fy^octUisL^ •>c ->c ^ HOMCEOPATH Y, AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE RENSSELAER COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY, AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, JUNE 14, 1842. BY THOS. W. BLATCHFORD, M. Dv President. ;i ni tm)lmUk\\idit». ner: "This Psora is the sole, true and fundamental cause that produces all the other countless forms of disease, which, under the name of nervous debility, hysteria, hemicrania, hypochondriasis, insanity, melancholy, idiocy, madness, epilepsy, and spasms of all kinds, softening of the bones, or rickets,scolia- sis and cyphosis, caries, cancer, fungus hematodes, pseudo morphse of all kinds, gravel, gout, haemor- rhoids, jaundice and cyanosis, dropsy, amenorrhea, gastrorrhagia, epistaxis, hemoptysis, hematuria, metrorrhagia, asthma and phthisis ulcerosa, impo- tency and sterility, deafness, catarnct and amauro- ris, paralysis, loss of sense, pains of every kind &c. appear in our pathology as so many peculiar,distinct and independent diseases." Page 122 Organon. This is the long list of diseases resulting from this "chronic miasm" so lhat with only two exceptions, syphilis and sycosis, Psora stands charged with the only germinating principle of every other disease that flesh is heir to. It seems then that every in- dividual of the human family, and of other families besides, for all that we know to the contrary, eve- ry siek man, woman and child who is not laboring under one of the two exceptions has the itch, the true, the veritable itch, the genuine Scotch-fiddle. Then he tells us how long his poor head was la- boring under this mighty thought, before the world received it. "It cost me," says he, "12 years of study and research to discover this great troth which remained concealed from all my predecessors and coternporaries, to establish the basis of its de- monstrations and find out at the same time the principal antipsoric remedies that were fit to com- bat this hydra in all its different forms." This itch, too, he tells us, is somewhat of an old settler among the human family ; he does not, it is true, say whether Adam and Eve were afflicted with it in Paradise, or whether it was generated in the ark, where confessedly, animation was some- what condensed, and from Noah and his offspring handed along down to these ends of creation; but he does tell us, to use his own words, "that this miasm has descended through the organizations of millions of individuals in the course of some hun- dreds of generations." We have thus glanced at some few of the pecu- liarities of Homoeopathy, those which may be con- sidered as more especially fundamental to the sys- tem, viz : 1st. An invariable adherence to the rule "similia similibus." 2d. The augmentation of power by diminution of dose. 3d. The evolution of latent virtue in inert substances by protracted tritura- tion and agitation; and 4th. The Psoric origin of all diseases. There are many other peculiarities however pertaining to this cameleon which neith- er my time nor your patience will allow us critical- ly to review, such as the duration of effect of all their medicines being professedly accurately calcu- lated ; for instance, an infinitesimal dose of co- nium is set down as lasting 40 days, saffron, 7 days, Ipecac 5, common charcoal, whether animal or ve- getable, 40, magnesia 50, mercury 3 to 4 weeks,silex 7 or 8 weeks, and so on through the whole cata- logue. The list of medicinal agents they have al- ready subjected to experiment exclusive of the mag- 11 net,is 201. There must be no compounding of me- dicine, no two ingredients must be administered at the same time; much stress is laid on this, and the severest censure heaped upon Allopathy for pre- scriptions containing several different medicines. Hahnemann endeavors to show that the effect can never be certain, lhat it must necessarily be falla- cious, lhat one is constantly interfering with anoth- er; resembling I presume, an unruly set of lads in a work shop eternally quarrelling about some trifle instead of going straight ahead attending to their business, as they would be most likely to do if iheir number were small. Well, this all looks very preity on paper, it is very specious, very captivating, cal- culated prodigiously to' take, with the multitude; only one single simple substance at a time, and that, remember, only the homoeopathic attenuation of infinity—for Hahnemann after dividing a drop and a grain into billions of millions of parts, adds, "you cannot give too small a quantity of any medicine." How does this idea of one single simple sub- stance at a time, look upon close inspection ?— Do we find the author of nature thus carrying on his great operations within our complicated ma- chine? How is it with the bile, for instance, that natural purgative, as it were, of the alimentary ca- nal. I am aware Homoeopathists don't like to look within, as we shall have occasion soon to notice : but never mind, let us see if the Great Author of our being follows such a Homoeopathic rule; is the bile one single, simple homogeneous substance? A- nalysis tells us that human bile is a compound of no less than 11 different ingredients, and by no means always of uniform proportions: water, yellow inso- luble matter, yellow soluble matter, resin, albu- men, soda, phosphate of soda, sulphate of soda, mu- riate of soda, phosphate of lime and oxide of iron. But perhaps the bile is an exception. How is it with the Saliva and the Pancreatic juice ? they are about alike as far as chemistry can ascertain. We find then Saliva, that fluid so essential to healthy digestion, and quantities of which are swallowed by a hearty, healthy man in 24 hours, consists of 17 ingredients. M. M. Leuret and Lassaigne an- alyzed pure Saliva and found it to contain water, mucus, traces of albumen, soda, chloride of potas- ium, carbonate and phosphate of lime; and besides these, Messrs Tiedmann and Gmelin, found the ace- tate, carbonate, phosphate, sulphate and/nuriate of potassa and the sulpho-cyanate ofpotassa, osma- zome, and a little fat containing phosphorus.— (See Dunglison's Physiology.) The gastric juice, the necessary medium of eve- ry dose of medicine until Hahnemann's great dis- covery of introducing them in an aeriform state through the nostrils and the breathing apparatus. The gastric juice, according to Prof. Emmet of Vir- ginia University, consists of "free muriatic and a- cetic acids: phosphates and muriates, with bases of potassa, soda, magnesia and lime, and an animal matter soluble in cold water but insoluble in hot." And milk, that most simple of all simples, the very and the only food of earliest infancy, pro- vided by a most skilful and unerring hand, consists of no less than 12 ingredients: water, oil, curd, ex- tractive matter, sugar of milk, (the greatest gift of | Heaven to man, says Hahnemann, because he uses it so much,) acelic acid, muriate of soda, mur. pot., phosp. lime, phos. mag., phos. iron. The blood, that fluid which courses to the mi- nutest and the most remote parts of the body, avoid- ing none, consists of no less than 19 ingredients: the serum part 10, the cruror 9. It will be perceiv- ed that many of these ingredients are themselves compounds and some of them have not yet been an- alyzed, and the proportion of each ingredient is vastly,! had almost said infinitely, greater than Ho- moepaihy allows to be administered, or even deems consistent with the safety of the patient. Now it appears that the author of nature is not afraid of these pernicious, these health destroying compounds; but no matter for that, Homoeopathy is, and that is enough to condemn them. Now, in serious soberness, I ask, what confidence can be pla- ced in experiments with homoeopathic doses, when so many opposing principles must incessantly inter- fere with their results, to say nothing of the food we constantly consume and the air we breathe.— Can any thing be more superlatively, Homceopath- ically ridiculous, and yet men of learning and sound sense in other matters suffer themselves to be gull- ed and duped by this shadow of all shadow.1;, this vanity of all vanities. But to proceed : Another peculiarity of Homoeopathy is, that before the time of Hahnemann, physicians and their patients al- ways meant by symptoms, "affections, passions or accidents accompanying disease." Homoeopathy, however, reverses this meaning and applies the term to the medicine instead of exclusively to the patient, so then every medicine has a certain set of symptoms belonging to it. To ascertain the symptoms of any medicine, an individual is selected to he the subject of experiment. (See Med. Chir. Review, volume 30, page 144: also volume 25, page 492.) He must be a healthy individual; an educated physician is to be preferred, Hahnemann says, if he can be found, free from all excesses in eating and drinking, and capable of giving an intelligible ac- count once, twice, or three times a day of all the sensations and occurrences be observes in himself for one or two months after having taken his infin- itesimal dose of just about nothing at all. The number of symptoms therefore which they imagine accumulate is sometimes immense, almost past con- ception : for instance, to Pulsatilla, or common an- emone, and nux vomica, there are no less than 1J pages octavo of symptoms detailed,that is,the symp- toms which are supposed to result from taking the medicine in health, which is to be the true criterion of its administration in disease. Sulphur has thir- teen pages, chamomile flowers has five, charcoal has 13, &.c. &c. These are merely promiscuously quoted from Jahr's Manual. Jahr tells us, in his last edition, that the number of symptoms has late- ly been vastly augmented. In some medicines, as sulphur, saepia, and phosphorus, and several others, he says they are increased to the number of 2000, and at this rate, in ten years, if Homoeopathy lasts as long. I doubt not their number, like certain evil spirits "of old, will then be "legion." The idea to be sure at first seems overwhelming, and we are 12 led to doubt the possibility of such minuteness, such an approximation to infinity: but when we come to analyze them and only read over and compare a few pages,the mystery at once vanishes; we find it one endless ding-dong, see-saw,over and over again, with about as many ideas as can be gathered from the woke-up rattle-box of an infant; every locality of the human frame is separately invoked from the head to the foot, outside and in, and furnished with a tongue, as it were, to relate its experience and tell just how it feels. We may here just remark,in passing, that it is this minuteness, this apparent ex- actitude and nicety, this particularity, and, as I think, ridiculous unmeaning inquisitiveness, this sit- ting down by the side of the patient, with pen, ink, and paper, as Hahnemann directs, and exalting ev- ery thought of the patient respecting himself, to which he gives utterance, into a something worthy to be recorded, and then the time required to put all these together to examine and compare and study, that perhaps more than any thing else,impresses him with an idea of the vast superiority of this system o- ver any other that he has ever heard of,especially,if, as is often the case, his mind and body have been enfeebled by protracted and painful disease. The confidence thus inspired must inevitably tend to pro- duce its invigorating, its health restoring influence. But to proceed with the subject of experiment, and to give you some idea how it is possible to accu- mulate symptoms to such an extent,you must be in- formed that all (he sensations are infinitely subdi- vided; for example, "pain is subdivided into sim- ple, obtuse, pressing, compressing, bending, jam- ming, pinching, cutting, stinging, drawing, tearing, teazing, shrugging, streaming, crawling, turning, boring, twisting, gnawing, eating, extending, scratching, knocking, jerking, acute, pulling, con- stricting, dislocating, burning,"* &c. &c. &c, and then we have the locality of pain,as pain in the head, the top of the head,the back of the head, the side of the head, behind the ears, in the forehead, over the eyes, in the eyes, in the eye-balls, in the eye-lids, under the eye-lids, &c. &c, ad infinitum. For ex- ample, we opened Jahr's Manual to the article mag- nesia : after taking an infinitesimal dose, the fol- lowing are only a few of the symptoms; duration of effect is set down as 50 days. "SLEEr. Frequent and violent yawning, desire to sleep during the day, sleeplessness, sometimes from oppression in the abdomen, or from anxious uneasiness and internal heat, with great dread of being uncovered—many anxious dreams, with talk- ing, cries, and frightened starts, dreams of fire,flood, brigands, quarrels, money, pleasures, misfortunes, &c. &.c. &c, to the extent of 5 pages—who will dare take magnesia any more, or give it to their young infants, if such are the effects that it pro- duces, and that too from administering infinitely less than the millionth of a grain ? Pathological facts are to Homoeopathists useless lumber as we have already hinted. Of what possible value are all the late splendid researches in Patho- logical anatomy and in Physiology, in the estima- tion of the man who could write such a sentence as * See Rees' Humbug, page 104. the following: "I cannot comprehend" says Hah- nemann, " how it is possible for physicians to im- agine that they ought to search the interior of the human economy: it is inaccessible,and concealed from our view," and again at page 26, "just as lit- tle" says he "as we can witness what is passing in the interior of our bodies in a healthy condition, and as certainly as they are concealed from us as they lie open to the sight of omniscience, just so little can we perceive the internal operations of the animal frame when life is disturbed by disease.— The action that takes place in diseases manifests itself only by external symptoms." I am aware that Homoeopathists in this country deny the charge brought againstHahnemann of being opposed to pathological investigations, but his own pen has rendered the attempt futile. And Hahnemann is doubtless consistent with himself in this respect, for of what use can such researches be to a system which broadly and repeatedly asserts that sensation is the true, the only true index to disease ? It is true, Hahnemann talks about the pulse and the tongue and the secretions, but it can only be for a similar reason to that which he gives for continu- ing a species of names fordisease,"that we might," says he, by degrees dissipate the illusion."t But Hahnemann is not the only Homo3opathist who speaks contemptuously of Pathology : another of authority sufficiently! high for Hahnemann himselfto quote, writes thus: " The Physician who engages in a search after the hidden springs of the internal economy will hourly be deceived; but the Homoeo- pathist possesses himself of a guide that may be depended on." All our old therapeutical agents upon which physicians have leaned for centuries with safety and confidence are all anathematized. Bleeding is affirmed to be not only useless but per- nicious under any circumstances whatsoever.— "The living human body," says Hahnemann,"never contained one drop of blood too much." Again, " a superabundance of blood can never exist", and yet again, he says, "having recourse to bleedings nothing can justify." The substitute is aconite, as will appear from the following extract: "The most violent pleuritic fever, says he, with all its attendant alarming symptoms, is cured in the space of 24 hours at farthest, without loss of blood or any other antiphlogistic whatsoever, by giving one globule of sugar impregnated with the juice of aconite of the decillionth (30th) degree of dilution." Verily the days of miracles have come again. Cupping and leeching and blistering and all coun- t " Should it, however, be thought sometimes necessary to have names for diseases in order to ren- der ourselves intelligible in a few words to the or- dinary classes when speaking of a patient let none be made use of but such as are collective. We ought to say for example that the patient has a spe- cies of chorea, a species of dropsy, a species of ner- vious fever, a species of ague, because there cer- tainly do not exist any diseases that are permanent and always retaining their identity, which deserve these denominations or others that are analogous. It is thus we might by degrees dissipate the illusion produced by the names of disease." p!25. Organon. 13 ler-irritation; all liniments, fomentations, poultices, ointments are of course totally useless. "Even a stomach," says Hahnemann, "overburdened with indigestible food can never require an emetic. In such a case," says he, "nature knows full well how to disencumber herself of the excess by the sponta- neous vomiting, which she excites, and which may at all times be aided by tickling the throat with the finger. But," he adds,"that if after the stomach has been filled beyond measure and the patient, is tormented with acute pain in the epigastrum and does not experience the slightest desire to vomit, an emetic then would only cause a mortal inflammation of the intestines, whereas slight and repeated doses of a strong infusion of coffee would re-animate the stomach and place it in a condition to evacuate it- self either upwards or downwards, however con- siderable in quantity the substances contained in its interior may have been." Or, in plain English, when the stomach is "filled beyond measure," the quantity must be increased to relieve it of its load. "In no case can an emetic ever be necessary," says Hahnemann, "not even in a sudden affection of the stomach with freqnent nauseous eructations as of spoiled food accompanied with depression of mind, cold feet, hands, &c. &c. Here if, instead of an emetic, the patient should only smell once to a glo- bule of sugar the size of a mustard seed, impregna- ted with the 30th dilution of Pulsatilla, he is infalli- bly cured in the space of two hours." Smelling of gold too, he says, cures one species of mental de- rangement. This introduction of medicine into the system, by the nostrils, is purely Homoeopathic. "Of late," says Hahnemann, "I have become con- vinced of the fact that smelling imparls a medicinal influence as energetic and as long continued as when the medicine is taken in substance by the mouth." —Again—"All that is cured by Homoeopathy," says Hahnemann,—"may with the most cer- tainty and safety be cured by this mode of receiving the medicine." And his 289th aph- orism reads thus: "Every part of the body that is sensible to the touch is equally susceptible of re- ceiving the impression of medicines and of convey- ing it to all other parts of the body." Dipping the finger then in medicine, must necessarily be as ef- ficacious as taking it into the stomach, and more so, too, for the sense of touch is certainly more fully developed on the fingers than in any other portion of the human frame. For'such a discovery alone, Hahnemann ought to receive the lasting thanks of all the delicate stomachs in the world. This con- fessedly goes far ahead of allopathy and no mis- take. Purgatives, too, are denounced with equal severity. "There is apparently," says Hahnemann, "some necessity for the expulsion ofwormsinthe so called worm disease. But," he adds," even this appearance is false ; they are all owing to the itch, connected with an unhealthy mode of living ; if the regimen be ameliorated and the itch Homcepathi- cally cured, few or no worms at all will remain." These are only a few specimens of the wonderful power of Homoeopathy. While, however, it possess- es such magical power over disease, exercised with such commendable regard to the comfort of the sick, it is singular that it should advocate intempe- rance by a paragraph so entirely anti-temperance as the following which is found on the 75th page of the Organon: "An experienced reaper," says Hahnemann, "however little he may be accustomed to the use of strong liquors, will not drink cold water (contra- ria contrariis) when the heat of the sun or the fa- tigue of hard labor have brought him tnto a feverish state; he is well aware of the danger that would ensue, and therefore takes asmall quantity of some heating liquor, viz: a mouthful of brandy. Expe- rience, the source of all truth, has convinced him of the advantage and efficacy of this homoeopathic mode of proceeding." Another peculiar feature about Homoeopathy not much calculated to give it success with the thinking portion of community, is that their periodicals and other organs, animate and inanimate, speak of no unsuccessful .application of their principles; none but palpable cases of cure are mentioned, and these are served up in a dress to suit the multitude. This is a feature which is certainly calculated to ally Homoeopathy with empiricism, to say the least; and reminds one of the artful contrivance of the proprietor of a certain mineral spring in England, who kept one room in which were deposited the crutches of all those patients who had received so much benefit from the waters as not to require their assistance any longer. One day a company of la- dies and gentlemen, as usual, were shown into this apartment with its 100s and 100s of crutches, and the virtues of the waters highly extolled, when an old decrepid servant of the establishment, who was seated in one corner of the room, said, in a low tone, to a gentleman who stood near, "Ah me!" said she, "ah me ! they take good care to say nothing about the heaps of crutches we burn up every year, of the poor creatures who come here only to die. Dead bones tell no tales, you know." The Homoeopathic Examiner tells us that there are physicians in our country, and Hahnemann says that there are some in his, who, to use the lan- guage of another, run an "accommodation line," and practise either homceopathically or allopa- thically, just as their patients shall desirej and by many they are commended for such a spirit of compromise. But the real true Hahnemannic Homoeopathists denounce them in no measured terms, and justly too, for there can be no comprom- ise. Hahneman calls them anew "mongrel sect, that continues to gnaw like a cancer upon the vi- tals of diseased human beings," he says further on, that they must be separated "by an immeasurable gulph from Homoeopathy," and Jahr is no less se- vere when he says " from ignorance, for their per- sonal convenience, or through charlatanism, they treat their patients one day Homceopathically and the next Allopathically." If Homoeopathy is right,. Allopathy must be wrong, and vice versa. "Ho- moeopathy and Allopathy," says a writer in the Ey- aminer, co-ordinate, not contradictory branches of the great art of healing, is more than we can fath- om." Such men forcibly reminds one of a» old border story where in a sparse settlement composed of individuals of all the various denominatiens of christians, it was agreed to build a meeting louse; 14 all gave a little and the building was soon complet- ed, but they found great difficulty in settling a min- ister; each sect wanted one of their own. At length a straggler offered, who agreed to preach al- ternately Presbyterianism, Episcopalianism, Me- thodism, and Baptism. Good may, and doubtless will, grow out of Ho- moeopathy; the value of the system is in a fair way of being tested, if we may judge from the number of experimenters who are at work. It is unfortu- nate, however, for the success of the system that American Homoeopathists are almost entirely in- debted to Germany for their medicines ; the Amer- ican preparations are all powerless, or, at all events, Homoeopathists declare that their system shall only be tested by German Physic, and hence the estab lishment in New York of a General Agency of the Central Homoeopathic Pharmacy at Leipsic for the United States. Now, how is this ? What potential influence is superadded to attenuated nothingness? We have heard of globules of Homoeopathic medi- cine, producing powerful evacuations. This is all contrary to Hahnemann's Homoeopathy; about this there is certainly some shade of mystery, to say the least, and the question is forced upon us, is there not such a thing as an allopathic dose in a homoeopathic dress to be employed as a dernier re- sort in extreme cases ? But we shall see, and al- though not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, I will venture to predict that Homoeopathy and wis- dom will not die together. But after all, the public care but little about medical theories, for they understand but little a- bout them. The great question with them is, "is Homoeopathy in its power over disease what it pro- fesses to be ?" That there have been some, and perhaps many notable cures wrought of which Homoeopathy claims the honor, there can be no manner of doubt. Not a medical charlatan that ever rode into notice from Paracelsus their chief down to Elisha Perkins and the Rain Water doctor of our own times but could do as much. The greater number of these, however, where chronic diseases of long standing and slow progress; a class of diseases "which are usually benefited most by letting medicine alone, and their number is larger than is usually thought. It requires but little penetration to account for all this class of cures. The air and the exercise and the travel; the wholesome diet and good cheer; the freedom from care and apxiety and unnecessary toil which Ho- moeopathists invariably prescribe, together with an inspiration of confidence in the remedy and an observance of regular hours for meals and sleep, are agents in the cure of all chronic diseases of no trifling power; but who will pretend that there is any thing either new or Homoeopathic in all this !—for centuries they have been the most effieient allies in every valuable system of the prac- ticeof physic; and yet without these, I will venture to affirm lhat all purely homoeopathic prescriptions —net prescriptions of Allopathic doses in a homoeo- pathic dress—but Hahnemann's own infinitesimals, wdl jrove as utterly powerless in the removal of' real diseases as did charms and incantations and amulets in the by-gone days of superstition. That Belladonna may, in proper effective doses, possess some power over that dangerous and high- ly congestive disease, scarlatina, I do not deny, neither am I prepared to affirm. I, however, re- member well, thirty years ago, when a student of medicine, to have heard its prophylactic power ov- er scarletfever spoken of and claiming to rank with the vaccine virus in its power over variola, but such pretensions have long since passed away to their own place, except, perhaps, in the pretented esti- mation of those who keep thr preparation on sale. See Chapman's Theraputics, vol. 2, page 221. It is possible too, that aconite, or Pulsatilla, or some other new narcotic, may in a measure control the action of the heart; the idea is by no means a new one; but there can certainly be nothing ho- moeopathic in it even if time should confirm their youthful pretentions. But it becomes us to remem- ber that time has proved a sad destroyer to the re. putation of many a medicine whose claims to dis- tinction were far more promising than those we have mentioned. Look at Digitalis, of which even a Ferriar could say, "It was a substitute for the lancet and furnishes us with a means of controlling the pulse to our wish and nf supporting a given state of velocity as long as we deem proper," and a Currie says, "I have employed the digitalis to a very considerable extent in inflammations of the brain, of the heart, and of the lungs, and in rheu- matism, and have succeeded with it in situations where I should otherwise have despaired;" and Mossman, too, affirms that "pneumonic inflamma- tion may be obviated with as much certainty as the progress of an intermittent fever is arrested by Pe- ruvian bark;" and at a subsequent period he says, "it is here employed in almost every case ofincreased vascular action;" and again over these inflamations, "it certainly possesses powers approximating to spe- cific"; and notwithstanding this high authority (and authorities like these might be mutiplied to almost any extent) who now thinks of digitalis as a substitute for the lancet ? and how fewin'the whole medical profession employ it at all, and then mere- ly as an auxiliary to the lancet. Any one at all ac- quainted with the history of medicine knows full well that the high sounding reputation with which an article commences its career for distinction is no sort of criterion whereby to judge of the place it will occupy when it has been tried in time's cru- cible. How few among the thousands which have entered the course have ever won the prize. But before undertaking to account for the power of Homoeopathy over acute disease by its power- less prescriptions, I should choose to follow the sage advice the late Dr Mitchell was accustomed to give his class of natural history. "Gentlemen," said he, "be sure of the reality of a phenomenon before you attempt to explain it. I once paid severely for not heeding this rule. I was in company with a num- ber of gentlemen at the springs, entertaining them with illustrations of natural history bordering on the marvellous. A rough looking old gentleman, but more of a wag than a fool, ascertaining from me that my name was Mitchell, said he would like 15 to hear me account for a singular circumstance that had occurred in his neighborhood. A young married lady, he said, a neighbor of his, was lately confined, and one half of the child was black, and the family felt greatly mortified. I attempted to account for it on philosophical principles, much, as I thought to the satisfaction of the company, when the gentleman interrupted me by saying that he forgot to mention that the other half was black al- so." "Those who know nothing of the natural pro- gress of a malady;" says Dr. Holmes, in his lec- tures before the Boston Society lor ihe Improve- ment of Useful Knowledge, "of its ordinary du- ration ; of its various modes of terminating; of "its liability to accidenial complicaiions; of the "signs which mark its insignificance, or severity; "of whit is to be expected of it when left to itself; "of how much or how little is to be anticipated "from remedies,—those who know nothing or "next lo nothing of all these things and who are "in a great state of excitement from benevolence, "sympathy, or zeal for anew medical discovery, "can hardly be expected to be sound judges of "facts that have misled so many sagacious men ■*who have spent their lives in their daily study "and observation." This generation, especially, should not forget the popular humbug of Perkins' points. The grave of Perkinism is yet fresh ; but what has become of "its 5000 printed cures.and "its million and a half of computed ones, its mira- "cles blazoned about through America, and Den- mark, and England V Can Homoeopathy boast of greater achievements 1 Let us reflect on these, and I think we must all agree with Dr. Holmes, when he says that "after all this, we need not "waste time in showing that medical accuracy is "not to be looked for in the florid reports of benev- "olent associations: the assertions of illustrious "patrons ; the lax effusions of daily journals, or the "effervescent gossip of the tea table." Homoeopathic physicians and their friends, I know, think Allopathic physicians very obstinate and unreasonable, because they seem unwilling to give their system a trial. "Try it," they say, just as if it had not been tried a hundred times, and a hundred times fairly weighed in the balance and found wanting. We learn from the Medico- Chir. Rev. that "a German Homceopathist, prac- tising in Russia, was invested by the Grand Duke Michael, with full powers to prove, if possible, by a comparison of facts, the advantages of Homoe- opathic measures over the ordinary modes of treat- ment, and a certain number of patients in the wards of a military hospital were entrusted lo his care. At the expiratipn of two months, however, he was not permitted to proceed any further; for, in comparing the result, it was seen that of 457 patienis, treated by the ordinary means, 364 or three-fourths were cured, and none died ; where- as, by the homoeopathic method tried on 128 pa- tients, only 64, jusl one half, were cured, and five died. "In consequence of this, and other trials," saysDr.Johnson, "the Russian government looked on Homoeopathy as a humbug, and published the results." Vol. 30, page 144. Those who desire to see accounts of other trials, are referred to Dr. Holmes's Lectures r)ti,,HOmteopathyand its Kin* dred Delusions," to the "Abracadabra of the 19th century, by Leo Wolf, M. D., of Philadelphia ;" to Dr.M:Naughton's Dissertation on Homoeopathy, published in ihe 4th vol. ofthe Transactions of the New York State Medical Society; to Dr. Rees* Humbug of N. Y. to Johnson's journal, vols. 25 and 30, &c. &c. But notwithstanding all this which assuredly should satisfy any reasonable man, the cry is still repeated, try it. "Try it before you con- demn it—don't suffer your minds to be. warp- ed by prejudice and fast-barred against convic- tion, just because you can't understand how ihe^e things can be." These appeals seem plausible, very plausible, indeed, and it must be confessed are wielded with some success, and to the prejudice of those against whom they are directed. They seem so overflowing with a superior candor and disinterestedness thai one is almost tempted to fall down and do homage likewise. This wanton experimenting, however, upon the animal economy, don't, some how or other, jusi suit our fancy. It may be an amusiDg exercise, a pleasing pastime, for those who either have nothing else to do, or who set so low an esti- mate on human life as to handle it like a pretty plaything to "amuse children of a larger growth." But to the physician who views it as a priceless commodity entrusted, as it were, to him for its lon- gest possible preservation, it becomes a serious business to trifle with it; to tamper with such a jewel; to jeopard its very existence, and especial- ly by experiments which are confessedly the very antipodes of reason. However much he may like to be amused, or however much he would be grat- ified to know ihe result of certain experiments, he feels in duty bound to abstain from both under cir- cumstances of such a nature, and as he regards peace of conscience here, and accountability be- yond the grave, he acts upon the motto, «' Touch not, handle not." Try Homoeopathy ! try whether a thing of nought can successfully grapple with an enemy of more than giant strength—whether a powerless remedy can remove an overpowering disease ?— the very idea is preposterous. It would be pre- sumption personified, and I trust honest allopa- thies will always be contented to leave such a task in homoeopathic hands with all its honors and all its emoluments. What would be thought of the sanity of the farmer, who had long been accustomed to conduct his agricultural pursuits by the labor of ox and horse and man, should he so far listen to the voice of a stranger ever so learned, who should tell him that after years of patient research and observa- tion he had discovered an insect which would su- persede every other needful power, and by only one of which he could readily perform all his ne- cessary labor upon his farm; what would be tho't ol him if he should be persuaded so far to yield up his better judgment, lay aside all his past ex- perience, dispose of oxen, horses and men, and purchase this insect, and go fairly into the experi- ment, and fully test the validity of its claim*} Whatever we might think, most assuredly in com- parison with the physician who could be so egre* giously duped as to disregard all past experience; 16 to lay aside the proper exercise of teason and common sense and recklessly cast away remedies of known and tried virtue for those of less, infi- nitely less than insect-strength, such conduct as the farmers would be the wisest by just as much as human life is more valuable than commodities at- tainable at pleasure. What? try the experiment of Homoeopathy in acute and congestive disease, and suffer the critical moment upon which per- chance the life of a loved and valued friend hangs suspended to pass by unimproved, or which is the same thing, occupied only in watching the results of experiments with Homoeopathic dilutions, or delusions, as ihey should be termed 1 "Oh, tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Aske- lon." As I have alreadysaid howevergood may grow out of this system of infinite inconsistencies, stranger things have happened in our world. It is to the ideal phantom of the philosopher's stone that got such a fast hold of the human mind as for a century at least to urge from research to re- search, and Irom experiment to experiment, re- quiring the utmost toil, and labor, and patience, to which medicine is indebted for some of its most efficient remedies, and lo which chemistry is in- debted, we may almost say, for its very existence; and with chemistry, the arts and manufactures. To quackery, too, in one form and another, are we indebted for some of the best medicinal compounds; and so, doubtless, to Homoeopathy may succeeding generations be indebted for some peculiar applica- tion of medicines hitherto not dreamed of. It is next lo impossible that so much research and ob- servation as Homoeopathists are now bestowing upon various substances drawn from the three kingdoms, animal, vegetable, and mineral, will not in time elicit some facts which will add value to the present stock of medical and pharmaceutical knowledge, but it is more than probable that all such honors even will be acquired like the crown of the conqueror only through fields of blood. "We shall not waste much time on this system," says Dr. Johnston,"but we may observe,lhat grant- ing, for the sake of argument, that every part of this system is as true as Holy Writ, both in-its princi- ples and details, yet we assert, that it is utterly in- capable of being brought into practice among the profession of this or any other country in the world. It is only adapted for a few of the dilletanti who may choose to diddle dukes and humbug hypochon- driacs; or for the dreams of enthusiasts, such as Hahnemann and the respectable portion of his fol- lowers. But looking at the new system in all its bearings, and without the slightest prejudice or jealousy, we do believe that it opens the widest door to quackery and knavery that has ever yet been presented to the adventurous and unprincipled in our profession. The Hahnemania, like other manias, will run iis day, and vanish into thin air— though not before many lives are sacrificed at the altar of this new illusion."—Med. Chir. Rev.^Vol. 30, page 278.