Allopathic Opinions 
) OF1 
HOMEOPATHY. 
) BY 
F. P. WEBSTER, M. D„ Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1883, by F. P. Webster, 
M. D., in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. ALLOPATHIC OPINIONS 
OF 
HOMCEOPATHY 
Before I proceed to confirm the truth of Homoeopathy by 
old school authorities it is necessary that I should explain the 
meaning of Homoeopathy, as taught in its colleges, and prac- 
ticed, viz: 
1st. The single remedy. 
2nd. The proving of drugs on the healthy. 
3rd. The small dose (not necessarily infinitesimal.) 
4th. The administration of drugs in accordance with indi- 
cations drawn from the law similia similibus curantur, or that 
sick persons are to be cured by drugs which produce in the 
healthy symptoms similar to those of the sick persons. 
Symptoms may be subjective or objective. 
Subjective symptoms are those of which we get a knowledge 
through the medium of the patient’s own intelligence. They 
comprise the various sensations, pains, and abnormal feelings. 
Objective symptoms are those which are observed by the 
physician or by the attendants of the patient. They could be 
observed whether the patient were popscious or not. They are 2 
the color, texture, temperature, the expression of the eyes and 
features generally, position, motions and attitudes of the 
body, secretions and excretions, auscultation and percussion ; in 
short, everything which the physician can take cognizance of in 
the sick man by the aid of the five senses, Physical and Chemical 
and Microscopic analysis included. 
The single remedy alone is used in the proving of drugs on 
the healthy, that the same remedy can be used to cure a similar 
condition when found in disease. 
In proving or in giving a drug to a person in health all of 
the symptoms, both subjective and objective, that are produced 
by the drug are noted down for future reference until a sufficient 
number of provings is made to establish its identity. In the 
proving of a drug small doses are first taken and gradually in- 
creased, so that the finer shades of symptoms and those that are 
more violent can be taken account of. To complete the proving 
the records of cases of poisoning from reliable sources are con- 
sulted, which form a complete picture of the drug. 
For instance, Arsenic, Belladonna, Mercury, &c., have their 
special action. 
For the necessity of knowing the action of drugs I will 
quote some of the most prominent old school authorities. 
Prof. H. C. Wood, in the preface to his work on Materia 
Medica and Therapeutics, says: 
“ It is the especial province of the therapeutist to find out 
what are the means at command, what the individual drugs in 
use do when put into a human system. It is seemingly self- 
evident that the physiological action of a remedy can never be 
made out by a study of its use in disease. It is certain that in 
experiments made with medicaments upon healthy human beings 
is the only rational scientific groundwork for the treatment of 
disease.” 
Sir Thomas Watson says : 
“ Authentic reports of trials with medicinal substances upon 
the healthy human body must lead at length, tardily perhaps, but 
surely, to a better ascertainment of the rules, preadventure to the 
discovery even of the laws, by which our practice should be 
guided.” 
Dr. King Chambers sneaks as follows: 3 
“ And as to the use of medicines, with which it is a student’s 
duty to be acquainted, do you not see that the safest guide to a 
knowledge of their effects upon a disordered body is the knowl- 
edge of their effects upon a healthy body.” 
Prof. Stille, in his work on Therapeutics and Materia Medica, 
says : 
“ If we are ever to acquire a distinct idea of the curative oper- 
ation of medicines, that is, of their operation upon the tissues, 
organs, and functions, when they have departed from their nor- 
mal condition, we must possess a standard with which to com- 
pare the effects that medicines produce ; and no other standard is 
available than the operation of the same medicines upon the 
healthy economy.” And in another place he says, “ The action 
of medicines upon the sound organism of man forms an indis- 
pensable key to their curative operation in disease. The more 
thoroughly it is known, the more intelligible must the mode be- 
come in which medicines bring about the restoration of sound- 
ness of structure and function, and the more will isolated facts 
of therapeutics tend to arrange themselves in systematic form.” 
A paper read before the Cambridge Society for Medical Im- 
provement by Dr. Frederick F. Moore says that “ Drug action 
possesses individuality just as does disease, and in the practical 
application of our knowledge of drug action to the treatment of 
disease, the individuality has an important bearing. That 
method of drug proving, then, should be adopted, which will 
not only demonstrate most fully the general action of the medi- 
cine on the various parts and functions of the body, but which 
will bring also out, in the clearest manner, these individual 
characteristics of the drug. It may be observed, further, that 
clinical experience is the crucial test to which all therapeutic 
method must be submitted, and no so-called scientific plan is 
worthy of a moment’s consideration which is not in the great 
majority of cases supported and confirmed by the clinical 
method,” in other words, at the bedside of the patient. 
To confirm the law similia similibus curantur old school 
authorities only are consulted in reference to the action of drugs. 
Arsenic will be studied first, to be followed by a few other drugs 
more briefly considered. 4 
Authorities: Taylor, Christison, Stille, H. C. Wood, Ringer, Phil- 
lips, Tilbury Fox, Pereira,, Waring, Fowler, Hunt, Trousseau, Bartholow, 
Virchow, Boudin, Imbert Gourbeyre. 
ARSENIC. 
Action on 
Therapeutics of 
Healthy Body. 
Old School 
I. Gastro-mtestmal 
Tract. 
1. Mouth.—Dryness, Mucous mem- 
Inflammation “ malignant 
brane reddened and 
sore mouth,” ulcera- 
inflamed,inflammation 
tion, sloughing, can- 
of a low, malignant 
cram, oris, etc. 
[character, ulceration, 
sloughing, gangrene. 
2. Throat.—Dryness, inflammation 
Inflammation, malig- 
of low type, tendency 
nant sore throat, 
tomlceratiou, slough- 
ulceration, slough- 
ing, etc. 
ing, etc. 
3. Stomach.—Loss of appetite, nausea, 
As a stomach ''tonic, 
vomiting with much 
vomiting, especially 
straining and distress, 
of drunkards, which 
vomitus consists of 
is accompanied by 
water, bile, mucus, 
great straining and 
blood, etc.; pain of a 
distress — in such 
burning, gnawing 
cases arsenic arrests 
character in epigas- 
the vomiting, and 
trium, sensation of 
restores both appe- 
weight at pit of stom- 
tite and digestion— 
ach, aggravated by 
dyspepsia, irritative 
taking 'food, stomach 
dyspepsia, gastritis, 
very irritable, inflam- 
acute "and chronic, 
mation, acute and 
gastric ulcer, allays 
chronic ;d ulceration, 
pain and chronic 
gastrodynia, etc. 
vomiting, cancer, 
4. Intestines.—Inflammation, diarrhoea, 
gastrodynia, etc. 
Diarrhoea, dysentery. 
stools scanty, generally 
stools slimy and 
greenish or 
bloody, accompa- 
b 1 a c sh, sometimes 
nied by much 
watery, very offensive, 
tenesmus and pain, 
accompanied by much 
and followed by 
abdominall pain and 
great prostration of 
distress, nausea and 
stiength. When 
vomiting. Stools often 
the diarrhoea is 
dysenteric; slimy, 
duetto serious or- 
bloody, accompanied 
ganic disease, e. g., 
by tormina and tenes- 
bowel ulceration 
mus ; vomiting, fol- 
of phthisis, etc. 
lowed by palpitation, 
arsenic is recom 4. Intestines.—trembling of limbs, 
mended. Cholera, 
great weakness and 
especially in stage 
prostration, out of all 
of collapse, where 
proportion to amount of 
there is great pros- 
stools. Symptoms often 
tration and thirst, 
closely resemble those 
cold clammy skin, 
of cholera, and the post- 
feeble pulse, 
mortem appearances 
are almost identical 
with those of cholera, 
ulceration, fever, etc. 
cramps, etc. 
II. Skin. 
Eruptions closely resemb- 
Eczema, psoriasis, 
ling eczema, psoriasis, 
pityriasis, acne, ur- 
pityriasis, acne, urtica- 
ticaria, pemphigus, 
ria, pemphigus, erythe- 
ma, etc. 
erythema, etc. 
III. Eyes. 
Conjunctivitis. 
Conjunctivitis. 
Iv. Respiratory 
Tract. 
Coryza, acute and chron- 
Coryza, acute and 
ic, bronchitis, an asth- 
chronic, bronchitis, 
matic condition, etc. 
asthma, etc. 
Y. Nervous system 
Chorea, epilepsy, tetanus, 
Chorea, epilepsy, 
paralysis, (paiaplegia), 
neuralgia, paraly- 
neuralgia, etc. 
sis, etc. 
YI. Heart. 
Palpitation, cardiac dysp- 
Angina pectoris, 
noea, prsecordial pain 
functional and or- 
- 
and anxiety, often very 
ganic diseases of 
severe, endocarditis, hy- 
pertrophy, etc. 
heart, etc. 
VII. Kidneys etc. 
Albuminuria, urine con- 
Different forms of 
tains renal epithelium, 
Bright’s disease; 
blood corpuscles, fat 
local and general 
globules, fibrin casts, 
renal dropsy, scanty 
urine, suppression of 
urine, coma, after death 
kidneys found congest- 
ed, enlarged, undergo- 
ing fatty degeneration, 
etc. The power of 
arsenic to produce local 
and general dropsies is 
noticed by Dr. Weir 
Mitchel, Dr. Fowler, 
and others. 
dropsies, etc. 6 
VIII. Fever. 
Symptomatic in many cases due to 
One of the chief rem- 
the gaslro-enteritis set 
edies in intermit- 
up, also produces an 
tent fever; also 
idiopathic fever, which 
much used in ty- 
may affect an intermit- 
phoid fever; also 
tent type, thus closely 
very useful in hec- 
resembling fever and 
tic fever, which 
ague. Also produces a 
accompanies 
fever of the continued 
chronic disease of 
type,closely resembling 
lungs and intes- 
typhoid (most authori- 
ties notice this) fever. 
The irritative or symp- 
tomatic fever of arsenic 
stimulates a hectic 
form. 
tines. 
IX. Womb. 
Menorrhagia. 
Menorrhagia. 
Belladonna Trousseau, in his work on Materia Medica and 
Therapeutics, says: “ Analogy, that guide so sure in therapeu- 
tics, ought to lead us to use belladonna in the treatment of 
mania, inasmuch as belladonna, taken in large doses, produces a 
temporary mania; for experience has proved that a multitude 
of diseases are cured by therapeutic agents which seem to act in 
the same manner as the cause of the disease to which we oppose the 
remedy.” Belladonna produces inflammation of the eyes and 
throat and a condition resembling erysipelas. 
Ringer speaks in very high terms of belladonna in acute in- 
flammatory affections of the throat and eyes, as well as in ery- 
sipelas. In large doses causes convulsions, and is used in the 
same; it also produces a sore throat, febrile condition, delirium 
and scarlatinoid rash, and is used in scarlet fever by both schools 
of medicine. Produces irritation of the bladder, with constant 
desire to urinate, though very little urine is passed when the 
attempt is made. Is beneficial in those affections, according to 
many old school authorities. Causes congestion of the kidneys 
with defective secretion, hsematinia, albuminia, and is efficacious 
in such conditions, arising from cold, etc., but the condition is 
liable to be aggravated unless the dose is a very small one.— 
(Harley.) Although belladonna in the physiological state in- 
duces wakefulness and busy delirium, iu certain morbid states 
of the brain it is hypnotic.—(Bartholow.) It is a singular fact 7 
that the influence of atropia rapidly produces a state of over ex- 
citation and irritability of the vaso motor nervous system, at first 
increased, soon diminishes; the action of the heart becomes 
weak, the vessels dilate, and the blood pressure falls below the 
normal. Plarley advises the use of Atropia as a stimulant. 
Ipecacuanha causes nausea and vomiting. “ It has long been 
known that ipecac, in small doses, has the power to arrest cer- 
tain kinds of vomiting.”—(Bartholow.) “ Induces irritation of 
the bronchial tubes, with cough, dyspnoea, also a condition 
similar to asthma. Is employed in the treatment of asthma, 
bronchitis, etc.” “Ipecacuanha is certainly a remedy of consid- 
erable power in the asthmatic paroxysm, but this seems alto- 
gether independent of its emetic properties. Practitioners of 
experience, without subscribing to the doctrines of homoepathy, 
will certainly think more favorably of it on account of its pe- 
culiar tendency to induce fits of asthma in the predisposed (Sir 
John Forbes.) 
Quinine induces a fever very similar to “fever and ague” and 
is the great remedy for this affection. “Each day’s experience,” 
says M. Bretonneau, “proves that cinchona given in a large dose 
determines, in a great number of subjects, a very marked febrile 
movement. The characters of this fever, and the time when it 
shows itself, vary in different individuals. Oftenest tinnitus 
aurium, deafness, and a species of intoxication precede the inva- 
sion of this fever; a slight shivering then occurs; a dry heat 
accompanied by headache succeeds to these symptoms; they gen- 
erally abate, and end by sweat. Far from yielding to new and 
higher doses of this medicine, the fever produced by cinchona is 
only exasperated * * * But if strong doses are renewed 
each day and continued during a long time, besides the stomach 
pains of which we have spoken, there manifests itself a species 
of fever exactly indicated by M. Bretonneau, and which affects 
the intermittent type when the cinchona is given in an intermit- 
tent manner. This fever is a species of vicious circle in which 
very often inexperienced physicians turn, who are ignorant of 
the action of cinchona; they redouble the doses of the medicine, 
and throw the patient into a state which may be very serious... 
These physiological effects of cinchona—described, in terms just 
given, in our first edition—have been despised and denied by 8 
the greater part of physicians of our own country (France); but 
for some years, works at first foreign, and then French, have 
been written on the subject, and although the writers have at- 
tributed to themselves the honor of this discovery, it belongs 
properly to M. Bretonneau, and to-day there are few physicians 
who have not been able every day to confirm these facts upon 
which we have insisted” (Trousseau and Pidoux, Vol. II.) 
It is a most valuable remedy in erysipelas and erythema 
nodosum. It is a curious fact that in many subjects a full dose 
of quinia will cause erythema (Bartholow.) Bartholow says, 
Headache, vertigo and delerium are produced by cinchona and 
that he had observed great relief by the use of this remedy. 
Mercury acts on the liver, causing congestion, enlargement, 
induration, inflammation, jaundice, etc.; and Graves, in his 
“Clinical Lectures,” says of its curative influence in affections of 
the liver, “In this instance we are compelled to allow that our 
practice may furnish weapons to be used against us by the dis- 
ciples of homoeopathy.” It has been found that mercury, in full 
doses, diminishes and often suppresses altogether the secretion of 
the bile; it is an important remedy in conditions where the se- 
cretion of the bile is diminished. Mercury causes symptoms so 
very similar to syphilis, that Trousseau has considered it necessa- 
ry to make a careful differential diagnosis between the two con- 
ditions; it is the great remedy for syphilis, as is well known. 
Here, you perceive, we have a remarkable analogy between the 
disease produced by mercury and syphilis.... It is well known 
that some active remedies have a tendency to produce diseases some 
wbaf analogous to those they are known to cure. This is frequently 
observed with respect to mercury, belladonna, strychnine, quinine, 
iodide of potash, and some other powerful medicinal agents ; in 
fact, it is hard to expect a remedy will cure a disease affecting a 
certain tissue or tissues; unlesss it has soaie specific effect on 
such tissues; and in this point of view we have an example 
of the similia similibus curantur of the homoeopathists.” (Graves, 
Clinical Lectures, p. 784.) 
Prof. Ringer says : There are persons who can never take even 
a small dose of mercury without provoking toothache, generally 
in a carious tooth. In Harris’s Prinicples and Practice of Dentis- 
try it is recommended for toothache. 9 
Mercury produces diarrhoea and dysentery and is in general 
use in the old school in the treatment of these affections. 
Recora and Grassi say, that “mercury diminishes the red cor- 
puscles.” “It is given in small doses by Dr. Keys to increase 
their number.” 
Iodide of Potash produces “frontal headache, coryza lachry- 
mation, soreness of the throat, hoarseness, and difficulty of swal- 
lowing—phenomena strikingly similar to summer catarrh. In- 
deed patients who experience these sensations for the first time, 
suppose the n to be an acute catarrh. Tue iodides are unques- 
tionably serviceable in acute catarrh. In summer catarrh or hay 
asthma, the best results are obtained by the use of larger doses,” 
—(Bartholow.) “Alarming symptoms of difficulty of breath- 
ing.”—(Woodman and Tidy.) “The Iodide of Potassium is one 
of the most effective remedies which we possess for spasmodic 
asthma.”—(Bartholow.) 
Chlorate of Potash Dr. Ringer says: “This salt appears to 
increase the flow of saliva, and, according to Hutchinson and 
others, to produce ulceration of the mucous membrane of the 
mouth. It is largely used in various affections of the mouth, 
and is of signal service in mercurial and simple salivation, in 
ulcerative stomatitis, and aphthae.” 
Copper produces vomiting. Dr. Bartholow says : “The sul- 
phate of copper is one of the remedies sometimes effective in the 
vomiting of pregnancy.” Dr. Bartholow also says it produces 
gastro intestinal catarrh and that minute doses of sulphate of 
copper render excellent service in gastro intestinal catarrh, and 
that it produces dysentery, colic pains and tenesmus. The sul- 
phate of copper is a most useful remedy in acute dysentery, colic, 
pains, tenesmus.” 
Cantharides excites irritation and inflammation of the urinary 
passages; and is greatly used by both schools in irritative and 
inflammatory conditions of these parts. Ringer speaks very 
highly of it in these cases. 
“Copaiba also produces irritation of the urinary passages, and 
is a well known remedy for the same. “In some cases copaiba 
causes bloody urine, in others I have seen a large amount of 
blood in the urine quickly disappear under the use of copaiba 
resi n.”—(Ri nger.) 10 
“Nitrite of Amyl causes “flushings” by inducing dilatation of 
the arteries; and is very highly recommended by Dr. Ringer in 
the “flushings” so common in women at the change of life. 
What Dr. Ringer says in regard to the dose is very significant: 
“The author began with a minim dose, but was obliged to re- 
duce the quantity ; and he ultimately found that, for the most 
part these patients can bear one-third of a minim without any 
disagreeable symptoms, but that the tenth, nay, even a thirtieth 
of a minim will in some patients produce the desired effect on 
flushing.” 
Tartar Emetic produces irritation and inflammation of the 
bronchial tubes and lungs. Tartar-emetic is a very efficacious 
remedy in bronchitis of adults and children, and in the ordinary 
“lung fever” or pneumonia; and is so employed by both schools 
of medicine. 
I will now give a few extracts from a lecture delivered by 
Prof. A. A. Smith, Bellevue Medical College, New York, on 
the “Frequent Repetition of Doses,” Reported in the New York 
Medical Journal, February 10th 1883. 
“It is not my intention this morning to deliver a scientific 
lecture ; I shall make certain statements based upon clinical facts 
for which I shall not attempt to give any explanation.” 
I will quote the first instance: “Urticaria is often caused by 
the administration of full doses balsam of copaiba in cases of 
urethritis, or inflammation of other inucous membranes, and it 
may seem strange to you when I make the statement that a sin- 
gle drop of the same drug given every half-hour will sometimes 
control urticaria; 1 myself haVe often observed the efficacy of 
the treatment.” 
“Fowler’s solution, or liquor potassii arsenitis, half a drop 
given every half-hour for six or eight doses, will often relieve 
the vomiting which occurs after a debauch. It will also relieve 
the morning vomiting of drunkards, and is of decided benefit in 
the sympathetic nausea and vomiting of pregnancy.’’ 
“The next preparation of which I shall speak is a solution of 
the sulphate of atropine, one one-hundredth of a grain in a gob- 
let of water, a teaspoonful of which shall constitute a dose, 
amounting in all to about sixty doses. Now you will often be 
called to see cases of supposed croup, but which, in the majority 11 
of instances, prove to be cases of false croup ot a reflex origin. 
Ordinarily, you will be able to relieve these patients by giving 
them a teaspoonful of this preparation every hour, or half-hour 
according to the severity of the attack. If the child’s face be- 
gins to flush, and show signs of the physiological effects of the 
drug the dose can be reduced in frequency.” 
“You will often meet with children of a nervous, excitable 
frame of mind, who are perhaps, naturally of a sensitive nervous 
temperament, who are disturbed by the slightest noise, and are 
unable to get to sleep before ten or eleven o’clock at night. An 
excellent effect will be produced by chamomilla in some one of 
its forms, as the tincture, administered in minim doses, every 
fifteen or twenty minutes.” 
“One of the most important remedies which can be adminis- 
tered with great benefit in frequently repeated doses is ipecac. 
You are aware that a teaspoonful of the syrup of ipecac is likely 
to produce emesis ; but it is also a fact, regarding which I was 
at first quite skeptical, that a single drop of wine of ipecac will 
often arrest obstinate vomiting. It should be repeated every 
ten or fifteen minutes. When administered in this manner, I 
have often known it to relieve vomiting from different causes, 
among which are pregnancy and subacute gastrites. Children 
often vomit from very slight causes, and are liable to suffer from 
diarrhoea and vomiting which have no other assignable cause 
than disturbance of digestion. A single drop of the wine of 
ipecac, repeated every fifteen or twenty minutes, will often pro- 
duce the most marked relief, both from the vomiting and from 
the diarrhoea. 
“I will now make a statement, upon the authority of Trous- 
seau and his enthusiastic successor, which may appear to you, as 
it once did to me, incredible—viz that one sixtieth of a grain of 
calomel taken every hour for ten or twelve hours will relieve the 
headache of syphilis occurring at night. I have administered 
it in one-fortieth grain doses in this manner and have obtained 
the results which they claimed for it, but I have not tried it 
in sixtieth grain doses. 
“Nursing children often vomit or regurgitate their food ; this 
has been relieved repeatedly in my experience by giving them a 
teaspoonful of a solution of one grain of calomel to the pint of 12 
water every ten or fifteen minutes. Where the diarrhoea is ac- 
companied by mucous passages, indicative of a certain degree of 
inflammatory action, or enteritis, benefit will be derived from 
the administration of one teaspoonful of a solution of bichloride 
of mercury (corrosive sublimate,) one grain to the quart, every 
hour.” 
“Another extraordinary statement, which at first seemed to me 
to be fabulous, and may seem so to you, but which, nevertheless, 
you will find to be based upon clinical facts : Put a grain of 
tartar emetic into one quart of water; teaspoonful doses of this 
solution every half-hour will prove effectual for the relief of the 
cough and wheezing accompanying a slight bronchitis in child- 
ren.” 
“A single drop of the tincture of nux vomica given every ten 
minutes will often produce most marked relief in sick headache 
not of a neurotic origin.” 
“It is well known that cantharides, when given in large doses, 
is liable to cause imflammation of the urinary tract; but it has 
been found that a single drop of the tincture every hour will in 
many cases relieve vesical catarrh.” 
“You probably have heard that digitalis has been used in 
cardiac diseases. Certainly if you have not heard of it, you will, 
and, if you have already heard of it, you will hear 
of it again, particularly at the clinics. Ordinarily, it is ad- 
ministered in considerable doses only three or four times a day ; 
but I do not hesitate to say that the frequent repitition of the 
doses will produce much more benefit than larger doses at longer 
intervals. A single drop of the tincture of digitalis, given to a 
patient suffering from symptoms due to organic heart disease 
when digitalis is indicated, administered at inteavals of an hour 
or half hour, according to the severity of the symptoms, will 
often give greater relief than larger doses, and without liability 
to ill effects.” 
“For the diarrhoea of children, accompanied with slight in- 
flammation, straining, and the passage of jelly-looking matter, 
but not true dysentery, five drops of castor-oil given every hour 
in water with sugar and gum, is an excellent remedy.” 
“A gentleman in this city, of authority in the specialty of 
venereal diseases, says he has given greater relief in a short time, in cases of orchitis and epididymitis, by the administration of 
two-minim doses of the tincture of pulsatilla every hour than by 
any other mode of treatment. I can testify to the great benefit 
derived from the drug administered in this manner in dysme- 
norrhoea not of a membranous, obstructive, or neuralgic charac- 
ter.” 
“Aconite is one of the drugs to which you will probably have 
occasion to resort frequently when you enter upon the active 
practice of medicine. It has for a long time been used in quite 
small doses, but not so frequently repeated as it might be with 
benefit. There are many cases of febrile movement, with dry, 
hot skin, a full, bounding pulse, the mucous membrane of the 
throat and nose probably dry—cases in which the febrile move- 
ment is not the commencement of one of the continued fevers; 
the tincture of aconite, one-third to one-half a minim given every 
fifteen minutes, will be found of decided benefit.” 
“Two minims of the tincture of hamaraelis every half-hour 
will often control hemorrhages. I was at first inclined to look 
upon this statement with a great deal of distrust, but I have since 
tried it in many cases of hemorrhage from the uterus, and in the 
hemorrhage from hemorrhoides, and have found it of great bene- 
fit” 
“I began the use of some of these remedies administered in this 
manner on the recommendation of others, and I must say on a 
somewhat skeptical frame of mind, thinking that the effect which 
they produced was probably due to the moral influence upon the 
patient, or that it had no foundation in fact, it being a mere co- 
incidence that the drug administered at a time when the patients 
would have recovered in the absence of any treatment; but hav- 
ing seen benefit follow their administration repeatedly, I con- 
cluded they must have a wider range of usefulness, and began to 
use them more frequently.” 
The above cases can be readily verified by referring to the 
standard works on materia medica and therapeutics. They are 
only a few instances of the many which might be given to con- 
firm the truth of the Hahnemannian law, as well as to illustrate 
the fact that homoeopathy is doing something more than simply 
to “modify the dose” of the dominant school. To endeavor to 
show, from allopathic sources alone, that drugs do produce in the 14 
healthy conditions similar to these which they cure, is to Work 
at a great disadvantage, as careful and complete provings of 
drugs are wanting in the records of this school. It is only in 
homoeopathic literature that such provings are to be found. 
These homoeopathic provings, however, remain unacknowledged, 
are even sneered at, by the old school; hence it would be of lit- 
tle use to bring them forward on the present occasion, as it is 
my endeavor to confirm the law of “Similia similibus curantur” 
by old school authorities. In every candid mind the question 
can not help arising, are these drugs, so widely different in their 
nature and physiological effects, acting as they do on so many 
different parts of the organism, the only ones subject to these 
generalizations ? 
Prof. S. W. Wetmore, of the University of Wooster at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, in an address read before the Buffalo Medical Asso- 
ciation, September 4, 1877, speaks as follows: ‘.‘After more 
than twenty-five years of earnest pupilage in the various depart- 
ments of our science, I feel that I have but a smattering of each ; 
but this I do know, that there is certainly something in homoeo- 
pathy. 
As philosophical practitioners, we all treat diseases homoeopath i- 
cally every day, without giving it a thought of the homoeopath- 
ic law. He who ignores a doctrine, a drug, ora remedial meas- 
ure, without giving it investigation, is unworthy of the name of 
teacher. It is true I have been culpable of that which I criti- 
cise ; but then I was blind. Now I see and have the moral 
courage to say, Peccavi. I positively knew nothing of that which I 
condemned. The measure and cause of my intolerance was my 
ignorance, as is the case in nineteen-twentieths of the physicians 
of our school throughout the globe to-day. He must needs be 
blind in more than one eye, who cannot see that its superstruc- 
ture is something more than imagination, faith, sugar pills, and 
delusion. It is seemingly unnecessary to detail the great variety 
of cases I have treated by the law of similiars; that there is 
multum in parvo, though that little be of spectroscopic dimen- 
sions ; and that these medical infinitesimals hold sway over 
morbid conditions, administered in accordance with the law 
similia similibus curantur\ more satisfactorily than remedies 
given according to the principles of contraria contrarii curantur. 15 
This result being the product of my own experimentation. I am 
positive of my deductions.” 
An extract from a pamphlet by Thomas Skinner, M. D., 
Liverpool, England, on Homoeopathy reads as follows: 
“Having been connected with the practice of medicine for the 
past quarter of a century, it is due to the profession of medicine, 
to the public and to myself, that I should give my reasons for 
making so remarkable a change in my views of the principles 
and practice of my profession as to change from Alloeopathy to 
Homoeopathy. 
During my career as a physician I have always taken a decid- 
ed stand against homoeopathy and its practitioners, believing as 
I did most sincerely, that Hahnemann and his followers were 
not only deceived, but in turn they were deceivers. The whole 
system seemed to me, in my then profound ignorance of the 
subject, so preposterous, and so far beyond the bounds of human 
credibility and reason, so that no ordinary thoughtsman could 
be blamed if he refused to give it even a hearing, far less to take 
the system into his serious consideration. I was one of the 
physicians in this town who took an active part in prosecuting 
or attempting to put down homoeopathy. 
Like the great apostle to the gentiles, who, before his conversion 
to Christianity, persecuted the Church and kicked ag inst the 
pricks, I have persecuted the truth in another form, and I now, 
with bent knees, exclaim, peccavi, and trust to be forgiven. 
So great was my abhorence of homoeopathy, and so deter- 
mined was I to put it down, I was instrumental not only in 
passing, but also in perpetuating, the most illiberal law that 
ever was made by a profession styling itself “liberal.5’ The law 
is still existing, I believe, as one of th« code of laws ot the Liv- 
erpool Medical Institution, and is as follows : “The Liverpool 
Medical Institution shall consist of physicians, surgeons, and 
other legally qualified practitioners ; but no one practicing ho- 
moeopathy shall be eligible, either as a member of the institu- 
tion or as a subscriber to the library; and any member or sub- 
scriber who may become a practitioner of homoeopathy shall 
cease to belong to the institution.” Laws and Regulations of the 
Liverpool Medical Institution. Law II. 1861. 
As the existence of this law was tantamount to drawing up 16 
and signing my own death warrant, I resigned my member- 
ship.” 
As it may be interesting to many to learn the chief cause 
which led to my intolerance of homoeopathy, I may state that 
I was born and educated at Edinburgh, and was a pupil of the 
late Professor Sir James Young Simpson, Baronet. In 1851-2 
I took his gold medal in Gynecology and Obstetrics, and in 
1855-56, after being about three years in practice in Dumfrie- 
shire, I became the private assistant of Sir James at his residence, 
52 Queen street, Edinburgh. Having been brought up from 
my youth to recognize in Sir James Simpson the leading medi- 
cal light of the century, and having been in close contact with 
him, I could scarcely escape becoming, as it were, impregnated 
with his views and bias as regards the great contest between the 
old school of medicine and homoeopathy. So far as Sir James 
Simpson was capable of investigating the works of Hahnemann, 
he did investigate them in his own peculiar way—no quarter. He 
examined them only as a litterateur and a rival, never as a genu- 
ine truth-seeker or truth lover ought to have done. He never 
tried the practice on the smallest scale, except to ridicule it. If 
every new truth or discovery were investigated in the manner 
in which Sir James investigated homoeopathy, no other result 
could ensue but a wilful closing our eyes to the truth. Know- 
ing no better, and having a greatly exaggerated idea of the ca- 
pability of Sir James Simpson for the investigation of medical 
science, and being for the time spell bound by the greatness and 
power of his genius, which I fully acknowledge. I took his re- 
ply to Hahnemann and his works as a complete settlement of 
the question. Sir James Simpson and Samuel Hahnemann are 
both in their graves, but not so homoeopathy, which is only 
commencing to bud and develop, for magna est veritas et pre~ 
valebit. Truth is great and will prevail. 
“The Liverpool Daily Post, in commenting on the doings of 
the late meeting of the British Medical Association, pertinently 
says: What can fairly be said is that homoeopathy is practiced 
by properly qualified physicians, many of them men distinguish- 
ed in their profession, and respected by the scientific world, and 
that if the tenets which they have deliberately and intelligently 
adopted are mistaken, the mistake should be shown by rational 17 
argument and experiment, and not blindly punished by irra- 
tional ostracism, * * * The general sentiment oi the 
profession has repeatedly gone wrong, A great man discovered 
the circulation of the blood, and that general sentiment, though 
the fact was demonstrated before the very eyes of the doctors, 
pronounced the illustrious discoverer to be a charlatan, 
Che value of vaccination, though clearly shown by .Tenner, 
was obstinately denied by the profession in his time and a new 
generation of doctors sprang up before the marvelous effective- 
ness of this preventive was generally admitted. The future, as 
well as the past, condemns the Association. Homoeopaths, if 
they choose might make a very strong point against their rival 
by directing their attention to the tendencies of modern science. 
Physical science in relation to disease most certainly tends 
towards homoeopathy. At any rate, if it does not believe that 
like cures like, it has the very best grounds for supposing that 
like prevents like. 
The germ theory, whether it be finally established or not, lias 
revolutionized our ideas of zymotic diseases, and has directed the 
inquiries of physicists and doctors into a new channel. 
Possibilities of prevention are coming into view which for- 
merly were not dreamed of. And, singular to say, these pre- 
ventive measures are homoeopathic in character. The experi- 
ments of Pasteur alone entitle the homoeopathist at least to a 
respectful hearing. 
The great French savant lias done much to demonstrate the 
desirability of a comprehensive system of inoculation for the 
prevention of other diseases than small-pox, and inoculation is 
in a sense homoeopathic.” 
The report contained in the transactions of the American 
Institute of Homoeopathy reads as follows: “This report em- 
braces 284 homoeopathic institutions, viz: I national, 3 special, 
26 state and 103 local societies ; 13 clubs, 5 miscellaneous asso- 
ciations, 23 general hospitals, 31 special hospitals, 40 dispensa- 
ries, 12 colleges, 4 special schools, 15 journals and 8 directories. 
Homoeopathy is now adopted in 54 hospitals in the United 
States ; 23 of which are general hospitals designed to treat the 
different forms of acute disease. Of these hospitals 18 report 18 
1,268 beds. They treated 6,675 patients last year (1881), with 
a mortality of 396, or less than six per cent., an extremely low 
rate as compared with allopathic hospitals. The cost of erection 
of 11 of these hospitals has been $770,500, and they hold in- 
vested funds to the amount of $230,000, making upwards of 
$1,000,000 that have been contributed for these homoeopathic 
hospitals. This is exclusive of Ward’s Island Hospital, which 
has been erected and supported by the Oily of New York, at 
a cost of nearly an equal amount. Of the 31 special hospitals, 
17 report 1,028 beds. Twelve of these hospitals have been 
erected at a cost of $1,034,500. A careful estimate shows that 
the existing homoeopathic hospitals in the United States have 
cost over $5,000,000. The greater part of which has been 
accomplished within the last ten years.” 
The only difference in the instruction given in the Homoeo- 
pathic and the Allopathic colleges is that of Materia Medica and 
Therapeutics. All of the branches comprising Anatomy, Physi- 
ology, Chemistry, Pathology, Diagnosis, Surgery, Obstetrics, 
etc., are taught in the same manner as in the Old School and 
are just as essential to all practitioners of medicine. It is often 
remarked bv those that should be better informed, that patholo- 
gy receives no attention in the homoeophatic school. I make 
the statement on personal knowledge, being a graduate of both 
schools, that it not only receives the same attention but is put 
to a more practical use by homoeopathic physicians, as it is nec- 
essary to know the change that disease produces in the different 
tissues of the body that we may more intelligently apply the 
law “sirnila similibus curantur.” 
“In Oct. 1859, the authorities of the Michigan State Prison, 
taking thelead of all similar institutions in the United States, first 
adopted the Homoepathic treatment in the Prison Hospital. 
Taking first, the facts for three full years under each medical 
system, we have the following result: 
Under Allopathic treatment in 
1857, 1858 and 1859, . . . 
Avera ge 
No. of in- 
mates per 
Annum. 
Total No. 
of 
Deaths. 
Total No. 
of days 
labor lost. 
Total cost 
of Hospit- 
al Stores. 
435 
m 
23,000 
$1,678 
Under Homcepatliic treatment 
in 1860, 1861 and 1862, . . 
545 
20 
10, 000 
$9,00 “The improvement was obtained, notwitstanding we had to 
contend, during the years of 18A1-2, with epidemics of Small 
Pox, of which there were thirty-two cases.; of Measles, of 
which there were thirty cases and of Sporadic Cholera, of which 
there were forty-four cases. Many of these last were of a very 
severe type; but all were successfully treated and speedily 
cured by Homoeopathic doses, and without resort to any kind 
of heroic medication.” 
Taking another and later comparison, we find that in round 
numbers: 
Day’s labor 
Cost of 
lost oy sick- 
Hospital 
ness. 
Stores. 
Under Allopathic treatment in 
1871 
1870 
and 
« 
24,000 
$1,801 
Under Homcepathic treatment in 
1873 
and 
1874 
11,000 
$000 
While the average number of inm ites during the last two 
years was greater than ever before in the history of the prison. 
The average duration of diseases in general in the Allopathic 
Hospitals of Paris, Berlin, Gottingen and Stuttgart, as com- 
pared with that in the Homoeopathic Hospitals of Vienna, 
Munich and Leipzig, has been published by Dr. Kurtz in the 
Hygea, vol. 18, part 2. This gives the mean dural ion of hos- 
pital diseases to be— 
Under Allopathic treatment 28 to 39 days. 
Under Homoeopathic treatment 20 to 21 days. 
Investigating the comparative duration of particular diseases, 
and taking pneumonia, or Inflammation of the Lungs, as an 
example, we find upon the authority of Louis, the eminent French 
physician, that its mean duration, under Allopathic treatment, 
is 21 days; while Tessier and Henderson, Homoeopathic, 
equally distinguished physicians, give statistical proof that its 
mean duration under Homoeopathic treatment is only 12 day. 
This one disease is quoted only as a fair sample of all; were it 
necessary, equally conclusive evidence could be adduced in re- 
gard to others. • 
We very frequently hear it said that Homoeopathic treatment 
is'good tor children and in slight ailments, but that more heroic- 
treatment, ts necessary for the severe firms of disease to which* 
strong men are liable. To throw some light upon this point., 
we have checked off, in the medical .statistics of Brooklyn and 
Philadelphia, all the eases which have died from some of the 
more common acute diseases. And due allowance being made 
for the respective numbers of physicians, we find the ratio of 
deaths under the two systems to be as follows : 
DISEASES.- 
DEATH'S. 
Homosopathie 
Allopathic, 
Bronchitis, ............... 
48 
10 0 
Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis, 
44 
10 0 
Cholera Infantum*, ............. 
64 
100 
Group,. ................. 
37 
100 
Diarrhoea,. . - . .- ...... 
: 5 
100 
Diphtheria, . . . 
63 
100 
Dysentery, ............... 
39 
100 
Erysipelas, 
S3 
100 
Inflammation of Brain,- ........... 
>9 
100 
Inflammation of Botvels, . . . 
33 
100 
Inflammation of Lungs, , . . . . 
89 
100 
Scarlet Fever, . . . . 
69 
100 
Small Pox, ........ r ..... . 
61 
100 
Typhoid Fever, ... .......... 
88 
100 
IN THE DENVER ALMSHOUSE. 
Allopathy 
Homoeopathy. 
1680. 
1881. 
Number on band, January 1st. . , . 
43 
82 
Number admitted, ...... 
711 
926 
Number discharged, . . . . 
597 
858 
Number born, . . 
10 
13 
Number died, ............. 
9! 
74 
Number remaining, ............ 
Average daily attendance, . . . 
82 
83 
67 
79.4 
Number of Jail and Outside patients, ..... 
212 
337 
Total number treated, 
982 
1358 
Mortality rate at hospital, with the number dis- 
charged as a basis, . . , 
Cost of drugs and surgical supplies in hospital, , 
13 2-10 
07 9-10 
81747 27 
$1001 25 
Hospital druggist’s salary, ......... 
600 00 
000 00 
Cost of prescriptions for jail and outside patients, 
316 90 
000 00 
Total cost of drugs and surgieal supplies, and drug 
gi t’s salary, . . . . . 
2664 17 
1001 25 
Cost per patient from the above figures, .... 
2 71 
73 
“This result, from official records, confirms the argument of 
all other experience-5*