HOMOEOPATHY. J ftthut BEFORE THE FACULTY AND STUDENTS MADISON -UNIVERSITY, N. Y. April, 1845. BT J. S. DOUGLAS, A. M., M. D. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST—SECOND EDITION. Milwaukee: Starrs' Printing Establishment, Juneau Block. 1854. I ty Cc7( c'-^a ■-.•. f .r ., > / f/,~#' ■ ■/;■; r, the Homoeopathic practice and the philosophy upon which it is based, and learning that the edition of a Lecture published by you, intended to give this information, is exhausted, the undersigned respectfully request th* issuing of a new edition to supply this want J. S. HEWITT, ^ D. T. BROWN, HENRY PERLEWIT7 ^ Pract;ic'no Physicians of the City of Milwaukee. J. P. GREVES, L. M. TRACY, M. W. CLARK, R. MENZIES, J. D. SPALDING, J. LOCK WOOD, R. J. PARIES, N. H. JORGENSEN, S. C. WEST, E.L. H.GARDINER, G. D. NORRIS, D. P. HULL, W. J. BELL, C. T. GILBERT, J A. D. SMITH, H. D. HULL, P. L.MOSS1N. H. H. CAMP, G. P. HEWITT, G. B. MINER, WINFIELD SMITH, W. K. WILSON, R. N. MESSINGER, G, W. MYGATT, EDWIN PALMER, :,^/ a—w? (£& .* c (,~ ■ ,« ''..47 *-'■# '.'' : -;7l -fT' s X'~> S .- «->'">• « f f. ''■'■ " ' ', "/(- "V i "CcLeC. ■4- - ^/ / - ■ 4~£A'<:'^. // V \ A -■-■••].} > ■■■- LECTURE. Gentlemen :—It is a general truth that mankind are at least sufficiently solicitous in regard to their temporal interests, and that they proportion their solicitude with considerable accuracy, to the magnitude of the inter- ests involved. But to this general truth, 1 have observed a remarkable exception for which it has been difficult satisfactorily to account. It is this: Men generally manifest much greater anxiety to ascertain the best method in use of constructing a coat or fashioning a boot, than they do the best mole of curing disease and preserving health; and take more pains to de- termine the comparative qualifications of hatters and dress-makers, than of physicians. Thus you shall see a particular disease in the liands of one physician, and under a particular treatment, almost uniformly fatal, while in the hands of another and under other treatment, it is almost never fatal. Example** of both these results shall repeatedly occur, year after year, and vet the public be perfectly unaware of the existence of such a fact. Could the constant failure of one tailor and the success of another in the cut of his coats, thus escape public observation:1 And are life and death really less conspicuous objects of observation to the public eye, than the fashion of a coat? The nearest approximation .1 have been able to make to a so- lution of this anomaly in human character, is based upon the supposition that men have been accustomed to vi^w the subject of medicine as so mys- terious and inscrutable, that an attempt to investigate any thing in relation to it would be utterly fruitless, and they have therefore blindly committed the immense interests involved, to whichever individual of the faculty, per- sonal preference, or neighborhood or popular favor chances to surest. It is well undeistood bv the profession that various qualifications, foreign to medical knowledge and acquirements, and especially the faculty of humor- ing popular prejudices, and falling in with popular orroi-s iu relation to medicine, and thus flattering the popular vanity, are much inpre influential in securing favor and patronage to the physician, than any amount of knowl- edge he iiiav acquire at "whatever labor, connected with the independent and honest expression of correct-opinions. Is it strange that this bribe of public favor to ignorance and deception should produce its legitimate results 'i There is no error greater or more dangerous than this supposed necessary ignorance of the principles of medicine, and even if true, is not a satisfac- tory Solution of the .lifficulty, for men )««// observe the comparative results of .different methods of treatment, even though they may believe them- selves incapable1 of comprehending the philosophy of those results. I re- gard, therefore, both the premises and the conclusion equally false and equally dangerous. 1 hold that it is not only the privilege but the duty of in- dividuals, associations and communities, before making a decision so mo- mentous iu its consequences as the adoption or rejection of any system of 8 medical practice, whether new or old, to which health and lite are to be committed, to institute an investigation into its pretensions and its merits— to enquire and to ascertain whether it be a philosophical or an empirical system—whether its practical applications to the cure of disease are based upon legitimate induction drawn from a sufficiently extended and minute experience, or upon a theory which is itself hypothetical and unfounded— in short, whether it be entitled to the appellation of a science or a mere art. If those who practise it, claim for it the title of a science, it is your further privilege to ask of them a scientific exposition of its principles which yon can understand; and this, notwithstanding the plea that the mysteries of the science of medicine can only be explained to the comprehension ot medical men. This plea should not avail; for however difficult it may U to explain the principles of an art to one not experienced in it, an inexpli- cable science is a contradiction in terms. If this exposition is withheld upon this or any other plea, it is your further privilege, as well as your intercut, to reject it. It is in the exercise of this right that you have asked of me such an exposition of the system which I have adopted, and into which you pro- pose, in the true spirit of philosophy, to institute an inquiry. Regarding it as your right to require, 1 must of course regard it as my correlative duty, as it, certainly is my pleasure, to accede to this requisition, to lay before a body of young men, devoted to scientific investigations, the claims ot a system of medicine to the title of a science. It seems to me a highly appropriate subject in a highly appropriate place, though I am perfectly aware of the fact, that popular lectures on the subject of medicine are deemed by many inappropriate anywhere. With the views which have too generally and too long prevailed on the mysterious character of the science of medicine, such queries as the following arc perfectly natural: What have the non-professional to do with, and how can they be. expect- ed to undeistand and appreciate and become interested in so complicated, obscure and occult a science as that of medicine—a science, about which, no two of its professors even agree—a science of which there have been more than two hundred general and distinct theories, not one of which sur- vives, (the Homoeopathic alone excepted.) that ca*n boast an antiquity of half or even a quarter of a century ? How prepo.' tenuis, then, to expect to impart information or interest to a non-professional audience, upon a sub- ject which the universal disagreement of its profoundest professors proves to be understood by none of them ! I say, with the views which have been entertained on the mysteriousness of medicine, such queries are perfectly natural, and such, in substance, have been raised in this community, within the two or three days since this "lecture was announced. We reply to them, that if the principles of a so called science of medicine cannot be explained to the comprehension of a scientific mind of ordinary powers, and made interesting to such a mind, then no further proof is needed that it is no science. For if it be a science, it has its laws—its fixed principles; and these laws, are brought together and known by those who have examined them—they are capable of being made known to others, and like all the laws of nature, are necessarily interesting. Are not the laws of Chemistry, of Astronomy, of Botany, of Optics, and of the entire range of natura^ 9 sciences, proper subjects for popular lectures and capable of being understood and appreciated by the popular mind? But the science of medicine, if a science at all, is but a branch of natural science, and does not constitute, in this respect, a solitary exception. If, then, the apprehension and contem- plation of great principles in natural science, which have not been before apprehended and contemplated by you, be of any interest, we .venture to believe that the subject before us cannot be destitute of interest to you, re- garded in a merely scientific aspect. But when we superadd to this view of it, the fact that the laws which control the vital principle in man,.and the laws which govern the action of remedies and of all unnatural agencies upon that vital principle, are intimately connected with our personal and individual well-being, with our physical", and by consequence, our mental comfort and efficiency, with health and life itself, it cannot be wanting in the most intense, interest to every mind possessing the smallest endowment of philanthropy, or even of selfishness itself. My only fears that it may not prove interesting to you on this occasion, are based, not upon any mis- givings as to the inherent interest of the subject itself, but a justly appre- hended imperfection in the manner of its presentation. It is my design on this occasion, as far as time and ability will permit, to present the distinguishing, the peculiar principles of the Homoeopathic sys- tem of medicine". In doing this, I shall be obliged, not_ for the sake of invidious comparisons, but for purposes of necessary illustration, to compare these principles with the prevalent or Allopathic schools. In introducing a professedly improved system in the room of another, it is a very natural course to allude to the deficiencies in that other which it is proposed to supply. _ We therefore remark here, that in all former or existing schools of medicine, , the practical application of medicine to disease, has been under the guidance Uf no fixed laws. Hence the familiar fact, that when a new epidemic has "prevailed, it has always been for some time exceedingly fatal. HaviDg no great law'to guide us'at once to a correct treatment, we could only employ imch distant' analogies as we could command, and commence a course of experimenting, trying one remedy after another, (of course at the expense of our patients,) until we at last approximated more or less nearly to a satis- factory treatment. How familiar is the remark, that such a disease was extremely fatal until physicians came, at last, to understand it The epi- demic of 1812, the ever varying forms of scarlet fever and the Asiatic Cholera furnish but too conspicuous and melancholly examples. In the last disease, physicians of the old school have not yet made an^approximation to anything that can be called success. The history of medicine is a history of theories, succeeding and sup- planting each other in rapid succession—so rapid that there is no one now in existence, acknowledged by any respectable portion of the medical world, (the Homoeopathic excepted,) of twenty-five years old. Let this be remem- b3red by those who, fearing to trust the new theory of Homoeopathy, place their ill-founded confidence in another not half as old. It may be well to take a hasty glance at one or two prominent theories to illustrate the char- acter of medical theorizing,*and to show on what uncertain, false and decep- tive grounds systems of medical practice are founded. The famous theory of the error loci is one of those. It was founded upon the discovery of 10 globules in the blood, which, like almost every discovery in anatomy, physi- ology or chemistry, was at once seized upon as the basis of a splendid theory. It was assumed that the various sizes of the globules were adapt- ed to'the various dimensions of the divisions and subdivisions of the blood vessels in which they were to circulate, and that disease was produced by an error loci; that is, the larger globules strayed into vessels of too small a calibre for their accommodation, and thus obstructed the circulation; or, on the other hand, the smaller globules found their way into the larger vessels, where, resistance being diminished, the circulation was dangerously accelera- ted. If the blood became too thick by an undue preponderance of its globular portions, one of these states ensued, if too thin, the other. Hence, the search became urgent, in the one case for medicines supposed to possess the property 'pi' thinning the blood, called diluents, an 1 in the othei for those supposed to possess the property of thickening itt called inspissants. The all important question in every case of disease was, whether it arose from the blood being too thick, or too thin, and then one or the other of these classes of remedies was in requisition accordingly. It is to be remarked that the supposed diluant and inspissant properties of these two classes of remedies was as purely hypothetical as every previous step in the theory, no such properties being proved to be possessed by them as were attributed to them, the only fact on which the whole theory rested, being the existence of globules in the blood. Traces of this theory are still visible in prevalent notions, and even in medical practice. Another theory of great authority and prevalence, supposed disease to be the product of an accumulation of vitiated and unhealthy secretions in the various cavities of the body, which must therefore, by all means be removed—from the blood vessels by bleeding, from the stomach and bowels by emetics and cathartics, &c. This theory is not now generally acknowl- edged by the profession, but it continues to exert a powerful and widely extended influence on the popular mind, and even on the mind and practice of the profession. The stomach and bowels enjoy the enviable pre-eminence of being the principal depositories of these vitiated secretions. Hence we so often hear complaints of foul stomachs and pressing demands for emetics and cathar- tics; and hence physicians continue to sanction the popular error by giving emetics and cathartics in every form of disease. No patient can be attack- ed with fever, influenza, head-ache, rheumatism or consumption without a foul stomach, which is t.") be drenched with irritating emetics and cathartics. A few physicians appeal to the old theory as the reason for this practice, and suppose they are thus directly attacking the cause of disease, and-among the rem inder, some "assign one reason, some another, and not a few at- tempting no reason at all, except the authority of books, and the fashion. The practice resulting from this theory is of such universal authority and prevalence, we may, perhaps, be excused for devoting a moment "to an illustration of its fallacy. Suppose, gentlemen, that one of you were to apply to me with a cold in the head, attended with a copious" secretion of f mucous from the nostrils and wish me to prescribe for you. I address you thus with due professional gravity: " Sir,'your nose is foul, you have' an a, cumulation of vitiated secretions in the nostrils. It is indispensible that 11 this be evacuated. I advise you to blow your nose." You answer that you have done this every five minutes for the last twenty-four hours, but experience no improvement, and enquire what shall be done next? I reply, " This cause of your disease must first be removed—blow your nose as often as this accumulation takes place, until this is effected, then we will do* something further." This prescription, I perceive, excites a smile. Why should it? I ask in all seriousness. It is but acting upon, and carrying out a principle with which we have all been familiar from our earliest childhood. It is just as amusing to hear a physician say to his patient, " Your stomach is'foul—take an emetic, or a cathartic," as to hear him say, "your nose is foul, blow it." It will puzzle you or your physician to give a more philosophical reason for the practice in one case than in the other, for it is equally true of these and all similar cases, that these secretions are not the cause, but the product of disease, and the mere removal of this con- tinually recurring product can have no effect in removing the disease wdiich produces it, any more than emptying the waters of a reservoir can dry up the fountain that supplies it. Among prevailing medical theories, one supposes all fevers to arise from inflammation of tluTbrain, another of the stomach, another of the spleen, an- other of the arteries. &c. One supposes fever to be the product of local inflammation, anotherthat the local inflammation is the product of the fever. The theories in regard to individual diseases, their nature and treatment. are innumerable. ' There are at least twenty of delirium tremens. There are no less than one hundred of fevers, and an equal number of cholera. But in the most important and only practical particular, all these dashing and contradictory theories agree. They are all directed in the application of med- icine to disease by no higher or surer guide, than disconnected and insulated experiments at the bedside, or pure hypothesis. The best roason,_ perhaps, which a practitioner of these schools can assign for a given prescription is, that he has seen or known of its being beneficial in similar cases. But as no two cases of disease are ever alike in all their circumstances, we can scarcely speak of our experience in any given case, as we have, never wit- nessed'one which was in all respects like \x. Experience here is but analo- gy at best, and in all new cases of disease, analogy extremely loose and, vague. If there be any apparent exception to the remark that there are in'the Allopathic schools no fixed laws controlling the application of medi-, cine—if there be any approach to such a law, it consists in giving such ar- ticles of medicine as* are supposed to be opposite in their effects to the dis- ease to be treated. Thus if the patient is too hot, cooling remedies, called v.-frigerents are administered—if too cold, heating stimulants are applied. If he is weak, supposed strengthening remedies, called tonics are given. If the stomach is sour, soda or other alkalies, are prescribed. Diarrhoea is sought to be counteracted bv opiates and astringents and constipation by laxatives. But this method of curing by contraries, expressed by the phrase "contraria contrariis an'antur,v could never be reduced to a law, for it did not fail to be observed that this mode of treating disease was generally but transient in its effect, leaving the system in a worse permanent condition than before, with the disease permanently aggravated. Thus a cathartic to remove constipation, generally left the patient more constipated—bleed- 12 ing rendered a repetition the more .necessary, and repeated repetitions placed him in a condition in which, apparently, he could not exist without it. But again, this practice could not be reduced to a law, because we were presented with the puzzling fact, and it has greatly puzzled physicians m all ages, that medicines frequently effected their most prompt, permanent and surprising cures, on a precisely opposite principle, viz: that ••like cures like:'— Thus it was observed that instead of cooling a burn with cold wa- ter, as the first rule would require, it was much more speedily and effectu- ally cured by heating stimulants, as turpentine or alcohol, or even by hold- ing it to the fire. Diarrhea was more effectually treated by small doses; of laxatives than by opiates and astringents. Much more permanent warmth was given to the extremities by rubbing them in snow or plunging them in cold water than by a warm foot bath." A sour stomach was more effectu- ally treated by small doses of sulphuric acid, one of the sourest things in nature, than by soda. Two laws thus in diametric opposition to each other, could not, of course, be both true. Thus all the opposing theories of th« Allopathic schools converge to a common point of doubt and uncertainty. If I might be allowed the apparent egotism of a reference to my own ex- perience, I would sav that during twenty years study and practice of thesti systems. 1 have felt the truth of this uncertainty most painfully. Having a clear perception of the hypothetical and uncertain character of all prevail- ing systems of practice, I have felt like one iu search of truth indispensibk to the proper discharge of the fearful responsibilities, which crowd upon on« who takes the health and life of others in his hands—truth which my rea- son taught me must exist in the established laws of nature, but which I could no where find. Besides an anxious examination of the hypotheses of the so-called orthodox schools, I have not considered an examination of the Thompsoninn and Botanical systems and mesmerism as compromising the dignity of a searcher after truth. And though in all these there is mom or less developed that is curious or wonderful, or in various ways useful, yet none of them supply the great practical desideratum—general and fixed principles on which we can depend iu our fearful position at the bedside of those who are looking to us for the preservation of life and a restoration to health. With these results before me I have often said to my brother prac- titioners that all the systems of medicine extant appeared to me to consti- tute but one great system of learned empiricism. In an address before tin* Medical Society of this county I ventured to-express the opinion, that medi- cine, in its present state, could prefer no just claims to the appellation of a science.* A science implies a collection and knowledge of the great princi- ples or laws which relate to a given subject. The science of astronomy sup- poses a collection and knowledge of the laws which govern the motions of the heavenly bodies. They enable us to foresee what will take place among ■ In tbis view I am abundantly sustained by many of the brightest luminaries of the profession. Bichat, the father of pathology, says: "There is not, in the Materia Medica, any general system; but this science has been by turns, influenced by those who have ruled in medicine"—"hence the vagueness, the uncertainty which now present themselves. The incoherent assemblage of opinions themselves incoherent, it is perhaps, of all sciences the best representation of the caprices of the human mind! What do I »ay? It is not a science for a methodic mind: it is a shapeless assem- blage of inexact ideas; of observations often puerile, of deceitful means, of formu- 13 those bodies at a given future period—to foretell their future course and lo- calities, and thus to predict an eclipse or the return of a comet. A science of medicine would suppose a knowledge of laws governing the action of remedies, which would enable us to determine that action under given cir- cumstances. If a new and unheard of disease presents itself, the science of medicine, if it be a science, should enable the physician to select and apply the appropriate remedy and confidently predict its effects. But such a law is unknown in any of the Allopathic schools of medicine, and it was the painfully conscious want of it that induced the venerable Dr. Parr to retire from the profession, assigning as a reason that he was "tired of guess- ing." Such a law, however, exists, and it was reserved for the immortal Hah- nemann to discover and apply it to the cure of disease. On reading the great work of Hahnemann in which this law is stated, illustrated and prov- ed, I felt for the first time during my twenty years search for a fixed, prac- tical law in medicine, as thousands of others have felt, like exclaiming somewhat in the exulting spirit of its original utterance, "I've found it,— I've found it!" The law may be thus stated: •'■Every medicine acts as the appropriate and specific remedy fur a disease, attended with an assemblage of symptoms closely resembling those which the same iiiedicines produce in the healthy subject,'"' It is expressed by the phrase, ".veW&a similibus cura.ntur'1'1—"like Hires like," in direct opposition to the old doctrine, ■■rordraria contrariis curqntur." To render this law perfectly plain by a single example: spirits of turpentine applied to the sound skin, pioluces heat, redness, pain and inflammation closely resembling a burn: it should, therefore, be an appro- priate application for the cure of a burn. All experience proves this to be the fact. Hahnemann, with powers of mind of a very uncommon order, and buy- ing been highly educated for the medical profession, soon became, as many men of sense have, disappointed and dissatisfied with the uncertainties of medical practice.* Possessing remarkable powers of observation, and with a highly logical and inductive as well cultivated intellect, a fact hitherto un- noticed, but to him remarkable, attracted his attention. While translating Cullin's Materia Medica into German, he was struck by some bold-suppositions of this author about the Peruvian Bark, and, in order to refute them, he resol- ved to prove this drug on Iiimself. But what was his surprise when he felt himself affected by the same symptoms wdiich he had had the opportunity to observe, so many times in Lower Hungary during the prevalence of the Ague. In short, the bark which was used as the universal remedy for the Ague, had produced an ague in him. In this first proving, to use his own las as absurdly conceived as they are fastidiously collected." The same idea is ex- pressed more quaintly and keenly by D'Alembert. "The physician being truly a blind man armed with a club, who, a 3 chance directs, the weight of the blow will ba certain of annihilating either nature or the disease." A present distinguished medical lectuier in London, does not hesitate publicly to declare the whole machinery of existing medical doctrii.es a sheerhumbug. "Gen- tlemen/' says he, ' you now see the correctness of the late Dr. Gregory, that medi- cal doctrines are little better than ' stark staring absurdities." A volume might be filled with similar sentiments from the highest authorities. *The venerable Hahnemann is flippantly spoken of as an insigr.ificant quack by 14 words, "there dawned to me the first ray of that method of curing, which soon was brightened into the most splendid day." On examining the records of medicine, he found the writings of others to confirm his own observation. He. found that medical writers had recor- ded oppression of the stomach, vomiting and diarrhoea, indigestion, debili- ty and jaundice among the effects produced by the Bark, and yet that this was precisely the combination of symptoms for the cure of which, the high- est authorities recommended and all employed the Bark with success. Here was a strange fact which could not escape the observant eye and the logical scrutiny of Hahnemann. He pondered and (pieried. The samu article produced in the healthy oppression of the stomach and indigestion, and cured them in the sick—produced great prostration of strength and res- tored to strength, those who were debilitated by disease—produced jaun- dice and cured it. He asked himself: ''.Is this an anomaly in medicine ? or do other articles act on this same principle '7 He employed his own unri- valled powers of observation and his almost boundless reading to collect facts on this subject. The results produced astonishment which every day's in- vestigation 'increased. He found the Bark far from being a solitary example. On the other hand, he found an example of the same law in almost every med- icine, in the works of almost every medical author in every age, though not one of these authors, probably, had ever dreamed of the existence of the law of which they had furnished'so many examples. The following exam- ples will illustrate the character of these facts. He found from the medical records of that period, that the sweating sickness in England in the 15th / century, carried off about ninety-nine out of every hundred attacked with it, until physicians, in the process of experimenting, resorted to the use of diaphoretics, that is sweating medicines, after which scarcely a patient died. Strange indeed, that a disease, the prominent feature of which is, that the patient is sweating to death, should be speedily cured by giving him medi- cines to make him sweat. Tobacco, every one knows, produces giddiness, nausea, anxiet)', trembling, and prostration, yet he found that the physicians, when attacked with this train of symptoms, while attending the victims of a peculiar epidemic ii: Holland, promptly relieved themselves by smoking. upstarts in medicine and even by-older members of the profession, as ignorant of his doctrines and the depth of his knowledge as they are of lunar botany. Not so with those who enjoyed tho pleasure and the honor of his acquaintance or an acquaintance with his writings. Hear the testimony of Dr. Valentine Mott of New York, the boast and glory of American Surgery. During his tour in Europe, he visited and formed an acquaintance with him. He says of him: "Hahnemann is one of the most accom- plished and scientific physicians of the present age." Hufeland, the patriarch of German medicine, in his celebrated Medical Journal, bearsJbe folloAving testimony; -'Homoopathy is advancing in importance, and i l author is a man to whom we mud concede our respect." Kopp, a very celebrated physician and elaborate writer on legal and practical medicine, thus speaks: "Whoever has traced Hahnemann's career with a critical eye whether as an author, teacher, or founder and master of a new school, must be struck wiih his genius for investigation, originality of reflection and gigantic powers of mind." "His researches respecting the specific virtue of medicines and the a- mountof suscepibtihty in the human organization to their impression are of imper- ishable imprrtance to our art." We might multiply similar quotations to anv a- mnunt. How ridiculous to hear small men in the profession, applv to such i man the epithet of quack! i r ., • 15 Medical writers had recorded attacks of epilepsy with 'tremors and con- vulsions produced on the inhabitants of Kamtschatka by the use of the Agaricus muscarius, a species of mushroom, while other writers had record- edexamphs of epilepsy, attended with similar tremors and convulsions, cured by the same article. i The oil of anise had been used for centuries to cure pain of the stomach and colic, but the examples were numerous in medical writers, of the oil of anise producing pain of the stomach and colic. He found high authorities recommending, from their own observation, the us'-, of Jalap and Senna to cure griping and pain of the stomach and bowels; but no fact is better known than that both these articles are extremely apt to produce these very symptoms, and hence the domestic practice of combining anise seed with them to prevent these effects. One writer had published an account of the Solanuin nigrum, taken by mistake, producing enormous dropsy of the whollTlwdy, while two physi- cians wore publishing cases of the cure of dropsy by the same article. He found, on equally good and equally numerous authorities, that Stra- monium produced and cured, delirium, convulsions and chorea. While some physicians had seen Hyosciamus produce convulsions resem-/ bling epilepsy, as manv more had attested the cure of such convulsions with it. The same article had been seen to produce a certain variety ot mental deraiv.emcnt, and just this variety of derangement had been foe-1 nuently curecf by it, while it had failed to cure other varieties. One of the most marked effects of the same article, as often observed, was a spas- modic constriction of the throat, so as to prevent swallowing; but the celebrated Dr. Withering, having such a case of constriction of the throat to\reat, could make no impression on it, till he gave the Hyosciamus, which speedily cured it. . He found, among the acknowledged effects of the free use ot JNitnc Acid, salivation and ulceration of the mouth, while the same article was Generally recommended for the cure of mercurial salivation and ulceration. & Tea produces, in those not accustomed to its use, anxiety, trembling and palpitation of the heart: vet every ladv knows that a moderate quantity of tea, is an excellent remedv for these very symptoms. These few exam- ples will serve to indicate the character of the facts which Hahnemann s readme- and observation daily accumulated, until he found that, what wa* true of the Bark was equally true of every medicine whose action he had been able accurately to ascertain by reading or observation. These, facte had at leno-th become as numerous as the medicines whose effects had been at all minutely detailed, and as numerous as their various applications, and they were all but so many examples and proofs of the law, "simiha simih- bvx curantur" not an exception to which he had yet been able to find. This would have been sufficient, and more than sufficient to satisfy any man who had ever constructed a medical theory. Not so with Hahne- mann. His logical mind had already become thoroughly disgusted with the universal prevalence of theories based upon insufficient facts or undis- ouised hypothesis. These facts, numerous as they were, were not sufhcient- \y numerous to justify his rigidly inductive and truth-loving mind in inducino- from them the universality of the law. In order for him to be 16 satisfied of the universality of the truth, that medicines cure in the sick, the symptoms which thev produce in the healthy, it was necessary fur him to know precisely what'symptoms they were capable of exciting in the healthy. But here he, with the whole medical world, was sadly at fault. Physicians had not been accustomed to give medicines to the healthy. No experiments had ever been instituted for the purpose of arriving at'this knowledge. Hitherto, the effects of medicines had only been observed in occasional cases of poisoning, or when medicinal substances had been taken by mistake, or when given"to the sick. In the two former cases the in- stances had been too unfrequent and too loosely observed to be essentially useful. The latter must be a very imperfect method of ascertaining the effects of medicine, since it is impossible to distinguish the effects produced by the medicine from those produced by the disease. Be- sides, medicines were then, even more seldom than now, given singly, but in compounds of two, three, half a dozen or dozen articles combined together. In all these cases it is manifestly impossible to distinguish the effects produced by each of these ingredients' in the compound, mingled, modified and counteracted as they are by each other. Such was the meagre knowledge of the properties of medicines possessed by the medical world but about half a century ago. In order, then, to arrive with certainty, at the truth of the Homoeopathic law, it was indispensible to prosecute a long series of original and difficult experiments. It was necessary that persons should take, in succession, each of the remedies to be employed in medicine, until it should produce all the effects which it was capable of producing, compatible with safety. But the establishment of this great law of medicine, if true, was of inconceivable importance. It would, at once, convert the Art of medicine into a Science—endless conjecture into certainty. In view of its importance, the great heart, the philan- thropic spirit, the truth-loving in;ellect of Hahnemann did not hesitate. He rtsolved to become, himself, the subject of experiment, and to offer himself, if need be, a sacrifice upon the altar of truth, of science and of humanity. AY itli an insatiable thirst for certain knowledge, an unconquera- ble love of truth, and a self-sacrificing devotion to the interests of mankind never surpassed, he commenced administering medicines to himself,' ob- serving a rigid system of regimen, removing'himself from all influences which could interfere with their action, and' noting, with great exactness, all their effects.^ To his great relief, he was soon afterwards joined by several other highly scientific members of the profession and 'numerous pupils, who each, with thdr families, became the subject of experiment. h-ach of the medicines was given to persons of different ages, sexes and temperaments, until it had produced all the effects which it was capable of producing compatible with the safety of the subject, and all these effects were carefully recorded in the order of their production. All the proper- ties ot some two hundred articles of medicine were thus minutely ascer- tained under the scrutinizing eye of Hahnemann himself. Similar experiments have since been incessantly prosecuted by Homoeopathic physi- cians, to the present time, and thus the Materia MediJa continually enlarged. xni, process of experiment, even by the admission of the most learned Ind canaia ot the Allopathic schools, was the first reliable foundation that wa* IT ever laid for a correct Materia Medica--fora work containing a true record of the properties, and all the properties of the medicines of which it treats. There was now an opportunity to test the universality of the truth of the Homu-opathic law. It now only remained in the treatment of disease, to sebct and apply such medicines as had been found, by former experiments, to produce the same group of symptoms and in the same order as those presented by the disease to be cured. If, in curable diseases, these reme- dies, thus applied, always produced prompt and permanent cures, then this law of the action of remedies would be established. It must suffice to say, that Hahnemann's absolutely enormous practice—a practice perhaps exceeding in amount, that of any man in any age, and its amazingly suc- cessful results for more than half a century, fully satisfied even his perhaps over-scrupulous mind, and dissipated every doubt of the universality of the great law " similia similibus curantur,,--of the final establishment of a principle upon which the physician could rely instead of spending his life in guessing and experimenting at the expense of his patients. The only thing in which Hahnemann hesitated was in publishing the results of his experiments to the world. In answer to the earnest entreaties of Doctor Guenther, one of his early friends, not to keep from the world the benefits of his discoveries, he used to reply: uMy dear friend, you do not know what nest of wasps I shall stir thereby. The physicians will kill me." The same test has equally satisfied thousands of. the most gifted minds in Europe and America, who have been converted to this doctrine from the Allopathic schools. Every day in the life of every Homoeopathic practi- tioner, adds new and delightful confirmation to this truth. Not an ex- ception has yet been found in relation to any article that has yet been employed in medicine. We claim, then, that no natural law is established by a more legitimate and unquestionable induction. With as much pro- priety might it be demanded of us, that we should elevate every individual ponderous body from the surface of the earth, to see if it will fall again, be- fore we admit the truth of the law of gravitation, as that we should delay induction of the truth of the Homoeopathic law until it shall be tested by experiments with every medicinal substance that may hereafter be discov- ered. But I am fully sensible, from the experience of my own incredulity, of the difficulty of admitting it even after it is philosophically established, It is in such direct opposition to all our educational notions of the action of remedies ! How preposterous to cure vomiting by giving emetics, and a burn by applying heating stimulants! But let us familiarize ourselves a little with the principle, inquire into its rationale, and see, if upon further acquaintance, it does not commend itself to our approval, by conforming to our common sense and experience. We shall find that this law of "similia similibus," is founded upon, and necessarily grows out of, a law of vitality—a law regulating the vital princi- ple. It is necessary that we become acquainted with the modus operandi of this vital principle. Let us in this, as in all other cases of science, question nature. My hands are of a low temperature, and I plunge them into cold water or rub them in snow. What is the result ? In a short time they are glowing with warmth. Is this result a freak of nature—an anomaly ? 18 or is it an example of a law in nature, like all her laws, universal and inva- riable ? Let us learn, if we have not yet learned, that nature has no freaks —no auomolhs. This result is but an example of a law of vital re-action which it shall be our aim briefly to illustrate. The law may be thus stated: " Whenever any agent having the power to excite an unnatural action in the svstem, is so applied as to be felt, the vital principle is excited to oppo- its effects, and to produce a state the opposite of that which this agent tends to produce." This vital re-action against unnatural agencies, (and all medicines arc of course such,) invariably manifests itself, unless the power of the agency is so great as to overpower vital re-action altogether. Thus when I nib my hands, though already cold, in snow, by this law the vital principle re-acts against it, and endeavors to produce a state the opposite of that which the snow tends to produce; and it is so successful in this at- tempt that it not only overcomes the influence of the cold which I have applied, but it has acquired such an impetus in consequence of being lallied by the additional cold, that it overcomes that which previously existed, aiid my hands, in spite of this double opposition, become hot. Take an opposite example. I burn my hand. It is now hot, red, inflamed and painful. On the principle of the prevalent schools of medicine, ("contra- ria contrariis," Are.) I shall apply cold. And what would be the effect- Why, the heat and pain would be alleviated for a sheet time, but the vital principle is aroused in opposition to it, and it soon becomes more red, hot and painful than ever. Hence, experience;, without a knowledge of the principle, has (aught the profession that cold to a burn, though a comforta- ble temporary palliative, is a bad curative. But let us adopt an opposite treatment, and apply a highly heating stimulant, such as spirits of turpen- \ tine or alcohol. The vital principle re-acts against this also, and endeavors 1 to produce a state the opposite of that which this application tends to produce. It succeeds in this, and in a short time the heat, pain and in- 'flammation subside and a comfortable coolness comes on, in spite of the heat of the burn and the additional heat applied. Take other and varied examples. A man takes a glass of brandy. Its tendency is to produce increased strength, activity and vivacity of mind andbody. But there is a vital principle within which will certtinly re-act against it, and overcome it, and establish a state directly the reverse of it, and a few hours afterwards, we shall find this man weak, languid and in- active. _ A man is over-heated upon wine. The next day he shivers upon the slightest exposure to cold air. Strong coffee stimulates the faculties to unnatural activity, but it leaves behind a sensation of heaviness and drow- siness. A rest less patient is put to sleep on opium, but on the following night he is more restless and sleepless than before. A patient takes a laxative to relieve constipation; after its action constipation is increased. But we can only dwell on these examples sufficiently to illustrate the prin- ciple. Examples might be adduced as numerous as medicines and their applications. I have selected these few from their familiarity to those who have not made medicine a study. But a sufficiently extended exami- nation will show the principle to be universal. It is to this re-active / 19 principle that the Homceopathist addresses all his prescriptions, while the Allopathist acts on a directly opposite principle, depending on the primary effects of his medicines which are always transient, to produce tin- desired state, while the re-active effect which is lasting and permanent is of a di- rectly opposite character from that which he aimed to produce. How many examples of this deceptive and short lived improvement, followed, necessa- rily, by permanent and lasting injury, crowd upon the mind ! Permanent constipation following the use of laxatives, lasting debility succeeding the use of tonics and stimulants, ]» rmanent irritability and restles.sne-s the use of opiates, &c. ifcc, ad infinitum. As it is my main object to imbue your minds with a knowledge of the great law of cure, as a sure and scientific basis of the treatment of disease- by medicine, in contrast with Allopathic empyricism. you will pardon me if I enlarge on this branch of the subject a little farther, and contrast the manner in which the Allopathic and the Homoeopathic physician treats disease. What an Allopathic student learns of the practice of medicine amounts to this: He takes up the studv, for example, of fever, with the view of preparing himself to treat it. He reads, first, a description of the disease, and then proceeds to the treatment. He reads that one distinguished writer recommends cold affusions, and another disagrees with him and thinks them dangerous. One advises wine, and another in-ists that the patient should have the most cooling drinks only. Many prescribe Peru- vian bark, or Quinine, a part of them because they think it a febrifuge, and another pait because they deem it a tonic. Others object to these remedies altogether, because they believe them heating and fever produ- cing remedies. Some recommend a free use of cathartics, and others warn the young practitioner against their use. And so on to tin- end of the chapter, almost every remedy in the Materia Medica being recommend- ed by some and repudiated by others. The author closes his lucid account of treatment by giving his own practice, and the student, thus furnished, goes forth to take the lives of men in his hands, at liberty, under the sanction of high authorities to employ just what remedies he plea-es, and sadly puzzled to make a choice. But in all his study he does not get the first glimpse of a law of cure. The best reason he can give for adminis- tering any remedy is, that somebody thinks he has found it useful, without knowing why, in disease that seemed to resemble the case in hand. 1 Medicine has, therefore, certainly been no fitting study to any one as a matter of science, simply because there was no science in it, and it is not strange that the profession have discouraged the practical investigations of laymen. But we repeat that the application of medicine to disease is, neverthe- less, a science, with laws fixed, simple and easily understood, and therefore open to the knowledge of all. t Let us refer to two of these laws as intimately connected with the great law of cure, even at the risk of some repetition of thought. First law. Every medicine produces two directly opposite effects in the order of time—the first primary and transient, the other, secondary' and permanent. To illustrate by an example: A patient takes a cathartic. 9.0 Its first or primary effect is, to stimulate the intestines to an unusual and unnatural effort to expel their contents. But this eftect is transient, con- tinuing only a few hours. The secondary effect is just the reverse, viz: unusual and unnatural inactivity and torpor, or constipation. Again. An opiate is given "to allay pain and procure rest by diminish- ing or benumbing sensibility to the causes of suffering. This purpose is t ansientlv answered by its" primary effect, but this soon ceases, and then comes the opposite or secondary effect, viz: increased sensibility to all tin! causes of annoyance. And so'true is nature to herself-—so inflexibly ad- herent to her "own laws, that the physician may persist as long as he pleases in his infractions of this vital law, and she will have her own way and maintain her resistance to the last, or until the struggle ends in ex- hausted vitality and d .ath. The same is true of all other remedies. If you send for a physician who prescribes a cathartic, or laxative, you can very properly ask your medical adviser; "What, sir, is to be the pri- mary effect of this dose ?" If he answers: •'To stimulate the bowels to greater activity," you may then very properly reply: " My dear sir, as I have learned the laws of cure, this effect will be but transient, while a secondary and opposite effect, viz: increased torpor and constipation wili inevitably follow, which will be lasting, and the effect of your prescription will be to afford ine temporary alleviation at the expense of a lasting aggrava- tion of the very difficulty which you aim to cure. I should certainly be glad to be relieved of my present embarrassment, but this is obtaining present liquidation at a higher rate of interest than I can afford to pay. I prefer to suffer a little now to suffering so much more hereafter. I am obliged to you for your offer of present relief, even on such hard terms, but really, sir, I feel obliged to decline it." And the same reasoning applies to all remedies administered on Allopathic principles. Second law. All medicines produce two exactly opposite effects, accord- ing to quantity; that is, small and large doses produce opposite effects. A small dose of Opium produces exhilaration and wakefulness—a large dose, languor, stupor and sleep. Very small doses of Rhubarb, Mercury and other cathartics allay irritability of the bowels, and thus cure diarrhoea and dysentery—large doses produce irritability and diarrhoea. Very small doses of Emetic Tartar, Ipecac, ovre., allay irritability of the stomach and thus cure vomiting and cholera-morbus—large doses produce these very states. The one is the disease-curing, the other the disease-producino- effect. This law is equally practical with the first. Guided by it, the physician will so administer his medicines as to secure their secondary or curative ef- fects, and avoid their primary or disease-producing effects. And patients when properly informed, will be wise enough to refuse a prescription made in violation of this law. They will say to the physician who prescribes tor them large doses, (and all Allopathic doses are large, though thev may call them small,) » Sir. I consulted you for the purpose of being cured, and you offer me a drug in a dose that will make me sick. The'law of cure, as 1 understand it, makes it no part of the business of a physician to produce disease, but his exclusive business to cure it. The time is past when the proper inscription on the sign of the physician was, ' A disease 21 manufactory,' and the appropriate title of the profession, ' The destructive art of healing: I must insist on your treating me in obedience to and in harmony with the great and now well-understood laws of cure, or I must take the treatment into my own hands, or consult some one better informed." A consideration of these two laws leads us again, by a slightly different process, to the same great law of cure, " Like cures like." We see a pa- tient laboring under a disease characterized by a certain combination of symptoms. We inquire what medicine produces" this combination of symp- toms, given in large doses. By a careful comparison of the symptoms with those produced by various medicines, we find that they have a stri- king resemblance, for example, to those produced by Arsenicum in large doses. Arsenicum, then, must be the appropriate and specific remedy In small doses, because it produces, iu small doses, effects just the opposite of those produced by large doses of the same remedy; that is, just the oppo- site of those under which the patient labors, and, of course, establishes an opposite state, that is, a freedom from those symptoms; in other words, a restoration to health. But to return. Does not the great law of " similia similibus curantur," growing out of the law of vital re-action, commend itself to your philoso- phy, your common sense and your experience ? But if tliis one great principle be admitted, all that Honxeopathy claims as essential t.Mt, is conceded. If this be true, the whole system which necessarily grows out of it, is a system of truth—if it fail, the whole system falls. I doubt not that this remark will surprise and disappoint many of mv anditors, for I am perfectly aware how industriously the falsehood has been circulated, and the community made to believe, that the principal, if not the only peculiarity of our system consists in administering infinitessimal doses of medicine, or what amounts to no medicine at all. Mv hearers are by this time sufficiently disabused of this misrepresentation, and see that our system is distinguished by great, peculiar and philosophically established principles. But I should perhaps not answer expectation or do justice to the subject, if I did not advert to this feature of the system. Those who have apprehended the principle of "similia similibus curan- tur." cannot fail to see the necessary consequence of small doses. They will see that we do not give medicine to obtain its primary or direct effect, but to excite the re-action of the vital principle, and thus enable it to overcome,the very slight primary effect produced by the medicine, and the disease at the same time, as in the case of applying cold to the hands to excite warmth. A patient is attacked with nausea and is on the point of vomiting. We give him an article which will produce such nausea and vomiting in a healthy subject, that is, an emetic. But will a large dose be likely to cure his sickness? Will it not on the other hand be certain to aggravate \ti In like manner, will a patient with inflammatory fever bear large doses of stimulants with impunity ? Another is laboring under head-ache, closely resembling that produced by Belladonna. Will lie bear large doses of Belladonna without aggravating it? Medicine is commonly given to produce an indirect effect upon the diseased part, through sound and distant organs; thus a headache is treated by acting upon the healthy stomach or bowels by an emetic or cathartic. Here large doses may be 90 borne; but very different is it if we give a remedy which acts directly and specifically upon the diseased organ'itself, as Belladonna does upon a dis- eased head and an emetic upon a nauseated stomach. But in Homoeopathic practice we always prescribe medicines which act directly and specifically upon the diseased part itself. How preposterous the argument that our doses can produce no effect upon the sick, because a man in sound health can bear a much larger dose with impunity ! Suppose I meet one of these obiectors with a burnt finger. 1 place my finger at a comfortable distance from the fire and invite him to place his by its side. He does so, but in- stantly withdraws it in an agony of pain. I ridicule his pretended sensi- tiveness to such a moderate "degree of heat, because it produces no uncom- fortable effect on me. I find him shut up in a profoundly dark room with inflammation of the eyes. I admit a ray of light by raising the corner of a curtain, and he screams with pain. I laugh at him for pretending to feel a powerful effect from such a quantity of light, because I have borne tin; full blaze of day without inconvenience. This is no more preposterous and absurd, than to ridicule the idea of small doses producing an eftect when acting directly on a diseased organ which is therefore peculiarly sensitive to its effects, because the same doses produce no palpable effects upon an indi- vidual free from disease. This one view of the subject is, perhaps, fully sufficient for our purpose, but there is another circumstance that greatly strengthens it. The active power of medicine is greatly increased by the Homoeopathic method of preparation. We take, for example a grain of medicine, mix it with one hundred grains of sugar of milk and triturate in a mortar to great fineness. We triturate a grain of this mixture with another hundred grains of sugar of milk, and so on, as many times as wre think proper. Mathematicians tell us, that it is mathematically demonstrable that the surface of a given solid body, Avlien reduced to particles, is increased in the ratio of the diminution of its particle-;. Our first trituration vastly multiplies the num- ber of particles, diminishes their size, and in the same ratio, increases their aggregate surface. The second trituration increases the surface from a quarter of an inch to very many feet. A very small part of a grain, thus prepared, presents a vastly larger surface to come in contact with the living organism than the whole grain without this process. Can it be doubted, that medicines act very much in pi ©portion to the surface which can ha brought in contact with the organism? Will not that medicine, act with greater power that comes in direct contact with a surface of many feet__ that can be spread over the whole internal surface of the stomach and bowels, thus coming in contact with every part of it, than that which pre- sents only a surface of a quarter of an inch ? The most learned Allopath- is^ admit this. If then, instead of weight, we take surface as the standard of size, doubtless the mor? correct standard in this case, then the Allopath- ist who gives his grain, gives a small dos>, while the Homoeopafhist who gives his quarter or eighth or sixteenth of a grain, gives, in reality, a vastly larger one, so that we generally find it necessary to reduce the quantity much below these fractions. But after all, independently of all the*., sufficient considerations the oh jections to the smallness of the dose, are more moonshine, for our system 23 prescribes no quantity, and imposes no restrictions. It tells the young practitioner, that if he prepares his medicines properly, and always pre- scribes them on the Homoeopathic principle, he will find, from the'double; cause of their increased power, and the peculiar susceptibility of the patient, in all cases, to the appropriate Homoeopathic remedy, that very small doses will produce very prompt and salutary effects—effects, which, it he has only been accustomeil to Allopathic prescriptions, "will astonish him, and appear more like the result of supernatural agency than what he has boon accustomed to consider the natural effects of medicine. But he is. at the same time, told that he is under no restrictions as to the quan- tity of medicines he shall give, but is at liberty, nay, in duty bound, to observe for himself, and give such doses as he finds necessary to produce the desired effect. This licer.se is surely broad enough for all, except those who are resolved to give more medicine than they themselves find neces- sary. A query naturally arises here. If the principles of the Homoeopathic system are really so obvious and weft established, why is it that the whoie medical profession have not adopted it? To give a full answer to this question would require a lecture by itself. It must suffice here to say, that several causes, such as natural indolence—the dread of being obliged to go into new trains of laborious investigations, the pride of learning—an un- willingness to acknowledge that others have learned what they do not know; a veneration for old and supposed established doctrines; tli3 reputed weakness of credulity, which can be easily induced to believe new things, with the supposed dignity of unbelief, have all conspired, in every age, to deter men from adopting, and to produce resistance to new discoveries. Tiie history of discoveries and improvements in science in every age, not excepting our own. is a history of opposition—opposition from the pro- fssedlv Iearm-d. There lias always been a large class of philosophers who, having finished their education where it should have begun, ami entrench- ing themselves behind their mighty acquisitions, have devoted the remain- der of life to mulish opposition to all subsequent discoveries. Harvey was cruelly persecuted to the dav of his death, by the professedly learned in the profession, for his discovery of the circulation of the blood, the early Chemists for their discoveries in Chemistry, and Gallileo by all the philoso- pher- of the age, for announcing his then unpopular, absurd and heretical doctrine of the revolution of the earth. Recent does not differ from former history in thir, respect. It is not strange, then, that a modern improve- ment in medicine should share the common fate. It is much more strange, in inv estimation, that it should constitute so much of an exception to the general rub—that within little more than fifty years from its first discovery by one man, and within but little more than half that time from its gen- eral announcement to the world through the press, it should number its thousands of converts from among the most learned and scientific of the medical profession in Europe and America—that it should already boast its seven hundred volumes of medical literature, its twenty or thirty peri- odicals, monthly and quarterly, its professorships in European Universities, i;s numerous Court physicians and Counsellors, and its hundreds of thou- sands of o-rateful patients from the most intelligent in every community; 24 that it should be already sustained in Europe by imperial decrees and roval enactments—that most of the crowned heads upon the continent have already chosen Homoeopathists as Court physicians, and that the sys- tem is exclusively patronized by almost the entire of Continental nobility.- And who are they who oppose it, and on what grounds? I venture the reply: Those alone who have not rendered themselves competent judges of its merits by a thorough practical examination of it, and wholly upon theoretical grounds. We challenge the instance of a single faithful exami- nation of its principles and practice resulting in their rejection. And even these objectors are paying unwitting homage to its great principle, in their daily practice. In compliance with' what other principle is it, that they give Iodine and Nitric Acid in mercurial salivation and sore mouth, when these articles are well known to produce a similar salivation and sore mouth when freely given to the healthy subject ? On what other principle is it that they universally employ mercury for the cure of inflammation and en- largement of the liver, when it is well known that a free use of mercury produces a similar state? Or that Balsam of Copavia is in general use in the treatment of irritation and inflammation of mucous membranes, when the same article is universally recognized as possessing the property of producing the same state ? Or that Opium, notwithstanding it has been so often observed to produce, a state closely resembling delirium tremens, is with them the sheet anchor of hope in the treatment of this formidable disease ? Or, that such articles as Emetic Tartar and Ipecac, in small doses, are found to be effectual and are daily employed to cure irritation and sickness of the stomach? Or that laxatives are in daily use to cure Diar- rhoea? In all these; and a thousand other instances, of daily occurrence, they, unknown to themselves, act upon and therefore practically acknowl- edge the truth of the Homoeopathic law, "similia similibus eurantur." They do so every time they employ vaccination, which is purely Homoeo- pathic. If Small Pox can be prevented by any other than a Homoeopathic remedy, let them inoculate their patients with the Itch, or give them a Rheumatism, and not confine themselves to the only di>ease which oloselv resembles Small Pox, and is therefore exclusively Homoeopathic. We think it but just to ask of those who condemn our system, either to cease "The following statistics are offered for the benefit of, and an answer to thu-o, who, either ignoiantly or wickedly, are raising the crv that Homoeopathy is u-oing down in Europe. They represent its state in 1812, since which time,'it is* we'll known, it has increased with unprecedented rapidity. .Atthe above date, there were aboutforty distinguished professors in the European Universities who had declared their conversion to the system and become its firm advocates. "The distinction of Counsellors of State and Counsellors of Medicine is confer- red by the Sovereigns of Europe, upon such physicians alone as are distinguished for their acquisitions in general science and medicine, and is esteemed a compliment of the highest order." Of this class of learned and distinguished men, there were no tss than fifty-five Homoeopathists, The distinction of Court physicians is only conferred by the European sovereigns tor highly detinguished and unequivocal success in the practice of medicine- but at the above date, there were not less than twenty-two Homoeopathists ei'ioyino- that high distinction. There were seventeen Professorships of Homoeopathy in the Uni- versities and Medical schools and eighteen Homoeopathic Hospitals 25 to avail themselves of our great principle in their daily practice, or cease to denounce it. The frequent instances of the action of the Homoeopathic principle in their own experimental practice, is a sad puzzle to the profes- sion. A well-known and scientific Allopathic writer details several cases of the prompt cure of a severe disease by a remedy which is well known to produce similar disease when taken incautiously by the h sal thy subject. In commenting upon them, he frankly acknowledges that he can give no satisfactory or scientific account of the modus operandi of the remedy in these cases. "Indeed," he adds, "according to the established principles of our science, it should have acted far otherwise." How firmly ''established'1 those principles of science must be, which are contradicted by daily facts! What a pity it is that nature will not so far accommodate us as to conform her facts to our " established principles" of science! But to be serious. How readily would a knowledge of the Homoeopathic principle have re- lieved the learned Doctor of all his difficulty, and taught him that his strange remedy cured the disease because it possessed the property of pro- ducing similar disease. 'It would be extremely amusing, if the subject were not too. serious to amuse, to contemplate the puzzling, confused and contradictory accounts which different Allopathic writers give of the same remedies in consequence of a want of knowledge of this great key-truth in medicine, which explains all the mystery, harmonizes all the discrepancy, and reconciles all the con- tradiction. Take a few examples in relation to one or two articles only. One writer warns us against the use of Antimony because its use produces inflammation of the lungs, while the profession generally rely mainly upon it to cure inflammation of the lungs. One says it should not be used, be- cause it produces irritation of the skin, "while another laughs at the idea and recommends it to cure irritation of the skiu. One cautions us not to use it in inflammatory affections, because it is a heating and inflammation- exciting remedy, while others scout the idea, because they have always em- ployed it with success in the treatment of these very inflammations. One gi\cs us solemn warning against its use because it excites profuse mucous secretions, while another praises its use in mucous fevers to check profuse mucous secretions. One writer, treating of the Arnica montana, says that it excite- danger- ous inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels, and therefore, must never be used when that state exists, as it could only ag- gravate it. Another, of equal authority, evidently supposes this to be a great mistake, because he has long employed it with signal success in the treatment of those very inflammations. Thus unsettled and indefinite is the Allopathic Materia Medica—the knowledge of the properties and effects of medicines, in regard to almost every remedy which they employ. How uncertain -must be their application to disease;! There is nothing settled respecting them but settled difference of opinion and consequent controversy. Every one will see how clearly and satisfactorily a knowledge of the Homoeopathic principle reconciles the whole difficulty. Antimony does produce inflammation, and it is by virtue of that very property, that it cures it. It does excite profuse mucous secretions and therefore cures them. It does produce and therefore cures irritation of the skin, Arnica does produce violent disturbance of the mucous membranes of the stomach and bowels, and it is in virtue of this jiroperty that the Ho- mocopathist daily and promptly cures such disturbance with it. In this view of the subject,, how clear it is, what infinite mischief the Allopathic physician must produce when he happens to choose a really ap- propriate remedy; that is, a remedy which produces a similar disease if given in Allopathic doses, for then he is sure to have the medicinal dis- ease superadded to the original one, or what appears an aggravation of the original one. The Homoeopath has occasion to see such instances almost daily. I cannot deny myself the pleasure of making a few short extracts from a letter of Dr. Dunnel giving an account of his conversion to Homoeopathy. It is in perfect correspondence with my own experience and that of thou- sands more. "You desire me to give you my reasons for believing Ho- mooopathia; you well know I ought to have good reasons for that belief; because no person entertains a more contemptible opinion of the science than I once held. Contempt arose in me from the same cause that produces the same opinion among a majority of physicians, viz: the most profound ignorance of t]w facts adduced in its support." "Thus, when urged by yourself years ago, to examine the subject, I deemed it of too small import for serious examination, and went from year to year groping along the dark and devi- ous tracks of Allopathy." He at length "consented" to read the work of Hahnemann—the Organon. "After perusing the introductory chapter, 1 began to devour the contents of that work with intense interest; for it re- called circumstances in the cure of disease I had in vain endeavored to comprehend, and gave form and shape and fashion to various doubts and day dreams that had often floated over my brain, without the possibility of assigning to them " a local habitation and a name." "The Homoeopathic law reconciles a million of otherwise discordant facts, gathered by observa- tion and experience, and combines them into one harmonious whole." He resolved to test the Homoeopathic law practically, and proceeds to o-ive a most interesting detail of two months' practice, aiid then proceeds: "Two short months of examination into the truth or falsity of the law, 'similia similibus curantur1 had resulted in effectually cu in;} more diseases than 1 had been able to do in as many years. The'truth of the law flashed over my mental vision with a light, brilliant and intense as the sun at noon-day and in the centre of its effulgence, appeared the venerable features of the sage of Meissen, Hahnemann ! a name destined to outlive the names of those medical predecessors whom he has not embalmed in his own immortal works. It has, I assure you, cost me quite a struggle to believe my lono- imbibed and cherished ideas of disease erroneous, especially as regards inflammation I have watched the patients I have treated, with inflammatory diseases as closely as the pilot watches the breakers under his lee, and stood ready to draw the lancet in their aid, if necessity required it, until I have verified in mi merous instances, the truth," &c—"so that the most violent pleuritic fever with all its attendant alarming symptoms, is cured in the space of twenty four hours at farthest, without any loss of blood or an„ antiphioqistic 27 whatever. I have only to add, that my first few months of experience have been confirmed, and my conviction daily and hourly increased ever since." This is in substance the experience of all the thousands, who, like Dr. Bunnell, have consented to go into the examination^ Permit me to refer, more directly, to a few of the advantages which this -ystem possesses over any other. I pass over the obvious advantage of the greater ease and pleasure with which sugar plums are administered to children and irritable stomachs, than nauseating doses of Jalap, bilious pills, Arc. Arc, aiid observe: "1st. That our experiments upon the properties of medicine are made, m advance, upon the healthy subject, and consequently the cure of the sick is not delayed and life endangered by a course of guessing and experiment at the bedside. An anomalous case of disease, entirely new to us occurs. We are not obliged first, to construct a hypothetical theory of its uncertain pathological character and then select a medicine, which, agreeably to our uncertain notions of its properties, is adapted to that hypotle-sis. But we act instantly upon the principle upon which we have learned to rely with confidence. We refer at on-*- to our Materia Medica—our perfected record of the precise properties of medicines, ascertained by deliberate, cautious and minute experiment. We select that article whose known effects corres- pond with the group of symptoms which characterize the disease in ques- tion, and when we have determined on this correspondence between the remedy and the disease, we feel certain of its effects. The Asiatic Cholera, wherever Homoeopathy was practiced, was thus treated, from the very first, with pre-eminent succs-. Cases of disease, the precise nature of which it is impossible to determine, are constantly occurring, which give the superior advantages of th-.-y-tem in this respect, a most palpable and delightful pre- eminence. 2dly. The strength of the pi tient under this system, is never considera- bly reduced by treatment. Tie- most acute attacks of pleurisy, inflamma- tion of the lungs and inflammatory fever are cured in a few hours, without any of that debility and prostration produced by profuse bleedings, cathar- tics and nauseating remedies, supposed to be indispensibfe in the prevalent pra tiee, and which leave the patient in a state requiring weeks or months ro re-over tin- -.ti-eiigih of which he has been robbed, not by the disease, but bv the ti eat men t. To the truth of this advantage multitudes in this com- munity, and in every other where the system is practiced, can testify. 3dlv. Our system never produces artificial or medicinal diseases. Me have seen that upon this system, medicine is never given with a view nor in sufficient quantity to produce its primary or medicinal effects, but to pro- voke the vital power to react and overcome the slight effect of the medicine and the disease at the same time—in other words, to excite nature to do her own work. Not -o with other system-. They depend for ail their j cures, upon the primary <-fleet,- of medicines, against which effects, we have \ seen, the vital principle never fails to react. This reactive power, the only \ curative po*ver in nature, they place no dependence upon, and lose sight of , altogether, while it is making perpetual and strenuous efforts to counteract, t and overcome every dose of medicine they give. If in this double strife against both disease aud medicine, the system so often succumbs, it should 28 not be matter of much surprise. But every artificial state produced by mediciue is a diseased state. The sleepiness and stupor produced by opium is no less disease than the same state occurring spontaneously. The action of an emetic is but an artificial cholera morbus, and the action of a cathar- tic but an artificial diarrhoea. All other prevalent systems aim to pro- duce these medicinal diseases—to cure one disease by producing another, of an opposite character; as sleeplessness, restlessness and irritability by artificial stupor—constipation by inducing artificial diarrhoea., imilar statistics in regard to Cliolera as well as other diseases in Europe and Ameri- ca. In Cincinnati during the season of the greatest prevalence of Cholera there, the results were even more striking. The fatal cases under Allopathic treatment was about 45 rei cent., while under Homoeopathic it was but 5 per cent. We be- lieve the result of the two systems of treatment of Cholera in this city during the preseat season, if they could be fully made knawn, would be quite as striking as in Cincinnati. IS'o one conversant with the facts will deny that the Allopathic treat- ment of this disease has been terribly unsuccessful, and there arc hundreds of wit- nesses to the fact that the Homoeopathic has been most delightfully successful. A multitude of cases have occurred here to which the Allopathic physician has been called at an early stage of the premonitor}* diarrhoea, but which have gone stead Jy on through all the stages of the disease and ended in death, the sooner and the oftener, 1 firmly believe, by the Calomel and Laudanum treatment, and sometimes, it* possible, by worse treatment still. On the other hand we challenge the production of cases of this disease termina- ting fatally under circumstances that afforded the least ground of a reasonable hope. And among those that have recovered has been a large number who had been under Allopathic treatment, till all hope was abandoned and the patient left cold, collapsed and pulseless, and in some instances they have been pulseless for several hours when the Homoeopathic treatment was commenced. We have already intimated our belief that the popular treatment, not only of Cholera, but of most diseases, was -worse than no treatment at all. And this belief is confirmed by the trials which have been fairly made. In the Infirmary of Wieden, a suburb of Vienna, were 350 patients with acute inflammation of the lungs, from the year 1842 to 1846. Of these, 85 were treated by the popular method of bleeding. 106 by the equally popular method of large doses of emetic tartar, and 1S9 by the expectant plan of harmless or merely dietetic remedies. Of the first and second classes, 20 per cent, and a fraction died, while of the third class only 7 per cent, and a fraction died. Here nature outdid the giver of drugs in saving her patients by 13 per cent. But Homoeopathy, in every trial, has done better than nature, proving that it is not as some suppose, a mere negative treatment. Thus, in the Homoeopathic Hospital at Linz, a city of Austria, of 99 cases of acute inflammation of the lungs, only one died. And in another Hospital at Guru- purdorf. near Vienna, of 284 patients with the same disease, 10 died—a loss of l?st than 3 per cent. What is true of cholera and inflammation of the lungs, we be- lieve to be very near the truth in the general range of diseases. In view of such facts we are obliged to believe either that Homoeopathy is very efficient in the treatment of this most dreadful of all diseases, or that Allopathy i* horribly destructive. Wo might greatly extend a similar comparison in regard to almost anv other disease. But in regard to most acute diseases we need not go far from home. Wc confidently appeal to facts within the reach of all, if they choose to avail themselves of them—facts which show that almost every variety of acute disease, such as inflammation of the lungs,pleurisy, fevers, dysentery,croup,scarlet fever, neuralgia, diseases of the skin and of the eye, Ac &c, have been repeatedly cured with a promptitude not hitherio dreamed of. Small Pox may be added to the list. Nine or ten cases in an adjoining town, occurring unexpecedly and conse- quently unprepared for. in a severe confluent form, have all been treated Homoeo- Iiathically, by a. physician who never treated a case of small Pox before, and there lave not only been no deaths, but scarcely an appearance of danger for two hours together. Who can point to a like result under Allopathic treatment? But there are those who conceive it impossible that, internal treatment alone can cure local diseases of the skin and the eyes' <£c. If the anomaly referred to in my introduction did not exist, I need not exhibit foreign statistics in regard to such art't-etious, but as it does, I quote the following ; •1 34 We make the assertion deliberate! v that the Allopathic physic an does not know, and all his sources of information, without resorting to Ho- moeopathy, do not furnish him with the means of ascertaining the prop- erties of any one of the remedies he employs. The properties of medicines consist in the powers they possess of produ- cing changes of sensation, of function and of structure in the human organ- ism! All the properties of a medicine are not known till all the changes it is capable of effecting are known. But how have the changes of sensa- ~~Stapf,by his extraordinary success in the treatment of Egyptian ophthalmia, (the most obstinate and destructive form of inflammation of the eye,) winch rageu among the soldiers in the garrisons of the Khine; attracted the attention ot the Prussian Minister of War, who prevailed on him to visit Berlin and take charge ot the Military Hospitals, Lazarefh and La Charite. He did so with distinguished honor and success Stapf was a Homoeopathist. There is, in the city of JNew York, a charitable Institution called the Protestant half Orphan Asylum. Its in- mates became affected with an incorrigible disease of the eyes, and an incorrigible eruption of the skin. They were for a long time, under the treatment of a distin- guished and skillful Allopathic physician of the city, but with such discouraging results that the managers were compelled to resort to some other treatment. They made choice of Dr. Wright, a Homoeopatliisl. The following is a description of the inmates given officially, when Dr. Wright commenced his charge. "The general aspect of nearly all of them, was that of bodily and mental torpor; their skin dry,flabby and pale; the eyes of manv,dull and down-cast; these mor- bid appearances, together with a settled sadness of expression, a disinclination for all juvenile sports, and their sitting about in silent groups, so unnatural to healthy children, suggested the idea that disease more than met 1he eye was inwardly at work." " Ophthalmia was the predominating disease. Out of 162 children, 53 eases were found requiring treatment, and 20 of these were of an aggravated form, presenting the following characteristics: eye-lids inflamed and swelled, some of them entirely closed, others nearly so ; a thick crust of adhesive matter upon the margins. The outer coat of the eye ball red with inflammation, the eye painful and most iutensely so when exposed to the light. Five had ulcers on the cornea, and four granulations of the upper eye-lid." The following table exhibits the pro- gress under the purely Homoeopathic treatment without a single external applica- When received. . A'ein '■ rases. Cured. Under treatment 1842, August 11, From 11th to 30th, 12 _ 26 53 39 September, October, 13 33 16 19 8 November, 7 8 7 December, 0 5 o January, 1 2 1 February, 0 1 0 Thus in this brief period was this obstinate affection eradicated from the Asylum, by internal treatment alone. But this is not all. There were no less than 112 cases of the cutaneous disease to be treated. The following is the concluding por- tion of the first official annual report after Dr. Wriglifs entrance upon his trust. "The general health of the children during Ihc past year has been gradually im- proving and they are now all well and in excellent spirits." What a contrast to the gloomy picture at the beginning of the year. It is added, "There has been no change in ventilation or regimen from former years, except the prohibition of pep- per with food. No external medicinal applications have been made. The medical treatment in every instance, has been strictly Homoeopathic.'' Were ihese great results the effect of imagination? or of treatment'.' or of merely withdrawing the patients from all treatment? 3') tion, of function and of structure which the hundreds of medicines have the power to produce, been examined and sought to be ascertained by the Allopathic physician ? 'By giving them to the sick—to those who have already, as the effect of disease, a hundred unnatural sensations and de- rangements of feeling, of function and of structure. "When a medicine is given during the existence of such a confusion of diseased sensations, no one will pretend that, it is possible for the patient to distinguish what sen- sations are produced by the disease, and what by the medicine. And it is obviously equally impossible for the physician to discriminate which of the thousand changes of functions that are going on in every organ and tissue <>t the body are produced by the one cause or the other. And when death terminates this confused living experiment, he is no better able to say which of the organic changes that he finds are to be charged to the dis- ease and which to the medicines. And yet this course of vamie and fruitless experiment upon the sick is the great source of Allopathic knowl- edge of the properties of medicines. But this method, fruitless as it must be, is rendered still more hopeless by the fact, that even this observation is seldom made upon a single reme- dy, a proscription being much more frequently compounded of from two to a dozen articles mingled together. Is it conceivable that when a patient, already suffering a hundred un- natural and diseased sensations, swallows a dose of medicine compounded of half a dozen drugs, each one of which is capable of producing a hund- red new sensations, he can distinguish the multiplied and confused effect of • ■ach one of these in distinction from all the rest, and all of them from the confusion of sensations resulting from the disease ', Or that the most acute physician can any better discriminate tin* effects of each in the production of the multiplied disorders of function and structure? Impossible! The physician closes the treatment of a patient by this method, no wiser in re- gard to the properties of each of his remedies than he was before. Who • cannot see that a tolerable knowledge of the properties of medicines can never be obtained by this process! The groat Dr. Forbes confesses that 'knowledge in this department has scarcely made any progress in the last two thousand years! and that this branch of science is yet in its infancy! And by this method it will continue in its infancy for ten thousand years to eOllie. In contrast "with this, Homoeopathy has, during sixty years of existence, a vastly more perfect Materia Medica, an incomparably better knowledge of the properties of medicines than Allopathy has obtained in two thousand years, or can obtain while the world stands, by its present method. We have a minute and complete knowledge of all the medicines we employ. There is more knowledge to be obtained from one work of Homoeopathic Materia Medica, than in all the Allopathic libraries of the world. And this knowledge of tin; properties of medicines is obtained in the only pos- sible way of obtaining it, viz: by each medicine being taken by persons in perfect health sufficiently long and in sufficient quantity to produce all the effects they are capable "of producing compatible with safety, and carefully record buy- a]| these effects. 36 Let us look a moment at the consequences of this difference, in tlv n.v of one of the most familiar articles, say Ipecac. In the latest and best works of the Allopathic school, we find "the sum total of the knowledge attained in regard to this article to consist of six properties or effects, which we copy from the great work of Wood Ac Bache, viz: It is emetic, diaphoretic, expectorant, stimulant to the stomach, produces nausea ^ and acts on the bowels. These six properties, then, comprise the whole of Al- lopathic knowledge of Ipecac. On the other hand, the Homoeopath is familiar with between one and two hundred properties of this same article, as obvious, as palpable and as important as the six known to the Allopath. The following are a few of them: Pain in the bones, bleeding from differ- ent orgaus, great sensibility to heat and cold, spasms and convulsions, erup- tions and violent itching, agitated sleep, with the eyes half open, groans and jerking of the limbs, frightful dreams with sudden starts, shuddering and coldness of the limbs and face, thirst, cries and howling in children, moroseness, peevishness and irritability, head-ache as though all the bones of the head were bruised, dilated pupils, confused sight, convulsive twitch- ings of the face, tooth-ache, tongue coated, sore throat, difficult swallowing, cough especially at night with painful shocks in the stomach and head, cough resembling hooping-cough, with bleeding at the nose and mouth, with fits of suffocation, stiffness of the body and bluish face, anxious short breathing, spasmodic asthma and panting breath, loss of breath on the least movement, cramps in the muscles, 6Ve. Ac Now suppose an Allopathic physician treating a case for which he thinks proper to give Ipecac. It is given freely, and at length the patient begins to complain of pain in the bones, pressing pain the forehead, great sensibility to heat and cold, his sleep is disturbed with frightful dreams, groans and starts, dry shaking cough with fits of suffocation, anxious breathing, Ac. What is the conclusion of the physician on seeing this alarming complica- tion of symptoms? Why. he never dreams that they are produced by the harmless Ipecac he is giving, for he has never learned that Ipecac is capa- ble of producing any such effects. His inference is, that the disease is making alarming progress, is becoming dangerously complicated and calls for a more vigorous treatment. As many of these symptoms are the very ones for which he is accustomed to give Ipecac, he very probably continues it in larger and more frequent doses, and thus increases the' difficulty. This is not a fancy picture. We have seen the original from which it was drawn, and the patient in imminent danger of death, while the physician had not dreamed of the cause of danger. But this article is one "of the most innocent, and physicians suppose that if can be giveu with perfect safe- ty if not carried to the extent of producing exeessh,- vomiting and purg- ing. In Allopathic works there is not a hint of any other danger. But if this comparatively innocent article often produces such dangerous results while the physician is unaware of the fact from ignorance "of its properties, what shall be thought of the dangers and calamities resulting from the daily use of such powerful articles as Mercurv. Copper, Lc-id, Arsenic, Iodine, Belladonna and a hundred other articles. .-;irh of which produces a longer catalogue of much more formidable and deadly symptoms, and of which physicians are even more ignorant than they are of Ipecac! 37 We are daily witnessing the most formidable and often fatal medicinal dis- eases, the nature and origin of which are totally unsuspected by the phy- sicians who have produced them. They are seen in the every day treat- ment of diarrhoea, dysentery, intiammations, fevers, eVre. etc., most of the fatal cases of which are so, not from the original disease, but from medici- nal complications.* But the Homoeopath, instead of giving remedies, the properties of which are unknown to him, gives his remedies with a perfect knowledge of all the effects they are capable of producing. Having determined the precise changes that require to be effected, he selects just that remedy which he knows to be capable of effecting the exact changes required. Does not this difference furnish a good reason for the demonstrated superior success of Homoeopathic treatment'. 7th. The last advantage of the system to which 1 will briefly allude. is its antidotes—its remedies for medicinal diseases. In some portions of this department, the Allopathists have done themselves credit. They have thoroughly investigated the antidotes for a limited number of the most destructive poisons, especially the chemical antidotes. What they have be- gun, Homoeopathists have finished. Guided by their great principle, they have ascertained the appropriate antidotes for all the medicinal substances employed in practice. When we have occasion to treat a patient laboring under medicinal disease, our first care is, by appropriate antidotes to free him from this artitieiai portion of his maladv. Hence the superior success which has been honestly conceded to us in the treatment of medicinal dis- eases, which constitute so considerable a portion of the chronic diseas, s to be treated. It seems almost necessary to remark that when we find a pa- tient laboring under disease produced by too free a use of any medicinal article, we do not counteract it by giving him a little more of the same article 1 sav it seems almost necessary to make this self-evident statement, because physicians who consider themselves competent to pronounce judgment upon our system, are yet so profoundly ignorant of it, that they believe our principles require us to cure medicinal diseases by giving the patient more of the medicine which produced it; and our claims to common sense are effectually disproved by the triumphant interrogatory addressed to one as ignorant as themselves: -Can you believe that a man drunk on a pint of of brandy, will be made sober by faking an additional drop"? In conclusion, I cannot but ask: If the Homoeopathic system be what we think we have shown it to be, and if other systems be what we have repre- sented,whether a well-informed and conscientious Homoeopathist can comply with the demand sometimes made of him. to make use of both or all these systems in his practice .; What sufficient reasons can be assigned why one who understands what these systems are, should amalgamate truth and error—science w-.A empyricisni—certainty and uncertainty—>afety and dan "-or—induction and hypothesis—a disease-curing and a disease-creating system.' It is urge.) by some that they have not full confidence in Ho- moeopathy. Though they believe it lo be efficient in some cases, they are afraid to trust it in others. A^ we understand both systems, and they have a right to choose for themselves, we ought to yield to their wishes, as Tlii- is fearfully 'rue in the treatment of Cholera. GO to what practice shall be followed in particular cases. I freely admit ihe premises, that all have the right to choose their own system of medical treatment; but 1 ask if the physician is under obligation—hay, if he is not absolutely forbidden by correct moral principle, being made the instru- ment of practising, and thus sanctioning and perpetuating a system of treatment which he knows to be comparatively inefficient, and productive of great evils and even great danger to the patient, when he has a system at his command which he knows to be incomparably superior to it in all these respects ( The Homoeopathic system requires much laborious and minute study. This is indispensible. >io amount of learning, or judgment, or tact can supply its place. This truth will be conceived at a glance. Wre must de- pend, wholly, in the choice of our remedies, upon their known properties— upon all the effects which they are found, by a long and difficult course of experiment, to produce upon the healthy subject. This is all a matter of record. No judgment, however acute, no learning, however profound, could possibly pronounce a priori, what these effects would be. Our only resource is the record, iu other words the Materia Medica. But to acquire a familiar knowledge of ail the thousands of symptoms produced by some hundreds of articles, is a work of no small magnitude. For some, time, then, and for a long time, if he is not laboriously studious, the practitioner may meet with cases for which he may not, at once, recognize the appro- priate Homoeopathic remedy; and if he is a little indolent, he may fail to search it out. In such cases he must, of course, pursue the treatment at his command. But let him be honest and assign the true reason for depart- ing from a system founded on a law of nature, and therefore of universal application. Let him say, ingenuously : '• My partial acquaintance with the system does not enable me to determine the appropriate remedy in this case—I will do the best I can." We wish, however, to be distinctly understood on this point. There are rare cases in which Ave not only think it proper but necessary to resort, temporarily, to palliatives. This is sanctioned by the highest Homoeopath- ic authorities. Thus Dr. Black, of London, after strongly reprobating a combination of the two systems and saying that, such combination cannot be practised with success, says: "But we admit that there are some few- cases in which we must resort toother measures. For example, in cases of poisoning if is necessary to have recourse to emetics, or the stomach pump, and then to counteract the effects of the poison by Homoeopathic means. In asphyxia, sincope and such conditions, when the power of reaction is almost destroyed, it is necessary to have re- course to speedy stimuli." " When life seems almost extinct, the ordinary measures must be employ- ed to excite action. Nay, according to the opinion of some Homoeopath- ists, there are instances iu which blood-letting acts beneficial])" in rousiuo- the vital activity; (as in apoplexy of the lungs,) but this reaction once established, we fall back upon the employment of specific remedies. It sometimes happens, in individuals who have long labored under constipa- tion, aggravated by the use of purgatives, that the Homoepathio remedies fail for a few days in procuring relief; in such eases, :m enema of tepid 39 water inay be employed till the tendency to constipation is gradually re- moved by Homoeopathic means. In no cases is it necessary to administer opium or any such sedatives in order te relieve pain; rarely will Homoeopathic means* fail; and often we have seen them succeed when Allopathic means had no effect. Frequently have pulsatilla, conium, cvc procured relief in cases of ad- vanced cancer, when opium had completely failed; and these medicines possess this advantage also, that their employment is followed by none of the prejudicial secondary effects which so constantly succeed the treatment of neuralgia," (the most painful of all diseases,) " the great superiority of specific remedies to the ordinary Allopathic sedatives is familiar to every Homoeopathist." There is one accusation againsL us to which 1 think it proper to advert. It is said that we make a free use of water upon our patients, and thus far we depart from our professed principles, and practice Hydropathy instead of Homoeopath)'. The only reply we wish to make to this objection, because it is sufficient, is, that we claim the right to the use of every remedial agent which Heaven has furnished us, including even water. Every substance which can effect changes in the human organism may be employed as a remedy when such changes are required. The only restriction to their use is that they shall not be used in violation of, but in strict accordance with the laws of vitality and the great law of cure. No one not possessing a knowledge of these laws can use water as a curative agent any more safely or successfully than he can any of the other powerful remedies in daily use. I cannot dismiss this subject without making one appeal to my readers, I do not ask you to adopt or believe the principles or laws of cure or any theories which I have propounded, unless, in your judgment, they are rea- sonable and scientifically established, and thus lay reasonable claim to your credence. I do not ask you to implicitly believe in the statements I make in relation to a system-of practice to which, both from theoretical convictions and a somewhat large experience, I am exceedingly partial. But there is one request I may make to which no one can object; and this I do most- urgently make to all my readers who reside where Allopathic and Ho- moeopathic practice are exhibited side by side. And this request is, that they will observe for themselves, the comparative results of these two sys- tems of treatment in the same diseases. And we venture the predication that this comparison will result, in.relation to every prevalent disease, in a verdict in favor of Homoeopathy—that it will be seen and acknowledged that in Cholera, Cholera-morbus, Diarrhoea, Croup, Inflammation of the lungs, Pleurisy, Fevers,* Measles, Scarlet Fever, Small Pox, Rheumatism, *The Homoeopathic treatment has, perhaps, been more frequently charged with want of success in Intermittent fevers, than in any other disease. We believe the charge unfouuded, and that it mani- fests its superiority as clearly in this disease as in any other. It is said that our treatment is often long in effecting a cure, while a tew large doses of Quinine cure it at once. If the stopping the chills and fever was really a radical and permanent cure of the disease, we should he obliged to acknowl- edge that the treatment was often more successful than our own. l?ut herein lies the deception— This stopping of the chills and fever by larg> doses of Quinine, Cholagogue, Strychnine, &c, is, in nine cases in ten, no cure at all, but a mere temporary palliation. The patient, after such a cure, continues on for days or weeks, pale, sallow and sickly, and then the chills return. Many undergo what is called a cure every few days or weeks through the season, and are not cured ac Inst, never experiencing during all this time, a feeling of real health. After this process has been repeated a few times, the treatment has made its unmistakable mark. None need mistake the pale, sal- low, ghastlv, wretched, solemn, dejected, looking being before him—he is a victim of Quinine.— do &C. «fcc, a mkcA smaller proportion of cases prove fatal; that those cured are much more quickly and more perfectly cured under this treatment than under Allopathy; and that while the former recover free from all disease, many of the latter will be found to suffer for a long time the uncomforta- ble and often distressing effects of poisonous and life-disturbing drugs buch is the result of the observation of thousands, and will lv» of all who care- fully observe. The properties of Quinine, in other words, the elft<* which it produce on lj|« >\"™» ^H?™-,,"^ those of other medicines, are accurately and minutely ascertained by Homoeopaths, and placedon record. Let me enumerate some of these effects: It has a specific action ; n the spinal ™rrovvj™d nerves. Its first effect is to excite the nervous system to unnatural activity ; its secondary effect:is directly the reverse, viz : great depression of the norvous power and vital functions. Its erretis ex tend to every part of the body, and of course, to the mind. We will particularize a little: Mind—Attacks of anxiety. Paroxysms of anguish and apprehension, sometimes rousing mm from sleep Great despondency, melancholy, discouragement, &c. Sensorittm.—Slowness of sense, and inabillity to collect i nc's senses and to retain an idea. Juup- ty, stupid feeling of the head. Confused, wild feeling of the head, dizziness, humming and roaniig in the cars and tottering gait. i.„mi //ercrf-Hcad-ache, with languor, debility, yawning, drowsiness and ill-humour, numbness, tremb- ling in the limbs, throbbing of the temples, paleness. Face.—Pale, miserable complexion. Suffering expression of countenance and sunken eyes, hal- low face and dinginess of i he whites of the eves. Jaundice complexion, iVc Stomaeh.—Nausea with belching. Loathing of food or canine hunger, vomiting, oppression ot the stomach, heart-burn, &c. Fulness of the stomach and oppression after eating even the lightest kind of food. Heat and prcRsmv: in the stomach, &c. Swelling and pain in the region of the liver and Jbit'timrii.—Various cutting and ton-ins pains in the abdomen; rumbling and chronic inflammation of the mucous membranes If continued to a great exten',, consumption of the bowels with nausea, gagging, loss of appetite, distension and constant pressure of the abdomen, constipation, emaciation, hectic fever and delirium. , . Chest.—Irritation of the bronchme, cough, tightness of the chest, shortness ot the breath on taking exercise, feeling of suffocation, asthmatic complaints, paius of the chest, palpitation of the heart, &c. Sleep.—Restless sleep and profuse night sweats. /.'euer.—CliiHiness even to shaking, followed by heat and redness of the face, head-ache, thirst, & c. and then sweat. ».,,.. Limbs.—Tearing pains in the limbs, cracking of the joints, weakness and trembling of the limbs, and dropsical swelling of tho feet. These are only a tew out of a large catalogue of the effects of Quinine, One patient does not ex- perience them all at once. It affects different organs and parts of the body in different persons, as one or another part of the system happens to b, the weakest or most sensitive. One after being cured! by it, goes about for weeks or months, wit 11 ringing or roaring iu the ears, and dizzy head ; another with constriction and fulness arouud the region of the stomach, occasioned by- congestion and swelling of the liver or spleen, or both ; another with constant drawing pains of the limbs aggravated by every change of weather; another with jaundice, sallow face, want of appetite, dish-op of the stomach after eating, with constipation or diarrhoea; and not a few with a great number of the above symptoms at the same time. Now we invite our readers to make their own observations on this subject They have a part of the effects of Quinine before them- Compare them with (he symptoms of the cadaverous specimens of humanity which they will see so plenty around them in the latter part of autumn wherever ague prevails, and enquire if they have not been cured! by Quinine. And wc earnestly invite them to con- trast with these, those who have been cured by Homoeopathic treatment. It will be observed that those who have had the patience to be cured, very soon exhibit a healthful appearance and remain hca'thy. Most persons suppose they must be cured in a much shorter time of an intermittent than is required to cure a billious, gastric, or any other fever. This is'an error. In very many case's an intermittent is attended and preceded by as extensive and serious derangements of the various organs of the sys- tem as any other fever, and there is no reason why it should not take as long to bring these various derangements back to a state of health as in other fevers. I?nfil this is done the patient, is not cured, and any violent suppression of the chills and fever by larce doses of Quinine or any other drug is not a cure, and the patient still coutinues sick although his chills and fever may be stopped ai d he is called cured. The Quinine treatment effects this temporary suppression,—Homoeopathic treatment restores the organism to health, and effects a radical cure. Some cases of ague are unattended by much derangement, being suddenly induced by exposure, violent changes of weather, fcc These may be cured by a cold or hot water or brandy sling sweat, a dose of Boneset or Quiniue, or any one of a hundred other things. There is a sufficient number of such cases cured by Quinme to unfor- tunately encourage its use in other cases in which it its entirely inapplicable and mischievous.— Strychnine and some other ague mediciues are equally injurious