S8H 
 
 H£5a 
 
 .NEMANI 
 

 • 
 
 
 
 THE ROBERT E. COWAN COLLECTION 
 
 < PRESKNTED TO THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CHLIFORNIH 
 
 BY 
 
 C. p. HUNTINGTON 
 
 - 3UNE. 1897. 
 
 Accession no 6ffJ2> Class No, ^^^-^ 
 
 
 
 /f^f^ 
 
 . 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.Qrg/details/allopathyhonneopaOOhillrich 
 
ALLOPATHY 
 
 AND 
 
 HOMOEOPATHY 
 
 III 
 
 OF 
 
 Common Sense! 
 
 BY 
 
 F. Hiller, IVT.D. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO : 
 Bruce's Job Printing House, 535 Sacramento Street, 
 
 1872 
 
<o<j^i)0 
 
 It is difficult to carry the Torch-Light of Truth 
 through the masses, without stepping occasionally upon 
 a toe or burning a wig or a head-dress. 
 
To 
 
 WILLIAM SHARON, Esq., 
 ISAAC L. REQUA, Esq., 
 A. K. P. HARMON, Esq., 
 SAMUEL G. THELLER, Esq. 
 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 I have taken the liberty to dedicate this offering 
 to you, as a token of respect and esteem. This, 
 together with a grateful remembrance of the courtesies 
 extended to me, and the support which I have derived 
 from your friendship, will be, I hope, a sufficient excuse 
 for the liberty I have taken. 
 
 Very truly, yours, etc. 
 
 F. HILLER, M. D. 
 
 San Francisco, 1872. 
 
OF THE 
 
 U-NIV^SITY I 
 
 TO THE 
 
 MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 
 SAMUEL HAHNEMANN 
 
 THE DISCOVERER OF 
 
 . ilfi^ ifrtt^ J^atti 0f d{ttri[ 
 
 Born April loth, 1775 ; — Died June 4th, 1843. 
 
 -v.#-v^^x^-r^^'%*^-^^-#-*^"%-#-v^- 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 It is a remarkable and at the same time a terrible and 
 most lamentable fact, that the practice of medicine— an art of 
 daily necessity and application, most nearly aifecting the 
 dearest interests and well being of mankind, and to the 
 improvement of which we are encouraged and impelled by 
 the strongest motives of interest and humanity, of love for 
 our neighbor and emulous zeal for professional skill and 
 superiority therein — should, after a probation of so long a 
 period, and recorded experience of at least two thousand 
 years, still remain, as it confessedly does in most respects, so 
 little understood and generally of such doubtful and uncer- 
 tain application. 
 
6 
 
 Tlie present age, unlike any that has preceded it, is pe- 
 culiarly one of rigid, radical and fundamental examination. 
 Everything in the Heavens above, or in the Earth beneath, 
 is tested and retested ; analyzed, synthetized and submitted 
 to the crucible of stern reason, and the logical conclusion of 
 experience ; even to the extreme of possibility. This is true 
 not only of the material universe, but of all mental and moral 
 conditions, of social, political and even religious institutions. 
 Nothing, in this day, and especially in this country of free 
 thought and liberty of speech, is taken for granted merely 
 because it can lay claim to the honors of a great antiquity, 
 or can number thousands or millions of adherents. Vast 
 differences are to be observed in governments, churches, 
 creeds and social practices ; and all, however opposite and 
 apparently antagonistic, are working out a solution to the 
 problem — 
 
 " What is Truth ? " 
 
 Conservatism is fast dying out, hidden and smothered -by 
 the ever-flowing tidal-waves of progression. Radicalism 
 ceases to become radical, by the daily and hourly recurrence 
 of startling discoveries, and new, unheard-of, and unexpected 
 adaptations of old laws. The mistakes of to-day will be 
 found to be mistakes, and will be rectified. Whenever and 
 wherever freedom holds her sway, evil must work out its 
 own destruction, and good enthrone itself in the hearts of 
 those benefitted by its benign influence. In this spirit, and 
 with such views, let us look at the progressof Medical Science 
 that we may learn from the experience of the past to correctly 
 estimate the developments of the present and aid wisely in 
 the working for a more glorious future. 
 
 Medicine has been — not inaptly styled — ''The daughter of 
 dreams." From the time of Hippocrates until now, the great 
 body of the profession has been swayed by conflicting theo- 
 ries, founded upon either the wholly unsupported fancies 
 and conjectures of their authors, or unwarrantably built upon 
 isolated facts, often accidental in their occurence, partial in 
 their observation, and improperly understood in their inhe- 
 
rent nature and theoretical significance, pointing to a law of 
 action widely different from the one in support of which they 
 had been adduced. All branches of medicine have been 
 involved in these crude absurdities ; nor has the nomencla- 
 ture of any department of science, even in our day, been en- 
 tirely purged from the errors and misleadings with which the 
 past so fruitfully abounds. 
 
 To mark the improvement and advancement in the various 
 branches of medical science ; to compare the present with 
 the past ; to observe the unfolding growth, maturity, and 
 decay of medical creeds ; to discern the power of those 
 master-minds, that, far beyond the ages in which they lived 
 fore-shadowed the forth-coming discoveries that were to 
 make other men immortal ; to sigh over the incredulity of 
 whole races, whose blind and dogmatical adherence to the 
 theories of some prominent physiologist or anatomist — was at 
 once silenced by the light of a new truth, suddenly and 
 clearly promulgated by a single mind. To do all these 
 thiEgs, was the labor of a whole life; volumes could be 
 written in such investigation, and still thousands of facts be 
 left untouched and forgotten, forever buried in the chaos 
 of medical creeds, medical truths and medical fictions. 
 . Old Physic has for several centuries past drifted in the 
 wrong direction, striking occasionally upon a rock, but finds 
 itself to day further off from shore than ever before. 
 
 Medicine, the oldest and most important of all branches of 
 science, has not kept up with developments in other depart- 
 ments, but the rays of light have already deeply penetrated 
 into the darkness of the past, fast undermining the building 
 of the so-called " Rational Medicine " with all its hypothesis 
 and traditions. 
 
 It was near the end of the last century, that the idea 
 occurred to a single man, that the reason he had failed in 
 practice must be that the medical profession was entirely on 
 the wrong path. He made the effort to cure diseases on the 
 principle directly opposite to those on which he had been 
 educated to act, and he was successful. He thought a 
 
8 
 
 reformation of medicine needful and desirable, and proper to 
 be attempted. He set about it, hoping, if he should succeed 
 in pointing out a more safe, certain and pleasant road to the 
 life-giving and life-renewing fountain of health, that it 
 would be a blessing to suffering humanity. That man was 
 
 Samuel Hahnemann. 
 
 Had the reform inaugurated by him been of an insig- 
 nificant character, it might have been accepted by the 
 medical world without controversy. Had the new path 
 into which he invited the profession been only a little 
 smoother than the old one and lying right alongside of it, 
 like that which led the pilgrims from the main high-way into 
 the domains of the giant, physicians might have been easily 
 lured into.it. But the revolution was a radical one. It- 
 contemplated a counter-march such as the teachers and 
 practitoners of the healing art had never been called upon to 
 make. It called upon the chiefs of the profession to reverse 
 the wheels of the ponderous engine, and seek for the long- 
 sought shore in the opposite direction. 
 
 The new doctrine came forth embodied in only three 
 simple words : ^^Similia Similihus GuranturJ' . 
 
 Thus the year 1790' gave birth to the celebrated system of 
 Hahnemann, which has received from him a Greek title, 
 expressive of its peculiarities — Homoeopathy, and in opposi- 
 tion to " Gontraria Contraries Curantur — Allopathy. 
 
 It is not my purpose to entertain you with a detailed 
 history of medicine, nor even to notice the successive and 
 conflicting theories that have arisen from time to time; but 
 simply to show that the old, or Allopathic system of medicine 
 as practiced till this day is unworthy of our confidence; that 
 its theory of therapeutics is irrational and worthless; that 
 there is an absence of any reliable principle to guide the 
 physicians in the treatment of diseases; and that the sick are 
 far better off when left to nature, than when subject to the 
 pernicious system of dosing, while a growing want of confi- 
 dence in this system, both in the public mind and the medical 
 
profession, loudly calls for something more rational in its 
 theory and more successful in its -practice. 
 
 I shall not ask you to accept my individual opinions in 
 support of these views, but shall place upon the witness- 
 stand, and give you the declarati ons of m en jwhojiaye ^spent 
 their^Jjyxss--in__lhe_ practice. -oi_ihis system — most of them 
 authors and teachers, men living in different countries, and 
 from the highest ranks of the profession, and who, if any, 
 should be able to pronounce a eulogy upon this system of 
 practice. 
 
 I introduce to you first Boerhave, a man justly illustrious 
 in the history of medicine, he lived a century before Hahne- 
 mann, and was for over forty years Professor at the Univer- 
 sit}^ at Leiden. 
 
 Hear him! He says: 
 
 ♦♦ If we compare the good which a half dozen true disciples of ^sculapius 
 have done since their art began, with the ^vil which the immense number of 
 doctors have inflicted upon mankind, we must be satisfied that it would have 
 been infinitely better for mankind if medical men had never existed." 
 
 The celebrated Bichat of Paris, thus speaks of the thera- 
 peutic system of his day: 
 
 " It is an incoherent assemblage of incoherent opinions; it is perhaps, of all 
 the physiological sciences that which best shows the caprice of the human 
 mind. AVhat do I say ? — It is not a science for a methodical mind ; it is a 
 shapeless assemblage of inexact ideas, of observations often peurile, of decep- 
 tive remedies and of formula as fastidiously and fantastically conceived, as they 
 are tediously arranged." • 
 
 Then we find the equally celebrated French physician, 
 Majendib, saying: 
 
 «« I hesitate not to declare, no matter how sorely I shall wound our vanity, 
 that so gross is our ignorance of the physiological disorders called diseases, 
 that it would perhaps be better to do nothing, and resign the complaint we are 
 called upon to treat to the resources of Nature, than to act as we frequently 
 do, without knowing the why and the wherefore of our conduct, and at the 
 obvious risk of hastening the end of our patient." 
 
 Dr. Good, the great nosologist, asserts that 
 
 " The science of medicine is a barbarous jargon, and the effects of our 
 medicines on the human system are in the highest degree uncertain ; except, 
 
10 
 
 indeed, that they have already destroyed more lives than war, pestilence and 
 famine combined." 
 
 Sir Astley Cooper, England's greatest surgeon says: 
 
 •' The science of medicine is founded on conjecture and improved by 
 murder." 
 
 But, it may be said, these men lived in the past, and since 
 their time the science of medicine has improved and its 
 practice has become more rational and safe. 
 
 Let us then come down to a later period, and listen to Dr. 
 Christison, the present eminent Professor of Materia Medica 
 at the University of Edinburgh. He says : 
 
 ♦• Of all medical sciences, therapeutics is the most unsatisfactory in its 
 present state, and the least advanced in progress, and surrounded by the most 
 deceitful sources of fallacy." 
 
 Sir John Forbes, Fellow of the Royal College of Physi- 
 cians : Physician to the Queen's Household, late editor of the 
 *' British and Foreign Medical Review," after a frank admis- 
 sion of the imperfections of Allopathic medicine, says: 
 
 «• First. That in a large proportion of the cases treated by Allopathic 
 physicians, the disease is cured by Nature and not by them." 
 
 •' Second. That in a lesser, but still not a small proportion, the disease is 
 cured in spite of them ; in other words, their interference opposing instead of 
 assisting the cure." 
 
 '* Third. That, consequently in a considerable proportion of diseases, it 
 would be as well, or better with patients, in the actual condition of the 
 medical art, as more generally practiced, if all remedies, at least active remedies 
 especially drugs were abandoned." And finally adds, "Things have arrived at 
 such a pitch that they cannot be worse. They must mend or end." 
 
 But, I may be asked, what are the views of the Professors 
 and writers in our own country. Have they no more confi- 
 dence in the healing art than their brethren in the old 
 world ? Let us see : 
 
 Dr. Rush, one of the lights of the profession in his day, 
 remarks : 
 
 " The healing art is an unroofed temple, uncovered at the top and cracked at 
 the foundation." 
 
 And again : 
 
 " Our want of success results from the following causes : First. — Ignorance 
 
11 
 
 of the law governing disease. Second. — Our ignorance of a suitable remedy 
 Third. — Want of efficacy in the remedy ; and finally we have assisted in. 
 multiplying disease ; nay, we have done more : we have increased their 
 mortality." 
 
 Professor Chapman, who stood at the head of the profes- 
 sion in Philadelphia, in an address to the medical society, 
 after speaking of the pernicious effects of calomel, adds: 
 
 " Gentlemen, it is a disgraceful reproach to the profession of medicine; it is 
 quackery, horrid unwaranted murderous quackery. * * * But I will 
 ask another question, who is it that can stop the career of mercury at will, 
 after it has taken the reins into its own destructive and ungovernable hands ? 
 He, who for an ordinary cause resigns the fate of his patient to mercury is a 
 vile enemy to the sick ; and if he is tolerably popular, will, in one successful 
 season, have paved the way for the business of life, for he has enough to do 
 ever afterwards to stop the mercurial breach of the constitutions of his dilapi- 
 dated patients." 
 
 And yet, this article of the Materia Medica in some of its 
 various forms, is still more frequently prescribed than any 
 othei' by the allopathic physicians. A writer in the June 
 number, 1868, of the * 'London Chemist," having submitted 
 to a careful examination one thousand prescriptions, taken 
 seriatim from the files of a druggist, states, among other 
 curious facts, that mercury takes the lead, and stands promin- 
 ently at the head of the list. Mercury, the very name of 
 which strikes terror into the mind^ of nervous and timid 
 patients, is still the foremost remedial agent employed by the 
 medical profession. 
 
 Professor Draper, in one of his introductory lecturers, be- 
 fore the University College of New York, makes the follow- 
 ing statement : 
 
 "Even those of us who have most carefully upheld our old professional theo- 
 ries, and have tried to keep in reverence the old opinions, and the old times, 
 find that under the advance of the exact sciences our position is becoming un- 
 tenable. The ground is slipping away from beneath our feet. We are on the 
 brink of a great revolution. Go where you will, among intelligent physicians 
 you will find a deep, though it may be an indistinct perception, that a great 
 change is imminent." 
 
 The late Professor Mutter of Philadelphia, in an introduc- 
 tory lecture a few years ago, says : 
 
12 
 
 " We have in truth, rested contented in ideal knowledge. We have received 
 as perfect, theories as idle as day dreams. We have blindly accepted the fol- 
 lies of the past ; and the foundation of our art must crumble to the earth imless 
 we learn more discretion and better judgment in the selection of the material of 
 which they are to be constructed." 
 
 I might continue these quotations indefinitely ; but I will 
 not weary you by citing more, and surely, sufiicient evidence 
 has already been produced to sustain the allegation that th e 
 old system of medicine is unworthy of our confidence ; that, 
 with no law upon which to base its principles o£-ir_eatment; 
 its practice rests^upon a chaotic mass of empirical experiences, 
 groundless theories, and ever-changing fancies ; that those 
 best acquainted with its principles, and the results of its 
 practice, have the least faith in its usefulness ; and that the 
 interests of the suffering, imperiously demand a revolution in 
 the method of treating disease, and call for a system more in 
 harmony with Nature, more reliable in its application, and 
 more successful in its results. 
 
 This degraded state of the medical practice was deeply felt 
 by Hahnemann, and in 1778 he retired from the practice of 
 medicine in disgust at its uncertainties, after having acquired 
 fame as a scientific scholar and high standing in his profes- 
 sion, breaking away from the past and opening a new field of 
 glory to his activities, as well as a new era of progress in the 
 medical art. 
 
 Samuel Hahnemann was a great man; the discoverer of the 
 true law of cure, in accordance with the principles and laws 
 of Nature. 
 
 I need not tell you, that we maintain that this much-desired 
 and long-looked-for law of cure, which is to be a lamp to the 
 feet of the physician, making plain his path, and giving him 
 an unfailing guide in the application of remedies to the re- 
 moval of disease, not only exists, but has been proclaimed 
 to the world by the immortal Hahnemann in his well-known 
 focmula : Similia Similihus Curanturl But who was Samuel 
 Hahnemann? When I say that this great Reformer of 
 Medicine was a regularly educated physician of great learn- 
 ing and unusual general culture and literary attainments, I 
 
13 
 
 speak but feeble praise compared with the language of Sir 
 John Forbes, Hahnemann's most learned critic, where he 
 says: 
 
 " No candid reader of his writings can hesitate for a moment to admit that 
 he was a very extraordinary man ; one, whose name will descend to posterity 
 as the exclusive excogitator and founder of an original system of medicine, 
 as ingenious as many that preceded it, and destined to be the remote, if not 
 the immediate cause of more fundamental changes in the practice of the healing 
 art, than have resulted from any promulgated since the days of Galen 
 himself." • 
 
 And he adds : 
 
 ♦» He was undoubtedly a man o f genius and a scholar, a man of indefatigable 
 industry and of datmtless energy." 
 
 The great Haller, says of him : 
 
 " He is a doublehead of philosophy and wisdom." 
 
 And HuFELAND, the father of orthodox medicine, speak s of 
 him as one of the most distinguished physicians in Germany, 
 Avhile the late Dr. Mott of New York, after having visited 
 Hahnemann in Paris, speaks in the highest terms of his 
 candor, learning and genius. 
 
 It has often been stated by close observers of the working 
 of Divine Providence, that '*The darkest hour is just before 
 day," and also, that " The Creator ever wisely and well- 
 provides agents perfectly adapted to carry out His benefici- 
 ent designs in the crisis of human affairs." History, both 
 sacred and profane, gives unwavering and very numerous 
 evidences of the justice and verity of these propositions. 
 In matters theological as well as political this is equally the 
 case. When there could scarcely be greater gloom or greater 
 danger, the wise Arbiter of human destinies has educated, 
 nerved, inspired and protected some master-spirit, wha has 
 caused light to shine out of daVkness, and peace and order to 
 take the place of chaos and destruction. Never were these 
 propositions more fully illustrated than in medical matters 
 towards the close of the past century. All the arts and 
 sciences had received the impetus of new discoveries^;^ The 
 inductive method of investigation had brought out clearly to 
 view first principles, on which it was easy for succeeding 
 
' 14 
 
 generations to build solid, stable and beautiful temples of 
 truth. 
 
 Astronomy, chemistr}^, botany and every branch in Natural 
 Philosophy, instead of continuing mere matters of specula- 
 tive theory, as they were before, became sciences. The_ 
 sons of JEscuIapius alone were enshrouded in an Egyptian 
 darknesf^, wandering about without guide and compass, 
 rushing wildly to and fro with instruments of deadly power 
 in their hands ; whom they Avished to heal, they slew ; and 
 tortured those whom they fondly hoped might find timely 
 rehef from sufferings and woes through their ministrations. 
 
 The hearts of the benevolent were deeply pained, and the 
 conscientious wavered in their work when they gathered 
 statistics of the results of their labor. A cry ascended 
 heaven-wards from the practitioners of medicine, the longing 
 for better days, seemed seconded by a phalanx of ghostly 
 beings, who had untimely passed away by means of fearful 
 treatment, and by the living miseries of multitudes of shape- 
 less deformed ones, who ever stood unpleasant and incontro- 
 vertible witnesses of the cruelties and barbarities of the 
 healing art. 
 
 With increasing civilization, jaew and fatal epidemi^cs 
 appeared, reaping a rich harvest for the grim monster — 
 Death — and adding yearly to the per-centage of the ever-in- 
 creasing bills of mortality. Many an honest practitioner 
 threw away lancet and saddle-bags in despair, while quacks 
 andjmedical charlatans, profiting by the wranglings~o£ the 
 regulars, and the weariness of the people, drove a reckless 
 but well-paying trade, with nostrums of every^^haracter, 
 from the deadliest poison to the simplest house-hold herb. 
 
 But a brigther day was about to dawn. 
 
 In the picturesque town of Meissen, in the district of 
 Cur Saxony, lived an honest and worthy man, Christian 
 Gottfried Hahnemann, an intelligent, patriotic and highly 
 esteemed, though unassuming and unambitious member of 
 that community, by trade a painter upon porcelain, known 
 under the name of Dresden-China. 
 
16 
 
 On the 10th day of April, 1755, he was made happy by 
 the birth of a son, whom he named Samuel Christian Fred- 
 erick. Amidst all the fond hopes the parents cherished for 
 their new-born babe, little did they imagine to what a des- 
 tiny the great Creator had appointed him. Of the mother 
 of this child not very much is known, save that she was 
 modest, industrious, intensely attached to her family, full 
 of sympathy with her children's aspirations, and ever-ready 
 to aid them in their schemes of pleasure or advancement. 
 The infantile years of little Hahnemann were spent amidst 
 scenery so strikingly beautiful, as to impress his young 
 buoyant heart, even in those tender years, with an admiration 
 of Nature's handiwork, and so instill into him a love of the 
 works of God, which ever increased as he grew older. He 
 was not sent to school very young, not until he was eight 
 years old; this will perhaps partly account for the fact 
 that when he did go, he manifested an ardent thirst for 
 knowledge, which was never slacked during his long life-time. 
 But he did not spend his first eight years of life entirely 
 in play. Those health-securing, physical-exhilarating and 
 developing exercises were occasionally relieved by lessons 
 from his father, and sometimes from his mother, in reading 
 and writing, and by frequent conversations of a religious 
 and moral character. 
 
 These conversations laid deep the foundation of that unde- 
 viating integrity, fixedness of purpose, unwavering consci- 
 entiousness and unaffected reverence for the. Diyi"© .Being, 
 which ever characterized this Medical jgeformer i n afterjife^ 
 The influence of this paternal conversational instruction and 
 moral training made him what he was, as a school-boy, as a 
 college-student, as an author, a chemist aiid a physician. 
 Untiring industry, conscientiousness, and a reliance upon 
 Divine blessing, will in any sphere in life secure success, 
 and Samuel Hahnemann was no exception to the general 
 rule. In writing on this subject, he says: "My father had 
 the soundest ideas on what was to be considered good and 
 worthy in man, and had arrived at them by his own inde- 
 pendent thought. He sought to plant them in me, and im- 
 
 OF THE 
 TT'XTTTri-'T- 
 
16 
 
 pressed on me more by actions than by words, tlie great 
 lesson of life, to act and to be, not merely to seem ! When 
 a good work Avas going forward, there, often unobserved, he 
 was sure to be helping, hand to heart; shall I not do likewise? 
 In the finest distinctions between the noble and the base, he 
 decided by his actions with a justness that did honor to the 
 nicety of his sense of right and wrong. In this, too, he was 
 my monitor." 
 
 Such sterling qualities, rooted in the boy's heart, and early 
 budding out in his life, made him beloved by all Avho came 
 in contact with him. Play-mates, school-fellows and instruct- 
 ors not only treated him with kindness, but with ardent 
 aifection. 
 
 This school-boy life did not pass, however, without trials, 
 the greatest of which was the disinclination of his father for 
 him to continue his studies. It is a little strangle that the 
 good man, who himself possessed a keen power of observa- 
 tion, did not once suspect the future greatness of his child : 
 but he was very poor, had several other children to support, 
 and doubtless feared that a thorough classical and scientific 
 education would give to his son aspirations that would be 
 doomed to bitter disappointment. His teacher, however, 
 pleaded on his behalf, off'ering to remit the usual school-fees, 
 and he was permitted to continue his studies until he was 
 twenty years of age. A proof of the poverty of his parents 
 at this time, is illustrated by the circumstance, that his father 
 complained of the great consumption of oil during young 
 Hahnemann's preparation of his lessons, and would not per- 
 mit him to use the family lamp after the other members of 
 the household had retired : but Samuel, who was never daunted 
 by difficulties,* or frustrated in a purpose, when he had 
 concluded that it was legitimate, manufactured a lamp out of 
 a lump of clay, and successfully coaxed his mother to supply 
 him with oil. 
 
 At the close of his high school term, young Hahnemann 
 wrote, as was usual with those just finishing their course, a 
 treatise. He had for some time manifested a deep interest 
 in natural science, and particularly in the branches of chem- 
 
17 
 
 istrj^nd^gh^siplpgy. He wrote his thesis in Latin, choosing 
 as his subject, ** The wisdom of God in forming the Human 
 Hand." This was for his age, a work of great merit, and even 
 his father seemed to have become proud of his abiUties, and 
 gave his free consent for the studious boy to go to Leipzig 
 that he might attend the lectures at the University, and 
 presented him with all the money he possibly could spare, 
 amounting to nearly fifteen dollars in our currency. "This," 
 says Hahnemann, " was the last money I received from my 
 father." He left his home for Leipzig on Easter, 1775. 
 
 He was at first somewhat puzzled by that troublesome 
 subject, "the ways and means," but fortunately becoming 
 acquainted with two *rich Princes of Greece, who were 
 anxious to be instructed in the English and French languages. 
 Hahnemann entered into a lucrative engagement with them 
 as instructor, and also obtained employment as a translator 
 of medical .and philosophical works. The remuneration he 
 received for private teaching and translating, not only 
 enabled him to supply all his moderate wants and purchase 
 of books, but he saved a considerable amount besides. In 
 order to save so much, and at the same time attend faithfully 
 upon all his classes, he denied himself sleep every other 
 night. In 1777, .we find him attending the hospitals of Vienna 
 where his excellence of character, and extent of medical 
 information, completely won him the friendship and confi- 
 dence of the celebrated Doctor von Quarin, who perceiving the 
 noble qualities and promising abilities of the young man, 
 adopted him as a special protege. Hahnemann says of him, 
 '* To him I owe my claims to be reckoned as a physician. I 
 had his love and friendship." After this, he visited the 
 University of Erlangen, where he graduated, receiving the 
 degree of Doctor of Medicine on the 10th of August, 1779. 
 At this time, an earnest longing for the air of Saxony and 
 the scenery of his native district seems to have taken pos- 
 session of him. After having occupied several prominent 
 positions, the government offered him the ofiice of District 
 Physician in Gommern, which he accepted in 1782. 
 
 After three years residence in Gommern, during which 
 
18 
 
 time he had married,he became tired of professional idleness — 
 as he expresses himself — and we find him removing to Dres- 
 den. For about a year he occupied the position as superin- 
 tendent of the public hospitals of that city. His conscience 
 however, began to be much troubled by the conviction that 
 medicine as then practiced proved worse than useless to the 
 majority of patients. He retired from the practice of_ 
 medicine in disgust at its uncertainties, occupying himself 
 solely with chemistry and literary labor. 
 
 The humanity and integrity of Hahnemann is plainly 
 portrayed in a letter to the venerable Hufeland, where he 
 .'gives his own account of the reasons which induced him at 
 this time to retire from practice. He writes : 
 
 *' It was painful for me to grope in the dark, guided only by our books in 
 the treatment of the sick — to prescribe according to this or that fanciful view of 
 the nature of diseases, substances that only owed to mere opinion their place in 
 the Materia Medica. I had conscientious scruples about treating unknown 
 morbid states in my suffering fellow- creatures with these unknown medicines; 
 which, being powerful substances, might, if they were not exactly suitable, 
 (and how could the physician know whether they were suitable or not, seeing 
 that their peculiar special actions were not yet elucidated ?), easily change life 
 into death, or produce new affections or chronic ailments, which are often much 
 more difficult to remove than the original disease. To become in this way a_ 
 murderer, or an aggravator of the sufferings of mankind, was to me a fearful 
 thought. So fearful and distressing was it, that shortly after my marriage I 
 abandoned the practice, and scarcely treated any one for fear of doing him 
 harm." 
 
 In 1789, he settled in Leipzig, and numerous writings and 
 translations, which have been often quoted by the best wri- 
 ters ever since, came from his pen during that period. We 
 come now to the year 1790, in which the first thought of 
 Homoeopathy issued from the brain of the great father and 
 founder of the new school of medicine. It has already been 
 hinted that Halmemann had felt an intense desire to obtain 
 some clear, safe and philosophical guide to the therapeutic 
 action of drugs. 
 
 He vvas called upon to tra-islate ''Cullen's Materia Medica," 
 and as he progressed in the description of one medical sub- 
 stance after another, he could not but feel a renewal of the 
 earnest longing he had so often cherished, to clear medical 
 
19 
 
 science from the clouds of mist and uncertainty in which it, 
 had continued from the time of Hippocrates. 
 
 The workings of his mind, and the character of the man, at 
 this time will be best understood by a quotation from the 
 letter he wrote to Hufeland, where he says : 
 
 ** Having briefly reviewed, the sad experience of the systems of Sydenham 
 and Hoffmann, of Boerhave and Glaubius, of Stahl, Cullen and de Hean," he 
 continues, 
 
 *• But it is, perhaps, the very nature of this art, as great men have asserted 
 that it is incapable of attaining any greater certainty. Shameful, blasphemous 
 thought ! What ! shall it be said that the inRnite wisdom of the Eternal Spirit, 
 that animates the universe, could not produce remedies to allay the sufferings 
 of the diseases He allows to arise? The all-loving paternal goodness of Him, 
 whom no name worthily designates, who richly supplies all wants, even the 
 scarcely conceivable wants of the insect in the dust, imperceptible by reason of 
 its minuteness to the keenest human eye, and who despenses throughout 
 creation, life and happiness in rich abundance, shall it be said that He is 
 capable of the tyranny of not permitting that man, made in his image, should 
 by the efforts of his penetrating mind, that has been breathed into him from 
 above, find out the way to discover remedies in the stupendous kingdom of 
 creation, which should be able to deliver mankind from their sufferings, worse 
 than death itself? Shall He, the Father of all, behold with indifference the 
 martyrdom of his best-beloved creatures by disease, and yet render it imposs- 
 ible to the genius of man, to whom all else is possible, to find any method, any 
 easy, sure, trust-worthy method, whereby they may see diseases from their 
 proper point of view, and whereby they may interrogate medicines as to their 
 special uses, as to what they are really, surely and positively serviceable for ? 
 Well, thought I, as there must be a sure and trust-worthy method of treatment, 
 as certainly as God is the wisest and most beneficient of Beings, I shall seek it 
 no longer in the thorny thicket of ontological explanations, * * * nor 
 in the authoritative declarations of celebrated men. No ; let me seek it where 
 it lies nearest at hand, and where it has hitherto been passed over by all, 
 because it did not seem sufficiently recondite, nor sufficiently learned, and was 
 not hung with laurels for those who displayed most talent for constructing 
 systems, for scholastic speculation, and transcendental abstractions." 
 
 With these high and noble feelings, his mind was fully 
 awake to any suggestion that might be derived from the 
 material before him. 
 
 For fortyj[f^jxgJi£_c.nrried nnji, spri^s "f wpII -planned jind 
 wSU^Scdated experiments to_as.aeilain^ 
 poweT'of" drugs^when admi.nistere.d tQ,..persons in liealth . 
 FrienJsTmedical and lay, were brought into requisitian, and 
 
 X 
 
.all possible means taken to secure the greatest accuracy; for 
 Hahnemann already began to feel that he was God's agent of 
 mercy, through whose happy discovery and labors future 
 generations would be greatly blessed. 
 
 He found but little opportunity to test his newly-discovered 
 law of cure while he remained in Leipzig, and poverty 
 compelled him to labor with his pen most indefatigably, as 
 was evidenced by the large number of essays and transla- 
 tions published at that time. 
 
 Providence, however, interfered in his behalf; the reigning 
 Duke of Saxe Gotha offered him the position of Physician to 
 the Asylum for the Insane in Georgenthal, in the Thuringen 
 Forest. He entered upon his duties in 1792. While at the 
 head of this establishment, he succeeded in affecting a cure 
 which created some sensation, because the party concerned 
 was the Hanoverian Minister, Klockenbring, who was ren- 
 dered insane by a lampoon written by Kotzebue. He also 
 introduced a mild and humane treatment for the insane, re- 
 moving the chains and tight-jacket, heretofore in use, 
 
 In 1810, he published his greatest work, "The Organon," 
 which ran through five editions, and was translated into most 
 all the living languages. From 1810 to 1821, we find him 
 again in Leipzig, publishing his Materia 31edica, and lectur- 
 ing twice a week in the University, at the same time attend- 
 ing to a multitude of patients. 
 
 In 1821, Hahnemann was induced by the reigning Duke of 
 Anhalt-Coethen, who was his warm friend and admirer, 
 to change his place of residence, and appointed him his Phy- 
 sician. He accepted the position. He soon began to work 
 as earnestly as before in proving medicines and prescribing 
 for his patients, who came from all parts of Europe. 
 
 On one occasion, during his residence in Coethen, he 
 recieved a visitor who had heard a great deal of Hahnemann 
 and his garden, and who had imagined the garden to be as 
 large as its owner was great. When he was ushered into 
 the presence of the Prophet of Medicine and found him seated 
 at a table in a summer-house, only a few yards from the 
 dwelling, he exclaimed: "But where is the garden?" To which 
 
21 
 
 Hahnemann replied, "This is the garden." "Surely," rejoined • 
 the visitor, "Not this narrow patch of ground?' "True, it 
 is very narrow and very short, but observe its infinite 
 height," said the Sage, pointing upwards to the blue sky 
 overhead. 
 
 The tenth of August, 1829, was a joyful day for the vener- 
 able old man, being the fifteenth anniversary of his obtaining 
 the degree of M. D. Gratifying and memorable in more than 
 one respect was this day for him. 
 
 I refrain from giving you a full description of this impres- 
 sive celebration, lest I should be considered tedious, yet I 
 cannot thus pass over historical facts, without dwelling upon 
 a few of the principal features of this gratifying and memora- 
 ble festivity. 
 
 The early morning found assembled a large number of the 
 friends of Hahnemann, his disciples; deputations from various 
 cities; also deputations from the Universities of Leipzig, 
 Vienna and Erlangen, Avhich presented him with the Diploma 
 of Honor. The King of Saxony, the Duke of Saxe Gotha 
 and many others had sent costly presents from far and near. 
 His dwelling having been appropriately prepared for the 
 celebration, and on a table, resembling an altar, adorned with 
 flowers and entwined with oak leaves, was placed a well 
 executed bust of Hahnemann. 
 
 After Hahnemann was introduced, his bust was crowned 
 with laurels, amid appropriate addresses and congratulations. 
 With deep emotion, the venerable old man in heartfelt and 
 afiecting words, gave thanks to the Supreme Being that he had 
 been permitted to make so great a discovery, and was so fa- 
 vored with a long life, full of bodily and mental vigor. 
 
 A year after this importajnt_ occurr^icej^tl^ 
 Cholera^ came marching from_yieL.East,JbL_.il^ 
 This aroused the medical profession in .general. Physicians 
 were helpless, and none of them had ever seen a case of this .. 
 fearful disease. But Hahnemann, after learning the symp- 
 toms of the disease, advised the mode of treatment by which 
 the mortalitxpf that terrible scourge was tlireefold reduced, 
 and numerous testimonials were published, showing the 
 
22 
 
 immense success of his mode of treatment. In 1831, he lost 
 his partner in life, having been married forty-nine years and 
 a few months. 
 
 About four years after the death of his wife, a most inter- 
 esting, intelligent and estimable lady, applied to Hahnemann 
 for advice for lung and heart disease. It has been humor- 
 ously stated that though the lung disease was effectually 
 cured, the trouble of the heart must have assumed a chronic 
 form, for the fascinating Parisienne seemed deeply enamored 
 with the great doctor. She was 35 years of age, the daugh- 
 ter of Louis Jerome Cohier, formerly Minister of Justice and 
 President and Director of the French Republic, her name 
 was Marie Melanie d'Herville Cohier. This lady of position 
 and wealth offered her hand to the octogenarian, which he 
 accepted, and after having divided his considerable fortune 
 among his children, upon which his yoimg wife insisted, he 
 was induced by her to pass the rest of his life in Paris, 
 where he enjoyed a great reputation till his death,., which 
 took place July 2nd, 1843. On the centenary of his birth- 
 day in 1855, a statute was erected to his memory at Leipzig. 
 
 To complete the picture of this great man, I have to cite 
 from a letter written by Dr. Jahr in Paris on the fourth of 
 July 1843, where he says : 
 
 " Hahnemann is dead ! In fact, dear friends, our venerable father had 
 finished his career. A pulmonary paralysis had set him free, after an illness 
 of six weeks, finally liberating the great soul from its earthly tenement. To 
 the last moment, he was in the possession of his mental faculties. * * * 
 In the commencement of that illness he announced that it would be his last, as 
 his body was worn out. At first he prescribed for himself, and nearly to the 
 period of his death delivered his opinion of the remedies offered him by his 
 wife and Dr. Chartran. * * * When his wife, on account of a fit 
 of sufibcation, said to him, 'Providence ought to exempt you from these 
 sufferings, as you have relieved so many, and endured such numerous persecu- 
 tions,' he replied, 'Mis : why me f Every otie works according to the abilities and 
 poivers xchich Providence has hestoioed iqwn him. Superiority or inferiority exists 
 only before the tribunal of men, not before that of Providence. Providence owes 
 nothing to me, but I a?n indebted to Providence for all.' " 
 
 I leave these memorable words, for every one to deduce 
 from them the natural conclusion, and especially as truly 
 illustrative of the character of Hahnemann. The grand old 
 
2a 
 
 man, at 80 years of age, launched himself upon a new career 
 in the capital of France. In three years we find him making 
 an income of 200,000 francs a year from his professional 
 exertions, and giving gratuitous advice to crowds of the poor. 
 
 Year after year his wonderful successes brought him a 
 rapid increase to even this large income. In his 89th year 
 he died and left a fortune of 4,000,000 francs, nearly a million 
 of dollars. 
 
 Seldom has a man ended his days in so glorious a sunset, 
 oi« in a surer hope for the future. 
 
 The merit of Hahnemann, and that for which we ought to 
 bless his name and cherish his memory, is his rejection of 
 theory and the establishment of the curative art upon the solid 
 foundation of science. All that was merely speculative he 
 rejected as unsafe, and sought by pure experiment and ob- 
 jective observation, to find out Nature's law of cure. Taking 
 nothing for truth that could not be proved by experiment, he, 
 by careful and untiring observation, obtained from Nature 
 the answer that Similia Similihus Curantur was the law of 
 cure, the only scientific law to heal disease. 
 
 This science is not wafted to and fro by the winds of 
 opinion and supposition. It is through its organic unity, 
 as firm and unchanging as Nature itself. In it all medical 
 men must agree, because the reign of supposition has been 
 replaced by that of facts, and all animated by the spirit of 
 progress will work actively and earnestly in promoting 
 science and the art of healing for their own benefit, and 
 that of suffering hnmanity in general. To get such a science 
 recognized and spread over the world, is undoubtedly a 
 noble problem of the age. Hahnemann also discovered by 
 experiment and pure objective observation, that disease ren- 
 ders the organization wonderfully sensitive to their specific 
 remedies, so that the mere smell of the specific drug can, in 
 many cases effect a cure ; and that in all cases, a very small 
 dose of the true remedy is all that is required; so small as 
 to have no effect whatever on the organism in a state of 
 health; and further, that large doses, even of the proper 
 
24 
 
 remedy, are not only useless, but hurtful, being calculated to 
 aggravate the disease and endanger vitality. 
 
 Time will not permit me to attempt here an elucidation of 
 the principles and doctrines promulgated by Hahnemann; 
 yet I wish to notice briefly some of the results following the 
 introduction of Homoeo]3athy into the medical Avorld. It is 
 now about seventy-five years since Hahnemann made public, 
 and taught this new system of medicine. The bold reformer 
 and his disciples w^ere XDersecuted, ridiculed and scorned in 
 every manner by the so-called orthodox doctors, who 
 declared their principles so ridiculous and nonsensical, th^t 
 it would be below the dignity of a scientific man to make 
 himself acquainted with the hiAvs and practice of Homoeop- 
 athy. But Homoeopathy in the theoretical and practical 
 proofs of its universal importance, deserves to be ranked 
 among the most important discoveries of the age, and as one 
 of tho most beneficial discoveries that humanity has ever 
 be6n blessed with. 
 
 Men of the highest standing in the profession have given 
 their unqualified indorsement of its foundation as an indispu- 
 table law of Nature, and of its right to be considered high 
 in the order of science. 
 
 The trutli. of i,ts principles lias been practically proven by 
 its success, not only in isolated^ases, but in great epidemics, 
 as those of dysentery, cholera, yellow fever, typhus, small- 
 pox, scarlet fever, measles, diptheria, etc.; and this^ too, in 
 so conspicuous a manner, that year after year, it has forced 
 its way into larger and higher circles, and is now practiced in 
 all countries by a large number of scientific and intelligent 
 physicians, who, after having studied and practiced for a 
 longer or shorter length of time the murderous system of 
 Allopathy, are acquainted with both, and have given the 
 pfetSrence to Homoeopathy, only after mature reflection, 
 investigation and numerous comparisons of the result of 
 both systems in their practice. 
 
 The great majority of Old-School ph3^sicians, only know 
 Homoeopathy by hearsay, and look upon it through the dim 
 glasses of the prejudices of the past. None of those w^ho 
 
25 
 
 have abused Homoeopathy have previously examined and 
 studied the matter thoroughly, because all those who have 
 conscientiously done this, have soon been converted to the 
 truth of the system and have adopted its practice. 
 
 In the ranks of the practitioners and believers in Homoe- 
 opathy, we see physicians whose writings prove, and to whom 
 nobody can deny an extended and profound medical knowl- 
 edge, as well as judgment. Homoeopathy can boast of a 
 rich and scientific literature, and a great number of pro- 
 found writings in all the languages of the civilized world. 
 
 Homoeopathy is a vast and steadily growing power in the 
 medical and scientific world, demanding earnestly the atten- 
 tion of every intelligent man. Its real merit may be partially 
 measured b}' the strength of obstacles it has had to overcome. 
 
 Homoeopathy is a reform in the central and main field of 
 medical practice, a reform effected by the discovery of a 
 greatand true therapeutic law, and by the construction of a 
 new Materia Medica, which reveals to us the disease-produc- 
 ing properties of drugs. It has rendered pathology the 
 highest service -by making that great branch of medical 
 science truly practical; for, an exact parallel functional and 
 organic law between the phenomena of diseases and drugs 
 is necessary to the scientific selection of homoeopathic medi- 
 cines. By its great therapeutic law, it has introduced new 
 light, order, beauty and efficiency into the theory and prac- 
 tice of medicine. It has cured thousands of cases of chronic 
 disease, beyond the reach of allopathic art, and has treated 
 all acute diseases with admirable ease and success. In great 
 epidemics, it proved always superior to the old system. _I_ 
 was co nverted ^ by experiencing the jwonjie.rful[_effects of 
 homoeopathic medicine on royseUT^utparticularly by wEne^-_, 
 ing the triumphs of Homoeopathy ih'the treatment^ ofjbhe , 
 Asiatic cholera, in the terrible epidemic of IBl"9-'50 and '51. 
 
 Allopathic mortality was : : : " : : of> y ' c. 
 
 Homoeopathic mortality was : : : : 12 (^ c. 
 
 In yellow fever, its success was equally surprising. 
 Drs. Davis and Holcombe treated over a thousand cases at 
 
26 
 
 Natchez in 1853 and '55, with a mortality of 7 per cent. Al- 
 lopathy lost two-thirds of its patients. On account of this 
 great victory, they were elected physicians and surgeons of 
 the Mississippi State Hospital, which was till then under allo- 
 pathic government. The reports from that Institution are 
 triumphs to Homoeopathy up to the present day, and con- 
 firmatory of the superiority of this system of medical treat- 
 ment. 
 
 Homoeopathy has saved thousands of cases from surgical 
 operations, and has introduced safety into the lying-in-room 
 of woman. It has been a blessing to children, and to 
 mothers incalculably beneficial. It has been found equally 
 useful in the diseases of animals, and many veterinary insti- 
 tutions have been established for its practice. 
 
 Finally, it has shortened the average duration of disease, 
 diminished the expense of treatment enormously, economized 
 the vital resources of the patient, and delivered its friends 
 from the frequently baneful and long-lasting effects of enor- 
 mous doses of medicine. 
 
 In conclusion, I will give a few statistics, from different 
 and reliable authorities; but first, the testimony of Dr. Routh, 
 an eminent Allopathic physician of London, given under cir- 
 cumstances which make it significant and interesting. 
 
 In 1852, Dr. Routh published in London a book which he 
 entitled the "Fallacies of Homoeopathy," which he says he 
 was constrained to do, because 
 
 "This system of medical practice has of late unfortunately made, and continues 
 to make, such progress in this country, and the metropolis in particular, and is 
 daily extending its influence even among the most learned, and those whose 
 high positions in society gives them no little moral power over the opinions of 
 the multitude, that our profession is, I think, bound to make it the subject of 
 inquiry and investigation." 
 
 To that end, he collected statistics of different hospitals, to 
 the number of thirty-two thousand six hundred and fifty 
 cases, treated in homoeopathic hospitals, and compared them 
 with an equal number of cases from old-school hospitals. 
 He_was astonished to find that the average mo>rtality under 
 allopathic treatment was 10.5! "^ c; while under homoeopathic 
 treatment it was only 4.4 '^ c. Still he was honest enough 
 
27 
 
 to publish the results. He further states that, proportionally 
 to the number of beds, in homoeopathic hospitals there are 
 twice as many patients admitted and cured, as in allopathic 
 hospitals. 
 
 He also states that the mean duration of treatment in 
 pneumonia was 
 
 Homoeopathic, : ; : : : : : llf days. 
 Allopathic, : : : : : : : : 29 days. 
 
 After visiting Vienna, Dr. Routh gives the following sta- 
 tistics of cases of inflammation of the lungs, treated respect- 
 ively in the Homoeopathic and Allopathic Hospitals of that 
 city. 
 
 Allopathic mortality : : : : : : 23 ^ c. 
 Homoeopathic mortality : : : : : : 6 ^ c. 
 
 Here, then, is allopathic testimony, the most conclusive; 
 that, in this fatal disease, the old system involves a mortal- 
 ity of ^B "^ c, while that of Homoeopathy is only 5 "^ c. — just 
 about one-fifth I 
 
 I have in my possession, and could adduce here, numerous 
 equally valuable statistics, but as I have already trespassed 
 upon your time, I will sum up the whole in a carefully pre- 
 pared table of several life insurance companies which have 
 investigated the influence of medical treatment as affecting 
 human life, and from which they feel authorized in off"ering 
 an annual reduction of 15 "^ c. to practical homoeopathists. 
 We find the "Atlantic Mutual" making the following deduc- 
 tions : 
 
 First. "That practical Homoeopathists enjoy more robust health." 
 
 Second. "That they are less frequently attacked by disease. 
 
 Third. "When attacked, they recover more rapidly than those treated by 
 any other system." 
 
 Fourth. "That the mortality in the more fatal forms of disease is small com- 
 pared with that under Allopathic treatment." 
 
 Fifth. "That many diseases, which are incurable under any other system, 
 are curable under Homoeopathic treatment." 
 
 This statement is followed by a general summary from 
 carefully prepared tables, comprising a large mass of statis- 
 tics, collected from ail parts of the world, and embracing the 
 
28 
 
 records of the treatment of some 300.000 cases of disease. 
 We find that the ratio of mortality between Homoeopathic and 
 Allopathic treatment, omitting the fractions, to be, — 
 
 In General diseases , . . . . . as 4 to 13 
 
 '« Cholera, as 16 to 49 
 
 " Typhus fever, as 8 to 33 
 
 " Yellow fever^ as 5 to 43 
 
 "Pneumonia, as 5 to 31 
 
 The general average of all diseases being as 8 to 34, while 
 the average length of sickness under the two systems, is as 
 2 to 3, a clear gain of over fifty '^ c. is shown in favor of 
 Homoeopathy. 
 
 The inquiry will here naturally arise : — Why is it that, if 
 the Homoeopathic system presents such superior results, that 
 it has not been adopted by the profession generally? While 
 its adherents may with pride refer to its rapid growth in 
 this countr}^, its practitioners having increased from 6 in 
 1830 to over 6,000 in 1871; yet, if fee system is all that its 
 adherents claim, why should it still meet with the most 
 bitter opposition of the old school, instead of that hearty 
 acceptance which its merits would seem to demand ? * 
 
 Before answering this question, let us see how the medical 
 profession, and professors of other branches of science have 
 received the several great discoveries of the last four hun- 
 dred years. 
 
 Copernicus, Avho taught that the sun is stationary; that 
 the planets revolve around the sun, and that the apparent 
 revolution of the heavens is caused by the rotation of the 
 earth on its axis, — a system now generally received and 
 acknowledged, was persecuted nearly to death. I found, 
 only twenty years ago, a sect of people in Wisconsin, who 
 still disbelieved this great fact, that the earth moves around 
 the sun. 
 
 Gallileo, after being converted to the Copernican theory 
 of the revolution of the earth around the sun, and after 
 having improved the telescope of Copernicus, invited his 
 fellow-professors to make these observations with him. 
 
They absolutely refused to even look through Gallileo's 
 telescope, and after he had demonstrated to them by actual 
 experiment, that the trifling difference in the falling of two 
 unequal weights is owing only to the resistance of the air, 
 and after making the experiment twice before the eyes of 
 his opposers in dropping two unequal weights from the 
 tower of Pisa, they did not believe it. He also was perse- 
 cuted through life. 
 
 Franklin's electric experiments were received in like man- 
 ner. After they had been read before the Royal Society, 
 they were considered worthless, and he earned nothing but 
 ridicule and abuse. 
 
 So it was with Fulton, when he was moving upon the 
 Hudson River with his imperfect steamcraft before the eyes 
 of the people; they said it was impossible, and could not be 
 done. Yes, they denied the fact, and declared him insane 
 after he had done it. 
 
 Harvey, w^ho discovered and taught that there is an 
 arterial circulation of blood through the human system, was 
 persecuted through life, his professional enemies styling him 
 the ** Circulator," a word, in its original Latin, synifying 
 vagabond or quack. 
 
 In the light of these facts, it was not surprising that 
 Hahnemann, after the promulgation of his doctrine, meets ' 
 the same fate, and from that day to the present, the most 
 bitter denunciations have been poured by the Old School, 
 not only upon him, but on all w^ho have adopted, or have 
 investigated his method. 
 
 But Time ever rectifies the mistakes of mankind. The 
 value of the discoveries of all these great men has long 
 since been acknowledged by the world; and the day will 
 and must surely arrive, when the little acorn of Truth, 
 planted by Hahnemann, which has already taken deep root, 
 and is lifting high its vigorous stem, shall tower far above all 
 other giants of the medical forest, and its wide-spreading 
 branches cast their beneficent shadows over the whole 
 earth. 
 
 F. HILLER, M. D. 
 San Francisco, April 10th, 1872. 
 
cc 
 
 Homoeopathy and 
 
 Regular Medicineo'' 
 
 The editor of tlie Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal 
 (old school) had a sudden spasm of good sense — a condition 
 none too frequent with our Allopathic brethren, and during 
 the attack, allowed the following communication to appear in 
 the pages of his journal. 
 
 To the Editor of the Buffalo Iledical and Surgical Journal: 
 
 It will be to the advantage of the regular medical profession to go carefully- 
 over their treatment of the class of physicians who have seen fit to denominate 
 themselves homoeopathic, and to observe the effect such treatment has had 
 upon the profession itself, upon the public and upon homoeopathy. 
 
 That the accumulated experience of faithful observers, who, for the last four 
 thousand years have given their lives to the study and treatment of diseases, is, 
 we believe, of almost invaluable importance to one who wishes to become a 
 physician, and certainly is of infinite importance when compared with a hypo- 
 thetical dogma, and yet, with aU the machinery of our hospitals and dispensa - 
 ries, the control of every medical appointment in the gift of governments or 
 corporations, with our medical schools perfectly equipped with professors for 
 every separate department of medicine, and an entire monopoly of the advan- 
 tages of clinical observations, with all these advantages and precedents, what 
 headway have we made m convincing the public and individuals of our supe - 
 rior ability to manage disease, or of our ^ecuhar fitoess for becoming the san- 
 itary officers jof households or communities ? 
 
 The line of treatment which the regular profession stnv fit to adopt in the 
 earliest days of homoeopathy, and which they are still following, is generally 
 
31 
 
 bigoted, and universally intolerant opposition. What is the effect of this oppo- 
 sition ? It is to arouse in the public mind that generous American sentiment 
 which ever asserts itself to see fair play between a big boy and a little one. 
 There is scarcely an instance in which the regular profession, with all its accu- 
 mulated prestige, has arrayed itself against homoeopathy, where the weaker 
 party have not prevailed. And to-day, in the sight of the law, and in the 
 confidence of the people, homoeopathy is the peer of regular medicine. 
 
 It becomes us to go over this case, and, if possible, discover why, we so 
 strong in numbers, and in all the facilities and appliances for illustrating and 
 inforcing our tenets, are so repeatedly beaten ? Why is it that individuals and 
 corporations are becoming convinced that their interests require them to em- 
 ploy homoeopathic in preference to regular physicians ? For myself, in spite 
 of the logic of events, I still believe, and my belief is founded upon a thorough 
 investigation of the principles of homoeopathy, and observations upon the 
 practice of many of its most distinguished disciples, that in no way can a man 
 so efficiently equij) himself for the responsibility of the management of disease. 
 and the custody of health as in the study of regular medicine. 
 
 If we take it for granted that the past experience and observations of phy- 
 sicians are of service to physicians at present, and I do not think we will be 
 charged with assumption for considering this an axiom; then- why is it that 
 a sect which disregards all traditions of medicine, and found their system upon 
 a dogma which contradicts all that we have held as truth, why is it that they 
 are flourishing and we are going to the wall ? 
 
 The answer to this question presents itself to my mind under two heads, 
 which may be formularized as follows : Homoeopathy lives upon the disgrace 
 brought ujion the profession of medicine by the low standard of medical 
 educalion,, and flounshe s upon the iatolg rant opposition it has received at the 
 hands^frcgular physicians. 
 
 It is with the secondjJ;he lesser of the two evils I propose to deal at this tune. 
 
 The treatment of homoeopathy by the regular profession in past years is so 
 well known as to require no mention, therefore let us turn our attention to the 
 present, and by reading its signs in the light of the past, endeavor to do some- 
 thing for our future. 
 
 The position of the regular profession in regard to homoeopathy may be ex- 
 pressed in a few words. We are not aware of tlaeir existence. [£liey_have no 
 profe^ional riij'hts which we are bound to respect, and when forced by some 
 laymen to s peak vipon J;he^ubject,,pr give an opinion upon homoeopathy, the 
 opinion is thatjt^ is a ;itiumjbug." This line oT trea'tinent was bad enougE' 
 
f 
 
 32 
 
 wli^n^hpmaopiatli^w young, butjiQw^ when we stand on equalfooting before 
 the law, and nearly_eciual beTore the public, it is suicidal. "" 
 
 It may be well to explain what I mean by equal rights before the law. All 
 the rights which members of the regular profession of this State enjoy are 
 granted them by Acts of Legislature, the first of which was passed April 10th, 
 1813, this and the Act of 1827, contain the •'E-egulations concerning the Practice 
 of Physic and Surgery in this State." They provide for the establishment of 
 County Medical Societies, <'the only organization existing under law for the 
 purpose of diffusing true science and knowledge of the healing art," and 
 otherwise point out and fix the duties, responsibilities and immunities of phy- 
 sicians and surgeons. 
 
 Onjl^ilJ[^h3LjJ.51^1ie_Legisla^^^ of. this State admitted the homoeopathic 
 profession to all the rights and privileges enjoyed by members of the"regular 
 profession under the above mentioned Acts. This provided for the present, and 
 in the Acts incorporating their colleges, exactly the same power is granted to 
 them as had been granted to our medical schools, which provides for the fut- 
 ure. I doubt not there are members of our profession who have hitherto failed 
 to realize the change wrought in the homoeopathic profession by the Acts of 
 1857. As before stated, the Act admitted the homoeopathic profession to all 
 the rights and privileges as physicians and surgeons under the Acts of 1813 
 and 1827, and all_ Acts, amendatory thereof, thus they became "legally author- 
 ized practicing physicians and surgeons," and as such, are entitled to member- 
 ship of our County Medical Societies. This right is positive, and no County 
 Society has the power to adopt a by-law which will keep them out if they 
 should^ make application for admission. The right of JLegally. authQrizing phy- 
 sicians to membership... of County Medical Societies has been most definitely 
 settled by our courts, and the proceedings to obtain such rights are well under- 
 stood by many of our members. 
 
 In view of these facts what should the regular profession do in the matter ? 
 Shall we continue to call ourselvess "the profession," and neither by public act 
 or private word allow that there is any other ? Shall we continue a line of 
 treatment condemned by law and by experience, treatment which only makes 
 homoeopathy notorious and ourselves disgraceful ; or shall we submit grace-' 
 fully to the laws of the State, and public opinion, and proifer to the homoeo- 
 pathic profession those amenities which should exist between professional 
 equals? Invite them to the rights in our County Medical Societies, when 
 called by their patrons, attend with them in consultation ; when wished by our 
 patients ask them to attend in consultation with us ? If they have any superior 
 knowledge in the management of the disease or the protection of health, our 
 duty to our patrons requires us to avail ourselves of that knowledge. If we 
 possess the greater professional ability, they and their patrons will find it out. 
 If we hold back from this, we may reasonably be charged with having little 
 confidence in our doctrines. K we go into it, Ixest my.faith,.iipi«i.'.*.the sur- 
 viyjaLelJilifi-fiitieat/' • '~ ~^ 
 
 Buffalo, August, 1871. H. R. Hopkins, M. D. 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
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