Read, Investigate & Judge for Yourself. 
A. PLEA 
FOR 
Eclectic M edicine, 
BY 
C. C. SHARP, M. I). 
LOUISVILLE, KY.: 
Webb & Breeding, Stationers and Printers. 
1875- Read, Investigate & Judge for Yourself. 
-A. PLEA 
FOR 
Eclectic Medicine, 
BY 
C. C. SHARP, M. D. 
LOUISVILLE, KY.: 
Webb & Breeding, Stationers and Printers. 
1875- TEMPERANCE. 
‘ * Beware the bowl! though rich and bright 
Its beauties flash upon the sight. 
An adder coils its depths beneath, 
Whose lure is woe, whose sting is death.” 
Volumes might be •written upon the evils of intoxicating liquors.' It is a 
subject which presents a wide field of thought, a field, too, that is watered by the 
crimson streams of human gore and decked with the graves of fallen victims. 
If you open the dark scroll upon which is registered the evils of intemperance 
and the crimes of its victims, the whole earth would be darkened and the broad 
canopy of the heavens would be shrouded in mourning. Alcohol is the tyrant 
king that ensnares its votaries with garnished pleasure, and rules them with 
misery and woe. With the blood-stained history of the past, and the frightful 
realities of the present before us, its poisonous streams are still spreading misery 
and woe throughout our land, and the strong, deep current of its evils is cutting 
its way through the vitals of our race. Like the Bohun Upas of the sandy 
desert, its poisonous and deadly influence is wafted'upon every breeze and spreads 
damnation over every clime and land. 
The evils of intemperance are too well known to require special notice. 
Sum up the entire miseries, woes and crimes of the human race, and a very large 
proportion of them can be traced, either directly or indirectly, to intemperance 
as the prime cause. 
In contrast with such results, we now ask the reader to pause and consider 
the noble virtues and blessings resulting from temperance. Life, health, peace, 
happiness and pleasure; virtue, honor, integrity and kindness; beauty, refine- 
ment, wealth, morality and intelligence, are all among the blessings and results 
of a temperate life. In the name of all these, and the duties you owe to your- 
self, to society, and to your God, we entreat you to adhere to the principles of 
temperance and sobriety. Jeremy Taylor has said that “temperance is reason’s 
girdle and passion’s bridle; the strength of the soul and the foundation of 
virtue.” Habits of imtemperance are generally of slow and gradual growth. 
It is not often that a man becomes a drunkard at one step; but when he has 
taken the first, he is more liable to take the second. “It is the first step that 
ruin%” is an old maxim of the French. “ The path is smooth that leadeth unto 
danger,” and when you yield the first time to temptation you weaken your hold 
npon virtue, you turn your back to the current, and are liable to be swept along 
“ with the multitude who do evil.” “ Enter not into the paths of the wicked,” 
» nor keep the company of those who indulge in strong drink. “ If you would 
not be found in the devil’s power, do not be caught in the devil’s pound.” 
If you associate with those who indulge in an “occasional glass,” and visit 
With them their favorite places of resort, you place yourself in the way of tempt- 
ation, and are in danger. As it is the “little vermin that spoils the vine,” so it 
is the little evils that open the way and lead you into the “ broad road” to a TEMPERANCE. 
3 
drunkard’s doom. Your only safety is to adhere strictly and rigidly to the prin- 
ciples of total abstinence—“touch not, taste not, handle not the unclean thing.” 
Unite your voice with the Pagan youth who said he was “ greater and born to 
greater things than to be a servant to his body.” The desire for intoxicating 
drinks is based in a perverted appetite. Its gratification excites the animal nature 
and brings the moral and intellectual faculties under the control of the passions. 
Not only consider the advantages of temperance upon your own happiness and 
welfare, but let your example and your influence be such as to induce others to 
leave their habits of vice and join you in those of sobriety and temperance. In 
all cases turn your back upon the tempter and say, with your voice and by your 
example, as did Augustine, “how pleasant it is to be without these pleasures.” 
C. C. S. TO THE CITIZENS OF LOUISVILLE AND 
VICINITY. 
READ, INVESTIGATE, AND JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES. 
Dr. Sharp, late of Lexington, Ky., having permanently located in Louis- 
ville, tenders his professional services to the citizens thereof and surrounding 
country. Dr. Sharp is a regular graduate of the Eclectic School of Medicine. 
He has been a practioner of the Eclecfic School for twenty-eight years, with 
many years experience in both hospital and private practice, and he has, during 
that time,- treated all the diseases peculiar to this country, with unparalleled 
success. 
The established reputation of Dr. Sharp in Lexington and the Bluegrass 
region of Kentucky, justifies him in announcing to the public that the afflicted 
can be treated as skillfully and successfully by him as they can be either in Europe 
or America, at less expense, with all the home comfort and good care availa- 
ble elsewhere. 
In making this announcement to the citizens of Louisville, Dr. Sharp 
claims more than ordinary skill, and especially in the treatment of diseases 
incident tp females, of which cases he has had a greater number and met with 
greater success, perhaps, than any physician either in Europe or America. 
Ladies, the Doctor has effected permanent cures of hundreds of cases during 
a residence of six years in Kentucky, which have been pronounced incurable by 
the most skillful physicians in Kentucky. The Doctor feeling confident that he 
is engaged in a useful undertaking, and a practice that will be ultimately uni- 
versally commended in Louisville as in Lexington, he makes that information 
available to the best of his ability, as a means of alleviating physical sufferings 
Dr. Sharp will accommodate all patients from a distance with good board- 
ing and rooms at his residence. 
His Office and Residence is located on Jefferson St., bet. Seventh 
and Eighth, No. 269. 
A PLEA FOR ECLECTIC MEDICAL COMMON SENSE. 
I am often asked the question. “ To what school of medicine do you 
belong?” My reply is, no school, except the school of nature, which I shall 
christen the Utilarian School. I prefer the useful to the useless. I have been 
a diligent pupil of all the old masters, and have investigated all systems. I 
am now a devoted pupil of nature; intuition is my counselor; common sense 
is my pharmacopoeia. In other words, I am independent, bound by the tenets 
of no medical association, and consequently prejudiced against no new discovery 
which can be made subservient to suffering humanity. Whatever I find in earth, 
air, electricity, water and science, useful as remedial agents I appropriate and BY DR. C. C. SHARP. 
5 
resort thereto, when occasion demands, without fear of being confronted by a 
conservative brother who sees merit in nothing which has not the sanction of 
antiquity. 
The literary productions of old school writers are often interesting, and con- 
tain much sophistry; nature is refreshing and pregnant with truth. 
The knowledge of anatomy and physiology from the books is a good thing, 
but it is not sufficient for our purposes. Books are useful in this study, though 
not the object of study; it is the man we want to know, not the book nor its 
author. 
Do you mean to say—asks the reader, “that the present system of nosology is 
useless ?” Yes, so far as curing the sick is concerned, that is just what I mean 
to say. Not only useless, but worthless—a curse to physician and patient— pre- 
venting the one from learning the healng art, and th« other from getting well. 
Science has heaped wealth in the lap of commerce—to the healing art she has 
been a meagre patron. The commercial man cordially receives her magnificent 
contributions; the medical devotee looks with jealous eye upon her beneficient 
discoveries. The swift gliding locomotive whistles by the storehouses of the 
merchant and the luxuriant fields of the planter; calomel and old nosology 
hobbles along on crutches, before the doors of the old school, and some of the 
new school practitioners. I have preferred professional martyrdom to old fogy 
despotism. To such the public is indebted for what little advancement has been 
made in the healing art in this country. Here in Kentucky a physician is not 
considered orthodox who does not keep a straight coat tail behind him. To 
look to right or left for new agents to relieve the sufferings of mankind, discloses 
professional heresy, punishable with wry faces .aid shrugged shoulders at their 
betters. Happily for suffering humanity, our transatlantic neighbors have been 
more tolerant and given to investigation. Hence it is that the therapeutic value 
of the electrical discoveries of Galvani, Farraday, Cross and others have been 
tested in the universities and hospitals in England, France and Germany. 
Regarding the important part which electricity performs in the animal economy, 
it does not require facts or arguments to prove the value of electricity as an 
auxiliary agent in the treatment of disease. The fact is self evident. Electrici- 
ty, which the Almighty employs to move and regulate the sublime planitary 
world, is used by the mind to move the feet, arms, and perform the various 
functions of the animal mechanism. 
Water, it has been beatifully remarked, is valuable as a medical agent, but its 
efficiency consists, not in the element itself, but in its subservience as a hand- 
maid of electricity, Electricity and Specific Medication is the queen of medi- 
cine ; water is merely a pool in which she bathes her feet. In making use of 
galvanism as a therapeutic agent, it should not be relied on to the exclusion of 
every other treatment; neither should a cure of a chronic disease for which it is 
applied, be anticipated in a miraculously short space of time. Disease in any 
organ produces a change in the condition of the organ diseased, and time must 
be allowed for the process of absorption and deposition necessary to bring the 
organ back to its normal condition. It is of course of paramount importance to 
remove this corroding cause, but, having done this, effects, which have become 
diseased in themselves, remain, and must be disposed of. Here, too, mild, 
nutrious and blood-toning medicines must be given in connection with electriciy. 6 
A PI.EA FOR ECLECTIC MEDICINE 
It is idle prattle to talk of making the lame walk by the use of a single electro- 
chemical bath. Instances do occur upon which to base such exaggerations, it is 
true. I have seen many such surprising results attend my own operations. But 
he who indiscriminately promises such success does positive injury in eight cases 
out of ten. It is enough to say that a skillfully administrated electro-chemical 
bath will expel mineral poisons. This is a great achievement, and opens the 
avenues of health to thousands in Louisville and surrounding country who are 
suffering the effects of old-school malpractice. 
Let not the temperate tone of the preceding paragraph lead any one to suppose 
that the blusterers, who startle whole communities with the announcement that 
they are curing everybody and everything with electricity, are better posted re- 
garding its marvelous curative powers than the writer of this. I doubt if any 
ones experience in its emplqyment can more than parallel my own. I say this in 
no spirit of boasting, but only in simple justice to myself, while cautioning the 
afflicted against exagerated statements put forth by imposters. For the past ten 
years I have been a faithful student in electrical therapeutics, and I have em- 
ployed the agent in thousands of cases. A large practice has given me every 
opportunity to test its effects in all sorts of acute and chronic diseases. I have 
made both rheumatic and paralytic invalids run and rejoice in the restoration of 
painfifl, contracted, stiff, and withered limbs. I have caused the haggard, down- 
cast, cadaverous face of the dyspeptic to light up under the exhiliarating effects 
of currents of electricity, sent down the pneumo-gastric nerves to the stomach. 
I have imparted an elastic step and glow of health to many a lady who had for 
years before crept about her domicile under the debilitating effects of female 
weaknesses. I have given the neuralgic sufferer occasion to rejoice in electrical 
therapeutics and eclectic medicines. 
As evidence of my knowledge of medicine, and my success as a physician, I 
point to living monuments ; to the men and women I have cured during my resi- 
dence of six years in Kentucky; not to tombstones in the cemetery. It is said 
that “ dead men tell no tales.” They do tell tales. The eloquence of silence 
speaking from, out the graveyard, whose hungry maw is well nigh gluttecf with 
its untimely victims, warns us to heed the tales the dead are telling. 
The latin prescription hydrargyra is often the death-warrant, without a chance 
of a reprieve. 
Success in healing diseases is the test of science and skill. Upon this test I 
challenge comparison with any doctor of the ‘‘regular school” in Kentucky 
The sick man asks for the doctor who cures—not whether he be a “ regular” or 
not. When his weak eyes turn toward the tomb, it is not the verbose pretend 
er of a bigoted school of medicine, who begins at Esculapius and cavorts over 
the wide field of medical literature and chatters about his theories, that he 
wants; but rather him whose quick intuitions diagnose his disease at a glance, 
and from all schools selects and applies that remedy which saves him from the 
grave and restores him to health. I hold in my hand the key of success—I 
cure a larger proportion of my patients than the regulars do, and have cured 
numerous cases declared by them incurable, as you see from the best testimonials 
in the State of Kentucky. 
A word to the wise is sufficient. 
C. C. SHARP, M. D. INFANT MORTALITY ARISING FROM THE 
MISMANAGEMENT OF PHYSICIANS. 
The subject of this article is the causes of infant mortality originating in the 
mismanagement of physicians belonging to the “ Regular” school of doctors in 
Louisville. 
The physician occupies a peculiarly responsible position in society ; one that is 
not well understood nor appreciated. The patient sins against nature by dis- 
obeying the organic laws—those laws established by the Creator for the regula- 
tion and government of his physical existence. After the sin has been commit- 
ed, and the patient feels the infliction of the penalty—that is, the disease— 
coming on him, the physician is sent for to reprieve him from the punishment. 
The physician thus becomes the meditator between the sinner and the law, and 
offers as a propitiation for the sins of his patient the means which bounteous' 
Heaven has so munificently bestowed for the purpose in the shape of remedies. 
Hence the true physician is the servant of the Divine Master, interpreting his 
will in the great book of nature before us, and dispensing out his blessings to 
many an unworthy.sinner. But, in the case of the child, the parents are morally 
responsible for the sins commited against nature’s laws, although the penalties 
fall upon it alone. The physician, in thus assuming the functions of an inter- 
preter of nature and a dispenser of her blessings, often takes in his hands the 
reins of life and death. 
From the extreme susceptibility of the infant constitution to the action of both 
disease and medicine, the responsibility of the physician is much greater in 
treating this class of patients than it is in the 'treatment of adults. The life- 
power of the infant, compared to that of the adult, is as a candle to a blazing 
furnace. The one may be blown out by a blast which would but serve to in- 
crease the other’s heat. Hence the necessity of treating these little beings with 
the greatest circumspection and the mildest and gentlest medicines. The phy- 
sician may fire away at his adult patient with all the artillery of the apothecary 
shop, day after day, and week after week, and nature will finally come out 
victorious and restore the patient in spite of the dise'ase and the treatment, and 
the physician will get all the glory of the victory. A little annecdote will illus- 
trate the practice of some physicians admirably. Two men were riding together 
along the road, one a little in advance of the other; the foremost man rode 
under a swinging limb of a tree, as he did so, he caught it and pulled it after 
him as far as he could, then letting go, it flew back and knocked the hindmost 
man from his horse. He got up, badly hurt, thanked his companion, and told 
him that if he had not held that limb as long as he did it would have killed him. 
Just so do many physicians get the credit of saving their patients lives by almost 
killing them. However much undeserved reputation physicians may gain by 
such practice among adults, it proves a blighting ruin to little children. Even 
those it does not send to the grave, often having implanted in their very yitals 8 
A PLEA FOR ECLECTIC MEDICINE. 
the seeds of some lasting infirmities. I have no disposition to attack any system 
of medicine. There is much that is good in all systems, and many good, noble 
and successful practitioners of them all. But it is the evils, the abuses that I 
am striking at, and the results of those evils to the infant population. 
The evils which are prevalent in the predominant systems of medicine may be 
discussed under three heads, viz : 
First—Heroic medication, that is, too much powerful medicine. 
Secondly—The use of such drugs as produce lasting infirmities. 
Thirdly—The use of drugs in so infinitely small doses that reason and en- 
enlightened experience condem as entirely worthless. 
The first two are peculiar to many practitioners of what is known as the 
“ regular practice,” and the last one to some of the disciples of Hahnemann. 
First—Heroic medication. Hahnemannism (homeopathy) would have died 
in its chrysalis state if it had not been for the wide-spread abuses of the prevail- 
ing practice. People were sick and tired of the practice that bled, salivated and 
blistered its victims into the grave, and eagerly caught at anything that offered 
the slightest shadow of a hope of delivering them from so murderous a practice. 
An hundred years ago everybody so unfortunate as to require the services of a 
physician was bled, mercurialized and blistered, from the infant in the cradle to 
the gray-haired sire by his coffin. . Thus seas of blood were shed, and legions of 
human beings found a resting place in a premature grave as a consequence. 
Yet the doctors believed, in all sincerity and truth, that they were doing the 
very utmost that human efforts could accomplish to save their patients. Taking 
every sequence as a consequence, they believed that every patient that recovered 
had been saved by the treatment; and good and pious men prayed God to 
bestow his blessing on their efforts while they were unconsciously destroying 
their patients! In this dark hour homeopathy was born, and it was hailed by 
the people as the weary traveler hails the flickering of a lamp in a cottage by the 
wayside when he has lost his way in the darkness of the night. It was the 
greatest negative blessing that ever dawned upon humanity from the empire of 
medicine. It was as the watchman’s lamp, it threw light upon what men were 
doing in the dark. It soon demonstrated the fact that a greater number of the 
sick would recover with no medicine at all (the homeopath’s being equal to 
none) than did under the prevailing practice. But the people and the doctors 
who embraced the new practice attributed all the good results to the infinitesimal 
medicine, whereas Dame Nature should have had all the credit. Although the 
rise and progress of the homeopathic and electic systems of medicine have 
driven the lancet and many other implements of torture out of use, yet the dregs 
of the old theories still blubber in the bottom of the professional pot. The 
sticklers of these theories treat diseases as though they were killing snakes. A 
celebrated wit, D’Alembert, hits them by the following apologue: “Nature is 
fighting with a disease; a blind man armed with a club, that is a physician, 
comes to settle the difference. He first tries to make peace, when he cannot ac- 
complish this, he lifts his club and strikes at random. If he strikes the disease, 
he kills the disease ; if he strikes nature, he kills nature.” Verily, such practice 
is not uncommon amongst us, even in the treatment of tender infants in Louisville. 
Secondly—It is a well established fact that much mischief is done to children 
by giving them mineral poisons. If they do not prove the source of fatality at BY DR. C. C. SHARP. 
once, they often lay the foundation of lasting and incurable ills, by impairing 
the vital powers. They are doubtless often resorted to when, if they do not 
prove postively detrimental, other more efficient remedies might be used that 
would often save life. Calomel, calomel, calomel, is the drug constantly resort- 
ed to by some physicians, in every ailment, from the slightest ill to the gravest 
malady. Such physicians may be, and doubtless are, entirely conscientious ; but 
their judgment and education are, in my opinion, sadly at fault. No drug known 
to the human family has ever laid the foundation for so much debility of con- 
stitution, aches and pains, ratten teeth and pestilential breath as this. It is one 
of those drugs that wear on the axles of life* as sand on the gudgeons of a 
machine. The calomel doctor is the worst enemy to the future health of your 
family that ever set foot on your threshold. The celebrated late Professor 
Nathaniel Chapman, M. D., of Philadelphia, says: “ Pie who resigns the fate 
of his patients to calomel is a vile enemy to the sick, and if he has a tolerable 
practice, will in a single season, lay the foundation for a good business for life; 
for he will ever afterward have enough to do to stop the mercurial branches in 
the constitutions of his dilapitated patients. He has thrown himself in close 
contact with death, and will have to fight him at arm’s length so long as one of 
his patients maintains a miserable existence.” 
9 
Opium is a dangerous drug for infants. A half a grain of Dover’s 
containing but a twentieth of a grain of opium has been known to throw an in- 
fant into convulsions. Prof. Christison says that less than three drops of laud 
anum have proved fatal to stout, healthy infants. Some physicians prescribe this 
drug for infants with too reckless a hand. The practice so prevalent among 
mothers and nurses of giving laudanum, paregoric, soothing syrup, &c., is doubt- 
less fraught with a fearful amount of death. The cause of humanity demands 
that these evils shall be abated. 
Thirdly—The administration of medicines in so infinitely small doses as to 
produce no effect is a negative evil rather than a positive one. It doubtless 
proves the source of much fatality by allowing diseases to go on to a fatal term- 
ination that might be cured by remedies used in a more rational way. But rad- 
ical homeopathy, that is, high dilutions attenuations, is rapidly declining before 
the advances of rationalism, and many practitioners of that school are now using 
medicines in sensible doses; and some of the most successful physicians, espec- 
ially in diseases or children, are among that class. Many homeopathic physi- 
cians are blatant on every occasion in their abuses of the physicians of every 
other system of practic, because, as they allege, all but homeopats give medicines 
in such ruinously large doses. So thoroughly have they succeeded in inflaming 
the prejudices of some weak minded people in favor of their infiniteismals that 
many thus led astray are ready to go into tremors at the sight of an ordinary pill, 
although it may be made of crumbs of bread left at their last meal; or to fall 
into a fit of spleen when a labeled vial of colored liquid is prepared for them, 
even though it may be of the same bottle of wine from which they regaled them- 
selves at dinner. What motives are these homeopaths actuated by in thus be- 
laboring themselves continually to frighten the ignorant, and propogate prejudices 
against the sanitary and rational use of medicines ? It cannot be philanthrophy, 
for this is made of a different stuff. It cannot be a zeal for the advancement of 
science and tJbe promotion of truth, for these ends are not accomplished by such means. No! the whole secret lies in this—their bread depends upon it. With- 
out such nursing the public prejudice, “ to keep it warm,” the practice could not 
sustain itself, nor its practitioners succeed in making a livlihood by it. Differ- 
ent motives must actuate men who are engaged in the cause of science and the 
discovery and the development of truth, and their application to the relief of 
human suffering, the advancement of civilization and the promotion of happiness. 
A PLEA FOR ECLECTIC MEDICINE. 
1 have before observed that the only hope of greatly reducing infant mortality 
lies in preventing the diseases instead of curing them. Physicians can and do 
achieve much, more perhaps than is generally imagined, to save life. But so 
long as the causes of disease are Jeft in active operation tso long will diseases 
arise, and many of them will prove fatal under the most enlightened and skill- 
ful management by physicians. It is true, the science of medicine is progress- 
ive, new discoveries are continually being made of means for the relief of the 
sick. But I doubt whether man will ever discover in nature remedies for all his 
physical ills. If he would avoid the penalties, he must avoid the sin. 
There has ever been too much bigotry and intolerance among the medical 
profession. Everything new, every innovation upon the established practice, has 
met with the most determined opposition from the allopathic school. The priests 
of that school have looked for their tenets to dim, misty superstitions of past 
ages, instead of searching for them in the living present and promising future. 
Consequently they have become learned in the rubbish of superannuated doctrines 
and theories instead of in the philosophy of nature and truth. Such men are 
bigoted, intolerant of all opposition, superficial, impractical. They strut and 
swell in society like great Goliath, imagining themselves the*personification and 
embodiment of all wisdom. A vast number of such individuals exist among us 
to day, bnt they are much less numerous now than they were in former times 
The rapid rise and progress, within the past few years, of the Eclectic system of 
medicine, in Louisville, has done much to infuse into the profession a more lib- 
eral and democratic spirit, and to expose many of the shallow theories and 
destructive practices that have prevailed for so many centuries among those who 
are pleased to style themselves “ regular physicians.” The Eclectics have mod- 
ified the practice in many important features; they have almost driven blood- 
letting out of use. They have ever condemned the use of mercury, lead, anti- 
mony, arsenic, etc., as poisonous minerals which act only as foreign substances 
in the body, to impair its vitality and sow the seeds of premature decay. And 
they are still laboring with the industry and zeal of philanthropists to induce 
all physicians to discard them and use new and better remedies. They have 
discovered and introduced many new and valuable vegetable medicines, besides 
new modes of using old ones in curing the sick. They have done much toward 
rendering medicine a pleasant sanitary restorative, instead of a terror to the sick. 
Their practice shows a great reduction in the death rate. According to Prof. 
A. Jackson Howe, M. D., of Cincinnati, one will die out of every thirty cases 
of sickness, when left alone to nature without the aid of medicine. “ In homeo- 
pathic practice one dies in every thirty three cases treated, showing a slight im- 
provement of that treatment over no medication. In allopathic practice one 
dies out of every twenty-eight or nine cases treated—afresult which shows, not 
that allopaths never administer relief, or assist in performing cures, but, as a 
whole, the fatality of that practice is a trifle more than where no medicine is BY DR. C. C. SHARP. 
11 
given. Fifty years ago, when every disease was attacked with a heroic system 
of depletion, one death occured in every twenty-five cases treated. From reports 
lately obtained from several hundred physicians, I am warranted in stating that 
in the practice of eclectics only one patient dies out of sixty cases treated. Besides 
the saving of life, it is reasonable to suppose that there has been a corresponding 
economy of valuable time and expense to those who have been sick, rendering 
the benefits received of still more importance.”* 
As the physician is the interpreter of nature and the dispenser of her blessings 
to the afflicted, it is his imperative duty to seek out the means of relief in every 
recess of her vast domain. He is the true physician who can lay aside all 
prejudice, and acknowledge the truth wherever it is to be found. The man who 
confines himself to a set of text books, containing the written creed of a sect, 
and believes in them lies all the wisdom of the world, has an understanding too 
little to comprehend the broad domain of science or the depth of his own ignor- 
ance, and would better serve humanity at the plow than he can in the healing 
art- The cry quack, quack, quack, at every physician who refuses to square his 
opinions and practice by the tenets of the written law, or to ease his conscience 
at the confessional of a professional clique, has abont. ceased to command any 
respect among intelligent people. The people will judge for themselves, and 
give every physician credit for what he can do to restore the sick. Utility is the 
demand of rationalism, and rationalism is the demand of the age. The true 
spirit of the Eclectic profession is clothed in the majesty of truth and reason; 
“suffereth long and is kind; it envieth not; it is not puffed up; is not easily 
provoked; thinketh no evil; beareth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all 
things for the sake of the sacred cause in which its generous philosophy is 
engaged.” 
If I have contributed anything to the dissemination of useful knowledge, I am 
amply paid for the labor done. If there be any whose interests I have damaged, 
“ him have I offended.” 
A TRUE ECLECTIC. 
0 
* An address delivered in Indianapolis, before the State Eclectic Convention by Piof. A. 
Jackson Howe, M. D., Aug., 1867. MEDICINE, MEDICATION—ITS NATURE AND 
OBJECTS, ETC. 
Medicine in General. 
In all cases of disease, nature herself continually strives to bring back a state 
of health, and the object of medical treatment is to assist this natural effort, 
If the medicine acts one way, while nature is acting another way, it not only 
does no good, but possibly much harm. And this has really been the case with 
much of the past medication. Nature would be trying to bring matters right by 
throwing out an eruption, by a diarrhoea, or a profuse perspiration, and the doc- 
tor would immediately step in, with his medicines, to stop all these operations, 
which he mistook for the disease itself. The consequence was that nature’s 
efforts were all counteracted, and she had the effects of the medicine to fight 
against, in addition to the disease. No doubt many thus died, from being 
doctored, who would have lived had they been let alone. 
When the medication assists, or regulates, the proper natural effort, it may do 
much good; and this, therefore, is the important point to aim at. 
Different Kinds of Medicines. 
Anything which acts as an assistant, in the restoration of health, is a medi- 
cine, whether it be a material substance or Merely a nervous or electrical influ- 
ence. 
Medicines, therefore, are of different kinds, and act in different ways, accord- 
ing to their nature, and to the circumstances in which they are given. 
Chemical Medicines. 
In some cases medicines are given to effect direct chemical changes, as when 
we give alkalies in sour stomach, or acids when there is too much alkali in the 
blood. But much of the chemical medication is a great mistake, founded on ig- 
norance of the actual chemical state of the bodily fluids, and of the changes which 
the medicines undergo after they are taken. 
Thus, very often when nitric acid is given, as an acid, it really acts as an 
alkali, or totally opposite. The changes occurs in this way : The nitric acid is 
composed of nitrogen and oxygen, and in the stomach these may separate, the 
nitrogen combining with a portion of the hydrogen, which is alwaysp resent there, 
and forming ammonia, while the oxygen combines with another portion to form 
water. The effect is the same, therefore; as if a solution of ammonia, or sal 
volatile, had been given. 
Vegetable acids often decompose still more readily, and the gases that com- 
pose them enter into new combinations. Many of these acids are composed in 
a large measure, of carbon,■ which being liberated, may act much like charcoal. 
These vegetable acids may, therefore, be the very best things to counteract 
acidity, and are in fact, often used for that purpose; one acid neutralizing 
another. t>Y I)k. C. C. StfARf. 
It is but seldom that medicines can be given, with any certainty, to cause direct 
chemical changes in the living body, and much and serious evil is being done 
constantly in the attempt. 
Nutritive Medicines. 
« 
In other cases medicines are given to supply some element in which the body 
is deficient. Thus, in some impoverished states of the blood, we find it is defi- 
cient in iron: and if that metal be given, in proper manner, it soon causes 
an improvement. In other cases lime is needed, or phosphorus, and the proper 
administration of these substances is then beneficial. 
In this case the medication is a species of nutrition: and, if we know what 
really is needed, and can give it in a proper form—that is, in a form that the 
organs can make use of—we can effect much good. 
Sometimes it is not very obvious what element the body does need, though it is 
obvious something is defficient, and this is one fruitful source of mistake and wrong 
treatment. Very frequently, also, the element is given in a wrong form, and the 
system can derive no benefit from it. Many of the metallic compounds given as 
nutritive medicines are thrown out of the body in the same state they were taken. 
Others are decomposed, combine anew, and act totally different from what they 
were intended to do. It is only in certain states, or chemical conditions, that 
such matters can be absorbed, and carried into the circulation, a fact which is 
often lost sight of. 
. Neuropathic or Nerve Medicines. 
The greater part of the medicines taken are intended to act neither chemically 
nor as nutritives, but simply as regulators of the organic functions. And this 
regulation they effect by acting on the nervous centres, either directly- or indi- 
rectly, in such a manner as to increase or decrease the force of the nervous 
current, according as may be needed. 
Thus, such medicines as diuretics or purgatives, for instance, irritate the kid- 
neys intestines; and this irritation being conveyed to the nervous centre, ex- 
cites a reflex nervous action, which causes these organs to act energetically. In 
all where any organ is excited, by medicines, to increase action, it is only 
in this way. The medicine does not directly cause the inci eased action, but it 
iritates the sensor nerves of the organ ; and these, by conveying the impression 
to the nervous centre, cause a reflex action, and the transmission of a more pow- 
erful nervous current to the seat of irritation. 
Most people suppose that it is the medicine itself which acts directly on the 
part, but this is a mistake. It is the nervons influence only that acts, and the 
medicine merely sets it indirectly in motion. If the nerves connecting the 
stomach with the nervous centres were cut through, no emetic, no matter how 
powerful, could excite vomiting. But with these nerves perfect, a mere thought 
or emotion, will do it, as has been before shown. 
Medicines can also be given to act directly on the nervous centres themselves, 
to either increase or decrease their organic action, according as they are torpid*or 
over active. Such stimulants as alcohol, tea and coffee, and all the various nar- 
cotics, are remedies of this kind. These constitute, in fact, the most important 
class of medicines, the proper use of which is comprised in the practice of 
neuropathy. 14 
Excepting when used chemically, therefore, or as nutritives, all medicines act 
through the nerves ; only in ordinary medication they do so indirecty, by reflex 
action ; and in the neuropathic practice they may act directly as well, by oper- 
ating at once on the substance of the nervous system, which they are enabled to 
do owing to their gaseous nature. • 
A pLea l'OR fcCLitciic MKinciNEs. 
THE NERVOUS INFLUENCE IN MEDICATION. 
Neuropathy. 
The importat fact that all diseased, as well as all heathy action is due 
entirely to nervous influence, though well known, as a general rule, has not till 
lately, been practically acted upon in medicine. In consequence of this, much 
of the medical practice has hitherto been, and is now even, not only useless, but 
positively hurtful—so much so in fact, that many an eminent proctitioner, at the 
end of his life, has expressed doubts whether ha has done most good or most 
harm. Some of them have experimented, unknown to their patients, by giving 
more inert substances, such as bread pills and colored water, and have found 
their cures just as frequent as when they used real medicines, while the harm 
done was certainly much less. 
The ruling idea in medication, hitherto, seems to have been that the Human sys- 
tem, when diseased, must be well shaken up, or strongly acted upon. Hence the 
most powerful remedies were thought the best, and they were generally used to the 
full extent the system would bear. The amount of purging, vomiting, sweating, 
bleeding, salivation and other violent actions, to which the human body has been 
subjected, is frightful to contemplate. The disease itself has been a mild affair 
compared with the treatment. 
And all this has been without a rational justification or foundation. We now 
know that most of the results, if not all, sought to be obtained by these murder- 
ous means, can be obtained more certainly by other means, as mild and harmless 
as they were violent and hurtful, as will be shown further on. 
If the nerve force is sufficiently powerful, and if each organ receives due 
share, all the functions of the body go on in a healthy manner; but if an organ 
does not receive enough, it cannot act well, and becomes in consequence 
feeble or diseased. 
Unequal distribution of the nerve force causes unequal action in the different 
organs some getting too much, and some too little. From this arises excite- 
ment, irritation or inflamation in some parts, or torpidity or feeble action in 
others. In perfect health each organ gets exactly its proper share, and there is 
enough for all. 
This explains why men injure themselves by over use, or abuse, of any of their 
organs. If the student exhausts too much of his nervous power in thinking, there 
will not be enough for other purposes, and some organ will act inefficiently 
Most usually he becomes dyspeptic, simply because the stomach cannot get 
nervous force enough to enable it to digest. The libertine, on the contrary, uses 
up too much nervous power in sexual indulgence, and becomes, in consequence, 
feeble in body and imbecile in mind. 
Since all organic actions therefore, whether healthy or unhealy, is caused bV ok. c. c. sJtAfcP. 
solely by the stimulus of the nervous current, it is evident that in one sense all 
diseases, ex :ept such as arise from direct violence, can be tracked back to de- 
ranged nervous action, and their cure can be by making this action 
healthy again. Or, to use a mechanical illustration : If one portion of the 
machinery works'too fast, we must lesson the amount of steam it receives, and 
if another goes too slowly we must increase the amount, till all receive exactly 
the right amount. Just so we must act with disease ; the organic action must be 
increased or decreased, in the diseased parts, as needed, by regulating the 
supply of the nervous current. All diseases therefore, organic or functional, 
must be treated through the nerves. 
It is however convenient, and proper, to divide all diseases into two classes, 
which for convenience may be here called the bodily or organic, and the nerv- 
ous or functional. i 
The different nature of these two classes of diseases may be partially il- 
lustrated by comparing the human body again with an electric telegraph. In 
this there may be wires or other parts broken, and machinery deranged, so that 
it will not work, such accidents corresponding to the ordinary organic diseases in 
the human body. There may, however, be no parts broken, nor any out of 
order, and yet it may work irregularly, or not at all, from want of the electric 
current, owing to some fault in the chemical battery. Such derangements are 
analagous to functional or nervous diseases, which result from some fault in the 
brain of nerves. 
Now when the machinery or apparatus is broken, or deranged, the machinist 
sent for, and he puts all right again with his tools and soldering irons. But 
when the battery is in fault, and there is simply no electric current, the chemist 
must step in with his acids and other elements to cause the necessary reactions. 
The machinist’s work will not correct the fault in the battery, nor will the 
chemist’s proceedings mend the broken machinery. The two processes are en- 
tirely different things, and calculated to effect totally different purposes. 
This is precisely analogous to what is needed in treating the two different 
kinds of disease. The purgatives, emetics, and irritants that are used in the 
bodily or organic diseases, are altogether inappropriate, and unsuited to the 
merely nervous or functional diseases. In most of them it would be as absurd 
to expect any good result from such treatment, as it would to expect an electric 
current from piling the mechanic’s tools in the battery pot. Strictly speaking, 
therefore, nervous diseases are those arising from derangement of the nervous ap- 
paratus itself, and affecting its functions only. But in one sense all diseases are 
nervous, and can be acted upon only through nervous influence. 
But there is another class of medical agents, not usually considered as such, 
but which are, in many cases, more proper to use, and more effective than any 
drugs whatever. These are mental and emotional influences, and electrical con- 
ditions. That the mind and feelings do exert a real positive influence over the 
tody, has already been shown, and it has also been stated that the extent of that 
influence is but little appreciated. 
Electricity also, in many .ways, can supersede drugs, and is a true neuropathic 
agent. If not identical with the nervous power itself, it can often take its place, 
Mental, Emotional and Electric Medication. A 1*LEA FOR. ECLkC'l'lC MEDICINE. 
and either cause true organic action, or chemical change in the substance of the 
body, the same as violent emotions or powerful drugs, a fact which will be 
further illustrated. 
In ordinary medication, drugs are given for the express purpose of causing an 
artificial local disturbance of some kind, which, being transmitted to the brain, 
through the nerves of sensation, causes the organ to send a reflex nervous cur- 
rent to the disturbed part. That is, the drug causes a reflex action from the 
nervous centre, and, so long as there is a plain indication to be fulfilled, it may 
be a proper plan of proceeding, providing the drug can effect the desired re- 
action. Emetics, purgatives, and\diuretics are good illustrations of this princi- 
ple, because their action is prompt and unmistakable. But a large number of 
diseases are so obscure as to their real nature and origin, that we know not what 
indications require to be fulfilled to cure them. When the stomach, bowels or 
kidneys are simply inactive, it is easy enough to decide what is needed to be 
done. But when a person is sick without any of these obvious derangments, 
especially in chronic cases, there are no obvious indications to be fulfilled, and 
drugs are given merely experimentally. In such cases there are almost as many 
different modes of practice as there are physicians, which, as some one wittily 
remarked, makes medicine a most accommodating science; for if you don’t like 
your doctor, or his treatment, you can easily find another, who will tell you he is 
an ignoramus, and who will treat you on an exactly opposite system. And the 
very fact that all the different and utterly opposite modes of practice, on the 
whole, equally succeed or fail, as the case may be, proves that none of them are 
founded upon actual knowledge, but simply on routine or experiment. 
A celebrated physician once put the case thus : 
“ A sick man,” said he, “ is like a man struggling with an enemy in a dark 
room. The doctor comes in with a club [his medicine] and begins to strike all 
around him in the daak. If he hits the enemy [that is the disease]—all right; 
bub if he hits the man, why he make matters worse for him ; and he is just as 
likely to hit one as the other—in the dark.” 
In all disease there is some deranged or irregular nervous action, which re- 
quires to be put right, and this can be done only through the nervous centres. 
But the old plan of depending only on reflex nervous action, excited by drugs, 
is too uncertain, too violent and too dangerous. 
It is, in fact, an open question, whether drugs have not caused more disease 
than they have ever cured; or, in other words, whether the doctor has not hit 
the patient oftener than he has hit the disease ? 
Now, if the nervous centres can be acted upon directly, and if the nervous 
power emanating from them can be properly equalized and distributed without 
the ordinary powerful drugs, then they can be dispensed with. And this is pre- 
cisely what Eclectisim professes to do. 
The great bulk of the medicine used is given emprically! That is from mere 
custom, or at a venture. No one knows exactly what it is intended to do, nor 
the special way in which it is to act. The bulk of it, however, is meant to act 
either as a stimulant or sedative; that is, to either increase some organic action, 
or to decrease it; or, in other words, to make a change. 
An indefinite idea of thus making a change, with the chance of its being for 
the better, is the ruling idea in nine-tenths of our medication. It is also a BY DR. C. C. SHARP. 
17 
rational idea, although the nature of the change sought, and the true way to ob- 
tain it, is seldom understood. 
Since every organ acts only from nervous influence, it is evident that if we 
wish to either increase its actions or decrease it, we must do so by increasing or 
decreasing the amount of nervous influence it receives. AH change, therefore, 
or alteration must be effected through the nerves; and only those medicines are 
really effective which act upon the great nervous centres. Further, bearing in 
mind what has been before stated, that the nervoussul stance is nourished, excited 
or calmed, mainly by matters in a gaseous form, it is evident why only those 
medicines are effective which can become gaseous when taken into the stomach. 
The great point, therefore, in medication, is to know what medicines will de- 
compose into gases when taken, and how those gases will act, whether chemically 
or as simple restoratives, or as stimulants, or sedatives, to the nervous substance. 
When medicines are taken in a gross solid form, and are not changed, they act 
only on the bodily substance they come in contact with; in many instances only 
chemically, or as mere irritants. To produce a legitimate medical effect they 
must become fluid, or be dissolved, so as to be absorbed into the fluids of the 
body. When most effective, they pass from the fluids even into the gaseous 
state, as before explained ; and in disease of the neovous system this is especially 
necessary. 
Therefore the more perfectly soluble a medicine is made, the more readily it is 
taken up and disseminated; which explains why a small dose, properly prepair- 
ed, may he much more efficacious than a large dose given in a crude form. 
Many medical reformers have recognized this fact, and acted upon it, to the 
benefit of their patients. 
The continued trituration, and extreme dilution of homeopathic medicines are 
intended to make them more soluble, and better adapted to be absorbed. 
Still, for those medicines intended specially for the nervous system, mere 
fluidity is not enough ; they must be gaseous! or at least they must be capable of 
becoming so when taken into the body. 
Eclectic medicines are capable of becoming gaseous, and in that form reach 
the brain and spinal marrow, where they combine with other gaseous elements 
there existing. 
Every combination of this kind changes, more or less, the composition or 
structure of the nerve substance, and consequently changes its action. No med- 
icine can act neuropathically that cannot, when taken, assume the gaseous form; 
but all the most active remedies readily and naturally assume that form. 
In regard to remedies of this kind, it must also be borne in mind that, in 
order to act on the nervous centres, it is not necessary that they should be taken in 
the ordinary way, by the stomach. They may be breathed or smelt, and in either 
case are absorbed at once as gases. They may even be taken into the system by 
the pores of the skin, and be fully effective. 
A familiar instance of this is seen in the case of chloroform. This needs only 
to be breathed; and it mounts at once in the state of gas, to the brain, and 
makes it torpid, so that all feeling is lost. 
The ordinary effects of alcohol also further illustrates the same fact. It is not 
the fluid substance alcohol that mounts to the brain, but the stimulating gases, 
which are let loose by its decomposition in the stomach. 18 
A PLEA FOR ECLECTIC MEDICINE 
The gas called sulphuretted Gas, a compound of sulphur and hydrogen, is one of 
the most active chemical agents, and causes immediate and great changes in all 
the combinations it comes in contact with. 
A dog can be killed by being made to breathe an atmosphere containing only 
one-eight-hundrethpart of this gas. In fact, it need not be breathed at all. nor 
even smelt, for it can be absorbed through the shirt, in any part of the body, and 
will cause death, And yet this same gas is the curative agent in many of the 
most celebrated mineral waters, and is constantly engendered in the body by 
the natnral healthy action of its organs. 
The wonderful power of such an agent results from its property of effecting 
sudden chemical changes, among the snbstance with which it mixes. Whether 
those changes shall be beneficial or injurious depends on the state of the parts 
it comes in contact with, and upon the new combination it gives rise to. 
Sulphuretted hydrogen is largely given off from foul sewers and neglected 
water-closets, and is often the cause of serious disease. 
In many cases of feeble health, the substance of the brain is in a soft, lax 
condition, just ready to break up, or change, if certain agents come in contact 
with it 
Suppose a man in this condition enconnters the odor from a foul sewer; he may 
only take one whiff, the gas mounts to his brain, and he feels faint, or shivers, is 
taken sick and dies. The gaseous elements in his nervous substance, acted upon 
by this powerful chemical agent, change their combinations in a moment, and th 
brain is deomposed, or destroyed, as surely as if broken up by force. 
The mere smell of prussic acid, even when largely diluted with air, causes 
headache and fainting, and in its pure state, even instant death. There are 
numerous other agents known equally powerful, all acting in a gaseous form 
and in the minutest quantities. Some act when taken into the stomach ; some 
when breathed; some when smelt; and other only need touch the skin, from 
which they are instantly absorbed. BY DK. C. C. SHARP. 
19 
To every patient afflicted with Cancer or any Chronic Disease whom he will 
undertake and promises to cure, he will agree to give said party or patient the 
sum of 
$500.00, 
Provided said party or patient will guarantee him $500.00, payable when the 
cure is completed. Since his residence in Kentucky he has effected more cures 
of Chronic Diseases than all the physicians in the Blue Grass Regions com- 
bined—cases that have been pronounced incurable. This fact has been demon- 
strated on hundreds of cases of persons residing in this and adjoining counties. 
The medicines used by the Doctor are all compounded by himself. He purchas- 
es his own drugs from the best firms in Cincinnati and New York, and therefore 
procures the very freshest and best in the market. 
Testimonials of home evidences of the Doctor’s success in Lexington in the 
last six years, I could multiply them, ad infinitum, but I will let these suffice for 
the present. 
TESTIMONIALS. 
Louisville, Dec. 20th, 1875. 
Dr. C. C. Sharp :—Dear Sir—How is it possible for me to express how much 
I am indebted to you for what you have done for my wife, who was as it were, 
at death’s door a short time ago, but is to-day well and hearty. 
Doctor, I consider that you have worked a miracle; and had we not called you 
in when we did, to-day my wife would be in her grave. I speak honestly, and 
it is my firm and deliberate conviction. 
Doctor, receive my thanks and best wishes for your success, and my honest and 
cheerful recommendation to the public, and most especially to all ladies sick. I 
can recommend you as a physician who can cure the sick, if they can be cured 
by living man at all. 
Dear sir, envy, malice and hatred may be fully vented against you, but the 
truth of your ability in curing diseases will come out at last bright and free. In 
conclusion, allow me to promise to recollect you as a triend in truth. 
Respectfully yours, 
J. C. RUSSELL. 
Versailles, Ky., May 12th, 1870. 
Dr. C. C. Sharp—Dear Sir—Allow me to express .to you the gratitude I feel 
for the great benefit I have received from your treatment. 
I have suffered for several years with Chronic Disease so prevalent among my 
sex, had been canfined to my bed most of my time for ten weeks, and suffered 
more than I can express, during that time. Fortunately we heard of you, and 
called you immediately, and to my astonishment and that of my friends, in less 20 
A plea for Eclectic medicine. 
than a week after you commenced treatment, I could sit up all day, go up and 
down stairs and over the house at pleasure, and at the expiration of two weeks 
came home, was able to attend to household duties, and in a short time went 
through with the fatigue of moving. I assisted with all the packing and unpack- 
ing, and house cleaning generally; in fact was scarcely off my feet (only at 
meal time) for three weeks. 
Doctor, you have no idea of the happiness you have brought into our family. 
My husband and little daughters were so delighted to see me recover so rapidly 
after such a long and painful illness. 
I shall ever remember you with the deepest feelings of gratitude, not only for 
your skillful treatment, but for the kind nursing and sympathy I received at your 
hands. 
The great beauty of your treatment is, that there is not a particle of pain con- 
nected with it. 
That many of my suffering sex may hear of your wonderful skill and find re- 
lief by your treatment, is my sincere wish. 
Yours respectfully, 
SALL1E C. ADAMS. 
Dr. C. C. Sharp:—Sir—allow me to express to you the gratitude I feel, for the 
successful manner in which you have treated my wife. Of her condition 
when you commenced treating her I deem it unnecessary to speak, that you al- 
ready know; but I will state, however, for the benefit of those whom it may 
concern, that for about one year previous to your treatment she was confined to 
her bed almost all the time. During that time she was attended by several of the 
best physicians of Lexington, from whose treatment I do not think she received 
any benefit whatever, but by the treatment of one of them her case was aggra- 
vated and made a great deal worse. 
Before you commenced your treatment she was so weak, that in making her 
trip to Lexington, to see her physician, that I had to carry her in my arms from 
my portico to her vehicle, and from the vehicle to her room in the hotel. She 
commenced improving immediately after you commenced your treatment, and 
has improved ever since, and is now almost entirely well., 
The great beauty of your treatment is, that you do not cause pain or suffering. 
By her former treatment her suffering was excruciating beyond description. I 
could say more in behalf of your treatment if necessary, what I have said is for 
the benefit of the afflicted, that they may know to whom to go for successful 
treatment. A word to the wise is sufficient. 
D. M. MEGEE. 
Versailles, Ky., Nov. ist, 1871. 
Dr. C. C. Sharp:—A deep feeling of gratitude impels what is expressed in 
these few lines, by one who owes much, yes, 1 may say my LIFE to your skillful 
treatment, guided by a Divine power. My Heavenly Father has been merciful, 
and you have been skillful in thus far restoring me to health. I have been in a 
few month transformed into a hopeful and almost healthy woman. I believe to- 
day would have found me in the grave, had it not been for you. Though at first 
it was with/ear and dread that I became your patient, a natural consequence 
from what other physicians, by their severe treatment, had caused me to suffer, BY DR. C. C. SHARP. 
21 
yet I rejoiced and became more hopeful, as I gradually improved under your 
treatment. My disease was aggravated by the treatment of other physicians. 
My heart goes out in sympathy with those of my own sex who are afflicted as 
I have been, (and 1 know there are very many,) and while sympathizing, would 
warn them of those who profess to cure, and deceive the patient by affirming 
constantly that they are better, when they really get no better, but on the contrary 
much worse. Neither do I know one case that has been cured by their treat 
ment. If suffering women could realize the benefit they might derive from your 
treatment, how soon they would go to be relieved. 
In closing this, let me again express my gratitude to you Doctor, for the great 
good I have received from your treatment. Health is a blessing that I find can- 
not be compensated by money. 
My prayer is that you may be successful through life, and restore the afflicted 
to health. Very respectfully, 
BELLE MEGEE. 
March 27th, 1871. 
Dr. C. C. Sharp:—Kind Friend—I desire to express to you my heartfelt 
gratitude and thankfulness for your kind attention to me during my illness. 
No one knows what a severe trial my sickness has been to me. I struggled 
hard to bear it with patience and cheerfulness, that I might relieve the anxiety 
of those around me ; and though I received the kindest attention from a dear 
father and mother, and a devoted husband, yet many were my moanings. I 
tried to rely on my Saviour, and though I found much comfort in prayer to Him, 
yet He, though no other, often found me in tears.? He had compassion on 
me—gave his servants power.to do much to alleviate my sufferings, yet none 
were permitted to do for me what you have done. You, with the aid of God, 
have greatly improved my health. Not onlw have you done this, but you have 
been so patient and kind to explain my disease to me and remove all fears from 
my mind in regard to it. Words are inadequate to express my sincere gratitude 
for all this. I can now enjoy the society of my friends, from whom I once 
though? I was soon to be separated. To your wife, too, I feel very grateful. In 
an hour of severe trial she was to me a ministering angel. She quieted my fears 
and poured into my heart* such sweet words of cheer and consolation. Her 
bright face and cheerful voice, so well suited to the sick room, were always of so 
much comfort to me, and each visit that she paid me made me feel that I had 
been much benefited by her presence. I shall ever remember you both with 
kindness, and I can never meet either of you without feeling in my heart a 
warmth of gratitude toward you. I want my home to ever feel free to you, for 
remember I will always extend to you a hearty welcome, 
Now that I have received so much benefit from you, I have a great desire that 
all my sex suffering as I have suffered, should be lent the helping hand. My 
sympathy for them is such, that were it in my power, 1 would place them all in 
your care, feeling confident they would soon be made well. You do not know 
how much I thank you in my heart for the interest you have taken in my sex. 
You too, have a sympathy for them, and have made the study of them the espec- 
ial object of your education. Those who have been benefited by you will ever 
be ready to stand by you and to thank you for all you have done for them. It is 
my wish that your efforts may ever be crowned with success. 22 
A I'LEA I’OR ECLECTIC MEDICINE. 
How could it be otherwise when you have such a noble companion to cheer 
you and go hand in hand trial. She is not only a comfort to you, 
but to those under your care. Her kindness and hospitality are such, that pa- 
tients visiting your house are made to feel perfectly at ease, and not only do they 
receive this kindness in her own house, but she visits them at their own home, 
and does so much to cheer them that her visits are always looked forward to with 
great delight. That you both may be abundantly blessed while on earth, and 
richly rewarded in heaven, is the wish of your true friend, 
SUE HEADLY. 
IT ALMOST SURPASSES BELIEF. 
Nicholasville, Ky., June 5th, 1870. 
Dr. C. C. Sharp—Dear Sir—I think it highly important that the public should 
be apprised of your skill in the treatment of diseases incident to females. My 
wife has been afflicted upwards of two years with displacement of the uterus. 
Her great suffering and distressing pains have made her helpless, and confined 
her to the bed, all this time, having had some of the most eminent’physicians of 
Lexington and Nicholasville to treat her, withont receiving any help. We fortu- 
nately heard of you as an Eclectic Physician, and your skill in the treatment of 
diseases of females, which induced .us to employ you. Myself, wife and all our 
friends had lost all hope of her recovery; but, after you seeing the case, and your 
valuable advice, she consented to take your treatment. In less than ten days 
after your treatment she rode out in her carriage and visited her friends, and in 
less than three weeks, she attended to her household duties; and in less than fou 
weeks she visited Lexington and done her shopping. 
Doctor, you can make this statement to the public, for we are fully convinced 
that your treatment saved her life. There are many to attest to the above if 
wanted. With an unbounded gratitude, we shall ever subscribe ourselves. 
rour grateful friends, 
HENRIETTA McDOWELL, 
WILLIAM McDOWELL. 
Lexington, Ky., Aug. 26th, 1873. 
Dr. C. C. Sharp:—Dear Sir—Nettie, whom you attended successfully for 
curved spine, is going this week to Nazareth Academy. She is perfectly well 
now, but the confinement of school may produce headache and biliousness, and 
we like your liver medicine for her. Will you leave at Donally’s to-day a bottle 
with directions for her, and the bill for same? Your truly, 
JOHN M. CLAY. 
AN IMPORTANT OPERATION. 
A Surgical Operation of a dangerous and most interesting character was per- 
formed by Dr. C. C. Sharp, May 15th, 1873. 11 was the removal of an ovarian 
tumor, which weighed eighty-six pounds, the subject being Mrs. Wm. Numan, 
of Versailles, Ky. It is now over two years since the operation, and Mrs. 
Numan weighs twenty-five pounds more than she ever did in her life; she gave 
birth to a fine daughter, fourteen months after the operation. 
Before Dr. Sharp was called in, several eminent physicians prononnced the 
case hopeless. The Doctor undertook the case under the difficult and discouag- 
ing circumstances. Her system was so far reduced that he was obliged to put BY DR. C. C. SHARP. 
23 
her under a course of tonic treatment for six weeks before he could venture on 
the operation, and even then ordinary physicians would have pronounced the 
experiment extremely perilous, but it was the only chance of her life, and results 
have fully justified Dr. Sharp’s opinion and irrefragably sustained his eminent 
skill as a physician, and his prudent courage as a surgeon. 
Dr. Sharp was assisted by Prof. A1 J. Howe, of Cincinnati, in this operation. 
Nicholasville, March 29th, 1872. 
Dr. C. C. Sharp:—Dear Sir—I feel that no sense of pride or delicacy should 
deter me from expressing publicly my gratitude for restoring my wife 
to health, after suffering for twenty years, my wife is sixty years of age, ratbfer 
delicate constitution, and of a nervous, sensitive temperament. 
Twenty years ago she was taken with inflamation of the womb. Her great 
suffering and distressing pains have made her helpless, and confined her to the 
bed for months at a time ; having had some of the most eminent Allopathic phy- 
cians of Lexington and Nicholasville, without receiving any help or hope of her 
life. But by the advice of Mrs. Mattingly, of Nicholasville, whom you had 
cured of a disease peculiar to ladies, of eight years standing, and the wonderful 
cures of many others in this neighborhood, we were induced to try your skill. 
To our great surprise, after your diagnosis, you informed us of a large cancer- 
ous tumor of the womb. The discharge from the ulcer was so offensive that it 
was unpleasant for any one to slay in her room. In less than one week after you 
commenced treatment, the discharge became less and less offensive, and on the 
fourth week you very skillfully performed the surgical operation in extracting the 
tumor. The tumor is a huge one and weighs twelve ounces avoirdupois. 
Dear Doctor, during all this time my wife suffered More than tongue or pen 
can tell; and only one who has been similarly afflicted can have the slightest 
idea of the agonies, for twenty which this terrible affliction occasioned. 
I supposed this state of things was inevitable, and resigned myself to meet the 
worst. Fortunately, (now ten months ago,) you well remember that I called 
upon you, and Doctor, I cannot express the relief your words afforded to my dis- 
tressed mind, they opened a prospect to me which I little conceived was possi- 
ble, but for you, ere another six months, I know my wife would have been in her 
grave. Now, thanks to you, she is well and happy, spared to be a comfort and 
blessing to nie and to our children. 
Accept our best respects, and believe us to be your devoted friends and ad- 
vocates. 
With due respect, we wish you success in your practice. 
JOHN I. SIMMS. 
MRS.—SIMMS. 
One of the most difficult Surgical Operations know to the science of surgery, 
was successfully performed by Dr. C. C. Sharp, of Lexington, Ky.,upon a young 
lady 21 years of age, from Richmond, Ky. Her disease was polypus in utero of 
an unusual size, and had degenerated into a malignant chronic disease. She had 
been under the treatment of “ regular” physicians for months past, without either 
cure or relief. This tumor instead of being imbeded in the uterine tissue, or 
projecting from it, was attached to it by a stem or pedicle, and was such as is 
termed a pediculated tumor. Mr. Strather, her father, now rejoices in the perfect cure of his daughter, which 
more than two years attest to be permanent. The lady being now married, finds no 
difficulty in attending to her household duties—Lexington Daily Press. 
A PLEA FOR ECLECTIC MEDICINE. 
Any one wishing any references in regard to the Doctor’s ability in the treat- 
ment of diseases, he would refer them to Gov. James B. McCreary, John M. 
Clay, Prof. A. J. White, Rev. Father Cooke, Gov. Leslie, Mayor Frazer, Rev. 
L. B. Wolfolk, Regent Bowman, Dr. L. Herr, Win. T. Withers, Rev. J. S 
Shipman, Lexington. 
I append below a list of well known persons in this and adjoining 
counties, which I have treated. They are a few of the many who can answer to 
the satisfaction of all concerned. 
Names of patients referred to :— 
Mrs. Mollie Mattingly, Jessamine Co. Miss Alice Clark, Bourbon. 
Miss Bettie Hoover, “ “ Miss Shropshire, “ 
Mrs. M. Mitchell, “ “ Mrs. Cedman, Cynthiana, 
Mrs. Mattie Gooch, “ “ Mrs. Olford, Midway. 
Mrs. John Simms, “ “ Mrs. Pearl, Carlisle. 
Miss Sue Headley, Lexington. Mrs. Russell, Louisville. 
Mrs. Maggie Headley, “ Mrs. Kessler, “ 
Miss M. Hamilton, “ Mr. John M. Clay, Fayette. 
Mrs, Thos. Donnelly, “ Mrs. Lizzie White, Lexington. 
Mrs, Belle McGee, Woodford. Mrs. A, Wainscot, Richmond. 
Mrs. Sallie Adams, “ Mrs. M. Brown, “ 
Mrs. Dr. Myers, Lawrenceburg, Mrs. D. Clark, Sharpsburg, 
Mrs. Thos. Merriman, Harrodsburg. Mrs. Thos. H. Moore, Georgetown. 
Mrs. Emily Letsy, “ Mrs. Conglton, Carlisle. 
Mrs. John Merriman, “ Mrs. Moberly, Richmond. 
The undersigned Professors of the Eclectic College, of Cincinnati, Ohio, certify 
that Dr. C. C. Sharp, is eminently qualified for his profession, and is competent 
to the performance of any duty that may devolve upon him as Physician or 
Surgeon: 
Prof. JOHN M. SCUDDER, 
Prof. A. J. HOWE, 
Prof. T. E. JONES, 
Prof- J. FREEMOF, 
Prof. J. KING, 
Prof. O. E. NEWTON, Cincinnati, Ohio 
Prof. R. S. NEWTON, New York, APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE. 
The contest between medical isms is to be appealed to the people. For years 
it has been a cardinal doctrine with physicians “ ihat the people should know 
nothing of medicine,” and in consequence they have been kept in ignorance. 
Our old-school friends now recognize the necessity of popular education, and 
propose to cultivate this field to their advantage. They have recently introduced 
a “Family Practice,” which receives the commendation of all their journals, and 
is being diligently circulated. They are also establishing popular journals. One 
“ Good Health,” is published in Boston, and has reached its eighth number. A 
new illustrated magazine is announced in New York. “ It will be devoted to 
popular and original medical information for the people,” and (ns claimed) fill a 
place held by no other publication. “Prof. J. Walter Scott, President of the New 
York Medical University* editor in chief.” 
We have urged that it was the duty of the physician to instruct his patio;.s 
and the community in which he lives, in regard to the laws of life, the care of 
the sick and intelligent use of remedies. It is not only his duty, bu; is undoubt- 
edly to his interest as well as his patron’s. 
We have presented our views of medicine to the public, feeling sanguine th. t 
we have chosen the better part of medicine. All we want is a fair field, and in 
this new era, If all Eclectic practitioners will see that the people read our pub- 
lications, the advance of Eclecticism in Louisville will be more rapid than ever 
before. 
I know that some of the greatest benefactors of medicines have been denounced 
as quacks and imposters, and pursecution might still be the reward of every ben- 
efactor of his race. But I have proclaimed a medical indipendency. And in 
this new era—mark my words, fellow citizens of Louisville, the mortality from 
our principal prevalent diseases will be reduced to one-fourth of what it has been. 
In this new era medicines now unknown will be brought forward, and will 
supersede the medicines now in use. 
In this new era physicians shall differ in sentiments, and yet unite as friends 
in the works of benevolence. 
In this new era the entire constitution of man shall be understood—the secret 
springs of iife laid bare. 
In this new era the east shall look southward and westward for medical knowl- 
edge. 
In this new era those great and holy truths which have been despised and 
trampled under foot by aristocratic combinations in government and science— 
those principals for which American Eclectic medical reformers have been bat- 
tling fifty years, will assert their power, for this is the age of reform. 
C. C. SHARP, M. D. A PLEA FOR ECLECTIC MEDICINE. 
Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 15th, 1869. 
The undersigned hereby certify that they have been acquainted with Dr. C. C. 
Sharp for the last six years as a medical practictioner in the city of 
Ohio. He has, during that period, performed many capital surgical operations 
with success, and has given general satisfaction in the practice of medicine. We 
cheerfully recommend him as a gentleman and a valuable acquisition to any 
community in which he may see fit to locate. 
Very respectfully, 
GEO. L. CONVERSE. 
JOHN. M. PUGH. 
My personal acquaintance with Er. Sharp is very slight, but from the above 
recommendation of Hon. Mr. Converse ana Judge Pugh, I have no doubt that 
he is a worthy gentleman and a skillful practitioner in his profession. 
A. G. THURMAN. 
We concur in the above. 
TOM. C. THURMAN. 
W. B. RANKIN. 
JOHN L. GREEN. 
E. T. DeLANY. 
S. E. KILE. 
Dr. WM. TREVITT. 
THOMAS SPOVV. 
Hon. C. L. VALLANDIGHAM. 
Hon. JOSEPH < >LDS. 
Hon. C. VANTRUMP. 
MARSHAL ANDERSON. 
PREVENTION OF CONCEPTION. 
There are many mothers whOjhave their health permanently impaired, their 
happiness destroyed, and sink into a premature grave, from too frequent child- 
bearing. To all such, any means which would prevent conception would be an 
inestimable blessing. There are others who do not des-re to have an increase in 
family, because it increases their labors and cares and confines them to the house; 
thus, as they think, preventing that enjoyment of life that is their privilege. Others, 
again, desire some means of prevention, that they may gratify their desires in an 
unlawful manner; to these, any such means will prove a curse rather than a 
blessing. I believe I will be conferring a lasting benefit on many mother, though 
other classes may use them wrongfully. It may seem that such matters should 
not be spoken of, but my experience tells me that nine cases out of every ten 
mothers have a great anxiety on this subject, and will be glad to be instructed on 
the above subject. If they will call on me I will advise and instruct them cor- 
rectly.