Ķ ¿¿. ſaeaeae tº > ****, r* -sº-sº-vºz-ty.” “.….,v. - E--→ - - - ******- º -**T*- sºs §ºsiºsº § @ - ś šº Sºº3. Sºº--> HoWIgor ATHIc PHARMACY, No. 104 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. . . . ; ... DR. J. TANNER, }IMPORTER of GERMAN AND ENGLISH HomoeoPATHIc * WoRKs, &c. . . . . . . !, Any or all of the Homoeopathic Medicines may be & had by applying at the Pharmacy; also, Medicine º ) Chests of all sizes, from 10 to 1000 vials; Pure Spi. ) rits of Wine; Sugar of Milk; Pellets; Vials of any : Size ; Labels; Pocket Cases of Medicines; Pearl Žº Knives and Dips. Cases made to order. Cases and isingle vials refilled, &c.—Wholesale and Retail. & @ Q 4. § āşşāś ** SSS Sºº §: - *=Sã ğ. §§§ Sº (Q. §3: 2. w º § w º Ö *NINITITITITITE tº ſº dº ſº. Nº º tº º Cº. - Sºlutiliſt|T 3\ºassº sº #, & - º t F *. F- º *. £ : : H ! y ! } H (, 15.53 j) C. 3, The PATHoGENETIC EFFECTs of some of the principal HoMOEoPATHIC REMEDIES, translated from the German ; with INTRODUCTORY AND PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONs, by HARRIs DUNSFORD, M. D. 8vo. Price 9s. &c. &. , gº -4 * a 2- - e. - %. 44%. ..… º. is Z$4/— t THE P R A C T I C A L A D W A N T A G E S OF HOM OEO PATHY, ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS CASES : Pºtitated by Hermíššion TO HER MAJESTY QUEEN ADELAIDE; BY HARRIS DUNSFORD, M.D., Author of “Pathogenetic Effects of Homoeopathic Remedies; ” One of the Physicians to the WEST LONDON Hom OEoPATHIC DISPENSARY ; Honorary Member of the “Société Vaudoise des Sciences Médicales; ” etc., etc. “C'est une chose trop eactraordinaire, s'écrie-t-on, powr €tre croyable; on oublie que l'extraordinaire n'est souvent que l'incommu.” LONDON : H. BAILLIERE, 219, REGENT STREET. MDCCCXLI. METCALFE, PRINTER, GROCElts' HALL COURT, POULTRY, LONDON, %r * wº- *. 3s‘s. i *: lº,§ &ºº ºf TO HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY QUEEN ADELAIDE. MADAM, THE graciously accorded permission to dedicate this work to your Majesty encourages me to hope for it a reception which,--but for the principles it advocates, it could not pretend to merit. Your Majesty affords a noble example in thus rising above long established prejudice, and generously giving, to a humble effort for the promotion of a long rejected truth, the powerful iv. sanction of your revered and illustrious name. Under such auspices, the system of Hahnemann can no longer fail to obtain that candid investi- gation which is all that its disciples ask for it. With a deep sense of the gratitude I owe to your Majesty, I have the honor to be, MADAM, Your Majesty's Most devoted and obedient humble Servant, HARRIS DUNSFORD. P. R. E. F. A. C. E. SINCE the period at which I commenced the practice of Homoeopathy in London, in the year 1833, the change which has taken place in public opinion, upon this subject, is most en- couraging: at that time opposition assailed us at every step, and the system was ridiculed by nearly all who spoke of it; but now, either assent or silence with regard to the truth of Homoeopathy is becoming very general. The public, unacquainted with theories in medi- cine, naturally look only to results; if, then, they perceive that Homoeopathic practice is more commonly successful than that of the * vi old method, it may be presumed they will ultimately adopt it. n I have, in the following pages, given a brief outline of my own opinions and practice; and the evidence I have adduced will, I hope, in the estimation of my readers, justify the earnest- mess with which I have maintained the claims of Homoeopathy. I have at least the satisfaction of having conscientiously performed my duty in fairly laying before the public the leading principles of the system, and some of the prac- tical advantages derived from its adoption. H. D. 28, Somerset Street, Portman Square, March 18th, 1841. vii CONTENTS OF PART I. Introductory Remarks - - - * - sº The Homoeopathic Principle gº - - Cures accidentally performed on this principle º Minuteness of Doses º ge --> - Dr. Muret's Experiments - - º ſº Preparation of Homoeopathic Remedies - - Answers to Objections - - º tºº Modus operandi of Medicines sº tº- - Remuneration of General Practitioners sº -> Homoeopathic Remedies applicable to the state of the zmind * - º - - On the Treatment of Diseases incident to Females tºº The THEORY of CHRONIC DISEASEs - - Disease often purely the product of Medicine adminis- tered in large doses - - gº gº The “Wasserkur” corroborative of Hahnemann's Theory of Chronic Disease - tº -- - The Treatment of Children by Antipsorie Medicines - 18 2I 23 25 26 Vaccination º gº sº - - 29 31 viii Scrofula and Gout iºs - - * Belladonna in Scarlet Fever - * * - Dangerous Effects of Purgative Medicines * Objections to BLooDLETTING - * - Power of Homoeopathy to arrest Disease Counter Irritation - tºº sº -> - Uncertainty of Medicinal Combinations - tº Irritation and Inflammation - gº wº - Answer to the late Professor Müller’s Attack on Homoe- opathy - gºe - - sº Imagination not influential in the Treatment of Animals Homoeopathy compared with the old Practice - - Confidence of Patients - - - * Temporary Benefit of Narcotics gº - - ABUSE OF APERIENTS - - - me CHRONIC ConstipATION - tº - - DYSPEPSIA * * - gº tº Flatulence - - * º - - Disadvantages of Carminatives - - º Dangers of Tight lacing - º e- * Importance of Exercise - - - gº Remedy to correspond with the totality of Symptoms Dangers of the employment of Mercury - - Sympathies of the Stomach - - º Success of Homoeopathy improperly attributed to DIET alome - - - ** - - PAGE 31 32 33 34 36 39 40 41 43 46 49 50 51 52 53 60 62 63 64 67 68 68 7 5 ix PAGE Injurious effects of Condiments, &c. - *- 77 Eating fast a frequent cause of Indigestion - - 79 Dr. Beaumont’s Experiments upon the subject of Digestion - º º - ap 82 Homoeopathic Treatment of Disease - gº - 89 MATERIA MEDICA PURA am - - 90 Regulation of Doses - asº sº sº - 91 Delineation of Cases - º - º 92 Homoeopathy injured by the indiscriminate employment of remedies º - * * - - 95 SAMUEL HAHNEMANN and JoHN HUNTER - 99 CONTENTS OF PART II. Accidents * Acne gº *g Amenorrhoea - Anthrax - ſº Apoplexy, serous Ascites - tº Asthma tº Bones, Diseases of Bronchitis, chronic Burns ſº *- Cancer ºg Chlorosis Eº Contusion gº Constipation & Cutaneous Diseases Croup = Croup, spasmodic Deafness, nervous Debility, nervous xi Diarrhoea, chronic Dysmemorrhoea - Dyspepsia - Dysuria - *E* Earache º Enteritis, chronic Epilepsy º- Epistaxis - wºg Eruptions, anomalous Eye affections - Falls - * Fever, intermittent Flatulency of Infants Gastritis, chronic - Gastrodynia - Glandular affections Gout - * Headache &E Head, moises in Hoarseness wº Hydrocephalus, acute Hypochondriasis - Hysteria tº: Miscarriage gº Neuralgia * Palpitation gº * xii PAGE Paralysis - - sº - - - 1 19 Peritomitis &= a- º - * 163 Phthisis - * Rºe - - - 142 Pleurisy - * - -- * sºs 140 Quimsy - gº * wº- *- - 125 Rheumatism º -- - - tº- 173 Sciatica - * tº sº - - 183 Sciatica, chronic - - - - º 203 Sea Salt º - tº- * - - 201 Spasm of the Bowels * - º sº 160 Sprain - º * - - - 214 Tic Douloureux - ºr º º * I21 Throat, ulcerated *- * . º - - 127 Tinea capitis º - - tº sº 187 Toothache - º tº tº- wº- - 106 Tracheitis * wº- º - sº 130 Tumours, abdominal - tº ºf tº i- - 167 Ulcer, sinuous - - 4- º tºº. 199 ERRATUM. Page 140, line 10, for years read days. THE P R A CT I C A L A D VA N TA G E S OF HOMOEOPATHY. PART I. THE homoeopathic system has been so often misrepresented,—and medical men have without reflection, or due examination, so frequently given opinions unfavorable to homoeopathy, - that it is hoped these few pages, written with a view to correct misrepresentation, to remove pre- judice, and to induce an impartial investigation of the system, will not prove altogether unsuc- cessful. The progress homoeopathy has made within the last few years is such, as to justify the ex- pectation that it will gradually obtain the confi- B 2 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES dence of the public, and ultimately be adopted as a safe and effective substitute for the uncer- tain and often very injurious treatment of the ALLoPATHIc PRActice ; in which it is admitted by a justly celebrated physician and learned writer, the late Dr. Gregory, of Edinburgh, that the greatest danger may often arise from the improper or untimely use of remedies :—“gra- vissimum saepe oriri posse periculum ab inepto aut intempestivo remediorum usu.” Consp. Med. Many universities of the highest reputation have appointed professors of homoeopathy, under the sanction of their respective governments:— and homoeopathy itself, as compared with the old practice, already possesses the greater num- ber of efficient remedies, and is daily adding to its resources many new and important disco- veries, confirmed by the results of actual experi- ments upon the healthy subject. - The principle upon which homoeopathy is based,—viz., that medicines which in a healthy person produce symptoms similar to those of particular diseases, are specifics for those dis- OF HOMOEOPATHY. 3 eases, (“similia similibus curantur,”)—must, by every unprejudiced mind, be admitted to be a rational one; for to this principle the suc- cess of many popular remedies is justly to be attributed, and it is repeatedly acted upon in general practice, but evidently without a due appreciation of its importance. The treatment of frost bites, by friction with snow; and of burns, by the hot oil of turpentine, afford illus- trations of this principle : and if the treatment prove successful in particular cases, it is reason- able to suppose that it may admit a more ex- tensive, if not universal, application. The few specifics, which the old school pos- sesses, are now known to produce precisely the symptoms they cure. This fact has long been admitted in this and other countries, more espe- cially in reference to syphilitic affections; for many of the most experienced surgeons have often been unable to decide, whether the ap- pearances which presented themselves were ow- ing to mercury employed as a remedy, or were merely the effects of the disease itself: this de- B 2 4 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES plorable uncertainty is of every day occurrence, and must continue to be so, until physicians are fully convinced of the power which medicines possess to create diseases. Hahnemann has given, in his organon, nume- rous examples of cures effected, unintentionally, by physicians of the old school, on the homoeo- pathic principle ; amongst others, he mentions the fact that the “sweating sickness in England,” in 1485, was more fatal than the plague itself, carrying off, as stated by Willis, ninety-nine out of a hundred patients, until sudorific remedies were administered; after which, few persons died of the disease. Hahnemann cites a case of chronic diarrhoea which threatened the existence of the patient; and which was radically cured, after other means had been tried in vain, by a purgative. The case is published in the thirteenth volume of Hufe- land's Journal. The common practice of using rose water as a collyrium, derives its beneficial influence from the circumstance of rose leaves producing a spe- OF HOMOEOPATHY. 5 cies of inflammation of the eyes, as remarked by Echtius and Ledelius. Carrère observed, in 1786, that dulcamara cured the effects of the most violent chills; but the modus operandi remained undiscovered, un- til experiments on the healthy subject proved, that this plant produces sufferings resembling those of a severe cold. De Haen, Sarcone, and Pringle, admit that they cured pain in the side with squills, a medi- cine of a very acrid nature : the cures were ho- moeopathic, for Wagner, in 1737, had seen pleu. risy and inflammation of the lungs produced by Squills. The salutary effect of cinchona bark in the state of exhaustion, indigestion, and loss of appe- tite following fever, especially if treated by bleed- ing and purgatives, is founded only on the pro- perty of this bark to produce the most extraor- dinary loss of strength, and weakness of both body and mind, disorders of stomach, and loss of appetite; as Cleghorn, Stahl, Thomson, and many other physicians, have remarked. 6 T'RACTICAL ADVANTAGES Ipecacuanha could not be so valuable in the treatment of spasmodic dyspnoea, if, as observed by Akenside, Meyer, and Stoll, it did not pro- duce dyspnoea, more especially spasmodic dysp- Il Oea. Crichton, Collin, and Stoll, described symp- toms which were observed in patients when taking Arnica montana; and they will be found to be precisely those produced by severe shocks and contusions, for which armica is truly specific. Withering relates a case, in the Edinburgh Medical Commentaries, of violent spasmodic con- striction of the throat, conquered only by hyo- scyamus, which has been observed by Hamilton, Sauvages, &c., to produce it. Asclepiades, cured a patient affected with in- flammation of the brain, with a small quantity of wine. Rademacher published, in Hufeland's Journal, a case of febrile delirium attended with stertorous breathing—a state similar to that succeeding great intoxication from wine— which was cured in one night by giving the patient wine. OF HOMOEOPATHY. 7 It is well known, that a strong infusion of tea occasions palpitation and anxiety in those not accustomed to it. Hence, a small quantity of this beverage is an excellent remedy for such symptoms, when they arise from any other ex- citing cause, as stated by Rau. Lethargy, which had lasted several days, Hufeland cured with opium, which could only be explained on homoeopathic principles. The baths of Toeplitz, as well as all other sul- phureous waters, produce frequently an eruption which resembles that to which woollen workers are subject. On this account, these baths, as well as sulphur itself, cure psoric eruptions. Beddoes states, that English physicians found nitric acid an excellent remedy in salivation and ulcers of the mouth arising from the employ- ment of mercury;—Scott, Blair, Aloyn, Luke, &c. have seen the same symptoms produced by baths containing this acid, as well as by its in- ternal employment. Why were Seelig, Hamilton, Hoffman, Rush, Bailey, and others, so successful in the treatment 8 PRACTICAL AIDVANTAGES of malignant sore throat by mercury simply because it excites sore throat, often of a very malignant nature. These instances might be multiplied to almost any extent, for it is difficult to take up any allo- pathic medical journal without meeting with numerous instances of cures, supposed by those relating them to be effected on the ordinary principles; when, in reality, to those acquainted with the effects of medicine on the healthy sub- ject, it is evident they took place because one of the remedies prescribed happened to be exactly homoeopathic to the symptoms. The system of homoeopathy has been publish- ed between forty and fifty years; for more than twenty of which it has been practised with al- most unparalleled success; it is entitled, therefore, to a cool and impartial examination; since no- thing can be more unjust than to disparage that which has not been scrupulously investigated. Medical men who practice upon the principles of the old school are indeed invited rigidly to scrutinize the system now advocated, and put it OF HOMOEOPATHY. 9 fairly to the test. This is all that we require from its opponents. It demands the strictest enquiry into its merits, as some compensation for the unsparing abuse which has so long and so illiberally been heaped upon it: a sound and impartial judgment will remove the barriers in- terposed by ignorance and prejudice. The minuteness of our doses is frequently ob- jected to by those who do not understand our principle of treatment, or the mode in which our medicines are prepared. Upon the principle “similia similibus curantur,” the efficacy of the remedy depends upon its “homoeopathicity;” that is, upon its producing, in a healthy person, symptoms corresponding to those of the disease in which it is employed; and, in this case, the medicine selected cannot be too cautiously, nor too sparingly administered. It should be clearly understood that if the remedy do not answer to, or correspond with, the disease to be treated; if it do not harmonize with the characteristic or curative symptoms, it will prove inefficient;- the misunderstanding of this position, is the 10 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES rock on which many have split, who imagine that they have fairly tried the system of homoeo- pathy; they have failed, because the remedy was not truly homoeopathic to the case. Notwithstanding the ridicule which has been thrown on the minuteness of our doses, they are far from powerless. By the process they un- dergo, the activity of our remedies is wonder- fully increased; and many of the most valuable of them are totally inert, until they have under- gone the trituration and succussion pointed out by Hahnemann. Dr. Peschier, editor of the Bibliothèque Ho- moeopathique, observes, that Professor d’Amador completely admitted this doctrine, and adds “et il a fait savamment remarquer, que le dynamisme, sur leguel s'appuie l'homoeopathie, est consen- suel à la doctrine du vitalisme, dēs long temps professée et enseignée par la Faculté de Mont- pellier.” Dr. Muret of Morges, wishing to determine the effect of trituration on a medicinal substance, made the following experiment. Having pro- OF HOMOEOPATHY. | 1 cured two rabbits of the same age and strength, he gave to one a grain of hydrochlorate of barytes which had been pounded and rubbed for an hour. The animal almost immediately fell down, was violently convulsed, and sunk into a mori- bund state. To the second, the same quantity was given without having been submitted to any manipulation, and the animal was very slightly affected by it, merely losing for a short time power over the hind legs, and that not until the medicine had been taken nearly half an hour. In order to prevent the possibility of error, the experiment was reversed and the effect was pre- sisely the same. The admission of the principle of homoeopa- thy, does not à priori lead to the adoption of mi- nute doses. Hahnemann himself, in fact, em- ployed almost the usual doses in his earliest experiments; and it was only on finding that such doses produced aggravation of the symp- toms, that he diminished the quantity. Pru- dence, therefore, dictated smaller doses: and experience unexpectedly proved that what are 12 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES termed infinitesimal doses produce the most speedy, certain, and lasting effects. Thus, by dividing and sub-dividing, with a view to dimi- nish their activity, Hahnemann, to his astonish- ment, found that the very means he employed to effect this, viz., trituration and succussion, increased, rather than diminished, the power of the medicine; and when this fact was discovered, he tried what effect trituration would have on what were considered to be inert substances; and by this happy experiment, has rendered immense service to mankind, since the latent powers of these agents have been fully deve- loped, and proved to be efficient for the cure of a vast number of chronic diseases, on which the old remedies exerted no beneficial influence whatever. A few years ago, scarely any one would have believed that chalk, charcoal, com- mon salt, and sulphur, which, in general prac- tice are administered in large doses, with little effect beyond that of exciting thirst or slight diarrhoea, could, by any mode of preparation, be brought to rank among the most active sub- OF HOMCEOPATHY . | 3 stances, capable of producing, and consequently of curing, the most frightful diseases. The extraordinary effects of remedies pre- pared in this manner, can, I think, only be ac- counted for, by supposing, that during the ope- ration, electricity, or some power analogous to it, becomes developed, and remains inseparably connected with the substance acted upon ; and this view of the case is supported by the opinion of Mons. Peltier, one of the most distinguished of the French chemists, who, in a paper read before the *Académie des Sciences" in Paris, declared, that, in his opinion, this was quite suf- ficient to account for the energy of the homœo- pathic globules.* * Notice d'une communication faite à l'Académie des Sci- ences à Paris, au mois de Janvier, 1839.—º M. Peltier, un de mos meilleurs Physiciens Expérimentateurs, a recueilli la quan- tité d'électricité, qui se dégage pendant l'oxidation (par l'eau) d'un milligramme de zinc. L'expérience a duré 25 mois, et pendant tout ce temps il a eu un courant d'électricité d'un degré d'intensité. Ce courant d'électricité dynamique, im- plique l'existence d'une quantité plus considérable d'électricité statique. Or c'est celle-ci qui se recueille, s'accumule et se garde sur les corps isolés, et comme elle se fixe en raison des 14 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES To those who object to homoeopathy that it employs the most active poisons, I scarcely feel disposed to reply. It is well known that our opponents prescribe the very same medicines in doses, if not destructive, at least injurious to the welfare of their patients; but our doses are so extremely attenuated, that no danger to the sys- tem can in the slightest degree be apprehended. There is, indeed, a very remarkable difference in our mode of preparing the remedies we employ, for by this means, as before mentioned, we ob- tain from substances usually considered inac- tive, some of our most efficacious medicines, and find that charcoal is more powerful than hen- bane, and chalk than arsenic. However desirable it might be to explain the cause of the activity of such minute doses, the fact that it actually exists has been proved, in so many instances, that in a practical point of surfaces, plus ces surfaces sont multipliées par la trituration, ou une désagrégation quelconque, plus la dose d'électricité est considérable. Cette manière d'agir de l'électricité statique rend parfaitement compte de l'énergie des globules homoeo- pathiques.” OF HOMOEO PATHY. 15 view, the explanation would be superfluous. The activity of our doses being once established, a great obstacle to the progress of homoeopathy is overcome, at least as it regards those who de- sire only the triumph of truth ; and it is quite unnecessary to address those who seek only the destruction of homoeopathy, true or false; and finding their attacks upon the inefficiency of the dose on the ground of its minuteness, completely rebutted, adopt a directly opposite course, and declare that our remedies, if not inert, are abso- lutely poisonous : such unworthy attempts to misrepresent and decry one of the greatest dis- coveries ever made in the treatment of disease, are characteristics of an ill-directed or perverted education, and happily are discountenanced by some of the most eminent physicians of the pre- sent day—the brightest ornaments of the estab- lished mode of practice. It is easy to deny the possibility of a cure be- ing produced by the doses employed in homoeo- pathy; it spares the necessity, at least for a time, of making experiments as to the truth of the as- | 6 PRACTICAL ADVANT AGES sertions of Hahnemann and his disciples: but as the system gradually extends and ramifies, the mere negation of its value will be treated with the neglect it merits. There are two modes, however, of explaining the manner in which homoeopathic remedies ef- fect a cure. The one is, that a medicinal dis- ease, resembling the natural one, is produced by the remedy; and as two similar diseases cannot possibly exist at the same time, the morbid symp- toms give place to the medicinal ones; which, on the use of the medicines being discontinued, gradually disappear, leaving the part affected in a normal state. The other is, that the symp- toms of a disease are but the efforts of nature to get rid of the morbific cause; and that the ho- moeopathic remedy acting in the same direction, aids the vital force, and thus abridges the dura- tion of the disease or even cuts it short. That homoeopathy will eventually take the place of the ordinary practice, is no longer a matter of doubt with persons who have experi- enced its benefits. Nor is it reasonable to sup- OF HOMOEOPATHY. 17 pose, that those, who have had the opportunity of judging of the relative merits of the two sys- tems, will subject themselves, or their friends, to the painful and often injurious means employed by the old school; since they have found, by happy experience, that precisely the same benefit may be obtained by mild and harmless remedies more speedily, and without even in the slightest degree injuring the constitution. The usual mode of remunerating the general practitioner is objectionable in the extreme, and acts as a powerful obstacle to the introduction of homoeopathy. At present, physic, and not talent, is too often the standard by which the services of the medical attendant are appreciated : it is high time that this truly unprofessional system had passed into complete desuetude. Medical men in considerable practice are dis- inclined, for numerous reasons, to enter upon the discussion of homoeopathy :-preconceived opinions,—long established habits and associa- tions,—professional engagements, personal re- putation,-public confidence, and many other C 18 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES powerful influences may be enumerated to ac- count for their neglect of homoeopathy, although Some of the most eminent among them have conceded its claims to a sober and searching investigation. To the young, the subject is open to enquiry, and it is their duty to weigh well the evidence to be adduced in its support, before they reject or calumniate a system believed by many of the most eminent and learned physicians to be founded on truth, and calculated to effect the greatest improvement in the practical de- partment of medicine. “The sincere enquirer into truth will be swayed by no prejudice,—he will stand on his guard against the unsupported dictates of authority, and the imposing front of original dis- covery, he will listen and judge with the con- stant apprehension of the frailty of mankind, assured that the wisest may err, and that the weakest may yield instruction.” One of the most striking advantages of homoe- opathy is, that the remedies employed are di- rected, not merely to the diseases of the body, OF HOMOEOPATHY. 19 but also to the state of the mind; and this dis- tinguishes it from every other system of medi- cine hitherto practised. By this remark, I do not intend to affirm that physicians neglect to enquire into the state of the mind and feelings of their patients, but that they have not, in their works on materia medica, any distinct statement of symptoms by which a remedy can be selected, from a knowledge of its specific influence upon the mental state and feelings. Medical men have no doubt, in all ages, formed accurate prognoses by observing the temper and disposition of their patients, of which numerous instances might be cited. I shall content myself with the following. “Sed me ii quidem, qui sub alio sunt, si ex toto sibi temperare non possunt, ad salutem perdu- cuntur. Ideoque non ignobilis medicus, Chry- sippi discipulus, apud Antigonum regem, amicum quemdam ejus, notae intemperantiae, mediocriter eo morbo (hydrope) implicitum, negavit posse sa- nari. Cumque alter medicus Epirotes Philippus se sanaturum polliceretur; respondit, illum ad mor- C 2 20 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES bum aegri respicere; se, ad Animum. Neque eum res fefellit.” Cels., b. iii., cap. 21. Most medicines influence, in some degree, the “moral; ” and, in order that a remedy may be perfectly homoeopathic to the case, the symptoms relating to the mind equally with those referring to the body, should correspond with the symp- toms produced in a healthy person by the medi- cine employed as the remedy. . By including the “moral ” in every portrait of a case, we reach disease in its inmost recesses; and obtain a power over it not possessed by the allopathists, who can only combat symptoms that are evident to the bodily senses. When we reflect on the immense power the mind exerts over the body, we cannot but per- ceive the extraordinary advantage which the ob- servation of its morbid phenomena must have on the successful treatment of a case, with a view to their removal. In mental affections, indepen- dent of organic disease in the brain, the know- ledge we possess of the morbid states of the OF HOMOEOPATHY. 21 mind produced by certain medicines, has been, in a very great number of instances, successfully tested. In the treatment of diseases incident to FE- MALES, the symptoms relating to the mind should be especially noticed; for in these pa- tients, the moral feelings are in the highest de- gree sensitive and influential. In homoeopathy, therefore, the symptoms produced by mental disturbance form one of the main points of en- quiry; by a strict attention to which, many dis- eases, only partially benefited under the usual treatment, find permanent relief when treated by homoeopathic remedies. In the diseases of females, homoeopathy is often pre-eminently successful: formed by nature of a more delicate constitution, they are easily af- fected by medicinal agents, although given in doses extremely minute. Experience, also, has proved, that in the treatment of neuralgia, the nervous system, through which, unquestionably, all remedies exert a considerable influence, is in so morbidly excited a state, that, in either sex, 22 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES the most attenuated doses produce very power- ful and beneficial effects. Affections of the uterine system are so much more under the control of homoeopathic treat- ment than under that of the old school, that it has not escaped the observation of those who differ from us in practice; and it has been, invi- diously, remarked, that we have acquired for our system, in this particular, a predominating influ- ence. We are not insensible to the truth of this observation. We gratefully acknowledge the dis- * tinguished patronage bestowed upon us in this enlightened country; and we should indeed be unworthy such support, did we not, strenuously and perseveringly, exert our utmost efforts to extend and perpetuate the homoeopathic prac- tice. SICKNESs arising from pregnancy may in ge- neral be very speedily relieved, by a remedy cor- responding with the prominent symptoms at- tending it. The cause, however, being perma- ment, the effect is often only temporary. In sea sickness, the effect of a homoeopathic remedy is OF HOMOEOPATHY. 23 often complete, relieving entirely the disposition to sickness: but here, as in the former case, the cause remaining constantly in action, the effect of the medicine is sometimes not permanent. This occasional failure may be attributed to the selection of a remedy not homoeopathic to the totality of the symptoms. The grand feature in Hahnemann's system, next to the principle on which it is founded, is his THEORY OF CHRONIC DISEASEs. The fact, that numerous affections arise from eruptions imper- fectly cured, or unfortunately repelled, has long been familiar to every one in practice. This cir- cumstance induced Hahnemann to enquire, whe- ther the virus repelled, or latent in the system, might not be the cause of the majority of chro- nic affections; and the trials made, in pursuance of this enquiry, have incontestably proved the truth of his conjectures. Hence we observe, that eruptive diseases, when treated by the use of ointments or lotions, are often followed by in- ternal maladies infinitely more serious than the eruption itself; and, sometimes, even destructive 24 PRACTICAL ADVANTA GES to life. A provincial surgeon of great talent and extensive experience, to whom I made this re- mark, assured me, that he had often been asto- nished to find that patients, who had been cured of psora by the usual method, were afterwards unable to resist any acute disease; and that, when so attacked, the results were generally fatal. Hahnemann has adduced a number of cases in proof of this statement, and the obser- vations of this great man tend to shew, that chronic disease is invariably the result of a vi- rus lurking in the system, and often transmitted to posterity, in various forms. The truth of this theory is daily corroborated in homoeopathic practice; but the virus may be destroyed, and the young, in whom it has become hereditary, secured from its injurious tendencies. Viewing the subject in this light, and being firmly convinced that Hahnemann's theory of chronic disease is correct, every true homoeopa- thist will anticipate with delight the benefit to be derived from its universal adoption. The system being fully carried out, it certainly OF HOMOEO PATHY. 25 is not too much to prognosticate the utter ex- tinction of chronic diseases, and the comparative mildness of acute ones. The greatest difficulties we have now to contend with, consist in the management of those diseases which are posi- tively produced by medicine itself. The cases, most likely to baffle the homoeopa- thic practitioner, are those, in which the frequent employment of large doses of medicine has so altered the character of the original complaint, as to leave little else than a disease, purely the pro- duct of medicine. In such cases, before the original disease can be reached, it is requisite to counteract the injurious effects of medicines for- merly administered, by giving antidotes. These indeed are the cases in which homoeopathy often loses the credit to which it is entitled; perseve- rance, however, until the natural disease can be acted upon, will almost invariably lead to a suc- cessful result. “We could present rather a serious tragedy if we were to collect all the cases of poisoning by huge doses of powerful medicines by the disci- 26 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES ples of this physician, and of sanguinary ho- micide by the imitation of that bold surgeon, though they may both enjoy high repute.”— Med. Gaz. In proportion as diseases are treated on the mild principle recommended by Hahnemann, the patient, taking during the treatment only so much medicine as is absolutely required, has not to dread the disastrous results of over doses. The truth of Hahnemann's theory of chronic disease appears to me completely borne out, by recent trials in Germany of what is termed “was– serkur,” “ in which the recovery of the patient * This novel mode of treating disease was established by M. Priessnitz, some years ago; and consists in the external and internal employment of cold water. The establishment is situated on a mountain near the town of Freiwaldan, in Austrian Silesia. The treatment requires to be modified according to the strength of the patient. He is roused at four or five o’clock in the morning; and before getting out of bed, is wrapped up in blankets soaked in cold water, in which he remains an hour. By degrees warmth spreads over the surface, and copious perspiration ensues. The patient is then dried; he dresses himself very quickly, and descends into a subterraneous passage, where a bath has been prepared, the temperature of which, even in summer, does not exceed 44° OF HOMOEOPATHY. 27 is, generally, preceded by the appearance of boils, and, always, by violent perspirations of a peculiar smell, indicating either disease thus detected, as gout or rheumatism; or medicine taken in large doses at some previous period, often very distant, and which is thus proved to remain in the system a much longer time than is generally believed. Chronic eruptions are but an evidence of the existence of a virus seeking an outlet on the skin. This view of their origin, so greatly overlooked in the present, was at a former period, very generally admitted. The medicines ordinarily used for the cure of such eruptions are danger- ous in the extreme. Fortunate is that patient Fah. ; he remains in the cold bath ten or twelve minutes; and then returns to bed, to be again enveloped in cold wet blank- ets; and, after a slight perspiration, gets up to breakfast. Dur- ing the day he takes forced walks, and drinks a great quantity of cold water. The diet is of the simplest kind; all stimulants are excluded, and the only beverage permitted is water. The cure is always preceded by the appearance of pustules, ulcers, or abscesses, on various parts of the body, chiefly on the feet. This treatment sometimes occupies several months; and as the ulcers, &c., heal, the cure becomes established. Nothing could more fully corroborate Hahnemann's theory of chronic disease. 28 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES whose constitution is sufficiently powerful to resist all attempts of this kind to eradicate the disease; since, should the astringent, or stimu- lating, qualities of the ointment or wash, em- ployed to efface the eruption, be successful, more Serious symptoms, indicating disease of an inter- nal organ, are certain, sooner or later, to present themselves; and these can only be relieved by the re-appearance of the eruption, or the destruc- tion of the virus by constitutional remedies. The principle Hahnemann has so powerfully ad- vocated,—viz., that chronic diseases are caused by a virus infecting the system; or, in many cases, by overdoses of medicine taken with a view to cure them,-thus receives an unexpected and very decisive confirmation. The grand and very important distinction is, that the treatment by homoeopathy gradually neutralizes the virus in the mildest way; whereas the “wasserkur” ex- pels it forcibly from the system, provided the constitution of the patient be sufficiently strong to endure the violent and painful means adopted to effect it. OF HOMOEOPATHY. 29 Happily, the desirable result may be obtained by the gradual and cautious employment of re- medies answering homoeopathically to the mor- bid effects of this virus, which, if not allowed to settle in the system, may, without difficulty, be completely eradicated. As this virus, by whatever name it be called,— scrofula, gout, or psora,_is confessedly heredi- tary; and as, by neutralizing it early, it may be, in the majority of instances, arrested in its pro- gress, ºf ILDREN ought to undergo a regular course of ANTIPsor IC MEDICINEs, where the slightest suspicion exists of their liability to in- herit the diseases of their parents. By pur- suing this course, it is not too much to expect that chronic disease will gradually diminish in intensity, and, at length, be altogether effaced ; and that acute cases, treated by mild and inno- cuous remedies, will not weaken the system or undermine the constitution:—the too frequent result of many of the violent means now very commonly employed. Hahnemann's theory of chronic diseases is of 30 PRACTICAL AIDVANTAGES so startling a nature, that we need not wonder it has met with violent opposition. Its truth, at least as regards the principle, begins now to be generally admitted. To those who have duly reflected on the subject it must be evident, when a miasm is once received into the system, that, until it has exhausted its power or been medi- cinally eradicated, it will, under peculiar excit- ing causes, produce its malignant effects. Such is the fact with respect to scrofula, gout, sy- philis, &c. tº Hahnemann considers psora, syphilis, and sy- cosis, to be the chief sources of chronic disease ; but from whatever cause it may have originated, its existence is a bane, and should, if possible, be destroyed. This, it is believed, may be ac- complished, although, sometimes, it may require more than the lapse of one generation be— fore the end is attained. It is, therefore, ad- visable to put all children under a course of an- tipsoric medicines, even though they appear to be in excellent health; but more especially so, if their parents have, at any period of their lives, OF HOMOEOPATHY. 3} been affected with any eruption, other than that resulting from the exanthematous fevers. There is, moreover, an additional reason for putting children under this course, viz.-that by v.AccINATION, immense as are its advantages, it is more than probable, that if any taint exist in the child from which the virus is taken, the child vaccinated with it will receive the mor- bid predisposition. This, however, ought not to deter parents from availing themselves of the inestimable advantages which the discovery of Jenner offers to mankind: since it is only by this invaluable preservative—which is in truth purely homoeopathic—that the small-pox can be eradicated: and, indeed, the poison, if any re- main, may be destroyed by antipsoric remedies, before it has had time to do much injury. The extraordinary success with which scro- FULA and GOUT, two of the most intractable diseases, are treated by homoeopathic means, proves the power which specific remedies exert eVen OWGI’ hereditary affections. These means should be employed as prophylactics, where he- 32 PRACTICAL APV ANTAGES reditary taint in the young is in the remotest degree suspected. It is in such cases that the advantage of the antipsoric or, as it may be termed, the alterative system is particularly evi- dent, the noxious miasm being thus, impercep- tibly, destroyed. The prophylactic power of belladonna, in scar- let fever, is truly homoeopathic ; since, when taken by a healthy person, it will produce an eruption resembling Scarlatina; and it is our sheet anchor in the treatment of that often for- midable disease. The preservative power of belladonna is well known in Germany, and the ravages of scarlatina are greatly diminished by its administration to those exposed to the con- tagion. In this country the fact is but little known, and perhaps seldom acted upon. There can be little doubt but that the most robust are frequently much weakened by the ac- tive practice usually adopted by the old school; and, if the robust can barely support it, the con- sequences, to those already weakened by dis- ease, must be hazardous in the extreme. Every OF HOMOEOPATHY. 33 one, aware of the power which medicines possess to bring on disease, instinctively trembles at the effects inevitably produced by the employment of powerful remedies, in large doses. The imme- diate effect intended may, indeed, be obtained by a strong purgative, whether calomel or a less powerful drug be employed; but if we carefully attend to the consequences resulting from the irritation, thus artificially excited in the mucous membrane of the intestines, we shall find that in a short time, the weak are reduced to a very precarious and dangerous state; and that even the strongest complain of ailments, which, when made by others at a previous period, they had judged to be imaginary. In the constitution of man, the Creator has accurately adjusted all the parts, fluid as well as solid, of which the body is composed, and has assigned to each its peculiar function; any ex- cess or deficiency therefore in the constituent parts would undoubtedly derange, injure, or de- stroy, the harmony and regularity of the whole:— consequently, the blood and other fluids, intended D 34 PRACTICAL AIDWANTAGES for the support and use of the system, ought not to be wantonly wasted, at the caprice or temerity of the doubtful or the bold. Some of the greatest physicians have sincerely regretted the deple- tory measures of their earlier practice; and have found that the adoption of milder means, to aid the efforts of nature for the relief of the patient, has produced results, not only less distressing to the sick, but infinitely more gratifying to them- selves. It behoves every medical man, then, to economize to the utmost of his power, compati- ble with safety, the vital supply of strength to his patient, that it may be in readiness not only to meet the contingencies of convalescence, but to support the infirmities of declining years.- BLEEDING tends to weaken the frame, and all persons unfortunately treated by it, sooner or later, experience its debilitating effects. Even in sanguineous apoplexy, where, if ever, bleeding to a small extent is justifiable, it is, in the opi- nion of Some French physicians, exceedingly in- jurious. When it is carried to such an extent as to weaken the tone of the arteries, so that the OF HOMOEOPATHY. 35 blood flows through them as through an inani- mate tube, the danger is greatly increased, as the effusion, already existing, so far from being lessened, becomes increased, in consequence of the loss of contractility of the inner coat of the artery at the torn extremity;--it is in this, that the great error of the depletory system, in such cases, consists. It can scarcely be imagined that, in a com- mon case of inflammation, so large a quantity of blood should be suddenly formed as to require the excessive depletion usually prescribed. The time that elapses between a state of perfect health, and that of acute inflammation threaten- ing existence, is much too short to admit of any other change in the circulation, than that of ir– regular distribution, or congestion in one part, at the expense of others. Our object, therefore, in every instance, should be to moderate, and, above all, to equalize the circulation. Experi- ence has taught us that, by these means, even the most acute diseases may be perfectly and rapidly cured, without the loss of a single drop D 2 36 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES of blood, and the patient is much less liable to relapse than when temporarily relieved by bleed- ing ; which, as is before remarked, necessarily weakens the part affected, and renders it more Susceptible to the morbific cause. A great advantage to be derived from homoeo- pathy may be confidently anticipated, from the power it possesses of arresting disease at the onset, and thus curtailing and relieving the suf- fering of the patient. The means, by which dis- ease is often “ nipped in the bud,” are so simple and so mild, that patients gladly have recourse to them ; although they would resist to the utmost of their power the ordinary methods of treatment. How often, indeed, do the most dangerous maladies arise from a trifling chill; and, here, a remedy, corresponding with the primary symptoms, speedily puts a stop to the formation of a disease which might have other- wise become serious in its consequences. Chronic disease very frequently is simply the continuation of an acute attack; it is evident, therefore, that by stopping the progress of an OF HOMOEOPATHY. 37 acute affection, we thereby lessen the number of chronic diseases, or, rather, prevent their de- velopment; for the seeds of chronic disease are generally in the system, and can only be eradi- cated by a course of treatment calculated to de- stroy the virus, before it has acquired malignity. There is great reason to believe, that if chil- dren were treated from infancy, solely on the homoeopathic system, this virus, however cha- racterized, would be effectually destroyed, before it had time to develope its afflicting and destruc- tive tendencies ; and that children so treated from their birth, would escape many of the hide- ous diseases, by which they are so frequently assailed. Were the homoeopathic system, there- fore, universally adopted, posterity would reap the full advantage of it; for hereditary taint very often results from a disease, in the progeni- tor, superficially treated, which, in the offspring, may, by homoeopathic remedies, be completely eradicated. Homoeopathy professes not, however, to ba- mish disease, but to treat it with greater safety 38 PRACTICAL AIDV ANTAGES to the patient, and much more speedily, than by any system ever before introduced;—and more especially to relieve patients from the host of medicinal diseases, which at present adds great- ly to the miseries of the human race. “Si mon juvat cave nec noceat.” Many of our patients are so thoroughly con- vinced of the truth of homoeopathy, of the safety and efficacy of its remedies, and of the advan- tages which result to the constitution from the mildness of its practice, that they have placed their families entirely under our medical con- trol, and have uniformly observed a very strik- ing improvement in the appearance and strength of such of their children as have been treated exclusively on the homoeopathic principle. As, therefore, the offspring of healthy persons may be expected, “caeteris paribus,” to grow up vigo- rous and strong, so is it reasonable to suppose that children, freed from the taint of their an– cestors, will, in their posterity, contribute to im- prove the strength and vigor of their descend- antS. OF HOMOEOPATHY, 39 The great advantages of homoeopathy will be still more evident, in the treatment of chronic diseases; for as most of them are transmitted to the offspring of the sufferer, they would, if not arrested, run on an almost perpetual course ; but by destroying, in its germ, the virus which would create the disease, the progress of the evil will be arrested; and thus the period may confidently be anticipated when disease will be stripped of half its terrors. The most reasonable part of the old system is that of counter-irritation; and, when only applied to the skin, it may be often of temporary benefit, without producing ulterior mischief; but when applied, as is commonly the case, to the alimen- tary canal, by means of purgatives, the mischief occasioned must necessarily very often be seri- ous. It is true that most cases may be allevi- ated by creating an artificial irritation in a dis- tant organ ; but, if frequently repeated or long continued, great injury must ultimately result: and, after all, it is but a system of expedients, 40. PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES and proves the inability of the practitioner to reach the seat of the disease. The success of the old school depends, more frequently than is usually imagined, on the re- medy administered being truly homoeopathic to the case, without the knowledge of the physician who prescribed it. Amidst the numerous re- medies so commonly heaped into a prescription, one only is often that which is curative. Hap- pily, its strength is so much diminished by com- bination with other medicines, that, where it happens to be the right, aggravation of the symptoms, from an over dose, does not always occur; and when it does occur, although gene- rally considered as an evidence of the violence of the disease, it is the necessary effect of the dose administered, which has been too powerful. The appropriate medicine may be discovered, with certainty, by experiments on the healthy subject:—this is the only safe mode of ascer- taining the effects of a remedy which, when once determined upon, should be given without OF HOMOEOPATHY. 41 admiature, so that its action may not be coun- teracted nor misunderstood. A great disadvantage, attending the admix- ture of remedies, is that those which are not curative, by producing their symptoms, compli- cate the case, so that it becomes almost impossi- ble to distinguish between those truly caused by the disease, and those which are the result of medicines misapplied. Fortunately, since Hahne- mann's discoveries, light has been thrown upon the modus operandi of medicines; and as the fact, that all remedies produce disease, (or they could not cure it,) becomes more generally ad- mitted, the truth of his splendid discovery will be elucidated, and the practice founded upon it established. It cannot be denied, in spite of the boasted superiority of the old system, especially in diag- nosis, that in many cases great uncertainty ex- ists as to the precise nature of the disease; for instance, the pathological states termed “irrita- tion” and “inflammation” sometimes so resem- ble one another, in respect to symptoms, that it 42 PRACTICAL AIDVANTAGES is scarcely possible to distinguish between them; and yet depletion, which on the old principle of treatment the latter requires, would often be fatal in the former. There can be no question, but that an error, in this particular, is frequently committed, even by the most experienced of the old school.” In these cases, the safety of the new mode of practice must be evident, for the symptoms, being the guide to the appropriate remedy, give way, whether the intrinsic charac- ter of the disease be inflammatory or nervous, provided the remedy selected answer correctly to those symptoms. Many cases of paralysis * Professor Graves, alluding to two cases of fever ending fatally, and attended with remarkable cerebral symptoms, says, “I could defy any man who would compare these two cases together to point out any remarkable difference between them.—Yet how different were the phenomena observed on dissection. In the one there was an extensive lesion of the membranes of the brain, effusion on its surface, and intense congestion of its vessels: in the other, there was no apprecia- ble departure from the normal condition. It is not in typhus alone that we meet with the occurrence of analogous symp- toms, in cases which exhibit a very different state of the brain after death; we are encountered with the same puzzling con- trarieties in many cases of Scarlatina.”—Med. Gae. OF HOMOEO PATHY. 43 also are rendered hopeless by an error in diag- nosis, since they as often arise from want of tone in the nervous system, as from excess of action in the sanguineous. Affections of the eyes are sometimes mis- managed in the same manner. The congestion, which is the mere result of nervous irritation, is supposed to be the cause of the disease, and the depletory measures adopted only add to the mis- chief, by still further weakening the nervous system. I cannot forbear alluding to an attack made upon us by one of the most distinguished of the old school, the late Professor Müller, of Berlin ; although I consider it as confirmatory of the ad- vantages of homoeopathy. The professor, in truth, declares the difficulty there is in ascertaining the real nature of a disease by the symptoms, for he says, that “in perfectly different diseased states of the same organ, the symptoms are often very similar.” It is on this very account that homoe- opathy claims superiority to the old system; since, as the same symptoms often indicate to- 44 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES tally different pathological states, it is extremely easy to mistake the one for the other; the state of asthenia for that of inflammation, and vice versa. The treatment recommended by the old school for the one, would be destructive in the other. The professor further observes that “there are certain groups of cerebral symptoms, and of symptoms of cardiac disease, which occur in very different morbid conditions of each of these organs respectively.” If such be the fact, and it is undoubtedly so, what tact, what judgment, what experience, must not be required by the old practitioners, in the treatment of some of the most frequent diseases; even to avoid seri- ously injuring the patient, without indeed taking into consideration the uncertainty of effecting a cure in such cases The assumption of the learned professor, “that we either do nothing whatever, or nature ap- lies the remedies otherwise than the homoeopa- thist imagines,” is altogether inconsistent; it proves that he had not essayed upon himself the OF HOMOEOPATHY. 45 antipsoric remedies—for, had he done so, he would easily have become convinced of their power, and it admits indirectly the activity of the homoeopathic globules: for how, otherwise, could nature apply them to any beneficial pur- pose. The following sentence shews that the pro- fessor was completely ignorant of the funda- mental principles of homoeopathy, -“The fact of two substances producing similar symptoms in one organ, does not prove that these sub- stances produce exactly the same effects, but merely that they act on the same organ, while the essential action of the two may be very dif- ferent.” It is well known to us, that no two substances produce exactly the same symptoms; hence the necessity for determining, with the greatest accuracy, the effects peculiar to each, in order to apply that which accords most close- ly with the symptoms of the disease. Our op- ponent has just reversed the order of our posi- tion,--he says, that two substances are capable of producing a similar state in an organ,— 46 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES whereas we affirm that two dissimilar states may produce in some instances the same symptoms; and in such cases, the advantages of homoeopa- thy, which takes the symptoms as the guide to the treatment, must be evident. Many who deny the power of homoeopathic doses, maintain that imagination is the founda- tion of our success: but the curative effect of a medicine, corresponding with the symptoms, when administered to children, or even to brutes, is an evident proof of the futility of such objections. In fact the extraordinary success of the homoeopathic system, in the treatment of children, has converted many, who previously doubted the possibility of benefit from small doses. In the treatment of animals, where it is of course difficult to ascertain their sufferings, the results are equally conclusive. Some have judged homoeopathy unfairly, and have spoken disparagingly of it, because, occasi- onally, cases subjected to this treatment have not been permanently benefited; but, it should be remembered, that many of these cases have al- OF HOMOEOPATHY. 47 ready gone the round of the profession, and are in themselves incurable; and that homoeopathy is tried only as a last resource. Even in these “forlorn hopes,” amelioration of the symptoms, and especially diminution of suffering, almost invariably result. It is by no means uncommon to meet with cases in which the patient, after being under homoeopathic treatment for some time without apparent benefit, has, on discontinuing the treat- ment, found his health gradually return. In such cases, the remedies administered were pro- bably quite homoeopathic to the symptoms; but the doses administered were either too powerful, or so frequently repeated that the healthy re- action had not time to manifest itself. It is often difficult to measure the susceptibility of a patient, and to regulate the dose, so as altoge- ther to avoid aggravation of the symptoms. This should, however, be guarded against as much as possible; and, with care, aggravation may almost always be prevented. It is extremely absurd to suppose that any one 48 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES cured by homoeopathy is to remain free from dis- ease through life. Continued perfect health is not to be expected; and all we profess to be en- abled to effect, is, that a patient, laboring under acute disease, will, if that disease be curable, re- cover in a much shorter time than by the adop- tion of the usual means, and with little diminu- tion of bodily power; and that chronic diseases, in which the old school fails altogether, or effects very little, will by the means we advocate be radically cured. Disease must ever be the lot of humanity, and nothing but a hostile disposition can influence the opponents of homoeopathy when they assume that, because a patient has been cured of a dis- ease by homoeopathic means, he should for ever afterwards be free from its inroads. It is true, that by a judicious employment of the means made known to us, by Hahnemann, the fre- quency and power of disease will be diminished; but there must always be cases, that will resist our best directed efforts, either because they re- sult from, or are aggravated by, the means em- OF HOMOEOPATHY. 49 ployed for their cure, or, because they may in themselves be incurable. It is gratifying to the best feelings of our nature to know that the ho- moeopathic principle being followed out, posterity will be liable to those diseases only which are of ordinary occurrence, and that the numerous morbid states, engendered by the humane but often mistaken efforts of the old school, will no longer be stimulated into action. To give homoeopathy a fair trial, its results should be compared with those of the old prac- tice, and it would then be found, that acute dis- eases are generally arrested in one third of the time required by the old system, and at scarcely any cost to the constitution; and that a vast num- ber of chronic affections, incurable on the usual plan of proceeding, are perfectly and permanently cured under homoeopathic treatment. But it is certainly very unreasonable, to expect that a chro- nic disease, which has lasted for years, should immediately yield to any treatment, particularly if that disease depend on organic changes, which, if remediable at all, can only be so, by a long E 50 PRACTICAL AIDVANTAGES continued use of the appropriate medicaments : and, as many of these cases are occasioned by large doses of powerful medicine, it is necessary to commence the treatment by endeavouring to destroy the influence of such ill judged remedial agents; and, then, to counteract and remove the pernicious effects they have produced.’ It has often been said that the confidence of the patient is essential to the successful treat- ment of a case ; and though, as I have before stated, the success of homoeopathy is so evident in infants, where the imagination cannot pos- sibly exert the slightest influence, and also in animals, yet it is readily admitted that in some chronic affections, which require a long time for their cure, the confidence of the patient is not without its advantages; for here, unless to a certain extent convinced of the truth of our sys- tem, he may not have sufficient courage to perse- vere long enough to reap the advantage to be de- rived from the treatment. It is unreasonable to expect that a chronic case which has lasted for years, should immediately yield to the remedies OF HOMOEOPATHY. 5 1 prescribed. Time must be allowed not only to exhaust the effects of strong doses of medicine previously administered, but also to enable the organs affected to recover their tone, and, every functional or structural derangement being recti- fied, to regain a healthy action. w It has been sometimes remarked, that the old system procures immediate relief to patients in acute disease; this, to a certain extent, is ad- mitted : in cases of neuralgia, for instance, the narcotics employed allay for a time the nervous excitement; but the soothing effect lasts only during the primary action of the narcotic ; during its secondary action, the sufferings which led to its employment, return with increased violence. In proof of this, I need only appeal to the experience of those who have contracted the dangerous habit of opium eating. But, when a truly homoeopathic remedy is applied in a very minute dose—for the more acute the pain the more attenuated should be the dose—the most intense suffering is frequently relieved almost instantaneously, and the effect is much more sº E 2 52 PRACTH CAL ADVANTAGES permanent than that produced by the employ– ment of narcotics. The homoeopathic practi- tioner endeavours to relieve his patient, but is unwilling to risk his recovery merely for the sake of palliation;–the question, in this case, being simply whether the object aimed at be merely a temporary relief, or a radical cure. One of the greatest evils of the old school is the constant use of APERIENTs. It is impos- sible to reprobate, in terms sufficiently strong, the permicious practice so generally prevalent in this country, of having recourse to laxative me- dicine on the least appearance of sluggishness of the bowels. Frightful are the numbers brought to an early grave by this violation of the laws of nature. The practice is commenced even from the earliest age, for no sooner is an infant born than it is dosed with an aperient;* as it grows, every ailment is laid to the charge of the unfor- * “Nurses, distrusting mature, often hasten to administer castor oil or some other active purgative, and the result is the excitement of irritation in the stomach and bowels, which is not always easily subdued.” Combe on Digestion, p. 238. OF HOMOEOPATHY. 53 tunate bowels; and these, by the repetition of the aperient, become the more unruly; until, at length, the peristaltic action can only be forced by the most drastic purgatives. It is, indeed, quite time that this irrational treatment should be abandoned; and that organs, on the tranquil performance of whose functions health mainly depends, should not be thus stimulated to disease. Experience has fully proved, that CHRONIC constLPATION can never be radically cured by aperients: the bowels, it is true, are evacuated, but the secondary action of the drug, astrin- gency, then comes into operation, and, the more frequently relaxation is induced, the more obsti- nate will be the constipation. The only rational and consistent mode of treating this affection, is, by the administration of medicine, the primary action of which is to produce constipation, and its secondary action the reverse of the primary one—viz., relaxation. This, being the effect of vital action, is permanent; and thus, the most 54 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES obstimate cases of constipation may be radically cured. The alarm excited by the inactivity of the bowels, for one or two days, is not well found- ed.* Numerous instances prove, that they may remain confined, for a short time, without the occurrence of dangerous symptoms. This state of costiveness is indeed natural to some persons who remain a week or longer without any ac- tion of the bowels, and yet enjoy good health ; and instances are related of constipation lasting * “Costiveness can scarcely be considered a disease in some constitutions, as it is often attended by a good state of health, in other respects, and seldom continues so long as to occa- sion any appreciable disturbance. But when neglected, it gives rise to collections in, and morbid conditions of, the colon, and favors the occurrence of other maladies. Although cases are frequently occurring in which little disorder results from constipation, eaccept from the means used to remove it, yet very serious or even fatal effects not unfrequently accrue from it. The most prolonged cases of constipation usually occur in thin delicate females, and is obviously owing to an asthenic condition of the organic functions, particularly with those more intimately connected with the alimentary canal.” Copland’s Med. Diet. OF HOMOEOPATHY. 55 for months without any very serious derange- ment of the general system. These facts suffici- ently prove, that the vital functions of the body may be regularly performed, without the daily evacuation of the bowels; although this is un- questionably very desirable, and greatly contri- butes both to health and comfort;-but we must take care that the means employed to procure it are calculated to have a permanent effect. Should inflammatory symptoms, arising from indurated faeces, present themselves, the bowels should at once be evacuated in the usual man- ner, and for the same reason that a bullet is ex- tracted from a gun-shot wound, or a splinter from a part which it has caused to fester. This, however, is seldom, if ever, necessary for those who have been previously under homoeopathic treatment, as our remedial agents are quite suf- ficient to regulate the action of the bowels. I wish particularly, to impress upon the mind of the reader, that recourse to aperients when the bowels are merely sluggish, or have been inactive for a day or two only, is very injudi- 56 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES cious; for, by thus proceeding, a chronic state is frequently induced, which, by patience, or by the aid of homoeopathic means, might have been altogether avoided; but which, when tempora- rily relieved by a remedy, whose primary action is to relax the bowels, does, as I have before stated, on the secondary action commencing, be- come much more obstinate than before. It fre- quently happens, indeed, that the bowels, after having been for a long time sluggish, will often relieve themselves as effectually as if an aperient had been taken, but with this essential difference, that the one is an effort of nature to get rid of noxious matter and regain its healthy action ; the other is simply the effect of medicine, which soon passes off, and the bowels become more constipated than before. Constipation appears to be, in a great measure, an artificial complaint in this country, for it is comparatively rare in other climates, where ape- rients are seldom taken; but, in truth, the same may be said of many other diseases, which are evidently produced solely by medicine. OF HOMOEO PATHY. 57 During the treatment required for the cure of constipation, it is wise to submit to the trifling inconvenience occasioned by the retention of the faeces for a short period. The bowels will soon make an effort to propel their contents, and, by degrees, the peristaltic action of the intes- tines will be completely restored; thus, by sub- mitting to temporary inconvenience, lasting good is effected. It was not intended by nature that the faeces should be hastily expelled. The structure of the large intestines, their division into cells, showing contrivance to retard their contents, prove that the faeces should be retained a cer- taim time; and the sudden turns the colon makes before terminating in the rectum strengthen this view of the subject. The folly of taking aperi- ents, and thus hurrying on what was intended for the further nutrition of the frame is, therefore, conspicuously exemplified. Constipation is commonly but a symptom of the general disturbance of the secretory fune- tions, and as such, the treatment adopted to re- 58 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES medy it should be general rather than local, ex- cept indeed by acting homoeopathically on the part affected; and, thus, by comprehending the totality of the symptoms, the constipation, as a part of them, would subside with the rest. Those who are wise enough to wait for the efforts of nature will generally find, that these are sufficient of themselves, in ordinary consti- pation, to remove obstruction and restore the regular action of the primae viae. But there are many instances of constipation which cannot be conquered by the efforts of nature alone; and, in such, the ordinary mode of treatment by ape- rients effects positive injury; the secondary ac- tion of the remedy employed increasing the ob- stinacy of the bowels:–the very state sought to be relieved. Increased obstimacy of the bowels is but one of the numerous evils resulting from the employ- ment of aperients.” The important organs in * “When constipation is neglected or improperly treated, the most serious effects are produced immediately upon the bowels themselves ; haemorrhoids, severe colic, passing into OF HOMOEOPATHY. 59 the immediate vicinity of the intestines are ne- cessarily influenced by any irritation in their neighbourhood; and thus a disease originally slight may become serious. Continued irritation leads to disease in the lining membrane of the stomach and intestines, and subsequently in the adjacent glands and viscera. There can be no doubt but that disease of the mesenteric glands in children is often brought on by the abuse of aperients, and especially of calomel, or other pre- paration of mercury. The inadequacy of the means employed, by the old school, to overcome the tendency to constipation, must have been experienced by all who have long suffered from this affliction. The remedy is now discovered, and it may be safely affirmed, that, unless a mechanical cause exist to prevent a successful result, constipation may, in every instance, be radically cured—in ileus or enteritis, being not infrequently results. These very serious consequences of constipation may, however, proceed as much from the use of too powerful drastic or acrid remedies to procure evacuations, as from the faecal retention.” Cop- Wand’s Med. Dict, 60 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES some cases, very speedily; and in others, more slowly indeed, but not less effectually. As soon as the principle, on which we act in habitual constipation, is fully understood, it will be seen that when the bowels have lost their susceptibility and tone by the frequent use of aperients, time must be allowed to restore the normal action of the intestines, which our reme- dies seldom fail to accomplish ; after which, the bowels commence spontaneously to act, and to increase in power, until a permanent result is obtained; namely, a regular and healthy action. The advocates for the employment of purga- tives contend, that, unless evacuations are pro- moted by medicine, there will be a collection of faecal matter of an injurious tendency : such it is granted occasionally happens; but the morbid secretions evacuated by purgatives, and supposed to choke up the primae viae, are more frequently the result of the medicines administered, which by their repetition keep up the morbid secretion. DYSPEPSIA, the frequent tormentor of those who possess, but cannot enjoy, the superfluities OF HOMOEOPATHY. 61 of life, is often brought on by purgatives. From whatever cause, however, dyspepsia may arise, there are very few cases that do not, in a short time, yield to appropriate homoeopathic reme- dies. Impatience, characteristic of the com- plaint, prevents some persons, however, from persevering in the treatment requisite to over- come this protean disease. Indigestion, before it has been injudiciously treated by palliatives, is by no means difficult of cure : but the use of purgatives is so habitual in this country, that we seldom meet with a case of dyspepsia, that is not a complication of medicinal and morbid symp- toms. When we consider the sympathies which exist between the stomach, the skin, the lungs, and other parts of the system, and also bear in mind the humidity and changeableness of our climate, we cannot be surprised at the frequency and variety so commonly observed in the de- rangement of the digestive functions. The common causes of indigestion are largely treated of in works more especially devoted to the consideration of this malady. I shall, there- 62 FRACTICAL ADVANTAGES fore, confine myself to one cause of dyspepsia, which, though little suspected, is mainly instru- mental in producing the affection, namely, the eagerness which patients manifest to purchase every pretended panacea for indigestion. These, by the relief they sometimes afford, excite the hope of permanent benefit; but unfortunately those very remedies—for instance, carbonate of Soda and magnesia—although affording tempo- rary ease by their primary operation, yet the secondary action of the medicine, (always exactly the opposite of the primary one,) renders the disease much more difficult of cure. Among the numerous distressing symptoms of indigestion, FLATULENCE is a frequent one; this sometimes reaches to a fearful height. The dis- tended bowel, by pressing on the large blood ves- sels, frequently impedes the return of blood to the heart, and produces extreme difficulty of breathing; and, by supplying the brain with blood imperfectly oxygenated, leads to conges- tion, and often threatens an attack of apoplexy. It has occasioned much surprise how so large a OF HOMCEO PATH Y. 63 collection of flatus could have arisen : it may be accounted for, however, not only from the air swallowed with the food, and from the gases evolved during the process of digestion, but also from an actual secretion from the vessels of the intestines; or we could not assign a reason for the frequent sudden production of it in hysteri- cal females. In many dyspeptic patients of both Sexes, the accumulation of flatus in the stomach, being forced into the oesophagus, occasions a most distressing sensation of constriction in that part, more especially during deglutition. These symp- toms are often speedily relieved by a remedy ca- pable of producing in the healthy subject the de- velopment of flatus; and, unless the tone of the intestines have been lessened by frequent over distension, the effect is permanent; in the latter case, indeed, the remedies must be repeated un- til the contractility of the bowel be restored. Carminatives used as remedies have this dis- advantage, that acting as stimulants, they are not only useless in that species of flatulence which is caused by sub-acute inflammatory ac- 64 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES tion in the mucous membrane lining the alimen- tary canal, but they absolutely increase the evil. The great pain felt in heartburn is probably, in a great measure, owing to flatus passing into the oesophagus with acrid secretions from the stomach. It may not be amiss to remark here, that tight lacing, which almost destroys the elastic powers of the abdominal parietes, must add to the numerous causes of indigestion in ladies, who forget that a small waist, however beautiful, if natural, is, if obtained by artificial means, en- tirely destructive of its object and deplorably injurious to health. From so absurd and mis- taken a notion of beauty the most disastrous results occur; as by the means employed, the thoracic and abdominal muscles are so impeded in their action, that their functions cannot be duly performed, the viscera being sometimes so compressed as to retain, even after death, the distinct impression of the superincumbent ribs. “The free and easy expansion of the chest,” says Dr. Combe in his Principles of Physiology, OF HOMOEOPATHY. 65 “is obviously indispensable to the full play and dilatation of the lungs; whatever impedes it, either in dress or in position, is prejudicial to health ; and, on the other hand, whatever favors the free expansion of the chest equally promotes the healthy fulfilment of the respiratory func- tions. Stays, corsets, and tight waistbands, operate most injuriously, by compressing the thoracic cavity and impeding the due dilata- tion of the lungs; and in many instances they give rise to consumption. I have seen one case, in which the liver was actually indented by the excessive pressure; and long continued bad health and ultimate death were the results.” I was myself witness to a precisely similar ap- pearance when a student at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, under the late highly talented and es- teemed lecturer, John Abernethy. On the post mortem examination of a female, a distinct im– pression of the lower ribs was observed upon the liver, which had evidently been occasioned by tight lacing. Exercise of the muscles supporting and aiding F 66 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES the action of the digestive organs, is as necessary to their free and healthy functions as to those of any of the limbs: and it is therefore natural to infer that the muscular fibres of the stomach, on the due action of which digestion in a great degree depends, require in the performance of their functions the unlimited exercise of their powers. It is perhaps when the duodenum, which may be in some degree ranked as a second stomach, is the chief seat of disease, that homoeopathy more especially shews its superiority to the old system. The turnings of the duodenum, which bring it into contact with the gall bladder, pan- creas, and right kidney, account for many of the anomalous symptoms of indigestion simulating disease in those organs; and it is to be feared that, in ordinary practice, the treatment is often directed to those organs which are only sympathe- tically affected, until at length, disease is actually produced in them by the violence of the reme- dies employed. Errors of this nature, which even those of the old School most skilful in diagnosis, OF HOMOEOPATHY. 67 may fall into, cannot possibly occur in homoeo- pathic practice; since, although we carefully en- quire into all symptoms, whether sympathetic or truly morbid, the doses we administer will only affect the immediate seat of the disease, which is susceptible to the slightest impression. Exercise indeed, as a general means of pro- moting the circulation, is essential for the pre- servation of health, and its neglect is a frequent cause of disease, more especially of dyspepsia. It should be taken on foot and in the open air. Nature intends that all the muscles of the body should be duly exercised, and this cannot be fully accomplished by riding either on horseback or in a carriage; as in neither case are the muscles of the lower extremities sufficiently exerted. A good rider mounted on a well trained horse, unless in hunting or other hard riding, experiences no more fatigue than a lady in a well hung and carefully cushioned carriage. Such apologies for exercise necessarily produce congestion of blood in the abdominal organs and lead to disease. Dancing, if, as in former times, practised on F 2 68 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES the green sward, would undoubtedly conduce to health ; but the confined air of a ball room often injures so far as to counteract, in a great degree, the good effects of this cheerful amusement. However, the exercise taken even in this man- ner in the fashionable world, doubtless makes some amends for the injurious effects of late hours and sedentary habits. It is true that we select the remedy which corresponds with the totality of symptoms, al- though we are not always certain which are the symptoms peculiar to the disease ; but the fact— that the remedy (in consequence of the dose be- ing very minute) can only act on the precise spot prepared, from its morbid susceptibility to re- ceive the impression,-insures the patient against the risk of injury in organs which are sound. Few cases of indigestion are treated by the old school without mercury: now the specific action of this powerful medicine on the liver, provoking an excessive flow of bile, induces a sluggish action as soon as the primary effect, the increased secretion of bile, has subsided—and, OF HOMOEOPATHY. 69 although the stimulating of an organ so near the stomach may for a time afford relief, on the prin- ciple of counter-irritation, the liver, in its turn, becomes affected, simply because the law is uni- versal, that increased action should be succeeded by diminished power: the liver becoming gorged with bile, is relieved by calomel or other mercu- rial preparation :-at length, by a repetition of similar infringements upon the law of nature, actual disease is produced in the liver itself; which at first sympathetically, and at length morbidly, affects the adjacent organs, and con- firmed dyspepsia is the melancholy result. Such instances are of every day occurrence, and must continue to be so until patients are convinced that physicians have hitherto acted on an erroneous system—a system indeed, which persons of a strong constitution may, for a time, bear without inconvenience, but under which the delicate invariably suffer. When it becomes generally admitted, and in time it must, for “magna est veritas et praeva- lebit,” that all diseases should be treated by re- 70 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES medies which are capable of producing analogous symptoms in a healthy person, and thus of ex- citing a reaction corresponding with the healthy action of the organ affected, we shall no longer have to encounter the complicated diseases which are caused solely by medicine, and are of every day occurrence. The altered color of the bile is often unjustly attributed to disorder of the liver, and medicines improperly administered in consequence of this assumption. Bile is often found of a green color in the gall bladder, although there has been no disease in the liver; and the appearance of the faeces varies considerably according to the nature of the food taken ; and when the bile has been long retained in the gall bladder, they are ne- cessarily of a darker hue. Thus we see that the varied tinge of the excretions does not always depend on an improper state of the biliary se– cretion; and, indeed, the nature of the food has a much greater influence on it than is generally supposed. The sympathy of the stomach with almost OF HOMOEOPATHY. 71 every other part of the system is universally ad- mitted. Thus we constantly find hoarseness and even cough arising from mere sympathy with a disordered stomach : hence, we ought at once to attend to the derangement of it—as functional disorders, if allowed to continue, often lead to organic disease, whether in the organ prima- rily affected, or in others which become so from sympathy. Neglected dyspepsia may lead to al- most every variety of disorder, and is a common cause of many very troublesome and distressing maladies. -- HEADACHE is one of the most common of the disorders arising from sympathy with a deranged stomach; and the ordinary plan of treating it by aperients is merely palliative, the original dis- ease of the stomach remaining unrelieved. This frequent and painful affection must be treated, as all others on the new system, by a remedy which corresponds not only with the symptoms connected with the stomach, but also with those answering precisely to the seat and description of pain experienced in the head. By pursuing 72 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES this plan, the most obstinate headaches, whether of an hysterical nature or not, may be either completely cured, or so much mitigated as to Occasion but little inconvenience. There are very few cases, indeed, of headache, however intense and frequent, which homoeopa- thy cannot either relieve, or permanently cure. Where our efforts fail, it is probable that some incurable disease of the brain, or some heredi- tary peculiarity of constitution, is latent in the system. A young woman was under my care for some time, who complained of severe head- aches. The pain occurred every four or five days, and had been so violent, that her hair had turned quite grey. She derived no benefit what- ever from the medicines I employed. On en- quiry, I found that her father had been subject all his life to severe headaches, which had re- sisted every remedial agent selected to effect a cure;—and that her brother suffered precisely in the same manner. “Indigestion may arise from depression or modification of the nervous influence; giving OF HOMOEOPATHY. 73 rise to imperfect or disordered action of the mus- cular coats of the stomach, or to a diminution or modified secretion of the gastric juice;—from a morbid state of the mucus secreted by the folli- cular glands of the stomach, either connected with or independently of irritation;–from inflam- matory irritation and various organic changes;– and sympathetically, from functional or structu- ral disease of adjoining or remote organs.” Indigestion frequently commences in a very insidious manner, the symptoms, at first, not appearing of sufficient moment to induce the patient even to regulate his diet. This simple precaution alone would often be sufficient to rec- tify slight disturbance of the digestive organs, but it is generally neglected until more objec- tionable means are resorted to, the baneful ef- fects of which have been already mentioned. There is reason to believe that diseases of the liver are sometimes hereditary, and that many of these would have been much milder in charac- ter, had not the parents of those so afflicted 74 PRACTICAL AIDVANTAGES been treated under the old system by the excess of mercury. Nothing can be less consonant with sound principles than the universal employment of mercury in trifling yellowness of the eyes or skin —JAUNDICE depends upon a variety of pathological states, and consequently demands the administration of different remedies; and Ayellowness, which is in reality a minor symptom of that disease, necessarily requires, as jaundice does, according to the doctrines of the new school, a variation in the means employed. If this symptom arise from different causes, how is it possible that one remedy can be appropriate to all the cases in which it occurs. Yet people often tamper with their health, to such a degree, as on the slightest approach of a “bilious” ap- pearance to have immediate recourse to mer- cury ; which, by procuring an increased dis- charge of bile, clears the complexion for a time, but as the cause generally remains unremoved, the benefit is but temporary. Many enlightened OF HOMOEOPATHY. 75 practitioners of the old school are well aware of this fact, but from the importunities of patients to obtain speedy relief, medical men are some- times induced to hazard the result of a merely palliative remedy. Those who oppose homoeopathy without hav- ing fully examined it, and in truth, all those who oppose it are of this class, attribute its success to DIET alone: supposing for a moment, that such cures as homoeopathy may, without pre- sumption, claim to itself, could be effected sim- ply by diet, it would reflect great disgrace upon the advocates for medicine; and, if diet is suffi- cient to cure all diseases, physicians should re- nounce their profession. Diet, however, cannot possibly account for the truly wonderful and al- most immediate beneficial results, in many dis- eases of children, and acute diseases of adults, nor for the favorable effects that have so often been observed in the treatment of animals;– and here the force of imagination, which has often been called in to account for the success of the treatment, is altogether visionary. 76 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES Without stopping further to discuss this ques- tion in reference to children or brute animals, we may confidently refer to many of our cases in Part II, which prove that the speedy and per- manent relief obtained was accomplished only by homoeopathic remedies, and that a mere sys- tem of dietetics would have been altogether un- availing. Dr. Bigel has given several instances in which diet effected no lasting benefit what- ever, but in which the treatment by homoeopa- thy has been successful. See Bigel, Ea'am. de l'Homoeopathie. But, although diet is insufficient to arrest dis- ease, unless of the mildest character, it is of great importance in warding off attacks. Atten- tion to diet is essentially mecessary, therefore, in early life, before the digestive organs acquire sufficient strength to assimilate any but the sim- plest food. The seeds of disease of the chylo- poietic viscera are often laid in the nursery, where instead of confining the diet of children to what nature intended for their use, they are often loaded with sweatmeats and confectionary, OF HOMOEOPATHY. 77 and that too, frequently, as a reward for what ought to have been done, regularly, in the per- formance of duty. The principle rule relating to diet is to take such things only as nourish without acting me- dicinally. In the treatment of acute diseases, this rule must be rigorously enforced, to avoid the risk of interrupting the action of remedial agents. Those in perfect health may resist the effect of the numerous condiments commonly employ– ed in cookery, and as long as the system remains strong, little harm may result from the moderate use of them : “condita omnia,” says Celsus, “du- abus de causis inutilia sunt ; quoniam et plus propter dulcedinem assumitur, et quod modo par est, tamen aegrius concoquitur.”—Lib. 1, p. 19. It is not therefore unreasonable to suppose, that food prepared to suit the taste of those who have long dwelt in hot climates, as often predis- poses to liver and stomach complaints, as the climate itself. “In warm climates, the modes of living—the 78 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES diet and regimen of Europeans are extremely prejudicial to the digestive functions. The quan- tity and nature of the food and drink usually taken, excite and irritate the stomach, liver, and intestinal canal, and exhaust their func- tions;–the states of indigestion, thus induced, soon passes into inflammation, or into organic changes, if neglected or injudiciously treated.” Copland, Practical Med. p. 133. These evils undoubtedly often result from natu- ral delicacy of the stomach; but, over indulgence in convivial pleasures is admitted, by all, to be one of the most fruitful sources of dyspepsia. Any thing which stimulates the stomach to inor- dinate action necessarily induces debility, when the stimulating effect has subsided ; hence spices, though serviceable in the digestion of that meal of which they form a part, render the stomach less able to bear the succeeding one. The stomach like other organs requires pe- riods of repose. It is therefore very desirable to observe regular hours for meals, and nothing should be taken between the hours of refresh- OF HOMOEOPATHY. 79 ment, since the supply of gastric juice required for the next meal is thereby exhausted, and the ordinary quantity of food then taken remains undigested until the secretory vessels have pro- vided an additional supply. Children often have their digestive organs weakened by the foolish practice of pampering them with cakes, &c. be- tween the hours of meals. The appetite is thus allayed, but the usual quantity of food is (from habit) consumed, and remains undigested, or occasions derangement of the stomach and its associated viscera. The whole process of digestion is extremely complicated, and may be said to commence, from the moment the morsel enters into the mouth, to undergo the process of mastication ; it then becomes saturated with saliva, and is prepared for the action of the gastric juice in the sto- mach. One of the most frequent causes of indiges– tion, is the common habit of eating fast. In this manner more food is inadvertently swal- lowed than can be digested, for (as proved by 80 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES Dr. Beaumont's experiments) only a certain quan- tity of gastric juice is secreted at a time; and, by eating too fast, more food is swallowed than the gastric juice prepared can dissolve ; whereas, when the food is swallowed slowly, the gastric juice has time to mix with it, and when the quantity secreted is exhausted, appetite ceases. “That the prevalence of over-eating is a general error in society, especially among the sedentary classes, is strongly presumable, even without di- rect proof, from two almost characteristic cir- cumstances, namely, the frequency of indiges– tion in one or other of its numerous forms, and the almost universal use of purgative medicines, with a view to remove from the system the su- perfluous materials which have been poured into it without any natural demand.” Combe on Di- gestion, p. 238. During digestion, the stomach requires an extraordinary supply of nervous energy, and also a proportional increase in the supply of blood. And we here have a striking exempli- fication of the wonderful arrangement of Pro- OF HOMOEOPATHY. 8] vidence, in placing a reservoir of blood, the spleen, to meet the increased demand made du- ring digestion; for if the blood were suddenly withdrawn from the general system, it would be so far weakened, as to incapacitate man for any exer- tion after a meal. The wisdom of the Creator is the more conspicuous in this, as we require food when the system is exhausted; and, were the ne— cessary supply of blood to be withdrawn from the general circulation, just when most needed, ex- treme debility would ensue. The facility afforded to the circulation, by the distention of the stomach causing the rugae to become obliterated and the tortuous vessels comparatively straight, furnish conclusive evidence of a provident and skilful adaptation of the means of supply, to secure the healthy and regular performance of one of the most important functions in the animal eco- nomy. Affections of the stomach doubtless depend often on disturbed nervous action, and hence, the state of the mind influences, in a very re- markable manner, the digestive powers. The G 82 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES effect of sudden joy or grief, on the appetite, is sufficient to elucidate this truth ; but the result is often so slow as to be scarcely perceptible un- til lasting injury is effected. Dr. Beaumont, of America, has made many ingenious experiments upon the subject of diges– tion, the results of which are so interesting and important, that they cannot be too widely circu- lated; I trust, therefore, that I shall be ex- cused for the insertion, in this work, of the following Extract taken from the “Dictionary of Practical Medicine.” Dr. Copland has evi- dently availed himself of the information con- tained in a work on the “Physiology of Diges– tion,” by Dr. Combe, of Edinburgh, – a work which deserves the attentive perusal of all who wish to become practically acquainted with the laws of the animal economy; and the means of controlling disease, and of improving and pre- serving health. “As Dr. Combe observes, the first requisite to digestion is an adequate supply of gastric juice, and its thorough admix- ture with every particle of the food on which it is to operate. OF HOMOEOPATHY. 83 The second is a steady temperature of about 98° or 100°Fahr. The third is the gentle and continued agitation of the alimen- tary mass in the stomach during the digestive process.-Much light has been thrown upon the function of digestion, and consequently upon disorders of this function, by the experi- ments of Dr. Beaumont, of America, on St. Martin, a strong young Canadian, who was wounded in the left side, a fistulous opening into the stomach remaining without detriment to the general health. For some months after the wound, the food could be retained only by wearing a compress and bandage; but early in winter, a small fold or doubling of the villous coat began to appear, which gradually increased till it filled the aperture and acted as a valve, so as completely to prevent any efflux from within, but to admit of being easily pushed back by the finger from without. Dr. Beaumont describes the aperture in St. Martin's sto- mach as being situated about three inches to the left of the cardia, near the left or superior termination of the great cur- wature. When the stomach was nearly empty, he was able to examine its cavity, to the depth of five or six inches by artifi- cial distention. When it was entirely empty, the stomach was always contracted on itself, and the valve generally forced through the orifice, together with a portion of the mucous membrane, equal in bulk to a hem’s egg. After sleeping for a few hours on the left side, the protruded portion became so much larger, as to spread over the neighbouring integuments G 2 84 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES five or six inches in circumference, fairly exhibiting the matu- ral rugae, villous membrane, and mucous coat, liming the gas- tric cavity. This appearance was almost invariably exhibited in the morning before rising in bed. The first point which Dr. Beaumont conclusively settled is, that the gastric juice does not continue to be secreted between the intervals of digestion, and does not accumulate, to be ready for acting upon the next meal. The next which he established is that in health, the gastric secretion always bears a direct relation to the quantity of aliment maturally required by the system ; so that if more than this be taken, there will be too small a supply of the juice for the digestion of the whole. Dr. Beaumont further ascertained that the gastric secretion, and the villous coat, undergo great changes during disease. In the course of his attendance on St. Martin, he had oppor- tunities of seeing what was actually going on in the organ, and of observing, that whenever a feverish state was induced by obstructed perspiration, or by stimulating liquors, or by overloading the stomach; and that when influenced by fear, anger, or other emotions, depressing or disturbing the ner- vous system, the villous coat became sometimes red and dry, and at others, pale and moist, having lost its smooth and healthy appearance. As a necessary consequence, the secre- tions became vitiated, impaired, or suppressed ; and the follicles, secreting the mucus which protects the surface of the villous coat, became flaccid, and no longer yielded this OF HOMOEOPATHY. 85 bland secretion. The nervous and vascular papillae thus de- prived of their defensive shield were then subjected to undue irritation. When these diseased appearances were consider- able, the system sympathised, and dryness of the mouth, thirst, quickened pulse, &c., showed themselves; and no gastric juice could be procured or extracted, even on the ap- plication of the usual stimulus of food. The dry, irritated appearance of the villous coat, and the absence of the healthy gastric secretion in the febrile state, as Dr. Combe has re- marked, not only explain at once the want of appetite, nau- sea, and uneasiness generally felt in the region of the stomach; but also show the folly of attempting to sustain strength, by forcing the patient to eat, when the food cannot be digested, and when nature instinctively refuses to receive it. The inferences, drawn from the experiments and observa- tions of Dr. Beaumont and others, that more immediately concern the subject under consideration, may be stated as follows:— 1. That the processes of mastication, insalivation, and de- glutition are important, not merely as subjecting the food to the gastric juice in a state of due preparation for its action, but also as allowing time for the regular contraction of the stomach upon each individual morsel conveyed into it, as well as transmitting the food in small portions at a time, so as to prevent a too rapid or excessive, and injurious distention of the organ.— 86 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES 2. That the gastric juice is the agent of chymifaction; that it is secreted from vessels distinct from the mucous follicles; that it is a clear transparent fluid, without odour, a little salt, and perceptibly acid; and that it contains free hydrochloric acid, a little acetic acid, and some other active chemical prin- ciples.— 3. That this juice is never found free in the stomach, but is always excited to discharge itself by food or other irritants; that it is seldom obtained pure, but generally mixed with mucus, and sometimes with saliva; and that, when pure, it is capable of being kept for months, or even years.— 4. That it is a solvent of food, and alters its properties; that it checks the progress of putrefaction, corrects putrid substances, coagulates albumen and milk, and afterwards dis- solves the coagula; and that it commences its action on food as soon as it comes in contact with it. — 5. That it is capable of combining with a certain fixed quantity of food; and when more is presented for its action than it will dissolve, indigestion will ensue; and that its ac- tion is facilitated by the warmth and motions of the stomach, these motions taking place chiefly in two directions, trans- versely and longitudinally.— 6. That the gastric juice is modified in quantity, and probably in its intimate constitution, so as to suit the kind of food; and hence the occurrence of indigestion on sudden alterations of the kinds, quality, and quantity of food.— OF HOMOEOPATHY. 87 7. That the action of the stomach and of its fluids is the same on all kinds of diet; and that the motions of the sto- mach produce a constant admixture of food and gastric juice, and thereby facilitate digestion.— 8. That solid food of a certain texture, is easier of diges- tion than fluid : that animal and farinaceous aliments are more digestable than vegetable ; but that susceptibility of digestion does not depend altogether upon natural or chemi- cal distinctions.— 9. That digestion is facilitated by minuteness of division and tenderness of fibre, and retarded by opposite qualities.— 10. That the ultimate principles of aliment are always the same, from whatever food they may be obtained.— 11. That chyme is homogeneous, but variable in its color and consistence; and that, towards the latter stages of chy- mification, it becomes more acid and stimulating, and passes more rapidly from the stomach.- 12. That soups and other liquid food do not call into play the muscular coat of the stomach; and before the gastric juice can act upon them, the fluid part must be absorbed and the mass thickened to a proper consistence for undergoing the usual churning motion; and, consequently, that this kind of food often gives rise to acidity, particularly in weak states of the stomach.- 13. That, owing to the adaptation of the gastric juice to the nature of the food, sudden or extreme changes from one 88 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES kind of diet to another is injurious; for the stomach has not had time to modify its secretions sufficiently to meet the altered demand upon its powers.-- 14. That water, ardent spirits, and most other fluids, are not affected by the gastric juice, but pass from the stomach soon after they have been received; that heating condiments are injurious to the healthy stomach; and that the use of spirits always causes disease of this organ, if persevered in.— 15. That bulk, as well as nutriment, is necessary to arti- cles of diet; and that digestibility does not depend upon the quantity of nutrient principles that aliments contain.— 16. That the quantity of food generally taken is more than the wants of the system require; and that such excess, if per- severed in, generally produces functional disorder, and conse- quently, organic disease.— 17. That oily food is difficult of digestion, though it con- tains a large proportion of nutrient principles.— 18. That bile is not usually found in the stomach, and is not necessary for the digestion of food; but that when oily food is used, it assists digestion.— 19. That gentle exercise facilitates digestion; and that the acetic, citric, and hydrochloric acids promote this process, par- ticularly if vegetables and indigestible substances have been taken.— 20. That the time required for the stomachic digestion de- pends upon the quantity and kind of food, and upon the state OF HOMOEOPATHY. 89 of the stomach; that the time required for the disposal of a moderate meal, in a healthy state of the organ, varies from three hours to three hours and a half or four hours; and that in states of indigestion, the process is delayed much longer than this, particularly as respects the more indigestible sub- stances.— 21. That a diminution of the temperature of the stomach below 98° impedes digestion: and that the temperature of the organ is not necessarily elevated by the process.- 22. That whatever promotes organic nervous power, with- out exhausting it, favours digestion, as breathing a dry pure air, hilarity of mind, moderate laughter, &c.— 23. That the organic or ganglial nervous influence is more concerned in the process of digestion, than the influence con- veyed to the stomach by the eighth pair of nerves; and that the circulating, absorbing, and especially the secreting func- tions of the organ are under the dominion of the former, whilst the sensibility and muscular contractions are directed by the latter.” The TREATMENT OF DISEASE, on homoeopa- thic principles, is certainly much more difficult than that according to the general practice. For in addition to all the inquiries usually necessary as to morbid phenomena, the pathogenetic effects 90 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES of medicines must be borne in mind, and the vari- ous symptoms relative to the organs affected must be carefully compared. A complete knowledge of the MATERIA ME- DICA PURA is the ground work of the labors of the homoeopathic student. This knowledge, in which the usual works on the subject of phar- macy are necessarily defective, has been acquired by experiments on the healthy subject so fre- quently repeated, under every possible variety of circumstance, that the positive effects of nu- merous medicines have been ascertained with the greatest accuracy. With this information carefully stored in his mind, the homoeopathic practitioner has to select the most important symptoms of the disease; and apply the remedy which his previous studies have taught him will produce similar symptoms, if taken by a healthy person. The knowledge of anatomy and physiology is absolutely requisite to detect the charac- teristic symptoms of the disease, and to select the remedy best adapted to overcome the consti- OF HOMOEO PATHY. 91 tutional disturbance, and meet the peculiar ex- igencies of the case. Without this knowledge the physician would be in great danger of misun- derstanding his case altogether, and of applying his treatment to appearances which, although more prominent, were merely symptomatic of less apparent, but more important derangement. The dose of the remedy should be such as is sufficient to overcome the disease, without occa- sioning aggravation, which should be avoided as much as possible. Notwithstanding every en- deavour, however, slight aggravation will some- times occur, which, if transient, is not injurious to the patient, and at least proves that the re- medy is appropriate to the case. It is very important, in the administration of homoeopathic remedies, to allow one medicine to exhaust its action before another is adminis- tered, unless improvement be stationary. In this case, it is proper either to alter the dilution of the remedy employed, or to prescribe some other in accordance with the remaining symptoms, the physician having ascertained whether they truly 92 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES belong to the disease itself or are merely the transient effects of the medicines administered. In the latter case the symptoms should generally be allowed to subside of themselves; but, if trou– blesome, an antidote may be given. The delineation of the case, so as to embrace the essential symptoms only, is as difficult as the choice of the remedy to correspond with them. Accuracy and expertness in this department are only to be acquired by experience in the homoe- opathic practice;—and here the practitioner of the old school is likely to fail in his first attempts; for, by generalising too much, he omits charac- teristic symptoms which are the best guide to the appropriate remedy. A perfect habit of observa- tion and a correct judgment are, then, essential to the homoeopathic physician :—for unless an exact portrait of the disease be obtained, and a due estimate of the relative value of the symp- toms be made, it will be impossible, except by conjecture, to select the remedy which, by cor- responding to those symptoms, can overcome the disease :—since, if the symptoms have not been OF HOMOEOPATHY. 93 properly observed, the remedy however accu- rately it may harmonize with them, cannot avail any thing in the treatment; as they do not re- semble the real disease, but a portrait errone- ously drawn of it. The genius of Hahnemann, and his previous complete acquaintance with the groundwork of the old system, enable him, often perhaps without being conscious of it, to detect the hidden causes of disease ; and thus apply his treatment to the organ immediately affected, instead of confining himself to the most salient symptoms. I had numerous opportunities of convincing myself of the truth of this opinion when attending the practice of the founder of homoeopathy; and among others I would men- tion the following case:—The patient, a young nobleman, had for some time been spitting blood and pus, and his disease was declared to be phthisis supervening on inflammation of the lungs. He had become extremely emaciated, and the nocturnal perspirations were excessive ; 94 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES all who had been previously called in considered the case to be hopeless. Hahnemann being at length applied to, after examining the patient with the utmost care, declared that the physicians who had been consulted were in error with re- gard to the seat of the disease, that the liver was the organ affected, that the disease was an abscess in the liver, and that the pus having pierced the diaphragm, was passing into the lungs to be evacuated through the air passages. Had I witnessed but this single instance of the pene- tration of the “Sage of Cothen,” I should have remained impressed with admiration of his extraordinary talent. At the commencement of the patient's illness I gave it as my opinion that an abscess was forming in the liver, but the symptoms assumed so completely a pulmonary character, that I at length was induced to fall in with the view of those who had considered the lungs to be the principal seat of disease. The treatment recommended by Hahnemann per- fectly succeeded, the patient recovered in a few OF HOMOEOPATHY. 95 weeks, is now in excellent health, and has been in active naval service for the last four or five years, without any relapse. It will thus be seen that Hahnemann has been most unjustly accused of neglecting the aid which anatomy and physiology afford; this should lead those who, in their ignorance, have rejected homoeopathy, to remember that the “ accessory sciences” are constantly required in practising it, and that Hahnemann himself was a most success- ful practitioner of the old system, until he became convinced that the principle on which he acted was an unsound one. His discoveries in che- mistry alone would have insured him celebrity. Many persons who have received no medi- cal education do much injury to the cause of homoeopathy by administering remedies in every case that may come under their notice, and their failures, which must necessarily be very nume- rous, bring homoeopathy into discredit. Those however who reside at a distance from a medical practitioner should be prepared for sudden emer- gencies, and here, even in the hands of the least 96 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES skilful, the remedies employed in the practice of homoeopathy are better than those used under the old system, for much good may be effected without the risk of injury, until the arrival of one competent to judge of the nature of the dis- ease, and the treatment best adapted for its re- lief. Beyond the management of the most sim- ple ailments, no one who has not been practi. cally educated ought to attempt to interfere. A knowledge of the remedies to be adminis- tered at the onset of dangerous diseases is of the highest importance,—for by a judicious se- lection, an acute disorder may be immediately removed; and those who reside at a distance from medical men, should acquire such preliminary knowledge, as will enable them to arrest the disease, until the requisite assistance can be pro- cured. I have, in the preceding pages, endeavoured fairly and clearly to state the leading principles of homoeopathy, to answer the principal objec- OF HOMOEOPATHY. 97 tions that have been advanced against it, and to point out many of the practical advantages re- Sulting from its pursuit —I must, now, refer my reader to the second PART of this work, in which he will find the truth of my statements corroborated by cases which have fallen under my own care. Those cases are faithfully nar- rated: and the results of my practice, have impressed upon my mind the firm belief, that, were experiments on homoeopathy conscienti- ously made after a sufficient preliminary study of the system, "no medical man could possibly resist the evidence of facts that would daily be brought before him. I may here be allowed to remark, that I did not embrace the system of HAHNEMANN until I had given it my best attention; that, before ar- riving at my present opinions, I had to abandon the opinions and practices in which I had been regularly educated; and, that I am now tho- roughly convinced that the principles of homoe- opathy are sound and invincible, and that its H 98 PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES practice is calculated, in an eminent degree, mildly and effectually to remove or alleviate the sufferings of the human race. I should very ill discharge the duty I owe to DR. SAMUEL HAHNEMANN, the FoundER of this system, now in his eighty-sixth year, did I not gratefully acknowledge the important advantages I have derived from his personal instruction. In common with others who have had similar op- portunities, I have admired the disinterestedness of his actions; the caution with which he ex- amined opinions, and the clearness and honesty of his statements; and, I am convinced that his great object through life has been the attain- ment and promulgation of truth, that he might deserve the esteem of the wise and the benevo- lent, and contribute to promote the happiness of his fellow men in every rank and condition of & society. Those who have practised homoeopathy will not object to award to Hahnemann the highest meed of approbation—nor will they hesitate to OF HOMOEOPATHY. 99 claim for him the noblest honors—and therefore, by substituting the name of SAMUEL HAHNE- MANN, the venerable Founder of Homoeopathy, for that of JoBN HUNTER, the great Anatomist and Physiologist, they adopt, as well suited to the occasion, the very eloquent language of a learned Professor of Anatomy, taken from the Hunterian Oration, delivered on the 15th Feb- ruary, 1840. - “We claim for him the enlightened approba- tion of those whose scientific attainments enable them to appreciate his transcendent merits : we claim for him the gratitude of mankind : and, if it be in any proportion to the benefit conferred, they will award to him the name of a benefactor, as having enlarged the boundaries, multiplied the resources, and elevated the aims of a science, eminently calculated for the benefit, and exclusively devoted to remove or alleviate the ills, of suffering man.”—Vital Dynamics, p. 4. THE PRACTICAL ADVAN TA GEs OF HOMOEOPATHY. PART II. CASES AND OBSERVATIONS. IN the former part of this work I have attempted to shew the practical advantages of homoeopa- thy. I now present to the reader a series of cases to illustrate and corroborate the opinions I have there advocated. It should be carefully borne in mind that the following CASEs are adduced simply as evidence of the truth of the principle “ similia similibus curantur;” and I have generally selected those in which the usual means had failed, or only produced palliative effects. I might have added greatly to the number, but I have purposely 102 CASES AND confined myself chiefly to those cases, the suc- cess of which was evidently the result of the remedies administered, and which, if left solely to the unaided efforts of nature would probably have been either distressingly protracted, or extremely dangerous. As this work is not intended as a guide to the practitioner in the selection of remedies; but mainly as an exposition of the principles of the system, and as a general outline of the practical benefits arising from its pursuit; the cases are not given so fully in detail as would otherwise have been necessary, the statement of the re- sults being alone considered essential. HEAD ACHE. A YouNG LADY consulted me, in March, 1835, in consequence of severe headache, from which she had suffered for eight years. The pain gene- rally commenced in the morning on getting up ; it was an incessant, dull, wearing, and aching pain, in the forehead, immediately over the eyes, OBSERVATIONS. 103 attended with intolerance of light. During the pain, the scalp was tender to the touch, and the hands shook so that she could not lift the cup to her lips without spilling the contents. A walk in the open air often relieved the pain for a time; but she was seldom altogether free from it. The catamenia were irregular and attended with much pain; she had constant thirst. Pulsatilla and Graphites restored the catame- nia to their natural state, but the headaches continued unabated in severity until after the administration of Natrum Muriat., which so completely relieved her, that, with one or two slight exceptions, she has remained free from the attacks ever since. A YOUNG GENTLEMAN, aged eight, had been for two years subject to attacks of excruciating pain in the head, which had not been benefited by any plan devised for the patient's relief. He complained of giddiness and a sense of fulness, which ended in the most acute pain. Carbo Veget, which causes congestion of the 104 CASES AND brain, was administered, and speedily produced a diminution of the patient's sufferings, and in a short time permanently relieved them. A little Boy, aged six years, with pale com- plexion and light hair, had been affected with hooping cough six months previously to my being consulted; and, from that time, had suf- fered from frequent attacks of the most violent pain in the head. The pain was excruciating, chiefly in the forehead, coming on suddenly, and lasting for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour at a time, during which the lad pressed his hands on his forehead and screamed violently. I gave him a minute dose of Nux Womica in the evening; and he had an attack of headache in the night, which had never before occurred. The three following days it also returned, but diminished in intensity, and in less than a week had entirely ceased. For more than two years the child experienced no return of the com- plaint ; since which period I have not seen him. A case of excruciating headache, originating OBSERVATION S. 105 in a fall on the head, came under my notice two years ago. The patient was a GARDENER, about forty years of age. The pain occurred two or three times a day, in paroxysms which lasted fre- quently an hour each time, and left a sense of great debility with palpitation. Leeches to the temples, blisters behind the ears, purgatives, and even a seton had been ineffectually employed, as well as Carbonate of Iron and Quinine. No relief having been obtained I was applied to ; and, at first, administered Belladonna, which kept off the attack for three weeks; Carbo Veg. was then given, and the pain did not return for nearly six months ; the remedy was repeated and the malady overcome; slight pain being experienced only on sudden changes of the weather. E.A.R.A.C.H.E. Earache is common in delicate children, and may often be arrested by a remedy which cor- responds with the kind of inflammation peculiar 106 CASES AND to this affection. Pulsatilla is the most com- monly successful in these cases. As the fre- quent occurrence of this disease however indi- cates derangement of the system, a treatment calculated to improve the general health is the only one likely to secure the patient from re- lapse. TOOTHACHIE. Toothache, arising from the exposure of a nerve in a carious tooth, cannot always be per- manently subdued. In most instances, however, it may be speedily relieved, by a remedy which harmonizes with the precise character of the pain. Antipsoric medicines subsequently ad- ministered, by destroying the morbid suscepti- bility of the exposed nerve, render relapses of rare occurrence. In ordinary toothache without, or only with slight, exposure of the nerve, the pain is often almost suddenly removed by the appropriate remedy. This is not always easily discovered, as a vast number of medicines oc- OBSERVATIONS. 107 casion pain in the nerves of the teeth and face; and unless the medicine administered be capable of producing exactly the description of pain experienced, no satisfactory results can be ob- tained. A vast number of cases, in which toothache occurred on slight exposure to cold, have come under my notice, and the tendency to relapse has been almost entirely removed by homoeo- pathic means. Antipsoric remedies are generally required to produce permanent benefit. A YouNG womAN had for many years suf- fered from toothache, occurring on almost every exposure to cold. Many of her teeth were decayed. During a paroxysm of severe pain I administered Chamomilla, which soon relieved her. In order to guard against a re- turn, I gave Calcarea in solution. More than three years have elapsed, and she has not suf- fered the least from toothache, although often exposed to wet and cold. 108 CASES AND SERO US AIPOPLEXY. A LADY, about thirty, in delicate health, under strong mental excitement, was suddenly seized with dizziness and confusion of thought; but shortly afterwards recovered so far as to be able to converse: in the course of two hours, however, she fell into a state of stupor, which gra- dually became confirmed, and in which she con- tinued for nearly a fortnight; during that period she had frequently severe convulsive paroxysms which affected only the left side of the body, the right being completely paralysed. It was evi- dent that there existed pressure on the brain, probably from serum effused into the ventricles by the rupture of absorbent vessels, as the com- plete and speedy recovery could not have taken place, at least so soon, had the pressure been occasioned by the effusion of blood. I had almost relinquished hope, in this case ; but homoeopathy triumphed over the disease. The constitution of the patient was exceedingly OBSERVATIONS. 109 delicate; and it may fairly be assumed, that the active treatment imperatively demanded under the old system would have entirely overpowered the vital energy—the Wis medicatria naturae—or rendered it altogether inadequate to the re-es- tablishment of its healthy function. Under the use of Aconitum, Belladonna, Ipecacuanha, and Cocculus, the patient gradually recovered her faculties; and, although the pa- ralysed limbs were not immediately restored, in about three months afterwards almost every trace of this most serious illness had disappeared. ACUTE HYDRO CEPHALUS. A CHILD, aged three years, was attacked with inflammation of the meninges of the brain, which terminated in effusion into the ventricles. I never had an opportunity of seeing the child, but such was the description of the disease given by two medical men who attended the patient, and who, after they had done every thing they 1 1 0 CASES ANT) could devise without success, declared the case hopeless, and discontinued their visits. The clergyman of the parish, whose lady had been under my care, seeing that the medical men had given up the case, and had dis- continued their attendance upon the little suf- ferer, applied to me, and stated every par- ticular. I directed that at first Aconitum dis- solved in water, one teaspoonful every half-hour, should be administered, until the quickness of the pulse was lessened; and then that Belladonna should be given in the same man- ner. Under this treatment, pursued for some days, the child improved; and, at the end of a fortnight, had completely recovered. AFFECTIONS OF THE EYE. The eye is so delicate an organ that an error in diagnosis might, in some cases, lead to loss of sight. I have, therefore, hitherto confined my treatment to affections of the eye which evi- OBSERVATION S. 1 11 dently did not require the judgment of an experienced oculist. I will merely advert to two of the cases upon which I have been consulted:—the one is that of a LITTLE GIRL, aged five, who suffered from scrofulous ophthalmia, of considerable standing; which, at length, terminated in an ulcer of the size of a lentil seed on the conjunctiva, at the edge of the cornea. The intolerance of light was such that I had some difficulty in ascer- taining the state of the eye. I was afraid the ulcer would spread to the cornea itself, and thus permanently impair vision. Under the use of Belladonna, Hepar. Sulph. and Calc. Carb., the inflammation gradually subsided, the ulcer healed, and the patient can now bear a powerful light. The other case was that of a MARRIED wom AN, about forty, who had suffered, for some months, from weakness of sight, which had greatly increased whilst nursing her infant. The patient complained of inability to distinguish 1 12 CASES AND objects clearly even at the shortest distance. She stated that a large black spot before her eyes obstructed vision, and she complained of headache, and great sinking in the epigastric region. Under the influence of Ignatia and China she, in the course of a few weeks, gradually recovered the complete power of vision. Two years have elapsed and her sight remains perfectly good. HYPO CHON DRIASIS. A MARRIED WOMAN, aged thirty-two, con- sulted me in October, 1837. Four years pre- viously she had lost a child; and, whilst watching it during its illness, was suddenly seized with terrific apprehensions. From that period she became very low spirited and dreaded being alone ; and imagining she was pursued by an evil spirit, she ran from room to room, and felt as if she must fly from all around her. She experienced a throbbing headache and a feeling as if the eyes would burst, and fancied that she OBSERVATION S. - 1 13 A “saw a spot on her forehead which passed down to the stomach;” she had thirst, and occasionally slight shivering. This state was completely relieved, in about three months, by the employment of Platina, Belladonna, Tinct. Sulph., Stramonium, and Phosphorus. The patient, although naturally of a nervous temperament, has remained to the present time free from the malady, and is now in very good health. A GENTLEMAN in the city, aged thirty-five, engaged in laborious mental exertions, com- plained of great weakness of sight with dizziness; occasionally, the power of vision suddenly for- sook him for many seconds. He suffered also from head–ache attended with a dragging sensa- tion extending from the eyes to the back of the head. His sleep was disturbed; his spirits were greatly depressed; and he felt a desire to be alone, and in the dark. He complained that his memory of late had become defective. l 14 CASES AND The remedy I considered most appropriate to the case, Nux Womica, was of immediate benefit. The nervous system became tranquil, the spirits improved, and he was able to write and read with but little inconvenience. Chamomilla was given to relieve biliary disturbance, and Nux Womica afterwards repeated, which, in about six weeks, completely dispersed the remaining evils. NOISES IN THE HEAD. Noises in the head without any defect of hearing, are often completely relieved by ho- moeopathic remedies, especially by Petroleum and Aurum; but many are quite beyond the reach of medicine, and, in all probability, chiefly so, because the nervous power has become weakened by narcotic remedies employed under the old practice; which, though procuring tem- porary relief, afterwards increase the irritability of the whole system. OBSERVATIONS. l l 5 NERVO US DEAFN ESS. Nervous deafness is often under the control of homoeopathy. Many cases are, however, but temporarily cured, owing perhaps to the neglect of professional assistance. I found Phosphorus and Aurum of the greatest service, in a case, in which a sensation as of a kettle boiling, was very distressing, and the hearing extremely imperfect, especially in damp weather. The power of hearing was perfectly restored, except in a rainy season, when it was somewhat impeded. EPILEPSY. Several cases of epilepsy have presented them- selves to my notice, and have been permanently benefited by the homoeopathic remedies ad- ministered. I will first advert to the case of a YouNG LADY in whom epileptic fits had oc- curred for about nine years, latterly every eighth I 2 | | 6 CASES AND or tenth day, though, at first, only every month. In the interval between the attacks, there was great excitement of the nervous system on ex- ertion, whether mental or bodily, with frequent headache. During the first two months of the treatment no improvement was perceptible. Then the attacks occurred only every three weeks. After the fourth month there was an interval of three months between the attacks. Six months then elapsed without any fit; and it is now more than twelve months since the last paroxysm occurred. It may be supposed that the disease is arrested, as the nervous system has become much less irritable and the general health is greatly im- proved; the bowels, which never before acted without medicine, now relieve themselves natu- rally. The remedies I employed in this case were Belladonna and Agaricus Muscarius; the patient is now taking Hep. Sulph. for the relief of hepatic derangement. OBSERVATION S. l 17 I have now a YouNG GENTLEMAN, aged eighteen, under my care, for the treatment of this distressing malady. When first consulted about three years ago, the fits occurred regularly every twenty-eighth day. Under the influence of Silicea they imme- diately ceased for three months; no fit having taken place until the youth imprudently received several electric shocks, which produced a slight return of the malady on the following morning. The patient, however, continued the medicine; but had another fit three months afterwards, and another in six weeks from that time; after which he continued free from any attack for nearly two years. Contrary to my wish he left off taking any medicine, and paid little regard to his health. The fits returned three or four times in rapid succession, but were arrested by Agaricus Mus- carius and Argentum; and the youth has been more than four months without any attack; by perseverance I have little doubt of effecting a permanent cure. 1 | 8 CASES AND HYSTERIA. A YOUNG LADY, aged twenty-one, consulted me in September, 1838, having been for some time very much out of health ; and even from the age of twelve, when she was afflicted with chorea, she had been very nervous, and been subject to hysteric fits. She complained of dragging pain at the pit of the stomach, which • ascended to the front and sides of the neck. After excitement the left arm became quite numb, and there was great difficulty in moving it until it had been rubbed, feeling as if paralysed. The left leg was affected in a similar manner, though in a less degree. The patient complained of frequent giddiness, and of a sensation as of blood rushing to the head, attended with throbbing pain, and frequent dimness of sight. Violent palpitation of the heart was produced by the least excitement, accompanied by a burning sensation extending down the left arm ; and convulsive fits often succeeded the attacks of OBSERVATION S. 1 19 palpitation. She was liable to frequent spasms in the bowels. The catamenia were scanty and not continuous; the pulse ninety-six, weaker in the left than the right wrist. - Pulsatilla was the remedy I selected, as cor- responding with the majority of the symptoms. On the 28th of October she stated that she felt better in every respect; the periods had regularly occurred. The same remedy was for a time continued, but Cocculus Indicus was subse- quently given; and, with the exception of a violent attack of palpitation on the 24th of Nov., nothing untoward occurred. Under the influence of Graphites and Causticum the health was com- pletely re-established, and still remains so. PARALYSIS. Paralysis is frequently within the reach of homoeopathy; but as it often depends on in- curable organic disease in the brain, or spinal marrow, some cases can only be partially bene- fited. Of this class is the case of a SURGEON, | 20 CASES AN ID who had been for some years afflicted with hemiplegia and paralysis of the sphincter vesicae. The latter symptom was the most distressing, as it incapacitated the patient from entering into society. g- There was little hope of relieving the hemi- plegia; but under the employment of Belladonna, Nux Womica, and Causticum, the most promi- nently distressing symptom was permanently relieved. This gentleman died suddenly from organic disease of the heart; but the last two years of his life were rendered comfortable by the cure of the paralytic affection of the sphincter vesicae. Incipient hemiplegia, occurring gradually, is often under the control of homoeopathic remedies. I may instance the case of a courſ ER, who had very great weakness of the right arm and leg; and who recovered their use entirely under the employment of Cocculus, Nux Womica, and Causticum. O BSERVATION S. 121 TIC DO ULO UREUX. The Tic douloureua is often speedily and radically cured by homoeopathic medicines, after the usual narcotic and other remedies have been ineffectually employed. A YouNG LADY who consulted me more than three years ago, had suffered nearly two years from repeated, indeed, almost continued attacks of this distressing malady. The pain was con- fined to the nerves of the face, and was of a dull character; frequently, however, severe and lan- cinating. Under the use of Belladonna, which corres- ponded accurately with the symptoms, the pain subsided in the course of two or three days, and did not return until about ten months ago, when the same remedy, in a few hours, arrested the pain, and it has not since returned. It must be admitted that some cases of tie douloureux, of long continuance, depending, 122 CASES AND probably, on organic change in the brain or nerve itself, may baffle all our attempts to cure them, and admit only of palliative measures. Such cases, indeed, are not unfrequent ; they are often found to result from some mechanical irritant, as a spicula of bone or tumour pressing upon the origin of a nerve, either of which will satisfactorily account for the failure of the re- medies that may have been selected during the treatment of the disease. NEURALGIA. A species of erratic neuralgia seems lately to have much increased in frequency, and may, in some instances, be traced to the use of strong tea, especially green tea, taken at all hours of the day even on an empty stomach, which in this country is now too often the case; and also to the abuse of wine or spirits. When the coeliac plexus becomes implicated, the disease, though it may be palliated, is seldom radically cured; but OBSERVATION S. 123 if treated in the early period on the homoeo- pathic principle, it is usually arrested in its progress. I was consulted about three years ago by Two PATIENTS suffering from this complaint, in about the same stage of the disease. In the one, who followed strictly the treatment I prescribed, the neuralgic pains have almost completely subsided, occurring only, and that but slightly, under great excitement. In the other case, the patient not being willing to persevere in the necessary treatment sufficiently long, tried in succession all the palliatives recommended by the old school, and obtained temporary relief; but is now in an incurable state, and can only procure uncertain and partial alleviation of his sufferings, by re- peated doses of opium, under which the con- stitution, originally a very strong one, is gradually sinking. GLAN DULAR AFFECTION S. Induration and enlargement of the glands of 124 CASES AND the neck have generally been removed under homoeopathic treatment, after the means usually employed had been unsuccessful. I may here particularly advert to the case of a YOUNG LADY of rank and great beauty who had suffered for two years from the enlargement and indura- tion of the glandulae concatenatae. This affection not only occasioned considerable disfigurement, but often obstructed the exercise of her vocal powers, which were of a superior order. In the course of a few weeks the glands were reduced to their natural state, under the action chiefly of Belladonna and Tinct. Sulph. Sudden inflammatory swelling of the sub- maxillary glands is usually subdued without difficulty by homoeopathic remedies; but, in such cases, suppuration and, subsequently, ulceration are often induced by the employ– ment of leeches. The vessels, more especially those of the lymphatic system, being thereby weakened, become incapable of propelling their contents, and hence, particularly in the absorbents, the fluid becomes inspissated, and OBSERVATIONS. 125 obstruction, and swelling consequent upon it, are the result. Cases of this nature are of such frequent occurrence that there is some difficulty in giving one in particular, by way of illustration. The following may be cited to prove the efficiency of homoeopathic practice. A YouNG LADY of a delicate constitution was suffering from enlargement and inflamma- tion of the submarillary glands. A surgeon of eminence suggested the application of leeches, and the adoption of other antiphlogistic mea- sures; but the suggestion was not acted upon. I was consulted upon the case, and prescribed for the patient. In a few days, by the employ- ment of Aconite and warm formentations, the inflammation was subdued, and the swelling subsided, and has not returned, although nearly two years have since elapsed. QUIN SY. A You NG LADY, aged ten, was seized, about 126 CASES AN ID two years ago, with inflammation of the tonsils, which rapidly increased so as to occasion a dread of Suffocation. On examining the throat I found the tonsils enormously swelled so as almost to touch one another. The little patient was com- pelled to sit up in bed with the mouth open and the tongue protruded; the eyes were suffused, and as if starting from their sockets, the pulse 130. I was apprehensive that in this stage of the disease nothing would arrest its course, and feeling that the least increase in the size of the inflamed tonsils would instantly produce a fatal result, I prepared for the operation of puncturing them. In the mean time, a dose of Aconitum was administered, and soon afterwards Bella- donna, in solution. The effect exceeded my expectations; the fever became less, the swelling of the tonsils gradually subsided, and without suppuration the parts returned to a normal state. Thus a disease, which threatened the existence of the patient, was overcome in the course of forty-eight hours. Carbo Veget. and other antipsoric medicines were afterwards adminis- OBSERVATIONS. 127 tered, and the result has been that, although previously very liable to such attacks, she has remained free from them ever since. TJLCERATED SORE THROAT. I was called to a case of ulcerated sore throat in a YouNG woman, who had neglected to apply for medical aid. On examining the throat I found the entire surface greatly inflamed, and accompanied with ulceration of the tonsils. The ulcer in the left tonsil was sufficiently deep to have admitted a hazel nut in the sore, the surface was foul, the edges were of a purple hue; the pulse 130 in a minute, and small; the tongue brown; the patient suffered from thirst and headache. The general inflammation was speedily sub- dued by Aconitum and Belladonna. Mercurius was then administered, under the use of which the surface of the ulcer assumed a healthy aspect, so that in twenty-four hours this serious case was 128 CASES AND divested of its alarming symptoms. Healthy gra- nulations continued to form, and nature, aided by Carb. Veg., cicatrized the wound in a few days, CROUP. Among the triumphs of homoeopathy may be ranked the subjugation of that disease so dreaded by all mothers—the croup. The mild means resorted to under this system are effectual in subduing the complaint, and do not weaken the part affected, so that relapses are much less fre- quent than when the old means are employed. An INFANT, six months old, after having been affected a day or two with a common cold, was suddenly seized with the crowing inspiration characteristic of this alarming disease ; the symptoms rapidly increased, until it was evident that the false membrane was filling up the trachea. In consultation with my friend Dr. Belluomini, we agreed on employing Aconitum, Spongia, OBSERVATION S. 129 Hep. Sulph., and Phosphorus; and by these remedies the infant was restored, though at one time death appeared inevitable. This little girl is now more than four years old, and, with one exception, when the disease threatened to re- appear, but was speedily cut short by Aconitum, there has been no return; and she enjoys excellent health. SPASMODIC CROUP. I was called about a year ago to a very se- were case of spasmodic croup. The patient was a YouNG GENTLEMAN, aged twelve, of spare habit, and nervous temperament. The spasm was several times so severe that the face became of a leaden hue, and the pulse was not per- ceptible. The attack was conquered by Aconitum, Hy- oscyamus, and Belladonna, but returned with the same severity on the following night, and was again checked by the same means. R 130 CASES AND The parents of the patient, while travelling with him on the continent, were alarmed by a return of the disease with its former violence, when far removed from medical aid. Fortunately I had furnished them with medicines, and direc- tions as to the employment of them, in case of a sudden attack, and the disease was again re- moved by the means previously used. It is to be hoped that as the patient grows older, the tendency to this alarming malady will be over- COIſle. TRACHEITIS. I was consulted, in November, 1835, by a GENTLEMAN, suffering from an acute attack of tracheitis. The patient had, several times, been affected in the same manner, and had always been subjected to severe antiphlogistic treatment; viz., leeches, blisters, purgatives, and nauseating doses of tartar emetic ;-the illness lasting gene- rally three weeks, during a great part of which OBSERVATIONS. 131 time he was usually confined to his bed. The cough was frequent, and productive of great pain, which was increased by speaking ; the voice was husky and very low; the pulse 110, full and strong. Under the employment of Aconitum, Spongia, and Ipecacuanha, the acute symptoms were sub- dued in the course of forty-eight hours. Since that period there have been only two acute attacks, which were even more speedily con- quered by the same means. The irritability of the mucous membrane, which, on every trifling exposure to cold, and especially during foggy weather, evinced a very acute sensibility, has been so far removed under the use of Carb. Veget., as to render the patient little more sus- ceptible to colds on the chest than other persons usually experience. Chronic Affections of the Trachea, which, if neglected, so often lead to serious disease in the lungs, and terminate fatally, are in general arrested in their course by homoeopathic means; and the frequency of acute attacks is greatly K 2 132 CASES AND diminished; and they become, as the cure pro- ceeds, less severe, until they disappear altogether. A LADY, aged thirty-five, applied to me, in April, 1840, in consequence of a cough which had troubled her for a considerable time. She had grown thin, was rather short breathed, and, towards evening, became feverish. The cough was attended with a tickling sensation in the throat, and a sense of heat and rawness, and continued until a small quantity of thick puru- lent matter was expectorated. She had spit florid frothy blood two or three times. The pulse was 100 in the minute. Seven years pre- viously she had a severe attack of pleurisy, and since then could not lie on the left side without uneasiness. The bowels seldom acted without assistance, and the patient was subject to piles. It is unnecessary to dwell on the details of this very serious case, but I may state that after a short time, under the employment of Pulsatilla, Stannum, and Calc. Carb., the cough became less frequent, and the character of the expecto- OBSERVATION S. 133 ration less suspicious, and it has now entirely ceased. The patient has grown stout, can lie easily on either side, has regained some color, and, though she will require care in severe weather, she may be considered well. The bowels act regularly of themselves, and there has been no return of piles. HOARSENESS. * Hoarseness, whether arising from inflammatory action in the mucous membrane lining the larynx, or from loss of tone in the muscles which re- gulate the voice, is, in a most marked degree, under the control of homoeopathic remedies. I was sent for late one evening to visit an eminent BARRISTER, whom I found affected with hoarse- ness resulting from a cold ; and which usually lasted many days. It was of the utmost im– portance to him, at this time, that he should speedily recover his voice, as he was engaged to plead, two days afterwards, in an important trial. 134 CASES AND I gave him, that evening, Bryonia, and on the following day I found him much better; but as some hoarseness remained I administered Caus- ticum. The next intelligence I had of my patient was that he had made a long and eloquent speech, and had gained his cause. Many of our first-rate singers at the opera are well aware of the speedy influence of homoeo- pathy in hoarseness; and I have myself met with numerous instances in which an appropriate homoeopathic remedy has prevented the dis- appointment which a deterioration of the vocal power is sure to occasion. CHRONIC BRON CHITIS. A YOUNG LADY consulted me in November, 1839, for a cough which had affected her for many months. She had been a stout florid girl, but had become pale and much emaciated. There was copious expectoration of thick mucus. The case was one of chronic bronchitis verging on consumption. The pulse was 100. There OBSERVATIONS. 135 was fever towards evening, and copious per- spiration at night, and she had spit blood twice. The cough was especially distressing in the night, and the patient was often obliged to sit up in bed. The voice was altered and hoarse. Under the employment of Hyoscyamus, the cough, which prevented her sleeping, was sub- dued in two or three days, but the urgent symptoms remained; I then administered Stan- num in solution, and the effect was truly satis- factory. It was precisely the homoeopathic remedy, and arrested a disease which, had it continued, would beyond all doubt have induced incurable disease in the lungs. Physicians of the highest repute had attended this patient, and their efforts had effected no permanently good result. On the 28th of De- cember, 1839, the report, as entered in my note book, is the following:—“Has quite lost the cough, is grown stout, and sleeps well.” This favourable state continued, and the patient in a short time recovered completely, under the use 136 CA SES AND of the last mentioned remedy, and remains in excellent health. A YOUNG MAN, aged twenty-five, consulted me in March, 1838; about ten years previously, after getting wet through, he caught a severe cold which affected the chest; from that time he had scarcely been free from cough except in the warmest weather. The cough affected him chiefly at night and in the morning on rising, and was attended with a frothy or gelatinous expectoration; he also suffered from shortness of breath, with constant wheezing, and an occa- sional fluttering sensation at the heart, which caused him to stagger; his tongue was furred; the pulse 100, and he often perspired at night. The effect of homoeopathic treatment, in this case, was gradual; as from the employment of the following remedies, Hyoscyamus, Stannum, Pulsatilla, Arsenicum, and Phosphorus, the im- provement has been satisfactorily progressive. The patient, from being extremely thin, has OBSERVATION S. 137 gained flesh, the cough has entirely left him, and the wheezing is not perceptible except in foggy or very damp weather. Up to the present time this patient has remained well, and though, from the serious nature of the malady, and the length of time it had endured, the lungs can scarcely resume their former vigour, he has, for more than two years, filled a situation which requires constant exposure to every change of weather, with merely temporary and slight inconve- nience. ASTHMA. A LADY, of very high rank, had suffered several years from severe attacks of asthma, which, for six months before I was called in, had scarcely ceased, and for some weeks previously they were so severe that the patient had not been able to lie down at all, and had scarcely slept during that period. This distinguished lady was under the care of two of the leading physicians of the metropolis, and there being 2 I 38 CASES AND evidently an imminent danger of water in the chest, they both declared their inability to pre- scribe any other remedies but palliatives; and expressed their fears that these would be more injurious than beneficial. Under these circumstances, in the autumn of 1839, I was requested to prescribe. There was frequent severe cough, chiefly at night, extreme difficulty of breathing on the least motion, even on walking across the room; constant wheezing: oedema of the feet; pallid tumid countenance; and, on some occasions, a livid hue with black- ness of the lips. I at once administered Hyoscyamus; and, during the night, the patient slept, at intervals, composedly, a relief she had not experienced for a considerable period. On the following day Arsenicum was taken in Solution, and continued, in very minute doses, for a fortnight. Under the use of this remedy, the sleep returned, she was able to lie down in a horizontal position, and the asthma ceased almost entirely. Nux Womica was given with a view to correct functional de- OBSERVATION S. 139 rangement of the liver, to which the patient is subject; and, subsequently, Cuprum. The re- sult was highly gratifying. This eminent lady, in less than a month, was relieved from the distressing symptoms she had so long experienced, and has remained entirely free from them to this time; the general health being nearly restored. Many attacks of asthma may be effectually relieved during the fit, even when there is little hope of a radical cure. I was suddenly called up to prescribe for a You NG LADY, then under the care of another physician, who was out of town upon a professional engagement. The patient being unwilling to consult any other medical man, had remained resting on her knees and elbows for several hours, finding that the only position in which she could obtain a little relief. Spasm of the glottis, however, occurred, and naturally occasioned the greatest alarm. I administered Hyoscyamus in solution every half minute, until the danger of suffocation had passed, and, afterwards, Arsenicum dissolved, 140 CASES AND every five minutes; and, in less than an hour, the patient was able to lie on her back; she slept comfortably, and was relieved altogether from that paroxysm. T'LEU RISY. The instances of the successful treatment of pleurisy by homoeopathy are extremely nume- rous. I will, however, confine myself to the statement of one case: it is that of a LADY, who had been ill for two years before I saw her. The symptoms were those of well marked pleurisy, the inflammation having extended to the sub- stance of the lungs. The cough, which was almost incessant, was attended with the expec- toration of rust-colored mucus tinged with blood; the pulse was frequent and hard; the tongue dry. These symptoms occurring in a patient of spare habit and advancing age, were, undoubtedly, alarming, and had the active and lowering treat- ment, usually resorted to in such cases, been employed, might have proved fatal. OBSERVATIONS. 14 I Aconite was first administered, and the pulse was diminished in strength; but the pain in the side persisting, Bryony was given, and, in two days, the disease was completely subdued. Dr. George Gregory, an eminent modern writer on the “Theory and Practice of Medi- cine,” states, in reference to pneumonic inflam- mation, that, “Above all, in estimating the probable advantage of blood-letting in any particular case, the natural strength of the con- stitution is to be looked to. Weakly habits will not bear the extent of blood-letting which is necessary to subdue a severe attack. Old persons and infants cannot regenerate blood so quickly as those in the vigour of life.” Ad- mitting, then, for a moment, that the strong are in no degree injured by copious bleeding, which is, however, far from being the case, the ad- vantage resulting from a mode of practice which subdues inflammation without the use of the lancet must be inestimable to persons of “weakly 142 CASES AND habit.” It is acknowledged that they cannot bear the evacuation requisite, according to the usual practice, to subdue the disease; and since old persons and infants can but slowly regenerate blood, the means proposed by Hahnemann for the cure of inflammation, which long experience has proved to be greatly superior to the ordinary modes of practice, for patients of every age, must be peculiarly applicable to the aged and those of tender years. PHTHISIS. A BUTLER, aged thirty-three, consulted me in June, 1829; he had suffered for some months, from slight hacking cough, with expectoration of thick yellowish matter of a nauseous taste. He com- plained of shortness of breath; his pulse was accelerated; he could not lie on the right side, which was dull on percussion; and he had fre- quently spit florid blood. Several members of his family had died of consumption. Pulsatilla was at first administered, which OBSERVATIONS. 143 diminished the cough as well as the expecto- ration, and also lowered the pulse. Under the employment of Stannum he rapidly improved, and he could lie on the right side. In a month, So great a change had taken place, that the sound on percussion had become improved; and, in a few weeks more, had entirely resumed its natural character. The pain at the chest gradually ceased, and this patient has since completely recovered, and returned to his situation. PALPITATION. A GENTLEMAN, aged twenty-one, consulted me in April, 1837, in consequence of having suffered, a considerable time, from overaction of the heart, which the usual means had failed to relieve. He complained of a dull aching pain about the heart reaching to the left collar bone. He could not lie on the left side without an increase of pain. Any excitement, bodily or mental, produced palpitation. The bowels were 144 CASES AND much confined, acting only every second or third day. He was pale and thin. I first gave the patient Lycopodium, which restored the natural action of the bowels, and, in some degree, lessened the irritability of the heart. Digitalis, Aurum, Pulsatilla, and Phos- phorus were subsequently taken; the patient has become stout, can lie with ease on the left side, and has lost all sense of uneasiness in the region of the heart, unless he takes violent exercise, and then he is inconvenienced only in a trifling degree. A LAD, aged sixteen, had suffered for two years from extremely violent palpitation, which had resisted all the plans proposed for its cure at the various hospitals in town, in which he had been a patient. The beating of the heart could be heard at many feet from him. I feared that nothing could be done in this case, as the bellows sound was perceptible on auscultation; and I, therefore, concluded that there existed incurable OBSERVATIONS. 145 organic mischief; more especially as the least exertion, particularly the going up stairs, in- creased it to an alarming extent. I gave the boy Digitalis, which produced con- siderable relief, in a few days; and, by continuing it for several weeks, the disease, although so severe and of such long continuance, being fortunately not organic, was completely relieved. The patient gained flesh, and is now employed at his trade, and in perfect health. AFFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. GASTRODY NIA. A LADY, aged fifty-seven, had suffered for nearly twenty years, from a painful affection of the stomach, which tormented her, more or less, daily, but especially in damp weather. The pain was not of an acute character, but, from its frequent return and long duration, was L 146 CASES AND extremely distressing. It usually occurred after eating, but often, also, when the stomach was empty. The chief symptoms were a dull pain in the epigastric region, with a remarkable sen- sation of cold, as if a piece of ice were in the stomach. The complexion was sallow, the muscles of the face were drawn down, and a dull headache was frequently added to the sufferings. A short walk occasioned pain in the loins and great fatigue. Numerous means had been, for many years, tried, but with no more than tem- porary benefit. I gave the patient a small dose of Acidum Nitricum. A more severe attack than usual was experienced on the following day; and, for a few days afterwards, the pain continued, but gradually diminished, until it ceased entirely. The same remedy was repeated occasionally for about a month, and the patient ultimately recovered her strength, became corpulent, and acquired a fresh and healthy appearance. This lady is now in her sixty-fifth year, and has not had any return OBSERVATIONS. 147 of the complaint; and since she has been relieved from it, has been in better health than she had ever before enjoyed. A YouNG LADY, who had been in rather delicate health for some years, consulted me in April, 1838. She first complained of pain at the scrobiculus cordis, after eating, which was re- lieved for a time by the ordinary means; but the symptoms recurred, and the pain extended itself to the upper part and sides of the abdomen. She stated that she felt as if bruised, and had a constant sensation of pressure; and that at night more particularly the pain was of a burning character. She was never entirely free from pain; but, about an hour after eating, her suffer- ing became extreme, affecting principally the epigastric region, extending to the shoulder blades, and generally attended with nausea. The bowels were confined, and she suffered from flatulence. This patient had been long treated by one of the most eminent physicians of the old L 2 148 CASES AND school, in town, without the slightest permanent benefit. The remedies I administered were Arsenicum, Carb. Weg., Tinct. Sulph., and Graphites, with gradual amelioration of the symptoms; which by the end of June had completely subsided. The countenance, from having been sallow, has assumed a slight colour; and the patient has become stout, and remains in excellent health. CHRONIC GASTRITIS. One of the commonest forms of dyspepsia is that attended with pain and great tenderness at the pit of the stomach, dependent upon subacute inflammation of the villous coat of the organ. This symptom is a very general attendant on in- digestion ; it forms, however, but a leading feature in the case, and requires for its relief a remedy embracing the totality of the symptoms. A woman about fifty, who had been af- flicted several years with frequent attacks of OBSERVATIONS. 149 acute pain in the stomach, called upon me when she was suffering under one of her most severe attacks. The pain was constant, but occasionally became so acute as to compel her to stoop, until the spasm, which was probably the cause of increased pain, had subsided. Any but the simplest and mildest food increased the suf- fering. The pulse was quick, and the tongue white. The complaint had, in former attacks, been treated by the usual antiphlogistic means, and was never overcome without difficulty, which was always followed by much weakness. I gave the patient at first Aconitum, which greatly diminished the intensity of the pain; after which Bryonia was administered; and the complaint yielded completely in three or four days. About three months afterwards, the patient returned to me suffering from a similar attack, which yielded in a still shorter time to the same means. I requested her to return, in case of a relapse, but, as two years have passed away since I last saw her, it is probable that she continues well. 150 CASES AND DYSPEPSIA. A venerable old MAN consulted me, not long since, in consequence of an utter inability to digest food, except bread in the smallest possible quantity, but not sufficient to support his strength for any length of time; he became daily weaker, until he was advised to see me. I gave him, at first, Silicea, and, subsequently, Barytes and Conium; and in about three weeks he was able to take meat with an appetite, and relished various things which he had previously disliked. This patient, though nearly eighty * years of age, was permanently relieved. A YouNG WOMAN consulted me in conse- quence of an affection of the stomach, which had tormented her more or less, for twelve years; and which had first affected her in consequence of a severe chill during the catamenia. The patient complained of gnawing pain at the pit of the stomach, which was most severe after walk- OBSERVATION S. 151 ing, and was relieved by eating. She frequently felt a sinking sensation in the stomach, pressive pain in the region of the liver, and dull pain in the shoulder; the bowels were confined, the complexion Sallow, and there was frequent beat- ing pain in the temples. Bryonia being administered, the pain at the pit of the stomach yielded in the course of a fortnight, and the general health and appearance became improved. Under the influence of Pul- satilla and Nux Womica the bowels acted regu- larly, and all pain had nearly subsided. Three months afterwards the gnawing pain had not returned, and, as I have not seen the patient since, it may be presumed that she continues free from it. An of FICER, in the Navy, consulted me, in 1834, complaining of having been, for many years, a martyr to indigestion; and stated that he had been under the care of nearly all who were experienced in the treatment of this dis- tressing malady. The prominent symptoms were 152 CASES AND the following:—Great emaciation; no food ex- cept of the simplest kind would remain on the stomach; often, two hours after eating, the food returned into the mouth by a species of eructa- tion, or rather rumination, and even, occasionally, ten or twelve hours afterwards, perfectly un- changed; and this was the more certain to occur after eating fat, vegetables, or fruit. Acid eruc- tations, flatulence, obstinate constipation, and expectoration of starch-like matter, especially in the middle of the day. Under the influence of homoeopathic remedies, particularly Calcar. Carb., Acid Phosp., Lycopod. and Sulph., the most complete change occurred; the patient was able to take almost any food, the acid eructations ceased, the bowels became per- fectly regular, and this gentleman grew stout. The return of food into the mouth is the only symptom which occasionally, though now very rarely, occurs, probably, in Some measure, from habit; in other respects, the patient is so well as to excite surprise in those who had so long known him as an invalid. OBSERVATION S. 153 It is not surprising that the sedentary habits of literary men, bankers, and merchants, should superinduce weakness and derangement of the digestive organs. Not only is the nervous in- fluence concentrated in the brain during the mental efforts to which they are subjected, but the confined position necessarily maintained in writing, impedes the free circulation of the blood and other fluids, and thus produces congestion, which eventually leads to disease. Frequent exercise and the free action of the muscles of the parietes of the abdomen greatly assist the peristaltic action of the intestines, and, as in persons of sedentary habits, this does not occur, constipation is a general result. A GENTLEMAN, aged twenty-one, consulted me on the 24th of November, 1839, in conse- quence of dyspeptic symptoms. Chronic en- largement of the liver had existed for some time, for which a great quantity of mercury had been given. There was a continual sense of fulness 154 CASES AND in the hypochondriac region. After eating, there was frequently sickness and pyrosis, and the bowels were confined. The patient is of a nervous temperament, and subject to depression of spirits. I prescribed Tinct. Sulph., which was taken for two months, and, subsequently, Nux Womica. The patient gradually became free from uneasi- ness in the region of the liver, the stomach then recovered its tone, and digestion is performed without difficulty. The enlargement of the liver is no longer perceptible, the spirits have become cheerful, the bowels act regularly, and this gen- tleman still remains in excellent health. A LADY, aged 40, had suffered for several years from dull pain in the region of the liver, with occasional darting, and almost constant aching pain, under the right shoulder blade. She had Soreness of the gums, a coated tongue, a bitter taste in the mouth, frequent pain in the loins, the secretion from the kidneys was thick OBSERVATION S. 155 and like gravel; the sphincter vesicae so weak as often to be powerless, and the bowels were almost always constipated. These distressing symptoms, for which mer- cury, in some form, had been constantly taken with only slight and temporary benefit, were completely removed in a few weeks, by Hep. Sulph., Calc. Carb., and Belladonna. CONSTIPATION. A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT was tormented with so confined a state of bowels that he was compelled to take aperients almost every day, which greatly impaired his digestion, and often rendered him unfit for his duties in the House, but in other respects he was healthy. In this case, for which I was consulted two years ago, the medicines administered, viz., Nux Womica, Sulphur, Lycopodium, &c., appeared to have had no beneficial effect for full four months; but feeling confident that the constipation arose only from loss of tone in the intestine, I expressed 156 CASES AND my conviction that the patient would eventually be radically cured; just about this time, the bowels began to recover their power, and, in the course of two months more, acted with perfect regularity, and continue to do so. The general health is greatly benefited; the mental powers have recovered their pristine vigour; the coun- tenance, previously sallow, has regained a healthy color. A YouNG GENTLEMAN, aged fifteen, con- sulted me on the 3rd of December, 1839, he had suffered from a confined state of bowels for some years, but since January, 1836, they had not been once naturally acted on ; this state of constipa- tion commenced with severe pain in the trans- verse portion of the colon, near its right angle; with a view of relieving which, leeches and blisters had been employed. As the obstruction continued, the medical adviser, imagining that a mechanical impediment to the passage of the contents of the bowels existed, had recourse to the injection of a solution of nitrate of silver, OBSERVATIONS. l 57 which had nearly destroyed the patient. He ob- tained no alleviation from the above treatment. When the patient called upon me he com- plained of uneasiness in the colon, which was distended by flatus; he was thin and unfit for exertion; his tongue was unnaturally red. I at first administered Nux Womica, and after- wards Tinct. Sulph. daily, and in a few days the bowels acted naturally; at first, every other day, but in the course of six weeks the evacuations became perfectly regular, and have continued so to the present time. A little GIRL, aged two years, had from her birth suffered from a very confined state of the bowels, which never acted without the aid of aperient medicine. The natural consequence was that the child did not thrive, remaining pale and weakly. Being consulted, I endeavoured to dissuade the mother from giving any aperient; but, for some little time, without success. In the mean time I gave the little patient Alumina every morning, and after employing this remedy 158 CASES AND for a fortnight, the bowels acted naturally; and this favourable state continued to progress, so that in about six weeks the tendency to consti- pation was entirely conquered, the bowels acted once or twice a-day regularly, the little girl grew stout and strong, and assumed a healthy com- plexion. CHRONIC DIA.R.R.HOEA. The Hous EKEEPER of a well-known pro- prietor of hunters applied to me, in October, 1836. For ten years she had suffered from the following symptoms, on which the leading prac- titioners in town, of the old school, had been in vain consulted. After eating, she experienced a gnawing aching pain in the stomach, attended with a sensation of heat; the face then became flushed, and the head ached. These symptoms lasted for two or three hours, but ceased sooner if she went into the open air. The bowels were always in a very relaazed state, and almost invari- ably acted a short time after eating, when the OBSERVATIONS. 1 59 food often passed quite unchanged. She ex- perienced a sense of weakness in the bowels, much flatulence, and tenderness on pressure in the region of the caecum and stomach. I prescribed Hep. Sulph. in solution, a spoon- ful every morning. The report on November the 7th was as follows:—“The bowels act almost naturally, the pain has entirely ceased.” The amendment was progressive; and, with the ex- ception of a few slight returns of diarrhoea which were arrested without difficulty, this patient has remained free from her distressing malady ever since. CHRONIC ENTERITIS. A YouNG LADY consulted me in July, 1840, having suffered for six years from chronic en- teritis, which was considered by her physician in Paris, one of the practitioners of the old school, to be mainly attributable to the abuse of pur- gative medicines. The patient complained of a constant burning pain throughout the whole 160 CASES AND surface of the abdomen, which was tender on pressure, especially in particular spots. The digestive powers were so completely weakened that the food passed almost unchanged, with frequently nothing more than opaque mucus. The whole nervous system was in an excited state, and morbidly susceptible. The patient experienced rheumatic pains in several parts of the body, but chiefly in the head. Various means had been tried from the commencement of the illness without any positive advantage. I prescribed Mercurius, Daphne Mezereum, and Belladonna; and there is now no pain in the abdomen. The bowels act without assistance, the dejections being natural, and there is seldom any appearance of mucus. The patient is still pursuing the treatment, and I have no doubt that her health will, in a short time, be com- pletely re-established. SPASM OF THE BOWELS. A CARPENTER, subject to rheumatic gout, OBSERVATIONS. | 6 || after a fall in March, 1838, by which he strained his back, was attacked with violent spasms of the bowels, attended with excruciating pain, which came on daily about twelve o'clock, and compelled him to return to bed. The paroxysm lasted usually till night. This state had con- tinued unrelieved, from March until August, at which period I was consulted. The remedy I prescribed—Colocynthis—being, probably, in too strong a dose for the then ex- citable state of the patient, produced aggravation of pain during forty-eight hours, which, however, gradually diminished, until it subsided altogether. I subsequently administered Carb. Anim, and there has been no return whatever to the pre- sent time. PILES are a common result of the constant use of aperients, more particularly of aloetic preparations; although they sometimes occur in persons who have not taken much purgative medicine, but whose occupations, leading to the congestion of blood in the rectum, have pro- M l62 CASES AND duced distention of the haemorrhoidal veins. In severe cases, however, some impurity of blood may always be traced, from which nature endea- vours to relieve herself by forcing an exit through the distended vessels, until, at length, their coats give way, and haemorrhage takes place. The most severe cases of piles are those in which there is little or no discharge, and where the veins, gorged with blood, excite spasm of the sphincter ani and rectum ; the pain is then of the most excruciating kind. The cases in which homoeopathy, by restoring the equable circulation of the blood, does good, are almost too numerous to need exemplification. I will, however, briefly allude to the case of a GENTLEMAN who was frequently subject to the most violent attacks of piles, which had been temporarily relieved by leeches, warm formenta- tions, and narcotics. I found him suffering in body and mind, in consequence of the importu- nities of his friends that he should have recourse to his usual modes of relief; but, as experience in another illness had taught him that homoeo- OBSERVATIONS. | 63 pathy was not an idle dream, he resolved on trusting to it alone in the present instance. His sufferings were acute, and more especially felt, in this attack, as no narcotics to relieve the pain had been administered, as on former occasions. In a few days, however, the disease was con- quered. And here we see the difference between the old and the new practice.—This patient, in- stead of feeling considerable inconvenience from walking one or two miles, can now walk many miles without the slightest feeling of his former ailment; and has not experienced a relapse for the last three years. PERITONITIS. A LADY, about forty years of age, was seized with violent pain in the bowels, which she sup- posed to be spasm, to which she was subject, and consequently had recourse to her usual remedy, laudanum; the pain, however, increased, and nearly twenty-four hours after its first affecting her, I was requested to see her. I found the M 2 164 CASES AND patient suffering violent pain over the whole surface of the abdomen, which was greatly dis- tended; she complained much upon the slightest pressure. There was constant sickness, the pulse 130, and thread-like. These symptoms, it must be admitted, de- manded, according to the hitherto received doc- trines, the most energetic measures; I was not, however, deterred by the alarming symptoms from administering some of those remedies which experience had taught me were specific in acute diseases. I first gave Aconitum in solution every five minutes, until the character of the pulse had changed. In the course of two hours it became softer, and continued gradually to lose its tense- ness, and to diminish in frequency. In the course of six or eight hours the more alarming symptoms disappeared, and on the following day the disease was subdued under the action of Belladonna, which was subsequently adminis- tered. This lady had suffered on two previous occasions from precisely similar attacks, which had only been overcome by the most active OBSERVATION S. | 65 antiphlogistic means. Each previous attack was followed by acute pain at the stomach after eat- ing, which had been only conquered by the re- peated employment of mercury. It returned in this instance, also, but Bryony in two days com- pletely relieved the patient even from this dis- tressing result. ASCITES. I was consulted by a GENTLEMAN who came from the country. He was suffering from dropsy, and the abdomen had become so distended that tapping had been strongly advised. It was, how- ever, postponed until further remedies had been tried; and, to the astonishment of the patient's friends, and even to my own, as there existed incurable organic disease of the liver (as ap- peared upon a post mortem examination) the fluid was absorbed. For many weeks before the patient's death, which was an inevitable result of the primary disease, the ascites had totally disappeared. The remedies which chiefly effected | 66 CASES AND this result were, Digitalis, Carb. Veg., and Arse- nicum. A Young woman, aged twenty-four, had been discharged from the hospital at Lausanne, in 1832, as incurable. This was a case of Ascites, for which the patient had been tapped, and on the fluid being withdrawn, a number of tumours, probably enlarged mesenteric glands, were per- ceptible. These were exceedingly hard and irregular, but not painful. The water speedily formed again; and as the general health was giving way, and the patient had been told by her physician that the disease was beyond the reach of art, she refused to submit a second time to the operation of paracentesis, and returned to her village to end her days amongst her friends. She was, however, prevailed upon to try the new system, and was at first under the care of my friend, Dr. Dapaz, of Lausanne, and subsequently under my management in this country. The progress of the case was necessarily slow, OBSERVATIONS. 167 but in the course of three months the fluid was absorbed; and the tumours were found in the same state as after she had been tapped. This favourable change occurred under the employ- ment of Belladonna, Hyoscyamus, Rhus Toxico- dendron, China, and Helleborus. The next object was evidently to promote the absorption of the enlarged and indurated glands, which were the proximate cause of the dropsy ; and this was gradually accomplished by Conium and Sulphur. The general health became re- stored in proportion as the glands were reduced to their normal state. This patient returned to service, and two years afterwards she married, and now remains in excellent health. ABDOMINAL TUMIOURS. The following case furnishes presumptive evi- dence, at least, of the Superior efficacy of homoe- opathic remedies. The patient had been treated several years unsuccessfully by the usual prac- tice, and was at length declared by a very cele- 168 CASES AND brated accoucheur in London, to be beyond the resources of medicine. This gentleman advised that nothing further should be attempted except to palliate her sufferings by narcotics and gentle laxatives. The lady, aged fifty, first consulted me in December, 1836, stating that she had enjoyed good health until about ten years of age. Hav- ing then been overfatigued by a long walk, she became subject to violent headaches, with giddi- ness and muscae volitantes and neuralgic pains, especially on the right side of the body. Be- tween the age of thirty and forty she had been several times attacked with peritonitis and dy- sentery. At that time small tumours, supposed to be enlarged mesenteric glands, were perceived, but disappeared shortly afterwards. Fourteen years previously to this lady consulting me, she had fallen and struck the lower and right side of the abdomen against the corner of a trunk bound with iron. From this accident she suffered so much pain, that she was compelled to keep her bed and room for some months. Soon after- OBSERVATION S. 169 wards, on pressing the abdomen, a tumour of a pyriform shape, with two lateral appendages, was detected just above the pubis. Nearly all who were consulted on the case, including the heads of the faculty in London, considered this swelling to consist of the uterus and its ligaments. This tumour gradually increased, and when the patient first consulted me, it occupied the whole of the lower part of the abdomen, reaching to the crista ilii on the right side, but not quite so far on the left. The tumour had a knotty feel, and was of stony hardness, and painful to the touch. Since the appearance of this swelling the patient had suffered extreme pain, of a dragging nature, throughout the whole of the right side of the body; and shortly before I saw her, it had, although slightly, extended to the left side. The pain occurred in paroxysms, and was often excruciating, but the patient was never entirely free from a dull aching pain in the swelling itself, which became intolerable on the least exertion, so that she was compelled to remain almost con- stantly on the Sofa. In addition to these evils, 170 CASES AND there was great derangement of the digestive organs, especially in the liver, with habitual con- stipation. The catamenia had always been re- gular, but had ceased before I was called in. I commenced the treatment by giving Sepia dissolved in water, and of this the patient took a spoonful every morning for six weeks. At the expiration of this period a decided improvement was manifest; the neuralgic pains were less severe, the bowels more active, and the tumour much less tender to the touch. Sepia was taken for a few weeks more, but though with benefit to the general health, without inducing absorption of the tumour, which by pressing on the ad- jacent nerves, was evidently the chief cause of suffering. I therefore prescribed Aurum, and under the employment of this remedy, which was continued for some months, the improve- ment was progressive, and the ultimate result is now, that the tumour has become free from pain, the neuralgia has entirely ceased, the health is restored, and the patient is able to take daily exercise on horseback or in a carriage, and on OBSERVATIONS. 171 foot to a certain extent; the tumour, dimi- mished to half its original size, no longer irritates the nerves by undue pressure, and the patient's life is one of comfort instead of that of continued suffering. Considering the nature of this disease, and the opinion, given by the most eminent in the pro- fession, that no relief could be afforded, it must be admitted to be a strong proof of the activity of homoeopathic remedies. This case was pub- lished in the “Bibliothèque Homoeopathique de Genève” in 1839, and I then stated that I had two other somewhat similar cases under my care, to one of which I will briefly refer. The tumour in that case occupied the posterior part of the uterus, and, by pressing on the rectum, almost prevented the passage of the faeces. It is still under treatment, as, from the nature of the enlargement, which is of extreme hardness, time is requisite for its absorption. In propor- tion, however, as it has diminished, there has been much greater facility in procuring the daily evacuation. 172 CASES AND The other case is that of a LADY, aged thirty, who consulted me in May, 1838. Seven years previously, after a severe confinement, she had in- flammation of the uterus; and, about a year after- wards, a tumour was detected in the abdomen, which gradually increased. On examining the patient, I found on the right side a deep-seated, hard, irregular, knotty swelling, filling the space between the crista ilii and false ribs, and extend- ing to the vertebral column. The tumour was painful on pressure, but gave only slight uneasi- ness, except after exertion, or during damp weather, when severe neuralgic pains occurred through the right side of the body. After stand- ing there was much bearing down pain, and often pain in the lower part of the back, especially on the right side, during the catamenia, which were regular; she had a pale haggard look, and her spirits were often much depressed. I administered Sepia, a spoonful of which was taken every morning. In July, the neuralgic pains were much less severe, the swelling occa- sioned less uneasiness, and she was considerably OBS EIRVATION S. 173 improved in looks and spirits. In August the tumour was smaller, and the neuralgic pains had ceased. Aurum was afterwards administered, and in the course of a year the tumour had been completely absorbed, and the general health perfectly restored. This patient became again pregnant, and has lately been confined, the labour being a natural and good one. RHEUM ATISM. In the treatment of acute rheumatism the beneficial effects of homoeopathic treatment are very evident, as by it an attack is often suddenly and surprisingly arrested. The following case, considering the tendency of this disease to run a certain course, will, it is presumed, be admitted as a prima facie evidence of the direct power of specific remedies. *. A LAD, postillion in a noble family, after severe exercise, which produced great perspiration, was suddenly exposed to cold; and the next day was attacked with rheumatic fever. When I saw the 174 CASES AND patient he had been confined to his bed for eight or ten days, and almost every joint was affected. It was not without great pain that he could move his fingers; the pulse was quick and full. The surgeon under whose care the boy had been placed, professing his belief that the patient would not be cured in less than a month, libe- rally allowed me to try the effect of homoeopathic remedies. I at first administered Aconitum, which mate- rially lessened the fever. In the course of twelve hours Bryonia was taken, and repeated in solu- tion every hour. The following day the pain and inflammation had so far subsided, that the lad was able to get out of bed and walk a little in his room. On my visiting him the next day, I found that he had imprudently been out of doors, and, in consequence of rheumatic pains throughout the body, he was compelled to return to his bed. A repetition of Bryonia relieved the pains in a few hours, and completely cured the disease. OBSERVATION S. 175 I lately attended a You Ng LADY who had been subject to rheumatism for some years. She had been suffering under an attack of acute rheumatism four days before I visited her. The lower extremities were chiefly affected at that time, but the inflammation shortly attacked the joints of the upper extremities. The pain was excruciating, and during one night she was slightly delirious. The remedies administered were Aconitum, Bryonia, Sabina, Coffea, Chamomilla, and Caus- ticum, being changed according to the variation in the symptoms. This patient was able to get out of bed on the fourth day of the treatment, and on the tenth day walked down to the draw- ing room perfectly well, with the exception of flying pains which the humid state of the atmos- phere partly accounted for. Contrasted, how- ever, with previous attacks, the result was very satisfactory. During them she had been treated by one of the most eminent physicians of the old school, and had always been confined to her 176 CASES AND bed at least five or six weeks; and for more than two months afterwards had not regained the free use of her legs. Many cases of acute rheumatism presented to my notice have been attended with an equally favourable result; and with this advantage, that the treatment employed has not occasioned the debility which bleeding and other means usually resorted to invariably produce. A GENTLEMAN on the Stock Exchange had suffered about three months from chronic rheu- matism, which affected principally the right arm. A dull aching pain was always present, which occasionally became extremely acute; the gene- ral health was good. The patient had consulted several practitioners of eminence without ob- taining relief; an issue had even been made over the most painful spot, which had increased rather than diminished the suffering. At this stage I was consulted, and gave, at first, Bryonia, and, afterwards, Rhus Toxicoden- OBSERVATION S. 177 dron. In two days the pain had altogether ceased, and the patient has been more than two years entirely free from it. GO UT. A GENTLEMAN who had, for many years, been a martyr to gout, consulted me about three years ago. For some time the attacks had assumed more the appearance of rheumatic gout, and had generally been pretty speedily relieved by Colchicum. It had, however, become necessary, in order to produce the palliative effect of this powerful remedy, to increase the dose to such an extent, that the physician in attendance refused to proceed farther with it, being well aware that, if pushed too far, it would undermine the con- stitution. The patient, knowing from experience that no other medicine of the many prescribed, had afforded relief, determined on trying the new system. It was in the height of an attack that I was called in, and I could therefore only endeavour N 178 CASES AND to shorten its duration; and, considering that the patient was still under the influence of the Colchicum previously prescribed, the immediate result was satisfactory. By pursuing the treat- ment, during the intervals, the attacks became progressively milder and less frequent, and have now almost entirely subsided; so that, from a state of comparative helplessness, this gentleman is able to walk many miles without inconvenience, and has recovered his healthy looks. The remedies chiefly employed in this case during the attacks, were Acomitum, Sabina, Pul- satilla, and Bryonia; and, in the intervals be- tween the attacks, Hep. Sulph. and Mangan. Carb. GouT, where it has long existed in a patient, particularly if hereditary, can sometimes only be mitigated by homoeopathic remedies. In some elderly people it may, occasionally, be the wisest plan to avoid interfering. An ELDERLY GENTLEMAN consulted me about three years ago, in the hope that he might be OBSERVATION S. 179 completely relieved of his gout; but on finding that his general health had not suffered from the use of the remedy (Colchicum) he had employed with benefit, for several years, during his attacks; and learning that though he had been in the habit of taking this medicine always in about the same dose, and with relief, I considered that the remedy was homoeopathic to his case, and ad- vised him to pursue the same plan, unless the disease became more severe, or he found it ne— cessary greatly to increase the dose. As Colchi- cum, however, under the old system, usually acts merely as a palliative, and it becomes necessary, in order to insure its soothing effect, to increase the dose, not only during the paroxysm, but also on every successive attack, the pathogenetic effects of this powerful medicine at length show themselves; and, if its use were persisted in, the constitution would be irretrievably ruined, with- out any alleviation to the sufferings of the patient. Many cases of gout, in which a perfect cure N 2 | 80 CASES AND can scarcely be hoped for, are so far alleviated as to occasion but slight inconvenience. A GENTLEMAN, aged sixty, consulted me in May, 1840, having been subject, for twenty years, to gout, which first attacked him after ex- posure to wet. He had been liable to paroxysms ever since, and the last, from which he had just recovered when I first saw him, was more severe than any previous one, having continued fourteen weeks; and, for the first time, affected both knees. This gentleman has been under my care since the period at which he first consulted me, and has not only greatly improved in appearance, but has gained much in strength, and is able to walk some miles daily with little inconvenience. The attacks, which occurred every few weeks, and were always of considerable duration, did not return until January last, when he was sud- denly seized with a paroxysm as painful and acute as ever, and some of his friends, who were averse to his following the new practice, taunted him for having attempted it. To his own as well O BSE RVATION S. | 8 || as their astonishment, however, on the second day he was able to walk down stairs; on the third, he was out of doors on foot; and, within the week, took his usual walk of some miles. The virulence of the gouty poison is therefore evi- dently lessened, and, it is to be hoped, that it will continue progressively to be diminished, or even to be destroyed. The chief remedies taken by this patient have been Hep. Sulph., Mangan. Carb., Ledum, and Calcarea, and he is now taking Lycopodium. This case, it must be evident, shows the power of homoeopathy to ward off attacks of gout, and also to shorten their duration, and lessen their severity when they do occur. I have known many instances in which the extraordinary effects of homoeopathic remedies in neutralizing the gouty poison, and thus rendering it comparatively innocuous, have been clearly established. I was consulted by a GENTLEMAN in the mer- cantile profession, in May, 1838, who complained 182 CASES AND of a species of rheumatic pain in the right arm, which was constant, and often very acute; it had troubled him for full six years. The pain was chiefly felt in the course of the nerves, and was attended with slight numbness extending to the fingers. The patient was, consequently, unable to lie on that arm from the pain occa- sioned by pressure. He had led a very active life, and had in his youth accustomed himself to the most violent exercise. Having consulted the leading physicians in town, the usual treat- ment had evidently failed in affording permanent relief. As soon, however, as the true principle of cure was adopted, viz., the administration of remedies corresponding with the symptoms, the disease was speedily conquered, as no severe pain existed after the employment of Nux Womica for a fortnight; under the use of Caus- ticum the malady altogether disappeared in three or four weeks more. OBSERVATIONS. 183 SCIATIC A. This painful affection, for which such a variety of remedies are recommended by the old school, is, in most instances, speedily relieved by a medicine answering homoeopathically to the species of pain complained of; I will merely re- late one case:—it is that of a GENTLEMAN, who often suffered severely from sciatica, which gene- rally lasted several days; I was consulted nearly four years ago, during an attack, and prescribed Colocynthis. The pain subsided in two or three hours; and, with one trifling exception, has not since recurred. UTERINE AFFECTIONS. AMENORRHOEA, which is often productive of much injury to the constitution, may generally be completely relieved by homoeopathic remedies. CHH,OROSIS. A GIRL, aged eighteen, consulted me in Feb- 184 CASES AND ruary, 1840; she was suffering from suppression of the catamenia. She had enjoyed good health until about eight months before I saw her; since that time she had daily become weaker ; her countenance had assumed the appearance pecu- liar to this malady, being very pale and sallow, and her lips much blanched. She complained of extreme shortness of breath, and palpitation, on the least exertion, especially on going up stairs; and of a sinking sensation at the pit of the stomach. The feet were considerably tume- fied, and she experienced constant thirst. Pulsatilla restored the catamenia in three weeks, after which the patient rapidly improved; and, under the use of Bryony and Sepia, she recovered her natural color, and perfect health, in the course of three months. DYSMEN NO RR HOEA. The cases in which this painful affection occurs in unmarried females, are every day presented to the notice of the physician. The OBSERVATION S. 185 usual modes of procuring relief are not only merely palliative, but often positively injurious. Stimulants, even if productive of immediate re- lief, often induce an inflammatory state of the uterus, which leads to ultimate mischief; and narcotics, though affording almost instant ease, render the organ much more susceptible than natural, and more liable to be again similarly affected. As an instance of the superior efficacy of a treatment which overcomes disease by remedies corresponding with the symptoms, I may notice the case of a YOUNG LADY, who, though other- wise in good health, suffered the greatest agony at every return of the period, which could only be temporarily alleviated by the old school, but which was completely and permanently relieved by Cocculus Indicus, a medicine which experi- ments on the healthy subject have proved to be capable of producing precisely the same descrip- tion of pain, as that complained of in the case here alluded to. The power which homeopathy exerts over the 186 CASES AND functions of the uterus has, in a vast number of instances, been strikingly exemplified; for, by correcting the deranged state of this organ, Sterility, which had been considered established, has been completely removed. MISCARRIA.G.E. A miscarriage may generally be prevented by the remedies employed in homoeopathic practice. When this distressing event therefore is appre- hended, either from a previous occurrence, or from particular indications, precautionary mea- sures should at once be taken to effect the de- sired object. This, by the usual practice, is often merely temporarily attained, but by homoeo- pathic agents may in general be permanently secured. A LADY, in the fourth month of pregnancy, was suddenly seized during the night with slight pain, attended with flooding to an alarming ex- tent; the blood was of a dark color. I administered Crocus, which arrested without ſo * * * see a OBSERVATION S. 187 altogether stopping the discharge; Belladonna restrained it still more, and in less than an hour entirely subdued it. It recurred, however, on the following night to a considerable extent, but was completely stopped by the same remedies. Three distinguished accoucheurs expressed their opinion that from so severe a haemorrhage mis- carriage would result, but the lady went her full time, and gave birth to a healthy infant. CUTANEOlu S DISEASES. Eruptive diseases are among the trophies of homoeopathy; for the virus, the cause of these diseases, may always be destroyed by antipsoric remedies. The different forms of Acne, or common pimple, appearing chiefly on the face and shoulders, may invariably be cured after a longer or shorter course of treatment. I will therefore confine myself to a few of the more severe forms of eruption. - TINEA CAPITIS, or scald head, is of the number | 88 CASES AND of eruptive diseases which are greatly benefited by homoeopathic treatment: this must, however, be accomplished entirely by internal means; as local applications are so often not only merely palliative but injurious, inasmuch as if they effect an apparent cure, it is only by counteract- ing the efforts of nature to expel the morbific cause, and thus occasioning much greater mis- chief. -f In order to elucidate this fact, I may refer to the case of a little GIRL who had, for two years, been afflicted with scald head, but which at length had, by local remedies, been apparently cured. The general health began, however, then to suf- fer, and a ricketty tendency shewed itself by the projection of the sternum and flabbiness of the muscles. By the efforts of nature, however, the eruption on the scalp, to the same extent as be- fore, was reproduced. It was at this period that I was consulted; and, acting upon the principles of homoeopathy, I treated the patient entirely by internal means. The disease was gradually, but completely cured in six weeks; and there does OBSERVATION S. 189 not exist the least symptom of it, though more than a year has elapsed, and from that period the ricketty tendency has disappeared. A YOUNG LADY, aged fifteen, had suffered, for two years, from an eruption on the upper lip, the secretion from which becoming encrusted, and the lip being enormously swollen, produced the greatest deformity. Every means the old system could devise had been tried, without success; the disease was, in fact, gradually extending. The means I employed were productive of immediate benefit, though about four months were requisite for the cure, which was however complete; more than four years having elapsed without any return. The remedies employed in the treatment of this case were Jacea, Nat. Muriat., and Hep. Sulph. The dry scurfy eruptions so frequently met with in what is called Psoriasis, always require some time for their cure; but may in general be entirely got rid of by homoeopathic remedies, 190 CASES AND which act through the medium of the constitu- tion. I may instance the case of a You NG LADY who consulted me a year and half ago. She had been affected for five years with a dry scurfy eruption, appearing dispersed over every part of the body, but more especially on the arms and legs, where the patches were larger, and con- siderably raised above the surrounding skin. Under the use of Sepia the skin recovered its natural appearance in two or three months, and remains perfectly healthy. A remarkable case of eruptive disease came under my notice, about four years ago, in a GIRL, aged twelve, who had been affected eight years previously with scald head. The eruption had gradually spread over the whole body, so that the sound skin was only here and there perceptible. This patient had been under treat- ment at some of the principal metropolitan hospitals, but had obtained only temporary be- nefit. I administered Graphites, which had a very OBSERVATIONS. 19 | favourable influence, on the face more especially. On the remedy being repeated, the head became more free from the eruption, and, Sepia being alternately employed with Graphites, the improve- ment was general. The character of the erup- tion, under the influence of these remedies, greatly changed, becoming drier and less in- flamed. The success was gradual, but in the course of a year the disease was completely over- come. The parents being in very poor circum- stances, and the girl exposed to privations of every kind, the disease occasionally reappeared in a slight degree, especially at the bends of the joints. This occurred chiefly during cold damp weather; but, for many months, no trace of the malady appeared, and I have reason to believe that she still continues free from it. I cannot help remarking, in this place, that the two remedies which thus overcame a disease that had baffled the most eminent practitioners of the old school, are usually considered feeble or even inert, viz. black lead pencil, and the brown liquid thrown off by the scuttle fish, when 192 CASES AND pursued by an enemy; it is well known as a very common pigment. DISEASES OF BONES. Diseases affecting the BONES are amongst the most difficult of treatment. Speedy results can- not, therefore, be expected. The important point should then be to arrest the progress of the disease, and restore the constitution to that state which may render its occurrence in other bones less probable. Of the cases I have had under my care I can scarcely name one that can yet be considered altogether as cured ; for, although the disease has been arrested, and the constitution restored, nature alone can effect the separation of the dead from the living bone. Several cases, however, which have come under my notice, and which I forbear detailing, as a positive cure is not yet effected, show the extraordinary power of homoe- opathy in such diseases. It is now almost uni- versally admitted that Mercury is injurious in OBSERVATION S. 193 caries; and, in one of the most severe cases I have seen, this powerful medicine was, manifestly, the cause of the mischief. The frequent occurrence of RICKETs, gene- rally considered as the result solely of bad nurs- ing or improper nourishment, is, perhaps, as often the inevitable consequence of latent dis- ease, hereditarily transmitted. The tendency to this frightful disease is displayed very early in children, for they are slow in learning to walk, and cut their teeth very tardily. The chemical ca”se is easily explained, viz., a deficiency of the phosphate of lime, and a superabundance of animal matter; but remedies, merely acting chemically, will avail nothing, unless the source of the mischief be overcome, by means affecting the general system. The antipsoric remedies are found in homoeo- pathic practice to assist, in an astonishing man- ner, the powers of nature when they are defi- cient; and, by strengthening the system, to guard against relapse. I have, in numerous instances, O 194 CASES AND witnessed the beneficial effects of Calcarea in such cases, but it requires great caution in its administration, as it is one of our most active antipsoric remedies. Children who are other- wise healthy, but who are very late in learning to walk, are greatly benefited by homoeopathic remedies, and chiefly by Calc. Carb. and Caus- ticum. Nearly connected with this state is that of DISTORTION OF THE SPINE, in which mecha- nical means scientifically applied, so as to bring into action the muscles, the power of which has been impeded by tight lacing, or other impedi- ments to their freedom of motion, are essential; but, if solely trusted to, will probably prove in- effectual. The treatment of these cases has of late attracted great attention, and Mr. Duffin's excellent work on the subject is doing much to- wards correcting erroneous views. Renovation of the healthy state can, however, only be effected by remedying what is defective in the general health ; and here appropriate homoeo- OBSERVATION S. 195 pathic remedies are calculated to shorten mate- rially the duration of the treatment, as well as to prove permanently useful to the constitution. MISCELLANEOUS CASES. CAN CER. Cancer is often arrested in its progress, in the earlier stages, by homoeopathic remedies, and is, occasionally, cured by these means. The relief afforded by their use, even in the last period of this most painful disease, is often astonishing; but can then, necessarily, only be palliative. An ELDERLY PERSON, suffering from schirrus in the left breast, consulted me early in the year 1834. The disease had spread to the axillary glands, which were enlarged and painful. An operation was proposed to the patient as the only mode of saving her life, but the dread she entertained of it induced her to decline submit- ting to it; and she determined rather to endure O 2 196 CASES AND her sufferings. The tumour in the breast was of the size of an orange, hard and knotty, and, though at first easily moved, became, at length, adherent to the mamilla, which was retracted. The pain was often severe, and of a lancinating character. The remedies I prescribed had a more speedy and beneficial effect than I anticipated; the pain in the tumour became gradually less, and the enlarged glands in the axilla entirely disappeared. The schirrous tumour was sensibly diminished in size, and became less firmly adherent to the adjacent parts. At this period of the treatment I was called upon to accompany a nobleman to Italy; I therefore supplied the patient with the same medicines she had been previously taking, viz., Chamomilla, Conium, and Tinct. Sulph. On my return, a year afterwards, I enquired after her health, and she informed me that the tumour had diminished one half, and had ceased to give any pain; that the axillary glands were reduced to their natural size, and gave her no uneasiness; OBSERVATIONS. 197 and added that she was not anxious to renew the medicine, unless her sufferings should return; from these, however, as far as I can learn, she has, up to the present period, been exempted. Several cases of schirrous tumours of the breast, in the earlier stages, have presented them- selves to my notice, and have been either sensibly diminished in size, or so far relieved as to induce the patients to remain satisfied with the amelio- ration they have experienced. It is, however, far from my intention to imply, by these remarks, that such cases are cured. The disease is still dormant, and, on any exciting cause, the morbid predisposition may again be called into action; and, in cases, where the malady has so far ad- vanced as to render delay dangerous, I invari- ably advise the performance of the operation for removal; after which the appropriate antipsoric treatment should be steadily pursued, in order to guard against a relapse. As long as the disease remains stationary, and the general health does not suffer, active treatment is unnecessary. 198 . CASES AND ANTHRAX. An old soldier had been affected, some years before he applied to me, with a CARBUNCLE in the lower part of the back, which had been freely incised, and, after the sloughs had sepa- rated, the wound healed with the aid of caustic applications. When he consulted me he was suffering from a similar affection in nearly the same spot. The swelling was as large as the fist, extremely hard, and painful; and the in- teguments of a dark red color; the pain was excruciating, attended with fever and an irritable pulse. It was precisely a case in which the crucial incision would have been imperative, on the old principle. However, under the employ– ment of Anthracine, given in solution every hour, the pain was lessened, and the inflamma- tion rapidly subsided; so that, in a short time, the necessity for having recourse to an operation entirely ceased, and the man recovered com- pletely in a few days. In this case the superiority of the homoeopa- OBSERVATION S. 199 thic practice was clearly exemplified. The patient had, on a former occasion, been affected with the same disease; so that there was a pre- disposition to it. The usual treatment, notwith- standing large incisions had been made to relieve the strangulated vessels, had not prevented sloughing in the former instance; in the latter, which he declared was fully as severe as the for- mer, as regards the size of the swelling and the pain experienced, he was completely cured in a day or two by a specific remedy. SINU Olu S ULCER. By way of contrasting the old and the new mode of practice, I may narrate the case of a widow who had, during two years previously to my being consulted, been a patient at one of the largest metropolitan hospitals, for the relief of a sinuous ulcer at the bend of the right elbow. Neither surgical nor medical means had pro- duced any permanent effect on this obstinate sore. The circumference of the ulcer presented 200 CASES AND a very suspicious appearance, as there existed Small, dark-colored, soft swellings, greatly re- sembling disease of the nature of fungus ha-ma- todes. The patient was emaciated and weak, and she suffered from deep rhagades on the hands and fingers. I administered Tinct. Sulph., and subsequently Rhus. Tox. The ulcer speedily commenced cicatrizing, and, in about six weeks, was com- pletely healed, and remains so at this moment— now five years ago. The adjacent soft tumours also gradually disappeared. The rhagades did not heal so Soon, as her occupation, that of a washerwoman, constantly irritated the hands. In spite, however, of this impediment, they healed in about three months, and she remains perfectly free from them. A NOMALO US ERUPTIONS. I was consulted in the middle of June, 1836, in the case of a LITTLE BOY, five years old, who had, from two years of age, been tormented with OBSERVATION S. 20 I an eruption, the irritation of which was only relieved by constant scratching. The eruption was in large patches, red and shining, over the whole body, but was more especially troublesome at the bends of the joints, where there were cracks from which exuded an ichorous fluid. The general health was little affected, but the constant irritation produced feverish symptoms and peevishness. I prescribed Hepar. Sulph., which was con- tinued, for three weeks, with evident benefit, the irritation being much lessened. During the month of July the little patient took Calc. Carb. in solution every morning; and the report in my note book, on the 1st of August, was, that the eruption had almost entirely disappeared. The cure was completed by continuing the latter remedy a little longer. I believe SEA salt had never before been em- ployed as a homoeopathic remedy; but it struck me that it might be useful in some cases. I therefore procured a little sea water, and Mr. 202 CASES AND Headland, one of the homoeopathic chemists, having obtained, by evaporation, the dry salt, dynamized it, according to the mode directed by Hahnemann. I have since then employed it as a remedy in a few cases, where I considered sea air would have been beneficial, and generally with advantage; and, in one case, with especial benefit. This was the case of a LAD who had been subject, for some years, to great swelling of the lower lip, with painful fissures. When at the sea coast this affection invariably subsided; but, as he could not be conveniently sent there at the time I was consulted, I administered the sea salt. The swelling of the lip disappeared in a few days, and the cracks soon healed. The effect seems to be more permanent than that of sea air, as he has continued free from the complaint for a much longer period than usual, and remains so still,—a period of more than a year having elapsed. In further confirmation of the truth of the ho- OBSERVATION S. 203 moeopathic principle, I will mention the case of an ATTENDANT at the Adelaide Gallery, who, in the course of his duty, had his hands frequently plunged in Mercury. The symptoms peculiar to this powerful agent having shown themselves, and greatly disturbed his health, I administered antidotes to Mercury (homoeopathically pre- pared) without, I acknowledge, much hope of effecting permanent benefit, as the cause was constantly acting. But, by the internal use of Sulphur, in various forms, the result exceeded my expectations, as the sufferer, in a few weeks, lost all the symptoms incident to his occupation. CHRONIC SCIATIC A. A chEMIST had been afflicted, for nearly three years, with a species of chronic sciatica, which had become so severe that he was almost incapacitated from attending to his business. He had tried various means for his relief, but with only tem- porary benefit. The pain affected chiefly the right hip, and extended down the back of the 204 CASES AND thigh. It was constant and generally of a dull aching character; but often, after exertion, it became intolerable. He had grown thin, and his general health began to suffer; so that he was almost unable to exert himself at all. I at first administered Belladonna, and after- wards Tinct. Sulph. ; under the influence of which remedies the patient, in the course of six weeks, entirely lost the pain, regained flesh, and enjoyed his former health. Four years have now elapsed, and there has been no return of the painful disorder. EPISTAXIS. A LADY, aged thirty-eight, had been subject, for many years, to the most severe attacks of BLEEDING AT THE NOSE, So as to render plug- ging the nostrils necessary, on two or three occa- sions, in order to save life. This lady was under my care, nearly three years ago, for the relief of other ailments con- sequent on a debilitated constitution and lax OBSERVATIONS. 205 habit of body, when she was suddenly seized with epistaxis. The blood was of a dark gru- mous appearance, and alarmingly copious. Cro- cus Sativus, administered in solution every mi- nute, speedily arrested the haemorrhage. Attacks of this kind, more or less violent, had usually occurred several times in the course of a year; they have since been very rare, and have always been quickly put a stop to by the same remedy. DYSURIA. It is not unusual, in the course of practice, to see the principle “similia similibus” very satis- factorily confirmed. I may, as an instance of this fact, advert to the case of a LADY, who was under my care at the time for a chronic affection, and who was suddenly seized with dysuria. She stated that she had twice before suffered in the same way, from the application of a blister. It was then evident that Cantharis was the ap- propriate remedy, since it had on two occasions 206 CASES AND produced similar symptoms in this patient. I accordingly gave her a minute dose of that medicine, and, in about an hour, this painful state, which had lasted for twenty-four hours, was completely and permanently relieved. FLATULENCY OF INFANTS. The effect of homoeopathic remedies on IN- FANTs suffering from disease is truly astonish- ing. I have often seen Capsicum and Chamo- milla, or other homoeopathic medicine, almost instantly relieve the most acute pain in the bowels arising from wind. These remedies may, I admit, merely act as palliatives, but they are palliatives on the right principle. The symptoms are completely effaced, unless they depend on derangement of bowels or disordered secretions, so often occurring in children. In such cases, the primary cause must of course be removed, by appropriate remedies, before the liability to flatulency will be overcome. OBSERVATION S. 207 NERVO US DEBILITY. A CLERGYMAN consulted me, in March, 1838, complaining of an irritable state of the nervous system, with occasional darting pains in various parts of the body; but more especially of weight and stiffness at the nape of the neck, with dis- inclination to exert himself, more particularly in any thing that excited him, so that he had be- come almost unable to perform his clerical duties. The patient complained of headache, and a choking sensation in the throat; he had become thin, and was very nervous. In the course of two months, under the em- ployment of Sepia and Causticum, these un- pleasant symptoms subsided completely and per- manently; and this gentleman resumed his for- mer important avocations without any return of the complaint. INTERMITTENT FEVER. Intermittent fever, or ague, is generally ima- 208 CASES AND gined to be perfectly under the control of Cin- chona bark; but this medicine has only a specific effect on that species of ague which it is capable of producing in the healthy subject. It has, how- ever, a power, not, it is true, over every species of intermittent fever, but it is capable of arrest- ing the intermittent type for a time; and, in this manner, many cases of ague are apparently cured, when, in reality, they are but arrested, and they recur on the slightest exposure to marsh miasmata. The cure cannot, however, be said to be complete, unless the patient be rendered comparatively unsusceptible of infec- tion. I may exemplify this assertion by referring to the case of a GAMEKEEPER of a noble duke, who consulted me July 23, 1838. He had been sub- ject, for a considerable time, to tertian ague, which returned almost every month. The fit came on at about ten in the morning, com— mencing with great shivering and stretching; the cold stage lasted four hours. The hot fit, OBSERVATIONS. 209 lasting only half an hour, was succeeded by perspiration, which continued two or three hours. The patient was rather thirsty, even in the cold stage; now and then the heart appeared to stop beating. Natrum Muriaticum was administered in solution daily. The report on the 9th August was, “The patient has been free from the fit, with the exception of two days after commencing the medicine.” It was continued for six weeks, and he remained free from any attack until February, 1840, when the disease returned, but was checked as speedily as before, by the em- ployment of the same medicine. The patient has not since experienced any attack. ACCIDENTS. SEVERE CONTUSION. At the time I had the honour of acting as private physician to the Marquis of Anglesey, whilst travelling on the Continent, his lordship's P 2 I () CASES AND couri ER was mounted on a heavy Belgian horse, which stumbled, and fell on its side upon the man's leg; but without doing it any injury, as the leg was protected by a strong boot; whilst the courier still remained on the ground, the horse, having but partly recovered its feet, slipped again, and fell heavily on the man's chest. The courier, a courageous old soldier, contrived to get on to the next town, about a mile distant, and immediately on our arrival, I attended to him. The symptoms were of the most alarming character; he complained of extreme difficulty in breathing, with dull pain throughout the chest; the countenance was purple and ex- pressive of anxiety, the lips of a leaden hue, the pulse scarcely perceptible, but quick. The lungs had evidently been severely contused, and were gorged with blood. According to the usual practice, bleeding, to a formidable extent, would have been resorted to ; and, in this case, the previous robust health of the patient might have enabled him to withstand the most active treatment, but there is much OBSERVATIONS. 2 I I reason to fear that the inflammation resulting from such an injury would have been fatal. The remedy I at once administered was Ar- nica Montana, which was dissolved in water, and a teaspoonful taken every five minutes. In a quarter of an hour the pulse became rather less oppressed, the breathing somewhat freer, and the lips of a more natural colour. The amelioration WaS progressive, and in about six hours the man fell asleep. Profuse perspiration ensued, and when he awoke, the breathing was much im– proved, and the countenance had resumed its natural appearance. No bad symptom resulted, and nothing more than blackness of the parietes of the chest remained to prove how severe the contusion had been. This man has not since experienced any in- jurious effects, and is now in perfect health. FALL. A little GIRL, aged eight, residing opposite to my house, fell out of window a height of about P 2 2 12 CASES AND fifteen feet. When called to her, immediately after the accident, I found her screaming loudly, and complaining of extreme pain in the head, which was, however, but slightly wounded, the fall having been broken by her efforts to save herself, but the elbow and hands were much injured. The pain in the head increased, the pulse became exceedingly rapid, and there was constant vomiting. Arnica Montana was given in water, a teaspoonful every five minutes. Shortly afterwards the little girl's mother, who was from home when the accident happened, came in, and declared that she could not entrust the life of her child to such apparently inert means. She, however, agreed to wait two hours, at the expiration of which time I assured her there would, in all probability, be considerable improvement in the symptoms. The patient shortly afterwards fell asleep, awoke without any bad symptoms, and speedily recovered. In this case it cannot be denied that, according to the principles of the old school, very active treatment would have been had recourse to, OBSERVATION S. 2 13 which would unquestionably have very much weakened the constitution. Whilst passing through a country village with a medical friend, we observed some children at play attempting to get over the churchyard wall. A GIRL, about ten, succeeded in reaching the top, which was several feet high, when unfor- tunately a stone, by which she had thought to secure herself, suddenly gave way, and she fell down, striking the back part of the head on the ground. She was taken up perfectly insensible, and, from the violence of the blow, it was sup- posed that the brain must have received some injury. I administered Arnica, and the surgeon agreed to postpone bleeding until we had returned from our drive, stating that the injury must have been too serious to be affected by such feeble means. On our return, two hours afterwards, we found the child sensible, and only complaining of pain in the head, which subsided without any other treatment. 214 CASES AND SPRAIN. A YOUNG GENTLEMAN, whilst sliding, un- expectedly met with a hole in the ice, which twisted his foot on one side. He fell, and his companions stated that it was only by pulling that the foot was restored to its natural place, so that partial dislocation must have occurred. When I saw the patient, the ankle was much swollen and extremely painful. Arnica was here administered internally, and a lotion, composed of the Tincture of Arnica diluted with water, applied externally. The swelling gradually sub- sided, but symptoms threatening inflammatory action within the joint, required the employment of Aconitum. In the course of a week the youth was able to walk, but, as a precautionary measure, he remained on the sofa the greater part of the day. This patient was of a strumous habit, though no symptoms had shown an active ten- dency; but had the effect of this accident not been speedily overcome, without employing measures that would weaken the constitution, OBSERVATIONS. 215 disease in the joint would probably have re- sulted. FBlu RNS. The application of hot spirits of turpentine, being perfectly homoeopathic, should be had re- course to in the treatment of BURNs, and assiduously persevered in until the pains have subsided. In severe burns, however, conside- rable suffering naturally remains for some time, and, in such cases, a homoeopathic remedy, in general, speedily relieves it. In the case of a YouNG woman under my care, who was severely scalded in both feet, the acute pain was subdued by the application of hot spirits of wine, but the burning pain consequent on inflammatory action of the exposed surface, occurring after the first agony had subsided, was subdued in a few hours by Arsenicum, which is known to occasion pain of a burning character. FINIS. METCALFE, PRINTER, G Rocers' HALL court, Poultry, LONDON. /~. ~~ ... º. º. ºf r , ; º ∞i√∞i√≠√æ√≠√∞ ، & §§ f * : : sº