Conservatism in its gelation to Jomccopatlro. 
ANNUAL ADDRESS, 
DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
MASSACHUSETTS 
HOIKEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY, 
April 10, 1867. 
By B. De GERSDORFF, M.D., 
OF SALEM. > 
lUprintc!) from tfu Sctutri’s 
CAMBRIDGE : 
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. 
1868. ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
I believe it is, at the present day, a generally acknowl- 
edged fact, that our earth is a moving body. Yet this 
has been admitted only about forty years by the learned 
body of councillors of the Holy Father of Rome, who, 
up to that time, had opposed this theory by his per- 
severing non possumus. That we, the inhabitants of 
the earth, therefore, should be allowed to move with the 
earth, one might now expect; yet what is called the 
general progress of the human race has been always 
doubted and even opposed by a certain number of 
solemn-faced men, who are constantly comparing the 
wicked and brazen world of to-day with the good old 
times, the golden ages of the past, and who reject every 
new light in science as fallacious, and every new inven- 
tion as dangerous. 
When we inquire who these bat-like obscurants, these 
conservative terrorists, are, we find, to our surprise, that 
these men, ever admirers of the past and ever fearful of 
the future, are to be found, not so much among the igno- 
rant mob or the sanguine youth, as among the very ven- 4 
erable dignitaries in the realms of knowledge, and often 
taking a high rank in the learned world, in the Church, 
and in the State. This may seem at the first aspect 
strange ; but the fact is evident, and the key to it is found 
in human nature, which is always limited, though ever 
aspiring. For error never forsakes us; but the innate 
longing for a higher state leads our souls slowly up to 
truth. The accumulated stores of knowledge of bygone 
ages may justly be considered the greatest inheritance of 
the human race. This it is which distinguishes us from 
all other creatures, and is making us gradually the mas- 
ters of the globe. Yet it cannot be denied, that these 
inherited teachings of our forefathers have themselves 
often proved impediments to human progress in later 
years. Indeed, only by throwing them aside, like old 
garments, have we, the heirs of these treasures of the 
past, been enabled to make progress in our mental cul- 
ture, and in our power over the elements. It has been 
truly said, that old laws have come down to us like 
inherited chronic diseases; so that what was our fore- 
fathers’ right becomes our privilege, and may become 
our sons’ curse. 
And as in the history of social and civil law, so 
in that of the dogmas and theories of the sciences: 
some of the greatest absurdities, which have been reli- 
giously revered and upheld for ages as great truths, have 
been exposed and annihilated in a single day, by the 
rejuvenating power of the human mind. Therefore 
we find, that superstition in religion, conservatism in 
politics, and doctrinal obstinacy in science, are always 
combated, and finally overcome, by rationalism in reli- gion, progressive radicalism in politics, and by experi- 
mental research in science. We shall understand this 
still better, when we consider that progress in civilization 
is twofold, — moral and intellectual. To be willing to per- 
form our duty, is the moral part; to know how to perform 
it, is the intellectual part. The standard of morals and 
of knowledge changes from generation to generation. 
We fondly hope and believe it is progressive, although this 
progress has been not inaptly compared to the appar- 
ently horizontal lines of an Archimedean spiral. What 
in one period of history is attacked as an extravagant 
heresy, is in another period welcomed as a sober truth; 
and, in its turn, it is replaced by some later novelty. 
Moral truths remain, on the whole, stationary; the 
great dogmas of the moral systems of the world have 
undergone very little change. In comparison with these, 
the progressive aspect of intellectual truths is great and 
often startling; and none are more startled and dis- 
turbed by this progress than the doctors of the dominant 
schools. Their eminence, their power and influence, can 
only last as long as their dogmas and theories prevail; 
therefore they dread innovation. We know that what 
men wish to be true, they are inclined to believe ; 
and to consider as improbable or impossible what they 
do not wish to believe. Most forcibly does this manifest 
itself, when the old is perishing, and the new is forming. 
Hope and cowardice are mingled with each other in the 
tenacity of faith with which we cling to the wishes of 
our hearts ; and so much do these take the place of 
reason, that the earnest desire is often mistaken for 
sober judgment. 6 
Moreover, we find that earnest persons — thoroughly 
self-convinced men — are likely to be persecutors, and 
this even from benevolent motives. “ Why,” they ex- 
claim, “ should we permit our brethren to perish? Let 
us put down false teachers by the strong hand of author- 
ity.” This world-old fallacy of all bigots is succinctly 
illustrated in the often-quoted speech of the French 
princess, who said, “ It is a little remarkable, that I only 
am always in the right.” 
Considering all this, can we wonder that human prog- 
ress is mainly opposed by the men who represent the 
governments of the State and the Church and the 
faculties of the schools ? In fact, from these arises 
the greatest enemy to progress, — the so-called pro- 
tective spirit, which, in politics, stifles all liberty, and, 
in science, all inquiry. I need not remind you„ that, 
under absolute monarchies, all progress is blighted and 
dwarfed, and that a fanatical spirit of conservatism 
has ruined countries and kingdoms. But not less evi- 
dently is this conservatism deadening all progress in the 
scientific world. Examples are numerous. The Acad- 
emy of Sciences at Paris, in the present century, when 
consulted by Napoleon I. on the subject of steamboats, 
gave the verdict: “It is a mad notion, a gross delusion, 
an absurdity ! ” Men of science, when the first specimen 
of anthracite coal from Pennsylvania was laid before 
them as a proposed fuel, expressed the opinion, that, 
in the final conflagration, this article would probably be 
the last to ignite. The same spirit persecuted the men 
of new thought, the great inventors, the men whose 
memories are cherished at the present day. It was well said, that the man who invented the telescope, and first 
saw heaven, was paid with a dungeon; and the inventor 
of the microscope, who first saw earth, died in exile, of 
starvation. 
That the history of medicine offers ample proof of the 
truth of the foregoing remarks, I think you will readily, 
admit. Indeed, its pages show such a checkered field of 
human error battling with wisdom, the blindness of igno- 
rance with the light of science, superstition and absurd 
dogmatism with common sense, that the diligent explorer 
almost despairs of finding any upward progress from cen- 
tury to century. The various absurdities of our forefathers 
in the art of healing would be ludicrous, did we not reflect 
that it was human life with which they solemnly trifled. 
Think of the times when priest and physician were rep- 
resented in one person; the times when the people 
believed in daily miracles, and when, therefore, wonder- 
workers were always found at the people’s call; the 
times when every epidemic or plague was considered a 
divine scourge and a punishment for the sins of the 
human race, and that, therefore, they were to be arrested 
only by public prayers and processions ! Think of the 
still more doleful influence which the belief in magic 
exerted on both patients and physicians; of all the 
charms, amulets, bewitched decoctions, and nostrums, 
which were devised, applied, brewed, and swallowed ; 
the times when chemistry was a secret science, and its 
few known facts were used only to deceive the multitude, 
by pretences of making gold or compounding elixirs, 
panaceas, theriacs, and quintessences for all diseases ! 
These “ hell-brotlis ” were most terrible in their real 8 
effects, when prescribed and repeated with fearful perse- 
verance by the doctors in high authority, who frightened 
all common sense out of their own and their patients’ 
minds, by their assumed knowledge of the secrets of 
nature. As to the state of surgery of those times, Aber- 
nethy’s sarcastic expression, that operations are the re- 
proach of the healing art, and that the habitual operator 
is a savage in arms, who performs by violence what a 
civilized person would accomplish by strategy,—this sar- 
casm loses all its exaggeration, as applied to those times 
when bleeding from amputation was stopped only by 
searing with red-hot iron, and when conservative surgery 
was not even dreamed of. 
By degrees, a better day dawned upon suffering hu- 
manity, and a more enlightened state of society, and 
especially a better knowledge of the laws of nature, 
brought about a better medical treatment. Scientific 
murders, secundum artem, became less frequent. But 
the great improvements in medical treatment never were 
initiated by the universities and learned bodies. They 
were forced on them by men whom they had cast out. 
They disputed and wrangled about dogmas and theories, 
and, with ridiculous jealousy, kept their knowledge 
hedged in by use of the dead languages, — a pretentious 
sham, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. Often, 
their advancement was due, not to themselves, but to 
the common sense of the people; the spirit of the age 
forced them reluctantly forward. 
This strife between the superannuated theories of the 
doctors and the common sense of the people — ready 
for any thing new, if good and practical — has always 9 
produced both evil and good effects. It has weakened 
the confidence of the people in the wisdom of their 
learned and legitimate professional advisers, and thrown 
them into the hands of impostors and quacks of all 
kinds, — from the simple shepherd, to the most fash- 
ionable specialist of to-day; but, on the other hand, it 
has acted as a wholesome stimulant upon the reluctant 
schools, and, by competition with these very men, forced 
them into progress and reform. The beginning of this 
race of impostors — travelling physicians with and with- 
out title, the quacks par excellence, the Theophrasti, 
Bombasti, Eisenbarths, &c. — probably dates very far 
back, at least to the times of the first medical schools, 
whose caricature and offset they were. And it has not 
yet died out. A natural history of this interesting genus 
— following it up through all ages, and describing all its 
varieties — would show that they flourished by the weak- 
ness and obstinacy of their superiors in authority, full as 
much as by the ignorance of the people ; and that they 
adapted themselves to their times, always with more 
common sense than ever the doctors of the universities 
did. 
Perhaps it would not be uninteresting, by way of 
comparing the past with the present, to listen to a some- 
what detailed description of some of their proceedings in 
the times of the old German Empire. I have here the 
authentic confession of one of those “ travelling physi- 
cians of the people,” such as appeared in various dis- 
guises at the public fairs, and whenever there was a 
concourse of the lower classes on festive days. An Impe- 
rial soldier, after the Thirty Years’ War, finding his occu- 10 
pation gone, and being compelled by starvation to beg 
or steal, or become a quack, chooses the latter. At 
an apothecary’s, he buys a stock of pills, eye-washes, 
mouth-gargles, and particularly a good supply of the 
then popular theriac, consisting of harmless and cheap 
ingredients. But he finds that his eloquence and his 
impudence in lying do not attract a sufficient crowd of 
credulous and willing buyers. So he procures, and places 
on his public stand, two large transparent glass jars — 
one filled with water, the other with alcohol — looking 
exactly alike. In the vessel filled with water, he puts 
an ugly-looking, black and yellow toad, considered, in 
those times, to be a poisonous and dangerous animal; 
and now he proceeds to praise lustily his theriac, as a 
good medicine for all diseases, and an antidote for all 
poisons. This article is packed in small boxes, and, in 
order to prove its efficacy, he allows one of the by- 
standers to select one; out of that he dissolves a small 
quantity in the alcohol of the other jar, saying that, if 
the poisonous creature would die by drinking of this 
solution of the theriac, that would certainly prove its 
virtue. Then, with a pair of tongs, he takes the poor 
creature from its natural element, drops it into the alco- 
hol, and closes the jar. The toad begins at once to 
contort itself in fearful agony, and in a few minutes it 
lies lifeless on its back. The hoors begin to open their 
mouths, their eyes, and their purses ; for this ocular 
demonstration is the clinching argument, and the impos- 
tor soon exhausts his supply of theriac, fills his pockets 
with money, and travels as soon as convenient to another 
place. 11 
Now, compare this coarse imposition, founded on the 
ignorance and superstition of the mob of those days, 
with the refined blandishments, the elegantly written 
puffs, the elaborate patents, the eloquence, and semblance 
of learning and sincerity, with which a medical impos- 
tor of the present day has to follow his trade, and it 
becomes evident that the world has advanced, and has 
been civilized, even, in its deceptions and impostures. 
The career of the advertising doctor of to-day is really 
wonderful, for the ingenuity exhibited in the counterfeit 
of learning, but mortifying as an example of the venality 
of the press. As an example, I will only draw your 
attention to the large number of pamphlets, and even of 
pretentious volumes, filled with spurious learning and 
false theories, on medical subjects, with which we are 
nowadays flooded ; among which I will mention only that 
of a Ur. H., and his new theory and mode of curing 
consumption, made notorious lately by a well-known case 
of libel in England, and in reference to which, not long 
ago, you might have read in the “ New-York Herald ” 
editorials and advertisements, to the effect that mortality 
by consumption, in New York, had, within some speci- 
fied period, diminished to the amount of thirty per cent, 
and that this was due, if not entirely, at least to a great 
extent, to the new system of Ur. H. We finally find 
that this system is founded on the startling scientific fact, 
that tubercles consist principally of carbon, and therefore 
inhalations of oxygen are offered as the great remedy. 
The statement is false, but the theory is plausible to the 
non-professional public. It is worthy of attention, as an 
excellent specimen of the views which are put forth by 12 
gentlemen who advertise for patients, and which are 
received by the general public with a degree of blind 
confidence that speaks more for their faith than for their 
reason and knowledge. 
But let us leave this dark page in the history of medi- 
cine, which exemplifies the weakness and wickedness of 
human nature through all ages. And we see, that, with 
the generally advancing civilization of mankind, in spite 
of the ignorance of the multitude and of the self-conceit 
and conservatism of the schools, the healing art is com- 
pelled to make progress; and this progress, we contend, 
is as much owing to the impatience of the patients, as to 
the spirit of inquiry among the doctors. And further, 
we find, that, throughout the whole history of medicine, 
the various theories of disease and cure, when once pro- 
mulgated, and acknowledged after a long contest, become 
in their turn stumbling-blocks in the way of further 
progress, until a new era for medical theories begins to 
dawn in consequence of new developments in the natu- 
ral sciences. Towards the end of the last century, these 
sciences received a new and great impetus by the co- 
operation of many great men of various nations. This, 
in turn, soon affected, directly and indirectly, not only the 
medical and other sciences, but even commerce, national 
economy, and politics. From a blind reverence for learned 
authorities, old doctrines and theories, the human mind 
turns, in this revolutionary age, towards the acknowl- 
edgment of no other authority than that of facts; so that 
at the present time no theory is much valued unless 
established by facts, and none is considered too startling 
for credence, if facts can be adduced in its support. The 13 
use of the balance, the retort, and the microscope, in 
exploring organic life, has made physiology a new sci- 
ence, as it were; which, though supposed by many to be 
the peculiar property of a few men only, belongs to the 
medical profession and to man. It will, one day, be 
recognized as the true basis of the art of living, the 
supreme lawgiver in all things that concern the welfare 
of men’s bodies in health. 
This is the goal to which it tends, though at present 
it touches practical life at few points only, and far be- 
tween. For in health, as in sickness, men as yet trust, 
in the main, to what is called experience and common 
sense. They shun the teachings of physiology and medi- 
cine, either because they have found their doctrines too 
unsteady and too obscure, or because they have from 
time to time been duped by false teachers, who passed 
off counterfeit jargon for the true coin of science. On 
the whole, it is perhaps not to be wondered at, that, in 
daily life, common sense should judge physiology and 
medicine, rather than that physiology and medicine 
should sit in judgment on common sense. It was to be 
expected, however, that physiology should exert a great 
influence on the medical world. It opens a wide and 
fertile field to the explorer of disease and its products. 
It teaches us the true processes of life, — of assimilation 
and secretion. It opens our eyes to the inconceivable 
minuteness of the powerful germs of life. Finally, it 
has created a new pathology, entirely founded on facts 
evolved by the microscopic study of the cell and its 
nucleus. 
But as much as it may have widened the horizon of 14 
knowledge of organic life in the normal and abnormal 
state, by giving to the study of pathological anatomy a 
high rank and development, yet it cannot give to the 
practical physician, called to relieve and cure suffering 
mankind, that of which he is in most need, — a law of 
cure. 
It would here lead us too far to explain the reason 
why the physiological school of medicine has failed to 
give such a law; but this we can say, thaj it is to be 
found mainly in the type of thought in the dominant 
schools of philosophy, the materialistic tendencies to 
which the physiological school inclines, seeking to get 
rid of cause altogether, and speaking of nothing but 
of effects: so that its followers, while increasing their 
knowledge of phenomena, lose their faith in the origi- 
nal cause of them all, in health and in disease, namely, 
the vital force. But, without assuming a vital force, no 
theory of life, health, or disease can be devised, and no 
law of cure can be securely based. 
Therefore, though medicine has profited in pathologi- 
cal knowledge by the physiological school, especially in 
regard to the ulterior ends and products of disease ; 
though the understanding of the true distinction between 
functional and organic diseases and their symptoms is 
hereby* advanced ; though surgery, in particular, has 
gained ground, and has met with a success formerly 
unknown, especially in removing tumors and other 
products of disease, since their nature is better under- 
stood,— yet we find little advance has been gained by 
physiology in the knowledge of the cause of disease, and 
as little in therapeutics. On the contrary, while the old 15 
formulas and prescriptions of drugs, founded on obsolete 
theories, were still in the standard text-books, the con- 
fidence in them vanished gradually out of the minds 
of the young men in the profession, until only a few old 
Bourbons in medicine remained, who would neither 
learn any thing nor forget any thing. Empiricism, with 
all its pitfalls and evil consequences, gained ground in 
the same degree. This soon became evident, also, in the 
medical literature of modern times; for, however great 
the breadth of detail, and however exhaustive the depth, 
with which all pathological subjects were treated in the 
text-books of general pathology and in the monographs 
on diseases of all kinds, it cannot be overlooked that a 
spirit of despondency has pervaded the writings of the 
most sincere and able scientific authors of the day, as 
soon as the subject of therapeutics is approached. A 
practical law of cure is felt by all to be the one thing 
needful. Physiology, while teaching us the normal 
processes of life, and giving us rules to keep the nor- 
mal state of health, fails when it attempts to derive from 
pathological knowledge rules with which to combat 
disease. 
But, in this twilight of scientific knowledge, the 
morning star of medical treatment arose on the horizon 
at the beginning of this century. Co-eval with the 
modern development of physiology, and while the new 
facts evolved by this science were eagerly sought for and 
acknowledged by the profession, the foundation of the 
greatest reform of medicine in modern times was being 
laid by the genius of a single individual. By a careful 
and ingenious mode of experimenting, he succeeded in 16 
discovering and verifying .a law of cure, which, although 
existing in nature ever since disease was allowed to 
exist, had only been slightly hinted at by former medical 
philosophers. At this crisis in the history of medicine, 
the lights which were thrown on pathology by the study 
of morbid anatomy almost dazzled the nosologist, by 
showing the stupendous variety of phenomena which 
Nature exhibits, even in her so-called abnormal action. 
Meanwhile, the use of drugs — double-edged swords at 
best—became more and more feared as their effects were 
better understood; and hence arose that new school 
among physicians, which avows its own inability by call- 
ing its chosen course “ the expectant method.” 
Now arose Samuel Hahnemann, who pronounced the 
words similia similibus curantur, — a law of cure founded 
on the theory of vital force, but not resting on that theory 
inactively. It is a law of cure eminently practical in its 
effects, directing the mind of the physician towards two 
spheres of practical knowledge and action at once. The 
one is the study of the symptoms of disease to the full 
extent that all possible knowledge of pathology and 
physiology can lead him. The other is that new science, 
now called into existence,—that of proving the effects of 
drugs on the healthy organism. This law of cure and 
method of practice can boast of having met with an 
unlimited amount of opposition, more than any previous 
theory in medicine ; and this opposition came not from 
the people, and from the sick, — for, like the gospel, the 
common people heard it gladly, — but from the high 
authorities in the medical schools. These two facts may 
perhaps be considered the best proof, according to the 17 
foregoing remarks, that homoeopathy is a reform and an 
advance in the art of healing. 
But on these considerations I cannot enter; for this 
short hour will not permit me to take up any argument 
as regards the soundness of the theory of homoe- 
opathy. Besides, I know well that all arguments 
between the supporters and the antagonists of homoe- 
opathy have been heretofore mostly inconclusive, be- 
cause, as in many other disputes on philosophy, re- 
ligion, and politics, the disputants have no common 
standing ground. If they were agreed upon any com- 
mon premises, they might compare the chains of infer- 
ence by which these premises are linked to their conclu- 
sions, and discover which was the most coherent. As it 
has been, the disputes have always so far resolved them- 
selves ultimately into dogmatic assertions, directly op- 
posed, but as incapable of decision as of reconciliation. 
Our work in medical polemics must be rather to bring 
about a reform in the art of healing, by building up a 
new science under a new law, with the convincing data 
of statistics in our hands. In course of time, we shall 
find that the old school will crumble to pieces and perish, 
as far as its theories and methods are untrue and unnat- 
ural, without further trouble from our side. 
This, then, I will only here say in judging homoeopathy 
and its present position, that, although the controversy 
about it is not ended, — nor will it be as long as the an- 
tagonists do not even recognize each other in the battle- 
smoke, — all the downright persecution, the sarcasm, the 
ridicule, intrigue, and opposition homoeopathy has met 
with at the hands of the dominant school, have not 18 
prevented it from spreading wherever patients and phy- 
sicians were to be found, so that its practitioners are 
to be numbered at present by thousands, and its patients 
by millions. For, like the luxuriant and green vegetation 
springing up on the prairies wherever the fire has raged 
before, so flourishes homoeopathy everywhere in the wake 
of the most terrible epidemics that have swept over the 
nations. Statistics of treatment of all diseases, in hospi- 
tals as well as in private practice, speak volumes in favor 
of homoeopathy, and therefore the people have judged it 
and adopted it. These are the facts of its short and suc- 
cessful outward history: the history of its inward devel- 
opment into a complete science belongs as yet to the 
future. As a science, it is still in its infancy. When it 
shall reach its manhood, it will have changed the aspect 
of all auxiliary sciences of the healing art. Meanwhile, 
the enormous work of proving the effects of all known 
drugs on the healthy organism, so incomparably well 
begun by the rare genius and self-sacrificing spirit of its 
great founder and of his first disciples, has been con- 
tinued by almost all later followers in all countries, with 
perseverance and enthusiasm. New treasures are con- 
stantly being added to our wealth of materia medica, 
while in these days, I am happy to say, a truly critical 
spirit of estimating, classifying, and sifting the gathered 
material has evinced itself. 
But the mainspring, the most active principle and 
source of power which this method of healing diseases 
possesses, and by which it insures its intrinsic vitality as 
well as its outward success, and bestows upon its follow- 
ers self-dependence and practical superiority over all who 19 
4o not follow its law, is that connecting link between man 
and nature,between patient and remedy, that ever-working 
mental process of comparison between the two series of 
phenomena, — the pathological and the therapeutical. 
For the homoeopathic physician — whether he studies 
diseases in order to find new symptoms, or whether he 
searches nature in order to find new remedies — has 
constantly that guiding idea of similarity in his mind ; 
and so much does this idea pervade all that he does and 
thinks, that it must greatly affect his studies of all the 
auxiliary branches of the medical art. Particularly is this 
the case in his study of physiology ; and I contend that 
the dividing line between that science and pathology 
will be more and more lost from view from the homoeo- 
pathic stand-point: just as there is, in nature, no marked 
line between health and disease, both being equally 
natural. Therefore we find, that the homoeopath, by his 
individualizing process of comparison, widens the sphere 
of his pathology, as well as of his materia medica, by 
abolishing the abuse of generic names of diseases in the 
cases on hand, and the abuse of clinical and empirical 
polychrests among medicines. And, while he will make 
account of symptoms which were taught to him by 
physiology, — such as constitutional tendency, sex, age, 
&c., — he will, on the other hand, correct and modify 
the teachings of physiology as regards the rules of diet 
and regimen ; for, if we find that we cannot always 
ascertain where disease begins and where healthy action 
ends, — namely, the distinctive line between the sphere 
of physiological and pathological knowledge, — we 
cannot with any more certainty draw a line between 20 
the effects of food and those of drugs on the healthy 
organism. 
But if homoeopathy exerts, on the studies of those who 
practise it, such an influence as I have described, and 
upholds and governs them with such power at the sick- 
bed, it requires also, like a jealous mistress, a very care- 
ful cultivation and special training. And this leads me 
to offer a few closing remarks on homoeopathic educa- 
tion, in doing which, I must ask you to look back once 
more. We saw, that, somewhat more than fifty years 
ago, the first promulgation of the homoeopathic theory, 
was made by Hahnemann ; and we all know how, after 
the first struggles of persecution were over, it has spread 
and gained ground more and more, until, at the present 
day, it is practised everywhere, — in all countries, by all 
classes. In Europe, kings, princes, and a great part of 
the nobility, have embraced it; feeling themselves less 
restrained by the opposing authority of the faculties than 
the middle and lower classes do. In this country, where 
there is none of that paternal interference of govern- 
ment which was exerted against its further development 
in European countries, public opinion has approved of it, 
and its numerical success is greater than anywhere else. 
Furthermore, by this time a large homoeopathic litera- 
ture has grown into existence, and filled our libraries 
with many valuable volumes. Its periodicals — monthly, 
quarterly, yearly — abound in all modern languages. 
Their earnest, sincere, and enthusiastic spirit far exceeds 
that of the like productions of the old school. The work 
of proving, also, is constantly going on with fresh vigor, 
and has revealed still further treasures in the materia 21 
medica. Finally, for more than thirty years, homoeo- 
pathic hospitals have been established, and their reports 
are before the world. These can bear the most severe 
criticism, and still surpass all others by the proportion of 
cures. Even the gaunt spectre of cholera has been forced 
to be a witness in favor of this new treatment; and its 
practical results have so impressed themselves upon the 
speculative mind of life-insurers, as to procure for homoeo- 
pathic patrons a reduction of ten per cent from the regu- 
lar premium. Yet when we ask what has been, and is 
at present, the position of the dominant (so-called) allo- 
pathic school towards it, we find, that, however homoe- 
opathy may have in an indirect way changed the practice 
of the old school, its professors are theoretically opposed 
to it to-day as much as ever. And I do not speak here 
so much of the opposition which comes from the jealousy 
of individuals in allopathic practice, — for each one has 
a right to oppose any new theory, as long as he does not 
understand and believe in it; but I speak of the anathe- 
mas which are thrown upon our devoted heads by the 
learned bodies, the faculties of the old schools and col- 
leges, when they sit in council over the medical affairs 
of the world. Instead of establishing thorough and just 
investigations, making sufficient experiments, and open- 
ing fair discussions on the subject of the new doctrine, 
these learned bodies have condemned it at the outset. 
If they have not openly persecuted and fought against it 
in later years, they have secretly intrigued against it in 
many ways, or tried to ignore it altogether. 
We will not at all question, here, whether this did any 
harm to the world at large, or to the followers of Hahne- 22 
mann specially ; although I think the latter have nothing 
to complain of as regards worldly success. But it has cer- 
tainly acted as a great impediment to the education of the 
young men in our ranks. All hospitals, endowed schools, 
and colleges, being, from former times, in the hands of 
the dominant school, a public and practical teaching 
of homoccopathy was nowhere allowed. But, in later 
years, a few hospitals and professorships have been 
opened to it, in a few places in Europe, by particular 
favor of some liberal-minded princes. It became the 
honor and the privilege of this land of progress to break 
down the old bars of conservatism in medicine ; and ho- 
moeopathic medical colleges are at least chartered and 
protected, if not endowed, by the various State govern- 
ments. Heretofore, the homoeopathic medical student, 
being compelled to study at a medical college of the old 
school, had a difficult position, indeed, to hold. lie was 
either in constant danger of becoming confused about 
his convictions, and was being lost altogether to the 
homoeopathic cause, especially if, being a good scholar, 
but young and impressible, the professors thought it 
worth their while to praise and to flatter him, and thus to 
secure his talents to their side, or he had to enact a false 
and hypocritical part, in order to receive the diploma of 
his college, while, at heart, convinced of the truth of a 
law of cure never taught there, nor even mentioned, 
except with scorn and ridicule. 
But, if he escaped all these dangers, what golden hours 
of study were irretrievably lost to the future homoeopath- 
ist, by learning many things which he never needed, and 
by learning many other things wrong ! For homoeopathy, 23 
as I said before, is an exacting and jealous mistress, who 
requires an undivided attention from her followers, and 
demands from them that the preparatory studies and 
kindred sciences should, from the beginning, be pursued 
Avith a constant view to carry out in practice the law of 
cure. Indeed, the homoeopathic student can never too 
early train himself to make experiments in proving as 
well as in curing; and he should be already a homoeo- 
path when studying his chemistry, physiology, anatomy, 
botany, and surgery. From this it follows, that Ave 
should have such teachers in these sciences, especially in 
physiology and pathology, as Avould not prejudice the 
mind of the student against the theory of vital force and 
of the homoeopathic laAv of cure; but, on the contrary, 
should, from the beginning, let these auxiliary sciences 
go hand in hand Avith the most essential of all studies, 
— the homoeopathic materia medica, as founded on the 
provings of drugs on the healthy organism. 
It Avas, therefore, Avith thankfulness and joy that I 
lately heard of our prospect of having a medical college 
in our State, Avhere homoeopathy could be freely taught, 
— here, at this centre of learning, Avhere the old school 
has held a high rank for so many years, and had its 
undisputed sAvay so long with as much thoroughness and 
scientific spirit as with exclusiveness and conservatism. 
But the higher the standard of the medical schools around 
us, the better will it be for the young plant Avhich Ave 
hope to see start into life. For the neAv college will 
have to begin modestly, but firmly, by trying, not to 
underrate the amount of learning of the old schools, its 
seniors, but to turn their accumu lated stores of knowl- 24 
edge in the best way to the use of the new theory. It 
will have to take care not to neglect surgery, by deeming 
it made unnecessary by homoeopathic practice, hut to 
make surgery more efficient by combination with homoeo- 
pathic treatment. And it will find its highest task in 
following the opened path of physiology and pathology, 
not as two distinct sciences, with the fearful and won- 
derful but unpractical results of the old school, but 
by blending their teaching so together, that every single 
organ and function shall give rise to valuable symptoms; 
and that all symptoms, from the apparently most insig- 
nificant and accidental, like the blue of the eye, to the 
most morbid and specific ulcer, — all become available 
material for the ulterior end of all its studies, namely, 
the homoeopathic cure. 
As no medical college can well exist without a cli- 
nique and hospital, I trust that we shall see our wishes 
crowned, by having those institutions joined together; 
for then only, by the right combination of theory with 
practice, shall we be able to prove to the world what we 
can cure, and then only, by fair and careful experiments 
at the sick-bed, can we settle the disputes, in our own 
ranks, about the value of each remedy, and the size of 
its dose. 
May our hopes be realized ; and, in the history of medi- 
cine, may it be seen that the Ilomoion has never become 
a stumbling-block to further progress ! Thus, perhaps, 
in times to come, even the learned men of the old facul- 
ties, like the councillors of the Holy Father, will have 
sense enough to admit that “ the world moves,” and we 
move with the world. /