THE SCIENCE OF 
% 
THERAPEUTICS 
IN OUTLINE. 
A Systematic Arrangement of Principles (’oncekxed in 
THE ('are of Hc.tax Health, S t h e i k 
Several Depahtmefts.; 
BY 
J. P. DAK.E, A.M., M.D^ 
late professor of the principles and practice of medicine in the 
HAHNEMANN MEDICAL COLLEGE, PHILADELPHIA; 
LATE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF HOMOEOPATHY, 
ETC. ETC. 
NASH VILIjK, tkxn. : 
TAVEL, EASTMAN & HOWELL. 
1878. THE SCIENCE OF 
THERAPEUTICS 
IN OUTLINE. 
A Systematic Arrangement of Principles Concerned in 
tiie Care of Human Health, Showing their 
Several Departments. 
BY 
J / 
J. P. DA'KE, A.M., M.D., 
Late professor of the principles and practice of medicine in the 
HAHNEMANN MEDICAL COLLEGE, PHILADELPHIA; 
LATE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF HOMOEOPATHY, 
ETC. ETC. 
NASHVILLE, TENN. : 
TAVEL, EASTMAN & HOWELL. 
1878. CONTENTS. 
Rise and Progress of Therapeutics. 
I.—Two Grand Divisions of Therapeutics: 
1. Physiological or General Therapeutics. 
2. Pathogenetic or Special Therapeutics. 
II.—GENERAL THERAPEUTICS : 
1. Hygienic Department : 
a. Air Breathed. b. Food Eaten, 
c. Fluids Drank. d. Clothing Worn. 
e. Dwelling Occupied. /. Business Followed. 
g. Habits Formed. h. District Inhabited. 
2. Chemical Department: 
a Elements Reouiaite / When Deficient. 
a. Elements Kequisite j When in Excess. 
b Ae-ents Hurtful -f Internal, requiring Antidotes. 
k \ External, requiring Disinfectants. 
3. Mechanical Department : 
a. Force Changing Position. 
b. Force Changing Locality. 
c. Force Overcoming Hindrances. 
d. Force Restoring Tissues and Organs. 
e. Force Removing Foreign or Useless Bodies. 
4. Antiparasitic Department: 
«. Animal Parasites { Entozoa. 
b. Vegetable Parasites Various kinds. 
{Mechanical. 
Chemical. 
Toxical. 
nr.—SPECIAL THERAPEUTICS: 
1. Antipathic Relationship or Principle. 
2. Allopathic “ “ ' 
3. Isopathic “ “ 
4. Homoeopathic “ “ 
a. “Similia” a Law of Nature. 
b. Materia Medica Pura. 
e. Proving of Medicines on the Healthj’. 
d. Symptomatology. 
e. Pathogenetic Posology. 
/. Therapeutic Posology. 
IV.—CONCLUSION. PREFACE. 
the system, the outlines of which I am about to present, 
I use the term Therapeutics in its original and broadest sense. 
I take it as embracing all the means and measures, all the 
facts and principles, involved in the direct or indirect removal 
of the causes, workings and products of all the health disturb- 
ances and injuries incident to mankind. In short, it covers the 
entire hygienic and curative effort of the healing art. 
1 belong to the class which cannot rest upon the supernatural, 
and feels the daily need of something more reliable and forward- 
reaching than the simply empirical. I regard the scientific as 
the only rational and promising method of Therapeutics. 
The scientific method I understand as that, which gathers 
facts by observation and experiment, exercising all care and 
skill to separate the real from the specious; and as that, which 
classifies the data thus obtained, till from them logically come 
the principles which point on before, leading the studious prac- 
titioner far in advance of his actual experience. 
I have the utmost confidence in the coining unity of all edu- 
cated and determined therapeutists, as of all educated chemists 
and astronomers, upon a basis of natural laws. The Sci ENCE OF Th ERAPEUTICS 
In Outline. 
IT is my purpose, here, to sketch the wider bound- 
aries and some of the divisions and sub-divisions, 
of what may be regarded as the science of Thera- 
peutics. 
In doing so, I shall endeavor to represent ex- 
clusively the views of no particular author; but 
rather, the results of thirty years’ study and practi- 
cal trial of the teachings of many authors brought 
into a concise, yet comprehensive, system. 
The fruits of research and discovery, accumulat- 
ing from age to age, can be the peculiar property 
of no individual, but must forever remain free to all 
who may choose to systematize or apply them in 
practice. 
The time has gone by for heaven-revealed princi- 
ples and heaven-ordained masters in the medical 
line. In place of priests, at medical altars, and dicta 
or dogmas in medical books, we now look for phy- 8 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
sicians trained by diligent study, and for principles 
logically deduced from facts. 
We recognize no canon law in medicine ; we must 
have the laws of science. 
In the progress of knowledge, concerning human 
ailments and their remedies, first came facts, isolated 
data, developed by human experience; and then 
came the groupings of data thus obtained, furnish- 
ing the elements of Pathology, or the science of 
disease, on the one hand, and of Materia Medica, or 
the knowledge of remedies, on the other. 
I'he application of remedies for the relief of suf- 
fering and preservation of life, commencing with 
single experiences, became, through the same pro- 
cess of grouping or classification, the beginning of 
the science of Therapeutics. At first the observa- 
tions regarding various diseases and injuries, were 
very meagre, embracing only the most obvious 
symptoms presented ; and so, likewise, those relat- 
ing to remedial means and measures were quite 
limited in their scope, giving only the commonest 
characteristics. 
The therapeutics, as well as the pathology and 
the materia medica, was exceedingly brief and su- 
perficial, from the fact that therapeutic art sought 
only to apply, in each case, that remedy which had 
been most efficient in a similar case. 
The comparison instituted called for no profound 
research as to the organs and tissues affected; nor THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
9 
as to the causes of the different affections: nor yet, 
again, as to the positive powers or minute effects of 
the remedial means to be employed. 
As the fruits of experience became more abun- 
dant, and their classifications more numerous and 
thorough, therapeutics grew apace, taking in more 
and more agents and influences from the different 
kingdoms of nature, and evolving one theory after 
another, and system after system, as shown in the 
history of medicine. 
My present undertaking does not allow me to 
notice the various theories and systems which have 
prevailed, at different periods, in the medical world. 
Taking the best fruits of them all, so far as they 
have survived decay and come down to us, I desire 
to bring them into some systematic shape, in order 
that they may guide our way in the science as well 
as art of healing. 
As the highest object of the medical profession 
is to employ the best means, in the most efficient 
manner, any arrangement of the principles deduced 
from medical, hygienic and surgical experiences, at 
once simple and sound, must be a desideratum of 
no small value. Much confusion has existed, and 
still exists, as to the proper places occupied by dif- 
ferent remedial measures, and as to the principles 
governing them; some writers adhering to one gen- 
eral law as sufficient for the whole domain of thera- 10 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
peutics, and others recognizing a number of laws of 
independent, if not co-equal, importance. 
Some speak of remedies indicated, and also of 
“adjuvants,” always advancing the former to a higher 
rank and degree of importance than may be con- 
ceded to the latter. File “indicated” remedies they 
propose to use under the rigid requirements of “the 
law,” while the “adjuvants” seem to come in, if at 
all. as the creatures and subjects of fancy, with no 
special laws for their guidance. 
What I desire is to assign to every principle and 
every measure its own place and share of impor- 
tance in therapeutics. 
The tendency of the medical world, influenced 
by the asperity of controversy, has unfortunately 
been to extremes in favor of certain pet ideas and 
in opposition to all others. 
Much error has thus been fostered, and many 
truths neglected. 
Systems, once discarded, have dragged into long 
forgetfulness many good things, in one way or 
another, related to them. 
It is the spirit of science, to-day, to espouse the 
cause of no theory to the entire exclusion of others, 
to engrave upon stone, as unalterable, no systems 
or creeds, but to examine the claims of all with an 
earnest desire to know the truth. 
And the philosopher, as well as honest doer, now 
stands ready, not only to examine, but also to ac- THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
11 
cept all that proves best, regardless of source. As- 
suming such an attitude, and in such a spirit, let us 
now look for the outlines of the Science of Thera- 
peutics. 
I. 
Surveying the accumulated stores of medical 
experience, we are led, at the outset, to recognize a 
well marked line running through the great field, 
having on the one side all those means and measures 
which are relied upon to relieve suffering and re- 
store health without the institution of a pathological 
condition, and, on the other, such as are employed 
“to institute those new pathological conditions which 
are most conducive to health.” 
We might, very properly, designate one side of 
the field the Physiological, and the other the Patho- 
genetic or Pathological. 
It is an obvious fact that, all the curative influ- 
ences brofight to bear upon the invalid, which are 
not disease-producing, must be governed, in great 
part at least, by the laws of physiology, the principles 
regulating the deficiency or excess of things requi- 
site in health, and dictating measures for the direct 
removal of the factors and products of disease. 
Physiology has to do with the tissue pabula and 
excitants, as well as the whole environment, of 
healthy life, for its support and protection. 
On the other hand, Pathology, and more espe- 
cially Pathogenesy, as concerned in the employment 12 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
of curative means, has to do with those influences 
which, in the language of Dr. Martyn Payne/ “sub- 
stitute one pathological state for another in the cure 
of disease,” or, as written by Hahnemann,2 “such as 
possess the power of producing in the human body 
an artificial disease.” 
But, for practical purposes, I have preferred and 
already used, in my lectures before my class in Phil 
adelphia, other and less technical names for the two 
grand divisions of the field of therapeutic practice, 
namely: 
1— General Therapeutics. 
2— Special Therapeutic.-. 
In the first division are to be found all means and 
measures of which I have just spoken, as coming, 
chiefly, under the direction of the laws of physiology; 
while in the second division are those means alone, 
which are capable of inducing affections, “artificial 
diseases,” which shall supplant those existing, and 
then, themselves, yield to the recuperative energies 
of the organism. 
II. 
GENERAL THERAPEUTICS. 
In looking over the grand divisions of the thera- 
peutic field more closely, we observe certain interior 
lines, marking sub divisions of more or less import- 
ance. 
1. Paine's Institutes, p. 665, edition 1847. 
2. Hahnemann’s Organon, p. 19, Third American edition. THE SCIENCE OE THERAPEUTICS IN O UTLINE. 
13 
In attending upon, or serving, the sick or the in- 
jured, as indicated by the term 6 ep&Ttei'xo, especially 
in the use of means not pathogenetic, we must 
recognize different kinds or classes of forces, each 
impressing and actuating the organism, or altering 
its circumstances, in ways peculiar to itself. 
One class, having a wide scope, we may term— 
1. HYGIENIC. 
This embraces agents or influences concerned in 
the support and protection of normal life, such as— 
a. Air breathed—its quality and quantity; 
b. Food eaten—its quality and quantity; 
c. Fluids drank—their quality and quantity; 
d. Clothing worn—its kind and quality; 
e. Dwelling occupied—its character and situation; 
f. Business followed—its character and influence; 
g. Habits formed—their character and tendency; 
h. District inhabited—its disease tendencies ; 
And each of these sub-divisions we find again divis- 
ible, as I will briefly indicate. 
The air breathed* The researches in physiology 
have discovered, with considerable exactitude, the 
properties of atmosphere requisite to health. The 
preponderance of one or another of its constituents 
has been found to result in disease and death ; and 
so likewise the presence in it of certain vapors and 
impalpable contagia and miasmata. Again, the tem- 
perature and weight, as well as the humidity and 14 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
electrical states of the atmosphere, have been found 
to vary the conditions of human health, and so like- 
wise its stillness and motion. The therapeutist 
must recognize all these facts and prescribe accord- 
ingly, or, as directed by the most approved hygienic 
principles relating thereto. 
The food eaten* Although the adaptability of the 
human apparatus for food digestion and assimilation 
is very great, and although in different circumstan- 
ces men may live on vegetables alone, or meats and 
animal oils alone, there are, yet, certain kinds and 
qualities of food demanded, for the best develop- 
ment and support of the human organism, which 
may not be ignored. Errors, in the selection and 
use of food, as to quality and quantity, and manner 
and times of eating, have, probably, occasioned more 
sickness than any other class of errors recognized 
in the wide domain of aetiology. The therapeutist 
who does not take notice of these, and give heed to 
the principles regulating them, is unworthy of his 
calling, however much he may know of medicines 
and their uses. 
The fluids drank* Much of human misery, as 
well as human health, depends upon the fluids im- 
bibed. Late investigations have shown quite clear- 
ly the tendency of the leading articles of drink in 
use among men—the good of some, the evil of 
many—so that beverage principles are not wanting. 
Immense good, in the restoration as well as the pre- THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
15 
servation of health, may be effected by the physician 
who recognizes and enforces these principles, in 
reference to water, tea, coffee and alcoholic stimu- 
lants among his clients. 
The clothing worn. It is well known, among those 
who observe the progress of physiological discovery, 
that the bodily condition of man is variously influ- 
enced by the color, texture and cut, as well as the 
kind and weight of clothing worn. 
The protection of the extremeties, the allowance 
of room for chest expansion, the right action of the 
abdominal viscera, and the ready transmission of 
the fluids of the body, through their channels, as 
well as the preservation of a normal temperature, 
must be provided for by the regulation of the cloth- 
ing worn, according to principles now quite well de- 
fined. 
The dwelling occupied* The search for the causes 
of sickness has led to the consideration of the mate- 
rials composing the walls and floors of dwellings, 
and their provisions for light, heat, air and drainage, 
as well as their sites and surroundings. 
The medical adviser must be prepared to consid- 
er the house of his patient, as to its probable influ- 
ence upon health, and to prescribe necessary 
changes. 
Business followed. Long observation and the 
gathering of statistics have done much to determine 
the comparative healthfulness and special tenden- 16 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
cies of the various occupations followed by mankind. 
It is the business of the therapeutist to understand 
these, and to prescribe accordingly for persons un- 
der medical care. 
A change, from one occupation to another, may 
be all that is required to restore an invalid to health. 
Habits contracted. Under the influence of various 
and, often, morbid desires, habits are contracted and 
practices followed by individuals, much to the injury 
of health. Things hurtful have thus come into daily 
use, and things proper have been greatly abused or 
sadly neglected. Irregularities have crept in till life 
has become demoralized and destroyed. Cheerful- 
ness has given way to gloom, and often the laugh of 
innocence to the moody silence of remorse or the 
shrieks of despair. 
The medical friend and adviser must observe 
these, and devise measures for their correction. 
Mental diversion for the worn-down student, 
cheerful company for the grief-ridden, and a pure 
life for the dissolute, may be of more importance 
than all the drugs in the materia medica. 
District inhabited. Local causes of sickness are 
now quite successfully studied, furnishing the geog- 
raphy of diseases, the haunts and routes of travel 
peculiar to certain epidemics, and the measures 
necessary for the protection of health in different 
localities. 
Every year more of these things are discussed in THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
17 
medical books and journals, as well as bv the public 
press. 
Hoards of health and other organizations, as well 
as numerous individuals, professional and lay, are 
investigating and publishing facts and principles 
relating to public as well as individual hygiene. 
Another class of forces, bearing upon the human 
organism, and called into use by its necessities, we 
may term the— 
2. CHEMICAL. 
This embraces all the agents employed under the 
special direction of chemical laws, such as— 
Elements requisite 
a When deficient. 
b. When in excess. 
Agents hurtful 
a. Internal, requiring antidotes. 
b. External, requiring disinfectants. 
It is hardly necessary for me to enlarge upon the 
divisions and sub-divisions of these chemical meas- 
ures and means, now generally recognized in the 
domain of domestic as well as professional thera 
peutics. 
The practitioner cannot afford to be ignorant of 
them, and especially of their proper uses, in the sup- 
port and protection of human life. 
It is not safe for him to proceed in the treatment 
of cases to which he may be called, till his diagnosis 18 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
has informed him, if the causa morbi be a poison 
within, calling for an emetic or an antidote, or a poi- 
son without, calling for disinfectants, which chemistry 
alone may be able to point out. To prescribe “mint 
tea,” an “epigastric sinapism,” or “arsenicum album,” 
in a case of poisoning by arsenious acid; or to pre- 
scribe “paregoric,” “blackberry tea,” or “croton tig,” 
where croton oil has been taken in excess, would en- 
hance the reputation of the prescriber about as 
much as would his administration of “ammonia” or 
“lachesis,” to one asphyxiated in the bottom of a 
foul well, or of “dialysed iron” or “china pills,” to 
the pauper dying of the anaemia of hunger and 
thirst. 
It is true chemists have dabbled much in things 
medicinal, putting forth remedies theoretically un- 
sound and practically worthless. They have often 
overlooked the might and cunning of the vital force, 
while dealing with the human body and its organs, 
as so many combinations of elements, subject only 
to the laws which govern in the retorts and re- 
ceivers of the laboratory. 
This is not the place to review such errors, but I 
cannot pass without admitting their existence and 
saying that, while advocating due allegiance to 
chemical laws, we must insist upon their practical 
confinement within the domain of chemistry. 
Toxicology, with its wide gleanings and its gene- 
ralizations, a great science of itself, brings to view a THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
19 
multitude of agents, antidotal as well as toxical, with 
which the therapeutist should be well acquainted. 
We pass on to mention another class of forces 
acting upon the human body and upon its surround- 
ings for the protection and restoration of health, 
which we must recognize as— 
3. MECHANICAL. 
This class embraces all such agents as bear upon 
the organism under the laws of mechanics, such as— 
a. Force capable of changing the position of the 
body, or of some of its parts ; 
b. Force capable of changing the locality or the 
relations of the body ; 
c. Force that may overcome obstructions to the 
normal action of organs and motion of fluids 
in the body; or that may be required to in- 
crease such action or quicken such motion; 
d. Force applied to reduce dislocations and frac- 
tures, to restore parts lacerated, and to cor- 
rect deformities; 
e. Force employed to remove foreign bodies from 
organs and tissues suffering on account of 
their presence; and again, to remove morbid 
growths and products, or parts of the body 
no longer fit or safe to remain. 
In the divisions and sub-divisions ot this class, we 20 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE’ 
recognize the measures and means prescribed by 
the advocates of physical exercise—the walking, the 
riding, the climbing, the gymnastics, the massage 
the health-lift, etc.—and also the means and meth- 
ods of operative and reparative surgery, in all its 
extended and useful ministry. 
This department of general therapeutics is wide 
and important, and its measures are exceedingly 
varied; yet they are all subject to the well-known 
laws of mechanics, and must be studied and directed 
from the mechanical, as well as physiological stand- 
point. 
One more class I must present before leaving the 
field of general therapeutics, the— 
4. ANTIPARASITIC. 
This class embraces all agents employed for the 
destruction or removal of the parasites which live 
upon the human body, such as— 
a. Animal Parasites. 
b. Vegetable Parasites. 
The animal parasites are distinguished as 
Epizoa, existing upon the exterior; and 
Entozoa, in the interior of the body. 
The vegetable parasites are variously distin- 
guished and classified, according to their micro- 
scopical as well as more common characteristics. THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
21 
There are cryptogams and fungi, spores and dust 
or germ-fungi, bactei'ia and micro-bacteria, etc. 
The agents employed to remove these different 
pests of humanity are many and various, brought 
largely from the classes of which I have just been 
speaking; some being— 
Mechanical, as the brush, the sponge, the scalpel, 
etc. 
Chemical as caustics, washes, ferments, etc. 
Toxical, as santonin, andira, koosso, etc. 
The medicinal treatment of parasites must be tox- 
ical, such as may sicken or kill them without seri- 
ously disturbing the body whence they are removed. 
The medication is not, then, primarily of the person 
or principal, but of the parasites, and must be gov- 
erned by rules arrived at by observation and exper- 
iment in the parasitic field, limited or modified, of 
course, to suit the liabilities and requirements of the 
human organism. 
The treatment of the conditions inviting and 
favoring the presence of parasites, calls for hygienic 
and sometimes medicinal means, under laws else- 
where considered. 
Much discussion has taken place in regard to the 
order of cause and effect in the field of parasitic 
display, some writers claiming a systemic or con- 
stitutional disorder, resulting in local decay and 
parasitic occupation, while others have placed the 22 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
parasites as cause, and the local or systemic disor- 
ders as their effects. I do not propose to enter upon 
such questions here, but it is proper for me to say 
that, the drift of modern discoveries, in such cases, 
is decidedly against the doctrine of abiogenesis, the 
generation of living organisms, cie novo, out of lifeless 
matter. The means and methods of disinfection, of 
stamping out the germs of disease, are daily coming 
more and more under the sway of recognized prin- 
ciples. 
I have now spoken of four classes of forces, or 
means, the Hygienic, the Chemical, the Mechanical, 
and the Antiparasitic, as constituting the armamen- 
tarium of General Therapeutics; but I would not be 
understood as saying that they are so distinct and 
independent that they may not act conjointly or 
modify each other’s influence, while favoring the vis 
medicatrix nature?, or even the vis medicines\ of which 
I shall speak hereafter. 
In conclusion of this part of my subject, I would 
say, that a review of the means employed in Gen- 
eral Therapeutics, which I have presented in outline, 
will reveal two noteworthy facts—first, that they arc 
of very great importance in the art of healing; and 
second, that they are all governed by certain laws. 
To the therapeutist they are not simply “adju- 
vants,” nor creatures and tools of fancy, but legiti- 
mate and reliable and necessary means for the 
defense and restoration of human health. THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
23 
Some practitioners, impressed with these facts, 
have limited their efforts to the use of one class of 
means, generally the hygienic, in the treatment of 
the sick, claiming to act upon the (absurd) principle 
“that nothing- should be used in sickness not re- 
quired in health.” 
It will be observed that. I make no mention of 
the therapeutic power claimed by persons said to 
be “healers” or “healing mediums.” 
As I have undertaken to present forces or agents, 
such .as we may grasp and direct, under the guid- 
ance of some known laws of nature—means dis- 
covered and understood by careful study, and not 
received as “spiritual gifts,” nor as the discoveries 
of “clairvoyance”—I leave that mysterious power 
tor those to discuss, who are better acquainted with 
its character, laws and uses. 
I can only say that, it would please me greatly to 
lay aside the remedies now in use, especially the 
pathogenetic, if convinced that, the healing forces, 
now coming through various forms of matter, could 
come as well, or better, at our call, from the great 
source of all power, through the human touch, or 
voice, or look. 24 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
III. 
SPECIAL THERAPEUTICS. 
I come, now, to speak of the second grand divi- 
sion of the therapeutic field, where an appeal is 
made to the vital energies by means of pathogenetic 
forces. 
I might, by numerous quotations like those already 
made from the writings of Hahnemann and Paine, 
show that the advocates of all active treatment, 
which is not specially governed by chemical, me- 
chanical, antiparasitic or hygienic principles, agree 
as to the necessary institution of an artificial path- 
ological condition, which shall lead to the extinction 
of that already existing. 
The pathogenetic action has been variously stated 
and explained by different writers, some calling it 
dynamic, or spiritual, and others vital, physiological, 
etc. Some writers1 have maintained that there is 
no such thing as medicinal force and medicinal 
action ; that drugs have medicinal properties only; 
that while they may be the cause of certain symp- 
tomatic displays, they are yet devoid of inherent 
power. 
i. William R. Dunham, M. D., Theory of Medical Science, 1876. THE SCIENCE OE THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
25 
They forget that all forces which we may employ, 
are but attributes or properties of matter, so far as 
our discernment goes, and that we can obtain no 
knowledge of them, whatever, while they are dis- 
embodied, or when simply potential. When they be- 
come actual by the presence of something to act 
upon, and when their immediate environment is fa- 
vorable, we come to a knowledge of their presence 
and are able to study them qualitatively and quan- 
titatively in the phenomena of their action. 
Whatever the theory or philosophy entertained, 
all alike recognize a disease-producing property in 
the remedy and look to the signs or symptoms it 
may develop, in one way or another, for a knowl- 
edge of its special character and tendency. 
The first step, in special therapeutics, the institu- 
tion of an artificial disease, brings up a question of 
the greatest importance, namely: 
What relation, must the new disease bear to the old, 
in order that a cure may result? 
A relationship, of some kind, there must be. 
Taking the disease, as presented in its symptoms 
and history, as the basis or standard, if we know the 
relation that the artificial affection must bear to it, 
in order that a cure may result, a faithful compari- 
son between it and the affections produced by vari- 
ous medicines, should bring us to the right remedy. 
If that relationship is to be the same in all cases, 
calling for medicines, in determining its character 26 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
we arrive at a general principle in therapeutics par- 
amount to all others 
In trigonometry, the mathematician has the same 
need of the relationship between the two sides ol 
his triancrle, when he wishes to learn the third side. 
The two sides given and the angle between them, 
he has no trouble in finding the third side. 
In looking over the means employed in medical 
practice, and the different theories entertained re- 
garding their action, we find but four possible rela- 
tionships between the affections they induce and the 
morbid conditions they are expected to remove, 
namely: 
1. The Antipathic—AvTi--aOo?—where the same 
tissues or organs are affected, but in an op- 
posite manner; the relation being one of 
direct opposition. 
2. The Allopathic—A/iuq--ao«z—where the same 
tissues or organs are affected in a different 
manner, or where other tissues or organs 
are affected in some manner; the relation 
being one of general difference or indefinite 
diversity. 
3. The Isopathic—Uu^-aOo-—where the same tis- 
sues or organs are affected in the same man- 
ner; the relation bein<r that of identicals. 
o 
4. The ‘Ot/.mo'-xaOos where the 
same tissues Or organs are affected in a like 
manner; the relation being that of similars. THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
27 
Inasmuch as the allopathic relationship includes 
the antipathic—an opposite affection being also a 
different one from the original—it is hardly neces- 
sary to preserve a distinction between them. 
1. ANTIPATHIC. 
But it may be proper to say that, while an oppo- 
site affection may, in some cases, be induced, as a 
diarrhoea for constipation, somnolence for insomnia, 
warmth for coldness, etc., such things as opposites 
to scarlatina, to yellow fever, to whooping-cough, to 
pneumonia, and a host of other familiar, yet dreaded 
affections, are not thinkable; unless, indeed, entire 
good health be the universal opposite, which it can- 
not be, since good health is the absence and not the 
opposite of any one of them. 
And the constipation, to-day removed by cathar- 
sis, becomes all the more obstinate to-morrow ; the 
sleeplessness relieved by the narcotic to-night is the 
more troublesome the night following; and the cold 
feet, made warm by the hot bath, are surely colder 
thereafter. This return of the original trouble is 
due to the reactive energies of the organism, mak- 
ing sure resistance to all abnormal forces from with- 
out, a fact generally overlooked by the people and 
the masses of medical men. 
The antipathic principle, coniraria contra its curan 
tur, is thus a law of palliation merely, and, as such, 
available to a limited extent only in special thera 
peutics. 28 
the science of therapeutics in outline. 
It cannot be claimed that all cures, effected by 
pathogenetic means are the result of opposite affec- 
tions instituted ; and hence the principle conlraria is 
not general. Nor can it be maintained that any 
cures, complete and permanent, follow efforts to 
forcibly institute opposite affections of the organs 
or tissues diseased; and hence the principle contra- 
ria is not even a limited law of cure. 
2. ALLOPATHIC. 
The possibility of instituting an artificial affection, 
different from one existing in a given case, is not 
to be doubted; but a moment’s reflection must con- 
vince us that the relationship is nothing definite, or 
useful, as a principle. 
Suppose a person were to specify the destination 
of a friend by simply saying, “he did not go to New 
York,” what would the information be worth? 
The practitioner told to employ an agent, in a 
given case, known to induce a condition of suffering 
unlike that existing, would be in a singular quandary_ 
He might render strict obedience by the exhibition 
of any one of a thousand different drugs, none of 
which had been known to induce a like condition. 
Hence, the allopathic relationship fails to be a prin- 
ciple, either general or limited, in therapeutics; nor 
can it supply a rule in medical art. 
The practice usually denominated allopathic is 
based upon a multitude of limited and ever-changing THE SCIENCE OE THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
29 
theories, and upon the individual hints of empiricism. 
Before passing on, I should mention that some 
writers have endeavored to show that, after all, the 
similar and the dissimilar are one and the same. 
Quite lately it was said — 
“ There are varying shades of difference, some of which are 
so slight as to amount to similarity, and some so great as to reach 
antagonism, which is only the greatest degree of difference; while 
similarity is merely the least or a less degree of difference.” 
This speculative view of the subject presents a 
fallacy very apparent in practice. 
Two things may be similar in some respects, and 
very dissimilar in others ; but what is contemplated 
when speaking of similar affections and dissimilar, 
is that, the totality of the symptoms or the character- 
istic features of the one case are like, or unlike, 
those of another case. There is no practical diffi- 
culty in deciding when there is such a similarity or 
dissimilarity. 
Two men can not be said to be alike because 
they are of the same height, or same weight, or 
same color merely; nor unlike because they differ 
in those particulars only. 
The relationship similar is quite definite and prac- 
tical, while that of dissimilar is exceedingly indefinite 
and unsatisfactory. 30 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
3. ISOPATHIC. 
The possibility of instituting an artificial affection, 
identical with one already existing, we must admit; 
but only in cases where the causa morbi is distinctly 
known to us, and where it is such that we can grasp 
and apply it in practice. 
A brief survey of human ailments will convince 
us that their causes, almost universally, are either 
too obscure or too intangible for our reach and em 
ployrnent as remedies. In cases of poisoning, where 
the noxious material is distinctly recognized, we 
might be able to obtain and employ it—not to cure, 
not to antidote its own effects, but to increase them. 
There can be no such general principle as that, 
all diseases may be cured by the institution of the 
same diseases, because its general application would 
be simply impossible. It might seem, however, that 
it could be a principle of limited tenure and applica- 
tion, as some affections appear to be relieved by the 
agencies causing them For example, coldness of 
feet, from standing in the snow, may be removed by 
the direct and brief application of snow ; and the 
lameness of muscles, over-exercised, may be relieved 
by their gentle use. But a proper comparison of 
the snow long enveloping the feet, clad in shoes, 
with the same article, directly and briefly applied to THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
31 
the naked feet, will reveal to us so much difference 
in the forces operating and circumstances attending, 
as to convince us that the relation between their ef- 
fects must be more that of similarity than identity. 
And so the gentle use of muscles must be con- 
sidered more similar to, than identical with, the se- 
vere or long-continued exercise which has occa- 
sioned the lameness. 
There is a kind of isopathic practice, favored by 
some who believe that, a higher attenuation, or the 
finer particles, will antidote a lower attenuation, or 
the coarser particles, of the same drug. 
Such persons seem to forget, if they have ever 
known, the fact that no attenuation of a drug is 
made up of uniform particles—that in a one-grain 
powder of the sixth trituration, for example, there 
are particles, varying in size from the smallest of 
that attenuation up to the medium, if not maximum, 
of the fifth and the medium of the fourth and mini- 
mum of the third. If, then, it be true that one at- 
tenuation antidotes another—that a medicine may 
thus directly contradict itself—in the same organ 
ism, the posology, as well as pharmacology, upon 
which the practitioner must depend, would present 
insuperable obstacles to his success. 
The futility of such isopathy must be apparent to 
all, except the votaries of that mystic dynamism be- 
fore which the methods and meters of science are 
only rank abomination. 32 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
And there is a yet worse form of isopathic theory 
and practice, favored by some who believe that, a 
disease may be removed by the use of its own pro- 
ducts. 
The absurdity of such a belief is equalled only by 
the worthlessness and obnoxiousness of the reme- 
dies to which it leads. 
4. HOMOEOPATHIC. 
It is admitted by all writers on the principles or 
theories of medicine, that many cures are effected 
by agents known to induce affections similar to 
those for which they are administered. 
This recognition of the principle expressed in the 
terms similia similibus curantur, has often appeared 
in books, essays and editorials ; but oftener still in 
the prescriptions made by all classes of physicians, 
in all parts and all ages of the world. 
From the time Hippocrates wrote—“Vomiting is 
cured by vomiting”—down through all the centu- 
ries of medical history, writers have noted the re- 
moval of diseases by remedies known to induce 
similar diseases. 
That the relation expressed by the term similar, 
between two affections of the human body, is con- 
cievable, and that it may serve as a guide in the se- 
lection of a remedy, when the affections producible 
by various remedies are known, no person, of even 
ordinary medical learning, will venture to question. THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
33 
One affection is similar to another when the 
distinctive and most constant symptoms of the one 
are like those of the other. The similarity is not 
such as to establish an identity of conditions, nor a 
perfect equality, in any sense. The practical com- 
parison, instituted, is between the exponents or 
symptoms of the disease, in the case presented for 
treatment, and those of the affections induced by the 
several agents from which a remedy is to be chosen. 
And the symptoms, to be thus compared, are not the 
subjective alone, nor the objective alone, but all of 
both, in any way and by any means discoverable. 
Upon a thorough examination it is found that, the 
relationship, similia, not only points out right reme- 
dies in a large number of cases, as universally ad- 
mitted, but that it does so in all cases susceptible 
of cure by pathogenetic means, or the institution of 
artificial affections. Aside from the use of pallia- 
tive means, sometimes requisite, especially where 
no cure is expected,— 
Similia is the General Law in Special Thera- 
peutics. 
It is not my purpose, in this sketch of outlines, to 
enter at any length upon explanations and proofs; 
but I may remark that the Homoeopathic law, at 
first regarded as a principle of limited applicability 
—as true and useful in certain cases—was dis- 
covered by Samuel Hahnemann to be of universal 34 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
tenure and applicability in that department of ther- 
apeutics which I have designated as Special. 
Looking back over accumulated medical records, 
he found that medicines, distinguished in the remo- 
val of certain well-marked diseases, had been known 
to induce similar affections when taken by persons 
in health. 
Analyzing cases with a remarkable keenness of 
perception and strictness of logic, he studied medici- 
nal forces singly and in the various mixtures of poly- 
pharmacy, as to their influence upon persons sick 
and persons well, finding few apparent and no real 
exceptions to his law of cure. 
And now, for seventy years, other practitioners, 
accepting that law as their guide, have been suc- 
cessful according to their faithful obedience to its 
demands in the treatment of the sick. 
Every visitation of such well-marked and dreaded 
diseases as Asiatic cholera, Yellow fever, Scarlet 
fever, Epidemic dysentery, and Diphtheria, in fields 
occupied by the followers of Hahnemann, has had 
the effect to increase their reputation and to mag- 
nify the law Similia. 
One who compares the history of the law of grav- 
itation with the history of this therapeutic law, will 
be struck with the many points of resemblance. 
The first suggestion, the patient research in the 
records of the past, the positive tests, the practical 
applications, the unfavorable first impression upon THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
35 
the learned, the apparent exceptions, the absurd 
opposition, and the steady progress and triumphs, 
have been quite parallel in the two cases. 
Newton said of his law— 
“What the efficient cause of these attractions is I do not here 
inquire. What I call attraction may possibly be caused by some 
impulse, or in some other way unknown to us. 
“ I have explained the phenomena of the heavens and the sea 
by the force of gravity; but the cause of gravity I have not yet 
assigned." 
Hahnemann said of his law— 
“As this therapeutic law of nature clearly manifests itself in 
every accurate experiment and research, it consequently becomes 
an established fact, however unsatisfactory may be the scientific 
theory of the manner in which it takes place. I attach no value 
whatever to any explanation that could be given on this head.” 
But in one respect there is a marked difference 
in the cases. The law of gravity had its explana- 
tions and proofs in figures, by mathematical and 
astronomical demonstrations, and so escaped such 
fanciful and absurd explanations and proofs as, 
sometimes, have been thrust upon the world, by ig- 
norant enthusiasts, in favor of the law Similia. 
But I must hasten to the close of my sketch. 
Taking the Homoeopathic principle or relation-, 
ship, as the paramount law in Special Therapeutics 
it is proper to ask—What are its requirements? 36 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
In the solution of this question we must be led 
to all the subordinate principles of special thera- 
peutic science. 
I must here make a statement, rendered neces- 
sary by the misrepresentations of many writers, who 
say, that the proper understanding and application of 
the Homoeopathic law does not require a thorough 
knowledge of Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology and 
Diagnostics. How preposterous to suppose that a 
practitioner can make a proper examination of a 
case, presented for treatment, when ignorant of the 
field and phenomena of healthy life and the changes, 
wrought by various morbific causes? 
His comparison of symptoms—morbific on the 
one hand and pathogenetic on the other—taking in 
the superficial, the coincident, and the consequent, 
without distinction, would be as likely to lead him 
astray as to a choice of the remedy required ; or, in 
other words, his similimum might be of a most in- 
ferior quality without his being aware of the fact. 
The Homoeopathic system of therapeutics re- 
quires, in its practitioners, the best medical as well 
as general culture possible to men who practice the 
healing art. 
Materia Medica Pura. 
The first requirement of the law Similia in prac- 
tical therapeutics is a Materia Medica, consisting of 
drug effects, or data, furnished by true and rigid ex- THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
37 
perimentation with the different agents to be em- 
ployed as remedies; such experimentation to be 
upon persons in health, and upon the lower animals, 
under circumstances and in ways best calculated to 
exhibit the pathogenetic character of the several 
agents fully and truly. The data, so furnished, con- 
stitute 
A Positive Symptomatology. 
And this posidve symptomatology embraces— 
1. Subjective Symptoms; or, the abnormal sensa- 
tions, emotions and thoughts of provers, male and 
female, in good health, free from counteracting or 
disturbing influences, instructed in proper modes of 
observing, locating and describing their symptoms, 
all gathered in one place, favorable for the purpose, 
under the direction and close questionings of com- 
petent instructors ; the number and character of the 
provers being such as to render them fairly repre- 
sentative of the average of the human family under 
similar influences. 
2. Objective Symptoms; or, the abnormal appear- 
ances and products of the provers under pathogen- 
etic influence, closely inspected by 
aided by all the means found useful in the study of 
similar affections in the sick, so as to determine 
their qualities and quantities, localities, times and 
peculiarities. 38 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
The drug-effects being thus obtained, the next 
important step is to have them so collated and 
published as to be at once accessible and clear. 
One publication should present— 
The Journals of the provers, their records of 
symptoms, as daily submitted to, and revised by, 
the skilled observers; together with a statement of 
the age, temperament, etc., of each proven And 
before the record of the drug symptoms, should be 
given a record of symptoms noted in the case of 
each prover for five days before the commencement 
of the drug-proving, and while under the influence 
of certain doses of a non-medicinal substance. 
Another publication should present— 
A Digest of all the symptoms in the daily records,, 
except such as occurred during the non-medicinal 
proving, or, again (the same) during the medicinal 
proving in the same person, and all such as occurred 
in the records of but one prover. 
The symptoms appearing should be arranged ac- 
cording to the topographical chart in use by all the 
provers, and in the order of their occurrence, each 
one having a numeral attached, like the powers in 
algebra, to denote in the records of how many prov- 
ers it had appeared. 
And still another publication is required as an in 
dex to symptoms: 
A Repertory, presenting together, under regional THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
39 
and qualitative headings, the several agents yield- 
ing pertinent symptoms. 
And yet a fourth form of publication is required: 
A Nosological Index, presenting together, under 
nosological headings, indicative of various affections, 
the several agents found to produce their character- 
istic symptoms. 
These publications furnish an intelligible view of 
a reliable materia medica, such as required under 
the Homoeopathic law in the practice of special 
therapeutics. 
Pathogenetic Posology. 
Before leaving the subject of materia medica, I 
must mention the leading principles relating to the 
size of dose in drug-proving. 
1. In experimenting upon the healthy human body, 
so much of the medidinal matter must be em- 
ployed as may be capable of influencing and 
changing the action of some tissue. 
2. No change of tissue action occurs without a pre- 
vious change of tissue condition. 
3. The kind or quality of change in tissue condition 
and action is governed by the quality of patho- 
genetic force employed. 
4. The degree jor extent of change in tissue condi- 
tion and action is proportioned to the amount 
of medicinal force employed. 40 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
5- The potential medicinal force of a given drug- 
mass is in proportion to the number of medi- 
cinal atoms it contains. 
6. The actual medicinal force of the same is in pro- 
portion to the number of medicinal atoms made 
superficial, or free, for contact or absorption. 
And, looking a little further, we recognize some 
other principles of importance. 
1. In experimenting upon the healthy human organ- 
ism, so little of the medicinal matter must be 
used as will act medicinally, and not mechani- 
cally, chemically or toxically. 
2. All drug matters changing the condition of living 
animal tissues by virtue of their bulk, weight 
or form, do so under the laws of Mechanics. 
3. All drug matters affecting those tissues by virtue 
of certain decomposing or combining molecular 
forces, do so under the laws of Chemistry. 
4. All drug matters affecting tissues in the lower 
animals, nearly related anatomically to man, so 
as to induce death or functional incapacity, do 
so under the laws of Toxicology; and informa- 
tion thus elicited, though comparative, is often 
of value in the extension and confirmation of 
drug pathogenesy in man. 
It is well known that, often, the same substance, 
under different tests or circumstances, displays dif- 
ferent forces or properties. THE SCIENCE OE THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
41 
Iron, for example, is at once a mechanical, a chem- 
ical, a toxical and a medicinal agent. It is the pro- 
vince of experimental inquiry to determine when, 
and how, the one kind of force may be developed 
and employed to the exclusion of the others. 
To tell where pathogenetic or medicinal action 
ends, and toxical, or chemical, or mechanical begins, 
in the case of a single substance, requires much ex- 
perimental research and care. 
Every philosopher, as well as every earnest doer 
in life, dealing with forces, whatever his views of 
their theoretical origin, or unity, or correlation, must 
practically recognize each in its own field, study it 
in its oivn phenomena, and employ it in obedience 
to its own laws. 
Therapeutic Posology. 
Advancing a step,, we find some principles relat- 
ing to the size of dose in therapeutics. 
1. In the employment of medicinal matter, under 
the Homoeopathic law, much smaller doses 
must be used than in experimentation on the 
healthy. 
2. A medicinal force,-similar in nature to the mor- 
bific, in a given case, acting upon tissues of im- 
paired powers of resistance, may be operative, 
when incapable of influencing them, at all, in a 
state of health. 42 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
3. A severe, even fatal, aggravation of disease may 
occur, when the medicinal agent employed is 
such, and used in such quantity, as to induce a 
similar affection in the healthy organism. 
4. Idiosyncracies may exist, in the sick, increasing 
the sensitiveness of tissues to medicinal influ- 
ence tenfold. 
Considering the increased susceptability to the 
homoeopathic remedy, and the possibility of an un- 
known idiosyncracy in the patient, it becomes the 
therapeutist to see that, the medicinal forces he em- 
ploys are well developed, and brought under ready 
control, so that they may be efficient in the generality 
of cases, and safe in all. 
There are yet many principles in the domain of 
Special Therapeutics, of scientific and practical im- 
portance, which the space allotted to the present 
writing will not permit me to notice. Many of them 
are shadowed forth in what I have already presented. 
It is my purpose, at a day not far distant, to ex- 
pand and fill up these outlines, so as to explain and 
enforce the system here presented. THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
43 
CONCLUSION. 
It is natural for the question to arise in the mind 
of one reading- the outlines of the broad therapeutic 
system, which I have sketched—What is the prac- 
tical teaching or end of it all ? 
I will answer:—The therapeutist is taught that, 
in the care of human health, he is to consider all 
the possible causes, as well as all the actual phenom- 
ena or symptoms of the affection, in each case pre- 
sented ; and then all the methods and means, sug- 
gested by the probable causes and discernable 
symptoms of the affection, to be removed. 
The consideration of such causes and symptoms 
will lead him to determine :— 
I. If the affection be within the domain of General 
Therapeutics, or of Special? 
II. If in the domain of General Therapeutics, in 
which of its departments ? 
i. If in the Hygienic department, in which of its 
divisions—that relating to the air breathed; 
the food eaten ; the fluids drank ; the clothing 
worn ; the dwelling occupied; the business fol- 
lowed: the habits formed; or the district in- 
habited ? 44 
THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
2. If in the Chemical department, in which di- 
vision—that relating to elements requisite, or 
to agents hurtful; elements wanting, or ele- 
ments in excess; agents calling for antidotes, 
or agents requiring disinfectants? 
3. If in the Mechanical department, in which di- 
vision— that relating to locomotion; to mas- 
sage; to gymnastics; or to surgery? 
4. If in the Antiparasitic department, in which 
division—that relating to animal or to vegeta- 
ble parasites ; to the epizoa, or the entozoa ; to 
the fungi, external, or internal ? 
If the affection is found to belong properly to one 
of these departments or divisions, the curative 
means employed must be governed by the princi- 
ples of such department or division. 
Pathogenetic or medicinal forces, addressed to the 
organism of the patient, to induce a new pathologi- 
cal condition that shall prove curative, are not to be 
employed. They are not called for, and the thera- 
peutist discharges his whole duty without them, 
III Again, if the causes and symptoms of the af- 
fection presented lead to the conclusion that it does 
not come entirely within the domain of General 
Therapeutics, that something more is required than 
its measures may accomplish, the therapeutist must 
determine— THE SCIENCE OF THERAPEUTICS IN OUTLINE. 
45 
1. If the case be one in which there is a sufficient 
reactive and recuperative power to which path- 
ogenetic forces may be addressed. 
If it be such, curative means must be sought 
in the department of Special Therapeutics, un- 
der the Homoeopathic law and its subordinates. 
2. If the case is one in which there is no such re- 
active power remaining, or in which that power 
is permanently impaired by disorganization of 
tissues, or temporarily held in check by causes 
which time alone can remove, then palliative 
means may be employed under the Antipathic 
law of Special Therapeutics, for temporary or 
partial relief. 
In fine, the teaching and end of the system sub- 
mitted is that, no therapeutist can be true to science, 
and therefore faithful to his clients, who employs the 
means of one division or department of Therapeu- 
tics, when the case in hand calls only for those 
of another; or, who makes use of pathogenetic 
agents, when the agencies of physiology alone would 
be sufficient. 
A proper understanding of the great therapeutic 
field, as mapped by these outlines, will clearly 
indicate to the practitioner when he is within the 
pale of one principle, or another, or of none at all; 
and may serve to keep him from vexatious ques- 46 
the science of therapeutics in outline. 
tions, upon which societies of medical men are “rent 
and torn,” and from the performance of some hurt- 
ful and many useless acts, in behalf of the sick. 
And it will, further, show the absurdity of the 
many insufficient and transient theories now gener- 
ally followed by medical men, in Special Therapeu- 
peutics, allowing the exhibition of remedies, from a 
Materia Medica most unreliable, in doses toxical or 
totally inert, each embracing several conflicting 
forces, or no force whatever.