HOMEOPATHY  EXPLAINED


                   AND

    /


OBJECTIONS ANSWERED,




       WITH ADDITIONAL ARTICLES, VIZ:


  1. The effects of Mercury .  I 3. Laudanum and Paregoric.
  2. Phvsics and Purging.   | 4. Coffee, Tea, Liquors and
                                   [Tobacco.
                EDITED. &Y


H./WIGAND,   M.  D.,

         Physician in Sandusky City, O.
 "Hahnemann, the discoverer of Homoeopathy, is to the body what Christ

"is to the soul."                        .
 * • * » "It is in this part of medicine, that I wish to see are-

"form, an abandonment of hypothesis for tober facts, the first degree of
"valueset on clinical observations, and thelovoeu «• mtwnory theonu.

— Tkoa. Jefferton—Letter LV, vol. A, page9\.
n.
m*v
            SANDUSKY CITY:


aaairir®* aPa*<*e>»* '"tfyaaO^ur »0ar<»»3»


                 1847. 
 
HOMEOPATHY  EXPLAINED
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED,
      WITH ADDITIONAL ARTICLES, VIZ:

1. The effects of Mercury.   I 3. Laudanum and Paregoric.
2. Physics and Purging.    | 4. Cpffee, Tea, Liquors and
                                   [Tobacco.
                 EDITED BY

H.  WIGAND,  M.  D.,
         Physician in Sandusky City, O.
 "Hahnemann, the discoverer of Homoeopathy, is to the body what Christ
"is to the sonl."
 *  * *  * njt js jn this part of medicine, that I wish to see are-
"form, an abandonment of hypothesis for aober facts, the first degree of
"value set on clinical observations, and the lowest in visionary tkeorits."
— Thos. Jefferson—Letter LV> vol.<i,pqge9l.
2V7VVo
       .0*
n
■rrtfttV
SANDUSKY CITY:



      1847, 
Mrs. M. L. BROWN, Sandusky City,....   5 copies.
  «*C. BUTLER,.........do..........   5    do.
  »  CAMP, ..............do..........   5    do.
  "  M. COOKE,..........do..........   5    do.
  <■  CHADWICK,.........do..........10    do.
  «  M. FISH, Venice,.................  10    do.
  "  E. S. FLINT, Sandusky  City,......  10    do.
Miss S. HEWETT,........do..........   3    do.
Mrs. HURD,..............do..........   5    do.
  "  HOGG,'..............do..........   5    do.
  '■  G. E.  HUBBARD,.....do..........  10    do.
  "  H. JUDSON,.........do..........   3    do,
  "  W.  8. KING,........do..........   5    do.
  '•  G.KING,............do..........   5    do.
  "  C.MILLS,...........do..........   5    do.
  «  S. J. NEWELL,......do..........  10    do.
  "  ROBINSON,......Plymouth.......   5    do.
Miss J. STANISLAUS,. .Sandusky City ..  10    do.
Mrs. E---S---..........do..........  10   do.
   " SIMPSON,..........do_........   5   do.
   " TOWNSEND,........do....T.....   5   do-
   « R.WHITNEY,.......do..........  10   do. 
INTRODUCTION.
   At this time,  when great improvements are made  in every de-
 partment of human economy, it is somewhat  e^ctracJuinary that
 practical medicine should not have kept pace with all other branch-
 es; a circumstance wholly attributable to the lamentable fact, that
 this department has not hitherto been based upon any  fixed princi-
 ple.  The homceopathie system, however, founded upon the immu-
 table laws of nature, and scientific and harmonious in  all its parts,
 has happily been established in this country.  It now stands firm and
 triumphant, despite of the numerous attempts made and daily mak-
 ing by the gentlemen of the old school, to put down and crush to
 atoms,  both Homoeopathy and its followers.   They dislike Homoe-
 opathy, because this new science divulges and lays bare to all sound
 and unprejudiced minds the incompetency of their  doctrines, and
the fatal vereality under the  sway  of which they have, for ages
 past,  scourged poor humanity by their  eternal bleeding, salivating,
 vomiting, purging, blistering, starving,  and tortures of all kinds
 which the new science rejects in toto and highly condemns.
   In the following pages an attempt has  been made to point out the
most  striking  features which distinguish Homoeopathy from the
old practice, and at the same time briefly exposing the fallacy  of
the objections usually made use of against it.  Homoeopathy claims
nothing but a fair field and no favors; it appeals to facts alone; and
supported by these,  we may rest assured  that the period is not far
distant when she will be acknowledged to stand at the head of the
sciences, diffusing health and happiness around.
  Thin little work is put forth with  no other view  than a  sincere
desire to propagate an important truth—to spread information on a
subject  most valuable to  all mankind, and to stimulate the intelli-
gent portion of  the public to put  to the  test  the most  enlightened
doctrines on medicine ever  given to  the world. 
                              4
          DISCOVERY OF HOMlEOPATHY.
   The Homoeopathic system of medicine owes its origin to the phi-
'osophic mind of a German physician, Samuel Hahnemann, born in
 1775 at Meissen in Saxony, died 1842 at Paris.   Prior to the great
discovery, Hahnemann was celebrated both as a physician and  a
chemist, yet so dissatisfied was he with this hap-hazard and routine
practice, that he abandoned the profession altogether,  and did  not
resume it  till providence  had selected! him as the  instrument for
completing a thorough reform in medical science.   It was whilst
translating into German, the Materia Medica of the Scotch physi-
cian, Dr.  Cullin, that he was induced, from the unsatisfactory at-
tempts made therein  to explain the effects of bark, to try that sub-
stance uponjhimsclf.    He was in perfect  health, and  found to his
 Konishment that bark produced in him  symptoms  exactly resem-
bling those of a certain character of fever and ague.   As bark was
considered a specific  for the cure of the ague, his sagacious  mind
suspected something more than a mere accident  in  the  circum-
stance of  its producing those symptoms.   Resting  upon this fact,
and pursuing the  same train of enquiry, he arrived  after long  and
careful researches at the conclusion that it is a law of nature,  (ithat
m:ladies are effectually cured by such medicines  as have the pow-
er of producing on healthy persons symptoms similar to those which
characterise the disease."
        1. Fundamental Principle  of  Homoeopathy.
  The basis on which the entire system rests is a law of nature,
acting alike throughout the physical and moral world,  and is plain-
ly and forcibly expressed in the  words,  "zimilia  similibus curnn-
tur,"  or  in  other  words that "like  cures like."  To illustrate
thin  principle, and to prove the truth of it, it will suffice to give a
few  examples:    Mercury  produces ulcerated  Mire  throat  in a
healthy individual, and will cure  a disease exactly resembling it.
Ipecacuanha causes vomiting in a  healthy person, and will cure a
patient suffering from a similar disturbance of the stomach. Popular
practice,  which is as old as  mankind itself, is often surprisingly
successful, and when it is so, it acts,  though unknowingly,   upon
this principle.  A frost-bitten member is cured by the application
• if .^now or  ice, while hot applications  in a case of this nature
would cause mortification.    A burn is quickly healed by puttin
the affected part close to the fire, or by applying hot spirits; where -
:-- the application  of cold  would increase the inflammation and re-
turd  the cure.   The  great question whether Homoeopathy be  true
or false, rests  upon the soundness  and truth of the  law  thus  laid 
down by Hahnemann  as  its  fundamental  principle, "like cur.-.*
like,*' all other points are  of subordinate importance.  Not one ot
the numerous  opponents who have assailed the  science, hat been
found bold enough to deny or impugn this  fundamental principh .
It offers to the practitioner in all cases a sure and unerring guir*-
for the administration of remedies, and to patients the advantage.
that he is not  exposed  to the dangerous  effects of large doses oi
violent, nauseous, and pernicious drugs.
2.  Homceopathy ascertains the effects of its Medicines on a
   healthy subject previously  to their application to the can'
   of Disease.
   In order to make the fundamental law of Homoeopathy applica-
ble to practice, it was of great importance to ascertain the pree-
'■fleets  which such  medicine is capable of producin^n the body
in health.  This arduous  and laborious task litis been accomplish-
ed with  great precision by Hahnemann and  hisearly discipUv.—
They U'-ted  upwards of two hundred  different  medicines—which
• ■onstiture the present Materia  Medica—watching and recordi:i'.'
their action on themselves and other healthy persons of both scx.-s
a'nl all aires.
:i.  Homoeopathy  prescribes  Medicine in extremely smali
   (l0S(.-rf.
   When  Hahnemann first  applied  medicines upon thcpr'.nr1..-;
which  he had discovered,  he administered them in the ordinary
doses, but perceiving that these  quantities acting upon dise:i' - •
organs  produced too severe an aggravation of the symptoms, witV
<»ut a corresponding advantage to the patient, he was naturally '.:■-
 duced to diminish the quantity.  He then saw that the aggravaf/m
 was much less sewre.while at the same time the disorder was remo\ -
 (••I. In the course of his numerous experiments he discovered a pecu1-
 iar method of preparing the medicines, viz: a long and laborious pr:.-
 ccss of trituration, by means of which their active properties ar.
 increased to  an astonishing extent, and others  developed whn-i
 previously were unknown to  exist in them.   In using medicines
to which  these increased powers had been imparted, he found Ii'i.- -
 self compelled, still to continue to  reduce the doses till he ultimat. -
 ly brought them to their present infinitesimal quantities.   This is
cne of the most scientific discoveries of modern time-, and is o:.-»*
of the richest jewels in Hahnemann's crown.
    4. Homoeopathy  gives only one Medicine  at a time.
   As long as only one medicine  is given at once, a practitiom '
 may always perceive its  action and adaptation to the disease, bul. 
v-hen two or  more are  mixed together, no human  intellect  could
clearly follow the progress of the case.   In such a  treatment it
would be impossible to separate the symptoms which belonged to
the disease from those which had been artificially produced by the
medicines.
                  Homoeopathic Regimen.
  The regimen prescribed by Hahnemann is simple,  rational  and
easily to be observed.   It merely directs that the food shall be di-
lutable, nutritious, and not stimulating; to take suitable exercise
in the open air, and to keep the mind at ease.
     Distinguishing  Characteristics of Homoeopathy.
  1st.   Homceopathy rejects bleeding  of every kind.   Hahnemann
considered^e blood to be so  precious a fluid, and so  important to
our physical existence, that even the loss of a  small quantity by
artificial means is injurious and  irreparable,  and is, moreover, un^
necessary.   No human being has a drop of blood too much;  and
rases where derangement of  the circulation is manifested, have al-
ways their origin in a  morbid cause, which  ought to be removed
by suitable remedies, and not by mechanical evacuation.    In all
rases where the common practice deems bleeding  necessary,  Homo.-'
apathy provides medicines which calm and equalize the circulation.
Thus the patient retains all his strength, and the chances for recov-
ery  are greater.
2. Homoeopathy rejects all external means,  such as Blisters,
  Setons, Issues, &c.
  Those painful and tormenting measures  are not only decidedly
 injurious to the organs to which they are applied, but  also to the
 constitution in general.  They shake the nervous system most se-
 riously,  and their good effects are so rare as to render it a matter of
 surprise, that rational  practitioners can resort to their application.
 :?.   HOMOEOPATHY  REJECTS   PURGATIVES  AND  AP-
   PERIENT  MEDICINES OF ALL KINDS.
   This  class of medicines are highly injurious because they pro-
 duce morbid action of the bowels, irritation of the stomach, and all
 the digestive organs,  and are the never  failing source of constipa-
 tion, dyspepsia, liver complaints, hemorrhoids, and the long train of
 < vita connected therewith.    They alleviate  only for the time, and
 i .ot only do not remove the cause for which they are taken, but in-
 crease and confirm it;  A purgative can never be taken  without
. J'reducing miechief, and the more frequently taken the more they are
 required.  Homoeopathy possesses pimple and  effectual means of 
                               7
 restoring the natural and  healthy action  of the  bowels without
 them.
 THE MOST COMMON OBJECTIONS TO HOMCEOPATHY.
   Wherever Homoeopathy is practised, its  cures never fail to at-
 tract attention, and its advantages soon become a subject of pub'ric
 interest and conversation;  it is, therefore,  not surprising that at-
 tempts should be made to arrest its progress by those who mu.'t
 naturally be jealous of its proclaimed (superiority,  who are con-
 fessedly ignorant of its  merits, and whose education and habits of
 thinking are at variance with its doctrines.
   It is said,
 1st.  The  minute doses abe  "humbug,"  and  can v-t have ant
   EFFECT ON DISEASE-.                               ft
   This is usually the first, and to those unacquainted wrm the ac-
 tion  of the Homoeopathic remedies, the most startling objection;
 but in corroboration of our assertion that  these minute dostfc are
 prompt, active and powerful, we may fearlessly  appeal to all who
 have either been treated  Homooopathically  themselves,  cr who
 have witnessed its effects  upon  others.   Why  is  not  the  bulk
 of the dose'increased if it  is only to remove the objection jls to
 size?  Because they are not "humbug,"' and because in their pres-
 ent quantity and form they  are sufficiently active and  efficrc ions,
 and even sometimes produce in the patient an extraordinary aggra-
 vation of his existing symptoms.  Put them to the test and if it in
 found that they have no  effect then declare them  "humV;^."  It,
 has already been stated, that the active properties of medicinal sub-
 stances are  developed and increased in an extraordinary d»v-re■" by
 the  peculiar process of preparation discovered by Hahnemann.
 When we further consider that our organs, when they art  in n state
 cf diseasp arc extremely sensitive, and that  these medicines tot on
 the diseased organs, it is not difficult to account for the fact that a
 minute quantity will act with sufficient force.   These  dose*, have
 at the Fame time the advantage of not injuring health even if they
 are not correctly chosen, an advantage which eannot be pleaded iu
 favor of the immense doses of injurious drugs administered by the
 old school.
 2d. The minute  doses  could not be depended  upon in acute
                CASES OF DISEASE,  FEVERS, &.C.
   This is an error founded in ignorance, for it is in such cases that
the action  of Homoeopathic remedies  are most r;,r.^r.c:K' i  .—
There is no case of acute disease, which could not be :-rr-■•-j-d and
subdued much more quwkly and effectually by H©macp4»t//ic uWs 
                               8
 than by the violent and injurious measures resorted to in like cas-
 es by the old school.
 3d.  The cures  of Homoeopathy  are attributable to nature
                            ALONE.
   When cures under Homoeopathic treatment are too obvious to b«
 denied, they are of course attributed to nature.  Why does nature in
 so many cases  wait until Homoeopathy is applied to  before  shp
 commences a cure?  Can Nature by her unassisted efforts cure se-
 vere cases of croup, typhus fever,  scarlet fever,  and  cholera,
 or a long standing chronic complaint?   Moreover, if nature alone
 is capable of performing such cures, how can  bleeding, leeching,
 bliBtering and all such tormenting measures be justified;  or how
 can  the )fbg catalogue of  pills and draughts, with  which patient'*
 stomachs are drenched, be  defended.
 4. The cures of Homeopathy  are attributable to the faith
              AND IMAGINATION OF THE PaTIENT.
   This is really  a very silly objection since by far the greater num-
 ber of persons who resort  to it, do so,  not only without any faith,
 but prejudiced against it, and have recourse to it only as a last  re-
 course because the old system has signally failed in its attempt to re-
 lieve them.   One of the most decided arguments against the bug-
 bear's imagination is that Homoeopathy cures horses, cows, and all
 domestic animals by the administration of remedies on the principle
 ilsimilia sim.ilibvs.''  Are  the various complaints of infants cured
 by faith and imagination? if so, surely  their delicate stomachH
 might  have been spared  the nauseous  potions  they have hith-
 erto been doomed to swallow.
        5th. HoMffiOPATHY  CURES  BY  SEVERE REGIMEN.
   This is another assertion which has no foundation in truth.  If
 btrict attention to  regimen will of itself remove disease',  why do
 not the old school adopt the same mode,  and cease to wage war
 against our constitutions with the deadly weapons they now han-
 dle so unsparingly and so unsuccessfully.
 6. Many People have been treated by Homoeopathy, and have
                     not been cured.
  This is probable, and yet it is not  a sound argument against
 Homoeopathy, for the disciples of science do not pretend to infalli-
 bility;  but I would meet all objections of this nature with  the fol-
lowing questions:   Were the cases treated curable?  did the pa-
 tient adhere to the rules prescribed? did  they  continue the treat
meat ^sufficiently  long to  effect a cure? for  it is  certain that a 
•ihronic complaint can only be eradicated by slow degrees.  1 ad-
mit that cases occur where homoeopathic means have failed to cure.
because many patients have recourse to its aid when the vital pow-
ers have become so exhausted by disease, and by a long continued
course of injurious medical treatment, that cure is hopeless.  The
real question is, does Homoeopathy not  succeed in cases where tlu-
»ld  practice always fails,  and does it not, in cases where  tht*
latter only relieves at » great expense  to  the  constitution, cure
promptly and effectually and without the least injury to the organ-
ism?  On this ground it takes its stand, and challenges  public en-
quiry; if occasional  failures are to be the test of a system of med-
icine, the fate of the old school can, indeed, be no longer doubtful.
 7tll. HoMOSOPATHY  IS GOING DOWN EVERY WHERE, AND Dr. Y. Z.
  who was in Paris, says he has heard nothing of H^ceopathy.
   A grand argument against Homoeopathy.  Fifteen years  ago it
was not known even by name to the majority of the profession in
England and the United States, while now, amongst the cnlighten-
rd public, it would be difficult to find a  person  unacquainted with
the system.  In Paris,  where  1 o  years ago there was  not  one
homoeopathic  practitioner,  there  are now upwards of sixty.   In
Boston, New York and Philadelphia there are in each city upward*
of 25 homoeopathic physicians; and not a village can be  found in
the New England states where there is not a practitioner of Ho-
moeopathy.   About twenty universities and academies in Europe
allow lectures on Homoeopathy.  The  system  is publicly  advoca-
ted by more than one thousand physicians in this country, who have
relinquished the old practice Lo become its  adherents.  The  litera-
ture of  Homoeopathy consists  of more than 800  volumes  in the
German, English, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese,
Danish and Swedish languages.  Forty periodicals have been  es-
tablished in different parts of the world.  There are more  than 5()
homoeopathic associations in Europe composed of physicians  and
laymen of eminence; there are homeopathic  hospitals at  Lcipsic,
Munich, Bordeaux, Grum,  London, Paris, Palermo,  fee.
   According to official documents, there were  in the treatment of
cholera, eight deaths to one hundred patients under homoeopathic
treatment; whilst under  the old treatment, half the patients died.—*
So much for the  assertion of our friend " that Homoeopathy is
an exploded system."
   In addition to the  arguments against  Homoeopathy  above no-
ticed, we occasionally meet with the following objections,  namely:
" Homoeopathy uses only  one medicine for all  complaints."
      " Homcf.jpatihc medicines are powerful poisons."
  These assort! is are so self-evidently at variance  with truth, as 
                              10
to merit no more than a simple denial.   The "Homoeopathic Phar-
macopoeia" contains, as stated above, upwards oihco hundred rem-
edies, a number far exceeding those in use under the  old practice.
It is true, the powders we give all  look alike, but the white sub-
stance is not the medicine, it is only the vehicle of the medicine-
it is sugar of milk, not " loaf-sugar"—expressly prepared for  ho-
moeopathic use, because it is the only substance free from medicin-
al properties.  With regard to the assertion that they possess poi-
sonous qualities, it will be sufficient to remark, that the old school
makes use of the most active  of  them in large and  oft  repeated
doses.  In making this  charge,  therefore,  our opponents forget
that one of their objections is  that "the minute doses can  have no
effect whatever."  This argument cuts both ways; and like all the
rest of the ODjections, will bear no examination.
  A question like the following:  '-Is  it true,  Mrs.  C. that  the
Homeopathic Doctor whispered  words before he administered  his
medicine?" is too silly indeed, to merit any consideration.
  I have thus given  a brief explanation  of Homoeopathy, and  I
■shall feel gratified if I succeed in conveying to any portion of the pub-
lic more correct notions than  were previously  entertained of  thrc
value of  Homoeopathy.
  For the purpose of more minute information, Dr. Curie's "Prin-
ciples of Homoeopathy," the  Rev.  T.  Everest's " Popular View
of Homoeopathy," and Dr. Channing's Discourse,  may be read
with advantage.

                  EFFECTS OF MERCURY.
   I well know, and every physician who has studied natural  phi-
losophy must know, that vegetable poisons  are much more dele-
terious than the mineral, such as mercury, fee,  and I am  well
aware that in Germany more  children have died of chamomile tea
than of scarlet fever; and in this country more people are  killed
by Peruvian bark and quinine, than by the fever and ague, yet mer-
cury  is the universal elixir of the  quacks in all  diseases, who,
whilst they pretend to restore their patients to ;  iulth destroy their
constitution.   They administer it as calomel in. powders, or dissol-
ved as corrossive subiimtite, rrin pills—thfi- a   nninahle blue pills.
Precipitate, white or red, is the same  ;•.."•'.  err;my against which
we have to guard.  Applied externally or >i:\:.:;r.!iv  it  is  always
equally destructive.   Frequently they impes'  ;.-..■  people by  tel-
ling them that mercury cu;i be expelled ;.;y ■ by ''v.'.ng  aperient
medicines after it.  Such i.'..::gur.ge in the t:..utft-of a physician is 
                               11
 the most convincing proof of ignorance and baseness,  for  suppo-
 sing it was as easy to remove.the calomel as it was to swallow it,
 the effect produced upon the body will certainly remain:  just as if
 you were to drive a nail into a  man's leg and then pull it out again.
 the hole will remain; it will heal after a  while, but requires  time
 and a  rational mode of treatment, or the consequence may  be very
 serious.  To give aperient medicine then for the  effects of  mer-
 cury, is about as sensible as if  I were to poke a wooden  peg  into
 the wound made by the nail and imagine it to be all right  again.
 Mercury penetrates  immediately every part of the  system, the
 fluids, the glands, and even the bones, and no purging in the world
 will remove it.   Poisoning by mercurial medicines is far more dif-
 ficult to cure, than any natural disease.               ^
                    PHYSICS! PURGING!
   The very popular opinion that purging contributes to health, not
 only when the body suffers from sickness,  but  also from time to
 time in a healthy state, that the impurities are driven  out of the
 body, is entirely erroneous and  without foundation.  This is noth-
 ing but a desire of doctors and  apothecaries  to sell their  drugs,
 but they have repeated it so often during thousands of years,  that
 they have long ago believed it  themselves; it is a traditionary part
 of the creed of half the world,  and no one dares to doubt it. Many
 physicians spread and encourage this idea, because their whole art
 consists in bleeding, purging and giving emetics.  This creed is
 the pivot upon which the whole of the old system  turns, and  it is
 the bait to catch credulous patients with;  for  where they speak
 with proper solemnity of these things, every heart and every purse
 opens, and persons who are actually in  good health, feel  a  real
 longing to be properly scrubbed and cleaned inside.  Most  impu-
 rities  exist  only  in  imagination,  and the   abominable  things
 which are discharged  have been artificially  produced by these
 physics.  Give to a horse or an individual in perfect health  salts
 and the evacuations will smell like rotten eggs; give him Rhubarb
 or magnesia and  the evacuations smell generally  sour;  give  him
 Jalap and calomel and they will discharge the  most abominable
 things imaginable.  If, however, there are real impurities  in the
 body, they will be discharged much sooner with the natural secre-
 tion, than during diarrhoea, which in fact always leaves impurities
 behind.  When  the secretion is hard and costive, nothing can re-:
 main  in the intestines; a fact so evident that any one can  under-
 stand it.  The intestines are a  tube,  which is first narrow  and
widens gradually   It is not a  hose, as attached to a  fire  engine 
                              12
where it is necessary to apply pressure to one end in order to forc«
it out on the other, it is not a dead tube, but a living one;  which
is in constant activity.  This activity  when regular leaves  noth-
ing behind,  only when it is irregular or when it ceases can this he
the case.   When the action of the intestines stops it  is  true  al!
remains stationery; but it can easily be excited again, by restoring
the lost equilibrium of the nervous power.   This,  however, can-
not be done by purgatives.  Every purgati ve or physic is a poison.
If it were not a poison, it would not purge at  all,  for only  such
things as the body abhors and rejects can act as an  aperient.   Th«
poisonous effects of these  medicines become most evident  when
they remain jn the body; for when the  body has not the power to
reject.them, they show their whole force as  a poison.  More per-
sons die oftnagnesia and castor oil, and more children of rhubarb
than of arsenic,  of which every one is afraid.  Yet a great many
look upon these aperient medicines as a real godsend and  irnagin*
that they have been created for this  very  purpose; but do  they
think, also, that the rattlesnake and the tiger are created to devour
us?  Even if they arc intended to be used as  medicines,  it  is  no
rrason thai when we see them  produced in  great  quantities, w«
should take so much of them.
  Is IT RIGHT TO GIVE TO  CHILDREN LaUDANLM OR PAREGORIC?
  A child under twelve months old never cries without some cau.-r,
and it is the duly of parents and nurses  to gratify the child as much
as possible to prevent it from crying.   When the  child cries night
and day, nurses are in the habit of scolding  it, tossing it about,
shaking and beating it, fee. Savages  have more  sense, and would
be shocked at such  conduct and barbarity.   The worst of all is  to
give Laudanum or the popular Paregoric to children.   Children
who have taken these  pernicious drugs  never grow  as  old,  a*
strong and as  healthy a« they would have done without  it;  moi-t
of them become silly or are given to  intemperance and other vice*.
The  nurses  are   generally,  a  good-for-nothing  idle set,  they
saostly all have their poison flasks in their  pockets, and  seonaW
pour it into the children when the parents are opposed to it.   it in
to be hoped that the time is not far distant when such atrocity will
be punished by the  law of the  land.  Until then,  let the  curse of
having murdered unconscious innocence light upon their head*,
and follow them wherever they go.
  In crying without any  apparent cause, he attentive to discover
what is the matter with the child; perhaps a pin is  pricking it,  or
it is bandaged too  tight; or it ie  cold,  or  wants  air or water, or 
                              13
wishes to change its  position,  something  may have got into tk<«
eye or ear, or it has the ear ache, or cannot pass the urine. Patiently
look for the cause.   To act differently, is a proof of a depraved
heart.

          COFFEE,  TEA, LIQUORS, TOBACCO.
  A long, tranquil and happy  life i.-i the natural  end to be aimed
at, in the regulation of tlie diet.  To attain this  end, man need*
only nutritious food, rejecting all such  aliments as contain  irrita-
ting, stimulating or  medicinal  properties.   The  same is true of
drinks, none being needed except such as are moistening, or  both
moistening and nutritive, but not at all stirilulaling, irritating or
medicinal.                                 i
  Of all substances which stimulate the appetite, salt, sugar and
vinegar only, and those in small quantities, have been found to be
innoxious and wholesome.   All  the other condiments  and spices,
and all spirituous modifications of liquids,  approach  more or less
the nature of medicines.   And the nearer their approach and the
more copiously  they are taken,' the more pernicious  are their ef-
fects upon the system.
  Tift copious use in the diet of substances possessing these medi-
cinal properties in a high degree is  very  injurious.    Wine  was
the only medical  drink of the ancients, which, however, was never
taken by the Greeks and Romans, without a plentiful  admixture
of water.   Modern ages have added a great many more  medical
pubstauces to the diet, such as the various  kinds of spiritu- us li-
quors, malt liquors, tea,  coffee, the snuffing, chewing and smoking
of tobacco,  opium, fee.
   Medicinal   substances are those that do  not  nourish, but which
filter the healthy state of the body;  every  such alteration, howev-
er,  is a kind of an unnatural and morbid condition.  The sole ob-
ject of medicines should be, to change an unnatural, diseased state
into a healthy one; and when taken in a healthy state, they are
injurious.  The  frequent use of these same substances which dis-
turb the harmony of the  bodily  organs,  undermines  healthy ami
shortens life.   A healthy medicine  for a healthy person, is a con-
tradiction in  terms.   Such medicines are coffee, tt\\ spirituous and
malt liquors-  tobacco and opium.
   All medicines taken  in large doses, produce disagreeable sensa-
tions in a healthy person.   No person smoked tobacco for the fir.-t
time, without nausea and aversion.    No healthy person ever rel-/
ished coffee or tea without  having them "softened  well with crea/
und Bugar," a hint of nature to shun th-> first occasion of violator 
                              14
her laws of health,  and to beware of treating lightly  her warn.
ing, life preserving instinct.   The continued use of these medi-
cinal articles in the diet,  at length extinguishes these disagree-
able sensations, till they even become agreeable,  and by constant
use a seeming necessity.    People in general think them  a. great
personal comfort, and come at length to regard them as having an
agreeable taste.  In order to lessen the indisposition produced by
the continued use of these medicinal articles in diet, our propen-
sities urge us  to seek thtm again  and again,  and  in still lar-
ger quantities,  and both   the  rum-drinker and the coffee-drinker
find a temporary relief, and feel new-born after the gluss of liquor
or cup  of coffee in £he morning.
   The daily use of coffee and tea is more injurious to body and
mind, and adds more to the enervation of the human race, than tin'
occasional use of pure wine or beer, and if it is true, "that it is a
sin against God to eat or drink any thing which injures the body,"
it is high time to condemn and abandon the use of  coffee and teai
as well as that of spirituous and malt liquors.
• 
 
 
 
^