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WHAT IS
HOMEOPATHY?
BY WIILIAM SHARP, M.D. F.B.S.
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BOERICKE & |
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AtJirnirtftki rni urn »-r!r\»i
FOR HOMOEOPATHY
"I rtaim that liberty, which I willingly yield to others, the permission, lamely, in sub- jects of difficulty, to put forward as true such things as appear to be probable, until proved to be manifestly false."
William Harvey.
A
NLM
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY!
" Nihil tam honestum aut utile a Medico efllci potest quin? aliquaudo ab invidis vituperari queat."
Grcenkvelt.
Nothing can be done by the Physician so honest or so useful as to escape the censure of the envious.
Among the many important "topics of the day," none, having reference to this life only, can possess higher claims to calm inquiry and earnest attention than the various re- sources which are available to mankind, when suffering from bodily disease — a trial which few, if any, at all times escape. In the present age of discovery and invention it would be remarkable if, while all around are sailing onward, the physician alone was becalmed ; while every branch of art and science is progressively and rapidly improving, the resources of medicine remained stationary. But this has not happened, the onward wave has reached the healer's barque, and he also is afloat upon the mighty waters of na- tural science.
There are indeed many who would stoutly stand upon the " old paths," but in this case Ave have no inspired prophets and apostles, as happily we have in an affair of higher moment, upon whom to rest as upon a firm foundation. The opinions of mere men, however venerable by age, are but a sandy base. The people of the present times are not given to echo the sentiments of a master. Nature's laws and nature's facts alone are able to stand the rigid scrutiny to which the sen- timents of men, in physical science, are now so unreservedly exposed.
Some men's minds, under such an apparently unsettled and disorderly state of things, become sceptical and faith- less. This arises from indolence ; they will not give them- selves the necessary trouble to investigate, and thus t3iey throw truth and falsehood overboard together, and vainly try to rest upon a negative. But to the more active and in- dustrious mind the same condition is stimulative to exertion. Truth is sought after with earnestness, and when found, is embraced with satisfaction and delight.
Among the medical inquiries of the day, Homoeopathy, in the judgment of many, is the most important which has yet appeared, while in tne opinion of many more it is "the biggest humbug that ever was!" It is proposed to consider, in a few words, what Homoeopathy is not, and what it really is.
4 WHAT IS HOMCEOPATHY '.'
1. Homoeopathy is not a novelty. In a Sanscrit poem called Sringara Tilaka, written by Kalidasa, who was one of the ornaments (or gems as they were commonly called,) of the court of Vikramaditya, king of Ujayin, whose reign, used as a chronological epoch by the Hindus, is placed about 56 years before the Christian Era, the following line occurs, which shews that the fact involving the principle of Homoeo- pathy, had, in the East, even at that early period of time, passed into a proverb : —
" It has been heard of old time in the world that poison is the remedy for poison."
Hahnemann observes that "the author of the book Trepl tottcjv roJv icar' dvdponov, which is among the writings attri- buted to Hippocrates, has the following remarkable words: — dia ra bfioia vovaog yiverai, nai 6ia ra bfiota jrpoocpepdfieva in vooevvruv vytaivovrai, &c* "By similar things disease is produced, and by similar things, administered to the sick, they are healed of their diseases. Thus the same thing which will produce a strangury, when it does not exist, will remove it when it does."
These sentiments are thus expressed by Cornarius in his translation, in 1564 — "Per similia morbus fit, et per similia adhibita ex morbo sanantur.. Velut urinae stilicidium idtm facit si non sit, et si sit idem sedat.n\
The learned Dr. Francis Adams, in his Translation of the works of Hippocrates, published in 1849, by the Sydenham Society, thus comments upon this passage : — " The treatment of suicidal mania appears singular, — ' Give the patient a draught made from the root of mandrake, in a smaller dose than will induce mania . . . He then insists, in strong terms, that, under certain circumstances, purgatives will bind the bowels, and astringents loosen them. And he further makes the important remark that, although the general rule of treatment be 'contraria contrariis curantur,' the opposite rule also holds good in some cases, namely, 'simi- lia similibus curantur.' It thus appears that the principles both of Allopathy and Homoeopathy are recognized by the author of this treatise. In confirmation of the latter prin- ciple he remarks that the same substance which occasions - , i
* Organan, translated by Dudgeon, p. 106. \ Hippocratis Opera Juno Cornario interprete, 1564, pp. 87, 88.
WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY? 5
strangury will also sometimes cure it, and so also with cough. And further, he acutely remarks, that warm water, which, when drunk, generally excites vomiting, will also sometimes put a stop to it by removing its cause." *
Hahnemann further observes that "later physicians have also felt and expressed the truth of the homoeopathic method of cure." As for instance, Boulduc, Detharding, Bertholon, Thourv, Yon Storck, and especially Stahl, — all these during the eighteenth century. But their observations were slightly made, and produced no permanent impression, either on their own minds or on those of others. We are indebted to Hahnemann for the full discovery and development of the law, and for forcing it with sufficient perseverance upon the attention of the world. ,
I have been asked if Shakespeare makes any allusion to this method of cure. We have one in the following pas- sage : —
" In poison there is physic ; and these news, Having been well, that would have made me sick, Being sick, have in some measure made me well."
Henry IV., Part 2, Act 1, See. 1.
2. Homoeopathy is not quackery. The essence of quackery is secrecy. The individual practising it pretends to the pos- session of some valuable remedy — a nostrum — which he sells for his own private gain, but which he will not disclose for the public good. Homoeopathy has no secrets — no nostrum — it courts inquiry, it entreats medical men to investigate it. This is not quackery.
Homoeopathy, in its present form, was discovered by a regular physician, (Hahnemann,) and was first published in the leading medical journal of Europe, (Hufeland's,) in 1796. It has been studied and adopted by several thousands of regularly educated and qualified practitioners, some of them Professors in Universities, and others leading men in their profession, who urgently call upon their colleagues to follow their example. They offer every facility in the way of instruction, by hospitals and dispensaries, and by private information which it is in their power to give. This is not quackery.
Homoeopathy is no field for the St. John Longs and the Morsons — the patent medicine venders. The unsettled, un- satisfactory, and unsuccessful course of the educated phy- sician leads his patients to try quacks and quackery, whose
* Works of Hyppocrates, translated by Francis Adams, LL.D., Sy- denham Society,— 1849. Vol. i., p. 77.
6 WHAT IS HOMCEOPATHY .'
means, it must be acknowledged, are very similar to his own, and sometimes more successful. Nothing would so effec- tually drive away all real charlatanry as the adoption, by the profession, of a recognized law of healing, and the carry- ing this out fully and fairly, so as to derive from it all the success which can in reason be looked for.
3. Homoeopathy is not globulism. Globules are a parti- cular mode of preparing medicinal doses, invented by Hahnemann and recommended by him ; but Homoeopathy is in no way dependent upon their reception for its success- ful practice. The association is accidental, and is simply a matter of convenience.
4. Homoeopathy is not an uncertainty. It is surprising how the opponents of Homoeopathy, and even some of its friends, bewilder both themselves and others, when they endeavor to explain what Homoeopathy is. The impression is thus produced that the new doctrine is nothing more than a wild theory, very vague, and very worthless. The most common mistake is thus stated : — "A medicine, or a poison, which will produce a disease will cure it." " If I am fatigued with a long walk I must take a short one !" This is the same curing the same — not like curing like. Similis is not idem. The remark about being fatigued was made by an eminent Greek scholar, but Greek scholars ought not to fall into such an error as to confound ojuoc with bfioiog; ; they may be re- minded of the controversy between Athanasius and Arius, in the fourth contury, and the difference between fyxoovatoc and dfxoiovoiog.
Let me try to set this matter in a clear light. " Give," says Hippocrates, in a particular case of insanity, " a draught from the root of mandrake, in a smaller dose than will in- duce mania," that is, if taken in health. In both cases there is an alienation of mind, the symptoms are similar, but the causes are different, and the cases are not identical.
The preparation of mercury called corrosive sublimate is one of the most violent poisons ; two or three grains are sufficient to destroy life, as has happened when it has been given by mistake for calomel. The symptoms it produces are well known to be those of inflammation of the stomach and bowels, accompanied by diarrhoea with bloody stools ; — in the words of Taylor,* symptoms " like those of dysen- tery,— tenesmus and mucous discharges mixed witli blood, being very frequently observed." In March, 1852, I saw J. C, a tall spare man, about thirty, suffering from a severe
* Medical Jurisprudence. Article Corr. Subl.
WHAT is homoeopathy: 7
attack of dysentery ; — his countenance much distressed, a great many stools for three days consisting of blood and jelly-like mucus, with considerable pain in the abdomen increased by pressure, and a quick pulse. I dissolved one grain of corrosive sublimate in half-an-ounce of water, put four drops of this solution into two drachms of dilute alcohol, and gave him six drops of this tincture in four ounces of water, directing him to take a dessert spoonful every three hours till the symptoms abated. He immediately improved, had no other treatment, and in three days he was quite well. Here the symptoms of the dysentery were like those which this preparation of mercury produces, but they had not been occasioned by corrosive sublimate, therefore it was a proper remedy on the principle of similia, — that like is to be treated with like.
Every one knows, that the Spanish fly, cantharides, even when only applied externally in the form of a blister, very often acts injuriously upon the bladder, causing strangury and other painful symptoms connected with that organ. I hold in my hand a little book with the following title — " Tutus Cantharidum in Medicina Usus Internus, per Joannem Groenevelt, M.D., e Coll. Med. Lond. Editio Secunda. 1703." This book is full of interesting cases of strangury and other affections of the bladder very successfully treated by the internal use of cantharides. Here is a special case of Homoeopathy, — of like curing like — or in the words of the old translator of Hippocrates already quoted, " Velut urinas stillicidium idem facit si not sit, et si sit idem sedat." The drug produces the complaint if not there, but if it he there, (arising from another cause), it cures it. For this method of treatment, the author tells us in his preface he was com- mitted to Newgate, on the warrant of the President of his own College — The Royal College of Physicians of London — " Charta quadam manibus propriis signata, sigilloque firmata me sceleratorumcarceri {Newgate : vulgo dicto,) malae praxeos reum asseverantes, tradiderunt !" This happened in 1694 — just a century before Hahnemann. It is worthy of remark, before quitting Dr. Greenfield, that the dose of cantharides which he gave was such as to oblige him to give camphor along with it, as an antidote to correct the otherwise aggra- vating effect of the fly. The present method of reducing the dose, which we owe to Hahnemann, has enabled me to cure similar cases of diseased bladder without the addition of the camphor, and without fear of aggravating the symp- toms.
One instance more. Belladonna, when swallowed as a
8 "WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY?
poison, produced a scarlet rash, a sore throat, fever, head- ache, &c, all which symptoms appear in scarlet fever. Belladonna, as was first discovered by Hahnemann, not only generally cures, but often preserves from scarlet fever. Belladonna does not produce or cause scarlet fever, hut it does produce symptoms similar to those of scarlet fever.
/'"Whoever will carefully study these examples will no longer charge the doctrine of Homoeopathy with vagueness and uncertainty.
f 5. Homoeopathy is not an infinitesimal dose. This is another popular mistake, diligently, though perhaps igno-
Xrantly, fostered by the opponents of Homoeopathy. Like curing like — similia similibus curantur — says nothing about the dose. All that is essential to the carrying out of this principle — all that the general fact or law of nature requires for its fulfilment is announced by Hippocrates ; give the poison in a smaller dose as a remedy in the natural disease, than would be sufficient to produce similar symptoms in a healthy person. A smaller dose — how much smaller is a matter of experience. If twenty grains of ipecacuanha will make a healthy person sick, the twentieth part of a grain may be required to cure a similar sickness. If twenty grains of rhubarb will act as a purgative, one grain may cure a similar diarrhoea. If two grains of arsenic or cor- rosive sublimate might bring on fatal inflammation of the stomach or bowels, the thousandth, or the ten-thousandth part of a grain may be sufficient to cure — not that inflam- mation brought on by itself, — but a similar inflammation arising from other causes.
It should not be forgotten that Homoeopathy, as a prin- ciple, was discovered by experiments made with ordinary doses, and a man may be a true Homceopathist though he never prescribe any other. The nature and effect of the so- called infinitesimal doses, are separate questions ; those who make use of them find that they are (from whatever cause) efficacious, and generally sufficient, but no man is pledged to use them exclusively, though many do, being satisfied from their experience that they are the safest and best mode of administering medicine. No one will deny that they are the pleasantest, and if success follow their use, why should they not be used? Because, it is said, they appear absurd, and their action cannot be explained. But if a fraction of a grain will cure a disease is it not more absurd to give a poisonous dose ? And who can explain the mode of action of the large dose any more than of the small one ? If diseases disappear of themselves under suitable
WHAT IS HOMCEOPATHY? 9
diet and regimen, or if the small doses afford all the aid required, why should patients be " encumbered with assist- ance," or their recovery be retarded or jeopardized by the unwieldy and often injurious interference of large doses of poisonous drugs ? Why has it so often been said that " the remedy proved worse than the disease ?"
6. Homoeopathy is not a "humbug" Neither are those who profess it " knaves or fools, swindlers or donkeys." "Were the matter a piece of deceit, it is not likely to have had the steady success which its opponents are constrained to ac- knowledge attends its practice. A short time, at any rate, would expose its fallacy. An ingenious and plausible ad- vocate might make an hypothesis popular, but he could never obtain extensive belief in the statement of a supposed fact which every day's observation proved to be untrue. As to the hard names, they are no arguments, and therefore must remain unanswered, except by the observation that they generally betray a weak cause on the side of those who use them. Men conscious of integrity can afford to despise them. We are forbidden, and feel no inclination to return railing for railing; what we wish is that our medical brethren would study our science, and instead of abusing us, help us to improve it, for the benefit of our own and future gene- rations. When any one speaks disrespectfully of things of which he is ignorant, he may be very fitly rebuked, as Dr. H alley was by Sir Isaac Newton: — UI have studied these things — you have not.
7. Homceopathy is a general fact, — a principle, — a law of nature. — All nature is exquisitely arranged and governed by perfect laws, — the result of infinite wisdom and almighty power. The discovery of these general facts has marked epochs in the annals of mankind. What consequences have followed the discovery that a magnetized steel bar, when free to move horizontal^, always turns one of its extremi- ties towards the north pole of the earth, as is seen in the mariner's compass ? And what will follow from the further fact, so recently discovered by (Eersted, that when this bar is surrounded by a current of electricity, its direction is altered, at will, to the right hand or to the left, as is seen, in the electric telegraph ? Who attempts to explain or to ridicule these things ? They are Facts. Newton discovered that the force of gravity is in direct proportion to the mass of matter in the attracting bodies and in inverse proportion to the square of their distances. Doubtless many other proportions are possible, but this is the one fixed upon by the wisdom of the Great GOD. Dalton discovered that
10
WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY .'
the elements of matter, when combining chemically with each other, always do so in certain fixed proportions ; — for example, oxygen combines with hydrogen in the proportion of eight parts by weight to one ; this is an interesting par- ticular fact, but it becomes much more important when it is known to be a general fact, that oxygen will combine in the same proportion of eight parts by weight with a fixed weight of every other element; as with six of carbon, six- teen of sulphur, fifteen of phosphorus, thirty-five of chlo- rine, twenty-seven of iron, thirty-one of copper, &c, and these likewise with each other in the same proportions in which they combine with oxygen ; as thirty-five of chlorine with one of hydrogen, twenty-seven of i^on, thirty-one of copper, &c. &c. Here is a law of nature, absolutely un- alterable by us, and yet it is most evident that these pro- portions of combinations might have been very different ; — they are so arranged by infinite wisdom — we cannot ex- plain why — shall we ridicule the arrangernent f So we can imagine many laws of healing, but our business is to dis- cover, if possible, the actual one. The evidence in favor of similia similibus curantur is already great, and is in- creasing daily. It claims to be received as a general fact unless it can be set aside by good evidence to the contrary. Let it be borne in mind that ordinary medicine is without a rule, and even, as contended for by the present President of the Royal College of Physicians, "incapable" of receiv- ing one. It is, consequently, in the condition of ships be- fore the discovery of the mariner's compass. If then a rule be found, how great must be its value ! It is not possible to over-rate the value of a well-founded principle in any branch of science, for " principles built upon the unerring foundation of observations and experiments, must neces- sarily stand good, till the dissolution of nature itself."*
8. Homoeopathy is a practical fact. It is not a specula- tive theory to be reasoned upon in the closet, but a fact to be observed at the bedside ; it is no metaphysical subject, to be logically shown by a priori reasoning to be absurd ; it is no piece of presumption and impudence to be put down "by authority," as the council of our Royal College of Surgeons happily acknowledges; it is a fact to be ex- amined, like the statement of any other fact, upon evidence. We are not called upon to sit down and imagine its possi- bility, or its impossibility, but we are urgently pressed to observe whether it be true or not. Hundreds of credible
* Emerson, in Newton's Principia, vol. 3, p. 80.
WHAT IS HOMCEOPATHY? 11
witnesses tell us that all curable diseases are, for the most part, readily cured by the new method. This is asserted as a fact. Is it true? This is the question. Try the medi- cines— Why should you not ? The interests of humanity re- quire it. If they succeed, it is a great blessing) if they fail, publish the failures. This is the only fair and honest way to oppose Homoeopathy, and in no other way is it likely to be opposed with success.
9. Homoeopathy stands upon its comparative merits. This must be the test of all methods of treating disease. There is no absolute preservation from suffering in a sinful world, nor any deliverance from death. "There is no discharge in that war." And as all generations have died under the old method, so, should the new one prevail, all generations will continue to die under it. This consideration should render disputants on both sides sober-minded. Medical men are engaged in an unequal contest; the great enemy will always conquer at last ; but the question is a fair and a rational one, from which class of means do we actually obtain the greatest amount of relief from bodily suffering, and by which is the apparent approach of death most fre- quently warded off? This reduces the whole matter to what would seem to be its proper shape — a practical ques- tion— What will do me most good when I am ill ?
10. The old method is unsatisfactory. This is admitted by almost all medical authorities. It is not necessary to bring forward quotations in support of this statement; they might be had in abundance, but the fact is so notorious that the differing of doctors has become a proverb ; in short, there is no opposition cf sentiment, or of practice, too great not to be frequently met with. I well remember the reply made to me by an eminent and old practitioner when I was a pupil — who saw the distress I was in on per- ceiving the uncertain condition of medical knowledge — " If there be nothing true in medicine, there is in surgery, so you must give your mind to that !" The old medicine is in the condition that astronomy was in before Newton, and in a worse condition than chemistry was in before Dalton ; many valuable isolated facts known, but no golden thread, no law of nature discovered, by which a host of conflicting conjectures might be dissipated, and facts re- duced to an intelligible order.
11. Homoeopathy is simple and intelligible. However absurd the rule may appear to some, it is practically, a plain one, and becomes to those who follow it, more easy and more satisfactory, every day. It is not pretended that
12 WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY?
it can be carried out without serious labor. The law of gravity is abundantly plain and simple, but there are plenty of difficulties, notwithstanding, in working out the inequa- lities of the moon's motions.
12. Homoeopathy gains by comparison. It is more suc- cessful than the old system. This comparison can be in- stituted in two ways — by the statistics of public institutions, and by those converts from the old practice who have tried it long enough to be able to compare with each other the results in their own hands, of the two methods. As an illustration of the former mode of comparison, the follow- ing abstract drawn from Dr. Routh's statistics, (in the "Fallacies of Homoeopathy,") may be given: —
Homeopathic Treatment. Allopathic Treatment.
Deaths per-cent. Deaths per cent.
Pneumonia 5.7 24.
Pleuritis 3. . 13. •
Peritonitis 4. J3.
Dysentery 3. 22.
All Diseases .... 4.4 10.5
When, in 1836, the Asiatic Cholera attacked, as an awful scourge, the city of Vienna, all the hospital were fitted up to receive cases indiscriminately, as they occurred ; one was a Homoeopathic hospital, but under the inspection of two Allopathic physicians. The authorized report, when the epidemic had done its work of death, was this: —
Mortality in the Horn. Hospital. Mortality in the Alio. Hospital. 33 per-cent. 66 per-cent.
Two-thirds recovered in the one, and two-thirds died in the other. *
When, in 1849, Edinburgh was visited with this pestilence,
there was a general mortality of one-half of those attacked,
and the proportion of recoveries under Homoeopathic
treatment was three-fourths. The entire returns were: —
Cases. Gured. Died.
817 271 546
Those treated Homoeopathically. Cases. Cured. Died.
236 179 57
Mortality under Horn. Treatment. General Mortality.
25 per-cent. 66 per-cent.
When, in the same year, Liverpool was attacked, 5,098 deaths took place between May 20th and October 6th : — Mortality under Horn. Treatment, General Mortality.
25 per-cent. 46 per-cent.
* See the well known book, Austria and its Institutions, by Mr. W. R. Wade, M.R.I.A.
WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY? 13
It will be understood that if the cases treated by the new method had been deducted from the entire cases in Edinburgh and Liverpool, the per-centage of deaths under allopathy would have been greater than that stated as the general mortality.
When, in 1853, the Cholera broke out with alarming suddenness, and with more than its usual virulence, in Newcastle, the mortality during September and the early part of October reached 1,500. Dr. Hayle has kindly in- formed me that he and Mr. Elliot treated, during these few weeks, 81 cases of Cholera and lost 16, being a mortality of 20 per-cent. or one-fifth, while it is believed that the general mortality considerably exceeded 50 per-cent, or more than one-half of the persons attacked. A large number of deaths took place from Diarrhoea. Dr. Hayle and Mr. Elliot treated 280 cases of Diarrhoea without one death. The Royal College of Physicians has repeatedly stated that it is in this stage of Cholera that treatment is successful, and that if it be neglected the case often ter- minates fatally. If these 280 cases had no efficient treat- . ment, how is it that they all recovered ?
The second mode of comparison rests in the bosom of each private practitioner. Thus much however may be stated, so far as I am at present informed, every practitioner who has, with sufficient care and perseverance, studied Homoeopathy, has embraced it ; and I have not yet heard of one who has deserted its ranks because he has been dis- appointed as to the efficacy and superiority of this mode of treatment. For myself, I may be permitted to say that, having practiced the old method for many years with suc- cess, and having now devoted myself for some time to the new mode, while I at once acknowledge that the study is laborious and not without its difficulties, I am persuaded that it is a change for the better, and I venture to engage that if my medical brethren will try such plants as the following, prepared as we now use them, in the cases for which they are indicated by the law of similia, they will be greatly surprized and gratified by their beneficial ef- fects : —
Aconitum Napellus, Atropa Belladonna,
Bryonia Alba, Arnica Montana,
Matricaria Chamomilla, Pulsatilla Pratensis,
Ipecacuanha, Nux Vomica, &c, &c.
13. Homoeopathy is medical treatment. It is not the do-nothing system which it is represented to be by opponents who thus only betray their ignorance. When fever a*
14 WHAT IS HOMCEOPATHY ?
dysentery were desolating many parts of Ireland in 1847, one of the places which suffered most was Bantry, near Skib- bereen, in the county of Cork. During ten weeks one hundred and ninety-two cases were treated homoeopathically by Mr. Kidd, at their own homes, amid all the wretchedness of famine ; the mortality from fever was less than two per- cent, and from dysentery fourteen per-cent. During the same period many were treated on the old method in the Bantry Union Hospital, with the advantages of proper ven- tilation, attendance, nourishment, &c, and from the report of Dr. Abraham Tuckey, the physician, the mortality from fever was more than thirteen per-cent, and from dysentery thirty-six per-cent
At the same time another Fever Hospital was opened for similar cases occurring among the emigrants from Ireland to this country, in which the medical man tells us he abstained from all interference, and remained passively watching the cases, ordering them free ventilation, cleanli- ness and confinement to bed ; water, or milk and water, being given as drinks. He congratulates himself upon the success attendant upon thus allowing the cases to take their natural course, undisturbed by medicine ; the deaths from fever in this hospital were ten per-cent. We have here, therefore, an opportunity of comparing together the results of the three methods ; — the ordinary system of medicine, no medicine at all, and the homoeopathic medicine. The deaths from fever are thus reported : — under ordinary medicine, above thirteen per-cent — under no medicine at all, ten per- cent. ; under homoeopathic medicine, less than two per-cent. ; a sufficient 'proof that that is doing something and gaining by it ; while by the same comparison, giving large doses of medicines is doing something indeed, but losing by it.
14. Homoeopathy is a practical gtiide. It is not like Hydropathy, a single remedy to be applied in the treatment of every disease ; it is a guide or rule to direct us in the use of all remedies. The medical practitioner who, for years, has felt and mourned over the bewildered condition of his professional knowledge, — the contradictions of his theories, and the uncertainty of his facts., is the only person who can fully appreciate the value of any principle capable of affording him a light to guide his path. Few intelligent persons however, can have failed to discover, from their intercourse with physicians, that ordinary medicine is in an unsettled and benighted condition. It has many valuable facts, it has many excellent remedies; but the facts are isolated, or connected only by false hypotheses, and the
WHAT IS HOMCEOPATHY ? 15
remedies fire made use of in such a vague manner, and in such destructive doses, that the value of the one, and the excellence of the other, are either greatly impaired or con- verted into injuries.
15. Homoeopathy is a guide in the choice of the medicine, not of the dose. The dose is, as yet, a question of experience. The law of similia is an admirable guide in the selection of an appropriate remedy in any case of disease ; but the only information it affords in the choice of the dose is this, that it must be a smaller one than would be sufficient to produce similar symptoms in health. How small a dose this is, must be ascertained by trial, until some general fact or law can happily be discovered, which shall constitute a guide to the dose, as the law of similia does to the medi- cine. I venture to entertain a sanguine hope that this will be accomplished.
16. Homoeopathy aims at eradicating, or permanently curing the disease, wherever this is possible, not merely at affording palliative relief. This constitutes another great feature of the new method, and again points out, in a strik- ing manner, its superiority over the old mode. • If the symptoms of an ailment are cured by the operation of the remedy upon the constitution, the cause of those symptoms, or the pathological condition, is, in all probability, perma- nently removed. In seeking to effect this, no other mischief is occasioned. How often has not this case occurred, — a patient in suffering from cough, medicines called expec- torants are prescribed ; at the next visit the cough is some- what relieved, but the expectorants have unfortunately produced nausea, and the appetite is gone ; mineral-acids are ordered to improve the tone of the stomach, and to restore appetite ; at the following visit, the appetite is better, but the acid has irritated the mucous membrane of the bowels, and has produced diarrhoea ; to check this, astrin- gents must be given, which have occasioned, by the time of the next visit, a return or aggravation of the cough, and thus the round has to be re-commenced. Who does not see that there is room for improvement in such a system ? But the greatest of all difficulties of the old mode of treatment is this, — to decide the point whether depleting and lowering measures, antiphlogistics, as they are called, are indicated, or the opposite remedies, stimulants and tonics. The most eminent and experienced practitioners not unfrequently differ in their opinions upon this important point, even when, humanly speaking, the life of the patient hangs upon the decision. Now this acknowledged and grave difficulty
16 WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY ?
is greatly mitigated, if not entirely removed, under the new method ; the group of symptoms has to he taken, and a similar group found, belonging to any remedy ; that is the remedy most likely to he useful, hy whatever name it has been usual to designate it.
17. Homoeopathy economizes the vital powers. It does not, like bleeding, and purging, and salivating, and sweating, draw largely upon the remaining strength of the patient, already perhaps greatly reduced by his sufferings. Homoeo- pathy lets well alone. Its medicines act only upon the diseased organ. If the head be sick, it does not add to this sickness, a complaint in the intestines, which strong purga- tives must do ; if the lungs be inflamed, it does not also bring on an inflammation in the skin, which a blister does. The beneficial consequence of this method is conspicuous in the speedy return of the patient to his accustomed health and occupation. When the acute disease is removed, which it often is in an unusually short space of time, the patient is well ; he has no tedious convalescence, requiring wine and bark.
18. Homoeopathy is gentle and agreeable. If the new mode of treatment be found, on trial, to be only as efficacious as the old one, it ought to be preferred on account of its gentleness and pleasantness ; how much more if it succeed better. The action of the medicines, in point of fact, is found to be such as to supersede the necessity for the severe measures and nauseous doses hitherto had recourse to. The medicines are tasteless, or nearly so, themselves, and they do not need the aid of such formidable adjuncts as bleeding, and blistering, and setons, and issues, and cauterizations, and moxas. Already, indeed, the beneficial influence of Homoeopathy in this respect, upon general practice, has been greatly felt. In the year 1827, I attended the military hospital in Paris, which was in charge of Baron Larrey, Senior Surgeon to the Army of Napoleon. At every morning's visit, he had, among his numerous at- tendants, two " internes" or, as they are called at the London Hospitals, dressers, accoutred in this manner ; — one carried a small chafing dish with fire in it, and the other, a box containing a number of actual cauteries, (irons like small pokers,)* and a pair of bellows. As we passed from bed to bed, one or more of the suffering occupants were sure to be ordered the cautery, when one of the irons was imme- diately placed in the chafing dish, the bellows were applied,
* See a representation of these in another of these Tracts.
WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY ? 17
and as soon as the instrument was brilliantly red hot, the Baron would take it in his hand, and deliberately draw two or three lines on the flesh of the patient, very like the broad arrow with which most of us are familiar, made by the ordnance surveyors, on our houses and pavement during their late labors in all parts of the country. Now, surely, to see banished for ever, not only such painful methods as this, but every thing which approaches to it, must be a consummation to be wished for. ^
19. Homoeopathy administers one medicine at a tinted This is another great improvement. How was it possible ever to attain to satisfactory knowledge of the powers and pro- perties of any drug, so long as several were always combined together when given to a patient? In the days of Sydenham, the father of English medicine, sixty or eighty medicines were mixed together in the favorite prescriptions ; this number has been greatly reduced since the time of Syden- ham, but, so long as two medicines are given together, it is impossible to ascertain with accuracy the effects of either.
20. The Homoeopathic Physician learns the properties of drugs by experiments xipon himself, not upon his patients. That the contrary has been the plan hitherto adopted is notorious. How many poor people have been deterred from availing themselves of the aid of our hospitals, lest they should have " experiences" tried upon them !
The only certain way of learning the real effects of drugs upon man's health is to administer them experimentally to healthy persons. None have thought of this method, so far as appears, except the illustrious Haller and Hahnemann ; — none have attempted to carry it out except Hahnemann and his disciples.
It is evident that the properties of medicinal substances must be ascertained by some kind of experiment ; the ques- tion in dispute is this, is it best to try these experiments upon sick persons, or upon healthy ones ? Shall the physi- cian get his knowledge by experimenting upon his patients, or upon himself? The practitioners of the old school pursue the former method, those of the new one the latter. What does the patient say ?
21. Homoeopathy is applicable to acute, as well as to chronic diseases. When the discovery was first announced to the world by Hahnemann, he did not carry its application further than to chronic diseases, — to ailments continuing for a long time. And the impression is still general that such treatment may possibly avail where there is abundance of time, but what is to be done in cases of emergency?
18 WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY :
Acute disease with immediate danger, — how can you trust to Homoeopathy then f The answer to this grave question, which manifold experience gives, as indeed may be partly gathered from the statistics of Cholera and other acute diseases, given in the preceding pages, is this, that it is able to grapple with the most dangerous and sudden attacks of disease, more successfully than any other known method of treatment.
22. Homoeopathy is prepared for any new form of dis- ease far better than the old method. This fact was very strikingly exhibited on the appearance of Asiatic Cholera in Europe. The various Colleges of Physicians were quite at a loss to know how to deal with the formidable stranger ; and when called upon, in their respective countries, to issue advice and directions, nothing could be more painful than the visible inconsistencies and unsatisfactoriness of their multiform recommendations.
On the other hand, the Homoeopathic practitioners, whether in Russia or in Austria, in France or in England, found the true remedies without co-operation and without difficulty, and they proved wonderfully successful. Hahne- mann himself published a tract pointing out the proper treatment, from the description he had read of the disease before he had seen a case.
This point was with Sydenham a great source of per- plexity. "This at least," says he, "I am convined of; viz., that epidemic diseases differ from one another like north and south, and that the remedy which would cure a patient at the beginning of a year, will kill him, perhaps, at the close. Again, that when once by good fortune, I have hit upon the true and proper line of practice that this or that fever requires, I can, (with the assistance of the Almighty,) by taking my aim in the same direction, generally succeed in my results. This lasts until the first form of epidemic become extinct, and until a fresh one sets in. Then 1 am again in a quandary, and am puzzled to think how I can give relief. .... It is more than I can do to avoid risking the lives of one or two of the first who apply to me as patients."* This is the confession of a man entitled, for his truthfulness and genius, to the highest admiration. The difficulty, though not perhaps always so frankly acknow- ledged, has been always felt until now ; — it is not a difficulty in Homoeopathy.
23. Homoeopathy carries into detail what all medicine is
* Works of Sydenham, Vol. i, p. 33. Sydenham Society's Edition.
WHAT IS HOM(EOPATHY ? 19
in the general. Medicines are not food, but poisons ; — not materials which of themselves can preserve or produce health. They are all naturally inimical to the human body, but when that body is in a state of disease, they are found, as a matter of experience, sometimes to assist in restoring it to health.
Medicine in the general, is poison to the healthy frame of man, and a remedy to that frame when sick; this is admitted by all, and this is Homoeopathy in the general ; why not then have Homoeopathy in detail ? Why not first ascertain what symptoms each poison produces, when taken in health ? and why not give it as a remedy for similar symptoms in natural disease ? Medical men have been ex- perimenting in the treatment of disease for many centuries, why not try this experiment? Our opponents admit, in general, what they ridicule, and oppose, when carried out, in particulars.*
24. Finally, Homoeopathy relates only to the administra- tion of remedies, and detracts nothing from the value of the collateral branches of the science of medicine. It leaves Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry, &c, unaffected. The Homoeopathic Physician ought to be as accomplished in these, and other departments of knowledge, as his fellow practitioner of the old school ; and he is more likely than the other to turn all such knowledge to the beneficial account of his patient.
This is a brief exposition of the leading features of Homoeopathy. They would admit of being much more copiously enlarged upon, but the aim has been to make a few points so clear that it may not be doubtful what we are contending for. We should be glad to be fairly met with facts and arguments, but in the place of these we have ridicule and abuse. In time, perhaps, the tables will turn, and then, no doubt, Punch will find it much more easy to satyrize the face contorted at the sight of the " black draught" about to be swallowed, or the barber's pole and bandage for bleeding, than he has hitherto done any of the facts belonging to Homoeopathy.
But surely any proposal, such as is explained in the foregoing pages, even if there be but a chance that it may be instrumental in diminishing the sufferings of our fellow men, deserves to be received with something more decorous
* This subject is finely touched upon in " The Human Body," by Dr. J. J. G. Wilkinson.
20 WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY ?
than ridicule. "Those who reject it, or who cast it out of the way, as unworthy of inquiry, must do so on their own responsibility." If they decline "to search all things that may present even the shadow of a chance of bringing them more nearly acquainted with the laws which the Creator has instituted for the government of the world, and espe- cially with those upon which He has caused the preservation of health to depend, let them recognize that it will be vain for them, in an}^ after hour of hopelessness, when it may be too late to avert their own premature death, or the death of a relative or friend, to rely on the hackneyed consolation, that the calamity is to be regarded as a new instance of the inscrutable ways of Providence, and not as the penalty of having wilfully blinded themselves to any light beneficently set before them, the reception of which might have ensured their preservation." *
* "Truths and their reception," by M. B. Sampson, p. 97.
Rugby, May 5, 1854.
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THE DEFENCE
HOMCEOPATHY.
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D. F.E.S.
/iftl) (Siitttfftt*
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"Experience shews many means to be conducive and necessary to accomplish ends, which means, before experience, we should have thought, would have had even a contrary tendency."
Butler. Analogy.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
The following remarks were originally published as a Reply to Dr. Routh's "fallacies of Homoeopathy." They were sent to Dr. Routh with a courteous letter from the author, when they were first written on the 11th of May, 1852. As they have not been answered, nor the receipt even of the author's letter acknowledged, Dr. Routh may be considered as disposed of. The Reply might therefore be allowed, so far as Dr. Routh is concerned, to go out of print, but for two reasons it is thought desirable that it should remain more permanently before the public ; first, because the ar- guments and objections against Homoeopathy here noticed are still very frequently advanced, and boasted of as unanswerable ; and secondly, because the valuable statistical facts brought before us by Dr. Routh, with his slender and unimportant objections to their valid and significant testimony to the superior success of Homoeo- pathic treatment, cannot be too frequently placed before the eyes of the nation, or of mankind at large.
Rugby, November 17th, 1852.
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.
Since the appearance of the above Preface I have received a letter from Dr. Routh, dated May 25th, 1853, in which he says he has " no recollection of having received " my letter and Reply ; at the same time he states that " even to its second edition, the work was not unknown to " him.
In acknowledging to Dr. Routh the receipt of his letter, I ob- served that I could not know whether my letter and Reply reached him or not, but that they were undoubtedly sent ; as however he owned himself familiar with the Reply to its second edition, I was happy to think that I had not done him much injustice in my Pre- face to the third.
Rugby, August 12th» 1853.
THE DEFENCE OF HOMEOPATHY.
" Opinionum commenta delet dies, naturae judicia confirmat."
Cicero.
"Time obliterates the Actions of opinion, and confirms the decisions of nature."
Johnson.
Dr. Routh commences by stating it is " at the request of several distinguished friends, that lie bas been " induced to publish in a separate form his researches on the subject of Homoeopathy." His book moreover has been frequently referred to by medical men attached to the old mode of practice, as containing their arguments against Homoeo- pathy. It may therefore fairly be presumed that it ex- presses the present views of that portion of the profession. A reply seems called for on the part of Homoeopathy
Dr. Routh then observes that "this system (of Homoeo- pathy) has unfortunately lately made, and continues to make such progress in this country, and the metropolis in particular, and is daily extending its influence, even amongst the most learned, and those whose high position in society gives them no little moral power over the opinions of the multitude, that our prof ession is, 1 think, bound to make it the subject of inquiry and investigation.'''' For this state- ment Homceopathists are obliged to Dr. Routh. It expresses in forcible words an important truth, — the rapid spread of Homoeopathy among that portion of the community best able to appreciate its value ; and it well seconds their own oft-repeated and urgent request that medical men would make Homoeopathy the subject of inquiry and investigation.
Dr. Routh next proceeds to remark that " violent opposi- tion to Homoeopathy can do no good. Abuse, intolerance cannot be accepted by the world as a fair and philosophical inquiry. These can only call forth new defenders. . . . . . All doctrines are founded on truth, or what is sup- posed to be truth. The way to disprove a doctrine is there- fore, not by assailing it as ridiculous or absurd, — a convic- tion of error can only follow when the foundations upon which it is based are shown to be untenable. Examples of such unphilosophical demeanor in refusing fair inquiry, or prosecuting an ex-parte investigation are not wanting. . . . . Thus the Homoeopathist has reason on his side when he appeals to the history of the French Academy, as exemplifying intolerance and unfairness in inquiry. He 5
6 THE DEFENCE
tells us that in 1642, this assembly declared that the blood did not circulate in the body; in 1672, that is was impossi- ble. In 1774, after having opposed inoculation for fifty years, it admitted its advantages, the moment three Princes of the Royal blood had been inoculated contrary to their permission. In 1609, it expelled one of its members for making use of and curing his patients of ague by quinine. Even among ourselves the great Harvey was persecuted for his discovery (of the circulation of the blood.) The time was when the surgeon who had dared to bring to- gether the edges of the a cut surface to unite by the first intention, (that is to heal immediately,) or who had ventur- ed to dress wounds by water dressings, in lieu of plugging by large pieces of lint and cerate, (by which means the healing of the wounds was protracted for weeks or even months,) met with the universal reprobation of the pro- fession, and was accused of quackeiy. Even in later years, with what opprobrious names was the discovery of (vaccina- tion by) the great Jenner assailed ! Nay, but very recently, with what violence was the introduction of the stethoscope opposed! and in the present year how have not certain physician-operators been insulted by the ascription of motives, not certainly the most honorable." These paral- lels clearly exhibit the unfair reception which Homoeopathy has hitherto met with from the bulk of the medical pro- fession. I have only to thank Dr. Routh for having so well expressed the true state of the case.
Thus far for introduction. Dr. Routh next addresses himself to the investigation of Homoeopathy. To this I will apply myself with all seriousness, and in such a manner that I trust neither Dr. Routh nor my readers will have just cause to complain of any impropriety on my part. I agree with Dr. Routh that " he only is the true philosopher who can so far separate his mind from the bias of the day as to extricate it from the dazzling perplexities which surround him, and by adopting only those conclusions which logical reasoning deduces, is enabled, out of this labyrinth to bring out truth."
Instead of adopting Dr. Routh's division of the subject, I shall prefer the following : —
First, the consideration of the principle of Homoeopathy — "Similia similibus curantur."
Secondly, the question of small doses.
Thirdly, the statistics upon which is founded a preference of Homoeopathy, as the most successful method yet known of treating diseases.
OF HOM(EOPATHY. 7
1st. The principle of Homoeopathy, or the supposed law of nature upon which it is based. Dr. Routh observes that " this law is denned by Hahnemann as follows : — ' That in order to cure in a mild, prompt, safe, and durable manner, it is necessary to choose, in each case, a medicine that will incite an affection similar (bpoiov nadog) to that against which it is employed.' It was, it is said, discovered in 1790, by Hahnemann, while engaged in translating Cullen's Materia Medica."
Having endeavored to explain this principle in another Tract,* entitled " What is Homoeopathy?" I need not repeat that explanation here. I will suppose that my readers un- derstand the basis of Homoeopathy, the general fact or maxim " similia similibus curantur."
In all controversies it is well, I think, to ascertain first how far the parties are agreed. Let us see, therefore, how far Dr. Routh assents to this principle, before we consider his objections.
"Allopaths, admitting the occasional truth of this doc- trine, 'similia similibus curantur,' have given the larger dose. The experiments of Majendie have shown, that tartar emetic, in doses of six to eight grains, will produce, amongst other lesions, pneumonia, if not rejected by vomit- ing. Every day's experience proves the efficacy of large doses of tartar emetic in curing pneumonia and other affec- tions of the lungs. Arsenious acid, long continued, will produce a variety of cutaneous eruptions. The advantage of arsenic in many of these diseases is, on the other hand, well recognized. Certain peculiar eruptions which occur after taking mercury, have been described as produced by it, and which closely resemble those against which mercury is a specific. Here then are instances of the occasional truth of this law." (Page 6.)
Our thanks are due to Dr. Routh for such excellent ex- amples of the law of Homoeopathy. We have only to go on with other instances. Hippocrates, the Father of Me- dicine, two and twenty centuries ago, says that a drug which will produce strangury, will cure it, when it has arisen from another cause, and Dr. Greenfield, a member of the Royal College of Physicians in London, was sent to Newgate in 1694, by the President of his College, for giving cantha- rides, (the blistering fly, which all know often produces com- plaints of the bladder), with great success in cases of this kind. Again, every one knows that cinchona (Peruvian
* And more fully in several other Tracts.
8 THE DEFENCE
bark), is a specific for ague; "Now," says Dr. Routh, "bark certainly produces symptoms; as alleged by Honioeopathists, very like those of ague? Again our thanks are due to Dr. Routh. Nitric acid is a great remedy for salivation, — Dr. Pereira, (an eminent allopathic authority,) says it ex- cites or produces salivation. Sulphur often produces erup- tions on the skin, as those who frequent baths like Harro- gate well know; it is notorious as a remedy for similar affections. Thus we might proceed, not only through the fifty medicines originally proved in this way by Hahne- mann himself, but through upwards of three hundred which have been proved since his day, by the persevering industry of others. Nearly all known medicines have been thus examined, — a larger number than is included in the Materia Medica of the College of Physicians as published in their official Pharmacopoeia. A strong method of test- ing such a principle as this is to select a poison, and note the symptoms produced by it, and then to give it in smaller doses to cases of natural disease suffering from similar symptoms, — but for which it has never before been given as a medicine ; if it be found to cure such cases, the truth of the law is greatly maintained. This has been done in many cases, — an allusion to one instance will suffice. Bella- donna, the deadly nightshade. Children have been poi- soned by the berries of this plant, when they have met with them in the woods and eaten them. They have suffered from fever, affection of the brain and throat, and a scarlet eruption on the skin. Hahnemann was induced to test the principle which had been suggested to his mind by an appeal to this experiment ; he gave Belladonna in scarlet fever, and found not only that it was a better remedy than any previously known, but that it is also proved a preservative from it when given to those exposed to the infection of the scarlet fever.
That which is merely a suspicion in a single instance, becomes a strong probability when confirmed by so many important examples as are adduced by Dr. Routh, and an established reality when it is found not only that it is applicable to hundreds of other substances, but that no serious or material exception can be brought forward against it. This law is now ascertained to be a practical guide to the best use that can be made of every valuable remedy we are possessed of. Homoeopathists put it to a continual and daily test, and it does not fail them. The few excep- tional instances which Dr. Routh adduces against it are of the most meagre description ; he goes with us a long way
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 9
in the admission of the principle, we have only to carry him with us a little further.
Suffer me to ask, why do Astronomers rely upon the law of gravitation ? They put it to continual tests, and it does not fail them. So let the law of similia be tried, and so let it be trusted till it fails.
Thus Dr. Routh's opposition to the principle of Homoeo- pathy seems to have disappeared. His own instances have laid a foundation which only required to be built upon that it might become an impregnable castle of truth.
We may now proceed to the second matter in dis- cussion:—
2d. The small dose.
This is a great stumbling-block with Dr. Routh, as it is with many others. Let us, however, as we have done in the consideration of the principle, first ascertain how far Dr. Routh goes along with us, and then we shall perhaps know better where we differ.
"It is certainly true" says Dr. Routh, " that small doses, and especially in large dilution, (which is the mode in which Homoeopathic remedies are prepared,) will often- times act very satisfactorily" (Page 17.) How does he know it? " I have seen this? he replies, "repeatedly?
How small the doses were which he has seen that act thus satisfactorily, Dr. Routh does not inform us, but this is of little moment. It is obvious that he has gone a certain length with the small doses, and that, so far as he has gone experimentally, they have acted very satisfactorily in his hands. The limit then of this satisfactory action is the same as the limit of Dr. Routh's experience. So far as he has tried them they have acted very satisfactorily, — he has tried none so small that they have failed him. Now, this is precisely what every one testifies ; so far as any have tried them, the doses becoming smaller and smaller, or, in other words, more and more diluted, they have acted satis- factorily.
To this point then we are agreed ; so far as either of us have ascertained this practical point experimentally, we have obtained satisfactory action from our doses. We begin to differ only where Dr. Routh's experience ceases, and he begins to conjecture. It is well to make this point clearly evident.
Dr. Routh was about to define the limit of the legitimate and satisfactory dose, — smaller than which every dose would be " a piece of affectation." (Page 7.) He says that what he has seen repeatedly is certainly true ; does it not, there-
10 THE DEFENCE
fore, seem extraordinary that he did not go on trying smaller and smaller doses so long as they continued to act satis- factorily, and until they became so small as to cease to do so ? Had Dr. Routh pursued this course, selecting his medi- cines in each case in accordance with the law of similia, his testimony would have been of weight, but instead of proceeding thus, he has ventured to condemn every dose less than those he has himself tried, for the following reason: — "We are compelled," he says, "to conclude that the infinitesimal doses, neither by analogy, nor ujpon any theoretical grounds, can have any power upon the human frame." (Page 16.)
But, in a case so peculiar as the action of drugs upon a living body, what analogy or what theory have we to guide us? Is it not a matter of experience? A question of fact f By what analogy, or theory, did Dr. Routh ascertain that his small doses in large dilution would act very satisfac- torily ? His reply is the only sensible one which can be given. "I have seen it repeatedly, therefore I believe it to be certainly true !"
Suppose then he were to try still smaller doses, (which, perhaps, true analogy would lead him to do,) and suppose he were to see that these also acted very satisfactorily, will he not know that this also is certainly true ? What then will become of his analogy and theory ? It is a vain pretence. These are questions of fact, and the public have reason to be aggrieved with Dr. Routh, for objecting, from false analogy and theory, to a matter asserted to be fact which he refuses to verify by "seeing" it.
It is a repetition of the conduct of Galileo's brother professor, who refused to look through the newly invented telescope, lest he should see Jupiter's moons. He preferred the argument from false analogy and theory that tiny could not be there. But it is more blameable in Dr. Routh, because the matter in hand is still more important to the well-being of mankind.
It appears, then, that Dr. Routh's opposition to the doses frequently given by Homoeopathists rests thus ; he admits that he has repeatedly seen small doses act very satisfac- torily, and he asserts that this is certainly true ; but he asserts also that what he has not seen, and refuses to see, cannot possibly be true ! though many others, his equals, at least in intelligence and credit, have seen it, and testify to its truth. "Analogy and theory compel him to conclude that such doses can have no power."
I Conclude by observing that we value Dr. Routh's testi-
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 11
mony as to what he has repeatedly seen, and agree with him in believing that it is certainly true ; our only difference on this head being that we decline to adopt his analogical and theoretical opinions, as destitute of the slightest foun- dation. We recommend him to carry on his experiments with still smaller doses, and we doubt not he will repeatedly see that they also act very satisfactorily ; he will then come to the same conclusion with respect to them that he has with regard to those he has already tried, and will become convinced that the power and efficacy even of infinitesimal doses is "certainly true."
I must remark however, that, after all, the small dose is not Homoeopathy. It is the principle — the law of similia similibus curantur, which constitutes Homoeopathy, in whatever dose the medicines may be given.
We now come to the third part of our subject: —
3d. The comparative success of Homoeopathy, as evi- denced by the general mortality of hospitals.
We might wish that the means at our disposal were more extensive than they at present are ; but it is a difficult subject, and we are indebted to many laborious men for the pains they have taken in registering their cases. We are under obligations for these labors, and we must take them as our guide in the inquiry. "It is to be regretted," says Dr. Routh, " that the statistical returns for comparison from Allopathic Hospitals, are frequently insufficient for special diseases ; on the contrary, this is a point to which the Homoeopaths have directed particular attention, and they have already derived benefit from it with the public" (Page 37.)
Under the preceding heads, I have endeavored to ascer- tain, first, wherein Dr. Routh and Homoeopathists agree, in order to lessen, as much as possible, the grounds of contro- versy. I shall again seek to reduce, within the smallest compass, the matters wherein we differ on this most im- portant, and to the public, most interesting part of our subject.
We are indebted to Dr. Routh for having taken pains in
collecting and placing in juxta-position a variety of public
statistics. From these I will make some extracts : —
Pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs).
Admitted. .Died. Mortality per-cent.
Allop. Hospital, Vienna . . . .1134 260 23
Horn. do. do 538 28 5
This is part of the first table in the appendix. Before commenting upon it, it will be well to allude to another
12 THE DEFENCE
question, the comparative success in cases in which no medicine, either in large doses or small ones, has been given. Dr. Routh says a great deal upon this subject; I quote the following passage: — "Dr. Dietl, the Allopathic physician of the Wieden hospital, in Vienna, anxious to test the efficacy of dietetic regimen in pneumonia, instituted a series of experiments. In the course of three years that gentleman treated 380 cases of pneumonia. Eighty-five of these cases were treated by repeated bleedings ; of this number 17 died, or 20 per-cent. ; the remaining 68 recovered. One hundred and six were treated with tartar emetic ; the mortality was now 20.7 per-cent, 22 dying, and 84 only recovering. The remaining 189 were treated by simple dietetic means ; the deaths amounted to 14, or 7.4 per-cent, 175 recovering. The above data have been given upon the evidence of Dr. Roth, {Horn. Ti?nes, No. 49,) an eminent Homoeopathic writer." (Page 55.)
Here then is a point upon which both sides are agreed, seeing that this experimental investigation by Dr. Dietl is adduced by opposing writers. My readers will note well the information it imparts. It appears from this statement that when cases of inflammation of the lungs, admitted by all to be a dangerous disease, are treated, as is almost universally done by Allopathic practitioners, by bleeding and large doses of powerful drugs, about 20 die out of every hundred (in the Glasgow Infirmary 27,) while under simple dietetic management, only about seven die in a hundred cases.
"I think," says Dr. Routh, "we may therefore conclude that nature, or very simple emollient drinks, quiet, rest, a warm atmosphere, will often cure pneumonia apart from any drugging whatever." (Page 5(3.) He had previously (page 35) observed " that simple hygienic treatment, i. e., attention to diet, regularity in the hours of meals and of rest, exercise, change of air, will oftentimes cure many dis- eases, apart from any so-called drug, indeed in a few cases, where drugs have failed altogether, cannot be disputed."
The inference that entire abstinence from medicines is to be preferred to the large doses of poisonous drugs, and to the loss of blood, would seem to be inevitable. It is true that Dr. Routh, — alarmed at this conclusion staring him in the face from his own pages, exclaims " God forbid that we should assent to such a heresy !" But how can it be escaped from ? His own statistics in favor of diet are such a mortal thrust at old physic that he has himself put it irrecoverably " hors de combat."
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 13
Homceopathists then agree with Dr. Routh that simple diet is better than large dosing.
Nor is this opinion a new one. "If," says Addison, with exquisite humor, in the Spectator for March 24, 1710, " we look into the profession of physic, we shall find a most formidable body of men ; the sight of them is enough to make a man serious, for we may lay it down as a maxim, that when a nation abounds in physicians it grows thin of people. Sir William Temple is very much puzzled to find out a reason why the northern hive, as he calls it, does not send out such prodigious swarms, and over-run the world with Goths and Vandals as it did formerly ; but had that excellent autho/ observed that there were no students in physic among the subjects of Thor and Woden, and that this science very much flourishes in the north at present, he might have found a better solution for this difficulty than any of those he has made use of. This body of men in our own country, may be described like the British army in Caesar's time : some of them slay im, chariots and some on foot. If the infantry do less execution than the charioteers, it is because they cannot be carried so soon into all quarters of the town, and dispatch so much business in so short a time. Besides this body of regular troops, there are stragglers, who, without being duly listed and enrolled, do infinite mischief to those who are so unlucky as to fall into their hands."
It would seem, therefore, that what the advocates of Homoeopathy, have really to aim at is to prove its superi- ority, not over large doses of medicine, but over no medicine at all. Now, in reference to the cases of pneumonia reported above, (all of them occurring in Vienna, and at about the same period of time, and therefore fairly to be supposed tolerably similar,) it will be observed that while diet lost seven in the hundred, Homoeopathy lost only five. Again in the Irish famine fever, referred to in my former pamphlet, I may remind my readers that while Dr. Tuckey, in the Bantry Union Hospital, with every advantage, lost more than 13 per-cent. under large doses, and while in another hospital, where no medicine was given, ten died in the hundred, Mr. Kidd treated in their own huts, with every unfavorable circumstance, 112 cases with Homoeopathy, and lost only two.
To pursue this subject further would carry us away from our present object.
That the cases treated by Dr. Fleischmann, in the Homoeo- pathic hospital at Vienna, were really pneumonia, we have
14 THE DEFENCE
the following case given us in evidence by Dr. Routh him- self:— "A young girl of about twenty-three, affected with extensive double pneumonia (the lungs on both sides of the chest inflamed). All the symptoms were unusually marked, accompanied with high fever, lividity of coun- tenance, occasional delirium ; and yet without a single poultice, cataplasm, or other treatment than the inert globule, rest, emollient drinks, a warm atmosphere, and starvation, she got well. That it was pneumonia, I con- vinced myself by stethoscopic examination. The disease attained the second stage, but it was fully four weeks before she was convalescent, and all the physical signs of the dis- ease had disappeared." (Page 54.) But they did disappear, which is frequently not the case after the debilitating effects of bleeding and drugs, even in cases classed under revovery.
That the globule was "inert" in this case is precisely the point under discussion, and therefore cannot "logically" (Dr. Routh is fond of the word) be taken for granted. The result of the case would rather appear to prove strongly the contrary.
The following are a few more of the statistics given by Dr. Routh :—
PLEURISY.
Admitted. I Mortality
per-cent.
Allop. Hospitals 1017 134 13
Horn, ditto 386 12 3
PERITONITIS.
Allop. ditto 628 84 13
Horn, ditto 184 8 4
DYSENTERY.
Allop. ditto 162 37 22
Horn, ditto 175 6 3
FEVER, EXCLUDING TYPHUS.
Admitted. Died. Mortality per-cent.
Allop. ditto 9697 931 9
Horn, ditto 3062 84 2
TYPHUS.
Allop. ditto 9371 1509 16
Horn, ditto 1423 219 14
(The deaths from Typhus in Vienna, where occurred most
of the Homoeopathic patients, were in the Allopathic
Hospitals, 19 per-cent.)
ALL DISEASES.
Dr. Routh gives the statistics of hospitals in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Vienna, Leipzig, Linz, and other places; the following appears to be the general result : —
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 15
Admitted. Died. Mortality, per-cent.
Allop. Hospitals— Grand Total . 119,630 11,791 10.5
Horn, ditto ditto- ditto . . 32,655 1,365 4.4
Such being the actual results given by Dr. Routh, it will be immediately inquired, how does he get over such a startling testimony in favor of Homoeopathy ? For, evidently, on the face of these figures the question is settled.
It excites surprize to discover that the best way Dr. Routh can find to obviate the conclusion thus unavoidably sug- gested, is to bring two grave accusations againt the gentle- men having the care of the Homoeopathic hospitals, without evidence except of a very unsubstantial character, to support his charge. He accuses them of selecting their cases, that is, of wilful fraud ; and of false diagnosis, or mistaking the nature of the diseases, that is of great ignorance. It will be admitted by all that the most unequivocal facts ought to be brought forward to justify such aspersions as these upon the moral character and professional qualifications of any body of men. I might answer these charges very briefly, but it is an old observation that —
"Nihil est quin male narrando possit depravari," There is nothing which cannot, by an ill way of telling it, be made to appear evil,
and lest it should be suspected that I have dealt unfairly with his arguments, Dr. Routh shall be heard in his own words, and we will go through his reasons seriatim.
"1. The exclusion of moribund cases is not fair." The only example of this kind is the following, "In some tables published by M. Touchon in his work on Homoeopathy, this error is committed." I have not seen this book, and there- fore cannot say how fairly the extracts are made from it, but Dr. Routh gives the numbers for four hospitals in such a manner as to raise the per-centage of mortality from 4.4 to 6.7.
What Dr. Fleischmann has done in this matter is to class the cases which die almost immediately after their admission into the hospital, under the head " admitted moribund," instead of attempting to assign them to any specific dis- ease. They count as deaths in the general total. I think this is no unusual proceeding. Dr. Routh does not advance another instance, and even the one given, and made the most of, is still favorable to Homoeopathy. 6.7 is a much less mortality than 10.5.
" 2. One source whence a great difference in the cypher of mortality would be effected, would be in a selection of cases." Doubtless it would, but what proof have we that such a selection of cases is really made ? It is asserted
16 THE DEFENCE
that " the serious cases are few and far between ; the milder cases, on the contrary, of frequent occurrence." This asser- tion is supported by finding in Fleischmann's hospital, at Vienna, between 1835 — i3, 622 cases of " simple diseases seldom fatal." It appears from the Appendix that, during those years, nearly 8000 cases were admitted into that hospital ; — how can it be maintained that 622 mild cases scattered among 8000, render the serious ones few and Jfar between ? Suppose these 622 cases entirely struck out, the mortality in that hospital for these years would not be raised one per-cent. Had we the means of ascertaining it, I have no doubt that in any other hospital, admitting the same number of patients, we should find an equal, if not greater proportion of simple diseases seldom fatal.
But it is argued —
" 3. Another reason of the increased rate of mortality in Allopathic hospitals, is in the want of room to admit milder cases of disease. It must be obvious where there is more room for the admission of less serious cases, the annual mortality will be less." Very true, but the Allopathic Hospitals are considerably larger than the Homoeopathic Hospitals, the latter therefore are disadvantageously cir- cumstanced in this respect. This is a "reason" which makes the favorable results of Homoeopathic treatment still more striking.
Dr. Routh next asks, —
" What if it should appear that, proportionally to their number of beds, they admit more patients, perhaps twice as many ; will this not be evidence that they have a large number of milder cases ?" Not at all. But rather evidence that the cases, though severe, are more quickly cured and dismissed.
" Certainly, they seem to admit a large number of chronic cases." If so, how is it that the beds change their occupants so rapidly? Every one knows that chronic cases under the old mode of treatment, are tedious and difficult of cure.
Dr. Routh proceeds, —
"4. An important element in hospitals towards increasing or diminishing mortality, is the degree of comfort of patients, and the ventilation of the building." If the old hospitals are deficient in these respects, it is high time that such defects should be brought under the notice of the governors of these hospitals.
"5. Another circumstance which will explain the different rate of mortality in Homoeopathic hospital returns, is in .the .class _ of patients admitted In regard to
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 17
Dr. Fleischmann's hospital, the patients are not the very- poorest." Dr. Routh himself contradicts this statement further on (p. 68) where, in endeavoring to account for the large proportion of fever cases, he says, " Fleischmann tells us he admits the poorer classes." It is moreover the fact that his hospital is situated in a poor manufacturing district of Vienna, out of which it must necessarily receive the majority of its patients.
" 6. Sex is another circumstance which exerts a powerful influence on disease in general." But how this affects the general mortality of hospitals receiving both sexes indis- criminately is not suggested.
" 7. Age materially affects the cypher of mortality. . . It is precisely between ten and forty that persons are most healthy and least likely to die. . . . Between
ten and forty, they have 21 per-cent. or rather less than one- third too many patients and above forty, they have 6.8 per- cent, or nearly one-half too few patients. . . . The proof of selection according to favorable ages is perfect." How perfect this proof is, shall be shown by the following quotation from the British Journal of Homoeopathy, [No. 40, page 347.1 "We are not told whether or not Allopathic hospitals have a sufficient number of patients above 40, — but we can inform Dr. Routh that they have not. We do not however on this account charge these hospitals with an attempt at deception, but content ourselves with the simple fact that the missing aged poor Dr. Routh is in search of are not to be found in hospitals, either Homoeopathic or Allopathic, but quietly engaged picking oakum within the walls of the poor-houses."
" Lastly," concludes Dr. Routh, " the Homoeopaths prove too much. When we come to look at the Homoeopathic mortality, as collected from some of their hospitals, we find it is considerably less than the mortality of any given popu- lation, including the healthy as well as the diseased. . . . A 2 per-cent. mortality«is a common occurrence. The Homoeopaths thus prove too much, since their mortality, including their worse and most severe cases, is positively less than that of ordinary populations in most European countries, which average 2 to 2£ per-cent." It is sufficient to say in reply to this, that the mortality in the hospitals is what takes place during on average of less than a fort- nights treatment, while that of entire populations is the mortality in a year !
Such are the arguments " on the general mortality of hospitals" advanced by Dr. Routh to prove the " Fallacies
18 THE DEFENCE
of Homoeopathy." They are repeated on " the mortality in particular diseases." For example :— on the table for pneu- monia he observes that it is " a result most favorable to
Homoeopathic treatment to be explained by the selection
of cases, the comfort of the patient in the hospital, the age, sex, &c." It will be remembered that the small number of deaths from all diseases was explained by the selection of mild cases ; here we have the opposite complaint that too many cases of pneumonia are " selected !" " I find that in the two years 1848 and 1849 there were admitted into the General Hospitals at Vienna 51,709 cases altogether. Of these 1134 were cases of pneumonia, or 2.1 per-cent. Apply this test to Fleischmann's (comparatively very small) hospital, out of 6,551 cases, admitted between the years 1835 and 1843, there were 300 cases returned as pneumonia, or 4.5 per-cent." I remark, 1st, That the exclusion of dis- eases of the skin and other chronic diseases from Fleisch- mann's hospital, which constitute a considerable class in the general hospital, renders this comparison, to a considerable extent, inapplicable. 2d. That the comparison is defective in point of time. The years 1835-43 being compared with 1848-9. We all know how a disease like inflammation of the lungs varies in frequency in different years ; and 3dly. That the statement proves how unfounded was the first charge of u selection" of a too large proportion of mild cases, and that in reality this hospital receives and cures a much larger proportion of severe acute cases than the Allopathic hospitals.
On the table for pleurisy, Dr. Routh says, — as before the
advantage is in favor of Homoeopathy " There is reason
to believe the cases are either not genuine or sehcted.'" What reason ? " The number of cases admitted are at least double the number admitted in Allopathic Institutions." And yet it was pretended above that the general mortality from all diseases is reduced by the selection of too many mild cases, and the " rigid exolusion" of such serious ones as pneumonia and pleurisy are admitted to be ! As to the cases not being genuine, the hospitals are constantly open to inspection ; medical men are invited to witness the practice ; Dr. Routh has visited them, he brings forward no sufficient evidence on which charges, so dishonorable to the whole profession, should rest; his assertions and in- sinuations are directly contradicted by an eminent Allo- pathic practitioner, who has also visited these hospitals, and who says that the cases he saw treated in Fleischmann's
OF HOMCEOPATHY. 19
Horn. Hospital were fully as acute and virulent as any he had observed elsewhere. — Wy tele's Austria, p. 277.
Dr. Routh's further objections are equally self-contra- dictory or altogether futile and frivolous. We have seen that he asserts that because the Homoeopathic hospitals have a larger number of patients annually in proportion to their number of beds, therefore their cases are not simi- lar to those in the old hospitals. We infer that they are more quickly cured. On the other hand, he complains that the pneumonia cases remain on an average too long in the hospital : may we not rather conclude that this ap- parently increased time arises really from fewer of the cases dying? It is death which shortens the period for these cases in Allopathic hospitals. Again, from the fact that the cases get cured quickly, it is concluded that they are not genuine. Is not this again taking for granted the thing to be proved ? Is it not much more reasonable to draw an inference in favor of the treatment from such speedy re- coveries ? What will be thought of attributing the cures to the "humility and gentleness" of the Sisters of Charity? Their " calm aspect of religion ;" " the beauty observed in their persons," and " their melodious accents ?" What sort of a corner has Dr. Routh been driven into, that he must fight with such weapons as these ? Does he feel his gallant ship sinking beneath him, that he is catching at straws ?
The statistics are genuine. The very existence of a Ho- moeopathic Hospital in Vienna is itself a convincing proof of the superior value of the new treatment. It was because Dr. Fleischmann, when the Asiatic cholera raged in Vienna, cured double the number that were saved under the old system, that the Emperor removed the restrictions that had previously been imposed upon the practice of Homoeo- pathy in his dominions, and established the hospital which has since been the principal school of Homoeopathy for Europe. Had Dr. Routh's objections been sufficiently weighty to destroy our confidence and our hopes thus ex- cited in Homoeopathy, we might indeed have greatly re- gretted it for humanity's sake, but we must have bowed to the conclusion. If, however, as I think my readers will by this time have been convinced, they have rather been "frivolous and vexatious," we may cheerfully dismiss them, and thankfully indulge our hopes that this improved me- thod of treating all our bodily ailments will become in- creasingly beneficial to mankind. Hard indeed must that heart be that will not rejoice at such a prospect as this ! It appears then with respect to the principle of " like
20 THE DEFENCE
curing like," it is admitted to a considerable extent by our opponents, as indeed it was by Hippocrates himself, em- phatically and deservedly recognized as the Father of Medicine ; and that no reason has, as yet, been shown, sufficient to set aside the proofs in favor of its being re- ceived as a general rule of universal application.
That with respect to the efficacy of small doses, this is also admitted to the extent that it has been practically tested : — so far as the small doses have been tried, they have been found to act satisfactorily. Now as Dr. Routh himself contends that " we have no right to argue a j)r<oi%" (page 12) we feel justified in asserting that a priori or theoretical objections to doses which have not been tried, are of vo force, and may safely be disregarded, and at once rejected.
That with regard to the administration of medicines we learn from our opponents in the most conclusive and self- evident manner, not only the inefficiency, but the positive- ly hurtful nature of the usual treatment by large doses ; and that with regard to the statistics which speak so loudly and so unequivocally in favor of Homoeopathy, we have seen that the objections brought against them are not of sufficient validity to shake our confidence in their truth.
In conclusion, the published statistics of Homoeopathy are important in themselves, and of value to medical prac- titioners, either as preliminary information, to induce them to study Homoeopathy, seeing that by them at least a prima face case for inquiry is made out, or as a confirmation^ to "their own private trials on the subject, if the information come, as it no doubt often does, after that private examina- tion has been made. Still the main reliance is to be placed upon what happens in our hands, and under our own eyes. Whatever charges of unfairness or fraud may be brought against other persons, we know whether we are sincere ourselves or not. The subject is too serious, and the consequences too important to each individual practi- tioner, to allow him to be careless in his own proceedings. He is almost necessarily cautious, and awake to all the sources of fallacy to which he may be exposed. He pro- cures the books and reads them, he obtains the medicines, and with intense interest tries them ; he expects them to fail, he is almost sure he shall be able to prove that the thing is a delusion. He selects simple cases at first, both for his patient's sake and his own, the remedies apparent- ly act beyond his expectation, at any rate the patients quickly recover, better and more speedily than if he had
OF HOMCEOPATHY. 21
given them his usual doses. He reasons thus: — even if the medicines have done nothing, the patients have been gainers, they have been spared the taking nauseous physic, perhaps the loss of blood, or the pain of a blister, and they have speedily recovered ; so that supposing it has been diet and regimen, it is evident that diet and regimen do better without drugs than with them. This point becomes settled, that drugging, and bleeding, and blistering are bad. By degrees more serious cases are tried ; cases, such as croup, where diet and regimen are out of the question, see- ing that if relief be not speedily afforded, death must ensue ; and how does the conviction of the efficacious action of the medicines then flash upon the mind ! When a violent paroxysm of croup passes off in an hour under the in- fluence of mild doses of aconite and hepar-sulphuris and spongia, without the warm baths, and emetics, and leeches and blisters, which before were considered indispensable ; when an equally violent fit of tic-doloreux yields in a few moments to the appropriate remedy ; when inflammation of the brain yields to belladonna, and inflammation of the lungs subsides rapidly under phosphorus ; again, when hands covered with warts are cleared of them in a few weeks, without cutting and caustic, which did not remove them: when such universally fatal diseases as diabetes (sugared urine) are, if not absolutely cured, at least so greatly relieved, that life is prolonged for years; what further proof does he require to convince him of power- ful medicinal action in the remedies employed ? What then is the conclusion arrived at by the anxious but patient and persevering inquirer ? That Homoeopathy is a boon to mankind from the Giver of all good, and that it is his duty to embrace it, and to advocate its cause to the best of his ability.
Rugby, August 12th, 1853.
1
Cntds on Jpomopdljij.
THE TRUTH
HOMEOPATHY.
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D. F.R.S.
&tr*l) Cfcititftw
BOERICKE & TAFEL:
NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA,
No. 145 GRAND STREET. No. 635 ARCH STREET.
"The Poet that beautified the sect, that was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet ex- cellently well. 'It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see a ship tossed upon the sea ; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, to see a battle, and the adventures thereof below ; but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground o< truth, (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene,) and to see the errors and wanderings, and mists and tempests, in the vale below .' so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride." Bacon
THE TRUTH OF HOMEOPATHY.
" True philosophers, who are only eager for truth and knowledge, never regard them- selves as already so thoroughly informed, but that they welcome further information from whomsoever and from whencesoever it may come ; nor are they so narrow-minded as to imagine any of the arts or sciences transmitted to us by the ancients, in such a state of for- wardness or completeness, that nothing is left for the ingenuity and industry of others."
William Harvey.
"Trial," says Sir "William Blackstone, "is the examina- tion of the matter of fact in issue ; of which there are many- different species, according to the difference of the subject or thing to be tried. . . . This being the one invariable principle pursued, that as well the best method of trial, as the best evidence upon that trial, which the nature of the case affords, and no other shall be admitted."
"Evidence," says the same authority, "signifies that which demonstrates, makes clear, or ascertains the truth of the very fact or point in issue, either on the one side or on the other; and no evidence ought to be admitted to any other point." «
The laws of nature are general facts ascertained to be so by inference or induction from a great multitude of parti- cular facts. They are discovered, and their truth proved and maintained, by examining them as matters of fact. They are tried by the best method, and on the best evidence which the nature of the case admits.
It is the distinguished prerogative of a few individuals to discover them, but when once announced they are open to the senses and understanding of all men ; they are put to the test of daily experiment and observation, and were they not true, the facts which contradict them would not fail to be speedily discovered.
Every department of nature which has hitherto been suc- cessfully studied, so as to constitute it a science, has been founded upon one of these general facts or laws of nature. This is the pole-star around which all the minor facts har- moniously turn. For example : —
The law of specific gravity, or the relative weight of bodies, was discovered by Archimedes, on the occasion of plunging himself into a bath, and, as is familiarly known, so great was his delight that he ran about in an ecstasy, crying out "I have have found it — I have found it!" It consists of two facts: 1st. — When a solid body is plunged into a liquid, it displaces an amount of liquid equal in,
THE TRUTH
bulk to its own hulk. 2dly. — The solid "body so plunged into a liquid, loses in its weight an amount exactly equal to the weight of the liquid which it has displaced.
The law which is the basis of Mechanics was discovered by Galileo; — The less force equals the greater by moving through more space in the same time.
The law of gravitation, upon which Astronomy is founded, was discovered by Newton ; — All bodies attract each other directly as the mass, and inversely as the square of the distance. This is commonly regarded as a mathematical demonstration, but it rests, in reality, upon careful experi- ments and accurate observation, — like the others, it is a fact proved when put upon its appropriate mode of trial, by satisfactory evidence.
The law which is the foundation of the science of Hydro- statics, and which has lately been so beautifully applied to a very useful practical purpose in the Bramah presb, was discovered by the successive experiments of the three great men just mentioned, Archimedes, Galileo, and Newton. It may be thus expressed ;• — in a mass of liquid each particle presses equally in all directions.
The laws of Kepler, as they are called from their dis- coverer, which are three important general facts in Astro- nomy. 1st. — The orbits of the planets are ellipses, with the sun in one of the foci. 2d. — The planets move over equal areas in equal times. 3d. — TJte squares of the times of revo- lution of any two planets are to each other, in the same pro- portion as the cubes of their mean distances from the sun. " Of all the laws," says Sir John Herschel, " to which induc- tion from pure observation has ever conducted man, this third Law of Kepler may justly be regarded as the most remarkable, and the most pregnant with important conse- quences."
The fact in Physiology that all the higher animals are furnished with a heart and blood-vessels through which a double circulation of the blood is unceasingly carried on, first through the lungs, and afterwards through the rest of the body • this was the discovery of our illustrious Harvey, who for his pains was set down as crazy, and lost nearly all his practice.
The law for the knowledge of which, we are indebted to the indefatigable labors of Dalton, and which has given rise to the modern science of Chemistry; Elementary or simple bodies combine with each other, to form compound bodies, in definite or fixed proportions.
The law of storms, ascertained by Col. Reid, which is one
OF HOMOEOPATHY. O
of the most recent of these valuable discoveries; — They move in a circle.
All these, and other similar truths are general facts, which have been put upon their trial, and have stood the test. They have been supported by sufficient evidence suited to the nature of each case. Before they were known the departments to which they severally belong were cha- racterized by blunders and guesswork, into which they have introduced method and certainty.
The practical value of this kind of knowledge, may in part be learned by comparing the present condition of the arts with that previous to the discovery of these laws. Had the Romans known the law which regulates the flow of liquids, they would have been spared the vast labor of erecting those magnificent aqueducts for the supply of their cities with water, whose ruins so greatly excite our surprize and admiration at the present day. Our navigation hangs upon the faithfulness of the magnetized bar in turning towards the north; our steam engines depend upon the elasticity of vapor; our railways on the laws of friction; our instantaneous communication at any distance on the influence which a current of electricity exerts over a mag- netic needle, — that beautiful discovery of Oersted. For nearly all our modern comforts, for nearly everything which distinguishes the present from preceding ages, we are in- debted to the discovery of such natural truths as these.
Many departments of human knowledge are now in pos- session of such principles, and the consequence of having them for their foundation is unanimity of sentiment among the cultivators of the science, and the continual and satis- factory progress of their pursuits. The want of such a foundation may be certainly concluded, with regard to any subject upon which there is great diversity of opinion, many hypothetical speculations, and no improvement or advance toward a successful issue.
Thus much has been said by way of introduction, that the meaning of the expressions, law of nature, general fact, or principle may be clearly understood ; that the high value of such knowledge may be a] p eclated; and that the im- portance of ascertaining whether the art of healing be fur- nished with such a foundation or not, may be strongly felt.
With these preliminary explanations we may now pro- ceed to examine the actual condition of Medicine.
The efforts made to relieve diseases have been, hitherto, either superstitious, or theoretical, or empirical.
6 THE TRUTH
Of superstitious practices many examples might be given. I will mention only two. In China and Japan, the Ermites profess to heal the greater number of complaints by depo- siting before their idols, a description of the disease in peculiar characters, and afterwards making up the paper containing it into pills, which they gave the patient to take. The "sympathetic powder" of Sir Kenelm Digby, was very famous for a long period. This powder healed all manner of wounds by being applied to the weajon by which the wound had been inflicted. Our poets and imaginative writers often allude to this piece of folly. Sir Walter Scott says in the Lay of the Last Minstrel :•
" But she has ta'en the broken lance, And washed it from the clotted gore, And salved the splinter o'er and o'er, "William of Deloraine in trance Whene'er she turned it round and round Twisted as if she galled his wound. Then to her maidens she did say That he should be whole man and sound."
Canto III. St. 23.
The theoretical method has always been extensively practised. Diseases in the days of Hippocrates were hot or cold, moist or dry. Remedies of course were the same ; a hot remedy was to be applied to a cold disease, a moist one to a dry, and vice versa. Hence the favorite maxim of Galen, " contraria contrariis curantur," diseases are to be treated with contraries. Of late we have had excessive and diminished irritability to be treated respectively with calmers and stimulants. — (Brown.) Spasms of the extreme vessels, to be cured by so-called anti-spasmodics. — (Cullen.) All diseases attributed to local inflammation, — the universal remedy, local depletion. — (Broussais.) Such, and number- less other hypotheses have been imagined by ingenious men in their closets ; have been eloquently propounded in in their lecture-rooms; have been greedily embraced by numerous classes of admiring followers ; and have, each in succession, been supplanted by the next invention, and sunk into contempt and oblivion.
To the empirical treatment of diseases some have thus, in all ages, been driven. Sensible of the futility and use- lessness of hypotheses at the bed-side of their patients, these practitioners have sought to be guided by experience only; though, in spite of this conviction and intention, they have continued to speculate upon the nature and causes of diseases. These constitute the eminent physicians and surgeons of the present day. They reject all idea of a
OF HOMOEOPATHY,
general principle for their guidance in the administration of remedies — they even deny its possibility. The head of their public bodies, the present President of the Royal Col- lege of Physicians, (Dr. Paris) asserted no long time ago, in a public lecture, that medicine is "incapable of genera- lization."* The consequence of this unsettled condition is the utmost confusion and contradiction, and great want of success in the present practice of physic. This is admitted by nearly every writer of 'credit. Dr. Adams, the learned translator of Hippocrates, says, "one cannot think of the change in professional opinions since the days of John Hunter, (at the close of the last century,) without the most painful feeling of di-drust in all modes of treatment." Again, the same writer observes, " Now-a-days we have abandoned all general rules of practice, and profess to be guided solely by experience ; but how variable and uncer- tain are its results ! I myself, albeit but verging towards the decline of life, can well remember the time when a physician would have run the risk of being indicted for culpable homicide if he had ventured to bleed a patient in common fever. About twenty-five years ago, venesection in fever, and in almost every disease, was the established order of the day ; and now what shall I state as the general practice that has been sanctioned by the experience of the present generation? / can scarcely say, — so variable has the practice in fever, and in many other diseases, become of late years."! How like the complaint made by Hippo- crates himself, twenty-two centuries ago! "The whole art is exposed to much censure from the vulgar, who fancy that really there is no such science as medicine, since, even in acute diseases, practitioners differ so much among them- selves, that those things which one administers, as thinking it the best that can be given, another holds to be bad.'''' Galen quotes and confirms this, and thus is it confessed, both by ancient and modern authorities, that so-called legitimate medicine is little better than a mass of contradiction and confusion. A remedy is found, perhaps accidentally, to do good, and it is therefore given in other cases which appear to be like to one it has cured. This plan sometimes suc- ceeds, but it also often fails, and always when it fails, and often when it succeeds, the constitution is injured by the large doses and other severe treatment.
* Paris's Pharmacologia.
f Adams — Translation of Hippocrates, Vol. I, pp. 278, 280, 307, Sydenham Society's Edition.
THE TRUTH
Such has hitherto "been the miserable condition of the practice of Physic. In successive ages, reflecting men have mourned over this condition, and earnestly desired to dis- cover some general and guiding fact upon which the art of healing might be based.
How remarkable are these words of Sydenham, justly styled the Father of English Medicine, "The method where- by in my opinion, the art of medicine may be advanced ; turns chiefly upon what follows, viz. : that there must^ be some fixed, definite, and consummate method of healing, of which the commonweal may have the advantage. By fixed, definite, and consummate, I mean a line of practice which has been based and built upon a sufficient number of experiments, and has in that manner been proved com- petent to the cure of this or that disease."*
At different epochs, and by various writers from Demo- critus and Hippocrates downwards, something like the prin- ciple " similia similibus curantur," likes are to be treated with likes, has been feebly enunciated, but we are indebted to Hahnemann, a German of the last generation, for so powerfully and perseveringly announcing, it as to have gained for it the attention of mankind.
This proposition has now been put forth in such a strong and urgent manner, as to demand an investigation by every medical man who is conscientiously desirous of doing all the good he can to his suffering fellow-creatures. It does not seem to have anything in itself which must necessarily excite disgust or opposition ; it is no theory of disease : it does not pretend to explain the mode of action of medi- cines; it professes to be a fact upon which a method of cure may be founded. It suggests that the true properties of drugs can he discovered only by experiments on the healthy body of man, and that whatever symptoms of dis- ease are thus produced are the true guides to the use of the remedy ; for that it must be given only in such natural diseases as are attended with symptoms like those produced by the drug in the healthy person.
This then is " the Fact in issue," to be upon its trial. And we are to remember the legal principle " that as well the best method of trial, as the best evidence upon that trial, which the nature of the case affords, and no other, shall be admitted."
" Likes are to be treated with likes !" This is the asser- tion. The only trial upon which a statement such as this
* Works of Sydenham, Vol. 1, p. 17, Sydenham Society's Edition.
OF HOMCEOPATHY.
can be fairly put, is the trial by experiment. This must be obvious. To argue about it would be foolish, and a waste of time. To experiment upon it is rational. I pro- pose therefore now to give the evidence adduced upon such a trial in my own hands. It has occupied my attention more than three years; it has been made in candor and good faith, and with, I think, all the conditions requisite for drawing a legitimate conclusion.
It has been made in many cases without the knowledge of" the patient, and, therefore, to the exclusion of any pos- sible influence from the imagination.
It has been made under a much greater variety of cir- cumstances, and upon patients in more diversified ranks, ages, andconstitutions, than can meet together in the wards of a hospital.
It has been made, very much, with medicines whose in- jurious or poisonous symptoms, or effects in health, were previously well known to me ; these poisonous symptoms or effects in health having been learned without any refe- rence to the medicinal or curative effects of the same drug in disease.
It has been made with doses of all kinds, not only with the infinitesimal ones, now commonly adopted by Homceo- pathists, but with palpable and ponderable quantities of the substances so tried.
And lastly, I have had the advantage of comparing the results of the new method so obtained, with those in my own hands under the old practice during a successful pro- fessional career of more than a quarter of a century.
Perhaps it will surprize some of my readers to hear of " ponderable" doses in homoeopathy, but when the investi- gation of the truth of the principle of Homoeopathy is being made, these are the first materials for experiment. If twenty grains of ipecacuanha will make a strong man sick, and if the twentieth part of a grain will cure a sick man of his vomiting, we have two cases which can be fairly compared ; — we know that we are dealing with the same physical agent.
But though large doses must in the first instance be tried, the investigation cannot end with them. For if, as is un- questionably true, an inconceivably small quantity, or in other words an infinitesimal dose of this substance, ipe- cacuanha, can produce the symptoms of catarrh, or of asthma, so severe as to threaten the loss of life ; * and if similarly small doses of the same drug can cure similar
* For proofs of this statement see another of these Tracts.
10 THE TRUTH
and equally violent symptoms, when they have arisen from other causes, the trial must be carried into these much ridiculed but highly interesting regions. Thus the inquiry into the operation of this principle "similia similibus curantur," likes are to be treated with likes — can be pur- sued to a much greater extent than, at first sight, would have been thought possible. We must follow where nature leads if we would know her truths. If minute particles of matter can act upon the body so as to injure health, — it is possible that similarly minute particles of matter may also act upon the body so as to restore its healthy state, — and if this be so, the two actions may be compared with each other. On these, as on all similar subjects of human knowledge, nature is to be interrogated by experiments, and the answers returned, if carefully observed, and honestly recorded, are the evidence which "makes clear or ascertains the truth of the very fact or point in issue, either on one side or the other."
What are medicines? They are poisons. All substances maybe divided, with reference to their a< t >n on the human body, into those which are nutritious, ana those which are more or less noxious, — into food and poison. It is the latter class which furnish us with medicines. These act in- juriously in health — remedially in disease ; this is Homoeo- pathy in the general ; the following cases will show that Homoeopathy is also true when carried into particulars.
CASES.
POISONS FROM THE MINERAL KINGDOM.
ANTIMONY— INFLAMMATION.
It is known to medical men that Tartarizcd Antimony,
when taken in poisonous doses, produces inflammation of
the lungs.. It has been given in large doses by allopathic
physicians as a remedy in similar inflammations.
I have seen an infant suffering from an attack of in- flammation so severe as to threaten a very speedy termina- tion in paralysis of the lungs and death, recover in a few hours, while having administered to it small doses of this preparation of Antimony.
ARSENIC— INFLAMMATION— ERUPTIONS. The prominent mischief which a few grains of Arsenic produces is inflammation of the stomach and bowels. I have twice tried this substance as a remedy in acute in- flammation of these organs with success.
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 11
Arsenic also so often produces eruptions on the skin that they have received a name ; — eczema arsenieale. Arsenic is often given as a remedy for similar eruptions by practi- tioners of the old school. The preparation in the Pharma- copoeia is called "Solution of Arsenite of Potash;" it is given in doses of from eight drops to half a drachm, which latter quantity contains about a quarter of a grain of ar- senic. Injurious effects have often been occasioned by these medicinal doses. Four grains, or less, being sufficient to destroy life. * I have seen great benefit from this mineral in obstinate affections of the skin, when given in such small doses as would not be at all likely to produce unpleasant consequences in any constitution.
COPPER— CRAMP.
Copper produces "pain in the abdomen with diarrhoea; and in aggravated cases, spasms of the extremities.-*
I have seen Copper quickly relieve cramp, and even the most violent muscular spasms.
CORROSIVE-SUBLIMATE— DYSENTERY. That this poisonous substance produces slimy, green, and bloody evacuations from the bowels, exactly resembling dysentery, a disease having similar symptoms, but which have arisen frpm other causes, is a fact but too well known. I have given various doses of it, uncombined with opium, in dysentery, with the most satisfactory results ; — with better success than that which attended my former treatment. One striking case is given in the Tract, entitled : "What is Homoeopathy ?" I could add others here.
LEAD— CONSTIPATION— PARALYSIS.
The leading symptom produced by Lead, when acting as a poison, is constipation. *
I have repeatedly removed chronic constipation by this substance.
Another well known effect of Lead is numbness and paralysis ; I have seen it cure a case of this kind.
MERCURY— MUMPS— SORE THROAT— ERUPTIONS.
It is well known that one of the first effects of Mercury is to act upon the salivary glands; if therefore there be any truth in the law of "similia" mercury ought to be a cure for mumps. I have had a great many opportunities
* Taylor's "Medical Jurisprudence."
12 THE TRUTH
of putting the law in question to this test, and I can with truth affirm that in every instance the result was satisfac- tory. I gave nothing hut mercury in various doses, both ponderable and imponderable, that is, both in ordinary and in infinitesimal doses, and in every case the cure was rapid and perfect. It must be understood that not the slightest local application of any kind was permitted in any one of the cases. The patients were singularly preserved from pain, and there were none of the sympathetic affections which not unusually accompany this complaint.
It is equally well known to medical men that mercury produces affections of the throat, bones, and skin, so like the diseases of those parts arising from other causes, that they often find it impossible to distinguish the one from the other, or to decide to which to attribute the symptoms. What could be more striking homoeopathicity than this? There tehall be two patients standing side by side, with ulcerated throats, swellings on the bones, and eruptions on the skin, in the one caused by mercury, and in the other not, and the most experienced surgeon shall be puzzled to say which is the mercurial case and which is not. Mercury given to these cases would aggravate the one whose symp- toms were owing to mercury, while it would almost certainly cure the other.
PHOSPHORUS— INFLAMMATION.
Two grains, and in another case, one grain and a half of Phosphorus have been known to kill, by causing intense inflammation of the stomach and bowels.
In May last I was requested to visit the following case in which I believe the most severe inflammation of these organs existed. A lady of about fifty years old was seized with pain in the stomach on the Friday evening, on Satur- day she took various strong doses of medicines which caused vomiting and purging, but which gave no relief; the pain continued to increase, and on Sunday night, when I saw her for the first time, her family thought she was dying; — there was great pain and tenderness on pressure, a quick and small pulse, a very white tongue, with some delirium, an anxious and sunken countenance, and short breathing, she had been entirely deprived of sleep by pain from the commencement of the attack. I gave a small dose of Phosphorus, and in about a minute she felt easier ; — in a quarter of an hour the dose was repeated, and she im- mediately fell asleep for two hours and a half; after a third
OF HOMCEOPATHY. 13
and fourth dose she slept again ; in a few days was con- valescent, and in a fortnight well.
Among other inflammations produced by Phosphorus, when it has been taken in poisonous doses, is inflammation of the lungs. I have treated two most dangerous attacks of pleuro-pneumonia with this substance ; — one a young man, aged about 18, in March, 1851, who had been ill some days before I saw him, and who continued to get worse for three days until I gave him phosphorus. He had severe pain, respirations from 40 to 48 in the minute, pulse 120, cough frequent, expectoration tinged with blood, and great prostration, with the stethoscopic signs of inflammation within the chest, In less than a fortnight this young man was cured, and he continues still (July, 1853) perfectly well, — no trace of mischief remaining in his chest. He very nearly died, and yet the treatment was ultimately successful, not only in affording palliative relief hut in effecting a radical cure. I feel a moral certainty that had he been treated with bleeding and blistering, purgatives, salines and antimonials, he would have died, if not im- mediately, (which I believe would have been the case,) at any rate from the chronic disease which by this method would have been left behind. The time seemed long during which my anxiety continued, but after all, it did not extend to a fortnight, and it must not be forgotten that the disease had been allowed to gather strength for nearly a week be- fore anything was done to check it. I am justified by the result in considering this case as a striking proof of the efficacy of the new remedies in such an acute and highly dangerous disease as pneumonia is universally considered.
The other case, also a young man, aged about 16, of a consumptive family, was still more striking; it occurred to me in March, 1852. All the symptoms of violent pleuro- pneumonia, were fully and very rapidly developed, and for some hours he was in great danger. Almost the only re- medy administered was phosphorus, in small doses, and before the end of the week he was quite convalescent; — the physical (stethoscopic) signs of disease disappeared in about another fortnight, and he also has continued ever since in perfect health. I am persuaded that had this young man been reduced by what is called "active treat- ment," his constitution would have been broken down, and he would have followed his sister, through a painful course of suffering to an early grave.
I have also seen the most strikingly beneficial results from phosphorus in chronic disease of the lungs, as well as in these acute cases.
14 THE TRUTH
SULPHUR— ERUPTIONS.
Those who visit Harrogate, and other places where the waters contain Sulphur, are well aware^that eruptions of a very irritating character are not unfrequently produced by drinking the waters. Sulphur is notoriously a remedy for similar eruptions.
I have seen it, when given in small doses, both produce and cure such affections of the skin. No one dreams that it produces the itch insect.
POISONS FROM THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
ACONITE— CROUP.
Symptoms similar to those of Croup are among the ill effects of Aconite or Monti's Hood.
I have tried the new treatment in several cases of Croup with very remarkable success.
BELLADONNA— HEADACHE— SORE THROAT.
Among the poisonous effects of the Deadly Nightshade are heat and fever, difficulty of swallowing and speaking, feeling of constriction about the throat, swelling and red- ness of the face and other parts of the skin, dilatation of the pupils, obscurity of vision, suffusion of the eyes, sing- ing in the ears, confusion of the head, giddiness, delirium, convulsions, and stupor or lethargy.
In a variety of cases both slight and severe, of affections similar in their symptoms to these effects, as quinsy, op- thalmia, headache, cases threatening to end n water in the brain, I have tested the remedial powers of belladonna, and have not often been disappointed. In two cases of threatened hydrocephalus, — children, in different families, a child in each family having previously died of water in the head, when I was first consulted, it was feared that these would die in the same manner, but they both speedi- ly recovered. During the spring of this year I have had several opportunities of giving Belladonna in Scarlet Fever, and with very satisfactory results. It is well known that Hahnemann was the first to point it out both as a remedy and a preservative from scarlet fever: this he had been led to discover by the resemblance which he observed between the poisonous effects of the plant, and the symp- toms of that disease. I am tempted to give the following extract from the "London Medical and Physical Journal" for Sept., 1824, (the most respectable allopathic journal of that period,) both because it shows the admission of this
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 15
discovery, and also because it exhibits a better feeling towards Hahnemann than is a present met with among my allopathic brethren.
" Belladonna a preventative of Scarlet Fever. It has
been long known that Dr. Hahnemann, of Leipzig, has as- serted the above fact ; but since the year 1818, several practitioners in the north of Europe have repeated these experiments, and they find them founded in truth. The first of these, Dr. Brendt, of Custrin, affirms that all who employed thisNremedy escaped the infection; and his ac- count is corroborated by Dr. Musbeck, of Demmin, in Western Pomerania, who says he has used it for seven years, and with equal success ; he administered it to all those who dwelt in the houses where scarlet fever prevailed, continuing its use until desquamation of the cuticle had taken place in those attacked. Dr. Dusterbourg, of War- bourg, has also published an account of a series of ex- periments confirming these statements; and several sub- sequent memoirs have appeared all equally corroborative of this virtue in the belladonna."
Medical men of the old school are now beginning to assert that Belladonna is no preservative against Scarlet Fever, and that this " shews the utter fallacy of their (the Homceopathists') reasoning, and the sandy foundation on which they build their views." But it will not fail to be remarked by impartial observers that such assertions come from a quarter now too prejudiced to be relied upon, and also that, even supposing them to be correct, they prove nothing against Homoeopathy, inasmuch as it is not a system of prevention, but a method of cure. The weight of evidence is still in favor of the preventive powers of Belladonna, but its failure will bring no " fallacy" into the "reasoning," nor "sand" into the "foundation" of Homoeo- pathy.
BRYONIA— RHEUMATISM.
White Bryony is one of the ancient remedies which, like Hellebore, has been discarded from modern practice on account of the violence of its action when given in the usual large doses. Among other symptoms it produces those resembling rheumatism. I have myself twice brought on these symptoms with bryony. It is a very valuable re- medy in similar cases.
Rheumatism is generally accompanied by an acid state of the secretions. If litmus paper be applied to the tongue, the moist skin, &c, while a patient is suffering from rheu-
16
THE TRUTH
matic pain, it will commonly be reddened. Knowing this I have been in the habit for some time of treating rheuma- tism with alkalies, both internally and externally, and with so much better success than when formerly bleeding, &c. were had recourse to, that I was reluctant to give them up. A case occurred in Nov., 1850, which first induced me to do so. A boy about 12 years old, had a very severe attack of rheumatic fever. I pursued my usual method at first, but being greatly disappointed with it, I felt justified in substituting the new remedies, and prescribed a dose of Bryony every two hours. The next day the little patient was relieved in every way; the pulse had fallen from 120 to 82 ; the pains which had been very bad in the wrist, elbows, back, and abdomen, were gone ; as were also the swelling and redness, and the following day he was con- valescent. His father, a medical man of distinction, now arrived from a distance, together with his mother. I de- tailed to him all I had done, and, though no Homceopathist, I received from him hearty thanks for the benefit his boy had got from the treatment. In a few days he was suffi- ciently recovered to be taken home by his mother.
COLOCYNTH— COLIC.
The takers of violent purgatives, such as Morison's pills, know the effects of- Colocynrh.
I have found it, in small doses, relieve similar pains.
CREOSOTE— VOMITING.
Creosote as a poison produces vomiting and other de- rangements of the stomach, together with a tendency in the fluids of the body to decomposition and in the solids to disorganization. I have repeatedly seen small doses of Creosote act beneficially in similar conditions of disease. I give the following case, which occurred some years ago, because it illustrates a remark which I have often lately made, that, on reflection, I find that much of my former successful practice was, without my being aware of it, Ho- moeopathic in principle. The notes were written by an intelligent assistant at the time.
"Miss A — H — , set. 36, has been subject to frequent at- tacks of erysipelas, accompanied by great sickness. The last attack was during last summer, from which she re- covered about three months since. On Saturday, December 17th, 1836, she was attacked with vomiting and purging, accompanied by an acute pain in the region of the liver.
OF HOMCEOPATHY. 17
Mr. H., who saw her, gave her Calomel and Opium, and applied a blister to the seat of the pain, but without relief; he gave her effervescing salines with Hydrocyanic-acid, and applied a mustard poultice to the stomach, with slight but temporary benefit. On Thursday, December 22d, the vomiting being more violent than ever, neither food nor medicine having remained on the stomach since the Satur- day previous, Mr. Sharp, along with Dr. H., saw her and found her in the following state : Vomiting excessive ; pain in the abdomen ; pain and tenderness along the whole course of the spine (to which Mr. S. applied a mustard poultice with complete relief.) Dr. H. thinking that the mesenteric glands were affected, prescribed Argent.-nitrat. in small doses, combined with Ext. Opii. aquos., and on the following day changed the Argent.-nitr. for Cupri.- sulph., but the stomach rejected everything. A large blister was also applied to the abdomen, but matters grew worse, and the patient feeling that she must inevitably die, refused to take any more medicine. On the 26th Mr. Sharp suggested a trial of Creosote. It was procured and administered in some gruel without her knowledge, one or two drops being put into a small basin of gruel and a spoonful given at a time. She has never vomited since. She continued to take one drop daily for a short time, and then discontinued it. She took small quantities of light nourishment since the 26th till her health was re-established, and she has since been quite free from similar attacks."
IPECACUANA— VOMITING— ASTHMA— HEMORRHAGE.
Every one knows that Ipecacuanha excites vomiting. Among my earliest trials were several cases of vomiting in children, arising from the ordinary causes of indigestion. These were all very speedily cured by a few doses, more or less minute, of the tincture of Ipecacuanha. Among these was a delicate child, about ten years of age, who had been vomiting inveterately for a week, so that everything which had been given her during that time, whether as food or medicine, had been rejected. She was, as may be supposed, much exhausted. She did not vomit once after the first dose of ipecacuanha, and very rapidly recovered her usual health and strength.
This result surprized aud gratified me much, it has been confirmed by numerous instances nearly equally striking which have since occurred to me.
The distressing nausea and vomiting from which females frequently suffer, and which so often baffle the medical
18
THE TRUTH
man's best efforts, I have found on several occasions delight- fully removed by the same remedy. In one case the patient had suffered for two months from continual sickness, vomit- ing bile every morning, and her food more or less, after every meal. She had had allopathic medical treatment without benefit. A few doses of ipecacuanha put a complete stop to this distressing state of things.
Ipecacuanha, in infinitesimal doses, as is amply shown in the Tract, entitled: "The Small Dose of Homoeopathy," produces asthma.
I have seen it, in similar doses, relieve, in the most beautiful manner, severe fits of asthma.
Ipecacuanha also causes bleeding from different parts of the body, in persons previously in health. Some very interesting cases of severe haemorrhage, cured by Ipeca- cuanha, are detailed in Vol. I. of Mr. Braithwaite's lletro- spect / where, however, the beneficial effects are wrongly attributed to the sickness produced by the large doses which were given.
I have had some opportunities of observing that Ipeca- cuanha, in such small doses as did not produce any sickness, could arrest haemorrhage even when life was fast ebbing away.
NUX VOMICA— SPASMODIC PAINS.
In instances of suffering from abdominal spasmodic pains the benefit derived from Nux Vomica has been most obvious and gratifying. When the attack was recent it was almost immediately removed. In a case of long standing, where the countenance betrayed the existence of organic disease, and in which the pain was so severe, and had continued, when I first saw the patient, so many hours, that a fatal result seemed not improbable, — the prostration of strength being very great, — a perseverance in the remedy at short intervals for a few hours gave complete relief. This is now more than two years ago, and the man has continued since comparatively free from the attacks.
Nux Vomica when taken in poisonous doses produces similar symptoms.
OPIUM— CONSTIPATION— APOPLEXY— DELIRIUM TREMENS.
It is notorious that Opium constipates the bowels ; I
have found it in small doses relieve constipation. Excessive
doses of opium produce in some persons coma or apoplexy ;
I have seen it of use in that alarming state. In other
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 19
persons it produces an excited state resembling Delirium Tremens ; — it is the best remedy we know for that fearful condition when produced by intoxicating drinks
RHUBARB— SENNA— DIARRHCEA.
As Ipecacuanha is remarkably useful in many kinds of vomiting, so Rhubarb, Senna, and other purgatives are not less so in the kinds of diarrhoea which resemble those pro- duced by large doses of these drugs. I have repeatedly tried them in varying doses, and have obtained the relief which I looked for, both in children and in adults.
VERATRUM— CHOLERA.
It is a fact familiar to medical men that White Hellebore was the favorite purgative with Hippocrates, and that it has fallen into disuse from its over-violent effects. I have had recourse to it in two extreme cases of cholera, and in other slighter ones, with complete success. In the first case, which occurred in the summer of 1851, collapse had succeeded the most violent cramps and other usual symp- toms. Two or three doses of camphor, dissolved in spirit of wine, were given first, but with little or no benefit. The acetate of copper and veratrum alternately, effected a cure in twenty-four hours. The second case, which occurred in July, 1852, was not so severe as the former, there being no cramp. Camphor relieved the extreme exhaustion, and veratrum accomplished the rest. There was not a single effort to vomit, nor a single evacuation, after the first dose, though both these distressing symptoms had been almost incessant for thirty hours previously.
POISONS FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. CANTHARIDES— STRANGURY.
That Cantharides, even when only applied externally in the form of a blister, frequently produce strangury and other complaints of the bladder scarcely any one is ignorant. That they are the most efficacious remedy for similar com- plaints arising from other causes, I have the most satisfac- tory evidence.
I have thus briefly alluded to the disease producing and the disease healing powers of twenty of the best known substances taken from the three kingdoms in nature ; Anti-
20 THE TRUTH
mony, Arsenic, Copper, Corrosive Sublimate, Lead, Mercury, Phosphorus, and Sulphur; Aconite, Belladonna, Bryony, Colocynth, Creosote, Ipecacuanha, Nux Vomica, Opium, Rhubarb, Senna, and "Veratrum ; Cantharides. I might proceed in a similar manner with many other remedies, but it would be tedious. A large number have been tried by me, as well in great as in small doses. The cases have occurred "in my own hands, and under my own eyes*," the trial has been conducted under the favorable conditions mentioned already in this pamphlet, and the verdict is, that my own mind is convinced that there is an accordance between the two great powers of these poisonous sub- stances,— their power of producing disease in the human body, when given in certain comparatively large doses, and their power of removing similar disease, arising from other causes, when given in small doses. I state the fact, and enter into no theoretical methods of accounting for it. I declare myself satisfied with the proofs I have witnessed of the truth of the principle, and feel bound to give my individual testimony that the administration of remedies under the guidance of this principle is a much more success- ful method of treating disease than any with which I was previously acquainted.
Such is a small portion of my trial of Homoeopathy. It conveys but an inadequate idea of the amount of industry and anxiety which have been bestowed upon the inquiry. The cases and observations might be greatly extended, but I think without further benefit. Those already given ex- hibit the hind of evidence capable of being afforded and which is the only kind the investigation admits of. The quantity necessary to produce conviction in different minds will vary according to their several constitutions, but I must be allowed to consider it the height of prejudice and bigotry in any one to reject altogether, and in hmine, such evidence as this, or to refuse to investigate the Subject for himself.
To the objection that these examples are, after all, very few and insufficient to establish a general principle, I reply, first, that in the investigation of a law of nature, like the one we are inquiring after, it may be almost said
" Ex uno disce omnes,"
from the behavior of one or two substances carefully ex- perimented upon, the conduct of all others may be inferred.
OF HOMOEOPATHY.
21
The popular story of Sir Isaac Newton and the falling apple, whether literally true or not, is a plain illustration, and conveys an important lesson. And, secondly, nearly every article of the Materia Medica has now been tested by one and another, and the further the examination is carried, the more certain does the conclusion appear.
The evidence therefore justifies the conclusion that the desire so fervently expressed by Sydenham has been ac- complished; and proves that this principle is a "faced, definite, and consummate" rule to guide us in our endeavors to cure or alleviate the maladies of mankind.
Rugby, July 12, 1853.
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THE SMALL DOSE OF HOMEOPATHY. |
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BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D., F.E.S. |
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9th Edition. BOERICKE & TAFEL: NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, No. 145 GRAND STREET. No. 635 ARCH STREET. |
" fcuecta misimputed, cases wrong told, circumstances overlooked, perhaps too, prejudice* and partialities against truth, may for a time prevail, and keep her at the bottom of her well, froi whence nevertheless she emergeth sooner or later, and strikes the eyes of all who do not keep them thut."
Bishop Bbbxklxt.
THE SMALL DOSE OF HOMEOPATHY.
" Knowledge is more beautiful than any apparel of words which can be put upon it."
Lord Bacon.
" God is my witness, and all good men know that I have now labored fifty years with all care and pains in the illustration and amplification of my art; and that I have so certainly touched the mark whereat I aimed, that antiquity may seem to have nothing wherein it may exceed us beside the glory of invention, nor posterity any thing left but a certain small hope to add some things, as it is easy to add to former inventions."
So thought, about three centuries ago, the celebrated surgeon Ambrose Pare ; and so think many in the present day. But it is in vain. Knowledge, notwithstanding, has increased, and is still increasing. At the very moment when Pare was ex- pressing his self-complacent satisfaction, the veil which had covered the eyes of Europe for so many ages was being torn away ; and at the present time the limits of our intellectual vision are being extended more rapidly than at any previous period of the history of the world.
If any one would see and participate in this progress of human knowledge, he must make an effort to free himself from the prejudices of education, from the power of pre-conceived opinion, and from the influence of habits of thought, and resolve to admit every conclusion which appears to be ade- quately supported by careful observation.
The subject I have now undertaken is one of acknowledged difficulty. I think no one can have felt this difficulty more than myself. I shall be happy if I succeed in reducing it within its proper dimensions. For this purpose I propose, after a few remarks on the general character and extent of our knowledge of natural things, to state the case and its difficulty, and then proceed to answer the three following questions : —
I. Are we acquainted with any facts which render it probable that infinitesimal quantities of ponderable matter m ty act upon the living animal body ? In other words, what does analogy teach us ?
II. Are there any facts which shew the action of infini- tesimal quantities of ponderable matter on the healthy body?
III. What are the actual proofs in support of the assertion that such minute quantities of ponderable matter act remedi- ally on the diseased body ?
3
THE SMALL DOSE
Our knowledge of nature is obtained by observing facts or events, and their succession, by our bodily senses. Our ideas of external objects are produced by the impression which those objects are capable of making upon our minds, through the instrumentality of our senses. We can observe and experiment upon these facts or events, and the manner in which they succeed each other, to the extent which our senses permit us, but no further. The limit of the powers of our corporeal senses is the limit of our knowledge. This limitation is ab- solute. For example : —
Sound is produced by vibrations of the air striking upon the organs of hearing. The various musical notes, from' the lowest to the highest, are produced by the varying rapidity of these vibrations. The gravest sound is produced by about thirty vibrations in a second, the most acute by about a thousand. Each series of vibrations of the particles of the air is a fact or natural event, and when it strikes our ear we become ac- quainted with its existence by the sound perceived, provided the number of vibrations is not below thirty nor above a thousand in a second. These are the limits of our powers of observation of vibrations of the air. That there are vibra- tions slower than thirty and more rapid than a thousand in a second, cannot be doubted ; and that there are living beings capable of perceiving them, is probable — the hare for example — but to us they are as though they did not exist.
The same is true of the eye and the observation of colors. The vibrations of. the ether, (according to the undulatory theory of light,) produce impressions upon the organ of seeing, and the varying rapidity of these vibrations enables us to perceive the different colors. The limits are still narrower than those of sound. The whole scale of color, from violet to crimson, lies between vibrations which number 458 millions of millions (or billions) and 727 millions of millions in a second. That there are vibrations of the luminiferous ether, varying in frequency beyond these two extremes, must be almost certain, and that there are eyes which can feel their impression is probable, — the owl and the bat, for example, — but to us they are as though they were not. "We shall never, in this life, hear new sounds, nor see new colors.
The senses of smell and touch are similarly limited. The hound can smell and the insect can touch what we cannot.
In two ways art has rendered assistance to our sense of sight. We stand upon the deck of a ship, while crossing the Atlantic, our eye takes in a considerable prospect of the surrounding waters, the telescope extends this prospect; still, in either case, it has positive limits, which are dependent upon the powers of the eye. This prospect, vast as it seems to us at
OF HOMOEOPATHY.
the time, bears a very small proportion to the real extent of the ocean.
Again, bodies soon become divided till their particles are too small for the naked eye to perceive them. That they still exist, and are susceptible of much further sub-division, is rendered certain by the aid which the microscope affords us ; we can now follow them with the eye till they are millions of times less than before ; but our vision again ceases — we lose the particle — yet we cannot conclude that it has ceased to exist, or ceased to be divisible. There are animals as small as this particle, and the atoms of which they are made up must be considerably less than themselves. The particle we have lost may be capable of further division indefinitely ; so that the divisions we can see may bear a much smaller proportion to those we cannot see, than the prospect which the deck of a ship affords us does to the rest of the unseen ocean.
Beyond these limits our knowledge of external things cannot extend; they are impassable boundaries. We see how near they approach each other, and consequently how finite our knowledge is.
Besides these there are limits of another kind which require to be noticed. They will be best explained, as the former have been, by an example or two.
On the discovery of oxygen gas it was concluded Dy Lavoisier to be an element necessary to the processes of combustion and acidification; to be the sole supporter of combustion and the sole generator of acids ; hypotheses were constructed and the name given accordingly. This was the limit of our knowledge on this subject at the time. A few years later it was discovered that a leaf of copper takes fire spontaneously and burns in chlorine gas, and the hydrogen and chlorine combine and form a powerful acid. Here then was a real extension of our knowledge.
If we collect in a strong vessel two volumes of hydrogen and one of oxygen, it is well known that the contact of flame, or an electric spark will cause an explosion, the gases disappear and a drop of water is produced. For some time it was believed that the agency of heat or of electricity was requisite to produce these mechanical and chemical phenomena. But it was afterwards found that if we insert a piece of cold spongy platinum into the mixture, this is sufficient to occasion the gases to explode, and the drop of water to be produced. Thus the previous limits of our knowledge were extended.
These examples show that our knowledge of nature has not only a fixed limit, dependent on the powers of our bodily senses, but that it is also limited by a sliding scale, dependent upon the industry with which we use these powers. This is
6 THE SMALL DOSE
the boundary which has already so often been extended ; these are the barriers which we may still hope to throw down.
The small dose of the Homceopathist, viewed in the light of this double limit, may be thus considered : — chemical tests follow the grain of medicinal substance to the third trituration, that is, till it has been divided into a million of parts, and a good eye, assisted by a powerful microscope, can follow it to the fourth or fifth trituration, beyond this it is absolutely lost to the perception of our sight. The sense of smell can detect musk to the fifth or sixth dilution. Everything that we know forbids us to conclude that the division of matter stops here, but our senses cannot follow it further. On the other hand our power of observing the effects produced by these doses has no limit but that of the sliding scale. Admitting for the moment, what I think I shall afterwards prove, that effects are produced, it is evidently as easy for us to observe them after a dose of the thirtieth as after one of the third or of the first trituration. The same cautions are necessary, but nothing more.
Another feature in the character of our knowledge of natural things is our ignorance of modes of action. This als,o is a result of the very limited powers of our bodily senses. The succession of events can be traced only for a few links, and we cannot discover how even these are connected together.
A lucifer match is rubbed on a rough surface and it inflames. How friction produces such a result we know not. If it be said that friction evolves heat, and that heat inflames the match, the question returns, /tow does friction evolve heat? and how does heat inflame the match ? No one can tell.
No fact is better ascertained than that the moon is kept in its orbit round the earth, and the earth in its orbit round the sun, by the same force as that which causes a stone or an apple to fall to the ground. These bodies are separated by immense distances, how can they act upon each other ? How is it pos- sible for an inert lump of matter to influence another inert lump a hundred millions of miles off? It is by the force of gravitation ; but what is gravity ? and how does it act ? We know not.
If we throw a piece of the metal potassium upon ice, it in- stantly inflames, burns itself into the ice and disappears. Part of the ice has been melted, the water decomposed, its hydrogen burnt, and its oxygen has united with the metal and formed a portion of caustic potash, which is all that remains in the cavity of the ice. These extraordinary phenomena are the effect of chemical affinity, but what is that ? and how does it act ? No one can inform us.
We can surround a seed with suitable proportions of air, warmth, and moisture, and can observe the gradual develop-
OF HOM(EOPATHY. 7
ment of the germ, ot the entire plant, and of the ripening seed. lino have all these wonderful changes been effected ? they are attributed to the vital force, but we know not in the least What that is, nor how it acts. We can examine the various tissues with our microscopes, and analyse them in our labora- tories, and thus become acquainted with many new and beauti- ful facts, which have presented t • nselves in the course of the growth of our experimental plant. When we have reduced the mechanism to the simplest form, we find that it consists ot minute vesicles, formed by an elastic transparent membrane composed of a substance somewhat resembling starch, and called cellulose. When we have obtained the ultimate chemical analysis, we find certain proportions of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, with occasionally an addition of nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, and a few metals or metallic oxides. We find nothing which reveals to us what vitality is, nor how the suc- cessive changes we have witnessed have been brought about. We take food and are nourished; we take medicines and are acted upon by them ; we take poisons and die ; but how these things act so as to produce such effects we know not.
"What is the cause of health ? and the gendering of disease1? Why should arsenic kill 7 and whence is the potency of antidotes 1 Behold a morsel — eat and die ; the term of thy probation is expired ; Behold a potion — drink and be alive ; the limit of thy trial is enlarged."
Tupper.
If it be said that our food is converted into chyme in the stomach, and into chyle in the intestines, that this is absorbed by the lacteals and conveyed by the thoracic duct into the blood, and that thus we are nourished. I reply, all this is granted, Irut what then? The question remains as it was, how is all this done ? No one can tell.
Again, if it be said that medicines act on the nervous system, and stimulate the stomach, that they are sedatives and stimulants, emetics and purgatives, sudorifics and ex- pectorants; what of all this? What are these stimulating powers, how do they produce their effects, and how are these effects beneficial? No answer is given.
The succession of events, — the steps by which an ultimate result is produced, — these, within the limits described, may be observed and experimented upon, but how each step is accom- plished is beyond our ken. Of the recesses of nature, of the secret chambers in which her operations are carried on, how forces are " correlative," how they can be changed into each other, how they act upon matter, how matter acts upon them we are profoundly ignorant. Nevertheless we believe what we see without waiting until we can explain it.
Such is the actual condition, the general character and
8 THE SMALL DOSE
extent of our knowledge of nature, and this consequence follows: — we are not entitled to reject any thing which pro- fesses to be a fact, if supported by a sufficient amount of evidence, merely because it is inconsistent with our expecta- tions, does not coincide with our previous opinions, or is not within the limits of our former experience. We are not justified in concluding against a statement of fact by a priori reasoning or theoretical considerations. Analogies may render an assertion probable or the contrary, but no reasoning is con- clusive against a matter of fact. The truth or falsehood of the announcement of a fact cannot be settled by reasoning or argumentation, it must be decided by evidence.
The case to be stated is this: — when a remedy has been chosen in accordance with the law of Homoeopathy, (explained in Tract, entitled : — " The Truth of Homoeopathy,") an incon- ceivably smal] quantity is often a sufficient dose.
The difficulty lies in the incredibility of this statement.
Be it well observed that the matter in hand is not to account for the efficacy of the small doses, but to prove that they are efficacious. The difficulty is not how to explain their action, but how to believe it.
A story is told of the Royal Society, that on a certain occasion it was proposed to that learned body to explain how it was that when a live fish was put into a basin quite full of water, none overflowed. After sundry grave hypotheses had been propounded and objections urged, it was at length pro- posed to try the experiment. So with this medical difficulty, leaving explanations, let us first try the experiment as a matter of fact. The whole case is embraced by the three questions already proposed.
I. — Are we acquainted with any facts which render it pro- bable that infinitestimal quantities of ponderable matter may act upon the living animal body? In other words, what does analogy teach us?
Look at that bright star! so remote that the astronomer with his telescope cannot calculate its distance, and yet its brilliant beams of light strike upon the eye and convince the merest child of its existence. What a vivid flash that was, and how loud the thunder! See yonder oak riven to its centre, — what an irresistable force, and yet the chemist, with his most delicate balance cannot perceive its weight. Here is a mass of iron, weighing a thousand pounds, moving rapidly upwards, notwithstanding the attraction of the earth to this amount, without any visible link, towards another small bent piece of iron afoot long, encircled with the galvanic current;
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 9
— and now falling heavily to the ground the instant that current is arrested. What a mysterious, albeit very visible, effect from an invisible, impalpable, imponderable power, generated by such simple means. How warm the fire feels while we stand at the distance of some feet from the hearth! We can imagine how heat will go up the chimney because heated air is lighter than cold air, and will therefore ascend; but how does the warmth get across horizontally to our legs? Oh, it is radiant heat or caloric which travels in right lines in every direction. Very well, but what is radiant heat or caloric? What is light? What is electricity? What is mag- netism? Several answers are given by philosophers to these questions. Taking light as the example, there are two modes of explaining it; according to Newton, light consists of ■material particles, emitted by luminous bodies, and moving through space with a velocity of 192,000 miles in a second, and these particles striking the eye produce the sensation of light. According to the other explanation of the phenomena, light consists in an undulating or vibratory movement, which, when it reaches the eye, excites the sensation of light, in the same manner as the sensation of sound is excited in the ear by the vibrations of the air. It is obvious that this theory also presumes the existence of a material medium through and by which the vibrations can be transmitted; in fact it supposes that an exceedingly thin and elastic medium, called ether, fills all space. For our present purpose it is unimportant which theory is re*garded as the true one, inasmuch as both assume that matter in, some form is concerned in producing the various impressions of light and color upon the living animal body. The effects are produced by imponderable but not by immaterial agents. To convey some faint notidh of excessive minuteness, it may be mentioned that the length of an un- dulation of the extreme violet ray of light is 0,0000167 of an inch; the number of undulations in an inch is 59,750; and the number of undulations in a second is 727,000,000,000,000, (727 billions) ; while the corresponding numbers for the indigo ray are, length, 0,0000185 of an inch ; 54,070 undulations in an inch; and 658,000,000,000,000, (658 billions) in a second. The other rays differ in similar proportions.
"That man," says Herschel, "should be able to measure with certainty such minute portions of space and time is not a little wonderful ; for it may be observed, whatever theory of light we adopt, these periods and these spaces have a real existence, being in fact deduced by Newton from direct measurements, and involving nothing hypothetical, but the names which have been given them."
Whether, therefore, light be viewed as material particles
10
THE SMALL DOSE
emitted continuously, and in all directions, by luminous bodies, or as the vibrations of an elastic material medium, it is, in either case, dependent upon matter for its existence or produc- tion, it is matter, but exceedingly rare, subtle, and so minutely divided as to be to us absolutely imponderable.
It is probable that heat, electricity, and magnetism are motions, varying in kind, of the same ether.
That space is occupied by minute particles of matter admits of being proved in another manner quite independent of these observations on light. It has been ascertained by astronomers that one of the comets, called Enche's, which is a body not denser than a small cloud of steam, for the stars are seen through it without any diminution of their brilliancy, and which revolves round the sun in 1,208 days, has its period slightly diminished during each revolution. It is obvious that its motion is impeded by a resisting medium, by which its centrifrugal force is diminished, and consequently the relative power of gravity is increased; this brings the comet nearer to the sun, its orbit becomes contracted, and the time occupied by a revolution shortened. Thus, by another series of obser- vations, we arrive at the same conclusion that there exists a rare, subtle, and imponderable form of minutely divided matter.
Infinitesimal quantities of this imponderable matter are capable of acting energetically, and they do so act habitually, producing such impressions as those of light, &c, upon the living animal body. •
Reasoning, then, from analogy, we may conclude it to be 'probable that other forms of matter, even though reduced by the successive triturations, into similarly small dimensions^ may also act* and act powerfully, upon the living body.
II. — Are there any facts which show the action of infini- tesimal quantities of ponderable matter upon the healthy body 1
The beautiful adaptation of the different departments of nature to each other is justly adduced as a demonstration that the whole has been created and arranged under the guidance of infinite wisdom and power. In nothing is this adaptation more conspicuous than in the appropriate fitness of the cor- poreal senses of man to the surrounding world.
So far as we are cognizant of the material creation, it is disposed under the five following forms : — solid bodies, liquids, gases or airs, imponderable ether, and minutely divided par- ticles of ponderable bodies. For the appreciation of these various forms of matter we have five senses. The sense of touch, mainly conversant with solid bodies; that of taste, which is impressed by liquids only ; the delicate organ of hearing, which can perceive the vibratory movements of gases
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 11
or airs; the still more delicate organ of the eye, capable of re- ceiving impressions from the undulations of the imponderable ether; and, lastly, the sense of smell, adapted to the condition of the particles of bodies, when they have become so divided as to be infinitesimal, that is, indefinitely small and imponderable.
It is this form of matter which we have now specially to consider. The particles separated from larger masses, which become by degrees so small as to elude in succession the per- ception of all our senses, and perhaps at length are reduced to a state similar to the ether.
A cubic inch of Platinum, the heaviest body we are ac- quainted with, weighs upwards of 5,000 grains. A cubic inch of hydrogen, the lightest body which affect our balances, weighs 2 grains. These balances, by ingenious contrivances, are made very sensitive, I have one which readily weighs 0.005, or five thousandths of a grain. Others have been con- structed still more delicate; but the particles we are now examining are far too light for any balance to appreciate.
Mechanical division can be carried to an almost incredible degree. Gold, in gilding, may be divided into particles at least one thousand four hundred millionths of a square inch in size, and yet possess the color and all other characters of the largest mass. Linen yarn has been spun so that a distinctly visible portion could not have weighed the 127 mil- lionth of a grain; and yet this, so far from being an ultimate particle of matter, must have contained more than one vege- table fibre, that fibre itself being of complex organization, and built up of an indefinitely great number of more simple forms of matter.
The perfection of modern chemistry is such that a quantity of silver equal to the billionth of a cubic line, can be readily detected.^
That particles become divided into less portions than is shewn in these examples is evident from the daily observation of the sense of smell. The violet fills even a royal apartment with its sweet odor, which is thus readily perceived, but which absolutely eludes every other mode of observation. How in- conceivably small must be the particles of all odors! And yet how obviously material they are.-
A grain of musk may be exposed for a long period, and be unceasingly emitting particles, easily appreciated by the sense of smell, yet has it not lost in weight what the most sensitive balance can detect.
These are instances of infinitesimal quantities of matter acting upon the healthy body.
Elements of Chemistry, by Sir R. Kane, 2d Ed. p. 7.
12 THE SMALL DOSE
Contagious malaria constitute a large class of agents whose power of injuriously acting upon our healthy body is so greatly dreaded, and no one has yet doubted that they are material. Who voluntarily crosses the Pontine marshes at certain seasons of the year, or exposes himself to the plague of Constantinople, or the yellow fever of the West Indies? The microscope cannot shew these terrible particles, nor can chemical analysis detect them. Ozone perhaps decomposes them.
To come nearer home, a clergyman visits a patient in scarlet fever, but does not touch him, he afterwards calls upon a friend, and shakes the hand of one of the children as he passes her on the staircase. The next day this child sickens with the scarlet fever, and her brothers and sisters take it from her ; no other connection can be traced. This is no uncommon occur- rence, and no one doubts the communication of infection in such a manner, neither is it doubted that the infection itself is something material. What is the weight of the particle of matter thus conveyed? Is it heavier than the millionth of a grain of belladonna which, it is asserted by Homoeopathists, is sufficient, when given at short intervals, to arrest the pro- gress of such a case ?
These, then, are also instances of infmitesimally small quan- tities of matter actii:0 upon the living body in health.
There are numerous liquids which have the power of affecting the healthy body, and some of them of taking away life, and yet in each instance the quantity of the active ingredient is so exceedingly small that hitherto no means have been effectual in detecting it.
The Vaccine matter has en so often mentioned that I will not allude to it further.
Several animals are furnished with poisonous liquids, which, when injected into a wound, occasion the disease or death of the wounded animal. Serpents, bees, scorpions, and spiders, are well known examples. In the venomous serpents there is
OF HOMCEOPATHY. 13
found an apparatus of poison-fangs, constituting perhaps the most terrible weapons of attack met with in the animal crea- tion. The poison teeth (a) are two in number, placed in the upper jaw, when not in use they are laid flat upon the roof of the mouth; but when the animal is irritated, they are plucked up from their concealment, and stand out like two long lancets. Each fang is traversed by a canal, through which the poison flows. The gland (b) which secretes the poison, is composed of cells communicating with a duct (c) by which the venom is conveyed to the tooth. The poison gland is covered by a muscle (dj which is attached to a thin fibrous line (e). This is part of the muscle which closes the jaw, so that the same power which strikes the teeth into the viper's prey, compress- es at the same moment the bag of poison, and forces it through the fangs into the wound.#
The quantity of poison contained in the gland scarcely ex- ceeds a drop, but the smallest portion of this liquid taken up upon the point of a needle, and inserted by a slight puncture into the skin of an animal, is sufficient to produce all its poi- sonous effects. From some serpents it produces almost im- mediate death. Fontana first subjected it to chemical ana- lysis, and sacrificed many hundred vipers in his experiments. Others have succeeded him in these labors, but nothing pe- culiar has been discovered. The poison is a yellow liquid, and has not been distinguished chemically from simple gumwater.f
Here are examples of infinitesimal quantities of ponderable matter acting with frightful energy upon the healthy body.
Medicinal substances furnish other proofs. I must content myself with a single example. Inappreciable quantities of Ipecacuanha give an affirmative answer to our present question, so decisive and convincing that I make no apology for ex- tracting the following cases from that well-known and highly resj)ectable allopathic periodical the London Medical and Physical Journal : — ,
" An apprentice of mine, naturally healthful, and of an active disposition, is invariably affected with a most distressing and protracted sneezing on the most careful dispensing of the smallest quantity of Ipecacuanha. A more continued appli- cation of it, such for instance as happens in the preparation of the compound powder, is followed with dyspnoea, (difficulty of breathing,) cough and spitting of blood. Having occasion some time ago to compound the medicine for several days together, he became seriously affected by it, in the way just stated, and he has not enjoyed full health since. It has evi- . . — . -
* The Animal Kinordom, by T Rymor Jones, p, 588 t Thompson's Animal Chemistry, p. 538.
14 THE SMALL DOSE
dently produced a disposition to asthma, and an aptitude for pulmonary ailment, which he had not used to possess."*
"In the year 1787 or 8, in pounding the roo-t to make the Ipecacuanha Wine, I was suddenly affected with violent and reiterated sneezings, with a very profuse deduction from the eyes and nose ; these symptoms continued without intermission for many hours, accompanied by great heat and anguish throughout the cavity of the thorax, and the most oppressive dyspnoea. Exhausted by the violence of the attack, I was conveyed to bed, where, supported, for I was unable to lie down, I remained more or less afflicted till the next morning. I arose extremely weakened, and with all the usual appear- ances of ,i severe catarrh. From this date I have been per- petually tormented by violent catarrhs. The slightest motion of the simple or compound powder of Ipecacuanha superin- duces precisely similar, but more gentle effects. When weigh- ing or mixing these powders afterwards, I carefully guarded my mouth and nose by a cloth; but an incautious removal of it for inspiration, till perhaps half an hour had elapsed, after the medicine was finished, occasioned the same inconveniences. At length I was compelled to quit the shop when Ipecacuanha was in hand; indeed I have frequently entered my own, or the shop of a stranger, long after it had been used, and by the instant recurrence of these very distressing sensations, have been able too accurately to ascertain the recent exposure of this drug.
"I never designedly had recourse to Ipecacuanha for more than twenty years. Two accidents lately, within a few weeks of each other, afforded me the opportunity of determining its present effects when inwardly administered. A friend hearing me cough in the street, presented me with a few lozenges; I took two at once ; they were scarcely dissolved, ere I felt a pungent roughness in every part of the mouth, exciting a great secretion of saliva; this, it is worthy of noting, was the reverse in the preceding attacks, when the excretory ducts uniformly denied their offices, and occasioned a disagreeable dryness of the mucous membrane. As this acrid sensation extended to the lips, they became prodigiously swollen and inflamed. On the fauces I experienced the like effects, with a most teazing itching irritation; it descended the trachea, producing pain and dyspnoea; it likewise proceeded down the oesophagus, creating a slight heat in the stomach, and passed with mode- rate gripings throughout the intestinal canal.
"Soon after, a powder was brought to my house, with an order to prepare more of the same kind. I conveyed a few
Mr. Spencer, Medical and Physical Journal, June, 1809, Vol. 21, p. 485.
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 15
particles to my tongue to discover its composition; I quickly experienced those feelings in the mouth and lips which arose from the lozenges before, but in a milder degree, and they extended no further. Upon referring to the prescription I found that there was one grain of Ipecacuanha and ten of cal- cined magnesia. The incident gave birth to the idea that the former strange affection had originated from the same cause as the latter, and upon inquiry my suspicion was confirmed ; they were Ipecacuanha lozenges which I had swallowed .... Snuff and other stimulating powders excite no more irritation on me than on others."^
"One of the editors recollects a somewhat similar effect produced on his father."
"To these three cases, (the two preceding and one by Mr. Royston, alluded to in January 9, 1809,) I shall now add two in females, who seem to have been affected in so similar a manner by the subtle effluvia of Ipecacuanha, that to enume- rate their symptoms would only be to repeat what has already been given respecting those effects.
"The first of these cases is that of a lady, now about fifty, the wife of a surgeon, and mother of a numerous family. The general state of health has always been good, her disposition lively and active, and by no means possessing anything of that valetudinarian irritability which marks striking pecu- liarity of constitution. She has been much in the habit, when the hurry of business required it, of assisting her husband in dispensing medicines. This gave rise to her first discovery of the effects of Ipecacuanha on her habit. I had an oppor- tunity of remarking this fact about eighteen months ago, being on a professional visit at her house, while her husband labored under a severe fever. She was about to dispense one of my prescriptions in which some Ipecacuanha had been ordered, and the moment she saw what the composition was, she ran from the shop to a distant part of the house, refusing to dis- pense it. This excited my curiosity to find the cause. On following her she explained it, and with some degree of anxiety looked round, lest some of the doors between her and the shop should have been left open while the prescription was about to be dispensed. As my stay was protracted some days, I had occasion to see these foars repeatedly excited. One forenoon in particular, while she was in her kitchen, a considerable distance from the shop, two passage doors being between her- self and it,) Avhile she could neither see nor know beforehand, that Ipecacuanha, which was the case, was weighing, she called out with vehemence to have the doors closed, on ac- count of the sensations she was beginning to feel.
Medical and Physical Journal, March, 1810, Vol. 23, p. 199
16 THE SMALL DOSE
"The second instance came to my knowledge only the day before yesterday. The lady who is the subject of it called on me on her mother's account, who was indisposed, and being shewn into my room, took up your last Journal which lay on my table to amuse herself till my appearance. On my enter- ing the room she told me she had been reading my book, and the part which she accidentally opened was Mr. B.'s communi- cation ; she added with a smile, this is far from so uncommon a case as this gentleman seems to think, for I myself am af- flicted by it in the same manner ; and then went into con- siderable detail of the symptoms it excited in her. The ca- tarrhal affection and sneezing she described as particularly distressing. The copious flow was so acrid as to excoriate, in a few hours, the parts over which it fell. Her upper lip and the alas of the nostrils were swelled. But what created in her the most alarm was its effects on her eyes. They became swelled and stiff, and sight was diminished. The eye-lids tumified so that the eyes were sunk almost out of sight, which seemed to be the chief cause of the diminution of vision ; the discharge from her eyes was nearly as great as that from her nose, and little less acrid .... No catarrhal effects were excited in her by snuff."#
" I know a lady who was always seized with asthma when- ever Ipecacuanha root was pounding in the shop ; so sensible was she of this effect, that it was in vain to conceal from her what was going on in the mortar. This occurred about thirty years ago, in the lady of the physician, (Dr. Buckham, of Wooler,) to whom I was first a pupil, and I was twice the in- nocent cause of the complaint myself. I thought by her being in a remote part of the house she could not be affected ; but it was almost immediately felt, and the paroxysm lasted many hours. This lady was exquisitely nervous.
" I have been informed of different cases almost similar ; they were all women ; but, conceiving the observation a com- mon one, I did not note them."f
Two similar cases, the wives of medical men, are given in Vol. 24, page 233, by Dr. Scott. One attack, caused by being near her husband at the time he put some Ipecacuanha into a bottle was so violent as n> arly to prove fatal. There was a remarkable stricture about the throat and chest, with very troublesome shortness of breathing, with a particular kind of wheezing noise. The symptoms were aggravated at night. At 3 o'clock in the morning she was gasping for breath at a window, pale as death, her pulse scarcely to be felt, and in the
* Dr. Hamilton, Med. and Phys. Journal, April, 1810. Vol. 23, p. 318. t Dr. Trotter, Med. and Phys. Journal, July. 1810, Vol. 24, p. 60.
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 17
utmost immediate danger of suffocation. She became easier about 11 a. m. till about 11 p. m. The same scene was con- tinued eight days and niglits successively"
" Mr. Leighton, a very eminent surgeon at Newcastle, very nearly lost his wife in a similar manner."
Here, then, are undeniable proofs from odors, from con- tagious malaria, from animal poisons, and from medicinal sub- stances, from which it may be strongly concluded that infini- tesimal quantities of ponderable matter do act with great, and sometimes with destructive energy upon the healthy body.
HI. — What are the actual proofs in support of the assertion that such minute quantities of ponderable matter act reme- dially on the diseased body ?
The reply to the first question proposed renders it probable that infinitesimal quantities of ponderable matter may act upon the living animal body.
The answer to the second question embraces very nume- rous and undeniable facts which prove, in the most positive and unexceptionable manner, that such small quantities do produce direct, and sometimes frightfully powerful effects upon the living body in health.
That similarly minute quantities will act upon the unhealthy body is thus shewn to be in the highest degree probable, if not certain ; for it may be argued a fortiori if they can act upon the body in health, much more will they be able to act when the nervous system is in a state of exalted sensibility, produced by the morbid excitement of disease. Any portion of the surface of the body may be rubbed violently, when in a healthy condition, without painful sensation; but the same part, when inflamed, will shrink from the slightest touch.
It now therefore only remains that, by the evidence of facts, I prove, generally, that they do act, and particularly that their action is beneficial and remedial in disease.
If any one were to ask a physician who has been, for a few years, in the daily habit of prescribing these small doses, Do they act beneficially f he would see an expression of counte- nance very like that which another person would exhibit if, while standing before a good fire, he were gravely asked if he felt any warmth. On the other hand, if a physician who has not been willing to try the doses, nor to see them tried by others, be asked, Can they act upon, disease ? he assumes a tone like that of the King of Siam, when told by some Euro- pean travellers that water sometimes becomes solid.
I do not address those who have tried the doses — they need no further evidence ; nor those who will not try them, and who, with wonderful presumption, declare that such doses cannot act — they may be quietly passed by ; but those whose
18 THE SMALL DOSE
minds are are open to conviction, and who think the care of their health and the prolongation of their lives an affair of sufficient moment to require them to give attention to any information on the subject openly and candidly set before them.
The evidence which proves the beneficial action of the small dose is the same in kind as that which proves any other natural fact, — it is the evidence of observation and experiment, — that which our senses afford us. It is of the same nature as the evidence we have of the relation of cause and effect in any events which happen around us. It does not differ from that which we have of the operation of the large doses of medicine.
A patient has a violent head-ache ; twelve leeches are ap- plied to his his temples ; relief follows the application of the leeches. Had this happened but once, we ought to conclude that the fact of the removal of the pain following the appli- cation of the leeches was merely a coincidence, not an instance of cause and effect ; but it has happened a hundred times, and we therefore conclude that the relief was the effect of the loss of blood by the leeches. Another patient has a similarly vio- lent head-ache ; the millionth or the billionth of a drop of the juice of the deadly Nightshade is given ; relief quickly follows. Had this happened but once, we ought to set it down as a coincidence — an accidental meeting of two events having no connection with each other — but it has happened a hundred times ; shall it not then be concluded that the removal of the pain was the effect of the administration of the dose ? Let any one who doubts such a conclusion, and who would attribute such frequent recurrences of the same succession of events to chance, take up a kaleidescope and turn it round till he gets the same figure a second time. We need not wish him a severer punishment.
I now offer the following statement of facts, for the truth of which I hold myself responsible.
I am aware of " the difficulty of tracing effects to their true causes ;" and also that there are " various sources of error in conducting medical inquiries." It is due to truth to observe that I have used every endeavor to overcome the one and to avoid the other. I cannot hope to have succeeded in doing this in every case, but that the ultimate conclusion is a safe and a true one I can entertain no doubt.
ACUTE DISEASE.
It will not be expected that, in a pamphet like the present, I should give minute details of disease. Were it the fitting opportunity I could relate the particular^ of the following cases : —
Inflammation of the Eye.— Mr. Brodribb, in his " Homoeopathy unveiled,"
OF HOMCEOPATHY. 19
observes that " from the peculiar structure of the eye, we may often actually witness what is going on in diseases of that organ .... With the same fidelity we can observe the effect of efficient treatment in the arrest and removal of the disease, and that too wit1! such unerring certainty as to leave no doubt in our mind of the relation of the two as cause and effect."
I have formerly often treated diseases of the eye by what Mr. Brodribb would acknowledge would be '; efficient treatment," and have often carefully watched its results. I have now also in a considerable number of cases treated them with the small doses of Homoeopathy, and the beneficial results have been such " as to leave no doubt in my mind of the relation of the two, as cause and effect." One case was cured in a few days by the 3d dilutions of Arnica, Aconite and Belladonna, where an allopathic physician had considered leeches to be indis- pensible. Other inflammatory affections of the eye have recovered much more rapidly and satisfactorily than I ever saw them do under any other treatment.
Inflammation of the Throat. — The remark made by Mr Brodribb with respect to the visibility of diseases of the eye applies also to those of the throat. I have very repeatedly seen the influence of minute doses of Belladonna, Mer- cury, Hepar-Sulphuris and other remedies upon the various stages of inflam- mation of the throat manifested in the most unmistakable manner. The
Rev has had attacks of ulcerated sore throat repeatedly ; under the usual
treatment of blisters, &c, he has been laid up for some weeks on each occasion. I attended him lately for a similar attack ; there was a large ulcer on each tonsil ; he could scarcely swallow or speak ; he was very feverish, and for two nights he had been deprived of sleep. Without discontinuing his usual duties, which are very laborious, for a single hour, and without any local application of any kind, he was perfectly cured in six days. In other cases where I thought suppuration and puncture of the tonsils inevitable, all the mischief dispersed and recovery was effected in few days.
Ckoup. — I have stated in another of these Tracts, that several cases of Croup have been treated after the new method. I have only to add here that the medi- cines were given in infinitesimal doses, and to assure my readers that the relief afforded, without any other treatment, not even a warm bath or a mustard poultice, was, in every instance, most obvious, rapid, and complete.
Inflammation of the Chest. — Several cases of Bronchitis and some of Pneumonia have come under my care during the last four years. They have had no means whatever used to relieve them but the small doses. They have re- covered more quickly aud satisfactorily, and the attacks have been followed with a much shorter period of convalescence than I ever before witnessed, and the cure has been, so far, permanent.
• Erysipelas. — This is always a serious and often a fatal complaint; it affords a good example of the confusion and inconsistency of allopathic medicine. " The practice," says Mr. Nunneley, who has written an excellent treatise on Erysipelas, " pursued by different persons is of the most dissimilar and contra- dictory nature ; while one party relics upon blood-letting, freely and repeatedly performed, as the surest and only method of cure ; another and perhaps larger party, certainly as respectable, so far as authority goes, utterly repudiates the abstraction of blood, and depends upon tonics and cordials for the removal of the complaint. Indeed so confidently are the most opposite remedies enforced, and so contradictory are the results said to follow the application of the same means, in the hands of different persons, equally worthy of credit, that the im- pugner of medical skill may fairly point with confidence to this part of our field, and demand if such contradictions are worthy of the name of a science or of trust ?"*
It is not so with the Homoeopathic treatment of Erysipelas, With minute doses of Belladonna, Rhus, and Lachesis, the usual remedies for this peculiar in- flammation, I have succeeded in all the cases I have met with — among them were four severe ones — beyond my expectations. In one case, on the second day of the attack the inflammation had spread over the face, ears, most of the scalp,
* A Treatise on Erysipelas, by Thos. Nunneley, London, 1841.
20
THE SMALL DOSE
and part of the neck, with a large blister on each cheek, very severe headache, and a pulse of 150 ; this was entirely well at the end of a week.
Rheumatism. — Some cases of Rheumatic fever have afforded me excellent opportunities of seeing how beautifully the small doses relieve and frequently quickly cure this otherwise intractable complaint — one of the opprobria medi- corum. One case, a widow lady of 72, who had i. then for the tirst time, and while in a state of considerable debility, was nearly well in a fortnight. Another, a farmer having organic disease of the heart, left by a former attack, a most severe case, with violent spasms of the heart threatening to terminate life, re- covered in three weeks.
Cholera and Diarrhcea. — The numerous statements published in various countries of the great efficacy of Homoeopathic treatment in Cholera and Diarrhoea have been confirmed by my own experience, so far as that has gone. In these cases I have always used the small doses, except when I was anxious to test the principle of Homoeopathy by giving ponderable quantities of the medicine in- dicated.
Yellow Fever — The ravages which this dreadful complaint is now making in Jamaica and other Islands of the West Indies are painfully calamitous ; of course I have not myself treated this terrible malady, but from a trial of Homoe- opathy, which has just been made in Barbadoes by Dr. Goding, it appears that, even after the black vomit has taken place, hitherto considered so fatal a symp- tom, Homoeopathy can still, with the blessing of God, rescue a victim from the grave. This ought to attract the attention of Governments. My information is from the West Indian, of October 28th, 1832, a Barbadoes paper, which has been kindly sent me.
These must suffice as a specimen of the results in the treatment of acute diseases with minute doses of medicine only. To my own mind the efficacy of the method is most palpable and satisfactory. I have not one-fourth of the apprehension of an unfavorable termination in any acute attack of disease which I had in former times. The duration of the illness is much shortened, the danger greatly lessened, the strength of the patient husbanded, and convales- cence, often so tedious and distressing, is almost annihilated.
CHRONIC DISEASE.
Pain in the Elbow. — Mr. K., a shopkeeper, consulted me in August. 1850, on acount of a very distressing pain in the elbow, from which he had been suffer- ing for twelve months. He had been under surgical treatment, I believe, the whole of that time. The joint was stiff and swollen, but did not appear to me to be seriously diseased; the pain, however, was described as being at times excruciating. I gave him a single dose of Staphysagria, highly diluted. In a few days I called to inquire after him, when he told me that the night he took my dose he was very strangely affected ; he could scarcely describe how, but it was so powerful that he would not take any more of my medicine. "How is your elbow 1" "Look!" he cried, and moving his arm in all directions in a rapid manner, declared that it was well ; and so it remained.
Diabetes Mellitus. — On the 7th of March, 1850. I was consulted by
Mrs. a widow of about 47, who had been suffering for several years from
various ailments, and had been during much of that time under the care of a physician. I found that one of her complaints was diabetes mellitus, which had been increasing upon her for the last two years. The quantity of urine in the twenty-four hours was fifteen pints, and the weight of sugar contained in this exceeded a pound. It would be tedious to report the daily progress of this case ; it most suffice to say that under the influence of minute doses of Aconite, Sulphur, Nux-vomica, China, Belladonna, and some other remedies, by the middle of July she was so much recovered that the quantity of water was reduced to below three pints, that is to the quantity natural in health ; and though the presence of sugar could still be detected, it was comparatively small in quantity. She
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 21
then went to the sea-side for two or three weeks. During her stay there, her son wrote to me that his "mother was so well that she did not appear to ail any- thing." She has since suffered in various ways from mental causes, and has had some return of the diabetos, but it has again yielded to the same remedies. It may be said of this case that the tendency to the complaint is not removed. This is granted ; but while the causes which first induced the complaint are, in all probability, still surrounding the patient, it is not susprising if they succeed in bringing on second or third attacks. I have seen several cases of sugared urine formerly, but I never saw the old remedies afford such permanent benefit. Neither is it reasonable to expect that the new method will always succeed in such an untractable, and hitherto usually fatal disease.
December 28th, 1852. I called to see this patient to-day, when she told me she had not felt so well for many years as she did at present. It is now nearly three years since I first saw her in the alarming condition I have described. October 14th, 1853. She has now continued well nearly another year.
Tabes Mesenteric a.-— In September, 1852, Mrs. H consulted me about
her baby, eight months old, suffering from mesenteric disease. The little infant was greatly emaciated, and its mother expected that it was going to die. Ex- cessively minute doses of Sulphur and Chalk were followed by a wonderful im- provement in a fortnight ; the medicines were repeated, and at the end of six weeks the child seemed nearly well — its stomach almost reduced to its natural dimensions, and its limbs filling up. Mrs. H had been at first quite incre- dulous, and came to me only through the persuasion of a friend ; she was now so much gratified that she thought it her duty to call upon her former medical advisers, to shew them the child, and to offer a copy of one of my pamphlets. An angry scene ensued, and the following conversation took place : — " I refuse to take the book ; if Dr. Sharp said he was doing nothing we could respect him, but as it is we cannot." Mrs H. : " But. sir, my child is cured !" " Yes, it has got well by letting medicine alone." "But I had tried what letting medicine alone would do for some time, and the child grew worse and worse. It began to improve from the very day Dr. Sharp's medicine was commenced ; and how was it that two other babies of mine died of the same disease in your hands? If medicines do harm, and you knew that doing nothing would cure, why did not you recommend that planl"
Disease of the lungs.— Mr. W. S , aged 20, had a severe attack of
inflammation in the chest during last winter, and was attended by two or three medical men. This was followed by chronic disease during the spring and summer. His friends despaired of his recovery. When I saw him in September, 1852, he was emaciated ; had cough and expectoration ; his pulse 120 ; occasion- al flushings in the face ; no appetite ; the whole of the right lung returned a dull sound on percussion, and there was a peculiar sound of the voice through the stethoscope.
I made no alteration in his diet or habits, and gave him nothing but infini- tesimal doses of the medicines employed, such as Aconite, Bryonia, Phosphorus, &c. ; these have been continued three months. He declares that he feels quite well ; he looks well ; his appetite is good ; he has gained flesh ; he takes horse exercise, notwithstanding the wet ; he has not the slightest cough nor expectora- tion ; no fever; no perspiration; and the only symptom which remains to testify the reality of his former danger is revealed by the stethoscope, the un- natural sound of the voice, though much diminished, has not yet ceased.
Warts. — In three cases out of four I have succeeded in clearing the hand of ugly warts. In all by internal treatment alone, and with infinitesimal doses of the medicines employed.
Partial Paralysis. — Mrs. M consulted me, three months ago, for
paralysis of the thumb of the right hand, which had existed for some time. She had entirely lost the use of it ; for instance she could not take up a needle or hold it; she was otherwise ailing. The case reminded me of the condition of persons exposed to the poisonous influence of lead, as painters are. I prescribed the billionth of a grain of lead, in occasional doses for a month, and nothing else. At the expiration of the month, her husband, a respectable farmer, called to
22 THE SMALL DOSE
say that she was rather better, and wished for more medicine ; it was repeated for a second month, and afterwards for a third, on hearing still better accounts of her. A few days arro I was in the neighborhood, and called unexpectedly to see her. I found her sitting at her fire-side busily engaged in sewing, and look- ing so much better that I scarcely recognized Jier. She spoke very gratefully of her improved condition.
I am not now replying to opponents, but I cannot avoid making a quotation here from Mr. Brodribb — " Lead will give rise to all the symptoms of colic, and produce a certain form of paralysis, but it will not cure either of those affections."* How does Mr. Brodribb know this 1 Has he ever tried it in these diseases in any dose ! And if not, how can he make such an assertion \
Habitual Constipation. — It is a great bug-bear with many, especially with manj' amiable amateur practitioners of the healing art, that Homoeopathy dis- penses with the old-fashioned doses of Gregory and Black Draught ; that it pro- fesses to be able to go on in its way prosperously without the aid of Calomel and Colocynth, Senna, Salts, and Jalap.
I acknowledge that at first I found this difficult to accomplish, but it is a difficulty surmounted. I now never think of having recourse to these remedies in the treatment of those cases in which they have usually been considered indispensable. If they are not necessary they must be injurious. If they can be safely laid aside, the patient must be the gainer.
But more than this. In a large number of cases of habitual constipation, I have succeeded quite beyond my own expectations in entirely removing this disagreeable condition. Some had taken aperients so long and in such increas- ing quantities that matters had come to extremity ; one lady had taken them ten or twelve years ; another told me she had never gone to bed without pills for between forty and fifty years ; and another that, a pint of senna, &c, had become ineffectual, and yet an entire emancipation from this thraldom has been effected by the infinitesimal doses of the appropriate medicine. The nauseous physic was laid aside at once, and, I believe, for ever. I have the pleasure of knowing one lady who did this at 70, and she is now enjoying comfortable health at 83.
Such is a brief sketch of the results of the treatment of chronic disease.
This is the case of the small dose, and the kind of evidence upon which it rests. I think it well to mention that the di- lution of the medicines I have most frequently used is the 3d — in which the grain or the drop is divided into a million of parts. I have often used the 2d, (the 10,000th part), and sometimes the 1st, (the 100th part of a grain). I have also often used the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 12th; and I have seen bene- ficial effects follow the administration of the 18th and the 30th. Further than this I have not gone, and I do not hold myself committed to anything beyond my own observation and experience.
We are indebted to Hahnemann for the invention of this method of preparing and administering the remedy, as we are for the discovery of the rule by which we are to be guided in its choice.
The difficulty of the case, I have said, lies in its incredi- bility, I trust this is now greatly lessened, if not removed. It is no other than that which attaches to every new statement
* Homoeopathy Unveiled, by W. P. Brodribb, 2d Ed. p. 9.
Of HOMCEOPATHY 23
-— its novelty. It is the same difficulty as that which fastened itself upon the mind of the King of Siam. It vanishes before evidence. It is credible that the small dose can effect " a safe, speedy, and permanent cure" whenever a cure is possible, when it is found practically to do so.
To those who contend that, after so many triturations and dilutions, there can be nothing left in the dose, I beg to put two questions: first, seeing that a grain of the medicinal substance is added to ninety-nine grains of sugar in the first trituration, in which particular dilution has it ceased to exist? And, secondly, if the doses contain nothing, or are "nihilities," as Mr. Brodribb calls them, how do effects such as those referred to in this pamphlet follow their administra- tion?
To those who attempt to quash such statements as I have made by accusations of fraud or of falsehood, I have nothing to say. There is no common ground upon which we can meet to argue.
To conclude, one obvious fact cannot be overlooked; all who bear testimony to the efficacy of these doses have tried them, either upon themselves or upon others; while those who deny their action not only have not tested it, but, for the most part, boast that they have not, reject the proposal to try the remedies with disdain, and continue to stigmatize those who do so as "knaves or fools," or "morally attenuated dwarfs."#
Right reason being our guide, with which of these two parties is truth most likely to be found f
* The " Lancet," for Nov. 6th, 1852.
Rugby, Oct. Uth, 1853.
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Crarts on pi 0 nt ft 0 p a t Ij u . |
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THE DIFFICULTIES |
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0 F HOMEOPATH Y. |
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BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D., F.B.S. |
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%\)\tteenti) <£?> i 1 1 0 n. |
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BOERICKE & TAFEL: NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, No. 146 GRAND STREET. No. 635 ARCH STREET. |
« The fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe."
Milton.
THE DIFFICULTIES OF HOMEOPATHY.
"Every Science has its difficulties."— Johnson.
Whatever costs little trouble is commonly of small value, while that which is worth possessing is difficult to obtain. As there is no royal road to knowledge, so neither is there a smooth path for the discharge of duty and the satisfying of conscience. If the path be rugged it behoves us to examine it the more warily; to look all difficulties in the face, and not to imitate the ostrich, which, when pursued, buries its .head in the sands.
The difficulties of Homoeopathy are twofold: — they are either temporary or permament. They belong to ourselves, rather than to it.
I. Of the difficulties, which it may be hoped are tem- porary, some have a special reference to the medical pro- fession,— others to Hahnemann himself; — some arise from the public, — others from the circumstances in which Ho- moeopathists are at present placed. Of these temporary difficulties the following appear to me among the most important :
1. The novelty of the system now proposed to be adopted. It is " vsa icai tjevr]," new and strange. This is a difficulty which unavoidably attaches itself to every thing which in- volves fundamental changes. It is a good check upon restless minds. It may sometimes impede a useful im- provement, but it more frequently retards and obviates mischievous alterations. The feeling out of which the difficulty springs has its expression in the proverb " meddle not with them that are given to change." But in cases like the present it must be remembered that when a discovery of nature's truth has been made, there is no novelty in the natural facts ; they have been from the beginning ; — the novelty is in us, in our knowing now what we were ignorant of before. When sufficient evidence of facts is presented to us, unless blinded by prejudice, we cannot but believe them to be true, and believe also that they were true before we knew them, and whether we knew them or not. It fre- quently happens that, on further inquiry, we find that though the truth is new to us, glimpses of it have been seen from time to time in former ages, — occasionally the discovery is more entirely new. The principle of Homceo-
4 THE DIFFICULTIES
pathy is of the former kind, it has been indicated, though never practically carried out before Hahnemann ; the action of infinitesimally small doses belongs to the latter ; it is a truth of which we had little or no intimation till it was discovered by Hahnemann.
This first difficulty of Homoeopathy is inseparable from the exhibition of new truth. It has accompanied all dis- coveries of truth. It must be borne peaceably, until Time has effectually removed it.
2. The prejudices of education and modes of thought. These much more frequently operate injuriously than bene- ficially. They are wonderfully strong among the professors of the art of healing, as the history of every discovery in medicine testifies. The reception of Homoeopathy has not differed in this respect from that of the most valu- able additions of knowledge and improvements of practice of former times. How just is the satyre of Moliere in the commendatory character which M. le Docteur Diafoirus gives of his son Thomas ! " II est ferme dans la dispute, fort comme un Turc sur ses principes, ne demord jamais de son opinion, et poursuit un raisonnement jusque dans les der- niers recoins de la logique. Mais, sur toute chose, ce qui me plait en lui et en quoi il suit man example, e'est qu'il s'attache aveuglement aux opinions de nos anciens, et que jamais il n' a voulu comprendre ni ecouter les raisons et les experiences des pretendues decouvertes de notre siecle, touchant la circulation du sang, et autres opinions de meme farine."# "He is firm in controversy, staunch as a Turk in his tenets, never swerves from his opinion, and pursues an argument to the deepest recesses of logic. But above all, that which delights me in him, and wherein hefolloics my example, is that he attaches himself blindly to the opinions of the ancients, and has never been willing to understand nor even to listen to the pretended discoveries of our age relative to the circulation of the blood and other opinions of the same stamp."
From these prejudices in the minds of physicians arises a wide-spread feeling of distrust in the sincerity of the practitioners of Homoeopathy, and a disbelief in their know- ledge of disease. The men we have left cannot but think that we are wilfully practising a hoax upon the public, or that, where we are not deceivers, we are ourselves deluded through ignorance. The opinion is almost general that Homoeopathy is a sort of "pious fraud" justified in some
* " Le malade imaginaire."
OF HOMOEOPATHY.
degree by the severity of the old treatment, and by the restorative powers of nature. "When annoyed by the pass- ing over of patients to the new system, they endeavor to console themselves with the reflection, that, like all other kinds of quackery, it will have its day, and be exploded. Even in friendly conversation we are told that we who pre- pare the small doses are wise, it is our patients who swallow them who are the fools.
This obstacle to the progress of Homoeopathy operates powerfully at present in England. The conviction that our facts are true, our sentiments just, and our intentions good, will sustain us. The difficulty must be borne with patience and temper. The course of events will remove it. For, as was well observed by a writer in the "Times," "A man's life in these days is spent in the realization of impossibilities, in fervently denying one week what he sees put in practice the next. So wedded are we to custom, so hampered by precedents, so enslaved by habit, that we cannot bring our- selves to believe that what is wrong in our proceedings can possibly be corrected, or what is right in the practices of our neighbors can possibly be adopted. The Committee of the House of Commons which pronounced Railways 'impossible,' sneered at the draining of Chat Moss, and re- jected the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill out of mercy to the demented projectors, was too faithful a type of the English mind. Active and indefatigable within its own range it recoils with a pusillanimous horror before whatever is new and untried."
3. /Self-interest cannot be overlooked as another difficulty. It is a serious obstacle to the general reception of Homoeo- pathy by the medical profession. Where success has been already attained, change is naturally dreaded, it is likely to be for the worse ; and in the less happy alternative, where "res angusta domi," straightened circumstances press, it is a doubtful plunge ; — it may be into a lower depth. To turn aside from the beaten path, even where truth and con- science seem to lead, is no easy task, when the maintenance of a family is hazarded by the change. Some allowance must be made for considerations of this kind.
There are some who are deterred unnecessarily by this motive. Men who are so circumstanced that they could afford to give up the old method and adopt the new, even if they were, as probably they would be, losers for a time. They might wait for a return of practice, and be supported, during the interval, by a good conscience. A very dear friend of mine, writing an expostulatory letter to me, two or
6 THE DIFFICULTIES
three years ago, among other things urged upon me this consideration, "your success is my downfall!'''' Not so, my dear friend, if you will get up and ride with me, you may share my success, there is abundance of room for both.
Many are wanting in moral courage. I once said to a man of very superior sense, integrity, and worldly ex- perience, "Do right and leave it," "and be left in the lurch!" was his instant reply; and many will agree with him. I think they are mistaken, and that a longer ex- perience and closer observation would confirm the wisdom of the Dutch maxim,
" Doe wel en zie niet om."
"Do what you ought; — happen what may."
This then is a difficulty, but it is a temporary one. It may be safely left to be removed by Time.
4. A very pardonable indolence is a difficulty with ,all medical men who have passed the middle of life. They have already made one great effort to qualify themselves for the duties of their calling. They have spent six or seven years as students of medicine, and since that period, many more years have rolled away in its laborious practice. It is much too formidable an undertaking to set sail afresh on a new ocean of troubles, and to endeavor to guide their vessel into a foreign port. "The trouble is immense, and I have grown idle," was the candid acknowledgment of the excellent Mr Kingdon, in his paper on Homoeopathy, read before the Medical Society of London, in the year 1836.
From the anxiety and labor of such a task as this, the elder members of the profession must, in all reason, be ex- cused. It is otherwise with the junior portion ; nothing can acquit them from the duty of investigating the new system for themselves and of trying its merits in their own hands by actual experiment. If, however, the seniors are to be excused, it is evident that this very circumstance constitutes a great difficulty to Homoeopathists, and a for- midable obstacle to the progress of Homoeopathy. Great and formidable it doubtless is, nevertheless it is a difficulty which may be patiently borne, under the solemn reflection that Time is diminishing it every day, and will, ere long, remove it.
5. The fear of forfeiting respectability, by joining a sect so despised and ridiculed, operates, as a powerful hindrance in the minds of many in the profession. The losing of " caste" for the sake of truth may be thought by some to be a slight sacrifice, but those who know human nature better will come to a different conclusion. It is in fact so
OP HOMCEOPATHY. 7
great that perhaps scarcely any truth except that which relates to GOD and eternity, will be acknowledged as worthy to make the demand. If it can be required on behalf of any truth referring to this life only, we may venture to claim it for the subject we have now in hand.
Great however as this difficulty is for the moment, it is, I believe, a temporary difficulty. The time, I think, is not distant when the man who has embraced the new system of the art of healing, whose principle of treatment is known, and whose mode of practice is simple, open, free from mystification, will be the practitioner regarded as the most truly respectable.
6. The misrepresentation of Homoeopathy by its op- ponents is a difficulty which I feel great reluctance to notice. Such disingenuous conduct reflects so much discredit upon my professional brethren that I would it did not exist, or that I had no need to allude to it. Charges, without proof, of quackery, of fraud, and of falsehood ; attempts to hinder the circulation of our books ; to erase our names from college and other lists ; and to refuse diplomas to our students ; accompanied at the same time with the unacknowledged adoption of some of our best remedies, betray a state of feeling greatly to be lamented.
7. The general ignorance which prevails upon the subject of Homoeopathy is not only a great difficulty in itself, but is also the origin of most of those we have already noticed. Both the profession and the public need to be better in- formed as to what Homoeopathy really is. How few persons have any definite idea of the principle of Homoeopathy, and of those who have, the great majority entertain a mistaken notion. They think that it teaches that what causes a mischief will cure it, thus confounding similis (like) with idem (the same). Some of Hahnemann's own illustrations may have tended to foster this mistake, but it is highly desirable that the point at issue should be clearly stated and understood before it is discussed. Many things taken into the stomach in a state of health are found by ex- perience to nourish and support the body — to preserve life and health ; these are called food. Many other things when similarly taken are found by experience to cause pain and injury to the body — to destroy health and life ; these are called poisons. We have also learned from experience that some of these latter substances — these poisons — when o-iven in natural disease act beneficially and remedially upon the diseased body. Homoeopathy implies that ex- perience further teaches us that the best mode of admi-
8 THE DIFFICULTIES
nistering these remedial poisons is to give them in such cases of natural ailments as resemble in their symptoms those injurious effects which such poisons produce when taken in health. If a person has suffered a bruise he is not supposed to require a second blow to cure him, as is often stated, in order apparently to throw ridicule upon the sub- ject, but some substance is to be sought for, which, when taken in health, will produce pains and sensations similar to those of the bruise. A plant called Arnica Montana does this, and a small dose of the juice of this plant is found by happy experience to relieve the pains of the bruise far better than any other remedy yet discovered.
It is objected that the symptoms produced by these poisons, when taken in health, and said to be similar to those symptoms in disease for which they act as remedies, are not invariably produced ; for instance, that Belladonna does not always produce symptoms resembling Scarlet Fever, or that Mercury does not always produce salivation, or ulceration of the throat. No one ever asserted that they did, nor is it at all required for the truth of Homoeopathy that they should. If they have ever unequivocally done so, it proves that they are capable of producing them, which is all that Homoeopathy asserts.
8. The small dose,- which is the great obstacle to the progress of Homoeopathy, — the great handle of its op- ponents. What may be advanced in its support I have endeavored to condense into a small space in another Tract. I must again be allowed to assert emphatically that it is a question of fact, to be settled only by experiment ; that those who content themsel.ves either with ridiculing it, or with reasoning about it, will never ascertain the truth respecting it; and that it is the duty of every man to inquire into the evidence in its favor as a matter of fact, and if possible to see this evidence with his own eyes. Great as this obstacle is at present, I do not hesitate to class it among the temporary difficulties of Homoeopathy. Daily ex- perience of the effects of small doses will, after a time, render their efficacy familiar to every one ; as with many other marvels, the wonder will cease, and the difficulty vanish.
9. Among the many obstacles raised to hinder the pro- gress of Homoeopathy, and particularly of the small dose, ridicule has not been forgotten. Indeed, it has been a main weapon by the unsparing use of which it has been con- fidently expected that Homoeopathy would perish. "We cannot choose but laugh," say our opponents, and verily " the sneer of a man's own comrades trieth the muscles of courage."
OF HOMOEOPATHY 9
I have no wish to depreciate the power and efficacy of this weapon. It has doubtless prevented the reception of Ho- moeopathy by many minds, but it has not gained its end ; Homoeopathy has not quailed before it.
Ridicule has been called the test of truth. If this be so, Homoeopathy must be true, for it has now stood exposure to every kind of banter and jest, whether witty or sarcastic, for more than half a century, and Homoeopathy not only exists — it advances on every side, and through every grade of society.
Ridicule, however, when boldly looked at as an argument against the statement of facts, is a mean scare-crow. That it should be brought to bear upon a subject so sacred as the sufferings of the human family, and the means of relieving them, is a great reflection upon the characters of those who thus venture to use it. They cannot be surprised if such conduct reminds others of the proverb, "as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool."
Ridicule then is a difficulty, but it cannot prove more than a temporary one, and must at length recoil with un- welcome power upon the quarters from whence it has pro- ceeded.
10. A much more important difficulty is the grave one which presents itself to the practitioner of Homoeopathy in the choice of the dose. To explain this it may be necessary to revert to the basis of Homoeopathy.
The properties of drugs, for the purposes of Homoeopa- thy, are discovered by healthy persons (generally physicians) taking them experimentally, and carefully recording all the symptoms produced. The dose must be sufficiently large to act injuriously upon both mind and body. By the indomitable industry and courage of Hahnemann and his friends a vast mass of symptoms have been thus collected ; — the most violent effects of the substances so examined, being learned from the cases of poisoning which unhappily occur from time to time. The list of symptoms or effects belonging to each drug is called the "proving" of the medi- cine. The second step in the practice of Homceojiathy is that the physician shall very carefully investigate each case of disease, presenting itself to his observation, noting all the symptoms, moral as well as physical, which he can dis- cover ; his third duty is to inquire, not as formerly what medicines have done good in similar cases, but what drug has produced, when taken in health, symptoms resembling those of the case in hand. By this means he is guided to the best remedy which can be found for that particular
10 THE DIFFICULTIES
patient. Of course that remedy is given alone. Here is a rule, and the mode of applying it. This is the triumph of Homoeopathy. Thus, for the first time in the history of the world, has medicine . been constituted a science. It was previously not only merely an art, but a very wretched and cruel art.
Here then is an admirable guide in the choice of a remedy, but it is obvious that this guide carries us no farther. When the remedy has been fixed upon, another question imme- diately arises, in what dose must it be given ? The guide tells us, (as was seen by Hippocrates more than two thousand years ago,) that the dose must be less than that which pro- duced the symptoms in health, but how much less it does not say. Here then is a practical difficulty. For some time after Hahnemann had discovered the law of Homoeopathy, or the mode of choosing the remedy just explained, he gave the drugs almost in the usual doses ; but he was so troubled with ill effects, in the shape of aggravations of the symptoms, as to be compelled to diminish very much the quantity given as a dose. He was then greatly persecuted by the apothe- caries, or druggists of his native country, because he neces- sarily prepared his own medicines, and perhaps partly to retaliate upon them, and partly to carry out his views to the uttermost, he invented the method of reducing the dose to an infinitesimal quantity, and still found it to answer when prescribed according to his principle. I have myself put these different doses to a fair test in practice. I have no doubt that they act, but I have felt, in my early practice especially, as a great difficulty, the want of a rule or prin- ciple to guide in the choice of the dose. When ought the remedy to be given in substance ? When in the first, second, or third dilution ? When in the sixth, twelfth, or thirtieth ? Some cases seem to be better treated with the lower or larger, some with the higher or smaller doses. This at present is a matter of experience. Several attempts have been made to suggest rules, but as yet without success. The next great step in the improvement of medicine will be the discovery of a principle to guide in the choice of the dose and its repetition, as the law of similia guides us in the selection of the remedy. I cannot but entertain a sanguine hope that this will be permitted, and therefore I venture to consider the want a temporary difficulty. In the mean time careful observation is not without its fruits. By experience we get empirically at right doses, (as on the old method the right remedy is sometimes got at,) and in the majority of instances, if We htfve succeeded in our
OF HOMCEOPATH 11
application of the law in the selection of the remedy, our dose hits pretty effectually, though perhaps another might have succeeded better.
11. There is another class of difficulties which I must now notice, the first of which is the hypothetical and meta- 2>horical style in which Hahnemann has clothed his dis- coveries. This has tended in no small degree to repel many from his threshold who might have become inquirers ; and to harass and perplex those who would not allow any thing to repel them. This remark is especially applicable to Hahnemann's great work — u The Organon of Medicine? I have not heard of one who has been made a convert by the perusal of it, while I have known several who have been discouraged by reading it, and others who, having been homceopathists for years, acknowledge that much of it is beyond their comprehension.
The error into which, in my opinion, Hahnemann has fallen, in the composition of this work, is that he mainly labors a theoretical explanation of Homoeopathy, and this error is the more remarkable because he had, in the Prin- cipia of Newton a perfect example to follow. Sir Isaac Newton, in that book, has succeeded to the admiration of the world. He gives us his great discovery, the law of gravitation, and proves it to us by irrefragable evidence, but he does not attempt to explain the nature of the force, nor its mode of action. " I have not," Newton says u been able to discover the cause of the properties of gravity from phenomena, and I frame no hypotheses ; for whatever is not deduced from the phenomena is to be called an hypo- thesis ; and hypotheses, whether metaphysical or physical, whether of occult qualities or mechanical, have no place in
experimental philosophy To us it is enough that gravity
docs really exist, and act according to the laws which we have explained." # Had Hahnemann been so happy as to follow this example he would have given us his discovery in simple words, as a naked fact, and supported his asser- tion by a complete practical demonstration, free from hy- pothetical guesses at explanation. Herein, I think, Hahne- mann has failed. Strong as an original and careful observer, indefatigable in pursuing his discoveries, he becomes weak as other men when he begins to guess. His hypothesis are no better than those of any other writer, they must share the fate of all that have preceded them, and pass into oblivion, and I cannot but think, as regards the interest of Homoeopathy, the sooner the better.
* Close of the Peincipia.
12 THE DIFFICULTIES
That natural diseases are best treated by giving those medicines which, when taken in health, are capable of producing similar symptoms, is, if true, a natural fact, easily stated, and needs neither gloss nor explanation to make it available in daily practice. This is expressed in the Orgunvn in the following manner :
"A weaker dynamic affection is permanently extinguished in the living organism by a stronger one, if the latter (whilst differing in kind) is similar to the former in its manifestations."
"As every disease (not strictly surgical) depends only on a peculiar morbid derangement of our vital force in sen- sations and functions, when a homoeopathic cure of the vital force deranged by the natural disease is accomplished by the administration of a medicinal potency selected on account of an accurate similarity of symptoms, a somewhat stronger but similar, artificial morbid affection is brought into contact with, and as it were pushed into the place of the weaker, similar natural morbid irritation, against which, the in- stinctive vital force now^merely (though in a stronger de- gree) medicinally diseased is then compelled to direct an increased amount of energy, but, on account of the shorter duration of the action of the medicinal potency that now morbidly affects it, the vital force scon overcomes this, and as it was in the first instance relieved from the material morbid affection, so it is now at last freed ficm the artificial (the medicinal) one, and hence is enabled again to carry on healthily the vital operations of the organism."
This is a long extract, but it was due to Hahnemann that his own voice should be heard. Had I space I would give another similar paragraph in which he attempts to state his views by such terms as these ; — " driving the enemy out of the country by foreign auxiliary troops." "The vital force advances towards the hostile disease, and yet no enemy can be overcome except by a superior power." "If in this manner we magnify to the perception of the vital principle the picture of its enemy the disease," &c. &c.
Some of my readers will be reminded by such enig- matical language of another great reformer of medicine, Paracelsus, and his "Currus Triumphalis Antimonii." I must be excused if I say that I marvel that it should be received as satisfactory by any body of intelligent men. I cannot but suppose that many must repudiate it in private. "A weaker dynamic affection is permanently extinguished by a stronger one." It is obvious that, not a fact, but an hypothesis is here stated ; — a mere guess as to the mode in
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 13
which remedies act upon disease, just about as likely to he true as Oullen's " Spasm of the extreme vessels," or any other previous notion on the same subject. And these are the words in which Hahnemann formally announces, in his Org anon, the "Homoeopathic law of nature." It must be observed also that Hahnemann constantly uses the words " dynamic," " spiritual," " potency," &c, by which he supposes he is accounting for vital and medicinal action, but these are terms to which he does not teach us to attach definite ideas, and which tend to bewilder and mislead, rather than to instruct.
The diseases of man he says "are solely spiritual (dynamic) derangements of the spiritual power that animates the human body (the vital force)." In all works on Materia Medica from Discorides down to the latest books on this subject . . all idle' dreams, unfounded assumption, and hypotheses, cunningly devised for the convenience of thera- peutics . . but the essential nature of diseases will not adapt themselves to such fantasies, . . will not cease to be (spiritual) dynamic derangements of our spiritual vital principle in sensations and functions, that is, immaterial derangements of the state of health."
It is easy to see that " spiritual, dynamic derangements," &c, are as much hypothetical assumptions as any of those which Hahnemann denounces.
The prepanrtion and effects of the small doses are rendered apparently absurd by the same mystic style. Medicines when triturated and diluted according to the method of Hahnemann are called by him " dynamizations" and they are said to act "dynamically," or "spiritually."
It appears to me that it has been a great mistake to obscure two beautiful discoveries, that of the principle of Homoeo- pathy, and that of the efficacy of the small dose, by clothing them in such mysterious and unintelligible words. It constitutes a great difficulty — and a real obstacle to the progress of Homoeopathy.
Let truth be held fast, let error be repudiated, and this great difficulty will cease to exist.
12. The dogmatism of Hahnemann is also a great stumbling block and impediment in the way of inquirers. Even to many of those who have put it aside for the purpose of fair investigation, and who have in consequence embraced Homoeopathy, it is a great difficulty. They cannot but feel annoyed at the positive and dogmatic tone he always adopts. The brightest geniuses and the most gifted intellects do not hesitate, often to say with Sydenham, "opinor," I think;"
14 THE DIFFICULTIES
but such an expression seems never to have escaped from the lips of Hahnemann. " His intolerance" writes his biogra- pher, " from those who differed from him latterly attained to such a height that he used to say, 'He who does not walk on exactly the same line with me, who diverges, if it be but the breadth of a straw, to the right or to the left, is an apostate and a traitor, and with him I will have nothing to do !' " Such servile following as this must be declined by every true student of nature. How inconsistent with Hahnemann's own early career!
"It holds good and will continue to hold good as a Ho- moeopathic therapeutic maxim, not to- be refuted by any experience in the world, that the best dose of the properly selected remedy is always the very smallest one in one ot' the high dynamization (30th) as well for chronic as for acute diseases." He does not see how this sentiment saps the foundation of his own science, which can rest upon nothing but the evidence of experience.
" That some erring physicians who would wish to be con- sidered homceopathists engraft some to them more con- venient allopathic bad practices often upon their nominally homoeopathic treatment is owing to ignorance of doctrine, laziness, contempt for suffering humanity, and ridiculous conceit, and, in addition to unpardonable negligence in searching for the best Homoeopathic specific for each case of disease, has often a base love of gain, and other dishonor- able motives for its spring, — and for its result? that they cannot cure all important and serious diseases, which pure and careful Homoeopathy can, and that they send many of their patients to that place whence no one returns." Surely no uninspired man is justified in assuming such a tone as this.
The contrast between the spirit and temper of Hahnemann in his later years, (he died in July, 1843, aged 89), and those of his earlier life may, I think, be in a great measure ac- counted for by two considerations, and which are the best apology I can suggest for conduct which nothing can justify, and few, I suppose, will undertake to defend.
The first circumstance I would mention is that which embittered the whole life of Hahnemann, and particularly the earlier periods of it — the harsh and abusive language and unrelenting persecution he received from his profes- sional brethren, and from the apothecaries or druggists of his country.
The second is this, by the perpetual cultivation of one train of thought, it appears to me, that the mind of Hahne- mann, during the latter period of his life, had nearly reached
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 15
that condition which Johnson so feelingly and so vividly pourtrays in the Astronomer in Basselas.—" One of the most learned astronomers in the world, who has spent forty years in unwearied attention to the motions and appearances of the celestial bodies, and has drawn out his soul in end- less calculations." "I have possessed,", says thi^ indomit- able student, at the close of this period, "for five years the regulation of the weather, and the distribution of the seasons , the sun has listened to my dictates, and passed from tropic to tropic by my direction; the clouds at my call have poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my command; I have restrained the rage of the dog-star, and mitigated the fervors of the crab. I have administered this great office with exact justice." The inconsiderate smile excited by this narrative was thus rebuked, "few can attain this man's knowledge, and few practice his virtues; but all may suffer his calamity."
13. The want of the separate details of the original ex- periments of Hahnemann upon himself and his friends, while learning the effects of drugs upon healthy persons, creates a difficulty The withholding them from the public by Hahnemann himself was an error in judgment, but why they are still refused to the applications of the friends of Homoeopathy by his widow no one seems able to explain. The lack must be supplied by the self-denying labors of others, who, by repeating the experiments of Hahnemann, will provide us with what he has omitted to supply.
14. The sectarian spirit of a portion of the Homoeopathic body, upon whom the dogmatizing mantle of the old age of Hahnemann seems to have fallen, is also a difficulty of con- siderable magnitude with those who wish to observe care- fully, to think rationally and independently, to balance con- flicting evidence, and to act conscientiously. It is a serious obstacle in the way of inquirers, and consequently greatly retards the progress of the reformed practice of medicine. Were I to instance particulars I should be in danger of be- coming personal, which I am anxious to avoid. Should any individuals think this general allusion applicable to themselves, I hope it may lead them to consider how far it may not be for the credit, of Homoeopathy that they should be less tenacious of every dictum of Hahnemann.
From the public the two following difficulties arise: —
15. Want of confidence dependent upon the apparent in- sufficiency of the new treatment. Shortly after my com- mencement of Homoeopathy I was summarily dismissed by a patient because I sent her some medicine which, when
16
THE DIFFICULTIES
taken to her bedside, looked so much like plain water that she refused to take even a first dose, and immediately sent for another medical practitioner. " She could have no con- fidence in that sort of medicine." The leeches, and blisters, and purges of the old school were preferred. "So much," says William of Malmesbury, "does ancient custom. please, and so little encouragement, though deserved, is given to new discoveries, however consistent with truth. All are anxious to grovel in the old track."
Others, with more intelligent minds, but accustomed to indulge in doubts rather than venture upon decision, while they see and acknowledge the evils of Allopathy, and have experienced some of the good of Homoeopathy, endeavor to stave off conviction by the ingenious suggestion of new grounds for hesitation.
While others again have minds so ill-regulated that they cannot believe anything for which they liave tsken up a dislike, or they have committed themselves already so far against the new doctrines, that they are ashamed to retract their condemnation; or they are so in bondage to the opinions of their neighbors, and to their previous connec- tions, that they dare not act upon their own convictions.
This difficulty however must disappear before the suc- cessful results of the mild treatment; confidence is daily strengthening, and hereafter, its very gentleness and pleasant- ness will be reckoned among its most obvious advantages. If a spoonful of what tastes like simple water will really answer the purpose better than a blister and a black draught, it will be strange indeed if the latter coittinue to be pre- ferred. Would it not be a libel upon human nature to suppose this?
16. The officiousneas of kind friends. This is a formi- dable difficulty. It is an engine of resistance which has sbeen energetically brought to bear against the progress of •Homoeopathy. It resembles the "Old Guard" of Napoleon, — "it dies, but never surrenders." It is so bent upon its pur- pose that it sometimes loses sight of every other cc>n- sideration.
" Softer is the hide of the rhinoceros Than the heart of deriding unbelief."
It succeeds in individual instances, but it must die if it will not surrender.
In speaking thus I venture not to impeach the motives of any one ; these are doubtless often full of kindness and the best intentions. Such conduct, however, would be seen, by the light of a little calm reflection, to be inconsistent with
t OF HOMCEOPATHY. 17
that liberty which individuals ought to be allowed to exer- cise in so personal a matter as the mode in which they or their children shall be treated when suffering from disease. From the present circumstances of Homceopathists in England these difficulties result: —
17. The isolated position of each practitioner of the new system is a difficulty which, at present, affects both medical men and the public. A second opinion, in cases of emer- gency, or when sickness visits, as it often does, the domestic circle of the practitioner himself, is often felt to be desirable, but cannot always be obtained. His anxiety and distress under such circumstances are sometimes beyond description. He is more painfully situated in this respect than he would be in the backwoods of the "far west;" — he is not only alone as he would be there, but he is surrounded by opponents ever on the watch for his halting. This is often a trying difficulty and calls for patience ; but time is mitigating it every day.. Medical converts are rapidly increasing, and, I trust that at no distant period it will be spoken of only as belonging to the past.
18. Homoeopathy is made responsible for the early failures of new converts. No sooner has a medical man avowed his conviction that there is some truth in Homoeo- pathy than he is assailed with a storm of ridicule and abuse ; and notwithstanding all his protestations, if in any instance he happens to be unsuccessful, the case is immediately heralded abroad as a demonstration that Homoeopathy is "humbug." The unfairness of such a judgment must be evident to every unprejudiced person. A state of transition is necessarily a state of peculiar imperfection.
19. Homoeopathy has not sufficient schools, nor any col- leges-, as yet, in England. This is, of course, a great tempo- rary difficulty and inconvenience. For a remedy it has been proposed to obtain a charter from the crown, and to establish a suitable Institution. I have myself ventured to oppose this proposal. Were it accomplished, even in the best manner possible, it would, I think, bring along with it two great evils ; — it would stereotype, as it were, the present phase of Homoeopathy, which consists of valuable truth mixed up with many hypothetical and damaging materials derived from Hahnemann's imaginative mind, and from the infirmities of the latter period of his life ; and it would perpetuate homoeopathists as a sect, permanently dividing the profession in this country into two irreconcileable parties. Whereas, if the temporary inconvenience be submitted to, the two opposite advantages may be hoped for ; — time being
18
THE DIFFICULTIES
allowed to investigate Homoeopathy more thoroughly, the chaff may be winnowed from the wheat, and the truth based upon sufficient evidence to maintain it; — this being ac- complished, the enlightened portion of the profession can- not do otherwise than adopt it, and thus it will become in- corporated in our present schools and colleges, and the reformation in medicine like the English reformation in religion, will become a national act.
Such are the temporary difficulties of Homoeopathy. They are sufficiently formidable sometimes to produce, in minds not naturally sanguine, a feeling bordering on despondency ; but laborious perseverance, and generous courage, founded upon conscientious convictions, will surmount them all.
II. The difficulties which it may be expected will attach permanently to Homoeopathy are those which arise from the present condition of humanity, and which belong more or less even to those sciences whose fundamental principles are best ascertained and understood. They are such as the following : —
20. A serious difficulty will always exist in the intricacy of the mechanism of the human body, and in the mystery of life. The derangements in the healthy structure and functions of the various organs of the body must be hope- lessly hidden from those who have not learned what that healthy structure, and those natural functions are. A limited knowledge of these things may be acquired by the study of anatomy, but this study has not only the unavoid- able difficulties attaching to it which need not be described, but it has, in this country, both law and popular prejudice against it. As regards the law such is the anomalous position of a medical practitioner in England that he is liable to punishment for culpable ignorance of that knowledge for endeavoring to obtain which he is also liable to be punished.
21. If the knowledge of diseases be hard to acquire, the knowledge of remedies is scarcely less difficult. Almost every object in nature may claim to be investigated as a remedy for disease. Having a principle to guide us in the choice of remedies must surely be a great advantage, — the old method confessedly having none, — nevertheless, even with the help of this principle the choice will always require labor, care, and study. In proving a drug, (that is, in. ex- perimenting with it in health,) to obtain a distinct notion of its sphere of action, and of the actual groups of symp-
OF HOMCEOPATHY.
19
toms it is capable of producing in the previously healthy body ; — to distinguish between the primary and secondary actions of a drug in proving it, and to regulate the use of it in accordance with these two frequently opposite modes of action in prescribing it ; — to learn in what constitutions, temperaments, and ages each remedy acts most success- fully,— is knowledge which can never be acquired without difficulty. The principle is simple, but to apply it skilfully in practice will always require serious and persevering labor. The choice of the dilution, and the repetition of the dose, even should a principle be discovered for our guidance, will in like manner always call for patient and diligent research.
22. Great responsibility and anxiety are inseparable from an attendance upon dangerous illness ; and great difficulty and annoyance also accompany the care of all cases of in- disposition not severe enough to compel a cessation from the usual business and habits of life. Generally, either these habits must be interfered with beyond what the patient is willing to submit to, or the other alternative must happen, — the medical treatment is rendered abortive by their con- tinuance. By the first both patient and physician are fretted and annoyed, by the second both are disappointed. It need scarcely be added that these difficulties belong to any mode of treatment whatever which can be had recourse to in disease.
23. Other difficulties were well enumerated by a lady, on my asking her, a short time ago, if she intended any of her sons for the medical profession ; she said emphatically No, and for these reasons : —
"The condition of medicine is unsettled and unsatis- factory. I hope this may not be permanently the case, but it is so at present.
" The practice of it entails great wear and tear of both mind and body.
" It is an occupation for which persons with anxious dis- positions, which my children have, are entirely unfitted.
" It requires great bodily health and strength, which my children nave not.
" To be constantly occupied in seeing people suifer and in hearing them complain, is objectionable on account of the depressing effect it is likely to have upon their minds.
"And the selfishness and unreasonableness of many patients and their friends, and the caprice with which they act are almost intolerable.
20
THE DIFFICULTIES
" With these views," she added, " }rou cannot wonder if I shrink from booking them for such a life of trouble and toil." No, the wonder is that more parents are not of her way of thinking. It would be better both for the public, and for the profession, if the number of young men who are annually forced into our overstocked ranks were very greatly diminished. I shall never forget the first words I heard Abernethy utter; on entering the Theatre of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, to give his Introductory Lecture, in the year 1825, he stood with his hands in his pockets, and looking round wistfully on the crowded audience, he exclaimed, — " God bless you ! what is to become of you all ?"
24. Finally, since disease and death are inevitable in a sin-stricken world, it follows that, with the best directed efforts, and with the most efficacious remedies, the patient must sometimes suffer a great deal, be seriously ill, and at length die. The physician with all his anxiety, labor, and skill, will sometimes only imperfectly succeed, and must always in the end fail, since it is " appointed unto all men once to die." This must always continue to be a painful and often a discouraging consideration.
The work of a Physician is encompassed with difficulties, his path beset with obstacles, the struggle he is engaged in, whatever advantages he may at times gain, will always end in his defeat. How happy to meet with any knowledge by which some difficulties may be diminished, some obstacles removed, some new advantages enjoyed! Enough will still remain to try to the uttermost his patience and temper, his industry and perseverance.
Were these difficulties, which at times almost lay prostrate the honest laborer in the art of healing, better known and felt, they would enlist on his behalf the sympathies of his fellow men. They are touchingly alluded to by the Father of Medicine in his first Aphorism :
" 0' Bi oc fipaxvg, r\ 6e t£xvtj \iaKpi], b tie ttaipbg 6£vc, ij 6e nelpa ofiaXepr}, t\ 61 Kpicug xatenfj-"
" Life is short, and Art is long ; occasion fleeting ; experience fallacious, and judgment difficult."
They were no doubt present to the mind of the son of Sirach
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 21
when he said, " Honor the Physician with the honor due unto him, for the Lord hath created him."
######
" Imlac was proceeding to aggrandize his own profession, when th prince cried out, 'Enough ! thou hast convinced me that no human being can ever be a poet, Proceed with thy narrative.'
" ' To be a poet,' said Imlac, ' is indeed very difficult.' ' So difficult,' replied the prince, ' that I will at present hear no more of his difficulties.' " #
* Rasselas.
Rugby, March \0th, 1854.
Gratis oil ioma^ptljg.-^o; 6.
THE ADVANTAGES
HOKEOPATHY
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D., F.R.S.
NEW-YOEK:
WILLIAM EADDE, 322 BROADWAY;
PHILADELPHIA, PA. : RADEMACHER & SHEEK, 239 ARCH ST. ;
BOSTON, MASS.: OTIS CLAPP; CINCINNATI, 0.: L M. PARKS;
CLEVELAND, O. : JOHN HALL ; ST. LOUIS, MO. I DE. D. E. LUTTIES ;
CHICAGO, ILL.: DR. G. E. SHIPMAN.
1856.
JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, 95 & 97 Cliff St, N.Y.
PREFACE
I write a preface for the sake of obtaining a blank page for a beautiful Greek- Fragment, and an equally beautiful Translation. The latter has been written at my request for this Number of the Tracts. The author, Mr. Charles Edward Oakley, to whom I am affectionately attached, has been, for five years, au ornament of Rugby School, and is now distinguishing himself at the University of Oxford.
Rugby, August 21th, 1853.
ODE TO HEALTH.
' Tyceia -npEcfiio-a MaKupuv, Merd aov vaioijii To Xenro/uevov ftioTag' 2i> 6e fioL ivpocppuv cvvoiKog elr/g. EZ yap Tig rj nlovrov xdpig V tekewv,
Tag Evdaifiovog -f dvdpunoig BacnTiT/iSog dpxdg rj noduv, Ovg Kpvtj>ioig ' 'AQpodirqg upuvciv djjpEvo/iEV, "H ec rig aXka 8e66ev avdpunoig Tspipig,
*H tcovcjv u/iTTVod wi^avrai: Metu ce'lo, [lunaipa 'Yyisia, TeOtjXe navra nal "KdfinEi xapiTuv lap'
~Sie6ev 6h xuPLSi otidsig svdai/iuv -keKe!
(translation.)
Eealth ! Eldest-Born of all
The Blessed ones that be, Through life's remainder, howe'er small, Still may I dwell with thee ! And thou with me, A willing guest, Oh ! take thy rest I For all man hath on earth, Blest Health — Each nobler gift — as, children, wealth, The bliss of kingly government, "With that desiring uncontent "We fain would seek, we fain would move, In th' undiscovered toils of love ; These — or each other utmost pleasure Man hath from heaven, his dearest treasure, And amid all his earthly moil The sweet forgetfulness of toil ; — With thee, Blest Health I Health ever young ! With thee they grew, from thee they sprung ; Spring of all gifts from heaven that fall, Thou art the sunshine of them all ! — Tet all are turned to misery For him that lives bereft of thee.
C. E. Oakley, Demy of Magflalen College, Oxford.
THE ADVANTAGES OF HOMGEOPATHY.
""What tortures inflicted on patients might have been dispensed with, had a few simple principles been earlier recognized." Sir John Hekschel.
Plutakch says, in his life of Demosthenes, " I live in a small town, and I choose to live there lest it should become still smaller."* For myself, I have joined a small company of physicians, and I choose to remain with them for Plu- tarch's reason, but still more for Lord Bacon's. I believe they are " standing upon the vantage-ground of truth, and see the errors and wanderings, and mists and tempests in the vale below."
I am also anxious to induce others to join this company and to share in its advantage ; and, therefore, instead of writ- ing a Tract, as it would be easy to do, on the evils of the old physic, I prefer the more agreeable duty of inviting my read- er's attention to the superior claims of the new method.
The ignorance of Allopathy is darkness which may be felt — and it is felt, witness the confessions of its most eminent professors. It has been described as "the art of putting large doses of poisonous drugs, of which we know little, into living bodies of which we know less."
The uncertainty of Allopathy is worse than can be credited by any non-professional person. A gentleman, a neighbor of mine, lately spoke of it as "the regular steady practice ac- cording to rule." What rule? I know of none. " There is no truth in physic," said an experienced practitioner to me, many years ago. I have no doubt that many have painfully shared in his feelings.
The cruelties of Allopathy are indescribable. They are perpetrated from good motives and with the best intentions, but they are such as nothing but the fear of death and the force of custom, more powerful than a second nature, could have induced mankind to submit to.
But it is not my purpose to dwell upon the ignorance, the
* " 'H^eif di fwcp&v dwovvreq ■kq'Kiv kclI Iva fifj fiiKporepa yevqrai ^t/lo^wpowref."
6 THE ADVANTAGES
uncertainty, or the cruelty of the old practice. One might indeed be provoked to do so by the conduct of the disciples of this school, who appropriate to themselves exclusively the title of "regular" and legitimate;" as if the adoption of a principle, where there was none before, and the adaptation of the dose to a standard of safety and efficiency, constituted a practice irregular and unlawful. Dr. Paris or Dr. Simpson may " draw a bow at a venture," and give a quarter of a grain of arsenic at a dose, but Dr. Eussell or Dr. Kamsbo- tham may not, under the guidance of a rule, give the hun- dredth or the thousandth part of a grain of the same poison, without being charged with irregularity and quackery. Such conduct betrays great ignorance both of their own position and of ours. It would be very easy to show from the Phar- macopeia of the Eoyal College of Physicians, and from the daily prescriptions of the "regular" practitioners, on which side real quackery prevails. This at least must be obvious, that whatever prospect of curing either party may have, there will be greater risk of hilling the patient with the large dose of arsenic than with the small one.
But truth takes no cognizance of abusive appellations. They may for a time cover her with disgrace, and hide her beauty from the public gaze, but they can not change her character, nor transform her into falsehood. The consciousness of pos- sessing her gives true courage, and teaches the physician to take his place beside his patient with dignified benevolence and intelligent confidence. An adequate knowledge of the new system will enable him to administer some simple means which, in acute disease, will often give relief in a few moments, and in chronic cases, will also frequently, after reasonable per- severance, restore the long-afflicted patient to health and use- fulness.
Who can estimate the value of health f A measure of its worth may be seen in the multitude of resources to which men flee in the hope of recovering it when lost. Its precious- ness is still more vividly reflected from the page of inspira- tion, where we see, in so many instances, the Divine power mercifully exerted to restore it.
It is my business, in the present paper, to show that Ho- moeopathy is the safest and best human method to be used for the recovery of health which has yet been discovered ; that it is superior to all other modes, whether professional or empiri- cal, which have ever before been tried ; and that consequently it is alike the duty and the interest of all men without excep- tion to adopt it.
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 7
I shall aim at producing the conviction that its claims both on the physician and on the patient are above suspicion and beyond dispute ; always bearing in remembrance that " our life is but as a vapor which appears for a little while, and then vanishes away."
I. The advantages to the Physician are three-fold ; they are these :
1. The emancipation of his mind from doubt and confusion.
2. The provision of a guide.
3. The simplicity of the means.
II. The advantages to the patient are likewise three-fold ; they are as follow :
1. The banishment of nauseous drugs, and painful and de- bilitating applications.
2. Greatly increased efficacy and success.
3. Deliverance from medicinal diseases, and other destruc- tive consequences of former methods of treatment.
I.— THE ADVANTAGES TO THE PHYSICIAN.
1. The emancipation of his mind from doubt and confusion.
Interest often conceals, if it does not deny truth, and it would not be surprising if the world had been kept in ignor- ance of the confusion and uncertainty in which medical men are involved. They have, however, been frequently acknow- ledged by men of integrity and reputation. No exception can be taken to the evidence of such a witness as Cullen to the erroneous doctrines and conflicting practices of legitimate physic previous to the discovery of Homoeopathy. It is above suspicion and beyond dispute.
Now Cullen, in the introduction to his great work on the Materia Medica, gives an outline of the history of Medicine, which may be briefly epitomised as follows :
The Egyptians. — Medicine " is known to have been under such regulations as must have been a certain obstacle to its progress and improvement." These regulations were, that the treatment of diseases was directed by fixed rules written in their sacred books ; while these rules were observed, the phy- sician was not answerable for their success, but if he tried other means, a failure cost him his life. Many of the "regu- lar" physicians of our time must have visited the pyramids — they have imbibed so much of the Egyptian spirit.
The Greeks. — Hippoceates. These writings afford "a pre- carious and uncertain information."
8 THE ADVANTAGES
Dioscorides " has been transcribed bj almost every writer since ; but that this has been owing to the real value of his writings it is not easy to perceive."
Galen. "We find nothing in his writings sufficient to excuse the insolence with which he treats his predecessors, nor to support the vanity he discovers with regard to his own performances." His theory is " false and inapplicable," yet "implicitly followed by all the physicians of Asia, Africa, and Europe, for at least 1500 years after his time." This " particu- larly marks out how much a veneration for antiquity has re- tarded science."
The Arabians. — "It does not appear that they made any improvements."
Revival in Europe. — "Nothing new appeared among the physicians of Europe while they continued to be the servile followers of the Arabians."
On the taking of Constantinople in 1453, the Greek writings were dispersed, and the Greek party prevailed.
In more recent times physic has " made very little progress among persons who are almost entirely the bigoted followers of the ancients." So far Dr. Cullen.
It is true that since this last period we have had many novel- ties in the theory and practice of physic : Stahl, Hoffman, Boeehaave, Cullen himself, Brown, and Broussais, with many others, have striven to throw some light upon the dark subject, but in vain. The discovery that "similia similibus curantur" is the first ray which has illumined the gloom, the first "method" by which the confusion has been reduced to regularity. This has turned night into day, chaos into order, doubt into confidence, a random shot into a careful aim, a haz- ardous and empirical experiment into a precise and intelligent proceeding. The physician who has investigated and embraced this principle feels conscious that his mind is cleared of useless and endless speculations, and filled with a truth applicable every moment, and of the highest practical value.
That the physician remaining in the old school is bewildered with opposing theories, and oppressed with an accumulation of heterogeneous and unarranged materials, is known and ac- knowledged ; that the Homoeopathic physician is freed from all these burdens is obvious : that this is a great advantage must be above suspicion and beyond dispute.
2. The provision of a guide.
Those who have traversed the dark mountain with a trusty guide, or who have crossed the trackless ocean with the mari- ner's compass, can in some measure understand the feelings of
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 9
the physician who has found a principle to assist him in the choice of remedies for his patients ; but it is so great an advan- tage that it can not be sufficiently appreciated by those who are not practically acquainted with it.
Liebig- affirms that the discovery of combination in fixed proportions called chemical equivalents, "which regulates and governs all chemical actions, is acknowledged to be the most important acquisition of the present century, and the most pro- ductive in its results."* He ascribes the first discovery of it to Kichtee, (a Grerman,) and the "extending and completing our knowledge" of it to D ALTON", (an Englishman.)
The law of similia similibus curantur, which "regulates and governs" all medical actions, is of still greater importance to the well-being of man.
The physician who commits himself to its guidance will find it simple and intelligible, safe and merciful; and, moreover, that it secures a certainty of knowledge by requiring that only one remedy be given at a time ; that it is not dependent upon any theory of disease, nor upon any hypothetical explanation of its mode of action for its easy and successful application ; that it is applicable to all cases of disease, and in all countries and climates, all ages and circumstances.
I am fond of illustrations. They possess a double recom- mendation ; they explain an axiom and impress it upon the mind better than any mere definition or description, and they relieve a didactic or argumentative composition of its dullness. While, therefore, I must refer my readers to Tract No. 3 for many examples of the mode of applying the principle of Homoeopathy in practice, I will find room here for a brief notice of two cases which have lately occurred to me.
In Tract No. 4 the disease-producing powers of Ipecacuanha, in minutely-divided doses, are described : among the morbid effects thus produced are asthma and haemorrhage. Miss
"W consulted me for a severe attack of spasmodic asthma,
to which she was very liable ; I gave her a few doses of the second dilution of Ipecacuanha, which gave her immediate
relief, and in a little while removed the attack. Miss S ,
who had been long ill with disease in the chest, with a large abscess in the posterior part of the left lung, was suddenly seized, while on a journey at a distance of seventy miles from me, with a copious spitting of blood. This information was sent to me by telegraph, and I immediately forwarded to her by railway some Ipecacuanha. The following morning I received
* " Letters on Chemistry," Second SerieB.
10 THE ADVANTAGES
another telegraphic message, followed, shortly after, by a letter from her mother, stating that the first dose had arrested the bleeding, and that my patient had not coughed once all night, only once in the morning withont expectoration, which pre- viously had been copious, and that she had enjoyed some breakfast. There has been no return of the haemorrhage, and under the influence of Phosphorus this very severe case of disease has been going on favorably for above two months. The young lady can now walk a mile or more without fatigue.
Those who have experienced the comfort and benefit of such a guide as the principle of similia similibus curantur will not be easily induced to venture without it into the pathless wil- derness of medical treatment. A single example will give some idea .of the distressing uncertainty with which the in- structions for treatment are given by the teachers of the old school. The cure of dropsy is thus laid down by the first phy- sician of France of the last age :
" The cure may be begun by blood-letting in certain condi- tions ; but in others it can not be employed without danger. It gives relief in difficult breathing; but after it is practised the symptoms are aggravated and rendered more obstinate. It is not to be concealed, that some persons have been cured by repeated blood-lettings, or spontaneous haemorrhages ; but it is at the same time known that such a remedy, inopportunely employed, has in many instances hastened on the fatal event?*
Every one familiar with the literature of his profession, will admit that this is a fair sample of the general result of his reading. How delightful to pass from this state of uncertainty, arising from conflicting human authorities, to the absolute and invariable direction of a natural guide !
That the physician of the old method has no principle to guide him is known and acknowledged ; that the homoeopathic physician has such a principle, is obvious ; that this is a great advantage, must be above suspicion and beyond dispute.
3. The simplicity of the means.
"Look! what will serve is fit," says nature's poet ; and the nearer we approach to simplicity, in the means we use, the nearer we approach to nature's perfection. Physicians have been vigorously wielding the club of Giant Despair, while they ought to have been observing and endeavoring to imitate the operations of nature, in which mighty effects are continually being brought about by apparently insignificant but really efficacious means.
* Lioutaud, " Synopsis tmivprsse mediciuse."
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 11
Among the many examples which surround us I will men- tion only one. Little grains of sand are unlikely materials wherewith to roll back the encroachments of the mighty waters ; but practically they are found to be more permanently effectual for this purpose than cliffs of solid earth. In like manner, little grains of medicine, in the hands of the homceopathist, however improbable it. may appear beforehand and without experience, are found practically to be more efficacious in ar- resting the progress of disease than the complicated mixtures and poisonous doses of allopathy.
To borrow an expression which Dr. Chalmees often used in conversation, both these are instances of the "power of littles."
The sight of all the materials in the hands of the old phy- sician and surgeon "is enough to make a man serious." These are lancets, cupping-glasses, and leeches ; blisters, setons, issues, moxas, caustics, and cauteries ; emetics and purgatives, sudor- ifics and sialagogues, diuretics and expectorants, anodynes, tonics, and stimulants, with all the "luxuriancy of composition" of which Cullen so often speaks.
The whole course of medical treatment, as usually practised, is a rude and rough procedure, as far as possible removed from the delicacy required from us when we would try to regulate the exquisite machinery of the living body. It is the black- smith undertaking with his pincers to repair a watch.
Homoeopathy, it is well known, discards all these complex and formidable weapons, and prescribes a single remedy at a time, and that to be chosen according to an invariable rule, to be prepared with the greatest care, and given in the smallest dose.
That the means made use of by the physicians of the old treatment are complicated, unwieldy, and violent, is known and acknowledged ; that the means used by the homoeopathic physicians are simple and easy of application, is obvious ; that this is a great advantage, must be above suspicion and beyond dispute.
I recommend these three advantages to the serious consider- ation of my medical brethren.
H.— THE ADVANTAG-ES TO THE PATIENT.
1. The banishment of nauseous drugs and painful and debilitat- ing applications.
I give here a sketch of the old chafing dish and actual cau- tery, as the red-hot iron was called, and which has been used
12
THE ADVANTAGES
for a long period. I witnessed, as I trust, the expiring embers of this fire in the Military Hospital in Paris, under the care of
the Baron Lakrey, as described in Tract No. 1. In the next generation I hope it will be necessary to represent several other processes yet had recourse to, as well as to describe the calomel pill, the black draught, the steel mixture, the bark decoction, the opium bolus, and the bitter infusion, of which no descrip- tion need be given to the present age.
Now, notwitstanding that some people cling to their torments as the Prince did to his Falstaff, I can not but think that, by the majority of patients, the banishment of all these painful operations and nauseous doses must be felt to be a great deliver- ance.
The avoiding of blood-letting, and of the weakness caused by such loss of the vital fluid, is of itself a sufficient triumph for the new system ; but when it is remembered that every pain- ful and debilitating process, along with every disagreeable dose, is for ever abandoned, how great is the emancipation, how substantial the triumph !
It is now contended by some medical men that during the last few years the character of diseases has become so altered that bleeding is no longer necessary. One of these practition- ers urged this remark upon a patient of mine the other day, and added that Homoeopathy had derived great advantage from this change in the character of diseases.
But let me ask any unprejudiced person which of these two
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 13
suppositions is most likely to be true : that, contemporaneous- ly with the introduction of Homoeopathy, the course of nature was suddenly altered, and the character of diseases changed; or that, from various considerations, and among them the suc- cess of Homoeopathy, physicians have been induced to lay aside the lancet, and to try a milder treatment, and finding this suc- ceed better than severe measures, they have invented the former supposition to save themselves from the acknowledgment of error.
Notwithstanding, however, the amelioration which has taken place in the severity of the usual practice, since the introduction of Homoeopathy ,and which is a tacit admission of its superior success, the difference between the two in respect to this com- parative severity and mildness is still very great. A few in- stances will make this sufficiently apparent.
In apoplexy, locked-jaw, and other similar cases, where the power of swallowing is lost, and large doses of medicine can not possibly be given, and where consequently the allopathic physician, if he does not bleed and blister, is able to do scarcely any thing, the homoeopathist is at no loss how to proceed ; his drop or gobule placed within the lips has still power to act, as I have myself witnessed, to the complete restoration of the patient.
In cases of acute inflammation in delicate persons, where the local disease seems to call for depletion and a lowering treat- ment, and the constitution at the same time urgently requires to be strengthened, the practitioner on the old plan is placed between Scylla and Charybdis ; his efforts to relieve the inflam- mation, in proportion to their activity, increase the general weakness ; while the homoeopathist meets with nothing to per- plex him, and can do good without doing harm.
Again, the suffering spared to children is immense, and must call forth the grateful feelings of all parents. Their beautiful bodies, uninjured by previous dosing, are susceptible of all the actions of the new remedies, and capable of deriving all the benefits which such actions can impart.
That patients treated after the old method are still often severely handled by their physicians is known and acknow- ledged ; that they wholly escape this rough usage under the new method is obvious ; that this is a great advantage must be above suspicion and beyond dispute.
2. Greatly -increased efficacy and success.
Some object to the possibility of this under any treatment, and contend that the duration of life is not within the power or control of man. This is true in the highest sense of the ex-
14 THE ADVANTAGES
pression ; but if a lower meaning be attached to it, then it is not true, and life may be prolonged by our own endeavors. In England, a hundred and fifty years ago, one out of every twenty-five of the population died each year. Fifty years ago the proportion was one in thirty-five ; now it is less than one in forty-five. So that the number of deaths in proportion to the number of people is only one half what it was a while ago. This addition to life is to be attributed mainly to more wholesome food, warmer clothing, greater cleanliness, and bet- ter habits : so much having been thus accomplished, it is not unreasonable to hope that still more may be effected by the blessing of God on these and other means.
I must next observe that all success in medical treatment is comparative. In London, about a thousand persons, of all ages, die every week ; for the most part these have died under allopathic treatment. Now if any mode of medical relief can be devised which shall diminish, however slightly, this rate of mortality, it deserves to be substituted for the older methods. The amount of general sickness greatly exceeds the amount of mortality ; whatever treatment diminishes, however little, the number of deaths, will diminish very much the quantity of sickness.
Homoeopathy is a mode of treatment capable of being uni- versally adopted, and should it be found on trial only to equal in efficiency former methods, for the reasons given under the last head, it is much to be preferred. Should such a trial prove it to possess superior efficacy, how greatly is that preference en- hanced !
These comparative results are obtainable in two ways ; by public hospital reports, and by individual trials in private prac- tice. Through the industry of Dr. Kouth, we have been fur- nished with a considerable collection of European hospital re- turns, and how much these tell in favor of Homoeopathy may be seen in Tract Nb. 2. The results of an individual trial in private, as made by myself; are given in Tracts Nos. 3 and 4. This trial also testifies to the great superiority of the new treat- ment. If my readers will give these results their thoughtful contemplation my belief is, that the conclusion that the new treatment is followed by greatly increased success, will be irre- sistibly forced upon their minds.
I grant that it is difficult to produce a conviction of this in- creased efficacy and success of Homoeopathy. But this diffi- culty arises, not from the increased efficacy and success being slight, or such as can be readily denied, but from the ingenuity exercised by opposing parties to evade the force of the evidence
OF HOM(EOPATHY. 15
in support of it, by suggesting other modes of accounting for and explaining it. Many reject this evidence because they reason about it and conclude it improbable ; forgetting that experience will often teach us what reason can not. Others neglect it because they will not take the trouble, or think they have not the time to examine it. Others again require an amount of demonstration which the subject does not admit of. For myself I have as much certainty upon this point as Locke expresses in the following sentences :
" Though it be highly probable that millions of men do now exist, yet whilst I am alone writing this, I have not that cer- tainty of it, which we strictly call knowledge ; though the great likelihood of it puts me past doubt, and it is reasonable for me to do several things upon the confidence that there are men, (and men also of my acquaintance, with whom I have to do,) now in the world. Whereby we may observe how foolish and vain a thing it is for a man of a narrow knowledge, who having reason given him to judge of the different evidence and probability of things, and to be swayed accordingly ; how vain, I say, it is to expect demonstration and certainty in things not capable of it, and refuse assent to very rational propositions, and act con- trary to very plain and clear truths, because they can not be made out so evident, as to surmount even the least (I will not say reason, but) pretense of doubting. He that in the ordinary affairs of life would admit of nothing but direct plain demon- stration, would be sure of nothing in this world but of perishing quickly."*
Were the method more disagreeable and painful than the old one, a reluctance to yield to the evidence in its favor, at least on the part of patients, would not be surprising ; and it would be reasonable to expect that any class of medical men endeavoring to persuade the public into its adoption, would meet with great difficulty in doing so ; but when the case is conspicuously the reverse of this, it seems unnatural and strange that its introduction should be so strenuously resisted.
Again, were the practice of Homoeopathy one which the profession could not possibly adopt, and which transferred the treatment of disease to another class of persons, it would not be surprising to find that medical practitioners opposed its progress ; but when the case is otherwise, it is deeply to be lamented that, through ignorancej. they set themselves so strongly against the new method, and are unwilling to under- take even its patient investigation.
* Locke's " Essay on the Human Understanding,^' Chap xi., § 9, 10.
16 THE ADVANTAGES
Nevertheless, I am fully persuaded that every fair trial of Homoeopathy will confirm all previous trials, and lead to the same conclusion as to its superior efficacy and success ; and therefore, I can not but believe that it will be universally adopted, and that neither the fears of the public, nor the preju- dices of the profession, however they may retard this consumma- tion, can ultimately prevent it.
For that patients often die, suffer much from their ailments, and have long convalescences under the old treatment is known and acknowledged ; that they less frequently die, suffer less, and have shorter convalescences under homoeopathic treatment, (from the cases reported in Tracts No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4,) is obvious ; that this is a great advantage is above suspicion and beyond dispute.
3. Deliverance from medicinal diseases, and other destructive consequences of former methods of treatment.
The pernicious effects of poisonous drugs, as administered in the usual manner, are of two kinds ; some are immediate, others are more remote. The immediate mischief produced by some medicines is so visible that it must strike the eye of both physician and patient ; indeed there are few persons who are not aware, from their own observation, that injurious conse- quences not unirequently follow the taking of ordinary physic. This circumstance is so notorious that Molieee asserts that " Presque tous les hommes meurent de leurs remedes, et non pas de leurs maladies." Most people die of their remedies, and not of their diseases.
As an illustration of the mischievous effects of the ordinary practice, I will take the medicine which at present is most pop- ular both in the profession and out of it, namely, Mercury. This poison, in the form of gray powder, blue pill, calomel, or some other preparation, is given and taken every day by a multitude of people. The accumulated ill-consequences of this formidable medication, whether supplied by a professional or a domestic hand, it would be quite impossible to detail ; a few testimonies must suffice.
Samuel Cooper in his admirable Surgical Dictionary, while describing the best modes of giving Mercury observes that when thus given it "occasionally attacks the bowels, and causes violent purging even of blood. At other times it is suddenly determined to the mouth, and produces inflammation, ulceration, and an excessive flow of saliva." " Mercury, when it falls on the mouth, produces, in many constitutions violent inflammation which sometimes terminates in mortification."* I have seen it
* Cooper's Surgical Dictionary, Art. Mercury.
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 17
cause, in a young lady who had taken blue pill for an attack of fever, the mortification and separation of the greater part of the lower jaw.
Mercury sometimes produces an eruption, called Eczema Mercuriale, for the treatment of which Dr. A. T. Thompson prescribes, and then adds, "Under this treatment the disease (produced by the Mercury) generally disappears, but some- times the morbid symptoms increase under every mode of treatment, and' a fatal termination of the disease ensues."*
Death sometimes follows from what are considered very small doses.
" Dr. Christison" mentions a case in which two grains of calomel destroyed life by the severe salivation induced, as well as by ulceration of the throat. Another case was mentioned to me by a pupil in 1839, in which five grains of calomel killed an adult by producing fatal salivation. In another instance a little girl aged five, took daily for three days three grains of mercury and chalk powder, {gray powder,) her mouth was severely affected, mortification ensued, and she died in eight days. In another case three grains of blue pill given twice a day for three days, making eighteen grains, were ordered for a girl aged nineteen, who complained of a slight pain in her ab- domen. Severe salivation supervened, and she died in twelve days."f
These extracts show that the ill-effects which sometimes fol- low immediately from an ordinary dose of mercurial medicine are extreme — even to the taking away of life. It will be readily understood that every less degree of mischief must happen much more frequently.
The more remote consequences arising from the presence of a deleterious drug depend upon the absorption of the poison, and its retention in the body.
This fact of the absorption and retention of medicines in the body, and that for years, is not so well known as the evils last described, but it has been often proved. The following case proves it with respect to the drug I have taken for an example :
"A gentleman rubbed five grains of corrosive sublimate, (by mistake for white precipitate,) made into an ointment, over the abdomen for a slight ailment. From this application he suf- fered very severely ; cold water and flour were applied to as- suage his torment. Next morning the pain was lessened, and shortly after, a tingling sensation only remained. No further
* Thompson's Dispensatory, Art. Mercury.
f Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence, Art. Mercury.
2
18 THE ADVANTAGES
symptom followed. Seven days after, when trying to polish the ring on his hand with one of his fingers, he was astonished at discovering the apj)earance of mercury on the gold, and proceeding to burnish the metal all over, he readily covered the entire surface with a plating of quicksilver. The circum- stance was made known to a medical gentleman, and the discs of three sovereigns were also mercurialized. The follow- ing morning the relator of the case saw the party, and by rubbing the handle of a gold eye-glass upon the inner surface of the arm a similar result was obtained. A portion of the milled edge of a sovereign was also thus so completely coated with mercury, that no glimpse of the gold could be seen through it. The mouth was strictly examined, but not the slightest saliva- tion, enlargement, unusual redness, or looseness of the teeth, was discernible, or had for a moment been experienced ; the health was as usual, personal appearance unaltered."*
It is thus proved that the compound preparation of mercury which had been applied to the skin, had been absorbed ; had subsequently been reduced to the metallic state ; and had per- vaded all parts of the body. This gentleman had not, as yet, suffered permanently from the presence of the metal in his system; but in other cases there has been much suffering for many years, and even for the remainder of life, from the pre- sence of mercury.
Similar evidence might be adduced respecting other medi- cines in daily use, such as lead, arsenic, iodine, etc. That the ill-effects which have followed the taking of them are really to be attributed to the remedies, and not to the progress of the disease for which they were given, admits of the most positive proof. Thus that medicinal diseases and destructive conse- quences follow the use of the ordinary doses can not be doubted.f
' Now let us inquire what are the effects of homoeopathic doses. The objection ever on the lips of our opponents is this : There is nothing in the dose, there are no effects : then if no effects follow, it is plain no evil effects follow : ex nihilo nihil Jit.
But that effects of a beneficial kind follow the administration of the homoeopathic doses is proved by the successful results which have been detailed in former Tracts ; and also by the testi- mony of every medical man who has honestly and fairly tried them. The facts relative to the various effects of these doses
* London Medical and Physical Journal. Vol. 65, p. 463. f The records of Hydropathic establishments afford curious confirmation of these facts.
OF HOM(EOPATHY. 19
are so numerous and interesting that I have not space to give them now ; they mil furnish materials for a future number. I must be content at present with the remark, that did injurious effects follow the use of the small doses, either immediately or remotely, as they follow the use of the large ones, our oppo- nents would not omit to make the most of such a fact against Homoeopathy.
That patients are often immediately greatly inj ured by the large doses of medicines ordinarily given, and also often suffer long from the contamination of their constitutions with such poi- sonous drugs, is known and acknowledged ; that they do not thus suffer from infinitesimal doses, from the objection just quoted from our opponents, is obvious; that this is a great advantage must be above suspicion and beyond dispute.
Such I believe to be a faithful and unexaggerated picture of the advantages of Homoeopathy over every other form of me- dical treatment ; and I lay it upon the conscience of every in- dividual among my readers who believes this with me, to ex- tend the knowledge of it according to his ability, until these benefits are shared in by the whole world.
NORTH AMERICAN HOMCEOPATHIC JOURNAL:
gi ^ttartjerlg pagaghtc of Hkbiutu
AND THE AUXILIARY SCIENCES,
EDITED BY
E. E. MARCY, M.D., New -York; ¥M. H. HOLCOMBB, M.D, Natchez, Miss.; JOHN C. PETERS, M. D., Neiv-York; and HENRY C. PRESTON, M.D., Providence, R.L
The North American Homoeopathic Journal will appear on the first days of August, November, February, and May. Every number will contain one hun- dred and forty-four pages, thus making at the end of each year a handsome volume of five hundred and seventy-six octavo pages.
The following Programme will be adopted in making up the Journal :
Part I. Original and Translated Papers.
Part If. General Record of Medical Science.
Part in. Bibliographical Notices.
Part IV. Miscellaneous Items — American and Foreign.
Part V. Materia Medica.
The department devoted to Materia Medica will constitute an important and high- ly-interesting feature of the Journal. The most energetic efforts will bemadoto pre- sent to our subscribers a materia medica composed exclusively of characteristic and reliable drug-symptoms. In accomplishing this desirable object, our work, when finished, may not be so voluminous as the present works on Materia Medica, but our symptoms will be real drug-symptoms — specific and trustworthy.
Our plan will be to place under each separate organ
1st, Its Pathogenesis. 2d, Its Pathology.
3d, Clinical Remarks.
By this arrangement, the physician may comprehend at a glance the entire genius of the drug with reference to any part of the organism.
The Editorial department will be conducted by Dr. E. E. Marcy, of New- York; Dr. J. C. Peters, of New- York; Dr.W. H. Holcombe, of Natchez, Miss.; and H. C. Preston, of Providence, R. I.
Measures have already been taken to secure a number of able correspondents from Germany, France, and England.
"We likewise most earnestly appeal to our professional brethren at home, to aid us in the good cause. "We hold it to be the duty of every true Homoeopath to contribute something toward the advancement of the doctrines he professes. Any new fact — an interesting clinical notice — a new drug — indeed any thing of general interest to the profession, should always be noted and communicated to the world. In this respect let every Homoeopath do his duty, and the prosperity of our school will be enhanced.
Terms : Three dollars per annum, payable on delivery of the first number.
All the subscriptions, communications, and journals, to be directed to the pub- lisher and proprietor,
WM. RADDE, No 322 Broadway, New- York.
§^° There are still a few copies of the 1st, 2d, and 3d volumes of this most valu- able Journal on hand ; every one who sends on $10 to Wm. Radde, 322 Broadway, shall be furnished with the 1st, 2d, 3d, and the present 4th volume.
Just published, price Five Cents each, 100 copies, $3. By taking 500, 1000, or more copies, a much larger discount will be given
TRACTS ON HOMOEOPATHY,
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M. D., F.R.S.
1. — WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY?
Fifth Edition.
2. — THE DEFENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY,
Fourth Edition.
3. — THE TRUTH OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Fifth Edition.
4. — THE SMALL DOSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
5. — THE DIFFICULTIES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
6.— THE ADVANTAGES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
7.— THE PRINCIPLE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
8.— THE CONTROVERSY ON HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
9. — THE REMEDIES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition. The above in a cover, price Eighteenpence.
10. — THE PROVLNGS OF HOMOEOPATHY.
11. — THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
12. — (The Concluding Number.) THE COMMON SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
feris on fomfopiljg.-fa. 7,
THE PRINCIPLE
HOMOEOPATHY.
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D., F.R.S.
NEW-YOEK:
WILLIAM EADDE, 322 BROADWAY;
PHILADELPHIA, PA. : RADEMACHER & SHEER, 239 ARCH ST. ;
BOSTON, MASS.: OTIS CLAPP; CINCINNATI, 0.: I. M. PARKS;
CLEVELAND, O. : JOHN HALL ; ST. LOUIS, MO. : DR. D. R. LUYTLES '
CHICAGO, ILL.: DR. G. E. SHIPMAN.
1856.
"I am so far from blaming a rational theory in Physic, that I think it the basis
of all just and regular practice ; but then it should be as Hippocrates adviseth,
Kard <pimv ■deugia, (a theory according to nature.) If ever Physic is to be
improved, it must le in such a manner, and not by chimerical hypotheses, nor
rash unwarrantable quackery."
IOHN HUXHAM.
JOITK A. OxRAY, PRINTER,
95 & 97 Cliff St, N.T.
THE PRINCIPLE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
" The invention of the mariner's needle which giveth the direction, is of no less benefit for navigation than the invention of the sails which give the motion."
Lord Bacon.
It has been well said "there are truths which some men de- spise, because they will not examine them, and which they will not examine because they despise them." Homoeopathy is one of these. Men of large scientific attainments, and inde- fatigable in adding to their store of knowledge, think it foolish because they are ignorant of its truth, and this notion of its folly hinders them from becoming acquainted with the evidences in its favor.
Nevertheless, Homoeopathy embraces scientific and practical truth of so much value, that, were it known, it would interest alike the man of science and the man of practical utility. This truth, known only as men know other truths, imperfectly, may be mixed up with numerous errors, but it is wiser to en- deavor to separate what is true from what is false than to re- ject both.
The jealousy of power may indeed attempt to crush the ris- ing influence of new truth. A Galileo may by force be con- strained to read a reluctant recantation, but "the earth moves notwithstanding." Such is the vitality of truth, that when once discovered, it seems never afterwards to die. If, there- fore, Homoeopathy be true, we may confidently expect that it will survive the opposition to which it is exposed. If it be false, let us have the proof. It is not to be condemned as some people would condemn a suspected felon, without judge, jury, or witness.
But, whatever course the opponents of Homoeopathy may pursue, it is plainly the duty and the wisdom of those who have risked their credit and success by embracing it, to give it a most searching inquiry ; that what there is of truth in it may be preserved for the benefit of mankind, and that what there may be of error intermingled with that truth may be eli-
4 THE PRINCIPLE
minated from it. Truth, beautiful truth, must be to us what power was to the Eomaus. In the words of Livt,
"Apud Romanos vis imperii valet inania transmiituntur."
Among the Eomans, he says, the power, the energy of empire was valued ; the pompous trappings and parade were handed over to others — to the monarchs of the east.
Let us then once more examine the foundation of our science, and in doing so we will consider :
I. Whether there be any probability that a law, rule, or principle exists in nature for our guidance in the treatment of disease.
II. The law of Homoeopathy.
III. The limits of this law.
IV. What those cases are which are beyond the limits of the law, and how they are to be treated.
I. Whether there be any probability that a law, rule, or prin- ciple exists in nature for our guidance in the treatment of dis- ease.
It is held by some that such a law is impossible. Among those who think thus, is the present official head of our profes- sion— Dr. Paris, the President of the Eoyal College of Physi- cians in London.
" In tracing the history of the Materia Medica to its earliest periods," says Dr. Paris, "We shall find that its progress has been very slow and unequal, very unlike the steady and suc- cessive improvement which has attended other branches of natural knowledge ; we shall perceive even that its advance- ment has been continually arrested, and often entirely subvert- ed, by the caprices, prejudices, superstition and knavery of mankind ; unlike, too, the other branches of science, it is incapa- ble of successful generalization." * This extract from Dr. Paeis proves, first, that, up to the present moment, no law, principle, or generalization has been acknowledged by the profession as a body. It proves, secondly, the wretched condition of the Materia Medica, or art of healing, as exercised by legally quali- fied practitioners. It further admits that this art has not been improved and advanced as other branches of natural knowledge are confessed to have been advanced ; leaving the inference to be drawn, that such wretched condition and such want of improvement have arisen from the absence of a principle or rule to improve by. Lastly, it asserts, but it does not prove, that
*Paria'a " PharmacaloL-ia." Introduction.
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 5
medicine must for ever remain in this hopelessly unimprov- able condition, for that it is incapable of such a principle ! Sad indeed — if it be true.
These are the sentiments of the leading living physician in London; let us now turn to the most distinguished living physician in the capital of Scotland.
Dr. 'Simpson says : " In medicine and surgery we have many general facts or laws, more or less correctly ascertained and es- tablished, and the art of medicine consists in the practical ap- plication of these laws to the relief and cure of the diseases of our patients. These laws are some of a higher, some of a lower type of generality. As examples of them we have, for instance, the law that various contagious diseases, more particu- larly eruptive fevers, seldom attack the same individual twice during life, and the practical application of this law in artificial inoculation with small-pox and cow-pox has already saved millions of human lives. As a general law, cinchona has the power of arresting and curing diseases of an intermittent or periodic type, as intermittent fever or ague, intermittent neural- gia, etc. As a general law, the employment of opium arrests and cures irritative diarrhoea, iron cures chlorosis, etc. etc." *
In the name of natural science I protest against such an abuse of its expressions as is here made. If its most valuable terms are to be applied in so vague a manner there is an end to all precision of either thought or language. If the term " general law " is to be understood as meaning nothing more than that things generally happen so and so, the further discus- sion of the subject will be vain and unprofitable.
Dr. Simpson, endeavoring to extricate himself from this con- fusion of ideas, and misapplication of words, goes on to say : "But the law laid down by Hahnemann, and which forms the groundwork of Homoeopathy, namely, similia similib us cu- ranlur, is regarded by him and his disciples, not in the light of a general law, but as a universal and infallible law in thera- peutics." Here it is evident that the word general is made to mean the same as generally, as if they were connected as the words frequent and frequently may be ; but a " general law " in this sense is a contradiction in terms; a "law generally but not always " is no law at all in nature. The word " general " when applied to a law of nature means the same as " universal." A natural law must be universally applicable within its sphere of action — a real though not an apparent exception would destroy its claim to be received as a law. Homceopathists speak of their law as thus general or universal.
* Simpson's "Homoeopathy, its Tenets and Tendencies," pp. 2, 3T.
6 THE PRINCIPLE
But the confusion in Dr. Simpson's mind continues as he proceeds. "For one," he says, " I am most willing to admit, that if Hahnemann, or any man, could discover a single uni- versal, infallible law in therapeutics, applicable to all diseases and all cases of disease, it would constitute the greatest imagin- able discovery in medicine. Many men have in the same way fancied that they have discovered a single infallible universal remedy for all diseases. Priesnitz thought his cold water was such. Morison averred that his pills were such, and so on."
How strange the confusion of thought in this sentence ! What relation does the attempt to cure all diseases by a single remedy, as in the instance of Hydropathy, bear to the attempt to discover, by philosophical inquiry and fair induction, a gen- eral fact or law of nature calculated to guide us in the applica- tion of all remedies? An uneducated but vigorous peasant might undertake the one, but only an accomplished physician could hope to effect the other. And how can Dr. Simpson place a laborious scientific inquiry, carried on openly in the face of Europe by Hahnemann, side by side with the adver- tisements about his secret pills and their infallible virtues by Morison ? This evidences a lack either of discernment or of candor ; if the former, it displays such a want of discrimination as entirely unfits him for the task he has undertaken ; if the latter, it betrays him into such a misrepresentation of things as equally disqualifies him on another ground.
Dr. Simpson admits that the discovery of a general principle to guide us in the application of remedies in disease would be a great discovery ; but he has no sjrmpathy with those who are laboring to find out such an invaluable guide. He does not, indeed, say with Dr. Paris that the discovery is impossible, but he breathes no fervent aspiration that suffering humanity may receive such a boon. He does not engage in the search himself, any more than Dr. Paris, nor has he a word of en- couragement to induce others to engage in it. He expresses no gratitude to Hahnemann for his indefatigable exertions, nor regret that they should have been persevered in for so many years, as he thinks, in vain.
There is nothing enviable in a frame of mind like this — so destitute of generous admiration of the struggles of an ardent spirit to obtain some light to illuminate his path in the con- scientious discharge of his professional duties — so devoid of ingenuous pity and brotherly regret while he thinks that those aspirations and exertions have ended in a failure !
But other men have had other views and feelings, and have
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 7
come to a different conclusion. Sydenham, the father of British physicians, writes thus :
" I conceive that the advancement of medicine lies in the fol- lowing conditions :
" There must be, in the first place, a history of the disease, in other words, a description that shall be at once graphic and natural
" To draw a disease in gross is an easy matter. To describe it in its history, so as to escape the censure of the great Bacon, is far more difficult
"It is necessary, in describing any disease, to enumerate the peculiar and constant phenomena, apart from the accidental and adventitious ones ; these last named being those that arise from the age or temperament of the patient, and from the dif- ferent forms of medical treatment. It often happens that the character of the complaint varies with the nature of the reme- dies, and that symptoms may be referred less to the disease than
to the doctor No botanist takes the bites of a
caterpillar as characteristic of a leaf of sage
" The other method whereby, in my opinion, the art of me- dicine may be advanced, turns chiefly upon what follows, namely, that there must be some fixed, definite, and consum- mate methodus medendi, (law or method of cure,) of which the commonweal may have the advantage. By fixed, definite, and consummate, I mean a line of practice which has been based and built upon a sufficient number of experiments, and has in that manner been proved competent to the cure of diseases. I by no means am satisfied with the record of a few successful operations either of the doctor or the drug. I require that they be shown to succeed universally under such and such cir- cumstances."*
Such are the earnest thoughts of Sydenham. It is true he looked for this " method of healing" in a direction in which success has not yet been attained. He hoped to find it in a theory of disease. "It is known," he says, " that the founda- tion and erection of a perfect and definite methodus medendi is a work of exceeding difficulty. In this direction two thousand years have been spent in unsuccessful efforts. Hahnemann turned to another quarter, and, as Dr. Scott has beautifully explained, he found a method in a theory of cure.
Thus far authorities may be consulted on the question, whe- ther there be any probability that a law of healing exists in nature. But authorities can not give the answer ; it is a ques-
* Works of Sydenham. Vol. I., pp. 12-17. — Sydenham Society's Edition.
8 THE PBINC1PLL
tion of analogy ; and it can be answered only by a reference to what is fonnd to be true in other departments of nature.
Now all who are acquainted with the history of natural and experimental philosophy are aware that all progress in natural knowledge is dependent upon the discovery of general facts or laws. A subject appears confused, and all its parts in disorder, until such a discovery with reference to it has been made ; when this has been effected, every thing falls into its place, and that which seemed before a chaos becomes an exhi- bition of order befitting the contrivance of an infinite intelli- gence. So far have natural philosophers gone in this direction, and so imbued are they with the conviction that all nature is a system of wisdom, an arrangement of perfect order and beautiful symmetry, that their energies are mainly devoted to the inves- tigation of these laws. If we examine the labors of the me- chanician, the chemist, the electrician, the geologist, the bo- tanist, the physiologist, we find that all are working in the same spirit, all are in search of the same objects, general laws — the guiding principles of nature.
"All things that are," observes that excellent man who has earned for himself the epithet, judicious, " have some opera- tion not violent nor casual. All things,
therefore, do work according to law, whereof some Superior,
unto whom they are subject, is author
Those things are termed most properly natural agents which keep the law of their kind unwittingly, which can do no
otherwise than they do ; their strict keeping
of one tenure, statute, and law, is spoken of by all, but it hath in it more than men have yet attained to know."*
If then,
" Order be Heaven's first law,"
if there be laws regulating every department even of inanimate nature, shall there not be laws of life and of health ? If there be laws of storms and tempests in the air and the ocean, shall there not be laws of disease — those tempestuous motions in the living body? Shall there be a magnetic bar to guide the affrighted mariner out of the intricacies and dangers of a storm at sea, and shall there be no compass to guide the physician in his efforts to extricate the sick man from the living tempest within him ? . It can not be ; all analogy is against it.
If it be said, the original constitution of nature was indeed perfect, and arranged under perfect laws, but disease has been since introduced in the train of sin, and is therefore necessarily
* Hooker.
OP HOMOEOPATHY. 9
irregular and lawless, it may be answered, the all-wise Creator was not taken by surprise when our first parents sinned ; he had made infinite provision for the sad catastrophe; and while he righteously appointed disease to be the regulated avenue to death, the wages of sin, he mercifully provided me- dicines, and regulated their use for the mitigation of this por- tion of our woe.
Analogy, then, leads us to conclude that it is probable that a law, rule, or principle, exists in nature for our guidance in the treatment of disease.
II. The Law of Homoeopathy. — It is obvious that though from analogy it is highly probable, nay almost certain, that a law of healing exists in nature, it does not, therefore, follow that Homoeopathy is that law. The next step required is that its own truth be demonstrated as clearly as the nature of the case admits.
What is a law of nature ? By " law of nature" is to be un- derstood the will of the great Creator in the (physical, not moral) government of his own works ; by " general fact" is meant the actual exhibition of that will in the obedience of the creature ; by " principle" we express our confidence in the unalterable character of the law, as seen in the continual recurrence of the fact; and we therefore make it a "rule of art" to guide us in our own conduct and proceedings. These terms are often used synonymously, and when so used all these ideas are im- plied in them. They express a natural fact, which, not in a single instance, nor occasionally, nor generally, but always, under given circumstances, happens ; that is, so far as our pre- sent limited knowledge of natural events teaches us. They express a general fact ascertained by repeated observations, as a particular fact is ascertained by a single observation, which is found to be always true under certain conditions.
Let us take an example. One of Kepler's laws is this : " The planets describe equal areas in equal times."* When the planets are in that part of their orbit near the sun their motion is accelerated ; when at a greater distance from the sun their motion is retarded ; but at every part of their course, the area described in a given time is always the same. Now if the planets could be detected occasionally moving after a different manner the law would not exist; it could not be said that the planets describe equal areas in equal times; the statement would be false and not true. A law of nature can not be a general law without being a universal one.
* Demonstrated in the first proposition of Newton's Principia,
10 THE PRINCIPLE
These considerations are applicable to all the known laws of nature ; right reason therefore dictates their application to the law of Homoeopathy. It is proved to be a law if it pos- sess a constant action within a limited sphere ; it will not ope- rate, and ought not to be expected to operate, beyond that sphere.
What, then, is the law of Homoeopathy, and what are the proofs of its truths ? To avoid repetition, I must here refer my readers to Tract No. 3, for an answer to these questions.
That there is a natural relation between the disease-produc- ing and the disease-healing powers of drugs is, I think, clearly made out. That a poison which produces, for instance, inflam- mation of any organ when given in health in a large dose, will be a good remedy for a similar inflammation of that organ aris- ing from another cause, if given in a small dose, is, I think, fully proved ; hence the rule quaintly, but for brevity's sake, expressed in the words, " similia similibus curantur" — likes are to be treated with likes.
That it is a stronger artificial inflammation which "perma- nently extinguishes" the weaker natural inflammation, as as- serted by Hahnemann,* has not been proved, and is appa- rently beyond our power to ascertain. Why should a simple fact be obscured, and its reception retarded, by hypothetical explanations? Speculation and hypothesis have been the bane of medical science in all ages : when will they be dis- carded ? Not till then will unanimity of sentiment prevail in the profession, and the greatest success attainable crown its labors.
On another ground also it is essential that we should restrict ourselves to the expression of facts in the simplest language and in terms devoid of hypothesis. We are assailed by able, intelligent, and learned adversaries ; if we undertake to defend what is indefensible, we give our opponents a great advantage, and may expect defeat ; if we rest upon a natural fact, free from human speculation, however brilliant, we shall be able to stand.
All who are conversant with researches into the constitu- tion of nature confine themselves, when giving expression to the laws which govern its operations, to a simple statement of facts. We know too little yet of what Sydenham beautifully calls " the innermost penetralia of nature," to venture be- yond the surface. We may know that under certain circum- stances nature will act in a certain manner, but if we are wisely
* " Organon," § xxvi.
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 11
modest we shall abstain from asserting how the act is per- formed. With all due respect, therefore, for the memory of Hahnemann, and with very grateful acknowledgments of the benefits which, by his industry and perseverance, he has conferred upon mankind, I decline to adopt the hypothetical language in which he has clothed the principle " similia simi- libus curantur."11
The fact is sufficient for all practical purposes. An imagin- ative explanation adds nothing to its value, while it perplexes the student, and affords materials which the opponent can rea- dily assail. There are those, who would rather give an erro- neous explanation than own their ignorance by giving none at all. I can not admire their wisdom. There are others who insist on following the "master ;" but, as Locke has observed, " 'Tis not worth while to be concerned what he says or thinks who says or thinks only as he is directed by another."
The hypotheses of Hahnemann constitute the greatest diffi- culty in the theory of Homoeopathy ; if we agree to reject them, that difficulty is removed. " The taking away false foundations is not to the prejudice but advantage of truth, which is never injured or endangered so much as when mixed with or built on falsehood."*
The law of Homoeopathy, as expressed in the words " similia similibus curantur" — likes are to be treated with likes — should be understood as a simple statement of a natural fact, of uni- versal occurrence under certain conditions which are essential, and in the absence of which it does not occur. This brings us to the third division of our subject.
III. What are the limits to this law of Homoeopathy ? To what extent is it practically applicable ? This is an important inquiry, and I shall do good service if I succeed in defining the boundary line within which the rule of "similia similibus curantur" applies — within which it is a general law, a universal principle.
Great indistinctness of perception prevails upon this point, which is much to be regretted. It has caused a useless discus- sion on a theoretical question, whether the law is a universal or only a general law; it has also given rise to a widely- extended controversy on an important practical question, the use of so-called auxiliaries ; and it has often placed medical men in difficiilties out of which they have not known how to escape.
* Locke's Essay. Epistle to the Reader.
12 THE PEIXCIPLE
To make this subject plain, we will first inquire what is meant by the limits of a law of nature ? and, for an example in illustration, we will once more refer to the law of gravita- tion. All bodies attract each other with a force directly pro- portioned to their mass, and inversely to the squares of their distances from each other. Under certain conditions this force causes bodies to approach each other. But they often do not approach each other ; on the contrary, we often see bodies recede from each other ; is therefore the law broken and abol- ished ? By no means. The planets gravitate towards the sun, but in one part of their orbits they rapidly recede from that luminary ; why ? not because they have ceased to gravitate towards that attracting centre, but because the force of gravity is, for a time, overpowered by another force, and thus ren- dered apparently inoperative. In the same manner bodies often fall to the earth under the influence of gravity, but they often do not fall ; why ? because the attractive force is inter- fered with by some counteracting circumstance — the table or the hand supports the book — the conditions are not satisfied ; let these conditions be restored, let the support be removed, and the universahtv of the law will be vindicated — the book will fall.
Acids and alkalies have a strong tendency to combine with each other in definite proportions under the influence of chem- ical affinity ; but if a stream of galvanic electricity be passed through the liquid in which they are dissolved and united, they are separated — the force of affinity ceases to operate.
This law in chemistry of the union of bodies in definite pro- portions, seems not to hold in the manufacture of glass • at least hitherto it has not been shown to do so. I have repeat- edl}7" tried the experiment myself. I have mixed the ingre- dients in the proportions of their chemical equivalents, and have obtained glass ; having had for these experiments the use of a large glass manufactory ; but my glass was not finer nor better than that produced by the empirical mixture made by the men. Does this invalidate D Alton's beautiful and invaluable discovery ? By no means ; his experiments were made at ordinary temperatures, and chemical combinations pro- duced under similar circumstances are obedient to this law. The condition of so high a temperature as that required for the manufacture of glass does not appear, at present, to be within the limits of the law ; nevertheless, the law is perfect ; it bears universal rule within its jurisdiction — within, the conditions which limit it.
OP HOMOEOPATHY. 13
In an electrical or magnetic experiment the disturbing influ- ences, preventing or interrupting the phenomena, are more numerous and complicated. The laws of electricity and of magnetism are not, however, thereby considered doubtful or untrustworthy; they are depended upon as absolutely certain to produce their respective events within the limits of their sphere of influence.
Such is the meaning of the limits of a natural law. Let us apply these ideas to the law of "similia shnilibus curantur." A poison taken in health produces a certain series of derange- ments ; by this experiment the poison is indicated, according to the law of Homoeopathy, as a specific remedy — the best that can be obtained — the choice one in all nature — for a simi- lar series of derangements occurring in natural disease. If this axiom be true at all, it will be not only generally but uni- versally true within the limits of its conditions — within the limits of its power of action.
We are now prepared to understand the question, What are the limits of Homoeopathy ? The answer must consist in an enumeration of those diseases which come within the limits ; and this answer will be made more plain and definite when we come afterwards to consider those cases, or parts of cases, which lie beyond its limits.
That the boundary is a vast one, and includes an innumer- able multitude of the " ills that flesh is heir to," will be mani- fest on due consideration. I can only refer to them very briefly. The endless variety of affections of the brain and nerves ; the disorders of the circulation of the blood, of respi- ration, of digestion, of absorption, of secretion; many ail- ments of the bones, ligaments, joints, muscles, glands, and integuments, are included within the circle of this comprehen- sive rule.
The practitioner who professes to take this law for his guide in the treatment of disease, must obey it with loyalty, and trust it with confidence within this extensive territory. If he bleed and blister in simple inflammation, if he give purgatives in simple chronic constipation, he is without apology. The law will guide him effectually and securely, if it be obeyed, through all such troubles as these. Such additions do more than, in the language of Johnson, " encumber us with help ;" they are unnecessary and injurious.
This brings us to the consideration of so-called auxiliaries. The term is improper, and ought never to be applied.
Here is a magnet and a piece of iron ; when the magnet is brought sufficiently near the iron, and the iron is free to move,
14 THE PEINCIPLE
it is drawn up against gravity and adheres to the magnet. This is a fact illustrating the action of the magnetic force. Suppose a weight is put upon the piece of iron, and the magnet made to approach it as before ; now there is no apparent action ; the magnetism of the bar has not departed, but the conditions re- quisite for its visible manifestation are not granted ; there is a mechanical impediment. Now suppose the impediment is removed with the hand, and the conditions thus restored, the action again takes place. Can the hand in that case be called an auxiliary to the magnetic force ? It is obviously an impro- per term ; we can not help or assist a natural force, though we may often remove impediments, or assist in producing the circumstances or conditions under which the force naturally acts.
"We must reject the term auxiliary altogether. If applied to bleeding and purging in inflammation, both the act and the term are wrong ; such additions to true Homoeopathic treat- ment are not needed ; they are not auxiliaries but hindrances. If applied to what is required to be done for those parts of cases which are beyond the limits of the law of Homoeopathy, it is wrongly applied ; where the law does not reach, it can not act at all, and therefore can not be assisted.
Within the limits of the law of Homoeopathy nothing should be added to the remedy indicated, except what is manifestly calculated to promote the comfort of the patient ; appropriate food, clothing, temperature, air, water cold or warm, and cheerful and kind attendants. What is required where these limits are exceeded we will now proceed to consider.
IV. What those cases are which are beyond the limits of this law, and how they are to be treated.
These out-lying cases, or parts of cases, like stragglers beyond the camp, are a disorderly group, which have given a great deal of trouble to the Homoeopathic practitioner, because he has not seen clearly how to deal with them. They have con- stituted a great practical difficulty. Let us try to subdue them to order and submission. We will take them seriatim, follow- ing the maxim of Kochefoucauld, " Pour bien savoir les choses, il en faut savoir de detail." To understand a subject, we must go into particulars.
There is a class of cases of which the following is an instance. A man is heartily and hastily enjoying his dinner ; he swallows the bone of a fish, and it lodges in his throat ; the practitioner is sent for in great haste — the man is choking. What dose of a " like" remedy can help in such a case ? It is true there are
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 15
medicines homoeopathic to the pain and incipient inflammation, but their action would be kept in abeyance, just as the force of gravity can not bring the apple to the ground while it is supported by the twig. No ; the mechanical impediment in both instances must first be removed — the twig must be broken, the bone must be extracted, and then,_ the required conditions being granted, the respective laws will operate.
Another class is represented by the following cases. A rail- way accident, unhappily by no means unfrequent, has scattered abroad a number of poor creatures with broken arms and legs, dislocated shoulders and ankles, and wounds of all kinds. It is true the Homoeopathic medicines will be of great service, but there are other requirements : fractured bones must be replaced in their natural positions, and be retained there ; dislocated joints must be reduced ; wounds must be closed with sutures and plasters, perhaps bleeding vessels tied ; and bandages must be skillfully applied. All the presence of mind and practical tact of the medical attendant will be put in requisition. His applications will be much fewer in number, his apparatus much less complicated than were those of his forefathers, so graphic- ally depicted in the glorious folio of Ambrose Paee, but some- thing of this kind must always be required ; to treat such cases single-handed is plainly beyond the power of Homoeo- pathy ; but Homoeopathy will do its own part, and do it well ; within its own province it will need no help.
We proceed to another class of cases. A patient is suffering from inflammation of the bladder ; the physician prescribes Cantharides; the remedy is perfectly homoeopathic to the inflammation, but it fails to afford relief. On more careful examination a stone is found in the bladder ; its presence is the cause of the inflammation ; it is a mechanical impediment to the action of the remedy. The forceps is again required, the stone is removed, and the patient recovers. The failure of Cantharides in this case is no reproach to Homoeopathy ; it would have cured had there been no such impediment.
It will be said that all these are surgical cases, and that the Homoeopathic physician is not concerned with them. I grant that they are called surgical cases, and that Hahnemann him- self excepts them as such; but the distinction between the surgeon and the physician is an artificial division of the medical staff, which ought never to have arisen. It did not exist among the Greeks and Eomans, but originated in the dark ages, and I hope it will cease to exist in the future ; that practitioners will study the whole of their profession, and seek only the dis- tinction of superior skill and experience. At any rate all
16 THE PEINCIPLE
should first be physicians, and surgery should be the super- added part.
In another class of cases we meet with strictures of the natu- ral passages. In these cases there is the diseased condition of the part, which can be prescribed for Homoeopathically, but there is something more ; there is a mechanical impediment to the free passage of what ought naturally to be allowed entrance or exit. In the case of the sesophagus it is clear that solid food must be abandoned, and only liquids swallowed ; in the case of the rectum something must be done to produce liquid evacuation. Now, Homoeopathic medicines restore health; their tendency is to bring a disordered action into a natural state ; but a natural state, a healthy action is inadmissible in these deplorable cases, and consequently something must be given to produce an unnatural state, as the only condition on which life can be for a short time prolonged. This case, then, requires an aperient, but it is evident that the aperient is not given with any view of curing the patient ; it has no pretension of that kind; its object is simply to accommodate nature to a mechanical difficulty. Should Homoeopathic remedies dimin- ish the disease, and the stricture disappear, the necessity for a liquid diet in the one case, and for aperients in the other, would cease. These cases are happily very rare, but when they do occur, the medical adviser should explain their nature clearly, and especially his motive for having recourse to aperients.
Other cases the opposite of those last noticed will be met with. I lately saw an elderly lady who was in the act of los- ing an enormous quantity of dark blood from the bowel ; her life was in great jeopardy. The rectum was distended with hard matter. Two things were immediately done ; the medi- cine which I conceived was most homoeopathic to my patient's condition was given, and by an enema of water, the mechanical impediment to the contraction of the bowel was removed. The haemorrhage ceased instantly, and never returned. Now I acted here strictly as a Homoeopathist should act. I gave nothing but the Homoeopathic remedy ; but had I contented myself with this, my patient must have died. On the other hand, remov- ing the mechanical difficulty was not having recourse to Allo- pathy ; it was in the strictest keeping with the purest Homoeo- pathy, and I took care that the friends of my patient should understand the nature of the case.
Again, a child fills its stomach with poison-berries, or with pastry ; or a man swallows accidentally or intentionally a quantity of poison in a solid state. Shall not warm water, or an emetic, or the stomach-pump, as may seem to be most called
OF HOMffiOPATHY. 17
for, be immediately made available to remove the offending matter ? In some of these cases magnesia, or white of egg, or camphor, or some other antidote may be required to neutralize chemically or vitally the poisonous substance. The remainder of the case will fall within the limits of the law, and the proper Homoeopathic remedies can be given.
Again, cases of fracture of the spine, where there is, of course, total paralysis of all the parts below the fracture, re- quire a mechanical mode of relieving the bladder, during the brief remainder of life. "
Again, cases of dropsical effusion may demand the removal of the accumulated water, not as a remedy for the dropsy, but that the distress caused by its bulk and mechanical pressure may, for a time at least, be relieved. For a similar reason it will sometimes be desirable to remove simple tumors by an operation. Malignant tumors, having an origin in constitu- tional disease, should not, I think, be operated upon. They may be benefited by Homoeopathic treatment ; the forcible removal of them subjects the sufferer to a painful operation, and tends to shorten rather than to prolong life. We have the testimony of experienced Allopathic surgeons to this fact.
It will be evident, on a careful study of all these cases, that none of them are cases for which Homoeopathy is not adapted. We hear it said from time to time : Such a case is not suited to Homoeopathy. There are no such cases. Every case of disease is suited to Homoeopathy, and Homoeopathy is adapted to every case. It will be observed that it is for a part only of these cases that Homoeopathy is not suited. It is perfectly com- petent to act within its own sphere in every case of disease ; that which, in any case, lies beyond this sphere, if we follow the dictates of right reason, must be treated by other means. They are chiefly mechanical difficulties, which require to be mechanically removed. A few are chemical.
The Homceopathist need not be ashamed of these things ; he must avow them ; he must explain them ; he must, of all men, be open and straightforward, and do every thing in public. Nothing can damage Homoeopathy, or the character of Homce- opathists, so much as clandestine proceedings.
But what shall be done with those " bites of the caterpillar," to which we have seen that Sydenham, nearly two centuries ago, compared the mischief produced by the deleterious doses of Allopathic drugs — the bites of the caterpillar ? What must be done with them ? They are very difficult to deal with. I will describe what I did, a few months ago, with a case of this kind.
No. vn. — 2
18 THE PEINCIPLE
In the beginning of November last, Mr. H., aged abont 38, married, of a nervous temperament, not feeling quite well, con- sulted his physician, complaining chiefly of nervousness. Mer- cury, Hyoscyamus, and Digitalis in large doses, along with other medicines, were prescribed for him. The next day he felt worse; the medicines were repeated, and others added. He continued to get worse ; the drugs were continued. He took to his bed ; another physician was called in in consulta- tion, and the drugs repeated. When he had been three months in bed, was emaciated to the last degree ; was suffering from bilious diarrhoea ; his heart beating as if it would break his ribs, 140 times in a minute ; his head confused ; the Mercury and Foxglove being still continued, and Belladonna added in large and frequently -repeated doses ; his wife was told that she must expect the worst. This was his condition in April last, when I first saw him. He had taken Mercury and Foxglove for five months, together with Henbane, Capsicum, Columba, Ammonia, Opium, Valerian, Camphor, Sulphuric Acid, Qui- nine, Ether, Assafetida, Colocynth, Nitric Acid, Dandelion, Prussic Acid, Hop, Poppy, Cod-liver Oil, Rhubarb, Deadly Nightshade, Epsom Salts, Senna, etc. etc. These medicines had been prescribed, in the order here given, with various salines and infusions, by these two highly respectable phy- sicians, between the 13th of November and the 26th of March, in as many separate prescriptions, now in my possession. What could I do ? I advised him to try to take some food, and to abstain from all medicine for a week. At the end of the week he was a little better, but had been greatly agitated the day before by the stormy visit of one of his former physicians. I prescribed sulphur for him, and in about two months, by atten- tion to diet, and by taking a few doses of Nux Vomica, Sul- phur, Nitric Acid, and Cinchona, I had the pleasure of leaving my patient quite well, and he soon afterwards resumed his occupation, upon which a family was dependent.
Before I conclude, I must not omit to notice one class of cases which remains, and which Hahnemann reminds us com- mon sense excludes, in the first stage of their treatment, from the domains of Homoeopathy. They are, in fact, not cases of disease, but of privation of life ; I allude to suspended anima- tion by drowning, or any other kind of suffocation. Persons in this condition do not need healing of disease, but, if possi- ble, restoring to life. Whatever means are most likely to be conducive to this end must be diligently used by the Homceo- pathist. If he should happily succeed in these efforts, and any
OF HOMOEOPATHY. 19
ailment then exist in his patient, his rule comes into action, and he treats his case accordingly.
It will be perceived that on the rise of auxiliaries, which at present somewhat divides the Homoeopathic body, I do not join either party ; but I have endeavored to place the subject in such a point of view, that both parties may agree with me. It may have been presumptuous in me to attempt this, but I shall be thankful and not proud if I should succeed. If both parties should agree with me, this consequence will follow : that they will agree with one, another ; for it is a general law of nature that "things which are equal to the same thing, are equal to one another."
Such, when " cleared of doubt," is the principle of Homoeo- pathy. "When it is remembered how many centuries medical men have beeu groping in the dark without any principle to guide them, it seems scarcely possible to over-estimate the value, or to exaggerate the importance, of such a discovery. It might have been expected that it would be hailed with delight by the professional body, or that at least it would be used thankfully till a better could be found ; but it has met with the more common treatment of new truth — rejection with- out inquiry. "Damnant quod non intelligunt," says Ciceko, they condemn what they do not understand; the majority being " those who prefer custom and habit before all excel- lency,"* who
" bring A mind not to be changed 1 " f
Rugby, February 21st, 1854.
* Bacon — Advancement of Learning. f Milton — Paradise Lost.
NORTH AMERICAN HOMEOPATHIC JOURNAL:
§Ji ^uarterlg paga^ine of Utebicinp.
AND THE AUXILIARY SCIENCES,
EDITED BY
E. E. MARCY, M.D., New -York; ¥M. H. HOLCOMBE, M.D, Natchez, Mm.; JOHN C. PETERS, M. D., New -York; and HENRY C. PRESTON, M.D., Providence, R.I.
The North American Homoeopathic Journal will appeal- on the first days of August, November, February, and May. Every number will contain one hun- dred and forty-four pages, thus making at the end of each year a handsome volume of five hundred and seventy-six octavo pages.
The following Programme will be adopted in making up the Journal :
Part I. Original and Translated Papers.
Part If. General Record of Medical Science.
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The department devoted to Materia Medica will constitute an important and high- ly-interesting feature of the Journal. The most energetic efforts will be mado to pre- sent to our subscribers a materia medica composed exclusively of characteristic and reliable drug-symptoms. In accomplishing this desirable object, our work, when finished, may not be so voluminous as the present works on Materia Medica, but our symptoms will be real drug-symptoms — specific and trustworthy.
Our plan will be to place under each separate organ
1st, Its Pathogenesis. 2d, Its Pathology.
3d, Clinical Remarks.
By this arrangement, the physician may comprehend at a glance the entire genius of the drug with reference to any part of the organism.
The Editorial department will be conducted by Dr. E. E. Marcy, of New- York; Dr. J. C. Peters, of New- York; Dr. W. H. Holcoiibe, of Natchez, Miss.; and H. C Preston, of Providence, R. I.
Measures have already been taken to secure a number of able correspondents from Germany, France, and England.
We likewise most earnestly appeal to our professional brethren at home, to aid us in the good cause. ¥e hold it to be the duty of every true Homoeopath to contributo something toward the advancement of the doctrines he professes. Any new fact — an interesting clinical notice — a new drug — indeed any thing of general interest to the profession, should always be noted and communicated to the world. In this respect let every Homoeopath do his duty, and the prosperity of our school will bo enhanced.
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TRACTS ON HOMCEOPATHY,
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D., F.R.S.
l. — WHAT IS HOMCEOPATHY?
Fifth Edition.
2. — THE DEFENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Fourth Edition.
3. — THE TRUTH OF HOMCEOPATHY.
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Second Edition.
5. — THE DIFFICULTIES OF HOMCEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
6.— THE ADVANTAGES OF HOMCEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
1. — THE PRINCIPLE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
8. — THE CONTROVERSY ON HOMCEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
9. — THE REMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATHY.
Second Edition. The above in a cover, 'price JEighteenpence.
10. — THE PROVINGS OF HOMCEOPATHY.
11. — THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
12. — (The Concluding Number.) THE COMMON SENSE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
(Lncte on fomtfoptljg.-DX 8.
THE CONTROVERSY
ON
HOKEOPATHY.
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D., F.R.S.
NEW-YORK:
WILLIAM RADDE, 322 BROADWAY;
PHILADELPHIA, PA. : RADEMACHER & SHEEK, 239 ARCH ST. ;
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1856.
"The mind which is searching for truth ought to remain in a state of sus- pense, until superior evidence on ono side or the other incline the balance of the
judgment, and determine the probability or certainty to the one side."
Watts.
JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER. 95 & 97 Cliff Bt, N.T.
THE CONTROVERSY ON HOMOEOPATHY.
f
" Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider." — Lord Bacon.
"We are censured by our medical brethren of the old school for bringing professional discussions before the tribunal of the public, because, it is said, the public are incompetent judges of such matters. Some of our own party are disposed to join in this censure, and we are all ready to admit that, in the pre- sent condition of medicine, an appeal to the public is in itself an evil.
But it must be observed that this evil did not originate with the Homoeopathists. Hahnemann" did not take this step ; he published his first essay in Hufeland's Journal, a periodical strictly professional, and of the highest character and standing in the profession. The step was taken by the physicians of the old school, and at the very commencement of the discussion ; for instead of meeting Hahnemann on their common ground, with arguments and facts wherewith to refute his opinions, they appealed to the public authorities, and by the aid of this un- professional force drove him from city to city, and from vil- lage to village. And, moreover, this appeal to the public by the Allopathic portion of the profession has been continued to the present hour, and is still continued. Occasions are eagerly sought on which to call for the inquest of the Coroner, in the hope of committing the Homceopathist to prison, a hope which has once been realized ; and what are the resolutions so fre- quently passed at public meetings of medical men, and publish- ed in the newspapers, declaring that they will not recognize and can not hold communion with Homoeopathic practitioners, whom they stigmatize as quacks, knaves, and fools, but an ap- peal to the public to aid them in their endeavors to suppress the unwelcome novelty ?
If then there be folly in bringing this matter before the pub- lic, the folly rests with the old school, not with the new; it is
4 THE CONTKOVEKSY
plain that Homoeopathists have no alternative ; the affair ia already before the public ; it has been carried there by their opponents ; they are compelled, however reluctantly, to plead the cause of Homoeopathy before this tribunal. It is true, in- deed, that they do this without fear, though reluctantly, not doubting that when magistrates are better acquainted with its truth and value they will no longer expel it from their borders or imprison it in their jails ; nor that the public, when well informed upon the question, will fail to come to a satisfactory and wise conclusion.
Another justification of the course pursued by Homoeopa- thists arises out of the fact that every Allopathic medical jour- nal is closed to any paper containing an argument or a fact in favor of Homoeopathy. Many medical men are not only deaf to their entreaties to investigate the new science, but, as is most evident, resolved if possible to crush it. They have im- bibed a settled hatred of the whole subject, and will never study it unless compelled hy their patients to do so.
It may be observed further that though this public discus- sion of medical matters be an evil, good will come out of it. The veil of mystery which has hitherto shrouded medicine will be removed ; the elements of the science will be expressed in plain and intelligible terms ; unprofessional men will inform themselves more fully on these subjects than they have been wont to do, and the result will be, not that every man will be his own physician, for that is neither desirable nor possible, but that it will be in the power of every one to possess such knowledge, and to have such an intelligent appreciation of the subject, as will enable him to choose his medical advisers for better reasons than those by which he has heretofore been guided,
And again it may be remarked that if medicine be really a science, there is no reason why every educated person may not understand its principles as he ought to know the princi- ples of Chemistry, of Astronomy, of Agriculture, of Mechanics, or of any other branch of natural knowledge.
Entertaining these views, I conceive myself justified in lay- ing the whole case of Homoeopatlry, without reserve, before the profession, if they will look at it, and if they will not, before the public ; the interests of the latter being even more con- cerned in it than those of the former. It seems to me desira- ble that the matter should be clearly explained in the simplest manner possible. Such is the object of these Tracts. In this number I purpose to point out the present aspect of what may
ON HOMCEOPATHY. 5
be called the external features of the controversy. This will be accomplished by the discussion of the four following argu- ments :
I. From authority.
II. From antiquity.
III. From the majority.
IV. From improbability.
I. THE ARGUMENT FROM AUTHORITY.
This argument on the side of Allopathy may be thus stated : various Universities, as the four in Scotland ; several Eoyal Col- leges, as those of the Physicians of London and of Edinburgh ; and many other public bodies, have pronounced their condemna- tion of Homoeopathy in the strongest manner. They have rejected students and applicants for their degrees and diplomas, and have passed resolutions forbidding their members to hold any professional intercourse with those who adopt the new system of medicine.
As illustrations of these proceedings, I give the following: first, the letter written by the president of the Eoyal College of Physicians of London, in reply to an application for its license, made by a Homoeopathic practitioner.
" Sir : The foundation of the Royal College of Physicians was for the purpose of guaranteeing to the public skillful and safe practitioners.
" The College of Physicians regards the so-called Homoeopathists as neither skillful nor safe.
" Therefore the College can not, without betraying a sacred trust, give its license to persons whom they regard as wholly unworthy their confidence, and with whom it is not possible they can hold any communion.
" I remain, etc., , John Ayrton Paris."
And, secondly, the declaration of the Court of Examiners of the Society of Apothecaries in London, the only public body authorized by act of Parliament, to give a legal qualification to practice medicine in England, namely, that
" In their capacity of Examiners they will refuse their certificate to any can- didate who professes, during his examination, to found his practice on what are called Homoeopathic principles."
As this declaration was made about two years ago, I thought it well to learn whether the Society of Apothecaries, which, perhaps it should be observed, is a mercantile company selling drugs, still adheres to its resolution. This I have ascertained by the following reply to a letter of inquiry addressed to their secretary, which I received on the 28th of October, 1853.
6 THE CONTROVERSY
" Sir : The Court of Examiners still refuses to admit any person who calls himself a Homoeopathist. I am, Sir, yours, etc.,
H. Blatch, Secretary."
Thus Homoeopathy is put down, with a high hand by the medical authorities of Great Britain ; and in this they are only following the course pursued from the beginning by the simi- lar authorities of Germany. It is well known that Hahne- mann himself was expelled from Leipsic, and from several other places, on attempting to practice after his newly-discov- ered method. This opposition still survives, for, only a few months ago, an able practitioner, Dr. Kallenbach, who had been invited to Frankfort-on-tke-Maine by a number of distin- guished citizens, was summarily expelled by the authorities from that free town.
Such is the view of the argument on the side adverse to the new method— Homoeopathy is denounced by authority.
The reply on this argument is as follows : It is right both to feel and to express respect for authority, and it is a duty to render it obedience when put in exercise within its lawful limits ; but it is equally a duty to resist it, in a lawful manner, when it is stretched beyond those limits. The question there- fore arises, is it within the lawful power of Colleges, by a mere act of authority, without investigation, to denounce Homoeopathy, which professes to be a branch of natural knowledge founded upon observed facts ?
It is easy to show that the case before us is one which authority can not deal with in this manner, and consequently that, in this summary condemnation without inquiry, the influence of power is misplaced, and its exercise an act of tyranny.
For the matters are questions of science, not of authority ; they are to be answered by observation, not by command. A little consideration will make this very plain. What are the questions? Such as these: Which is the best method of learning the properties of medicinal substances ? Which is the best mode of preparing the medicines, and the best quantity to give for a dose ? Is it best , in treating disease, to combine several remedies together in one prescription, or to give a sin- gle remedy at a time ? Is there any general principle in na- ture by which we can be guided in the choice of our remedies? Does the expression "similia similibus curantur" — likes are to be treated with likes — declare a natural fact, or is it merely a fancy of Hahnemann's ? Is the new treatment, when fairly and honestly carried out, more successful than the old ?
It is most obvious that these are not questions which it is
ON HOMCEOPATHY. 7
fitting for authorities to decide by a mere act of power. No man is born with, such intuitive wisdom and knowledge as shall render him competent to answer them ex cathedra. They can be answered only by interrogating nature herself, and the only possible way to obtain answers from nature is the way of diligent and careful observation and experiment. It is incumbent upon private individuals to pursue this method of research before they assume themselves to be in a condition to declare an opinion ; how much more then is it the bounden duty of public bodies, intrusted with the power of giving or withholding a license to practice, to take diligent heed to ex- amine into these matters, before they pronounce a judgment gravely affecting not only the profession, but the whole com- munity.
No post of authority, nor even any amount of knowledge upon other subjects, can qualify men to answer and decide upon such questions as these, without previous investigation. The universities and colleges have not investigated experiment- ally these matters ; they are in great ignorance respecting them : in this ignorance they have pronounced a condemnation ; this condemnation, therefore, while it is an act of injustice towards men, is a harmless and insignificant proceeding towards Homoeopathy.
Be it observed that the objection does not lie against au- thorities for coming to a decision upon these matters, but for deciding in ignorance; for pronouncing judgment without inquiry. Such conduct can not but be unwise and damaging to the legitimate influence of properly-constituted public bodies. Suppose, for the sake of illustration, that the Koyal Society were to reply to an application to be admitted a Fellow by the following letter from the noble President :
" Sir : The foundation of the Royal Society was for the purpose of pro- moting natural knowledge.
M The Royal Society regard the pretended operations of the Electric Tele- graph as opposed to the established principles of natural knowledge.
" Therefore the Royal Society can not, without betraying a sacred trust, confer its Fellowship upon persons believing in or practicing those pre- tended operations, since they regard such persons as wholly unworthy their confidence, and with whom it is not possible they can hold any communion. "I remain, etc., Rosse."
Such is the position in which the Eoyal College of Physi- cians has been placed by the letter of its President, Dr. Paris.
The University of Edinburgh has still further overstretched its lawful authority. It is well known that the examining
8 THE CONTROVERSY
bodies of our public institutions are appointed for the purpose of ascertaining that applicants for certificates and degrees have passed through an appointed course of stud}7-, and have acquir- ed a certain amount of knowledge, and the certificate or degree, when granted, testifies to this fact and nothing more. But the Examiners of the University of Edinburgh refused to grant this testimonial to Mr. Alfred Pope, unless he would pledge himself never to practice Homoeopathy, but only "that system of medicine" which he had been taught by the then Professors in that University. Now, even had the subject of Homoeo- pathy been investigated by the Examiners, and they had come to the conclusion that, in its present aspect, it was not a desir- able mode of practice, still that to reject a student for refusing to pledge himself for the future, would have been an unjust and tyrannical act, can not be doubted by any one ; for this reason, that they could not know what additional discoveries and improvements might be made, or what might become, even in their own judgments, the most successful method of relieving the sufferings of their fellow creatures. How great, then, the injustice, both towards Homoeopathy and towards the student, to require such a pledge without knowledge and without inquiry !
There is another light in which this question must be viewed in order to see the fallacy of the comparison which Dr. Simpson and others are fond of drawing between medical and clerical students. It is known to all, that before admission into the ministry of the Church, a young man is expected to profess his adoption of certain articles of faith, in which he undertakes to abide, and which his teachers have also acknowledged their assent to, and undertaken to teach. They are therefore bound to reject any student who refuses to express his belief in the articles of the church into which he aspires to enter. In the schools of medicine there are no such standards. Every teacher is at liberty to adopt and teach whatever medical doctrine and practice he thinks best ; and, consequently, every student has to make a similar choice for himself, and, provided he pursues the prescribed course of studies, and acquires the stipulated amount of information, he has hitherto obtained his degree, with a mind unfettered as to the mode of practice he may after- wards see fit to adopt. Viewing the matter in this light it was an unjustifiable act on the part of the authorities to agree to- gether to condemn a particular mode of practice, while they agree in nothing else except in their ignorance of what that mode is, and of what it can accomplish.
That the greatest differences of opinion, both in points of
ON HOMCEOPATHY. 9
theory and in matters of practice, prevail even among the teachers of the same University, is admitted ; but Dr. Simpson contends that they are all governed by the "standard of com- mon sense." Does he mean by this the kind of sense which decides a question in ignorance of it? — which supposes the course of nature to be subject to human authority? — which would make a young man pledge himself never to look at a natural fact which may possibly stare him in the face all the rest of his life, and promise never to adopt a mode of treat- ment upon which his future professional success may possibly depend, and which his examiners themselves are free to adopt any day they please ? Surely this is the sense shown by the Inqui- sition, when it put Galileo into prison for discovering that the earth moves, and for asserting his belief in it ; and is this what Dr. Simpson means b}^ the standard of common sense ? Paley truly observes that "one of the ends of civil govern- ment is its own preservation ;" but is this the mode by which the rulers of our Universities aad Colleges hope to preserve their lawful authority over the next generation? Is it by excluding from their body the most inquiring minds, the most ardent spirits, and forcibly ranging them in opposing ranks, that they expect to hand down unimpaired to their successors the venerable institutions of our country ?
Happily, however, for the credit of our age, the course thus pursued by many of our public bodies has not been pursued by all. The Royal College of Surgeons of London have dealt with this matter after another manner. To the applications which have been made to its Council to join in putting down Homoe- opathy, the following decisive answer has been, on each occa- sion, returned :
"The Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England have atten- tively and repeatedly considered the various communications which they have received on the subject of Homoeopathy ; and after mature deliberation have resolved that it is not expedient for the College to interfere in the matter."
Having had the pleasure of being a member of this College for more than a quarter of a century, I can not but rejoice in this determination of the Council. I believe it to be the course of justice and wisdom, and venture to entertain a confident expectation that it will not be long ere the same course is adopted by the other Colleges also, which, for the moment, have been led into error by their present rulers. Indeed the University of Edinburgh seems to have intimated already, through the Lord Provost, that in future Homoeopathy will not prove an impediment to any student in taking his degree.
10 THE CONTROVERSY
With a little time and patience a national reformation may take place, under the auspices of our established institutions ; this will be far better than any sectarian one effected by a new charter.
Such is the view of the argument, from authority, on the side favorable to the new method. The condemnation of Ho- moeopathy by Magistrates, Universities and Colleges has been done inadvertently, is devoid of force, and not likely to be long continued; it is a condemnation pronounced without knowledge and without reason, and by an exercise of power beyond its lawful limits.
H. THE ARGUMENT PROM ANTIQUITY.
On the side of Allopathy: The present, or, as it is often called, the established and legitimate mode of treating diseases, is the result of thousands of years of observation and experi- ence. A succession of talented men have been engaged, through many ages, in the cultivation of the profession of physic. They have labored diligently, amidst toils and dangers, and discouragements of no ordinary kind. There has been put in exercise a large amount of philanthrophy, of devotedness, of disinterested self-denial. And this labor and devotedness, ex- tending through successive generations, has had for its great object the discovery of the most successful method of mitigating the sufferings of mankind from disease and death. And have all this labor and exposure to danger, this philanthropy and self-denial been in vain ? It is incredible. Surely, the best results have already been arrived at ; every mode of treatment must have been tried, the faulty rejected, and the best retain- ed in the hands of the well educated, legally qualified physician. Any upstart method of the present day must unavoidably come under the suspicion that it is one of mere pretension ; that it seeks popular favor by large professions, the hollowness of which is concealed only by their novelty, and by the auda- cious boldness with which they are put forth ; that its growth is that of the mushroom, springing up and perishing with equal rapidity — its flash of light that of the meteor, which is no sooner seen than it vanishes into black darkness. Homoeopathy thus viewed is one of the many kindred delusions which will have its brief existence, and die away to be heard of no more.
If such be the true state of the case, it is obviously vain to expect men of standing in their profession to investigate Ho- moeopathy with care. It would be to call upon them to turn
ON HOMOEOPATHY. 11
aside from their legitimate pursuits, to waste their time which might be better employed, and to draw them into a field of labor which would never be exhausted ; for no sooner would they expose the false pretensions of one form of quackery than another would appear. Hence it is concluded that Homoeo- pathy must be contemned as unworthy of notice ; and those who, from a weak intellect, or from sordid motives, are induced to adopt the hated novelty must be repelled and degraded.
On the side of Homoeopathy it may be asked, is this the true view to be taken of the matter in hand ?
What has been advanced relative to the meritorious efforts of the profession during many centuries is fully admitted. For this the meed of praise is offered with an ungrudging hand ; the expression of thanks is tendered with a grateful heart ; but the inference from these efforts, that the end has been achieved, can not be admitted. The premises are true, but the conclusion does not follow. The imperfection, the confu- sion, the acknowledged absence of principle, of concord, of settledness in the actual condition of medicine, proclaim the fallacy of such a conclusion.
That there is room for improvement, therefore, can not be denied ; neither can it be doubted that an improved method is possible. It follows that the plea of waste of time against the examination of new methods must be looked upon as an ex- cuse for indolence and indifference, and as such falls to the ground. This plea being removed, and improvement being possible, the leading members of the profession are held under obligation to give their time and attention to the investigation of new methods, and especially of one coming as Homoeopathy presents itself, and which is pressed upon their notice by so many voices in their own body.
It is true that many worthless things spring up and soon die away, and that there are many pretenders and much quackery in the world ; but it is not true that Homoeopathy can be thus described. It has not sprung up with any mush- room growth, for it has been struggling to take root these fifty years; and, on the other hand, though it has been asserted, times without number, that it was dying away, by parties, doubtless, who believed that to be true which they desired to be so, yet Homoeopathy does not die away.
But it will, perhaps, be contended that Homoeopathy has been examined and found wanting, and Professor Andral referred to in proof. I have always entertained a high regard for Professor Andral, having known him long ago, and I can not but regret, for his own sake, that he was induced to under-
12 THE CONTROVERSY
take such, a trial of Homoeopathy as must be designated by every unbiased person as having been ignorantly and disin- genuously made. My space will not allow me to describe it in detail ; this has been well done by Dr. Irvine,* but as a trial of Homoeopathy it is altogether insignificant and value- less. All other trials which have been made, so far as I am acquainted with them, also prove nothing but the ignorance and the prejudice of those who have made them.
The plea, then, that medicine has come down to us settled of old time is a false plea.
The plea that medical men can not be expected to examine new methods is also a false plea.
The plea that an investigation of Homoeopathy may safely be neglected, because, like many other novelties, it will soon die away, is also a false plea.
The plea that Homoeopathy has already been examined by competent persons, and proved a fallacy by experimental demonstration, is also a false plea.
The plea of antiquity itself in support of the present mode of treatment, is a false plea ; for the present times are the an- cient times, the true antiquity, in matters of this kind, as has been testified often. "What in common language," says Jeremy Bentham, "is called old time ought to be called young or early time. As between individual and individual, living at the same time and in the same situation, he who is old possesses, as such, more experience than he who is young ; as between generation and generation, the reverse of this is true, if, as in ordinary language, a preceding generation be, with reference to a succeeding generation, called old ; the old or preceding generation could not have had so much experi- ence as the succeeding. With respect to such of the materials or sources of wisdom which have come under the cognizance of their own senses, the two are on a par ; with respect to such of those materials and sources of wisdom as are derived from the reports of others, the latter of the two possesses an indis- putable advantage."
Lord Clarendon says, on this subject: "If wisdom and understanding be to be found with the ancient, that time is the oldest from which men appeal to the infancy of the world. . . . The young shall have much to answer, if, when they come to be old, they do not know more, and judge better, than they could who were old before them."
* See British Journal of Homoeopathy, 1844, and Henderson's " Homoeopathy fairly represented." Appendix.
ON HOM(EOPATHY. 13
These eminent writers only confirm what Lord Bacon had long before declared: " The opinion which men entertain of antiquity is a very idle thing and almost incongruous to the word ; for the old age and length of days of the world should in reality be accounted antiquity, and ought to be attributed to our own times, not to the youth of the world which it en- joyed among the ancients ; for that age, though, with respect to us, it be ancient and greater, yet with regard to the world it was new and less. And as we justly expect a greater know- ledge of things and a riper judgment from a man of years than from a youth, on account of the greater experience, and the greater variety and number of things seen, heard, and. thought of by the person in years ; so might much greater matters be justly expected from the present age than from former times, as this is the more advanced age of the world, and now en- riched and furnished with numberless experiments and obser- vations."
Thus the argument from antiquity, when rightly considered, turns out to be in favor of Homoeopathy, as the discovery of the latest period of the world ; as the result of long-continued ' labor which was sure, sooner or later, to be rewarded with fruit.
The uncertain and unsatisfactory methods of healing, pur- sued during the early and middle ages of the world, were adopted, not because none better could be found, but because, as yet, none better had been found. The better is now dis- covered ; and as well might peoj)le refuse to travel by the railway, or to receive communications through the telegraph, because they were not in use in the times of our forefathers, as refuse to avail themselves of the latest improvements in the treatment of their maladies.
in. THE ARGUMENT FROM THE MAJORITY.
In support of Allopathy it may be urged that Homoeopathy has now been before the profession more than half a century, and it is still rejected by a very large majority of medical practitioners, and especially by nearly all who occupy places of eminence and distinction. It has met with " a steady rejec- tion on the part of the great body of the profession, notwith- standing its claims have been perseveringly urged by its advo- cates." And it is to be " remembered that the profession which has so perseveringly and almost universally rejected Homoeo- pathy, is composed of men who have every variety of opinions,
14 THE CONTROVERSY
and are not bound together by any particular set of doctrines." Again, "many of those who practice according to this system are poorly-educated and irresponsible men. Unable to get any hold upon the profession, Homoeopathy has received most of its votaries from the people."
The argument, therefore, against Homoeopathy from num- bers and personal character is this : it is still rejected by the majority of the medical profession, and condemned by the most distinguished teachers and practitioners of the art.
On the other side it may be remarked, that a new fact or a new fancy must necessarily at first be known by a small mi- nority of persons ; nay, a fact observed for the first time, or a fancy newly imagined, must, in the first instance, be limited to a single individual. Until they have been communicated to others, they can be known only to the mind which has ob- served or imagined them. Truth and error are in this respect upon an equal footing. Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood, and Sir Kenelm Dig-by's invention of the wea- pon-salve, start from the same point — each from the mind of an individual. The progressive reception by mankind of the one or the other may be rapid, or it may be slow ; little can be inferred from this progress in favor of the truth of the one, or the falsehood of the other. As therefore the rapid progress of Homoeopathy would not prove it true, so neither does its slow advancement prove it false. There are many reasons which account for and explain its comparatively tardy recep- tion by the profession ; these have been noticed on a former occasion ;* but there is a force in one circumstance connected with this argument of the highest value, the importance of which demands the serious attention of every intelligent per- son : the fact, that the minority who have adopted Homoeo- pathy have done so after having examined and tested it expe- mentally in their own hands, and have been thus led to embraee it from conviction of its truth ; while the majority who con- tinue to reject it, have not examined it, will not examine it, and confessedly remain in ignorance of the nature and extent of the evidences in its favor.
Let this last consideration have its due weight, and what becomes of the objection to Homoeopathy that it has met with " a steady rejection on the part of the great body of the pro- fession ?" It tells as little against the truth of Homoeopathy as the fact tells against Christianity that, after eighteen centu- ries, a large majority of mankind still unhappily reject its evidences and its blessings.
* Tract No. 6.
ON HOMCEOPATHY. 15
Having said thus much, I know not that I need enlarge upon this topic. That numbers and great names often give us very little help in our search after truth, is an old remark ; neither need I enter again upon the difficulties which impede the pro- gress of Homoeopathy — they have been discussed in another place. Some men tell us at once that they studied when they were students, and their pride is wounded by the request to " go to school again ;" some men will not give themselves the trouble either to read, to observe, to experiment, or to think ; some men can not do either to any useful purpose ; while others agree with the Vicar of Wakefield in believing that " there are but few that can confute them in argument."
IV. THE ARGUMENT FROM IMPROBABILITY.
This attaches to the dose. The novelty of the announcement that a drug may be divided, by rubbing in a mortar, into a million, or a billion, or even a decillion of parts, is startling ; but when it is further announced that these doses are suffi- ciently powerful to act as remedies in disease, the statement is so incredible as to appear absurd.
We have here two great improbabilities, and two observa- tions in addition, which claim attention. The two improba- bilities are, first, that such doses can be prepared, and, secondly, that they can have any efficacy in curing diseases ; and the two observations are as follow :
First : " The doses administered in Homoeopathic practice, especially at the present time, have an exceedingly wide range. Hahnemann himself, although he recommended the thirtieth dilution for common use, did sometimes resort to even allo- pathic doses, as, for example, in the treatment of cholera with camphor." Many entertain the idea that the dose must be regulated by the different degrees of sensibility or impressibility of the patient; but " if medicines produce, in infinitesimal doses, such effects as are attributed to them, and if there be such wide differences in the susceptibility of the sick, it must be very im- portant to fix upon exactly the right dose in each case." " If an error should chance to be committed, the effect must be horribly destructive."
The second observation : "If both ordinary doses and in- finitesimal ones cure disease, they must," it is said, " do it in different ways. The action of the potentized infinitesimal upon the system must be regulated by different principles from those which govern the action of the same article in its crude form."
16 THE CONTROVERSY
" Let me illustrate this trutli in a familiar maimer. You see a heavy weight raised by a rope ; suppose now that some one take from that rope a filament so small that it is invisible, and with this raises the same weight. We should say at once the rope and filament do not raise the weight upon the same prin ciples — that some new power is given to the filament which is not possessed by the rope. ' True,' says the Homoeopathist, ' that is clear enough, and we claim that a new power is given to medicine by trituration and attenuation !' Why, then, I ask, do you not adhere to this view of the subject? You are not consistent with yourself. While you say that a new power is given to the infinitesimal which does not belong to the medi- cine in its crude state, and by this power it cures disease, you at the same time claim that the law, similia similibus curantur, is the principle on which both infinitesimal and crude medi- cines effect cures, which is as absurd as to say that the invisible filament raises the weight upon the same principle as the rope does."
Such is the view of the argument as advanced against Ho- moeopathy ; the efficacy of the infinitesimal dose is utterly wanting, it is thought, on the score of probability.
In reply to the first assertion, namely, the improbability that it is practically possible to divide any thing into a decillion of parts, it can be shown that nothing is more simple and easy. Suppose we take thirty new and clean half-ounce bottles, and place them in a row ; and put corks in them ; and mark the corks with the numbers from one to thirty ; and put into No. 1 ninety-eight drops of alcohol, and into each of the remaining bottles ninety-nine drops of alcohol ; and put into No. 1 two drops of the "Mother Tincture" of any liquid medicine, (which consists of the juice of the plant and alcohol in equal parts,) and shake this bottle well ; and put one drop of this first dilu- tion into the bottle marked. No. 2, and shake it well ; and put one drop of No. 2 into No. 3, and shake it ; and proceed in the same manner through the thirty bottles. By this time we shall have divided the original drop of the medicine so that the 30th dilution contains a decillionth part of it. This proceeding will not have occupied an hour, and the quantity of alcohol consumed will have been about six ounces ; instead of the oceans of spirit required, according to the calculations of mathematicians and doctors.
Is not this quite simple and easy ? And for a solid not less simple, though a little more laborious. A grain is to be care- fully triturated with ninety-nine grains of sugar of milk in divid- ed portions for an hour ; a grain of this first trituration is to be
OJS iiOMcEOPATHY. 17
rubbed ia a similar manner for the second ; and a grain of the second for the third trituration. After this the substance be- comes soluble, and the remaining dilutions can be made as in the case of the tinctures — twenty -seven bottles being required to obtain the thirtieth dilution. For proofs that these dilutions retain the medicinal properties of the drug sufficiently to act upon disease, I must refer to a preceding Tract, (No. 4.)
The accomplishment of the fact does away with the impro- bability.
In reply to the second assertion, namely, the improbability that these doses have any effect in curing disease, it can be shown that nothing is more true, if the testimony of every me- dical practitioner who is in the daily habit of administering them in disease can be relied upon. It is well known that the number of these witnesses now amounts to thousands ; that they have been trained in medical studies and pursuits, as their brethren whom they have left in the ranks of Allopathy ; and it is well known that none talk about the improbability of this medicinal action but those who have not been willing to wit- ness it. The subject therefore stands in this position : the effi- cacy of the small dose is a fact which " strikes the eyes of all who do not keep them shut."
The strong impression I have in my own mind of the cer- tainty of this fact contrasts painfully with the inability I feel to convey that impression to another. From this we may learn the great difference which exists between physical science and mathematics or morality : the latter admit of demonstrations, the former does not. "We can not know the facts of natural philosophy except by the observation of our own senses. We may believe some things to be true on the testimony of others, which we have not ourselves observed, as that there are men and trees in parts of the world which we have not visited ; but if the things told us are very unlike our observations, we have the utmost difficulty in believing them, until we can observe them ourselves : then we know to be true what before we could not believe on any testimony from others. When the Dutch ambassador told the king of Siam that in his country the water, in cold weather, sometimes became so hard that it would bear an elephant, the king replied : "Hitherto I have believed the strange things you have told me because I look upon you as a sober, fair man ; but now lam sure you lie /"
Homceopathists are precisely in the same predicament of the Dutch ambassador. What could he say to vindicate his truth- fulness ? Nothing short of a journey to Holland would clear him. What can the Homoeopathists say to vindicate theirs ?
No. viii. — 2
18 THE CONTROVERSY
Nothing short of a trial of the medicines can produce in the mi nds of their opponents the conviction of their honesty, and of the truth of their assertion. My inability to produce con- viction by argument arises out of the nature of the case, not from its doubtfulness : much, therefore, as I feel the import- ance of this point, I shall content myself with a simple illustra- tion.
Kuckert reports eighty-four cases of cure of headache effect- ed by fifty-one different physicians. Only one remedy was given in each case, and the exact dose used is mentioned. Most of the cases were chronic, and of several years' standing.
" Strong doses were used, namely : from the pure tincture to the third dilution, in twenty-one cases ; one dose sufficed to cure in five instances ; one dose in solution was repeated in one instance ; repeated doses were required in fifteen cases.
" The higher dilutions, namely : from the fourth to the thir- tieth, were used in fifty cases ; one dose sufficed to effect a cure in thirty instances; one dose in solution and repeated in three instances ; repeated doses were required in seventeen in- stances.
" The very high dilutions were used in thirteen cases ; single doses in ten instances ; in solution repeatedly in three instances."
Is it possible that all these recoveries can have been mere coincidences — post hoc, not propter hoc f Have each of these fifty-one physicians uttered a falsehood ?
In reply to the first observation, that the doses in Homoeo- pathic practice have an exceedingly wide range, it may be remarked again that the dose is, as yet, an unsettled and diffi- cult question. One of the main causes of this unsettledness and difficulty is the manner in which Hahnemann himself has dealt with it. "When expounding his belief in the principle of Homoeopathy, Hahnemann pursues the only scientific and legitimate course — he gives us the proofs which have satisfied his own mind of its truth : we can examine these proofs, and if they are as satisfactory to our own minds as they were to his, we also assent to the principle, and believe it to be true for the reasons assigned. We believe it to be true, not because Hahnemann sa.id it was true, but because he has shoionus the proofs of its truth. We follow him in this as the astronomers follow Newton, and the chemists Kichter and D Alton. Un- happily for Homoeopathy, Hahnemann has not pursued the same course with reference to the dose. He has not given us the means of judging hoio far his conclusions on this subject are well founded. He says, indeed, very like a dictator : " It holds good,
ON HOMCEOPATHY. 19
and will continue to hold good, as a homoeopathic therapeutic maxim, not to be refuted by any experience in the world, that the best dose of the properly selected remedy is always the very smallest one, in one of the high dynamizations, (30th) as well for chronic as for acute diseases."* Now I have no objec- tion to adopt the thirtieth dilution for a dose, if it can be shown me that it is really the best ; but I can not take any man's mere word, without proofs, on such a point. I am therefore under obligation to try the different dilutions for myself. How would any one look when an intelligent interrogator in- quired of him the reason why he always gave the thirtieth di- lution, if he could give no better answer than this: "I follow the ipse dixit of the master; Hahnemann said it was the best."
Suppose the discoverer of the mariner's compass had proved to us experimentally the magnetic action whieh is its principle, and then told us, with a mysterious air, that the needle must always be five inches long, that no experience in the world could refute this, or prove that a needle four inches long, or one six inches long would answer as well ; would it be wise and manly to submit to such dictation as this ? So with the homoeopathic dose, it must remain, not nominally but really, an open question, until sufficient proofs can be collected to show us which is the best.
It is to be remembered that Hahnemann's own views on this subject underwent many changes, although on each occa- sion, when he published them, they were delivered in the same peremptory and oracular tone. Some would have us to follow him with blind obedience ; they would place him in that seat in medicine which Galen occupied for fifteen hun- dred years, and which Aeistotle held in philosophy for a still longer period. May I, without giving offense, again remind them of Locke's observation, " "lis not worth while to be con- cerned what he says or thinks, who says or thinks only as he is directed by another."
Let me be understood. The objection is not to the adoption of this or that dose, but to the adoption of it without proof that it is the best. Give us the proofs, and it shall be thankfully adopted on the instant. We are told, indeed, by some Homceo- pathists that the onus probandi that Hahnemann and his faith- ful disciples are in error lies on our shoulders. As it respects a given dose, the thirtieth dilution for example, this is placing the matter in a false position ; it is calling for proof of the
* " Organon," page 289, note.
20 THE CONTROVERSY
negative before any proof of the positive has been advanced. On this point we have had a great deal of assertion, but no proof. Now the first burden of proof clearly lies with the teacher, to show that he is right. Had Hahnemann given us the details of five hundred or a thousand cases, illustrating and confirming his directions regarding this dose, the latter would have had weight ; a dogmatic assertion without an attempt at proof is not entitled to respect. As it regards the fixing upon any dose in the manner done by Hahnemann, I accept the challenge, and at once point out the error. " Hahnemann and his faithful disciples" are not entitled to choose a dose and demand that every one shall adopt it, unless they give the rea- sons upon which the choice rests, in such a "manner as will enable others to judge how far those reasons are adequate to support the choice. This is the error. A dose has been pre- scribed. I wait for such evidence in its favor as the nature of the case admits.
I am far from thinking the variety of doses an unimportant matter ; on the contrary, I think it is the point to which Homoeopathists should very much concentrate their attention, in the hope that a body of facts may be collected from which we may infer, in a truly scientific manner, which is the best dose, or series of doses. In this we must be guided by proofs, not by authority.
In the mean time, daily experience abundantly testifies the value and efficacy of the various small doses, and proves that so far from being " horribly destructive," no permanent evil results from their use.
The second observation is one of considerable interest and importance. It is said : " If both ordinary doses and infinitesi- mal ones cure disease, they must do it in different ways." And this statement is illustrated by supposing a rope and an invisi- ble filament to raise the same weight. Now we know that a rope and a thread so fine as to be invisible could not raise a heavy weight on the same principle ; because we know some- thing of the mechanical principles upon which the rope would raise the weight, and we know that the thread could not raise it on those principles — it could have no mechanical power. If therefore the illustration were really a parallel to the point in question it would make the conclusion evident ; but the truth is, it is not a parallel, and therefore no illustration at all. We do not know the mode of action of the ordinary dose, neither do we know the mode of action of the small dose ; con- sequently we can not know that the modes are different — for any thing we know to the contrary, the two doses may act in
ON HOMOEOPATHY. 21
the same mode, on the same principle ; and therefore the law of similia similihus curantnr may apply to both. Thus both the observation and the ingenious illustration disappear.
The objection, however, is fatal to the dynamization hypo- thesis of Hahnemann, and may serve as a warning to some Homceopathists not to advocate that untenable notion to the extent they do. The assumptions of Hahnemann on this sub- ject, in his "Organon," are unwarranted, and consequently his assertions are of little value. For example, he assumes that " spiritual power is hid in the inner nature of medicines ;" that " homoeopathic dynamizations," (rubbing the solid in a mortar, and shaking the liquid in a vial,) " are real awakenings" of this power ; and hence at one time he asserts that there must be ten shakes, and at another, only two. He even ventures upon what I can not but call the following random shot : "I dissolved^" he says, " a grain of soda in an ounce of water mixed with alcohol, in a vial, which was thereby filled two thirds full, and shook this solution continuously for half an hour, and this was in dynamization and energy equal to the thirtieth development of power?"
It would be very difficult for any one holding this hypothe- sis of " dynamization" or " spiritualization" to answer satisfac- torily the objection now under consideration. It is highly improbable that the principle of Homoeopathy can apply equally to the action of drugs in a crude state, and in infinitesimal doses, if the latter act in a " spiritual" manner, and, as sup- posed, not after the same mode as the former. Of course I mean the medicinal action ; a large dose of a drug, e. g., nitrate of silver, will have other actions, such as chemical ones, in ad- dition to the medicinal effect. I have adduced other reasons in former Tracts why this hypothesis ought to be abandoned.*
Hahnemann has discovered facts for which the human family owe him a debt of gratitude, but it is impossible to de- fend his speculations, or to apologize for his dogmatism. In some respects he resembles Kepler, whose name is had in grateful remembrance by astronomers for his discovery of three remarkable laws connected with the planetary system, while all his numerous speculations have passed into oblivion. Those of Hahnemann must have a like fate. They have greatly impeded the progress of Homoeopathy, by hiding its truth. I
* I must be understood to mean Hahnemann's hypothesis of the development of a new medicinal action by trituration, distinct from the action of the crude me- dicine. There is a sense in which the word "dynamic" may be applied to the action of medicine in all doses, which I shall hope to explain in a future number
22 THE CONTROVERSY ON HOHCEOPATHY.
doubt not also that many intelligent inquirers have been re- pelled from the study of it by his intolerable dictation.
■ To separate truth from fiction is generally a difficult and un- gracious task, and seldom popular. The sentiments which Plato puts into the mouth of Socrates, " to yap aXiftlq ovdenore eleyxerai" "truth is never refuted," is the encourage- ment to this labor ; the love of truth is the motive which con- strains to it ; and the discovery and exhibition of truth is part of its reward.
Rugby, Nov. 11th, 1853.
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TRACTS ON HOMCEOPATHY,
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M. D., F.R.S.
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9. — THE REMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATHY.
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10. — THE PROVLNGS OF HOMCEOPATHY.
11. — THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
12. — (The Concluding Numbee.) THE COMMON SENSE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
Praxis on foinep{l]]r.-|To+ 9.
THE REMEDIES
or
HOKEOPATHY,
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D., F.R.S.
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THE REMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATHY.
" Ce scroit faire tort au progres des sciences que de ne pas vouloir abandonner des theories contraires aux observations que presente l'etat actuel de nos connois- sances." Baron Humboldt.
It ■would be doing an injury to the progress of science were we not willing to give up hypotheses which are contrary to the observations furnished by the pre- sent condition of our knowledge.
On a former occasion,* I have pointed out the precise limits within which the principle of Homoeopathy, u similia similibus curantur" can be applied to diseases; the counterpart to that inquiry remains, what are the limits within which it is appli- cable to remedies ? I propose now to attempt an answer to this question.
From a careful study of the "Organon" and other writings of Hahnemann, we learn that he viewed the law of similia similibus curantur as applying, first, to the power which one disease exerts over another ; secondly, to the influence of men- tal emotions ; thirdly to the action of the so-called imponderable agents, light, heat, electricity, and magnetism; and fourthly, to the operation of drugs. It is necessary to study each of these subjects separately.
I. THE HOMOEOPATHIC ACTION OP DISEASES.
Hahnemann divides natural diseases into two great classes : the one consisting of such as are dissimilar, the other of such as are similar to each other. And he remarks "that no pre- viously existing disease can be cured, even by nature herself, by the accession of a new dissimilar disease, be it ever so strong." " Totally different, however, is the result when two similar diseases meet together in the organism, that is to say, when to the disease already present, a stronger similar one is
* Tract No. "7.
4 THE REMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATHY.
added. In such cases we see how a core can be effected by the operations of nature, and we get a lesson as to how we ought to cure."
Dissimilar diseases he arranges under three heads: 1st. If the two dissimilar diseases meeting together be of equal strength, or still more if the older one be the stronger, the new disease will be repelled by the old one from the body, and not allowed to affect it." The following are his examples :
" The plague of the Levant does not break out where scurvy is prevalent."
"Persons suffering from herpetic eruptions are not infected by the plague.11
" Rachitis prevents vaccination from taking effect."
" Those suffering from pulmonary consumption are not liable to be attacked by epidemic fevers of a not very violent charac- ter."
" 2d. Or the new dissimilar disease is the stronger. In this case the disease under which the patient originally labor- ed, will, as the weaker, be kept back and suspended by the accession of the stronger one, until the latter shall have run its course or been cured, and then the old one again makes its ap- pearance uncured? These are the instances given :
" Two children affected with a kind of epilepsy remained free from epileptic attacks after infection with ring-worm ; but as soon as the eruption on the head was gone, the epilepsy re- turned just as before."
" The itch, as Schopf saw, disappeared on the occurrence of the scurvy, but after the cure of the latter it again broke out."
" Pulmonary phthisis remained stationary when the patient was attacked by a violent typhus, but went on again after the latter had run its course."
" If mania occur in a consumptive patient, the phthisis with all its symptoms is removed by the former, but if that go off, the phthisis returns immediately and proves fatal."
'• When measles and small-pox are prevalent at the same time, and both attack the same child, the measles that had already broken out is generally checked by the small-pox that came somewhat later ; nor does the measles resume its course until after the cure of the small-pox." Sometimes the reverse of this takes place. So with scarlatina and cow-pox. The scarlatina will sometimes suspend the cow-pox, and sometimes the reverse will happen. The measles suspends the cow-pox, but does not prevent it from afterwards running its course. So with the mumps and cow-pox.
THE REMEDIES OP HOMOEOPATHY. 5
"And thus it is with all dissimilar diseases, the stronger sus- pends the weaker, but the one never cures the other"
" 3rd. Or the new disease joins the old one that is dissimi- lar to it, and forms with it a complex disease."
When two dissimilar acute infectious diseases meet, as, for example, small-pox and measles, the one usually suspends the other, but in rare cases the two for a short time combine, as it were, with each other, as seen by P. Russell, and others. Zencker saw cowpox run its regular course along with measles and along with purpura." Such are the dissimilar diseases.
Let us now learn what those diseases are which Hahnemann arranges together as similar, and of which he asserts that they " can neither repel one another, nor suspend one another, nor exist beside each other." " No ! invariably, and in every case, do two diseases, differing, certainly, in kind, but very similar in their phenomena and effects, annihilate one another, when- ever they meet together in the organism." And as his " object is to speak about something determinate and indubitable," he gives the following proofs of the assertion just quoted.
"The small-pox, so dreaded on account of the great number and severity of its symptoms, has removed and cured a number of affections with similar symptoms." Such as ophthalmia, amaurosis — a case of the latter, "of two years duration, conse- quent on suppressed ring-worm" — deafness, difficulty of breath- ing, dysentery.
" The cow-pox, a peculiar symptom of which is to cause tumefaction of the arm, cured, after it broke out, a swollen half- ] ;aralyzed arm."
" The fever accompanying cow-pox cured homoeopathically an intermittent fever in two individuals."
" The measles bears a strong resemblance in the character of its fever and cough to the hooping-cough, and hence it was that Bosquillon noticed in an epidemic where both these affections prevailed that many citizens who then took measles remained free from hooping-cough during that epidemic."
"If the measles come in contact with a disease resembling it in its chief symptom, the eruption, it can indisputably remove and effect a homoeopathic cure of the latter. Thus a chronic herpetic eruption was entirely and permanently (homoeopathi- cally) cured by the breaking out of the measles."
"An excessively burning military rash on the face, neck, and arms, that had lasted six years, under the influence of measles assumed the form of a swelling of the surface of the skin ; after the measles had run its course, the rash was cured, and return- ed no more."
6 THE EEMEDIES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
" Nothing could teach the physician in a plainer and more convincing manner than the above, what kind of artificial mor- bific potency (medicine) he ought to choose, in order to cure in a sure, rapid, and permanent manner, agreeably to the process that takes place in nature." *
I have extracted thus largely from the "Organon" upon this point for several reasons ; first that I might give a full account of the argument as propounded by Hahnemann; secondly, that the two lists may be read in their connection ; this I can not bat think will be sufficient to convince every in- telligent person that the supposed homoeopathic relation of one disease to another is imaginary and untrue; and thirdly, to point out how unfit the "Organon" is to be held up as a text- book to students, and how unsafe a guide Hahnemann would prove to those who surrender themselves to him in implicit obedience. Truly, never was hypothesis based upon more slender materials ; never did assertion and inadequate proof appear more conspicuously side by side than in these para- graphs.
It can not be necessary to examine in detail these so-called dissimilar and similar diseases. It may suffice to remark that measles and small pox, which are so far alike that for centuries they were supposed to be modifications of the same disease, are classed as dissimilar ; while measles and hooping-cough, with all their visible difference, are classed as similar, and as homceo- pathically curing one another ! A few months ago there was an epidemic of measles in this neighborhood; some of the children had no sooner recovered from the measles, than they were attacked with the hooping-cough.
It might be thought that there was some similarity between cow-pox and chicken-pox ; certainly they resemble each other more closely than do measles and hooping-cough. The follow- ing cases occurred to me this summer :
On the 17th of August, 1853, I vaccinated three brothers ; John Clarke, aged sixteen years ; William, aged fourteen ; and George, aged eleven. On the eighth day the vaccination on William's arms had taken effect, and was running its usual course ; the others seemed to have failed. John I re-vaccinated ; but George presented a rash, having the appearance of chicken- pox, which prevented his re- vaccination. At the end of the second week, William's cow-pox was completed; George's chick- en-pox was going on ; but John, instead of presenting the pus- tules of cow-pox on the arms, was covered with chicken-pox :
* Organon, §§ xxxy. to xlvii.
THE REMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATHY. 7
this subsided in due time, and then the cow-pox appeared, and went through its accustomed stages. On the 10th of September, twenty-four days after he had been vaccinated, George was brought to me ; his chicken-pox had disappeared, but he had now a large cow-pox pustule on the back of the right hand, with inflamed absorbents, and an enlarged gland in the axilla ; the pustule ran through its usual course, when the accompany- ing symptoms disappeared. Thus the resemblance between cow-pox and chicken-pox, which is certainly greater than that between cow-pox and intermittent fever, produced no homoeo- pathic cure of either.
Well might Hahnemann conclude this part of his subject with the remark: "We should have been able to meet with many more true, natural homoeopathic cures of this kind if nature had not been so deficient in homoeopathic auxiliary diseases."
Eau, who has also written an " Organon " in some respects more interesting and instructive than Hahnemann's, objects to the instances of similarity in diseases brought forward by the latter.
He says : " In many of these cases the external similarity is not very remarkable. If small-pox is sometimes accompanied or succeeded by a swelling of the arm, dysenteric diarrhoea, ophthalmia, and blindness, it does not follow that there is a similarity between these diseases and small-pox." Eau, how- ever, does not reject the notion as unfounded, but endeavors to prove it by other, and, as he thinks, by better instances. He goes on to say: "There are other much more instructive and convincing cases, such as habitual headache disappearing in consequence of a typhus ; or paralysis of the arm as a sequel of typhus, disappearing again after the lapse of several years under the influence of a second attack of typhus." I must confess I do not see that these examples are at all more "con- vincing " than Hahnemann's.
Such are the best proofs which have been adduced in sup- port of the application of the law of similia similibus curantur to the action of diseases upon each other. The influence which diseases exercise upon each other is a very curious and intri- cate subject, the discussion of which does not come within the scope of our present business ; but, from the facts now before us, it is obvious that this influence is governed by other laws than that of like curing like ; in other words, the principles of pathology are not identical with the principle of therapeutics ; the laws which govern the natural course of diseases are not the same as the law which guides us in the treatment of these
b THE KEMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATIIY.
diseases by remedies. It is plain, therefore, that the action of diseases upon each other can not be included within the limits of the law of Homoeopath y.
II. THE HOMOEOPATHIC ACTION OP MENTAL EMOTIONS.
It would seem that man is a triune being, composed of a body, an animal life, and a spirit. His body, the materials of which are derived from the earth upon which he treads, is an exquisite piece of machinery, " fearfully and wonderfully made." The animal life, or vital principle, is the life which he has in common with the lower animals. His spirit is an immaterial and immortal essence, intelligent and moral, the presiding powers of which are reason and conscience. The vital principle and the intelligent spirit are "the lives," which, in the beginning, were " breathed" by the Great CEEATOE into the prepared body. The triple union is man. Since man's moral fall all three are subject to derangement ; the body and the vital principle are appointed to death. The derangements of the one act upon the other two. The diseases of the body act through the vital principles upon the mind ; and, on the other hand, the disorders of the mind act through the same medium upon the body. These are the only instances we are cognisant of in which matter and spirit meet and act upon each other : in all other cases, so far as we know, matter acts only upon matter, and spirit upon spirit.
The question arises, According to what laws do the mental emotions of one individual operate upon those of another ?
"Mourning and sorrow," says Hahnemann, "will be effaced from the mind by the account of another and still greater cause for sorrow happening to another, even though it be a mere fiction." In other words, Hahnemann thinks that the law of Homoeopathy, similia similibus curantur, applies to the action of the mental emotions of the physician or friend upon the mind of the patient, as it does to the action of material poisons upon his body. I think it does not, and for the following rea- sons :
First. There is no analogy to render it probable that the law of Homoeopathy applies to mental emotions. The laws regulating spiritual phenomena, so far as we are yet acquainted with them, are not identical with the laws which govern mat- ter and its movements. Is there any perceptible connection between the operations of mind and the laws of gravity, chemi- cal affinity, electrical attraction and repulsion, etc., which re-
THE REMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATHY. 9
gulate tlie operations of matter ? Can we, in fact, point out any two tilings more different ?
Secondly. The effects produced by the emotions of one mind upon those of another, in a healthy state, do not in any way resemble the injurious effects of poisons upon the body. They do not, by their own nature, engender disorders, but, on the contrary, the natural action of one mind upon another is of a beneficial and happy tendency ; otherwise social existence would be an unmixed evil. According to the homoeopathic law, poisons are to be " proved" upon the healthy body, in order to learn the symptoms they are capable of producing, which symptoms are the guide for their use as remedies in na- tural disease. Can there be any thing like this undertaken with mental emotion ? Should any one suggest that disordered emotions, such as anger, for example, produce similar disor- ders in other minds, I think they will scarcely have the hardi- hood to assert that such disordered conditions in one mind act homoeopathically as remedies for similar disorders in other minds.
Thirdly. The experience of all ages down to the present time has recommended an opposite mode of treatment for the disorders of the mind. Seneca prescribes for those in sorrow, " Precipue vitentur tristes, et omnes deplorantes." Sorrowful companions and all mourners are specially to be avoided. And he adds the following strong remark: " Si quis insaniam ab insanid sic curari ceslimat, magis quara ceger insanit." If any one thinks to cure insanity by insanity, he is more insane than the patient. A sacred writer observes : aA merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance, and doeth good like a medicine." Gen- uine sympathy, with cheerful kindness, will do all the good that one mind can do to another.
Fourthly. Hahnemann has not pointed out the failure of the universal practice in this matter, nor the fallacy of its princi- ple ; nor shown that experience down to the present time is un- satisfactory ; neither has he adduced proofs in support of his new view of the subject. He gives the example already quot- ed : " Mourning and sorrow will be effaced from the mind by the account of another and a still greater cause for sorrow happening to another." But this does not prove his point, for it is not a fact. The attention of the mind may be diverted for a time from its own sorrow by the recital of another's grief; but his own sorrow will not be effaced thereby ; it will remain as before, and his mind will soon revert to it.
It may be said : "Well, but you have yourself quoted a pas- sage from Shakspeare in which the principle of Homoeopathy
10 THE REMEDIES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
is illustrated in a moral affection. The quotation in No. 1 is
this:
" In poison there is physic ; and these news, Having been well, that would have made me sick, Being sick, have in some measure made me well."
The Homoeopathy in this passage is contained in the first sen- tence: " In poison there is physic," which had been still better expressed long before in the Eastern proverb : " Poison is the remedy for poison."* The moral effect of the news upon his mind, while suffering from disease, was to rouse him, to cause him for the time to forget his ailment, and so, as Shakspeare truthfully remarks, " in some measure" to make him well. It will be seen that the instances are not parallel ones. In Hahnemann's, the sorrow of one mind is supposed to be ef- faced by the tale of another's greater sorrow. In Shakspeare's, bodily disease is supposed to be in a measure cured by painful news. The latter is much more likely to be sometimes real- ised than the former ; though the ordinary effect of afflictive tidings upon bodily suffering is to increase it.
The careful consideration of these reasons leads distinctly to the conclusion that the laws of the science of metaphysics and those of therapeutics are not identical — that the influence which one mind exerts over another is governed by other principles than that of like curing like ; it is plain, therefore, that the action of mind upon mind can not be included within the limits of the law of Homoeopathy.
III. the homceopathio action op physical agents.
The material world is a wonderful exhibition of the divine power. The solid earth, the ever restless ocean, the majestic mountains, the beautiful valley, the boundless plain, the glid- ing river, the noble forest, the lovely flower, the moving crea- ture in every part, and over all, the uplifted countenance of man. All these are palpable and ponderable matter : but be- sides these there is the genial warmth, the glorious sunshine, the vivid flash, the rolling thunder, which constitute as it were the confines of the material creation, to which we must now return, after a brief visit to the region of mind and immaterial spirit.
In a former Tract, (No. 4,) I have shown the probability that the space occupied by the universe is filled with matter —
* See the Fourth Edition of Tract No. 1.
THE REMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATHY. 11
inconceivably attenuated, it is true, but still material. Upon this subtle form of matter various motions are impressed, pro- ducing the phenomena which we call heat, light, electricity, and magnetism. Each of these it is now needful to investigate, so far as relates to the subject of Homoeopathy.
Heat. — 'It is probable that all the so-called imponderable agents are peculiar motions of the infinitesimal particles of mat- ter, and perhaps each of these motions exists in two different forms — the vibratory and the undulatory. For example, heat resident in a body may be called vibratory, and when passing from one body to another, undulatory. Heat in this latter form, often called radiant heat, produces upon the living body certain peculiar sensations which we call hot, warm, or cold. These sensations can be produced by degrees of heat within certain narrow limits only. When these limits are exceeded, heat causes the death and destruction of the organized animal structure. If in excess, we say the part has been burned ; if in deficiency, we say it has been frozen. All sudden transi- tions from one degree of temperature or heat to another are in- jurious to living bodies ; if, therefore, any part of the body has been exposed to too great a heat, the method to be pursued, in order to suffer as little as possible from this exposure, is a gradual return to a more appropriate temperature ; and the same holds good if any part has suffered from deficiency of heat. Thus a burned hand may be gradually cooled by being slowly withdrawn from the fire, while a frozen limb may, in like manner, be gradually warmed by being rubbed with snow.
This explanation seems sufficiently obvious and satisfactory ; we can not but demur, therefore, when these facts are adduced as instances of Homoeopathic action, as they are in the follow- ing sentences of the Organon.
" In recent cases of frost-bitten limbs, frozen sour-krout is applied, or frictions of snow are used. The experienced cook holds his hand, which he has scalded, at a certain distance from the fire, and does not heed the increase of pain that takes place at first, as he knows from experience that he can thereby, in a very short time, often in a few minutes, convert the burned part into healthy, painless skin."*
These are not instances of " like curing like." The agent which causes the mischief, and which cures it is the same — it is heat in different degrees; if, therefore, the action is at all specific it is Isopathy — the same curing the same — not Homoeopathy
* Organon, Introduction, page 100.
12 THE REMEDIES OP HOMOEOPATHY.
— like curing like ; but in truth, it is neither the one nor the other. The explanation has been already given, and it is plain that the action of heat upon the living body can not be includ- ed within the limits of the law of Homoeopathy.
Light. — This beneficent and beauteous endowment of mat- ter pervades, with astonishing rapidity, the vast expanses of the universe. A cannon ball would take a year to pass through the distance which light traverses in a second. Such is the velocity of this undulatory movement. Its other properties are equally remarkable : witness the brilliant colors produced by its refraction and reflection in the rainbow ; and, above all, the power which it possesses of so acting upon the eyes of liv- ing creatures as to enable them to see surrounding and even distant objects. So far as we know, light does not affect any other part of our body, while that is in its natural condition ; it produces no action upon the sentient nerves of the skin, nor upon the organs of the other senses. Various degrees of light, within certain limits, (mentioned in Tract No. 4,) produce an impression upon the eye. As might be expected, a greater degree overpowers the impression caused by a smaller degree ; hence the stars are not seen by day. The light of the stars has much less power to affect our eye than the light of the sun ; it therefore can not be perceived while the latter is above the horizon. If the sun's light be excluded, wmich may be done by descending into a deep well, or by looking through a powerful telescope, then the stars become visible at noon-day. Thus the perceptible impressions produced upon the eye are dependent upon the various degrees of light which reach the organ, the more powerful preventing the perception of the weaker.
Let us now hear what Hahnemann says upon this subject. To the paragraph announcing the " homoeopathic law of na- ture" is appended the following note: "Thus are cured both physical affections and moral maladies. How is it that in the early dawn the brilliant Jupiter vanishes from the gaze of the beholder? By a stronger very similar power acting on his optic nerve, the brightness of approaching day !"* And this, according to Hahnemann, is an instance of homoeopathic cure !
It is difficult to refrain, here, from some reflections on the want of the power of discriminating evinced by our medical reformer. It is true he laid hold upon a fact when he discov- ered the homoeopathic action of drugs, but how indistinctly
* Organou, § xxvi.
THE EEMEDIES OF HOMOEOPATHY. 13
must he have viewed that fact, and how visionary are his speculations respecting it !
It is difficult to trace the remotest analogy between the fact that a poison produces a disease, and cures another like it, and the effect of different degrees of light upon the eye. The light of Jupiter produces no disease for the light of the sun to cure ; again, if the eye has been injured by too much light it is not restored to health by a still stronger degree of light; and again, if it were, it would not be by a similarity of agents, but by the same agent, acting in a more or less powerful manner ; the light of the " brilliant" Jupiter is but the reflected light of the sun.
This deficiency in the power of discrimination in the mind of Hahnemann becomes, if possible, still more conspicuous in the sentences immediately following the one last quoted. " In situations replete with fetid odors, wherewith is it usual to soothe effectually the offended olfactory nerves? With snuff, that affects the sense of smell in a similar, but stronger manner I How does the warrior cunningly banish the piteous cries of him who runs the gauntlet from the ears of the com- passionate by-standers ? By the shrill notes of the fife, com- mingled with the roll of the noisy drum ! And the distant roar of the enemy's cannon, that inspires his army with fear ? By the mimic thunder of the big drum !"
Such observations as these surely require no refutation. They are entirely inapplicable as illustrations of Homoeopathy. Some writers on Homoeopathy admit that Hahnemann's illustrations are "unhappy," and with that admission they let the matter drop. But why are they unhappy ? Simply because they are untrue. It is not difficult to see that there is nothing of the nature of homoeopathic action in these examples ; and it is plain that the motions producing light, and also those producing sound, can not be included within the limits of the law of Homoeopathy.
Electricity. — The attractive power of amber, called by the Greeks eketcrpov, an almost solitary fact known to the ancients, has given a name to a property which is now ascertained to belong to all bodies. The remarkable phenomena and the ex- tensive relations of this property or force have been successfully investigated only within the present century, and even at the present day, though a vast number of facts have been observed, the subject is still shrouded in much mystery. In reference to animal life and its bearing upon the subject before us, I may remark that the relations which exist between the electrical force and the nervous influence are of the most intimate, but at
14 THE EEMEDIES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
the same time of the most subtle character. They have occupied the close attention of natural philosophers for some time, but as yet few data have been well established. The shock which the torpedo can communicate was known to the ancients. That this shock was electrical was discovered by Mr. Walsh, and communicated through Dr. Franklin to the Eoyal Soci- ety in 1772. The animal was sent by Mr. Walsh to John- Hunter for examination, and its electrical organs are described by the latter in the Philosophical Transactions of the following year. The next discovery was Galvani's, in 1789, that the electricity excited by the contact of two metals can produce muscular contractions ; our knowledge was further advanced by Baron Humboldt, by his examination of the Gymnotus Electricus, the electric eel of South America, a very interesting account of which is contained in his " Eecueil d' observations de Zoologie et d' Anatomie comparee," 1811. Of late the subject has been pursued, especially by Professor Matteucci, who in his " Traite des Phenomenes Electro-Physiologiques des Animaux," and in a series of Memoirs communicated to the Eoyal Society, and published in the Philosophical Trans- actions for the years 1845, 1846, 1847, and 1850, has des- cribed an immense number of most delicate and accurate ex- periments.
It will be sufficient to allude to one or two conclusions re- sulting from these experiments, to show that the mode of action of electricity upon the living nervous system is very complicated and peculiar ; and that our knowledge of it is quite inadequate to enable us to prove it to be within the limits of the law of similia similibus curantur.
In Matteucct's fourth Memoir, published in 1846, his ob- ject is to prove that the electric current transmitted along a nerve modifies the excitability of the nerve in a manner differ- ing widely according to the direction of the current. Thus, the direct current rapidly exhausts this excitability, while the inverse current increases it.
In 1847, Matteucci ascertained that if an animal is ether- ized, and the direct current is passed along one sciatic nerve, and the inverse along the other, contraction of the muscles takes place with the direct current, only on interrupting the cur- rent ; while with the inverse current contraction appears only on closing it. But these are the phenomena with the anterior roots of the nerves, or nerves of sensation only ; if these be cut, the effects are instantly reversed, contraction with the direct current takes place on closing, and that with the inverse on opening or interrupting the circuit.
THE REMEDIES OF HOMOEOPATHY. 15
These experiments are sufficient to make it evident that the effects produced by the application of an electrical current to the living body are of an intricate and refined nature, and that we are extremely ignorant with regard to their details. To ascribe any curative influence therefore which may have hap- pened to follow from the use of electricity to the law of Ho- moeopathy is a premature and unwarrantable conclusion. In fact, the application of electricity as a remedial agent, with our present ignorance of the effects it may produce, resembles far more the rude proceedings of Allopathy, than doings which profess to be regulated by a law of healing.
Experiments of this kind have been related: an electric shock communicated to the head of a rabbit deprives the ani- mal of sense and motion — produces paralysis ; a second shock restores consciousness and voluntary motion — removes paraly- sis ; and these alternate effects may be also indefinitely pro- duced by successive discharges of electricity. But whatever this is, it is not Homoeopathy ; it is not like curing like.
I have, formerly, made use of the electric aura (a current from a wooden point) in opacity of the cornea with some ad- vantage ; I have seen it, when applied by a small galvanic battery, relieve anomalous neuralgic pain ; I have often tried it in paralysis, but with very unsatisfactory results. Electricity has again and again been brought forward as a remedial agent, and has again and again been laid aside, in consequence partly of its frequent failures, and partly from our not knowing how to apply it, and how to apportion the degree of intensity to the nature of the case. For it will be observed that electricity, like heat and light, acts beneficially or otherwise simply in proportion to its degree or quantity.
This last remark suggests another circumstance in which these imponderable agents differ from drugs ; a certain condi- tion or amount of each is, every moment, essential to the main- tenance not only of health, but of life itself. A certain temper- ature, a certain amount of light, and a certain condition of elec- tricity preserve life and health— how we know not ; while other degrees or quantities of these all-pervading properties or affec- tions of matter may instantly destroy both ; as by a sun-stroke, or a flash of lightning. With all these, therefore, the effects are dependent upon degrees— in one degree they may injure, in another degree they may relieve ; but in none of these cases can the law of like curing like be fairly applied. Their reg- ulated use belongs more to the province of hygiene than that of therapeutics— to the affairs of clothing, exercise, and diet, rather than to medicine.
16 THE REMEDIES OP HOMCEOPATHY.
It is plain, therefore, that the phenomena of electricity can not, in the present state of our knowledge, be included within the limits of the law of Homoeopathy.
Magnetism. — The attractive power of the peculiar native oxide of iron, called loadstone, and its use in the mariner's com- pass, have been long known ; but we are indebted to the re- cent discoveries of Faraday for our knowledge of the fact that magnetism, like electricity, is a universal property of mat- ter. It is true that only a small number of bodies have a po- larity similar to that possessed by iron, and which are called magnetics ; but all other bodies have a polarity acting at right angles to that of iron, and are called diamagnetics. The con- nection between electricity and magnetism is now known to be of the most intimate nature, as is seen in the new sciences of Electro-magnetism and Magneto-electricity. Close relations are also traced between these properties of bodies and those of heat, light, and chemical affinity. But our present business is the question : Has magnetism any connection with the law of Homoeopathy?
Hahnemann enumerates about nine hundred symptoms as occasioned by the touch of the magnet.
" Those symptoms which have no reference to either pole in particular have been obtained incidentally during the course of experiments of six months' duration, the object of which was to find out the best and most effective mode of magnetiz- ing steel ; a magnetic horse-shoe, carrying twelve pounds, being handled for hours in succession, and both hands being thus in constant contact with either pole."
" Those symptoms which have reference to one pole in par- ticular have been obtained by means of a powerful magnetic bar being touched by persons in good health, for eight or twelve minutes, seldom more than once."*
Now, without its being necessary to assert that all, or even that many of these symptoms have been erroneously attributed to the action of the magnet, I can not see that any proof can be gathered from them that the magnetic influence on the liv- ing body is governed by the law of similia similibus curantur. On the contrary, I think there is sufficient evidence on the face of Hahnemann's own report to justify me in concluding that magnetism is not governed by this law. The following are my reasons :
First. I have carefully studied the three series of symptoms, namely, those supposed to be produced by the magnet without
* Materia Medica Pura, translated by Hempel, Vol. III., p. 22.
THE EEMED1ES OF HOMCEOPATHY. 17
reference to either pole, those caused by the north, and those arising from the south pole, and I can not discover that they present any picture of disease which can be considered charac- teristic ; that is, so peculiar as to distinguish the effects of the magnet from those of other noxious agents. Hahnemann often insists, and with great justice, on the fact that each poison pro- duces symptoms peculiar to and characteristic of itself.
Secondly. Notwithstanding Hahnemann's assertion that it " will be seen from the following symptoms that each of the two poles produces phenomena in a healthy person different from that of the other pole," I must confess that I can not find any difference sufficiently striking or important to prove that it is not accidental. Hahnemann does not attempt to aid us in our endeavors to distinguish between the effects of the two poles except in one circumstance. He says : " The south pole appears to excite haemorrhage as its primary effect ; the north pole seems to act in the contrary manner. Now it so happens that under the north pole he gives us the following symptoms : " Bleeding from the left nostril." " Bleeding of the nose for three quarters of an hour." " Violent bleeding at the nose for three afternoons in succession," — while I find nothing of the kind among the symptoms supposed to be occasioned by the south pole.
These reasons might appear to be sufficient, but I feel oblig- ed to remark further, that though, in Hahnemann's works, there is a great appearance of the strict accuracy and precision required in a philosophical writer, there is, in reality, a great lack of those qualities. For —
Thirdly. Many symptoms are stated to arise " from touch- ing the centre of the bar;" at which part of a magnet, it is well known, that the magnetic influence is neutral, and that no effects have yet been elicited from it. Now, whatever might be thought of these symptoms, were the effects of the pohs of the magnet established, they certainly ought not to have been brought forward as proving any thing, so long as that the main question remains undecided.
Fourthly. Some symptoms, as " fits of fainting, palpitation of the heart, and suffocation," are put down as having arisen "from omitting the usual imposition of the magnet." One can not but marvel that such evidence as this should be adduced to prove an important and novel fact.
Fifthly. Hahnemann himself, notwithstanding his endeavor to lay down precise rules respecting the magnetic influences on the body, is evidently confused in his own mind. He says, " the contact of a pole seems to produce alternate effects analo-
No. ix.— 2
18 THE REMEDIES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
gous to those of the opposite pole." " If the symptoms of a case correspond to the general symptoms of the magnet, with- out having reference to any pole in particular, in this case that pole is to be chosen which seems to be more closely homoeopa- thic to the case. If the symptoms should then disappear sud- denly, or if new symptoms should be elicited of half an hour, or even of a quarter of an hour's duration, this is a sure sign that the magnet has acted enanthiopathically, and the other homoeopathic pole is to be applied immediately for as long a time as the palliative had been." The disagreeable effects of an anti-homoeopathic application of the magnet, which are sometimes very considerable, may be palliated by small electric sparks ; they can be permanently cured by the fiat hand being imposed upon a large tin surface for half an hour, etc.
It is obvious that, in this matter, Hahnemann has entangled himself and his students in an inextricable maze. It seems to me impossible to gather any directions, sufficiently simple and positive to be followed in actual practice, from the five and forty pages of the Materia Medica Pura occupied with magnet- ism. I think it is plain, therefore, that the magnetic influence on the living body is not included within the limits of the law of Homoeopathy.
But this is not all. It is an admitted rule in Natural Philo- sophy, that the results of experiments can not be received as satisfactory and true, unless they occur again in the hands of others repeating the experiments of the original observer. Before the conclusions of Hahnemann can be adopted, others must experience at least some of the symptoms he has recorded. And on the same ground, before they can be permanently re- jected, the experiments must be* repeated without his results, sufficiently to make it evident that he has fallen into error.
I have tried in a variety of ways to obtain some effects, or to experience some unquestionable influence from magnets, but I" am constrained to say, without success. I have tried them on my own person, and on that of others. It is true that, in one instance, in an individual of a highly nervous and susceptible temperament, I did get some symptoms, such as rumbling of the abdomen, a feeling of faintness, and a speedy action of the bowels ; but then, on repeating the experiment, with the same person, a few days afterwards, with a similar bar of unmagnetized steel, I got precisely the same effects ; clearly proving that the results of the previous trial were due to the force of imagina- tion, and not to that of magnetism.
To obtain a confirmation, either of Hahnemann's results or of my own, I have communicated with the two individuals who
THE EEMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATHY. 19
have had more personal and practical experience in the hand- ling of and experimenting with magnets than perhaps any others in the world ; and by their kind permisssion, I now give their replies. The first is from my friend Dr. Scoresby.
"Torquay, Nov. 7, 1853. " Dear Dr. Sharp : In reply to your inquiry as to any sensible effects on the bodily feeling or condition from the handling of powerful magnets, I can decidedly state that no such effects have ever been experienced by me ; at least in such a degree as to draw my attention to such circumstance.
" I have felt no sensible effect either from the magnetizing of bars of steel, or handling the most powerful magnets, or working with a powerful magnetic apparatus for hours together. My largest magnet, comprising five hundred feet of steel bars, one and a half inch broad and a quarter of an inch thick, and capable of sustaining four hundred pounds weight, (though not well adapted for lifting purposes,) produces no sensible effect on the feelings. " I am, dear Dr. Sharp, yours very faithfully,
" W. Scoresby."
The second letter is from Professor Faraday, to whom I have often been indebted for kind communications, and who on this, as on all former occasions, promptly furnished me with the in- formation I sought.
" Eoyal Institution, 19 Dec, 1853.
" My Dear Sir : I have often experimented on the subject, and my results are all negative. Having an electro-magnet which could have the magnetic power developed and suppressed at pleasure, and which when excited, would sustain some tons weight, I have submitted the most delicate parts of my own organization to it without being conscious of the least influence. I have placed the ball of the eye close up to a pole, either one or the other, and then put the power on and off, quickly and slowly, but without the slightest consciousness of the least change in any function of the eye or the parts about it. I have repeated the experiment with the nostrils; the tongue ; the ear ; with a wound ; with a fresh cut ; but no effects have been produced.
" Mr. "Warren de la Rue constructed a beautiful electro-magnet witk pointed poles, so arranged that they could be brought very near each other ; animalcules of various kinds were placed between them, and then observed with a microscope. I predicted from my own experiments that nothing would occur of an extra character ; and such was the result. The creatures showed no difference whether the power was on or off, or passing on or off; the motions ar*d appearances of the Cilia, and other parts of the little animals, remained constantly the same.
" I have worn a magnet about my person for some time, without the least indication of any effect ; and when I have worked for hours together, and day after day, with powerful magnets, and amongst them that before referred to, I have not been conscious of any influence.
" I believe that as yet, we have not the slightest real evidence of the influ- ence of a magnet, (acting only as a magnet,) upon an animal of the highest or of the lowest organization, or upon any plant, as a living object. Consider- ed as inert matter, they are all subject to the power, for I have found a liv- ing or a dead mouse to be equally diamagnetic.
" Ever, my dear sir, very truly yours, M. Faraday."
20 THE REMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATHY.
I leave my readers to draw their own conclusions from the evidence before them. It appears to me that this preponder- ates greatly against any effects whatever being produced by mag- netism upon the living body in its ordinary condition ; but even if it should hereafter be established that effects are some- times produced, I believe these effects will be found, on careful investigation, to be entirely uugoverned by the law of Homoeo- pathy.
For myself, I can not but conclude that Hahnemann is quite in error, when he supposes that the homoeopathic law can, with any show of propriety, be applied to the action of the physical influence of any of the so-called imponderable agents. The only analogy which I can discover is that of "polarity. We know that like electricities, and like poles of a magnet repel each other, similia similibus repelluntur ; beyond this faint re- semblance I can, as yet, trace no connection.
IV. THE homoeopathic action op drugs.
It has been more or less generally acknowledged from time immemorial, that, "poison is the remedy for poison." I have advanced some very plain proofs in a former number of these Tracts, (No. 3.) that this " Homoeopathy in the general " is also true, when we descend into particulars. A careful review of the examples given in that pamphlet, will render it impossible for an}^ intelligent and unprejudiced person to deny, that a re- lation exists in nature between the effects of material poisons on the healthy frame, and the effects of the same poisons on dis- eases resembling those which they are capable of producing. This relation is expressed by the word Homoeopathy — like curing like.
Hahnemann's formal definition of this law of Homoeopathy in the Organon is as follows :
"A weaker dynamic affection is permanently extinguished in the living organism by a stronger one, if the latter (whilst differing in kind) is similar to the former in its manifesta- tions.
This paragraph, instead of announcing a natural fact which he had discovered, states a fiction which he had imagined. He gives us no sufficient evidence to prove that the artificial dis- ease induced by the remedy is a stronger one than the previous- ly existing natural disease. Analogy does not make it proba- ble that this should be the case, especially with an infinitesimal dose of the remedy ; and if it were so, it would be still less
THE EEMEDIES OF HOM(EOPATHY. 21
probable that such a mode of proceeding could restore any one to health.
I am constrained therefore to reject this definition, and ven- ture to propose the following as a substitute :
Every material poison gaining admission into the healthy body, has a tendency to produce a diseased condition, evidenced by symp- toms or physical signs, more or less peculiar to itself; and every such poison is the most appropriate remedy for a similar diseased condition which has arisen from other causes.
From this definition it appears that, in the present state of our knowledge, this law of similia similibus curantur is an ulti- mate fact. We are ignorant of its cause, and also of its connec- tion or correlation with other natural facts ; it can therefore be used only as an empirical guide. But when it is remembered that before we became acquainted with this fact we had no guide, and that this is an intelligible and plain one, it will be seen that it must prove a great gain to the practice of medi- cine. And when it is further remembered that the most ad- vanced sciences, as astronomy and chemistry are in the same manner based upon ultimate facts, the causes of which are equally unknown, we need not wonder, neither need we to be distressed, if in medicine also we find ourselves compelled to work by a rule, the construction of which is hidden from our view.
From the evidence adduced on a former occasion, (Tract No. 3,) it is plain that the action of material poisons, or as they are commonly called drugs, is included within the limits of the law of Homoeopathy ; and from the evidence brought forward in this Tract, it is also plain that as yet, we know of no other actions which are included within it. Thus the question proposed, what are the limits within which the law of Homoeopathy is applica- ble to remedies, has now been answered. It is applicable to drugs, but to nothing else.
Goethe, himself a German, observes that "the Germans have the gift of rendering the sciences inaccessible ; certainly Hahnemann possessed the art of making Homoeopathy unac- ceptable. In this way among others, by attempting to make an indiscriminate application of the law of similia similibus cur- antur to the action of diseases ; of mental emotions ; of physi- cal agents ; and of material poisons. Thus regarding it as a foundation of Pathology, of Moral Philosophy and of Dynami- cal Science, as well as of Therapeutics ; a proceeding as unphi- losophical as if Newton had attempted to make the law of gravitation the basis of chemistry, physiology and metaphysics, as well as of astronomy.
22 THE REMEDIES OF HOMCEOPATHY.
I -venture to hope that this confusion is now cleared up, the difficulty obviated, and a serious objection removed ; and that in future both the nature and the limits of the principle of Homoeopathy -will be perceived and maintained. I shall re- joice if I have made the subject more intelligible to my read- ers and placed it in a light less repulsive to my professional brethren.
Rugby, Dec. 2§th, 1853.
NORTH AMERICAN HOMOEOPATHIC JOURNAL:
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The Worth American Homoeopathic Journal •will appear on the first days of August, November, February, and May. Every number will contain one hun- dred and forty-four pages, thus making at the end of each year a handsome volume of five hundred and seventy-six octavo pages.
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3. — THE TRUTH OF HOMOEOPATHY.
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4. — THE SMALL DOSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
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THE PROYINGS OF HOMEOPATHY.
"But yet these truths being never so certain, never so clear, he may be ignor- ant of either, or all of them, who will never take the pains to employ his faculties as he should, to inform himself about them." Locke.
If drugs are remedies for disease, it is obvious that some means must be used to discover their various properties ; in other words, to learn the effects they are severally capable of pro- ducing upon the human body. Let us inquire :
I. What have been the means hitherto adopted for this pur- pose, and the result?
II. What new method has been suggested, and agreed to ?
III. How far this new method has been carried out ?
I. What have been the means hitherto adopted to ascertain the curative powers of drugs, and what has been the result ?
The means hitherto adopted have been the trial of them in every variety of disease. Through preceding ages, both medical men and patients have been eager to experiment in this man- ner, upon the large number of poisonous substances of which the Materia Medica consists.
And what has been the result ? If I undertake a description of the past and present condition of the Materia Medica, and of the results of the trials or experiments made to discover their powers of healing, in my own words, I may be suspected of misrepresenting the truth ; I shall, therefore, give it in the words of those writers who are most eminent or best known in the profession.
I have already given (in No. 6) an epitome of the practice of medicine in the words of Cullen, the most distinguished
4 THE PROVINGS OF HOMCEOPATHY.
in a striMng manner, the doubts and the confusion, the eon- physician of this country of the last age, in which he exhibits, tradictions and the differences of the successive teachers and practitioners of the healing art.
Pustel, one of the most celebrated writers of the continent of the same period, expresses himself on this subject as fol- lows :
"La matiere medicale n'a ete en general qu'un entassement confus de substances incoherentes, et le plus souvent duoees d'une efhcacite precaire; et rien, peut-etre, n'est plus fonde que le reproche qu'on lui a fait de n'offrir qu'un assemblage informe d'idees •inexactes, et d'observations pueriles ou du moyens illusoires."*
" The Materia Medica has been nothing but a confused heap of incongruous substances, possessing, for the most part, a doubtful efficacy; and nothing, perhaps, is more just than the reproach which has been attached to it, that it presents only a shapeless assemblage of incoherent ideas, and of puerile or at least of illusory observations."
It is true he goes on to express a hope that modern Chemis- try will dissipate this sad confusion, but experience has disap- pointed this hope. No science can operate effectually, except within its own limits, and the science of healing is not and can not be made a chapter in Chemistry.
But it may be said Cullen and Pixel were of a former age ; I will, therefore, avail myself of the pen of the present living official head of our profession in this country, and in the words of Dr. Paris, the President of the Eoyal College of Physicians, give some account of the substances hitherto used as medicines, the mode by which a knowledge of their properties has been acquired, and the estimate made of their value by the physicians of succeeding ages.
Such a method of stating the case can not in reason be ob- jected to, or be suspected of unfairness ; and I ask every pro- fessional reader, and it is to my professional brethren that these Tracts are primarily addressed, I ask him to put the question to himself as he reads, is it not true f
The College of Physicians possesses one of the most com- plete collections of Materia Medica in Europe. "Glancing at the extensive and motley assemblage of substances with which these cabinets are overwhelmed, it is impossible," says Dr. Paris, in a lecture addressed to the assembled college, "to cast our eyes over such multiplied groups, without being forcibly
* PinoL — Nosographie Philosopliique. 5tk Ed. p. lxxxviii. Paris: 1813
TIIE PROVINGS OF HOMCEOPATHY. 5
struck with the palpable absurdity of some, the disgusting and loathsome nature of others, the total want of activity in many, and the uncertain and precarious reputation of all ; or, without feeling an eager curiosity to inquire from the combination of what causes it can have happened, that substances, at one pe- riod in the highest esteem, and of generally acknowledged utility have fallen into total neglect and disrepute; while others, of humble pretensions, and little significance, have maintained their ground for so many centuries ; and on what account, materials of no energy whatever, have received the indisputable sanction, and unqualified support of the best and wisest practitioners of the age. That such fluctuations of opinion, and versatility in practice, should have produced, even in the most candid and learned observers, an unfavorable impression with regard to the general efficacy of medicines, can hardly excite our astonishment, much less our indignation ; nor can we be surprised to find that another portion of man- kind has at once arraigned Physic as a fallacious art, or de- rided it as a composition of error and fraud. They ask, and it must be confessed that they ask with reason — what pledge can be afforded them, that the boasted remedies of the present day will not, like their predecessors, fall into disrepute, and in their turn serve only as humiliating memorials of the credu- lity and infatuation of the physicians who commended and prescribed them."
Dr. Paris afterwards speaks of "the barren labors of the ancient empirics, who saw without discerning, and adminis- tered without discriminating and concluded without reason- ing." And, passing to modern times, he declares that we "should not be surprised at the very imperfect state of the Materia Medica, as far as it depends upon what is commonly called experience. Ray," he says, "attempted to enumerate the virtues of plants from experience, and the system serves only to commemorate his failure ; Vogel likewise professed to assign to substances those powers which had been learned from accumulated experience; and he speaks of roasted toad as a specific for the pains of gout, and asserts that a person may secure himself for the whole year from angina, by eating a roasted swallow."
"The revolutions," continues Dr. Paris, "and vicissitudes which remedies have undergone, in medical as well as popular . opinion, from the ignorance of some ages, the learning of others, the superstitions of the weak, and the designs of the crafty, afford an ample subject for philosophical reflection."
"Iron, whose medicinal virtues have been so generally al-
O THE PEOVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY.
lowed, has not escaped those vicissitudes in reputation which almost every valuable remedy has been doomed to suffer."
"The fame even of Peruvian bark has been occasionally obscured by the clouds of false theory ; some condemned its use altogether 'because it did not evacuate the morbific mat- ter;' others 'because it bred obstructions in the viscera;' others again ' because it only bound up the spirits, and stopped the paroxysms for a time, and favored the translation of the peccant matter into the more noble parts.' It was sold first by the Jesuits for its weight in silver, (about 1660,) and Conda- mine relates that in 1690 several thousand pounds of it lay at Piura and Payta for want of a purchaser."
"It is well known with what avidity the public embraced the expectations given by Stoeeck of Vienna, in 1760, with respect to Hemlock ; every body, says Dr. Fothebgill, made the extract, and every body prescribed it, but finding that it would not perform the wonders ascribed to it, and that a mul- titude of discordant diseases refused to yield, as it was asserted they would, to its narcotic powers, practitioners fell into the opposite extreme of absurdity, and, declaring that it could do nothing at all, dismissed it at once as inert and useless."*
I might go on quoting nearly the whole of Dr. Paeis's two lectures ; for they proceed in the same strain, but I have given sufficient to satisfy any unprejudiced mind.
Every practitioner who has reached, or passed the middle of life, will remember instances in his own experience, of this fickle vicissitude, this fashionable reputation and capricious ob- livion. He will remember, for example, the time when al- most every gentleman he met carried white mustard-seed in his waistcoat pocket. He will not have forgotten the similar rise and fall of many other remedies.
That the picture drawn by Dr. Paeis is not one of past times only, but is equally true of our own day, is manifest from the perusal of the medical journals of the present moment. Take up, for instance, the last volume of Mr. Beaithwaite's Retrospect of these journals, and read the whole, from the opening sentence to the appendix. The volume commences thus: "Dr. Johnson (assistant physician to King's College Hospital) truly observes that on few subjects is there such diversity of opinion as upon the effects of remedies in disease, their modes of action, and the best methods of administering them." And the appendix on cholera is thus introduced :
" "We took some pains in our 20th volume, (1849,) to collect
* Paris — Pharmacologist. Introduction.
THE PROVINGS OF HOMCEOPATHY. 7
and arrange the many opinions on Asiatic cholera, "both as to its pathology, causes, and treatment, which were published at that time.
" We now add some other opinions which have been pub- lished since the epidemic made its appearance in the present year of 1853. But we do not think it necessary again to enter into so minute an analysis as we did before, because we do not perceive that there has been any very material addition to our previous knowledge on the subject. We will, therefore, mere- ly subjoin some of the opinions on the treatment of this disease which seem to us to be the most sensible — although we must acknowledge that the difference of opinion has sometimes greatly amused us."*
To me it is not amusing but very painful and melancholy that, after the earnest and conscientious labors, during thou- sands of years, of tens of thousands of educated men, all en- gaged daily in the study and the practice of medicine, such should be the issue! It proclaims loudly that the method pursued must be a faulty one, and that a letter state of things ought to be sought for, not from any imaginable amount of perse- verance in the same track, but by discovering, if possible, some new path.
II. Let us proceed, therefore, to inquire what new method has been suggested and agreed to ?
"Primum, in corpore sano medela tentanda est, sine pere- grina ulla miscela ; exigua, illius dosis ingerenda, et ad omnes quae inde contingunt affectiones, quis pulsus, quis calor, quae respiratio, quaenam excretiones, attendendum. Inde adduc- tum phaenominorum in sano obviorum, transeas ad experimenta in corpore cegroto"
" In the first place, the remedy is to be tried on the healthy body, without any foreign substance mixed with it ; a very small dose is to be taken, and attention is to be directed to every effect produced by it ; for example, on the pulse, the temper- ature, the respiration, the secretions. Having obtained these obvious phenomena in health, you may then pass on to experi- ment on the body in a state of disease.11
Such was the suggestion of the illustrious Haller, about the middle of the last century. And who was Haller ? He has been called the " Prince of Physiologists," and of him it has been recorded that " no individual, either of ancient or modern times, has equalled him in the extent of his erudition,
* Braithwoite. Half-yearly Retrospect of Medicine. July to December, 1853.
8 THE PROVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY
and the magnitude of his labors. His fame was universal ; no person of rank or scientific eminence visited Switzerland with- out paying their respects to Haller. Foreign countries were alike auxious to gain his services, and to bestow upon him honors."
Here then is a new path discovered and pointed out to us by a man every way worthy of attention. Some of the ancients had made experiments with poisons, but they were undertaken for a different object, the finding out of antidotes. This method seems now for the first time to have been placed before the world as the best means of learning the healing virtue of drugs.
The method met with approbation. Among others, Hah- nemann, a German physician then rising into notice, adopts and advocates it earnestly.
"The physician," he says, "whose sole aim it is to perfect his art, can avail himself of no other information respecting medicines than
" First. What is the pure action of each by itself on the human body ?
" Second. What do observations of its action in this or that simple or complex disease teach us ?"
He remarks that the last object is partly obtained in the prac- tical writings of the best observers. But so many contradictions occur among the observations thus recorded, that some natural standard is still required, by which we may be enabled to judge of their relative truth and value. Hence the necessity for an answer to the first question, What are the effects produced by a given medicinal substance on the healthy human body ? *
Many eminent physicians continued, from time to time, to express their concurrence in this method, until at length in 1842, about a century after its proposal by Haller, it has been formally adopted. A public assemblage of medical men, at the Scientific Congress held at Strasburg in that year, an- nounced the adoption of the proposal in the following reso- lution :
" The third section (the medical) are unanimously of opinion that experiments with medicines on healthy individuals are, in the present state of medical science, of urgent necessity for physiology and therapeutics, and that it is desirable that all known facts should be methodically and scrupulously collected,
♦Hahnemann's first Essay on a new principle for ascertaining the curativo n»wera of drugs. Hufeland's Journal, 1796.
THE PROVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY. 9
and -with prudence, cautiousness, and scientific exactness ar- ranged, written out, and published."
The proving of drugs on the healthy is thus admitted to be not only useful, but of urgent necessity.
III. How far has this new method been carried out ?
The plan proposed is this : Voluntarily to make oneself ill with poisonous doses of drugs, for the sake of learning in the first place, upon what organs they act, and the changes they produce on them, and afterwards in what diseases such drugs may be given as remedies. This is a painful path, of indefinite extent, beset with obstacles, and demanding an unknown amount of labor and self-sacrifice. "Who has had courage to walk in it? Not Haller himself. He saw, but he did not come, nor conquer. Among the few who early ventured an at- tempt, the most considerable individual was StoERCK. As Mason Good observes, he engaged himself " in proving upon his own person the violent powers of colchicum and stramon- ium." Some other trials were made, but, to quote again the last-named excellent writer: "A common fate attended the whole of these experiments. From attracting and concentra- ting the attention of the public, the medicines to which they were directed became equally over- valued ; were employed upon all occasions ; produced frequent disappointment ; and gradually fell into disuse." f
In this almost hopeless state of things, with the zeal and courage of a true pioneer, Hahnemann commenced the trial or proving of drugs on his own person, and on those of as many of his friends as he could induce to join him in the diffi- cult and perilous adventure. He had been so dissatisfied with the uncertainty, want of success, and danger of the usual mode of practice, that he had given up his professional duties, and was earning a scanty maintenance by translating books, and by pursuits in Chemistry. His active mind busied itself in searching for "an easy, sure, trustworthy method, whereby diseases may be seen in their proper light, and medicines be interrogated as to their special powers, as to what they are really and positively useful for." He must, thought he, " ob- serve how medicines act on the human body, when it is in the tranquil state of health. The alterations that drugs produce on the healthy body do not occur in vain, they must signify something. This may be their mode of teaching us what dis- eases they have the power of curing."
* Mason Good. Study of Medicino, Vol. I. Preface
10 THE PKOVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Hahnemann's first trial was with Peruvian bark ; he took several scruples, in successive doses, at a time when he was in perfect health, and he was thrown into a feverish condition, which had some resemblance to the kinds of fever for which it has been usual to prescribe this drug as a remedy. Hence again the thought that there must be a direct connection between the disease-producing and the disease-curing properties of drugs ; and hence the resolution to try a series of experiments upon himself, to discover the truth or the fallacy of the thought that " likes are to be treated with likes."
During a long course of years all the best-7cnown drugs were experimented upon in succession, until the morbid effects which each is capable of producing, were ascertained with more or less exactitude and completeness. The bold and novel under- taking was persevered in with untiring industry, and at the ex- pense of much personal privation and suffering ; and had the results been given to us in a narrative detailing them as they were successively ascertained, they would have formed an im- perishable monument of an amount of labor and self-denial such as the world has rarely seen.
The praise of having led the way is undoubtedly Hahne- mann's. And, notwithstanding the defects in his provings, which I shall feel bound to notice, such is the value of a true principle, they have already guided us to a mode of treating diseases, far more successful than any which was known before.
To facilitate, as he imagined, the use in actual practice of the immense materials he had collected, he invented an artificial arrangement of them, before they were presented to the world. In this scheme or plan, all the symptoms are detached from those originally associated with them, or which occurred in the same experiment, and they are rearranged according to the anatomical division of the body. For example, all the symp- toms affecting the head, in any number of provers of the same drug, are put together ; then those belonging to the eyes, the ears, the face, the throat, the stomach, the chest, the arms, etc. Hahnemann has given us several volumes thus curiously dis- jointed ; and he has withheld from us the means of arranging them otherwise, by keeping back the original histories of the actual provings.
The dismemberment of the symptoms from their natural groups is a great defect in the provings of Hahnemann ; and, among lesser faults, there is also another of considerable mag- nitude. This has arisen from his anxiety to give a perfect pic- ture of the effects produced by the substances under trial, and consists in his having suffered a large mass of insignificant, and
THE PROVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY. 11
often perhaps imaginary, sensations, and other trivial matters, to mingle with the real and important symptoms. This error has, like the former, greatly encumbered and confused the re- presentation of the action of the drug ; which, had it been avoided, would have been much more clear and instructive. The numerous trivialities thus introduced not only require to be overlooked by the student, but they also form a stumbling- block to the inquirer, and a ground of reproach for the oppo- nent.
But if imperfection and error attach to the performance oi Hahnemann, shall that be thought surprising ? Shall the undertaking itself be condemned because the first attempt has not attained perfection ? Doubtless there are defects which ble- mish this great work of Hahnemann ; let it be our endeavor to discover these defects, and to remove them ; to perfect the work begun. It is not given to the same age, much less to the same individual, to begin and to complete any undertaking so vast as this. We have seen that the old method, after a most pro- longed and diligent trial, has signally failed ; we have seen that the proving of drugs upon the healthy has been admitted to be of urgent necessity ; we have further seen that the work has been begun, and there is now no course open to the profession but to carry it on until it is completed.
To restore the symptoms of each proving to their natural connection with each other, to discard all that are insignificant or imaginary, and all which have arisen from other causes than the drug taken ; to connect with the provings the age, sex, constitution, etc., of the prover, the dose of the drug, and its repetition, and the circumstances under which the trial has been made ; and, above all, to discover the true pathological con- dition produced by the drug, so that the corresponding diseased state for which the drug will prove the best remedy, may be more easily recognized ; is the task of the present and succeeding generations of medical practitioners.
It is admitted that the knowledge we have hitherto possessed relative to the effects of the substances composing the Materia Medica, is almost worthless. Does any one deny this ? If so, upon what grounds ?
It is admitted that to obtain an acquaintance with these drugs of more value, their effects in health must be learned by proving them upon ourselves. Does any one deny this? If so, upon what grounds ?
It appears that several physicians have begun this difficult undertaking; for example, StoERCK, already mentioned,
12 THE PROVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Dieffenbach and JoRG in Germany ; Alexander in Scot- land; Chevallier in France, and Beraudi and his three friends in Italy. Some of these were before, some after Hahnemann ; none of them homoeopathists ; but their efforts terminated with unimportant results.
The work was begun and persevered in by Hahnemann, with such an amount of self-denying labor and perseverance as had not been thought of before, and his results exceeded in importance every thing which had been accomplished during all the centuries before him.
I have allowed that Hahnemann's provings are not free from errors and defects ; but I contend, and this from my own personal observation and experience at the bed-side of the sick, that, notwithstanding these errors and defects, they are of more practical value in the treatment of disease than any thing which had been effected by former physicians.
And it is obvious, as I have remarked already, that the only path now open to professional men in which they can pursue their career with credit, and with any hope of obtaining more power over disease, and consequently of being more useful to their patients, is this method of provings. Is not the old path of experimenting upon the sick shut up ? in the court of reason is it not closed for ever ?
The problem to be solved relative to those poisonous sub- stances which are to be used as remedies in disease, is this : Upon what organs of the body do they act ? and, What are the changes they produce in these organs ? Each drug produces its own peculiar effects, it is therefore necessary that each be experimented upon alone. This was pointed out by Haller : " The remedy is to be tried on the healthy body without any foreign substance mixed with it." It has been admitted by our best writers. Mason G-ood observes that " there are some practitioners who think that all the articles which are of real use in the cure of disease lie within a small compass, and may be learned without burdening the memory. This remark may be allowed to those who are limited to a portable dispensary, as in travelling or on ship-board ; but when uttered under other circumstances, it savors less of wisdom than of indolence. We may easily indeed substitute one medicine for another ; but it is very rarely, if ever, that we can hereby obtain an in- tegral representative ; a remedy possessing not only the gene-
THE PROVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY. 13
ral, but the particular qualities of that whose place is supplied, so as to be equally adapted to the exact state of the disease or the express character of the idiosyncrasy."*
As then each drug produces its own special morbid effects, and is to be investigated by itself, under what circumstances can this knowledge be acquired ? These morbid effects can be discovered in two ways : first, by persons in health taking them voluntarily for this purpose, or proving them ; secondly, from cases of poisoning, whether accidental or intentional.
I will now give a few examples of both these modes of ob- taining the required information. They are not adduced as exhibitions of the entire sphere of action of these particular drugs ; the limits of these Essays do not admit of this, but as illustrations of the facts which are so valuable as the founda- tion of an improved method of treating diseases. According to the old method, after having examined a patient, the mental inquiry is, what medicines have done good in similar cases ? On the contrary, those who are guided in their choice of a re- medy by the principle that " likes are to be treated with likes," ask themselves, what drug produces similar symptoms?
The cases which follow may be considered as the converse of those given in Tract No. 3.
CASES.
ACONITUM NAPELLUS.
This plant, besides possessing other healing powers of import- ance, is now fully established as a most valuable remedy in simple and inflammatory fever. It must entirely banish the use of the lancet, the leech, and the blister in such cases.
" Dr. Frederick Schwarz, 29 years old, of sanguine tem- perament, with unimpaired health, commenced his experiments with three drops of the tincture, and gradually increased the dose until he took 400 drops at once.
"After a large dose, (400 drops,) rigor, commencing in the legs, then going to the arms, with goose-skin ; great fatigue, indifference, irritability, no appetite — food creates nausea. The rigor continued to increase in the afternoon, and he became
* Mason Good. Study of Medicine.
14 THE PROVINGS OF HOMCEOPATHY.
icy cold, no coverings suffice to warm him. Afterwards, burn- ing in the eyes, twitching and visions of sparks ; roaring in the ears, great sensitiveness to noise. Breath hot, breathing quick- ened ; on breathing deeply, oppression, anxiety, and painful stitches betwixt the shoulders, pulse strong, full, quick. In the evening, slight perspirations came on, after which nearly all the symptoms went off."
Many other provings give similar symptoms, with decided evidence of inflammation of the brain, the eyes, the mucous and the serous membranes, the larynx, the lungs, the heart, and other organs. The symptoms of several of these affections were experienced by the following prover.
Professor Joseph Zlataeovich, 37 years old, robust, stout, dark complexion, of sanguine choleric temperament. He took from 10 to 200 drops of the tincture daily for many days ; in sixty-eight days he had taken about 5000 drops, and had symp- toms of great severity, such as,
"Shivering for several hours, general feeling of illness, weariness and exhaustion, wandering pains, vertigo and stupe- faction, violent headache, as if the head were compressed with screws at both temples ; itching and burning in the eyes and eyelids; the eye-balls feel enlarged as if coming out of the orbit, sensitiveness of the larynx to inspired air, as if its mu- cous membrane were divested of its covering ; cough from irri- tation of the larynx, with expectoration of gelatinous mucus. Oppression of the chest, with raw pain under the sternum on inspiration ; stitches in the lower part of the chest towards the false ribs, violent dry cough, anxiety in the region of the heart, pains in the back and limbs," etc.
Aconite has acted remedially in cholera ; it produces an ex- haustion of the whole frame similar to that of cholera. In evidence of this fact the painful instance of the late Dr. Male of Birmingham may be cited.
"Dr. Male, aged 65, who had for two months suffered from pains in the back and loins, took (in 1845) tincture of aconite for four days, beginning with 5 drops, three times a day, and increasing the dose to 6, 8, and 10 drops, (taking in all 80 drops ;) on the fifth day the extremities became cold, the surface cold and clammy, the pulse 130, feeble ; cramps and pains in the legs, and spasmodic pains in the stomach. He died on the 7th day."
Aconite, as before observed, possesses other valuable pro- perties, but in its relation to inflammatory fever, (synochus,) it stands, at present, unrivalled.
THE PROVINGS OF HOMCEOPATHY. 15
ARSENIC.
This deadly poison has an action upon the human body in many respects the opposite of the preceding drug. The me- lancholy relations of its poisonous effects are so numerous that its characteristic properties may be readily gathered from them. It has also been much used as a remedy : I will give a list of cases extracted from the Index to the first 19 volumes of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal ; of course these are diseases treated on the old method ; by comparing them with the cases of poisoning which follow, it will be seen on how many occasions the law of similia similibus curantur has been unwittingly adhered to ; it is fair to infer that the benefit which has been experienced in such cases has arisen from the homoeo- pathic action of the remedy.
"Arsenic, solution of, used in a case of angina pectoris, (a case of carditis occasioned by arsenic is then given ;) its use in ascites ; approved remedy for the radical cure of cancer ; its use in convulsions; its use in dyspepsia; its use in elephantiasis its use in epilepsy ; its use in curing periodical headaches ; ef- fects in hemicrania ; benefit derived from it in hooping cough its use in hypochondriasis ; its use in hysteria ; its use in in- termittent fever ; its use in lepra ; its use in megrim ; its use in melancholia; its use in chronic ophthalmia; its use in palpita- tion of the heart ; its use in paralysis ; its use in rhachitis ; its use in rheumatism; its use in schirrus; successful in tic-dou- loureux; successful effects in lock-jaw; its use in typhus; useful in phagedenic, and other ulcers ; its use in cases of worms."
It is evident that the prevailing character of these diseases is asthenic, prostration of strength, and a tendency to disor- ganization and decomposition ; brought to a climax in malig- nant sore-throat, gangrene, and Asiatic cholera; in all of which, as well as in the majority of the cases enumerated above, it has been successfully used by homceopathists.
Dr. Eoget records the following case of poisoning in the 2d volume of the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, 1811. It ex- hibits a large number of the characteristic effects of Arsenic.
"A girl, aged 19, of a sanguine temperament and delicate constitution, having met with a severe disappointment, pur- chased 60 grains of white arsenic, strewed the powder on a piece of bread and butter, and eat the whole. In about ten minutes an effort to vomit took place ; in about an hour she looked exceedingly pale, felt very ill, and hastened to bed ; in a few minutes she was seized with violent pain in the stomach,
16 THE PROVIN'GS OF HOMOEOPATHY.
soon followed by severe vomiting ; her mother gave her large draughts of warm water, which immediately returned. The vomiting continued, with griping in the bowels, and copious watery evacuations ; some florid blood was vomited. Her an- guish had now risen to such a pitch that her resolution gave way to the urgent wish for relief, and she acknowledged the cause of her sufferings. The following day she was suffering intense pain at the pit of the stomach, much increased by pressure, with frequent retching and occasional vomiting ; the face flushed ; respiration hurried and anxious, with frequent hiccup; pulse 120, small and extremely quick; tongue white. At five in the evening, pain in the stomach continued intense, (notwithstanding bleeding and a blister,) a burning heat in the throat, much thirst, also much pain in the forehead, and in- tolerance of light, frequent feeling of excessive coldness, par- ticularly in the extremities, although to the hand of another person they appeared to be of the natural warmth. At seven, pulse 140, very cold ; on being raised in bed, she fainted for half an hour, with slight convulsions. At eleven, her strength diminished, frequent hiccup, constant burning in the throat and stomach, extremely pale, eyes kept closed from dread of light, pupil contracts slowly. Next morning she is free from pain and sickness, and bears the light better; pulse, 112, small ; the color has returned to her lips and cheeks ; she is anxious to recover. In the evening the headache is distressing, pulse 120. On the 3d day vertigo, headache much increased, dread of light again, oppression Of breathing, feeling of cold water running down the back, and sense of sinking; pulse, 125, and very small. To take camphor, which gave her much relief. The following day the symptoms continued, and on the 5th day they increased, with pain under the margin of the ribs on the left side, constant and severe, and much aggravated by a cough which was increasing in violence. On the 6th and 7th days this state continued, but abated on the latter day, when at night she suddenly went off in a fit, during which she was completely insensible, the left arm and leg agitated with strong convulsions ; considerable foaming at the mouth and distortion of the features ; the violent symptoms lasted two hours, and the insensibility all night. On the 8th day completely coma- tose and unable to move, eyes closed, pupils dilated, but con- tracted on the admission of light ; when strongly roused she complained of violent headache, and also of pain in the region of the spleen, which she could not bear to be pressed. On the 9 th day, she had a convulsive fit at the same hour as the pre- ceding, and continued in a state of torpor. On the 10th day
THE PEOVINGS OF HOMCEOPATHY. 17
she had a fit which lasted four hours, from which she recovered in. my presence, as if awaking from a sound sleep, and de- clared she felt perfectly well, her only complaint being a vio- lent itching of the skin over the whole body. The convulsions returned in the evening. On the 11th day she had headache, itchiness of the skin, and burning sensation in the throat ; the convulsions returned with violence for an hour and a half, when she again awoke free from complaint, excepting a violent itching of the nose, and a numbness in three of the fingers on the right hand. On the 12th and following days the convul- sions still returned during sleep, but gradually became milder, and at length amounted only to irregular twitchings of the ten- dons ; in another week these had left her, and her strength a good deal returned, but she continued to suffer from occasional flatulence, oppression of the stomach, and difficulty of breath- ing." I have endeavored to abridge this case, but it is so full of instruction; in the successive changes in its symptoms, re- presenting so well, so many distinct morbid conditions, that it can scarcely be studied too much.
The following case, given by Dr. Cheistisoist, in his work on Poisons, extends the picture of the characteristic features of arsenic.
"On two successive evenings, immediately after taking some gruel, Mr. Blandy was attacked with pricking and burn- ing of the tongue, throat, stomach, and bowels, and with vomit- ing and purging. Five days after, when the symptoms were fully formed, he had inflamed pimples round his lips, and a sense of burning in the mouth ; the nostrils were similarly af- fected ; the eyes were blood-shot, and affected with burning pain ; the tongue was swollen, the throat red and excoriated, and in both there was tormenting sense of burning ; he had likewise, swelling, with pricking and burning pain of the body; excoriations and ulcers ; vomiting and bloody diarrhoea ; a low, tremulous pulse ; laborious respiration; and great difficulty in speaking and swallowing. In this state he lingered several days, and died nine days after the first suspected basin of gruel was taken."
The next case is from Mr. Braithwaite's Eetrospect for 1852.
"Dr. Maclagak was requested to see Margaret Davidson, aged 35, on the 4th of November, 1851, she having at three o'clock P. M., taken a dessert spoonful of powdered arsenic, in mistake for a saline effervescing powder. No effects were pro- duced for half an hour; she was then sick; at seven o'clock she presented all the usual symptoms. Magnesia was adminis- 2
18 THE PROVINGS OF HOMEOPATHY.
tered, which was generally vomited as soon as swallowed. November 5. — Has vomited all night and still does so ; has had diarrhoea; suppression of urine; she lies in a drowsy, torpid condition, eyes sunk, face blue, and, like the extremi- ties, cold and clammy. She presents the most perfect resemblance to a case of Asiatic cholera in the stage of collapse. From this state she slowly rallied, and on the 12th had extensive bron- chitis over the whole of both lungs, from which she ultimate- ly recovered."
"With one more case the picture will be more complete. It is from Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence.
"A young woman procured a lump of arsenic. She began by biting it, and then broke it up into coarse fragments, put them into a glass of water, and swallowed them. This was in the morning, and she went the whole day without uneasiness. In the evening there were no febrile symptoms ; at eight o'clock she suffered from pain in the abdomen ; at eleven she appeared to be more calm than ever, and had a strong desire to sleep ; at three in the morning she sat up in her bed, complained a little of her stomach, and then died without the least appear- ance of suffering."
The quantities of the poison taken in these cases was excess- ively large ; three or four grains being, in many case, sufficient to cause death.
ATROPA BELLADONNA.
This also is a deadly poison. It has been extensively em- ployed as a remedy for neuralgic affections, such as tic-dou- loureux ; for epilepsy, and mania ; for hydrophobia ; for can- cerous affections ; by Hahnemann it has been recommended both as a remedy for, and a preservative from scarlet fever, and also in some inflammatory diseases, as of the throat, eyes, brain, etc. The organs upon which it primarily acts are the brain, and nervous system, the eyes, the throat, and the skin ; as is apparent from the following cases of poisoning.
In the London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 57, are two cases by Mr. Smith, of Forres, N . B.
"Nov. 5, 1827.— At five P. M. I was called to see two of Mr. M.'s children, both boys, the one four, the other two years of age. They had eaten the berries of the Atropa Belladonna from a bush in the garden. It appears to have been between one and two o'clock ; for soon after two, the elder boy went to school, where the symptoms made their appearance. When taken up to his lessons he did not speak, but laughed immode*
THE PBOVINGS OF HOMCEOPATHY. 19
rately, and grasped at imaginary objects ; he had previously complained of pain in his head. He was now sent home, where the laughing continued, and he was as talkative as he had before been silent, but he was altogether incoherent; added to this, he was in constant motion, running round and round the room. I found him laughing and talking alternate- ly ; he was kept on the knee, but the extremities were in vio- lent and almost constant action ; the eyes fixed, and the pupils fully dilated, and insensible to the light of a candle. The same symptoms manifested themselves in the younger boy, and were now fully as violent. Emetics and castor oil were ad- ministered. Notwithstanding this treatment the symptoms became worse. The muscular movements stronger and inces- sant, the breathing noisy and with a croupy sound, and occa- sional cough ; their faces were swollen and red ; incoherent talking continuing ; the skin became cold ; pulse, barely per- ceptible in the beginning, now not felt at the wrist ; there was lock-jaw. They were put into warm baths, and rubbed with flour of mustard. They gradually became warm and the pulse more distinct. This state of collapse returned on the following day more than once, and the same means were used. On the 7th they began to distinguish objects, (they had been quite blind,) and to speak and act rationally; pupils were still much dilated, and eyes red ; the younger child has had a rash, which disappeared on the second day. They were freely purged, which brought away the skins of the berries. From this time they continued to mend. The noisy, croupy cough continued longest ; and when the elder boy has a cold, the cough is still (at a distance of six years) of the same nature. A third boy, who had eaten the berries with them, was in the hands of another practitioner, with a like result."
The following case is from the Edinburgh Medical and Sur- gical Journal, vol. 31, 1828.
" A gentleman who had been accustomed to take occasion- ally a purgative mixture containing 46 grains of jalap, sent to his apothecary, instead of his physician's French recipe, a translation of it by himself in Latin, in which he had used the word belladonna as the proper equivalent for the French name of jalap, helle-de-nuit. The mixture was faithfully prepared according to the formula, and taken by the patient about six in the morning. The first effect was most violent headache, commencing about an hour afterwards, affecting chiefly the orbits, and accompanied ere long with excessive redness of the eyes, face, and subsequently of the whole body. In a few minutes the entire skin, presented a uniform redness, exactly
20 THE PKOVINGS OF HOMCEOPATHT.
like that of scarlatina. The patient was also affected at the same time with intense redness of the throat, and great heat, which seemed to spread throughout the whole alimentary canal ; he had also extremely painful irritation and suppression of the secretion of the kidneys. Twenty leeches were applied, and he experienced much relief in the course of a few hours. He passed a quiet night, and next morning complained only of a general feeling of discomfort. M. Jolly, the relater of this case, states that he has repeatedly seen the powder and extract of belladonna cause a similar scarlet efflorescence." Nouvelle Bibliotheque Medicale, Julliet, 1828.
In the Medicinishehe Jabrbiicher des k. k. Oesterrcichischen Staates, 1832, some cases are related, which add the symptoms of hydrophobia to the picture drawn in the preceding histo- ries.
"A man, accompanied by his son, aged nine years, walking one afternoon in the woods, and seeing the branches of bella- donna bearing black and brilliant fruit, resembling wild cher- ries, gathered some for his son, who ate them freely on account of their sweetish taste ; he also ate ten berries himself, and carried home a large quantity for his other children. Another son, not quite five years old, ate a great number ; two elder daughters ate less. All went to bed afterwards, apparently well. All were taken ill ; in the two boys, the symptoms of poisoning appeared in all their force ; restlessness and delirium, attempts to escape, so that they were constantly obliged to be forcibly confined to their beds ; continual motions of the hands and fingers, and desire to lay hold of the coverings ; acute de- lirium, but the wanderings only on lively subjects ; actual vision almost gone, but at the same time both the boys fancied they beheld a crowd of objects ; extreme dilatation and insen- sibility of the pupils ; the eyeballs alternately fixed and roll- ing ; spasmodic actions of the muscles of the face, grinding of the teeth, yawning ; voice, hoarse and weak ; slight swelling of the left side of the throat, and burning sensation in the oesophagus, (in the elder of the two boys ;) decided aversion to all sorts of liquids in both, and spasmodic attacks whenever they were forced to swallow any thing. The symptoms pre- sented as will be seen, some analogy to mania, (delirium with- out fever,) for the vascular system was neither locally nor generally excited, and the respiration was not sensibly dis- turbed."
The provings which Hahnemann has given us of Bella- donna contain fourteen hundred and forty symptoms. Its
THE PR0VINGS OP HOMOEOPATHY. 21
continued daily use in homoeopathic practice testifies to its admirable powers as a remedy.
CARBONATE OP AMMONIA.
This salt (sal- volatile) is daily had recourse to as a stimu- lant and anti-spasmodic, either as applied to the nostrils, or taken internally, diluted with water. Its immediate, tempo- rary effect is relied upon for these purposes ; when taken in excess it acts as a very powerful poison ; several cases of death caused by it are on record ; one, reported by Dr. Christison, " where a strong dose of the solution killed a man in four minutes? When taken in smaller quantities, and repeatedly, it has a penetrating action upon the constitution, very different from that of Aconite, Arsenic, or Belladonna, but equally characteristic. This action points it out as the most valuable remedy in similar cases of disease ; for example, in that bad form of scarlet fever, where the rash appears only partially, or soon recedes, the throat is ulcerated, and the strength rapidly fails ; a form which is commonly fatal, and for which, Bella- donna is not at all adapted. I have seen Carbonate of Am- monia apparently save life under such alarming circumstances.
Hahnemann tells us that this drug was proved by himself, and by Doctors Hartlatjb, Gross, Stapf, Trinks, and Schreter. The following case from an old author, Huxham, gives, in few words, a very striking picture of the diseased condition which is characteristic of this poison, and to which it corresponds as a remedy.
"I had lately under my care a gentleman of fortune and family, who so habituated himself to the use of vast quanti- ties of the volatile salts that ladies commonly smell to, that at length he would eat them, in a very astonishing manner, as other people eat sugared carraway seeds — a dpifivcpayta with a vengeance ! The consequence soon was, that he brought on a hectic fever, vast hasmorrhages from the intestines, nose, and gums, every one of his teeth dropt out, and he could eat no- thing solid ; he wasted vastly in his flesh, and his muscles became as soft and flabby as those of a new-born infant ; and broke out all over his body in pustules, which itched most intolerably, so that he scratched himself continually, and tore his skin with his nails in a very shocking manner ; the secre- tion of the kidneys was always excessively high-colored, turbid, and very fetid. He was at last, with great difficulty, persuaded to leave this pernicious custom, but he had so effectually ruined his constitution that, though he rubbed on
22 THE PROVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY.
in a very miserable manner for several months, he died tabid, and in the highest degree of a marasmus."*
I commenced with the remark, that if drugs are to be used as remedies for diseases, some means must be adopted to dis- cover their healing powers. The observation of the effects of these drugs in health, is the best method for this purpose, hith- erto made known.
The pictures of these effects given in the latter pages, have no pretensions to be perfect ; they are merely sketches, offered as illustrations. Among the omissions are the moral symp- toms, these forming a subject too extensive to be entered upon in this Essay. The details given are sufficient to explain what kind of materials are required ; how they are to be ob- tained ; and the valuable use which may be made of them, in the treatment of disease according to the principle similia sim- ilibus curantur.
Rugby, June 1th, 1854
* Huxham's Worka, p. 308.
NORTH AMERICAN HOMEOPATHIC JOURNAL:
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. — THE TRUTH OF HOMOEOPATHY.
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10, — THE PROVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY.
11. — THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
12. — (The Concluding Number.) THE COMMON SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
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THE SINGLE MEDICINE
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THE
SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMEOPATHY.
"More is in vain when less will serve, for nature is pleased with simplicity."
Sir Isaac Newton.
Truth was well feigned by the ancients to lie at the bottom of a well. The progress which mankind has made in the dis- covery of truth has been remarkably slow. The department of magnetism may serve as an illustration of this fact. The attrac- tion of magnetic iron was known to the ancients, but nothing more ; its 'polarity was not known, at least in Europe, till 1180, when it was first described by Guyot ; the practical application of this property to navigation in the mariner's compass lingered till about 1260 ; the variation in the direction of the magnetic needle in different parts of the earth, was unknown until 1500, when it was discovered by Sebastian" Cabot ; the dip of the needle remained a secret till noticed by Eobert Norman in 1576 ; two centuries and a half elapsed before the changed di- rection of the needle by a current of electricity was discovered by CErsted in 1819, which fact, it is well known, has now been applied practically in the electric telegraph. It is evident from these particulars that in this, as in many other branches of na- tural knowledge, the advancement, though slow, is real ; there is the great encouragement that progress is being made ; but in the department of medicine this encouragement has hitherto been wanting. From time to time experienced physicians have not been backward to acknowledge that little improvement, worthy of the name, has taken place in the practice of physic, since the days of Hippocrates, a period of about twenty-five hundred years.
The almost stationary condition of the science of medicine has arisen, not only from the natural impediments to the dis- covery of truth, and from the difficulties peculiar to this sub- ject, but still more from the want of simplicity in the method pursued.
4 THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
This method has been defective in two principal particulars, by which the progress of knowledge in the treatment of disease has been effectually hindered. One of these defects has been the trial of a drug only during the existence of disease, by which its effects are complicated and obscured ; instead of first experimenting with it on the body in a state of health, when its own symptoms would appear, unmixed with those of dis- ease. The other equally great defect has been the giving of the drug in. combination with others, by which its effects are still further complicated and obscured, if not altogether anti- doted and prevented ; instead of administering it alone, so that its specific action might be produced without let or inter- ference. Had physicians adopted these two proceedings — ex- perimenting in health, and giving the medicine singly in dis- ease— the real properties of each drug might have been, ere this, accurately ascertained.
The first of these defects in the practice of physic I have discussed in my last essay, (Tract No. 10.) The second re- mains to be the subject of the present. I have to establish
The fact of combination. All drugs being poisons, it might have been anticipated that, in using them as remedies, the plan to be adopted would have been to try cautiously each one by itself, in the hope that, by so doing, some positive knowledge might be obtained respecting its medicinal virtues. This knowledge once had would be serviceable to all future ages, and a stepping-stone to further advances. But the fact has not been so ; the plan universally adopted has been that of combining several of these drugs together, and administering them to the sick thus combined.
The mixing and combining of many drugs in one prescrip- tion, has indeed given "an opinion of store" of virtues; but by this method it has been impossible to discover the distin- guishing properties of any of the substances so employed, and consequently our acquaintance with the Materia Medica has been kept in confusion and poverty ; and thus this opinion of store has been eminently " a cause of want."
The extent to which the accumulation of remedies in a sin- gle prescription has been carried would be incredible, were it not a fact readily ascertained. Not to notice the extreme cases which have been recorded, such as the one mentioned by Dr. Paeis, of four hundred ingredients entering into the composi- tion of a single mixture, I will give, as examples, two very celebrated medicines, as prescribed in the London Pharmaco-
THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
peia of the Royal College of Physicians : the Theriaca Anclro- machi or Venice Treacle, and the equally world-famed remedy called Mithridate. The former, as given in the Pharmacopeia of 1682, contains sixty-five ingredients ; the latter, in the Pharmacopeia of 1782, consists of fifty articles, as follows :
|
Venice Treacle. |
MlTIIEIDATE. |
|
B. Squill lozenges, 3 viij ; R. |
Arabian myrrh, |
|
Lozenges of vipers, (flesh and broth,) |
Saffron, |
|
Long pepper, |
Agaric, |
|
Opium, |
Ginger, |
|
Lozenges of hedychroum, aa 3 xxv; |
Cinnamon, |
|
Red roses, |
Spikenard, |
|
Illyrian orris-root, |
Frankincense, |
|
Liquorice-juice, |
Seeds of penny-cress aa Z x ; |
|
Navew Beeda, |
Cicely, |
|
Shoots of scordium, |
Opobalsamum, |
|
Balm of G-ilead, |
Sweet rush, |
|
Cinnamon, |
French lavender, |
|
Agaric in lozenges, aa 3 xi]\ |
Costum, |
|
Myrrh, |
Galbanum, |
|
Spikenard or zedoary, |
Cyprian turpentine, |
|
Saffron, |
Long pepper, |
|
Wood of the true cassia, |
Castor, |
|
Indian nard, |
Juice of hypocistis, |
|
Camel's hay, |
Storax, |
|
Wbite pepper, |
Opoponax, |
|
Black pepper, |
Indian leaf, aa § j; |
|
Frankincense, |
True cassia wood, |
|
Dittany of Crete, |
Poly of the mountain, |
|
Rhubarb, |
White pepper, |
|
French Lavender, |
Scordium, |
|
Horehound, |
Seeds of the Cretan carrot, |
|
Parsley, |
Carpobalsamum, |
|
Macedoiiian stone-parsley, |
Lozenges of cyphus, |
|
Parsley-seed, |
Bdellium, aa 3 vij, |
|
Calamint (dried,) |
Celtic nard, (purified,) |
|
Cinquefoil-root, |
Gum Arabic, |
|
Ginger, aa 3 vj ; |
Seeds of the stone-parsley, |
|
Carrot of Crete, |
Opium, |
|
Ground pine, |
Lesser cardamoms, |
|
Celtic nard, |
Fennel-seeds, |
|
Amomum, |
Gentian, |
|
Storax, |
Flowers of the red rose, |
|
Root of meu, |
Dittany of Crete, aa, 3v; |
|
Germander, |
Seeds of anise, |
|
Pontic valerian, |
Asirum, |
|
Terra Lemnia, |
Sweet-flag, |
|
Indian leaf, |
OnU-root, |
|
Green vitriol, |
Phu, |
|
Gentian-root, |
Sa^'apenum, aa, 3 iij, |
|
Gum Arabic, |
Meu, |
|
Juice of hypocistis, |
Acacia, |
|
Carpobalsamum, |
Skunk-bellief), |
|
Seeds of anise, |
St. John's-wort tops, |
|
" of cardamoms, |
Canary wine enough to dissolve the |
|
" of fennel, |
gums and juices, that is, about |
|
" of cicely, |
§ xxxvj. |
6 THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
Venice Treacle. Mitiiridate.
Gum acacia, Clarified honey, three times the
Seeds of penny-cress, weight of all the rest, excepting
Tops of St. John's- wort, the wine, mix and make into an
Seeds of bishop's- weed, electuary, secundum artcm.
Sagapenum, aa 3 iv ;
Castor,
Root of birthwort,
Jews' pitch, (or amber,)
Seeds of the carrot of Crete,
Opoponax,
Lesser centaury,
Thick galbanum, aa 3 ij ;
Canary wine, (old,) 3 xl,
Clarified honey, (triple weight of
the powders.) mix and make
into an electuary, secundum
artem.
Such was the condition of the Pharmacopeias of the 17th and 18th centuries ; and though those of the 19th century have made great advances towards a comparative simplicity, so that the " luxuriancy of composition," so much inveighed against by Cullen, may be said to exist no longer, the radi- cal error still remains — prescriptions are still notoriously com- pound. Very rarely is a remedy given alone ; very rarely, therefore, can any precise knowledge of its properties be dis- covered, or the full benefit of its action on disease be obtained. I proceed to notice
The theory of combination. The practice of mixing drugs is not only continued, but defended. The Pharmacolo- gia of Dr. Paris, a book which has been very popular with the profession in Great Britain, is an elaborate treatise " on the theory and art of medicinal combination." The volume opens (after an introduction) with this sentence : " It is a truth univer- sally admitted that the arm of physic has derived much addition- al power and increased energy from the resources which are furnished by the mixture and combination of medicinal bodies."
For example:
" Emetics are more efficient when composed of ipecacuan united with tartarized antimony or sulphate of zinc) than when they simply consist of any one of such substances in an equi- valent dose."
" Cathartics not only acquire a very great increase of power by combination with each other, but they are at the same time rendered less irritating in their operation."
"Diuretics. — Under this class of medicinal agents it may be noticed that whenever a medicine is liable to produce effects
THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMOEOPATHY. 7
different from those we desire, its combination with, similar remedies is particularly eligible."
" Diaphoretics. — Our maxim, ' vis unita fortior,1 certainly ap- plies with equal truth and force to this class of medicinal agents."
" Narcotics. — The intention of allaying irritation and pain will be better fulfilled by a combination of these substances in different proportions, than by any single one, notwithstand- ing its dose be considerably increased."
It is admitted that it is better not to mix Stimulants, and it is remarked that " by multiplying the number of ingredients too far we shall either so increase the quantity and bulk of the medicine as to render it nauseous and cumbersome, or so re- duce the dose of each constituent as to fritter away the force and energy of the combination. There is also another import- ant precaution which demands our most serious attention, that in combining substances in the manner, and for the object just related, the practitioner should be well satisfied that their medi- cinal virtues are in reality practically similar, or he will fall into an error of the most fatal tendency.1'1
Such is the leading feature of the theory of combination ; the difficulties and dangers of which, as hinted at in the last paragraph quoted from Dr. Paeis, are so many and so great as to destroy all confidence in its value. But the practice found- ed upon it is so general that it is needful to consider
The evils of combination. One of these I have already alluded to ; it is obvious that the mixing of different drugs, and administering them together, must hinder the discovery of their respective properties. Our knowledge must continue to be ignorance, so long as this practice continues to be pursued. It is then a serious evil which attaches to the usual method of prescribing that it is
A bar to progress. It is an observation of Boyle that ''there is no one thing in nature whereof the uses to human life are yet thoroughly understood." How true soever this may be in reference to other matters it is truer still in reference to medi- cines. There is not a single drug of which it can be said that the characteristic properties and the fitting uses are thorough- ly known; and so long as these drugs are given only while disease is present, and only in combination with each other, it is evident that their properties and uses can never be really understood. How urgent then the call for a new method, if we would not have our present ignorance indefinitely pro- longed 1
8 THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
A hindrance to the curative action of drugs is another evil of their combination. On this subject I need not do much more than quote Dr. Paris.
"Simplicity should be regarded by the physician as the greatest desideratum. I was once told by a practitioner in the country, (Dr. Parjs might have added, that there are practi- ' oners in London also, who act upon the same plan,) that the quantity, or rather the complexity of the medicines which he gave his patients, for there never was any deficiency in the former, was always increased in a ratio with the obscurity of their cases ; 'if,' said he, ' I fire a great profusion of shot, it is very extraordinary if some do not hit the mark.' A patient in the hands of such a practitioner has not a much better chance than a Chinese mandarin, who, upon being attacked with any disorder, calls in twelve or more physicians, and swallows in one mixture all the potions which each separately prescribes !
" Let not the young practitioner, however, be so deceived ; he should remember that unless he be well acquainted with the mutual actions which bodies exert upon each other, and upon the living system, (which no one, as yet, is acquainted with,) it may be laid down as an axiom, that in proportion as he com- plicates a medicine, he does hut multiply the chances of its failure. Superflua nunquam non nocent : let him cherish this maxim in remembrance, and in forming compounds, always discard from them every element which has not its mode of action clearly defined, and as thoroughly understood."
Yes ; let the young physician follow the advice here given by Dr. Paris, (the living official head of our profession in this country), and cherish this maxim in remembrance ; and he will infallibly be led to prescribe but one medicine at a time ; for of no compound can it be said that its mode of action is either clearly denned, or thoroughly understood.
An injury to the patient is also by no means an unfrequent evil resulting from the prevailing practice of mixing drugs together, and thus complicating, often beyond control, their operation on the living body — sometimes until it lives no longer. " The mildest remedy," says Dr. Paris, "may thus (by injudicious combination) be converted into an instrument of torture, and even of death."
That patients often suffer serious injuries from drugs is, un- happily, a fact too notorious to require proof. Dr. Eouth, the present President of Magdalen College, Oxford, who has entered his hundredth year, takes pains to impress upon his friends the axiom of Lord Bacon, that " medicines shorten
THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOUXEOPATHY. 9
life," and bids them beware bow they meddle with such in- jurious substances.
It is not unusual now, when a patient has been cured under Homoeopathic treatment, for physicians to attempt to turn the force of such evidence in favor of Homoeopathy, by remarking that " the patient has got well by leaving off medicine!" But what a satire upon themselves is such an admission as this ! Are they really conscious then that the medicines they are so eager to prescribe from day to day, and for the continuance of which they contend so earnestly — are they conscious that these medicines prevent the recovery of their patients ? Are they content that the matter should be thus viewed by the public ? That the effect of taking their prescriptions is to lengthen out disease — to prolong the patient's sufferings? Are they so driven into a corner by the evidence in favor of Homoeopathy, that they have no better weapon to defend themselves with than such an argument as this ?
I proceed to consider the method now proposed of using
A single medicine at A time. Each drug has a mode of action peculiar to itself, often called its specific action ; to ob- tain the full benefit of this action it must be given alone ; any combination must necessarily interfere with, and may altoge- ther neutralize the effect we wish to obtain.
It is most plain that when we speak of a drug being thus given alone, we mean the drug as it usually exists in nature ; and especially must it be in the same state as that in which it has been previously proved in health. The various solids ; the metals for example, and the metallic oxides, lime, silica, alumina, sulphur, and saline bodies, the resins, the seeds and other solid parts of plants ; the various liquids ; the mineral acids for ex- ample, and the vegetable juices, furnish a vast array of drugs for medicinal purposes. Each of these, in its turn, can be experi- mented upon by itself in health ; and, in like manner, each in its turn can be given alone as a remedy in disease. Whether in chemistry these various substances are at present considered elements or compounds can have no bearing upon their thera- peutic use. The consideration of their chemical nature and properties is quite another matter, and though very important and interesting in itself, and with reference to chemical science, can neither help nor hinder much in respect to their action upon the living body as poisons or remedies. In saying this, I must not be misunderstood, or be supposed to depreciate chem- istry, or its legitimate application to pharmacy, or to any other collateral branch of knowledge. I am myself fond of chem-
10 THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
istry, and gladly avail myself of any help it can render to medicine ; what I wish to remark at present is, that the use of a drug singly and alone, either in proving it in health, or in prescribing it in disease, has no reference, and it is plain can Iiave no reference to the light in which such drug is viewed by the chemist.
It might be safely asserted that nothing can be more con- spicuously apparent than this ; what then must be the charac- ter of the opposition to Homoeopathy, when a learned professor, and the most considerable writer on the subject, is compelled to have recourse to the following statement as an argument against Homoeopathy ?
Professor Simpson quotes from the Organon of Hahnemann : " In no case is it requisite to administer more than one single, simple medicinal substance at one time," and then says : "But in lew or no instances can the Homoeopaths, if they follow their own laws, give a single substance as a medicine at one time. Take one drug as an example of this remark. Opium, according to Jahe is, in Homoeopathic practice, ' a medicament frequently indicated' in disorders of various kinds. Opium, however, is not a simple substance ; but on the other hand, it is extremely composite in its character, according to the re- searches of many excellent chemists. 'It contains,' says Cheistison, 'no fewer than seven chrystalline principles, called (1) morphia, (2) codeia, (3) paramorphia, (4) narcotin, (5) narcein, (6) porphyroxin, and (7) meconin, of which the first three are alkaline, and the others neutral ; secondly, a peculiar acid termed (8) meconic acid, which constitutes with sulphuric acid, the solvent of the active principle ; and thirdly, a variety of comparatively unimportant ingredients, such as (9) gum, (10) albumen, (11) resin, (12) fixed oil, (13) a trace perhaps of volatile oil, (14) lignin, (15) caoutchouc, (16) ex- tractive matter, and numerous salts of inorganic bases.' Of these inorganic salts and substances in opium, Schindler, in his analysis, detected among others, (17) phosphate of lime, (18) alumina, (19) silica, (20) magnesia, (21) oxide of iron, etc. Homoeopaths, in using therefore this ' frequently indi- cated' medicament, opium, employ a preparation which is certainly not single, but consists at least of some twenty different substances."*
When my second Tract, " The Defense of Homoeopathy," was written, the best work which, up to that period, had ap-
* " Homoeopathy, its Tenets and Tendencies," by Dr. Simpson, Professor of Midwifery in the University of Edinburgh, etc. p. 47.
THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY. 11
peared in England against Homoeopathy — Dr. C. F. Eouth's " Fallacies" — was selected. When Dr. Simpson's book ap- peared, I thought it would demand a reply, but after reading it, I felt that it did not deserve one, and I think that even my brethren of the old practice will admit that I stand excused in this feeling. A writer who can not distinguish between the single medicine of the Homceopathist, and the elements, organic or inorganic, of the modern chemist ; or who is so disingenuous as knowingly to attempt to confound them in the minds of his readers, is unworthy of notice. I will not take upon myself the duty, which belongs to Dr. Simpson's conscience, to decide upon which of the horns of this dilemma he deserves to be impaled ; but it is difficult to suppress a feel- ing of indignation, which involuntarily rises on reading the passage I have extracted, in an author of such pretensions, and professing to be seriously discussing the merits of a new method of treating the maladies of mankind.
In Homoeopathy the giving of only one medicine at a time is a matter of necessity. The law can not be otherwise ap- plied. Let me now endeavor to point out
The advantages of this method. From these advan- tages it will appear that the objects acknowledged to have been sought for, but which are unattained, and, it may fairly be presumed, are unattainable, in the common mode of treat- ing diseases, are not only put within reach, but are actually accomplished by the new treatment.
The simplicity, in vain desired by Dr. Paris for his method, is thus obtained. A small dose of a single medicine is to be administered, and time allowed for its effects to be produced, before either another dose is given, or another medicine is tried. The simplicity which the law of Homoeopathy has in- troduced into the prescriptions of the physician is worthy of great admiration — the one is a necessary consequence of the other. "So far," says Sir John Herschel, "as our expe- rience has hitherto gone, every advance towards generality has, at the same time, been a step towards simplification.'1'' It de- serves to be noticed how great a step in this direction has been taken in the present instance.
The progress in vain waited for on the old method is rendered inevitable by the new one. The ignorance on the subject of the properties of drugs which has prevailed for so many cen- turies, will no longer continue ; a much more extensive and correct knowledge of them has already been acquired, and this knowledge will be daily extended. I am not afraid to state
12 THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
that I have learned more of the properties and healing powers of the various articles of the Materia Medica, during the three years that I have been a Homceopathist, than I did during the thirty that I was engaged in the usual method of prescribing drugs. How interesting it is to collect accurate details of the effects of drugs when acting as poisons ; and how beautiful to observe their curative action in corresponding natural diseases ! There is now every thing to reward, and therefore every thing to encourage the diligent study of the properties of drugs ; and this study can not be diligently pursued, aided as it now is by so simple and precise a method, without yielding the fruits of progressive knowledge. Take, for instance, a plant like aco- nite, or belladonna, or pulsatilla, or ipecacuanha, and contrast the knowledge of it which the Homceopathist now possesses with what was known of it before ; and let it be remembered that, in a few years, every remaining drug may be equally well, or even better understood.
The curative effect of each drug, often in vain expected when other drugs are mingled with it, may be looked for with a great degree of certainty, when it is given alone in an appro- priate dose.
It is Dr. Paris who asserts that "the file of every apothe- cary would furnish a volume of instances, where the ingre- dients are fighting together in the dark, or at least, are so ad- verse to each other, as to constitute a most incongruous and chaotic mass."
" Obstabat aliis aliud : quia corpore in uno Frigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis, Mollia cum duris, sine pondere, habentia pondus."
Ovid.
This error can be eliminated only by resorting to the method of prescribing each remedy singly. There can then be no neutralizing, or counteracting, or antidoting effects ; no "fight- ing together in the dark," so aptly described, and so ingenu- ously confessed by Dr. Paris. It is true this description is intended to apply only to the prescriptions of certain ill-in- formed or careless practitioners ; but, though not intended to do so, it really applies, with more or less force, to every mix- ture or combination of drugs.
On the other hand, the single medicine meets with no im- pediment (at least not from other medicines) to the produc- tion of its full effect. Suppose, for example, that the action of mercury is required on an ulcerated throat, or on the salivary glands in a case of mumps ; if given alone, a very minute
THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY. 13
quantity will almost certainly act. The same may be said of any other drug; its specific effect will be produced by the small dose, if given alone, with much more precision and cer- tainty, than by the large dose, if given in combination. When the small dose is used, as there is no need to combine with it the "adjuvans" to assist, nor the "dirigens" to direct, so neither is there need of the "corrigens" to prevent mischief. Soap need not be added to ahes and jalap to "mitigate their acri- mony ;" nor need patients be ordered to drink vinegar, to pre- vent their being poisoned by sugar of lead, given to stop a bleeding from the lungs.
The diminution of the dose, in vain attempted while several drugs are combined, is accomplished to an extent beyond all anticipation, by giving each drug alone. It may be true that by adding tartar emetic to ipecacuanha vomiting is produced by a smaller quantity of each, than would be required of either of them separately ; but the combined dose is not only still large, but so large as not to be secure from doing mischief. The same may be said of purgatives, expectorants, diaphoretics, as quoted from Dr. Paris. With our present knowledge, such proceed- ings can not escape being viewed as barbarous ; these violent effects of medicines being altogether needless, while the speci- fic action of the drug, the effect which is really of value in the treatment of disease, can be best obtained by a very small dose. All drugs being poisons, not only is "more in vain," but more is positively injurious "when less will serve."
The indications of treatment, in vain sought after on the old method, are not only precise and unmistakable on the new, but, as the medicines, so also the indications, are reduced to one.
The single remedy obliges the single indication ; for if only one medicine is to be given, there can be but one indication to point it out ; and, if possible, the single indication is a greater simplification, and a greater advantage than the single remedy. In the treatment of disease on the usual method, even when the symptoms are simple and uniform, or consistent with each other, the supposed indications are generally more or less com- plicated ; in cases of more extensive derangement, they are still more numerous, and sometimes even contradictory. The perplexity and anxiety to the physician, and the additional pain and exhaustion to the patient, which are the natural re- sults of this complication, are often greater than can readily be described. In illustration, I will take a case of the simplest kind. For example, laryngismus stridulus, or the asthma of Millar — an affection of considerable danger, to which some in- fants are very subject, and consisting mainly of a distressing
14 THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
struggle for breath, coming on suddenly, and producing a flushed and swollen countenance, which becomes sometimes almost black, threatening suffocation.
The indications for treatment I will copy from Mason Good ; of whose book it has been said, by a late President of the Eoyal College of Surgeons, and the most useful writer on Surgery of the present day, "it is so excellent that no other modern system is, on the whole, half so valuable as the ' Study of Medicine.' " The indications are these : to produce vomit- ing by an antimonial emetic ; to cause perspiration by a warm bed, diluent drinks, and the same medicine; to excite the bowels by a purgative of calomel ; to allay the irritability of the nervous system by giving laudanum in proportion to the age of the patient ; and to produce counter-irritation by apply- ing a blister to the throat.
This is a fair specimen of Allopathic treatment ; let us analyse it for a moment, bearing in mind that the age of the little suf- ferer is generally only a few months; and that the ailment is an affection of the upper part of the windjjipe, producing such a contraction of it as threatens suffocation, all the other parts of the body being healthy. We can not but be struck, in the first place, with the terrible severity of the treatment, which alone is sufficient, not only to expose it to just censure, but to de- mand its abandonment ; and in the next place, with the fact that all the indications of treatment are direct and violent at- tacks upon the healthy parts of the body. " Produce vomiting by an antimonial emetic ;" here is an attack upon the stomach, but the stomach was previously in health ; why produce such a commotion in it, in a baby three or four months old ? " Cause perspiration by a warm bed, diluent drinks and the antimony ;" nere the skin is assailed, and its natural secretions are to be unhealthily stimulated ; the skin was previously in a sound condition; why interfere with and derange that state ? "Ex- cite the bowels by a purgative of calomel." The others were but the wings of the invading army, this is its centre. The poor bowels are always destined to bear the fiercest part of the "energetic" assault. And calomel, too — that destructive weapon in the bowels of an infant, and these bowels previous- ly in perfect health. The liver does not escape ; mercury, it is well known, acts powerfully on this organ. The calomel given in infancy not unfrequently produces, as its secondary effect, a torpor of the liver, which lasts for years; it sometimes de- stroys altogether the constitution of the child. "Allay the irri- tability of the nervous system by giving laudanum in propor- tion to the age of the patient." The effect of opium is to
THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY. 15
stupefy or deaden the sensibilities of the whole nervous system ; if pushed far enough, to produce coma and apoplexy. In this case it must depress the vital powers at the moment when their vigor is needed to struggle with the difficulty of breath- ing. And why assault thus the whole nervous system, as yet remaining in health? "Produce counter-irritation by apply- ing a blister to the throat." Alas ! poor baby, the unoffending skin is to be inflamed until it blisters ! And this is the con- cluding blow, for the present, of a treatment which is called "judicious" and "active" because it is customary; but will it bear investigation ?
Thus every healthy part of the body is to be disturbed in its natural action, to be excited, disordered, inflamed, and stu- pefied ; all these ailments, necessarily more or less overpower- ing to the vitality of a child, are to be artificially produced, and added to the natural disease with which the infant is al- ready contending !
But it must be observed further, and, were it not familiarized to us by the universality of the practice, we should observe it with astonishment, that nothing at all is prescribed calculated to act, or intended to act directly upon the affected part. No remedy whatever is given which has any natural action on the windpipe, the only organ where any ailment exists. Such is the inherent awkwardness, and such is the sledge-hammer violence of the usual method of treating diseases, that it is, for the most part, only the healthy parts of the body that are directly af- fected by the remedies prescribed. On one occasion, my relative, the late William Hey, of Leeds, saw a lady who was suffering from an ulcer near the ankle, and he prescribed an issue below the knee ; the lady involuntarily exclaimed : " Then I shall have two sores instead of one !" Such was our best treatment, before the introduction of Homoeopathy.
Let us return to our suffering little baby, with the new method in our minds, and all these conflicting indications are suddenly reduced to one ; to find a drug which has a natural power of acting upon the windpipe, and which in health will produce a similar morbid condition of it. We give this drug alone, in very small doses, with such repetitions as may be required, and the complaint yields, the symptoms are removed, and, by the blessing of GOD, the child is restored to perfect health ; without either its stomach or bowels, its skin or liver, or any healthy organ having been disturbed or interfered with ; that which was ailing has been cured, and that which was well has been let alone. This has happened in my own hands, and I am bound to testify what I have seen.
16 THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
It would be easy to give examples of more complicated cases, in which, the indications under the common method are still more numerous, or still more contradictory. I can not do more than allude to one of the latter description, but it is one in which the contradiction is so great as to give rise to the greatest perplexity, and the most painful anxiety. The case is an inflammatory disease of any kind occurring in a debili- tated constitution — a combination unhappily often met with. In this case, an antiphlogistic or reducing treatment is supposed to be called for by the inflammation, and tonic or strengthen- ing measures are imperiously demanded by the patient's dis- tressing weakness. In the treatment of such a case bleeding and brandy, or remedies as much opposed to each other as these are, not unfrequently find themselves in very close ap- proximation.
On the contrary, by the new method, although a careful ex- amination of the case, and a dilgent study of the Materia Me- dica are required, there is but one indication to be attended to, and but one remedy to be given, and thus perplexity and incon- sistency are banished.
In complicated chronic cases, when it is possible to discover the original or leading feature of the ailment, if a remedy be selected capable of meeting this primary condition, it not un- frequently happens that not only will this condition be greatly improved, but other accompanying symptoms, though appear- ing to have little connection with it, will be also removed. And thus a single remedy will sometimes suit a patient for se- veral years, and relieve very various ailments during that time. This I have experienced in my own person, and witnessed in others.
The benefit to the patient, so often in vain longed for from the complicated prescriptions in common use, may be expected with greatly increased confidence from the employment of a single remedy. Dr. Paris speaks of medical combinations, and declares that their object is to operate "cito, tuto, etjucunde" — quickly, safely, and pleasantly — thus quoting the language of Asclepiades as applicable to them. With how much greater reason such language can be applied to Homoeopathic treatment the foregoing observation may suffice to show.
Cito. A medicine is much more likely to produce its pecu- liar effects quickly when given alone, than when its action is neutralized or interfered with by being mixed with other drugs.
Tuto. The chances that a patient will be injured by a small dose of a single remedy, must be much fewer than by large
THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMOEOPATHY. 17
doses of mixed medicines. He must be treated much, more safely.
Juaundb. And as to the comparative pleasantness, I am willing to abide by the patient's decision.
By the use of a single medicine at a time, every injury is avoided, and every benefit is obtained, to the utmost of medi- cal skill.
Such are some of the advantages which the law of Homoeo- pathy presents for our acceptance, in the simplicity of its mode of prescribing remedies for disease.
There is another consideration of a profound and interesting character, to which I wish now to address myself, and to the investigation of which I earnestly hope my professional breth- ren will give their serious attention.
The subject presents itself in the terms by which the various articles of the Materia Medica are arranged and desig- nated. It is expressed in one word — 'the intention of the treatment.
In the system of G-alen, which governed medicine for fif- teen hundred years, all drugs were estimated as hot or cold, dry or moist, in regulated degrees, and were prescribed accord- ingly for diseases which were supposed to correspond to them by contraries ; as a hot remedy for a cold disease, and a dry one for a moist. At present \he,j are called emetics, cathartics, diaphoretics, narcotics, and so forth. These terms indicate the very essence of the usual practice ; the light in which all re- medies are viewed ; the intention with which they are given.
Thus it appears that drugs are not considered as they are in themselves, but as they belong to one or other of these modes of action. "When a patient is seen, the mental inquiry is, "What are the indications which his ailments suggest ? Ought he to be vomited or purged, or refrigerated or stimulated ? The answer to these questions is supposed to direct to the classes of medicines which are to be administered, and they are given with corresponding intentions. In prescribing ipecacu- anha, or tartar emetic, the physician intends to produce vomit- ing ; in giving blue pill and colocynth, followed by senna and Epsom salts, he intends to purge ; in applying plaster of can- tharides to the surface of the body, he intends to produce in- flammation and blistering of the previously healthy skin.
Far otherwise are the thoughts suggested by the law of Ho- moeopathy. The patient is suffering in such a manner ; the question suggested, when the examination of the case is con- cluded, is this : What drug produces in health a similar condi-
NO. XL — 2
18 THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
tion of disease? That drug must necessarily act upon the organs which are diseased ; it will act upon them while under the excitement of disease in a very small dose — too small to act upon any other organs which it has a natural relation to, but which are still in a healthy condition ; by the use of this drug the disease will be best arrested, the health will be best restored, and all that is well will be let alone.
Thus the immediate object proposed by the Homoeopathic practitioner is, not to produce vomiting, or purging, or perspi- ration, or any other evacuation, but simply to remove the dis- ease from which the patient is suffering. Of course the ulti- mate object of the Allopathic practitioner is to restore his pa- tient to health, but it will be seen that that object is aimed at indirectly, through the medium of other prior intentions ; these intentions being, not to produce health, but conditions which are themselves more or less departures from health. The sick man is to be cured by being made more sick ; however nume- rous his symptoms may be when seen by his physician, he must have some additional ailments produced artificially, be- fore he can expect to be relieved. This important difference between the two intentions must, I think, be intelligible and plain.
It is true that certain effects are sometimes produced by the small dose of the Homoeopathist which resemble, in some de- gree, the effects of the common medicines ; for instance, when aconite is given in a case of inflammatory fever with a dry skin ; at the moment when relief is experienced by the removal of the fever, there may be perspiration ; but the resemblance is apparent only ; the medicine was not given as a diaphoretic, with the intention to produce perspiration, neither did its do- ing so relieve the fever : these two events happened in the op- posite order ; the fever was first checked, and then, through returning health, the previously dry skin became moist. In the same manner, in a case of constipation from torpor of the bowels, opium is given, and the natural action is by and by restored ; not because opium is a purgative, for, as every one knows, it is classed at the head of medicines of an opposite character, but because it removed the torpor, by which means nature was in a condition to proceed as in a healthy state.
The contrast of the two methods is exhibited, though with some confusion, by Dr. Pakis himself, in the following para- graph :
" Dr. Blackwell presents us with a case, on the authority of Mr. Johnson of Exeter, in which well-fermented bread oc- casioned, in the space of a few hours, an effect so powerfully
THE SINGLE MEDICINE OP HOMCEOPATHY. 19
diuretic as to have cured the sailors on board the Asia East Indiaman, who had been attacked with dropsy in consequence of the use of damaged rice ; so that diuretics in some cases cure hy evacuating, while in others, as in the instance above cited, thev evacuate by curing"
Here, then, is another characteristic difference between the two systems of medical treatment ; the usual method attempts to cure by evacuating ; the new mode will evacuate if there be any thing requiring evacuation, by first curing.
The reason now appears why Homceopathists do not call the remedies they use by the names commonly attached to them, as cathartics, sudorifics, etc. The impropriety would be as great as it is to call good, wholesome, " well-fermented" bread a diuretic, as is done by Dr. Paeis in the paragraph above quoted. Such an appellation is a libel on the staff of life. What the bread did was just what the unsound rice could not do — it nourished the body ; acting, not as a medicine, but as whole- some food, the thing needed. The evacuation of the dropsical effusion was the consequence of the restored health and strength of the different organs of the body. What the Homoeopathic remedy, given alone, does, is to restore the diseased organ, if it be capable of restoration to health ; any evacuations which may follow being the consequence of that restoration. This is a re- fined and scientific proceeding, as far removed as possible from the rude violence of large doses of poisonous drugs, given in combination, and "fighting together in the dark."
The considerations advanced in this Essay afford conclusive prima facie evidence of the great superiority of the method of giving a single medicine at a time. The only question which can now be raised is a question of fact: Does the plan succeed at the bedside of the patient? To answer this inquiry, I would gladly produce cases from Allopathic sources, and this for a double reason ; no disposition could be felt to question the authority ; and the infmitessimal dose, which does not form part of the subject, would not complicate the evidence. But a sufficient number of such cases can not be met with, so nearly universal is the practice of combination. A few reports, scat- tered through the journals, may be found of ipecacuanha hav- ing been given successfully in haemorrhage ; of copper in some spasmodic affections, as chorea ; of nux vomica in spinal dis- ease ; of creosote in derangements of the stomach ; of arsenic in some diseases of the skin ; but these
"Apparent ran nantes in gurgite vasto,"
Virgil.
20 THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
and they are not sufficient to prove the affirmative to the an- swer. So far as they go, they support the statement that one remedy at a time is sufficient to cure ; they also constitute evi- dence in favor of the law of Homoeopathy, as may be seen from the examples I have given ; they may at least be consi- dered sufficient to lead intelligent observers in the right direction.
I am constrained, therefore, to refer to the numerous works already published by Homceopathists, and which contain over- whelming evidence to prove the sufficiency of a single remedy.
I am also bound to give my own personal testimony to the same effect. For example, I have seen, of acute cases, conges- tion of the brain removed by belladonna; croup cured by aconite ; mumps by mercury ; pneumonia by phosphorus ; and of chronic cases, dyspepsia removed by pulsatilla ; tabes mes- enterica by sulphur / disease of the bladder by nux vomica ; spinal distortion by carbonate of lime, and so on. In other cases, a single remedy is sufficient for a portion of the treatment, or for the symptoms in a certain stage, or during a certain period of the disease, to be followed by another medicine, also given singly, when that stage has passed away, or when the symp- toms are changed.
The experiment is not insuperably difficult ; let others try- it as I have done. To my own mind, to say that one medi- cine at a time is practically sufficient, and answers better than any combination, is to state a plain fact, and I can not conclude otherwise than by expressing an earnest hope that the method will, ere long, be universally adopted. We shall not, till then, be able to carry out the good advice given us of old by St. Basil • " The physician should attack the disease and not the pa- tient.11
RUGBT, Oct. 2d, 1854.
NORTH AMERICAN HOMEOPATHIC JOURNAL:
g, ^uarierlg Paga^ine of 1U b i c i n *
AND THE AUXILIARY SCIENCES,
EDITED BY
E. E. MARCY, M.D., New -York; VI. H. HOLCOMBE, M.D, Natchez, Miss.; JOHN C. PETERS, if. D., New -York; and HENRY C. PRESTON, M.D., Providence, R.I.
The North American Homoeopathic Journal will appear on the first days of August, November, February, and May. Every number will contain one hun- dred and forty -four pages, thus making at the end of each year a handsome volume of five hundred and seventy-six octavo pages.
The following Programme will be adopted in making up the Journal :
Part I. Original and Translated Papers.
Part If. General Record of Medical Science.
Part HI. Bibliographical Notices.
Part IV. Miscellaneous Items—American and Foreign.
Part V. Materia Medica.
The department devoted to Materia Medica will constitute an important and high- ly-interesting feature of the Journal. The most energetic efforts will be made to pre- sent to our subscribers a materia medica composed exclusively of characteristic and reliable drug-symptoms. In accomplishing this desirable object, our work, when finished, may not be so voluminous as the present works on Materia Medica, but our symptoms will be real drag-symptoms — specific and trustworthy.
Our plan will be to place under each separate organ
1st, Its Pathogenesis. 2d, Its Pathology.
3d, Clinical Remarks.
By this arrangement, the physician may comprehend at a glance the entire geniua of the drug with reference to any part of the organism.
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TRACTS ON HOM(EOPATHY,
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D., F.R.S.
1. — WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY?
Fifth Edition.
2.— THE DEFENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Fourth Edition.
3. — THE TRUTH OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Fifth Edition.
4.— THE SMALL DOSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
5. — THE DIFFICULTIES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
6.— THE ADVANTAGES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
THE PRINCIPLE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
THE CONTROVERSY ON HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
9. — THE REMEDIES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition. The above in a cover, price Eighteenpence.
10. — THE PROVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY.
11. — THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
12. — (The Concluding Number.) THE COMMON SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
tracts on §omept|g*-ft(h 12,
THE COMMON-SENSE
OF
HOMOEOPATHY.
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M.D., F.R.S.
NEW-YORK:
WILLIAM RADDE, 322 BROADWAY;
PHILADELPHIA, PA. : RADEMACHER & SHEEK, 239 ARGH ST. ;
BOSTON, MASS.: OTIS CLAPP; CINCINNATI, 0.: I. M. PARKS;
CLEVELAND, O. : JOHN HALL ; ST. LOUIS, MO. : DR. D. R. LUTTIES ;
CHICAGO, ILL.: DR. G. E. SIIIPMAN.
18 56.
" For myself, I here publicly profess, that I will, to the end of my days, ac- knowledge it as the greatest obligation that any person can confer upon me, if, in the spirit of meekness, he will point out to me any error or enthusiastical de- lusion into which I have fallen, and by sufficient arguments convince me of it."
Thomas Scott.
JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, 95 & 97 Cliff St, N.Y.
THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
" The GOD of truth, and all who know me, will bear testimony that, from my whole soul, I despise deceit, as I do all silly claims to superior wisdom and in- fallibility, which so many writers, by a thousand artifices, endeavor to make their readers imagine they possess." Lavatek.
On coming down to breakfast one. morning, soon after the commencement of my experimental investigation of Homoeo- pathy, one of my daughters, a child about seven years old, complained of feeling sick, and laid herself down upon the sofa. I gave her some globules of ipecacuanha. We sat down to breakfast, leaving her chair empty. Before the repast was over the child appeared on her seat, and her mamma handed her some breakfast without remark. She ate with evident enjoyment, and having finished she said, "I feel quite well." Her mamma asked her what she thought had done her good. Her reply was this : " If I thought that such medicine could do me good, I should think it was the medicine, but I suppose it was the breakfast," having forgotten that before she had taken the medicine she was not able to take the breakfast.
Here we have the grand impediment to the reception of Homoeopathy. It is in vain to explain clearly what the state- ment professes to be, or to contend earnestly that the facts stated are true, so long as there is a previous obstacle to be re- moved, namely, a persuasion that the statement asserts what is impossible.
In this question of impossibility the principle of Homoeo- pathy— "likes are to be treated with likes;" a remedy is to be given, which, as a poison, produces similar symptoms — is not included. It may be thought improbable, but it can not be set down as absurd. Neither is the small dose, within certain limits, exposed to the same charge. That the tenth or the hundredth, or even the thousandth part of a grain can act in disease as a sufficient remedy, may, like the principle, be
4 THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMEOPATHY.
thought improbable, but can hardly be thought absurd or im- possible. The doses which follow — the millionth and the bil- lionth of a grain, or, as they are called, the third and the sixth dilutions — are separated from these by a gulf, to bridge over which is the real difficulty. So far from being anxious to con- ceal this I wish to state in all its force, and to meet it with all fairness, face to face.
The objection is founded upon the supposition that the means are inadequate to produce the result. The infinitesimal dose is pronounced to be a non-entity, it can not remove dis- ease. Hence, homoeopathic cures are judged impossible.
Every effect must have a cause sufficient to produce it. This is universally admitted. When we expect to cure disease by doses of medicine so small as to be inappreciable, we are ac- cused of looking for an effect without a cause, and to do this would be opposed to right reason and common-sense. " The patient is certainly better, but it is contrary to common-sense to suppose that the small dose can have done him good."
My purpose in the present Essay is, to endeavor to remove this great obstacle to the adoption of Homoeopathy.
Now, it appears to me that the objection thus raised is de- prived of all force by the following considerations :
The objection is merely an assertion. It is couched in vari- ous terms, such as, the dose is a non-entity, and can do nothing — ex nihilo nihil fit — the cause is inadequate to the effect ; the thing is contrary to common-sense.
It will be observed these statements prove nothing ; they are only an assertion, or expression of the opinion of those who make them. That this assertion is groundless, devoid of proof, and worthless, appears from this :
It is made in ignorance. What do those who make it know of the matter ? Nothing. Where are their experimental in- vestigations ? Nowhere. What time and pains have they bestowed upon the inquiry ? None at all. They do not even profess to have studied the subject ; they would not condescend to study it ; they have too much sense. Would you have them study quackery, and listen to "humbug?" Alas! we are all far too ignorant of the operation of natural causes, and the pro- duction of natural effects, to be justified in using such language as this. How often are we compelled to exclaim:
"Causa latet, res est notissima." The cause is bidden, the effect most plain.
And the reason of our ignorance is this, we know nothing of
THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY. 5
nature except what our bodily senses teach us. We have no in- nate knowledge of the works of GOD. We enter upon life without ideas concerning the external world. Our minds are a blank as it respects every thing in the material creation around us. But we are endowed with bodily senses capable of receiv- ing impressions from external objects, and with mental faculties capable of acknowledging the impressions thus produced.
The impressions made upon the bodily senses by surround- ing substances become ideas in the mind, which it perceives, remembers, and reasons upon, comparing one with another, and observing resemblances and differences ; especially the mind is engaged in remarking the influences which natural substances exert upon each other, and in tracing the connection of these influences as cause and effect, and thus the bodies and their ac- tions, which together make up the natural world, gradually furnish the mind with a large variety of thoughts.
Seeing, then, that it is through the bodily senses of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching that the mind obtains a knowledge of matter and its motions, and that we have no other means of adding to this knowledge, it must follow that we know nothing beyond the mere surface of things ; of the inter- nal actions of bodies upon each other we are wholly ignorant ; hence we are not in a condition to form a correct opinion, much less to pronounce a true judgment upon any substance or oper- ation in nature concerning which our bodily senses have, as yet, taught us nothing.
The truth of these propositions is evident upon reflection. In what department of nature do we know any thing beyond what our senses teach us ? What should we know about the moon if we had never seen it? What do those know of music who are born deaf ? or those of colors who are born blind ? We have an instructive lesson which sets this matter in its true light, in the answer of the blind man who was asked this question : " What is scarlet like?" " It is like the sound of a trumpet" was the ready reply. The association in the mind of an Englishman of the soldier's scarlet coat with military music is obvious enough, but the inability to conceive rightly (for a wrong conception was quickly formed) without the aid of the bodily sense, is not less obvious. We have no innate knowledge of the objects and operations of the natural or mate- rial world.
Again, the ideas of nature which exist in men's minds have come to them through their bodily senses. We all think and reason about objects we have seen, sounds we have heard, odors wc have smelled, food we have tasted, and bodies we
b THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
have touched. Our bodily senses receive impressions which our mental faculties acknowledge.
Thus we gain our knowledge of nature from our senses, and from no other source ; for, though there is in men's minds an undefined notion that the powers of reason, or the mental sense can discover things hidden from the bodily senses, and so can gather opinions and form judgments concerning natural sub- stances without being dependent upon or indebted to the eye or the ear ; this notion is an error. The workings of the mind may indeed produce guesses or imaginings respecting external things, but how can they perceive the reality ? Such specula- tions can not be more than dreams ; such labors but the weav- ing of a fanciful garment wherewith to cover our ignorance. " For the wit and mind of man, if it work upon matter, which is the contemplation of the creatures of GOD, worketh accord- ing to the stuff, and is limited thereby ; but if it work upon itself, as the spider worketh his web, then it is endless, and brings forth cob-webs of learning, admirable for the fineness of the thread and work, but of no substance or profit."*
These propositions being true, the conclusion I have drawn from them is true also. We have no original knowledge of nature ; the knowledge we acquire is obtained through our bodi- ly senses ; we have no other means of adding to this knowledge ; it must follow that we can not know any thing beyond what our bodily senses teach us ; that we are not in a condition to form correct opinions or true judgments concerning any substance rtdiich may exist, or any event which may happen, any cause or any effect of which we have not been informed by our ex- ternal or bodily senses. Hence we are not justified in pro- nouncing any uninvestigated phenomena impossible, or any unob- served facts contrary to common-sense.
The assertion, therefore, that the action of the small dose is contrary to common-sense, is nothing more than the cry of ig- norance, and, as such, is unworthy of attention.
Similar assertions have often been made in similar ignorance. It is no new thing for novel truth to be met by the same ignor- ant cry : " It is contrary to common-sense !" Take, for ex- ample, the following account given by Professor Baden Pow- ell of the invention of the telescope, and the discovery of the moons of the planet Jupiter. ' ' Galileo having sufficiently im- proved upon his instrument, now began sedulously to direct it
to the heavens Jupiter formed the next object
of examination, and no sooner was the telescope pointed to
* Lord Bacon.
TEE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMCEOPATHY. 7
that planet than the existence of the satellites was detected. and their nature soon ascertained. (February, 1610.) These and other observations were described by Galileo in a tract entitled ' Nuncius Sidereus,' which excited an extraordinary sensation the moment it appeared. Many positively denied the possibility of such discoveries ; others hesitated ; all were struck with astonishment. Kepler describes, in a letter to Galileo, the impression made on him by the announcement. He consi- dered it totally incredible; nevertheless, his respect for the au- thority of Galileo was so great that it set his brain afloat* on an ocean of conjectures to discover how such a result could be rendered compatible with the order of the celestial orbits as determined by the Jive regular solids. Sizzi argued seriously with Galileo that the appearance must be fallacious, since it would in- validate Hie perfection of the number 7, which applies to the planets as well as throughout all things natural and divine. Moreover, these satellites are invisible to the naked eye; therefore they can exercise no influence on the earth ; therefore they are use- less ; therefore they do not exist
" Others took a more decided but still less rational mode of meeting the difficulty. The principal professor of philosophy at Padua (in which university Galileo was also a professor) pertinaciously refused to look through the telescope. Another pointedly observed that we are not to suppose that Jupiter had four satellites given him for the purpose of immortal- izing the Medici, (Galileo having called them the Medicean stars.) A German, named Horky, suggested that the tele- scope, though accurate for terrestrial objects, was not true for the sky. He published a treatise discussing the four new planets as they were called ; what they are ? why they are ? and what they are like ? concluding with attributing their alleged existence to Galileo's thirst of goW*
I might give many other examples of the same melancholy kind, but the description of this one instance by Professor Powell is so graphic, and touches upon so many points in which the opponents of astronomical discovery resemble the opponents of Homoeopathy, that further illustration is needless. In each successive age the discovery of new truth has had a similar reception ; it is always declared to be impossible, in- credible, and contrary to common-sense.
That the small dose should be thus treated is, therefore, only just what might be looked for. The announcement of its ef- ficacy is startling, but not more so than that made by Galileo
* Baden Powell's History of Natural Philosophy.
8 THE COMMON-SENSE OP IIOMCEOPATHY.
— " tlie succession of day and night is occasioned by the rota- tion of the earth, and not by that of the sun and stars" — an announcement for making which it will ever be remembered that he was imprisoned in the inquisition.
How much does the statement that the earth moves seem to contradict the common-sense and common observation of all men ! It is true, notwithstanding, as is proved by careful in- quiry ; and so is the action of the small dose, as is demonstrat- ed by similar careful observation. " The works of the Creator in every department of observation and science present not only mysteries, but a world of wonders ; yet the reality of these wonderful things, mysterious as they may be, is not, can not be denied."*
It is an assertion made in indolence. I say this because of the facility with which the matter in question may be tested, and ignorance respecting it be removed.
Every medical man engaged in actual practice, has opportu- nities of putting both the principle and the dose of Homoeo- pathy upon trial every day. Let any practitioner resolve, as I and others have done, to look at the question with his own eyes, and he can immediately do so. Let him begin with those drugs with whose poisonous action he is already well acquainted, and, in fairness, till he has more skill, give them in the lower dilutions, (the first and second,) and afterwards, when he has become more familar with their use, in the higher or infinitesimal ones.
Such indolence as leads a man to pronounce an off-hand sentence of condemnation against any statement largely affect- ing the interests of the human family, because it is novel and startling, admits of no apology, when it is in his power to put the statement to a practical test. " We are to strive," says William Harvey, " after personal experience, not to rely on the experience of others, without which indeed no one can properly become a student of any branch of natural science."
Jt is a,n assertion made in folly. I should have shrunk from using such a strong expression as this had not the wise man said: "He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him."
When a medical man tells his patient that Homoeopathy is " humbug," let it be said to him : "As you express yourself so decidedly, of course you have studied the subject experimen- tally ; may I ask you how many months you have spent in
* Scoresby's Zoistic Magnetism.
THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMCEOPATHY. 9
the practical investigation ?" A child in such a situation would have red cheeks ; whether an adult would feel ashamed or not I can not tell ; I think he would look somewhat awkward and foolish.
When a non-professional person gives utterance to similar language, let him be told that it is unwise to condemn without knowledge ; that when he comes to suffer from disease, and to experience the happy results of the new treatment in his own person, his opinion will be altered.
Such a change has just been expressed to me in the follow- ing note :
''Thanks to you, I am now enabled to look forward to spending a happy holiday, and, under God's blessing, many a happy and useful year, in the en- joyment of a degree of health both for my wife and for myself, which, a few months ago, I could scarcely have believed possible. And for us, and our child, if disease itself has not lost its terrors, at least we can look without dread and misgiving on the remedies for meeting it."
It is an assertion made in enmity. The question is not viewed simply with reference to its truth or falsehood. It is an " ob- noxious" subject, looked upon with repugnance and contempt, There is no desire to investigate it, but on the contrary a strong determination to banish it, to crush it, to do any thing to get rid of it.
And yet it is the medicine of mercy ; it proposes to emanci- pate the suffering invalid from every disagreeable, harsh, and cruel proceeding to which he has been so long exposed ; it professes to be able to cure more quickly, safely, and plea- santly than is possible by any other means ; it promises to the physician himself the satisfaction of a scientific method, in place of vague experiments.
But it is an "obnoxious system," " false and bad," and as such it is hated and opposed, and that to such a degree as to prevent the majority of medical men from testing it experi- mentally, even with a view of proving the errors which they so vehemently assert it to contain.
And what shall be allowed to be the weight of an assertion made so ignorantly, so indolently, so foolishly, and with such hostile feeling ? Is it of force to dissipate the convictions pro- duced in the mind by an honest trial of the new method, and a careful observation of the actual results ? Can they be re- linquished at such a bidding ? That would indeed be opposed to reason and " contrary to common-sense." Did I not speak truly when I said : " This assertion is groundless, devoid of
10 THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOM(EOPATHY.
proof, and worthless ?" entertaining enough in the mouth of a child, but unbecoming in persons who have attained to "years of discretion."
On the contrary :
That Homoeopathy is true — and I now include in that word the principle, the moderately small dose, and also the infinites- imal dose — is substantiated by the evidence which I have brought forward in these Essays, and which I will briefly epi- tomise.
It is a statement made by competent witnesses. I have observed^ (in Tract No. 3,) that the best evidence which the nature of the case admits ought to be required, and when obtained it has a claim to be received. Hence the method of inquiry must be adapted to the nature of the truth we are in search of.
Now, the true action of remedies is learned partly by expe- riments upon the healthy, and partly by observation at the bed- side of the sick ; therefore, in the matter we are at present dis- cussing, the physician can be the only competent witness. The question arises : " What is the kind of medical evidence which can be produced, and how far does it establish a credible testimony ?" For, " the strength and validity of every testimo- ny must bear proportion with the authority of the testifier ; and the authority of the testifier is founded upon his ability and in- tegrity— his ability in the knowledge of that which he delivereth and asserteth ; his integrity in delivering and asserting accord- ing to his knowledge."*
The medical evidence in support of the truth of Homoeopathy is such that it is impossible to withhold assent to this testimony, if the number, the ability, and the integrity of the witnesses are permitted to have the consideration they deserve.
It is due to Hahnemann, the propounder of the system, to mention him first and alone, and to remember that he occupied a place in the best-qualified circle of his profession, and was acknowledged by many of his most distinguished colleagues, as one of the most accomplished and scientific physicans of his age,
Then, as regards the number of the witnesses. The medical men who have avowedly embraced Homoeopathy are now to be met with in every civilized country throughout the world. In many of these countries, it is true, they form, as yet, only a
* Pearson.
THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY. 11
small minority, but the aggregate number must constitute a considerable body. In this country there are at present nearly two hundred. In the United States of America there are al- ready two Homoeopathic Universities, and a large number of legally qualified Homoeopathic practitioners.*
And as regards ability, it will be sufficient to observe that, for the most part, they are converts from the ranks of regularly- educated physicians and surgeons. They had been engaged for a longer or a shorter period in the practice of their profes- sion according to the usual methods, and it may be fairly presum- ed that they possess at least an average amount of professional skill and experience. In support of this opinion it may be re- marked that among them there are nearly thirty professors in various European Universities ; nearly fifty medical and court Counsellors, and at least twenty Court Physicians. These last are attached to members of the courts of Austria, Prussia, Rus- sia, Spain, Naples, Belgium, Hanover, and the smaller Ger- man stales.
And lastly, as to integrity, Perhaps the best mode of test- ing this is to inquire into the reasons which have led indivi- duals to study and embrace the new method. Now, some of these have been induced to investigate the subject, because patients whom they had failed to benefit by the best resources of Allopathy, had been afterwards cured by Homoeopathy. Among these is Dr. Chapman. He says : "It happened that, during my absence from Liverpool, some of my patients had been induced to try the Homoeopathic treatment. Some of the cures could be explained away, but several of them could only be honestly accounted for by admitting the full efficacy of the treatment that had been pursued. It will be sufficient to men- tion one of these. A gentleman had been subject to haemor- rhoids for some years, and the loss of blood was sometimes fearful. His bowels were habitually and obstinately constipat- ed, and any medicine but the most gentle laxatives brought on the haemorrhoidal flux. Astringents were of no use during the discharge : they produced mischief when taken internally. He had been under the care of several eminent men in London, and had tried many medical men in Liverpool. His condition was made rather worse than better by the efforts of all and each of us to relieve him. His life was a misery. Two or three months after he had been under Homoeopathic treatment, I met
* Since writing the above, Dr. Atkin has favored me with the following state- ment of Homoeopathic practitioners, from his forthcoming Directory "British — in London, G3; in the provinces, 138 — 201 ; and upwards of 3000 in the United States." I am glad to find that I have not been guilty of exaggeration.
12 THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
him one day in the street, and was astonished at the alteration in his appearance. From being emaciated he had grown stout, and was altogether in excellent condition. I asked him what he had been doing, and thereupon he told me of his having swooned away in London from the loss of blood ; that a Ho- moeopathic physician had attended him ; that he had suffered no loss of blood since ; that his bowels were regular, and that he no longer suffered any inconvenience from the trying, and, in his case, dangerous complaint he had suffered from a dozen years or more. This and several other concurrent cases of my own patients, successfully treated by this method at the same time, induced me to lay aside my prejudice against the apparent absurdity of the doses, so far as to test by actual experi- ment their efficacy and value. I was immediately convinced that the doses were efficacious, and conviction of the truth of the doctrine followed." Many " urged their eager remonstran- ces, but my duty was plain so soon as I became convinced ; and it was the sincerity of my conviction which gave me the cou- rage to persevere "
Others have been persuaded to examine the new system by the representation of medical friends who had previously be- come converts, and whom they respected as honest and con- scientious men. Of this number I am one ; having been urged to undertake the investigation I have described in these Essays by my friend Dr. Eamsbotham. I was told that I had had ample experience of the usual methods, which would enable me to compare the new one with them ; that, having retired from the laborious part of my professional duties, I had leisure and opportunity ; and, in short, that it was my duty. I hesi- tated at first, but it had been laid on my conscience, and after some consideration, I determined to take two years and to give it a full investigation. I had no other wish than to dis- cover the truth.
Others, again, have engaged in the laborious task expressly for the purpose of proving Homoeopathy to be a fallacy. Dr. H. V. Malan is one of these. He has favored me with the fol- lowing account :
"After having lived for some years in the house of a Ho- moeopathic physician in Germany, and seen his practice, and heard him speak and teach, I went to Paris in 1840, and la cated myself very near Hahnemann's residence ; I called on him almost the next morning, and told him at once that I had come to him with the desire and intention to study and know thoroughly Homoeopathy, in order to write, if possible, the best book against it. He received me and listened to me most
THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY. 13
kindly, and immediately put me in the way of best studying, but he added, with his usual benevolent smile, 'You never will write your book.' Most generously he directed my stu- dies for more than a whole year, and I need not add his word was true — I never wrote the book, though I had begun it and laid materials down for it, before seeing Hahnemann.
" My conversion was not an easy one ; I was fresh from the Allopathic benches, and flushed with the victory of all Allopa- thic honors. In adopting Homoeopathy, I roused the whole ' Faculte' of my native city (Geneva) against me, and caused no small uproar, which ended, however, with what is the truth in medicine."
The number, the skill, and the integrity of the medical wit- nesses to the truth of Homoeopathy are amply sufficient to make the statement credible.
It is a statement made upon sufficient evidence. If the wit- nesses are competent, so is their evidence complete. ' What does it amount to ? It amounts to this, that, being medical practitioners, regularly educated and duly qualified, and hav- ing had more or less experience — this experience, in some cases, equalling that of any of their professional colleagues — they have tried the new practice experimentally, with every pre- caution in their power to avoid mistake ; they have, in this practical manner, been persuaded of its actual and positive superiority over their former methods, and they have had the honesty and the courage to avow their conviction of its truth and value. It amounts to this, that cases of every description have been published by hundreds, with all the accuracy and precision of diagnosis and treatment with which the professson is familiar, and which, in accordance with the progress of mo- dern science, it demands ; cases of the most acute and danger- ous character ; cases of the most familiar and well-known dis- eases ; cases of the most obstinate and refractory chronic ail- ments; cases of diseases in children, in adults, in old age; cases in public hospitals, and in private practice ; cases in courts and in cottages ; cases from among the most intelligent and the most illiterate, and all affording evidence of superior success to that which has yet been presented in similar reports of any other kind of treatment. It amounts to this, that if the evi- dence upon which the truth of Homoeopathy now rests be not sufficient to establish it, then nothing can be established as true upon any evidence whatever ; and without faith in human tes- timony how are we to proceed in the ordinary affairs of life? " There is no science taught without original belief;
14 THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
there are no letters learned without preceding faith. There is no justice executed, no commerce maintained, no business pro- secuted without this ; all secular ' affairs are transacted, all great achievements are attempted, all hopes, desires, and inclin- ations are preserved by this human faith, grounded upon the testimony of man."*
The question is a question of evidence ; the evidence is suffi- cient ; reason and common-sense demand our assent.
And why not ? Similar statements have been received upon similar evidence. The ground on which I advocate the recep- tion of Homoeopathy is that which is the basis of all Experi- mental Philosophy ; it is on the plea of observation — on the testimony of our senses. Every department of science con- tains numerous instances in which the most unexpected and important results arise out of apparently insignificant and in- adequate causes. I can give only a few examples.
In Magnetism : take a poker, or bar of iron, not previously magnetic, hold it in a position parallel with the earth's axis, and strike the upper or northern extremity a rather smart blow with a hammer — the poker or bar will have become a magnet ; it will now attract particles of iron, and it will attract and repel the poles of other magnets. Now hold it horizontally, and strike the opposite or southern end a similar blow, and it will cease to be a magnet — it will no longer attract iron, nor attract and repel other magnets. What striking effects from such a simple action !
In Chemistry: every experiment is an illustration. It is impossible to anticipate the results of a single case in which elements combine, or in which compounds are decomposed. The effects are always startling. It is this which gives to lec- tures on Chemistry their exciting interest. You place a piece of metal (Potassium) upon a lump of ice — it bursts into flame, and produces a solution of potash ! You apply an electric spark to a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen gases ; you have, on the instant, an explosion like that of a magazine of gun- powder, and a drop of water results! You mix colorless liquid ingredients and obtain, in a succession of instances, solids having all the colors of the rainbow !
In Mechanics: as an example on a small scale, take some biniodide of mercury, spread it upon a sheet of paper, and hold it over a lamp ; in a moment or two, the brilliant red, equal to vermillion, becomes a fine yellow, and remains so, even after it has been allowed to cool ; take a knife or spatula and pass it
* Pearson.
THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOM(EOPATHY. 15
over the yellow powder with, a little pressure and friction, and the beautiful vermillion is instantly restored. In these meta- morphoses there is no chemical change, but simply a difference in the mechanical arrangement of the particles of the compound of mercury and iodine.
As an example on a larger scale, look at a railway train, and marvel how a smooth iron wheel passing over a smooth iron bar can, by what is called the resistance of friction, drag after it a weight of many tons in carriages and luggage.
In Botany: the grafting of fruit trees may be adduced as an example. What a childish proceeding it would appear when first attempted, and how unlikely to be productive of important results ! And yet the evidence of facts has overcome the ap- porent absurdity, and the practice is universally adopted.
Moreover, the ground upon which I rest the claims of Homoeopathy is the ground upon which all the common affairs of life necessarily rest. Whatever may have been the pre- vious notion of probability, it is the actual fact which deter- mines the point. Just now all are noticing the sudden changes in the weather. We go to bed under the canopy of heaven glittering with stars, and there is a hard frost ; we expect the roads vail be dry and clean in the morning, and the boys think of their skates. We get up, and find only clouds, rain, and dirt. And so of every thing. " That will probably hap- pen which to all human calculation seems the most unlikely."
Hahnemann, in his Organon, keeps in the back ground the practical fact, and labors to establish a speculative explanation of it. His followers do not agree in adopting his explanation, but, so far as I am acquainted with their writings, they all have some hypothesis of their own. I have been condemned for not accepting any of these. I respectfully decline them all, and offer no explanation. By this course, Homoeopathy is placed upon a foundation which it has not yet fairly occupied; and henceforward it will be in vain for its opponents to attack it as they have hitherto done. I present it as a fact, supported by sufficient evidence, and to assail it as such will be found a task much more difficult than to criticise speculations however in- genious.
The question is thus greatly simplified, and reduced to one alternative. Either the thing is true, or the testimony is false. To settle this point, both reasoning and assertion are alike im- pertinent. The testimony has a claim to be received, the thing is true " according to the evidence," until facts — the result of f.rials at least as numerous, on the testimony of witnesses at
16 THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
least of equal ability and integrity — are brought forward to support the opposite probability.
It is a statement beyond previous experience, but not opposed to reason, or contrary to common-sense. I will not attempt a defi- nition of " common-sense." A term in daily use must often be applied indefinitely. It sometimes signifies merely former knowledge, or previous experience; at others, it implies the highest exercise of human reason. Now, many things may be beyond common-sense, in the first meaning I have given, but not contrary to it ; and many things may be above common- sense, in the last signification, but not opposed to it.
Taking common-sense to mean, as it often does, previous ex- perience, then every new discovery or invention is beyond, though not contrary to, common-sense. The first use of the mariner's compass would be quite beyond all previous knowledge, and doubtless was ridiculed as contrary to reason ; it would be said of it that though true upon land, it was false upon the waters. With the first use of every thing, it has been as we have seen it was in the case of the telescope and the satellites of Jupiter. And so with the small dose. It had never occurred to any one to try it before. It was new to experience ; it was be- yond former knowledge, but it was not contrary to either. There had been no previous experience ; there had been no knowledge to which it could be contrary. The experiment discovered a new fact. The observation of the new fact sim- ply became knowledge in the place of ignorance. When it was said, therefore, that "the patient is certainly better, but it is contrary to common-sense to suppose that the small dose can have done him good," it meant only that a cure by the small dose was beyond that person's previous experience ; he had not known such a fact before ; it was new to him, but he will scarcely presume to say, on reflection, that therefore it could not be true.
The statement is beyond previous experience, but before any one can with justice say it is contrary to common-sense, he must try the doses sufficiently to gain from experience the knowledge that they do no good. Those who have hitherto used this language have not tried these experiments. It has been uttered in ignorance. A few years ago, a book was writ- ten to prove the impossibility of steamships navigating the Atlantic ; it was contrary to common-sense ; the answer to which, as every one knows, was the immediate performance of the impossible undertaking ; it was simply beyond previous experience ; the experiment had never before been made. When Mr. Stephenson had invented his locomotive engine,
THE COMMON-SENSE OP IIOMCEOPATHY. 17
to move upon smooth iron rails — having discovered that the resistance of friction would be sufficient to prevent the rota- tion without 'progression of the wheels — he did not venture to propose a speed of more than twelve miles an hour, and even this proposition was laughed at as contrary tc common- sense ; had he said forty miles, his discovery would have been scouted, and railway travelling perhaps a thing yet unknown.
To drag forward common-sense in this manner, as opposed to new experiments and investigations of nature, is greatly to dishonor it. Where there is no experience, what common-sense does, in such a case, is to urge inquiry, and to dictate a suspen- sion of judgment until inquiry is completed.
Again, taking common-sense in its other signification, as the highest human reason, the new fact may be above this reason to understand or explain, but it can not be contrary to reason if it exist, nor can it be contrary to reason for us to believe in its existence, if that is proved to us by sufficient evidence.
I have observed that we know nothing of the objects in na- ture beyond their surface ; the knowledge which our bodily senses give us not extending beyond that. Even if our intel- lectual vision could penetrate below the surface, and show us something of the interior mechanism, our circle of knowledge would still be a contracted one. Ail nature being the handi- work of a Being infinite in wisdom and power, it must of ne- cessity be beyond the grasp of a finite intelligence like the hu- man mind. But the internal movements of the particles of all bodies, and their mode of acting on each other, are not with- in our ken, however much we may long to know them. Every thing, therefore, is a mystery, and it is the attribute of the highest reason to be chiefly employed in the discovery of facts. We are surrounded by marvels which we can not explain : lest I should be tedious, I will mention only three. The sun will take your likeness in a second of time ; a message may be sent hundreds of miles still more instantaneously ; any one may breakfast in Rugby, be in London (82 miles) in two hours, spend six hours in that city, and be home to dinner. Now these are marvels which even our own fathers never dreamed of; had we talked to them about such things, they would have thought us insane, and yet they are true. It is not the less a fact because it is a marvel, that the sun will take your picture in a moment. It is not the less a fact because it is a marvel, that a message may be sent instantaneously any distance by a wire of metal. It is not the less a fact because it is a marvel, that any one can travel forty miles an hour. And if we have marvels in the science of light, why may we not have a marvel
NO. XII. — 2
18 THE COMMON-SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
in the science of medicine ? If a marvel in electricity, why not in medicine? If in mechanics, I ask again, why not in medi- cine? If in things which concern inanimate bodies, why not mnch more in the things which belong to living beings ?
The works of GOD are for ever setting our reason at defi- ance. If we attempt to take but one step beyond the evidences of our bodily senses, except to draw a few useful inferences, with a view to make some practical applications, we lose our- selves at once in conjecture. "Things perceived by sense are more assured and manifest than matters inferred by reason ; in- asmuch as the -latter proceed from and are illustrated by the former."*
It results from these remarks that if a statement of a new marvel bears the rigid scrutiny of careful observation, com- mon-sense, or reason at once admits its truth ; and thus the common-sense of Homoeopathy lies, where the common-sense of every thing else lies — in the truth and value of the fact.
It is a statement which admits of ready confirmation. "Is there any thing more difficult than the establishment of a fact ?" said a very intelligent neighbor to me the other day. My reply is, that though the establishment of a new fact may be difficult, it is not impossible. Any fact may be established by evidence, but some men may not like to see the evidence. "Dissatisfaction with evidence may possibly be men's own fault."f
The confirmation of the fact we are now considering is open to the observation of any medical practitioner every day, and that without reading books on Homoeopathy. He knows well that ipecacuanha causes sickness ; when he is requested to pre- scribe for a child who is suffering from sickness and vomiting from a disordered stomach, let him give a few small doses of this drug. He will thus at once test both the principle and the dose ; and unless there is something more about the case than I have supposed, he will find his patient very quickly cured. He knows that mercury acts upon the salivary glands ; let him give it in a case of mumps, and he will find his patient recover more rapidly than he has been accustomed to observe. He knows that corrosive sublimate produces dysentery; let him give this substance in ■ an ordinary case of dysentery, and the disease will most probably yield more speedily than if he had adopted any other mode of treatment. He knows that white hellebore is a most powerful purgative ; let him give it in a purging, if chilliness be an accompanying symptom, and he
* William Harvey. \ Butler.
THE COMMON-SENSE OF H.OMCEOPATHY. 19
will perhaps be surprised at tlie beneficial result. He knows that arsenic and phosphorus produce inflammation of the sto- mach and bowels ; let him have courage to try either of these poisons and he will probably see severe sufferings subside un- der the influence of the small dose. He knows that cantharides act upon the bladder, and readily cause strangury; let him give them in a similar case, and his patient will most likely need no other, remedy. He knows that nux vomica acts very much upon the spinal marrow, and upon the organs depend- ent upon the spinal nerves, and those of the great sympathe- tic ; let him try it in various affections of these organs and he will often succeed in curing his patient. He knows that lead often causes paralysis of the extremities ; let him give it in cases resembling those of poisoning by lead, but which have arisen from some other cause, and he may find a very difficult and troublesome affection considerably relieved.
If the practitioner is acquainted with the literature of his pro- fession, he will know that copper and stramonium produce mus- cular spasms ; ipecacuanha, symptoms resembling asthma ; coc- culus, paroxysms of vertigo with nausea ; antimony, derange- ment of the stomach and chest ; sulphur and arsenic, affections of the skin. From the same sources he will know the injurious effects of other substances, when acting as poisons upon per- sons previously in health.
So far as I have yet learned, every medical man who has thus examined the subject, with candor and perseverance, has seen and acknowledged the confirmation in his own hands of the truth of the statement. Nothing remains but for others to pursue a similar course ; but, if men will not look through Galileo's telescope, it is not surprising if they do not see Jupi- ter's moons.
Before bringing these Essays to a conclusion, I can not pass over one topic without some further notice. There is a strong feeling in the minds of professional men that Homoeopathy is only a species of quackery, and that its practitioners are no- thing better than charlatans. Now this is not true. I am willing to grant that there may be a few persons practising Homoeopathy whose temperaments are somewhat tinctured with the spirit of quackery, as there are in the ranks of our opponents, but there are many wholly free from it ; and, as regards Homoeopathy itself, it is as far removed from quack- ery as light is from darkness. What is quackery ? A pre- tension to some sovereign remedy, to be purchased of such a person. The exclusive sale of this nostrum, the composition
20 THE COMMMON-SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
of which is carefully concealed, being often secured to the vender by Her Majesty's letters patent; or it is " fifty thousand cures without medicine," by some article of diet, sold exclu- sively in a similar manner. What is there in Homoeopathy at all resembling this ? Where are its secrets ? its nostrums ? its exclusive sales ? Thay are not found ; and the person who calls Homceopathy quackery, must be content to be condemn- ed as either very ignorant, or guilty of knowingly uttering un- truth.
I have now only to conclude. In laying before my profes- sional brethren the results of an independent investigation of Homceopathy, I have fulfilled a duty, and given an honest testimony ; and I now lay it on the conscience of every prac- titioner, as it was laid upon my own, to investigate the matter for himself. " I therefore whisper in your ear, friendly reader, and recommend you to weigh carefully in the balance of exact experiment, all that I have delivered in these Exercises. I would not that you gave credit to aught they contain, save in so far as you find it confirmed and borne out by the unquestion- able testimony of your own senses."*
While, however, I thus appeal to others, to examine for them- selves, and while I reject the hypotheses and speculations of Hahnemann, it must not be supposed that I have any doubt remaining in my own mind, either of the truth of the principle, or of the efiicacy of the small dose. If it may be done without presumption, I would say of the truth of these, in the words of John Locke, "Give me leave to say, with all submission, that I think it may be proved, and I think I have done it."
Kugbt, December 30lh, 185-4.
* William Harvey.
NORTH AMERICAN HOMEOPATHIC JOURNAL:
§Ji Qaarterlg Pags^int of fteHuiue
AND THE AUXILIARY SCIENCES,
EDITED BY
B. E. MARCY, M.D., New -York; ¥M. H. HOLCOMBE, M.D, Natchez, Miss.; JOHN C. PETERS, M. D.f New -York; and HENRY C. PRESTON, M.D., Providence, R.I.
The North American Homoeopathic Journal mil appear on the first days of August, November, February, and May. Every number will contain one hun- dred and forty-four pages, thus making at the end of each year a handsome volume of five hundred and seventy-six octavo pages.
The following Programme will be adopted in making up the Journal •
Part I. Original and Translated Papers.
Part If. General Record of Medical Science.
Part III. Bibliographical Notices.
Part IV. Miscellaneous Items— American and Foreign.
Part V. Materia Medica.
The department devoted to Materia Medica will constitute an important and high- ly-interesting feature of the Journal. The most energetic efforts will be made to pre- sent to our subscribers a materia medica composed exclusively of characteristic and reliable drug-symptoms. In accomplishing this desirable object, our work, when finished, may not be so voluminous as the present works on Materia Medica, but our symptoms will be real drag-symptoms — specific and trustworthy.
Our plan will be to place under each separate organ
1st, Its Pathogenesis. 2d, Its Pathology.
3d, Clinical Remarks.
By this arrangement, the physician may comprehend at a glance the entire genius of the drug with reference to any part of the organism.
The Editorial department will be conducted by Dr. E. E. Marct, of New- York; Dr. J. 0. Peters, of New- York; Dr. W. H. Holcombe, of Natchez, Miss. ; and H. C. Preston, of Providence, R. I.
Measures have already been taken to secure a number of able correspondents from Germany, France, and England.
We likewise most earnestly appeal to our professional brethren at home, to aid us in the good cause. We hold it to be the duty of every true Homoeopath to contribute something toward the advancement of the doctrines he professes. Any new fact — an interesting clinical notice — a new drag — indeed any thing of general interest to the profession, should always be noted and communicated to the world. In this respect let every Homoeopath do his duty, and the prosperity of our school will be enhanced.
Terms: Three dollars per annum, payable on delivery of the first number.
All the subscriptions, communications, and journals, to bo directed to the pub- lisher and proprietor,
WM, RADDE, No 322 Broadway, New- York.
_ 'There are still a few copies of the 1st, 2d and 3d volumes of this most valu- able Journal on hand ; every one who sends on $10 to Wif. Radde, 322 Broadway, shall be furnished with the 1st, 2d, 3d, and the present 4th volume.
Just published, price Five Cents each, 100 copies, $3. By talcing 500, 1000, or more copies, a much larger discount will be given
TRACTS ON HOMOEOPATHY,
BY WILLIAM SHARP, M. D., F.R.S. 1. — WHAT IS HOMOEOPATHY?
Fifth Edition.
2. — THE DEFENSE OF HOMCEOPATHT.
Fourth Edition.
3. — THE TRUTH OF HOMOEOPATHY-
Fifth Edition.
4. — THE SMALL DOSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
5. — THE DIFFICULTIES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
6.— THE ADVANTAGES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
1. — THE PRINCIPLE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
8. — THE CONTROVERSY ON HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition.
9. — THE REMEDIES OF HOMOEOPATHY.
Second Edition. The above in a cover, price Eighteenpence.
10. — THE PROVINGS OF HOMOEOPATHY.
11. — THE SINGLE MEDICINE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
12. — (The Coxcludln-g Number.) THE COMMON SENSE OF HOMOEOPATHY.
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