ozone can be absorbed
by Albumen, and other organic substances, as completely as by an
alkaline solution of Pyrogallic acid or a solution of Iodide of potash;
Sulphuric acid and Chloride of sodium, on the contrary, have yet
stronger affinity for water than Antozone has. The same is true with
Alcohol, Potash-lye, Sulphate of Magnesia, Chloride of barium,
according to the degree of their affinity to water.
Where water takes on the form of vapor, there it contains Ozone,
hence this is found, also, in the expired air.
"Every attempt to analyze chemical processes, to refer back chemi-
cal phenomena to their causes, will, according to Meissner, in the
future, as it has in the past, always begin with Oxygen, but, hence-
184
forth, this very Oxygen, will be the basis of general chemistry, in so
far as it can exist as Ozone and Antozone, and, both as Ozone and
Antozone, enters into chemical combinations."
Finally, I quote, regarding this subject, as yet unknown in the
therapeutics of the day, and for the elucidation of practical cases, the
following observation of Meissner:
1
“Diluted solution of Iodide of potash is oxidized by the Peroxide
of hydrogen, with the separation of Iodine, as soon as a few drops of
a weak solution of sulphate of the Oxide of iron are added. The
5000 of the Peroxide of hydrogen is thereby clearly demonstrated.
The quantity of the Sulphate of iron added must be very small; with
the greater quantities, the reaction occurs either imperfectly or not at
all. This phenomenon is thus produced: the Sulphate of iron, already
easily oxidizable, becomes oxidized at the expense of the H O₂ into
an insoluble sulphate of the Oxide of iron, and, at the same time, it
transfers the oxygen of another part of the H O₂ to the Iodide of
potash, producing its oxidation.”
2
As a practical example of this, the following case may serve, which,
moreover, is not an isolated one. While yet faithfully adhering to the
physiological school, I had to undertake the case of a syphilitic
patient, who went through the inunction cure with Mercurial oint-
ments, but who was not yet cured of his ozæna nasalis. I, of course,
gave him Iodide of potash, and the appearances indicated that a com-
plete cure had resulted. The strength of the patient, however, was
very much reduced, and, in order to improve this, according to the
notions of this school, I ordered baths, an ounce of Sulphate of iron
to each bath.
After having used the baths sixteen days, an itching spot appeared
at the former seat of the so-called chancre, and, after two more baths,
a chancrous sore developed itself at this place. The baths were sus-
pended, for it seemed that the Sulphate of iron operated as an anti-
dote to the Iodide of potash. Now, indeed, ulcers in the throat
appeared, and the ozana nasalis had again become aggravated; it,
however, no longer gave forth its well known fætid odor. Happily,
I had already made a beginning in Homœopathy, and perfectly cured
this man, well nigh in despair, in a few weeks, with Natrum sulph-
uricum, 3rd dec., and he has continued well for sixteen years.
We see in this example, that chemical processes take their course
within the organism, quite like those occurring in the laboratory.
Since, however, the substances named in this paragraph are not all
proved upon the healthy, and even those which have been proved,
have been but insufficiently proved, as it would seem, I cannot speak
185
very decidedly, about my own experiences, made with them at the
sick-bed, but only will say this much, that they may become in future
of the greatest importance.
S. 101.
We know, indeed, that all substances of the outer world, no matter
whether designated as food, morbid matter or drugs, not only must be
of a definite chemical combination, but that they also combine with
each other in certain proportions, and that these combinations are
possible only according to the laws of the chemical tension series;
furthermore, that these laws manifest themselves, also, within the organ-
ism; the organism, however, not only combines them into various
other matters, but it locates them also, as has been said, according to its
own laws of specification. As Iron unites, in the laboratory, with Hy-
drochloric or Phosphoric acid, so also, in the organism, it unites with
the Hydrochloric acid of the stomach, and with the Phosphoric acid
of various fluids. But, the localization and use within the organism,
is no longer an affair of the Iron, but an affair of the organism.
Thus it combines, it is true, with the globulin of the blood, but not
with that of the crystalline lens. Kreatine, which the organism itself
produces, is to be found in the muscular fibre; while the brain, the
liver, the kidneys, contain nothing of it, though it is excreted by the
latter as urea.
Although all these substances have the blood as their means of trans-
portation, yet the Iron goes, in the blood, in part to its globulin, while
another part goes with the blood through the crystalline lens, which,
however, takes up none of it. Thus, substances of the external
world find the definite anatomical parts of the organism to which they
are suited, by making a circuit around certain parts, in definite
directions.
We find the same, but on a larger scale, when we present the
organism with the most varied substances of the outer world, sepa-
rately, since chemistry can only take, for investigation, what nature
presents to it in a lifeless state. Even those substances of the outer
world, which we use in the so-called drug-provings, or, for curative
purposes, seek, and find, in the organism, according to these laws,
those substances by which they are attracted or repelled. While they
combine with some one, both undergo changes of their chemical
composition, as also is wont to occur in the laboratory, but after they
have produced certain amounts of labor and equivalent reciprocal
motions, they become fit for removal and are excreted.
186
To learn all these motions is the duty of the physician before he
approaches the sick-bed, and even physiological chemistry would gain
thereby new governing principles for further investigations, for its
own profit, as well as that of Therapeutics, if it would only turn its
attention that way.
§. 102.
The laws of attraction and repulsion in diosmosis, not only hold
good for the physiological condition of our organism, but also for the
pathological processes.
One would find himself grossly mistaken who, should deny the
presence of diosmosis in the organism, upon the ground that fermen-
tation was an act of organic life. Under spontaneous fermentation,
every thing is consumed to the utmost possibility, according to the
nature of the substance present, for in this case there is no organic
resistance of self-preservation. Spontaneous fermentation may be
analytically compared with an act of organic life, but it is, neverthe-
less, a dead chemismus in comparison to the fermentation in an animal
or human organism, which, according to the laws of self-support
alone, and, still oftener, when it produces diseases, can be overcome
by appropriate remedies.
It is certainly worthy of remark that protozoa and the like, which
present the first signs of a capability for life, are often, in absence
of medical aid, the most frightful causes of disease, capable of causing
the destruction of human life. But to know the conditions and
causes of their origin, as well as of their destruction, and the condi-
tions of the possibility of their action upon the organism, this belongs
to the duty of the physician, the discharge of which is by no means so
impossible that we need fear them [the protozoa] at the present day,
or even construct a special Therapeia against the effects of such fer-
ments. The expression of other views now-a-days, shows lack of
logic as well as ignorance in natural science, even among physicians.
The fact of diosmosis, even in the inner recesses of our organism,
stands firm forever.
§. 103.
From the laws of diosmosis, most of the pathological as well as
therapeutical phenomena, can be explained in their chemical as well
as physical bearing, and for a deeper insight into these processes, I
187
must divide our remedies, as regards these laws, into nutritive and
functional remedies.
It is self-evident, that only those substances of the external world
of which the organism itself is composed, if they are to be used as
remedies, can be called nutritive remedies. On the other hand, all
those substances of the external world, of which the organism is not
composed, and some of those which proceed from its own functions,
including the imponderables, are clearly enough to be designated as
functional remedies in a therapeutic point of view.
In regard to the nutritive remedies, the following is yet to be con-
sidered.
For motions arising from any cause of disease whatever, which may
have nutritive changes as results, the organism, according to its pro-
portional oscillations, retains, to a certain degree, besides its powers
of compensation according to the laws of diffusion, also the power
of never and in no case spontaneously accumulating as much sub-
stance as it is capable of accumulating, and of never expending as
much as it might expend without injury to its integrity, as long as
function and nutrition are not disturbed. And if they are changed
by accumulations or deprivations, it next keeps in readiness for the
purpose of counteraction, its oscillating maximum and minimum of
substance.
If now,
in the special anatomical structure of the membranous sepa-
rating walls of the cells of the connective tissue, in short, of all organic
parts, the conditions are given for the possibility of the diffusion of
chemical qualities and degrees of saturation, then we must keep in
view the difference between quality and quantity of substances in
relation to this two-fold category, and, at the same time to diseased, as
well as healthy organisms, and this difference must hold good with
regard to morbid, as well as with regard to curative substances.
I understand by quality of a morbid or curative substance, nothing
but the specific properties of its quality in relation to its correlatives
within the organism.
When we give Opium, for example, in traditional doses, we observe
no other primary correlation of its quality than toward the nervous
system, for, though it is carried by the blood to all parts of the organ-
ism, yet it manifests its specific influence upon no anatomical locality
limited to organs.
But the quality of the scarlatina-virus, for instance, takes the same
course as the blood, but clings only to the throat, the eyes, the respir-
atory apparatus, the surface of the skin, etc., and leaves a number of
the other parts of the organism untouched. The springs of Gastein
188
never show a qualitative direction toward the intestinal canal, as do
those of Kissingen, no matter in what quantity these substances are
introduced into the organism, the quantity generally only determining
the intensity of the quality.
Hence, it finally follows, that quantities could never present the only
conditions for organic changes, if they did not possess, by their quali
ties, the other necessary conditions for particular localities in particular
directions, upon which we, in consciousness thereof, can exert a thera-
peutic influence.
Hence, in all therapeutical investigations, the quantity or dose must
ever be separated from the consideration of its quality in one and the
same substance, since it is only the quality which determines the spe-
cific relations of a substance to the organism.
§. 104.
These processes must be illustrated by examples, for general atten-
tion is but too little directed to them, and such words as the above
sound so strangely, to many, that they require to be brought into har-
mony with language in current use.
5
In order to set this forth in a better way, I return first to that exper-
iment according to which that private lecturer thinks, among other
things, "that because one hundred drops of P O are not yet excreted
from the body in twenty-four hours, the several experiments ought to
be undertaken with, at least, an interval of twice twenty-four hours,
so that the previous dose may not influence the succeeding one."
However, it is established by the experiments of Homœopathy, that
even smaller quantities of Phosphoric acid manifest their effects in the
clearest manner much longer than twenty-four hours, even for weeks
after their use has been discontinued. Certainly, judging from all his
assertions, the entire range of the form of reciprocal action of this
acid with the organism, artificially introduced into it, cannot be known
to this experimenter, as it is already known in Homœopathy.
We know that the blood contains, under all circumstances, a great
quantity of Phosphoric acid and incombustible Potash, and we know
that Phosphates and Potash in the blood belong to the blood corpus-
cles, Soda and Chloride of sodium to the serum, and hence that these
substances are carried, by the circulation, to all parts of the organism.
Now this private lecturer further holds, that we may assume it as
a law that, with the strength of the dose of chemical bodies, the
strength of their affinities increases, and if PO, in larger doses,
carries Potash with it in the urinary excretion, why not also in smaller,
5
66
189
and why do these latter permit less Potash to be excreted than in the
normal condition? What suspends the law of affinity here?" he
inquires.
Nothing suspends the law of affinity, that gentleman should have
known, because it is a law of nature; but the animal chemismus,
which is circumscribed by the membranous resistances of the organic
diosmosis, admits of no unconditional comparison with that of the
laboratory.
To many, the seeing into such truths must, indeed, be attended with
infinite difficulty.
Phosphoric acid, introduced into the organism, in doses of from ten
to sixty drops, did, undoubtedly, by no means reach the maximum
quantity which can be taken up by the body, and even entered into
nutritive combinations with other organic parts than those of the
blood, of which parts, many would still take up P O without thereby
undergoing any change. The same holds good with Potash. Hence
5
5
5
the P O must have carried with it a part of the Potash (by reason of
its affinity thereto,) to those parts also, as far as it was possible, and a
part of the Potash must have entered into other combinations, for
which reason now it was necessarily excreted in less quantities than in
the normal state. The experiment has, however, shown at the same
time, that, with more than sixty drops, the maximum of the possibility
of absorption of P O (a possibility previously still existing with
regard to the introduction of P O into the organism,) is not only quite
reached, but already passed, and, from this point, the overplus in con-
formity to the above developed laws, is discharged through the urine,
whither the PO, on the same grounds, must naturally carry with it
the corresponding equivalent of Potash; for the experiment lasted
four weeks, and the P O was taken with intervals of two days, dur-
ing this period, in increasing doses.
5
5
Consequently the qualities of the Phosphoric acid and the Potash
follow, at first, more extended and other directions, within the circle
of their manifold reciprocal action with the organism, than toward
the blood alone, and their quantities have bearing only upon the pos-
sibilities within the maxima and minima of physiological nutrition
and function.
Thus we saw nothing, but that the Phosphoric acid, by virtue of
the specific directions of its quality, had to enter into nutritive combi-
nations, even to super-saturation, from which point onward the opposite
phenomenon of excretion followed.
If now the use of the Phosphoric acid had been further pushed, up
to the very maximum of the possibility of its excretion, counter-move-
190
ments in other specific directions of the Phosphoric acid would have
occurred, which would then have been more sensible to this gen-
tleman.
These are the processes based upon the well known laws of nature,
as results of these experiments, though many of them have escaped
immediate perception. But what occurs according to the determining
of natural laws, as, for instance, in an organism, this is quite beyond
the domain of hypotheses. Yet, to gain a conception of these pro-
cesses, according to natural laws, we must lay aside hereditary
prejudices as regards the effects of substances, as if they were to be
exclusively considered, quantitatively or qualitatively; we must not
only use the chemical ideas of the laboratory, by the aid of our
extended knowledge, with the necessary caution, but even the cus-
tomary pharmacodynamic ideas must not lead us to think, for
instance, in case of Tartar emetic, only of its nauseating, in case of
Belladonna, only of its narcotic, in case of Digitalis, only of its
so-called diuretic effects, and with Phosphoric acid, only of its affinity
for Potash, but we must know that these are merely separate links of
the great chain of the qualitative specific relations of these substances
to separate parts of the organism; we must consider all these phe-
nomena and their results as forms of motion, which have arisen in
accordance with laws just mentioned, and which these substances had
to effect with those parts of the organism to which they are correla-
tively related.
We must here make mention of yet another function, namely, of
this, that the organism in many ways spontaneously changes many
nutritive substances, as regards their form, and this, according to the
law of its specification, whereupon they must be transferred to just as
many various localities.
Phosphate of lime, for example, is contained in all organic parts, not
only, however, in consequence of being taken up as such directly with
the substances of nutrition, but its necessary quantity is frequently
furnished by its elementary constituents present in the body and oth-
erwise introduced, (for example, by carbonate of lime) as soon as, in
consequence of a too scanty supply thereof, the parts of the organism
unlike to it, require it for their function in a larger quantity. But
when, even in pathological processes, as, for example, in one of the
specific forms of Typhus, it [Phosphate of lime] can be found in
larger quantities in separate organs, as, for instance, in the brain,
without increased supply, then this occurs in consequence of a dios-
mosis changed by the morbid cause, and in the case adduced, in conse-
191
quence of the change wrought, in the functions of the structure of
the brain, by the morbid cause.
§. 105.
The so-called changing into the opposite, manifests itself most clearly
in the example of the reciprocal action of the Phosphate of lime in
case of Hydrocephalus. If this disease arises, as indeed it most com-
monly does, in consequence of a lack of Phosphate of lime, then this
lack is first demonstrated to us by the symptoms of those organs and
systems to which the Phosphate of lime possesses a specific tendency
by virtue of its nutritive importance, and we can divide the symptoms
of this lack into the well known stages. If, now, the Phosphate of
lime is given, improvement of all the affected parts ensues, the symp-
toms of a deficiency [of this substance] subside, and the bones of the
skull grow. If we do not recognize this moment as that which indi-
cates to us that the nutritive substance has already brought relief, and
consequently must be laid aside, in order to observe its positive secon-
dary effect, i. e., to observe how long this relief continues, and, if we
fall into the error of still persevering in its use, then all the organic
parts, previously suffering from a deficiency, become affected anew,
and now, indeed, in consequence of an excess of nutritive material.
§. S3. Hereby, again, a real insight is given us into the significance
of the quality of a drug, since it is the quality which localizes the
quantity.
This determination of a remedy towards a given locality, and in
this case, of a remedy of nutrition, is that which impresses upon it its
specific character, and, on this observation of qualities with the co-ope-
ration of quantities, which latter merely carry the degree of intensity
up to an injurious chemical action, rests one entire half of the art of
observing at the sick-bed, which, for a Therapeia to be conducted
according to natural laws, hence, a practical one, is of prime necessity.
§. 106.
Thus, all these processes underlie the laws of nutrition and function.
Sodium, Potassa, Iron, Magnesia, Lime, Phosphorus, Chlorine, Fluor,
etc., are all necessary means of nutrition, as is well known. Their
qualities describe, according to the law of the specification of the
organism, their lines of direction specifically determined for them,
(and it must be remembered, with different intensities of quantities,)
towards the separate organs and parts, for which they have to serve
192
for nourishment, support and function, according to the laws of dios-
mosis. Where, in opposition to these laws, from external causes,
these, as well as all nutritive or curative substances, accumulate in the
particular localities even, appointed for them, above the maximum of
the proportional oscillation, or, when they are not supplied above the
minimum, then phenomena appear, which we recognize as symptoms
of disease. At the same time, it is quite a matter of indifference from
what point of application they are taken up. provided only they are
taken up, are carried on further by the fluids of the body, and can be
brought to those places which need them, according to their own
qualities. So also, the fact is well established, that all these substan-
ces of nutrition circulate, in every direction, with the organic fluids,
till they have reached the localities specifically appropriate or correla-
tive to them, and are taken up and changed by the same.
The quali-
ties of curative and nutritive substances, and those of the organs, form,
therefore, the specific correlatives.
§. 107.
It is true, that Physiology now-a-days designates some of these pro-
cesses as "equivalents of nutrition," by which term, however, we lose
sight of all curative means, because the physiological school, unhappily,
does not know how to connect anything with the idea of a remedy,
which looks like a means of nutrition; on the contrary, it connects
therewith something hostile to the organism, with which to contend
against it and its disease.
With this designation a generalization is moreover given, which
we could turn to account in Therapeutics as little as in Pathology, for,
with it, nothing is expressed of that which is taking place, and these
processes are again manifold, but must be none the less fixed by
precise ideas.
Thus, we must, for example, discriminate the process under which
the quality of Iron is introduced into the blood, the brain, etc., as
regards its quantity, and such considerations lead us to the significance
of the quantities of substances, after we have spoken in general about
their qualities; for the quantity of the Iron is one thing in the blood,
for example, and another in the brain, etc.
Hence, the laws of the quality, thus far adduced, do not suffice for
an explanation of the manner of the operation of drugs. As little as
the motion of the planets, and the moon, can be chemically explained,
and as little as I see the wave of air, which, if of a certain length, pro-
duces the red color, and, only by induction from the phenomena of
193
colors, conclude as to its existence and size, so little can I see the
motion of Belladonna, for example, within the organism. But, from
the symptoms which it produces in the organism, I conclude, by
induction, with the same certainty of its qualitative and quantitative
existence, as soon as I have established, by exact provings with it, the
diosmotic lines of direction of its diffusion towards the parts of the
organism to which it has specific relations, to the eyes, to the organs
of deglutition, etc., that is, as soon as I have established the motions
of its specific quality according to time and space, within the organ-
ism, and, at the same time, the degree of intensity of its motions,
which follows from well-defined measures of its quantity.
Hence, we need, not only the chemical properties of the substances
which we are to use for therapeutic purposes, but also all other physi-
cal laws under which the diosmotic movements are wont to take place
within the organism.
Among other things we are told by Phoronomy that,
1. All sensible properties are resolvable into properties of rest and
motion and are thereby determined.
2. We can only observe the motions of a body in relation to other
bodies; hence, all motion is the subject of experience and relative, and
the force of a body is nothing but the cause of the production of a
new motion or of a change in some motion already existing.
But that other body is in Therapeutics, as regards a curative sub-
stance, no longer something single, but it is the organism in the
dependence of its parts upon the whole.
Phoronomy is the doctrine of the laws, also, of such a motion,
although, regarding this motion we have to lose sight of a power
which primarily has called the motion forth, as is the case with the
reciprocal motions of the organism of the earth and of our bodies; in
contrast to the motion according to the law of causality, in accordance
to which, when a body in motion strikes another and imparts to it
motion by the shock, the first body loses only so much of its velocity
as it has imparted to the other. We are now, at last, in condition
all the better to consider some of the most general schemata of the
motions of curative substances, since, aside from these unchange-
able general laws of the material world, we must yet bring into the
calculation the law of the proportional changed and unchanged oscil-
lation of the organism specifically pertaining to it; because we have
not to do with motions of separate parts among themselves, as in
chemistry, but, at the same time also, and chiefly, with the alternating
reciprocal motions of the organism thence proceeding.
PART I.
13
194
In the latter respect it is known that, in a condition relatively phys-
iological, i. e., free from the influence of a disease-producing cause, or,
of a drug, both the influential forces of the outer world, and the inner
forces of the organism are sufficient of themselves, for the conditions
of equilibrium, and that, according to the above calculation, the max-
imum and minimum of the amount of labor to be performed, and of
the tension-forces of the organism must be finite; so that the organ-
ism is poised, so to say, above the constantly oscillating sum of its
materials and its forces, or, of its resistance against the outer world, as
above an imaginary centre of gravity, from one position of equilibrium
into another, in a determinate segment of time, and there is not a sin-
gle fact at variance with these laws.
Hence it follows, moreover, and follows especially from well known
physiological perceptions, that as the organism cannot sleep and be
awake with all its parts, at the same time, or cannot rest and labor at
the same time, so it collects at one time its tension forces and at another
turns them into living forces, and if some of its parts have become
unfit for this work, it must possess functional counteractions, and nutri-
tive supplies for repairing of losses, or, must receive them therapeuti-
cally. A nerve, for instance, has lost its faculty of developing living
forces, the supply of blood to it being cut off by some exudation or
otherwise, then, with this change of function, a change of nutrition is
associated, since it loses its calibre, and fat molecules are deposited
in it.
There is no power on earth, by the most delicate operation directly
upon this nerve, as for example, by means of so-called excitants, capa-
ble of giving back to this nerve its specific life again. Hence, an
effort must be made to operate upon its nearest surroundings, which
can only be done by substances specific to these parts, and not by
excitants of all kinds, and if we can effect this, then the nerve can be
cured and restored again to life. Such processes, hence, teach us that
we have nothing to combat even in case of nutritive changes which
have gone to the length of suspending the function of the part affected;
that we must seek, in the simplest and surest manner, to bring relief
to the diseased part by means of influences exerted upon the parts
adjacent, calling forth in these surrounding parts, motions which are
transferred upon the diseased parts by qualities which are aided by the
corresponding quantities.
195
§. 108.
However, as long as the possibility of the existence of a sick part,
i. e., the possibility of nutrition and function, though changed, is not
entirely destroyed, we see that, from various influences, various motions
often arise, according to the law of proportional oscillation.
In ignorance of this law, some have sought to generalize these
motions, and to call primary effect that which we bring to pass, and
secondary effect that which is the reflex action of the organism after
the effect is complete. In this, another mistake was made, viz., that
it was generally thought that the secondary effect could always be
considered and looked for, as the opposite of the primary effect, and
hereupon indications were to be built up. This could only come to
pass by the cotemporaneous but impractical further division of this
alternation of phenomena, into chemical and dynamical, of which the
latter were held to be the more enduring. For example, primary
effect of Quinine, swelling of the spleen; secondary effect, atrophy
of the same: or, primary effect of Ipecac, nausea, convulsive cough,
etc.; secondary effect, relaxation of the musculature, etc.
At the same time, the secondary effect was sometimes considered as
only an intermediate stage, from which recovery might and should
proceed; as, for example, from Alcohol, first, excitement, then bodily
malaise, [Katzenjammer,] finally, the normal condition again.
And while, with the so-called dynamic remedies, the primary effect
was to form the indication, it was to consist, with regard to chemical
remedies, in the waiting for the secondary effect; e. g., with Arsenic,
primary effect, paralysis and emaciation; secondary effect, convulsions,
gain in flesh and invigoration of the body, and other similar arbi-
trary divisions, which, however, are not taken from practical life.
With regard to such ideas and opinions, I must follow every further
criticism with practical examples.
We have, for instance, a superficial ulcer, which, penetrating deeper
every day, increasing daily in circumference, with its edges more and
more everted, and with color and odor, etc, which leave us no doubt,
that movements are going on here which indicate a general process
of decomposition, only relatively local, and, consequently, not merely
a local, but also general loss of the organic capability of resistance;
if we put now a few drops of Fowler's solution in a few ounces of
water, and give a teaspoonful of this solution, two or three times a
day, we shall observe, in not more than twenty-four hours, from the
improved condition of the superficial sore, a pause in the local process
of decomposition, as regards the extension in depth and circumference,
196
for, by the Arsenious acid, the inter-change of matter between the
skin and the glue-furnishing tissues is completely suppressed. If we
persevere in the use of the drug, the improvement ceases at that point,
the ulcer undergoes no further change, but shows no further disposi
tion to heal; on the contrary, if this hint of Nature does not suffice to
induce us to dispense at once with the medicine, then the improved
condition of the ulcer is changed for the worse, and we soon have
Arsenic symptoms, with loss of appetite, inclination to vomit, diarr
hoa, etc. If, however, we discontinue the use of the Arsenic at the
proper time, then, if we notice it for the first time, we shall be filled
with astonishment, to see, in three days, at the furthest, the callous
edges of the ulcer sink down. But if we should cherish the usual
delusion that we ought to assist this movement towards a cure by a
repeated application of this drug, another pause in these movements
would ensue, and Arsenic symptoms in other parts would present
themselves. But if we allow the cure, once commenced, to proceed,
then, discontinuing to use the drug, we shall observe, how, in conse-
quence thereof, that movement progresses, how the cutaneous edges
lower themselves to the bottom of the ulcer, and how, from those
edges, new connective tissue grows as a preliminary process of cica-
trization.
But, according to the case adduced, this movement may sponta-
neously come to a very early end also, but then, not on account of
too much medicine, but evidently on account of the effect of the given
quantity having reached its acme, without having yet completed the
cure, and now, only, are we justified in applying the remedy anew,
in order to give the motion, spontaneously come to a pause, a new
impulse.
A progress towards a cure during the interruption of a remedy, is
a nutritive one, and only such a progress, as a so-called secondary
effect, can, for a therapeutic end, be of importance and be used; and,
indeed, it must even be used for this end, because often, even after a
nutritive remedy, (as we have already seen, in case of Hydrocepha-
lus), the secondary effect, or, as we should rather say, the permitting
the remedy to expend its force, can alone lead to a cure; and this
occurs, as I must add, nutritively, by virtue of the self-activity of the
organism, since, even by a functional remedy, the altered quality of
the juices is removed sometimes, and it need not be present any more
in the organism for this purpose. The phenomena, under the schema
of these substances, as under that of nutritive substances, take place
according to the same law of the lines of direction and their correlates,
and the transfering of their motions, according to quality and quan-
197
tity, can hence proceed only, from the parts remaining healthy, to the
diseased parts.
§. 109.
That the whole question of primary and secondary effects turns
upon the dose, not upon the question whether substances operate
chemically or dynamically, is easy to demonstrate. But first, we
must have decided whether, in this question, we will set out from the
large dose of the physiological school, or, from the small Homeo-
pathic dose, since, in both cases, there are primary and secondary
effects. Sulphur, for instance, in the Allopathic dose of the physio-
logical school, produces, at first, watery diarrhoea, as a local effect upon
the intestinal canal, according to the law of causation; but not always.
in the Homœopathic dose, because it lacks this local effect according
to the succession of cause and effect, for it brings the Sulphur first,
not into the intestinal canal, but into the blood. Soon, however,
diarrhoea is produced, by Sulphur, even in a Homœopathic dose, but
not in conscquence of accelerated secretion of the inner wall of the
intestine, irritated by the Sulphur, but, in consequence of increased
formation of bile and of its discharge into the intestines. For this
reason the diarrhoea produced by the large dose of Sulphur is,
at first, not bilious, though this is the effect of the small dose.
The secondary effect, however, in both cases, as soon as no more
Sulphur is given, is precisely the same, to wit, obstruction. But this
obstruction is no longer the effect of Sulphur, whether given in an
Allopathic or a Homœopathic dose, but phoronomic, the result of the
proportional oscillation of the organic activities.
If we take Sulphur in Homeopathic dose only, then we have a
series of phoronomic changes, according to the law of reciprocal action,
by which always two symptoms, the one following the other, show,
that, in the interior of the organism, movements have arisen, of which
the preceding is always the cause of the succeeding. In this instance
we should not, and, strictly speaking, cannot, speak any more of pri-
mary and secondary effects, and for the reason that here the primary
effect can no longer be established according to the individuality, since
in one case, cough with mucous expectoration, is the first thing notice-
able, in another, palpitation of the heart, in a third, a hæmorrhoidal
flow.
For the sake of curing, we must thus, in many cases, commit such
a penetrating remedy as Sulphur in a minimal dose (often after one
single dose,) for some time to the counter-actions and reciprocal
198
actions of the organism, and if the indication has been correct, the
result cannot fail, and, all the same, whether we had to give the Sul-
phur for some kind of eruption, an irregular menstruation, or a case
of gout, etc., in accordance with the concomitant circumstances, of
which more anon.
Hence the cure of such diseases by Sulphur is effected not in con-
sequence of a secondary effect, according to the law of proportional
oscillation, as warmth succeeds the coldness of the hand which has
been in cold water, but in consequence of reciprocal effects induced
by it and propagating themselves from part to part, within the
organism, whereby the Sulphur taken [by the organism] may have
been moved therefrom long ago. These are, therefore, no secondary
effects, but series of effects which themselves again have become the
causes of other effects, and if we allow these series of effects, or, to
speak scientifically, these reciprocal actions, to run their course, undis-
turbed, then we again may designate this only as
as "permitting the
remedy to expend its force," in direct contrast with the so-called
secondary effects.
If we were harboring the delusion that we had to produce, or wait
for these secondary effects in order to attain a cure, would we thus
establish indications, that we had first to disturb the self-activity of the
organism so that we might afterwards restore its equilibrium again,
then we should, with such senseless indications, which, at best, could
be thought of only by the worshipers of the vis medicatrix naturæ,
have effected nothing but superfluous torture; for, to what would it
lead, to give laxatives, that constipation might follow; or to hasten
menstruation with Cuprum, Pulsatilla, etc., that it might afterwards
remit; to irritate or paralyze the functions of the organism to the very
verge of their capability of resistance, that they might be able to help
themselves?
We can easily, for instance, benumb uterine neuralgia with Opium
clysters at once, even to complete painlessness, and, by their frequent
repetition, cause them to cease entirely; we should, however, abandon
ourselves to the basest deception, should we assume, even in such pal-
pable cases, that the self-activity of the organism had here completed
the cure; for the uterine neuralgia is always only the result of a
change of structure of the womb, which becomes manifest at the time
of menstruation, and, if we have weakened and paralyzed the irrita-
bility of its nerves so much, all those nutritive changes remain now
all the more in their previous state, so that they may, sooner or later,
upon the slightest causes, run into the most dangerous degenerations.
How could any one allow himself to be governed by such an idea, as
199
that the self-activity of the organism could effect the cure of any
changed nutrition or function? Disappointment, as a token of great
ignorance, would inevitably follow sooner or later, as the not cured,
discharged as cured, from the so-called Institute of expectant medi-
cine, demonstrate to us practical physicians every year.
§. 110.
In order to bring to a decision in a practical way, the contending
opinions relative to primary and secondary effects of drugs, let us
adduce an example of phoronomic motion.
If we take, several times a day, a few drops of Tincture of Bella-
donna, our organism experiences in various, but specific directions, an
accelerated exchange, and in other directions, a retarded exchange.
When first taking this drug, in small doses, and, for some days
thereafter, there is evidently a greater quantity of Carbonic acid
excreted by the lungs, while, during the action of stronger doses, a
smaller quantity is excreted. In general, after the use of Belladonna,
the excretion of the infusible salts in the urine is diminished; on the
contrary, the urea, the vesical mucus, the fusible salts, and the
extractive matter, are increased.
At first, the pulse is retarded two or three beats in the minute, while
at the same time an accelerated, i. e., an increased excretion from the
mucous membrane of the organs of deglutition takes place. If we
persist in the use of the drug, injection and inflammation of the same
parts take place, but now with acceleration of the pulse, four or five
beats in the minute, and thus beyond the usual individual frequency.
Hence, if the capillary vessels in any part are over-filled, the beat of
the heart is correspondingly retarded; but, if inflammation and swell-
ing take place, then the pulsations are increased again, and remain at
this height for three or four days even, without any more Belladonna
having been taken.
These are clearly the specific effects of Belladonna, and specific
counter-effects of the organism, because these occurrences, as often as
they are reproduced, must inevitably return in the same manner, and
this, as long as the power of resistance of the organism against the
influence of the Belladonna is not exhausted, or the movements of the
Belladonna are not removed by those of some other substance.
If, for instance, during those inflammatory swellings in the organs
of deglutition we take some drug retarding interchange, such as
Coffee, in repeated doses, then the affections in the throat experience,
at once, a marked alleviation, and, on the second day, have already
200
disappeared, while the pulsation of the heart returns at the same time
to its individual frequency, and thus much sooner than if these Bella-
donna affections had been left to themselves.
Coffee accelerates, indeed, the frequency of the pulse, but decreases
its force manifestly, and the pulse afterwards is retarded below the
individual [normal] frequency, and is small and weak. This increase
of the pulse, however, is not accompanied by an increased excretion
of Carbonic acid from the lungs, as usually occurs in a proving of
Belladonna. Coffee not only diminishes the exhaled Carbonic acid,
for the moment, but constantly more and more, the longer it is taken,
and thereby only the excretion of the solid substances of the urine, the
urea, the uric acid and urates, is diminished. Although Coffee at first
accelerates the movements of the bowels, it yet retards them after-
wards, more and more; in the blood, the solid substances of the cruor,
the serum, the albumen and the blood cells, are increased, and the
latter become even melanotic, as after the use of Belladonna, but they
increase so that they manifestly diminish the reception of oxygen and
the excretion of Carbonic acid, which, again, is not the case after the
use of small doses of Belladonna, when they are rapidly turned into
bile in the liver, and are no more brought into the circulation.
But if, after the use of Belladonna, we take Coffee in large quanti-
ties, then the inflammatory process induced by the action of the Bella-
donna, is brought suddenly to a pause, and even the increased
secretion of bile, produced by the Belladonna, is suddenly suppressed
with, at the same time, an increased frequency of the pulse.
With Coffee, moreover, the augmented frequency of the pulse (a
substitute in the motions of the central circulatory system for the
stagnation of the blood in the peripheric system,) constantly increases,
and, without any inflammatory conditions being associated therewith,
(as is the case with Belladonna), this substitution is gradually weak-
ened, and finally lost entirely.
Here we thus find not the least ground for the division of the
symptoms of Belladonna or of Coffee, into a primary and secondary
effect; in both cases we saw, on the contrary, reciprocal actions in a
specific manner, and varying only according to the dose. A contrary
effect, however, we saw only between the action of Belladonna and
that of Coffee following it, since the latter opposed the motions of the
former.
201
§. III.
It seems to me, moreover, that there is yet another source of strife,
as regards the debate about primary and secondary effect in the differ-
ences about the idea of “contrast,” and in its improper use. Thus there
is a three-fold contrast; a qualitative, between the effect of two
different bodies upon each other; a quantitative, according to degree,
between the effects and counter-effects of each separate substance; and
a relative, according to comparison, between the dissimilar effects,
which two or more substances can produce by themselves in the
organism.
In accepting the difference between the chemico-physical and the
so-called dynamic effect of a drug, we are led, by the assumption of a
dynamis, into the current of Theology, and of the spirit world. Thus
it is said, for instance, in a pronunciamento from Brooklyn:* “A
motion, an effect, must have a cause, which is not, on its own part,
the effect again of another cause, and thus we come back at last, if we
would not forever go around in a circle, to the Supreme and last
dynamis, God, whose connection with the sensible material world,
through the spirit world of Swedenborg, we call vital force." That
is to be, as we have often said already, the dynamism of Homœopathy,
in which a drug-spirit is to correspond to those products of nature
which we call drug-bodies. Now where is the proof that it was the
spirit of Arsenic, for instance, in the 30th attenuation, which gave
me, for one or two days, constant unquenchable thirst, when I proved
this attenuation upon myself? That is shown simply by analogy, it
will surely be said, according to which, after a fright even, an increased
peristaltic action ensues. That would be the same mode of proof as
if one should, according to Mitscherlich, place Alcohol and Sulphur
in one class, because both belong to the excitants. Do not these gen-
tlemen perceive that they have entered into analogy only, and are far
from having presented a proof? But, since we know of causes of
disease which are not perceptible to the senses, as the cause of scarla-
tina, of measles, etc., so it might be held quite consistent that we should
apply a Belladonna or Aconite spirit. To this one might rejoin: "go
and let the simple ones come unto you, for of such is the kingdom of
heaven!"
But these ideas, which are maintained even by physicians with
passion, for no claim can be laid here to knowledge, and which con-
stantly return as often as they are thought to have received their death-
blow, these ideas lie deeply imbedded in the nature of the human
* By Dr. Blöde, in Hirschel's Zeitschrift für Hom. Klinik.-C. H'g.
202
mind, and spread themselves as long as we find men whose education
does not permit them to comprehend this nature. Hence, from a
scientific stand-point, such ideas must be perseveringly combated
again and again, as often as they are regurgitated by men occupying
a subordinate stand-point. This subordinate stand-point shows itself,
moreover, by this, that it thinks that it has said something when it
affirms, that, even to the immortal founder of Homœopathy, the chem-
ical conception of the vital process was an abomination and non-
That might then have had some justification, but now, we
should [in adhering to it] barricade every avenue of progress in science
and erect the banner of lawlessness.
sense.
One should assert nothing without that foundation of facts which
is universally recognized. According to §. 28, chlorate of potash is
found, de facto, in the blood-cells in particles much smaller than the
quadrillionth part of a cubic millimetre, and, in this state of atten-
uation, cannot be perceived by the senses; hence, according to the
hypotheses of the dynamists, it is found in the blood-cells as spirit.
One sees that the real foundation of attenuations drives the dynamists
from the field; and yet they ever raise their ghost-like heads again, not,
however, as heralds of truth, but as heralds of the yet possible domin-
ion of transcendental ideas, after the pattern of the old, so-called,
school of Speculative Philosophy, which, however, never was a
philosophy, any more than the theosophic view of Swedenborg.
If the dynamists wish to see their ideas adopted, they should first
prove that their assumption is the only one possible; that all phenom-
ena in the material world rest, if not on deceit, upon hallucination or
deception of the senses, which not only is not proven, but has been
shown to be false, for we see at every sick-bed, that our remedies,
whether in the lower attenuations or in the high potencies, have the
same specific effect, hence must have proceeded from the same material
causes, even though, as is natural, and well known, many of the casual
effects fail to appear under the use of the high potencies, which are
produced by the lower attenuations. Have I not myself repeatedly
shown, that when we would ascend from effects to causes, we must
necessarily arrive at something which is not caused; that a series of
changes presupposes something unchangeable? But herewith the
laws of nature are neither denied nor disparaged.
The sphere of the physician is not the absolute totality of the idea
of things existing, but it is nature, the collective idea of things, so far
as they are throughout connected by virtue of causality, of reciprocal
action, etc. The whole theory of the dynamists is the negation of the
203
material, but this independence of what constitutes a necessity accord-
ing to the laws of nature consists in the idea, not in the reality.
Every dynamic system comes into conflict with the incontrovertible
rights of mathematical views.
If the mind of the dynamist is directed to the eternal, the unchange-
able, the materialists can oppose him with something quite the same.
In the world of matter, there is no beginning and no end, but all is
only transformation, transmutation, change. Matter itself is inde-
structible, imperishable, always and ever the same without the least
loss. There is also no change of quality; a substance cannot be
changed into another. Hereupon, experiment and induction are
founded, for the explanation of the phenomena of nature, with greater
security than the ideas upon the absolute. But, from ideas we can
develop no positive knowledge, and from them we can explain noth-
ing. Therefore, theoretical knowledge and that obtained from ideas
diverge, the one from the other, and have nothing in common, for the
first belongs to knowledge and the second to faith. Would that the
dynamists might at least see this truth, and no longer contend about
the "Kaiser's" beard!
S. 112.
The specific motions, which, by means of substances introduced
from the external world, are communicated to the constant oscillation
of the organism, describe, also, as regards their qualitative relation,
determinate relations or routes, which may be graphically described;
and it is but a defective expression, when one says that Rheum, for
instance, acts upon the intestinal canal, Belladonna upon the Iris, then
upon the motion of the heart, and finally upon the surface of the skin,
etc. By such an expression, only separate qualitative relations of a
kind peculiar, and hence specific to these substances in specific direc-
tions are given. As regards the intensity, the effect itself depends
merely upon the quantity, as, for example, diarrhoea follows after a few
scruples of Rheum, but ceases, and obstruction ensues, after quarter-
grain doses of the same drug. This is so well known that it needs no
further confirmation, and is as notorious as similar cases with Ipecac;
or as Opium in small quantities irritates, but in large, narcotizes.
If we now ask chemistry about Rhubarb root, for instance, we
learn that it is composed of Aporetin, Phæoretin, and Erythroretin,
Chrysophanic acid, Extractive matter, Tannic acid, Gallic acid, Sugar,
Starch, Pectine, the salts of Lime, especially the Oxalate; and an
ethereal oil. All this united in one body must hence stand in specific
204
relations to the intestinal canal, in order to be able to induce the above
mentioned motions and counter-motions. We do not thereby learn
at all how it happens. Now, if we inquire of Physiology about the
intestinal canal, we learn, it is true, that it contains certain remnants
of food, more or less acted upon, together with bile, chyle, etc., and
that it consists of the intestinal villi of the mucous membrane, of the
connective tissue stratum, etc.
Beneath the mucous membrane are
smooth muscles, arteries, veins around the villi lymphatici, together
with Brunner's and Peyer's glands and solitary follicles. But as little
as those dozen substances, so little do these anatomical structures of the
intestinal canal and its functions, which consist in the preparation of
food, its transfer to the lymphatics and the discharge of that which is
unfit for use. so little do they acquaint us with the mutual relation of
these substances to each other. In the domain of the physiological
school nothing more is known of this subject than of the relations of
similar relations, e. g., the relation between the well known chemical,
formal and functional constituents of the eye, suffering from keratitis,
for instance, to those of Tartar-emetic, Belladonna, Digitalis, Kali hyd.
and all those substances which, according to §. 56, are used in treat-
ment of keratitis. For who has ever discovered the chemical relations,
for which the physiological school incessantly gropes, between keratitis
and these substances, which, to this very day, it applies in a purely
empirical manner, with well meant intention to cure this keratitis after
the fashion of times past, merely because some X. Y. Z. had once
declared that he had cured it with one or the other or several of these
substances, though without ever adducing any proof thereof? Or,
who in the physiological school could ever determine which of these
substances, in a concrete case, must have been rightly chosen?
In this desperate situation does the adherent of this school invariably
find himself, at the sick-bed, without exception.
And how much does he still lack in knowledge in order to be able
to determine beforehand (hence according to the existing laws of
nature, assuming that he would know even the remedy indicated
according to the laws of nature, i. e., the specific quality) which quan-
tity now was to be selected, or, as here can be no longer any talk
about selection, which quantity must absolutely be taken.
But, as to quantities, the physiological school is, indeed, troubled.
with no embarrassment; it knows about how much of any substance
is generally a poisonous dose, as it expresses itself even to-day; hence,
what is easy enough, a little less than this is given, and this more or
less is freely left to the guess of each one, so long as he does not stray
into Homœopathic doses.
205
§. 113.
What, now, does a pathological symptom teach us? A human
body, suffering with cold and heat, followed by sweat, presents to the
physician, the same altered properties of a single, though very composite
body, as are presented to the chemist in the properties of wrought
iron, when heated by blows of the hammer, or, when by cooling
and absorption of carbon, it changes its molecules into steel. These
are all properties from which we may conclude that here, operations
are caused within this body by external influences, which announce
their corresponding equivalent in changes, and, which like motions
corresponding to the concurrent changes of temperature allow us to
measure, at the same time, the degree of the chemical processes going
on within. Wherever we see such peculiarities appear in the human
organism, which do not belong to the laws of its specification, there
they exhibit to us a chemico-physical effort which naturally is all the
greater, the more various are the localities which are subjected to
change through any cause.
But to the pathological symptoms belong also the injurious contin-
gent effects which, in consequence of too large quantities of the
remedy, are wont to occur.
Hence, what is committed to the interior of the organism, with the
view of a cure, should only be given in that quantity which can push
none of the laws of the whole of its reciprocal action beyond their
maximum or minimum, or change them.
Every other attempt, whether it be to produce diuresis, purging, or
diaphoresis, which rests upon the immediate relation of cause and
effect, is hence extremely doubtful, and, in fact, at best only palliative.
To proceed according to this latter relation, truly would be and
always has been the simplest thing; it arises from the associations.
instilled into the mind from youth up, from a known cause, to look
for a usual effect.
Accustoming our conceptions in this way to the causal law, pre-
vents us from acting according to the law of reciprocal causality,
which is the law of the organism. Of course, in both cases, one event
follows by means of another, but, with the smaller doses, Rheum, for
instance, checks a diarrhoea, not only by its presence in the intestinal
canal, but also by the manifold reciprocal causalities which it may
produce within the organism; in a large dose, it operates, generally,
only by virtue of its presence, at some particular locality, producing
here the maximum of intestinal function.
206
For the therapeutics of the physiological school, however, there
exists only one transient, direct effect of the one body upon the other,
of the Rheum upon the intestinal canal, and vice versa, in which the
possibility of further extending reciprocal causalities, and the question
in how far the entire unit of the reciprocal actions of the organism
may yet further partake or not, is not thought of; for it aims at one
effect only, as do surgery and operative midwifery. But according to
natural laws, we have in Therapeutics only action and counter-action,
without the movable equipoise of the organism being changed other-
wise, in any way whatever.
In practical therapeutics, we cannot too often call to mind this
essential difference between causality and reciprocal action.
S. 114.
On account of the great therapeutic importance of these relations,
it is necessary to present side by side still other examples, in order to
gain a more general insight into these mutual magnitudes of motion.
We observe, for example, after one-eighth of a grain of Belladonna
or Aconite taken three or four times a day, an immediate and marked
decrease in the frequency of the pulse. Whence this phenomenon, so
like in form, that is, presenting such a correspondence, from causes so
different?
We know from Physiology, that after such doses of Belladonna,
the blood corpuscles, which have become less capable of absorbing
oxygen, soon disappear from the circulation in the larger vessels,
and the secretion of bile which is increased at the same time, shows
us, that these corpuscles are carried to the liver in greater quantities
than usual, by virtue of that function of the liver which consists
chiefly in the elaboration of those blood corpuscles which have become
unfit for use.
But the Belladonna exercises the same influence also
upon the remaining blood corpuscles still circulating, producing a
more rapid waste, which can clearly enough be seen by the micro-
scope. The consequence of this is naturally a diminished absorption
of oxygen into the blood, and a corresponding decrease in the excre-
tion of Carbonic acid through the lungs; hence the activity of the
heart must decrease, which is announced by less frequent pulsations.
If we take Aconite in the same dose, we observe a similar process
in the blood corpuscles, but there are no counter-movements in the liver,
corresponding to that in the previous case; on the contrary, there is a
very marked discharge of earthy phosphates with the urine. The
earthy phosphates of the blood corpuscles, are to those in the serum
207
of the blood, as 218 to 550. It is thus evident that the influence of
the Aconite upon the blood corpuscles is secondary, and takes place
through its influence upon the serum, and, under this process, the pulse
sinks, upon the same physiological grounds, it is true, as in the case
of Belladonna, but not primarily, and not from the same cause.
Thus the Belladonna communicates its motions, first to the blood cor-
puscles, while the Aconite communicates its motions first, immedi-
ately to the serum, so that, from different causes, one and the same
symptom occurs, i. e., each makes its external manifestation, cor-
responding with the other as regards form and outward manifestation.
But the circle of these varying motions is not herewith complete.
As soon as the greatest possible maximum of the primarily excited
movements of the Belladonna, in. the molecules of the blood cor-
puscles, has reached the oscillatory limits above described, the capil-
larity of the portal system is so much affected, as a counter-movement
of the organic reciprocal action, that the pulse rises again. If the
counter-movement in this system, has reached its maximum, then the
movement directs itself upon the oral cavity, the tonsils, the uvula,
and the esophagus. It manifests itself at first by dryness, then by
increased excretion of mucus, and, with increased difficulty of swal-
lowing, proceeds to the formation of exudations within these parts, or
to inflammation, while, before the latter effect takes place, another
movement of the Belladonna announces itself by dilatation of the
pupil, etc.
The Aconite movement, on the other hand, in accordance with its
specific nature, describes quite another course to other parts than those
affected by the Belladonna, and always under the form of other move-
ments and counter-movements. Scarcely has that sediment presented
itself in the urine, when there appears, first in the face, then in the
whole cutaneous surface, a manifest injection of blood, under which
the pulse naturally rises again. If, in this manner, the maximum of
the counter-movements is attained in these localities, then appear acute
pains in the head and face, then pains in the joints, inflammation of
the joints, etc.
All these movements explain themselves by the laws of molecular
matter, and those of the specifically different reciprocal actions which
must necessarily arise from the connection with various substances of
the organism.
At the same time we observe how, from functional remedies, from
plants and their alkaloids, etc., changes of nutrition are wont to
spring as soon as, in any part whatever, the maximum of oscillation
is overpassed
208
§. 115.
Among these function-remedies must also be reckoned some metals,
and other bodies, which not only set at work the specific functions to
which they correspond, but also evidently exert chemical influences
upon elementary constituents everywhere to be found in the whole
body. It is well known that most of the metals arrest the general
processes of decomposition, even within the organism, and even its
exchange, i. e., its nutrition-and-function relations, or its interchange
of matter, if the expression is preferred, and this primarily by abstrac-
tion of water; but, for Therapy, it is necessary to know what qualities
are capable of performing this work, and with which of their quanti-
ties; furthermore, in what succession and extension. If we take
Iodine, for instance, or, in larger doses, Iodide of Potassa, we shall
observe, as is well known, how, in the first days, there is, a, increased
appetite; b, improved digestion; c, more abundant excretion of bile;
d, a feeling of comfort; e, exalted power of action; f, intellectual
vivacity; g, improvement of the general appearance. But, sooner or
later, according to the individuality, if the use of the drug be persisted
in, we have, in the same succession, the qualitative contrast: a, want
of appetite frequently interrupted by canine hunger; , disturbed
digestion; y, diarrhoea and constipation alternately; d, feeling of anx-
iety and palpitation of the heart; &, depression and general sense of
weakness;, congestions of the brain, dull feeling of fullness of the
head and dizziness; 7, wretched look with emaciation, fever, etc., with
further results.
Even the localities firmly fixed with regard to the influence of a
function-remedy, illustrated above in contrast to §. 104, impress upon
the remedy its specific character; but no one will be able to see,
in the variety of the symptoms indicated by the Roman and Greek
letters, a direct contrast, but only degrees of extension and intensity;
for, e.
g., a good appetite and want of appetite are not at all contrasts,
but only varieties of function, which must follow each other accord-
ing to the law of reciprocal action in consequence of the immoderate
use of Iodine.
§. 116.
But while Iodine does not remain behind in the body, there is a
scheme, one might say, of reciprocal action of substances in juxta-
position, if the process had not to take place after all under the organic
conditions of the constituents of our body and those of its living self-
209
activity. Most frequently this occurs upon the use of other metals in
such doses as, in the physiological school are traditionally given, and
most evidently in Hydrargyrosis. If the physiological school, no
matter upon what indication, (if only to remove a swelling, produced by
a contusion), applies quicksilver in traditional doses, even externally
in form of a salve, salivation ensues; later, we have swellings of the
glands, ulcers in the throat, various eruptions on the skin, all these
troubles frequently with long intervals between them, as is well
known; and finally, pains in the bones, falling out of the hair, until,
at last, this school supposes the quicksilver to have been sweated out,
and thus believes the whole matter settled in a satisfactory manner.
After long years, however, there appears, in the same patients, another
trouble, accidentally as it seems, e. g., a dropsy, local only, as Hydro-
cele, or general; in short, it seems necessary to give Iodine or the
Iodide of Potash. Now we notice sediments in the urine, and if one
betakes himself to examine the urine chemico-physically, quicksilver
also is found.
Opportunity will be found, hereafter, to establish similar relations
following spontaneous causes of disease, as, for instance, upon hered-
itary causes, but meantime I will only call attention to the fact, that,
there are substances, which, when introduced into the organism, in
immoderate quantities, are suddenly rendered innocuous by their
entering into insoluble compounds, which remain deposited in some
part or other, and thus become inaccessible to the motions of the
organism; and continue to be so, till some other substance intro-
duced, accidentally or intentionally, into the organism, enters into
combination with the very same organic parts in which those substances
are deposited, and thus made accessible again to the organic motion,
they may forthwith be expelled from the system.
Of this process,
there are also physiological types in the form, for instance, in which
the mineral basis of the bony tissue is united with the animal. But
this mineral basis itself again is soluble, and is removed from the
organism, as, e. g., in Osteo-malacia, as soon as a surplus of lactic
acid has been formed.
Hence, there is a scheme of juxtaposition of foreign substances
within the organism, which may be met with in practice much oftener
than in the text-books on Therapeutics, and thus an example is given
to show that it is possible to reach such juxtaposition even therapeuti-
cally.
That, finally, such events cannot be viewed as merely mechanical,
other experiments show. It is shown, for instance, that quicksilver
rubbed into the skin penetrates it. The presence of common salt in
PART I.
14
210
the organism, in a considerable quantity, is also known, as well as
that of ozone. Thus, quicksilver, absorbed through the skin, becomes
Mercurius sublimatus, hence only the part of the quicksilver which
is changed into sublimate is active. All the rest of the quicksilver is
as a useless protoxide, as for example in the Allopathic inunction cure.
a ballast the body is burdened with.
Would that the Allopaths could at last understand this fact in its
bearing upon their use of injurious quantities, quasi-remedies! For
the adherents of physiological medicines are still, to-day, what they
formerly were, Allopaths, i. e., their Therapy proceeds according to
the maxim contraria contrariis curantur; they have thus, since the
days of Hahnemann, stood still, at the same point, and have here and
there made friends, also, with do-nothingism.
§. 117.
We should be liable to the charge of sustaining a great error, should
we maintain that the previously adduced schemata, touching the gen-
erally oft-appearing forms of reciprocal action, between the substances
of the outer world and the organism, return, as regards the substances
adduced as examples, always in the same form, as regards time and
space, in all cases. That is just as impossible as it is that all men at
one and the same place and at the same time could be affected by the
morbid matter of an epidemic. The capability of becoming sick,
depends, indeed, upon some substance from the outer world, but only
so far as the molecules and molecular forces of our organism, as regards
their volume and density, are so constituted, that they have not suffi-
cient power of repulsion against that substance, or, in other words,
not sufficient moveable opposition, or else have an attraction for it, and
this is the sum and substance of the general idea of disposition to any
disease.
Neither does it suffice to introduce a substance from the outer world
into any given so-called healthy organism, and to observe the resulting
forms of reciprocal action, and thereupon to have in readiness a con-
clusion as to Therapeutics; the same substance must be tried upon
persons of various ages, sex, constitutions, under the most varied cir-
cumstances possible, according to the laws already given, and the rules
of the art of experiment and the art of observation; its effects must
be observed for at least thirty-five days, §. 48, and only after the ful-
fillment of all these demands, can we say that we have undertaken a
drug-proving and gained available results.
2II
It suffices the physiological school to administer some substance of
the outer world as a given cause to any given, so-called, healthy or
even sick individual, a few times arbitrarily, in order to see one effect
therefrom. The laws of the organism, however, and those of the
changes wrought in it by the world without, cannot be perceived from
accidental causal conditions, and only a complete mistake regarding
conditions can cherish the foolish hope of effecting a cure by the palli-
ative destruction of isolated symptoms. Upon this great error of
experiment also rests a countless host of abortive attempts at cure in
the camp of this school, for, if the drug-provings are not conducted
strictly according to the rules of the art of experiment and observation,
then, an inference from such a proving, to an indication at the sick-
bed is a fallacy, arising from a non-observation often of the most
essential concomitant circumstances.
It is not enough to know qualities of substances in general; to
know that Rheum has no specific relation to the Iris, and that Bella-
donna has none to fat, water, etc.; it is no less necessary to know
under what qualities of the organism itself such relations can possibly
arise from substances. These reciprocal conditions also are only found
by drug-provings made lege artis. If, for instance, the reciprocal
effect of Belladonna, already detailed, and that of Aconite, are known
to us, then we may surely predict, with these few facts even, (since
upon the whole no man is perfectly healthy, and, for this reason,
every one must be more or less susceptible to some influence or other,)
that those whose bodily constitutions adapt them for the motions
of Belladonna cannot be so susceptible to those of Aconite.
Let us
consider, also, all that depends upon the motions of Belladonna and of
Aconite, and we gain an unexpected, deep insight into the varied
organic economy of various individuals, and another proof is thereby
offered of my proposition, that, Therapy with its drug-provings, can
only make progress upon its own domain and territory and never upon
that of its elementary sciences, Chemistry, Physics, Physiology, Pathol-
ogy, from whose domains it may occasionally explain experiences
which it has itself made, but can never gain any new ones.
§. 118.
If we recapitulate all these previous schemes concerning the effects
of drugs, it is readily seen what it signifies, when one says that he
means to contend with a disease or to benumb it. To benumb? This
question concerns the idea of the much esteemed narcotics. From
the laws previously laid down, it follows, that, with the idea of a nar-
212
cotic, that of a continuous or curative benumbing alone cannot be
connected. Narcotic effects can only appear as such, by checking
movements, for the moment, by overpowering them. They commu
nicate to the blood and the nervous system such and so very accelerated
motions, that they manifest themselves after a slight dose, at once, by
the greatest excitement, i. e., by accelerated function in those parts to
which the exhibited narcotic has a specific relation; for, Opium, for
example, describes other lines of direction, and comprises other cor-
relates than Stramonium. In larger doses, however, both, by virtue
of the intensity of their movements, overthrow all organic opposition
so completely, that all the motions of the organism may be suppressed;
this then is called a narcotic effect.
But this narcotic effect does not touch a single part of the organism
only, in order, perhaps, to benumb its sense of pain; for the motion,
introduced with the narcotic, extends itself, according to its quality,
over its lines of direction and correlates, to all parts, and if Opium,
for instance, quiets a pain as long as the quantity given is not excreted,
then, as soon as this occurs, the old pain frequently returns again.
Since something similar obtains with all other drugs, we must
extend our ideas of drugs by excluding the magnitudes of motion of
the quantities and the extension of the qualities, and we must drop all
ideas of narcotics, excitants, diuretics, emetics, laxatives, diaphoretics,
and all antis, as antiphlogistics and the like, utterly and forever, as
defective, and having their origin in fallacies; from fallacies which
assume relations of cause and effect, where only continuous reciprocal
causalities exist. Hence, a drug at one time may be laxative, at
another an obstruent (Rheum.); now a diuretic, now an anti-arthritic,
(Aconite), now an antiphlogistic, now a diaphoretic (Aconite); now a
narcotic, now an excitant (Opium); now an expectorant, now a
emetic (Ipecac); it may now be an emmenagogue, and now defer
menstruation, (Secale), etc., etc.
We obtain from the influences of drugs, that is, through the per
ception of the senses, only alternating conditions, of which one may
crowd out the other; hence, with single effects, we cannot express our
whole knowledge of any one substance; we should never come, from
two or more varied conditions, to a knowledge of the connection, if
we should, according to the laws of causality, or that of effects, direct
our attention in improperly undertaken experiments only to the one or
the other; the law of the specific correlate, and that, indeed, not only
in its qualitative, but also in its quantitative, relation, is, hence, that
which we have to study for every separate drug. But the Materia
Medica of the physiological school never engages itself in accordance
213
with leading principles, which would lead to such laws.
A substance
is known to it as a narcotic, for instance, by tradition, and accordingly
it seeks to investigate the kind of its narcotic effects, and leaves all
other phenomena which present themselves, out of sight, or mentions
them as incidentals, without knowing whence they come, or what
is to be done with them, just as if the task of holding fast to tradi-
tional quantities were the only one possible.
Thus, twilight, and finally dark night, has overspread this Materia
Medica; yet the lavish outlay of industry and toil, allows us to hope
for a brighter dawn.
§. 119.
We must not omit penetrating still deeper into the conditions of
quantities, under which those relations of qualities are of necssity not
only possible, but also various.
To this very hour, this cardinal problem of Therapeutics is
unsolved, and much as the desire for its solution is generally felt, little
do we know how to satisfy it, even approximately. Yet this
problem is one of the conditions which separates the physiological
school from the Homeopathic, and which seems to form a chasm
between the two parties, to be filled up in the far distant future. In
the physiological school there is no scholar who has given an intima-
tion, even, of the ways and means of supplying this most humiliating
of all wants, the want of a determination of the dose in Therapeutics,
according to natural laws. All other social Technics have outstripped
Therapeutics. A journeyman miller could never become a master
miller, who could not calculate how much water he needed for a defi-
nite amount of work in his mill. To this very day I have sought, in
vain, for a clinical lecturer who could give a law for the dose, or even
a principle aiding us to find it, and yet is the determining of the dose
the first requisite, or it should be, before one should venture to invade
the human system for its weal or woe, with substances of the outer
world. Why does the engineer, before he begins to erect a building,
first determine how great a burden a man can carry on his back, the
day through, or how much a horse can carry on his back as a daily
task, at a walk or trot, if the greater part of the result does not depend
thereupon?
214
§. 120.
Only to the physician of the physiological school, who is rich in
his poverty of such knowledge, is it permitted to overload the organ-
ism of the patient with the most various quantities, without knowing
and determining beforehand, how much the organism can bear of the
substance prescribed, within a certain time, for a certain end.
Neither the physiological school nor Rademacher's, possesses a
calculation, or even a rule, which might be generally useful for this
end, and yet they attack Homœopathy with all the fury of persecu-
tion, in the strife over a bit of knowledge which exists neither for one
party nor the other. The question is not whether the dose of the
physiological school is the proper one, on the strength of tradition,
and faith in authority, or upon the basis of a subjective problematical
approximation; on the contrary, the question lies quite outside of this
strife pro domo. It is not to be determined whether the custom of one
party or the other is, in general, to be accepted or not, for this strife
is, and remains for science, a matter of utter indifference, not deserv-
ing the least regard. The sole and simple question can only be what
quantity of a substance, regardless of all subjective convictions and
incomprehensibilities, is necessary, in order to induce that chemical or
physical counter-motion in any diseased part of the organism, which
is equal in intensity, and opposite in direction, to that which is
induced by the morbific cause, in order to check this latter forth-
with, or, at least, to delay it, and then, by repetition, to remove it.
Hence the task is only to discover the equivalent of motion between
the amount of motion excited by the morbid matter and the amount
of motion which we have to oppose to it by some drug; for the
amount of force is the effect, nothing else! To the solution of this
problem, we have then the natural law, according to which the quan-
tity contains the measure of the motion and counter-motion; and,
hence, for the purpose of Therapeutics, the right dose must and can
be nothing else than that amount of the force of the indicated quality
which is equal to the amount of the force of the cause of the disease,
and qualitatively runs counter to its course and motions.
We possess thus, in the very dose, or quantity of the morbid cause,
the measure for the quantity of the dose of the drug to be used, in
order to enable us to check the motions of that morbific substance, no
matter whether those motions are chemical or organic, whether they
are mechanically checking or motor-motions, but we must not, vice
versa, allow ourselves to be misled into considering the quality of the
external morbid causes which operates now within greater and now
215
within smaller limits, as the measure for the dose, as is the custom in
the physiological school, which custom begets that injurious Allo-
pathic haste and anxiety, together with the great excess of medicinal
force; for, on the one hand, those circles of morbific qualities are
mostly the deceptive expression of the inner quantitative motions
which should not prevent a phoronomic conclusion; on the other
hand, it does not become scholars to disown the general truth, in
accordance with which, qualities, within the organism, should not be
judged by quantities.
1
100
1000
A diarrhoea, or even a case of cholerine, may occur with ever so
extensive accompanying complaints, and may alarm the ignorant by
the most frightful symptoms; however, if, according to diagnosis, it
be of such a character that it may be cured by repeated doses of Ver-
atrum in or of a grain, or even less, no conviction of the
majority and its quantity of incomprehensibilities can have any deter-
mining influence upon the increase of the quantity of the dose. For,
if such a small dose, or a much smaller one, of a substance, arrests
that diarrhea or cholerine, then I know that the moving cause of these
affections, without regard to all extension and danger of accompany-
ing phenomena, was not greater in quantity or quality than those
small doses of the qualities of that remedy. This law of the thera-
peutic equivalence of motion, between the motions of the morbid
matter and those of the curative matter, and the law of the pro-
portional oscillations, together support, as immovable foundations,
the other entire half of the unusually favorable results, which are
manifested by cures, although the treatment was frequently car-
ried on according to, and yet in unconsciousness of these laws, and, in
case of a favorable result, the accident compensated for the lack of
knowledge.
A somewhat more mathematical course of thinking would be far
more beneficial to practical Therapeutics than one merely microscopi-
cal or chemical, although every physician must respond to the demands.
of these also. Quantity and quality obey determinate and absolutely
unchangeable laws, especially in Therapeutics, as we have seen. That
investigations in these directions are possible, and hence ought to be
undertaken by all parties, by whom they have been hitherto neglected,
needs no further explanation, for they rest upon the measure of time
and space.
Since thus the corresponding quantity and quality between morbid
matter and curative matter contain the only measure for their motions
and counter-motions, hence also the measure for the dose; and
since this is and ever must be, the same for all time, then we are
216
thereby presented at the same time with the true idea and the law of
the homeopathic antidotes, since this idea is to be extended exclusively
over the law of reciprocal action and is not to be limited merely to
the qualitative causality of Toxicology, a knowledge of which, how-
ever, we cannot dispense with.
§. 121.
Now arises the still farther question, according to what principle
shall we, in the special case, once for all, find and establish the quan-
tity of the dose? To this chemistry gives us the clue, following which
it has itself become great.
Neither the traditional dose nor any dose
of any substance, hitherto empirically used, can be that unit, from
which we must set forth in these investigations.
In chemistry, it is empirically established with far greater precision,
and, indeed, with the precision of a natural law, what quantity of an
acid, for example, is necessary to saturate another quantity of potash
in solution. However, no chemist who wishes to ascertain how much
potash a certain spring contains, would proceed as if he might assume
a given quantum of potash empirically or traditionally, and forthwith
add the quantity of acid corresponding thereto and necessary for satu-
ration, to the given quantity of the mineral waters, for, to say nothing
about such a process as disregarding all the laws of the art of experi-
ment, he must consider that, in dry seasons, all mineral waters are rel-
atively richer in solid constituents than in wet seasons. He must
hence begin with the smallest quantity of acid and add it, highly dilu-
ted, drop by drop, and count every drop till the experiment is con-
cluded. He must thus proceed, even if he has already examined the
spring once, since the result is undoubtedly reached sooner and surer,
than if he were to experiment at once with greater quantities. How-
ever, a previous experiment upon the same spring, presents him
with a general point of departure, from which he gathers about how
much more or less of the acid he may now give at the outset without
making any mistake. Precisely after the same rules of the art of
experiment must we proceed to find the dose, before it can be approx-
imately determined with regard to any particular case of disease from
previous experiments.
§. 122.
In making such experiments, the Therapeutist, however, finds him.
self in a far more favorable position than the chemist, for the inorganic
217
world contains determinate per cents. of its substances, but the organ-
ism does not, on account of the law of its proportional oscillations.
In comparison with chemistry, it may be permitted, even here, to
speak of re-agents, and thus it may be determined beforehand that a
slight plus of the dose never produces any error, since the organism,
by virtue of those constitutional deviations, in the quality of its sub-
stances, re-acts equally against a plus or minus.
Hence, it is apparent, that, for the purpose of cure, the specific
lines of direction of the quality are of far greater influence than the
quantities, because the organism, by virtue of its oscillations, manages
quantities much more easily; while the qualities remain unchangea-
ble in their influences.
It must yet be considered, however, in regard to quantities, that
although not capable of changing the specific lines of direction of
qualities, they can yet change their succession, which can be made
clear by a single example. We observed, for instance, in §. 114, the
order of succession of the directions which the motions of Belladonna
observed, when taken in the dose of one-eighth of a grain, several
times a day. But now, if we take, just as often, one-fourth of a grain,
the scene changes. On the very first day, the power of sight is
diminished, and the pupils are dilated. On the morning of the
second day all is well again, but, as early as noon, the pupils are
much dilated, and the change in the sight announces itself by inabil
ity to read and diplopia. On the third day, on awaking, there is a
return of vision and of mobility of the iris. At noon, renewed dilata-
tion of the pupil and immobility of the iris; at the same time, dryness
of the mouth, the palate, the uvula, the tonsils, the oesophagus sets in,
with swelling of these parts. In this manner, the symptoms increase,
till, on the sixth day, inflammation of those parts of the mouth and
pharynx, with fever, occurs. This increased quantity has thus changed
nothing in the quality, as regards space; its specific direction has
remained the same; but as regards time, it has, indeed, effected a
change, inasmuch as the affections of the visual organs set in earlier
than those of the throat, in contrast with the order of succession pro-
duced by the quantities of one-eighth of a grain.
Another result of quantities we observe, for example, in case of
Quinine. Taken in grain doses, its elimination follows in half an
hour in the urinary excretion; but the more is given, the more does
this elimination occur in inverse ratio to the dose; while the former
increases, the latter decreases. From these processes it is clear, that
small doses always operate more persistently in their appropriate direc-
tion, but large ones more rapidly in case of substances which are
218
quickly reabsorbed and eliminated, and the dose of which, conse-
quently, leaves a greater play between the maximum and minimum.
§. 123.
But since, in consequence of immoderate or ill-timed quantities, we
observe most distinctly how nutrition-remedies become function-rem-
edies, and vice versa, (which change, however, under a deficient art of
observation produces injurious results), the law is to be inferred that
both, as regards the qualitative forms of their reciprocal actions with
the organism, stand in inverse ratio to their quantities.
Many of the facts here mentioned I have gathered from the Materia
Medica of the physiological school, and practice has confirmed to me
the homœopathic indications deduced from them. Why the phys-
iological school can make no use at the bed-side of its own posses-
sions, requires no further discussion.
But that another multitude of causes is contained in the overlook-
ing of these distinctions, which must render void many of their
attempts at cure, this also cannot be any matter of doubt.
Hence I repeatedly call the attention of my colleagues to the indis-
pensable necessity of logical instruments, as the clues which the
categories of relation, quantity, quality and modality give us, in order
to clear up certain facts, the investigation of which cannot be accom-
plished by experiment. Ignorance of these logical instruments among
our learned men is so universal, that, in consultation or conversation
upon scientific subjects, one might lose his senses from astonishment,
or at least become dumb, on account of numerous opinions, to which
he has often to listen, since they betray such a want of practice in
logical thinking, that, in order to come to mutual agreement with
them, one would have to lose an incalculable amount of time.
From what has been thus far presented, it is abundantly clear that
neither Chemistry nor Pathology, neither Physiology nor Physics, in
and by themselves, are able to find a therapeutic law; nevertheless,
these sciences, in their immense progress, are of indispensable value
to Therapeutics, and every Therapeutist must be well versed therein,
for every advancement which they make, must not only confirm the
facts of Therapeutics, but also contribute to enlarge its horizon and
our knowledge. Hence, in their bearing upon Therapeutics, they
occupy the position of complements. But, on the other hand, Thera-
peutics, as we have already partly seen, and as we shall see more fully
in subsequent paragraphs, develops a multitude of experiences, which
219
will in turn serve as complements of those sciences, so that they are
mutually indispensable.
§. 124.
Medical Physics labors to reduce many physiological facts to math-
ematical formulæ, but without practical result. Mathematics is not
employed to cover unexplained facts with mathematical abstractions,
but to abstract, from given forms, laws and general rules. It would
have been a light matter thus to express, in mathematical formulæ, the
given forms of reciprocal motions, between the organism and the
function- and nutrition-means. In the eyes of experts, however,
it might be thought to work rather injuriously; for we lack, for real
mathematical calculations, in order to arrive, from such formulæ, at
the particular, too many of the intermediate terms. For the present,
it is better to avail ourselves, for a general understanding, of the lan-
guage of our own science, with the formulæ of the natural laws
peculiar to it, and dispense with mathematical language and its
formulæ, where this does not come naturally, and is not unavoid-
able; for that language is not able even to express all those laws
which control the science of Pathology and Therapeutics. Who-
ever is versed, both in medicine and mathematics, will acknowledge
the truth of this assertion. On the other hand, we lack not only
the intermediate terms for this, but chiefly, also, uninterrupted series
of experiments. Our experiments extend merely over three, or, at
the most, over eight days, by reason of too strong a dose having been
given, and are undertaken only by a few. But, even when extending
over a greater number of days, these experiments, made by but few,
and they for the most part males, are made unhappily with frequent
interruptions and omissions of such days as would have been quite
decisive (furnishing complementary momenta necessary to the calcula-
tion, and hence days which should have come into the account), so
that these experiments, for the discovery of laws by mathematical
principles, were utterly useless.
§. 125.
In brief, such an infinite undervaluing of the art of observation is
noticeable throughout the physiological school, that, for many years,
complaints have been heard from many Clinics, which give an indica-
These complaints consist in nothing less than
the despair of the teacher over the impossibility of establishing
tion of the causes.
220
the difference subsisting between a disease of spontaneous origin and
one produced by art, an impossibility but lately recognized, though
frequently presenting itself. Pathology and Therapy were never
before sunk so low. Thus, for example, a celebrated chemical lecturer
(Wien, Wochenschr. 1858,) thought he had made a new discovery
of an old experience that quicksilver, introduced into the organism
in excessive doses, produced forms of disease similar to syphilis, and
in the very same anatomical places, and called for experiments for
establishment of a differential diagnosis between syphilis and Hydrarg-
yrosis. Another (Arch. für Path., Anat. u. Phys., B. XV.,) is urged
by this over-anxious and nervous skepticism so far as to say, "it is
clearly doubtful" whether exostosis of the cervical vertebræ, as a nat-
ural consequence of syphilis, accompanied with stiffness of the neck.
and paralysis of the arms, observed by himself, were to be ascribed to
"a forced water-treatment, or to the disease."
Thus, among the teachers of Pathology and Therapeutics, the ques-
tion still presents itself, how to acquire a differential diagnosis; hence,
they think that the very next problem must be, to discover the sponta-
neous course of a disease, before anything is given to act as a remedy,
because, no one could know, finally, whether the remedy used has
contributed to the cure, or whether, perhaps, the whole course of the
disease, to its very cure, has not been such as pertained to the disease,
which, in spite of the remedies, took its course without interruption.
In view thereof, one may reasonably ask, who were the teachers
of these teachers, or, did these teachers possess merely a theoretical
past? If this were the case, an extensive country-practice for some
years would have been desirable for such poor fellows, before they
ventured to occupy the chair of teachers. There, if it had not been
taught them, and if they were not favored with any personal practical
experience, or any special gift of observation, they would have found
abundant opportunity to study diseases of all kinds left to themselves.
and in all stages; there, not unfrequently, half of all the sick die without
having called medical aid; here thus is material enough, for those desiring
it, to inform themselves regarding the course of diseases left to them-
selves and in all stages. They would need only to make it known that
they required no fee, and possessed a horse that would carry them safely
over ditches and hedges; these would be the only conditions, and they
would be called, sooner or later, to the most various diseases. They
would find nothing, however, but what was taught in the text-books of
Pathology and Therapy; not, indeed of the present day, but those of
early decades; and from these books they could obtain the desired knowl
edge cheaper and more conveniently, the necessary qualifications for
221
such a purpose being, of course, pre-supposed. Yet this is not exactly
the point of these complaints. The calamity lies in the accordance of
forms resulting from spontaneous causes of disease with those forms
resulting from remedies properly indicated. Whoever is conversant
with the literature of the physiological school, can be no stranger to
such sad events in modern Clinics, and all the more, because such com-
plaints in this literature are increasing from year to year.
§. 126.
These hopeless tokens of ignorance of the natural course of diseases,
left to themselves, date back from the present time some twenty or
twenty-five years, at which time, such skeptical investigations at the
sick-bed, were first instituted with regard to pneumonia. That in a
Clinic, in an Institution of learning, such investigations have become,
since then, a necessity, is the strongest proof, not only of the decline
of its Therapy, but also of its Pathology. Were these, then, the
acquisitions of unspeakable labors and sacrifices of physicians, of all
lands, for two thousand years?
We should not fail earnestly to inquire after the causes of these phe-
nomena; and, in this respect, fully agreeing with experts, we may say
that the causes lie chiefly in the fact that, for more than three decades,
the youthful desire for independence has led men astray to venture bu*
too often a leap from the Jour-room of the assistant, over the lessons
of an independent private practice, so indispensable to every teacher,
directly into the professorial chair.
He who has made or can make himself familiar with the foregoing
paragraphs, will not have failed to notice, that, a cure can be no
otherwise possible than by the use of qualities which possess specific
relations to those parts of the affected whole which are spared by the
disease. Hence, since in our previous examples, the quality of the
Quicksilver takes the same specific directions in the organism as the
syphilitic matter; since the Quicksilver produces ulcers, glandular
swellings, pains in the bones, skin diseases, in short, phenomena of
disease all similar in form and in the very same localities as the syph-
ilitic matter, it is clear, not only, that in this case the Quicksilver must
be a specific curative means, as soon as the quantity necessary for this
purpose, or, the dose, is found; but that it, at the same time, in an
over-dose, exceeding the maximum of the organic oscillation, must
degenerate into similar forms of disease, just as the syphilitic matter
produces them; that, however, the art of observation can indicate very
well and with all precision, from this similarity in form, the difference
222
of the causes working together to the same end, and, accordingly, noʻ
only rightly diagnosticate, but also certainly cure, and that, too, with
quantities with which all injurious and persistent consequences may
and must be avoided. However, the calamity of the difficulty of such
a differential diagnosis to the ignorant, would never have been made
a matter of complaint, if such unjustifiable doses had not become the
rule of the physiological school, and if such cases were not so fre
quent by reason of this ignorance of those things most worth knowing
by the Therapeutist.
While Virchow, for example, in his inquiries upon the nature of
constitutional syphilitic affections, rightfully maintains, against Lorin-
ser, that, although upon the use of Iodide of potash, tertiary symp-
toms of syphilis disappeared, and, at the same time, Mercury was
excreted with the urine, it does not hence follow at all that the Quick-
silver, previously used, was the cause of those symptoms; he remarks,
for the sake of an explanation thereof, among other things, "that the
tissues, altered by syphilis, are more qualified, than others, to hold fast
to the Quicksilver."
This contradiction demonstrates the possibility of being a clinical
teacher without knowing Hahnemann's well known drug-provings
of sixty years' standing; for, as it has been confirmed every day since
that time, not only the tissues changed by syphilis, are more apt than
others to hold fast to Quicksilver, but these tissues possess this
aptitude when they have not at all been changed by syphilis, and that
too, upon the basis of natural laws already detailed.
§. 127.
Just as the so-called secondary effects must become known by the
art of observation, by the differential diagnosis between the amount
of motion of morbid substances and curative substances, just so it
must be in case of all drugs as regards the repetition of the dose. If
we intend, for instance, in the scheme of Belladonna, nothing but a
lasting depression of the pulse, then it is self-evident, that, when this
depression is once reached, and not before, the dose, which produced
this effect, ought not to be repeated till a pause, or rather the propor-
tionally too early restoration of the frequency of the pulse, or its
renewed increase announces itself; moreover, if we continue to admin-
ister the remedy without regarding this, we get at once other Bella-
donna symptoms, for which we did not seek, difficulty of swallowing,
dilatation of the pupils, etc.
223
As regards the quantity, it hence holds good, according to natural
laws, that, with a changed quantity of a dose of the same substance,
a changed quality is always given, as regards the organism, although,
naturally enough, not as regards the substance; and, as regards the
effect, that, with every repetition of the dose, a new primary effect is
produced at once in the sphere determined by the quality. If we
water a plant as often as is necessary for its growth, it will not be
injured. If we repeat this watering too often, it grows too luxuriantly,
and perishes. This, however, is no secondary effect, but only the
positive result of the primary effect too often introduced, of the
unsuitable repetition of the dose.
§. 128.
THERAPEUTICAL SYSTEMS.
PHYSIOLOGICAL MEDICINE.
We can now, at last, proceed to submit to a correct judgment, the
predominant systems of Pathology and Therapeutics, in order to learn
what is true in them and what is false, for knowledge consists in per-
ceptions and judgments together. And, if I choose, for this purpose,
the statements of Prof. Wunderlich, it may be remarked, that, up to
the present time, it is a matter of indifference which of the authors
of the physiological school we permit to speak; for, since Hippocrates,
everything within this circle has remained as of old.
According to Wunderlich, the end of diagnosis is to recognize, from
the symptoms of a disease, the anatomical and physiological condition
of the diseased organism.
This idea of diagnosis is a mistaken one; for only by this, that the
pathological type of the form remains fixed in my memory, as the
scheme of the kind, is it possible for me, on seeing a pneumonia, for
instance, to recognize a change of this kind, as a new predicate,
gained by experience, and not as a new subject. The physiological
scheme simply and solely makes the differential diagnosis of a patho-
logical scheme possible. Hence it is impossible, as Wunderlich will
have it, for me to recognize, from symptoms of disease, a physio-
logical condition. No, it is only possible, in the physiological condi-
tion, to observe a pathological, and accurately to measure it according
to its quantity, quality, relation and modality. A physiological con-
dition of the diseased organism is, and ever will be nonsense for
diagnosis, as well as for prognosis. Both knowledges must contain
224
synthetic conclusions, both must be judged according to the funda
mental maxims of experiment and observation.
The perfect knowledge of a thing I acquire by perception, by means
of synthetic conclusions, but the idea thereof I obtain analytically,
only by separating the [constituent] parts of the conception from the
entire perception. If I analyze the physiological scheme of the
organism, I obtain the idea of relative health. But if I analyze the
idea of pneumonia, for instance, then this lies not within, but without
the physiological scheme. I never find this pathological idea by an
analysis or dismemberment of physiological life, because it is not at
all contained therein. But I can connect the idea of pneumonia none
the less with the physiological scheme of the organism, although it is
not contained therein, if I adduce it by the law of causality as a
change, and, by that of reciprocal action, as a new form, and hence,
synthetically.
According to these fundamental propositions, all signs of diseases.
must be collected and measured, not arbitrarily and according to the
accident of individual power of judgment, but in their difference,
which they present among themselves, between the physiological
appearance and its change.
To learn how far physiological medicine responds to these logical
necessities, I select as an example, the most prominent, because it has
been elaborated most completely by this school, that which is known
under the collective name of inflammation of the lungs; for it is
utterly impossible to form an idea of Homœopathy and its high
worth, without the standard of comparison; since it is only by com-
paring the one scheme with the other, that we can rightly judge with
regard to their different standpoints and conclusions, because even the
ideas of Homœopathy, like geographical points upon the map, can
only be determined and established out of the totality of their situation
among other ideas.
§. 129.
Wunderlich expresses himself, regarding pneumonia, as follows:
“ Pneumonia — inflammation of the lungs-occurs primarily and
secondarily, sporadically and endemically; but seldom epidemically.
Primary pneumonia is, next to Typhus, the most frequent severe
acute disease, but secondary pneumonia occurs much oftener. Pneu-
monia attacks every age. The primary, although occurring in earlier
years also, becomes, however, more frequent at the time of puberty,
reaches its maximum between nineteen and twenty-three years of age,
225
is very common till thirty, then becomes much less frequent, but s
more frequent again between fifty and sixty. Secondary pneumonia
is especially frequent in the earliest days of childhood, up to the sixth
year, and in the latter days of old age, and complicates, at these
periods of life, the most severe diseases, but occurs also frequently in
the middle period of life. The number of men attacked is considera-
bly greater than that of women. All constitutions may be affected
by it, but the robust, most frequently, while the anæmic, the cachetic,
drinkers and pregnant women are not only frequently but also very
severely attacked. A previous attack of pneumonia predisposes to a
return thereof. Primary pneumonias are most frequent in April and
May, then from December to March, then in June and September,
the most seldom in July and August. The most dangerous pneumo-
nias occur in August, June, October and March. The pneumonias
of children and of old people occur most frequently in the cold seasons
of the year, under a prevailing north and north-east wind. Secondary
pneumonias are most frequent at the time in which the primary pre-
sent themselves.
Pneumonia can be directly induced by local, thermal, mechanical
and chemical influences; chilling and over-heating, shocks, wounds,
the penetrating of foreign bodies into the lungs aud bronchi — by
immoderate bodily exertions, excesses, mental affections — by unknown
epidemic influences. Secondary pneumonias are either complicatory,
i. e., they occur during the course of some other disease and merely
complicate it, or intercurrently, especially in chronic diseases, also
sometimes in long-continuing acute diseases—or symptomatically,
where the pneumonia is but a partial phenomenon of a wide-spread
disease, or, metastatically, whether with a complete disappearance of
the primary disease (healing of an ulcer in the foot), or, in conse-
quence of a secondary deposit of the products of the primary affection
in the lung—or alternating (in Erysipelas, acute rheumatism) or ter-
minal (extremely common).
Secondary pneumonia arises—by topical extension-by means of
the blood (coagula torn loose or exudation-clots, pyæmia, cachexia) by
long lying upon the back (Hypostasis), by new injurious influences
without special noticeable causes.”
§. 130.
The anatomical changes in pneumonia, which are worthy of note,
concern, first of all, the very tissues of the lung which are affected.
The entire lung, however, is never affected; the disease is always
PART I.
15
226
limited to one or more portions, and sometimes only a small part of
the lung is implicated.
In the affected part we find a deposit of a semi-solid substance, con-
sisting of fibrine, water, albumen, blood-corpuscles, in various propor-
tions of mixture, and a substance derived from the above mentioned
deposits with which the vesicles of the lungs and the bronchial tubes
are filled, and hence are more or less shut against the air, while some-
times the interstitial connective tissue may be, at the same time,
infiltrated with them.
Great differences are, however, presented in the compositions of the
exudations, in their degree of development, their distribution in the
lung, and in the original quality of the tissue.
In the purest cases, in which the previously healthy lung is prima-
rily affected, the exudation is a plasma, moderately mixed with blood,
quickly coagulating, in which exudation-corpuscles early present
themselves and, in favorable cases, a fatty degeneration begins at once
(croupous pneumonia, genuine pneumonia). Here the lung presents,
iu the various periods of the disease, various appearances.
The beginning of the affection presents itself in the form of an
intense swelling, without complete expulsion of air. The lung looks
dark, is but little elastic, and, when cut, a bloody serous, tough, but
not foamy, fluid oozes out. The tissue feels firm, crepitates under
pressure little if any, sinks generally, yet slowly and incompletely, in
water. The capillaries are overladen with blood-corpuscles, while the
air in the vesicles is scanty, or quite lacking. By pressing or washing,
the yet fluid contents of the vesicles ean be separated, (splenization,
inflammatory congestion, inflammatory infarction).
Subsequently the affected portion of the lung is swollen, sometimes
appears even externally brighter, but generally darker, than the rest of
the lung; the tissue is more compact, firmer, but at the same time
soft and friable. Upon the cut surface, the affected portion of the
lung appears of a brighter or darker brownish red, and the cut surface
is granular; even upon firm pressure no bubbles of air come from the
part, on the contrary, a tough, rust-brown fluid, consisting of blood-
corpuscles, molecular masses, newly formed cells and a few small
fibrinous clots.
In water, the piece of lung sinks at once; when dried, it shrivels
up into a uniform hard crust; in this stage, the pulmonary cells and
the smallest bronchi are filled with the soft, but mostly coagulated,
exudation which clings closely to the walls of the pulmonary cells,
and which cannot be removed by washing.
The vessels of the part
are compressed, sometimes occluded, with clots, and the part of the
227
lung is hence, more or less, lost to the circulation, and has become
anæmic, (red hepatization, red softening). This condition is cured,
either by absorption, or by throwing off the exudation. If neither
cure nor death ensues, then the exudation may change into purulent
transformation; the superficies of the part affected looks pale or yel-
low, the broken surface looks gray, grayish red or yellowish, often
resembles the mixed color of granite; the tissue is moister again, and,
by pressure, numerous reddish yellow fluid points can be pressed out,
which contain pus-corpuscles, a few blood-corpuscles and abundant
molecular masses. These contents can also be partially removed by
washing, but without perfectly restoring the cell texture. The paren-
chyma of the lung itself is so broken down, that it tears on the least
pressure. In more advanced cases even, a straw yellow pus exudes
from the cut surface (purulent infiltration). The disease, arrived
at this stage, may possibly be cured by expectoration; the fluid part
of the exudation can only be removed by absorption. No doubt, in
cases which recover, there is always, or almost always, a subsequent
contraction of the lung.
It sometimes happens, finally, that the points of pus are changed
into numerous abscesses which, however, occurs most commonly in
secondary pneumonia, also in traumatic cases, in those following
upon bloody infarctions, as well as after previous black-gray indura-
tion or upon tuberculization of the exudation. At the same time,
there are a few abscesses present, in other cases more, and even quite
a number, and these vary in size from that of a pea to that of a large
apple. The abscess has, at first, no sharp limits, and loses itself in
friable pneumonic tissue; somewhat later only, firm walls are formed
about it, which, however, are generally uneven. The abscess may
empty into a bronchus or into the pleura or even, upon agglutination
of the folds of the pleura, it may open externally, or into the abdomi-
nal cavity and the organs contained therein. In favorable cases, the
abscess may either thicken, or, after it has discharged, it may heal
with a callous cicatrix."
§. 131.
"Very frequently the pneumonic exudations present more or less
remarkable deviations as regards quality, and thus form transitions to
other forms of disease. The chief of these are the following:
1. The serous pneumonia, a soft infiltration with a smooth surtace,
slightly granular or not at all; occurs chiefly in case of the cachectic,
228
the aged, and in secondary pneumonia, and runs into oedema by
insensible transitions.
2. The hæmorrhagic pneumonia, in which the exudation is some-
times of a unusually dark color throughout, sometimes only in a few.
central nuclei; a form occurring in drunkards, in the scorbutic, some
times in secondary pneumonias, but especially in traumatic cases, ano
forms the transition to infarction.
3. The early softening exudation almost forthwith leading to gray
infiltration; observed chiefly in pyaemic, marasmic or tuberculous
cases, and especially in some cases of secondary pneumonia.
4. The gelatinous-looking colloid infiltration, with the chronic form
of the light gray callous induration connected therewith, occurs only
to a limited extent, as a callous encystment of caverns or as foci of the
size of nuts; it leads the way often to a tuberculous transformation.
5. The black and blackish-gray induration, sometimes present in
great extent; sometimes over a whole tube even, or only enclosing
other lesions with a smooth or even cut-surface; at one time, with
swelling, at another with shriveling of the part, and with extremely
firm consistence of the portion of the lung affected, which is entirely
void of air. This condition may continue, without doubt, for years or
may pass over into partial multiple suppuration, ichorization or tuber-
culization.
6. The ichorous dissolving infiltration, containing often stinking,
abnormally formed pus-corpuscles and blood; ichorous pneumonia
which, at one time, has only a limited extent, and, at another, spreads
itself over a whole lobe, and then presents, usually, more or less
numerous holes and cavities filled with ichor and is situated in an oth-
erwise extremely soft part of the lungs; this presents a transition form
into gangrene and occurs under similar conditions.
7. Carcinomatous infiltration, which occurs in cancerous indivia
uals."
§. 132.
"As regards the seat and the manner of distribution of pneumonia,
the following distinctions are to be made:
1. Lobar pneumonia, in which the affection is connectedly spread
over a greater part of the lung; it occurs, most frequently, in the
primary form but, often, also, in secondary cases; it occurs, most
frequently, in a lower lobe, and in the right side somewhat oftener
than in the left; more rarely in an upper lobe, in which case a transi-
tion into tuberculization readily occurs; sometimes in the right middle
229
lobe—at others in the central; in a few cases it is spread over the
whole lung, or, at least over the greatest part of it, (generally, neglected
pneumonia) in both lower lobes (rather rare) in both upper lobes
(likewise rare); in an upper lobe on one side and a lower lobe on the
other; crossed pneumonia (not unfrequent); sometimes advancing step
by step; sometimes changing places, erratic; in secondary pneumo-
nia, often in the lowest most posterior parts-hypostatic.
2. The reactive pneumonia, located about another diseased centre,
in greater or less extent, sometimes subsequently affecting the whole
lobe, and especially predisposing to induration.
3. Lobular pneumonia in a few or many isolated lobules of the
size of a cherry stone or a walnut; generally in both lungs, at a time;
oftener in secondary (occurring, for instance, in pyæmia, exanthems,
or after bronchitis) than in primary pneumonia; more frequent in
little children, than with adults. When the course of the disease is
prolonged, the interjacent parts of the lungs become afterwards
affected, in which case, the parts first affected, may be recognized by
their different appearance; generalized lobular pneumonia.
4. Marginal pneumonia, where only groups of cells are affected,
especially in children, the tuberculous and cachectic.
5. Interstitial pneumonia, chiefly an affection of the connective
cell-substance, and ending either in induration and obliteration, with
the production of a very firm callus at the same time, after progress-
ing slowly, from place to place, or as a dissecting abscess (extremely
rare).
6. Interlobular pneumonia, with deposits between the lobules of
the lungs (extremely rare in man).
Essential differences arise, according to the variety of the former
state of the lungs.
Pneumonias in the foetal state are rare; they produce white, firm
infiltrations, or red lobar hepatizations.
Pneumonias of the new born present themselves in the form of
lobar hepatization, or of diffuse abscess.
Pneumonias in children, up to the fifth year, are by far the most
frequently lobular and disseminated, but often become generalized
afterwards.
In youth and middle age, the primary pneumonia is most com-
pletely formed.
In old age, simple infiltrations (stases) partly take place, partly gran-
ulated forms with red and gray hepatization, often by preference in
the upper lobes, and generally with imperfect expulsion of air, or
finally smooth, not granular forms (serous pneumonia).
230
In simple anæmic lungs the hepatization remains, for the most part,
circumscribed, and is marked off by a very sharp border, from the
remaining lung-tissue, which is extremely pale and acutely emphy-
sematous. The exudation is tough and like bloody water.
In compressed lobes of the lungs, under recent pneumonic infil-
trations, the parts are inelastic, shriveled, but tolerably firm and less
decayed, pale, light brown or livid, and the granulations are not well
marked. In case of old infiltrations, the tissue is tough, moderately
hard, and poor in blood.
Emphysematous lungs, when attacked with inflammation, present
a coarse-grained and irregular granular appearance, and there are
often portions of lung unaffected, in the midst of the hepatization.
In tuberculous lungs we most frequently see the granular, lobar and
lobular infiltration with disposition to tuberculization, and early
bleaching; furthermore, gelatinous infiltration of the small portions;
black induration; vesicular and interstitial induration."
§. 133.
"The other parts of the respiratory organs generally present
changes during pneumonia. The lung not affected by pneumonia,
is, at one time, hyperemic, at another anæmic, very often ædematous,
and, in patches, emphysematous; other accidental complications may
also be present. The bronchi are more or less reddened, generally
somewhat dilated, containing a tough, reddish fluid, and sometimes
coagula; at a later period, the mucous membrane is often bleached,
and the contents purulent; sometimes in the bronchi firm coagula are
found, or they are filled with a very copious sero-purulent fluid.
The larynx is, at times, affected simultaneously in the form of
catarrh, of hyperæmia, or a moderate croupous inflammation.
The bronchial glands, especially with children, sometimes even
with adults, are swollen, brown red, often softened and sometimes
containing pus. The smaller arteries of the lungs, and even the
veins, are frequently filled with clots. Upon the pleura, thin layers
of plastic exudation almost always lie; sometimes, even, a more
abundant exudation is found. In case of children, and old men, the
accompanying pleuritis is less frequently seen.
In primary croupous pneumonia, the blood always shows a consid-
erable increase in the fibrine, becoming greater in the course of the
disease, forming a thick, firm crust, and strongly contracted coagula.
The white blood-corpuscles, as well as the fat, are increased, the
amount of albumen is inconstant, the proportion of salt diminished.
231
In the brain, are sometimes found sub-arachnoideal, salty, or puru-
lent exudations; effusions into the ventricles are more rare; hyper-
æmiæ are frequently observed; on the contrary, in the venous sinuses,
and, in the great veins of the pia mater, there are usually tough, firm,
fibrinous clots.
The heart, especially in its right division, usually presents firm fibri-
nous clots, and sometimes, also, the complication of pericarditis.
Catarrh of the stomach, and, with little children, softening of the
stomach are not uncommon; the liver is often found in a state of con-
gestion; the spleen is generally firm and contracted. The kidneys
present, frequently, at one time, only a moderate, at another a deeper-
seated affection, hyperæmia; diffuse, more rarely circumscribed infil-
trations, and frequently catarrh of the tubuli and pelvis of the kidneys.
Pneumonia may be entirely latent, whether from a limitation of the
process to a very small section of the lung, or to many small scattered
spots; or, on account of a complication with other disturbances of the
thoracic organs, which conceal the local indications of pneumonia.
In many cases of pneumonic infiltration, this [the infiltration] is not
recognized, because the local examination of the lung is neglected; so,
especially in frequent cases, where pneumonia sets in, in course of
other diseases, and often where the state of the patient does not well
admit of a daily exact examination of the chest.
In some cases of pneumonia there are, indeed, local phenomena of
disease, but these may just as correctly be referred to other lesions, or
they may be of doubtful significance.
In yet other cases, sufficiently clear local symptoms are lacking, but
the accompanying and general symptoms are of such a kind as to
make the existence of pneumonia at least probable.”
§. 134.
"The most positive momenta for the diagnosis of pneumonia are:
"The characteristic expectoration of brick-red or yellow color, of a
tenacious consistency, intermixed with blood, sometimes foamy, but,
with air-bubbles becoming smaller and smaller, and finally ceasing
altogether, frequently with soft bronchial clots. This expectoration
becomes changed subsequently, sometimes is transformed into the
usual catarrhal sputa, with disappearance of the blood, or becomes
like prune-juice or purulent, and frequently milk-like streaks are to be
seen in it, instead of the previous bronchial coagula.
The phenomena presented under percussion, which presuppose that
a sufficiently large part of the lung is affected with infiltration, and
232
that it is near the periphery of the lung, and that no considerable
pleuritic exudation is present near by. At first, the sound is some-
what shorter or tympanitic, subsequently it is more or less muffled,
but generally without a distinct line of demarcation between the dis-
eased and the normal portion of the lung. During the resolution of
pneumonia, the sound is often tympanitic again. In the transition to
chronic induration, the muffled sound remains. When caverns are
formed, and their contents are discharged into the bronchi, the sound
is tympanitic, and sometimes even has a metallic ring.
The auscultatory phenomena. These presuppose that the pneumo-
nic spot is not too far from the outer surface of the lung, and that the
bronchi are not quite obliterated by firm clots. In the first period, the
vesicular respiration is frequently rough and sharpened; afterwards, a
fine uniform crepitation ensues; sometimes, where there is wide-spread
and complete infiltration of part of a lung, the respiration is bronchial,
and at the same time, usually very loud. During retrocession, the
respiration frequently begins to be crepitating again at the edge of the
infiltration. In purulent degeneration, harsh and consonant râles are
heard. These symptoms, however, are frequently concealed or min-
gled with bronchial whistling, the râle accompanying the demata,
with the creaking of pleuritic exudations, or even with yet other com-
plications in the lung.
The type of the fever, which, however, only presents itself char-
acteristically in primary pneumonia, i. e., as a continuous fever,
lasting for many days, otherwise with very slight and irregular remis-
sions, and with a rapid defervescence when the infiltration is complete."
66
§. 135.
Symptoms of proximate value are the type of the breathing, an
accelerated short and superficial, in severe cases, unrhythmic respira-
tion, which chiefly occurs with force in those parts in which the
pneumonic infiltration does not occur, and is usually accompanied by
a characteristic movement of the alæ nasi; the interrupted speech is
usually more observed in pneumonia than in other affections of the
lungs; the appearance of a herpes about the mouth and nose in the
course of a violent, feverish, not intermittent attack.
Besides these phenomena, others are often present in greater or less
number; pains, which occur sometimes spontaneously, at other times,
from change of position, speaking, coughing, but which, perhaps,
rather belong to an incipient pleurisy, than to a pneumonia, and
frequently are observed in remote points, rather than in the parts
233
affected; these are usually an early symptom of infiltration, but
generally disappear long before its resolution; the sensation of an
unpleasant warmth upon the chest; of fulness, of pressure, of motion,
of anxiety; cough, which, however, is wanting in not a few cases,
especially in the beginning, sometimes during the entire course, and
in no manner presents a peculiar character. The color of the face,
that is the deep and sharply defined redness of one or both cheeks,
the livor of the lips, and also of the rest of the face; subsequently,
sometimes, a yellowish color of the skin, the anxious expression of
the physiognomy in the later periods of severe cases, and the cachectic
pale color of the face under the same circumstances; frequent head-
aches, sleeplessness or else drowsiness and stupor, sometimes delirium;
these chiefly occur in children, women, old people, topers, in case of
pneumonia in the upper lobes, and in such as are combined with
more severe intestinal affections; the accelerated stroke of the heart
and the hardness of the pulse; more or less severe symptoms pertain-
ing to the intestinal canal; loss of appetite, various coatings upon
the tongue, vomiting, especially at the invasion of the disease, consti-
pation, seldom diarrhoea; changes of the urine, which becomes more
scanty, contains much red pigment, is considerably concentrated, even
albuminous and mixed with blood, and sometimes presents traces of
constituents of the bile; the combinations with chlorine are dimin-
ished, or even disappear entirely, quite frequently; especially in favor-
able cases, a marked sediment of urates is present; hæmorrhages,
especially nose-bleed, less often hæmaturia or petechia."
§. 136.
"The grouping of symptoms and their course, present, according to
the nature, character, etc., of pneumonia an infinite variety. The
primary simple croupous pneumonia of the lower lobe, in an adult,
previously healthy, presents the most characteristic type.
The disease generally begins in the midst of health, or after scarcely
noticeable premonitions, with a violent chill, followed by great heat,
mostly dry, sharply circumscribed redness of the cheek, hardness of
the pulse which is of medium frequency, sometimes thirst, entire loss
of appetite and entire inability to keep on one's feet any longer; with
this, either from the very outset, or, on the next day, chest-symptoms
appear; cough, which is short and convulsive, but may even be want-
ing, sometimes accompanied from the first with bloody expectoration,
interrupted speech, frequent respiration, stitches in the side. On per-
cussing, on the posterior part of the affected side, the corresponding
234
modifications of sound are apparent, seldom on the first day, generally
on the second or third, seldom later. In the same place, and at the
same time, the changes of the respiratory sounds are noticed. Gen-
erally, with the second day, the expectoration, on account of blood
being intimately mixed with tough excretions, appears of a yellowish
or brick-dust color. The functions of the brain are but little changed,
yet there is frequently headache and restlessness at night. The
strength is broken, without a marked sensation of weakness. The
chlorides are notably diminished in the urine which is of a deep tinge
and less in quantity.
In a tolerably uniform continuous course the disease proceeds thus,
through several days. In favorable cases, the pulse rises but little
over one hundred, the temperature not above 32°, the respirations not
above forty in the minute. In such cases a Herpes generally soon ap-
pears; the lips become a little livid only, and all dangerous symptoms
are absent. The fever declines often after a previous exacerbation,
most frequently about the fifth day, seldom later than the seventh,
with a rapid defervescence, so that within from twenty-four to thirty-
six hours, the temperature returns to its normal standard, and the
pulse quite as rapidly sinks to its normal frequency. With this ter-
mination of the fever, the patient becomes quiet, feels relatively well,
and, from that period, the blood disappears from the sputa and resolu-
tion of the infiltration in the lung begins, which, in favorable cases, is
complete in from three to fourteen days."
§. 137.
“Deviations of pneumonia from this course may be produced by
the kind of development of the local process, and of the type of the
course of the entire disease, by the seat of the pneumonia and the
kind of exudation, by modifications of the entire organism, and, by
complications; finally by transmutations of the process.
In the type of the course the following deviations present them-
selves: Unusually slight, or entire absence of, fever, with perfectly
developed local phenomena (extremely rare); uncommonly early com-
pletion of hepatization in connection with a prompt recovery, or, of a
tardy healing, (very seldom); retarded formation of the local changes,
associated at the beginning with violent fever, in which case the diag-
nosis is possible only after some days; unusually violent development
of the fever and an adynamic type of the same (typhoid form); infil-
trations with local successive additions thereto, pneumonias successively
completing themselves, mostly, with a simultaneous removal of the
235
fever; progressive extension of the infiltration, erratic pneumonia:
sometimes with paroxysmal advances, (pneumonia advancing per
saltum); alternate attacks of various parts of the lungs after the
manner of erratic erysipelas (erratic pneumonia); rhythmically inter-
mitting pneumonia.
As regards the seat of pneumonia, that of the left lung sometimes.
produces more violent phenomena on account of the heart; that of the
right lung, phenomena on account of the liver and from retention of
the bile; pneumonias of the upper lobe frequently prodnce very vio-
lent fever-symptoms, very acute delirium and other affections of the
brain, sometimes typhoid symptoms, and they not infrequently pro-
ceed to incomplete resolution and tuberculosis; infiltrations of an
entire lung, or crossed pneumonias are marked by violence of the
symptoms and by dyspnoea, generally, also by a protracted course;
lobular, vesicular and hypostatic pneumonias are seldom primary in
adults, and, when they appear, have the character of secondary pneu-
monias."
§. 138.
“Differences according to the kind of exudation. Serous pneumo-
nia present no sputa, or, foamy-bloody-serous, partly pure serous sputa,
which are raised with difficulty; an imperfect, often tympanitic dul-
ness, extensive, fine crepitant râles, generally without, or, with incom-
plete, bronchial respiration; dyspnoea at one time severe, at another
slight; frequently slight fever; utter irregularity in the beginning,
course and termination of the disease, which is frequently connected.
with oedematous swelling of the face and the extremities.
Hæmorrhagic pneumonia is characterized by a more copious and
purer bloody expectoration, by extreme pallor of the countenance and
often by a cachectic color, by phenomena of extensive hæmorrhagic
diathesis, by great debility and inclination to collapse, by a lack of
agreement between the local and febrile symptoms, and chiefly by
extreme slowness of the course of the disease.
The acute purulent pneumonia is not to be distinguished, during
life, unless a large abscess discharges itself, in which case, the topical
symptoms correspond with those of the chronic abscess.
Ichorous pneumonia is marked by the greasy, discolored, stinking
character of the expectoration, sometimes by intercurrent hæmorr-
hages, by violent fever with early prostration and inclination to col-
lapse, by excessive sweat and disposition to colliquative diarrhea, by a
cachectic look, by its protracted course, generally ending in death, or
236
recovery with an extremely tedious and frequently interrupted conval-
escence."
§. 139.
"Differences according to various ages. The pneumonia of the
new-born occurs sometimes primarily, at others in consequence of
other diseases; has generally a short course and leads rapidly to diffuse
hepatization. Oppressed respiration, heat of the skin and accelerated.
pulse, sometimes some cough; laborious respiration with the alae nasi
and the lateral portions of the thorax; suppressed, short cries, pallor
and livor of the face are the most important symptoms beside the
local. Often the diagnosis is still further obscured by vomiting, mete-
orism and diarrhoea. This, mostly fatal, affliction, lasts only one or a
few days.
During the period of nursing and up to the second dentition pneu-
monias occur in a threefold form.
They either follow a catarrh, or occur in course of another acute
disease; are lobular and become general somewhat later. The disease
begins with catarrhal symptoms, which, at first, are of slight impor-
tance; then exacerbation with chills and rapid increase of heat;
rapidly increasing dyspnoea and frequency of pulse with a sickly and
anxious expression, hot, red or pale head; sometimes there is great
excitement, at others a more soporous condition. Auscultation reveals
crepitation, whistling, only exceptionally bronchial respiration; percus-
sion sometimes dull. If the symptoms do not moderate soon, the face
assumes a livid pallor, the pulse becomes extremely frequent and death
may ensue in the first few days. If the disease early takes a turn for
the better, the cough becomes looser again, the respiration freer, yet
attacks of suffocation readily recur, and, although the state of affairs
has continued to be a tolerable one for several days, may suddenly
take a new turn towards a fatal termination. Besides, the develop-
ment of children is retarded in most cases of this disease, or scrofula
sets in, or rhachitis and other chronic diseases of children.
A second kind of pneumonia is lobar from the outset; usually
begins with vomiting, and resembles more the pneumonia of adults.
The prognosis is more favorable.
The third form is that of cachectic pneumonia, occurring in the
course of chronic diseases; beginning unnoticed, it runs its course
very much without symptoms, announcing itself by the local physical
signs, and the great prostration of the children, and usually ending in
death.
237
After the second dentition, the pneumonias of children are more
similar to those of adults, and distinguish themselves only by the far
more frequent occurrence of vomiting, at the very invasion of the
disease, by the extremely violent fever, and the unusual frequency of
the pulse, by the tendency to cerebral complications, by the usual lack
of expectoration or swallowing of the same, by the disposition to salu-
tary nose-bleed, and by the greater danger of consecutive diseases.
The pneumonia of old people usually begins suddenly with a chill,
and takes a course similar to that of the pneumonia of middle-aged
people, but with greater prostration, inclination to sopor, quiet delir-
ium and a dry tongue. A tracheal rattle often puts an end to the life,
even where other conditions are favorable.
In other cases the pneumonia of the aged begins with symptoms of
the head, great prostration, difficulty of swallowing, vomiting, diarr-
hoa and other intestinal symptoms; after a few days sopor ensues,
followed by a fatal termination.
In many cases, especially with very old people, there are no subjec-
tive and functional symptoms at all; death approaches almost imper-
ceptibly, and, as if from the senile marasmus, frequently after but few
hours of soporous sleep, nevertheless, in such cases, a whole lung may
be hepatized or affected with purulent infiltration.
The pneumonias of old people are always more dangerous by
reason of the tendency to cerebral complications, to severe intestinal
symptoms, to collapse, to retention of the sputa, producing suffoca-
tion with tracheal rattle"
§. 140.
Secondary and complicated pneumonias may follow in their course
that of primary pneumonia pretty closely; in other cases they present
more or less marked differences, which chiefly consist in the following:
Sometimes, indeed, they are extended over one lobe, but much oftener
are lobular, vesicular and hypostatic. Their beginning is frequently
hidden, the chill is usually wanting and the development of this severe.
affection of the lungs is frequently indicated by no conspicuous symp-
tom.
The fever is more violent, and frequently assumes the ataxic or a
dynamic form; the fever, however, is often slight, and even is alto-
gether lacking. If the primary disease has run its course with fever,
then this may be aggravated by the access of the pneumonia, or its
type may be modified.
238
The local, subjective and functional phenomena are often slight, or
are entirely wanting; the dyspnoea, however, is seldom absent.
The chief local complications producing disturbance in the course
of the disease are as follows:
Broncho-pneumonia, which prevails partly epidemically and endem-
ically, and is partly produced by peculiar dispositions; in adults it is
sometimes lobular, and generally so with children; in one case it
begins at the same time in the bronchi and lungs; in another the
pneumonia follows a bronchial catarrh. The initial chill is frequently
lacking, while, on the other hand, the cough is more severe and spas-
modic; sibilant and purring râles are heard in the chest, dyspnœa is
more marked, livor sets in early, and the danger of the access of
oedema, or the transition of the gray hepatization is greater.
Bronchitis may also set in, during the course of the disease, by
which the dyspnoea is aggravated, the abatement of the fever delayed,
and tubercularization favored. Pleurisy of both sides at the same
time [is another complication], by which the pneumonia becomes
more painful; the sound on percussion more dull; the vibration of the
voice diminished; the diagnosis rendered difficult, and a rapid defor-
vescence frustrated.
Contemporaneous pleurisy of the opposite side, by which the
dyspnoea is much increased, and the whole course of the disease is
rendered more violent.
Extensive ædema of the lungs, by which the dyspnoea is increased
and rapidly rises to a dangerous height; moist râles and a copious
foamy expectoration; not unfrequently, also, a sudden retention of the
expectoration is induced, with livor and symptoms of suffocation, thus
frequently inducing a fatal issue.
Acute emphysema, which may simulate the rise of a wide-spread
hepatization by the arching out of separate portions, with, at first, a
tympanitic sound, gradually becoming short, which increases the
dyspnea, produces a livid countenance and contributes to a fatal ter-
mination. Clots in the vessels of the lungs, and, in the cavity of the
heart, with sudden attack of suffocating dyspnoea, with danger of a
rapidly fatal termination, or the invasion of oedema of the lungs, or
mortification. The complication with nervous and cerebral irrita-
tion, which mingles its symptoms with those of pneumonia in all
degrees of excitement, even up to raving delirium, and which often
makes itself most severely felt only after pneumonia has run through
its course, and which may even go on to a rapidly fatal collapse.
Pneumonia, occurring in the first stage of tuberculosis, is occasion-
ally to be distinguished from a primary pneumonia, only it does not
239
define itself usually in a well marked manner, and partially passes over
into tuberculization. The more advanced the stage of phthisis is, and
the more extensive the pneumonia, the less characteristic are the
general symptoms, and only the physical signs are decisive of its
presence.
The accession of a true meningitis, of a pericarditis and an endo-
carditis, or an affection of the liver, complicates the pneumonia in a
corresponding manner.
Pneumonia may also become associated with various acute and
chronic diseases of the brain, in which case it takes quite a latent
course, and, even with patients who are not confined to bed, extends
over a very great portion of the lung, and may suddenly, as it seems,
prove fatal.
The access of a severe gastric and intestinal catarrh, may, by the
addition of gastric symptoms, and by the greater prostration and ten-
dency to delirium and sopor, which are usually present at the same
time, present the appearance of a typhoid fever.
Moderate hæmorrhages from the nose and uterus, during the course
of the disease, are favorable; more copious discharges of blood may
give the fever an adynamic character, and induce collapse.
Nephritis with albuminuria, frequently occurs, embarrasses the
course of the pneumonia, favors the production of œdema, sometimes
occasions severe symptoms of the brain and great prostration, and
contributes to a fatal termination.”
S. 141.
"Of pneumonia with constitutional disorders, those are of chief
importance which occur in course of acute exanthemata, which are
frequently lobular, often are but little marked by local phenomena,
but induce an aggravation of the fever and of cerebral symptoms.
With typhus fever, a similar relation may obtain as in case of exan-
themata, or, with the invasion of pneumonia, the character of the
disease may completely change.
Pneumonia is frequent with drunkards, and dangerous from an
impending collapse, from the probability of a delirious sopor and the
invasion of active delirium, from the tendency to the transition of the
exudation into ichorous ulceration.
Pneumonias as a result of purulent poisoning of the blood, are without
symptoms, as no large abscesses are formed, except that they frequently
induce dyspnoea; they lead to a fatal termination.
240
Pneumonias, occurring in course of chronic dyscrasiæ, are character-
ized by few manifest symptoms; fever sets in, or if already present,
it becomes continuous, and more violent, and death often occurs
unexpectedly.
With anæmic subjects, pneumonias do not become so wide spread,
but are marked by violent fever and dyspnoea, by adynamia and the
danger of a rapidly fatal termination."
§. 142.
"Chronic pneumonia is sometimes an isolated process, partly in
cases where a portion of the lung, after an acute inflammation,
remains indurated, or where an abscess follows, partly in cases where
the whole process developes itself insidiously and with little demon-
stration. Moreover, chronic pneumonias very frequently occur as
concomitant phenomena of other pulmonary and constitutional
diseases.
The changes in chronic pneumonias are, simple induration, chronic
abscess, dark and gray induration with or without the formation of
abscesses, gelatinous infiltration and grayish white induration, chronic
ichorous pneumonia, generally with several suppurating centres,
[Destructionsherden].
The local physical phenomena present no peculiarity, except their
long continuance, and the confounding of this state with tubercle and
pleuritic exudations is, above all, a frequent occurrence.
The expec-
toration may be entirely wanting in chronic pneumonia, or it may be
purulent, ichorous, bloody, or insignificant. The cough is at one time
continuous, at another present but for a short time; now moderate,
now spasmodic and tormenting. General phenomena may be lacking
altogether, or a more or less violent fever, with a continuous febrile
type or hectic character, may lead the way, by slow or rapid strides, to
consumption. Generally a cachectic look, an icteric or livid color,
œdematous swellings, or a diffused dropsy are present. The course
of chronic pneumonia is more or less tedious, and admits of many
fluctuations, and gives reason to anticipate even the establishment
of a tolerable state of health."
§. 143.
"Pneumonia may terminate in complete recovery, as is generally
the case in the primary croupous pneumonia of youth and middle
age, when the disease is limited to one side, where there are no com-
241
plications and the patient has good care; with other kinds of pneu-
monia, this happens much more rarely.
The termination in acute sequela is seldom, and then chiefly in
œdema of the lungs, gangrene of the lungs, acute tuberculosis, pleurisy,
pericarditis, œdema of the glottis, meningitis, parotitis, pyæmia, acute
infiltration into the kidneys. Frequently the disease assumes the form.
of chronic inflammation either of the lungs themselves, or of neigh-
boring or remote parts.
Death may ensue from extension of the hepatization under cyanotic
and suffocating symptoms-by the rapid development of the pneu-
monia into gray softening, purulent infiltration, or ichorous ulceration
with symptoms of a nervous, adynamic fever; by the occurrence of
additional lesions in the lungs, as severe hyperæmia of parts of the
lungs not affected, emphysema, oedema, hæmorrhages, coagulation of
blood, plugging of the bronchi, swelling of the bronchial glands; by
consumption or sudden exhaustion in consequence of violent fever and
irritation of the brain, by manifold complications, by subsequent
diseases."
§. 144.
In view of this quotation, we cannot comply with the requisition
of Wunderlich, to learn the physiological condition of the organism
sick with pneumonia, from the symptoms of the disease, because the
physiological condition of a diseased organism is a contradictio in
adjecto. But we may well compare the physiological condition of a
man with his pathological, when in disease.
Since, now, the general mark of the correctness of a division, is
given in the relation of contrast, which presents a sufficient guarantee
of a complete exhaustion of the idea, and excludes co-ordinate ideas;
so also anatomical changes in diseases, cannot be the correct principle
of division, for it can contain no variation as regards quality, and no
division according to further diagnostic momenta. The variations in
the course of the disease, however, and in various ages, are as much
co-ordinated with the idea of pneumonia as the idea of the secondary,
complicated, and chronic pneumonia. Least of all can pneumonias,
with constitutional diseases, and the changes thereby occurring in other
organs, be arranged under this anatomical rubric.
Moreover, a certain number of possible cases is enumerated, it is
true, but the knowledge of all cases of pneumonia, or even a glance at
them, is utterly lacking, and, in this method, is impossible. Hence there
PART I.
16
242
must be another principle of division for diseases, in order to be able
to establish a correct diagnosis, prognosis, and indication, which
Homœopathy alone possesses, in the comparison with the phenomena of
disease, made possible to it by its drug-provings.
On the other hand, the frequent relative ideas, seldom, frequently,
especially, chiefly, sometimes, but often, also, mostly, etc., etc., indi-
cate the standpoint of incomplete induction in this quotation.
Again, we can find [in the above quotation] nothing of a generality
upon which, of necessity, all the specialities of a disease must rest;
hence, any decision, with a view to a thorough explanation of the
data presented, must be postponed; a dangerous matter for the form-
ation of correct rational diagnoses, prognoses, and indication.
§. 145.
The above-given description of pneumonia is thus purely analytical,
and hence shows the impossibility of being comprehensive by giving
descriptions of forms of disease. We shall, hereafter, undertake to
prove, not only that it is incomplete, but that indeed it cannot be made
complete, and why.
But, if one only of the many so-called physiological forms of inflam-
mation of the lungs were described perfectly, then more justice at
least would have been done to the name of a physiological medicine.
But so little do we meet with any description whatever of a special
case, that, on the contrary, the most manifold dismemberment of those
phenomena which, at times, are common to the most different specific
forms of pneumonia, had to assist in establishing the idea of pneu
monia. Most unhappily, however, i. e., most unscientifically chosen
with regard to diagnosis, is the division into most trustworthy and
approximately trustworthy phenomena. Hence, according to this,
there are no trustworthy phenomena. Both are separated, not by
specific differences, but by arbitrary views. If parts of approxi-
mately trustworthy phenomena appear in company with those which
are most trustworthy, then they construct thereby the given case and
determine its peculiar kind, its specific form in connection with consti-
tution, age, sex, anatomical changes and qualitative forms and pro
cesses, the sympathy of other organs, the type and course, and the
ætiological momenta according to time, place, circumstances, etc.
But every author chooses another mode of description, according to
his own stand-point, as farmers divide plants into weeds and useful
vegetables, but the botanist into mono- and di-cotyledons.
243
If these gentlemen assert themselves to be so physiological, affixing,
as they do, this seal to their foreheads, why are they not physiological
also in their practice?
We seek in vain, in the whole description of the etiology and the
forms of pneumonia for a relation of cause and effect, of the whole to
the parts or of the equality of effect and counter-effect; not once do
we hear of the difference cetween that which may recover or be cured,
i. e., the reasons thereof, and the prognosis would hence only be deter-
mined by the arbitrarily assumed degree "of the character of the
danger," on which account we find the prognosis to be combined,
brevi manu, with the symptoms.
But how shall we thus come to find a connection of these data with
a curative remedy? By the enumeration of disconnected characteris-
tics, by incomplete definitions, absolutely nothing is gained for Therapy,
if no deduction is connected therewith, the very thing that is lacking.
If it were present, however, those arbitrary divisions, amounting to
nothing, would be perfectly superfluous, for the question would always
turn then about the specific case given. But this is a conception so
colossal, for the ideas of the physiological school, one so far surpassing
its ideas of the subject, that it can never understand it.
§. 146.
Thus, with this description of inflammation of the lungs, a few
data, from the many which may be found in special cases, are crowded
together into a general analytic resumé. No man is able to abstract
therefrom, even a single special form, under which a case here or
there, to-day or to-morrow may appear.
Hence, since all diseases, in works upon the so-called special pathol-
ogy and therapeutics, are treated in this manner, we have to do, not
with specialties, but with generalizations, which are a satire upon
their title.
A special pathology and therapeia should have either to enumerate
all special forms of pneumonia that can possibly occur, and have
already occurred, with their whole ætiology and symptoms, or give the
laws, synthetically, to which one or the other species is subordinate.
But the combinations of ætiological and disposing momenta, of inten-
sities and stages, etc., under which pneumonia may occur, are endless,
and the species, thence arising, hardly to be comprised even in an his-
toric treatise.
Hence, under the title of special Pathology and Therapeutics, nothing
is ever presented but an extremely general pathology and therapeutics,
244
Formerly, under general pathology and therapeutics, were enume-
rated the etiological and predisposing momenta, the definitions of
fever, with its forms and stages; definition of inflammation, etc. All
these, because they were inseparable, were subsequently drawn into
the domain of the so-called special pathology and therapeutics, which
now, with few exceptions, in reality occupy the place of the general.
Hence, that description of pneumonia contains so general an out-
line, that no one can establish an essential, or even a causal indica-
tion, but only a symptomatic, and this only in regard to single com-
plexes of symptoms separated from the disease in its totality.
There must be a possibility, however, of synthetically comparing,
in the symptoms, the differences between the influences of the patho-
logical and those of the therapeutical causes to be employed; hence
the conditions must be at hand for our being able to make use of a
synthetical method, even for a therapeutical purpose, a possibility for
which, however, is lost by such descriptions of disease, and a rational.
indication, conformable to natural laws, or a differential diagnosis of
these differences even, becomes impossible.
Upon the whole, the enumeration of symptoms, which may be pre-
dicted of a pneumonia, in this description just quoted, is tolerably com-
plete; at least given fully enough, to lead us, in all fairness, to look for
a very comprehensive therapeia to which I proceed, in my quotation
in the next paragraph, with the remark, that the illustrations of the
quotation touching pneumonia are by no means concluded herewith.
They will serve, hereafter, for a comparison with the pathology of
pneumonia which is taught by the two other schools; for we can, as
has been said, test nothing by itself, but only by some other thing.
With this description of pneumonia, the same author lays down
the following therapeutics:
§. 147.
"Therapeutics of pneumonia.
In the croupous pneumonia of
adults, warm compresses, sinapisms upon the chest, relieve the dys-
pnœa, sometimes the pains, etc.
The use of general blood-letting, where the disease begins with
violence in powerful subjects, is frequently useful in a high degree in
the first two days, and almost always in the following days; useful at
least in shortening the course of the disease; it is very beneficial for
dyspnoea, and often for the pain, and the general restlessness; it is
indicated. at any time, by a marked hyperæmic condition of those
parts of the lungs which are not the seat of the inflammation; local
245
blood-letting upon the chest, by cups and leeches, is of less certain and
complete effect as regards shortening the disease than general bleeding,
but is almost certainly harmless, and very useful for the dyspnoea
and the pain; the nitrates have but little effect in shortening the course
of the disease, but some in moderating it; nauseating remedies, Tartar
Emetic, the Sulphuret of Antimony or Ipecac, in small doses, operate
similarly to Nitrum, and are at the same time beneficial for dyspnea,
in case of impacted expectoration, the sputa being lodged in the bron-
chi, and in nervous excitement; a single use of an emetic, where the
bronchi, and the lungs are filled up with secretions, is of the greatest
advantage. The methodic use of Tartarized Antimony, in large
doses, is very effectual in shortening and moderating the course of the
disease.
The methodic use of Ipecac, in large doses, has an effect similar to
that of the Tartarized Antimony, but is more appropriate for weakly
subjects and for such as have a tendency to diarrhoea. The Salts.
of Copper and Calomel are of doubtful effect; Digitalis in large doses,
while it is probably without effect in shortening the disease, is, on the
other hand, of use perhaps in moderating it, and, securing at any rate,
the decisiveness and continuance of the spontaneous defervescence.
Opium is useful for dyspnoea, spasmodic cough, and nervous restless-
ness. Inhalations of Chloroform are of use for the dyspnoea and
spasmodic cough, but probably without effect in shortening the course
of the disease.
Special treatment for single accessory symptoms, is only exception-
ally necessary in the course of the febrile period in simple croupous
pneumonia of adults; against severe cerebral complications, cold
applications, and, according to circumstances, local blood-letting or
narcotics; against violent hæmorrhage, Sulphuric acid and Digitalis,
Secale cornutum, even bags of ice; sometimes, against the sudden
impaction of the sputa with great dyspnoea, an emetic; against obsti-
nate vomiting, Laurel water, Carbonic acid, Opium; against constipa-
tion continuing more than two days, Enemata; against diarrhoea,
mucilaginous remedies, Opium, warm cataplasms.
If the favorable crisis delays beyond the seventh day; or if, earlier
even, unfavorable symptoms set in, as increasing fever, brownish
sputa; if infiltration has extended over an entire lung or even over a
great part of both lungs, if collapse has set in, the face is pale, icteric,
cyanotic, if the dyspnea becomes more and more severe, the pulse
small and very frequent, if violent cerebral symptoms are present, or,
if the case is presented in any of these conditions, then no great hopes
can any longer attach to the treatment, although, even in such cases,
246
and even in those apparently the most desperate, now and then, recov-
ery ensues.
In this stage of pneumonia we should, first of all, consider whether
we have to deal with an individual originally vigorous, or with one
weakly, more or less anæmic or marasmic even, for, upon such con-
ditions, the essential danger presumptively depends. Accordingly,
the therapy varies very much, and the following very diverse and very
heroic methods may become useful: General blood-letting, topical
blood-letting, emetics, benzoe flowers, camphor, quinine. Aside from
these milder and merely supporting remedies, we may call to our
aid, warm poultices, sinapisms, dry cupping, blisters, sal-ammoniac,
mild preparations of antimony, senega, myrrh, small doses of narcotic
remedies, warm baths.
The right choice of the method to be used is, in these cases, not
easy, and it may well happen that by erroneously laying the chief
stress upon less essential points, a false treatment may be taken up.
As soon as the fever is moderated, or the pneumonic infiltration ceases
to extend further, it is prudent to make no more attacks upon the
disease, but, on the contrary, to continue the medicines already given,
but in smaller and less frequent doses.
They must be discontinued, only when the favorable crisis makes
rapid progress, or, if, after gradual progress, the completion of the crisis
is near at hand, or, if the remedies produce undesirable concomitant
effects.
After the completion of the defervescence, it is merely required to
furnish proper food, but no particular treatment is any longer needful.
However, this has to be recurred to in case of intervening collapse;
during protracted decline of the fever, camphor may be used; for
insufficient expectoration, sal-ammoniac or sulphuret of antimony;
where resolution delays, the same remedies with heat and flowers of
benzoe; diuretics where ædema of the lungs sets in, with warm appli-
cations, an emetic and benzoe flowers; in case of continuous frequency
of the pulse, digitalis; where spasmodic cough continues, narcotics;
if stitches and pain in the chest persist, warm poultices, local deple-
tion and blisters.
Pneumonia of adults with various exudations.
In the treatment of serous pneumonia, general blood-letting is
entirely to be avoided, and local depletion also, for the most part.
Digitalis is only to be used where there is great frequency of the
pulse. The methods to which preference may be given, are: The
expectant in moderate cases; an emetic or tartarized antimony in
large doses where there is danger of suffocation; benjamin flowers
247
and camphor in an adynamic type. As supporting measures, warm
poultices, counter-irritation upon the surface of the chest, mild expec-
torants, diuretic remedies serve a good purpose.
In hæmorrhagic pneumonia, the treatment is distinguished by
avoiding general depletion, unless the hæmorrhagic exudation may
have been induced by a traumatic cause in a robust person; by lim-
iting topical depletion to cases of obstinate and severe dyspnoea, or
pain in the chest; by the withholding of all debilitating and emetic
remedies; by the beneficial use of ice-bags and the internal use of
acids; by the necessity of exciting and tonic remedies (quinine), as
well as such nourishment as will promote reparation.
Gray hepatization, rapidly developing itself, and the acute abscess-
forming pneumonia, as they are generally early accompanied by
prostration and adynamic symptoms, require a prompt resort to
analeptic, exciting and tonic remedies, (which are usually indicated in
the common course of pneumonia, at an advanced period, and by the
non-appearance of a favorable crisis), such as benjamin flowers, cam-
phor, senega, etc.
Still more necessary is the sustaining of the powers by camphor,
quinine and wine in case of ichorous pneumonia, in which, at the
same time, the expectoration must be promoted by benjamin flowers
and myrrh; warm or aromatized poultices are also useful, and besides
this, if hæmorrhage occurs, a suitable treatment is to be ordered.
In the treatment of pneumonia in children, the following peculiar-
ities must be made prominent: The regimen must be maintained,
under the given modifications, still more carefully than in case of
adults, especially as regards temperature and nourishment. All very
debilitating treatment is all the more to be avoided, the younger and
feebler the child is. Mild. cases of pneumonia are, as well as in case
of adults, to be treated dietetically.
General depletion, beneficial for older children, is only excep-
tionally to be recommended in case of those under seven years
of age; leeches must not be used on children under two years of age.
The application of leeches to the pit of the stomach, or under the
axilla, is most appropriate, and, for the most part, takes the place of
general depletion, in case of nurslings from one to three; with children
from two to five years of age, five or six may be applied, and more
where the children are older. Their effect is most strikingly favorable
on the first and second days, and they should be especially used,
when, with acute fever, severe dyspnoea sets in from the very first,
which cannot be relieved by warm compresses and emetics. Salt-
petre operates more powerfully upon children, and, if early used, often
248
suffices alone, essentially to moderate a fever which commences with
violence. Emetics are, in the beginning, of great use. The quantity
of the Antimony need not be large, and may best be given combined
with Ipecac and syrup; after vomiting ensues, the continued use of
Sulphuret of antimony is useful. Calomel is sometimes very useful
for small children, after employing an emetic, as well as, in case of
slight dyspnea, in place of the emetic and by itself alone, or with the
Sulphuret of antimony. Digitalis appears to be suitable only for
children somewhat advanced. Opium is only to be used under urgent
indications, and on account of great restlessness and utter sleepless-
ness, at a period when the crisis may be soon expected. Benjamin
flowers and Senega syrup are favorable adjuvants, where resolution is
delayed. Where collapse is threatened, or actually present, and there
is extreme prostration, Moschus, and the use of the warm bath, may
sometimes contribute to a favorable change.
Treatment of acute pneumonia in the aged. In pneumonia in
patients over sixty years of age, or in those who are prematurely
aged, debilitating remedies, even at the outset, are to be used only
upon very urgent indications, and with great circumspection, and in
the advanced stage, not at all; general depletion, emetics, Tartar
emetic in large doses, saline laxatives, strict diet, even Digitalis and
Saltpetre are often not well borne, at least, in large doses.
At the commencement, together with the regimen, warm fomenta-
tions, sinapisms, nauseating remedies, small doses of the acetates or
nitrates are suitable, and, if necessary, a local depletion.
As the disease progresses, it is desirable to promote expectoration
by the use of Ipecac, Kermes mineral, Sal-ammoniac, Senega, and
to give supporting food early.
The use of irritants, Benjamin flowers, Camphor, Quinine, is
necessary much oftener and much earlier in the pneumonia of the
aged, and even moderate doses of wine may be allowed.
The use of diuretic remedies, in case of imperfect secretion, and of
powerful evacuants (Rheum) in case of sluggishness of the bowels,
should, for the most part, be dispensed with.
The treatment of secondary and complicated pneumonias must
resemble that of simple and primary pneumonia all the more in pro-
portion as the symptoms are alike, and the more the pneumonia
represses the symptoms of other existing disturbances.
As regards internal remedies, cures with Tartar emetic and large
doses of Saltpetre are to be avoided, while other medications are per-
mitted in severer cases; in slight cases, on the contrary, it is better to
249
follow an expectant treatment and one which removes injurious
influences.
Those pneumonias which complicate chronic lung diseases, and
thereby present but few prominent symptoms, are to be treated as
acute exacerbations of the disease of the lung, or as chronic pneu-
monias.
Pneumonias of drunkards will bear no debilitating treatment, no
blood-letting, but on the other hand, they bear emetics very well
(especially Ipecac), to be followed by Digitalis, and often require the
use of Camphor, on account of the frequently impending collapse.
Pneumonia, with severe intestinal catarrh, contra-indicates general
blood-letting and the use of strong medicines. Calomel seems useful
in such cases sometimes. As a general rule, a mild, expectant treat-
ment is to be followed.
Pneumonia in course of typhus, of acute exanthems, of epidemic
bronchitis, of pyæmia, etc., require, only in case of robust subjects,
and where the pneumonic symptoms make themselves very promi-
nent, a treatment similar to that of severe croupous pneumonia.
Finally, topical applications are to be used according to the severity
of the phenomena, mild expectorants at first, as Ipecac, Kermes, Sal-
ammoniac; subsequently, where the disease threatens to assume an
ominous character, irritants, as Benjamin flowers, Camphor.
The pneumonia of cachetic and marasmic patients is to be treated
like that of the aged.
All secondary pneumonias, which produce no functional disturbance
or but few, are to be treated only by the removal of all injurious
influences, refraining from direct attacks upon the disease till dyspnoea
sets in, and, even in this case, topical means and only mild internal
remedies ought to be applied.
The treatment of chronic pneumonia and of the transition of pneu-
monia into a chronic state, does not essentially differ from the treat-
ment in other chronic lung and bronchial diseases, and must regard:
The quality of the air, uniform temperature, cleanliness; the ward-
ing off of injurious influences; sufficient nourishment, consisting
chiefly of mild, unirritating food; promoting expectoration, favoring
absorption of the deposits by appropriate mild means; where there is
au insidious advance of the disease into the capillaries of the lungs,
the restriction of the same by acids, astringents, Secale cornutum;
operating upon the constitutional disturbances, which possibly lie at
the bottom of the local process, and may sustain it; the removal and
restriction of annoying symptoms.
250
All chronic conditions, hereto belonging, require care and gentle
assistance, rather than violent attacks upon the disease; above all, a
mild, strengthening diet, goat's milk, asses' milk, moss, carrageen, pure
warm aromatic air; the continued use of moderate diuretic means,
mild laxatives, mild expectorants (small doses of Antimony, of the
species pectoralis, sweet fruits, the grape cure), resolvents (saline min-
eral waters, Muriate of lime, Baryta, Iodine), and the prolonged use
of setons."
§. 148.
What is called Therapeutics, in the sense of the physiological
school, we have, according to its subjective manifestations, been
brought to know as exhibiting a dogmatical and skeptical tenor, and
thereby have acquired an insight into the mode of its knowledge.
Before I proceed to the sources of knowledge of its therapeutics, I
have a word to add to the above given quotation, in relation to the
modes of knowledge.
The relative ideas: chiefly, especially, exceptionally, sometimes,
mostly, preferably and the frequent comparatives, again indicate the
imperfect inductions to which the treatment is subjected; accident
plays the chief part there, for, with such ideas, the impossibility of a
result, contrary to expectation, can never be excluded. Hence, there
is no talk, either of an empirical or of a rational treatment, and, besides,
we are presented with absurdities, as, for example, in the remark that
the pneumonia of the aged ought to be treated like that of the cachectic,
as if the aged were cachectic, and the cachectic were aged; or, simple
croupous pneumonia of moderate degree, gets well of itself, under
dietetic treatment, as if recovery and cure were the same thing; or, in
case of rapidly forming gray hepatization, as also in case of ichorous
pneumonia, the chief thing is to see to keeping up the strength, as if
that could be called therapeutics, etc.
If now, from the foregoing, it must be seen, that the mode of
knowledge of this Therapeia on all sides, is partly erroneous and
partly insufficient, we have yet to prove, whether the sources of knowl-
edge will perhaps compensate for this.
For this purpose, we must refer to the Materia Medica of the phys-
iological school, and it will suffice to hear one of the newest works of
the same year, upon the value of the drugs just recommended in the
treatment of pneumonia.
Benjamin flowers are there treated of, among others, as follows.
their therapeutic use has been hitherto somewhat irrational; they
251
have been used as an emmenagogue, in blenorrhoea of the lungs with
asthmatic symptoms, and in hooping-cough. More rational are the
experiments which have been made with it in acute exanthems with
retarded eruption, and in the late cholera epidemic in Leipzig in the
uræmic stage. The secretion of perspiration after its use, seems to call
for farther experiments.
Of Tartar emetic: as the frequency of the pulse diminishes, the
necessity of rapid oxidation also naturally decreases, and the act of
respiration hence takes place more quietly. That, by the primarily
affected gastric vagus, a direct influence is exerted over the pulmonary
branch of the same nerve, and expectoration is favored in this way,
seems not improbable from clinical observation, though this question
remains, as yet, undecided.
Of Saltpetre: in none of the diseases against which it has been
recommended, nor in inflammation of the lungs has any result been
observed which can be ascribed with any certainty to Saltpetre.
The compounds of the Sulphuret of Antimony: are used essen-
tially for the same end as the tartarus emeticus, and differ from the
latter, only in their limited solubility. The Sulphur combined herein
may contribute its part to increase the irritating effect upon the skin
and lungs.
Of Ipecac in small doses: That the respiratory organs are affected
by Ipecac, similarly to the stomach, is probable, a priori, from their
intimate nervous connections. The vagus which supplies the stomach
with twigs, sends, from its pectoral portion, the N. laryngeus inferior
to the larynx, the rami tracheales inferior., to the trachea, the plexus
pulmonalis posterior and anterior, to the lungs where the plexus pul-
monalis posterior connects itself with the ganglion cervicale infimum.
In fact, not only the secretion of the whole respiratory mucous mem-
brane is favored by this drug, but also the expulsion of the sputa from
the lung cells into the larger bronchi, and, hence their expectoration,
which expulsion, it appears from Henle's experiments (Tonus und
Krampf der Bronchien), depends upon the muscular activity of the
pulmonary cells.
Opium: that is, morphine, finds an extensive and soothing appli-
cation in diseases of the air-passages, though chiefly upon symptomatic
indications, against pains, nervous irritability, sleeplessness, dyspnoea,
cough, and as an adjuvant of other remedies in hemorrhages.
Digitalis: Hæmorrhages of the lungs in tuberculosis not very far
advanced, and, accompanied by hypertrophy of the heart, seem
especially appropriate to the use of Digitalis, which, for this purpose,
should be combined with the acetate of lead or opium.
252
Concerning the operation of sal-ammoniac, the greatest confusion
prevails.
Senega: is used very frequently as an expectorant in the later
stages of acute and chronic bronchial catarrh, to remove the tenacious
masses of mucus. The use of calcarea muriatica is purely empiric,
since the chloride of lime itself is at once decomposed in the blood,
and hence we cannot know its direct effects.
Of Baryta it is said: How small doses act is not known at all; it
is worthy of remark, however, that large doses pass off by the urine
unchanged.
Iodine does not appear among the absorbents, among which that
author [Wunderlich] upon pneumonia places it; this one says: A
saturation of the system with Iodine cannot easily be accomplished,
on account of its rapid excretion.
Another author of a text-book upon general and special Materia
Medica, published in the same year, Dr. Bernhard Schuchard, holds
again an opinion different from the preceding.
According to him, Benzoic acid is to be used in chronic affections
of the lungs, especially of the bronchial mucous membrane, as a pow-
erful expectorant, etc.
Tartar emetic, in doses of from one-tenth to one-eighth of a grain,
in acute catarrh of the intestinal tract, in acute catarrhs of the respira-
tory mucous membrane, and especially in the pneumonia of robust
individuals, etc.
Saltpetre, as a so-called antiphlogistic remedy in congestions,
especially towards the head and lungs, in inflammations, in all con-
ditions, with a so-called inflammatory fever, etc.
Sulphuret of Antimony, chiefly in catarrhal, and even slight inflam-
matory conditions of the respiratory mucous membrane; less fre-
quently in inflammation of the substance of the lung itself, etc.
Ipecac, as an emetic, even in pneumonia, when the lungs are other-
wise diseased.
Of Opium he says: In inflammatory diseases, Opium has not been
fully appreciated, till lately, in its particularly important significance
in many cases of pneumonia, far advanced, with a very tormenting
cough, great sleeplessness, etc.
About the effect of Digitalis, according to him, the greatest con-
tradictions prevail. While some acknowledge its effect of diminishing
the frequency of the pulse, others deny it and declare that they have
witnessed an increased frequency. Most, however, agree upon this
that it is a diuretic," etc.
Which, now, of these teachers of Materia Medica is right, and
253
what are the ways and means of the physiological school to extricate
itself from this chaos of contradictions?
§. 149.
If we now apply the rule of deduction to the opinions according to
which that Therapy of pneumonia is handled in the quotation
§. 147, we find there nothing of the kind. On the contrary, we see
the causal law, as a primary experiment false, employed in its most
unlimited extension without any further thought, and with a faulty
conclusion, that is, from the effect to the cause; for the causal law
can be made available only where the cause is fixed, to conclude from
it to the infallibility of the effect.
Depletions, for example, are prescribed for extreme hyperæmnia of
those parts of the lungs which are not the seat of inflammation. But
this hyperæmia is not the cause of the inflammation, or, of the dis-
eased process, as it is called, but a consequence thereof. But granting,
although this is never the case, that the hyperemia were the cause of
the inflammation, yet it would first have to be established, according
to the law of effect and counter-effect, that, by depletion, the changed
form of nutrition and function can be restored again in a given case,
ad integrum, and why; but, for this again, no determinate facts are
at hand, and least of all, in the physiological school. Or, it is said
that Tartar emetic should be brought into use as a nauseant. This
happens again wrongly according to the law of effect; we seek to
produce nausea in order to keep down the functions of the nervous
system. But the greater activity of the nervous system is again not a
cause, but an effect of the inflammation, and the intention to suppress
this effect by force, rests upon the same false conclusion.
An attempt
is thus made, in this Therapeia, to benumb single symptoms or several
symptoms together; they are all attacked by turns with remedies, by
which a superficial view and improper use of the causal law, hopes,
in the best way, to attain this end.
But the causal law is also the law neither of the healthy nor of
the diseased life. The organism, moreover, does not become dis-
eased in consequence of morbid causes alone, but from a combination
of these with their counter-effects, which are overpowered by the
former, and whereby a specifically changed form of life is ever pro-
duced, which form cannot be attacked partially in its organic equiva-
lent counter-effects, without thereby inflicting suffering upon the
organism itself.
254
The therapeutics of the physiological school follows, not only in
pneumonia, but in all the cases with which it meets, the law of caus-
ality only, whereby, at the most, palliative or prophylactic temporary
alleviation may be obtained, but never a cure; and, indeed, according
to the laws of Nature, this never can be attained, because (one cannot
often enough remind this school of this), the universal law of healthy
as well as diseased life, is that of the equilibrium of action and counter-
action, and not at all that of causality.
In the results, which this school has accomplished upon the sick,
since the remotest antiquity, with its so-called curative means, in
accordance with the causal law, consists the whole comparison of its
reproductive imagination even for its present Therapeia. The asser-
tion of this school, for example, that "Benzoic acid is indicated in
pneumonia because it has become known chiefly as a powerful expec-
torant," allows no synthetic comparison according to any known law;
for all pneumonias, the earlier and the later, may be compared with
one another in all their stages, and even the favorable or unfavorable
results obtained by the Benzoic acid; but I thereby never attain to
any rule which, standing above this analytical comparison, can indi-
cate, a priori, anything more than a problematical result. §. 73.
Every synthesis, according to natural law, is lacking in these com-
parisons; they do not rest upon a generality, by the connection of
which with the fact, the particular of the case of disease and the indi-
cation could be determined in their specific relations to each other.
But the intellect must ever have the means to proceed from the general
to the particular.
Homœopathy, however, forms the synthetic instrument of its com-
parison, for the indication of its remedy for the patient, with its drug-
provings upon the healthy, which tells it more clearly, and makes.
more evident, what is going on within the patient in hand, than all
other diagnostic technics. While it draws a comparison between the
symptoms gathered from the drug-proving with those observed in the
patient, it recognizes, from these products of two different causes, the
whole significance of these causes, and takes its indication from the
similarity of these products. If it goes, then, to the bottom of the
conditions under which these products, these symptoms could be pro-
duced according to chemical, physical and other laws, it thus finds,
also, the process in pneumonia which is thus transpiring within the
organism, and that is, to wit, a process of reduction, consequently
just the opposite of a Phlogosis, vulgo, Inflammation.
255
Even the kind of process which constitutes such forms of disease
should hence clearly lead to a phiogistic, but never to an antiphlogistic
treatment of the same, §§. 64, 66.
In what light the physiological school, with its antiphlogosis as
opposed to its so-called inflammations, stands in the forum of chemistry,
I need not further show. This much is certain, that, so long as the idea
of "Inflammation" is not banished from its Pathology, the physiologi-
cal school, as often as it makes use thereof, displays its crude irration-
ality before the world and all science.
From all this, it is again clear, that it is, for the most part, impossi-
ble for the physiological school to draw a conclusion from the result
to the medication and vice versa; in successful cases, it never can
declare whether its remedy has cured, or, whether other circumstances
effected the cure; it has, as in unfavorable results, a thousand subter-
fuges, but never a proof; hence it is silent on this point before its
pupils, and its prescriptions are thus mere advice for primitive exper-
iments upon the sick. §. 90.
§. 150.
Since every one can cull for himself, in works of this kind, it cannot
be desirable, nor is it worth the trouble to go more into detail with
these Materia Medicæ, because, from what has been presented, the
sources of the material brought out in the therapeutics of the physio-
logical school are sufficiently characterized. For a therapeutic elabora-
tion we miss not only leading principles, but also the art of observa-
tion in all the therapeutical and pharmaco-dynamical experiments
undertaken by this school, and so very much that any one may declare
that he has made a discovery to-day and find it disputed to-morrow
or that a discovery actually made will be pronounced false.
In the first regard, I may mention that Wunderlich, in his larger
work, enumerates even specifics, as, for example, A conite and Phos-
phorus as remedies for, or rather, to be more exact, against pneumo-
nia, although he makes no practical use of either at the sick-bed.
And now we have the following, among other things, from the author
of the Materia Medica just quoted, "Schroff comprises the chief effects
of Aconite upon the eye in the following statements: Aconite, and
especially the Aconitine therein contained, produces, both when applied
externally to the eye, and when given internally in sufficient doses,
dilatation of the pupils, in opposition to the generally prevailing opinion
of pharmacologists, only Geiger and Hesse noticed dilatation of the
pupils also. But, if Pereira himself, in the last edition of his Materia
256
Medica (1853), speaks of the contraction of the pupils, on the strength
of his own experiments, this can only be explained by assuming that
he allowed himself to be misled by the unusual mobility of the iris
occurring immediately after the operation of the Aconitine, from which
the pupils sometimes seem to be, for a moment, contracted.”
"I"
observed after the application of a solution of a grain of Acon-Sulph.
upon the eye of a man, a violent irritation of the conjunctiva with
lachrymation but no contraction of the pupils worthy of mention."
Thus, one maintains that he observed dilatation of the pupils, another
contraction, and the third saw neither upon the use of Aconite. This
strain runs through the whole Materia Medica of the physiological
school, and is called a doctrine, and this doctrine is brought forward
with unction, studied with faithful devotion, and received as true and
unerring. Here we have an unexampled method of teaching on the
one hand and simple-heartedness on the other.
Concerning Phosphorus, the same teacher of Materia Medica, thus
expresses himself after long discussions: "No cases have as yet
occurred to me, in which Phosphorus has effected anything. Here
we must, however, consider that most of the ailments, against which
it has been used, are incurable." Yet, according to this same teacher,
Phosphorus is to be thought of in impotence, chronic nervous pains,
intermittent fever, cholera, paresis, and for promoting the eruptions of
delaying exanthems, but is never mentioned in connection with
pneumonia.
Regarding the therapeutic use of Aconite we read further from the
works of the same teacher. "It is used against neuralgias, gout and
rheumatism, chronic dyscrasia (scrophulosis, tuberculosis, syphilis,
chronic skin diseases, cancer,) which, however, is not confirmed by
experience; moreover, as a diuretic, for the prevention of purulent
absorption after severe operations; in Homœopathic practice, where
Aconite has long been known as a very efficient remedy in fever, con-
gestions, inflammations," etc.
Now, it might be well known to Professor Wunderlich, from hear-
say, that not only Aconite, but Phosphorus also, has been tested to the
fullest satisfaction in Homœopathy, as specific against some forms of
pneumonia. His mentioning these specifics in his work, without
announcing the source whence he derived the information, is all the
more purloining, as he had no practical experience of the matter; for
the dose, in which these remedies were used by Homœopathists, he
could not use, without giving the lie to his common places, which he
felt at liberty to use against Homœopathy; on the other hand, it would
not become a Professor to know nothing of the fact. Or, Phosphorus
257
has solvent effect upon the blood-corpuscles but Nitrum not; that could
certainly not be the reason why he gave Nitrum the preference?!
S. 151.
In the latter respect, as regards the erroneous view of a well tested
remedy, a Professor read, for instance, that a physician in Paris obtained
remarkably favorable results in syphilis with the help of Kali bichrom-
icum. Now he experimented with this medicine, in his Clinic, and
found that it would indeed cure ulcers of the fauces and periostitis,
but not condylomata, lupus, ichthyosis and psoriasis guttata, of syphi-
litic origin. The conclusion was quite ready at hand, viz.: that Kali
bichromicum was no anti-syphilitic. As if that had been the ques-
tion! The Kali bichromicum cures the first two forms, according to
the simile, because it possesses a specific attraction to their anatomical
localities, but not to those of the other forms. But the physio-
logical school always has to do with generalized pathological forms.
only, as if all proceeded from one cause, and it seeks only an
anti for these causes. It believes by no means in a certain result, if
its premises do not agree with the arbitrary ontologies of its perceptive
power.
It is known, to be sure, that it has no other opinions than dog-
matical and skeptical, and that one is not obliged to govern himself
according to such opinions. But, in view of the confirmation, partial
at least, and coming from the very ranks of that school, has not
skepticism, boundless as it is, gone too far, when the author of one
of the more recent works on medical chemistry, ventures upon the
strength of experiments, and nobody knows how they were conducted,
to affirm that Kali bichromicum is a remedy which may well be
dispensed with for internal use; and that only its external use,
especially as an escharotic, might be defended with some plausibility ?”
Moreover, the physiological school not only lacks, as has been shown
unmistakably enough we think, the logical instruments for the appli-
cation of its chemical, physical, physiological, and other investigations,
and for attempts at explanation based thereupon; but it lacks, also, for
its Therapeia, the first practical instrument, the sine qua non, which
must antedate every therapeutical experiment; it lacks a uniformly
arranged Pharmacopoeia. To judge of the effect of a drug upon the
sick, to inquire of the organism how it reacts against given substances,
as the purely chemical view of this school delights to express itself,
for these purposes, above all other things, we need every where the
same re-agents and similarly prepared with the greatest exactness;
PART I.
17
258
drugs here take the place of these re-agents, and the greatest care must
be exercised to keep them pure. But there, some vegetable substances
are boiled, others are evaporated, others scalded; chemical prepara-
tions are prepared after different formulæ, in different countries, and
adulterated by inter-mixture with others. If one, to prevent sinking
in this current of illimitable confusion, looks about him for a straw,
merely for a thought, as to some point of support, in accordance with
natural laws, no where is one to be found.
The source even of the Materia Medica of the physiological school
is, hence, utterly turbid and, for a science, entirely useless.
One demands that the physician should think chemically, another,
that he should think microscopically, while there is no talk whatever
of therapeutics; on the contrary, the study of an elementary specialty,
that of physiology, that of experimenting is alone demanded and
furthered, and thereby is engendered an incapability of grasping the
study of Therapeutics.
This clinical instruction, experimental as it has become, rebukes.
itself already in the medical debates instituted as the ultimate test of
candidates aspiring for the degree of Doctor Medicine, the last trials
for the young physician, touching his faculty of judgment and his
capacity rightly to use logical instruments in the scientific controversy.
Now-a-days a graduation-examination is held to have been passed
in an eminent manner, when the candidate advances Theses which he
has deduced from experiments undertaken by himself, experiments
which nobody but himself has ever made, and against which, naturally
enough, nobody advances or can advance an argument. A more
easily obtained success one cannot well conceive of.
I present, for example, the Thesis: "The coloring matter can be
separated from the urine."
Every opponent will simply say, no such thing can be done, because
the most learned men who have undertaken to accomplish this task
have never succeeded.
To this I can reply: Take two wine glasses, bore a hole in the
bottom of each; connect these two glasses by a platina wire run
through these holes; stop the holes with gutta percha; fasten some
strips of platina on the end of the platina wire in each glass; now
fill both glasses with the same urine and conduct the poles of a gal-
vanic pile of from 10 to 14 small carbon-zinc elements to each glass;
then, as is well known, in one, hydrogen will be developed, in the
other, oxygen-gas.
Now connect these two glasses, filled with urine, still further by
means of a bundle of glass threads, long enough to reach from the
259
bottom of one glass over its edge to the bottom of the other, then, by
means of a kind of capillary attraction, which takes place in this
bundle, under the influence of the pile, all the urine in one glass in
S-10 hours becomes as clear as water, perfectly bereft of its coloring
matter, and on the bottom there will lie unusually large crystals of
ammonio-magnesian phosphates; while, in the other glass, all the color-
ing matter of the urine will be collected, the urine will be dark-colored,
and, on the bottom of this glass, the largest dark-yellow crystals of
uric acid will be found, provided the pile was neither too strong nor
too weak for the proper development of both gases. The experiment
may be further continued, by separating the contents of each glass
and uniting them again under the poles of the battery, and so on.
I am not at all inclined, however, to claim the discovery of this
process as any great accomplishment; I wish only to show, by one
example, for many, that even practicing physicians can exercise the
easy art of experiment, only many have lost all desire to contribute to
the unpractical medical literature of the physiological school.
If, now, it may be permitted, in the absence of other tendencies,
that, in graduation-examinations, such Theses should be presented,
then the opponents must be silent, of course, and the whole object of
the examination is lost, although it may happen that, for the present,
such Theses may receive recognition truly remarkable.
§. 152.
In this, its course, the physiological school can never make any
progress in Therapeutics, and, under such guiding principles, which
are confounded with axioms, it will always examine and use even the
substances of the outer world only in the aggregate condition in which
they are accidentally offered to it; this condition is generally one of
intimate cohesion, the quantity of which, when there is any doubt
about its effect, it merely increases. This method stands directly
opposed to the art of experiment, and the rule, to change the condi-
tions in order to come at the law, is, in this respect, also disregarded.
According to the foregoing, we should also, for the elaboration of
Materia Medica, experiment only upon those objects upon which the
results discovered are to be employed, hence only on the human organ-
ism in its various forms, ages, sexes, etc., not on animals.
In such experiments, however, above all things, the most turbid
source of all human judgments, the advancing of a subjective opinion
must be entirely excluded. Therefore, upon all the drug-provings of
the physiological school, which does not know how to protect itself
260
from such errors, there rests, on this very account, the reproach of
irregular procedure, and the suspicion of worthless results, because
these provings were undertaken by those who had some previous
knowledge of the substances to be proved in ponderable quantities,
at least chemically and physically, by which knowledge, the judgment
may be warped.
Moreover, it is not enough to understand the laws of nature by
which a substance, in a crude state, produces a form of reciprocal
action with the organism: it must be proved, also, for the sake of the
completeness of the experiment, in that form in which its molecules
are set free.
To the physiological school, led as it is by chemistry, many mole-
cular motions are a terra incognita, just as they are to the latter.
The molecules of all bodies effect changes in one another in contact
or at a distance, and that, according to the laws of nature, they could
not do, did they not themselves experience changes at the same time,
for nothing in nature can be active or passive alone, as soon as it is
brought into contact with other matter. This law of nature is so
little known in chemistry, that chemists resort to all sorts of hypotheses,
when effects thereof present themselves in their laboratories. Thus it
has, aside from the catalytic force, adopted also, among other things,
the so-called predisposing elective affinity, as, for example, the presence
of Potash predisposes manganese or chromium, when subjected to
heat, to abstract so much oxygen from the atmosphere, as to form
therewith manganic or chromic acid. But how should the Potash,
by predisposition, evince thus an attraction towards the acids not yet
present. It is equally false to assume that the contact of the Potash,
with the above-mentioned metals, increases the efforts of attraction of
the same for the oxygen, for this presupposes that the Potash remain
unchanged; for all things which come in contact must necessarily
affect one another reciprocally. That our senses do not recognise one
part of the change, is no criterion against the law of nature. In order
to study these laws of the molecular forces, it is necessary, of course,
for him who wishes to perceive ponderable results, that he should
operate with correspondingly large quantities, and he will, nevertheless,
find the existence of the law of nature in question confirmed. In the
physical momentum of heating, of the elevation of temperature, which
liberated the closely combined molecules of the Kali and the Manganese,
from this condition, by separating them a certain distance from each
other, lies the whole riddle.
Since, however, the doctrine of heat has been treated, up to the most
recent time, under the head of the most imponderable substances, the
261
idea was therewith conjoined that it must be a substantial, though an
imponderable body. But that was false; for then either the doctrine
of the specific heat of bodies was overthrown, while it is fully estab-
lished, or, heat as a substantial body, must itself possess a specific
heat, which, however, would be absurd, since nothing can be predica-
ted of a univocal idea;* hence all heat must inhere in the bodies themselves
as an integral part of their whole. A chemically compound substance
must contain just so much heat as all its constituents contained in their
separate state, and at the same temperature. That can easily be
demonstrated by the Physics of the molecular forces.
In fine, the only effect of heat which we observe is, that a body
expands when it is raised to a higher temperature, and contracts when
the temperature is lowered. Expansion, however, can only take
place by the repulsive force of the molecules, hence elevations of tem-
perature and force of repulsion form correlative ideas. During such
an expansion, in connection with an elevation of temperature, corres-
ponding movements must also occur within the affected bodies, and
indeed this may clearly appear sometimes with and at other times
without apparent chemical changes. Thus, for example, highly pol-
ished glass affects the multiplicator oppositely to roughly polished
glass, hence, in presence of the same chemical property and of a change
only of the superficies of the solid body.
Nitric and Acetic acid, have both a sour reaction but, on evapora-
tion, the former appears electro-positive, the latter electro-negative.
Ammonia and Kreosote are electro-positive fluids, but, if placed upon
the positively charged conductor, they become negative. That can
happen, simply and solely, only by the changed molecular groupings;
by motions, which are no longer within the reach of our senses.
In inorganic nature, however, we may, frequently, observe these
immediately.
We know, for example, that Sulphur, in crystallizing from a moist
solution, assumes the form of rhombic crystals only. It happens,
however, when the cooling is delayed as much as possible, that whole
clusters of these crystals are retained in their normal transparent state;
at the same time, these crystals become suddenly opaque upon the
least jar,
so that it is enough, merely to jar a few in order to bring all
from their position, and to give the whole mass a certain degree of
porosity. It is also remarkable, that, while this change of molecular
conditions is taking place, a new development of heat occurs.
Many other changes of qualities occur in many bodies, by simple
concussion. Let one shake, for instance, the rhombic crystals of the
* Da von einem einstimmigen Begriffe nichts prädicirt werden kann.
262
yellow Iodide of Mercury, and they will suddenly assume a red color
and a quadrangular crystalline form.
So we also obtain the most various qualities and even quantities of
molecules and changes of their directions and intervals by evaporation;
by changes of the superficies of their bodies, of their aggregate condi-
tion; by motions in consequence of various degrees of temperature
imparted to them; all conditions, according to which the molecules
of bodies may pass from their aggregate to a free state, or, vice versa ;
and, in the former cases, we observe even migratory movements of
the molecules of the body outward, one of which announces itself by
the radiation of heat.
Hence, it again follows, that every body which, from whatever rea-
son, gives off heat, even though in consequence of heat externally
imparted to it, gives off, together with a part of that which is received,
certain portions also of its own molecules, in the form of heat; gives
off thus parts of its own very self, to the cooler surrounding, just as
is wont to be the case with magnetism, electricity, light, sound, the
evolution of gas. Heat is therefore not only not a substance sui gene-
ris, but is a portion of the very body which casts itself off in this form,
in consequence of external causes. If we know that the organic
molecules possess an infinitely greater facility of motion and change,
than the inorganic, then the importance of these studies, for the pur-
pose of judging of organic motions and physical phenomena is self-
apparent, and we shall be no longer surprised, for example, at the
evolution of heat during every nutritive addition to the organism,
i. e., during its formation of hydrates and other reduction processes,
whether in a physiological or pathological form; it can only operate
by separation in order to make other combinations possible.
By a peculiar fatality the simplest appears very often the most enig-
matical. Do we not observe, to offer an example ad hominem, a
hundred times in our own body, that the heat of an iron stove produ-
ces a change in the molecules of our body, a manifestly different sen-
sation from that produced by a porcelain stove? Does not this differ-
ence of sensation announce to us a difference in the form of the
radiation of heat, and, according to the law of specification, a different
material composition of the body also? Or, are heat, electricity, mag-
netism, supposed to be nerve forces and not substances at all, which
operate at a distance? Truly, the confusion of the school regarding
molecules and molecular forces and their motions announces itself by
its very designations, as it takes heat, for example, to be an agent, but
uses the same name for its cause, as well as for its effect, as if a popu-
lar view, as that about heat, must also be that of science.
263
This arises from the somewhat inveterate neglect of the use of log-
ical instruments, in cases where the technical instruments and experi-
ment forsake us. Because practicing now the easy art of experiment
only, and having become unused to the far more difficult task of being
able to employ logical instruments, they fear, every moment, when
they might have to supply the want of experiment, by the laws of the
mind, that they might fall into hypotheses. But hypotheses arise only
from empirical or incomplete inductive conclusions. Were the deduc-
tive series of conclusions known to the school, it would also know
that these hypotheses are no longer so useless when we ascribe to them
only the importance of the second deductive process, and, from them,
proceed at once, to the third, to the work of confirmation, in order to
discover their verification or falsification.
Physics, which occupies itself mainly with the qualities of bodies
in nature, is neglected. On the other hand, the majority of our
learned physicians direct their attention, for the greater part, to chem-
istry, to profit by its quantities.
Chemistry, however, is, for the time, only a great experiment, and
while it refers back its quantities to oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and
hydrogen, it possesses units it is true, but for the time being only, for
the simple aim of analytical comparison.
§. 153.
But there are two sorts of comparisons, of which one measures two
subjects, by each other, and the other two predicates. Chemistry,
occupies itself merely with the comparison of quantities, hence it does
not know what to do with qualities, and the physiological school
thinks itself constrained to walk in its footsteps; thus it experiments
with quantities ad libitum.
The same quantity of Quinine, which the Physiologist gives his
patient, he finds excreted again in the urine to the very last particle of
weight, and is not in the least astonished, though it cures, for him,
between its entrance and exit, a fever and ague. He rubs his hands
thereupon with satisfaction, to have discovered something chemical,
which no one, as he concludes by himself, can explain. To give him-
self the further trouble, however, to solve the very essential problem
itself, that, viz., of the explanation, that, he very self-contentedly leaves
undone, since it does not lie directly in his way. But it should lie in
his way, as soon as he, (as it nevertheless is wont to happen), wishes
to pass himself off as a therapeutist.
264
On this account I gave no quotation touching the dose of the drugs
with which our Professor vexes his patients in pneumonia, because
the physiological school, on this point, is clear, least of all, and is of
the firm conviction that it is right to treat according to tradition;
this school which plumes itself so very much on believing nothing
which is not verified by experiment.
From all this it is clear, that, within the limits of this school, no
proceeding conforming to natural laws is to be found, such as might
be made possible or at least to be hoped for, regarding Therapeutics,
according to the requirements laid down in the previous paragraphs.
§. 154.
It is no part of my intention by the previous fundamental demon-
stration, (which cannot be overthrown), regarding the actual discord
of the therapeutics of the physiological school, to detract from the
merits of the assiduous diligence of the Physiologists in other respects;
on the contrary, I must, as must every one who is acquainted with
their aim, and their results, as far as they have only a physiological
bearing, accord to them the fullest acknowledgment. I am mindful,
however of ne sutor ultra crepidam, for neither Physiology, Pathol-
ogy nor any branch of natural science leads to Therapeutics. Physi-
ologists may spare themselves the useless labor of meddling with the
laws of Therapeutics.
It is by no means always those who are least informed, who most
obstinately resist progress in Therapeutics, but it is often those worthy
of all honor, who, under the dominion of an idea, feel that they are
bound to reject, without trial, all facts which seem to contradict that
idea. §§. 3, 6.
The characteristic traits of the physiological school consist, accord-
ing to the foregoing, mainly in this:
the
1. That its diagnosis rests upon the description of diseases, upon
enumeration of symptoms, hence, upon the elaboration of emblems,
of symbols; for every one of its representations of a disease is sym-
bolic or figurative. But since these symbols lack all and every coun-
terpart, which is given in Homeopathy, in the drug-provings, so is
an exhaustive and correct announcement of all which is wont to hap-
pen, impossible.
2. In this, that its Therapy rests entirely upon tradition, hence
upon the faith in probabilities touching events that take place, and
conjectures, the correctness of which can only be estimated according
to the number or weight of the opinions given in deposition by wit-
265
nesses, which hence must offer a far lower degree of conviction than
knowledge offers; for knowledge is a conviction from compulsive
necessity, and, since this school is void of this property, it can hence
know nothing of Therapeutics.
3. In this, that consequently their whole mode of knowledge, derived,
as it is, only from the domain of the organs of the senses, is subjected
to accident; for accidental is that, the presence of which is perceivable
by the senses, i. e., a posteriori; necessary, on the contrary, is that
which may be known a priori.
§. 155.
To one fundamental maxim, as we are wont to say, in every-day
life, but only to this one alone of the Therapeutics of the physiological
school, I must unconditionally assent, namely this—to neglect nothing
which may be useful to the patient, and to this I add-even if nothing
thereof is found in any text-book, and nothing of it is taught from any
Professor's desk. In this respect, no physician may shrink from
experiment in all cases where science leaves him in the lurch, ¿. e., in
all cases declared by science to be incurable, excluding everything
which, according to the laws of physiology, might offer the least
ground for the supposition that any injury might be done to the
organism, be it ever so little; a procedure, it is true, that is not
acknowledged, by the physiological school, which demands that the
treatment should be bolder where the result is dilatory in appearing.
In all such undertakings, the law of deduction, at least, must be
observed. Thus even here the question is not as to reflection and
consideration, which belong to arbitrary opinions, but as to the art
of experiment and that of observation. §. 71.
But when, according to Wunderlich, Physiological medicine, on
the ground of humanity even, and, with perfect right, announces the
maxim "to omit nothing which can be useful to the patient," then its
scorn for Homœopathy, and its firm purpose that it will learn nothing
of this science, rich in blessings, is in the most crying contradiction to
this expression. Truly abundant in contradictions in theory and prac-
tice, as this school is, even this one does not weigh heavily upon it!
But Schopenhauer says, "the will is always the secret opponent of the
intellect.
266
HYDRIATICS.
§. 156.
If, however, the arbitrariness of the subjective opinion ventures to
strut forth as a regulator of Therapeutics, then it is an indispensable,
though, truly, a very wearisome task, to lay bare, at least, some of the
mental nakedness, so that every one may recognize what is concealed
under the broad mantle of a so-called science. Thus I must protest,
also, against the blind but frequent use of cold internally and exter-
nally in pneumonia, since, in the extent to which it is usually carried,
it is an experiment without a leading principle conforming to natural
laws. Pouring cold water into and upon the body of one suffering
with pneumonia may answer probably in the very first onset of the
disease, so long, only, as the oscillating conglomerations of blood-cor-
puscles fill up the affected capillary vessels. By this energetic sup-
pression of the febrile heat, the movement in the organism producing
this heat, the further formation of hydrates may be checked, and the
further formation of exudation be prevented. Under this torturing
procedure, relief of all the symptoms occurs, and what is the main
thing, transpiration, as a counter-movement, ensues, which undertakes
the organic work begun in another way. Thereby, not only injurious
substances may be eliminated, but also the oscillating conglomerations
of the blood-corpuscles may be dissolved in the inflamed parts, the
circulation of blood in the capillaries of the vessels of the lungs may
be re-established, while perfect recovery may ensue. But, if exuda-
tion and hepatization have once taken place, and this has often already
happened before the physician is called, even then, no doubt, by the
use of the cold water, all the symptoms will be relieved to a certain
degree; transpiration also ensues, and the still oscillating conglomera-
tions on the confines of the diseased portions may also be dissolved,
yet the exudation, already present, is unchanged by this process, and the
circulation, in the capillaries filled with the exudation, will never again
be restored. This exudation degenerates, according to the constitution
of the patient, into pus, or masses of tubercles, or it is transformed
into insoluble hydrates, into complete cirrhosis; in brief, this whole
part of the lung or lungs affected by the inflammation is forever lost;
every path to a cure by absorption is cut off, because the tissue is
destroyed, and can no more be restored than an amputated limb can
be replaced. Such cases come to me only too often, having been pre-
viously discharged as cured by the so-called scientific Hydrotherapy.
267
But these patients, discharged as cured, lead a short and sickly life,
suffering constantly from a shortness of breath, (which cannot be
relieved) and die amid the most fearful tortures of dyspnea and its
results. It cannot be assumed that these processes are unknown to
the physiological school, but why does it not only undertake such two-
edged modes of treatment, but speak of them moreover as rational.
That is no rational treatment; it is an inference from an incomplete
rule, according to which some may have been cured under this treatment,
without the necessary regard being given, according to the law of
reciprocal action, to the changes introduced, by this treatment, within.
the organism. This treatment is thus a deduction from an incomplete
to a complete effect, and discharges many as cured who are not. Such
a treatment is thus governed by contingency, and not by the laws of
rational induction.
§. 157.
If, finally, we consider the laws under which the procedures of the
water cure must be followed by specific results, we hit at once upon
the laws of diosmosis, and those of the constancy and equivalence of
forces, according to which, on the one side, as much motion is lost, or
appears in another form, as is gained on the other.
Our present state of culture, our lack of that exercise which would
be necessary for the maintenance of a normal state within the organ
ism, charges the latter, especially at the warmer season, with an over
plus of tension-forces, by which this rest of the movable equilibrium,
this organic effort, increased to its maximum-though still within the
limit of proportional oscillation-is able to propagate itself and to
arrest even more distant motions in such a manner that, although no
nutritive changes can follow as yet, functional changes may neverthe-
less arise. Since the necessity for respiration rises and falls, for
instance, only with the amount of bodily motion and with the tem-
perature, so the molecular motion of the blood is, in one case, clearly
increased and in the other diminished.
Such disturbed relations, thus, still contain the possibility of com-
plete recovery, §. 42, by the equivalent degree of cold and heat
applied. By the coldness of the water, opportunity is hence given to
increase the molecular motions of the blood of the other fluid, as well
as solid parts, motions which are restrained by these conditions, and
the labor thereof finds compensation in the radiation of heat. With
this radiation of heat, a marked organic loss occurs, which must be
supplied by food and drink. I call to mind here what has been said
268
upon the molecular forces of the cells, and add thereto, that the cells
are elastic, i. e., they are bodies and particles which possess an expan-
sive force, which decreases with the density, and hence with the cube,
of the distance. But, according to the laws of nature, they possess,
at the same time, a force of attraction at a distance, which decreases
only according to the square of the distance. Since, now, the latter
motion is able to check the former, and the capability of conduction
is greater or less, as its specific density in concreto is greater or less,
thus the possibility is given, even by merely provoking a change of the
temperature alone, to arouse the molecular motions of the entire
organism, both as regards intensity and extension.
It hence follows, however, that the rapidity with which heat is to be
artificially withdrawn, must be governed by the density, hence, by the
power of conduction of the affected molecules, and upon this are based
the cures by deprivation, which are usually undertaken in such insti-
tutions, for the arousing of such regenerative processes.
Thus we
observe, for example, in the so-called torpid constitutions, less density
and predominance of the cell-elements, hence, also, little excitability
and great necessity for respiration; in so-called erethistic subjects, there
is great density of the cell-elements, with predominance of the con-
nective tissue, hence great excitability and less need of respiration;
hence we may correct the first cases by withholding water and the use
of external cold; the latter, by the copious use of water and vapor
baths. The first process especially requires greater and more intimate
knowledge. The so-called lymphatic constitutions, especially many
forms of chlorosis bear abstraction of water, for example, far better at
first; yet much more suddenly, in such cases, febrile symptoms ensue,
often as early as after forty-eight hours.
On the other hand, experience shows that, after the use of great
quantities of water, not only the quantity of the urine increases, but
also, and always, the excretion of the solid constituents, yet, in accord-
ance with the above therapeutic fundamental maxims, only up to a
certain gradually increased quantity of water; when this limit is
exceeded, and the use of this same quantity of water is persisted in,
this effect is notably less, and, in the most striking manner, as soon as
febrile motions are thereby excited. Fever is always a sign of an
immoderate increase of oxidation and reduction, and all the same,
whether produced by the abstraction or the supply of water. Yet all
these organic motions undergo changes also, according to the variety
of food, manner of life, motion or rest which is indulged in, and even
in regard to sex and age, as well as the constitution of the body.
269
§. 158.
I cannot avoid referring, once more, to that experiment with Phos-
phoric acid, in order to show again to this experimenter that he would
have hit upon a universal law of nature, and consequently a funda-
mental law of Therapeutics, had he preferred to consider other things
rather than the abuse of Homœopathy, since even a substance so
indifferent to the human organism as water, if taken in gradually
increasing doses, increases the excretions by the kidneys, while they
are diminished under the use of still larger quantities, and thus the
first effect is changed into its opposite, till finally, even with water, a
fever may be produced.
A Hydropathist, who wishes to proceed in accordance with natural
laws, and obtain his result, would not wait for the febrile condition,
but would, by that opposite effect, have recognized this stage, as that
which is the most important and decisive for recovery, since, thereby,
the beginning of the increased accumulation and reception of matter
is announced, which he is aiming at. In the water cure, the object is
not only to render active the interchange of matter in a chemical sense,
but, chiefly, in the sense of the organic functions.
But, in the water cure the greatest attention has to be paid to the
individual amount of water, for this involves, for the nervous system,
and especially for the brain, the most important question, for as surely
as mental disturbances occur from lack of organic water, so certainly
are the insane asylums supplied from the water-cures, on account of
this deficiency of diagnosis, which here has a bearing, not merely
upon an intellectual aberration, but, on account of the importance of
these organs, upon the danger to life itself. The more essential
characteristics of those bodily constitutions, which will suffer still
more under the use of the water cure, and in which it is hence utterly
counter-indicated, follow in subsequent paragraphs.
$. 159.
Hydriatics, has, for some time, ceased to confine itself to cold
water. It knows how to avail itself of the various temperatures of
water. Thus, for example, its palliative treatment of a paroxysm
of gout, by drinking water at a high temperature, may be fully justi-
fied, so far as it is directed to increased absorption of water and
increased oxidation of the uric acid.
The external and internal use of cold water, approves itself, in that
disease which is now-a-days, even in the text books, called sunstroke,
270
to be a method of treatment which arises from an essential indication.
Because, in those who die of sunstroke, hyperemia of the brain has
been demonstrated at the post mortem, though indeed this condition may
be found in other organs also, therefore the physiological school,
which is the mistress in the universities, classifies this disease among
the inflammations and persistently, even to this day, prescribes general
blood-letting for it, although the patients die almost instantly there-
after, or even during the bleeding.
Sunstroke is, however, never a sudden affair. During continuous
violent bodily efforts, generally under a temperature of the atmosphere
exceeding that of the body, and at the same time with deprivation of
water, intentional or otherwise, a great thirst is first observed, accord-
ing to my oft repeated observations; to this, loss of appetite is soon.
added, with bitter taste and white-coated tongue, sometimes nausea
and vomiting ensue; the musculature loses its tensive power, and the
movements begin to become dragging.
If no proper assistance is obtained or called for, the voice becomes
thick and hoarse, swallowing produces intense pain, as if the most
violent angina were present, yet there is no swelling of the affected
parts to be observed. But, with a simultaneously occurring pressure
upon the chest, with accelerated and shortened respiration, sometimes
without the so-called angina, a peculiar irritability and depression of
the mind presents itself, and, not seldom, the conjunctiva even is red-
dened. The gait now soon begins to be tottering, vertigo sets in or
nose-bleed, and suddenly the victims, in full consciousness, fall upon
their knees, and so unexpectedly to themselves, that they make power-
ful efforts to get themselves up again.
If there is still no aid at hand, the vertigo increases, the countenance
becomes somewhat discomposed, the patients sometimes talk deliriously,
or give confused answers in the midst of continuous and apparently
indefatigable bodily effort, so that, whoever hears them, is not a little
surprised thereat; but, after a short time, the exhaustion, not mere
weariness, attains its highest degree, till the patients suddenly fall
down and are at once unconscious.
Now, for the first time, those about are aroused, and send for a
doctor. If this happens in the first stage, the condition is said to be
that of gastric irritation, and the physician, from the physiological
school, gives anti-gastrics, emetics, etc. If it happens in the second
stage, a typhus is diagnosticated, and analeptics, China, etc., are given.
In the third stage, finally, a vein is quickly opened, and the doctor
thinks he has either an inflammation of the brain or apoplexy to deal
with, and declares the patient has been affected by a sunstroke.
271
But, he who is conversant with the experiments of physiology recog-
nizes in these conditions, from beginning to end, the most strik-
ing similarity with the conditions which physiologists are wont to
observe where water is withheld in the course of scientific experiments.
Accordingly he advises, in the first stage, water to drink, and rest,
instead of the injurious anti-gastrics; in the second, the same, and every
day several cold baths, with cold douches while in the bath, instead
of the injurious analeptics; in the third, above all things, cold affusions.
upon the head, till consciousness is restored, and for this, one does not
have to wait long. Thus, in every case, deliverance is sure and rapid,
while a bleeding robs one, already poor enough in water, of his last
drop.
This is once more a strong confirmation of the contents of §. 1.
To the reader, it will be apparent, from the foregoing, why, the
physiological school does not understand how to make use of its own
acquisitions and possessions, at the sick bed, and had to be content to
wait till, even in this respect, I could inform it better.
But more than this: scarcely were we told of the observation, said
to have been frequently made, that just those soldiers were attacked
by sun-stroke, who previously had drank water, especially on a forced
march, when immediately the illogical inference post hoc ergo propter
hoc was ready, and the physicians of the physiological school at once.
issued the most stringent orders, forbidding soldiers to drink water
while on a march.
This is another recent product of the lower train of thought which
is prone to recur, from any effect, to any previous event, and to take
it for the cause (as, in the disease of the grapes, the previous erection
of telegraph poles was declared to be the cause), instead of considering
and perceiving the conditions of the case, viz.: that those who had
suffered less from the same exertions, naturally did not desire to drink
so much; that thus, only those most severely affected, desired to drink
immoderately; a sure sign that, with them, a great loss of water had
commenced, which, if not adequately repaired, might finally lead to
sun-stroke; this would occur if they drank some water, provided
they did not drink enough. Hence the soldier while marching,
while in motion, must drink water; only not so immoderately as to
produce too rapid cooling.
This cure of sun-stroke is a purely Homœopathic cure.
For an indication, Homœopathy, as we know, always employs a
comparison, as here, between the pathological form produced by the
involuntary withholding of water, i. e., between the sun-stroke and
the pathological form produced experimentally by the intentional
272
withholding of water; thus, between the similarity of forms from
different causes.
Thus to every indication according to natural law, not only the usual
diagnosis is necessary, but also a comparison between the diagnosti-
cated disease-forms and such as are induced by experiment. Only,
by this comparison, can I so unite them together, that I can syntheti
cally adduce the law of specific correlatives, by which action and
counter-action of those conditions may be explained in conformity with
the laws of Nature. Simply and solely by such a logical procedure is a
differential diagnosis between the motions from a morbid cause and
those from a remedy administered, ever possible.
Any one can see, that, had I known nothing of those physiological
experiments, regarding the artificial withholding of water, and had not
compared them, with the disease to be observed, I should scarcely have
heen able to establish those indications for the cure of sun-stroke,
according to natural laws, or to cure it.
But this is just the very essence of Homœopathy, that it elaborates
for itself such comparisons (by its physiological drug-provings, for the
purpose of a synthesis according to natural laws) of its diagnosis and
indication; that hence, as can readily be understood, it keeps itself free
from every authority, from every tradition, every empiricism, and, in
short, needs no other help than that of the laws of nature and of
thought.
We can, on the other hand, gain nothing from the quotations
regarding indications, curative procedures or methods, diagnosis or
prognosis, nothing even about Materia Medica, as I have adduced
them in the respective paragraphs from the teachings of the physio-
logical school, nothing which could have relation to this instrument
of comparison regarding Therapeutics: a renewed proof is herewith
presented, of the impossibility of a rational Therapeia in the sphere
of this school.
In conclusion, I would further call the attention of the adherents
of Hydriatics, to the following:
Every Hydropathic treatment, since it produces a powerful alter-
nation of cold and heat, excites an alternation of increased processes
of oxidation and reduction, going on pari passu within the organism.
By the use of cold, the oxidation processes, and by the subsequent
heat, the reduction processes are enormously increased. Hence these
processes, which, according to the law of proportional oscillation, take
place within our body, at any rate, though imperceptibly and at longer
intervals, §. 25, are by this procedure forcibly brought to a more rapid
alternation, and the greatest intensity.
273
Hence a more rational treatment to excite the interchange of matter
can scarcely be devised. But, for a rational execution thereof, one
must know that its centre of gravity, just as in case of the less
laborious application of our remedies, rests upon nothing else than
upon the induced alternation of oxidation and reduction; that the
wants of nutrition and function, at the same time aroused by this
alternation, must never be left out of sight for a moment, that here
thus the laws of nutrition are of the utmost importance, and that
these wants must be satisfied by a suitable amount of food. In this
respect, even the so-called hunger-cure, i. e., Semmel-cure [cure by
dry baker's rolls] has fallen into great error, for, above all, it should
forbid the consumption of fat-formers, since it essentially aims at the
reduction of the fat. Banting will drive this so-called Semmel-cure
entirely from the field, as soon as he has rectified some chemical impro-
prieties in his rules, e. g., has diminished sensibly the quantity of
alcoholic drinks and of coffee, or has forbidden these drinks altogether,
and, on the contrary, orders drinks which promote, or directly lead to,
the absorption of oxygen.
CURE BY GYMNASTICS.
§. 160.
While the water-cure rests upon regeneration of the molecules and
the molecular forces of the cells, upon the softening of soluble hydrates,
upon excretions, etc., according to the laws of the organic interchange
of matter, the gymnastic cure turns its attention exclusively to the
re-vivification of myopathically paralyzed, or degenerated, muscular
tissue, or, of muscular tissue atrophied, atrophied from lack of motion,
and to the bony cartilaginous, hence connective tissue, changed in
consequence of the development of new formations of nucleolar fat-
cells, earthy deposits, etc., and does so mainly in consequence of the
discovery and application of the physiological laws of the double
motions by Dr. Neumann, and with a result, as firmly established, as
the laws of life itself.
The contractive effort of the muscles is not at all to be considered
as elasticity; it is, in a state of activity, the product of force and lever;
at rest, it is identical with the tensive force or excitability. If these
possibilities are lost, then we have, by methodical use of those double
motions, stimulation to contraction, to a change in the position of the
histological elements, and increase of the interchange of matter, greater
PART I.
18
274
energy of circulation, and, therewith, return of the normal momentą
of nutrition. In gymnastic exercises, in swimming, fencing, in brief,
in simple gymnastics, the flexors alone are always engaged, hence, only
half of the entire musculature, which has to overcome the external
resistance thereby occurring, while the extensors, without external
resistance, remain, in consequence, disproportionally inactive. In the
double Gymnastics, on the contrary, the extensors also find their exter-
nal resistance, and are put into a similar state of activity, since two
men use their muscles in such a manner, that one seeks to overpower
those of the other, but with moderation, not too violently or too often,
hence interrupted by seasons of rest, according to the law of the
periodical renewal of the organic motion. These double motions
contain the conditions of regenerating myopathic affections, by the
production of increased alternate action between flexors and extensors.
It is by this means possible to affect every separate muscular group
which becomes weakened, and thereby produces the most varied
deformities of the bony structure.
A couple of examples will readily make this clear. When
Stromeyer hit upon the cutting of the tendons, it was easy indeed to
set the club feet straight at once, but the patients walked worse than
ever, they trod over. Those muscles which, while the deformity
existed, were never called into play, were atrophied, and now, after
the section of the tendons, when it was necessary that they should con-
tribute towards maintaining the equipoise of the limb, they refused
their service. Hence, the cutting of the tendons is only successful when,
after the operation, the atrophied muscles are so far exercised by the
two-fold motions and thereby nourished again, that they can become
equal in power to their antagonists. The apparatus, after the tendons
are cut, can, hence, only be looked upon as an accessory to recovery,
but the aid, in accordance with the natural laws, comes from the
movement cure.
§. 161.
For more than a thousand years physicians have made great efforts
to cure tuberculosis of the lungs. Laennec found, at last, that practice
with wind instruments, frequent climbing up hills, produced improve-
ment, and even sometimes a cure. But, in tuberculosis, with malfor-
mation of the thorax, and curvature of the spinal column, Neumann
discovered that gymnastics and practicing respiration, not only removed
such malformations, but, with them also, the tuberculosis. In tuber-
culosis, physical explorations demonstrated, every time, more or less
275
diminished capacity of the lungs, and chemical inquiry found nothing
but that tubercle was at first a hydrate, which, subsequently, in the
most favorable cases, might calcify. It has been but quite lately dis-
covered that, not only striking malformations of the thorax and curv
ature of the spinal column might be causes of tuberculosis of the
lungs, but that even where this was not the case, the ossification of the
cartilage connecting the first rib with the sternum, which, externally,
is not perceptible, might be such a cause. Since, thereby, the upper
part of the thorax becomes, in early life, immovable, and this obstacle
to the motion of the thorax necessarily communicates itself to the
other bony parts thereof, the respiratory movements are considerably
hindered, and, especially at the articulations of the ribs with the spinal
column, reduced to a minimum. In consequence thereof the apices
of both lungs cannot properly be expanded for the reception of air,
their air vesicles become atrophied and hydrates are quite easily deposited
in them and their surroundings. These, in pulmonary substance
almost motionless, cannot be absorbed again, and, on softening, undergo
molecular or fatty degeneration, suppuration, etc., and form what is
called tubercle with its several stages.
The problem of Tuberculosis for this form, as regards its pathologi-
cal side, is thus solved. With the rarest exceptions, Tuberculosis is
produced by this ossification of the cartilage of the first rib, and this
is produced by a hereditary pathological interchange of matter. This
first condition, the mechanical, may thus be removed by the mechan-
ical respiratory exercises of the movement cure. This may be accom-
plished not only in this way, that this ossification becomes softened and
movable, but, at the same time, after this has sufficiently taken
place, by this, that the apices of the lungs may again become perme-
able to air, and the deposits, which are already in a pathological state,
may even be absorbed.
It is not necessary to adduce anything further touching the results
of this movement cure, since the laws which govern its employment
may be deduced, and from these examples, for all other cases.
ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM.
§. 162.
Neither the water-cure nor the movement-cure, neither the use of
electricity nor that of magnetism, can be replaced by another method
of cure, since they follow their own independent laws, specific to
The movement-cure has already reached a point which
themselves.
276
promises so well that the application of external irritation by the elec
trical induction-apparatus will become superfluous in far more cases
than is generally acknowledged.
Since, however, the disturbances of nutrition of a muscle in neuro-
pathic paralysis is, in general, a secondary phenomenon, but in myo-
pathic is a primary; the cessation of the muscular contraction in
neuropathic paralysis, on the contrary, forms the primary phenomenon,
and, in case of the myopathic, the secondary; we may thus deduce
therefrom the reciprocal relations between the indications for the
double movements, or for the electrical induction-apparatus and those
similar to it.
Moreover, the induction electricity, as well as the application of
magnetism and of the galvanic stream, furnish still further indispens-
able aids, but sometimes are injurious also, on account of the specifi-
cally changed forms of the reciprocal action which they can bring to
pass after long use. These belong to the domain of Materia Medica,
and mention will be made hereafter regarding necessary precautions
and their therapeutic significance.
The new discovery in this domain, the use of the galvanic stream,
operates far more energetically than the induction-apparatus. The
galvanic stream produces such a marked afflux of blood between the
electrodes, hence of material of subsistence, which may be easily
increased by specific nutrition remedies, etc., that a greater future is
before it as a curative means than the school is inclined to think.
In the water-cure, the movement-cure and the galvanic stream, we
pehold three brilliant stars which, with irresistible force, break through
the otherwise gloomy chaos of the physiological school, and are ever to
be recognized as imperishable, (since they are acquisitions based upon
natural laws,) although they had their origin in experiment only, and
that indeed, in the first two instances, in the experiments of men who
did not belong to the professional craft. The punishment for this did
not tarry, but was quickly applied in the passionate persecution of the
water-cure, and the indifferent reception of the movement-cure.
§. 163.
The effect of the induction-apparatus is, however, not only not
But in
denied by the physiological school, but is even used by it.
none of their text books is there any direction for the use of the mag-
net itself. This is the result of faith in authority, which seeks no
further: for, if an opinion is favored by a considerable number of
teachers, then the scholars acquiesce in that opinion, believing, as they
277
do, that their teachers must have very weighty reasons for so saying,
else they would never have been appointed as teachers.
Lest they
should pass for revolutionary minds or over wise boys, they prefer to
make the acceptation of the opinions of their teachers a duty. By
this means, all odious progress is prevented, and all laborious tests are
made superfluous, although it is written, "Prove all things; hold fast
that which is good.”
Hahnemann always obeyed this latter principle and proved also the
effect of the magnet upon man. He announced that, for the proving
of the effect of the magnet, the thumbs should be used.
Dr. Streinitz in Gratz has reflected upon this subject lately and
gives me the following facts which I can confirm as correct: "There
are many neuralgic affections which can be removed most rapidly,
surely and permanently by the use of the magnet." From the expe-
rience that all magnets display their greatest efficiency in the magnetic
meridian, he concluded, that this direction must be also given to the
magnet in using it upon the sick. For this purpose a horse-shoe mag-
net, holding up from 20 to 40 pounds is placed on a table in a direction
corresponding to that of the magnetic needle. Now, as the effects of
the North and South Pole counteract each other, he concluded
further that only one pole should be brought into use, and also that
the position of the patient should present no obstacle to the reception
of the magnetic influence.
Hence, he directs his patients to place themselves at the north side
of the horse-shoe magnet and bids them touch the north pole of the
magnet in the direction of the magnetic meridian with the second
joint of the flexed index finger. The contra-indications for this treat-
ment are found in chlorotic and cognate conditions; it is chiefly indi-
cated in a congestion of the head and by that condition of the body
characterized by cold feet. The success is established; a full explana-
tion of the matter cannot be given for the present; though in the
subsequent paragraphs significant explanation as regards the reason of
these phenomena will follow.
Of animal magnetism, Valentin says, "All the wonderful phenomena
which we have been wont to describe, as the results of animal mag-
netism, rest upon conscious or unconscious deception, to which even
physicians are but too often disposed."
Would that men of science would duly study logic a little bit in
order to learn that the dogma is worth as little as skepticism. How
utterly unfounded again is this opinion of Valentin. With the help
of such subjective subtilties to deny facts observed by others, this
truly is the occupation of children rather than those who would be
278
numbered among the learned. Every child can deny a thing, and to
do this lies in the very character of the boy, but to place something
different, or truer in the place of it, for this, first of all, an experimental
test of the operations of others is needed, before one can indulge in
negative opinions thereupon; for every opinion must have an object
and cannot be made dependent upon subjective ideas.
Of experimental provings of animal magnetism I add, for the pres-
ent, only the following, which I learned from Dr. v. Gardos in Pesth,
and which I have always found confirmed, in my practice at least, by
the most favorable results, and these few I may present without preju-
dice to the work of this colleague, a work which is about to appear
soon, while I may by these brief remarks direct the attention of our
colleagues to manipulations, which in many cases will relieve them of
great embarrassment. The use of the Homœopathic remedies indi-
cated is not thereby excluded, as it aids and makes permanent the cure.
For the removal of a number of neuralgic, spasmodic and similar
affections, frequently very severe, v. Gardos does not employ the usual
manipulations of magnetisers, with passes, etc., which only make
patients willful, but kneads (punktirt), pressing with the points of his
fingers upon magnetic points in the human frame which he has discov-
ered. For instance, in spasms, neuralgia, etc., which prevail in the
left side, he kneads with two fingers of one hand on a line with the
navel, three fingers breadth from it, on both sides, and, with two
fingers of his other hand, the protuberantia externa ossis occipitis on
both sides. If these affections prevail on the right side of the body,
he kneads the middle of the pit of the stomach with three fingers
together, in a line, and, at the same time, the coronal suture on both
sides, three finger-breadths from the middle, and the great fontanelle.
The points for the so-called cardiac spasm lie between the cartilages
of the seventh and eighth ribs on both sides, on the protuberance of
the left frontal bone and on the coronal suture, on the right and left
of its centre two finger-breadths. The points for relieving hysteric
spasms, and all others arising therefrom, for instance, cramp of the
stomach, globus hystericus, etc., are the supra-orbital nerves of both
sides; here one must knead with both thumbs.
Sometimes the cramps and pains, after these kneadings, vigorously
performed, are more severe at first, but one need not be frightened off
by that, for by continuous firm pressure upon these places with the
points of the fingers, the cramps are not only relieved, but frequently,
they do not return again.
Finally, as regards the powerful influence of the electricity of the
earth, we know that those suffering from so-called nervous affections
279
are always very sensitive to disturbances of the electrical equilibrium.
For instance, before, during and after the last eruption of Etna, Feb-
ruary, 1, 1865, the opportunity was given to make comprehensive
observations at the sick-bed as regards unexpected exaccerbations on the
one hand, to be explained by no other cause, and, on the other hand,
improvement. That these phenomena really arose from that agent
was (by the utter exclusion of any other cause) indicated by the
earthquakes, which at the same time occurred in our close vicinity.
It was highly instructive to be able thereby to study the constitutional
peculiarities which were aggravated, and others, which were strikingly
improved, and that, indeed, so suddenly that many patients could
clearly indicate the day and the hour of eruption, having plainly expe-
rienced it in themselves. In this relation, the provings made by
Homœopaths of the effect of electricity upon their own bodies are of
inestimable worth for diagnosis, prognosis and indication, where
phenomena set in suddenly, and hence it seems difficult to say why
the results of these provings appear only in the compilations of Jahr
and are omitted by Possart.
§. 164.
I have always taken particular pleasure in endeavoring, with all the
means of the art of observation and of that of experiment, to cure
just those very diseases which the prevailing physiological school has
again and again pronounced incurable, and I have very often suc-
ceeded. My colleagues, to be sure, shrugged their shoulders in unbe-
lief, a conduct exceedingly becoming and in place, of course, and
offered the most ludicrous explanations. It is worth while to give an
example of this, for it belongs to the category of judgment. A female
patient of a colleague suffered with an acute attack of gout, in which
the two hip and knee joints suffered chiefly, the joints of the feet,
hands and fingers less. The very violent pains admitted no other
position of the body than the sitting, with the knee placed at an acute
angle of the leg and thigh. When the acute process had passed
away, and the patient wished to try to change her posture only a
little, she observed, to her terror, that she could not remove her limbs
from this angular position, and her physician declared to her, that both
the hip and knee joints had grown fast in the position previously
assumed and maintained till the present; that they were anchylosed.
After the patient had passed three full years in this painful condi-
tion in bed, and her physician had assured her that all the means of
art and science had been now used in vain, to make these joints flexi-
ble, and that the patient was incurable, I was called in, to draw the
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cart out of the mire, after it had sunken in deep enough.
After a
minute examination, and, because, happily, I could discover no injuri-
ous medicinal effects, I promised that the use of the joints should be
restored within a year. My colleague did not laugh but accused me
of charlatanism, without which no physician could take charge of
incurable cases, and much less give such a prognosis. However, it
was summer when I took the patient in hand, and autumn, winter
and spring had passed, when one fine day this patient took a walk
in the garden without a cane. My colleague, when asked for an
explanation of this fact, replied, forgetful very likely of his previous.
assertion, that she might have walked years ago if she had wished to.
If, in the first paragraphs, it was necessary to make mention of the
most common fallacies for caution's sake, this foresight ought also not
to be omitted with regard to such polemical tricks, which, unhappily,
we meet with only too often in the controversies of medical factions,
since a great number of learned men are unable to see through them.
To this end, I adduce from Schopenhauer the three most commonly
used strategems.
1. Amplification. The assertion of the opponent is taken in a
wider sense than he intended, or even expected, in order conveniently
to refute it in that sense.
Example: A affirms that the English excel all other nations in the
dramatic art. B fabricates the apparent instantia in contrarium,
that in music, hence also in the opera, their acquisitions are trifling.
2. Fabricating Conclusions. One adds to the proposition of his
opponent, often indeed only by implication, still another, which is
related by the subject or predicate to the former; from these two prem-
ises he now draws an untrue and generally a malicious conclusion,
with which he charges his opponent. Example: A commends the
French for having expelled Charles X. B replies: So you would
have us drive our king away. The proposition added by him, by
implication as major, being: All who drive their kings away are to
be commended.
3. The Diversion. The shifting of the discussion on to another
subject, to-wit: to some secondary matter, if necessary, even by a
sudden leap. This he now tries to foist upon his opponent in order to
contend with him about it, and to make it his theme instead of the
original subject. One will accomplish these strategic diversions most
skillfully by transferring the controversy unobserved and gradually to
some subject standing related to that under discussion, and, if possible,
to shift it over upon something having actually some relation to it,
much less skillful is it when one retains the subject merely of the
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thesis, but brings other relations thereof upon the carpet, which have
nothing to do with the question in hand, e. g., if one passes over from
the Boodhism of the Chinese to their tea trade, or, one seizes some
expression accidentally dropped by an opponent, in order therewith to
connect a new controversy, e. g., the opponent uses this expression,
"Just here lies the mystery of the thing," when the reply is made,
"Yes, if you speak of mysteries and mysticism, then I am not your
man."
The diversion is, of all tricks used, for the most part, instinctively
by unskilled disputants, the most favorite, and the most employed; and
certainly as soon as they are hard pressed, comes forth almost without
fail.
These tricks are most frequently met with in hurried verbal dis-
cussion, and, as regards verbal disputations, Schopenhauer even makes
the following concession: “One should not be in too great haste to
abandon his opinion, in order to gain time, hoping that he will yet
hit upon good arguments while he is defending himself with poor
ones. In this, however, one very easily exposes himself to the danger
of going too far, of maintaining too long an indefensible position, and
of finally taking a firm stand and — yielding then to the evil of
human nature-incurs the danger of defending his proposition per
fas et nefas, hence, even by unfair strategem, clinging to it as with
his very teeth. Here may every one be protected by his good genius,
lest he be brought to shame afterwards."
But this prostitution of the human intellect one meets with not only
in verbal disputes, but also in medical literature. Thus the assertion,
for example, of my colleague, mentioned in this paragraph, belongs
to No. I.
Hence I have no occasion to apologize for exposing these
polemical tricks; on the contrary, they belong, as we shall frequently
see in subsequent paragraphs, essentially to the subject which is to be
treated of in this work.
§. 165.
RADEMACHER'S SCHOOL.
If we found in the train of ideas and from the experiments of the
physiological school, as well as in their Materia Medica and Pharma-
codynamics (which is entirely without positive contents) not a single
point of support, prepared either theoretically or practically for the
practice of a Therapy based upon natural laws; if we found, on the
282
contrary, that its asserted rationality was a self-deception, a fallacy,
and that its Empiricism really rested upon primitive experiments upon
the sick and false conclusions; if we found nothing, moreover, which
could give security for the success of its treatment; if we perceived,
on the other hand, how this school, in spite of its therapeutical and
practical impotence, neglects the therapeutics and the adherents of
Rademacher and Hahnemann, then it will become a necessity, in
every respect, to be acquainted also with these systems of Therapeu-
tics. That each one may judge for himself on this point, I introduce
here, also, the authors speaking for themselves, and all the more
readily since this Therapy leads us back again to the doctrine of the
constitutions of the body.
The author of the text-book of the so-called Natural Science Therapy
(Rademacherian) says as follows:
"The use of observations, hence of symptoms and processes of
disease, for the formation of symptomatic groups and processes, which
receive a name, as, for instance, Pneumonia, Oxaluria, Albuminuria,
the stopping short here and setting them up as the object of cure, as
well as providing a Therapeia against them, is the characteristic indi-
cation of the crudest empiricism, for it limits itself to this, to trace
back the changeable phenomena and changing processes to their
unchangeable source, and thus neglects the search for that law which
contains the essential in the contingent, the necessary in the changing.
It is all the same, whether the phenomena are discovered by the
senses merely, or with other aids; on the living or in the cadaver, or,
in the products of the disease; moreover, it matters not whether one
or more symptoms receive a name, and pass for diseases, which were
discovered by the mere senses or by anatomical, chemical or physical
investigations, or whether merely the objective symptoms, in their
succession, in their processes, or the anatomical and chemical meta-
morphoses of the blood, and of organs, were united under one name
as disease and object of cure; it is ever a crude empiricism, to rest
upon these phenomena, to set them up as objects of cure and to
employ medicines against them or their processes or against the
anatomical and chemical changes of the blood and organs.
The text-books of Pathology and Therapeutics contain a collection
of remedies hitherto found curative against forms of disease; but
which always cure, which of these should be used in every form of
disease, is more or less clearly set forth; and accordingly there follows
a greater or less disappointment and complaint about the uncertainty
of medical experiences. But this is unjust, because crude empiricism
makes observations only, but seeks no law of experience, and knows
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also no other experience but this, that one and the same remedy now
cures a certain form, and now does not. This negative experience is,
in itself, worth nothing, unless it leads to the inference that, hence-
forth, no remedies should be sought and used against forms or pro-
cesses of disease, while one abandons the stand-point upon which this
experience was inade, and thus raises himself up to the stand-point
of natural science."
§. 166.
"The foundation for the erection of an inductive curative method,
which Therapeutics of natural science needs, is the investigation of
actual curative relations, i. e., the mutual relation between the essence
of disease and the curative remedy.
Hence the proving of a drug upon the healthy can lead to nothing,
since, only on the sick, can it be made clear, under what external con-
ditions they became sick. But, from these perceptions it is definitely
established, that, in cures and diseases, the main question does not turn
merely about their form and diagnosis, i. e., about the localized
processes.
The impossibility of reaching any result, by this observation alone,
compels the physician to pursue the second path, of which the student
of natural philosophy avails himself, if the first gives him an insuf-
ficient or only probable answer. He puts a question to Nature; he
makes an experiment. The question to Nature runs thus: what is
the direct curative means for the nature of the disease in hand, which,
neither as regards its seat nor its kind, can be perfectly understood
from the symptoms alone? With the view to an answer, this question
divides itself, according to the well-known laws of experience, into
three other questions.
1. Is the original seat of the disease an organ, or the blood, or both?
and does the disease hence need an organ-remedy, or a blood-remedy,
or both?
2. If it is an organic disease, which organ is primarily affected?
3. In what manner is the organ or blood diseased, and which of
the known organ or blood-remedies is to be used?”
§. 167.
"The phenomena of the disease in hand most carefully examined
and comprehended, to the minutest details, with all the aids of the
diagnosis of forms, the supposition, or certainty, arising therefrom, as
284
regards the seat of the disease, the similarity of these phenomena with
such diseases, whose seat and kind have already been found out by
investigation, and finally, the epidemic character, give the points of
support from which a logical hypothesis, touching the seat and nature
of the disease, may be established, and according to which an organ-
remedy or blood-remedy, previously discovered, may be selected.
It is self-apparent that therapeutic experimenting is learned by
practice, and by continuous practice becomes easier; however, in this,
all tendency to speculation, to so-called rational conclusions, must be
banished, as well as that mysticism which is known under the name
of practical tact. Then only can that practice lead to mastership.
The most essential support, in this most difficult and most important
task of the physician, springs from the consideration of the epidemic
character in a therapeutic view, especially in acute diseases, in which
it is of the greatest interest to shorten the attempt at cure, or even to
dispense with it altogether. It is an approved and certain axiom, that,
many essences of disease appear only in epidemic extension, so that
one, under various forms and symptoms, for a certain period, lasting
moments or years, attacks a multitude of men. Hence, if the primary
seat of the disease, and the kind of the disease is recognized, in those
first affected, then the instituting of experiments of cure, for all suc-
ceeding cases, ceases; and the physician knows with certainty, that he
can cure all new cases, with the remedy discovered, without any, or,
with very rare exceptions.
In old, chronic diseases, the previous epidemic constitution is, above
all, always decisive, and, on this account, in every chronic case which
comes up for cure, we should inquire into its first appearance, as far
as possible; it thus often happens, that, if we know the then epidemic
remedy, we know also the primary seat and the primary kind of the
diseased process, and this remedy will also complete the cure, if a cure
is possible at all, or if some other kind of disease of the affected organ,
or of the blood, or the disease of some other organ has not already
taken place. But even in this latter case, this knowledge gives the
point of departure of the entire chronic affection, and thus, according
to pathological data, offers a more ready recognition of the present
diseases of organs, or of the blood.”
§. 168.
"The human organism will remain in equipoise as long as normal
external influences, normal nutritious substances, and normal atmos-
pheric air are offered it, and these follow a series of metamorphoses in a
285
normal manner, and, at the same time, the metamorphoses, through
the organs of the living organisms, are normally accomplished. If
this equipoise is disturbed it may happen from the side of the nutritive
canal, the air and the organs. Consequently, the following may appear
as objects of cure: 1. Disturbances of the nutritive material within
the intestinal canal, before it is converted into blood, as well as dis-
eased matter, poisons, parasites introduced with the blood or directly.
The latter may also form objects of cure in other parts of the body,
where they are accessible. 2. Disturbances of the blood, as the first
results of materials of nutrition and of the air. 3. Disturbances of
organs which, as integral parts of the organism, complete the meta-
morphoses of the nutritive materials and of the air. Furthermore,
those essences of disease are also objects of cure, the process of which
may spontaneously disappear, since it is the object of the direct cura-
tive art, not to treat every affection, but to shorten its duration and
modify its course. The indirect art of curing abandons such cases to
themselves, because it can not produce their direct subsidence, and is
not in condition to recognize, and cure, the essence of the disease."
§. 169.
"In order to learn what may be known of the essence of disease it
is necessary to discover what upon the whole can be learned from
the essence of bodies in nature. On this point, chemistry alone gives
us light, and teaches us, that we can find out nothing except their
relation to other bodies. Just so we know nothing of the essence of
disease except its relation to certain external bodies of nature.
The re-agents against diseases of the blood are Iron, Copper and
the Nitrate of Soda. At the same time, however, when Iron cures
disease of the blood, there are also various organ remedies which are
indicated in preference, and the same is true of Copper and the Nitrate
of Soda.
§. 170.
According to another author of a work upon this, as he calls it,
Specific curative method, "there are three specific morbid states of
the human body, which characterize themselves by this, that they
assume a definite position as regards remedies.
To the remedies of the first specific series of Natr. nitric. belong also
Sal ammoniac, Natr. carb. and Natr. and Kali aceticum, Borax and
Venesection: to those of the third series of Iron belong the prepara-
tions of Iron, bitter vegetable astringents, China, Lichen island.,
286
Columbo, Red wine, Ratanhia, with Muriatic acid, Alumen, etc.
Most drugs correspond to the second specific state under the lead of
Cuprum; thus, amongst others, Quicksilver, Arsenic, Iodine, Calc.
carb., Sulph., Ipec., Bell., Op., Aconite, Digitalis, Tart. emet, etc.
There are also transition remedies from one state to another and for
the combination of two or three specific states. Venesection is, in
general, injurious, where the second or third specific states prevail."
§. 171.
"The specific contingent qualities of specific means are quite peculiar
if they remove a disease, since they indicate thereby, that they have a
greater relation to the pathological form than to specific states, but
these cures are always liable to relapses and not infrequently the
diseases are made worse by them.
If, for instance, Sal ammoniac corresponds to the cure of diseases
of the organs of respiration, it takes place only in so far as these dis-
eases then represent pathological forms, under which the first specific
state itself commences; if Digitalis corresponds to the cure of the same
diseases, this only happens under the pre-dominance of the second,
and, if Iron cures these diseases, it occurs under the predominance of
the third specific state. On the contrary, we can cure fever and ague
with Quinine under circumstances under which the third specific state
does not appear; a diarrhoea, with Opium, without the presence of
the second specific state, but these cures are uncertain, temporary,
relapses follow, more serious diseases, or, the fever and ague becomes
aggravated, at the cost of the contingent qualities of Quinine, the
diarrhoea at the cost of the contingent qualities of the Opium."
S. 172.
"The entire diagnosis rests here, it is true, upon the indication
ex juvantibus et nocentibus, but a larger practice finally decides, as it
permits the comparison of several similar cases occurring at the same
time; and, moreover, as regards the stationary character of the dis-
ease, certain forms of disease, as a rule, only appear under determinate
specific states.
The inflammations appear in the time of the first or of the combi-
nation of the first and second specific states; typhus and chronic dis-
eases seldom or only under the first specific state; intermittents, for
the most part, form a pathological form, under which the third specific
state appears isolated, or the combination of the second and third
287
ensues. Nevertheless, from all this it follows, that, in order to arrive
at the end, there is, in fact, no certain way, and, in short, we are
compelled to throw ourselves into the arms of empiricism."
§. 173.
The exclusive measures are also peculiar:
"1. One adheres, losing sight of the pathological form, to the
relative rank of the remedy of the appropriate specific series, and, at
the outset, takes therefrom one which stands high.
Thus there follow, in the second series: 1, Tartar emetic; 2,
Cuprum; 3, Mercury; 4, Arsenic; 5, Bismuth; 6, Zinc; 7, Lead;
8, Kali iodat; 9, Iod.; 10, Calcarea; 11, Magnesia; 12, Sulphur; 13,
Ipecac, etc., and one takes, for example, in acute gout, Sublimate,
passing by the remedy particularly corresponding to this pathological
form, or else the benumbing method is chosen. If, for example, we
have to treat a pneumonia, under the combination of the first and
second specific state, then the chief object would be, first to subdue the
first, and then the second state; hence either to give Nitrum or to
bleed, and then follow with Tart. emet. Instead of this, we can
benumb the first condition with large doses of Tartar emetic, omitting
bleeding and the Nitrum, or bleed more copiously than usual and not
give the Tartar emet. In the same manner remedies of the third
series may easily benumb those of the first. From similar relations
compound drugs may be useful, although this procedure is contrary
to rule." This writer permits resort also to other methods even.
S. 174.
Of the specialities which Dr. Latz has discovered, I mention the
following: Diseases of the bones are treated like chronic eruptions on
the skin; hæmoptysis, like diseases of the respiratory organs; vomiting
of blood, like diseases of the gastric organs; Syphilis is a form which
generally belongs to the second specific state; Nervous fever generally
presents a pathological form, under which the first specific condition
does not appear; Intermittent fever, a form with which the combina-
tion of the third or second, or the third alone appears, and China cor-
responds to the latter. Chronic diseases seldom present pathological
forms, among which the first specific state appears. Troubles, which
are connected with convalescence from acute diseases, are very often
the expression of the prevalence of the third specific state."
288
In connection with these indications, Dr. Latz, as regards various
methods, gives, among others, the following points of support: "The
method of bleeding is excluded by the prevalence of the third specific
state. If too much blood is let, the diseases take on the asthenic
character, and this is very often the expression of the third specific
state, less often of the second.
The exciting method is excluded by prevalence of the first specific
state.
The diaphoretic method is a supplement of the previous.
Of the acid neutralizing methods, Kali or Natrum is indicated by
the prevalence of the first specific state. Calcarea and Magnesia by
that of the second.
The hæmatogogical method is excluded by the first specific state.
The cholagogic method may be used under the prevalence of either
specific state. In the first, it is advisable to use the tartrates; in the
second or third, Chelidonium, Rheum, etc.; Taraxacum in the com-
bination of the first and second.
The diuretic method also comes into play in every specific state,
and it is advisable in the first to use Tart. boraxat.; in the other two,
Levisticum, Squills, Juniper, etc."
The dose in which these drugs are to be given, is that established
by the physiological school, with certain cautions, "in order to avoid
the casual effects-vomiting or purging, i. e., the requisite medicine
must be given in a small dose. To be sure, one must not go to
extremes here, or fall too far below the normal dose, lest the cura-
tive principle becomes a principle of folly, [Narren princip.]
"One begins with a small dose, and increases it gradually, till he
has attained the normal dose. In this manner we seek to accustom
the stomach and bowels to the remedy, etc. This normal dose is, for
example, two drachms of Natr. nitr. in six ounces of water, a table-
spoonfull every two hours; Cupr. sulph. grvj., Sacch. 3j., a teaspoon-
full four times a day; Tr. ferri. acet. aeth, ss.; Tinct. Stramon 3j.;
Tinct. Opii. ss.; gtt. xlv. or more, four times a day.”
§. 175.
In this quotation, the question of the normal dose comes up also,
and, unhappily, with a discrimination between a curative principle
and a principle of folly, with which latter a thrust is made at Homo-
opathy, just as the physiological school serves the adherents of Rade-
macher. But we may be fully assured that whenever a common
place has crept in, it had to be used on account of the incapacity to
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furnish proof or counter-proof, a dangerous thing for those who resort
to such weapons. The command which is not preceded by knowl-
edge, the detraction and using of slanders which lack knowledge,
these are by far the easiest and most common occupations of life.
The most acute reasoning, the most cutting irony deserves to be heard,
if, for their support, the proof has preceded them, without which both
fall back upon the giver. That should not be forgotten which we
have proved in the first paragraphs regarding the proof from the
mental association or from the domain of convictions and incompre-
hensibilities. Party and science represent two contradictory stand-
points, mutually excluding each other, as do faith and knowledge.
To this decision, throwing a doubtful light upon learned men, the
whole machination and all the results of the strife between the various
therapeutic schools reduces itself, for which strife, in the Forum of Sci-
ence, there is no excuse.
Whoever dares to hold an opinion of his own, is condemned and
declared an outlaw; this is still the custom in Therapeutics. But where
should we stand to-day in astronomy if Galileo, Kepler, and Newton,
had not been of a different mind from Ptolemy?
§. 176.
Rademacher and his adherents made at the bedside the first practical
perceptions, empirical though they were, of ætiological relations and
their mutual relations to Pathology and Therapeutics, long before it
ever entered into the head of the physiological school to think thereof
in good earnest. But if we compare the probable conclusions of the
physiological school with the experience of this, which might be called
the etiological school, then we see that the first, uses various substan-
ces as drugs, upon the strength of accidental results of single experi-
ments, upon the advice of others, from tradition, without having any
kind of support at all like a rule.
The procedure of this aetiological school permits us to infer still
more than what lies in the summing up of perceptions merely. The
change of the genius of a disease is a fact long known; but the empir-
ically discovered fact of the connection of various remedies therewith,
is a fact newly discovered. This ætiological school, hence, depends, truly
enough, likewise, upon the occurrence of similar cases, but it upholds
no hasty principle like that of contraria contrariis curantur, but
offers a rule, a leading principle, according to which it can practice.
It discovered a mutual relation of the outer world with diseases, and
of both of these, with one single remedy, by which relation, from the
PART I.
19
290
various external processes, which accompany the nature of the phe-
nomena, it could determine just those which contain the reasons for
the indication of its remedies.
§. 177.
The adherents of Rademacher compared the cases of disease which
were curable with Iron, and found, that, in this, the most various
forms of disease corresponded. Subsequently, again, they compared
the same forms at the same place and under the same circumstances,
but, at another time, and found that they no longer corresponded
thereto. Thus they discovered by the eliminating method of the art
of observation, that the causes of this difference could not lie in the
forms of disease but must lie outside of them; and, since place and
circumstance had remained the same, but their drugs had to be
changed with the time alone, in order to gain the same curative results
with the same forms of disease, they concluded that sometimes the
causes of these changes are different, and, that, by these differences,
other conditions of disease must invariably be brought about.
That this school interrogates Nature, and by observation and experi-
ment seeks an answer, that hence its indication is formed by the
collection of similar cases, and any change therein is regulated accord-
ing to the result ex juvantibus et nocentibus, this indicates its stand-
point, to wit, that of empirical induction, to which such rules are
peculiar. But, from the grouping together of similar cases, it only
follows with mathematical certainty, that a conformity to rule lies at
the bottom of similar cases, but that this rule itself is not thereby
yet found.
Herewith, hence, their inductive series of conclusions ceases; for
that this school ascribes those causes to atmospheric changes, etc., is
an abstraction, which points to a natural law, and contains an appeal
to search for it. This law is all the less known, as even Dr. Latz, an
adherent of Rademacher, as well as Rademacher himself, has dis-
covered that all did not depend upon the specific genius of the disease,
but that also separate forms of disease, under similar specific states,
but independent from and not influenced by the epidemic genius of
the disease, are wont to occur inter-currently.
Nevertheless this school possesses inventive means for its Therapeia,
of which the physiological school has shown no example, as it was
never able to make a therapeutic discovery of such magnitude and
such significance. The former, hence, needs no longer to rest upon
the fallacies of a numerical method; it lays hold of ætiological causes.
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and conditions of disease, and the fact that it has found such, remains
its everlasting merit. §§. 71-SI.
§. 178.
Rademacher and his adherents, in order to establish their indica-
tions, proceed thus according to the laws of the higher train of
thought, not according to those of the lower, nor according to the
custom of expecting the return of similar cases. In this regard, they
stand far higher than the adherents of the physiological school. For
the former, even one case suffices to enable them to conclude from it
to the rest, without even having seen it. That is the characteristic
of abstraction, §§. 33, 89, which permits them to anticipate a law
of nature.
These conclusions, the disciples of Rademacher can hence no longer
form inductively, and their concluding that herein also they proceed
inductively, is an error which checks their progress.
Not the repeated occurrence of similar phenomena, but the
unfailing cure of the most varied forms of disease by a remedy, con-
sequently by specifics at a definite time, contains the indication of a
specific cause; although they themselves do not, as yet, know these
causes, yet they have found a law of reciprocal effect, to which their
cures can be referred. Just as we did not know the foundation of the
law of gravity, as long as its effect was abstracted from the reciprocal
movements of the heavenly bodies within space, so has Rademacher
also, abstracted a law of effect and counter-effect, from similar recipro-
cal movements of external conditions to diseases within time, and,
although he has not given it a name forthwith, yet, from no side of
science can any objection arise which can attack the logical propriety
of his conclusions. According to this, he has founded an empirical
Therapeia, and his pupils have already worthily completed it. It is the
duty of every practicing physician to study these faithful indications
and to improve them wherever he observes deficiencies.
S. 179.
That to the adherents of Rademacher the natural law is yet unknown
which controls their therapeutic inventive means, is clear from the fact
that they have no leading principle wherewith to find it. They lack
the unit from which they should begin such investigations. Their
abstraction throws them into the midst of changing conditions from
which it seems impossible to extricate themselves. Hence their
292
methods of treatment at the bedside rest for a long time upon experi-
ments. To these, therefore, they have adhered, because, contrary to
the art of experiment, they have have built no harbor, from and into
which, they could sail. They labor often upon the high stormy sea,
upon which they can hold themselves only with the sail and the anchor
of post hoc ergo propter hoc.
They further discovered that, even in chronic diseases, it did not
depend upon the accidentally present form to establish a right indica-
tion, and found, at the same time, one reason thereof; the other we shall
learn subsequently. Finally the hints as regards the series of reme-
dies; as regards the uncertainty of cures, if the remedies were chosen
from their chemical relations to any pathological forms; as regards the
benumbing method, will be heartily acknowledged by every practicing
physician. But the assertion that "the essence of disease was only
a relation to certain external bodies of Nature" is not clear. For the
essence of all things is never grounded in their relation to others, but
in their cause, and, if Rademacher and his adherents had not made
this false conclusion, they would also have been led, just by the suc-
cess of their Therapy, to the causes of the changing epidemic charac-
ter, as it is styled by them.
If we further compare this Therapy with that of the physiological
school, it rejects also the distinctions between purely empirical, empi-
rical and rational treatment. At the same time, we see it freed from
dogmatism and skepticism, and directing itself, by its leading princi-
ples, by experiment and observation. According to this Therapy,
diseases are not mere predicates, but their idea is extended by reference
to their ætiology. This constitutes the general feature, according to
the nature of which every special disease is produced. Here, therefore,
the reality is already connected with its necessity, and therein consists
its undeniable advantage over the physiological school. §. 149. I do
not doubt, even for a moment, that every busy practitioner, in those
few therapeutical rules of this ætiological school, will have perceived.
many momenta which explain to him results previously inexplicable,
and show him the reasons of many of his failures.
Thus, by way of comparison, this ætiological school has far out-
stripped the physiological in Therapeutics, and, therewith, also has
proved the impossibility of giving a description of any pathological
form for the purpose of a special therapeia.
The only misfortune, by no means to be underrated, for the
Therapeutics of this school, consists in this, that it is compelled to
make its experiments first upon the sick, on which account this
293
empiricism cannot be fully defended on grounds of utility and humanity
in every respect, since there can be no remedy offered for mistakes.
§. 180.
But, if the question arises, what is or wherein, in reality, consists
the normal dose? no one from these two schools can answer. On
this point, the most that they can do is to declare that the essence of the
normal dose is authority or tradition. But, in the natural sciences,
both of these factors are null and void. If, however, the adherents of
Rademacher, as well as their brethren of the physiological school,
mean to speak of a normal dose, they should, since their aim can be
directed only to the degree of the reciprocal effect, previously demon-
strate that there exists also a normal intensity of every form of disease,
and what. §. 120. Since truth can be but one in any science, the
existence of parties is the evidence of prevailing ignorance-mani-
festing itself in each party in opposite direction only so long as they
can exist side by side. Each side certainly possesses arguments in its
favor, but only arguments of perception (rationes cognoscendi) for the
opposite party, §. 73, which cannot be binding for any one. We
have, in the prevalent strifes, within therapeutic circles, nothing but
the repetition of strategems, fallacies and bravados, as they were
brought to view as long ago as the days of Galileo, and this, the
teachers of Therapeutics seem to have forgotten. Where there is
strife in any science, the two arts, that of experiment, and, that of
observation, should settle it; instead of persecuting each other, the
disputants should openly join each other for the mutual, and, hence
more prompt, solution of the contested points.
S. ISI.
Even in Rademacher's school a great error against the art of experi-
ment was committed. Both he and his pupils had, for instance, not-
withstanding the assertion in §. 166, made provings on themselves
with Copper, Iron and Natron nitricum, which, in their bearing upon
the drug provings of all schools, contained nothing new, but, never-
theless, contained one fault, to-wit: they did not announce, false to
their ætiological principle, at what time, i. e., to use their language,
at what epidemic constitution they had undertaken them. They must
acknowledge, if they would be consistent, that a physiological proving
of these substances, thus a proving upon the healthy, of Iron, for
instance, at a time in which diseases were curable with Iron, would
294
have presented quite different results than at a time in which they
could be cured with Copper or Natron nitr.
Since they have neglected this essential announcement, it is clear
that it never occurred to them, that the relations thus changed, which
they observed on the sick, could have any influence upon the healthy.
This mistake arises from their assertion, that a just relation between a
drug and the essence of disease could only be found out empirically.
But on what account, then, have they considered necessary, and under-
taken physiological drug provings?
S. 182.
One experience gained by this school is worthy of special considera-
tion, "that, in old chronic diseases, the previous epidemic constitution,
always decides, first of all, upon the present indication of a remedy;
hence, in every case, which comes up for treatment, the time of its
first appearance should be learned, as far as possible, for, by this,
frequently, if the then epidemic curative remedy is known, the primary
seat and the primary kind of the diseased process are known also, and
this very remedy will still effect a cure, if a cure is yet possible, or,
if the disease is not already succeeded by another disease of the first
affected organ or blood, or if disease of another organ has not ensued.
But, even in this latter case, that knowledge gives the point of depar
ture for the whole chronic affection."
That is in gross, what we see happen on a smaller scale, after strong
or oft-repeated doses of long-acting remedies. First appear symptoms
at the point of application, then, of its reception in the blood, finally,
the affections of the specifically affected organs and systems in suc-
cession, and, often, at great intervals, as we have observed very dis-
tinctly with quicksilver, for instance. The only difference consists in
this, that epidemic injurious influences, often after very many years,
to the surprise of many, bring to view their continued operation as a
token of the presence of their results under various forms of disease,
while the continued operation of drugs is of proportionally shorter
duration.
In this experience there lies a very important momentum for the
favorable or unfavorable results of the practical activity of a physician,
and for the art of his observation. Thus it is not sufficient to study
the specific forms of reciprocal effects, into which a drug enters with
the organism only during its use or during the proving of it on the
healthy; it is just as necessary to trace out, at the same time, those
specific forms of reciprocal action, into which the so-called epidemic
295
constitutions enter with the organism, and which manifest their effects
for years to come, since, thereby, the more or less susceptible bodily
constitutions suffer greater or less changes. In this behoof, Rade-
macher's school justly requires of its adherents to direct their observa-
tions chiefly to these epidemic reciprocal actions, in order to strike out
a path for the historical establishment of a Therapeia.
§. 183.
For the sake of comparing with Homœopathy, the above-given
description of pneumonia by the physiological school and the The-
rapeia presented for the same, as well as for a closer insight into the
foundations of Rademacher's Therapeutics itself, it is necessary, also,
to give full quotations concerning three forms of Pneumonia, one of
which is usually cured by blood-letting and Saltpetre; another by
Iron; the third by Copper; they are taken from a monograph upon
Pneumonia by the author of the text-book of Therapeia based upon
Natural Sciences, by Dr. Kissel.
DESCRIPTION OF EPIDEMICS OF PNEUMONIA, WHICH HAVE BEEN
OBSERVED.
"Till now I have never had opportunity to study, in their epidemic
extension, Pneumonias which are curable by cubic Saltpetre. Even
our literature treats of none such, since, till now, only the Nitrate of
potash has been used, and that always in connection with blood-letting.
Since, however, these means have an effect similar to that of cubic
Saltpetre, I take the liberty to present an epidemic in which they
have been used, and in which they have presented clear indications
of curative power. At the same time, it appears, therefrom, that
blood-letting is not injurious in all kinds of Pneumonia, but only
under that prevailing at present which is curable either by Iron or
Copper, and that, hence, the results given by Dietl, touching the effect
of venesection upon Pneumonia, hold good only of such epidemics as
were prevailing at that time.
a.-PNEUMONIAS CURABLE BY VENESECTION AND SALTPETRE.
In Hufeland's Journal (Bd. 3 S. 441 ff.) Schmidtmanu treats of an
epidemic of pneumonia, which prevailed in and about Melle in 1795,
and in which blood letting produced effects entirely opposite to those.
occurring in the pneumonia observed by Dietl. Since the use of this
means, and of Saltpetre (not cubic) was, in fact, followed, if not by
2,96
all, by nearly all the criteria of cure, as far as they could be known
without physical examination of the lungs, we have hence reason to
suppose that this epidemic pneumonia was one which was curable by
cubic Saltpetre. The symptoms thereof offered, in the totality of the
cases, as far as they could be given by Schmidtmann, without the
methods of physical exploration which were not then known, a strik
ing difference, compared with those of the now prevailing epidemic
which are curable by Iron and Copper.
An acute chill, often lasting several hours, for the most part, opened
the scene, followed by an almost intolerable heat, which then generally
continued, without interruption, to the end of the disease. In some
few cases, the disease set in at once, with great fever, without any
chill; sometimes, again, in the course of the disease, a chilly feeling,
alternated with the fever. Often during the chill even, but usually
after the fever, the symptoms of the chest appeared; in some cases
they manifested themselves only after the fever had continued for
twelve or even twenty-four hours. In no case did I notice that the
peri-pneumonic symptoms appeared before the fever. With all
patients, the respiration was more or less difficult and oppressed;
many complained merely of a pressure, a tension, a distressing sensa-
tion of weight in the breast, as if an anvil pressed the chest together;
often, but not always associated with this, was an acute, burning heat
behind the middle of the sternum; a deep inspiration was just as
impossible as it was to hold the breath, drawn in as deep as possible,
for a long time. Hence, those who suffered the most, found it very
difficult to speak; they were able to utter only a few interrupted words
at a time, as one does who has run himself out of breath, and they
could swallow drinks or medicine only in small, interrupted draughts,
since they could hardly do without the air as long as it took the fluids
to pass over the epiglottis.
With many, however, the speech was not hindered. Some felt
merely an acute stitch in one side; now in the right, now in the left,
from which the respiration became extremely painful and difficult, so
that, for the sake of relieving the pain, they drew only short, scanty,
spasmodic breaths; all were more or less oppressed, distressed,
extremely restless, and this in proportion to the severity and duration
of the inflammation.
Some few excepted, who suffered only from very acute stitches in
the side, all were affected with a violent, tormenting cough, which
very much increased the pains in the chest or side, the oppression and
the distress. With many, the cough was, at first, dry, but soon
became moist; at first the expectoration was like saliva, as in catarrhal
297
cough, but as the disease inclined to abate, it became yellowish, lumpy,
pus-like. With many, the cough was moist at first, the expectoration
colored with streaks of blood; often it was mere blood; indeed, in
many cases, the disease took on the form of hæmoptysis, accompanied
with all the pathognomonic symptoms of a peri-pneumonia. This
happened chiefly in the months of September and October. In the
course of the disease, in both cases, both blood and expectoration
disappeared — this latter then became yellow and pus-like. As the
patients inclined to recovery, the cough became less frequent and
milder, and the expectoration was proportionally less. Since the
patients were so distressed and restless, they seldom lay upon either
side; yet, as a rule, lying on the affected side, was the most comfort-
able. The symptoms of the chest, to wit, the oppression, the pres-
sure, the weight, the pain, or, the stitch in the side, etc., were always
present, without interruption, in the same degree of severity, if the
means used effected no remission or cessation. Yet I have treated
two cases where these symptoms, before any remedy whatever was
used, frequently intermitted, for half an hour, on the third and fourth
days of the disease. The hot breath, which some writers ascribe to
pneumonia, I have not been able to detect by sensation, any more
than Frank, yet I have never tried it with the thermometer. With
those whose symptoms indicated a high grade of inflammation, the
thorax was scarcely elevated at all, or very irregularly, now more, now
less, while the abdomen was raised, and moved all the more actively
and powerfully; a proof that respiration, and, especially the expansion
of the cavity of the chest, was accomplished by the diaphragm.
Many complained of violent pains at the vertex, but others again did
not. With many, the eyes were slightly inflamed, swollen, shining, but
with many I observed nothing unnatural in this respect.
With most,
the face was hot, deep red, as if colored with Cochineal, and with
those who suffered most severely, and who were near to suffocation, it
was puffed up and swollen, as in men who are strangled. Yet I have
also seen it, in several cases, pale, lead-colored, and collapsed, although
all the symptoms indicated the most intense inflammation. In many,
even at the outset, the face dripped with sweat, without producing the
least alleviation. Only a few talked deliriously, at the greatest height
of the disease, or mumbled in a more quiet manner.
Most com-
plained of sleeplessness, some appeared as if intoxicated, and slum-
bered, as one affected with apoplexy, undoubtedly a result of the
impeded return of the blood from the brain, to which a free passage
through the lungs was denied.
298
Only with a very few, have I seen the tongue quite clean; in most
cases it was dry, covered with a white or yellowish mucus, chiefly at the
root, and this coating, in some cases, was as heavy as is ever seen in
bilious or mucous fevers. In case of four patients who were in the
most critical condition of any, in the greatest height of the disease,
the tongue, the palate, the inside of the cheeks and the edge of the
lips, were covered with a brown or black crust, as is seen in bad cases
of putrid fever, and actual fissures were in the parts above mentioned,
in which the raw flesh could be seen. In many cases, even the sub-
stance of the tongue seemed to be swollen and puffed up. With
most, the taste in the mouth was undisturbed, like that in health, or
mucous; some complained of an extremely bitter taste, accompanied
with nausea and inclination to vomit, though the disease was not of a
bilious nature, nor was its character dependent upon the bile. It
played only a symptomatic, secondary part, and was merely an effect
of the irritation produced by the inflammation of the lungs and trans-
ferred, by sympathy, to the biliary system and the stomach. Bleeding,
and the most active antiphlogistic treatment, removed these casual
symptoms as surely and as quickly, as it can be done by the anti-
gastric method of cure alone, when, in other cases of disease this talis-
man of our time plays the principal part. Spontaneous, bilious
vomiting, I have, however, observed in none.
In the case of an aged man, who had been formerly a great drinker
of wine and brandy, but for some years had refrained from this habit,
undermining his health, the breath had an unsupportably putrid odor,
which disappeared after three venesections. In case of three patients
who, on account of the violence of the disease, came near suffocation,
I finally observed, after favorable and saving crises had set in already,
a very painful excoriation and inflammation in the pharynx, so that
they could hardly swallow; demulcents soon relieved these troubles.
But few had any appetite during the disease; most of them evinced
a disgust for food, but the thirst was all the greater and more unquench-
able. Many complained of a distressing jumping and throbbing of
the heart. In no case have I noticed the pain, the tension and dis-
tension of the abdomen which Frank mentions. The stools were
generally hard, sluggish, inclined to be constipated, and, in the height
of the disease, were exceedingly offensive, as they are wont to be in
bilious fevers. In some cases the disease began with diarrhoea, but
this soon yielded to the antiphlogistic treatment.
The urine was, with some, at first, straw-yellow, like that in health,
but, in most cases, it was of a fiery red, without sediment, but when
299
the disease approached its crisis it threw down a precipitate which, at
one time, looked like brick-dust- at another, like pus.
With all, the pulse was abnormally accelerated, giving 100 or 120
and even 150 beats to the minute, except in the case of a young man
of sanguine temperament, who complained of inexpressible internal
heat, and whose pulse was but So per minute. In other points it was
very changeable and unsteady, and hence, by itself alone, was never
considered by me the indication for my doing or leaving undone.
Those who were tormented only by symptoms of pleurisy had almost
always a full, large, broad, jerking, hard pulse; as soon, however, as
peripneumonic symptoms were added to these, the pulse was smaller,
thinner, suppressed and hard. In those cases in which the peri-
pneumonia had attained its highest degree of intensity, and threatened
suffocation, it often intermitted and was so small that it almost eluded
the touch; the extremities, at the same time, were cold, pale and
almost insensible. In these cases a copious venesection made the
pulse regular, freer and fuller again, and in the former, smaller and
thinner.
The heat was as great in this disease as in febris ardens (calor
mordax); many felt almost like a burning coal, and the whole
surface of the body was bloated. Of none of my patients can I
say that their fever was a Febris continua continuens, for, with all, I
observed slight though only short remissions, which occurred at no
particular time. The exacerbations were usually the worst towards
night. Some complained of an insufferable pain in the inward parts,
and these endured the most.
I have already mentioned that, in case of those who were near
suffocation, and where the circulation in the lungs had ceased, the
extremities were cold.
In only a few cases the blood drawn by venesection, on cooling
off, showed no inflammatory buff upon the surface. With all others
it was present, and of various thickness, two, three and even four
lines thick, and so tough that it could hardly be cut through with the
strongest knife. In some cases, upon the first bleeding, this coat was
not seen, but always appeared with the subsequent ones.
The continuance of this disease was uncertain, and I have never
observed definite days on which the crisis appeared.
The bodily
peculiarity of the patient, the violence of the disease, assistance ren-
dered early or late, properly or improperly, had the greatest influence
upon the shortening or lengthening of the disease. When I was
called as early as the first or second day, then often as early as the
fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth day, favorable crises ensued, and all
300
tokens of inflammation ceased: with others, in whose cases the
inflammation attained a higher grade and had struck its roots
deeper, or where my aid was sought on the fifth, sixth, seventh day,
or even later, the inflammation lasted to the ninth, tenth, eleventh,
twelfth and even fourteenth day. Yet I must say, in compliance with
truth, that, in many cases, the disease took a turn for the better spon-
taneously on the seventh day. The crises consisted chiefly in general
warm sweat (which often continued several days, with intermissions),
in a yellowish concocted expectoration (sputa cocta) and urine, having
a brick-dust or pus-like sediment. In some cases the improvement
ensued by means of sweat alone, and, with the disappearance of the
inflammatory symptoms of the chest, the cough also disappeared;
consequently no expectoration ensued. In case of a woman who was
pregnant, and who was attacked with spitting of blood and all the
symptoms of inflammatory peripneumonia, and whom I was obliged.
to bleed copiously five times, all the cough disappeared, and the dis-
ease resolved itself, on the twelfth day, merely by a hypostatic urine.
In no case have I observed a critical diarrhoea at the crisis of the disease.
Nor were any of my patients affected with critical hæmorrhages, but
I knew of a young peasant, who had entrusted himself, when suffering
with a most violent attack of pneumonia, to the curative powers of
nature, where the crisis occurred on the ninth day, with an extremely
copious spitting of blood, and, what is remarkable in the case, his
lungs ever afterwards were, to all appearances, perfectly healthy.
""
Of sixty-eight patients whom I treated in this epidemic two only died,
the one a woman, 68 years old, on the 15th day, and the other a man, 58
years of age, in the seventh week, with hectic symptoms. The other
sixty-six patients, as far as I now know, have entirely recovered, without
any consecutive disease. Only twelve of these were women, the
others were all men from eighteen to sixty-six years of age; the most
of them were strong healthy men in the prime of life. Children I
have never seen affected with this disease. Several of these patients
had had, some weeks before, a catarrhal cough, which they had
neglected; others had previously suffered with frequent attacks of
pleuritis occulta. Although the appearance of these patients indi-
cated lungs affected with tubercles, yet the disease took a favorable
course, and the symptoms of the occult inflammation disappeared with
those of the phlegmonous. In one case only, rheumatism of the
knees occurred, after the appearance of which the symptoms of
inflammation of the lungs vanished at once. Although two of the
women were in the third or fourth month of pregnancy, yet no pre-
mature birth followed the violent fever, and the necessarily copious
bleedings, and they both went on favorably with their pregnancy. In
301
one case, dropsy of the skin and the chest occurred at the same time
with the pneumonia, and yet the patients fortunately recovered. The
recovery was almost incredibly rapid after this violent disease; several
patients from whom I took from forty to sixty ounces of blood, per-
formed their usual duties within two or three weeks again without
any difficulty."
S. 184.
b.-PNEUMONIA CURED BY IRON.
"The epidemic pneumonias observed by me, which were curable
with Iron occurred between December, 1847, and September, 184S,
and, during the epidemic of a changed character, which followed the
former, three more cases of the former kind appeared. Twelve of
these cases were also connected with hepatic complaints, which were
then prevailing epidemically, and which were curable with Nux
vomica water.
In the succession of cases there was no increase or
decrease to be observed, so that it seems that the intensity of any
separate case depended, not upon epidemic, but upon individual causes.
Before the beginning of the fever, precursory symptoms often
appeared for several days, which consisted in a sense of weakness,
lassitude, headache, diminution or loss of appetite, and, with children,
sometimes in vomiting. The chill, which always occurred in the
evening was sometimes only a creeping, but, at others, and, generally,
a shaking chill; however, it never lasted long, half an hour at the
longest, and was never very severe. The succeeding heat was varia-
ble in the same degree; sometimes quite moderate and decidedly
remitting in the morning, sometimes, and generally, continuous but
seldom burning. Though the skin of the patients felt hot, when it
was first touched, yet this impression ceased, under contact of several
minutes duration. Usually, even with the accession of the chill, or
heat, or soon after, never before, the patients complained of oppression
of the chest, cough and stitches in the side, which in some cases con-
tinued or even increased in violence, but in other cases became more
moderate and, in the earlier days, were endurable. It depended upon
this, whether the patients sought help early or waited till these pains
became insufferable. The dyspnoea especially, the most important
symptom for the patient and the most annoying, varied much; I have
never seen it, however, increase so rapidly and unexpectedly till it
amounted to a sense of suffocation, as in the pneumonia curable by
copper. The oppression was quite endurable in the first days, and
302
increased gradually when exudation took place. The stitches were
now in the right side, now in the left, but generally in the latter. I
never observed, in these cases, pressure under the sternum or a feeling
of a heavy weight upon the chest, as in pneumonia curable by Copper,
and, as a general rule, the patients curable by Iron, did not suffer so
much as those curable by Copper. The other symptoms of a general
sickness were trifling at first; at times patients complained of some
pain in the forehead; confusion of the head or a feeling of stupidity,
slight pains in the limbs and lassitude. Even the complications with
affections of the liver produced no further objective phenomena. The
tongue, in simple cases of pneumonia, as also under the above-men-
tioned complication, was mostly either quite clear and bright red or
had a thin yellow coat. In the course of the disease the tongue was
sometimes dry in severe cases, and, in more aggravated cases, it some-
times had a dark brown coat, before the use of the Iron. A thick
yellow coated tongue I generally observed only where there was an
acid state of the intestinal canal; this required Natrum carbonicum,
after the use of which it disappeared in a day. The appetite failed
entirely at first, but gradually rallied again after one day's use of the
remedy. There was more or less thirst, but it was never very severe.
The color of the face was not changed in the slighter cases, but, in
the more severe, it was always pale; a few times only I found the con-
junctiva yellow in connection with hepatic complications. The fea-
tures underwent no change in slight cases, but in the severer, the
change appeared very early. In children, the eyes sometimes grew
dim after a few hours, and, after a day or two, they lost their sensitive-
ness to light, the eyelids dropped as if paralyzed and the children
could not raise them. In adults, the countenance collapsed till it
became hippocratic after several days, or assumed an apathetic, settled,
drowsy expression; in those cases, however, in which the dyspnœa
reached a high degree, it expressed anxiety and restlessness. The
speech corresponded entirely to these various circumstances. The
palates of all the patients were either a clear, yellowish or dirty,
white. With children under two years of age they were wrinkled,
and, together with the adjacent parts of the inner mouth had quite
the color of newly fallen snow.
The skin felt, as already stated, hotter at one time and cooler at
another; at still another time its heat varied but little from the normal
temperature; it was never continuously burning hot, but was never
cool and moist as in pneumonia curable by Copper. The pulse was
from 80 to 240 in adults, and was generally small, thin or soft, empty;
sometimes apparently full and jerking. Its fullness disappeared under
303
noderate pressure. I have never observed a truly full and hard pulse.
In children under two years of age it was thready, fleeting, not to be
counted. Several times, in very severe cases, it intermitted. During
the first nights, the sleep of the patients was very restless and they
frequently had distressing dreams.
The stools were consistent and brown in pure pneumonia; when
complicated with hepatic troubles they were, sometimes, of the same
character, but frequently, also, diarrhœic, and of a gray or bright yel-
low color. The urine, in pure pneumonia, was of a bright yellow or
gold color, clear or turbid, but, in case of the above mentioned compli-
cation, usually of a Madeira-wine color or reddish, clear or turbid. In
both cases it had a feeble, sour re-action sometimes; at others, it was
neutral or alkaline.
The respiration was affected in the most various degrees; in the
lighter cases it was hardly more frequent or shorter than in the normal
condition, and, only when attempting to take a deep inspiration, did
the frequency of the respiration increase for a short time, together with
the sense of pain. In the severer cases it was often very short and
frequent, sometimes, however, but little changed, and these were the
cases in which the patients were not conscious of their condition.
Children under two years groaned and sighed, as early as the first
two days, and their respiration was extremely short and frequent, so
that they were not able to take the breast. At first, the cough was
seldom, but increased somewhat during the period of exudation and
during the absorption produced by the remedy; the cough was annoy-
ing, only in those cases in which the dyspnoea had attained a consider-
able height. The expectoration, at first, was usually entirely wanting;
in the lighter cases, during the exudation, it became tough and of the
color of mucus; in severer cases it assumed a rust or chocolate color,
intermixed with streaks of blood. The use of the remedy soon
removed this latter, and thereupon, it became of a mucous color again,
of globular form, and was easily detached, though it was never dis-
charged in copious quantities.
Percussion gave a dull sound in all cases, even before exudation
took place, and usually at the posterior wall of the chest, and in the
axilla.
Auscultation gave, in the beginning, an indistinct, feeble or murmur-
ing sound, either alone or accompanied´at the same time or soon after,
with a crepitant râle; or, if pleuritis were present, a friction sound
immediately manifested itself. Only once, at the beginning, did I
observe a whistling and snoring in the right lung, in a very slight
degree; this disappeared within two days, and thereupon these symp-
304
toms presented themselves in the left lung. Crepitation occurred
either on the first or the second day; in one case only, which began
with typhus symptoms, did it appear on the fifth day of the disease.
From the third to the fifth day, more seldom on the sixth, as also in
the case just cited, bronchial respiration and bronchophony set in,
which, under the use of the remedy, disappeared entirely in a day, or,
at the furthest, within three days.
The duration of the pneumonia, in sixteen patients, was from three
to nine days, and, in three, which were complicated with symptoms
of typhus, from ten to sixteen days. In eighteen cases the result was
complete recovery, and in one case, that of a child six months old, it
was death. I was called upon to save this child, who also suffered
from the epidemic hepatic affection, on the fifth day of the disease.
It died on the ninth day, in the stage of undissolved red hepatization.
Sequelæ never occurred. The ages of the patients were from three
months to eighty years.
If the drug was used in the first days, the phenomena were miti-
gated at once, as well as the whole course of the disease, which was
decidedly shortened. If the remedy was not used till the third day,
symptoms of exacerbation had already set in, such as are peculiar to
the natural course of the disease before the occurrence of exudation,
as, for instance, persistent unconsciousness, sopor, manifest decrease
of muscular force, sliding down in the bed, quiet delirium, rolling of
the eyes, insensibility of the pupils, and convulsions, with loss of
activity of the senses, and, in case of children, of consciousness.
The duration of the cure, when commenced within the first three
days, was, according to the severity of the individual case, two, three,
five and seven days; in one case, with typhus phenomena, it was thir-
teen days; if the treatment commenced from the fourth to the eighth
day, it continued two, three, four and five days, and, in one case of
pneumonia typhosa, nine days.
The criteria of the cure, the duration of which depended solely upon
the early use of the remedy, announced themselves by the shortening
of the duration of the disease, in comparison with that of the natural
course of pneumonia, and also by the prompt and constant removal
of pathological phenomena, by the absence of exacerbations, together
with the so-called crises, and by the absorption of the exudation already
deposited, or by the prevention of its occurrence. The general feeling
of the patient first improved in such a manner that he often felt that
he was better before the objective signs corresponded therewith. The
heat of the skin was diminished on the first day; the pulse sank after
the remedy had been in use twenty-four hours, from 140 to 80, from
305
from 100 to 66; the thin and empty pulse became somewhat full; the
jerking pulse quiet and regular; the muscular powers increased after
the first day; the stitches disappeared in from one to three days; the
appetite was partially restored after the first day; the thirst was less or
disappeared entirely. This disappearance of the symptoms was hence
quite different from the natural course of pneumonia, in which they
persistently increase till hepatization occurs, and then suddenly cease.
Dietl remarks this especially as regards the pulse, while I have observed
several times that the pulse, which, by reason of the effect of the rem-
edy, fell, during the exudation, from eighty to sixty, rose again to one
hundred or one hundred and ten after absorption ensued, and during
the rapid absorption produced by the drug.
The remedy consisted, in pure pneumonia, in the daily exhibition
of an ounce of the acetic tincture of Iron, prepared after Rademacher's
directions; in cases complicated with hepatic disturbances, one and one
half drachms of Nux vomica water were used at the same time, which
sufficed to cure these epidemic hepatic affections, then prevailing."
§. 185.
C.-PNEUMONIAS WHICH WERE CURED BY COPPER.
"All the cases of pneumonia which fell under my notice, from the
middle of September, 1848, to July, 1850, with three exceptions, were
curable by Copper. Their number was ninety-three. Thirteen of
these, since even these forms always underlay the epidemic character,
were complicated with an affection of the liver, curable by Chelidoni-
um, sixty-eight were pure pneumonias and twelve were complicated
with liver disease, curable with Nux vomica water. At one time they
presented the picture of pneumonia more clearly, at another, the
results of physical examination of the chest showed a complication of
pneumonia with bronchitis. The intensity of the individual case
varied as with all epidemic diseases; yet I could not, on the whole,
observe
any marked increase or decrease of it, so that the conclusion
seems to be justified, that the intensity was somewhat individual and
not dependent upon the epidemic character.
Before the febrile affection set in, some, though but few, had, for
several days previous, a cough without expectoration, which was not
very troublesome, or they had diarrhoea, and this, indeed, occurred not
only at the time of the prevailing hepatic affection, but also in the
pure pneumonias. Afterwards a severe chill always occurred in the
evening, which was commonly a shaking chill, and very seldom was
PART I.
20
306
a mere cold creeping over the back. This was followed by a severe
burning heat, after an hour or more, which either continued undimin-
ished till morning, or made but a very trifling remission.
The patients complained either of stitches in one side or pressure
under the breast-bone or of nothing whatever. The stitches were for
the most part felt on the left side, and on the right side but eighteen
times. Sometimes they appeared only with the cough, not on deep
inspiration, though usually this latter was not possible on account of
the acute pain. Sometimes the patients did not complain at all, from
the first to the fifth day, and only afterwards, for the first time, the
pains set in with greater or less violence. Children under three years
naturally made no complaints, and auscultation alone could determine
the seat and character of the form of the disease. The stitches them-
selves by no means corresponded to the affection of the lungs, for
sometimes this latter was observed on the very first day, and the former
were lacking, or, vice versa, the stitches were present while ausculta-
tion announced nothing abnormal. In these cases, however, even at
the very outset, percussion gave a sound, in a circumscribed portion,
duller than in the healthy side, usually in the posterior-inferior part of
the thorax, or in the axilla. But even if the disease extended, as it
did several times before the use of the Copper, from the left side of
the chest to the right, I never observed stitches in both sides, but only
in the left. Sometimes the patients complained of stitches in the side
and pressure under the breast-bone at the same time, and these were
the severest and most dangerous cases. Sometimes complaint was
made only of the latter, and even then the attack was severe.
either at first, or in course of the disease, shortness of breath, oppres-
sion of the chest or a sense of suffocation was associated therewith,
and these symptoms often came on so suddenly and so violently that
the patients could remain only in a sitting posture in the arms of their
attendants, thinking, the while, that they should suffocate, since they
could draw nothing but short and hasty respirations. In these cases,
I found, on auscultation, only a little sibilant rhonchus in one or both
sides of the chest, together with an indistinct, feeble respiratory mur-
mur, and always a pale, dingy, collapsed countenance.
Then,
Sometimes their sufferings, in the first eight days, appeared so slight
to the patients, and free from danger, that they sought no help till
quite suddenly this danger of suffocation set in, and compelled them
to seek for help as soon as possible. With adults, who presented to
the ear the symptoms of bronchitis, or of broncho-pneumonia, there
were sometimes no complaints about stitches or pressure; but only
the general complaints were made, about the general febrile symptoms,
307
such as lassitude and headache. The former was always considerable,
the latter, except when complicated with liver affections curable by
Chelidonium, was trifling and in the frontal region.
Pain in the belly was only complained of sometimes under hepatic
complications, never in pure pneumonia. In case of acidity of the
intestinal canal, there was also, sometimes in the outset of the disease,
vomiting of quantities of sour or bitter tasting mucus, at times of
lumbrici even.
Appetite was always wanting, and thirst for cool drinks was con-
siderable. The color of the face was generally of a dull grayish hue,
dirty light gray, seldom reddened. The features remained normal, at
first, if there was no severe pain in the side, or oppression of the chest.
Only a few times did I observe in the evening-exacerbation a deep
red, heated looking face, and brilliant eyes.
Nose-bleed occurred only once on the right side, and that under
hepatic complications curable with Chelidonium.
The tongue had generally a thin yellow or whitish coat, and was
moist; it was less often dry, cracked and brown. Sometimes it had
a thick yellow coat, without the presence of acidity in the intestinal
tract, just as is also the case in pure pneumonia. If this coating, how-
ever, were present, and the patients complained, at the same time, of
nausea and bitter or sour taste, there was then always an acid state of
the intestinal canal. These were, at the same time, the cases in which,
sometimes, the febrile affection began with vomiting, so that if the
stitches in the side and the objective chest symptoms were lacking, one
was entirely unable to suspect, much less to recognize, the presence of
pneumonia, till the progress of the disease made the matter obvious
to the senses.
The palate was always red, only shading off into dirty yellow or
white. I have never seen it as white as in pneumonia curable with
Iron.
The skin was, at first, dry and burning hot, but, as the disease pro-
gresscd, it either became moderately warm, dry and flaccid, or, sweat-
ing and cool, especially at the extremities.
The sweats were moderate, sometimes clammy, and often smelt
very sour. They usually set in, when the disease was left to nature
from six to eight days; I never saw them under the use of the rem-
edy from the first to the third day, but, in that case the symptoms of
the disease gradually remitted, and no new ones were added to them.
If one should call those sweats critical, the assertion would lack every
evidence of truth, for, with the commencement of this sweat, the
308
patients did not improve, but felt worse, and not only so, but they
were also worse, as the objective phenomena demonstrated.
The pulse was, in most cases, small, thin, empty, soft; in case of
children, often thready. Sometimes it was jerking and soft; some-
times moderately full; never really full or hard. It was always quite
compressible, though the combination of the jerking and moderately
full pulse, made it seem, at the beginning, as if this might not be
the case.
In one case the pulse intermitted at the sixth or tenth beat.
With adults its frequency was from 100 to 140; with children, run-
ning up even to 220. The more frequent it was, the smaller and
thinner it felt, and, at the same time, the more compressible.
The stools were sometimes of normal consistence, and occurred
every day, or every two days. In one case there was no stool for five
days. But, generally, there was disposition to diarrhea, or, more or
less diarrhoea was actually present. Usually this set in from the third
or fifth day, if the disease had, to that time, been left to nature.
These diarrhoeic stools generally occurred three times daily, though
sometimes, especially with children, as often as twenty times. At
one time they were pappy and fæcal; at another, watery or slimy.
In pure pneumonia their color was always brown; but, under hepatic
complications, often bright yellow; and, in children, white or whitish
yellow. The urine always had a sour re-action; in one case only was
it neutral, and, in this case, there was some chronic affection of the
chest. Its color was usually that of straw, or somewhat darker; sel-
dom light yellow, like old wine. and, only a few times, blood red.
When it was first passed, and was yet warm, it was clear and trans-
parent, or merely wheyey or cloudy. After standing for some time,
sometimes even for an hour, it usually became turbid and frequently
deposited a fine reddish sediment, clinging to the vessel, and consist-
ing of uric acid.
When the disease was complicated by affections of the liver, cura-
ble by Nux vomica water, the urine was, at first, in several cases, of
a Madeira wine color, but became of a bright yellow after one or
more days, and deposited its sediment only after cooling. Thick
flocculent sediments, with bright yellow turbid urine, I have only
observed a few times.
The respiration was, at first, usually quiet and without pain, unless
too deep a breath were drawn; sometimes, however, it was short,
anxious and painful at once; sometimes also, as above-mentioned, a
sensation of suffocation was present or set in suddenly somewhat
later. On the second day, however, it frequently happened that it
became quick, short, panting or rattling, groaning or sighing,
309
especially with children. Sometimes it was loudly snoring, with a
thick hoarse voice. This aggravation occurred sometimes not before
the fifth or eighth day, if the disease were left to itself.
The cough was at first seldom, trifling and attended with no expec-
toration or a scanty, thin mucous one. As soon as the remedy began
to produce a palpable improvement, the cough was stronger, not
much more frequent and brought up thick mucous sputa. At first, it
had a whooping sound, later a rattling. With little children, it was
known by this alone, that the expectoration had undergone a change,
for generally, as is known, they swallow what they raise. Only in
the worst cases was the expectoration rust-colored or mixed with
blood.
The results of auscultation and percussion were as follows:
Sometimes, at the very first, abnormal sounds were noticed, and a
dull tone, sometimes not till the second, or even the seventh day.
Usually the sound on percussion was then dull, even though no abnor-
mal sounds were to be heard. Mostly the left side was affected, cor-
responding to the seat of the stitch; sometimes both sides were diseased
from the first, or the affection extended itself in its progress from left
to right. In one case, on the sixth day of the disease, under very
intense general symptoms, only very insignificant physical phenomena
were observed, that is, only a dull sound and a murmuring respiratory
sound.
Percussion always gave a duli tone, even then when no abnormal
sounds were to be observed. This tone was generally observed poste-
riorly and under the axilla, less frequently also upon the anterior sur-
face of the chest.
The results of auscultation consisted in a murmuring respiratory
sound, in crepitation, bronchial respiration, in vesical râle, sibilant and
mucous rhonchus and, when connected with pleurisy, in a friction
sound.
The crepitation appeared but seldom and then usually in the axilla;
the murmuring respiratory sound was more frequent, sometimes alone,
sometimes connected with bronchial respiration. This was always
confined, except in the first four cases, to a portion of the posterior
thorax, which might be covered by a hand or two; it was feeble and
came as from the depths. This was seldom heard pure and by itself;
a sibilant rhonchus or vesicular râle in other parts of the chest was
almost always connected with it, while, at the same time, the ear per-
ceived, as if coming from the surface, normal or murmuring respiratory
sounds. Even the vesicular râle was observed only in small circum-
310
scribed spots, always succeeded the bronchial respiration, and was
usually connected with sibilant rhonchus.
This latter, however, usually appeared strong and widely diffused;
a mucous rhonchus generally followed it; however, I have observed
cases also in which, after the disappearance of the former, no further
sounds were heard. This was the case, however, only when the rnon-
chus was not heard over a great space and not very loud. With chil-
dren, the mucous rhonchus was usually strong, followed soon after
the first, and involved the whole chest, and was often so strong, that
by laying the hand upon the chest its intensity could be appreciated
by the motion which it gave to the hand.
The succession of the sounds varied also as much as their first
appearance. Sometimes a sibilant rhonchus appeared first, then the
bronchial respiration followed. Then on the next day there was vesi-
cular crepitus where there had been a bronchial respiration, and this
again where there had been sibilant rhonchus. Or else bronchial
respiration appeared at first, with or without perceptible crepitation;
then vesicular crepitus or sibilant rhonchus or both. In the cases in
which I perceived nothing to-day, for instance, but to-morrow, bron-
chial respiration, it was to be presumed, that, on the evening of the
previous day, there had been crepitations, which did not come to my
notice, since in these cases, which were usually slight, I only visited
the patients in the morning. The disappearance of the bronchial
respiration always occurred in one day, and after that, either the nor
mal respiratory murmur was heard or vesicular crepitus, or sibilant
rhonchus on the next day. This latter, however, disappeared more
slowly. It usually lasted from two to four days and then crepitation
and bronchial respiration either came first and vesicular râle or mucous
rhonchus or the normal murmur.
५
As regards the separate days, the origin, combination and order of
the sounds were observed in the following manner.
On the first day, sometimes nothing, sometimes at once sibilant
rhonchus or a murmur or crepitation.
On the second day, sometimes nothing, sometimes sibilant rhonchus,
in both sides even; posteriorly, absence of the normal sound, and,
between times, sibilant rhonchus; sometimes a mere murmur; seldom
crepitation.
On the third day, sometimes nothing; sometimes bronchial respi-
ration, though no abnormal sound preceded it on the morning of the
second day; frequently, bronchial respiration and sibilant rhonchus in
different parts at the same time; the first disappearing in one day, the
last continuing for several days; sometimes sibilant rhonchus alone,
311
which, on the next day, was accompanied by bronchial respiration; in
one case pleuritic friction sound from the fourth rib downwards pos-
teriorly and in the side, to which rhonchus sibilans was added, on the
fourth day; sometimes bronchial respiration, which had been preceded,
on the second day, by a murmuring sound.
On the fourth day, sometimes nothing; sometimes bronchial respi-
ration alone, or, at the same time with rhonchus sibilans; the former
deeply seated; superficial feeble respiratory murmur; rhonchus sibilans.
alone; this in connection with crepitation and disappearance of the
latter within two days; continuance of the former and transition of it
into rhonchus mucosus. Sometimes crepitation only in the axilla,
hereupon, on the fifth day bronchial respiration in the same place; on
the sixth, disappearance of the latter, and, in its place, crepitant râle,
disappearing on the seventh day.
On the fifth sometimes, but seldom, nothing; usually, bronchial
respiration anteriorly, with sibilant rhonchus posteriorly, or, both pos-
teriorly, so that the latter was perceived as the chief sound, and now
and then, a weak bronchial respiration, as if coming from deep-seated
or distant parts. Sometimes this occurred with bronchial râle on the
edges, which râle had been preceded on the second or fourth day by a
sibilant rhonchus; sometimes the latter appeared alone, or a mucous
rhonchus, preceded by the former on the fourth day.
On the sixth day sometimes, though but two or three times, nothing
at all or a murmuring respiratory sound; usually sibilant rhonchus,
yet alone; a few times a bronchial respiration, if the former had been
present on the previous day; sometimes crepitant râle preceded by
bronchial respiration.
In one case, on the seventh day, commencement of the pneumonia
with crepitation but generally, cessation thereof [of the pneumonia]
and of the bronchitis, according to the early use of the remedy; some-
times, however, there was a mucous rhonchus or crepitant râle or
sibilant rhonchus between.
From the eighth to the seventeenth day, there was still either bron-
chial respiration or crepitant râle, with sibilant or mucous rhonchus
in cases which had been neglected.
Both the duration of the disease, and the prevention of symptoms
of aggravation, depended entirely upon the early or late use of the
remedy. If the remedy were not used at all, then, sooner or later,
symptoms of aggravation set in. Decrease of muscular power some-
times occurred as early as the second day, but generally only from the
first to the fourth, fifth or sixth day.
Labored speech occurred on the sixth day.
312
Violent palpitation of the heart, a more small and frequent pulse, a
greater degree of coolness of the skin, moist cold skin, cold sweat,
appeared from the fourth to the sixth day, in connection with greater
difficulty of respiration, especially with children. Sopor in children,
apathy, difficulty of hearing took place as soon as the second day.
Delirium, at first at night, and, afterwards, during the day, I
observed also sometimes as early as the first day, but generally not
till the third. Likewise stupidity and confusion of the head. Col-
lapse of the countenance usually occurred not before the eighth day,
but with children sooner.
The respiration, in case of adults, became difficult slowly and only
in the severest cases, but, with children, it often became, as soon as
the second day, more tight, short, panting, with more difficult, sigh-
ing, heaving of the chest, with suffocating cough, purple hue of the
face, etc.; to these was added that condition of the pulse and heart, in
which the stroke of both became constantly more frequent, till, finally,
that of the former could hardly be heard, and that of the latter hardly
felt. Once I found, beside the usual connection of pneumonia with
bronchitis, a combination of the latter with laryngitis, once with
pleurisy.
Once, after the disease of the chest had been cured in three days by
Copper, after it had already lasted fourteen days, varioloid followed,
thus on the seventeenth day of the disease; this was very mild, how-
ever, and under the continued use of Copper, disappeared, after the
second day, without fever or sense of sickness.
As regards the symptoms of pure pneumonia, and that with hepatic
complications, I have observed nothing which has not occurred with
all of them alike, except the pain in the bowels, and the changed color
of the stools, which, as already noted, where there were bilious com-
plications, or, in the so-called bilious pneumonia, were bright yellow
or white.
When left to itself, the disease lasted three weeks, i. e., cases con-
tinuing as long as this, came to me for treatment, since they had not
spontaneously recovered up to this time. The remedy, however, could
decidedly and always shorten the disease, without the appearance of
any crises, according to the intensity of the case and the earlier or later
use of the remedy."
If the case came up for treatment on the second day, the cure fol-
lowed in two or three days; in severer cases, in from four to six days.
Aid was sought, for the most part, on the fourth day. The cure then
followed from the third to the fourth day; less often from the fifth to
the sixth; once, in a very remarkable and severe case, in nine days.
313
Even in children one year old, when the cure was undertaken on the
fourth or fifth day, it was completed in three or four days, where one
or both sides were affected, and there was already sighing and groan-
ing respiration, a small pulse hardly to be counted, together with
frequent and watery evacuations. When commenced on the sixth
day, it lasted sometimes six and sometimes seven days; commenced
on the eighth day, it lasted, in light cases, three days. In the ninety-
three cases, with the exception of four, which terminated fatally,
recovery always occurred in the time noted.
The four fatal cases have already been spoken of, when treating of
the influence of the remedy upon the manner of death. Of the
patients more than half were children, and these cases were not only
greater in number, but also in severity, than those of the adults.
The little patients generally suffered very much after the fourth or
sixth day of the disease, if, prior to that time, no help had been
obtained. Both the physical symptoms as well as the general phe-
nomena, showed how severely they were affected; the pathologico-
anatomical condition of the bronchi, as it has been made known by
physicians, who have had opportunity to make many post mortem
examinations of such cases, makes it clear enough, that this affection
arises from the localization of the general disease; thus, then, the
bronchial mucous membrane, since children presented more marked
symptoms of bronchitis than of pneumonia, was thickened, swollen,
and the cavity of the bronchi was filled up with exudation, by which
the air-passages were thus narrowed from both sides, and partially
closed. Hence arises, since children do not possess the power to raise
the expectoration properly, the short, oppressed, panting or rattling
respiration with difficult expansion of the chest, the increase of debil-
ity, the blueness of the face, sopor and delirium. However, the two
latter phenomena are not always consequences of restrained circula-
tion in the lungs, since I have observed them in children, even on the
first or second days, before the symptoms of the chest had attained to
such an advanced state, and they must be ascribed to the influence of
the general affection upon the brain. Sometimes these cerebral symp-
toms had the same impress as that which is comprised under the name
of acute hydrocephalus, and, even without affections of the chest, I
have often seen the same at a time when diseases prevailed which were
curable by Copper. The remedy for the simple disease was Copper, in
the form of the acetic tincture, in the daily doses of a drachm and a
half for adults, or in somewhat smaller doses, when there was violent
diarrhoea. Where there was an acid state of the intestinal canal, I
first gave Natron carbonicum with four grains of Cuprum oxidatum
314
nigrum as a daily dose for adults. One daily portion of this was
always enough, so that, on the next day, the tincture could be given.
In complicated cases, which occurred only during the prevalence of
hepatic complications, curable by Chelidonium and Nux vomica water,
a scruple of the first-named medicine was given every day, in the form
of tincture, the latter in dose of a drachm every day in combination
with the Copper. If this were not done at once, though the symptoms
of the pneumonia were improved, the coating on the tongue, the
appetite, the diarrhoea, the stool being mostly light yellow, showed no
change. The effect of the remedy showed itself now, as I have
already set forth, not only in shortening the duration of the disease,
but, also, in the rapid removal of the subjective and objective symp-
toms, and in the prevention of any exacerbation.
As soon as the remedy was used, an improvement set in at once,
and, even in the four cases which terminated fatally, there could be no
doubt that there was an improvement, at first, as in all the other cases.
The improvement always occurred first in the subjective symptoms.
First, the patient felt that he was better; he felt more quiet, less anx-
ious and more cheerful; then the stitches decreased, the oppression of
the chest and the sense of suffocation, and they soon ceased entirely.
Usually, that is, if the remedy were not given after the fourth or sixth
day, this happened within twenty-four hours, and, indeed, I have had
cases in which the patient himself has declared that he felt, with every
dose of the Copper, that he was easier and better, even when, after-
wards, the symptoms of the disease of the chest were still found
unchanged.
The stitch, it is true, decreased sometimes after the first day's use of
the Copper; but it continued then three days till it quite ceased or
several times a little longer than this. That was a sign that it had come
to be the chief affection of the part involved and then a fly-plaster
relieved in twenty-four hours.
Several times, in these cases, I have also applied Zinc plaster, but
never found the prompt relief from it, that the former afforded. If,
after the drawing of the blister, the pain had not entirely left, I then
applied the Zinc salve upon the sore with prompt results. This latter,
as a rule, is the more suitable after a fly-plaster, than the mere applica-
tion of simple cerate, because, under its use, the wound of the skin,
which is unnecessary, and, as is well-known, frequently occasions
various troubles, is now quickly healed.
After using the remedy three days, all the subjective symptoms of
the disease, and a part of the objective, were usually removed. Of
the latter, the pulse and the heat or coldness of the skin were the
315
first to improve. If the pulse was very frequent, small and thin, it
became slower and somewhat fuller; if the skin were hot, it became
moderately warm; if cold, it became warm again. Then disappeared
the brain symptoms, which were sometimes present, as delirium and
sopor. Later the urine and stools became normal, and, at last, the
chest symptoms usually disappeared, after having been already changed
from day to day, as has been already stated.
The earlier the remedy was used, the quicker was the whole disease
removed; the later, the slower, especially if the symptoms of aggra-
vation had already set in. But even then I observed a regular
progress towards improvement, and a general remission of the
aggravation.
Thus the last curative effect was this, that, when used betimes, the
remedy prevented the exacerbation, as its action was so prompt, that
the exacerbation could not take place. In conclusion I add, that I
have seen no crises, since they cannot occur as exacerbations proper to
the natural course of the disease, where a real curative means devel-
opes its power."
§. 186.
"Now, if I compare the symptoms of the ninety-three cases of
pneumonia, curable by Copper, observed by me, with those detailed
by Rademacher and Bernhardi I must acknowledge that there is a
similarity between them.
It is remarkable that the cases which appeared immediately after
the last of the pneumonias curable by Iron, had so great a similarity
in form to these that they were only distinguished on attempting to
cure them; on the contrary, all the following possessed, more or less a
peculiarity which could not escape the careful observer of the entire
epidemic. It is further confirmed by all observation, that the pneu-
monias, curable by Copper, as well as those curable by Iron, or Salt-
petre, appear for a certain longer or shorter time, epidemically, by
means of which both the physician and patient have the advantage of
a rapid and certain cure. I had observed the pneumonias curable by
Iron from the fall of 1847 till September, 1848, and, from that time,
till July, 1850 the diseases appearing under this form were curable
by Copper. In 1850 I observed only a few exceptions, as I also
noticed one during the continuance of the pneumonias curable by
fron, and it seems to me, that the four fatal cases were no such excep-
tions, since, in all of them, manifest improvement was produced by
the use of Copper. If this had not been the case, I should have tried
316
either Saltpetre or Iron, according as the symptoms corresponded to
one or the other."
Rademacher gives the following as the symptoms of pneumonia
curable by Copper:
"Light delirium, visible decline of muscular power, the urine but
seldom red, more frequently gold- or straw-yellow, soon becoming
turbid and acid, somewhat violent heat, variable thirst, stitch in the
side, more or less severe from time to time, difficulty of breathing,
which was produced, sometimes by pain, and, at others by a com-
pressing feeling in the middle of the thorax; cough, usually with
bloody expectoration.
Bernhardi mentions as a peculiarity of this disease, the special par-
ticipation of the bronchial mucous membrane, manifesting itself by
sibilant rhonchus, a more insidious course and less of the vital turgor
of the skin.
All these symptoms I observed in separate cases but not in all.
That would, however, be against the order of nature, manifesting
itself in everything, since nature everywhere includes degrees and
series of degrees. It is the case here, as with any other epidemic
disease; no two cases are the same, they are only similar; on this
account, no disease can be known from the single case, but from the
totality of the cases, or at least from a certain number.
The observer certainly obtains here a definite general picture of
pneumonia, curable by Copper, and perhaps the reader also, if it were
possible to the former to be entirely clear to the latter. And, further,
from the observation of the entire epidemic, a sum of phenomena
presents itself, which establishes a very precise distinction between
pneumonias cured by Iron, and those cured by Saltpetre. In the
quantitative character of the cases, this distinction is not, indeed, to be
found, since, with the last named diseases, the same takes place, but
on the contrary in a few qualitative properties, perceptible by the
senses. As Copper, Iron, and Saltpetre, are qualitatively very dif-
ferent objects, and some of these differences appear by the comparative
reaction which Chemistry presents, while others are known by their
physical properties, so will it occur also in cases of disease which can
There must exist
really be cured only by one of these substances.
qualitative differences, of which one or the other, by further inquiry,
becomes gradually apparent to the senses, and thus useful to the
physician.
"What I have thus far observed of this matter, and that without
chemical and microscopical investigation of the morbid products (an
opportunity which I hope to enjoy hereafter), is the following:
317
First, I remark that I intentionally have not separated the form of
pneumonia from that of bronchitis and pleuritis, in my description,
because they were not to be pathologically separated in the affections.
curable by Copper, and therapeutically they were substantially the
same. If the physical examination of the chest showed a pneumonia
to-day, it was often the case that, on the very next day, or certainly, in
a few days, a bronchitis presented itself to the ear, and conversely the
former followed the latter, or, both appeared together.
Of the subjective symptoms, I can neither adduce the oppression
of the chest nor the sense of suffocation as characteristic, since I have
observed both even in pneumonia curable with Iron, but I may
adduce the sudden occurrence of the latter, in many cases, and
furthermore, the stitch in the side, so often occurring for the first time
on the sixth day.
Of the objective symptoms, I have not often noted the wrinkled,
moist, or, cold skin that we notice in pneumonia curable by Iron, or
the strongly acid urine becoming turbid on cooling, and precipitating
Uric acid. Nevertheless, these phenomena have not occurred in all
cases, and, indeed, not even in the most of them. On the contrary,
in the most, and, indeed, in all except the first, immediately after the
disappearance of the pneumonia curable by Iron, auscultation presents.
the following characteristic result, viz.: the small extent, the slight
degree of the crepitation and bronchial respiration, the rapid disap-
pearance of both, the alternation and connection of the same, with the
sibilant and mucous rhonchus.
Whether the isolated occurrence of the bronchitic form in pneu-
monia, curable by Copper, is characteristic of it in distinction from
that curable by Iron and Saltpetre, the future must determine; I, at
least, have never seen the same take place in the diseases curable by
Iron. With the pleuritic form, the case is different; this, I have often
observed in the disease curable by Iron, and once in a case curable by
Copper.
The course and accession of the physical symptoms of the chest
likewise offered something characteristic. The former was frequently
slow, insidious, not so rapid and violent as I have observed it epidem-
ically in pneumonia curable by Iron, and as it is said to be in that
curable by Saltpetre. The physical symptoms frequently appeared
not before the sixth day, after that, the febrile condition seemed no
longer to indicate that pneumonia and bronchitis would be formed.
Thus, whoever steadily observes the entire epidemic, compares all
the cases with each other and does not cling too scrupulously to a few
single differences of form, cannot have failed to see, after the experi-
318
ences already laid down, that pneumonia curable by Copper, as a
whole, has peculiar phenomena, manifest even to the senses. He
will discover the same, though probably not in the first case, with
demonstrable certainty, yet, certainly in the second and subsequent
cases, even without any attempt at cure; or, if he undertook the cure
it would be with greater precision and certainty; he would by no
means—clinging to the form of pneumonia as a disease, yet without
any definite reason, and led only by something like an obscure instinct
- attempt to cure after bleeding, Saltpetre and Tartar Emetic had not
helped but aggravated, at one tirne with Lead, at another with Opium,
Arnica, Digitalis, Senega, etc., in arbitrary mixtures, in a crude, empi-
rical manner, and not according to any scientific method, nor would
he leave the disease entirely to itself, believing any cure by art to be
impossible."
§. 187.
At the first glance, we discover the great difference between those
forms of pneumonia which are curable with bleeding and Saltpetre, and
those curable with Iron and Copper.
First, I will merely remark, that, according to the author of the
Manual of Therapy according to natural sciences, the task which
he sets before himself to find, for the two latter forms, differences
equally stringent, is, strictly speaking, in opposition to the principle
of this school; for, as we have seen, all forms should be indifferent to
it as regards Therapeutics. However, I approve of this oversight, on
grounds which are given in the first paragraphs. For what does it
matter, whether the subjective opinion turns out thus or otherwise;
the main thing is the fact and its connection with a natural law.
Hence, if the difference of forms in one and the same disease, in
different individuals, and at various times, cannot be lost sight of
entirely for therapeutic purposes, the author, from whom I borrow this
extract, had he been aware of the fact, would have found the neces-
sary indications for discriminating between the pneumonias curable by
Iron, Copper, and Nitrum, in the drug provings of Homoeopathy.
As an evidence of this, I adduce the following from his own state-
ments touching this disease, which, by reason of the Homœopathic
drug provings, can much, better characterize the pneumonia curable
by Iron, than anything which the writer himself could adduce.
"In pneumonia curable by Iron, the dyspnoea never rose so rapidly
and unexpectedly to a sensation of suffocation. In most cases, it was
quite endurable during the first days, and began gradually to increase
319
only when the exudation took place. Pressure under the sternum, or
a sense of weight upon the breast, was not observed as in pneumonia
curable by Copper. The patient never complained of oppression of
the chest, and cough and stitches in the side, before the chill. The
color of the face in the lighter cases was not changed, but, in the
severer, was always pale. With adults, the face collapsed to a hippocratic
look after several days, or assumed an apathetic, rigid, drowsy appear-
ance. The palate was white in all cases. The skin was never con-
tinuously burning hot, neither was it ever cool and moist, as in pneu-
monia curable by Copper. A full hard pulse was never observed;
the stool was consistent and brown in pure pneumonia. At first, ex-
pectoration was entirely lacking; during the exudation it became, in
slight cases, tough, and of the color of mucus; in severer cases, rust,
or chocolate-colored, intermixed with streaks of blood.”
All these were Iron symptoms, which, simply and solely, distinguish
this form of pneumonia from the following and other forms.
§. ISS.
The pneumonia curable by Copper, §. 185, was distinguished by the
following symptoms, which presented themselves in the proving of
Copper on the healthy:
(6
Many had, before the febrile affection began, cough without ex-
pectoration for several days, or diarrhoea, and the latter, indeed, not
only during the prevalence of hepatic complications, but also in pure
pneumonia. The patients complained either of stitches in one side, or
of pressure, or of nothing at all. The stitches did not correspond in any
respect to the pulmonary affection, for, sometimes the latter was ob-
served in the very first days, while the former were absent, or, vice
versa, the stitches were present while auscultation announced nothing
abnormal. Sometimes, in the first days, the suffering seemed to the
patients so slight and void of danger, that they sought no relief till,
quite suddenly, this danger of suffocation set in and compelled them.
speedily to seek aid. With adults who presented, to the ear, the symp-
toms of Bronchitis, or of Pneumonia combined with the former, there
was sometimes no complaint of stitches or pressure; but only the
general complaint of the general fever symptoms, as lassitude and
headache. The former was always considerable; the latter, except a
few times under hepatic complications curable by Chelidonium, was
slight, and confined to the forehead only. The color of the face was
mostly palish-gray, dirty light-blue; seldom reddish, and only a
few times, in evening exacerbations, was it bright red and hot.
N
320
The palate was always red; it was never found so white as in the
pneumonia curable by Iron. The sweats were moderate, sometimes
clammy and often smelt very sour. If one should pronounce these
sweats critical, the statement would lack every evidence of truth, for,
with its appearance, the patients did not improve at all; they not only
felt worse, but really were so, as the objective symptoms demonstrated.
In most cases there was a tendency to diarrhoea, or there was more or
less of diarrhoea actually present. The duration of the disease, left to
itself, was about three weeks; cases continuing thus long still pre-
sented themselves for treatment, because, up to that time, they had
not recovered spontaneously. The remedy, however, could sensibly
shorten this period (but always without the appearance of any crisis)
according to the severity of the case, or the time in which the remedy
was used. The treatment never lasted longer than nine days in ninety-
three cases, and these all ended in recovery with the exception of
four."
Those versed in the Homoeopathic Materia Medica, will thus clearly
see that, in these forms of pneumonia cured by Iron and Copper,
though (according to another rule) nothing less than an involuntary
Homœopathic practice occurred; or rather, even by means of this other
rule, i. e., cures have occurred, according to Homœopathic laws, though
the physicians treating the cases did not know it.
§. 189.
I have taken notice of this fact, in passing, merely to leave it to the
reader himself to reflect upon its modality, before I introduce the laws
which have bearing thereon. It must surprise him, at least, that, even
with opponents of Homœopathy, cures take place after the Homoeopathic
principles; with opponents, who, at all events, do not intend in the
least to treat their patients according to these despised principles; and
yet, the fact holds good, that pneumonia, curable by Copper, is asso-
ciated with, and characterized by, symptoms which Copper, taken
internally, is wont to produce; that, consequently, the forms of pneu-
monia, curable by Copper, correspond with the forms of the reciprocal
action of Copper with the healthy human organism, upon which it has
been proved; furthermore, that the same holds good in an entirely
similar manner with the forms of pneumonia, which, according to
the principles of Rademacher's school, are curable by Iron.
Just so does pneumonia, curable by Saltpetre and bleeding, agree
exactly in its characteristic symptoms, as well as in its form, with
those which Salt petre is wont to produce, when proved upon the
321
healthy, and it thus differs decidedly from those curable by Iron and
Copper. For proof of this, I adduce the symptoms of Saltpetre from
§ 183, "distressing sensation of a weight upon the chest, as if an
anvil pressed the thorax together. Those who suffered the most,
could take medicines and drinks only in short, interrupted swallows,
since they could scarcely do without air till the fluids had passed over
the epiglottis; where the pneumonia had attained the highest point of
severity, suffocation seemed imminent; the expectoration was, at first,
like saliva, as in catarrhal cough; but when the disease tended towards
amelioration, it became yellowish, lumpy, purulent. With many, the
expectoration was tinged with blood; frequently it was nothing but
blood, and indeed, in many cases, the disease took on the form of
hæmoptysis, connected with all the pathognomonic symptoms of peri-
pneumonia. With three patients, who, from the severity of the disease,
came near suffocation, I finally observed, after favorable crises had
already set in, an extremely painful excoriation and inflamination of
the throat.
With some, the disease began with diarrhoea. With most, the taste
in the mouth was unaffected, like that in health, or mucous. Some
complained of an extremely annoying bitter taste, attended with nausea
and inclination to vomit, though the disease was not of a bilious
nature. The urine was, with some, at first, straw yellow, like that in
health, but with most it was deep red and fiery, without sediment.
If the disease, however, was at its crisis, it threw down a precipitate,
which, at one time, seemed like brick dust, and at another, purulent.
The crisis consisted, chiefly, in general warm sweats, which, appearing
at intervals, often continued for many days. With many the eyes were
slightly inflamed, swollen, and shining, etc."
That these symptoms had, as a necessary consequence, many others
which are also characteristic of this specific form of pneumonia, as
the insufferable, constant, burning heat, the anxiety and restlessness,
the so-called abdominal respiration, the hot, bright red, puffed, swollen
face, etc., is self-evident to every pathologist.
§. 190.
If, now, the adherent of Rademacher did not succeed in character-
izing these three forms of pneumonia, specifically differing from each
other, except by the curative influence of Nitrum given in one form, of
Iron in another, and of Copper in the third, he could not do it from the
simple reason, that he had not learned the specific forms of the recip-
PART 1.
21
322
rocal action of the organism with these three drugs as they appeared
in the homœopathic provings on the healthy. Accordingly, though
against the will of this school, the proving of drugs upon the healthy
is, for this very school even, a necessary postulate, if it does not wish
to grope about forever in the twilight of primitive experiments, §. 90;
for, as I think I have sufficiently set forth, it is only spared this pro-
cedure on condition of knowledge gained by means of drug provings
on the healthy, because, thereby, the ever-unerring diagnosis is pre-
sented to it a priori by means of synthetic comparison, §. 73, and
because immediately, in accordance herewith, it can establish the right
indication for the use of the necessary remedy, and not alone after mak-
ing experiments upon the sick, which besides is repulsive to every
physician.
But, aside from this, these examples of the specific forms of pneu-
monia, have incontrovertibly justified the demand of this school, that,
in the diagnosis of diseases, one should not allow himself to be guided
merely by their anatomical seat, by the pathological interpretation of
the curative object, or even by the possible chemical and physical
investigations thereof, and least of all by pathological types, but chiefly
by those symptoms which, outside of all these methods of inquiry,
and, side by side with them, chiefly indicate the specific difference of
the form under consideration from other forms.
Just in these very contingent phenomena, which the frivolous diag-
nosis of physiological medicine entirely neglects, because it cannot
comprehend, and does not know what they might signify, nor how
they might be used, are contained the main phenomena for thera-
peutic purposes; they comprise, not only the conditions of time and
place, but also those of the other accompanying circumstances, and
these latter, according to the doctrines of Homœopathy, are the surest
guide to therapeutic indication.
§. 191.
We know now that Rademacher's school recognizes three forms of
pneumonia which succeed each other at certain times, thus mutually
exclude each other; that these forms can be empirically diagnosticated,
and in such a manner that the remedy indicated for them may be
found; that each of them is accompanied by symptoms which agree
in form with those which drug-provings with Copper or Iron or Salt-
petre have presented. Hence, the fact is established that these three
forms of pneumonia must have been produced by causes whose effects
are similar in form to those of these three drugs, i. e., corresponding
with them. I cannot believe that any one who has read the previous
323
paragraphs, can entertain any doubt as regards this assertion. It is
just as clear, however, that a conclusion from like effects to like causes
would be false, and hence the question is yet to be answered, with
what laws of nature this remarkable fact, as many consider it, could
be brought into connection. On the contrary, it cannot be denied
that, from these facts, it can be but the merest step to the laws of
Homœopathy; it ought to be kept in sight, however, as with all such
questions, that we should not become obscured by settled habits of
thought, or, as it sometimes clearly happens and, not much less fre-
quently, should not be misled by considerations foreign to the subject;
or, which is still worse, but happens much oftener, than the surface
of life is able to reflect it, that we should not strive to oppress and
persecute as long as possible, all new results of inquiry, for fear of
the example which Pythagoras set, when he offered several hecatombs
of oxen on account of having discovered his theorem.
§. 192.
Here now, I must not neglect to call attention to the understanding
of the symptomatic groups of pneumonia peculiar to this school, and
to a comparison thereof with that description of pneumonia offered by
the physiological school, which latter hardly any one will understand,
and least of all he who should learn something therefrom, and more-
over to the fact that the physiological school, even to-day, bleeds and
gives Saltpetre in pneumonia, as it seemed to be indicated by the
above cited conditions about the year 1795, and at the beginning of
the present century. Many of the older practicing physicians will
still remember such forms which are to be compared with the present
forms in nothing, the local affection excepted. The intensity of this
disease, as I myself remember from a few cases, has decreased so very
much, that one observes it now but very seldom.
Thus everything has not only its place, but its time, and its circum-
stances, and, to consider these, is the first duty of the practicing
physician, without regard to any hypothesis of any patented Thera-
peia, come whence it may.
§. 193.
How the indications of this school of Rademacher can be rendered
valuable in other respects, I can most briefly illustrate by an example
from my own practice.
324
To the views taught us by the schools, and which cling very
closely to many, it is surely no trifle to sacrifice, utterly, and at once,
the independence of pathological forms, recognized by that school,
and, in the sense of Rademacher, to forget it; without regard to the
forms, without regard to their stages, to their intensity, and even
without any regard to any localization of the morbid cause; in brief,
to be guided simply and solely by the Indicatio ex juvantibus et
nocentibus, in order to be able to choose, empirically, in any given
disease another and unusual remedy. But, from practice, everything
becomes clearer than from theory.
Several years ago, within the large circle of my practice, a violent
epidemic of measles broke out, by which adults even were not unfre-
quently affected.
At the very beginning of the stage of incubation, during a violent
outbreak of fever, the exanthem appeared as early as on the very first
day, and at the latest on the third, under defervescence of the fever
when Aconite was given. There appeared sometimes an additional
eruption of the exanthem, even a second and a third, and that, as a
rule, was the end of it. In cases of retrocession of the exanthem,
with accession of inflammation of the lungs or brain, (which never
happened to me under the use of Aconite, but which were transferred
to me after they had been treated by others,) with all their fatal symp-
toms, the eruption, by means of the use of Aconite, within two or
three hours, had reappeared again upon the skin in a most luxuriant
extent, during a profuse perspiration, and the children were saved. I
must remark here, that this remedy, of the most injurious influence
in the allopathic doses of the physiological school, I used in homeo-
pathic doses only.
In badly treated cases, however, or as it happens most frequently
with the poor, in neglected cases, the most annoying sequelæ set in
almost regularly; chronic bronchitis, swelling of the parotids, peculiar
hypertrophy of the mucous membranes of the nasal cavities, amount-
ing to entire occlusion; exudations in the fundus oculi (Basedow's dis-
ease); inflammations and swellings of the joints of the elbow, hand,
knee and ankle, sometimes of all these joints at the same time; dropsy
in consequence of desquamative chronic nephritis, etc. Every thera-
peutic attempt, in large doses or small, according to the most exact
Allopathic and Homœopathic indications, for each one of these sepa-
rate forms of sequela, was in vain. The same thing happened to my
colleagues of the physiological banner, and thus I could have com-
forted myself. Finally, since nothing was to be lost and everything
to be tried, I gave, to one part of my patients, Iron, to another part
325
Copper, to the third Natrum nitricum. The result was, without
exception, an aggravation of all the cases the next day. What now?
To the interested public, this lack of success, truly enough, did not
appear strange, for many of my colleagues' measles patients died,
even during the simple development of the measles, which, at least,
did not happen to me, while they lost still more in consequence of the
retrocession of the eruption, and this again did not happen under my
treatment. But, most of those suffering from the sequelæ, my col-
leagues lost very suddenly. Nevertheless, I held it to be my duty not
to give up hope of finding some means of deliverance.
He who was
never in such a situation, or can be indolent enough to quiet himself
with the subjective conviction, that art and science knew no further
help, and, that for death no herb had ever grown, surely will not
understand how many sleepless nights must be given to such studies,
and when I communicate what follows, it will be read much easier
than it was learned; with many it will read so easily that they will
think that it is nothing new, after all, and is quite simple. But it is
just the simple which eludes unpracticed observation far more than
the complicated, and it is an incontrovertible criterion of the prac
ticed art of observation, to find the simplest remedy for the most
complicated diseases. To be sure, in this case, it was nothing new,
generally speaking, but none of my colleagues had an inkling of it,
and, at any rate, it is not taught up to this day by any Professor in
the seats of the sciences, as is the case with many things which I
here present, and which will ever be found indisputably correct in
theory as well as practice.
§. 194.
Dr. Latz and no one else in all the range of medical literature, of
all systems and methods, gave me at least a clue. He discovered,
though I could not subscribe to all he affirms, this at any rate, that at vari-
ous times, various disease-forms are not curable simply by Copper, Iron
and Saltpetre, nor even by the organ-remedies alone, but by those
remedies only which corresponded in general to a disease-form which
shortly before had appeared epidemically.
If that be true, then must Aconite alone cure the sequelæ, as it did
the measles itself. I now gave Aconite, without exception, to all
those children afflicted with the most varied forms of those sequelæ,
and the next day, even the relatives observed a very striking improve-
ment of all the varied troubles. It will hardly be necessary to enume-
rate the separate cases again, and state the result that followed; it is
326
enough to mention, in general, that, under the influence of the Aconite,
all were cured within eight, or, at the most, fourteen days, according
to the extension and severity of these sequelæ. In one case, how-
ever, where there was already mortification of the mucous membrane
of the nasal cavities, and hence, a specific process of decomposition;
Aconite naturally enough did not check this, but Arsenic did, so that
the scabs fell from the sores in six days, and this child also was
cured.
I must add the observation, however, that, from this single remedy,
viz., Aconite, given in minute doses to the dropsical, perspiration and
copious diuresis set in, and the albumen had disappeared from the
urine in a few days; that in inflammation of the joints, the raging
pains remitted after a few hours and a very rapid absorption ensued;
in like manner the swelling of the parotids and the goggle-eyes
diminished. In three cases, the like occurred under re-appearance of
the complete measles exanthem and the chronic catarrhs were cured
under the occurrence of copious expectoration. My colleagues con-
tinued to give their antiphlogistics, diuretics, sudorifics, expectorants,
absorbents and a number of other remedies, but without attaining
such favorable results as mine.
§. 195.
This example has made us acquainted with Aconite as an organ-
remedy, in Rademacher's sense, and, at the same time, and to a con-
siderable extent, with its value as a specific, i. e., with the law of its
specification, with its forms in its reciprocal action with the organism;
here with its effect upon the brain and the organs of the chest; its effects
upon the serous and fibrous tissues; upon the skin; upon the eyes, œso-
phagus and fauces, as well as upon the kidneys, and the quality of the
urinary secretion, and by means of all this, with its so-called anti-febrile
action. Thereby the far-reaching significance of a remedy, if it is to be
used as a specific, §. 84, becomes clear and manifest, as well as the
necessity of the study of drug-provings and the extent of knowledge
thereof which the physician must possess to be capable, not only of
explaining the effect of the medicine which he gives, but also of
determining beforehand, by way of deduction, its curative result.
Moreover, since, here again, one example may answer for all, the
usclessness of those remedies is hereby fully established, which, in the
Therapy of the physiological school, are said to act as anti-phlogistics,
diuretics, sudorifics, expectorants, absorbents, etc., since a specific,
where it is indicated, accomplishes all this together, hence cures
327
essentially, partly by virtue of its sphere of action upon the organs
and systems of organs in specific relation therewith, partly by virtue
of its material contrast to the specific morbific cause, which has
attacked the organism according to its degree and extension.
If, from the foregoing, the idea of a specific has not been sufficiently
developed to be generally understood, this example, in connection
with the previous definitions of the subject, will scarcely leave any
question unanswered. A correct indication is, hence, always an
essential one, i. e., it must always proceed from the entire group of
all the symptoms of the disease which, in each case, announce the
specific form of the disease, and no one of them is to be rated lower
than another. Next, it must choose that remedy, of which it knows,
by experiment and observation, that the specific form of its reciprocal
action with the organism, reaches just as far and possesses just as
comprehensive a relation to the organs and systems affected by the
disease as the unknown morbific cause and its inaccessible material
qualities themselves.
We thus observe in Therapeutics two kinds of specific processes.
At one time, those introduced by the causes and conditions of the
disease, which we called specific disease-forms, though we lack the
Knowledge of their external conditions for the most part, consequently,
their designation; then the specific forms of reciprocal action with the
organism and its parts, known from drug-provings on the healthy
under the influence of which [reciprocal action] the disease is cured,
by which, hence, disease-forms and drug-forms are presented; a desig-
nation which I must retain for the sake of brevity, since I have suffi-
ciently explained what I wish to have understood thereby.
§. 196.
From the foregoing quotation of the three forms of pneumonia it
will have been observed that the etiological school designates its
pathological cases by the names of those substances, by means of
which they were cured, because it avoids, from principle, but to its
own special injury, to speak of pathological forms. By this means,
however, the characters of the total specification of a remedy are
forcibly separated and never rightly perceived; thus there would
always be offered nothing but the designation of a relation between
the single effect of a remedy and a single case of disease; for, such a
relation would never show the entire kind of a specific sphere of drug-
action, and would give only a contingent relation, from which nothing
more could be inferred, and from which, in the main, nothing more
328
could be learned than from relaxants, emetics, diuretics, antiphlogis-
tics, etc,
§. 197.
Homœopaths will surely reproach me, by saying that I had no need
of those ætiological indications, for all these cases and their sequelæ
come under the range of Aconite, according to the principle similia
similibus. This I do and must acknowledge, but, how many hundreds
of cases come under the same range, according to this principle,
without its ever occurring to a Homœopath to give Aconite, because
often, the concomitant circumstances of a disease are not clearly enough
marked. I will not reply thereto, that it is easier to pass judgment
after a thing is done, and easier to find fault than to do better; these
cures would also have been by no means possible, if, according to this
principle, Aconite had not been at all indicated. This proves nothing
indeed against Homœopathy, but it must nevertheless be confessed that,
not infrequently, in spite of its principle, Homœopathy wavers in its
choice of a remedy, because none of its remedies are as yet thoroughly
enough proved, and because it would rejoice much over an additional
support, which is furnished by just these very ætiological indications for
many cases, and which is and will be of inestimable value; a support
which, however, is advanced to the dignity of a law as soon as we suc-
ceed in bringing it into dependent connection with the laws of nature.
Hence, I return again to practice, and the reproaches of Homœo-
pathists require that I proceed further. This epidemic of measles was
followed closely by an epidemic of scarlatina.
For many years
I
have known the specific effect of Belladonna in this disease. It always
not only surely checked the specific inflammation of the cutaneous
surface, under defervescence of the fever, and introduced the stage of
desquamation, without any serious accident, but it also warded off all
evil consequences and sequelæ of the scarlatinal process. But, in this
epidemic of scarlatina, I recognized at once, in the very first days, a
favorable effect of Belladonna, it is true, yet one that was much less
favorable than usual. I suspected at once a transition of measles to
scarlatina, according to Latz (die specifische Heilmethode, bei Bädeker
in Essen, 1853,) and gave without any further indication, and, strictly
speaking, without any Homœopathic indication at all, Aconite in
hourly alternation with Belladonna. The result again exceeded all
expectation. One would be mistaken who took this for an ex post
conclusion; it was a complete deductive conclusion, in which the
major proposition was present as well known, and as such formed the
indication.
329
Since that time I have followed the observations of this truly ætio-
logical school with the greatest attention, and, as a therapeutist, am
under the greatest obligations to it. It has delivered me very often
from many a helpless situation, and, according to what I have experi-
enced and tested, will still continue to do so in the future.
§. 198.
Before I take leave of the Homoeopathic complements for the thera-
peutics of this school, I must first make mention of the natural laws
which control the effects of their so-called blood remedies - Copper,
Iron, and Saltpetre.
Science has already demonstrated that Copper, in a finely divided
state, absorbs immense quantities of ozone. It is also demonstrated
that the ozone in the atmosphere is not found in the usual quantity in
places, for example, which are affected by cholera, or, in which the
atmospheric electricity is negative. Now, Copper is one of the chief
prophylactics against cholera, as we learn from workers in copper, who
remain free from cholera. Copper cures this disease in its first appear-
ance, and in every case, so long as the consequences of the first stage
have not set in, which naturally can no longer yield to the influence
of Copper.
If we take up the experiments of Dr. Horn, of Munich, with the
electrical machine, this condition of things can be demonstrated by the
art of experiment. Let an electrical machine, with a glass plate of at
least three feet in diameter, be put in rapid motion; apply one end of
a copper wire to the conductor, and put the other end into a glass of
water, then the water will be charged with ozone. But if we attach
a copper wire to the rubber of an electrical machine, and put the other
end in a glass of water also, then it will, as the chemical reaction demon-
strates, especially at a time of prevailing negative electricity in the air, be
impregnated with a compound of cyanogen, which is always of a pecu-
liar odor, different from that of ozone, and which Horn calls iodosmone.
Moreover if one smells too often of this water, or drinks but even a small
quantity thereof, he will experience in himself all the phenomena which
precede cholera, followed by violent cholerine. The surest remedy to
arrest, almost in a moment, this artificially produced state, is water
impregnated with ozone. I convinced myself personally of the truth
of this discovery. If we add to this the property of Copper in a
finely divided state, of absorbing great quantities of oxygen, then the
operation of Copper is explained according to a natural law; it oper-
ates inwardly, administered in a finely divided state as a function-
"
330
remedy, as an ozone-bearer, since, circulating with the blood, it takes
up more ozone from the inspired air than does the blood, and imparts
it to the blood. Accordingly, all disease-forms, in which Copper is
the remedy, are to be referred to a lack of ozone, or an overplus of
iodosmone in the blood, and these disease-forms naturally constitute
as comprehensive a group as the atmosphere forms a comprehensive
condition of life.
Since we know from Rademacher's school, that the pathological
forms which are cured by Copper, are diametrically opposed to those
which are curable by Iron and Saltpetre, Iron and Saltpetre must
stand in opposite, yet not less comprehensive, relations to the influence.
of the atmosphere than Copper.
With chloride of Iron, the spirituous extract from the muscles of
animals killed with iodosmone, gives a bluish green re-action, thus
resembling Cyanogen, which, with the extract from their intestines, gives
a dirty red re-action, as does the cyanide of Sulphur. Hence, the con-
clusion is all the more admissible, that it is Iron which will operate
curatively, in those diseases which arise from lack of iodosmone, and
a surplus of ozone in the blood, since ozone increases the arteriality
of the blood, and iodosmone its venosity: Horn's iodosmone seems
related to Schönbein's antozone. §. 100.
The earlier view, that the color of Hæmatine springs from its con-
taining Iron, has been given up, because this coloring matter can be
produced free from Iron. The Iron, however, is contained in the
blood in other fluids and tissues of the organism, and, in many diseases,
unfolds, as a remedy, a specific yet a two-fold action. It can either
stand as a function-remedy, in a well defined relation to the atmos-
pheric constituents which are found in the organism, or, as a nutrition-
remedy, supply the loss. In the first case, especially, as a sub-oxide,
it is an ozone-bearer, a powerful means of reduction and, as such,
is brought into use by Rademacher's school.
The physiological chemists, however, think that, in the experiments
of Schönbein, nothing more is to be seen than a possibility; but they
know nothing of the most sensitive re-agent; they have made no
experiments upon the human organism, least of all in its diseased
state, and their skepticism has, therefore, no weight with physicians.
§. 199.
Now would come, in turn, the experiment with Saltpetre, as regards
its relations to the Hydrogen of the organism; especially the cubic
Saltpetre, which, as is well known, is very hygroscopic. We know,
331
also, that the neutral (and middle) salts, Glauber's Salts, Kali nitri-
cum, protect the blood corpuscles from the influence of water. If I
may further mention here an induction made from various experi-
ments, then the bleeding in pneumonia curable by Saltpetre, did not
act as such, but rather as abstractions of hydrogen. This subject will,
however, be more completely discussed at some future time. With
us practicing physicians, the apparatus for such physico-chemical
investigations is seldom at hand, and, still less, the time to institute
them. If at least a few physiologists, of whom we can count about
five hundred in Europe, could only resolve at last, not to trouble
themselves with dabbling in therapeutics, where they can accom-
plish nothing, they would find it a far more remunerative occupation
to aid therapeutics in solving problems, the solution of which is
not attended with difficulties. If this swarm of busy bees would
divide itself into groups, for common labor, to collect the honey of
truth with united powers, according to the rules of experiment and
observation, instead of deceiving themselves, from motives very often
remote from science, by distributing their strength upon isolated facts
of curiosity, this would advance us about half a century.
In regard to the effect of Iron just mentioned, and especially of
Glauber's Salts, I quote a passage from Liebig's Chemical Letters,
Vol. II. p. 27, in order to silence skepticism at once.
There we read:
"While 1000 parts of Water shaken with air, and perfectly satu-
rated therewith, absorb only 94 volumes of oxygen and 18 volumes
of nitrogen, 1000 volumes of blood, in from 100 to 150 volumes of
hydrogen, take up only from 17 to 33 volumes of nitrogen. Hence, it
is obvious that the oxygen absorbed by the blood can only be partially
contained in the fluid: for the fluid in the blood is water, of which
we know, that it absorbs, under the same circumstances, from 1 to
14 times less of oxygen; we must, on the contrary, assume that the
great absorbing power of blood depends upon certain of its constit-
uents which possess more affinity for oxygen than water. The degree
of attraction, by which the oxygen is held in the combination which
it enters into in the blood, is very small, but this is no ground for
believing that oxygen is not chemically united with the blood. We can
increase the power which water has of absorbing many gases when we
add to it substances which possess a chemical affinity for the gas, be
it ever so feeble; if we add to water the phosphate of soda, for
instance, its power of absorbing carbonic acid gas increases; with
one per cent. of this salt, this fluid takes up twice as much carbonic
acid gas as pure water would have taken up, under ordinary pressure
332
of the atmosphere. A solution of Sulphate of Iron in water takes
up forty times more Nitrogen than pure water."
"The gases absorbed, leave both of these fluids in a vacuum, and,
indeed, they may be driven out of them, from the first, by merely
shaking with atmospheric air, and from the second, by shaking
with carbonic acid gas. No one, however, thinks of looking upon
this action, which is so like that of the blood, as a proof that the car-
bonic acid in the solution of phosphate of soda, or the nitrogen in the
solution of the sulphate of Iron is only absorbed, and is not held
in a chemical combination, because it is known that the dissolving
power of water, in these cases, is dependent upon the quantity of salts
dissolved. But if the quantity of the absorbed gas increases in a fixed
proportion with the quantity of salt in the solution, then it is a settled
fact, that the absorption of the same depends upon the salt, and not
upon the water.
§. 200.
Every living organism moves in oscillatory rhythm within various
spaces of time, from one position of equipoise into another. We see
this in the rhythm of the motions of our solar system even, and in its
influence exerted, through the movements of the moon and the earth,
upon ourselves. But no oscillatory rhythm of life remains the same;
it never returns again to the point which it last reached, and, to com-
pare this process with the pendulum, one may say that the terminating
angle of all living organisms, from the time of maturity, becomes
smaller and smaller. What immense results are produced by appa-
rently very minute causes of this kind? For example, the precession
of the equinoxes can be calculated with mathematical accuracy, as a
variation of but 11.8 seconds per annum, and yet it is possible, in
consequence thereof, to determine beforehand the changing climatic
condition of ages. This single momentum, to many apparently insig-
nificant, must, in connection with the other motions of the earth, upon
its surface, and in its interior, draw after it a continuous succession of
changes of things existing.
The earth itself, however, undergoes the mightiest changes from
other apparently insignificant causes. Every hour, for instance, it
parts with immense quantities of heat, through hot springs and vol-
canoes, which are never restored to it again.
If, moreover, to these external causes of the change of our own
organism necessarily arising therefrom, we add its inner causes in
consequence of the incessantly increasing efforts for a higher state of
333
culture which has increased, in our day even, the usual demands upon
mind and body very rapidly and to the utmost, and which will still
increase them from day to day, then the merit of Rademacher, in having
first of all, though only by a higher kind of instinct, yet earnestly, called
the attention to the etiological momenta, and in having made practi-
cal use thereof at the bed-side, is unquestionably great and generally
to be acknowledged; and it is a very great merit, indeed, in compari-
son with physiological medicine, all the labors and endeavors of which
appear as if both man and earth were remaining the same forever.
Wunderlich, in the preface to his Special Pathology and Therapeia,
demands of physicians autopsy, and, above all, historical knowledge.
In the ponderous volumes of his work, however, no syllable of a
historic knowledge of Pathology and Therapeia is ever mentioned,
while the whole Pathology and Therapeia of Rademacher, and his
adherents, rest upon historic knowledge of the formerly existing and
still occurring so-called epidemic relations of disease.
I must also protest against the view, quite too self-laudatory, which
is contained in the preface to Virchow's Manual of Special Pathology
and Therapeutics, which speaks as if it had gathered all the splendor of
German investigation into one single focus. We find nothing there of
the entire Therapeutics of Rademacher and his adherents, a fact which,
in view of what has been said, might characterize that assertion with
a more precise designation than that of the most overweening self-
commendation.
For instance, diseases often arise which are not at all referred to in
the history of medicine, or have been referred to very briefly, and, in
such cases, the views of Professors are quite discordant, because they
lack any analogon whatever of an enlightened comparison. In Homo-
opathy, no difficulties lie in the way of establishing a proper indica-
tion for diseases not yet known, or not having yet occurred, or for
such diseases as, in physiological matters, are still the subject of many
a doubt.
In these circles they call, for example, that which is supposed to be
understood as Pyæmia, hectic vulnerary fever at one time, at another,
purulent inflammation of the veins, at another, pseudo-erysipelas, etc.,
and they direct their treatment according to such designations. But,
in time of war, the troops were decimated under the medical treat-
ment which accommodated itself to such terms. Even in the last war,
the greatest attempts were made to gain the mastery over the frightful
devastations of pyæmia; among other things, the effect of Arnica
even, known to Homœopathy, was brought into requisition. But how?
Truly without knowledge of, or regard to Homœopathic precau-
334
1
tions, hence with bad results, and that was sufficient for the adherents
of the physiological school to reject again the use of Arnica.
By the side of this I must hence place an example from Homœo-
pathic practice, assuming that the reader is familiar with the disputed
questions relative to pyæmia, so that I need not recapitulate them, in
all their baselessness.
§. 201.
The diagnosis in pyæmia is unattended with any difficulties. But
whether pyæmia arises from the puerperal state, from wounds or other
causes, under all circumstances it must be preceded by a production
of pus, as the only possible condition of its development. Hence it
will be most appropriate in all these cases, utterly to prevent the form-
ation of pus. But the physiological school maintains that, without.
pus, the formation of a cicatrix in wounded parts, is impossible. So
long, however, as it maintains this view, which, as we shall see, is
unjustifiable, so long it will not succeed in preventing the invasion of
pyæmia; on the contrary, it will at all times be overtaken by pyæmic
disease-forms.
Homœopathic drug provings, in the meantime, teach us another
view. From them we know that Arnica and Arsenic chiefly, very
decidedly delay, or utterly prevent the formation of pus, or even pre-
vent its development, and that for this very reason, cicatrization and
cure are especially hastened.
Even in smaller injuries, in cuts of small extent, this effect of Arnica
may be perceived without the aid of any magnifying glass. One sees
clearly how the serum of the wound becomes thickened, how the
edges of the wound approach each other, and finally agglutinate, and
that without the formation of pus. This can only happen by the
withdrawal of a certain quantity of water from the serum. This
phenomenon and the observation of an increase of the watery con-
tents of the urine after the internal use of Arnica, without increased
drinking, and, indeed, without any other quantitative or qualitative
change of the other constituents of the urine, lead to the conclusion
that the fundamental action of Arnica consists in the withdrawal of
water from the organic tissues in general.
Great injuries, which, as a rule, are followed by enormously profuse
suppurations, for instance, complicated fractures, and carbuncles, give
the best opportunity for counter-proofs. But, as long as Arnica is
taken (from the 1st to the 3rd), so long the suppuration is delayed, and
finally becomes null, while the cure goes on very rapidly and without
335
pain. But, if we neglect the internal use for 24 hours, and, in case
of fractures, the external even (in which cases compresses should be
used wet with a mixture in the proportion of a teaspoonful of Arnica
to a quart of water), we shall find considerable quantities of pus
formed and collected again in the wounds.
Hence, where it is possible, I always give a few doses of Arnica a
day or two before and after every bloody operation, whether occurring
in the domain of surgery, ophthalmology, or obstetrics, or before and
after every delivery, even where it is quite normal, and since I have
pursued this course I have never met with a case of child-bed fever.
The case is different when we have to treat pyæmia already
fully developed, or cases which lead one to look for the appearance of
pyæmia at an earlier or later date; for instance, fistulous abscesses of
years' standing, discharging watery pus, surrounded by a broad bluish
border, or burrowing abscesses, etc. In such cases, a single dose of
Thuja 30 often suffices, or Natr. sulph. 3rd, etc., gives everything a favor-
able turn; the abscesses collapse, the fistulous canals dry up. Exten-
sive phlegmonous abscesses, of course, should be freely opened. Yet
a case in which it was necessary to use Arsenic, made me doubt,
somewhat the absolute necessity of opening such abscesses.
I was called, as second physician, to a man suffering from pyæmia.
In consequence of taking cold, as I was told, the patient had experi-
enced acute pains in the right thigh, for which he was subjected to a
so-called anti-rheumatic treatment, by a follower of the physiological
school, with Opium, Colchicum, and frictions of Ol. Hyoscyam. The
pain, however, increased every day, the thigh swelled, the superficial
lymphatics became inflamed till the 7th day, when, suddenly, a violent
chill set in cataplasms were used externally and Nitre internally.
On the 8th day, as I was told, the whole extremity had become erysip-
elatously inflamed, pulse at 100; sleeplessness, and delirium at night
ensued, with unquenchable thirst and loss of appetite. The next day,
vomiting occurred; tongue, lips, and nostrils, became dry; difficulty
of breathing and auscultation indicated a lobular pneumonia; instep
œdematous, leg and thigh very much swollen, the skin of those parts
quite erysipelatous: violent pains in the region of the groins, throm-
bosis of the great veins of that region.
The man was 32 years of age; had never been sick before, except
having had Gonorrhoea several times in his earlier days, the discharge
of which had always been checked by injections.
I promised my assistance on the condition that nothing further
should be done, and that only Arsenicum 10th should be given, five
drops every two hours, which was agreed to. On the roth day remis-
336
sion of all the symptoms, without exception, a state of things very
remarkable in the eyes of my colleague. On the 11th, the swelling
on the thigh began to sink in, the pains concentrated themselves again
more upon the middle of the thigh; patient breathed more freely.
On the 14th day the swelling was so far diminished that, in the mid
dle of the thigh, on its outer aspect, a very evident fluctuation was
apparent, deeply seated. Now, an incision was to be made. How-
ever I succeeded in preventing it, and in view of the general improve-
ment, persuaded my colleague to give but four doses of Arsenic a
day. On the 16th day the general condition was extremely satisfac-
tory. The pulse was still 100, but the tongue was moist; there was
no thirst; respiration was free and uninterruptedly audible again over
the whole chest; delirium had already ceased for three days, and quiet
sleep at night had taken its place; the redness of the thigh had disap-
peared for two days; the pain was endurable, at least did not disturb
the sleep any more; in short, all the functions began to fall into their
accustomed courses; the diseased lower extremity, however, was still
immovable; the patient during this time had fallen away very much,
and his debilitated condition was not free from danger. All about the
patient urged the opening of the abscess, and his great weakness led
me to yield, and to make an incision about four inches deep. To the
extreme and unconcealed astonishment of my colleague, who prophe-
sied an enormous discharge of stinking ichor, the most beautiful pus
bonum et laudabile flowed therefrom. This last circumstance led to the
question whether the cure would not have gone on and been completed
without the incision. The use of Arsenic was now naturally discon-
tinued; in fact, nothing was given internally; the dressing was renewed
twice a day; the pus remained benign, became gradually less, and the
patient improved manifestly every day under appropriate diet, but was
not able to leave his bed till fourteen days afterward. The leg still
remained stiff, but this stiffness disappeared by the use of methodic
movements, with spontaneous closing of the incision after ten days
more. I allowed the patient to resume his official duties after another
two weeks had passed without accident, and that was the end of the
matter.
§. 202.
It was in the year 1842 that the French school of physiological
medicine was transplanted into Germany and its doctrines were pro-
mulgated here as the only saving doctrines. Its programme, among
other things, loudly advocated skepticism, in the following manner:
337
There is no doubt that, in a given time, at the same place, a large
number of men sicken in the same way. But what must common
sense think, if, from a somewhat wet spring, from a hot summer or
from a few autumnal fogs, the severest diseases are said to arise?
How can one listen to it when, with the utmost confidence of faith,
the most varied forms of disease, as they happen to prevail, are
ascribed to these simple circumstances. Croupous diseases, skin dis-
eases, catarrhal affections, dysenteries, typhus diseases, pneumonias,
articular rheumatisms, pains in the limbs, all these affections, if they
prevail epidemically, are said to be occasioned almost always, and
in all instances, by the state of the weather just then prevailing,
no matter whether it be warm or cold, dry or wet.
If it were
hot, when a dysentery prevailed, then it was the heat of the day; if
cool, then it was the coldness of the night that was to blame. If the
winter is dry, then it has inflamed the lungs with its keen air; if it
is wet, then the damp, cool atmosphere must have produced the
pneumonia. Thus we help ourselves, as best we may, by laying upon
the weather what we cannot otherwise explain. Besides, daily
experience shows that many hot summers and many cold and damp
winters occur without bringing such diseases in their train, and, that
whole towns and districts and many individuals are spared, though
they are exposed to the same weather."
Rademacher's school, whose empiricism I have brought under
some explaining laws of nature, presents the scientific, essential and
perceptive reasons thereof, and supplies also the necessary remedies.
The skepticism of this programme is, as is all skepticism in every
science, the sure sign of decay, and the author expresses himself thus
upon this point: "The skepticism of modern times began long ago
to rear itself against the old principles of Therapeia, and it needs only
to shake the structure and all threatens to fall down in a heap. Hence
so many fear to touch it; hence they dare not even confess how hol-
low and rotten everything is."
Whither this skepticism has led the majority of German physicians,
I can make clear from a "Clinic of diseases of the liver" of the year
1858, where we are told: "As with the Alchymists, it was the idea
of the philosopher's stone, so was it in Therapeutics, the idea of curing,
which thurst into the back-ground the impartial natural combination
of data and led it astray."
To this, then, the skepticism of our day has brought us, after more
than two thousand years of the greatest industry, of the greatest
thinkers, and practitioners, that it treats the idea of Therapeutics, the
possibility of a cure of diseases, as a myth. But why do these gen-
PART I.
22
338
tlemen, none the less, order the most complicated prescriptions every
day, in utter opposition to this expressed conviction? Where is their
boasted humanity?
Skepticism is empiricism, carried to extremes, and dogmatism is
rationalism, carried to extremes, and between these two stools of
error sits the physiological school of the present day. The despairing
consciousness of this skepticism goes so far, that these physicians do
not trust each other for a correct diagnosis, much less do they trust
other physicians who do not swear unconditionally by their standards;
not even as regards the diagnosis of a disease, which every layman
can form with certainty, having once seen the disease, as it has hap-
pened with cholera, for example; and yet all these physicians were.
graduates of the physiological school.
§. 203.
Still another peculiarity of Rademacher's school is worthy of notice.
It applies its remedies, for instance, not for the sake of removing one
or suddenly destroying another symptom or process, but to bring
about a changed form of the whole reciprocal action of the organism,
and it frequently gives but one dose a day, in order to await the result
of the reciprocal action produced; as Homœopathists say, to allow the
remedy to complete its action.
This allowing the remedy to complete its action is based upon my
previous remarks on the repetition of the dose, upon the laws of
function, nutrition and oscillation of the organism, and is, unhappily,
entirely unknown, as yet, to the physiological school.
§. 204.
The products of the disease form the point of attack of the physio-
logical school; these it seeks to destroy with all its means. Hence,
with it, there is no occasion, in a therapeutic point of view, to enter
upon the causes and conditions of the disease. If it sees a chancre,
for instance, it merely touches it with Nitrate of silver and deprives
itself of every possibility of judging, from the peculiarities of the
sore, of the inner state of the organism, of which the sore is but the
outward expression. Gonorrhoea it attacks with astringent and other
injections, and when it has succeeded in making the discharge impos-
sible, then it lives in the pernicious illusion that it has accomplished a
cure, while it has gained nothing, by this treatment, but the absolute
necessity of subsequent diseases.
339
It is true that it does not escape the necessity of inquiring into the
causes and conditions of diseases; but therein its evil star shines, as
it does not know what is to be done with all these results of such
inquiries.
As the students are sent into the Clinics to learn morbid products,
so mechanics are sent to industrial expositions that they may become
But none thus sent
acquainted with the products of other nations.
ever learns, by looking at these products, anything of the manner in
which they were made, which would be the very thing essential, in
order to return home profited and enlightened.
Hence, they both come away with imperfect inductions, which
possess no complete certainty, but at the best preponderant reasons
according to the narrow circle of their own experience previously
gathered. They have gained a conclusion only, without being able to
take part in the decision. These are tendencies of the most common
life, to which even the farmer adheres, believing as he does that he
will gather corn where he has planted corn, for the opposing hin-
drances trouble him so little, that he rather leaves everything to fate;
yet he hopes!
In no Clinic is it taught the students that diseases beget products.
only by factors, which are often very numerous; that with the removal
of the factors, the products would cease of themselves; that, hence,
they should direct their attention, at the bed-side, simply and solely to
these factors, to the causes and conditions of diseases. They are now
taught to destroy the disease, the resulting product, which, surely
enough, is so erroneous a maxim that, for thinking men, it borders
upon the incomprehensible. However, this maxim is, notwithstand-
ing, so erroneously estimated as such by the students, that even their
results at the bed-side, exceedingly unfavorable, of course, are not
able to open their eyes.
§. 205.
To Dr. Kissel especially, is the credit due of having more fully
developed Rademacher's doctrine, and, in spite of the merely subjective,
and hence insignificant, but malevolent polemics of the criticasters of
the physiological school, of having assiduously unfolded it for the benefit
of suffering humanity. He has sought, as a matter of course, to give
his practical experience a theoretical basis also.
Besides what has been already presented, we have yet, however, to
discuss the conclusions as regards his perceptive reasons, in order that
essential errors may not gain ground.
340
In his Manual of Special Pathology and Therapeia (1863, Bd. II.,
p. 153), we find, for example, the following experimental maxims
introduced:
"The same processes and forms are, at certain times, curable only
by other remedies, and an indication from contingent phenomena
is not possible in all cases, since, sometimes, they are absent, or do
not stand out prominently. From the phenomena and processes, only
the probability is given a priori, that a particular affection of an
organ, or of the blood, may be their primary cause; the therapeuti-
cal experiment only, made in accordance with the principles of natural
science, can determine which organ, or blood-remedy, can cure the
process in hand."
As an example of this, we read, among other things, page 517, et
seq., "that the hyperemia of the liver, curable in various epidemics
by Nux vomica water alone, may set in as acute gastro-intestinal
catarrh, or as icterus, and that the same may happen in a hyperæmia
of the liver, which can be cured only with Iron or Copper, and also in
that which can be cured only with Chelidonium. Hyperæmia of the
liver may also appear as Typhus abdominalis, and this Typhus, in
one epidemic, can be cured only with Copper, or Iron, in another
only with Chelidonium, and in still another only with Quassia," etc.
These reasons of curability are thus gathered from the accidental
presence of the so-called epidemics; but why such an epidemic can
beget such diseases, is, according to Kissel, not to be ascertained, and
whether it exists, can only be known by experiments on the sick.
What shall thus be indicated, in a given case, can be in no wise
determined a priori, although such an a priori decision should be
the first requisition to be made upon a Therapeia based upon natural
sciences.
Kissel thus possesses for his indications only perceptive reasons
rationes cognoscendi; and, from the example just given, such an
uncertainty is, at the same time, demonstrated from experiments
with remedies upon the sick, as can by no means offer any induce-
ment to imitation.
Suppose there be, for instance, a hyperæmia of the liver present,
with abdominal typhus, then I may at once give Iron by way of
experiment; for with Kissel another motive does not exist. If this
does not help, Chelidonium; if this fails, Quassia. In this way three
days at least are gone, which were necessary for the decision, accord-
ing to the indication ex juvantibus et nocentibus. Now, I give
Copper, only on the ground that the previous remedies remained
without effect, and, as before, only by way of experiment.
Thus
341
another day passes by again, the fourth, and without help again, for
in the mean time the so-called epidemic may have changed, so that
now Iron might be indicated, why not? Thus I never find any deliv-
erance in my conclusions from the effect to the cause, and, in fact,
there is no such deliverance from such conclusions, for the perceptive
reason [ratio cognoscendi,] belongs only to the connexion of an asser-
tion, but the essential reason [ratio essendi] to the connexion of things.
However, the essential reason may be one of two: it is either the
reason of the condition or the cause. But the cause is the reason of
the change or of the being. Hence, this is here unfathomable; it is
only asserted. The condition, however, is the reason of its being so
and not otherwise.
Thus, if we would have essential reasons for these relations of cause
and result, then we must seek them, not only in the causes of disease,
but also in the conditions of the organism, under which it is possible,
that it is so and not otherwise, that it could become sick spontane-
ously or from drug-provings; now these reasons, as we shall presently
see, when treating of Homeopathy, are not only always ascertainable,
but they furnish the most important point of support of the indica-
tion, and the only possible one according to natural laws; for they lead
from the known conditions to the mode of operation of a cause, thus
from a known reason to the result necessary a priori.
Even the expression, that an organ- or blood-disease might probably
be the primary cause of morbid phenomena and morbid processes, is
hence unpractical; for an organ or the blood can only contain the con-
ditions of morbid phenomena and processes, because the causes thereof
only exist in the world exterior to the organism, and if organ- and
blood-diseases are really different morbid phenomena and processes, it
can happen only by means of a series of reciprocal actions, specifically
begotten from the morbid causes.
Hence, Rademacher's school comprehends those external causes as
epidemics, and for this hypothesis, and for every thing which closely
belongs to it, the essential reasons are wanting which can constitute
the only clues to certainty in medical practice. This hypothesis leans
only upon the one external reason of disease, while the inner reasons
have been forgotten; and although the art of observation is attended
with the greatest difficulties, since it is a matter of the faculty of com-
prehension, yet nothing should cleave to the objects, which might
deliver us over entirely to accident and probability, if it is our aim to
establish correct indications.
END OF PART 1.
THERMOMETRICAL EQUIVALENTS.
As the Centigrade Thermometer (or Thermometer of Celsius) is
the one referred to in this work, the following Table is given, by
which degrees of this scale, or that of Réaumur, may be translated
into degrees of Fahrenheit, those best known to English readers.—
TRANS.
Cent.
Réau. Fahr. Cent. Réau. Fahr. Cent. Réau. Fahr.
•
D
7
66 77 A WIN
I
2
.So
1.60
•
32.0° 16°
33.8
•
•
•
12.80° 60.8° 32°
25.60.
89.6'
17
• 4
13.60
62.6
33
26.40
·
91.4
•
•
35.6
IS
14.40
64.4
34
27.20
•
93.2
3
2.40
·
37.4
19
•
15.20
66.2
35
28.00
+
95.0
4
3.20
39.2
20
16.00
68.0
36
28.80
96.8
5
4.00
•
41.0
21
16.80
•
69.8
37
28.60
•
•
6
4.80
42.8
22
•
•
17.60
•
71.6 38
30.40
986
100.4
5.60
44.6
23
•
18.40
•
73.4
39
31.20
102.2
• •
8
6.40
46.4
24
•
19.20
75.2 40
32.00 104.0
• •
9
7.20 48.2
•
25
•
20.00
77.0
41
ΙΟ
II
8.00
8.So
·
•
50.0
26
20.80
78.8
42
51.8
27
12
9.60
•
53.6
28
10
21.60
•
80.6
43
32.80
33.60
34.40
+
•
105.8
• ·
107.6
•
·
109.4
22.40
82.4
+4
•
•
35.20 III.2
• •
13
10.40
•
•
55.4
29
23.20
•
84.2
45
36.00
123.0
14
II.20
•
57.2
30
24.00
$6.0
46
36.80
•
·
114.8
15
12.00
•
59.0 31
•
24.80
S7.8
47
37.60
•
116.6
The gramme, to which reference is frequently made, is 15.434 English
grains. The centimetre is a fraction less than four-tenths of an inch, and
the metre is a fraction less than forty inches.
TEXT BOOK
OF
HOMEOPATHY
BY
DR. v. GRAUVOGL,
OF NUREMBERG.
PART II.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by
GEORGE E. SHIPMAN,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the North'n District of Illinois
SPECIES OPERA SUNT NATURÆ, GENERA SUNT OPERA
HUMANI INGENII!
HOMOEOPATHY.
§. 206.
THE HOMŒOPATHIC DRUG PROVINGS.
In the foregoing pages, I have occupied myself, not merely with
setting forth the principal errors of the physiological school, but also,
with this, to discover the mode and manner of their origin, in order
actually to demonstrate how we shall not act at the bed-side; for,
according to the maxim of the scholastic "contrariorum eadem est
sententia,” we cannot rightly understand a subject, without having its
contrary sufficiently set forth.
For all those to whom Homœopathy is a strange thing, hence
chiefly, for the adherents of those two schools, which have presumed
to judge this science by hearsay, the dispelling of these errors, the
progeny of the lower train of thought, forms the necessary bridge to
the knowledge of Homœopathic theory and practice which move only
in the circle of the upper train of thought.
Having thus reached the point where I can fully announce how
we may do better at the sick bed, I can now express myself much
more briefly, because, having already set forth the mode and manner
in which the errors of the physiological school arise, the principles
are thus established, by which the admissibility of a theory and its
connection with practice, may be determined. They are expressed,
to complete the maxim of the scholastic, in the motto, si vis omnia
tibi subjicere, te subjice rationi legibusque naturae!
Would we undertake to make a sick man well again, by the so-called
curative means, we must first know how and where we have to search
for remedies.
I. As regards the how, after what has been adduced, there can be
no longer any doubt; for it is by induction that we seek for the
natural laws, upon which a determinate series of phenomena depends,
and abstraction permits us to know what laws are presupposed by a
particular assertion.
6
2. Regarding the where, we must also know beforehand, that, in
this circle, the necessity of natural laws, and not the contingent, the
lack of law, prevails.
Now the physiological condition of man is that which consists
according to fixed natural laws; here is, consequently, the where of
the search.
3. His pathological condition is his physiological, changed by a
material external cause; hence we can change the same with the pur-
pose of its restitutio ad integrum, its cure, in no other way, than by
taking for this purpose, substances also from the external world, and
those substances, moreover, whose similar sphere of action, upon
the relatively sound organism, is established by experiment and
observation.
4, and finally. We must possess a law of Nature, as a leading
principle, according to which we can proceed; according to which that
sphere of action of a substance permits a conclusion, (based upon
natural law,) touching its use as a remedy.
The adherents of the physiological and etiological schools, first of
all, meet these requisitions with a sneer and the assertion, that no con-
clusion, as to the effect of a remedy upon a sick man, can be drawn
from drug-provings upon healthy men.
As for the first, we may reply, that both these schools have already
instituted drug-provings upon the healthy, although they have followed
in these footsteps of Homœopathy without any good fortune, since
they have connected therewith the maxim, that diseases must be cured
with such remedies as causally counteract them, which maxim runs
counter to the laws of nutrition and function of the organism, and,
consequently, is false, §. 117.
Hence, all these valuable drug-provings of this school are worthless,
on account of the hypothesis based upon them; for the problem is,
not to destroy the products of disease, but to operate against its causes
and conditions.
As regards the second, the physiological school itself teaches, that a
physiological nutrition and function of the organism is possible only
so long as the condition of the cells and tissues is not disturbed, conse-
quently, is healthy; that thus, as regards parts of the organism which
were already changed in their physiological nutrition and function, by
external influences, and hence are diseased, no efficient relief is any
longer to be expected. §. 98.
Both the physiological and ætiological schools must confess that any
other way can never be devised. Nevertheless, Virchow is pleased to
assert (which is an error,) that "drug-provings upon healthy men," or,
7
as he expresses himself, this experimental-empirical way, is rather of
use for sick animals, and only the simple empiric, or the traditional, is
of use for sick men.
Thus, since Prof. Virchow objects to the experimental-empiric way
of discovering remedies, only for the sake of expressing a condemna-
tory opinion against the principles of Homoeopathy, he flies in the face
of the exact tendency of our times, and, while he prescribes the tradi-
tional method, and hence would have tradition and authority, §. 2, put
in the place of experiment, he requires faith in therapeutics in the
place of knowledge! Hence he decides in favor of faith, consequently
against science. That is truly a heavy demand upon the piety of his
hearers in the lecture room, and a vain mode and method of bringing
his own authority into repute.
§. 207.
We, practicing physicians, would have to reject such doctrines, even
if Hahnemann's doctrines were yet unknown.
For Hahnemann's therapeutics, the drug-provings on the healthy,
form the foundation pillars of the whole problem. These provings,
which we may look upon as a first deductive operation for therapeutics,
it was necessary to undertake under various circumstances, at various
times and in different places. Since we can only advance from the
known to the unknown by means of experiments, we must begin our
therapeutic inquiries with such materials as are most familiar to us,
and these are the substances of the outer world, which we know, as
regards their chemical and physical properties. All changes which
we see occurring in the organism, extend themselves merely to our
sensations, which give us to know the differences between the char-
acteristics of the previous condition and those of the induced changes.
A just discrimination between that which is really perceived by the
senses, and that which is a result of this perception, §. 3, indicates the
good observer. Thus, a good observer will not say that this or that
substance is a narcotic, or that it produces pneumonia, etc., but will
see in such phenomena, only single specific forms of its reciprocal
action with a given organism, and forms indeed, gained from (the use
of) the traditional dose, then of the minimal dose, etc.
Since Prof. Wunderlich, §. 147, lays so much stress upon Benzoic
acid, in the treatment of pneumonia, and since, moreover, his teacher of
Materia Medica, §. 148, holds, in opposition to him, that the therapeu-
tic use of Benjamin flowers has been hitherto somewhat irrational, I
hence select it as an example of a Homeopathic drug-proving and,
8
also, for this reason, that it will not occupy too much space. It was
published in 1854, by Hering, the greatest master of the drug-provers
now living in America, and contains all the conditions which Hom-
œopathy requires.
§. 208.
BENZOIC ACID.
(Acidum benzoicum.)
HISTORY.
"We should properly distinguish between Benzoic acid and Benja-
min flowers. The former may be produced in various ways; but the
latter, only from the Benzoin resin, and, although the flowers consist of
Benzoic acid, still a very small quantity of æthereal oil adheres to them.
Schreger, indeed, maintains, that, it is this alone which makes it an
excitant, increasing exhalation of the skin. He asserts that when it is
perfectly pure, Benzoic acid does not differ, in its effects, from the other
vegetable acids. Let any one set a salad before this wise author, and
dress it with perfectly pure Benzoic acid instead of vinegar; he would
soon learn the difference. Dr. Jeanes,* the first prover, as well as
others, used the flowers obtained from the sublimation of the resin.
Each one can prepare this for himself, without resorting to the many
artificial prescriptions of the apothecaries, for these endeavor to obtain
the greatest quantity out of the resin, which is of no interest to us.
Let a couple of the best pieces of resin be obtained; pulverize them
coarsely, add to them an equal quantity of pure sand, put them in a
tin spoon; put a funnel of stiff paper over the spoon and subject it to
a moderate heat. As soon as it evaporates, the flowers are deposited
within the paper.
Dr. Jeanes was led, as early as 1838, to experiment with Benzoin
flowers, by an old preparation much abused here in the United States,
as well as in England, known by the name of Paregoric, in which
Benzoin flowers are found; the Tinctura opii camphorata or Tinctura
camphoræ composita, introduced by LeMure as the asthmatic elixir,
and, since 1718, having a place in the English Pharmacopoeias; it con-
sists of Opium and Benzoin flowers three parts, Camphor in Alcohol
two parts. The symptoms which he experienced from this substance
he often saw repeated again in persons who used Paregoric. From
* In Transactions of the American Institute of Homœopathy, 1846.
9
this, he concluded that the Benzoin flowers, which were held to be a
matter of indifference in the Paregoric, were not at all so.
When Dr. Jeanes, guided by the symptoms which he obtained by
provings on the healthy, used the Benzoin flowers alone, the beneficial
effect thereof was soon very striking, in very many cases, where the
urine of the patients had a dark red or brown color, and a very
unusually strong urinous odor.
In 1842, Dr. Alexander Ure recommended the Benzoic acid to pre-
vent the deposits of urates as vesical calculi or gouty concretions. He
rested upon his experiments, in which, Benzoic acid, taken an hour
after a meal, appeared again in the urine as Hippuric acid. Now,
since, at the same time, no Uric acid was to be discovered, and, since
hippurates are far more soluble than urates, Ure concluded thence,
that the Benzoic acid was changed into Hippuric acid and that the
latter appeared in the place of the Uric acid; thus, the hippurates
which are quite soluble, appeared in the place of the urates, which, as
concretions, are both painful and dangerous.
But Wöhler had declared in 1831 even, that Benzoic acid, on its
way through the body, was changed into Hippuric acid. Keller con-
firmed this by an exact experiment, and declared indeed, that, since the
Renzoic acid seemed to be so utterly harmless for the health, it would
be easy in this way to procure great quantities of Hippuric acid; a
person might be kept for this very purpose, who might keep up the
fabrication of this article for weeks together.
Keller, however, contradicted Ure's assertion as regards the lack
of Uric acid. He found the usual quantity of it in the urine, together
with the Hippuric acid, and he considered the proposition to use
Benzoic acid against the uratic concretions of gouty persons and the
uratic calculi of the bladder as hasty.
Ure seemed to imagine that the Uric acid was used to change the
Benzoic into Hippuric; but, since he had made his experiments on the
urine of an arthritic patient, it may be assumed that the urine of this
patient, in other circumstances, contained no Uric acid.
Pereira says, that he has seen the same thing as Ure, in a rheumatic
patient. On the contrary, no diminution of Uric acid was found by
James, Brosh and Boge, (Med. Times, Nov. 1845). Thus they con-
firmed Keller's observation.
Barring Garrod thought that, after the use of Benzoin, he had found
a constant diminution of the proportion of urea. Simon could not
confirm this. Lehmann, also, (Phys. Chem. 2, 411,) found, in four
observations, in the urine passed in the twenty-four hours after the use of
Benzoic acid, that there was no diminution of its nitrogenous proper-
ΙΟ
ties, but added, that, on account of the great difficulty of making such
observations, no conclusion could be drawn from them.
The chemists have not yet settled the question in what way this
transformation takes place. Even the similar Cinnamic acid is con-
verted into Hippuric acid. (Erdmann. Journ. f. pr. Chemie, 1S, 35;
26, 491; 35, 307).
Liebig (Thierchemie,) adds to two atoms of Benzoic acid 2 (C",
H20, O,) the atoms of the lactate of urea, and obtains thereby two
atoms of Hippuric acid 2 (C1, N2, H, O). Ch. Hoffmann
(Grundl. d. Phys. und Path. Ch.) considers this transition as probably
occurring by the absorption of Ammonia. Since, on the other hand,
in putrid urine, the Hippuric acid goes over again into Benzoic acid,
(compare Lehmann, Phys. Chem. 1, SS,) this urine may be decom-
posed into Ammonia, Carbonic acid and Benzoic acid, under the
absorption of oxygen. If this happens by the transformation of the
Benzoic into Hippuric acid, then Ammonia would be thereby taken
up and oxygen given off.
Many things could be explained by this, if it were only demon-
strated to be true. It is highly probable, however, that the transforma-
tion of Benzoic into Hippuric acid, occurs in a different manner than
that of the latter into the former. The fact of these transformations,
however, is quite indisputable. The decomposition of the Uric acid,
on the contrary, as conjectured by Ure, is highly improbable, and, on
this account, Ure's recommendation of it in gout and vesical calculus,
etc., is utterly to be rejected. Nevertheless, numerous therapeutic
experiences have spoken in favor of that proposition. We shall see
this, partly in the detail of the symptoms, and partly in accompanying
cases of cure. Here again, also, Homeopathy comes in between two
confused party views, explaining and rectifying; according to one of
these views, the remedy is to be universally extolled as valuable, while,
according to the other, it is rejected as unsuitable; this she does in a
practical and useful manner, by indicating the cases where the remedy
does and must work favorably, while she theoretically adds new rid-
dles to the old, riddles for whose solution she must arouse the inquirer,
since the solution of the new will also be, for them, a solution of the
old.
According to Jeanes' experience, Benzoic acid cures very many cases
of disease, where the urine is of a very deep color, and of a very strong
urinous odor, and all the same, whether this was accompanied by Uric
acid deposits or not, though perhaps less when this latter was the case;
and, that indeed, in doses too small for this effect to be explained chemi-
cally. And Benzoic acid, according to the provings of Jeanes, Keller,
I I
Lingen, Nusser and Petroz, which were instituted upon the healthy,
produces no such urine, but rather an aromatic urine.
The solution of this apparent contradiction belongs to another place.
Here we have only the mere history.
Benzoic acid was one of the substances used for embalming the
dead, and it is still used in the Orient, as its resin diffuses a grateful
odor; subsequently as a cosmetic, the resin dissolved in Alcohol and
precipitated with water; as a milk, it once made a sensation in Leipsic.
It was also used for wounds; and, as an expectorant, though subse-
quently it was banished as useless when given internally. Suddenly
recommended as a chemical remedy in case of uratic deposits, although
on erroneous grounds, it nevertheless showed itself efficient in such, as
well as in many other, cases, especially where the urine was offensive.
So finally the story ended where it began, and if any one fumigated
the offensive commode with Benzoin, he gave, without knowing it,
the curative remedy to the patient.
§. 209.
CASES OF CURE.
Dr. Jeanes has given this medicine since 1838 in very many cases,
and always then, with the greatest benefit, when the urine was dark
red or dark brown, and, at the same time, its odor was particularly
strong. By this, as is self-apparent, is not meant the ammoniacal odor
of decomposing urine, but that peculiar urinous odor which some
times, and, under many changes, is very penetrating and may even be
offensive.
This kind of urine, Dr. Jeanes observed most frequently in syphilitic
cases, and very especially after gonorrhea, if the symptoms presenting
themselves exteriorly had been suppressed; even in some cases, imme-
diately after the contagion and before the formation of a chancre, or
any syphilitic gonorrhoeal discharge; less frequently this urine was
noticed as an accompanying indication of the above-mentioned dis-
eases. The odor is often so marked that it causes the patient himself
to speak of it to the physician.
I. A young man 17 years of age got a chancre, and took, upon
the advice of his acquaintance, Balsam of copaiva and other medi-
cines. The chancre disappeared, and the following symptoms presented
themselves: Round ulcerated spots, somewhat elevated, of a warty
appearance, from an inch to an inch and a half broad, here and there
running together, in the crotch and about the same; on the buttocks,
I 2
nearly covering the inner sides, very sensitive and painfully sore.
Thuja and Merc. had but little effect. Benzoic acid, in a high potency,
changed the urine, which was highly colored and strongly smelling;
a single dose brought it to its normal state and improved the ulcer.
As often as the urine assumed this condition again, the dose was
repeated, and, with so good a result, that it was given to him every
two or three days, till the cure was complete.-JEANES.
2. I was called to a man 25 years of age and found him suffering
from a very tormenting, incessant, short, dry cough. His room-mate
said to me, that he thought that he had some syphilitic trouble, because
his urine had the above-mentioned property. He himself knew the
significance of the symptom; had been treated by me for syphilitic
rheumatism and improved very much by Benzoic acid. On inquiry,
it was found that this patient had had a gonorrhoea shortly before the
commencement of his cough, which had been treated in the usual way,
with Balsam of copaiva. The Benzoic acid very soon restored the
usual state of the urine again, and relieved the cough so that it was no
longer troublesome.-JEANES.
3. A man 23 years old had been sick; about two years before, a
chancre had been driven away by external treatment, and he now
suffered from syphilitic rheumatism. As soon as he used the Benzoic
acid, the rheumatism disappeared and the chancre returned again.
This latter I did not have a chance to cure; the patient had recourse
to his usual physician, who, by internal and external means, removed
the disease and without any return of the rheumatism. My experience
with this disease is very limited, especially with the first stages, since
I take such patients very unwillingly; they appear to me, however, to
warrant me in recommending the Benzoic acid in the primary, but,
especially, in the secondary forms of syphilis and gonorrhoea.-JEANES.
In two
4. But not only in such cases, in many also where there is not the
least suspicion of such a contagion, our remedy is of the greatest use.
In angina, (angina faucium and angina tonsillaris,) where the urine
has the above mentioned property, it is remarkably efficient.
cases, a mother and her daughter, who had both been inclined for a
long time to violent inflammations of the throat, where Allopathic treat-
ment, ever so early and energetically employed, had never succeeded.
in preventing suppuration, and where, in case of the daughter, even
Homœopathic treatment with Belladonna, and other apparently simi-
lar remedies, had twice failed to prevent suppuration, although the
sufferings were much more relieved thereby than by the usual treat-
ment, in these cases, Benzoic acid alternated with Belladonna and
Digitalis, afforded relief, as they cut short the paroxysm very promptly,
+
13
prevented suppuration and, finally even the tendency to similar attacks
seemed to be extinct.-JEANES.
5. A man had attacks of nephritic colic every year; the urine was
deep red and of a strong odor. The Benzoic acid afforded great relief,
two years ago in an attack, and since then he has had no other attack,
though no other change was made in his manner of living.-WIL-
LIAMSON.
6. A man 37 years of age, lean, of sedentary habits, consulted me
on account of a disorder of the urinary secretion. Ten months ago he
observed, for the first time, a whitish sediment in his urine, forming
upon the vessel, very soon, a hard, gray crust, most difficult to remove;
the urine had a very offensive smell, and often changed its color, was
now greenish, now brownish; at times it was somewhat turbid, bor-
dering on a pale yellow, of a pungent ammoniacal odor; the reaction
with litmus paper was alkaline, and it effervesced on the addition of
a few drops of Hydro-chloric acid; immediately after it was passed, it
formed a white flocculent sediment, consisting of the phosphate and
carbonate of lime; it contained no Uric acid; sp. gr. 1.023. The
urine was passed without pain or difficulty, and in a full stream, but
contained no more mucus than usual, and no albumen.
The patient's appetite was good, the tongue clean, he slept well; he
was pale, however; complained of lassitude and a sense of weariness
and heaviness across the loins; he was usually constipated. A thou-
sand grains of the urine, evaporated in a water bath, with a heat not
over 160° F., gave only 36 grains of dry extract, giving off, while it was
drying, much Ammonia and, at once, blueing moist and reddened
litmus paper.
The patient was directed to take an aperient dose of Rhubarb and
10 grains of Benzoic acid, twice a day, together with a nourishing but
simple diet.
On the fourth day, he had taken the medicine without observing the
slightest unpleasantness. He said "that his urine, within a few hours
after the first dose, became clear and free from the chalky sediment."
The urine is now normal in every respect; reddens litmus: sp. gr. 1.022,
(thus lighter). He used the Benzoic acid six days longer, and
then ceased.
After fourteen days the urine became alkaline. In order to see
whether it would remain permanently changed by the remedies
usually recommended in such cases, these were used, but without
effect. But, as soon as the Benzoic acid was used again, it had
again its favorable effect.-FARQUHAR.
14
7. In many cases of rheumatism and gouty concretions, with pain
in the joints, the use of the Benzoic acid was of the greatest service.
Strikingly good results were seen from its use in case of gouty pains
in the joints of the great toes, with very great swelling and redness,
mostly confined to these parts; the urine was of the above mentioned
character. I have quite lately spoken with a patient who had been
previously very often troubled in this way, and, six years ago, took
Benzoic acid, by means of which the pains disappeared in twenty-four
hours, and did not return again until several weeks ago, and then only
in a slight degree.-JEANES.
S. In a case where inflammatory rheumatism and violent asthma
were conjoined, and had reappeared in this manner for a long time, for
which Benzoic acid was given, the patient noticed a great improve-
ment of the asthmatic symptoms. This deserves mention, because
the Tincture of Opium, containing Benzoic acid, was previously called
Elixir asthmaticum. Further observations will show whether Benzoic
acid may be useful in some particular forms of asthma.-JEANES.
9. Würtemberg Correspondenzblatt, 1844. Acid. Benzoic. efficient
against arthritis nodosa. A weaver's apprentice, 20 years of age, had
on both wrists, between the metacarpal bones, copious gouty deposits.
and swelling of the elbow joints. The ankles, also, were not free; the
general condition was good. He received every day, an hour after
dinner, a drachm of Benzoic acid. Some improvement followed as soon
as twelve days; after sixty-nine days, there was very great improvement;
after six months, a cure. During the time, he experienced no unpleasant
effects except occasional indigestion, pressure in the stomach, eructa-
tions, bitter taste. The exhalations from the skin were less than usual
during the cure; the stools were natural; the urine copious, somewhat
turbid, otherwise of a natural color and odor. After 20 drachms of
Benzoic acid had been taken, no Benzoic acid was found in the urine,
but traces of Urea (?!) and also traces of Hippuric acid.-DR. HAUFF.
IO. In old gouty concretions, it is one of the best of remedies after
Colchicum and other remedies cease to have effect. After a while, it
must be followed by another remedy, after which it may be given
again with advantage.-NEIDHard.
II.
Gave relief in many cases where there was a sore pain in the
region of the left kidney, in which concretions of urate of ammonia
were in the urine, the pains being relieved and the quantity of urine
increased. It afforded relief, only when other remedies had been
previously given without benefit. Then it removed quickly, and
entirely, the hot, burning pains in the left kidney, with drawing,
15
especially on stooping, stiffness in the loins, swelling of the right
knee, with sore pain of the whole leg.-NEIDHARD.
12.
Acute, burning, tearing pains in the right kidney, less in the
left, extended to the groins and bladder; behind the neck of the blad-
der it was sensitive to the touch; the pains produced vomiting,
delirium, obscuration of the sight, constant, extreme restlessness.
Ol. Tereb. had been given without effect; Belladonna merely relieved
the restlessness; Acid. Benzoic.,, cured.-NEIDHARD.
13. Goldschmidt's Lebensbilder, Oldenburg, 1844. A young man
suffered from a pneumonia of an asthenic character. The strength
of the patient sank daily, the difficulty of breathing increased every
hour, to a frightful degree. In this strait, of the patient and the
physician, Goldschmidt (then chief physician in Oldenburg) opened
his Pharmacopoeia, and, with its great letters, Flores Benzoës beamed
upon him, of which, as an obsolete remedy, he had never thought. On
the spur of the moment he prescribed it. The greatest effect ensued;
the difficulty of breathing gradually remitted and the patient recov-
ered. (He had learned something from Rademacher).
§. 210.
LIST OF SYMPTOMS.
J. Indicates Dr. Jeanes' symptoms, who used various attenuations,
from the 1st centes. to the 15th, both with sick and healthy.
L. Dr. Lingen's symptoms, who took of the spirituous solution.
grain to the ounce), five drops every morning and evening, for
several days; thus about 0.005 gr. at each dose.
N. Indicates Dr. Nusser's symptoms, who took, at 5. P.M., So grains
of the 2nd trituration; thus 0.125 of the acid. After eight days, nearly
all symptoms ceased.
P. The symptoms of Petroz from the Allgem. Hom. Zeit..
* Indicates, as usual, the curative effects.
Morale and Intellect.
Sadness. P.
* The mind is inclined to dwell upon unpleasant things.. If he
saw any one who was deformed, it made him shudder. J.
*Sense of anxiety, 10; while sweating, 301.
-- b. After mental emotions, headache, 25.
. Activity, afterwards anxiety. P.
16
&
5. He was much surprised, that, while writing, he omitted words
every moment, which never was the case before. 6, 7. T. N.
Head.
Excitement and lightness of the head, when sneezing in the
morning. 173.
•
Vertigo, as if he must fall sidewise, mostly in the afternoon. P.
Confusion of the head and sleepiness. 6.
. Confused head. P.
10. Pressure upon the whole upper part of the head and of the
whole spinal column, as if it were pressed together like an elastic
body, so that he stretched himself involuntarily and bent forward.
This sensation, without being painful, produces extreme anxiety, two
days in succession in the forenoon, while sitting. L.
. Sensation of weariness (in the head?) as from sleepless nights. P.
Sensation as if there were air in the head. P.
. Formication in the forehead. P.
15.
Sensation of coldness in the head. P.
* Pain and heat in the organs of reverence and firmness. J.
Pain in the temples, in the region of the organ of mechanics. J
Pain in the left temple. J.
Hammering in the temples, requiring him to bend forwards. P.
. Hard throbbing of the temporal arteries. L. 216, 217.
20. A sound in the ears like hissing, hindering him from getting to
sleep again. 217.
•
Sensation of beating in the head. P.
Internally, a pain as of having been beaten in the parietal
bones. P.
Tearing pain in the vertex. P.
The symptoms of the head generally manifest themselves with
depression, lassitude and loss of appetite. P.
25. The head symptoms occur readily when one uncovers himself,
exposes himself to a draught, after mental emotions, in the morning
on awaking. P.
The head symptoms are worse during rest, return again period-
ically, are often accompanied with pains in the stomach, nausea,
gagging and cold hands. P.
Rheumatic pain on the outside of the head. P.
Cold sweat on the head. P.
Itching of the hairy scalp. J.
17
Eyes.
30. Throbbing in the eyeball. P.
Distressing sensation in the eyes, as if one had not slept. P.
. Burning heat in the eyes. P.
Burning heat in the lids. P.
. Itching in the outer, and, then in the inner, angle of the right.
eye. J.
35. The eye-symptoms occur readily in the open air, when walking,
when reading by artificial light. P.
Purring in the ears. 217.
Ears.
. Sensation as of a sound of confused voices, chiefly when swallow-
ing or when walking in the open air. P.
•
. Trembling in the ear. P.
. Intermittent stitching in the right ear. P.
Itching in the left ear. J.
40. Swelling behind the ears, which seems to reach the perios-
teum. P.
Nose.
It seemed to him that he smelled dust, cabbage, or something
stinking. Compare Taste. 97, 98.
•
Diminution of sense of smell. P.
Nose bleed. P.
. Irritation in the left nostril, such as precedes sneezing, yet without
being able to sneeze. J.
45. The flowers, when snuffed, are said to be a strong sternutatory.
Lewis' Mat. Med.
•
•
Sneezing and hoarseness. L. 173.
Clears the head by sneezing. Schröder.
A cold in the head readily occurs from exposure to cold; is
renewed every day. P.
. Heat during the coryza. P.
50. Pressure at the root of the nose. P.
Pain in the nasal bones. P.
Sensitiveness of the nose. P.
Itching of the septum of the nose. J.
Redness in the corners of the nose. P.
. The symptoms of the nose occur chiefly in the evening. P.
-b. When blowing the nose, symptoms in the trunk.
PART II.
2
18
Face.
Sense of pressure, and as if the face had gone to sleep.
. Tension in one side of the face. P.
Trembling of the lips. P.
60. Burning heat of the face. P.
Burning heat of only half of the face. P.
Heat about the mouth. P.
Circumscribed redness of the face. P.
* Little blisters and red face. Schröder.
*
65. Coppery spots on the face; the Benzoin milk. Venus-milk. A.
Itching of the chin. P.
Cold sweat on the face. P. with heat. N. 297.
The symptoms of the face are relieved by external heat, by pres-
sure, by friction. P.
Tongue.
Tongue with a white mucous coat in the morning. L.
70. Velvety coat upon the tongue. P.
Tongue of a somewhat bluish color. P.
Sensation of soreness and rawness at the root of the tongue and
on the palate. J.
Soreness of the back part of the tongue, felt most while swallow-
ing. J.
*. An ulcerated tumor in the left side of the mouth, upon the soft
commissure of the jaws, behind the last molar teeth. J.
75. * Extensive ulcerations of the tongue, with deeply chapped or
fungoid surfaces. J.
Note. In both cases, there was not the least suspicion of syphilitic
affection; in both cases, the same urine as in 148. J.
Teeth.
Involuntary biting of the lower lip at dinner, on two successive.
days. L.
Slight cutting pain in the teeth. J.
Stitches in a right lower hollow molar. J.
Slow jerking in a right upper molar. J.
So. * The Benzoic oil has been given for toothache. A.
The resin has been used as a chewing gum in toothache. Schröder.
Throat.
. Sensation of heat and scratching in the oesophagus and throat.
Pereira.
19
•
Extremely unpleasant scratching in the throat. Lehmann, Phys.
Chemie.
·
Collection of mucus in the throat. P.
85. It feels as if there were little lumps in the pit of the throat, as
if food were sticking there. Fr. Husmann.
•
Mucus somewhat sour. P.
Difficult swallowing. P.
Incomplete swallowing. P.
When swallowing, noise in the ears. 36.
Soreness on the back part of the tongue. 73.
Sensation as of a swelling in the throat, or as from constriction. P.
90. The mouth- and throat-symptoms are relieved upon eating. P.
* Angina faucium and angina tonsillaris, with the characteristic
urine. (148) J.
Heat in the œsophagus, as from acid eructations. J.
Taste.
Bitter taste, with pressure at the stomach and eructation. Hauff.
. Bitter taste on drinking coffee or milk. P.
95. Salty taste of the food. P.
2—. Flat, soapy taste after drinking water. P.
I-. After taste of the food. P.
. The bread tastes smoky. P. Compare Smell, 41.
Taste of blood. P.
Stomach.
100. More appetite in the evening. P. Loss of appetite mornings.
24, and nausea. 216.
. In the evening, thirst with sleepiness. P.
Singultus. J.
. Loathing sickness at stomach, pain and discomfort. P. With gag-
ging, with disturbances about the head. 26.
. Bitter vomiting.
105. Vomiting of a salty substance. P.
Pains in the stomach, with the head ailments. 26.
Increase of the stomach symptoms when walking, chiefly on
ascending, especially in case of pregnant women. P.
•
Sensation of warmth in the stomach. P. Burning in the stomach.
Honigberger.
•
Pressure in the stomach. Eructations. 93.
*Weakness of digestion. Flatulence. Benz. Composita.
20
While eating, sweat, 300. After eating, the throat symptoms are
better; after drinking, palpitation of the heart. 214.
Under the Ribs.
110. Feels wearied (?) from pressure of the clothes. P.
. In the region of the liver, constant, fine but violent stitching, mid-
way in the upper portion thereof, it seems to be superficial, and is not
increased by pressure. 7, day. N.
* Obstruction of the liver. Honigberger.
Pain in the left side of the abdomen immediately below the short
ribs. J.
•
Pain in the left side. Honigberger.
115. Sensation of heat throughout the abdomen. J.
ΙΙ
Cutting about the navel, relieved by stool. P.
Tearing belly-ache. P.
Tensive pain in the loins.
Anus and Stools.
Constriction of the rectum at its lower end. P.
120. Stitching in the rectum. P.
Fine stitching in the anus, on the evening of first day. N.
Titillation (creeping) in the anus. P.
Ineffectual urging to stool. P.
Uncommon discharge of wind downward in the afternoon and
evening of first day. N.
125. Creeping chills before the stool. P.
Insufficient stool. P.
. Frothy stool.
. Putrid, bloody stool. P.
. Bowels freely open, with extraordinary pressure to stool.
b. Relieved after the stool. Cutting. 116.
130.. Fotid, watery, white stools, very copious and exhausting
in infants, the urine being of a very deep red color. J.
* Diarrhoea of children; the discharge is copious, watery, clear-
colored, very fœtid; the urine, at the same time, is uncommonly deep
red and the urinous odor very strong; in very many cases, curative, or
at least, relieving. J.
Kidneys, Bladder and Urine.
Dull pain in the region of the kidneys.
Nephritic colic. Williamson.
X-
1
2 I
b. * Sore pain in the region of left kidney. Neidhard. *II, în
the right, *12.
- c. Hot burning pain in the left kidney, with drawing, when
stooping. Neidhard.
•
A scruple, taken an hour after a meal, was followed, in some
hours, by five or six ounces of urine; on adding Hydrochloric acid to
this, an abundant precipitate of Hippuric acid appeared, but no trace
of Uric acid. Ure.
135. Not the Uric acid but the urea disappears. Garrod.
After thirty-two grains of pure Benzoic acid, taken in the evening
before going to sleep, the morning urine re-acted uncommonly sour,
even after having been evaporated, and standing twelve hours, where-
upon only the usual sediment of earthy salts presented itself. The
urine contained Hippuric acid, united to a base, in great quantity.
Uric acid and urea were both contained therein, apparently in normal
quantity. Keller.
•
Increases the acid of the urine and makes it slightly irritant.
Garrod.
One of the few acids which manifestly increase the acidity of the
urine. Lehmann.
* Irritability of the bladder. (Compare 146, 147, 153, 154), too
frequent desire to evacuate the bladder, the urine normal in appear-
ance. J.
140. Urine, at first, increased in quantity only, and not in frequency.
In a few days, urination became exceedingly frequent, with strong
pressing and discharge of a clear urine. Urine of an aromatic odor and
saline taste, the odor long retained; most in the forenoon. (Lingen.)
Decrease of the quantity of the urine. P.
•
•
Thick urine. P.
Bloody urine. P.
Urine more copious, somewhat turbid, otherwise of a natural color
and odor. After the daily use of a drachm, after dinner, no Benzoic
acid was found in the urine, traces of urea and only mere traces of
Hippuric acid. Hauff.
145. * Morbid condition of the urine, as in persons with calculus
or gouty diathesis. Ure.
b. With concretions of urate of ammonia. Neidhard.
* Dysuria senilis, when the gravel is trifling and the irritable state
of the bladder and the pain is induced by other causes.
copaiv.) Walker.
(With Bals.
* Sensibility of the bladder, with muco-purulent discharges.
Enlargement of the prostate. (With Bals. copaiv.) Soden.
22
* Urine highly colored, sometimes of the color of brandy, the
urinous odor exceedingly strong. J.
* Urine of the above character, of a specific gravity greater than
that of healthy urine; passed into the same vessel, it retains its place
below the healthy urine without admixture, and, though of a very
deep red color, deposits no sediment. J.
150. * Hot, scalding urine, of a deep red color, and strong odor,
causing so much suffering in its passage, that this was performed but
once a day. J.
•
Dark or highly colored offensive urine, quite peculiar, after
suppressed Syphilis and Gonorrhoea. In many cases. J.
Remark. The Gonorrhoea was, in most cases, suppressed by Bals.
copaiv.
* Fætid urine, with prolapsus uteri. C. Hg.
* Never saw anything so effectual; the urine was clearer after the
first dose, and in two days was entirely free from mucous deposits; the
irritability of the bladder was diminished, and, in four days, the patient
could be left to himself. Soden.
* Dark reddish brown urine, of greater specific gravity, with a
sour reaction, even after some weeks-at the same time, many fleeting
pains deep in the region of the bladder, not when urinating, but at
other times; also with deposit of mucous granules, and, when stand-
ing, becoming, in a few days, covered with a thick filmy, crust. of
a grain of the undiluted acid. C. Hg.
as
155. * In cases with an excess of uric acid in the urine, the urine
becomes normal after the use of Benzoic acid. G. Bird.
* Enuresis nocturna of children, where Nitrum failed. Young.
* A granular kind of mucus, mixed with phosphates in the sedi-
ment of the urine. Garrod.
Affords no relief where there are phosphates in the sediment.
G. Bird.
* Vesical catarrh. G. Bird.
160. Urine of a very repulsive odor, of a changeable color,
brownish, cloudy, of an alkaline reaction; effervescing with hydro-
chloric acid; white, flocculent sediment in the urine immediately after
its passage, consisting of the phosphate and carbonate of lime, without
uric acid. The patient was pale, languid, with a sense of weakness
in the loins. Farquhar.
Sexual Organs.
Painfulness of the sexual organs. P.
Splitting pain in the sexual organs. P.
23
Pressure at the sexual organs. P.
Smarting of the frænum præputii. J.
165. Itching in the sulcus, behind the corona glandis. J.
A thrilling, almost painful, sensation on the left side of the glans
penis, extending into the urethra, so severe as to occasion starting,
ending in a sensation of tickling and itching. J.
*Gleet. Honigberger.
Menstruation too early. P.
170. * In amenorrhoea. Tinct. benz. comp. A. A.
Weakness after the menses. P.
b. With pregnant women, gastric derangements, when ascend-
ing a height. 106.
Lochiæ too long continuing. P.
Respiration and Cough.
. Slight transitory hoarseness and thrice repeated sneezing, in the
morning, with a pleasant excitement and lightness (Leichtigkeit) of
the head, which, together with its more rapid disappearance, distin-
guished it from the ordinary symptoms of taking cold, of the
prover. L.
The respiration, at times, somewhat whistling; the second day. N.
b. Difficulty of breathing on awaking. P.
175.* Asthma with inflammatory rheumatic complaints. J.
Sense of roughness on the chest. P.
When the fumes of Benzoin alone are produced they occasion a
cough. Schröder, Arzneischatz.
Violent cough from inhaling the fumes. Pereira.
. Produced an exhausting cough in healthy persons; the flowers.
Med. Zeit. Russlands.
ISO. Rather increased than diminished the cough. Pereira.
Slight hacking cough, directly after rising, the second day. N.
Cough after a slight cold. P.
Cough excited by inspiration. P.
Cough seems produced by something acrid or dry in the chest.
185. Given for a tormenting tight cough, every powder produced a
violent cough, then extraordinary weakness, sweat, and a state of coma
lasting an hour; at the same time, the skin is paler and cooler; the
pulse weaker and less frequent; respiration normal. From the sub-
limated but not purified flowers. Ilisch. in Med. Zeit. Russl., 15, 1852.
Cough, followed by expectoration of greenish mucus. P.
•
Copious secretion of mucus in the bronchi. P.
24
*It is said to furnish the greatest relief in diseases of the chest;
relaxes the obstruction of the pulmonary vessels, and promotes expec-
toration. Lewis' Mat. Med.
* Mucous oppression of the lungs; a mucous state of the lungs.
A. A.
190. * Is good for the lungs; is used internally in catarrhal diseases
of the lungs, cough, and asthmatic attacks. Schröder.
* The flowers are used in weaknesses of the chest and lungs, and
for asthma. Schröder.
* Troublesome, constant, dry, hacking cough, after suppressed
gonorrhoea. J.
Chest.
Morbid restlessness in the chest. P.
Sensation in the chest as if it were swollen. P.
195. A cutting sensation in the chest. P.
Painful trembling in the chest. P.
Sense of weakness in the præcordia. P.
The pressure of the clothes upon the chest is annoying. P.
Pressure upon the ribs. P.
200. Pain about the third rib on the right side, midway between
the sternum and the side; increased by respiration. J.
Pain in the left side about the sixth rib, increased by deep inspira-
tion, and by bending the body to either side. J.
•
Stitching in the right side of the chest. P.
Fine, slight stitches in the middle of the chest; evening of the
first day. N.
Pain sometimes in the middle of the breast; a kind of stitching;
the second day. N.
205. In the evening, in bed, somewhat of stitching in the chest,
especially on breathing deeply; the first day. N.
*In the last period of simple pneumonia, where great weakness
prevails. Schreger.
* Typhous pneumonia; asthenic affections of the chest. Schreger.
* Asthenic pneumonia of a young man: after the strength had sunk
daily, the difficulty of breathing increased every hour, till it attained a
fearful degree. Goldschmidt. * 13.
•
Burning in the thymus glands (nipples.) P.
210. Sensation of swelling in the mammary glands; also in the
thyroid gland. P.
25
•
Heart.
Pain in the region of the heart. J. Compare 234, 260, 274.
The pains change their place incessantly and suddenly, but are
the most constant in the region of the heart. J.
Wavy palpitation of the heart. P.
Palpitation of the heart while sitting; also after drinking. P.
215. Palpitation of the heart with trembling. P.
Awakens after midnight with violent pulsation of the heart and
the temporal arteries (pulsation 110 in the minute) without external
heat; and cannot fall asleep again. In the morning, the tongue
covered with a white mucous coat; some nausea and total loss of
appetite. Had eaten peaches in the evening. In the afternoon, at
four o'clock, all these symptoms had vanished (the fourth day.) L.
. He awakens every morning about two o'clock, from strong internal
heat, and a hard, bounding but not quickened pulse, so that he must
lie awake upon his back, because the pulsation of the temporal arteries
sounds like puffing in his ears, and prevents him from going to sleep
again (enduring for eight weeks). Lingen.
. Intermittent pulse. P.
Accelerated pulse; the first, second and third days. L.
220. Pulse slow. P.
Pulse full.
Pulse slower and weaker. 185.
Neck and Trunk.
The thyroid gland feels swollen. 210.
Stiffness of the neck; but merely on one side. P.
Deep, penetrating pain in the posterior part of the left side, about
the sixth rib; the second day. J.
225. Pain in the right side of the back, between the tenth dorsal
vertebra and the side. J.
. Dull pain in the back, in the region of the kidneys. J.
. Pressure upon the spinal column. L. Compare 10.
. Pressure in the back. P.
. Violent itching in the back. P.
230. Trembling in the lumbar region. P.
- b. Stiffness in the loins, with pains in the kidneys. Neidhard.
Sense of coldness in the sacrum. P.
The symptoms of the trunk are especially felt, when one moves
after sitting a long time; at night, when one turns in the bed, and on
blowing the nose. P.
26
Upper Extremities.
Sensation as if swollen in the axillæ. P.
A pain passes from the right hand and appears in the left arm,
extends downwards into the elbow, and next appears in the region of
the heart; later in the right thigh and ankle. J.
235. Fine or severe stitching, on the outer surface of the right arın;
afterwards on the left arm, inner surface; in the evening of the first
day. N.
Tearing below, in the right radius. N.
Tearing at the outer surface of both wrists, as if in the bones; the
third day. N.
Tearing pains; apparently in the bones of the arm. P.
Tearing in the metacarpal joint of the left thumb. N.
240. Paralytic pain of the fingers. P.
A kind of itching in the palm of the right hand, with slight, but
deep tearing in the upper metacarpal joints of the little and ring-fin-
gers; in the evening of the first day. N.
Pain in the joints of the fingers of the right hand. J.
The fingers are as if swollen; a ring becomes too small; the second
day. N.
The fingers remain somewhat swollen; therewith tearing and fine
stitching in various parts of the limbs, especially in front at the meta-
tarsal joint of the right great toe; the fourth to the seventh day. N.
245. Tearing deep in the upper joints of the left index finger; the
second day. N.
b. Cold hands with head-symptoms, 26.
Breaking out of red spots on the fingers. P.
Lower Extremities.
Pain in the right hip. J.
Gnawing pain in the left hip, then in the thigh, next in the knees,
then in the toes. J.
Pain in the left hip, in the knee and the toes at the same time;
the worst in the toes; leaving the toes, it seats itself in the muscles of
the calf, and then in the knee. After it has left these parts, it appears
in the right thigh and ankle. J.
250. Sensation as if the lower extremities were girt about with a
band.
Tearing pain in the anterior surface of the thigh. P.
. Pain in the right knee. J.
both, 248.
N. 267; in the left, 249; in
27
Drawing pain in the knees after drinking wine. P.
Sense of dryness in the knee joint. P.
255. Cracking in the knee joints. P.
b. Swelling of the right knee, with pain as of ulceration of
the whole leg, with pains in the kidneys. Neidhard.
Feeling of coldness in the knees, as if they were blown upon by
a cold wind; the ninth day. J.
. Pain in the gastrocnemii. J.
Sharp pain in the left ankle, during the time it supports the
weight of the body while walking. J.
260. When supporting a slight part of the weight of the body upon
the left foot, severe pain in the tendo Achillis, close to the os calcis. J.
Pain in the right tendo Achillis and in the region of the heart at
the same time. After leaving the right, the pain appears in the left
tendo Achillis.
Tearing and stitching, especially in the metatarsal joints of the
right great toe. N.
. Pain in the toes. J. Compare 248, 249.
Numbness in the toes. P.
265. Stitch passing perpendicularly upward, through the right great
toe, followed by a burning, which increases gradually to a stitch;
appearing, afterwards, in the left great toe, from which it vanishes
with a thrilling sensation, in the morning, whilst lying down (the
eighth day.) Lingen.
Deep, persistent tearing in the posterior joint of the great toe; the
second day. N.
. In the small toes of the right foot, especially in the middle joints,
a kind of deep, sensitive tearing; similar tearing, subsequently, in the
right knee, the lower joint of the metacarpal bone and of the left
thumb, and in the radius of the right fore arm, etc.; the second
day. N.
* Pain in the large joints of the great toe, with slight tumefaction
and redness. J.
Cold feet. P.
270. Cold sweat on the feet. P.
Limbs and Strength.
-b. Trembling, with palpitation of the heart, 215; in the
loins, 230.
Extreme weakness, sweat, and comatose condition. 158.
Weariness and lassitude, 24; of the lower extremities. P.
28
Knots in the joints of the upper and lower extremities, knicking
and cracking on motion. J. In the knees. P.
The pains are incessantly and suddenly changing their location,
but their most constant seat is the region of the heart. J.
275. Tearing and fine stitches in various parts of the limbs. N.
* Syphilitic rheumatisms. J.
* Gout, contractions, rachitis; by fumigation. A. A.
b. * Old gouty concretions. Neidhard.
* In both wrists, between the metacarpal bones, abundant gouty
deposits, and swelling of the elbow joints. The ankle, also, is not
free. A drachm, every day, for six months. Hauff.
* Hysterics: the resin. A. A.
Sleep.
2So. Sleepiness, with dullness of the head. J.
. Too lively to sleep.
Sleep endurable, somewhat disturbed by dreams, the first day;
the following day, good. N.
•
Waking with difficulty of breathing. P.
. Starting up from sleep. P.
285. Awakes after midnight, with palpitation of the heart; every
morning, at two o'clock, with heat and hard pulse. Throbbing of the
temporal arteries prevents his getting to sleep again. 217.
Comatose condition. 185.
. Deep sleep. P.
Fever.
- b. Cold hands, 26; feet, 270; sweat of the feet, 269; coldness
of the back, 231; in the knees, 256; cool, pale skin, with sweat,
weakness and coma, 185.
•
Coldness, with feeling of heat. P.
Coldness, then heat and sweat. P.
b. Chilliness, before the stool, 125.
290. Violent internal heat on awaking. L.
Sense of heat in the œsophagus, 92; in the stomach, 107; in the
belly, 115. J.
. Heat, with sweat, P; heat, with cold in the head, 49; with nightly
palpitation of the heart, 216.
•
The crystals produce sweat in syphilis, with very great benefit,
especially when mixed with Guaiacum. Schröder.
•
Copious night sweat, after taking 32 grains, in the evening; the
first night, not the following, from repeated doses. Keller.
29
295. Subsequently, a very copious perspiration. Lehmann.
Gentle, universal exhalation from the skin; evening of the first
day. N.
In the morning, in bed, some sweat, especially in the face, with
moderate heat; the second day. N.
•
Slight sweat, after the disappearance of the other symptoms. P.
Sweat, with aromatic odor. P. Urine aromatic. 140. L.
300. Sweat while eating; while walking. P.
Sweat, with fear. P.
. Itching sweat. P.
Exhalation from the skin less active than before, while a drachm
was taken every day for six months. Hauff.
Skin.
Emaciates; the resin. Schröder.
305. Purifies the blood, and is used in vulnerary potions. Tincture.
of the flowers. Schröder.
Itching on various parts, on the body and extremities, yielding
rather an agreeable feeling on being scratched, but leaving a burning. J.
. Itching in the palm of the right hand. N.
Itching on the glans. J.
Slightly elevated, round surfaces, of a wart-like appearance, and
of a circular form, varying in diameter from half an inch to an inch
and a half; at places, running into each other; nearly covered both sides.
and the bottom of the sulcus ani, and caused much smarting and sore-
ness of the part; with strong scented and highly colored urine. After
previous use of Copaiva for chancre. J.
310.
* Ulcers (the same as from Myrrh). Tinct. benz., A.A.
* The oil is an excellent balsam for ulcers and wounds. Schröder.
* The liquor removes syphilitic spots and marks. Schröder.
Conditions.
The pressure of the clothes upon the abdomen annoys him. 110.
Upon the chest. 198.
•
Pressure, as well as friction, diminishes the face-symptoms. 68.
315. When walking, the ankles and tendines Achillis are painful.
258,259.
•
On turning in bed, or moving after sitting, pains in the body. 232.
On moving, the limbs crack. 273.
On bending to the side, pain in the chest. 201.
While sitting, pressure upon the vertex and the spinal column, 10;
Palpitation of the heart, 214.
30
320. The head-symptoms are aggravated during rest, 25; tooth-
ache while lying down, 265; pain in the temples, requiring him to
lie down, 18.
On walking, pains in the eyes, 35; noises in the ears, 36; distress
in the stomach, especially when ascending a height, 106; pain in the
ankles, 258; perspiration, 300.
In the open air, the eyes, 35; the ears, 36.
On uncovering, in a draught of air, head-symptoms, 25; cold in
the head, 48; cough, 182.
External warmth relieves the face-symptoms, 68.
Times of Day.
325. Periodical pains in the head. 26. Cold in the head every
day, 48.
Awakes every morning, at 2 o'clock, with palpitation of the heart.
216, 217.
On awaking in the morning, pains in the head, 25; excited, with
sneezing and hoarseness, 183; coated tongue, 69; loss of appetite,
nausea, 216; hacking cough, 181; sweat in bed, 297.
. In the forenoon: Pressure upon the vertex and the spinal column.
10. Urgency to urinate, and copious discharge. 140.
At noon, he bites his under lip. 76.
. In the afternoon: Vertigo, 7; the gastric symptoms disappeared,
216.
330. In the evening: Symptoms of the nose, 56; increase of appe-
tite, 190; thirst, 101; stitches in the anus, 121; discharge of flatus,
124; stitches in the chest, 203, 205; stitches in the arm, 235; itching
of the palms of the hands, 241; pain in the fingers, 241; in the great
toe, 265; sweat, 296.
. At night; sweat, 296. Sleep disturbed. 281, 285.
Sides of the Body.
Right, then left, 34, 234, 235, 260, 265, 267.
Left, then right, 249.
Temples, 17.
Left.
Itching of the ears, 39.
Irritation to sneeze, 44.
Ulcer at the soft commissure of
the jaw, 74.
Lower ribs, 113, 114.
Right.
Itching of the eyes, 34.
Stitches in the ear, 3S.
Toothache, 78, 79.
Pains in the liver, 111, 112.
Stitches in the chest, 202.
About the third rib, 200.
31
Pain in the kidneys, 133.
Itching of the glans, 166.
Affections of the heart, 211, 217.
At the tenth dorsal vertebra, 225.
Arm, 234, 235, Fore arm, 236,
267.
About the sixth rib, 201, be- Wrist, 307, Itching in palm of
hind, 224.
Arm, 235.
Hand, 234, Metacarpus, 239.
Thumb, 267, Index finger, 245.
Hip, 234, to the toe, 248, 249.
Thigh, 248.
Knee, 248, 249, 252, Calf, 249.
Ankle, 234, 258, Tendo Achil-
lis, 259, 260.
Great toe, 265, Toes, 248, 249.
the hand, 241.
Finger, 241, 242.
Hip, 234, 247.
Thigh, 249.
Knee, 252, 267.
Foot, 267, Ankle, 234, 249.
Tendo Achillis, 260.
Great toe, 244, 261, 265.
Thus the right upper and left lower predominate; the upper
extremities are, to the lower, as one to two. Otherwise the two
sides are alike, except the heart symptoms.
Other Remedies.
After drinking wine, 253.
Dr. Lingen, who obtained very striking and decided symptoms
from this remedy, was also so sensitive to wine, that the smallest
quantity produced pains in the kidneys and bladder.
Copaiva balsam. In Walker's case, 146, Sođen 147. In the cases
cured Balsam copaiva was given at the same time; in almost all of
the cases cured by Jeanes 148, 149, 150, 151, 276, 309, Balsam
copaivæ had been previously given. I call attention to these facts in
connection, because this and many other symptoms indicate a very
great relationship between these remedies, without considering that
copaivic acid C40H31O3NO belongs to the same group with Ben-
zoic acid C₁₁H¿О,HO, i. e., it has the same difference of C and H
(the latter nine less) and other properties.
14 5 3
The affinity of Benzoic acid to the metals is, in the liquid state, as
follows: Zinc, Iron, Manganum, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Lead, Tin,
Bismuth, Antimony, Arsenic, Quicksilver, Silver, Gold, and Platina.
From this, I think, we may learn the proper succession of these reme-
dies, i. e., Zinc, Iron, etc., would follow better than Gold and Platina.
32
§. 211.
CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS.
The direction from right to left is characteristic, and it has this
property in common with Colchicae, and with many other remedies;
the direction from above downward, is also very important. When
both are found united in a remedy, it very often is one that will bring
diseases from within, outward. Hence I look upon Benz. acid. as an
antipsoric. I know very well that it is no longer the mode to speak
of this, but I have my own good reasons for so doing. Instead of
rejecting Hahnemann's distinction, with the usual shallowness, I have
rather sought a scientific foundation, for what Hahnemann, as an
artist, found in the way of experience. All the remedies which he
called antipsoric, operate, not only far more continuously (than others),
but, very decidedly, from within, outward. Hence, thereby, all diseases
are either relieved or cured, and certainly brought into the best direc-
tion possible. Even the tubercles of Lepra, which form under the
skin which sympathizes with them, and which is drawn inwardly by
them, derive, from antipsoric remedies, a direction outward, and disap-
pear, while itching vesicles appear on the surface.
Less, but next important, is the direction from above, downward,
as every one must have experienced in all painful affections, as
rheumatism and gout especially, where it always indicates improve-
ment.
One needs only to compare Copper and Iron, and he will see why
Hahnemann placed the former high up in the rank of antipsoric
nobility, and not the second. The most remarkable of all, is Hahne-
mann's choice of vegetable substances. Led simply and solely by
experience, and his complete mastery of the art of observation, he
selected only twelve of the antipsorics from the vegetable kingdom.
That he had no theoretical reasons for this, does not admit of the least.
doubt; but least of all, had he thought of the botanical families and
groups of Jussieu and others. He had expressly stated in 1796, that
it was not admissible to draw any conclusion from the natural relation
of plants as to their effects, and, during the later years, he had no
time to trouble himself with Botany. Thus, he very likely did not
know much of the arrangement of plants into families and tribes.
We may consider it an accident, but it would seem to be a very
remarkable one, when we found, what is apparent to every one
understanding Botany, that these twelve plants belong to as many
different families, and to such as are, indeed, the most important of the
33
vegetable kingdom. On this point, more anon. Hahnemann discov-
ered his remedies, as the old astronomers did the planets, by inquiry
and observation; it is for us, like the modern astronomers, to discover
planets there, where we are justified by conclusions to seek them.
The more Benzoic acid is used in gout, the more will it be prized.
Attacks, in their first appearance, especially when they announce
themselves by changes in the urine, can be terminated at once by its
use, or, at least, be shortened, i. e., quickly brought to their chemical
end; especially since the so-called latent gout," in many forms, can
be cured with it. The influence of this acid upon the kidneys is not
only, as is the case with many substances whose overplus must be
removed by these organs, an external influence, as I might say, but is
rather internal, affecting, as it does, the functions of the nerves which
determine the activity of the kidneys. The smallest doses change the
urine in so short a time, so decidedly and so strikingly, that we can
find but very few remedies which approach it in this respect.
In gouty diathesis, the attention should be directed to Benzoic acid,
particularly if the gout, as it is said, affects the heart. "It admits of
no doubt," says Vogel, in his Diagnostic Investigations, I. 149, " that
many of the so-called heart diseases, especially the angina pectoris,
belong to this category. They disappear as soon as the gout presents
itself; when continued and repeated organic defects arise. Among
these we find, cardiac constrictions (stenoses); hence in all valvular
defects, we should especially remember this remedy, in fact, in all affec-
tions of the heart. Of course, we can expect benefit only when the
character of the case corresponds to the character of the remedy.
Especially the time of day must correspond. If the disease has a
direction from below upward, then, in the contrary direction, the
remedy operates favorably in a far more striking and decided manner.
I have also succeeded in cutting short an attack of gout, when it
developed first on the left side, but threatened to pass to the right."
This remedy affords relief only to those whose kidneys have a vari-
able activity, and are inclined to take on pseudo-crises or natural pallia-
tion; where there is great receptivity of the system, and activity or
the kidneys, of the bladder and of the urethra.
When Canstatt declares, (Klink IV. 74,) "a slight degree of valvulan
defect generally presents no perceptible morbid phenomena," he only
announces, as everywhere else, that he did not know how to observe,
On the contrary, I have met with but very few cases where accompa-
* All cases that are more or less benefited by Benzoic acid have the direc-
tion from left to right, and from below upwards; this being the opposite of
the direction the symptoms assume with most provers. 1870.-C. HG.
PART II.
3
34
nying indications did not at once appear. Cases, where it remained
uncertain whether the insufficiency were really established, are not
brought into the account; the cases where this was already determined,
but not long before, teach, that so important a change, even in the
slightest degree, announces itself by symptoms, especially and quite
naturally, when it is something new in the system. Even children
can express it exactly. Subsequently, as in all organic changes, the
organism, as we say, becomes accustomed to it, i. e., the disease is
really worse; just as is the case when the spinal column is curved to
one side, when, to preserve the equilibrium, another curve is formed
on the other side, at a different point. The same also occurs in dietetic
habits, in drug diseases; it is the so-called "curative effort of nature"
which is imitated by the old school.
All organic diseases, especially of a noble organ, not only show
themselves at once, and more clearly than at a later period, but they
have also precursory indications. I will grant, that there are block-
heads among our patients, who either know or observe nothing of
their own bodies, or forget everything again. This, however, should
not make us indolent, but rather the more active. At the same time,
he who is too stupid to get well, must remain sick; for, as evil is its
own punishment, so does stupidity avenge itself, and often more
severely.
"For the powerless symptomatic Therapeia of valvular disease,"
says Canstatt, "it is quite a matter of indifference, whether one has
to do with insufficiency or co-arctation of the orifices, or, with the
aortic, mitral or tricuspid valves, and in what way they may be
affected," although, as is reasonable, he wishes Pathology to be held
in honor, even when it brings no direct benefit.
Our "symptomatic therapeutics" in valvular diseases is not power-
less. Organic changes may always be prevented, when the physician
understands it and the patient is obedient. No case, threatening the
occurrence of thickening of the valves, has ever occurred to me, which
has not been cured, if the patients would but somewhat persevere,
and this, under the peculiar disposition to be anxiously concerned
about it, occurs much oftener, in such cases, than where diseases
of the lungs are impending, where a peculiar indifference or hope-
fulness is characteristic. But even many cases where stenosis, quite
unmistakable, has already produced enlargement of the heart, by
dilatation or hypertrophy, have been permanently cured, especially in
case of young girls; some of whom afterwards married and had
several children without any relapse. In case of young men, also,
notwithstanding that they afterwards married, and that all heart dis-
35
eases are soon aroused again by marriage if the least residue of the
disease remain. During pregnancy, very much may yet be done in
this regard, but, in that case, coitus must be discontinued entirely.
Most of such cures were effected with the higher potencies; the
lower very often producing violent aggravations, without improve-
ment. Benzoic acid, however, has worked well in the lower attenu-
ations. Kalmia latifolia, also, according to recent reports. Lithium
is probably indispensable in many cases.
Another question is, whether we shall only give the Benzoic acid
when the "gouty diathesis" appears as a "causal momentum." I
think that as long as the thing is uncertain, the decision may remain
uncertain. If the symptoms correspond, then it helps, whether there
is any reason to suspect gout or not; and if they do not, then it does
not help, even not in genuine gout. Any one who looks over the sad
list of so-called “latent gout," might wish that there were one specific
remedy for all such cases. That would, however, only be a relapse.
into the barbarous clumsiness of the old school, with its Colchicum.
Phosphate of ammonia, etc.
To physicians who are chiefly governed in their choice of a remedy
by the name of the disease, it may be interesting to know that Benzoic
acid corresponds to many forms of Schönlein's Urodialysis. They
might otherwise think, perhaps, that we, who do not consider such
matters as the main thing, and do not make a show of them,
neglect them altogether. Stapf has, in all his ledgers,* given, in
each case, the pathological name of the disease; these names had,
however, no influence upon his choice of the drug. History has
shown that those Homœopathists who cover symptoms.f do bring
out again and again, something new and practical, but those who
cover the names of the disease, very seldom; these latter prefer to
travel on the old trodden way of their pathological books, and wonder
at their very selves when they make any digression; for instance, if
fewer scarlet fever patients die under Ammonia than previously under
Belladonna.t
Benzoic acid has not a very significant resemblance to the patho-
logical symptoms of arthritis, but, in the characteristics of the various
cases, we may find often the characteristics of the remedy, viz.: acidity
Carefully kept for 40 years.-C. HG.
*
Being called slaters or shinglers by the opposition.-C. HG.
Dr. Schrön, in Hof, was astonished when he found, after he had lost
many cases of scarlatina by giving each one Belladonna, " stronger and
stronger" of course, that he did not lose as many after "changing his
for Carbonate of ammonia. Another year he went, very likely,
through the same sad experience with the new specific.-C. HG.
mind
36
in the stomach, sour risings and vomitings; not only after the stomach
is brought into sympathy, as Canstatt will have it; the attacks always
commence therewith, as does the gout, but it is more noticeable sub-
sequently; compare 92, 109. White fur on the tongue, 69, 70 (often
bluish, in urodialysis. C. Hg., 71). Loss of appetite alternates with
morbid hunger, 100, always increased thirst, 101. Ischias urinosa.
periodical, at night, 248, 249, 251. Itching of the skin, 306, on the
back, 229, on the hands, 241. Asthma urinosum, (174, 175, 176, 184,
187;) very painful ulcers, 309; adherent, swollen lids, everted; con-
junctiva reddened; corroding tears, hinted at only, 31 to 35. Tongue
swollen in spots, hard, red, dry, chapped, sore, 72 to 75.
manner.
The Balsams of Copaiva and Tolu are given with effect in Urodi-
alysis, perhaps because the latter contains Benzoic acid, or something
similar. Balsam of Peru occasions brown urine, perhaps in the same
Possibly Benzoic acid would sometimes be suitable in the
Urodialysis of nursing children, at least, as a complement to Lyco-
podium, yet I should expect in this case, as well as chiefly in the
Urodialyses, more from Benzoic acid. In Syphilis congenita often
neither Mercury nor Sulphur nor Lycopodium avail anything: Ben-
zoic acid may then be compared. The urine, characteristic of Benzoic
acid often contains little uric acid, and has usually no sediment, but
always decidedly more urea. It is, probably, the presence of the
latter which gives the strong, unpleasant, but not ammoniacal odor,
or, color and odoriferous matter go together, as in plants. After very
small quantities of Benzoic acid, the urine is often changed in a few
hours, and that, indeed, as regards both color and odor; whether and
how far, it undergoes chemical changes also, the experiments, thus far
instituted, have not decided.
For the above-mentioned changes in the urine,,, of a grain
of the undiluted acid suffices, as has been established with the greatest
certainty. If more is given, it is transformed, but this transposition
into Hippuric acid is not the cause of its effects. With even greater
certainty has it been shown in hundreds of cases that the higher
attenuations (6-15) had a curative influence on the sick. In most
cases, repetitions were necessary, and, in some cases, gradually higher
and higher potencies were given, with great advantage. The high
potencies, however, have not yet been tried, except in cutting short.
attacks of gout.
37
§. 212.
In this short example we find united the main constituents of a
useful drug proving.
First, the historic portion; then, cases of cures. Finally the results
of provings themselves, on several men, with various quantities, with
traditional and minimal doses, and, an indispensable thing as a literary
convenience, the denoting of each separate symptom with a number,
by which reference thereto is easily made. Neither is regard had to
single organic parts only, as it would comport with the one-sidedness
of the physiological school to look upon it merely as an expectorant,
according to the traditional acceptation, but the entire form of the
mutual action of Benzoic acid with the organism, its parts, its affec-
tions, its intellect, etc., is made clear, together with a statement of the
conditions according to time, place and circumstances, with the further
addition of the affinity of the influence of other drugs; in short, all
the lines of direction of the quality of Benzoic acid, together with
clinical experiences.
Now the question comes up in the form of the second deductive
operation: is Benzoic acid, according to this proving, useful in pneu-
monia, and if so, under what conditions?
The first question is answered in the affirmative, as regards the local
effect of Benzoic acid, by the symptoms 173-209; but all the other
symptoms of the whole proving determine, perfectly, only the essential
indication of this quality; i. e., those conditions under which, simply
and solely, the Benzoic acid may be useful in pneumonia. Above all,
symptoms 233-278 indicate gouty or rheumatic complaints, and 261
points to Podagra, and these symptoms mark the specific individuality
of a patient, if Benzoic acid is to be indicated for him, in the most
striking and manifest manner.
If this is present, then symptoms 189, 202, 204, 205, give the nearer
local indications, and symptoms 206, 207 and 20S, give further points.
of support from practical experience at the sick-bed. Further, the
symptoms, 211–218, etc., come under consideration. In consequence
of these effects of Benzoic acid upon parts of the organs of respira-
tion, upon their nerves, etc., its efficacy in pneumonia may be thus
deduced, as also the kind of conditions under which it may be
simply and solely indicated; for the effects of Benzoic acid upon this
organ are, at the same time, accompanied by such circumstances as indi-
cate that it should only be given in such cases of pneumonia as concur
with a so-called rheumatic or gouty state of the body. Hence, nothing
is left but the confirmation of this conclusion, which, in Homeopathy,
38
need no longer to be sought first empirically in the form of the third
deductive operation, as we shall see presently.
In consequence of this proving of Benzoic acid, however, this
remedy can no longer be ranked among the expectorants, and, surely,
the careful reader has already concluded that all such one-sided desig-
nations arise from deficient, false, unpractical observations. But
the physiological school never proceeds in any other manner; it cannot
dispense with such quackish models, because it does not follow a
thorough therapeutic study, according to its own confessions. It culti-
vates physiology, and that is all; of therapeutics it hopes to be able to
speak at the end of a century, or after an indefinite lapse of time.
Hence it aims to promote narcosis, expectoration, relaxation, perspira-
tion, and, in short, all the other "ations," and "inflations," of which
that school is guilty, and, although it succeeds in carrying out its desire,
once in a hundred cases, at the best, and then by mere accident, yet it
does not feel disturbed, in the least, over its errors in the ninety-nine
cases; it confesses that it knows nothing better, and that is enough.
Hence follows, however, its absolute incapability to establish a differ-
ential diagnosis, in any case, between those phenomena which belong
to the cause of the disease, and those which pertain to the remedy used,
especially as soon as the latter exceeds its intended causal effect; e. g.,
not merely produces perspiration, but beyond this, still other phenomena.
§. 213.
However, in the way marked out, it never can succeed in learning
any better. For, if one of its experimenters ever makes an observation,
he maintains the conclusion, founded thereupon, according to sub-
jective convictions, intolerantly and firmly, because he is deeply
penetrated with the belief and the subjective conviction, that the
experiment, which he made, led him thereto, while the experiment in
nowise serves for a confirmation of his conclusion. §. 79, etc. If
another takes the notion to experiment after him, we may predict,
with the greatest probability, that he will contradict the assertion of his
predecessor, as we may see from §. 148, by a comparison of the pre-
viously given therapeutics of pneumonia, as well as from §. 150.
Such misfortunes never happen to Homeopathy, although even
its drug-provings furnish apparent contradictions, as, for example,
symptoms 134 and 135, or 126 and 129, or 219 and 220, of Benzoic
acid. But, in Homœopathy, nothing is decided inconsiderately,
regarding its being or not being; nothing, which is once observed
39
there, is disputed again in the very next moment or rejected, as if the
observation were false; but, the results obtained simply stand, as inde-
pendent facts, per se, till they have found an explanation according to
natural laws. Any other criticism is not permitted. There no paltry
subjective opinion can come up in order to prove one's being in the
right, and it is well considered that every subjective conclusion or
opinion is not only null, but far below it. Were it possible for any
such to gain credit, as it is in the mania of tradition and authority
of the physiological school, it would necessarily produce the greatest
mischief. The proofs of this we meet in this school at every step.
As regards the proving of drugs, nobody desires to surpass the
other, so far as concerns being in the right; however, every one does
desire to do so in rendering valuable his acquisitions (results gained
by the proving) according to well established rules, and thus we gain
a very useful "credit," which is decidedly more profitable than a
“debit.”
The Law of Similarity.
I come now to speak, not so much of such errors in medical litera-
ture, which, for the most part, are errors of observation, (taking a fact
for something else, instead of recognizing it for what it really is.) I
shall speak rather of the errors of not observing.
Since perception is an infallible evidence of that which is really
perceived, the errors of not observing can only be committed by
taking that for a perception which is in reality only a deduction. §. 3.
These errors arise from the want of practice in the art of observa-
tion, from accidental or intentional carelessness; also from the lack of
a thorough competency to form a conclusion, by which, chiefly, the
opponents of Homoeopathy distinguish themselves as the passive slaves
of their preconceived opinions.
§. 214.
For the elucidation of the foregoing, I now pass over to the
demands of No. 4 of §. 206, to the natural law which, rendering
superfluous the third deductive operation, presents the indications of
the remedies proved on the healthy as the leading maxim for the
cure of the sick.
The school of which Hahnemann was the founder, lays claim to
the law of similarity, which is its fundamental curative principle.
But we never before had learned any law of similars in nature. Just
as it is taught, it is to serve as a guide in our conduct at the bedside;
40
thereby, however, no law is expressed, but only an empirical maxim.
But a leading maxim must be a law of nature.
Even the term "Similarity" presents, in and by itself, the greatest
difficulties, when we seek to explain what we intend to express
thereby. Diligent search has been made in Physiology, Pathology
and Therapeutics after an exact definition of what "similar" is, but
in vain, because "similar" is a relative idea, lacking both a subject
and predicate, and one with which the most contradictory relations
may be maintained.
a
On account of the unhappy generalization which has been attached
to and retained in the empirical maxim of the "Simile," it became
common belief that we needed only to search for similars in
every direction. The idea became current that the Homeopathic
drugs, in their provings upon the healthy, had not only to show
similar phenomena to those of the disease, if they were to be indicated;
but on this very ground the idea was based, at the same time, that the
action of a remedy also must be a similar action, i. e., inducing move-
ments similar to those of the morbid cause, if not approaching them
exactly; and, in this very peculiar manner, the grounds of indication
were identified with the manner of operation of substances as if the
indication could also explain their operation, which is false according
to the laws of nature, and, as an erroneous generalization, is not a
whit behind that truly fabulous fallacy "contraria contrariis." Here,
also, we find two unlike ideas identified, and we have examples
enough in the Homœopathic literature, in which, according to circum-
stances, now one, now the other, were to be sustained. Such ideas
war against all the laws of Therapeutics. Remedies can, on this
earth, only introduce movements into the organism, which run counter
to those induced by the morbid cause, at least which change them and
this, clearly, cannot be brought about by the so-called similar move-
ments.
In order to give a clear example of the deeply seated confusion which
the misuse of the empty relative idea of similarity has caused, even in
Homœopathy, to the extremest degree of unjustifiable assertions, I cite
the triumphant words of a Homoeopathic writer upon the effects of
the springs, at Lippspringe, which contain 83.25 per cent. of Nitrogen,
in the free gases, and 4.40 per cent. in the combined.
As he found, after the use of these springs, about a half less of urca
in the urine of the healthy, the uric acid being entirely wanting,
while according to the laws of chemistry, as he thinks, it was to be
expected that he would find in the urine, after the use of these springs,
a quantity of urea far beyond the norm, consisting almost exclusively
4I
of Nitrogen, because an abnormal quantity of Nitrogen had been incor-
porated into the body, by drinking thirty-six oz. of water so rich in
Nitrogen-he comes to the conclusion: "This fact, right palpably,
shows how deceptive it is to draw medical conclusions from chemistry,
regarding functional changes in living organisms, as is the case with
the old school. Allopathically this fact can not be explained, but so
much the better Homœopathically; in fact, it confirms the Homœo-
pathic principle.”
Although this specimen, as it is given here, unhappily found its way
into two text-books, even of Homœopathy, as a proof of this funda-
mental principle of the simile, this proof is, nevertheless, false, and the
Homeopathic explanation appears an utter failure; and this for
the reason, probably, that, for some writers, Homoeopathy (which,
for other people, needs explanation itself,) is, a priori, the ultimate
reason of everything; because, for the confirmation of the Homœo-
pathic fundamental curative principle, this fact lacks a very important
item, viz.: one patient, at least, who has sickened from other causes,
under a decreased excretion of urea, with total suppression of the
excretion of uric acid, and then found cure by the use of the Lippspringe
water.
But, again: Homœopathy is of no avail to us for an explanation of
this fact, but simply and solely the chemistry here unrighteously put
to scorn, which teaches us that urea and uric acid are products of
oxidation of organic substances by Oxygen; that, further, Nitrogen
offers the greatest resistance to the influence of Oxygen upon the
the structures of the organism; hence, by incresed absorption of Nitro-
gen into the organism, those products of oxidation can no longer be
produced in the previous quantity. From this simple reason, these
springs diminish the production, and, consequently, as it is clear
enough, the excretion of urea and uric acid.
Thus, as the fact is given, it contains the exact negation of the
Homeopathic fundamental principle of the simile, and only a confir-
mation of the contrarium of Allopathy.
This is, indeed, only my explanation, but it is, at least, an explana-
tion of this fact, founded upon a natural law, with which fact Nature
has set a trap for those lacking in scientific education. To be
authorized to reproach chemistry with insufficiency, requires some-
thing more than an unswerving faith in the Homeopathic funda-
mental principle.
Before any one can speak of the confirmation of a fact, he ought to
know that it can only be attained in the form of the third deductive
operation; before a man, finally, is disposed to give an explanation of a
42
fact, he should know, that, in matters of natural science, the explana-
tion of a fact is possible only by the laws of nature.
Finally, the whole experiment with the Lippspringe springs, is by
no means to be considered as completed according to the laws of art,
or conclusive for the aims of that writer.
Every such new arbitrary opinion, every new unjustified assertion,
surely fabricates a new nail for the coffin of Homoeopathy, which is,
according to the ideas of Allopathy, already made.
Now, if Homœopathy has, as yet, no clear conception as regards
the definition of the similar, one might think that the law of the
simile is itself only an empty notion. But I can help him to surmount
this difficulty. For this purpose, we must remember that every thera-
peia, for the purpose of designating events, which it does not know
how to explain, but which, nevertheless, present themselves at the
bedside every day, borrows ideas from its elementary sciences, in
order to adjust those facts to them, according to a subjective
view, thus making those ideas, as much as possible, subserve
its own purposes. Thus it happens, also, with Homœopathy.
It has borrowed from mathematics the idea of similarity, without,
however, retaining what mathematics understands thereby. In
mathematics, "simile" means that which agrees in form, in oppo-
sition to 66
æquale," whereby the agreement, according to the
essence, and, hence, according to the cause, is expressed. Now, in
the idea “form,” I have a subject, and in the idea "agreeing," a predi-
cate for it; thus, a proposition, and no longer an empty idea of relation,
as regards the idea of similarity. Hence, the substance of this law of
similarity, consists in this, that it indicates a correspondence in form,
which, for the purpose of a cure, must be present between the form
of the reciprocal action of the organism with some morbid matter, and
that form of the reciprocal action of the organism which is induced
by its connection with another substance, artificially introduced from
the external world, under which conditions, simply and solely, the
indicated remedy will be found. Thus the use of coffee produces,
according to the external form, similar symptoms to those producea
by brandy, and we know that they mutually counteract the injurious
effects of the immoderate use of each other. Thus, if, in general,
from the drug-provings with Aconite, a specific form of reciprocal
action with the organism presents itself, which corresponds, for
instance, with the form of disease, measles; then the indication is
thereby given, according to which, Aconite must be given in that
form of measles, provided it is desired to attain a cure; this is con-
trary to the indications of the physiological school, which so little
43
desires a correspondence of form between the reciprocal action of a
remedy and that of the morbid substance, that it would rather fear to
increase the disease in hand by such operations, and thus betakes
itself to a course diametrically opposite. To give a familiar illustration,
the physiological school, where it has to do with elevation of temperature,
always seeks directly to lower it; if with a case of diarrhoea, to check
it; in the first instance, by refrigerant means of all sorts; in the latter,
by substances like Opium, Acetate of lead, etc., of which it is empir-
ically known, that they locally paralyze the peristaltic motions of the
intestinal canal. Homoeopathy, on the contrary, would, in the first
case, give substances, of which it has learned, from physiological drug-
provings, that they produced, in the first case, elevation of temperature,
and in the second, diarrhoea, and the only remaining question would
be, that of quantity. The doings of the physiological school, on the
contrary, leave many intermediate terms unconsidered. No doubt,
refrigerants lower the temperature in fever, but this removes only one
of the manifold results of the morbid cause, and a movement is
checked, which the organism needs for the expulsion of causes foreign
to it, and inducing in it disease. In the second case, the diarrhoea
is, indeed, checked, but in this case, too, not to the benefit of the spon-
taneous counter-action of the organism directed against the cause of
the disease; for now, the substances which should be dejected, are
retained within the intestinal canal, and produce other mischief; so
that, under such a medication, no end could be seen, if the powers of
the organism, in consequence of such new and repeated requisitions
made upon it, according to the ever newly occurring morbid phe-
nomena, did not finally become exhausted, and thus warn the curing
artist to abstain from his attacks; should this happen, the organism,
freed from its most powerful enemy, might again find opportunity to
regenerate itself spontaneously, according to its own laws.
§. 215.
The more correspondence between the symptoms obtained by drug-
provings and those of the disease in hand, the greater is the certainty
with which a curative result can be announced beforehand; for the one
question, whether a substance can be a curative means, in a given
case, is answered simply and solely by the previously made experience,
that this substance really has, upon those parts which are diseased, a
nutritive or functional influence; the other question relates to this: in
what degree, to what extent, and under what circumstances, is this
44
possible? This really can only be answered by the drug-provings
upon the healthy. Hence, it is only all the symptoms of a drug-
proving together, which perfectly determine the essential indication
for its use, in case of similar symptoms of any disease whatever.
Hence, in Homœopathy, diagnosis and indication go hand in hand,
upon one and the same path. For this, its point of departure, is no
longer the accidental picture of the disease in hand, but the necessary,
ever-recurring object, hence, an object to be determined a priori, from
the results of its (Homeopathic) drug-provings; for it possesses, what
the physiological school utterly lacks, a perceptible similarity of two
relations, from causes utterly unlike. Homœopathy, consequently,
possesses not merely descriptions of spontaneous diseases, but, for an
exhaustive and correct judgment thereupon, it possesses, also, the coun-
terpart of similar effects from quite other causes. Now, experiment
and observation at the bed-side had again confirmed, without excep-
tion, that, with drug-provings, from given causes and conditions, a
constant course of pathological occurrences takes place, as well as in
the course of spontaneous diseases. Since, now, in this manner, forms
of events, according to natural laws, are given, and, in fact, radical
cures are always attained by those remedies, the results of whose prov-
ings upon the healthy were similar to the phenomena observed in the
sick, Hahnemann abstracted from these facts the law according to the
form, “similia similibus curantur," and designated this form as the
law of similarity.
Consequently, if the law of cure were found, it would be superflu-
ous to seek the deductive confirmation, ex post, for every single case;
for the unfailing realization of this expectation stands now according
to natural law, hence a priori, confirmed, once for all, before our
consciousness.
We know, for example, if an intermittent fever begins with a chill
or thirst, followed, sooner or later, by heat, with much thirst and no
sweat, or sweat at a later hour, whereupon all the earlier ailments are
increased, liver and spleen are swollen, and even dropsical symptoms
present themselves, that Arsenic is the specific remedy, because it, and
it only, can produce similar symptoms in the healthy. In this we
draw much less venturesome conclusions than chemistry, when, accord-
ing to its well known classification of series, it presupposes the existence
of bodies as yet entirely unknown to it, and determines, in advance,
the place which these bodies must take, but nevertheless confessing
that the How of the chemical existence is entirely concealed from its
view.
On the contrary, if to Homœopathy, the How of the action of its
45
remedies is never wholly concealed, and the Why of the cure is a
natural law—would Homœopathy be less justifiable in drawing
conclusions a priori from the ground of objective facts than chemistry?
Hence, we know under what causes and conditions, in general and
in particular, every cure not only is possible, simply and solely, but also
necessarily occurs, and consequently we are no more subjected to the
intellectual contingency. From the similarity of the two above men-
tioned relations, from the similarity of the remedy-forms with the
disease-forms, hence always arises the only possible Diagnosis, Indica-
tion and Prognosis.
The law of similarity can also be explained from well known patho-
logical experiments. The similarity between the diseases and the
results of drug-provings, firstly, were not to be thought of, if it were
not that a pathological minus, as well as a pathological plus of sub-
stances for nutrition and function of similar parts of the organism, are
also accompanied by similar groups of symptoms, hence corresponding
in form; and, for the second, were it not a fact that every pathological
change of nutrition- or function-motions of similar parts of the organ-
ism, produced by various causes, by its external phenomena, always
points to the same anatomical localities.
Hence the therapeutics of Homœopathy does not rest upon a one-
sided empiricism, upon authority or tradition, as that of the physio-
logical school, but upon a comparison brought into connection with
the law of similarity, consequently upon a synthetic comparison between
objective facts brought to face each other. The whole success, at the
sick-bed, of curable cases, depends thus no longer upon empirical
inductions, but upon rational inductions in an objective sense, and it
(the success,) should hence always follow, did not the subjective views
of the individual powers of comprehension of the physicians some-
times err; an exception which should by no means be flung in the
face of Homoeopathy as a science, as it only pertains to the insight of
the physician, which, however, when well exercised, becomes certain
enough; for the conviction of the practiced physician is, in that case,
no longer founded upon probabilities, conjectures and opinions, but
upon knowledge. (Compare das hom. Aehnlichkeitsgesetz, offenes
Sendschreiben an Liebig, bei Purfürst in Leipzig.)
46
§. 216.
As regards No. 3, in §. 206, I recall, first of all, the example in
§. 35, in order to complete it here.
When the element of decomposition of Ileo-typhus is taken up by
the means of transportation of the circulation, by the blood of several
men, we do not observe, by any means, the same phenomena of disease
in every case; in many, none at all.
According to the law of the similarity of action and counteraction,
no body can change another without thereby suffering itself partial
or total changes; and so, indeed, the element of decomposition intro-
duced may be again destroyed; for, as soon as it became changed,
which may happen sooner or later by the counter actions of the
organism, it is brought by these, according to a law of nature, (and,
as it has been demonstrated, by experiment and observation,) to its
destruction, and is cast out. But the changes which it has once intro-
duced into the blood, extend themselves, under certain circumstances,
according to the law of reciprocal action, through the well known
stages of the fever in specific directions, and may finally reproduce
the same typhus ferment.
It is true that we do not know this typhus ferment exactly, but the
law of similarity teaches us to recognize, among others, Phos. ac. as
a curative means, in one of the forms of Ileo-typhus.
Although, now, according to the law of similarity, the cure of the
corresponding forms of typhus can be foretold a priori, yet is it
useful to inquire, in what manner the course of such a cure can occur
in a material respect.
Dr. Böcker has experimentally demonstrated that Phosphoric acid,
taken in small doses, soon enters the blood and very clearly operates
to decrease the excretion of Potash, while, at the same time, more of
the acid remains in the system than when it is exhibited in a larger
dose. §. 78.
The phosphate of Potash, in which combination PO, mostly
presents itself in the organism, is also, though a constituent of all
animal fluids and tissues, found in the blood, and chiefly in the blood-
cells.
Let it be further considered that all tissue-forming substances retain
phosphate of Potash with the greatest obstinacy; that all nutritious
fluids contain phosphate of Potash, and we may well conclude that
it is indispensable for the formation of the tissues.
We know also that the oxidation processes, the change of gases in
the respiration, and other chemical transpositions in the blood, as well
47
as the saponifying of the fat, and its further oxidation is brought about
by the presence of the alkalies, and chiefly by the presence of the
phosphate of Potash. Finally, in a solution of phosphate of Potash,
the nerves retain their vital properties for a long time, and very com-
pletely.
Consequently, it is very apparent, that, by the diminution of the
excretion of phosphate of Potash in the urine, as is wont to occur
after the use of small doses of Phosphoric acid, conditions are pro-
duced, within the organism, which may present many-sided resistance
to the typhus decomposing element, as well as to the extension of
the typhus process.
§. 217.
Thus, while the PO, introduced into the organism, as a remedy
in typhus, may produce material counteractions against the influence
of the typhus ferment, it was used, as one might think, exactly in
accordance with the maxim of the physiological school contraria
contrariis curantur."
This is true enough according to its effect upon the sick, but not
according to the indication, and the fundamental principle of Homœo-
pathy relates only to the effects of the remedy upon the healthy, in
comparison to the effects of the morbid cause, in order to establish the
indication.
Now, when I seek remedies for the reformation or cure of a
diseased organism, according to the law of similarity, i. e., according
to “similia similibus curantur," and determine which are necessary
for the accomplishment of these ends, I then conclude, from the drug
provings, hence from the effects of a drug already known, to the
organism, as to the cause necessary hereto.
This is, however, exactly the converse of the causal succession
which can only conclude from the cause to its effect, and this conver-
sion can only take place by calling upon a law, and here, the law of
similarity, which again can only be obtained from the art of experi-
ment and observation, but must be already established a priori. But
this law of nature has clearly nothing to do with the material condi-
tions which are produced within the diseased organism, in consequence
of the remedy administered according to its indication.
The law of similarity, then, refers only to the indication, and the
effect which follows thereupon must, just as naturally, be a contrarium.
Not only as regards its contrarium for the indication, but also in
48
relation to Pathology itself, we must charge the physiological school
with great errors.
Physiological medicine possesses, for every disease, a general
description, as was shown, for example, in case of Pneumonia, in
Part I.
But, with every special case, a form of pneumonia, differing from
all others, is presented, which, during its course, the physiological
school can observe in a fragmentary manner only; while the entire
compass of the case, from its very development onward, as well as
the laws of the dependence of this variety upon the coöperating
forces of nature, remain hidden from this school. These laws
must also control all the varieties of the course, age, exudations, com-
plications, etc., known to the physiological school.
In nature, everything is arranged according to measure, number
and weight. The physiological school always measures, counts and
weighs the various special products, without being able to fathom
the Why of these products, and their very numerous varieties, because,
for this end two things are required: 1. The measure of the magni-
tudes which are given empirically by observation. 2. The coincidence
of these magnitudes contained in a given case, with others already
known from drug-provings.
The physiological school, on the contrary, measures objects always
by themselves only; for example, the pulse, the respiration in any
disease, and decides thereby, it is true, regarding the diseased con-
dition, in distinction from the healthy, but not regarding the diseased
condition from imponderable and often unknown causes, in com-
parison with a similar condition, produced artificially, from known.
causes, by the drug-provings.
Hence, it lacks the most important token of a correct judgment
of a pathological condition; it lacks the visible comparison of a form
corresponding thereto. The physiological school has always neglected
to investigate into anything but those phenomena by which we
perceive, merely, what exists in Nature; thus it has also neglected in
Pathology, to proceed according to the very first rule of experiment
and observation, viz.: to change the circumstances which may cause
and accompany a spontaneous sickening; indeed, it would not know,
at all, how that was to be managed, and still more, it does not feel
the necessity, even, of possessing such a method of comparison as is
offered in Homœopathic drug-proving.
Truly we can measure, in any thunder-storm, the power of the light
of the lightning, and the distance of the thunder; but without an
electrical machine, with which we can produce a similar natural phe
49
nomenon, we should never have been led to the causes and conditions
of the thunder and lightning.
As long as it was not known, for instance, what thunder and
lightning were, all sorts of means were sought to prevent the stroke
of lightning. It was attempted by the lighting of consecrated
tapers, by the ringing of bells, by the firing of cannon. Still the
lightning struck, for no one could form a correct conclusion con-
cerning the nature of thunder and lightning, or the connection of
cause and effect thereof.
But when the electrical machine was discovered, which produced
phenomena similar to thunder and lightning, then we had, at once, an
analogon, as a measure for comparison, at hand, which taught us what
really happens in thunder and lightning; and instead of putting candles
upon our tables, we put lightning-rods upon our roofs.
In order to obtain the same means for the understanding of diseases,
as Physics obtained for the understanding of thunder and lightning,
Homœopathy again selected the way of experiment as the only exact
one; its adherents took various substances of the outer world, especially
(such as were) known of old, as so-called drugs, that they might expe-
rience in reality what the result would be. These drug-provings taught
now, that every drug, however it might have been considered before as
diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, narcotic, etc., produced a complete
disease, always peculiar to itself, i. e., specific. Then there appeared
the most varied fevers, inflammations, paralyses, forms of typhus, all
these, nothing but general affections of the organism, which were
perfectly similar to all those which we see arise from other epidemic
and like causes. Then we had a number of artificially produced
forms of disease to compare with those spontaneously produced, as
Physics had the electrical machine to compare with the lightning,
and thus the blind attempts to destroy single symptoms could be
abandoned.
S. 218.
Thus, in the same manner, by means of artificial interferences with
drug-provings, we produce diseases, in order rightly to judge of the
significance of spontaneous diseases; by the proving of the same sub-
stances in various places, ages, sexes, and at different times, we must
change the circumstances under which the phenomena may be pro-
duced, to harmonize them, as regards form, with the phenomena of
spontaneous diseases, in order thoroughly to understand all the con-
50
ditions under which these events may arise. Only then we possess
these other magnitudes in order to measure their coincidence with those
found in spontaneous diseases.
From these comparisons in Homoeopathy, the law of similarity has
inductively proceeded, and even the circumstances have been found
which may accompany every special disease, in order to establish a
correct diagnosis, indication and prognosis.
Just because nothing can be measured by itself, Homœopathy pro-
duced, by its drug-provings, an artificially constructed new pathology,
in opposition to the old, and that, not from the phenomena discovered
in those who became spontaneously sick, or, in their dead bodies, but
from results obtained by its drug-provings. Hence these are the sub-
stance, not only of its general, but also of its special, pathology
and therapeutics; they are instruments of comparison, which the
physiological school utterly lacks. If these results may not as yet be
looked upon as complete, yet they admit of far more striking results
at the bed-side than the physiological school (naturally enough) can
even comprehend, and thus the principle is firmly established, accord-
ing to which, in every respect, the most precious acquisitions of thera-
peutics are every day more and more increased.
It is true, as said before, that lately, some of the adherents of the
physiological school have undertaken drug-provings, after the pattern
of Homœopathy, (unhappily, not according to the principle just
discussed, in order to find a Therapeutics according to the law of
reciprocal action, but,) according to old customs, to find means to
proceed against the morbid products immediately and locally.
The sources of this maxim, utterly false for all Therapeutics, at
the best to be used here and there for palliation, are found in patho-
logical anatomy. The insight into the pathological processes, over-
threw the therapeutic illusions of the physiological school-wisdom,
begat scepticism, and this, in its turn, do-nothingism, which, at
least taught it that many cures occurred much better spontaneously,
than under its erroneous therapeutic assaults. But to seek a new
maxim for therapeutics, after the old had been recognized as hurtful,
was nevertheless neglected, and the medical activity of this haughty
school was still persistently directed to the dissecting room. Upon
pathological anatomy all its knowledge was concentrated, and, realizing
its therapeutic impotence, it plumed itself upon the most trifling
discoveries in the dissecting room, which, for therapeutics, were utterly
void of interest. The chemico-physical and technical diagnostics had,
indeed, led to a discovery not to be undervalued, to-wit: the so-called
inhalation therapy. It can, however, naturally possess no greater
51
value than the latest acquisition, derived also from mistaken views
of therapy, the sub-cutaneous injection in neuralgias.
The gain
therefrom is purely palliative in all cases which do not get well of
themselves; the injury, however, which has already been inflicted by
these two processes is much more considerable.
And how could it be possible for a local therapy to fill an essential
indication? So long as no regard can be paid to the entire constitution,
which can only be done according to the doctrine of Homœopathy, so
long we have palliative means, but no therapeutics; for we can never
draw from the products of disease, especially from such as are seen in
the cadaver, a rational conclusion regarding a remedy, by which all of
these products might have been prevented and could be removed; for
the product is silent as regards the causes and conditions of its origin,
and teaches us merely whither the same may lead. The physiological
school thus clearly occupies a stand-point which may be compared
with that of the vine-dresser, who, in order to prevent and cure the
grape disease, instead of seeking to improve the soil, attempts to treat
the grapes themselves.
All this is the work of the guild artificially created. Formerly,
only those men were called to the chair of therapeutics whose prac-
tice, for a long series of years, had shown itself successful; now, only
the assistants of those teachers occupy the chair of the teacher, who
themselves were advanced from the post of assistants to that of master,
and thus the prevailing professorial guild is formed, which has no
longer anything to do with success in treating the sick, but only with the
propagation of what was imbibed in their youth.
§. 219.
How now do these opponents look upon the Homeopathic law of
similarity?
In the Medicinische Klinik, a Journal of the physiological school, 18,
1857, I read, with admiration, the following query, which a physician,
deeply depressed by the progress of Homœopathy, as regards its
uninterrupted increase in favor with the public, thus lays before us:
"Can any one, tormented with violent thirst, quell and appease the
same with the 30th potency of herring-brine? Homœopathy must
answer in the affirmative to be consistent; for a large Allopathic dose
of herring-brine, taken by the mouth into the stomach, produces, as
experiment teaches, intense thirst. Is the principle, simile similibus,
practical or unpractical? Has science, have patients, gained anything
52
by it?
I do not pretend to answer, but humbly beg for news
about the herring-brine." Did I not say, in §. 217, etc., that these
very wise gentlemen did not yet know that they lived in a fallacy with
their contrarium contrariis; how should they ever be able to attain to
a critical opinion about Homœopathy?! That is not even the import of
the law of the Homœopathic general posology, so-called. A symp-
tom like thirst suffices the physiological school for a point of attack,
under the device contraria contrariis. The most striking proof of the
lack of that Homœopathic differential diagnosis, which is indispensa-
bly necessary for the indication of a remedy, could not be better
expressed. The indicatio symptomatica which refers only to single
symptoms, and the indicatio causalis, are the palladium of this Thera-
peia. It has, indeed, an inkling of an essential indication; it feels a
longing for it, without knowing the means wherewith to gratify it.
Its indication is an empiric one, it possesses neither an abstracted nor
a demonstrative law, which could offer the proof of any of its results.
Thirst and something to quiet the thirst; thereupon rests its whole
undertaking. But it cannot comprehend with what this thirst is accom-
panied, in order to know to what quality it owes its origin, and to
measure what quality and quantity of some substance, the whole form
of the disease, with which the thirst occurs, requires, in order to cure
every thing which accompanies the thirst, as well as the thirst itself.
It appears even to consider a dietetic thirst the same with that which
accompanies fever, and the more one critically examines its treat-
ment, the more errors and sources of errors does one find in its knowl-
edge; for, otherwise, the question would have been put, has herring-
brine been physiologically proved or not? because Homeopathy,
according to its fundamental principles, uses no remedies but those
physiologically proved, in order to be able to determine their indication,
as above said, according to natural laws. If the herring-brine has not
yet been proved, then there is no rational answer to that question, and
the question is itself, for that reason, a strategem, §. 164. But there
are proved remedies enough which, in a large dose, produce thirst, and
will, in the 30th potency, assuage it, as Arsenic, for example. But
not the same thirst which Arsenic causes, in large doses, can be
assuaged by the 30th; such a desire is not thought of in the "simile
similibus,” but it lies rather in the nonsense "æquale æqualibus,” and
on this ground, as well as on several others, the question is an unbe-
coming one, so that it is not worth the trouble to answer it in such a
way as it deserves. It does not fail, however, to give us a new idea
of the prevailing ignorance regarding that which it calls Homeopathy.
The good man can give the answer himself, as soon as he has proved
53
the brine on himself and others, according to the laws of the art of
observation and experiment, and then has used it according to the
simile similibus in the above detailed significance of the synthetic com-
parison. But to prove any thing upon himself, that is not so pleasant,
and it is far easier to prate about it than to do it.
So the corporate sensitiveness of our adversaries relieves itself by
nothing but cold streaks of lightning, since they always have before
their eyes only their limited knowledge, as if it were the charming
goblin Lilith, who seems to every one like his beloved, from whom
he can not separate. They live in their own world, and seek, only
in this narrow circle, recognition, approbation, and rest. It is the rest
of the grave for scientific progress, which envies the progress of
Homeopathy. But envy is always a sign of want.
Is it, then, any
wonder if absurdities are sharpened into epigrams, and simple truths
are darkened into riddles?
But if we only follow up the conditions from which such one-sided
opinions spring, grow, flourish and propagate themselves, like inde-
structible weeds, then their sturdy life will cease to surprise us.
If we ask, for instance, what forms of opinion surround us, not only
in our youth, but through the whole course of our lives, we find whole
classes given up to dogma, others again to speculation and scepticism,
not only in all their aims and ends, but subjective tendencies must
educate us even. Hereby these forms of opinion become a habit
with our intellectual powers, and whatever seems to militate against
them we can not understand.
The legal profession, for instance, is surely and radically a learned
profession. It is clearly convinced, among other things, that it
shall be the aim of criminal law to prevent the repetition of crime.
But, in reply to the question, how this is to be done, the answers are
very various, since one seeks the wrong in the result, in the act,
another in the near and remote conditions of the reciprocal action of
the individual with the outer world.
Now the first would claim the right of retribution, the other would
wish to have the wrong-doer treated as a patient.
According to the law of effect it may be useful, in many cases, to
punish the wickedness of men in their sensual motives alone, and
thereby mete out retribution. But whether, by this, a change of
their principles is brought about, can not be determined beforehand;
for bodily punishment acts only upon the feelings which are
capable of no reasonable judgment. On the contrary, in the major-
ity of cases, it will be far more useful not to disregard the power of
54
the intellect, and, according to the law of reciprocal action, to allow an
evil education to be followed by a better.
Hence, the first treatment can never be anything but a palliative, or,
for an uncertain length of time, a prophylactic, consequently, a police-
measure, an uncertain help; the latter, however, an essential, conse-
quently, just treatment; and this is the whole difference between
Allopathy and Homœopathy.
If one asks now, what is just? no one gives us an answer. But
every one knows what is wrong just the same relation of forms of
opinion as above between the idea of health and sickness. §. 46.
Law is not a principle; on the contrary, it is a product of the necessi-
ties of the time, like the style of architecture; hence, the oftener the
law books are revised, so much better would it be, and a positive law
one will seek in vain. Very recently, among those learned in the law,
a course has been adopted, in order to discover the idea of law, or
the principle of justice, similar to that of physiological medicine, to
find a rational therapeia, as they hope, by the study of the various
provincial laws, to arrive at that principle; thus, from the result, to
come at the cause.
Only an imperfect induction would thus be gained, however, and
hence, would never bring us near our aim; never lead to a principle
or a law.
This source of error, just as we notice it in the physiological school,
has no other resource but probable conclusions, together with the
custom forced upon it, as we have already said, by the lack of essential
reasons, to weigh the reason, pro and con, of a committed crime, in
order thus to determine on which side the preponderance lics.
Herefrom, again, nothing but conclusions from imperfect inductions
can arise, which admit also of exceptions.
And thus the law of causality remains the nearest at hand, the
soonest settled, hence the most approved and the most injurious to our
mental association.
Hence, can any one blame the majority of physicians if they event
are unable to comprehend the difference between causality and com-
merce in nature, and thus not the laws of nature possessed by Homœ-
pathic therapeutics? If not, then one must also be indulgent to the
inquirer about the herring-brine, with his failing judgment and his
Weltschmerz.
1
55
§. 220.
THE HOMEOPATHIC DOSE.
We must, to change the circumstances, experiment also, in drug
provings according to Homoeopathic principles, with the same sub-
stances as morbific causes, in various quantities, and herewith we
come again upon the arena of ignorance, upon the strife about the
dose. The discovery of the proper dose for every occasion is not possi-
ble in the traditional mean of quantity; drugs must rather be proved
and learned from this mean, up to their maximum of intoxication, and
thence back again to the minimum, in order to possess the whole
extent and substance of the quality of a drug, and the law of its recip-
rocal action with the organism, because no drug can be used, as such,
according to the law of quantitative causality, provided the object is
not mere palliation. I refer here to what has been said in general, in
§. 119-123, inclusive, regarding the dose.
It is thus demonstrated that, in therapy, we should not indulge in
strife over the quantity of the dose, for the quantity of a substance
alone cannot raise it to the position of a drug, but this, in connection
with its quality; because, according to natural law, the quality of a
substance remains the same in each one of its quantities, and only
with the quantity set free from its combined state, does it change its
intensity in its mutual relation to the organism. Whatever attacks,
then, we make upon the organism for its good, we must always, at
the same time, endeavor to gain the most favorable and surest ends
with the least injurious, and, hence, smallest possible dose; a question
which truly could not yet be brought up by the physiological school,
since it possesses no therapy conforming to natural law, and, indeed,
not even conceptions according to natural law.
To answer this, experiment and observation are again necessary, as
they also must be interrogated in this direction even; for, after the
objection from the mouth of Virchow, "It is quite preposterous to
believe that a small quantity of any particular substance can produce
more effect than a large quantity of the same substance," Homœop-
athy must feel it to be a matter of importance to set this objection in
its true light, though it betrays an incredible lack of knowledge of
natural law. Such an objection could arise only from a chemical view,
for, to chemistry, it is all the same whether it has a cubic inch of chalk,
for instance, in hand, or a minimum thereof; because, as soon as it can
no longer weigh the chalk, its science has ceased, and the qualities of
a cubic inch, or of a smaller part, in its relation to the organism, are
56
no subjects for its experiments. In therapeutics, no question regarding
the influence of a body upon the organism is answered by indicating
its quantity. In therapeutics there are only bodies, which, by virtue
of their quality, and then only by virtue of their quantity, are to be
judged regarding their influence upon the organism, because the capa-
bility of action of any body here never depends upon its cubic or
ponderable substance, but only upon its surface. It is a matter of
indifference what quantity of iron I make red hot, even were it many
hundred weight, whose quality of heaviness might crush me; it
could burn me, on coming near to it, only so far as it could
touch me with its surface. The therapeutic indication of the physi-
ological school can be expressed with perfect clearness, as follows:
Its conviction is, that the influence of a drug is to be judged accord-
ing to its cubic proportions, and its weight, not according to its
surface; otherwise, that assertion about the preposterous belief that
more effect is to be expected from a smaller quantity than from a
larger of the same substance, cannot be defended. But our aim, as
physicians, is not to deal with the human organism as we do with
substances in a chemical laboratory, nor are diseases to be wiped out
like an ink-spot.
The physiological school is so committed to chemical views, that
all recollection of the physical and chemical forces of various impon-
derable quantities has quite forsaken it.
§. 221.
In the year 1857, on occasion of the 98th anniversary of the Royal
Academy of Sciences, at Munich, Jolly communicated some valuable
experiments, for the purpose of judging these chemical and physical
qualities and their varied intensity, according to their quantities; these
experiments were valuable, also, as confirming the previous para-
graphs, and as giving an exact insight into the relations of the qualities
and quantities of substances. He set himself to discover the effects
which depend upon the activity of the molecular forces, but are
measurable, and permit one to draw a conclusion upon the magnitude
of forces, and, where it is possible, upon those magnitudes undergoing
change, according to the relative distance of the points operating upon
each other. If he did not entirely succeed in the solution of this
problem, that which is done, for therapeutical purposes, more than
suffices; a reward which, at any rate, in and for itself, offers indemnity
enough, since those labors will ever remain distinguished in the annals
:
57
of Therapeutics, in connection with his name, for the benefit of man-
kind. And what reward could be greater?
The first object of his investigations was solutions of Saltpetre, (1)
"a solution containing 12.0113 per cent. at °C, was, by addition of
distilled water at º C, successively diluted. It was observed, (2) that
if to 1,000 cubic centimetres of a solution free of air, 1257.8 cubic centi-
metres of water, free of air, were added, a contraction of 21.26 cubic
centimetres took place." This is very considerable, Professor Jolly pro-
ceeds, and may be as accurately determined, as, with the scales, the
centigrammes of weight can be determined. That contraction is the
total expression for the condensation occurring, and amounted to
940
of the original volume. An error appears to have slipped
100000
in here, as at the * further on, in the use of the figures
94
100000
which
are incorrect, at least according to my reckoning; but this, however,
for the question under consideration, is of no great importance.
"The force requisite to this, and which clearly is the expression of
the effect of the molecules of the solution upon those of the water, may
be judged by the compressibility of the water and by that of the
solution. A pressure of one atmosphere produces a diminution in the
volume of water of
51 ; in order to produce a decrease of volume
of
940
100000
1000000
*
the pressure of 1S4 atmospheres would be requisite. In
the original it stands 18.4.
66
(3) If to the already diluted solution, 4327.6 cub. cent. of distilled
water were added, then a further contraction of 15 cub. cent. takes
place. And, finally (4), if other 24311.6 cub. cent. of water were
added, the newly occurring contraction amounts to 13 cub. cent.
more."
We now obtain the co-efficients of contraction of these solutions, if
we divide the contraction which results every time by the then
present volume; thus:
21.26
2257.8
940 15
100000' 6585.4
22S
13
42
100000 30897 100000
The pressure which was necessary to produce the contractions by
which these attenuations were brought about, we obtain, expressed
in atmospheric pressure, when we thus divide each co-efficient of
58
contraction by the pressure of one atmosphere
5I
228
=184;
I 000000
100000
5I
940
=
1000000
100000
51
=8,0.
51 I
1000000
44.7; and
24
100000 I 000000
To make these vast effects of these dilutions more apparent, we
need but remind the reader, that the column of quicksilver in the
barometer, under the pressure of a single atmosphere, stands at
27.428 inches: and remind him, moreover, of the resisting force of
water against outward pressure, of which Pouillet, among others,
states: if we pour water into the bore of a cannon, whose walls are
three inches thick, and apply strong pressure, the gun will burst
19
20
before we have reduced the water to of its volume.
Since, now, the co-efficients of contraction do not decrease in pro-
portion to the increase of volume of the solutions, it is thereby made
clear that an arithmetical calculation of the attenuations, as regards
their efficiency, contains a false maxim, although both Hahnemann
and his opponents have made such calculations.
§. 222.
When I began the study of Homœopathy, the rock of the atten-
uation question, on which so many of our adversaries' heads have
suffered shipwreck, was, to me, never an objection worthy of consid-
eration.
etc.
1
1000000
1
I read the arithmetical calculation of Hahnemann, according to
which the first centesimal attenuation of Aconite, for instance, con-
tained the part of the tincture of Aconite, the second, the T050,
the third, the Too, the sixth, a billionth, the thirtieth, a decillionth,
This view I considered, a priori, as defective, for what has the
law of quantity to do with the laws of relation, under which laws the
Homœopathic attenuations must also stand? The laws touching the
proportion between matter and vehicle interested me the less, because
I had, first of all, to discover, by experiment and observation, the
laws of relation subsisting between these Homeopathic attenuations
and my own organism. Hence I proved on myself one of the most
powerful substances, Arsenic, and began with its thirtieth decimal
attenuation, putting, for the sake of convenience, twenty drops into
half a pint of water, of which I took, four times a day, a table-
spoonful.
59
On the second day, I observed, not having an unsound spot in me,
nothing but an unusual thirst, which, however, I attributed to my
bodily exertions, the weather being, at the time, very warm; but, at
the close of the third day, this peculiar sensation of heat in the mouth
rose to such a pitch that I was obliged to drink water the whole
evening, uninterruptedly, without being able in the least to allay
the thirst.
As this irresistible longing frequently disturbed my sleep at night.
also, and continued undiminished next morning, I was obliged, for the
want of any other cause, to ascribe it to the influence of the Arsenic,
and I terminated the proving. This thirst did not disappear till the
end of two days.
After eight weeks, I proved upon myself, the tenth decimal attenua-
tion of Arsenic, in the same manner. On the second day even, I felt
weary and averse to all bodily effort. This weariness increasing. on
the third night I hardly slept at all, and, on the fourth night, I could
not close my eyes, without being able to discover any other reason for
it than the effect of the Arsenic. On the following day there was
added to this the tormenting precursor of the arsenic thirst already
well known to me, and I was convinced enough that these phenomena
could only be ascribed to the influence of the Arsenic.
Twelve weeks later, having taken the third decimal attenuation of
Arsenic, as above, I felt, on the very first day, a rumbling in the bow-
els, to which, on the second day, were added severe pains in the bowels,
with diarrhoea and inclination to vomit, which induced me to close this
proving also. A year later I made the same experiments with several
attenuations of Arsenic, and, as regards these three, with the same
results, and then proceeded to prove upon myself Aconite, Bella-
donna," etc.
These experiments and observations had driven from me, forever, all
doubts about the efficacy of Homeopathic attenuations.
I gave
myself no further trouble about the well known arithmetical descrip-
tions of these attenuations, which were sufficient to frighten so many
away.
I then received Jolly's Monograph, by which I obtained leading
principles, which enabled me to compare the results of my provings
of Arsenic just mentioned, with those results which were said to
appear from provings according to the arithmetical calculation, taking
for this purpose the quantity of vehicle which Jolly had used in his
experiments.
I filled a marble vessel with thirty quarts of distilled water, thus
with about the same quantity which Jolly used, in his fourth attenua-
60
tion of his twelve per cent. solution of Saltpetre. To these thirty
quarts of distilled water, I added ten drops of the Homœopathic
mother tincture of Arsenic. After stirring this about with a glass rod,
I filled several bottles with this attenuation, in order to preserve it.
I now began, as before, with twenty drops from one of these bottles,
which I dropped into half a pint of water, and of which I took a
table-spoonful four times a day. Not till I had continued this proving
for six days, did I think I perceived some effect, which quite resem-
bled the thirst in consequence of the thirtieth Homeopathic attenua-
tion. This thirst, however, increased very slowly, and I was generally
in good humor and vigorous. This lasted only two days longer, then
the thirst increased, and that sense of vigor gave place to a certain
sense of discomfort. After a considerable time, I again put twenty
drops into half a pint of water, from a solution of ten drops of the
mother tincture of Arsenic, corresponding with Prof. Jolly's third
attenuation of Saltpetre, and thus in about 62 quarts of water.
In like manner, on taking four tablespoonfuls every day, I experi-
enced, from this dilution, an effect similar to that of the 10th Homoeo-
pathic attenuation, but in a much more feeble degree, and not till after
four days, with some cutting pains in the bowels, and incipicnt sleep-
lessness.
Finally, with a dilution of ten drops of the mother tincture of
Arsenic, in two and a half quarts of water, corresponding to Jolly's
second dilution, I experienced the effects of the third Homeopathic
attenuation, but, likewise, later.
Aconite, proved in like manner, refused its effect much earlier.
Even from 10 drops of the mother tincture of Aconite, in six and a
half quarts of water, I observed no effect upon the organism.
After such results, I had a rule by which to measure Homeopathic
attenuations, which, at the same time, proved to me that the arithmet-
ical symbols of these attenuations contained colossal transgressions of
facts.
If we inquire about the modality; if we inquire why an attenuation
with thirty quarts of water, which, according to calculation, about
corresponds to the third Homeopathic attenuation, yet produced upon
my organism the effect of the 30th only, the answer is derived simply
from the various conditions which were presented to the activities
of the molecules of Arsenic upon the molecules of water in the various
distances; for at one time the molecules were confined in the small
attenuating vials, the other time expanded in the marble vessel.
Thus, if we divide the same amount of molecules, of the smallest
particles of a body (which are clearly not its aton.s, but only com-
61
plexes thereof), once in the 30 quarts of water, then in 30 vials, each
holding a cubic inch, it is clear that these molecules, in the first case,
are more inactive and inefficient in proportion as the vehicle occupies
more space, till, finally, they subdivide into their atoms. For, in such
proportions, the power of resistance against the surrounding medium
diminishes in the same degree as the force of attraction of the vehicle
must likewise increase with the increase of its volume, as the experi-
ments of Jolly have proved.
The force of attraction of things unlike and the repulsion of the like
are, however, in the Homeopathic attenuations, comprised in a small
space of only a few ounces of the vehicle, so that, indeed, a priori,
they can be effective much further yet than the thirtieth attenuation.
Hence the quality of the Homoeopathic attenuations must likewise be
an entirely different thing from the attenuations according to the arith-
metical calculation, as my experiments and observations have also
shown.
Moreover, the quantity of a substance in Homœopathic attenuations
must necessarily decrease only relatively, i. c., not constantly. Even
with the naked eye, one may see, on preparing the first trituration of
Carb. veg., for instance, that the masses become darker the longer they
are triturated, and that, indeed, in the same proportion, as, during the
trituration, more and more of the particles of the coal are separated
from each other.
But, in the same degree in which the bodies may be, in their mole-
cular condition, closer together or more widely separate, in the same
degree, also, must they show their effects, and this they must do,
indeed, within the organism, according to the conditions presented by
it, and in different ways.
Hence, in view of these investigations also, the arithmetical measure,
for judging of the efficiency of Homeopathic attenuations, is not the
proper one.
In order to show how much, by experiment, calculations are very
often thrust back into the limits of their doubtful significance, I present
the following example for those who set calculations above all other
facts:
The resistance to the bullet, which it experiences from the counter
pressure of the atmosphere, is calculated, for the conically pointed ball,
at twenty-five, but practically it is fifty-two; the resistance which the
semi-elliptical ball experiences is calculated at fifty, but practically it is
forty-three; the resistance against the ogivale ball is calculated to be
forty, but practically is only thirty-nine; thus less than that of the
pointed cone.
62
Hence, it is settled that even the efficiency of Homœopathic attenu-
ations is not to be determined by calculation, but by actual effect upor.
the organism.
Again, if it be further considered that the third Homeopathic
attenuation always develops a function which is nearly equal to the
pressure of eight atmospheres, and that the parts of these attenuations
are always similar in quality to the whole, then these developments
of force refer, not only to the entire volume of these solutions, but also
to every separate drop thereof, and thus it is, also, in this direction
decided, that the inefficiency of these attenuations upon the human
organism can no longer be affirmed.
§. 223.
But what are we to understand by a solution? Chemistry discrim-
inates between mixture and solution. According to Chemistry, a
mixture is every thing which consists of unlike parts lying in apposi
tion, as, c. g., Granite consists of Quartz, Mica and Feldspar. But
bodies are termed by it solutions, which consist of unlike substances,
so united that nothing unlike is any longer present, and that, conse-
quently, the previously unlike parts have been mutually interpenetrated
into a homogeneous whole. But who has ever seen such interpen-
etration; and, if no one, where is the natural law, according to which
such an idea of a solution could be possible? Indeed, such a mutual
interpenetration of heterogeneous substances, is, according to the eter
nal law of nature, viz., the constancy of masses and the forces of
matter, a simple impossibility. But if this law of nature is a truth,
then, like all other laws abstracted from nature, it can have no excep-
tions, and must be capable of confirmation by all facts. But where is
such a fact found, with such a confirmation in Chemistry? Nowhere!
But, on the contrary, I have just cited facts from Professor Jolly, one
of our most celebrated Physicists, which not only confirm again the
truth of that law of nature, but which, forever, render even the idea
of solution quite doubtful, since he observed that even in a solution,
which is nearly the same as the third Homœopathic attenuation, the
molecules of the Saltpetre still possess such a power of attraction for
the molecules of the water, that these, together, produce a force of
contraction equal to the pressure of eight atmospheres. Those mole-
cules of the twelve per cent. solution of Saltpetre had thus, by observ-
ing their functions, clearly indicated their presence, even in 24,311
cubic centimetres of water, and hence could not form, with the mole-
63
Their solution has,
hence, always remained a mixture, and the idea of solution is, there-
fore, utterly false, because all facts controvert it.
cutes of the water, any homogeneous whole.
Chemistry has not as yet considered such processes, as it generally
occupies itself but little with the establishment of logical ideas; but
how, if I may ask, would it then explain its separations, which it is
accustomed to attempt with its so-called solutions of all kinds, if their
mingled properties possessed that homogeneity which they ascribe to
them? The idea of solution, together with that of their homogeneity,
finds no practical application to the world of bodies: here, only, the
idea of specification avails, according to the law of the constancy of
force and mass of matter.
It is somewhat different, if it is asserted that, in a transparent solu-
tion, which at no point refracts a ray of light, and no longer forms a
deposit, the molecules of the constituents of the solution are carried so
far from their combined, into a free state, that every molecule may
develop its specific fundamental forces alone and by itself in contact
with others; for then it is clear that all molecules take to themselves
definite quantities from others, which quantities may be separated
again from them by contact with others; and, in this condition of
molecular mobility and freedom, even metals, and especially bodies
which the chemist calls insoluble, may be suspended in fluids by the
peculiar art of the Homœopathic triturations. Hence, by Homœo-
pathic attenuations, we have only to understand suspensions. The
chemical idea of a solution runs into its opposite, as soon as it is
known that nothing is meant thereby but the overcoming of the
cohesion by affinity, consequently a union. Physics would meet
with no doubt here: Chemistry, nevertheless, will consider this
incomprehensible, and in this case I can point it, not only to mineral
springs, but also to the experiment upon the living organism, which
would infallibly, as it is usually expressed, place before its eyes, if it
could only think half-way physiologically even, the reactions of the
same against such triturations, and their so-called solutions, in the
clearest manner.
64
§. 224.
In any controversy it is quite advisable to permit the opponent to
speak first, and I now take the liberty of alleging, from my own
observations, concerning Jolly's experiments, that I not only found
them confirmed, but, at the same time, also, B, compare §. 221, found
that the molecular contraction in such experiments manifested itself
all the more clearly, the more affinity the substances used for experi-
ment had for water; C, that in the same proportion, when preparing
such attenuations, at first more or less heat was developed as the
co-efficient of the repulsion, and, then, the contraction ensued as the
co-efficient of the attraction; that the contraction, whether occurring
with more or less power, is still dependent upon the specific weight of
the body to be attenuated, which I especially mention for this reason,
because the so-called Homœopathic drugs are chiefly suspensions in
alcohol, and it has already been empirically settled, in the practice
of this system, that its remedies, suspended in larger quantities of
water, act more efficiently than in smaller quantities, as, for instance,
if the prescribed remedy is first given in a glass of water, a teaspoonful
to be taken at a time, instead of the same quantity of the remedy to
be taken at once in a spoonful of water; a fact which heretofore
could not be explained, but which now, too, is seen to be founded
upon a law of nature; E, that, from these three last momenta, it must
be concluded that various substances may indicate various co-efficients
of contraction in more thorough investigations; consequently, we may
conclude from them, also, as to the peculiar progressions of the
decrease in the capacity of contraction. It may, hence, be analytically
calculated, from some of the first attenuations, in what further pro-
portion the capacity for contraction decreases in each separate sub-
stance, and, at what degree of attenuation the same, according to
this mode of inquiry, finally becomes null, for this belongs to the com-
pleteness of knowledge regarding the extent of the qualitative power
of action and the law of the specific nature of each separate sub-
stance.
As a proof of, A, §. 221, and showing that even to the physiological
school such views are not quite strange, I quote from the Prager
Viertel-Jahrschrift, 1857, how Bell, an adherent of this school in
England, considers the exhibition of drugs, and, especially of metals,
in very attenuated forms, to be the most appropriate method, and, for
this conviction, offers the following facts. Absorption regulates itself
chiefly according to the organic need, hence inorganic substances are
taken into the organism in only very small quantities. Of this, Iron
65
offers the best illustration. The natural Chalybeate springs are the
most efficacious in chlorotic-anæmic conditions, and yet the strongest
of these contains hardly a grain in sixteen ounces of water.
The same
16
21
holds good with regard to Tartar emetic. In order to bring the
inflamed capillaries into contact with it, no nauseating doses are
needful. Bell has attained the same favorable result with doses of
from to of a grain. With such experiences, how can we
explain the unexampled obstinacy of our colleagues against the doses
of Homeopathy, an obstinacy which is so great, that even the reasons
bought forward for its reality will leave no impression. At least, the
law of mental association, mentioned in the beginning, especially in
case of old men, permits the conclusion that the impression made for
many years upon their brains, leaves no room for the reception of new
impressions to crowd out those which are present.
Prominent among these superannuated impressions, stand the errors
of calculation and extravagant theories of which Hahnemann's time
was guilty. By Jolly's experiment, Hahnemann's decillionths and all
such calculations fall to the ground, for, by way of example, from
those 1000 cubic centimetres of solution of Saltpetre, by the addition
of 1257 cubic centimetres of water, we do not get the sum of 2257
cubic centimetres, but some 21 less, that is, only 2236 cub. cent.;
thus a considerable minus in comparison to the entire volume present
before the attenuation is produced, and this continues, since every new
attenuation produces, by molecular contraction, a new minus of the
volumes present before their preparation. That these differences
form no constant series, comes from the leading principle under
which these experiments were made. It included the problem, to
deduce the law, according to which the decrease of molecular attraction
coincides with increase of distance between the molecules, for which
those quantities were chosen; and it was thus established that
the molecular attraction really does decrease with that increase of
distance. This suffices for our aim, to show that the calculations
of Hahnemann and his contemporaries are to be laid aside in the
realm of fables, with the same confidence, as those results gained by
our opponents, by the aid of such examples of addition, as Schlegel,
for example, who, in 1853, imagined with all seriousness that he had
dealt a telling blow at Hahnemann, with such calculations. But who
can blame Homœopathy in the case when, to many human intellects
it seems incomprehensible; or if, without any reason, it is, moreover,
unjustly accused of incorrect quantities.
Yet it is easier to infatuate than to instruct; easier not to be willing
to understand, than to come at the bottom of a fact; and this is just
PART II.
5
66
what the opponents of Homœopathy design, when they incessantly
re-exhibit the errors of the childhood of this system.
§. 225.
Physical science is engaged to-day in investigations of the molecular
forces. It will discover their laws in the laboratory, as little as did
chemistry, to which these laws were first revealed in plants; for the
molecule is living, and causes the transition from inorganic to organic
nature. But only in Homœopathic practice were these laws known
long ago.
With the discovery of the spectrum analysis, a new means is
offered for verifying the existence of the material contents of Hona-
opathic attenuations. By itself alone, it would maintain the fact
of these contents, but could not explain the relation of imponderable
substances to the human organism, hence, this relation not being demon-
strated, it would remain as imperfect as the mathematical calculation of
the French Academy of Sciences. In the mean time, it is worth while
to state, in opposition to this calculation, the fact, that any one may be
rationally convinced, by the experiments of Ozanam, of the physical
presence of medicinal substance in the first eight dilutions.
In the 64th Vol. of the Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung,
March 24, 1862, we are indebted to Dr. Meyer, of Leipzig, who has
distinguished himself by the scientific and prudent management of
that journal, for the setting forth of such results of the spectrum analysis
and the quotation of the following words of Dr. Ozanam: "This
revolution in the analytical methods lends to the infinitely small quan-
tities a significance not recognized to the present day, and will probably
exercise a beneficial influence upon the many heads full of prejudice,
and perhaps make them more inclined to consider and to study the
therapeutic doctrine of the small doses, with less repugnance and less
passion. And, in fact, Hahnemann, by his discovery of the efficiency
of small doses, has anticipated Bunsen's discovery, or even foretold it.
Truly, he raised medicine to the level of the other natural sciences,
since he created for it a method which is analogous to the infinitesimal
calculus of mathematics—the doctrine of the atoms and molecules of
chemistry-the Aether theory of Physics, the cellular doctrine and the
microscopical studies of physiology and pathological anatomy. And
this new Organon has by no means remained as a speculation in his
brain. No, he made it of practical value, and cured his patients with
doses, the presence and value of which, exact science has only just
1
67
begun to perceive and acknowledge, now half a century after that
man of genius."
§. 226.
In a work translated by Dr. Heinrich Böhnke-Reich, (published in
Jena, by Otto Deistung, 1863,) entitled, "On the infinitely small doses.
of the Homœopathists," and which claims a certain De Hemptinne as
author, we learn that the latter received a commission from the French
Academy of Sciences, to demonstrate by numbers the impossibility of
the existence of healing properties of the drops and pellets of the
Homeopathic drugs, administered with so great assumption.
Now, from these idle calculations, it is announced, that in the 30th
Homeopathic attenuation, a milligramme of Aconite, for example, is
distributed in a quantity of alcohol, which is nine hundred and twenty-
five octillion times the volume of the earth, etc.; but this had already
been told us by other arithmeticians of the same stamp.
With these arithmetical argumentations, the Academy of Sciences, in
France, has radically disgraced itself, as I will show beyond a cavil, by
a single quotation from the works of a German thinker, Prof. Conrad
Herrmann:
"The mere correctness of a thought is generally considered a suffi-
cient means for the establishment of the (asserted) truth thereof,
or the proposition generally holds good, that that which has been
deduced from well-founded premisses in a manner logically correct,
or without internal contradiction, must, on that account, necessarily be
true. In reality, however, a particular and essential limitation circum-
scribes this proposition; for the correctness of a thought is, in all those
cases in which the same is not established upon a firm empirical basis,
only then to be considered as a satisfactory assurance of a truth, when
another general property is associated therewith, namely: that of com-
pleteness, or of entire exhaustion of all justifiable and, upon the whole,
possible thought touching a certain idea.”
The whole error, that the mere correctness of a thought, as such.
necessitates also its truth, is a disease which has extended itself into
the latest periods from scholasticism through Spinozism, which trans-
ferred the mathematical method, in its naked form, upon the material
of philosophy.
Zeno, of the Eleatic school, concluded from the infinite divisibility
of space to the impossibility of motion: a space which is to be traversed
by any body is divided, first of all, into two halves, of which the on
68
must necessarily be traversed earlier than the other; but, now, since
the same holds good concerning that first half, and so on forever, since
even the smallest portion of space is subject to a further subdivision,
and since even the smallest portion of space must always be traversed
before the next beyond it, thus all motion, from the stand-point of a
pure intellectual operation, is impossible, and so far Zeno was perfectly
right to say: the fleeting arrow stands still.
Here thus we have a train of thought which is entirely correct in
itself, but which, nevertheless, is untrue, since motion does exist in
spite of it all.
But a refutation of Zeno's argumentation is perfectly impossible,
since, on one side, its premiss, the infinite divisibility of space, is incon-
trovertibly established, as is also the deduction made therefrom. How-
ever, this whole train of thought of Zeno is incorrect, notwithstanding,
in so far as it lacks completeness, even though correct in itself; for the
very idea, on which all depends here, that of space, includes within
itself, aside from the property of infinite divisibility, that also of the
constant or continually occurring cohesion of all its infinite parts.
Were space, in fact, a mere juxtaposition of its parts, then, according
to the argumentation of Zeno, motion would be impossible; but
motion is made clear by this, that the connection of these parts is, at
the same time, constant or continual.
Every erroneous train of thought is either such as rests upon the
exclusive presence of the property of correctness, or such as rests upon
the exclusive presence of completeness. That comprehensive way of
thinking which is correct without being complete, is sophistic, but
that which, though complete, yet lacks the inner correctness in the
connection of its members, is confused.
The truth of a train of reasoning rests upon the agreement of its
members with the external material objects of which it treats; its
accuracy upon the internal or formal agreement of its individual
members with each other; its completeness, upon the fact that it
exhaustively embraces every element contained in the subject of the
proposition.
This whole exposition contains the above announced postulates of
the art of experiment and observation; the truth rests upon rational
induction, upon experience by experiment and observation; the cor-
reetness upon the abstraction of the particular from the general;
the completeness upon the inquiry regarding the subject according to
the categories of quantity, quality, relation and modality. To meet
all these postulates of a rational process, the French Academy of
Sciences utterly failed, with the single exception of the mere cor-
69
rectness of the calculation which was offered; hence it degenerates
into mere sophistry.
Now, I very much lament the necessity of putting the impress of
untruth and incompleteness upon the brow of such a body.
In incomprehensible blindness of an adulterous association of ideas,
for it had appropriated to itself the truth of the conclusions from the
calculations of De Hemptinne, this Academy mistook the difference
between numbers and ideas, and overlooked the fact that the concep-
tion of quality is far more concrete than the quite abstract and purely
spiritual conception of quantity. Herein they place themselves upon
the antiquated stand-point of those who hold it to be impossible that
there should be antipodes, because it presents great difficulties to the
prevailing association of ideas, to conceive of people whose heads are in
the same direction as our feet. Hence their mistaken principle, to
wish to let figures speak, where we do not have to deal merely with
a relation of super or sub-ordination, but also with a manifold co-ordi-
nation. Losing sight of the domain of the real in its concrete quulita-
tive precision, it surrenders its whole thought and experimenting to
calculating, as if, in this question, it could deny the ground of imme-
diate experience.
That can only be explained by an intentional endeavor to mutilate
facts, for where is the measure of the necessary counterpart to the
completeness of their opinions? §. 215.
To attain this, this very wise Academy of Sciences ought at least
to have entered upon a similar calculation regarding the quantities, in
which the various substances of our organism, or at least some of
them, are found in some parts of the same.
To characterize this sin of omission, I will add yet the calculation
adopted by this learned Society, that the quantity of alcohol, necessary
for the preparation of the ninth attenuation, forms a cube of one quar-
ter of a league; that for the preparation of the twelfth, a cube of
twenty-five leagues, etc.
Now, according to §. 28, a blood-cell contains a 0.000000000000-
4746594816 part of Chloride of calcium, thus 22 decimal places, like
that of the 11th Homeopathic attenuation, according to the arith-
metical calculation, for the preparation of which, according to the
same example, a cube of 1.7 leagues of alcohol or water would have
been necessary.
If we assume that these blood corpuscles live 35 days, which is
certainly beyond the mark, and in any case fully up to the extremest
limit of possibility, then we would, according to this calculation
within this space of time, have to take, within ourselves, this whole
70
quantity of alcohol or water, in order to have furnished the blood
corpuscle its part of Chloride of lime from our food.
One may see
that the absurdity in which this Academy of Sciences loses itself,
assumes monstrous proportions.
If, now, Homœopathy, with the eleventh of its attenuations, under-
stands how to accomplish just as much as Nature, in her household,
then, also, in this relation, nothing is more significant than that the
opponents of Homeopathy reproach it with those very results in
which it throws the physiological school the most in the shade.
•
Or is the French Academy of Sciences so little versed in natural
sciences, that it does not yet know what wonderful means Nature
uses in order to build up the greatest, by means of the smallest only?
From all which has been adduced in the foregoing paragraphs, the
one-sidedness of the calculation and its utter worthlessness, without a
simultaneous appeal to experiment, is fully shown.
This French Academy of Sciences may hence, once for all, be told
that these calculations are without value. It should, before it
It should, before it expresses
such opinions, resort, first, to experiment, and prove such Homeo-
pathic attenuations on its fellows, even; for instance, those of Arsenic,
by which means it might come before the public with rational observ-
ations and correct opinions.
§. 227.
In order to lead the fearful notions of the adversaries of Homœo-
pathic attenuations into another dilemma, I adduce the exact experi-
ments of Dr. Pröll, of Gastein, which were made in presence of Karl
Reissacher, the geologist and superintendent of mines, and from
which the following results were obtained, which I quote verbatim.
"Since skeptics call the Thermal Springs at Gastein distilled water,
both fluids have been compared with each other before the tribunal
of the electrometer, by which the great difference between them has
of
been discovered, as well as the fact that only the condensed vapor
the Gastein springs was like distilled water."
In order to learn whether the conduction of electricity loses anything,
and how much, by being mixed or attenuated with distilled water,
spring water (from the Fürstenquelle) was mixed with distilled water
in an increasing and decreasing arithmetical progression; thus 90 cub.
cent. of spring water with 10 cub. cent. of distilled water, etc., and
finally 10 cub. cent. of spring water with 90 cub. cent. of distilled
From this was obtained the interesting result, that the more
water.
71
distilled water was used or the higher the attenuation was carried, the
more acute was the first angle of deviation, i. e., there was less electricity
conducted, or the first shock was less severe; but that the constant
angle of deviation, or the energy and intensity of the conduction of
the electricity, remained nearly equal under all degrees of mixture;
only very slight differences presented themselves, and, with the greatest
attenuation, differed only about 5 from the least attenuation; and
even spring water, drawn five years before, gave the same angle of
deviation as that drawn an hour before, i. e., that drawn a quarter of
an hour before and cooled to the same degree, 14.50 R. (F. 64.62).
Hence, we may again conclude, what may be really maintained,
even in this respect, regarding the Homoeopathic dilutions.
manner.
§. 228.
Sub-
Finally, I must consider, in brief, the art and manner of preparing
the Homeopathic drugs. The molecular bodies of vegetable sub-
stances are best preserved in equal proportions of the juice of the
plant and alcohol, the plants themselves having been gathered at par-
ticular seasons of the year, in their natural habitats. If one wishes to
set them free from this aggregate condition, ten drops of this tincture
should be taken and put into ninety drops of alcohol, by which the
first so-called decimal attenuation is prepared. With thirty vials, each
one of which contains about ninety drops of alcohol, the thirty atten-
uations are prepared in the same way, by taking ten drops from the
preceding vial and adding it to the succeeding, and continuing in this
Thus all substances soluble in alcohol are treated.
stances, which, though finely divided according to chemical notions,
yet throw down a deposit in alcohol, and are neither soluble, as we
are wont to call it, in water nor in alcohol, as Iron, Copper, Gold, etc.,
throw down no visible deposit with their fourth trituration. They
must, however, be previously examined with great care as to their
chemical purity. We then add to a grain of Iron, for example, finely
divided upon a whetstone, ninety-nine grains of sugar of milk, and
triturate the Iron with this medium for a long time, as a quarter of an
hour, or even longer, if it is desirable to have it more finely divided.
Then the same process is continued with a grain of the first tritu-
ration, which makes the second, and so on. By this means, an infinite
increase in surfaces is gained for these substances, which, as is well
known, can be the only parts which have effect upon other bodies, so
that, for example, the third trituration of Carbo vegetabilis is still of
1
72
an evident gray color. That the sugar of milk, which has been used
as the medium of the triturations, may the sooner dissolve, we fill a
vial half full of distilled water, in making the fourth attenuation from
the trituration, and add the other half in alcohol, after the sugar of
milk has dissolved.
Hahnemann's rule, it is true, was to attenuate with one drop always
instead of ten, but in doing so we are making too great strides, for
The 1st of Hahnemann's Potency corresponds to the 2nd dec. atten.
66
66
2nd
3rd
4th
66
66
66
66
66
66
4th
66 6th
66
66
66
66
66
Sth
66 etc.
Thus we should lose the effects of the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th decimal
potency. The first three triturations, on the other hand, are better
made, as it seems to me, in the way prescribed by Hahnemarn,
because, with regard to decimal triturations, we are not able to
keep in a state of suspension, one as low as the third. Thus
Hahnemann made centesimal attenuations: others, decimal. The
cypher, which stands next to the remedy, indicates the degree of
attenuation. In order to learn more particularly the preparation of
Homœopathic remedies, I refer to the works on Pharmacology, by
Drs. Buckner, Caspari, Gruner, etc.; they can be only referred to here,
for extracts from them would be impracticable.
A few ounces of these attenuations, then, form the great ocean
which the opponents of Hahnemann thought they could make out,
and that, in accordance with his mistaken calculations too; having
shown themselves unable to correct this mistake, they have shown
that they were capable of falling into an error with him. What
more has been said upon this point belongs likewise to the fables, but
Hahnemann was right again when he declares, that he observed that,
after each violent shaking, the efficacy of these attenuations not infre-
quently was increased, because, by this mechanical influence, the
molecules which had, after long standing, sunk to the bottom, may
again be suspended, and molecular bodies, cohering together, may be
again separated. What he maintained concerning potentizing by
attenuation, refers only to the setting free of the molecular bodies
thus accomplished. That he expressed himself therein somewhat
inexactly, Homoeopathy has even to this day bitterly to atone for,
since it is easier to notice a mistake than to correct it. But the reason
of his mistake, and the separation of the idea of the quantity of the drug
from that of its quality and relation, necessary for detecting it, this
highly learned physiological school has not as yet succeeded in learn-
ing; hence has, in judgment, not advanced a hair's breadth beyond
73
-
Hahnemann, in his time, half a century ago. If it complains of this,
it complains about itself. Had Hahnemann, or one of his surviving
disciples, only affirmed that he had found vegetable substances in the
spinal marrow of man, because they had a blue reaction with Iodine,
then a blessing would have rested upon all who called themselves
Homœopathists! Although the assertion of Stilling, that these bodies
having a blue re-action with Iodine were cadaverous products, could
not be maintained, yet it has been shown by Schmidt that they are
animal and not vegetable; not non-nitrogenous, but nitrogenous
formations, and this finally might have been concluded with the same
certainty from the law of specification, had Virchow been acquainted
therewith. Carbo-hydrates are found, indeed, in the human organism,
in Sugar of Milk, for example, and Grape-sugar, but only as constit-
uent substances; as vegetable forms, a priori, never. But because
this famous discovery originated with a Coryphoeus of the physiolog-
ical school, and was sounded forth, ex-cathedra, all the world listened
with unction to his words.
When Liebig found that common salt does not become suitable to
act as a function-remedy till attenuated in fifty times its weight in
water, while a concentrated solution is unsuitable for this purpose, then
he, in fact, potentized the efficiency of common salt-just as Hahne-
mann did.
The Homœopathic attenuations and potencies are thus
borne out after all, as unchangeable facts according to laws of nature,
and their designation is chosen with perfect propriety.
On the other hand, the great Hahnemann and his disciples, how
are they followed with the bitterest invectives, and how are the most
atrocious persecutions continued, to this day, against a science which,
in every direction, is based upon natural laws! But a truth never
entertains fears, it succeeds finally, and the earth moves after all, to
the infallible injury of those opponents, of which history will always
speak.
§. 229.
In Germany, the seats of the sciences, the Universities, are those
institutions which not only distinguish themselves by perfect ignorance
of Homœopathy, but oppose it, nevertheless, with hands and feet, it
being impossible to talk of heads, under prevailing circumstances.
As proof hereof, I quote again a person who is distinguished as the
most prominent scientific authority in Germany, because he loves to
keep silence in the face of proofs, which might bring his scientific
character into no slight question.
74
In the recent (the fourth) edition of the Chemical Letters, by Baron
Liebig, we read, at the end of the fourth letter of Vol. I., the following:
"Who can maintain that the majority of educated and well informed
men of our time, have reached a higher degree of knowledge of nature
and its forces, than the Iatro-chemists of the sixteenth century, when
he knows that hundreds of physicians, who have been educated at our
Universities, maintain principles which bid defiance to all experience
and common sense; men who believe that the effects of drugs lie in
certain powers or qualities, which are put in motion and increased by
trituration and shaking, and can be transferred to inert substances;
who think that a law of nature, which has no exception, is untrue
as regards drugs, while they assume that their efficacy is increased
by their attenuation and their decrease in effective substance? Truly,
one would be led to conclude that medicine, which has for its object
the knowledge of nature and its forces, had taken the lowest place
as an inductive science."
Are there then no phenomena in nature which show that smaller
quantities of the same substance produce more effect than greater?
This question Liebig should have first asked himself, and sought to
answer it, before he, as a natural philosopher, ventured to oppose
Homœopathy. He might have found examples enough; indeed they
have been expounded by his very own self. Is this not the most unde-
niable proof that Liebig, in his inconsiderate opposition to Homeo-
pathy, meant only to maintain a far spread false opinion, and nowise
cared for objective facts? Is such an undertaking worthy of a natural
philosopher?
At the first glance, it is evident that Liebig is, as yet, so little
acquainted with the laws of nature, that he thinks that the effect
and counter-effect of matter, within our organism, is merely an affair
of the various relations of quantity; regarding the qualities, relations
and modalities inseparable from the quantities, which, in such conclu-
sions, are to be considered quite as much as the quantities themselves;
to think of these, and bring them into his calculation, he has, as his
opposition to Homeopathy demonstrates, either never learned, or
forgotten again, or kept in silence about, for the sake of an unscrupu-
lous eristic strategem. Neither the one nor the other is becoming to
a natural philosopher, and naturally very much degrades him in the
high opinion in which he is generally held by all men of science.
Nothing is easier than to refute Liebig upon his own domain, that
of chemistry.
When, for instance, Liebig undertakes an analysis of atmospheric
air, and wishes to determine its proportion of Carbonic acid and water,
75
he uses the aspirator, and the various glass tubes required for this
experiment, part of which are filled with small bits of glass, moistened
with concentrated Sulphuric acid, and part with moist hydrate of
Lime. By the change of weight which the substances in these tubes,
in consequence of these experiments, undergo, he now learns how
much Carbonic acid and water the air in question contains, by a simple
calculation.
But, it is also known to him, that the question is only apparently
solved, for he must now still consider the relations which the results
of these experiments bear to those properties of the air which were
excluded from these experiments: he must, for instance, undertake to
reduce the air found in the aspirator, and saturated with moisture, to
dry air, and, at the same time, to reduce the dry air thus found to
0 C, (the freezing point, according to Celsus,) and the normal pressure.
Thus, the problem of this chemical experiment, depends not merely
upon the result found, and thus, not merely upon the quantity weighed,
but also upon the relations and qualities further to be brought into
the calculation.
On what ground, now, does Liebig permit himself to pass judg-
ment upon Homœopathy according to the law of quantity only?
If a man of science, for which Liebig generally passes, can be so
clearly led ad absurdum, he certainly will, being a confirmed dogma-
tist, never be brought to confess his great error. Experience has hith-
erto pointed that way, and to this also, that he considers himself, and
those opposing Homeopathy with him, as infallible.
§. 230.
What Liebig understands by induction, we have seen in §. 97.
It is hence declared, in this quotation in §. 229, which, according to
the table of contents, seems to refer to the error of Homœopathy, that to
affirm that the efficacy of a drug increases with its attenuation, or, as
we are wont to say, more briefly, that less helps more than much, sets
at defiance the common sense of mankind, the laws of nature, and
experience.
In order to set this contradiction in a clearer light, since the chief
substance of this quotation from Liebig does not rest upon any experi
ments made by him at the sick-bed, or any experiments and observa-
tions made by him anywhere, but only upon the opinion of others, I
am obliged to quote still farther, from his chemical letters, and quote
something established, at least, by the experiment and observation of
1
76
Liebig himself, and which, in Agricultural Chemistry, forms the
results of investigations which were undertaken for the purpose of
learning the nutrition and function of grain.
In the fortieth of the Chemical Letters-edition of 1859-vol. II.
page 290, we learn, regarding the action of the Salts of Ammonia,
common salt, and the Nitrate of soda, upon the earthy phosphates:
"It has been lately observed that Nitrate of soda and common salt
possess the property, in the most remarkable degree, even in the most
attenuated dilution, of dissolving the earthy phosphates, and that
hence these salts take part in the nourishment of plants, in a way
similar to that which we ascribe to the Carbonic acid water, the
humus, and the Salts of ammonia." As examples, these are given
among others:
100 kilogrammes of common salt, dissolved in 50,000
litres of water, dissolve 1,500 grammes of tri-basic phosphate of lime;
further, 100 kilogrammes of common salt, dissolved in 50,000 kilo-
grammes of water, dissolve 3,790 grammes of phosphate of magnesia.
Thus we have attenuations of common salt brought into use here,
which were about equal to the 2nd Homeopathic attenuation. Of
course, every thing is permitted to chemistry, but Homœopathy could
do such a thing, only under penalty of the greatest contempt.
Upon these experiments and their results, Liebig remarks on page
292 of the same 2nd volume:
"The quantity of the carthy phosphates, which is taken up by the
above-mentioned solutions, does not increase proportionally with the
saline contents of the fluid; it seems, on the contrary, to dissolve pro-
portionally more of it, the more attenuated the fluid is."
These are just the very same results which Homeopathy obtained
from its experiments and observations, haif a century before chemistry,
while now, for the first, chemistry has learned, in opposition to its own
assertion, at the beginning of this paragraph, and on p. 105, vol. I.,
of Chemical Letters, that the effect of common salt actually increases
with its dilution; thus, that a little helps more than much.
How happens it, that the most celebrated amongst the world of
learned men, can, in good earnest, be guilty of such contradictions?
To me, as well as to every learned man, it must be unpleasant to
reply, that it comes from ignorance of the laws of nature, and, in
consequence thereof, from confounding the quantitative causal law
with the qualitative, and chiefly from ignorance of the law of nature,
regarding the equality of effect and counter effect, §. 16, of which, on
page 208, vol. I., a fragment is given, but of which he understands so
little that he is unhappily led, on page 219, to a false and utterly
unexpected conclusion.
77
According to the quantitative causal law, we say, of course, that an
effect is single, twofold, threefold, if it is produced by a single, two-
fold or threefold quantity of the cause; as a certain quantity of heat
only increases the volume of a body; twice as much melts it; and three
times as much decomposes it; and this causal law is truly the leading
principle of chemistry; and hence the principles touching the decrease
of effect, with the decrease of the efficient substance, are right, so far
as they have no reference to any thing else, and whoever can maintain
the contrary, after reading page 105, of vol. I., of the Chemical Letters,
can readily be led ad absurdum. But Liebig spoke here of facts
which could not be explained from the quantitative causal law, which,
consequently, he should not have brought into connection with that
law; he spoke here of facts which occur within the organism, hence
can only find their explanation according to the law of the immediate
reciprocal action.
This assertion, page 105, vol. I., of the Chemical Letters, "that the
assumption is wrong that the effects of the drug lie in the qualities,
that its efficacy may be increased by attenuation of its active prin-
ciple," finds an actual and direct contradiction in many parts of the
same work. Thus page 119, vol. II., we have: "The gluten of the
cereal, the fibrine of meat, submitted to the heat of the body, readily
and rapidly dissolve in water which is scarcely sour from an addition
of Muriatic acid, and this solubility does not increase, but decreases,
if the quantity of acid in the fluid is increased." In this connection,
Liebig says that part of Hydrochloric acid is a powerful solvent
for the above-mentioned plastic constituents.
1
Thus Liebig, in order to obtain the efficiency desired, had to potent-
ize the quality of the concentrated hydrochloric acid, according to the
law of the mediate reciprocal action of bodies not living, by atten-
uating this acid a thousand times, by which process, consequently,
with the decrease of the effective matter, he had increased its effi-
ciency.
Here, again, a little helps more than much.
§. 231.
The same qualitative conditions of causality, however, have not
only been known to Homeopathy for more than half a century; it
has also been long known to every salt manufacturer, and before the
Chemical Letters were written, that a small quantity of common salt
increases the solubility of Gypsum, while the salt itself, in greater
78
quantities, as in saline springs, for instance, precipitates the Gypsum
again, so that it is crystallized in large six-sided prisms. Liebig, with
his supposed discovery, has thus found nothing new, and has only
been unable to explain a fact previously unknown to him.
Chemistry, at last, will be obliged to give more attention to the
qualities of substances, in which Homœopathy has anticipated it, half
a century.
In plants, and, upon the whole, in all organisms, without exception,
the law of quantitative causality has no validity; in them, the law of
the equality of immediate effect and counter-effect only prevails, and
every form of such a reciprocal action is a specific form, which, hence,
reacts against the influences of the outer world according to its [the
world's] specific laws of attraction and repulsion only. An instructive
example of these truths we find in the thirty-ninth of the Chemical
Letters, volume second, in the statements there given touching the
specific function and nutrition of the duck weed.
"For many water-plants," we there read, "whose roots do not
touch the ground, other laws must exist, as is self-evident, for their
reception of mineral nourishment; they must obtain it, as sea-plants
do, from the surrounding medium, for, wherever a plant grows, it
must find the conditions of its existence. An examination of the duck-
weed (Lemma trisulea) presents, in this respect, interesting observa-
tions. The plant grows in standing water, ponds and marshes, and
swims upon the surface of the water, so that its roots do not touch the
bottom at all."
A quantity of this plant was taken from an artificial swamp, and
the composition of its ashes determined: at the same time, ten or
fifteen litres of the swamp water, which had a slight greenish color,
were filtered and evaporated to dryness; the ashes as well as the saline
residuum of the water were subjected to analysis.
"To make the comparison more easy, I place the analysis of the
two side by side.
79
100
Ashes of the Duck-weed.
parts of the dried weed gave 16.6
parts of ashes. In 100 parts of
the ashes, under moderate heat,
were contained:
Lime.
Magnesia
16.SI
Saline residuum of water, from
the Botanical garden. 1 litre con-
tained 0.415 grammes of salty
residuum (under a moderate heat).
In 100 parts of the salts were con-
tained:
35.00
12.264
IO.IO
Common salt
Chloride of potash
Potash
Soda
•
Oxide of Iron with traces
of Alumina
Phosphoric acid
Sulphuric acid .
Silicic acid
•
5.08
5.897
1.45
13.16
7.35
S.730
6.09
12.35
3.97
0.47I
0.721
2.629
S.271
3.24
The quantity of mineral constituents in these water plants, as well
as in the marsh-water, may astonish (!) many, quite as much as it did
the first observer, for, in fact, it could not well have been supposed,
beforehand, (!) that such a plant, in its richness in mineral constituents,
should far exceed the great number of land-plants. These constituents
the plant took from a solution, (§. 223,) but, what is note-worthy, a
selection was made. The comparison of the composition shows that
all the mineral substances of the first column, as far as Soda, were
found in the plant, but in greatly changed proportions; that the water
contained forty-five per cent. of lime and magnesia, the plant only
twenty-one per cent. of both; the water contained 9.72 per cent. of
oxide of iron, the plant ten times more; the difference between phos.
acid, potash, etc., are no less great. The plant took up the soluble
mineral constituents, as it needed them for the processes of life,
(§. 106,) and, in no wise, in the proportions in which they were pre-
sented by the fluid.
"The richness of the swamp water, in mineral constituents, is very
remarkable, for the quantity of the same is more than ten times greater
than in the drain water, and more than twenty-five or thirty times
greater than in spring water; in its qualitative contents, we have
here a mineral water, which, except in swamps, is not to be met
with in nature.”
"The quantity of Potash, Phos. acid, Sulph. acid, Silicic acid and
Iron, in this water, is explained without difficulty. In a marsh there
gradually accumulates the residua of dying vegetable generations,
whose roots have received a quantity of mineral constituents from the
So
earth; these residua of plants become decomposed at the bottom of
the marsh, i. e., they burn up, and their organic elements, or their ashy
constituents, are dissolved by means of Carbonic acid, and perhaps
other organic acids, in the water, and remain dissolved therein, when
the surrounding mud and earth, which is in contact with this solution,
have been saturated with them."
Here we have a clear example of the law of reciprocal action and
the law of specification, §. 27, which Liebig attempts to accommo-
date to Virchow's idea of selection, and, we have, at the same time, a
confirmation that so-called insoluble substances may be made soluble
for and within the organism; in brief, a quantity of facts, the condi-
tions of which, from natural laws, were known to Homœopathy, this
perverse Homeopathy (!) long before it was known to chemistry.
Homœopathy has no need of the distinction between a life force
and a chemical force: it has resolved these ideas into facts. Even if
we take the vital force as the collective idea for all the forces governing
the organism, as Liebig wishes, then there is no longer any special
chemical force; for it must be contained in the vital force, and so it is,
too. The whole difference, sustained for lack of analysis of ideas and
facts, consists in this, that the organism has its mechanical resistances
in the membranes, according to the laws of their specific movements
of attraction and repulsion, consequently admits only a mediate
chemismus according to its own diosmotic laws, and no immediate
chemismus produced by substances alone; which (the immediate
chemismus), would be possible only, when the organism lost these
organic forms in consequence of external influences. Then, the
immediate chemismus of its substance naturally enters in the rights
of its given modalities.
If a plant met with thirty-five per cent. of Lime, in the water,
capable of being absorbed, and appropriated to itself only sixteen per
cent., and found but three per cent. of Potash, and took up thirteen
per cent., then surely no choice was allowed it, but it did it necessarily
by virtue of the natural determination of its specific form, and it
absolutely could do no otherwise; it did it by virtue of its specific
quality, to which it subordinated the quantities. The quality of sub-
stances in organic life determines the quantity necessary to life, not
vice versa, as chemistry determines qualities according to quantities.
The plant possesses a very great variability in regard to the require-
ments of its specific nutritious substances, and always thrives better by
means of a small quantity than of larger quantities thereof, as is the
case with the human organism.
81
Liebig himself says, on this point, among other things, page 328,
II., “with the quantity of the means of nutrition, their chemical effect
increases, and, presented to the plants in certain proportions, they
become sick and die," and upon the next page, "the enriching of the
soil with organic matters, seems for many plants, a cause of disease
and death." But the law of this quantity, the law of the dose,
chemistry again knows not at all. In the example of the Duck-
weed, we see it take up the most, from those substances which were
present in the water of its marsh in the least quantity; this cannot
be explained by its necessity alone. These organic motions are
founded in quite other natural laws, than in the hypothesis of a selec-
tion; in natural laws, which have long been known to Homeopathy
and used by it at the sick-bed. Even the law of the specific lines of
direction of substances within the organism, is unknown to chemistry,
§. 106, and the facts which relate thereto, it hence considers as resting
upon unknown grounds, without thinking to look for the law upon
which they rest.
It knows, right well, that without Phosphoric acid in the ground,
no grain can be developed; without Silicic acid, no straw, and without
nitrogenous substances, no leaf, because it found these constituents
in these parts of the plants, and, hence, drew the inductive conclusion
that the phosphatic and lilicious earths and nitrogen were the means
of nutrition for these parts. But had it known the law of nature,
why all these things must take such a course as this, the strife about
nitrogen or the constituents of the earth, would never have occurred
in Agricultural Chemistry. This law of specification was known to
Homeopathy at its very birth, and, indeed, was one of the conditions.
of its very existence.
That a plant should bloom and bear seeds (p. 326, II. Chemical
Letters,) it seems to many to be a necessary condition, that the activity
of the leaves and roots should reach a certain limit, a point of rest ;
from this point forward the vegetative activity seems to have gained
the upper-hand in a new direction, and the juices present, if they are
not called into requisition for the formation of new leaves and root-
fibres, serve now for the formation of flowers and seeds." But it not
only seems so; it really is so, in consequence of the above-mentioned
laws, under which the sexual process must occur, provided food is
supplied to the system, and that, too, upon the ground of the simplest
of the laws of Nature, that of the attraction of unlikes and repulsion
of likes.
PART II.
6
82
со
§. 232.
It needs no further investigation to prove that Liebig, in his decis
ion, p. 105, I., where he appeals to experience, can have deduced
those experiences only from cases of the quantitative causal law; that
Liebig's own experiences are in favor of, not against Homœopathy;
that he, however, does not know the ground of these so-called expe-
riences, with common salt in the second Homeopathic dilution, etc.,
and consequently fell into a fallacy, which originated in the arbitrary
appeal to the quantitative causal law, for cases which are to be found
under the law of the equality of effect and counter-effect.
Why Homœopathy engages in the manipulation of shaking and
triturating, so offensive to Liebig, as we see from his Chemical Letters,
p. 105, Vol. I., is explained from simple mechanical grounds, accord-
ing to which, bodies by a natural law, (and as Liebig himself admits),
can only operate upon others by their superficies, and because, by
shaking, soluble bodies, and by triturating, insoluble bodies, gain in
superficies.
If one reads these Chemical Letters, he will find himself quite at a
loss to explain the ever-recurring contradictions of the assertions made
therein on p. 105, Vol. I.; not only as regards the attenuations, but
also as regards the triturations. On p. 295, Vol. II., for instance,
it is written "the heaviest manuring with the earthy phosphates
and coarse powder can hardly be compared, in its effect, with a
far smaller quantity in a minutely divided state, for, from this latter,
we have the effect that a particle of the manure is to be found in all
parts of each small bit of soil. A single root-fibre requires infinitely
little from the ground which it touches, but it is necessary, for its
function and its existence, that this minimum should be present at
the very spot." Do we not hear a Homeopathist speak, who gives
us his experience, that drugs must at least be so reduced and triturated,
that they are smaller than the corpuscles of the blood and the calibre
of the capillary vessels, the roots of our nutrition, in order that they
may be taken up from them, and that directly, from the tongue, or in
the throat, etc. Even the difference between function and nutrition is
hinted at by Liebig (though from his ignorance of these relations not
very clearly), in those cases where common salt acts as a functional
and the phosphate of lime as a nutritive means.
Thus, at least, Chemistry has gone blindly into the net of Homœo-
pathy, and this event was to be expected, as soon as Chemistry
mounted from the laboratory, into the realm of the living organism.
83
Liebig cannot seriously mean to take Homœopathy to task (page
105:
Vol. I..) that it transfers its drugs to relatively indifferent sub-
stances, as alcohol or sugar of milk, in order to preserve and finally
use them, for, on p. 261, Vol. II., we read, "The particles of the
soil, however, do not only hold fast whatever of vegetable matter is
in them, but their power to furnish to the plants, what they need,
reaches much farther. If rain, or other water, which contains
Ammonia, Potash, Phosphoric acid, Silicic acid, in a state of solution,
is brought into contact with the soil, then these substances leave the
solution almost at once: the soil appropriates them from the water.
If the soil did not possess this property, then these three chief nutri-
tive substances could not be kept in the earth."
Now, this is just what Homœopathy seeks to do, and that it suc-
ceeds to retain its drugs in their vehicles, as the soil retains those
nutritious substances, every day proves. I cannot imagine how
Homœopathy has thereby offended experience and the common
sense of man.
By forces, finally, and qualities, Homeopathy understands nothing
different from Chemistry. In Homœopathy forces and qualities are
nothing but the physical, chemical, etc., properties of substances,
and hence, if Liebig should imagine (p. 105, Vol I.) that Homœo-
pathy still possesses certain other forces or qualities, he is in error.
Homœopathy is, in that respect, as well as in every other, far in
advance of Chemistry; for it knows, at the same time, that, as regards
its Therapy, just as regards the supply of nutritious matter to plants
(for even its Therapy is founded upon the laws of function and
nutrition,) the quantities of substances, for this purpose, are to be
measured according to the laws of the equivalents of motion, but
the qualities according to the laws of specification, and both within
the law of the reciprocal causality of the organism.
§. 233.
Besides, that Liebig does not yet know the law of the equality of
action and counter action, and thinks that he can supply its place
in the strife against Homeopathy by that of quantitative causality;
besides this error, he commits two others, upon this unfortunate
page 105.
One of them consists in this, viz., that he allows himself to be led
to believe that medicine was taking the lowest place, as an inductive
science, among sciences which have for their object the knowledge of
84
nature and its forces. If this is to refer to physiological medicine only,
then, according to the previous paragraphs, no objection can be made
to it; but as regards Homœopathy, I have some scruples. First, for
instance, the question presses itself upon us, whether Liebig himself
was inductively led to the adoption of this opinion. Induction pre-
supposes a leading principle, for the undertaking of experiments and
observations, and the result of the observation made, is then expressed
by an inductive conclusion. The flattering curriculum vitæ of med-
ical science which he thinks he must infer from the history of med-
icine, and furthermore, the views of his medical friends, may contain
a leading principle, which should induce him, by experiment and
observation, to search the matter to the very bottom, nevertheless
nothing of the kind, done by Liebig, meets us in any of his writings:
that is, he has never yet treated one patient according to Homœopathic
principles, much less cured onc. In such a case, I should, at least,
have omitted to have uttered arbitrary and non-inductive opinions,
regarding a vastly comprehensive science and with the same breath
to have reproached this very same science regarding the laws of induc-
tion.
If a chemist should once have treated a patient and cured him, or
one of those patients which have been declared incurable by physi-
cians of the old school, but of whose subsequent cure this work con-
tains examples enough, (and their number might easily be increased,)
then Homœopathy might declare him her equal, and hold him capable
of speaking upon physiological, pathological and therapeutical subjects.
As long as a chemist cannot show that he has accomplished such a
result, I would bid him, in all modesty, to be silent. Yes, I will con-
tent myself with not asking quite so much, yet if I read, according to
p. 311, Vol. I., of Chemical Letters, "by the knowledge of the cause
of the origin and propagation of putrefaction, in organic atoms, the
question touching the nature of many contagions and miasmata
admits of a simple solution," I would like to ask for a direct
answer to this simple question: Why then does not Agricultural
Chemistry heal the potato-rot and the grape disease? It should first
obtain therapeutical successes, at least within its own pooper realm,
before it undertakes to speak of things which it cannot understand,
because it is not practically occupied with them; because its theory
concerns only the quantitative causal law, and it is not versed in the
laws of the organic reciprocal action of plants, even of an organism
which has no heart, no stomach, no nerves, no blood, no brain, etc.,
but, as an advantage, has immensely great possibilities of compensa-
tion to enable it to dispose of superfluous matters, and to keep it
85
unharmed under great deprivations; of an organism, which presents
nothing but the lowest stage of sexual life, and whose cure from dis-
eases hence ought to be effected far more easily than that of a human
being; one need only throw the constituents of its own ashes upon
the ground, to afford it proper nourishment.
The other error upon that page (105) is a dialectic one, since, at that
place, the assumption that drugs "increase" in efficacy as they are
attenuated, is contested; for increase or decrease, more or less, etc.,
express only statements of a proportion, and it ought first to be deter-
mined of what kind of a proportion.
It must often be attended with the greatest difficulties to construe
for one's self the ideas, the characteristics of objects, and to bring order
into them by the aid of reason, that is, with that faculty of reason
which discriminates ideas and conclusions, and is able and willing to
make them clear to one's self.
It must be attended with the greatest difficulties to see the difference
between the dependence in space and the simultaneity in time, as it is
wont to occur in the organic movements.
We wish, for instance, to eat, for the sake of nourishment, certainly
an every day occupation, and yet a very reciprocal process. Thus, for
this purpose, the means of subsistence must first be at hand, they
must be put into the mouth and chewed, and thereby be reduced.
These acts follow each other, as cause and effect, and can by no means
ever occur in an inverted order; but they occur at the same time with
all the other motions of the organism, on account of which it is that
we must eat. As soon as we begin to chew, there is thereby given,
within that succession, a manifold reciprocal causality of various
motions. By chewing, the surface of the morsel is increased to count-
less superficies, and, at the same time, the saliva is also present. with
which those increased superficies come in contact; at the same time,
moreover, with this contact, the chemical changes which are thereby
made possible, of the portions chewed and the saliva, take place; and
the smaller the fragments of the morsel are made by chewing, so much
more saliva will and can be used for this chemical action.
Now it would be foolish to say: the more I eat, the more I am
nourished, or, the more saliva is excreted, the greater is its chemical
action; for every plus of saliva would remain utterly without effect
upon the fragment of the morsel, with which only so much saliva can
come in contact as its superficies, by which it may be taken up, per-
mits; and what I eat more than I can digest, subserves no longer for
nutrition.
86
We see, also, the folly of those assertions, at once, as soon as we
briug to the subject—saliva—that of the morsel chewed, and, to the
subject of food, that of digestion, without which apposition those asser-
tions would be void of meaning, since we can only form an opinion
of comparison between two subjects and between two predicates of
one and the same subject, but not between the two comparative ideas,
"more," for the subject saliva, and "greater," for the predicate of the
offect.
Hence, the scheme of Liebig is utterly erroneous, according to
which, to one single subject, two ideas of proportion are given, and
one might say, or rather, must say, under penalty of stultification of
his common sense: a greater quantity of saliva produces more effect
than a smaller. That may be true in one case, but in another is just
as false, and is, and ever will be, an equivocal, and by no means correct,
conclusion.
But this fallacy, from mere ideas of relation, has become so wide-
spread and stereotyped that even learned men think that they may
use it without fear, as a lever wherewith to unhorse this offensive
Homœopathy.
It indeed requires an immense patience to read such insolence as
that of Liebig, Virchow, Wunderlich, etc., without meeting them with
a like overstepping of the bounds of good manners. Nothing but the
consciousness of superiority, could content one with saying nothing
farther than to establish the facts, in order to be able to demand that, to
each separate assertion, the proof must be furnished, all the more defin-
itely, if by it, an insult has been expressed; otherwise it would look as
much like a calumny as two hairs resemble each other.
§. 234.
To speak of the ignorance of the Dii minorum gentium as it still
blooms out against Homeopathy, in the Gartenlaube, in Romberg's
Wissenschaften des 19 Jahrhunderts, and elsewhere, this we may
decline on very respectable grounds.
But what would Liebig say if a learned man should appear, and,
without having himself made any observation, or any experiment upon
the relation of plants, in their reciprocal action with the outer world,
should have more than the audacity to declare that all which Liebig
had established, by his experiments and observations concerning the
laws of the reciprocal action of the vegetable organism, contradicted
sound human reason, since, according to the law of quantity, or quan-
87
titative causality, a less quantity of common salt could not produce
more effect than a greater? Liebig would seize his head with both
hands, to assure himself whether he still lived, a thinking man amongst
his fellows, amongst learned men, who could be guilty of such fool-
hardy blunders; but beyond such counter-assertions and his experi
ments, he would have nothing to oppose to such an adversary, who, on
his part, would stand firmly, neither to believe the one nor to imitate
the other as directed. Not till Liebig could charge him with making
a one-sided assertion, arising from the category of quantity, in which
the laws of quality, relation and modality, were forgotten, could he
give his adversary a decisive blow. But these laws are unknown to
Liebig himself, and therefore, Homeopathy finds itself in the position
to him and his consorts, in which Liebig would find himself in relation
to such an adversary.
But what would Liebig do, if those who accidentally had the power,
should order that the ground should never be tilled according to Liebig's
views, though they had never subjected these views to any experiment,
in conformity to natural laws, in order that they might understand
and comprehend them, but should characterize them as a swindle and
quackery, not to say anything of other friendly epithets?
The answer to these questions I leave to the reader, and only remind
him that Homeopathy, as is well known, enjoys this very same para-
doxical position, in many lands, and that this position is caused by
nothing but the irremediable prevalence of the errors set forth here
and in previous paragraphs, of learned men," who do not think for
themselves.
It would need a work specially devoted to the subject, and not a
small one, to set forth all the logical, physiological, pathological and
therapeutical errors, which are found in these Chemical Letters. To
assume to speak authoritatively upon Physiology, Pathology and Thera-
peutics, requires much more comprehensive knowledge than the author
of these letters possesses, and, judging by his antecedents, more than
he ever can possess.
What, now, shall we think of the words of Virchow: But the
belief is utterly nonsensical, that, a less quantity of a given substance
will effect more than a great quantity of the same substance"? The
Professor has thus never yet got so far with his studies and experiments
as to discriminate between the massive state of a remedy and its free
state. The law of causality, in Physics and Chemistry, he seeks to
impose upon the organism; he fancies, even, that he possesses the
prerogative to be allowed to give proofs and counter-proofs, with ideas
dependent upon relation, and errs thus in a three-fold manner regarding
88
he laws of nature and of thought. Where, now, lies the nonsense,
n him or in the facts? And who was the author of this nonsense?
Who did not understand the facts?
His treatises entitled "die Einheitsbestrebungen in der wissenschaft-
lichen Medicin," contain the above passage, and present nothing
which looks like scientific medicine, for their substance is directed
against the laws of nature, consequently they are not scientific, and
instead of aiming to attain a unity among physicians, he has not only
shown himself utterly incapable of this, but he seeks for the means of
making still wider, this dishonorable separation.
When experts encounter each other with such relative ideas as
increase, decrease, little, much, like, opposite, primary effect, secondary
effect, and really, and truly in all earnest think that they have estab-
lished intelligible opinions as binding upon all parties; when they have
strayed so very much from the laws of Nature and of thought, that,
instead of allowing to every body, every cell, every organism its specific
properties, causalities and reciprocal actions, and investigating them,
they attribute to them, (which of course is done with much less trouble.)
invisible forces and such as are inaccessible to experiment and observa-
tion, such as chemical forces, catalytic forces, vital forces and, still
added to this, vital forces of a higher and lower kind, without being
able to declare even from what idea of subject or predicate they must
be deduced: in such a case, it is no wonder if laymen also are hereby
deceived, for it is quite intelligible that one box on the ear hurts less
than three, and less intelligible that well-grounded advice, or even a
kind look only, might have often accomplished far more; nor any won-
der if prohibitions can be obtained against a science, which, above every
other, would be the greatest blessing for the entire humanity; a bless
ing which, in consequence of such errors, can at present, unhappily, be
bestowed only on a few.
§. 235.
According to Liebig, besides the vital force, which is unintelligible
to Homœopathy, there are also several other forces.
Liebig himself, regarding the origin of his assumptions, presents us
nothing that bears the character of a proof. True, we read in the
Chemical Letters, p. 25, Vol. I.: "If we discriminate between the
effects which belong to Chemical force, and those which belong
to the vital force, we find ourselves in the way to gain an insight into
the nature of the latter. Chemistry never will be able to produce an
eye, a hair, a leaf. But we know certainly that the origin of Hydro-
89
cyanic acid and the oil of bitter almonds in the bitter almond, of mus-
tard oil and sinapin in mustard, of sugar in sprouting seeds, is the
result of chemical decomposition; we see that the stomach of a dead
calf, with the help of a little hydrochloric acid, acts upon meat and
coagulated albumen, just as the living; that both became soluble, i. c.,
digested. All this justifies the conclusion that, upon the road of
scientific inquiry, we shall obtain a clear insight into the changes
which nutritive substances undergo in the organism, as well as into
the effect of drugs."
Do we know now what is vital force and what is chemical force?
We learn, in fact, just as little about it by reading through the previous
twenty-four pages as in the subsequent. Or does Liebig think that an
eye, a hair, a leaf can exist without a vital chemistry [Chemismus], and
are chemistry and chemical force one and the same thing? Should he
but know the laws of diosmosis and specification, then all this would be
clear to him, and the assumption of such forces would be superfluous.
Perhaps we shall gain some information upon these questions, if we
inquire what Liebig means by force, in general.
In Vol. I. page 33, we read: The natural philosopher of to-day
explains, by searching for, the causes which have preceded the phe-
nomenon; the causes perceptible to the senses he calls conditions; the
causes which he can no longer perceive by the senses, he calls forces."
Accordingly, the miasmata which are no longer perceptible to the
senses, are not substances, but forces!?
Or, if the vapors of Mercury, which no longer can be perceived by
the senses, produce salivation, then Liebig, notwithstanding this his
definition, cannot hesitate to say, if he would express himself correctly,
that one of the forces of the quicksilver, in combination with the
organism, had produced this; for to all other forces of quicksilver,
with other combinations, this predicate to produce salivation does
not belong.
How, even for this simple case, could the difference between that
effected by the vital force and that by the chemical force be established?
Where is the rule, the law, for this? In Liebig, nothing of the kind
is to be found.
This confusion, however, may be dispelled very easily. Liebig, for
instance, does not know that he, with the ideas advanced and main-
tained by him such as chemical force, etc.—gives us nothing but mere
predicates which lack objects, which consequently contain no proposi-
tion, by which hence nothing is stated, still less is anything demon-
strated, or can be explained. The predicate "chemical," for example,
apl the predicate "force," can apply to an infinite number of objects,
and
90
while these predicates in and by themselves, or united, are and remain,
mere empty places, which may be filled with all possible imaginations,
as long as no realities or objects, as in the example above, quicksilver
and organism, are joined with them.
To explain salivation, the natural philosopher of the present day,
according to Liebig, Vol. I. p. 31, need only ask: "what precedes this
phenomenon; what follows it?" And if the taking of quicksilver
into the organism precedes it, and the falling out of the hair and teeth.
follow it, that may be, to a chemist, a sufficient and brilliant explana-
tion, but for the natural philosopher, for the therapeutist, as Homœo-
pathy desires him to be, this poverty in knowledge would never be
sufficient.
From the foregoing, it is now apparent why those whom Liebig, in
the year 1859, qualified as natural philosophers of the present day.
hold as incomprehensible, not only the facts adduced at the beginning
of the previous paragraph, but also many other things in Homœopathy,
and hence that, according to §. 4, all this appears even impossible to
them.
It comes essentially within the scope of this work to combat, accord-
ing to the laws of nature, as often as possible, another fundamental
error of Liebig and his natural philosophers of the present day, uni-
versally hurtful to every progress in natural sciences, that, namely,
which would derive the explanations of natural phenomena, simply
and solely, as we have just seen, from the causal law.
If we take, for instance, the process occurring on the introduction
of oxygen into the organism, then cotemporaneously, with the attrac-
tion of the oxygen, by the porous and elastic blood-cells—which
attraction without synchronous condensation would be impossible,
according to natural law-the equivalent of simultaneously produced
heat belonging to this motion will also manifest itself, in accordance
with natural law, at the same time, i. e., as the equivalent of expansion,
etc., and that, indeed, not according to the law of causality, but accord-
ing to that of the equality of the action and counter-action immedi-
ately, just as, mediately, in Dobereiner's "Zündmaschine," the hydrogen.
is not the only cause of the ignition, but chiefly the platina sponge,
because it condenses the gas.
That this actually takes place, on the reception of Oxygen by the
blood, Physiology has already experimentally demonstrated, having
found that the blood-cells attract Oxygen with the greatest energy,
unite with it, condense and excite it; but these functions also have
their limits, for, even with a temperature of 45° C. (113° F.) the
91
blood-cells lose their property of becoming bright red under the action
of Oxygen.
Hence, the organism possesses, in the blood-cells, independent regu-
lators for the influence of Oxygen upon itself, consequently, also, upon
its process of respiration. For it is shown by experiment that, for
example, where the atmosphere contains the same amount of Oxygen,
hence independently of it, the influence of the magnetism of the earth,
twice in the twenty-four hours, and at various times through the
year, directly increases and again diminishes the development of Car-
bonic acid within the organism, and within the blood also. Thus, “the
kidneys and the rectum are not "the only regulators of the process
of respiration," as Liebig will have it, p. 18, Vol. II. They are so at
the same time with all the other regulators of the exchange of matter,
and one cannot ask, according to the causal law, what has preceded
the one or the other, and what has followed? Only in the reception
and giving off of matter, can we observe a succession within this same
space of time; but the phenomena of co-existence of cause and effect,
within a completed whole, could never be explained according to Liebig.
And if I add to this, that Schönbein is inclined to ascribe the effect of
the blood-cells upon Oxygen to their containing iron, then the question
arises again: which of all these movements is subordinate to a chemi-
cal, which to a physical, which to a vital, force, not to confound this
with a "living force" in mechanics, and this without ever discovering
an answer thereto, according to natural laws.
But
By the way, to this view of Schönbein, Scherer remarks:
this, in view of the small quantity of iron contained in the blood-cells
must be, horribile dictu, a Homœopathic effect." Yet this view — of
course, one must only not forget in this connection the contempor-
aneous effect of the cell membrane-is already verified by many experi-
ments. Hence, it looks every way probable that Physiology, led by
its own experiments, in a little while will stumble upon the laws of
Homeopathy — as Chemistry has already done blindly—upon the
laws of this very Homeopathy which, according to the conviction of
its adversaries, (§. 3,) is either deceived or deceiving.
§. 236.
On page 7, vol. II., we read: "The reciprocal action of the con-
stituent parts of food and of the Oxygen, distributed in the body by
the circulation of the blood, is the source of animal heat." However,
we should delude ourselves by believing that, on account of this pass-
age, we might suppose that Liebig was acquainted with the law of
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equality of action and counter-action; on the contrary, with that sen-
tence, Liebig only intends to express the quantitative causal reciprocal
relation between the supply by food and the loss proportional thereto,
through the influence of the Oxygen, that is, the dependence of one
upon the other.
This, however, is false! for, according to the law of the equality
of action and counter-action, that source of animal heat presents us
with only one of the conditions of the organic production of heat,
while the others are grounded in the functions according to the law
of the specification of the organism. Thus, for example, the quantity
of substances which goes over from the chyme into the chyle and the
blood, and is taken up for purposes of nutrition, is exclusively
dependent upon the superficial extent of the absorbent surface of the
epidermis and of the lungs, and of the degree of moisture of the air;
and, at the same time, the equivalent of heat, which is produced by
this mechanical labor, is again independent of the influence of oxygen,
just as much so as the sources of heat are, which spring from the
other organic momenta of adhesion and friction, produced by the
movements within the vessels, by those of the heart, the lungs, etc.,
leaving further ones out of consideration.
How could we otherwise connect and correct Liebig's assertion, p.
S, Vol. II., "the higher temperature of the animal body, or if it is
preferred, the throwing off of heat is mainly, and under all circum-
stances, the result of a combustion of combustible substances with
oxygen," with, and by, that on page 208, Vol. I., where Liebig him-
self says, on the other hand, "motion is the cause of heat"?
6
Or does Liebig think that the fundamental laws of motion, without
the organism, do not also hold good for motion within the organism?
Only when we recognize one body as the cause of change in another,
do we, in general, call the ground of its action or activity, force. But
Licbig always permits this causal-predicate force' to appear as doing
something, for example in p. 206, Vol. I., where he says, "a force
operates by pressure and attraction." Another lapsus ingenii happens.
to him regarding the molecular object "heat," as we may read, for
example, p. 21S, Vol. I., "heat" which elevates and raises the tem-
perature, does not press and draw, but "warms."
Thus warmth warms! Liebig teaches us, as sound sounds, and
wood is wooden! Though we can pardon anything in Liebig, since
we estimate his services very highly, yet we must call his attention to
such pitiable tautologies, used by way of explanation; since it is he who
speaks so violently regarding the errors which exists in Homeopathy,
the demonstration of which he has yet to furnish; for, the vast
93
majority of learned men of dependent thought, still look to him as to
an oracle, ready to lend his assertions unlimited credit.
in the very
If, finally, heat does not draw or press, how could it in the
example adduced by Liebig himself, p. 212, Vol. I.— by means of
the equivalents of mechanical labor of those iron bars, (which equiv-
alents were due to the various degrees of heat,) have been able to
restore the cracked and sunken-in arches of the Conservatoire des arts
et métiers in Paris?
Truly a doctrine which, like Homœopathy, regards explanations
only which conform to natural laws, can find no recognition there,
where the most prominent teachers, so very much misunderstand the
existing laws of Nature, that they are obliged to explain natural phe-
nomena according to their own subjective opinions.
In view of the chaotic confusion of ideas which has arisen there-
from, it might be advisable for each writer to give an account of all
the ideas used by him, and when I speak of error, in opposition to
truth, it is evident, that, in natural sciences, error is always at
home there, where the invisible fundamental truths, where the direct
perception of causality, of power of resistance, of the constancy of
masses and forces, of the equality of action and reaction, the categories
of quantity, quality, relation and modality, and all belonging thereto,
are left out of consideration. Error, hence, does not proceed from
the relation of our perceptions to the objects, but from the relation of
the judgment to the direct perceptions, hence, from an understanding,
which is incapable of forming objective conclusions from phenomena.
Hence, everything is false that cannot be affirmed or explained from
our direct perceptions, or which entirely contradicts them. Deeper,
however, than error lies ignorance, which often announces itself thus,
that it seeks to explain natural phenomena, which come under the
law of the equality of action and counteraction, by the causal law,
and vice versa.
Hence, all attempts to make natural sciences, Therapeutics in-
cluded, subordinate to chemistry (chemicifiren), are in vain, and
sooner or later must come to naught. They can, upon the whole, be
undertaken from one stand-point only, from that which estimates the
logical instrument of induction the highest, as is clearly the case with
Liebig, who, however, never succeeded yet in attaining his end
While induction, exposed as it is to doubt, holds, in the eyes of Hom
œopathy, a subordinate position in deduction, §. 90, Homeopathy rises
to the level of the fundamental principles of natural laws, from which
Liebig, Virchow, Wunderlich, and their fellows, are yet far distant,
but which, on that account, can be just as little understood by them as
94
any other discovery of Homœopathy. Thus, under no condition, can
the causal law, in its relation to cause and effect, comprise the whole
truth and offer full protection against error; but it would be absurd to
take the opinion of an authority, even the highest, for a criterion of
the truth, and these few examples of the logic and dialectics of Liebig
will suffice for a proof that Liebig's authority can not affect the cor-
rectness of the Homeopathic dose. Therapeutics according to natural
laws, is emancipation from authority and tradition!
§. 237.
In the great East, in Austria and Russia, no one has any fault to find
with Homeopathy; there, it is fully recognized that, among all classes
of society, the physician alone can draw the greatest profit for himself
individually, only from the best possible and most successful treatment
of his fellow beings; while all others, it is true, are also in the service
of society, but more for the sake of gain and less for the benefit of
their fellows. The West, however, England for instance, delights in
persecution, on grounds already repeatedly set forth. But in France,
of late, a change for the better has taken place. However, where we
find a large part of the population trusting in Homœopathy alone, and,
on this account, Homœopathy must be tolerated, there physicians are
forbidden the right to dispense their own medicines. But then, what
control would remain to the government over the preparation of such
drugs as are beyond the reach of chemical tests, if it were not permitted
to every physician to detect the cause of negative results at the bed-side,
by the exhibition of remedies prepared by himself, since the cause of
these negative results can only lie in the improper preparation of the
remedy? From the manner of preparation of these Homeopathic tinc-
tures, triturations and attenuations, everywhere alike, in Europe as well
as in America, and all parts of the world, according to the prescribed and
strictly observed quantities and qualities; furthermore, from the treat-
ment at the bed-side, strictly according to natural laws, any failure of
success must chiefly lie in the manner in which the drugs are prepared,
whether it be produced by carelessness in the preparation, or by external
injurious influences, to which, for instance, strong odors belong; these,
as no Physicist will dispute, may make all attenuations useless and
inefficient. From these grounds based upon experiment and observa-
tion, an Allopathic drug store can never be kept in the same place with
a Homœopathic, nor can the Allopathic druggist ever dispense remedies
in the Homœopathic store, since strong odors, those like Camphor
95
especially, cling so closely to their hands and clothes, that they can
never be removed rapidly enough.
Science has nothing to command, only to explain. Since the
impossibility has been seen of shaking the inner truth of Homœo-
pathy and its impregnable pillars based upon natural laws, an attempt
has been made to injure it maliciously from without. Where it could
not be forbidden at once, without causing much noise, it has been
arranged, as experience teaches, not only to establish badly managed
Homœopathic pharmacies, which, without the full control of Homœo-
pathic physicians are of no use, and hence might as well not be, or the
assistants of Allopathic pharmacies were allowed to come into
Homœopathic pharmacies, which thus makes it actually impossible
for one to get Homeopathic attenuations from them.
Against such a procedure, as against one which destroys its very
aim, Science must always and everywhere protest. It would, perhaps,
be more advisable to issue, without reserve, a general edict against the
practice of this method of cure; but surely this would prove to be
of but short advantage, for natural laws cannot be permanently
repressed, because they belong to the community at large, and remain
common property.
§. 238.
Now because Homeopathy is in every respect an incomprehensible.
subject to its opponents, these opponents shall be set right, and that by
an English writer. John Stuart Mill expresses himself rightly, and in
an annihilating manner, in his System of Inductive Logic (p. 461),
with regard to such errors, arising from lack of comprehension, by
the following example:
"It is inconceivable," said Newton in one of his letters to Dr.
Bentley, "that inanimate brute matter should, without the mediation
of something else, which is not material, operate upon and affect other
matter without mutual contact. That gravity should be innate, inhe-
rent, and essential to matter, so that one body may act on another, at
a distance, through a vacuum, without the mediation of anything else,
by and through which their action and force may be conveyed from
one to another, is, to me, so great an absurdity, that I believe no man,
who, in philosophical matters, has a competent faculty of thinking,
can ever fall into it."
This passage, written in big letters, should be hung up in the
study of every man of science, who is ever tempted to pronounce a
fact impossible, because it appears to him inconceivable. In our own
96
day, one would be more inclined, though with equal injustice, to
reverse the concluding remark, and consider the seeing any absurdity
at all, in a thing so simple and natural, to be what really marks the
absence of "a competent faculty of thinking."
Gravitation, without an interlying medium, may be incomprehen-
sible in itself, but even if one assumes it to be incomprehensible, yet
this may be a limitation of our own minds, without being a limitation
of nature."
This reproach applies not only to Allopathists, to whom the efficacy
of all attenuations appears inconceivable, but also to many Homœo-
pathists, to whom the efficacy of high potencies sounds like a fable.
But the contents of this work will show, beyond a doubt, that both
parties are wrong: and if we consider that to them also the well-being
of man is entrusted, that hence they should know all the means which
can help the patient towards health again, then every a priori depre-
ciation of the practical experience of others, exposes one to the
reproach of the most revolting want of conscience. This heathenish
want of conscience every physician stands accused of who has not
studied and properly applied the whole of Homœopathy, for to this
inexcusable want of conscience, thousands of human lives fall victims
every day, and the French Academy of Sciences, which surrounds
this want of conscience with the nimbus of its authority even, cannot
too soon and too openly recant its gross error. §. 226.
§. 239.
We have now just arrived at that point where we may say that the
dose must be left to each one for himself, because, 1st, The ineffective-
ness, even of the smallest dose, cannot be affirmed in accordance with
natural law, so long as it has not been determined by analysis of the
infinite, for each separate substance, in what proportions the capability
of contraction within, and in connection with, the fluid suspending its
molecules, decreases under increasing quantities, and, in what quanti-
ties thereof, the molecules of the body experimented with, are so far
apart that no influence upon the human organism is any longer appa-
rent. 2nd. Because, till this task has been perfectly accomplished, for
every substance, to be used as a remedy, it must be left to every
physician to operate with those quantities which he, by his own
individual gift of observation deems useful for his object, since the art
of observation forms the only instrument of the physician which pre-
sents him with a differential diagnosis, showing, whether a symptom
belongs to the cause of the disease or to his remedy, (i. e., remedy
97
given by him). The dose for each separate case is, at the present, tʊ
be found empirically. But no empiricism alone satisfies science; it
must have the natural law also, else there is no rest.
For these cases,
the differential calculus discovers the law of the efficiency of every
force, of every substance in the state of its molecules freed by atten-
uation, consequently it discovers also the cause. Here mathematical
language and investigation are quite in place, and not in order to
cover up an unexplained fact by a mathematical formula, as medical
Physics has sought to do for cases which have to be made approach-
able yet to mathematics by experiment and observation. Here the
secret of the connection between cause and effect of every degree of
attenuation is exhibited in the nicest manner. As long as this is not
yet accomplished, nothing can be said against the assertion of a phy-
sician that he has observed the reaction of the organism under the use
of a substance in the 1st, 10th, 100th or 50oth attenuation, for he has
had experience thereof. This must be taken as a self-substantiated
fact, till, by experiment, according to Jolly's process, observation
according to natural law, or mathematics, has proved its correctness,
and all otherwise idle strife about the question is hence discreditable
for men of science and intellect. Subjects of mutual instruction,
surely, should not, in our days, which claim to be so enlightened,
degenerate into matters of strife.
The assertion that he must be called the best, i. e., the most prac-
ticed observer, who accomplishes the most at the sick-bed, with the
least, must, after what has been already said, be indisputable.
If a physician of the physiological school had ever considered, that he
could not change the movements which are produced by a morbid cause
in the organism, as regards their weight, and could meet with nothing
but qualitative equivalents, then he would long ago have arrived at some
general laws of dose. That, however, runs counter to the usual mental
association, an association which has been brought about by chemistry.
Notwithstanding this, daily experience teaches him that most causes of
disease arise from imponderable substances. Or, has any chemist ever
weighed the needful quantum of injurious atmospheric air which must
be inhaled before cholerine is produced, or that necessary for the pro-
duction of cholera or typhus recurrens; or how much air of a marsh,
before intermittent fever is produced? etc., etc. On the contrary, we
know all these morbid causes only as imponderable qualities. Since,
however, these qualities may produce powerful symptoms of disease,
and even destroy life, it is thought that such lusty goblins can only be
driven out by large quantities, which, probably, approximate to the
weight of the usual quantity of food. The majority of physicians
PART II.
7
98
have drawn, and still draw, conclusions regarding the quantity of the
morbid matter from the extension and intensity of its results upon the
organism, thus concluding from the qualitative results to the quantity
of the cause. Since, now, a conclusion from the quality of a result,
to the quantity of the cause, is not allowable, nay, even absurd; so all
traditional doses rest upon very obvious fallacies, and, at least, are
justified by nothing. Some seem to think that, if a man can lose the
greatest thing he has, his life, by morbid causes, then the quantity of
these causes must be as great as a man, if not greater, and hence, in
the least possible time, substances are gradually introduced into the
system which, when added together, in case of a single disease, reach
the most inconceivable quantity.
§. 240.
If this were not right, an adherent of the physiological school might
reply, how did it ever happen that so many diseases, under the influ-
ence of such great quantities as are found in his prescriptions, were
cured?
Without regarding the inductive false conclusion of post hoc ergo
propter hoc lurking here, and admitting that such cures do sometimes
really happen; disregarding, also, the injurious contingent symptoms
which must necessarily arise from such treatment, as we shall see anon,
in these cases it may be deductively demonstrated, at any time, that
then a specific was accidentally used, and an involuntary Homeopathic
treatment took place. Thus, in all cases where, in spite of large Allo-
pathic doses, a Homeopathic cure occurred without injurious secondary
effects, the hurtful over-plus was rendered harmless by the secretions
of the stomach and bowels, and carried off; or, whenever the solution
was thicker than water, only so much of it passed through the coats
of the stomach as exactly sufficed for this result.
Surely it has often been observed, in every clinic of this school, that
a convalescent, lying near a patient treated by mercurial inunctions,
became salivated, without ever having taken quicksilver internally or
externally. Such a thing is noticed with indifference, as a curiosity;
no one would think any more about how it happened, that even impon-
derable quantities of quicksilver, in the form of an exhalation, could
produce the same phenomena as substantial and larger quantities. For,
if any one of these physicians had ever occupied his mind with this
process, he would, according to the demand of humanity, have
attempted, most diligently, to find out in what quantities, smaller
than the traditional, in what imponderable quantities, it might be
99
introduced into the organism, so that it should do nothing more than
was absolutely indispensable for the purpose of a cure, without pro-
ducing salivation, which can never be a condition of a cure, because it
always presents an injurious over-plus.
By what explanation can such striking neglects be excused? From
the natural indolence of the human mind, from which springs the law
of association of its habits of thought, and at the bottom of which,
besides that already named, three principal causes may mainly lie.
One in the form of belief in authority. In verba magistri jurare
may be right in politics, in science never. The evasion is then used:
I learned this in school — this and that authority does so; why should
I trouble myself any more with thinking about it, or be vain enough
to believe myself able to do it better? Then (2) in the form of con-
tentment with the various qualifications required in the various
countries, for why inquire whether the adherents of Rademacher and
Hahnemann pursue other studies and have better results to offer?
Pshaw! that's not necessary, because the Faculty does not examine on
those points, and the Government expects us to know nothing more
than is required by its laws. 3rd. Finally, in the exquisite form of the
natural indolence of the human intellect; for Father Broussais has
pushed Therapeutics into the domain of Physiology, and, for the pre-
sent, lulled the self-activity of the intellect.
For everything which I here, and in this whole work, utter, and to
every one whom it displeases, I can offer the proof of its being true,
and can adduce hundreds of facts from literature and practical life.
It is that law of the mind which prevails here and directs to that
road, to be able to depart from which, requires much experience, and
then the question still arises, whether the new road, entered upon with
great labor, does not lead to opposite errors, of which, also, there are
examples enough at hand. In fact, under such great difficulties, is it
not probable enough that one in escaping from Scylla might fall into
Charybdis?
§. 241.
MANNER OF USING THE REMEDIES.
We find that orthodox Homeopathy has not remained entirely free
from this danger. It feels, for example, the necessity of removing the
impediments which are caused by the retention or formation of inju-
rious substances within the organism, and which retard the cure.
But before it forsakes its principle, it remains idle rather than give
100
a laxative or an emetic, setting out from the fundamental principle
that, provided the remedy exhibited is indicated according to natural
laws, it must hence invigorate those parts, the inactivity of which,
causes such retentions. But this "provided," embraces unknown
intermediate terms, since, as yet, not so many remedies have been
proved, and those proved, are not so all-embracing, as to enable us tỏ
satisfy these expectations in all cases, otherwise, it should not see itself
compelled to use mechanical means, after all, in the form of enemata,
for one purpose, or of warm drinks with a nauseating admixture of
oil, or by irritating the throat with a feather, etc., for another purpose.
A laxative will be expelled again by the counter-movements of the
organism, in the same manner as an emetic, without any further
results following, and it is just Homeopathy that can do those things
with the least injury, since the duration of the effect of those su'ɔ-
stances is known to it from its drug-provings, and it knows how to
avail itself of them, while the physiological school, without any point
of support, repeatedly interferes according to the causal law, and thus
produces harm unconsciously. However, in orthodox Homeopathy,
nothing which looks like a drug is allowed to be used for such pur-
poses, except under the penalty of excommunication, because Homeo-
pathy is sworn to dynamics, to an idea which had to wander from
mechanics into therapeutics, yet by which here quite different things
and ideas are understood than there: here (in therapeutics) forces
without objects — catalytic forces, etc.; there (in mechanics) the laws
of motion.
The reason why Homeopathy fears to act otherwise than as seems
to be dictated by the law of similarity, lies in the desire to maintain the
contrast between Allopathy and Homeopathy. In the former, the causal
law is, of course, the only leading principle; in the latter, the law of
the equality of effect and counter effect. But both are laws of nature,
and, to proceed correctly according to them, can include no error; both,
however, have their limits, outside of which they can no longer claim
validity.
If the means of nutrition have nothing more to do than to maintain
the resistance of the body against external influences always in a state
of vigor, so remedies have nothing more to do than to restore the
altered, i. e., diseased power of resistance in the whole body or in
separate parts, for the means of nutrition only suffice for the mainte-
nance of the physiological power of resistance of the organism.
Hence, they are a discovery of instinct, while remedies, on the other
hand, are a discovery of the human intellect — especially of Hahne-
mann's genius.
/
ΙΟΙ
But, in this connection, it must not be overlooked that, frequently,
still other obstacles oppose the influence of the remedy, obstacles
which must first be removed, and this is often accomplished by palli-
atives, of which the therapeutics of the physiological school, or
Allopathy, consists, according to its maxim, contraria contrariis
curantur, for it is clear that remedies can never be found by
this principle. In fact, no kind of Allopathic treatment uncon-
ditionally prevents any disease from relapses and the worst sequelæ;
consecutive diseases, which are often much more dangerous than the
primary disease itself, for, instead of increasing the resisting force of
the body, this is necessarily weakened by every Allopathic cure,
so-called. In the same way, in which Homœopathy sometimes uses
palliatives in order to remove hindrances to the effects of its remedies,
Allopathy or physiological medicine seeks to cure!
Moreover, since Allopathy possesses no remedies, but only pallia-
tives, it is, aided, at the best, only by the reproductive force of the
body, to which only a spontaneous cure may be entrusted, and, this,
finally, can be nothing more than a fallacious expectation. Hence,
in Homeopathy, lazos prevail, in accordance to which the result may
be foretold with certainty, while, in Allopathy, the contingent prevails.
The following conditions demand the direct palliative relief, which
according, at least, to my Homeopathic practice of many years, ought
not to be neglected:
1. All pains which are no longer to be overcome according to
the law of reciprocal action, but only by substances in their crude
form. They find their place, to a great extent, in degenerated organs
of work, for example, in large carcinomatous ulcers located in those
organs, in incurable hydrothorax, in incurable hypertrophy of the
heart, with asthma, etc. Here the duty of the physician is to adopt a
directly alleviating and soothing treatment; but the tincture of opiuma
is to be preferred to morphine, whether given by the mouth, or, which
is better, in enemata of water, to which, from three to eleven drops of
the tincture might be added, the dose being increased to forty drops
even.
2. Noxious substances remaining in the intestinal canal must be
removed, now by emetics, now by Castor oil, or by the use of the
Carlsbad salts, proved by Dr. Porges.
3. The solution of the Iodide of Potassium operates chiefly accord-
ing to the degree in which it absorbs water, and it absorbs Ozone only
in the proportion of — 1 drachm in 4 oz. of water.
For this purpose,
its action, in Homeopathic doses, is nil.
I02
4. Where the degeneration of the organs is so far advanced that it
has led to dropsy, from incurable insufficiency in blood-making, life
must be palliatively revived by the so-called diuretics of the physiological
school.
5. So, also, in case of phenomena directly to be reached by chemical
means, for example, in acidity of the stomach, the Bi-carbonate or
Lactate of soda must be given till Bryonia, etc., has completed the
cure.
Wherevery a cure has become entirely impossible, we must seek to
supply palliative relief, and where this is not practicable, with the
molecular substances of Homoeopathy, these substances must be used
in their massive form.
§. 242.
Here I wish to call attention to several organic substances which
seem to be, as regards the organism, effective in their crude state and
no other; as, for example, Pepsin, Cochineal, etc. To attenuate such,
to seck to give them in minimal or attenuated doses would, in many
cases, without question, be an unwise procedure. This assertion will be
disputed by Homœopathic dogmatism. But every dogma in a science,
to be based upon natural law, blinds, and hence must be avoided. To
prove this in a substantial manner, a practical case will the soonest
convince the dogmatists, if they have not already fallen into the inflex-
ible absolutism of intellectual senility:
Called one day to a poor patient, whose physician had left him three
days before, with the assurance that he would soon get well of himself,
I found a young man, nineteen years of age, and of a very vigorous
frame. He complained of insufferable abdominal pains at night, for
which his physician had frequently bled him, generally and locally,
and, for laxative purposes, had given him Chamomilla tea, together
with some white drug, while warm poultices were applied to the abdo-
men. The drug was, as I discovered, a mixture of oil with Gum-
Arabic, which had, naturally enough, been used to little purpose; on
the contrary, the nocturnal pains had increased to such a degree that
the patient awaited the dawn of every day with the greatest longing.
But, as little complaint was made during the day, or at the time of the
doctor's visit, the doctor, probably, lent but little credit to his story. I
must remark, that this doctor was no beginner, but a man of long
years of practice, and highly esteemed. The cause of the disease was
attributed to catching cold by sleeping in a bar-room, upon straw, in
the month of January, after a long walk. The present complaints
103
were of fleeting stitches in the loins; urging to urinate; pains in the
limbs; general lassitude; little appetite; sweetish taste; thirst, and
headache in the forehead and temples. Further examination showed
a face deeply red, nothing morbid in the chest; pulse 100; abdomen
soft; the liver, spleen and bladder healthy. The nightly appearance
of these pains alone, led me to think of inflammation of the kidneys,
and a deep pressure upon the region of the left kidney, was responded
to by a loud scream of pain; the region of the right kidney was also
very painful. The urine, for which I now inquired, was of a dark
color, had a white sediment an inch deep, over which was a granular
layer, half an inch thick, deeply reddened with blood-so that, as
regarded the diagnosis of an acute desquamative inflammation of both
kidneys, there could be no longer any doubt, and this was subsequently
confirmed, by my microscopic examination of both layers, in the first
of which I detected urates, while the latter consisted of blood and
fibrinous casts.
The therapy of the physiological school, of which this physician
was an adherent, had already shown itself unequal to the case.
According to the differential diagnosis of Homoeopathy, the case
was such as indicated the use of Coccus cacti. I let him take five
drops of the third attenuation in water, every hour; and the next day
I learned that the whole night had been as sleepless, on account of the
inexpressible pains, as the previous six had been. Accustomed to find
in acute cases, in a few hours after my prescription, some essential
improvement at least, I received this news as an indication of the utter
inefficiency of this drug. Under the use of a few other remedies, which
I also thought indicated, though not so characteristically, the patient at
length lost his strength, and the pains became most agonizing. I cast
about for aid from the experience of every school, and could, according
to the Homœopathic differential diagnosis, find no other of the many
remedies indicated than Cochineal. This was indicated, also, according
to Rademacher. Now, no skepticism, and no dogma, could prevent my
procuring Coccus cacti in substance from an Allopathic druggist, in form
of a powder, a teaspoonful of which was given every hour. My labor
was rewarded, as the pains the next night were manifestly less, the night
following less still, and, on the third day of the use of the Coccus cacti,
there was neither blood nor sediment to be found in the urine.
following night he enjoyed some hours of sleep, the first time for
eleven days; and the patient was, in a few days, relieved of his pains,
his sleeplessness, etc.
The
How did this happen? Clearly, not only according to the law of
the specific relation which existed here between the Coccus cacti and
104
the quality of this inflammation of the kidneys, but also on account
of the given quantity of the Coccus cacti; and this quantity consists,
as does almost the entire insect, of Tyrosine, an organic substance,
which, like Pepsine, is seldom used successfully in such cases, when
attenuated, and that only in very sensitive subjects, and in a limited
range of diseases. This paragraph shows that the use of traditional
doses cannot be dogmatically forbidden.
But the main thing is, though given in traditional doses, the drug
was given according to the law of similarity, which, to the physician,
in all doubtful cases, according to its purport, as set forth in the
previous paragraphs, is, and ever must be, the only guiding prin-
ciple.
Finally, there is also another method of using drugs, viz., for the pur-
pose of destroying and removing parasites. Helminthiasis belongs to the
chapter of foreign organisms, living, or capable of life, which have
entered our organism.
Now, the purpose of killing and removing such parasites cannot
always be attained according to the law of the organic reciprocal action.
Hence, in such cases, we cannot always entirely decline a causal treat-
ment; though Homœopathy teaches a number of remedies, which, in
many cases, make the expulsive methods superfluous, and, in any case,
prevent the parasites from inflicting any evil, or from reproduction.
Thus, then, we must offer the diseased human organism, some-
times, palliative aid, according to the causal law, but as a rule, of
course, radical help, according to the law of reciprocal action, and
if Homœopathy would seek to treat all cases and every case, simply
and solely, according to the law of similarity, it would fall into the
same error as Allopathy. Hence these sciences are no contrasts in
the sense of opposition, but rather complements of each other.
§. 243.
We must always remember that, in diseases we have nothing before
us except either primary chemical changes, which produce physical
changes only as results, or, vice versa, or, both together, and that,
indeed, either a local, or, as in all cases accompanied with fever, and
in all chronic cases, a general chemismus, which is not the chemismus
of the specific form of the organism found within the membranous
movable resistances, but, as has been partly shown in previous para-
graphs, a chemismus changed by combination with substances and
effects of the morbid cause; but that we have in this case nothing to
do, but to break up this changed chemismus according to the laws of
105
function of nutrition already laid down, by the introduction of new
chemical combinations, and to prevent, where it is possible, local
lesions even, dependent upon the membranous resistances.
Though unconsciously to itself, the whole Homœopathic Therapeia
rests, nevertheless, upon these chemico-physico-organic laws; its whole
language is only to be understood in conformity with them; under this
supposition alone can it use, in most diseases, a single remedy for so
great a complexity of properties as are presented by the various forms
of disease, and only under this supposition is an explanation given for
the otherwise very wonderful result of its treatment; but at the same
time, the reason, also, why I must retain its language.
To oppose to a morbid cause, only one single substance as a remedy,
is a doctrine which belongs to the oldest principles of Homœopathy.
I shall show that although this doctrine is to be justified under
most circumstances, yet not under all, according to the present stand-
point of the progress of Homœopathy, both as regards the most
rapid, safe, and pleasant result at the sick bed, and the existing laws
of the organism, and when I enter upon the proof of this, I am quite
conscious that I again offend orthodox Homœopathy. However,
every one is quite at liberty to practice according to his best judgment.
It is well known that many Homœopathists give alternate remedies,
as they are called; they often give, for instance, against the effect of a
single morbid cause, in many diseases, two remedies in hourly or less
frequent repetition; for example, Aconite and Belladonna; and, indeed,
as far as I know, these two remedies are given most frequently in this
manner. What occurs now within the organism?
From §. 114, we learn that, as well after the use of Belladonna as
after that of Aconite, thus from two different causes, a phenomenon
appears, similar in form, but under very various functional and nutri-
tive reciprocal actions, in various organs, tissues and cells: hence
these two remedies, given in succession, may produce various suc-
cessive motions in the various organs, tissues and cells, without being
able to disturb the effect of each other. Moreover, these movements
and counter-movements of Aconite and Belladonna, given, for
instance, in hourly alternation, cannot extend further than to their
initiative effects, and produce no further effects, no inflammations of
the tonsils or of the joints. On the contrary, the effect of Belladonna
will continue to be directed upon the cells of the blood, that of Aco-
nite upon the scrum, that of Belladonna to exciting the function of
the venous, that of Acon. to exciting that of the arterial vascular system.
Now, it is well known, that, in the domain of the arterial vascular
106
system, the processes of oxidation are introduced and carried on, but
in the venous, the processes of reduction.
Hence it follows that by the administration of Aconite and Bella-
donna alternately, an alternation of increased oxidation and reduction
takes place, pari passu. But the physiological life of the organism
consists in nothing else than this alternation- only it occurs, accord-
ing to §. 48, at one time, after definite days, but at another likewise
within these days; on each of them, according to §. 25, twice in
twenty-four hours: hence it is clear that the administration of Aconite
and Belladonna produces an acceleration of the organic change of
matter which cannot be produced more rationally, and should we be
fettered by a dogma which ventures to forbid us such great conditions
of cure?
In this connection, we may further remember that, according o
§. 100, the Ozonides act as reducers, where the Antozonides have
acted as oxidizers, and so the alternation of many other remedies, in
one and the same disease, may be perfectly justified according to
natural law.
§. 244.
From an indiscreet opposition to Allopathy, and even without a
perfectly clear idea of all that is involved in her own science, orthodox
Homœopathy seeks to defend herself with hypotheses.
Thus it assumes, as the first cause of disease, a purely dynamic
depression of the vital force, and, for the cure of disease, a curative
force of the drug. Such an assumption, however, is not only illusory
and arbitrary, but also superfluous. What is to be understood by vital
force, may be found in §§. 18, 23, 27; it is identical with what some
have sought to include in the idea of a curative force in general. The
curative force is already present with life, and is nothing separate
from it.
Mechanics, the science which treats of the laws of equilibrium and
motion, is divided, as regards its application to the material world, into
statics and dynamics, according as its bodies are in a state of equi-
librium or in motion. But in the organism, there is neither statics
alone, nor dynamics alone. Just as little is our regard to be paid to
the forces of remedies alone, but also to the substances of the organism,
and, at the same time, to those of the morbid matters of the outer
world; since definite specific properties inhere in all, the reciprocal
action of which we have to study. Even the effects of magnetism
107
and electricity depend upon their material causes, and are themselves
to be perceived as material, by one or the other of our senses.
Finally, what is meant to be expressed by dynamic depression
(Verstimmung) is not perceptible, either by the art of experiment or
that of observation. Dynamic depression, vital force, curative force,
are mere empty relative ideas.
The so-called alternate actions, in the Homeopathic sense, rest upon
quite different suppositions from what is generally thought, when, for
example, the so-called Homeopathic alternate action in the results on
proving Copper appear: suppression of menstruation, and immediately
after, under the same rubric, profuse menstruation; this seems flatly
to contradict the causal law, and has again such a paradoxical sound,
that it needs a somewhat closer investigation.
In the first place, I must beg leave to drop the Homeopathic idea of
alternate action, for this is an expression used in natural sciences to de-
note the law of "the equality of effect and counter-effect," and is thus to
be understood. Hence, if we are necessarily governed by the general
and customary use of language, in the general sciences of nature and
of thought, to avoid ambiguity, then we shall find, in a whole of the
organic alternate action, as within our organism, every part active and
passive at the same time, and that within the oscillating limits of the
equilibrium of motions. §. 23, 24, 49.
Copper, for example, possesses, it is true, specific lines of direction
toward the female genitalia, and hence, given, in the same quantity, to
different persons, or, at remote intervals, to one and the same individual,
(if, in the meantime, in any manner, corresponding changes have taken
place in the organism,) may regulate those opposite forms of menstrual
function in one and the same person. If, for instance, two disease-
forms-amenorrhoea in the one, and profuse menstruation in the other
case, appear in connection with phenomena which indicate that the
organism undergoes a change in its motions, on account of an electro-
negative state of the atmosphere; then, although the body, in this
instant, inclines to dissolution-forms-the same Copper, given in the
same quantity, will restore to its normal state a profuse menstruation
as well as a case of amenorrhea; the former, however, more directly,
provided it appears itself as a dissolution-form; the latter, indirectly,
if it exists only in connection with another dissolution-form.
Or, to return at the same time to the removal of injurious substan-
ces from the organism, I quote here the so-called law of Homoeopathic
posology, hitherto generally accepted, according to which a smaller
dose will produce a contrary effect to a larger. If, now, particular
affirmative opinions must have the same force conversely, provided
A
108
they are to have any at all, then this so-called law should be disturbed
by no fact, and meet with no exception. But we find, in this very
case with Copper, an exception to this rule, since the very same quan-
tity of Copper can cure the so-called opposite functions of the
organism.
Certainly every one must have observed, who has occupied himself
with the study of Homœopathy, and has begun to put it into practice,
that, for example, the third trituration of Sulphur, taken at the dose
of a grain twice a day, or of Calcarea carbonica, has surprised him
sometimes with loose stools quite unexpectedly, and which he had no
intention of producing.
But first it must be ascertained what is meant by "opposite;" for
the relative ideas, "greater" or "smaller" dose, are quite too indefi-
nite. However, "opposite," by itself, is quite as flexible a relative
idea as • similar."
Since, however, like is what is similar as to cause or essence, what
corresponds in form, so here, opposite is that which is found not to
correspond, either as regards form or cause. Only a cause should not
be confounded with conditions.
Now, there can thus be forms of the reciprocal action of the organ-
ism, according to natural law, with the substances of the outer world,
which, as in case of copper, appear to stand in contradiction with that
of general Posology. That, however, is not quite the case; because the
wording of it is not precise enough; and, conversely taken, often proves
itself correct also.
Where, for instance, Sulphur, in minimal dose, produces diarrhea,
there it must have been used in a converse relation to the wording of
that Posology; for, according to that Posology, it should, in minimal
doses, merely check a diarrhea; since, in larger doses, it can produce
it. But, in fact, even in the minimal dose of the third centesimal
trituration, it causes diarrhea; or, Calcarea carb. must produce the
same in a larger dose, since, in smaller, in a minimal dose, it checks
diarrhoea. But that, in fact,
But that, in fact, it does not do in a larger dose; there it
operates, as the school says, as an absorbent, thus purely chemically.
One may sce into what endless confusions one throws himself, by the
extravagant use of the ideas of relation.
If we analyze the facts, we shall find none much different from
those which occur to Allopathists, and which surprise them, if no
vomiting is observed after an emetic, but diarrhoea, or when a laxative,
instead of purging, vomits.
All these facts can never be explained by the assumption of the
Homeopathic alternate action. They appear under various doses of a
109
drug, do not depend merely upon the quantity of the dose, and are
nothing but the consequence of the same, in connection with the various
specific qualities of bodily constitutions.
§. 245.
Before I conclude with these questions, I must remark that there is
still another case, which is incorrectly brought under the generalization
of the Homœopathic alternate action and posology.
Why so-called smaller doses sometimes act oppositely to larger,
depends often, but not always, upon the above-mentioned relations.
With the results of the proving of Aconite, for instance, the
case is quite different. Here, a contrast occurs in the difference
between minimal and traditional, or smaller and larger doses,
which can be explained, neither by the quantity or quality of a
substance, nor by a specific interchange of matter of an individual,
because the effects of both doses, in case of Aconite, are different from
each other, as regards matter itself. Clinical experiences agree with
those of Dr. Reil, in every case, "that the more the depressing effects
upon the nervous system manifest themselves, the richer is the prepara-
tion used in Aconitine; while those of irritation from the acrid matter,
fall into the back-ground. In this case, especially, symptoms in the
domain of the Trigeminus show themselves more promptly and more
manifestly, and diuresis is also evidently increased."
Thus, we have here two substances united in Aconite which produce
the contrast between irritation and depression, and thus again there is
no appearance of contrast, in the general sense, according to the
Homeopathic posology; for, of these two substances, the Aconite, as
the attenuation progresses, loses first the extractive matter, while the
Aconitine continues longer. But it is also no alternate effect, nor any
secondary effect, if, in one individual, the phenomena of the Aconi-
tine appear first, while, in the other, those of the extractive matter.
Thus we have, by no means, been able to observe a uniformity of
phenomena, which deserves a particular generalizing designation,
least of all, that of an alternate effect, and we have found no partic-
ular law for it, from which abstractions could be drawn. Hence it
would be absurd, sustained, for example, by that posology, to main-
tain, a priori, that because Digitalis, in a traditional dose, acts as a
diuretic, it must, therefore, in a minimal dose, check an increased
diuresis; for Digitalis does not do that at all, and for this very reason,
because, to use Jolly's language, its co-efficient of contraction would
much sooner become equal to zero, as is the case with many other
ΙΙΟ
substances; and since, on this point, no experiments, either physical
or pathological, have been instituted for a sufficient deductive con-
firmation, such assertions amount to nothing.
Thus we discover a number of fallacies, because so frequently the
significance of words is improperly chosen, and uniformities, in seps
rates or particulars, are extended over a constant course of events, as
if they were generally applicable and equal to natural laws.
Opposite, then, in the sense of that posology, is to be referred to the
quantity and quality of the cause, and, at the same time, to the form
of the organic counter-effect. However, a direct contrast is not
thereby expressed in every case, but only a difference. Thus, of
course, Sulphur for example, Calcarea, etc., operate according to the
dose, now constipating, now relaxing. But the latter effect, in case of
Sulphur extends with some individuals, from the greater, or tradi-
tional dose, to the smaller or minimal, and frequently ends, not before
the third trituration, or even later, from which point onward, the first
effect then appears. The designations, traditional, minimal, larger,
smaller dose, serve, indeed, right well to keep alive the old quarrels,
and to retain cherished phrases, but they are not based on science, since
the limit appears now in the traditional dose, as with Rheum; now
only in the miminal, as with Sulphur; now only a part of the so-called
contrast exists, as with Calcarea; now the ground of contrast rests in
two different substances, in one and the same body, as in case of
Aconite, etc., etc., and these limits, where they are not yet found out
empirically, have yet to be found out, before one can undertake to
establish general laws thereupon.
All these relations rest upon no other laws, than upon the difference
of the different effects of bodies, according to their composite or free
state in relation to the movements of the organism. With what part,
in measure or weight, of its quantity in relation to the organism, a
substance seems to be changed from the composite state into the free,
Homoropathy has already determined as regards many substances;
where this has not been done, no assumption of a Homeopathic
alternate action helps the matter. The wording of the Homeopathic
posology has no other ground than the empirical change, wrought in
the efficiency of substances, denoted in the physiological school by the
"refracta dosis." For Rheum, Tart. emet. and Ipecac, this relation
has long been known to the physiological school as an unexplained
fact. But
But it does not believe that it can happen also with other sub-
stances. The Homœopathic provings discovered something similar
in hundreds of other substances, and Homœopathy has, even in this,
II1
far outstripped that school in knowledge.
Only its designation
thereof, is as obscure as it was in the days of Hahnemann.
We know that every part of an organism forms again a unit for
itself. Not even the organic cell is simple. It consists of a nucleus,
of the fluid cell-contents and the cell-membrane, and must, besides
this, have, for its support, a surrounding, from which it separates itself,
to which it spontaneously makes resistance, and from which, according
to the laws of its specification, it attracts chemical substances, which it
uses, and into which surrounding it throws off what it no more needs.
Hence, it is not necessary to suppose a vital force, or even a chemical force,
or it is necessary for those only, who, in their inquiries into nature, cannot
get rid of the idea of especial forces. The specifico-chemical properties
of bodies are, and remain exactly the same, within the organism as
they are without it, but these bodies undergo, under those local condi-
tions, and those specific motions of each one of the organic parts, the
most manifold separations and combinations. In these motions there
can naturally no difference be discerned, except the necessary one
which arises from the specification of substances and that of the
organic forms with their movable membranous resistances.
If, now, the cell has experienced a change in its nucleus, and is sick,
then this change can be cured through the medium of the contents of
the cell; if these are diseased, they may be cured through the medium of
the membrane; if the membrane is diseased, it may be cured through
the medium of its surroundings.
Every drug, we know further, can only be attracted by special parts
of the organism, and repulsed by others, and that only in definite
quantities.
Now the question comes up again, is the drug in hand a functional
or nutritive means? and, then, what counter-effect of the organism is
its first effect; further, of what counter-effect is this first effect the
new cause, and how do these (alternate) reciprocal causalitics follow
one another? If this substance were a function-remedy, and it were
given for a longer time, or in increasing quantities, then we find that,
producing always the same influences upon the same parts, it always,
in the parts earliest affected, very soon causes changes of nutrition
and thus the reciprocal causalities, which the drug-provings teach us,
accumulate. If the substance were a nutrition-remedy, then it nourishes
first the organic parts specifically corresponding to it, and when these
are over-satiated, they soon produce again changed functions in their
adjacent surroundings, which are also able to propagate themselves.
But I have already spoken of this in previous paragraphs.
II2
§. 246.
Our subject is still the idea of the primary Homeopathic effect,
concerning which the following occurs to me, in addition to what has
been already mentioned.
We know, for instance, from §. 114, that Belladonna, taken three or
four times a day, in doses of one-eighth of a grain, by a healthy person,
first conveys its motions to the corpuscles of the blood, by which
their interchange of substance is accelerated. In consequence of this,
the dead corpuscles of the blood accumulate in the liver, and this
appears as the second counter-movement. The eye is drawn somewhat
later into the circle of these movements. If we have, however, an
inflammation of the eyes before us, in a human organism otherwise
healthy, and if it is of that specific quality which indicates the use of
Belladonna, then the Belladonna, without touching the life of the
blood, calls forth the first counter-movements in the diseased eye,
provided it is in an appropriate Homeopathic attenuation, i. e., given
in a developed condition. Here we have as primary effect, that which
there was the fourth.
But should this inflammation of the eyes occur in company with a
form of disease in which the blood life also, and the throat, had given
at the same time an indication for Belladonna, then all these organic
parts must naturally experience the influence of the Belladonna, at the
same time, as a primary effect.
Thus the law of similarity, I repeat it, in reality has no bearing
upon the action of the drug itself, but refers solely to the indication,
according to which, in the same organ, functions are produced similar
to those brought about by the morbific cause, i. e., functions in the
same organ, which, however, proceed from a different cause; hence
are produced by a kind of action different from that of the morbific
cause.
The physiological school, for instance, enumerates Aconite and Citric
acid among the diuretics; but, in Homeopathy, it is known that the
latter counteracts the effect of the Aconite. Wine, also, is a diuretic,
as well as Digitalis; but the latter removes the diuretic effect of Wine,
as well as that of Aconite. Of such examples there are many more;
but, from these few, it is clear that all these so-called diuretics are only
similar according to form, i. e., they produce, indeed, an increased
secretion of urine; but, because their effects arise from various causes
and conditions, they are opposite, even antidotal, and such surely may
be called opposite (contrary) effects.
113
It is clear, again, from these experiments, that the Homoeopathic
indication flows indeed, from a simile, for the purpose of synthetic
comparison; but the effect, from a contrarium contrariis; and that
these two affirmations, in themselves empty relative ideas, are really
of the same value, and do not exclude, but complete, each other. One
needs but to separate them and to connect them with facts according
to natural laws.
It is only by leaving these circumstances out of consideration, that
the hypotheses of Homœopathic alternate action, primary and secon-
dary effects, and the contrast between the simile and the contrarium,
could ever have originated.
If one proceeds partially from the maxim of the contrarium, as
physiological medicine does, then I can show, from the same examples,
the injurious influences thereof, because the Belladonna ever remains
Belladonna, and the human organism is likewise the same as regards
the two-fold specification, as well as regards the form of their recip-
rocal effects. Hence, this example may serve for all, since, with
regard to all, the same laws govern, but those laws must be observed
also by art, in order that the experiment may be easily repeated.
If an Allopath, for example, who has heard of a cure of an inflam-
mation of the eyes, by a Homœopath, should give, in the first instance,
one-eighth of a grain, three or four times a day, he would, at first, as im-
provement set in, observe the same result, but, as soon as the life of the
blood is affected by the quantity of the Belladonna in its usual state,
i. c. its molecules being aggregated, then this Belladonna affection:
of the blood, by its injurious reaction upon the improved eye, must
make the eye worse again. Thus, he not only deprives himself of his
good result, but he sees, also, in his patient, the injurious effect of his
one-sided view, without knowing the cause.
The result of this treatment, in the second case, must naturally be
yet more injurious. That is of no consequence, however, for, to him
who assumes to himself the predicate "physiological," everything,
even the most hurtful, is allowed, if he only does not depart from the
palpable causal law; to the Homeopath, however, his treatment,
according to the law of the equality of the effect and counter-effect, is
forbidden.
Yet we may discriminate between permanent and transient effects,
since, in all Homeopathic undertakings, the only object is the restitu-
tion of changed relations of function or nutrition. The first are
nutritive and self-evident; the last functional, and, to wait for func-
tional secondary effects, or only to seek to gain such, is unpractical,
because we do not eat only for the sake of the excretions, but also and
PART II.
114
chiefly for the sake of supporting life, and do not drink merely to form
urine, but first to quench our thirst. To give drugs in the sense of
this allowable comparison, can never be indicated according to natural
laws.
If we thus follow up these occurrences, by the clue of the laws of
nature, then we shall find that the so-called Homœopathic alternate
and secondary effects may be, and are, frequently confounded with
each other, but that both hypotheses are included in the clear idea of
the various forms of the natural alternate effect, and, hence should be
rejected as superfluous, for, as a general rule, we need to know, in this
relation, nothing but the specific forms of the whole of the reciprocal
effect of the drug, with the organism as regards time and space, in
which all these distinctions, for each separate substance, must be given
at any rate and in an exact manner.
Cases like diarrhoea, from purgatives; secondary effect. Constipa-
tion, or heat after a sensation of cold in the hand previously immersed
in cold water, or depression after previous irritation from Wine, Opium,
etc., are natural results from the physiological law of proportional
oscillation, §§. 108, 109, 110, occurrences of succession, not of change;
for what causes diarrhoea is not, at the same time, the cause of the
constipation directly ensuing thereupon, and the latter is only the
result of the necessary conditions of the existence of the organism.
When Homœopathy enumerated such succession of events as
secondary effects of drugs, as causes of cures, it fell into the same
fallacy as did physiological medicine, with its "physiological types,"
in order to explain by them pathological processes.
In so doing, Homeopathy identified, thus, two processes, from quite
different causes and conditions, and from quite different domains.
The hand in cold water is cold at first, i. e., the function of the
capillary vessels is repressed, while, at the same time, that of the cuta-
neous nerves finds itself in a state of the greatest tension, which may
approach the oscillatory minimum of its function, and only waits for
the conditions of the oscillatory counter-movements, in order again to
be changed into living force. This happens, also, with natural neces-
sity, as soon as that possible minimum of function and maximum of
tension is reached, and not over passed, and freezing is produced. In
that case, the equivalent counter-movement, in form of congestion and
development of heat, manifests itself, but not as the secondary effect of
the cold, but because the organism, as soon as a certain degree of ten-
sion has been reached by one of its parts, independently and neces
sarily converts the same into living force, as long as it is not deprived
of the necessary conditions for this purpose, in which case changes
115
arise in the relations of function or nutrition, that is to say, pathological
conditions, and arise, indeed, as consequences of the morbid cause,
which, in this case, would be the cold.
The so-called Homœopathic secondary symptoms are, hence, as has
been remarked, never useful for the purposes of cures by art; they
belong, according to their natures, to the cases of spontaneous cures,
and hence should not have been produced at all. Homoeopathic
primary effects, alternate effects, are hence no categorical ideas, but
hypothetical, just because they are ideas of relation, and of themselves
have no value.
§. 247.
To deeply rooted prejudices, or, to an orthodox dogmatist of the
physiological school, it may seem incomprehensible still, that a disease.
could ever be cured with a single remedy. But, whoever is capable
of rightly comprehending §. 243, will ask no further question upon
the subject.
On the contrary, the Homoeopathic dogmatism raves against all
external remedies. We know, very well, that morbid substances as
well as curative substances, in specifically different directions, produce
motions and counter-motions, and it is known to every physician that,
in certain periods of a man's life, especially in the later, many func-
tions are so much impaired, that we can not urge them, without injury
to others. Why should it not be permitted to art, according to the
same natural conditions, to supply this want in another manner, pro-
vided it can be done without injury and with decided benefit? No part
of the organism can be used more beneficially, according to these
rules, than the cutaneous surface. In no respects is such treatment
to be conducted according to that principle of the physiological school,
to make healthy parts sick, that thereby the sick parts may more
readily relieve themselves. This principle, which forms the invention
of those physicians who cannot elevate themselves above mere
quackery, is that which Hahnemann exposed, and which is known
by the motto contraria contrariis. It leads to the most easily learned
method of treatment, which any one can attempt without racking his
brains. They sin thus, to be sure, against nihilism, in favor of
which they declare themselves to be, by their theory, but such things
have to be done, at any rate, nolens volens. But to follow that
maxim is not necessary, even for this purpose; one can do it according
to the law of similia in cases where mere mechanical aid is not required.
If, for example, a patient has suffered from a chronic exanthem, and,
116
after the retrocession of this, from whatever cause, chronic affections
of the chest, cough, purulent expectoration, emaciation, difficulty of
breathing present themselves, then I can, with the totality of the
disease in view, according to the principle of similarity, find no treat-
ment more prompt than to provoke an affection of the skin, similar in
form, by external means; and this frequently is done far more rapidly
than by remedies given internally for this purpose. It is very true
that this should not be accomplished by drugs which are not indicated;
for instance, in given cases, by Tart. emet., for its influence does not
stop with its action upon the cutaneous surface, as the remedy is
absorbed. But who can cry out against setons and the like? Many
patients have been under my care, who, for years, have worn a seton
on the arm, and since wearing it, have noticed nothing of their former
complaints, blenorrhoea pulmonum, deafness, amblyopia and the like.
It never could have occurred to me to check such functional counter-
movements by removing the setons, till the secondary phenomena,
which previously and still accompanied these complaints, had been
entirely removed by the internal use of proper remedies, and it was
thereby manifest that the entire interchange of substance, the
alteration of which had produced these very phenomena, was
removed.
The most recent result which Homeopathy has accomplished in
this direction, consists in the external use of fuming Nitric acid, in
case of felons, by Dr. Hirsch, in Prague. The pain disappears almost
instantaneously, and the whole process of inflammation is thereby
checked. But a few cautions are to be observed in this connection.
For example, open sores are not to be touched with the acid, but only
inflamed spots. If there should be some burning, the finger may be
dipped in water, whereupon the burning stops at once, while the pain
from inflammation does not return. It is self-evident that the pus
already accumulated there must have been first evacuated. Cellular
tissue destroyed by mortification, clots of pus, etc., after what we have
mentioned has been done, have to be removed by baths, consisting of
about twelve ounces of water, to which are added twelve or fifteen
drops of a saturated solution of Caustic potash, which may be used
for fifteen minutes or so two or three times a day.
But there is also a disease which, for every external treatment, is a
noli me tangere
that is, the Carbuncle. Its extension, and, indeed,
its progress to mortification, can only be prevented by Arnica; and if
this is given every two hours, for only two or three days, a rapid
recovery takes place at once; while, externally, nothing is necessary,
unless it be a little cold-cream dressing.
117
How many men die every year in consequence of the Allopathic mis-
treatment of carbuncle, and from prejudice of their physicians against
the doctrines of Homœopathy! But if judges do not recognize igno-
rance of a law as any justification of crime, why is it permitted to
professors, and to their disciples who swear by them, to sacrifice human
life, on account of an intentional want of knowledge of Homeopathy?
Cases of this kind are so numerous and clear that they need no
further exposition.
§. 248.
I have yet another discovery of Homoeopathy to mention, which has
found its complementary confirmation in physics.
Mute and perplexed, and even annoyed, the physician of the physi-
ological school stands before his patient, when he complains to him
that he feels better or worse in damp weather than in dry; or, when
another complains that he has more or less pain, etc., with an east or
north wind, and that all the same whether it rains or is dry; or, if a
third assures him that he feels better in the morning and worse in the
evening, or vice versa; while another can bear no motion, and yet
another no rest; some feel worse in warm, and others in cold weather,
etc.
But, from 4 A. M.-according to Prof. Horn, from 3.30- to 10.30
A. M., the intensity of the atmospheric electricity increases, and with
it, proportionally, that of the magnetism of the earth, and, from that
time forward, it declines at the same time with the number of our
expirations and strokes of the pulse, whether in health or sickness.
For example, at about 3.30 A. M., there are about thirty-six oscilla-
tions to the minute of the hourly variations of the electrical intensity;
at 10.30 A. M., there are sixty-four, etc. If, now, the number of these
oscillations diminishes from four to eight in the minute, then change-
able weather ensues; after a diminution of from eight to twelve oscil-
lations, there is rain or a thunder storm. A decrease of from twelve
to thirty-two oscillations is followed by a land-rain, a violent thunder
storm, a tempest or an earthquake. Under a normal number of these
oscillations of the intensity of the electricity and a gradual sinking and
rising of from four to four oscillations, the air is electro-positive, the
wind blows from east or north, all the same, whether it rains or not,
whether it is warm or cold— the air is the richer in ozone, the longer
such a condition continues.
Frequently repeated falling of the intensity of electricity from eight
to twenty-eight oscillations in the minute, with a rapid return to the
118
normal number of oscillations, when long continued, is accompanied
with opposite phenomena, those of negative electricity of the air, with
south or west winds. During the year, finally, the maximal intensity
is attained in May, June, July and August.
With the decrease of all these intensities of the electricity, occurring
at various times of the day and the year, our pulmonary and cutane-
ous respiratory motions diminish in frequency; at the same time, the
blood becomes richer in carbon, the capillaries relax, perspiration sets
in, which thus has not for its cause an exalted capillary activity, as, for
example, under violent bodily exercise. The blood becomes thus,
more electro-positive, consequently more and more homogeneous with
the polarity of the nervous system; the reciprocal motions and counter-
motions between the blood-life and the nerve-life, thus become weak-
ened, and so the further simultaneous results are transferred to the
musculature and the whole interchange of substance, as well as to the
mind and spirit. (Geist and Gemüth.)
Just the opposite takes place under an elevation of the intensities of
electricity.
These changes of the organic functions, according to the times of the
day and year, according to the various changes of weather, etc., were,
however, known to Homœopathy a long time ago, from its drug-
provings, and because, by means of these very same drug-provings, it
discovered the kind of reflex influence of these telluric and atmos-
pheric reciprocal motions upon the organism, so it learned thereby, at
the same time, the remedy for diseases, having the corresponding symp-
toms of improvement and aggravation.
Homœopathy knows still more which is incomprehensible to the
physiological school, though, at the same time, naturally demonstrated
by those physiological experiments and their synthesis with the
drug-provings. From this synthesis it becomes manifest why, in
many discases, Ambra, for example, Nux vomica, etc., cannot be given
at night, because, though otherwise properly indicated, they aggravate
just those very phenomena of disease which they should relieve, and
which, when given during the day, they really do relieve and cure;
why, further, from such combinations, effects of the drug with the
causes of disease, or with specific constitutions of the body, arise,
which Homœopathy has designated as drug-aggravations from reme-
dics, mere paradoxes for the physiological school, nevertheless realities
founded upon natural laws.
On the contrary, Homœopathy does not know that Belladonna and
Stramonium, for example, when they are mingled with the blood,
preserve its red color and take away its tendency to putrefaction,
119
though it does know that the same Belladonna is curative in poison-
ings with animal substances.
Further, from this physico-chemical property of Belladonna, are
explained still other phenomena, which it produces in the organism,
and which are known to Homoeopathy from its drug-provings. Thus,
we learn, from the provings of Belladonna, that it is suitable chiefly
for full-blooded, plethoric, scrofulous, irritable individuals disposed to
affections of the brain, especially congestions, and spasms. But if we
know at the same time that physico-chemical property of Belladonna,
all these symptoms are not only explained to us in this way also, but,
at the same time, it indicates to us more simply the specific quality of
those symptoms, than if, to obtain the same knowledge, we were
laboriously to study and explain the entire result of the drug-provings
with Belladonna, in a physiological and pathological sense.
Homœo-
pathy knows very well that by fright, terror, anger, grief, etc.. the
exhalation of Carbonic acid is always hindered, and hence knows,
together with its synthetic comparison, that Belladonna when indi-
cated, cures these complaints and why it does so; but does not that
physico-chemical property of Belladonna supply a most desirable
completion of the provings?
We see clearly that the Homeopathic Therapy and Pathology have
their law books which have originated from drug-provings and their
verification; provings on the sick, a subject upon which, independent
monographs begin to appear in great perfection, as the proving of
Mercury by Dr. Buchner, that of Aconite by Dr. Reil, that of Digi-
talis by Dr. Bæhr, that of Phosphorus by Dr. Sorge.
§. 249.
I will now adduce a practical case, and at the same time an example
of the so-called primary, secondary, and alternate action.
While yet a beginner in the study of Homeopathy, a study reaching
far into natural sciences, and without any instructor, I cherished the
conviction that, as I was wont to see it in my Alma Mater the physio-
logical school, one could flourish in Homœopathy, also, with the least
possible outlay of thought. Thus 1 at first naturally adhered to the
Homœopathic phraseology, till occurrences at the sick-bed taught me
otherwise.
A young man twenty-five years of age came to me and complained
of an increasing loss of sight. Noticing at a glance that he had a
cataract of the left eye, he stated that he had to ascribe this disease to
frequent attacks of inflammation of the eyes, since, being a hostler,
120
every time he cleaned his horses, the dust always produced a burning
in his eyes, which continued to increase till the pain obliged him to
quit the employment, and his physician had hence often treated him
for inflammation of the eyes and always relieved him. He still
lived, however, in an ever new hope, that his eyes would become
accustomed to the work, and always returned indefatigably and
scarcely improved, to the same work, till he was now obliged, by
weakness of one of the eyes, to give it up entirely. In other respects, I
found him well and hearty. Behind the capsule of the lens of that eye,
there was, according to the most careful examination, a homogeneous
cloudiness in the lens itself, which was demonstrated beyond any
doubt, by the evident phenomena, the deeper lying shade of the
pupillary border, etc.
Since Homœopathy, so I thought to myself, as it asserts, cures the
chemical changes of the lens in the form of a cataract, though it is
acknowledged by the physiological school to be incurable, and consid
ered amenable to operative surgery only, the youth of this man would
present the most favorable conditions for this purpose; so I gave him,
according to Homeopathic custom, Calcarea carbonica, the 5th decimal
trituration, a grain at a dose, and that to be taken, too, every hour,
being as yet utterly wrapped up in my conclusions according to the
causal law, that "much helps much." The observance of a support-
ing diet could not be promised, since his way of living utterly forbade
it. Yet the patient promised to present himself every eight days för
inspection. After eight days I observed a marked change; the opacity,
before homogeneous, had separated itself into spots and streaks like
mother-of-pearl. If the whole prescription, from the very beginning,
both as to quantity and repetition of the dose, had not been too strong
for the end in view, this change should have earnestly called upon me,
at any rate, not to give, by the continuance of the drug, any new impulse
to the counter-movements of the organism, excited by the movements
of the Calcarea. But, then, I had no inkling of the fact that, here,
changes in the functions and nutritive relations of the eye prevailed,
which, according to necessity, are only to be restored, and not resisted.
Nevertheless, being still in the clutches of the doctrines of my school,
I now advised him to take the remedy all the oftener, instead of discon-
tinuing it at once. After another fourteen days, I could no longer
deceive myself in the observation, that the change in the cataract
Jast noticed had undergone a new change, for the opacity showed
itself equally distributed again, and, examination with the ophthal
moscope convinced me that this opacity now had its seat in the
capsule of the lens, also. Remembering the general therapeutic precepts
I2I
ot my school, I now deemed it necessary to increase the dose at once,
believing, as I did, that this manifest aggravation should be attributed
to the unavoidable and injurious circumstances in which the patient
lived; any other supposition seeming impossible to me. I hoped, by
increasing the dose, at least to restore the previous state of things.
After the lapse of fourteen days more, however, I found that not only
was I deceived in my expectation, but that the opacity of the cap-
sule of the lens was as complete, as equally distributed, and as char-
acteristic as we are wont to find it in a cataract ready for operation.
My hope of a cure was thus destroyed, and I prepared my patient,
according to his own wish, for an operation which was to take place
in the course of a month, if a marked improvement did not set in
within this period, during which time, however, he was to take no
more powders; for I already surmised the error which I had com-
mitted, though it was not my fault, but that of my teachers. At the
end of this time, I performed the operation as I am accustomed to
perform it, when there are no urgent counter-indications, with a straight
keratonyxis-needle, through the middle of the cornea. Having reached
the capsule of the lens with this needle, in order to divide it, it
seemed as if I had struck upon some object having the resistance of
horn; after many attempts to cut through it crucially, I was obliged
to desist. However, having commenced the operation, I was loth to
give it up so readily, and tried now to pierce, at least, the middle of
the capsule with the needle. But in vain; the needle bent so under
the cutting pressure which was made upon it, that it certainly would
have broken under greater force, and I found myself compelled to
give up the operation. After the puncture in the cornea was healed,
I undertook the same operation with a stronger straight sclerotic-
onyxis-needle, since there was no indication for the cataract knife.
The cutting pressure with it upon the capsule of the lens, caused so
great a depression of the capsule backwards, and met with such a
great resistance, as I had never seen, or read of, in the practice of the
most celebrated oculists. However, the needle penetrated the cap-
sule at last, but this was hardly done, when, simultaneously, the whole
anterior chamber of the eye was filled by the discharge of the well
known white, opaque, thick fluid, by reason of which, the point of the
needle was no longer visible, and I was obliged to consider the
operation at an end.
Since my preparations as far as the individual to be operated
upon is concerned. consist in nothing else than the exhibition of
a few drops of Arnica tincture in water the day before, no vulnerary
fever or any other injurious result followed, as is frequently the case
122
after such operations; and, moreover, since even after the operation I
give nothing but Arnica third, three or four times a day, the wound
healed very readily. The absorption of the fluid discharged into the
anterior chamber was complete in three days, and allowed me to see
the floating remnants of the torn capsule of the lens, some of which
lay in the anterior chamber, the remaining in the posterior; both were
absorbed after a few weeks, without any accident.
Three events are prominent here: 1. The changes of the lens and
its capsule rapidly succeeding one another. 2nd. The resistance of
the capsule of the lens; and, 3rd. The unusually rapid absorption of
the discharged liquid, and the lento-capsular remnants.
On account of his lack of the necessary chemico-physiological
knowledge, we cannot speak, with a physician of the physiological
school, upon such events, however unusual they may seem to him, cr,
as he would express it, wonderful and fabulous. Yet every one who
has devoted himself to the comprehensive study of Homœopathy,
theoretically and practically, will recognize the cause of these events
in the effect of the Calcarea carb. and Arnica, and, according to the
previous paragraphs, can determine what might here be called the
primary, secondary, and so-called Homeopathic alternate effects, but
this would have no influence upon the indication, if the cause of these
effects were not previously known by the results of drug provings.
As an evidence that all these arbitrary would-be explanations about.
primary, secondary and alternate effects are only useless generaliza-
tions, which make the (real) explanation of facts more distant only;
as a proof, further, that, not the quantity merely of a substance given for
a curative purpose, can be the final momentum for deciding upon the
modality of its efficiency, but simply and solely the quality in relation.
to the possibilities of diosmotic motions of the qualities and quantities
of substances and tissues of the organism, specifically corresponding
to the quality of the drug, I adduce an experimental example taken
from the fourth edition of the Chemical Letters (Vol. II., p. 126) of
of Licbig, who may here serve as a pole-star to the enemies of drug-
provings upon the healthy, and to physiologists also.
"If one, before breakfast, takes, every ten minutes, a glass of com-
mon spring water, the percentage of salt in which is far less than that
of the blood, then, soon after drinking the second glass, reckoned at
four ounces, a quantity of colored urine is passed, whose volume is
very near that of the first glass of water, and if, in this manner,
twenty glasses are taken, one will have nineteen passages of water,
the last of which will be nearly colorless and will contain but a little
more salt than the spring water."
123
"If the same experiment is made with spring water, to which about
as much common salt has been added as the blood contains (three-
fourths of one per cent.), then we observe urinal discharges differing
in no way from the usual discharges; it is hardly possible to drink
more than three glasses of this water; a sensation of fullness, pressure
and heaviness in the stomach indicate that water which contains a
quantity of salt equal to that in the blood, needs a far longer time for
its absorption into the capillaries."
66
If, finally, one takes salt water, which contains rather more salt
than the blood, then just the opposite of absorption takes place; viz.,
purging."
Thus, as is clearly seen, the absorbing power of the capillaries, for
water, is changed according to the proportion of salt which the water
contains; if this is less than that of the blood, then it is taken up with
greater rapidity; with an equal quantity of salt, an equilibrium is
maintained; if the water contains more salt than the blood does, then
this salt water is not discharged through the kidneys, as is the water
poor in salt, but by the bowels."
I cannot recall, in all the current literature, a more beautiful exam-
ple, capable of demonstrating more convincingly my experiences, as I
have here laid them down; it contains a part of the diosmotic motions
which the common salt, in various degrees of concentration, produces
with parts of the organism. And thus we find in Homeopathy not
only a molecular pathology, made ready to our hand, but also a mole-
cular therapeutics corresponding thereto, as soon as we dispense with
antiquated phrases. If one wishes to speak of primary and secondary
effects, or of the contrast between small and large doses, then this
example shows also that it never can be done in a general way, but
that every time the special case and the substance used must be stated.
§. 250.
I tarry a moment longer upon cataract, in order to show the rela-
tion of chemistry to therapeutics in still another respect, and, for this
purpose, this disease offers the most suitable object, on account of its
ready accessibility to the art of observation.
Even in Hahnemann's time, drug provings showed that the follow-
ing substances of the outer world produced opacity of the lens and its
capsule; or, at all events, dimness of vision, which could only arise
from the periphery of these media of the eyes; viz., Ammon. mur.,
Calcarea carb., Kali causticum, Magnesia carb., Phosphorus, Sul-
phur., Nitric ac., Natrum mur., carbonicum, and sulphuricum, Kali
124
carbon, Silicea, Cannabis, Conium, Belladonna, Euphrasia, Pulsatilla,
Opium, and of these, cures of cataract have been effected by Cannabis,
Kali causticum, Conium, Euphrasia, Belladonna, Opium, Calcarea
carb., Magnesia carb., Silicea, Sulph., Phosphorus, Ammon. mur.,
Acidum nitr., Pulsatilla.
Without any knowledge of all this, Chemistry subsequently discov
ered that the crystalline lens, with its albumen and globuline, contains
metallo-chlorides, the sulphate of soda, the phosphate of potash, the
phosphate of lime, the carbonate of potash, the ammonio-phosphate
of soda and lactic acid, while the vitreous body contains sulphate of
potash, the phosphate of lime and magnesia, the phosphate of the
oxide of iron, the chloride of soda, the chloride of potash and lime.
Now, although up to the present day, Homœopathy, even, has taken
no notice of these chemical results, yet there is opened to us, by these
two results, that of the Homoeopathic therapeutics, and that of chem-
istry, the deepest insight into the pathological, as well as therapeutical,
movements of the organism in the origin and cure of cataract, and
this, in a manner not dreamed of by the schools.
For if, on the one hand, we know the fact that cures have been
accomplished by these substances; if it is thereby put beyond all doubt,
that the formation of cataract must be subjected to the most manifold
conditions, and that the quality of the cataract itself may be of the
most varied; then chemistry, on the other hand, explains to us the
possibility of its occurrence.
We know, for example, that the lactic acid of the globulin is com-
bined with its alkalies. If, now, these relative proportions are dis-
turbed by the addition of an excess of water, then the fluid becomes
opaque. For, the globulin or albumen of the lens, being freed from
its alkalies, by the surplus of the acid, is then only all the more held
in a state of solution by its salts; but these will, by attenuation, lose
their dissolving power and globulin or albumen will be excreted, and,
in this manner, another specific opacity of the lens is produced.
If we, finally, take into consideration the fact that experiments have
demonstrated, in cataractic lenses, great quantities of earthy phosphates
and cholesterine, then the Homœopathic cure of these various qualities
of opacities of the lens, becomes intelligible in a chemical respect also.
The How and Whereby, the relation of those drugs and the neces-
sity of those cures, however, follow clearly from the laws previously
discussed, according to which the Homeopathic therapeutics operates,
and especially from drug provings.
Had we, for example, a cataract to cure in a constitution which, in
its form, resembles the proving of Calcarea carb., then we could not
125
well be in doubt as regards the indication of the drug, and so forth,
as already explained.
From this, many more conclusions may be drawn as regards the
value of Chemistry for Homœopathy.
In the first place, Chemistry is not able to explain to us, the effect
of any vegetable substance upon cataract.
Then, again, Chemistry alone, never will help us to an indication
for the cure of cataract with any of the substances which it has
discovered.
Furthermore, neither physiology, nor the pathology of physiological
medicine will ever announce, a priori, the chemical properties of a
cataract which is to be cured, hence, for these reasons also, no indica-
tion for any remedy.
All these questions, Homœopathy answers synthetically, in a man-
ner worthy of admiration, similar to that of a practiced artist, who,
from a row of pictures, to all of which the sign manual of Raphael,
for instance, had been given, in most deceptive similarity, would
diagnosticate with certainty, not from these signs appended to all the
pictures, but from the general character of each picture, from its
specific form, that this is a Raphael, another a Rubens, another a Van
Dyke, etc.
But, from this example of cataract, we can also obtain another view,
interesting to general science.
As in all pathological processes, so also in cataract, we have simply
and solely to do with an injurious plus or minus, and thus also, in
every cure, we have to do with the supply of that minus and the
removal of that plus. For this end, the laws in their general bearing,
truly enough, can be found in Homoeopathy, but by far too rarely,
those with regard to special cases.
Thus, in fact, there is a kind of cataract which is cured by Siliceous
earth, though chemistry does not mention this substance as a con-
stituent of the lens or its capsule. Nevertheless, in view of that
curative result, it may be affirined, with the precision based upon
natural laws, that Siliceous earth must stand either in a functional or
nutritive relation to the crystalline lens. Thus the question of the
physician to chemistry: whether Siliceous earth be present in the lens
or not, would arise post festum only, and without detracting, in any
way, from the well-established curative result. Afterwards, by way
of supplement, i. e., based upon the Homoeopathic curative result, the
question would come up to Physiology, in what functional relation,
Siliceous earth would be of influence in the cure of cataracts, if this
substance were not found by Chemistry in the crystalline lens of the
126
eye, and to Pathology, under what conditions, an opacity of the lens
would be produced, which is curable by Siliceous earth?
Such questions, preceded by a deductively confirmed fact, as the
curing of cataract by Siliceous earth, and only such, offer leading
principles to further chemical, physiological, and pathological inquiries
in the interest of Therapeutics; such questions avoid the useless
experiments at random, and of these there would be such a number,
that these three doctrines together would have plenty to do all the
time.
From such an elaboration of therapeutical questions, however, there
would clearly arise a harmonious effort, which, in the shortest time,
would bring forth the greatest results, worthy to be enrolled among
the great discoveries of our century.
It is obvious, that Chemistry, as often as it discovered a new con-
stituent of the organism, might say to Therapeutics that it has found
therewith a remedy, even though it has found no indication for it, and
that, indeed, with the same right, with which a rational farmer
will, with the help of Chemistry, learn, from the ashes of any par-
ticular plant, what substances the soil must contain, that this species
may thrive; and, as chemistry farther shows, that, of these substances,
for example, the siliceous earth passes over into the straw, and the
phosphate into the seeds, so, drug-provings must subserve the same
end, which Chemistry alone is not able fully to accomplish for the
human organism.
And even now, indeed, it will no longer seem strange if I affirm,
that we should no longer say "dat medicina salutem," but must say
"dat nutrimentum salutem.”
While speaking of diseases of the eyes, I wish to remark yet, that
the precious discovery of the ophthalmoscope offers a splendid field
for the art of therapeutic observation; since, by its aid, all therapeutic
results, within this small field, may be submitted to direct inspection.
But of course, he who takes the contrarium contrariis as his only
guide, will not be able to follow up this advantage in this direction.
Contraria contrariis curantur means that one should cure diseases
with remedies which act against the former. That is a fallacy from
relative conception, and also from one sphere to another. For, in the
contrarium contrariis, the form of the effect is identified with the
indication and the cause, at the same time, in such a way that the
effect has been set up as an indication. It is an error from false gene-
ralization arising from relative ideas, which throws together, under
one rubric, things which have no common properties. There is
127
nothing which simply and solely operates against the organism,
without drawing new consequences after it.
From this fallacy of contrarium contrariis, arise the errors against
the art of experiment in the drug-provings of the physiological school.
This fault becomes the most apparent when one finds, for instance,
Benzoic acid so often mentioned as an expectorant, and compares there-
with §§. 208 and those which follow. Of the full extent of the active
sphere of a remedy, the physiological school, by reason of this maxim,
never thinks. It does not think, for instance, that beside the symp-
toms 187, 188, 189, 190, in the proving of Benzoic acid by Hering,
which contain the entire sum of the practical knowledge of the phys-
iological school regarding this drug, there may also be still other and
farther reaching effects. It entirely lacks the Homeopathic differ-
ential diagnosis which contains demonstrative conclusions, not conclu-
sions ex post, and which becomes possible only by such results of prov-
ing, and thus, all those phenomena are unknown to it which are
further produced during the use of a drug. These it generally holds
to be phenomena of the morbific cause, and, hence, falls into the most
fearful confusion at the sick-bed, two examples of which, out of a
countless host, I have given above. Thus, the error of contrarium
contrariis misleads the physiological school according to the quanti-
tative causal law, always to make use, and take notice merely, of that
portion of the effect of a drug, at the sick-bed, which has become
known from tradition or authority, as if a simple experiment were to
be made, as if nothing else had been effected, and as if all art of
observation had thereby come to an end.
§. 251.
Hering's proving of Benzoic acid, which I have given, must suffice
to enable us to penetrate still deeper into the genius of the Homœo-
pathic therapeutics. For this purpose I choose, as an example, a
disease which seems suitable for the purpose.
One morning, a child, nine years old, complained of great headache
and such violent pains in the right shoulder joint, that it could not
move it. The anamnesis announced that its father, at the same age,
had suffered from gout, and, as I was told, had often been attacked
with it since; that the child, however, had taken cold while out of
doors. The fever was moderate, and nothing farther was apparent,
which could have led one to conclude that the disease was particularly
On account of the approximative correspondence in form, I
ordered Aconite 3rd, five drops every two hours, in a spoonful of water.
severe.
128
The next day, after a delirious night, the right shoulder joint was
movable again; but, on the other hand, several of the cervical and
dorsal vertebrae, and both knees and ankles were swollen and immovable
by reason of pain. The greatest pain in the regions of both tendines.
Achillis, could, by compresses under the heels and upon the calves,
be somewhat relieved, but only for a short time. All these symptoms,
in the forenoon, were only in the right leg, and, in the afternoon, came
also in the left. In the urine, there was an abundant sediment of uric
acid; moderate perspiration; great thirst. The third day, I found the
same pains in the same localities, and the same state of the urine; the
conjunctiva of both eyes was of a bright red; there was increased
headache; hence the medication, thus far, was without any restraining
influence upon the progress of the discase, although it moderated the
fever, which, otherwise, must have been much more acute.
The
critical nature of the third day, although it dawned without any
material aggravation, except an increased injection of the conjunc-
tiva, (which, however, was not attended by any photophobia), and
the absence of any improvement, sufficed to prepare the attendants
for a more restless night. Since thus, the extension of the disease to
the brain had to be feared with some probability, I directed Bella-
donna 3rd to be given in the interval. On the fourth day, after a
sleepless night, with slight delirium, just as thus far, the previous
nights had passed, the cervical and dorsal vertebre, the knees and
ankles were relieved, the urine and perspiration remaining the same,
although the child complained, neither more nor less; except that, on
inquiry, it said it had more headache than yesterday; yet its counte-
nance had assumed an evident expression of sinking; this again
allowed one to conclude that the disease had extended further, although
the attendants had no idea thereof, and percussion and auscultation
gave no indication of any change in the chest or abdomen. As the
bowels had not moved since the invasion of the disease, and to make
sure that there should be no ground to fear an eventual aggravation
from this quarter, I prescribed a teaspoonful of castor oil, the Aconite.
and Belladonna being set aside. An operation occurred in course of
the evening without any aggravation, but, at the same time, without
any relief. Now the present state could not be considered any longer
the mere result of the occasional cause already indicated, but I had to
suppose something lying between, of which I have to speak anon,
and to which, for the present, I merely allude in saying that now I
found myself compelled to give a dose of Sulphur 5th. On the fifth
day, though welcomed as I was with great joy over the event that
the child had slept the whole night through, because her medicine
I29
had probably contained some Opium, I yet could observe, by means
of an objective examination, a more accelerated pulse, 116, and
increased sinking of the features; on the other hand, there was more
mobility and less pain a mere aching pressure -- in the joints pre-
viously affected, but, in place of it, violent pains, immobility and
swelling of the left wrist and elbow, with a reddened swelling of the
left index and middle finger. The urine was quite full of crystals of
uric acid, and, in consequence of its decomposition in the bladder, the
fluid was of an insufferable putrid odor, immediately after being voided;
the discharge itself was painful. Now the opportunity was given to
comprehend the entire form of the disease from the bottom, and to
establish its correspondence with the form of the reciprocal action of
some proven remedy and the healthy organism.
The child had not only lost its good humor from the beginning,
but it was now anxious and easily frightened, also; was afraid of its
dolls, could no longer express itself clearly, as it did not complete any
sentence which it commenced; it was sleepy; complained con-
stantly of pressing pains, coldness and confusion of the head, coldness
in the forehead and in the back, although the whole surface of the
skin was warm to the touch and perspired slightly. The eye lids
were nearly closed and burning hot; the conjunctiva was more
injected; lips trembling and dry; the tongue coated white; the taste
salty; no appetite; much thirst; pulse 116; strength prostrated; a
sense of general malaise and weariness, and, as before said, the joints
of the elbow and wrist, together with the index and middle fingers on
the left side, were swollen and reddened with a local temperature
much increased; they were extremely painful and immovable; the
urine was thick by reason of the above-mentioned sediments, scanty,
very offensive and dark-red from uroxanthin; cough had also set in,
though unaccompanied by any corresponding sounds in the bronchi.
S. 252.
The first thing in the physiological school is to establish the differ-
ential diagnosis between the form of disease at hand and the forms
similar to it; thus, in this case, to decide whether it was arthritis vaga
or acute articular rheumatism. Since the father had not been able to
show the least sign of a tophus in his joints, said to have been affected
by gout, so-called, and never asserted that he had observed any thing
of the kind; since in the child, the shoulder joint, the knee and ankle
of the left side were already very much swollen; since arthritis in its
first attack, generally invades the great toe, while in this case its pre-
PART II.
9
130
cursory symptoms were wanting also, and, above all, since the youth-
ful age, of itself, hardly allowed any thought of gout, thus there was
no doubt that the father had never suffered from gout, nor that the
child did not now have the gout, but was affected by acute articulur
rheumatism. Concerning the diagnosis, regarding eventual compli-
cations or extensions, it was established that, in this child neither the
heart, nor the lungs, nor the kidneys, had taken any part in the
disease.
The special therapeutics of the physiological school consists in gen-
eral and local blood letting; internally, in the treatment with large
doses of Tartar emetic, with large doses of Nitre, with large doses of
Quinine; further, in the exhibition of diaphoretics of Colchicum,
Opium, Veratrin, Quicksilver, Iodine, Guaiacum, Digitalis, Sulphur,
Phosphate of ammonia, Carbonate of iron, Citric acid, etc.; as an
external application, to the affected joints, it uses Mercurial ointment,
compresses wet with a solution of Saltpetre, blister plaster, Camphor
fumigations, cataplasms, dry wrappings, friction with Chloric ether,
etc.
Even Aconite may be found of late in the literature of this
school, as a remedy for acute articular rheumatism, recommended by
its Homœopathic results, and all those numerous drugs are transmis-
sions or recommendations of authorities, without any indication what-
ever being given for the particular case, although the physiological
school makes the ultimate demand that every single case should also
be individualized. But, in want of every leading principle, under
which a given case might be individualized, in order to establish the
indication of a remedy, this postulate reminds one of ordering a man
to swim who never was in the water.
Accordingly, the indication of the physiological school, at the best,
amounts to this: to give, experimentally, a diaphoretic on account of
the causal momentum of the taking cold; to use leeches, or any other
of the above mentioned external applications, on account of the local
pains; or, internally, to give Opium symptomatically, and, on account
of the scanty urine, Colchicum with Opium, which is one of the most
favorite medications, and so on, just as each thinks he can best gain
his end. In brief, every where generalitics only, and no where any
point of support which looks like a special Therapy; in no case is any
essential indication possible.
Rademacher's school, to conclude from the other diseases appearing
at the same time, which diseases, for the most part, appeared under
the pathological form of the second specific state, would give Copper,
with Natrum carbonicum, probably, after the supposed acidity of the
stomach and intestinal canal had been neutralized; or, an organ-
131
remedy, to which probably the cough of the child would have led, thus,
Ipecac, Tartar emetic, Aconite, Sulphur, Hyoscyamus, and, the excit-
ants, Lobelia and Benzoic acid. Natrum carbonicum would be indi-
cated from the fact even, that, in consequence of the sediments in the
urine, a primary affection of the kidneys might be inferred. Or, since
acute rheumatism, in general, occurs as a disease, which finds a place
under the pathological form of the first specific state, Natrum nitricum.
It cannot be disputed, that the Therapeutics of Rademacher's
schooi goes far deeper into specialities, and much better deserves the
predicate special, than that which adorns itself with this name.
However, I must remark at this juncture, that, according to the fore-
going paragraphs, this case of acute rheumatism under consideration,
was neither suited to treatment by Copper, nor Saltpetre, nor even
Iron, and, from reasons given in the foregoing paragraphs, not for any
of the other organ-remedies, Benzoic acid excepted; but for this again,
it was suited, but not on the grounds that a primary disease of the lungs
might be supposed here, as we shall presently see.
Moreover, it must firmly be upheld, as one of the prime funda-
mental maxims of Therapeutics, not to use, for the purpose of a cure,
anything which, in any respect whatever, might have injurious contin-
gent effects, to which all those doses belong, of which this school and the
physiological are wont to avail themselves; then again, as a second
fundamental maxim, to neglect nothing which is useful.
Fundamental principles follow from fundamental relations, and
since the fundamental relation of Therapeutics to disease consists in
this, to establish a restitutio ad integrum, therefore every attempt,
which can have an injurious influence, hence, an influence contrary to
these maxims, even though it should seem to be ever so trifling as to
the result, is definitively a false one. Consequently, even Rademacher's
school is to be imitated, in its handling of drug-quantities, quite as
little as the physiological. We shall see that they could dispense with
these false methods of treatment.
§. 253.
The Homœopathic school proceeds, quite differently from other
schools, for the establishment of its diagnosis and indications.
It holds fast to its principle of similarity, for the purpose of a further
differential diagnosis peculiar to itself alone, which we have often
elucidated heretofore, after it has previously, in the sense of the physio-
logical school, fully satisfied the technics of diagnosis, and thus, for its.
132
object, has gained, with these aids first, a general, but no special view
of the disease in hand.
The Homœopathic diagnosis, thus, is not content with those differ-
ential diagnoses of the physiological school. True, it does not fail,
first and in the same manner, to inquire whether, and how, other
organs also, as the heart and lungs, etc., the frequency of the pulse
and respiration, the temperature, the secretions and excretions, etc.,
partake of the general and accidentally most prominent form of the
morbid conditions, in order to obtain a general designation, or one of
the current names of disease; for its aims, in a more extended view,
it rightly considers it insufficient to have undertaken and established a
differential diagnosis, in the sense of the physiological school; as, for
example, that, in our case, we have not to deal with arthritis, but with
acute rheumatism, and not any other disease which might be more or
less easily confounded with it by the ignorant; as, for example, that,
in a case of hysteria, we had not to deal with hypochondria, catalepsy,
epilepsy, chorea, intermittent fever, apoplexy, etc. To Homœopathy,
all such names of diseases (as they arise from such empirical differen-
tial diagnoses, and, in the special pathologies and therapeia of the
physiological school, are presented as the utmost limits of perception,)
are all but mere general schemata, containing no speciality, no reality,
which might be adopted to establish an indication according to natural
laws; mere separate ideas, which can only serve for this purpose, to
bring the diagnosticated groups of symptoms, by synthetic comparison,
into connection with the forms which characterize one of the drug-
provings. In like manner, under the rubric of one such nosological
name, even the grouping of the most various drugs in such a general-
izing manner, is unsatisfactory to Homeopathy.
In order to determine, according to natural laws, which of the
remedies from that general group must be the specific one for the
specific case, i. e., the only remedy possible, it now undertakes the
differential diagnosis peculiar to itself, between the phenomena of
the special case (of disease) and the phenomena which all the above-
mentioned, and still other drugs, present in their provings, in order,
by comparison, to ascertain which effects of these proven substances
correspond, as regards form, with the case of disease in hand. Hence,
the empirical differential diagnosis of the physiological school is to
be distinguished essentially from the Homeopathic differential, since
the latter only, is able to understand the connection of the pathological
phenomena of a disease, with the physiological effects of drugs, and
rationally to use this knowledge; a use which, according to natural
133
laws, for the purpose of cure, as is readily secn, is the only possible
one, although, to the physiological school, it is utterly unknown.
§. 254.
To comply with these requirements, we must inquire still further
into the case of disease mentioned.
Suppose, according to the general scheme, that this case should be
diagnosticated in the most exact manner, according to the rules of art,
as acute Rheumatism, as is required by the physiological school, of
its disciples; we find, besides, that the pains and swelling of the
joints took their course from the upper part of the body to the lower,
and, at the same time, passed over from the right side to the left.
Even that fœtid odor of the urine does not belong to this case of
disease, according to the general scheme, but belongs to the charac-
teristic signs of the special or Homeopathic differential diagnosis.
Further, to this special characteristic of the case, belong the timorous
state of mind, the decrease of memory, the sensation of cold in the
head, the pressing pain in the cervical and dorsal vertebræ, the drow-
siness by day, the salty taste, the general weariness, etc. I will omit
calling attention to any more of such signs, which the adherents of
Rademacher and of the physiological school neglect to observe, as
being quite unessential, or such as they would not have noticed at all,
on account of the usual method, to establish general diagnoses only,
and to use only accidental and empirical remedies, for which such
general schemata, which they call special, of course, are more than
sufficient.
From this it is clear, that Homeopathy still continues to investi-
gate, long after the physiological school has finished its inquiries;
that the diagnosis of the latter must precede that of the former, as a
general introduction for a deeper penetration into the further circum-
stances which still accompany the general diagnosis.
When the stars and polygons of the kaleidoscope quickly change
from one form into the other, there operates in the background, even
though mistaken by the empiric eye, only one movement which
explains the apparent magic. That is a picture of the diagnosis
from the Homeopathic examination of a patient, which must have
inquired into causes and conditions, and must have obtained an under-
standing thereof.
This differential diagnosis of Homeopathy alone, then, deserves
the name of a special diagnosis, which is able to separate the par-
ticular case from the generality of the superficial pathological form,
134
to individualize it, and, accordingly, to make it prominent, and then
first, we may further ask, is that substance to be found, according to
the law of similarity, among those which have been proved on the
sick, inducing symptoms on the organism, which, according to the
form, correspond with those of the given disease?
Since the practicing physician, however, cannot spare the time to
hunt up (in his books) the symptoms of more than three hundred drugs
already proved, he must have them in his memory and carry them with
him to every sick-bed. I do not make this remark altogether without
purpose: for the opponents of Homœopathy say that nothing is easier
than to write down, at the sick-bed, the symptoms presented, and then
to refer to similar ones in the drug-provings. That, clearly, can only
be the assertion of those who are given to measuring the perceptive
capabilities of others by their own. If such narrow minds could ever
elevate themselves so much as to undertake the great study of the
Homœopathic drug-provings, they would learn, that no common, but
a constantly practiced memory is necessary, in order always to remem-
ber the results of these numerous drug-provings, even approximately,
as regards the characteristic of each separate substance, and to be able
to compare them with the symptoms of any disease presented, without
delay. I frankly confess, that, after five years' earnest study, I suc-
ceeded in storing up in my memory, but nine of the most complete
drug-provings, and even this would not have been at all possible,
without the numerous cases of disease which were presented for my
observation, and without, during this time, having proved on myself
Aconite, Belladonna, and Arsenic, in various quantities, from the
traditional dose up to the 10th and 30th attenuations. After this, of
course, that task was easier, since I could use these results of expe-
rience gained theoretically and practically, for the differential method
of observation. I do not mention this for my own sake, but to give
an illustration, how much easier it is to write a prescription of the
physiological school, than one according to the art and science of
Homœopathy; that, in fact, every one should refrain from assuming
to himself the right of passing judgment upon Homeopathy who
has not proved at least five or six drugs upon himself, in traditional
and minimal doses, clse he must count himself among those who love
to hear themselves talk, though they know no more of what they are
talking than a blind man does of colors.
135
§. 255.
Among the Homœopathic provings, of all the remedies of the
physiological school mentioned in §. 252, we find, however, no such
characteristic group of phenomena as was presented to me in that
case of disease. Only in Hering's proving of Benzoic acid can they
be found, and that under the figures 2, 3, 5, 8, 14, 32, 33, 59, 62, 95,
140, 141, 149, 150, 1S4, 225, 227, 230 b, 23S, 242, 243, 252, 259, 332,
etc., as they may be seen in §. 210.
as
In general, no substance of the outer world given to a patient,
exercise an influence merely on
a remedy, can
the parts
remaining healthy, and whether such an influence can really take
place and be known beforehand, is only to be learned by drug-
proving; neither Chemistry, nor Physics, nor Pathology, nor even
Physiology, as they are pursued in the universities, can give us any
explanation or certainty as regards this question. Besides, in all
Homœopathic drug-provings, as well as in the example thereof,
offered in Benzoic acid, we find the reports of clinical confirmations
of the principle of similarity. Notwithstanding the relation of Ben-
zoic acid to gout, the form of which so nearly resembles that of
articular rheumatism, that skillful diagnosticians are frequently unable
to establish an empirical differential diagnosis between the two at the
sick-bed, there was, after the establishment of the Homeopathic differ-
ential diagnosis, which satisfies that ungratified, though deeply felt,
necessity of the physiological school "to individualize the case,"
nothing to hinder its use in the case of that child; hence there was no
further question for me to answer, and I was, therefore, compelled,
even after all these investigations, to declare Benzoic acid as the one,
and only, remedy indicated.
Thus, according to modality, relation and quality, the indicated
remedy was found conformable to the necessary requirements accord-
ing to natural laws, the unfailing result of which could accordingly
be foretold. There is no further room here for any sceptical wavering,
hither and thither, in the choice of a remedy.
It was now the quantity of the dose only that was to be determined.
But, on this point also, practice had repeatedly decided, aside from the
contents of the previous paragraphs. For reasons now comprehen-
sively given, I gave the child three or four drops of the third decimal
attenuation, in a table spoonful of water, every two hours.
What followed I need hardly mention, after what has been already
said; to every one versed in the study of Homeopathy, at least, the
result is already known; but, for the benefit of the ignoraut, I must
136
4
further add that the child, on the next day, was without headache or
back ache, or red eyes in short, was well; only the left elbow joint
and the index and middle finger of the left hand, though considerably
less swollen, were still sensitive and immovable. On the tenth day,
I found the child quite free from all pain; all the joints could be
moved readily again, as if nothing at all had happened. She played
again with her dolls, ate with appetite, and, the next day, I allowed
her to get up, as entirely cured, and return to her usual mode of life.
Thus Homœopathy, by its experiments, and logical instruments,
attains to many therapeutical results which Chemistry is much too
weak either to furnish or to explain.
§. 256.
A cure by a function-remedy, by Benzoic acid, must be followed
now by a cure by a nutrition-remedy, in order to give a needful
insight into these natural motions. I do certainly prefer to choose
again a disease declared by the physiological school to be absolutely
incurable, enchondroma, which is turned over by this school, without
much ado, to surgery for amputation or resection.
The first case of enchondroma, cured in my practice, was that of a
poor boy fourteen years old, of a very pale countenance. He showed
me his right hand, after he had taken off a useless bandage. The
metacarpal bones of the ring and middle fingers, the index and mid-
dle fingers themselves, and the thumbs were swollen up to such a
degree as to form oval, knobby masses of uniform surface, and hard;
the joints were all obliterated, and not to be recognized, and hence,
for six months, immovable also. These parts were, at various points,
divested of their skin by ulcerated surfaces, under which the bones
gave a rough sound to the probe, and places were found here and
there which could easily be penetrated, and others again which offered
resistance. The boy had no appetite, was still kept at work by a
potter, carrying clay, etc., and naturally did not wish to give up this
occupation, since it had to furnish him his scanty support. His com-
plaints were confined to great pains in the suffering parts, great drow-
siness during the day, great lassitude and depression. According to
the doctrines of Surgery, taught to this very hour, there was no other
help for him than a disarticulation at the wrist, with a loss of the
right hand, since only the little finger, and its metacarpal bones, seemed
free from the disease.
Enchondroma is the name for the pathological process of the carti-
laginous metamorphosis of the bones; the new formation, in which it.
137
consists, agrees most completely with cartilage, in a morphological as
well as chemical respect. A surgeon would not mistake it, from the
above description, even according to its outer form, and since I write
neither for skeptics nor dogmatists, but for practical physicians, and
men capable of criticism according to natural laws, I consider myself
excused from a detailed description.
We know that, of all the constituents of bone, the cartilage lacks
only siliceous earth. In 25,628 grammes of adult bone, there are
0.003 of siliceous earth. Could it be possible, under such circum-
stances, to think of giving the siliceous earth as a nutritive means, in a
quantity corresponding to the traditional dose?! Thus, I gave to this
boy Silicea 6, five drops every two hours. True, siliceous earth must
have been conveyed to him by his usual food, but his organism had
lost the faculty of appropriating it from the food. That it may be
taken up in the given form, is clear from §§. 220 and 221. But if the
stomach and intestinal canal, in brief, if those of their functions which
should have taken up the siliceous earth contained in the food, and
carried it to the blood, were clearly not able to do it, for otherwise no
such disease as enchondroma could ever have taken place, (since it is
only possible as a consequence of this want,) then it must be accom-
plished in some other way.
Assuming the position (one that really exists according to this state-
ment,) that we had arrived, in our deductive series, at the second
deductive operation—for the first was supplied by the pathology of
enchondroma and the physiology of normal bones-we must yet take
counsel anew with anatomy and physiology, as to the appropriate
locality for drug-application.
If we consider the anatomical conditions for taking up the molecular
bodies into the blood, we find, upon the tongue, the papillæ filiformes,
with their hair-like processes turned inwards, leading directly to the
celis, and which do not readily allow that which they have once taken
up into their channels to escape, but transfer it to the blood. The
mucous membrane of the cavity of the mouth, throat, and œso-
phagus, as well as that of the rectum also, is adapted to take up,
very rapidly, what is not larger than the orifices of their epitelium,
while, on the contrary, the structure of the mucous membrane of the
stomach is almost entirely glandular, and excreting, so that its possi-
bility of absorbing molecular bodies must be far less than that of the
above named parts. The mucous membrane of the stomach is chiefly
a reducing organ, for the elaboration of such substances as are more
dense than water. Only to those solutions which do not exceed the
physical density of water, is the possibility given to penetrate the
138
mucous membrane of the stomach also, to be taken up by it, and to
be transferred to the blood. Chemical mixtures, infusions, decoctions,
immediately produce an increased secretion of the gastric mucous
membrane, and we may assume with certainty, that only the most
minute parts thereof will escape the decomposing combination with
the secretion of the stomach. In this, at the same time, one of the
possibilities is also explained which can still lend efficacy to such great
quantities as are used in the physiological school, and besides this,
the necessity that these very same doses must lead to irretrievably
injurious results, as daily experience also teaches.
In general, it may be maintained that the effect of the remedy, once
it is introduced into the stomach, must be uncertain or destroyed.
Thus, the point of application for molecular bodies, if they are to
be transferred immediately to the blood, is determined, and that, in the
form of the second deductive operation, so that the question can only
be whether this is sustained by facts.
If this confirmation were not to be found every day in Homœopathy,
though utterly unknown to the medical majority, I should not have
thought it necessary to have settled this question, also, by an example.
Thus the luxurious pseudo-growth of the cartilage cells, which, in
enchondroma, crowd out the osseous cells, had, in case of this child, so
diminished in course of eight days, that the superficial ulcers could begin
to cicatrize, since, at the same time, those tuberous formations had
manifestly decreased in extent. After fourteen days more, the joints.
were already movable again, though the mobility was very much
restricted. After another fortnight, all the concomitant symptoms,
which had been present, disappeared; appetite had returned, the
drowsiness, during the day, had ceased, the boy was lively and of
good cheer, and rejoiced over his improvement.
It is impossible for me to expatiate upon any subject, and dwell
longer upon it, than is absolutely necessary for it to be understood.
Hence I may here be permitted to close, with the statement that this
boy, after eight weeks, was perfectly cured, and has remained so for
sixteen years, which surely justifies the further conclusion that he will
stay so. Consequently, that inference of the second deductive opera-
ation, regarding the locality of application for the Homoeopathic
attenuations, is also verified, and, moreover, from this verification
follows the abstraction that the same relation must likewise hold
good, without doubt, in case of all Homœopathic attenuations.
Yet it may be remarked, by way of comparison with the conclu-
sion of §. 255, that I did not take the indication for Silicea merely
from the Homœopathic drug-provings, which contain nothing about
139
enchondroma, but chiefly from the chemistry and microscopy of the
physiological school. This school, however, since the dose, as demon-
strated by natural laws, must have been a Homœopathic dose, so-
called, will not be restrained (as this is attended with less trouble)
from continuing to disarticulate, resect and amputate, instead of curing
a human limb so easily saved; for, to judge from well-known expe-
riences, a conclusion according to natural laws, is, and ever will be, to
this school something foreign.
That conclusions, according to natural laws, have not yet, even in
Homœopathy, become common property, is shown by the circum-
stance that the cure of cataract and enchondroma, in spite of this
clinical case, is still held impossible. Well, then, nothing more is
left, than to cite these opponents, worthy of pity, before the forum of
practice, to which I always appeal. As long as one has not pro-
ceeded in this matter, as I have, he needs waste no words about it.
An immeasurable advantage of Homeopathy must also be men-
tioned here, i. c., that, after it has effected a cure, there is no re-conval-
escence. If the disease is cured, the patients are not exposed to the
dangers and difficulties of a treatment or re-convalescence post festum,
and that may be explained by, and follows from, the fact that the
digestive organs, as well as the parts remaining sound, are spared, and
that the injurious contingent effects of the drugs are avoided, occur-
rences which are possible by virtue of the dose and its point of appli-
cation, an advantage and a gain which the physiological school can
never reach.
§. 257.
If a disingenuous disputant should be inclined to ascribe these two
effects of the use of Benzoic acid, or of Silicea, or, in fact, of any
Homœopathic dose, to the effect of the diet employed, to such I would
reply, that the child afflicted with acute articular rheumatism, did not
eat any more, it is true, from the first day of its sickness, since it was
in the minimum of its proportional oscillation, and drank nothing but.
water, under which diet, had it contributed any thing to the cure, and
had it not rather been the direct result of the disease, the child should
have recovered far earlier, and the disease should not have extended
itself through five days as it did.
As for the boy, he was as little able to regulate his diet as the former
patient; he ate every day just what his master set before him, and
although at the beginning he did not eat much, yet he was not put
on a sick-diet. As his appetite returned, he had as little choice of his
140
food as before; he had to content himself with what came on the
table, and this was nothing nice. This, above all, is one of the great
advantages of a remedy consisting of molecular bodies, that one need
not be nearly so anxious about the diet, as has been hitherto supposed.
On the contrary, cures must be and are effected under the worst diet.
If physicians knew how often they were deceived as to the diet, they
would not be so particular about it.
It is a fruitless stratagem to maintain that the Homœopathic diet is
the cause of all the results. The Homeopathic diet consists, now-a-
days, if one can and will be particular, in nothing else than avoiding
such food and drink as might disturb the action of the remedy, as for
example, food prepared with vinegar, while Calc. carbonica is taken,
or Coffee, while Nux is taken, or of wine during the administration
of Aconite. Moreover, those substances should be avoided, of which
the patient knows, by experience, that they are injurious to him, or
the injurious properties of which are known even to the physiological
school, as, for example, fat in diseases of the liver, or substances,
which, being non-nutritious, have an accelerating or retarding effect
upon various functions of the organism, as Parsley, Asparagus, etc.
As a rule, one may let his patients eat what they have an appetite for;
for every cure needs the best nutrition of the parts remaining sound,
since a cure is possible only by their aid. For a long time, indeed,
Homœopathy has ceased to consider and arrange the diet any further
than to avoid all injurious influences; to arrange and use such a one
as would avoid all injurious substances. The fables of our opponents,
upon these points, can only be accounted for by their ignorance touch-
ing these facts.
man.
One, however, must keep clearly in view the difference between
drugs and food, as one often hears the ignorant say that Homœopathy
is a consummate chimera, since it depends upon the laws of nutrition,
but yet directs minimal doses which can afford no nourishment for a
This senseless reproach is made by the opponents of Homœo-
pathy in all earnestness, but it serves only as a proof of their infinite
stupidity. That such a reproach is a ridiculous stratagem, their power
of judgment does not, in the least, perceive. To such we may pro-
pose the question, in return, why does the pearl-oyster form its calca-
reous shell only in those waters in which the least proportion of lime
is to be found?
In course of time the fact has become well established even, that, in
many cases, the usual diet cannot offer the least hindrance to the effect
of molecular bodies. Indeed, one and the same substance used in its
common massive form as a food, does not prevent its molecules, when
141
set free, from obeying the laws of their specific direction. Thus, for
example, Coffee acts most surely in the second and third decimal
attenuation; i. e., without delay goes its way to the diseased correla-
tives of the organism, even in patients who drink a cup of strong
coffee two or three times a day, and for whom coffee is indicated.
This experiment can be made any time, and will not fail, but will,
again offer the clearest proof that the quality of bodies, in their mas
sive state, for the reasons already laid down, has nothing to do
with the effects or qualities of bodies in their molecular or free con-
dition, and that each can produce its specific effects by the side of the
other.
§. 258.
The "similia similibus curantur" has, in fact, to decide regard-
ing many things which concern operative Surgery and Obstetrics.
Applied in such a manner, as is very completely set forth in this work,
it is able to cure very many cases, which, by physicians who do not
know it, can only be looked upon as subjects for operative Surgery
and Obstetrics. The practicing physician is not in a position to devote
himself to a speciality, as it is possible, in cities where we have uni-
versities, and in capitals. His patients must find a man, in him, who
is instructed, theoretically and practically, in everything which pertains
to the domain of medical, chirurgical and obstetrical art and science.
A simple example, in addition, shows this. The adherent of the
physiological school, for instance, meets with success in many cases.
If, at the same time, he is conversant with the experiences of Rad-
emacher's school, then he clearly accomplishes twice as much. If he
is also familiar with the doctrines of Homoeopathy, then a three-fold
success must attend him; if, at the same time, he is a surgeon, a
four-fold; and if an accoucheur also, a five-fold. Each one of these
particular specialities has its own art of observation, its own art of
experiment, its own language and perception. No one of these
specialities can, hence, be allowed upon the ground of its peculiar
views, to isolate itself, and to oppose the other, so long as it is not able
to offer its advice, founded upon natural laws, and, consequently,
cannot determine, beforehand, the result, at least inductively or abstra-
tively.
142
§. 259.
Many substances, though often proved, are yet not so thoroughly
proved, that induction could not make experiments which would
serve as a complement to these provings.
As a proof of this I may mention, for example, among blood
diseases, chlorosis. Homœopathy possesses a multitude of remedies
for this disease, yet there is one which it does not possess. I found this
remedy by logical induction from the abstractions of Rademacher's
school, and from the external use of various metals, as they appear in the
metallo-therapy of Dr. Burg. It is Copper. My induction was deduc-
tively confirmed on the sick, so that I need no longer merely to recom-
mend it, since I can establish its indispensable worth in this disease, by
natural laws. Without dwelling any longer upon the art of experi-
ment and observation, which is to be used to discover new remedies
by the inductive method, even since this has already been done
abundantly in previous paragraphs I only remark further, that from
none of the Homœopathic drug-provings does it appear that Copper
is a remedy for chlorosis. Even Rademacher's school does not know
Copper as a remedy in chlorosis; still less the physiological. The
latter, as is well known, complains most recently, with one accord, of
the increase of anæmia in the population, and recommends Iron
against it, on the ground that the red blood discs contain Iron, and
that chlorosis is the outward sign of an excess of the white blood
discs. Yet the Iron of that school helps, as it knows itself, only in
some cases of anæmia and chlorosis; other cases undergo no improve-
ment from that remedy, but material aggravation. Quite early it
attracted my attention, that cases of chlorosis, over-fed with Iron, and
aggravated almost to dropsy, in my hands were cured by the use of
Copper, and thence I drew the further conclusion, that [in order not
to anticipate what is to be mentioned hereafter, and to be brief] Iron,
as a general rule, is only adapted to the so-called florid cases of
anæmia and chlorosis, and Copper for the so-called torpid cases.
The physiological school thought it observed that, in many cases,
Iron was not well borne by chlorotics, that it disturbed their digestive
organs, and that this disturbance was the chief cause of the aggrava-
tions. So some of its adherents found that Cinnamon, and others
that Saffron, when added to the powders of Iron, prevented these
contingent effects and aggravations, since by the influence of these
"aromatics," the digestion remained undisturbed, and the cure
advanced much more rapidly than without the addition of these
143
drugs. In other cases, both found that the chlorosis, nevertheless,
very often bade defiance to both these compositions.
This gives new opportunity to confirm the indications of this
school, as such, as they have already been often characterized in this
work. They have no basis established upon natural laws. Many
wretched chlorotic patients treated by that school, have sought help
of me, and as they showed me their prescriptions, I saw that all those
with whom Copper was not indicated, had had Iron, it is true; but,
as I supposed, it was always those who were suffering with chlorosis in
combination with amenorrhea who took Cinnamon with the Iron;
or those with chlorosis and profuse menstruation, took Saffron with
the Iron.
Had these gentlemen been acquainted with Homeopathy, they
would have had the desired result, at least, in those cases which were
really curable with Iron (if accident, in consequence of their igno-
rance, had not played them the trick of urging them on to pursue a
wrong course), if, in the former cases, they had given Saffron, in
the latter, Cinnamon in connection with the Iron; for Homeopathy
knows, from its drug-provings, that Cinnamon in this dose, as it was
here used, produces retention of the menses, and Saffron the contrary,
so called.
The wretched game, of bandying relative ideas back and forth,
half a century has not been able to bring to an end. If I had accom-
plished nothing, I should at least be allowed to lay claim to the single
acknowledgment, that I have clearly demonstrated that the strife of
the Contrarium with the Simile is a strife about nothing, a strife with
mere ideas of relation; and the strife of Rademacher's school with the
others, was again a strife about nothing, because it was carried on
about the right or wrong between abstraction and induction; to inves-
tigate into facts, however, with a criticism based upon natural laws,
has, in all these controversies, consistently been neglected.
The results of these strifes, therefore, might well come to an end;
they are sad enough. For half a century have physicians tormented
and persecuted each other, with all the tortures of hatred; the public
has been, for half a century, the anxious witness, and lives in constant,
hopeless doubt, over the competency of its physicians; hence, quackery
must needs gain ground in every direction, even in this thinking
Germany.
That would have been impossible, if the intellectual watchmen on
the battlements of science had known how to disarm, without delay,
every false notion endeavoring to gain admittance, with the power of
logical instruments, with the art of experiment and of observation.
144
If, however, it appears neither from the provings of Silicea, that it
could cure enchondroma, nor from those of Copper, that it could cure
a form of chlorosis, and if, in fact, cures are also reported by many
thinking Homoeopaths which, at the present time, can only partially
be explained according to the law of similarity, all this would, never-
theless, be very far from justifying the conclusion that even Homœo-
paths were allowed to hold such cures impossible, and to deny them
brevi manu. To deny is, surely enough, the lowest and easiest of all
stratagems of which one can make use, but, at the same time, without
any other worth than that of a reckless animosity.
If we should, on this account, thrust aside the inductive and deduc-
tive method, without making any use of it whatever, then quite a
number of successful results would be lost to us.
Should we consider the logical instrument as a superfluity, because
it is not directly expressed in the wording of the law of similarity?
should we obstinately declare the considerations of humanity objec
tionable, and close our eyes against any and every progress in Homœo-
pathy? Did not the great Hahnemann himself, point out the logical
dealing with Therapeutics? Hence I maintain that all progress which
has originated with a Homeopath, as well belongs to the subject of
Homœopathy, and as well has become its property, as all its other
doctrines. Only the spirit of inhumanity could cry out against that!
To an unfair disputant it is, as experience teaches, the easiest thing
to say, even, that the proving of Bromine contains nothing about
croup, that, hence, it cannot be used in croup, according to the law of
similia. But, from Homeopathic provings, happily enough, no names
of diseases can arise, and are there not symptoms enough in the
proving of Bromine, to demonstrate its effect upon the larynx and air
passages?
Hence the law of similia is in no wise so to be understood, as that
the entire contents of a drug-proving must correspond with the whole.
form of a discase. For the physician well versed in practice, a far less
comprehensive similarity between the form of the remedy and the
form of the disease, often suffices; often only a single pregnant, prom-
inent symptom, [as Dr. v. Bönninghausen teaches, in his Therapeutic
Pocket Book, p. XVIII.] suffices to establish, notwithstanding that,
and frequently just for that very reason, an indication followed by the
best results.
Let us not be diverted, by controversial objections, from unwearied
labors to advance our great art and science.
If we cast a look back upon the cases of disease just cited, it can-
not be doubted that the events, there observed, are calculated to awaken
145
the sure conviction that, in future cases of the same kind, the same
treatment would necessarily have the same results, without being
obliged first to examine these cases anxiously, according to the law of
similarity; for they leave behind the whole law of their characteristic
outlines, the whole schema of their course, as perceptions objectively
gained.
The using of such schemata at the sick-bed possesses the character
of rational induction, §. 71, for the schema is a perception from mem-
ory, not merely a subjective expectation from similar cases. To possess
such schemata is an essential attribute of an experienced practical
physician, who is able therewith to produce the greatest results, most
incomprehensible to those less experienced.
How far the power of Homoeopathy exceeds that of Surgery, is
made clear by the example of the cure of Enchondroma, in §. 256.
As regards Obstetrics, one example, at least, from the many at hand,
may be added. I say nothing of Pulsatilla, which, in the third dilu-
tion, is quite able to supplant the deadly Chloroform, where the
pains are severe; nor will I speak of the precious remedies for the most
varied and severest cases of fatal child-bed fever, but confine myself
to the hemorrhages, often fearful, occurring in abortion. Whoever
has been in the situation, on account of a placenta prævia, to proceed,
without delay, after other means have failed, to the artificial expansion
of the mouth of the uterus, has seen the mother, swimming in her
own blood, struggling with death, and yet has been compelled, per
haps in the last moments of her life, to occasion her the greatest
suffering (to say nothing of the attendants abandoning themselves to
every frantic expression of pain and anguish), such a one owes the
deepest gratitude to a science which knows ways and means to afford
help, even in such cases, by the internal use of China, Arnica, Sepia,
Sabina, Crocus, etc.; which remedies, according to the individuality
of the mother, and in accordance with the law of similarity, can not
only check the most fatal hæmorrhages, but also remove the injurious
consequences of such enormous losses of blood.
§. 260.
There is no doubt, that, notwithstanding what has been already
said, those who have resolved, for obvious reasons, to take up the
study of Homeopathy, will yet find it very hard to proceed at once
to its application in practice. A Text-book of Homeopathy must,
therefore, be all the more able to assist any follower of science, since,
as a rule, it is left to every one's private study to make himself
PART II.
IO
146
acquainted with it. To a beginner, no better lesson can be given
than that of relating the circumstances through which one had to
pass to become a true adherent of Homœopathy.
I will, therefore, detail the three first cases which compelled me,
with irresistible power, seriously to appropriate to myself the doctrines
of Homeopathy; for, every previous effort to instruct myself by the
Homœopathic literature, I was obliged to abandon, how often so ever
I made the attempt, because their contents were too repugnant indeed
to the dogmas which I had learned in the physiological school. Most
of all, I was repelled, over and over again, by reading a few Homœo-
pathic drug provings; for they seemed to me partly too much alike,
partly incredible, partly too much for the memory to retain.
I will only add, that these cases date from the year 1849, and that,
in the second case, especially, as true a picture of confusion is given,
as an incipient Homœopathist can ever fall into.
Cadet, Count R., nineteen years old, sick with Typhus abdominalis,
received, on the 9th of September, an emetic, and in the evening Cal-
omel; wet cups to the abdomen; salep drink; Calomel was taken till
the 12th, on which day he took an infusion of Ipecac on account of
constant diarrhoea, which was sometimes bloody.
On the 14th,
Opium was added; on the 15th, Alum internally, with vinegar
lotions; on the 17th, Aq. oxymuriat. was added to this prescription.
At night, on account of profuse hæmorrhage from the rectum, Phosph.
acid and cold compresses to the abdomen; on the 18th, Alum
enemata, in addition to the above; on the 20th, on account of persis-
tent bloody and purulent discharges, Plumb. acet. with Opium; cold
injections. In the evening, a council was held, in which I objected to
Plumb. acet. and Opium, because cerebral symptoms were already
present, yet upon the senior physician's expressing his special
confidence in these remedies, it was concluded to give Plumb. ac.
once more, without the Opium. Now, marching orders came for the
Hessian frontier, and the patient was transferred to me on the 22nd.
Since I had sufficiently satisfied myself of the uselessness of this
treatment, as the diarrhoea continued, with very considerable dis-
charges of pus and blood two or three times a day, accompanied with
meteorism, delirium, somnolence, so that the most unfavorable prog-
nosis had already been pronounced by the physicians who had left,
(indeed they declared that the patient had but two or three days to
live, and had given him up), Allopathic resources were exhausted.
Now I determined to put Homœopathy to the test; for in this case
there was nothing more to lose; on the contrary, nothing else was
left but to make an experiment, in any case harmless, which, how-
147
ever, if the doctrines of Homœopathy were founded upon truth, must
bring a cure even in this case given up for lost. The Homeopathic law
of similars prescribed for the case in hand, Carbo vegetabilis. On
the 22nd, I directed all other remedies to be set aside; retaining merely
the vinegar lotions, I took a grain of beech-coal, which, as already said,
is recommended for this stage by Homoeopathy, and triturated it with
a hundred grains of sugar of milk, an hour long, according to direc-
tions. Instead of the coal soon becoming invisible in this quantity of
sugar of milk, the mass became darker the longer I triturated. Under
the microscope, these particles of coal were mostly about of the
size of the blood-disks, and formed the finest dust, hardly perceptible
when magnified 400 times, (Oberhäuser, System No. 8, Ocular No. 3).
Hence, it is clear that these particles of charcoal could find their way
wherever the blood disks went, that is, immediately into the capillary
system. From this powder I took six grains, triturated them with a
drachm of sugar of milk, divided them into six parts, and directed a
portion to be given every two hours during the night.
10
The next day, the stools were red with blood, without coagula,
though with considerable pus, evident to the naked eye, even; how-
ever, there was no stool at all, without enemata of water, of which
I directed three to be given every day. On the following night there
was more sleep, and less delirium, but on the next day no more blood
in the stools. Now, I prescribed the same powders, magistraliter.
from the apothecary; they possessed the same properties as mine, and
were given every three hours. In the evening I noticed a shorter
respiration, cough, cold hands and feet, so that I thought there was
reason to fear a new localization of the typhus-process within the
lungs; after the last injection, however, there was no more pus to be
seen in the stools, and I hence saw no further occasion for interference.
On the night of the 25th, there was but little sleep, but no delirium,
so that in the morning the patient, of his own accord, declared with
regard to his condition, that he was glad to be finally rid of those
distressing visions. In the evening, the patient himself felt the cold-
ness of his extremities, so that, although the temperature in the room
was at 14° (R.), he wished more fire. That was very remarkable to
me, indeed; for, till then, I had never heard a typhus fever patient
complain of coldness: besides this the respiration became all the
time shorter; the thirst increased very much; in the expectoration
brought up by the frequent cough (which was so violent as to provoke
vomiting of bile), bloody foam, as in pneumonia, was observable;
these symptoms, according to Jahr's Symptomen-Codex, were to be
ascribed, therefore, to the effect of the Charcoal, and all the more, as
148
it had already arrested the discharges of blood and pus, and the patient
did not feel at all oppressed, and could take a deep inspiration without
difficulty. The Charcoal was hence laid aside at once, and water was
given, containing a third part of white wine. From this time forth,
the patient took no more medicine, and, with unusual rapidity, conval-
escence set in. On the very same evening, the Charcoal symptoms
began to abate; the tongue, which thus far had still been dry and
cracked, became moist, and the night wrapped the patient in quiet,
refreshing sleep. On the 27th, the skin perspired slightly, its tem-
perature again became normal, as was the respiration; the stools,
however, after each enema were still fluid, and, in the evening, for the
first time, a fœtid passage was again observed. Through the day,
now and then, there was still cough, with slight vomiting. On the
30th, the sensorium was free, the Charcoal symptoms were all gone,
and, with the first consistent stools, on this day, all the immediate
consequences of the typhus might be considered as extinguished.
October 1st, clean tongue, appetite, convalescence. On the 20th, he
was well.
Those who interest themselves in Materia Medica I especially
request not to run over the history of this case with Allopathic super-
ficiality, but, with the aid of this illustration, to impress upon their
minds a lively picture of the succession of phenomena, in order to
form a correct conclusion. The results of an immature treatment,
viz., the Homoeopathic aggravations, against which I might have
protected my patient, had I at first believed in the efficacy of Homœo-
pathic doses, and had I placed less confidence in what had been
taught me by my own school - these results, which I produced by
too strong doses, but which I found already mentioned in Jahr's
Symptomen-Codex, before they occurred to me, necessarily confirmed.
in me, therefore, the conviction of the truth of the Homœopathic
observations, as well as my confidence in Homeopathic remedies;
for such ocular demonstrations cannot be thrust aside by any power.
Those phenomena which were the results of too strong doses in this
case, and the two following, I have carefully italicized. One may see,
by these, that every drug produces peculiar phenomena, though some
seem to resemble each other in some respects; all, however, from an
Allopathic view, would not find that consideration which necessarily
belongs to them, and which, indeed, as it partly happened in my own
case, would be so far misapprehended, that they would be taken as
belonging to the disease and be frequently mal-treated.
149
§. 261.
A son of K., a shoemaker, a year and a half old, was committed
to my care, with the remark that his disease began with catarrh,
although the surgeon, who had been treating him for fourteen days
with Calomel, leeches, tartar emetic ointment on the head, etc., had
declared that now there was water in the head, and that, on this
account, he wished a physician might be called in. I found a child.
much reduced, whose large fontanelle, which was not yet closed, was
normally depressed; the size of the head was not abnormal; upon
the hairy part of the head, there were numerous incipient tartar
emetic pustules; shortness of breath; frequent, generally dry, cough;
on the right side of the chest, over the whole lung, there was a pro-
longed râle, with large and small crepitations, not interrupted by
inspiration or expiration; on inspiration, this râle began gradually
with a large crepitation, then became more and more a smaller crep-
itus, and at the same time, approaching nearer and nearer towards
the ear, while, during expiration, the converse of this took place; in
short, there was a case of Broncho-pneumonia infantum in the last
stage, in which the well-known encephalopathic symptoms were
already prominent, which, probably, led the surgeon to think of
hydrocephalus. Although the prognosis was the worst, I, neverthe-
less sought, considering that the powers of the child were not entirely
exhausted, to relieve the chest mechanically of the mucus. An infu-
sion of Ipecac with Tartar emetic did not produce vomiting; I saw,
the next day, by its gestures, that it was merely nauseated; the cough
was always accompanied with expectoration, and was less frequent,
but, on the whole, was no better; the child still suffered from difficulty
of breathing; was indifferent, and, on the third day, was so feeble
that its attendants said that they had, the night before, already pre-
pared it for its departure to the other world, by prayer. It received
Natr. bi-carbonicum. Everything was worse; the child took no
notice when spoken to, and slept no more.
On the fourth day I found it surrounded by all its relations, who had
come together to lament over its death, and covered, all but its face,
with a pall; its hands closed, as if in prayer. I was told that it had
had convulsions, with grating of the teeth, and had been lying for half
an hour unconscious and motionless. Its breath was intermitting and
its pulse not to be found; its color death like, with puffiness of the face;
drops of cold sweat were on its lips and forehead; its extremities were
cold; its eyes closed; on opening them, the pupils were found to be
fixed, insensible to light; the head was convulsively bent backward into
150
!
the pillow; in fact, it presented the very picture of death. However, the
opisthotonos, of itself, showed that there was a spark of life left, as
well as the fact that the eyes were still clear; yet I was helpless, till I
finally remembered a paper, by Professor Horn, in the Neue Medic.
Chirurg. Zeitung, No. 1, 1850, whose experiments on frogs showed,
without a doubt, the relation of Belladonna to the brain and the central
ganglionic system, as well as that of Aconite to the cardiac plexus;
Horn's prescription, however, was evidently Homeopathic. I pre-
scribed Extr. Aconiti, Belladonnæ ãà grss. Aq. destill. iv. D. S. a
spoonful to be given every hour. When I gave this prescription to
the mother, with the request that it should be obtained at once, she
and her friends inquired whether the child could live till one could
return from the apothecary's, and whether they should trouble the
dying child with any more medicine? I replied, that it must be done,
as the responsibility rested on me. After three hours, the mother
came to ask if the child's linen might be changed; she said that it did
not bend its head backwards any more; that, since the second spoonful
of the medicine, it had been as red, first in the face, and then over the
whole body, as if scarlet fever or erysipelas had broken out, and that,
since then, all its clothes were wet through with sweat. It was diffi-
cult to suppress my indescribable astonishment, but I assured the
mother that she might make the change without risk, and that it was
neither scarlet fever nor erysipelas. In a couple of hours I saw the child
again, and found it revived; the pulse was 150, it is true, and the respi-
ration 78, but the eyes were open and the opisthotonos was gone; the
warmth and color of the skin were normal; the redness and the sweat
lasted only half an hour, perspiration was slight, much thirst, cough
without effort, with copious expectoration. In view of such a rapid
and more than to be desired change, every physician would have con-
sidered, with me, that the dose of the Acon. and Bell. was too strong.
From this solution, hence, I put a spoonful into a cup of water, and
As if transported
directed a teaspoonful to be given every two hours.
into another world, I betook myself, of course, to Jahr's Clinical
Guide, Hartmann's Special Therapeutics, etc.
On the next night, August 16th, the child had more than four hours
of quiet, uninterrupted sleep, the first for a long time; the next day,
after two violent attacks of cough, convulsions with opisthotonos, but
transient. Every two days the medicine was renewed, though scarcely
a fifth part of it was used, for it became turbid, and had to be thrown
away, so that by the 23rd of August, about half a grain of Aconite
and Belladonna might have been taken. The condition of the child,
as well as the râle in the chest, was, upon the whole, the same up to
151
this day, except that the convulsions with the opisthotonos were every
day less frequent, and finally ceased altogether. But now I observed
a notable dilatation of the pupil, and, hence, gave the Aconite in the
same dose, without the Belladonna.
Up to the 25th of August, every thing remained the same, only the
dilatation of the pupils seemed to decrease. Then I discovered that
the tongue was dry and brown, and considerable diarrhoea had set in.
I gave, together with the Aconite, a few doses of Aq. oxymuriat.
After two days the tongue became cleaner again; the diarrhœa con-
tinued, the weakness of the child clearly increased. I was informed
that it was frequently cold in its extremities; on the other hand, its
cough was less frequent, its respiration easier, although the râle on the
right side had not changed in the least. The peculiar position of the
child's arms, at right angles with the body, as if from weariness, spread
far apart, but otherwise lying in an unrestrained posture, and a pecu-
liar cracking with the tongue now and then, with constant longing for
drink, were the only abnormal phenomena; it looked, however,
towards those who spoke to it, and drank milk freely, which was its
only food. Called suddenly on the 29th of August, I found it inces-
santly moving its lower jaw towards its upper, turning its eyes in
every direction, especially converging them, so that the pupils disap-
peared; the limbs were cold, the pulse was not to be counted, the
respiration extremely short. What now? I watched the child prob-
ably for a full quarter of an hour, when, for the first time, the thought
of an aggravation from Aconite occurred to me. The second thought
was: this could not be possible from such a dose; the third drove me
home to Jahr's Symptomen-Codex. There, in truth, I found an
explanation of all prominent, but to me inexplicable symptoms of the
past few days. I set Aconite aside and gave Coffea. No improve-
ment followed. I had no Homeopathic remedies at my disposal,
and for a long time I had not seen any Allopathic indication; hence
I turned to Belladonna again for help, and those symptoms disap-
peared in a couple of days. Although the diarrhoea had decreased,
and the child had several times taken a biscuit, it yet became
more and more emaciated; it became sleepless again; the apathy
increased; the râle in the chest, arising from a viscid fluid, which, on
respiration, seemed to move with difficulty, to and fro, between the
distended and swollen bronchial mucous membranes, remained the
same, as did also the cough. Yet I dared not, in this state, give an
emetic or Sulph. aurat., while, from Moschus and other remedies, I could
expect nothing. It was high time to take counsel again with Jahr's
Symptomen-Codex, and here I found Calcarea carbonica indicated for
152
my patient. As the lapides cancrorum contain only six-tenths of Car-
bonate of lime, and the rest is animal matter, I ordered half a grain
of these to be triturated most thoroughly with sac. lac., the whole to be
divided into 24 parts, one to be given in the afternoon and one at night,
as I mainly depended upon the powerful trituration of these crabs' eyes
with the sugar; this was on the 4th of September.
On the 5th there was a remarkable change of the whole scenc.
The child itself held a biscuit to its mouth with its own trembling
hands, and devoured it with great appetite, while the day before, it lay
in complete apathy. Its look was normal, and its eye was attracted
by the most striking things about it. Pulse 120. It had slept the
whole night through, save a few short intervals, and, at present, did
not show a single symptom calculated to destroy the renewed hope. I
prescribed another powder. But towards evening of the same day,
the mother came in great haste, saying that the child had frightful
attacks for the last half hour. I found the child squatting in a corner,
with a frightened, anxious face, disturbed look, cold hands and feet,
pulse extremely accelerated. sudden attacks of cough producing such
an expectoration of mucus, that the child broke out in loud cries, in its
danger of suffocation. These attacks at first recurred every ten
minutes, but finally began to be less frequent. Though yet a begin-
ner in the study of the Homoeopathic Materia Medica, I nevertheless
recognized the Calcarea carb., in spite of its small dose, as the cause
of these strange phenomena. Surprising as they were to me, these
symptoms were, nevertheless, a strong confirmation of those laid
down by Homeopathists, as occurring after the use of small doses of
the Carbonate of Lime. Thus the powders were set aside, and the
family was quieted with the assurance that it would soon pass over,
yet, as the bowels had not moved, an injection was ordered. Soon
after, the child went to sleep, occasionally woke with a cough, and
the next day was cheerful again, and without any untoward symp-
toms. In consideration of the fact that, according to Homoeopathic
experience, the effects of Calcarea continue for fifteen days, I gave no
more of it, and the child improved from that very day, to use the
words of the family, from hour to hour, so that even this Homœo-
pathic observation proved itself to be correct.
I have observed and studied many diseases of the lungs, and, as
often as the lungs were filled with mucus, in whatever extent, from
whatever cause and in whatever form, it was always an unvarying
rule, that improvement and cure were observed the sooner, the more
abundant the expectoration was. In this case it was different. Here,
after the effect of the Calcarea, the cough and expectoration dimin-
153
ished in the same ratio; since every day from this date, the râle in
the chest had a finer crepitus, and became less; indeed, the cessation
of the cough and the expectoration even, preceded that of the râle,
with constantly increasing sense of improvement and rapid progress
towards recovery. As early as the 8th of September, the child began
to smile again; could be kept in bed no longer, and commenced to
play, as it did when well. Its appetite increased so that on the
10th of September they were obliged to give it milk and soup,
and had to be careful in satisfying its great longing for food. On
the 12th, I found it all dressed; on the 18th, it was carried into
the open air, and nothing more abnormal was noticed in it, except a
peculiar fear of the shadowy forms cast by the candles, which I had
to ascribe to the continued effect of the Calcarea, and this also disap-
peared after a few days.
I remember no other case in which every new day brought me a
new surprise. In it, none of my previous Allopathic experiences were
sustained; events followed upon events, all of which projected them-
selves far beyond the range of my vision, into regions of cause and
effect entirely unknown to me. These drugs, Aconite, Belladonna.
Calcarea carb., developed powers before my eyes, which I never dared
to dream of ascribing to them. Used, by me, for quite other purposes,
heretofore, according to the precepts of my school, they afforded, in
this case, complete help, and that, too, in a dose which, according to
the doctrines of the Universities, is declared to be totally inert. This,
again, shook my confidence in these doctrines.
§. 262.
On the 12th day of September, I was called to see R., a landed
proprietor in the neighborhood of Ansbach. I found a vigorous man
of fifty years, with a red face, and constant complaints and groans,
expressive of the severest pain. In consequence of taking cold one
night, he was, as they told me, suddenly attacked with insufferable
pains in the whole right lower extremity. The latter was of a bright
red, and the whole limb was so swollen that the knee was not to be
distinguished. The touch, not only of the hip, knee, and ankle-joint,
but of any other part of the limb, occasioned acute pain, without leav-
ing any impress of the finger; the scrotum was swollen; these pains
were said to extend themselves into the abdominal cavity, also; more-
over, there was sleeplessness, tossing about, loss of appetite, a pulse
of 100, thirst, sense of coldness from the calves to the toes, though
these parts, as well as the whole extremity, were hot to the touch; the
154
organs of the chest were sound; there had been one diarrhoeic dis-
charge the night before, the result of a dose of Glauber's salts.
While I was considering with myself whether I should order Tartar
emetic, Quinine or Calomel, in large doses, or Colchicum with Opium,
or blood letting, and no course gave promise of a sure result, I hap-
pened to think of Aconite, also. The extraordinary result in the
previous case, justified me in relying upon the excellence of the
preparation, and the symptoms which presented themselves deter-
mined me to choose Aconite as the most suitable and promptly acting
remedy, according to trustworthy Homeopathic assurances. As I
read over the prescription again, which was half a grain of Extract of
Aconite in four ounces of water, a spoonful to be taken every two
hours, and compared this with the disease; an extended, severe, and
consequently, dangerous acute articular rheumatism; all sorts of doubts
arose again within me, as to the prescription. However, even after
the lapse of a few hours, I could make an assault with the Allopathic
fire and sword, and all in good season, if it proved necessary; never-
theless, I added to my prescription the direction that, provided the
pains remitted within two or three hours, a teaspoonful should be given
every three hours only; otherwise I was to be informed at once. No
one came. The next day the patient greeted me with the words: "You
made a capital hit;" adding, that by the end of two hours, the pains
had become endurable, and permitted him to sleep all night, with mod-
erate perspiration; the inspection of the extremity, mirabile visu, showed
that the swelling had gone down so much that the limb hardly appeared
larger than the other; all the joints, presenting a normal color, condition
and function of their integuments, were quite distinguishable, and only
a little painful on motion. The solution of Aconite was given less fre-
quently. On the third day, his wife appeared with the news that he
had slept well every night, had already passed four hours out of bed;
wished to know what he might eat, and declared that I need not
trouble myself any more about him, but that she would bring me news
of him every day, as long as I thought necessary. The cure progressed
rapidly; after six days there was only a little sensitiveness in the ankle,
when stepping upon the foot; nevertheless, the patient went about his
estates without injury, as I finally observed for myself; an event which,
in the most favorable cases, under my former treatment of this disease,
according to the old school, would have required quite as many weeks.
155
§. 263.
I at once subjected all patients, who had been declared incurable by
myself and other Allopaths, to Homœopathic treatment, and the
results thereof were more than encouraging, they were calculated to
excite enthusiasm.
But now, most depressing in such experiences, was the thought
that many of my patients of earlier years, most surely, would not
have died, had I heard, at the Universities, something of the blissful
doctrines of Homoeopathy. That was so far from being the case, that
all students were assured that Homœopathy was madness, as they are
told to this very day. A medical Counsellor of State and Clinical Pro-
fessor did not hesitate to say, but a few years ago, in his Clinic: It is
shown, by statistical documents, that Homœopathy gains larger and
more favorable results than we—but, as a matter of principle, we dare
not allow it to gain ground."
On the other hand, upon the ground of the previous investigations,
I summon every physician, who seeks to pursue his calling, that of
relieving suffering humanity, without any secondary end, and who
must thus pursue it, I summon him to his duty, not only to study
the impregnable doctrines of Homœopathy, but also practically to
prove them, and, for this purpose, to begin at least with those of his
patients whom, according to the school, he must consider incurable.
If he fails to do so, he is either an imbecile or lacks conscience, and
the law can not get hold of him, merely because the statute-books con-
tain nothing about the truth of Homeopathy. The statute-book of
Humanity, however, exists for every physician, although without any
political force.
These three examples also suggest other causes of the so-called
Homeopathic aggravations, besides those announced in §. 248 and
others later again in §. 284. Even these facts which we observed to
occur from the too powerful effect of Carbo vegetabilis and Calcarea
carbonica, find their explanation in the circumstance frequently spoken
of, that these attenuations operate constitutionally, i. e., upon the con-
ditions of the disease which are presented within the organism, and
are capable of changing the same in a specific manner, as is wont to
be the case, also, under the action of morbific matter.
It is just the kind of Homoeopathic aggravations which occurred in
these examples, that drives the beginner to the use of still smaller
doses, and, indeed, on the same ground from which chemistry dis-
covered (v. §. 221) that one has to begin his experiments with the
smallest quantities, provided he would avoid undesirable effects.
156
Would any one think it possible that this procedure of Homœopathic
practice is scouted by the very ones who do the same thing them-
selves? §. 230.
§. 264.
For Psychology, Homœopathy has opened a wide field of positive
experience. Homeopathy, first of all, has shown that health, as well
as disease of the mind, depends entirely upon the quality of the material
elements of our body. As the vegetable organism becomes sick, when
it can no longer appropriate to itself the materials of its existence, so
does the organism of the mind, when it is not furnished any longer
with its necessary supplies. That mental alienation has its origin in
an abnormal connection of the organs and substances of the human
body, is demonstrated to every Homoeopathist, by every Homeopathic
treatment of mental diseases, and that the sexual life is here the most
frequent cause, the results of lives unregulated in this respect, demon-
strate. The greater part of mental diseases find their source in this
latter, whether it be by the equalizing of male and female contrasts,
as is manifested where near relatives intermarry, §. 29, whether from
personal excess or from the consequences of diseases of the genital
organs; thereby the man of strong and impulsive feeling (Gemüths-
mensch), with all his passions, always gains the preponderance over
the cerebral or intellectual man (Verstandesmensch), and this may
be innate, even.
How many young girls become insane from anomalies of menstru-
ation; if this is retarded, Pulsatilla generally cures; if profuse, Sepia,
etc. We know the mental diseases and pathological processes in the
brain and spinal marrow, consequent upon Onanism. No physician
will succeed in curing them, as long as they remain curable at all,
without Platina. Imbecile children, even, can be cured all the easier,
the younger they are taken in hand. Here, as I learned, as physician
to the Institution for Imbeciles in Neuendettelsau, the measuring of
the dimensions of the head, in all directions, is indispensable for an
indication, and demonstrates, to the ignorant or skeptical, the import-
ance of Cranioscopy, in establishing the indication. It is extremely
interesting to discern, by such measurements, what organs of the brain
in one imbecile child, are retarded in their development, and what, in
another, are prematurely developed. If one treats his patients accord-
ing to these experimental results, by the precepts of Homœopathy,
results will follow which, to the non-Homœopathist, will be most
wonderful. Hence, it may be concluded, that all psychical peculiari-
157
ties, which accompany diseases of adults even, belong to the diagnosis
of the bodily constitution, and must be of essential influence upon the
indication, for which, likewise, the Homœopathic drug-provings give
us the key.
I will here relate a practical case, belonging in this connection.
Some time ago, nurses were guilty of the crime of giving children
Opium, in order to produce sleep. Now, for the same purpose, they
titillate the genitalia of children. Boys especially, hereby, involun-
tarily become onanists. Only when the children begin to walk, it is
sometimes noticed, for the first time, by watchful parents, that they
attempt, in the most various ways, to rub their genitalia. Since, how-
ever, they do not always use the hands for this purpose, it is often not
noticed for a long time, and only the results of this vice afterwards,
in later years, induce the parents to consult a physician.
Thus, among other cases, and these become more frequent every
year, I had to examine a boy eleven years old, because, I was told,
he always acted like an imbecile; now laughed, now cried, without
being able to give any reason for it. As soon as he is not observed,
he secks to rub the genitalia against tables or chairs, or in any
way, even against the thighs. This he pursues with such a passion,
that he gets angry and cries, whenever he is prevented from so doing;
hence, he has to be kept constantly under the eye. He was no child
like other children; he never played or took any interest in those of
his age, was always absent-minded and forgetful, did not hear what
was said; was seldom induced to speak, and when compelled, only
answered a word or two, whereupon he forgot, right away, what the
question was. He also made all sorts of grimaces, distorted his eyes
and mouth; suddenly raced about the room, with all sorts of gesticu-
lations, then sat down again, relapsed into a stupid mood, or whistled
or sang to himself.
Irritable and very easily aroused, he was most quiet in the open air.
Whatever was taught him, had to be taught mechanically, but above
all things, of whatever he read, he could relate nothing. At the same
time, he had no confidence in any body. Every one was indifferent
to him, he showed an inclination to no one, and was in the highest
degree timorous and distrustful. His bunger could hardly be appeased,
and he slept, if not disturbed, unusually long. At the same time I
observed, after watching him a long time, that he was always more
indolent and acted more peevishly and ugly one day, than the other, on
which account I forbade that he should be punished, on his bad day.
To this child I gave, according to the law of similarity, Platina 30,
four or five drops night and morning. In a very few days, everything
158
$
improved for the better, and the Platina was discontinued after having
been given in this way for eight days, in order to let it produce its
entire effect. Hereupon, however, the old vices made their appear-
ance again in a few days. Nevertheless I continued in this same way,
and gave the Platina 30, for eight days, and then discontinued its use
for eight days, and afterwards for a longer time, and then had the
satisfaction of curing this child so completely in the course of four
months, that he was freed from his unnatural sexual passion, even.
Just in proportion as this declined, all his intellectual functions were
brought up to their normal state. This, every skeptic can imitate, and
the result will release him from his subjectivity.
§. 265.
A text-book of Homœopathy must not only unfold the whole
theory, but also corroborate it by the most manifold practical illustra-
tions. Now, a Homœopathist of the present day, comes into various
situations even, which bid him yield, on one side or the other, and he
can not always hold fast to his principles, because the external possi-
bility thereto is lacking, viz.: a Homoeopathic Pharmacy. Neverthe-
less, it can easily be shown that the Homoeopath, under all circum-
stances, can always, beyond any comparison, accomplish infinitely
more than the Allopath.
I must give a practical example of this also, in order to show the
irrepressible might of Homœopathy, even under circumstances which
might be discouraging.
I was obliged to undertake the treatment of a patient, Allopath-
ically; why, it matters not. I remark only that I could not bring
myself to refuse such a request, silly and capricious though it were,
lest I should expose a human life to danger; besides this, under
Homœopathic treatment, the "plebs" which is to be found in all
classes of society, understands nothing but the use of the minimal
dose, the efficacy of which it cannot comprehend. §. 4.
But, even under the compulsory use of Allopathic doses, the
Homœopathist knows how to ward off a multitude of evils, and is,
at the same time, much surer of the most favorable results, where the
Allopathists, long before, had been compelled to give up all hope.
The patient was forty years old, of a powerful musculature, healthy
from his youth, and had lately taken a cold. For the last six days he
had complained of weakness of the limbs, confusion of the head and
incapacity for any work.
159
On the seventh day of his disease, at which time I took him in charge,
his pulse was 102; the temperature of the axilla 39.2° Cels. In addition
to this, there was loss of appetite, much thirst, sour eructation.
There was a circumscribed redness on the cheeks, the respiration was
shortened, his tongue coated white, the skin dry, yet not very hot; he
was lying rather apathetic, slept much, and always kept himself well
covered, because he was easily chilled; his lips trembled when he
spoke; he had cold hands and feet; coughed sometimes without
expectoration or pain; the irritation to cough was under the sternum,
yet bronchitic rhonchi were audible all over both sides of the chest
on auscultation. The abdomen was soft, the cœcal region free from
pain, the stool withheld, the dark-red urine without albumen, depos-
iting a precipitate of uric-acid crystals.
Although there was no Roseola present, I yet thought that I could
not diagnosticate an Ileo-typhus, but rather an exanthematic, for this
Roscola appears upon the skin only in epidemics, often at the very
beginning of the disase.
Under such circumstances, which were not perfectly clear, I was
obliged to resort to all sorts of diagnostic means which science could
offer, hence, to measure the temperature daily. For this purpose
every physician, no doubt, has lithographic charts in readiness. Since
now, the temperature on the morning of the Sth day was 38.3° C., and
at evening again only 39.2°, the case seemed to be a moderate form
of that disease, which, according to the doctrines of the physiological
school, does not yet require any therapeutic interference.
Though the temperature on the morning of the eighth day was only
38.1° C., yet this case no longer seemed to me a moderate one, because
the pulse had nevertheless risen to 112. Whatever might have been
indicated Homoeopathically, I could not prescribe, for the reason that
no Homœopathic remedies were at my disposal. Hence, for the
present, I wished to neutralize at least the acid in the intestinal tract,
according to Rademacher, and ordered half an ounce of Kali carb. in
five ounces of water, of which a spoonful was to be given every hour;
as nourishment, only barley water.
Now the degrees of temperature were more favorable, as the accom-
panying table shows, but otherwise no improvement ensued; there
was a mere pause in the disease, and no aggravation till the eleventh
day, when the expected remission did not appear, and, moreover,
violent diarrhoea set in. The strength of the patient decreased sensibly,
he began to lose flesh and to be soporous, till, on the thirteenth day,
the high evening temperature, 39.8° C., indicated an exacerbation,
which was the more significant as, just before the temperature was
160
taken, the paticnt had had a violent chill, which had lasted more than
an hour.
On the morning of the 14th, together with a diffused bronchitis, an
evident enlargment of the spleen could be diagnosticated, and with
the cough, moderate as it was, bloody sputa were expectorated; the
pulse was 124, with a weak stroke of the heart. The diarrhoea and the
soporous condition had increased, and were accompanied by muttering
delirium; the abdomen had become meteoristic, and there was marked
difficulty of hearing; also a circumscribed deep redness upon the
cheeks, which were hot, while the rest of the countenance had a yellow
cast; the tongue was coated black. I prescribed Acid phosph., five
drops in four ounces of water, a spoonful to be given every hour.
Now, it is true, a remission of the fever ensued, but, on the eve-
ning of the fifteenth day, instead of the usual remission, the patient
had a chill, after which sweat broke out, which lasted two hours.
As, on the 15th day, the temperature had risen to 39.9°, the bloody
expectoration continued, the skin, since the last sweat, remained dry,
since, also, for three days he had not had an hour's natural sleep, and
the patient could no more be aroused from his unconscious murmur-
ings, since the hands and feet had remained cold, and the finger and
toe-nails became blue, the breath had a putrid odor, and now Roseola
really presented itself on the arms and legs; Quinine was ordered, five
grains with five drops of diluted Sulphuric acid, in five ounces of
water, a spoonful to be given every two hours.
Hereupon the most decided indication of improvement presented
itself, a fall of the temperature, between the evening of the 16th day
and the morning of the 17th, and a gradual sinking of the same
still continued on the evening of the same day, and without intermission
till the morning of the 18th, when it was 38°. The stools and urine,
however, were passed in bed unconsciously. Quinine was continued,
and, for nourishment, an almond emulsion and the yolks of two eggs.
On the 19th day, the morning temperature sank again from what it
was on the 17th, the perspiration being at the same time abundant;
the bloody sputa had also ceased.
From this time, the temperature sank, as the table shows, but with a
constant increase in the frequency of the pulse, till it reached 130, and,
on the morning of the 23rd day, the temperature had reached 35.6° C.,
which was all the more to be considered as a collapse, as at the same
time, all the other symptoms were aggravated, the pulse became
dicrotic, and finally small, and could not be counted, the stroke of the
heart became enfeebled, and an erysipelatous bed-sore had formed upon
the left shoulder, the sacrum and the two hip joints, while several of

DAYS OF MONTH 5
7
9
DAYS OF DISEASE
42°C
の
​=
[1
13
CELSIUS' THERMOMETER.
41°
40°
39°
38°
37°
36°
35°
PULSE.
11
=
15
13
15
17
19
21
23
25
27
29
31
1
APRI
APRIL 3
5
7
9
17
19
21
23
25
27
29
31
33
35
37
39
41
43
112
124
130
102
80
BAKER
161
the Roseolæ had enlarged their areola, and their centres were covered
with dry, bloody incrustations.
What now? What Allopath would not be utterly helpless in such
a case, and declare the patient lost beyond all doubt?
The Homœopathist does not give up any patient, as long as he still
breathes, for the higher the difficulties rear their heads, the more earnest
is his zeal for the delivery of the patient. The consciousness of his
superior power holds him up; a power which rests upon the law of
similarity, upon a law of nature, upon a rock, whence flow thousands
of healing springs.
But he weighs every single symptom in the balance of his knowl-
edge and experience; the index of this balance turns for every symp-
tom, however trifling it may seem, distinctly, clearly and intelligibly.
Just such cases present the strongest proof that the diagnosticated
localization of the disease, and the name which the physiological school.
bestows upon it, are of no more avail, than a straw to a drowning
man. Or is it possible that we could gather an indication by meas-
uring the temperature? Nothing of all this presents an indication,
and, least of all, an essential indication; all this leads the physiological
school only to experiments, which surrender their patients to mere
accident. Hence, not only in such cases as this, but in all cases, we
must utterly reject the speculations and ideas of the physiological
school, and rely upon observation and comparison with Homeopathic
drug-provings, according to the law of similarity.
This patient, fatally ill, presented, aside from the other symptoms
which have been given, the following, also, which the adherents of
the physiological school can not explain: Constant trembling of the
hands; utter insensibility of the body, except a sensitiveness to a lowered
temperature, even from removing the clothes, when dressing the bed-
sore; the bed-sore on the sacrum became black and hard, the counte-
nance of the patient was rather yellow, his cheeks less red; he lay in a
profuse sweat, which stood on his face in drops; at night, he was
very much excited and murmured constantly; nothing but shaking
would now arouse him from this sopor, and scarcely had he opened
his eyes before they would close again, and the eyes, when opened,
were very sensitive to light and were bathed in mucus. It was neces-
sary in the month of March to leave a window open, day and night,
for, when it was shut, the patient became restless. His deafness was
complete, the sense of smell was blunted, the lips and nails were blue;
the tongue was dry and hard as a chip, and black, as were the teeth;
speech was impossible; although he took the drink offered him as if
involuntarily, though greedily, yet he clearly refused it, when it was
PART II.
I I
162
not sweetened with sugar; he was most fond of plum-sauce, though
swallowing was difficult; any voluntary motion of the body whatever,
was for a long time impossible for him; the stools and urine still
passed unconsciously and uninterruptedly; the respiration was still
oppressed, and sometimes interrupted by cough.
The observation of all these symptoms would render it entirely
impossible for any physician of the physiological school to frame an
indication which should permit him to foretell a very favorable result.
while, to the Homœopath, it offers the most powerful points of sup-
port to this very end.
Only he who can rightly estimate the Homeopathic drug-provings,
will know that Argent. nitr. is indicated by these symptoms, and
every Homœopath who has made the physiological and pathological
significance of these drug-provings his own, will know that the drug-
provings with Argent. nitr. similarly point to the affection of the
medulla oblongata and medulla spinalis, precisely as these symptoms
of this patient, just detailed, do.
This medicine, however, I could not get from a Homœopathic Phar-
macy. Hence I ordered Argent. Nitr. half a grain to four ounces of
distilled water, one spoonful to be given every four hours, and, on
account of the above-mentioned reasons, in alternation every two
hours with the solution of Quinine already prescribed.
Now, on the same day, the morning temperature was 35.6°, that of
the evening 36.6°; the next morning, the twenty-fourth day of the
disease, 36.9° in the morning, and 38.2° C. in the evening.
In the same degree (for one cannot speak here any longer of defer-
vescence indicating improvement,) but, with increasing temperature,
all the symptoms were relieved without exception. The pulse on the
twenty-fifth day, was suddenly and distinctly 102 again; the stroke of
the heart was more vigorous, the rhonchi in the chest were reduced to
a minimum, the patient was awake and answered questions put to
him with a nod, or negatively with a sidewise motion of the head;
moreover, on the next day, the twenty-sixth, the diarrhoea, continuing
to this time, had ceased, the abdomen was sunken and soft. From
the evening of the twenty-eighth to the morning of the twenty-ninth.
surely enough, a so-called critical motion manifested itself, after which
the temperature of 38.6°, which was the highest point reached, did
not return again, and the next morning it fell again to 36.5°.
For the last three days, the bed-sores on the left shoulder, on the
sacrum, on both hip joints and ankles, were rubbed twice every day
with Arnica oil, which was prepared with one part of Arnica root to
six parts of olive oil, digested four days in a moderate heat.
163
The Argent. nitr. was now given, one grain in five ounces of water,
only morning and evening, and without alternation with the Quinine.
The whole night through, he enjoyed a deep refreshing sleep, and, for
the first time, without any disturbance or delirium.
On the twenty-ninth, the patient could speak distinctly again: he
wanted pickled veal and wine, which was given him without hesita-
tion. On the thirtieth, he wished to eat more than three times a day,
and had two pints of wine. He neither passed his fæces nor urine
involuntarily any more, and called for the vessel again whenever it
was needed.
Up to this time, I had taken no interest as regards examining the
urine; but now I wished to discover the quantitative increase of
Chloride of sodium and urea in the urine; the quantity of urine
passed in forty-eight hours was 700 cubic centimetres; the specific
gravity was 1,024; the reaction was acid; this quantity of urine con-
tained 1.26 grammes of Chloride of sodium and 18 grammes of urea.
The thirty-first day of the disease, temperature at 36.6°; pulse 90;
convalescence was fully established, and the patient wanted beer instead
of wine. Munich Bock-beer was given him, and Argent. nitr. was
no longer administered.
On the thirty-sixth day of the disease, on which the cure was com‐
plete, the urine, for the first time, was neutral; its quantity amounted
to 1,920 C. C.; the specific gravity 1,016; Chloride of sodium 13.4
grammes; Urea 37.44 grammes; pulse 90.
I herewith subjoin the quantity of the urea and Chloride of Sodium,
as compared with the increasing strength of the patient:
Day of
Convalescence.
Ist..
2nd
3rd.
4th.
5th.
6th..
the Urine,
Amount of Reaction. | Sp. gr.
Chloride of
Sodium.
Urea.
1040 C. C. Neutral.
1022
9.36 grm. 28.08 gr`m.
•
2400
1014
19.2
1600
1020
2.04
1900
1019
1.9
:
1350
1600
*
ΙΟΣΙ 13.5
1016
•
138 +
24.48
45.6
36.45
23.6
As regards the pulse, from the thirty-sixth day forward it varied
only between So and 76; while the patient improved visibly from day
to day. Hence it follows, that the great variations in the temperature.
in the quantity of Urea and Chloride of sodium, were of no diagnostic
worth, and still less could give occasion to a renewed medication: for
all these natural events, gathered from experimental investigations, had
to retire into the background, before the symptoms of convalescence
164
and returning strength, which, nevertheless, continued to advance;
hence, again, it follows, beyond contradiction, that the other symptoms
always are, and continue to be, the decisive momenta, and that
Hahnemann has indicated the only sure way, which holds good for all
cases; for, while the technic experiment may well be esteemed as
valuable, yet it may lead astray those practically unskilled.
If we now follow the epicrisis of this disease further, the question
arises, was he treated Allopathically or Homœopathically?
The so-called expectant method, which had to be pursued at first,
under the limitations already mentioned, was purely Allopathic; for
the Homeopathist does not wait for the so-called decisive symptom;
but, to him, every single symptom, from the first day forward, is
decisive for the establishment and execution of a correct indication.
In a Homœopathic sense, the treatment in this stage could necessarily
only pass for palliative merely.
The Allopath, the adherent of the predominant physiological school,
practices expectation only, because he does not know how to undertake
anything curative. In the decisive moment, for which he thus waits,
as if for an excuse, he is hence none the less embarrassed; thinks, how-
ever,
that for the sake of his honor, he must interfere. However
unsuitable this interference may be, as the experience of every day
teaches, at least let it produce some effect. The entire sum of the pro-
cedures taught him must be set in operation, that, finally, he may
have the excuse left, that "everything has been tried in vain.
2)
In this category, also, belongs the palliation with the Kali carbon,
which was necessary under the prevailing circumstances. But where
the Homeopathist has his powerful remedies at hand, he is not obliged
to neutralize the acid in the intestinal canal by direct means, because
he knows that, by following an essential indication, the formation of
the acid ceases, according to the law of the reciprocal action.
The Homeopathic treatment could first be commenced when the
indication for Phosphoric acid occurred, since this medicine could be
procured from an Allopathic apothecary; for this indication was
established, according to the law of similarity. The same is true as
regards the indication for Quinine. Yet these two remedies refused
their favorable effects, because they were not given in a Homœopathic
dose, while otherwise the Phosph. acid would have made the Quinine
superfluous, and this surely would also have made the Argent. nitr.
superfluous. The Argent. nitr. in Allopathic doses, nevertheless, was
able to act as if it had been given in a Homœopathic dose, since all its
parts, which formed combinations by direct contact with albuminous
bodies, must needs be without effect; while other parts might have
165
been prvi.
changed into the insoluble Chl
2
molecules thereof, capable of absorption, have been taken up and car-
ried farther by the blood, so that the cure was not produced by the
Nitrate of silver but by the Chloride.
Thus it was Homœopathy, simply and solely, that saved the patient.
in spite of the Allopathic dose, for Argent. nitr., as every one will
acknowledge who is familiar with the provings of this drug, was
indicated and prescribed according to the law of similarity. Physio-
logical medicine, even, sometimes happens to think of giving Arg.
nitr. in typhus, even in enteric typhus, but without any definite
rule. The first time it was accidentally used in typhus diseases, to the
best of my knowledge, was about twenty-five years ago, in St. Peters-
burgh, and, because it helped sometimes, it was very highly recom-
mended, but, as it did not always help, it was forgotten again. But
that cannot be forgotten which is founded upon natural law, to discover
which, however, physiological medicine offers no guide whatever.
In this case, also, the incongruity of the pulse with the temperature
is remarkable. The proportion, assumed by Wunderlich, between
the elevation of the temperature and the degree of the frequency of
the pulse, may thus hold good in light cases, but, in severe cases, and
such as are deemed fatal, according to Allopathic knowledge, never.
Even for Prof. v. Bezold, who says that, for those who wish to come
nearer to an understanding of the nature of fever by way of experi
ment, the fact that an automatic centre of heart-exciting nerves exists
in the medulla oblongata, is of the greatest importance;" even for
him, this clinical case might show that fever does not proceed from
the heart or the medulla oblongata alone; for observations at the sick-
bed are the only standards in practical medicine, before which the
observations of experimental physiology upon animals, sink into utter
insignificance.
At the same time, it is demonstrated that the consideration of one
such symptom alone, as the state of the temperature, the pulse, etc.,
cannot under any conditions, justify a diagnosis, prognosis, or indi-
cation; but only in connection with the other symptoms.
If one, for example, reads in Wunderlich the treatment of petechial
typhus, or of enteric, he will find that, in the latter only, Arg, nitr.
is recommended in connection with narcotic remedies; Carbonic acid
and Magisterium bismuthi, against vomiting and hiccough.
On the contrary, I know from many years of clinical experience,
that, in every form of the various kinds of typhus, and in all of their
stages, the Argent. nitr. offers no efficient aid, and that this aid is
166
looked for in vain, if it is not employed according to the law of simi-
larity, and under the symptoms already announced.
The colossal therapeutical errors of the physiological school arise in
great part from their tradition, above characterized, and are diseascs
which can be cured only by Homœopathic studies.
§. 266.
The Homeopathic drug-provings were at first undertaken by phy-
sicians, whose practice deprived them of the time to make examinations
of the urine. Now-a-days, the qualitative as well as quantitative
examinations of the urine, is rather an entertainment than a loss of
As regards the quantitative examination of urine, we are
indebted to Baron von Liebig for a method, which permits one in the
course of a quarter of an hour, to determine the quantity of Urea and
Chloride of sodium in the urine.
Since, however, in Liebig's paper on this method, no practical
example is given, I must, on account of the importance of the subject,
give one for imitation.
After the quantity of urine for twenty-four hours has been measured,
which only takes the time necessary to pour it into a glass graduated
to cubic centimetres, the specific gravity of the same can be read off
at the same time upon the glass Urinometer, made and graduated for
this purpose.
Now, two parts of urine and one of a solution of Baryta, prepared
according to Liebig's direction, are mixed together, and the white pre-
cipitate of phosphates and sulphates, which will thereupon be cast
down, may be separated from the fluid by means of a filtering paper,
which has been previously weighed.
If we assume 20 cubic centimetres as one volume, then 40 cc. of
arine must be mixed with 20 of the solution of Baryta.
Should the filtered fluid have an alkaline or neutral re-action, then it
must be acidulated by dilute Nitric acid.
Of the filtered fluid, 15 cubic centimetres are now taken, which,
since two volumes of urine and one of Baryta were mixed, corre-
spond to ten cubic centimetres of urine. To this quantity a solution.
of Nitrate of mercury is added, drop by drop, from a burette furnished
with a stop-cock, and graduated up to fifty cubic centimetres, in tenths,
(the tube having been previously filled a finger's breadth above the
fifty mark, with this solution prepared, according to Liebig, for Chloride
of sodium,) and this is done till a permanent cloud is formed in the
contents when stirred with a glass rod, since this mixture, at first,
167
becomes clear again on being stirred. Let us suppose that up to this
point, 1.8 cubic centimetres of this solution of Quicksilver has been
used.
Since now, I cubic centimetre of solution = 10 milligrammes of
Chloride of sodium, then, after this cloud has been formed in those
10 cc. of urine, there will be 18 milligrammes of Chloride of sodium.
This gives, for the whole quantity of urine for twenty-four hours,
suppose it to be, for instance, 700 cc.
IS milligr.: 10 cc. :: x : 700.
10 r = 700 x 18.
10x = 12600.
a = 12600÷10
A*
1.26 grammes.
milligr. of Chloride of Sodium, or
Now fill another purette, similarly graduated, with the solution of
Nitrate of mercury, prepared by Liebig for urea. Of this solution,
add to the residue of the fluid, just tried for Chloride of sodium (cor-
responding thus to 10 cc. of urine,) until a drop of the solution of Soda,
prepared according to Liebig for this purpose, gives a yellow color
with a drop of the solution on a watch glass. This color is an indi-
cation that enough of the Quicksilver solution has been added to the
residue of the liquid tested for Chloride of sodium.
Then we read upon the graduated burette the quantity of the
solution of quicksilver used for this purpose.
Let us suppose that, in the given example, 26 cc. of this solution
of Quicksilver has been used in the experiment.
Since, now, I cc. of solution corresponds to 10 milligrammes of
urea, so there are contained in 10 cc. of urine 26 x 10 or 260 (milli-
grammes) of urea; this, applied to the whole quantity of 700 cc.,
gives:
260 milligrammes: 10 :: x: 700.
10 x = 260 x 700.
10
IS2000.
x = 1S2000 ÷ 10 = 1S200 milligrammes of Urea, or
IS.2 grammes.
If. now, the filtering paper above used, and weighed with its con-
tents, be dried and again weighed, then we have the quantity of the
salt, by subtracting the original weight of the filtering paper.
These directions suffice for most cases, and the utensils needful for
this purpose are to be had in Berlin at the firm of Warmbrunn and
Guilitz, No. 40 Rosenstrasse; in Leipzig, at Franz Hugershof. Not
only these, but all directions for the quantitative and qualitative anal-
168
ysis of urine are nowhere better, more completely and more intelli-
gibly given than in the instructions on this subject by Drs. Neubauer
and Vogel (Wiesbaden, Kreidel, 1863). Fehling's and other tests for
sugar are also here described, for which, however, one must have on
hand the separate ingredients, the Sulphate of copper, the Tartrate of
Potash and the Soda ley, since they must be mixed fresh at every new
experiment. The best way of all would be, and the surest, as I have
found it, if each one would prepare his chemicals for such investiga-
tions himself, for which "the qualitative and quantitative analysis" of
Fresenius contains the directions, for I have obtained at a celebrated
chemical house, the solutions of mercury for determining the quantity
of Chloride of sodium and of urea, but they were good for nothing.
Even for testing the genuineness of such preparations made by
others or by one's self, I advise each one to prepare his own chem-
ically pure Chloride of sodium and urea. These have all become,
at the present day, labors which occasion but little trouble, and are,
rather, as before said, a diversion for those needing a change in their
otherwise exhausting labors, as do all practicing physicians. For
this, nothing more is necessary than once to learn the manipulation,
which takes but very little time, and to procure the apparatus, which
is now accessible to every one.
§. 267.
Let us now examine, also, various practical cases of our opponents,
that we may test them by the laws already laid down, and, conversely,
try how far these laws find their confirmation even in the experience
of these opponents. Examples from the Therapeutics of the present
day will be adduced, that, besides this object just stated, we may find
opportunity practically to set forth further rules of Homœopathy. To
make a nice selection, for such a purpose, would weaken the examples
as such; hence, I give them as accident brought them to me when
consulting authorities for my own practice.
These cases demonstrate to us that the laws of Homœopathy preside
over the favorable results of all schools.
Upon the immunity of laborers in Anthracite coal mines against
Consumption.-Monatshefte, 1858.
"Since the year ISIS, the author has lent this subject his attention,
and has not only convinced himself by facts that laborers in coal mines
generally remain free from phthisis, but has obtained communications.
169
agreeing herewith from other colleagues, who reside near coal mines.
The same has been observed in England, in the mines at Newcastle;
in France (Déséze), by Vallat; in North America, by Geddins; in
Belgium, by various physicians; and by Lombard, in Geneva (De
l'influence sur la phthisie pulmonaire - Annales d'hygiène et de medi-
cine légale; tome XI.), who arranges, in his statistical tables, coal
miners, in general, in the class of those who are most protected from
Phthisis, or even are entirely exempt from it. The writer is unable
to explain this phenomenon. Its explanation cannot be found in the
manner in which these people live; for while, in this regard, they live
just as those about them, who do not work in the mines, it frequently
happens that these latter (their wives or children) suffer and die with
tuberculosis, while they themselves are untouched by this scourge.
This is all the more remarkable, as the very kind of their labor has, as
a consequence, a number of influences upon their bodies which are
otherwise recognized as predisposing elements, and as causes of the
origin of tuberculosis, to which especially belong the abrupt changes
of temperature to which they are exposed, when perspiring, on entering
or leaving the shafts. The fact that the coal contains Iodine and Bro-
minc, as has been lately demonstrated, can also hardly serve as a cause
of their exemption from tuberculosis, since the Iodine is so combined
with the coal that it cannot be volatilized. Another reason (adduced
by Martens and surely the weakest of them all.-REP.), is the much
greater atmospheric pressure in the mines, in comparison with that
upon the surface of the earth, the effect of which would be analogous
to what is observed at the sea-shore, where, it is well known, Phthisis
is more rare. But this reason, also, is disputed, and the fact adduced
that, at a certain elevation above the level of the sea, Phthisis is hardly
known. Finally, the uniform temperature of the mines (about 12-15°
C.) is given as a cause. This, however, is far from being found the
same in all the mines, and thus the etiology remains quite in the
dark, while the fact appears established all the same, and as such, is,
in any case, of no small interest for the nosology of lung diseases (Bul-
letin de l'Acad. Roy. de Belgique; Tome XVI., No. S)."-TUTSCHEK.
Upon the immediate cause of tuberculosis, and the specific remedy
against the same, by Dr. J. F. Churchill.
The number of cases of Phthisis treated by the author, according to
the method discovered by him, amounts to thirty-five; these were all
in the second and third stages, i. e., in that of the softening of the
tubercle and the formation of caverns.
170
Of this number, nine were perfectly cured; in eight, the physical
signs of tuberculosis disappeared; eleven were decidedly improved;
fourteen died, and one is still under treatment. The conclusions,
which he thinks himself justified in drawing from his observations
and experiments, are as follows: The immediate cause, or at least
the essential condition of tuberculosis, is the decrease of Phosphorus
in the body, where it is found in an oxidizable state.
The specific remedy for this disease consists in the use of a prepara-
tion of Phosphorus, which has the two-fold property of being imme-
diately assimilable, and, at the same time, of being in the lowest
possible degree of oxidation. The sub-phosphates of Soda and Lime
are the preparations which, thus far, seem best to unite these two
conditions.
Each of these salts can be given without distinction, in daily doses
of from fifty centigrammes up to three grammes (S to 48 grains) in the
treatment of phthisis. The largest dose, as a rule, to which the author
adhered was one gramme (16 grains) a day for an adult.
These preparations have an immediate effect upon the tuberculous
diathesis, and with a truly wonderful rapidity cause all its peculiar
symptoms to disappear. If the morbid deposit, the special result of
the dyscrasia is recent, the softening has just begun, and does not
make rapid progress, then the tubercles are absorbed and disappear
without leaving a trace behind.
If the deposit is of an older date, and if the softening has reached
a certain degree, then it progresses sometimes in spite of the treat-
ment, and the termination of the disease depends upon the anatomical
state of the injury, upon its extent, and, quite especially, upon the
presence or absence of complications. Numerous experiments, with
inspiration of various substances, in order to modify the local condi-
tion, have produced no favorable result that should not have been
ascribed to the general treatment.
The physiological effects which were observed upon the use of the
sub-phosphates of Soda, Lime, Potash and Ammonia, are of two
kinds. On one side they immediately increase the nerve force, and
on the other they are remarkable remedies to promote the formation
of blood, far surpassing all others as yet known. They possess, in the
highest degree, all the therapeutic properties which the older thera-
peutists were wont to ascribe to Phosphorus, and bring with them
none of those dangers which have well-nigh consigned this remedy to
oblivion. Without doubt the Sub-phosphates will, in future, take high
rank in Therapeutics (L'Union Medicale, No. 98.) — TUTSCHEK.
I7I
§. 268.
Two cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis cured in the colliquative
stage. Monatshefte, 1S5S.
"The first of these two cases was that of a man, 3+ years of age,
whose disease of the lungs dated back about fifteen months, and,
according to all indications, had advanced to the last stage. Although,
at this point, no favorable change could be looked for, yet the author
thought it to be his duty to do his best towards alleviating the present
suffering, and thus undertook to relieve the febrile attacks which so
harassed the patient, as well as the tormenting cough, and to procure
him at least a few hours' sleep. For this purpose he gave him, every
hour, a grain of Quinine, and in connection with this, every two
hours, one-sixth of a grain of Morph. acet., and one-third of a grain of
Digitalis, with directions to double the dose of Quinine an hour
before each attack of fever. The next night, the patient slept a few
hours at least, the cough being somewhat harder in the morning only,
though not so much so as on the previous days. Contrary to all
expectations, there was no chill on the morning of this day, the patient
having taken eighteen grains of Quinine, so that, at noon, the author
found the patient full of hope, the more so, as both the expectoration
and the diarrhoea were manifestly relieved, and the difficulty of swal-
lowing and the thirst were diminished; on the other hand, an increased
diuresis manifested itself; the bed-sore, for which the author had used
an ointment of Plumb. nitr., was much less painful, and he could lie
for a time, at least, on the right side, which heretofore had been
impossible, on account of its producing cough and attacks of suffoca-
tion. Under the continued use of the above medication, the evening
attack of fever, though occurring at the usual time, was much feebler,
both in extent and severity, and it was especially followed with but
little sweat. On the third day, on which the bed-sore was already
dried up, and the patient, for the first time, had taken soup again with
appetite, there was no febrile attack at all; the nights became entirely
quiet, the pulse sank to 95, the diarrhoea had ceased, the expectoration
was very slight, quite inodorous, readily detached, and more like
mucus mixed with saliva; the râles diminished sensibly, the walls of
the throat presented no more vesicles, and the ulcers already present
began to cicatrize. Now the Quinine, with the Morphine and Digi-
talis, was given every two hours. The improvement made marked
progress; the appetite, as well as the strength, increased daily; there
was one pappy evacuation of the bowels every day, the abdomen was
172
soft, without pain; the sweats had ceased entirely; the nights were
passed in sleep; the cough was seldom, most frequent in the morning;
the expectoration was extremely moderate, and more catarrhal; the
pulse had fallen to 90, and finally to 76, and there stopped.
At the end of twenty-one days, during the last eight of which the
above powder had been given only every three hours, while, as the
digestion was good, a tea-spoonful of Cod-liver oil had been given
morning and evening, the bronchial respiration was only to be heard
in a small spot in the region of the second rib, while, on percussion,
the sound about this place was much more hollow. The patient, who
already had visibly increased in strength and flesh, could sit up in bed
for an hour and more at a time; a slight œdema, however, was formed
about the ankles, on account of his legs hanging down, which soon
disappeared again, when resuming the horizontal position. Lying
on the right side, however, still produced laborious breathing and
cough. Not till the end of the sixth week, during which the pow-
ders had been reduced to three a day, while the dose of the Cod-liver
oil had been gradually increased to one and a half table-spoonfuls
twice a day, could the patient lie on both sides without pain; every
trace of bronchial respiration, as well as every râle had disappeared;
the appetite, digestion and sleep were excellent; the weight of the
body had sensibly increased, the cough was very seldom, indeed, and
brought up only a white, foamy secretion; the greater part of the day
could be spent out of bed, and in the first days of December, on a
fine, sunny day, he made the attempt, about noon, to enjoy the fresh
air, which was accompanied with the best result. In the course of a
year, the patient, having ceased to take the powders by the end of
December, but continuing to take three table-spoonfuls of Cod-liver
oil, and often more, a day, had regained his former size, (he had been
tolerably robust,) and since that time, that is, for seven years, he has
shown no trace of his previous disease, although, for the last four
years he has again indulged his passion for smoking, as before his
sickness. The only trace of his former disease now, is a depressed
portion of the thorax, giving forth an hollow sound on percussion, and
presenting no respiratory murmur.
The second patient was a sailor, much given to drink, who had also
arrived at the last stage of pulmonary tuberculosis; he had first used,
for three weeks, a solution of Sugar of lead, gr. vj. in 4 oz. of distilled
water, with Acet. morph. gr. j., and some drops of distilled vinegar,
which quicted the diarrhea; the expectoration also diminished and
was made much easier, especially by the aid of a mixture of equal
parts of Anodyne liquor and Oxymel of squills; the morning sweat
173
ceased; the nights became more quiet; the patient found himself
refreshed by sleep continuing for hours; auscultation and percussion
showed that, after the course of the above-mentioned time, the destruc-
tive process in the lungs had made no progress; while, on the contrary,
the râles had signally decreased. Under the previous use of good
mucilaginous broths, and broth injections, to which the yolks of eggs
were added, the tongue had lost its bright-red look, and indications of
returning appetite presented themselves. The ædematous swelling of
the feet and the face also had considerably decreased. Quinine was
given now, four grains at a dose, with one-sixth of a grain of Acet.
morph. every two hours; and subsequently, when the digestion had
become somewhat stronger, and the patient was able to bear a light
milk diet, Sulph. ferr., gr. j. pro dosi, was added. During the use of
these remedies for six weeks, the patient visibly improved; the dema
had left his face and feet entirely; the stools occurred daily, and were
of pappy consistence and normal color; the secretion of urine increased
as the thirst decreased; the cough occurred only now and then, three
or four times in twenty-four hours; the crepitant râles were entirely
gone; the bronchial respiration had also sensibly diminished, and was
now only to be heard over a much smaller portion than before. Now,
as the patient already bore roast meat and wine-soup very well, the
Cod-liver oil was given, two table-spoonfuls a day, while only four of
the above powders were given in twenty-four hours. After six months,
that is, in the spring of 1851, the patient, who now passed hours out
of bed, coughed little, and had almost no expectoration, might be con-
sidered as cured, and all the more as every trace of bronchial respiration
had disappeared from the left side, and only the depression of the chest.
at about the second rib, as well as its quite hollow sound, gave evidence.
of the previous disease there, and the tuberculous process on the right
side, also, might be considered as checked. In the course of the sum-
mer, the patient recovered so far, under the continued use of the Cod-
liver oil, that he regained his previous fullness of habit; and, as early
as July, worked again as a sailor. Since that time, this man, whom
the author last saw but three weeks ago, although he indulged his
passion for drink, when not on shipboard, as before, remained, never-
theless, perfectly well, and regained and kept his previous robust and
almost muscular appearance.
Although cures of tuberculosis of the lungs, according to evidences
presented upon the post-mortem table, can no longer be numbered
among impossibilities by physicians who are familiar with the pro-
gress of science, especially when the tuberculous process begins at a
late period of life, and is not too rapid in its course, yet these two
174
cases deserve especial consideration, since it is possible, even after so
many years, to establish the result of a treatment, commenced under
such inauspicious symptoms, and, in the second case, carried on under
such injurious external influences; and even if we should be compelled
to admit that the tuberculous process was only stayed, and not at all
cured, yet the staying, for six and eight years, of so fearful a disease,
is a phenomenon all the more worthy of regard, as both patients, after
their recovery, abandoned themselves again to those injurious influ-
ences which contributed much towards the development of the disease;
and as, notwithstanding this, no indication of any re-appearance of
the deleterious process has shown itself. The author deems it in
place to add, yet further, that he has had repeated opportunities to test
the good effects of the Sulphate of Quinine, as well as that of Sulph.
ferri, in connection with the Acet. morph. and Cod-liver oil in tuber-
cular processes of the lungs, especially in his practice among the poor,
where such cases are so abundant; and although a cure has not always
resulted, yet he has often succeeded, and this under the most unfavor-
able external influences, in keeping such patients alive, much reduced
as they were, and in so relieving them, that they could earn their daily
bread. But this method of treatment is practicable only in that
species of the disease which is slow in its course, unaccompanied with
violent febrile irritation, as well as frequently occurring hemoptö?,
especially if the hectic-fever takes the intermittent type; hence,
in the so-called galloping consumption, and especially in that form
occurring in young people, designated as florid consumption, no relief
is to be expected from these remedies, because they do but increase
the irritation and rather promote than prevent Hemoptöe. This
may be the reason why the author saw no result from these remedies
in the pulmonary tuberculosis which so often attacks the young girls
who make cigars, and which always sets in with repeated Haemoptöe,
rapidly terminating in consumption. Here it is to be considered,
however, that, remaining in an atmosphere constantly impregnated
with the vapor of tobacco, so deteriorates the life of the blood, that
the vital process is attacked in its very centre, and brought near to
dissolution, even before the outbreak of the local trouble in the lungs,
so that no remedy is capable any longer of removing it. The author
remarks, still further, that, if the prostrated powers of digestion do not
promptly rally under the use of the Quinine and the Sulphate of Iron,
inasmuch as thus the first momentum for the restoration of the
enfeebled formation of blood is lacking, which is the chief factor of
tuberculosis, certainly no beneficial effect is to be looked for upon the
existing discase of the lungs: more than this, we should abstain from
175
their use, and not resort to them again, unless one should, perchance,
succeed in improving digestion by some other means. In conclusion,
the author mentions that the good effect of Quinine in tuberculosis
had been latterly extolled in France as a new discovery; the above
examples show that it was established long ago in Vienna. (Œster-
reichische Zeitschrift f. practische Heilkunde, 1858, Nr. 21.)-
TUTSCHEK.
§. 269.
We have just learned that workers in coal-mines belong to a class
which, above all, is protected from tubercular disease of the lungs,
though members of their families, engaged in other occupations, die
of this disease. Further, that the sub-phosphates of Soda and Lime
are the specific remedies for this disease, because they are said to pos-
sess an immediate influence upon the tube:cular diathesis, as they
directly increase the nerve-force, and are excellent blood-makers.”
Finally, Quinine, Acetate of lead, Digitalis and Cod-liver oil, have
proved themselves useful for the same end.
Thus, various remedies for one and the same disease. The physio-
logical school thus thinks, really and truly, that it has, in pulmonary
tuberculosis, only one form of disease, though it uses means so utterly
diverse for its cure. Certainly, and quite naturally, it has examined the
tubercle a hundred times, and has always found it the same thing. Why
should various causes lie concealed behind this external uniformity?
Just for this very reason, that no physician of this school can send his
patients into a coal-mine; that, moreover, for the assertion, that those
sub-phosphates were to have a direct influence upon the tuberculous
diathesis, etc., and for the use of Quinine, Sugar of lead, etc., no
grounds can be offered, upon which the cures which took place could
be explained, every disciple of that school will soon forget what he
has read thereof, as not to be depended upon in practice. Neverthe-
less, these gentlemen do not hesitate to give publicity to such narra-
tions, though they can be of no practical interest to their partisans.
To Homeopathy only, such statements are not entirely without a
lesson, for it knows the natural grounds upon which these cures were
possible, provided they were found to be really permanent; and more
than that, it knows, even, from the effect which ensued from the reme-
dies mentioned, which specific cases those cases must have been. It
knows that the inhaled coal dust prevented the development of
Phthisis, in the first and second stage, and because, most probably,
these were cases with a disposition to that kind of pulmonary tuber-
176
culosis which, in scrofulous constitutions, appears together with a pale.
face, affections of the glands, frequent rheumatic ailments, and tem-
peraments rather phlegmatic; especially if these patients, in earlier
years, had taken mercurial preparations in sickness.
The cases which the sub-phosphates cured were, according to the
law of similarity, surely, in persons of a slender bodily frame, with
light hair, having night sweats, circumscribed redness of the cheeks,
bloody expectoration, great irritability of the disposition, etc., individu-
als who had previously suffered with diseases of the bones, Padarthro-
cace, etc., or who descended from arthritic parents, etc. But those
cured with Quinine were certainly just those who presented the symp-
toms of the last stage of Phthisis pulmonum, as this school usually
expresses itself in general terms, without a single tubercle ever having
been observed in the sputa. These cases resemble that last stage so
exactly, that they have deceived the most practiced diagnosticians, of
course, against their will. These are the cases of topers and drunk-
ards, among others; Tuberculosis is never here present, but always a
profuse Bronchorrhoea which, often, is mixed with much blood, or
streaks of blood and copious quantities of pus. Such cases are, more-
over, characterized by the most complete lassitude of all the limbs,
and great loss of strength, but are just as surely cured by Quinine,
perfectly and in the shortest time, as are the previous cases, with the
remedies specific to them, Carbo vegetabilis, and the Phosphates; but,
also, most certainly, without the superfluous addition of Sugar of lead,
Digitalis, Senega and Iron, or rather in spite of them. At most, the
Sugar of lead might have helped in checking the diarrhoea, which
Quinine, however, would have done alone. But since it also suddenly
checks the mucous secretion of the bronchi, it might have been fol-
lowed by the most injurious influences, as well as the Opium, while
the Squills only promoted the mucous secretion. But this these gentle-
men cannot know, and hence, also, cannot quit the compounding of
drugs. One can surely calculate upon this, that he who uses the most
remedies, is the most uncertain and unpracticed physician.
All these cures could only occur through an involuntary Homeo-
pathy, a fact that every one must admit who is familiar with the prov-
ings of the remedies used, and their therapeutical significance: such a
one also knows how to find the reasons, why others treated with the same
remedies were not cured, in this fact, that their diseases were not treated
according to the Homeopathic differential diagnosis, but only accord-
ing to the empirical differential diagnosis. Cases of involuntary prac
tice of Homœopathy by its opponents, are abundantly laid down in
177
Homœopathic journals. However, I cannot deny myself and Hom-
œopathy the pleasure of adding a new one thereto.
It has been lately discovered that many paralyses by lead poisonings,
the anamnesis of which previously appeared obscure and inexplicable,
were produced by snuff. These lead poisonings, which began with
symptoms of paralysis, led the physiological school to think that they
might also be cured by the inductive electrical apparatus, because this
is frequently the case with rheumatic paralysis. Now this is like all
the indications of the physiological school, an incomplete induction
in optima forma, a supposition; and it went to work without even in
the least considering the question as to the justification of this meas-
ure, §. 79, or previously investigating what natural law could be
adduced for it. Accident, however, would have it that it succeeded.
But what now has been accomplished? In every case, a cure
according to strict Homœopathic principles; for even Hahnemann
proved electricity and found it to produce similar paralyses, similar
atrophy, similar trembling, etc., etc., as are wont to occur in rheumatic
paralyses and in those of lead poisoning. Indeed, he discovered even
that electricity is an antidote to lead poisonings, as are also Alumina.
Platina, Opium, Belladonna, Stramonium, etc. Had the physicians
opposed to him known this, they would have found, in their patients,
the deductive confirmation of the Homoeopathic law of similarity, and
all their further use of inductive electricity, or, of the galvanic current
in lead poisoning, would have taken place on the ground of a rational
induction, while with their imperfect induction, ruled by probability
and accident, they are thus content with a mere supposition.
shall we say now, if those very same men who can be accused every
day of an involuntary Homeopathy, call themselves opponents of
Homœopathy? That happens from ignorance, it is true. But if I
should open the eyes of such a captured opponent of Homeopathy.
to his manner of treatment, he would, in view of the results obtained
by him, certainly not cry out, Lord, forgive me, I knew not what I
did! and although an opponent, not at all quit his empiricism. But
these gentlemen take it very ill of Homoeopathy that it also does not
practice according to empiric, or incomplete, but according to rational
inductions. This example shows also, that ignorance only begets and
nourishes parties, while knowledge would, by necessity, unite them.
Which is better, to treat patients according to natural law, and to be
able to foretell the result, or to render ourselves and our patients a prey
to accident? The former is the demonstrated stand-point of Homœo-
pathy, the latter of the prevailing physiological medicine.
PART II.
12
What
178
§. 270
Thus the physiological school, from various reasons adduced, would
have to make mighty strides forwards, if it were minded to overtake
the Homœopathic therapeutics, if it, as it fervently desires, really
knew how to strive for a rational Therapeia; I do not now speak of
a Therapy according to natural law, nor of the physiological Therapy,
but of its diagnosis, upon which it plumes itself so incredibly, but in
which, unhappily, in comparison with the Homœopathic differential
diagnosis, it is left infinitely far behind.
Was it, perhaps, a latent sense of this weakness which goaded on
and fed its hatred against Homeopathy? The proverb, tantum
quisque laudat, quantum se posse sperat imitari would lead one to
think so.
If the physiological school would possess rationality in its therapeu-
tics, diagnosis and indication, it must have a fundamental principle,
because rationalism is essentially characterized by the establishment
of principles to which everything else must be subordinate. This,
however, it lacks. Instead of this, it clings to the sensible observation
of isolated phenomena by which every thing is to become clear,
and that is it which everywhere is called empiricism. It should be
glad, from its low stand-point, that it can establish no principle, and
it should not seek to depart from empiricism, according to subjective
opinions, until it has acquired a guiding principle, and, with it,
learned to subordinate its procedure to natural laws, which can pre-
sent the only possible theory, the only principles of a natural science.
None of its cures should occur with a wonderful rapidity, as it
confessedly has happened with the phosphates of Soda and Lime,
and quite as little as the above-mentioned cure, accomplished by
Benzoic acid; it should be able to predict every cure, as is the case
with Homœopathy, whose cures, in such a point of view, partake far
more of the wonderful. But in a science, in Homœopathy, which,
as has been demonstrated in these previous pages, is founded upon
natural laws, there is nothing absolutely inexplicable, nothing won-
derful, no mystery. Here everything is an object of knowledge, and
not of faith that believes in miracles, for the course of events and the
connection of diseases and cures come under necessary laws as
they are set forth in this work. Hence Homœopathy is demonstra-
tive, like Mathematics.
If, to any one, one proof does not answer for all, let him refer to
the literature of the physiological school anywhere, and he will not
have to look long, in order to convince himself what an incredible
179
amount of wonders will meet him. Therein, in fact, it passes judg-
ment upon itself as upon a doctrine which dispenses with the require
ments of science. Such isolated observations as appear in these
quotations about pulmonary tuberculosis, furnish no definite under-
standing of the subject. For this definiteness, continuance and syn-
thetic comparison of the perceptions, at least, are required, i. c.,
observation, by which, alone, an understanding may be formed, which
can lay claim to be called experience. Mathematics proceeds from
generally recognized axioms as its basis, to which all the rest can be
referred. Homœopathy can, as I have shown, proceed from the gen-
erally recognized laws of Nature, and in order to prove that, it can
proceed as demonstratively as Mathematics, the counter-conclusions
will serve us, which are possible to it alone; the counter-conclusions,
to-wit, from the fact that the cure has actually taken place by means
of a substance which it has proved upon the healthy, to the conclusion
that the case was necessarily one of a well-defined kind. Those cases,
for example, which could not be cured by the phosphate of Lime,
were cases which did not stand in a specific relation to this substance,
according to the law of similarity, and it was owing only to ignorance
of the Homeopathic differential diagnosis, and to the faultiness of
the empirical-differential, that such cases were, nevertheless, mistreated
with these substances. Homoeopathy possesses, to speak in math-
ematical language, in the books of rules regarding its drug-provings,
not only tables of results, but also tables of reciprocal effects, and by
virtue of the significance of these books of rules, Homeopathy can
not only establish indications according to natural laws, it can also, as
an inductive and demonstrative science, as has just been shown, draw
conclusions from the results of a remedy to the bodily constitution,
which necessarily must have been present in that case.
How long will it yet be before the physiological school will have
attained the position of a demonstrative science?
§. 271.
At present its method of criticism is a clog which it has itself
forged to prevent this progress.
It is necessary to adduce, even as regards this point, an example,
such, however, as one may read any day.
Regarding the Hand-book of Special Pathology and Therapeutics,
by Dr. Kissel, a certain Geigel thus expresses himself in the Medi-
zinisch-chirugischen Monatsheften, April 1st, 1864:
ISO
"The author would show that a follower of Rademacher could
know right well all the trumpery of Pathological Anatomy, Micro-
scopy, Physiological Chemistry, or rather, that for the sake of the
decoration, he does not hesitate, out of Monographs and Hand-books,
to fabricate a passable compilation. In fact, Herr Kissel has per-
formed this work in his book with so much skill that one is glad, so
to say, in the midst of his wonderment over such comprehensive and
humiliating knowledge, to find some deficiency, no matter where; for
example, in the entire silence regarding laryngoscopy, to recognize the
human imperfection of the man.”
"Yet all knowledge is vain, and faith only brings a blessing, faith
in the Constitutio epidemica, and the curative efficacy of blood-and-
organ-remedies, and, if it is true that faith can remove mountains,
then we need not wonder that the hyperemia of the liver, curable by
the water of Nux vomica, presents itself, according to circumstances,
under the following forms of disease: As acute gastro-intestinal
Catarrh, as acute bronchial Catarrh, acute Hepatitis, Pneumonia,
Erysipelas, Influenza, chronic gastro-intestinal and bronchial Catarrh,
as Intermittent fever, Icterus, Scarlatina, Chlorosis, Atrophia infan-
tum, Asthma, Rheumatism, Toothache, Ascites, Fluor albus, Prolap-
sus of the rectum and Hydrocele of new born children.
Thus, whoever requires of Materia Medica and Therapeutics more
than a plentiful choice of agents, under whose influence physiological
functions may be restrained or excited, disturbances may be relieved
or may run their course without injury to the organism; in short,
whoever desires a true curative means in the peculiar, dynamic sense
of this word, which shall drive out the devil or the disease without
ceremony and re-establish health again, he will, if only in some
degree blessed with the necessary organ of faith, read this work upon
special Pathology and Therapeutics with the greatest benefit."
From these phrases, it simply appears that this criticaster has not
tried, in practice, the advantages of the therapeutic directions laid
down by Rademacher. Untried powers, however, are, for the prac-
titioner, all the same as absent powers, and when one, nevertheless,
presumes so far as to arrogate to himself an opinion upon the expe-
riences of others, then that can only arise from the subjective desire in
verba magistri jurare.
In fact, there are, in the so-called physiological medicine, a number
of catch-words, and every pupil deems it his duty to uphold the opin-
ions of his master. These gentlemen are so little physiological, and so
little logical withal, that they transmute ideas and substances, and
form them according to their subjective wants.
181
But, to the method of criticism, belongs especially proof or counter-
proof, and both consist in this, that the propositions to be proven can
be or cannot be brought into necessary connection with previous
propositions already proven or otherwise known. But where could
the Therapy of physiological medicine present such a demonstrated
principle? Because it must painfully feel the lack of such a po-
session, it necessarily loses itself, by way of compensation, in bab-
bling, which, from its vulgarity, one would rather look for in a
laundry than in a scientific Journal.
A review has no other object than to call the attention of the reader
to the good and excellent matter in a work, and a criticism no other
than to prevent the reign of dogmatism and skepticism. Far from
being conscious of this duty, the physiological school proves, by its
reviews and criticisms, that it is not yet equal to them. Analogies and
metaphors are not only not avoided, but they are considered even as
the main points of the strife. But this is not the only thing which
stains the reviews and criticisms of the medical journals of physio-
logical medicine; they all bear, upon their very front, the marks of
the fermenting process of skepticism, and of in-bred dogma, and
thus an enlarging of our knowledge, to accomplish which should be
their high vocation, is not possible; on the contrary, the deception
which is propagated in this manner, is a hindrance to progress, since
it persuades its readers to limit themselves to the particular hypothesis
which just then creates the greatest furore.
Thereby the character of the reviews and criticisms of the physio-
logical school is marked. To err is human, but to err intentionaily
is inhuman. This motto one could, without hesitation, brand upon
the neck of the physiological school. The public desires physicians
who belong to no system exclusively, hence, would be able to offer
partial aid only, for nature does not care for the systems and theories
studied out by men. The physician of the public must be Allopath,
Hydropath, Rademacherian and Homeopath, i. e., he must know,
and have practically tried, what each one of these systems is, in fact,
capable of accomplishing.
But whoever maintains the necessity of using remedies must
have satisfied the Homoeopathic maxim, and, first, must, without
fail, have proved many remedies on himself, and that in the high,
highest and lowest attenuations, as well as in the mother tinctures;
otherwise he is incapable of judging upon the action of one remedy
or another, in its various quantities; he must have experienced and
studied these actions upon himself; and, above all, to the non-Hom-
path, it can never be permitted to express a subjective opinion on such
182
matters; for even the authority, at present most extolled, that of the
well known politician and phraseologist, Virchow, teaches him, "what
is not empiric, is not logical." This proposition, although not correct,
should, nevertheless, induce his pupils to study Homeopathy, at least
according to the rules of empiricism. If they fail to comply with this
simple postulate, then it does not become them to express any opinion
upon the Homeopathic science and art, and they are, moreover,
entirely unable to satisfy the just demands of the public.
§. 272.
The effect of the homeopathic attenuations upon the organism and
its parts proceeds, pari passu, with the mechanical processes in §. 221,
as soon as they are communicated to the blood, and this explains the
fact, long since established in Homeopathy that, in many cases
the higher attenuations show that they have a more rapid, certain,
and intense effect than the lower, because, in them the number of
molecules and their superficies are increased to the maximum.
If we take, for example, the case of a chronic disease, a form of
scrofulosis, which pefectly agrees with the symptoms which we know
to be the result of Sulphur taken internally, and if we give Sulphur
in the first, second or third trituration, or even in one of the first sus-
pensions, then we observe, not infrequently, in spite of the indication
having been correctly established, that the cure, which has been com-
menced by it, suddenly stands still at the point which it has reached,
and makes no further progress. If we now give Sulphur in the 10th
or 30th suspension, then we see the cure progress anew and become
complete. For with this increase of the molecules, the effect of the
same substances is evidently increased in a corresponding degree.
The sudden stand-still of the cure, notwithstanding the use of the
rightly indicated remedy, this stagnation of effect, frequently brings
the beginner into great embarrassment, since even the alternation of a
lower attenuation with a higher, or vice versa, often disappoints all our
expectations.
But if we remember what has already been amply demonstrated in
§. 243, regarding alternate remedies, then the direction of Hahnemann
to choose a second remedy, a third, etc., when the first does not fully
suffice to remove the disease, becomes intelligible.
There is scarcely any disease which we are capable of curing with
one remedy, and, if we carefully read the clinical cases of great
Homœopathists, in which the result was favorable, we find that the
remedies successively used were similars indeed as regards the symp-
183
toms, but that their effects, according to the process which they
induced within the organism, were opposite. This is at the same time
the material basis of the use of the homeopathic antidotes, of which I
am soon to speak more particularly.
Hence, in such a stand still of the cure, we must at once let an anti-
dote follow the previous remedy, and we shall then witness the most
favorable continuation of the curative process.
Here, also, those processes belong which became known to the
physiological school by vaccination, as a preventive against variola
and which have quite recently been introduced by the most abomi-
nable of all its practices upon the human body, viz.: syphilization.
i. c., the inoculation of the syphilitic poison against syphilis. I
myself have observed something belonging to this category in work-
men in a gun-cap factory where they daily, although imperceptibly.
inhaled the exhalations of carbo-nitrogen gas, yet, in the midst of
cholera, remained free from this disease; the women, however, became
sterile in consequence thereof.
This brings us to infer that such events could only occur in conse-
quence of immunity, which was produced by inoculation or a similar
action, and that the law of immunity is that of the repulsion of simi-
lars; accordingly the parts remaining healthy must have been saturated
with such substances in minimal quantities, and a condition of the
body must have been produced upon which the same poison could no
longer exert an injurious effect.
We see the same law fulfilled in the serpent-catchers, who take the
poison of the snakes, which they wish to catch, until they are thereby
protected from the evil effects of the bite of this species of snakes, but
this species only, so that they can allow themselves to be bitten without
prejudice to their health.
But, an opponent of homeopathic attenuations may ask, to whom
the effect from the minimum of the vaccine virus is suggested, is
vaccine virus imponderable? I know how to reply to him in this
matter, and as the answer is not written down in Homœopathy, it will
have all the more validity for him.
Valentin says in his Physiology, "Contagions show that changes
of the mass of the blood, quantitatively small, produce very considera-
ble results. A drop of cow-pox lymph, which we introduce into the
puncture, forms an exceedingly minute quantity in comparison with the
entire mass of the blood. Sinee it carries with it a considerable quan-
tity of water, the effective particles appear still smaller than they
appeared at first view. The minimum of this, however, works for
several days together till the pox-pustule appears. The state of the
184
blood hereby produced protects one against small-pox for many years.
Something similar happens in other contagions and infections which
are produced by the entrance or injection of decomposing matter into
the blood.
One can imagine that a quantitatively small change may produce
a small number of new combinations which may themselves again
act as decomposers. Since these influences extend themselves from
one molecule to its neighboring parts, so the sphere of activity will
grow in more than simple ratio of time. The rapidity of the exten-
sion of the change determines the rapidity with which the sum of the
infinitely small differential effects integrate themselves to a final
result, or the influence of a minimal cause begets sensible results."
Into whatever regions of strategy our opponents venture, they are
always easily overcome, and as yet Homoeopathy has never failed to
give them a humiliating reply. But the maintaining that one is right,
at any cost, characterizes the narrow-mindedness and incapability of
our opponents as already allied to their obstinacy, vanity and unfair-
ness.
Here, also, comes to view again the difference between Homœop-
athy and the physiological school, that the first, to produce immunities,
never ventures upon such decidedly injurious proceedings, and never
needs them, as do the latter, for the purpose of their double-edged
vaccination, and their abominable syphilization with the most dan-
gerous organic poisons, in which latter case, the physiological school
does not really know whether it inoculates the syphilitic or the gon-
orrhœal poison, and, in short, does not know what it is doing.
Thus there is a method of Homeopathy, not yet mentioned, of
producing cures, to wit., that according to the law of the repulsion of
similars for the inducing of immunities.
§. 273.
On the therapeutics of Inflammation, Zeitschrift für wissenschaft-
liche Therapie, 1857.
After general criticising, and comparative remarks upon the cure
of inflammation by the physiological school and the school of Rad-
emacher, the author proceeds:
"In connection with these remarks, I take the liberty of presenting
a brief account of a so-called scrofulous inflammation of the conjunc-
tiva of the eye, with ulceration on the edge of the cornea, cured with
Iron.
185
"I know very well, and have already said as much in this Journal,
with regard to "the narration of clinical cases," that whoever wishes
to advance Therapeutics by publishing clinical cases and their cures,
ought, above all, to ask himself the question-whether, by the
occurrence of a cure, after the exhibition of a remedy, the effect
of the latter is really demonstrated? If this is not the case, then
the physician may rejoice, of course, that his patient has recov-
ered; but such doubtful cases of cure are certainly not deserving
of publication and it is much to be desired that the editors of Med-
ical Journals should make selections from the reports of cured cases,
and the accompanying recommendations of this or that remedy,
with more critical acumen than has been the case thus far. I
consider my case, however, as proper for publication, not as a
sample of the treatment and cure of a patient-for, unhappily,
it is not that at all, since I cured the patient only after various errors,
and after too great a lapse of time-but, because it is clear from the
case that the patient was finally cured by Iron-really cured — not
post hoc, but propter hoc. That this short report concerns no rare,
so-called, interesting case, but, on the contrary, an affair of every-day
occurrence, in its formal diagnosis not at all to be mistaken, seems to
me no reason for suppressing it, but, on the contrary, induces me to
publish it, since a knowledge of the cure of every-day diseases is more
useful to practicing physicians, from very simple reasons, than those
of rare and unusual cases. If my narration seems somewhat diffuse
in view of the insignificance of the case, it is given in such detail only
with the desire to give the clearest possible insight into the connection
between the disease and the remedy.
John G., son of the late President and former minister G. at B.,
ten years old, of a size corresponding with his years, long, slender
limbs, soft blonde hair, blue eyes, suffered for years in a slight degree
under a pathological condition usually called scrofulosis, and which,
in this case, manifested itself in hyperæmiæ and stases of the mesen-
teric glands, as well as the tonsils and Meibomian glands. The con-
sequences of this affection were disturbances in the function of the
glands, i. e., morbid secretion and defective formation of chyle; swell-
ing and hardness of the abdomen, cold in the head, indistinct speech,
blepharadenitis in the first stage, an appetite now good and now poor,
with a slight white coating on the tongue, but no other very striking
disturbance of the other functions of the body. Against these symp-
toms, I used, for several months, the common empirical means, regu-
lating the diet and manner of life, cod-liver oil, then bitter water, after
that Iodide of potash, local injections of a weak solution of chloride
186
of sodium into the nose. Gargles and inunction of the eye-lids with
Jungken's red precipitate eye-salve were used without witnessing any
evident result, as unhappily is so often the case under the use of
the so-called anti-scrofulosa. Only after the use of the bitter water
the abdomen decreased in size, and the eye-salve, without doubt,
relieved the blepharadenitis. There was no opportunity of using
the saline springs, and the little danger attending the case did not
make them essential. One day, in consequence of some unknown
cause, hyperæmia of the conjunctiva of the left eye manifested itself
with its accompanying redness, heat, stitching pains, morbid secre-
tion, swelling of the upper lid and a moderate photophobia.
There was no fever, and all the functions of the body apparently
remained unaltered. The sudden appearance of this morbid state.
which, according to the customary nomenclature, had to be designated
as scrofulous conjunctivitis, and the common association of ideas,
which at once connects with the name of "inflammation," the corres-
ponding one of "antiphlogosis," and in the channel of which, the
mind, well-trained in school wisdom, moves along with a good deal
of comfort, induced me to use Natr. nitr. The patient was, at the
same time, kept in a dark chamber, the eye protected by a large screen,
and, locally, cold compresses wet with weak Fennel tea, were applied.
But after using 3 vj of Natr. nitr., four days, everything remained
exactly at the old point. Partly on account of the failure of the Salt-
petre, and partly in view of the comparatively good health of the
patient, who ate and drank with a good appetite, and only complained,
when asked about it, of stitches in the inflamed eye, and especially
when looking at the light, I now determined to attack, with Iodide
of potash, the scrofulous glandular affections which had existed for a
long time, as the seat of the disease. As this produced no change in
three days, I resolved, in addition to this, to use leeches symptom-
atically against the inflammation of the eye, which I looked upon as
dependent upon the glandular affections; thus, first three, and then
five leeches, were applied to the temples; a blister plaster, also, behind
the ear, and an eye-wash, first of Acetate of zinc, and afterwards of a
weak solution of Merc. corrosivus.
Under this treatment, however, which, as I think, was quite proper
according to the school, the condition of the eye was evidently aggra-
vated; the bleeding seemed to have an especially injurious effect;
redness and heat increased, and, upon the shining cornea, an abscess
formed as large as the head of a pin. The general state of health,
also, got worse; the patient lost his appetite, was much inclined to
sleep, and had a slow, weak pulse. With this treatment, I lost five or
187
six days, to the injury of the patient. The condition of the
eye had
now, indeed, become serious. I cursed inflammation, and antiphlo-
gosis, scrofula and the Iodide of potash, and leeches most of all, and,
without any longer fearing the phantoms of Materia Medica, I
resorted to the use of Rademacher's Tinct. ferri acet., in a solution of
gum. The inflammation was surely not of traumatic origin. But
neither could it be idiopathic, since the local treatment, with appro-
priate means, had been in vain, and the patient had, for a long time,
showed signs of the affection of the glands, known as scrofulosis.
The inflammation surely did not depend directly upon the latter,
otherwise, the Iodide of potash would have probably produced some
relief. There was not a single symptom which favored the suppo-
sition of another primary organic affection. The inflammation of the
eye had, therefore, to be considered as being caused by a general
affection of the blood. Whether this latter stood in any causal con-
nection with the scrofulosis, which might very readily be the case,
considering the near relation of the glandular system to the formation
of the blood, or whether it had associated only accidentally with
scrofulosis, in consequence of external influences, and thus had called
forth the inflammation of the eye, could not be determined. By
Salt petre, which, as I now saw, I had given without any tenable indi-
cation, having only been led astray by traditions which now and then
gained power over me, this supposed disease of the blood was clearly
not to be removed. Hence it seemed quite obvious that Iron should
now be used, as its employment was not only indicated by the failure
of the local means, of the glandular remedy, Iodide of potash, and of
the blood remedy, Saltpetre, but also distinctly by the weakness of the
patient, the last-mentioned state of the pulse, and the experience that
hyperemia of the conjunctiva and blepharadenitis, frequently occur
as symptoms of affections of the blood, curable by Iron; finally, by
the prevailing genius epidemicus, which frequently required the use
of the preparations of Iron. The state of the urine, which had a
feeble, sour reaction, showed no redness or turbidity, and the mucous
membrane of the throat, which was swollen, not anemically, but
hyperemically and reddened, presented no supporting points. The
result, however, completely justified the choice of the Iron. Literally,
with every spoonful, the inflammation decreased, so that after it had
been used for twenty-four hours, the conjunctiva presented its perfectly
normal structure and color; only there were three or four minute
vessels moderately injected, winding their way to the abscess in the
cornea, which two days before had developed into an ulcer. The
swelling and redness of the upper lids had diminished in the same
188
degree, the cornea had lost its morbid brilliancy, and the photophobia,
pain and heat, had disappeared. I ordered the patient to take the
Iron a few days longer, during which time, also, the small ulcer on the
cornea healed up, and I could dismiss the patient to his friends in the
country, as cured of the inflammation of the eye. If he should again
come under my professional care, I shall endeavor to cure his diseased
glands with Iron.
Would that our modern ophthalmologists might also learn some-
thing for their Therapeutics, from such and similar observations.
Great as are the achievements of many of them in the domain of
Pathology and of Ophthalmic surgery, it is yet very desirable that
they should introduce some change in their stereotyped antiphlogistic
Therapeutics, with its inevitable leeches, blister-plasters, neutral salts,
purgatives, and Calomel powders, and its local treatment, with cor-
rosives and astringents, blue spectacles, eye-douches, and inductive
currents. For, alas! their therapeutic results stand in too striking
contrast to the frequent brilliant results of their operations, as every
physician knows, who has seen eye-patients who have returned from
the celebrated Ophthalmic surgeons of Berlin, Prague, and Vienna.
It is not my aim to assume more for the above case than can be demon-
strated thereby. However, it establishes, at all events:
1. That there are inflammations of the eyes, which, not only are
not cured by antiphlogosis, but are even made worse by it.
2. That Iron is not contra-indicated by inflammations; on the con-
trary, that it will cure them rapidly under certain circumstances.
3. That the inflammations, which may be cured by Iron, probably
have their cause in a diseased state of the blood.
4. That blepharadenitis is calculated to awaken the suspicion of
such a discase of the blood as is curable by Iron.
5. That the want of any general febrile reaction, as well as a
weak, slow pulse, with considerable local symptoms of inflammation,
appears also to be a frequent symptom of such diseases.
189
§. 274.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHARMACO-DYNAMICS. ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR WISSEN-
SCHAFTLICHE THERAPIE, 1857.
On the curative effect of Nux vomica. The tincture of Nux vomica
the remedy.
1. FORM OF DISEASE-NEURALGIA FEMORALIS.—“L. Rumm, a
nail-smith, thirty years old, had suffered for fourteen days with a
violent neuralgia, which so exactly corresponded to the usual course
of the femoral nerve that it might have helped many students of
anatomy out of their embarrassment. His urine was dark yellow.
Otherwise the man seemed to be sound. I prescribed for him, Octo-
ber 14, 1847, the remedy against the then prevalent liver diseases.
the tincture of Nux vomica, 15 drops 4 times a day. The patient,
however, took from 20 to 30, and, with such a favorable result that he
found himself much relieved by the 16th, and when I went to see him
on the 18th, he had gone to his work again perfectly cured.
This case of femoral neuralgia is the only one in which I have
effected a cure with the aid of a liver remedy. Should the neuralgias
which Romberg cured with large doses of Turpentine, be also ascribed
to a liver disease? or, were they produced by a disease of the kidneys,
or was the curative effect of the Turpentine an antagonistic effect.
or, finally, was Kisse! right when he considered the spinal marrow
as the specific sphere of action of this remedy?
-
2. FORM OF DISEASE - HOOPING COUGH. — Alexander Gesell, four-
teen months after his birth, on the 24th of January, 1849, was taken
with a cough, the attacks of which were distinguished from the
ordinary hooping cough, only by the absence of the long-drawn inspi-
ration, which is peculiar to the latter. The use of the extract of
Nicotine, which was continued from the 27th of this month to the
20th of February, which was wont then to cure spasmodic coughs,
effected not only no diminution of the cough, but produced great
debility, want of appetite and a sooty state of the tongue. The urine,
which was now shown to me for the first time, was dark yellow, the
fæces were lighter colored than is usual at this age. The specific for
most of the liver diseases at this period, the tincture of Nux vomica,
produced a marked relief by the 4th, and, a few days after, a perfect
cure.
From the cases of hooping cough observed by me, part of which
were previously communicated by me, as experiences regarding the
190
curative effect of Golden rod, Cochineal, etc., I feel warranted in con-
cluding:
1. That hooping cough most frequently is a symptom of a disease
of the kidneys. Most of the hooping cough remedies act upon this
organ.
2. That this cough, however, may also be an expression of a simple
disease of other organs or one connected with a universal affection.
3. That the proportion of cures of various cases of the same epi-
demic of hooping cough is not always the same.
If the last assumption is correct, then there are two miasms lying
at the bottom of every epidemic of hooping cough, one which produ-
ces the fundamental disease, the second which produces the form of
the disease.
3. ERYSIPELAS OF THE FACE. — Marie Gutzow, forty-nine years
old, a widow, came to me November 27, 1846. She had suffered for
a long time with erysipelas vagum, which most frequently affected the
left side, and also with rheumatic pains and one-sided headache, often
ending with vomiting; for the last six weeks she has besides suffered
with otorrhoea.
The acetate of Zinc gave no relief. On December S she came
again with erysipelas on the right side of the head. The taste was
bitter, the urine brown yellow. The tincture of Nux vomica, which
I now used, removed all the symptoms of the disease by the 19th, and
the use of medicine, continued a few days longer, prevented their
return.
4. VOMITING AND ERYSIPELAS OF THE FEET.-On the 14th of
December, 1848, Mrs. Gnörig desired my advice for her son, thirty-nine
years old, who, for the last three weeks had to vomit after every meal,
was very much debilitated thereby, and, besides, suffered with erysip-
elas of the feet. I ordered the tincture of Nux vomica. The next
day even, the vomiting did not return, and by the 17th the man,
though quite weak, was otherwise entirely well.
5. PAIN IN THE STOMACH. -Tincture of Nux vomica with the
acetate of Potash. Widow Wind had had on the 15th of November,
1846, a bitter taste for two days, a thick, white coating on the tongue,
like soap, inclination to vomit, with pains in the head and limbs,
together with great lassitude. Her urine was dark yellow, the faces
said to be brown. An emetic aggravated the disease. After she had
taken, on the 16th, 3j of Magnesia, she had to vomit very often. The
matter thus ejected had a neutral re-action. Bismuth, on the 18th,
and a mixture of Iodine and Tragacanth on the 19th, relieved her
quite as little. On the noon of this day the patient sent for me to
191
come to her quickly, as she had such violent pains that she thought
she would die. She had to retch and vomit almost constantly. The
tincture of Nux vomica with the acetate of Potash removed the pain
and the vomiting at once, and hence was prescribed again the next
day. The apothecary sent, however, instead of this, the Iodine
mixture.
On the 21st the pain had returned again, and the patient earnestly
entreated that the medicine before the last should be given to her, as
she had been so promptly relieved by it. This was done, and in three
days every symptom of disease was removed.
6. PROLAPSUS OF THE RECTUM.-Emilie Knabe, a year and a
half old, who was relieved, early in 1847, of very frequent dis-
charges of bright yellow fæces especially during the night, by an
emulsion of an infusion of Ipecac, had suffered, on the 26th of this
month, for three days, with a frequent prolapsus of the rectum, with
normal fæcal discharge. At the same time she had a cough. with a
loud mucous râle. Four drops of the tincture of Nux, taken till noon
of the 27th, sufficed to prevent the return of the prolapsus, and the
continuance of this drug, in the same dose, removed the cough also
in a few days.
7. DIARRHEA.-For Luise Kumm, thirty years old, I prescribed,
August 8, 1848, five drops of the Tincture of Nux vomica four times
a day, because she had had, for many days, frequent discharges of thin
yellow fæces, with tenesmus, and pains in the bowels increased with
every movement; she had also a violent cough without much expec-
toration; the taste and the tongue were normal; the urine was acid
and dark yellow, and the liver diarrheas were then under the cura-
tive power of this remedy. Already by noon of the next day, the
pains and the diarrhea had ceased, and the use of the drops, continued
for three days in doubled doses, sufficed to remove all the other symp-
toms of disease.
S. DIARRHEA WITHOUT SENSATION OF THE PASSAGE OF FECES.
-To Kiesewetter, a silk weaver, sixty years old, I prescribed, August
6th, 1848, Ammonium and Natron Carbonicum, because, for the last
two days, he had frequently complained of chills and heat, headache,
inclination to vomit, and offensive sour taste, and during the last twen-
ty-four hours had had ten thin light-brown faecal discharges. On the
Sth, I found that both the vomiting, which occurred especially when
he saw others cat, and the diarrhoea, had increased. Although the
intellect of the man was undisturbed, he did not feel the passage
of the faces, so that he often soiled his bed. On this account I gave
him the tincture of Chelidonium j. in vj. of Emulsion, but, since
192
the disease had increased still more on the next day, and the fæces had
become gray,
I had recourse to the remedy for the then prevailing
liver diseases, the tincture of Nux vomica, which I gave in Gum-
water. Decided improvement occurred by the 10th, followed in a
few days by a perfect cure."
§. 275.
Since, according to §. 273, antiscrofulous and antiphlogistic rem-
edies and bleedings afforded no relief, the inflamination was not
traumatic, and as it was not diagnosticated as idiopathic, it was, hence,
necessarily produced by a general disease of the blood, and since
Saltpetre did not answer against this state of things, recourse was
had to Iron, which was indicated by the lassitude of the patient, the
slow, weak pulse, and the prevailing genius epidemicus.
"The result,” we are told, "fully justified the choice of the Iron.
Literally, with every spoonfull, the inflammation decreased." That
is surely no induction post hoc, ergo propter hoc. It would be a new
confirmation of Rademacher's natural law, supposing this to have
been anticipated by experiment and observation, hence an event of
deduction, according to form; but of an incomplete deduction, because
the rule thereto contains, indeed, a possible principle, but an empirical
conclusion without any foundation resting upon a law of nature; for
the law abstracted from experience could not, as yet, be discovered by
this school.
Hence the persecutions which it has to suffer from the physiological
school; hence the reason for reducing the matter to the rules of prob-
ability, as is done under Nos. 3 and 5 at the close of the quotation,
§. 273, while No. 5 is worthless.
If the writer had known the provings of Iron, which, it is true,
have not yet been collected, but are scattered about here and there,
then points of support would have been given him which would have
saved him a long search, and made a homeopathic differential diag-
nosis easier.
But what shall we say to §. 274? Here, indeed, we find a contrast
to the therapeutics of the physiological school, and an agreement with
the homeopathic, in so far as this, that one remedy is mentioned for
manifold forms of disease; but under what indications and to what
questions did they give rise?! All of them, no matter how queerly
sounding, are answered simply by the provings of Nux vomica, a
substance whose specific lines of direction in the organism run towards
the spinal marrow, the vagus and sympatheticus, whereby all the cures
193
of these diseases, since they lie in these lines of direction, find their ex-
planation. Is it not of uncommon interest for the history of Therapen-
tics to learn how the most manifold and most varied perceptive reasons
rationes cognoscendi] lead to the most varied indications, and thus by
their help, frequently to actual cures? What a grand testimony, not
only for the creative power of the human intellect, but likewise for
the greatness of Homœopathy, to whose laws every one of these cures
may be referred back as to their ultimate reasons. Is there not proof
enough here for my experience so often asserted, that no conclusion.
however unpleasantly or unexpectedly it may run counter to our
usual mental associations, ought to serve us as a cause, unconditionally,
in rejecting with it the fact also which has been judged upon. Never
is the conclusion the subject, and every conclusion possesses only the
worth of an hypothesis, a supposition, so long as it is not referred back
to laws; hence it follows, irrevocably therefrom, that we are not jus-
tified in rejecting any conclusion for its own sake, because we are wont,
therewith, to reject also the fact which is judged; and all facts would
be worthless to us, the history of therapeutic science would be writ-
ten in vain, and we would be compelled to fall back upon the very
initial state of things, as it has happened to the physiological school
with its therapeutics, provided it were not our task to rectify mistaken
conclusions according to the occasional stand-point of general science.
The false generalization of "contrarium contrariis," has no scien-
tific, but only an empirical sense, and to the most pernicious of all
assaults upon the organism thence arising, belongs blood-letting.
which, whether it be local or general, is practiced by Rademacher's
school even to an extent which may be called in the highest degree
inhuman. It has been demonstrated a thousand times how destruc-
tive it may become to withdraw the soul of the corporeal life, the
blood, in such quantities, as it is above all taught and practiced in the
physiological school. Even if the patients survive the disease, instead
of recovering, they languish away into a miserable death from debility.
I acknowledge that for eighteen years, in a very extensive practice, I
have never had occasion to bleed, not even in Pneumonia. Nor will
any one, who wishes to proceed according to natural laws, ever again
employ blood-letting as an antiphlogistic, for there is no anti for any
disease, but only for diseased processes and morbid matter.
palliative, as a means of momentary relief now and then, probably a
few ounces of blood may be drawn. [V. hom. Therapie, v. Kafka,
Sondershausen, 1865, p. 77.]
As a
From what has been said, only a Homeopathist, no doubt, is pre-
pared to decide upon the indication for bleeding; a, because he pos-
PART II.
13
194
sesses a number of remedies which make bleeding superfluous; b,
because he can remove the injuries which arise from bleeding or
hæmorrhages; c, because the physiological school does not understand
how to render either the one or the other of these helps. Let any
one, on this point, compare the above quoted excellent work of
Kafka with the Therapeutics of the physiological school.
§. 276.
The fifth case, entitled "Pain in the stomach," gives occasion to
point to a therapeutic law not yet touched upon, which sets forth the
necessary succession of drugs, and a new ground for the failure of
cures attempted in consequence of ignorance of that law.
There are certain counter-movements of remedies in Homœopathy
known under the name of Concordances, according to which, those
substances are used as remedies, which may be given in succession
without their movements counteracting each other, according, how-
ever, as in a Homœopathic sense, a febrile affection, or disease of some
organ, or of the osseous or glandular system, or of some intellectual
function is to be cured. According to this law, in case 5, described
as pain in the stomach, a therapeutic error was committed, because
Iodine should not be given after Magnesia.
Dr. von Bönninghausen has given to this law the greatest attention,
and in his Therapeutic Pocket-Book are to be found the groups which
belong under this rubric.
But some practical examples again will give, in the shortest manner,
the further necessary explanation.
In the second year of my Homœopathic studies, a woman thirty
years of age, was attacked with a tertian intermittent. After taking
Quinine, four one grain doses every day, the fever failed to appear on
the next typical day; however, as it did not reappear at the time when
it was to make its second attack, I gave the Quinine three days longer,
and the intermittent seemed to be cured. After two weeks had
passed, and the woman during this time had performed her manual
labor without interruption, she now began to complain, for the first
time, that, without being pregnant, her menses had ceased for
four months, and, to this circumstance, she ascribed her increasing
debility.
Now I had just at that time cured a girl twenty years old, with
whom, for four years, this function had ceased, no cause being known
in this case to which this cessation could have been ascribed. Since
the cessation of her menses, however, she was imbecile, and had been
195
treated by many physicians, to no purpose. The menstruation
returned again in two months, after I had given this girl, four times
every day, Kreosote, with regular intermissions of three days, the
provings of Kreosote corresponding perfectly with the altered intel-
lectual functions of this girl, together with the suppression of the
menses and the concomitant circumstances.
Still very much fettered by conclusions from probability taught me
by the school, I did not hesitate a moment, with this great success
before my eyes, to give Kreosote to this woman also, though intellec-
tually, she was entirely sound. But a quarter of an hour after the
first dose of five drops of Kreosote, a violent chill set in very sud-
denly, which continued an hour, followed by heat and perspiration,
the patient being thus compelled to pass the whole day in bed.
Very much discouraged on this account, she declared that a few
minutes after she had taken these drops, she had felt in her back the
well known cool aura, and hence these drops had to bear the blame
of this vexatious relapse.
For a beginner, without any guide, such cases are really necessary,
since they alone can frighten him out of the customary Allopathic
indolence, and compel him earnestly to take counsel with Homœo-
pathic science.
Under such circumstances what would a pupil of the physiological
school, firmly adhering to its tenets have done?
Even the woman's urgent request for her previous powders would
have been sufficient to make him think of giving Quinine again, and.
from the law of concordance, according to which, in intermittents.
Quinine may be given after Kreosote, but not Kreosote after Quinine
or China, I know, surely enough, that the intermittent would
again have disappeared to her great joy, although menstruation would
have reappeared all the less. Hence, for the present, even. I gave her
Quinine again. According to empirical differential diagnosis, how-
ever, this suppression of the menses must have been the result of dis-
turbed innervation. It was not enough, however, to know that, and
it would, at the most, have led to the use of irritating ethereal reme-
dies. A Professor of Midwifery of our day, who enjoys the greatest
reputation, declares even that a local irritation of the genitalia is of
importance (!) in such cases, and for proof refers to the fact that such
patients are not seldom cured by marrying. Mineral springs contain-
mg Iron, Iodine, and Bromine, he says, are also beneficial as well as
electricity.
Yet he hardly would like to warrant, I think, a sure result from all
these empiric means.
196
However, it was just now to be considered what should be done on
account of the changed sexual function, after the repeated use of the
Quinine.
China, according to the provings, produces an effect for two or three
weeks, consequently Quinine no doubt does the same, notwithstanding
the fact that chemistry with its balance finds it again in the urine after
a few hours. It must hence either have produced changes of nutri-
tion or have remained behind in the organism, for so long a time, in
an imponderable state. Hence, in any case, no substance should have
been given which might possibly have disturbed again the action of
the Quinine. Kreosote has an effect only for one or two days, and, in
fact, after what has been said, does not come under consideration.
As emmenagogues, we find, amongst the concordances of China
chiefly Nux vomica and Pulsatilla. Against Pulsatilla, however,
according to the law of similarity we have: the robust corporeal con-
stitution, the dark eyes and hair, the congested color of the woman's
face and her bilious temperament, while all these declared for Nux.
That is what is called homeopathic-differential diagnosis, and indi-
cations predetermining the result. Thus, after nine days had past
without any return of the fever, I ceased to give the Quinine, and the
fever did not return again. But, eight days before the time, at which
previously her period was expected, I had her take every day one dose
of Nux vomica 3rd, and her menses returned at the usual time, as pre-
viously had been the case, and since then they have been regular. This
law of concordances thus clearly stands under that of the attraction
of dissimilars and repulsion of similars.
With this clinical case I intended, at the same time, to give the
beginner a practical example of an important discovery to be regarded
at the sick-bed, a discovery which Homœopathy has made by its
drug provings, viz., that touching the duration of effect of various
remedies.
I readily concede, that every one who is not acquainted with the
laws of Homœopathy, watching as they do the very inmost of the
organism, may believe that, in this clinical case, he has read a tale.
But, in natural sciences, we have not to do with fairies or goblins,
with belief or disbelief, but simply and solely with knowledge. The
physiological school thinks it knows that Quinine is directly excreted,
every part and parcel of it, at least within half an hour, when given
in full doses. That may be quite true as regards weight. But what
then has checked the intermittent fever? In any case, not the pon-
derable quantity, but the quality of an imponderable quantity, and
Homœopathy knows that Quinine operates for two or three weeks,
197
i. e., that the movements introduced by it are often distinctly observa-
ble for so long a time by the respective symptoms; furthermore, that
Nux vomica sustains these movements, and that Kreosote retards or
changes them. Thus I would not know what objections could be
adduced against this practice according to the previous paragraphs
upon the laws of Phoronomy and molecular forces. The unbelieving.
however, or those of another party, stubbornly clinging to their con-
victions, or skeptics, I refer to §§. 3, 7 and 32, which treat of these
peculiarities. The law of concordances would contain, for the chemist.
the most interesting leading principles for his investigations, if he
could duly condescend to present to Therapeutics such labors as might
be practically useful.
Connected therewith is the effect of Antidotes. According to the
idea of disease based upon the laws of nature, which I established
more than six years ago, as above presented-§. 35-and which
has been copied from me by Allopathic writers even into one
of the most recent pathological anatomies, and which, hence, is as
well known by our opponents even, as is the manifold relation made
known by me, between the quantity of curative substances and that
of morbid matter, etc.; according to this idea, I say, the effects of
remedies given must naturally be changed by that of others succeed-
ing them, if it be not entirely annulled: that is to say, as soon as both
have announced similar effects in their provings, and, in the interior
of the organism, have induced opposite processes; for this relation
from the succession of effects of substances of the outer world upon
the organism, can be no other than the relation of the same succession
of effects from morbific matters and remedies.
With this the idea of the Homeopathic antidotes is established,
and hence every physician must have gained, from the study of the
Homeopathic Materia Medica, a thorough knowledge, so as not to
commit any error if he be obliged to change his prescription, and to
introduce another remedy after one previously given. A practical
example of this is contained in §. 110, and, if the idea of a contra-
indication is to have an objective value, then it can only consist in the
idea of antidotes in a homeopathic sense.
$277.
According to §. 264, an apothecary had sent the remedy previously
prescribed instead of the one ordered last. We know, from daily
reports, what fatal consequences from such mistakes and negligence
198
are wont to occur in families. With Homeopathic quantities such
occurrences are quite impossible.
The Homœopathic preparation of drugs, which excludes such pos-
sibilities, exerts upon the views of an opponent a very peculiar
impression; an astonishment, resembling that of a man surprised at
one time by the sagacity, and at another by the stupidity of his
poodle. Wherever it seems to fit, according to §. 164, they say that
the Homœopathic drugs are poisons; and, at another time, where
they aim at demonstrating the inefficiency of Homœopathic attenua-
tions, pledge themselves to consume the entire contents of a Homœo-
pathic medicine box without fear of suffering any harm therefrom.
The latter, according to previous paragraphs, is possible even, pro-
vided that they have no diseased organ, for the Homoeopathic doses
of drugs are only calculated for diseased organs, and hence pass by
the healthy organs without leaving any trace whatever. §. 101. But
our opponents do not consider that they thus again speak in favor of
that, which they are far from wishing to demonstrate, since, in that
case, their experiment would declare for and not against Homoeo-
pathy. Thus, if Homeopathic remedies are given, without having
been necessary or indicated, they surely would afford no help, but
neither do they do any harm.
But that Homœopathy can do great injury to the apothecaries, pro-
vided they do not understand anything else besides their customary
labors, is true. Hence they are as tradesmen, from pecuniary grounds,
and, be it well understood, not from scientific grounds, the natural
and, hence also, the greatest enemies of Homœopathy. But pecu-
niary loss accrues also to physicians, from Homeopathy.
As regards the first, it is to be considered that every apothecary
possesses more knowledge than that which concerns the contents of
his Pharmacopoeia, and I know one of these gentlemen whose trade.
is but little profitable, because, in his vicinity, the physicians of physi-
ological medicine prefer to prescribe nothing, rather than to injure
intentionally, while the Homeopathists naturally procure nothing from
him or, in any case, less than the former. This gentleman, however,
gains a handsome sum by preparing, with unusual care, ethereal oils.
Regarding the second, I can refer to a case from a great number in
my own practice, which also may serve as a specimen for all other
cases:
A boy seven years old, has been sick since the first years of his life,
melancholy and weak, since, through every summer he has been
troubled with diarrhoea, which also disturbed his night's rest. For
the last two years, however, this diarrhoea has been constant; the
199
most famous physicians of two of the largest capitals of Germany
having failed to afford him any relief, although sea baths and other
baths, Cod-liver oil, and a multitude of other remedies, were brought
into requisition. Having fallen into my hands, the passages showed
a want of bile, and since all the other symptoms agreed in indicating
Nux vomica, I allowed him to take it, in the 3rd attenuation, three
drops three times a day, in a spoonful of water. The second night
after this, the boy slept the whole night through, the first time for
many years. Since it is a Homœopathic rule to diminish the dose
when an improvement sets in, I therefore had him take it now only
twice a day. After eight days, eight days, I say, this chronic diar-
rhoea was entirely cured, so that now the boy grows finely. In this
case I naturally received far fewer single dollars, as fees, than the other
physicians had received hundreds. The gentlemen apothecaries may,
hence, comfort themselves with the physicians. Indeed it must be
acknowledged, that the practice of Homeopathy is not at all profita-
ble for either. But where the question is, how to advance the welfare
of humanity, there personal considerations must give way at all times.
In vain did the wig makers complain of the vulgar habit of one's
wearing his own hair; in vain the buckle makers of the slovenliness
of wearing boots and pantaloons; in vain the landlords, hackmen and
porters, of the extension of railroads; and the soap boilers and candle
makers, of the erection of gas works; their complaints have never
amounted to anything, and those have ever fared best who betook
themselves betimes, to the search of new occupations, for they escaped,
at the same time, being made a laughing stock.
While we are speaking of ignoramuses, I must mention what a
member of the Chamber of Deputies said, to wit, that every one who
could hire a servant, could fit him in a short time to be a Homœo-
pathic doctor and apothecary.
Even with this stratagem, only a favorable testimony for Homœo-
pathy is made out. It is true that well informed laymen can very
well, and in a very short time, be so far instructed, that, under circum-
stances, they can afford the first help to a patient, and just because
Homœopathy is based upon natural laws; and thousands of land-
lords living in retired places, have helped to save many a precious
life till the physician came from a great distance to direct the further
treatment. Just here lie new guarantees for the high social worth of
this method of cure, since it can supply help beyond price, and can,
so far as it is possible, popularize part of its knowledge, which directly
protects the highest good of man; since, further, it thus demonstrates
that it does not need to guard with anxiety the monopoly of its art,
200
and that it waive this without in the least sacrificing its dignity as an
art and science.
The precious seclusion in which the majority sees itself compelled
to be shut up, would long ago have been given up, had it only known
how this could be accomplished without injury to itself. This very
possibility of becoming popularized, in part at least, and the fact that
it does not strive against this possibility, but rather favors it, declare
on the one hand that Homœopathic therapeutics possesses infinite
practical value, and, on the other, that it is conscious of its greatness
and of its scientific superiority. What light is for the material world,
that, perception is, for the direction of our actions. The physician,
however, does not treat his patients; he only gives them advice, and
when they do not govern themselves accordingly, this arises from
lack of confidence. There can be, however, no confidence in Thera-
peutics, without an insight into its nature and the motives of the
physician. On this account, the Homœopathic physician gives, to
those who trust themselves to him, his open programme; he extends
to them the Bible of the sources of his own knowledge. The Allo-
pathic laity sometimes possess faith and confidence in their physicians,
but only transiently, because faith has ever been opposed to knowledge,
and denies an insight into the laws of Nature. The Homeopathic
laity are in the enjoyment of an insight into the natural laws of thera-
peutics, which qualify them for a mutual understanding with their
physicians. By these means every layman becomes his own medical
assistant, for the most salutary deliverance of himself and his physi-
cian from heavy cares. On this rests the greatest proof against the
slander upon Homœopathy that it practices charlatanery and plays.
with mysteries. Just the very assertion of a higher view, on which
the Allopathic physician plumes himself in the presence of his patient,
and which he anxiously endeavors to uphold, just this, is mysticism.
Homœopathy, on the contrary, presents itself to the judgment of the
people, who thereby know what their physicians intend to do with
them. Thus Homœopathy is a protest against mysticism, medical
mystery and charlatanism, and appeals to nothing but the eternal
laws of Nature, while, on the other hand, the Allopathic physician
has no resource but a calculation of probabilities, a calculation which
is infinite, and so uncertain that it must surely be much more desirable
for him that the laity should not know it.
201
§. 273.
One can, and, indeed must, fully assent to the doctrines of Rade-
macher, so far as I have followed them, that is, those parts thereof
which are marked out as practical, and that, indeed, as will subse-
quently appear, upon grounds which harmonize with the corresponding
Homœopathic experience.
But Rademacher and his adherents found themselves, at the same
time, induced to transcend their sphere, since they also speak of inter-
current diseases, which thus sometimes appear during the so-called
epidemic constitution, without belonging to it, or being curable in
accordance with it; for these inter-current diseases require another
treatment than that indicated for the epidemic constitution. Thus
with Rademacher, even, exceptions exist; they are, however, in a
Therapeia grounded upon natural law, a contradictio in adjecto, hence
must follow from imperfectly established premisses.
If we turn away a moment from these exceptions, we know that
Rademacher's doctrine is founded upon general ætiological, so-called,
epidemic momenta prevailing from time to time.
Hence he lacks, even in this sphere, in which besides, the inner con-
ditions of the individual organism remain entirely disregarded, the
consideration of the local endemic relations, often limited to a small
circle.
This circumstance, however, does not do the least injury to the
fundamental doctrine of Rademacher, as a superficial view might
herefrom conclude; but it points only to others than the so-called
epidemic causes, which may exist side by side.
As regards this point the following example will furnish the neces-
sary support.
From a one-story wing of a certain barrack, almost every year,
patients afflicted with different zymotic diseases were transferred into
the hospital; at one time fever and ague, at another varicella; now
scorbutus, now typhus, now dysentery, and these two latter forms
especially reproduced themselves quite often in remote localities by
men who were there on furlough; while, in the entire vicinity of these
barracks, and, in the city, separated from it only by a small stream,
not a man was affected with typhus or dysentery, at that time. More-
over, these forms of dysentery and typhus appeared quite different
from those which sometimes occurred in the city; they possessed a far
more pernicious character and were attended with a much greater
mortality.
202
From year to year the localities of the barracks were examined and
found healthy. Though this wing faced the north, its walls were
always perfectly dry, only the lower stones, those in connection with
the ground, were here and there damp a few inches high, as is the case
with very many buildings, in which these forms of disease never
occur; moreover, these diseases did not appear on the ground floor
only, but much oftener in the upper story, so that not the least cause
of these diseases could be discovered.
Finally, some rotten boards were taken up from the ground floor,
to be replaced with new. Even when the first board was taken up, a
cold air, smelling strongly of mould, diffused itself, and soon there
came to view enormous growths of wall-mushrooms in heads from a
foot to a foot and a half long, and from two to six inches thick, of
soft, brown fungous texture; these were extended in enormous masses
under nearly all these rooms. The damp earth was dug down two
feet deep, and after being filled up with dry rubbish and charcoal, these
diseases disappeared from this wing, and for twenty-one years have
not returned again.
Thus, the causes of diseases often hide themselves from those who
do not yet know, that Nature produces the greatest effects with the
minutest causes; for, in this case even, they were not observable for
many years, and no one, during this whole time, could in any way,
not even by their odor, perceive these morbid matters floating in the
air in a molecular state.
In this we may find one reason, at least, for the production of inter-
current diseases in Rademacher's sense, and the fault that such occur-
rences, in his view, were to constitute accidental exceptions, solely
rested with his time which was able to investigate in a comprehensive
manner, into the causes of disease as little as into its conditions; while
just the very Homeopathy, so much despised then, was much better
informed upon these subjects, at that time even.
The articles appearing in the present, that is, the seventy-first volume
of the Allgem. Homœopath. Zeitung, by Dr. Bruckner of Basle, upon
Hahnemann and Rademacher, are in this direction most instructive,
and indicate the good observer.
But Rademacher and the most of his adherents must admit to-day
even, that they consider only one side of the possibility of becoming
sick, to-wit: the external, which consists merely in the etiological
momenta; while they have entirely neglected to consider the other
side, the constitutional conditions of the individual, which comprise,
in themselves, the very possibility of the influence of aetiological
causes — a second ground for the production of Rademacher's inter
203
current diseases, which will be subsequently more thoroughly con-
sidered, in order to show that all Rademacher's doctrines may be
completed by Homœopathic experiences; and, sooth to say, the con-
verse of this is sometimes the case also.
§. 279.
I must further remark that one hears very often, and reads also,
that the language of the Rademacherian and Hahnemannian schools
is quite too unintelligible. Even in one of the newest text-books
of Materia Medica, by Dr. Schuchardt, 18S5S, an adherent of the
physiological school, we find the following, word for word, on
page 49: "The statements of Rademacher's school, regarding its
so-called spleen-remedies, among which, besides China, it chiefly
reckons Radix squillæ, Aqua glandium Quercus, Oleum succini,
Magnesia tartarica, Galeopsis grandiflora, Rubia tinctorum, Baccæ
juniperi, perhaps also Carduus nutans, scarcely deserve notice, for
well known reasons, and more still, they do not induce us even to make
further experimental inquiries, since they have certainly been used
by those physicians quite as often in morbid conditions with supposed
affection of the spleen, in which the spleen was entirely unaffected.
a question upon which, however, the manner of speaking peculiar to
this school does not permit us to decide."
This learned man, who, by the by, has a great number of sympa-
thizers among practical physicians even, does not understand, then,
the language of Rademacher and his followers. This I very much
regret. Learning does not consist in that which has been previously
masticated for one by his alma mater, to make it easily digestible;
nor indeed in the digestive organs, which have been purposely fitted
for such reception, by which, indeed, everything that is not previously
masticated for one must become indigestible. Learning in natural
science does not depend upon that which one has taken in from his
party or those who sympathize in his views, but in a criticism thereof
according to natural laws, and in the knowledge of that which others
also know, who are not satisfied with the nourishment of their nurse's
milk only, and are accustomed to think for themselves. The desig-
nation by language never presents the object itself; it refers only to
our conceptions of objects. Hence the language of every science has
its peculiarities; thus mathematical language is different from phys-
ical or chemical; there is one in the physiological school, another in
Rademacher's, and still another in Hahnemann's. All these peculiar-
ities find their entire meaning in the foundations of these languages,
20.4
which bestow, upon each separate word, its definite significance, by
the connexion only, which is necessarily different in every science.
Now if this Professor of Materia Medica does not understand the
mathematical, or the physical language, or that of Rademacher or
Hahnemann, by which always a definite range of conceptions of
given facts is expressed, the fault thereof is not in Mathematics, or
Physics, or in any branch whatever of general science. Nevertheless
he does not hesitate to say, page 1, "Materia Medica has chiefly to
discuss the effects of drugs, and this also forms the chief part of my
book." I can, for example, find the less fault with the substance of
his articles scattered over five different pages, in which he speaks of
Benzoic acid, as I know very well how to make use of the article;
but he must acknowledge that many can learn nothing therefrom
which might be useful in practice, without a comprehensive knowledge
of that which, with regard to this remedy, has also been observed in
other therapeutic schools. How scanty do his aphorisms regarding
the effects of this remedy appear, in contrast with its proving by
Hering given above. Since of all this he has quoted nothing, and can-
not understand even the experiences of Rademacher's school regarding
this substance; therefore what he says of the main part of his book is
untrue, and its contents, especially for a beginner in practice, utterly
worthless. This method of writing books is very convenient indeed,
and does not require much reasoning; but as matters stand, these
gentlemen had better refrain from giving their opinion upon subjects
which, by their own confession, they do not understand. Thus his
declaration that Rademacher's spleen-remedies have surely been used
by those physicians quite as often in morbid conditions with supposed
affection of the spleen, sinks to an expression of the vulgar animosity
of an immodest and insolent ignoramus.
This remark clearly exemplifies again the cause of the inevitable
scepticism of this school. Whoever doubts in Materia Medica must
lay the blame upon his own subjective opinions; he seeks to explain
facts by his own measure, and not according to the laws given by
nature. Hence we cannot rely upon the results of experiments,
because they are all explained according to subjective conclusions.
But what has not been explained in accordance with the laws of
nature cannot be considered as the object and property of Therapeutics.
This Professor of Materia Medica pretends that he considers as
drugs only those remedies which operate chiefly by their chemical
properties. But chemistry is neither the only, nor the last, arbiter in
Therapeutics.
205
Thus, the exclusive chemical views of this school increase more and
more in their unfruitfulness, as shown in previous paragraphs, by endo-
genous cell-formation, as it were. This species remains unchangeable
and unimprovable, because, as we have seen, it despises an interchange
of knowledge with others, and not only considers all knowledge farmed
out to itself, §. 1-8, but thinks that it may claim, for itself alone, the
language of science, in order to render impossible any progress even in
its own circle, while the irrepressible progress of all other sciences.
surrounds it with loudly flapping wings, which, however, are neither
seen nor heard by it.
§. 280.
The proceeding of Homoeopathy is now, in general outlines, laid
down even as regards a comparison with that of other schools. In
special cases, however, the inexperienced may, nevertheless, fall into
no slight embarrassment. Hence I must present one more example,
and this will be best selected, again, from the time when I myself was
yet a beginner.
A gigantic teamster, 43 years old, of a developed musculature, who
declared that he had never been sick before, and whose height was 6 feet
2 inches, on arriving in Frankfort, in the evening, with a freight-
wagon, did not go to bed, but, after all the guests had left the bar-
room, laid down upon the floor, on which he had spread some straw,
to pass the night. It was winter and very cold. On awaking in the
morning he felt stiff in his limbs, tired and sick, which, however, did
not prevent his walking by the side of his wagon to Ansbach. Now
he complained of the greatest exhaustion, and that was the most dis-
tressing to him, because it interfered with his occupation; for his
loss of appetite, his sleeplessness, his cough, his having chills (con-
tinuing every night from 7 in the evening till precisely 8 in the morn-
ing), all this he would have endured with indifference, as he declared.
The examination of his organs did not present, objectively, the least
thing abnormal. Hence I diagnosticated an intermittent fever,
although this chill, which returned every day at the same hour, was
followed neither by heat nor sweat, and I gave him, being yet unskil-
led in Homœopathy, and not having the least confidence in it for
fever and ague, two-grain doses of Quinine, to be taken every two
hours. There was no change, even after I had him take the powders
every hour during the day, and as he had already consumed forty of
these, without the least indication of an improvement, as, on the con-
trary, the general weakness of the patient had increased, the necessity
206
presented itself to me, more urgently than ever, to relieve him in the
shortest time. Consequently, it could no longer be indicated to give
him either Quinine or Arsenic in allopathic doses, hence, I sought
counsel again with Homeopathy. I did not wish to avail myself of
the Repertories to the Homœopathic Materia Medica; for a beginner
must read, at any rate, through the entire proving of each remedy
which seems to be indicated according to the Repertory. For this
reason I consulted the original provings, read through the article on
fever of each remedy, and compared it with the case before me.
Thus, I found, at length that Aranea diadema must be the remedy
indicated for this case, according to the law of similarity. I imme-
diately ordered the mother tincture from the nearest Homoeopathic
Pharmacy, and next day, in possession of it, prepared the second
decimal attenuation, and gave it to the patient, with the direction that
he should take thercof four or five drops every hour.
The next day the patient exclaimed, "Now you have hit the right
medicine; as soon as after the second hour I felt warmth again in
my whole body, and then, the first time for three weeks, I slept some
hours at night again, without any chill." The cure was complete in
six days, and for seventeen years he had no relapse.
§. 281.
We see, from all the foregoing, that Homœopathy has many rules
to find remedies for cases in which neither of the other two parties can
help itself; that its knowledge possesses positive elements of theo-
retical as well as practical acquirements, which necessarily bring forth
the greatness of its practical results. Thus it creates for itself a sub-
stance and extent of knowledge of which none of its opponents has
any conception.
Within its domain there exists no subjective opinion, which is per-
mitted to palm itself off as criticism. In this circle, no physician is
gratified, instead of his own views, to be able to quote a strange
authority; it would find no acknowledgement; in this circle only the
eternal laws of nature avail; here, in difficult cases, the question does
not arise, what has already happened in such cases, but each one cou-
siders for himself what can happen and must happen. While the
physiological school leans merely upon the expectation of similar cases,
the Hahnemannian school, from its present stand-point, rests upon the
laws of nature; thus the centre of gravity of therapeutics vacillates
in the former school, in the contingent, while here it rests immovably
upon the rock of natural laws. There good work, a favorable issue
207
may be desired, here, it may be expected. There, general outlines and
ideas are valid, here, no hint of nature is cast away as worthless.
There, we find asthmatic anxiety, the haste and uncertainty of skepti-
cism; here, calmness, consideration and certainty of knowledge; there,
every medical procedure is accompanied with torments, here, so little
annoyance that the child, even, makes no resistance to it. There, by the
expense of a single sickness, a whole family is frequently plunged into
debt, which it has no hope of liquidating; here, every patient and every
hospital can be furnished with drugs at least ninety per cent. cheaper
than there, and rational statistics show here, a mortality very consider-
ably less than there, a fact which likewise finds its causes in what has
already been said, consequently possesses not only statistic value, but
also a value based upon natural laws. There, many dark shadows are
cast, to settle the causes of which is not considered worth the
trouble, or the causes of which entirely escape observation; here, all
those causes may be brought to light.
§. 282.
There is no doubt but that all Therapeutics strive for the same end,
only they follow, according to various leading principles various roads,
side by side, and their end attained, they present their truths as mutual
complements; for, otherwise they could not have the same end in
view, or some considerations must then be regarded other than those of
Therapeutics, and thus, at any rate, it appears. Whether these con-
siderations are objectionable or not, each one must judge for himself,
and this is not the place to consider the question, but there are con-
siderations of possibility, and some of these have not been touched
upon, and especially those regarding the separation in medical
literature.
The hermetical seclusion of the literature of medical parties.
seemed to have reached a beneficial end, with the programme which
several years ago was issued by the editor of a new medical Journal,
in a German capital, with the promise of refraining from everything
of a partisan nature. That was, however, not realized. It is well
known that Rademacher's school takes notice of that which appears
both in the Physiological and Homoeopathic Journals, and Homeo-
pathic Journals also furnish extracts from the two other therapeutics.
But the majority, physiological medicine, isolates itself completely,
for it deems everything to be nothing which does not proceed from
itself, hence has originated its stand-point, scientifically subordinate,
and still more its unserviceable and unpractical character, which has
208
frequently served in this work for the purpose of proving the prevail-
ing errors by example. The Homeopathic literature clearly is the
most diligent in enriching its knowledge by the experiences of others,
and indeed no other way is compatible with the possibility of an active
progress. It goes so far, in fact, as truthfully to record the methods
of persecution of its opponents, so that these heroes shall not escape
the history of science, yet this might be done with greater complete-
ness. It is, for example, not long ago that we heard complaints of
the unpardonable, intentional neglect of Hahnemann and his immedi-
ate followers, that, in their drug-provings, they undertook no investi-
gation of the urine, because it was not yet known what drugs, during
their proving, had the effect to produce sugar in the urine, and that we
had to dispense with this knowledge for the purpose of an indication
in the cure of diabetes mellitus, till new provings had directed their
attention to this point. But, in the February number of Heller's
Archiv für Chemie und Mikroskopie, I found statements on this sub-
ject as early as 1852. It is here stated that sugar is found in the urine
after the inhalation of any anæsthetic vapors whatever; after the use
of Arsenic, Lead, Antimony, the salts of Mercury, Quinine, Opium.
etc. Now the most valuable effect of great quantities of the strongest
wine were made clear to me, at once, and this communication was all
the more desirable, as I was just then trying my skill on a diabetic
patient, without being able to help him.
The cavity of his mouth was already as dry as the outer skin, and
to such a degree that, in spite of all his efforts, he could not moisten the
least bit of bread in his mouth or eat it. Tormented with the halluci-
nation that some one near him ate and washed, and, in brief, per-
formed all his functions for him, and still more, tortured by a terrible
thirst, he had, at the same time, reached such a degree of emaciation
and loss of strength, that I counted my hopes of keeping him alive only
by the hour. The Homœopathic differential diagnosis induced me to
choose Arsenic, among the remedies mentioned. This I gave him
according to the laws previously set forth, and experienced the joy of
restoring this man (who was a debauchee, and forty-eight years old),
to his occupation, at the end of three months. I would herewith
urgently recommend it to Homœopathists, so long as the different
schools of Therapeutics persist in their unjustifiable literary separation,
to make careful selections from the literature of our opponents as has
been done by the Allgemeine homeopathische Zeitung to a very
praiseworthy extent.
209
§. 283.
THE BODILY CONSTITUTION AND THE CONCOMITANT
CIRCUMSTANCES.
In the preparation of a text-book one must carefully avoid all
pedantry; and must rather at first present all facts, which are to be
laid before the reader, in an isolated manner, as has been done thus
far. Without following any system, one must at first proceed analyt-
ically, because analysis, the dismemberment of our ideas, is that
which, for our intellect, is the original, and the logical synthesis that
which is the derivative.
That in the idea of a one-sided causality, which conceives of the
organism, as regards its various parts, as a checker-board, with the
squares mechanically laid out, side by side, cannot be contained that
of a reciprocal causality; that, hence, no diseased organ can be con-
sidered as diseased by itself alone, but as one of the members of an
organically connected chain, will have been made as sufficiently clear
from what has been already laid down, as that the law of reciprocal
causality, that of reciprocal action, is the most hidden power of
nature, by which the necessary whole makes itself known even in
the play of the molecules of the most minute parts.
This reciprocal action is the living contrast to the tacit dismember-
ment, and although species are the work of Nature, yet genera are
the work of man, by means of which he knows how to understand
and control the works of Nature; for all perception is intellectual
also, and not merely sensual.
With every mode of perception, even with that of Homœopathy,
the separate objects of the senses, the particulars were brought forth
the first.
In Nature, on the contrary, the first is the creating general; for
what we misunderstand or do not understand becomes doubtful or
obscure on account of the insufficiency of the particular.
That, hence, in Homeopathy also, there is much which is not yet
understood, or is misunderstood, arises from the fact that, for the most
part, analytical comparison has spun the thread on which it has pro-
gressed; for the establishment of Homœopathic diagnosis, prognosis
and indication has mainly arisen from the comparison between patho-
genetic and pathological forms.
The comparison of Homœopathy does not follow, indeed, from an
indefinite view; on the contrary, it positively expands the insight into
the otherwise unknown region of disease, by its synthesis, with the
PART II.
14
210
sum and substance of the law of similarity. This region, however,
is so unknown to many, that some desire that one should direct his
steps according to the essence of diseases; others, that he have merely
to treat patients and their diseased organs; but of the general source
from which all diseases flow, of the relations of molecular substances
and their forces to each other, there is no earnest thought.
The phenomena of the pathogenetic and pathological forms are
separate there; the less known are compared with the known; there
is, by comparison, a connection sought with the law of similarity,
but the oneness pervading these two pathological forms is not always
investigated.
This Homœopathic comparison, however, can never terminate in
identity; this the beginner must ever remember, for pathogenetic and
pathological forms have no identical cause; hence the homeopathic
comparison leads to a higher conception, to that of the general [cause]
which brings forth the phenomena from various [special] causes.
The necessity of success from the Homeopathic diagnoses, indi-
cations and prognoses hence arises from general grounds.
That that which was the first in the act of being is the last as
regards perception, proved itself true also to the great mind of
Hahnemann. He first gained perception of the existence of drug-
and-disease-forms in particulars; but his subsequent conception of
the general grounds for these particular forms of existence was a new
synthetic, so to say, artistic act.
If the essence, the general [character] of a thing is to be developed,
then it is only requisite to know how the thing itself was
developed, and neither is it free from danger to make suppositions,
which lie outside of the thing, and, as it were, serve as a mere super-
structure for observation, as is wont to happen in the special Thera-
peutics of the physiological school, nor is it permitted to overlook
suppositions which lie in the thing itself, or make up its very existence
even, which, indeed, is attempted by some Homeopathists to their
own injury.
A logical procedure in separating the general from the particular,
the necessary from the contingent, the rational from the empirical,
must mark out for us the direction of our conclusions at the sick-bed
with lines which cannot be transgressed. This is a postulate upon
every science, which nowhere is more neglected than in the physiolog-
ical school. One example, at least, to this effect, may not be superflu-
ous here.
The periodical change in the condition of the pressure of the blood,
as it is called by physiologists, gives to the circulation, for example, a
2ΙΙ
regular recurrence, dependent upon particular days as well as on par-
ticular times of day, thus a stationary form, which by the Professors is
called The type, and which, as well as the Crisis, makes its appearance
most clearly in pathological states. But this does not happen in conse-
quence of any acting morbific substance, as, for example, the excretion
of Chloride of Sodium is most copious in the afternoon; at night, on the
other hand, it abates considerably, and, in the morning increases again;
all of which is founded upon the general of physiological life.
This kind of blood-circulation during a disease, is declared by the
Professors to be a pathological state even.
But disease is only a par-
ticular [state] in the general [state] of the organism, hence it could
present proportional oscillation of no kind in its symptoms, if the
organism should not originally perform these movements.
If we
observe in disease that hyperæmia, stasis, inflammation manifest a
decidedly periodical character, since the affected parts increase and
decrease in periodic returns as regards swelling, tension and pains,
then these processes clearly point to a generality that controls them,
and this can be founded only in the bodily constitution.
The idea of a positively healthy bodily constitution is hence non-
sense, for even under the relative idea of a healthy man we understand
that he possesses the conditions for becoming sick, and how could we
comprehend the actual variety of the individual bodily constitutions.
had we not also learned the general forms thereof by drug-provings.
For this Hahnemann again laid the foundation by his doctrine of
concomitant circumstances, and no one has understood how to carry
out more strictly the consideration of the indication from these circum-
stances than Dr. v. Bönninghausen. His therapeutic Pocket-book
(Münster, Coppenrath, 1S46) is an imperishable work of the great-
est importance for practice, and could be prepared only by an eminent
intellect, and by unwearied theoretical and practical studies.
But we must reflect upon its contents, and, in want of a teacher,
must ourselves find by experiment what lies at the bottom of these
separate specialities. We must not only comprehend registraliter, the
effects and counter-effects for the purpose of drug application: we
must study not only the movements and counter-movements, which
they cause within the organism, but also at the same time the general
external influences upon it prevailing in this process; for our organ-
ism is nothing but a system of external effects and internal counter-
effects.
212
§. 284.
In order to render Hahnemann's doctrine of concomitant circum
stances more readily comprehensible, I proceed at once to practical
examples.
The ignorant are much amused by the fact, likewise estab-
lished by the drug-provings of Homœopathy, that certain substances
possess a preponderating influence upon the right or left side of the
body, although at the sick bed, any one can see the most manifold
complaints every day, which affect one side only; although, for
example, to quote an authority (for those who believe in authorities),
even Schönlein, amongst others. teaches, in this respect, that it is
remarkable, how, even in ganglion-intermittents, the participation of
the capillary system is sometimes on one side only, so that one half of
the body is in a fever and the other half not.
Thus, if there can be morbid matter, which produces diseases on
one side, why should there not be substances which cure such
diseases?
Before one judges of a thing he should have investigated it, accord-
mg to the directions of those familiar with the matter, and whoever
nas himself proved Arnica, Sulphur, Belladonna, Plumbum merely,
will acknowledge this fact as incontrovertible.
But these experiments are presented in such great number, and
have always so confirmed the same appearance of symptoms, on the
right or left side, according to the remedy used, that this constant
course of the same phenomena, from the same causes and conditions
is elevated to a natural law, and, to-wit, always to one single law of
specification of a changed form of the reciprocal action, from the
connection of these substances with the organism. Moreover, these
results were always verified at the bed-side according to the law
of similarity, so that one, according to the laws of nature and logic,
would be justified in expecting that there would be no further room
for skepticism about the matter.
Yet for those who, not versed in these laws, desire still further
proof, for those, I may state that, for example, by Professor Horn's
reaction-apparatus, the motions are exactly shown which course
through the fingers of the right hand and the right fore-arm, as
electro-negative streams from right to left: through the left fore-arm.
etc., as electro-positive streams from left to right, etc.
If we remember now the chemical properties which present them-
selves as consequences of the electric streams in the body, those
results of drug provings find new and sufficient confirmation; but
213
they offer us, just because they were made with such substances of the
outer world, at the same time, drugs for corresponding cases, and that,
indeed, all the more, as it was established by Horn's multiplicator that,
in diseases, and, even under depressing mental emotions, one finds
those relations of polarity and electricity moving just in opposite
directions.
As an example thereof the following case may serve.
One of my
assistants, a novice in Homœopathy, had to visit a patient, 32 years
of age, who had been paralyzed on the left side for two weeks, but
otherwise was well and robust. The patient having to make a jour-
ney of six hours in a pouring rain, arrived at his destination perfectly
drenched and chilled, and on awaking next morning, after a good
night's sleep, and trying to rise, his whole left side was insensible and
motionless. He was treated with the induction current, and every
time while in the bath, but too energetically; for the excitability of
the paralyzed side had suddenly ceased, and its musculature began to
grow less.
The patient, for a long time, has been indisposed in
damp, cold weather, more than in dry and warm; he is excitable and
timid; has had vertigo since the beginning of his sickness; the tem-
perature of his body is unequal; only the upper part of his body is
warm, while the lower extremities are cold; he suffers with obstruc-
tion, and, at night, with involuntary discharge of urine, precipitating
a red sediment.
In consequence of this I directed the young gentleman to give him
Arnica. However, still too close an adherent to his former teachers,
he gave an infusion of Arnica of two drachms of flowers to six ounces
of water, and ordered the patient to take a tablespoonful every two
hours.
Five days later he stated to me that he thought he saw considerable
improvement in his patient, though he had been tormented, since the
day before, with toothache and swelling of the gums on the left upper
jaw, notwithstanding the left half of the face was still paralyzed. I
assured him that he must have taken the dose too low. As, however,
the patient passed a sleepless night on account of the toothache, the
young man drew the tooth pointed out by the patient as the one
aching most, although there was not the least decayed spot in it. But
now the pains increased in the whole upper jaw till they got to be
unendurable, and, as my colleague gave me a full statement of the
case, I assured him that every indication to draw the tooth had been
wanting. To convince him of this I bade him read through the
proving of Arnica in Jahr's Symptomen-Codex; for the effect of this
214
drug was too evident and could have been produced only by an
immoderate dose.
Upon reading that proving, his surprise was so great that, from that
hour, he has been a true adherent of Homoeopathy, for he found, as
the effects of Arnica, among others; tearing and throbbing in the left
upper molars-just the literal statement of the patient-toothache, with
swelling of the cheeks, paralysis of the left half of the body, coldness of
the lower part of the body with warmth or heat of the upper part;
vertigo on getting up from a seat, constipation, involuntary discharge
of urine at night while sleeping, red sediment of the urine; as proof
of the effect of Arnica upon the same parts of the organism as were
here affected by the morbific cause, and that, too, in a very similar
way and manner, and furthermore, as proof that he really had given
the Arnica in too strong a dose.
There are many circumstances aggravating or improving the con-
dition of patients, which lead to the essential indication, and that, as
regards the time of year, this or that food, dry or damp weather, these
or those parts of the body, for example, even as regards the body,
whether in rest or motion.
One morning, when two Allopathic physicians were accidentally
present, an old woman came and complained that her son, twenty-two
years old, a robust day-laborer, whom I had visited the day before, and
had found suffering with articular rheumatism, had not slept any all
night, on account of pain, for he could no longer endure it to remain
in bed; had had to leave it constantly, and move about as much as he
could, for in this alone he found the greatest relief. Yet he was soon
obliged every time to lie down again, since prolonged motion wearied
him, and fatigued him too much.
I stated to my colleagues, who were present, that to this patient,
since he felt worse when at rest, and was relieved by motion, I could
prescribe none of the remedies which would be otherwise indicated
in the case but Rhus tox; that in a reversed case, Bryonia would be
indicated, and invited them and the woman to come again at a given
time.
They came, and the old woman was overjoyed to be able to
announce that her son, after he had taken this remedy through the
day, had passed the entire night without pain, and that she had heard
no more complaint from him before leaving him. The patient was
perfectly cured in this short time, and both colleagues begged me
for Homœopathic literature.
215
§. 285.
The question, what is produced by the remedy, and what is acci-
dental, is, as yet, an open question in the physiological school. It
does not know the rules by which the elimination of the contingent
from their conclusions could be rendered possible, and according to
which the question about the result would depend upon determining
what kind of events must emanate from the results of indications
according to the laws of Nature, or which ought to be looked upon
as the results of accident, or of palliative adjuvants. In Homœopathy,
such questions have become superfluous, for there one has only to
direct himself according to natural laws, and what speaks against the
constant course of events, at the sick-bed, upon the strength of the
given elements of the law of similarity and its co-indications, belongs
to the accidental and all its concomitants.
There is, moreover, clearly a difference whether a thing is accidental,
or only appears to be. In the first case there is no law; in the latter,
we do not know whether there is such a one, if we are not able induc-
tively to find or to abstract it.
As regards this point, also, it is necessary to introduce an example.
A young girl suffered for several months with Chlorosis in a high
degree, with symptoms for which Pulsatilla was indicated. She took
this remedy according to prescription, and came again after eight days
without having observed any improvement; only she thought that she
was less troubled with violent palpitation of the heart. After eight
days more, the menstruation, which had been absent for a long time,
returned, but only feebly, and even then the patient, though feeling bet-
ter, was yet not strong enough to resume her work. She came no
more, but I met her about three weeks after; she looked perfectly well,
and carried a heavy water barrel upon her back. That change, acci-
dent surely could not have accomplished. Upon my inquiring about
her condition, she replied, in a joyful manner, that those drops had
helped her so much that she had been quite well for a long time. I
assured her that she was telling a story, and these words, spoken with
emphasis, drew from her the confession that after her last visit to me
she had received some pills of iron from a neighboring woman,
and had taken them. That I knew a priori, for if one divides the
intensity of the effect of Pulsatilla 3rd by the element of time during
which Pulsatilla 3rd can produce a perfect cure of this kind of Chlo-
rosis, it requires a much longer time than for the effect of Iron in
Allopathic doses.
216
But, now the patient coughed and I did not wish to disturb her joy
with the assurance of what I knew to be the necessary result of the
imprudent use of Iron, to wit: that her lungs would become diseased,
or, that, in the most favorable case, she had reason to expect a violent
relapse.
All physicians, truly enough, point to "experience;" but the expe-
rience of the Homeopath is quite different from that of the Allopath,
or Hydropath, of shepherds or old women. If by "experience" one
would understand, not merely a collection of facts, but the connection
of facts according to necessary laws, then he would at once have
silenced the clamor of empirics and old women about their experience.
§. 286.
Hahnemann, as we have remarked, was led to these concomitant
circumstances by the very results of his drug-provings. Till his time
they had remained entirely neglected in making up the diagnosis and
indication, and still are so, in the physiological school. But, from
what other momenta could the speciality of an individual be more
readily discerned? Whoever means to individualize at the sick-bed
must necessarily also direct the examination of the patient according
to these concomitant circumstances. The individual always possesses
certain conditions for becoming sick; they are contained in his bodily
constitution, which is rightly to be known just by this very individ-
ualizing; but the bodily constitution expresses the relation of the
inner conditions to the external causes of becoming sick; hence, only
upon the sum of the conditions, external and internal, depends the
total effect, which is designated as disease however, neither upon the
causes alone, nor upon the conditions alone.
If there is an individual, for example, who is attacked with fever
and ague, and, while sitting and in bed, has always cold feet and soles,
that is surely a peculiarity, for many fever and ague patients do not
complain of cold feet and soles. Hence, if on account of the other
symptoms, the choice in the indication were to lie between Ipecac and
Arsenic, every Homeopath, on the ground of that concomitant cir-
cumstance, would prescribe Arsenic, but not Ipecac, because, in the
proving of Ipecac, there is no complaint of cold feet and soles, whether
sitting up or in bed. This single peculiarity, a peculiarity which can
only be grounded in the bodily constitution, thus directs the indication
into the proper channel.
Hence it follows that such symptoms even as, according to Hahne-
mann, must be reckoned among the concomitant circumstances, are
217
constitutional symptoms; and not those alone which spring from
ætiological momenta.
A sick bodily constitution is just as inconceivable an idea as a
healthy one, although ideas to the contrary have often been advanced in
controversy; for the bodily constitution still belongs in the realm of
the relative idea of health, as long as it is changed, of course, neither
in form nor in function. A similar contradictio in adjecto would be
the idea of a pathological disposition; for before a disease can develop
itself, the conditions thereto must previously be present.
It is in the main the characteristic of that Therapy which must be
universally sought and can be found only in Homœopathy, to see the
general always in the particular; for he who sees only the particular
in the particular, because it only as such belongs to objective reality,
does not know that the investigation of single phenomena cannot
make known the mutual relations of events.
The tendency towards the particular, by which the physiological
school is distinguished, makes it so one-sided that it sees in events only
that which seems to have happened with an end in view; everything
else disappears for it and that falsifies its perception; for it is not the
objects alone which we have to investigate, but their relations and
references to all others.
All drug prov-
Even the effect of drugs is always a general one.
ings have demonstrated that there are only constitutional drug effects.
Once entered into the organism they affect it specifically, mem-
ber after member, according to their quality and their relation to the
organism.
It is interesting to learn that this truth, although connected with
orthodox Homœopathic views, found its advocate in France, even
among the Allopathists as early as 1863.
A lecture by Dr. Pidoux, one of the authors of the well known
Materia Medica of Trousseau and Pidoux, contains the following
points:
"Not the drug by itself, but the organism, modified thereby, pro-
duces the cure, and it is necessary that, from the views of the laity,
the opinion, and from the views of physicians, the error should finally
be eradicated, which lies in the belief that the drug acts by itself and
directly upon the disease, and more still, upon the diseased product,
neutralizing disease after the manner of an antidote,” etc.
"If it is true that remedies can act favorably only when they
are assimilated by the organism and are subjected to its own laws by
the help of the parts remaining healthy, then this truth is nowhere
more apparent than in the treatment with Thermal Springs, where
218
the immediate effects of the cure, often so annoying, and so directly
in opposition to the hopes of the patients where the necessity of a
long incubation, where finally the curative reaction occurring late and
being the reverse of the primary effects, very evidently demonstrate
that the drug does not work therapeutically by its chemical properties,
but that, by means of the special forces of the organism, it developes,
in a living manner, vital effects in the very sense of the word.”
If vital is something else than constitutional, and if the organism
in general consists of processes of oxidation and reduction, are these
not chemical?
Thus, indeed, the quid pro quo is ready, that the German professors
must receive from their French colleagues confirmation of that Ger-
man discovery of Hahnemann which they so blindly reject.
§. 287.
Yet it seems that misunderstanding may arise for beginners, even
upon these subjects. If we take, for example, some remedies which
restrain the entrance of Hydrogen into our systems in any way, as
China, Nux vomica, Arnica, Thuja, Natr. sulph, etc., no one could,
nevertheless, from the symptoms which they produce, construct the
concrete picture of a single bodily constitution, since the indication
for Nux vomica must be of quite another kind from that of Thuja,
etc. Hence, with every special construction only a fictitious order
would arise; for the deficiencies which would meet us in so doing we
should have to supply, by our imagination. Thus, all constructions,
whether they are directed to images of disease or of a bodily constitu-
tion, from a given series of symptoms, must remain faulty, and hence,
for the most part, turn out to be false.
Hence, in disease we can take hold only of that which our senses
can comprehend, and we have then to abstract from this, as already
shown, the general, the bodily constitution presenting itself, from
which emanates, for each individual, a different combination, i. e.,
constitution. It is, hence, this general upon which the indication
must be based, because it precedes the particulars, and this general
is, as has been said, most clearly to be recognized in the conditions
accompanying each form of disease by which the quality of the
aetiological and constitutional conditions together become clear to us.
Hence, to the physicians of the physiological school who, from
lack of knowledge, have doubts upon this point, the Homeopathic
drug provings are merely a frame work of registry in the many
intricacies of which their minds cannot find their way. Hence we must
219
give yet another little example for the further elucidation of the con-
comitant circumstances.
In Dr. v. Bönninghausen's Therapeutic Pocket-Book, especially
prepared for the study of the concomitant circumstances, we find, on
page 353, under the rubric "Aggravation" in dry weather, among
other remedies, Nux vomica also, and printed too in spaced italics to
show its supreme rank as regards its efficiency in damp weather.
Nux vomica again, with close Roman type, to indicate that this still
needs further confirmation.
Now the question is, what do we learn from these statements?
If I should assume the position of a skeptic, I should answer,
nothing! For those are indeed mere subjective symptoms. Hence,
we can only recognize such substances as drugs, of which it is objec-
tively demonstrated that they operate under all conditions and how;
ergo, that they operate specifically upon determinate parts of the
organism.
Yet the proof is at hand, that the skeptic, with his observation
directed merely to objectively perceptible symptoms, loses himself in
the same labyrinth in which Allopathy, and, hence, in fact, every
opponent of Homoeopathy has heretofore wandered about in distress
from which no Ariadne can deliver them, because they forget to take
with them the clue, and, indeed, can not even see the necessity
thereof.
Since, moreover, Nux vomica with certainty produces aggravation in
dry weather, it must certainly produce an improvement in damp
weather, hence be indicated in diseases which could develop them-
selves in a bodily constitution which feels disturbed by damp weather,
and this daily experience teaches.
This aggravation occurs not only in separate organs and tissues, but
also in general.
Yet surely the skeptic would not fail to reply, "were that true, then
Nux vomica could not, even in damp weather, produce an aggravation,
though to a less degree; hence, neither the one nor the other of these
assertions, about the two-fold effect of Nux vomica, can have any
objective value."
Whoever has read the foregoing will know that this skeptic, even
with this objection, has presented no counter-proof, since he does not
know the grounds of classification in the sphere of aggravations; for,
in a bodily constitution, in which dry weather produces more ailments,
the conditions are not given under which Nux vomica could prevent an
immoderate introduction of Hydrogen into the system, because, as
regards this constitution, this task is performed already by the self-
220
activity of the organism, which thus, in this respect, is quite healthy,
i. e., must be free from all dispositions in this direction.
On the contrary, we know that the remedies in the higher attenu-
ations are least capable of exercising an influence upon the parts of
the organism remaining healthy. However, in these individualities,
still quite other effects appear under the proving of Nux vom. with
the lower attenuations, such, for instance, as are less general, but more
confined to single parts of the organism, for example, affections of the
stomach and bowels, affections of the liver, uterine complaints, pollu-
tions, etc. Here it may, indeed, happen that, in similar spontaneous
diseases, Nux vom. begets aggravation in damp weather also, but
from quite different divisive reasons, because, it does so on account
of quite different causes, to wit, if, for example, Nux vom. is taken
in too strong a dose, or for too long a time, or too early in the morn-
ing, or too late in the evening, or especially if it were not indicated.
One may see, at the same time, that the skeptic does not lean at all
upon essential reasons, but always only upon his own peculiar, acci-
dental, perceptive reasons, (rationes cognoscendi.)
§. 2SS.
But the doctrine of the concomitant circumstances still needs ampli-
fication.
We have occupied ourselves, thus far, only with relations of space,
with the disease-forms and the momenta inducing and occasioning
them, in their bearing upon the organism and its surrounding, i. e., as
regards their relations towards each other, and by the side of each other,
in a certain space.
But everything which happens, takes place without us, as well as
within us, according to time. With time we see a number of condi-
tions within and without us, subject to a constant change. To perceive
the legitimate form of connection of this change within time, is
hence of the greatest importance, and brings to light a number of
momenta constituting a disease-form, to which allusion has already
been made in §. 200.
Regarding this point, I need but refer to the observations of every
physician of extensive practice, that all forms of disease come and go
in groups, and appear periodically. This periodical change cannot be
founded in our organism, but in the change of the qualities causing
diseases, lying outside of us: on the other hand, quite naturally, cor-
relative with this change, now one, now the other, of the bodily con-
221
stitutions will be thereby affected, and one or the other must remain
intact.
For example, apoplexies appear unexpectedly, and successively, for
a long time, then disappear again for a longer time from the stage.
Thus it happens with inflammations, small-pox, measles, etc. But
while they never make up the only forms of disease, which are wont
to appear at the same time, but only the most frequent, they all mani-
festly arise together, now from the same external causes, now affecting
only such individualities as, by virtue of the quality of their bodily
constitution, are similar to each other, if they be not entirely the
same.
That this relation of coincidence between the qualities of the differ-
ent states of the atmosphere and the bodily constitutions, in the Hom-
œopathic drug provings, could not be made prominent enough, has,
for those who could not make themselves acquainted with these mutual
relations, produced a great misunderstanding in their judgments of
these drug provings; for they naturally contain, by virtue of these
relations so-called contradictory symptoms, very often from the same
substances, and again the same symptoms from different substances.
(Vide modes of action of remedies. Part I., p. ISI.)
But to him who has ever devoted himself to the study of the bodily
constitutions, these apparent contradictions are converted into the most
precious indications.
Thus, there is an infantile croup, for instance, with which, at the
same time, aside from other affections of the larynx and the air pass-
ages, appear also in other persons; various spasmodic disease-forms,
spasmodic asthma, hooping cough, even chorea, cholerine, etc.; there
is also a croup, under the prevalence of which other persons suffer
with fever and ague, especially the so-called dumb-ague, with periodic
facial neuralgia, and other neuralgia; an infantile croup with which,
at the same time, felons make their appearance, anginæ, urticaria, and
erysipelas.
On the groand of practical observations at the bed-side, I place this
periodical occurrence of various disease-forms amongst the concomitant
conditions of Hahnemann; they also refer us to the drug-provings,
and we shall, in fact, always find that these aetiological so-called epi-
demic conditions accompanying the croup of children, for example, in
the first case, give an indication for Copper; in the second, for Ipecac
with Iodine or Bromine; in the third, of Hepar Sulph. Or, to give
another example, in one year I cured hooping cough in a short time-
fourteen days at the longest-with Drosera; but the next year this
remedy accomplished actually nothing, since, according to other accom-
222
panying etiological circumstances, China or Arsenic were indicated,
and then the same prompt result was obtained as previously with
Drosera.
Croup, so fatal a disease with children when it is improperly
treated according to the doctrines of the physiological school, often
runs its course, as does hooping cough, with very few accompanying
symptoms which can be recognized in children, and which could lead to
the right indication, and these two forms of disease, hence, very often
present no other symptoms than those of their special form, and thus
the directions just given must be of the greatest value as regards gen-
eral and farther reaching points of support.
Hence, according to these alone, one cannot accomplish cures accord-
ing to names or forms of disease, as is attempted in the physiological
or Allopathic school.
The physician of this school gives, for example, in Chlorosis, his
Iron without further examination of the patient; in Croup, to be sure,
he is more in doubt and is driven into close quarters, but he always
gives emetics, or, empirically, Copper, because he knows, from hear-
say, that cures are sometimes effected therewith, but without knowing
the scientific grounds therefor; as regards Cholera, he cannot arrive at
any conclusion. If such a physician really has accidentally succeeded
in curing a case of Chlorosis or some other disease, he thinks that,
with the disappearance of such diseased forms, the patients are cured
at the same time.
That is radically false! for we have to remove not only the special
forms of disease, but, above all, the general conditions of diseases,
thus also the disposition to sickness, and, only when this is done, is the
patient cured. §. 57.
Chlorotic patients, those for example, for whom, according to
Homœopathic drug-provings, Iron is indicated, are very often dis-
posed, just from this very reason to Phthisis pulmonum, to homop-
tysis, uterine hæmorrhages, to so-called scrofulous inflammation of the
eyes, diarrhoea, ascarides, etc.; Chlorotics, for whom Copper is indi-
cated, are likewise not seldom inclined, on this very account, to affec-
tions of the larynx, the bronchi and their branches, to cholerine, sweat
of the feet, etc.; Chlorotics, finally, for whom, according to the drug-
provings, of course always in conformity to the law of similarity,
Pulsatilla is indicated, are inclined, on this account, to intermittents,
melancholy, hysteria, diseases of the heart and kidneys, discharges
from the ears, etc., for if Iron, Copper and Pulsatilla are ever indicated,
it can only be in those forms of disease which are perfectly similar to
those which they themselves produce.
223
These experiences are of the greatest importance, especially for the
prognosis of the family physician, regarding the constitutional condi-
tion of those entrusted to his care; for he is fully justified, according
to the law of similarity, from the indication of a remedy become
necessary from constitutional symptoms, to question his patients
at once, and most minutely to examine them objectively [by all
the physical aids of diagnosis], according to the whole sphere of
the effect of this drug. He will, then, in many cases, forthwith dis-
cover the germs of such diseases in a manner he would never have
thought of, had not the entire sphere of effect of this remedy, led
him upon their track. But thereby he is also enabled to order prophy-
lactic measures, which will be attended with a success often not to be
attained at a later date.
§. 289.
Even Wunderlich appeals to a constitutional Therapeutics. In his
"Archiv für Heilkunde," of the year 1860, Heft 2, there is an article
in which he says, among other things, "the objective points of Ther-
apeutics, causal and urgent symptomatic indications excepted, are not
the local disturbances which have given the name to the disease, but
it is the entire organism to which the effect must be directed.”
This assertion sounds as if it had been taken literally from Homœo-
pathy, but how does he seek to sustain it?
He thinks "the degree of prostration, of nervous excitement, the
conditions of the circulation, the fever, the collapse, the composition
of the blood, the products of exchanges, the increase and decrease of
the bodily weight, are the points upon which our prognosis of diseases
mainly rests; to these the chief ends of Therapeutics have to accom-
modate themselves."
But these again, however, are mere products of disease, hence it is
impossible for them to lead to a constitutional Therapy, and he seems
himself to feel the unfruitfulness of his train of thought; for he pro-
ceeds: "Here is the wide, and as yet almost entirely neglected field
for practical observation, and for the establishment of the most trust-
worthy rules, and thus analysis and measurement have also to consider
the relations of the constitution."
To seek to establish the condition of the bodily constitution from the
products of disease, instead of from the conditions of the disease, is
clearly a preposterous, and hence senseless undertaking.
Moreover, with his declarations, Wunderlich has at all events
upset his previous programme. Although it is always praiseworthy to
224
W
66
confess previous errors, yet he has remained always upon the old
stand-point, the very one which he seeks to avoid; for the method
proposed by him must, in like manner, lead to errors, as does the
local pathology, because therein only the construction of figurative
representations is kept in view. Truly it sounds very finely, but does.
not at all further his ends, merely to say, a Pathology, which is at
war with the most necessary requisitions of a sound logic, which cạn
only give distorted views for the judgment of separate cases; a casuis-
try, in which frequently just the most important questions and rela-
tions are overlooked, can awaken no confidence in the remedies recom-
mended," for this sound logic and this confidence-begetting casuistry
is not, in fact, realized in his text-books, but only in Homœopathy.
Ground, cause, and conditions must be perceived according to the
definitions of mathematical speculative philosophy, if one would
arrive at a conclusion upon such subjects; to measure, to count, to
sound, to listen, to taste alone, come far short of attaining the end.
The bodily constitution contains only the disposition, only the con-
ditions, only a relation to the external causes of a sickness, and the
grounds of the sickness and cure lie only in the laws of nature, hence
they can be rightly known only by acquaintance with these relations
and dependences.
That is the logic of it; a further casuistry is superfluous, indeed
evil even, for it would only again and again beget skepticism and
dogmatism.
Thus, if Wunderlich would accomplish anything in the domain of
Therapeia, he must, nolens volens, become a Homœopath.
The whole bearing of Homœopathy ever shows, as I have fully
demonstrated, that it alone knows the law of the co-ordination of the
constitutional and ætiological fundamental quality. The separation of
these qualities, carried out to the degree of founding thereupon various
curative methods, must hence, according to nature's laws, be deprived
of any sure result. For this reason, the doctrines of Hahnemann form
complements with those of Rademacher in many directions.
§. 290.
THE VARIOUS BODILY CONSTITUTIONS.
"If Biology were complete," exclaims Virchow, the most celebrated
of all the writers of the physiological school of the present day, "if we
but knew the laws of life and the conditions of their manifestations
exactly, if we knew exactly the consequences of every change of these
225
conditions, then we should have a rational Therapy, and the unity of
medical science would be established!"
Strange that one wishes to know the laws of life, but does not
even seek a guiding principle according to natural laws, in order to
be able to learn them! On the contrary, he starts from the mistaken
hypothesis that all laws of life are to be explained from the idea of
health, hence from an oscillating condition, ever changing in course.
of time, hence from a negative state, and, although he is not con-
scious of it, he yet can attain only negative results always, let the
experiments be ever so extended and continue for centuries.
As an example hereof, I adduce the pamphlet of Dr. Bischoff and
Dr. Voit, on "The Laws of the Nutrition of Carnivora," [Die Gesetze
der Ernährung der Fleischfresser] which appeared under this title.
shortly after the publication of my "Fundamental Laws," etc.,
[Grundgesetze, etc..] and contains the confession that the previous
experiments were undertaken under the supposition, borrowed from
chemistry, that the weight could give some indication to the inner
processes of nutrition. Not till they had made a long series of experi
ments, which proved the contrary, did they hit upon the idea that
water and fat as compensating means, might have occasioned the
unexpected sources of mistake, an observation, as is shown in §. 44
of this very work, which I long ago deduced from my observations
at the bed-side.
According to the law of proportional oscillation, disease is a
positive addition to life. Hence, biological laws can not be drawn
from the ideal of health, but from the law of specification of propor
tional oscillation and of their change through permanent causes. But,
since, according to the law of equality of action and counter-action in
the organism, cause and effect are correlative, and we are able to learn
a difference between physiological and pathological life only from the
laws of reciprocal action with the outer world, so there is given us,
in the experiences of Rademacher's school, in its etiological laws, a
clue to the so called biological laws. Even Virchow expresses this very
conviction. "If we wish pathological systems, we must, as is readily
comprehended, construct not nosological but etiological systems."
But to ætiology and biology belong not merely the atmospheric and
telluric influences, but also those inherited from parents and grand-
parents, the individual permanent qualities. However, the studies of
the physiological school upon inherited discases have ignored the
history of medicine as it, upon the whole, confines itself, with its
knowledge, merely to the meagre present. For this school, the whole
history of medicine, so rich in instruction, has become a lumber-room
PART II.
15
226
of antediluvian stand-points.
A hereditary transfer of disposition
to lisease is known to it only as regards separate forms of disease in
an ontological sense, e. g., for gout, hæmorrhoids, tuberculosis, scre
phulosis, in short, in separate chronic diseases of parents, at farthest
of grand-parents; beyond this its unskilled eye does not reach back.
The same holds good regarding Rademacher's school.
The practiced art of observation in the Homœopathy of the present
day reaches farther back, even though it is clad in ideas which permit
only one-half of the existing to be known; yet here, not only a con-
sciousness of such occurrences exists, but also a Therapeia correspond-
ing thereto, and to this again the famous principle of similarity has
led.
To understand a disease, or a cure, is utterly impossible, if one does
not know the history of its development. But where is the historic
knowledge with regard to Pathology and Therapeutics, which pos-
sesses the key to these histories of development? No Clinic speaks
thereof, the lectures of the professors are silent upon this theme,
because no one would know what benefit it would bring to current
practice; the text-books on special Pathology and Therapeutics fear to
soil themselves with such antiquated stuff. Held down by the two-
headed fanciful image of the contradictio in adjecto of a physiological
pathology or a pathological physiology without therapeutics, this
school fritters away its time with experiments, undertaken from curi-
osity, on all sorts of creatures and dead bodies, and with the casy
brooding over them for the sake of picking up some contingent grain,
in the hope that thus, at some future time, some new discovery may
be promulgated. There exist no inventive maxims for the construc-
tion of a therapeutic science engaging itself in the everlasting flow
of progress, because even the qualities of the outer world are not
stable. §. 200. It suffices not to say, look here: This is a cancer
cell, this an acarus itch, that a syphilide; no, it must be explained how
all this was formerly, and how and why it became so: to-day is so,
to-morrow different, and afterwards may be so and so; what means
of cure were formerly used, what are now and what will be used
to-morow,—then, moreover, we have, aside from the aetiological, the
other half of biology, and, as will appear anon, a Therapeia also,
resting thereupon. Although the thought of the possibility of such
acquisitions for the school of Broussais made their heads crack,
instead of enabling them to comprehend it, yet I shall, nevertheless,
proceed to show that, in Homeopathy, there exists not only a culti-
vated theoretical and practical knowledge regarding these subjects, but
227
that the means are also mentioned by which this knowledge may be
enlarged.
§. 291.
It is against the law of an essay to advance the assertion previous
to the proof, and this I have heretofore avoided. But now the interest
in the most important subjects treated of in this work, tempts me to
say that I will prove that acute diseases run their course, so to say, in
the track marked out by the bodily constitutions.
It is generally and confidently thought that the causes of acute dis-
eases can be discovered with far greater certainty than those of chronic.
That, however, is a fallacy from the non-observation of circumstances,
i. e., one can discover occasional causes, hence one side of the condi-
tions to a disease, the external; but the internal, the biological or
constitutional condition, or several of them, where are they to be
found? But they must be found for a Therapeia based upon natural
laws, because, according to these laws, every disease pre-supposes
internal conditions, a disposition to, or possibility of, its development
in the organism, and an outer occasional cause, at the same time, as an
exciting cause.
Here Homœopathy, according to Hahnemann, distinguishes three
biological forms under the designations, rather indefinite it is true. of
Psora, Sycosis, and Syphilis. But that a biological reality must be
concealed behind these superficial representations, this is clear from
the doctrines of the etiological school (Rademacher's), with its spe-
cific states-three in number likewise-from outer causes and the
remarkable coincidence of its Therapy, in this regard, with the Ho-
mœopathic.
Why then from two different maxims should the same number of
general forms arise, and moreover, in one case, three such forms accord-
ing to a law of nature as yet unknown to it, which must clearly lie in
the outer world; and from the other maxim again three specific forms
according to historic facts? Are not these decided complements to
lead the requirements to be made upon a rational Therapeia, set forth
in the beginning of the previous paragraph, into new channels?
Who could mistake here the importance and the interest of thor-
ough investigations; and must not every attempt for the establishment
of a Therapeia for acute diseases utterly fail without an understand-
ing of those laws, which, besides controlling in a striking manner actio-
logical facts, harmonizing and completing each other as they do, govern
biological facts also, as will be shown.
228
However, the first requisition to enable one to proceed with such
inquiries, lies in the abandonment—a preliminary one, at least-of all
the convictions learned in the school, or gained for one's self, whether
of a skeptical or a dogmatical nature; here nothing but a critique
based on natural laws, helps one out of the dilemma.
§. 292.
Since we have heard the ways and means of Rademacher's school,
with its ipsissimis verbis, the Homœopathic also should, above all
others, be heard on the question before us, then history, and finally the
critique and practice according to the laws of nature.
Hahnemann, and no one besides him, presented a group of those
phenomena which are said to indicate the presence of the Acarus poi-
son within the system. Since his time, none of his followers have
thought upon the subject any further; they considered the matter as
self-evident and established, or denied it altogether. Only Dr. Reuter,
Sr., in Nuremberg, declares he has observed, in his practice of many
years, stages, so to speak, like those which mark acute diseases, in the
various forms of the reciprocal action of this poison with the organism,
and he gave me once the following characteristics, as regards the suc-
cession of stages in diseases arising therefrom, provided that up to the
last stage no medical aid had been sought: 1, Gastroses; 2, Catarrhs;
3, Hæmorrhoids; 4, Sweat of the feet; 5, Hoarseness; 6, Headache
and tooth-ache; 7. Diseases of the eyes; S, Diseases of the ears; 9,
Prurigo of the trunk, Furunculosis; 10, Swelling of the cervical
glands; 11, Rheumatisms; 12, Swelling of the axillary glands. His
experience indicates to him an aggravation of the general constitu-
tional status, if, after a disease from among those named under these
numbers had passed by, another of a higher number makes its
appearance. The whole series, of course, for the most part, refers to
adult age, and if, for example, one suffered from chronic inflammation
of the eyes, he further concludes that it was highly probable that the
chronic ailments from 1 to 7 had been present in previous years. He
accordingly shapes his Therapeutics in such a manner as to undertake
nothing which could disturb the re-appearance of the previous num-
bers. In like manner he takes it to be an extension of the Acarus
disease, if, after that inflammation of the eyes, even though it had been
cured, there should subsequently appear diseases of the ears, Prurigo,
Rheumatism, or swellings of the cervical or axillary glands.
A physician of extensive practice, even though his practice had
lasted but for ten years, will recall some cases in many families, which
229
would not permit him to reject, without ceremony, these observations,
however strange they may seem to the adherents of Rademacher or
of the physiological school, at first view.
The gentlemen of these schools know nothing more of the itch
than that a mite, the acarus scabiei, produces it. But, had they only
been practicing physicians twenty-five years ago, at which time cases
of itch were to be seen of the severest and most extensive kind, then
they would have found that many of these patients not only had those
eruptions, but were frequently attacked at the same time with violent
fever of acute forms, inflammations of all kinds, etc.; that, after the
destruction of all the mites, and the removing by inunction of the
copiously discharging eruptions, such diseases rapidly ran a fatal
course, or left behind them chronic diseases; that, hence, these vio-
lent phenomena, constantly following the itch, could not be dependent
merely upon the presence of the mites, but upon their specific excre-
tion or excrements taken up by the blood, if, indeed, it may not be
assumed, from historic facts, that the acarus itself is not always the
cause, but rather the result, the final product. But since, for many
years past, on account of police regulations, the itch-mite is not only
much less often found, but is at once destroyed when its first appear-
ance is observed, and its further reproduction is rendered impossible;
since the disease has become harmless on account of the infinitely
small number of mites when compared with the billions which for-
merly used to abide in one human skin; since, moreover, the Physiol-
ogy, Pathology and Therapeutics of the present day have become a
feeble product of modern times, and for them the whole history of
medicine is written in vain; therefore physicians, in their indescribable.
short-sightedness, allow themselves to make the most fabulous com-
ments upon the experiences of an Autenrieth, a Hahnemann, etc.
But let ignorance do as it pleases; we are not responsible for its
acts or its views.
§. 293.
If those observations of Reuter, communicated to me in conversa-
tion, are verified by me, or others, in the course of time, only in a
single case, even then their general validity could be declared, upon
the ground of abstraction, according to the above cited laws regarding
the specific lines of direction of morbid causes and of remedies, their
continuing effects, etc., and there would thus be presented a patholog-
ical law of constancy regarding the stages of the chronic forms of
disease in consequence of the, sit venia verbo, Acarus poisoning.
230
For the benefit of the adherents of the physiological school even, I
cannot refrain from quoting the words of their Coryphæus, Virchow,
on page 209 of his Collected Essays, touching this problem of Reuter;
these words clearly show, that Virchow even has an indistinct inkling
of such a law, although he needs to be set right on many points.
In the lymphatic glands the anatomical change, per se, does not
commonly take on the character of the inflammatory infiltration,
which, as is well known, usually leads to induration (formation of
connective tissue) or suppuration, although both sometimes appear in
the well known leucemia. But, in place of it, there is found, with
such subjects, a very striking tendency to inflammations of the super-
ficial lymphatics and to furuncular eruptions upon the skin, just as
taking cold is proportionally often assumed as the cause of the first,
frequently rhenmatoid, phenomena. Of course this cause, as every one
knows who has anamnestic experience, is a very doubtful one, and, as
regards the inflammations of the lymphatics and the furuncular erup-
tions, it is first to be determined whether they are not rather the result
of the disease. Meantime one should not forget how long a time has
elapsed since he has convinced himself that scrofulous glandular
swellings are occasioned by diseases of the skin, of the mucous mem-
brane, etc., which are frequently transient and overlooked by the
patient himself and his friends, and that they subsequently assume
that apparently independent character, by which they make them-
selves so conspicuous. Even in case of Leucemia it is surely much
more reasonable to admit of such an origin, than to refer it to any
primary deterioration of the blood."
Since I am, moreover, obliged, for the easier comprehension of
chronic diseases, to mention those thereof which, according to Hahne-
mann, contain the productive stage of his Psora, and because Hahne-
mann simply enumerated them without any grounds of classification,
I am induced, by Reuter's observation, to introduce them according
to the above-mentioned succession, for it contains, at any rate, a lead-
ing principle for further investigation.
Thus, at any time of life, mostly after manifest external causes,
which sufficed to produce changes in the motions of the molecules of
the organism, in consequence of mental emotions or intellectual or
bodily exertions, getting wet, too rapid cooling of the human organism
while in a high temperature, there appear:
1. Gastric complaints; either a bitter taste, yellowish coated tongue,
or a sour taste, with a white coated tongue, or mucous, pappy taste,
with a thick and dirty coated tongue; increased mucous secretion of
the throat and the intestinal canal; finally, flatulence with distended
231
abdomen or with cutting pains in the bowels; at one time hunger, at
another loss of appetite; nausea in the morning, sense of emptiness
in the stomach; repugnance against cooked food, especially meat or
milk; stools now retarded, now diarrhoeic, in case of children, with
ascarides. All these symptoms may disappear spontaneously, or more
promptly with artificial help, of which more anon.
2. But now after an indefinite lapse of time, catarrhal complaints
follow, obstinate coryza in place of a previously observed impossibility
to take cold under whatever exposure, dry and sore nostrils, frequent
cough, especially in the morning, sometimes a sensation of constriction
of the chest, are all the more apt to occur either because perspiration
sets in on the slightest motion, or a sensitiveness to draught has
developed itself, sometimes during spontaneous subsidence of these
symptoms.
3. The children, now become adults, and without having followed
a sedentary life, complain of hæmorrhoidal affections, have varicose
veins on the lower extremities and at the end of the rectum; dis-
charge of mucus from the rectum; for several days, retarded stool or
stools as hard as stones, of masses covered with mucus, in alternation
with diarrhoeic passages; irregularity of the menses.
Under a not uncommon spontaneous remission of all or of the
most of these complaints, there occur sooner or later, but suddenly:
4. Cold hands, moist inside; burning in the palms of the hands
and soles of the feet; cold or offensive sweat of the feet; sweat in the
morning while in bed; inclination to erysipelatous affections upon
various occasions or from various causes.
These ailments also, often disappear of themselves in the course of
time; but in their place we have:
5. Gradually increasing hoarseness, under the form of inflamma-
tions of the throat, even till it becomes stationary, aud the physio-
logical physician is consulted; who, if the patient improved, as he is
likely to do in all such cases, surely believed that to his empiricism
alone the change is due.
If he does not pursue an antipsoric treatment, as it is called by
Homœopaths, against this condition, then we soon have:
6. Complaints of headaches and toothaches of all kinds, especially
half-sided, frequent flushes of heat in the face, not seldom connected
with palpitation of the heart and anxiety, with an otherwise pale face;
relaxation of the musculature; falling out of the hair; dryness of the
same, with abundant formation of dandruff; sweat on the head after
falling asleep; nose bleed; restless, frightful dreams.
232
7. Frequent slight inflammation of the eyes, mostly without any
known cause.
S. Pains in the ears, discharges from the ears, hardness of hearing.
9. Itching on the trunk; obstinate chaps of the hands and lower
limbs, chilblains even in summer; frequent boils and felons; a dry,
rough skin; here and there a desquamating spot on the surface of the
skin, which sometimes causes a pleasant itching, and, after being
rubbed, a burning.
10. Finally, glandular swellings appear on the neck, and scrophu-
losis, so called.
II. On the least provocation, various parts of the upper and lower
extremities go to sleep; cramps in the calves; painful jerkings of
various sets of muscles; strains or sprains from the slightest causes,
rheumatic drawing, tension, tearing in the joints of the spinal column
and the extremities in damp weather. Renewal of the complaints
during rest, at night, in winter, towards spring.
12. Swelling of the axillary glands.
From these precursors, in the parents, or their children, are devel-
oped, early in life, or at a later period, as new complaints or with
greater intensity, the following diseases which are falsely held by the
[physiological] school to be independent affections, while, according to
Hahnemann, they are the result of the acarus poison either inherited
or acquired, viz., scrophulosis, rhachitis, atrophy, marasmus, asthma,
consumption, mucous consumption, bronchial consumption, chronic
catarrh, difficult dentition, helminthiasis, dyspepsia, abdominal spasms,
hypochondria, hysteria, anasarca, ascites, hydrops ovarii, hydrocele,
hydrocephalus, amenorrhea and dysmenorrhoea, hæmorrhage of the
uterus, hæmoptysis and other hæmorrhages, leucorrhoea, dysuria,
ischuria, enuresis, diabetes, catarrh of the bladder, hæmorrhoids of
the bladder, nephralgia and gravel, constriction of the urethra, of the
intestines, blind and bleeding hæmorrhoids, fistula in ano, obstructio
alvi, chronic diarrhoea, induration of the liver, jaundice, diseases of the
heart, spasm of the chest, dropsy of the chest, abortion, sterility,
impotence, nymphomania, induration of the testicles, prolapsus uteri,
flexions of the uterus; hernia, femoral, inguinal, umbilical; curvature
of the spine, chronic inflammation of the eyes, lacrymal fistulæ; near
and far-sightedness; day and night blindness; obscuration of the
cornea; cataract, amaurosis, glaucoma, deafness, loss of smell and
taste, hemicrania, prosopalgia, tinea, crusta lactea, tetters, nettlerash,
tumors, goitre, varices, aneurism, erysipelas, sarcoma, caries, cancer,
fungus hæmatodes, coxalgia, arthritis nodosa, podagra, apoplexy,
233
fainting spells, vertigo, paralyses, anchyloses, tetanus, epilepsy, chorea,
melancholy, insanity, idiocy, weakness of the nerves, etc.
As regards the so-called Sycosis, as the result of Blenorrhoea geni-
talium, Hahnemann adduces condylomata as symptoms diagnostic of
its productive period, and, as the result of their local destruction or
treatment with quicksilver, the eruption on other parts of the body, of
whitish, spongy, sensitive, flat elevations in the oral cavity, upon the
tongue, the gums, the lips; or as large, elevated, brown, dry, knotty
formations in the axilla, upon the outside of the neck, the hairy scalp,
etc.; or other ailments of the body develop, of which he mentions
only the contraction of the tendons of the flexor muscles, especially
of the fingers. Here we observe such a striking difference as regards
the number of the results between the acarus and sycotic poison that
it can only be explained by this, that, in Hahnemann's time, the Psora
theory was diffused among all physicians, especially by Autenrieth,
and that, indeed, to an excessive degree.
Besides, Hahnemann declares that Sycosis could cleave to organisms
which suffer from acarus poison, in which case the Therapeutics
must first be directed upon this form.
From the so-called Syphilis, under which term he comprises the
results of syphilitic ulceration, he would have Sycosis, the blennorrhoeic
form, separated; under this he places the bubo as the substitute of the
ulcer, and remarks of the former, that "provided the local ulcer were
not cured by external means, and no complication existed, there could
be no chronic disease more curable and more easily cured than this;
but, complicated with the effects of the acarus poison, it is impossible
to cure this disease with anti-syphilitics alone." This two-fold
monster characterizes itself by stitching painful swelling of the
tonsils; by the round, copper colored spots shining through the
epidermis, by the not-itching pustular eruption on the face upon a
bluish reddish base, the painless sores on the hairy scalp, pale, smooth,
clear, merely covered with mucus, almost level with the sound skin,
the nightly boring pains of exostoses, etc.
These, hence, are the three animal substances which can reproduce
themselves, even at the present time, under the requisite conditions,
and the motions of which lead to changes of nutrition of such intense
specification of forms, that they may be handed down from parents
to children, and children's children.
234
§. 294.
If we consult older as well as more recent medical philosophers,
important explanations, improvements and completions of Hahne-
mann's schemata regarding psora, sycosis and syphilis may be
gathered. These schemata form too much of a chaos, they lack
that precision of form which would enable one to infer the law under-
lying them. But that here the phenomena are controlled by a natural
course of events, from given elements, admits of no doubt; at least
my suppositions have been daily confirmed for the last twenty-three
years, deductively and brilliantly, by the Therapeutics drawn there-
from inductively, as examples will show, and as every one conduct-
ing his treatment in accordance thereto can observe for himself.
Pursuing this theme, I am obliged again to appeal to the demands
of the first paragraph, and especially to beg young physicians to forget.
the dogmatism of Ricord, which never brought forth any Therapeutics
which would stand the test, but only one which is detrimental in the
highest degree, although he, even to-day, bears the banner of the
majority.
In Germany, at least, it is as yet very little known that the celebrated
Ricord, at the close of his clinical activity, recanted his doctrine of Syph-
ilis, which controls all the medical Faculties, (Leçons sur le chancre
par Dr. Ricord, Fournier, Paris, 1860). In the most flagrant contradic-
tion to his doctrines, which, upon his authority, have been held as
impregnable during an entire generation, and are still held as such in
physiological medicine, he had all at once learned that there were two
chancres, entirely differing from each other from their very origin, and
not merely one.
To Ricord, certainly the type of a Professor, it happened as it has
to all who began as young physicians to entertain doubts as to their
Therapeutics at the bed-side. But, instead of resolving their doubts
in a manner conformable to natural laws, they undertake new voyages
of discovery with this or that experiment, and build thercupon new
false theories, in order to make people talk of them, and finally to
declare them false again. Consequently even Ricord's own theory is
seen through and destroyed by his very own self.
What will the Professors say to this repentant confession, and how
will they answer for it, that they have accepted such doctrines without
rational examination, have diffused such errors, and clung and still
cling to them in spite of the experiments of Homœopathy to the con-
trary, experiments confirmed by long years of practice, thus delivering
235
millions, by the mal-treatment of diseases of their genital organs, to a
miserable existence or to death.
If faith without knowledge, if authority without law and rule, have
ever been the greatest scourge of humanity, History furnishes exam-
ples in abundance of the fact, but none so humiliating of the conta-
gious aberration of the human intellect. But few Professors enter-
tained modest doubts about Ricord's theory, yet no one knew that
experiment is only the father of discoveries, if mathematical specula-
tive philosophy, the mother of discoveries, does not stand at its side.
Such calamitous errors, after Hahnemann at least, should never have
broken upon suffering humanity!
So long as teachers are engaged for a mere empiricism, for the doc-
trines of the physiological school, each one has to submit himself
anew to the same Sisyphus-toil as happened to Ricord, at the begin-
ning of his career, for all begin with new attempts at discoveries.
It is true that in the Compendium of the doctrine of Syphilis, by
Dr. A. C. F. Michaelis, of 1865, it is stated, and hence was admitted
in Germany, that, besides the Chancre poison, a second, the blennorrhoea
poison may develop itself within the genital sphere; yet the experiences
of this gentleman do not go so far as to have taught him a gonorrhoea
as well as a chancre dyscrasia; hence he throws the diseases of both
dyscrasia, with the chancre dyscrasia, in the same heap, on which
account the Therapy for these chronic diseases could find no enrich-
ment or elucidation.
No less must I beg the Homoeopathists for the present, at least, to
give up part of the Hahnemannian dogma regarding Psora, Syphilis
and Sycosis, and must examine both parts of Rademacher's three
specific conditions. If these are diseases said to be handed down
from parents and grand-parents, they can be propagated only in the
primitive constituents of the cell and of the connective tissue. We should,
hence, in Rademacher's sense, direct our first attention to the blood,
the means of transportation for the other cells, and itself most rich
in cells; but at the same time, also, to the connective tissue, as being
the general frame-work of the cells.
§. 295.
I shall dispose, in the most comprehensible and shortest manner, of
the most difficult of all physiological, pathological, and therapeutical
subjects, i. e., difficult in relation to the prevailing assumptions of all
schools, at the present day, and yet without difficulty, if led by the
protecting hand of a criticism according to natural law, if I select
236
•
for investigation one of the most conspicuous examples, of modern
times, belonging to this subject; an example, which, for many years,
comprises the greatest pathological discovery of the physiological
school-I mean the discovery of Leucemia, everywhere recognized
as new, by which Virchow is said to have gained, within his party-
circle, imperishable laurels for himself. He will pardon it, if we can
not call his discovery a physiologico-pathological one, for he declares,
"Leucaemia is not a purely anatomical, but also an essentially patho-
logical idea; thereby we express not merely the simple fact of the
increase of the colorless corpuscles of the blood, but, at the same time,
the lack of the red corpuscles, or, as I have emphasized from the first,
the changed tissue-formation of the blood in its dependence upon cer-
tain organs."
The question comes up now, what morbid states are known to the
history of medicine as preceding those which are understood as lym-
phatic and those understood as splenic leucæmia. For, so much is
certain, that according to this indistinct meaning of its definition, even
this disease cannot now, for the first time, have fallen as a thunder-
bolt from a clear sky, and that it even could not have waited for some
Physiologist of the present time, in order that it might be discovered
by him.
Hence, in order to recognize it again in the history of medicine, we
must first group together those observations which the present time
knew how to find regarding this form of disease.
Its present characteristic, according to the article "Leucaemia," in
the Collected Essays of Virchow, consists in "white blood," "with a
simultaneous lack of the red," though the latter addition might be
self-evident.
"Digestion and pregnancy regularly produce the same (?) con-
dition."
Considered apart from these transitory states, the pathological
increase of the colorless corpuscles does not present a specific [ein-
heitliche] morbid group. "That, which I (Virchow) have called
Leucæmia, is essentially different from the inflammatory, the typhus,
the septic polyleukocythæmia, just as chlorosis is distinct from the
anæmia of cancerous patients, or of the hæmorrhagic."
Now, in opposition to this, I would like to ask, at once, whether
the chlorotic, the cancerous and hæmorrhagic patients do not like-
wise suffer from leucæmia, or, whether the typhus, the septic, the
inflammatory forms are not leucaemic also? since, certainly, in case of
them all, white blood is wont to present itself in excess; and if not,
then white blood is no characteristic at all for that form of disease,
237
which Virchow thinks he has discovered, and not at all a specific
token belonging to it alone. The general character of those leucæmiæ
must hence necessarily lie in something else, as he himself seems to
acknowledge, according to the tenor of §. 293, proving thereby that
nis anamnestic experiences are not very comprehensive.
On page 197, he says, for instance: "If one makes a finer examin-
ation of leucemic blood (what does this mean finer examination? G.),
then it appears that it is not quite the same in all cases, and just this
very want of concordance is of great significance for the pathological
as well as for the physiological comprehension of the changes. First,
it appeared as if all cases were homogeneous. But, as early as 1847,
I made the first observation to the contrary. While all other cases
showed the connection of the change of blood with tumors of the spleen,
there appeared here a very unusual, and, in fact, hitherto quite unknown,
kind of tumor of the lymphatic glands, and the blood, which, in all
previous observations, had been full of distinct and well developed
cells, here presented colorless formations, partly nuclear, partly cel-
*lular, which only differed from the elements found in the lymphatic
glands, by this, that in a given number there were more real cells
present."
66
Subsequently a new case of this kind came up for investigation,
where the blood contained innumerable round granulated nuclei,
usually provided with a nuclear corpuscle, and of the size of the ordi-
nary nuclei of the lymphatic glands; here and there cells, also, which
contained such a nucleus in a relatively closely lying membrane.”
"Bennet also saw something similar, only his case was less sure,
since he had to do with a cancer?” (?! G.)
"I have hence felt constrained to discriminate two different forms
of Leucemia, a lymphatic and a splenic, of which the former brings
elements into the blood which are analogous to the constituents of the
splenic pulp, the second, such as are analogous to the parenchymatous
nuclei of the lymphatic glands.”
The compositor seems to have taken the "first" for the "second"
here, and to have confounded them, for
the
The more extensive the diseases of the lymphatic glands are,
more abundant are the lymphatic elements in the blood, and even the
contemporaneous affection of the spleen does not suffice in these cases
to wipe out the peculiar character which the dyscrasia of the blood
acquires from the lymphatic glands. Conversely, again, we see, with
marked affections of the spleen, hypertrophies at the same time, espc-
cially of the neighboring lymphatic glands, yet here, the splenic
character predominates, since, thus far, at least, lymphatic elements.
238
have not been found under such relations, which, however, may yet
be found by paying closer attention to admixtures, probably, more
unusual."
"The recognition of this lymphatic form, is of the greatest import-
ance for the comprehension of this disease, because it demonstrates
the dependence of the dyscrasia upon the affections of the particular
organs. But for the physiology of the blood, we gain also thereby an
extremely important experience, so that I was enabled to publish my
first communication with the remark, that the importance of the spleen
and the lymphatic glands for hæmatosis, which has so often been
hypothetically declared, is thereby positively confirmed. For what
clse could these observations signify, than that the change of the blood
which, at one time carries splenic, and at another lymphatic elements,
proceeds from the change in the spleen and the lymphatic glands,
which is always connected therewith?"
The author comes now, upon the basis of two cases, to the conclu-
sion that "it is certain that as regards the splenic, as well as the lym-
phatic, form of leucemia, the changes of the spleen and the lymphatic
glands could exist before the dyscrasia, that they might continue for
months and years before the change of the blood would take place, and
that the particular kind of the latter is dependent upon the nature of
the previous organic disease."
"One of these cases was that furnished by Bennet, of a man twenty
years old, with swelling of the liver and spleen, which had existed
over four years, and in which, at the time of his reception into the
hospital, no morphological deviation was found in the blood, and the
quantity of colorless corpuscles increased only little by little. The
other case, observed by the author himself, was that of a man fifty-one
years old, who, in 1852, was taken into the hospital on account of
enormous swellings of the cervical, jugular, axillary and inguinal
glands; without any known cause, a small tumor had developed
itself, three years before, under the left arm, which grew slowly; a
year ago another appeared upon the neck; finally, several smaller ones
on both sides of the lower jaw. When brought to the hospital, the
tumors had formed masses of the size of the fist, of a tolerably soft
and relaxed character; they were painless, and the skin over them was
unchanged. The microscopical examination of the blood presented,
at first, no change. The remedies used externally and internally were
inefficient. In the winter of 1853-4 the increase of the swelling and
the distension of the cervical and axillary region had attained such
a degree, that he was very much incommoded thereby. The circum-
ference of the neck was, at that time, 20 centimetres, that of the chest
239
50 centimetres. The examination of the blood now presented a very
considerable increase of colorless blood-corpuscles, and especially of
the lymphatic form. The patient died in the summer of 1854, after
the swelling under the right arm had broken, and a pint of clear,
yellowish fluid had been discharged."
"On the other hand," the author continues, “it cannot be denied
that the magnitude of the organic disease does not stand in a constant
relation to the full development of the dyscrasia. For there are very
considerable tumors of the spleen and of the lymphatic glands without
leucæmia, and this latter again is sometimes far advanced where the
local changes have made but very little progress." Example.
"A girl of three and a half years, who had previously suffered from
Rachitis, and subsequently from Broncho-pneumonia, died with symp-
toms of eclampsia without having had diarrhea. The microscope
showed, in both ventricles of the heart, an immense number of color-
less bodies, among which the small lymphatic form was predominant.
The spleen was but little changed. The stomach and pancreas were
also normal, but, on the contrary, the liver was quite fatty and the
mesenteric glands of the ileum and jejunum were enlarged to the size of
hazel nuts, hard, dense, whitish gray, on being cut, and saturated with
a serous fluid. Peyer's glands were to be seen as red swellings. In
the canal of the small intestine there was an abundant catarrhal fluid.
The solitary glands everywhere stood forth very large and pearl-like.
A few oxyures. Besides a chronic broncho-pneumonia on both sides,
a slight catarrh of the kidneys; rachitic bones in the stage of re-form-
ation."
It was again new "that the intestinal follicles even may actually
show the very same change in leucemia which we most frequently
find in the external lymphatic glands."
After the remark that the watery constituents of the entire blood
are increased in leucaemia, and the solid, especially the red corpuscles,
are diminished, Virchow proceeds: "From inflammatory blood, the
leucemic is mostly distinguished by its normal per centage of fibrine;
from the hydræmic by the normal composition of its serum."
In the leucemic blood of a patient afflicted with disease of the
spleen, both lime and hypoxanthine were found. Since, now, aside
from the morphological constituents, even these characteristic chem-
ical bodies were found, as products of the spleen, in the blood, the
author thinks that the old doctrine of disease of the spleen has gained
thereby a firm basis.
"Here is the place to mention, that, in quite a similar manner,
although much more rarely, melanæmia makes its appearance, as
240
well as leucemia, which former pretty clearly shows its splenic origin.
The first observation of this kind was made by Henry Merkel, upon
an insane female; the second was observed by me on a man who
had for a long time suffered from intermittent fever and a splenic
tumor. In my case there were really cells found in the blood, sur-
rounded with black nuclei, corresponding entirely with similar ones.
found in the spleen and liver."
"If we return now to pure leucemia, we must, first of all, extend
our investigation, as regards its origin, to the hæmatopoietic organs.
Here we can say, moreover, with tolerable precision, in what this dis-
ease consists. Regarding the spleen, as well as the lymphatic glands,
the question concerns a numerical hypertrophy, or, as I have proposed
to say in place thereof, a hyperplasia of their constituent parts, and,
indeed, first of the glandular cells, (glandular nuclei; parenchymatous
nuclei). Subsequently, an increased formation of connective tissue,
and, especially in the spleen, the development of hæmorrhagic infarc-
tions may be added thereto, which, in their re-formations and trans-
formations, lead to colored, wedge-shaped pseudo-growths and cica-
trices. In this case we may attribute to the process an inflammatory
character as clinical observation shows, while usually, it must be
admitted, that no foundation is given for the supposition of an actual
inflammation."
"The swelling of the lymphatic glands usually develops itself
slowly, but at intervals, without any especial disturbance being observa-
ble in the parts from which they receive their lymphatic vessels.
Sooner or later acute attacks occur, under which the swelling rapidly
increases. In Schreiber's very remarkable case, this aggravation, at
intervals, was especially remarkable. The patient, eighteen years of
age, heretofore always healthy and regularly menstruating, and pre-
viously never chlorotic, after her menses had once been uncommonly
profuse and long-continuing, experienced the most manifold ailments,
especially vertigo, vomiting, buzzing in the cars, palpitations, dis-
turbances of respiration and digestion and weariness; she had become
very pale, and while the highest degree of debility developed itself,
together with hyperesthesia of the face and convulsions, she had occa-
sionally experienced pains in the right hypochondrium. Then fol-
lowed fever, petechiæ, stomacace, stomatorrhagia, slight adema. The
treatment, which mainly consisted of Quinine with acids, produced
a very marked improvement, till, at another menstrual period, a more
violent attack took place. On the last days of the menses, there
began, with a sense of tension, a swelling of the cervical glands, soon
followed by that of the axillary and inguinal glands, as well as of
241
the spleen. The fever, the petechiae, the debility returned again, and
now death followed, within a short time, without any possibility of
preventing it."
The following is also worthy of note:
"With the typhus affection of the intestinal follicles, the change also
agrees in this, that it does not always keep within the limits of the
old glands, but extends itself in such quantities that one finds glan-
dular parenchyma where otherwise there is nothing at all of a gland
to be seen." 66
I was, at that time, all the more surprised at this state
of things, since other writers have never made any mention of it,
though I have subsequently seen the same thing almost as completely,
especially in the case of the man fifty-one years of age, already men-
tioned, as well as in a later case, that of a veterinary surgeon, with
whom, not only the spleen, but also the bronchial, axillary, jugular,
sub-maxillary and mesenteric glands were most extensively swollen.
This was also the only case where I have seen suppuration in single
glands; in the case of the above-mentioned man, however, something
similar must have occurred, since the axillary swelling had finally
broken outwardly."
"Things are much more complicated with regard to the spleen."
Here, also, we meet with an entirely chronic insidious course, the
first stages of which often run back for many years and clude inquiry,
or we find, rather, an intermittent course, in which every recrudes-
cence is joined with pain, and often with fever. One of the patients.
described by me, experienced, four years before his reception into the
hospital, in consequence of a severe cold, as he thought, stitches in the
left side of the abdomen, and got diarrhea, with pains in the bowels.
These phenomena disappeared and returned, from time to time. For
the last nine months they have been more continuous, and two months
ago he observed, for the first time, a swelling of the spleen, which
gradually increased. In the hospital his condition, at first, essentially
improved; the tumor of the spleen decreased, and the patient left the
institution. He soon, however, returned with fever, exacerbating
every evening, the tumor enlarged again, and for quite a while, was
every morning from half an inch to an inch larger in every diameter
than in the evening. Gradually the patient sunk away entirely, and
death occurred with symptoms of colliquation."
"It may be proper to mention here, a point to which I have for a
long time directed my attention, that, with just such patients, large
quantities of uric acid and urates were excreted with the urine.”
After having spoken still further of the participation of the liver
and kidneys, the author expresses himself thereupon as follows:
PART II.
16
242
"Hence we must conclude to consider the disease as a peculiar dis-
ease, sui generis," and adds the following clinical case:
"A woman, thirty years of age, consulted the author on the 21st
of May, 1854, on account of a swelling of the abdomen, which had
been taken for an ovarian tumor. She had never suffered from fever
and ague. Confined two years before, she nursed her child for a year.
After this, her menses did not return. She complained of heaviness
of the abdomen, swelling of the extremities, scarcely any of pain.
There was so great dyspnea that she could hardly go up stairs, and
was even wearied by talking. She was frequently troubled with
nose-bleed, and often had bloody expectoration. The appetite was
poor; she had watery, but never bloody diarrhea; the tongue
was clean, and of a light red color; the skin of a dirty, somewhat
icteric hue, dry and emaciated; the cutaneous veins were very much
enlarged; the pulse tolerably large, full and frequent; the abdomen
was distended, hard; in the lower part slightly fluctuating; the intes-
tinal sound perceptible only over a small portion. On the other hand,
in the left side, the spleen was very distinctly felt as hard as a board,
reaching to the umbilicus and the fossa iliaca; no sensitiveness on
pressure. In the region of the liver also great resistance was found,
and a dull sound over a great extent. Blood from the point of the
finger contained very few red corpuscles; on the contrary, countless
colorless ones of all possible sizes. There was also a number, by no
means small, of shining nuclei, such as are wont to present themselves
in hyperplastic lymphatic glands.
I ordered a strengthening diet (wine, eggs, beef-tea); internally the
Iodide of Iron; externally, inunctions upon the abdomen with a
salve composed of Ol. Terebinth. et olivar.; aa. iss. Tinct. Iodii et Ol.
juniperi æth., aa. 3ij; foot-baths with potash. On the 5th of May,
however, a messenger came to inform me that the patient, for the last
twenty-four hours, had suffered from nose bleed that could not be
stopped, and before I could give any direction even, the patient was
dead. The autopsy, which I could not attend, revealed the presence
of an enlarged spleen."
Furthermore, we have, in the same article, page 293: "In the
case of Rineker, the disease in a woman, 34 years old, began after a
cold bath, with febrile symptoms and swelling of the cervical glands,
which quite rapidly attained a considerable size, and subsequently, also,
the further affection of the inguinal and axillary glands took place,
with fever, the larger glandular masses feeling hot and painful.”
66
Vogel, 34 years old, two years before his death, in the midst of
febrile symptoms (weariness, lassitude without chills), was taken
243
quite suddenly with a swelling upon the neck, on the disappearance
of which the abdomen began to swell, though the swelling of the
neck returned soon afterwards, and then suppurated.
In Virchow's Archiv, Bd. I., there is the anatomical description
of the cadaver of a very powerfully formed man. For nearly two
years he had had an enlargement of the glands on both sides of the
neck, painless, but uninterruptedly and gradually increasing, large
bunches of an uneven, knobby surface, painless, very soft, but not
fluctuating, presenting to the touch the inelastic feel of lipoma, extend-
ing to the angle of the lower jaw, into the axille and the inguinal
regions. At the same time there occurred frequent attacks of
oppression of the chest, amounting to the extremest difficulty of respi-
ration; especially at night he had to cough much, the expectoration
being detached with great difficulty. Gradually the abdomen swelled;
fæcal evacuations were difficult to obtain, although mucus-like masses
were passed incessantly; the patient felt much depressed thereby, and
very languid. Even in the cavity of the abdomen it was thought
that enlarged glands could be felt. Respiration very frequent; in the
right lower lobe, bronchial respiration extensively diffused; on the left
side unequally diffused mucous râle, in the central portion of the
lung; Iodide of Iron was prescribed; but on account of the increase
of dyspnea it had to be laid aside at once. The autopsy revealed that
these enlargements of the glands to a greater or less degree were
extended over the whole lymphatic glandular system. In the inguinal
glands, especially, there was not only a hypertrophy of the real peri-
pheric glandular substance, but, also of the connective tissue penetrat-
ing the interior of the same, which gave them a decided kidney-like
appearance. Microscopic examination presented the normal glandular
elements, etc. The ductus thoracicus was, at its entrance into the
thoracic cavity, entirely embedded, quite up to its orifice, in glandular
parenchyma; the spleen presented no deviations from its normal
proportion.
In his Collected Essays, the author continues, page 203, upon the
structure of these glands, as follows: "Upon a section we discern the
much enlarged, peculiar glandular cortex which, in many places. is
from a half to three-quarters of an inch thick, and likewise the some-
what extensive cavernous connective tissue. In the cortex, one
can hardly recognize the normal partition of the separate follicles; it no
longer has a homogeneous appearance, but looks gray or reddish-
white, almost pulpy; it is very tender and breaks down easily and
discharges under pressure, upon the cut surface, a turbid watery fluid,
while, with the scalpel a more pulpy substance can be scraped off."
244
Just here I must quote the following from the article on
"the
colorless blood-corpuscles," page 217, where the loss of color of the
chyle and of the pulp of the spleen exposed to the air, is spoken of
"In this connection I will especially remark the fact, that the lymphatic
glands also, which normally have a very slight yellowish gray of
yellowish white color, undergo, exposed to the air, a decided change
of color, which can be seen very beautifully in the hypertrophied lym-
phatic glands, extirpated from the living body. These, exposed to the
air, gradually assume a very decided brownish yellow color. Moreover,
it is well known, that hardly any other than the lymphatic glands of
the respiratory apparatus, get, at first, brown, then black, while,
pathologically, the epigastric, more seldom the mesenteric, the lumbar,
the inguinal glands, take on the same black or slate color."
§. 296.
Thus much from Virchow relative to his Leucemia and what
belongs thereto.
Now the problem arises to ascertain whether the disease-forms,
as they appear to Virchow, before and during the presence of a
leucemic blood, really constitute a new discovery of this physiologist,
or whether this leucemia is not rather a partial symptom of patholo-
gical forms already long known, accompanying, though not constitut-
ing, these forms, a symptom to which quite another character belongs;
so that the assertion that Leucemia is a disease sui generis must be
either defended or given up.
In this connection I must again mention that we understand nothing,
least of all, a morbid process, if its development has remained unknown
to us; therefore, also, we cannot rely upon the assertions of Virchow
touching this point, since they are only fruits of the present. And if
for example, Prof. Virchow says above, that Bennet's case was less
pure, since cancer was present in this instance, then I would like to
ask, upon what ground such an assertion could be made, since the
good Professor could not fully enlighten us even as to what he under-
stands by cancer. Thus, these assertions of the Professor do not
seem to be ripe fruits by any means.
In order now, to give this leucemia the place which belongs to it in
Pathology, I must adduce cases which likewise have appeared new to
Virchow, and which he enrolls under the titles, Fibrin, White blood,
Thrombosis, Embolia, etc.
245
In his article upon the decomposition of fibrin, there are two cases
which are remarkable, especially that which has reference to a large
ulcer in the middle of the leg, "habitually putrid."
In the article on White blood," there appears a female cook, fifty
years old. According to her assertion, she had, for more than a year
before, a considerable swelling of the lower extremities, and soon also
of the abdomen, violent cough, with copious mucous expectoration
and pains in the abdomen. During the following summer the cough
had relaxed, but in the fall returned with extremely violent diarrhoea.
The latter afterwards subsided again, while the cough increased anew,
without, however, being connected with any troubles of the chest. In
the last eight days, copious diarrhoea had again set in, partially bloody,
etc. After repeated violent attacks of nose-bleed, her condition
became more satisfactory, only furuncular eruptions presented
themselves upon the nose, and between the thumb and index finger
of the right hand. Repeated and violent epistaxis, which continued
till the eighth day, subsequently redness and painful swelling of the
skin, in many places, of the volar surface of both hands, on which
vesicles were soon formed containing at first a clear, and subsc-
quently a purulent fluid. On autopsy, the heart, somewhat hyper-
trophied, was crowded full with large, loosely lying, greenish white
coagula, the spleen being enormously hypertrophied, etc.
From the Vienna General Hospital, a case is communicated as
general pyæmia," which I must also relate here for the sake of the
following. The autopsy presented as follows: "The entire integu-
ments of the abdomen, the back, and the posterior surface of both
thighs, were beset with superficial abscesses filled with greenish pus,
varying in size from that of a pea to that of a dime. In the most of
the pulmonary capillaries, large as well as small, there were greenish-
yellow, tough coagula of blood: in the posterior-inferior part of the
right lower lobe, two hepatized spots of the size of walnuts. In the
cavity of the heart and great vessels, there was a greenish-yellow fibrin-
ous clot.
The liver was enlarged threefold. The lymphatic glands
about the pancreas were swollen to the size of a dove's egg, of a light
red color, infiltrated with a viscous greenish-yellow purulent fluid."
In the second article upon the plugging up of the pulmonary artery.
there are also two cases, which must be enumerated here, as will be
seen forthwith.
A man fifty-five years old, was treated for a stricture of the urethra;
his general state of health was very good, and there was no complaint
at all of any affection of the chest. One afternoon when he appar-
ently felt very well, he fell out of the bed and died in less than two
246
minutes. On a minute examination, nothing was found but an
obstruction of almost all the larger branches of the pulmonary artery
by old and variously discolored coagula of blood; the kidneys were
slightly granulated.
The second case, page 273, relates to an old woman of sixty-five
years, in whose forty-fourth year, a firm, very hard, but painless,
swelling had formed in her right breast after a severe blow; this
swelling gradually increased, and at times was the seat of acute
shooting or stitching pains. Near to this, a second induration was
formed, which finally broke, and now painful swellings were formed
in the axilla also. Bloody diarrhoea followed, etc. Autopsy.-Under
the chin a quantity of small, flat, apparently solid cutaneous tumors
of the size of a large lentil. Cancer of the breast, from the ulcer of
which a knotty cord, consisting as it seemed of degenerated lymphatic
glands, extended to the neighborhood of the orifice of the ductus
thoracicus. The separate tumors were of the size of a hemp seed
and from that up to a large walnut. In the pulmonary arteries, plugs
in all stages.
The walls of the uterine cavity were studded with separate super-
ficial polypous growths.
A cancerous ulcer of the breast is thus described: The hard, round-
ish edges on the outside, sinking down quite flat, on the inside torn,
and raised up, had a knobby, ragged basis; the whole was of a blackish
or grayish color, here and there running into a blue, and covered with
a thin, discolored, partly dry secretion. A section showed the edges
of the ulcer to be formed in great part of a transparent, pale white
tissue, tending to blue or reddish, like firm spinal marrow.
The colorless blood corpuscles, the author says, page 183, have a
prominent peculiarity pointed out already by Nasse, to wit: a very
great viscosity, by reason of which they not only become readily agglu-
tinated to each other, but also adhere very firmly to other objects, to wit:
to the glass plate under the microscope. The plugs also, page 225,
adhere to one wall of the vessel which beneath them presents no
other change than generally appears from the shrinking of the plugs
and the formation of thrombi. The author here leaves the whole
question of the causes of the coagulation of these plugs untouched.
Whether the coagulation occurs from inflammation, or, as the saying
is, spontaneously, whether, therefore, a primary or secondary phlebitis.
is present, is to me quite a matter of indifference; I have to do merely
with the coagulation alone." That may be called making one's task
very easy. There is, however, in these given cases, no other cause
conceivable than this very same viscosity, arising from a definite blood
66
247
crasis, though it does not yet distinctly manifest itself, by reason of the
excess of colorless blood-discs, to the naked eye. According to
Emmert, the colorless blood-corpuscles at any rate, more abundantly
accumulate in the blood of the stasis, and that this condition must
precede the formation of a plug, no one can doubt. Moreover, such
plugs actually occur in cases of leucemia, detailed by Virchow, as on
page 159, Vol. 3.
There are still many other cases of leucemia which might be
adduced, and which might completely exhaust the theme in hand; the
case with acute bronchitis and the paste-like blood, page 179; that
with a leprous ulcer on the leg, page 95; with nodulous swellings on
the diaphragm, page 160; with going to sleep of the limbs, page 175;
sclerema, page 112, etc., but the foregoing may suffice.
§. 297.
Since we can never attain our end in scientific investigations with
perceptive reasons [rationes cognoscendi] alone, so, it is quite a matter
of indifference, how such processes are now designated, or, how it
was thought best to designate them heretofore. Hence, as regards the
fathoming of facts, we ought not to take offence at the explanation or
designation accidentally given them, and should prefer rather to let
them stand upon their own merit, as transient modes of perception,
but the facts are so much the more to be kept in view. Virchow
would have many of these pathological processes arranged under the
notions of his lymphatic and splenic leucemia, but others not; but I
shall now have to show, that all these processes are not new, as Vir-
chow flatters himself, but are the same which have hitherto been
grouped under the head of Sycosis.
If we compare the facts of the forms of appearance, we find quite
the same statements from the earlier physicians, except the co-called
leucemia, as they did not know the use of the microscope for such
investigations.
They say, that sycosis, truly enough, appears under various com-
binations of forms peculiar to it, yet that these forms are always the
following: now appearing one by one, now in simple, now in com-
plex combination, exactly in the same manner as the examples just
quoted have brought it to view, only with the difference, that Virchow
places the cause in the excess of colorless blood-corpuscles. In this,
however, he has omitted to explain what might be the cause of this
over-plus of the colorless blood-corpuscles, which, by the way, are
only visible in the last stages of this disease, or, as grumous blood, are
248
desiguated by the word lymph. The earlier physicians, on the
contrary, sought that cause in the sycotic poison, and which of these
two sides is right must be determined from facts, which were at the
disposal of neither of those parties.
It is not very long since Autenrieth and Hahnemann lived. The
former treats upon this disease in an excellent manner.
He says:
"these sycotic glandular formations appear even in places where no
glands at all are to be found. Hence a degeneration of the glands
cannot make up the essence of this form of diseases. Scrofulous
glandular swellings, however, always have their seat in the glands
originally present." In §. 295, page 241, we have just now read that
Virchow was all the more surprised at this condition, since other
writers had never made any mention of it. Can it be that Virchow
really did not know an Autenrieth?! or, if he did, would he, notwith-
standing, indulge in such assertions? I also remind my readers that
the prescription of Iodine, or lodide of Iron, was followed with like
bad results in Virchow's hands. These substances could only be
given as remedies under the supposition that these sycotic forms also
were to be treated like the scrofulous.
Even Morgagni had likewise found these nodulous formations in
the mesentery and in the inguinal glands, standing in connection with
sycosis; even he knew the yellowish, clear fluid of their contents, and
that they passed over into indolent suppuration. These physicians,
and their predecessors, well knew that these glandular formations
appeared under the most various forms, because the organic part in
which they originated, now the mucous membrane of the intestinal
canal, now the bronchi, now the cellular tissue, ctc., must exert influ-
ence upon the form and contents thereof. They knew these formations
from the size of the head of a pin to enormous dimensions, spreading
themselves as painless indolent tumors, while the syphilitic glandular
swellings, especially of the inguinal glands, are of an inflammatory
and painful nature. They saw these knotty formations in almost all
parts of the body, the muscular system excepted, in the omentum, the
mesentery, the intestines, in the substance of the kidneys, in the
testicles, the ovaries, the liver, the spleen, the diaphragm, the lungs, on
the pleura, in the substance of the heart, upon the meninges of the
brain, on the nerves and under the epidermis. They knew that these
swellings generally came first on the neck or in the axilla, and as
Virchow also declares, that catching cold, passion, or a single mechan-
ical influence, for example, a strain of the muscles, or a blow upon
the back, may cause their development, and much more readily any
disturbance of function, as that of menstruation, etc.
249
Should not that also remind us of §. 152, page 260, Part I.
These forms, they say, are surrounded by a fibrous thick membrane
of their own, and neither as regards color, contents or consistence, do
they always present the same quality; they resemble quite often the
scirrhus of the female breast; now they contain ichor and now
yellow serum; now they are hard, now pappy; now they discharge
a creamy fluid, and the nodule, when pressed out, is a tissue of loose,
fibrous substance; now their interior looks like the cortical substance
of the brain, of a translucent appearance; at another time they con-
tain a greenish, purulent, or brownish mass.
But because these physicians noticed that these swellings often dis-
appear spontaneously, and other diseases appear in their place, they
hence counted them as the results of the same cause, and because they
saw these results regularly preceded by various other phenomena, they
recognized them also as precursors. To gain the true significance of
all these morbid phenomena, they were compelled, by reason of their
numerous observations, to assume an hereditary cause, or one from
sexual intercourse.
In connection with these glandular swellings, which, to the older
physicians, passed for complete sycosis, they observed none the less
that, in their train, enlargements of the liver and spleen also followed.
As precursors, however, they reckoned chiefly, dislike for all labor;
incomprehensible melancholic mood; catarrhal affections, which may
occur in all the mucous membranes, without distinction, chiefly in
damp weather and towards spring. A number of diseases, arranged
by Physiological medicine under the form of tubercular, phthisis
laryngea and trachealis, are such precursors; they are curable under
proper treatment; but, under the methods of physiological medicine,
they lead inevitably to death. These cases distinguish themselves
diagnostically by this, that, in these laryngeal and tracheal forms,
complaints of burning in these parts are not heard as in the tubercu-
lar, and the patient's only complain of a constricting sensation, which
is not increased by pressure upon the larynx. Even at first this form
is characterized by uninterrupted hoarseness. The frequent swallow-
ing of these patients, early gives a hint touching the quality of the
disease in hand, and regarding that which is to come. At the same
time, the patients think that the passage of the air is hindered, as it
were, by a foreign body. This hoarseness increases incessantly, the
respiration becomes constantly more laborious, and the cough harsh,
whistling and barking. With all this, the patients look well and no
trace of fever is to be seen in them, which, indeed, one might well
expect, from the very annoying excessive lassitude; a lassitude which,
250
subsequently, hardly allows them to walk. Nevertheless, there is
danger in delay, on account of the sudden death, which is quite pos-
sible, from suffocation. To these so-called sycotic forms, ædema
glottidis also belongs. While cedema of the glottis frequently occurs
only as a swelling, the hoarseness and difficulty of breathing arise partly
from ulceration, the diagnosis of which will be shortly given, partly
from those knotty formations upon the mucous membrane of the
trachea, especially upon its glands, or, from a change of the vagus or
sympathicus, which are found to be surrounded with hard gland-like
swellings, as if by a string of pearls."
The sycotic asthma, in consequence of changes which have taken
place in the pulmonary tissue, is distinguished from other asthmatic
forms by this, that it also, according to subjective feeling, has its seat
in the breast, and not, as otherwise, in the larynx; furthermore, that
it occurs paroxysmally and intermittently; and not unfrequently
during swelling of the external glands, it disappears spontaneously,
without leaving a trace. It may also arise in consequence of swell-
ings of the glands at the bifurcation of the trachea, and may be
suddenly excited by going up stairs, muscular motion or mental
emotion.
Besides these, according to external appearance, rather catarrhal
precursors, there are also exanthems and ulcerations.
The exanthem possesses various forms; at one time it merely con-
sists of single white desquamating spots; at another, itching pustules,
rising up within a light-red circular spot, containing a bright yellow
fluid, which, when emptied, form dark brown crusts, readily falling
off; or at first, dry, hard tubercles of a reddish blue color. The first are
grouped together on the edge of the hairy scalp, on the breast, the
back, the thighs. The latter occupy the same places, though they are
chiefly to be found upon the knee and the back of the hand; some-
times in the corners of the mouth and on the lower lip. They either
develop into ulcers or their discharged fluid forms a dark brown and
cracked crust, and extensive rhagades are formed. Or there are
formed in the cavity of the mouth, on the tongue, the inside of the
checks, on the lips light gray, hardly elevated plaques, generally but
little sensitive; sometimes they are bluish. Never are these exan-
thems coppery-red. On the epidermis, though, a hair projects from
their centre, the hair underneath never suffers; they also do not
affect the nails, though this has happened, in my practice at least.
The condylomata have a pedicle, while syphilitic sores have breadth,
make the hair fall out, cause the hair-glands to become sterile, and
the nails to become deformed. According to my experience, the
251
deformity of the nails, in sycosis, arises from insufficient nutrition;
the nail is never completely formed. It looks as if torn and isolated,
broken through to the quick, while the syphilitic deformity consists in
hypertrophy. Yet I should not consider the question touching these
causes of the various deformities of the nails quite settled.
The ulcers which belong to the sycosis of the old, and the leucæmia
of the modern physicians, can, however, be very easily diagnosticated
as identical and non-syphilitic. They arise from the previous exan-
thematic or from furuncular or erysipelatous forms, or a single one
presents itself upon the neck, the sternum, the loins, the throat, in
the axilla, on the upper part of the arm, the thigh or the shin, not
seldom on the great toe. They frequently exhale the most offensive
odor, do not go very deep, but extend very rapidly in surface; the
parts adjacent suffer but little in proportion; their base is a bluish red,
dark-brown, cracked, and from the cracks papillæ emerge with
whitish points. The edge is jagged, undermined. This ulcer is
found also, in the same manner, upon the mucous membranes, though
upon them it is bright or rose-red. It generally leaves behind
callosities. If it is not interfered with externally and merely covered
with moistened compresses or lint, it heals from the centre outwards,
and never with any other loss of substance than that which the cicatrix
occasions. As soon as the cure begins, it takes on the character of
those ulcers which are incidental to the peculiar bodily constitution.
According to its outer form it is scrofulous, scorbutic, tuberculous, etc.
By its location, its course, its quality and its termination, it never can
be confounded with any other ulcer, and all the less, since, like all
other sycotic forms, it usually heals spontaneously, provided no radical
cure by art intervenes; because they form only transient stages of one
and the same, often life-long, process. It heals up, however, only to
return, with perfect certainty, at some other time, in some other place,
even at the end of years, and that indeed, as with all sycotic forms,
usually during a long period of damp weather, or towards spring, pro-
vided the process has not gained in extent, and in place of the ulcer,
another sycotic form has developed itself.
In the cavity of the mouth and throat it is sometimes yellow, lar-
daceous, but with a rose-red areola, and covered with a puriform
matter; yet it always spreads with the greatest rapidity, and occasions,
as already observed, no loss of substance, or rather the loss which it
does occasion, is soon made up again by granular outgrowths. In
practice, however, we are not able to define, so exactly, the limits
between the precursors and the complete extension of the so-called
sycosis, as the theory of the older physicians was inclined to assume;
252
I, at least, have not succeeded, as yet, in finding a law of constancy,
§§. 39, 293, in its extension. Nevertheless, one can not very well
confound its appearance with the so-called metastases. The idea of
metastasis or aberration, §. 37, belongs, at any rate, to hypotheses
quite devoid of clearness. It even belongs to those which require
explanation themselves, hence by which nothing can be explained. A
wandering of molecules, as if, for instance, we might imagine that of
the molecules of the pigment of the eye, to other parts of the body,
cannot be demonstrated. Thus the black pigments in the liver, after
fever and ague, must be looked upon as having wandered thither from
the eye. Then, at least, a diminution should be perceptible in the
eye, which is not the case. A rich imagination is able to explain
everything from its own standpoint, by which no service is rendered
to science.
The idea of the metastasis of morbid products is false even, because
contradicted by the law of the specific lines of direction. We know,
it is true, of wandering morbific causes and of the diffusion of their
results, but nothing of wandering physiological products, except in
the direction towards the organs of excretion.
If the chronic form of sycosis attacks the osseous system, then the
bones affected are those of the nose and the cavity of the mouth, the
palate, the upper and lower jaw, the sternum, the sacrum, the ribs
and the spinous processes of the vertebral column.
But the sycotic
ozana lacks the fœtid odor of the syphilitic. The bones, in fact, are
not immediately affected by sycosis, but only through the soft parts,
through the periosteum, and then there is never a carious form, as
in syphilis, but always necrosis only with formation of sequestrum,
and sclerosis; and, while the loss of substance of the bone, produced
by syphilis, tuberculosis, scrophulosis is never repaired, after the course
of sycotic necrosis there is always formed a new thick osseous mass
which seeks to supply again all the loss sustained.
Fragilitas ossium is never a sign of sycosis, though rachitis is, as
well as padarthrocace and enchondroma. The older physicians
collected all strictures or stenoses under the head of sycosis; not merely
stricture of the urethra, but also stenosis of the esophagus, the larynx,
the trachea, the rectum and the intestinal canal. The acute sycotic
inflammations of the joints always present, as a result, a persistent
enlargement of the parts forming the joints, if they anchylose, and
they attack most generally the joints of the vertebral column, of the
lower jaw, and, most frequently, one of the knee and elbow joints.
The pains arise suddenly, and at once, with the greatest intensity, but
notwithstanding this, the integuments remain normal and no fever
253
sets in. Inflammations of the testicles develop into enormous hyper-
trophies and indurations, as well as those of the inguinal glands.
mem-
Syphilitic deafness is the result of carious destruction of the ossiculae
auditus, the sycotic, of swelling of the Eustachian mucous
brane. The profuse greenish mucous secretion in inflammations of
the conjunctiva, sclerotica and cornea with bright red injection; the
gelatinous effusion into the iris and choroidea is always of sycotic
origin, as well as ciliary and facial neuroses from pressure of the
bones and, especially, if they occur in the evening. Trachoma also
belongs here, as well as the polypous formations, and hydrocele;
among the neuroses a form of ischias, of trismus and tetanus, of
epilepsy, eclampsia, paralysis; moreover, one form of apoplexy, of
impotence, of sterility, of nymphomania, of mental disorders; going
to sleep of the limbs; helminthiasis; one form of intermittent fever;
sclerema neonatorum, etc.
In addition to these I must make mention of the sycotic inflamma
tion of the lungs, which, it is true, is less distinct than the sycotic
inflammations of the eyes, though clearly enough described by the
older physicians.
In pneumonia, where we find the blood slowly coagulating, of which,
the form curable by Natr. sulph., presents the most serious phenom-
ena, there is never absent, as indeed it is never absent in any of the
acute forms which belong to sycosis, that inexpressible anxiety which
stands in no proportion at all to the course of the disease, which is
frequently torpid even; moreover, hoarseness is never absent nor
dyspnea, which latter also stands in no proportion to the extension of
the disease physically ascertained. Further, this pneumonia is charac-
terized by the most uncommon prostration of strength, the greenish,
copious, easy expectoration, the unendurable sensation of weight and
tension upon the chest, with so little stitching pains in the form
curable with Iron, that the patients, after a few days, can return to
their calling, provided it is not attended with bodily effort; but anxiety
never allows the patient to go into the open air; even going up a few stairs
produces asthma, which does not well correspond with the ease with
which the lungs move in respiration. The organism (in both forms)
sensibly sympathizes so far, that emaciation, and a sickly appearance,
in a few days, attain a surprising degree; the urine is generally, as
indeed it chiefly is, in the sycotic form, of a rose-red, as the older
physicians were wont to express it. Under improper treatment, this
pneumonia goes over into chronic catarrh and the parts of the lung
affected into connective-tissue-like induration of tissue; this happens
especially under the abuse of quicksilver, or from suppression of the
254
process by the water cure.
From this chronic catarrh, phthisis
ulcerosa afterwards arises, which is not seldom confounded with the
tuberculous. Under appropriate treatment, however, this pneumonia
is very easily cured, of which more anon. The autopsy of mal-
treated sycotic forms, revealed also to the older physicians whom
I have quoted here, such extensive obliteration of the bronchi, and of
the blood vessels by fibrinous clots, as are found in no other form, and
remind one of the Thrombosis of Virchow. At the same time, other
sycotic changes are always found in the cadavers as we have just seen.
A great number of such sycotic cases could be adduced from the
current literature alone, as, for example, from the current year, 1858,
the vomiting of blood of Dieberder and Fauvel; a case of cancer by
Benjamin; induration of the peripheric lymphatic glands by Zeissl;
a case of leucocythæmia by Huss; a case, the second one, of laryngo-
stenosis by Güntner, etc., etc.
Much that is described under the name of lipoma, gelatinous and
colloid tumors, especially gummata, is of sycotic kind, as also much
which is grouped together under the head of cancers; soft cancer is
essentially to be distinguished according to its sycotic or other origin.
§. 298.
To the older physicians, the differential diagnoses already given, not
only availed for recognizing a sycotic affection, but also the test of the
benefit or injury of their treatment, led them thereto. They learned
that all these forms offered obstinate resistance to quicksilver, and that,
sooner or later after its use, marked exacerbations or extensions of the
disease occurred; they learned that all these forms would bear no
irritating treatment, and no strict diet, but that sometimes Iron
(which is hurtful in syphilis), Graphites, Arsenic, Baryta, Antimonium,
Aurum mur, sometimes Sal Ammoniac, Nitre, Glauber's salts exerted
a favorable influence even where they did not cure; to their pharma-
codynamic art Strictures were quite inaccessible, though they sought
to overcome them by operative means; the same of polypi and carcino-
matous degenerations. Of the serious consequences, they attempted
to meet dyspnoea by Opium, epilepsy by their nervines, dropsical
phenomena by their diuretics, etc., just as it is done at the present day
in physiological medicine, and that, indeed, with the same ill-success
and uncertainty as now.
Even in Rademacher's school we find the chloride of barium, Gold,
Antimony, Arsenic, Iron, even Calcarea carb., also, Carbo veg., and
animalis, and Natrum nitricum, but not Glauber's salts, of which more
255
anon, all these laid down, in general, as remedies for the glands, yet
with reference to Homeopathic drug-provings, and, generally, in cases
which belong to the so-called Leucemia or Thrombosis, in brief, to
Sycosis.
If we read the descriptions of the older physicians of their sycotic
forms, we would think, at every moment, that we were reading
Virchow as he describes cases which he arranges under the head of
the microscopic curiosities of leucemia, or the coagulation of fibrine.
or under the pathologico-anatomical name of Thrombosis and Embo-
lia. Although I presented fragments only, upon this subject, from
both the different sources of information, which suffice for the end in
view, yet, I doubt not in the least, that the reader will entertain no
doubt touching the identity of the sycotic forms of the older physi-
cians and the leucemia, thrombosis, etc., of Virchow.
There is no
other difference than this, that the older physicians exhausted their
subject thoroughly, as regards its extension and cause; that they
possessed differential diagnoses even, for example, between sycotic
phthisis and tubercular; between sycotic pneumonia and croupous;
between glandular swellings in scrophulosis and those of sycosis;
but, with Virchow, there is such unbounded confusion, such a guess-
ing and laboring, such a desperate wrestling after cause and effect,
such a hopeless separation of connected pathological processes, dis-
turbing the reader, that there can scarcely be presented a more forcible
example of the chaotic unwarranted proceedings, such as we can meet
with in physiological medicine only; in that same physiological school
so proudly clamoring over and boasting of its exact knowledge—
boasting of experiments without rules, and haughtily looking down,
without any reason, upon all other scientific labors.
How now can these diverging attempts at explanation, and these
assertion of facts be harmonized?
As most appropriate for the views of the majority, whose poverty
in exact knowledge first needs consideration, we first take up the
chemical reflections.
We have just learned that in leucemia we have gelatin-producing
substances, and, consequently, formic acid and hypoxanthine, and a
greater proportion of water in the blood.
These changes must stand in necessary connection with the blood,
even when these substances appear in the secretions, since here, influ-
ences working a change upon one, must needs also effect a change
upon the other.
We find, common to all these pathological forms in question, not
merely gelatin in the blood, but we find in others belonging thereto, a
t
256
profuse production of mucus also, and, in all, an increased proportion
of hydrogen in the blood, especially when they have developed into
the leucemic form, which may happen sooner or later. All these
exudations are gelatinous, quivering; at any rate, their coagulation is
incomplete and unusually delayed; the liquified products are greenish,
bright yellow, brownish; the acetic solutions of the gelatin formed, and
the solutions of the mucus, are not precipitated by the ferro-cyanide
of potash, and, thereby are they distinguished from the exudations of
croupous inflammatory processes from other causes, as well as further
by this, that they produce no fibrin; for the fibrin coagulates from its
gelatinous form in a few hours, and possesses the chemical properties
of albumen; its acetic solution is precipitated by the ferro-cyanide of
potash, etc. Moreover, the croupous inflammatory processes, which
will be directly characterized more particularly, furnish pus as a pro-
duct of their dissolution, in which no gelatin is found, since the mucin,
which possesses a greater proportion of water than pus, recedes, while,
on the contrary, albumen appears in its place.
On the contrary, no sycotic or so-called leucemic process supplies pus
or fibrin. The formative locality of the fibrin can be no more con-
tained in the blood than that of mucus or gelatin. Since the fibrin is
a hydrate, which exudes from the neighborhood of the diseased parts,
these must therefore also be parts possessing albumen. Gelatin, how-
ever, pre-exists in the contents of the lymphatic system, but, chiefly
also, in the intercellular substance, which, swollen up, is analogous to
mucus. According to Liebig, the fibrin of the blood is albumen of
the blood half-way converted into glutin, and glutin can, under the
influence of the respiratory process, be decomposed into cholic acid,
uric acid or urea, carbonic acid and water.
Hence we have, thus far, according to chemical, as well as morpho-
logical facts, two different series of diseases in general. There are
thus, many forms of disease which come under the fibrinous series,
but not under the sycotic.
On the contrary, all sycotic forms appear outwardly similar, even
with red blood, and without any sycotic precursors. Thus we have,
according to the cause, various forms of cancer, various neuroses,
inflammations, etc., but physiological medicine would cure them all
by one and the same method. This state of things is one of those,
often mentioned, which bears the blame of the fearful confusion in the
theory of physiological medicine, and, in the helplessness of its prac-
tice, and, assuredly, the circumstance that all the so-called sycotic
forms sometimes may disappear spontaneously, without any medical
aid, has called forth the famous false method of expectancy.
257
Most unfortunately, tissues and substances containing albumen and
gelatin, resemble each other so much, in their chemical relations, that
the slight difference cannot always be recognized as such. Not only
because albuminous and gelatinous substances appear in dissolved, as
well as insoluble, states, both have the same tendency to decompose
and lose this property by Tannic acid and Corrosive sublimate; their
solutions are precipitated by Chlorine, Kreosote, metallic salts and
acids; both assume the form of jelly; but, also, because the excess of
the precipitant, for example, of the Acetic acid, dissolves again the
precipitate produced by it; because Hydrochloric acid, Quicksilver,
Chloride of gold, Chloride of tin, the Salts of platina, the Salts of
silver, the Sulphate of copper, and even the alkalies, now render turbid
solutions of gelatin, now precipitate them, now leave them unchanged,
all this must have contributed to the confusion, as well as the experi-
ence, that alkalies, as well as acids, render soluble gelatin-yielding sub-
stances, (which, when organized, are insoluble,) and deprive them,
at the same time, of their agglutinating power, and that they accom-
plish this without any reception or transfer of elements taking place.
As regards Therapeutics and Pathology even, we must not forget
that the cartilage likewise belongs to the gelatin-yielding tissue, but
that solutions of glutin, although they take up considerable quantities.
of the salts of lime, the importation of which is evidently brought about
by means of the blood, yet do not take up solutions of chondrine,
and just to this very circumstance rachitis, the central enchondroma
of the bones, etc., are to be ascribed; to the former, the formation of
osseous lamellæ and calcareous incrustations in puerperal fever, as
well as in many of the so-called jelly-like tumors, etc., etc.
On the other hand, it is evident that Gold, Iron, Antimony, Baryta,
Arsenic, the Salts of lime, China, etc., must have curative results;
but only for definite forms, to diagnosticate which differentially, phys-
iological medicine has, as yet, proved itself incapable.
But besides those, there are other chemical momenta which explain
to us various forms of the sycotic or so-called leucemic process.
Thus it is shown, that epidermis, connective tissue and cells yield
gelatin, and we find these formations never directly crowded out
sycotically, and so little that we find the most various hypertrophies of
connective tissue, and cell formations in sycosis. The difference of
the time necessary for gelatinization, as well as the quality of the
secretions, surely cannot be ascribed to the process, as such, but rather
to its foreign admixtures of salts, water, albuminous bodies, extractive
matters, according to the organs in or upon which they are formed.
PART II.
17
258
Thus there arise, even within the sycotic process, two series again,
which are chemically different, but appear under forms externally
alike. But, because the purely chemical view of physiological medi-
cine originates in the fallacy that what shows similar chemical products
can arise from a similar cause only, it hence does not know how to
explain to itself the varied contents of forms externally alike, and
hence, frequently finds different results from the same causes, and the
same effects from different causes: facts, which it can never make
clear to itself from its low standpoint.
If we leave the physiological and pathological chemistry which, as
we have so often demonstrated, can give us but little information with
regard to the therapeutics of sycosis and leucemia, it will be never-
theless clear, from the foregoing, that in therapeutics, we have not only
to do with two series of chronic diseases, as we had to suppose a while
ago, but with three, since, within the sycotic itself, two series are
contained.
We may now apply a rule, according to the present standpoint of
general science, to the observation of the older physicians, and thus
it follows, that, for example, we recognize many pathological forms
of Hahnemann's psora-series in the sycotic series, but with nutritive
and functional changes. Analogous to this, the so-called Hahne-
mannian antipsorics are likewise divided, and, amongst them, Carbo
veg. and animalis, Calcarea, Aurum, Arsenic, Iron, Thuja and others
must be assigned to sycosis, while Sulphur, Copper, Phosphorus,
Quicksilver, etc., remain for psora, which also perfectly clears up
many doubts touching experiences at the sick-bed. The chancre-virus,
the so-called syphilis, never forms a series of pathological forms in
such extent and permanence as sycosis, and the so-called psora, to
which latter belong all fibrinogenic and pyogenic forms, as well as
those produced from lack of ozonization of the blood. On the con-
trary, the few forms which originate from the chancre-virus, are very
easily diagnosticated and cured; more difficult, however, when they
have entered into combination with other substances which nourish
them, or are in juxtaposition with them, as, for instance, with tradi-
tional doses of Quicksilver. I will remark, however, at the same
time, that Quicksilver, deservedly so ill spoken of and admitted to be
a two-edged instrument, can never and under no circumstances in
traditional doses, be looked upon as a curative remedy, because it
enters into insoluble combinations with the albuminates of the organ-
ism, upon the same lines of direction as the chancre-virus, while the
latter forms only soluble combinations therewith. But the form of
syphilis, for this very reason, only deceivos, as regards the cure hy
259
Quicksilver by juxtaposition; for, after such pseudo-cures, not only
Iodine, but also Iron, Sulphur, etc., can remove it at any moment
from this combination and expel it; whereupon, for the most part, all
the earlier syphilitic symptons reappear, §. 100. For the diagnosis
of syphilitic sequelæ, I hold, with Ritter and Wolf, the following as
decisive: difficult motion of the joints with crepitation, chilliness at
stool and persistent sleeplessness.
As regards Rademacher's school, I may now be more brief, since,
at any rate it cannot have escaped the reader, that its Copper series
corresponds very closely to the Hahnemannian psora, its Iron and
Natrum nitricum series almost exactly to two different forms of sycosis.
I confess that I attach great, at least practical importance to these
classifications, of which I shall, very soon, treat more fully, although
they frequently present combinations among themselves at the sick-
bed; yet, to the beginner in practice, they offer the most valuable
points of support. Hence, we may accept it, as demonstrated, that
the designations Psora, Syphilis, Sycosis, Leucemia, ought to be con-
sidered equally wrong. They do not present us either with all the
causes or effects, and especially it cannot be decided whether Rade-
macher or Hahnemann was more in the right; whether, for example,
only the sycotic poison occasions those forms of decomposition, or
whether atmospheric and telluric influences even may not produce
the same specific blood-constitution and the same changes.
§. 299.
Corresponding to the formula which I have declared to be the law
of specification, the form and function of a plant cannot be conceived
of, without the earthy constituents subserving to its nourishment, in
which it strikes it roots, and without the atmosphere, the constituent
parts of which, its leaves of necessity inhale and exhale. Just the very
same holds good for the human organism. The constituent parts of
the atmosphere, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, of which the
whole organism is composed, and which are even contained free in
the blood, belong as well to the fulfilment of the law of its specifica-
tion, as do the constituents which it draws from food, and which are
necessary to it on account of the same demand. Hence, all these sub-
stances form nothing external to the organism, intended to change its
specific form of reciprocal action. But often, not only the mode of
life belongs to Physiology, Pathology, and Therapeutics, but, in a far
more extensive sense, the changed atmosphere, even.
260
For it has been demonstrated by Admiral Fitzroy, with the help of
the telegraph used in meteorological investigations, that, for example,
together with the phosphorescence of the atmosphere and of organic
bodies, with the increase of insects, and increasing proportion of ozone
in the atmosphere, certain diseases, as Epilepsy, Apoplexy and sud-
denly fatal affections of the vessels and nerves, form eighty per cent.
of the diseases generally recurring in constant proportions.
Thus a change in the constant whole of the organism is determined
also by the qualitative and quantitative changes of the atmospheric
constituents.
If we consider all the conditions which are known to us as causing
chronic diseases, the following proposition may be established in
view of what has already been advanced; the cause of chronic diseases
is based upon the excess or lack of substances, of which the organism
itself is composed. Hereto, consequently, belong not only the different
states of the atmosphere, but, as is seems, those causes also to which
we ascribe the production of sycosis, syphilis, scrophulosis, tubercu-
losis, etc., etc.
If the causes of chronic diseases did not possess similar qualities
with those substances out of which the organism itself also is com-
posed, how could it be explained by natural laws, that they are retained
often for years in various parts of certain organs, again come to notice
from trifling causes, in order to establish themselves in other directions
and other localities, often of the same tissues, etc., and thus the whole
life through, provided that no cure, according to natural law, has been
undertaken.
Hence it should never be overlooked, that neither foreign qualities.
nor quantities can furnish the only cause of chronic diseases, let them
be ever so similar and indeed almost the very same in their effect; but
only these as part of the conditions in connection with others pertain-
ing to the organism and previously existing; and that the united result
only of these two conditions, is what can present itself to us as a form
of chronic disease.
A single symptom of any chronic disease whatever, if it be taken
from its causal conditions or borrowed from its external phenomena,
can, hence, never express any existing pathological form of the
organism.'
Consequently it would not be justified, from the present standpoint
of science, to attribute an event accidentally precedent or subsequent
chronic disease-form, as its only cause.
to any
The utterly arbitrary schemata of such disease-forms, according to
the causal law, ever have led and still lead to the cardinal mistakes in
261
the Therapeutics of physiological medicine, since this law misleads to
the use of non-existent anti-syphilitics, anti-scrofulosa, and, as men-
tioned before, to antiphlogistics, etc.
Homœopathy, however, by virtue of its scientific synthesis of the
results from drug-provings with the phenomena of disease, always and
promptly steers clear of these dangerous cliffs, and for the very reason
that, on that account, it needs not accommodate itself to nosological
names. But that it at the same time, seems at present almost to have
forgotten the Hahnemannian psora, sycosis and syphilis cannot be
excused, because no observation of a great man should ever be left to
neglect.
Had the study of the different states of the atmosphere been more
pursued in their modality, determining as they do the qualities of the
organism more powerfully than every other influence, then also the
disputes between the mercurialists and anti-mercurialists about pri-
mary, secondary, and tertiary syphilis, had never arisen, and Virchow
would not have been compelled to accuse himself of the incongruity
which obtains between the substance of the above paragraphs cited
from him, and that of his treatise in the Archiv. f. pathol. Anatomie
and Physiologie, Bd. XV., upon the nature of constitutional syph-
ilitic affections, in which he throws together all the above-indicated
forms of sycosis and syphilis with his leucaemia, as the consequences.
of one cause.
Nosological names are empty ideas, possessing no reality, and to
seek to direct one's Therapy, according to causes alone, or external
signs, must necessarily lead to no other but unfortunate results.
Thus it is certain that leucemia is not, as Virchow thinks, a disease sui
generis, but a microscopic curiosity, in which physiological medicine
is so rich; further, that these diseases, in which leucemic blood appears,
offer many other momenta in themselves more decisive, alike for
anamnesis, diagnosis and even prognosis, than the microscope, and
all of them more readily perceptible. Upon the whole, I maintain
that he bestows far more benefit upon the practicing physician, upon
the weightiest part of his calling, the practice, who enables him to
dispense with the microscope and all the time-absorbing chemical
investigations, as far as possible, than he who would make diagnosis,
prognosis and indication always dependent upon such labors, and
from lack of the necessary knowledge, and, of the art of observa-
tion, is reduced to such experiments; for, by and by, the practicing
physician must always have a porter at his side, if he would carry
along with him all the chemical and physical utensils, and the day
should be at least ten times as long, if he were absolutely obliged to
262
use them.
But this is so little the case, that I have myself cured very
many chronic diseases, among which, especially, were many forms of
intermittents which had been treated in vain with Quinine and Arsenic
by physicians of the physiological school, sometimes in patients hun-
dreds of miles distant, and whom I never saw; many acute diseases,
also, in patients whom I never saw, though so near at hand that I
could have visited them in a very short time, had I been allowed only
to do so. Such a thing, surely, cannot be undertaken by those who
are dependent upon the art of experiment only, and are hardly capable
of instituting a searching examination.
If I am required to produce examples of combinations, in the sense
of the previous paragraphs, I mention the above case of acute rheuma-
tism, §. 251, which was cured with Benzoic acid, but previously had
to be treated with Sulphur; or all the cases in which, even in physio-
logical medicine, cures may occur with the Iodide of Iron, etc. Even
this displays the therapeutic degeneration of the physiological school,
that it never occurred to any of its adherents that those cases which
can be cured with Iodine and Iron might be combinations; and that,
on the contrary, they give Iodide of Iron so frequently, even when
there is no sense in prescribing it.
§. 300.
A still further extended explanation is surely needless, for experts,
in order to consider the fact as proven that physiological chemistry is
very good and useful indeed for the logical form of induction or the
third therapeutic-deductive operation, i. c., for sustaining confirmatory
grounds of a therapeutic procedure; but that it never can give, with
the same certainty, a leading maxim for therapeutics, i. e., therapcu-
tical indications, as the Homœopathic drug-provings alone can do.
Physiological medicine sets up as a leading principle, that, for
example, in order to appease hunger or quell thirst, we must first
inquire, by experiment and observation, what organs, and which of
their functions suffer by the sense of hunger and thirst; how and why
they suffer so and not otherwise; what chemical changes of the secre-
tions appear with hunger and thirst, and what products of suffering
are thereby begotten; further, what physiological causes produce
hunger and thirst, and, from these investigations, it expects to see
results arise which shall determine with what substances hunger is to
be appeased and thirst assuaged. §. 58. But as long as these phys-
iological problems have not found their solution, men must, nolens
volens, hunger and thirst, and we ought, therefore, frankly to confess
263
to them, that, at the present time, we are in ignorance of the means
by which hunger and thirst might be rationally removed. Notwith-
standing this maxim and this confession, curative attempts are never-
theless made, which are devoid of any solid basis whatever.
Thus it happened, also, with leucemia. Although those sycotic
swellings, as they were called by the older physicians, are not glands.
by any means, but, as Virchow himself says, new-formations, yet
physicians of our days even, cannot break away from the power of
association of ideas, and because these formations resemble, externally,
glandular swellings, although, according to location and contents,
they are nothing of the kind, they give their patients Iodine for the
present, till they shall have learned, at some future day, what in
reality is the peculiar nature of leucæmia; or they send them to a san-
itarium, whereby they must inevitably, and now much more quickly
perish, as experience teaches, and this termination can be foretold, as
absolutely necessary, according to the teachings of this work.
Every time the physiological school betakes itself to giving drugs,
it does it empirically, and without having any basis according to nat-
ural laws, for, although believing that it knows the disease and rem-
edies for it, yet it does not know the connection between the two; a
connection which is to be found simply and solely in Homœopathy,
and is there deductively established.
It would have been far easier for me to sustain these remarks by
examples taken from other pathological forms, but I chose leucemia
because it is, without comparison, the greatest creation of the phys-
iological school, and is its pride. How barren this leucemia has
proved for the physiological school can be seen in Virchow's Manual,
on the disturbances of blood-crasis by Vogel.
Now should we practicing physicians, while humbly sacrificing the
experiences of two thousand years, have really..to be content, labo-
riously and in a beggarly way, to reproduce them, atom by atom,
within periods of time incalculable, and to wait until a fallacy, §. 58
such as appears in the leading principle of physiological medicine—
has become a truth? Should we permit ourselves longer to be led by
fallacies, and not rather remember the words spoken by Diderot,
"not those who teach a science are those who understand it; but those
understand it who practice it earnestly, and to whom no time is left for
teaching it”; or, that saying of Bacon, that young men at the Univer-
sities learn how to believe? And should we be bound to remain in this
faith, since the school itself, on every occasion, changes its banner?
Even physiological medicine strives after progress; but the manner of
its striving arises from the longing for change, which, like the former,
264
is changeable in itself, and proceeds from the spirit of negation,
always appearing as the first sign of developed consciousness, and
which makes itself felt more and more sensibly, as is the case with
boys.
Did not the school nourish itself, at all times and ever, from the
results of practice? Although, since the last great shipwreck which
Therapeutics suffered, in the year 1842, (Archiv f., physiol., Heil-
kunde) §. 202, the programme of skepticism has taken the liberty to
turn these natural relations topsy-turvy, and, since that time, the most
preposterous declamations met with admiration; yet the practicing
physician, who, above all things, has the good of his patients at heart,
cannot be in the least prevented from studies of his own which ter-
minate in the manifest welfare of the public, and for this very reason,
in favorable results, offensive though they were in some eyes. He
cannot adhere to obsolete doctrines so long as might, probably, be
pleasing to the school. Every practicing physician must emancipate
himself from the school, §. 236, and become independent, for the
very important reason that practical life offers him an endless number
of cases which the school could not exhibit to him, and for the still
more important reason that, at the time being, no school knows how to
establish its assertions and doctrines according to natural laws, and
hence none can endow its pupils with permanent valuable doctrines.
The Homœopathic maxim is something different; it prefers, to use
again the trivial, nevertheless intelligible comparison, the practical
way to find the substances with which hunger may be appeased or
thirst assuaged. Since, for instance, it is not imprinted upon the
mouth, upon the stomach, or upon the intestinal canal and its parts, or
yet upon their functions or secretions, that in case of hunger and thirst,
water will quench the thirst, and that bread will appease the hunger;
since, also, all investigations, whether chemical, pathological or phys-
ical, will never hit upon any interpreter who will inform us, from the
results of such investigations, what might be necessary; for this reason,
Homœopaths, without any further loss of time, made the experiment
on themselves, with various substances, and found at once what is to
be given in every case; they thus found, empirically, the connection
according to natural laws of substances proven, with the organism,
and now the synthetic comparison must infallibly point every time
to the substance indicated, with the certainty of demonstration, in
comparison with which all earlier and other speculative methods fall
into the back ground. Thus, by drug-provings, practiced for more
than sixty years, we have a material stored away which has no further
need of that circuitous search. But just this is the disagreeable side
265
of the matter, because the adherent to the physiological school prefers
to play the skeptic and to experiment upon objects and relations which
are always subjected to oscillations according to necessary natural
laws, and hence the easy opportunity is given to every one of always
discovering new colors in the chameleon in order to see his name con-
nected therewith. §. 200. But the chameleon ever remains the same,
and it is to be determined in what connection with the outer world, this
change of color stands, and how it may be produced or interfered
with by art.
§. 301.
HYDROGENOID CONSTITUTIONS OF THE BODY.
This much has become clear, at any rate, from the investigations
which have been made, that there is a constitution of the body which,
in many cases, is the product of gonorrhoeal contagion. But one
would very much err, as already said, in concluding therefrom, that,
in this matter, the question were only as to the consequences of a
sycotic contagion, i. e., an infection caused by gonorrhea; for the
cause of those diseases, which Hahnemann arranged under the head
of Sycosis, is one cause indeed, but not the only cause of the develop-
ment of this state of the body, distinguished by a too great proportion
of water, or by hygroscopic blood.
I always recognize this constitution of the body by the circum-
stances accompanying any disease whatever, and for these I always
inquire as soon as the patient has told his complaints.
If the patient states that he feels worse in cold, in damp weather,
and in the rain, then I know that I have to choose, among the rem-
edies which are similar to his disease, such only as contain a greater
per centage of a combination of O with C and H, consequently pro-
duce more heat, and diminish the influence of the water. Hence the
symptoms of a disease, in this constitution of the body, are aggravated
by everything which in any way increases the atoms of water in the
organism, by baths, for example, and that, all the same, whether they
are mineral baths or simple water baths; or whatever increases the
attraction of the organic molecules for water, as, for example, the
eating of animals even, which have lived in water, as fishes, etc. All
diseases, in such constitutions, are increased by cold, also by cold and
cooling food and drinks, for example, by sour milk, by hard eggs
even, by cucumbers and mushrooms, but chiefly by living near the
water, especially near standing water.
266
This experience is to me all the more of inestimable worth, since I
have quite cured many, very many patients, simply and solely upon this
ground, who have been sent for years by other physicians from one
bath to another, where they never found any relief, but often the most
marked exacerbation of their sufferings.
Another sign, that a disease has occurred in such a bodily constitu-
tion, I find in the periodicity of its phenomena, and chiefly in its
irregular and paroxysmal course; for even the nervous system, which,
next to the brain, in proportion to the other parts of the body, pos-
sesses by far the greatest per centage of water, reacts upon a plus of
water with an energy commensurate with that with which it carries
over its reflex influence upon the blood and other organic formations.
The experiences of Rademacher and Hahnemann agree with this
also, and these naturally should stand much higher in the regard of
practicing physicians, than the researches of experimental physiology.
I do not mean by this merely the one, two, three, four or eight-day
exacerbations and remissions, but even those periods during which,
for a still longer time, no disease seems to exist, and this extends even
over months.
Hence, for the sake of brevity, I distinguish this constitution of the
body, according to its causes and conditions, as the hydrogenoid.
I wish also to call attention to the effect of the electricity of the
earth, spoken of at the close of §. 163; for these nervous affections,
which are exacerbated by electric disturbances, appear under this
bodily constitution; the sufferings, however, which are relieved by
the equalization of the earth's electricity, we find in diseases which
are wont to appear under the conditions of the following, the oxyge-
noid constitution of the body,
The chronic diseases which usually appear in this constitution of
the body are distinguished as increased processes of reduction.
§. 302.
OXYGENOID CONSTITUTION OF THE BODY.
Our organism first changes nutritive substances into other chemical
combinations, and then effects their combustion. What is no longer
oxidizable is excreted; thus the substances of our bodies the least
oxidizable, the milk and semen. These stand so low in the scale
of oxidation, that they are not only used for the nutrition, but even
for the formation of other organisms. On the contrary, there is
267
2
always more of C and H given off in the organism in the form of
CO, HO, or other combinations, so that products richer and richer in
N remain. The last and richest in N is the urea. The carbo-hydrates
also are soon changed into Glycogen, Grape sugar, Inosit, etc., and
transformations of that sort are well known. The neutral atmos-
pheric oxygen hence finds sufficient points of attack only when our
food, and the constituent parts of our bodies, similar thereto, have
undergone further transformation. Hence even blood super-saturated
with oxygen cannot make more active the destruction of the body.
Yet this occurs at once, as soon as processes are introduced, willingly
or unwillingly, by which the transformation of food into those combi-
nations, more accessible to combustion, is more fully brought about.
§. 27.
The constitutional conditions to final diseases in consequence of
increased influence of oxygen, cannot hence arise from an absolute
excess of oxygen in the atmosphere, but rather from the resistance of
the organic structures against the influence of the oxygen being so
much diminished, that these structures, from deficient reception of
oxygen, especially in consequence of already weakened organs of
respiration, are consumed in a far higher degree than in the normal
condition of life.
As the nitrogen of the organic structures presents the greatest
resistance to the operation of oxygen, still more than their carbon,
thus it is the want of nitrogen and carbon which permits the con-
suming predominance of oxygen, and we may hence designate the
frequently occurring connection of such conditions, so long as no
pathological form has as yet developed therefrom, as the oxygenoid
constitution of the body.
This constitution of body will accordingly be distinguished chiefly,
1, by want of albuminates and fat, and especially by the energetic
consumption of oxidizable substances, wherein, 2ndly, the diminished
accumulation of the solid constituents of our body, generally connected
therewith, is to be brought into calculation, which constituents must
essentially serve to maintain a vigorous life.
The development of this constitution might and should very often
have been prevented, for, according to practical experience, it is often
nothing else than the degeneration of the hydrogenoid constitution of
children and youths protracted beyond the waking up of sexual
life. Thus, from scrofulosis not cured, a form of tuberculosis develops,
as is well known, quite as easily as from some neglected chlorosis,
because the domestic medical care did not recognize the danger, or,
at any rate, did not know how to prevent it. What, moreover, in a
268
very imperfect nanner was recognized by the professors under the
forms of anænna, leucemia, oligocythæmia, in the diseased child, but
not removed, belongs here likewise, as well as many forms known as
atrophia infantum, rachitis, difficult dentition, etc.
These patho-
logical forms the physiological school, or accident even, is able to
scatter, without, however, having removed at the same time all the
conditions of disease, though the uninformed may be deceived with
the appearance of a cure. From these forms, in later years, even the
conditions for hyperæsthesia and consumption arise.
Those who enjoy apparent health, under such conditions, feel well
or relieved in an atmosphere which is saturated more than usual with
nitrogen, even with carbon, with burnt resins and fats, with empy-
reumatic substances and the like. To a superficial consideration even,
the fact is conspicuous that such individuals frequently refuse all sorts
of animal food, as a proof that their organs can no longer elaborate in
a concentrated state what they require, and that to them, the carbo-
hydrates are more beneficial, as they offer them so many substances
slowly oxidizable.
A characteristic symptom of this constitution consists further in
this, that persons endowed therewith, hours and even days before the
weather changes from dry to moist, are uncomfortable, and, if they
happen to be sick, their condition is aggravated; also immediately
before a thunder storm, which others do not notice in the least, while
the actual fall of rain or snow removes all their pain; or, they feel
best in foggy weather or even in the fogs which arise in the forests,
especially in an atmosphere not cold, in which men with a hydro-
genoid constitution feel the worst, and thereby, as in England, may
be driven to the blackest melancholy, even to suicide.
This constitution may frequently be recognized, according to Lich-
tenstern, by ozonometry, by means of strips of paper worn upon
the breast. This very ozonometry has shown that the quantity of
ozone in our organism is entirely independent of the quantity
of ozone actually present in the open air, but on the contrary is
wholly dependent upon the individual conditions.
In the treatise of our colleague, Dr. Buchmann, "Die Hydrome-
teore," we possess a valuable statement of observations, which, in part,
touch upon this subject.
That the trophical nervous system is prostrated in this constitution,
especially in its functions, is well set forth in this treatise, though in
connection with other views, and the experiences of my own practice
correspond therewith in most instances, though not with the grounds
of classification; for the author did not then know the difference
269
between the influence of the atmosphere containing ozone and that
containing antozone, §. 99, nor the difference between the hydroge-
noid constitution, which is essentially hygroscopic, and the oxygenoid,
under the influence of which those possessing it feel the best, not in
rainy but in foggy weather. Hence he confounds, as does A. Mühry,
with his system of zymotic diseases, these two distinctions extremely
important for Therapeutics, because the ground of classification of
both was not general, but a particular one only, for the general in the
organism, lies neither in the geological nor in the meteorological alone,
but mainly in the material. Hence not all of the pathological forms
adduced by Buchmann, and said to be able to develop themselves in
the so-called sensitive bodily constitution, do according to Reichen-
bach (Reichenbach on Odic Force) belong here; nor can, in this
instance, the nervous system alone shape the judgment of the physi-
cian in practice.
On the other hand, among the diseases which may develop them-
selves upon the soil of the oxygenoid constitution, and to which Buch-
mann refers, very many hyperæsthesiæ must be reckoned, which have
not arisen from mechanical causes, and which are painful under cir-
cumstances which give them the name of "almanacs," yet have no con-
stitutional but a local significance only; many rheumatisms, moreover,
if not all; but only a few forms of hysteria, chlorosis, urticaria, hæmor-
rhages, inflammations, and several diseases of the sexual system; of
Mühry's zymotic diseases, only one form of croup, influenza, syphilis,
and some diseases from refrigeration of the cutaneous function, while
the marsh fever, variola, puerperal metritis, elephantiasis, ophthalmia
contagiosa, are also to be reckoned, it is true, with the zymotic diseases,
though they can present themselves only in hydrogenoid constitutions.
Mühry found himself induced by his micrological stand-point, to
assume still other special dyscrasiæ and diseases of more general loca-
tion, and besides these, local diseases, but these are mere peculiarities
which do not admit of a general insight into these processes.
The following facts, as already said, are particularly adapted to
throw light upon the nature of the constitution under consideration.
viz: that the loss of positive electric tension in the clouds and fogs
announces the transition to rain or snow; that the electricity of the
fogs is without exception positive; that the electrometer at the begin-
ning of a fall of rain or snow, usually indicates negative electricity;
that, not only the water in thunder storms, but other rain water also.
contains Nitric acid; that thus the state of the electric tension of the
atmosphere most unpleasantly affects such constitutions, and, the
development of the nitrous fumes brings them relief; that the elec
270
tricity of the air acts only at the outset, and at the point of equali-
zation. Hence, it arises, that this constitution frequently finds itself
unpleasantly, if not painfully, affected before and during a storm,
without coming in contact with it, because, even in violent currents
of air, the electric tension endeavors to equalize itself.
I will close this subject with the further observation, that there is
also a kind of rainy weather, during the continuance of which, patients
of hydrogenoid constitution feel better, and those of oxygenoid worse,
which seems to contradict what has just been laid down. But this
may be explained by the experience, which I at least have always had
the opportunity to make, that there is a kind of rainy weather with a
large proportion of ozone in the atmosphere, as was especially the case
in the year 1864, and this kind of damp weather can be determined,
without ozone reagents, by observing that, in such rains, the tops of
the mountains and forests do not smoke, i. e., from mountains and
trees no mists arise.
That the chronic diseases which develop themselves in this bodily
constitution rest upon exalted processes of oxidation, needs no further
explanation.
CARBO-NITROGENOID CONSTITUTION.
§. 303.
The truth of Halinemann's psora-theory is not only doubted, but as
already said, roundly denied. The manœuvres of attack hitherto used
against this theory have remained without result. The fruitful source
of all knowledge, however, is by no means to be subdivided into
skepticism and negation; it rather springs from two great domains,
from that of nature and that of intellect and history. Hence the imper-
fect views of skeptical as well as negative judgments, as regards the
subject in hand, can only be met thoroughly by striving, in our inves-
tigations of this subject, to unite the results of both domains; conse-
quently, as already said, by undertaking on the one hand the general
subordination of the phenomena of nature to the laws of nature per-
taining thereto, and by drawing the explanation of these natural
phenomena and facts from their connection with these laws, and on
the other, by not merely considering a fact as it showed itself with
the past, but as it appears at the present, so that the thought, which
originated with our ancestors may be perfected by our great-grand-
children.
271
There is, perhaps, no subject which formerly appeared more myste-
rious and inexplicable, but which at present is more fully explored,
than the course of the stars and the nature of the constellations; and
the evident certainty of this subject has become established only in
the manner just pointed out. What floated before the mind of a Hera-
clitus, Philolaus, Plato, and Aristotle as a lofty vision, has become an
exact science; and should that which was taken by the mind of a
Hahnemann as a fact, and has been recognized by thousands of prac-
ticing physicians as true, be sacrificed to the subjective views of those
who forever remain the slaves of pitiable doubt, considering, as they
do, all philosophic thought as a sort of intellectual vertigo?
I. Let us take, for example, one of the most recent opinions from
the Homœopathic literature touching the psora-theory, which may
be expressed by the following words: The young Allopath,
Hahnemann, knew the itch-mite; the psora-theory thus amounts to
faith in miracles; hence, the old Homœopath, Hahnemann, was a
mystic."
The force of this assertion rests upon the precedent proof, that
Hahnemann knew of the itch-mite; a fact which no doubt has thus
far escaped most Homœopathists. But, besides, the logical deduction
of an inference, as is well known, is based upon certain general con-
clusions already established, i. e., upon the series of conclusions, and
this again upon the fundamental maxim, that, if two bodies are
equal to a third, they must be equal to each other. But here the
first proposition even is not a general one; for the youthful age
describes only a part of Hahnemann's life; hence this proposition is
only a particular one, from which clearly no other particularity can be
deduced, as in the fallacy: the earth has inhabitants; the moon is an
earth, therefore the moon has inhabitants.
Hence, it is clear that the second proposition also, "the psora-theory,
is a mystery," on account of its derivation, can contain no well-
grounded inference, and has nothing to do with the itch-mite, and
nothing, moreover, with Hahnemann's power of judgment.
Others say again that since the itch-mite is the cause of the itch, the
psora-theory, therefore, which cannot be deduced from the itch-mite,
must be illusory. But even this conclusion waits, as yet, for the
objective validity of its proof; for, in this inference again only the
empirical observation of the itch-mite is drawn into comparison with
an idea of the psora-theory, which has nothing whatever to do with
the itch-mite, because the psora-theory is an explanation of facts,
which have arisen from the conditions of the human organism, thus
do not owe their origin to the itch-mite merely, but also to the causes
272
of the origin of the itch-mite itself, for instance, and this, even accord-
ing to Hahnemann, to sedentary habits and damp air, to which must be
added also the unhealthiness of men. Under such influences, the
itch-mite is developed, as are other vermin, although pathological
anatomy thinks itself permitted to assume that the itch arises every
time only by the transfer of the mite from one affected man to another,
according to which supposition the itch-mite even must have had an
Adam and Eve.
2.
§. 304.
All sensible perceptions come without our co-operation; they
are compulsory. Inferences, on the contrary, are products of reason,
and transcend perception. He only who observes the itch-mite has
a perceptive knowledge of it; it is empirical. It is quite another.
matter that Hahnemann, in connection therewith, observed subse-
quently, that, after the presence of the itch, numerous sequelæ followed;
for this knowledge springs no longer merely from sensible perception,
but from reflective reasoning, and includes anything mystical as little
as does the observation of the secondary and tertiary symptoms of
syphilis.
Whoever, I repeat it, made clinical studies at a time when the itch
was to be found spread over all parts of the cutaneous surface, except
the face and the genitalia, and had only been suppressed by external
means, has himself observed, in concordance with Hahnemann, very
frequently, even during this external treatment, the sudden occurrence
of fatal inflammation of the brain or lungs, diffused gout, dropsy,
etc.; at the same time, no other cause could be found for all this,
than the change of all the functions of the cutaneous surface by the
itch and its injurious treatment. Thus he had even the sensible
perception thereof, yet thought as little of pronouncing the itch-mite
the only cause and condition of these diseases, as he would declare the
operation for rectal fistula as the only cause and condition of the tuber-
culosis following it. Even if pathological anatomy is not willing to
believe in the so-called dyscrasia scabiosa, because no such case has as
yet come under its knife, neither should it believe in the indubita-
ble connection of the cicatrized rectal fistula with tuberculosis, because
it has, in this instance also, only the fact of the cicatrix and the tuber-
culosis before its eyes, and the constitutional conditions of such a
connection lie without its sphere.
All negations of the psora-theory, as we chance to read them in med-
ical literature, are, like the above, always groundless views and never
273
present a perceptive positive representation of the idea thereof, a con-
dition absolutely necessary to the corroboration of the inference. The
mere denying and doubting of a subject clearly does not lie in the
subject, but in him who is not willing to accept it.
Hence every
negation and every doubt which is not removed, ever stands as a strik
ing self-accusation of him who denies and doubts.
§. 305.
3. All our perception, on the other hand, thus even that of Hahne-
mann is relative, and hence acquired only from the relation of the
activity of an entire human life to its exterior world. From all we
know of Hahnemann's life and strife, no one is justified in maintain-
ing that his intellect had waned from the year 1792, when he saw the
itch mite, till 1822, when he published his psora-theory. On the con-
trary, his life theoretically, as well as practically, was resplendent with
uninterrupted productive activity.
As surely as man, in his natural existence, is bound to a series of
conditions for ever the same, so surely is he (in proof of his progres-
sion, not of his retrogression, in his intellectual being and doing),
always another, and of this every Homœopath presents a living exam-
ple. First, we saw in the Universities nothing but facts, floating in
mid-air, which facts the physiological school presented us without any
well-grounded theory, so that all our procedures at the sick-bed assumed
the character of the instinctive, till the irresistible craving for truth
and success had driven us to experiments, which compelled us to test
the doctrines of Hahnemann, and, since this test offered to us what
we sought, to discard the gloomy doctrines of our teachers. Have
we thereby degraded ourselves to faith in miracles? Do we not rather
follow the same course of progress as Hahnemann did when he was
led by new facts and observations, to a theory which comprises not
only the itch mite, but also a series of changes within the organism,
the beginning of which he considered himself compelled to recognize
in the well-known exanthem?
Thus let us examine, before making tabula rasa of this theory,
the material, nutritive and functional relations of the diseases and
remedies pertaining to the psora-theory, and let us prefer, for the
benefit and advantage of our science, to clear up, according to the
present stand-point of general science, whatever appears dark in this
theory, instead of rejecting it without exhaustive reasons, whereby
nothing is accomplished.
PART II.
IS
274
Here we touch, it must be admitted, upon a point which, for the
psora-theory, in its bearing upon the acquisitions of our times, might
prove to be rather disastrous. We truly observed for several decades,
not only so marked a decrease of the itch in consequence of police
regulations, that the impossibility of further injuries arising from the
quite insignificant lesions upon a few places of the skin became quite
clear to us, but also in individuals who cannot scratch themselves, by
reason of paralysis, although we find the mites and their galleries, we
do not meet with the eruption on the skin usual in former times. But
are these indeed exhaustive reasons against the psora-theory? Surely
not, for nevertheless, the same disease-forms entirely unchanged, are
wont to occur to-day which Hahnemann reckoned among the conse-
quences of the itch, and, in the midst of these corresponding facts lie
the remedies which Hahnemann declared to be anti-psorics, and with
which, to this very day, we treat and cure those very disease-forms.
Consequently, the effects of these remedies present us with the infalli-
ble reagents, by the aid of which we may learn what actually existed
in former days even.
The relation of these effects, which thus joins theory with practice,
has remained to us; it is hence the pivot about which the whole
question has to turn. If we now study these effects, we come indeed
upon uniformities which shed a new light upon the whole question,
and such a light that we can answer it conformably to the laws of
nature.
A. Sulphur is the special representative of Hahnemann's antipso-
rics. As previously stated, Dr. Böcker has taught its mode of opera-
tion, which he in general found to be this, that, under the use of
Sulphur, all the excretory organs were aroused to increased activity,
and carbon and nitrogen were excreted from the system. These
excretions are either substances no further oxidizable or products of
oxidation, and thus demonstrate the increased activity of the oxygen
produced by the Sulphur.
B. It is no less well known that there are many chronic diseases
which are actually accompanied with diminished excretion of Car-
bon and Nitrogen, as pulmonary catarrhs, exanthemata, etc., and,
we finally know, that such diseases may be partly inherited from
one's parents, partly occur as sequelæ of previous diseases, partly
arise directly from external causes which diminish the oxidation of
the blood, etc., and necessitate an accumulation of carbon and nitro-
gen.
C. Now since Sulphur can, even at the present day, cure such dis-
eases as Hahnemann reckoned among the psoric diseases, because it
275
increases the processes of oxidation in the organism, the constant
course of all these events is accompanied by causes and conditions, all
of which are governed by a definite material relation of the carbon
and nitrogen present in the body, to the oxidizing power of the
oxygen.
These correspondences, according to A., B. and C., admit thus of a
conclusion upon the fundamental maxim that, when two bodies are
equal to a third, they must be equal to each other, and we are, hence,
in condition to reduce the psora-theory to the law; that those material
causes and conditions produce such diseases as may be cured by Sul-
phur, or by such other remedies whose fundamental effects are similar
to those of Sulphur.
4. For the further establishment of what has been said, I add the
following physiological, pathological and therapeutic facts:
The blood, as we know, may contain certain quantities of oxygen
which must not enter into chemical combination, just because the
oxidation of the constituents of the blood depends upon the propor-
tion in which the excretion of carbonic acid ensues. Hence one of
the sources of the formation of carbonic acid is unquestionably to be
sought in the blood; but the carbonic acid excreted from the blood
arises, for the most part, from the substance of the organs rich in
nitrogen; the organs themselves breathe. Hence, with diminished
excretion of carbonic acid, a diminished excretion of nitrogen must
take place, pari passu, and the respiration, as is well known, is rapid,
in proportion as the blood is poor in oxygen.
For these reasons I recognize as the first constitutional results of the
causes which retard the influence of oxygen in our organism, not only
the fact that the patients feel best in the open air, that cold and
moisture produce with them no aggravation as in the hydrogenoid
constitution, but chiefly, also, in the frequency of respiration induced
and increased by the poverty of the blood in oxygen, this frequency of
respiration being frequently combined with diminished capacity of
the lungs and diminished expansion of the thorax; moreover, in
the frequency of the pulsations, proportionally and simultaneously
increased, since, with the increase of the respiration, the frequency of
the pulse also rises. Upon the whole, however, the last fact, as the
most conspicuous, first attracts the attention of the physician.
Now it is also known that a definite proportion of oxygen must be
present in the blood, because, otherwise, the irritability of the medulla
oblongata ceases, and the respiratory movements would cease; that
thus, a cause which hinders the reception of oxygen, reaches, in its
reciprocal action, to the medulla oblongata; that, finally, when this
276
irritability of the medulla oblongata has also become diminished by
quite other causes, the same result occurs conversely, hence centri-
fugally. Although the blood on one side is the natural centre of the
interchange of matter; although all substances taken into the organ-
ism from without, first of all enter into the blood; though almost all
substances to be excreted, must have been immediately before con-
stituents of the blood, and, finally the substances in almost every stage
of their transformation, which they have to pass through, in any part
of the organism, must first become constituents of the blood again,
before they can undergo a new transformation, in another place;
hence, although the blood on one side constantly contains a store of
all the materials of interchange of matter, and that, indeed, in almost
all degrees of transformation, yet, on the other hand, all the operations
of the organism come under the connecting influence of the nervous
system and its centres. This 'influence thus extends itself, not upon
the magnitude of the physical operations alone, but also upon the
amount and degree of the products of oxidation.
Hence we should consider, in the physiological, as well as patho-
logical operations of the organs of labor, the lungs, liver, etc., for
instance, not merely their specific or changed effects of motions and
forms, but also the contemporaneous kind and quantity of the products
of oxidation formed thereby; but we should consider, at the same time,
also, as already said, that by reason of the various causes and conditions
of a deficient influence of oxygen, those changed functions of the heart
and lungs ensue; a, now centripetally; b, now centrifugally.
§. 306.
From the foregoing the following, for the present, announces itself
regarding practice:
Concerning a Such patients, though they generally come to the
physician as adults, do not at all know that the number of their respir-
ations, and the force, as well as number, of their pulsations (dete-
mined by examination), for a long time, in consequence of the causes
above noted, could not have been in the proportion normal to the
formation of their bodies; since, unconscious thereof, they chiefly
complain of the most direct reciprocal effects of these functional
changes of catarrh or cough, difficulty of breathing when going up
stairs, etc., or of congestion and vertigo, unusually easy excitability or
mental depression, loss of strength, obstruction, diarrhoea, so-called
gouty pains in the head, in the face, in the neck, and in various re-
277
gions of the spinal column, of the ribs, in the arms, legs, fingers,
toes, etc.
From neglect of these phenomena, which have usually been med-
ically mal-treated for years, according to local pathological ideas and
names, without result, we then meet with more deeply penetrating
reciprocal effects thereof, such as the legion of hæmorrhoidal affections,
with cirrhosis and other affections of the liver, as the results of a man-
ner of living, depressing for a long time the interchange of matter, of
the frequent use of coffee, or alcoholic drinks, or we meet with gout,
developed in a like manner from the repressed influence of oxygen, in
consequence of which tissues containing nitrogen are no longer oxid-
ized to urea, but are excreted as uric acid; or torpid scrophulosis, with
deposits containing carbon and nitrogen, in consequence of pour
nutrition, and living in an impure atmosphere; exanthemata with
repressed excretion of carbon and nitrogen through the cutaneous
surface; asthma siccum, emphysema, various diseases of the lungs, with
hypertrophy of the heart, with dilatation of its cavities, on account
of which the exchange of gases in the alveoli of the lungs is not pro-
perly accomplished, and the blood becomes poor in oxygen, but over-
laden with carbon. From such a structural change of the heart,
follows afterwards a disease of the tension of the venous system. which
makes itself especially felt in the urinary apparatus, leading to diseases
thereof, and to dropsy, because, at the same time, there is a propor-
tionate lowering of the tension of the arterial system connected there-
with, etc. All these affections and diseases may extend their reciprocal
action even to the brain and medulla oblongata, and spread their
influence over these very organs themselves, as well as over various
regions of the conducting nervous system, first irritating, afterwards
paralyzing those parts, and thus producing hypochondria, anesthesia,
paralyses, etc.
As regards b. Those changes in the functions of respiration and
of the heart occur centrifugally, if, from previous onanism or other
sexual excesses, from suppressed intermittents and other deeply pene-
trating diseases, as cholera, typhus, etc., or from long continued care,
grief or sorrow, constant irritations of the brain and medulla oblongata,
have developed themselves, sometimes also of the cervical sympa-
thetic, or in the centre of the vagus, which irritations lead to idiopathic
diseases of these parts, to hysteria and various spasmodic affections, to
paralyses, tabes dorsalis, epilepsy, etc.
That such irritations and disease-forms have an essential effect, even
from the very outset, upon the respiration, upon the force and fre-
278
quency of the pulsations of the heart, and so alter these functions that
the excretion of carbon and nitrogen is restrained, is well known.
Hence likewise we observe, as the first sign of diseases of this kind
also (quite irrespective of the fact that in them the urine is wont to be
pale and poor in chlorides and phosphates), the same irregularities in
the functions of respiration and of the heart, followed, moreover, by
reciprocal actions within the blood and the other laboring organs, the
liver and kidneys, or the tendons and bones.
I call special attention here to a form of pulmonary catarrh with
puriform expectoration and emaciation, which, upon the ground of a
physical examination, in this case very deceptive, is almost always
confounded with tuberculosis; it arises, however, from the previously
weakened innervation of these organs, and can, at this stage, be casily
cured by Sulphur or its preparations; while under a diagnosis wnich
is directed merely according to the criteria of the physiological school,
the disease is falsely named, consequently, falsely treated, and the pa-
tient must die.
I must also mention the appearance of the pains, and all sorts of
ailments in the extreme periphery of the various nerve-centres. These
pains, sometimes joined with swelling even, are not seldom taken for
local rheumatism, and gout of the fingers, and toes, etc., and are
treated in accordance with this name, without the least benefit; they
belong, however, to the symptoms of an affection of the spinal mar-
row, already present, but still curable, though under any other than
constitutional treatment, they are incurable and fatal.
Finally, to the diseases which are wont to arise from diminished
influence of oxygen, we must add many of the zymotic forms, prin-
cipally caused by the effect of specific substances of the outer world,
which directly deprive particular parts of the organism in a specific
manner of their oxygen.
From §. 19, it is shown that many ferments possess in a high
degree a reducing power over the oxygen of the organism. To this
category hence belong, chiefly, yellow fever, cholera, typhus, scarla-
tina, measles, dysentery, gangrene, and catarrhs.
We recognize, moreover, this carbo-nitrogenoid constitution most
readily by the microscope.
Here we observe an unusually large
number of turbid, so-called, melanotic blood-cells, much sooner than,
in the hydrogenoid constitutions, the appearance of numerous white
blood-discs. The blood is richer in them on account of the suppressed
progressive metamorphosis, which is possible only in consequence of
an insufficient influence of oxygen upon the organic fluids and tissues.
279
A prick of the finger will supply a drop of blood, which, under the
microscope, will give at once the requisite information upon this point.
The objections against Hahnemann's Psora-theory, I have refuted
under the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, under which latter figure also, the series
of clinical cases belongs, beginning with §. 315; and since this work
has at the same time to meet the demand to be a medical logic set
forth by examples, I will point here to the fact that these refutations,
separated by means of figures, have been made in accordance with
the categories of quantity and quality, relation and modality. What-
ever may be said against the mathematical speculative philosophy,
only shows that our opponents have been entire strangers to these
subjects. The practical significance of the entire principle of cate-
gories is based, however, upon this, that, therein the thought upon.
every object finds general supporting points, by the aid of which it is
able to direct itself, and to exhaust the subject in all its relations.
To this, of course, we may rejoin with the words of the poet:
"Nihil cogitantium jucundissima vita est."
Thus are presented not only changes of material, but also of
nutritive and functional uniformities, partly in their primary, partly
in their secondary appearance, which accompany and distinguish all
these chronic diseases from their very origin, and from these diseases
Hahnemann's entire list of psoric diseases may be taken. Whoever
dislikes the designation "Psora" for these uniformities, let him choose.
another supported by exhaustive reasons; and until a general under-
standing thereof is gained, I provisionally abstract a designation from
those material causes and conditions which, under the given circum-
stances, constitute that state of the body to which I have accordingly
given the name of a carbo-nitrogenous.
The chronic diseases, which this bodily constitution renders possi-
ble, consist in processes of retention.
I scarcely deem it necessary, especially to remind the reader of the
fact, that, from the foregoing, the necessity of an anamnesis as com-
plete as possible becomes evident, provided it be desired to obtain a
correct diagnosis, indication and prognosis; that in order to know
and rightly judge a subject, we must know, before any investigation
of the present state, how it has developed itself.
§. 307.
From all the researches thus far made within the theoretical and
practical domains of Chemistry, Physics, etc., and from the Thera-
peutics of the present day, unhappily still in hostile opposition, though
280
really completing each other, there can be no longer any doubt regard-
ing the actual existence of three distinct fundamental characters of
general tissue- and blood-qualities, the so-called bodily constitutions,
under which all other qualities yet to be found are to be arranged,
and, upon the ground of therapeutic experiences, can be arranged.
Thus these three characters are distinguished in general, in the first
case, by an abnormal quantity of water, chiefly in the blood; in the
second case, by the increased capacity for oxidation of the organic
constituents; in the third, by the impeded reception of ozone, and the
favoring of a predominant formation or retention of carbo-hydrogenoid
substances in the organism.
It has been demonstrated that these three fundamental characters
of diseases, which must be arranged under the idea of bodily constitu-
tions, are produced either by atmospheric-telluric influences, by reten-
tions or by transfer, but it is no less certain that they may be trans-
mitted from parents to children. However, the first and second of
these fundamental characters are the least independent, as far as, for
instance, the second may be developed most frequently from the first,
although the possibility of a life-long stability must be acknowledged
for all, and hence for the first also. Both may combine with the third
and then form diseases by far the most resisting to art, and far more
so than the combinations with drugs from traditional quantities.
That we see the first, and naturally, even the second of these fun-
damental characteristics arises from a so-called sycotic or syphilitic
origin, this is so clearly demonstrated every day, in practice, that no
fear of a mistake can be entertained on this point. But, whether the
third can arise from the acarus poison, even at the present day, for this
we lack exact experiences, because, in our day we have no longer any
opportunity to observe the scabies in that intensity and to that extent,
or followed by such results as obtained in Autenrieth's and Hahne-
mann's time.
We are, however, from this lack of observation, by no means justi-
fied in throwing away the experiences of such great observers without
hesitation; for it would be erroneous to maintain that effects corres-
ponding in form could not be produced by a single cause, for this is
sufficiently demonstrated, among other things, by the Homoeopathic
law of similarity.
Hence, to these simple natural laws, the assumptions of older and
more modern practical physicians regarding psoric, sycotic, leucemic,
and other forms or specific states reduce themselves, and their still
vacillating Therapy may, at the same time, be corrected thereby.
281
Hence whoever would learn in the quickest possible manner the
most general characteristics of the three various constitutions, needs
only study the drug-provings of Copper, Iron, and Glauber's salts, and
of the other drugs of these three series, mentioned here in general,
provided he possesses that physiological and pathological knowledge
which will enable him to translate the language of these drug-prov-
ings into the language of Physiology, Pathology, and Therapeutics.
Jahr's Materia Medica probably may be the most suitable for this end,
especially when the Supplements are published.
It is quite as impossible, as unnecessary, to attempt to give, by way
of description, an insight into the characteristics of these bodily con-
stitutions; this would ever be an unintelligible and rather confusing
patch-work; for no individual bodily constitution is ever so clearly
imprinted upon a condition relatively healthy, that its quality might
be recognized without leaving any doubt. It is only in diseases that
they become so conspicuous as to enable us to establish the synthetic
comparison of the law of similarity with them. Hence the search
of physiological medicine even, after distinguishing marks of various
constitutions, was in vain; it employs for this purpose relative ideas
without meaning, such as plethoric, leuco-phlegmatic constitutions,
etc., which are without practical value.
In this connection I mention, moreover, the water cure, since it now
can no longer seem strange why it should not be used either in the
hydrogenoid or oxygenoid constitution.
I will also remind the reader of the galvanic stream, of electricity,
which likewise can be used with success only under observation of
these natural laws, if we would prevent a paralysis from terminating
in a contraction, an observation which has both been pointed out and
confirmed by Hahnemann's provings of the influence of electricity.
§. 30S.
REMEDIES FOR THE BODILY CONSTITUTIONS.
In order to complete, what to many may not have become entirely
clear, I group together those remedies which have approved them-
selves to me, as efficacious remedies, and, as I am pleased to see from
our Homœopathic literature, to other skillful practitioners.
If it is true that there is a hydrogenoid constitution, then those sub-
stances must be curative to it which prevent the influence of the water
upon the blood, and here, above all others, I reckon Glauber's salts.
Its correct indication escaped Rademacher's adherents only because
282
they will not use a "fool's dose," §. 174, while the Glauber's salts in
purgative, i. e., in their normal dose, cannot manifest that effect.
Since, in this constitution, in which frequently hydrogen seems to
have usurped the place of nitrogen, the problem is not only to dimin-
ish the influence of the hydrogen, but, where it is possible, to presei ve
at the same time the tissues rich in nitrogen, Glauber's salts recom-
mends itself all the more, as Prof. Seegen has given experimental
proof, that, by its action, the exchange of the nitrogenous tissue-
elements is considerably curtailed, the animal body becomes richer in
nitrogenous atoms, gelatine, and albuminous bodies, and that, during
the use of the salts, the elements of the body, free from nitrogen, and
especially the fatty tissues, are more freely exchanged.
If we know, further, that the alkalies essentially promote the opera-
tion of oxygen by means of the respiratory process, it is clear that, if
we compare the various localizations of the pathological processes in
these constitutions, and their specific forms, with the results of the
Homœopathic drug-provings, that even Natr. nitr., Natr. carbon,
Acetate of soda and Sal ammoniac, especially belong here. More-
over, in this series, we may mention as nutrition-remedies, Calc. carb.,
Magnes. carb., and phosph., Silicea, then, for other reasons adduced,
Iodine, Bromine, Chlorine, Nitr. ac., Natr. mur., Borax, Antimony,
Alum, Thuja, Carbo., Arnica, Aranea diad., Pulsatilla, Nux vomica
with Ipecac or Arsenic in alternation, Conium, Apis, Spigelia and
animal food.
That constitution, viz, the carbo-nitrogenous, which aside from a
relative lack of ozone, is rich in nitrogen and carbon, and indicated by
Rademacher as appropriate to the Copper series, finds in ozone or
ozone water itself, its most powerful remedy. Here also belong all
substances which expel carbon and nitrogen, and take up ozone or
transfer it to others, and excite oxygen or stand in similar chemical or
physical relation to it, viz, Copper, Phosph., Sulph., Camphor, Hepar
sulph., Sul. ac., the Sulphur alkalies, Quicksilver, Gold, Silver, Lead,
Platina, æthercal oils, Turpentine, Rhus., Dulcamara, Chamomilla,
Lycop., Bovista, Bell., even Nux vom., but given alone, Digitalis,
Hyoscyamus, Opium, Lobelia inflat.
That, finally, the bodily constitution, termed the oxygenoid, on
account of too active an influence of oxygen upon the body, has to
seek its remedies mainly in the Carbon and Nitrogen series, which
prevent the oxidation of tissues, is self-evident. Rademacher here
places Iron in the first rank. But, inasmuch as the Hydriodate of
Potash absorbs all the ozone, I should much prefer it to Iron. Here
the carbons and the alkaloids, rich in carbon, have a direct effect, as
283
Graphites, Petroleum, Kreosote, Benzoic acid, Citric acid, Acid
hydrocyan., Laurocerasus, and, chiefly for inductive reasons, Anto-
zone water, corresponding, indeed, to the iodosmone water; further-
more, Nitric acid; many so-called narcotics, especially Aconite; more-
over China, Quinine, Arsenic, but given alone, and all the metals
which are capable of suspending the process of decomposition, hence
Chromium and Kali bichromicum.
However, for reasons obvious, the law of similarity must always
decide the special indication.
The reasons why, even in the time of Cholera, ozone water was
never once experimentally used by the rulers of the state medicine,
and why ozone water, as little as antozone water, is to be found with
the apothecaries, have been sufficiently indicated.
Regarding the therapeutics of diseases arising from hydrogenoid
and oxygenoid basis, I would call attention to the contents of $$. 19
and 100; in the first case, to Guaiac tincture, and in the second, to
Sal Ammoniac, which every nervous lady now-a-days always carries
with her, at least in the form of English salts.
The species of collapse, first brought into notice by Wunderlich, a
collapse which may occur in all diseases, and not merely in those of a
consumptive nature, arises chiefly during the elevation of temperature,
constantly preceding the former, by the influence of which every trace
of Antozone in the organism is lost, but which, as is evident from
previous paragraphs, is easily restored, and that with benefit, as long
as any hope of a cure is left.
§. 309.
To every physician, to whom these subjects still appear strange, it
may seem remarkable, above all things, that, among the remedies for
the oxygenoid constitution, the carbo-hydrogenoid combinations of
the æthereal oils are not found, or, that Sal Ammoniac is not also
found among those for the hydrogenoid and oxygenoid constitutions;
or that several substances, the solutions of Iron, for example, which❤
absorb great quantities of nitrogen, belong to the oxygenoid, as well
as to the hydrogenoid list.
Regarding these questions, the dose is always decisive. Even the
followers of Rademacher acknowledge that remedies sometimes act
only in a small dose, but they give no exact reason for this, which,
however, should be discovered.
Thus, for instance, Nux vom. may be given with advantage in the
lower attenuations, 3rd to 6th, in hydrogenoid constitutions, but in
the carbo-nitrogenous only in the higher potencies, at least, the 30th.
284
That the important doctrine of the bodily constitutions has already
taken deep root in the soil of Homœopathic practice, several articles
in the Allgem. Hom. Zeitung show, and since these come from prom-
inent homœopathists, they require mention in this text-book, so far as
their contents pertain to this subject.
Dr. Egidi presents, in Bd. 68, No. 7 of the Allg. Hom. Zeitung,
an arrangement of remedies according to the various constitutions,
which remedies I have already included in the above enumeration, so
far as I have found these properties verified in my own practice. The
rest can be found in the place just given.
Dr. H. Gross, in Barmen, thus expresses himself in the Allg. Hom.
Zeitung, Bd. 68, No. 17:
"v. Grauvogl's fundamental laws are declared unpractical by men
of the most opposite views; by some, from dogmatic stubbornness;
by others, because it seems inconvenient to them to make their pre-
vious arbitrary procedures dependent upon steadfast laws. If the
latter knew how much labor would be spared them by Grauvogl's
works, they surely would study them in their own interest; for the
constitutional fundamental characters alone make it possible to gen-
eralize, up to a certain degree, without becoming untrue to Homœop-
athy. As epidemic constitutions, they must be very important for
judging and treating climatic diseases in all countries of the globe.
They enable us to cure a complicated constitutional disease by a sin-
gle remedy.
"In acute diseases, the genius epidemicus is to be ascertained. Here
the carbo-nitrogenous and the oxygenoid constitutions can be very
easily discerned; the hydrogenoid, with more difficulty, which, how-
ever, in recent times, appears more rarely; in order to recognize it,
continuous meteorological observations undoubtedly offer the greatest
aid."
The much-esteemed author will permit me here to interpose the
brief remark, that this assertion, as far as I can judge from my practice,
does not hold good. Since the year 1859, that is, since, in Nurem-
berg, the Pegnitz became so low, on account of the continuous dry
summer, that the bed of the river was visible, and the fishes per-
ished, the hydrogenoid constitution has been especially developed on the
banks of the river. This dryness seems to have been accompanied,
in other places also, with the same causes and effects, since, even in
France, complaints have been heard for a long time about the uncom-
monly frequent occurrence of intermittents, and, still more, about
their so-called masked forms.
Dr. Gross proceeds:
285
4
"In chronic diseases, the genius epidemicus is, aided by the law of
similarity, to be considered less than the individual constitutional char-
acter of the disease (dyscrasia) given. Rademacher has sometimes
used test remedies, in order to learn the character of the disease, a
manœuvre which could be permitted only to so great a talent for
observation. We, Homœopathists, to whom the choice of the remedy
is made easy by the sim. sim., will scarcely be tempted to use a test
remedy. On the other hand, we may occasionally avail ourselves,
with benefit, of the therapeutic diagnosis ex nocentibus. When, for
instance, a remedy, chosen according to the law of similarity, corres-
ponding exclusively to one particular constitution, leaves the disease
unchanged, or even aggravated, then the assumption is warranted,
that the given disease excludes the pathological character in question,
and hence belongs to one of the two other constitutions.
From these relations, it is clear, among other things, why syphilis
(carbo-nitrogenoid mercurial constitution), so long as it has not assumed
the character of sycosis, is aggravated by Iron (oxygenoid constitu-
tion) sea-bathing, and anti-phlogistic salts (hydrogenoid constitution),
but not by Nitric acid; because this pertains not exclusively to the
hydrogenoid, but also to the carbo-nitrogenoid constitution. These
exclusive effects of some drugs militate against the possibility of a
carbo-nitrogenoid and a hydrogenoid constitution being active, at the
same time, in the same organism.
A body may be electro-positive to another body, and electro-nega
tive to a third. Thus a drug may be similar, or related, as regards
one side of its effects to a second, and, as regards another side of its
effects, to a third body, totally different from the second.
The case is not very different with the relations of the remedies for
the constitutions demonstrated by v. Grauvogl, since it happens, not
seldom, that one and the same remedy belongs to two, and even three,
of the classes. In the meantime, we need not fear that, by so relative
a bearing, all benefit of these categories will be lost to practice. The
size of the dose often decides.
There is a method of treating diseases of the heart, or chlorosis,
which, by repeated small venesection, quasi-homœopathically, seeks
to work upon the ambition of the organism, and to excite it to normal
action and blood-making. In quite similar manner is the carbo-nitro-
genoid constitution excited by carbo-hydrogenoid remedies, æthereal
oils, etc., in minimal doses, to increased reception of oxygen; while
the oxygenoid constitution, corresponding to Iron, requires the same
carbo-hydrogenoid (and carbonic) remedies, in more material doses,
286
because they have to operate in this case, in a certain measure,
as contraria.
Thus, it appears even that to the carbo-nitrogenoid constitution,
ozone and all remedies which contain an acid, must be given in not
too small doses, because they must supply, nutritively, the lacking
oxygen.
The Nitrate of silver, in the high potencies, corresponds to the
Nitrum class, but in the lower attenuations, to the class of Sulphur
and Copper, from which latter it is, however, sufficiently distinguished
by the character of deficient re-action, as well as by the influence of
spirituous drinks, of the warmth of the bed, of the clothing, and the
pressure of the clothes.
Arsenious acid belongs to all three classes, yet predominantly to the
sycotic, (Ferrum, Nitrum); here, also, the law of the simile must help
to guide us, and, among other things arising therefrom, the benefit
becomes evident when drugs have been proved, not only in material
doses, but also in the high potencies.
In the diseases of the Nitrum constitution, losses of fluids, hæmor-
rhage, etc., are well borne (addition of water badly borne) less in the
Sulphur constitution, and least of all in that of Iron. If the latter is
induced by the genius epidemicus, then we generally observe pure air
with positive electricity, accelerated respiratory movements, crethism
of the nervous system. The Iron constitution contrasts hence with
that of Sulphur and Copper, but might easily be confounded with
the constitution of Saltpetre, which also belongs to sycosis. The
Saltpetre diseases, however, as already stated, are distinguished from
the Iron diseases by the beneficial effect of the loss of water (or
blood) which sometimes is manifested by thickening of some of the
intestines (hydrates); sometimes in Saltpetre diseases even, we find,
simultaneously, a predominance of venosity, which at once excludes
the Iron constitution.
It seems to me somewhat venturesome to infer the hydrogenoid
character of disease, from an oedema, since, with remedies of another
character (Sulph. Puls. Ferr), ædema is likewise not infrequent.
It is very probable that every rapidly and radically curing simile
corresponds at the same time to the constitutional character of the
disease in question; yet, in the present state of our knowledge, we
are not always conscious of it.”
These are utterances, to the correctness of which I can testify, on
the strength of many years' experience, and, for their confirmation, 1
have thought it useful to quote the concurring experience of a colleague.
Thus it happens, that one case of glandular disease, for example,
287
must be cured with Iodine, another with the Iodide of iron only;
a third only with Iron, a fourth only with Natr. sulph; but, in the
school, all these various forms, the same only to superficial and crude
empiric observation, are considered as essentially the same, to the great
injury of practice. In connection with that etiology, the insight into
the bodily constitutions supplies that biology, which prescribes to us
the laws, according to which now this, and now that substance,
must be exhibited in a given case as a remedy, and this insight
we gain in the manner indicated.
§. 310.
While on the ground of theoretical and practical studies, I have
referred to a material basis the three fundamental forms which
Hahnemann found himself obliged to adopt in connection with his
law of similarity, there exists still another reason of perception (ratio
cognoscendi), for a further indication, aside from the indication
according to the law of similarity, although confirmed thereby.
When, for instance, according to any therapeutic schema, §. 259,
we give Mercurius in Syphilis, Thuja in Sycosis, Sulphur in Psora,
in order to extinguish all these chronic diseases, we clearly proceed
regarding the first step, no longer, as in the first days of Homeopathy,
in accordance with the law of similarity alone, but according to this
law in connection with recollections and experiences touching the
necessary connection of cause and effect, just as Allopathists do in
their expectation of similar cases. A difference lies, however, in this
also, that we work with qualitative causalities only; that with the
quality of Mercury we endeavor to remove the quality of syphilis
according to the law of the reciprocal causalities, etc.; but not with
quantitative causalities; that, for example, we do not attempt to treat
a hyperemia with corresponding quantitative depletions of blood; a
hyperemia of the liver with large doses of purgatives.
The category of indication has thus become changed, since it
accommodates itself, to the relation of well-known material causes and
conditions, and presupposes the confirmation according to the law of
similarity. The very same holds good regarding the indication accord-
ing to the bodily constitutions, or the three Hahnemannian funda-
mental forms of chronic diseases.
If we consider now those indications which Rademacher's school
has established in its three specific states, or, epidemic constitutions,
and which it has followed with success, we shall find precisely the
same in our own school, with the single exception, that Rademacher's
288
school (as does the physiological) connects with its indications the
idea, that war must be declared quantitatively against diseases, and, it
is this circumstance which always stands in the way of its prosperity,
because it wrests from its hands a number of the most brilliant suc-
cesses, which it should also attain according to its own indications, if
it would so regulate its dose, that its remedies might always produce a
constitutional effect undisturbed; if it, in brief, would do justice to its
indications with homeopathic doses.
In addition to this, the observation of Rademacher and his follow-
ers is correct, that a remedy often cannot be dispensed with for a long
time together. Thus, for two whole years, I could accomplish noth-
ing, without the Nitrate of Silver, in most pathological forms, and, it
is only within a month, that this powerful effect of Argent. nitr. has
passed away, and its indication has almost entirely disappeared in my
practice. But why? Because the law of similarity and the condi-
tions accompanying diseases according to Hahnemann, led me to the
indication of Arg. nitr.; while now there is not a trace of it any longer
to be observed. During that time there raged, here at least, epidem-
ically even, the Typhus recurrens, commonly called "Genick krampi,”
(cramp in the neck), and the Arg. nitr. was in my hands the greatest
remedy beyond comparison, with the use of which I lost but three
out of thirty-nine most severe cases, not reckoning, of course, the two
fatal cases which I was obliged to take from other hands, when they
were past cure; a success which was quite incomprehensible to my
opponents, §. 4, and so annoyed them that they descended even to
public utterances of insults, ridiculous charges and calumnies, which,
however, the sound sense of the public visited with a suitable verdict.
It redounds also to the greatest honor of my friendly opponents in the
homœopathic camp, that they endorsed, without further proof, these
subjective views, which do not contain the least scientific counter-proof
(vide, neue Zeitschrift für Hom. Klinik, July 1st, 1865), and I have
long ago left it to their pleasure to declare, as they are wont to do, a
priori, and à tout prix, all my labors useless and injurious, as long as
it may please their skepticism and dogmatism.
Dr. Fischer observed, as appears from the last Transactions of the
Central Verein of Homœopathic Physicians, that, in his practice in
Basle, and vicinity, Copper and Nicotiana procured the most favora-
ble results in typhus recurrens. Not only in view of §. 288, but also
because such highly esteemed Homoeopathists knew how theoretically
to study and practically to profit by Rademacher's indications, I can-
not well neglect to give a general resumé of the subject, for which, an
extract from the work of Dr. Gottfried Latz upon the treatment of the
289
chief pathological forms, presents a suitable opportunity, even though
it were merely for the sake of the necessary comparison.
I will only remark, that, according to his Terminology, the first
specific state corresponds to the Natrum, the second to the Copper,
the third to the Iron series, and refer also in this connection to §. 243.
§. 311.
DISEASES OF THE BRAIN.
"Under diseases of the brain and spinal marrow we understand
such as have their seat, primarily, in these organs, or in their imme-
diate vicinity, in such a manner as to exert a very considerable reflex
influence upon the organs mentioned; consequently we reckon here
such diseases even as do not receive, in the usual nomenclature, the
name of disease of the brain or spinal marrow, and which are gener-
ally arranged under rheumatic, nervous and gastric affections.
I. If those diseases are pathological forins under which the first
specific state appears, then of the remedies of the first series, Nitrum
is especially indicated.
II. If they are pathological forms, under which the second specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the second series, there are
specially indicated:
1. Of the remedies in a more restricted sense, Cuprum, Tartar
Emetic, Zinc, Arnica; Cuprum with Arnica; Tartar Emetic with
Arnica.
2. Of the narcotics; Stramonium, Aqua amygdalarum amara-
rum, Nicotiana — Opium.
3. Of the remedies in a more restricted sense in connection with
narcotics: Cuprum with Opium, Cuprum with Stramonium, Cuprum
with Aqua amygdalarum amararum, Cuprum with Tinctura nico-
tianæ, Ipecac with Stramonium and Opium, Zinc and Opium, Zinc
with Stramonium.
4. The special excitants are here like the general excitants. As
regards them, we have hence to refer to the exciting method.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state appears, then, of the remedies of the third list,. we have
specially indicated, Ferrum and Sulphuric acid. For the sake of
brevity, we mention at the same time the transition remedies among
those remedies to which they chiefly incline.
PART II.
19
290
IV. If they are pathological forms under which the combination
of the first and second specific state occurs, then, for simultaneously
combating these states, we find indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the first series with remedies
of the second in a more restricted sense, Nitrum with Tartar emet-
icus, Nitrum with Arnica; Sal ammoniac with Tartar emetic.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the first series with narcotics.
Nitrum with Stramonium, Nitrum with Aqua amygdalarum amar-
arum.
V. If they are pathological forms under which the combination of
the third and second specific states occur, then, for simultaneously
combating these states, we find especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the third series with remedies
of the second series, in a more restricted sense: Ferrum with Arnica.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third series with nar-
cotics: Ferrum with Opium, Ferrum with Stramonium, Ferrum with
Aqua amygdalarum amararum, Ferrum with Nicotiana, Ferrum with
Stramonium and Opium.
3. Of the combination of remedies of the third series with excitants:
Ferrum with Valerian, Ferrum with Camphor.
DISEASES OF THE SPINAL MARROW.
I. If they are pathological forms under which the first specific state
occurs, then, of the remedies of the first series we have especially
indicated, Nitrum.
II. If they are pathological forms under which the second specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the second series we have
especially indicated :
1. Of remedies in a more restricted sense: Cuprum, Tartarus emeti-
cus, Turpentine.
2. Of narcotics: Aconite, Strychnia, Extract of Nux vomica, Aqua
amygdalarum amararum, Opium.
3. Of the combination of remedies in a more restricted sense with
narcotics: Cuprum with Opium, Cuprum with Aconite, Cuprum
with Aqua amygdalarum amararum, Tartar emetic with Aconite,
Tartar emetic with Aqua amygdalarum amararum, Tartar emetic
with Opium, Ipecac with Aconite, Ipecac with Aconite and Opium.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the third series, are specially
indicated: Ferrum, Acid sulphur.
291
IV. If they are pathological forms, under which the combination
of the first and second specific state occurs, then, for simultaneously
combating these states, there is especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the first series with remedies
of the second series in a more restricted sense: Nitrum with Tartar
emetic, Sal ammoniac with Tartar emetic.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the first series with narcotics:
Nitrum with Aconite, Nitrum with Aq. amygd. amar.
3. Of the combination of the remedies of the first series with reme-
dies of the second series in a more restricted sense, and narcotics:
Nitrum with Tartar emetic and Aconite.
V. If they are pathological forms, under which the combination of
the third and second specific state occurs, then, for simultaneously
combating these states, are especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the third series with remedies
of the second, in a more exact sense: Ferrum with Turpentine, Fer-
rum with Ipecac.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third series, with nar-
cotics: Ferrum with Opium, Ferrum with Aconite, Ferrum with
Extract of Nux vomica, Ferrum with Aq. amygd. amar., Ferrum
with Aconite and Opium.
DISEASES OF THE
PRINCIPAL
NERVES PROCEEDING FROM THE
BRAIN AND SPINAL MARROW.
As regards these diseases, the same holds good as was said touching
diseases of the brain and spinal marrow.
DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY ORGANS.
I. If they are pathological forms under which the first specific state
occurs, then the remedy which is chiefly indicated from the first series
is, Sal ammoniac.
II. If they are pathological forms, under which the second specific
state occurs, then, from the remedies of the second series, there are
specially indicated:
1. Of the remedies in a more restricted sense: Tartar emetic, Sul-
phur auratum antimonii, Radix ipecacuanha, Rad. senegae, Myrrha,
Sulphur.
2. Of the narcotics: Digitalis, Hyoscyamus.
3. Of the combination of remedies in a more restricted sense, with
narcotics: Tartar emetic with Digitalis; Sulphur auratum with Digi-
talis, Sulph. aur. with Hyoscyamus; Tart. emet. with Hyos., Tart.
292
emet. with Opium; Ipecac with Digitalis, Ipecac with Opium, Ipecac
with Digitalis and Opium.
4. Of the special excitants: Lobelia, Benzoic acid, Liquor ammo-
niaci succinici.
5. Of the combination of remedies in a more restricted sense, with
special excitants: Ipecac with Lobelia; Sulphur aurat. with Benzoic
acid; Senega with Liquor ammoniaci succinici.
III. If they are pathological forms, under which the third specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the third series, there is specially
indicated: Ferrum.
The spiritus ferri chlorati æthereus is not borne by some patients,
and, with such especially, increases the cough. Various bitter vege-
tables, as Tussilago, Marrubium and the like; Lichen islandicus.
IV. If they are pathological forms, under which the combination
of the first and second specific state occurs, then, for simultaneously
combating these states, there is especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the first series with remedies
of the second, in a more restricted sense, Sal ammoniac with Tartar
emeticus, Sal ammoniac with Ipecac, Sal ammoniac with Senega.
2. Of the combination of the remedies of the first series, with nar-
cotics, Sal ammoniac with Digitalis, Sal ammoniac with Hyoscyamus.
3. Of the combination of remedies of the first series with those
of the second, in a more restricted sense, and narcotics, Sal ammoniac
with Tartar emetic and Digitalis.
V. If they are pathological forms, under which the combination
of the third and second specific state occurs, then for a simultaneous
treatment of these states we have especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the third series with those
of the second, in a more restricted sense, Ferrum with Myrrh, Ferrum
with Ipecac, Ferrum with Senega.
2. Of the combination of the remedies of the third series, with
narcotics, Ferrum with Digitalis, Ferrum with Opium, Ferrum with
Digitalis and Opium.
3. Of the combination of remedies of the third series, with
special excitants, Ferrum with Lobelia, Ferrum with Benzoic acid,
Ferrum with Liquor ammoniaci succinici.
It is especially to be remarked that with
DISEASES OF THE LARYNX,
which here accommodate themselves almost to all the remedies, Cup-
rum is to be mentioned, aside from the remedies of the second series
in a more restricted sense.
293
DISEASES OF THE HEART.
I. If they are pathological forms under which the first specific
state occurs, then the remedy of the first series especially indicated is,
Nitrum.
II. If they are pathological forms under which the second specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the second series we have espe-
cially indicated:
1. Of the remedies in a more special sense, Tartar emetic.
2. Of the narcotics, Digitalis.
3. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense, with nar-
cotics, Tart. emet. with Digitalis.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the third series there are especially
indicated: Ferrum, Acid sulph, Acid phos.
IV. If they are pathological forms under which the combination
of the first and second specific state occurs, then for treating both of
these together we have especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the first series with remedies
of the second series, in a special sense, Nitrum with Tart. emet.
2. Of the combination of the remedies of the first series, with
narcotics, Nitrum with Digitalis.
V. If they are pathological forms under which the combination.
of the third and second specific state occurs, then, for the simultaneous
treatment of these states, there is especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of the remedies of the third series, with
the remedies of the second in a special sense, Ferrum with Ipecac.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third series with narco-
tics, Ferrum with Digitalis, Ferrum with Opium, Ferrum with Digi-
talis and Opium.
ANGINA MEMBRANACEA.
ANGINA FAUCIUM ET PHARYNGEA.
I. If it is a pathological form under which the first specific state
occurs, then of the remedies of the first series we have especially
indicated, Nitrum, Sal ammoniac.
II. If it is a pathological form under which the second specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the second series, there is espe-
cially indicated:
1. Of the remedies in a more special sense, Tart. emet.
2. Of the narcotics, Opium.
294
III. If it is a pathological form under which the third specific
state occurs, then, to meet both of the conditions at the same time,
there are indicated of the remedies of the third series, Ferr. is especially
indicated. If we desire a substitute for Iron, the vegetable astringents
are indicated above all.
IV. If it is a pathological form under which the combination of
the first and second specific state occurs, then, to meet both of these
conditions at the same time, there are indicated: Nitrum with Tartar
emetic, Sal ammoniac with Tart. emetic.
V. If it is a pathological form under which the combination of
the second and third specific state occurs, then, to meet both of these
at the same time, there are especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the third series with rem-
edies of the second, in a special sense, Ferrum with Ipecac.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third series with Nar-
cotics, Ferrum with Opium.
The treatment of Mumps, Angina parotidea, is the same.
DISEASES OF THE GASTRIC ORGANS.
A. Diseases of the Gastric Organs in which the Stomach suffers
most prominently.
I. If they are pathological forms, under which the first specific
state occurs, then, from the remedies of the first series, we have
especially indicated: Natron carb., Kali acet., Natron acet.
II. If they are pathological forms under which the second spe-
cific state occurs, then, of the remedies of the second series we have
especially indicated:
1. Of the remedies in a special sense, Magisterium Bismuthi, Mag-
nesia, Carbonate of Lime, Magist, Bism. with Magnesia.
2. Of the narcotics, Tincture of Nux vomica, Bell., Opium, Tinct.
of Nux vom. with Opium.
3. Of the special excitants, Ginger, Galangal root, Aromatic pow-
der, Aromatic tincture, etc.
4. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense, with Nar-
cotics, Magist. Bismuth, with Bell, Mag. Bism. with Opium.
5. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense with special
excitants, Mag. Bism. with Magn. and Pulvis aromaticus.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the third class there are especially
indicated: Ferrum, Vegetable bitters with Centaury, Polygala, Trifo-
lium, Absinthe, etc., Acid sulph., Acid phos.
295
IV. If they are pathological forms under which the combination
of the first and second specific state occurs, then, to meet these states
at the same time, there are specially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the first class with Narcotics,
Natron carb. with Tinct. of Nux vom., Natron or Kali acet. with
Tinct. of Nux vomica.
V. If they are pathological forms under which the combination
of the second and third specific state occurs, then, to meet both of
these at the same time, there are indicated, of the combination of
remedies, lege artis:
1. Of the combination of drugs of the third class with Narcotics,
Ferrum with Tincture of Nux vom., Ferrum with Bell., Absinthe
with Tinct. of Nux vom., Ferrum with Opium.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third class, with special
excitants, Ferrum with Aromatic tincture.
B. Diseases of the Gastric Organs in which Diarrhea is the most
prominent symptom.
I. If they are pathological forms under which the first specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the first class are specially indi-
cated: Sal Ammoniac, Nitrum, Natron carbon.
II. If they are pathological forms under which the second specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the second class are specially
indicated:
1. Of the remedies in a special sense, Ipecac, Plumb. acet., Aqua
Calcis.
2. Of the narcotics, Opium.
3. Of the special excitants, Spices, as Cassia cinnamom.; Cinnam.
acutum, Mace, etc.
4. Of the combination of remedies in a more special sense with
narcotics, Ipecac with Opium; Plumbum. acet. with Opium.
5. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense with special
excitants, Ipecac with Cassia cinnamomea; Plumb. acet. with Mace.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the third class, are specially
indicated: Rad. Columbo, Rad. Ratanhia, Kino, Catechu, etc.; Fer-
rum, Acid mur., Alumen, Red wine.
IV. If they are pathological forms under which the combination
of the first and second specific state occurs, then, to meet these
states simultaneously, there are specially indicated: Sal Ammoniac
with Ipecac, Nitrum with Ipecac, Natron carb. with Ipecac.
296
V. If they are pathological forms under which the combination
of the third and second specific state occurs, then, to meet these two
conditions at the same time, we have especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of the remedies of the third class with rem-
edies of the second class, in a special sense, Ferrum with Ipecac.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third class with narcot-
ics, Ferrum with Opium; Catechu with Opium; Columbo with
Opium.
3. Of the combination of remedies of the third class with special
excitants, Ferrum with Cassia cinnamomea; Kino with Cinna-
momum acutum.
C. Diseases of the Gastric Organs, in which neither that condition
given under A nor that under В exists.
I. If they are pathological forms, under which the first state occurs,
then, of the remedies of the first class, there are especially indicated,
Natron carbon, Sal ammoniac.
II. If they are pathological forms under which the second specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the second class, there are
especially indicated,
1. Of the remedies in a special sense, Magnesia, Carbonate of lime,
Asafoetida, Turpentine.
2. Of the narcotics, Tincture of Nux vomica, Belladonna, Opium,
Tincture of Nux vomica with Opium.
3. Of the special excitants, the Carminatives, (Anise, Fennel,
Mint,) etc.
4. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense with narcotics,
Tincture of Nux vomica with Asafoetida.
3. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense with special
excitants, Asafœtida with Carminatives (for example, after the man-
ner of the Aqua asafoetidæ composita).
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the third class, there are
especially indicated the vegetable bitters, as Trifolium, Centaureum,
Absinthe, etc., Ferrum, Acid sulph., Acid phosph.
IV. If they are pathological forms under which the combination of
the first and second specific state occurs, then, to meet them both at
the same time, we have indicated:
Of the combination of remedies of the first class with Narcotics,
Natr carb. with Tincture of Nux vomica.
297
V. If they are pathological forms under which the combination
of the third and second specific state occurs, then, to combat both of
these states at the same time, of the compound remedies, we have
indicated:
1. Of the combination of the remedies of the third class with those
of the second in a special sense, Ferrum with Turpentine, Ferrum
with Asafoetida.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third class with Narcotics,
Ferrum with Nux vom., Ferrum with Belladonna, Ferr. with Opium.
Absinthe with Tincture of Nux vom.
3. The combination of remedies of the third class with special
excitants takes place where we take as the solvent of a bitter extract,
the distilled water of a carminative.
DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS.
I. If they are pathological forms under which the first specific state
occurs, then, of the remedies of the first class, there is especially indi-
cated: Natron carb.
II. If they are pathological forms under which the second specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the second class are specially
indicated:
I. Of the remedies in a special sense, Aqua Calcariæ, Turpentine,
Balsam Copaiva.
2. Of narcotics, Opium.
3. Of the special excitants, Cantharis, Coccionella.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
states occurs, then, of the remedies of the third class, are especially
indicated: Ferrum, Acid sulph, Acid phosph.
IV. If they are pathological forms under which the combination
of the third and second specific state occurs, then, to combat both
these conditions at the same time, by artistic combinations, there are
especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of the remedies of the third class, with
remedies of the second in a more special sense, Ferrum with Tur-
pentine, Ferr. with Bals. Copaiva.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third class with narcotics,
Ferrum with Opium.
DISEASES OF THE BLADDER.
I. If they are pathological forms under which the first specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the first class are specially
indicated: Sal ammoniac, Nitrum.
298
II. If they are pathological forms under which the second specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the second class are especially
indicated: Aqua calcis, Balsam copaivæ, Iodine, Cuprum.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the third class, Ferrum and
Acid sulph. are especially indicated.
IV. If they are pathological forms under which the combination
of the third and second specific state occurs, then to combat these two
conditions, at the same time, Ferrum with Bals. copaivæ, Ferrum
with Iodine are chiefly indicated.
GONORRHEA.
I. If it is a pathological form under which the first specific state
occurs, then of the remedies of the first class, Nitrum is especially
indicated.
II. If it is a pathological form under which the second specific state
occurs, then, of the second class the remedies especially indicated are:
1. Of the remedies in a special sense, Cuprum, Bals. copaivæ, Tur-
pentine, Kali hydriodicum.
2. Of the narcotics, Tinct. of Nux vomica, Opium.
3. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense with narcotics,
Cuprum, with Opium.
III. If it is a pathological form under which the third specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the third class, Ferrum is
indicated.
IV. If it is a pathological form under which the combination of
the third and second specific state occurs, then to combat these two
states, at the same time, there are especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of the remedies of the third class, with rem-
edies of the second class in a special sense, Ferrum with Balsam cop-
aivæ, Ferrum with Turpentine, Ferrum with Iodine.
2. Of the combination of the remedies of the third class with nar-
cotics, Ferrum, with Tinct. of Nux vomica, Ferrum with Opium.
DISEASES OF THE TESTES, NON-SYPHILITIC.
I. If they are pathological forms under which the first specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the first class, Nitrum is espe-
cially indicated.
II. If they are pathological forms under which the second specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the second class are especially
indicated:
299
1. Of those in a special sense, Kalium iodatum, Iodine, Cuprum.
2. Of the narcotics, Opium.
3. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense with narcotics,
Cuprum with Opium.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the third class, Ferrum is espe-
cially indicated.
IV. If they are pathological forms under which the third and
second specific state are combined, then, to meet both these condi-
tions at the same time, there are especially indicated
1. Of the combination of the remedies of the third class with those
of the second in a special sense, Ferrum with Iodine.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third class with narcotics,
Ferrum with Opium.
NON-SYPHILITIC DISEASES OF THE FEMALE GENITALIA.
I. If they are pathological forms under which the first specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the first class, Borax and Nitrum
are specially indicated.
II. If they are pathological forms under which the second specific
state occurs, then, of medicines of the second class, there are especially
cially indicated:
1. Of those of the second class in a special sense: Cuprum, Tur-
pentine, Galbanum, Iodine; Cuprum with Galbanum.
2. Of narcotics: Crocus, Opium.
3. Of the special excitants: Castoreum.
4. Of the combination of remedies in the special sense, with nar-
cotics: Cuprum with Opium.
5. Of the combination of remedies in the special sense, with special
excitants: Galbanum with Castoreum.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the third class, Ferrum and Acid
sulph., are especially indicated.
IV. If they are pathological forms under which the combination of
the third and second specific state occurs, then, to meet both these
conditions at the same time, we have especially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the third class with those of
the second, in a specific sense: Ferrum with Turpentine, Ferrum with
Galbanum, Ferrum with Iodine.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third class with narcotics:
Ferrum with Crocus, Ferrum with Opium.
300
3. Of the combination of remedies of the third class with special
excitants: Ferrum with Castoreum.
DISEASES OF THE OUTER SKIN AND OF THE
SERO-FIBROUS
MEMBRANES.
Under this rubric we comprehend the rheumatic and gouty affec-
tions and cutaneous eruptions.
A. Acute form.
I. If they are pathological forms under which the first specific state
occurs, then, of the remedies of the first class, Nitrum and Sal ammo-
niac are specially indicated.
II. If they are pathological forms under which the second specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the second class, are specially
indicated:
1. Of the remedies in a special sense: Tart. emet., Cupr., Ipecac.
2. Of the narcotics: Aconite, Opium.
3. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense, with narcotics:
Tart. emet. with Aconite, Tart. emet. with Opium; Cuprum with
Aconite, Cuprum with Opium; Ipecac with Aconite, Ipecac with
Aconite and Opium.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the third class, Ferrum is
especially indicated.
IV. If they are pathological forms under which the combination of
the first and second specific state occurs, then, to combat both these
conditions at the same time, we have specially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the first class with those of
the second, in a special sense: Nitrum with Tart. emet.; Sal ammo-
niac with Tartar emetic.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the first class with narcotics:
Nitrum with Aconite; Sal ammoniac with Aconite.
V. If they are pathological forms under which the combination of
the third and second state occurs, then, to combat these conditions at
the same time, we have specially indicated:
1. Of the combination of remedies of the third class with those of
the second, in a special sense: Ferrum with Ipecac.
2. Of the combination of remedies of the third class with narcotics:
Ferrum with Aconite, Ferrum with Opium, Ferrum with Aconite
and Opium.
301
B. Chronic forms.
I. If they are pathological forms under which the second specific
state occurs, then, of the remedies of the second class, there are
especially indicated:
1. Of the remedies in a special sense: Cuprum, Kali iodatum,
Iodine, Species lignorum, Antimony, especially Stibium sulphuratum
nigrum lævigatum, Mercurius, the compounds of Mercury with
Antimony, Aqua calcis, Fowler's solution.
2. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense, with narcotics;
Cuprum with Opium; Mercury with Opium.
II. If they are pathological forms under which the third specific
state appears, then, of the remedies of the third class, Ferrum is
specially indicated.
III. If they are pathological forms under which the combination
of the third and second specific state appears, then, to combat these
two conditions at one time, Ferrum with Iron is specially indicated.
N. B. The treatment detailed under A, is chiefly suitable for
rheumatic-gouty affections; that under B, for chronic (dyscratic) dis-
eases of the skin. One would seldom feel inclined to combat rheu-
matic-gouty affections with the energetic remedies given under B,
although these remedies are suitable. By rheumatic-gouty affections.
we understand, however, the rheumatic-gouty diseases seated in the
sero-fibrous membranes; the neuroses, strictly speaking, we do not
bring into this category, and still less the vast number of diseases to
which the attribute of "rheumatic or gouty" is ascribed, in order to
designate these by their ætiological cause.
DISEASES OF THE NERVES.
These are partly diseases of the brain and spinal marrow, appearing
under peculiar symptoms, and partly diseases of the principal nerves
proceeding from the brain and spinal marrow, or, thirdly, diseases of
separate organs and series of organs, with predominant affection of
the animal sphere. These various species, however, frequently run
into each other.
Nervous diseases are frequently periodical, and then we have
often to deal with a two-fold evil, with the attack and the totality of
the disease. Thus it is with Asthma, Epilepsy, etc.
In other cases the disease of the nerves sets in, in such a manner,
as to appear in the sense of the former species, in form of an attack,
but no second attack follows, so that, consequently, the attack at the
302
same time forms the totality of the disease. This is the case, for
example, with Colic, Fainting, etc.
The treatment of diseases of the brain, of the spinal marrow and of
the principal nerves proceeding therefrom, we have already learned.
The peculiar symptoms, under which the first appear, according to
circumstances, do not change the treatment in any way whatever.
The diseases of separate organs and series of organs with predom-
inant affection of the animal sphere, are treated partly like other
diseases of these organs, and series of organs, and, partly, like dis-
eases of the brain and spinal marrow, accordingly as one or the other
is more affected, and finally as a combination of the two.
The attacks are treated, partly with universal excitants, partly with
large doses of special excitants, partly with Opium.
DISEASES OF THE BLOOD.
They seldom appear as isolated diseases, and generally go hand in
hand with the diseases of organs, or series of organs, either arising
therefrom or occasioning them.
The chronic diseases occasioning diseases of the blood are very
frequently pathological forms under which the third specific state, or
even the combination of the third and second specific state occurs.
Upon the whole they have probably a general therapeutic relation to
the plants of the family of the Cruciferæ, as is supposed to be the
case, especially, as regards scurvy.
A. Hæmorrhages.
As regards the specific treatment, it makes, as a rule, no difference
whether the disease sets in with a hæmorrhage or not. We treat
cough with bloody expectoration, as a disease of the organs of respi-
ration, vomiting of blood as a disease of the gastric organs, etc.
Regarding hæmorrhages, we have the indication sometimes to check
them. Here, we use the remedies of the third class, and those which
form the transition from the third to the second class.
We can, in
most cases, accomplish very much with Acid sulph., or the Acid
sulph. cum opio, in large doses. The sequelae of losses of blood are
treated in the same manner as we treat the results of too copious
venesections.
B. Chlorosis and Amenorrhæa.
In some cases these depend upon diseases of the genitalia; in other
cases upon other diseases, as, for instance, gastric diseases. In still
other cases, both these conditions obtain. The treatment is governed
303
according to the difference between these cases. In the first, we use
remedies which correspond to the discases of the genitalia; in the
second, means which correspond to the concrete disease, to the gastric,
for example; and, in the third, remedies which correspond to both.
C. Hæmorrhoids.
The usual hæmorrhoidal disease is a disease of the gastric organs,
and is so to be treated. Deviating from the normal type, it develops
also into diseases of other organs, as, for instance, of the lungs, the
bladder, etc.
D. Morbus maculosus Werlhoffii and Scurvy.
These are generally pathological forms, under which either the third
specific state, or the combination of the third and second state occurs.
In the first case Iron and China are specially indicated; in the latter,
Acids.
Against scurvy many plants from the family of the cruciferæ are
especially recommended, as, for example, Cochlearia, Sysimbrium,
Thlaspi, etc. They have already been mentioned. I must now
acknowledge that I do not exactly know under what remedies I shall
bring them. Are they transition remedies from the third to the second
class?
DROPSY
Is, in some cases, as regards the special curative method, symptom-
atic, i. e., it accompanies other diseases, and disappears under their
proper treatment. In other cases, however, it holds an independent
position as regards the above-mentioned relation, i. e., it does not dis-
appear under the appropriate treatment of the disease with which it
goes hand in hand; or again, no disease can be found of which it
could be said that the dropsy had any symptomatic relation to it. As
regards the first cases, we refer to the treatment of the concrete accom-
pany disease. As regards the latter cases, we can only state, in terms
quite general, a few remedies.
I. If the dropsy is a pathological form under which the first specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the first class, Nitrum and Natron
carb. are chiefly indicated.
II. If it is a pathological form under which the second specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the second class, Turpentine and
Cuprum are chiefly indicated.
III. If it is a pathological form under which the third specific
state occurs, then of the remedies of the third class we have especially
indicated, Ferrum, Acid sulph.
304
IV. If it is a pathological form under which the combination of
the third and second specific state occurs, then, for combating both
these states at the same time, Ferrum and Turpentine are especially
indicated.
HELMINTHIASIS (WORMS IN THE INTESTINAL CANAL.)
Anthelmintics, i. e., such remedies as partly kill the worms directly,
partly expel them, cannot be reckoned among the specific remedies.
By means of the specific curative method, we only contend with
those diseases which accompany the presence of the worms; some-
times, however, in this manner, we effect a radical cure. In the
above-mentioned relation, we have to contend especially with gastric
and nervous diseases.
SCROFULA.
Against external scrofula, the same remedies avail as against chronic
eruptions on the skin. The treatment of internal scrofula depends
upon the organs and series of organs affected; the treatment of the
internal disease to which the scrofula has joined itself, is appropriate.
DISEASES OF THE BONES.
Their treatment is the same as that of the chronic eruptions.
SYPHILIS.
This presents a pathological form under which, as a rule, the second
specific state appears; we find, therefore, indicated:
1. Of the remedies of the second class in a special sense, Mercury,
Kalium iodatum, Cuprum, Species lignorum; the combination of
Mercury with Antimony.
2. Of the combination of remedies in the third class in a special
sense with narcotics, Cuprum with Opium, Mercury with Opium.
NERVOUS FEVER.
FEBRIS NERVOSA, ASTHENICA.
If we define Synocha, as a potentized Synochus, we may, in an
approximately similar manner, consider the febris nervosa, as a general
rule at least, a depontentized synochus. There are natural nervous
fevers and artificial. The former are the disease and plagues known
as Lazaretto fever, typhus, putrid dysentery, putrid fever, etc. The
latter are the products of medical art, or rather lack of art.
They
305
arise from other fevers, if these fevers are improperly treated or neg-
lected. These nervous fevers are by far the most frequent, and my
experience has been confined chiefly to them. They appear sporadi-
cally, but may also very well appear epidemically where many indi-
viduals are exposed to the concrete medical art, or rather lack of aft.
Untimely emetics, purgatives, and venesections are ever active recruit-
ing officers for such nervous-fever recruits.
If the nature of a concrete, depotentized synochus attaches to the
nervous fever, the treatment of a synochus is also suitable for the nerv-
ous fever. If, on the other hand, the nature of a concrete synochus
does not cleave to the nervous fever, then we must depend upon the
principal topical phenomena accompanying the fever, and with regard
to them, we must follow the treatment for those pathological forms
of which they present the most prominent symptoms. For both
cases, the following is to be particularly observed:
1. The nervous fever is seldom a pathological form under which
either the first specific state by itself, or the combination of the first
and second specific state occurs.
2. Of the remedies of the second class the special excitants are par-
ticularly indicated.
We will frequently have the opportunity, in the cure of nervous
fevers, to abandon the specific method and select the exciting method.
We frequently also have the opportunity to combine these two
methods.
eases.
HECTIC FEVER. FEBRIS LENTA, HECTICA.
With regard to the fevers previously treated of, the fever, as such,
accompanies acute topical diseases; here it accompanies chronic dis-
The febris lenta, as such, does not come up for treatment, but
only the chronic disease which is accompanied by it. If we succeed
in mastering this, the fever disappears of itself. The diarrhoea which
so often associates itself with those diseases, which have developed
into a hectic state, and which is generally considered as a character-
istic symptom of hectic fever, is to be treated as any other diarrhoea.
That it, in the most cases, however, presents no pathological form
under which the first specific state occurs, is evident from the nature
of the subject.
INTERMITTENT FEVER.
The treatment of fever and ague is in general divided into three
parts:
PART II.
20
306
A. The suppression of the febrile attack.
B. Treatment of the attack.
C. Prevention of a return of the fever.
A. The Suppression of the Attack.
Intermittent fever, in its totality, is a pathological form under which
the third specific state chiefly occurs. Very frequently, also, the
second specific state is associated therewith, and, in such a manner,
that the disease either presents a pathological form under which the
combination of the third and second specific state occurs, or, a form
in which these states are more isolated, yet near together, and hence
the one following the other. In this latter case, indeed, instead of
the second specific state, the combination of the first and second also
occurs.
If the peculiar combination of the third and second specific state
occurs, we can avail ourselves of the combination of the remedies of
the first and second class.
But we can also proceed against each state by itself. In this latter
case, we must, as a rule, attack the second specific state before the
third. Frequently, both methods can be so combined that we com-
mence with the attack upon the second specific state, and afterwards
follow it up with combinations of remedies of the third and second
class.
If the two specific states occur side by side, then we treat them
separately. Here, also, the second specific state, as a rule, is to be
treated first, and then the third.
If, in place of the second specific state, the combination of the first
and second occurs, this combination is, generally, met with combina-
tions of remedies of the first and second class; not till this has been
accomplished is the treatment of the third specific state undertaken.
The remedies of the third class must be used in the apyrexia, before
the attack, not during its course.
Not so very seldom the intermittent fever presents a pathological
form under which the second specific state appears by itself. On the
other hand, it rarely presents a pathological form under which the
first pathological condition appears alone.
I. If the intermittent is a pathological form under which the second
specific state appears, of the remedies of the second class there are
especially indicated:
1. Of the remedies in a special sense: Tart. emet.; Sulphur aura-
tum antimonii: Cuprum; Arsenic; Sulph. auratum with Carbonate
of Lime.
307
2. Of the combination of remedies in a special sense with Nar-
cotics: Tart. emet. with Opium; Cuprum with Opium.
II. If it is a pathological form under which the third specific state
occurs, of the remedies of the third class, are especially indicated the
China-Alkaloids, Quinine and Chinoidine. The many other remedies
of the third class which are recommended are far inferior to these.
However, they are by no means absolutely indispensable, as the med-
ical world is unfortunately too much inclined to consider them; we
mean in so far as they develop their efficacy as remedies of the third
class. If one considers their efficacy against fever, in general, then
truly, no other remedy whatever approaches them; but then, also,
their secondary property falls very heavily in the balance. China-
Alkaloids as febrifuges of the third class, and China-Alkaloids as
febrifuges in general, i. e., inclusive of their specific secondary proper-
ties, are two very different things. He who knows how to handle
specific remedies needs them only in the first relation, and in the latter,
but exceptionally. On the other hand, to him who does not know
how to handle specific remedies, they must be welcome in any way
whatever, let them operate as they may, since they are indispensable
to him, by reason of their specific secondary properties.
III. If it is a pathological form under which the combination of the
third and second specific state occurs, there are especially indicated :
1. The combination of the China-Alkaloids with some of the rem-
edies noticed under I., such as Quinine with Sulphur auratum; Qui-
nine with Cuprum; also the combination of the China-Alkaloids with
Opium.
2. The combination of China-Alkaloids with such remedies as
correspond to the chief phenomena presenting themselves during the
paroxysm (primo loco) and the apyrexia (secundo loco). Hence, by way
of example, where these chief phenomena are prevailingly gastric,
China-Alkaloids with Tincture of Nux vom., or with Belladonna, or
with Magisterium Bismuthi, where they are prevailingly cephalic,
China-Alkaloids with Stramonium or with Zinc, etc.
IV. If it is a pathological form under which, on one hand, the third
specific state, and on the other the combination of the first and second
occurs, then, to meet these we must choose, of the combinations of
remedies of the first and second series, such as correspond to the prin-
cipal phenomena presented by the paroxysm and apyrexia. Thus we
should, for example, where these phenomena were prevailingly gas-
tric, give Natr. Carbon, with Tincture of Nux vom.; where they are
more cephalic, Nitrum with Stramonium, Nitrum with Aqua Amyg-
308
dal. amar.; where they are rather cephalico-gastric, Natron carb.,
with Stramon, Natron carb. with Aqua amygdal. Amar, etc.
V. If it is a pathological form under which the first specific state
appears, of the remedies of the first class, Natr. carbon is chiefly to
be recommended.
B. Treatment of the Paroxysm.
A treatment thereof, per se, is usually not necessary. If, however,
it should become necessary, by reason of urgent symptoms, the treat-
ment must correspond with that pathological form which the par-
oxysm represents.
C. Prevention of a Return of the Paroxysm.
In certain districts, and with certain occupations of the patients, this
is a very difficult task.
If a remedy of the second class has checked the intermittent, then
it is often advantageous to give Quinine afterwards, and vice versa, if
Quinine or a China-Alkaloid compound has checked the fever, it is
often very advantageous to give afterwards a remedy of the second
class. In other cases, again, it is better to persist, for some time, in
the use of a remedy which has given relief, or in the use of remedies
from the same class or classes which have brought relief.
If one pur-
sues this course, then, when China has checked the paroxysm, we
have to pursue the following course:
1. We persist, for a while, in the use of an efficient China-Alka-
loid, or an efficient China-Alkaloid combination.
2. On the days on which the suspended fever may be expected to
return, for the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first time we give Quinine.
3. We give Iron.
4. We give Iron in combination with those remedies with which
we have previously combined the China-Alkaloids, so far as the Art
of Pharmacy does not forbid such a combination, in which case, in
place of the selected remedy, we must use some analogue. For
example, if we have previously given the China-Alkaloids with
Stramonium, we should now give Ferrum with Stramonium; if we
have previously given China-Alkaloids with Tinct. of Nux vom., we
should now give Ferrum with Tinct. of Nux vom., etc. If the
China-Alkaloids have been previously given with Zinc, the pharma-
ceutic art forbids to give Ferrum with Stramonium, or Ferrum with
Aqua Amygdal. amar.
309
5. The previous course is followed, but we add, to the combination
selected, a China-alkaloid. Thus we obtain such combinations as
Ferrum, Chinoidin, and Tinct. of Nux vom., etc.
6. Iron is given with China-alkaloids.
7. Other remedies of the third class are given, as Trifolium,
Absynth, etc., either alone or several in combination.
Note: Many, chiefly nervous diseases, take sometimes the intermit-
tent type, and then, not seldom, yield to such a treatment as would be
suitable for an actual intermittent."
§. 312.
It is true that the foregoing does not show an exact correspond-
ence between Hahnemann's doctrine and Rademacher's; yet, so sur-
prising a correspondence, that a union of the two systems must
necessarily take place at some future day. As regards the Homo-
pathic school, it should now likewise establish, both by experience
and demonstration, that often one remedy for a long time proves itself
to be indicated and curative in the most varied pathological forms, and
the reason why this has not as yet been acknowledged on all sides,
must certainly be attributed to the circumstance that, but the smallest
number of Homeopathists consider it their duty to make a study of
the concomitant circumstances, and generally deem Hahnemann's
advice to pay especial attention to these concomitant circumstances,
a mere caprice.
In short, it is clear that the study of the doctrines of these two
practical physicians, though not belonging to any professorial guild,
but accustomed to think independently, should be with the same earn-
estness recommended.
Let skepticism and dogmatism rise up against this, as it may seem
good to them, for we can ever meet them with the undeniable truth,
that in science there is no pope, and that the right of free inquiry
is, and ever will be, its most sacred banner.
The whole of Rademacher's obscure indication is made clear in our
so-called concomitant circumstances. What Rademacher must seek
in the change of his so-called epidemic constitution, and at the cessa-
tion of the action of his remedies, by accident only, after various experi-
ments upon the sick, this our law of similarity and the concomitant
circumstances therein contained permits us to see, especially in the
extent which I have above mentioned, and found confirmed in prac-
tice, for they enable us to cast the knowing glance of the diagnostician.
upon the character of the individual constitution.
310
Hence, Homœopathy, as a rule, can dispense with experiments upon
the patients, nor need it have any fear of Rademacher's intercurrent
diseases.
It may nevertheless happen that we are losing the bond of com-
parison between disease- and drug-forms in some cases, and that
indeed, not infrequently, on account of the insufficiency of the former.
If, then, the law of similarity can no longer enlighten us, for want of
given causes and conditions, if we are not able to subordinate the
phenomena to it and to use it as a clue, what then? Then we must
be content, from the knowledge of the historic connection of events.
to have in readiness a conclusion according to the expectation of
similar cases, and to throw ourselves into the arms of empiricism, so
long as experiment can give us no exact explanation touching the
causal change of diseases according to time. That this will at some
future time be the case, admits of no doubt; but, for the present,
Rademacher's method alone helps us out of this dilemma, for which
reason an example illustrating this subject may follow.
I was lately called to a man, 51 years of age, who only complained
that, for the last three days, he had suffered from an increasing head-
ache in the forehead, extending itself over the vertex and occiput, but
having its chief seat in the temples. At the same time, he suffered
with loss of appetite; besides these subjective phenomena, there were
literally no objective phenomena of any pathological importance to be
discovered. The patient had never been sick before, except that, six
years ago, he had an attack of gout, which lasted seven weeks, and
subsequently, in spite of medical aid, had disappeared spontaneously.
He had not yet withdrawn from his occupation, that of a toy-maker,
but now found himself unable to work any longer. The only thing
noteworthy besides, was the circumstance that every day, at about
4 P. M., his headaches reached the highest pitch.
For the indication according to the law of similarity alone, too
many elements were evidently lacking, to enable one to eliminate from
it that which was contingent.
Under such circumstances, we are necessarily to consider that we
ought never to forget to keep our eyes constantly upon the connection
as to time, the connection of past events with the following; for only
the quality of the general leads us with certainty to the quality of the
particular.
It was just at the time at which the Typhus recurrens had hardly
ceased to rage here, and with it disappeared in all diseases also the
symptoms for which, according to the law of similarity, Argent. nitr.
had to be given, which remedy had rendered me such brilliant results.
311
On the other hand, several pathological forms had already appeared,
in which, according to the law of similarity, Copper was indicated.
Although now I did not have, in this case, according to the law of
similarity, the least point of support to give Copper, yet, for the lack
of every other clue, than that offered by the expectation of similar
cases, I was obliged to prescribe it, and, on account of the organ
affected, in alternation with Nicotiana. So Cuprum 6, and Nicotiana
3, were given through the day in hourly alternation.
Who, that has not had the same experience, so as to know that the
result was not accidental, but the effect of the remedy, can imagine
my astonishment, when, on the next day, all these insufferable pains
had disappeared from his head, blown away as it were, or, as if they
had never been, while, on the other hand, on the next day, after
having taken each remedy twice, the Podagra announced itself on
the right great toe by fever, swelling, injection and acute pains?
The patient now thought he should be content if he could leave his
bed again in six or eight weeks. Under the continued use of these
two remedies, the gout wandered the next day to the right ankle, the
following day again to the right knee, causing sleepless nights on
account of severe pain. A dose of Opium, on the fourth night,
induced sleep, and under the continued use of Cuprum acet. and
Nicotiana the patient was relieved of all his pains on the sixth day,
and returned the next day to his work again.
No doubt this cure took place according to the principle of sim.
sim., but this principle alone did, for reasons mentioned, not lead with
certainty to the right and indubitable indication.
Thus, to consider and judge diseases from a naturo-philosophical
stand-point, in all their relations, §. 288, must be announced as the
prime principle of every Therapeia!
How little consideration does the physiological school bestow upon
such deeply-reaching reflections. Its Therapy is a plaything, the use
of which one can teach every child in a very short time. A little
physiology, a bit of Chemistry and Physics, and above all, its patho-
logical Anatomy, constitute its whole knowledge, and with this glitter
it garnishes its therapeutic impotence, and gains, though unjustly,
honor, glory and praise from all its pupils, great and small, young
and old.
One may well wonder why these laws of chronic diseases also, and
their cure, were not known long ago, since chemistry, many years ago,
discovered the four fundamental constituents, Hydrogen, Carbon,
Nitrogen and Oxygen in the atmosphere, in which we bathe as in our
vital element; these very constituents being at the same time the fun-
312
damental elements of all parts of our bodies, a fact from which, surely,
the obvious conclusion presents itself, that, beyond a doubt, the
so-called constitutional and hence general diseases, which are described
as chronic, may often arise merely from a minus or plus of the four
fundamental substances. In fact, this has often been felt instinctively;
but the attempt to base pathology and therapeutics thereupon, has
always proved a failure, because men find it so difficult to renounce
doctrinal ideas once embraced, and supposed, even in this question,
that, because Chemistry has discovered four fundamental substances,
therefore there must be four fundamental forms of bodily constitu-
tions, no more, no less, although practice was always found to contra-
dict this supposition. This arises from the elasticity of the mind
which has grown old prematurely, as is so often the case, and thus
seeks to fetter practice by theory. This constrained method of think-
ing comes, however, from the hindrances which, in our day, are
opposed to free inquiry, even in the domain of science, and which
are maintained with all rigor, for even the mind can habituate itself
to such rules as well as the body.
Those have been in all times the most honored, and will be
handed down to posterity as the most celebrated, in whose career the
protection of free scientific inquiry forms the brightest jewel. Now-
a-days this seems to be no longer sufficient. Formerly we were told,
"To every one his own." Now, almost every author makes good the
assertion, "No right above mine;" and, although this motto may not
be enforced by actual warfare, it is yet aimed at, according to the old
maxim: "Divide et impera." Hence, all the strife of medical par-
ties is only a strife pro domo, and, in a scientific view, those cannot
prosper who are ready to admit any other leading principles for the
execution of theoretical investigations and practical experiments, than
those of the eternal laws of nature. They struggle upon a soil upon
which the truth is not born; hence not worth the contest. In every dis-
pute there can be but ONE truth; this, however, cannot be found with
leading principles which do not have the truth of a law of nature for
their leader; for only the law of nature is practical. The substance
of a practical perception, however, no individual can produce for him-
self, since the greatest part existed already before him. To strive
onward now, as well as in the future, is commendable; but practice
has developed itself within the confines of medical history. The life
which we see before us on a small scale, is unrolled in its grand
dimensions, and no experience of the past ought to be assaulted unless
a compensation, equally great at least, is offered. This is so little
acknowledged by the Ephemerides, that they make themselves merry
313
over the history of medicine. These Ephemerides can never compre-
hend how one could seek knowledge, light, freedom in other things,
than those in which they seek it themselves. How high this ill-
grounded radicalism thinks itself ascending with every step which it
takes in any domain; how contemptuously it looks down upon the
past, I have repeatedly had opportunity to show; but its acquisitions
have remained null. Only under the guidance of the history of medi-
cine, and as one keeps himself informed of the theoretical and practi-
cal efforts of each party, will he enjoy the pleasure of being able to
separate the true from the false.
Prof. Bazin has lately been led, by his observations at the sick-bed,
to reduce all chronic diseases to three forms, scrofula, gout, and
syphilis, from which, he thinks, all other pathological forms originate.
Thus, this idea of three fundamental forms does not cease, as yet, to
occupy scholars; a proof that something of the kind must exist. Yet,
they never get any farther than the idea, and no one considers that
disease-forms are composite events, which can have no general basis,
since they themselves have still to be reckoned among the specialities.
As long as the medical mind is not sufficiently mature, to be able
finally to turn away from such ideas, which do not offer any positive
point of support whatever; as long as it does not comprehend that a
higher, simple generality must lie at the bottom of all combinations;
as long as the material elements of the combination remain disre-
garded, on account of imaginary nosological types, so long Homœo-
pathy will enjoy no general recognition. Indeed, there still are Home-
opathic physicians even, i. e., physicians who appropriate to themselves.
that name, without comprehending its purport, who do not shrink
from designating such ideas as rational. They lack the capacity of
judgment, sufficiently developed; for they do not even know the circle
within which Bazin and his follower, Pidoux, move.
§. 313.
THE EXAMINATION OF THE PATIENT.
In this text-book we have proceeded by the setting forth of ex-
periences and facts, according to the course of the natural develop-
ment of the human mind, first from the particular to find the general;
then this general has been established, by which they are controlled;
and now it is necessary, from this firmly established general, to return
to the judgment of specialities in practice, in order to show how far
they arise from, and find their explanation in, the general; for, before
314
we can think of a result at the sick-bed, we must know, from the
general, a priori, what must happen; without this, there would be
no diagnosis, no indication and no prognosis which were not the
subject of doubt and contingency. How could I, by the observation
of special cases, be able to comprehend all the changes to which they
are subject, if I did not know, beforehand, what causes and conditions
are necessary to their origin and disappearance?
The Homœopathic examination of the sick, as has become clear
from the previous paragraphs, goes much further than that of the
physiological school; for the latter, with all its physical, auscultatory,
chemical, anamnestical inquiries, does not suffice for the establishment
of a rational diagnosis, indication, and prognosis.
He who has not been instructed therein, can never make an exhaust-
ive examination of a patient, and, to this I add the following words
from the highly interesting essays of Dr. Bruckner, in Basle, (Allg.
hom. Zeit'g, Bd. 71): "Such an examination, however, demands,
above all other things, that the physician should have stored up in
his memory all these characteristic constitutional symptoms, otherwise
he will but too easily overlook them; at the same time, they can be
found in our Repertories only with difficulty, or not at all. But every
one who takes pains to cure, and, lege artis, to find the most appro-
priate remedy, has surely often enough convinced himself that, if he
had not already committed to memory, the symptoms decisive in the
choice of remedies, he most certainly forgot to inquire, more minutely,
as regards those very momenta, which would have been important,
for the choice in a given case. For this reason, only those intimately
acquainted with Materia Medica can be really successful practitioners."
As regards relapses, I must also call attention to other concomitant
circumstances, which show that the examination of the patient must
be often carried still further than the case in hand might seem to
require.
To this I add a few examples such as occur daily, always in an
isolated form too, and may be easily imitated.
For a cold in the head, as it is called, produced by an accidental chill,
I have found Arsenic indicated for a long time, and have given it in the
30th decimal attenuation, with the directions to put ten or fifteen drops
of it into half a pint of water, and to take a tablespoonful three or four
times a day. The results were and thus far always have been the
same. The cold in the head was entirely removed in twenty-four or
at the most, in forty-eight hours. But I told the patients that as often
as they were taken with cold in the head, with catarrh, they should
pursue the same course at once. Now the further result is that they
315
have several times had catarrh with cold in the head, but every time
less severe, and now they can expose themselves without harm to
chills, even when their bodies are heated and perspiring. One of
these patients, indeed, assured me that in his earlier years he had never
experienced injurious results from such chills, and now, first, after
thirty years, in consequence of this treatment, had again the same
pleasurable sensation that his body would resist these injurious influ-
ences in such a degree as if he had become young again, while for a
long time past he had been obliged to protect himself against every
draught with the greatest care, since otherwise he experienced at once
the premonitions of pneumonia, from which he had suffered twice;
this was now no longer the case.
This inclination of the organism to take cold on slight exposures,
belongs no less to the circumstances accompanying a disease, and
must be removed.
In the so-called clergyman's disease, in the hoarseness of preachers
and military officers, arising from long preaching and giving orders,
I always order Arnica tincture, four or five drops in half a pint of
water, a teaspoonful taken twice a day, with the directions to pursue
the same course in case of a return of the disease. The result was
quite as favorable as with the patients with cold, and was more highly
valued, because, with this continued hoarseness, the pursuit of their
calling was rendered almost impossible, for, upon every new attempt
to preach or to command, the hoarseness of the voice just removed
had returned again; every time after using the remedy, however, the
hoarseness disappeared earlier than before, and now these gentlemen
can preach and command louder and longer than before, and that
without getting hoarse for a moment.
Now they are really to be declared and considered as cured,
SS. 27, 288.
Thus in Homœopathy, we improve the constitutional deficiencies
and protect against the influence of previous injurious influences, con-
sequently also against the production of a host of subsequent diseases
and against such as without improved constitutions, might have
developed still further.
§. 314.
The task of Therapeutics thus far unfolded in many directions will
now be made apparent by further practical examples. In so doing,
it will be taught, at the same time, how the contents of the Homeo-
pathic special Pathologies and Therapies, committed to us of late
316
through the excellent works of a Kafka and Baehr, may be used with
profit according to the general principles of Homœopathy, for the
skillful Homœopathist feels the need of the elaboration of special
Pathologies and Therapies far less, since attempts of this kind, no
matter how carefully prepared, will never be able to exhaust all
specialities.
However, for the beginner, who, before he takes up the study of
Homœopathy, must have passed through the studies of the univer-
sity, and consequently is prepossessed with the dogma of physiological
medicine, these works have accomplished all that lies within the realm
of possibility; he will be spurred on by them always to seek, in them,
the general, by which the specialitics are conditioned; he will learn
by them, that, in Homœopathy, all the knowledge can ever be
found which every physician of every school needs, and besides this,
moreover, a correct Therapy which every other school lacks.
This observation leads me to refer to a remarkable law of the
human mind, which I think is nowhere fully discussed, but which
nevertheless for the knowing of one's self is one of the most important
conditions for the physician as regards the practice of his calling, and
even for the management of a comprehensive examination of the
patient.
There are, for instance, among us men born as analyzers, while
others are born as synthetizers; and so much so, that we very rarely
find these two modes of perception united in the same man; and
yet, by this personal contrast, all the disputes in art and science are
occasioned, consequently also, the individual capacity of comprehension.
The proclivities of the involuntary, i. e., the born analyzers, can
never be harmonized with those of the involuntary synthetizers,
unless one or the other has become conscious that he is laboring
under one or the other of these shortcomings peculiar to himself,
which must induce him, if he is prudent, to strive with all his moral
force to render more perfect his proclivity, by appropriating to him-
self the ideas of the other.
The analyzer cares only for details, and follows these into their
very deepest depth, and, naturally, without ever finding the satisfac-
tion desired; for him, there is no oneness, no point of rest, and the
endlessness of detail expects of him and urges him to seek new oppor-
tunities for new investigations, from which he ever issues with the
comfortless conviction, that he knows nothing yet, but has learned that
he is farther from his goal than ever before; for the difficulties of
arriving at truth have increased, with every discovery from experi-
ment. For he only calls for perception, ex post, since only the sen-
317
sually perceptible object possesses for him validity, susceptible of proof
In this endeavor he discovers only new predicates belonging to objects;
but all connection of these objects with others escapes him entirely.
The other, the involuntary synthetizer, likes best to draw his details
from others, who occupy themselves with them. He finds within
himself no great inclination to go into detail. On the contrary, he
ever seeks for the whole, under which every detail is possible and
necessary; he seeks after stable laws of nature for every particular, in
order to subordinate them to these laws, and then learn how they are
begotten and born. No speciality has for him any value, so long as
he cannot connect it with the laws of the whole, of which every
special case is a part, and explain it from these laws. Experience is
to him only that perception by which he learns its necessary connec-
tion with other positive perceptions. Hence, he desires perceptions a
priori, in order to form decisions upon every object before it is pre-
sented to his view; but this tendency often leads him to fruitless
speculations, if he is not, at the same time, as earnest an analyzer.
Hence, only with such a synthetizer who considers all events, and
knows how methodically to change the circumstances of the experi-
ment, it can have become a necessary want to complete his original
tendency by that of the analyzer, and to comprehend and penetrate
all subjects according to quantity, quality, relation, and modality; but
never to the analyzer, who guided by his humor and the character
of what he has accidentally learned, resigns himself to experiment,
and remains an unconquerable empiric.
This distinction may also be considered as a definition of the pres-
ent difference between Allopathy and Homoeopathy. Decisions, ex
post, and primitive experiments on the sick, characterize Allopathy or
the so-called physiological medicine of the Universities; while
Homœopathy never abandoned itself to primitive experiments upon
the sick, but undertook experiments upon the well, and, by these,
acquired laws, according to which all events at the sick-bed must
occur just as it teaches, and no otherwise.
This uniting of Analysis and Synthesis, in the therapeutic proce-
dures of Homeopathy, lends it its unimpregnable might.
Even in the first part of this Text-book, I have narrated several clin-
ical cases out of my practice, but they all together do not teach how, in
every single case, that generality is to be found, according to which
they have terminated, because they were to avail only as examples for
separate laws of Homœopathy; for it would detract from the useful-
ness of a text-book to confound the doctrine of the parts with that
of the whole.
318
Hence all the clinical cases thus far presented, were to serve only
for an explanation of the special laws of Homœopathy, and thus for
practical confirmation. It is our object now also to show, by further
practical examples, how, from the speciality of the single case, one
can recognize the general laws, according to which it has been
brought about, and to which we have to conform in our Therapeutics
This is the object of the examination of the patient.
Hence now only examples of the most varied forms of disease wil.
follow, in order to show that they belong, nevertheless, to a single
genus, that the examination of the patient presupposes the study of
the homœopathic differential diagnosis, that of the accompanying cir-
cumstances, and that of the various bodily constitutions, and that this
requires infinitely more knowledge than finds a home with the phys-
iological school.
§. 315.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF THE CARBO-NITRO-
GENOID CONSTITUTION.
As in the clinical case, §. 265, so also in those which now follow,
the symptoms which have been obtained from provings with Argent.
nitr. upon the healthy, are given in italics for more convenient
notice, in order that the beginner may the more readily learn prac-
tically the influence of the law of similarity upon the indication.
Only the concomitant circumstances of the patient, which lead to the
diagnosis of the bodily constitution are not indicated by italic type;
that may be left to the beginner for his own instruction.
I choose here, as examples, no cures by Sulphur, but by a remedy,
which, in its fundamental effects, is similar to Sulphur. Moreover,
one of the constitutional effects of Sulphur is already practically set
forth in the clinical case, in §. 251.
In the Index, I was obliged to indicate each one of these clinical
cases by the name in use in the physiological school. Of course I set
no value upon the name; but for the sake of reference, I was obliged
to avail myself of this superficial means.
J. L., a police officer, fifty-four years old, complained that, for a
year past, he could no longer satisfy his passion for hunting, because,
when ascending a hill or upon moderately rapid motion, he loses his
breath. He stated that he is a hæmorrhoidarius, had already taken
many powders and pills, which relieved him, at most, for a day or
two, and that now, his digestion is so impaired by having taken them
319
for years, that, for many months he has suffered from loss of appetite.
Previously corpulent, he is now emaciated, and has to complain of
a constant anxious feeling in the region of the heart, periodical pains
in the abdomen, tenesmus, burning hæmorrhoidal tumors, and urgency
to urinate. He was most alarmed by the frequent vertigo and the
weakness of the whole of the left side of his body. He had a prema-
turely old look, ashy-pale color of the skin, the tongue was coated
white, the taste unpleasant, the region of the liver sensitive to pres-
sure, though no enlargement of the liver could be discovered. No
blood or mucus was passed with the stools. Respiration 26; Pulse
10S; Palpitation of the heart; no cough; the respiratory murmur
scarcely audible in several places; only on the upper part of both
lungs it was dry, vesicular and manifestly more acute. When
requested to draw a deep breath, he did it without pain, but with so
little elevation of the thorax, with so small a quantity of air being
inspired, and without being able to keep his breath for any length of
time, that it was clear that the capacity of the lungs was much dimin-
ished. The hands trembled; the sleep was short and he awoke often
with attacks of suffocation. Discharge of wind upward or down-
ward always brought relief. He lived very moderately and regularly
as long as he could remember. Soup, meat, vegetables, milk, coffee
and two glasses of beer a day were his food. He walked two hours
every day in the open air, and never smoked.
The use of Coffee was forbidden, and Nux vom. was provision-
ally given, once a day, for eight days, then set aside eight days, and
so on.
Every eight days he thought he was feeling better, ¿. e., only in
general, for all his complaints still continued, though in a less degree.
Four weeks later, at 2 A. M., he had a violent attack of asthma,
more violent than ever; according to his statement, in consequence of
a cold; it was midsummer. Arsenic 10, two or three drops to be
taken every two hours. After three hours, he was quiet again, but
there was still violent palpitation and short respiration. Arsen. 10
once a day. After six days he returned to his occupation again, since
his respiration had become easier.
Now I gave him, for reasons stated, Sulph. 30, in a single dose.
A better sleep ensued, and more appetite, and he felt stronger. But
after another four weeks he still had no real inclination to work; was
also tormented with anxiety, although not so often with vertigo, yet
with confusion of the head and constipation — the latter always
aggravating all his complaints.
320
For the next six weeks everything remained much the same. But
now he earnestly begged for something against the constipation; for
after two or three days without an evacuation, there regularly returned
again more weariness, and more trembling of the hands; then, also,
more sleeplessness and disgust for all labor; heaviness and stupefac-
tion in the head, especially the occiput; eructation and a sense of con-
striction in the bowels, as if tightly girt about by a band, which had
chiefly set in since the last asthmatic attack. The urgency to urinate
also set in more frequently, while he suffered from obstruction; the
palpitation and difficulty of breathing increased, as well as the sense
of weakness of the left side of the body, and the left arm became then
as heavy as lead.
Thus Sulphur appeared not to have been indicated; the improve-
ment was too trifling.
In view of the proving of the Carlsbad springs by Dr. Porges, I
thought best to advise the patient to take, every morning, half a tea-
spoonful of Carlsbad salts, in half a pint of water.
This advice was followed for two weeks, when suddenly, for the
first time, a hæmorrhoidal bleeding ensued, and that with great relief
of all the complaints. It did not continue long, however. With the
spontaneous cessation of these hæmorrhages, during which no remedy
was taken, the previous ailments returned again. Thus I troubled
myself with this man for over a year, and had to ccnfess to myself
that nothing worth mentioning had been accomplished, although the
patient was content.
That here the blood-life was the first diseased, certainly will admit
of no doubt, and quite as little that the insufficient nutrition of the
nervous system, thence arising, produced, at last, the conditions which
must arise from the change in the functions of the brain and spinal
marrow thereby produced. This much is true, that, with this man,
the whole interchange of substance was impeded by insufficient oxi-
dation, and among those remedies which are able in any way to
increase the influence of the oxygen upon the system, I found but
one, which, at the same time, could be indicated according to the law
of similarity even, viz.: Argent. nitric.
Just here, however, I add the observation that our patients, whether
they take the Arg. nitr. by drops in spring water (for they have no
distilled water) or whether they use pellets medicated with Arg. nitr.
and then dissolved in spring water, never really take the Arg. nitr.
into their blood, but only Chloride of Silver, and the higher the atten-
uations are, the more certain this is, because all spring water contains
no small amount of Chloride of Soda. If a few drops of the second
321
or even of the third decimal attenuation are put into a spoonful of
water, a white cloud of Chloride of silver is formed at once. How far
this may go, is clear from the observation that, even the fourth deci-
mal attenuation of Arg. nitr., an ounce of it, for instance, clearly
presents in the light, a cast of reddish brown.
J. L. had now for eight days to take every night and morning four
or five drops of Arg. nitr. of the second decimal attenuation, in a
spoonful of water, for I like to prescribe this preparation of silver,
because from it, as often as taken by the patient, the Chloride of silver
will always be formed as an entirely fresh preparation.
The same, no doubt, has also occurred in the provings with Argent.
nitr.
As J. L. presented himself again for examination after eight days,
I was not a little surprised, on his entrance even, at the very decided
change of the color of his face; (he was the first patient to whom I
had given this prescription according to the above-mentioned indica-
tions); for his face had assumed again the incarnadine, pale red color
of healthy men, and he himself declared, with beaming face, that he
had never felt as well for more than twenty-five years as now. By
this alone the proof was furnished that an evidently increased oxida-
tion of the blood had taken place. Moreover, the pulse had sunken
to 90, and the respiration to 22; proof enough of the increased
capacity of the lungs, in accordance with which the patient drew
a deeper breath, the thorax expanded more, and the expiration could
be withheld for a longer time. But even the reciprocal actions thereof
upon the nervous system were, at the same time, made manifest by
the fact that quiet sleep was restored, often lasting for five or six
hours during the night, and the feeling of a band compressing the
abdomen, a sure sign of the affection of the phrenic or diaphragmatic
nerve, was no longer present. I now had him take no medicine for
eight days, but, nevertheless, the improvement continued, since the
stools became more regular and there was seldom any indication of
vertigo. Without any further medication, of any account, the cure of
this man continued from this time, and, for three months later; and
even to the present time—three years—he has made no further com-
plaints.
§. 316.
A blooming girl of nineteen, menstruating regularly, has suffered,
for five years, without interruption, from pressing pains over the whole
head, sometimes only on the vertex, sometimes on the left frontal bone,
which were relieved by firm pressure upon the suffering parts, and
PART II.
21
322
were ascribed to immoderate dancing in the evening, while the many
physicians, whose advice was sought, had not been able to afford any
relief whatever. Upon being questioned, the patient further states
that she often suffers from vertigo and is easily wearied, while, at the
same time, she is losing her memory. On going up stairs her respi-
ration is much hurried, and she has palpitation of the heart. The
tongue is coated white. Appetite and sleep are very good, but
she is too sleepy during the day; pains in the stomach here and
there, frequently for weeks at a time, with nausea and vomiting even.
On feeling the pulse, I noticed a trembling of the hands; pulse 98;
a burning feeling in the region of the heart. She can breathe pretty
deeply without pain, but cannot retain the breath long, and on breath-
ing, only vesicular respiration can be heard, yet there is no cough.
The urine is pale and poor in solid constitutents. There was noth-
ing more to be learned.
A Homœopathic Therapeia expresses itself thus: "If one com-
pares the declarations of the patients regarding the kind, seat, pecu-
liarities, etc., of the pains ever so carefully, yet he will not hit upon
the right remedy, because one is thus compelled to treat his patients
only according to their subjective views." That may hold good for
the analytic method of examining a patient, which, unhappily, obtains,
in the Homœopathic school, and is followed in the physiological
school almost universally. But the patient has no longer any opinions
when one takes the trouble to go to work synthetically also, and to
investigate the accompanying conditions.
This girl, after the fourth dose of Argent.nitr. 2, was relieved of all
her headaches, and could afterwards breathe much easier; her palpi-
tation was relieved also, and her memory returned in full force, for
which an interval of five days only was necessary.
§. 317.
A woman 37 years of age, of a lively temperament and healthy
appearance, who was married and had given birth to one child, and
recovered well from her labor, had suffered during the last three years,
without any known cause, from attacks of so-called nephritic colic
recurring periodically every three months. Attempts were made
every time to relieve the great pains which were connected therewith,
by the application of leeches to the region of the kidneys on both
sides, and by use of purgatives, and, only after the patient was reduced
to the last degree by this treatment, the pains gradually remitted.
323
On account of her change of residence I was called to see her in
her last attack, and found her in the most acute pains in the region of
both kidneys, the pains extending down the ureters to the bladder;
she was lying motionless upon her back, since every motion of her
body caused her inexpressible pain, and touching the region of the
kidneys increased these pains at once to the highest degree. She
perspired freely; pulse 130; she sought, by frequent and short breath-
ing, to avoid deep inspiration, for this increased her pains insufferably.
The urine contained blood, was scanty; passed often but only a little
at a time and by drops; it contained a visible sediment of crystallized
uric acid and pus, with amorphous, gravelly concretions, some as
large as half a lentil, and the acid fluid, which was found above the
sediment, gave a deposit when heated with Nitric acid. Thus I had
a case of so-called calculous pyelitis before me. She begged for the
application of leeches, which she had ready at hand, since, previously,
she had always experienced some relief from them; but, nevertheless,
she was afraid to turn upon her face, a manœuvre necessary in order
to apply them. For this very reason I requested her to abstain from
the use of the leeches, but she only consented on the condition that I
would promise her certain relief of the frightful pains as quickly in
some other mode and manner. I could promise her this, when I pre-
scribed Arg. nitr. 2nd dec.—4-5 drops, to be taken every hour.
When I saw her again, after six hours, she was very grateful to
me for such prompt relief, and so easily accomplished; for, a quarter
of an hour after she had taken the first drops she felt greater relief
from her pains than was previously the case under the use of the
leeches. She was able to urinate, at once, without hindrance, and
more copiously, and she was already lying without pain, yet motion-
less, because the least motion renewed her pains again; on this
account she restrained the urine as long as possible; this had been
impossible before, but was now accomplished with ease.
Her husband was, if possible, still more pleased, as he had expected
to have a fearful night. When I visited her next morning the pulse
was So again, and she breathed as when in health. After eight days
no more uric acid crystals were passed, but only small concretions.
She showed me one of the size of a lentil, which she had passed
without pain, and that was the last sign of her disease which had
lasted three years.
For the sake of curiosity, I had taken some of the urine on the first
day for further examination. Besides what has been already men-
tioned, it contained no trace of triple phosphates, but the well known
324
epitelia of the mucous membrane of the pelvis of the kidneys. Hence
the could not have come from the bladder.
pus
Thus the Arg. nitr. not only rendered superfluous all the symp-
tomatic indications of the physiological school, the blood lettings, the
plasters, the opiates, the Chloroform, the Turpentine, the Balsam of
copaivæ, the Tannin, and the so-called styptics, which had been
lavished in previous attacks, but the patient was also delivered from
the hopeless uncertainty regarding the expected result of these proble-
matic allopathic experimeuts, as sure as of the torments of an endless
convalescence necessarily following such mis-treatment even in the
most favorable cases, a convalescence that may very easily develop
into an incurable affection and fatal sequelæ. Three years have now
passed without any relapse.
§. 318.
A woman 29 years of age was thought, when yet a girl of 15, on
occasion of a pneumonia, which she had at that time, to be con-
sumptive and tuberculous, on account of her brilliant eyes, white
teeth, white transparent skin, and because absorption of the exudation
did not take place, in connection with the cough which still continued
and the puriform expectoration. Cough and expectoration, however,
disappeared spontaneously in the course of a year.
All
The patient continued apparently well till she married, in her
twenty-first year, and had a miscarriage. From that time forward,
all sorts of troubles broke upon her; at one time anomalies of men-
struation; at another pains in the ovaries; now spasmodic cough,
palpitation of the heart, and symptoms of so-called anæmia.
these, however, were transient, and no medical aid was called in.
Four years after that miscarriage, she sought my advice on account
of hoarseness, which had then already lasted five weeks. A suspicious
fluor albus was connected with this, and I gave her Natr. sulph. to
be taken every three hours. The result was really remarkable, since,
even on the second day, there was but little of the hoarseness left, and
on the third none at all. The fluor albus also was diminished, and
after a fortnight, ceased entirely.
Half a year later, she called me in haste on account of a spasm of
the chest.
It was a common dry asthma. On the lower part of the left side,
where she had felt the stitches during her former pneumonia, the
sound on percussion was dull, and no respiratory murmur could be
heard. On the upper border of this spot, there was a distinct fine
325
crepitating mucous rattle. Drawing a deep breath gave pain in this
part, which was also marked by bronchophony. The middle and
upper portions of this lung, as well as the entire right lung, were
sound. The cause of all this was a violent mental emotion.
This woman had but little color in her face and pale lips. She was
not much emaciated, but well formed and slender; had no phthisical.
habits; good appetite and sleep. The menses have been regular for a
long time; rather too copious, and sometimes were followed, for a day
or two, by a mild fluor albus. Her parents, still living, are quite
healthy. After an attack of asthma, which lasted half an hour, her
pulse stood at 90; her respiration I counted at 21. For eight days I
directed one dose of Phosph. 6th. to be taken every day.
Called to see her about a year later. I found her suffering again
with a violent attack of asthma. Her complaints were confined
merely to want of air and fear of suffocation. Her condition was
substantially as before, and she had been quite well, except a few
slight spasms in the chest; Phosph. as above. The spasms of the
chest ceased, but a great weakness remained, lasting for several days,
and she remarked that her whole left side, especially, was of but little
use to her. Objectively, there was no anesthesia to be discovered.
She confessed that she became angry very easily, whereupon she
always had to endure, for many days, stitching pains in the affected
parts of the chest. I recommended her, after every such mental emo-
tion, to take Aconite a few times.
A few weeks after, hoarseness again. Nothing was discovered by
the laryngoscope. After using Aconite every hour for three days,
profuse sweat set in, during which the hoarseness, which she supposed
originated from a cold taken when washing, ceased.
Six months later, having been living for a year near the water, she
had a quotidian fever in the autumn, with increase of the stitches in
the side, and with cough during the paroxysm. Both disappeared
always with the sweat. Nux vomica and Ipecac put an end to these
attacks in three days; yet only temporarily, for the next summer she
suffered a relapse; but now, with expectoration which was clearly
puriform, and which was mixed with light blood. Chinin. sulph. 3,
removed all these symptoms in ten days. It was remarkable that the
stitches in the side, the cough and expectoration, at each time, lasted
only so long as the paroxysm of the intermittent, and that, during this
time, from that part of the left lung originally diseased, there was a
coarse crepitant râle, extending to the large bronchi, manifest upon
auscultation.
326
However, as often as she got angry, the chills returned again, as
well as the stitches in the side, with cough, and expectoration mixed
with blood.
The patient could never be persuaded to take care of herself for any
length of time, nor would she stay in bed except during the paroxysms
of intermittents; and since these attacks of cough produced by passion
were not seldom accompanied with vomiting also, I gave her Tart.
emet. 3rd, which always gave her prompt relief and deliverance from
her sufferings; but they always returned again from the same cause.
Another half year probably had passed, when this woman, in con-
sequence of straining her eyes while sewing, was taken with conjuncti-
vitis, with severe photophobia. Beside, I noticed that the left upper
eye lid fell further over the bulb than the right. The pupil of this
eye was contracted, and reacted less against the light. On inquiry,
she said that she had often noticed this before, but it always passed off
again of itself, as well as the weakness of sight, which she had some-
times noticed in this eye when working. As for the rest, the sight
of the other eye was very good, suffering neither from near nor far-
sightedness. But in the twilight, or under a clouded sky, she remarked
reading or sewing was very difficult for her, because a cloud was
always hanging before the left eye. The use of the ophthalmoscope
was prevented on account of the pain which the light produced; yet I
could observe no haziness of the media. At this time it occurred to
me that this woman had lately lost her strength very much, without,
however, losing flesh. Her declaration that she felt much worse in
rest than when walking in the open air, where she could forget her
acknowledged loss of strength, until she was obliged to go up stairs
again, which for several years past had almost put her out of breath,
was a striking proof that there was increased need of oxidation of
the blood; and, on examination of the thorax, it was found that the
vesicular respiration in all movable parts of the chest was more acute,
and that the sound on percussion had become very clear.
Even recently, an attempt has been made in Homœopathic cir-
cles, to teach "that we should seek to act upon that part of the
nervous system, which, for the case in hand, is the bearer of reac-
tion." This is, however, for me, inexplicable, as far as the case in
hand is concerned, without a general rule to direct me as regards
the choice of the remedy, by means of drug-provings. What drug
disease is there which would be similar to this case, or the most
similar, in order to gain the upperhand over the organic power of
reaction probably too weak, and thus to make the disease disappear?"
327
I confess, without fear, that I am incompetent to find an indication
here according to this special rule.
In the last sickness of this woman, I was led, it is true, by a symp-
tom from the domain of the nervous system, to Argent nitr., viz.,
by the affection of the left eye.
But, as the patient had, for two days, taken Arg. nitr., second deci-
mal attenuation, night and morning, she was taken with such a weak-
ness in all her limbs, that she, and this was saying very much for her,
was obliged to go to bed, where she frequently fell into a soporous
condition with yawning, and a cold shudder over the whole body,
and lost all her appetite. On the other hand, the left eyelid was as
much elevated again as the right; the pupils in both eyes were equally
dilated, and the stitching pains in the left side of the chest had disap-
peared. Without taking any more Arg. nitr., after two days, all
these drug-symptoms had disappeared; the curative effects, however,
remained, and simultaneously a marked diminution of the cough took
place, although the sound on percussion had not changed till now,
after the lapse of three years, and the crepitant râle could only
be partially heard upon a very deep inspiration. This woman, since
that time, has engaged in her occupation without interruption, and
considers herself quite well, and, with this opinion, her perfectly
healthy appearance corresponds.
Whether this will be permanent, I cannot, of course, decide as yet;
so much, however, is sure, that, from her previous hydrogenoid con-
stitution, a carbo-nitrogenoid constitution had developed itself in
consequence of the medical treatment, and that the latter also is on
the way to improvement; for the pulse even has fallen to 70 beats.
This conclusion was written three years before the present publica-
tion of this case, and, as the patient has remained perfectly well since
that time, the cure seems really to have been permanent.
§. 319.
A president of a country court, forty-five years of age, came to me
for a frequent cough, which was often so violent that he lost his breath,
and for difficulty of breathing, after somewhat rapid walking, by
which his face was congested. His face was uniformly pale, with
pale lips; white coated tongue; pulse 116; violent palpitation of the
heart; besides, he complained also of increasing emaciation.
While auscultating him, I observed, to my no small surprise, that,
upon every inspiration, the upper part of the abdominal wall drew
in, instead of expanding; while expiring, on the other hand, it
328
expanded instead of receding. The number of respirations was 21.
The inspiration, which was, at the same time, short, warranted the
conclusion that there was a marked diminution of the capacity of the
lungs, yet the respiratory murmur was to be heard in all parts of the
lungs, and no nutritive change of the organs of the chest could be
discovered. Only in the large bronchi there was a fine crepitant
mucous râle to be heard. The effort to breathe deeply took away the
patient's breath at once. All this not only warranted the certain diag-
nosis of paralysis of the diaphragm, but also of a depressed inner-
vation of the organs of the chest. As I requested him now to walk
with his eyes shut, he was taken with vertigo; he staggered sensibly
at the third step; at the fourth he had to open his eyes quickly in
order to seize some object, and keep himself up, otherwise he would
have fallen to the floor.
This circumstance, quite unexpected to him, now alarmed him
much, yet he was quieted by my assurance that he should be perfectly
cured.
Thus the cause of all his troubles lay in the organ of the centre of
co-ordination, the medulla oblongata. (Duchenne's Locomotor ataxy.)
I ordered him Argent nitr. 2d dec. 5 drops, to be taken night and
morning.
Surprising as it was, I did not hear any more from this man for
months, when, quite unexpectedly, he came to me again to request
my advice for his wife. But how his appearance had changed! He
had gained fat red cheeks, a perfectly healthy color, with an evident
increase of his whole body; he spoke with such a long breath, some-
thing impossible to him before, that I was not a little surprised at hist
silence regarding his restoration to health. At last I could not but
ask him how he had been since he left me after the first visit. He
replied that after he had taken that little vial, with the drops, all his
former complaints had left him; he shut his eyes, and, in confirma-
tion of his statement, went up and down in the room, without the
least staggering. I much wish Dr. Eisenmann had seen this case, for
he could not have denied that it was a case of locomotor ataxy in a
high degree, nor that its cure was perfect; he might have learned,
too, that the Argent nitr., where it is homoeopathically indicated,
truly, and without any doubt, produces a certain cure.
§. 320.
An ecclesiastic, married, a man of learning, sociable and highly
esteemed in every respect, had been, for five years, melancholy. He
329
was then 51 years of age; had suffered since his 38th year with
hæmorrhoids which bled every four weeks almost regularly. At the
same time he was corpulent; yet, on account of an intermittent fever,
which had been removed, several years before, with Quinine, his
liver seemed to have been disturbed still more in its functions, since,
from time to time, his skin had presented a yellowish tinge. Except
this, he was never sick, although, as a child, he had had scarlatina
and measles. He attributed his hæmorrhoids to his sedentary and
studious mode of living. His melancholy he ascribed to an unde-
served slight which he met some five years before. This mental
depression soon increased till it became the fixed idea that he was
neglected and despised by his family. His calling became indifferent
to him; he performed its duties, as he said, only mechanically. This
man, formerly corpulent, wasted away from year to year; he became
insensible to all social pleasures and lost all desire for labor. Finally
he gave himself up to the distressing idea that all his undertakings
would and must fail.
When visiting me two years ago, he complained, in addition to the
above, of constant drowsiness by day and of constant sleeplessness the
whole night through; of weakness of memory, which frequently did
not allow him to find the right word, confusion of the head, want of
appetite, trembling of the limbs, which could also be seen; of obstruc-
tion alternating with diarrhoea, while the previous hæmorrhoidal
bleedings had ceased, although the tumors, which remained, annoyed
him very much; moreover, of lassitude and weariness of the fore-
arms and the legs, and what alarmed him most were frequent conges-
tions to the head, a pulsation in various parts of the body, which
appeared, however, as jerking of the muscles, and a constant chilliness.
Against whatever I proposed to him he had the queerest objections.
His respirations were 20; his pulse So-S4. I finally gave him Nux 6,
to be taken once a day, till better.
For a whole year, I heard nothing more from him. He was sent
to a Water-cure, and came back much more miserable than he went,
in every respect. Afterwards I was informed that he could no longer
perform his duties; for this reason a vicar had to be appointed. He
refused to take food, because, as he said, a man who does not work
should not eat; however, while driven by hunger, he sought in secret
to procure himself food. He spent the most of the time in bed, and,
when up,
it was necessary to use every means to keep him from meet-
ing any one, for then he wept and assured every one that he was lost
beyond hope for this world, that no one could delude him in that
330
respect, and no one could reason him out of it. His weariness and
depression had also reached the highest point.
What an earth-colored, ema-
Stooping over he staggered
I desired to examine him personally.
ciated, wretched form of melancholy!
when walking, despaired of help from himself or others, constantly
complained of vertigo, and was utterly bereft of all power of will.
The ends of his fingers had become numb, and his incessant mental
distress was accompanied with 28 respirations and SS pulsations to the
minute. I had hardly exchanged a few words with him when he fell
asleep, but through the night he did not close an eye; now he com-
plained of pain in the back too—drawings in the shoulders; he still
had constipation alternating with diarrhea, chilliness, with cold
hands and feet.
That the sexual system is the most probable point of departure of
hypochondria, as has been recently taught, is not true, at least as far
as this case goes; for, not only according to the assertion of the
patient, but also according to that of one of his fellow students, he
had never suffered in this sphere. He begat none but healthy and
vigorous children. His parents attained an advanced old age.
But an "immaterial" hypochondria is found as little as any other
immaterial disease, and if one blots out of Homœopathy the indica-
tions of Psora, "then it is surely enough impossible, even approxi-
mately, to mark out a constant treatment according to the maxims of
Homœopathy."
This case, without doubt, was the result of primary carbonization
of the blood, which, not removed, but constantly increasing, had
already extended its reciprocal action upon the brain and spinal mar-
row, and that with such an intensity that nothing more could be
expected from Sulphur. On the other hand, the phenomena were so
similar to those of the provings of Arg. nitr, or rather of the Chloride
of silver, that I let the patient take four or five drops of the 2nd dec.
every night and morning. For three days nothing had occurred that
I could have attributed to Arg. nitr. The sleeplessness at night, his
fixed ideas, etc., pursued him unremittingly, and made him still more.
desponding because, in the drowsiness during the day, which increased
at the same time, he thought he had to recognize an aggravation of
his condition. On the night of the sixth day he slept well, and instead
of being sleepy during the day, he was in uncommon good spirits; he
talked much more on every subject that was presented to him, and
for the first time took part in a social evening gathering of gentlemen.
Now I thought it the proper time to suspend the use of the Arg. nitr,
and the improvement progressed more rapidly than I had ever before
331
seen it in similar cases, without the use of the drug. After fourteen
days, fourteen days, I say, I sent him home as cured. His friends
could not contain themselves for astonishment at his fine appearance
and this complete cure of all his complaints. However, I had for-
bidden him to preach, and wished just to see whether his other duties,
which he at once took up with zeal after his return, did not excite him.
That was not the case, and six weeks later he had not only returned
to society as a very useful member, but preached a sermon which, like
his previous ones, edified all his hearers.
This case naturally attracted great attention, and had a very favorable
effect upon the interests of Homœopathy.
§. 321.
The president of a court of justice, son of a father who had died of
tuberculosis, suffered from his youth up with a cough, with puriform
expectoration. After an issue was placed, however, between the fifth
and sixth ribs of the left side, which issue he has since worn, the cough
became more endurable and lost its malignant character; yet he daily
coughed when lying down and on awaking; and, on going up long
stairs he had to rest often or he lost his breath.
In his 36th year, however, his wife observed that he always avoided
walking in certain streets. When questioned on this point, he
replied that the sight of high houses always made him dizzy and
caused him to stagger; it seemed to him as if the houses on both
sides would approach and crush him. This vertigo disappeared at
once as soon as he saw no more high houses, and it was noticed on no
other occasion.
After the lapse of several years he was taken with pneumonia,
during which much blood was taken from him. He recovered very
slowly therefrom, and when, after two months, he finally endeavored
to leave his bed, he was taken with dizziness, which he could not
overcome. He was finally taken to the baths at Kreuth, and, at length,
returned to his calling. Yet, on exposure to any exhausting labor he
always had a pain which affected the whole head, and which made
the letters, when reading, run into one another.
When he was 56 years old, he came under my treatment, on
account of the cough which had never left him since that attack of
pneumonia. He was very much emaciated, looked pale and had the
sunken features of an old man. In both of the upper parts of the
lungs there were now large, now small vesicular râles; on the left lower
332
portion, none but vesicular and bronchial, and the irritation to cough
lay behind the middle of the sternum.
Aconite relieved him so promptly, compared with his previous
allopathic drugs, from his cough by day and by night, that he, who
was only induced to take Homoeopathic medicines by the earnest
solicitation of his friends, from this time forth became a faithful
adherent of our art and science.
While examining his respiratory organs, I discovered also stenosis
and insufficiency of the bicuspid valves, and since the cough was con-
fined again to the morning and evening, I directed him to take Sulphur
6th once in eight days. Now he kept tolerably well for a year.
After this, his wife requested me to examine him again. He had
been obliged to work very hard, and she now observed, with alarm,
that he stood and walked unsteadily again, as often as he thought
himself unobserved. Before I had a chance to propose to him an
examination, he sent to me, a few days later, and his servant said that
I should make haste, for he had left his master pale, breathing heavily
and blue in the face, as if he were dying. In this condition I still
found him, lying upon a sofa, and without any pulse, hardly able to
speak, which I also forbade him, after he had assured me that he
did not know of any reason for this distressing condition. Puls. 3rd.
He rallied sensibly, from second to second; his pulse, which I had
before known to be irregular, returned again, and, after a few days'
rest, he was convalescent from a condition which I could only explain
as caused by a disturbance in the tract of the vagus and sympatheticus,
which must have been occasioned by a diminished process of oxida-
tion in the blood, continuing for so many years. A long respite fol-
lowed again, and he always relieved himself with Aconite and
Pulsatilla.
He finally came to me, however, unbeknown to his wife, and com-
plained that he could only pursue his calling by the greatest effort of
will, and that he would be compelled to ask for a vacation, for an
incessant vertigo pursued him, which compelled him always to go
close to the houses, in order to have something to hold on to; more-
over, the little and ring-finger of his left hand had become insensible;
he noticed, also, in the whole left side of his body an indescribable
weakness.
Now, according to what principle was this man to be treated, or
was he to be held as beyond treatment? Did he belong to the cate-
gory of Tuberculosis, of Ataxy, or of diseases of the heart or brain,
and where, in the drug-provings even, could there be found the truly-
333
indicated remedy, without considering the concomitant conditions
which were also presented therein?
Was there a triumph to be gained here by the reactive force over
the disturbance, and how was the "natural curative process" (?) to
be accelerated, to be aided, or indeed, to be produced at all?
After what has been already said, it will not seem strange to any
reader, that this man also, after he had taken Arg. nitr. 2nd dec., every
two hours, for five days, was relieved of the affections of the brain
and spinal marrow, which had lately renewed their attacks, and more
violently than ever.
man.
Even on the very first day he congratulated himself that he could
go to his office without fear of staggering or stumbling like a drunken
Two weeks later, he had also lost the insensibility of the left
hand; his complaints of weakness in the left half of the body were
heard no more, and his respiration was as free again as it ever had
been.
S. 322.
A merchant, thirty-seven years old, his parents yet living and
healthy, had taken part, sound and healthy, in the revolutionary war
in Baden, as common cannonier, without any bodily injury; when
seven years old he had the fever and ague; in his twentieth year,
gonorrhea, which was suppressed by injection; besides this he was
never sick.
In April, 1860, when thirty-seven years old, he was, when stooping
to pat his dog, and when in his best health, surprised by suddenly
coughing up blood, and, within the course of half an hour, he coughed
up a wash-basin full. He had indeed, for several years, coughed
some every morning, without taking any notice of it. This cough,
however, with bloody expectoration, had now been diagnosticated
and treated as hæmorrhoidal congestion, with leeches ad anum and
cathartics, although the patient had always assured his physician that
he had never suffered from piles. On account of the pulmonary
hæmorrhage itself, which lasted three days, common salt was ordered
internally, and those purgatives were given every day, in form of pills,
to force an evacuation, which, however, had never been wanting.
Four weeks later, hæmorrhage again, and now, for half a year, this
hæmorrhage returned almost every four weeks; sometimes lasting
only half a day; sometimes two or three days. After this, the
hæmorrhage intermitted for four months. While taking a walk in
February, 1861, he suddenly had another violent attack of hæmorr-
334
hage, and to the treatment of this attack I was called in. Of tuber-
culosis pulmonum, or hæmorrhoids, there was no trace whatever.
The man had a yellow complexion, was emaciated, very weak, and had
had no appetite since he began to take the pills. Sleep good; pulse
90; respiration 35; stitching pain in the region of the fifth rib, on
the left side. In the same place there was a fine crepitant râle occu-
pying the space of half a guilder: Aconite 3rd, in alternation with
Arnica 3rd, every quarter of an hour. The bloody expectoration
decreased from hour to hour.
The next day Aconite and Arnica were given in hourly alternation,
and only after two days all the blood had disappeared from the expec-
toration. Now aedema of the feet ensued.
Thus far, the hæmorrhage had always taken place during a longer
spell of damp weather, and his condition is even more aggravated
when there is a cold rain.
On the sixth day, on account of the loss of blood, China 3rd, every
two hours; nourishing food, since his appetite was restored, with
wine, or wine with Seltzer water. The pulse remained the same;
the respiration fell to 28. But, on the least mental emotion, the pulse
rose and palpitation of the heart ensued. The patient assured me,
that, conformably with his excitable temperament, his pulse had
always been very rapid; that he had always been liable to attacks of
palpitation, and that, for many years, he had been careful not to run
up stairs so rapidly as he had been previously accustomed to do. His
bowels moved generally every day, sometimes not so often, but always
of themselves. As his appetite increased, the patient gained strength
very rapidly, but, on account of his decided hydrogenoid constitution,
it was necessary that he should take every day, from this time forth,
one dose of Nux 3rd, and three or four doses of Natr. sulph. 3rd.
The oedema of the feet disappeared after ten days.
On the 27th of May, another hæmorrhage after a fit of passion :
Aconite and Arnica as above. The hæmorrhage stopped on the
second day, and from this time forth, I gave Nux and Natr. sul. daily.
Rapid improvement; intermission of the remedies. The patient.
passed every evening during the summer in his usual society, which
could not wonder enough at his healthy appearance, after what had
passed.
November 10, after a business journey, hæmorrhage from the
lungs again, which lasted only half a day, and ceased of itself. Nux
and Natr. sulph. were taken, as ordered above, on his own responsi-
bility.
335
January 27th, 1862, a new hæmorrhage, after violent excitement,
which, however, only lasted half an hour.
Notwithstanding these repeated attacks, the patient had enjoyed
remarkably good health, and congratulated himself upon a fine and
fresh appearance and good spirits; the beat of the heart, however,
always remained at 85 to 90.
In September, upon a business journey, intermittent fever, con-
nected with pulmonary hemorrhage. Treated by a Homœopathic
physician with Ipecac, Quinine and Aconite; the patient returned
home without loss of strength. Nux and Natr. sulph. to be taken
again for eight days, and then intermitted for eight days, etc.
After January, 1863, no more medicine was used, because auscul-
tation and percussion had not detected, for six weeks, the slightest
abnormality; the patient felt well, in every respect, and began to
grow corpulent.
June 6th, after a cold taken during a profuse sweat, on a hot sum-
mer evening, he had a chill. He slept well, however, through the
night, but awoke in the morning with violent febrile heat, with head-
ache, stitching pains behind the fifth rib, where the stitches also had
been observed during the attacks of bleeding. Every breath, and,
still more, every cough, although he coughed seldom, caused a
severe stitch in this place, and the patient, hence, looked every
moment for his hæmorrhage. Thus I found him, in the morning,
bathed in sweat; with face reddened; pulse 120; respiration 40; the
tongue with a heavy yellowish white coating; much thirst; disgust
for all food; was only able to take milk, because everything else was
vomited up again: Sputa, consisting of foamy blood, crepitating
rattling in the seat of the pain; the percussion tone scarcely percep-
tibly muffled.
The previous attacks of hemorrhage had clearly arisen from a
hydrogenoid soil; hence I did not hesitate, a moment, in this pneu-
monia, to give Iod. 3rd every half hour, till the stitching pain remitted,
and after that every hour.
Up to the next morning, there had been no change at all. This
striking negative result, and the anxiety of the patient to keep himself
thoroughly covered, since a chill crept over his whole body upon the
slightest movement although the room was warm, in connection with
the increased difficulty of breathing, induced me to give Phosph. 3rd,
every hour.
Up to the third day, against all expectation, there was hardly a per-
ceptible improvement. The cough had assumed even a dry spasmodic
character, which I had to ascribe to the influence of the Phosph. The
336
sputa were rust-colored, containing air-bubbles of large size, and were
scanty. The results of auscultation and percussion, the pulse and
respiration, the temperature of the skin and the perspiration, were as
on the first day.
To be frank, I did not know any longer what to think of it. I
gave Sac. lac. in order to be able to gain an undisturbed observation,
and opened the windows, since the patient very earnestly longed for
fresh air.
June 11th. The same state of affairs, only sensible emaciation and
wasting of strength. The sputa had become yellow, but certainly
not colored with "Bile-pigment" (!); China 3rd, every two hours.
June 13th. Less pain, at least, but permanent fever; he spoke con-
fusedly, and did not know his wife; slept no more; when he talked,
his speech was broken, and he gasped for breath after every word.
Phos. ac. 6, every two hours.
June 15th. The fine crepitant râle became coarse and extended
more upward. Sputa puriform.
June 19th. Some relief, as the cough was less frequent and the
respiration was more quiet. The sensorium became free again. Up
to this time, milk and sugar-water only were desired. To the former
Seltzer water was now added.
The effect of medical treatment amounted to just about nothing;
nevertheless the Phos. acid was continued.
June 21st. The appetite was somewhat improved, and now and
then mucilaginous broth was taken. The urine constantly presented
the usual sediment of uric acid, and the stools occurred at first daily;
later, not so often, though nothing was given on that account.
strength seemed to increase. No further remedies.
The
June 25th. Irresistible inclination to leave the bed and sit by the
open window. Now in the arm-chair-now in bed again. The
coarse crepitant râle, the puriform expectoration, the cough, the fever
and the pain in the side were still present, though in a less degree.
June 27th. In addition to the other symptoms, he was still hoarse.
On the other hand, he could remain somewhat longer out of bed,
though it was impossible for him to walk, without holding on to
something with both hands; he was quite too weak to stand erect.
Every time he sat by the open window he felt much refreshed.
June 30th. The fever sensibly consumes his strength; his tongue
has a yellowish white coat, although he has more appetite; the urine
full of uric acid; pains in the calves often torment him the whole
night, and, during the day, he is constantly tormented with formica-
tion in the arms and legs. The pains in the left side of the chest still
337
continue, only they are somewhat deeper and are not any longer
increased by coughing; cedema of both feet. My fear that I should
lose this patient, by reason of his hectic fever, seemed justified; yet I
auscultated him again and found that the coarse crepitant râle was
limited in the same spot behind the fifth rib, but above, was more
extensive, while the pain now was pointed out as corresponding to
the sixth rib, which also was painful, on being pressed upon, as far
as towards the spinal column.
I should have been the more pleased to have obtained an anchor, a
compass, and a helin from the physiological school, since this patient
had become a convert to Homœopathy under my treatment. But
the physiological school had neither for this case, nor for an infinitude
of other cases, any pilot.
I had nearly lost this man from disregarding the changes which
had taken place in the state of his body by reason of the treatment
followed for so long a time. First, the circumstance, that the pain in
the side now corresponded to the sixth rib and no longer to the fifth;
that the patient now, on being questioned, declared the present pain
to be quite different from what it was at first; moreover, his longing
for fresh air, which was never so marked before; the indifference to
moist or damp weather, observable even before his last illness; his
corpulence, which of late had sensibly increased again; all these went
to prove that the hygroscopic condition of his blood was removed;
on the contrary, that its oxidation, even before this last sickness, was
depressed, and, during this disease so sank, that the spinal marrow
began to suffer under it, which condition was clearly connected with
this intercostal neuralgia, the cramps in the calves and the formi-
cation.
The course which this disease pursued after the use of Arg. nitr.
2nd decimal, every two hours, is certainly extremely interesting, and
appeared to the patient himself really mysterious.
Although I never allow a remedy to be taken during the night,
very rare cases excepted, and did not in this case, yet the patient
declared on the very next day that the pains about the sixth rib, which
had affected him so seriously, had become so trifling that they hardly
troubled him at all; also that for many weeks he had not slept so long
nor so quietly, and had more appetite again. But the most remark-
able thing was the daily decreasing crepitant râle, and the corresponding
decrease of the cough and the puriform expectoration. The patient
took a new lease of life, and, after using this remedy for seven days,
the pulse had sunk to So, whereupon the Arg. nitr. was laid aside.
PART II.
22
338
The convalescence from this fatal sickness progressed with gigantic
strides, and by the end of August this man was perfectly cured; he
had regained his previously fresh look, his good spirits, and his men-
tal and bodily strength, returned to his occupation, and remained well.
§. 323.
A young man of IS, of sound parents, had suffered from his youth
with incontinence of urine at night, and, after all sorts of tortures, had
to leave the Institute of which he had been four years a pupil, being
declared incurable. In his childhood he had often had swollen glands.
Now he is large and powerfully built, and I observed nothing abnor-
mal about him, but that his pupils were large, and that the stroke of
the heart was somewhat more frequent and rather weak. He had
never suffered from worms; there was nothing peculiar to be observed
about the constituents of the urine.
Was it still indicated in this case to direct the patient to retain his
urine during the day as long as possible, or should I rather give him
Bell., Puls., China, Causticum, Sepia, or Sulphur, and on what
grounds?
This young man, from the first day in which he had taken Arg.
nitr. 2nd dec. morning and evening, and had laid the same aside after
six days, had never soiled his bed for a period of six weeks. Then
he had to resume his studies again, and was obliged to pass the whole
day within four walls. It was certainly an unexpected occurrence
that, after this day he wet his bed again.
I had not given Arg. nitr. any more after six days, because I thought
it useless, after the end seemed to be already attained, to continue its
use any longer. Notwithstanding the continuation of his studies, I
advised him to take this remedy again, and directed him to walk
abroad at least an hour every day, and in all sorts of weather. After
the lapse of ten days the incontinence ceased and returned no more.
§. 324.
A large, powerfully built merchant of 41 years of age, always
healthy, two years ago had, while traveling, taken intermittent fever,
which was suppressed with large doses of Quinine. Since that time
he has never been quite well, while previously he had never been sick
in all his life, and always rejoiced in a blooming appearance. A
year ago he was taken with a gastric fever, which had become typhus,
339
as his physician told him. He was never unconscious in the fever,
however, and was without hallucinations; had no diarrhoea nor any
trouble about the chest, only constant pains in all parts of the head,
especially in the occiput, which deprived him of sleep, and every even-
ing he had fever.
These pains in the head finally extended to the eyes and the lower
jaw. Itching pustules also formed on the left shin bone, one of which
developed into an ulcer.
After six weeks of allopathic treatment, under which he constantly
got worse, lost flesh and all his appetite, he was so much unstrung
and irritated that, without the knowledge of his physician, he sprang
up to get into the open air.
Although punished for this by utter prostration of strength, so that
he had to ride home, he had, however, to his great delight, the first
good night's sleep, and thereupon more appetite, and that suggested
to him the idea that his case had not been managed well.
When he came under my care, this man, once so corpulent, was so
emaciated that his clothes hung upon him as on a clothes-horse. At
the same time his face was sunken, colorless, and he complained of
constant boring headache, of photophobia and weakness of sight, which
alone would have prevented his writing his name legibly, had he not
been also hindered therefrom by trembling of his hands; furthermore
he reeled so from vertigo at night, and when his eyes were closed, that
he always had to hold on to something. To fix his thoughts on any-
thing, or give his business any consideration, was impossible for him;
on attempting it, it immediately got dark before his eyes, and the head-
ache increased. Moreover, he could not separate his jaws wider than
was necessary to admit a quill. That prevented his speaking, and he
could on this account take no food but fluids. But what distressed
him most was a disgusting odor from the little ulcers with which his
inner nose was lined, fearing as he did that those around might be
annoyed by it, which, however, was not the case. The stools were
regular, the voice hoarse; no change to be discovered in the organs of
the chest upon auscultation and percussion; yet the impulse of the
heart was very strong, and audible over the whole thorax: pulse 98.
The back ground of both eyes is obliterated, and the vessels upon it
cannot be distinguished. Sometimes there was a hæmorrhoidal flow,
but no tumors. The fever in the evening was no longer very per-
ceptible, but it seemed to him as if he had a fever in his sleep. Since
he was taken sick he could never go up stairs without an increase of
the difficulty of breathing.
340
Whoever has read the recent work of Dr. Eisenmann, on Locomo-
tor ataxy, will not hesitate at all to bring this disease under that head.
But where would one, according to this work, find the remedy for
this case with certainty, or even find information as regards a maxim
which might lead him to one?
This patient, also, after the lapse of two months, was relieved of all
his sufferings by the use of Arg. nitr. He took it morning and night
for eight days, then omitted it for eight days, and so on, without the
appearance of any drug symptom. After the sight was restored again,
the nose cured, and the trembling of the hands, after it became easier
for him to go up stairs, there still remained an insufficient motion of the
lower jaw, and I hoped that the secondary effect, or rather allowing the
remedy to complete its effect, would restore this also. It continued,
however, for half a year later, and the staggering, when the eyes
were closed, was still to be observed, though in a much less degree.
The previous prescription was repeated. After eight days there was
marked improvement. No further remedy was given, and, after two
months, the cure was complete.
This case clearly belonged to locomotor ataxy according to Eisen-
mann, and indeed to malaria-ataxy, for here the malaria might be
confidently assumed as the primary cause, since no other disease had
preceded it, and in fact, no other cause or condition could be pointed
out.
The remedy in this case was taken from the homeopathic drug-
provings. But I believe Eisenmann and his colleagues, when they
say that they have seen no effect from one-sixth of a grain of Nitrate
of Silver and other allopathic doses, even when a proper indication
were presupposed. But we homœopaths have not only Arg. nitr.,
Arsen. and Iod. as problematical remedies, for locomotor ataxy, but,
as tried remedies, Arg. nitr., or rather Chloride of Silver, Ammon.
mur., Sulph., Arsen, Bell., Bry. Cyclamen, Mangan, (I always use
the acetate), Gratiola, Phosph. and Phos. acid.
§. 325.
A near-sighted Treasury officer, who wears concave glasses, and is
fifty-one years of age, had the cholera in Munich, and subsequently
typhus abdom.; during the past winter he suffered from facial neural-
gia and swelling of the bones of the right foot. At the same time
an herpetic eruption was observed upon the occiput. The more this
increased, the less were the pains of the face, and in the spring they
341
ceased entirely. The eruption also gradually disappeared. On the
other hand, in the month of March, there was determination of blood
to the head, which was treated with Sulphur, and which did not
return. During a leave of absence, however, these congestions
returned in a very distressing manner. In course of an hour, they
were repeated four or five times, after they had always ceased spon-
taneously. He then suddenly felt how the blood pressed from the
heart to the head, which became blood-red, and this color extended
behind the ears, even. Gradually the blood ebbed again and sweat
appeared upon the head. These rushes of blood acted injuriously
upon the eyes. Since he has had them, objects appeared as if envel
oped in a mist; sometimes they seemed double. After a forced walk
these rushes of blood came also at night; there was a stitching pain,
then, from the right into the left ear, as if a thrust were made there
with a dagger. In the dark he cannot walk without reeling and lay-
ing hold of whatever he can.
Nausea now followed these repeated attacks, and, called to see him
once at night in such an attack, I gave him Bell. 3rd the next morn-
ing; confusion of the head being a sign that Bell. was not indicated.
He can read with his glasses only No. 13 of Jeger's test letters; the
fundus of the eye is injected; the large blood vessels are indistinct.
If we now review the cases, with the accompanying groups of
symptoms, which have been cured by Arg. nitr., what a world of
doubts must seize the skeptics, if they should undertake to establish
an indication for only one of them even! I must myself acknowledge,
that, if, in Therapeutics there was not a synthesis upon the basis of
natural laws, a mere analytical comparison between these groups of
symptoms and the drug-provings, as it is obtained according to the
law of similarity, without a careful consideration of the accompanying
constituent circumstances, could hardly lead to an indication which
could foresee the result, and would be free from contingencies.
To remain a prey to contingency, we need but follow the erroneous
precepts in our own literature, as, for instance, the assertion, "that
the disturbed function of the nervous system was the point of depart-
ure of all diseases." This contradicts all physiological, pathological,
and therapeutical experience; for we observe in physiological, patho-
logical, and therapeutical processes, without exception, a reciprocal
action of all the parts of the organism upon each other, without begin-
ning or end. As many of these clinical cases show, the causes of disease
do by no means, in all cases, primarily affect the nervous system. In
fact, the influence of the nervous system, so little subject to oxidation
and change, can only be conceived of as a mechanical one, by which
342
a certain amount of tensive force is metamorphosed into functions of
the laboring organs of the body, so long as they are in health.
The blood and the laboring organs considered as the counterpart
of the organs of lysis, i. e., the nervous system, we find, as a rule,
first affected by disease, though the converse does not seldom take
place.
The pathological affections of the nervous system have no greater
importance than those of the laboring organs, and vice versa; for they
are dependent upon each other, and it can by no means be determined,
always, which of the two is the part first affected.
Thus, wherever, in the groups of symptoms just laid down, the
point of departure of the disease, or the effect of disease-producing
causes, may have taken place, in every case the joint result from the
connection of these causes with the conditions of the organisın, is a
more or less diminished influence of oxygen upon it, and this, all the
same, whether the indication could be established upon the ground of
functional and nutritive changes in the laboring organs, or, first upon
the ground of the purely nervous symptoms.
This patient now felt, even after the first day in which he had taken
Arg. nitr. 2 dec., morning and evening, not only no improvement, but
such disturbance of his power of vision, that he was really afraid of
losing his sight entirely. He could now only read No. 17 of Jæger's
test letters, and this alarmed even me not a little. Sac. lac. A week
later, he read No. 13 again. Thus this aggravation, produced by
Arg. nitr., was spontaneously removed. Eight days after, the same
condition as when he first came. I now ordered him Arg. nitr. the
10th dec., to be taken morning and evening.
Four days later, he returned with the assurance that he could now
see better than ever before, and could actually read with his glasses
No. 4 of Jæger's test letters without difficulty, although, with the
ophthalmoscope, I could discover no change to have occurred in
the fundus oculi. On the other hand, he had felt the good effect of
these drops almost instantly; he thought he sensibly felt how the blood
settled down from his head. I now directed him to set the drops
aside, and some weeks later, he called again only to say that his con-
gestions, which he noticed for a few days longer, had entirely ceased,
and he considered himself quite cured.
Was this man not on the high road to amaurosis? The amblyopia
of this man could not, in any case, have depended upon changes of
the forms of the eyes or their nerves; for no solid part of the eye, the
brain, the spinal marrow, or of a nerve, is brought back to its normal
state in so short a time, while, on the contrary, the function often
343
changes almost instantly, as, for example, that of the muscle of Brügge
in the crystalline lens. The nervous system indeed offers to hunger the
greatest resistance. The blood, for example, in this case, loses 75
per cent., the fat 93, the liver 52, the heart 44, the intestines and exter-
nal muscles 42, the skin 33, the respiratory apparatus 22, the bones
16, the eye 10, the nervous system only 1 per cent. Besides, all effects
upon the nervous system, as, for example, from narcotics, chloroform,
etc., are transient, and become permanent only when such effects have
lasted months and years, and changed the character of the blood.
This resistance of the nervous system against hunger, falls far short
of proving that the interchange of substance in it is very trifling, but
demonstrates that it exceeds all the other organs in its capability of
regenerating itself from the blood. Hence, as the blood, so also is the
nervous system, and generally not vice versa, because the blood alone
stands in direct relation with the external world.
Whoever finds the acquisitions of physiology confirmed at the sick-
bed, can hence never declare the nervous system to be the only point
of disease, else he would resemble those who, in consideration of
space and time, are inclined to believe the cause of the storm-wind to
be driving behind the latter, or to be a blowing angel, figuratively
speaking, while it is nothing else but a part of the atmosphere, which
is colder than that which happens to be before it, and which hence
attracts it.
The forms, as well as the number of the diseases, in which Arg.
nitr. has accomplished a cure for me, are, however, far greater. The
former extend themselves to most disease-forms which occur in this
bodily constitution, and indeed even to the specialties of adults and
children, e. g., to one form of hydrocephalus. The sphere of Arg.
nitr. is hence so comprehensive, because it stands, as does Manga-
num, with its effects, midway between Sycosis and Psora, and is all
the more valuable, because complications of these two constitutional
characters are not infrequent.
§. 326.
OF THE OXYGENOID CONSTITUTION.
This constitution is either inherited from parents, or acquired by
accidental diseases of a grave character.
The blood, the bearer of the most various material relations, is a
product of the organism, i. e., of its constitution, and its mode of
344
elaboration, as is well known, is handed down from parents to chil-
dren, and that for several generations.
Not only the blood, but also the skeleton, the musculature, the diges-
tive and respiratory apparatus, the nervous and sexual system, and
even the manner of death, all receive the impress of the parental
forms and characters with the very first germs of life, and form the
congenital constitution. The immunity inherited from parents against
the so-called contagions and miasms, is the most important inheritance;
above all, is a great factor in human life.
However, a want of power to resist the influence of oxygen is also
acquired by severe epidemic diseases, by scarlatina, dysentery, measles,
diphtheria, typhus, intermittent fever, measles, cholera, etc., and (to
these also belongs syphilis) hence mere diseases, the material causes
of which are productive. Every such disease begins with a so-called
preliminary stage, or rather, stage of development of the poison which
produces it, and many of these diseases can be engrafted. This having
been the case, the person upon whom the disease has been engrafted,
remains for a long time perfectly well. After a certain number of
days, however, the disease, which was engrafted, breaks out. The
difference consists only in this, that, as regards epidemic influences,
the material qualities appear to be unknown, while those engrafted
are known.
At the same time, several of these diseases cannot be communicated
by contact; but where the dejections of typhus, dysenteric or choleraic
patients are deposited, none of which can be transplanted from person
to person, then a new focus of injection may originate, in which the
poison needs some days for its reproduction, for immediately after its
dejection it is not poisonous, as experiments show.
Thus many of these poisons go through a stage of development out-
side of the organism even. Even the so-called marsh-miasm needs a
new development during the summer, while, during the winter, the
intermittent fevers disappear.
Hence, whether we introduce into the blood much of the variolous
pus, for instance, by one or ten inoculations, this affects the duration
of the incubation, which runs its course perfectly free from symptoms
of disease, as little as it does the specific diseases which thereupon
ensue.
Hence the assumption is fully justified, that this period of incuba
tion can only be taken as the period which was necessary at first for
the increase of the poison to a certain amount, in order to make it
efficient. The fever and ague poison, for example, requires two, three,
four or eight days of reproduction for its accession; cholera four times.
345
seven days; hydrophobia cleaves to the number nine; typhus recurrens
occurs after eight days; small-pox has an eight day period of incu-
bation, the measles a fourteen day period, with new eruptions on the
third or fourth day, etc.
These periods are, therefore, not to be confounded with the critical
movements, the periodicity of which belongs to the human organism,
§. 49, S1; they are the specific expressions of specific morbid matter.
Another peculiarity of these periods consists in this, that in every
respect, they operate specifically, and that their effects are always
accompanied by the same morbid symptoms, in all men who are sus-
ceptible to them; this, however, cannot be said of the results of catch-
ing cold, for instance, for this produces in one inflammation of the
throat, with another pneumonia, with a third diarrhoea, etc., since here
the individual morbid predisposition is far more decisive upon the
character of the result than the cause of the disease.
Thus these poisons increase and reproduce themselves according to
determinate periods of development, and their effect upon men is con-
stant and always the same.
But whatever runs through periods of development and always
begets its like, must, without doubt, be living
Consequently, these poisons will be similar to the various substances
already made known elsewhere; for example, similar to the protozoa,
fungi, and vibriones found in connection with skin diseases, and thus
we find some which flourish best without any supply of oxygen. Yet
every one of them is of different specific composition from material
elements, which are the conditions of its existence. Thus they belong
to the ferments, and what was said in §§. 18, 22, 35, 99, holds good
of them.
Accordingly they induce the most intense processes of reduction,
and these again always leave behind them, when improperly treated,
such a change of the constitution of the body, that its blood, for the
whole term of life, can resist but too feebly, an immoderate influx
of oxygen, and that sometimes the most ineradicable consumptions
may arise therefrom. It seems, therefore, as if, in that case, the fer-
ments of the blood, which most likely are given with the vibriones,
become so changed that they too greedily attract oxygen to themselves
and transfer it.
In favor of the hypothesis of living, i. c., organic ferments, Skoda
in Vienna, Griesinger in Berlin, Schützenberger in Strassburg, Polli
in Turin, Gietel in Munich, Liebermeister in Basle (v. his inaugural
address, 1865), declare themselves, so that it only needs confirmation
by further experiments. For this, homeopathic drug-provings would
346
be the most appropriate, which, likewise, should not neglect the micro-
scopy of the blood, and I am of the opinion that the vibriones of the
blood will be the result of these investigations.
Affections which, from such causes, can lead to consumption, form
originally the most various chronic local diseases, and especially in the
osseous and glandular systems, as well as in all the other organs, and
even in the nervous and muscular systems.
If now, we keep in mind that which has just been discussed,
we can never be in doubt about the quality of such a bodily consti-
tution, and can easily remove all diseases originating in it.
I would like, moreover, to direct the attention of our opponents to
this, that in view of such qualities no matter whether they constitute
the original diseases or their results the necessity stands out very
prominently, of treating both with Homeopathic attenuations only,
for who could ever imagine that he could reach such organic molecular
bodies swimming in the blood, which are themselves composed of vari-
ous substances, with Allopathic quantities of drugs, especially in dys-
entery, cholera, syphilis, sycosis; in short, in all these forms of disease.
and their sequelæ, in such a way as to change them for the re-estab-
lishment of health, and that without any injurious effects?
That scholars of such weight, without possessing experimental
evidence for their views, nevertheless accept the existence of these
molecular bodies, as begetters of disease, is, so far, a welcome sign of
a new epoch, even in the sphere of the physiological school, as it
proves that this school begins to make use again of logic, so long
neglected in the formation of its conclusions. But it is thereby
brought so near to Homeopathy, that, as a natural consequence, it
must leave its large doses with which it can never produce or mod-
erate any processes of oxidation or reduction whatever in the diseased
organism; for, if we once admit the effect of such molecular bodies
as are recognizable neither by physics nor chemistry, and yet can make
the organism sick, then we must, a priori, also acknowledge the
effect of those Homœopathic dilutions, at least, the substances of which
can be demonstrated both by chemistry and physics, and this extends
even now as far as the tenth Homeopathic attenuation. But the first
step is hereby taken which must consequently lead to the thorough
study of Homeopathy, which, as well as its practical application,
according to the contents of the last paragraphs of this work, has
become, with irresistible necessity, the solemn duty of every true and
conscientious physician. For those who acknowledge living mole-
cular bodies as causes of disease, there is, at any rate, no longer any
scientific ground for opposition to Homœopathy.
347
§. 327.
The most magnificent, and, since the days of Hahnemann, the
greatest theory and practice which have risen upon the medical
world is Dr. Stamm's Nosophthorie, that is, the aim to seek out as
far as possible, the origin of human sufferings and to suppress these
causes by force.
He has thus far published his views upon the mode of origin and
eradication of pest, yellow fever, and typhus fever (Leipzig, 1862).
In the following I will add a trifle to this subject, and, partly from
the experience of many years, partly from the results thereby attained,
show that the eradication of two forms of disease and plagues can be
very easily accomplished, which, it is true, do not make so fatal an
attack as pest, yellow fever and typhus fever, but have brought, and
still bring a greater, and, indeed, the most terrible chronic misery
upon the life of man, not only in and by themselves, but especially by
their complications and sequelæ, to wit, the eradication of chancre and
gonorrhoea — of the chancre and gonorrhoea contagion.
These forms of disease occur not only with the married and unmar-
ried, who expose themselves to the contagion, but also with married
people who marry in perfect health, and who have had no intercourse
but with each other. Whatever skepticism, without experience, may
allege to the contrary, its opinions have been judged by the want of
success and the absolute injuriousness of its treatment of such dis-
eases, and Ricord himself stands forth to it as a warning example,
though he did not make his confession till he had vacated his pro-
fessorial chair, §. 294, and, in the physiological school the disputes
still continue regarding the origin, character and treatment of these
diseases.
Syphilis, under which designation Homœopathic practice has
learned to comprehend the non-sycotic chancre and its consequences,
destroys numerous nitrogenous formations in a specific direction: no
fat, no gelatin, it is true, but the nitrogenous soft parts of the bones.
Quicksilver immoderately used in this disease and its sequelæ, hence
notorious for years past, operates in minimal doses even, in conse-
quence of the given conditions, as a fat-former, separates the albumen
and thus renders impossible the further extension of the syphilis for a
long time. In small doses, as well as in large, it operates upon the
non-syphilitic quite like the syphilitic poison, as is well known. The
most powerful antidote of mercury is Sulphur, hence it is highly
prized in the physiological school for convalescents from syphilis, as
is seen at Aix-la-Chapelle, Baden near Vienna, etc.
Without losing
348
myself in wide detail of the experience of years, and of copious
material, I will select from them only two facts.
1. From the same woman, on the same day, and, indeed, in the
very same hour, one may get a syphilitic non-sycotic ulcer, another
sycotic ulcers, while yet another may escape without any infection.
2. The woman who makes use of the Sitz-bath and injection, not
too long before or after coitus, does not become diseased, and furnishes
neither syphilitic nor sycotic morbid matter. What results from
this?
Surely a substance cannot be an absolute poison if it fails to infect
some men; on the other hand, such a substance should be considered
as a poison, according to the teaching of the Professors, because it
does infect and sicken many men. One would also think that this
substance can be no identical poison because it produces syphilis in
some and in others sycosis in a homeopathic sense, hence this sub-
stance can only be a relative poison. Finally, this matter, while pro-
ducing such different effects, nevertheless has its origin only in the
vagina; for, on one hand, no man has ever had any syphilitic ulcer
or any sycotic affection who did not practice coitus, on the other hand
the vagina is very often and very variously diseased, even before the
first coitus, and ill-health produces in the woman a virulent disease of
the vagina only by intercourse. This substance, in question, can
hence only be as it is in animals, the product of specific decomposi-
tion of various male and female secretions and excretions detained in
the vagina after coitus, which secretions and excretions are originally
the same everywhere.
If we will not allow ourselves to be blinded with the unnatural
idea that Syphilis has been handed down for thousands of years, from
generation to generation, as an hereditary sin, without ever having
been propagated anew, then we must assume that this product of
decomposition may be prepared new and fresh every day in any
vagina, that hence it must always be one and the same vaginal poison,
hence can be always eradicated by the prophylactic means under
No. 2.
In the yearly compulsory re-vaccinations, thirty or forty individuals
must often be vaccinated in the same way and manner from a single
child. Now, the same observation is always made, that some have
the specific pustules on the arm without any change; in others these
degenerate and become unhealthy ulcers, followed by fever and a long
course of ill-health; while others, again, come off entirely unharmed
and do not produce even a trace of a pustule. Now, I have also
found in the results of coitus, with all precision, from one and the
349
same cause, three-fold effects, which clearly, here as well as there, are
only referable to the variety of the conditions, to the variety of the
bodily constitution. But this essential reason [ratio essendi] became
clear to me only after I had given myself up to the study of
Homœopathy.
Thus, before such a disease can develop itself, the conditions for it
must first be given, and only within, and in connection with, the
hydrogenoid constitution, does the vaginal poison become the cause
of the sycotic secretion of the so-called gonorrhoea. It can produce
gonorrhoea, as well as ulcers; but these are not cured or benefited by
Mercury, but are aggravated, and, if the gonorrhoea is removed by
injections of Nitrate of silver, and such ulcer is cauterized, or otherwise
removed, not radically cured, by internal remedies, the gonorrhoeal
dyscrasia is always produced; as, by cauterizing the syphilitic chancre,
the so-called chancre-dyscrasia is produced upon the soil of the oxy-
genoid constitution. Chronic diseases, which result from these condi-
tions for the begetting of the chancre-poison, will be cured by Mer-
cury, and other remedies belonging to this class, while, by the use of
the remedies for sycosis, for example, Thuja or Natr. sulph., they will
experience aggravations.
The most important circumstances which accompany the chancre-
dyscrasia, and its various diseases, consist, as I discovered in accord
with district-physician Dr. Wolf, one of the most distinguished,
cautious, and philosophical practitioners, in constant sleeplessness,
dryness in the throat, cracking of the joints, chilliness when at stool,
and in gradually increasing paralysis, after the hyperesthesia, which
in all cases precede, have ceased to rage.
The chancre-dyscrasia, the syphilitic, never presents such an inde-
pendence as the gonorrheal dyscrasia, the sycotic; for, while the latter
is not only conditioned by the hydrogenoid constitution, but pushes it
also to a fearful extreme, the chancre-dyscrasia may become complica-
ted with the carbo-nitrogenoid constitution, and then forms a doubly-
difficult problem for the physician. The indication for the treatmem
of such diseases is dictated by the fact, that the production of sycosis,
or syphilis, is conditioned by the bodily constitution, and not by the
causes alone.
§. 32S.
To give clinical illustrations of cases, which would come under the
title of this section, is quite superfluous, and all the more, as diseases
of this kind are easily diagnosticated in their complications and
sequelae, and, at the proper time, readily cured; also, if one, as already
350
said, is able to recognize the constitutional conditions of their origin.
Hence, it will be more instructive next to present clinical cases from
the domain of those constitutions from which the sycosis is wont to
arise.
First, however, a false assertion of Dr. Felix Niemeyer, in his
Lehrbuch der speciellen Pathologie und Therapie, must be refuted.
He says (loc. cit., pag. 71, Bd. 2), as follows: "In from eight to
fourteen days, the discharge in gonorrhoea becomes gradually less,
assumes again a more mucous appearance, and may at length disap-
pear in the fifth or sixth week, without any interference of art, as is
sufficiently shown by the result of Homœopathic treatment.”
That there are men who call themselves Homoeopaths, for the sake
of playing the quack, is well known, as is the fact that the same men
require five or six weeks, or even longer, for the cure of gonorrhoea,
and that this happens to them, as it does to Niemeyer himself, for he
proceeds: "But much oftener a scanty discharge remains stationary
for a long time, for months, or even years;" that these pseudo-homœo-
paths thus effect as little as Niemeyer himself, is quite as well known,
as is the fact, that the average period for a perfect cure of gonorrhoea,
by Homœopathy, is twenty-one days, if there are complications, and
from five to thirteen days where there are none. The whole text-book
of Niemeyer is nothing but an audacious therapeutic rhodomontade,
calculated to serve as a model for ignorant physicians with sluggish
intellects. It is not worth the trouble to say much about this delusive
work; but lest it should seem that I have judged him too severely,
let any one read upon the treatment of Syphilis, on p. 697, Bd. 2.
"I follow the principle to break off the treatment on the occurrence
of salivation, not only when I use the Quicksilver in the form of
ointment, but also under every other mercurial treatment, and do so
for the single reason, that I regard the appearance of salivation as
a welcome indication that a sufficient quantity of the Quicksilver has
been absorbed." Thus to produce salivation, mercurial poisoning, is,
to these people, a cure! This is applying the juridical procedures of
the ancients to disease, by demanding an eye for an eye, a hand for a
hand, a disease for a disease, and this treatment, with which the
police should interfere, is called science! To render a disease latent
by the production of another one, far more dangerous, so that it may
sooner or later break out again in another form, this, these teachers
of youth call a cure!!! Woe to the many thousands deserving of
sympathy, who, ignorant of the danger to which they are exposed,
turn full of confidence every day to such titular physicians!
351
§. 329.
Practical examples of the hydrogenoid bodily constitution.
In these clinical cases those concomitant conditions only are printed
in italics which belong to the diagnosis of this constitution; to find out
and underscore the other symptoms recognizable themselves from the
drug-provings of the remedies exhibited, and belonging to the forma-
tion of the indication, will be an easy lesson for the beginner.
A woman, 29 years of age, of healthy parents still living (the father
is S9, the mother 75), has suffered, according to her statement, from
her youth, upon the slightest bodily exertion or mental emotion, with
palpitation of the heart, without any known cause, except that, in her
youth, she was very timid and easily frightened, which she ascribed to
hearing children's tales. A physical examination revealed neither
valvular defects, nor any other nutritive changes of the heart, only a
very exaggerated and accelerated motion thereof; even, during com-
plete bodily rest, the pulse was, at the same time, So-S1 to the minute.
Of juvenile diseases she had been through with hooping-cough, but
no other. The color of her skin is brilliant white, the skin clear,
without ever having presented any eruption, hair dark-brown, eyes
blue, figure slender, form symmetrical. She had already given birth
to three children without difficulty, but has suffered with an incessant
headache since her last confinement, which was quite normal, and
after which she nursed her child for two months, when she weaned it
from lack of milk; all this happened six years before she came to me;
this headache occupied no definite place, but extended itself from the
forehead over the vertex to the occiput, only sometimes it was most
severe upon the vertex.
the vertex. This headache did not permit her to visit, or
receive visits from, her most intimate friends even, because it was so
aggravated by talking or hearing others speak, that vomiting ensued,
and to make the pain at all endurable, she had to betake herself to her
bed, where she remained for three or four days motionless, and lying
upon her back.
Not unfrequently, pain in the stomach set in, which ceased of itself
after the discharge of sour water, rising in the throat with nausea, and
also the eructation of tasteless gas, which was most frequently
induced by the ingestion of vegetable acids or vegetables. Her appe-
tite was good, but not craving; she refused to eat meat - even the
smell of it was repugnant to her.
The menses, as indeed was indicated by the pain in the vertex, were
irregular, scanty, and pale, and were generally six or eight days too
early. In the interim there was more or less fluor albus, which was
352
debilitating, and the accession of the menses was announced by a
violent colic.
The respiration was unrestrained, but in the apex of the right lung
there was dull respiratory murmur, in a small portion, however, with-
out any change of sound on percussion. She never had any cough,
and the digestion was always regular. To these were added, since
her last confinement also, cataleptic attacks, almost every morning
after waking from an uninterrupted, good, but not refreshing, sleep.
Thus, if her husband did not notice in the morning that she closed
her eyes again shortly after waking, and, at the same time, sighed once
deeply, and at this very moment did not at once shake her shoulders
with both hands, and call to her aloud, then nothing would arouse her
from the motionless and insensible condition, lasting from one to two
hours, in which one could raise her arms and legs in any direction.
without their returning to their former position. These attacks had
come, and still came and went without any known cause, but they
left behind them no further ailment.
As regards the concomitant circumstances to these pains, I learned
that the headaches were always much more violent in damp weather
than in dry, and, in fact, her general condition was aggravated at such
times, so that this woman, who was previously lively and joyful, be-
came more and more melancholic. The many physicians who had
been consulted, the many cures which had been attempted for her, and
especially all use of baths increased her sufferings. I further learned
that her headache especially, even aside from considering the influ-
ence of the weather, was most violent in the afternoon or evening;
that consequently it increased in severity, irregularly, though period-
ically, which also pointed to an affection of the nervous system; that
she constantly suffered from chilliness, hence the whole winter through,
was obliged to keep her room very warm, and even in summer had
cold hands and feet, notwithstanding all her clothing and other means
for keeping warm.
Whoever has read the foregoing will have no doubt that here we
had before us a disease in a hydrogenoid constitution, which latter
must be extirpated first of all, without regard to the organs affected
or the other parts of the organism; for as long as the general condi-
tions of a discase are not removed, no thought can ever be logically
entertained of the cure or improvement of its special form.
I often read in the Homeopathic journals clinical cases by physi-
cians whose treatment, contravening this logical principle, was
followed by little good results, or less than that which really was
attainable; while, by virtue of the law of similarity, other physicians
353
again were led to the right indication, though this principle was
unknown to them. This is, then, an involuntary logic of the Homo-
opaths, as a counterpart to the involuntary Homoeopathy of the phys-
iological school.
I know full well that, unhappily, few Homœopathists trouble them-
selves about the physiological significance of remedies, but, in the
choice of their remedies, they are all the more uncertain, inasmuch
as our drug-provings still require complements.
In brief, among all the remedies which might be indicated accord-
ing to the law of similarity, for this case, which, certainly, was not
easily to be cured, there were mainly two of which I knew, at once,
from many years practice, that they not only produce a more active
interchange of substance, and hence would occasion more warmth in
the body, and would not only restore again the lost power of resist-
ance against the influences of cold and moisture, but would also have
an enlivening effect upon the nervous system, viz., Nux vom. and
Ipecac. I have also observed that each of these remedies had far less
effect, in these directions, when given by itself, alone, than when they
were permitted to operate upon the organism in succession. §. 243.
I hence ordered Nux vom. 3rd to be taken at 7 or 8 A.M. and
at 6 P.M., and three or four drops of Ipecac 3rd every two hours
during the day, although it was the fervent desire of this patient to
be delivered as soon as possible, first of all and at any price, from the
headache, which tormented her without ceasing, for this was the most
annoying of all her sufferings, and hindered her most in her duties.
Had I sought to conform to this wish I should surely have had to
select quite other remedies, and probably a long series of them in
succession, and most likely too, with no favorable result or no result
at all.
Hence I told the patient that I could not meet her wishes at once,
but, on the other hand, promised her, with all assurance, the complete
restoration of her health, and, within the space of a year at the
furthest, a deliverance from all her sufferings; adding that before her
headache could be relieved, she would first have to notice a greater
sensation of warmth in her body. Besides, I forbade her coffee, any
baths for more than five minutes, and, for the time being, her accus-
tomed washing in cold water; also her remaining near water, especially
standing water, besides, of course, vinegar, fruit and fish.
This was on the first of May. I visited this patient every eight
days, having told her to take the remedies as directed for eight days,
and then to set them aside for eight days, and so on.
PART II.
23
354
On the 4th of June she stated that she really thought she was not
so cold as she had been for many years, for she could now sit even in
the shade in the garden, a thing which hitherto had been impossible
to her. At the same time the cataleptic attacks had so diminished
in intensity, that she often had only a mere intimation of them.
But headache and palpitation of the heart still unfitted her for all
occupation.
The cataleptic attacks now happily returned but seldom for several
weeks, (except the merest indications of them), and even the head-
aches were no longer aggravated in the evening, when, at the end of
July, her children got the measles, one after the other. She would
not entrust the care of them to anybody, but was unspeakably happy
that she could sustain the bodily exertions and mental excitements,
thereupon attendant, which a month before would have been utterly
impracticable.
During the whole course of her children's sickness I naturally inter-
mitted the use of the Ipecac and Nux, and only gave her Aconite
occasionally, as she was very much alarmed at the condition of one
of the children, whose disease had become very severe.
After this had all passed off, without injury for the children, as well
as for the mother, the whole family went for eight days into the
mountains of Bavaria. This agreed very well with all except the
mother; for she took a sail upon a lake, which I had expressly forbid-
den, and, after this day, felt chilly and cold again, the headache, also,
being notably aggravated.
As I had found in my practice that Aranea diadema, still more
than Nux and Ipecac, diminishes the influence of hydrogen upon the
system, and since it was also indicated, according to the laws of simi-
larity, by the constant chilliness, I directed her to take 4 or 5 drops
every two hours.
The warmth of the body soon returned, and, for the first time, the
menses waited the full four weeks, but were more abundant and of a
red color. It is a pity that, in other cases, the Aranca diadema pro-
duces very violent hæmorrhage, especially from the lungs, which fact
calls for caution in the use of this great remedy.
After two weeks, the patient noticed a marked relief of the head-
ache, which had returned; and, after eight days, this headache entirely
ceased again for some days. The cataleptic attacks had already en-
tirely disappeared for about fourteen days, and, since then, have not
returned. But it was not till the 13th of September that the patient
finally assured me that, in the most striking manner, just as if she had
355
been delivered from a bad habit, she had not had the slightest sensa-
tion of headache for four days.
Nor has it ever returned again after the lapse of six years.
After another fourteen days, during which time the patient had per-
sonally superintended the removal from her summer residence to the
city, a thing which before was not to be thought of, she called my
attention to the fact that, after having been in the city three days, she
had experienced increased palpitation of the heart again, as had been
the case every year after this change. Now, I gave her Puls. 30th,
since the constitutional conditions for the previous ailments were ali
removed, and, as the favorable effects of this began to wear off in a
few days, I gave Puls. 3rd. This remedy, within the next six days,
had the desired result, and the function of the heart became regular
and remained so.
I now gave her, finally, Magnesia 6th, after which even her fluor
albus diminished, and soon disappeared entirely, not to return.
Thus, at the end of November, of this year, this woman was per-
fectly free from all her sufferings of years' standing, and without
complaint. She went into society again, and has renewed her youth.
From the above rule and a large experience, I know that neither
Puls. nor Magnes. sulph. would have afforded relief so readily,
had not the constitutional treatment preceded.
In conclusion, I remark that, besides the symptoms of Aranea,
already known, and the above-cited symptom as regards hæmorrhages,
the following have also been obtained from a proving upon a healthy
woman. In both ring and little fingers, of both hands, a feeling,
as if they had gone to sleep and of formication; periods eight days
too early, too strong and too copious; at night, immediately after lying
down, sudden, violent pains in the teeth of the whole upper and lower
jaw.
§. 330.
A pupil of the Academy of Arts, 23 years old, sent for me because
he could no longer pursue his art with love and pleasure; he felt
himself constantly so oppressed in the chest, that a walk across his
room, even, put him out of breath. He attributed his trouble to an
intermittent fever, acquired in a university city some months before,
which was removed by very large doses of Quinine, of which he often
had to take twenty grains at once. Since that time, an enlargement
of the spleen had remained, which reached to the space between the
third and fourth ribs. At that place, a dark line, made on the skin
356
with Arg. nitr. by the professor, the ordinarius of the City Hospital,
to mark the outlines of this enormous swelling of the spleen, was
still to be seen. Below the first line, there were other reddish marks,
the traces of similar outlines, which had indicated the gradual swell-
ing and ascent of the spleen. The heart was pushed to the right,
and beat feebly and 98 times in the minute. The respiration was
very short, raised the right side of the thorax only, occurred 30 times
in the minute, and could be heard at the very apex of the right lung
only.
The appearance of this young man of course indicated disease of
the spleen, and the upper edge of the spleen was found again between
the third and fourth ribs, though in consequence of earlier improve-
ment, it must previously have stood lower.
As soon as I entered the house where he resided, and which stood
close to the water, I observed that all its walls were very damp. I was
now convinced that I should find a disease-form arising from a hydro-
genoid constitution, for such a house, especially when it is but little
or not at all exposed to the sun, is very sure to harbor disease-forms
of the most varied kinds, but which ought not to be treated, according
to their names as they are laid down in the text books of special Path-
ology and Therapeutics, in which also their treatment is struck off
after one and the same model.
Here, however, the disease was a relapse induced by the damp
dwelling. On being questioned, the patient said that he was chilly
day and night, although it was mid-summer, and as often as it rained
had always felt worst; he also acknowledged that, especially during
the past four weeks, during which time he had lived in this room, he
had felt worse than ever.
Upon constitutional grounds, as well as upon the strength of the
indication according to the law of similarity, there was no doubt but
that the remedy indicated was Aranea diadema. He took it in the
2nd decimal, four or five drops every two hours, in a spoonful of
water.
After eight days the upper border of the spleen was behind the
fifth rib, and fell, within three weeks, to the seventh rib; the heart
returned to its place again; in the part of the lung which had been
compressed, the respiratory murmur was again distinctly to be heard,
and the patient felt himself well again. Nevertheless, I advised him
Some days after, however,
to continue the remedy some time longer.
he complained of acute pains in the teeth of the upper and lower
jaws, which had appeared for two days, whenever he retired at night,
and which lasted an hour.
357
In this case, it was truly enough an accident that I had already
learned this symptom of Aranea from provings. Yet this case serves
again as an example of the diagnosis of the so-called Homœopathic
aggravation; of a diagnosis which is always justified upon the basis
of drug-provings. Not a single adherent of the physiological school
possesses that acquaintance with the effects of his remedies which
could explain to him similar aggravations. Even this important con-
dition, for the frequent elimination of the accidental at the sick-bed,
is utterly unknown to the physiological school, and is one of the
causes of a host of mistakes.
§. 331.
The physiological school has collected some very valuable facts
regarding the relations of the water in the atmosphere to that of the
organism, but it still does not know of what benefit they would be
for its Therapy, for it lacks the knowledge to find remedies against
diseases from a surplus of hydrogen in the organism, and by the in-
ventive maxim under which it institutes its experiments, it will never
be led thereto. Thus Flemming declares in his treatie: zur Lehre
der Krankheits-ursachen:" on the doctrine of the causes of disease.
"The lungs exhale an air saturated with hydrogen gas of a tempera-
ture of 37°C., 30 R. If the surrounding air, at a temperature
of 371° C., were saturated with hydrogen gas, then as much hydro-
gen gas would be offered to the organism through the lungs as is
given off. But, since this is not the case, the blood in the lungs
gives off to the dry atmosphere, determinate quantities of water.
Still greater is the interchange through the skin and the excretion
of water by the kidneys. The exhalation of water through the lungs
amounts, on the average, in twenty-four hours, to 364, by the skin to
720, the discharge of water through the kidneys to 1369.3 grammes.
The mean proportion of water in the healthy organism is 79 per
cent., while there are large numbers of individuals whose blood con-
tains more water, and others whose blood is richer in solid constit-
uents. The cause of Chlorosis is scanty excretion of water from the
organism, together with a mode of living which allows of the forma-
tion of few solid constituents in the blood. The scanty excretion of
water is produced by living in an air relatively damp, by too little
bodily exercise, and by deficient expansion of the lungs.
The tumor of the spleen has developed before the outbreak of the
intermittent, and is the cause, and not the effect, of the febrile attacks;
the enormous perspiration produced by the paroxysms is the attempt
358
of nature to remove the fundamental cause of the watery character of
the blood and the swelling of the spongy body of the spleen there-
from arising."
Very good indications for practice, which, however, Homœopaths
alone know how to make useful, or would Flemming, in spite of his
expositions, have known how to point out the properly indicated rem-
edy in a given case? Certainly not, and for this very reason, that, in
the Pharmacopoeia and Materia Medica of the physiological school,
the Aranea diadema is not even mentioned.
§. 332.
For many years I have known a vigorous young man, of herculean
musculature and form, with a most blooming countenance, and cheer-
ful temper. After a few years I saw him quite as powerful as ever,
it is true, but laboring now under mental depression. As I fear
nothing so much as to appear obtrusive, I could not ask him any fur-
ther questions, especially as he had assured me, in reply to the usual
inquiries, that he was very well. A few years later, again, he came
to consult me about certain attacks, which alarmed him very much,
although he had already consulted, on this account, several of the most
celebrated physicians, and had received from all the same assurance,
that these attacks had all the less importance, as they always disap-
peared of themselves, very rapidly and completely, in short, that they
were no object of medical treatment.
The sum and substance of the whole complaint was, indeed, trifling
enough to the ignorant, and was as follows: "Within a period of
three years, it has already happened to me three times, when in per-
fect health, and the last time, three days ago, that, when walking, I
am suddenly taken with such an acute stitch in the left hip, as utterly
disables me from walking further, because it is then absolutely impos-
sible to stand on that foot, since it becomes so weakened that it is
utterly incapable of furnishing any support. This stitching pain is so
severe that I think that, for the moment, I shall lose my senses, and
must fall to the ground every moment; that I am sure that I could
not bear it, if it lasted but a minute; the pain of having a tooth
drawn is child's play compared with it, and no words can describe it.
But the strangest thing is, that, in the very moment when it seems as
if I must succumb to it, it disappears, without leaving a trace, just
as suddenly, and apparently just as much without cause, as it came,
after having lasted, according to my calculation, two or three seconds,
and I can at once go on my way as if nothing had happened. Before
359
and after it I am quite well; but the dread of never being secure
against this most fearful of all pains, for a moment, does not allow
me to rest till I find help, and indeed I am all the more disquieted by
it, as, the last time, the pain was not only in the hip, but at the same
time reached to the knee joint." This symptom was already known
to me as a precursor of sycosis in a high state of development, and,
although the patient assured me that he had always been quite well,
I had him undress himself, and found upon his chest the character-
istic exanthem which he made very light of, since now it broke out
mostly in the spring, now soon disappeared of itself, while, during
the whole summer and winter it was not to be seen, and he thought it
was to be attributed to the time of year. On further inquiry, I learned
that, three years ago, a friend of his, a physician, had touched some
whitish-blue spots, which he showed him, on his lips, with Nitrate
of silver, whereupon, after a few days they disappeared and have
never reappeared since. Moreover, he was often overtaken with such
a disgust for life, that he had to summon all his moral force to refrain
from shooting himself, though he did not know any other cause for
this than a disheartening disgust for life. Beyond this I could learn
nothing, and, as regards any results from sexual intercourse, he never,
as he assured me, had observed any whatever. We know very well
how little we can credit such statements In the meantime, it was not
essential to know whether such a cause had existed or not, for, accord-
ing to the preceding paragraphs, a pathological form is always the
combined result of causes and conditions; hence, the specific disease-
form according to time, place and circumstance, is the only object of
Therapeutics. For the sake of curiosity, I examined a drop of blood,
which, however, presented no more colorless corpuscles than is cus-
tomary in non-leucæmic blood.
It had been long known to me that, at the outset of the so-called
sycotic cases, the percentage of water of the blood is increased, as also
in the later stages, in which Virchow had discovered leucæmic blood.
It was likewise known to me that Glauber's salts protected the red
blood-corpuscles from the influence of an excess of water, while in
Brüninghausen, Handschuch, Wilhelm, Klinge, etc., I had men before
me of great powers of observation, who were in favor of treating
syphilis with Glauber's salts, but who are long ago forgotten, because
sycosis and syphilis were confounded, and there was no indication in
the latter disease to give Glauber's salts, and indeed it never accom-
plished anything. Thus both theoretical and practical experience
sustained me, which left no doubt in me that Glauber's salts were
indicated for this case also. I did not acquire certainty, however,
360
except through the Homeopathic proving of Glauber's salts, likewise
known to me in so far as this, that no other remedy belonging to this
category, possesses these relations to the hip and knee joints, in con-
nection with the other circumstances, as do Glauber's salts. To
estimate the results of the Homœopathic drug-provings, requires more
physiological knowledge indeed, than many a one supposes. Without
hesitation I prescribed for him the 3rd decimal attenuation of Glau-
ber's salts, five drops to be taken every two hours. Since prescrip-
tions, which are based not only upon theoretical and practical
experience, but also upon the law of the specific direction, etc., can
never fail of success, so did the result not fail in this case, although it
required nearly a year, and, to guard against super-saturating the
system, the remedy was often set aside for weeks together. After this
period, however, there was no trace of the exanthem to be seen, the
previous cheerfulness of the patient, as well as his blooming com-
plexion, had returned, and since he has now passed five years in this
desirable condition, without further use of the remedy, and without
complaints, I may consider the cure to be complete.
§. 333.
In §. 295 I presented a case from Virchow of swelling of the cer
vical glands 20 centimetres in circumference. I have at present
under treatment a similar case, with such a circumference about the
neck, that one would think that the head were sitting right upon the
shoulders, without any neck at all. The patient is a woman, fifty-one
years of age; for five years past she has sought aid from medical
notabilities and Professors of Universities, and received from them,
as long as the swelling was only of the size of a walnut, Iodine, Salts
of Krankenheil and cod liver oil in enormous quantities. But after
the swelling had grown, without being checked, to this monstrous
size, then their medical knowledge came to an end. The patient's
blood was leucemic, it is true; the tumor had already extended itself
upon the face, upon the chest, into the axilla, and even the right leg
presented rows of knotty tumors. But the Professors did not examine
her blood, though they employed auscultation and percussion upon the
tumor with the greatest care; the woman, however, could never find
out exactly what ailed her, as the question was always followed by a
shrug of the shoulders. I gave her Glauber's salts as above, and,
after this, the tumors ceased to grow, and that on the neck went
down, in six weeks, from 28 to 23 centimetres in circumference. The
improvement made rapid progress; the swelling of the face had dis-
361
appeared and had made way for a healthy color; even the pressure
upon the trachea, which troubled her very much, was no longer
noticeable.
Although this woman, as I heard, was soon after taken sick from
catching cold, and died therefrom in a few days, yet the fact remains
that this sycotic tumor rapidly decreased, a result not to be reached
by physiological medicine, as another case shortly after satisfied me.
That there are remedies and means enough based upon natural
laws, to furnish aid in such cases even, is fully demonstrated.
These ways and means, according to natural laws, are, however,
not to be found in the dominant physiological medicine, but simply
and solely, as I have now abundantly shown, in Homœopathy. The
minimal dose, also, is necessary to such results. If one, on account of
the ineradicable association with traditional doses, scorns to prescribe
the quantities calculated according to the law of reciprocal action,
and prefers to remain subject to accident, he is not interfered with by
the laws of the Government, and he may attempt to accomplish it
by solutions of Glauber's salts, which better correspond to his power
of comprehension; he will not succeed, however, even if he does not
prescribe doses so large that the injurious casual effects of the Glauber's
salts in substance, diarrhoea, for instance, occur, and I would then no
longer answer for the result. In many other cases, larger doses even,
than the so-called homœopathic, may lead to the desired end, as we
observed above in consumption, and, in some disease-forms curable by
Nux vom.; they may occur in spite of the treatment, if the superflu-
ous quantity is changed and carried off by the stomach and intestinal
canal; but such a treatment is ever uncertain and irrational.
§. 33+.
A married woman, twenty-nine years of age, suffered from a cough
for eight years, without any known cause, the cough having every
year terminated in pulmonary hæmorrhage. Four years ago, she had,
for six months, pains in the face, on the right side, which would yield
to no medical means of the physiological school, though these pains
ceased, of themselves, after a change of residence; hereupon, how-
ever, the cough, which, during the continuance of the pains in the
face, had disappeared, returned again, so that this woman became
much emaciated, and had to drink Emser water at her own house,
since, on account of her great weakness, she could not be taken to
Ems. By this means, however, her strength was so far restored that,
62
next year, she was able herself to go to Ems, there to continue the
cure.
After four weeks she returned home no better. Blood was always
present in the copious puriform expectoration, and her physician, who
only saw her every week or two, told her husband that his wife was
incurable. She herself believing what the physician said of her hope-
less condition, became despondent, and her condition sensibly grew
worse.
She now thought of consulting me. Her husband requested me,
after telling me everything, and after all hope of any improvement
had been long given up, at least to make her a visit.
One cannot refuse even such a somewhat unreasonable demand. I
found a woman in a great state of depression, always weeping, with
marked mucous rattle on the right upper part of the thorax, and on
the left side, as well as in the right, a clear sound on percussion, puri-
form expectoration, constant irritation to cough, under the sternum, the
menses, however, were not yet deranged, appetitc and sleep good, pulse
72; the face was very pale, yet did not have the expression of the
tuberculous, and on being questioned she assured me that she had
long ago observed that she always had two good days and one poor one,
and that only in damp weather did she suffer all days alike; that she
had told this to her physician many years before, but he had always
said that it was irrelevant, as well as the circumstance that she always
had cold feet and hands.
I could now no longer doubt that here a latent intermittent had
existed for eight years, and the remedy which I gave, Chinin. sulph.,
a dose every two hours, had such an effect that, from the first day, the
cough became less frequent, and, on the eighth day, had entirely dis-
appeared. The patient soon appeared very happy, and gained in
strength from day to day.
Since then four years have passed, and there was never any return
of the cough, still less of any hæmorrhage, and the abnormalities on
the upper part of both lungs could be no longer observed.
This woman, acknowledging that I saved her life, would have been
long buried, as sure as the treatment of her physician of the physio-
logical school, was a false one, because these physicians, on account
of the knowledge which they have obtained mechanically, and of
which they always boast as infallible, are not able, in such cases, to
establish a proper diagnosis; for they cannot, and never could, esti-
mate the circumstances accompanying any disease-form.
363
§. 335.
A married woman, 28 years of age, who gave birth to her last child
some years ago, without difficulty, and who appeared to have no predis-
position to any disease, complained that, for six months, her abdomen
has been gradually enlarging to such an extent that every one had been
congratulating her upon a new pregnancy, which, however, could not
be the case, as she noticed none of the well-known indications of
that state; she had her periods regularly every four weeks as usual, and
only for a few weeks past had had a constant leucorrhoea. The abdo-
men was round and everywhere uniformly hard all around in a cir-
cumference of about six inches diameter, above the symphysis pubis;
but it was entirely free from pain, even upon pressure. An examin-
ation showed a condition of the os uteri as in the fourth month of preg-
nancy. The os was high and directed backwards. Around it, in the
bottom of the vagina, the same cartilaginous resistance was felt as
externally on the abdomen, and this resistance formed the immediate
prolongation of the cervix, and thus belonged to the womb. I have
twice happened to observe a similar swelling of the womb arising
from a dead fœtus; in one case the foetus lay five, and in the other
eleven months in the uterine cavity, without being expelled. In the
first case, metritis suddenly set in, and during its course, which could
not be mitigated, the separate bones of the foetus were discharged
one after the other through the rectum, which afforded great relief.
The other case escaped my further observation. Both cases were free
from doubt, by reason of the signs of pregnancy which had been man-
ifestly present, and in the latter case, even the parts of the fœtus could
be distinctly felt. All this was absent here; this swelling could also
not be formed by the ovaries, nor could it be a case of hydrometrà.
However, I once found in the cadaver knotty fibroid tumors, which
had been diagnosticated as such during life even, situated upon the
fundus uteri, i. c., upon the outer wall, which had been considerably
reduced in size by the saline springs of Reichenhall. These were
easily diagnosticated by the touch on making an examination, and by
the enormous haemorrhages which they always produced during the
first period of pregnancy. This also was not the case here, neither
was there any muco-membranous polypus present, which surely, aside
from its slight resistance, would have dilated the os uteri. Thus it
could only be considered a fibrous polypus, or more probably, a
round fibroid within the uterus, which, however, could not be affirmed
positively, as the closed os prevented any further diagnosis. It is true,
Virchow does not mention in his work, "über die krankhaften
364
Geschwülste," such forms of tumors in the uterine cavity, neverthe-
less, they have been observed by others, Kiwisch, for instance.
Owing to the size of this growth, an operation was not to be
thought of, though, to the physiological school, any other resource is
unknown. Consequently this woman would have been given over
hopelessly, a prey to all the dangers which were to be anticipated in
the case.
What now delivers us from such a dilemma? Nothing but the
doctrine of Homeopathy touching the concomitant circumstances.
This woman did not look sick, had a good appetite and slept well:
felt otherwise well, only she became sooner and more wearied by her
domestic dutics than was previously the case, in which duties she was
very much annoyed by this tumor in the abdomen.
This was April 4th. The remedies which I administered, inter-
nally, so long as I had my eye upon the object of the disease alone,
were attended with no success, and from month to month, the abdo-
men increased in size, till, unhappily, it was not till September 6th
that I inquired about the concomitant circumstances. She acknowl-
edged that she felt chilly every evening, and worse, i. e., there was a
more rapid enlargement of the abdomen, during moist weather. On
this account I prescribed Nux 3rd and Ipecac 3rd, in alternation,
every two hours, and, with such effect, that, as early as September
26, the tumor had decreased in size to a diameter of three inches,
though it could still be distinctly felt above the pubic bone. The
cervix had also assumed a lower position, and, by the 20th of October,
had become quite perpendicular again; the lips were somewhat
swollen, but the leucorrhoea had also disappeared.
This improvement continued without interruption, during frequent
suspension of the remedy, and four years have passed without any
complaint from the woman, so that her complete cure was certainly
accomplished.
§. 336.
A butcher and tavern-keeper, 25 years old, was taken, according to
the declaration of his physician, with so violent a pneumonia, that he
had no hopes of his recovery. The patient, however, was about to be
married, and the business would have been lost to his betrothed by
his death. His physician, hence, advised the patient to consummate
his marriage as soon as possible. This took place; but now I was
called to take charge of the case, a request which, of course, I thought
I had a perfect right to decline. Yet I could not withstand their
365
repeated urgent appeals more than a day. I found hepatization of
the whole right lung from the lowest part to the apex, where, above
the clavicle, the sound on percussion was somewhat hollow, and there
was some respiratory murmur yet to be heard. The left lung had
remained free from any affection; there was great difficulty of respira-
tion; excessive debility; the voice harsh; the patient could not lie on
the left side without danger of suffocation; pulse 130; the cough
brought up purulent, yet scanty, expectoration, the tongue was thickly
coated, the appetite was entirely wanting; there was great emaciation,
features collapsed.
Upon inquiry, the patient stated that one day he was better 012
the next decidedly worse, and then, at 8 P.M., he was worse than
ever, so that he really thought, the evening before, that his time had
come; he felt chilly also, notwithstanding the constant sweat, and in
spite of the warm cloths upon his abdomen. I directed Nux vom.
and Ipec. in alternation, every two hours; on the next day, August 2,
amelioration of all the symptoms. After eight days he still was
chilly in the upper part of his body, hence Aran diad. 3rd was given,
in hourly alternation with Nux, although the hepatization decreased
from above downwards, more and more every day. On the 29th of
August he was already able to remain two hours out of bed, for his
appetite had returned in the first days of my treatment, and hearty
food was given as his strength increased. He now felt quite well;
the whole right lung was again serviceable for respiration, and, in the
same proportion, the burden of the other ailments was also removed;
his bodily weakness, however, was still considerable. This day the
young wife of the patient stood at the door of her house as her pre-
vious physician passing by, inquired about her husband. She replied,
with a joyful countenance, that he was entirely well and already up.
To this the doctor replied, "that is utterly impossible." A week later,
however, the butcher, convalescent, walking out of doors, raet the
doctor himself, and gave him an ocular demonstration of what he had
declared to be utterly impossible.
§. 337.
After opening an abscess on the left heel of a man 75 years old, the
edges of the wound mortified, and the physician declared that as gan-
græna senilis had set in, the foot must be removed. Upon this decision
I was called in. For more than a year I had often seen this old man
in the street, limping with his left foot, and now I saw clearly the
cause thereof, viz., a chronic inflammation of the periosteum of the
366
os calcis, which had probably extended to the bone itself, and a gan-
grenous ulcer half an inch broad, causing insufferable pains, and sur-
rounded and partially covered with, a gangrenous crust. Arsenic 10th
gave prompt relief. The gangrenous crust was thrown off. The
surface of the ulcer took on a healthy appearance, but, after ten days,
did not show the least tendency to cicatrize, although the pains were
decreasing. Both Silic. 10 and Calc. carb. 6 aggravated all the symp-
toms so far as this, that none of them were improved, but the ulcer
had increased in breadth and depth, so that the probe could now
touch the denuded and carious os calcis. The patient wanted his first
drops again, because they had relieved his pains, which now had
returned to their former severity. This was granted him in the
absence of any better indication. But the sleeplessness setting in,
which could be attributed only to the influence of the Arsenic, required
that this remedy should be discontinued again. His sleep now
returned, but the pain increased again also.
A thorough examination finally led me to the source of all his
troubles, to which indeed the striking effect of Arsenic had already
called my attention, as this remedy was given only to arrest the morti-
fication. The patient acknowledged, on being questioned, that his
pains increased and decreased periodically, and that, regularly, every
other day. He added that he might have told me that long before,
had he supposed that any importance could be attached to such a trifle;
he had thought that quite as little importance was attached to the cir
cumstance that he was always cold, and hence was always trying to
get warm.
Aranca diadema removed the pains, and effected a rapid cure. At
first, the ulcer grew less, then many very small sequestra were thrown
off, but five months passed away under the repeated use of this remedy,
before the cure was complete.
I avail myself of this opportunity to call attention to the use of hay-
baths in many forms of caries, and in enchondroma of the bones. It
was in the country that I first learned of these baths as a popular
remedy for necrosis of the bone. If what the country people related
to me is true, then it can only be the Silex contained in these baths
which makes them useful in these diseases of the bones. Hence, I
examined the hay chemically, in order to learn whether Silex could be
found in solution in these baths.
Three drachms of finely cut hay were put into twelve ounces of
water free from silicious acid, and boiled down half. The filtrated
decoction was evaporated to the thickness of an extract, and then
rapidly incinerated. The white ashes thus obtained were digested 24
367
hours with Hydrochloric acid, which left about half a grain of resid
uum, which presented all the characteristic properties of Silex; hence
Silex is present in a state of solution in the hay-baths.
§. 338.
A young married pair had, two years previously, lost a child from
hydrocephalus acutus; the second, then eight months old, was com-
mitted to my charge, when the disease had already reached the con-
vulsive stage; it died after a few days.
It devolved now upon me, as the family physician, to solve the
problem of protecting the next child from this disease, and thus to
remove the conditions under which, both times, the development of
this fatal disease had been possible, a problem which everybody
knows the physiological school is not able to solve.
Both parents were perfectly healthy, and never sick. Both had
blonde hair, thin skin, and blue eyes. The husband was spare, the
wife of a full habit. Hence no positive point of support could be
gained from either. The wife, however, had nursed both of the chil-
dren, but without possessing sufficient nourishment for them, as I
learnt on inquiry, for she was obliged to give them milk, and sugar-
water besides, and both children were taken sick when they began to
cut their teeth.
In hydrocephalus the nutrition of the bones is always deficient, and
hence, during the period of dentition, this nutrition must be carried
on at the expense of other tissues. But the conditions of this deficient
nutrition of the osseous system must have been given long before the
period of dentition.
I hence stated to the wife that she must not nurse the next child,
and that she must, during her next pregnancy, take Sulphur 6th one
day, and Calc. phosph. 6th the next, so that she should not lose a third
child by this disease. Sulphur, I wished to exhibit as a nutritive rem-
edy favoring the formation of tissues, while Calc. phosph. was to favor
that of the bones.
Five weeks later, the woman informed me that she was again preg-
nant, and asked me for those remedies. She was delivered at term,
and this child, now five years old, remained healthy, as well as a second,
now three years old, which was carried the regular term under this
prophylactic treatment.
These are not solitary cases, for I have pursued this method, for six
years, in all families in which there has ever been a hydrocephalic
child, and with the same good result.
368
But where I have taken charge, in other families, of children who
had already suffered from hydrocephalus, none have died during the
last seven years, in which time I have given such children, every
morning and evening, a powder of the second trit. of Calc. phosph.;
and only such children as I first see in the last stage, receive morning
and evening, a few drops of Argent nitr. 6, and every two hours the
powder of Calc. phosph., and with the best result. At the same time,
I have repeatedly convinced myself that, in such cases, one of these
remedies alone, affords no such relief.
§. 339.
In September, 1861, I received from a well-known Homœopathic
physician, the following letter, which I give verbatim:
"I hope you will excuse me for taking the liberty of relating my
disease to you, with the request that you will kindly give me the
benefit of your medical skill in the case. I can hardly think that I
have made a vain request, as you will learn, at least in part, from the
following description of my situation how much I am in need of help:
I am 53 years old, of nervous constitution, and have suffered with
piles since my youth. I have employed all sorts of remedies against
these, with but transient result. Subsequently, a hypochondriac
mood was superadded. Homœopathy and the water-cure have
given me but little relief from my sufferings. My manner of life,
since my youth up, was much like that of others. I drank two or
three glasses of beer nearly every day, smoked tobacco, and partook
of the ordinary fare. Married at 23 years of age, I became the
father of eight children, quite healthy and vigorous. I was never
syphilitic, rachitic, or scrofulous, but, when a child, was affected
with the itch, which, perhaps, was checked too soon, by means of
ointments. Although I was never excessive in amorous indulgence,
yet I always observed a pressing pain in the testicles after coitus,
which was more violent as the coitus was more frequent, and vice
versa; it was aggravated when standing, but relieved by walking,
and still more on lying down. This, perhaps, may have its cause in
youthful sexual sins.
My hæmorrhoidal pains, which were especially severe in the years
from 30 to 40, tormented me after every stool with their burning
pains as if the parts were raw. Later in life, this pain disappeared,
and the hæmorrhoidal knots were swollen, only when I drank a glass
of beer too much of an evening. There was very seldom any dis-
charge of blood, and it was only after having used cold sitz-baths and
369
cold injections for several years, that there were repeated hemorrhages
after stool, without affording any essential relief.
I am very nervous, and hence could never use the sitz-baths under
16° R, since, if used in a lower temperature, febrile attacks were
always induced.
In 1859, an acute burning sore pain appeared again after every stool,
as well as protrusion of the hæmorrhoidal tumors. The pain, after
stool, was very severe, and sometimes continued for hours. As no
remedy afforded me any relief, I determined to adopt a vegetarian
diet. Accordingly from the beginning of September, 1859, I avoided
all animal food, drank no beer, denied myself smoking, and every irri-
tant. My breakfast and supper were bread and milk
my dinner
consisted of vegetables, and dishes made of flour and milk; my drink
was water; as a consequence, I strictly resisted the greatest longing
for meat. Now and then I took a dose of some Homeopathic rem-
edy, of which Calc. carb. and Sepia 200, operated most beneficially.
In connection with this, I practiced gymnastics, every day, according
to Dr. Neumann's directions in his Hausgymnastik.'
6
My sufferings were more endurable, it is true, and yet the hæmor-
rhoidal pains, after stool, still troubled me very often, and a melancholy
mood set in, which I might describe as a feeling of an undeserved
injustice done me, associated with a peculiar sense of pressure in the
throat, and which was especially noticed on walking in the open-air.
Amid such a state of things, I observed, even in the previous winter,
now and then, that I was easily wearied after a long-continued walk,
and my friends wondered at my careless gait, which, however, was
only to be observed every time after a longer walk than usual.
Last spring I became accidentally acquainted with Baunscheidtis-
mus, and got possession of Baunscheidt's book. The great recom-
mendations of this method against hæmorrhoids and hypochondria
soon aroused a desire within me to try it. Hence I procceded at once
to carry out my plan, and applied the instrument, with intervals of
ten days, upon the back, the sacrum, the whole circumference of the
abdomen, on the outer side of the thigh, on the calves seven times,
and it was used the last time seven weeks ago.
The result, however, is very sad; for after the fifth application, the
left axilla swelled up and became painful. Soon after, I got an ulcer
on the outer side of the thigh, and one on the left forearm, suppurating
for a long time. There developed a reddish, knotty eruption, spreading
over the whole body. The tubercles, of the size of a small lentil,
are, in many places, so elevated above the skin that they resembled
wart-like excrescences. These have their seat chiefly upon the vertex,
PART II.
2.f
;
370
above the ears, on the forehead, on the left side of the neck, between
the scrotum and the right thigh, and scattered here and there upon
the penis and about the anus. Small scales form upon them, they
itch but little, and, after being scratched, the itching is relieved. At
the same time, about the third rib, on the left side, near the sternum,
there was a swelling, painful upon pressure. My knees became stiff,
so that I could go up stairs only with the greatest labor. There ap-
peared, besides, an oppressive weight upon each shoulder, with sensi-
tiveness thereof to pressure. Great sensitiveness in separate small
portions of the thorax, aggravated by drawing a deep breath and by eruc-
tations, but soon disappearing again, now frequently annoyed me
much. The most distressing pain, however, was a rheumatic, throb-
bing, tearing pain in the head, which disappeared entirely, perhaps
upon the use of Merc. sol., Nux vom. and Bryonia. In short, after
this Baunscheidtismus, as I think, a rheumatism developed itself,
which has lasted now for about six weeks.
To give a more exact detail of my disease, I take the liberty of
describing my present condition as follows:
Rheumatic tensive pains on the left side of the neck. Pressing
pain on the shoulders, with sensitiveness of the top of the shoulders to
external pressure. Pain, as of dislocation, in the shoulders and arms
on raising the arms. Painfulness of the bones, especially of the left
hand, so that I can hardly grasp and hold a small weight, a book, for
instance. Painfulness of the third rib on the left side upon external
pressure. Redness and swelling of the skin over the point of the
right elbow. A slight jar with the hand upon a firm substance pro-
duced, some days ago, a dull humming pain in the hand. Painful.
ness of the spinous processes of two of the lumbar vertebræ, upon
pressure (at present one only being painful.) Painfulness in the right
elbow joint, and on the upper part of the right arm, especially when
turning the hand outwards. Paralytic weakness (and paralytic pain)
of the legs, especially of the right one, with painfulness of the knee-
joint on extending and flexing the leg. When sitting on a chair I
can raise the right leg only by keeping it extended. Raising the leg
while the knee is bent is impossible on account of pain in the knee-joint;
weakness of the knee-joint when walking in the room. Sitting down
or rising from a sitting posture can only be accomplished by the most
powerful support of the hands. Going up stairs is impossible. Painful-
ness of the heels, especially of the left one, when rising and afterwards,
and on beginning to walk. Redness of the uvula and velum pendu-
lum palati, with pain in the throat, especially on empty swallowing
(this is much better.) A red tubercular eruption about the anus and
371
between the right thigh and the scrotum, almost like warts, raised
above the skin, itching but little, and especially at first, on the fore-
head, now on the vertex above the ears, on the left side of the neck
and upon the front of the chest. Furuncles on the right arm
near the axilla. For a few days past, slight ædematous swelling of the
feet. Respiration sighing. Pulse 90; weeping mood; doubtful of
recovery.
I must add, moreover, that my pulse has always been rather accele-
rated, and that the pains seem to be seated in the bones and are aggra-
vated only by pressure and motion, as well as that the upper ends of
the shin bones, just below the knee-joint, are painful on being pressed.
The urine I have never examined. Sour smelling night-sweat.
The above symptoms have set in since the use of the Baunscheidtis-
But, in order to give you a closer insight into my disease, I
will also give yoù those symptoms which have annoyed me for a long
time and are now present.
mus.
Confusion, humming, heaviness and fullness of the head, glittering
before the eyes. Roaring in the ears, mucous rattling. Heat in the
mouth. Bad breath. Appetite and digestion good. Protrusion of
the hæmorrhoidal tumors at stool. Burning and soreness at the anus,
after stool, aggravated on walking and relieved by sitting and lying.
Cracking of the joints; sense of swelling and difficult motion of the
fingers, aggravated when walking in the open air, and in the morning
in bed. Powerlessness of the hands when writing; writing is very
difficult for me. Hardness and thickening of the skin upon the ball
of the left toe, with pain when walking on the pavement, as if I trod
on small stones. Easy perspiration; sour-smelling perspiration.
Sensation as if a fibre were torn or snapped off suddenly at the left
axilla. Aching in the testicles after coitus; relieved by sitting, still
more when lying down. Pain in the groin from the pressure of the
truss, which annoyed me very much since the Baunscheidtismus,
although I have not worn the truss for fourteen days, (at present
relieved).
Against this complaint I have already taken Merc. sol., Nux vom.,
Bryonia, Tart. stib., Sulph. and Colchicum. I have now taken Rhus,
since September 7. I have taken two drops of this in the 2nd dec.,
repeated at first every six hours. Now, September 21, I take a dose only
morning and evening. As a result, I may say that the pains in the
throat, in the left hand and in the left groin, and the eruption, are
somewhat relieved. A striking result, such as I have often seen in
my practice, I do not observe.
་་
372
I am father of seven children, yet unprovided for, without means,
and the support of my large family depends entirely upon the earn-
ings of my practice. Hence my situation, at present, is truly a sad
one, and the future looks still darker, since I fear that my lower limbs
may yet become entirely paralyzed.”
Now follows a repetition of the request made at the outset, with
the usual form of closing.
No expert will doubt that, for this disease, the physiological school
has no name, and since it has none, it hence cannot say what is really
present here, and at most could recognize as special troubles, hæmor-
rhoids, paralysis, etc. To establish a constitutional diagnosis is hence
impossible for it, consequently it could make neither a rational indi-
cation nor prognosis.
According to the newest and best work, i. e., best in the sense of
the physiological school, the work of Dr. Eisenmann, entitled "die
Bewegungsataxie, [Locomotor ataxy,"] the symptoms, pains in the
testicles after coitus; fatigued easily; tottering gait; impossibility of
raising the leg in a state of extension, while sitting upon a chair, or of
going up stairs, or of sitting down or getting up without the most
powerful support of the hands; difficulty of motion of the
fingers; loss of power in the hands when writing, and of the left
hand, so that he can scarcely hold or raise a book; paralytic weak-
ness of the legs; weakness of the knee-joint when walking; pains in
various parts of the body, and melancholic mood present a picture of
disturbances of co-ordination of the muscular activity, and hence are
the essential therapeutical tokens of muscular ataxy."
But Eisenmann's "well-arranged curative plan," is very short for
238 pages full of pathology, and consists in this: I. To remove the
causes of the disease, which may yet be active. 2. To "resist" the
morbid diathesis, produced by the morbid causes, whatever they may
be. 3. After " resisting" the morbid causes, to lead back, to its nor-
mal state, the functions of mobility, by a suitable but "cautious"
exercise, especially by rational gymnastics.
But now the physiological school knows neither the morbid cause
for this case, nor the diathesis of the disease, and the rational gym-
nastics had already been used in vain, consequently, here also, the
science of the physiological school would be stranded upon the sands
of its ignorance.
Regarding those "resistances," ["Bekämpfungen,"] Eisenmann
says: "Hydriodate of potash does not do it, Cod-liver oil will not
do it, at least, in a case of Tabes dosalis, where it was plenti-
fully used, I saw no benefit from it, only the chronic pains in the
373
*
joints disappeared. Whether Arg. nitr., Merc. corros., or Arsenic
will do it, who can say?"
This is the wisdom of Dr. Eisenmann, in his own very words.
And what can I do with this advice of the physiological school
towards curing my patient? Surely the best thing is to give it to the
winds, to waft it into the sea of oblivion.
None of these remedies, which were "experimentally" used, accord-
ing to Eisenmann, as one would conclude from the interesting, but
frequently very imperfect, clinical cases in his work, were indicated
in the case before us, according to the law of similarity; hence for
any subsequent experiment, even if Homœopathy would venture to
make one, or were obliged, under stress of necessity, to make such
experiments first upon the sick, these remedies are utterly useless,
except for the wretched empirics of the physiological school.
For the doubters, this clinical case contains quite too few objective
facts; it does not contain even Romberg's symptom, that all who
suffer from locomotor-ataxy, are unable, when in the dark, or with
their eyes closed, to stand or walk without staggering and reeling;"
nor is the analysis of the urine given. How could any one, in such
a case, ever conceive of the idea of a diagnosis, or an indication, or
prognosis?
For, the dogmatists of the physiological school, who, from princi-
ple, regard ocular inspection a condition sine qua non, and deny that
without it a diagnosis, indication, or prognosis can be established, it
would be necessary to make a journey to this patient, or to require
him to make one to his physician.
Thus neither dogmatism, skepticism, nor empiricism could be called
upon, and even if then already I had read Eisenmann's book, his
therapeutics would have left me in the lurch.
On the contrary, after I had received this letter of September 23,
1861, and had reflected upon it, I wrote the patient, as follows:
"In your letter you have given me a very good description of the
phenomena which are wont to accompany the development of sycosis,
whether you have acquired or inherited it. Hence you will have the
goodness, without delay, to take Thuja 30th morning and evening, as
well as Natrum sulph. 3rd every hour; four or five drops of each, in a
spoonful of water. At the same time, I earnestly beg of you not to
practice great abstinence, nor to fast, for no form of sycotic disease
can be cured without good food, without nutrition of the parts which
remain healthy. Whether you are quite curable, I would rather leave
undecided at present, but in any case you can be so far restored that
374
you will be able to resume your practice again," etc. The remainder
does not belong to the history of the case.
Truly, this strict diet which, unhappily, many Homœopathists, from
great misunderstanding of facts, insist upon even to this day, so that,
to a sick man, actually nothing is left to live upon but the air, does by
no means aid in the spread of Homœopathy, and indeed it is thus
wantonly deprived of one of the greatest guarantees for its results at
the bed-side.
I will now give: 1st. The symptoms which led me to this diagno-
sis, and: 2nd. What induced me to give two remedies in alternation,
an abomination to orthodox Homoeopathists. As regards the
Ist. The following symptoms are above all characteristic of the
sycotic form of this disease: Swelling and suppuration of the axillary
glands, sores on the outer side of the left leg; tubercular wart-like
eruption upon the above mentioned parts of the body; swelling of
the rib of the left side, near the sternum; stiffness of the knee, the
various so-called rheumatic pains; redness of the velum palatinum,
with painfulness of the throat, especially on empty swallowing; pains
in the bones; cracking of the joints; with all the symptoms above
indicated under the modern idea of the locomotor-ataxy of Duchenne
and Eisenmann.
The reasons why these groups of symptoms belong to the so-called
sycosis, are given in previous paragraphs. As regards the
2nd. That according to this diagnosis, Thuja is indicated, needs no
further discussion for those who are versed in the Homœopathic drug-
provings. But Thuja, both according to these provings and experi-
ence at the bed-side, can not cure that tubercular, or, as our colleague
expressed it, wart-like eruption; Natrum sulph. alone can accomplish
that. But this tubercular eruption is just the most dangerous form of
this disease. If not removed at once, it luxuriantly develops in many
parts of the body, especially on the neck and in the region of the
clavicle, and grows into great clusters, which the inexperienced con-
found with strumous and other glandular swellings, and mis-treat,
although they occur in places where there are no glands.
An evidence of this I find in many patients who have sought, and
obtained, help from me, not only after the injurious treatment of
the physiological school, but also after unsuccessful Homœopathic
treatment.
Herewith is presented another practical proof that the dictum, to
give, under no circumstances, more than one remedy, is not always
applicable. Of course, I am saying nothing of compositions, since
they would lack the possibility of any naturo-philosophical application
375
arising from provings upon the healthy, or at least would need deduc-
tive confirmation, provided we were not minded, quite unnecessarily,
to throw ourselves again into the arms of empiricism and the unscien-
tific uncertainty of the physiological school.
Since our Homoeopathic Materia Medica contains, as yet, nothing
of this effect of Natr. sulph. (though as a remedy it is indispensable),
I have, at the same time, given another example, that we may greatly
expand and complete the Homoeopathic Materia Medica, as well as
the other doctrines of Homœopathy, by way of induction.
If, for instance, the provings of substances of the outer world on
man produce symptoms of disease, which are similar to those which
arise from the unintentional introduction of morbid matter, then they
establish the well known indication, according to the law of similarity.
This law thus rests upon synthetic comparison between the intention-
ally and the accidentally produced morbid symptoms.
By means of this law, however, we are not taught anything touch-
ing these various molecular substances themselves, and the relations
of these molecular substances and their effects upon each other, and
upon the counter-action of the organism, have clearly, in themselves,
nothing more to do with the law of similarity; in both questions we
have to do with two entirely different domains of science of mind
and of matter. These relations can be investigated and explained
only according to the chemico-physical laws existing within the
organism. Hence it is clear that the effect and counter-effect of a
substance, which, as a remedy, is to exercise such an influence upon
the motions of the diseased organism, that the latter should be again
removed, must, as already has been said, be diametrically opposed
thereto, without exception; for the remedies are expected, indeed. to
change the diseased organism into a state which is in direct contradic-
tion to it, i. c., into a healthy state. This happens, in fact, demon-
strably also, according to the indication from the simile, which is
always and entirely a matter of the intellect, and relates only to the
quantity and quality of the molecular substance indicated according
to the law of similarity, and, to their material relations to those of the
organism.
Now we can explore the chemico-physical motions, and counter
motions, which remedies are wont to produce in the organism only
by induction, and when we have thereby learned, for example, that
Natr. sulph. diminishes the influence of hydrogen upon the blood,
there follows in relation to the law of similarity only the conclusion
that the symptoms from the provings of Natr. sulph. must be similar
to those morbid symptoms which it can cure; that these similar symp-
376
toms would thus also appear in diseases which have arisen from
increased influence of hydrogen, just as, for instance, from the surplus,
as well as the deficiency of Iron in the blood, chlorosis may arise; the
former we learn from our homeopathic drug-provings, the latter from
pathology.
Since, finally, our Homœopathic pathogeneses cannot yet be looked
upon as complete, and since, in the provings of Natr. sulph., nothing
is said about that tubercular eruption, while the sycotic disease-forms,
however, are always aggravated upon an increased influx of Hydro-
gen, in damp weather, from the use of baths, etc., therefore such
inductive discoveries upon the influence of substances of the outer
world, upon the substances of our organism, must, in all cases, be of
the greatest value, and especially where, for the time being, the Homo-
opathic Materia Medica cannot give us as yet the information; only,
such discoveries, before they can be raised to a law, must be deduc-
tively confirmed also, and then only do they obtain practical validity.
No one can hit upon such diagnoses, indications and prognoses in
the physiological school. This school occupies itself with the direct
annihilation of morbid symptoms and products, just in proportion
as, instead of drug-provings and induction, empiricism, accident and
hypothesis seem to point in this direction, as I have abundantly
demonstrated in my writings. And what would Eisenmann, finally,
give as regards the case before us after his above cited elaboration, and
on what grounds? He says "Geheimrath" Wunderlich had the "happy
thought" of trying the Nitrate of silver "against" the locomotor-ataxy,
which he calls progressive spinal paralysis-that is all! Are these
the ways and means of a rational or exact investigation of Nature?
Or did not this "happy thought" more probably originate with Hom-
œopathy?
In contrast thereto I declare, in defiance of contradiction, that the
effort to seek remedies also in an inductive manner, is really an advance
in Homœopathy, which can and must be taken up without prejudice
to the doctrines of Hahnemann; hence, as a progress in Homoeopathy,
which is far superior to the efforts of the physiological school; which,
in the properly understood interest of homeopathic science, deserves
to be generally recognized and held fast.
For the sake of brevity, I will no longer give, in extenso, the cor-
respondence during the course of this clinical history, but only so
much of it as appertains to the case.
October 16th. "The rheumatic tensive pain on the left side of the
neck, the painfulness of the third left rib and of the spinous processes
of two of the lumbar vertebræ to pressure, the reddish tuberculan
377
eruption between the scrotum and the thigh of the right side, the sigh-
ing respiration, the tearful mood, despairing of a cure, the ædematous
swelling of the feet, have disappeared.
The following symptoms are relieved: the pressing pains upon the
shoulders, the painfulness of the bones of the hand on grasping and
raising even small objects; the painfulness of the elbow-joint when
strongly flexing it, the paralytic weakness of the left leg, in conse-
quence of which it is somewhat easier to rise from a seat and sit down
again; the reddish tubercular erruption on the head and neck, and the
sensation as if in the right shoulder, a fibre were suddenly torn or
jerked loose. Osseous distension of the left parietal bone along the
sagittal suture, with less sensitiveness to outward pressure, which
symptom I forgot to give in my last letter. The abscess on the right
arm near the axilla, which broke once, discharged pus, then healed
again, has now disappeared by absorption.
I must yet add that, in the morning, and during the forenoon, the
pains in my legs are relieved, and that the swelling of the knees,
especially of the right knee, has disappeared, and that my legs feel
best while lying in bed. As I suffered, one evening, from a violent
burning, tearing and itching in the painful eruption at the anus, I
resorted to the external use of Thuja, by which not only was the
pain relieved, but the condylomata also were reduced at least one-third.
I could not for a moment believe my complaint to be of sycotic
nature, for, living 27 years in happy wedlock, I have always led a
pure life; it would have been a bare impossibility for me to have
indulged in sexual connection with any other woman.
One symptom, which I have had for many years, has become aggra-
vated a cracking of the ancle when stretching out the foot, so that I
am obliged to keep the foot quiet in the joint, and have to lie down,
whereupon the pain soon leaves. The roaring in my head and ears,
which has become habitual, is also much aggravated. To this is
added a dulness of the brain, which does not, however, interfere with
conversation.”
To the questions whether he should continue with his former pre-
scription and might drink beer, I replied in the affirmative.
October 31.
"The tubercular eruption has, for the most part,
disappeared; the condylomata (?) at the anus are reduced to the
merest trace. The painfulness of the metacarpal bones, on flexing
the hand, has disappeared. The exostosis upon the left parietal bone is
much improved, and the pains in the right ankle, when stepping upon
the foot, have not been noticed for eight days.
378
Present condition. Difficulty of hearing, and roaring in the head
and ears; painfulness of both trochanters and femurs when lying
upon them. Weakness of the knces, as from relaxation of the liga-
ments; painful cracking of the right ankle when extending it; pain
in the right heel when stepping upon it; painfulness of the shoulders,
of the point of the right elbow and of the right index, and ring fingers
on pressure; of the left os humeri when bending the arm backward,
or when raising or extending the same. Sensation of stiffness and
sleepiness of the hand, especially when resting on the elbow. Pains
in the neck on bending the head back. Suppuration of the left axil-
lary gland, which is still somewhat hard. Fourteen days ago, this
was the case in the right axilla. Painful glandular knots in the
groins and the anterior surface of the thigh, as well as on both sides
of the neck. Difficulty of falling asleep; stools insufficient; apparent
inactivity of the rectum when at stool, with protrusion of the hæmor-
rhoids and burning pains; blood when at stool; urine often inter-
rupted, also with a double stream as if from stricture.
On the whole, an improvement in my condition cannot be denied,
so that I indulge a hope again that I shall be able to resume my
practice.
I directed him that, if there were any strictures in the urethra, they
should be dilated, and that otherwise he should continue with Thuja
and Natr. sulph.
November 10. "Two days after sending my letter, the pains in
the throat, which had previously disappeared, returned again, and light
gray ulcers with red edges presented themselves. In my anxiety I
took, on my own responsibility, in place of Thuja, Lycopod. 200th,
several pellets in ten ounces of water, a spoonful morning and even-
ing. Glauber's salts I have continued to take. It is a great remedy.
There is nothing worse for me than my own treatment. Since yester-
day, I have taken morning and evening, two drops of Nitric acid, as
the ulcers on the throat seem to be spreading again. I expect nothing
whatever from Thuja. But the symptoms and pains of the leg are
considerably better, as well as those of the upper extremities. My
mind is active, but without application or endurance, and when read-
ing I am dull and unobservant, yet am in good spirits again.
Years ago I tried to insert a bougie into the urethra, but was obliged
to refrain, from too great sensitiveness of the passage.
I shall await your prescription, and this evening, if anything, take
a dose of Nitr. ac. 200th.”
I replied, “It would have been better if you had not taken Nitr. ac.
and Lycopod.; they will do no good. Hold fast to Thuja and Natr.
379
sulph. Whatever may occur, there is no indication at all for any
other course."
66
November 23. To-day I can report a great improvement, for the
pains in my bones are reduced to a minimum; the knee-joints are
stronger, so that I can rise much easier from my seat, and that with
the help of one hand only. The pain in the heel is much relieved.
and, for many days, I have experienced such a sense of comfort that,
while lying in bed, where I have otherwise been in the habit of read-
ing, I give myself up entirely to this delightful sense of returning
health, and do nothing.
"For several days there has been a feeling of some warmth and
inclination to sweat, and after I had taken the first dose of Natr. sulph.,
yesterday morning, I had a pain in the bowels, as from diarrhea; after
the second and third dose, there appeared, besides, trembling and
fermentation in the bowels. My good appetite was entirely gone at
noon; hence these were effects of the Glauber's salts, which I have
now used fifty-three days continuously. Thus, for the present, I have
discontinued the remedy. The next evening, there were heat in the
right ear,
chilliness and, when out of bed, a shaking chill, with increased
thirst-pulse 104.
pulse 104. At night, slight sweat and good sleep. Pulse
now in the morning 116, otherwise I feel well. The sores in the throat
have not spread any. Since I took Thuja again, the condylomata have
disappeared to a mere trace. My tongue is coated white, the taste
is flat; dryness and heat in the mouth; disgust for meat; this morning
no colic; eruption on the forehead and head entirely gone. Since the
urethra is no longer as sensitive as it was, I have undertaken its dila-
tation, and the symptoms of stricture have diminished. The urine
passes easier, and there is but seldom a double stream. The urinary
difficulties are also less; the stricture is seated far back, at the entrance
of the urethra into the bladder.
"Till further orders, I shall suspend the use of the Glauber's salts,
but shall continue with the Thuja, which I last took in the 200th
(Jenichen's)."
To this I replied: "Since you are now saturated with the Glauber's
salts, you should, as a matter of course, interrupt their use for about
eight or fourteen days. But I should rather see you continue with
Thuja 30th, for the 200th requires to be taken in longer intervals; other-
wise you would have your blood over-saturated with it too soon."
December 24. "I have already taken Thuja 200th in longer inter-
vals, but returned at once to the Thuja 30th (four drops), as soon as I
received your letter. However, my regular morning stool soon
became so hard that I took only two drops. For a few days the stools
380
were now easier; but soon after the same difficulties at stool returned
again. The stool occurred now with the greatest effort, and was
accompanied with burning sore pains, lasting all day, so that I was
obliged to cease the use of the Thuja entirely, and, even at the risk
of your finding fault again, I took Nux vom. 30th several successive
evenings, with this result: that the stools were passed with more ease,
the protruding hæmorrhoids became softer and smaller, and I was no
longer annoyed with pain after stool. After ceasing the use of the
Thuja for six days, I took it again, but the difficulties at stool returned
again at once, so that I resolved to dispense with it for a longer time.
After having discontinued the Natr. sulph. for ten days, I took it
again, three drops in water every hour. After taking it three weeks,
my appetite diminished again, and, last evening also, I had a slight
chill. I took this to be another indication that I was over-saturated
with the Natr. sulph., and will hence wait for further direction before
I take any more medicine.
In other respects, I improve constantly. The pain in my right heel
has disappeared entirely, and my legs are so strong again that, to-day
for the first time, I could rise from my seat without the support of
the hands. An enlarged gland in the left groin, which I have noticed
for very many years, has already diminished very much and become
softer, and the kernels on the thigh also appear to grow smaller. In
the urethra, I can already pass a catheter of large size. The stream
of urine is stronger, and not double any more. The eruption on the
ears has healed. If I find that I continue to improve, can I take a
short walk out of doors? For four months I have not been able to
leave the room.”
Answer. I have nothing to say against the use of intercurrent
remedies, if they seem necessarily indicated, since you now seem to
have lost the hasty anxiety, which sometimes leads to things superfluous.
I now commit to you the further treatment of the case, and know
of no reason why you should not go out in mild weather, if you only
guard against a too rapid change of temperature.
April 12. "My disease is so much improved already that I am
able to visit patients even several hours distant, and can go up stair
though with some effort. The tubercles are everywhere diminished,
the bloody stools, as well as the condylomata about the anus, have
disappeared.
I have not had any more occasion for intercurrent remedies. Thuja
and Natr. sulph. I still use, according to your direction."
June 23. I received another letter from this colleague asking my
381
advice about one of his patients, with the remark that he was entirely
well, and could take quite long walks without injury.
§. 340.
From these clinical cases, beginners, especially those who wish to
instruct themselves regarding the nature of Homœopathy, can learn
infinitely more than if I had merely given them rules, according to
which they should form their conclusions and govern their practice.
They contain a number of points of view which would not have
become intelligible from the statements of the other paragraphs alone,
and with this last case, the undeniable proof is offered at the same
time, that, armed with the doctrines of Homœopathy, we can accom-
plish cures of diseases very severe in their nature, although we cannot
submit the objects thereof to ocular inspection, an immensely great
advantage over the physiological school, whose pedantry is simply
and solely confined to its pitiable mechanical diagnosis, i. e., to its five
senses, and which, notwithstanding, does not attain to a categorical
conclusion.
The physicians of the physiological school require, pro primo, the
personal examination as the sine qua non, in order to be able to estab-
lish a diagnosis, prognosis, and indication, and to cure a patient.
Only when one has reason to place no confidence in his knowledge
and conclusions, is there any necessity, in order to find out the right,
to seek full satisfaction in things which are sensually known. Know-
ing is not mere seeing, but no proof interests the pedant; he has
only antennæ.
From all these clinical cases detailed, the correctness of the con-
clusion is justified, that, in relation to the indication, we have to
consider not only separate subjective and objective symptoms, which
have occurred under Homeopathic provings, not that alone which has
been gathered from these provings as the primary, secondary, alternate
effects in a Homoeopathic sense, but chiefly the general momenta,
which, in all collections of Homeopathic provings, arranged accord-
ing to the anatomical regions, precede the separate results, and have
constitutional significance.
From these examples, it is furthermore clear that we must rightly
interpret the symptoms which have been produced by provings with
remedies, in their pathological significance also; our opponents would
say, in their physiological significance, before we can establish a correct
indication.
382
For the sake of illustrating this point, let us consider a few other
cases.
I have repeatedly happened to see patients whose strength was
reduced to the minimum, who, with a bluish countenance, stupor of the
senses, with intercurrent attacks of fainting, were attacked now with
chilliness, now with heat, combined with coldness externally perceptible,
with sweating and hiccough, with such hoarseness as prevents speak-
ing, for example, in consequence of pulmonary hæmorrhage, with the
most distressing oppression of the chest and short breathing, with
weak, irregular pulse and the greatest prostration.
Now we find, in our drug provings, all these symptoms again, as
well under the head of Arsenic as under that of Digitalis.
But we should commit an unpardonable mistake in prescribing,
without pathological knowledge, either Arsenic or Digitalis, upon the
ground of this kind of similarity of symptoms; we should thereby
only hasten the death of such incurable patients in the shortest time.
For, whoever can look through our drug provings with pathological
judgment will know that the Arsenic and Digitalis symptoms,
similar to that stage of disease, are the indications of a fatal poisoning;
that these substances, consequently, if they were given in such a
pathological form, similar to these cases of poisoning, (which form
suffers, thus, from so great a want in the parts remaining healthy),
must be absolutely injurious, let the dose, in which they are given, be
ever so small; for, without parts remaining healthy, every comparison
according to the law of similarity and every cure has ceased. Then
euthanasia, by means of palliative remedies, is fully justified.
We thus have, by the establishment of our indications according to
the law of similarity, not only to compare the quantity, i. e., the
spheres of effect of the causes, and the quality of forms thereby pro-
duced, but we have also to estimate the conditions for the possibility
of a remedial effect and its results, according to the category of
modality. Hence, we have, in this respect, to look not only to the
particulars, to the separate symptoms, but still more to the general, to
the conditions upon which these symptoms depend.
Among the works which have endeavored to explain the symptoms
of our Materia Medica, pathologically also, Dr. Espanet has thus far
accomplished the most; the Allg. Hom. Zeitung has given transla-
ions of his rich experience at the bed-side; these contain an unusual
amount of practical knowledge, hence should be recommended to the
study of every beginner.
These writings also convince us that the condition of the special
depends upon the quality of the general.
383
THE HIGH POTENCIES.
§. 341.
I now approach the subject most disputed still, not only by our
adversaries, but also by very many of the adherents of Homœopathy.
It does, indeed, cost much time and earnest labor, observation and
study, upon the healthy and sick; it requires a renunciation of all
recommendations, as well as of all doubts relative to high potencies,
in order to be able to separate, even here, objectively, the true from the
false. With us, such labors are still committed to the self-sacrifice of
each practical physician who seeks to penetrate deeper than the dogma
of the universities teaches and recommends; a self-sacrifice incompati-
ble, of course, with the indolence of any physician belonging to that
craft created by the universities; a self-sacrifice, on the other hand,
which, true to its calling, and in the desire of relieving suffering
humanity at any price, without, at the same time, injuring it other-
wise, knows no bounds and no fear of adversaries or other hindrances.
In a science and art which has to dispense, for the most part, with
public teachers for young men, a text-book must follow the course of
the intellectual development of its adherents, and should point out, as
a warning, all those errors even, the avoiding of which will save the
future student from stumbling.
I myself first learned the necessity of the high potencies, after many
cases had compelled me to give higher and still higher potencies, and
now I prescribe, much less frequently than before, anything lower
than the 30th attenuation, while, at the same time, I have much
better success at the sick-bed than previously.
Errors are thus the germs of truth, where the mind, without a
teacher, is obliged to teach itself.
The Homœopathic centesimal attenuations, from the 30th upward,
are called high potencies. Their efficacy, I regret to say, is still dis-
puted, but only by skepticism, and such a strife always indicates a
lack of power, or will, or sincerity necessary to settle it. Anything
decisive against the efficacy of high potencies has, up to this hour,
never been offered, and nothing either of the rules according to which
their efficacy may find the needed explanation.
It hence devolves upon us, not only to establish the acquisition made
hitherto empirically merely, but also to complete it according to natu-
ral laws; not, however, to quarrel about the one or the other.
As regards experience, every one can best instruct himself on this
question, when he has had opportunity to change the circumstances,
384
for the operation of a remedy in the same case, i. e., to study the oper
ation of the law and the high attenuations in the same cases.
This subject requires at least one more practical example, and as
such, I choose again the case which first irresistibly urged me to the
use of the high potencies.
A girl of twenty-three, regularly menstruating, without any discov-
erable organic defect, had been treated a long time for hysterics, but
without result, and she was finally committed to my care.
Her com-
plaints were confined to increasing loss of appetite, sleep and strength;
and, indeed, for the last three months, without any known cause, only
proceeding, as she thought, from pains in the back, which extended
downwards and into the right thigh, so that sitting, and still more
walking, was difficult for her. The examination of the patient brought
out nothing more than that, about 3 P. M., in connection with a chill,
the pains increased in severity, and this chill was followed by dry heat,
and then by debilitating sweat.
I thought that I could easily dispose of this neuralgia, which was
clearly intermittent, and gave, according to the schema of §. 259, Nux
vom. 3rd, in hourly alternation with Ipec. 3rd.
It is true that all these pains, after a few days, were so much re-
lieved that the patient could walk in her garden again, only there still
appeared, from time to time, slight reminders of her previous ailments,
till at length, after two weeks, they all seemed to disappear. Now,
she had a violent mental emotion, and all her sufferings returned.
She now took all her previous remedies again, and especially Nux
vom. 3rd and Ipec. 3rd, during several weeks, but with so little suc-
cess that she lost her confidence and consulted another physician.
For half a year I heard nothing more of her, when, one day her
sister came to me in great haste, and in tears, with the request that I
should renew my visits; the patient had been getting worse ever since
I ceased seeing her, and now was so sick that they despaired of her
recovery, for my first successor had declared that there was nothing
more to do, and the second had ordered Iron, on account of anæmia,
after which, she stated, uncommon debility and convulsions had
followed.
The scene had now indeed become quite different.
The patient had not left her bed for months, by reason of the increase
of all her sufferings; the liver and spleen were enlarged, and the pain
in the back extended from the middle of the back, along the ribs on the
right side to the front of the sternum, and three of the dorsal vertebræ
were very painful for a long time, on being pressed upon. The whole
right side of the body was as if paralyzed, i. c., the right arm and
385
right leg could only be moved with effort. Every evening, at five
o'clock, there was convulsive stretching of the limbs, vomiting and
shaking chill, heat after half an hour, and, in still another hour, sweat,
which continued all night. At the time of the remission the pulse
was 60; the tongue was thickly coated yellow, bitter taste, loss of
appetite, constipation, menses suspended for two months; the region
of the liver and spleen very sensitive to pressure; the urine was alka-
line, with a copious sediment of soda salts-in brief, all the symptoms.
pointed clearly, according to the law of similarity, to the alternation
of Nux vom. with Ipec., for the disease had remained the same, only
it had gained in extent.
The result with the previous attenuation, however, could not be
called satisfactory at all, and this made me all the more determined to
give the same remedies in the 30th in alternation, every two hours, as
they are no nutrition remedies. The next day, the tears of the friends
were already dried up, and it suffices to say, that the patient was cured
in a short time.
Such facts may be read by the hundred in Homoeopathic literature;
but what help are they to science? In accumulating facts, science
does not find entire satisfaction; it must have the law, for without it,
as regards the question of high potencies, we are still upon the empiric
stand-point of physiological medicine.
I deem it necessary to present a very instructive case, which may
the most easily convince the unbelieving, because it occurs very fre-
quently, and must challenge imitation. Homeopathic physicians.
surely will often have to treat cases of intermittent prosopalgia, which
originate from marsh miasm, and will find that Ars. 3rd given alter-
nately with Nux 3rd, is crowned with the best results, when given
every half hour; but, unhappily under this proceeding, the drug-
symptoms do not fail to appear. This fearful pain will, however,
often in a very short time, and without drug-aggravation, disappear
entirely in two and three days, if these two remedies are given in the
30th attenuation, and in hourly alternation.
The beginner, who wishes to instruct himself touching the effects
of the high potencies, had best prove such medicines as operate more
surely in the 30th attenuation, than in the 2nd or 3rd, Ars. 30th, for
example, or Thuja 30th. He must previously have read the provings
of such remedies, in order to know what may occur, and he will be
surprised at the appearance of many of those symptoms. Thus, for
example, in the proving with Ars. 30th, the specific thirst will appear
in almost all bodily constitutions, and in proving Thuja 30th the soft-
ening of the finger nails; hence he will observe both upon himself.
PART II.
25
386
§. 342.
As regards logic, the following: Many Homoeopathists contend
that the divisibility of matter is infinite, otherwise the high potencies
could not have any effect; the French Academy, on the contrary, cal-
culated that the quantity of Alcohol necessary for the preparation of
the 30th attenuation, is more than 925 octillion times the size of our
earth, and, on this account, maintains that, consequently, in this volume
every healing power of a drug must long ago have reached its end.
§. 226.
But these, as already said, are only quantitative conclusions, and, as
is well known, matter does not exist according to the law of quantity
alone.
In contrast with the view of those Homœopathists, the limit of a sub-
stance, even in a mathematical sense, is its outline, and this is a property
of all bodies. Hence an infinite magnitude is no magnitude, because
limit excludes the infinite.
But the 30th attenuation, many experienced Homeopathists say,
on the other hand, does notwithstanding produce effect upon the
human organism, and even the 2000th according to experience, and
this great divisibility of matter reminds one truly enough of the con-
stancy and infinite divisibility of space and time, the first conditions
of all matter.
Here are proposition and counter-proposition, which are by no
means arbitrarily conceived, but, on both sides, there stand strong
arguments and counter-arguments.
Now, one would suppose that, of two contradictory assertions, one
must necessarily be true, and the other false.
If, however, a contradiction can be maintained regarding any par-
ticular thing, then that is always a sign, that, in the idea of this very
something a contradiction lies concealed, and that this idea itself is
incorrect.
Just herein consists the logical sign of the impossibility of an idea,
if, under its application, two contradictory assertions can be at the
same time both true and false; that, consequently, because no third
can be thought of as existing between them, nothing at all can be
conceived of by that idea.
This something which is hidden can hence clearly not lie in the
material world, for this is open to us by observation and experience;
hence this contradiction can lie concealed only in our conception,
which we form there of ourselves.
387
The whole strife, hence, rests in fact upon the contradiction between
sensual perception and our idea of it; it is thus a secondary phenomenon.
If one, for instance, upsets the supposition that the material world,
aside from our knowledge thereof, has still another abstract existence
in our idea, then he finds that the whole strife rests merely upon a
phantom, which arises from this, that one applies an idea to the phe-
nomenon itself, which, however, forms only one of the conditions under
which a phenomenon is capable of being known.
This capability of a substance being known lies now, in fact, not
always in its quantity, which unhappily so often lies concealed from
our senses, but most certainly in its relation, in its bearing upon others.
§. 221.
The whole strife about finite and infinite divisibility of matter may
thus be settled to the satisfaction of both parties, since both must
become convinced that they are disputing about nothing; for each of
the two parties says more than he knows, because he transcends the
limits of his own experience. He, upon the side of the French
Academy of Sciences, speaks in the interest of the progress of knowl-
edge, but to the injury of practice; the other party has the practical
necessity in view, and presumes to know what he has yet to seek for
Thus the assertion of one is too great and that of the other too small.
Hence, both affirmations are objectionable; on the other hand, our
aim should be, to discover the laws or rules which govern here, and
these inhere in every substance, in its relations to others.
§. 343.
If the reader of this Text Book, however, will well consider the
various facts which are herein presented, he will find that the rules
for the use of the high potencies, and of the dose in general, simply
lead him to the following:
1. We must, according to the experience obtained with the law of
similarity, operate with low attenuations, if we would pursue, accord-
ing to qualitative causality, one single object, or operate upon separate
parts; for example, in hæmorrhages during or after birth, if we would
promote the agglutination of the injured parts with Arnica, or prevent
suppuration. If one proceeds upon such indications, then the effect
stands in direct relation to the quantity of the dose, which can be as
low as the Homœopathic mother tinctures, though these are useful
only in extremely rare cases. Here we shall attain our end more
promptly with the first, second and third decimal attenuations, than
with a high potency.
388
2. Under the use of these low attenuations, we see very clearly how
one symptom after another disappears, more or less rapidly. If we
give Phosph., for example, in pneumonia, where it is indicated in
from the 1st to the 3rd attenuation, four or five drops every fifteen
minutes, then the stitching pain disappears wholly and forever, and
seldom later than after two hours, and a marked apyrexia has clearly
set in, but the dyspnoea still continues, and one may think himself
lucky if he has not produced, in their place, other effects of Phosph.,
colic, diarrhoea, etc. The chief fatality, however, consists in this also,
that the absorption of the exudations takes place either not at all, or
"ery slowly. But if we give Phosph. in the 30th attenuation, or still
higher, every hour, or even not so often, then the stitching pain remains
longer, the apyrexia follows later, but the absorption of the exudation
goes on pari passu therewith, as well as the decrease of the difficulty
of breathing, while the unpleasant secondary symptoms of Phosph.,
colic, diarrhoea, etc., do not make their appearance at all. Hence, by
the use of the high potencies, the morbid symptoms disappear
quietly and without disturbance, as the mists are first scattered by
the beams of the sun, and then disappear without any further phe-
nomena obvious to the senses, leaving behind no trace of their exist-
ence. Hence, after the use of the high potencies, we have no longer
to struggle with any residuum of the disease, e. g., we have not to
complete the absorption of the exudation by means of still other
remedies.
3. When the question is to change reduction processes into oxida-
tion processes, and vice versa, then we cannot dispense with the lower
attenuations, as we learn from most of the clinical cases which have
been contributed.
4. But if we have to effect changes in processes of retention, then
we do best with the high potencies, and it seems here as if the effect
of the indicated remedy was in an inverse ratio to the quantity of the
dose; for here we must, as a rule, employ high potencies, if we wish
to have any results.
5. But what must we do if, for instance, after the third attenuation
of a remedy which is really indicated, no evident effect appears?
When shall we lower the dose, and when shall we raise it? This
question is answered as follows:
6. If we have to do with predominantly functional disease-forms,
then we must resort to the higher potencies; but if we have to cure
predominantly nutritive changes, then we must go to the lower atten-
uations. Hence, the nutrition-remedies answer the least in the high
attenuations the function remedies the best. §. 230.
389
Thus we see that we must consider this subject even, not only
according to quantity and quality, but chiefly according to the category
of relation.
7. A chronic disease, especially when it depends upon retentions
in carbo-nitrogenous bodily constitution, can be cured in general only
by the high potencies, in the most rapid, most sure, and, to the patient,
the most pleasant manner; and, indeed, it may become incurable
under the use of the low attenuations. This is an experience which
has been made many thousands of times, and which yields neither to
skepticism nor dogmatism. Skeptics and dogmatists should at least
instruct themselves with the 30th decimal attenuation, as regards these
relations; then surely they would be less horrified at the use of this
attenuation.
S. The repetition of the high potencies can occur only when the
process of the cure, introduced in the first dose, comes to a stand-still.
A more frequent repetition of high potencies is indicated only in acute
diseases; in the so-called chronic diseases, an immunity against the
remedy will occur quite too soon, and one must then proceed according
to §. 243, but in such cases this should be avoided.
9. If the use of high potencies is to be associated with such glorious
results as so many Homeopaths can show, these rules, according to
my experience, must be observed, or one will be miserably disap-
pointed. But it is also necessary for one to prepare these high attenu-
ations himself, if no Homœopathic Pharmaceutist, entirely trustworthy,
is to be had; this is the first condition for certain success, for what
avails the most faultless indication, if the manner in which the remedy
is prepared mocks every result?
Finally, as regards the idea which our opponents frame, touching
the impossibility of the effect of high potencies, we may add to what
has been already said in §§. 220 and 221, that the uncertainty of the
conception of ideas may be two-fold. In one case the conception
may transcend the subject which may be presented to our view; in
another, we conceive of the idea of an object different from what it
is, since we deny its quality. Hence the Allopathic negation of the
Homœopathic dose possesses the same value as the negation of the high
potencies by many Homœopathists. Both these opponents, therefore,
could extend to each other the hand of reconciliation without hesita-
tion, for the ideas of both opponents transgress the limits of percep-
tion. The Homoeopathic negation of high potencies, however, deprives
itself of immediate perception, i. e., of observing the actual efficacy
of high potencies at the sick-bed, just as the French Academy of Sci-
ences does with the negative results of its calculations, for even this
390
latter appears to have no desire to contemplate an object which ex-
ceeds 925 octillion times the volume of our globe.
This scope of possibilities, to conceive differently of any given sub-
ject, and to change it at will, makes room for the most extravagant
ideas. However, seeing alone gives us the immediate perception of
an object. Seeing is a matter of experience, ideas are dreams, which
lack reality, and this, hence, is the degraded intellectual platform of
all those who, to this very day, continue to deny the effects of high
potencies.
§. 344.
The doctrine of high potencies is the most glorious acquisition of
Homœopathy. It developed its greatness and might in an intellect
which has lit up the path of natural science for more than half a cen-
tury ahead, without having been comprehended, however. And what
are the discoveries of the spectrum analysis to the discovery of Hahne-
mann's high potencies? The spectrum analysis is as yet very far from
giving so deep an insight into the laws of the organism as the high
potencies. Beyond the reach of Chemistry, the experiments of physics
first led to the foot-steps in the work-shop of Nature, where the
greatest is brought forth from the least. If Chemistry itself confesses
"only that which chemically has developed into existence, which
has become completed, can be the object of our observation; the
How of a thing's coming into existence is entirely concealed from our
view (Dr. Wagner, die Chemie, 1864), on what ground does it
presume, and so far forget itself as to maintain that what, by virtue
of high potencies, daily happens and is accomplished at the sick-bed,
and which is not the object of their, but of our, observation, can be
nothing, because the How of its appearing is partly concealed from
its view?
But let us hear Schopenhauer once more.
What is commonly called public opinion is, plainly speaking, the
opinion of two or three persons, and we should convince ourselves of
the truth of this, could we but see into the mode in which this public
opinion originated. We should then find that there are two or three
people who first assumed or declared or affirmed such a thing, and,
in whom others are so kind as to trust that they had very thoroughly
examined it. Taking for granted that these had sufficient capacity of
judgment, a few others also accepted their opinion; these again are
believed by many others, whose indolence rather inclines them
to believe it at once than to take the trouble to test it.
grows, from day to day, the number of such indolent, easily believing
Thus
391
adherents; for, if the opinion had only gained a goodly number of
advocates, those who adopted it afterwards attributed its popularity to
the quasi-fact that those already accepting it could have done so only
on account of weighty reasons. Others were now constrained to
accept what everybody else accepted, lest they might pass for restless
souls who were setting themselves up against generally received opin-
ions, and, for malapert hinds, who would be wiser than the rest of
the world. Assent now becomes a duty. Now the few who are
capable of judging must be silent; and those who are permitted to
speak are those who, perfectly incapable of forming their own opinion,
or judgment, are the mere echo of the opinions of others; neverthe-
less, they are all the more zealous and intolerant advocates thereof.
For they hate, in those thinking otherwise, not so much the diverse
opinion they hold, as the arrogance of daring to judge for themselves;
something, by the way, which they never venture themselves, of
which they are at heart conscious. In short, very few can think, but
all claim the right of having opinions; what else then remains for
these latter since they cannot make opinions for themselves, but to
adopt the ready made opinions of others? As this is the case, of
what avail now are the voices of a hundred millions of men? "Dico
ego, tu dicis, sed denique dixit et ille; dictaque post toties nil nisi
dicta vides!"
In these words, the opinion of the opponents of Homœopathy in
general is beautifully set forth.
§. 345.
Thus Homœopathy is still a science bitterly hated by the professors
of the universities, and hence by their pupils, consequently by the
majority of physicians, upon subjective reasons; but what reasons are
they?
1. Because Homœopathy presumes to assert, and to maintain, every
day, by deeds, that it understands far more of Therapeutics than these
professors.
2. Because these professors and their pupils, lacking in independent
thought (who, naturally enough, according to the laws of the human
mind, and by virtue of their education, are found in the largest
majority), have labored hitherto in vain to oppose this science, though
they have labored with all their powers and even in the most discredit-
able manner.
3. Because they must go to their daily work with the oppressive
consciousness that they never have succeeded and never will succeed
392
in their opposition to Homœopathy, for it ever grows in the esteem
of the public, even under the scornful eyes of its adversaries.
It is, hence, a duty of this text-book to set forth one of the latest
efforts in this direction.
The generalizations in vogue in Homœopathy, and only intelligible
to it, yet superfluous, as, for example, that minimal doses have a con-
trary effect to large doses, or, the quantity of the dose stands in inverse
ratio to the effect, are, taken unconditionally, falsely and nonsensically,
and have furnished our foolish adversaries, weapons for the strife.
There has just appeared a manual of general pathology and thera-
peutics, by Dr. Lebert (Breslau, 1865), and the author thought him-
self obliged to attack Homeopathy, for the honor of his guild, with
the repetition of the old and stupid phraseology of his predecessors.
On page 785 he declares, “In fact there is nothing more hostile to
the fundamental maxims of chemistry than the proposition that the
effects and reactions of a body increase, qualitatively, in inverse ratio
to its quantity, that hence, quantity and quality must be properties
mutually opposite."
By means of this proposition, which, as regards the category of
quantity, is presented in so sweeping terms, the Professor, whose
work, by the way, exhibits an astonishing ignorance of the origin of
many pathological processes, e. g., of ileo- and petechial-typhus (not
to say a word of his ignorance-natural enough, in therapeutics) —
might possibly have advanced an opinion, somewhat embarrassing to
the capacities of students.
But one sees, at once, from this opinion, that he lacks experience
regarding the subject of which he judged; it rests solely upon the
misuse, just reproved, of general relative ideas and categories; it anti-
cipates observation, and may deceive just so far as the authority of
the professor has weight in the eyes of his pupils; no further.
Quantity indeed determines only relations of magnitude, as subjects
of unities or pluralities; the quality determines properties, thus,
predicated realities; consequently the quantity is nothing, but its
existence, which can find its quality only in connection with other
realities. Hence, according to natural laws, the quality of the reaction
of the organism must change with the increase, or decrease, of the
quantity of a substance which has been brought into reciprocal action
with the organism. This is shown, for instance, by the full allopathic
dose of Ipecac, in contrast to its so-called refracta dosis; the former
excites vomiting, the latter not, but promotes, even without producing
vomiting, expectoration. And can we not thus say that that quality
393
of a substance, which excites vomiting, possesses in another quantity,
opposite or different qualities?
Hence, let the professor, in whose work the "Nescimus," so char-
acteristic of the physiological school, is capitally illustrated, beware
of carelessly handling the categories of quantity and quality, and,
neglecting the category of relation, of seeking to make opposition
to Homœopathy. Homœopathy uses the expression "opposite"
["entgegengesetzt"] not even in the sense which the professor, in his
ignorance, ascribes to it, but in a mathematical sense.
In all branches
of mathematics, magnitudes appear, which, notwithstanding their
similarity, yet, as regards some property independent of the magnitude
itself, and hence external thereto are essentially different. This prop-
erty is in mathematics, and in Homœopathy, the state of being opposite
[Entgegensetztsein], but no contrarium [Gegensatz].
§. 346.
Moreover, regarding any decision concerning any quantity, the
measure, i. e., the unit, must first of all be established as a starting
point, as well as the divisive rule which lies at the bottom thereof.
In the physiological school, the apothecaries' weight is the measure,
and the unit from which it sets out; and it prescribes its drugs in
grains, scruples, drachms, ounces, or pounds.
This unit of weight does not exist, however, in the organism;
this is composed of cells, of their molecular substances and atoms.
Hence, the apothecaries' weight cannot be that unit with which the
organism is to be treated. Hence we have to consider the dose, not
as regards the magnitudes of weight, but as regards the magnitudes of
measure, and if one would measure a body, then the measure thereof
must be of the same nature with the body to be measured. Lengths
must be measured by lengths, planes by planes, bodies by bodies.
We have already seen, in §. 221, that the measure of the molecules
and their atoms is identical with their power of contraction; hence
we can reasonably order nothing but molecular substances and atoms,
having first examined the reactions of the organism against these very
substances in the healthy body, in order to obtain the right measure
for the patient. It is, thereby, most precisely demonstrated that the
dose cannot be determined by weight, which indeed one would think
could never have been disputed. The end of the plant and of the
animal is determined by its beginning; they are at the end, just what
they were in the beginning — atoms. This our attenuations also
394
prove, with which we are able to perform cures unattainable by the
physiological school.
With this example it is sufficiently demonstrated, that the contra-
dictions, which the adherents of the physiological school pretend to
find in Homœopathy, disappear in those very terms of subdivision,
which they, from their standpoint, are wont to overlook; for they
believe that everything is only so constituted as they have been taught
to perceive it.
§. 347.
If we wish to measure the degree of the effect of any substance,
we must by no means confine ourselves to the relation of quantity and
quality alone, but we must here set out from the divisive term of the
indication, which does not appear at all in the ideas of quantity and
quality; for where there are two contradictory propositions, in no case
can they both be true. But it frequently happens, as in the present.
case, that the disjunction is not two-fold, but three-fold, and the third
term of division lies concealed from the obscrvation of the phys-
iological school. This is the case indeed with the denial, by the pro-
fessor, of the maxim of Homœopathy, that the effects and reactions of a
body increase qualitatively in an inverse ratio to its quantity. If, for
example this very same professor would produce diarrhoea, according
to his method, this can be done with a few drachms of Rhubarb; but
if he will check a diarrhoea, this he can accomplish with grain doses
of the same Rhubarb. Here clearly, in the first case, the effect stands
in direct ratio to its allopathic dose; in the latter, in an inverse ratio
to the same.
1
Just herein lies the curse of relative ideas, that they make one
blind! Thus, in such a question, the dividing term is the indication,
and neither the quality nor the quantity. Thus the dividing term
gives, to the otherwise paradoxical idea of potency, its full significance.
Lebert, however, attempts to escape from this strait, by the asser-
tion: "In my youth (alas! the good man is even now a long ways
from being old in years, or mature in logic. Author,) I experimented
on myself, with many of the pellets, prepared by Hahnemann himself,
and never could I find any of the symptoms announced by Hahne-
mann in the Materia Medica Pura. And as it happened to me, so
has it certainly happened to many other candid inquirers.”
That this might often happen, no Homœopath will deny, because
every one who has proved the attenuations of various substances upon
himself, has had the same, as well as the very opposite, experience,
395
for, in order to become sick, two things are necessary- -an outer disease-
producing cause, and an inner susceptibility to its effects. Or does
the Professor think that the organism reacts against remedies other-
wise than against morbid and nutritious matters, thus according to
various natural laws, and not according to various conditions?
Of course, for he continues: "If, moreover, there were but the least
trace of truth in Homœopathy, then every disease must be influenced
by the substances which are contained in various articles of diet and
drink, and which are used by Homœopaths as drugs.
66
Truly it is difficult to determine whether these substances cure dis-
cases, which, however, would have to be the case with those diseases
which present morbid conditions similar to those of the remedies, while
all other of these ingredients must produce those diseases which these
substances, according to the Materia Medica Pura, are said to call
forth."
His first proposition, the Professor thus is good enough to contro-
vert, by the following, which is printed with displayed type. The
continuance of the sentence is again an empty stratagem; for Homœo-
pathy does not say that substances of the external world produce those
diseases which they are said to call forth; but that the substances of
the outer world cure such diseases as are similar to those diseases
which these substances can produce. (The words "call forth" must,
indeed, have slipped in inadvertently, else our opponent would have
expressed himself quite unintelligibly.) Practical examples, as well
as theoretical proofs, for the truth of this maxim of Homœopathy,
properly expressed, are abundantly presented in the foregoing
pages, and no fewer are the examples and proofs which show incon-
testably that even the various substances which appear in our food and
drink are to be enumerated here, §. 257, etc.
Aside from this, the difference between the substances which are
given isolatedly as remedies, and the same substances which are found
in food, consists in this, that, in Homeopathy, the remedies are not
brought into the organism in their organic combinations, but pass
directly from the cavity of the mouth even, into the blood, so that
whatever of the remedy finds its way to the stomach is mostly lost;
that the substances in the food leave their organic combinations only
when, in common with these combinations, they have suffered other
chemical combinations and changes, according to the laws of diges-
tion, hence when they can be further used only according to the laws
of nutrition in the organism, and consequently can exercise no cura-
tive influence upon diseased organs, tissues, etc.
396
That physiological medicine has not progressed so far yet as to give
its remedies in such a manner that their undisturbed action may be
observed, but rather pours them into the stomach without ceremony,
where they undergo the most various changes, which makes their
effect absolutely injurious or uncertain, this does not at all prevent this
school from adhering to the weight in its dose, for less quantities would
always, as it thinks, be still more uncertain, if not entirely ineffìca-
cious-views which one should not be called upon to controvert, con-
sidering the present position of all the natural sciences.
He then inquires in his simplicity, or rather in his ignorance,
"Whether Quinine in therapeutic (?) doses has ever produced a con-
dition similar to fever and ague”—a question which, as is well known,
has been answered in the affirmative, even in Allopathic journals, and
"whether Iron ever produced chlorosis;" a question which he may
find answered in the affirmative, every day in his practice, or that of
his friends. And a teacher of the young cherishes such doubts! If,
however, doubts come over him on any subject, why does he not rather
solve them manfully, as becomes a scholar, by exact experiments, in
order somewhat to increase his scanty knowledge, instead of deceiving
himself and others with arbitrary opinions?
But he fears the one source of all human perceptions; he fears the
demonstratio ad oculos which the truth of Homœopathy would pre-
sent him with reproachful features, since it has been often experienced
that who ever gave themselves, free from prejudice, and thoroughly
to the study of Hahnemann's discoveries, have left the physiological
school and gone over to Hahnemann.
§. 348.
Another stratagem of this Professor, employed against Homœopathy,
is worthy of mention, viz.: "We finally add, that, while Homeo-
pathy, for nearly half a century, in all countries of Europe (pardon
me, Professor; in all parts of the world would be more proper. G.),
has met with an undeserved toleration (because all people do not live
in the slavery of a trade's union. G.); while Homœopathists in
many places have obtained the permission to dispense their own reme-
dies, a favor forbidden to other physicians (though in many countries
it is granted to allopathists and not to Homeopathists. G.); while,
in the higher and very highest circles of society, Homœopathy has
always found many a Macænas, Science,' in this half century, has,
nevertheless, not ratified a single one of the principles of Homœopathy."
397
Surely enough, here the shoe pinches! Thus, because "Science"
has ratified no maxim of Homoeopathy, for what interest could
physicists and chemists have to declare that Homœopathy possessed a
scientific basis, therefore Homoeopathy lacks scientific confirmation.
To this we may answer that physics, the doctrine of the qualities of
bodies, has among its adherents several prominent men who have
given de facto explanations of the effects of Homœopathic attenuations,
for example, Profs. Doppler, Ozanam, etc.; and that to chemistry this
is impossible, because it concerns itself only with the ponderable
quantities of bodies.
668
Moreover, neither physics nor chemistry, neither pathology nor
physiological medicine without Therapeutics is the sum total of
science," and that Homœopathy is one of the branches of natural
science, has been sufficiently demonstrated, I hope, in the foregoing
pages. With the equanimity of every impregnable truth, Homeo-
pathy still waits in vain for a scientific refutation of its experiences and
principles.
But, because some have subjective grounds to hate and persecute
this truth, they find it all the more easy so to do, the more they feel
their egoism in danger. §. 2. A doctrine which, as is the case with
physiological medicine, has to fear toleration and needs the protection
of the government, is worth nothing! Or is not the fact that Homœo-
pathy has its patrons in the higher and highest circles of society proof
that the intelligence of society favors Homoeopathy? Could it be
possible for this fact to be used as a reproach to Homœopathy
rather than to the physiological school by men who wish themselves
to belong to the intelligence without fearing that they thus flatter
nobody less than themselves?!
§. 349.
In Homœopathy everything develops itself according to natural
laws, hence, in a natural manner; nothing happens which is simply
inexplicable, wonderful or mysterious; its every problem is an object
of science and art, and the explicability of its practice rests upon this,
that the course of all homeopathic cures and the connection of their
diagnosis and indication is controlled by necessary laws. All homœo-
pathic theories and practices I have arranged in the sections of this work
under Natural laws and natural designations. It would not be worthy
of the high stand point which has been demonstrated in this work as
belonging to Homoeopathy, if it should delay any longer to change the
party inscription into a scientific one, as is becoming the subject. I
know right well that orthodox Homœopathy not infrequently declares
398
that it is no system, no theory, and only a method, a mode of treatment,
by which it seeks to indicate its modus inveniendi, while, at the same
time, it wishes to intimate its disinclination to establish its practice.
theoretically. This is evident also from its one-sided appeal to its
practical results, to its experience.
But, according to my representation, laid down in this work, it is a
science, because it possesses a complete subordination of its specialities.
under the generality of natural laws, and because this subordination
can only take place systematically. It is not only this systematic
order which belongs to its possession, but also the established explana-
tion of the connection of its practical experiences by virtue of natural
laws. Science calls such a possession Theory. This deduces its
progressive principles from its essential reasons [rationes essendi]
under a hypothetical form, from the general, and its retrogressive
principles, from perceptive reasons [rationes cognoscendi] by rational
induction; and again, because it can always demonstrate, ad oculos,
what it has expressed by judgment; because it is, hence, a demonstra-
tive science also, therefore Homeopathy may be most appropriately
designated in relation to Therapeutics as the medicine, or Thera-
peutics, according to natural laws.
CONCLUSION.
§. 350.
Finally, it is clear that we live in a transition period. The literature
of the physiological school becomes every year more unfruitful for
practice, and not a few opponents stand tottering before us; among
practicing physicians, at least, this is an indisputable fact. There is
no juste milieu; it would be very acceptable to some, as tending
towards reconciliation; yet, "the efforts towards unity" of one of
the greatest physiologists, of a Virchow, have failed; by others, it
would be hated and despised as a sign of weakness, and no party
stands more watchful on the look-out than the Homœopathic and yet
the watch-word on all sides is "Progress."
The hollowness of the physiological school manifests itself as soon
as its doctrines are analyzed, as has been done in this work, and if
progress were earnestly desired in that school, the question should
first have been answered, without prejudice, what is the old and what
the new.
It is impossible for the physiological school to answer this
question under the present separation of party literature. Where
should this end?
399
Let us hence stand firmly by the positive doctrines of Homœopathy!
For all the power which the mind exercises over nature rests upon a
thought, a priori, which controls nature by nature, as happens in
Homœopathy.
The greatest creation of the human intellect, astronomy, found its
origin and development not by doubt, not by empiricism, not by acci-
dent, not by rationalism, but it has become great, simply and solely,
by induction and abstraction, and has, in this way alone, made for
itself indisputable laws, principles, and practical methods. It must
hence stand before us as a model, but by no means must we accept,
as such, any schematism of the physiological school, which found its
ruin in its empiricism, its dogmatism, and its skepticism.
Every physician who indulges himself at the bed-side, in any con-
clusion, must be conscious of all this, in order to enable him to deter-
mine at once, regarding the value of any of his conclusions, whether
it is a mere rational, or an incomplete inductive, a mere empirical, or
a rational inductive, or whether finally an abstracted conclusion, and
especially whether it will abide the test of a naturo-philosophical
critique.
He then knows, in a moment, how much value attaches to his under-
takings based thereupon, and what results he can promise himself
from them.
These deductive forms present, therefore, the infallible tests of the
greater or less worth of our conclusions and assertions; they are the
sharpest instruments of our intellectual operations, in absence of which
no one would know, with certainty, where he stands with any dictum
or decision.
Thus it is to be hoped that now it has become clear and manifest,
that the Homœopathic treatment of any disease is by no means a
mere child's play, and presupposes an incomparably greater amount
of theoretical and practical knowledge than is possible for the curative
mode of the physiological school in its lack of such acquirements.
Many cases are given up by it as incurable, which, with that degree
of skill which I require of the physician in this work, are quite
accessible, and can be perfectly cured.
S. 351.
To him who has as yet no idea of a naturo-philosophical critique,
it must surely happen, moreover, that he can consider but the fewest
of the cures occurring under his care as having been brought about
by his efforts; for, in the first place, such physicians consider the end
400
of their line of vision to be the end of the world, and finally, to speak
with Schopenhauer, it is "natural that, as the sun needs an eye to
receive its light, and music an ear to catch its sounds, so the worth of
all masterpieces of art and science even, is determined by congenial.
and appreciating minds, to which those works address themselves.
These only possess the magic words upon which the spirits, conjured
up in such works, present themselves, and become manifest. Hence
the various impressions of these same masterpieces, according to the
capacity of the mind which receives them!"
Just as light dawned upon astronomy when the geocentric system,
which was most obvious to the common mind, gave way to the
heliocentric, so must we also, in our mode of treatment, at the sick-
bed, turn away our thoughts, first of all from the seats and forms of
disease, and fix them upon their material causes and conditions.
§. 352.
There can be furnished no greater proof, on this earth, of the truth
of any conclusion, than by the spontaneous appearance of this truth over
and over again from nature, from many quite different leading prin-
ciples of different sciences, and this without being sought; this is the
case with the truth of Homœopathy.
It is true that chemistry was discovered in the search for the Philo-
sopher's stone; physics and astronomy in the search after astrological
predictions, but chemistry and physics were not existing at the same
time with, and much less before, these leading principles, but were
only gradually developed from them.
But while Homœopathy owes its origin and development to no
foreign, but to its own leading principles, the adherents of Rade-
macher, on the contrary, sought after specific epidemics, in order to
abstract from them indications for their Therapeutics; involuntarily,
however, they came by their maxims, upon the results of Homœo-
pathy, as has been shown in the foregoing paragraphs devoted to this
subject; physics, sought after the law of the decrease of molecular
attraction, but involuntarily presented a firm foundation for the Homœo-
pathic dose; agriculture sought for manures, yet without the slightest
thought of it involuntarily found nothing but the necessity of
guiding itself by long-known Homœopathic laws; chemistry sought,
without any leading principle, merely from curiosity, after the con-
stituents of human organism, but presented us, involuntarily, with
important elucidations of Homœopathy.
401
Thus, although all these various doctrines oppose Homœopathy,
simply and solely by reason of the insufficient faculty of perception,
which their representatives possess, yet still they offer, as do also
physiology and pathology, with their own investigations, in their
own domains, always in reality, the most striking proofs in favor of
Homœopathy. How can that be explained?
Developing its greatest strength in skepticism, physiological medicine
neglects to remind itself of the delivering act of the physician and still
more of the "hic Rhodus." Whoever desires more complete knowl-
edge on this point, let him take up Prof. Wunderlich's work, entitled
“Geschichte der Medicin,” 1858. One cannot call the contents of
this work a history of medicine; it is rather a skeptical fault-finding
with all the theories which have appeared since antiquity, according
to subjective views; a regurgitation of all the nonsense which has
been known since the remotest times. The practical gain, however,
is lost sight of entirely, so that it assumes the appearance as if the
author had merely sought opportunity, less to show his acuteness,
than to let loose his anger upon everything not according with his
ways of thinking and doing.
Occupying himself only with the respective perceptive reasons
(rationes cognoscendi), he never undertook the task of the historian
to find out what motives had produced them, what facts became the
burdensome source of fallacies, and why it was attempted to explain
these facts by fallacies of all kinds. If, for example, he read in the
ancients that they took the chill to be the cause of the fever, because
it usually preceded the heat, it was his duty to explain to us, at least,
upon the ground of the laws of nature known to us, what was false
in this idea, and why it must so happen, and how the process of
fever, from the present standpoint of general science, finds its explana-
tion, an explanation which then could not again be overthrown by
the next best speculator. This I should have called writing history
of medicine. An excerpt is not history at all, and skeptical remarks
superadded do not extend our perceptions. He might have made.
himself very useful had he undertaken to direct a science, which,
for thousands of years, has been accustomed to occupy itself with
speculative ideas, to the eternal laws of nature, and one would hardly
deem it possible that a regularly appointed teacher of medical art and
science were really quite unequal to such a task. Thus we have
learned nothing new by this history, though we have seen that the
old manœuvre of persistently pouring out, with little trouble, a flood
of abuse upon the loose literary productions of those given thereto,
has as yet not ceased hoping for laurels.
PART II.
26
402
The question of the historian is not whether the various theories
were inappropriate or whether they still are or are not inappropriate,
but whether, now even, we do not know any laws of nature, the place
of which these theories formerly occupied. That would have been
the critique of history.
However, in absence of a naturo-philosophical critique, nothing
else is to be expected but that one extreme should always call forth
another. While skepticism exhausts itself in questions, from which
its finds no exit, dogmatism makes tabula rasa and commands.
Neither is becoming to science; both destroy the hope of ever reach-
ing the truth.
The best thing in this history of medicine, beautifully setting forth,
as it does, the present tendency, barrenness and prospect of physiologi-
cal medicine, is the concluding passage, it having been previously
assumed, as a well established fact, that all the past is of no value to
us whatever. It reads:
"But what is the future and the further task of our science? Its
foundations, so far as they are worthy ("true," no doubt, was the
word he meant. G.), remain imperishable. But it is the character
of all perception occupying itself with nature, that it never reaches
the terminus, and that, with every acquisition the circle of problems
enlarges. In what the future problems consist, no one can foretell.
But this much is sure, that the future problems lie neither merely in
physical nor in chemical inquiries, neither in the elaboration of a
neuro-pathology, nor in the inquiries regarding the blood and the cell,
nor in a more subtle and acute diagnosis, nor in the rehabilitation or
creating anew of therapeutic maxims; the task of the future is no
other than that which medicine has always had; it is the task to seek
and find the truth, wherever and whatever it is, and in whatever way
it can be found.”
This is a sound quite different from that which came from the
same quarter in 1842, but, nevertheless a sound which lacks others to
form an accord; yet, it seems so perfectly harmonious with what I
had to demonstrate in this work with regard to the pathology and
therapeutics of physiological medicine, that it afforded me the most
satisfactory confirmation thereof, as well as no slight pleasure.
Have I not demonstrated, not only that the circle of problems in
this school must necessarily enlarge with every addition of the unknown,
but also why this is the case? But in this there would be no merit
even. The main thing is the proof which I have, at the same time,
adduced, that these acquisitions were never made according to a
philosophical programme, but out of curiosity, according to the whim
403
of this or that experimenter, who just then wished to try his powers;
that further, the new acquisition of therapeutic maxims, absolutely
necessary as it is, must be secured from the eternal immovable laws of
nature; that this, finally, is the only possible way to seek and to find
the truth.
To this, then, the great programme of the year 1842 had led, to which
the majority of the medical world deems itself unconditionally pledged to
pay allegiance, that it has gained, as yet, not even an idea in what direc-
tion and way it ought to seek for and find the truth. Can any one
make a more complete confession of intellectual or mental poverty?
But this must needs happen on account of the mysterious neglect of
he laws of nature, by reason of the inconsiderate leap over the law
of causality and inertia into the misty regions of fancy. The unprac-
ticed judgment has sought, since that time, the conditions of disease
and of cure in the physiology of life alone, i. e., in one of the con-
ditions thereto, and lost the faculty of remembering the other of these
conditions, the outer world. Hence, the whole of medicine has
been taken possession of by its help-mate, by physiology. The stone
sinks in the water; what is the cause if it reaches the bottom?
the stone and not the water, but he who threw it into the water.
greater specific weight and the inferior density of the water, of course,
form part of this reason, since the stone without them would not reach
the bottom; weight and density, however, will never tell us, to the
end of time, who threw the stone into the water, or who again could
take it out. Yet, physiological medicine maintains that this may be
learned after having explored more precisely the properties of the stone
and the water; at some future day, and that—although in times
inconceivably distant - this may be learned after all.
§. 353.
Not
Its
Thus the truth, which, from such a stand-point, evidently is yet
sought in physiological medicine, in which, hence, quite as evidently
no inkling ever existed of where it is to be found, is not only
found, as regards the maxim, but contained, de facto, in the laws of
nature, for the practice of Therapeutics as well as for the establish-
ment of infallible diagnosis, indications and prognoses.
I am quite conscious of the fact that many who may read this work
do not wish to be instructed; for, at the present day, there are no buds
in which the blossom lies imbedded; now-a-days men pretend to a
knowledge of all things, no matter how distant they may be there-
from; scarcely have they sown when they desire to reap; scarcely
404
have they laid the foundation when the roof is put on as the last
finish; hardly have they begun when they think that they have reached
the end. Even good advice is no more desired. Small and narrow
as is the range of vision of the majority even, everything is excluded
and rudely rejected which approaches too near from another range
of vision. But, experience cannot be taught and furnished by educa-
tion, it must be acquired itself, and it matters not how short the
measure is with which the experience of others can be measured, yet
each one measures everything by himself. Of these evils, that seg-
ment of history, in which we ourselves now live, is so full, that I have
preferred, instead of teaching, to allow facts to speak for themselves.
Still less have I strayed into the region of reconciliation; for each one,
after all, does what best pleases him and his surroundings. On the
other hand, the practicing physician can take the laws of nature, as
laid down, and the facts thereby established, just as they are, without
delay, and apply them at the bed-side of his patients, with that cer-
tainty of success which finds, in every new case, a new confirmation
of their truth.
The truth of natural laws, and of the facts resulting therefrom, are
themselves the best teachers, even for those who make opposition
merely from an acquired spirit of opposition. They are the only
advisers, because they forcibly open the eyes, even of the unwilling,
and they are the best harmonizers of parties, because, as in everything
else, so also in physiology, pathology and therapeutics, there can be
but one truth.
From the difference which the non-medical public found between
the doctrines of Homœopathy and those of the opposition to this science.
and art, by experience upon their own bodies, the social standing
of both doctrines is manifest. It says that the professors of the uni-
versities and their pupils are, in their own interest, against Homœo-
pathy and in favor of its suppression; while the vox populi, in the
common interest, is for Homeopathy and against its suppression, as
against every form of tyranny.
§. 354.
HOMEOPATHY AND PHYSIOLOGICAL MEDICINE, COMMONLY
CALLED ALLOPATHY, AT THE BAR OF STATISTICS.
It would be unworthy of Homoeopathy should I reply to all the
petty wranglers who have sought to attack it, and who, for this pur-
pose, puff themselves up, as the frog in the fable, so as to appear
405
larger. But I will, by way of conclusion, set before all the opponents
of Homœopathy, and also before the so-called scholars among them,
the following statistical documents touching the immense advantage
of Homœopathy over the physiological school; for, having adduced
the natural laws according to which the Homœopathic cures occur,
statistics, regarding this point, become of rational value.
To present the extensive statistical tables of Dr. Rosenberg (Fort-
schritte, etc., Leipzig. 1843. bei Schumann) would be over-stepping
the limits of this work. Hence the summary of these tables will only
be given.
Homeopathic experiments at Tulczyn in Podolia, conducted by Dr.
Herrmann, by order of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia. The
experiments lasted 100 days in the year 1829. Received, 165; cured,
141; died, 6; remaining, IS. Mortality, 3.64 per cent. The 18 remain-
ing suffered from incurable organic defects, and had been treated with-
out success in other hospitals also.
At the Infantry Hospital at St. Petersburgh there were treated by Dr.
Herrmann in 1829-30, by order of the Emperor, 409; cured 370; relieved,
7; not cured 4; dead, 16; remained, 12. Mortality, 3.92 per cent.
During the cholera in 1846 there were 242 patients treated at the
so-called Homeopathic Cholera Hospital at Munich, of whom only
six died. After the cessation of the cholera it was determined to con-
tinue this as a Homoeopathic Hospital, for which the Chambers voted
4000 florins per annum. Consent was refused to the Chambers, but
hardly in consequence of the following ratio of mortality. The sum-
mary of cases treated from December 13, 1836, to the end of Decem-
ber, 1837, in this Institution, in Munich, is as follows: Patients, 242;
cured, 223; relieved, 13; died, 6. Mortality, 2.48 per cent.
I
Of 738 patients treated, from 1833 to 1841, in the Homoeopathic
Hospital at Günz, 666 were cured, 10 relieved, 5 not cured, 29 died;
received moribund, 17; remaining, 11. Mortality, 3.92 per cent.
In the Homœopathic Hospital at Gyöngyös, from 1838 to 1841,
there were treated 271, Cured, 219; relieved, 14; not cured, 7; died,
II; received moribund, 15; remaining, 5. Mortality, 4.06 per cent.
In the Homeopathic Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy at Vienna,
from 1832 to 1S41, there were treated 5,161. Cured, 4710; not
cured, 89; died, 267; brought in moribund, 34; remaining, 61.
Mortality, 5.02 per cent.
Summary of cases treated in Leipsic from 1833 to 1841: Cases,
4,665; cured, 3,984; relieved, 297; not cured, 127; died, 157; received
moribund, 31; remaining, 69. Mortality, 3.57 per cent.
406
According to the above, the mortality of these Homeopathic hos-
pitals has an average of 4.22 per cent.
SUMMARY OF CASES IN VARIOUS ALLOPATHIC HOSPITALS.
Mary's Hospital, in St. Petersburg, in the year 1837. Patients,
3.356; cured, 2,261; died, 773; remained, 322. Mortality, 23.03
per cent.
All Saints Hospital, in Breslau, in the year 1833. Patients, 2,443;
cured, 1,701; died, 409; relieved, 105; not cured, 60; remained, 168.
Mortality, 16.74 per cent.
NEW YORK: DURATION OF TREATMENT, FIVE YEARS.
(ACCORDING TO DR. Jos. BUCHNER.)
HOMEOPATHIC.
ALLOPATHIC.
Discases.
Treated.
Died.
Treated.
Died.
Erysipelas,
349
3
325
75
Diarrhoea.
•
310
3
316
68
Fever without Typhus,
3.273
41
1,994
107
Pleuritis,
371
Small Pox and Varioloid,
211
6
асл
51
8
Accounts
Scarlatina,
102
Insuffi cient.
Inflammation of Bowels,
21 I
13
46
19
Fever of all kinds,
5:399
334
4.367
487
Pneumonia,
710
45
309
91
Dysentery,
98
447
120
Typhus,
2,126
293
2,373
3S0
Organic Diseases of Heart,
109
17
56
29
Apoplexy,
21
6
35
17
Phthisis Pulmonalis.
502
194
247
120
13.792
970
10.566
1,521
Consequently the mortality here figures up, in the Homoeopathic
hospitals, 7.03, in the Allopathic, 14.36 per cent.
Dr. Peters [Jno. C. !] exclaims at this report: "Who, with such data
before him, could be so great a fool as to subject himself to the heroic
treatment of the old school?”
CHARITÉ HOSPITAL, BERLIN.
Year.
Patients.
Cured.
Died.
Mortality per cent.
1832
6.298
4.565
843
1833
6.749
4.966
909
13.54
13.46
1834
6,390
4,017
894
13.99
1835
6.323
4.499
715
11.31
1836
7.322
5.310
886
12.10
1837
8,214
6.010
1,039
12.61
1838
9.097
6.955
893
9.82
1839
10.616
8.277
1.052
9.91
407
St. James' Hospital, in Leipsic, in 1839. Patients, 1,132; cured,
700; died, 117. Mortality, 10.33 per cent.
In the wards of the General Hospital, in Vienna, in the year 1S38,
there were: Patients, 20,545; died, 2,678. Mortality, 13.03 per cent.
In the year 1841: Patients, 24,258; cured, 19,363; died, 3,068:
Mortality. 12.73 per cent.
I
The average mortality of these hospitals is 12.08 per cent. Thus,
under Homœopathic treatment, one patient in every twenty-three died,
while under Allopathic, one in every eight.
As regards the results of the treatment of cholera, I will also give
only the sums total, from Dr. Rosenberg's work, where the details
can be more fully seen. The summary of cholera cases treated Hom-
œopathically, in different countries, by different physicians, 14,014
patients; 12,748 cured, 1,266 died. A mortality of 9 per cent.
Under Allopathic treatment, in various countries, 457,536 patients;
184,04 cured and 222,342 died. A mortality of 48.39 per cent.
I
As regards the expenses, Dr. Rosenberg makes the following
statement: In the year 1840, the cost for the daily support of a
patient, in the Homœopathic stationary clinic at Leipsic, was 3
Groschen, [11cts]. During the same year, the Administration of Gen-
eral Charity, in Berlin, set down the the daily cost, for one patient, at
7 Groschen, [223 cts.]; thus, in the Charité, the daily cost of a patient
was about 3 Groschen, [11 cents], more than in the Homœopathic
Institutions.
I
Since, according to report, in the Charité about 10,000 patients are
sustained, their support costs, if we assume, as an average, that each
patient remains 20 days in the hospital, 62,500 Thalers, [$41,666.66}].
A like number of patients, remaining the same time under treatment
iu a Homœopathic hospital, would cost, per annum, 30.555 Thalers,
133 Grochen, [$20,370.00]. Hence the Charité, under Homœopathic
treatment, would save 31,945 Thalers [$21,296.00] annually.
We find the same proportions also, in "Knolz's Darstellung der
Humanitäts- und Heilanstalten," in Vienna, for the year 1848, accord-
ing to which a patient cost, in these institutions, about 17 Kreuzers
more a day than in Homoeopathic hospitals. and that the government
would have saved, in these Vienna institutions alone, 143,248 Florins,
53 Kreuzers, C M., [Conventions Münze,] had they been under
Homeopathic treatment.
We now come to more recent dates.
Dr. Tessier was established in the St. Margaret's Hospital in Paris,
and the opponents of Homoeopathy sought to expel either him ou
Homœopathy. But they received from the administration of hospitals
408
at Paris the following reply: "Before, as well as since the time of
Hippocrates, physicians have always been of different opinions and
always will be. (It should have ceased to be so, and will, at least,
not continue much longer, for, what is demonstrated according to
natural law, excludes every arbitrary subjective interpretation. G.)
But we, as managers of the hospitals, must stand aloof from their
schools, and we take no part at all in their contentions, which are nore
or less of a scientific character. We content ourselves merely with
establishing the results, which each physician obtained in his service,
as we do at the present. In St. Margaret's Hospital we find two
sections, one with 100 beds under Dr. Tessier, who treats his patients
Homœopathically; the other, with 99 beds, under Dr. Valleix, and
after his resignation, under Dr. Marotte, who treated their patients
allopathically. The new comers were put into the first vacant bed,
whether it happened to be in one section or the other. Hence, the
test of the two therapeutic methods occurred as much as possible
under the same circumstances. The mortality now was as follows:
In the years 1849, 1850 and 1851 there were treated in the Allopathic
section 3,724 patients, with 411 deaths, thus a mortality of 11 per cent.
In the Homœopathic section, 4,663 patients were treated, with 339
deaths a mortality of 8 per cent.
The difference in the death rate in favor of Homœopathy is 3 per
cent. (At present, considering the immense progress Homœopathy
has made, since that time, the difference would be still more favor-
able.
G.)
Under such results we are far from meddling with the liberty of
medical art, or from wishing to put any hindrance in the way of Dr.
Tessier's treating his patients Homœopathically; on the contrary, we
would encourage him to persevere in his efforts, which can only benefit
humanity.
In the same hospital, at the same time, the average duration of dis-
ease was 23 days in the Homœopathic section; in the Allopathic, 29
days, which thus, thanks to Homeopathy, permitted, in a hospital of
100 beds, aid to be administered to 300 more patients than under
Allopathic treatment, or, in this manner, a hospital of 100 beds would
be equal to an Allopathic hospital of 120 beds. The cost of drugs,
under Allopathic treatment, amounted to 23,522 francs; in the
Homœopathic to two or three hundred, thus about the 100th part."
Something similar happened at Thoissey, Departement Aisne, where
Dr. Gastier managed the hospital of the place from 1S32 to 1848. An
Allopathic physician at Mason, probably vexed thereat, declared, in
a political paper of the city, that the Board of Administration of this
409
Hospital had forbidden Dr. Gastier to practice Homœopathy in this
institution. Immediately thereafter the administration sent to the
editor the following letter for publication:
"We can not be silent under a perfectly groundless statement,
which would presuppose us to mistake entirely the sphere of our duty
and meddle with affairs entirely foreign thereto. The administration
of the hospitals has been established for the purpose of controling the
possessions and revenues of our institutions, and to watch over their
well being, as well as to see that each officer conscientiously discharges
his duties, but by no means to prescribe rules to the physician in the
practice of his art, for this field does not belong to our studies, and we
are strangers to it. It would, hence, have seemed ridiculous, at least,
if we had indulged ourselves in forbidding the physician of our hos-
pital the use of any remedy which seems good to him. Medicine is
a free art, and the manner of its exhibition must be perfectly free.
Never, and this best proves the consideration which medicine enjoys,
never, at any time, in any land, have even absolute governments under-
taken to prescribe or forbid this or that curative method to the physi-
cian. (There are still countries, however, where this happens. G.)
We contradict the announcement of Dr. C., in every respect, since
he has fallen into an error which is, to us, quite incomprehensible;
but we also declare that, in case we had really the right which he
ascribes to us, we should not be at all inclined to make use of it.
Our register shows that, since the accession of Dr. Gastier, the num-
ber of deaths, in proportion to the number of cases, has been much
less than ever before; that the cost of medicine has been almost nil,
and that the service has been sensibly relieved by simplicity and
regularity."
Board of Administration.-Magot, Burgomaster, Pres't. Challond,
Adjunct. Lorin, Member of the General Council. Ducrest, Chap-
lain. Billaud, Senior Director.
THOISSEY, January 2, 1846.
Let us consider also an article from the April number, Vol. XXIII.,
p. 330, of the British Journal of Homœopathy, and of the London
Homœopathic Review.
THE ENGLISH LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY CONVERTED TO
HOMEOPATHY, BY THE EVIDENCE OF STATISTICS.
The month of December, 1864, marks an epoch in the history of Homœo-
pathy, the memory of which will be ardently cherished by every Homeopath
of the present generation; whilst, to this period will frequent reference here-
410
after be made, as that from which is to be dated a remarkably rapid growth
of the system in public estimation.
On the 16th of December, 1864, there met together at the Freemasons'
Hall, in London, under the presidency of Lord Henry Gordon, a number
of individuals — in no respect identified with Homœopathy, but simply con-
cerned in the promotion of their own pecuniary interests to consider the
bearing of this system of medical treatment on the health and life of the
community. The parties referred to are the Directors and Shareholders of
a company, entitled "The General Provident Assurance Company." The
object of such institutions, is, we need hardly remark, commercial gain; and
one of the principal means employed, is an investigation, conducted with
scientific severity, into the duration of human life, with all the concomitant
circumstances which tend to affect the health of individuals and classes.
Hitherto the actuaries of these valuable institutions have disregarded
and therfore omitted from their calculations - the very important consider-
ation of medical treatment. The keenness of competition, however, which
characterizes every department of trade in the present day, and stimulates
to their utmost extent the intellectual faculties of our men of business, has
at length, made itself felt even amongst these very conservative establish-
ments; and, as a consequence, we find, in the case of The General Provi-
dent Assurance Company, the actuary directed to make an investigation into
with
the hitherto unexplored region of comparative medical treatment
what result it is scarcely necessary to inform the readers of this Journal.
To some, at least, of the Directors of the Provident, this result, no doubt,
presented itself in the light of a discovery; to none could it be otherwise
than gratifying to learn, that their labor had been rewarded by the acquisi-
tion of data capable of being turned to very profitable account, in the
following well ascertained facts: — that persons treated by the Homœo-
pathic system enjoy more robust health, are less frequently attacked by
diseases, and when attacked, recover more rapidly than those treated by any
other system; that with respect to the more fatal classes of disease, the
mortality under Homœopathy is small in comparison with that of Allo-
pathy; that there are diseases not curable at all, under the latter system,
which are perfectly curable under the former; finally, that the medicines
prescribed by Homœopaths do not injure the constitution, whereas those
employed by Allopaths not unfrequently entail the most serious, and, in
many instances, fatal consequences.
—
These data obtained, the Directors had but one duty to perform alike to
themselves and to their constituents, which was to summon a meeting of
their shareholders, and to lay before them the facts they had collected, and
the decision at which they had arrived, viz., "to open a special section for
persons treated by the Homeopathic system, at a LOWER RATE OF PREMIUM
THAN THAT CHARGED ON OTHER LIVES." And without a dissentient voice
this proposition of their Directors was adopted by the shareholders of The
General Provident Assurance Company.
-
Here, then, we have a testimony borne to the great practical value of
Homœopathy which nothing can gainsay against which ridicule and
abuse, the only weapons by which we have hitherto been attacked, can avail
nothing. It is not with "individual opinion” that our opponents have now
4II
to deal - not even with the opinions of such men as the late Archbishop of
Dublin, the late Dr. Gregory, Professor of Chemistry in the University
of Edinburgh, or the late Dr. Samuel Brown, a man worthy to rank with
the illustrious Faraday—all of whom lived and died in the faith of the truth
of Homœopathy and not to mention a host of other names of men, living
and dead, in every department of literature, science, and art. It is not with
individual opinion, we repeat, that our opponents have now to deal. They
are now confronted with the result of an investigation directed to be made
by a body of commercial men, for commercial purposes, conducted with that
marvelous precision which has exalted the investigations of the assurance
offices of this country to the rank of scientific verities and endorsed by
men whose intellectual faculties, when summoned to decide, must have been
in liveliest exercise, seeing that they had to determine on a question in which
they were without precedent for a guide, and in which their own pecuniary
interests were deeply concerned. Well, the question has been decided, so
far at least as one Assurance office, with its Actuary, Directors, and Share-
holders is concerned; and the fact cannot be concealed. It will not be long,
therefore, we may confidently predict, before other offices will follow this
example. But, however numerous may hereafter become the adopters of
this innovation, let it ever be remembered that to The General Provident
Assurance Company belongs the distinguished honor of being the pioneer
in this movement. And never let the circumstance be forgotten, which
gives life and vigor to the great moral of this narrative, that the decision
arrived at was the result of an investigation suggested by an observation
of the ever increasing conquests of Homœopathy, especially amongst the
highest and best educated classes of society, but cropping out everywhere
throughout the world in spite of the adamantine rocks of ancient prejudice,
and the alluvial deposits of social and professional influence - and thereby
forcing itself upon the attention of intellectual men of business, whose
avocation it is to avail themselves of every legitimate opening for the aug-
mentation of their revenues, and the elevation in public estimation of that
branch of industry with which they may happen to be connected.
In France, it was shown last year, that the new medical doctrine,
Homœopathy, has taken from Allopathy, in the lower walks of life,
one-tenth, and in the higher, one-eighth of its patients, and the work-
men (of Paris) begged, in a petition to the Senate, for the establish-
ment of a Homœopathic Hospital, in the following words:
“Of course, we do not demand the right to choose our physicians,
since we have a claim to public aid, as it is in general administered,
but, at least, Hospitals and Institutions may be open to us, where we
can commit our health, and the health of our families, to a method of
cure, the blessings of which we have tested in cases innumerable; a
method of cure which spares the strength of the laborer, and shortens
disease and convalescence."
In order to demonstrate the extraordinary falling away of the public
from physiological medicine, and its transition to Homœopathy, and
412
that too in an increasing ratio, I need only show by the following
figures, the same falling away and conversion of physicians in various
countries, though every conceivable means have been used by the
physiological school to prevent it, and all their powers have been used,
but in vain, to restrain them; and to the increase of Homoeopathic
physicians naturally corresponds a proportional increase of confidence
in Homœopathy, in all classes of society. There were, in the year
1843, 390 Hom. physicians in North America. In 1863, 1670
66
66
66
66
70
66
(૬
South America.
England.
66
161
66
450
66
Germany.
283
555
66
66
66
Spain.
192
66
66
แ
30
Italy.
66
136
66
50
66
66
France.
(6
453
66
66
66
Africa.
66
6
66
(6
66
66
66
66
Asia.
Australia.
66
6
66
2
It is not necessary to enlarge this list, or to complete it, with a
notice of the new establishment of Homœopathic Hospitals, Dispens-
aries, etc., as this is beyond the scope of this work; the foregoing
suffices to have shown, even by statistics, that for the opponents of
Homœopathy it can no longer be prudent to seek to make an impres-
sion upon the public by abuses, slanders and other attacks against
Homœopathic physicians, but it seems rather called upon, with scien-
tific earnestness, to lay hold upon the subject on all sides, to examine
it, at the same time to make themselves masters of it and, consequently,
manfully to reject the old and established errors.
END OF PART II.
INDEX.
ABERRATION, Virchow on,
I.79
doctrine of, false, II. 252
Abnormal. Physiological medicine
seeks to destroy what is, I. 129
Abscess, treatment of, I. 335. II. 365
Absorbing power of blood. Liebig
on, I. 331
Abstract ideas dangerous, I. 61
Abstraction, what? I. 73
and induction, 131, 144, 165
necessary for formation of induc-
tion, 156
Acarus, II. 229 et seq.
Accidental and necessary, what, I. 265
and essential, II. 215
Accidents, always real, I. 76
Ac. nitr. in rain water, II. 269
nutrition rem., 282
oxygenoid rem., 183
hydrogen, and oxygen. rem, 285
Acetic acid, change on evap., I. 261
Ac phosph., Böcker on small doses
of, II. 46
in typhus, I. 162
in locom. ataxy, II. 340
Ac. sulph., Carbo nitrog. rem., II. 282
Ac. sulphurous, Polli on, I. 181
Aconite in fever. I. 124
mode of action, 206
Allopathic writers on, II. 255
relieves cough, I. 332
in measles, I. 324
in scarlatina, 328
and Bell. in same, id.
and Bell. compared, I. 209, 211;
II. 105
proving of. II. 60
and aconitine effects of, 109
and Bell. together in broncho-
pneumonia, II. 149
in rheumatism. 154
and Arn. in hæmoptysis. II. 334
Action, mediate and immediate dis-
tinguished, I. 35
what is? 129
and passion. 85
Activity, Herrmann on, I. 86
Aegidi on constitutional remedies,
II. 284
Aetiological school, I. 289
Affinities, I. 47
Liebig on, I. 162, ISS
Aggravations Homeopaani, sults
of, II. 148, 155
Aggregate condition, I. 181, 159
Agriculture confirms Hom., 11. 400
Albumen as a regulator I. S
Allopathy seeks indication for reme-
dy by turns in Pathology, Physi-
ology, Biol. and Aetiology, I. i10
and Homœopathy, complements
to each other, II. 104
empirical, not rational, 178
ignorant of connection between
drugs and diseases, 263
confession of poverty, II. 403
Allopathic rems., why become obso-
lete, I. 169
Pathology not special but gen-
eral, 243
experiments with quantities, 263
acknowledgment of Hom., II. 155
literature, wonders of, II. 179
criticism a clog, 179
Therapy, shipwreck of, 264
a plaything, 311
statistics, II. 406
Alternate remedies, II. 105-6
effects of remedies, 108
Alternation of effects of remedies,
I. 212
of remedies, II. 374
Amblyopia, II. 340
Ambra not to be given at night. II. 118
Amenorrhea, Latz on, II. 302
Amplification, Schopenhauer on,
I, 280
Analogy like Liebig's and Virchow's,
spots in science, I. 85
not suffice for choice of rem. 109
in physiological school gives
only relations, etc., 120
of dynamists, 201
Analysis and synthesis, their use in
diagnosis, I. 103, 224
Analytic comparison, 1. 135
Analyzers and synthetyzers, I. 72
Anelectrotonus, 1. 87
Angina, Benz. acid in, II. 12
Animal heat, II. 91
Animal mag., Valentin on,
v. Gardos on, 278
Antagonism, I. 89
Antennæ. pedant's, II. 381
I. 277
414
INDEX.
Antidotes, Hom. basis of, II. 183
what? 197
Antipsorics, Hahnemann's, II. 258
Antis sought by physiological school,
I. 257
no for disease, II. 193
Antozone, I. 182
in cholera, II. 283
Apelt on induction, I. 131
Aq. lauroceras. in fevers, I. 124
Aranea diad., in disease of spleen,
II. 356
in_hydrogenoid constitutions,
II. 354
symptoms of, 355-6
for periodical pain, II. 366
in sequelæ of pneumon., II. 365
in intermittents, II. 205
Area pellucida illustrative of inflam-
mation, I. 120
Argent. nitr in typhus, II. 162
recurrens, 288
after, 310
symptoms of, 318, 320, 376
et seq.
in amblyopia, 340
in hydrocephalus, 368
in insufficient oxidation of the
blood, 337
in enuresis noct., 338
in locom. ataxy, 330, 340
Arnica in clergyman's disease, 315
increases watery constituents of
urine, I. 335
prophylactic
fever, I. 336
against puerperal
in pyæmia, I. 332-4
in carbuncle, II. 116.
in operations on eye, 121
over-dose of, 213
in paralysis, 213
Arrow. Zeno's, II. 68
Arsenic in treat. of ulcers, I. 196
pyæmia, 334
proving of, 58-9
indications of in chills, II. 44
and Ipec., choice between, II. 216
for cold in head. II. 314
for gangrene, II. 366
symptoms of poisoning, II. 382
Art and nature, I. 85
Asthma siccum, II. 318
sycotic, II. 250
humidum, I. 170
Astronomy became great by induc-
and abstraction, II. 399
Ataxy locom., case of, II. 328, 331
Atmosphere, pressure of, II. 57
Attenuated drugs, action of explained
I. 17 and II. 182
Attenuation, Meissner on, I. 184
and high potencies, II. 96
Attenuations, Homeopathic neces-
sary, II. 246
Autenrieth and acarus, II. 229
Psora theory, 233
on sycosis, 24S
unknown to Virchow? 24S
scabies more intense in his day,
280
BACON, II. 263
Badger-dog, experiments with, I. 138
Baehr, II. 119, 316
Balance and burette, I. 162
Banting, I. 273
Barometer, I. 36
Bazin's three forms of chronic dis-
eases, II. 313
Belladonna, Böcker's experiments
with. I. 123
effects of, 199
mode of action, 206
and Acon. compared. 207, II. 105
succession of symptoms, 217
Benzoic acid, Hering's proving of,
II. S
changed into Hippuric acid, 9
cures by, 11
symptoms of, 15 et seq.
clinical observations, 32
in heart disease, 32-3
in pneumonia, 37
in rheumatism. 127
Berger quoted, I. 60
v. Bezold on motor nerves, I. 53,
II. 165
on nerves of heart. I. 115
Biology, Virchow on, II, 224
Bischoff & Voit's experiments, I. 57
on laws of nutrition. II. 225
Bladder, diseases of, Latz on, II. 297
Bleeding, bad effects of, I. 295
Blenorrhoeic poison, II. 235
Blood absorbing power of, on what
depends, I. 331
4
fresh, not produce fermentation
readily, I. ISI
changed by electricity, II. 118
-letting seldom needed, II. 193
in leucemia, II. 236, 255,
et seq.
needs certain amount of oxygen,
II. 275
hygroscopic, sign of hydrogen-
oid constitution, II. 265
poor in oxygen, II. 275
composition of, I. 63; II. 69
cells, action of, I. 42, 50; II. 90
et seq.
Latz on disease of, II. 302
Böcker's exp'ts with Bell., I. 123
on Phosph. acid in ileo-typhus,
II. 46
INDEX.
415
Böcker on Sulph., II. 274
Bodily constitution, II. 209
remedies for, 201
Body, all parts of respire, I. 182
heat of, variation in, I. 57
Böhnke-Reich on small doses, II. 67
v. Boenninghausen's Therap. Pocket
Book, II. 144
value of prominent symp., 144
concordances, 194
concomitants, 211, 219
Brandy antidote of coff, II. 42
Bromine in croup, II. 144
Bruckner on Hahnemann and Rade-
macher, II. 202
on examination of patients, 314
Brücke on protozoa, II. 119
Buchmann's Hydrometeore, II. 268
Buchner, II. 119
Bunsen anticipated by Hahn. II. 66
Burette, I. 162
CAFFEINE, whether a poison, I. 132
Calc. carb. in various doses, II. 108
in cataract, II. 119
in pneumonia, II. 151
action of, II. 10S, et seq.
in catarrh, II, 120
diet while using, II. 140
in broncho-pneumonia infant.,
II. 152
sycosis, II. 258
nutrition remedy, II. 282
Calc. phos. prevents hydrocephalus,
II. 367
in treatment of, II. 368
Cancer of breast, II. 246
Capillary attraction, I. 59
Carb. veg. in typhus abd., II. 147.
remedy for glands, 158
remedy for sycosis, 258
Carbo an. remedy for glands, 258
remedy for sycosis, 258
Carbo-nitrogen gas prevents cholera
but causes sterility, 183
Carbo hydrates obey the same law
in as out of the body, I.
50
deoxidation of, fat formed by,
I. SS
Carbo nitro. constitut.; microsco-
pic test of, II. 270
symptoms of, 278
same as Psora, 279
remedies, II. 282
Carbon, proportion of in cerebral fat,
I. 57
Carbonic acid, absorption of, I. 44.
exhaled, I. 93
less exhaled under action of Bell.,
I. 199-206
and from various passions,
I. 119.
Carbonic acid, evolutions of, varia-
tions in, I. 91
excretion of, I. 58. II. 275
Traube on, I.
I. 45-47
how produced, I. 116, 117; II. 256
amount exhaled. I. 151.
Carbuncle, treatment of. II. 116
Cardialgia, natr. carb. in, I. 143
Catalepsy. II. 352.
Cataract, case of, II. 119
drugs which produce, 123
cause and cure, 123-5
Catalysis considered, I. 99
Catarrh, pulmonary mistaken for
tuberculosis, II. 278
Categories, Kant's, I. 147; II. 68
Catelectrotonus, I. 87
Causal law, when available, I. 253
Causal law, what it teaches, I. 40,
69, 193
Liume on, I. 71
quantitative-what, I. 93
the leading principle of allo-
pathy, II. 100, 127
Cause of existence, I. 69
Causes of disease, Flemming on, II.
357
Causes, effects and conditions dis-
tinguished, I. 3+
Cell, Virchow on, I. 38, 42, 65
not simple, 42
as laboratories, 58
no formative activity in, 65
life, qualities of received from
mother, 100
Cellulose, Virchow on, I. 62
Cervical glands, swelling of, II. 360
Chancre contagion, I. 347
Chancre dycrasia, symptoms of, II.
349
Chancres, two, II. 234
Changeable and unchangeable, dif-
ference between. I. So
Chelidonium in affections of liver,
I. 305-7
Chemical processes in organism, like
those in laboratory, I. 184
Chemistry and Therapy compared,
I. 163
occupied with quantities, 263
no arbiter in Therapy, II. 204
confirms Hom., II. 400
Wagner on, II. 390
Chloride of potash in blood cell, I.
63
Chloroform supplanted by Puls., II.
145
Chlorosis, some forms of bear loss
of water, I. 26S
Copper in, II. 142
Puls. and Iron in, II. 215
case of, II. 215
416
INDEX.
Chlorosis, Latz on, II. 3c2
remedies for, II. 222
cause of, II. 357
different from anæmia, II. 236,
et seq.
Chilliness at stool, symptom of syphi-
lis, II. 259
Coffee, antidote of brandy, II. 142
Cold internally or externally, injuri-
ous in some cases of pneumonia,
I. 266
injurious in hydrogenoid consti-
tutions, II. 265, 275
Coffee when attenuated affects coffee
drinkers, II. 141
Cholera. Hom. statistics, II. 405
Clergyman's disease, Arnica in, II.
315.
SI
Clinic of disease of liver, I. 70, S1
Coal mines, laborers in, exempt from
consumption, II. 168
Coccus cacti to be used crude, II. 103
Cochineal to be used crude, II. 102
Coffea, effects of, I. 200
Conjunctivitis, Iron in, II. 185
Colloid tumors sycotic, II. 254
Coloring matter separated from
urine, I. 258
Comparisons analytic and synthetic,
I. 135
and deduction distinguished, id
two sorts of, 263
Comparative statistics, II. 404
Complements to therapeutics, what,
I. 218
Conceptions based on perceptions,
I. 31
two general, 133
Conditions, constitutional furnish
indications for remedy, I. 109
reciprocal found only by drug-
proving, 211
alternating-of drugs, 212
Concomitants, importance of, I. 211,
II. 209, 220
Concordances,
on, II. 199
v. Bænninghausen
Condylomata, II. 250.
Confession of poverty, Allopathic,
II. 403.
Connective tissue frame for organs,
1. 58
qualities of, come from father,
I. 100
Consumption, laborers in coal mines
exempt from, II. 168
Constancy of bodies and forces, I. 35
Constitutionalismus, I. 100
Constitution, the bodily, I. 201
the various, II. 224
oxygenoid, 266, 343
carbo nitrog., II. 318
Constitution, hydrogenoid, case of,
II. 334
hydrogenoid, examples of, II. 351
epidemic, to be considered, I.
294
Contact, influence of, I. 51
Contagion, Valentin on, II. 183
chancre and gonorrhoea, II. 347
Contraction, co-efficients of, II. 57
Contradictory views of Allopathic
writers on various remedies, I.
252-5
Contraria contrariis curantur, prin-
ciple of Allopathy, I. 103
a fallacy, II. 126
false, 193
Contrary and opposite distinguished,
II. 393
Contrasts in effects of drugs, I. 201
Copper prevents cholera, I. 329
absorbs ozone, id
effects on female genitalia, II.
107
in chlorosis, 142
in typhus, II. 288
Conviction, no place for, in natural
sciences, I. 27
Correctness of thought, Herrmann
on, II. 67
Cough relieved by Acon., II. 332
Quinine, II, 362
Crisis, how a fiction, I. S9, 91, et seq.
not cause of improvement, 98
Criticism distinguished from review,
II. ISI
Critique defined, I. 74
according to natural law, 153
Croup, diseases accompanying, II.
221
Bromine in, II. 144
Latz on, 293
Crude and attenuated drugs act side
by side, II. 141
Cuprum, effect on menses, I. 198
series of diseases, Rademacher,
II. 259
in pneumonia, I. 305
compared with Iron and Salt-
petre, 317
in podagra, II. 311
Cure by Nature, nonsense, I. 86
Cyclamen remedy for locom. ataxy,
323
DEDUCTION and perception, sources
of our knowledge, I. 28
and comparison distinguished,
135
a logical instrument, 138
in drug provings, 168
Deformities osseous, I. 274
INDEX.
417
Development of disease, history of
the-necessary, II. 226, 244
stage of in disease, 344
Derivation, I. 89
Diabetes, wine in, II. 208
Diagnosis, indication and prognosis,
I. 102
a perceptive knowledge, 125
differential, how to acquire, 220
Wunderlich's, end of, 223
and indication concur in Homo-
opathy, II. 44
empiric differential and Homœo-
pathic differential compared,
132
Allopathic, but introductory to
Homœopathic, 133
The Homœopathic differential,
196
Diarrhoea, case of, II. 191
from Sulphur, II. 108
case of, II. 189,
in leucæmia, II. 246
chronic, II. 198
Diaphragm, paralysis of, II. 328
Dico ego, etc., II. 390
Diderot, II. 263
Diet in Hom., influence of, II. 140
directions for, id
must be generous in sycosis, II.
373.
Digitalis in fever, I. 124
febrifuge, diuretic and antiphlo-
gistic, 145
symptoms of poisoning, II.382.
Diosmosis, I. 59
laws of, hold good in pathologi-
cal as well as physiological
processes, 186
Diversion the, Schopenhauer on, I.
2S0
Directions, lines of-of drugs, I. 187,
212, 191.
diosmotic, I. 193
laws of, obeyed by molecules, II.
141
contradicts idea of metastasis, II.
252
the same for Mercury and chan-
cre-virus, II. 258
Disease, what? I. 69
Virchow on, 72
a concrete idea, 98
hereditary origin of, 100
caused from without, 102
the essence of, 126
nameless, 137
disposition to, 210
essence of, according to Rade-
macher, 285
immaterial none, II. 330
acute, course of, II. 227
Disease, Reuter's series, 228
chronic, cause of, 260
various sycotic, 249
various, Latz on, 289
products of, the objective point
of the physiological school, I.
338
causes of, imponderable, II. 97
seldom cured by one remedy, 182
addition to life. 225
Dogmatism principle of, false, I. 72
Ricord's, II. 234
Dose, no law of in physiological
school, I. 213
the right, 214
quality of cause no rule for, 215
measures for, 215-6
normal, Latz on, 288
repetition of, I. 222
the, to be decided by each phy-
sician for himself, II. 96
size of, decisive, II. 283-5.
Doubt proves nothing, I. 30
Doubters unfruitful. I. 71 I
Doubting and knowing discrimi-
nated. I. 71
Doves deprived of water, I. 94
Drosera in croup, II. 221
Drugs, alternating conditions of, I.
212
effects of, general, II. 217
Drug-provings, deduction in, I. 168
defects of, 219
Allopathic, why doubtful, 259
necessity of studying, 326
to be made on healthy, II. 6-7
necessary to study of drugs, 134
necessity of, 181, 212
why unintelligible to Allopath-
ists, 218
Duchenne's accident, I. 146
Duck-weed, II. 78
Duration of effects of remedies,
II. 296
Dynamism, I. 201, II. 206
Dynamist's theory, negation of mat-
ter, I. 202
EFFECTS, primary and secondary, I.
195
Effect of remedies, primary Homœo-
pathic, II. 112
duration of, 296
permanent and transient, 113
Egg, development of, I. 66
Eisenmann's symptoms and treat-
ment of locomotor ataxy, II. 372
Electricity and magnetism, I. 275
of earth, 278
variations of, II. 117
proved by Hahnemann, 177
antidote to lead poisons, id.
27
418
INDEX.
Empirics and Rationalists compared,
I. 153
Enchondroma, Virchow on, I. S2
case of, II. 136
English life assurance and Homœo-
pathy, II. 409
Enuresis nocturna, Arg. nitr. in,
II. 338
Equinoxes, precession of, I. 332
Equivalence of forces, law of, I. 53
Erysipelas of face, II. 190
Espanet. 382
Essential and accidental, the, 215
Examination of patient, 313
personal, not always essential,
381
Exanthems, sycotic, 250
Exanthematic typhus, I. 150
Exceptions, none to laws of nature,
ΙΟΙ
Existence cause of, comes from with-
out, 69
Expansion, how occurs, 261
Expectation, 89
source of, II. 256
Expense, comparative of Hom. and
Allop. Hospitals, 407
Experiments should not be made on
sick, I. 293
not needed by Hom., II. 310
Experimenters, hereditary errors of,
I. 139
FALLACIES enumerated, I. 280
Fat, a regulator, 87
cerebral, properties of, 56
Felon, Nitr. ac. in, II. 116
Ferments, I. 45
have reducing properties, 46
de-oxidize, 74
Polli, on, 180
I
living, II. 345
organic, 345
Fever, material conditions for, I. 117
defined, 118
Virchow's idea of, I. 73, 114, 119
heat in-what, I. 112
influence of oxygen in, 117
no specific-in Hom., 121
importance of in Allop., 122
no special treatment for, 124
token of too great alternation of
oxidation and reduction, 268
not arise merely from heart and
medulla oblongata, II. 165
remedies, what, 1. 115
puerperal, Arn. prevents, 334
Fibrin, leucæmic process supplies
no, II. 256
Fibroid uterine, I. 363
Fitzroy's, Admiral, expts., II. 260
Flemming on cause of disease, 357
Food, deprivation of, Ludwig on,
I. 192
Forces, vital and molecular, I. 39
what, 42, 38, 160. 164, 199
Virchow on, 39, 44, 61
vital denied, 44
of tension, 52
vital, 60
vital and chemical, II. So
and other, Liebig on, 85, SS
depression of cause of disease,
II. 106 et seq.
curative, on what depend, I. 162
Fowler's solution in ulcer, I. 195
Fox lung for asthma hum, I. 170
Friedleben's investigations, I. 83
Functions excited from without, I. 68
and nutrition compared, 83
proportional law of, 97
remedies, 187, 210, II. 209
Fundamental law of nature, I. 41
Fries' logic quoted, I. 30
GANGRÆNA SENILIS, case of, II. 365
v. Gardos on animal magnetism,
I. 278
Gastein springs compared with Kis-
singen, I. 187
Gastier's success at Thoissey, II. 409
effort to expel him, 409
Geigel on Kissel's manual, II. 179
General. the importance of the I. 186
Genitalia female. Latz on disease of,
II. 299
Genius epidemicus, II. 284
Gerlach's experiments.. I. 60
Glands, Rademacher's remedies for,
II. 254-5
cervical, swelling of, 360
blackish, 244
lymphatic, of respiratory organs,
244
Glauber's salts, effects of, I. 331
remedy for hydrogenoid consti-
tution, II. 281
in leucæmia, II. 358
in swelling of glands, 360
Gross on constitutional rems. I.284-5
Görlitz, I. 130
Golden section, I. 94
Gonorrhoea, Latz on, II. 298
contagion, II. 347
time for curing, II. 350
Gout, Benzoic acid in, II. 33
case of, I. 279
and heart disease, Vogel on,
II. 33
Grauvogl, II. 284
Greatness of Hom., II. 193
Grohé, ferment of chyle, I. 50
Guaiac, I. 47
Gymnastics, I. 273
INDEX.
419
HAHNEMANN proved the magnet,
I. 276
his arithmetical
faulty, II. 58
calculations
anticipated Bunsen, 66
and Rademacher, Bruckner on,
202
correspondence in systems,
305
their doctrines complemen-
tary, 224
on acarus poisoning, 228
and itch mite, 271
Hay baths for disease of bones, II. 365
Hæmorrhage, Latz on, 302
uterine, remedies for, 154
pulmonary, 333, 340, 361
Hæmorrhoids, Latz on, 302
case of, 368
Hæmoptysis, case of, 333
Headache, Arg. nitr in, 322
Health, Virchow on, I. 40
what is, 91
a negative idea, 97
and abstract, 98
Heart disease, Vogel on, II. 33
valvular not incurable, id
Canstatt on, id
Heat of body, changes of, I. 57
doctrine of, 260
not a substance, 262
Hectic fever, Latz on, II. 305
Helminthiasis, II. 304
Hereditary origin of disease, I. 100
Hering on Benzoic acid, II. S
Hering-brine, II. 51
Herrman, propositions, I. 86
his trial of Homœop. in Russia,
II. 405
Heterology, I. 78 et seq.
High potencies, rules for, II. 387
effects of must come from mate-
rial causes, I. 202
rejecters of, Newton's letter for,
II. 95
considered, II. 383
Hirsch's treatment of felons, II. 116
History, Wunderlich's of medicine
reviewed, II. 401
Homœopathy and Allop., comple-
ments to each other, II. 104
demonstrative, 178
greatness of, 193
a protest against mysticism, 200
confirmed by other sciences, 400
why hated, 391
Homœopath. dose, de Hemptinne on,
II. 67
drugs, how prepared, 71
treatment, involuntary, 98, 176
differential diagnosis, 131-3
aggravations, 148
Hom. comparisons, 209
treatment, no child's play, 399
physicians, increase of, 412
Homology and Heterology, Virchow
on, I. 7S
Horn's table, I. 58
experiments, 329. II. 212
Hooping cough, Nux in, II. 189
Hydrates, formation of, a source of
heat, I. 116
Hydriatics, I. 266
Hydrocephalus, chron., I. 154
Hydrocephalus, prevention of, II. 367
Hydrochloric acid, of what consists,
I. 35
Hydrogen, functions of. I. 116
Hydrogenoid constitution, II. 261
marked by periodicity, 266
remedies. 282
Hygroscopic blood, 265
Hyoscyamus in fever, I. 124
Hypotheses, whence arise, I. 263
orthodox Hom. defends itself
with, II. 106
Hydrogenoid constitutions, examples
of, 351
soil for gonorrhea, 349.
case of, 334
Hypochondriasis, not arise from sex-
ual system, 330
IDEAS, abstract, dangerous. I. 61
relative, of no scientific value,
134
Ileo-typhus, Schram on, 7+
Inorganic substances absorbed in
very small quantities, II. 64
Imponderable qualities causes of dis-
ease, 97
Immunity, how Homœopathy pro-
duces, 184
Allopathy, id
Incomprehensible not impossible, I.
28
Incontinence of urine, case of. II. 338
Incubation, period of, what, II. 344
Incurability, how determined, I. 108
Indications, Wunderlich's, I. 126
Indicatio ex juvantibus et nocentibus,
I. 105, 325
causes delay, 341
causalis, 126
essentialis, 126
symptomatica, 126
vitalis, 126
category of, changed, II. 287
according to law of sim. sim.,
373, 382
to bodily constitution, 287
rational, what, I. 157
homœopathic, 108
whence arises, II. 114
420
INDEX.
Indigo, de-oxidized in blood, I. 47
Induction and abstraction, 132, 138
empirical and ra-
Newton's, 141
incomplete,
tional, 145
empirical, 148, 290
rational, 150
Inductive method, specimen of, from
Liebig, I. 175
Induction-apparatus, I. 276
Inflammation, Virchow on, I. 119
our knowledge of, relative, id.,
defined, I. 120
Allopathic idea of, erroneous, I.
255
Therapy of, II. 184
hyperæmia not cause of, I. 253
Rademacher's school on, II. 184
a reduction process, I. 121
a part only of a pathological
process, I. 124
illustrated by area pellucida, I.
I 20
Intermittents can be cured in patients
remaining in ague districts, I. 128
Quinine no specific, I. 159, 160
Aranea in, II. 205
Inunction cure, case of, I. 184
Iodide of merc. change from concus-
sion, 262
Iodide of potassium, function rem-
edy, 210
in Hydrargyrosis, 209
Iodosmone, relation to antozone, 330
in pneumonia, 365
in neuralgia, 384
Ipecac, a nutrition remedy, II. 282
with Nux in hydrogenoid
constitutions, 353
and Ars., choice between, II. 216
Involuntary Hom., 176
Iron, series of disease, I. 286
Copper and Saltpetre in pneu-
monia compared, I. 317
in pneumonia, 318
and Copper compared, II. 142
and Puls. in chlorosis, 215
not counter indicated by inflam.,
ISS
a powerful reduction remedy, I.
331
Irritants, three, I. 39
JOLLY'S experiments, II. 56
Juxtaposition, action of substances
in, I. 209
KAFKA, II. 194, 316
Kal. bi. in syphil., I. 257
Kal. carb. in typhus, II. 159
Kali nitr. increases excretion of urea,
I. 166
Kant's categories, I. 146; II. 6S
Kepler, three laws of, I. 142
Keratitis, I. 106
Kidneys, desquamat., inflam. of, II.
103
Kissel on pneumonia, I. 295
on indications, 340
manual, 104
Knowing and doubting, 71
Knowledge and faith compared, I.
203
source of, II. 270
Kreosote in tertian fever, 194
and Quinine compared, 195
LACTIC ACID, effect of surplus of, I.
209
Larynx, diseases of, Latz on, II. 291
Latz on various methods, I. 288
on treatment of various diseases,
a la Rademacher, II. 289
Law of nature, Liebig on, I. 32
fundamental, 41
admits of no exception, 10I
Law, causal, where available, 253
Laurocerasus, an oxygenoid remedy,
II. 282
Lebert's experiments with Hom., II.
394
on Hom. doses, 395
objections answered, 395, et seq.
manual, 392
Lead poisoning, remedies for, 177
Lemma trisulea, experiments with, 78
Localization of remedies, I. 185
Leucemia, Virchow on, II. 230, 236
Bennett's case, 237-8
lymphatic and splenic, id
Schreiber's case, 240
in what consists, 240
swelling of spleen, 241–2
Rineker's case, 242
excess of water in blood, 255
supplies no pus or fibrin, 256
no disease sui generis, 261
neuralgia in, II. 358
Liability to become chilled, Ars. for,
315
Liebig confounds cause with effects
and conditions, I. 34
on art of observation, 130
on strength of dose, 1SS
on manure, 175
on absorption of gases, 331
experiments with salt water, II.
122
on less having more effect than
more, 74
experiences in favor of Hom., 82
errors of, 84
Chem. Letters reviewed, 74, 83
on animal heat, 91
INDEX.
421
Life, causes and conditions of, I. 38
Lime, phosphate of, in hydroceph.
chron., I. 157
Linea media, I. 54
Lipppsringe springs, II. 40
Locomotor-ataxy, case of, 368
symptoms of, 372
Eisenmann on, 372
case of, 338
remedies for, 340
Logic of high potencies, 386
Logical instruments necessary, I. 48
Ludwig, experiments by deprivation
of food, I. 92
MAGNUS experiments, I. 47
Magnesia carb., nutrition remedy,
II. 282
phos., II. 282
sulph. operates according to
withdrawal of water, I. 183
(carb?) in fluor albus, II 355
Magnetism in treatment of disease,
I. 276
v. Gardos on, 278
Measles, treatment of, 324
transition of, to scarlatina, 328
Mediate and immediate action dis-
tinguished, 35
Meissner's discoveries, 182
Membrane, influence of, 59
Menstruation, Cupr. effect on, 198
Puls., id
Mental and sexual systems, relations
of, II. 156
Mercury produces symptoms like
syphilis, I. 178, 220, 221
symptoms of, last for years, I.
209; II. 176
salts of, diabetes after use of, 208
sequelæ in lung diseases after
use of, 253
sycosis resists action of, 258
why fails in traditional doses, 258
Sulphur antidotes, 347
against syphilis, II. 347
Metals, to be given attenuated, 64
Metastasis an hypothesis, 252
Michaelis on blenorrheic poison,
235
Microscope, test of carbo-nitrogen
constitutions, 278
Mill, on art of observation, I. 130
on Names, 137
on Newton, il. 95
Molecular bodies, action and counter-
action of, I. 106
Molecular and vital forces, I. 39
motions, 260
changes of mutual, id
Moon, influence of, on intestinal
worms, I. 167
Morbus mac., Latz on, II. 303
Morgagni on nodules, in glands, II.
Motion, equivalence of, I. 215
Motions, quality of, not to be weighed
162
diosmotic, laws of, 193
accelerated by drugs, 212
phoronomic, 199
two-fold (gymnastic), 273
Movement cure, 273
Mumps, Latz on treatment of, II. 294
Muscular fibre, de-oxidation of, I. 48
Mushroom, cause of disease, II, 201
Mühry's zymotic disease, 269
NARCOTICs, I. 212
Nasse, on colorless blood-corpuscles,
II. 246
Natr. carb. in cardialgia, I. 143
in acidity of intestinal canal, 302
Natr. nitr. increases excretion of
urea. I. 166
series of diseases, 285
Natr. sulph., effects of. II. 375
and Thuja in locomotor-ataxy,
373
Nature, law of, I. 32
more than three, 37
fundamental laws of, 41
and art compared, 85
cure by, nonsense, 86
law of, practical, II. 312
Necessity, conditional and uncondi-
tional, I. 31
Nerves, Herrmann on, I. S6
disease of, Latz on, II. 301
Nervous fever, Latz on, II. 304
Nervous system not point of depar-
ture of all diseases, II. 341
Nosophthorie, Stamm's, II. 347
Newmann's Dr., movement cure, I.
273
Nutrimentum dat salutem, II. 126
Newton's induction, I. 141
Nicotiana in podagra, II. 311
Niemeyer's Lehrbuch, 350
on gonorrhoea, id.
Nitric acid, change of, on evapora-
tion, I. 261
for felons, II. 116
Normal proportion, I. 54
Nourishment comes in all cases from
without, 67
Nutrition and function, S3
remedies, 187, II. 282
changes of, from functional rem-
dies, I. 207
remedies, object of, II. 100
cure by, 136
laws of, 225
Nutritive substance, changes of in
organism, I. 190
422
INDEX.
Nux. vom. water, I. 307
not to be given at night, II. 118
effect of. 189
in neuralgia, id
in hooping cough, id
in pain in stomach, 190
prolapsus recti, 191
diarrhoea, 191
indications for, 219
when to be given high, when
low, 283
and Ipecac, effect of, 353
in altern. in neural., 384
uterine tumor, 364
- seq. of pneu., 365
OBSERVATION, art of, I. 25-6, 138
Liebig on, 130
Mill on, id
Omne vivum, etc., false, 67
Omnis cellula, etc., false, 67
Onanism, Platina for, II. 156
Op. in treating fever, I. 124
and Stramon compared, 212
Opposite and contrary distinguished,
II. 393
Organic cell not simple, 1II
ferments, 345
Organism, the entire, the objective
point of Therapy, I. 104
the, the most sensitive reagent,
65, 340
Origin of disease, hereditary, 100
Oscillating rhythm, what? 332
Oscillation, proportional, 215
law of importance, 137
Ossification of cartilage cause of
tuberculosis, 275
Osteo-malacia, case of, 209
Oxidation, Traube's exper's, 45
of blood insufficient, Arg. nitr
in, II. 337
and reduc., I. 45, 157, 229, 243
Oxygen found in all parts of body,
1. 182
Oxygenoid constitution, II. 266, 343
remedies for, 282
soil for chancre, 349
Ozone, when and how appears in
organism, I. 182
absorbed by Copper, 329
-water in cholera, II. 283
Ozonization of blood, lack of, cause
of disease, 250
PALLIATION, Wunderlich on, I. 154
Palliatives, what and when to be
used, II. 10I
Pancreas, action of, I. 67
Schiff's experiments with, 68
Paralysis, neuropathic and myopath-
ic, case of, I. 276
Paralysis, Arn. in, II. 213
of diaphragm, II. 328
Parties in medicine, proof of igno-
rance, I. 293
Passion and action, I. S3
Pasteur's experiments, I. 46
Pater Scheiner, I. 27
Pathology, the future not cellular but
molecular, I. 101
no help to choice of remedy, 107
nor physiology, id
never will lead to Therapeu-
tics, 264
Bruckner on. 314
Patient, examination of, II. 313
Pedant's antennæ, 381
Pepsin, to be used crude, 102
Perception and deduction, sources of
our knowledge, I. 28
reasons of, 69
Periodicity, a prevailing phenome-
non, I. 57
Periostitis, chronic case of, II. 366
Peters on heroic treatment, 406
Petechial typhus, cause of, distin-
guished from that of ileo-, I. 74
Phosphate of lime in hydroceph.
chron., I. 157, 192
experiences change in organism,
192
Phosphate of potash, II. 46, 8
Phoronomy, what? I. 193, 7
Phosphoric acid, Reil's expts., I. 144
duration of action, 188
in ileo-typhus, II. 46
Phosphorus, Allopathic range of,
I. 256
effect of, on cough, II. 335
effect of different atten., 388
Phthisis laryngea and trachealis
curable under proper treat., 249
pulmonum. Chlorotics inclined
to, 222
ulcerosa arises from chronic ca-
tarrh, 254
Physics confirms Hom., 400
Physician should be no partisan. 181
Physiol. school can not discriminate.
artificial from spontaneous dis-
eases, I. 220
characteristic traits of, 264
hollow, II. 398
Physiology never leads to Therapeu-
tics, I. 264
Pidoux on drug effects, II. 217
Platina in onanism, 156
Plumbum, sugar in urine after use
of, 208
Pneumonia, Wunderlich on, I. 224
et seq.,
causes of, 225
anatomical change, id
INDEX.
423
Pneumonia, deviation in quality, 227
seat of, 228
effect on other parts of respira-
tory organs, 230
diagnosis of, 231
irregular types, 234
exudations in, various, 235
ages, in different, 236
complications of. 237
with constitutional disorders, 239
chronic, 240
death from, 241
terminations of, 240
Author's strictures on. 241
Allopathic remedies in, 251
water treatment in, bad effects
of, 266
Kissel on, 295
curable by bleeding and Salt-
petre, 295
by Iron, 301, 318
Copper, 305, 31S
symptoms of, 316
Rademacher's three forms of, 321
sycotic, II. 253
a reduction process, 254
Podagra, case of, II. 311
Poison, what is? I. 132
an idea of relations, I. 134
no absolute, II. 348
Potencies, high, effect of must come
from material cause, I. 202
rejecters of, Newton's letter for
II. 95
Poisons reproduce themselves, II.
345
Potencies, high, II. 383
Potencies, rules for different, II 387
Poverty. Allopathic confession of
mental, II. 403
Powers not always depend upon
quantity, II 387
Polli's experiments, I. 180
Poor, on tetters, I. 140
Primary effects, I. 195
Prejudice hinders reception of truth,
I. 29
Processes, functional and nutritive,
I. 66
specific in Therapeutics, 327
of retention, II. 279
Prognosis, a knowledge of, acquired
by reasoning, I. 125
Allopathy has no law of, I. 161
not justified by one symp.. II. 165
arises from comparison between
drug-form and disease-form, 209
microscope an aid in, II. 278
Allopathic examination of pa-
tient not sufficient for, 314
complete anamnesis needed for,
279
Prolapsus of rectum, Nux. in, 191
Pröll, expts. with Gastein springs, 70
Proportion, normal, I. 54
mean, id
Zeising on laws of, 91
Proving of drugs, necessity of, for
practice, II. 134
Psora, what? 227
symptoms, 230
theory of, 272
Psychology,
pathy, 156
relation to Homœo-
Pulsatilla in Menstruation, I. 198, II.
156
in lieu of chloroform, II. 145
and Iron in chlorosis, 215
Putrefaction, Traube on, I. 45
Pus not in leucemic sores, II. 256
formation of, not necessary for
cicatrization, I 335
Pulmonary artery, plug in, II. 245-6
Pyæmia, treatment of, I. 334
case of, 335
id., II. 245
Pyelitis, calculous, 323
arg, nitr. in, 323
QUALITY determines relation of a
substance to organism, I. ISS
localizes the quantity of a drug,
191
admits of no change, 203, 217
of cause, no rule for dose, 215
lines of directions of, influence
of, 217
determines properties, II. 392
Quantity determines relations, II. 392
Quantities never embarrass physiol.
school. I. 204
limits of, in drugs, 205
different effects of different. 217
changed, implies changed qual-
ity as regards organism, 223
minute, effects of, II. 183
Quicksilver, inunction with, I. 210
Quinine no specific, I. 159
excreted by urine, 166, 217, II. 196
in pulmonary hæmorrhage, II.
362
in typhus, II. 160
RADEMACHER school, I. 281
epidemic character, 284
his Therapy empiric, 290
spleen remedies, II. 203
exceptions, 201
Schuchardt on, 203
on gland remedies, 254-5
Rationalists and empirics compared,
I. 153
Rationes cognoscendi, I. 33, 69, 136;
II. 398
424
INDEX.
Rationes essendi, I. 69, 136, 341; II.
398
Reagent, the organism the most sen-
sitive, I. 65; 330
Rectum, prolapsus of, II. 191
Reduction and oxidation, I. 45
Reduction, processes of, cause of
heat, I. 117
organism connected with pro-
cesses of, I. 50
processes. fat produced by, I. 88
increase of-heat arises from, I.
117
processes, heat developed during,
I. 262
influence of water cure on,
I. 272
of Acon. and Bell. on, II.
106
chronic diseases in hydro-
genoid constitutions are,
II. 266
increased by certain poisons,
II. 345
when changed into oxida-
tion processes and v. v. re-
quire low attenuations, II.
388
remedy. Iron a powerful, I. 331
Regulators, three material, I. 87
Reil's, experiments with Hom., Ï. 146
Relaxation and tension, I. 53
Remedies, nutritive and functional,
I. 187
permitting, to expend action, 196
functional, produce change of
nutrition, 207
Remedy, the choice of not to be
learned from Pathology or Physi-
ology, I. 107
indication for, not to be drawn
from products of disease, I. 108
must be proven on healthy, as
regards quantity, quality, rela-
tion and modality,146
Allopathic, why become obso-
lete, 169
modes of operation of, 180
localization of, 185
Resistances, three kinds of, I. 47
Rest, what, 52
of nerves, Hermann on, 86
Reuter's series of diseases, II. 228
Rectum, prolapsus of, 195
Review, distinguished from criticism,
ISI
Rheumatism, syphilitic, 12
Benz. ac. in, 128. 135
Allop. treatment of, 130
Rademacher's do.. 130
articular, case of, 154, 214
Rhus in, 214
Rhubarb, composition of, I. 203
its mode of action, 205
Rhus., in rheumatism, II. 214
Rhythmic oscillation. I. 332
Respiratory organs, diseases of, Latz
on, II. 291
Ricord's dogmatism, 234
recantation, id
confession, 347
Reproduction of typhus ferment, 46
morbid poisons, 344
Respire. All organs ot body, I. 68
Retention processes. In carbo-nitro-
genoid constitutions chronic dis-
eases are, II. 279
Rachitis, Virchow on, I. 82
token of sycosis. II. 252
Romberg's symptoms of locomotor-
ataxy, 373
SALT (table) and spring water, exper-
iments with, 122
in urine, 163
Saltpetre in pneumonia, I. 295
Scarlatina, Ac. and Bell. in, 328
Scheiner, Pater, 27
Scherer on Schönbein, II. 91
Schiff, expts. on pancreas, I. 68
Schmidt, on nutritious substances in
organism, I. 63
Schmidtmann on pneumonia, I. 295
Schönbein on Turpentine, 46
on Iron in blood-cells, II. 91
Schönlein on one-sided affections, 112
Schopenhauer on fallacies, I. 280
on fitness for judging, II. 400
on public opinion, 390
how and where to be sought, II. Schram's investigations, I. 74
5,6
one seldom cures a disease, 182
a single, when justified, 105
one not always sufficient, 374
Remedies, alternate, 105
external, when and how to be
used, 115
manner of using, 99
objects of, 100
same often needed for a long
time, 288
alternation of, 374
Schreiber's case of leucæmia, II. 240
Schuchardt on Rademacher, 203
Science, aim of, I. 25
Scrofula, Sulph. in, II. 182
Latz on, 304
Scurvy, Latz on, 303
Seclusion, literary Allopathic, 207
Secondary effects, I. 195
Seegen's expts. with Glauber's salts,
II. 282
Semen, experiments with, I. 65
Sepia in scanty menses, II. 156
INDEX.
425
Serpent catchers, immunity of, I. 169
Sexual and mental systems, relations
of, II. 156
process, Si
Shaking increases efficacy, 72
Signatures, doctrine of, I. 169
Similarity, the law of, II. 39
Silica, quantity of. in bones, II. 137
in hay, II. 366
Simple remedies for complicated dis-
eases, I. 325
Skeptical opinions unfruitful, I. 71
Skepticism of physiol. med., I. 336
the sign of decay, 337
Skin diseases, Latz on, II. 300
Solution, what is a? II. 62
Specifics, I. 326-7
Specific processes in Therapy, I. 327
Specification, laws of, I. 61, 159
Spectrum analysis shows matter in
Hom. attenuations, II. 56
of less importance than high
potencies, 390
Spinal marrow, Latz on diseases of,
290
Spleen enlarged, with tetter, I. 140
swelling of, II. 241-2, 355
Stamm's Nosophthorie, 347
States morbid, three, I. 285
Statistics. Homeopathic and Allo-
pathic compared, II. 406
Sterility, Carb-nitrogen gas causes,
183
Stomach, not point of application of
remedy, 138
pains in, Nux for, 191
diseases of, Latz on, 294
Stramonium and Opium compared,
I. 212
Streinitz on magnet, 276
Subjectivity characteristic of physiol.
medicine, 26
hinders intellectual superiority,
27
Sub-phosphates, range of, II. 176
Substances when passive, I. 36
nutritious in organism, Schmidt
on, I. 63
Sulphur, its effect in various doses,
I. 197, II. 108
antidote of Merc., 34
change in crystallizing, I. 261
in scrofula, II. 182
prevents hydrocephalus, 267
type of antipsorics, 274
Sunstroke, treatment of, I. 170
Sycosis, what? II. 227
and psora, complications of, 343
and syphilis, 233
symptoms of 233
Autenreith on, 247
not yield to Merc., 254
Sycotic, various diseases, 249
Symptom, a single, value of, 144
Symptoms needful guides, I. 129
Synthesis and analysis, use of, 224
in diagnosis, 103
Synthetical comparison, 136
Synthetizers and analyzers, 72
effects of, II. 347
Syphilis and Hydrargyrosis, I. 221 -2
and Merc. have same specific di-
rection, id
Kal. bi. in, 257
Benz. ac., II. II
what, 227
symptoms of, 233
Latz on, 304
Syphilitic poison, what, II. 348
not always hereditary, id.
Syphilization, 183
System nervous, not point of depart-
ure of all diseases, 341
Systems, therapeutic, I. 223
TEETH, proportions of, I. 56
Temperature in typhus, II. 159
Tension and relaxation, alternate,
I. 53
Tertian, case of. II. 194
Tetters, with enlarged spleen, I. 140
Testes, diseases of, Latz on, 298
Tessier in St. Margaret's, 407
effort to expel him, 408
reply of administration, id.
Therapeutics, study of, not need vital
force, 44
fundamental principles in, II. 131
objective point of the whole or-
ganism, I. 104, II. 223
future, to be ætiological, I. 104
Kissel on, id
rational, Virchow on, 106
and chemistry compared, I. 163
can make progress only in its
own domain, 211
and natural sciences, mutual
complements, 218
systems ol, 223
Rademacher's and Allop. com-
pared, 293
Thuja in abscess, I. 336
antisycotic remedy, II. 258
injurious in syphilis, 349
nutrition-remedy, 282
range of, 374 et seq.
and Natr. sulph. in locomotor
ataxy. 373
Tissue, connective, I. 58
Tongue, suitable for absorption of
remedy. II. 137
Torricelli's tube, I. 32
Traube, on ferment, 45
Treatment, Therapeutic modesof, 153
426
INDEX.
Truth, one, II. 312
Tube, Torricelli's, I. 32
Tuberculosis, cause and remedy, II.
169
a cause of, I. 275
Tumors, Virchow on. I. 64
abdominal, II. 363
Typhus, cause of, I. 74
temperature in, II. 159
abdominal, case of, 146
Allopathic treatment, 158
recurrens, Arg. nitr. in, 288
Copper in, id
meat in, id
Fischer on, id
ULCERATIONS, sycotic, II. 250
Urea and Chloride of sodium, 163
method of determining, 166
Urine, coloring matter of, how sepa-
rated, I. 258
examination of, II. 163
incontinence of, 338
Urodialysis, Benz. ac. in, II. 35-6
Uterine hæmorrhage, II. 154
fibroid, II. 363
VALENTIN, on minute quantities, I.
64
on animal magnetism, 277
on contagions, II. 183
Virchow on cell, I. 38, 42, 65
on cellulose, 62
on health, 40
on disease, 72
on morbid processes, 73
on character of disease, 77
types of disease, id
on dyscrasia, 78
on aberration, 79
on enchondroma, 82
his regulating contrivances, 86
his catalysis, 99
on rational Therapy, 106
on fever, 114
on inflammation, 119
Virchow on treatment of fever, 124
requires faith rather than know
ledge, II. 7
on biology, 224
on leucæmia, 230
on white blood, 245
accuses himself of incongruity,
II. 261
Vis inertiæ, I. 40, 52
Vis med. nat., 198
Viscosity of blood, sign of leucemia,
II. 246
Vital and molecular forces, I. 39
denied, 44
not to be inferred from physiol.,
I. 60
Vogel on gout and heart disease,
II. 33
Vomiting and erysipelas, 190
WATER, a regulator, I. 87
Water cure, bad in pneumonia, I.
266
effect of, in diff. quantities, 268
temperature of, effect of, 267
warm, in gout, 269
in sunstroke, 169
Wagner on chemistry, II. 390
White blood, Virchow on, 245
Wine in diabetes, 208
Wunderlich on objective point of
Therapy, I. 104, II. 223
and Kissel's Therapy compared,
105
indications, 126
experiments in exanthematic ty-
phus, 150
on various modes of treatment,
153
history of medicine reviewed, II.
401
ZEISING'S proportions, I. 97
on normal proportion, 54
measurements, 56
Zeno's arrow, II. 68
!
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Geneva.
Fair st., Kingston, Ulster Co.
435
FRED'K W. INGALLS, M.D.,
J. Gregg BurCHARD, M.D.,
W. D. L. MONTANYE, M.D.,
L. SHAFER, M.D.,
T. C. FANNING, M.D.,
GEO. MERRITT,
F. L. VINCENT, M.D.,
M. M. GARDINER, M.D.,
L. B. WELLS, M.D.,
C. P. GRAVES, M.D.,
Kingston, Ulster Co.
Peekskill.
Rondout.
Tarrytown.
66
Troy.
37 Columbia st., Utica.
225 Genesee st.,
Westfield.
NEW YORK CITY.
TIMOTHY F. ALLEN, M.D.,
WM. J. BAUER, M.D.,
N. C. BARNEY
BOERICKE & TAFEL, (60 copies),
R. K. Cooke,
DAVID DOWS (6 copies),
CARROLL DUNHAM, M.D., (2 copies),
ED. W. DUNHAM,
WARREN FREEMAN, M.D.,
ALFRED K. HILLS, M.D.,
PETER L. HOE (3 copies),
R. M. HOE (2 copies),
FRED. JACOBSON,
W. B. JESSUP,
JOHN J. MITCHELL, M.D.,
CHAS. NORD hoff,
HY. D. PAINE, M.D.,
O. H. PERRY,
HY. M. SMITH, M.D.,
J. E. WILLIAMS,
SAMUEL SWAN, M.D.,
EDWIN WEST, M.D.,
•
3 East Twenty-third st.
234 Fourth av.
5 Wall st.
145 Grand st.
66 Exchange Place.
20 South st.
68 East Twelfth st.
13 William st.
45 West Twenty-fourth st.
109 East Tenth st.
31 Gold st.
40 Leonard st.
191 Madison av.
965 Second av.
Evening Post.
229 Fifth av.
31 Burling Slip.
107 Fourth av.
IIS Broadway.
13 West Thirty-eighth st.
42 West Washington Place.
OHIO.
A. A. BENNETT,
G. W. BIGLER, M.D.,
J. A. CLOUD, M.D.,
W. C. LEECH, M.D., .
J. H. PULTE, M.D.,
305 Race st.,
708 West Seventh st.,
Cor. Walnut and Seventh sts,
•
Cincinnati.
436
JOHN S. TAYLOR,
R. MARTIN TOOKER, M.D.,
E. B. THOMAS, M.D., .
L. D. CORTRIGHT,
26 West Third st., Cincinnati.
59 East Fifth st.,
119 West Ninth st.,
66
Hahn. Life Ins. Co., Cleveland.
H. M. CHAPIN, Pres't Hahn. Life Ins. Co.,
HAHN. LIFE INS. Co.,
C. C. WHITE, M.D.,
A. SHEPHERD, M.D.,
66
· 47 East State st.,
Columbus.
Sharon av.,
Glendale.
R. B. WOODWARD, M.D.,
B. F. LUKENS,
H. RING, M.D.,
•
Somerset.
Sidney.
Urbana.
PENNSYLVANIA.
J. WESLEY ALLEN, M.D.,
J. H. P. FROST, M.D.,
BENJ. BECKER, M.D.,.
H. R. FRETTERHOF, M D.,
C. J. WENDT, M.D.,
E. A FARRINGTON, M.D.,
H N. GUERNSEY, M.D.,
S JONES GARBER,
•
H. J. LOMBARD, M D., .
S. PANCOAST,
THOS. P SARGENT,
JOHN SELLERS,
WILLIAM SELLERS,
E TIETZE, MD,
W. WILLIAMSON, M.D.,
Drs. COTE & Rousseau,
W. R. CHILDS, M.D.,
Emma st., Altoona.
Main st., Bethlehem.
Cressona.
Newville.
New Brighton.
1616 Mt. Vernon st., Philadelphia.
1423 Chestnut st.,
1329 Spring Garden st,
1211 Spruce st.,
917 Arch st.,
3205 Baring st.,
3301 Arch st.,
IS19 Vine st.,
636 N. 23rd st,
29 N. 11th st,
66
66
66
66
66
66
Penn st., Pittsburgh.
66
J. H. MCCLELLAND, M.D.,
WALTER F. EDMONDSON, M.D.,
316 Penn st.,
332 Penn st.,
66
B. R. PRATT, M.D.,
Reading.
S. R. RITTENHOUSE, M.D.,
66
E. H. SPOONER, M.D.,
CHAS A. STEVENS, M.D.,
STEPHEN P. DARLINGTON,
66
Franklin av., Scranton.
West Chester.
437
TENNESSEE.
Mrs. L. A. Ballard,
HENRY SHEFFIELD, M.D.,
TEXAS.
W. M. MERCER, M.D.,
P. P. CLUFF, M.D.,
Nashville.
21 South Vine st.,
Galveston.
Harrisburg.
VERMONT.
S. H. COLBURN, M.D.,
Northfield.
WISCONSIN.
ANGELL, M.D.,
E. WILLARD CLARK, M.D.,
M. F. PAGE, M.D.,
M. D. COE, M.D.,
Drs. W. W. & D. W. DAY,.
CHAS. C. OLMSTEAD, M.D.,
HENRY PEARCE, M.D.,
TABER, M.D.,
URIEL FARMIN, M.D,
DWIGHT SILLIMAN, M.D.,
J. C. BURBANK, M.D.,
H. P. GATCHELL, MD,
L. E. OBER, M.D.,
C. L. HART, M.D.,
P. MOOR,
D. K. MABIE,
J. BULL, M.D.,
GILBERT SHEPARD, M.D.,
College st., Appleton.
66
Pleasant st., Beloit.
Barstow st., Eau Claire.
Division st., Fond du Lac.
Green Bay.
Hevinsville.
Hingham, Sheboygan Co.
Hudson.
River st., Janesville.
Kenosha.
La Crosse.
Madison.
Neenah.
Onion River.
Rio, Columbia Co.
Trempeleau.
FOREIGN.
DOMINION OF CANADA.
JOSEPH JARVIS, M.D.,
C. T. CAMPBELL, M.D., .
R. W. BEHAN,
P. Bender, M.D.,
T. H. DUNN,
Hon. G. IRVINE, M.D., Solicitor-General
Kingston.
Clarence st., London.
7 Fabrique st., Quebec.
66
Peter st.,
66
2
438
RACEY, M.D.,
G. WOOD,
ROBERT BALDWIN,
Hon. M. C. CAMERON,
F. W. GRANT,
•
JOHN HALL, M.D,
JNO. TURNER,
J. W. G. WHITNEY,
ITALY.
B. DADIA, M.D.,
S. COMPSTON, (20 copies)
Dr. A. J. Powell,
E. H. RUDDOCK, M.D,
W. HUMFREYS,
Dr. THOMAS HAYLE,
Dr. LAWDER, .
J. A. RAY,
ENGLAND.
IRELAND.
Quebec.
66
16 Carlton st., Toronto.
(6
146 Duke st.,
7 Sultan st.,
33 Richmond st.,
66
66
66
3 Providenza st., Turin..
•
London.
66
66
Hereford.
Rochdale.
Ryde.
Dublin..
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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