'3	""^ * '":•'	,. ^ \\
i	ZPfFt OCEEDINGS	
	OF THE	
CANADIAN INSTITUTE OF		HOMEOPATHY,
	jfT THK	
FIRST	ANNUAL MEETING, HELD IN LONDON,	
	SEPTEMBER 20, 1865,	
WITH CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE ASSOCIATION,		
	&C, ' &<5., &C.	
DETROIT: ITBLISHEI) FOR THE ASSOCIATION, at Dr. LODGES		IIOMCEOPATIIIC PHARMACY.
1 J0T~^tf**T**.. >.		
 
CANADIAN INSTITUTE OF  HOMEOPATHY.
              CONSTITUTION.

   Art. 1.—This Association shall be knoVn as the Canadian Insti-
tute of Homeopathy.
   Art. 2.—The object of this Institute shall be the  intellectual
improvement of its members and the advancement  of the cause of
Homoeopathic medicine in Canada.
   Art. 3.—This Association shall be composed of the Homoeopathic
Physicians who were present at  the organizing convention, and any
physician practicing Homoeopathy in Canada, may be elected to mem-
bership, if he be in possession of a diploma from any incorporated school
of medicine, or, is  a Licentiate of the Canadian  Homoeopathic Board.
   Art.  4.—The officers of this Institute shall consist of a President
Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, who shall be e-lected annu-
ally.
   Art.  5. —At each annual session, there shall be appointed, by the
President, a Committee on credentials, to  consist of three  members,
who shall act for one year, and until successors are appointed.
   Art. G.—This  Constitution may be altered or  amended, at any
regular meeting, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members present,
provided  that notice shall bave been given at a previous annual meet-
ing of the Institute, of such  amendment.
                                         [Sec 3iZ page of cover. 
(tafoiau Jitutito at  f$flrai)ia%,
   In response  to a call  pursuant  to  a resolution  passed at  the
January meeting of the homoeopathic practitioners of Canada West in
1863, the following named gentlemen met  at the Masonic Hall, in
London, Sept. 2), 1835, to organize an Association, through which the
combined efforts of the profession may  be directed to  the  advance-
ment of the cause of homoeopathic medicine in Canada :
   William  Springer,  M.  D.,  Ingersoll;  G. C.  Field,  31.  D,
Woodstock;  J.  J. Lancaster,  31. D.,  London;  E. Vernon, M. D.,
Hamilton;  F.  G.  Caulton,  M. D., G-uelph;  C.  T.  Campbell,  M.
D.,  Strathroy ;  L.  F.   Crawford,  M.  D.,  Hamilton;  It.   J.  P.
Morden,  M. D., London ;  A. H. Thompson,  31. D.,  St.  Thomas ;
II. C. Allen,  31. D.,  Brantford ;  A. T. Bull,  M. D.,   Buffalo ;  T.
P. Wilson,  M. I).,  Cleveland, and E. A. Lodge, 31. D., Detroit,
besides several students, and numerous friends of the cause.
   On motion, Dr. Field was appointed temporary Chairman, and Dr.
Allen temporary Secretary;  and a committee consisting of Drs. Ver-
non,  Lancaster, Springer, Crawford and Allen, appointed to report a
permanent organization.
   The committee reported a  Constitution and By-Laws, with  the
following officers :
   Gr. C. Field, 31. D., President;  J. J. Lancaster, 31. D., Vice Pros-
ident;  II.  C.  Allen, 31.  D., Secretary  and Treasurer,  which was
unanimously adopted.
   Dr. Springer moved, seconded, by Dr. Caulton, that  Drs. 3Iorden,
Vernon and Crawford, be committee on credentials.   Carried.
   3Ioved by Dr. 3Iorden, seconded by  Dr. Springer, that the fee for
membership be one dollar, and the  annual fee the same.   Carried.
   On  motion  by Dr. Springer, seconded by Dr. Crawford, Prof. T.
P. Wilson, of Cleveland, Dr. E. A. Lodge, of Detroit, and Dr. A. T.
Bull, of Buffalo, were elected honorary members, and invited to par-
ticipate in the proceedings.
   A letter was rend from Dr. E. II. Drake, of Detroit, regretting
his inability to  attend the  convention, but admonishing  the members,
that as  " the welfare of the race was involved in the success of hom-
oeopathy," they should be zealous in  maintaining the honor of  the
cause.
   The President then called upon Dr. Lodge to address the Conven
tion,  which  he did, in substance, as follows : 
2
   I am pleased to meet the homoeopathic physicians of Canada on
the present occasion.   The objects of your Association are of interest
to us all.  We think it will be found that these organizations perform
services  to the whole  fraternity, that could not be rendered by indi-
vidual effort.
   I present a word of friendly greeting from the Michigan Hom-
oeopathic Institute.   We desire to cultivate your friendship, and will
send delegates to your meetings.   We hope that you will reciprocate,
We shall always warmly welcome your representatives, and cordially
invite them to participate in our deliberations.
   We  hail  with emotions of gratitude, every effort that is made to
extend the knowledge  of our system of practice, and to improve the
present  standing of the  profession.   To advance  our art we are
devoting some little attention in  Michigan.  Of  my own efforts it
does not become me  to speak, and I will merely state the fact, that
our Magizine, "  The American Homoeopathic  Observer," is the only
Medical Journal now published in the State  of Michigan.   Some
years ago, our Legislature appointed a  chair of homoeopathy  in the
State University.  By the culpable neglect of the Board of Kegents,
this chair yet remains vacant.  The people expressed their desire to
have homoeopathy placed on a footing of equality  with allopathy, and
this is right.  Under our government no system can  properly  claim
exclusive patronage or support.  The  allopaths cannot demand that
their students shall be educated at the expense of the State, but ours
must go out of the State to be taught.   We  do not intend that this
injustice shall be perpetuated if we can avoid it.
    When I went to Michigan seven years ago, there were one hun-
dred homoeopathic  physicians in the State.  Now  we  have over two
hundred, and many very desirable locations unoccupied.   Our cause
may not have been as  rapid here as in some other places, but the
advance has been steady.  We have had no permanent repulse.  Our
whole line has been strengthened, and we are prepared to resist every
opposition.
    An  unmistakable  evidence of  true  progress, is  found in the in-
crease of our literature.   Notwithstanding  the doubling of the cost
of production, new books and new magazines succeed each other with
rapidity.   A laudable  degree of emulation  has  been  aroused, and
good will doubtless result.
   Additional provings of our indigineous plants are being made.  The
first book edited by Dr. Hale was merely the pioneer in this direction;
more  complete works will follow.
   Our Colleges advance the requirements preliminary to graduation.
A host of talented young men are studying in offices of our physicians.
The classes of the  coming winter in our Collegate Institutions will
doubtless be larger than ever before. A mere glance at what has been
already accomplished,  and what  is now doing, must encourage each
one of us to work with still greater fidelity for the universal establish-
ment of our beneficent art of healing.
   After some discussion and remarks on the above, Prof. Wilson, on
being called,  said : 
£
    Gentlemen of  the -homoeopathic fraternity of  Canada:—It i.,
 with unfeigned pleasure I meet you on this occasion, and  extend to
 you  the cordial  greeting of my medical  brethren of the States  and
 receive from you, for them, the warm and unmistakably genuine sym-
 pathies you give in  return.
    Annexation I know  is a  vexed question  with  you, on  which a
 multitude  of words and small oceans  of ink have been used ;  and
 heaven forbid I  should add aught to their number.   But  standing-
 here, I realize that in  spite of all  opposition, the course of events is
 irresistably solving the problem for us.    For the two great nations,
 lying one on either side of the great  chain of lakes, like counter tides
 in their flow, are surely and swiftly rushing  into  each other's arms.
 The great treaty of reciprocity under which we  have been  so  pleas-
 antly and profitably  living, has long been the ensign for  our commer-
 cial annexation.  And when that treaty shall be broken,  as  we know
 it soon must, its fractured links will  be gathered up,  and welded into
 a new and  stronger chain, which shall be a new  and stronger bond  of
 union between the Canadian provinces on the north, and  the  United
 States on the south.
    But whether we shall ever become one politically  or  not, I know
 not;  or  whether you  desire it or not, I  know  not, and  I care not to
 stop now and inquire, but I shall ever count this as one of the proud-
 est days of my life, that I have been privileged to stand here, and aid
 in the formal inauguration of this second element of our  union.   For
 we are henceforth, in a medical sense, no longer two people, but one.
 For our common f;,;th in the great  law of our school of reform, shows
 a community of interests and ideas, binding  us together with more
 potent cords, than any edicts that ever issued from thrones or senates.
   I know of  no topic so engrossing the publie mind,  as the one I
 have just  referred  too,  namely :  the relation  existing between the
 Canadian Provinces  and the United States.   And though to some its
 discussion here may  seem somewhat out  of place,  I shall venture to
 still  further  refer to it,  though not in tiie same light as it has been
 quite recently and ably discussed,  in  the  recent great International
 Commercial Convention, whose proceedings have filled all our weekly
 and daily papers.
   In a medical and surgical view of the case,  it seems  to  me,  that
 the union of these two nations, such as it is, and such as  it  is to  be,
 is  not the  result of " union by first  intention."  The first  intention
 seems to have been, to build  up on this broad and beautiful domain
of the north, a French colony, subject to the French crown.  And for
a number of years the growth and development of the country result-
ed in the formation  of a peculiar structure, which  I think we may
term French tissue.  And though  I have not been privileged to see
much of this, your French anatomical structure,  still I have reason to
believe it a useful and durable portion  of your body politic.  But
history informs us,  that subsequently a  new  formative force wai
brought into play, which exceeded, and in some  degree, paralyzed the
primitive force, and, bringing in along  the  arteries of the world's
great highways, a large amount of plastic  material, built  up another 
4
sort of structure, a little rougher, tougher and  more enduring, which
I think we may term English tissue.
    It is  characteristic of morbid structures*, that they are prone to
absorb and displace surrounding structures.   And since this English
growth, instead of absorbing  and displacing the primitive growth,
sought  new  and adjacent fields  for  development, I conclude that it
may be  set down as perfectly normal.   And though there are essential
 differences of character between  you, yet there are no anatomical or
 physiological reasons why you should not form a strong and harmoni-
ous whole.
    Blest  as you are  with the richest of nature's gifts, with a magni-
ficent forest, holding its full  hands over a rich and fertile soil, be-
neath whose fair surface are bowels pregnant with untold wealth, the
" second  intention ". seems to have  been, to  make here a rich and
 powerful  nation, self-supporting and independent, save a quasi depend-
 ence on the English crown.  But as contiguous, and often even remote
 parts on the same body, are in lively sympathy one with the other, so
 these northern provinces,  standing  on the same continent with the
 United  States, have not failed, in spite  of themselves, to be powerfully
 affected in all their relations, especially in their  commercial and polit-
 ical interests, by the latter nation.  And though at times a repellant
 influence has manifested itself, yet the  natural course  of events  has
 been, to  draw  these two nations together  into kindlier,  closer and
 more permanent fellowship.  And although  neither of us  shall lose
 our identity, neither absorbing or being absorbed, yet we  may hope-
 fully trust that we may continue to be linked together by ties that
 shall blend us into  one great living form, which to antagonize  or dis-
 integrate in any of its parts, would be  to destroy.
    The recent  state  of ill health suffered by us  across  the  water, has
 undoubtedly awakened in your  hearts the  liveliest sympathy.   We
 have indeed been sick unto death,  but I presume you have heard of
 our miraculous  recovery.  The disease which for four  long  years  has
 fired our  blood  and brain, has, thank God, at last reached a favorable
 crisis, and we  are convalescent.   In some  of our delirious moments
 we may have talked madly.  You may  have heard us  uttering words
 of  scorn,  andthreatenings against you as well as others of our friends;
 but  now, clothed  in our right minds, we can never have  other than
 words of  good will for all who have stood so nobly by us in the hour
 of  our sorest need.   Like the prairie swept by fire, and like the field
 torn by the plow, we are springing up  into a large and richer harvest
 of  new and better fruits.
    At one time during our sickness,  dangerous and fatal sloughing
 seemed most imminent.  Our  whole  southern border threatened gan-
 grene,  but the timely application of potent remedies, has brought
 about a favorable resolution.   And as we  have in no instance been
 obliged to appeal abroad for help, but have cured the malady by  our
 inherent  resistence of its effects, we may set the affair down as  due
 simply to the vis medicatrix natures.   There were very many famous
 consultations held  over  our case, during our darkest hour ; but the
 doctors in law who proffered their advice, and made sundry and divers 
5
prescriptions, did so voluntarily, and I'm afraid they were very poorly
paid for their services.
    Still, on our recovery, we find a pretty heavy  doctor's bill to pay.
But since  we owe it principally to ourselves, it cannot matter much
to our neighbors whether  we pay  it or repudiate it.  But I dare to
say, that before repudiation shall be written over our  doors, the dis-
enthralled millions of negroes, whose parchment of freedom bears the
signature of the lamented and immortalized Abraham Lincoln, would,
through their own thrift and sense of justice, pay every dollar of the
debt.   And you, gentlemen, holders of American bonds, may rest
assured that you have the security of their payment, both in black and
white.
    During the  last  four years,  our school of medicine has labored
under  unusual disadvantages, owing to the fact that the  sanitary and
medical departments of our army and navy, have been wholly in the
hands of a class of monopolizing and bigoted medical m,en, who knew
no  right of homoeopathists that any allopathist was bound to  respect.
Still,  we have grown marvellously,  and the close of the war has given
us  such an impetus  forward in  the path  of progress, that  you will
need, gentlemen, to look well to your laurels.   But I have most un-
bounded  confidence  in  your intelligence and  success.   I think, in
looking round upon  this  body of  honorable medical men, that I can
say to my medical brethren of the  States,  that the cause  of homoeo-
pathic medicine in  Canada is  in  safe and reliable hands.  3Iay the
spirit of our great master Hahnemann descend upon you, as did Elijah's
mantle  upon  Elisha, and  under its inspiration  may your labors for
truth be crowned with abundant success.
    After some further  remarks by different members, the President
called upon Dr.  Allen, who read the following article on  the impor
tance of  cultivating  a  domestic  practice in our  different  fields  of
labor :
                       domestic medicine.
    Bishop Berkely  says : " Effects misimputed, cases wrongly told,
circumstances overlooked, perhaps,  too, prejudices  and  partialities
against truth, may, for a time, prevail and keep  her  at the bottom of
the well, whence, nevertheless, she emergeth sooner or  later, and
 strikes the eyes of all who do not keep them shut."
    How true the aphorism, when applied to the gradual adoption by
 the public of the new system of medicine, and equally true,  I opine,
as  regards the introduction of family homoeopathy.  And  here arises
the long disputed point  by many  members  of  the profession—shall
 we cultivate a domestic  practice, or follow in the footsteps of our allo-
 pathic predecessors for the last three  thousand years ?   Our prede-
 cessors  have been  conservative  to a fault.   Shall  we follow then-
 example, or boldly  strike out a  new path  for ourselves .    Every
 attempt to  popularize domestic homoeopathic practice  or enlighten
 the intelligent  public  in regard  to the simplest  truths and primary
 principles of medicine,  has met at the hands of the profession a fierce
 and most determined opposition.   It is evident that such a course of 
6
 conduct originates, not so much in the interest and advancement of
 homoeopathy, as in the  speculation and personal aggrandizement of its
 professed friends.  No wonder that  our beloved science should, in her
 hour of need, be compelled to cry out, " Lord,  deliver me  from my
 friends."   To introduce domestic  homoeopathy, is by  some of our
 practitioners considered  as  little else thau a crime of the first mag-
 nitude.
    But this should not be !   It is true that almost all our examples
 and pre-conceived opinions  are  opposed to such a course.  The Old
 School for centuries has sedulously  endeavored (with a few honorable
 exceptions) to keep the people in as complete ignorance  as  possible
 of the  simplest  medical  truths.    And  the  ignorance of the masses
 to-day, in  all that pertains to  the laws of health and prevention of
 diseaee, tells but too  plainly  how completely  they have succeeded.
 If the literal rendering of the word " Doctor "  signified  in the past,
 or even in  modern  times,  what it does at present, this should Lave
 been very different.  How often, very often, to the earnest  inquiries
 of anxious friends as to the  probable cause, course and termination of
 even the most common-place ailment,  do we hear the answer,  couched
 in such high sounding  and strictly medical technicalities, that after a
 lengthy explanation  by  the Doctor,  in  which all the minutia of the
 case is entered into  in Greek and  Latin, the relief is apparent when
 the discourse is finished,  although they may not have comprehended a
 single sentence.   And it is  to this spirit of intolerance  everywhere
 manifested by the profession, to the acquisition of knowledge  without
 its pale, but pertaining to its practice, that we trace the  first advent
 of that bane and disgrace  and  curse of  every  school—quacks and
 quackery.   It is  the same spirit which forced Martin Luther and  the
 Scotch Covenanters to  take the first steps in the  great  religious refor-
 mations which they iuaugurated, and which finally ended in breaking
 the iron rule of despotism which had previously held  the religious
 world.   It  is a  part and parcel of the same blind prejudice against
 which Hahnemann and Harvey and  Jenner had to contend, and which
 is  so  painfully  manifested  in  the  profession  at the present day.
 Neither sound policy  nor good  sense is shown in such  proceedings,
 which in the end is sure to recoil on the perpetrators of the  act, aud
 hasten the event  they  sought to ward  off.   I  believe homoeopathy to
 bo the greatest blessing ever  vouchsafed to man by an  All-Wise and
 Beneficent Creator, (the  christian religion alone excepted).  Hence,
 I believe it to be the duty of its advocates pecuniarily, commercially,
 morally and religiously, to disseminate its doctrines in every  appro-
 priate and justifiable manner.  I contend that we should so place our
 lamps that they may become  beacon  lights,  illuminating the  pathway
 of the searchers after truth, diffusing from the centre of the circle of
 our influence its divine  rays,  which are to benefit  mankind, and be a
 blessing to future ages.   My reasons for the belief  that is in me arc
 the following,  and although  they may differ from those held by my
ao-ed and more experienced colleagues  in the practice of homoeopathy,
I beg your indulgence for their freedom of expression,  with  this my
only plea.  They  are my honest  convictions, and spoken in a spirit 
7
 whose only aim is an investigation into their merits, with the view of
 advancing the cause we love so well.
    I.  I believe it right,  hence  I am in duty  bound to advocate its
 introduction.
    In obtaining the  degrees  which  license us to practice medicine,
 the relief of suffering humanity is not our only aim and object.   We
 have an ulterior one in view, praisworthy so long as kept within proper
 bounds.   In the majority of cases the leading,  all-absorbing  and pri-
 mary inducement to entering the medical profession, viz.: The obtain-
 ing of the wherewithal  to work  our way through  life.  Any subject
 bearing directly upon  the commissary department of our  professional
 labors, should  receive a careful consideration from  every  member
 interested.  Its primary action is upon  the pocket, its  secondary is
 somewhat more constitutional.  When a professional man cannot earn
 his daily  bread by his  best  directed  efforts,  the humanitarian and
 philanthropic motives which induced him to enter  its fields, become
 to a very great extent  a nullity.   Hence,  I contend  that the proper
 and judicious introduction of " domestic practice," will  increase the
 extent of  our field of labor.  If  there be any province or department
 in which our beautiful system excels every other extant, it  is its ex-
 treme  simplicity of administration.   So harmlessly  and effectively
 adapted to ameliorate the sufferings of mankind, in a quiet, easy  and
 apparently unconscious manner—a far different statement than  can
 be made for any other system of  medicine—clearly proving that it is
 the only one adapted for universal family use.   We are not only med-
 ical men in the usual acceptation of that term,  but something  more.
 We are the exponents  of a new system of medical practice,  destined
 to supercede and gradually absorb all others in  existence.   Our duty
 is not only to earn a livelihood  by our  profession, but  to  disseminate
 throughout the length and breadth of the land, for the benefit of our
 fellow men, the principles of homoeopathy.  In  order  to successfully
 accomplish this great desideratum, to establish homoeopathy firmly in
 the opinions of  the more intelligent classes, and contribute our  quota
 to the advancement and future  destiny of our  beloved  science, obsta-
 cles  will  have  to  be  met and conquered, and sacrifices made, which
 few but those who really love our cause are ever capable of making.
 If it is right for me to practice homoeopathy, it  is my bounden  duty
 to propagate its principles, and further its advancement in every hon-
 orable  manner.    In the  practical  application  of  homoeopathy—its
 introduction into the families of my patrons—I  expect to  meet  with
 opposition ;  and the present object of this paper is to have the subject
 discussed  by medical  men, so that the  most  violent and  effective
 opposition will be surmounted,  by inducing my  brother  practitioners
 to shoulder a part of the responsibility, by undertaking its  introduc-
 tion.   That  powerful objection so frequently urged, that Dr. A. and
 Dr. B.  do  not approve of the  practice,  that  they  say it  does more
harm than good, that wherever  it has been introduced it is now wholly
abandoned as totally inadequate to meet  the demands  of the public,
is an argument hard to combat.   Our allopathic  brethren condemn it
altogether, as " trifling with life;" but that is  nothing more than they 
8
do with our practice in every particular, wherever and whenever they
have  an opportunity.   Every  member  of  this  Institute will  agree
with me in this assertion, that it is more safe and effective by far than
Calomel and Jalap, Castor oil and Blue pill, Rhubarb  and  Magnesia
with blisterings and vomitings, and  endless  purgation.   These  are
the only  alternatives to  choose, homoeopathic domestic practice, and
allopathic domestic empiricism.
    The people must have something in eases of emergency, especially
where they reside at some distance fro.n, and are unable to summon
the homoeopathic  physician  of their  choice at a moment's warning.
And better, far better, trust to a domestic homoeopath, than  an allo-
pathic " regular."
    Again, for every simple  disease, as a  common cold  or a slight
diarrhoea, the  majority of people do not wish to apply to  a  physician,
and either trust to the curative powers of nature, or appeal  to some
one of the thousand quack remedies,  so profusely advertised through-
out the length and breadth of the land.
    II. It  is to my interest, the interest of my patrons, the interest of
homazo'patliy,  to cultivate a domestic practice.
    This statement may take some by surprise, and to all seem  some-
what paradoxical;  but it is nevertheless true.  During the Cholera
epidemic, which devastated so many  American cities in 1847, Cincin-
nati was visited, and here homoeopathy obtained one of the most signal
victories  recorded  in the  annals of this great reform.   And  it was
mainly due to the skillful management of domestic practice  by Drs,
Pulte and Ehrmann, that the success was achieved.   Every homoeo-
pathic family  was provided with a few remedies, and complete  direc-
tions  for  use in  the earliest stages of the disease  given, until the
physician could  be called.   In  this manner several hundred cases
were  treated, with a  list  of mortality much smaller than  was ever
before known.    And  I am  convinced  that Cholera is not  the only
disease in which it may  successfully  be  used.  I have given the sub-
ject a great deal of thought, and am  satisfied that it is looked upon in a
false light by many members of the  profession.   The chief objectors
are those who care very little  for  the profession,  except to make
rooncj out of it, and  their chief objections  arise from the mistaken
views they entertain in regard  to   this particular point, that in a
 pecuniary point of view  there is eventually more money to be made
by the proper and judicious propagation of our system, than  in  the
withholding  of  everything  pertaining to  it  from the  people.  The
ignorant and  unintelligent are not usually the  first to adopt homoeopa-
thy ; nor do they ever become the firmest advocates of its principles.
They are not always  ready  to settle their bills without disputation,
or a  very large reduction from  the  regular  charges.   They never
adopt homoeopathy from principle, and seldom support  it any  longer
than the practice  is successful in every particular.  To  me, it  is  not
very satisfactory to attend this class of patit-nts, and the  compensation
I have received has ne\3r been very  large.    I prefer  to follow  my
vocation among the intelligent, who have enough  natural shrewdness
to discover that your only object  in  practicing medicine is pecuniary 
9
gain, and  who  very often, and sometimes very  justly, conclude that
"pro bono publico'''' never entered the list, and patronize you accord-
ingly.   I  contend that we  are  not only physicians in the strictest
moral acceptation of that term, but philanthropists and pioneers  of a
great and glorious reform, destined in a few years, if properly managed,
to monopolize the majority of all that is worth monopolizing fh every
intelligent community.
   We  must labor for the  advancement and future  destiny of our
cause, and in that manner secure in the end our  just reward and true
compensation.  No man in the history  of any reform ever  withstood
greater obloquy, abuse  and persecutions from his professional brethren,
than did our illustrious founder ;  and seldom have  any met  with a
greater or more enduring monument.   If homoeopathy  was ever  in-
tended to benefit the people, its propagation  ought, and  must necces-
sarily, devolve upon  the members  of  the  profession.   The people
must know of and about it, in order to believe in and adopt it.  Hence,
it is the personal interest of every practitioner to encourage domestic
practice.   That  we will  never receive  any  assistence from  our
allopathic  brethren in educating the masses, is a foregone  conclusion,
(as their system flourishes best in ignorance,) therefore, if the work is
to be done, we  must do it ourselves.   I am aware  that in the attempt
we will meet with every species of opposition, even in our own ranks ;
that views as opposite  as the poles are  asumcd,  are  maintained,  and
advocated by our members.   In proof of this assertion I would  refer
my medical friends to  Dr. Poineroy's article in the N. A. Journal, Vol.
7, No. 25, as a " specimen brick" of the present generation, or to  the
remarkable sentence left on  record by the celebrated French surgeon
Ambrose Pare, regarding the future destiny of medicine.   " God is
my witness,  and all good  men  know, that  I have  now labored fifty
years with all care and pains, in the illustration and amplification of
my art, and that I have so certainly touched  the mark wherat I aimed,
that antiquity may seem to have nothing wherein it  may  exceed  us,
beside the glory of invention, nor posterity anything left but a certain
small hope to add some  things, as  it is  easy to add to former inven-
tions."  Although nearly three centuries have elapsed since the above
was written,  although  homoeopathy  has  been discovered,  put in
practice and adopted  by thousands of intelligent  persons in every
land, notwithstanding  the flood of light it has shed over the hitherto
dark  and benighted pathway of medical lore,  there are some among
us at the present day,  who would, if they could, almost prevent ^the
further dissemination of its principles among the  people,  apparently
from motives not altogether praiseworthy.  They  would confine  med-
ical knowledge wholly to  the  profession, make it,  if possible,  more
strictly professional than their allopathic brethren endeavored to make
" old physic," when they nearly  killed  it outright through mistaken
kindness.     *     *    *                              .
    III. It forms a nucleus round which the family influence xs extended
as around a common centre.                                     v
    In this world we all exert an  influence for good or evil.    We
cannot become members of  society without receiving from  it certain 
10
impressions, for which we should make some adequate  return.   And
what is true as regards society in general, is equally  true in the med-
ical  province,  where every  believer or  convert to our  principles
becomes an advocate and laborer for the dissemination of  the same,
throughout the circles of his influence.  The more you educate  such
an advocate, the better prepared is he to do battle in  our behalf, to
meet and combat the various forms of  objections offered by his oppo-
nents,  to set forth the comparative merits of homoeopathy, side by
side with every other  system, which he can do with a far better grace
than yourself, as he is not suspected  of being  pecuniarly  interested,
but laboring for the good of his friend.  A few such assistants is  of
incalculable benefit to every young man just entering upon the  prao-
tical department of his profession, and will never injure any, no matter
how well he may be established.
    The field is already occupied  by a learned, powerful and jealous
profession.  All the posts of emolument and power are at present  in
their possession, and  they appear but  too willing to defend them; and
as the pioneers of a new medical  doctrine,  we have a duty to perform
to ourselves, to posterity, to humanity and  to science, in the propaga-
tion of our beloved homoeopathy.   I contend that the most vulnerable
point of our adversaries is  in the families   of the intelligent, and the
best method of enlisting them in our  ranks on the side of right and
justice, is to encourage them in a  domestic practice.   All  the  great
and liberal minds, whose names appear on  the historic  page of medi-
cine, the best practitioners  the " Old  School "  have ever given to the
world, have sedulously labored to popularize their art.  The renegade
Peters has spoken and written to the extent of his abilities against the
popular practice, but his writings and teachings are  in such  striking
contrast with  his practice, that every  medical man may place as much
reliance on their soundness as the  opinions merit, for  he has reaped
the reward of his labors.  And whether we, as homoeopaths, oppose it
or assist it with our best directed  efforts, it is  destined, sooner  or
later,  to become  a part and  parcel  of almost  every household  who
believe in and practice the  truth of similia.
    And finally, it is a rule  in military tactics,  that a  conquered  posi-
tion should always be fortified, before the returning  countercharge
compels evacuation.  It is of little service to us to make a  convert of
any  man unless we make a permanent one.   If a man  adopt homoeo-
pathy from a conscientious belief in its superiority to combat disease,
he should be able to  meet  his adversary upon his  own ground, and
wifli arguments  sufficiently convincing to  carry off the victory.  A
man thus armed with the invincible logic of truth, is  worth a  small
army of lukewarm supporters.   We should  instruct  such men, and
teach them the " law  of similia," until they in  turn are able to become
its expounders and advocates.   Guide their footsteps in the path  until
they are able to walk alone.  They cannot know too much  of homoeo-
pathy.    We  should  endeavor to popularize our  art,  and propagate
homoeopathy by principle, and not by the  temporary success of  its
practice alone   One man, capable of advocating our  cause from this
higher  stand-point, capable of explaining  the  "modus operandi" of 
11
 our remedies in treating disease, and convincing its opponents of the
 truth of our therapeutics, is truly an assistant.  We should endeavor
 to unmask our profession of all those things which resemble quackery,
 mystery and imposition, and place medical knowledge before the pub-
 lic  in a light  so simple and easily understood, that every student in
 our Universities should be  compelled to acquire it as a part of his
 Academic course.  If our system be true, it is essential to the welfare
 of mankind, and there are very few so utterly devoid of understanding
 that cannot be  made to comprehend its primary principles.  The law
 does not hold a man guiltless who pleads ignorance  of the same, but
 goes on the presumption that every man has a knowledge of the minutia
 as well  as its  general principles.   And I would  ask,  Why not in
 medicine also ?     *     *     *     *     ###'#
    Several  calls were made for an  address  from  the President, but
 owing to the lateness of the  hour, it was  deferred until  the  evening
 session, and a motion was carried  to adjourn.
                         EVENING SESSION.
    The  Institute met  at  7:30 p. m.,  at  which time the following
 paper was read by Dr. Field :
                       MEDICAL  EDUCATION.
    Gentlemen :—It is presumed  that no one will call in  question the
 imperative necessity that exists for raising as high  as  possible the
 standard of medical education in  Canada.  Many considerations con-
 spire to  render a superior  education  of  the Homoeopathic section of
 the  medical profession  most desirable.   It is necessary, in the  first
 place to  relieve  ourselves from the charge of ignorance, which has
 been preferred against us by our professional brethren of the antiqua-
 rian school; which charges,  though  unjust in  the main,  still, it  must
 be confessed that, in  some  instances, perhaps,  there  was too much
 ground for the  imputation.   Arising mostly, I believe, from over  zeal-
 ousness, or from that " zeal  without knowledge " which characterized
 some of the earlier physicians, in  their efforts  and  anxiety to extend
 the principles and practice of our beneficent system; who were appa-
 rently oblivious of the fact, that incompetent persons, wherever found,
 in whatever walk of life, but particularly in the practice of medicine,
 and  more especially in promulgating new principles, in the advocacy
 of a new theory, could only constitute an element of weakness rather
 than of strength.  No one would claim for a moment that forcing into
 service, as soldiers, men whose arms were too weak to draw the sword
 from its scabbard, or to whose imperfect vision objects were rendered
 uncertain and indistinct, compelling  them to fire at random, and there-
 by endangering the lives of their  friends  as  much  as their enemies,
 could possibly  add anything to the strength or effectiveness of an
 army.
   The attitude of the dominant school toward all  dissenters in med-
 icine, in its  menacing display of legal weapons, and the paraphernalia
of war, has been that of a belligerent autocrat.  Indeed it could  only
be expected that a system, towering as it were  to the very  heavens
with  its vast colossal proportions, and whose anchor was cast and firmly 
12
fixed in the very groundwork of society;  a system  that boasts of its
antiquity, that has grown arrogant from  the possession of conscious
power, whose interests were interwoven with almost all existing inte-
rests, and whose influence extended through all grades and classes of
society, and whose  ubiquitous  presence reached to all conditions of
life.  I say it was only to be expected that such an institution would
look with extreme jealousy upon the birth of all counter institutions,
and that it should use every means  in its power for  their speedy deni-
olition.   In the  case  of Homoeopathy, which first saw the  liirht in
Germany, it was regarded by Allopathy as its natural and implacable
foe.  The established school felt that its  tendency was antagonistic
and subversive of its own  power;  and perhaps with a little gift of
prophecy it foresaw its ultimate  triumph.   Still it  affected to believe
that this new heresy could not survive  its infancy.  British and Amer-
ican physicians hoped their peace of mind  would never be disturbed
by its presence, but that it might die and be buried in its fatherland,
But as it showed great tenacity of life, and still persisted  in living,
despite the uncongenial atmosphere by which it was surrounded, and
in defiance  of the anathemas hurled against it by the high priests of
the ancient doctrine, their lowering brows  and frowning indignation
became " terrible as an  army with banners."  But  now, when it has
become a vigorous youth, and  has extended itself throughout  the civ-
ilized world, and flourished best where there is most civilization, their
fear has fairly  taken the alarm.

    The  querest asks, What has this digression from the main subject
to do with  31edical Education ?  I reply, to  prove its necessity by
showing the antipathy that exists, and the  persistent  warfare that is
being carried on between two systems diametrically opposed to each
other.   The one goes into  the contest with the prestige given it by
age, and power, and popularity, and wealth, and uses  as a weapon the
strong prejudices peculiar to human  nature.  The other, like David
as he went forth to slay  the giant Goliath, goes to  do battle with its
enemy with but a sling and pebble; the sling is a law of Nature, im-
mutable and eternal, and the pebble is successful practice.   But what
is its coat of mail, what is the  cuirass  with which it  defends itself from
the thrusts of  its adversary, and  constitutes at the  same  time the
strength and skill with which it uses the sling in throwing the  pebble?
I answer, education.  Both medical and general.  In individual prac-
tice his  coat of mail must be perfect,  or through its open seams a dart
may penetrate,  to his complete  discomfiture.   He may rest assured
that every individual adherent of the ancient system stands as a sen-
tinel to watch  his movement, and will contest,  and circumvent, and
demolish him, if possible; less,  perhaps, at present, by open enmity,
than by  duplicity and intrigue.  The conviction of my own mind is,
that in view of the active hostility of  the opposing school, in view of
the ceaseless vigilance of this argus-eyed institution, which is sure to
detect every indication of ignorance, and which  like Briarius with his
hundred hands, can reach in every direction and grasp at every mis-
take, it behooves us, from an instinct of self-preservation, to be " wise 
13
as serpents " and for the preservation of our patients to be " harmless
as doves."
   The Homoeopathic physician, in his daily practice, may  consider
himself encircled by a multitude of spies, who  have keen eyes  fixed
upon every movement.   They  see  everything  he does.  He may be
sure that every incorrect diagnosis, every mistaken prognosis, every
mistake of whatever kind he  may commit, will be instantly paraded
before the public by this many-mouthed monster.   31istakes, perhaps
trivial in themselves, yet in their  passage from one to another swell
into mammoth proportions.  In another and more public  way  his
knowledge may be put on trial, a3 when from some  accidental death
or death from poisoning, he may be  required to  give evidence in a
•ourt of law.  He may then expect to be  subjected to  an examination
the  most rigorous and  searching  that Allopathists  can prompt the
counsel to make;  less for the purpose of eliciting evidence in the case
than for the purpose of exposing his  ignorance.   He may be  sure that
his knowledge of  chemistry, toxicology, anatomy and physiology, will
be tested to  the  very utmost  of their ability, and woe betide him if
they discover his weak points,  for he is  in the hands of a merciless
inquisition.  The  reasons here given for a high degree of mental as
well as medical culture, you will perceive spring from within us,  and
are partly the promptings of self-interest and of self-preservation, and
partly from an inherent love of truth; and while I think them suffi-
cient to induce every member of the profession to aim at the highest
point of excellence attainable,  still we should  not be  forgetful of the
fact that there are other and extraneous reasons—reasons which spring
from without and beyond us, tending to the same high end.   We can-
not if we would shut our ears  to these mandates from  without.  They
are voices from society and from the  world at large.  They tell us that
the people of to-day demand of us a  greater perfection of knowledge,
a higher and broader range of  acquirements, than did our ancestors
of thirty years ago.   This demand arises from the changes which have
taken  place within that period of time.   As witness the change in the
inhabitants and in the face of the country.  The " oldest inhabitant "
can perhaps remember  when primeval forests covered all this part of
Canada;  when the very site of the fine city of  London was a howling
wilderness,—the hunting-ground of the painted savage.   But what a
change!  As if with the waving of a magician's wand the forest soli-
tudes, and wild, red Indian, have disappeared together, the  hunting-
grounds have changed into fruitful fields and the wigwams into flour-
ishing towns and cities.  The  half-naked prowling savage has given
place to the well-dressed gentlemen  and  beautiful ladies who prome-
nade the  streets of this  flourishing city.   The  seat of berbarism has
become the home of civilization and refinement!  Education  is becom-
ing more general  and  runs in deeper channels.  Academic and Col-
legiate institutions are  springing up in  our midst, and  arc rapidly
changing the  mental character  of our people, and with each successive
stage of development new wants are created and new demands are
made.  All these things demand of  the physician a fullness of know-
ledge, not only as pertaining to medicine  proper, but  a thoroughness 
14
in all the exact sciences which a former generation did not require at
his hands.   I do not hesitate to express a belief that the advance which
has been made in the last thirty years in all the arts of civilized life,
and in the  development and perfection of science, is not  to be com-
pared to what the next thirty years will witness.  Some suppose now,
as did tho  ancients, that science is perfect, and that the inventive fac-
ulty of the human mind has exhausted its resources, or  that there is
nothing more to invent.   But those who think so will find themselves
as much mistaken as did the people who lived and  thought the same
things before the days of  steamboats, of railroads and  electric wires.
Why, the  human  mind is  but just waking up  to a realization of its
marvellous powers.  There are thousands of the best minds in the
world that are silently but zealously engaged  in the solution  of new
problems,  and in the  development of  new  principles  of  science.
There are  also thousands  of adventurous spirits out upon voyages of
discovery,  pushing  in every  direction  as  if  to  ransack the world.
They penetrate the thickest jungles of the torrid zone, and tempt the
dangers of the polar seas.  They scale the highest mountain summits
and descend into the deepest  chasms  in quest of whatever is rare or
precious, or useful, in nature, and their returns will also contribute to
swell the general stock of knowledge.
    In keeping with this  spirit of progression  we  ought  also to be
pushing forward  our inquiries and investigations  into the " regions
beyond."  We  ought  not  to settle down  upon "similia similibus
curantur" and  think that knowing  it  there is nothing more to be
learned.   The great medical arsenal of Nature is not  yet  exhausted
of  its weapons with which to combat disease.  There is a terra incog-
nita which needs to be explored.  Doubtless there are remedial agents
in our fields and forests, among their flowers,  and trees,  and roots, of
invaluable worth, if we but knew them and  their  uses.  We might
question ourselves in reference to the nature  of disease  as well.  In
reference to pathology, and the causes operative in changing and mod-
ifying pathological manifestations, there is much of mystery and obscu-
rity remaining to be cleared away by future investigation and research.
As why are certain diseases peculiar to certain stages of life ?  Why
do  adults never"have the  croup ?  And why are the external indica-
tions of  an inward abnormal condition ever varying, like the changing
.views in a kaleidoscope ?   Why does a storm  herald  its approach by
aches and  pains in rheumatic  subjects when  as yet no  cloud is visible
to the eye  1  Febrile diseases of the remittent type, in England ame-
nable  to certain^emedies, frequently resist  the same  treatment as
they appear in the littoral districts of France or upon the Irish coast.
Intermittent fevers, which we  readily  cure in  Canada by the use of
certain means, will probably find those means a  signal failure as the
disease prevails along the Mississippi and some of its tributaries.  Do
climacteric changes, individual  idiosyncracies, electrical  changes in
the state of the atmosphere, and climatology, sufficiently explain these
phenomena ?
    But a matter of greater practical importance is indicated by the
suggestion of Teste, viz: that those places  most  favorable to the 
15
growth of certain remedial plants, is also  most favorable to the pro-
duction  of certain  pathological conditions, which  conditions will be
found to correspond to  the  pathogenesis of those  very drugs.

   The great object of all medical  treatment is  the prolongation of
human life, and if a practical application of the principles of science
contribute to this end, it follows that an increase  of scientific  know-
ledge and an increased number of therapeutic agents  would give  to
human life a  greater security  than  it  at present enjoys against the
fatal issue of disease.   The Homoeopathic  system being  most scien
tific of all others, should afford this  greater security.  And undoubt-
edly it does.   So says the London Life Assurance Co., and has deduced
from its recognition of the fact an important practical result.   By a
system of calculation the most perfect, and by careful observation, it
finds itself able to assure the lives of such persons as are Homoeopath-
ically treated, at a cheaper rate.  This  action of the Life Assurance
Co. is most gratifying to every  lover of  Homoeopathy, as it affords the
 most incontestible  evidence of the superiority of our  system.   If
there are any faint-hearted or weak-kneed practitioners in the country
let them gird up their loins and take courage, " for by this sign shall
we conquer."  Slowly, it may be, but surely, it will eventuate  in  the
universal recognition of its superiority, as certainly  as that ignorance
must recede before  the advance of education—as  surely as that error
must succumb to truth.
   There is another matter I may notice  in  connexion with medical
education, which rather bears upon the  moral qualities and  responsi-
bilities of the physician, and refers  to  his duty as a citizen, viz: to
give whatever instruction he can to  the people, that they may prevent
the invasion of disease.  He who withholds such informationr when it
can be given, or neglects to advise the use of such prophylactic meas-
ures as might save the community from the  ravages of an infectious
disease, for the sake of " filthy lucre," conspires  against  the lives of
his neighbors, and is guilty, only in a lesser degree, of the monstrous
—the shocking immorality of Blackburn—the other name for infamy.
Not only in  specific cases, but in a general way, people may be  taught
the laws which govern their organic life, the observance of which will
insure health, and the infraction of which  will produce disease.  By
teaching them the  effect of hygromeric changes,  of miasmatic and
telluric influences,  which impinge upon the laws of health from with-
out, and of morbific agents, which   produce  di>L||^uns  from  within,
the average duration of human life may attain iJpRximum  ; and the
highest, noblest function of  the physician's knowledge will have been
performed.   It should be as much a part of the physician's education
to understand the prevention of diseases, as to treat them successfully
when they  prevail.
    In conclusion, I think  we may congratulate ourselves upon the
advancement Homoeopathy  has already  made in Canada, as  well as
upon the more rapid progress it is now making.   Not a score of years
have passed away since there were but one or two practitioners in this
country, struggling for existence.   We should not forget to make hou- 
16
orable mention of these  pioneers of our system, for nobly did they
battle for the truth in many a fierce encounter, firmly and successfully
they defended their principles against  the  assaults of their ruthless
enemies, and the graduates of to-day have reason to thank them for it.
Homoeopathy is no longer a reproach.  It has its admirers and patrons
in the most refined and  cultivated circles of society, among the best
and noblest, and most highly educated in the land.
   A steady adherence to principles, firmness of purpose and  an  un-
compromising integrity  of  character,  that  will not stoop  from  iti
exalted position  as the  expounder  of Nature's laws, to hold  parley
with empiricism, and make degrading and  retrogressive concessions
to Allopathy, are the characteristics necessary to insure a victory com-
plete.
   The  following committees were  then appointed,  and subjects
assigned for the next regular meeting  of ihe  Association.   The  an.
nual address to be delivered by the President, Dr. Field.
   On Publication—Drs. Springer and Allen.
   On Surgery—Principles and Practice—Dr. L.  F. Crawford.
   On Surgery—Operation and Clinical—Dr. C.T. Campbell.
   On Pathology—its importance to the homoeopathic physician—Dr.
D. Campbell, of Toronto.
    On  Obstetrics—Dr. J.  J, Lancaster.
   On  Clinical Medicine—Cases cured by one remedy—Dr. It. J. P.
Morden
    On  3Iateria 3Iedica and Therapeutics—Dr. Wn>. Springer.
   On  Chemistry—Dr. J.  W. Ferguson.
   Theory and Practice—Dr. John Hall.
    On  Provings of Indigenous remedies—Dr. Thos. Nichol.
    On  Dose—Dr. F. G. Caulton.
    On High Dilutions—Dr. E. Vernon.
    On the Single Kemedy—Dr. G. F. Clark.
    On  Medical Electricity—Dr. J. Adams.
    On Medical Ethics—Dr. Oliver Springer.
    On  Physiology—Dr. G. E. Husband.
   On  Medical Jurisprudence—Dr. Geo. Logan.
   On Alcoholic Stimulants—Dr. Peter 3IcDonald.
   On Homoeopathy—Drs. L. Oliver and C. D. Tufford.
   On Anatomy—Drs. A. H. Thompson and A. N. Tisdale.
   On Epidemics—Drs. 31. E. Tripp and J. H. Lancaster.
   On Medical B^hy—Drs. J. W. Tripp and W. H. Graham.
   On Toxicolog^^^Br. Havens.
   Dr.  Springer mo^d, seconded by Dr. Morden,  that the nex'. an-
nual meeting of the Institute be held in the city of Hamilton, on  the
second Wednesday in 3Iay, 1866.   Carried.
   A vote  of thanks was then unanimously given  the homoeopathic
physicians  of  London, for the attention and hospitality shown  the
members of the Institute, during the session, after  which the Institute
adjourned.                      G. C. FIELD, 31. D.,  President.
   II. C. Allen, M. D., Secretary,