■J) . ,                Jm~.            ^\

X
                A



       LECTURE,



INTRODUCTORY TO THE FIRST SESSION
HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL COLLEGE




           OF  MISSOURI,




   DELIVERED AT THE COLLEGE HALL,


            NOVEMBER 3, 1859.





       By R. E. W. ADAMS,  M. D.
   PROFESSOR OF THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IN THE HOMEOPATHIC
            MEDICAL COLLEGE OF MISSOURI.
e. 2-
           SAINT LOUIS:

PUBLISHED BY STRONG & CO.. OP ST. LOUIS HOMEOPATHIC PHARMACY,
          No. 51 North Fifth Street.


              1859! 
\ 
X
V
A
LECTURE,
INTRODUCTORY TO THE FIRST SESSION
                 OF THE


HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL COLLEGE


           OF MISSOURI,
DELIVERED AT THE COLLEGE HALL,


         NOVEMBER 2, 1859.




              /
    By R. E. W. ADAMS, M. D.
PROFESSOR OF THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IN THE HOMEOPATHIO
         MEDICAL COLLEGE OF MISSOURI.
        __------------« 0- ■» » ---------------









          SAINT LOUIS:

PUBLISHED BY STRONG & CO.. OF ST. LOUIS HOMEOPATHIC PHARMACY,
          NO. 51 NORTH FIFTH STREBT.
1859. 
V







                                                    I 
LECTURE.
Ladies and Gentlemen :
       It has generally been conceded, as I believe, that homeo-
pathic physicians are a remarkably  amiable class of men.  But
it has been said, that  " the time may come when the last feather
may be imposed on even the patient  camel's back, which might
break it;" so, with us, the last feather has been thrown in our faces,
in the shape of a lecture, delivered before the citizens of St. Louis,
" Introductory to the Session of 1858-59, of the St. Louis Medical
College, by  M. L.  Linton,  M.D., Professor of the  Theory and
Practice of Medicine."  I  propose, at this time, as appropriate
for an introductory  to a course of lectures  on  Theory and Prac-
tice of Medicine in the  Homeopathic Medical College of Mis-
souri, to  " return a  Holland for an Oliver," by making a reply to
Phof. Linton the principal theme of my  discourse at this time.
Premising that the  coarse and unmanly style of the whole affair,
could not  have elevated this abortive attempt, to give the Homeo-
pathists the " coup de grace" above the level of contempt, but, from
the position which he occupies as a teacher, which might possibly
clothe his " veni, vidi, vici" attack with some authority, I shall,
therefore,  pass on to notice the different positions taken by our
opponent, as far as they may appear to  present any claim to
attention.
  The first position  presented, is  the astounding one, that:  "In
medicine, as  in  every other  branch of knowledge and art, common
sense is the supreme arbiter.  It is purely an affair of common sense."
Our author then proceeds by defining what he wishes us to under-
stand by this " common sense," and his explanation appears about
as confused and muddled as could well have been imagined in one
bo full of light as he should  have  been, to have  undertaken the 
(4)
task he assumes.   The Professor appears to have mistaken the in-
stincts of-animals for the commou sense of mankind ;  for he says
in his attempted explanation on this head,  " every individual has
this kind of sense.  It is very  common."  And,  again, in the
next sentence, he seems  to  give  common sense an uncommon
wide range.  He  says : "It is that general intelligence which the
farmer employs in planning and arranging, cultivating and secur-
ing his crops ; which the mechanic brings  to bear in all his vari-
ous contrivances ; which the mathematician invokes in solving a
problem ; which the astronomer makes use of in-calculating the
conjunctions and  eclipses of  planets,  It guides the cook in the
culinary department, &c."  Following out this illustration, he re-
iterates his proposition  as follows :  " Common sense is but another
name for the universal intelligence of mankind, or that degree of it
which is common to all sane minds."
  Let me, here, appeal to  the  consciousness and observation of
each one who hears  me, whether "all  sane minds"  possess
naturally, or by  instinct,  "that  universal intelligence"  which
would enable each to pursue, with success, agriculture  or the me-
chanic arts—work out a problem in mathematics, or calculate the
conjunctions or eclipses of the planets ?  To state such a foolish
proposition,  is to refute it.  And for one occupying the position
of our opponent, to start out with  such a statement, evinces a
wonderful confusion of ideas, or a  lamentable want  of them.  Is
it not a self-evident proposition that mankind naturally have no
knowledge of  any of the arts or  sciences;  but that, in order to
become fitted for agricultural or mechanical pursuits, or for the
calculations of mathematics or astronomy, the individual must add
study and experience?  Then  bow  puerile appears the confident
assertion presented by our learned Professor, viz : that all  " sane
minds"  are in possession of that  "common sense"  which fits
each for philosophers, astronomers and mathematicians !  I shall
attempt to show that so far from  all  "sane minds "  possessing
this commou sense, a very few can boast of it in  sufficient amount
to enable them to occupy the  position of artizans, astronomers aud
mathematicians-.   I will now give  my own view of the  "common
sense,"  which is requisite to  enable any one to judge correctly of,
or to pursue with success, either  the science of agriculture or
astronomy, the mechanic arts or even cookery! We shall, perhaps, 
(5)
see that  " common sense " is a very indispensable matter when
brought to bear on subjects which merely address themselves to
man's reasoning powers, but when elevated to the position of arbiter
on questions of which it knows nothing, it utterly fails in its office.
The fact is  this, we know nothing of nature except what our
bodily senses teach us.  We have no innate knowledge of philo-
sophy or science.  We commence life with  no knowledge  con-
cerning the  world which surrounds us.   Our minds  are a blank,
as it respects the material world.  But, at the same time, we are
endowed with senses or powers  capable of receiving impressions
from external objects, and  of appropriating the knowledge  thus
gained to the uses of life.   Thus is it apparent, that it is through
the  bodily  senses, viz:  sight, hearing, smelling, tasting,  and
touching, that the mind obtaius 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 internal action 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
substances or operations in nature concerning which  our bodily
senses have, as yet, taught us nothing.  The  truth of this propo-
sition is evident upon  reflection.   In what department of nature
do we know anything  beyond what our bodily senses teach us?
What should we know concerning the moon, if we had never seen
it?  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 trum-
pet" was the ready reply.   Again, the ideas  of nature which ex-
ist in the minds of men, have come through their bodily senses.
We all think and reason about objects we have seen, sounds we
have heard, odors  we have  smelled, food  we have tasted,  and
bodies we have handled.  We thus find our bodily senses receive
impressions which our mental  faculties appropriate and store
away for future use.  From no other source do we gain knowl-
edge of natural things. I  am aware that  there is in the minds
of men 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 correct judgments concern-
ing natural  things without  being dependent  upon, or indebted to 
(6)
the eye or the ear.  This is an error.  The unaided operations of
the mind may, indeed, speculate, and  guess, respecting  external
things ; but how can the reality be perceived ?   Such speculations
can be no more reliable than dreams.   If these propositions be
true, the conclusion follows :—we have no  original knowledge of
matter, or, in other words, of nature; the knowledge we acquire
is obtained through our bodily senses; we  are not in  a condition
to form correct opinions, or true judgments, concerning any sub-
stance which may exist, or any  event which  may happen,  any
cause  or any effect of which we have not been informed by  our
bodily or natural senses.  Hence we are not justified in pronounc-
ing any uninvestigated phenomena impossible, or any unobserved
facts contrary to  common sense.  The assertion, therefore, of our
author, that homeopathy is contrary to common sense, is nothing
less than the cry of ignorance: for  he does not even pretend to
have given the matter his candid and  serious attention.  No, not
he !  Re is too high in the heavens of his own  self-derived intelli-
gence to deign to notice seriously so unmitigated a "humbug !"
   Similar assertions and similar ignorance  have not unfrequently
displayed itself before Dr. Linton's day of grace.  " It is contrary
to common sense !"  Take the notable history of  Galileo.  Prof.
Powell gives the following account of the. invention of the teles-
cope and the discovery of  the moons  of the planet Jupiter:
" Galileo having sufficiently  improved 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 that planet than the existence of the satellites was detect-
ed, and their nature soon ascertained. (Feb. 1610.) These and other
observations were described in a tract entitled, ' Nuncius Siderius '
which excited an extraordinary sensation the moment it appeared.
Many in the most positive manner denied  the possibility of such dis-
coveries;  others hesitated;  all  were struck with astonishment.
Kepler describes, in a letter to  Galileo,  the impression made on
him by the announcement.  He considered it totally incredible.
Others took a more decided, but still less rational mode of  meet-
ing the difficulty, somewhat more like our doughty opponent here.
The principal professor of philosophy at Padua (in which Univer-
sity Galileo was also a professor,)  pertinaciously  refused to  look
through the telescope. 
'(*)
  The  track of history is studded with similar instances of the
stupidity of the professors of knowledge, as evinced by their oppo-
sition to new discoveries  and new principles on scientific subjects.
In each successive age new truth has had a  similar  reception;
declared impossible,  incredible,  "contrary to common  sense."
That Homeopathy should be thus treated is, therefore, only just as
we might have anticipated.  The announcement of  its efficacy is
startling,  but not more so than that made by Galileo, viz:  "the
succession of day and night is occasioned by  the  rotation of the
earth and not by that of the  sun and stars"—an  announcement
for making which, it will ever be remembered,  he was imprisoned
in the Inquisition, by the Lintons  of his day.  How much does
the statement that the earth moves, seem to contradict the com-
mon sense and common observation of all men!   Still it is now
confessed to be true—for it has been established by careful inquiry
and demonstration.  What kind of a show  would our author's
common  sense make in deciding a question  of this  sort—that
" universal intelligence of mankind"!! " which is common to  all sane
minds"!!  This " common intelligence" he tells us, is "the  Ithurial
Spear, which only truth can stand."  Well, Galileo and Harvey and
Jenner, and their sublime discoveries were subjected to this ordeal
and were condemned,  and it should not be surprising that Homeo-
pathy  receives  a like condemnation by the same class of men.
The evidence which proves the truth of the principles of Homeo-
pathy, is the same 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 evi-
dence  we have of the relation of cause and effect, in any  event
which happens around us.  We are not entitled to reject any thing
which professes to be  a fact, if supported by a sufficient amount of
evidence, merely because it is inconsistent with our expectations,
or does not coincide with our former experience.  We are not jus-
tified in concluding against a statement of facts by  a  priori rea-
soning or theoretical  considerations.  Analogies may render an
assertion probable, or the contrary; but no reasoning  is  conclu-
sive against a matter of fact.   The  question is purely a question
of evidence; if the evidence is sufficient, as we assert, then rea-
son and common sense demand our assent. 
(8)
  With these remarks, I will leave the appeal that our opponent
has made in favor of common sense, as an arbiter in experimental
facts of which it knows nothing.
  We pass now to notice another wonderful discovery made by
our Professor, viz :  " The main remedy in most diseases is  na-
ture !"  He goes on :  " What do we mean when we say  that na-
ture cures disease ?  Simply this, that diseases get well of them-
selves;  'ninety  out of a hundred  will get well without  a single
dose of medicine!' "  Not having had the advantages of listening
to the instructive lectures of the learned Professor, I haveno means
of knowing with how much honesty he verifies his faith in  the
curative powers ot nature, "in curing ninety out of every hundred
cases of disease;" but suspecting that the admission was made
merely to throw dust in the public eye, in reference to the cures
of Homeopathy, which he could not gainsay, I opened one of his
" Text Books,"—recommended by him to his pupils, for the study
of practice of medicine—" Wood's Practice of Medicine," pub-
lished in 1858; and the first chapter which struck  my eye  was
the treatise on Bilious Fever,  which all know is a very common
disease in  this western  valley.  And  what treatment does Dr.
Linton recommend, through Dr. Wood, for this affection ?  " 1st,
an emetic;  2nd, an active cathartic, calomel being recommended
as best, 20 grs., followed in  six or eight hours by 1 dr. of S. mag-
nesia.—or, in its place, either  rhubarb, jalap, or com. ex colo.,  8
or  10  grs.  each at a dose.  If this does not prove sufficient,  a
wine-glassful of infusion of senna with epsom salts, manna,  and
cardamon seed' ev,ery two hours ; after the bowels have been open-
ed, once  or twice a day, a  repetition  of the last farrago."  An-
other recommendation, in  the  early  stages of bilious  fever,  is
bleeding, from 12 to 20 ounces may be taken at once—then opium
is to be administered, then diaphoritics come in, as the book says
—antimonials come next, then citrate of potassa and carb. potassa.
If all  this produces gripings of the  bowels, with frequent  dis-
charges, laudanum or sol. sulph. morphia must be added.  Then
comes the neutral mixture, then Dover's powders—then comes the
Sampson of the Materia Medica, ' quinine,' which, he promises,
will "cut short the disease,"—and, after all the preceding treat-
ment, I should not be surprised if it would, and cut the patient
short too. 
(9)
  This is not half the amount of detail, nor medicines, advised in
this one affection.  Is this leaving  the cure  to nature ?   And I
might, in this way, pass through the treatment of each and every
disease recommended by this  standard  authority of his  school,
and not find one of the whole list of the diseases treated there,
directed to the cure of  nature.  No, surely!   Nature is only suf-
ficient to cure the cases of the Homeopath ;  but  if Dr. Linton's
patients, or Dr. Wood's get well, it will be by struggling through
the infliction of drugs and  appliances sufficient to disgust the
stomach of an Esquemaux.  If nature is  such a potent healer, as
to cure ninety cases  in every hundred, why do these men con-
tinually, and in every case, pour down their poisonous drugs ?
   Let us follow Dr. Linton, as he makes his daily rounds in this
city, and, as he calls from house to house, let us pop in after him,
and do any of you suppose, for one moment, we should find that
out of every ten cases  thus visited, the conscientious nature doctor
has dismissed nine of  them without a single  dose "of  medicine ?
Nature, indeed !   His recommendation of the excellent powers of
nature, reminds one of some doubtful character boasting of his
 acquaintance with lords and ladies at a  great distance ; and  the
 learned Professor referring as he does to that noble  Dame, causes
 us to enquire how or when he has been honored with her famili-
 arity ?   Is it not a notorious fact,  that he and the rest of them,
 have been engaged all their lives  worrying and  torturing her—
 bleeding,  blistering, vomiting and purging her, until she has long
 since ordered them from her presence—eyes, ears, nose, mouth,
 each fibre of her self-sustaining and  universal frame, abhors, re-
 pudiates and out-spews their druggeries and violations, and names
 them swindlers when they claim her friendship.  With what as-
 surance do such men talk of nature in their patronizing manner,
 as though they or their ways would be tolerated by her for a  mo-
 ment !  What should  be the public verdict after such a confession
 of impotency, followed by such a  practice ?
   I hasten over much nonsense, to notice one illustration of the
 "conclusive falseness  of the homeopathic law,"  which the Pro-
 fessor brings to the test of experience.   He says:   " The patient
 has inflammation of the eyes—they are  red and irritated;  apply
 something that would cause sore eyes—say cayenne-pepper—and
 a cure will be effected if Homeopathy be not a humbug !"  Well,
              2 
(10)
let us examine the illustration and application of the homeopathic
law, in the treatment of inflammation of the eye.  Whether reme-
dies are used which are capable of producing inflammation  of that
organ, or the contrary !  The most commonly used remedies by
the occulist, and all who know how to cure sore  eyes, is  nitrate
silver, a very irritating  and burning caustic;  another, sulphate
copper ; another, violent caustic and irritant.  Now, let the Pro-
fessor explain on what principle these cure this inflamed and deli-
cate organ, if it be not in obedience to the law  of " similia simili-
bus currantur ?"
  The Professer  next criticises the  homeopathic  law  of cure,
" similia similibus currantur."  He says, that  " Hahnemann lays it
down as a principle, that we must administer, in disease,  a drug
which is known to produce symptoms like those of the disease
itself."  He  adds :  " The regular physician, following the dic-
tates of common sense, acts on the contrary maxim."  That is, he
applies medicines to cure diseases which are capable of producing
contrary affections; while the Horneopathist holds the exact oppo-
site, viz :  that diseases are cured by medicinal substances which
are ascertained produce similar suffering in the healthy.  Let  the
Professor put his " common sense "  principle to the test.  The
contrary of a disease is another disease identically dissimilar to the
first.  If  it be said, in reply, that health is the contrary of disease,
and that  by the  principle of "contrarie contraries currantur," is
only meant to produce health—I reply, then the proposition is but
a truism; it stands thus: in order to cure disease we should give
medicines to produce health.  Do we not see that the proposition
is thus destroyed?  Of course the object of all medical treatment
is intended to cure disease—but now we are discussing the mode
or method which may be best calculated to effect  that end.  Do
our opponents reply to this query, that the method  to cure disease
is to cure it!  If their law of cure, which Prof. Linton makes to
be the rule of "common sense,"  means anything,  it  means that
he and his school make use of remedies to cure  diseases which
are capable of producing contrary affections.  Now, let me ask,
has even  the shrewd vision of our Professor seen the contrary dis-
ease of a Cancer, of a Chorea, of Epilepsy, of Syphilis, of Cholera ?
Think of this for a moment.   Has he a mind acute and inventive
enough to represent it?  The old Galenic doctrine is, then, with- 
(11)
out foundation or logic.   It is but a monstrous vagary, of which
routine has propagated the dogma—of which humanity has borne
the terrible effects.
  Another objection made  to  Homeopathy by our Professor, is
that we direct but one medicine to be given  at  a  time.  How
otherwise shall the real action  of a medicine be  ever ascertained,
except by pursuing  this method ?   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 medical virtues.  The knowledge
thus had would  be serviceable to all future  ages,  and  a stepping
stone to  future  advance.  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.  This polypharmacy has been the bane of all true ob-
servations of the effects of remedies.   The  extent to  which this
accumulation of remedies in a single prescription has been car-
ried, would be incredible were it not  the fact could  be  readily
ascertained.   I  will give as  examples,  two very celebrated medi-'
cines, as prescribed in the London Pharmaccepia of the  Royal Col-
 lege of Physicians—the Theriaca Andromachi or Venice Treacle,
and the equally world-famed remedy, called Mithridate.  The
former, as given in the  Pharmaccepia contains sixty-five ingredi-
ents ; the latter consists of fifty articles.  Such was  the condition of
the Pharmacoepia of the 17th and 18th centuries; happily though,
those of the 19th century have advanced toward a comparative
simplicity.   There is no ground  of defence of this hotch-potch
proceeding of our Allopathic brethren, except it be the one quoted
 by Dr. Paris, as the reason  given him by a  physician  of London,
viz : he always increased the complexity of his remedies in a ratio
with the obscurity of his cases; "if, said he, I fire a great profu-
sion of shots, 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 swal-
 lows all the potions which  each separately prescribe.  On no other
 around can the love of their complicated  combinations by  our
 Professor be imagined, except he be influenced by the same desire 
(12)
 of using a blunderbuss, instead of a rifle, as the London  physi-
 cian quoted by Dr. Paris.
  Let us pass  on to another difficulty  the  Professor finds in
 Hahnemann's system.   He complains, that "Hahnemann drew
 a broad distinction between medical and surgical diseases."  I
 suppose, by this, that  Prof. Linton does not draw such distinc-
 tions, and that he regards surgical and medical diseases the same,
 and subject to the same methods of cure.  If  so, it is a new and
 wonderful discovery !   He adds:  " It is a remarkable fact that
 quacks rarely meddle with surgery." Perhaps this accounts for
 the gentleman's selection of the Chair of Theory and Practice of
 Medicine, for his  field  of  operations.
  We will pass, briefly, to notice the alarming calculations of the
 oceans and lakes of liquid requisite to produce the  " 30th dilu-
 tion ;"  and, to  ease his mind and his arithmetic, on  that  point,
 can assure him  that any Pharmaceutist's boy will, at any time,
 prepare this dilution for him by using less than a fluid pound of
 alcohol.  As we  pass  on in the examination of  this gem, it
 becomes so  silly  and coarse in its texture, that we cannot notice
 some  of its ignorant assertions.
  The fact is, the Homeopathic method is not an absolute novelty,
 which contradicts former things of the same kind.  Any medical
 reader, who will take the pains to read the learned introduction
 to the " Organon of the  Healing Art,"  will be astonished to
 find how easily  a multitude of the best attested and most striking
 cases in the annals of medicine explain  themselves only by this
 law.  I might quote some of the most obvious and striking, had
 I time.  Neither has the initiative idea of Homoepathy ever been
 wanting.  Thus we find, that Basil Valentine, Paracelsus, Stahl,
 DeHaen, Boukleac, Detharding, Bertholon, Thoury, Stbrck, and
 others, have inculcated the law of  " similia,"  with more or less
 generality.  There does not exist  any  inseparable  connection
between our therapeutical maxim and the minuteness of the dose.
But, still, as the universal practice of Homeopathy is with infini-
tesimal quantities, such a  bond, to  all  practical  intents, is real.
Not only so, but there are  no rules of  art constructed  for the
practice of the Homeopathic principle, without extremely diluted
remedies.  And those who will practice  Homeopathy  otherwise,
must first address  themselves to the task  of working out an elab- 
(13)
orate code of practical directions for themselves and their follow-
ers.  The practice with infintesimal doses is so incorporated with
the Homeopathic formula, that they cannot be separated in the
sick-room.   And I venture to assert, that it is  alone this connec-
tion with minute quantities which has rendered the principle of
Homeopathy so odious.  It is the insensible medicines the profes-
sion fights against!   And the Homeopathist, who is anxious to
escape the odium of his Old School colleagues, has only to aban-
don the administration of the infintesimal doses, to be considered
as having abandoned  Homeopathy, and be received to their com-
munion  with open  arms.  I might  show illustrations  of the
"power  of  littles," drawn from  the  region  of pure physics, as
distinguished from the study of living beings—but this  is not a
physical, but a physiological inquiry.  Every  thing that could be
said about material forms, into which  the breath of life has not
yet been inspired, must be affirmed still more urgently of the liv-
ing frame with its fearful complications.  The physician and his
forces have  to deal with a quivering epitome of all the  species of
susceptibility in creation—one kind reacting on another, so as to
create a  harmony so intensified, that the prick of a pin shall grate
upon every  fibre, and a cooling odor  in a hot atmosphere impart
refreshment and  delight to every nerve !
   Illustrations, drawn from various sources, might be presented,
did time permit, showing the effect of  insensible influences in pro-
ducing our  gravest diseases, such as malaria—the atmospheric
cause  of cholera, scarlatiua,  typhus and  yellow  fever, &c.—the
atmosphere pure, as far as any of the nicest tests have been able
to distinguish.  Not all, however, who may be subjected to these
miasmatic influences  suffer from them;  there must, at the same
time, exist this internal disposition.   Hence,  Homeopathists do
not hold that the insensible dose  can  react so powerfully on the
sound and healthy frame as to produce symptoms of disease. A
specifically exalted susceptibility  must concur with the  specific
reagent,  in order to eliminate the diseased phenomena.  We all
know that  for the provocation of maladies by miasmata,  there
must be  the specific  alteration of susceptibility in  the frame to
become diseased.  Now it is this which contains the principle
followed by Hahnemann—it is in organisms where sensibility to
the re-action of a medicine, is for the time unnaturally exalted, 
(14)
that we expect insensible doses of medicine to act curatively.  So
that if our law of cure be true, the small dose is the most natural
thing in the world.  And, in truth, it is exactly a consequent and
corollary from the homeopathic principle.
  The Professor asks triumphantly—"Would the great body of
the profession be apt to ignore any truth which might be discov-
ered by anybody?"   " The motto of the profession is to seize the
truth wherever found."   Let us look at  this matter a little more
closely and ascertain  whether any other evidence than  the bald
assertion of the Professor assures the world that the profession
are apt to seize on all the valuable  discoveries which are worth
noticing; and therefore reasonable men ought to be satisfied that
Homeopathy is of no value from this very fact—that the profession
b-ave ignored it entirely!  Does  Prof. Linton imagine the world
has forgotten the facts connected  with the history of every valua-
ble innovation or improvement which has been presented to that
profession  of which he  is so proud ?  Does he suppose that we
have lost sight of the course of  history, in the reception  of the
new and valuable discoveries in  medicine ?  In what spirit was
Harvey's  discovery of the circulation of the blood received ?—in
what a light was Jenner  regarded, when he first proposed vacci-
nation ?—let their history attest.   The virulence of the opposition
of the profession to these innovations, and to all improvements, is
a matter of notoriety.  Vaccination was forced on them by  the
pressure of public  opinion—they were obliged to vaccinate, as
the people threatened to vaccinate themselves!   As hounds after
their game, so eager were the medical men of their day, in  worry-
ing and  persecuting these discoverers, that  one of them was
driven from his practice, and  the other  was expelled  from  the
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.
  After such illustrations of the  readiness manifested by the pro-
fession, of which Prof. Linton is a member, to adopt all valuable
improvements, " whether made by Samuel Hahnemann, Samuel
Thompson, or Sambo the African,"  as  he elegantly expresses it,
they  will not be so very much surprised at the reception given to
a kindred truth in Homeopathy, by the  " regular succession."
  The next point I shall notice is the very eloquent appeal, made
by  the learned gentleman, on the antiquity of his medicine, and
the venerable names  who have illustrated its history  from the 
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birth of days.   In illustration of the importance of the argument
of antiquity, let me give you  " The Fable of the  Ass and  the
Steamer:"
  " An ass, heavily laden with a sack of letters directed to a dis-
tant town on the river, was met on his way by a fox, who apprised
him that ease and expedition would both  be promoted by trans-
ferring his burden to a steamer, which had just then stopped at
the shore.
  " ' This is unreasonable, friend Reynard,' replied the patient
beast; * for  my method of transporting the mail has been in opera-
tion three thousand years—yours only fifty.  It is impossible that
the combined wisdom of so many generations should not exceed
that of one.'
  " 'Your reasoning,' replied the fox,  'can have no weight, unless
there had been a race or races between steamboats and asses dur-
the said three thousand years, and it had been  decided that the
ass always gained the race and was less fatigued.  Now, this trial
of speed and strength must have  been impossible  before steam-
boats were invented.'
   " Whilst the mail-carrier of the old line was staggering under the
weight of this argument, and that of his letters, another ass over-
took him, and having overheard the conversation, was enabled to
bring  timely aid to the confounded disputant.
   " 'Master Reynard,' quoth he, 'you are not of an age and  size
rightly to decide such matters.  Your facts and  arguments may
be unanswerable; but they should  have  no weight with any res-
pectable ass—no respectable  and learned ass should ever adopt
the new method, until some other ass, still more respectable and
more learned, shall have previously adopted it.'
   " 'It puzzles my brain,' replied the fox,  'to apply this rule to
any useful purpose.  I pity your hopeless condition.  The prac-
tices of the respectable and learned  asses could never be reformed,
if each must wait till some ass more learned and respectable than
himself should have set  the example.' "
                            MORAL.
   The idol of one man is antiquity; that of another is respecta-
bility  !  The former rejects whatever was not in ages before him ;
 the latter, whatever is not in the circle above him !  The man who
 prefers caste to truth, and spurns useful discoveries not sanctioned
 by the head or tail of some fashionable clique or school, can only
 be pitied.  But when he glories in it, he  is rather to be despised.

   In  closing up this  precious document of wit, learning  and
 stupidity, our Professor, as in duty bound, goes off  in  rhapsodies
 on the venerable worthies, philosophers, and traditionary asso- 
(16)
 ciations, which he and his associates have received-in  "regular
 succession," from these "depositories of the learning and inves-
 tigations of all times."  In order, therefore, to rightly understand
 the foundation and value of these  " depositories,"  I propose ven-
 tilating them a little.  To do so, fairly, I shall quote from one of
 their greatest men—the venerable Hoffman.   Hoffman is con-
 fessed to occupy a distinguished place among medical philoso-
 phers, the founder of modern pathology, and one of the most
 voluminous and learned writers of the last century.
   The first specimen I  shall give  of Hoffman and Allopathy, is
 the remarkable cure of an itchy Dominician Friar.  A contuma-
 cious psora had tormented the reverend father for six years, in spite
 of many physicians, till at last Poterus set him to eat vipers with
 a little salt; and the doctor tells us that, during the summer, above
 one hundred and fifty having descended into the friar, "his skin
 being renovated, he became quite another man, and he who before
 looked  a particularly old person, was made young again, stronger
 than before, and fitter for everything."  At page 151 of the same
 volume, he gives directions for preparing the aqua or water of
 crabs, earth-worms, frogs, and frog's-spawns—which 1  will  men-
 tion, in order to let people into the secret of that invaluable  expe-
 rience of so many  centuries which  Professor L.  plumes himself
 so gorgeously with. At page 152, we are introduced to something
 still more philosophical, and more conclusive of the soundness of
 the ancient foundations.  But  here I am at a great disadvantage,
 and feel almost as if I must shut the book and leave Dr. L. to crow
*by himself.  For I dare not present the Allopathic bill of fare,
 without sending my imaginative hearers to their scent bottles and
 snuff mills.  For what can I make in English of the aqua stercoris
 animalium^De oleoexcrementorum, orFacultas stercoris humani?
I can't venture a translation—for they are so offensive as to be bet-
ter left in their classical  dress.  But I may present some notice of
their indubitable virtues, in order to do homage to the foundations
and antecedents of that modern  experience which has grown so
naturally out of the good old stock, and preserves so strikingly the
family features, I shall give the unmentionables their due, each in
succession, under the signs of No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3.
  Under No. 1, that so and so "possess wonderful and excellent
virtues"—the stercus gallinarum being capital in the colic, that of 
(17)
swallows being anti-epileptic, especially when flavored with  ano-
dyne flowers; that of the peacock with a little spirits of wine, (to
keep it down,) always manifests "specific virtues against diseases
of the head, giddiness and epilepsy." Under No. 2, it is said many
secret virtues are hidden, as is proved by a multiplied experience;
and special mention is made of its powers over the jaundice, ma-
lignant as well as benign tumors, and pestilential buboes.  These
external diseases are overpowered by poultices,  ex stercore humano
velvaccino ;  for he, the considerate Hoffmann, naively admits, that
the oil from the former is so abominable that he  could not easily get
it taken internally.
   Under No. 3, there is an opening sentence which I must submit
to the learned:—In animalium excrementis, mirum dictu quam rara
 etperfecta  remedia reperiantur ; et ut ab homine omnium principe ex-
 ordior in humano stercore mira vis latet, in viscerum obstructionibus
 aperiendis.   This is what may be termed the solid foundations of
 Allopathy.  It has a fluid foundation,  too, by  virtue of  which it
 claims rule by  sea as well as land; but I must not trust the  too
 transparent Latin to my audience.  After all this there is a positive
 insipidity  in the Extract of Mummies, Precipitate of human  blood,
 and of human skulls, of frogs, vipers, worms,sow-bugs, and the oil of
 human fat—-all of which  are duly  celebrated in the same funda-
 mental volume,  between pages 159 and 173.  It is needless to say
 that the cures they worked were wonderful, and the Allopathic
 experience they imparted as  sound and useful as any from that
 day to this.  If Dr. Linton can extract glory, honor or immortality
 from  these records of antiquity, he is welcome  to them all—for
 our part, they are an offence in our nostrils.
    As an evidence that all the distinguished men on the Allopathic
 Bide are not such simpletons, as to glory  in their own shame, or
 as ignorant of the standing of their profession, as our friend Lin-
 ton I will give  the declarations of a few distinguished men of the
 Allopathic ranks, after passing through an abundant experience,
 and perhaps as well qualified  to pass  a righteous judgment on a
 matter of this kind, as our worthy St. Louis Professor.
    The first name I shall  present, is that  of the  illustrious Bou-
  haave  who said :—" If we compare the good which half-a-dozen
  true  d'isciples of ^Esculapius have  done, since their art began, with
  the evil that the immense number of doctors have  inflicted on
               3 
(18)
mankind, we must be satisfied that it would have been infinitely
better if medical men had never existed."
  Hufeland, a distinguished name in medicine, said :—" My opin-
ion is, that more harm than good is done by physicians."
  Sir John Forbes says :—"I have, indeed, no doubt that  a por-
tion of the deaths supervening to diseases treated by art, are the
direct produce of that art."
  Dr. Dickson says:—" So far as my experience in medical mat-
ters goes, few people are permitted to die of disease.   The ortho-
dox fashion is to die of the doctor."
  Dr.  Reid  said:—"More  infantile  subjects  are perhaps daily
destroyed by the pestle and  mortar, than  in  ancient Bethlehem
fell victims in one day to the Herodian massacre."
  Sir  Astley  Cooper said:—" The science  of medicine  was
founded on conjecture, and improved by murder."
  Dr. Frank said:—" The medical police is  restricted to  public
business, and directed against contagion, epidemics, quacks, &c.
But it is not considered that thousands are slaughtered in the sick
room."
  Prof. Linton, with appropriate gusto, gives his brethren the
comforting assurance  that  Homeopathy is  " going down  in Eu-
rope."   This has been the  " parrot cry " during the past twenty
years.   And our St. Louis professor,  now assures us that it is
at  last fairly done for!   This  information  he presents on the
authority of one Dr. Elliswood Smith, of this city.
  As a counter-blast to this " tin-whistle," of Dr. Smith's, I have
the pleasure of presenting a recent  correspondence, between
Prof. William Tod Helmuth, of this city, and Dr. A. Teste, of
Paris, which speaks for itself:
A.  Teste, Esq., M.D.
                      Dear Sir—Although personally unacquainted with
you, I take the liberty of  writing a few lines of inquiry concerning the stand-
ing of Homeopathy in Paris.  My apology, my dear sir, must be the zeal that
I feel in the progress of truth, and, as such, I trust it will be accepted by your-
self.
  Our Allopathic brethren of this city,  are circulating reports among the com-
munity of the downfall of our science  in your great metropolis—and, in their
Universities, publicly announce the same to their students—and constantly refer
to the loss of a law-suit, which some of the Homeopathic practitioners of Paris,
lately sustained.  I desire, therefore, that you will acquaint me with the nun*- 
(19)
ber of the institutions in which Homeopathy is recognized, the names of your
Hospitals, Colleges, &c.,—if many of the nobility are its advocates,—and, in
fact, any information that would be of service  to us in spreading our  science
among the  community.
  You will confer a great favor  upon me, and, at the same time, advance mate-
rially the interests of Homeopathy in  this country, in  which the malignant
spirit of the Allopathic brotherhood is probably greater than in any other por-
tion of the world, by replying to my letter at your convenience.
   Hoping  that I  may  hear from  you  soon, permit me, my dear Sir, to sign
myself,                   Very respectfully,
                                Your obedient servant,
                                            WM. TOD HELMUTH,
               Professor of Anatomy in the Homeopathic Medical College,
                                      Box 1133, St. Louis. Missouri. U.S.



                               [translation. 1
 Wm. Tod Helmuth,  M.D.
                  Dear Sir—I am happy to  be able to reassure you in regard
 to the fate of Homeopathy in France.  Its sustainers are here, as  elsewhere,
 men of intelligence of all classes of society.   I have, among my clients, Sena-
 tors, several Prefects, Generals, Magistrates, etc.  The Emperor himself was,
 for a year, the patient of our colleague, Dr. Davet; and the proof  that he was
 not dissatisfied with the doctor's services, is that he decorated him upon ceas-
 ing to require his visits.
    Here are a few figures, which will give you a fair idea of our situation:
    In 1836, there were in Paris  but  three  Homeopathic practitioners—Mm.
 Mollin, pere, Petroux, and the Elder Gneyrard.  At present, there  are very
  nearly one hundred—which, compared with  the  number of Allopathic physi-
  cians, gives about the proportion of  one to thirteen.  This is less than in Spain,
  and especially  less than in  the southern part of  Germany.  In  Hungary,
  around________, the proportion of the Homeopathists, is, to the others, as one
  to seven.  But, at  any rate, this is something,  particularly  when  you take
  into consideration the  fact, that, in Paris, the Homeopathic physicians absorb,
  for their share,  more than a quarter  of the whole number of cases.  And that
  is the reason, by the bye, why the gentlemen of the official school (the regular,
  the old school) are so  exasperated.
    The treatment of Dr. Tessier, at the Beaujon Hospital, (100 beds,) is exclu-
  sively Homeopathic.
    We have, besides, four public Dispensaries, well patronized, and six Phar-
  macies, four of which, (those of  the Maison Catillan) are the  most sumptuous
  in Paris.  It should be remembered, that two of these  Pharmacies  have been
  opened since the trial, which seems  to have created such  a  sensation in St.
  Louis, and of which I will give you a brief account, by way of a close.
     Our Allopathic Journal, L'Union Medicate, in noticing  a  pamphlet of Dr.
  Magnau's, made use of some coarse expressions reflecting upon Homeopathists. 
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 Several of the latter—with  whom I obstinately persisted  in not identifying
 myself—were guilty of the  blunder of bringing an action against the Z'Union
 Medicate.  Hence arose violent discussions, abuse on both  sides, and scandal,
 which  compromised alike the  two  schools.  Unfortunately, the article com-
 plained of, being submitted to the Board of Censure, (la Police Correclionelle,)
 was found to contain no names, and thus escaped the rigor of the law.  So, the
 Homeopathists, who had brought a suit for defamation lost their case,—which
 produced, momentarily, a bad effect upon the public.  But, in fact, as you per-
 ceive, Homeopathy was not  even concerned in  the matter.
   For a long time there has  been nothing  said about this trial.  The Homeo-
 pathic Society is organizing on a grand scale, and the future, which is all our
 own, commences from to day.
   My address in Paris, is No. 99 Rue St. Lazare.
   I should be happy to think, Monsieur, that this letter is equal to your expec-
 tations, and I pray you to accept the assurance of my entire consideration.
                          (Signed,)
                                               A. TESTE, M.D.

   If any one is so foolish as to believe  this cry of  distress, which
 is every where sent up from the discomforted ranks of old Allo-
 pathy,  in the  face of all they see around them,  and  in  spite of
 this direct testimony from  abroad,  we can  only wonder  at and
 admire their happy state of credulity.
   In concluding this review of " science and common sense," let
 me repeat what I have in substance advanced  in the beginning of
 my Address :  when men tell us that Homeopathy is opposed to
 common sense, we must demand from them an explanation of the
 meaning  they attach to  that phrase.  Common sense being a very
 respectable arbiter in certain matters that engage only the under-
 standing—but it is an  axiom  in the physical sciences, that  these
 alleged facts are to be judged either by evidence or experiment,
 and not by reasoning.   Common sense, therefore, has nothing to
 do with the facts of these sciences, in any other way than as judg-
 ing of the evidence which maintains them to be facts ;  and, in the
 case of Homeopath}7, if common sense was  allowed to deliver its
judgment, unbiased by common prejudice and common ignorance,
 we have no doubt that its honest judgment would  be favorable to
 our doctrines.
   Our faith and hope in reference  to  the  ultimate and  speedy
 acceptance of the truth of our system of practice,  is furnished by
 the tendency—so apparent on all sides  of us—toward the discard-
 ing of old dogmas on all subjects; the  mind of the age in which 
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we live is grasping after new ideas—causes are in operation which
must effect a change in the  confidence heretofore granted to the
effete notions and appliances which a barbarous age has transmit-
ted to us on medical treatment.  We do not, for one moment, ex-
pect that those who have spent the flower  of their manhood in the
construction and confirmation of the system now in the ascendant,
will engage themselves in the least degree in the reformation now
so inevitable: for the renown and importance of these men all
depends on the continuance of matters as they  now are.  They
and their followers are pre-bound, as is well understood, to reject
all thought on this subject, which does not come forth cast in the
mould  or enveloped in the drapery  they have  prepared for it.
Like the silk-worm, they have spun out  of their own being a
lengthened thread, with which they have wound themselves round
until they have finally become imprisoned in its folds.
   The advancing cause of truth has very little to expect usually
from architects of old systems.  Hence the question pertly put—
 "Have any of the rulers believed?" while it receives a negative
 answer, will not be considered fatal in estimating  any reformation.
 It is emphatically to the younger portion  of the profession that we
 must look—with interests not fully committed to old dogmas—with
 thought still fluid and not yet fossilized by  the pressure of system
 —whose reputation does not entirely depend on the maintenance
 of the shaky platform on which they have been placed.  To such
 we turn our eyes with hope and expectation, which shall not be
 disappointed.                                           .
   Never did a generation of men engage upon the field ot science
 and art, amid such  rich and accumulating  materials, and with so
 brilliant a prospective  spread  out around them, as that which is
 iust now passing  into the  active offices of life.  For them has
 modern science pushed out her energetic inquiries into every pro-
 vince of the domain of nature, crowding back the dusky veil of
 the unknown,  on all sides, to an immeasurable distance.  The
 hardened leaves of the earth's crust  have been  interrogated, and
 made to yield up the secrets of the geologic  age.  The solid sub-
 stances of nature have been induced to fly apart, and to reveal
 the wonders of their mysterious  combinations.  The multiplied
 firms  of animated existence have  thrown  open to the  inquis-
 itive eye  wider than ever before, their interior  chambers of curi- 
(22)
ous mechanism  and  structural  complexities.   Earth, air and
ocean, changed in their aspects, and  in their relations to us, are
every where covered with the foot-prints of the votaries of knowl-
edge, and dotted all over with the  monuments of their achiev-
ments.  The facts in relation to man, phsycological and  phys-
ical—his  origin,  races,  monumental  antiquities, history and
destiny— his  languages, literature and arts—his laws, govern-
ments and institutions—his  trades,  manufactories and political
economies—have been  collected and analysed with unparalleled
industry and profusion.  The operation  of physical causes and
conditions upon man, and his reaction upon them, in the produc-
tion or acceleration of the historical,  have been observed and ar-
ranged with a nice discrimination, and made  to throw their light
with a clearer precision  into  the future.   Having mounted  to a
more refined  epoch in his history, the imponderables which here-
tofore were ignored by the scientifics of earlier history, now begin
to reveal their subtleties to his astonished vision, disclosing a new
and latent power  within  the old material  shell.  "Wires have
become the nerves which connect the ganglionic  centres of the
body  politic, and man shall be in momentary communication with
his brother man  the  planet over.   These  tremendous extensions
of the field of natural knowledge, have thrown back  a flood  of
light upon the entire relations and analogies connected with man's
existence and condition—as  the  laws which govern  the main-
spring of life, or vital action.  It is from this  elevation of the sci-
ences connected  with man and nature, that  we look  with  hope
and expectation for the entire  renovation of the dogmas and
doctrines as  yet recognised as governing in  the application  of
remedies for  the relief of human suffering.  It is in this direction
that our eye is turned, for the recognition of the just claims of the
Homeopathic System—the  dynamic method—in  place of the
crude, materialistic doctrines of the old methods.
   One more word, and I close the  subject.  Let no  one be  so
unwise, as for one  moment to believe that in  this  country, where
everything is brought to the test of experience; and where  what-
ever is found on  trial to be practically good, is sure to be approved
and adopted, in defiance of all philosophers who maintain that it is
theoretically false and bad, and ought to be rejected—where the
people—a peculiar people—are bent  on breaking away  from old 
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established usages and time-honored abuses of other times and
other countries—their watch-word progress, their aim  improve-
ment—let no one believe that here, among such a people, Home-
opathy  can  be put down by ridicule, abuse or persecution, and
finally condemned without a trial. 
 
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