WBV\ A535 \657 THE • ANATOMY A HUMBUG, GENUS GERMANICUS, , SPECIES HOMCEOPATHIA. " Sugar of milk is one of the greatest blessings ever bestowed on man." Hahneman. .<#' / If. %>*- . ■ V r NEW-YORK: t PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 183 7. VslBk AS35~ 1*23^ TO ALL PEOPLE OF COMMON SENSE, THESE PAGES ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED AND RESPECTFULLY COMMENDED. The disciples of Hahneman have issued multitudes of pamphlets, setting forth, in their own way, their own doc- trines. There has been no full statement of the doctrine of Homoeopathy made that has been accessible to the gen- era] reader; and as efforts are making to impose this ab- surdity upon the public, the present exposition has been undertaken, with a hope that the good people in this coun- try may be induced to place a just estimate upon the Hah- nemanic System. THE AUTHOR, HOMCEOPATHY. We hear much in these days of the " march of improve- ment," the " increase of knowledge," and the spread of gen" eral information. We hear it said that the people of this world are becoming more and more a thinking people— that they are steadily and rapidly advancing in the science of self-government and self-discipline. Did we believe all we hear in regard to the mental improvement of our species, we should consequently conclude, that in proportion as people become enlightened, they would be less under the influence of credulity, superstition, imposition, and humbug- gery. But sorry am I to say, that in this much vaunted " enlightened age," the good people are as readily duped as in former times—they swallow with as great gusto at this day as great absurdities as in the reign of magic and witchcraft. Nothing so gross, so ridiculous, so absurd, or so revolting, that does not find its apologists, its friends, its admirers, and its sincere disciples and hearty advocates. The greatest essay ever made upon the human under- standing, at this or any former period of the world, is the medical humbug denominated Homoeopathy. The history of medicine is filled with theories that have lived for a day, had their advocates, and been forgotten. The various doctrines and sects have succeeded each other like the 8 HOMCEOPATHY. waves of the ocean ; and, like them, have risen, and for a time assumed a formidable aspect, and then sunk into the sea of oblivion. After centuries spent in hypothetical and vain speculation, and after the flourishing, decay, and ob- scurity of innumerable powerful sects, when the medical horizon began to be cleared of its mists by the rays of truth, this new absurdity is promulgated, and sent into the world to distract, astonish, and dupe those whose credu- lity is great enough to make them converts to the German humbug. Germany is the land most congenial to ghosts, goblins, and devils; it is the region of romance and fiction, of science and folly. Germany is the region from which has emanated this last of its legitimate children, Homoeopathy. It has been sent forth, after having been baptized in the magic waters of that country, where were immolated one hundred thousand victims for the sin of witchcraft, claiming to possess powers incomprehensible to our reason, and professing to perform cures beyond the reach of human credulity. Homoeopathy claims to cure diseases by exciting in the organ diseased another disease similar to the one already existing—or by aggravating the one present. According to this principle, any disease may be cured, we should suppose, by applying the cause that produced it. Thus, for instance, if exposure to cold induce a pleurisy, a second exposure ought to cure it—if excess in drinking produce inflammation of the brain, then another dose or two ought to operate as a remedy. So, too, if gormandizing cause dyspepsy, a good dinner ought to cure it—if a long walk induce fatigue, another walk ought to prove refresh- ing. The author of homoeopathic practice is Hahneman who is revered by his disciples as a superhuman being; and did it not border too closely on heathenism, doubtless he H0M030PATHY. 9 would be deified, and placed by the side of iEsculapius. The doctrine of Hahneman has already passed its zenith in Germany, and is now enjoying its meridian splendour in versatile France. In England it has not yet attained a foothold; and in this country, where we are so fond of embracing anything that comes from abroad, it has yet received any other than a cordial welcome. The advo- cates of homoeopathy are generally men of the most un- blushing impudence and shameless assurance ; they insin- uate themselves into the society of those where it is most for their interest to make an impression—and never hesi- tate to intrude their opinions, advice, and medicine. They go armed with a quantity of pamphlets, got up in an ad captandam style, filled with supposed cases, fictitious cures, false facts, and misstatements of all kinds. These pam- phlets are circulated among invalids and their friends, ac- companied with a promise of a speedy cure, no matter what may be the disease, its duration, or what may have been its previous treatment. By dint of perseverance, as- siduity, and impudence, they have succeeded in gulling some into a belief of their principles ; and they again, like all others who are infatuated on any subject, are unwearied in their efforts to propagate and diffuse their much-loved doctrine. Enthusiasts in religion always sow the seeds of discord ; and so do fanatics on any subject, as far as their influence can be felt—and enthusiasts in medicine are no less zealous to preach the doctrines they have imbibed, or to disseminate what to them seems truth. The less people are disposed to think for themselves, the more easily is their credulity imposed upon ; and after the exposition that is to follow, it would seem that he who can believe in homoeo- pathy can yield his credence to miracles, magic, or witch- craft. Hahneman, the deity of homoeopathy, commences by B 10 H0M030PATHY. discarding the whole of medical science as it exists at the present day—by rejecting pathological anatomy, all mod- ern research into disease, and denying the utility of accurate information as to the seat of disease. As a substitute for this knowledge, he recommends a study of the symptoms and feelings of the patient, without regard to the nature of his complaint; thus at one step placing the profession in the precise position in which Hippocrates found it two thousand years ago. This is like shutting the eyes, and groping for an object in a lighted room ; it is being wilfully blind, when one may see if he chooses ; it is being obstinately ignorant, when knowledge is within reach; it is being downright wicked, when something better is professed. The diseased condition of an organ is entirely overlooked, although it may be most evident, and a host of questions are put to the patient as unmeaning as they are useless. Hahneman recommends that these symptoms be taken down in writing; and if the interrogatories are put after his method, they cannot, in the most simple case, amount to less than a hundred. In his work on chronic diseases he also treats of medicine ; and under the head of each article are enumerated the different symptoms it is capable of producing in the healthy subject. To make choice of a remedy according to the homoeo- pathic plan, the symptoms of the patient must be compared with those laid down in the books ; and the article that is found to cause a disease most analagous to that for which a prescription is to be made, is the one to be employed. Some articles occupy with their symptoms from eighty to a hundred pages or more !! and when the choice is between half a dozen remedies only, it is necessary to read and com- pare not more than four or five hundred pages octavo be- fore making the prescription—all this time the patient can be exercising the godly virtue of patience, and enjoy his cure in anticipation. H0M030PATHY. 11 It must not be supposed that the remedies in use among ordinary doctors are employed by the disciples of Hahne- man. No such thing. They are, many of them, in their natural state, perfectly inert; but, by the process of prepa- ration by homoeopathic pharmacy and homoeopathic chym- istry, they have some miraculous virtues imparted, some magical efficacy superadded. For instance, quartz and silex, rock crystal and flint stone, have hitherto been sup- posed to possess no medicinal properties; but it has been re- served for Hahneman to enlighten the world on this point, and teach mankind that the ten millionth part of a single grain of either of these substances is a most potent remedy when homoeopathically administered. And so is sulphur; and although it has hitherto been administered in teaspoon- ful doses, we have learned at this late day that a single tea- spoonful of sulphur, homoeopathically prepared and admin- istered, is sufficient to medicate the systems of all the in- habitants of the earth; and one roll of oldfashioned brim- stone would be quite enough to serve the purposes of the whole human race for ages yet to come. In his work on " chronic diseases," and in his " Organon," Hahneman lays dowTn rules for the preparation of his medicines. He says, " take one grain of any solid substance, and one third of one hundred grains of sugar of milk, and put them together in a porcelain vessel. Mix the medicine and sugar an instant with an ivory spatula; then triturate the mixture with some little force six minutes ; then detach the mass from the bottom of the vessel four minutes, till it becomes homoge- neous ; then triturate it again six minutes with the same force. Four other minutes are employed to reunite the powder in a mass, and then add the second third of the sugar of milk; mix it an instant with a spatula ; then triturate with an equal force six minutes; then reunite in a heap or mass (en tas) four minutes; then triturate it again six min- 12 HOMOEOPATHY. utes ; then, after having scraped it again four minutes, add the last third of the sugar of milk, which must be mixed by stirring it with the spatula; then triturate it with force six minutes ; scrape it four minutes ; then terminate by tritu- rating and mixing six minutes." This is but one process ; and this reduces it only to the hundredth dilution, as it is termed in homoeopathy. But this being altogether too active for Hahneman's disciples, one grain of this mixture is to be again triturated with another hundred, and so on till one grain of the last mixture shall contain the millionth, ten millionth, or forty millionth of a single grain of the medicine. Carbonate of lime, called by the homceopathists calcarea, but more generally known under the name of marble, is prepared in this way, and administered in the enormously large dose of the millionth, and from that to the billionth and quadrillionth part of a single grain. Silex, quartz, common salt, sulphur, charcoal, and other remedies equally efficacious, are administered in the same prodigious doses. At this rate a single marble, that the ragged boys in the street amuse themselves with, is quite enough to medicate all the people now upon the earth, and all that are likely to live till the end of time. The pills are prepared by saturating a globule of sugar of milk in a fluid having in solution the desired substances; and the liquids are prepared by diluting, to the desired de- gree of infinity, a tincture of any substance with alcohol. The author of these pages was long in doubt, after read- ing the works of Hahneman, whether he was in earnest, or merely making an experiment upon the credulity of man- kind ; and it was not till he saw sensible people duped and imposed upon, and the doctrine treated with respect, that he believed Hahneman sincere, although himself the great- est dupe of his own fancy. HOMOEOPATHY. 13 The infinitesimal doses are not the greatest absurdity connected with this system. For even these, small as they are, are deemed too active to be administered oftener than once in four and sometimes six weeks. The forty millionth part of a grain of charcoal, flint stone, table salt, or marble once in six weeks !!! 1 The late moon stories are nothing to this. But the climax is not yet capped. Hahneman says that a single globule, i. e., a little pill preserved in a vial, is sufficient, when smelt of occasionally, to prevent the recurrence of a disease—thus the thirty millionth part of a grain of medicine, he says, may last for years. When such absurdities are believed, need we wonder at anything 1 Again—Hahneman says that sugar of milk is one of the greatest blessings ever bestowed on man, and what reason do you suppose he gives for this ? It is because the ho- moeopathic physician can every day give his patient one or more powders of this article, which is like any other sugar, and thus allow him to believe that he is taking a remedy of some power. The physician can then make his daily visit, give his patient a little pulverized sugar, and once in six weeks a globule of charcoal, and thus lead him on till nature restores him to health, or till his disease lands him in the grave. A great discovery that Hahneman has made, in relation to diseases of modern times, is, that a great multitude are caused by the—itch. Smile not, for true it is, he declares that the diseases enumerated below are nothing but the itch in disguise. Scrofula, rickets, spina ventosa, phthisis, pulmonary complaints, asthma, mucous phthisis, laryngeal phthisis, chronic catarrh, habitual coryza, difficult dentition, worms, dyspepsy, spasms of the bowels, hypochondria, hys- teria, oedema, or swelling of the feet, dropsy, dropsy of the ovaries, dropsy of the womb, hydrocele, dropsy of the head, amenorrhcea, dysmenorrhoea, and menorrhagia, fiuor albus, 14 H0M030PATHY. dy sury, ischury, enuresis, diabetes, catarrh of the bladder, ne- phralgia, gravel, strictures in various parts, blind and bloody piles, fistula, constipation, diarrhoea, induration of the liver, jaundice, cyanosis, diseases of the heart, palpitation of the heart, spasms of the heart, dropsy of the heart, abortion, sterility, impotence, nymphomania, hernise of various kinds, spontaneous dislocations of the joints, distortions of the spine, chronic inflammation of the eyes, lachrymal fistula, myopia, presbyopia, nyctalopia, hemeralopia, opacity of the cornea, cataract, glaucoma, amaurosis, deafness, loss of smell and taste, chronic headache, tic douloureux of the face, scald head, crusta lactea, dartrous eruptions, red pimples, nettle rash, encysted tumours, goitre, varicose veins, aneu- rism, erysipelas, ulcers, caries, scirrhus, cancer of the lips and jaws, cancer of the breast and other parts of the body, fungus hsematodes, rheumatism, sciatica, gout, apoplexy, syncope, vertigo, palsy, contraction of the limbs, locked-jaw, convulsions, epilepsy, St. Vitus's dance, melancholy, mania, dementia, nervous weakness, etc. To the immortal Hahneman are due the thanks, the everlasting gratitude of all mankind, for having made the discovery that they are all, as they have been for ages past, suffering from the itch—and still further are they under ob- ligations to him for having made known that the ten mil- lionth part of one grain in weight, of sulphur is a specific that never fails to effect a speedy, safe, and certain cure. The itch, according to the learned German, is repelled—it is lurking in the system—showing itself at one time in the brain, then in the stomach, in the centre of one orcan, in a bone, or in the big toe. Unfortunately though for Hahneman for his disciples, and for their adherents, it has within a few years been demonstrated that the itch is an animalcular disease—that all its troubles are caused by an insect which has been extracted, exhibited by a microscope to the satis- H0M030PATHY. 15 faction and conviction of the skeptical, and an engraving published in a late number of a medical review. A great pity indeed it is that this insect has shown his head ; and a most accommodating and omnipresent animal he is to show himself under such various forms, and in so many parts of the body, at nearly the same time. He must possess the faculty of locomotion in a most astonishing degree, to change his local habitation as suddenly as some of the diseases enu- merated leave one part of the body and attack another. But no doubt Hahneman can explain all these difficulties satisfactorily; if he cannot, some of his disciples most as- suredly can. Now, reader, do you ask if this is really homoeopathy X Verily it is the doctrine promulgated by Hahneman—it is such as his disciples profess to believe—and it is such as they ask others to believe also. And do you inquire if they succeed in gaining proselytes ? It is not surprising that any absurdity should find believers and advocates; for a portion of mankind have always been ready to be duped by the designing and unprincipled. The writer does not intend to attribute sinister motives to all who practise homoeopathy ; he believes there are some who are honest in their intentions, but whose credulity and obliquity of perception have perverted their judgment. The strongest advocates for the Hahnemanic vagaries in this country are foreigners, who, delighted with a prospect of a golden har- vest, seek America as the theatre of their exploits in medi- cine ; and, encouraged by the childlike eagerness with which we embrace everything foreign, they consider the Yankees fair game and an easy prey. Starved in their own country for lack of employment, perhaps excluded from respectable society at home, they seek a land where their assurance and impudence, self-conceit and reckless dishonesty, for a time make them conspicuous before the 16 HOMOEOPATHY. public eye. Renegades of this character often pass for men of learning ; and by their impudence they for a time succeed in gaining the good opinion of some, in insinuating themselves into the confidence of a few, and in duping and deceiving the credulous. There are some, indeed, of all nations, whose minds are homoeopathically constructed—who can receive and enter- tain ideas only in homoeopathic quantities—and such are some of those who deal in infinitesimal doses. Others, again, who do not belong to the medical profession, are de- ceived, misled by those in whom they place confidence; but, when reflection comes, when reason resumes her influence, they become convinced and ashamed of their weakness. In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII. issued a bull against witch- craft. About the year 1515 five hundred witches were burnt in three months at Geneva; and during the two hundred and fifty years subsequent to the issuing of the pope's bull, it is computed that one hundred thousand witches were executed in Germany alone. The number of witches executed in England has been computed at thirty thousand. New-England, the land of our pious pilgrim fathers, has had her soil stained with the blood of innocent victims, ex- ecuted for the imaginary crime of witchcraft. What must have been the state of the public mind in that country, that could tolerate the execution of five hundred individuals in the brief space of three months for—witchcraft? Or what must be the feeling that could permit a single execution for a crime that had no existence, save in the superstitious fears and fancy of a credulous multitude ? The belief in witchcraft must have been universal to have allowed even a single individual to be led to the scaffold or the stake ; and yet in those days there were men of learning, of exalted intellect, of piety, who as firmly believed in witchcraft as they did in their God nnd Saviour. We at H0M030PATHY. 17 this day lift our hands in astonishment at the infatuation that could so universally possess mankind ; and yet it is no more difficult to believe in witchcraft than it is in homoeopathy. But, says the disciple of Hahneman, facts are stubborn things—see the results of our practice—see our cures, and then be convinced. So said the believers in witchcraft; and never was there a witch executed but on the testimony of unimpeachable witnesses. Witchcraft had facts to sustain it—facts as broad and glaring as the noonday sun, compared with which the facts and cures of homoeopathy sink into insignificance. The question as to the fact of the existence of witchcraft was beyond a doubt; the only question that ever arose was, who is the witch? That satisfactorily answered, sentence and execution im- mediately followed. Doubtless, each of the five hundred witches who were executed during the three months at Geneva was convicted on as good testimony as any cnre by homoeopathy can be supported. But, says the dispenser of the ten millionth part of a grain of charcoal, there is the person cured—the fact speaks for itself—it needs no other proof. So said the believers in witches—there is the per- son bewitched, and there is the witch—the fact speaks for itself—no other testimony is required. The facts alleged in favour of homoeopathy are not facts __they have no more truth to sustain them than witchcraft had to sustain it; and a belief in the latter can never gain as universal credence as did the former. It may, with the greatest truth and propriety, be denied that cures are ef- fected by homoeopathic medicine; but, unquestionably, good results have followed from circumstances connected with the practice. Hope and confidence may give renewed energy to the nervous system, after having despaired of a recovery; and every one has seen the good results of this, as well as an increased exercise of the will. The imagina- C 18 H0M030PATHY. tion is a powerful auxiliary in the treatment of disease under any circumstances ; the mere change of physicians often does a great deal, and, in fact, often is the means of effecting a cure when the very same medicine is continued. Again; many who have ardently embraced this doctrine fancy themselves cured, or better, when in reality they are not, or when they may be daily growing worse. This is a fact noticed not only in connexion with homoeopathy, but it was observed long before homoeopathy or its author were known. An invalid, prepossessed in favour of a particular remedy, a particular plan of treatment, or a particular phy- sician, will, when gratified in his prepossession, fancy him- self improving, when it is evident to his friends that disease is making progress ; and this infatuation is often the cause of incalculable mischief. There are none of the boasted cures of homoeopathy that cannot be accounted for in a manner satisfactory to a reasonable mind, without attribu- ting the least influence to medicine ; the same train of cir- cumstances, with the administration of distilled or rain water, under some loud-sounding name, would effect just as astonishing results. And I verily believe there has never been a remarkable cure on the homoeopathic plan to which I cannot readily find a parallel, where the German deception has not been practised, and where no medicine at all has been employed. Patients recover from severe illness without medical treatment; and when this is the case, any inert substance that may have been used has the reputation of the cure. Thus an honest mind is deceived, and is made to attribute to skill what is the result of sheer imposition. But, says one, I have been cured by homoeo- pathy when other medicines and other plans of treatment failed; and I know, for I have experienced in myself its wonderful powers. True, you may have recovered under this plan, after having received no benefit, but positive in- jury, from another course. Every sensible physician knows H0M030PATHY. 19 that there are many cases where, the less medicine is em- ployed, the sooner the patient recovers; and your own case was doubtless one of that character, and all the treat- ment necessary was to do nothing, to suspend all medicine of every description. It would seem, that the more the practice of medicine is stripped of common sense and reason—the more it is in- volved in mystery—the more incomprehensible it is made to appear—the more its dogmas assume the character of the oracles of Apollo—the more readily is it embraced, the more cordially is it welcomed. The seventh son was once supposed to possess the natural gift of curing disease by touch ; and kings were once thought to have the power of removing scrofula, called king's evil, by touching the part with the hand, and at the same time repeating a few un- meaning words. About fifteen years since a German prince, Hohenloe, be- came a priest, and claimed to possess the power of curing diseases by prayer. Multitudes flocked to him from all parts of Germany ; invalids applied by letter from various parts of Europe, to be cured of their maladies, and among his patients were many of the nobility. Many were really benefited, and cured of diseases of long standing—many more thought they had been relieved—and others went away lamenting that they had no more faith. This princely and priestly doctor was allowed to try his experiments in various hospitals ; but, finally, the police interfered, and pro- hibited his experiments except in their presence. This was rather a damper to his success ; so that he declined performing his miracles in presence of the health police. " He has cured people at a distance, and cases have been published of cures performed in one instance in Scotland, another in Marseilles, and in several others, by appointing an hour in which the individuals should unite their prayers with his. Some have objected against these simultaneous 20 HOM030PATHY. prayers, so considered, that a prayer at eight o'clock in Hungary has long been ended before that of eight o'clock at Marseilles begins ; but they have forgotten that the whole process is a miracle." We have instances of delusion in religion in the Irvingites, or those who speak with unknown tongues—in the Mormons, and in others too ridiculous to name ; and none require greater faith, or are characterized by greater absurdities, than the medical doctrine of ho- moeopathy. Germany seems to be, of all regions of the globe, the most congenial to the production of the supernatural; it there finds material to feed upon, and agents ready and willing to carry their absurdities to other countries. But homoeo- pathy, like German witchcraft and the miracles of the Ger- man prince, is destined soon to be abandoned; and the homceopathic doctor, and those who have been the subjects of his practice, will be astonished at, and ashamed of, their own credulity. It is claimed by homoeopathic doctors in this country, that their system is gaining ground in Europe—that it has overspread Russia, and is finding great favour in France and Italy. " To give a specimen of the practical excellences of ho- moeopathism, we cannot do better than to allude to the course which has been pursued by the Russian government towards it. A Saxon physician, Mr. Hermann, the great apostle of the system in Russia, was invested by the Grand Duke Michael with full powers to display, in a course of clinical'experiments, its superiority over the common prac- tice and theory of the day. " One of the wards of the Hopital de Tuttschin, which contained a number of soldiers affected with fever and dys- entery, was allotted to his special management during a space of two months. H0M030PATHY. 21 " The following table exhibits the results :— Fatients. Cured. Died. Remaining. Homoeopathic method.........128 65 5 58 Common do...........457 364 — 93 '' It seems that the grand duke could use his eyes; he was satisfied, and withdrew his commission. However, some time after this, the ministers of the Russian govern- ment summoned Mr. H. to Petersburg, gave him authority to select his own hospital, and to make any arrangements he thought fit. " The wards were fresh painted, and every hygienic pre- caution faithfully executed. Even the kitchen was placed entirely under his control and superintendence; and in order to prevent the possibility of any interference, a sen- tinel was placed before the door, and none permitted to enter during the occasional absence of Mr. Hermann. His first request respecting the patients was a very modest and moderate one, viz., that none should be sent to his hospital who laboured under ulcers, dropsy, consumption, &c, and that he should have the selection of all his cases! ! " Even under these most fortunate circumstances, the results were most unfavourable to the new practice; the proportion of deaths to recoveries was much higher than in ordinary practice, and the duration of the treatment was always protracted and tedious."—(Johnson's Medico-Chi- rurgical Review for July, 1834.) The Royal Academy of Medicine at Paris have had sev- eral animated discussions upon homoeopathy. The ho- rrfceopathians petitioned the police for leave to form a so- ciety and institute dispensaries ; the opinion of the academy was asked, and they agreed upon a report condemning se- verely homoeopathy. M. Andral, one of the most distinguished medical men in France, stated that he had collected from 130 to 140 facts 22 HOMOEOPATHY. in a large hospital under the eyes of numerous witnesses. To avoid every objection, he obtained the medicine from M. Guibourt, who had a homccopathical pharmacy, and whose severe exactness is known to every one. The diet and all the precepts of Hahneman were strictly observed in all respects. There were two sets of experiments ; first, to ascertain the effects of medicine upon healthy individuals. He, with ten others, took bark in homoeopathic doses, without any effect; they then took the bark under all its forms, powder, extract, sulphate of quinine, to the extent of from 6 to 24 grains a day. These experiments were continued a long time, repeated at different seasons, under different atmo- spherical constitutions. None of them experienced the least attack of fever; some felt no effects at all; these had a good stomach. Those whose stomachs were more feeble had malaise, headache, &c. With a little prejudice it had been easy to swell these symptoms, and make of them such or such a disease as the doctrine needed. In this manner M. Andral tried all the most powerful homoeopathic remedies without the least effect. Hahneman and his disciples say, that to cure any disease, you must be able to excite that disease in a healthy subject; and since those articles which the homoeopathians claim to be efficacious produced no effect in healthy individuals, therefore they are inert. But M. Andral tried these medicines in different diseases in which they are said to be infallible in working cures ; in his hands, however, they produced no effect, and he was obliged to return to the ordinary treatment. In the service of M. Bailly at the Hotel Dieu, M. Simon and M. Curie had been permitted to treat patients homoeo- pathically during the course of four or five months. But no cures had taken place under this medication. HOMOEOPATHY. 23 From the Gazette Medicale, 1835. " Quaranta Giorna, etc. that is, Exposition of forty days of the Clinical Homoeopathy established at the Military Hos- pital of Naples, under the direction of the Chevalier Cosmi de Horatius and a committee of physicians. By Pasquale Panvini, Physician to the Hospital della Pace, &c. Dedi- cated to Hippocrates. " It was announced, in an essay on clinical homoeopathy, that simple fevers in great numbers had been cured in two or three days ; phlegmonous and severe inflammation of the tonsils in three days; very severe pleurisies and inflamma- tions of the lungs in six days; gastric-nervous fevers, ap- proaching typhus, in five days ; a fever, with erysipelas of the head, six hours (the subject of this cure was a homoeo- pathic physician, Dr. Laraja) ; measles, complicated with typhus and verminous affections, in four or five days; pal- pitations of the heart, that had resisted ordinary methods, had disappeared as by enchantment, and in the twinkling of an eye, &c. So many miracles excited the attention of the physicians of Naples; every one desired to be wit- ness of them ; a plan for experimenting was presented to the king, who approved and ordered the execution of it. It was decided— "1st. That a commission should be present during the preparation and administration of the medicines ; that this commission should be composed of two Professors of the University belonging to the faculty of medicine; two mem- bers of the Medico-Chirurgical Academy; and two mem- bers of the Public Instruction and Heads of the Hospital Service. " 2d. That these managers, after having verified the at- tenuation of the homoeopathic remedies, should place the said remedies in a solid box, closing well with two differ- ent locks, the keys of which were to be given, one to the 24 H0M030PATHY. director of the clinique and the other to the managers charged with following the treatment. " 3d. That the clinical ward should have only one door for communication, guarded by a sentinel; that it should have all the conditions required for salubrity ; that it should con- tain no more than 15 or 20 beds; and that two assistant physicians, one chosen by the acting physician and the other by the managers, should keep an exact register of everything which should happen to the patients; of the phases of their disease, their diet, of the cures and the deaths, if there should be any deaths. "4th. That the admission of patients labouring under acute or chronic affections should be directed by the treat- ing physician and managers, with this condition, that the treating physician should not be obliged to receive patients supposed to be incurable, nor those whose badly-marked and equivocal disease should not be regarded as proper for pos- itive experiments. " 5th. That the managers having determined the kind of disease, the acting physician should expose the symptoms, administer the remedy, and prescribe the diet. " 6th. That each day the state of each patient should be made known by the treating physician and managers. " These rules established, we proceeded to the prepara- tion of the medicines, or, as Dr. P. says, to their attenuation. Homoeopathists have adopted for the multiplier of their attenuations the number 100. Thus, when the medicine is a liquid, we take a drop of it, which we mix with 100 drops of alcohol. This is the first attenuation or dilution. For the second dilution, 10,000 drops are required, and so on; always multiplying by 100, until the thirtieth or even forti- eth dilution. y/ " Dr. Panvini has calculated how much alcohol would be required for the dilution of a single medicinal drop, and how much sugar for the attenuation of a grain of solid substance HOMOEOPATHY. 25 reduced to a powder, so as to reach the thirtieth or fortieth dilution. " The first dilution of a drop of tincture of chamomile, for example, would demand, as has just been said, 100 drops of alcohol. " The second, 10,000, or nearly a pound. " Third, 100 pounds, or about a barrel.* "Fourth, 100 barrels. " Fifth, 10,000 barrels. " And so on, and so on, the ninth, as much alcohol as the Lake of Agnano could contain. " The twelfth, one hundred million lakes of Agnano. " The seventeenth, 10,000 Adriatic seas. " The thirtieth, as much alcohol as the terrestrial globe, all our planetary system, and perhaps all the stars of the first and second magnitudes that we can discover on a beautiful summer night; to which must be added, for the fortieth dilution, all the constellations we can discover from one pole to the other. As to pulverized substances, analo- gous proportions." To attain these infinite dilutions, only a drop of each di- lution is used to be still further diluted ; otherwise the uni- verse could not supply the homoeopathians with material to attenuate their medicine. The above statements may seem incredible ; but figures are not apt to lie or deceive. A grain of charcoal or sul- phur, mixed with sugar, and attenuated to the fortieth de- gree, would require the following amount of sugar in grains: 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000— equivalent to the following number of pounds avoirdupois; 1320833333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 333333333333333333333333333. Allowing two thousand * This must be an Italian barrel, smaller than ours. D 26 HOMOEOPATHY. pounds to a ton, this grain of sulphur, charcoal, flint, or rock crystal would require, to reduce it to the fortieth de- gree of attenuation, the following number of tons of sugar — 6041660666066666666666666666666666666666666666 66666666666666666666666666 ! !!! Dr. Panvini made his experiments with medicines so di- vided. The report continues, " at first we tried whether certain patients would not get well without any remedy. Ten patients were set apart for the experiment; the acting physician was desirous of giving them medicines ; the man- agers decided otherwise, and the ten patients got well. One of them had a gastric fever; the homoeopathic doctor advised him to take a drop of the tincture of nux vomica, of a dilution equivalent to a drop of the strong tincture, in as much alcohol as a hundred million lakes of Agnano could hold. " The second set of cases were those of slight diseases— all recovered under homoeopathic treatment, but without any one perceiving any effect of the remedies—all would have got well without any medical treatment. " In a third series are ranged more severe diseases. It is entitled, cases that required the assistance of art, and in which homoeopathic medicine was proved to be entirely inert. "Finally, in a fourth and last series, ^M. Panvini reports experiments that he himself made, with remedies prepared by homoeopathians, without ever having any effect. " To recapitulate: It results, from the forty days of ho- moeopathic treatment under the eyes of the commission ap- pointed by the King of Naples, that this treatment had no effect, and that it had the great inconvenience to certain patients of retarding the employment of the remedies that would cure them. " Nevertheless, the acting physician was M. de Horatius, who had announced the preceding year cures so marvel- HOMOEOPATHY. 27 Ious, and the author of a pamphlet entitled, 'Essay on Homoeopathic Medicine.' Alone, or surrounded with par- tisans, as he himself, of homoeopathy, he effected miracles; in the presence of the commission he not only cured no one, but permitted several patients to grow worse, for the cure of whom we had to return to the ordinary treatment." Such is a fair, faithful, and correct, though brief view of homoeopathy, as it is taught by Hahneman, its founder ; as is believed by his disciples; and as they would have others believe it. There are many things in this world to be re- ceived as truth without much testimony ; and again, other dogmas, however plausibly they may be sustained, by what- ever evidence they may be proved true, are yet not to be be- lieved as true. If a dozen of my friends, whom I know to be persons of veracity, declare that black is white, and that two and two make six; if they ratify their declaration by an oath, yet I am not bound to believe it. If a man profess to cure disease by charms, by incantations, or by some mighty magic, although he bring forward what he calls facts to prove his skill, I cannot believe in his powers except as he operates upon the faith or imagination of his patient. If a man tells me that he cures disease by administering rem- edies, diluted, attenuated, and weakened to the extent shown in the preceding statement, I can believe that he is only a wicked impostor or the dupe of his own fancy. The workers of miracles and the performers of great feats may, as they often do, reap a golden harvest. Those who have hitherto been induced to believe in so great an absurdity as has been set forth in these pages will do well to begin, now, to use the reason that their Maker has given them; to weigh the testimony offered; and if they will but exercise the same judgment in regard to this that they do in other matters, this greatest of all modern humbugs will soon sleep with its father and kindred, and be forgotten. >i 28 H0M030PATHY. Already do the disciples of Hahneman begin to abjure his creed and desert his ranks. In the last No. of Johnson's Jour- nal is a review of a work on Homoeopathy by Stephen Simp- son, M. D., who still claims to be one of the faithful. Let him speak in his own words. " The writer strongly protests against the denomination of Hahnemanian homceopathism, being firmly of opinion that homoeopathy, as it has recently been taught and practised by its great discoverer, is little better than a mere chimera. " The writer unhesitatingly declares that he holds the hy- pothesis of Hahneman as altogether unsatisfactory, his practical rules deduced from them as contrary to experience, and his theory of chronic diseases as devoid of all proof; of which, indeed, it has been very justly observed, that • what is in it that is true is not new, and what is new is not true.'" Thus the splendid fabric of homoeopathy is about to be demolished by the hands that have reared it; the builders themselves are now undermining—razing it to its founda- tions. The author above quoted proposes that homoeo- pathy be commenced anew; for the chain of facts elicited by all previous experiments are but a rope of sand, de- ceiving the physician and destroying the patient. What say the homceopathians ? " The god of their idolatry pros- trate in the dust"—the ladder by which they are to climb to the highest pinnacle of fame forcibly dragged from under their feet—the charm broken by which they are to cure disease and make their fortune—we may yet hope to see them forsake their errors and return within the dominion of reason. May, 1837. THE END. NLM032760814