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                      REMARKS

                              ON
                                                              /

      THE  ABRACADABRA      ;

                            OF THE

                  Ntntteentf) (tzntuvs;

                            OR ON

             Dr.  SAMUEL  HAHNEMANN'S^

  HOMCEOPATHIC   MEDICINE,
                    WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO

              Dr. CONSTANTINE HERING'S
" CONCISE VIEW OF THE RISE  AND PROGRESS OF HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICINE,"
                          Philadelphia, 1833.
BY
WILLIAM LEO-WOLF, M.D.
When thus ripe lies are to perfection sprung,
Full grown and fit to grace a mortal tongue,
Thro' thousand vents impatient forth they flow,
And rush in millions on the world below.—Pope.
                   NEW-YORK:

                       1835.

PUBLISHED BY CAREY, LEA AND BLANCHARD, IN PHILADELPHIA. 
•<&
WBK

  183 5
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by William Leo-Wolf,
  M.D. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-
  York.
PBINTED BY GEORGE t. fCOTT, ft CO. ANN biREKT, JJEW-YOrtK. 
\
PREFACE.
  The only probable reason for the long continuance of
those prejudices  and superstitions which are not sus-
tained by the interests of large privileged classes of so-
ciety, is, that when intelligent men know the tenets of
a doctrine to be inconsistent and false, they do not think
it worth while to examine it minutely,  but leave the sub-
ject to the weak-minded and credulous, who, considering
silence or mere satire as an indirect admission of their
extravagant and fanciful  conceptions,  generally become
firmer in their belief and bolder in their public conduct.
This appears also the principal reason why homceopa-
thia has existed so long.
  Adverse to controversy,  the author  of these remarks
never thought of  expressing publicly his opinion of ho-
moeopathia until towards the end of the last year, when
he accidentally became acquainted with Dr. Hering's
" Concise View of the  rise and progress of the homceo-
" pathic doctrine."   He then clearly saw that the vota-
ries of this medical superstition had selected the United
States as the most propitious field for its propagation,
and that they would leave no stone  unturned to  pre-
possess the public in their favor.
  Aware of the benefits to be derived by his  adopted
country, from a faithful exposition  of  this  new medical
doctrine, the original works of which are inaccessible to
those unacquainted with the German language; the au-
thor was instigated to  this tedious task by the  desire
also of vindicating the literary honor of Germany, his
native country,  so  much abused by the false reports of
the persecutions which Hahnemann had to suffer there
for truth's  sake,  of the high respect which he  now
enjoys as a man and as a reformer of  medicine, and by 
                          6

 the wrong statements in regard to the large number of
 her distinguished  physicians,  said to  have zealously
 adopted this mode of treatment.
   The following remarks were written merely as a re-
 view, and were at first intended  for an American medical
 periodical.   As they  did not appear in  that form, the
 author  lately yielded to the  repeated wishes of his pro-
 fessional friends, collected the fragments, and now offers
 them in their present form.   The original  destina-
 tion of these remarks, the  great difficulties of writing
 in a foreign  idiom, of  correcting the manuscript,  and
 many other  reasons,  will explain the non-observance
 of a strict logical order, the occurrence of frequent repe-
 titions,  the long and numerous notes, and other defects,
 for which the kind indulgence of the reader is humbly
 requested.  The author must state that a part of these de-
 fects is to be attributed also to the hope, cherished  to the
 last moment, of being released from this publication  by the
 abler pen of some American  colleague. And indeed, it is
 difficult to comprehend, why such  a pamphlet as the
 Concise View, could  have been circulated for upwards
 of eighteen months in a populous and enlightened city,
 possessing  a  celebrated university, and so many distin-
 guished professional men, without any pertinent public
 censure; and it must  appear still  more strange, that in
 this  city likewise, such a disgraceful publication as that
 contained in the New-York Commercial Advertiser  of the
 7th of February last, and which  will be mentioned  here-
 after, could also have remained unnoticed.—It cannot
be justly expected that well educated physicians and me-
dical authors should be constantly Avarring against all
kinds of charlatanism.  Common quackery claims not to
be founded on scientific principles, it merely demands
implicit  belief in its arcana usually recommended for spe-
cial cases only, and does not, therefore, directly involve
misconceptions of a general  character in regard to the 
7
healing art;  hence, the injury done by it, is confined to
the credulity of individuals who, if they are disappointed,
must suffer the natural consequences of all imprudence.
But when charlatanism adopts the features of a medical
system, and pretends to reform the healing art, by reject-
ing the  fundamental  principles  of  the human intellect
and the truths of all experience hitherto acknowledged,
by inventing supernatural powers, under the term laws of
nature, and by relying on false statements and illusory
facts;  and when its adherents,  either from ignorance
and self-deception, or from  egotism and self-interest,
palm upon the public, under the cloak of philanthropy
and professional zeal, the grossest misconceptions, and
the most noxious superstitions; then the injury can easily
increase to an alarming extent before the public is un-
deceived, and it then becomes the imperative duty of the
profession frankly to state the true facts, and to explain
the true bearings of so important a subject.
  The author would farther state, that he has never read
one of the different German publications in opposition
to Hahnemannism, except some few lines of a review of
the Pseudomessias Medicus, written by one  of his for-
mer respected colleagues, Doctor Simon, junior, at Ham-
burg, and published in  the Allgemeine Medizinishe An-
nalen, (Feb. 1832), of his distinguished friend, Professor
Hecker, at Berlin ;  he has merely seen their titles in the
Leipzig book-catalogues, and is therefore ignorant whe-
ther he has taken the same ground with other opposers
of Hahnemann's, or not.  It appears from the title of the
work mentioned, and similar ones  subsequently published
by  Dr. Simon, that this learned  author has  dipped his
pen principally in the ink of ridicule and satire. Though
this course, is almost inevitable to any one who writes
againstHahnemannism,asubject of such vital importance
should, however, be examined differently; particularly
as the  discussions which homceopathia, like  similar su- 
8
   perstitions, excite, are so intimately connected with the
   most subtile investigations in the natural  sciences and
   metaphysics, that they offer inexhaustible means for a
   rational polemic.  The  author  who  advocates  truth
   should  also remember, that it will never be  sufficient
   merely to ridicule and to despise such subjects, however
   ridiculous  and  contemptible they  may be.   Rational
   arguments, derived from the impartial scrutiny of expe-
   rience,  are, if any, the only ones, capable of successfully
   combating the general predilection of man for the ex-
   traordinary and miraculous, and  of destroying the noxi-
   ous influence of sophisms and prejudices, rooted in ig-
   norance and extravagant fancy, or in the implicit belief
   of naked and delusive facts.
     The  author has  also briefly alluded to  some topics,
   which, though  not  directly connected with homceopa-
   thia, appear to him worth noticing  as erroneous con-
   ceptions and obnoxious prejudices still existing among
   the profession and the public. He wishes, however, that
   these remarks may be considered only as  the  abstract
   of his individual researches  and  experience,  which he
   thought his duty not to withhold, as they might, even if
   he should be in the wrong, call forth an exchange of
   opinions on these important subjects, which would be-
»   nefit the public and the profession.
     In conclusion, the author will state that he  will meet
   all objections which may be made  to his remarks in
   a scientific  and dignified manner;  if proffered  in any
   other mode, they will remain unanswered.—" Et refellere
   " sine pertinacia, et refelli  sine iracundia parati su-
   " mus."—Cicero.
New-Yokk, December, 1834. 
CONTENTS.
                                                                          Page
Historical and biographical sketch of the  homoeopathic doctrine and of
     Hahnemann        .........       9
Remarks on  Dr. Hering's reproach of the incapability and dishonesty of
     the apothecaries at Leipzig, and on the state of pharmacy in Germany  34
Fragmentary remarks on the present state of practical medicine and surgery  46
On the homoeopathic doctrine generally    ......     58
The three fundamental maxims of homceopathia in general       -     -     61
Results of experiments with simple drugs on healthy persons               62
The homoeopathic " law of nature," or the maxim, similia similibus curantur  75
Hahnemann's " great truth," that itch is the only cause of all chronic diseases 166
The third hemoeopathic  maxim, or that it is impossible to administer too
     small a dose of a  drug........179
Medical virtues developed from all natural substances, and especially from
     simple drugs..........  181
The energy of solutions of medicinal substances excessively increased by
     their transmission from place to place       - *...  ...     -  228
Direful consequences of the homoeopathic superstition if generally adopted  237
Homceopathia contradicted by Hahnemann's earlier  public statements, his
     later retractions,  etc.   ---......239
Conclusion...........253
                    EXPLANATION OF THE VIGNETTE.

  The "old philosopher" sitting in the magic diagram, proclaims to the world the charm of his
discovered " law of nature'''  written in the inverse shape of the old Abracadabra, (see page
262) and containing the same uneven number of letters,—" numero deus impare gaudet,"
—Virg. Buccol.  He is just engaged in developing spirits from a simple drug by trituration,
as is clearly seen by a very  large and fiery one—"ignea inest illis vis"—which is escaping
from the mortar  at the  command of his magic wand, and which, on account of its size,
appears to belong,  at least, to the  sixtieth potenz.—The negro, thankful for the gratifying
prospects of his physical emancipation, which has already happily succeeded with one half
of his sooty skin, assists the "great benefactor of mankind" in his '• gigantic work," and de-
velopes the thirtieth potenz from table salt, by shaking "from above downwards."—It appears
his zeal  actuated him too much, and that he has shaken, contrary to the directions  of the
"great reformer," too violently and too often, as numerous spirits rush out of the vial. One
of them, probably in consequence of his  particularly glorified antipsoric nature, gets hold of
the great cross of the order of the itch, which,  it is rumoured, has lately been created by
the great magician, in  spite of the "bayonets of the kings  and princes  of Europe;" and
is reserved particularly as a munificent reward  for the arduous zeal of his  missionaries, in
propagating the  " great truth," in " Egypt the land of monsters and the sanguinary gold coast,"
and particularly in America.—The emblems of all the " learned lumber" of the healing art,
accumulated for scores of centuries, have "fallen to the ground;" the stick of iEsculapius
as  well as the  scutcheon of Minerva are broken to pieces; and even the favorite  bird of
Athene, which  so long has been  her faithful companion, is dead;—"nequidquam seros
exercet  noctua  cantus,"—Virg. Georg.  It died however, not from the hellebore,  which
luxuriantly grows  around the mysterious grotto, without any remedial effect: but of grief,
at seeing the new  mathematical principles, and the other marvellous reforms of the com-
petitor of  " Galileo and Harvey:"

                 -  -  -  Ille sua? contra non immemor artis,
                 Omnia transformat sese in miracula rerum.— Virg. Georg. 
 
REMARKS  OJN  HOMCEOPATHIA,
  Although the doctrine of Hahnemann, or the homoeopathic doc-
trine has within the last few  years been adopted in this country
as the leading principle of medical practice  by some  respectable
physicians;  it has, however, remained  unknown to the mass of
the medical profession, and  has been but little  noticed by the
medical periodicals.
  The task  of  introducing this  doctrine  to the American public
has devolved upon Dr. Constantine Hering, of Philadelphia, who,
in his pamphlet entitled " A concise view of the rise and progress
of homoeopathic medicine," Philadelphia, 1833, has given a brief
sketch of this remarkable literary phenomenon of the present age.
  So long as any doctrine  or practice of the healing art remains
the rule of  individual practitioners only, no  one has a  right to
criticize it publicly ; but if this doctrine is promulgated in such a
manner as  to  mislead, and  even  to  injure, the young medical
student  as well as the public,  it then becomes the imperative duty
of every man, who believes the whole doctrine to be founded upon
the grossest errors and contradictions, and who knows facts which
differ widely from  the  statements  published, not to withhold the
truth, and to examine the subject by the tests of reason and ex-
perience.
  In order to  remove any suspicions that the following pages are
more or less dictated  by personal feelings, we  must state, that in
our present  retirement  we are more than ever indifferent  what
course of practice physicians may pursue to promote the interest of
their patients or their own.  Had it not been for our reluctance to
appear before the public, and  more especially in a controversy, we
should have vindicated  our  native  country  and  the honor of
its  professional  men, on  a former occasion,  when one of  our
respected  colleagues, in  New-York,  thought  proper  to  honor
publicly, the homoeopathic treatment of the Asiatic  cholera by
camphor with the term " German ueutmctit."
                             2 
10
  We regret very much, that the author of the above mentioned
pamphlet did not submit the subject scientifically to the profession
alone, before  addressing it to the  public ;  and also, that he has
attempted to forestall public opinion, by blending the moral and
intellectual standing of the  author of homooepathia with  the
doctrine itself.  Had his course been otherwise, the  whole contro-
versy would have been confined within the limits of a free scientific
discussion, and it  would  not have been necessary to divest the
subject of personal considerations not belonging to it, nor  to dispel
the halo cast over Hahnemann by his disciples and followers.   A*
he  has done this, however, without due regard to  the  dignity
of one of the most noble and beneficial sciences and of its faithful
servants, it is obvious, that studied  delicacy cannot be reciprocally
expected from any man, who has always been zealously  attached
to his profession, who is conscious of what mankind owes to the
noble exertions of those distinguished in the history and literature
of medicine, and who will never consent to receive, in place of the
latter, a  methodical  charlatanism,  based  upon the  most absurd
conceptions and the rudest empiricism.
   Every impartial reader  of the "Concise View" must be gratified
to find in the author a man of learning  and of professional cha-
racter.  No one could object  to his zeal for adopting the homoeo-
pathic doctrine, and  for  introducing it into this  country.   The
pursuit of such high objects as the health and life of his fellow-men,
must claim indulgence for every one, and especially for him who
devotes himself to the healing art, even  if his  scientific views,
whether original or  embraced from other  sources, should be con-
tradictory to  common  sense and to the experience  of the  most
eminent  men  of  this and former ages.  How many men of the
greatest  attainments  in  particular  sciences and arts, and of the
 purest moral character, have believed and even now admit things
 incompatible with the laws of human intellect, and contrary to all
 experience!   How  numerous the confirmations of Cicero's  re-
 mark, " Nihil tam absurde dici potest, quod non dicatur  ab aliquo
 " philosophorum !"  But if a man is so led away by his zeal, or by
 any other motives, as to publish  for  facts, statements which arc
 erroneous, and by which the public  mind may easily be misguided,
 concerning such valuable and irreparable objects as life and health ;
 then, the most charitable conjecture is his want of true information
 on the subject. 
II
   It is a very remarkable, and in  fact a characterislic feature of tin
homoeopathic  doctrine, that  most  of its  followers, and also the
author  of the concise view, are obliged, in its support, to disregard
not  only  all  medical  knowledge  hitherto  considered as  highly
valuable by the profession ; but to  proclaim  its inventor, Samuel
Hahnemann,  the greatest philosopher, the first medical genius of
every age, and almost a  saint.  It  appears as if they felt their
doctrine to be inconsistent with every law of the  human  under-
standing, and endeavored  to  compensate for its contradictions and
defects  by representing Hahnemann as  a martyr for truth, by
canonizing him though yet alive, and by making  his suggestions
and tenets the objects of implicit faith and worship.—But what has
a medical doctrine, or any other  scientific hypothesis, to do with
the character of its founder?   Francis Bacon says very correctly
in his Organon: " Pessima enim  res  est errorum apotheosis, et pro
"peste intellectus habenda est, si  vanis accedit veneratio." Kepler's
and Newton's immensely valuable  discoveries would  be equally
esteemed,  had their characters as men been less pious and moral.
The life of Francis Bacon, whom we have just quoted, was by no
means pure, still his Organon and  his  other writings have lasted
for centuries;  and will ever be known as  the  master works of the
human intellect.*   John Brown's intemperate habits were known
to all  his followers, yet this did  not prevent the adoption and ex-
tension of his doctrine.
   On  the  first page of his  pamphlet,  we  read with the greatest
astonishment the following:  " Het who had himself never assumed
" an offensive attitude, and the truth of whose doctrines only could
" with propriety be combated, ought to have been treated with due
  * As Dr. Hering seems to compare, also, the absurdities and ravings of his " great
medical genius," with this master work of Francis Bacon above mentioned, (see 1. c.
p. 6.) we shall quote many passages  of this and the  other works of this truly great
reformer of all natural sciences, who so gallantly combated the scholastic philosophy,
this mother of doctrines equally superstitious, and similar to those of Hahnemann.
If  homoeopathists had ever read  and understood one page of Bacon's Organon, they
would never have been so childish as to believe, that Hahnemann's Organon must be
equally valuable, because he was bold enough to give to his miserable patch-work the
same title, under the foolish impression that it will reform medicine; they would then
also knew, that no man was more cautious against  all delusions  of the  senses, and
all the mistakes and false conclusions, arising from false conceptions, than Fiancis
Bacon; and that he was always particularly anxious to recommend the minute in-
vestigation of the causes of phenomena, saying, " recte ponitur: vere scire esse per
causas scire."  A maxim so much ridiculed and despised  by Hahnemann and his
followers!
  f He, in the language of homoeopathists, always refers to Hahnemann; like the dis-
ciples of Pythagoras, they think to prove  the truth of any thing, by saying " av<roi
£<pct."  "He has said it." 
12
 E( respect; which I regret to say, he did not receive at the hands oi
 " some of the physicians in Germany." Now these things may well
 be stated  in a country,  where this whole  controversy  is little
 known, and will never be fully understood ;  for it is not probable
 that any American would undertake the tedious  task of perusing
 all the essays published pro and con, in Germany, on this subject.
 Every German, however, who is well acquainted with the literary
 history of the age, and with the origin and progress of the  homoeo-
 pathic doctrine in his native  country must admit, that since the
 time of Paracelsus, who was in many respects  truly distinguished
 as a great medical genius, no professional author has treated the
 greatest physicians and medical authors of past and present ages,
 with  less respect and  more unblushing impudence than  Samuel
 Hahnemann, though he was guilty of the grossest and repeated im-
 positions upon the public.   About the year 1S00 he advertised, ex-
 tensively, a  new salt, the discovery of which he claimed and which
 he offered for sale, under the name of alkali pneum, at the moderate
 price of one louisd'or (about $4) per ounce.   The  society for the
 promotion  of natural sciences at Berlin desired  to become ac-
 quainted with this new substance, which, as Hahnemann stated,
 would exercise a great influence upon chemistry. They procured an
 ounce of it from his agent  at Leipzig, which was analyzed by some
 of the greatest chemists  of the age, Professors Karsten,  Hermb-
 staedt and  Klaproth; and these men pronounced it, in the trans-
 actions of that society, as nothing  but common borax, a pound of
 which costs but a few cents.*  Shortly afterwards, he advertised
 his "infallible preventive  of scarlet fever," as  he termed it; the
 price of this, also, was a louisd'or ; but being disappointed in  the sale
 thereof, he afterwards confessed it to consist of nothing but a few
 grains  of the extract  of  belladonna dissolved  in  water :  also,
 worth about a few cents. Who, now, we ask, would consider a man
 trustworthy  and honorable, particularly a physician, distinguished
 for some knowledge  and  talents  who, from the basest  interest
becomes a  public impostor, and withholds from  his fellow-men,
even for a single hour, what he considers to be a preventive of a
dangerous and frequently fatal disease, merely because poor people
->re unable to pay him four dollars for what costs him but a few cents?
The able Professor  .loerg, at Leipzig,  has proved by laborious

  •y See  the celebrated (ievman  Literary Gazette, the  Jenaer  Literatur-Zeituncr
Beylagefur 1801, No. 1. 
13
investigations that many of the quotations fiom old medical authors.
made by Hahnemann in support of his doctrine, arc adulterated
and  false.  Can  any one confide in the veracity of such a man
without the most unquestionable evidence ?
  The eminent talents and merits of Hahneman  before he wrote
upon homoeopathia, are also held forth to the public, with a view to
prejudice them in favour of this " new Art of Healing," as we read
on pages 1 and 2 of Dr.  Hering's  pamphlet: " Nor  were his ex-
" traordinary talents, which in riper years rendered him one of the
u greatest medical geniuses, unknown at that time." We are really
at a loss to express the just indignation which everyone, even but
slightly acquainted with the history of medicine, must feel at hearing
such humbnggery!   About thirty-four years ago we had the good
fortune  to become acquainted with this " greatest medical genius,"
shortly  after we had settled at Altona, a Danish city near  Ham-
burg.  Hahnemann intended to practise his profession at the lat-
ter  place, which,  being at that time without a regulated medical
police,  offered  a large field for his arcana and other quackeries,
on account of  which he had already been obliged to leave several
places, and to wander about in his native country, even when nearly
forty-five years old.  Unable to succeed at  Hamburg, he left this
place also, after a short stay. We well remember some conversation
held with him on different professional subjects, especially on John
Brown's system then  in  vogue, in  which, however, he not only
displayed no extraordinary acquirements or  talents, but without
mentioning any results of his homoeopathic doctrine, the same shal-
lowness of judgment and propensity to mysteries and absurdities,
which have distinguished him through  his  whole life.  Although
at that time he had been known for upwards of twenty-four years
as a good scholar, as the translator of several works from foreign
languages, and also by his discoveries of the adulteration of wines
by lead, the  detection of poisoning by arsenic, and his mercurius
solubilis, still he was never, to our knowledge, appointed a professor
in  any  medical institution, nor was he  engaged in an extensive
practice; probably because he was not qualified;  for at that time
Germany was  by no means as well provided with physicians as at
present; and now there are still wealthy provinces in Prussia, where
the ratio of the physicians to the population is as I to 7000, and in
several provinces  of Bohemia, as 1 to 60,000 inhabitants*  Every

  'Sec !>i Streintzin Mediciniscli*- Inlirhuecher des K  K  Ocsterroichischen Spates 
14
German physician, therefore, who has  no  particular religious or
political objections to a stay in his native country, has mariy more
chances of obtaining a large and profitable  practice there, than in
any other, provided he  can pass the  rigorous state-examinations,
now established  by law, independent of the academical gradu-
ation, because many medical faculties did confer the degree of Medi-
cinaj Doctor upon ignorant  individuals.   Our author is, therefore,
very much mistaken in saying, on p. 1, " previously to his appear-
" ance as the reformer of medicine, he had been known and esteemed
" as one of the most learned, accomplished and meritorious physi-
" cians in Germany." Hahnemann excepted, we cannot recollect a
single instance, for upwards of thirty years, where a physician of but
moderate talents  was obliged to travel about in search of practice;
and it would require but very little knowledge of practical medicine to
prove, as we shall attempt hereafter, by many passages from  Hah-
nemann's works, that he could never have been engaged in exten-
sive practice, although, we believe, many of  his false assertions are
made not from ignorance, but from his egotism and his  contempt
for  the opinions of others. Exclusive of Hahnemann's works  upon
his  doctrine,  his other  medical  productions are  very trivial, and
composed chiefly of compilations and translations, not worthy of
a "great genius," who should certainly have found other subjects
in the  vast extent of the natural and medical sciences to engage
his  elevated mind !   In  regard to the distinguished  discoveries in
chemistry, which our author claims  for  his master, the learned
professors of  this science can name no discovery  or improvement,
suggested by Hahnemann, except those above mentioned; two of
which, the ascertaining  of the adulteration  of wine by lead, and
of poisoning  by  arsenic, have proved insufficient from the pro-
gress made in analytical chemistry ;  and the third, his mercurius
solubilis, (the very name of which is incorrect, because it is soluble
neither in water  nor alcohol,) is nearly the same  as the mercurius
cinerius Blackii or Edinburgensium, known long before his  time
and proved to be a very unsafe preparation ;  yet, about forty years

Vol. VII. No. 1, 3, 4, for 1832.  The ratio of well educated, examined and licensed sur-
geons, who are permitted to administer medical aid in urgent cases, is about 1 to 1500
The governments of Austria and Prussia, convinced of the importance of thorough-
bred physicians, whose education embraces also a minute  knowledge of all the philoso-
phical sciences, wisely enforce the strictest qualifications for medical practitioners of a
higher order, and prefer to leave many districts but scantily provided with them, rather
than to entrust the lives of their people to men who, in times of extreme danger, miaht
prove incompetent.
* 
15
ago  Hahnemann, with his accustomed charlatanism, asserted not
only that it would destroy the very existence of all syphilitic and
many other diseases, but also, that it would never salivate, which it
does more than  any other preparation of mercury.   His causti-
cum, which the author  of the concise view is pleased to term on
page 23,  "a new substance discovered  by Hahnemann,"  has
proved to be a discovery something like that of his alkali pneum—
nothing  but an impure alkali.—Indeed, it must appear strange to
every scientific man, that in our time a now substance, and espe
cially a valuable remedy, should have remained so long unnoticed
by all the  chemists, and not mentioned in the large and valuable
works of Thenard, Berzelius, Gmelin, or any other author on che-
mistry.  Hahnemann is, on  the contrary, so ignorant of the great
progress in chemistry during the last half century, that he appears to
the reader of his  works, who is acquainted only with the elements
of this immense science in its present state, more ignorant than an
author of  ages long past, who had, at least, a clear conception of
Stahl's phlogiston, Meyer's acidum pingue, or of similar hypothe-
ses and  technical terms then used.  Thus, in explaining his  pre-
paration of silicea (see  Chronic  Diseases,  Vol. III.  p. 208), he
speaks of a "causticum" (phlogiston probably), which the natrum
acquires while melting with  flint, and which, combined with the
oxygen  of the atmosphere, generates  carbonic acid,  which is evi-
dently nonsense, even according to the old phlogistic theory.   He
considers  further the precipitated silicea to be  soluble in alcohol,
although it is regarded as insoluble  by all  other  chemists.  He
also states that sulphur is very soluble in alcohol, while according
 to all chemists, it is but slightly soluble in* its gaseous state, in the
 vapour  of water,  and is perfectly insoluble in  alcohol or liquid
 water.   With all this he had the unparalleled boldness and impu-
 dence to say (Chronic Dis. Vol. I. p. 183), in regard to the present
 state of chemistry, " The over refined  chemistry of our time is yet
 '; ignorant of the easy solubility of sulphur in alcohol, and also of
 " the  solubility of metals and earths in the same, after they have
 been potenzised* ten thousand or a million  times  by triturition."
 All this nonsense is, nevertheless, considered by  the infatuated

   * The term "potenzised" is correlative to the expression " developed drug-virtue;"
 and though not often used in the English language,  we are obliged to adopt it to
 express briefly the power alledged to be developed from the atoms of simple drugs by
 homoeopathic manipulation, and which may be considered similar to the powers of
 numbers or of other signs used by mathematicians 
16
foUowere of Hahnemann, as more wise  and true  than the results
of the minutest chemical investigations of a Humphrey Davy,
Berzelius, Faraday, Gay-Lussac, &c.  This  " great genius" and
his followers have  a natural  philosophy,  chemistry, a  materia
medica, therapia, etc.; nay, even an arithmetic of their own, as
we shall prove hereafter more minutely.
   This however is  no reasonable objection to  the intrinsic value
and truths of the homoeopathic doctrine, since many highly inter-
esting discoveries in almost every  science, and  particularly in me-
dicine, have been made by men of inconsiderable talent, whim-
sical  conceptions and doubtful character.  An extensive  practice
of more than half a century often fails to  promote the science;
while the minute observation of a few  cases only may richly en-
large  it.   Statements, however, unconnected with  the objects in
view are uncalled for,and should not be perverted in order to forestall
public sentiment.   This course has been pursued by Hahnemann
and  most of his disciples, and his opponents are therefore also
compelled to tear the unmerited laurels  from the  head of the man,
before considering the falsehood and inconsistency of his doctrine.
   On page 15 of his pamphlet, Dr. Hering says,  " Among the
" contemporary professors  of medicine,  of which there were more
" than two hundred, who received salaries in Germany, among all
"the hospital physicians, there was not one who was induced to study
"it."  This assertion, supposing that Dr. Hering knew by inspiration
exactly, the course of reading pursued by all these men, corresponds
but little with his remarks a few lines previous:  " The labors of the
" Germans,  who constantly and eagerly borrow all that  is most
" valuable in the arts ana1 sciences from the available sources of all
" times and of every nation, &c," nor with his emphatic expressions
of " the depth and solidity of the Germans," of" the worth  of
" Geiman science," &c, nor even with his statement on page  15.
"  The German savans appeared sensible, that if both these propo-
" sitions were established, <fec, then all  the learned lumber which
" theorists had been accumulating for two thousand years must fall
" to the ground." Foreigners, unacquainted with the character and
standing of the German professors, might suppose these assertions,
although contradicting each  other, to  proceed not only from pro-
hibitory measures of the government, but also from party spirit
and the fears entertained by  the German practitioner,  that this
new  doctrine might  injure their practice   This mistake we feel 
17
it our duty to rectify.   No pamphlet or larger work in any lan-
guage would long remain unnoticed or uncriticised in  Germany,
if it  should contain a  single  important scientific idea or experi-
ment.   The German literary institutions publish upwards of sixty
periodicals devoted to natural sciences only, more  than one half of
which are appropriated to medical esSays and reviews.  Most of
these periodicals are issued in protestant states, where men possess,
even on religious topics, an independence and liberty of discussion
which,  when we reflect  upon  the intimate connection between
church and state  still existing there, may justly  be considered as
unparalleled in any part  of  the civilized  world.   It  must  there-
fore  be  evident that such objects  as are but distantly  connected
with the  prerogatives and  interests of  monarchical governments,
as for instance all the natural sciences  and particularly medicine,
are open  to free discussion all  over Germany.   Most of the pro-
fessors of medicine  in the German universities  are ardently  at-
tached to the sciences, and are also perfectly independent in their
circumstances.*  Hence they are generally quite  indifferent about
obtaining private medical practice,  and  those particularly who are
engaged  as physicians of hospitals and  dispensaries, feel  them-
selves in duty bound to subject every  new  method of treatment
and every newly recommended drug to the test of  experience in
the  presence of their  students.  In no  other  country  therefore
have new medical theories or modes of  treatment spread so rapidly
and so widely among the greater part of the profession, as in Ger-
many ; and in  no other  country have the oldest  professors and
practitioners so publicly avowed their  long cherished errors and
mistakes,  and  have  received,  upon the slightest  appearance of
truth, a  new  doctrine  with greater candor  or with more  perfect
disinterestedness.  This was the  case  with John  Brown's theory,
which was zealously adopted  by one  of the  greatest physicians
of the age, John Peter Frank, when he was nearly seventy years
old; and  this was  the case in our times also with the no less
erroneous doctrine of Broussais.t  But  in every instance some  ap
pearance of reason, some consistency, is required.
  *  Their salaries are from one to upwards of ten thousand dollars per annum, be
sides their tickets for their lectures, and their shares as members of medical faculties,
as examinators, &c, which, in some cases, increase their income to more than twenty
thousand dollars per annum.
  f It is not our object to lessen the respect due  to this distinguished physician and
author, though we deny the propriety of calling his doctrine pre-eminently " physiolo
gical medicine," and also, that he deserves the name, " father of modem medicine,"
                               3 
18
  Perhaps, the Germans geneially appreciate the  merits of  their
own countrymen less than those  of foreigners, and are rather too
much disposed to listen readily to scientific suggestions from abroad.
This fault is owing to their natural want of petty literary egotism,
which always exists  in an inverse ratio with the extent of learning
and acquirements; and to a want of  national pride, arising  from
the political condition of that country.   We may partly ascribe  to
this predilection for  foreign  suggestions the fact, that the practice
of medicine has there  also  rather declined  than improved  for the
last thirty years, although all the branches of theoretical medicine
and surgery have attained a degree  of  perfection  unsurpassed, if
not unparalleled, in the literary history of all countries and  ages.
But, without  the elevated self-respect  of her literary  men   in
scientific pursuits, the immense  medical literature  of Germany
could not exist; many indispensable branches of the profession, for
instance, medical jurisprudence, political, and especially  psychical
medicine, could not have originated in Germany, or attained  there a
perfection  unheard of in other countries ;  nor  would discoveries
of  their  own  medical  men have been acknowledged  for  their
intrinsic value, and pursued  with  perseverance, however little they
have been noticed abroad.   Thus  animal magnetism, first men-
tioned about three centuries ago by Paracelsus, a German, and
introduced as a remedy about sixty years  since, by Mesmer, also
a German, remained almost unnoticed by  all other  nations, the
French  excepted, although  many  professional men in Germany
still apply this  great agent as a  remedy which, hereafter,  will be

so emphatically bestowed upon him, particularly in the medical works of this country.
Depending almost entirely on the evidence of post mortem examinations, and neglecting
all higher philosophical conceptions,  he directed his mind only to the palpable results
of his investigations, and  easily found by them what his favorite opinion had sought
for.  Like all those who pretend to be reformers in medicine, he cherished his hypo-
thesis more than impartial  scrutiny, by rejecting indiscriminately the truths contained
in former medical doctrines.  Partially opposed to abstract ideas, called by him " on-
tological abstractions," Broussais, however, introduced in his " irritation" an abstract
conception, more vague and narrow  than many similar ones before him, and  which is
also discordant with the gross materialism  so much advocated by him in his  writings,
and particularly in his work " On Irritation  and Insanity," in a manner which  we must
consider unworthy of an elevated mind.—A systematic doctrine of practical medicine,
without regard to physiological principles, could be nothing but rude empiricism ; and
as every meritorious work  on practical medicine must necessarily be founded on physi-
ology, we cannot acknowledge that his system has any special claim to the term physi-
ological system.  We know of no important anatomical or physiological discovery  for
which the profession is particularly indebted to him, as it is to so many of his highly
distinguished countrymen, who, like Bichat, Magendie, and many others, haye  in
past and present times, so  brilliantly enriched and improved the healing art.—" Pal-
mam qui meruit, ferat." 
19
  more generally appreciated, when likewise divested of the mystery

  which  fancy and credulity have so long combined with it.

    Why, then, should Hahnemann's works have remained so long

  unnoticed  in his own country, as Dr. Hering states ?  They were

  not; they have  been  frequently reviewed in the German  periodi-

  cals.  But the darkness of the middle ages had, at least in regard

  to the natural sciences and medicine, fortunately been dispersed in

  Germany too long for a favorable reception of Hahnemann's works.

  His disciples  and adherents excepted, most medical authors and

  physicians, from the first promulgation of his doctrine down to the

 present time, have  agreed that  no  apology could be offered for a

  man who  boldly endeavours  to destroy all  that is  rational in

  medicine, in  order to substitute for  it  the rudest empiricism ever

 practised, and who had made, in his Organon and  other works, a

  multitude of  assertions and  suggestions, totally at variance  with

 common  sense and with all the laws  of nature, confirmed  by the

 experience of centuries.  We remember a review, published many

 years ago, in which the author  asserted, that  Hahnemann could

 have written his Organon only to revenge himself on the whole

 profession in return for their contempt of his Arcana.*  The fact

 is, that we know  of  no work pretending to be scientific, and pub-

 lished within the last or present century, which is more crowded with

 contradictions, falsehoods  and  absurdities than Hahnemann's Or-

 ganon,  this treasure of the  homoeopathists, this " great result of

 twenty years investigation," which Dr. Hering compares (see page

 9,) with the discoveries of a Galileo, a Harvey, a Columbus! This

 is obvious, not only to every well educated and  judicious physician

  * We candidly confess we believe it to be so, particularly siiy;e he published his last
 work on chronic diseases;  though there are some pathognomonical symptoms of cra-
 ziness observable  in him, especially in those passages where he really speaks of his
 doctrine as a fanatic false prophet does of his new revelation. Thus, he says of his
 doctrines, on page 7, vol. iii., of his materia medica, " ignea inest illis vis et coelestis
 origo," "they possess a fiery power, and come from heaven." In a scientific view no
 regard should be  paid to his motives; and his expressions are interesting in  a moral
 view only, as being or not being a part of his old public impositions.  " Multum inter-
 " est utrum  peccare quis nolit aut nesciat."—Seneca.
  Hahnemann was too good a scholar, too  well educated  in his profession, his
 doctrine originated at too mature an age, when such fancies as his are generally no
 longer the product of an exalted imagination,  and last not least, his  whole life was
 too much calcnlated for the  promotion of his own interest, to  reject entirely the
 conjecture of the  reviewer mentioned.  Should it be true, and  should he, feeling his
 departure from this world of vain deception to be near, be  conscious of his entering
 the world of bright unclouded truth, we would wish that he might secure to himself a
 better place in the history of medicine, by informing posterity of his true opinion, and
 of the steps which he took to prove to what extent the grossest errors and illusions
 can still be palmed upon so many. We sincerely wish that he may still live long, but a
 confession of this kind would be of much more value to the profession and to man-
kind, than if even the tenth part of all his suggestions were true. 
20
 who has practised any length of time, but to any one who knows
 how  to read a book  with  attention, and can judge  impartially.
 We hope that the time is  near  when  that book, at least, will be
 accessible to the enlightened  part of our professional brethren in
 this country ;  although it would be difficult for any faithful trans-
 lator  to preserve the vulgar style and tone which characterize this
 and all Hahnemann's works.  Even those who think  well of some
 of  his tenets  and suggestions, will admit the propriety  of these
 remarks on reading some  of our faithful quotations from Hahne-
 mann's books ; to quote all his nonsense, we should be obliged to
 translate almost all his works.
   Many entertain the erroneous opinion, that  the homoeopathic
 and other doctrines ofi Hahnemann affect only practical medicine;
 and that they merely teach a  new method of curing diseases,
 which, like other  medical  methods, may sometimes be right,  and
 sometimes wrong.  We shall endeavor to  prove, that  in adopt-
 ing this doctrine in its  whole extent, the very foundation of the
 human intellect would be shaken ; and  that all experience in the
 whole range of natural philosophy, scarcely excepting that which
 admits of a mathematical  demonstration, would  be  much more
 unsafe now than it was in the darkest ages of superstition.
   The debasement of  the healing art, by Hahnemann and  his
 followers, is obvious when we consider that they themselves state,
 that homceopathia is not only totally independent  of,  and incom-
 patible with all other medical theories;  but explicitly declare  war
 against all reason and experience, saying, (see C. V. page 15,) that
 " all the learned  lumber which theorists have been accumulating
 " for two thousand years must fall to the ground."  Indeed, if these
 propositions be correct,  and the  medical profession,  rejecting all
 theoretical expositions, should rely only upon naked facts, this noble
 science.would soon be carried back far beyond the  age of Hippo-
 rrat.es, when  medicine was practised only by priests  in temples
 and when after a,  person was cured of a disease, besides the offer-
 ing made to the deity,  and the presents given to the priests, tablets
 were hung upon the wal!s of the temples, containing only the  two
 requisites of homcropalhia ; the symptoms of the disease, and  the
smiplc remedy which  proved successful, a time about which an
able medical author, two centuries ago, (Meibom. in Diss, de incu
bat. §2,) very correctly says, « tune  non sanaba.  medicina,  *ed
 quidqmd videbatur sanasse erat medicina," « n< that  time medi 
21
" cine did  not cure, but whatever appeared to have cured was con

*' sidered to be a remedy."

   Although our author, in  accordance with Hahnemann in some

passages of his works  pretends,  that great knowledge  is requisite

for the homoeopathic practice, we appeal to any one whose  judg-

ment is sound and not prejudiced by  party spirit or interest, whe-

ther  he can conceive that any science  whatever is indispensable or

particularly useful  to the homoeopathic practitioner, since a minute

knowledge of the symptoms of diseases, and of the properties of drugs

are amply sufficient  to constitute a homoeopathic  Doctor,  and  no

faculty of the mind is  required except  a good memory aided  only

by perfect  external senses.   The faithful homoeopath ist  may also

possess all the great advantages of an accomplished  education, if

this  is compatible with  homceopathia, may be  a great chemist,

anatomist, botanist, &c,  in  short,  may be a true polyhistor ; but

all his knowledge is quite useless  in respect to his vocation.  To

an allopathist, a name applied by Hahnemann to all  physicians

who are  not in  favor  of his doctrine—even the knowledge of a

common trade*  would be more useful  for his practice, than a fami-

liarity with  anatomy,t physiology,  chemistry, &c. is to an homceo-


   * It is often highly important for the  rational physician, relying more on the causes
of the diseases than upon their delusive symptoms, to know to what particular injury
an individual is exposed by his trade.   The profession is much in need of a work si-
milar to that ofKamazzini, "de Morbis Opificum," 1718, which shall detail those par-
ticulars, not only in respect to the new trades brought into existence during the last
century, but also to the changes produced by machinery, &c. in the old trades.
   t It would appear almost incredible that in  the nineteenth century there should be
Christian countries where the study of anatomy is restrained by laws, more worthy of
 the superstition of the middle ages than of our times, while we see even the Turkish
Sultan and the Pacha of Egypt encourage its study, however much it is opposed to the
 tenets of the Koran.  There are some eminent men who can orercome those restric-
 tions  by their diligent study and extraordinary talents ;  but the profession at large can
 never attain  the requisite  perfection without the most liberal provisions  for  this
science, which must be considered as the key-stone of all medicine and surgery.  The
opposition of the public to post mortem examinations in private practice, particularly
 in rare cases, where examinations may be useful for the treatment of similar cases,
 tends to retard the advance of science, and is also unworthy of the present age.  The
corpse should justly be considered as a mere substance, doomed to decay, and as the
 property of the human society at large, and not as a person. " Curatio funeris,  conditio
 sepulturse, pompa exequiarum, magis sunt vivorum solatia, quam subsidia mortuorum,"
 (Augustinus deCiv. c. 12.) It may here also be not improper to allude to the prevalent
 prejudice, that the healing art rests mostly on its practical branches, and that, if suf-
 ficient provisions are made for these, the  profession and the public will be more bene-
 fited  than by promoting its theoretical sciences.  It is a prejudice by which the most
 talented young students of medicine lose the best opportunity of really attaining a
 high standing in their profession, and are forced to remain, for ever, common routiniers.
 A country which provides in the best manner for the study of anatomy, physiology,
 chemistry, and for the other branches  of theoretical medicine, without the least pro-
 visions for observing the treatment of patients, would soon possess ten times as many
 distinguished physicians and respected medical authors, than another country which
 provides amply for the  premotion of practical instruction in hospitals and almshouses, 
22
  pathist, although Hahnemann in his Organon (see p.p. 184 andjl85
  4th edit.) urges particularly a due regard to the pursuit of the pa-
  tient, more however with a view to promote the interest of the phy-
  sician  by making him  intimately acquainted with family  secrets,
  than with the intent of influencing  a treatment, which, according
  to his doctrine  of the origin and treatment of all chronic diseases,
  must always depend upon the removal of one  and the same cause.
  But we wish seriously, that any homoeopathist would explain to
  us of what use anatomy is to  him, since, if he confines himself to
  medical practice, he  can observe  all the imaginable symptoms of
  the diseased  state in the sense of his doctrine,  without even the
  first rudiments of that  science ? Physiology,  a  science of which
  Hahnemann himself could never have had any sound conception,
  is so much crowded  with hypotheses, conjectures,  and  " learned
  lumber," that it must appear to a homoeopathist very fanciful and
  useless.  Chemistry, in the eyes of the great genius, so " over-refined
  " in our age," and  so defective,  that the properties of the most  com-
  mon substances, the  solubility  of flint and sulphur  in water for
 instance, or  their  transmutation into infinite spirits by their re-
 moval " from place to place in  a  fluid state," remained  hitherto
 unknown to all  the  chemists  of both hemispheres;  mineralogy,
 botany, &c. are still more unnecessary to him, because others  may
 collect the plants and simples, he  himself being  only obliged to
 dilute and rub them down, " secundum artis magicee leges," and he
 must indeed do so if he attends but a few patients daily, as so many
 hours are required  to learn all the symptoms and  all  the minutiae
 of the patient's whole life, and as (see p. 25 C. V.) " the advan-
 tages  of short visits and quickly writing  a recipe,"  " cannot be
 " reconciled with  homceopathia."   Although the author of the  con-
 cise view tells us  (page 21) that his master  recognises the  anato-
 mical and physiological  sciences as by all means  indispensable,

 but pays but little regard  to the theory. This may easily be proved by the low standing
 of the original medical literature of such countries, and by their necessary dependance
 on foreign literature.  It may be asserted with the greatest propriety, that no science
 requires more  the minutest study of its theoretical branches than medicine,  since
 none admits of a greater variety of individual cases, the proper treatment of'which
 depends mostly on general principles ; for otherwise the old intelligent nurse would
 be the  best physician, and the oldest herb-collector the greatest botanist.   Prac-
 tical acquirements are easily and quickly obtained in all scientific pursuits,  where
 sound principles previously derived from a close study of their theory, are combined
 with natural talent, but not the reverse.   Thus a man, thoroughly acquainted with
geometry, trigonometry,  and the other branches of pure mathematics, will learn in a
 few weeks, by himself or by a practical teacher, to be a good surveyor, whilst a merely
practical man, without  such acquirements, will never become eminent in his vocation
and will never be able to compete with the other in extraordinary cases 
23
and admits the general study of the  prevailing systems of medi-
cine, on account of the historical knowledge and controversies with
other physicians, still we  do not see  the least advantage  which
either the homoeopathist or his patients could derive from such
" learned lumber."  It is  even probable that in regard to contro-
versies with allopathists, if such " murderers" should  continue  to
exist, contrary to the prophecies and hopes of the homoeopathists,
the latter will be as unfortunate as their great master, who, not suc-
ceeding in his controversies, at last  concluded  that he alone knew
better in what  the healing  art consists, than  all the  professional
men from Hippocrates down to his age, and that it never was, and
never will be, necessary to be  acquainted with any thing but the
symptoms of natural diseases, and of those artificially produced  in
healthy persons by drugs, to perform the greatest, safest and most du-
rable cures. (C. V. page 28.) It is evident how easily this knowledge
can be acquired by any body  who, perhaps unfitted for any other
occupation, finds it convenient to  make his  living in this very
commodious and  pleasant manner.   What an enviable situation
such a  worthy priest of iEsculapius has, in comparison with the
industrious sturdy mechanic who, after serving an apprenticeship
of four or five years, must expose his life and health  all day to earn
what the former can obtain in an hour without the least bodily  or
mental exertion ! No  wonder that this " new art of healing" now
attracts those who, like many young  people in our times, wish  to
reap without incurring the trouble and  pains of ploughing  and
sowing,  and  that many  are  anxious  to  adopt this marvellous
doctrine, even in countries where the degree of M. D. and the pri-
vilege of guarding the life and health of mankind, are conferred  in
less than a third of the time demanded by a cobbler for an apprentice
of his trade.   We could name instances where men  without the
least knowledge of medicine have been taught and declared qua-
lified for practice, by a German homoeopathist in this country, in
less than three months; and it is well known to many  professional
men here, that an American homoeopathist, who has also usurped
this privilege, was  prevented  only by  the conflicting interests  of
others from continuing to confer the degree of M. D. on those,  whom
he alone considered as worthy to practise according to the rules
of this new " Art  of Healing."  The study of the history of me-
dicine also  recommended by Hahnemann, would rather appear to
lead a  man astray from the  paths of homceopathia and  injure 
24
 himself and his  patients;  because, it would impair bis allegiance
 to the infallible doctrines of Hahnemann, who, in inany passages
 of his works, explicitly  forbids any  reasoning on homoeopathia,
 and demands of his disciples  and followers  more  implicit faith,
 " without  doubting, reasoning, interpreting  or  philosophizing
 " upon them" (see these expressions in Archiv fuer Homoeopatische
 Heilkunde, Vol. IX. No. 3, and in Chron. Krankheiten,Vol.I.p.2l3),
 than any orthodox or other religious creed requires of its confessors.
 Moreover all records in the history  of medicine of the cure of dis-
 eases, in a  manner different from  his,  are, according  to  Hahne-
 mann, entirely false,  and even one single speedy and  permanent
 cure among hundreds of patients  by the  physicians of all ages,
 has  been  performed  only  by mere good  fortune. (See Organon,
 p. p. 95 and 96.)   The true history of the  healing art begins with
 him—" qui se unus  sapientem profiteri sit ausus (Cic.  de fin.),
 and has, in his own time, and  by the exertions of himself and his
 adherents, attained its highest degree  of  perfection ; and all that
 appears to be left to posterity, is to  observe a few more  symptoms
 and  to institute a few more trials with drugs !*  It  appears obvious
 that, if according to  this new  doctrine, the healing art can be so
 easily acquired by  any body who can read, the public  will find  it
 quite superfluous to apply to the privileged class of physicians, as
 soon  as  the  homoeopathic  text-books,  the symptom-and-drug-
 sickness-dictionaries   are accessible to them.  All efforts  of the
homoeopathists, who  now appear to act in a body for the  purpose
of obtaining exclusively  medical practice,  and send  missionaries
 to all quarters of the world to  preach  the new medical gospel in
 the unrivalled manner of the author of " A  Concise View," will
 be  unable  to prevent this  ; particularly if we consider the  confi-
dence required of the patients, to submit to the minute and often
indelicate cross-examination of  a homoeopathist (see Organon, p. p.
 183 and 181), in order to ascertain where a small  wart or a pimple

  * As a little specimen of the extraordinary  modesty  and meekness of Hahnemann
 " who had himself never assumed an offensive  attitude," as Dr. Hering asserts, we
 quote here the following remarkable words of Hahnemann in the preface to his' Or-
 ganon : " It must be admitted that the true art of healing begins with me."
  In order also to prove  that our opinion of the requisites of a homoeopathic physician
 is not erroneous, we quote here Hahnemann's own words on this-subject; after ex-
 plaining the mode  of recognizing a disease, he says  in his Organon, p. 76 : " This
 examination of an individual case, of which I have given only a general sketch, and of
 which the examiner retains only what is applicable to  the case  before him, demands
 nothing but freedom from prejudices, perfect, senses, attention in observing, and fidelity
in describing the disease " 
25
may be located, <fcc, (see c. v. p. 22,) and which, however, is useless
in most cases, since Hahnemann himself commands his followers
not to rely upon the  statements elicited by those severe examina-
tions, if the result contradicts  his  latest axioma laid down in his
marvellous work on chronic diseases—viz. that all such patients
must be considered  as itchy  (see  Organon,  from p. 177 to  188,
ana in different places of  the Treatise on Chr. Dis.)  If we add
to this, that many external diseases, generally considered as  ob-
jects of surgical  treatment,  such as aneurism, necrosis, fistula ani
and others (see Organon, p. 12), nay ! even hernia inguinalis no
longer require any surgical aid (see Chron. Dis. Vol. I. p. 188), the
whole profession may soon be dispensed  with.—It would  really
almost appear that Providence, having in her eternal wisdom and
mercy inflicted mortality and painful diseases upon the human
race,  had now blessed mankind  with- a Hahnemann, who so  rea-
dily teaches his infallible healing art to the most stupid as well as
to the wisest of men ! Henceforth, the well educated physicians,
these murderers  of their  fellow-men,  with  all their " learned
" lumber, accumulated during two thousand years,"are unnecessary;
the human intellect and imagination, and  the talents of thou-
sands, hitherto squandered for nothing but professional mischief
and injury, may be exercised for other and more worthy purposes ;
in medicine they have been and  will be  of  no value whatever!
Who would be so stubborn,  so heartless and  abject, as not to hail
such  as  a golden age, an  age in  which mankind has obtained
blessings of more value than  half of the long desired millenium,
when,
           " The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
           And leap exulting like the bounding roe."—Pope.

  But alas! such prophecies, like those of the author of the Concise
View, (seec.v. pages 28 and 29,) and his brethren, are utterly whim-
sical and false. Samuel Hahnemann, as we shall endeavor to prove
hereafter, with all his fanciful productions and atoms of drugs, has
not yet found one atom of the philosopher's stone.   Some informa-
tion and useful  suggestions may be selected from the immense
rubbish of his works, and may, if rightly appreciated, contribute to
pave  the  way  for a new and better  era of  practical medicine,
which is so very much needed ; but, as homceopathia stands at
present, we can only consider it compounded of the grossest errors
                            4 
26
and falsehoods ever palmed  upon the public, either  by a morbid
imagination and ignorance, or by intentional imposition.
   From these general characteristics  of Hahnemann  and his
works, it may easily be seen, why this new prophet and his doctrine
remained  so long  unnoticed in  his native country, and are still
either disregarded or despised by her professors and  physicians of
repute.  With the  exception of Dr. Kopp, of Hanau, of whom we
shall say  a few words hereafter, not one distinguished professor,
author or practitioner in Germany has, to our knowledge, hitherto
declared in favor of homceopathia.   With the exception of Hahne-
mann's disciples and adherents, who were not known in medical
literature  before they followed this doctrine, Dr. Hering, with his
brother  homoeopathists cannot name a single one.  The remarks
on page 17, of his Concise View: " but day by day new adherents
" were acquired, and mostly among the old practitioners, a pheno-
menon, in new systems, entirely unheard of," is, therefore, a gross
error.  His statements, however, on the  same page, in regard to
several individuals of distinguished rank and reputation, not phy
sicians, are correct.   In many countries, we find some who admire
and follow  Hahnemann's doctrines, until they have  paid by the
loss of their own health or  life, or by that of  their relatives  and
friends, for trusting in homoeopathic treatment, or for believing, that
the healing art is  now  rendered easily accessible to every one,
merely by studying  homoeopathic text-books for a  few months;
since they think,  that excepting a minute knowledge  of  homoeo-
pathic  disease—symptoms, and their corresponding drug—symp-
toms, all professional acquirements are, altogether, mere trash.  We
know that in every age and country, and  individualstin every class
of society  have been eager to play the physician, whenever they
could, although they have formerly been aware of the long  and
careful study usually required by the profession ; it is therefore not
strange, that by the immense facilities  offered by  homceopathia to
its votaries, many military men, merchants, tradesmen, and some-
times also a poet have raised  their voices for this  new  doctrine, in
Germany  ;* and, that it now may be said, with more propriety :

           " Fingu^t se medicos omnes, idiota, sacerdos,
           " Judaeus, monachus, histrio, rasor, anus."

  * Most of  our readers may find our  description of the brilliant state of literature in
Germany, quite in contradiction with our statement in regard to even the slight success
of Hahnemann's works, and the more so, if we acknowledge that some well educated 
27
   Young physicians, attracted cither by the novelty of this medical

 treatment, or too ignorant  to succeed in  the  practice  of rational

 medicine, have embraced homceopathia ;  some few, also, who are

 well educated, adopt  it as a  fashionable money-making business,

 and  follow  the  practical, but dishonest maxim,  " Mundus vult

 decipi, ergo decipiatur."

   The admiration of homceopathia among the classes just named,

 attracted the attention  of the  two greatest German  governments,

 Prussia and Austria,  and afterwards also of Russia.

   The Prussian government, a few years since,  ordered a public

 trial  of homceopathia  to be made in the largest hospital  of Berlin,

 the Charite, by one of  Hahnemann's disciples, particularly recom-

 mended by him for that purpose.  Although of the many hundred

 patients in that hospital, he selected  twenty-five cases,  which he

 considered most  suitable for  his  experiments not one was cured.

 As Hahnemann afterwards asserted that  the incompetency of his

 disciple must  have been  the only cause of failure, a second pupil

 was dispatched by him to Berlin; the same misfortune  attending

 his practice also, he was dismissed.

   The experiments  instituted  by the Austrian government in a

 large hospital at  Vienna, were attended  with the same  results.

 Dr. Herrmann, of Saxony, one of  the oldest disciples of Hahne-

 mann, and probably the same, whose  name is quoted  so frequently


 young physicians and other gentlemen in Germany,  have zealously adopted and
advocated this doctrine. But, among the many other  peculiarities, which the native
 country of Kepler, Leibnitz, Kant, &c, presents to the observing foreigner, he will
 be surprised at seeing occasionally, productions totally unworthy  of the elevated
 standing of her literature which still abounds, as it has for centuries, in master works in
 all arts and sciences; similar to the overrich soil, which  in producing its gigantic syca-
 mores, luxuriantly favors  likewise the growth of many common weeds.   Those
 foreigners who, ignorant of  the German language, seldom  become  acquainted with
distinguished German  savans, and with the philosophical spirit which pervades the
 well educated classes of German society, and  those  who merely travel through that
country, will with  equal propriety consider it to be, in  several respects, still many
centuries behind  the  present age, whilst in  others it has advanced many centuries
 before most other countries.  Those, only, who have for a long time minutely ex-
amined the state of literature and arts in Germany, will  be convinced that it may justly
be considered in that respect as the modern Greece,  though the general  education of
 the people has not advanced in proportion  to its advancement  in other countries;
notwithstanding  the most praiseworthy exertions of the different governments, and
particularly of Prussia, to improve it.  The opinion of Americans of  the medical
profession in Germany, when formed from the German barbers and druggists, who on
coming to this country borrow or assume the title of M.  D., would be as erroneous, as
would  be that of the Germans, if overlooking the distinguished merits  of Physick,
 Barton, Mott, Hosack, Francis, Warren, and others, they should judge of the Ameri-
 can medical profession from the shoemakers and schoolmasters, who have turned
homoeopathists, or from the clerks and farmers, who after attending medical lectures
for eight months have been awarded with a medical diploma. 
28
 n the experiments described in Hahnemann's materia medica. was
 expressly sent for by  the  Russian government, to  try the new
 method in a military hospital; being  completely unsuccessful, he
 was dismissed, and the homoeopathic practice was entirely pro-
 hibited  in  all the Russian  military hospitals.  For  the  sake of
 experiment an equal number of  patients, and so  far as could be
 ascertained by minute examination, quite similar  to those under
 the care of Dr. Herrmann, were at the same time  publicly treated
 by Dr. Giggler, surgeon-general of the Russian  army, methodo
 expectativa, or by mere diet, without administering any medicine,
 and the result was similar to that obtained by the homoeopathic
 treatment  of  Dr. Herrmann, (see Becker's Annalen der  ges.
 Heilk. December, 1832.)
  The  author of the  pamphlet before us says, also, on page 17,
 " It was carried to Naples, and in that  kingdom obtained steadfast
 " adherents."  Whilst reading this, we fully expected to find this
 statement incorrect; we thought that Italy, the cradle of all modern
 civilization and the native country of a Baglivi,aMorgagni, a Scarpa,
 &c, where the medical profession holds still as high a rank as in
 any other land, could not disgrace herself by the adoption of such
a superstitious and rude empiricism as homceopathia presented to
her.   We were not mistaken; for the statement of Dr. Hering has
been  contradicted in toto, by a long  and very interesting letter,
directed to Dr. Hufeland, at Berlin, and lately published in  the
 Heidelberger Annalen,  (vol. viii., No. 3, for  1832.)   The dis-
tinguished  editors of that journal, Professors Chelius, Naegele, and
 Puchelt, of Heidelberg,  and Professor Harless, of the University of
Bonn, assert, that the writer of that anonymous letter, is not only
 an accomplished physician, but an author of the highest standing
 in the profession,  and of strictly veracious and honorable character.
 It results from this letter, that in Naples, Rome, and other Italian
 cities, no physician can now express himself in favor of homoeopa-
 unless it be at the risk  of his reputation, in consequence of the
 number of failures, and even deaths, which  have attended the
 practice of one of Hahnemann's disciples, and of some enthusiastic
 young Italian physicians.   The  homoeopathist  who  introduced
 this practice at Naples, although  an ignorant  Bohemian barber,
 enjoyed the splendid  patronage  of the commanding Austrian
 general, to  whom he was  particularly recommended by  Hahne-
 mann.  The public as well as  some talented young physicians, 
29
who embraced homceopathia with so much zeal, awoke from their
illusive credulity, but not until  the  general, with many other per
sonages of distinguished  rank, had died, or were injured by this
all-curing new healing art.  We have not yet seen the reports in
favor of homceopathia from " the sanguinary gold coast, and from
Egypt, the land  of monsters/' as stated by Dr. Hering, on page 18;
but  we are willing  to  admit them as correct.—" Tot Galata, tot
{£ Pontus eat, tot Lydia nummis!"—In countries where medicine is
still  in  its infancy, and where medical  practice is considered as a
common trade, rather than as a scientific art, and where powerful
prescriptions are administered with  rash ignorance, homceopathia
will  best  satisfy the credulity  of the uneducated, and  must be
regarded as a blessing, on account of its decided negativeusefulness.
We would, therefore, consider it almost a crime to weaken the con-
fidence  of the people in the homoeopathic treatment, in countries
where the study of rational medicine is much neglected, and where
the health and lives  of the public are endangered by the absence
of a protective  medical police; but it is morally certain, that any
thing is too dear, if purchased at  the expense  of truth or at the
risk  of destroying  the foundation of all rational sciences;  and
nothing is more  injurious to the physical as well as the moral hap-
piness of men than superstition.  Hence  Bacon says, and correctly,
that even atheism is far less injurious than superstition:  " Atheis-
" mus  non  prorsus convellit dictamina  sensus, non philosophiam,
" affectus  naturales, leges, bonee famae desiderium ;  quae omnia,
"licet  religio absesset, morali  cuidam virtuti externse conducere
" possunt: ac superstitio hsec omnia dejicit, et tyrannidem absolutam
" in animis execret."  (See his Treatise  de Superstitione.)
  With regard to " the real triumph" of this new method of treat-
ing " the most violent and  malignant forms of the Asiatic cholera,"
of which  Dr. Hering says, on page 27:  " however varied were its
" forms in the different countries, and in different individuals, and
" as  multiform and strange and malignant as it was, they cured as
" well in Russia as in Hungary, in Vienna and Prague as well as in
" Berlin, in Philadelphia as well as in Germany, with equal success.
" The most recent statements received from  all quarters have bril-
" liantly established this ;"  our accounts, however, vary much from
those of our veracious author, and, moreover, unfortunately for him
and his cause, they  are even contradicted, by some of his homoeo-
pathic brethren,  like many other accounts quoted by him.  In the 
30
  very periodical which he values so highly on page  18, and which
  may be considered as the trumpet of the homoeopathic propaganda,
  viz. in  the Archiv fuer Homosopathische Heilkunde, Vol. XII.
  No. 1, &c, many of Hahnemann's disciples, and particularly Dr.
  Schroeter,  at  Lemberg, in  Poland, and several  homoeopathic
  practitioners, at Berlin, have declared, that the treatment of Asiatic
 cholera, with camphor, as well as Hahnemann's other suggestions,
 had proved utterly abortive  in  practice.  Dr. Thummel, one of
 the ward physicians of Berlin,  during the prevalence of Asiatic
 cholera in that city, has reported, that of the many cholera  pa-
 tients  who were treated by homoeopathists in his ward, only one
 recovered, (see Berlin  Med.  Zeitung, 1832.)—It is really not a
 little surprising, that our author, with his brother homoeopathists
 of this country, so confident of the infallibility of their treatment,
 and of the positive and curative  power of camphor in Asiatic cho-
 lera, did  not follow the praiseworthy  example of the  noble and
 highminded French physicians, Drs. Bailly, Pariset and others,
 who, for the sake of philanthropy and professional  investigation,
 went to places affected with the yellow fever  and the oriental
 plague, to  ascertain the character  and  treatment  of  these fatal
 diseases, without any specific  or protective " real triumph" in their
 pockets.  The American homoeopathists however, remained quietly
 in  their eastern residences, without hastening, from motives of
 philanthropy and professional duty, or  from really praiseworthy zeal
 for the propagation of  their infallible doctrine, to the unfortunate
 countries of the west, where thousands fell victims to  this scourge;
 although  certainly  none of  the  benevolent citizens  of the other
 states,  would have  denied them  a  liberal support if called upon,
 in order to save  the lives  of their fellow citizens.   This would
 have been the proper occasion for them to prove their disinterested
 humanity, and their implicit confidence in the  pledge of their
 great medical  genius,  Samuel  Hahnemann,  who,  in his first
 treatise on Asiatic cholera, prophesied, in the year 1S31, "I hope
 " that  no body  will henceforth die, to  whom this treatment  (with
 " camphor)  shall be applied  early."—We are sorry to mention,
 that, on the contrary, we know of instances,  where homoeopathic
 physicians, attacked by cholerophobia, left their  places  of resi-
 dence upon the approach of this dreadful epidemic,  and did not re-
 turn, until they could earn  their dollars again, without exposing
their valuable lives and  health ;  which certainly proves any thin o- 
31
but confidence in the infallible  protection and cure, promised  by
their " illustrious" master, provided they have to stake any thing
more than the paltry pains of a refined charlatanism.—
          " The better part of valour is, discretion."—Shaks.
   As an impartial critic we must  however  state that, according
to the latest accounts contained in German  newspapers, some of
the governments  there, have again noticed homceopathia, by  or-
dering new trials of its treatment to be instituted.  From this  we
may infer, that there is no necessity for the  particular  protection
claimed by Dr. Hering from the American people in behalf of ho-
mceopathia, as for a distinguished demagogue who, forced to leave
his native country in  distress, takes refuge in this free and happy
land.  We, at least, have not heard any thing like the extremely
ridiculous story (on page  29, c. v.) that the "kings and princes
" of Europe, &c. impede the progress of the new art by processes,
" penalties and bayonets,  their other  and more  important cares
" notwithstanding."  On the contrary, as far as we know, " the
" old philosopher" reposes quietly upon his laurels in his high pon-
tifical see at Coethen, undisturbed by any military force.
   We have already alluded to the causes which made many laymen
of rank in Germany partial for homceopathia.   The last accounts
from thence (contained in the Allgemeine  Zeitung)  state, that
the chamber of deputies of Baden have resolved, almost unani-
mously, to have a special chair of homceopathia  in the Heidelberg
university;  the same we  are  told was  resolved by the Bavarian
government for the university  of  Munich.   We  may justly sup-
pose, that these respectable authorities  have never minutely con-
sidered the bearings of  homceopathia, otherwise it would be ex-
ceedingly foolish to  consider  the whole of any doctrine useful,
while  its single parts consist of the most palpable nonsense.  "  An
" quidquam stultitius, quam quod singulos contemnas,  eos aliquid
" putare esse universos?" (Cic. Tusc.)  Nevertheless these revolu-
lutions prove clearly, that  this doctrine  is there considered  quite
different from  all rational  medicine, since, if it were only a new
mode  of the latter for curing diseases, it would be no more required
to establish a particular professorship for this,  than  it  has been
hitherto necessary to appoint a professor  exclusively for the systems
of Brown, Broussais, <fcc. or for any other new and different me-
dical theory; these having always been left to the judicious consi-
deration of the professors of practical medicine, or of medical his- 
32
 tory and literature. We are told also by men upon whose veracity
 we can rely, that  new trials of homceopathia are contemplated in
 some other capitals of Germany,  in  consequence of the wishes
 expressed by many distinguished individuals in the armies and in
 official stations, who have said they were cured by homoeopa-
 thists, after  they  had  been long and unsuccessfully treated by
 other physicians; perhaps also, because Dr. Kopp, known  as a
 learned and experienced practitioner and  author on legal  and
 practical medicine, has seemingly joined the homeopathic ranks.
 The best  medical  periodicals, however, which  have reached  us,
 scarcely allude  to  the existence  of homoeopathia; whenever they
 mention it, it is only to  ridicule  its  frequent failures and the  sin-
 gular steps taken by its adherents.
   Whoever deliberates on the great advantages which European
 governments might easily derive, directly or indirectly, from  this
 new doctrine, willjgive them great credit for not embracing homoeo-
 pathia more anxiously, and not enforcing it long since, simply on ac-
 count of their humanity and predilection for the promotion of truly
 scientific education.  Willing to gratify the public voice, whenever
 expressing itself in favor of objects, unconnected with politics, ho-
 moeopathia would  have offered  to them the best means to check
 the progress of the  human intellect, also in regard to their political
 objects in view.   For what could  be better calculated to counteract
 and to eradicate all reasonable or extravagant excitements  for un-
 restricted religious and political liberty, than credulity and super-
 stition, particularly in regard to objects of such general and great
 importance as health and life 1 People who believe, that the noble
 exertions of the  most talented  and learned  men of all ages to un-
 veil and discover the laws of nature,  and to promote truth, have
 led only to errors  and  mistakes in the  first  principles  of  all
 sciences, and who are persuaded that, besides the great wonders of
 nature which the human intellect endeavours  to divest of its mi-
 raculous features, there exist miracles at the disposal of men, will
 be unquestionably more disposed  to admit  also  the divine rights
bestowed by birth  or by a sacred unction.   Nations, infatuated
 by an implicit belief in the miracles of magic and witchcraft, will
 unquestionably submit  more  quietly to their  fate, however op-
 pressive it  may really or apparently be, than strive to attain that,
 which  the  history of all ages proves to them either more  or less
 abortive, or at least to be attainable only by those terrific dangers 
33
 which have  always  attended religious and  political revolutions^
 The great advantages which the treasury  and  other important
 branches of the  government would derive from homcepathia, if it
 should be found as certain and  beneficial as Hahnemann and his
 adherents assert, would  prove still  more, that the European gov-
 ernments ought to have forced it long since upon their people,
 even in opposition to  the selfish obstinacy and low  interest of the
 dissenting allopathic physicians and  apothecaries, who, after all,
 constitute but a small part of the whole population.   Hundreds of
 millions  of dollars  would  be  saved, which have  hitherto been
 squandered by the learned fancy or the ignorant prejudices  of the
 pernicious class of allopathic physicians, for immense quantities of
 costly drugs;  the great  number of professors, appointed at  heavy
 expenses, for  so much " learned lumber"  would no longer be of
 any use,  as every one could attend to his own health by the aid of
 his homoeopathic guide and a few shillings' worth of drugs.
   In time of war, also, homceopathia would offer immense advan-
 tages, not only by the facility with which large armies might be
 victualled by  the  developed virtues of liquid  and«solid  nourish-
 ment ; but  also  by preserving the lives of the soldiers not slain in
 battle, who would otherwise be sacrificed by the murderous treat-
 ment of allopathic physicians, (see C. V. p. 28.)  The whole  class
 of military physicians might be dismissed,  and a  few  ignorant
 homoeopathic  surgeons only would be  required, especially if they
 were assisted by  a symptom-secretary, and a duly initiated  drug-
 triturator ; they might then also officiate as apothecaries, and thus
 become medico-chirurgical fac-totums for a large army, of which
 the whole drug store and laboratory might be contained in a small
 chest,  measuring only a cubic foot,  and  be easily carried,  together
 with the whole surgical apparatus, by a donkey.—"Misce stultitiam
 consiliis brevem." (Hor.)—With such valuable advantages to the
 European governments, to the public at  large, to the wealthy and
 the poor; it is indeed astonishing  that kings and  princes  have
 been  hitherto   so short sighted, as  not to promote the  progress of
 homceopathia!  The humane and patriotic apprehensions for our
 common  native country, expressed  by Dr. Hering,  on page  29,
 will, however,  be  appeased, at least for a short time; for even the
 opposition of the intelligent will there also promote  its extension,
 as this has always been found to be  the most  efficient mode of
making uneducated people still more partial for objects of credulity
                             5 
34
and superstition, until sad experience has enlightened their dim-
sighted eyes.   The celebrated  author on demonology and witch-
craft says very correctly, "It has always been remarked that those
" morbid affections of mind which depend on imagination, are sure
" to become more common, in  proportion  as public attention is
" fastened on stories connected with their display."  We may ration-
ally expect, that in Germany particularly, many more weak-minded
physicians will be  seriously attacked by  this mental influenza,
though not for a long time, as the benefits of profound erudition,
and especially of philosophical studies, will soon radically cure this
spiritual epidemic.  "If Germany furnishes the bane, it gives us
" the antidote too,"  (c. v. page 6.)   We merely hope and wish in
this case, not in a homoeopathic dose !
  Our able author  of the " Concise View,"  complains  also  on
page 16, of " the  united intrigues of the apothecaries at Leipzig;'1
(the literary emporium of the whole world, which for upwards of
four centuries has possessed a university, distinguished by its pro-
fessors in all sciences, and particularly in  medicine,) and of " the
" laws  which prohibit the dispensing of  medicines by physicians,
"under a heavy penalty,  and  permit  it  only to the privileged
" apothecaries ;"  and further, that these  laws " were brought to
" bear  against him.—Hahnemann, who always gave the simple
" medicine, in his entirely novel  preparations, in  which an extra-
'' ordinary care  and  accuracy were indispensable, could  not pos-
sibly commit this labor, upon  which the certainty of the result
'and  the welfare of his patient  depended, to the apothecaries; who
'' not at all familiar in such unheard of niceties, regarded the whole
" business as absurd, and whose pecuniary interests had to suffer
" thereby, quite as much as the pecuniary interests  of the patients
" were benefitted."—We cannot  conceive why Dr. Hering, provided
he has not yet forgotten the necessity of apothecaries for allopathic
practice,  and provided he admits in justice, that unless " the oreat
truth"  has been generally adopted,  the regulations suggested  by
him on page 4, "to render their entire profession superfluous," could
not be anticipated,—we say, we cannot conceive why he, himself a
German, objects to the  old regulations above quoted.   Among  the
many  wise laws of  the German governments, which partly com-
pensate  for the  restrictions of  religious  and  political liberty,  we
must  consider those as most beneficial, which are passed for  the
liberal promotion  of the sciences and arts, and more  particularly 
35
for the protection of the lives and health of their people by a strict
medical police.  It is difficult  to explain, why republican govern-
ments of the present age, are so anxious to protect by law all other
property of their citizens, while they leave almost unprotected the
most valuable and irreparable kind of property, life and health.
This cannot, of course, be an inevitable consequence of reasonably
unrestricted liberty itself, as the most trifling violation of laws and
privileges, are often more severely punished there, than in monarchi-
cal governments.   We see, for instance, that in such a  republican
country, a  farmer runs the risk of having his entire market stock
of butter confiscated, if  half  an  ounce or less is wanting to the
pound, perhaps by carelessness only ; although every citizen would
prefer to be wronged in this and in similar trifles, which moreover
he may easily prevent, rather  than risk the lives of his family  by
the  ignorance  and  carelessness  of  an uneducated physician  or
druggist. In  some European countries, and especially in Germany,
the laws on these points  are very strict, and are beneficial in pro-
tecting the health of the public: it is therefore particularly strange,
that our author, as a German of professional education, should find
fault with such salutary regulations.  We are sorry to observe in
this a new proof, that even men of talent, and perhaps unobjection-
able  moral principles, when influenced by fixed ideas and party
spirit, loose sight of every thing, even of that which must  injure
their own reputation, bringing upon themselves the  odium of their
indiscreet and unjust degradation of a  highly respectable class of
their countrymen.  A publica accusation from any other person, that
the labor of composing simple  medicines could not possibly be com-
mitted to German apothecaries, because they are not at all familiar
with such  unheard of niceties, and because  it  would interfere
with their 'pecuniary interests, should appear ridiculous and puerile
even to a  German homceopathist, as he must know, that before
an apothecary in Germany is examined  as an assistant, or has a
licence granted to him, he must exhibit proofs  of a classical edu-
cation, and of a  course  of study for at least five years;  that he
further has to bind himself by an oath, and under heavy penalties.
tp prepare with the utmost  exactitude and nicety the prescriptions
of every regular physician, unless it appears to him evident, that
the dose prescribed is dangerously large, and  might be  a  written
error of the physician, of whom he is then bound  to inquire aboul
if  a case which could never happen to homoeopathists who pre- 
36
scribe such infinitely small doses.*   This outrageous abuse of an

entire class of respectable^men by Dr. Hering, is paralleled only by


   * In some, of the German  States, for instance, in Hessen-Cassel, the government is
so excessively anxious to trust the apothecary business to such men only, as are con-
stantly in the practice of it, that even those who have fulfilled all the requisites of the
law, but have remained idle, or have embarked in another  occupation for  two years
only, must,  in order to obtain a second licence for the practice of pharmacy, subject
themselves  again to a new and rigorous examination, in which some chemical pre-
parations are  required to be made.  The importance of the subject demands a few
farther remarks.  If we except a few common medicines, no physician can rely upon
the genuineness of drugs in  this country, at least to our knowledge and experience;
though there are some very  distinguished  chemists and  pharmacopolists among the
immense number of, so called, apothecaries. The principal reason is, that in most of
the States any body, however ignorant, can open a drug-store,  and compete with the
best educated and faithful apothecary; the latter, instead of making his living honestly,
 would thus be  obliged, by competition, to sacrifice many hundred dollars  yearly by
 keeping a good store  of  genuine drugs and other preparations, many of  which are
decomposed or spoiled in a short time ; and as he is not indemnified  by a regular set
of customers, he is  obliged to  regard cheapness much more than  genuineness ; and
even as the only means of subsistence. This is, also, the reason why  many wholesale
druggists, in large American commercial cities, to  our knowledge, deal only in the
cheapest kind  of drugs for  inland consumption, and refuse to purchase at a high
price, genuine drugs, except they can export them, at good profit, to Europe; con-
vinced by repeated experience, that their  high prices would prevent their sale here.
This fact explains why, in  a country where labor is so dear,  a compound medicine
is generally cheaper than one of its ingredients would be if it were good, for instance,
lunar caustic is much cheaper than the weight of silver which it should contain when
pure ; and, also, why a pulverized  drug is often sold for less than one half the price of
the crude but  unadulterated article, as we have often experienced.   Can it well be
expected from a common uneducated retail druggist, who has to pay high for his rent,
and  for  go  many requisites to make his   establishment fashionable  and  elegant,
and  who of course intends to make as much money as possible, that  he  will  keep
genuine  drugs, or such as  are  seldom  asked  for, and that he will  pay the highest
prices for drugs, which he frequently can purchase  for less  than one-third what the
best kind would cost him;  as he is  not subject to any law or control, which would
 oblige him to keep only the best articles on hand?  The public cannot judge of drugs
as they can of bread and other articles of food  and drink when in good health; the
law, therefore, should protect them as much as possible.   The injury to the public
must be evidently incalculable, when we  consider that  the degrees of adulteration
are very numerous, while the statements or directions of the medical profession are
always based on the genuine article. It is revolting for every honest  and conscientious
physician, to see  publicly offered for sale, at different prices, the most important drugs,
when every patient confidently  hopes, to have  at least the best drug  administered to'
him.  If we consider how often a few drops of stale  or adulterated wine injure  a
patient, we  may easily comprehend that drugs,  which,  when properly prepared, are
beneficial, become highly detrimental  by the least  alteration or adulteration.   The
preparation of many medicines, particularly of narcotic extracts, depends so much on
minutiae and on their freshness, that one grain may be beneficial, and a drachm of no
effect at all; hence it must be considered a defect even in European countries, that
all those  preparations which vary so much  by the time of collecting  the plantj pre-
paring the medicine, &c, particularly the extracts of narcotic indigenous plants, are
not entrusted to one central  institution, from which all druggists of a large city or
county are  bound to draw their  supply.   By this, also, much more uniformity in
regard to the effect of pharmaceutical preparations would exist,  instead'of which one
physician now considers a medicine highly valuable, while another regards it as useless
The want of good medicines in one  country, compared  with another, is frequently
the only  cause why highly valuable  experiences  of the  profession in the one  are
frequently lost or ridiculed in another.  If, for  instance, a  well educated American
physician, not in favor of homoeopathic conceptions, should read  in a German treatise
of six drops of laudanum in a mixture of six ounces, he would smile  at such a dose of
laudanum, because he is accustomed to prescribe sixty and more  in the same quantity
of mixture.  The German  would, in return, consider an  experiment  with such a 
37
the  greatest absurdity perhaps ever printed in this country.   On

page  13, of his " Concise View," we  read, " He  (Hahnemann,)

" discovered a mode, by which one drop could be accurately divided

" into tiny desirable number of parts."   Any one will admit  that

it would be difficult to find in the United States a school-boy, who

if possessed of a sound mind, and familiar only with the first rules

of arithmetic, would be for a moment at  a loss,  to  find out instan-

taneously the great discovery, proclaimed with so much emphasis

as if worthy of a Leibnitz, a Newton, or Legendre, viz : how one

drop of any solution of a drug or another  soluble substance is  to

be  divided  by  water or  alcohol into T^,  T^_  or  any  similar

fraction !  And  yet, with  all these  frothy  pretensions, this  great

problem is  even not solved  correctly.    The same boy could un-

questionably prove to such great dealers in " trifles and unheard

of niceties,"  that  with all their  mystifications, they are ignorant

even of the first rules of  arithmetic, for if one grain of an extract

be dissolved in  a hundred drops of alcohol;  and one  drop of this

solution be  diluted  by another hundred  drops, we have one hundred

and one drops,  and one drop of the last dilution will contain with

all their shakings,  not as  stated in the  Concise  View, page 12, the

toVoo   but  tne totoe Part 0I" a  grain of  the  extract, and thus


quantity of laudanum extremely dangerous, and if he would prescribe twenty drops
only, he would find the American statement about the cure of a disease false, though
it was  true  and repeatedly confirmed  by  minute  observations.   The only reason is
that the German apothecary is in duty bound to  prepare the laudanum exactly ac-
cording to the prescription of Sydenham, its first inventor, whereas in this country the
apothecary being under no legal  obligations, but at liberty to keep, to prepare and  to
sell what and how he  pleases, this indispensable medicine is generally nothing but a
poor  solution of the worst kind  of opium in  common  brandy, which, in many in-
stances, especially in diseases of children, injures almost,as much by the quantity  of
brandy  as of opium. No wonder, therefore, that many American druggists can sell an
ounce of such  miserable stuff, the vial included, for a sixpence,  though,  if made
exactly according to the prescription from  the best ingredients, one ounce would cost
the druggist himself at least upwards of two shillings. It is difficult to procure, even
in large commercial cities like New York and Philadelphia, small quantities of drugs,
considered by the profession in Europe as  very valuable, and even as indispensable •'
and most of the American physicians, and even  the professors, must therefore re-
main ignorant about their use.  Musk and  castoreum moscoviticum for instance for
which the poor Germans pay higher than for gold, because experience has taught them
for more than centuries, that in many diseases, especially of children and women as
for instance in asthma  spasmodicum Millari,  typhus fever, nervous affections &c.
their place cannot be substituted by any other drug.   Many distinguished physicians
of this country, consider however both as obsolete and valueless ; and even Professor
Cox of  Philadelphia, who has taught materia medica for so many years, continues to
assert in the 8th edition of his Materia Medica, published 1832, that musk is an obso-
lete drug, not worth  more than  other kinds of dried  animal excrements, likewise
recommended by old authors as medicines. No wonder! for he, together with Pro-
fessor Bigelow, who in his Materia Medica, considers also musk and castoreum as
superfluous, have probably never used them when genuine, and have never seen them
applied  by others, though many distinguished English authors, such as Cullen, Robert
Wbyte, &c, have recommended them highly. 
38
 continued,  the  6th  dilution  for  instance,  does  not  contain
 to«ooo0V70ooo but  t^t-^tl___t__ part of a grain ;  making 0
 difference of the tojtsittsocoooo Part  or" a grain—a monstrous,
 nay  perhaps  homicidal error  to the  unfortunate  patient of a
 full-blooded homoeopathist!—now this  error increases  so  im-
 mensely in the 10th, 20th, or even 60th dilution, that the lives of
 an immense  number of  patients may  be endangered !   This
 shocking error, committed by Hahnemann in the first edition of his
 Organon, published in 1810, will still be observed in its last edition
 of 1829, and in his other works.   The  fact, that none of his dis-
 ciples or adherents have as yet observed or altered these prescrip-
 tions, may be considered as a  very striking proof of the implicit
 faith of men in the tenets of  their master, be they ever so absurd.
   Although we do not claim any minute knowledge  of  deep ma-
 thematical calculations, we feel it our  professional duty to teach
 homoeopathists, how to avoid in future such palpable and important
 mistakes, by  the following  formula, the substance  of which is,
 that they should always add only ninety-nine drops, instead of a
 hundred, after the first solution is made, and the same should be
 observed from the beginning,  if  one grain of a  drug  is to be
 rubbed down with sugar of milk.  Taking  x equal to one grain
 of the extract, and n equal to the intended degree of dilution, the
 whole progression of the different dilutions, rising  in  their de-
 veloped virtue, would  then present  the following formula: first
 solution, or x is equal to — ,  second  dilution or x2 = —,  third
                       1U'                          104
 dilution or x3 = -—,....  nth dilution or  xn  = to ---: or each
                106                               102n
 desired  dilution  contains a fraction  of the original  grain of the
 extract, equal to one divided by the power of ten, double the index
of the degree of the  solution.   By  following their above stated
wrong calculation, of always adding a hundred  drops to their  first
dilution,  xn  contains a quantity equal to---——__________  n»rt
                      1      y  4       102(102 +  1) »-   parl
of a grain ; the general formula  of this progression would  pre-
sent the first solution or xl, equal to —-  . second solution or r2 =
                            1      10*
              third solution  or  x3 =
102(102 + 1)                        10-(10'+l)a
rih dilution or xn = 1n9.,no   —- - .   The formula for triturat-
                    ion 10-+ 1)»-1 
39
ing can  be easily deduced in the same manner.*  Still greater
errors  will be found in Hahnemann's works, utterly inconsistent
with his whimsical dilutions and triturations, as we shall  state
hereafter, although he calls (Vol. I. Chron. Dis. p. 2), homceopathia,
" the great gift of God," and according to Dr. Hering, (on page 21,
C.V.) "he urges upon his pupils the propriety of addicting themselves
" to close thinking by the study of mathematics."  But we  can-
not reconcile the necessity of thinking at all, and much less of
" close thinking," with the  homoeopathic  doctrine and practice,
both of which, as we have seen, depend, according to the suggestion
of Hahnemann  himself, only upon good  senses  and a good me-
mory,  in addition to implicit faith in his dictates.  We must,
however, approve of this wise advice,  provided the "great genius"
is not so  ignorant in modern mathematics, as he is in modern che-
mistry.  It appears almost, that he confounds this mother of all ex-
act sciences, in its  present state, with the " ars mathematica" of the
dark middle ages,  which contained  the most horrible superstitions
in  magic, demonology and witchcraft, all of which he seems to
favor.
  As to our author's complaints  in regard to the obstacles Hahne-
mann  met  with, we must state  to  the contrary, that the king of
Saxony, as well as the city authorities at  Leipzig, did in no  way
interfere in  his practice or that of his disciples, except requiring of
them to observe the laws passed  long  before, which prohibited the
dispensing  of medicines by physicians.  These were the more  to be
enforced  with regard to a man,  who  had exposed himself to  pub-
lic contempt by his alcali pneum, and by his pretended secret pre-
ventive against scarlet fever, and who continued  to involve his
practice in mystery, recalling the days of rude superstition, when
only the hands, consecrated  by  the high  priest, were considered
adequate to dilute  or rub down a grain of a drug.  Besides, it was
but just and proper for the authorities at Leipzig, to protect the
respectable class of apothecaries, who cannot establish in Germany,
as they can in many other countries, a retail drug store without
the knowledge required for so important an occupation, and with-
out an ample  pledge for their capacity to the public.  It  is only
after a strict theoretical and  practical  examination in chemistry,
pharmacy, botany, mineralogy, &c.  that they are permitted to buy
  * We have preferred the more usual power of ten, to that of one hundred, which
would have made the formula still more simple. 
                               40

 a privileged establishment, and the number of apothecaries is ju-
diciously limited in proportion to the population.*  The apothecary
being bound to keep a large stock of the best drugs constantly on
hand, many of which are spoiled within a few weeks or months
and are therefore to be  renewed  at great expense, and obliged to
have a  laboratory, chemical apparatus, &c, could not be indemni-
fied, even by  a profit of a thousand per cent, nor  could he make
his living honestly, without a considerable  number of customers,
on whom he could confidently rely.
   Nothing but his old predilection for arcana and nostrums, could
have  prevented Hahnemann from writing his prescriptions ,as all
physicians are  bound by law  to do in Germany, and none but
one of  his infatuated  disciples could  assert, that in  a  city  like
Leipzig, there was no apothecary capable of being made  " fami-
" liar in such  unheard-of niceties," which  any boy of  twelve years
of age could perform satisfactorily.  The laws against the dispens-
ing of medicines should be enforced with no physicians more than
with homoeopathists, not  to prevent their most innocent practice,
but to guard against all unnecessary mystery in a subject, which is
yet in all  its features so opposed to the human intellect and to all
experience.   It is evident that  no physician, when he himself fur-
nishes  medicines to his patients, can be held amenable to the
laws for any mal-practice, and  that it  is  as satisfactory  to every
honest physician, as it  is  to the public, to have deposited by his
prescriptions valuable documents of his circumspect, careful  and
conscientious  treatment, in the hand of a third party, the apothe-
cary, who  is  bound  to preserve  and  to  copy them.   For if the
patient grows worse or dies, the relatives are at liberty to have the
prescriptions examined  by impartial and competent  judges,  and
the physician likewise may rely on them  at any time, for his de-
fence.  How highly important are such regulations in a legal point
of view; in a criminal case,  for instance, where the physician  is
suspected of having murdered his patient on account  of  his large

  * In Berlin, for instance, the wealthy capital of Prussia, with, a population of about
two hundred and  fifty thousand, there  are only twenty-eight apothecaries.  On this
account retail drug-stores in large German cities, including the licence, which, for
public convenience, belongs to the building, cost from thirty thousand to upwards of
eighty thousand dollars.  Once every year they are unexpectedly visited by a com-
mittee of magistrates and professional  men, appointed by the government to examine
the genuineness and quality of the stock on hand, the laboratory, &c.  Every error
or defect of importance, subjects the owner to serious reproaches, and by repeated in-
stances, by meddling with medical practice, or by the illegal 3ale of poisons, &c. he.
risks the loss of his privilege. 
41
fortune or from other motives.*   The ignorant  and careless phy-
sician  will be always aware of these checks, and the miser has
no opportunity to administer to his patients cheap drugs for which
he charges extravagantly, where expensive ones might have been
required. The advantages which the medical sciences as well as the
public  derive from the wise regulations mentioned, would be totally
lost; and no honest retail druggist could subsist in Germany, or in
any  other country, where a strict medical police  is considered in-
dispensable, if physicians should  be permitted  to  dispense their
medicines themselves under any nugatory pretext.   By the strict
maintenance of these laws, all danger and mysterious quackery
are removed, the health and life  of the people are protected by the
occupations of the physician and apothecary being independent of
each other, and proper care can be taken by a vigilant medical
police,  that both  do their duty and  that justice is done to them.
Let  us for a moment even admit, that a homoeopathic physician,
either regularly educated before adopting this " new art," or having
acquired it in a few weeks, (as  was the case with  an American
shoemaker who,  tired of his trade, became, by the  aid of  a bene-
volent  homoeopathist a  doctor,) can cure most of his patients ;
still every honest homoeopathist,  Hahnemann and Dr. Hering ex-
cepted, will admit that cases, be they ever  so  rare, may  exist,
which  will not yield to homoeopathic but to allopathic treatment. In
such a  case, even  the well educated homoeopathist, who is forced  to
leave his usual practice, by adopting a method which he might have
forgotten, or  at least  have been unaccustomed  to  employ, may
resort to measures which can easily do great injury ; but if he is
obliged to prescribe his recipe regularly, he will be more careful,
and  also be prevented from injuring the patient, by the control  of
the apothecary.   The history of the  Asiatic  cholera proves  that
our  apprehensions  are not imaginary, but that in fact, where
homceopathisls, who had been well  educated  in  the principles  of
rational medicine, and had adopted homceopathia for a certain length
of time,  were afterwards obliged to recur  to the allopathic treat-
ment ;  they prescribed medicines in much larger doses than were
ever approved of by  any former  school.  Thus,  if the homoeopa-
thic  doses of camphor, recommended by Hahnemann as an  infal-
lible cure for this  disease, proved  unsuccessful, they nearly deluged

  * An  instance of this kind happened a few years ago at Paris,  and the suspected
physician was convicted and executed.
6 
                               42

their patients  with it.  (See Allgem. Anzeiger &c, der Deutschen,
1831, No. 173, p. 2356 and Kopp 1.  c.)   What mischief may
then be  expected  from  a  man like our homoeopathic  shoemaker,
in such cases, who is entirely ignorant of all the " learned lumber"
which is indispensable  to the allopathic practice, if uncontrolled
by a well educated apothecary, who might  prevent him  from in-
creasing, to a great  extent,  the doses of the  powerful homoeopa-
thic drugs, such as belladonna, nux vomica, arsenic, &c, as his
brethren did those of camphor, in the treatment of cholera 1
   The self-dispensing  of medicines appears to be an innate pro-
pensity, the very foible of all homoeopathists, from their master
down  to the  homceopathical doctors,  barbers,  shoemakers, &c.
No wonder !  if we consider,  that it is extremely profitable to buy,
on commencing  practice,  about twenty dollars  worth  of drugs,
which may produce every year several hundred dollars profit, and
by adding annually a few dollars worth, may become a profitable
stock,  sufficient even for  the great-grandson of  the disinterested
and benevolent doctor; undoubtedly  far  better  than any stock
of a bank, a  rail-road, &c, ever  will be.   We may well exclaim
with the author of the Concise View, on page 29, " a treasure like
" this new art must quickly be estimated in a degree commensu-
" rate with its real value."*  This is probably one of the principal
 reasons  why most  homoeopathists are so  extremely  anxious  to
 mystify the  great art of  homoeopathic triturations, dilutions and
shakings of their drug-atoms,  which they  only can perform well;
and though they willingly may renounce the old  meaning of the
 initials  M. D. on account of the  " learned lumber" still  indispens-
 ably connected  with that signature  in many countries,  they are
 anxious to preserve  it probably in the sense of the signature of the
 old Roman emperors, " Manu Divina."
    To prove  further, that the quotations from Dr. Hering's " Con-
 " cise View," are  not to be considered  as a lapsus lingua;, it  being
   * Excepting  the little trouble of shaking or rubbing down the drugs, the smallest
  coin in existence would pay  many thousand per cent profit for any homcepathic me-
  dicine, since one grain of any drug would be more than amply sufficient for the prac-
  tice of a homoeopathist, even if he lived ten times as long as Methusaleh, and attended
  daily thousands of patients.  Generally, however, they make their patients pay very
  high for medicines as well as for their services ; and we know of instances where  ho-
  moeopathists, being obliged to prescribe a recipe in urgent  cases, or where the patient
  insisted upon their so doing, anxiously endeavoured to prevent the apothecary from
  charging only  a few  cents for the medicine, as he might feel bound to do, but  re-
  quested him to  charge half a dollar, apparently intending to avoid  the suspicion of
  their patients that the medicine was of no value, but in reality to make their usual
  impositions of that kind less conspicuous. 
43
 originally delivered  as a speech, but that he believes  these ab-
 surdities and would make them also credible by others, we refer in
 addition to pages 12 and 13, where, in speaking of the high dilu-
 tions, he says, " however striking this  phenomenon was in itself,
 " and however wonderful  and strange it  must have appeared to
 '' Hahnemann, it nevertheless has been indisputably the result of
 " his  manipulations."  Now, we ask any one of common sense?
 whether this is not witchcraft, white magic, a kind of chiromancy,
 &c. revived  in optima  forma ? It is impossible to see such things
 printed in 1833,  without dreading that  the  grossest superstition
 may again for a time eclipse the beams of reason.   It is therefore
 extremely creditable  to  the Austrian and Russian  governments,
 that  they  have not only published the abortive results  of the ex-
 periments  with the homoeopathic treatment in the  hospitals, but
 have, as far  as we know, forbidden its further application.
   On examining more closely the homoeopathic doctrine, as con-
 tained in  Dr. Hering's  " Concise View,"  which  forms  a faithful,
 though very defective, abstract of Hahnemann's works, we know
 not whether to be more amazed at his boldness in rejecting the
 experience of the profession accumulated for upwards of two thou-
 sand years, and constantly confirmed by the minute observations of
 so many distinguished physicians, or to express the just indignation,
 which every one  must feel, who  reflects on the nonsense, the in-
 consistency and falsehood of the dbctrine itself.  The indispensable
 reference to  Hahnemann's works  renders this task much more
 difficult  and tedious,  as it is not sufficient to read only one edition
 of one and the same work, but to compare its different editions, to
 prove the gross retractions and contradictions published at different
 times; the tenets and prescriptions once  maintained by him as
 eternal truths, being afterwards even rejected as false by himself.
   Dr. Stieglitz, private physician  to his H. B. M. and president of
 the medical college of Hanover, one of the most renowned medical
 authors and practitioners of Germany, says very  properly in  his
 last valuable work, (Pathologische Untersuchungen,  1832, Vol. II.
 page 359), "  No truly distinguished thinker or eminent physician
 " has as yet joined  with  Hahnemann, or  declared himself fa-
" vorable to the mass of nonsense contained in homceopathia; a
" doctrine  which deserves  no  refutation,  because it admits of
" none ;  boasting of rejecting all scientific discussion,  and deriving
" its only support from propositions,  opposed  to the foundation of 
44
" all intellect and knowledge."  The only exception to this state-
ment,  which also contradicts the report of our author  and his
brethren in this country, respecting the rapid spread of this doc-
trine in  Germany, is  Dr. Kopp,  at Hanau, well  known in Ger-
many  as an eminent practitioner  and  an honest man, to whose
publications the profession is very much  indebted.  He states, in
the introduction to his latest work, (Erfahrungen und Bemerkun-
gen bey einer  pruefenden  Anwendung  der Homceopathie  am
Krankenbette. Frankfurt, 1832.),  that after studying diligently all
works  belonging to the homoeopathic doctrine for two years, he had
subjected it to an impartial trial for about three years.   Dr.  Kopp
has taken the very ground, which Hahnemann and his followers
have constantly urged physicians  to  take, viz. experiments faith-
fully instituted;  he confirms the correctness of  the homoeopathic
treatment by  a  comparatively considerable number  of cases,
though by no means to the extent  of the assertions of Hahnemann
and his party.   In many instances he did not succeed, and was
obliged to recur to the allopathic method.   He exposes  the incon-
sistencies and whimsical  conceptions of  Hahnemann in a very
striking, though a lenient and even very superficial manner ;  evi-
dently  from his want  of critical acuteness and depth of intellect;
he appears also much influenced by the honour which he believes
he  has conferred on this  doctrine, as  well as by the great credit
which  he thinks due to him, being the  first old medical author
of reputation in Germany, who had subjected this mode of treat-
ment to a trial and publicly confessed it.   If this had not been
the case, he would not have considered so short a time, exclusively
spent in private practice, as sufficient for any certain opinion with
regard  to a  treatment, totally at  variance with common sense,
with all rational principles and the  experience  of  all  ages.   He
would  have adverted more particularly to some remarkable results
of his experiments, obvious to the  attentive reader of his  works ;
for instance, that the homoeopathic treatment proved to him chiefly
effectual in chronic nervous complaints, which, as every physician
knows, is any thing but  a certain test of the worth of a  specific
treatment, since these complaints  are frequently cured by mental
impressions alone, or  by the simultaneous use of coloured pump-
water,  bread  pills, &c.   Further, he always combined with  the
homoeopathic treatment a strict diet, especially at the commence-
ment of acute  diseases,  and, nevertheless, in  most of them  he 
15
could not dispense with the old rational or allopathic treatment.
In our opinion great credit is due to Dr. Kopp for his candor, but
not for his talent.  He has proved  again in this, as he did in his
earlier works on practical medicine, that he is incapable of an acute
philosophical investigation:  this is obvious also  by the whole em-
pirical tenor  of this work,  and even by  its  commencement, in
§ 1, where he suggests  as  an indirect vindication for homceopathia,
" that the adoption  of general indications  (principles) has injured
u the practice of medicine."  Who would deny that this is not only
true with regard to medicine, but,  in  a certain  respect,  more or
less applicable also to all sciences, which are not founded on the cer-
tainty of  mathematical calculations.  Should we, for this reason,
desist from  trying to obtain general  principles, and to free ex-
periments from the illusions of our defective senses, and  from all
errors to which the human intellect has  been and ever will be
subjected ? Should we therefore totally renounce the indispensable
and beneficial influence of our higher  mental capacities in all ob-
jects not palpable or measurable, and, by despairing to find during
our short life what truth is, sanction  mere empiricism, or trust to
phantoms of credulity  and superstition ? It  is  true, Dr. Kopp's
frank explanation of his predilection for homceopathia, appears  to
render his statement still more authentic ;  his  love for truth  must,
indeed, be very great, since, favorably prepossessed as he was, he
did not find every thing true in this marvellous doctrine.  We may
credit the facts as  he states them,  as we  would the assertions  of
a man who, believing in  the existence of ghosts, visits the church
yard at midnight to see them,  but  says there were none there.
   No lover  of truth can assert, that the doctrines of practical me-
 dicine, erroneously termed  systems, have  either fully  satisfied
 the higher requisites  and faculties of the human mind, or the ar-
 dent and just wishes of the true philanthropist.   Of what science,
 or of what art, even if it depends much  less  on  conjecture and
 experience  than  medicine, can it be so truly  said  that,  with
 the immense treasures of all the natural sciences, of  which me-
 dicine is only a  branch, and even with  the great discoveries  in
 anatomy and physiology, &c. practical medicine stands before us
 equally as uncertain, defective and chiefly dependent upon personal
 talent, as it  did two  thousand years ago ?  Let us ask any judi-
 cious and candid physician,  if he himself should require profes- 
46
 sional assistance, and could choose from among all his colleagues,
 from Hippocrates down to the present age, whether he would not
 prefer the father of the  healing art  to any of his contemporaries,
 though Hippocrates could not even anticipate the innumerable
 later discoveries, any one  of  which would appear  sufficiently im-
 portant to advance medicine  for centuries ? Let  him  answer sin-
 cerely, if at liberty to select from among the celebrated physicians
 of the  last three centuries, whether he  would not at once prefer
 a  Sydenham, Fredrick Hoffman or Boerhaave  to  any physician
 of the last twenty years, although  these truly great men were
 ignorant of hundreds of the most valuable discoveries, more or less
 intimately connected with the healing  art,  and  indispensable to
 the medical practice of the present age ? It appears almost incre-
 dible, but it is nevertheless true, that medicine, one of the most
 important and fertile branches of natural  science, in respect to its
 theory, and constantly cultivated by thousands of intelligent and
 well  educated men, has generally remained unimproved in  its
 practical application, and has  almost  become more  uncertain and
 hazardous than  before, whilst most other occupations have been,
 and are  still, daily benefitted by the rapid progress of all sciences
 and arts.   In  this respect we  are  nearly forced  to  admit the re-
 proaches of Hahnemann against practical medicine of  all ages, if
 we could but depreciate the high degree of perfection which theo-
 retical medicine has attained, the great advantages which practical
 medicine will  amply derive therefrom, after abandoning rude em-
 piricism and  relying  more upon  true experience and philoso-
 phical inquiry;  or if we could  but reasonably admire an  Heros-
 tratus, because he destroyed one of the greatest wonders of human
 art in  antiquity, in  order to secure himself a  place in history, as
 the author of homceopathia attempts with rational medicine.
   The profession would be indebted to Hahnemann, not only for
 the discovery of some  new remedies  and the specific  actions of
 some older ones on the human body, but also in general for his ex-
 posing the common track of medical practice and urging the great
 necessity of improving it, had he examined with genuine critical
 talent and faithful love of truth,  the hitherto prominent systems
and methods of practical medicine, and had he not wantonly endea-
voured to destroy all rational principles in this science and all learn-
ing belonging to it, in substituting for both, whimsical conceptions 
47
and  suggestions, drawn  from a comparatively few, defective  and

partial  experiments.*

  * Our remarks in these pages, and many other facts may prove that our opposition to
homceopathia arises neither from orthodox partiality for any medical system, nor from
predilection for  any particular  mode  of medical practice.  Faithful homoeopathists
excepted, there is hardly a professional man, engaged as we have been  in an  exten-
sive  hospital, dispensary, and  private practice  for upwards of thirty years, who,
though faithfully selecting from  all systems whatever  appeared to him  the most
useful, has pursued, more than ourselves,  a mode, which in many respects would have
made him partial for the homoeopathic doctrine, if there had been any trace of com-
mon sense in it.   In order briefly to substantiate our assertion, we would state, that
in the whole of our practice we have never prescribed six venesections, nor about fifty
emetics, nor five pounds of cathartic salts, nor five ounces  of jalap, nor two bottles
of castor oil, nor one  pound of Peruvian-bark in substance,  and so in proportion to
other drugs which are commonly used in large doses by physicians of all schools ; thus
also for instance, croup excepted,  we have  never prescribed more than three  grains
of calomel at a dose, and delirium tremens excepted, never more  than three grains of
opium; though the above mentioned extent of our private practice alone, yielded at an
average, not less than fifty patients per  day.   We may say that, when some  of our
colleagues scarcely reflected on drachms to be  given, we weighed grains, and one
drop of laudanum more  or  less  in a mixture of six  ounces, or one grain  of camphor
was an object of high consideration for us ; as  experience has clearly taught us from
the beginning of our career, at the age of eighteen, that in no  human occupation the
conceptions of smallness and largeness prove to be more relative than in practical medi-
cine, and that, to a certain reasonable extent, the smallest dose of a medicine may be
too large, the largest too small.   "We  were therefore,  also  in  favor of the most
powerful drugs, and of very large doses  when smaller ones did no service, and out-
patients were generally the best customers of the  apothecaries.—We should plead
ourselves guilty of the grossest  quackery, did we claim greater talents than others, or
boldly assert, that by our deviating so far  from all methods of treatment, generally
adopted,  we have always only  witnessed  its salutary  effects.  But we  should feel
ungrateful towards the mercy of Providence, bestowed upon our exertions, and  should
believe ourselves possessed of a too refined egotism, if, from  misplaced  professional
delicacy and from too anxiously avoiding the unjust reproach of  public ostentation,
we should withhold the truth, which, in  our present situation, can only be useful to
others, and to which many of our  former respected colleagues at Altona and Ham-
burg, and the large enlightened communities of both those  cities, will not refuse to
testify.   We have reason  to acknowledge  with  pious gratitude, that generally, the
results, of our treatment were"by no means behind those of others, but in many respects
distinguished by a comparatively  short convalescence and  durable health after  re-
covery; results which are only observable when a physician has retained for a long
series of  years the same residence, and has enjoyed during so long a time the most
unrestricted confidence of many families. We  may unconsciously possess prejudices
as all men do more or less,—homo sum et humani nil a me alienum puto—but in
doing justice to ourselves, we confess that we have always been particularly anxious
to destroy all those prejudices which might  in any way influence our vocation ; being
aware that truth and error are not  dependent upon authorities of men and upon the
majority of votes, nor upon the  length of their duration;  that among all conjectural
sciences  none is more uncertain and liable  to prejudice, errors  and mistakes than the
healing art,  and  that it might be  more pardonable to any other than to a physician,
conscientiously reflecting on the important sequels  of his arduous vocation, wilfully
to entertain prejudices, and to worship the suggestions of others, may they be ever so
much supported by delusive facts, in  being opposed to his own judgment and his
faithful experiments.
  Our views of medical practice, however,  agree with some of Hahnemann's fanciful
conceptions, not simply in attention to minutiae; for, upwards of thirty-five years ago,
when the cow-pox was first known as a preventive against small-pox, having been
actively engaged in vaccination, we opposed and have continued to oppose the errone-
ous mode of its propagation as generally adopted and hitherto pursued by the profes-
sion, from reasons similar in some respect, to the suggestions of  Hahnemann.  Our
repeated  sad predictions, in private as well as in public,  especially those made in a
treatise  published 1822, and entitled,  "On the dangers of  the measures hitherto
adopted for the propagation of cow-pox.—(Die Gefahren der bisher befolgten  Maas- 
48
    Having been for upwards of thirty years engaged in an extensive

  public and private practice, we have  attended  closely  to all that

  has happened around  us  in  the profession, and we have at least

  been anxious not to be prepossessed by any prejudice against any

  suggestion from abroad, or from any source whatever, if it appeared

  to us consistent with reason and experience.  Educated in the old

  gastric  school,  we commenced  practice  at  a time when  John

  Brown's system  of  medicine  was much admired and  followed in

  Germany.   It appeared  to us that this doctrine, though many of

  its tenets had been alluded to long before by Friederich Hoffman,

  Ernst Stahl and some other distinguished  authors, was founded on

  some  highly important rational  principles of physiology and pa-

  thogeny.   We  however soon observed that, even  with  the  great

  changes and improvements  made in  this  doctrine by eminent.

  German professors in philosophy and medicine, it was  too narrow

 in its explanations of  the conditions  of  human  life  during the

 healthy and diseased states, and that  most of our  contemporaries,

 who were then implicitly devoted to this doctrine, applied it without

 impartial  judgment, without  due  regard to the contradictory ex-

 regeln zur Verbreitung der Kuhpocken,) have since been confirmed by many pro-
 fessional men, viz: that the cow-pox, in itself a munificent gift of Providence, by its
 unquestionable protection against the destructive small-pox, when pure and properly
 managed, has become, by the negligence and carelessness of the medical profession and
 the public authorities, one of the greatest scourges with which  mankind was ever
 afflicted; for it has  not merely ceased to be protective, but, if things continue as
 they are, we may predict with great probability, that in less than half a century, almost
 every one will be affected by one or more  dyscrasise, from  the indifference  of most
 physicians, and the ignorance of the public, whether their healthy child be vaccinated
 from another, who is perfectly healthy, or with vaccine-virus, perhaps contaminated by
 syphilis, itch, herpes, scrophulosis, &c.  We repeat it frankly,  the cow-pox has,
 merely from the reasons mentioned, ceased to protect against small-pox; notwith-
 standing, by professional caprice,  the term varioloid or any other name  be applied to
 the eruptive disease, which in many cases deforms and destroys like the small-pox.
 Parents bereaved by varioloid, may be temporarily comforted by tables  of mortality,
 showing that cow-pox protects against small-pox; but the time will come, when the
 public and the profession will  be awake to this subject.  We only hope, that it will
 be soon enough, to prevent the imprecations of posterity upon their ancestors, and upon
 a discovery, which could have done  them  so much benefit, and has done  them so
 <rreat and almost irreparable injury. Without many verified documents, posterity would
 not believe, that in an age, when thousands have been so infatuated as to admit, that
 spirits and miracles may be developed from the many millionth part of a grain of table
 salt, charcoal, flint, &c., by mere triturations and shakings, the proportionally million
 times larger quantity of a syphilitic or any other infectious matter, contained in a drop
 of cow-pox lymph, and multiplied by the immensely more powerful processes of the
 living human body, should have been regarded as nothing!  Had  Hahnemann  ever
 seriously reflected on this subject, which approaches so near to his singular conceptions
 about  the immense action of  the smallest  doses of drugs,  and still more so to his
 foolish theory of all chronic  diseases, that  it is almost incredible, how he and all his
 followers could have missed it; he would have amply compensated for  all his impo-
 sitions and absurdities, in usine his unmerited authority, for the protection of millions
 against such great injuries.—Hahnemann is,  on the contrary, rather partial to  unre-
strained vaccination,  and opposed to revaccination, which should be instituted  after
 purberty, from reasons suggested and published by us, in Rust's Magaz. d. ges. Heilk.,
 Berlin, 1827 
49
perience of past times and of their  dissenting fellow-practitioners,
arm therefore to the manifest injury of their patients. With regard
to the theory of Brown's doctrine, it must have been obvious to every
unprejudiced observer, that the living body, in its healthy and dis-
eased state, could not be dependent only upon the plus or minus re-
lation between its excitability and external stimulants generally,
without regard to the specific quality  of  the latter, the specific
structure, and the thereby specifically modified excitability of the
single systems and organs; and that neither the  rude  conceptions
of the Brunonian in regard  to nature, considering  himself her
master, could be true, nor that  the lancet, opium, brandy, and a few
similar articles could be the only remedies granted by Providence for
the great variety of diseases.   The important objection  made by
Brown's opposers  to one of his fundamental principles, viz. that all
vital action must  be considered only as the  result  of the correlative
inverse ratio between  the excitability and the stimulant, was never
answered satisfactorily by its defenders, although if this proposition
were true, it would be difficult to comprehend the existence of any
dynamic disease.  On the other side Brown himself, however unbi-
assed by almost all other acknowledged professional dogmas,—as all
reformers in medicine or  those who  pretend to be  so usually are,—
believed in the existence of a state termed general  hypersthenia.
This  opinion, though adopted by all  medical  schools, appears
nevertheless  contrary to the laws of nature, inasmuch as  any
machine,  living or not, cannot be diminished  or disturbed the
least in its total action by the proportionally increased strength of
all its single  parts ;  this  implying  rather a state, which must be
less subjected  to any derangement than any other state  imaginable.
The judicious physician, however, aware of this and similar defects
and  inconsistencies  of  that medical  theory,  some fundamental
principles of which will last as long as rational physiology and prac-
tical medicine shall exist, may they be ever so much neglected for
a short time—will be better satisfied with its cautious  application,
than with many vague conceptions and prescriptions of the older
schools.  It was principally the rude manner in which Brown, and
his followers more particularly, ventured to apply his energetic mode
of treatment, that caused the sudden downfall of a doctrine which
at first had been received with  so much enthusiasm  by the most
distinguished  practitioners, and which had promised to last for
centuries.  This  doctrine gave way after a  comparatively short
                              7 
50
 existence to another method, which, accordant to similar epochs in
 the history of medicine immediately following  each other, was
 quite the opposite, instead of avoiding the faults and mistakes, and
 improving the truths and  benefits of its predecessor.  When the
 orthodox Brunonist imagined  every one of his patients lost by
 asthenia, unless saved by madeira,  opium  or  bark, his succeed-
 ing younger colleagues  or  he  himself, witnessing  the frequent
 failures  and  disasters  of their former method, became converted
 into orthodox antiphlogists or gastricists; they considered all dis-
 eases as arising from a general superabundance of blood, from a dia-
 thesis inflammatoria or orgasmus, or also from a morbidly increased
 accumulation of bile,  mucus, &c., which were either quite imagi-
 nary or rested on delusive symptoms only.   Without regard  to the
 true causes of these different symptoms, they neglected properly to
 value the general as well as  specific actions  of the vital power, as
 partly dependent upon  and modified  by the different  tissues and
 their sympathetical connexions, which jointly constitute the living
 functions of the animal and particularly of the human body. The
 profession, overlooking, more than ever, all other causes of dis-
 eases, now again presumed in most patients an inflammation, sub-
 inflammation, or  changes dependent upon them.   The results of
 most post mortem  examinations, seldom failed to confirm such a
 state of things  supposed during life,  and to demonstrate some dis-
 coloured, indurated or suppurated part;  and frequently in this
 manner a new species of " ■itisn  was  created, in order to swell still
 more the large catalogue  of  these kinds of diseases, which appear
 at present to be almost  the only ones  by which the human race is
 afflicted.   It will without doubt be conclusively proved by posterity,
 that pathological anatomy,—which if duly appreciated is not only
 extremely valuable, but indispensable  to the practice of medicine.
 especially as it has  thrown so much  light in modern ages on the
diagnosis of  many  diseases,—has, particularly in our times, fre-
 quently been  made of immense  injury,  by over-valuing its results,
and by causing false conclusions, drawn from one state of things,
 death, to be applied to  another one  widely different,  life.  The
secret recesses of the animal body, wherein the  processes of life
have been performed, will always remain inaccessible to the scalpel
of the  anatomist, and  when a post  mortem examination shows
correctly to the minute investigator the seat of the fatal disease,
 he will nevertheless remain ignorant of its cause and developement. 
51
 "Omnia incerta et in naturae majestale abdita.  (Plin. hist. nat.
 " Lib. 2.") It deserves also particular notice, that such examinations
 are seldom instituted without previous medical treatment,and that
 therefore, besides  the  great  difference  which  must exist between
 the commencement of a disease  and  its termination, after days,
 weeks, or even months have elapsed ;  the state of things  should
 not be considered as unmixed and only as the consequence of the
 disease itself, but also as the  possible result of the treatment. False
 opinions of the very nature of many diseases have thus been sanc-
 tioned for a much longer time than they would otherwise  have
 been, and  have greatly injured the true advancement of the pro-
 fession.
   The history of medicine will justly censure the rude empiricism
 into which the profession has relapsed at a period, so  distinguished
 by many valuable discoveries in all the natural sciences,  and will
 record also the singular fact that those discoveries, particularly in
 natural  philosophy, chemistry,  anatomy and physiology, which
 might have improved  practical medicine, should have remained,
 almost unnoticed  by the same nation, whose Blumenbach,  Bur-
 dach, Tiedemann, Treviranus and others had continued,  with un-
 paralleled zeal and success, the great work commenced by Albertus
 Haller,  the father of physiology.  Now and then old controversies
 of a general interest to practical medicine were renewed, but in a
 manner unworthy of the great progress  in physiology and  che-
 mistry ;  for instance, the disputes between the solidists  and  the
 humoral pathologists, and especially with regard to the former,
 whether the action of the nervous system should be considered  as
 the only exciting and regulating power in the  living animal  eco-
 nomy, or not.   Of the number of professors and authors  on prac-
 tical medicine  there were, in our times, but few, who thought with
 more  true  philosophical acuteness and consistency, that animal
 life in general, especially its  physical functions, should be consi-
 dered as particularly influenced by the universal powers of nature;
 that all the single systems, organs and parts of the living animal,
are more or less  endowed with the same power, and that  their va-
 rious functions depend  upon  their particular primitive and  subse-
quent formation  and chemical composition, by which  their at-
tractive  and repulsive powers, or their living electro-chemical  pro-
cesses, as well as their other manifestations  of life, are only  modified
and diversified, so as to form an harmonious or inharmonious inch- 
52
 vidual whole, in the healthy and diseased state.   The majority of
 the profession recommenced, on a larger scale than before, to treat
 diseases merely upon symptoms, which  were generally connected
 only accidentally with the cause of  the symptoms, or, at least were
 incident also to opposite causes, instead of considering all the consti-
 tuent parts of the living body, from the brain down to the excremen-
 titious matter not yet excreted, as possessing life; although all these
 single parts constituting the living whole, pro tern., gradually in-
 crease in their importance, from the excrementitious matter and the
 hair, bones, blood, &c., up to the  brain, by  which  the  finite  or
 material world  is reciprocally connected with the infinite or imma-
 terial empire of ideas, feelings, imagination  and volition.—Thus,
 if a vigorous individual is suddenly attacked with  symptoms of
 pleurisy  or of inflammation of the brain, liver, &c, after mental ex-
 citement or after the abuse of spirituous drinks, <fcc, immediately
 previous to a cold, &c. it is not considered worth while minutely to
 examine the causes, and to distinguish whether the  case is a ge-
 nuine inflammation of the serous coat of the lungs, of the brain, &c,
 or whether it is only a catarrhal, rheumatic or a similar affection,
 arising from  a checked or perverse  conductive capacity of the ner-
 vous system, which may be easily  reestablished without resorting
 to violent measures ; no, the whole morbid process is instantane-
 ously considered as a violent inflammation, arising from a supera-
 bundance  or an orgasmus  of the blood, though no  one  can de-
 monstrate  what cause could  well have generated an orgasmus, or
 much less have increased so suddenly the quantity of blood.  Sup-
 posing even this conjecture right, and the local inflammation to be
 unquestionably a genuine one, though no well educated physician
 will totally deny the necessity of  large  bleedings or  other rea-
 sons, no regard is paid to the plain objection which might be raised
 against all large general abstractions of blood, viz. that they cannot
 remedy the disease  directly, on account  of the  simple fact, that,
if  an  even quantity be deducted  from an uneven  one, the un-
evenness must naturally remain the same as  before, and that
the most valuable  material  for all vital exertions,  the blood, is
lost in addition,  frequently without any  other advantage than the
chance offered to the energetic constitution and the  good fortune
of the patient to overcome,  not only the disease itself, but also the
 bad  effect  of the injudicious treatment.   A few such cases, from
which the patients fortunately escaped, are held forth  as  the tro 
53
phies of the art;  many faithfully recorded  as fatal, either immedi-
ately or  after a lingering chronic disease,  are attributed to other
accidents by the followers of the dominant  method, and thousands
fall  victims to the  same ill   treatment without being  noticed.
When after a short delusive relief by bleeding, cupping, leeching,
purging, &c,  the symptoms  again become aggravated, though
nothing could justify  the opinion of a renewed increase of blood,
&c., one would suppose that these fancied causes would henceforth
remain out of the question, and that the patient would be subjected
to another treatment;  far from this, the lancet, cathartics, &c. are
again and again employed, until the poor sufferer is reduced to the
utmost, and the physician,  suddenly  inspired  by meek devotion,
invokes the aid of the same healing power of nature, to the voice
of which he was  quite deaf a few hours previous, or which he con-
sidered shortly before as impotent, though this very healing power
of nature, properly supported  and directed, would probably have
saved the patient, whom now all those  invocations and all the large
doses of ether, musk, opium and bark  are unable to restore.  The
grossest misconceptions continued  to prevail in the  practice of me-
dicine at  the  time,  when the  great discoveries about electro-
chemical  processes should have attracted the closest attention of
the practitioner, in order to enlighten his conceptions in regard to
causes of  disease and the  action  of  drugs.  This great agent,
attending most if not all the operations  of physical nature, pro-
ducing immense effects in the most subtile manner, and with4means
apparently quite disproportionate, seems to  have attracted hitherto
only the attention of the natural philosopher and chemist, although
the highly important identity of electricity and magnetism, as dis-
covered by Oersted, the undeniable and remarkable phenomena of
animal magnetism, and the structure and functions of the nervous
system from its first lineaments to its perfect developement, so much
elucidated in modern times by Bichat, Bell, Magendie, Tiedemann,
and  others, should have led to different results  in regard  to  the
treatment of diseases in general, and more particularly to the quan-
tities, in which drugs may be properly administered.  Disregarding
the two golden maxims, " quid fieri potest per pauca non fieri debet
" per multa," and " omne nimium vertitur in contrarium," almost
every patient, if dangerously ill, resembles, in the eyes of the phy-
sician, a strong castle, with its obstinate  commander, in a pro-
tracted siege, to be destroyed  and  levelled rather than preserved 
54
and conquered  by skilful and prudent  manoeuvres and negotia-
tions ;—his  principal  object appears  to  subdue the disease at all
events, without thinking, that in consequence of the violent mea-
sures taken, and the surplus of powerful  drugs given, the patient
might either die, or suffer through his whole life, with all the pains
and inconveniences of a broken constitution.
   Even  the two lateral branches of  medicine,  surgery and obs-
tetrics, both  so intimately connected with and dependent on  the
former,  have  not  derived advantages proportionate to the great
progress which they  have made  in  their own spheres within the
last thirty years, only on account of the stationary or rather retro
grade state of practical medicine within the same period.
   Operative surgery has in itself attained in our present times, by
distinguished men in every civilized nation, a degree of perfection
hardly imagined in former ages.  The diagnosis of surgical cases
has been greatly improved,  and operations successfully executed,
which  justly claim the greatest respect and gratitude for the skill,
talents  and  dexterity of  many eminent  surgeons  of the  present
age; but with regard  to the  preservation of the  human frame by
judicious medico-chirurgical treatment, either to prevent the neces-
sity of painful  and dangerous operations, or to ensure their success
by a circumspect  after-treatment, we venture to assert that  the
results are by no means equal to what they might be.   Although
not a practical surgeon, we have  known many cases to prove
fatal, where in all probability by a less active or at least by a better
mode of medical  after-treatment, life woul dhave been saved, or
where the unfortunate patient would have recovered without being
mutilated and  deformed.   The minute diagnosis of the different
species of strangulated hernia for instance, has been so astonishingly
improved by the great talents and  united exertions of men like
Scarpa, Astley Cooper, Dupuytren, Hesselbach and others, that we
can consider this important chapter of practical surgery, not only as
quite different  from what it was a century ago, but as almost per-
fect.  Are the results  of these great improvements, proportionally
more  fortunate than those of past ages, when such cases were so
roughly handled by rude empirics ? We venture to say,by no means.
Many, endangered by the premature operation for  strangulated
hernia, could have been saved, either without  any operation, by a
judicious medical treatment, or at least after the necessary operation
had been circumspectly performed,if the common pernicious opinion 
55
had not prevailed, that the patient must immediately swallow im-
mense doses of salts, castor oil, calomel, jalap, &c, and be submitted
indiscriminately to repeated bleedings, leeching, &c, in order to en-
force at all hazards the natural functions of the bowels, which had
been so long morbidly affected and severely injured.   No attention
is  paid  to the  more reasonable supposition, strikingly confirmed
by  daily  experience,  that  nothing is  more  beneficial, and that
nothing can more contribute to restore the healthy functions of any
organ  which has  suffered  by a disease or by a painful operation,
than rest, and the careful removal of any thing which might force
it to perform its functions, which according to the laws of  nature,
mustalways remain morbidly affected orsuspended fora certain time
after the  mechanical hindrance has been removed -by art.   How
many fractured bones, after being well set, might have been quickly
and safely cured by a proper medical treatment, instead of which
the patients have suffered for years, at the risk of loosing the limb
at last by amputation, under more aggravated circumstances than
in the beginning, or have remained through life lame and sickly,
in consequence of the methodical ill-treatment which was intended
to prevent danger, but  which  really caused it!  This is plainly
seen by impartially analyzing such a course, and by considering
what  would  probably  be  the natural effect  upon the stoutest
labourer, who while enjoying perfect health should be confined at
once to a bed with a diet of gruel, lemonade and a little toast; then
largely  bled, leeched, purged ;  the next day forced to swallow re-
peated large doses of anodynes ; then bled again, and so alternately
for a week only !   Every one will admit that such a  mail will fall
dangerously ill, and that perhaps he will be affected with  some
local complaint, as erysipelas, rheumatism,  or the like.  Will not
this be much  more the case if he has unfortunately fractured a
limb?  Can  it be  wondered  at, that under such improper treat-
ment, frequently  pursued by eminent  surgeons, the patient soon
becomes feverish, delirious, and perhaps even, at an unfavorable sea-
son, affected by locked-jaw, that all the functions become disordered,
that the limb while yet  morbidly affected by the  mechanical injury
and the local irritation, is forced to become the centre of a general
sympathetical morbid reaction of all the systems and  many im-
portant organs ; that by this the fracture does not join after many
months, though it would have perhaps been cured in  six weeks ; or
the local inflammation being artificially protracted, and transmuted 
56
 into an asthenic one, instead of the secretion  of  fluids, rich  with
 nound fibrin and osseous substance, and well adapted for a healthy
 substantial callus, sanies becomes secreted, fistula, caries,&c,ensue;
 and at last, if amputation does not fortunately check all these de-
 structive processes, incurable  consumption follows?   The great
 number of middle-aged individuals with mutilated limbs, which are
 not caused by war or  any  similar calamity,  now more common
 than formerly, in large cities, show that the surgeons of our age
 are generally more skilful in cutting off a limb, than in preserving
 it, though it may easily be proved that in most of these cases the
 loss of a limb postpones, merely for a number of years, premature
 death, and that its preservation  is therefore to be considered an
 indicatio vitalis, as much as the amputation generally is.
   The case is nearly the same  with the practice of midwifery,
 notwithstanding the great improvements made in this branch of
 medicine by many distinguished professors and authors.   Without
 pretending to judge of the minutiae of an art which we have never
 practically  pursued, we may however  notice, that we  seldom met
 with accoucheurs, who did not abuse the application of instruments
 or other artificial aid, in cases which nature alone would have over-
 come with ease, if sufficient time had been allowed her.   This is
 particularly the case in countries where this art is not entrusted to
 the care of well instructed women, who in many  cases not requir-
 ing  professional interference, are  naturally more  disposed to wait
 patiently,  as they  know by their  own experience,  the slow but
 safe operation of nature better  than  men,  who generally en-
 gaged in a large  medical and surgical  practice, frequently  ne-
 glect one  of  their  duties by  overhastening.  Most  accoucheurs
 are also anxious  to interfere improperly with  the natural  expul-
 sion of the placenta, which, as sound physiological principles and
 many experiences demonstrate, may mostly be left to nature her-
 self, with great benefit  to the confined woman;  few urgent and
 tedious cases excepted, which the enlightened art has  minutely
defined, but which never should form a general rule.   In the
 medical treatment of the lying-in-woman great and very obnoxious
 prejudices still prevail.  Haemorrhages are now generally checked,
 without regard to  the great variety of causes, by bleeding, cold
 water, ice, and by the strongest astringents, applied internally and
externally;  the rational accoucheur  of former  times  removed
them perhaps not as quickly, but safer by the tincture of cinnamon, 
57
small doses of laudanum,  ipecacuanha, refracta dosi, and by other

remedies  appropriate to the  different  prevailing  causes.  Many

accoucheurs at present do  not generally  consider, although  they

may quickly remove  the prominent symptom, yet that the imme-

diate  and still  more the later consequences are often very serious.

Thus, to say nothing of subsequent sterility, many chronic diseases

of the uterus at a late age, such as polypus, scirrhus, cancer, &c,

which are now more frequent than ever, and increase yearly  at a

shocking ratio, (see Siebold's Journal, f. Geburtsh. Vol. VIII., No. 3,)

are  partly caused  by the  illtreatment  referred  to, and  by many

similar prescriptions, dictated by a rude empiricism.  Other causes,

moral as well as physical,  which  we shall perhaps quote occasion-

ally, may be the reason why young married  ladies are now more

affected in their health and beauty after one pregnancy, than their

ancestors were  after a dozen, though  many other professional  and

popular prejudices  respecting puberty,  pregnancy, labour  and  con-

finement, and the  present  defective system  of education, bear un

doubtedly a part of the charges.*


  *  By combining the practice of medicine with that of surgery and midwifery, the
progress of the former has been much impeded.  An impartial observer, who does not
believe that the mental capacities of men have improved much during the last cen-
turies, must think it strange, that with the immensely increased extent of all medical
and surgical sciences, practical medicine and practical surgery are at present combined
in the same person in most countries ; it was formerly hut seldom the case, and does
not exist now so extensively in England and France, as in Germany and other coun-
tries.   The history of literature and arts may raise the  question, whether the intel-
lectual capacities of individuals are as great now as formerly, particularly if we do
justice to our ancestors, and consider the much greater difficulties which they had to
encounter  and  their far more limited means.   The answer will unquestionably  be
still more in favor  of our ancestors, also in regard to their literary acquirements, if
we reflect on the stupendous works of men, as  Martin Luther, Grasvius, Friedrich
Hoffmann, Linne, Albertus Haller. &c, some of which are  so voluminous that copying
them only,  would almost require more than one man's life.  The present connexion
of practical medicine with surgery must be still more remarkable to  one who reflects,
that the father of  the  healing art  emphatically  exclaimed, upwards  of twenty-five
centuries ago, "how short is human life, and how long the  art!" and who reflects also
that, in modern times, nothing has more promoted the rapid improvements in almost
all branches of industry  than the division of labor.  We must admit, that all nations
of high standing may pride themselves upon possessing few men equally distinguished
by their great acquirements and talents in medicine as  well  as in surgery, and that
in general the people, especially when their number is but small in comparison to their
extent of country,  could  rather  dispense with good physicians  than with good sur-
geons, and will derive much greater benefit from their  professional men, if they can
officiate as physicians equally as well as surgeons and accoucheurs.  In general,  how-
.ever, as Providence has prominently distinguished certain nations with particular mo-
ral and intellectual dispositions and feelings, and as no nation  can, with propriety,
claim to combine in her natural character the virtues, talents and acquirements  of all
the others, so Providence has also seldom endowed one individual with the qualifica-
tions necessary for medical practice and  for the other  two sciences, which must be
considered more as arts and therefore as belonging together.  The natural dispositions
for the physicians on one  side, and for the surgeon and  accoucheur on the other,
differ widely.  Medicine depends more prominently upon  a disposition for abstract
philosophical inquiries,  upon a lively imagination and sympathy;  the other two  more
                                  8 
58
   With this  brief sketch of the  practice of medicine in our age, to

which we shall occasionally add a few remarks, the dissatisfaction


particularly upon a faithful memory,  upon mechanical  ingenuity  and dexterity, and
upon a certain  degree of apathy.   The surgeon has generally to operate upon the
human  body,  when suddenly  injured by some mechanical  power, while enjoying
health; the physician is more commonly called in, after a succession of causes, and their
correspondent effects, have long undermined the free vital actions of the body.  The
province of the  physician is more in the injured, or rather restricted actions of the
dynamical relations of the human body, more or less involved in mystery,  and there-
fore mostly objects of  conjecture ; the provinces of the other two are more the me-
chanical hindrances and checks to the healthy functions of the human body, which are
much more palpable and consequently are more readily discerned. Farther, while the
surgeon is easily misled by a too lively imagination,  the talented physician cannot  do
without it, since he must form an intellectual picture of the state of things, frequently
less dependent upon previous events and present phenomena, than upon his sympathy
with the feelings and sensations of the patient.  Fr. Bacon says, very properly, in
his work  de  Augment. Sclent:  "  Quare apud  poetas  summa ratione musica  cum
" medicina in Apolline conjungitur; quia similis fere situtriusque artis genius ; atque
" in ea consistat plane medici officium,  ut sciat corporis humani lyram ita tendere et
" pulsare, ut reddatur concentus minime discors et insuavis."   No one thoroughly
acquainted with  the profession, will depreciate surgery, and can deny the high credit
due to the accomplished surgeon, especially now that surgery has attained so much
perfection, and  since  so  many are saved from premature death, or from a painful
miserable existence, merely  by surgical skill.   One  severe case  of typhus  or  scarlet
fever, of consumption, paralysis, &c, however, requires more philosophical acuteness
and depth, than  most surgical operations, though, to a certain extent, the mistakes of
the physician are frequently  much more  ameliorated by the aid of nature than those
of the surgeon, since the  slightest  awkward or  injudicious movement of the surgeon
may endanger the life of his patient, and his ignorance in the treatment of a dislocat-
ed or fractured limb &c, can never be repaired by the aid  of nature. From their diffe-
rent natural dispositions and occupations we  find therefore, generally, that eminent
surgeons either undervalue all medical assistance, or, when acting as physicians, de-
cide too quickly  ; they are much more in favor of too powerful and too large doses of
drugs, paying less regard to  minutise than the physician, who, devoting his  life exclu-
sively to medical  practice, has learned by it, that one ounce of blood unnecessarily ab-
stracted,  or  one drop of  laudanum improperly applied, may frequently decide  on life
and death.  The surgeon  generally deals by wholesale with the vital power, the phy-
sician more by retail, and  we seldom  find even wholesale merchants  and retailers
equally attentive to minutiae and equally successful in exchanging one  kind of  busi-
ness  for  the  other.  It would  materially injure the surgeon, and degrade him to
a level with the lowest mechanic, if  he were  not  thoroughly acquainted with the
whole extent of the  medical  profession ;  and no well educated physician can dispense
with a minute knowledge  of surgery; but where it is possible to separate the practice
of both,  it will  prove highly beneficial to the public,  directly  and indirectly,  as
both will be advanced.  During  the last twenty years the students of medicine direct
their attention more to surgery than to the acquirements of a philosophical insight into
the theory of medicine, which would best promote the elevation of their minds over a
rude empiricism. The complaints made upwards  of a century ago by one  of the
greatest  practitioners and ablest medical  authors, have become  again but too  true.
Bernh. llamazzini  says, in his Oper. " quando nostra hac aetate  medicina ad mecha-
" nismum tola paane redacta est, et scholae nil mngis quam automatismum crepant "
It would not be difficult for an author, abler than ourselves, by minutely reviewing the
medical literature in the present age, to prove that medicine,  by its amalgamation
with  surgery, has rather adopted all the  features of the latter, by  relying more exclu-
sively on  the  palpable, especially if he  should advert  to the numerous medical and
surgical periodicals of England, France and Germany, and the proportional scarcity of
original medical  works like those of Sydenham, Portal, J. P. Frank, Benjamin Rush,
&c,  which  are  truly  valuable for  their abstracts of minute investigations during a
long and exclusively medical practice.  An extensive periodical  literature must be
considered as proving,  that education and learning are extensively diffused, as we may
judge from the  quantity of newspapers of the lively interest which a people is  per-
mitted to take in  its  political  institutions, or really takes  in  its self-government.
Where the periodical literature of a certain science, which embraces many votaries 
59
of many young physicians, aware of the  many and great profes-

sional desiderata on commencing practice, could easily  be explain-

ed,  and would do honor to their intellect as well as to their huma-

nity and professional zeal.   A large field  is  open to  them, to find

out less hazardous andmore  rational modes of cure, the materials

for which exist  in the voluminous writings of many distinguished

authors, from Hippocrates  down to the present time, and also in

the immense treasures, offered  to the philosophical and scrutinizing

physician, by the high  degree of  perfection which all the natural

sciences, and  especially  physiology  and   pathological  anatomy,

have  attained.   But should the  young physician,  misled  by igno-

rant fanatics, or by men who, being inconscious of the high duties

of their vocation, are anxious only to satisfy their morbid fancy

or low  interest, reject all closer investigations after truth, as mere

"  learned lumber;" and  should  he prefer to listen to  the  rudest

empiricism,  rather than to the dictates of rational medicine, to the

temptations  of a  miserable quackery rather than to  the  warning

voices of his conscience and of so many distinguished  physicians


does not succeed, there the low standing of professional education cannot be doubted,
because well educated men of every profession must keep pace with the new disco-
veries  and interesting suggestions in their  profession.  But  inasmuch  as a great
statesman cannot be formed or become satisfied only by the  perusal of newspapers,
so too  in regard to sciences, no solid knowledge can be drawn  from periodicals and
reviews only; they promote a superficial knowledge of scientific objects,and produce,
as has been proved in modern times in respect to medicine, many vague suggestions,
frequently not confirmed by experience. It is however evident that no  other  science or
art can  in this respect be compared with medicine and surgery, since in no other voca-
tion is the neglect of study so injurious.  The artist, if unacquainted with the latest
discoveries and improvements in his art, will injure himself only, or may thus even pre-
serve his originality; the lawyer, if he is not a distinguished scientific man, an author or
a professor, may easily be satisfied by knowing the few alterations made in the laws
and statutes, and. like the clergyman, who  is thoroughly versed in  his professional
studies before entering into office, he may consider his continued study more as va-
luable means to  improve his intellect, and as  an amusement worthy of his refined taste
and of his vocation, rather than as a duty. But the conscientious physician and surgeon
should  not be  satisfied with the knowledge they attained before their examination
and graduation: and no patient will be contented with the knowledge of his physician
acquired thirty or forty years ago, nor be satisfied if he remains uncured, or is even
materially injured,  because his doctor has lost a good share of the  old stock by the
lapse of so many years, and has remained ignorant of the many improvements and
discoveries  made during so long a period ;  certainly not! he silently wishes and is
entitled to demand, that he may be saved or relieved by all the means which the pro-
fession  offers at the moment he calls for its  aid, whether this be practicable only by
a new discovery or suggestion recently made in his own or  in any foreign country.
Both the physician and surgeon are therefore bound to continue their study, and free
themselves from the reproach of being, from neglected study,  in many cases, the ne-
gative cause of great  mischief and injury.   Every impartial  and intelligent layman
will find it difficult to comprehend how this can be done by a man, even if possessing
extraordinary mental capacities, talents, &c, when he is engaged day and night in his
his practice as a physician, a surgeon, an accoucheur, and perhaps also as an apothecary
and druggist.  Is not indeed our life a little  too short, to perform all  these important
duties conscientiously 1 
60
of all ages : he will repent, when too late, the  irreparable loss of
his own happiness, by having entered the hygieian temple unpre-
pared for such an arduous task.
   The reason why so many young men enter the medical pro-
fession unaware of its  extraordinary requisites and duties, and feel,
at a later period of their life, unhappy in the choice of their voca-
tion, may principally be ascribed to the total ignorance of the pub-
lic  in regard to medicine generally.  No art, no science is indeed
more unknown to laymen, although in none they are more deeply
interested and of none they pretend to judge  better.   The true
and only cause  of this is the want of  proper information  with
regard to the different sciences belonging to the study of medicine,
and especially to the want of a general philosophical education,
which is so much neglected in our time, although so indispensable
to all special scientific investigations, not only generally for the
formation of a sound judgment, but also  for the acquisition  of a
proper insight into the foundation and structure of all the sciences
and arts.   We therefore frequently  hear the  most absurd asser-
tions about the profession and  its practitioners, and see  particular
confidence placed in the unlearned  and  uneducated,  w7hose con-
ceptions and prejudices harmonize more with those of the public,
and who are devoid of that discreet and unaffected modesty and
dignity which always distinguish the man of  education and real
talent, and  which render him less  familiar with  common-place
topics.  These  are the principal reasons why  the profession is
highly valued only among the rudest  and the  most civilized na-
tions, while  its standing is the lowest among those, whose state of
civilization is more calculated for useful  knowledge than for ge-
neral philosophical inquiries into scientific  matters, especially if
the legal requisites for entering the profession are at the same time
trifling,  so that a large stock of professional men is always at  com-
mand.  The large number of  popular  treatises on  the cure  of
diseases has also contributed much  to perpetuate noxious preju-
dices and to promote very  defective knowledge, which is much
worse than none at all, whenever the  great difference  of two or
more apparently similar cases depends on minute distinctions, de-
rivable only from an intimate  knowledge  of the separate depart-
ments of the art.  Very few and urgent  cases excepted, in  nine
times out often,  the adoption of prescriptions recommended in such
works leads to mischief much  greater, than if nature is left undis- 
61
turbed, especially as such prescriptions are generally unconditional,
and  by not  adverting  to  the  great  importance of the different
causes, promote  the obnoxious opinion, that all  medical practice
consists only in  the close  observation of the symptoms, and  in
the application of the medicines recommended by the  profession
for the different  names  of  diseases.   This erroneous opinion has
principally paved the way for the zealous adoption of homceopathia
by many  in Germany, the well educated and judicious physicians
excepted.   Of all medical doctrines hitherto  promulgated, no one
tends to promote prejudices against rational  medicine more than
homoeopathia, although the present time is particularly propitious
for enlightening the public, and for restricting also the detrimental
abuse of powerful domestic medicines.
   During the long interregnum of rational medicine, and the pre-
valence of many favourable circumstances, the author of homoepa-
thia, even with his moderate talents,  might have much promoted
practical medicine, if he had tried to confirm some of his discoveries
by impartial experiments,  and to combine them with the indis-
pensable requisites of the rational healing art, instead of destroying
the  latter in a manner unparalleled in the history of any science,
since the restoration of the sciences and arts,  and worthy only of a
scientific Vandalism. That this has been the course of Hahnemann
and his followers, we feel particularly bound to prove, by the fol-
lowing review of the  principles or  rather  maxims of homoeo-
pathia ; these maxims are—
   1st. All simple drugs given to individuals  in health, produce in
them,  under all circumstances, certain  definite morbid symptoms,
which are termed drug-symptoms, and which  are similar  to  the
symptoms observable in certain corresponding natural diseases.
   2nd. The direct curative power of each simple drug, and of  all
medicines generally, consists exactly and exclusively in the simi-
larity  of the symptoms  of a natural disease to their corresponding
drug-symptoms, or to those  produced  in healthy individuals,  by
administering certain simple drugs to them ;  so that all other ope-
rations of drugs are to be considered as capable only of admitting
recovery indirectly, or by chance.
   3d.  All natural substances, but especially all drugs acquire,  by
certain mechanical processes, certain medicinal powers, so that any
quantity of the substance or  drug in question, however small, will
always operate absolutely and unconditionally as an effectual remedy 
62
 in its appropriate disease, by its specific power  properly developed,
 which power or virtue, however, increases  ad infinitum,  in  the
 direct ratio of the mechanical processes mentioned, and in  the in-
 verse ratio of the quantity of the substance.
   To give a complete  view of this doctrine, we must mention its
 author's theory  of all  chronic diseases, published in 1S28, about
 eighteen years after the first edition of his Organon, and twenty-
 three years  after  his publication of  the  homoeopathic doctrine.
 We shall see hereafter, that in this new work,  he has contradicted
 and explicitly retracted the second fundamental maxim of homceo-
 pathia, so that his doctrine, as it now stands, should be called Hah-
 nemannism, rather than homceopathia.
   At the very commencement of all homoeopathic doctrines,  viz.
 the experiments of simple drugs  upon healthy  individuals,  we
 meet with the great  difficulty arising from Hahnemann's  moral
 and scientific duplicity.  To say nothing of  the true conditions
 of perfect health, which, in its  strict physiological sense, is seldom
 met with,  and not ascertainable  unless the person is thoroughly
 known to the experimentalist  from his infancy : wherever experi-
 ments had been instituted by his opposers, exactly according to
 his first directions, and had proved abortive, he and his followers al-
 leged, as a chief cause, the erroneous opinion entertained by these
 opposers,  that homoeopathic doses of a drug should affect healthy
 persons.   They afterwards stated, that to observe the truth of their
 experiments, it was necessary to apply the simple drugs in question
 in  large  allopathic doses, (see Hahnemann's Organon, 4th edit.
 § 120 and 121, Dr. Moritz Mueller in Archiv fuer Homceopathische
•Heilkunde, Vol.  III. No. 1, p.  30, Dr. Gross, ibid, No. 3, p. 133,
 Dr. Rummel, ibid, Vol. V.  No. 1, p. 14.)   Dr. Hering also alludes
 to this, when he says,  (1. c. p. 14), " medicines do not become salu-
 " tary by their direct effects, such as are manifested in experiments
 " on healthy persons after strong and frequent  doses, &c."  When
 these experiments,  thus altered by Hahnemann's explicit advice
 had led his opposers again to results totally different from his state-
 ments, and he found it  difficult to verify other assertions  of his
 doctrine, he decided again  in  favor of his first suggestion  of ho-
 moeopathic doses.  In  this manner the author of the Concise View
 repeals and contradicts, also (1. c. p. 20), his statements just quoted,
 by saying : " But now its energies were developed, and displayed
 " so penetrating and  powerful an  influence  upon the healthy 
63
" subject of experiment, that  the trials with  it appertained to the
" most difficult and assaulting, so that higher developments were
" obliged to be made  for  further experiments; and for  remedial
" purposes the developments  were continued  up to the thirtieth
" power."  Hahnemann himself explains this still more distinctly,
saying, wherr speaking of table-salt (Chron. Dis.  Vol. IV. p. 276),
" All these statements refer to trials generally instituted on robust
" and healthy persons, with two or  three  doses of six little sugar-
" pellets, moistened with  the decillionth developed power.   Only
" when tried on healthy persons, in  such a high degree of develop-
" ment and solution,  all other remedies also are capable of dis-
" playing their  powers."   It is  evident that these contradictory
assertions  cannot  be  reconciled  with common  sense.  Suppose
that A, when speaking of a  substance, should say to  B, test  the
truth of my experiment, by taking once only the billionth part of a
grain of it, and B  tried it without experiencing the desired effect;
now A ridicules B  for doing exactly what he, A, has repeatedly
recommended, and says :  " take it by ounces, three or more times
" a day, and then you will observe what I told you."  B, however,
in  so doing, is still unsuccessful; A now prescribes again what
he did at first, or a quantity of many thousand million times less ;
every  one witnessing such  a transaction would say, with  the
greatest propriety, that A must be either a fool or an imposter ; but
according to the moral and intellectual conceptions of the fanatic ho-
moeopathists, A must be considered as " the strict and conscientious
" man, the earnest inquirer after truth, and the profound observer."
(Dr. Hering, 1. c. p. 14)!—In leaving Hahnemann's  doses of drugs,
until we  have arrived at the third maxim of homoeopathia, we
refer at present to  the experiments on  healthy persons with large
doses  of drugs, since, being forced to take one of both opposite
extremes, equally  recommended by him, we consistently take that
one which he has constantly used, until he had in his experiments
lately resolved otherwise.   We take this course  also  in favor of
homoeopathia itself, because if the same dose of any substance or
drug should operate exactly the  same in  health and in a diseased
state, it would follow  among other reasons to be mentioned, that
the substance or drug must be quite indifferent.
   This  point of view adopted,  we shall find, however, palpable
contradictions, which, Hahnemann  as well as his adherents, try in
vain to veil by the  tinsel. of a borrowed  scietific language.   Dr. 
64
Hering  says, in this  spirit, (I. c.  page  14:) "medicines do not
" become salutary by their direct effects, such as are manifested  in
" experiments on healthy  subjects after strong and irequent doses,
" but they are salutary by reason of their after-operation, or rather
" of the counteraction of the organization."
  We  should almost conclude from these  suggestions,  that the
injury of drugs, used in a manner  not sanctioned by the  tenets of
homoeopathia, depends upon their not causing any counter-or-after-
action in the living organization.   It  appears impossible  to com-
prehend how any  substance  could act  otherwise on  the living
body than by counter-action,  or by directing the irritability, sen-
sibility, or whatever we may term the general or specific manifesta-
tion of  the vital power  to some primary action, from which, for a
longer  or a shorter  time,  a series  of  others, termed  after-actions,
results.  It would indeed be quite a  novelty in physiology to believe
that medicines act on healthy persons  only, " by their direct effect,"
and that the " counter-action" is only a prerogative of the diseased
individual. It would also be difficult to comprehend, how any effect
can be perceptible without counteraction, and if it were really pos-
sible, how the homoeopathic experiments on healthy persons became
manifest.   If a substance does not produce counteraction in some
way, then we can  observe neither a beneficial nor a detrimental
action ; it is an absolute nonentity,  from which no positive  con-
clusion  can  be  drawn.   Without counteraction, the existence  of
all  diseases  would  be only imaginary, since life itself could not
exist;  the  direct action  of all external influences, precluding all
counteraction, being nothing but death itself.  But admitting even
that the suggestion quoted implies counteraction in the  diseased
and no counteraction in the healthy state, or a counteraction  ma-
terially different in both ; this itself involves so great a difference
between the healthy and  diseased  states  as reasonably to  preclude
such inferences.  Supposing even  the statement in the " Concise
View"  to be correct, viz: that the immensely diluted drug acts more
mildly  and  with less violence in the  diseased state, notwithstand-
ing its  vastly multiplied developed power, a proposition yet incon-
sistent in itself, we  would ask for  the present only, if the counter
action depends merely on  the vital power, how  can it be explained
or proved, that their reaction is more energetic in the diseased than
in the healthy state, and  that the  spreading of any re-or-counter-
action, be it  by association or antagonism of the different  systems 
65
 and organs of the living body, always extends in the former more
 than in the latter?  This may be the  case  in a few instances of
 hyperaesthesia, but certainly not in anaesthesia or paralysis, and in
 the former always only with regard to  the extent, and not to the
 intensive energy of the  vital  reaction ; it appears more consistent
 with  reason and sound physiological principles,  to say, that the
 increase of intensive vital energy precludes all disorders  and dis-
 eases  rather than promotes them.   We are  well aware that Hah-
 nemann in  his religious duplicity, utters also frequently, and almost
 in the same breath, the most blasphemous and pious suggestions,
 saying in many passages of his writings, and even in the preface
 to his  Organon, what no man of common sense has ever ventured
 to pronounce, viz. that  " the vital  powers are the most  helpless.
 " most undesigning, most stupid, generally unbeneficial and inju
 " rious, and only instinctive," although in some other sections of his
 Organon and other wTorks, he graciously compliments nature  by
 leaving her  some insignificant share in his all-curing  method.
 But believing in our humble devoutness, that the vital  powers in
 organized bodies, which form only a part of the universal powers
 of nature, are  the most accomplished,  most energetic  and most
 beneficial, and perfectly worthy of the infinite wisdom and mercy
 of their eternal and omnipotent Creator, we are forced to admit
 also, that if these powers were possibly less restricted, and there-
 fore more intensively energetic in any diseased  state than  in a
 healthy one—a proposition contrary to common sense—they would
 of themselves be quite sufficient to remove all  diseases in the quick-
 est and safest manner, without any medical aid, which would then
 be entirely useless or rather detrimental.  The effect of substances
 commonly used  by  healthy persons, which the  author  of  the
 " Concise View,"  calls  in the sense of homoeopathia, (page 26,)
 " endowed with  peculiarly active properties, as well as medicines
 " properly so called, &c, such as coffee, tobacQo,^ saffron, all spirit-
 " uous drinks," proves also the inconsistency  of the  assertion,  that
 medicines do not produce in  healthy persons a counter-or .after-
operation, since this  must be true also respecting the named sub-
 stances; which, of course, would be absurd.  To say nothing of the
effect, palpable to every body, if a  glass of madeira be given to a
healthy infant, will it not produce a very serious counteraction, by
which  a series of after-actions will begin and continue, terminating
probably in  apoplexy, unless proper aid  be quickly administered?
                              9 
66
The same will be the case with a strong dose of any sufficiently
powerful drug, when taken by a healthy adult.  Dr. Hering ad-
mits the baneful influence of spirituous liquors when used habitu-
ally. Does not this prove the protracted counter-and after-operation
of substances termed by him medicinal, if applied to the healthy
body ?  How could the  repeated abuse of brandy become so ex-
cessively detrimental to the physical and mental condition of man,
if its effects were ,only immediate  and  not protracted  by any
counter-or  after-operation,  and  herefore immediately  extinct
after it is taken ? Is habit any thing but the gradually diminished
atnd  shortened counter-and after-action  consecutory to  a certain
and sufficiently repeated external influence upon the living body?
A person who gives himself up to drunkenness, this horrible and
worse than  brutal passion, begins  by satisfying  his taste with a
small quantity, but he is compelled to increase it gradually, not as
some recent authors assert, simply from a morbid irritability of the
stomach or a distemper of its nerves, but mostly rather from the
contrary cause, viz. from the physical insensibility of the nervous
system,  or  from his reckless inclination  to ;blunt, by  this des-
structive  stimulus, the moral  feelings and thoughts on  one side,
and to animate the wrong ones on the other. Without the counter-
action and after-operation of all the  systems,  particularly of the
nervous system, and of its animal and spiritual head-quarters, such
a wretched person  would be obliged to drink incessantly, and even
then would hardly attain his abject purpose.
  The same  remarks apply to all idiosyncrasies which, contrary
to Hahnemann, are valued so highly  by Dr. Hering, (1. c. page
25.)   Hahnemann, in opposition to the daily experience of others,
and also in contradiction to  his own statement, on page 205 of his
Organon, where he admits that all persons are not affected  in the
same manner  by drugs, says explicitly on pages 197 and 198 of
the same  work:  "  by  idiosyncrasy  a proper condition  of the
" body is understood, in consequence of which there is in the same,
" although considered healthy, an inclination  to  become  more or
" less morbidly affected  by  certain  things, which produce no im-
" pression or change in all o:,her persons.   But this  defect of im-
" pression in all persons is merely imaginary," and  on pages 121
and 122, § 26, he says, " The physical and moral powers, which
"are  termed morbid influences, do  not  possess  unconditionally
'the  power of deranging health,  but we only fall sick  under 
67
" their influence, when our organism is susceptible of the action of

"morbific causes and becomes affected, changed, distempered, and

" transmuted  into  abnormal sensations and actions  by them;—

" those powers therefore do not cause diseases in all men, nor in the

" same man at all periods, &c,"  and in § 27.  " But the case is far

" different with the artificial causes of diseases, termed drugs.  In

" fact,  every  real  medicine acts at  any  time, under  all circum-

" stances, upon every  living  individual,  and excites  in  him its

" peculiar symptoms, (perceptible  if  the dose  is large enough,) so

" that it is evident  that  each living human  organism must at

li all times, and absolutely {unconditionally) become  affected and

11 almost infected  by the drug-disease, which  as I  have already

" explained, is not  the case with  natural diseases."*  The technical

term, idiosyncrasy, may be explained more clearly by the disposition

to become affected, by one  or more  certain agents, in  a  manner

difficult  to  be subdued by habit, and  unusual  to the species to

which an animal,  or  to the class to  which a person belongs.   It

may depend upon  the reaction of one or more  systems, or merely

of  a single organ or part,  and may be attributed to  the peculiar

structure or specific chemical  relation  of  the  system or organ af-

fected, particularly of the nervous system,  by which probably  the

vital electro-chemical (magnetical) process or that of vital attraction

and repulsion, termed also (physical) sympathy  and antipathy, is

abnormally altered. Such an idiosyncrasy may exist with regard to

common substances, as well as with unusual ones or drugs; not only


  * The indulgent reader will on an attentive perusal consider the whole of this quota-
tion, like most of the quotations from Hahnemann, as unintelligible and their single in-
telligible words and expressions as bombastic cant. We  can however assure him, that
they are not intentionally selected, and rather chosen by chance from similar ones to
serve our objections; we have taken also the greatest pains to translate all these
quotations faithfully, and have even  frequently consulted the French translation of the
Organon,  to render them  as  intelligible as possible;  but  of course no faithful
translator ought to substitute sense for the original nonsense, (as is frequently done in
the incorrect French translation,)  even  if he were more partial or indulgent for the
great mass of nonsense contained in the works of Hahnemann and his followers, than
we pretend to be.  Possessing only the 4th edition of Hahnemann's Organon, we are
obliged  to rely for some of  our quotations on those older editions cited by Dr. Kopp,
in his work already mentioned, who by his acknowledged respect and  partiality for
Hahnemann and his doctrines, will certainly have anxiously avoided  all false quota-
tions.   Even where the sense of a quotation is  too plain to be misunderstood, the
fanatic homoeopathists may  charge us with an erroneous  or false interpretation; these
lines however, are not written for them,  but for the benefit of the profession and the
public, and we must leave such charges to be finally decided by the competent and
impartial critic. Fortunately, our library affords us valuable means, to prove incontro-
vertiblv the correctness of some of our assertions belonging to the history of homoeo-
pathia, and the biography of its author, which at least to  our knowledge have hitherto
been neglected by his opposers.  We shall be much pltased to show these printed
documents to every one who wishes to see them. 
68
in health, but also in diseases; and this in  such a manner that a
person, possessed of a certain idiosyncrasy when in health, may
lose it when sick, and vice versa;  no one himself, and much less
another person, can be aware of this peculiar disposition until he
has observed it.  Many of the healthy individuals on whom  Hah-
nemann has made his experiments with drugs may have had such
an idiosyncrasy, by which the result was varied without knowing
it, and this must have led  him to great mistakes in practice, al-
though  if all  the  individuals in  question should have been quite
free  from such an idiosyncrasy,  the homoeopathist  with all  his
" careful attention to minutiae" will frequently meet with the same
difficulties in patients  possessing such an anomaly not known be-
fore.  It would therefore  at least be indispensable  for homoeopa-
thists,  unless  they claim  prophesy, to have minutely tried  the
effects of all their drug-atoms upon  their patients, previous to their
falling  sick, and  they ought not to employ any remedy with  pa-
tients, who  were strangers to them before.  But this difficulty is
not removed even by an intimate  acquaintance with persons  when
in health, since, as stated  above,  it does not follow that the same
particular disposition continues when sick.—It  might justly be
objected, that  these difficulties are not  peculiar  to  homoeopathia,
but affect also the allopathic treatment very much, and a judicious
physician is well aware of the important influence of many idiosyn-
crasies  upon a rational treatment.  The  difference however be-
tween these  two  isj that  the homoeopathist, infallible in  his own
opinion, will suppose, after he has ordered his patient to smell of a
sugar-pellet every month or less frequently,  that the increase  of the
disease is only the salutary counter-or after-action, produced by his
magical sugar-pellet; and the patient must quietly endure this as
the  sign of his infallible cure, since, even  if  he becomes a great
deal worse, this must be ascribed, in strict obedience to the dictates
of Hahnemann, (see Organon, § 152,) to the beneficial effect of the
drug, rather than  to the  influence of idiosyncrasy or to any other
cause;  whereas the  allopathist, judiciously considering  that no
substance whatever acts absolutely and unconditionally, that many
influences frequently alter the general effect of medicines, that
some unexpected  idiosyncrasy may prevail, &c, all of which are
known to him by his experience or literary  acquirements, will soon
observe his mistake, and  remedy it in time by another careful 
69
selection,  until he has overcome such  extraordinary  obstacles.*

Exclusive of  idiosyncrasy,  the mind and body of  the  diseased

individual, generally differs from  what they were  in a healthy

state ;  all  his  feelings, thoughts and  resolutions are more or less

altered, so that physicians even, when  sick themselves, are  liable

to many errors, and are therefore forced to call in the aid of a col-

league.   Pleasures to which we are accustomed  when  in health,

such as the  use  of wine, coffee, segars, &c, generally grow dis-

gusting to us when sick.   This  peculiarity extends  even to those

changes of the human body,  which are established upon the fun-

damental laws of organized bodies, and which should therefore not

be considered  as diseased conditions; pregnancy, for instance, if

even  otherwise quite  normal, frequently causes great changes in

the physical actions of certain substances, so that healthy females

in this situation are unable to bear, what in other situations affords

them peculiar comfort; to say nothing of their  singular and often

irresistible propensities and other mental affections, frequently aris-

ing from want of a good education and from popular prejudices.

   All experiments with drugs upon  healthy persons must further

appear very  delusive,  if  we  consider  the  constant influence  of

the mind  and the  nervous excitement generally attending such

experiments.   When a healthy or  sick  person is  attentively ex-


   * We were recently amused with a curious but true narrative, showing the obsti-
nate and implicit  faith of homoeopathists in the tenets and dictates of their doctrine,
which was told to us by a professional man, to whom the patient afterwards applied.
In a large American city, a German merchant excessively enraptured with homceopa-
thia, and forcing this  " great treasure" upon his fellow-citizens by his constant obtru-
sive solicitations,  induced a man, suffering from giddiness, to apply to his easy-and-
quick-curing homoeopathic doctor.  As the patient grew daily worse after swallowing
or smelling, we do not know exactly, a few atoms of some developed antipsoric
 " drug-virtue," he complained to the  doctor, and was consoled with the assurance
 that this was the intended effect of the drug,  being its "salutary counter-operation."
 After continuing the old, or  some new developed drug-virtue for several weeks, the
 indisposition increased, the giddiness, which before intermitted for hours  or days,
 became constant, and the patient, on  going down stairs,  fell, and was near breaking
 his neck.   The patient remonstrated  with the  all-curing doctor, and on telling him
 that he had almost broken his neck,  the doctor jumped up joyfully, and cheerfully
 laughing, exclaimed, "Oh!  excellent! delightful! that is  just the salutary after-
 " operation for which I so much wished!  now you must  believe yourself completely
 " cured !"   The indignant patient, fearing a still more developed, similar after-ope-
 ration, abandoned this frothy simpleton, applied to che allopathic physician mentioned
above, and was soon cured of  his giddiness by rational treatment.—This mode  of
saying to patients who feel no relief,  or even feel  worse, " you are mistaken, you
" must not only feel  much  alleviated, but must  now consider yourself completely
 " cured," is very common with homoeopathic practitioners :  it does not always arise
 from intentional imposition, or from this modern mode of quackery, but may frequently
 be ascribed only to the very characteristics of all honest fanatics, who, unconsciously
 blind to  the light of truth,  would  make the whole world so, if they could, even by
 willingly sacrificing all that is dearest to them. 
70
  amining his own pulse, or the aperture of his own pupil, they often
  change from one moment to another, very remarkably, merely in
  consequence of the influence of the mind.   Should the person be
  conscious of having taken a medicine for experiment, and  of being
  watched attentively  for its  effects, he will undoubtedly present
  many symptoms which do  not depend the least on the drug, but
  which  are  produced only by his mental  excitement.  This  must
  be still more the case  when he  is already familiar with the ex-
  pected symptoms, and therefore  prepossessed, or even much inter-
  ested in the result, by ambition, by scientific  zeal, or by a similar
  cause.   It is therefore  not  surprising that experiments, with the
  same drugs, minutely instituted on  healthy  persons, by others
  with  less prejudice and with more  caution against error, as for
  instance, those  instituted by Professor Joerg at  Leipzig, with his
  students, have  led to  results,  which, though  likewise  totally  at
  variance with all experience of their  effect in  diseases, are  very
 different from those of Hahnemann, who anxious to multiply the
 morbid  drug-symptoms  produced  by his  experiments,  has  in-
 creased  these symptoms to  an  enormous number: for instance,
 those of bark, which  already amount to 1,143, (see Hahnemann's
 Reine Arzneymittellehre, or Materia Medica, Vol. III.,) and which
 will increase still  more  at  pleasure, with the continuance  of
 such delusive experiments.*  Fortis  imaginatio generat  casum.
 Let one drop of  water, coloured by any indifferent  admixture, be
 administered to a person, especially if disposed to mental excitement,
 with the  understanding that it is an  active drug, which will  pro-
 duce numerous definite symptoms, all  of which are to be minutely
 written  down, by a close cross-examinator, and it  is  more than
 probable, that he will  feel all the presumed effects and many more.
 How much prudent precaution  must  every circumspective physi-
 cian take, not to be imposed on or misled by stories of his patients,
 mostly involuntarily arising only from their physical and  mental
 excitements.  Physicians, frequently prepossessed by a professional
 hobby, be it that they consider all diseases as inflammatory, venous,
  * It appears that Hahnemann sometimes is duped in return  by his disciples.  We
 are at least told by a trustworthy young phvsician, now in this country, who after he
 had finished his studies in France and Germany, had lived  for some months with
 Hahnemann, chiefly to become acquainted  with his mode of treatment, that he wns
 frequently induced by his fellow-students to follow their example, and make to Hah-
 nemann fictitious statements about the drug-symptoms, after  new  trials with such
 drugs as he made them take.  Hahnemann appeared confidently to believe the most
absurd and ridiculous reports, and wrote them down with great'satisfaction,  probably
for a new work, or for the next edition of one of his old " aigantic" works 
71
 nervous, gastric, (fee, or as arising from morbid affections  of the
 heart, liver, &c, or from syphilis, itch, <fec, must therefore be par-
 ticularly cautious, not to elicit, by their  cross-examinations, false
 statements from their patients.
   In viewing theoretically these experiments with different drugs
 on healthy persons, in  order  to  ascertain  effects corresponding
 to the symptoms of different diseases, it would appear strange, and
 contrary to all former experiments, if they should ever lead to sa-
 tisfactory results.
   Health must be  considered as that state in which the individual
 fulfils with intensive and extensive vital energy, its destination  in
 respect  to its natural species, to its age, and  to the circumstances
 in which it lives, and must necessarily be accompanied by com-
 fortable  physical and mental feelings, as the natural consequences
 of the perfectly harmonious actions of all the integrant parts con-
 stituting the  individual whole.   Whenever  this harmony  is dis-
 turbed to such a degree that this destination cannot be performed,
 or that  his feelings become uncomfortable,  a  more or less con-
 siderable diseased state exists. We may justly suppose the manifes-
 tation of all life, and of course also of both those states of organized
 beings in general,  to be  the product of two factors—one founded
 on the innate capacity to become  affected by, and to react upon
 the agents external to the living body, and thus to preserve the
 particular  characteristics of their individual  life, (physical  ego-
 tism,  or subjective condition of life) ;  the other originating from
 the action of the external agents themselves, (objective conditions
 of life) which instigate and entertain the action of the former, but
 are contemporaneously so restricted and modified by the same, that
 those agents lose, to a  certain degree,  their properties usually ob-
 servable  in physical nature, and also a part of those which may be
 considered as peculiar to the whole species to which the individual
 belongs.   Thus caloric,  electricity, poisons, &c. lose not only  a
 part of their physical properties in all living bodies, but also pecu-
 liarly in  every single individual, though often in so slight a degree
 that we cannot perceive it; facts which have made hitherto all exact
 definitions of the term poison impossible.  All attempts to explain
life in another manner might appear either inconsistent with  our
intellect and experience, or will contain the same sense expressed
in different words ;  since thereby we can best explain the physical
dualism  prevalent in all the actions of nature,  and its extinction 
72
 by commutation into a  third, both uniting together, viz., absolute
 self-action of two opposite powers, and their  mutual restriction, in
 order to form a third action resulting from them.—It follows, how-
 ever, therefrom, that the healthy and diseased states  are  so far
 identical,  that both are subject to the same general laws  of orga-
 nized living bodies, and that in both states the individual is equally
 liable to the loss of his  life by agents absolutely destructive; but,
 nevertheless, the difference between both states is  very prominent
 to  a certain  degree;  for instance, poisons  acting dynamically,
 are often  used as antidotes with decided benefit in doses  capable
 of destroying the life of the same individual when healthy ;  a fact
 which induced the intelligent Greek, with all the richness  of his
 language, to use one and the same term for poisons and medicines.
 It naturally follows from the conditions of life in health and disease
just mentioned, that nothing in the world can act unconditionally
 upon the living  body, not even  those agents which destroy life,
 since it is probable that, however unconditional the final  fatal re-
sults of such deleterious agents may appear to us, they must never-
 theless be regarded as a compound product of the agent itself, and
of the state of  the living body, at the moment the former  acted.
The same portion of a strong poison, for instance, does  not kill all
individuals equally quick, nor in exactly the same  manner.  We
 may allude not only to the  differences in the decomposition of
dead bodies varying in  proportion to  the absolute strength of the
destructive agent; for instance, so far we know the equally  quick
decomposition of all animals killed by lightning, "&c.;  but, where
the agent was in itself less destructive, and all the circumstances
alike, the  time and degree of the decomposition differ according to
the difference of the vital  energy which existed before death.
Thus the fatal  disease  being precisely  the same,  the  corpses  of
children are generally decomposed less quickly than those of adults,
probably because the vital reproductive  power  being  much more
lively in them, it cannot be reduced, during life, so quickly as in
adults, and because their mental capacities are less developed;  as ge-
nerally the action of the mind inadultsexhausts thevital powers and
hence the corpses of some lunatics also decompose less quickly. One
and the same cause may therefore produce the most different diseases
and their symptoms, according to the different states of the indivi-
dual upon whom it operated.  Every one will admit that to-day
 we escape unhurt from those agents which to-morrow may make us 

dangerously ill.   Intemperance  in food and drink, cold, passions,
(fee, will occasion, in a number of persons, either none or the most
different diseases, and of course also their different symptoms, and
it  is rare for one cause to produce uniformly  the same disease.
Hahnemann, well aware of these facts, acknowledged by common
sense and daily experience, was  forced to the greatest absurdity
ever committed by man, in claiming for his drugs and for  his ex-
periments an  unconditional operation.  Had this not  been the
case,  he would  have  indirectly admitted, that all his  fortunate
cures might be ascribed, not to his atoms, but to a strict diet, mental
excitement, or other causes;  he  would  have indirectly  admitted,
that a great many, if not  all diseases,  presenting, of course, dif-
ferent symptoms, might be cured altogether by one and the same
drug, and that his whole materia  medica might be  reduced to a
few, or even to one medicine.  Thus, if he had admitted that table-
salt  and flint,  as well as causticum and calcaria, did not act un-
conditionally, but that each of them, from different circumstances,
might produce different symptoms in healthy persons, as he solely
referred to their similarity in natural diseases, he might have sub-
stituted one of these four for each of the others, and thus, perhaps, also
one for all his other drugs.  The quackery of his whole doctrine
would have been more evident, as he must then recommend for all
diseases, on account of the frequent similarity of their symptoms, a
panacea, or one universal remedy, which,being a simple drug, would
have been credited by no one.  He was forced, for these simple rea-
sons, to contradict all experience and principles of the profession, and
to reject even the smallest allopathic doses of drugs, being cunning
enough to expect the unavoidable downfall of his whole doctrine
at its first outset, even in the eyes of the most stupid,  if,  instead
of his chimerical atoms of drugs,  which are  absolutely equal  to
nothing, the smallest  allopathic doses were used;  for instance,
if, instead of the common remedies to check vomiting or diarrhoea,
common doses of emetics and cathartics should be given in addi-
tion.   We  may  predict therefore also with the greatest  proba-
bility that,  whenever homoeopathists  resolve to exchange  their
fanciful doses for common ones,  as many do already secretly from
hypocrisy, and as all of them will  soon be forced to do,  especi-
ally  in urgent cases, their  whole doctrine will cease to exist on
account of its palpable  injury.—It is one of the  most satisfactory
experiences  in rational medicine, which alone may be considered
                              10 
74
snfficient to destroy the whole homoeopathic doctrine, and to  out-
weigh all the suggestions  of Hahnemann, that in some diseases,
where the  physiological and pathogenetical relations between cause
and its effect are more clearly understood, and where, at the same
time, the modus operandi of a drug is more fully ascertained, the
drug loses its usual characteristic influence upon the body when in
health, or when affected by a disease which either did not correspond
from its beginning to the specific quality of the drug, or has ceased
to do so in the successful progress of the treatment.  Under such
circumstances  a drug  may, therefore,  be administered  with the
greatest benefit in doses a hundred times larger than the same in-
dividual would bear in his healthy state, until that disease is ex-
tinguished, when the  drug immediately readopts its  detrimental
influence.  This is the case, for instance, with mercury in syphilitic
diseases, during which persons, who, when healthy, cannot take one
grain without being salivated, may take it for a length of time without
this effect, until the disease is cured.  A similar effect of this remedy
we observe also in all genuine inflammatory diseases of the mucous
membranes, especially of the respiratory organs,  such as croup,
bronchitis, &c, in which the mercury appears only to operate against
the disease itself, and  to neutralize,  almost  chemically, its cause,
viz., the increased  plastic tendency of these membranes, without
any material influence upon the  salivary glands, until the disease
begins to subside,  when the mercury immediately reassumes its
noxious effect.  The same may be said of  bark and its prepara-
tions in intermittent fevers, and  in other periodical diseases.   In
such cases, if we should conclude, from  the effect  of the drug ad-
ministered  in health, upon its effect in disease, we should be very
much mistaken.  It is as inconsistent with reason and with sound
pathogenetical  conceptions of diseases  generally,  to suppose  that
drugs, administered to  a healthy person, would ever produce such
symptoms of diseases,  and much less that the latter themselves re-
semble or correspond to those which are termed natural diseases,
as it would be  to believe the same definite  product arising from
two factors  would continue to be the same, if one factor is changed,
or both disproportionally.  Let Hahnemann administer his drugs to
healthy persons by ounces or by atoms;  by what other arguments
than his deceitful experiments can he prove that the ounces or atoms
of his drugs contain, qualitate as well as quantitate, the same mor-
bific agents as the  atmosphere, the soil,<fec.  offer? Admitted even 
75
the foolish supposition of a qualitative identity or similarity, must
we not adopt the still greater absurdity, that his ounces or atoms
are far more powerful than all natural agents, miasmata, contagia,
&c. since, with the most noxious influences of the latter, during the
prevalence of the most fatal epidemics, thousands escape, but from his
drug-diseases, as he asserts, not one individual can escape, because
they always act absolutely  and unconditionally ?   Although this
will  be  explained more fully in discussing the second maxim  of
the homoeopathic doctrine, we mention here only, that as all life
is to be considered as a definite product of the two factors, vary-
ing within certain limits  in each individual at every moment, and
in every state, but always under the supposition of the harmonious
action of all the systems and organs when in health, it evidently
results from our objections just mentioned, that the disturbance
of this  definite product or harmonious action by a drug, cannot
admit of any sound  conclusion  upon the  effect of the same drug,
when the product is already altered by the change of one or both
factors,  or  more briefly, when  the body is sick.   Who  but an
idiot can imagine, that two different products,  the  one presenting
the healthy, the other the diseased state, could be changed by any
third factor into two other products,  which are either identical  or
diametrically opposite to one another; the latter must however be
the case, when the same drug which makes the healthy sick, makes
the sickly healthy.
   For these palpable reasons, the conclusions respecting the action
of a substance upon the  diseased state from its action in health,
must lead to the grossest mistakes; just as if we were to conclude,
from the beneficial influence of the bright day-light on healthy
eyes, that it must be also beneficial in those diseases in which pho-
tophobia is the prominent symptom, and in which  the patient
must be  anxiously shielded from the light until  he is cured by
proper remedies, and even then must be gradually accustomed  to
bear it.  The experiments with drugs on  healthy persons may be
considered in  certain respects, though by far  less scientific and
more fanciful, similar to many physiological experiments on living
animals, which also have sometimes led to very false conclusions,
since tortured nature will present phenomena totally different from
those where nature is left free and undisturbed ; just as the pages
of history, stained by the reports of  tortured men, prove that this
disgracefully barbarous manner of eliciting statements, has murd- 
76
ered more  innocent  persons  than it  has brought guilty ones to
punishment.
  The first fundamental principle of homoeopathia before us, if we
dare call it so, is so intimately connected with thesecond, which may
more properly  deserve that term, viz: " similia similibus curantur,
that we  must now discuss them together. The objections already
offered will appear  to the  impartial critic as sufficient,  clearly to
prove that, if the  result of any experiment  with  a drug, upon
a healthy individual, admits  of no correct conclusion as to the
salutary  effect  of  the same drug when  applied  to  the same
individual, in  its corresponding natural disease ; all such experi-
ments, instituted with a view to draw practical inferences, in respect
to all individuals of  one species when  similarly affected, must a
fortiori lead to the greatest errors and mistakes.  Such experiments
may be  interesting for  some physiological  and pathological in-
quiries and may lead indirectly to valuable results, by the detection
of specific medicinal  properties contained in substances, if they are
instituted with a minute knowledge of theoretical  and  practical
medicine, and with  an unprejudiced mind. The profession would be
thankfully indebted  to Hahnemann, for some discoveries ascribed
to him, if he had acted in this manner; but in our opinion, even if
his suggestions and statements in regard to his drug-sickness were
as  true,  as most of  them  are  false, a safe leading principle for
medical practice never can or will be drawn from them.
  The second maxim of Hahnemann's doctrine constitutes homoeo-
pathia itself:  it asserts  by "similia similibus curantur," that all
diseases  will be most safely and quickly cured, by minutely regard-
ing the symptoms only, which are presented to the close observer
in each natural disease, and that such simple  drugs  only, which
produce  in healthy  persons  symptoms  most similar to the symp-
toms of  the natural disease  in question, will also be not only the
proper but the only medicines for a direct or safe cure.   Thus for
instance, calomel  if  taken by a healthy person will generally pro-
duce salivation, and  if continued long enough, ulcers on  the gums,
in the throat, (fee; homceopathia therefore considers calomel as the
best remedy where such symptoms are observed ; opium produces
in  healthy persons drowsiness,  stupor,  costiveness, &c, it must
therefore be considered as the best remedy for the cure of diseases
marked  by drowsiness, stupor, costiveness, &c.  Hahnemann, well
aware that these assertions could not for a moment be supported 
77
by experiments made with common doses of medicines, because
calomel taken for salivation, or opium forcostiveness, in allopathic
doses, would soon, and not excepting one among many thousands,
increase the symptoms and  all the dangers of the disease, was
therefore, as stated above, forced into the other absurdity, that these
and all other homoeopathic drugs are to be applied only in  doses
which cannot be rendered too small by the process of dilutions or
triturations.  The latter forming, however, the third proposition or
maxim of homoeopathia, we shall discuss it hereafter.
   The medical profession was before Hahnemann's doctrine, and
is as yet, generally divided into the following three principal classes,
not to mention their  numerous subdivisions:   The first class, or
the mere theorists, explain the nature and proximate causes of
diseases not arising from  external  mechanical injury, by general
principles drawn from their knowledge of the  universal physical
powers of nature, from the various  changes and modifications pro-
duced by the different structure and functions of organized living
bodies in general, and particularly by the  human  body, from
anatomy, physiology, psychology, (fee.   They are more in favor of
general hypothetical causes and of some medical system, than of
experience. In their pathogeny and therapeutics they refer particu-
larly  to the different external influences to which the patient was
exposed before he fell sick, to the general symptoms which the three
systems of the  human body, the  nervous, the vascular and re-
productive present, to the chemical qualities of drugs, (fee, and not to
special symptoms and to the mere empirical adhibition of medicines.
They are generally men of distinguished  learning and talent, to
whom the theory of medicine owes great improvements, but they
 are not practical meir; being, by their too  lively and  too predomi-
 nant imaginations, less able to institute minute observations, and to
 act with sufficient impartiality and circumspection than to speculate
 They are the poets, or at least les beaux esprits of the profession.
    The  second  class, or the mere  empirics, despise generally all
 theoretical sciences and reasoning.  Without  reference to causes,
 they regard only the symptoms of  diseases offered to them by the
 palpable functional disorders in the systems, organs and parts of
 the human body, and the medicines  recommended as the  best
 specifics for removing the symptoms.   Considering all physiologi-
 cal and pathogenetical researches as nugatory and useless, they
 rely principally on the prescriptions contained in  the text-books on 
78
materia medica and therapeutics, or on other practical statements.
If they, from professional consciousness or from scientific interest,
are not. satisfied with the practical knowledge acquired as students,
or by their own experience, but are eager and susceptible of modern
discoveries, then they are much more fascinated by a new symptom,
and new definite mode of treating a disease, or still more by a new
medicine  recommended as  a specific,  than by the  greatest dis-
coveries in physiology and  the  acutest elucidations in pathogeny
and general therapeutics.   Mostly from want of a thorough pro-
fessional education,  prepossessed with implicit self-confidence and
very liberal  in their prognosis, and in their promises of  quick and
safe cures, they generally enjoy the confidence of the public;  though
in fact, they are the common labourers of the profession. Without
being in  favour or conscious of  any general principle, their treat-
ment regards particularly  the maxim, "contraria contrariis cu-
rantur,"  or that the diseases  are to  be treated by such  medicines
as are known to operate contrary to the symptoms; for instance if
a person  is costive, they prescribe cathartics ;  if the pulse of the
patient is full, hard, quick, frequent, and the  feverish excitement
predominates,' they  bleed,  leech,  &c,  even if these symptoms
originate in opposite causes; or  also, they attempt to substitute for
the existing  disease, one of minor importance, and  they  do this
likewise without any judicious reason, and merely from their own
experience, or from statements contained in books;  thus they pre-
scribe powerful cathartics, leeches,  blisters,  or similar revulsives, to
generate a haemorrhoidal flux, or to cause an artificial exanthema,
when the brain or the lungs appear seriously affected, (fee, whether
or not this course is indicated by a circumspective reference to the
true cause, and to particular important circumstances.  Hahne-
mann in his classification  calls the latter, more properly, allopa-
thists, and the former of this second class,  antipathists, from " avn
opposite,  and taAog disease," or also enantiopathists, from " svowiog
contrary," butas both of these belong to our second class, and do not
act similar to, (o>oi'os) but different  from (aXkoTog) the symptoms of
the disease,  they may both  be, and  are now  generally embraced
under the term allopathists, or more correctly alloeopathists.
  Hahnemann and his followers  give the latter  name  to  all
those physicians  who are not  in  favour  of  homoeopathia, and
therefore, of course, particularly  to those  belonging to  the third
class,  who  endeavour  to  combine  the  principles and maxims 
                              79

of theoretical medicine  with the results  of  faithful  observation
and experience.   Whenever it appears to  their judgment, formed
by  a  minute  knowledge  of  all  professional  and  collateral
sciences  and by their philosophical  investigation, that a definite
cause of the disease may justly be  supposed,  they do not  reflect
much upon the symptoms, but endeavour  to remove the cause; but
where the existence of such a  cause cannot be explained by phy-
siological reasons, they follow the directions  which asound diagnosis,
based on the results of post mortem examinations,  on a minute
symptomatology, (fee assign to them, in accordance with the many
faithful experiences on  record.  They value  general pathogene-
tical and therapeutical principles more than naked experience,
though in regard to the exclusive general  modes of treatment, par-
tially propounded in the so called medical systems, they are sceptics
or rather eclectics, convinced  that no medical system has stood
or can stand the full test  of impartial experience, although most
of them  contain,  more or less,  some valuable truths.   They never
lose sight  of any thing which could, even distantly, benefit the
profession, but nevertheless they are  not influenced by any autho-
rity, and are anxious to  remove even the delusive  impressions
of their own fortunate  experiences,  in order  to individuate every
case minutely and without the least  preconception  They are the
true artists of the profession and deserve the name of physicians?
in preference to all the others; though being, from  their want of
implicit self-confidence,  and from their contempt of even a refined
charlatanism, cautious in their prognosis, and incapable of making
definite  promises of cure, they are seldom deservedly esteemed by
the majority of the public, and enjoy merely the respect and confi-
dence of its well educated and enlightened  minority.
   Hahnemann, as a homoeopathist, belongs, if to any, most properly
to the lowest rank of the second class, or to the rude empirics, not-
withstanding all the abortive exertions of his followers to elevate his
doctrine to the highest  order of rational  medicine, and to reflect
on themselves all the  great respect, admiration and gratitude which
they believe due  to him as the eminent reformer in medicine, and
as the greatest benefactor of mankind.  The principal difference
between  Hahnemann and  the empirical allopathists consists  in
his maxim,  " similia  similibus curantur being the reverse  of
" theirs, contraria contrariis curantur.''''   Both of them, but Hah-
nemann particularly,  are opposed to all reasoning about the causes 
80
 of diseases, which  they consider not only useless but absurd, be-
 lieving that we know nothing about the causes and  are  therefore
 not authorized to form any conjecture or opinion from them.
   As Dr. Hering's " Concise View" is very defective with regard to
 Hahnemann's exposition  of the theory of homceopathia, we are
 obliged, respecting this  subject, to refer more particularly to Hah-
 nemann's Organon, and to the different introductory treatises of
 his large work, entitled, " Reine Arzneymittellehre" or Pure Ma-
 teria Medica, because its six volumes do not contain, like all works
 on materia medica  hitherto known, the physical and medical pro-
 perties  of drugs and their  application  in different  diseases, but
 merely the  results  of his  experiments on healthy  persons with
 about sixty simple drugs, many of which are either long since con-
 sidered by the profession as obsolete, or were introduced by him.   It
 is almost impossible to follow exactly the track of his intellect, if it
 may be called so, on account of the  total want of any logical order
 and consistency, and  the  many retractions and contradictions
 which we meet with in all  his writings.
   Hahnemann himself, by giving to his homoeopathic doctrine the
sublime name  of " nature's law," says, (Organon § § 23 et seq.,)
 that he is quite indifferent  as to any scientific explanation.  The
 very name  " homoeopathia" and still more  his explicit maxim,
" similia similibus curantur," suppose however something like a
theory ; and  we shall prove by the  following extract  from his re-
marks upon  the infallibility of his " new art. of healing," that he
has some theoretical explanations in view, which, in the eyes of his
adherents, are considered as highly  scientific and acute.
   Hahnemann suggests, in different places of his works, and par-
ticularly in his Organon, the following theory of his homoeopathic
pathogeny and therapeutics.  The vital powers of the human body
become, by some accident generally unknown, affected with a na-
tural disease ;  upon this affection,  the vital powers react  auto-
matically, either with a force too little and insufficient to remove
the disease, or in such a clumsy, violent,  and noxious manner, like
the treatment of all allopathic  physicians, that the patient must
either succumb and die, or must bear sufferings, which, takin°- the
place of the first affection, are generally worse than the original
disease.  Nature, unaided by homoeopathic remedies,  can seldom
effect  a cure, and much less can  a  cure be performed by an allo-
pathic  treatment,  which, in hundreds of cases, may fortunately 
81
cure only  one patient.  As every  disease is  only a dynamical
distemper of the vital powers, manifesting itself by sensations and
actions, and therefore discoverable only by our senses; and again,
as this  corresponds to the symptoms which are caused by the use
of drugs  in healthy persons ;  the disease cannot  only be  cured
by this  drug, but the latter, administered in a dose, however small,
or in any degree of dilution, is  always stronger, or  more powerful
in its action, than  the natural disease, and thus the drug always
possesses more power than  is necessary to extinguish the disease.
Although the original  disease  is destroyed by this extinction at
all events, still  a certain quantity of a slight drug-sickness always
remains, which may now be left for its total extinction to the vital
power; this secures for the patient a safe, quick and durable recovery.
  If we were allowed the comparison, in regard to a  subject which,
according to some passages in Hahnemann's work, must be con-
sidered  as immaterial, we  should  say that the surplus quantity
of the  drug-sickness always left, after it  had extinguished  the
natural  disease, appears similar  to the margin of a spot overreach-
ing by its greater size the spot extinguished or covered ; we know
no better expression, since he himself always uses the term  " ex-
tinguish."  We  conclude from  this  suggestion  of Hahnemann,
which  occurs frequently in his  writings  and in those  of his ad-
herents, that drugs do not act by their matter but by  the infinite
power or virtue  developed from them; that  this power must always
be considered paramount to the  power of the disease, and that it is
impossible to give too small a dose of any drug,  since the margin
left by the covering drug could easily be too large to be extinguished
by the impotent vital power, without which a recovery appears to
him impossible.
  This  abstract of Hahnemann's doctrine presents one of the innu-
merable inconsistencies with which all his writings abound,  and
which cannot be explained, even  by admitting the maxim itself to be
correct and his explanations to be intelligible. In §45 of his Organon
he says, " Great nature herself has for homoeopathic instruments to
" cure diseases, as we have seen, the following stationary miasmata,
" viz.: itch, measles and the small-pox, which, as  remedies, are
" much  more dangerous and terrible, than  the disease to be  cured
" by them, (as small-pox or measles) or which  (as the itch)  re-
" quire  to be destroyed, after having performed their cure ;"  and
in the next section § 46, he says, " But see what great advantage
                             11 
82
w man has over rude nature's accidental events ! How many thou-
" sands of homoeopathic powers to generate diseases, are at man's
" disposal, to aid his fellow brethren by means of drugs which are
" spread over the whole creation !  In them he possesses the power
" of making  diseases, as various as the innumerable natural dis-
" eases, conceivable or not,  to which he can afford homoeopathic
" aid.  They are  morbid powers, the force  of which is extinct
" after the cure, and which require no other  mode  to extinguish
" them in turn, like the itch. They are morbid influences, (drugs)
" which the physician can dilute and divide, until they reach the
" very frontier of infinity, and the dose of which he can  diminish
" until they  are only  a little  stronger  than the similar natural
u disease to be cured by them, so that this  unparalleled  method
" requires no violent assault on the organism to cure an old chro-
" nic and obstinate disease, and the transition from a state of the
" greatest sufferings to  one of perfect health, so much wished for,
" is  easy,  imperceptible, and,  nevertheless,  often  expeditious."
Leaving out of view the palpable nonsense contained in these
lines,  and the  rude conceptions  which,  by  a tedious study we
might possibly derive,  that  any thing could  adhere to the living
body, as a  hat,  a cloak, or coloured spot does to a  wall, without
affecting the vital  powers so as to  be, partly at least, a product of
their  own independent action ; we may ask, why,  according to
these  statements,  cannot nature  alone cure the bodily  disease
better, or at least just as well, without the interference of the ho-
moeopathic drug?   If  nature is as  strong as the drug, then the
application of the drug is unnecessary for the removal of the symp-
toms.  If nature is stronger than  the drug,  then she will, if left
to herself, a fortiori,  and much easier than the latter, remove the
whole disease at once, or a part of it immediately, and the remnant
afterwards also ; just as well, as Hahnemann states, she  can re-
move the remnant surplus of  the curing drug-sickness.  If the
drug  is  stronger than the  " miserable and automatically acting
vital powers," and  the latter only strong enough to extinguish the
surplus always  left by  the former, as Hahnemann unequivocally
asserts on pp. 16 and 17 of his Organon ; then we may ask, why
he does not dilute  or triturate his  drugs still more, until it is suf-
ficiently  weak or  mild, so as not  to leave to the miserable vital
powers any remnant to remove 1 He is then not obliged to trust to
the automatically and clumsy acting vital powers such an important 
83
 task, because the infinitely developed drug-virtues at his disposal
 would always enable him to cure his patient in this manner much
 more quickly ;  for should the dilution be too mild to extinguish
 the symptoms  and to remove the disease, he would always be at
 liberty, and we should think it  more advisable, to  apply again
 another dose of the developed drug-virtue, rather than to risk any
 interference  of the  allopathically and  awkwardly  acting  vital
 powers.  If Hahnemann considers this work too difficult for his vir-
 tues developed  from drugs, it is palpable nonsense first to claim for
 the latter a power always absolute and unconditional, and to admit
 immediately afterwards, that this power is checked by such a trifling
 obstacle ! How can it  be reconciled with common sense, that the
 vital powers are too  weak and insufficient to remove any natural
 disease or its symptoms, be they ever so trifling, without the aid of a
 homoeopathic drug, and  nevertheless  are powerful enough to re-
 move  the remaining part of the drug-sickness which is left after
 the natural  disease is extinguished ! Can any  one comprehend
 that  a power  should  be capable of overcoming a large  obstacle
 and, however, be incapable of removing  at the same time a similar
 and comparatively much  smaller one !-—Omne majus continet
 in se minus.—Hahnemann despises the living powers of nature so
 much, that he  thinks  them  unable,  without the aid of his ho-
 moeopathic drug-atoms to  contribute  any thing to  the cure  of
 disease, and yet thinks them energetic enough to remove the much
 stronger disease or symptoms,  caused by administering drugs  to
 healthy persons; the drug-sickness being,as he states, stronger than,
 though similar to, the natural one? Is  this because the vital powers
 are  to  be  considered  unimpaired and more energetic in health,
 while in disease they are miserable and weak ?  Then it  is dif-
 ficult to explain the attack of any  natural or  drug-sickness in
 health otherwise than by a kind of surprise, a "  ruse de guerre"
 of  the natural or drug-sickness.   In  a healthy  person there is,
 of course, no symptom to be extinguished, no spot to  be cover-
 ed, no disease  to be cured;  when  a drug  is administered, the
 morbid affection is the mere effect of the drug, or the pure unmixed
 drug-sickness;  this being always stronger than  the  natural dis-
 ease, we would ask : how  can the vital  powers remove from healthy
 persons the presumed stronger and absolutely acting power of the
drug after  its  drug-sickness has become manifest,  when they 
84
cannot resist or remove any  weaker natural disease, if surprised by
it, without homoeopathic  aid ? This becomes more evident by the
following explanation: If we call V the vital power, D the power
of the drug,  and N the natural disease ; D = N and D < V, would
make N  <  V;   N  <  D,  according to  Hahnemann's  general
proposition,  makes, a fortiori, N < V ; but his assertion N  > V
in a person attacked with a natural disease, and V > D in the same
person when healthy and a  drug is applied, would make, a fortiori,
N > D, contrary to his proposition, or to his cure of N by D, which
is palpable nonsense.  What power removes in healthy persons the
artificially generated drug-sickness ? In what disease  does it termi-
nate ?  What benevolent  miracle or spirit, of the many at  the dis-
posal of the  great  philosopher, does here rescue the miserable and
wantonly " infected" professional martyr from his sufferings which,
as we should think, must continue till  he breathes no more, after
such an experiment, if he is  not released ? Hahnemann, to be con-
sistent, must here invoke a deus ex machina, or those unfortunate
persons, whom  he has bereaved of their precious  health, by sub-
jecting them to his baneful experiments, will not recover,  until he
applies another drug as an antidote, which generates another drug-
sickness ;  but as the same, if not greater, difficulties arise from this
also, by again extinguishing  too little, he must again apply to a new
antidote, and so again  and again,  ad infinitum, without  ever at-
taining his desired end.  But we find nothing of this mentioned in
his experiments on his healthy disciples and others ; they were, as
it appears, all doing very well, after they had presented, for a short
time, to their great master, the most remarkable mental and occa
sionally also, some physical  symptoms of the artificially produced
drug-sicknesses, though they were forced to swallow doses of drugs,
sufficient to  make the most  healthy and stout person dangerously
ill for months;  as we  shall soon see.  On  the  contrary we find.
page 213  of the Organon, the following singular suggestion : "Ex-
" perience shows, that the organism of  the individual  trying the
" drugs,  becomes,  by these  repeated  attacks  upon his healthy
" state, more adroit in repelling  all artificial  and natural morbid
" nuisances, and grows more hardened against all injury by these
" moderate self-experiments  with drugs.  His health will be less
" exposed to any alteration,  and, according to  all experience, he
" will get more robust."  This also is a new and luminous idea,
which this " great philosopher"  teaches to  the world, hitherto so 
85
short-sighted and ignorant as to believe, that every attack  upon
health and every disease injure  the  constitution  more  or  less,
and that a person will always, in direct proportion to his immunity
from previous diseases, be less subject to new attacks from morbid
influences.  But we see that  persons are much more subject to a
relapse of a natural  disease,  for instance,  of intermittent fevers,
coughs, (fee, than if they had never before been affected by them ;
homoeopathists, of course,will say that natural diseases are inflicted by
the " clumsy and stupid" powers of nature, and have not undergone
such a high refinement as " the crude articles" which, by homoeo-
pathic manipulations, lose all their original  matter, " and are no
" longer possessed of their prejudicial character," (see c. v. p. 14).—
How great the hopes of longevity to be attained in this easy man-
ner ! Even  the poor druggists, who will now soon be ruined men
altogether, (see Dr. Hering's c. v. page  4), would have been saved
by Samuel Hahnemann, if his doses of drugs were only a little
less fanciful, since every one would, of course, be anxious to obtain
long life and health so easily.
   The opinion hitherto entertained by all men of common sense,
viz: that the surest,  safest and shortest way to remove any effect
is to remove its cause, is much ridiculed and despised by Hahne-
mann and his followers; " Cessante causa,  cessat etiam effectus"
has hitherto been considered an axiom by all wise men.—" Felix qui
" rerum potest cognoscere causas."( Virg.)—The " old philosopher"
however, " who boldly penetrated into the mysteries of nature," has
resolved otherwise, and explains the laws of nature as he under-
stands them.—It is true that in order to substantiate fully the mean
ing of this axiom, we should know the  cause.  But  in most cases
we cannot, and  we  must confess  that Providence  in His infinite
wisdom and mercy has not thought it  beneficial for our happiness
during our present existence,  that we should know any thing cer-
tain about the first cause, and many of its subsequent effects, which
appear to us only as causes, " non enim  nos Deus ista scire sed
" tantummodo uti voluti,"( Cicero de Div)—To promote our know-
ledge and improve  our  intellect, we must therefore adopt in all
sciences, not based on  mathematical calculations, certain more or
less definite hypotheses which temporally explain best the pheno-
mena in view.  Since mankind left the sad period  of its infancy,
men endowed with distinguished intellect and with an ardent zeal
for truth, have been  no longer satisfied with the  mere sensual 
86
 observation  of  natural phenomena,  but have been anxious to
 investigate their causes, in order to deduce therefrom general prin-
 ciples, so indispensable to the mental satisfaction and happiness of
 man, and to all pursuits of social life.   They were soon convinced
 that the original  causes  were  and would  in most cases always
 remain hidden from them, and they were therefore forced to frame
 such hypothetical explanations of natural phenomena, as appeared
 to them best adapted to comprise all phenomena belonging to one
 class, and to deduce therefrom general  fundamental principles for
 further investigations.  They were well  aware  that future dis-
 coveries and inquiries might unveil their errors and annihilate their
 hypotheses and conjectures; but they were also convinced that  the
 observation of naked facts, would not only confine  their higher
 intellectual faculties too  narrowly, but expose them also to more
 hazard, than  if they attempted to find the outlet of the labyrinth,
 without the thread of Ariadne.   Thus by accurately and impar-
 tially observing phenomena and conjecturing their causes,  a defi-
 nite theory or a  systematical doctrine was gradually constructed;
 that is, the abstract idea of what is common to  all the facts  be-
 longing collectively to  one class of phenomena, and under what
 circumstances they always or usually  happen.  Had they acted
 otherwise, and had they merely encumbered their memory with
 innumerable single statements, their experience would have been
 useful  only in cases exactly similar to, or rather identical with,
 those remembered by them; but such  an accident might probably
 not happen during many centuries, to whatever  class the fact in
 question belonged; and hence all their knowledge would be en-
 tirely useless in every new individual case, if they could not refer
 to general principles, and  if they were forced to abstain from  all
 hypotheses in regard to general  causes.  " Nemo enim alicujus  rei
 " naturam in ipsa  re  feliciter perscrutatur;  sed  amplianda est
 "inquisitio ad magis communia."  {Bacorfs Org.)—The value of
 any  hypothesis,  with which even the practical  departments  of
 mathematical  sciences  cannot dispense, depends upon the simila-
rity of the whole mass of facts on which the hypothesis  is founded,
 and upon the consistency as well as the facility with which this hy-
pothesis is applicable to similar new facts. All experiences in regard
to a fact, though instituted with due precaution against delusions
of our  senses and against errors of judgment, logical conclusions,
&c., when it does not agree with the hypothesis laid down, mated- 
87
ally impairs or destroys  its validity.  In some cases some philoso-
phers approve of one  hypothesis, and others of another widely
different;  although  both are derived from  minute observations  of
the same  natural phenomena, both are equally acute and practi-
cable, and both equally stand even the test of mathematical calcu-
lations.  This is the case, for instance, with the two hypotheses  of
light: that of emanation adopted by Newton, and that of vibration
suggested by Euler, which has  more advocates at present,  in
consequence of  the new interesting discoveries made by the late
Frauenhofer, by Brewster and others.—Men who adopt tenets,
prescriptions or results  of naked facts, either self-created and ob-
served, or received with implicit faith from others, without admitting
the value of  minute  and repeated impartial investigations, or of any
rational theory or hypothesis about the  possible causes, degrade
themselves to the level of common labourers or of credulous  fana-
tics.—We have already  mentioned the  delusions of inferences
superficially drawn  from facts, and that  this is really the case  in
regard  to Hahnemann's experiments with  drugs on healthy per-
sons.  Had such a  course as this been pursued with the investiga-
tions in natural sciences, from their origin to  the present age, we
should know but very little or nothing really interesting and useful
in regard to the laws of nature, the greatnumber of valuable facts not-
withstanding.—An other proof of Hahnemann's total want  of sound
reflection, and of his blind adherence to rude empiricism is seen  in
his combating with so  much passion the unmerited credit given  to
him by some of his indulgent opposers, who believed that he has
followed some rational  principle in adopting the identity of natural
diseases and of those  produced  by his experiments on healthy
persons.  In the introductory discourse to the third volume of his
Pure Materia Medica, he says, amongst other remarks of the  same
kind, under the  head of " nota bene for my reviewers,' the follow-
ing : " Never was the homoeopathic doctrine intended to  cure any
" disease  by the same and identical potenz, by which it was  gene-
rated,—this has been minutely explained to my foolish  opposers,
" already  often enough, but as it appears in vain.—No ! it  cures
" naturally, only by a medicine never accordant with the cause of
" the disease; never by an equal potenz, but only by a  medicine
" capable of producing a similar diseased  state (o'iwoiov tfa6os.) Do
" not these  people know  even how to distinguish equal,  (one and
the  same),  from similar ?  Are they altogether homoeopathically 
88
 " sick by the same malady of idiotism ?"—Very true ! they deserve

 this compliment from the great genius, who appears allopathically

 sick of idiotism.—Had  Hahnemann only  asserted that according

 to repeated experiments, drugs applied to healthy persons cause cer-

 tain morbid alterations, manifested by definite symptoms similar to

 those caused by unknown natural influences; and that, therefore, as

 the former are removed by certain drugs, the latter will also be cured

 by  the same; as, for instance, that belladonna  produces symptoms

 sinrilar to those of scarlatina levigata,  and  that as  the former are

 mitigated or removed by acids, mercury, or whatever the treatment

 may  be, therefore  the  latter will be cured by the same remedies.*


   *  We believe that, if medical practice ever derives any advantage from fair trials
 with drugs on healthy persons, it will be this.  And it appears remarkable that Hah-
 nemann, and particularly his followers, have not distantly thought of this plain and
 reasonable meaning of the expression, "similia similibus curantur," which, if simply
 translated, signifies only, that diseases which are similar to each other will be cured
 by similar remedies.  Rational medicine has hitherto,  in some respects, followed a
 similar course in some diseases ; thus it pays no regard to the shape, colour, duration,
 extent,  &c. of many chronic exanthematous diseases, which present so many varieties
 and shades; but asks, whether it originates from a syphilitic,  scrophulous or other in-
 fection ; and if none of these causes can be ascertained, such  remedies  are admi-
 nistered as prove generally useful in diseases of the reproductive  system, attended by
 chronic cutaneous eruptions.   So too  the rational physician will  prescribe the same
 remedies in very differentblenorrhceas, as in phthisis pituitosa, chronic mucous diarr-
 hoea, &c; convinced, by experience, of their salutary effect in one species, he will try
 thern in similar ones, without any other recommendation, when no  special cause is
 found to prevail; since he will reasonably conjecture, from the anatomical structure,and
 the physiological  functions of  all the mucous  membranes, that a remedy, which is
 useful in one species of blenorrhcea will be so in another, and that in this respect, gleet,
 chronic mucous  bronchitis, the chronic affections of  the large intestines consequent
 on cholera, &c, are similar.  Hahnemann's interpretation of similia similibus  curan-
 tur, would never have occurred to any intelligent man, and much less to an Albertus
 Haller.   If this great man recommends trials with  simple drugs on healthy persons,
 in saying, in the preface to the Pharmacopoeia Helvetica, Basil, 1771, p.  12, " Nempe
 " priinum in corpore sano medela  tentanda  est, sine  peregrina ulla miscela,"  he did
 so with  the same views as those which, mutatis  mutandis, led  him to institute so
 many cruel dissections of living animals ; well knowing that these  could  never be
 directly useful to the treatment of diseases, he made them for highly interesting phy-
 siological  purposes,  which have largely, though indirectly, contributed to promote
 practical medicine.  He likewise recommended trials with simple drugs on healthy
 persons, certainly not in the  sense of homoeopathia, but merely because he thought,
 as does  every judicious physician, that if made with care, they may contribute to show
 particular effects of many drugs, which may lead indirectly to some  results valuable
 for the cure of diseases ; as many would try some newly discovered plant or other
 substance to learn whether it contains wholesome nourishment, or some  medical
 property which may be successfully used in extraordinary cases,  according to  the
 principle contrariacontrariis curantur, or to any other one : for instance, should such a
 substance, produce costiveness or increase the appetite in healthy persons;  it may
 also alleviate or cure a chronic  diarrhoea or dyspepsia. The history of medicine proves
 that  the healing art  in its infancy has exclusively followed this mode.  No one  but
 a man partial for extraordinary absurdities would fancy, that the intimate connection
 between cause and effect, everywhere confirmed by the  laws of the human  intellect
and of nature, would be suspended in man, justly considered as  the culmination of
 nature ;  and only an idiot will recommend a sound whipping with Urtica, (the stinging-
nettle) for a feverish exanthematous disease, called febris urticata, (nettle-rash,) on
account of its great similarity with the appearance of the skin of those who are whipped
 with  the fresh plant mentioned! 
89
 His  doctrine  might not  have  essentially  suffered  by such  a
 theory, but might have appeared to rest at least upon some rational
 connexion between cause and effect; and therefore, if otherwise
 not contradicted by minute  and impartial experiments sufficiently
 repeated, would have appeared less absurd,  and perhaps would
 have led to some valuable practical results.   But what confidence
 can any one, not prepossessed by implicit faith in the dictates of
 others, place in  a doctrine which teaches, contrary  to  common
 sense and experience, that  the similarity between two eases shall
 form a leading principle for practice, so as to  use the cause of one
 effect for destroying another effect, seemingly similar in  its symp-
 toms, but evidently produced by a totally different cause?   We see
 nothing  of this  in  nature.   Two  cubes, spheres, or  bodies of
 any other  shape, and which  may consist of  very different
 substances, cannot only be geometrically similar, but identical in
 all their dimensions ; and nevertheless  their reciprocal  relations,
 or those toward a third  body,  may vary very  much or be  diame-
 trically opposite;  the one, for  instance, may  be of  glass, and the
 other of gold.  The isomorphical formations of many  minerals,
 lately demonstrated by Professor Mitscherlich, at Berlin, prove that
 the principal characteristics obvious to our senses in these cases, as
 cohesion, colour,  crystallization, cfec.  may be quite identical in two
 or more minerals, although  chemical analysis proves  them to be
 widely different from each other, in the absolute as well as  relative
 condition and proportion of  their integral parts.  Nature presents
 to us, on the other side again, many isomerical  substances, in which
 the chemical analysis can find, neither a qualitative nor  a  quanti-
 tative difference of their constituent parts, although  their external
 characteristics are quite  dissimilar.  Who would, for instance, judge,
 from their external  appearance, that  a diamond and a piece of
 charcoal, or graphite, of the same size, are the same  in the  eyes of
 the modern analytical chemist; and who but a Newton could have
 predicted, from  optical reasons, the combustibility of the diamond,
 almost a  century before Lavoisier proved it  by his experiments !
Many plants, although very similar  to each  other,  according  to
the natural and artificial systems of botany,  differ widely in their
action  on  the  living  animal body, and probably  also in  their
constituent parts  ; as, for instance, the different species of Sola-
 nurn.  If therefore the laws of nature are more simple in  minerals
than in plants, in  these more  so than  in the lower classes  of anir
                              12 
90
 mals, and so on gradually until we arrive at the most compound
 and  perfect organization of man,  whose existence depends partly
 on the.immaterial world of ideas  and feelings ; and  if,  neverthe-
 less,  in the lowest of this series of bodies and beings, we meet with
 an external similarity not corresponding with the real causes of
 their true characteristics, by which the certainty of any conclusion,
 from their similarity  upon their causal identity, could be justified
 beforehand : how much less probable must it be,  a priori, that the
 similarity of symptoms, generally observable under very different
 conditions, in man, could admit of any satisfactory conclusion, as
 to the similarity or identity of their causes also?   Such  superficial
 and totally unphilosophical conclusions have always  led, and will
 still lead, if admitted, to the most erroneous conceptions; which,
 in their practical  application,  must  unavoidably impair our own
 happiness and that of our fellow-men.   Thus we  should  soon wit-
 ness  the greatest injustice and foolish mistakes,  if ever Lavater's
 physiognomical or Gall's cranioscopical observations, should in the
 least  influence our manner of educating, or our criminal jurispru-
 dence, because they rest on  true and highly interesting facts, which
 however have likewise led  to very  unphilosophical conclusions.
   The symptomatical treatment of diseases  has  therefore always
 been considered by the enlightened profession as very delusive and
 uncertain,  since different causes may present the  same symptoms,
 and vice versa; hence it is still adopted principally by the uneducated
 and rude empirics, and is used by talented physicians only in urgent
 cases, where the previous conditions  and influences cannot be mi-
 nutely ascertained, and  where  the causes of alarming symptoms
 being unknown, dependance must  be placed on the majority of ex-
 periences on record, in which definite prescriptions were successfully
 applied under certain  prevailing symptoms.  This mode is seldom
 considered  by rational physicians  as affording more  than a tem-
 porary relief; since frequently  by removing the symptoms, the
 disease itself is increased by increasing its cause, and by producing
 all  the great injuries  of an indirect treatment.  We may justly
 assert that the mere symptomatic  treatment  has  hitherto arrested
the progress of the healing art, and has frequently  elevated the
 less talented and less  learned physician over his better  educated
and conscientious  colleague in the eyes of the public, as they from
pardonable ignorance  rely more on the  immediate and  palliative
temporary relief than on the less showy but preventive and radical 
91
treatment of true rational medicine.  Thus  for instance, in sleep-
lessness  and delirium, caused by genuine inflammatory cerebral
irritation, opium will  perhaps  subdue these prominent and  also
alarming symptoms;  but unquestionably either the  disease itself
will increase to a fatal issue  after a short relief, or it will cause,
particularly in  children, water in the brain, or a chronic and in-
curable nervous debility, which is often observed after a seeming
recovery has lasted for weeks or months.  Hence a judicious phy-
sician will seldom  prescribe such remedies as are only calculated to
subdue a prominent symptom, in cases where there is any hope of
a rational treatment, although the palliative method is often desired
by the patient or  his  relatives, from prejudices originating in the
rude empiricism of many doctors.   We may with propriety com-
pare such treatment to that of many intellectual and moral faults,
where concessions made from temporary necessity or  other minor
reasons, are also only of temporary avail, and rather promote the
commission of greater wrongs,  though the latter would be best
prevented by a cure perhaps more protracted, but radical in render-
ing the individual sensible of his wrong.  Empirics unable to con-
jecture the causes of the symptoms, adhere generally to those which
they have  learned by heart, and if they accidentally  meet with
symptoms which they do not remember, or which are not contained
in their text-books, they are at a loss how to begin with the patiens.
To this search for symptoms, which must not be confounded with
the indispensable  study of rational diagnosis, we owe principally
the anxious desire of the profession to enlarge the yet superabun-
dant stock  of medicines, since  if  an empiric accidentally  suc-
ceeds in removing a symptom already known, or recently discovered
by him, he at once obtrudes a new remedy on the profession, with
all  the  emphasis of a highly  important discovery ; this however
is soon forgotten, as it generally fails  in cases seemingly identical.
  The  mere  symptomatic or  indirect  treatment  of diseases is
the cause of all quackery in medicine, as  a certain  simple or
compound drug  is generally  recommended from ingorance or low
interest,  for a certain  number of symptoms  termed collectively
by some technical name.   And by  this also the multitude of
our voluminous works on materia medica and special therapeutics
with all their minuteness and with their shining splendour of ex.
tensive learning, very few excepted, have hitherto retained, only
upon a larger scale, all the irrational and motley features of similar 
92
 older works,  which led the mere empiric to  do more evil than
 good to the mass of his patients.—We are well aware that the
 symptomatic treatment of the homoeopathic doctrine is very different
 from the one hitherto so termed, since it pretends always  to rest
 not only on one or more symptoms, but on their minute similarity
 with the symptoms of the drug-sickness, and pays no regard to the
 name of the disease. Hahnemann's general objections against the
 nomenclature of diseases, in many parts of his works, are to some
 extent correct, as no individual case of any disease will resemble
 exactly the minute description of it, as given in any  catalogue or
 system of nosology; but he is  very wrong in asserting that in
 this the great mistakes  of allopathic medicine  principally consist,
 and his anxious  warnings to his  disciples  (see  Organon  §75)
 never to use the customary language  of the older  schools, in
 regard to distinct names, but always to say, "a kind of dropsy, a
 kind of typhus fever, <fec."  are exceedingly puerile and ridiculous.
 The descriptions contained in nosological systems, are the abstracts
 of many close observations, made by  the profession  for centuries,
 and, if correct,  are to be  considered similar to the ideal of the artist,
 which  is likewise the abstract of many individualities, seldom or
 never exactly occurring in  one  person.   Both are very valuable,
 although the physician in a special case, as well as the artist who
 wishes  to obtain a true likeness, would never gain the desired end,
 without minutely referring  to the individual case.   It would be
 impossible for  any systematical nosologist to  describe the genera,
 species  and the  innumerable varieties of diseases, on account of
 the  multifarious  combinations  of  the  symptoms.    The  plan
 hitherto followed by them was intended simply to teach this branch
 of practical medicine systematically ; their works are only glossa-
 ries of the profession, by which physicians can speak of its objects
 in intelligible and brief terms.  No judicious physician will consider
 the case before  him only with regard  to the  name given in his
 nosological text-book, whether the description of it, there presented
 be similar to the case or  not;  he will always recur to the principles
 of physiology,  general  pathology  and  therapeutics, the only true
and  safe  resources  of all  rational treatment :* he will use the

  * We candidly confess, that among thousands of patients entrusted to our care,
we have seldom been able to name a disease, distinctly corresponding to any nosology
or to its popular name, though patients and their relatives are frequently more anxious
about the  name of the disease than about the cure, and the relatives are often  better
satisfied with that physician, whose patient died, provided he had given to the disease
a name, than with him, whose  patient recovered, but who had not named the disease. 
93
shortest and  most suitable terms, merely to avoid the tedious and

useless minute description,  belonging to monographies  or to ac-

curate  accounts of interesting  and  complicated rare cases.   The

contempt of all nosological terminology by Hahnemann and his ad-

herents evidently  does not promote  medical  knowledge in  the

least; it checks the progress of the profession by increasing the dif-

ficulties of scientific discussion, and it makes,  of course, no  diffe-

rence, if a mistake be made in the diagnosis of an individual case,

whether a name may have been  given to it  or not.   The great

evils which always arise from the abuse of nosological systems may

be  regarded  as additional proofs, how  little advantage can be de-

rived from symptoms, and  that the  reliance  upon the causes or

upon  a judicious  aetiology, derived  from  a  minute  anamnesis,

offer by far the surest aid to medical practice.    It is also true, that

the inconveniencies mentioned,  arising from the mere reliance on

symptoms, are not peculiar  to the  homoeopathic maxim,  " similia

similibus  curantur,"  but almost in the same  degree also to the

opposite maxim, '' contraria contrariis  curantur," since both refer

only to the relation between symptoms and  their appropriate me-

dicines, both avoid  all close rational investigation into the causes

of the diseased state, and both neglect the  truth, that in the nar-

row compass  of our  senses, one and the  same cause,  acting in

different  diseases,  may produce different symptoms, and one and

the same symptom may arise from different causes.   If, therefore,

doctors are,  therefore, from prudence, seldom at a loss to give a name.—Indeed, it
seems very remarkable to a physician, who has studied men  during his long practical
career, how utterly ignorant laymen in general are in  regard to medicine, although
most of them, who would not interfere with the business of the lowest mechanic,
profess to know minutely what belongs to the healing art:  they will not be satisfied
unless they see signs and wonders elicited by the bold treatment of the doctor.  Should
the  doctor not prescribe large bleedings, powerful emetics,  cathartics, leeches, epis-
pastics, blisters, and  similar remedies, the effects of which  are palpable, they would
question his talents more, even if the patient recovered, than they would if he died, after
every remedy which they knew had been prescribed.  In what order the doctor was
pleased to employ the whole apparatus of his  art, is of less or no consequence, al-
though none of them would be contented with the builder,  who would apologise for
his ignorance, in putting at  the top of the building what belongs to the foundation, and
vice versa, by pointing out  among its ruins, all the integral parts of a durable  edifice.
Thousands of human lives would be preserved annually, and many be spared the suf-
ferings arising from bad treatment, if the public would abstain from all interference
with an art, for which the life and assiduous study of many centuries would  be  too
short, and if, after becoming acquainted with the vast extent of the healing art, and
with the  many requisites of its  true and faithful servants, they would rather amply
provide for and insist  upon a  thoroughly classical and professional education and
upon rigorous public examinations of their physicians, before these are intrusted
with the lives and health of so many. Then also, but only then, the profession would
be elevated to that dignity and enjoy that respect which it so justly deserves, and
then would it be no more necessary to combat such a superstitious doctrine as homceo-
pathia, because like all rude empiricism and quackery, it could not exist for one day. 
94
  the latter or the maxim termed, "antipathic," or " enanthiopathic,"
  by Hahnemann, is declared false by  him, it follows from  this
  point of view, that the homoeopathic maxim is so likewise.   Ab-
  stracted from  further objections, which we shall endeavour to ex-
  plain on arriving at the third maxim  of  homoeopathia,  the an-
  tipathic maxim might easily be proved  to  be far  more  consistent
  with the general laws of nature and the human intellect  particu-
  larly, although it is evident that, from its nature, its relative greater
  correctness cannot be ascertained  by the tests of  experiments on
  healthy  persons.  The medical literature of every century, since
  the beginning of the healing art, abounds in cases  in favour of
  the maxim, contraria  contrariis curantur; how few in compari-
  son with these are the instances quoted by Hahnemann in favour
  of his doctrine, from the same sources, which, even if his quotations
  were correct, would not be in his favor, and much less now after
  he has altered  and distorted them.  Who, inclined to trust on such
 important subjects, merely to the majority and validity of autho-
 rities, would therefore hesitate for a  moment to prefer the antipathic
 maxim ? If Hahnemann was even guilty of being consistent, every
 one would allow that he  has imprudently  furnished  to his op-
 posers the strongest weapons against himself, by quoting instances
 of  cures, from the oldest  records of the profession down to the
 present century:  not only because he asserts that the true healing
 art  has not existed  before him, (see Organon, preface) but also
 because these cases prove at a glance, that not one vms ever treated
 in  his manner, if we only reflect on his and their  doses of drugs,
 may one or the other or both be considered,comparatively, immensely
 large or small.  Who, but an idiot, would consider it an argument,
 that the power  of the many billionth part of one grain must prove
 immensely great, because a drachm of the same substance has some-
 times shown some similar but much smaller effects, or vice versa?
 It would appear, at least, much more prudent for him, to take no
 notice of such records, which are otherwise so useless in his eyes,
 and to let homoeopathia rest on its  own intrinsic worth, if he did
 not intend to influence the weak-minded by learned quotations.
  Hahnemann's singular  conceptions of the  manner in which
homoeopathic  drugs  act, is so  intimately  connected with  his
maxim  about the doses of his simple drugs and their developed
virtues, that we should be more guilty of repetitions than we are
already, in consequence of his multiplied contradictions, if we did 
95
not leave a part of  this discussion also, until  we have  arived  at
the third maxim of homoeopathia, which comprises all its maxims
together.  We feel, however,  obliged to add  a few pertinent re-
marks about the maxim, similia similibus curantur. to vindicate
our assertion, that the maxim opposite to his, corresponds still more
to the laws of nature and to the human understanding.  Hahne-
mann, justly   opposed  to  all  corpuscular action  of drugs  in
the cure of diseases,  says,  in his introduction  to the second vo-
lume of his  Materia  Medica, on page 13,  under the  head  of
" Spirit of the Homoeopathic Doctrine:"—" But it is  evident, that
" medicines, acting in a heterogeneous or allojmtliic manner,  with
" the intention to produce other symptoms in a healthy person,
" than  those  of the disease to be cured, cannot, according to the
'" nature of the subject, be  either suitable or salutary, but must
" act in an oblique direction ; otherwise every disease  would  be
" cured quickly, safely, and durably, by any  medicine ever so dif-
11 ferent, which would form a direct contradiction (contradictionem
" in adjecto), because every drug possesses an action different  from
" all others, and every disease  generates, by the eternal laws of
" nature, a  distemper deviating from other similar ones, and this
" would involve  the impossibility of a  good  success, since every
" change can only  be produced  by its appropriate cause, and not
" per quamlibet causam.   And thus it is also confirmed  by daily
" experience,  that  the vulgar  medical practice  of  prescribing
" in diseases motle}r recipes of  unknown medicines,  produces se-
" veral  effects, but, least of all, cure."—Let him, who can,  under-
stand this  gallimatia ; although faithfully translated, we confess
we cannot!—The  only sound  inference which may be  drawn
from this explanation, as well as from the above mentioned mode,
in which we  are told  that the homoeopathic drug extinguishes
the symptoms of the disease, and by this the  latter  itself, is,  that
Hahnemann considering in other places his virtues developed  from
drugs as acting like infinite beings, spirits, (fee, alludes here to the
grossest mechanical notions.  It is impossible to comprehend why,
if his propositions were  not correct, it  must  follow that a  drug
" must act in  an oblique  manner," and why otherwise " every
" disease would be  quickly, safely and durably cured?"  It would
appear to follow therefrom, that he admits, contrary to  his whole
doctrine, that two  directions  are left for the cure of all  diseases,
viz., one from before, and another from  behind.  In  following 
96
this ridiculous  explanations of Hahnemann,  we should  think it
evident that as any mechanical power, which counteracts another,
can act neither in a direction parallel to the first, nor in the same
direction behind it,  but either in an  opposite or in an oblique di-
rection, these last will check the original power according to their
relative degrees; the oblique, however,  according  to  the power
resulting from the two originally counteracting powers, in conse-
quence of the known physical law  of the  diagonal direction in
the parallellogram of two forces.
   Hahnemann extending his reform, or rather his creation of the
genuine healing art most graciously, not only to the whole class of
diseases called bodily, but also to those called mental, and alluding
to the latter in many places of his works says, (see Materia Medica,
Vol. II., page 23,)  "....  in the  same  manner the melancholy
" girl would,  in her solitude, afterwards be sunk in still  deeper
" affliction, about the death of her friend,  if she should have been
" enlivened for a  few hours, only  palliatively, by  a gay party,
"because this influence was only contrary, enantiopathic.n  Ac-
cording to this old philosopher, " who boldly penetrates still deeper
" in the mysteries of nature," (see Dr. Hering, 1. c. p.  13,) we have
to look also for a great reform in the treatment of all  mental affec-
tions, and  consistent with  his  wise inference just quoted  and
selected from  similar ones, it would not for instance, be advisable to
console a sorrowful and deeply afflicted lady, who had just suddenly
lost  her  beloved husband,  by telling her the glad tidings that her
dear and only son, whom  she had  long considered as dead, had
happily arrived.  No! God forbid ! to risk such an allopathic or
rather  antipathic mode which might  kill her, as such remedies
always do ; better to invent, and to tell her some  additional great
misfortune; that will unquestionably console her more and dispel
all danger of  a mental derangement; it  will make her feel quite
happy  and cheerful, because it is a  homoeopathicremedy, a simile,
" O! sancte Apollo qui umbilicum terrarum obtines !"
   In order  to do summary justice to  the  homoeopathic maxim,
similia similibus curantur, and if possible  to sustain its correctness,
we shall advocate it for  a few moments in the sense of its author,
and admit that it  may accord with the law of nature, that of
causes  and their effects, which are so intimately connected, that one
cannot change without a-simultaneous  change of the  other, and
that therefore as the effects constitute the symptoms, an  implicit 
                              97

reliance on these symptoms is not only useful, but quite suflicienb
for medical treatment.  It would be reasonable to suppose that the
least changes  of the causes must naturally produce corresponding
changes of their effects.  Hahnemann in support of this proposi-
tion of his doctrine, concerning the great  value  of symptoms in
general, could have cited a great many natural phenomena, which
confirm the abstract correctness of this proposition. From different
instances of that kind, we may select from natural philosophy a mo-
dern interesting one, viz. the polarization of light, which has been
so much improved by the ingenious and learned Brewster.  It led
to the  presumption that there  might still exist a difference,  how-
ever small, in the proportion  of the constituent parts of some sub-
stances, hitherto considered chemically alike ;  and indeed  minute
chemical analyses, instituted on account of the difference in the
polarization of light, by these substances have confirmed it.  But if
we consider the immense multitude of organs and parts of the
human body, each of which may present  a symptom to the close
observer,  independent  even  of the  mental functions, which we
never  shall be able to refer with any probability to single organs and
parts; if  we  reflect on the immense  number of symptoms which
naturally arise by their various combinations, as depending on the
primary and sympathetical affections of all these systems, organs
and parts; could we discern  minutely with our imperfect senses
one single case in praxi ?  We answer,  no;  even if the age of
Methusaleh were granted to the physician and his patient.   The
combined actions of all the parts of the living body, caused by the
 constant influence of external agents, both of which are continually
 varying, would preclude still more the correctness of all conclusions
 for the next moment, as the  appearance of the disease may  in all
 probability then be again totally altered  from what it was  a few
 moments before. No physician can isolate  bis patient and perform
 experiments  upon him, as  he would do if investigating a topic
 of natural philosophy, &c.   The most ample experiments of this
 kind repeatedly instituted by the philosopher with the greatest care
 and accuracy, and aided by the numerous modern improvements in
 philosophical instruments, are frequently insufficient to protect him
 against errors and mistakes ;  how much less then can the physician
 who has to contend with so many and so great obstacles, rely with cer-
 tainty on bis  experiments at  the bedside of his patient, without such
 ample means at his disposal  l  Vv it,h all the hare-brained nonsense
                               i:$ 
98
 of Hahnemann, asserting that homoeopathic drugs alone act abso-
 lutely  and unconditionally, do  not  common  sense and experi-
 ence claim also for  the immense multitude of agents in all sur-
 rounding nature,  at least a little more to excite the same coun-
 ter-and-after-actions  which he claims for  his infinite atoms?  Are
 all men, independent of the differences in their features, stature,
 &c, formed so much alike,  that  we can rely with any certainty
 upon symptoms ? Is there not something peculiar in  the construc-
 tion of the different organs, in their situation, <fec, which though
 perhaps of no great  influence during health, may produce in the
 diseased state, symptoms quite different from those established by
 the  homoeopathic  symptomatology,  if we even could  admit its
 correctness ?  And as we never see two men with exactly the same
 features, and much less two whose lives are attended with similar
 incidents, may we  not also, a priori, expect the same  disease in
 one person to present very different symptoms from those in another;
 and that particularly in chronic diseases, many symptoms termed,
 from their predominance, pathognomonical, are often observed only
 where the local affection  is  so severe, that the cure  is frequently
 almost beyond the control of the art?  How different  and delusive
 are the  symptoms in the different organic and functional diseases
 of the heart, as stated by many most distinguished and trustworthy
 modern authors!  Two great physicians, Burns and Abernethy,
have observed in post mortem examinations the'greatest  abnormal
 formations in the heart, the one however mostly without the least,
 the other  almost always with prominent, symptoms  during life.
 Percussion ©f the chest, which was mentioned by Hippocrates, was
 again introduced and much improved for practical purposes about
 seventy years since, by Auenbrugger, a German, and was carried
 to great perfection, by combining immediate with mediate auscul-
 tation,  by the  great French physician, Laennec, and  many of
 his distinguished countrymen, for the minute diagnosis  of the
 different deformities and other morbid affections of the heart, the
 lungs and other parts. How much  have the many symptoms
 elicited by all these valuable experiments, contributed to point out
 with certainty the real state of the body during life, or to improve
the treatment of the corresponding diseases ?   Very little  to the
 one and nothing to the other.*

  * Notwithstanding these great  improvements  in the diagnosis of diseases of the
 ahest, the number of deaths by pulmonary consumption  increases in all the large 
99
   Moreover, it would alone require the close study of many years
=a very sharp hearing, and an  uncommonly good memory, in order
to distinguishcorrectly,by the stethoscope, plessimeter, and similar
modern implements, the different sounds of pectoriloquy, aegopho-
ny, garguoillement, etc. in the various  diseases of  the chest; and
when, as  is generally the case, two or more of these sounds are
combined together, one shade of a sound  might prevent the per-
ception of  the other,  and by rendering  the experiment illusive,
leave the treatment as  uncertain as it  has  been heretofore: nay,
perhaps still more so, since, as we have sometimes  witnessed, phy-
sicians, prejudiced by such a scrutiny, have considered cases as ab-
solutely hopeless, which have afterwards been cured.  Frequently
these highly valuable modes of inquiry  contribute only to the char-
latanism of doctors, who, anxious to show  by them that they are
not behind modern discoveries,  run about with  their stethoscope,
plessimeter,  etc. under  their  arm, and  apply them with  a grave
face, as if they could hear the grass grow by them ; and then pro-
nounce a fatal prognosis, with such an unconditional certainty and
selfconfidence, as  if they possessed the very means of weighing
minutely the living  powers of  nature  in their remotest recesses;
and  if the  relatives of the patient trust their prophesy and follow
their advice to use nothing but trifling domestic  medicines and to
despair, it will be also fulfilled.
   How frequently is the practitioner misled by  symptoms,  consi-
dered as  pathognomonical, in diseases of the abdomen; and meets,
in post mortem examinations, with defects  and  deformities  never
anticipated during life.*   The same is the case with the many dis-
eases of the brain, an organ which our  sensual age, so poor in ele-
vated conceptions of true philosophy and poetry, and  so rich in all

cities of Europe and America to an alarming extent.  Thus, in New York, according
to the public reports,  ihe number of such cases has increased, within four years, from
eighteen to  upwards of thirty-six weekly;  an increase of a hundred per cent.; whereas
within the same period, the population has increased, at the most, only ten per cent.
We predict that the ratio will increase still more,  as  all chronic diseases do, which
depend on a syphilitic, scrophulous, tubercular, &c. infection, such as cancer, dothi
enteritis, abdominal consumption, &c. Hundreds whose lives could have been saved,
will fall victims to these diseases, and particularly  to pulmonary consumption, if the
faults in the physical and psychical education, the carelessness of the  public and of the
profession, in regard to its prevention and  treatment, are not remedied; but above all,
if the murderous mode of diffusing the spurious and contaminated  cow-pox should
continue.
  * " Subtilitas naturas subtilitatem sensus et intellectus multis partibus superat."
(F. Bacon's Organon.) In post mortem examinations we have found both lungs very
much diseased, in cases which presented no symptoms of pulmonary affection during
life, and have read of instances where both kidneys were totally destroyed and chang-
ed into large bladders, filled also with sharp-angled calculi, and  yet the urine was
neither considerably suppressed nor much  changed  in character. (See Lebkuechner's
Report, in Med. Correspondcnz Bl. d.  Wuertemb. Aerztl. Vereins, 1834, No. 7.) 
100
the common-place results of a flat and prosaic  materialism, tne:-
minutely to connect with the functions of the human mind and its
various morbid affections !   Would those who, in our time, always
merely rely on the palpable, ever have expected, from the symp-
toms obvious in lunatics, that, in some of them, no other deviation
from the healthy state has been found, but a more or less perpen-
dicular direction of the transverse colon; a part, as it  appears, so
little connected with  the functions of the human brain.   This re-
mark was first made upwards of seventy years ago, by Pyl, a dis-
tinguished German author on legal medicine, and has recently been
confirmed by the celebrated Esquirol.  Many large and interesting
volumes have been written, for almost half a  century  pa3t, on the
symptoms of the different states of the brain after external violence,
in order to ascertain where trepanning is or is  not indispensably
required ; and yet nearly  the same uncertainty prevails with re-
gard  to the most contradictory statements of symptoms.  We ob-
serve almost daily instances recorded in surgical periodicals, where
trepan-rang proved fatal, after having been instituted according to
the modern advice, never  to neglect it in cases  the least doubtful,
whether the skull is much broken, depressed, etc., or  not, and we
know cases of depression, fractures,&c, much more desperate, which
were cured without any surgical aid, merely by a long continued,
 rigorous antiphlogistic treatment.
   If such obscurities in respect to symptoms still exist in regard
to the principal organs of  the human  body, after  all the minute
 observations,  at  the bedside as well as in post  mortem examina-
 tions,  how much less can  we rely on symptoms  relating to parts of
less importance or of less intimate connection with the whole body;
 how much less can we rely on those symptoms  which rest mostly
 upon feelings so exceedingly illusive, and still less if they are founded
 upon novel observations, avowedly made for by far too short a time
 for any positive result in such subjects, and reported by a man so
 little trustworthy as  Hahnemann has proved himself to be?  Do
 we further not sometimes observe very remarkable deviations in
 nations almost adjacent to each other, which although of no material
 importance for rational  medicine, would  however be important in
 regard to the strictness seemingly required by the homoeopathic
 symptomatology ?   Thus, Rosenmueller has found  by his  many
 dissections, in the commencement of the revolutionary war between
 France and  the  Allied Powers,  that  many individuals of the
 western and southern nations of Europe, possess two or more small 
101
additional spleens, whereas the northern and eastenr nations have
but one.  So is it also well-known, that the former are more affected
by one kind of tape-worm, (Tanria lata, Brems.) the northern and
eastern by another (Taenia cucurbitina.) If it be so indispensable for
the never failing homoeopathic treatment, {see Organon from §§ 77
to 92,) and Dr. Hering (p. 22,1. c.) to know minutely the external
place of the complaint, whether the symptoms appear on the right
or left limb, it would seem of much greater importance to know
the abnormal situation and formation of one or  more important
organs, which as above  stated, are  frequently observed in post
mortem  examinations only, although no symptoms whatever ex-
isted previously during life. According to the great worth claimed
by homoeopathists for their  minute symptomatology, how could
they consistently answer for their treatment, if a  patient dies and
presents to them in a post mortem examination, as many instances
are on record, the total  defect or a surplus  of parts on which de-
pended a considerable portion of their symptoms? But with all their
great respect  for " trifles and unheard of niceties/' the proceedings
 of the homoeopathists,  even with regard to symptoms, are so de-
 fective  and strange that, excepting the immense number of sin-
 gular feelings, it appears  almost  as  if the human body were  in
 their eyes hollow like a polypus or a volvox globator, offering only
 a surface to the superficial observer.  We have at least been unable,
 in the vast multitude of their symptoms, which  often, amount  to
 upwards of a thousand for one drug, to discover proper remarks of
 the  necessity of closely  investigating  the  functions  of the res-
 piratory, digestive and other highly important organs by minutely
 examining  their morbid excrementitious  matters, the expecto-
 rated mucus  or pus, the  urine, (fee, though these  signs are ex-
 tremely important  in  the  diagnosis of many  diseases : thus  a
 knowledge of the chemical condition of the urine is indispensable,
 in  order to ascertain in lithiasis, whether  phosphate of lime, uric
 acid, or what other  matter predominates, so as  not to increase  the
 disease from ignorance, instead of alleviating it. Are not these data,
 at  least,  as valuable as what Dr.  Hering  thinks important mi-
 nutely  to examine " a small wart of long standing upon the right
 " cheek," a " weakness of the right ankle," or a " proneness of the
 " same to frequent sprains,"  (see 1. c. p. 22),  <fcc,  or  as Hahne-
 mann's large catalogue  of feelings, many of which are newly
 created by him only to satisfy his and  his disciples' most extrava- 
102
gant fancy, and which are even to the German  often so strange.
that scarcely any one can form  a clear conception of them ? The
homoeopathical symptomatology, according to its many and great
requisites, must  be, of  course, entirely inapplicable, when the pa-
tient  has only  one foot or arm,  and those persons crippled in
birth or by  accident, are also  so  unfortunate, as to be  excluded,
when sick, from all the " great blessings"  of this " new  art of
" healing," since hitherto  no experiments with  drugs have been
instituted with such persons.   The high value which homoeopa-
thists ascribe to the most  subtle shades of symptoms, the names
of which require the minutest acquaintance  with the  German
language, (some of Hahnemann's expressions are foreign to this
and to every language,) must render the large collection of drug-
and disease-symptoms  comprehensible only by Germans, who
have  studied,  or rather  learned by heart homoeopathia for  years.
Thus the ridiculous opinion, that a physician can be skilful only
in his own country,  and must be considered in a foreign land in-
ferior to a native, may he be ever  so superior in  professional edu-
cation, talent, experience, <fcc., is indirectly advocated by homceopa-
thia ;  though this opinion is excusable only in a man destitute of
general scientific education, however distinguished he might be as
an editor, poet, (fee.  For a man of a good general education should
be sufficiently acquainted with the encyclopaedical abstract of all sci-
ences, so as to  know also what materially belongs to the medical
profession; he should know even by his common sense, that at least
anatomy, physiology, pathology, <fcc,  must be less national than
other sciences, if he thinks them not altogether the  same over the
whole globe. The differences of climate, the epidemic and endemic
diseases <fcc. of a foreign country, must be sufficiently known to every
well educated physician, so that he can adapt the  rational prin-
ciples of the profession to any case with the same facility in a fo-
reign land as in his native country.  Indeed ! this opinion, which
we have frequently heard expressed  by men of high standing in
different countries, must appear as foolish, as if any body were to
assert that only an American can describe  minutely the geogra-
phical, geological, and all similar conditions of his country, because,
besides this singular birth-right, he has travelled in American steam-
boats, rail-road-cars, &c., and vice versa, that an able American
astronomer or geologist could not claim any minute knowledge of
a foreign distant country, because  he was not born there, and did 
103
not live there from his infancy.  Humphrey Davy says very  cor-
rectly, in one of his speeches, " science, like that nature to which
': it belongs, is neither limited by time nor space; it belongs to the
" world, and is of no country and of no age."  But homoeopathists
may justly  be considered  as " glebse adscripti," not only on ac-
count of the difficulties mentioned, but  on account of the great
differences of climate, customs, and particularly theabuse of substan-
ces, " classed by him (Hahnemann) among the important remedial
" substances;" all of which must necessarily lead  the  practice of
German homoeopathists, in foreign countries,  to results very dif-
ferent from the experiments with drugs  instituted at Leipzig and
Coethen ; and if  they wished to be in any manner consistent,
they should commence a new series of experiments with drugs on
healthy persons, as accurate as those  of their master, before they
venture to practise in any  foreign country with safety.   How, for
instance, can they conscientiously  prescribe the virtue developed
from  an atom of  opium for Turks, and other nations who daily
use very large allopathic doses of it?  How can they administer to
the inhabitants of the Phillippine islands, and other tropical coun-
tries,  who are surrounded  with forests of cloves,  cassia, pepper,
and  so many other plants,  constantly impregnating the  atmos-
phere with the largest allopathic  doses of substances,  classed by
them amongst the most important  remedial agents ? What effect
can be well expected if a  native  of these regions should  smell in
a severe malady on " a sugar-pellet not larger than a hemp-seed,"
and moistened with an infinite part of a  grain of such an " im-
" portant  remedial substance," of  which he  has  inhaled large
quantities, at least thirty times every minute, during, perhaps,  up-
wards of sixty years ?  Homoeopathists, faithful to Hahnemann's
cunning advice, (see Chron. Dis. Vol. I. p. 200), to avoid  under-
taking  the  treatment of  patients,  who  have been  previously
marred by an allopathist, must consistently  renounce all practice,
where " the miserable, clumsy, and automatically acting nature,"
has been the murderous allopathist.  Unfortunate nations ! In re-
turn for the great and extensive blessings which nature has hitherto
bestowed upon the inhabitants of the tropics,  they are at present vi-
sited by two severe adversities; their valuable property will henceforth
be entirely worthless, since in future, instead of many Indiamen, an-
nually arriving, with their valuable cargoes of drugs and spices, the
smallest vessel once very century will be fully sufficient to provide 
J 04
all Europe and America with the requisite quantity of these drugj

and " important remedial  substances," and in addition, these un-

fortunate  people are  unqualified for all the benefits of " the great

" discovery, which with blessings  on its wings, reached to every

" quarter of the  earth."* The best advice which we can give them?

from true  commiseration is,  to  join with the many ruined drug-

gists, apothecaries and obstinate allopathists of all other sections of

the  globe, and to  migrate to " Egypt  the land of monsters,"  or'

to the  " sanguinary gold-coast," in order to partake at least there of

the great blessings of homoeopathia, if they are  willing to  believe

the cheerful reports of the respected author of the  "Concise  View,"

on page 18.

   The great  veneration  paid  by all the homoeopathists to their'

" illustrious"' master,  may be pardonable, particularly when  they

consider themselves  the blessed apostles of  him, with whom the

healing art has "dawned" and  has continued  "brilliantly"  to

shine,  like summer's brightest mid-day.   Let them continue to say

to  the American  people,  "no  error is possible,"  "injury  cannot

" indeed result from a false selection."  Let  them tell also that the

very existence  of the  human  understanding  has  begun  with

Samuel Hahnemann, and that since his discovery all premature

death  by  disease, would have ceased to afflict man, if the  allopa-

thic murderers were   less obstinate.  How many  allowances have

mankind been forced to make to infatuated  fanatics in every cen-

tury !   But after disparaging all other  medicine, all learning and

experience, let them  not wantonly destroy also the last remnant of

  * To  prove that our sympathy for those unfortunate nations is not visionary, we will
state, that on reproaching homoeopathists for their failures in different cases, contra-
dicting their  bold assertions to cure all diseases so easily, safely and quickly, some of
them answered for their defence: that in large, and especially in commercial cities, their
treatment sometimes fails, on account of the many " remedial influences," diffused in
the atmosphere.  One of the principal homoeopathic remedies, the thorn apple, (Da-
tura stramonium, L.) will  consequently be quite ineffectual in cities, like New York
and Philadelphia, where the surrounding country abounds with that exceedingly poison-
ous plant. We always considered it very wrong that this and similar poisonous plants
should be suffered to grow in abundance near dwellings, as they may frequently be
very injurious, particularly to children.  But now we have still greater reason to call
the attention of  the civil authorities  to this nuisance,  in order  not  to deprive
themselves and their  fellow-citizens  of the great benefits of homoeopathia.   The bad
influences of other remedial agents, such as coffee, saffron, capsicum, imported from
abroad,  tobacco and even parsley, (vid 26, 1. c.)—this plant hitherto considered so inno-
cent and wholesome—will cease spontaneously, as soon as this newly discovered law
of nature shall be acknowledged as indispensable to health, and " the domestic  felicity of
growing thousands here as well as in Germany," (see Concise View, page 29.) Why
are not  England, France, and the many  other countries also included in this  prophecy
of T)r. Hering] Are they not also christians? or by what have they made themselves,
unworthy of the blessings of " the great truth]" 
105
 the merits of the deserving professional men who have existed and

 still exist, by such  barefaced falsehood and bold ignorance, as we

 read in the following remarks, made by the author of the "Concise

 View," in the idiom of his party, (on page 22, of his C. V.)  " Hah-

 " nemann was the first physician who  recognized it  as indispens-

 able in any disease, to regard man as a whole."   Does the learned

 Dr. Hering  not know, that Empedocles who lived long before Hip-

 pocrates, about 24 centuries ago, has considered man as a  whole,

 in his work " on  the  philosophy of nature,"  where he states that

 love combines  the dissimilar and hatred the similar parts of the four

 elements, which are contained in the whole body;  which remark

 is attended to by Aristotle, who himself had such clear conceptions

 of man as a whole,  that on a nearer comparative analysis  of their

 respective conceptions,  the  author  of homceopathia would  rather

 lose than gain.  Does  he not  know that Hippocrates by his terms :

 putfig,  Gsibv,  Evo^fjtov, proved the  same; that also Aretaeus, Galen, Hel-

 mont, Ernestus  Stahl,  Albertus  Haller,  like all other real great

 reformers of medicine,  have  considered man as a whole, under the

 different  expressions of psyche, archaeus, soul, vital  power,  sen-

 sibility,  irritability, &c*  No medical doctrine has  ever been so


   * We would recommend to Dr. Hering and his homoeopathic brethren the  study of
 the history of medicine, particularly the learned and ingenious work of our respected
 friend,  Professor Hecker of Berlin, whose " Geschichte der Heilkunde, nach Quellen
 bearbeitet, in two volumes, Berlin, 1822 and 1829," is more pragmatical and concise
 than the celebrated work of Professor Curt Sprengel.  They would think then with
 more modesty of themselves, with more respect  of the talents and exertions of really
 great men, and  would also gain some useful instruction from the study now considered
 by them as  " learned lumber."  Lauth in his interesting work, " De l'esprit de l'in-
 "struction publique, Strasbourg, 181tV' says very correctly on page 142, "I'histoire
 " d'unes cience contient I'histoire des  erreurs de l'esprit humain; les connaitre c'est
 " posseder les moyens de les eviler, tandis que, par leur ignorance, chaquehomme est
 " expose a y retomber."—The well educated physician considers  not  only man, but
 also the plan of treatment of every  case, as a whole, which therefore in most cases
 is best  executed by one; hence, he is reluctant to yield to one of the  most erroneous
 prejudices of the public in regardto medical consultations.  Laymen being generally
 ignorant of the philosophical spirit of rational medicine, and of the higher mental re-
 quisites of a judicious treatment, consider it as depending only upon the acuteness of
 the external senses and a faithful memory;  and hence that six eye« are naturally able
 to see three times as much as two, and that three doctors can remembera symptom and
 a useful remedy three times as well as one.   These ideas may be correct in regard to
 the homoeopathists, whose whole talents consist in remembering many thousand symp-
 toms, and who by the aid of a brother homoeopathist have less need of going home
 to consult their horn-books, before they prescribe their atoms ; as  they generally do,
 according to Hahnemann's direction.   But in regard to rational medicine this preju-
 dice is of great injury, for the following reasons : the conscientious physician, never
 prepossessed by his own learning and talent, will also feel bound from honesty towards
 his colleagues, who are charged to act with him harmoniously, not to alter his treat-
 ment without their consent.  In urgent cases therefore, many consultations might be
required daily, which cannot be attended  by physicians who are engaged in but a
 moderate practice, and the most auspicious moments to relieve or to save the patient,
 by an instantaneous alteration of the plan of treatment adopted before might easily be
                                  14 
106
narrow in its conceptions, so destitute of all reasonable conjectures,

and has therefore less considered man as a whole than homoeopa-

thia, in regarding the superficial symptoms and delusive feelings of

the  patient as the only true leading thread in the dark pathway of

medical practice ; excluding all higher mental faculties, all reason-

ing  about the immense and constant influence of the vast multitude

of the surrounding  physical  and  mental  agents;  rejecting  all

reference to any cause whatever, <fec.   It is  true, that the history

of medicine presents, from its beginning, a motley list of the most

imaginary and absurd conceptions  about the causes  of diseases,

and this will continue to be so, more or less, because probably it was

and will ever remain impossible  for any mortal being  to know

exactly what life really is,  and in  what it essentially consists ;  all

conjectures of the proximate  causes of the different diseased states,

have been and always will remain hypothetical. " Latent ista om-

nia  crassis occultata et circumfusa tenebris;  ut nulla acies humani

ingenii tanta sit, quae penetrare in caelum, terrain  intrare possit.—


for ever lost.   This will be the case, even where the physicians agree in their views
and in their professional creed, as is probably not the case with two out of a hundred.
If the professional views of two or more consulting physicians differ, the situation of
the patient is much worse, as the treatment then is  generally the result of a compro-
mise of two or more mostly diametrically opposite opinions,  combined from mutual
courtesy or from prudence, neither of them being willing to  be responsible for  the
result of his plan, when seriously opposed by the other.  The public, unaware of these
great inconveniences, will from bad customs, show  or fashion, insist in proportion to
their wealth, upon the consultations of more or less physicians, and will therefore  fre-
quently see members of their families  dead, or  otherwise injured, who if they were
poor and forced to feel satisfied with the advice of only one good physician, would
have been saved. The more ingenious the proposed two plans of treatment, the less
probability is there of success, provided both be followed, or a third mode be formed
from them.  Two empirics, therefore, will agree together better than two rational
physicians of different schools and practical views.-^-Every work depending upon the
higher functions of the human intellect, upon conjectural principles, and upon a rational
plan to be immediately changed  according to circumstances which  happen, should
always be considered best performed by one; the  probability of success in medica!
treatment may justly  be considered as inverse to the number of consulting physicians,
and the true benefit derived by the patient from medical attendance is generally equal
to the  fraction of one divided  by the number of  consulting physicians.   Even the
errors of a physician are observed and remedied by  himself better than by another,  and
many successful modes  of treatment are frustrated by the frequent change of physi-
cians.  This remark  is  intimately connected with a no less important inconsistency,
likewise arising from want of sound reflection on the part of the public generally, in re-
regard to medicine.   Many persons have but slight confidence in the healing art,  and
consider it useless to consult a physician in the beginning of a disease, but they  are
anxious for his assistance when they become more seriously affected. We should think
that if the confidence  in the healing art is but small, it should consistently decrease in
proportion with the difficulties to be removed,-so that it must appear more advisable to
call medical assistance in the beginnning of a disease, when all the morbid processes
are but trifling, and easily removed, than at a later time, when by long duration  and
perhaps wrong measures, the first cause and its simple effects have been changed  into
a series of more or less complicated  and aggravated morbid processes.  A child may
change the course of the largest river at its source, but no human power can alter its
current at a considerable distance. 
107
(Cic. acad. qucest.)   But this does not prevent us from comparing
the different manifestations and conditions of man's life with those
of other living organized bodies, which we can observe more mi-
nutely, and submit to our experiments; nor from considering the
phenomena and laws of universal nature, and their influence on the
body in its different states, from which collectively we may conclude
upon the state of things in diseases and upon the best means  of
remedying them in  a manner,  which, though not satisfactory  to
our unattainable ideal of certainty and perfection,  yet fills our
hearts with gratitude to a merciful Providence. But being unable to
attain a consummate insight into the causes, shall we therefore desist
from thankfully and rationally using all that the  infinite wisdom
and mercy of our Creator has  granted to our intellect, and offered
to our investigation ?  Thus, ought the natural philosopher to re-
nounce his belief in a power of gravity, and observe only its pheno-
mena,  without  establishing  the said general principle and  its
laws, because he cannot and will never see or grasp the power
itself?   Supposing even that  it will soon be found, to depend only
upon a modification of the universal electro-chemical or magnetical
agent, will not the very nature  of this power simply change the
form of the great mystery, and give rise to many new hypotheses,
however much the principle may be simplified ?  Indeed it is ex-
tremely inconsistent and  absurd that, while on one  side homoeo-
pathists are more credulous and  superstitious than ever a class of
men have been,  and affect to be so pious and faithful as to consider
the investigation of the causes of natural phenomena a heavy sin ;
they are on the other side such strict sceptics, as almost to require
laying down before them visibly and palpably, the matter of gravity
itself, if it should exist, or any similar agency of nature, in the same
manner as they can see and grasp  " a small wart of long standing
upon the right cheek," and are such infidels as to think their wis-
dom paramount to the vital powers, and to regard these always  as
injurious in diseases, if they do not assist them!   We  may justly
ask Dr.  Hering and his brethren:  who considers  man most as a
whole, he who is contented simply to observe and write down the
symptoms which are gained  from  true statements, or which are
elicited from  such defective experiments as  we have mentioned,
without any minute ratiocination or any higher intellectual exer-
tion; or he, who not content with what is only obvious to his senses,
is anxious to inquire  minutely into the probable causes and their 
108
connection with the accurately observed various effects, in order to
establish general principles, which  are applicable to  many cases,
without any reference to but seldomly similar, and mostly illusive
symptoms?   Who values man practically more as a whole, the
homoeopathist, who according to his doctrine, believing that the
developed  virtues of drug-atoms are only to be applied with success
through the mouth or the nose, and therefore rejects the use of all
external remedies;  or the rational physician, who considers every
point of the living body to be endowed with a proportionate  and
modified part of the same power, which  animates and moves the
whole, so that any appropriate influence upon the smallest point,
will be distributed over all the systems, organs and  parts of the
living individual; and who believes on that account, that a great
many diseases may be radically cured only by the use of external
remedies, or by psychical directions?  Homoeopathia with its maxim,
similia similibus curantur, would therefore justly be the last of all
medical doctrines  which  could pretend with propriety to consider
man as a whole, even if  all experiments  should fully confirm the
correctness of the said maxim, much less so however, with its great
deficiencies,  delusions, contradictions, inconsistencies and absur-
dities.
   Admitting that Hahnemann has in good faith adopted his doc-
trine, still it appears that he was  misled by many  observations
which he claims to have discovered, but which were observed long
before his time: viz. that powerful drugs, applied in a  stronger
dose or for a longer time than is necessary for removing the  dis-
ease, produce symptoms which apparently belong to the subdued
disease itself, but which are caused mostly by the surplus of the
given drug; or in cases where the drug was not required, and where
the original  disease nevertheless disappeared, upon  the improper
selection  of the drug.  It was, for instance, known long before
Hahnemann's first publication of his doctrine, and it was explicitly
remarked by all eminent authors,  that mercury, if used without
sufficient reason, or if continued too long and in too large doses
for syphilitic diseases, frequently produces  symptoms resembling
those of syphilis, and which do not subside, until the use of  mer-
cury is suspended and an  opposite treatment adopted.  But it
would  certainly  be very poor diagnosis,  if a physician should
consider  mercurial and  syphilitic   ulcers as identical;  they are
similar to each other, but not alike, as is also proved by the sue- 
109
cessful mode of treatment generally followed by all judicious prac-
titioners :  hence the former were termed also, long before Hahne-
mann's doctrine, "mercurial ulcers", (Mercurial-Geshwuere) and
the complex of all the symptoms produced by misapplied mercury
was called "mercurial disease" (Mercurial-Krankheit;) this is, mu-
tatis mutandis, quite the same as the term drug-sickness used by
Hahnemann,  and considered by his infatuated followers to be as
gigantic a discovery as if he had found the quadrature of the circle.
The same may be said of other remedies;  if applied in too large
doses, they will injure always in a direct proportion to their efficacy,
to their dose,  to the age, the  constitution, the habit, the idiosyn-
crasy of the patient, etc. etc. They could not injure otherwise than
by producing a diseased state, manifested by some symptoms.  But
impartial observation  will show, that the  drug given in excess,
will rarely produce a state, which originated directly from the spe-
cific properties  of the given drug, expressed by  Hahnemann  as
drug-sickness (Arzney-Krankheit;) it will only cause a bad effect
in general, depending upon the just named individual conditions,
and observable either by another disease totally different from the
former, or by one combined with a higher or lower  degree of the
old disease, or also by a more protracted convalescence.    Not
only the drug, but any thing else which the sick person has im-
properly taken may have these  effects.  Thus,  for instance,  of
three apoplectics, one has eaten too much salted  hering, and be-
comes violently delirious, another has indulged too much in water
melons, and  gets  cholera, and  the third was intemperate with
whiskey, and is affected with blood-spitting; nobody perhaps but
an homoeopathist, would be so foolish as to term the  first case her-
ring-sickness ; the second, water-melon-sickness,  and  the  third
whiskey-sickness, and no  one  but a  homoeopathist, would recom-
mend to the first a microscopic slice of a herring ; to the second,
that of a water-melon, and to the third, the virtue developed from
whiskey.—Hahnemann's observations therefore in support  of the
homoeopathic  maxim  before  us,  do not depend upon  the  cor-
rectness of that maxim, but upon the natural consequences of all
agents which  are used in excess—omne nimium  vertitur in con-
trarium.   A relatively small quantity of wine, opium, etc. for in-
stance, exhilarates, a  larger one  makes morose and drowsy;  to
quote a common-place occurrence, a carpenter who intends to fas- 
no
 ten a board, loosens it again by using too many nails and striking
 too much.   Many similar incidents often happen in sickness, and
 may be explained by considering the healthy state as a parallelism
 of two straight lines,  and the diseased state as a divergence of the
 same, which increasing at every moment of its duration, increases
 also the difficulties in re-establishing the parallelism or health;
 but it is obvious, that a power acting with more force than  is re-
 quired merely to re-establish the parallelism, will produce a simi-
 lar and still larger divergence  on the other side, and thus prove
 more injurious than beneficial, though it did not depend upon the
 wrong quality but upon the disproportionate quantity of the force
 applied.—Hahnemann is not aware that he  himself nullifies  his
 maxim of homceopathia, by very judiciously saying on the third
 page of his Organon :—" According to common sense the cause of
 any thing can never be the thing itself." We would only add to this
 negative proposition,  which affects  the old and long unsettled dis-
 pute about the identity of the proximate cause  of a disease with the
 latter itself—the cause of  any effect  will much less destroy the
 effect of a dissimilar and even not of  a similar  cause.  Common
 sense must adopt equal causes for equal effects; the same reasoning
 is applicable to two or more effects,  really  similar to each  other in
 most of their single parts  and vice versa.—To explain this more
 clearly, let us suppose the drug, d, to be the cause,  c, of a certain
 number of drug-symptoms, s, in healthy persons, and let u  call X
 the unknown cause of the symptoms, S, of the natural  disease,
 called D.  If we now meet with these similar symptoms, or S, in
 a natural disease,  D,  it would be contrary to all common senseto
 conjecture  that d  must  destroy S,  because it  has produced  s,
 which is similar to S ; any one would more reasonably think, that
 it must sooner increase S and D belonging to it, because in all
 probability if s is quite similar to S, then the unknown cause X
 of S and its D, must be also similar to c of s; and as c is said to
 destroy absolutely S and its D, it destroys what its similar X always
 generates, which is absurd.  It is  here immaterial whether X,
 the unknown  cause and S or D, its effect (proximate cause and
 disease,) are  the same or not; the just reproach of Hahnemann,
 and of some of his  reflecting disciples,  that we know nothing cer-
tain  about  the proximate causes of diseases,  does not the least
affect our conclusions, since by  adopting X, we admit that we do 
Ill
not know exactly the cause, but only a cause.  If he on his part,
does admit no cause X, then he adopts an effect which has no cause;
if he admits one, then he admits what we  have just proved to be
absurd.—We see by this dilemma, that even in regard to the simi-
larity of symptoms, the homoeopathic doctrine is merely seemingly
correct.—True, Hahnemann says, (Org.: § 7.)  " The physician,
"in his treatment, is aided by data which most probably were the
"cause of the acute disease, and by  the most prominent incidents
"of the whole history of the chronic disease, in order to ascertain
" its fundamental cause" &c.  But who would believe that this his
judicious advice, expressed by him moreover in italics, is retracted
by him in the same work, and  on  the same page, where he says,
" Is not that which  is recognisable  by our senses, in the  symp-
" toms of diseases, the same  with that which  is internally existing
" and not recognisable in itself?  Is not the  latter the side unat-
" tainable and unrecognisable  by us; but the former that side of
" the same disease, which is evidently and positively recognisable
" by our sound senses, and given to us by nature as the principal
" object of cure ?  Who can  prove the contrary ?   Is it not there-
" fore foolish to make the invisible, internal state of any disease,
" the  state termed prima causa morbi, the object of cure, but  to
" reject, and  haughtily to contemn,  the sensibly and  clearly ob-
" servable side  of the same disease,  the symptoms  which  chiefly
" speak to us as objects of treatment ?"
   And  again,  on § 12 of the same  work,  he says, "Whereas,
" therefore, the removal of all the recognisable symptoms and in-
" cidenls of the disease removes also these changes, on which the
"latter  is founded—of course, therefore,  the  totality of the dis-
u ease—it follows, that it is the duty of the physician only to re-
" move  the symptoms,  in order to erase  and  to destroy,  at the
" same time, the internal changes ; of course, therefore, the total-
" ity of the disease, the disease itself."
   We leave it to the acuteness of the impartial critic to select any
sense from this  motley phraseology :  for instance,  how it  is pos-
sible to reconcile with common sense, that the symptoms of a disease
and the  latter itself, are absolutely the same,  and nevertheless not
the same ; we should think if both are the same, both must be also
recognisable,  or unrecognisable, he.  If the  critic succeeds, after
his great exertion, he will observe the grossest contradictions  in 
112
 these quotations.—In regard  to the maxim, similia  similibus cu-
 rantur,  Hahnemann  was consistent in his practice only to the
 utmost extreme, until a few years ago, when he substituted for it,
 his  "great truths."
   The following few interesting specimens may satisfy the curiosity
 of our indulgent reader, and show the practical application which
 Hahnemann has made of this maxim.
   If a man has taken his dinner too hastily, has swallowed many
 indigestible things, has drank too much spirituous liquors, or has
 eaten some tainted food; in short, if it be evident that he has injur-
 ed his stomach in some such manner before he fell  sick, every man
 of common sense would prescribe a contrarium, viz. an emetic, as
 the best remedy; the beneficial effects of which are moreover con-
 firmed by innumerable instances.   Hahnemann thinks, in his Or-
 ganon, (pp. 6  and 7)  such a real  causal treatment, imaginary
 and  highly obnoxious, and, instead of the emetic, recommends, as
 the best remedy,  to smell  of a sugar-pellet, made of starch and
 sugar, not larger than a hempseed, and slightly moistened with a
 high solution of the juice of Pulsatilla ; that is, at least, with the
 ----part of a grain of the said juice, or a fraction equal to  one,

 divided by one with sixty zeros.
   On Org. p. 59, Hahnemann quotes F. H. Lange, an old  author
 on domestic medicine, who has found nutmeg salutary in hyster-
 ics.  This single authority is sufficient for him to add, " Of course
 "  for no other than the same homoeopathic reason ; since, accord-
 "  ing to F. Schmid and Cullen, it also caused, when given in large
 "  doses to healthy persons, a fainting of the senses and a general
 "  senselessness-"   That any substance,  even the most  innocent
 and wholesome food and drink, when taken to excess, will always
 cause, in persons easily subjected to hysterics, etc.  such affections,
 and  that none but a fool would draw from such  a  single instance
 any conclusion, is no object of consideration to the close-thinking
 homoeopathists; who, however, find no fault that their master re-
jects, on  the other side,  all statements confirmed by thousands of
 trust-worthy men.   This and similar inferences, drawn  from do-
 mestic substances, by  Hahnemann, refute his  assertion,  on page
 53, where he explains, why such large doses of homceopathically
 acting drugs were found salutary by many authors  quoted by him, 
113
though they must have rather been of great injury.   He states,
that this may be ascribed to the use of the drugs, by which they
have lost their efficacy ; or to their operation as cathartics,  by
which they were soon evacuated ; or also to the simultaneous use
of drugs, which acted as antidotes to them.  The first reason can-
not be  true of such substances as nutmeg, and is  also a supposi-
tion  demanding proof; because  every one  will  believe, that,
among all these distinguished men, some at least  have  been ho-
nest, and anxious  to administer to their  patients  the  best drugs
and the best preparations.   The second reason refutes  his expla-
nation of the first—and after-operations, and if combined with the
third reason, contradicts the absolute and unconditional salutary
effect of his homoeopathic drugs.
   Ladies, suffering from giddiness or oppression, must not object
if their homoeopathic doctor visits them smoking a pipe or a cigar ;
for,  on page 55 of the Organon, Hahnemann  proves the salutary
effects of tobacco for such indispositions, by only owe quotation from
Diemerbroek, one of the greatest physicians in Amsterdam, two
centuries ago, who cured himself from similar affections during
an  extensive epidemic ; though probably this ingenious  Dutch-
man did  it merely, as  many physicians still do in Germany  and
Holland on similar occasions,  because he found his pipe very plea-
sant and useful for offensive smells, and protective against infection,
to which he was exposed as an able and extensive practitioner.
   On page  61 of the same work he asks whether, if any  one being
exposed to  a cold  wet air, take  a little bitter-sweet,  (Solarium
dulcamara,  L.)  and  catches  a  severe cold, it is not a proof
that this plant produces the symptoms  of a cold, and  must there-
fore also cure colds ?   This " great genius,  by whose watchful
" attention to minutia1 a new era has dawned upon all the natural
" sciences,"  as Dr. Hering  tells the Americans, on page 24 of his
Concise View, considers here as a mere nothing the influence of a
cold wet  air,  which daily experience  proves  fully sufficient for
producing a  severe cold, a catarrhal  or rheumatic fever, and fre-
quently the  most dangerous acute or chronic  diseases.   But  he
thinks the infinite part of this  plant, which every  body knows  is
quite inoffensive in small  allopathic doses,  to be so highly in-
jurious, that  it is not worth while for him to mention a cold damp
air,  even only as an accessory cause !   No wonder, on pp. 246
                               15 
Ill
and 247 of  his Organon, he suggests explicitly to the homaopa-
thic  physician, not to rniird the stories of their patients, relating,
as the  cause of their long sufferings, "a cold acquired long ago,
"(by getting wet all over, or by a cold drink after over-heating,) a
" fright, a distortion of a limb, (also " sometimes  a bewitching,
" he."*)  " All these things are too trifling to produce, in healthy
11 persons, diseases of long standing, which grow worse from year to
" year, as is the nature of all chronic diseases arising from itch."
   Among the great discoveries of Hahnemann, drawn from " his
exceedingly pure and simple observations," we may  name fore-
most his assertion, that ophthalmia, or inflammation of the eyes, is
frequently caused by Roses.   All must fly, therefore, from  places
                  " Where o'er the verdant ground
             " Her living carpet nature spreads ;  .
             " Where the green bower, with roses crown'd,
             " In showers its fragrant foliage sheds."
   Old authors mention to us many very singular causes which injure
this, our noblest sense; and Ovid,  in his Remed. Amor.  lib. 2.
already says,—
              " Dum spectant oculi laesos, lseduntur et ipsi,
              " Multaque corporibus transitione nocent."
   But hitherto  nobody was aware of the  great  risk he runs by
smelling this delightful gift of spring,  this beautiful flower  consi-
dered by all poets as  the emblem of innocence ! What reason has
the old philosopher to make such a cruel accusation of our  favor-
ite flower, the Rose ?  Is it the result of his not " over-refined" che-
mical analysis,  or,  at  least, of some  experiments which, like so
many others, he only has made ?  No : some obscure old medical
author, who, as a stupid allopathist, deserves  of course  no credit
for any thing else,  has  told him  so : but as he  says, nobody can
doubt it, principally because rose-water is an old domestic remedy
for inflamed or sore eyes.   It could not,  however, be so favorite
a remedy in the spirit of the homoeopathic maxim,  similia  simili-
bus curantur, unless it produces ophthalmia; ergo, every one
who smells of roses will unavoidably have his eyes inflamed.
   Ancient  authors must have been  ignorant of the danger to
  * We would advert here to this expression of Hahnemann, by which he ranks
" bewitching" with other important causes, which are, in his opinion, erroneously al-
leged bv the patient.  The discussion about his third maxim will  explain this more
minutely. 
115
smell of roses ;  for Cicero, (in Verrem. 11) states, that it was cus-
tomary with the kings in Bithynia to fill the cushions of their beds
or sofas with roses: and Virgil sings, "Nescio quis teneros oculos
mihi fascinat agnos."  It is also an object  of curiosity to know,
by what antidote the people in many oriental countries are pro-
tected against ophthalmia, who distil such large quantities of essen-
tial oil of roses, and use it so frequently as a cosmetic.  We have
never seen it mentioned by any traveller, not even by Lady Mon-
tague, that the beautiful Circassian girls suffer on that account with
inflamed eyes.  But no matter,  it  must be true!  he says so,  in
his Organon, on pp. 59 and 60.
  In our  humble opinion, Hahnemann,  by whom, according to
Dr. Hering, on page 19, " the most important medicinal energies
of nature  have  been investigated," could  have  recommended  a
much surer homoeopathic remedy against  inflamed eyes,  drawn
also  from roses.    Every  one   will  certainly  admit that few
healthy men,  or even  animals,  will escape from having their
eyes inflamed,  when pricked or  scarified with  the thorns  of
roses, for which Hahnemann could have quoted still older and
also modern authorities ; although this operation,  called ophthal-
moxysis, was originally performed with ears of barley or rye.
  Samuel  Hahnemann, whom  we  have  seen  so  exceedingly
averse to all names of diseases, enriches, however, the profession,on
page 67 of his Organon, with a new disease, termed by him contu-
sion-sickness. He says, that the symptoms of the drug-sickness, pro-
duced in healthy persons by the use of Arnica montana, L. are simi-
to the symptoms which  partly sometimes happen after a more or
less violent contusion of a part.  Arnica must  therefore, of course,
be considered as a specific remedy against the consequences of all
contusions.  In his opinion  it is only downright allopathic non-
sense to bleed, leech, foment, or even to resort to trepanning, in
severe cases of such  a kind ;  a trillionth or decillionth part of a
grain of arnica-juice will cure all contusions  easily, safely, and
quickly.
  It appears that Hahnemann's attention was particularly attract-
ed by the less common German name, amongst half  a dozen, for
Arnica, viz. Fallkraut, (falling-herb). According to the many drug-
sickness  symptoms, mentioned in vol. I. of his Materia  Medicii, 
116
 it is a very singular plant: it makes, for instance, healthy persons
 exceedingly melancholy, and at the same time very gay. Preach-
 ers, lawyers, members of congress, in short, all who are and must
 be very eloquent, should be cautious not to take a dose of Arnica,
 for the same reason, as it is worth recommending to some particu-
 larly blessed married  men, for the still greater promotion of their
 "domestic felicity," because it makes talkative, and of course where
 loquacity prevails it will cure it. (See Mat. Med. Vol. I, p. 504.)
   In pure inflammatory fevers, encephalitis,  or inflammation of
 the brain, with delirium, in which a few drops of a spirituous drink
 are considered by every allopathist as equivalent to poison, Hah-
 nemann recommends  (Organon, p. 73) strong wine in small doses,
 because  a  few  cases are  recorded  where it has  proved  useful.
 By  quoting  (Organ,  p. 73), in support  of  this  luminous  opi-
 nion an old treatise in Ephem. Natur. Cur. entitled, " febris ardens
 " spirituosis curata," he shows an ignorance hardly to be met with
 in a well educated  physician, since febris ardens is not an inflam-
 matory  disease,  but the same as causus, generally a  typhus or
 putrid fever, where rational medicine has always considered good old
wine a great and almost indispensable remedy.  He recommends
wine in  encephalitis particularly,  because, when taken in excess,
it frequently produces, among other inflammatory symptoms, those
of the tissues of the brain also,  and ridicules, on p. 152, the com-
mon allopathist, who is so foolish  as to give wine, in order to
strengthen  persons exhausted  by  long  sufferings or  by  other
causes, because  its first  effect (Erstwirkung)  produces  only the
feelings  of strength, and its after-action (Nachwirkung), is always
 exhausting and  relaxing.   He should, consistently, also recom-
 mend a sumptuous dinner  with some dozens of hot spiced dishes
 as a very salutary remedy in inflammations of the brain, lunos.&c,
 where sleeplessness prevails, because the  after-operation of such
a dinner is to make one feel sleepy.—We know not why Dr. Her-
ing, (I. c. p. 26,)  objects  to " the dieting system," and to " starva-
 " tion,"  since, as Hahnemann considers the after-operation so im-
portant,  he must  know that a small quantity of food administered
to a person almost starved to death, will produce a very pleasant
after-operation ; and, to be  consistent, the  best mode of restorino-
 persons, suffering by consumptive  diseases, would be to starve and
 to diet them alternately.—It  is  lucky for the patients of homoeo-
 pathists, that they are opposed to external remedies, and are bound 
117
to prescribe such fancifully sinalldoses. Their singular conceptions
about the first-and after-operations, would sometimes induce some
of their rude brethren to horse-whip their patients; for, provided
no  wounds are inflicted, the martyr of their  <: law  of  nature,"
will feel a very pleasant after-operation, when the  dose has been
applied.  Rude allopathists and their patients are  frequently  in a
similar manner  deceived  by the same feelings of  ease and com-
fort, when powerful emetics, and  similar injudicious prescriptions,
have  ceased to operate.
  Hahnemann, though opposed to all external remedies, alludes.Org.
p. 95, to the beneficial effects of fomentations with  hot. water  over
the head, when the brain is inflamed by a stroke of the sun, or if the
head  is in any other manner morbidly affected  by  its exposure to
excessive heat:  quite natural;  because a dangerous inflammation
of the brain arises from  the same cause,  and tire mode of applying
cold fomentations is considered one of the most superior allopathic
 remedies ; and  ergo—most foolish and murderous  in his eyes.
   The learned  Dr. Hering proclaims to the world, on page 16 of
 his Concise View, that, " physicians must again become students,
 " and that they were unwilling to do :"  we shall continue to prove
 how correct he is, but not only with regard to physicians, but  to all
 mankind, interested in such great discoveries.—Hahneman, Org.p.
 84, asks: " what will suffocate sooner than the vapor of burning sul-
 " phur ? and the same vapor of burning sulphur," he says,  " is found
 "to be the best remedy to revive persons asphyctic from other suffocat-
 " ing causes." Indeed !  it is strange that this " great benefactor  of his
 " race," did not recommend also the  rope as an excellent remedy
 to revive asphyctic  persons, since it is  prima facie evident, that it
 answers extremely  well his homoeopathic maxim and  the  inge-
 nious applications which he makes of it.  How many worthy men
 would  have been preserved to the world and their families,  espe-
 cially  in  a certain highly  civilised  country,  if  this  marvelous
  homoeopathic after-operation of a rope should have been known
  long since !—Is it not to be seriously deplored that " with blessings
  " on its wings, the great discovery reached to every quarter of the
  " earth"—so late !—We  believe our Samuel abstained from  mi-
  nutely  mentioning this  further application of  his  reviving mea-
  sures only on account  of his professed aversion  to  all external re-
  medies.  Our conjecture appears  confirmed  by his comments on
  pages 93 and 94 of the same work; " electricity, as is known," he 
118
 says, " causes a shortening of  the muscles, which resembles tha
 " in convulsions, &c, and  Theden  restored  by electricity a girl
 " ten years old, who by lightning had lost  her voice, and had be-
 " come almost lame in her  left arm, though her arms and  legs
 " were in a constant and involuntary motion, and her left fingers
 " in a constant spasmodic contraction.1'  We learn also from this
 remark, that, maugre the above  quoted  duplicity of Hahnemann
 and his disciples, in  regard to the large and again small doses of
 drugs for their experiments on healthy persons, they are more in
 favor of the large than of the small ones for their trials on healthy
 persons, and that  we have been correct  in adopting the former as
 the basis  of our discussion: for  nobody, a  " close thinking" ho-
 moeopathist excepted,  will deny, that  a thunder-stroke contains a
 pretty large allopathic dose of electricity.
   The conception of Hahnemann in  regard to  the  protection of
 the cow-pox against  small-pox is likewise  very  remarkable and
 contradictory to his maxim, similia similibus  curantur. Discordant
 with his repeated and really blasphemous expressions  in regard to
 the  vital  powers of nature, saying, for instance, on page 26 of his
 Organon,  " The wretched and exceedingly imperfect effort of the
 " vital power in curing acute  diseases  without assistance, is a spec-
 " tacle which challenges all mankind to active commiseration,
 " and us  to the exertion of  all our intellectual powers, to put an
 " end to this self-torment, by a genuine salutary cure,  t\:c."—he
 exclaims  on page 80  of  the same work, " can  cow-pox protect
 "against  small-pox otherwise than in a  homoeopathic  manner?
 " This disease which, besides other similarities with the small-pox,
 " appears  only once during the whole  human life, leaves the same
 " deep cicatrices and presents  also the same swelling of the axillary
 " glands, a similar fever, the same areola, and even the same oph-
 " thalmia and convulsions, which the small-pox  produces.   The
 " cow-pox would extinguish and cure the small-pox even after it
 " had appeared, provided  the small-pox  were not stronger than
 " the cow-pox; the latter  wants therefore only a higher degree  of
 " strength to cure the  disease  which, according to the law of
" nature, is required in addition, to the homoeopathic similarity for
" the cure.  We can therefore apply this homoeopathic remedy
" only in  advance, before the small-pox affects  the  body," &c.
Leaving unnoticed many material objections which could be made
to these false statements,  in  subjects  of daily occurrence to the 
119
profession, they  contradict  palpably  the  homoeopathic maxims:
1st. That no homoeopathic remedy can be used in too small a dose,
Cx,c, because, the smallest quantity of vaccine virus used for vacci-
nation,  will always  be many billion times larger than  any ho-
nueopathic dose of a drug ;  2d. According to  the  maxim  similia
similibus  curantur,  and  according  to  Hahnemann's  explana-
tions, as stated above, it is not  explained why the cow-pox should
not  extinguish,  check  or  destroy  the small-pox  at any  time
of its existence,  as all  homoeopathic  drugs  are said to do, which
therefore also are not used as prophylactics,  but as remedies for
the existing disease.  Should this not be the  meaning of Hahne-
mann, he could not claim to cure diseases already existing,  and it
would follow therefrom, that every  person, being ignorant what
disease may befal him, would be obliged to take, through his whole
lifetime, every month at least, one dose of all known homoeopathic
drugs, if he wishes to be protected against all diseases.
   The author of the Concise View recommends, (page 17) in con-
formity with his master, the application of heat to a scalded limb,
and on the contrary, cold to a frost-bitten one.  Hahnemann ac-
counts on page  157  of his Organon for this  advice, by  the com-
mon experiment, in which, if one hand only is  bathed  with hot
water, it feels of course  much warmer than the other hand left free
(first-operation, Erstwirkung,) but removed from the hot bath and
dried, it will afterwards feel colder than the other, (after-operation,
Naehwirkung,) and  the contrary will prove true if ice be used.
Both our authors  support  these  experiments by bounces on re-
cord, in  which the treatment performed  in  accordance with these
experiments succeeded.  Ignorant of the physical causes of these
phenomena, which, as belonging to the third maxim, we shall dis-
cuss afterwards, they take no notice of the majority of cases, where
cold applied  to  scalded  limbs, and warmth to those which were
frost-bitten, afforded safe relief and cure, provided that both were
judiciously applied in respect to the degree  of the affection.
   On the same page  of his pamphlet, Dr. Hering mentions, in
further  corroboration  of homceopathia, that  the  cure  of certain
cases of acidity  of the stomach, suggested to him by an American,
 may be  best effected, not with magnesia, a contrarium,  but with
lemon juice, a simile.   We doubt very much whether  he would
succeed  in curing all kinds of acidity of the stomach with lemon-
juice, even in allopathic doses,  as it was  probably used by our 
                             120

 American colleague.   The learned Dr. Hering ought to know,
 that other acids, as particularly Haller's elixir of vitriol, were long
 since highly recommended for the same symptom, but nevertheless
 they tail in many cases, where drugs very different from, or rather
 opposite to acids, as the alkalies, aromatics, bitters, &c, are more
 salutary.   These cases, though generally of minor  importance,
 may clearly prove  the preference  of general  principles, drawn
 from  causes and not merely from symptoms.   Rational medicine
 does not consider pyrosis  itself as  a  disease, but only  as a com-
 mon symptom  of dyspepsia, which may co-exist or not with the
 latter.  One who uses lemon-juice  or any similar remedy to cure
 pyrosis, upon the principle similia similibus curantur, will unques-
 tionably cure those cases in which the  cause is removed by it, as
 in hvperaesthesia or paresthesia of the stomach, in  some  func-
 tional disorder  of the liver, &c,  but  he will be  unsuccessful and
 even do injury  in many others, in anaesthesia of the stomach, hys-
 teria, Sic* which another one, trusting to the  opposite but less er-
 roneous maxim, contraria  contrariis  curantur, will perhaps  cure
 by his antacids.   But there are many cases which will yield  to
 neither method, and where both practitioners will fail, because  they
 are merely guided by delusive symptoms, whereas the rational phy-
 sician viewing correctly the proper cause of this symptom, will re-
sort probably with  immediate  success, to  the proper  medicines,
 without believing the processes iu  the  stomach to be similar  to
 those instituted by the  chemist in his retort or  crucible.
   An over-estimate of the  symptoms, particularly of those which
 may be referred to  topical diseases, without due reference to  the
 much more  important  anamnesis, or  the  minute scrutiny of the
occasional causes of a disease, may  in many cases be very fatal to
 the patient.   We have  already  alluded to these subjects above,
and hope, on another occasion, to detail the results of our prac-
tice,  and the great injuries which we have frequently seen inflict-
ed by similar rude modes of a mere symptomatic treatment.   We
 may, however,  be permitted to add  a few words, illustrating still
 more the great  injuries of  a merely symptomatic method, which
 will affect homoeopathia particularly, when, as may be expected,
its votaries will soon abandon  the third maxim about  the small
 doses, and  merely sustain for a short time the second,  about the
similarity of the  drug and-disease-symptoms.   Two cases  may 
121
not only present similar symptoms, but, may also be rightly re-
ferred to thfe same affected organ, and nevertheless differ so wide-
ly, that the life of the patient is endangered in a few hours, by the
least disregard of the previous state of the patient, and of what hap-
pened before  the attack.  In illustration of this, we cannot find a
better instance, than the illusive  similarity  of a high degree of in-
toxication  to delirium  tremens, so satisfactorily explained by Dr.
Samuel Jackson,  of Northumberland in Pennsylvania, in his  able
treatise, published in the American Journal of Medical Sciences,
No. XIV.  Feb. 1831.   We  have  long entertained  the opinion,
that the  two opposite modes of treatment,  so frequently recorded
by faithful authors, must depend upon  an error in the anamnesis;
some recommending, as the abstract of their  practice, Sutton's
method with large  doses of opium, others, for  the  same reason,
the strict antiphlogistic method, by bleeding, leeching, cold fomen-
tations, he.   Intoxication and  delirium  tremens  are  neither of
them as frequent in the  place of our former  residence, nor over the
whole  of Germany  at present, as they are in this country, though
intemperance  has been, according to the oldest statements on re-
cord, among the most prominent vices of the Germans.  Tacitus
for instance, says in his  Germania : " Diem noctemque continuare
" potando,  nulli probrum,  crebrse ut inter  vinolentos, rixse, raro
" conviciis, saepius caede et vulneribus   transiguntur."—In a
hospital and large dispensary, entrusted to our  care for upwards
of fifteen years, we very seldom saw a case, and therefore we only
could observe  the correctness of Dr. Jackson's remarks in but a
few instances.*  But it is evident, in  this  respect, that  so  much
does not depend upon the similarity of the symptoms, which is very
great,  as  upon an acute induction, drawn from  different particu-
lars  and  forming  together a clear aetiology, as the very founda-
tion  of a safe rational treatment.  For, opium given in large doses
to a highly intoxicated person, would unquestionably* increase the
  * We shall perhaps mention  at anotheropportunity, the reasons why intemperance is
now less common in Germany than in many other countries.  We would mention here,
only that the Germans are generally more intemperate in wine, and particularly in beer,
than in brandy, and we think they do not become so easily drunk as the people in this
country, owing probably to the greater uniformity of their climate, to their frequent
amusements by music, dancing, and by other national pleasures and fetes.  It  may
also be easily explained by psychical principles, why cheerful entertainments lessen
the inclination to the higher degrees of intemperance, and absorb or consume a con-
siderable part of the noxious influence of liquors, whereas the propensity to intempe-
rance in persons who live retired from company and are apt to muse, is not  only
greater but also in itself more ruinous.
                               If, 
122
 danger of his state equally as much as a powerful  antiphlogistic
 treatment would injure the other one affected by delirium tremens,
 whereas the inverse method would prove salutary to both of them.
 The  rational physician, engaged in an extensive  practice, will
 every day meet with similar cases,  where life depends  upon an
 equally minute distinction, acquired  from the  information  of the
 previous and existing particular  conditions  of the  case, and its
 more or less remote causes.  Such minute and  mostly very impor-
 tant data, which are known much better and  more easily by the
 family physician than by another, enable him  therefore, to detect
 the true cause of a disease much more quickly, and thereby, all
 other things being equal, more to benefit the patient.
   We may refer also to the similarity of symptoms produced by
 different poisons, belonging to the same class,  which if taken  in a
 sufficient quantity, will soon destroy life, if proper aid be not im-
 immediately administered, which depends not only on the general
 treatment, but must also correspond to the specific chemical quality
 of the poison.  Admitted that every metallic  or narcotic poison
 will present on a very minute examination, besides the  general
 symptoms of  all metallic or narcotic poisons,  also specific symp-
 toms ; but they are certainly not always observable immediately.
 A homoeopathist, especially one of those finished without the least
 professional education in a  couple of months, and relying only on
 his symptoms, would, as they generally do, particularly in such
 extraordinary cases, run home to consult his drug-symptom-text-
book, then institute possibly, a long  cross-examination and write
 down minutely its results, in strict accordance with  Hahnemann's
explicit advice, and at last he would apply the virtue developed from
one of his drug-atoms, developed, according to similia similibus
 curantur, from  the  same poison  which has caused the danger;
 and thus undoubtedly, as in many other less conspicuous instances,
 be the negative cause of the death of an unfortunate individual,
who might probably  have  been restored, if a stomach-pump, the
proper antidote, and  other  remedies prescribed by rational me-
dicine, had been applied in time.
  After attempting to demonstrate by the preceding remarks, that
 with our imperfect  senses, we can by no means rely upon symp-
toms alone for a correct diagnosis, since similar symptoms fre-
quently depend upon  very different causes, we will now endeavour 
123
 to prove by a few instances, that mho very different symptoms may-
 be attributed in the same manner to one and the same cause,  and
 that therefore very different  diseases may be radically cured  by
 the same treatment.  Let us suppose that ten persons, alike in  sex,
 age, apparent constitution, and other respects, have exposed them-
 selves to the same obnoxious causes, for instance, after being ex-
 cited and profusely perspiring  from dancing, drinking spirituous
 liquors, he. have exposed their feet to wet cold.  In all probability
each of them will be affected differently, in consequence of some
 particular local disposition, of which, however, none of them  was
 ever before aware; one, for instance, will  be attacked with pleu-
 risy, another with angina, a third  with  ophthalmia,  ha. he.   A
 rational  physician, if called  in,  and informed of the occasional
 causes of their sufferings, which  collectively have  produced the
 proximate general  cause  of their different sickness, viz. checked
 perspiration, injured conductive capacity of the cutaneous nerves,
 plethoric accumulation of the blood in different organs with a pro-
 pensity to inflammation, or the  latter itself, he. will probably cure
 them all  readily,  by the same  method of treatment, varying only
 very slightly; according to the parts affected, such as removing
 the light from the inflamed eyes, forbidding much  speaking to
 the pleuritic, he.;  he will probably attain  bis main object by pre-
 scribing  warm stimulating foot-baths,  gentle diaphoretics,  he.
 whilst the homoeopathist, directing his whole attention only to the
 symptoms, after  comparing them with the image of the corres-
 ponding drug-sickness, he., not only loses much time to no pur-
 pose, but leaves perhaps all these patients uncured by the  use of
 his drug-virtues developed from an atom of Aconitum for the pleu-
 ritis, of Pulsatilla for the ophthalmia, of Spongia usta for the  an-
 gina, he. he.  If, for  instance,  one of these patients is affected
by gout,  and is attacked by a chemosis, which, unless treated very
actively by antiphlogistics, will destroy the eyes in less than twen-
 ty-four hours, the immense injury of such a nonsensical symptom
atic treatment by an homoeopathist will be still more  evident.
  In cases like these, where the connection between the cause of
the morbid process and its consequences is so clear,  the rational
physician can generally restore  health safely and quickly without
recurring to symptoms; the morbid process not being yet compli-
cated by the rapid, progress of multiplied connections, either direct or 
124
antagonistical, with the different systems and organs ;  the depend-
ance of the effect upon  its cause is  so plainly  manifest, as to
admit  a speedy restoration, being apparently almost like a me-
chanical connection between both, though we would by no means
compare the vital actions to any mechanical power. In such cases
rational medicine  shines forth in splendor, and  shows  its great
preponderance over all empiricism, so that an enlightened class of
people, anxious to  have the slightest indisposition removed by their
physician, will enjoy, in a series of years, great advantages in their
healthy conditions and vigour, if compared with another class,which
call  only for assistance upon  their physicians when the  disease
has  considerably advanced.  In  the  machinery of an  organised
living body, and especially of man, which is so many times more
complicated than the most compound  artificial machine, and upon
which  so many,  and even quite another world of mental  influences
are operating, the  effect  of a cause  seldom remains stationary,
without spreading  and  combining with many others sympatheti-
cally, which become  again the cause  of other effects, and so on
reciprocally  to an  indefinite large number of causes  and their
effects, till  the last of them are recognisable by us as symptoms.
No homoeopathist can deny this to be the  course, if he attaches
any meaning to Hahnemann's expressions, "first-.counter-,and after-
" operation," and he must at  least admit, that  his  object is not
merely to remove the symptoms, but to remove the disease itself,
or to cure  the patient by removing the symptoms. If therefore a
disease  has lasted  a long time, before  the homoeopathist has been
called to attend, he, in referring only to the symptoms present, will
not observe  the  symptom produced by the first  original cause,
(symptoma causa?)  but the consecutive and different ones, which are
very distantly referable to the first effect, resulting from the original
cause, (symptomatasymptomatum.) Even in successfully applying
his drug to all the present symptoms, forming what the homoeopa-
thist terms, " the image of  the natural disease, (Krankheitsbild.)"
with all the minute prominent symptoms, their shades, &c.,they do
not affect the original symptoms, but only those which arise from the
many preceding effects, all of which are more or less complicated and
dissimilar to the former, as they are more or less distant from them
by going through  the many different periods and developments of
the disease.  If, therefore, Hahnemann's assertions should be  cre-
dited, viz. that one atom of his drug,  though taken  only once  a 
125
week, or sometimes only once every six weeks, should be sufficient
to " extinguish" all the causes and effects, or all  the  symptoms,
the original as well as the consecutive, " without ever doing any in-
jury," this alone would require an implicit belief in the supernatural
powers of his virtues developed from atoms, which act almost with
more judicious  discernment  than  rational beings.   These  ratioci-
nations can alone explain easily, why the trials with the homoeo-
pathic method, instituted by  homoeopathists under the eyes of im-
partial observers, as we have stated in the beginning of this trea-
tise, have either entirely  failed, or  have succeeded only in the same
ratio with other similar cases, which were left entirely to the ope-
rations of nature.   We doubt very much, whether by the  multi-
plication of drug-symptoms, which, in  some  cases  have  already
been increased to  upwards  of  a  thousand, the prophecy  of Dr.
Hering will ever be fulfilled, when he says, on p. '24, 1. c. " in fu-
" ture times the new pathology  will as far excel the old, as  do the
" natural sciences of the present period  those  of the last century
" But, at the  bed-side of the patient, the homoeopathic physician
" is unmindful of this future science."  (—no doubt, of course!—)
" His  sole inquiry is after the  symptoms, because the symptoms
" alone determine  his choice of the remedy, and upon the fulness
" and accuracy with which  these are noted, rests  the entire  ma-
" nagement of the cure.  All, therefore, depends upon the correct
" examination of  the patient, but not upon any possible opinions
" concerning the nature and essence of the disease, nor upon learn-
" ed views concerning its concealed seat."
    We doubt whether the most  aealous  and partial opposer of this
 professional fanaticism could give a better  description of  it, than
 that which we read in these few lines.  Though a faithful abstract
 of many similar expressions in  Hahnemann's works,  none indeed
 could express  with  more frankness the open tendency of homoeo-
 pathia to the rudest empiricism.   Beware of any possible opinion!
 Guard against any views or conjectures which might perhaps lead
 to the discovery of the concealed  seat of the disease!   Renounce
 all the higher intellectual faculties, and believe blindly and impli-
 citly in the dictates of a man, who says, that the  healing art be-
 gins with him, that he alone  has  discovered the great truth, by
 a  superficial  glance, without philosophy, without chemistry, with-
 out anatomy,  physiology, and  all the other sciences hitherto con-
  sidered  indispensable  to spy  the  mysteries of nature;  that he 
126
 alone knows how to expound her laws and to interpret her actions
 in the remotest recesses of animal life, hitherto concealed from all
 other mortal eyes!  Such are the watch-words of these infatuated
 fanatics.  How correctly Fr. Bacon says, in his work, De Augm.
 Scient. " Licet de factis  ipsis, licet  hnmani  animi pignora sint
 " certissima,  non prorsus tamen  fidendum ;  nisi  diligenter ac
 " attente pensitatis prius  illorum et magnitudine et proprietate.—
 " Illud enim verissimum ; fraus sibi  in  parvis fidem praestruit ut
 " majore emolumento fallat."
   To say nothing of all  other absurdities of this whole doctrine,
 if such  maxims should ever  prevail in the  medical profession, it
 might be  predicted with the most possible  certainty, that all the
 great advantages  acquired in medicine  for many centuries would
 be totally lost and all advancements entirely checked.
   No rational  physician will deny the great value and  necessity
 of a  minute symptomatology, which, though  erroneously consi-
 dered identical with the diagnosis, only partly belongs to that im-
 portant branch of practical medicine.—Symptomatology is as in-
 dispensable for the diagnosis, as  records faithfully collected by
 the chronicler  or  annalist,  are for the historian:  but never  will
 these  be considered fully  sufficient  for a  philosophical  history of
 a civilized nation in any  period of its  existence ; nor will the mere
 catalogue of the deeds and the fate of a man distinguished in his-
 tory,  even with the addition of his faithful  likeness, be a substi-
 tute for his instructive pragmatical  biography.
  The  rational physician, estimating  the symptoms,  not as  the
 only or  principal points, but as very uncertain and delusive signs,
 will,  from the symptoms, (symptomatology) from the whole his-
 tory of the case, and many other data, which have occurred  pre-
vious  to the attack (anamnesis and aetiology) form a whole (diag-
nosis), from which he derives a general plan of treatment, (general
therapia) divided into more or less different sections, (special  the-
rapia) which he will retain or alter, according to circumstances,
showing either the correctness or incorrectness of his whole plan
 and its single sections.  He will consider a disease which has al-
ready lasted some  time, as a compound of many causes  and their
effects originating from one fundamental cause, similar to a larger
or smaller ball of thread,  containing one nucleus, which he endea-
vours to unwind until  he comes to the nucleus, to  the  primitive 
127
eause itself, or at least to its primary efl'ect.—His task resembles
the untired exertions  of a true philanthropist, who undertakes  to
rescue a wretched person, sunk by a bad education and by mis-
fortune into vice  and  misery : he will notice minutely his counte-
nance, the expressions of his thoughts and feelings,  and even his
negligent dress ; but he will pay most particular regard to his true
biography, he will scrutinize minutely the different causes  and
their effects obvious in the biography, until he can arrive at one
original cause, and project a circumspect plan for successive ope-
rations, to remove the first cause, if possible ; and will not fancy
that he can make him sensible of the delights, happiness,  and self-
satisfaction of a virtuous life, by one moral speech, or, much less,
by another dress  : and only then, if he  cannot  find the primitive
cause, or cannot  successfully combat it, he will attempt to amelio-
rate or to remove the  external conditions, the symptoms : he may,
by so  doing, afterwards succeed in ameliorating or removing the
first cause also ;  but this evidently depends more on mere chance
than the first plan.
  With regard to the unwinding of the disease  to its commence-
ment from a simple or more or less  compound cause, it is indeed
very remarkable, how often a close observer  will find nature pur-
suing this course in re-establishing  health, sometimes  even with-
out medical assistance ;  though all advocates of methods which
rely only upon symptoms, and especially homoeopathists, have not
the least conception thereof.   Thus, severe inflammatory diseases
of the serous membranes of the brain, or of the mucous membranes
of the throat, of the intestines, etc. in children, frequently arising
from a suppressed cold, or from a badly treated chronic  eruption
of the skin, he. appear generally to be  not safely cured,  until the
original local affection is re-established and properly treated. The
profession has, on that  account,  in almost all ages, mistaken si-
milar processes for  critical evacuations,  by which a morbid mat-
ter is thrown out of the body, which the fancy of the physicians pre-
sumes to be the only cause of the disease; whereas it is to be regard-
ed merely as the  natural consequence of the more energetic gene-*
ral vital reaction, and of the re-beginning healthy functions  of
the secretory organs,  unable immediately to  prepare a sound se-
cretory or excretory matter ; or of processes which tend to restore
the former general  degree of relative health,  and endeavour also 
128
 to re-establish the less important disease ;  being the accessory and
 simultaneous acts of nature in her operations to restore health.
   Such presumed critical evacuations or deposits, if forced by drugs
 directly, instead of judiciously  supporting their beneficial cause,
 must do much injury.  Critical  symptoms, as well as the critical pe-
 riods of most acute diseases, are for this reason, undoubtedly highly
 important, not only for the prognosis  but also for the treatment,
 inasmuch as their appearance, after foreboding favorable symptoms
 and simultaneous marks, is mostly a sign, but  not a cause of the
 patients approaching recovery; by following this suggestion, the great
 value of their minute knowledge, to be drawn from the  writings of
 creditable practitioners of all ages and at the bed-sides of patients,
 will  be increased rather  than  lessened.  Wherever,  in compli-
 cated cases, the profession acts in conformity with  nature, we may
 consider it generally a  certain sign of convalescence, if slighter
 symptoms, which accompanied the first outset of the disease, reap-
 pear ; a process which clearly explains the suggestions  above ex-
 pressed, in regard to the numerous changes of the causes and their
 eifects into other causes, &c, and which is very properly called by
 some modern  German   authors,  retroformation (Rueckbildung.)
 In  children, for instance, in whom  nature operates more  regu-
 larly, especially in regard to the re-productive processes,the recovery
 from very severe diseases,  frequently arising from neglected cold,
 seldom  fails, even under the continuance of the pathognomonical
 symptoms,when they begin to sneeze, and when their Schneiderian
 membrane rebegins to secrete mucus profusely ;  except in the last
 stages of scarlet fever, with  diphtheritis maligna and inflammatory
 affections of the brain, where this  symptom proves generally very
ominous, or is, as the profession  used to term such  signs,  only a
 symptomatic one.
  Among the many morbid phenomena which caused the most
 erroneous suggest.ions,in the old medical schools as well as in homoeo-
 path ia, we may mention such morbid functions as became habitual,
 or those which by their long continuance became not only com-
 patible with tolerable good health, but seemed essentially tobelong to
the latter, so as to cause, when suppressed, severe diseases. The ge-
neral opinion, still maintained by most physicians, that the suspen-
sion of the  habitual morbid process itself, is the cause of a merely
contemporaneous disease, is owing also to their superficial reliance
 upon symptoms, being not aware that the absence or coexistence of 
129
two or  more symptoms does not imply their dependence upon each

other  as cause and  effect, but authorizes us rather to adopt with

more propriety, a common cause, producing both the suspension of

the habitual morbid function as well as the new disease.  In conse-

quence of these false conceptions their plan of treatment being in ge-

neral exclusively directed to restore the suppressed habitual secretion,

is usually injurious. Hahnemann, in his Organon and in his work

on chronic diseases, considers  all  habitual morbid  functions as

produced by the rude  and  impetuously acting vital powers, which

being,  by this their allopathic  mode of cure, incapable of directly

removing the very cause of almost all the chronic diseases, namely

itch, substitute for this general disease a local one, generally worse

than the former.  We shall soon see in what this, his latest doctrine,

consists, and mention here only that the plan generally adopted by

the profession, for  the cure of such  suppressed  habitual morbid

functions must frequently fail; if it  however succeeds, the consti-

tution  of the  patient is  often more or less impaired  by it, leaving

him disposed either to a severer relapse of the same habitual disease

or to some other chronic one, as all indirect treatment usually does.

We have often observed  these natural  consequences of  such erro-

neous  medical treatment,  for  instance, when the  suppressed hse-

morrhoidal flux,* or  the  suppressed menstruation itself have been

considered the causes  of the disease, and patients  suffering with

the  latter,  and  illtreated  with  repeated bleedings, leeches, the

strongest emmenagogues, &c, fell, like  many  others,  victims  to

   * This is not  the proper place to discuss more  minutely such topics; but from
long experience we feel entitled to suggest that haemorrhoids or piles, whether fluent
or not, inherited or not, in young as well as in old persons, mostly depend not upon a
plethora, or orgasmus in the vena portarum, obstructions in the liver and other abdo-
minal organs, &c, nor upon a predominant venosity, so much advocated in modern
times as the cause of many diseases, but upon a morbid action of the lower part of the
spinal marrow, the nerves arising from it, and their  important anatomical and  func-
tional connections with the abdominal and other ganglia. The different morbid affec-
tions  heretofore  named, may themselves  be considered as the consequence of this
cause ;  and this  will be best explained by the  intimate connexion of  hcemorrhoids
with so many dangerous chronic diseases,  and the salutary use of internal and exter-
nal remedies belonging to the class of nervina, when aided by slight digestives and a
proper mental and physical regimen.  Though the diseases of the spinal marrow, after
being so long neglected  by the profession,  have become lately a hobby with  some
distinguished practitioners, especially in Germany, they may however be considered to
a much larger extent than the  profession is still aware of, as the original cause of
many serious  and especially chronic diseases.  Hypochondria, hysteria, diabetes,
fistula ani, and similar important diseases in the abdominal organs, may depend upon
 the morbid innervation of these respective organs from small diseased  places of the
 spinal marrow, and the nerves originating from them,  so that very small distances in
 the spine may decide on the formation of one, in preference to another of the diseases
 mentioned, and these may therefore be also most  easily and quickly  remedied, by
 a minute reference to' the origin of the nerves belonging to the diseased organs, and
 to Charles Bell's great discovery regarding the different origin of the nerves of sen-
 sation and of motion.
                                  17 
130
  consumption, dropsy, paralysis, &c, from inanition, with or without
  the reappearance of the habitual hsemorrhoidal or menstrual flux,
  so long desired;  while on the contrary, in  similar cases, patients
  have easily beenrestored,by relying only upon general principles and
  indications, without particular regard to the reappearance or non-
  appearance of the former symptom, the habitual morbid evacuation,
  which, in nine times out often, is suppressed merely from debility, or
 from sympathetical causes, to the benefit rather than to the injury of
 the patient, until the removal of the true cause admits their spon-
 taneous, and only then also, salutary reappearance.   In several
 diseases such  habitual morbid  secretions  will, therefore, be  ob-
 served to continue and to increase considerably, and, nevertheless,
 the health not be restored,but rather still more seriously injured,until
 the increased morbid secretion is again reduced to its former degree;
 and this frequently is done  best by such remedies  as  in healthy
 persons or in other diseases, would  produce the same.  As  we
 have seen, these facts belong  to the most prominent pillars  on
 which the author of homoeopathia  has founded and constructed
 his maxim,  similia  similibus curantur; they  readily dazzle the
 eyes of many, who are easily misled  by their  want of judgment
 and practical talent.  Indeed, the statement being correct, that the
 same remedies which in many cases contribute  to increase a  secre-
 tion,  are effectual in checking it when  superabundant, was too
 striking not to be used in support of a doctrine, which  even  in its
 few truths relies solely upon statements  or  merely palpable  facts,
and,is advocated by those only, who, ignorant of sound physiological
 and pathogenetical  principles, depend only on  phenomena and
 care not to investigate their  various causes.   The old proverb,
 " omne simile claudicat," which is true of homoeopathia in general,
is particularly applicable in these cases. On a nearer examination
they prove just the contrary to what they wTere intended to prove, viz.
that a mere reliance on symptoms is delusive, whereas on the con-
trary, the conditions  under which  these  phenomena  generally
appear, prove to be accessory effects only of the rational treatment,
which operated indirectly or rather apparently upon the sy mptom,
being however directed to counteract directly the cause only.—
Should these cases offer such positive arguments for the correctness
of the homoeopathic fundamental maxim, similia similibus curan-
tur, we should find  no case totally  at variance with it, and
much less would it be pregnant with the many absurd ities which 
131
we have already quoted, and which we  shall more fully mention
hereafter.   The fact that the  same drugs which in most cases ag-
gravated a disease, by increasing a superabundant secretion, check
and cure the same in a few similar cases, proves conclusively, that
the latter cases must depend  upon acceossry or unknown causes,
or more properly upon such as are opposite to those of the former. It
is a bad rule that will not work both ways, and an old but always
true saying, "circumstances alter the case."  Nobody, for instance,
will assert that water must be the best material for preserving fire,
because in some instances in  which it became decomposed by the
heated substances, the violence of the flames was exceedingly in-
creased by it!
   Death, by external violence  or poison excepted, the rational phy-
sician does not acknowledge the unconditional and absolute action
of any treatment, or of any specific remedy : he uses the same reme-
dies in cases apparently different,  and different remedies in cases ap-
parently identical or similar; his only intention is, and must always
be, to prescribe the same treatment, where he has reason to pre-
sume the same causes.  In the cases before us he cannot therefore
admit,  either the  absolute  antipathic, or much  less the  homoeo-
pathic  property of  the  drug,  as directly restraining  the  profuse
morbid secretion, but must believe that it became restricted by the
consecutory and  beneficial  effect of the rational treatment upon
the vital powers in general, which could not suffer the cause of the
symptoms longer to prevail ;  or  that it was the contemporaneous
specific action  of the drug  upon  the affected secretory organ, pro-
moting the same end.  This will be the more evident in observing,
that  it  is not sufficient only to reduce the superabundant morbid
secretion to its former quantity, but also to its former quality, and
that only when this takes place,  we may confidently hope  that the
vital functions of the whole body and  of the diseased secretory
organ are in the best way of recovery.  Every attentive practitioner
will,  for instance, often observe, that as a very abundant perspira-
tion is a symptom of many acute fevers and of other diseases ;  the
former belong mostly to the class of bilious  remittent or typhus
fevers,  which, if they do not originate from  a marsh or  another
miasma, or from contagion, frequently arise  from checked perspi
ration,  and commence from  the  neglect or illtreatment of the
slight catarrhal or rheumatic affections, which they present in the
beginning.  Unless  important organs are so affected as to require 
132
particular care, these fevers and the excessive perspiration will be
safely removed, only when, by a judicious diaphoretic treatment
with ammonia, camphor and similar diffusible sudorifics, the quan-
tity and  quality of the  perspiration  are altered.  The  profession
uses, particularly in such cases,  the  term " critical evacuation,'
under the erroneous impression  that  the  matter perspired, being
offensive and chemically different from what it was before, during
the  state termed  " crude," is the cause of the disease, while, how-
ever, it is merely the consequence of the rebeginning healthy state
of the before suppressed or morbidly altered secretory  functions
and normal nervous actions in the skin, and other  organs sympa-
thetically connected with it.  With  similar views  the celebrated
German physician, Lentin, stated, about forty years ago, (and we
have often found it correct), that many severe and obstinate chronic
diseases arise only from the  sudden suppression of an offensive
habitual perspiration of the feet, and that  the disease is with diffi-
culty removed by any remedy,  not  even  by those which abun-
dantly increase the perspiration of the  feet, unless  its original ha-
bitual offensiveness becomes restored, which he thinks is generally
 very difficult.  Professor J. J. Albers, at Bonn, in his able treatise
on ulcers of the intestines, (Ueber Darmgeshwuere, 1831), ascribes
some cases of dothienteritis, and its common fatal termination  by
abdominal consumption, to the same cause.
   From the oldest ages down to the present time, few prejudices
 have  been  retained  so firmly as  this, that  the cure of  old
 natural ulcers  or artificial issues may  be very injurious.   The
 former are often produced by nature,  the latter by art, for real allo-
 pathic  purposes, so much condemned by Hahnemann, though it is
 justly  considered in medicine, as  in all occurrences of common
 life, fortunate to acquire for a greater evil or inconvenience, a rela-
 tively smaller one. Intimately connected, by their long continuance,
 with  the whole human economy, their  inconsiderate removal by
 means  which render the individual still more sickly, such as  the
 constant use of purgatives, antidyscrasics, &c. with a view to re-
 move a virulent  matter, with or without the topical application of
 astringents,  desiccatives, or similar remedies, must prove  detri-
  mental, either directly, because they check a process which  habit
 has rendered indispensable for tolerable good health, or indirectly,
  by reducing the vital energy to such a degree, that it can no longer
  continue this process at a distance from important  organs, where  it 
133
was less injurious, and which, therefore, now  occurs in a more
important part.   The chronic ulcer is certainly  a very important
disease, which should be cured, if possible, but not  merely sup-
pressed.  The  issue  may be salutary in many  serious diseases
which are not as easily cured by any other remedy ;  but the pre-
sumed necessity of maintaining  it for many years, or for  life, is
very  inconvenient and mostly imaginary.   During some severe
diseases, and under the injurious influence of other causes, which
impair the vital energy, natural as well as artificial ulcers of long
standing, frequently  heal by themselves, even with  the greatest
care taken to keep them open.  The exertions to reproduce them,
will prove beneficial, only if the cause of the new accessory disease
is removed, without affecting  the state of things which prevailed
before.   But by successfully counteracting both causes at once, the
disappearance of an  old ulcer, may it  have existed  ever so long,
will, on the contrary be beneficial.
  Hahnemann's assertion, in his Organon,  and  in  his work on
chronic diseases, that before his time, the profession had treated all
chronic eruptions and  syphilitic local affections by external reme-
dies only, is one of his many falsehoods, and is contradicted by him-
self, in  censuring the allopathic illtreatment of such diseases by
large doses of medicines.   The history of practical medicine sadly
proves, that up to the last few years, when it became the fashion of
many physicians to set at stake human  life and health by abstain-
ing from all internal remedies in constitutional diseases,* it was
considered almost a crime to apply external  remedies in such
cases; internal medicjnes only were used, and in many cases under
the vague name of specifics,  blood-purifyers,  &c,  they ruined like-
wise  the constitutions of many thousands, without  any, or with
only  apparent relief.
   We may also  presume, with great propriety, that  the different
species and varieties of  many diseases belonging  to one class,
though presenting to our senses such different figures and shapes,
as, for instance, the great number of exanthematic diseases, some-
times depend upon the same cause,  modified only by insignificant

  * Mercury, for instance, still so indispensable for the radical cure of all syphilitic
diseases, is now so much decried in these complaints by the same physicians who pre-
scribe calomel by tea-spoon-fuls m diseases, where it is  of more injury than good,
that even  laymen make it now generally, the  first condition of an ansyphilitic treat-
ment, not to prescribe for them any mercury ; a mode which, when physicians com-
ply  with, from  whatever reasons, will be deplored, sooner or later, by the foolish pa-
tient, as v* k"iW such cases, neglected in a similar manner by homceopathists. 
134
individual circumstances, and  that, therefore, such minute distinc-
tions, as the profession is indebted for to the researches of Bateman,
Alibert and others, are more interesting to the natural history  of
exanthematic diseases in general, than they will ever be of service
to an equally minute medical treatment.
  In all those cases, therefore, where diseases arise  from a  sup-
pressed habitual morbid secretion, or from a similar affection, to be
considered not entirely local, be it a single ulcer, or a chronic cu-
taneous disease, like herpes, impetigo,  &c, a rational method of
treatment resorting to the  causes, and regarding  the  symptoms as
less important, will succeed best.  In conformity with the laws of ani-
mal life, the  proper object of  the profession is to reestablish the
disturbed  equilibrium, or the  correlativeness of the two factors
primarily constituting all organised life, with  particular regard to
the extensive as well as intensive energy of all vital actions, and
also to the great variety of the  living chemical processes established
in the different systems, organs and parts.   If this can be properly
effected, the patient will then recover entirely, even without the
return of his former habitual morbid  secretion; but if the relative
proportion of the two factors, their mutual correlation, and the par-
ticular living chemical processes resulting therefrom, are only partly
and imperfectly re-established, similar  to the former state of  a
merely relative health, then the patient may likewise recover, but
only to  that degree of relative health, which admits of, or even in-
dispensably requires, the recommencement and continuance of the
accustomed morbid secretion.
   Among similar  prejudices  of the profession, existing before
Hahnemann, and particularly entertained  by him, we may place the
erroneous conception, that a new disease may cure an old one:
as, for instance,  that an intermittent fever  may,  by  succeeding
some inveterate chronic diseases, cure them. This appears as false
as the assertion,  that a strong light extinguishes a fainter one,
because the latter becomes invisible; or, that a greater vice may
cure one  of less importance,  because the  greater one either im-
plies the latter, or destroys the propensity or power of committing
it.  If the former is greater, but of another kind, the consequences
of both will  be still observable, provided  that they do not com-
bine in a third—As allopathists, we adhere to  the old orthodox
opinion, that the  proper antipathic  remedy, reason,  applied in 
135
 time to the additional vice will radically cure the new and the old
 vice also : whereas homceopathia, if consistent, would sanction the
 abominable opinion, that one vice could only be cured  by another
 similar one   committed  in  addition,  as the best  means  to ex-
 tinguish  the  first: though, according  to  the  lately published
 " great truth" of Hahnemann,  the only cause of all  human mise-
 ry,  physical, mental and  moral, and of  course also of all human
 vices, being the itch, homoeopathists may now prescribe a less dis-
 graceful antipsoric.—According to an  enlightened pathogeny,  no
 disease can really cure another : if it  appear to do so in some
 cases, the reason is, that every disease, being manifested  by a de-
finite form, materially depending upon its causes,  the new form
 essentially belonging  to the succeeding disease and its greater dis-
 turbances of the animal economy, be it produced by a contagion,
 a miasma, or  any  other  cause, cannot admit the continuance of
 the  old form.   Two diseases combined with each other in a third
 disease and its proper, mostly hybrid form, will therefore also va-
 nish together by a proper rational treatment, removing the causes
 belonging to both of them.  And this  will also happen in those
 cases, where the weaker disease became suppressed only while the
 stronger  one prevailed; but then the  former will re-appear and
 continue its proper developement and  course after  the latter has
 disappeared.—Hahnemann favours the opinion, that two or more
 different diseases may coexist separately, or also be combined toge-
 ther in a third : nevertheless he  forbids his followers to  attend,  at
 the same  time, to more than one disease, or to apply any com-
 pound medicine.  The logical acuteness of Dr.  Hering  and his
 brethren may notice this opinion,fas another argument of their void
 assertion,  that " Hahnemann was the first physician who recognized
 "  it as indispensable in every disease to regard  man as a whole."
   Hahnemann says more consistently, somewhere in  his  Orga-
non or in  his Materia Medica, that no substance, and of course no
drug, is absolutely simple.   We would ask, if a homoeopathic drug
consisting according to this suggestion, of two or more constituent
parts, must necessarily act upon twice as many or more symptoms,
and if Hahnemann  admits also the  coexistence of two or more
diseases combined together in a third, presenting of course, symp-
toms likewise  different from both ; what reasonable objection can
he make to remove  them  altogether, by combining two or  more 
136
drugs in order to make of them also a third, suitable  to the case
before him ; since the drug thus becomes only a little more com-
pound than each of them was before ?  No person can reasonably
object to the terms of the different drugs, which if added  to the
principal drug, refer to additional ends intended by them, such  as
" adjuvants, corrigents," &c.  Hahnemann ridicules these old pro-
fessional terms, because, as he expressly says, he considers it as an
additional proof of the ignorance of all allopathists in regard to the
diagnosis of the disease, and to the knowledge of the qualities of
the simple drugs.  We admit that in the homoeopathic experiments
for ascertaining the proper qualities  of drugs, every one  must  be
tried separately, but we should think, that the bedside of the  patient
is for no physician, and much  less for homoeopathists, the proper
place to  institute experiments  with their developed drug-virtues,
but that here, they should apply them according to the previous
minute knowledge of all disease-and-drug-symptoms, whenever it
may be necessary to consider  two or more natural diseases com-
bined together.  The profession has  lately become much opposed
to compound prescriptions, but wrongly, since if one cause is the
principal, or if it has taken the lead of the prominent morbid process,
other ones  might nevertheless coexist, which, though  subordinate
in their character to the former, have an essential influence on  its
development and  course, and  can  therefore be properly counter-
acted only by additional drugs.   Simple prescriptions, it is true, are
generally the criterion of a well educated and judicious physician, as
they prove, that he is not  anxious to consider, by a motley mixture
of many drugs,every slight symptom separately ,but that he possesses
a clear conception of the whole disease, and, has formed a  concise
plan of treatment.  But the first and  principal aim of the physician
being to cure the patient, in the safest and  quickest manner, and
this end being seldom attainable  by the simple drug, on account
of many simultaneous sympathetical  affections, the simplicity of
prescriptions,  so much overvalued  at present by  mere fashion,
should never interfere in the least with his duties.   In general the
reasons for substituting one drug of a  certain class for another of the
same, are important, though  also opposed to the tenets of homceo-
pathia.   According to the laws of the living organization, and of
the human body particularly, all substances, especially those acting
as artificial stimulants, lose the  property of affecting the incitability
 and of generating a reaction, in direct proportion to the time of its 
137
continued definite quantity, however imperceptible it may often be
to our narrowly confined senses.  If therefore there are several
drugs similar in their constituent parts and in their action as reme-
dies, and the judicious physician has special  reasons for not in-
creasing the dose of one of them, when it refuses service after some
time has elapsed, he may often  employ another with success, and
in doses comparatively much smaller than the former was used.
   The true cause of this  fact  will  be  explained, satisfactorily
only when  future chemical investigations shall prove it to depend
upon more or less trifling differences  in the proportion of the con-
stituent parts of both;  perhaps, upon a different electro-magnetical
tension.  A materia medica, embracing only a few of the most ef-
fectual  remedies of a  whole class is therefore very defective, and
this defect  increases  in  relation to certain compositions of drugs,
which experience has proved to be more effectual  in  particular
cases, than  the simple drugs  of which they consist.   The wise
laws  of  a strict medical police, and  the intelligent  framers  of a
good pharmacopoeia, are, therefore, not over-hasty in declaring a
simple drug or a  compound medicine as obsolete, but insist, for
the benefit of the profession and the public, that the pocket of the
apothecary should suffer by his keeping on hand a greater variety
of drugs and medicines than is commonly required, rather than to
lose the means of affording relief to a patient on account of the de-
fectiveness  of his  stock.—All these considerations are beneath the
elevated mind  of  the faithful homoeopathist, who trusts with im-
plicit  confidence  to his valuable pocket-drug-store—his  fancied
arsenal against the contents of Pandora's box !—It is difficult to
account for Hahnemann's great objection to all compound medi-
cines, except by the greater difficulties which his monstrous sympto-
matology must have presented  to him in minutely  adapting his
method to  complicated cases, and therefore also to compound me-
dicines.  We  may ascribe  this  also to his anxious desire to  com-
plete a charlatanism quite  new, and of his own invention, in pre-
scribing simple drugs, which he laid open to the eyes of the public,
and the credit of  which he endeavoured to strengthen and to extol
by delusive experiments and flat  treatises, whilst all  other quacks
have hitherto tried to involve their all-curing specifics in  mystery
by numerous combinations of drugs,
   Hahnemann speaks in many places of his works of the indirect
and direct  medical treatment, considering the former as substi-
                              18 
138
 tuting  one disease for another, and as the only one hitherto pur-
 sued by the physicians of all schools, and claiming the latter as a
 never-failing radical mode of cure for  his homoeopathic method.
 Though his distinction of a direct and indirect treatment, if taken
 in its proper  sense, is just, it must be evident to  every one, that
 even admitting homoeopathia to be correct, according to its avowed
 reliance on symptoms merely, without reference to  any causes, no
 medical method could claim  with less propriety to be a direct one
 than this;—even as a system of criminal jurisprudence which refers
 only to the similarity of cases, without  any regard to the moral
 imputability, to the motives,  and to the many important circum-
 stances which  may  aggravate, mitigate, or annul  a punishment,
 could not be called a direct, just and reasonable one.—As we have
 alluded  to  above, in speaking of the symptomatic treatment,  the
 greatest source of error in medical practice,  which has hitherto ar-
 rested its advancement, and will ever do so if not properly under-
 stood, is, that the immediate consequences  of two totally different
 or even opposite modes of treatment in similar  cases, are not only
 sometimes  alike, but even that the wrong one is often for some time
 after followed by an apparently brilliant success.  This is one of the
 principal reasons why, in all ages, many intelligent men have lost all
 confidence in the medical profession;  that it has been, and still is, the
 object of ridicule and contempt, and  that physicians often leave the
 choice of their  treatment rather to  mere chance, than  to rational
 inductions, after they have witnessed in  large hospitals, as well as
 in the  lecture-rooms of celebrated  professors,  the most opposite
 modes of treatment,  equally  recommended  by each  party,  as  the
 only  ones for a safe and quick cure.   Thus any new  or old sys-
tem  or method  of practice, invented or compounded by an adven-
turous professor, especially if supported by his learning, eloquence
 and  rank, frequently becomes fashionable  among the  profession,
 and  causing more or less injury to the public, offers to the druggist
 a golden or an  iron age.
               Blest he ! who sees without surprise,
               The various systems fall and rise,
                  As shifts the fickle gale ;
               While all their utmost force exert
               To wound the foe's unguarded part,
                  And all alike prevail.—Blacklock.

 Should  the success of a medical treatment really  be  the  same,
 whatever mode or fashion is adopted ; and should its provisions be 
139
veally so scanty as to leave this remarkable problem unsolved; then,
every honest man, who has  devoted  his  life to medical practice
from  humanity and scientific interest, deserves commiseration,
and those who have unfortunately  chosen this  mode of gaining
their living, are excusable for adopting any mode of practice,  be it
even the innocent homoeopathic.  But it is not so;  not only the
principles of rational medicine itself, but every well educated and
impartial practitioner, provided his practical career was  long and
extensive enough for instituting minute philosophical observations,
can easily solve this problem, by properly explaining the great dif-
ferences, frequently obvious in the consequences of a direct or ra-
tional, and an indirect or merely symptomatical treatment, though
many favourable circumstances, not dependant  on the  control of
the physician, frequently  frustrate  the former, or compensate for
the bad consequences  of the latter, and thus contribute to perpe-
tuate the  errors and mistakes  of the healing art.  The profession
has hitherto noticed this  great difference  only  in a few chronic
diseases,  confirming the important truth, that  by an  improper
treatment the disease may be apparently cured,  while  it is mate-
rially increased, so as to  reappear more destructive and  incurable
after an indefinite length of time.  Thus, for instance, if a consti-
tutional syphilitic ulcer be  suddenly removed, merely by the ex-
ternal application of lead-water  or some  other  astringent, (the
general course of ignorant  quacks,) the experienced physician will
ascribe the  subsequent eruption of constutional  syphilis, with all
its horrid  features, be  it ever so long  after the first attack, to the
previous ill-treatment; or if an intermittent fever be removed by the
use of  many ounces  of powdered bark, or by arsenic, and after
some months or even years a dangerous liver complaint, colliquative
diarrhoea, dropsy, consumption, &c. follow, he will unquestionably
ascribe these diseases to the previous imprudent method. But should
a. patient, suffering from a severe attack of hoemoptysis, or  a  si-
milar disease, be temporarily relieved by repeated large bleedings.
leeches, calomel,  cathartics, &c., however little these  were re-
quired,  and however much  a contrary mode of treatment was
necessary;  and should he, after  months  or years,  without any
remarkable cause, become  affected by dropsy of the chest, pulmo-
nary consumption,  or some other  dangerous  chronic disease, the
doctor will ascribe these calamities to some  fictitious or  real acci-
dent, rather than  to his previous injudicious illtreatment;  nay! 
110
should he reflect  upon  the old disease and admit its influence in
the present  hopeless case, he will rather reproach  himself secretly
for not having sufficiently followed, in the former disease, the pre-
scriptions of modern practice, for not having bled, leeched, purged,
&c, enough to subdue the inflammation of the lungs, the heart, &c.
In large hospitals, as the patients are dismissed after their disease
has been temporarily removed  in a similar inconsiderate manner,
and  as on a renewed attack, they seldom return to the same insti-
tution and physician, the recurrence  of the  former disease, or of
another,  is observed less frequently than in private practice;  and
in the annual  hospital reports, hundreds are therefore numbered
among  those radically cured,  who afterwards died of a severe
relapse, or of another disease, or also continue  to live in  a feeble
state  of health, frequently caused merely by neglect, or the strict
adherence to a fashionable treatment.   Thus these  public institu-
tions, which, by their many and prominent advantages over private
practice,  could largely contribute to the improvement of  medical
practice, are frequently the very hot-houses of a partial and rude
method, which becomes the fashion of the  age, by the renown of
the celebrated  professor and the  many students attending  the
eloquent lectures and the treatment of the hospital autocrat.
  We have already tried to  explain, that all organized life must
be considered as the  product of two factors,  and perfect or absolute
health as the harmonious and energetic reciprocal action of all the
integral parts of the living individual,  <fcc.  Under this ideal, which
seldom or perhaps never exists, are  ranged  all the various states,
which, more or less approaching it, are comprised under the con-
ceptions of relatively or tolerably good health.   Both are founded
upon an equilibrium  in the actions of the said parts, the  latter,
however,  with  less  intense  vital energy (Wirkungsvermoegen,)
as originally communicated  to  every individual by his relatively
healthy parents and  preserved  by his prudent life.  It is evident
that  not only a great variety of equilibriums can exist, all of which
depend upon the  proportionate  quantity on both sides, and  admit
a certain degree of vital energy, but also, that the lower degrees of
this  vital energy  cannot resist so  effectually certain  injurious
influences, which would not have affected  persons  enjoying
a  higher degree  of vital equilibrium  with its  more intensive
energy; a state which is termed, general morbid disposition, (all-
gemeim Krankheits-anlage,) and  generally arises after an indirect 
141
treatment from a  simultaneous latent and slumbering focus  of
a morbid reaction.   We may compare this with a pair of scales;
but with this difference, that the scales will present the equilibrium
with or without  any weight on  them, but the vital equilibrium
must always  contain a sufficient quantity of weight and its coun-
terbalance, to preserve  the degree of vital energy, indispensable for
the proper  resistance to external injuries, and  for the  continued
feelings of psychical and physical comfort.   It is also evident that
though in weighing a precious substance, the disturbed equilibrium
may be restored in two modes, it is nevertheless highly  important
to the owner, that it is done, not by taking off from this precious sub-
stance on the one side, but by adding, if possible, to the weight on
the other.   In order to explain this important topic of an indirect
and direct  treatment  more clearly, let us imagine two  poor men,
similar in age,  health, and in all  and every other respect.  A
thousand dollars in small coin is given to both, provided they will
carry it home with them.   The day is warm,  and after  they have
proceeded half-way, both drop down  exhausted.  Two  spectators
now  approach,  anxious to give them  aid: one, inconsiderately
takes off the load of money from one of them, while the other be-
nefactor judiciously tries  to restore  the second sufferer, merely by
food, drink, &c, and  advises him to proceed on his way  slowly.
An idle spectator, not knowing the particulars, will consider the
aid administered  to the former much more effectual, when he per-
ceives him jumping up with ease,  while the latter  creeps home
slowly.  The final result of this adventure is, that the one remains
 poor, whilst the other becomes wealthy. We will now ask: whether
 the indirect treatment of the former, though apparently  direct,
 was not irrational, in comparison with the direct, though seem-
 ingly indirect treatment  of the  latter?   In some situations both
 might have needed the removal of the burthen, or the  sacrifice of
 the money, for the preservation of their lives, and then, of course, the
 aid would have been  direct in both ; but as  the principal object
 failed, it is only relatively direct, and no reasonable man would  ad-
 vocate this method, unless it was urgently required, or the absolute
 direct aid, if possible, had first been tried.  We do not assert that  the
 instance given  is  a direct parallel  case, " omne simile claudicat,"
 though it is not inferior to many similar popular explanations made
 by Hahnemann.—It may, however, be obvious, that, for instance,
 in  many diseases producing  a diminished  vital  reaction of  the 
142
 aervous system, and a simultaneously, but only relatively, increased
 reaction  of the sanguineous system, two modes of treatment are
 possible; one  of  which tends to restore indirectly the disturbed
 equilibrium by diminishing the relative plethora or  orgasmus of
 the blood, and the other, the rational direct treatment, endeavours
 to  restore the impaired normal nervous  reaction.    The latter
 is still more  rational in regard to its later consequences, for if the
 relatively increased quantity of blood is diminished, two defects are
 substituted for one, viz: the totality of the individual vital energy
 is reduced to a lower degree, and probably the original disproportion
 will soon exist in  a greater degree, by the loss of the living fluid
 which contributes also so much to support the vital actions of the
 nervous system.   Mutatis mutandis, the same  will be the case  if a
 predominant cause excites the nervous system, especially in its
 central parts,  and where the vital reaction of the irritable or san-
 guineous system  is simultaneously,  but likewise  only  relatively,
 suppressed ; with  this difference  only, that, whereas rational me-
 dicine admits  the  existence of  no substance the primary effect of
 which is directly anodyne, although its after-action may be  so,
 therefore also, in all cases where the primary exciting  effect of ano-
 dynes is to be apprehended, the reaction of the sanguineous system
 must be reduced before they are applied.  Farther,, as the nervous
 system,  in this instance, like the vascular system  in the first  in-
 stance, is the centre of a morbid excitement,  it will draw for a
 length of time the nourishment for its morbid reaction  from the
 blood, if this is not checked by judicious depletion.  The strictest
 antiphlogistic method must  therefore be considered a direct treat-
 ment, in all those cases, where over-excitement, a tendency to plastic
 formations, &c, exists in both these principal systems of the human
 body; and many cases also happen, which are so very urgent as not
to allow time for direct interference, but only for indirect treatment.
It is also true,  that even if no imminent danger exists, the particu-
lar form of a disease sometimes does not admit the direct treatment,
until such a form is changed by an indirect one into another form,
known  by experience to  be a more accessible or  tractable  one;
though these cases are less frequent than many physicians believe.
 We mention these brief outlines of a rational, physiological medicine,
 merely to enable the general reader to explain  for himself, why of
two opposite modes of medical treatment, the wrong one  may suc-
ceed,  from circumstances beyond  the control  of the physician,  or, 
                             143

as is generally the case, appears only to have succeeded in its im-
mediate consequences, until when after the lapse of some time the
patient becomes  undeceived.  The reader also may judge for him-
self,  whether such shallow reasoning as homoeopathia generally,
and particularly  its maxim, similia similibus curantur, presents, can
ever be the leading principle of an art, which justly claims to rest
on the minutest  philosophical researches, and  on the most, unpre-
judiced and faithful experiences.
   Though,  with respect  to the profession at large there is. as we
have seen, some truth in  Hahnemann's assertion, that no sound
conception of the mode  in which  medicines  operate has hitherto
existed, still this is by no means applicable to those distinguished
physicians of all ages,  who have proved by their  practice  and
writings, that they could well account for  their rational directions,
and  that true talents will always elevate men above the standard of
their profession,  and free them from the fetters of confining tenets.
Hahnemann justly censures also in  his works, that  in  the text-
books on practical medicine, drugs which produce a totally different
and  often an opposite effect, are  recommended by the highest au-
thorities for one  and the same disease; and vice versa, that one and
the same drug is recommended, in the text-books on Materia Medica,
for different and  even opposite maladies. But the conclusions which
he draws  from these facts in  favor of his doctrine are false, and the
contrary of his assertions  will be evidently as true, by proving,  as
we have   attempted, the  facts quoted, to  arise from  the want  or
disregard  of general principles, and from overvaluing the similarity
of symptoms which frequently  depend on very different or even
opposite causes. This however does not imply the indirect admission
of the false conception, that one cause must always have different
effects, and vice  versa; but all causes of diseases being a compound
of the vital reaction and the external agents, the immensely mul-
tiplied reactions  of all parts constituting the organized living body,
varied also in every individual, and by the innumerable circum-
stances under which  he at any moment exists, our senses cannot
observe minutely and distinguish the immense variety of the effects
and  all their deeper or  lighter shades,  and that therefore, the
identity or mere similarity which experience presents to us, must
be exceedingly delusive, unless we refer chiefly to the more or less
prominent causes.  It is  evident also that, as Hahnemann solely
refers to the similarity between the symptoms of the drug-sickness 
                                 144


 and those of the  natural disease, and makes the treatment of all

 diseases  to depend  on this similarity ; he believes either that an

 ounce of bark or an atom of arsenic,  &c, is  equivalent to all the

 influences which procreate the natural diseases, where the virtues of

 bark, arsenic, &c., are remedies, or admits that similar effects may

 arise from two causes quite dissimilar, and widely different in their

 power.

   Hahnemann's repeated reproaches against the profession for im-

 itating the salutary proceedings  of nature in curing diseases, are

 worthy of his foolish conceptions  of the vital powers  of nature,

 already frequently quoted.   Though we are far from invoking the

 vis medicatrix naturae, or the healing power of nature, according to

 the  present mode of many, as a deus ex machina, in cases of neces-

 sity,* still we  would  wish that  his reproaches  were  true, and that

 physicians were really guilty of minutely listening to the operations

 of nature, in order to learn, by what simple means and processes she

 attains great ends; and how, when left undisturbed,  she frequently

 cures diseases, which would never have prevailed so extensively, if

 mankind  had never strayed from her  simple and true dictates.

 Hahnemann was well aware, that all his  whimsical suggestions in

 regard to the developed virtues of drug-atoms, would  not be  adopted

 for a moment, unless he  boldly claimed for them an always abso-

 lute and unconditional power, and no one but he could deny, that


  * Putting out  of view all teleological and metaphysical reflections  about the end
 and object of the existence of mortal beings, which  we devotedly believe to be the
 greatest happiness imaginable of every individual; the tendency of nature appears,  to
the naturalist and physician, directed to the preservation of the whole species of living
 beings, rather than to that of its individuals.  Always acting on fixed, eternal laws,
 nature will contribute to the destruction of one individual as well as to the preserva-
 tion of another, leaving to the human intellect one of its  principal antitheses of re-
 flection, viz. Providence and absolute  necessity.—The life of the tender  foetus  is
 protected in the same moment and by the same  law  of nature  by which another
 individual perishes; and the decrepid old man, tired  of his long career, is reserved
 from  imminent danger by the same operation of nature, as that by which the youth
 fades prematurely away, in the prime of his cheerful  life, by an inflammation of the
 heart, consumption, etc.   The same  electricity, bursting forth in a thunder-storm
 kills and calls into existence thousands of beings at the same moment.

               " Res quaeque suo ritu procedit, et omnes
               " Foedere naturae certo discrimine servant."       Lucr.

 We are therefore not justified in terming the same power either healing or destroy-
 ing, though the physician should generally attend rather to the destructive than to the
 healing power of  nature ;  since the former prevails more prominently in all diseases
 than  the latter, which, in its integrity, would, violent assaults excepted, never be
 obliged to cure a disease, because it would always prevent it.  This however should
 never exempt him from minutely observing, when the healing direction of nature is  to
 be supported only by a cautious active treatment, or as generally might then be more
 advisable, bythe removal of all interference of the art. 
145
those are the irrost blessed priests of the healing art, who devotedly
obey the  voice  of  nature  and her laws.   But Hahnemann's re-
proaches iu regard to the treatment hitherto pursued by the mass of
the profession, are but too true, if we regard only  the facts, leaving
his explanations unnoticed.  The history of medicine teaches that
the profession has either been in favor of locating the proximate
cause of all diseases in some one of the three principal systems of the
human body,  viz. the sensitive, irritable  and reproductive, or  of
adopting merely local derangements.  But few distinguished men
followed  the example of  a  Sydenham,  Fried.  Hoffman, Ernst
Stahl,  &c,  in  being mindful  that  nature, throughout her vast
empire, presents in  her  admirable simplicity the  greatest varieties
and modifications of  one and the same  power, that the greatest
functional changes are frequently produced by the slightest shades
in the  formation of the individual parts, and that  the results of our
directions will  prove auspicious in the same proportion as we apply
general principles to individual cases.   By neglecting this  philoso-
phical  scrutiny and  ratiocination, indispensable to the promotion ol
the rational healing art, it remained for ages a more or less station-
ary empiricism, varying only in this, that when a sufficient number-
had fallen victims to one method, another was adopted, and carried
again to the utmost extreme like the former, until the cycle of the
different modes at the disposal of the profession had been completed,
and one  of the  old  irrational  modes of  treatment was recom-
menced.
   Thus we have seen, in our times, patients of Brownists die  apo-
pletic, evidently in consequence of large doses of  stimulants, while
the doctor regretted that the premature death of his patient, which
of course was considered accidental, did not allow him time for the
application of still more  powerful stimulants.   We have seen anti-
phlogists repeatedly bleed  their  patients as long as  blood would
flow from the  vein,  and then death, visibly promoted by inanition
and exhaustion, was attributed to the feverish excitement, which  in
the doctor's  opinion  was not enough  abated, or  to the  imaginary
violent inflammation, which was not sufficiently checked by the
lancet, leeches, cupping, &c; he would have wished to revive the
patient only to renew the exhibition of his professional consistency.
Who could feel happier, who more satisfied with  the correct acute-
ness of his diagnosis, when even the post mortem examination pal-
pably showed  inflammation or one of its  common issues I That
                              19 
146
 these corpora delicti might have been produced by such a nonsensical
 mode  of treatment, remained entirely  out  of the  question.  We
 have seen gastricists torment their patients with emetics, cathartics,
 calomel,  salts, &c.,  until  they expired, and  then  the intelligent
 doctor, in addition to the many bilious evacuations during lifetime,
 almost always  in such cases the artificial  product of the illtreat-
 ment, still referred to the thick yellowish coat on the tongue, to the
 yellow hue of the corpse, &c., as mathematical proofs to  him, that
 death  only ensued because the patient had not been seen sufficiently
 early,  or had not lived long enough, to  swallow still larger doses of
 calomel, jalap, castor oil, &c.
   Some think themselves acting very prudently, if  ignorant of the
 philosophical principles of the healing art, they try two opposite
 methods in succession, falsely imagining that they can by such a
 double rude empiricism best attain the desired end;  if, for instance,
 during an acute fever, the doctor is unsuccessful in subduing the
 excitement by all the means of his antiphlogistic armory, he turns
 to the other extreme,  and fancying to  revive the prostrated vital
 forces, prescribes strong infusions of  valerian, decoctions of bark,
 ether, opium, cordials, &c.   If the patient grows worse  and dies,
 the doctor will be satisfied, having offered to the patient, in his opin-
 ion the best chance  to escape from death, by opening for him the
 two great highways of the profession  for  the salvation of their
 patients ;  if he  fortunately recovers, the brilliant success will be
 ascribed to the method  now best liked by the physician; the next
 patient will have to  suffer  by this method, and may not be lucky
 enough to escape.
   Some excuse  their transition from  one extreme to the  other, by
 pretending that  the  character of all diseases  becomes altered by
 atmospheric or  telluric changes, every ten or more years.  Who
 would  not admit the  existence of atmospheric influences, as seen in
 epidemics,  &c?  but  these  great changes have by no means been
 contemporaneously ascertained by meteorological observations, nor
 confirmed by those physicians, who have practised under  the same
 external conditions, and have remained  faithful to their principles.
   All these doctors considered their method  to be the best, all ridi-
culed and pitied their opponents, because, in spite of their murderous
empiricism, some of their patients either recovered by their athletic
constitution, aided by occurrences  fortunately beyond  the control
of the doctor, or seemed at least to be  radically cured, until after 
147
 some time a serious relapse or another dangerous disease followed.
 It is very natural that in many cases in which a disease threatened
 to be long and dangerous, and was checked in the beginning by
 the judicious exertions of the physicians, his skilful prevention
 remains unnoticed by the patient and his relatives, who, in conse-
 quence of this easy and sudden recovery, could not be aware of the
 danger from which the patient had escaped; and in fact an unpro-
 fessional men would require a very minute knowledge of the healing
 art, in which many doctors even are deficient, to  be able to value
 such a case properly.  The same may generally be expected, when
 by the prophylactic care  of  the  judicious family physician, the
 members of  a  family enjoy for  many years  excellent health,
 when compared  with other families, where the doctor has frequent
 opportunity for  brilliant cures.  It is indeed  difficult  to explain
 why, in medical practice, the talents of the physician and the su-
 periority of his method are generally appreciated in direct proportion
 to the length and difficulty of the recovery, and why a patient whose
 good luck alone may have saved him from death, is often regarded as
 a splendid specimen of professional talent and care, when creeping
 about for months on crutches like a shadow.   And much less ex-
 plainable must it appear, that people still possess any confidence in
 the medical profession, when they observe the application of one and
 the same treatment under circumstances which they themselves
 must consider widely different.  If  for instance a man falls down
 asphyctic, whether in the severest cold of winter or in the extreme
 heat of summer, whether he is apparently starved or has indulged
 too much in food or drink, whether he appears to have previously
 enjoyed good health, or has been rather  reduced, &c,  he must be
 bled, and afterwards take, if possible, an emetic, &c. No one reason-
 ably conjectures  that, although by these means he may be revived
 for a short time,  the vital  powers  may become soon extinguished,
 when they might have been restored by an opposite mode.
   The  manner hitherto pursued, in order to ascertain the effect of
 medicines, was and is still very defective, and has led to almost the
same errors as those caused  by Hahnemann's suggestions about
 the effect of simple drugs; both believing definite drugs or medi-
 cines especially adapted to definite symptoms; allopathia however is
less defective, because its maxim, contraria contrariis,  is far more
 accordant with nature than that of homoeopathia, though we must
add, with regret but with justice, that the former, in its practical mis- 
148
application, has hitnt-Jto generally proved to be much more obnoxious
than  the latter ever  will be, when faithfully pursued, if we may
ascribe a positive preference to anything of merely negative worth.
  We venture to say that the text-books on Materia Medica have
done  more injury than good to the promotion of rational medicine,
by defining the positive action of drugs.  It will always be so, be-
cause no systematical classification, no plan whatever  adopted for
a Materia Medica, can answer the requisites of rational medicine.
The natural history of the different, drugs and their chemical qualities
excepted, which  may be  easily combined with botany, chemistry,
&c, this doctrine  should cease  to  exist separately, and the sub-
stance of  it should  be combined writh general therapeutics, this
philosophy of all practical medicine,  so much neglected  in the
course of  professional study;  and for the  same  reason  general
therapeutics should also take the place of special therapeutics, the
substance  of which could be left with much greater advantage to
special pathology and clinical courses.   The mistakes of Materia
Medica in defining absolute medical properties of drugs, and the ease
of applying them as specifics, have promoted a rude empiricism, and
these  may be considered the causes, why the benefits which practical
medicine has hitherto derived  from  modern chemistry,  consist
almost solely in a large addition to  the already superabundant
stock  of powerful drugs, which instead of being a blessing to man-
kind,  have frequently been in the hands of the rude empiric only
so many more instruments of injury.—" Subjectum istud medicinae
" (corpus nimirum humanum) ex omnibus,  quae natura procreavit
" maxime est capax remedii; seel vicissim illud remedium maxime
" est obnoxium errori."—(Fr. Bacon.)
  We have seen already, and shall explain more fully the manner
in which Hahnemann has treated these subjects, and how little the
profession  can trust  to the results of  his experiments and to his
suggestions.   Should we credit some few trustworthy men  among
his  followers, we would be indebted to homceopathia for the know-
ledge of some substances, now applicable to different topical dis-
eases, which have hitherto been considered as acting only on whole
systems of the human body.  It however shows gross ignorance
and assumption, for  the  author of the " Concise View" and his
brethren to assert, that Hahnemann introduced as specifics into the
Materia Medica, such drugs as Digitalis, Pulsatilla, Belladonna, &c.
  In  the same manner as Mercury was known,  long before his 
149
time, to act  prominently on the lymphatic system, so we were ac-

quainted with the effect of Digitalis upon the heart  and the  arte-

ries, of opium and similar narcotics upon the nervous, of Belladonna

upon  the  nervo-muscular  irritability, etc.   Could we, however,

rely more  confidently upon his experience at the bed-side of the

patient, we should owe to him the beneficial effects of Aconitum in

the genuine  or plastic inflammation of the lungs, of Spongia in a

similar affection of the mucous membranes and of the glands of the

throat, of Pulsatilla,  erroneously considered by the profession as

obsolete, for some particular nervous affections of the eyes, etc. etc.

all of which  exert not only a beneficial influence upon the  morbid

disorders of a whole system,  but act also specially upon the tissues

of different organs.  But from the following statement, which repre-

sents the manner in which  he instituted his experiments  with drugs,

from those remarks which  we shall  give at the discussion of the

3d maxim, and from what we already know of his false statements

about Belladonna in scarlet fever, about Camphor and Copper in

Asiatic  cholera, etc. we are sorry that we have only to record his

failures, his  fancies,  and his rude empiricism.*


   * Since these remarks were written, we have seen an article in the New-York Com-
mercial Advertiser of the 7th of February, 1834,  addressed " to Parents," and signed
" a Citizen."   It appears that this citizen had  lost some children  by scarlet fever,
under the  medical treatment of an allopathist;  and believing that he himself after-
ward had an  attack of the same disease, and was saved by the homoeopathic treat-
ment with Belladonna, he thought it his duty to direct public attention to the " igno-
rance and obstinacy of the profession" generally,  and  to the great blessings which
homoeopathia secures to mankind, and especially to those attacked by  scarlet fever.
  fn whatever manner the feelings of a well educated unprofessional person may have
been affected, both by extraordinary misfortune and by gratitude to the man to whom
he thinks himself indebted for relief;  it is utterly inconsistent with common sense as
well as with moral and delicate feeling, to publish such  a remarkably frantic and ma-
licious article.  We should have believed it impossible for any citizen  of this country,
unless he belonged to the lowest class of quacks, to disregard not only all the deco-
rum due to the highly respected class of physicians, but to injure, in such a foolish and
contemptible manner, the just feelings of those of his fellow citizens, who have been
or may be so unfortunate as to lose their children or relatives by the  same scourge;
asserting, with the utmost and almost mathematical precision, that his own direful
afflictions, and  those of others also, would have been prevented by the homceopathic
treatment with  Belladonna.  We venture to express and to vindicate  the good sense
and just indignation of an enlightened and abused community, in declaring, that we
have never read any publication more unbecoming and false than this Address to Pa-
rents.  It seems as if a red-hot  homoeopathist had made a tool of this infatuated
citizen, and profited also by this opportunity, to direct public attention to his marvel-
lous all-curing method, without the least regard to truth, to the respect due to the pub-
lic at large, and to the profession in particular.   We shall say nothing of the citizen's
own fate, and also nothing about his brief biography of  Hahnemann, as we  have
given above a different but true statement of it.  It must, however, appear very un-
fair and inconsistent, that the gentlemen homoeopathists of this country, who, like their
master and  brethren in Europe,  despise the most trust-worthy literary-  authorities
of all ages, and the experience of the greatest practitioners, hail,  from ignorance or
intentionally, each adventurer who enters their ranks,  and take advantage of the ig- 
150
                           As it is material to any  one  who finds particular interest in the

                        results  of physical experiments, to know  in  what manner they are

                        instituted, and as  it must be  our  principal object, to  provide  the

                        norance of the public respecting foreign  medical literature, to represent men as highly-
                        distinguished physicians and authors,  who are in both respects as insignificant and un-
                        known in their respective countries as they themselves are in this.   In regard to the
                        German, French, and Italian doctors, who have adopted homoeopathia, and whose names
                        are quoted by "the citizen,"  as the first in the profession;  we repeat our former re-
                        mark, that they are  quite obscure men.  Hufeland excepted, not one of them, has any
                        pretensions to medical talent, or is distinguished or even known in the medical litera-
                        ture nf his own country, except, at farthest, as being a practitioner or author on homceo-
                        pathia. Hufeland, who never was considered  in Germany  as " the patriarch of German
                        medicine," but who  was merely and still is highly respected as a distinguished author
                        and physician, neither claimed  to be, nor ever  was admitted as the "leader" of the
                        profession there.  Impartial to every medical system, and upwards  of 40 years editor
                        of a valuable medical periodical,  Hufeland was  always more tolerant to the absurdest
                        suggestions than a truly ingenuous man and a zealous lover of truth ought to have been.
                        He has nevertheless never declared in  favour of homceopathia: on the  contrary, like
                        all the public professors of medicine and surgery at Berlin, and in  all other German
                        universities,  a few insignificant men excepted, he has only recommended that some of
                        the topics of homoeopathia, in  regard to the maxim, " similia similibus curantur,"
                        might deserve a closer examination, since it appears to him pbssible, that in this way
                        also,  the profession could obtain some beneficial results, and that perhaps many dis-
                        cordant opinions could be reconciled by it.   (See Hufeland,  die Lehre  von den  Hei-
                        lungs-objecten und ihrer Erkenntniss,  oder  die Jatrognomik.   Ein Versuch zur Ver-
                        einigung der Aerzte, Berlin, 1829.)   Hahnemann's "great truth," contained in his
                        work on chronic diseases, was at that  time not yet known to  Hufeland, otherwise he
                        probably would  have given a  less liberal  opinion of Hahnemannism.   We can as-
                        sure our readers, that most of the  German  physicians, who  felt, like  ourselves, in
                        duty bound repeatedly to try belladonna as a preventive against scarlet fever, because
                        it could not do harm, even in the dose first prescribed by Hahnemann, (which is many
                        hundred million times larger or smaller than the dose he now believes to be too strong
                        or too weak)  have declared this drug ineffectual  as a preventive and still more so as  a
                        remedy.   The scarlet fever still prevails  in Germany, as can be ascertained from the
                        latest  German medical works and periodicals ; and perhaps likewise from those causes
                        to which we  have alluded in our  remarks  upon the dangers  of vaccination,  with
                        greater violence than it diil before Hahnemann's insignificant discovery. Dr. Kopp also,
                        who, as we have mentioned above, is the only German homoepathist, if we dare call him
                        so, who has been distinguished as an author and practitioner before he examined this
                        method, states, in regard to the use of Belladonna  in scarlet fever, (on p. 326 of his
                        work  above cited,) "According to my  frequent experiments I must declare it to  be a
                        " very unsafe preventive, and by no  means comparable with vaccination," as Hah-
                        nemann would make all the world believe, especially at that time, when he intended
                        to make a fortune, by using Belladonna  as an arcanum.   Those German physicians
                        who have employed belladonna as a preventive, havenotused it as a remedy for scarlet
                        fever; sinceHahnemann himself has recommended this drug at first, merely as a pre-
                        ventive of this disease and not as a  remedy for it : and in later times, when he recom-
                        mended  it also  as  a remedy, he  made it  to  depend on a very minute distinction
                        between the  scarlatina levigata and  miliaris, which does  not essentially  exist.—
                        No professional man of a but. limited practice will acknowledge any material difference,
                        simply between these two forms of scarlet fever;  and this may also serve as  a proof that
                        Hahnemann was never engaged in any  extensive practice, but has formed his concep-
                        tions  by hunting for  antiquated literary curiosities  and by his own inventions.  We
                        would suggest that both forms of the same disease, with all its symptoms, dangers, etc.
                        (although  the miliaris is in the first  stage less dangerous than the levigata,) appear
                        to depend on a higher or lower degree of atmospheric electricity ; as the damp at-
                        mosphere  in  northern Germany is  less electric than the atmosphere in the northern
f,                        states of America, the miliaris is more  frequent there, while the levigata is more usual
t                        here :  in very cold and  dry winters, however, we frequently met with the levigata in
                        Germany.  Perhaps  both forms depend only on the predominant positive or negative
                        nimnspheric electricity,  producing an effect upon the human body, distantly similar to
                        Lichtenberg's figures of both  electricities.—It is  very  singular that hoina-opath- 
151
impartial reader of these pages  with all the  means  necessary to

judge for himself, what confidence might he reasonably placed in

the correctness of Hahnemann's experiments, and still more in all

ists speak at all of scarlet fever,  since, as we have seen, Hahnemann forbids them to
give a name to a disease which is similar to one of the older schools ; and consistent-
ly, instead of scarlatina levigata, and purpura miliaris,  they should speak only of an
aconite and a  belladonna-sickness.—Dr.Kopp, the infatuated admirer of Hahnemann's
genius, who has used Belladonna in scarlet fever, says,  on page 327. 1. c. where he
ridicules Hahnemann's fanciful  distinction just mentioned:—"I frequently treated
" patients suffering from scarlatina according to the homoeopathic method, with be 11a-
" donna, mercury, etc. and in general I have not noticed unfavourable results.  Severe
" cases, and those which were dangerous, have not been arrested by it, and required
" chlorine in large doses,  cold fomentations to  the  head,  sinapisms, etc."—Future
times will prove still more, that  the cure of scarlet fever depends  upon  a  minute ra-
tional treatment, and upon a regime different from that still pursued in many coun-
tries  by highly obnoxious popular prejudices, rather than upon any specific, and least
of all, upon an infinite atom of belladonna ; though this powerful drug, like all others,
may  prove beneficial in the rational  treatment of scarlet fever, under peculiar circum-
stances, which prescribe the most rigorous antiphlogistic, as well as the quite opposite
treatment, particularly in its different stages.—The well known experiments on which
this accidental discovery of Hahnemann rests, deserve particular notice,  in  proving
his inability to institute  minute and impartial experiments, and much less to draw
sound conclusions  from  them.  The berries of belladonna are by no means  the only
substance which produces in healthy persons an eruption on the  skin, very remotely
similar to scarlet fever;  many other narcotic plants, especially if  taken in quantities
sufficiently large to act as poisons, frequently cause the  same : thus we remember  a
similar eruption in a whole family, poisoned by thorn-apple seeds boiled in milk, instead
of the seeds of the fennel-flower, (Nigella sativa, L.) which were intended as a domestic
medicine.  We remember also, thirty-five years ago, a remarkable instance of a stout
man, upwards of seventy years old, in whom, after  taking two drops of laudanum for
diarrhoea, an eruption appeared,  similar to scarlatina levigata, only without-fever, but
 ending, like scarlet fever, with  the desiccation of the skin : and  two years after, the
same consequences followed, in  the same man, from one drop of laudanum only.  It
 is also well known, that  some persons and whole families, at least in Germany, expe-
 rience the  same symptoms whenever they eat craw-fish or clams, and sometimes even
 on taking the prepared crabs-eyes, which are used as a domestic diaphoretic and anti-
 acid  medicine.  Must these and many other  substances, therefore, not likewise be
 consistently  considered  as remedies for the smooth  scarlet  fever 1  How  great is,
 moreover, often the difference between the fruit  of a plant and  its root,  leaves, or
 other parts ! the one may act in  one way, the other  in a different manner on the hu-
 man  body.  De Candolle (Organographie vegetale, vol. II.) states, that in every plant,
 the most poisonous not excepted, the endospermium and cotyledones contain no poi-
 son,  but always a farinaceous substance, which may serve as  wholesome nourish-
 ment for men and animals.   Was Hahnemann consistent in prescribing only the ber-
 ries of belladonna, or  their juice, against scarlet fever 1 No !   On page 11 of vol 1.
 of his Materia Medica,  he orders  expressly the juice of the whole plant to be taken
 while it is in blossom; of course then without the berries, the very  object of his .first
 discovery.  This  is objectionable only  in respect to homoeopathia, which boasts of
 such great regard to trifles and  minutiae, since the medical virtues are contained in
 the herb and in  the root of belladonna much more than in its berries.  The root
 being by far the  strongest, Hahnemann, in prescribing the many billionth part of one
 grain, appears, therefore, as usual, particularly inconsistent in prescribing to take the
 whole plant without the berries.—We regret particularly, that a public paper with so
 large a circulation, has  consented  to become  the inhuman instrument for spreading
 a collection of statements so alarming, so void of truth, and so redolent with charla-
 tanism, without such previous inquiries as we think due to the public in such cases.
 In fact, the impudent advertisement of a quack,  persuading  the public that he alone
 can cure all patients easily and  quickly of a disease which has so frequently proved
 fatal under the most judicious  treatment of the greatest  physicians of all countries
 and ages, supporting his  infallible cures, of course, by a sufficient number of public tes-
 timonials, must appear contemptible ; how much more so when men abuse, under the
 hypocritical cloak of patriotism and modest professional philanthropy, the ignorance and 
1.02
the inferences drawn from them by him and his followers, we shall
give an instance of his original experiments with drugs, instituted
in healthy persons in order to produce a drug-sickness.
    We  purposely  select  the experiments  made with Peruvian
bark, as a drug best  known.  (See according to Kopp 1. c. p. 55,
Organon  §. §. 16  and 132 of the third, and  § J 20 of the fourth
edition.)   In order to excite a bark-fever, which may last for  seve-
ral days, the healthy person must take, in the course of one day, a
mixture  made of one  ounce of powdered bark,  with  five ounces of
alcohol and two pounds of water.   This will be taken best before
breakfast, and according  to  circumstances, this  dose may be in-
creased to twice, (§ 133 old edition,) or even four times as much,
(§ J 34 ibid.)   Now we candidly ask, who can wonder that from
experiments, instituted principally in this manner, only 1143 bark-
symptoms are recorded  in Hahnemann's materia medica, as we
might confidently expect several thousand symptoms in addition
to those  mentioned, if all  are minuiely written  down from the re-
ports of  a healthy person, unaccustomed to such stimuli, and in-
toxicated for many hours  by twenty ounces of  alcohol and four
ounces of powdered  bark; especially if this  person  was such a
stupid, credulous and infatuated disciple, as the above mentioned
Bohemian barber, or  any one  else, prepossessed and anxious to
satisfy the tiresome cross-examinations and the absurd expectations
of such a master ?   Our " great medical genius," who, according
to the enraptured Dr. Hering, (1. c. p. 11) " now stands  forth as
" a conqueror" who, (1. c. p. 27) " has beaten a new path on all
" sides;"  and (1. c. p. 21) by " whose  careful attention to minutiae
folly of a distressed, infatuated man,  and induce him publicly to say,  exactly in the
following terms, that " Samuel Hahnemann has swept away from medicine, as Isaac
" Newton did from Astronomy, the huge mass of intellectual  lumber that had clogged
" it for centuries ;"that " belladonna  was, when administered according to the direc-
" tion of its discoverer, a certnin  established sovereign cure  for the scarlet fever:"—
that " it has been in general use, as such, on the continent of Europe since  1811 :"
—that " scarlet fever has ceased  to  be an object of terror in these countries ;" and
that " in the present state of medical science, every victim by scarlet fever was a wan-
ton sacrifice of human life to medical obstinacy, or to involuntary medical ignorance.'
We wish from our heart, that all  patients suffering from this dangerous disease may
recover by belladonna, or by any  other treatment.  But what can  such an impostor
or infatuated simpleton, who palpably  guided the pen of this "citizen," say for his de-
fence,  if, in spite of such impudence, he himself loses even his  near relatives by
scarlet fever when homoeopathicaliy treated 1—" Where authority is from one man to
" auother,  there the second must be  ignorant and  not learned and full of thoughts;
" and such are, for the most part, all superstitious persons, whose belief, tied to their
" teachers and traditions, are no whit controlled, either by reason or experience."--
                                                         Fr.  Bacon. 
!5;i
"  a new era has dawned upon all the natural sciences,"  this very
man, who considers the decillionth part  of one grain oj common
table salt in  many cases as too strong,  is pleased  to call twenty
"  ounces of alcohol, and four ounces of powdered bark, swallowed
"  in a few hours, and even before breakfast" as a mere nothing, and
instead of calling the  1143 symptoms elicited by the cross-exami-
nation of  such  a person by their right name,  the utterings of an
intoxicated person, he  is pleased to call  them " bark-fever symp-
"  loms,"—"Dialectorum verba nulla sunt publica, suis utuntur,"
(Cicero.)—Hahnemann,who recommends for his homoeopathic so-
lutions,  (see  Organon  §  267, and Chronic  Diseases,) alcohol
strong  enough  to ignite  a piece of  spunk, (which can be done
only by the strongest alcohol), considers this  substance  as utterly
indifferent, and  as  the least apt to change the qualities  of simple
drugs.   This opinion, the experiments similar to those just quoted,
connected with his suggestion above  cited, viz. that persons become
less liable to diseases in proportion  to the number of different ho-
moeopathic trials made on them with simple drugs, and his theory
that all chronic  diseases depend mostly  on itch—all these state-
ments and  assertions together may  justify our inference, that ac-
cording to the tenets of homceopathia, a person might constantly
indulge in drinking brandy, or any other  spirituous drink, without
the  least injury to his health.   This contradicts the remark of Dr.
Hering, who says on page 26 of his " Concise View,"  " Hahne-
"  mann considers all spirituous drinks as positively injurious," and
demonstrates still more clearly his attempts to render thereby also
his " new art  of healing" as palatable as possihle to the enlightened
people of this country, by yielding in this manner to the prejudices
of the temperance-or rather abstinence-societies, although these at-
tempts are not required by his doctrine.*   As a faithful homceopa-
   * No one will consider us adverse to any  measures for promoting  temperance,
though we are not in favour of total abstinence, and cannot see the propriety of join-
ing a soeiety as a particular  inducement or  obligation to live temperately, any more
than to join other societies for exercising other virtues, which we are bound to observe
from religious and moral feelings and principles.  Intemperance in spirituous drinks
is very detrimental both in a moral and physical point of view, and its bad consequences
are generally irreparable. Those who are still doubtful of the correctness of this asser-
tion,  should seriously direct their attention to the severe lesson, which the wisdom of
Providence has given them by the Asiatic cholera, since in all countries and under the
most different medical treatments, very few intemperate individuals were cured.  Imem-
perate persons also by the habitual over-excitement of their nervous system are not
only unable to bear  the higher degrees of heat and cold as well ;is temperate ones,
but there exists to our knowledge, no instance where asphyctics by cold, when intoxi-
cated, have beexi  restored to life, whilst the contrary has often been the case with
                                20 
154
thist, uninfluenced by other motives, he must have been aware, that
unless a man feels religious and moral obligations to live temperate-
ly, as every prudent man should do, the principal checks are remov-
ed rather than increased by Hahnemann.  Should any one believe
our  interpretation  incorrect  and partial, he may consider how
often Dr. Hering and his homoeopathic brethren assure the public
of the infallibility of homceopathia, that he  says on p. 25, a false
selection of a drug cannot doinjury;  (on p. 21,)  that error is impos-
sible, etc.; and the same assurances  are still more given by Hahne-
mann, for instance, in vol. iv, p. 19 of his Mat. Med. second edi-
tion, where he says, that all experience will  prove to every body,
that a drug selected according to his manner,  " will  not only
" change the disease  into health easily and durably, but  it will
" never leave any one uncured-" and in vol. iii,p. 7 of the same work,
" If all that  the homoeopathic doctrine promises, provided  itisfaith-
" fully pursued, does not exactly take place—then  homoeopathia is
" considered to be lost."—If therefore,  our  interpretations in re-
gard to all other  assertions and directions of Hahnemann cannot
be cdnsidered exaggerated, a  man prone to intemperance, can now
confidently expect that, if after all  he should fall sick  in conse-
quence of this vice, he will be  cured safely and quickly  by  the
virtue developed from  a few atoms of a drug.
   With due  reverence  for the great effect of religious and moral
principles, in preventing moral faults simply by their great intrinsic
value, we must admit,  that hitherto Providence has  ordained
both moral and physical  happiness to be generally the rewards of a
pious and virtuous life, while vices cause much physical unhappi-
ness, sufferings and misery, and  that this merciful order  of things
has  unquestionably hitherto deterred  many  from evil habits, and
especially  from the source of  all  vices, intemperance.   Should
homoeopathia, always so superior to  the stupid and miserable vital
powers of nature,  shake in this case also, the belief and confidence
of many, in the old order of things, it would become at least indi-
directly instrumental  in  promoting  intemperance and  all other
temperate individuals, after apparent death had lasted for upwards of three days.  For
the same reasons professional men will find it by far more difficult, to restore men, riven
to drunkenness, to their health when affected by diseases, than men of sober habits.
The alcohol of all spirituous drinks, entering when used in excess into the mixture of
the blood, into the brain, muscles, etc., is also the only cause of the many shocking
instances of self-combustion.  Intemperance is a vice peculiar to man, which deprives
him, by his own voluntary act, of his noblest prerogative, reason; it is therefore in itself
the worst and most contemptible kind of suicide, to which it so often indirectly leads. 
155
vices. Hahnemann and his adherents have much to answer for, as
they encourage this great evil.—We cannot well boast of our great
predilection for this Abracadabra of the niueieci.h century, nor do we
like to display our philanthropy.  But, nevertheless, it may easily
be imagined what  grief we felt  that such " a treasure," like this
" new art of healing," by which,  according to the hopes and  ex-
pectations of Dr. Hering, (p. 29,1. c). " future generations will be
" rescued from its leaden fetters, the bitterest human  misery—
'• disease bearing down  all  earthly  joy, become  less from year to
" year, and''the sweetest boon on  earth—health and domestic  feli-
" city become the portion of growing thousands here as well as in
" Germany," should not be able to  compensate in a manner fully
worthy of its exalted destiny, for the great injuries and inconveni-
ences, just named,  of which  it is the innocent cause.  WTe feel
happy to state, that we  have hit upon such a compensation, and
we hope that it  will not be  amiss to suggest here to the " great
" benefactor of mankind,"  and to  his followers, a plan  by which
they can nobly and munificently  atone for this evil attending their
doctrine  if generally adopted, and  which plan is also intimately
connected with their maxim, " similia similibus curantur."
   The political emancipation of the coloured population, now agi-
tating the whole civilized world,  is  the very field assigned to Hah-
nemann and his benevolent doctrine.  The celebrated naturalist,
professor Link, of the Berlin University,  in  bis  interesting work,
" the  Primitive  World," (die Urwelt), considers the African as the
original race of mankind, and all other men, especially the whites,
as a variety of the  negro, physically degenerated by one or more
unknown causes ; perhaps by a constitutional affection, which once
generally prevailed; resembling to that by which the Leukaethiopes
or Albinos become so  anomalous from the whites.  We  do  not
exactly recollect by what reasons and deep  learning he supports
this strange opinion, though it might be noticeed, that coloured men
grow much  lighter when sick, and also  that many instances are
recorded, where  white persons have  become  permanently black,
without  any material  injury to their health, after a violent fit
of anger, fright, or a similar mental excitement.   It is also  well
known that by the influence of northern climates,  many animals,
coated with a dark skin in  southern countries, turn while, without
any other observable anomaly.  Be this as it may, those who
consider this metamorphosis of the human race to be as fanciful as 
150
are all the arguments of the learned naturalist, on account of the
great difference in the mental capacities between the white and the
negros, as stated by many, may perhaps become more convinced of
this important hypothesis, if they believe Hahnemann's "great truth,"
about the antiquity  of the far-spread itch, and especially if they
advert to the fact, that the mental  capacities of individuals  have
frequently improved  after  recovering from a serious constitutional
disease.  Now it is also a fact, that lunar caustic or nitras argenti, if
taken by whites, even in small allopathic doses, will cause a perma-
nently blackish  hue over  the whole skin, without any particular
danger.  In accordance with the homoeopathic maxim, similia si-
milibus curantur, we  therefore should not doubt for a moment
that, if a black individual takes a homoeopathic dose of lunar caus-
tic, it might change the black skin white, as well as  it turns the
white skin black.  Should this experiment succeed, as it probably
will, (though it has, to our knowledge,  not yet been tried), since the
conformity of homoeopathia with the laws of nature is established,
it will be highly advantageous to the coloured population, especially
in countries where they now live politically emancipated amongst
whites, and since, probably,  no law will for centuries  be effectual
enough to extinguish opinions and prejudices, as we may term such
deeprooted  impressions, so long as  they are entertained by visible
physicalmarks;andasreciprocally,everydisadvantageousdistinction
will perpetuate the moral faults which naturally originate from such
prejudices, unworthy of all truly religious and moral feeling.  Every
body must admit  this to be  extremely  deserving of the  noble-
minded  homoeopathist; though,  under the supposition  that this
will be effected solely by a slightly artificial disease, they would be
obliged, from  humanity, to deviate, in  these cases only, from their
usual benevolent mode of transmuting  all diseases into health.
Hahnemann, who was probably himself not aware that his great
discoveries  would likewise benefit so large  a number of healthy
 human beings,  over such  large  sections  of the globe, has incon-
 sciously removed the great obstacle to its success, and confirmed
 by this also, what Dr. Hering emphatically predicted, when saying,
 on  page 27, " Thus has  Hahnemann beaten a new path on  all
 " sides.  His admirable observations and manifold experience have
 " constantly advanced the new art, created by his instrumentality,
 " and every year brings with it fresh  proofs of his genius."   The
 only serious  objection to this unique  salutary morbid process 
157
is  this ;  that as lunar caustic is  a remedy for  epilepsy,  or the
falling sickness, it  might produce this direful disease in the white-
washed negro.  Hahnemann  removes this  fear, by suggesting in
his Materia Medica, Vol. IV., that the beneficial effects  of lunar
caustic in epilepsy, depend  not upon  the silver, but the  copper
contained in it, and  therefore declares that copper  and  not silver
is the real homoeopathic drug in epilepsia.   Though he made, as
we have seen a similar declaration with regard to Asiatic chole-
ra, in his second  edition for its infallible cure, namely, to cajeput-
oil; and  although no "  over-refined" chemist can conceive what
copper has to do with pure lunar caustic, the faithful homoeopathists
will, however,  not doubt it.  They will  unquestionably simplify
the experiment, by substituting the virtues developed  from me-
tallic silver, since  Hahnemann prefers also the latter to the lunar
caustic, and believes it to be very soluble  in  the stomach juice;
we believe him in such instances more than on any other topic, since
he was, during his whole life, a particularly good judge of metallic
gold and silver, and could always metamorphose them in succum
et sanguinem.—Should  the collateral   homoeopathic  effect  of
silver prove too strong in regard to the falling sickness,  though a
little touch of it may beneficially counteract the premature assump-
tion of the present generation of the emancipated negro,—we would
advert to the highly interesting discovery, lately made by  Dr. Wer-
neck,  of Salzburg,  according to which all bad consequences of
poisoning by metallic substances, of course if they  do  not  consist
in organic destruction, can be cured by the proper application of
electricity.  Whites, with a blackish hue  of the skin from lunar
caustic, may therefore now expect to acquire their old  white colour
again, as well  as negroes, who are too much'affected or dissatisfied
in being  homoeopathically white-washed, their old deep sooty one.
 This proposed  measure  would finally  cost nothing, if we consider
 what the largest homoeopathic dose is, in comparison with the allo-
 pathic one of twenty millions  of pounds  sterling,  granted by the
 highminded Britons for the political emancipation of the coloured
 population in the  British dominions.   The properly developed vir-
 tue of a penny-worth of silver, would be  more than  sufficient for
 all the negroes in  America.   We may leave it to the distinguished
 arithmetical acquirements  of Hahnemann and  Dr. Hering, of
 which we have above quoted some remarkable specimens, to de-
 termine how many penny pieces will be necessary to whitewash 
158
the  whole African  population ;  provided  they would accept this
benefit from  their white homoeopathic brethren.—Difficile est sa-
tyram non scribere!
   In following our subject we must prove, even  admitting for a
moment the second homoeopathic maxim,  similia similibus  curan-
tur,  to be fully correct, in these, that it is not only contradicted by
Hahnemann himself and by his doctrine, but also that it is  utterly
impossible in praxi, strictly to comply with its imperative requisites.
For  this purpose we  shall direct the attention of the indulgent
reader to the following  quotations  from  Dr.  Hering's pamphlet,
in addition to those quoted above from page 24.—On page 21 he
says, " Nothing indeed but the symptoms are to  be accepted, as
" the guide to the treatment of the disease, because, in them alone,
" no error is possible," and ibid. " but so much  more necessary it is
" that every case of disease  should be completely comprehended in
" all its symptoms, and with great accuracy," and on pages 21 and
22,  "all the circumstances under which any  complaint arises or
" disappears, increases or diminishes ; whether in motion  or at
" rest, in certain  situations and  postures,  whether by warmth or
" cold, in the open air or in the room, by light, by noises, by talk-
" ing or thinking, eating or drinking, touch or pressure, emotions
" of  the mind or mental exertions,—all must be taken into account.
u Sensations  on falling asleep, during sleep and  on waking, the
"posture during sleep; even  the dreams and  the kind of them,
u whether of falling, of flying, of fire, of noises, of hunger, of motion,
" of  seeing frightful objects, &c, all belong to the image  of the
"disease, and any one of which, may not unfrequently be the de-
" ciding symptom," and on page 22, " regard being paid to the
" patient's mental constitution and temper," &c.
   Hahnemann himself urges all these conditions also as the very
essence of his doctrine, in innumerable places of his writings, espe-
cially in his Organon  and  in  his Materia Medica.  Among others
he says, " the condition of the  mind and humor of the patient
" materially decide the selection of  a remedy, the choice of it de-
" pending principally upon  the psychical symptoms of the diseased
" person."  We cannot conceive how  these directions could be well
complied with, and how the remarks just quoted can be reconciled
with the expressions of Hahnemann in many parts of his works,
especially in  his Organon, from  § 156 to  § 176, where he tries to
demonstrate, in contradiction to his own and Dr. Hering's sugges- 
159
lions, that  at the  bedside of the patient the homoeopathist must
sometimes be satisfied with few, and even with a very few charac-
teristic symptoms.   On  page 225  § 158 of the Organon he says,
" The small number of homoeopathic symptoms, observable in the
" best selected drugs, does not however impede the cure, when these
"few symptoms are of an uncommon  kind, and particularly
" distinctive of the  disease, (characteristic ;)  the cure will never-
" theless  be effected without  particular difficulty."—After the ex-
plicit expositions of Hahnemann  and his  worthy  disciple cited
above, that all symptoms collectively, up to  the most, minute, are
indispensably required, in order to know the true character of the
case, or to form a faithful image of the disease, as a true copy of
the corresponding  drug-sickness,  there  exists no  characteristic
symptom, or signum  pathognomonicum of  the profession, for the
homoeopathist, as the totality of  the  symptoms in the  natural
disease, when compared with the  totality of the drug-symptoms,
without any superior or inferior value of one or more symptoms,
constitute the whole character of every disease in homceopathia.
 We observe in all the experiments, instituted by Hahnemann with
drugs ou healthy persons, very few in which the  drug-sickness
did not present at least a hundred, and frequently many hundreds
and even upwards of 1400 symptoms, among which none are par-
ticularly distinguished by him  as principally characteristic of  all
others, or as pathognomonic^ ;  it is therefore a gross inconsistency,
first, to make the perfect similarity between  the symptoms of the
drug,-and disease-sickness  minutely dependent upon one another,
and to say that the salutary success of the treatment will only be
secured if  both exactly coincide, and to curtail and retract after-
wards the same requisites.   It  is  impossible to comprehend, how
the  faithful honneopathist can suffer any deduction of symptoms,
wiihout destroying the only foundation of his diagnosis, and with-
out exposing his treatment to mere chance.  Every syllable of the
homoeopathic symptomatology substantiates,  that  by the  least
deduction  of symptoms, and of course proportionally by a larger
one,  the faithful homoeopathic  practitioner,  will experience the
greatest  difficulties and when mistaken in his diagnosis, from the
want  of sufficient  symptoms,   will find too  late  that  he was
deprived of this his only compass on the vast ocean of all his drug-
an dnatural-sicknesses.   On  a  minute scrutiny of Hahnemann's
Materia Medica, we observe that, two large catalogues of two drugs,
causing upwards of a thousand symptoms each, coincide by two- 
160
 thirds, others often by seven-eighths and sometimes still more with
 each other.—It would be too tiresome for the reader as well as for
 us, to extract here side by side, this coincidence, which as we have
 stated, arises principally from this, that the subjective sensations
 and feelings of the persons, constitute by far the larger part, when
 compared with those  symptoms, objectively obvious to the physi-
 cian ; every one may compare them in the works quoted and in
 Hahnemann's Treatise on Chronic Diseases.—From a comparison
 between three homoeopathic  drugs and their corresponding three
 diseases, in order to arrive at the similarity between their symptoms,
 it will become evident, that if, for instance, we find one thousand
 symptoms belonging to  the first drug, 900 to the second, and 800
 to the third, 800 of which are alike in all three, that the first and
 second are only distinguished  relatively  by 200 and 100 symptoms
 from  the third;—now if this deduction is made from  the symp-
 toms of the first and second drug, and two natural diseases before
 us do not offer more and  other symptoms than have remained  after
 this deduction, each of the latter must be confounded with each of the
 former,and thus the true diagnosis of the diseases must be impossible.
 Even if we admit to homosopathists the  existence of pathognomo-
 nical symptoms in  the sense of  allopathia, it is inconsistent  with
their doctrine  to conjecture,  that  these symptoms  only  should
always be left, and that the others of minor value may be deducted,
since  they think that the  latter  also contribute to  form the true
image of the disease, and that the different expressions of the older
schools,   symptomata  causae, symptomata  symptomatum,  &c,
belong to the most foolish and detrimental prejudices of allopathia.
Should the adoption of characteristic symptoms be fully sufficient
to point out a disease in homceopathia, Hahnemann's  display of
so many symptoms would be  still more  ridiculous, as contributing
only to enlarge the symptomatology of  the older schools, without
the great advantages  which  the  latter  afford by their  important
reference to the causes.
  Had Hahnemann ever consistently acknowledged the wothr of
characteristic symptoms, he would have made the diagnosis more
easy and certain by a particular regard to  them, whether  he had
adopted  those established as pathognomical symptoms by the mi-
nute observations of the older schools, or had suggested new ones,
drawn from his pretended discoveries; he would then have classi-
fied his  natural diseases, as all authors  on  special pathology and 
)(>!
therapeutics  do, and  by comparing the  characteristic  symptoms
of natural diseases with those  of drug-sickness, he would  have
prevented those great mistakes  to which his followers are now ex_
posed, it being left to th^ir judgment what they may consider as
characteristic or  not.   Thus under the head  of any name  given
to a disease,  he would have also pointed out the graduation  in the
value of its symptoms. But this  is not seen in Hahnemann's works,
though Dr. Hering (c. v. p. 25) speaks of different grades and of
a relative value.   On the contrary, by stating all  the symptoms
elicited by his  experiments without any graduation, and by his
aversion to the names of diseases, he palpably distrusts the worth
of characteristic symptoms, and only adopts them, as he adopts and
rejects every thing, when it suits his convenience.  Thus, if any
one says,  "  This drug  must only be given to  a  person of such or
such peculiar form, with certain definite features, with a little wart
on  the right  cheek shaped so and  so, and a small  pimple on the
left one, coloured so  and so, etc. etc. just like  the image I have
given you, in  order to  ascertain all exactly; you  are  earnestly
forbidden to  account for the least deficiency of  the quoted symp-
toms  by reasoning ; and unless you find all  things exactly as I
have stated, you  cannot administer this  drug, without the great-
est  probability that you  will injure, perhaps kill the patient;"  these
 fceing exactly  the  directions of Hahnemann and Dr. Hering ac-
cording to the quotation mentioned above : we  ask, can the con-
scientious homoeopathist, to whom this task is  confided, allow any
deduction to be made of forty, sixty, or, as Hahnemann says, even
of upwards of ninety-six per cent, from the drug-symptoms of his
drug-sickness catechism ; can  he administer the drug  with any
prospect of cure,  when called to a patient, whose disease does not
exactly resemble the image ; nay! who might perhaps present one
or two only of upwards of 1400 drug-symptoms ?---By such  a re-
duction of characteristics in natural history there would be no dif-
ference between a flea and an elephant.
  In overlooking in Hahnemann the great nonsense, which,  as we
have seen, his interpretation of  similia similibus curantur involves,
it is at least evident that he substitutes for the old axiom " cessante
causa cessfat etiam eiTectus," its reverse, " cessante effectu ces^at
etiam causa."  This  great nonsensical 'C&gov tgmzgov of the human
intellect and  of all experience, has put him m  the dilemma., cuiier
                            21 
162
to insist upon the indispensability of his symptomatology, and  of
all the minutiae connected with it, without admitting the least de-
duction ; or to decide merely by his authority that the fundamen-
tal maxim of his doctrine, proclaimed by him as the law of nature,
admits of exceptions, although every rational person must admit
that  it is  thus totally subverted.  As long  as he did not deviate
from his repeated assertions, that the minutest symptom of the drug-
sickness  materially belongs to the  true image of the  disease,  as
well  as the minutest  lineament belongs to  a true portrait, or as
the definite situation of the  many pieces of coloured glass exactly
belong to a definite figure  in the kaleidoscope, he  was, at least,
consistent; but when he admits that some and even many symp-
toms  may be  missing, without material injury to the safest treat-
ment, or still more, as we shall see soon, that all chronic diseases,
amounting in his catalogue  to upwards of 400, depend only on one
latent and therefore imperceptible, or rather on no symptom; then
we must declare  that he himself has evidently destroyed the great-
est support of his whole doctrine, even in the eyes of his most de-
voted adherents, provided they are impartial and reasonable.
   By adverting, however, to the quotations above cited from  the
Concise View, we see that its author still follows with consistency
the original maxim of his master, as he appears unwilling to ad-
mit of any deduction.  But then  we cannot comprehend how  he
can even partially fulfill the following promises, given in the com-
mon  unworthy language of his fellowship  on page 25.  " The
" most acute and dangerous diseases, as inflammation of the lungs,
" pleurisy, inflammation of the brain and liver, and of the ear, apo-
" plexy and  convulsions, most of the  diseases of  children, and
" even the most malignant forms of typhus are the easiest of all in
" the choice of a remedy."   Let us leave unnoticed the substance
of these  rhodomontades, worthy only of a man of that class  in
which the author  has ranged himself, by the whole tenor of his
Concise View ; let us for the present suppress that just indignation
which every man of sound  morals and feelings will share with us,
when he sees  proclaimed by a well educated professional man, the
promises, that most of the diseases of children, and  even the most
malignant forms of typhus  are the easiest of all in the choice of a
remedy,  and of course also to cure ; brags more characteristic than
any homoeopathic  symptom of times long  past, when  the oddly- 
163
dressed doctor proclaimed from his stage in market-places, to the
gazing public, how wonderfully he can cure all diseases!  Can any
one  imagine, that a human being could under  all circumstances
comply with the mentioned requisites of a correct  homoeopathic
diagnosis without divination ?
   How few individuals possess a perfect knowledge of themselves
and  of their own  mental and moral dispositions?—a  knowledge
so rare, that the inscription on the Appollonian  temple at  Del-
phi,  " yvwbi rfsaurov," " know thyself,"  struck the mind  of one of
the wisest Greeks,  and is  still considered, by  all  philosophers,
as the highest attribute of human wisdom.  How few patients can
express their feelings, and  minutely relate the numerous symp-
toms occurring during an attack of a severe disease ?  Is it not ri-
diculous to expect, for instance, from a senseless apoplectic, or from
one  affected by malignant typhus fever, generally  attended with
violent delirium, only one of the multitude of reports alluded to above
as indispensable for selecting a proper drug ?  How very few, if
any, of the fair-sex would condescend to open the remotest re-
cesses  of their  thoughts and feelings, and to  permit the young
priest of iEsculapius to. institute a minute examination,  for ascer-
taining whether a small wart, or something like it,  be located  on
the shoulder or  elsewhere !
   We have already stated, that the large stock of words and ex-
pressions in one of the richest languages upon earth, the German,
proved  insufficient for Hahnemann properly to render the terms o
his symptomatology. The numerous and frequently  barbarous ex-
pressions of all  shades of feelings, never heard  of before, make it
difficult for a well-educated German, even  if he be minutely ac-
quainted with the different provincialisms of his  native country, to
understand all the singular terms and expressions of Hahnemann's
symptomatology, many of which  are newly created by him : and
unless he, as well as his patient, attentively study them for a  long
time, it  must be almost impossible for a German homaopathist to
practise with the requisite exactness, even in his native country.
   In order to give here  a  single specimen of " the accuracy hi-
therto unknown," and the " minutiae and niceties unheard of be-
fore," we shall  quote only the following different expressions of
pain, which Hahnemann stales must  be distinguished  minutely, 
KM
 and which are indispensable for a correct diagnosis.—See Orga-
 non, § 90. and Kopp. 1. c. p. 22.—
    " Einfach  (simple),   stumpf (obtuse),  pressend  (pressing),
 drueckend (compressing), spannend (bending), klemmend (jam-
 ming), kneipend (pinching), shneidend (cutting),  stechend (sting-
 ing), ziehend (drawing),  reissend (tearing), zuckend (shrugging),
 stroemend  (streaming), wuehlend (crawling)  drehend (turning),
 bohrend (boring),  windend (twisting),  nagend (gnawing), fres-
 end (eating), dehnend (extending), kratzend (scratching), pochend
 (knocking) : to which we might add some equally important, as
 zitternd (quivering), brennend (burning), feilend (filing) kitzlend
 (tickling),  etc.   Each of these  26 expressions having a meaning
 of its own, and  Hahnemann requiring also the compound ones, we
 have the following number of expressions for pain, if we add only
 the combinations by 2 and 3 :—
           Simple expressions                      26
           Combinations of two   -               325
           ---------------three  -     -     -  2,600

           Different expressions   -     Total 2,95]
   As in the same manner all other feelings and complaints of the
 patient are minutely to be ascertained,  written down, and com-
 pared with the image in the large gallery of all the drug-sickness-
 symptoms, by a faithful homoeopathist,  it is easy  to comprehend
 " that the advantage of short visits, and  quickly writing a recipe,
 " cannot be reconciled with homoeopathia."   (See Concise View,
 p. 25).—It would be best for the doctor  to board with his patient
 for a few weeks until his minute inquiries are concluded.
   What language less rich than the German could render all the
 expressions in Hahnemann's works intelligible! it  must have been
 very troublesome, even for an able translator of his Organon only,
 to translate them into French, Italian, English, or any other lan-
 guage  ; and  more  so with man)' vulgar terms, contained in all
 his works ; inconveniences which  will make  them unfit for an
 exact translation, and partially  unintelligible to foreigners, with-
 out a voluminous glossary.  No  foreign patient could therefore
 make himself well understood by his German homoeopathist, with-
out a previous tiresome study of such a glossary; and scarcely will
a foreign homoeopathist ever become so minutely acquainted with 
165
the homoeopathic  terminology, as is  necessary to lie exactly un-
derstood by his patients, who must no  only be free from nervous
debility, from any disease of his head, chest, etc. but must possess
strong respiratory organs,  very stout nerves, considerable  talka-
tiveness, and above all, a large allopathic dose of angelic patience,
fully to satisfy the minute cross-examinations of a faithful homoeo-
pathist.—It must indeed be very curious to witness the cross-exa-
minations of a native of " the sanguinary Gold Coast,"  or of
" Egypt, the land of monsters," by such a wonderful sprig of the
arbor vitae flourishing  at Coethen, who, without being well ac-
quainted with the language, customs, etc. of that country, has car-
ried there " the new art of healing !"
   The numerous and indispensable exigencies for a homoeopathic
diagnosis and infallible cure appear  to us not less curious, in re-
spect to the particular ease, promised by the discreet and worthy
Dr. Hering, for the cure of the most acute and dangerous diseases
of children.  How is  it possible to dispense, in  these cases, at
once with almost all symptoms, and be  nevertheless so confident
of the right diagnosis  and safe cure of the most dangerous acute
diseases ?   In these cases  there must  be,  for the homoeopathist,
something present, not to be met with in adults ; some of the many
miracles of homceopathia,  secretly revealed by Hahnemann  only
to  some of his beloved and more initiated disciples, by which  a
new-born baby can tell all the minutiae of its feelings, dreams, etc.
and all that happened during its embryo-life.—Probably we  shall
occasionally hear something highly interesting about some deve-
loped virtues,—about " domestic  felicity," promoted already  at
this period of human life by homoeopathists ; and about many other
objects which have hitherto remained concealed from all stupid al-
lopathists and  naturalists.  This hope will not seem extravagant
and ridiculous to any  one who reads,  in  Hahnemann's work on
Chron. Dis. (vol. i.  p. 173) among many other very amusing nar-'
ratives, quoted by the "old philosopher," in corroboration of his
" great truth," that " a new-born baby,  only a few days old, will
 " constantly rub and scratch the place where his hereditary itch
 " is located."
    Indeed !  we, and certainly many of our  respected colleagues
 in all the quarters of the globe would " again become students,"
 (C.V. p. 16) to learn from  these high-gifted men, how they can dis- 
166
 pense with so many symptoms for the easy cure of most dangerous
 acute diseases of deaf and dumb persons; and if " upon the full-
 " ness and accuracy with which the symptoms are noted, the entire
 "management of the cure rests;" to hear by what miracle  this
 poor class is likewise exempt from  the minute description of all
 their thoughts and feelings so imperatively required from all other
 patients ? Are all their diseases to be considered forthwith as latent
 itch, or are they, when  sick, to be left without  the never failing
 homoeopathic aid, and exposed to be murdered by allopathists ?—
 Though now the unfortunate lunatics might be rescued from their
 " leaden fetters, the bitterest human misery" by the " great truth,"
 it is however highly important to  know also how  they can enjoy
 the blessings of homoeopathia, as they are either unable minutely
 to report their feelings, or cannot do this satisfactorily to their bene-
 volent homoeopathic doctor ?
  In observing a regular course we should now  treat of Hahne-
 mann's third and last maxim.  As, however, his treatise on chro-
 nic diseases is more connected with the second than with the third
 maxim, we prefer to dwell here awhile upon this very intellectual
 gem of the great genius.—We cannot do better than to commence
 with the emphatic expression made by Dr. Hering upon the same
 work on p. 18 of his Concise View.   There he says, " While thus
 " with blessings on its wings, the great discovery  reached to every
 " quarter of the earth, the master was silent, and  his disciples ima-
 " gined that he now reposed upon his laurels.  But the old philo-
 " sopher did not rest, and while his hair was growing gray on his
 " head, enriched with science, enriched with  experience, his mind
 " still retained its youthful  vigour, and he boldly penetrated still
 " deeper into the mysteries of nature.  When an old man, at the
 " age of 73, he suddenly surprised his astonished admirers with a
 " new and  great work, which far transcended all  preceding disco-
" veries, and more than redoubled the power of the homoeopathic
 " physician," etc.—How  true the expression in Solomon's Book of
 Wisdom, ch. iv. v. 9.—" But wisdom is the gray hair unto men,
" and an unspotted life is old age "
  Hahnemann's preface  to  this  work begins with the following
words, characteristic of his pneumatic laurels and of his youthful
vigour. " If I were ignorant of the object of my  existence on this
" earth—to improve myself and to ameliorate the condition of all 
167
 "  around me, to the best of my exertions, I should consider myself
 "  very imprudent in publishing, before my death, an art which is
 "  peculiar to myself, and which, if concealed, might continue to be
 "  extremely profitable to me."
   One would think, that if any thing could bring homoeopathists
 to reason, nothing could have been better adapted than this " great
 " work, which really far transcended all preceding discoveries"—in
 hair-brained nonsense;  and it will serve as a new proof that those
 who once believe implicitly, can hardly ever be rescued from  their
 credulity and  superstition.  Indeed, yet  in itself it is  difficult to
 conceive how  " the power of  the homoeopathic physician," which
 has  been already before always and  absolutely curing with the
 greatest safety and quickness, and which never committed any error
 could become by this great work  " more than redoubled" unless
 they can now raise from the dead, patients  killed by allopathists ?
 Every impartial reader however, who has  noticed Hahnemann's
 earlier productions, must have  been  astonished,  that after all the
 whimsical suggestions  which he has stated in his Organon and
 in his Materia Medica, so many could remain which he published
 in 1828, in this voluminous work ; as he himself states, " after a
 " painful labour of twelve years;"—a space of time, worthy of such
 a monstrosity, which presents but few or rather  no traces of human
 understanding.  Indeed, no science whatever, not even medicine,
 so exuberantly rich in the most  whimsical and absurd suggestions,
 can  present a work, so crowded from beginning to end, with such
 absurdities.
   The  probable  cause why Hahnemann has  undertaken  this
 " gigantic work,"  we believe to  be, that he  was aware  of the
 stumbling block, which he himself has laid in the way of his second
 homoeopathic  maxim,  similia  similibus curantur,  by its minute
dependance on so many symptoms, and that he could only remove
 this great obstacle, which in most cases would nullify the practical
 application of his doctrine, in revoking his former rigorous exigen-
cies by a new dictatorial decree, which admits not  only a very large
 deduction of symptoms, but which directly teaches, that in most
diseases homceopathia can dispense with them  entirely.  Hahne-
mann, after his Organon was  published, must  have seen more
clearly the insurmountable difficulties of his doctrine,  if the minute
distinction of symptoms in the much larger number of chronic
complaints, should be   regarded as  indispensable  as  it was  in 
168
acute diseases.  It must  have appeared to bun impossible, and a
task far exceeding one man's life, to ascertain with the least shadow
of credibility what drug, among the immense number of which he
had tried only  about  sixty, would, produce, if administered to
healthy persons, a disease not depending upon exalted  feelings,
imagination, implicit  belief or premeditated deception, but  upon
real changes  obvious to the senses of every  observer.   He would
also hardly have  found any of his disciples, however otherwise
willing to satisfy the whims of their  master from  implicit  faith,
credulity, or respect for his "extraordinary talents," who would have
quietly condescended to be the subject of experiments, intended for
ascertaining, which one of the simple drugs might produce con-
sumption, apoplexy, hernia  inguinalis, carcinoma, or any other of
those  diseases, which  have been generally considered as danger-
ous and fatal, for centuries not yet enlightened by homoeopathia. It
was an easy task for a devoted disciple or an infatuated  adept to
state, after taking the decillionth part of a grain of the extract of
Henbane, (see Materia Medica, Vol. IV.) I feel giddy, a headache,
stiffness in my neck, shaking, tickling and humming in my ears;
I feel jealous, inclined  to  injure others and to kill myself, &c: or
he  might even have appeared to stagger, to tremble when walking,
to convulse  his eyes and his limbs a little, &c.   The patient may
also have exultingly praised the delivery from all bis propensities,
pains, &c.
                  " Tantum cura potest et ars doloris,
                  "Desit fingere Caelius Podagram.''—Martial,
  All these  may be the natural effects of an exalted imagination, of
courtesy towards an inquisitive man, who evidently wishes to bear-
such  extraordinary reports, or  be  a consequence  of such experi-
ments as we have tried to explain.  But the author of homu'opathia,
if he has ever been so foolish as to believe that all chronic diseases
could be produced in  healthy persons by drugs, could  not expect
his most obliging disciple to come forth in the vigour of health, and
to present, after a  few experiments with the virtue developed from
a decillionth part of a grain of common table salt, charcoal, &c, or
by an  artificial infection with  itch, all the symptoms of a pulmo-
nary consumption, of a bad carcinoma, of an inguinal rupture, of
a nasty disfiguring itch, &c, or even to commit murder, suicide,
&c; all of which  are the symptoms  of upwards  of 100 chronic
diseases, and all of which arise simply from itch-sickness,  as  is to 
169
 be seen in Samuel Hahnemann's work on Chronic Diseases. Vol.
 I., from page 93 to 136.  Should such experiments even partially
 succeed in producing one of the many horrible diseases, but after-
 wards fail in not reestablishing the former healthy  state,  Hahne-
 mann not only ran the risk of putting  at once his doctrine and
 reputation at stake, but had also to fear the laws  of the country,
 which willingly permitted him to continue his fanciful doctrine and
 his negatively innocent practice, but which would  have inflicted
 upon him an allopathic dose of the punishment, prescribed by law
 for all experiments by which  human health and  life are injured.
 These difficulties must have increased when he considered the mul
 tifarious species and varieties  of many chronic diseases,  already
 minutely distinguished  from  each other, especially by  the  great
 progress  and discoveries of pathological anatomy ; had he treated
 of these diseases singly, he might possibly have coincided in some
 topics with those whom he stigmatized as idiots and murderers.
   Hahnemann for these reasons was forced to dispose by wholesale
 of  all  the chronic diseases, physical as well  as  mental, and  to
 abandon for them  his  fundamental maxim, similia similibus cu-
 rantur, substituting  for it  a new theory, which he emphatically
 calls "the great truth."  The  substance of this is, that itch is the
 only cause of  seven-eighths of all chronic diseases, leaving only
 one-eighth for syphilis and  for a disease termed by him sykosis or
 wart-sickness, the former however having the larger share.*
   Hahnemann being also aware that, in most cases, it would  be
 impossible to trace, even distantly, the origin of a  chronic  disease
 to an infection by itch, advises his followers, in many parts of his
 work on chronic diseases, and also in  the last edition of  his Or-
 ganon,  nevertheless always confidently to suppose in such  cases
 the existence of a  latent itch,  namely,  of such  a  one which is
 imperceptible by any of our senses, and which of  course presents
 no symptom at all.   This is stated by the  same man. who, a few
 pages before, in the same work, applies  the term  "  murderers"  to

  * Ignorant homoeopathists consider sykosis likewise as one of the great discoveries
made hy Hahnemann, though it was known under the same term  to Galen and other
older Greek authors, according to Celsus, who, in his work de Medicina, 1. vi. cap. 3,
explicitly says,  " est enim ulcus quod,  afici similitudine rfuxwfTij a Grsecis nornina-
" tur, quia caro in eo excrescit."  It is pardonable to this old author, that he con-
sidered it as a specific disease and as independent of syphilis, which of course was
unknown to him ; although sykosis may sometimes depend on other dyscrasia?, espe-
cially on the tubercular ; it frequently exists merely as a slight  local affection, like
other parasitical productions of an increased or changed local  vegetative process,
without any constitutional cause, or any influence upon health.
                               22 
170
 all his professional predecessors  and contemporaries, who  are  so
 crazy as to say, " remove the cause of the disease if you intend ra-
 " dically to remove its effects, or the disease itself;" this was done
 by the same man who says in the same work, (Organon, p. 15),
 when speaking of the different specific morbid matters  adopted by
 the  old  schools,  as   the  scrophulous,-herpetic,-gout-matter, <fcc.:
 " Who, of all the nosologists,  has ever seen with his corporeal
 " eyes such a morbid  matter, of which he can speak with so great
 " a confidence as to  prescribe a medical  treatment for it?"  this
 was done  by the same man, who still makes it a sacred duty for
 his disciples and followers exactly to observe his advice, expressed
 in his " Reine Arzney mittellehre" or  " Materia Medica," second
 edit. 1825, Vol. III. on page 6, in the following manner: " Take
 " one case after another,  put down all its discoverable  symptoms,
 " according to the direction  of  the Organon, with such minute-
 " ness, that the founder of homoeopathia himself could  not object
 " in the least  to  its  perfect exactitude;  in every individual case
 " apply the proper homoeopathic  medicine,  pure and unmixed,
 " in as small a dose  as the  doctrine prescribes,  but have also all
 " other remedial influences  removed from the patient, as is ex-
 " pressly required ; and if this  mode  will not  cure the  disease
 " easily, quickly, and durably, then blame this doctrine ; I repeat,
 " then expose  to public contempt this doctrine, which so seriously
 " threatens to  destroy the  old darkness,  by  placing  before the
 " public, legally confirmed,  the  particulars of a  cure,  attempted
 " strictly in compliance vnth the homoeopathic doctrine?
   Hahnemann seems so enraptured with his itch, that since he
 published his " great truth," he thinks it not worth while to speak
 much about the two other chronic diseases, syphilis and sykosis :
 and even in  § 168 of his  Organon,  (4th edit.) he appears to
 have again abandoned the newly adopted copartnership  of sykosis j
 nay ! it would not be very difficult to prove, from some other pas-
 sages in his work, that  he is  disposed to regard all  acute dis-
 eases as likewise arising simply from itch, and that he considers,
 therefore, the latter as the innate physical sin of the human race,
 existing from Adam  down to the present age ;  so that the  terms
 disease and itch are almost considered by him as synonymous.
  The adoption of the itch  as the  cause of many diseases, is  a
very antiquated opinion, though  it has  never been carried so far
 as it is now by Hahnemann.  This has probably induced Hahne- 
171
 inann to give to the general infection by itch the preference over
 any other similar cause of which he was in need.
   We may well imagine that a voluminous work, containing the
 results of new experiments in natural philosophy,  chemistry, or in
 any other branch of natural history, might many years be withheld
 before its author, anxious to corroborate the validity of his disco-
 very, resolves to publish his researches.  But Hahnemann's pain-
 ful  labour during twelve years, as stated  by himself, can only be
 explained by his consulting ancient authors, in order to find what
 general cause of all chronic diseases has been preeminently adopt-
 ed by medical authors.   In this way he has found that scabies sup-
pressa was the cause  chiefly mentioned among all the presumed
 material causes  of  many,  and particularly of chronic diseases.—
 That he has only secretly  brooded over this great truth, without
 instituting experiments, becomes more evident by  the statement of
 Dr. Hering, that " he was silent," and that his '• disciples imagined
 " that he now reposed upon his laurels."  He could not have insti-
 tuted all  these  experiments secretly  on  himself, nor does he
 mention that he did so.   He must therefore, besides the literary
 investigations  mentioned,  have  perhaps  collected   only  some
 single experiments with drugs on healthy persons, for which he
 could not find a proper place in his homoeopathic doctrine ; and
 by all means this  statement, made by himself  and his disciples,
 proves likewise clearly, that he indulged here again in his  old
 propensity to  secrecy, otherwise we should  think that he would
 have been  anxious  to communicate the " great truth" as soon as
 possible, at least to some of his disciples,  and to see it confirmed
 also by their practice.
  The opinion of infection by itch, as  the principal cause of most
 chronic diseases, was very popular during many ages down to  the
 last century, especially in Germany. In cities like Fuerth, in Ba-
 varia, where we passed  our youth, itch  being endemic, or having
 been so at  least  for many years before  we left it, it is not strange
 that such  an opinion was very  common, not only among pro-
 fessional  men, but  also among the public, as we observed in the
 practice of our deceased father, who was one of the most distin-
 guished physicians in that place.*
  * Among those modern authors who believe itch to be the cause of many diseases)
may be named also Professor Autenrieth of the University of Tuebingen, as he sug- 
172
   Many of these apprehensions were correct, since numerous chro-

nic  and acute diseases originated in itch ; though  not  in this dis-

ease itself, so much as in  the obnoxious prejudices  which formerly

attended  its  long-protracted treatment.    Hahnemann  asserts a

gested in a treatise, "  de morbis  e scabie oriundis, magistratuum attentione non
"indignis, Tubingae, 1807," of  which Hahnemann could  not have been ignorant,
though to our knowledge he has not been just enough to-give him credit for it.  This
is also the case, we believe, with his maxim, similia similibus curantur, to which not
only Haller  but  also Professor Blumenbach at Goettingen  has  alluded  long  before
Hahnemann.  This great naturalist, as we slightly remember, has in one of his first
works (Introductio in hiatoriam medicina?  literariam) about fifty years ago,  very dis-
tinctly alluded to this maxim, and  much more so than the celebrated Albertus Haller
did,  though as may be   expected  from this distinguished professor, likewise in  the
sense of the expression we suggested above.—It appears also  a  little  strange that
Hahnemann, who by his  suggpstion of  the cause of Asiatic Cholera seems  to  be so
remarkably fond  of insects, did  not notice Lancisi's  theory, which has been adopted
by many distinguished naturalists, and even by  Linne and Morgagni, viz.  that  the
itch  depends always upon a peculiar insect, Acarus or Cheyletus scabiei, frequently
portrayed, as for instance in  the treatise of Wichmann,  '' on the itch." (^Etiologie
der Kraetze.)  This would  have rendered the excessive propagation of itch more
explicable, and the  " great  truth"  at  all  events more  lively.   He would not have
sacrificed any  originality by  adopting  the Acarus scabiei, as  he has  already  se-
cured his place in  the history of medicine.  His opinion that Cholera is caused
by small insects is likewise not original, and he must  have known that dysentery,
so similar to Asiatic Cholera, was long before his time ascribed to insects by Friedr.
Hoffmann,  Linne,  Latreille, and  others.   His  originality consists in  the follow-
ing ;  he has written different treatises about  Asiatic Cholera without  ever having
seen one patient suffering by Asiatic  Cholera ; he  has prophesied that no patient will
die after his camphor-treatment, though not one was manifestly saved by it;  and that
according to him, also another great remedy for this scourge, oleum cajeputa?, (which
proved not less ineffectual than camphor, and in a  few cases was useful only like any
other essential oil,) must always contain copper; this is likewise false, since the most
exact chemical analyses  are unable to detect it.   Were  he less ignorant of the ele-
ments of the "overrefined" chemistry, he would not  have  resorted to this false
opinion  of copper, but would have made use of the beneficial effect of oil of cajeput
as a particular argument in favor of his opinion,  so emphatically  expressed about the
camphor treatment, since this essential oil, like most others,  much resembles camphor,
and  contains a  considerable quantity  of  it.   But according to  his usual  mode of
reasoning, concluding from the similarity between the green colour of some solutions
of copper and of the same in the oil of cajeput,he determined that henceforth copper
must be the homoeopathic poison or allopathic remedy for  his animalcula cholerica,
which neither he nor any mortal being has ever  seen, which  he  never subjected to
his experiments  similar to those on healthy persons, and  which therefore, of course,
he could not know how  to make drug-sick or to kill.  The uselessness  of copper in
Asiatic  Cholera, in  spite of all the medical bulls, prophecies and  commands which
emanated from  the  high pontifical see at Coethen, against these barbarous eastern
intruders, may however  not be the fault of the great philosopher, since  these little
infusoria appear  to possess rather a tough constitution, and not to be affected by itch;
they seem at least as insensible to  the virtues developed by homoeopathists as they
are to a severe Russian  winter, to a scorching West Indian summer, and to all  the
tremendous remedies of the medical profession ;  this free country however excepted,
where these cruel little autocrats appear to have  found their conquerors.  An Ameri-
can homoeopathist has already published that he has cured all his cholera patients by
Hahnemann's camphor-treatment, though  as we have seen above, his homoeopathic
brethren in  Europe were  not so happy.  Another who left a populous city and
his patients at the approach of the cholera in 1832, told  us that after safely returning
late  in September, he cured more than  600 patients, although it is notorious, that not
one physician of the same  city, who attended the largest hospital during the whole
epidemic saw in all six hundred patients; it is also known  that the  epidemic abated
suddenly, and that towards  the  end of September only a few sporadic cases of it ex-
isted.—So much for the veracious statements of  some homoeopathists! 
173
  gross falsehood, in saying that the bad consequences of itch prin-
  cipally arose from considering  it as  not constitutional, and from
  treating it with external remedies only.   The contrary is the case,
  for until the  last  thirty years, the profession has erroneously con-
  sidered itch and  similar chronic exanthematic  diseases as always
  merely constitutional, and has believed a long treatment by internal
  antidyscrasic remedies alone  as useful;  it really became constitu-
  tional by disturbances of the  reproductive  system  thus artificially
  produced,  and  when at  last  external remedies  were  resorted  to.
  many of which were injurious  to  health, the worst consequences
  arose therefrom, which in  our times are never to be feared from a
  judicious local treatment.
     Hahnemann, regardless of the great difference between  miasma
  and contagion.* and comprising both under the former term, con-
  siders the itch-miasma as  the  most infectious of all diseases.—
  Tracing, by  a  shining display  of  Hebrew, Greek, &c, its origin
  back even to the records of sacred history, he leaves others to con-
  jecture how  this scourge,  by  which the  human   race  has  been
  inflicted with so many, so multifarious and so dangerous diseases,
  first commenced many thousand years ago, (see Chr. Dis., Vol. I.
  page 15 and 199.)
     This doctrine of Samuel Hahnemann, if properly acknowledged,
  cannot fail to cause an immense revolution in all the diversified
•  relations  of  human life.   We  are  justified  in anticipating this,
  when we observe that Hahnemann ascribes not only all  physical
  chronic diseases, but  also  all  morbid  alienations of the  human
  mind solely to itch, (see Chr. Dis.,  Vol. I., from  page 28 to page
   134.)  This will be more  clearly understood if we merely refer to
  the latter, and consider that most, if not all mental diseases origi-

     * Hahnemann nullifying, whenever it suits him, all facts ascertained by repeated
   observations of distinguished naturalists and almost all medical practitioners, says on
   Vol. II. pages 6 and 7, of his Materia Medica, "No man can be infected by the virus
   " secreted from his own syphilitic ulcer or gonorrhoea, any more than a viper can kill
   " or only  hurt itself by its own poison in a dangerous manner."  He is therefore igno-
   rant or wilfully denies that the eyes of persons, infected by their own gonorrhoic virus,
   were in thousands of instances severely attacked by the most dangerous, and fre-
   quently incurable  and destructive ophthalmia, and also that, as has been  repeatedly
   observed by naturalists, the scorpion and the  rattle-snake if enraged, without being
   capable of hurting their aggressor, kill themselves by their own sting or bite.—We
   call the attention of the; reader to this single instance of the many in the homoeo-
   pathic doctrine, which strikingly prove the immense and irreparable injury which must
   arise from an implicit belief in the ravings of its author; since every well educated
   physician should know, that eyes inflamed by the gonorrhoic vicus will to all proba-
   bility be forever lost within less than twenty-four hours, if  proper aid is not immedi-
   ately administered. 
174
 iiate in passion, and that  the  higher degrees  of  all passions are
 justly regarded by the philosophers  of all ages as particular kinds
 of madness.  If therefore all the different kinds and varieties of the
 latter solely depend uron itch,  according to the " great truth" dis-
 covered  by Hahnemann, it  follows, a  fortiori, that henceforth,
 none of the passions in  men,  the most noble as well as the  most
 depraved, can originate from any thing else than from itch.
   Ardent love, or
                 "------sacred fire that burn'st mightily
                 " In living breast ykindled first above,"
 being only a symptom of latent itch, the individual  affected  by it
 without having his love  returned, must henceforth  submit to a
 homoeopathic antipsoric treatment.  The itchy pair, prevented  from
 a more pleasant radical cure by their  obstinate parents, will now
 undoubtedly be radically cured  by antipsorics, in a manner fully
 satisfactory also to their too scrupulous parents, who otherwise would
 have perhaps repented, when too late, of their harsh behaviour, not
 remembering those joyful times when they also were  affected  in a
 similar manner by the itch.
   The husband, who  before the great truth was revealed to the
 world, was made unhappy hy the jealousy of his " green-eyed" wife,
 will no longer deplore his disastrous fate; since the homrriopathists
 can now cure  by their developed virtues  the  true cause  of this
 odious  passion,  the itch,  and  thus tie again  the nuptial knots
 loosened by jealousy, with the rosy garlands of renewed confidence
 and constant love.
   The gloomy  verses of the great moralising poet, Voting.

            " 0 Britain, infamous for suicide,
             " An island in thy manners ! far disjoined
             " From the whole world of rationals besides,
            " In ambient waves plunge thy polluted head,
            " Wash the dire stain, nor shock the continent."—

 will  be  expunged, as soon as these high-minded islanders  accept
 " a treasure like this new art;"  since latent itch is the only cause
 of suicide. (See Chr. Dis. Vol. I. p. 135.)   But  we  would  advise
 them not " to plunge in ambient waves," nor to "  wash the dire
" stain," but to use antipsorics, because, according to Hahnemann,
the latent itch becomes severer  and rebellious by all external re-
 medies, and of course therefore also by washing.
  The decillionth developed virtue of table-salt, charcoal or  a si- 
175
milar antipsoric will disarm and transmute into the most amiable
philanthropist,
             " The secret enemy, whose sleepless eye
             " Stands sentinel—accuser—judge—and spy,
             " The foe—the fool—the jealous—and the vain,
             " The envious who but breathe in other's pain."—Byron.

   All the deformities of children before birth,  and their  different
anomalous  positions,  arise only from  itch, (see 1. c. p. 233), and
the accoucheurs will  no longer be obliged to trouble the suffering
women and themselves  with the forceps  and  other instruments
hitherto recommended by the stupid  and  murderous allopathists.
Should they meet  with cases of difficult labor, they  may rather
apply a virtue developed from an antipsoric, and call again in some
days or  weeks, in order  to observe  its " after-operation," and to
ascertain  if the delivery has become  easy or requires another an-
tipsoric virtue for some weeks or months longer, until  at last the
" salutary after-operation" of the homoeopathic dose has fulfilled
the parental hopes and joys.
   Inguinal  ruptures will henceforth happen  very seldom, if proper-
care is taken to prevent them by antipsorics, since, (loc. cit. p. 108),
we are taught that, a few cases of sudden violence excepted, the itch
is always their principal and only cause.—As all  the great geni-
uses are  not always  disposed minutely to  express  their meaning,
but speak often aphoristically, so also our Samuel in regard to this
topic ;  he leaves all mankind in darkness  why hernia inguinalis
only will be certainly prevented and cured without trusses and
other remedies by  an antipsoric treatment, and why not likewise
hernia cruralis, umbilicalis and all similar ruptures ?  We remain
also ignorant whether the  antipsoric will cure  all  kinds of bubo-
novele, enterocele,  epiplocele, entero-epiplocele, &c, or only one
kind.
   The criminal laws will undergo, by  our great reformer, much
greater changes  than  ever, not excepting even those made by
Charles  V., in his penal code;  and  then  every  rogue  will be
cunning enough  to apologize, and  justly claim indulgence for his
offence, by a  " small wart or pimple," located somewhere ; per-
haps, also, the crime committed will clearly prove, that  he is far
beyond all moral responsibility from his moral incapacity to resist
the bad influence of the latent itch, located in his heart, his hands,
or somewhere else,  and he will palpably show that he deserves. 
176
therefore, to be subjected to a regular homoeopathic antipsoric treat-
ment, rather  than to  be punished  with  solitary confinement or
perhaps even death.
   Hahnemann,  at any rate, advocates the abolishment of punish-
ment by death, and  renders  it very expedient to subject, in future,
all the inmates of state prisons, if the people should not soon dis-
pense with such cruel allopathic  institutions, to  an  antipsoric
treatment, in large itch-hospitals.
   All mankind will be greatly benefitted by Hahnemann's  great
truth, as it will not merely prevent the self-destruction of the human
race by itch, which, being the only cause of all mental maladies, as
murder, suicide,  &c, might  easily affect people epidemically, and
lead them to kill one another, or to commit suicide en masse, but
will also deliver mankind  from  almost  the  only infectious  cause
of all chronic diseases.  War, the destroyer  of human life, will
cease to exist,  since  it unquestionably arises from many  heinous
passions, and, of course, therefore, from itch ; and consequently
the great problem of all philanthropists and philosophers, in regard
to eternal peace, will be solved by Hahnemann's  great discovery ;
perhaps by the virtue developed from one grain of table-salt.
   The reader can easily  picture for  himself the great changes in
all trades,  and in all  other occupations of human society, after this
immense discovery, shall  be justly appreciated by  every one.  Poor
allopathic physicians, apothecaries, wholesale  druggists, and  un-
dertakers,  are the   only sufferers  severely  visited,  and  should
hasten to  turn their  attention  to some other  profitable business,
which  might  indemnify them for the  great injury inflicted  on
them by this immense progress of the  human intellect, as pro-
claimed by " one of the greatest benefactors of mankind"—Samuel
Hahnemann.*

  * It is indeed astonishing that the great philologists, with all their endeavours to
prove that every language is based upon the philosophical conceptions of its  nation,
and is especially expressive in its idioms, sentences, proverbs,  &c, did not discover
before Hahnemann the intimate connexion of itch and moral faults, because the few
languages which we are able to consult, in regard to this topic,  signify this connexion
very distinctly ; the Greek jcvi^w and xaraxviPu signifies itch, also to make, or to be
angry, to make jealous, xvi£scrt)a.i <nvog, to be inflamed by love, &c.; The Latin sca-
bies, is a word very expressive for propensities and passion, of some of which Hah-
nemann has constantly felt the irresistible impulse (concupiscentia.)  In this manner
Horace says, Ep. I. 12, 14, to his friend.       v
            " Cum tu inter scabiem tantam et contagia lucri
            " Nilparvum sapias et adhuc sublima cures 1"
In a similar manner, Lucilius ap. Non. 2. n. 701, says :
               " Corruptus scabie et porrigine plenus." 
177
    Before we leave  this topic to discuss the third and last maxim

 of homoeopathia, we think it advisable to quote some  of Hahne-

 mann's  remarkable explanations of his itch-doctrine,  though,  to

 show  his sentiments, judgment, and style, we have already ex-

 tracted the first sentence of the preface to his treatise on chronic

 diseases.  We omit, purposely, any comment upon the mean and

 disgraceful sentiments  and  feelings,  the  total disregard of  any

 thing  like consistency, and the vulgar style contained  in the fol-

 lowing few  quotations,  selected from the  many with which this

 work of Hahnemann likewise abounds, leaving their examination

 to the impartial judgment of the critic.

               " Nos hac a scabie tenemus ungues."—Martial.

    To  prove  more minutely  the  correctness of his itch-doctrine,

 Hahnemann says, in Vol I. p. p. 89,90 and 91, of this large work,

 mentioned :—" But again, if  a favorable  situation should  arrest

 " the progress  of  the disease,  after  it had broken out, real health

 " cannot be reestablished by any method hitherto known, and the

 " common allopathic  treatment with active  and  improper druo-s,

 " baths,  mercury, prussic  acid,  starvation, and other fashionable

 ': remedies, only accelerates approaching death, the termination of

 " all sufferings incurable by physicians.   Thus a merchant, strong

 " and  apparently healthy,  some symptoms of latent itch excepted,

 " which are perceptible only to a judge, will, by several unfortunate

 " business transactions,  be  gradually  reduced in his wealth,  until

 and Cicero, Leg. I. 17, " quia hac  scabie carent."  The verb prurire signifies  to itch,
 and also to deserve punishment for some wrong or offence committed ; for instance,
 " num malae an dentes tibi pruriunt."  See Plauti Poenolus V. 5. 36.  In the Eng-
 lish the substantive itch, and  the verb  to itch, correspond together in regard to the
 propensity of doing some wrong; thus in Shaksp. Wives of Windsor " If I see a sivord
 " out, my fingers itch to make one," or my fingers itch to be at him, which signifies
 at all events, some wrong intended ; the French expression, " la peau, le  dos lui de-
 mange," means, he deserves punishment; the same is the  meaning with the Italian
 "pizzicare, averprurito. mi pizzicano le mani, e tile reni," and with the German, " der
 "Buckeljucktihn; dieHaende oder finger jucken ihn,"&c. ; the same, as oijp feels an
 irresistible propensity to steal, &c. The word "shabby," schaebig,common to the English
 and German languages, signifies itchy,  and likewise the most contemptible propen-
 sity, "avaricious." What can confirm the correctness of the "great truth,"more than to
 find in the languages of the most civilized  nations such synonymous expressions, which
 they were  arttessly, and almost inconsciously forced to adopt, on account of the
 similiarity of two things \—Is Dr.  Hering not fully in the right when he says on
 page 18 of his C. V. that this " new and great work far transcended all  preceding
 "discoveries, and more than redoubled the power of the homoeopathic physician?" If
 we ever have repented of not possessing greater philological acquirements, it is at this
moment, in order to do justice to the great genius, by better and similar quotations
from other languages. Hahnemann must have been unconscious  of these  important
arguments for his great truth, otherwise he would have mentioned them in his works.
May he graciously accept this, our small offering, by,which he, as a more accomplished
scholar, will be led still more to improve his elevated idea—of the itch.

                                 23 
178
" he is almost bankrupt, and at the same time he will be affected
" with different illnesses, and be eventually attacked by a serious
" disease.  But the death of a rich relative, or the  gain of a high
" prize in the lottery, abundantly restores his losses ; he becomes
" a wealthy man, and nevertheless his disease continues every year,
" in spite of all  medical prescriptions  and of all  his visits to the
" most famous mineral springs.
   " Since the cause must alw7ays be proportionate  and equal to its
" effects, the reason to its consequences, as is ever the case in na-
" ture, no body can understand, why, in this case, after the re-
" moval  of the external attacks upon the health of the person, the
" following  evils should not  only continue, but grow also worse
" from year to year, unless there  existed another  and a higher
" cause—acting in such a manner, that  these loathsome events,
" both having disappeared and being  therefore  unable to consti-
" tute a cause sufficient for the following chronic disease, can only
" be considered as the occasional cause for the developement of a
" more important  hostile power, which had already existed before
" internally, but in a slumbering state."
   In further corroboration of his acute and deep logical conclusions,
he continues on  the same pages :—" A modest girl, believed to be
" perfectly  healthy, symptoms of internal itch excepted, is forced
" into  a  marriage, which makes her  soul unhappy ; her bodily
" health  begins to decay, without any signs of syphilitic infection.
" Her calamitous complaints can be ameliorated by no medicine,
" and they assume a still more serious character.   In the midst
" of this  state, after a year of suffering, the cause of her  misfor-
" tunes, the husband, detested by her, suddenly dies, and she  re-
" vives, convinced  that she is now relieved  from the very cause of
" all her mental and physical sufferings, and  entertains the hope
" of a  speedy recovery ; all her friends share her anticipations, as
" the c^use wbich  has excited her disease lays now in the grave.
" She indeed improves  rapidly; but, contrary to all expectations,
« she remains sickly, the strength of her  youth notwithstanding ;
" her sufferings cease but rarely, and  are renewed from  time to
" time, without  any apparent cause, and seem  even  to become
" more severe  every year,  (during the inclement season),"  &c.
Hahnemann repeats again more distinctly :__« Indeed if these un-
" happy  events  had been the causes,  the efficient causes of the
« symptoms of the disease,  would it not  follow, that their effect, 
179
u the disease, should have also ceased entirely after the eauses was
" removed ? But the complaints do not cease, they are renewed,
'c and even increased and it becomes manifest, that these unhappy
" events could not have been a sufficient cause for the complaints
" now existing; it is obvious that they have  served  only as an
" impulse to  the  developement of a sickness, which hitherto has
" slumbered  within the body.  The diagnosis of this  old and fre-
" quently internal enemy, and the  knowledge  how to defeat  it,
" render it evident, that generally  an internal  itch  (psora) has
" caused all these sufferings, which cannot be appeased, even by
" the power of the  strongest constitution, but can be overcome only
:' by the healing art.''
   So much for Dr. Hering's and his brother homoeopathists' " old
" philosopher enriched with experience," and the " treasury of new
"observations and experience scarcely to be overlooked," (see page
IS of the Concise View.)
   Those  who are able and  willing to read  in the original, the
reasons for " the great truth" in  extenso,  will  find no page of
the four big  volumes to  contain  any  more sense than our quota-
tions, which  we have selected only as the easiest to translate ; they
generally display nonsense not less disgraceful.
   We now come  to the third  and last maxim  of homceopathia,
which says, that by certain mechanical processes from  all natural
substances, and especially from all  simple drugs, specific powers
or virtues can be developed, which act  always absolutely and un-
conditionally, so as to produce in healthy persons definite tTrseases,
the symptoms of which, when similar to those in natural diseases,
will cure the latter by removing its symptoms;  and that the powers
or virtues thus developed increase ad infinitum, in the  direct ratio
of the mechanical processes and in the  indirect ratio of the quantity
of the drug, so that their closes can never be chosen too small.
   This maxim, if divested from its principal singular conceptions,
would have produced much benefit to the profession, and especially
to its practice, if Hahnemann could have elevated his  mind  ahove
his cherished charlatanism, or above his propensity to the grossest
absurdities.
   Thousands of instances in chemistry prove beyond all doubt that
very small quantities of a substance  may materially change a dis-
proportionate large quantity of another, if both or one of them are
in a liquid state ;—corpora non agunt nisi fluida.—The manner in 
180
which such phenomena occur, justifies  the opinion, that whenever
an affinity or some active relation between two or more substances
exists, this action will begin immediately after the two substances,
however disproportionate in  quantity, come in contact or within
their  mutual sphere of action,  though these changes appear to
us to begin only when coming within the limits of our senses.
We  should perceive these changes  much earlier and in a much
higher degree of dilution, if our senses were less limited and if the
minute changes in colour could be made more perceptible by a
chromoscope, as those in size are by a microscope.  If for instance,
in a solution of a salt of Platina a visibly changed colour is produced
by a reagent weighing only the millionth part of the former, we
may conjecture that this change has taken place long before it was
visible, and in the immediate sphere of the mutual action of both
substances. The same will be the case with the slightest vapour of
Iodine upon a disproportionately large  quantity of starch, or with
the smallest quantity of arsenic, capable of making brittle a pro-
portionately large quantity of gold, the most ductile metal.  Daily
experience, especially in the  practice of medicine, proves still more
clearly, that the smallest particles contained even in the vapour
or gas of substances, produce in the healthy as well as in the dis-
eased state, in men as well as in animals, very remarkable pheno-
mena  and even sudden death, although their  weight and  bulk
cannot be distantly compared with  the weight and  bulk of the
individual upon whom they operate ; their effect  can be referred
only to the dynamical processes  in  organized living  bodies, by
which the influence of the smallest particle of the substances upon
any point of the living body,  capable of becoming excited by and of
reacting upon it, suddenly spreads over the whole body.  Thus if the
largest animal sinks lifeless to the ground by the  least approach of
the vapour of prussic acid to  its nose, or if persons become instan-
taneously giddy, asthmatic, &c, by  merely smelling of Veratrine
for a moment, these effects cannot result from the weight and bulk
of the substances mentioned,  but are only the consequences of the
deleterious dynamo-chemical processes  excited and propagated by
them. Future advances in anatomy, physiology, and particularly
in chemistry, in their paths now so brilliantly paved, will probably
demonstrate, that the  electro-chemical processes and the nervous
system as the principal conductor in the animal economy, take, if
not the only, certainly  the principal part in these phenomena. 
181
  All these experiments, however, do not vary from the  law of
nature, that wherever different matters act upon one another chemi-
cally or otherwise, by immediate contact (if this can be admitted,) or
at a certain distance, theyalways act in the direct, butneverinthe in-
verse ratiooftheirbulk and weight,or in sucha mannerthata smaller
quantity would produce under similar circumstances a greater effect
than alarger one. We may therefore also expect with the greatest pro-
priety, that under identical circumstances, we shall see also identical
phenomena, and where this appears different to us, we may justly
presume that the circumstances were not identical, and that some
other  influences beyond the control of  our  perception  have co-
operated, but we can by no means account for it by the  inverse
ratio between cause and its effect.
  Contrary to this general law of nature, Hahnemann's concep-
tions about his developement of virtues from drugs, admit no other
explanation than that the powers of the drugs are really not only
increased  by his singular manipulations, but that they are deve-
loped by them  in  the  inverse ratio of  their weight and bulk.
Though this will become still more evident in  the progress of
this  discussion,  we  must direct  the particular  attention of the
reader to  this topic,  not only because it forms one of our principal
objections to the homoeopathic doses, and therefore particularly
to the practical application of this doctrine, but also because the
homoeopathists will  be anxious to prove, that we  have committed
a palpable and gross error, or have wilfully distorted by sophisms
Hahnemann's meanings and intentions.
  Hahnemann and his adherents assert, that in applying doses of
drugs immensely small and not distantly comparable to those hi-
therto thought of by any man, it is not  the absolute smallness of
the  dose itself which accounts for their miraculous effect,  but the
virtue which  becomes developed by the homoeopathic triturations
and shakings, and that this virtue increases in a direct ratio with
the  continuation of these manipulations.   Now we ask :  does this
explanation mean anything, except that the power of the drug be-
comes increased at every higher developement, and that, as a frac-
tion of one percent,  of the different triturations or dilutions of one
grain or drop always remains, that also the developed power is
absolutely increased in the inverse ratio of its weight ?  To prove
this  more clearly,  let us take two substances S and s,  the for- 
182
 mer of which, or S, contains a latent power P (suppose for instance
 the power or rather the capacity to become ignited,) while the lat-
 ter,  s, is inert and serves only as a vehicle, a menstruum, in short,
 as a mechanical mean for developing, by triturating or shaking,
 the power  contained in S.  Now take a  portion of S  equal to
 W and  ninety-nine times as much of s, and rub them minutely, or
 dissolve both and shake them together. After this first trituration,
 take again one part of this mixture  or solution called M, equal to
 the  weight of W, and  pulverize or dissolve it again with another
 ninety-nine parts of s, to obtain a new mixture called m, and so con-
 tinue and repeat these processes twelve times in the  same manner,
 every one of which must be distinguished by the different letters M,
 m, jx, he., when the latent or slumbering P contained in S will be
 awakened or developed.  But in order to use P disenthralled from
 S, so as to obtain a certain power, (that of igniting) contained in it
 and  not yet enough developed or disenthralled from S, in M, m, fx,
 he., you are obliged to continue the same process six times  more,
 in the same  manner as you have done twelve  times.   Is  it not
 clear that the power P is not only developed from S, but that this
 is done  in  the inverse ratio  between W  and P, or  between the
 weight  and power of S ;  since from the billionth part of one grain
 a power is developed which was not observable in the  one-hun-
 dredth,  one-ten-thousandth, he. part of the diminished weight, and
 much less in the original weight, or in the first W of S.   That in
 order to obtain the proper first developement ofP, it has been neces-
 sary to  repeat the same process with one fractional part of the M,
 m, M-, he, and ninety-nine times as much of the menstruum s, proves
 already the correctness of our assertion, and a fortiori this is correct,
 when from the first developements until the acquisition of the de-
 sired end, many more  additional  processes, instituted  exactly in
 the same manner, were indispensably required.   The subterfuge of
 "greater mildness," the terms "virtue" "potenz," or similar vague
 expressions used by Hahnemann and his disciples, cannot impair the
 clear conception  of a power indefinitely increased in the manner
just  stated.   If it was Hahnemann's intention  to give a weaker
 dose after the developement of the drug-virtue has once begun, for
 instance, the thousandth part of one grain, it would have been suffi-
 cient to divide accordingly one grain of the last mixture, possessed
 of the desired developed virtue.  What other reason can be assigned 
183
for repeating the process so often, except that the virtue in M, m, (x,
he.  was not sufficiently developed, or, to speak plainly, that  the
power was not strong enough ? Must not this ridiculous nonsense
of the homoeopathists, already so striking, be considered still more
so, if they were to assert, that the object of their repeated dilutions,
shakings and triturations, is to develope always less of P, and thus
gradually to approach the infinite minus or nothing ?
  The infinite divisibility of all matter does not involve Hahne-
mann's conception, that the limits of all matter must be no matter
at all, or, according to the  dynamistical theory, that all matter
must be considered only as the product of two powers;—the gene-
ral attractive and repulsive powers of nature, similar,  but opposed
in their determined direction, and therefore restricting one ano-
ther, so as to produce matter by this mutual restriction only. This
opinion,  so much advocated by Hahnemann, and superficially al-
luded to in some  passages of his works, though contradicting  his
whole doctrine, will never be proved satisfactorily, since in physi-
cal nature we never find matter without power, or power without
matter, and the adoption  of a superphysical power,  though inti-
mately connected with our higher existence and destination, with
our  happiness on earth and our hopes of the future, belongs to
another sphere.
  If therefore the author of the  Concise View states, in the sense
of his master, (see p. 20), that drugs not only become divested of
all qualities belonging to matter by homoeopathical dilutions  and
triturations, but are transformed into mere virtues, which, accord-
ing  to our argument, must  always act inversely to the original
weight of the drug:  then these developed drug-virtues would, by
this  property alone, appear  as  novelties,  since we  know of no
other power in physical nature depending upon,  or  at least con-
nected with matter,  as all are,  which  act in this manner:  and
even the action of all matters,  erroneously considered as imponde-
rabilia, such  as light, caloric, and electricity, depend in a direct
ratio upon their measurable quantities.
  Wherever we can observe the action of one  substance upon
another, we will  always  find them acting in a definite peculiar
manner, which is  alike in all their quantities, and which differs
only according to the direct ratio of the latter.   This absolutely
direct ratio, it is  true, becomes essentially changed by the reac- 
184
 tion of the vital powers, and cannot be considered as always de-
 pending solely on the changes in the weight of the substances :  it
 forms, however, an essential part of the total action originally re-
 sulting from both, viz. fromthe definite weight andthevital reaction.
   Hahnemann asserts,  on §' 282 of his Organon, that the arith-
 metical proportion is not applicable to the effect of drugs,  since
 eight drops of any medicine cannot be considered, in regard to its
 effect on the living body, as four  times two, but only perhaps as
 twice two.  But he palpably contradicts this assertion, by his re-
 peated direction always to administer the thirtieth developed vir-
 tue of his drug: and besides, he  is only  partly  correct, in con-
 founding the absolute  and relative differences of the dose of a
 drug; for when it is first applied to two persons of the same age,
 sex, constitution, etc. in short, under the same circumstances, the
 absolute dose must  unquestionably be correct,  and eight drops
 will always exert an effect as strong again as four.   But  under
 different circumstances, among which we may  particularly advert
 to the repeated application of the same drug during the same dis-
 ease, or by long habit, eight drops of it may not longer be equal
 to twice four, but may perhaps decrease in their operation to only
 = 7 = 6 or even = 0; according to the number of its repetitions
 and to other circumstances connected with the individual case ; as
 we have already adverted to above, in defence of the necessity of
 possessing a variety of drugs belonging to the  same class, though
 they apparently  act altogether quite alike; as we may, for in-
 stance, apply with considerable advantage, in  some nervous dis-
 eases, a small  quantity of one kind of wine, if no effect is caused
 by another similar, and even weaker kind.
   Though the opinion, that the specific quality of drugs becomes
 quite changed under different circumstances, has caused many er-
rors in practical medicine, and though this peculiarity is considered
by Hahnemann as one of the principal arguments of his doctrine,
 still the contrary of his assertions will be  easily proved,  by  exa-
mining  more closely some instances quoted by him and  his ad-
 herents.
  We  have seen that Hahnemann and Dr. Hering consider the
 cure of frost-bitten limbs by means  of snow, and the application of
 heat to burns, as very effectual, and as of the most striking facts in
 favour of homceopathia.  We have also tried to  prove,  by the
 principles of rational  medicine, the untenable  ground on which 
185
 these experiences rest.  Caloric  presents, however,  some other
 phenomena, which not less apparently confirm the erroneous opi-
 nion, that its effects on the diving  body are entirely different, or
 even opposite, according to its different degrees.  Evety one must
 admit, that we are entirely ignorant of absolute cold and heat, and
 are acquainted only with those  degrees which  we can ascertain.—
 Should the  influence of cold and warmth on  the human body be
 really so opposite, these different effects must of course  become
 most prominent in their greatest known extremes.   But as both
 these extremes produce the  same effect on the  living animal body,
 we  may justly presume,  that wherever the  lower degrees  of
 warmth and cold prove to be contrary in their effects, this contra-
 riety is to be explained in  a manner not discordant with their ab-
 solute physical  identity, but rather modified only by the  specific
 laws of organized life.  Now we observe, that one of the highest
 degrees of heat which we  possess,  the white  heat of iron*, or the
 focus of a burning glass, produces  the same effect on  the  body
 as one of the highest degrees of cold, frozen mercury; both exci-
 ting, if applied to the  living body, violent  inflammation and im-
 mediate mortification.*
   Not  content  with the mere observation of these identical phe-
 nomena, we  may easily find the true cause of them in the laws al-
 ways obvious in caloric, viz. that it tends to be distributed in all
 bodies equally,  and in proportion to their specific capacity for it.
 The white-hot iron,, imparting at once a larger quantity of caloric
 than  the living  part in contact  with it can distribute so quickly,
 causes inflammation in this  spot, which subsequently mortifies ;—
 the frozen mercury does the same, but only in another direction :
 it  absorbs the caloric so violently from the  place of its contact,
 that an  immense quantity of caloric suddenly rushes from the con-
 tiguous  and all  the  other parts  of the  living body, to bal-
 ance the loss  of  the caloric  absorbed by the  frozen mercury : the
 excessive quantity of caloric, thus momentarily  accumulated at the
 points of contact, produces the same effect, and causes the spot to
 inflame:  this spot likewise, by its great degree of over-excitement,
 passes quickly to the state of death, or mortification.   If the dif-

  * It appears that the ancients had a clear  conception of the identical action of
 the highest degrees of heat and cold, since we find in Pliny, Horace, and Cicero, the
expression "■ frigus urit."
                               M 
186
ference between the  free caloric contained in two  bodies  is not

very great, and consequently if the tendency  to a free distribution

of it  is not excessive, the colder one applied  will  always abstract

caloric from the warmer  body,  but  less  quickly  than where the

difference is greater.   This fact is confirmed  in  many other natu-

ral phenomena :  for instance,  in  the  two  electricities, where also

the effect,  in combining them, will be greater or less, in propor-

tion to the difference of the degree of  plus E  in the one  and  of

minus E in the other.—It generally appears a law of nature, that

wherever two opposite  powers, or two opposite directions of the

same power act, the rapidity of their mutual tendency'to combine,

and to restore the disturbed equilibrium is always in direct propor-

tion to their different degrees*.

   The profession  formerly considered  cold an astringent,  on ac-

count of its physical contracting quality; afterwards as a stimulant,

and  now, with more propriety, as the contrary,  or as a powerful

antiphlogistic.   As a mere astringent it will never act on the tissues

of the living body, because no  physical  power can act absolutely


  * We find but few  similar physical  phenomena apparently contradicting this law,
which depends on causes not yet satisfactorily ascertained;  since the same cause, when
reduced to its lower degree, cannot alone produce what is generally effected  by its
higher degrees.  Thus it is observed, that when  the mercury in the thermometer has
fallen to the freezing point of water, an  increase of cold causes it  to rise a little for a
short time.  Though this may be partly explained by the  cold, contracting unequally
the mercury and the glass, yet it is remarkable, that all things having been equal  be-
fore the level of the mercury had reached the freezing point, its falling was always in
a direct proportion to the diminished degree of warmth. Water,  as stated by modern
experimentalists, does not present this contradictory  property, but augments in its
density always  in direct proportion  to the degree of cold; it appears, therefore, still
more extraordinary, that water evaporates on white-hot iron less than at the lower
degrees of heat; and though naturalists  have  explained this by the  influence of
electro-magnetism  which  becomes developed, the fact that alcohol also evaporates
more at some lower degrees of warmth  than at higher ones, also remains unexplained.
These experiments, which we have not seen quoted by Dr. Metcalf, in his New The-
ory of Terrestrial Magnetism, just published,—in connexion with other facts,  espe-
cially with these, that magnetism is not communicated uniformly like caloric, and does
not impart its flnid or  magnetic power  to bodies susceptible for it, etc.—may form a
part of the many objections to his theory, to which more competent critics  may  ad-
vert.  Many phenomena, however,  attending the origin and cure of diseases may fa-
vour, if not the absolute  identity  of caloric  and  magnetism, (which proposition once
admitted, would likewise imply the identity of caloric and electricity) but, at least,
their mutual dependance, or  their  always contemporary action.—When  considering
that habit or custom plays so great a part in the living animal economy, being one of
the most prominent prerogatives  of organized life, it appears highly interesting that
the magnet is the only one of all unorganized substances, which  likewise depends on
habit or custom, though  generally in a  proportion inverse  to the influence of habit in
organized living bodies, the magnetic power (reaction) being gradually increased by
habit.  This similarity may hereafter open a large field for some interesting physiolo-
gical researches, as it may best explain the mysterious  phenomena of animal mag-
netism ; njuch more so, since animal magnetism is likewise the only agent which in-
creases in its action by habit. 
187
 on it so long as it lives or is capable of any reaction, though the
 tela cellulosa as the most simple, least sensible and most vege-
 tative tissue of the living animal body, appears to be most affected
 by the  astringent powers of cold ; but the  higher and  lower de-
 grees of cold will operate sometimes  as antiphlogistic, and  some-
 times as stimulant, according  to  its  absolute degree, and also to
 the degree of heat of the part to which it is applied.  If the part
 be very hot from genuine or plastic inflammatien, ice may easily
 injure, though a less intense degree of cold may be beneficial, be-
 cause when ice is applied, more caloric goes  to the part,  which al-
 ready superabounds in it, than is in the same time directly absorbed
 by the ice, whereas a less  intense cold will absorb the heat of the
 inflamed part without that inconvenience.   But if the part be only
 very hot from a large local developement of caloric, not depending on
 a genuine inflammation, as is the case in all  pure asthenic or ady-
 namic fevers, typhus, &c, or from a  tendency to an  inorganic
 chemical decomposition, as is obvious in the  last stages  of  putrid
 fevers, ice may prove highly salutary, by operating as  an indirect
 powerful stimulant, and the lower degrees of cold may prove de-
 trimental, its direct noxious influence being not overbalanced by its
 indirect stimulus.  This might become more evident in  consider-
 ing that the  intense heat  perceptible  in  patients dangerously ill
 with typhus, and particularly with putrid fever, (the very causus)
 does not depend on the vital developement of caloric, attending all
 plastic processes, and therefore  superabundantly increased, as in all
 genuine inflammations, but upon  an  opposite and  rather passive
 process, predominant  in all  those  kinds of diseases,  as far  as
 life admits  of a tendency to  inorganic decomposition of  the solids
 and fluids, by which caloric also becomes  always developed; this
 may be  proved by the characteristic heat of the patient, (calor mor-
 dax)  which will be observed  in these  diseases only, but  never  in
 those where the vital powers  are rrot so' intensely reduced, and
 much  less in any genuine  inflammatory affection.  In typhus
 fever, with dangerous  affections  of the brain, uelirium  ferox  or
 taciturnum, sopor, &c.,  and in which  the  cautious but  energetic
 treatment with stimulants, revulsives, &c. is  generally indicated,
 fomentations of the head with cold  water will be of more injury
 than benefit  to the patient, whereas bladders filled with pounded
ice are a powerful remedy and has saved the lives of many such pa-
 tients ; because in these cases it does not  operate  as an  antiphlo- 
188
gistic, as is thought generally, but as a powerful indirect stimulant

upon this centre of  the nervous  reaction, the  brain;  promoting a

larger afflux of caloric to it, which, by encouraging  a salutary re-

action, amply overbalances the direct deduction of stimulus by cold.

   The  manner in which caloric acts on organized living bodies,

offers highly  instructive instances, particularly adapted for the satis-

factory  explanation of many  phenomena in animal life, and  as

the great astronomer discovered  the laws  of gravitation from  the

fall of  an apple, so the reflecting physiologist  may, from  the few

remnants of life contained in a frozen apple, which are  revived by

snow and the gradual application  of warmth, but destroyed  for

ever by its higher degrees, derive results highly important to theo-

retical as well as practical medicine.*

  * The explanation of the action of caloric on the living organized body contained
in these pages, relieves us from further objections to this argument which Hahnemann
alleges in support of his maxim,  "similia similibus  curantur," saying in §61 of his
Organon ;  that the one hand bathed in warm water is at first warmer than the other,
but afterwards if taken out from it feels colder than the other, inconsequence of the
after-operation of the warm water, and so vice versa if put first into cold water.   It is
astonishing that  a man who pretends to reform or rather to establish the healing art,
should be so  ignorant as  to quote such instances  in support of his doctrine.  If the
thermometer  at the temperature of 80 deg. is immersed  in cold water of  30 deg.
and  it falls to this degree;  can  it be  well called an after-operation of warmth, or if
taken out of water at 30 deg. and exposed to the temperature of the  atmosphere of
70 deg. it rises again to 70 deg., can this rising of 40 deg. be called an after-operation
of cold]   The feeling of cold after the hand is taken from  warm water will, besides
the cause quoted by us above, be still more perceptible, because the increased  warmth
has, according to the law of organized living bodies,  " ubi irritatio ibi affluxus humo-
rum" attracted more fluids, blood, &c, and increases afterwards by the more opened
pores, the evaporation, which abstracting caloric, must naturally produce the sensation
of cold; whereas when the hand has been before in cold water and is afterwards exposed
to a warmer medium, it will increase the sensation of  warmth' by the increased ex-
citability for all stimulants, and therefore also for warmth.  The detrimental action of
heat and cold depends  much on the stale of the person and on the state of the  sur-
rounding atmosphere.  Weakly persons are unquestionably very much injured by cold,
and the use of cold  water, now recommended as a remedy in many diseases, and as a
preventive against them, produces a great many evils, as do many similar recommen-
dations given under the erroneous impression  that they are more congenial to the
natural state of  men, which has long since passed away.   Van  Helmont says very
correctly,  "frigidum non est  principium vitale sed extinctionis."  Many cases  of
dyspepsia, rheumatism, &c, and particularly of cough, which turns to consumption,
arise frequently from cold  water, though sometimes,  but  rarely, ice may  prove a
remedy in diseases  of the stomach and bowels,  for the reason mentioned above when
speaking of ice in cqnbral-typhus.  Hahnemann in his Organon, and also in his Ma-
teria Medica, Vol. 11., asserts, that  when a person much heated  feels  cold by
spirituous drinks, and hotter from cold drinks, it depends likewise on a homoeopathical
action of heat and cold. The fact is true, and would, if more strictly observed, and not
abused, prevent  many serious and even fatal diseases.   It depends however on
those laws of organized life, according to which the stimulus must be always propor-
tionate to the degree of excitability, if the vital actions shall not be disturbed, &c, and
also on the fact  best explained by them, that all extremes, if they follow one another
immediately,  injure and can even destroy the structure of all bodies, but particularly
organized living ones, since the equilibrium of the vital powers,  easily sustained or
restored during a gradual change, cannot be established so quickly in a sudden one.  It
is therefore also very erroneous to consider merely  the sudden transition from warmth
to cold obnoxious-; the reverse is not Ipss so, and many dangerous diseases of children, 
189
   The operations of many other agents and drugs, producing as

well as curing sickness, according to  the difference of their do«e

are  however to be considered the same.   A slight cold, for instance

may check the secretion of the Schneiderian membrane and cause

a dry catarrh ; one which is  severer at the commencement, or  fol-

lows the first, may excite this membrane to a profuse secretion ; and

a similar but more severe affection will  check  the secretion again

from the same cause, but being more intense than in both the pre-

vious cases, it  may generate by  over-excitement, an inflammation

extending  to the throat, the trachea and even to the lungs.   The

cause of all these different states is always the same and acts in the

same manner, but either under different circumstances orin different

degrees of strength, and  nobody  can reasonably  assert, that in the

third degree of the action just mentioned, the same cause had cured

homoeopathically what a minor  degree in the second  stage of the

same disease  had  previously produced.   As instances of simple

drugs, we  may cite Rhubarb, Ipecacuanha  and Opium.  Rhubarb

is acknowledged  to be a  purgative in large doses,  but small doses

of it are beneficial  in looseness of the bowels.   It is not yet ascer-

tained, but we are confident, that many other purgatives, especi-

ally those which  are  considered as tonics, would do the same under

certain  circumstances, if used in doses  small enough in proportion

to their purgative  quality,  without  regard to the  homoeopathic


particularly croup, inflammation of the brain, &c, arise from their approach to the fire
when they have been before exposed to cold air.   Cold can be applied without injury
only  in a very few diseases, though sometimes very desperate cases are cured by it,
especially by alternately sudden changes of temperature; as all agents which are capable
of doing great injury, are also sometimes of great benefit; thus for instance, tic doulou-
reux  (prosopalgia,) is sometimes cured merely by sudden alternate applications of hot
water and ice, though this disease is so painful and obstinate that such patients submit
to the most painful surgical operations, rather than to suffer the pains, which however
frequently resist all medical and surgical assistance.  Persons who are accustomed
to sudden changes of temperature will bear them  much easier without injury, and are
much more protected against many morbid affections than others, because the particular
influence of habit belongs  to the most prominent and characteristical properties of
organized living bodies.  It should therefore be considered as one of the most impor-
tant  object s of a judicious physical education  of children, to accustom them, from
their earliest infancy, to alternate  changes by baths gradually, with other circum-
spective precautions.  The Russian baths, now so fashionable in Europe, may there-
fore be very much recommended for young and healthy persons, to harden them to the
vicissitudes of atmospheric temperature, and may also be considered as a powerful
remedy in some inveterate chronic diseases, in which a torpor of reaction prevails, as
in gout, some  nervous affections, &c; provided there are no local affections of internal
organs, especially those where plethora predominates ; but when used without due pre-
caution, they  sometimes prove highly obnoxious and even fatal.   This is  easily ex-
plained when  we reflect that even lifeless bodies,  possessing the greatest cohesion,
for instance a large piece of flint, which may have resisted all influences in nature for
thousands of years, falls immediately into dust, when after exposure to a high degree
of heat, it is thrown into cold water.  How much more will man be affected by a sud-
den sequel of both extremes, if not ..very healthy, strong, and accustomed to it. 
190
maxim.   These different and contrary actions  may be easily
explained physiologically in the following manner, without the aid
of homoeopathia. and rather in  opposition to its maxims, viz.; in a
large dose they over-excite the mucous membrane of the intestines,
and the subsequent relaxation produces a larger excretion of fluidSj
already attracted by the increased specific stimulus ; whereas, in a
reasonable small dose, their primary effect remains weaker and the
natural consequences of the  over-excitement and relaxation men-
tioned, are not only absent, but, on the contrary, if such a relaxa-
tion has  previously existed, as is the case in a protracted diarrhoea,
it will be diminished and cured.  A relatively small  dose of  rhu-
barb, or of another purgative, might always produce costiveness by
that reason also, because, before it reaches the large intestines, it
operates  on  the stomach and small intestines, their nerves,  &c,
where, as a  slight stimulus, it produces an antagonistical reac-
tion, and checks the secretion in the lower parts of the intestinal
tube, in a manner discordant with Hahnemann's rude conceptions
of this very allopathic mode, and more similar to Rasori's theory of
contra-stimulus.  Ipecacuanha also, like other emetics,  if given in
very small doses, may check a hyperemesis, which has resisted the
best remedies known, because, as is ascertained by the  interesting
experiments of Magendie, the action of emetics depends particularly
on their influence upon the par  vagum and  its continuance in, and
ultimate connexion with, the nerves of the stomach.—In a mor-
bid distemper, however, of this  section of the nervous  system,
causing a particular morbid reaction of the stomach, small doses
of Ipecacuanha will check vomiting, as well as  many  substances
which otherwise would have checked it, will increase it.   Obstinate
cases of vomiting or purging will sometimes be quickly cured by
sufficiently powerful emetics or cathartics, after all other remedies
have failed, simply because they remove not a remote, but a proxi-
mate cause ; for instance the  remnants of indigestible food, which
nature alone could not  remove on account of  her  too  tardy and
weak action ; by every slight and useless exertion,  the evil still in-
creases, while on the contrary, by the aid  of a powerful remedy,
causing  a very brisk reaction, the patient  is cured by removing
the material  cause.—In all these cases we purposely  abstracted
from the indirect removal of such a  disease, by changing only the
form of the present state, or by substituting a new order of things
which, though  aggravated, does not  allow the  prominent cause 
191
and its symptom to exist any longer.—Opium in small doses is an
excellent remedy  in looseness of the  bowels,  but large doses of it
may produce diarrhoea by over-exciting the ganglions, nerves, &tc.
of the intestinal canal, which therefore is very difficult to cure, as
are all diseases which originate from repeated over-excitements, and
particularly, all diseases following habitual intemperance in spi-
rituous drinks. A small dose of opium, as we have already hinted,
may, however, render radical relief in  obstinate costiveness, and
act as a purgative where  all drugs considered as purgatives have
failed, by removing the nervous anaesthesia, or the particular dis-
temper, (paresthesia) which prevents  the  natural functions from
being performed, and renders  also cathartics ineffectual.
   To prove that influences belonging to the same class, or even
identical, may cause quite opposite actions, we refer also to mental
influences, which merely  differ in their  strength and not in their
 nature, or  depend also  upon individual predisposition.   In this
 manner the relief which the slightly affected heart feels in shedding
 tears, is denied to the sufferer of a greater misfortune or when
 possessed of more sensitive and deeper  feelings.—In all  these
 instances no one of  sound conception will find any thing  similar
 to a homoeopathic action of exceedingly  small doses  opposite to
 their action in comparatively very large ones, but all phenomena
 minutely corrrespond with the principles of SGund physiology and
 rational medicine.
    Sometimes the great influence of a small dose, and the efficacy
 of a  comparatively  very large one, solely depend upon  the still
 more evident local vital reaction.  Thus a few grains of arsenic or
 of any strong poison may be more fatal than announce of the same
 substance  taken at  a dose, only because  the large dose excites so
 powerful and quick  a reaction of the stomach, that there is then
 more chance of  the rejection of all  its contents, than when only a
 few grains are taken, which might sit on  the stomach and  destroy
 life.   Even on  superficial reference to such a fact, nobody would
 think  that arsenic is to be considered as acting in the inverse ratio
 of its bulk and weight.  Every one will  admit that one ounce of
 arsenic divided  into grains will  poison, without any particular
 virtue developed by an  homoeopathic manipulation, and that the
 true nature of this substance, though operating more uncondition-
 ally than many, is  not in the least changed  by the difference of 
192
 the dose itself, but that its effect depends on  particular conditions.
 All the substances which do not  act  mechanically, operate on the
 living animal body only relatively, and though  they operate as
 remedies in direct proportion  to  their quantity and quality, they
 never act unconditionally and absolutely, as Hahnemann asserts in
 respect to  his  virtues  developed  from  drugs.  We may  say
 with propriety that, excepting the  primitive  eternal cause of all
 nature, no power acts absolutely and unconditionally;  but that all
 are wisely counterbalanced and checked by one another, and that
 this produces  principally the immense  variety of actions  in  the
 universe.   Every  man therefore who believes or asserts  that  a
 power, developed  by  him,  acts  absolutely and unconditionally,
 the same  under all circumstances,  and  without  being  check-
 ed  or altered by the influence of any natural power,  may justly
 be  considered  as  destitute of common  sense,  and of  all  natural
 religious feeling.  It is evident that, if this bold and often  repeat-
 ed  assertion of Hahnemann  be  true, we  cannot conceive why,
 among many other inconsistencies of a similar kind,  Hahnemann
 makes the salutary operations of his developed drug-virtues to de-
 pend upon the absence 'of all remedial  influences to  which  the
 patient may be exposed? why he acknowledges the influence of
 idiosynocrasy and habit? why he  so frequently prescribes antidotes
 in cases where homoeopathic doses acted  improperly or too violent-
 ly ? why he cautions  his followers against undertaking the treat-
 ment of a patient who has previously been illtreated by an allopa-
 thist?  and why, in  publishing his " great truth," he himself could
 ever admit the many failures of his earlier treatment for upwards
 of twenty years, which, as he himself avows, had induced  him to
 labor twelve years upon another treatment of all chronic diseases—
 all of which palpably contradict the absolute and unconditional
 operations of his drug-virtues, though  he  continues the same as-
 sertions in his later works? Is it not the greatest nonsense  to sti-
 pulate any condition for a power said to act always  absolutely  and
 unconditionally ?*
                "Go teach eternal wisdom how to rule,
                "Thendrop into thyself and be a fool."—Pope.
  *  As a specimen of the many revolting expressions in regard to the infallibility of
their doctrine, with which not only Hahnemann's works, but also those of his disciples
 abound ; we quote  the remarks of Dr. Kopp, who states in his work above mentioned,
page 487, that Dr. Hartlaub  and Dr. Trinks in  their Materia Medica, and  also in
Archiv. f. h. Heilk. Vol. II., No. 3, publicly declare in regard to the infallible cure of
 hydrophobia by the homoeopathic mtihod. " that  each unfortunate issue  of this 
193
    With  regard to  the greater mildness claimed by Hahnemann

 nnd the author of the Concise View  on  page 14,  for  the homceo-


 " shocking disease is always to  be ascribed to the  attending physician," though we
 know of no instance in which their treatment has succeeded in hydrophobia, but many
 where  it has failed.
   We  are told by good authority, that in an American city, some homoeopathists have
 recently collected the saliva of a rabid dog, probably for  no other purpose than  to
 administer it in hydrophobia. We hope they will not be so crazy as to venture its
 application on healthy persons, for ascertaining the validity of their conceptions about
 drug-sickness, nor to administer it as a prophylactic in  any case, where  a  person is
 bitten  by a rabid dog.  Both, but the  former particularly,  should be  considered as
 murderous experiments, since according to many instances on record, persons wound-
 ed by a dog unquestionably rabid, have escaped without danger.   As a homoeopathic,
 or in these cases more  particularly termed isopalhic  remedy  against hydrophobia
 itself, the thirtieth dilution  of one drop of hydrophobic matter will  probably do no
 positive injury, but would be highly objectionable, merely as causing the neglect of
 other important measures prescribed by the profession.  It appears to  us very incon-
 sistent  for  homoeopathists  still  to trust to the hydrophobic virus,  after  the "great
 truth"  of their great genius  should have taught them that  hydrophobia is particu-
 larly entitled to all the singular privileges  of the itch, and will certainly be radically
 cured by smelling of a sugar grain as large as a  hempseed, and moistened with the
 thirtieth dilution of table  salt.—Sometimes  the contemptible  " learned lumber"
 would aid them a little.   In this  case, for instance, they would then know that  there
 are many reasons for believing that the hydrophobia of animals depends on the  twin-
 brother  of itch, viz. on  alopecia  or  leprosis, which is particularly common  to the
 genus canis, to the fox, wolf, &c.
   We do not despair of the  curability of this tremendous scourge, though we  must
 candidly confers that allopathists, rational as well as empirical, have hitherto succeeded
 so seldom, that  it  may justly be  still  declared  incurable  by  them.  In  these cases
 modern medicine has likewise tried in vain to apply its all-curing antiphlogistic treat-
 ment to the utmost extreme.  Bleeding, ad deliquium, was frequently prescribed, but
 to our knowledge without one instance of  a  positive benefit.  We  should think that
 without a chemical destruction or neutralization of such a violent and  unassimilable
 virus, and without an energetic though cautious support of the vital  powers, either to
 subdue  its effects or to convey it to  the  primarily affected place, where it can  be
 discharged by the excretory organs, all  the exertions of the  art must prove fruitless,
 and that therefore,  so long as we do not possess a distinctantidote, the method which
 tends to prostrate to the utmost all vital  actions, must be considered  the worst of all.
 The inferences  drawn from the  inflammation of the par vagurn  and of the  cfther
 nerves and ganglia of the neck, the throat,  &c,  as derived  from some post mortem
 examinations of hydrophobic persons, cannot reasonably justify such an  extreme  anti-
 phlogistic treatment, even if we were certain that the inflammatory state should  have
 existed  at all, or at  a still higher degree during life.   It would  be difficult to compre-
 hend howan inflammation, existing in the finest nets of the capillary arteries, veins and
 lymphatics, could be subdued by an abstraction of blood, not only on account of the  phy«
 sical laws of capillarity, but also by the violent stimulus of such  a heterogeneous virus.
 Even admitting the truth of modern physiological experiments and also of observations
 in diseases, that by  larire bleedings the resorption is promoted more than by any other
 remedy  ; we would ask, is it probable that such a pernicious virus will be resorbed by
 the vasa absorbentia, then pass through  the whole circulation, and then again be de-
 posited  in a secretory and excretory  organ,—which  processes the virus must neces-
 sarily undergo before it can be removed,—without doing, if possible,  still more injury,
 than when remaining in the  said places!   The analogy drawn from the benefits
 generally derived from an antiphlogistic treatment in infectious exanthematic diseases
 like small-pox, measles, &c.  is not applicable to hydrophobia, since in these diseases
 the cutaneous inflammation being  more or less considerably  extended,  and the func-
 tion of such a large emunctory organ, as the whole skin, is much restricted, the anti-
 phlogistic treatment is not  only  more necessary,  but this must  be also of a more
prominent influence ; farther,  in these exanthematic diseases the virus is  more diffused
over the whole reproductive system, and becomes gradually assimilated by the differ-
ent stages of the  disease ; and lastly, this  method of treatment proves injurious  in
those cases also if carried too far,  or if the disease is complicated with nervous affec-
                                      25 
194
pathically  developed drug-virtues, we  would further  remark, thai

if his statement  be  correct, it involves consistently the assertion,


tions, &c.  The great similarity between hydrophobia and the most dangerous and
fatal  nervous affections,  particularly trismus and  tetanus;  the  fact that distinct
symptoms of spontaneous hydrophobia are sometimes seen as accessories in important
nervous affections, for instance in typhus  and  intermittent fever,  &c,  favour the
opinion that hydrophobia is a most violent disease of the nervous system, seated pro-
bably most prominently in the  upper part of the spinal marrow and the medulla
oblongata, the canalis cerebro-spinalis Magendii, the ganglion intercaroticum, (1) &c.
The attention of the profession should therefore be  particularly directed  to  those
remedies which act principally on the whole  nervous system, and particularly on the
spinal marrow,  rather than to any other mode, provided the utmost  perseverance in,
the judicious local treatment  of the  wound by stimulants and  suppuratives, which
should always be regarded as the principal object, is  carefully observed.
  The treatment of the older schools with belladonna,  meloe proscarabaeus, canthar-
ides, &c, would, perhaps, have  succeeded better if attended with  the proper local,
treatment of the  wound, and  the simultaneous use of large  doses of mercury.  The
powerful alcaloides discovered by modern chemistry in  the articles mentioned, and in
other dru is, asVeratrine,  particularly their  endermic  application, open a large field for
trials, wh ch, if duly and perseveringly continued, may grant us the great victory over
this scandalum medicorum.   We may justly attribute  the  failure hitherto attending
the use of these  drugs, in their external exhibition, to the erroneous  opinion that it
makes no difference  in what manner they are applied externally, and* that  the dilated
wound is the best place to apply them ; this, however,  is not the proper endermic  treat-
ment, and contradicts the known fact, that the absorbent vessels and the nerves are
generally more numerous and active on the surface  of the skin, immediately below
the epidermis, than in the depth of the muscles ; it  is  also  evident that the influence
of the drugs is either frustrated  by the torpor or morbid process of  the primitive le-
sion, or will be destroyed by the  necessary dilatation  of the wound and its suppuration,
by which they are  also soon removed.   It is obvious that both objects cannot be at-
tained in the same place, and that, as the local suppuration is intended  to remove the
virus, the endermic remedy cannot enter the system by absorption on  the same spot
simultaneously.—Why has not the profession continued to try hot vapour baths, (108°
F.) by which Dr. Brisson intended to kill himself, but  was cured by them, when the
symptoms of hydrophobia were  already developed 1  Ten years ago Dr. B. commu-
nicated  this and many similar  statements of brilliant cures  to the Academie des.
Sciences at Paris ;  such  a mode is, moreover, very consistent with rational princi-
ples ; among which  we  may particularly advert to  the  fact,  that idiopathic hy-
drophobia affects exclusively animals which do not perspire by the skin, and yet it is
totally neglected.  We venture also to suggest that  electricity,  and  particularly the
intense galvanism of a Voltaic pile, might be tried with success, when persevered in,,
since it  would offer the most efficacious means for revulsing the morbid process, and
perhaps the virus itself, from the affected parts of the  spinal marrow, the nerves and
their ganglions, to the place of its original seat, and possibly, destroy there best chemi-
cally the hydrophobic matter. If even many of these trials fail, the  profession should
not act as is common with many remedies  newly recommended, and after considering
them as all-curing  medicines for a short time, reject them too  soon ; but  should con-
tinue the experiments in other places, under the  correct supposition, thatwe know as
yet but little about the functional and sympathetical connexions of the nervous system^
particularly of the immense variety of its diseases, and that at the distance of only half a
geometrical line, or still less, an experiment might succeed when it had failed so near
this spt>t.—Our opposers, the homoeopathists. might perhaps conclude from our objec-
tions made at the beginning of  this note,  and from  many other expressions in these
pages, where we confess our great regard to the smallest quantities of a virus or of a re-
medy, that we act  with inconsistency or duplicity in being directly in favour of their
whimsical doses of drugs, though directly opposed to them.  But every rational phy-
sician will be in favor of small doses under particular circumstances, and when they are
within (he bounds of reason;  so  too every one will admit that an inconsiderably small
power added to a large one may be  the principal cause of an effect, but that this does
not justify us in considering the  small power as absolutely larger than it really is.  A
vat of a capacity of thousands of hogsheads may overflow by one drop only, hut does
 this imply that one drop alone is sufficient to. fill it 1 
195
'that the drug has become changed into another substance, since it is
not proper to say, that one-eighth of a grain  of  opium acts more
mildly than a whole grain of it when taken at once, but only that its
specific action will be less, when compared with another similar sub-
stance, for instance, with the extract of Henbane (Hyoscyamus ni-
ger, L.); we can only say this acts more mildly, though no phy-
sician would doubt that a sufficiently large quantity of  the latter
will prove more  injurious than a very small quantity  of opium.
 Thus also nobody would  say that the electric fluid acts on the hu-
 man body more mildly than light, because the  former  developed
from a small piece of sealing-wax produces  no  effect, but intense
light destroys the sight:—such minute, though  not subtle distinc-
tions,  materially  affect  the  principles  of practical medicine,  and
 hence, in so important a science, we should leave no expression of
 that kind without a clear  conception, nor should vague productions
 of the imagination be confounded with abstract  ideas and the re-
 sults of true experience, on which all medicine rests.
   If Hahnemann  had offered the profession new and unknown
 drugs for definite diseases, and had stated that, according to repeated
 experiments instituted by him with the greatest accuracy, and even
 under the injunction that such drugs should not be given in larger
 doses than the billionth, or a similar fraction of a grain, and  that
 the grain must be  divided exactly in such or such a peculiar man-
 ner, «fec,  no  one could, with  propriety, object a priori, and  the
 correctness of these statements would depend upon fair trials.  If
 they were proved to be correct, by repeated and careful experiments^
 then  another question would arise, whether they could or could
 not be explained by acknowledged laws of nature.  When, at a
 minute scrutiny, they are found to be totally at variance with such
 laws and with those of the human intellect,  still no man of sound
 judgment would forthwith adopt one or more supernatural powers
 or miracles as  the causes  of these phenomena,  since he would
 be reminded, that  at least  in this world, all natural phenomena
 depend on fixed laws engrafted upon nature by the infinite wisdom
 of her eternal Creator, and that many phenomena, which appeared
 to our ancestors as supernatural, are now referred with mathemati-
 cal exactitude to definite laws, depending upon  or intimately con-
 nected with the universal laws of  nature;  he would accept with
 gratitude such discoveries, and confessing his ignorance of the na-
 tural cause, he would feel  in duty bound to use them wherever
 it appeared to him necessary or salutary.   But if we are told by 
196
Hahnemann, that drugs, which have been used daily for centuries

by thousands of trustworthy physicians, and in different countries

by grains, drachms and ounces, in  powders, infusions, decoctions,

(fee,  not only without any  injury,  and without observing  one of

the many symptoms which  Hahnemann and  his  followers pre-

tend  always to  observe,  but frequently with the   most salutary

effect;  if we are told that  the same drugs have always proved de-

trimental, if given  in larger doses  than the many  thousand-mil-

lionth part of one grain, ever since Hahnemann has pursued a mode

of treatment different from that which he himself, for upwards of

thirty years had followed on a much larger scale than most other

practitioners;  if  further the  same man tells us, that substances,

daily used by ounces or pounds, by men  and  animals as  indis-

pensable for their life and health, become transmuted into violent

drugs,  of which  even  the  smallest  imaginable fraction  of one

grain may produce great injury or benefit, and that  such fractions

of one grain of a substance obtain this power by certain processes,

hitherto also justly considered incapable of changing in the least

the property belonging to any substance ;—-then we have full cause

to suspect the grossest errors or premeditated imposition, especially

when all these statements  come  from  a man like Samuel Hahne-

mann,  who has been guilty of the greatest charlatanism and in-

tentional  falsehoods.*   His  trials with simple  drugs on healthy


  * The history of man presents us with many instances,  where  great discoveries
have been disregarded, ridiculed  and even persecuted, although made by truly great
men, who have advanced their age for centuries; the history of all sciences proves
that truth, like  the noble fruit, requires to be carefully cultivated and fostered, whereas
error,  credulity and  superstition, like rank weeds,  spontaneously and luxuriantly
spread over the fields.  The  same  instructive source sadly teaches us, that man-
kind generally  weighed truth  and falsehood, not according to their intrinsic worth,
but only to the majority of votes, or the number of years which they have lasted, quite
unmindful, that as lead will never change into gold by the decision of any large majo-
rity or by any length of time, just so a falsehood will never become true.  But, never-
theless no scientific fanaticism ever ventured so far, as to compare the grossest whims
and absurdities proclaimed so palpably by Hahnemann, with the discoveries and merits
of a Galileo and Columbus.   It would be tedious to enlarge more on this  subject
here, by further quotations from many places in Hahnemann's works, where he states
that all drugs hitherto used in common doses, act absolutely as poisons and are harm-
less only once  in many hundred cases.  Well educated, intelligent and honest  pro.
fessional men  who read his  works attentively, will find our statement confirmed;
and any body can easily imagine  how such assertions must naturally appear to men,
who, beside their study of practical medicine, have for many years daily used the same
drugs  in the largest doses with unquestionable benefit, both when diseased themselves
and with their patients, and who have also seen, in many cases, the insufficiency and
failures of the homoeopathic treatment, and the injury which is frequently caused by
the neglect of homoeopathists, in not administering proper and timely aid.  The man-
ner in which Hahnemann and his adherents  endeavour to defend such failures is in-
deed exceedingly ridiculous and contemptible, as the instances already quoted by us
above will have sufficiently proved; but, nevertheless, the following is worth remark-
ing : Hahnemann,  in his  Materia Medica, Vol. III. p. 6, where he challenges his 
197
persons, though they are not of his invention and have led him to

the  most superstitious and absurd  conclusions, may, nevertheless

be interesting to the profession, if impartially instituted in the sense

suggested above, and  deserve therefore to be continued even with

many of such drugs as are condemned by him. His maxim, similia

similibus curantur, and  even his marvelous itch-doctrine,  with all

its gross absurdities and contradictions, might at least admit some

conjectures, which  do not differ so widely from other fanciful theo-

ries and suggestions  recorded  in the history  of medicine, though

never  expressed with such  a  total disregard of truth,  with such

unblushing self-conceit,  such  a contempt  of all other experience

and with  such an  unparalleled charlatanism in the promises of a

never-failing medical omniscience  and  certainty  of cure;__but

Hahnemann's assertions  about the  virtues developed from  simple

drugs   by manipulations  of his invention,  and his  statements of

what has been observed only  by him  and  his followers, oblige  us


disciples and followers to expose homoeopathia to public contempt,  by placing before
the public all the particulars legally confirmed, if his prescriptions, though minutely ob-
served, had failed, cunningly adds in italics, "but have also all other remedial
" influences  removed from the patient."   It is evident that by this condition
alone no failure whatever of a homoeopathist can  possibly be proved, since, as  we have
seen above, according to his doctrine, every thing may be considered as a  remedial

influence, if ___ of one grain of common table salt should act so powerfully on the
            10G°
human body, cases may occur, that in which it is sufficient merely to smell of a sugar-
pellet, not larger than a hemp-seed, moistened with such a dilution; or if, as we have
 seen in Dr. Hering's  Concise View, even parsley distinctly belongs  to the  class of
 important remedial agents. What patient would be able conscientiously to deny that
 he has not been in contact with some table salt,  or has not been exposed to the influ-
 ence of  some  homoeopathic remedial substance, as parsley, sulphur 1 &c.   Another
 piece of  cunning advice of Hahnemann to his followers is, as we have seen,  that they
 should avoid the treatment of patients who have ever been under the care of a mur-
 derous  allopathist, since  this  may frustrate  all their exertions.  Now, who could
 comply  with   such conditions,  and,  if he  could,  the infatuated  homoeopathist
 would  not believe  it, but  would persuade his  patient,  that  his  memory was
 treacherous, and that*  not long since,  he must have taken a few grains of  calomel,
 or that  he must have recently smelled  sulphur,  belladonna,  must  have passed
 near some  place where  the thorn-apple  or  even  roses grow, &c.—We  know
 some very  amusing  instances  in which, after  these  magicians could not succeed
 with all  their  developed  virtues, they insisted upoi their subterfuge, that the pa-
 tient must absolutely be under the influence of a remedial agent, which counteracted
 and frustrated their absolutely and unconditionally acting and never-failing drug-vir-
 tues.  In one  such case, related to us by a respectable and trust-worthy physician, a
 patient, who had been persuaded by the same half-witted German merchant, mentioned
 above to consult the  homoeopathic doctor  for some  chronic disease, became daily
 worse and  was at last confined to his room.  When one day the doctor visited him,
 just as he was  lighting his cigar with a small match  ; the  doctor observing it, ex-
 claimed with  a serious face and with great pathos, " Now I see why my exertions are
 " in vain; my suspicions are now confirmed ;  you are  under the remedial influence of
 " sulphur which must counteract all my best selected remedies; this is unquestion-
 '' ably the only reason why you do not recover!"  The patient, already tired of all
 the " trifles and niceties never heard of before," applied to a common allopathist, who
 fortunately soon cured him, in spite of the continued remedial  agency of the sulphur
 on  a match. 
198
either to declare  them gross falsehoods, or  to renounce all truth
hitherto acknowledged and even confirmed  by mathematical cal-
culations, and believe implicitly in supernatural powers and miracles
at the disposal of man.
   We see indeed no other chance, not merely  with regard  to
medicine alone, but also generally to the laws of the human under-
standing, and  to  those derived from all the minute researches of
natural philosophy and the many sciences and arts connected with
them.   We can  prove these, our assertions, from  Dr. Hering's
pamphlet, where  we  read, on  page 14, " Medicines which had
" undergone these operations no  longer  possessed those long conti-
" nued effects of a prejudicial character, which we so frequently have
" to witness from  crude articles.   Their operation is always rapid,
" of  short continuance, and without danger, &c.  Moreover, these
" dilutions  were thus extraordinary small  in appearance  only;
" they were in fact operative by reason of the  pure energy proper
" to the medicine developed by art, and not by reason of the original
" matter of it.  Hence they could not be too small or too weak ; for
" it was shown in a manner not  to be  mistaken, that  the  proper
" medicinal virtue was by no means diminished in them, but, in
" their lower grades  it was at first unfolded and  developed, and it
" was only by their  continuation that it began again to decrease.
" But as regards its  capability of exciting the organization to salu-
" tary action, there was never any diminution, it was still witnessed,
"even  though the  dilutions were  continued, until they reached
"some hundreds in  number.  In the higher dilutions,  however, it
"was so modified  as more quickly to excite the organization to
" opposition, but the opposition continued for a short time."  And
on page 20," By means of these triturations and dilutions, so called,
"it was the matter only which became so minutely divided, but it
" was the energy, the virtue only which was  thereby so astonish-
ingly unfolded, &c.;" and  ibid, " when the process of Trituration
" or Agitation  was too long continued, the energy of the medicine
" became too intensely raised," &c.  And again on page  28, "when
" no relief whatever is possible,they do no injury.1' Though we have
already determined what the proper meaning of thelargest ox small-
est homoeopathic doses must be, if there shall be any sense in  them;
we ask any impartial reader, of common sense, if after the repeated
perusal of these quotations, he can comprehend this " potenzised!1
nonsense, and particularly if he can  reconcile  that one and the 
199
same thing decreases, and again becomes astonishingly unfolded,
so that its energy proves to be too intensely raised, and that all
this being effected by one  and  the  same  process, the final result
shall be a power, much smaller than it was at the beginning of
the processes, called only triturations and solutions ; what are they
then else ? Are they not then avowedly witchcraft, chiromancy, &c ?
But it may be still  more  illustrating  to  quote here  the master's
own  remarkable expressions.   Hahnemann  begins  the  second
volume of his treatise on Chronic Diseases with the following words,
" The changes which  take place in  all natural  productions, espe-
cially in  drugs, by  constant  triturations with a  substance  not
" medicinal, or by  shaking with a fluid not medicinal, are so in-
credibly great as to  be almost miraculous,  and  it is  gratifying
"that the discovery of these wonderful changes belongs tohomoeo-
" pathia.  The medicinal powers  of these substances, as we have
" stated elsewhere, are not only developed by it in an unmeasurable
" degree, but their chemical and physical conditions are so changed,
" that if their solubility in  water or  alcohol could never before be
"perceived in their crude elementary state, they, after their peculiar
" metamorphosis, become  quite soluble  in water or alcohol; a
" discovery which I first  published to the world !"—We  leave it to
the fancy of any one to imagine what substance can be not medi-
cinal, if all natural  productions are capable of having a virtue
developed from them.—Hahnemann continues  to assert not only
that by this manner, all  substances,  like flint, all metals, the pure
as well as the sulphuretted and oxydated,  become soluble in water
or alcohol, but also that they remain unaltered for years  in respect
to all their singular  properties  thus acquired,  and especially in
their  particular state,  termed by him '•'■potenzised?  Thus  for
instance in speaking of pure phosphorus,  he  adds  expressly,  " I
" do not mean its acid;" of course the contrary being the opinion of
all " over-refined chemists," who believe phosphorus easily oxyda-
ted by, but not soluble in water; it cannot be his opinion.   He says
farther, loc. cit. " We  shall find also in this, their enhanced and
"almost glorified state, that no neutralization whatever takes place,.
" The medical virtues of Natrum, Ammonia, Barytes, Lime and
" Magnesia, will in this their highly potenzised state, not perhaps
" be neutralized when a dose is taken, as  they do in their  crude
"state as bases, by a drop of vinegar; their  medicinal power is
" neither to be altered nor  annihilated.  Nitric acid  prepared and 
200
" taken in'this manner for the use of homoeopathists, in the proper
" homoeopathic developement and dose, will not become changed
"in its strong definite medical action, if Lime or Natrum be taken
" afterwards, and therefore will not become neutralized."  On page
272, Vol. IV., of  the  same work, on mentioning the common in-
offensive use of table salt, (Natrum  muriaticum or Sodse murias)
one of  his  favorite  antipsorics—probably on • account of Pliny's
statements, who mentions in  his natural history, lib. xxxiv. " sca-
biem  pecorum sal  tollit."----Hahnemann  says, "and  yet  the
" greatest  medical virtues are concealed in it.   Is it not therefore
" evident, even to the most short-sighted, that the peculiar homoeo-
" pathical preparations of medical substances reveal almost a new
" world of  pow7ers, which have  hitherto remained  concealed  in
" nature ; thus by the transmutation of common table  salt from
" its crude and inactive nature into  a violent medicine, it is to be
" given  after this preparation, with the greatest precaution, to  the
" diseased  person.  What  an incredible transmutation,  and  yet
" how true!  apparently a new creation !   The pure table salt
"carried in this manner to the decillionth developement of power,"
(TKWo ) "ls °ne of the strongest antipsoric medicines, as its annexed
" peculiar effect on the healthy body," (895 symptoms of its drug-
disease) " manifests, but cannot be  given  without injury to  sick
" persons suffering from itch, in more than one or two small sugar
" pellets moistened w7ith a  fluid impregnated with its decillionth
"developed power.  But individuals injured  by allopathic stimu-
" lants, and  those who are very much debilitated and very sensible,
" will not bear even this  small  dose,  and if  this drug is then
" called for from homoeopathic reasons, they can  only be permitted
" to smell once of a sugar-pellet of the size of a  hempseed, moist-
ened with that solution,  as a  dose sufficient  to  perpetuate its
" effect from fifteen to twenty days."
  Now we candidly ask all unprejudiced men of common sense ;
professional  or  unprofessional, if they have ever read more non-
sense than  is contained in these few quotations ?  It is difficult
to believe that this has been printed a thousand times, in a country
distinguished for its high standing in literature, for its great philo-
sophers and  learned men ; and this in the midst of the nineteenth
century! On attentive reflection, it is still more difficult to believe
that men exist, who, professing to possess sound  judgment and to
be well educated,  and pretending that the life  and health  of theiv 
201
 >eliow men could be confidently entrusted to their professional skill
 and care, would  credit only for a moment such hare-brained ab-
 surdities as purest truth and greatest wisdom, nay!  boldly assert,
 that by such productions, " a new era has dawned  upon all  the
 " natural sciences ;  a  new  period has dawned upon pathology,
 " as well as on all the  certain sciences, and that its author is to be
 " regarded as one of the greatest medical geniusses of the age."
 (See Hering's Concise  View, page 4 and 24.)
   The greatest truth  ever  written by Samuel Hahnemann is his
 own conclusion, which he artlessly draws from his statements in
 regard to the miracles, the glorified state, and the new world de-
 veloped by his manipulations from his drug-atoms.—He calls the
 monstrous children of his morbid fancy or eccentric charlatanism by
 their right names! Indeed,  if to believe implicitly in the developed
 power contained in a sugar-pellet not larger than a hempseed, and
 moistened  with the decillionth  dilution of common table salt, that
 is, with the

  1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
 part of one grain, and  even that this power is communicated to  the
 surrounding atmosphere so as to be imparted to the human body by
 smelling, if that,  we say, does not imply supernatural powers, then
 all our conceptions of this and similar expressions are wrong and
 have no meaning.  The conceits of Eudeemons and Kakodeemons
 of the oldest mycologists; the theurgy and demonology of the most
 superstitious heathens; the most fanciful religious notions of many
 East Indians, their Dews,  Am-hadpans, lzeds, Fervers, &c.; what
 are all these compared with Hahnemann's virtues developed from
 one grain of a simple drug, " developed by art and not by reason of
 " the original matter," (Concise View, page 14.) developed ad, infini-
 tum at his pleasure with different degrees of power from  all
 natural substances, by  his homoeopathic manipulations!—powers
 acting not only with volition, but with the most judicious medical
 reflection, since they either suspend their action, when it appears to
 them better  to do so; for instance,  always  after their work is
 finished in  healthy persons, or operate in diseased individuals for
 weeks, and never injure  if they do no benefit,  though  all  their
operations  are  always absolute and unconditional, and therefore
also omnipotent within the limits of human life, " so that if their
 '- dose was  large  enough, each  living human organism must at
                            26 
202
" any time  and all events become affected or even infected by the

" drug-disease."*
  * See  Organon, 4th edition, $27 and Materia Medica, Vol. II., page  20.   It ie
worth remarking, that  here Hahnemann says, "if the dose was large enough;" but
that in his Chronic Diseases, Vol. I. p. 209, and in  other places, he says, that his
followers may  give still smaller doses than he advises, since it is impossible to  select
too small a dose.—It may be conjectured with some probability, that Hahnemann's
doctrine of developed virtues originated with him in the belief of a kind of demonology,
since on an  attentive perusal  of all his works we shall find some distinct indications
of it, (see Organon,  4th edition, note to $203 mentioned  above,  where he appears to
believe in witchcraft.)  Nearly the same conceits and expressions used by him,  occur
in the explanations of old authors  about such superstitions.   Macrobius   in his
Saturnalia, lib. 1. cap. 23. quotes from  the works of Posidonius  of Apamea, (a stoic
philosopher and  astrologer, who  as  is said  was the  teacher  of Cicero,) entitled
"tfsgi |X£wwv xai 5aijxovwv" the following etymological  explanation of the term de-
monology, "quia  ex astherea substantia parta, atque divisa qualitas illis est."   Morus
in mysteriis pietatis, p. 118, thinks that the Greek name oiDcemon aiises from "fotisiv"
that is, " to divide,"—the homoeopathic divisions in optima forma.  Should the  future
confirm what  some believe, viz.  that  Hahnemann  has  acted  honestly, at least in
regard to his publications about homceopathia and his itch-doctrine, and has published
only what he himself really believed to be true, we may account for his singular pro-
pensity to mysticism, magic, demonology, &c.,by his hereditary family-disposition, if
we are not mistaken in  presuming that he is a descendant from  Joh. Ludovicus Han-
nemann,  a famous  theologist  and physician  of the 17th century, and professor of
natural philosophy at the Danish University of Kiel, in Holsatia.  He was the author
of many singular works on Alchemy,  and on similar mystical  topics, regarding the
discovery of the  philosopher's  stone for longevity,  &c, among  others of Aurora
oriens; Xystus in hortum hesperidum; Tubalkain stantem ad fornacem; De analogo
Uiim et Thumim in mente humana; Circulum philosophise adeptae cum Theologia,
et comparationem mysteriorum Tbeologise cum lapidis philosophorum, arcano magis-
terio;  De  aureis pomis  in vase argentes;  Methodus nova et accurata cognoscendi
simplicia vegetabilia;  the latter  contains a  new and  accurate method of recog-
nising  simple  plants, and appears to be similar to  our  Samuel Hahnemann's first
latin work on homceopathia,  " de Viribus medicamentorum positivis."   As we have
not Joh. Ludov.  Hannemann's work last mentioned, but  have  only collected  these
literary notices from Joecher's Gelehrte^i Lexicon, 1750, we leave it for others pos-
sessing this literary curiosity to investigate the  correctness of  our presumption, and
also to ascertain whether or not, the same Joh.  Ludv. Hannemann disputes with  us
the priority of our important proposal about the cheap homoeopathical whitewashing of
negros as mentioned above, by  his treatises entitled " Dealbatio iEthiopis et Scru-
tinium nigredinis posterorum Cham sive ^Ethiopum."   These  researches would be
highly important, not only in regard to the literary pedigree of  " one of the greatest
medical geniusses of our age,"  but also in a psychological respect.—Fortes creantur
fortibus et bonis,  &c.
  To the difference in spelling both names none can object, who knows that this was
not unusual in old times ; thus for instance the  original name of the great reformer,
Melanchton, was a Greek translation from the German, Schwarzerd, (Blackearth) and
that of his kinsman and his noble and gallant companion in the combat for truth, Johann
Reuchlin, was Capnio,  (Smokeman.)   At an age when only few were well educated,
and few only knew how to write, it was very easy for the n to be accidentally changed
into an h, and much more so, as in upper Saxony the short  syllables  are generally
pronounced long.  This change may also have been the consequence of the death of
Joh. Iiud. Hannemann's son, who had been killed in  a duel in the year 1679, after he
likewise  had  published some  mystical  works, for instance, De aulicorum et  Martis
liliorum arcanis;  De medicorum divinitate; both quite in the style of  our Samuel's
medical omnipotence and his predilection for arcana ; it may be that after this fatal
event  the  family migrated from  Holsatia  to  Upper Saxony, the native  country of
Hahnemann, as  we  also find in Adelung's supplement  to  Joecher's work,  above
mentioned, a poet born in Leipzig, who had changed his family name Hannemann into
Alectorander or  Cockman, the Greek translation of the German Hahnemann.—It is
also very singular, that exactly a hundred years before Samuel Hahnemann published
the first outlines of his doctrine, (1795) a Hannemann wrote a treatise " on the  inheri-
tance of lunacy,"  (see Misc. Acad. Nat. cur. Dec. 3, An.  3, 1695.)  This treatise is 
                              203

  Any further discussion would be unnecessary and useless for those
who implicitly believe in homceopathia or Hahnemannism, even
at the risk of being guilty of the grossest credulity and superstition,
by trusting in such infinitely developed powers or miracles.  Their
dimmed reason will always dwell on facts, which apparently con-
firm every chimera offered to their defective judgment and to their
perverse imagination; utterly unmindful whether these accord with
the first fundamental laws of the human understanding and with
the acknowledged laws of nature or not,  they will shun all closer
investigation of  which they are incapable, and will even attribute
facts, which are opposed to their narrow conceits and superstitious
credulity, rather to mistakes and to the ignorance of their opposers,
to some unknown and unavoidable counteracting accidents, or to
the only old truth, which even  homoeopathists modestly admit, that
death is beyond the reach of all human power.  "Ad quamcunque
" disciplinam velut tempestate delati, ad earn, tamque  ad saxum
" adhserescunt."—Cicero.
   But there are undoubtedly among the adherents of Hahneman-
nism many who are zealously anxious for truth, and, conscious of
all the  requisites of their arduous  vocation, are willing  to acquire
them wherever they can be attained ; knowing that many pheno-
mena in nature, and especially in the life of organized bodies, cannot
be explained by, or referred  to, universal laws on account of our li-
mited means;  and dissatisfied  with the frequent changes of the so
called systems of practical medicine, with the many contradictory
statements in objects of daily occurrence, by  physicians equally en-
gaged in extensive practice in one and the same country, and even
city &c, they believe themselves entitled or even forced to adopt the
statements of homoeopathia  as facts, under the impression that the
theoretical explanation of these facts, which  are confirmed by tests,
trustworthy in their eyes, might belong to those of similar extraor-
dinary  phenomena in organized life, which  are likewise not accor-
dant to, or explainable by, the present state of natural  philosophy
and physiology, and that homoeopathia is at least not more unsafe
than all other  modes of medical practice.
considered very able and interesting, especially if we consider that, at that time, such
subjects were but little noticed; probably he was conscious of his hereditary disposition
and had merely described his own state during its lucid intervals ; so, too, we possess
in the modern literature of  Germany an interesting treatise on intoxication, written
by a distinguished philosopher and author, who was  very intemperate.   Be this as it
may, we  are gratified in having thus  perhaps contributed some valuable materials
for the minute biography of so distinguished a man,  of which he himself hitherto mav
have been entirely ignorant. 
204
   There are many suggestions in Hahnemann's works and in trea
 Uses published in his defence, which dazzle the eyes of many, who
 are easily prepossessed by superficial and sophistical reasoning and
 by the novelty of the homoeopathic doctrine, not aware, from their
 want of a close scrutiny, of its proper meaning, nor of the grossest
 superstition which it involves. We may justly hope  th.it if such men
 become only  more minutely acquainted with the ex tent and the
 tendency of the homoeopathic doctrine, and if it  be only clearly
 proved to them that Hahnemann did not use the expressions, " mi-
 " racles"  " wonderful,''*  " a glorified state," " a  new creation,"
 metaphorically or hyperbolically, but  that his doctrine admits  no
 other explanations than  those intimately connected with the said
 expressions, they  would investigate  these  objects closely, and
 ashamed of their superstition, they would examine more minutely
 all the conditions indispensable for facts, whenever  truth is to be
 established by them; thus  prepared, they would  agree with us,
either that the substance of this doctrine  must  be rejected and
abandoned, or that life  and  health will be exposed more than ever
to the worst  consequences of the rudest medical empiricism, result-
ing in addition from an implicit belief in the action of supernatural
powers, merely dependent upon the will of man, or on  medical
witchcraft.   We feel therefore particularly bound to examine care-
fully the most prominent assertions of Hahnemann in regard to
his third  maxim  of homoeopathia ; which is, that it is impossible
to give too  small a dose of any drug, provided that it is selected
according to his maxim, similia similibus curantur, or to his itch-
theory, and has been developed or potenzised  by the proper mani-
 pulations.
   As long  as  Hahnemann candidly confessed, that in referring
 only to the truth of his experiments, he was unable or unwilling to
 explain them by any acknowledged law of nature, we could only
 examine whether we can place confidence in his statements,  as
 being instituted with due precaution against  palpable mistakes,
 though they always would lead to a rude empiricism.  But if, un-
 able to depend positively on the  acknowledged laws of nature,  he
refers only negatively to them, and asserts, that his maxim is founded
on phenomena similar to others, which must be admitted, though
they have hitherto remained unexplained, or have  been supported
only by untenable hypotheses: he then challenges his opposers to
examine closely,whether this pretended negative similarity between
his established hypothesis and those of the other natural pheno- 
205
mena mentioned, be correct.   Should it  be found so, or should
the operations of his virtues developed from drugs really belong to
the same  class with those  phenomena,  the true  causes of which
we must admit to  be merely hypothetical, then we  must farther
examine, whether they cannot be explained consistently with hu-
man reason, or whether their belief involves implicit faith in su-
pernatural powers, miracles, or witchcraft.
   We know only two classes of natural powers—the  vital  powers
of all living organized bodies, and the universal physical powers.
The former  we divide again into  psychical or mental, and dyna-
mical or those which refer to physical life ;  and the latter into me-
chanical and chemical powers.  There are, therefore, four distinct
manifestations of powers to be compared.
   We  leave out of the question all psychical or mental  powers,
implying, as the least of their characteristics, volition, either in-
stinctive or intellectual; as we suppose that the candid homcepa-
thists are willing unconditionally to reject all supernatural powers,
miracles, spirits, etc. to which the adoption of any psychical power,
developed  by  homoeopathic  manipulations, must  unavoidably
lead.
   Dynamical powers are only the attributes of organized life, and
cannot therefore be developed by man from  substances destitute
of organization and life, as  earths, salts, metals,  etc. from which
Hahnemann pretends to develope immense virtues or powers.—
The similarity with the vital powers of the human  body would
contradict,  according to our numerous quotations from  Hahne-
mann's  works, his  explicit  opinion about them; since he  repeat-
edly asserts, that  his developed drug-virtues  operate far  more
powerfully than the human vital  powers do.  According  to his
repeated assertions, that his developed drug-virtues always act ab-
solutely and unconditionally, they are indeed omnipotent within
the limits of life, and by far paramount to the human vital powers,
which operate, in his opinion,  " always in a miserable, automati-
cal manner," and are capable only of extinguishing,  in diseases,
the remnants, always left to them  by the surplus operations of his
drug-virtues.   No dynamical power operates absolutely and un-
conditionally,  not  even that which acts most independently, viz.
progenitiveness  in vegetable or in animal life.   It must also not
only appear extremely absurd, that a dynamical power developed
from any substance should act in the inverse ratio of its  weight, 
206
but that such a power should become  developed from flint,  char-
coal, sulphur,  etc.  by such processes as evidently belong  to  the
most effectual ones of destroying all dynamical power, even in all
bodies endowed with life.  Common sense must consider tritura-
tion and solution as the best modes of destroying life, where it ex-
ists, rather than of procreating it.  The homoeopathic drug-virtues
cannot therefore be compared with  the dynamical powers of orga-
nized living bodies.
   Neither Hahnemann nor his followers would admit the adoption
of any mechanical power, though he has  explained the direct and
indirect treatment in this manner,  as we have  seen above, where
we have objected to his assertion, that in the indirect treatment the
drugs  must always operate obliquely.   It would also be very sin-
gular to imagine, that the  developed drug-virtues  operate by the
same mechanical laws as those by which a lever, a wedge, a plane,
or any similar  tool, acts.  Moreover, such little planes, wedges,
etc. many thousand billions of which are contained in a body not
larger than a hemp-seed, must  make the whole tour of the circu-
lation, before they reach the proper place where the imprisoned
itch is to be freed from its long confinement, or before they can
smooth the  purpura  miliaris,  the  little wart on the right cheek,
etc.   And  this  singular  conception would also admit that  these
marvellous  deeds are to  be performed by them, not merely  as by
common tools, but as  if they acted at the same time as circumspect
and judicious mechanics !—" Quae molitio, quae ferramenta,  qui
" vectes, qua?  machina,  qui  ministri  tanti  operis fuerunt ?"—
Cicero.*
   The profession has  hitherto  known of only three instances in
which drugs, when given internally, are known to  act  by their
  * The supposition that the virtues developed from drugs act mechanically,  offers a
favourable opportunity for demonstrating, by an amusing arithmetical calculation, the
huge extent of the nonsense to which homceopathia leads.   It is interesting in so far
as we become, by it, more minutely acquainted with the admirable niceties of homoe-
opathic doses,  and particularly with the proportion really existing between an atom
of their higher dilutions and the scarcely imaginable smallest magnitude of other bo-
dies. Thus it is easy to prove, that the ratio between a drug-atom, contained in the
thirtieth dilution—which is, according to the  latest precepts of Hahnemann, the best
to be used, if, as he explicitly recommends, his followers should not be willing to re-
sort rather to still higher ones—and a mote or a particle of the finest dust perceptible
in  a sunbeam, is far greater than the ratio between the latter and the mass of our
whole globe; and that therefore, all circumstances being equal, this globe could be
moved by a mote more easily, than the mote itself by a homoeopathic atom of the thir-
tieth dilution, or " potenz."
  We have only to take into account, that a cubic inch of atmospheric air weighs half 
207
mechanical operation ; metallic mercury,  given  by many ounces,

in ileus or iliac-passion,  when arising from intus-susception of the

intestines;  tin-filings,  in cases of tape-worm; and Dolichos pru-

nens, (Stizolobium,  Pers.) recommended  in cases of lumbrici and

ascarides, and recently even in cases of Asiatic cholera :  but their

number would be as immense as that of natural  substances, if ho-

moeopathists admit  the  mechanical operation of their developed

drug-virtues.   Thus the mechanical mode of the action of the ho-

moeopathic drug-virtues is likewise put out of the question.

   All the hopes of homoeopathists of assigning  to their eudaemons

and  spirits an  honourable place among  the powers of nature, hi-

therto  known, rest therefore  on the chemical powers.   But in  this

also  they  must  feel quite disappointed; because  all  experience

teaches, that the chemical properties of any substance are never

changed  by any mechanical division, or by  any dilution with, or


a grain,  and be permitted to adopt  that a sphere of one inch diameter, formed of
motes, is at least twice as heavy, or weighs one grain ; partly because the motes are
proved to possess a considerably greater gravity than  the atmospheric air ; partly also
because  the proposition requires the weight of one grain for a cubic sphere, and the
whole calculation becomes more simplified by it.  Farther, knowing, by optical expe-
riments, that the smallest body visible, without artificial aid, cannot be less than the
one thousandth part of one inch,  the diameter of a sphere of visible motes can there-
fore not  contain more than a thousand of them.  The whole sphere of motes weigh-
ing one grain, and containing one thousand in diameter, will form a sphere which con-
tains 523,500,000 motes.  Let us increase this number with 476,500,000, under the
impression that the motes are still lighter and nearer to the weight of atmospheric air,
and also for the convenience of using the power of ten ; the sphere of motes will then
contain  1,000,000,000, or 10l : the weight of one mote will of course be accordingly

 ~g.  The whole weight of our globe is nearly equal to one with 25 zeros in pounds,

or to one with 29 zeros  in grains; the thirtieth homoeopathic dilution is equal to a
                                              1
fraction  of one divided by one with sixty zeros, or to    60  These numbers give the

following geometrical proportion, wherein the first member is equal to the homoeopa-
thic dilution ;  the second, or the two middle members to the weight of one mote, and
                                   1     1      1
the third is the resulting number, viz.   60 :  TJJ" ~~     9:  10  oronemote,weigh-

    1                                          1
ing ~~Z  of a grain, and the thirtieth dilution weighing 7760, would require as the third

number  of the proposition, ten elevated to the  forty-second power: but the pro-
portion  between the weight of our  globe, expressed by grains, compared with the

weight of a mote, gives the  following proportion :  10  :   J —    9:   47;  or

  1                                                     _l__
"T7^ is the third member of this proportion.  This compared with   60 as the  same

third member in the former proportion, gives a number too email in its denominator by
1013 or  by one with 13 zeros:  just ten  billions, which our globe would weigh more
in grains, (about one  thousand  millions in pounds) to be then  in the same proportion
t(0 one mote, as this is to one homoeopathic atom of the thirtieth dilurion.—q. e. d. 
208
  any solution in, a fluid not decomposing the substance.  The oxy-
  dation of mercury, or of some other metals, by a long trituration,
  and other changes produced in substances where caloric is simul-
  taneously developed, depend on other causes than on mechanical
  division alone, and can have no influence in this case.  It has long
  been known that gold, which, unlike most other metals, is not oxy-
  dated by hammering, or by other means which considerably dimi-
  nish its cohesion, when contemporaneously exposed to the atmos-
  pheric air, may be reduced by mechanical power to one millionth
 part of a geometrical line in  thickness, and still it retains all its
 characteristic properties so fully, that we have reason to  think it
  might be made  much thinner, without losing them in  the least.
 The homoeopathic maxim,  " similia  similibus curantur," is fur-
 ther opposed to all  chemical processes; since  these are based
 upon the laws of affinity, resulting from diversity: and wherever
 a chemical process operates, two or more contraria, but not similia,
 act upon one another ; and their chemical action upon each other
 augments with their increasing diversity.  The opposite  maxim,
 " contraria contrariis curantur," though likewise opposed to ra-
 tional  medicine, would therefore accord much better than the ho-
 moeopathic maxim with  the chemical laws of  nature, which  pre-
 side over many, if not all vital actions, however essentially changed
 and modified they are by the latter.—The homoeopathic  tritura-
 tions are particularly contrary to the old and  still acknowledged
 law  established in chemistry, viz. corpora non  agunt nisi fluida ;
 that is, when two or more substances shall act chemically upon
 one  another, one at least must  be  liquid,  or must contain a fluid,
 in being crystalized, or a hydrate.
   On  glancing at  Hahnemann's  explanation  of his developed
 drug-virtues, it is evident  that he rejects their chemical  opera-
 tions :  for had he  only asserted that the neutralizing chemical
 processes do  not  go on so unaltered in the living animal body as
 they do in substances in the crucible, it would have been consist-
 ent with sound physiology, which does not acknowledge that the
 universal chemical  laws  act, in the living body,  precisely in the
 same manner as in physical nature.  But a principal objection to
this part of the subject is his assertion, that the chemical proper-
 ties of his developed drug-virtues  are  changed before the drugs
are taken.  Thus he asserts, that earths, metals, sulphur, etc. etc.
become soluble in alcohol, by  homoeopathic manipulations ;  and 
20(J
that substances  not volatile, as table-salt, silicia, etc. become so
volatile, or  easily evaporable,  that  by  merely  smelling of them
once, the  diseased* state is cured,  or changed at least for many
weeks,  in spite of all external influences of the atmosphere, of food,
drink, mental impressions,  etc.   On the other hand, he considers
his duly  potenzised  drugs  to  be so  far  from  volatile,  however
much they are so in the eyes of all  chemists, that, in his opinion,
his sugar-pellets, moistened with highly potenzised drugs, may be
preserved for years, without losing their properties. Thus he says
that Phosphorus, after being homceopathically potenzised, remains,
without the least precaution, unchanged for years;  though every
one acquainted only with  the elements  of chemistry,  even of
former  ages, when this science was not yet  so  over-refined as
it is in  his eyes  at  present, knows,  that Phosphorus is extremely
volatile, and is protected with great difficulty from evaporating
and oxydating, and that nothing promotes both more easily  than
trituration.   Farther he states, that Baryta acquires the  property
of being unchanged by acids,  (Chr.  Dis.  vol. ii. p.  33),  and that
the symptoms observed after the use of pure lime  are the same as
those caused by acetate of lime, (ibid, p. 63).  Acetic acid, which
has so  great a chemical influence on  almost all substances, espe-
cially on most earths, metals, etc. loses, in his opinion, its promi-
nent influences upon such substances, after their virtues are homceo-
pathically developed,even when not taken as medicines: so that this
acid is used by him and his followers as an innocent or unmedicinal
fluid, and as a mere menstruum.*   This likewise  contradicts all
experience, which teaches that acetic acid,particularly in its  con-
centrated  state, even when  externally applied, quickly  destroys
parts of the  living animal  body ; and if taken  internally, acts
as a violent poison: though, when sufficiently diluted, it becomes
   * As usual with Hahnemann, we find this assertion likewise contradicted by him-
self, in his Mater. Med. vol. i. p. 14. where he says, that the poisonous effects of Bel-
ladonna are much increased by the addition of acetic acid. This evidently proves, that,
considering Belladonna in itself a powerful drug, he must value acetic acid also, as a
very effectual, and not as an  indifferent one.  Vinegar, and similar vegetable acids,
were always considered, by the physicians of all schools, as the best antidotes against
all kinds of narcotic plants, and especially against Belladonna: of course Hahnemann
must assert the contrary, even without any regard to his committing the grossest in-
consistency.  There is hardly to be found an author more careless in regard to con-
tradictions and inconsistencies, even to those which are quite unnecessary and easily
avoidable.  But he knows best what he can offer to his infatuated disciples and ad-
mirers without losing their implicit confidence and humble respect; and for others
he never  was able nor intended to write as a dignified medical author, since he com--
menced the career of a quack.
                                27 
210
 vinegar, which injures only dyspeptic, hysteric persons, etc.   In
 addition to all these facts, his developed drug-virtues are directly
 opposed to the known laws of chemistry, which  do not admit an
 inverse ratio between the weight and power  of a substance,  but
 prove the contrary, especially according to the acute researches of
 Berthollet, in his Statique Chimique, which  are found, at least in
 that respect, correct.
   We have now to compare the action of Hahnemann's developed
 drug-virtues with the operation of those agents, termed imponde-
 rabilia, which appear to be particularly attractive to him and his
 followers.—A man who searches for " great  truths," by which he
 thinks to benefit mankind so much, might be excused for his gross
 ignorance of the modern discoveries in natural philosophy and che-
 mistry,  and for not being aware, that the so termed impondera-
 bilia  are now considered as the most powerful chemical agents
 which preside over  all chemical processes,  and that the greatest
 chemists of the present century have founded the  whole system of
 chemistry upon  the reciprocal electro-chemical relations of sub-
 stances  considered as elementary ; thus  the great chemist Berze-
lius has constructed his chemical theory and classification  upon
the electro-chemical phenomena attending the mutual affinity of
 bodies, as bases and acids.  Hahnemann,  however, is so far behind,
 and so ignorant of the progress of chemistry,  as not even to know
 the difference  between  muriatic and  chloric  acid ;  (see  Mat.
 Med.  Vol. V. second edition, 1626, p. 98,) but,  nevertheless,  this
 brazen-faced charlatan, though a contemporary of Wentzel, La-
 voisier,  Scheele, Humphrey Davy, J. B. Richter, <fcc, ventures  to
 assume a high standing as a chemist, and to ridicule and despise
 modern chemistry, as he does all ancient and modern medicine!—
 Admitting that his drug-virtues must be considered  as similar to  the
 other imponderable agents, can he or any one else demonstrate by
facts that caloric, light, electricity, magnetism, physical as well as
 animal, operate in an inverse ratio to their presumed weight and
 bulk,  as his developed drug- virtues must do if they existed any where
 else but in his own morbid fancy 1 Do not all phenomena pave just
 the contrary ? Should light operate in the inverse ratio of its quan-
 tity, all animals would see better in direct proportion to the darkness;
plants would best flourish in places precluded from the access of
 light, and  fade away when exposed to the bright sun-shine, &c.
 Should  caloric operate in  the inverse ratio  of its quantity, a sub-
stance might  be ignited by a plain glass, or  still better, by being 
211
 placed behind  a  concave one; we should  feel  warmest in  the
 extreme  cold  of  winter,  and coldest  irr  the heat of  summer,
 &c.   Electricity  depends  also on the  direct ratio  of its  de-
 veloped quantity, otherwise a smaller surface of  glass  or rosin
 would be better adapted  to  develope  a laige quantity of both
 electricities than  a larger  one;  none  of the many experiments
 with  the electrometer, the electrical condenser, the Ley den vial,
 the electrophor,  &c, could  be  satisfactorily explained.  The
 same  may be said of galvanism if  it is to be considered as different
 from electricity; the degree of its extensive or intensive powers
 depending, either on the largeness of the surface, or on the num-
 ber of the plates.  In regard to magnetism,  a smaller piece of the
 same  magnet would also prove more powerful than a larger one,
 or at least from the smallest  magnet  the strength and  extent of
 power could be developed ad infinitum ; Schweigger's multiplicator,
 Faraday's late interesting experiments in confirmation of Oerstedt's
 great discovery  in producing electricity by magnetism,  and many
 other experiments, which have advanced natural history  and che-
 mistry during the present age more than many centuries did before,
 could  not be explained, if electricity, galvanism and  magnetism
 should be presumed to act,  similar to the homoeopathically deve-
 loped  drug-virtue, in the inverse ratio of weight and power.  We
 suppose, that even animal magnetism, though yet little known,
 appears to depend in a direct ratio upon bulk, for, if this were  not
 the case, a person unpleasantly affected by the  approach  of a cat,
 would either feel so at any distance, or would have lost all sensi-
 tiveness  of this kind  in infancy,  by unavoidable  and continual
 habit.   It would also be difficult to explain why generally, strong,
 stout and healthy persons best  impart animal magnetism, and why
 sometimes they  feel so exhausted by it, that instances are recorded,
 where healthy and vigorous magnetiseurs,  have died suddenly,
 immediately after  such an over-exertion ; though  we  do not be-
 lieve that animal magnetism will revive a person who has been
 for a long time asphyctic, as Hahnemann asserts in his Organon,
 4th ed. on  §291.—In  a manner, never  before observed  by any
 one  Hahnemann  also  minutely distinguishes, in the   second
 volume of his Mat. Med., the different symptoms elicited in  healthy
 persons by the north and south-pole of a magnet, and refers with
 peculiar emphasis and extraordinary sarcasm to the action  of mag-
netism o-enerally.  As  if this agent was  properly known  by him
 only,  he asks, on  p.  213,  among other  bombast,  to  edify hi? 
212
 achool of ignoramuses, " Is not the centillionth part of a grain, (a
 " fraction with 600 zeros as denominator), still infinitely too heavy
 " for the imponderable part, for this kind of spirit, which has flown
 " from the magnetic stick into the living  body? and will you feel
 " so much struck with  amazement, at the homoeopathic doses of
 " an efficient  drug, amounting to  one sixtillionth, one octillionth,
 " or one decillionth part of a grain, which are so immensely largo
 " when compared  with the invisible  magnetic power ?"—In a si-
 milar manner he says, on p. 293 of his Organon, (4th ed.) referring
 to all  the stupid allopathists,  " Let  mathematicians explain to
 " them how true it is, that if a substance be divided into any num-
 " ber of parts, its smallest particle will  always contain something
 " of this substance, and therefore it can never become a nonentity;
 " let them be told by natural philosophers, if they are  susceptible
>" of instruction, that there are  numerous  powerful things (called
 " potenzes), which are totally without weight, as caloric, light, &c.
 " and are, therefore, always  infinitely  lighter than the contents of
 u a drugin its homoeopathic dose;  let them  estimate, if they can,
 " the weight of an angry word, by which a bilious fever is gene-
 " rated, or the weight of sad tidings from an only son, by which
 " his mother is killed."
   Those who, from extravagant imagination, narrow reason or
 credulous infatuation, cannot reflect with calmness, are exceedingly
 dazzled by this and similar explanations of  Hahnemann, and in-
 stead of minutely analyzing such common-place instances and flat
 reasonings as they easily could, they become still more, fascinated
 by  the acuteness and depth of intellect, as well as by the immense
 wisdom and experience of their  " great genius."
   Hahnemann generally uses a  singular  kind  of  paralogism
 or  a  false and deceitful  conclusion, when he  endeavours to
 appeal from his pretended facts  to common sense.   With but little
 attention every one will observe his mode of ratiocination to consist
 in this, that, because we cannot  explain a certain phenomenon,
 therefore not only his statements of a phenomenon, which is either
 distantly or not  at  all similar to the former,  must not  only be cre-
 dited, but his  explanation of it  must likewise be true, be it ever so
 whimsical and foolish.  In the case before us his singular course of
 reasoning is this: because we cannot exactly explain in what man-
 ner the magnet acts on the living organized body, therefore we must
 not only believe the  salutary effect of his developed drug-virtues,
 but also that the manner and cause of their operation are similar 
                              213

 or identical with those of the magnet,—that is, similar to a manner
 which  neither  he himself nor any other mortal being  knows.
 Another mode in which he argues, is no less delusive and false, in
 being contrary to the true old maxim, " a posse ad esse non  valet
 " consequentia," or " because a thing can exist, it does not follow
 " that it must exist?  More clearly explained, his ratiocination
 consists  in  this,  that because  the mere  intellectual or subjective
 condition of the truth of an assertion, or of a deceitful experiment,
 might well  answer negatively for its real existence, or  because
 a phenomenon might be imagined to depend on a cause, the adop-
 tion of which is not opposed to the logical laws of the human un-
 derstanding (possibilitas logical:  therefore  also the phenomenon
 itself, and its dependence upon the  imaginary  and adopted cause,
 must also be positively true, may it be ever so  much contradicted
 either directly by daily experience, or indirectly'by an abstract of
 other facts,  and may it  therefore want all the conditions on which
 the objective possibility rests, (possibilitas phaenomenon sive realis.)
 Thus, for instance, because it  is not absolutely contrary to the lo-
 gical laws of our understanding to believe in mermaids, or centaurs,
 it would  follow, according to such reasoning, that we cannot doubt
 the existence of such beings, whenever something happens which
 may be easily explained by them ; or in a nearer relation to the
 object before us : because, it is  not contrary to the logical  laws of
 the human understanding,  to  believe in spirits which might  pre-
 side as independent or delegated beings over all the phenomena of
 matter, wherever this is considered as united with an imponder-
 abile or with any thing else, therefore Hahnemann thinks himself
 fully justified in regarding his developed drug-virtues also not  only
 as imponderabilia, but  also  as transmuted by  his manipulations
 into spirits.
  F. Bacon says very  correctly,  " Experiments touching trans-
 " mission of spirits and the force of imagination, work most upon
 " weak minds and spirits;  for  instance, those of sick, superstitious
 " and fearful persons, children  and young creatures."   After  the
 simplicity of the earliest ages had passed, when the mere dictates
 of sages  or impostors could make persons believe every thing they
 imagined or hoped for, base impostors, or blind  ignorant fanatics
 pursued this course, and by  pretended facts substituted credulity
 and superstition for the  true explanations of natural phenomena.
 By  such  means, demonology, magic, alchemy, witchcraft  and
similar kinds of deception were palmed  upon all classes of people 
                            214

 for many centuries, either by men,  who deceived themselves from
 want of intelligent reflection or from ignorance ;  or by impostors,
 who valued (their low interests higher than the prosperity of their
 fellow-men.  In cases where the public was not disposed to believe
 them implicitly, they had always some facts  at their command, by
 which they endeavoured to show the causal similarity or identity
 of those facts and their wonderful statements, knowing that  the
 public cannot generally investigate minutely the true connexion
 between similar phenomena and their widely different causes,  nor
 ascertain that the deception in regard to the  identity of the causes
 of two or more similar phenomena, frequently arises merely from
 the contemporaneous action of the former.
   Yet the old Greek and Roman philosophers thought that matter
 can never be reduced to nothing: Anaxagoras, for instance,  ac-
 knowledged very distinctly  the  infinite divisibility of matter,  by
 his o/xoi/AS£Siai.   Lucretius says in many places the same, e. g.  on
 lib. i. v. 249,

            " Haud igitur'redit ad Nihilum res ulla sed omnes,
            " Discidio redeunt in corpora materiai."

 And F. Bacon  says exactly the  same  in  his Organon: " Nulla
 " violentia, nulla denique eetas aut diuturnitas temporis potest re-
 " digere aliquam vel  minimam portionem  materise in nihilum,
 " quin et sit aliquid et  loci  aliquid occupet."  If every  one  must
 admit that  any  small quantity of a substance, soluble  in water,
alcohol, &c. or miscible with other substances by trituration in any
 large and disproportionate quantity, will never become absolutely
 nothing, but always remain something, especially if the substances
 in question do not operate  chemically upon each other; does it
follow therefrom that the effects of these substances on the human
 body, in any imaginable  small  quantity,  must not only be per-
 ceptible, but still greater than  when  used  in quantities many
 million times larger, because they have become transmuted into  an
imponderabile, different from  any other one  hitherto known, and
therefore also  from other  fancied  homoeopathic imponderabilia.
developed in a similar manner from other simple drugs 1  The  in-
 finite divisibility of matter is so intimately  connected with our ab-
stract ideas, that without its adoption, our conceptions in regard to
 the existence of bodies of all shapes and sizes appear to be vague,
 and would  force us to admit the still more unmeaning conception
 of a vacuum, though the atomistical theory  of modern chemistry 
215
explains with much acuteness the existence of primitive atoms.
Admitting, therefore, with Hahnemann, that the smallest imagin-
able fraction of a substance must always be something of it, his
other assertion involves itself the grossest petitio principii, and gives
rise to the simple question, why this, his proposition, should not be
directly applicable to the smallest particle itself, without any fur-
ther developement; or  by what reason or experiment can he prove
that the'matter, which he himself declares  indestructible, becomes
nevertheless, by its  developement, extinct as matter, and is trans-
muted into a spirit, a thought, &c, in short, into something which
is  not matter? Hahnemann's adoption of spirits, into which all
matter becomes changed, palpably contradicts not only his assertion
about the continuance  of matter, but the latter offers the most con-
clusive  argument against the adoption of the former.  Should his
virtues  developed from drugs be, as he pretends,  identical with
the substances  or agents hitherto known and  called impondera-
bilia, then he must either admit that the principal  characteristic
of matter, viz. absolute ponderability,  has ceased to be its essential
attribute, or that the same thing can be material and immaterial;
and also it would appear unnecessary to recommend the tiresome
development of these imponderabilia from the different drugs; as
they are made  ready at hand for us, and are unquestionably more
free from all matter than if formed  by repeated triturations, di-
lutions, and shaking of drugs,  &c.—Since Professor Oerstedt's dis-
covery of the identity of electricity and  magnetism,  we  know of
only three agents called imponderabilia, viz. light, caloric and elec-
tricity.  We should, therefore, have only to select from these three,
one, or, (if we wished  to use,  contrary to Hahnemann's prescrip-
tions, more than one at a time), two  or three for the experiments
on healthy and  the  cure of diseased persons, without resorting to
one of the  same imponderabilia, developed by a troublesome pro-
cess from  other substances.   Could  any sound  conclusion be
drawn  from Hahnemann's contradictory assertions,  we could  be-
lieve his meaning to be, that his developed drug-virtues act simi-
larly to one of the known imponderabilia, since he considers, (at
the end of his Organon, and in his Mat. Med. Vol. II.) physical as
well as animal  magnetism, as specific remedies, and highly recom-
mends  them as  adjuvants  to his other drugs  if they fail  to ope-
rate, notwithstanding their almost unconditional action.  If Hahne-
mann does not  consider his  developed  drug-virtues as operating 
216
precisely like one of the known imponderabilia, but as different,
specific ones, similar only, but in regard to their imponderability,
not identical, then he has  not merely enriched the medical pro-
fession with many millions of new salutary powers, but also na-
tural philosophy with as many imponderabilia as there are sub-
stances, because, as we have seen,  drug-virtues may be developed
from all natural substances.—Indeed !  it is strange that  no phi-
losopher, in fact, that no man, except Hahnemann, has hitherto dis-
covered any one of this immense number of imponderabilia.  As
every great agent of that kind has only an influence on the living
body, in so  far as it corresponds  more or less to its general operation
in nature, it would be  very singular if the homoeopathic impon-
derabilia alone, should act exclusively on the human body,  and did
not manifest  their existence by some  other  natural phenomena.
The considerations, that the knowledge of the laws of nature is now
much  advanced, the principles  of natural  science  simplified, since
agents hitherto regarded as  different, are  now proved  to be  iden-
tical ; farther, that Hahnemann manufactures at  once  millions
of imponderable agents, which he is  unable to  explain, except
but by  a comparatively few, most uncertain and delusive experi-
ments on healthy and diseased persons, which are also observed
only  by him and his adherents,—we say these  considerations
alone should shake all confidence  in  his doctrine in the eyes of
every impartial judge.
   If, as we might suppose from the paragraph quoted above, Hah-
nemann distinctly considers his  potenzised drug as similar to a kind
of idea, a thought, or  a passion ; then we see no propriety in pre-
scribing for patients, either imponderabilia homoeopathically de-
veloped from drugs, or those evolved by an electrical machine, a
magnet, &c. since then a psychical treatment only would be suf-
ficient ; thus in a bilious fever  we  could best succeed by prescrib-
ing a homoeopathic dose of anger ; in dropsy, apoplexy, especially
if arising from want of food  or  from other great distress, we could
recommend only a homoeopathic dose of sorrow and affliction ; in
erotomania, a homoeopathic dose of love; and the itch, this very
pandaemon of all chronic diseases, would likewise be best cured by
some of those  passions, which must be  considered as the best an-
tipsorics, for the reasons above mentioned.
   Those who become acquainted with  homoeopathia and  Hah-
nemannism by  some  of its votaries, are  quite inadvertent to the 
217
magnitude of uutnbeis, with which this doctrine abounds, and are so
much startled by its  vague conceptions, that, considering the im-
mense divisibility of  matter, and  the influence  of  the  finest par-
ticles of many substances  upon  our senses,  they become satisfied
by a summary decision in  regard to the similar action of agents
called imponderabilia, and also to those phenomena which depend
on the great divisibility of matter itself.
   We are far from referring all  phenomena in  universal nature,
and much less in organized living bodies, to  the action of palpable
matter.   We are also quite ignorant  wherein any power  really
exists, and know only how to distinguish generally in the living
body, that which excites its reaction, from the reaction itself.  All
vital reaction is termed dynamical, in  order to distinguish it from
the physical and chemical  powers, though  they always appear, if
not to depend upon, at least to  be  connected with, and modified by
matter, which must be considered  as their common  bearer,  since
all the  physical and chemical powers of nature reside in matter.
   This  intimate connexion between power  and  matter frustrated
the deepest and acutest  metaphysical  researches of the  greatest
philosophers, and will never  be  satisfactorily explained  by  any
mortal being, because all matter appears to our external senses as
finite, while infinity is the ideal abstract of  power, and wc cannot
imagine that any power can cease to act otherwise than by another
counteracting one, where of course the seeming passivity consists
likewise in a counteraction.  Matter and power, or the substance and
the accident of metaphysicians, appear therefore to us widely dillii-
ent,  and in our finite existence we are  more able indistinctly to
imagine, than  clearly to conceive, how one can  result from, or be
combined  with  the  other.   Our  notion of the  infinite  is,  when
properly analyzed, only  negative,  or  opposite  to finite;   and we
should think, that if  we could  ever acquire  an exact positive arid
minute  insight  into  the infinite, the impenetrable  mystery  with
which Providence has veiled  from us the existence of all things
and  of ourselves would disappear.*  It  may  be therefore only par-

  * The fact that man can imagine and still more comprehend, at least indirectly,
what infinity is, and can use formula; of infinite magnitudes for minute and correct
calculations, may prove that the human mind or whatever name wc might give to the
cause  of the human understanding, belongs to another  world, since it appears in-
consistent  to think, that an  infinite property can depend upon a finite substance.  We
cannot pursue any farther these researches, which embrace the most subtile anti-
theses of ihe human mind ; but m opposition to Hahnemann's frantic opinion about
the infinite power in his drugs and the limited powers of the vital functions, the prin-
ciple of Life itself appears to the philosopher infinite in all uiiMiiiaed bodies ; and tO'
                               28 
218
donable  in men like  Hahnemann and  his followers, to use the

expressions of infinite in  a positive sense, when they wish to ex-

plain the great divisibility of matter.   If for instance, one grain of

musk fills a large hall, so  as to be recognized by our sense of smell

in every point of that hall, without losing any perceptible part  of its

weight after months or years;  what else does this prove, than the

great divisibility of this substance, and that the sphere of perception

of our olfactory  nerves is greater than that of our optic  and other

nerves ?  Does it follow therefrom, that the matter of musk becomes

transmuted into an  infinite spirit, or must be considered as a more

powerful drug than a hundred others not so  spontaneously divisible

and  volatile,  much  more  than  opium,  arsenic,  &c.    Does it

follow therefrom, that  wherever musk  is applicable as a remedy,

we must abstain from  giving it in the usual allopathic dose of from

two  to  twenty grains, but that  it  would be sufficient to let the

patient  enter every four or six weeks a large hall, and breathe for

a moment its atmosphere, pregnant with the self-developed virtue of

one grain ?   Perhaps homoeopathists will consider this  useless, be-

cause miserable  nature only, and not their duly consecrated hands

have developed the  infinite  virtue of musk !*  The thick fibres of



preside in the same manner over the life of  the largest whale as over the infusory
insect; in a Laplace, Cuvier and Kant, as well as in the greatest idiot;  the essence
appears to be the same, but its manifestation  in  every individual depends upon  the
individual organization,—may this manifestation consist only in automatically observ-
ing external objects or in the self-consciousness of a higher origin and destination.
To think any power  developed by man from unorganized dead substances, equal or
even paramount to the vital powers, is therefore the 'greatest madness which can be
imagined.—"Pour nepas tomber dans une errcur grave, neperdonspas devue, que
Dieu, etre infini, se manifeste a nous etre finis, par lefini.  Dans cette manifestation,
il est senti par ckacun et par tons, aussi bien  un que multiple.  Dieu est tout, mais
nous avons notre existence propre. Ce n'cstqu'a la condition de tenir compte a lafois de
Punite  et  de la multiplicity, que nous pouvons concilier les intercts generaux avec
les interets particuliers, la morale publique avec la morale prwee; c'est par la seulement
que nous serons parfaitement religieux."—(St. Simon.)
  * Hahnemann in his Materia Medica (Vol.  I. page 315) prescribes only the  decil-
lionth dilution of musk, and recommends  it  especially  against hypochondria.  It is
difficult to combine this his advice  with another remark on the same page, alluding
to a very uncomfortable after-operation of musk, which would not well suit the people
of " Egypt, the  land of monsters;" and of all other countries where seraglios are
kept.  On account of this very prejudicial after-operation of musk, it might be ad-
visable for authors on Materia Medica to expunge this  article from the apparatus
medicaminum, and for the druggists not to speculate in it; since, besides that one
bag of musk will be sufficient for  all Europe and America for  centuries,  the use of
musk will be proscribed in all the oriental countries, as soon as the  " great truth with
all its blessings" is known there.   We might suppose  with  propriety, that all the
governments which have particular reason to promote the rapid increase of popula-
tion, and especially the governments of North and South America, will soon prohibit
the importation of such a destructive article.—In  this manner we evidently see the
true charcter of this  "gigantic work," since the most tyrannical and the most repub-
lican governments are alike highly interested in attentively listening to and applying the 
219
 a small piece of meat are divisible into those which are so small as
 to be imperceptible by the best microscope; does it follow from this,
 that the decoction of such a microscopic fibre will afford the patient
 as much, or even  more nourishment, after a homoeopathic mani-
 pulation of this  " natural  substance," than a strong broth, made
 allopathically from some pounds of meat, because a nutritious im-
 ponderable virtue or spirit has been developed by the homoeopathic
 division ?
   We are by no means justified in asserting the absolute imponder
 ability of the so called imponderabilia.  Light is curved and reflected
 by certain bodies  under certain angles, and under other circum-
 stances.   Caloric distends bodies, if imparted to them  in a larger
 quantity than their specific capacity for it can sustain.  Electricity
 acts by its transition from one body to another, and by its distribu-
 tion over the surface of bodies, in many respects like other ponder-
 able  fluids.  These facts,, among many others, prove therefore, that
 the imponderabilia, as  they are termed, fill up a certain space}
 which they relinquish by force,  that their motion from  one place
 to another  requires a certain time, and that they must therefore be
 considered at least as dependent on, or connected with matter, per-
 haps  with more propriety as  matter  itself.   Probably they are all
 ponderable,  though by  their  nature,  either the general laws of
 gravity are altered and modified  by the bodies on which they act,
 particularly because their action is prominently a chemical one, (in
 which generally  the laws of gravity,  as all the other mechanical
 laws of nature, are more or less suspended ;) or our scales are, and
 probably ever will be too imperfect to weigh them.*
 "great truth."—The  old philosopher, to whom the after-operation of musk as alluded
to, might have become by the while indifferent,
               " Nee tenet, omnia paullatim  tabescere et ire
               "Ad scopulum,  spatio aetatis defessa vetusto."—Liter.
will pardon us, when we think it a little overhasty to recommend it against hypochon-
dria; since, however beneficial its first-operation may be for such unfortunate persons,
we are exceedingly anxious concerning its after-operation, as we are taught by him
and Dr. Hering, (on page 14, Concise View,) that " medicines do not become salutary
"by their direct effects," &c; "but they are  salutary by reason of their after-opera-
" tion."  In this case homoeopathists will have some particular difficulty to make both
ends meet, viz: the salutary after-operation and the promotion of "domestic felicity,"
both so inseparable from all the other blessings of  homceopathia (see Concise View,
page 29.)
  * The best  scales ever made are  those of the celebrated Fortin at Pans, being with
a weight of four pounds, sensible to the  fiftieth  part of a grain, which is equal to
____i____of the weight, and those  of Florenz at  Vienna, with a weight of A\ pounds,
are sensible to____1____of the same.  According to our calculations made above,
the absolute weight of a sphere containing many  thousands of motes, would however
not be determinable by these and much finer scales, and this sphere would seemingly
appear to us imponderable, though nobody will deny that a mote, obeying the  laws of 
220
   On closer reflection, every person of common sense will conside'

 Hahnemann's expression, ': let  a  substance  be divided  into  any

 " number of  parts, its smallest  imaginable  part will still contain

 "something of this  substance, and  can  therefore never become a

 nonentity," as  nothing else than what  every  one  knows, viz.  that

 a pound of a  substance consists of so many ounces, drachms, grains,

 and as  many smallest fractions of a grain, as  we are  pleased  to

 imagine ;  or also that every power must  be  considered as a com-

 pound of as many small  momenta, as  we  are willing to make by

 a division  which  can be likewise continued ad  infinitum.   We

 know  by  experience, that  this  expression and similar common

 place explanations of Hahnemann  are considered by his followers

 as  the  greatest wisdom  ever uttered by a philosopher, and  that

 principally for  these  reasons, considered by them incontrovertible

 proofs of his  doctrine, they cannot be made sensible of the absur-

 dity, contained in  his advice to prescribe only the  smallest doses

 of homoeopathic drugs.   We see that this third maxim of homceo-

 pathia is yet  in itself much more absurd than the  two former; the

 greatest nonsense contained in it is, however, that the single part of

 gravity by its falling to the ground in a calm, is a ponderable matter, and would weigh
 upwards of a thousand millionth part of one grain, if we were possessed of such deli-
 cate scales.—It  would almost appear that Hahnemann has already invented much
 finer scales for his chiromantical experiments; it is however very singular and is a part
 of the high wisdom, only intelligible to homoeopathists, that, as we have seen him value
 exactly the weight of the fluid which passes from the magnet, "at one cenlillionthparl
 of a grain"—a trifle only equal to one divided by  one with six hundred zeros,—he,
 with this minute  knowledge of the real weight of the magnetic matter, nevertheless
 asserts it  to be imponderable.  We wish that Dr. Hering, or  another intimate dis-
 ciple of Hahnemann, would be  pleased to solve also this great enigma, how anything
 can be weighed up to one centillionth part of one grain, and yet be imponderable'! and
 to enrich the world with the construction of such marvelous scales, the great advantages
 of which are so obvious.   The opinion, that a magnetic fluid passes from the magnet
 to the steel, and imparts the  magnetic fluid to the latter, is erroneous;  though often
 emphatically  expressed by  homoeopathists in support  of their doctrine.  The two
 opposite magnetic powers or fluids  are already slumbering in the steel, previous to its
 coming in any relation to the magnet, and this  equilibrium of the two fluids being
 disturbed  by the approach of one pole of a magnet to the smallest point  of the steel,
 extends quickly to the whole mass of the latter in such a manner, that in its smallest
 sections, the homogeneous fluid is repelled and the  heterogeneous fluid attracted, until
 by these mutual attractions and repulsions, both endsof the  steel show respectively the
 north and the south poles;  resembling in that respect the electricity of the largest
 conductor, in which from the beginning  of the developement by the machine,  plus
 electricity immediately collects  at one end, and minus electricity at the other.  This
 explanation of magnetism communicated  to a piece of steel, is corroborated by the
 facts, that the steel which, when in connexion with the magnet, shows all the proper-
 ties of the latter, loses again these  peculiarities  immediately on being disengaged
 from the magnet; farther, that the steel may be magnetized without the aid of a magnet,
 by being hammered, turned, exposed to the violet light of the sunbeams, by being
 heated red hot and suddenly cooled in cold water, in a  perpendicular direction, &c.
 Magnetism is therefore in every respect not  a suitable subject for homoeopathists to
explain the operations of their drug-virtues, and they, in reforming  medicine, better
insist upon their implicit belief in magic and witchcraft than to reform in this manner
natural philosophy also. 
221
a whole i. greater than the whole itself, and that, notwithstanding,
the infinite nature of the drug-virtues begins to become developed
at the eighteenth dilution, and reaches its beneficial degree gener-
ally at the thirtieth ;  though according to his last suggestion, (see
Chron. Diseases, Vol. I., page 209,) much  higher dilutions should
be used, as no dilution whatever can be considered too small; a direc-
tion which still more demonstrates that he thinks the smallest part
of any thing is not merely something, but more than its larger part.
It must also be difficult for any man of common sense to conceive,
how an infinite being can ever arise from a finite one, and much
less  that an infinite being should be finite only on one side;—which
would be the grossest contradictio in  adjecto, provided this great
philosopher would not assert, that his potenzised or developed drug-
virtues are to be considered similar to the two branches of a parabole
or the four branches of an hyperbole with their asymptotes—which,
according to the doctrine  of conic sections, are finite on one and
infinite on the other side.
   Even all these extravagant fancies admitted ; what reason can
Hahnemann assign for  still continuing to recommend  for some
of his drugs, the third, sixth, &c. dilution,  all of  which  are  so
many billion times inferior to the eighteenth, at which point he
asserts all  homoeopathic virtues  begin to  be developed?  The
experiment has not yet been made to our knowledge,  and Hahne-
mann wisely says nothing about it; but we would seriously ask him
and  his followers, whether, if all the remnants of the homoeopathic
dilutions of arsenic, sulphur, calcarea, &c, from  the eighteenth up
to the thirtieth degree of development should  be  collected, they
verily believe, that these, together with the dilutions made pre-
viously to the eighteenth, would not contain the original grain ?
or if he himself, Dr. Hering, or any one of his faithful adherents,
would confidently swallow the remnants of different homoeopathic
developments, for  instance of arsenic, under the impression that
the arsenic has become transmuted into an infinite spirit, an infinite
being, an  imponderable, (fee, which " no longer possess those long
" continued effects of a  prejudicial character, which  we have so
" frequently to witness from the crude articles."—(See Dr. Hering's
Concise View, page 14.)   We believe that  chemical analysis will
certainly find in a sufficient quantity of such lemnants,  the sub-
stance from which the  homoeopathic virtue was developed ; bui
then we  may iustly ask, by what kind  of a new  miracle  these 
222
 virtues, spirits, infinite beings, imponderables, thoughts or passions,
 have been  transmuted  back again, and per synthesin into  the
 substantial finite grains of arsenic, sulphur, &c.
   It is indeed very ridiculous for Hahnemann to refer to the exacti-
 tude of mathematicians, as  we have seen above.  If he had ever
 possessed the slightest conception  of the elements of this science,
 which he recommends to his followers as the  best means for close
 thinking, he would have known the proper meaning of mathe-
 matical infinity in irrational numbers, in the series of converging
 fractions, &e; he would have been aware, that in every problem
 into which such infinite magnitudes enter, or from which a ratio
 of the finite to the infinite  part  results, the mathematician can
 take so much of the latter as the minute exactness of the problem
 and its solution  require, leaving the remaining infinite  part un-
 noticed as nullity, or as a magnitude which has absolutely disap-
 peared, in respect to the finite magnitude required for the object in
 view.  Every well educated pupil  of a good classic school, knows
 that the ratio of the  diameter to the circumference of a circle, or
 that any even root of numbers not divisible by four, is irrational;
 but still the  square contents of the surface of a circle or the cubic
 contents  of a sphere, if ever  so large or small, may be calculated
 with the greatest  requisite exactness, though the infinite part of
 the ratio  is neglected as a nullity.  The astronomer loses relatively
 nothing by disregarding the  infinite part of magnitudes, after he
 has used them according to the rules of the differential and integral
 calculus,  by  which he is even taught to consider them at least as
 disappearing; but he uses frequently the signs for the infinitely large
 and the infinitely small with the same facility as he uses all signs
 of finite magnitudes; his solution of a problem, generally embracing,
 what people not enlightened by homoeopathia, formerly used to call
 immense magnitudes, proves  so perfectly correct, that he can cal-
 culate the heavenly phenomena for centuries to come, as well as
 for the, next  hour.  If mathematicians and astronomers had always
 thought it necessary to pursue another way, agreeable to Hahne-
 mann's whimsical  suggestions, that the most infinite part must
 always be minutely noticed; all  ages which  have past, and  all
 those which  are to come, would be insufficient to solve one problem;
 not one of the immense multitude of interesting and indispensable
 calculations  could  ever have been finished,  and natural philo-
sophy,  astronomy, &c, would have remained, and still remain in 
223
their infancy.   No astronomer has, to our knowledge, as yet been
obliged minutely to consider a ratio between one and  the 120th
power of ten, used by Hahnemann in his 60th developed power of
the Thuya occidentalis, or the tree of life.  (See Materia Medica, Vol.
V., page 123.)—Indeed, if a Hahnemann can claim with propriety,
much greater exactitude for  his infallible method of  curing all
diseases than mathematicians and even astronomers aim at; then
his remarkable declaration, " every one must admit that the heal-
ing art has not existed before me" (preface, 4th edition  of the Or-
ganon,) is likewise correct.
   From  the  immense quantity  of hare-brained nonsense which
distinguishes this   " new art of healing,"  much of which  our
limits oblige us to omit, we must  notice the following assertion
contained in Hahnemann's works, (see  his  Treatise on  Chronic
Diseases, Organon, &c.,) and also in Dr. Hering's Concise View.
The latter says, in  accordance  with Hahnemann's assertion, on
page 20, " The preparations ought not therefore to be transmitted
" from place to place in a fluid state, because their energy  is liable
" to be excessively increased by the long continued, though moderate
" agitation, which they thus undergo."
   A man who asserted, that mere mechanical division candevelope
from all natural substances, a power bordering on miracles, could
not complete his vast  nonsense  better, than  by referring to other
phenomena, which also nobody but  himself and his  infatuated
adherents pretend to have observed,  and which, if most distantly
confirmed, would produce far greater and more extensive changes
in all  the relations of human  society than any discovery, not
excepting even the art of printing and the discovery of Columbus.
It is obvious that no science, no  art, no  occupation or situation of
private or social life, from the most peaceful  to the  most warlike,
would remain unchanged and unbenefited  to the highest degree,
if this statement of the " great benefactor of mankind" were true.
Volumes  filled only with the description of all  the changes  and
blessings, arising from this  discovery, would  be  insufficient  to
exhaust the  subject.   What a  benefit for  travellers,  since they
would require only to provide themselves, at  the commencement of
their long journey, with a bottle of good madeira, which is certainly
a natural production, and a medicinal fluid too, (Organon p. 73)
from which they can have every day a few glasses; if they are care-
ful to supply the bottle with pure water;—nay ! the madeira will, 
224
by the " agitation" caused  in rrding, &c. probably become changed

into a much nobler and milder sort of wine, perhaps into old  hock,

champaign, or lacrymre christi;  since, according  to  homoeopathia,

"  medicines which had  undergone these operations, no longer pos-

"  sessed those  long  continued  effects of  a prejudicial character,

"  which we so  frequently  have to witness from the crude articles,

"  (see Dr. Hering, 1. c. p. 14) and (on  p. 20),  it  was  the  energy,

"  the virtue only which was thereby so astonishingly unfolded."*


   * Homoeopathists will consider these deductions, from Hahnemann's assertions, as
misrepresentations, since he says expressly, (Organon, p. 299) that the actions of wine
and alcohol are diminished by  sufficient dilutions ; but, if we remember his sugges-
tions quoted above, about the  use of wine as a powerful remedy in inflammatory dis-
eases, and reflect with impartiality on his doctrine about the devolopment of  virtues
from all natural substances, the reader will find our deductions not to be far-fetched.
Since these remarks were written, we have read the  " Letter to the  physicians  of
" France, ou homoeopathia, by Count  des Guidi, M. D., translated from the French
" by Dr. William Charming, New-York, 1834."  Similar to all those works on ho-
mceopathia, which are  mostly  composed by  Counts, Barons, Chevaliers d'industrie,
and similar personages, this is also one of the flattest literary productions we have
ever seen from an obscure man, and, even up to the modest comparison of Hahne-
mann with  Galileo and Columbus, almost a fac simile of Dr. Hering's Concise View.
We confess, that we never heard before that such a man existed, though we can boast
of some knowledge of modern foreign literature, and we were indeed not more fortu-
nate in our inquiries of other medical men.  We should think  also that the zealous
translator, who was not only anxious to make his countrymen minutely acquainted
with all the titles, dignities and functions of his author, but also,  in his motto, invoked
the "heavens" for his admired new healing art,  would, have, at least, mentioned the
other medical works which have emanated from the pen of Monsieur le Docteur Count
des Guidi, if such exists, or to have proved his high standing in the  profession by
facts.  But the able translator appears to  have  been  so much enchanted with the
acuteness and consistency displayed in this letter, that, excepting a few pathetic intro-
ductory lines, he abstained from all remarks.  The conclusions, which we have drawn
above,  in regard  to the virtues developed from nourishment,  are also confirmed by
this author, who became enraptured with this new medical doctrine, because his wife
was cured by it; he does not say exactly of what disease. He teaches us, on page 16,
that wine or coffee, diluted with water or milk, stimulates and intoxicates more easily
and strongly, than if taken unmixed. To prove these experiments observed by him, he
emphatically exclaims,  on page 20 : "  Life ! how little matter it sometimes demands
" for its resuscitation, even in that function which is most strictly and servilely bound
"to matter, Nutrition1! See  that man sinking with  weariness and  hunger;  repose
" and abundant aliment are  indispensable, fully to restore his exhausted forces and to
" repair his withered and impoverished organs ; and yet a single mouthful of bread, a
" piece of sugar, a spoonful of wine, a  mere  alimentary atom, when compared with
" the wants of his case, will forthwith revive, and for some hours sustain those failing
" masses, inspiring with a breath of vigour that vast  machine  shattered  and falling
" into ruins."  Does this Monsieur le  Count Docteur,  and his  able  translator, con-
sider a mouthful of bread to be a homoeopathic dose 1  If so, the loaf to which it be-
longed would, cover, at least,  all  Europe.   Could any inference be  drawn from his
remark, except the  common experience, that if  a lamp is about to  be extinguiihed
from want of oil, it will be revived for a short time  by a few drops of it ? He adds
also, on page 16, in support of homceopathia, a quotation from  Dr. St. Marie, who ap-
peared to have some notions of homceopathia, without knowing any  thing of Hahne-
mann and his doctrine, and who found it  so striking that,  " Cullen  had already  re-
" marked, that calves were better nourished and more easily fatted, when the milk
" with which they were fed, was  diluted with an equal quantity of water, than when
" given to them without dilution." Is that an argument for the correctness of hoinu o-
pathic  doses1 Is it not known to every body, that men as well  as animals, and even
plants, j,tow thin and sickly,  when too richly fed, or in too  rich a soil, but stout an,d
healthy, when  fed and nourished with due regard to  their  digestive  and assimilative 
225
 farther, there  would be no danger of famine  in countries possess-

 ing merely  the slightest nutritious  substance,  and  good water or

 sugar of milk,  since a  small quantity of spirituous  drink, by  its

 immensely  developed virtue,  might take the place, for some  time

 of substantial  food.   We have  reason to hope also,  that this  va-

 luable discovery will soon  be completed by the art of " potenziV

 " ing" from a few  grains of wheat, corn or  rice, or a few crumbs

 of  stale  bread, nourishing  virtues  sufficient for millions  of men.*

 powers 1  does he not know that all living organized beings are nourished, not by the
 ingesta, but by the digesta, and that we shall find the old proverb,  " omne  nimium ver-
 titur in contrarium," confirmed here also. Are the expressions, to be healthy and fat,
 synonymous T Is he so ignorant of physiology as not  to know, that all  substances,
 which retard the lively circulation of the  blood, and which weaken to a certain degree
 the constitution of animals,may favour obesity, which is therefore already considered by
 C<elius Aurelianus as a morbid symptom, and as  a disease 1  The justly celebrated Bi-
 chat, likewise, in his excellent  Anatomie  Generate, considers, very  correctly, obesity as
 arising from the weakness of the absorbent vessels ; Darwin, and many other distin-
 guished physicians, also regarded it as  the consequence of debility.  Does he  not
 know an old experiment frequently  tried by European farmers, and often quoted  by
 physiologists, if we  are  not mistaken, even by Albertus Haller, in his physiology, that
 calves and  other domestic animals,  are  frequently  bled to make them more fat ? Is
 bleeding therefore, also, in his opinion, as good  a homoeopathic  remedy, to  become
 " better nourished and more easily  fatted," as starving; though both are so  much
 condeinned by homoeopathists?  Indeed ! the ratiocinations of these philosophers  are so
 very  singular, that the author  of homceopathia, or one of his disciples, would benefit
 mankind by publishing also a new system of logic, as we have reason to expect from
 their pre-eminent mathematical talents,  a  new  theory of magnitudes, a new  arith-
 metic, &c.—The Americans learn also from Monsieur le Count Docteur des Guidi, that
 they possess numerous schools for homoeopathia, and as his report has been translated,
 published, and its statements therefore silently admitted by one of their own professional
 men, they will of course be credited abroad.  Such are the common manoeuvres of these
 popular authors on homoeopathia; to make themselves mutually conspicuous as emi-
 nent authors and practitioners, and to prove the rapid increase of their party in all
 countries,  they  say  in America, that in  Germany, France, Italy, &c. the first and
 oldest medical men have zealously  adopted this new healing art; in the countries
 mentioned they say, in  return, the  same of  America.   Mendacia reciproca, et ex
 utraque parte, quandoque magno usui esse possunt.—Livius.
  * Since these lines were written, we have again  been delighted with a new and  strik-
 ing proof of the great blessings of homceopathia,  promoted by its  faithful votaries in
 this  new world.  We were not aware  that " the  great philosopher, who has beaten a
 " new path on all sides," and is constantly labouring for discovering " great truths,"
 had condescended to direct his  attention, most graciously, to  the  science of cookery,
 and to the developement of virtues from some substances, which we thought to be be-
 low his sphere, and that he jeally has commenced  what our sanguine  hopes  only
 anticipated above.   A homozopathic chocolate is publicly recommended by the leading
 homoeopathists  in Philadelphia and this city, Drs. Constantine Hering, Hans B.
 Gramm, John F. Gray, and Win. Channing, as preferable for  sick and weak persons
 to any other preparation of this article.   Dr. Hering states in his certificate, that this
homoeopathic chocolate is made exactly according to Hahnemann's prescription,  com-
 municated to the manufacturer, and that as it is less oleaginous than other kinds, it
deserves particularly to  be used also for  children.  Unable to find in Hahnemann's
 works a chocolate of his invention, and supposing, therefore, that  he  was  pleased to
communicate his new arcanum solely to his particularly beloved disciples, we can only
 make a few conjectures about it.   The  diminution or exclusion of the oleaginous
 part of cocoa, by which it is rendered less rich  for the stomach, has long been recom-
 mended and practised ;  the manufacturers, by an easy and cheap process, gain the
oleaginous part, or, as it  is called, the butter of cocoa, which is particularly mild and
less subject than similar  substances to  become rancid,  and therefore is worth more
than  the cocoa itself;  lieuou tin.' homoeopathic  chocolate should be cheaper than any 
226
 We dare not  allude any further  to  the  immense changes which

 will take place in the political condition of nations, when all fear

 of famine is  entirely removed.  What a blessing to poor poople, if

 there are any hereafter who can be so called, that benevolence can

 be exercised towards them so cheaply! A large family may for years

 daily enjoy the same bottle of wine, provided  they will only de-

 velope its virtues!  We know not how the temperance societies will

 be able to counteract intemperance, which we see is again thus in-

 directly  promoted by homoeopathia !—All governments, and  espe-

 cially those of the United  States, should henceforth  prohibit any

 passenger,  travelling any great distance  by mail, from  carrying

 any medicinal fluid with  him, since a small vial of an  innocent

 cordial, or even a solution of one grain of table salt, may become

 changed, after such a shaking, into an immensely developed power

 of the most violent poison, the smell of which,  " by its intensely

 " raised energy," might kill thousands of men!—We will  seriously

 mention what would long since, probably, have been the inevitable

 consequences, if only a homoeopathic fraction of this  frantic non-

 sense were  true.   No animal  could  exist on the shores of a large

 lake,  if only  one grain of arsenic, or one  poisoned  rat had ac-

 cidentally fallen into it, during a moderately shaking hurricane.

 If a small  package of  this, or of any similar soluble and strong


 prepared cocoa.  If a homoeopathic dose of any drug  be  mysteriously mixed in each
 portion,  the price cannot possibly be enhanced  by it, since, even if it were many mil-
 lion times dearer than the purest gold, one grain of such a drug would be by far too
 much, if our whole globe, with all its continents, islands,  mountains, oceans, lakes,
 &c. were transmuted into homoeopathic chocolate.  If this chocolate consists merely
 in the homoeopathically developed virtue of the fruit of the nobleTheobroma, the price
 of course ought also to be less, as the labour of rubbing down such an atom cannot much
 increase the value of any cheap unmedicinal substance  added.  But, nevertheless,
 this chocolate is dearer, its taste  is less agreeable, (at least  for  our own allopathic
 palate), and it is apparently, in every respect, an  article  far inferior to many others
 of that kind prepared in this or any other country.   What is the cause of this higher
 price] Avoiding conjectures, pardonable in,those who remember the alcali pneum, the
 arcanum against scarlet fever,  and the introductory lines  to the work on chronic dis-
 eases above mentioned, &c. of the old benefactor of mankind, we believe that it is
 only  to sustain the homoeopathic maxim, in regard to the inverse ratio between mat-
 ter, (the quality  of cocoa) and power, (its price.)  We hope that either the  " old
 " philosopher" himself, or some of his discipies, who combine with their distinguished
professional talents and acquirements an apician taste for cookery, will soon apply them
in benefiting the  people of this free country with homoeopathic cakes, pastries, pies,
 sausages, &c. so that " a treasure like this  new art may quickly be estimated in a de-
 " gree commensurate with its  real value ;  sooner than by the kings and  princes of
 " Europe, who impede the progress of the new art by processes, penalties and bay-
 " onets," (see Dr. Hering, 1. c. p. 29); and who do not deserve to have a taste even
 of these homoeopathic delicacies, unless they soon rescind their processes, penalties
 and bayonets, and humbly submit to Samuel Hahnemann and his heavenly doctrine !
 as he, himself, calls his discoveries, saying, on  page 7, Vol. III. of his Materia Me-
 dica, with Virgil, " ignea inest illis vis et colestis origo." 
227
poisonous substance, had ever been swept from a wreck into the
Dcean during a tornado, by  which we think it would  be as well
(haken, as a small vial is by a stout man's arm in a few minutes;
dl  fishes, and  all  monsters of  the deep, not excepting even the
arge sea-serpent, would long since have died.*   No human being,
or other animal, could live in or near any place, where  large che-
mical factories of corrosive sublimate, blue vitriol, &c. are situated.
Water, which has  only  run  for  a short  time  through copper or
leaden pipes, would seriously injure many, as every one  will admit
that water propelled by steam or any other power, will develope the
noxious properties of copper or lead in a few seconds, more than can
be done in several  hours by a stout man.  According  to Hahne-
mann's opinion in  regard to the great  divisibility of all  contagious
matter, which  he cites in support of his developed drug-virtues, no
contagious disease, adhering even  to letters at a distance of many
hundred  miles, could ever  become extinct, and  one  rabid dog
thrown into a large river, would infect all those who bathe  in  it,
when their  bodies  are but slightly  scratched.   If a person should
have taken one grain or  less of table salt, or should accidentally
have swallowed, during dinner, a similarly small quantity of char-
coal,  both of which occur to  many persons daily,  and,  instead of
taking a nap afterwards, should take a ride, he must either be in-
stantly killed, or be affected with some of the 895 serious and dan-
gerous symptoms  produced  by the virtue developed from  table-
salt, or  of the  930 of those produced from charcoal, (see Chr. Dis.

  * It appears from Hahnemann's Materia Medica, 2d ed. vol. vi. p. 4.  that the dan-
ger arising from one grain of a medicinal substance falling into a  large lake has been
already objected to him. He answers in his usual dictatorial manner, that such objec-
tions are utterly foolish, because the mixture in ever so large a quantity of water
could never be  so intimate as in each solution, made separately by two strong shakes,
viz. "with the arm from above downwards."  (See Organon, p. 299, note.)—From be-
low upwards would not answer this purpose.------We leave this his defence to the
judgment of those who have witnessed a stiff breeze at sea, to say nothing of a hurri-
cane, and who  may justly believe that the many millions of grains of salts, etc. dis-
solved in the ocean, might have  been shaken enough, in the course of  centuries, to
make each drop of sea-water a  strong homoeopathic drug or poison, as well as the
few shakings of a solution of one grain  of table-salt by the  arm of a homoeopathist,
" from above downwards," can develope a virtue so efficacious that it must be inhaled
only once every month.—Dr. Hering must have had an uncommonly pleasant voyage,
when  coming from Europe, otherwise we should think his opinion about the virtue
developed by shaking the bottle would have been shaken also.—We once accidentally
noticed in Fr. Bacon's works, on page 429, in vol. ii. of the new London ed. of 1824,
a singular passage, which we could not explain, but which appears to be connected
perhaps with an old English saying about shaking the bottle.—" Many men," he says,
« especially such  as affect gravity, have a manner, after other men s  speeches, to
" shake their heads. A great officer of this land would say, It was as  men shake a
" bottle, to see if there were any wits in their heads or no." 
228
Vol. IV. pp. 67 and ?>34.)   Only a  man,  like  Hahnemann,  who
considers his  wretched  knowledge the  highest wisdom, and hie
miserable aid to be far superior to the operations of natuie, which
he regards (as he expresses himself in the preface to his Organon),
as " unavailing, contrary to reasonable design and without sense,
could believe also,  that his arms, or those of his  faithful adepts,
are better able to develope the drug-virtues from table-salt, charcoal,
flint, (fee. than the stomach, especially when  its muscular action is
supported by the  fast trotting of a  horse, or any similar exercise  ;
an action, so powerful in itself,  that  nothing  in  art  is to be com-
pared with it. when we consider  that by it,  and by the chemical
influence of the gastric and other digestive juices, a homogeneous,
mild and salutary pulp is prepared from perhaps fifty heterogeneous
kinds of food and drink at a fashionable dinner, and which, ac-
cording to Fontana, destroys also the virus of the viper; while Bos-
quillon  states,  that even the hydrophobic matter  loses its  fatal
properties ; a power which Paracelsus,  (this truly eminent man,
who resembled Hahnemann only in quackery, which however
was more pardonable in  him,  considering the age  in  which  he
lived) so highly appreciated, terming  this power, " the great master
" of alchymy in the stomach:'*
   To crown all  the absurdities which the  instances alleged in
confirmation of this maxim of homoeopathia  offer, we shall amuse
our readers with one more statement of the many which Dr.  Her-
ing probably forgot to quote  in his unparalleled panegyrics of the
competitor of" Galileo and Columbus."  (C. V. pp. 9, 10.)
   A German, one of the many unprofessional men who are infatu-
ated with the homoeopathic doctrine and delighted with its practice,
probably a disciple of Hahnemann, has taken the very great trou-
 ble to  prepare, partly in snow- and partly in  spring-water, exactly
 according to the direction of  Hahnemann,  the fifteen  hundredth
 dilution of sulphur,  and pretends to have found very distinct me-
   * One lie  always leads to another.  Hahnemann's assertion in regard to the im-
 mense changes produced in the fluid preparations of all  medical substances by their
 transmission from place to place, is so extravagant, that he must have been obliged to
 make this statement as a consequence of his developed drug-virtues, just as the latter
 was forced upon him by his second maxim.  We have seen that this maxim, or his false
 interpretation of similia similibus curantur originated with him, after accidentally ob-
 serving, that the symptoms produced in healthy persons  by drugs, resembled those  of
 some natural dis eases : as allopathic doses used in  such a manner would injure, he
 was obliged to reduce these doses to almost nothing ; and then, to explain their ac-
 tion, he was forced to broach the doctrine of  developed  drug-virtues.  Now, if these
 drug-virtues had been developed merely  by two  shakes downwards, it would have
 appeared too palpably like magic or witchcraft; and to do away with this impression,
 he says, the virtues are developed also by transmission from place to place. 
229
dical virtues in one drop of this presumed solution.   Hahnemann,
in a  postscript to a  public statement of this unique experiment,
(see Archiv fuer homceopathische Heilkunde, vol. xi. no. 2. p. S7.
according  to the quotation of Dr. Kopp, 1. c. p. 71), fully agrees
with the author in the  marvellous operation of  this dilution  ;
though he  adds, (Chr. Dis. vol. iv. p. 338), that the 30th dilution
of sulphur  may not only be considered as the mildest, but also as
the most developed preparation of this substance.----Now let the
reader observe, that sulphur is considered, by all ancient and mo-
dern chemists, to be insoluble in water; further that, admitting even
the snow-water to be quite pure, and  sulphur to be soluble in wa-
ter, the  purest  spring water contains, when  compared with the
1500th dilution  of sulphur,  an  immense surplus of earths,  salts,
iron, and other ingredients, almost all of which are considered by
Hahnemann as powerful medicinal substances, from which drug-
virtues must become developed by the same process :  furthermore,
that the 1500 vials of glass, or any similar substance probably used
in this experiment, would likewise impart to the solution,  by the
3000  necessary shakes, a proportionally much larger quantity of
potash, and particularly of silicea, this powerful  homoeopathic re-
medy,  unless  these drugs and  remedial agents are excluded by
miracles or witchcraft: and  last, not  least, that this 1500th dilu-
tion of one grain is equal to one divided by one  with 3000 zeros,
 or is the 3000th power of ten!
   It is easily ascertained, that the very large number, expressing
 the distance of the nearest  fixed star, Syrius, from our globe, in
 inches or  any considerably small fraction  of an inch, is a mere
 trifle, and less than any imaginable small magnitude, in compari-
 son with  this fraction ; and that the distance from our globe to
 any heavenly  body, observable only by the greatest refractor ex-
 isting, even expressed by inches or geometrical lines,  would also
 appear a  trifle, when compared to the 3000th power of ten.*—
 Who would not exclaim, on seeing such unparalleled nonsense  in
 print:—Helleborum  hisce hominibus opus est!
   * The greatest diameter of our globe being 595,072,000, let us say one with nine
 zeros in inches ;  the greatest distance of the sun from our globe being 2800 times
 as much, his distance in inches is 1,666,201,600,000, or about one with twelve zeros ;
 Syrius, according  to Haygen's calculation, is about 30,000 times this distance, or
 30000000000000000 in inches ; we will say, one with 17 zeros : this number is less
 by one with 43 zeros, when compared with Hahnemann's usual 30th dilution, and by
  one with 2983 zeros less  than  the above-mentioned 1500th dilution of one grain of
  sulphur. 
230
            " Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas,
            " Noctuinos lemures, portentaque Thessala."----Hor.
    We would advise the enlightened member of the chamber of de-
  puties in Baden, who insisted upon having a professorship exclu-
  sively for  the homoeopathic doctrine at Heidelberg, (the oldest
  and most distinguished university in Germany, founded in 1346,
  which always was, and still is, particularly at present, distinguish-
  ed for the most ingenious and talented professors of medicine and
  surgery);  as we also would recommend to all the  admirers and
  amateurs of homoeopathia, to take a slate and pencil,  and ascertain
  what the  homoeopathic remedies, their dilutions, triturations, do-
  ses, potenzised powers and developed virtues really are.   If they
  are not cured of their mental disease by this simple experiment,
  nothing in the world can  cure them.
    By the aid of numbers,  to be found in every work on astronomy,
 they can easily ascertain, that if the whole planetary system, the
 sun, planets and all their moons, should  be changed  into  pure
 water, alcohol or  sugar of  milk, and  one grain of any substance
 should be dissolved in this immense mass of fluid, or be minutely
 triturated with its solids, every drop or grain of such a solution or
 mixture, would be a fraction of the whole mass, equal only to one
 divided by one with about fifty zeros, or by one with ten zeros less
 than the homoeopathic  thirtieth  dilution, generally prescribed by
 Samuel Hahnemann; and yet he advises explicitly, that even less
 should be given.  As he prescribes one drop of the sixtieth dilution
 of the juice of Thuya occidentalis, (see Materia Medica, 2d edition,
 vol. v. p. 123)  this dose is therefore still far smaller than one drop
 of the planetary  system would be, if homoeopathically medicated,
 in the manner mentioned !—We  challenge  all mankind to name
 another  instance  in the sciences, arts, &c,  where a  man  has
 asserted similar nonsense, and has not been considered fully entitled
 to a place in the lunatic asylum !—Never can, never will posterity
 believe, that in the 19th century, which has scarcely passed its
 first quarter, and  may already boast of the greatest  progress in
 natural sciences, a Samuel Hahnemann has not only been respected
 as an author, but has been entrusted with the life and health of
 his fellow-men, and has been considered  by many, who claim a
 respectable standing in the profession, as " a reformer of practical
" medicine, as one of the greatest philosophers, medical geniusses,
" and benefactors  of mankind !" 
231
   Let every one calmly and impartially reflect on the intensive and
extensive importance of the unparalleled absurdities of the homoe-
opathic doctrine, and not be surprised by the ruse de guerre which
its  fanatic advocates  generally use, in admitting  its extravagant
and uncommon bearings; let them not be deterred from a minute
scrutiny of this horrid disgrace of the human mind and of our age,
when they read such  tirades as Dr. Hering employs in the intro-
duction to his Concise View, on page 3, to prepossess the mind of
the reader in favor of  his all-curing new art of healing.  " He to
" whom the Hahnemannean system of medicine is new, and who
" is at once brought to survey it as a whole, must  be struck by its
"peculiarities.  Indeed, it differs  so  extraordinarily from any to
" which he has hitherto been accustomed, that  at  the first glance
" he would be prone to regard it with distrust;  while at the same
" time, its colossal dimensions, the monstrous compass of its fun-
" damental principles wear a discouraging aspect," &c.
   The principal topics which we have selected from Hahnemann's
works will prove not only, that his developed drug-virtues must be
considered by all men of common sense, either as nonentities and
chimeras, or as powers  different from any in nature  which we
hitherto know, and that Hahnemann is in nothing more correct than
in asserting, that he discovered a world  of new powers, a glorified
state of substances, an immense multitude of miracles !  He ought
therefore not to have used the  term potenzised, since this expres-
sion would admit the idea, that these powers or virtues have  been
latent before they were disenthralled.  We repeat, his virtues de-
veloped from drugs must be considered absolutely as newly created;
created only by homoeopathic manipulations, since it is impossible
by any other physical or chemical process, which has been hitherto,
or ever will be known, to develope powers which can be in the least
compared with  them.   In addition to the reasons which we have
already  alleged, we must therefore declare  that  no man was ever
more inconsistent than Hahnemann,  when to support the validity
of his doctrine, he used  in so  many instances the statements of
others in respect to  the treatment with allopathic  doses of drugs,
and did not consider that his trials with drugs on healthy persons,
have been made with   much larger  doses than  allopathists have
ever prescribed ;  while  in natural diseases  he uses also drugs pre-
pared in a manner never heard of before, and according to his  own
assertion, so widely different from their  crude state and prejudicial 
232
character.  WTho, for instance, would refer to experiments with the
ore of any metal, to confirm the truth  of other experiments made
with the pure metal, and yet the metallic contents of the ore which
are merely oxydated, sulpharettet,  or otherwise chemically com-
bined with other minerals in  the ore, do not require any miracu-
lous transmutation into a glorified state, or into a spirit to become
pure: could any one,  for example,  judge of the poisonous effect
of one grain of deutochloras hydrargyri or corrosive sublimate, from
the comparative mildness of the  natural cinnabar, and still much
less from metallic mercury, which can be taken  by pounds with-
out injury ?  In both  cases Hahnemann will admit that no homoe-
opathic  virtues whatever were developed from  these drugs, since
otherwise he could not have asserted, that his triturations arrd sha-
kings only can develope his infinite spirits, and much less,  that to
obtain the true salutary glorified potenz,  the  18th dilution was at
least required.  According to  the conceptions  hitherto  adopted  in
scientific language, a potenzised power  does not differ in its nature
from what it has been originally, but is  only a higher degree of
the same, either extensively or intensively.  On the contrary, if a
power is changed into another, it cannot be called potenzised but
altered.  A  piece of  flint  for instance,  (an  example  improperly
used by Hahnemann, when explaining his developed drug-virtues,
since it  is the steel and not the flint which becomes  ignited by the
friction,) canont be considered as an  igniting substance, before the
spark is  drawn from  it by friction  and  by  the influence of  the
oxygene of  the  atmosphere;—the flint  (the steel) contains the
caloric in its bound state, but  being bound by the specific capacity
of both bodies, it does not exist as free caloric or as fit for ignition ; it
might also be developed by any process and to any extent, but with-
out a medium favorable for its ignition, it will never  ignite, and
with the aid of this medium only, caloric is liberated, by friction, to
a degree promoting ignition,  but it is not changed by this process
into another matter; it is exactly the same agent which it was
before.   Nobody will  therefore think the caloric and the property
of any  combustible substance of becoming ignited, to be newly
created  by  the  process mentioned,  or to depend  essentially on
the larger or smaller  bulk  of the substance;  and  much less,
that in  conformity with the  homoeopathically developed virtues,
from a smaller piece of such a substance more  caloric, and con-
sequently a larger spark could  be developed than  from a larger 
233
 one, or that the ratio between ignition and bulk must be considered
 as inverse.

   It is evident, that  according to Hahnemann's  assertions about

 this subject, any quantity  of a  drug, from which  no virtue is de-

 veloped by his manipulations, must be considered as an inert sub-

 stance, or at least so, in regard to the homoeopathic property which

 it would possess when properly manipulated;—the substance, be it

 ever so large,  must be regarded as equally ineffective in respect to its

 medical property, as mountains of a  combustible substance are in

 regard  to their igniting property, until  their  specific capacity for

 caloric, which  they may contain in  ever so  large a quantity, is

 diminished in a sufficient degree, and under circumstances favor-

 able to ignition ; thus  for instance,  millions of pounds of  gun-

 powder may be safely stored in vaults of flint  and iron.

   The gross jargon  quoted above,  from page 14 of the Concise

 View,  and from Hahnemann's different writings, cannot free ho-

 moeopathists from admitting implicitly, that their developed drug-

 virtues, if they exist,  are created by their  manipulations, and im-

 mensely differ from those qualities which  the  drugs  possessed in

 their crude  state.*   Though most  of them would  not  object to

  * Among the many examples drawn from common occurrences by homoeopathists,
 which we have proved  to be delusive and false, we observe in Monsieur le Count
 Docteur Des Guidi's letter the following, on page 19, " but though all these precedents
 " should fail us at once" (he means those mentioned in our  earlier note ; and similar
 ones of minor importance) " would not the experiment of Spallanzani alone, upon the
 " diffusibility of the spermatic fluid of the frog,  compel us to see nothing incredible in
 " the power of homceopathic doses'!" Here we see again a very nice specimen of the
 grossest paralogism which these close-thinking men proffer, when they,  for  the  de-
 fence of their doctrine,  allude, in  the manner of their master,  to common-place in-
 stances.   One drop of the  spermatic  fluid of  a  frog fructifies  many thousand frog-
 eggs : the 30th developed virtue of a drug is immensely less in bulk and weight than
 the bulk and weight of a sick person to be cured by the drug; ergo, its developed
 virtue must be  considered as a never-failing powerful remedy.—Should  Monsieur le
 Count Docteur Des Guidi, or his able translator, have ever fructified, by their deve
 loped  virtue, one  frog-egg, we would believe that they  can always fructify frog
 eggs, and even all other kinds of eggs ; but nobody can conceive what similarity, and
 much less what identity exists between a non-fructified frog-egg and a disease 1 What
 could not be proved by such singular syllogisms and such reasoning as is  here adopt-
 ed 1  The spermatic fluid of the frog is much more substantial than the aura seminalis
 in animals of a higher order; and  as far as we can  judge of these great mysteries of
 organized life, the spermatic fluid, or the aura  seminalis, kindles the latent nisus for-
 mativus at one point, and this kindling spark, once developed, extends in those cases,
 at the next moment likewise to the next point,  where more organized matter is ready
 for its fructification ; and so on, as long as such matter, the nisus formativus of which
 is matured exists; just as one spark will explode many million pounds of gunpowder in
 a moment, without igniting every  grain separately. Must therefore this little spark,
 which, when extinguished in time will do no injury,  be considered as possessed of an
immensely or infinitely developed quantity  of caloric"!  In the same manner we  may,
 mutatis mutandis,  explain infection by an inconsiderable quantity of small or  cow-
pox matter, which is likewise a favourite topic of homoeopathists to prepossess igno-
rant men for their fancifully small doses : it is however clear, that here also the vi-

                                  30 
234
medical  witchcraft,  we  shall nevertheless  try to  prove this  more

pi  inly by the following apagogical demonstration,  or  deductio

ad absurdurn.

   The homoeopathic drug-virtue can  be either less or greater, or

equal to the power  of a correspondent allopathic  dose, which has

not been manipulated.—If both are  equal,  then  the homoeopathic

treatment  is on the same footing with the allopathic, with regard to

the dose ;  that is,  one decillionth part of a grain of  a drug will

operate  always in  the  same  manner, whether developed or not;

and the  whole doctrine of developed virtues must  be  admitted as

nonsensical, or  as a wilful  deception.  Hahnemann and his  fol-


rus itself does not become distributed over the whole body, but only a diseased process
is kindled in  a small point in the lungs by inhalation, or on the skin by absorption, etc.
and then spreads over all those parts naturally disposed for this morbid process; which
disposition however is generally for ever extinguished by the specific changes in the
reproductive system, as consequences of the morbid process itself.  Without such a
participation of the whole system, manifested by a feverish reaction, neither small nor
cow-pox can therefore protect against another identical infection.  The  allusion of
homosopathists to  the divisibility of the small-pox virus by the air, for the defence of
their doses, leads  to the same paralogism just mentioned.   Their argument is this,
that because  one phenomenon, presenting a great effect on the human body, can only
be explained  by a great  divisibility  of  matter, therefore the  different drug-virtues,
being developed from matter minutely divided, must also be infinitely effectual.  Ab-
stracting from  the validity of their statements, of which we shall soon speak,  these
ratiocinations should rest on their own intrinsic correctness : but then they must con-
sistently prove by other  incontrovertible experiments  than those which are to be
proved by it,  that the effects of their drugs are not lessened, but increased by their im-
mense  division  or developement, unlike those of other bodies,  for instance, musk,
gold, etc.,  which, though exceedingly divisible, lose their effects,  as all bodies do, in
direct proportion to their  weight or mechanical division.  Because a small fraction of
one substance has some effect, we  have no right to conclude the same in regard to
another,  without  sufficient proof  that  the other operates iu  the same  manner ;
otherwise all substances being immensely divisible, must operate on the human body
alike ;  and instead of using instances so  far fetched, the homoeopathists need only to
declare in favour of Bonnet's Theory of Generation per emboitement; according to
which, all  vegetables and animals which have existed and shall exist, were inclosed in
the first grain of seed, or the first drop of spermatic fluid ; which presents a more strik-
ing  instance of a  great divisibility than any similar one.  The instance of small-pox
proves nothing in favour of the operations of infinite small homoeopathic doses, and the
inoculation of cow-pox is still less conclusive, as even the many thousandth part of a drop
cannot be  considered a homoeopathic dose, as we have already stated, in many places.
Both instances of small-pox, as well as cow-pox, admit still less of any sound comparison
with homoeopathic drugs,  because both do not operate absolutely and unconditionally :
for if this were the case, every individual would be subject to an infection in a small-pox
epidemic, and every vaccination must be successful:  farther,  in both, the develope-
ment, is performed without the aid of mechanical operation  ; and also, the small-and
cow-pox protect against a return of the same  disease, a property never as yet attri-
buted to the  homoeopathic drug-virtues.  Admitting, however, even that the homoeo-
pathic  doses operate as certainly as the small-pox virus itself, still an  essential dissi-
milarity exists between both of them, inasmuch as Hahnemann,  adverse to all exter-
nal remedies, requires for his drugs, the aid of the stomach; whereas, according to the
celebrated American physician Rush, (see Observations and  Inquiries, V. n. 2.) small-
pox matter, like the most virulent other animal poisons, can be swallowed without in-
fection.  The infection of small-pox by letters, as alluded to by  Hahnemann, is very
doubtful;  though, in such cases, an allopathic dose of  small-pox matter  might have
adhered to the letter, and have remained dry, until being afterwards dissolved  by a
warm damp  air, it was inhaled by the perjon susceptible to it. 
235
  lowers would do any thing rather  than admit that the medical ef-
  fect of any dose  of a drug, where the presumed virtue  is deve-
  loped, is less than  a similar dose when undeveloped ;  for by this,
  the third  maxim and its superstructure would fall to the  ground,
  and not a shadow of homceopathia would  remain.  It would  be
  then  evident, that  they insist,  merely  from caprice,  upon their
  atoms, which,  thus divested from all virtues, spirits,  miracles, etc.
  would soon lose all confidence:  should they, however, follow the
  maxim, " similia similibus curantur," with large allopathic doses,
  their treatment would soon  prove to be the  most murderous which
  has ever existed.
    The third category then only remains to be considered, viz.—
  that when the virtue of a drug is developed by homoeopathic ma-
  nipulation, a dose of it is immensely more powerful than a similar
  dose  of the same drug when undeveloped;  the remedial  proper-
  ties of both being identical, they differ only in degree ; this is the
  case with gravitation, as, in a vacuum the feather falls to the ground
  as quickly as a heavyweight;  and with electricity, whether deve-
  loped in a small piece of sealing wax or in a thunder-cloud. But it
  is evident, that some quantity of the substance which  has not been
  developed, must be an equivalent and produce the same effect as
 the 30th dilution of the developed drug ; for instance,  a pound of
 Peruvian  bark must possess as much  remedial virtue as the 30th
 developed virtue of a grain of the same.  In  this case it is unneces-
 sary to adopt infinite spirits, etc, and homoeopathists, by admitting
 this, would no longer oppose, but advocate allopathic doses ; since
 they cannot deny that cases  may exist,  where the immense homoeo-
 pathic virtues  are too strong, and the  much  smaller virtues in an
 allopathic dose would be better.   Thus, for children, they would
 perhaps prescribe one pound of Peruvian bark pro  dosi, rather
 than a grain of the 30th dilution.   Their reproaches of the allo-
 pathic  prescriptions of large doses  are then  ridiculous, since, in
 their eyes, the allopathic doses must consistently be  exceedingly
 small;  and by  this  it could also be best explained why homoeo-
 pathists administer one dose only once in four or six weeks.*

  *  Patients under homoeopathic treatment are generally  very much deceived, in be-
 lieving that what is administered to them every day is medicine : they  frequently take
a true homoeopathic dose of a drug  only once in  one, two, or even in six weeks.—
They can easily ascertain this by observing, that among ten, twenty,  or more small
doses, which they receive, one or two are marked to be taken on a certain day Faith- 
236
   The whole privilege which  Hahnemann thought to secure for
his developed drug-virtues, as always acting absolutely, uncondi-
tionally,  &c., opposite to the  vital  powers,  which  always  act
senseless, clumsy, &c.  would  fall to the  ground, when  he  must.
admit that the substances  which nature offers to him, are without
his co-operation, though in  proportionally larger  doses, not  less
salutary than with it.
   Whereas, therefore, the medical properties of all simple drugs are,
according to homoeopathia, in no quantity, either equal to, or more,
or  less  than the corresponding  doses of the same  drugs  with
their virtues homoeopathically developed, and whereas, also, as Ave
have seen, the developed drug-virtues are not to be compared with
any power in nature hitherto known ; it follows, that they are not
only to be considered  as powers  sui generis, but as supernatural
powers, they  may be termed miracles, spirits, &c. and the manipu-
lations themselves chiromancy, witchcraft, &c.
   Should it ever be proved  that Hahnemann's mysterious mani-
pulations have only been a subterfuge to save  his maxim, similia
similibus curantur, from its downfall, on account of the great injuries
of  large  doses when given in  accordance with that maxim, and
that he believes the difference between  the homoeopathic and allo-
pathic treatment, not to consist in the immensely increased powrer
of the drug, but only in the absolute smallness of the homoeopathic
doses, than he has wantonly exposed the li"es of  many healthy
persons to  the greatest danger, by experimenting  on  them  with
immense doses of drugs, as  he  did for  instance, with four  ounces
of powdered bark, mixed with twenty ounces of alcohol;—a quan-
tity which, when compared  with the thirtieth dilution of one grain,
would be far  more than sufficient to destroy all living animals in

ful homosopathists are bound  by their doctrine to act in  this manner, and  to give in
the intermediate hours, days, or weeks, only a small quantity of sugar of milk, which
they themselves consider as nothing. Hahnemann, probably from his great respect
for truth only, does not permit his followers to relieve the anxiety of their patients by
naming the disease distinctly, and  advises them,  as  we have seen, to use only the
term, " a kind  of such or such a  complaint:"  but nevertheless he directs his follow-
ers to deceive their patients, as he usually does, by giving, for many days or weeks,
doses of sugar of milk under the name of medicine ; though no practitioners had ever
less reason to deceive their patients, in order to operate  favourably upon their minds,
than homoeopathists;  for when, as they assert, all nature cannot disturb the marvel-
lous operations of their drug-virtues during four or six weeks, what evil could be ap-
prehended from causing the patient a little anxiety by telling him the truth 1 When
speaking  on this subject,  (See Chr. Dis. vol. i. p. 216.) the old sinner adds, very
piously, "for this purpose I consider sugar of milk an invaluable gift of God." What
a contrast with the honourable Dr. Mead, who, thankful for the great remedial pro-
perties of Peruvian bark, termed this drug, " Magnum Dei donum." 
237
our whole planetary system by bark-fever  or  ague, if their na-
ture is  similar to that of man.   The  only defence which Hah-
nemann could make, is the great difference between the healthy
and diseased state, by which he proved that much weaker medical
virtues are required to produce a drug-sickness in the former, than
to cure  the  latter.   But if  he will  admit  the exact proportion
between power and its end, wisely adapted to each other in nature,
and also that many recover without any aid from serious  diseases,
for instance, from intermittent fever, it follows that in these cases the
ratio of the vital powers, which take the place of his immensely de-
veloped drug-virtues, to the natural disease, must be the same  as
the ratio of these  immensely developed virtues to the natural dis-
eases cured by them ; or  also the same, as the ratio between the
immense developed virtue of a  small homoeopathic  dose, and the
undeveloped, though  (in weight) much larger, allopathic dose. The
same reasoning will be applicable, mutatis mutandis, if he should as-
sert, that the medical properties decrease immensely by homoeopa-
thic developements ; the instances just quoted would then also be  no
less inexplicable,  especially if we should admit as true, his singular
conceptions about the impotence  of the vital powers  in the cure of
all diseases; for,  if the vital powers are reduced so immensely as
his drug-virtues then are, how could they do any thing, and much
less, how  could  they remove without any medical assistance any
serious  disease,  as  they however  do?—Hahnemann  therefore
must admit,  that two doses of any drug, equal in weight, are also
equal in their medical strength  or virtue, whether they are or are
not homoeopathically developed, or by this second  deductio ad ab-
surdum it is  also conclusively proved,  that in his developed  or
potenzised doses, for instance, of Peruvian bark, Belladonna, table
salt, &c, the original natural properties  of  these substances have
ceased to exist,  and that they are replaced  by other ones, newly
created by his homoeopathic manipulations ; and since nothing like
them exists  in nature, he must term them, as he explicitly does,
miracles, a  new creation, a glorified state  of substances, spirits,
&c.
   Ridiculous as all homceopathia, but especially as  the doctrine of
developed drug-virtues must appear to every impartial reader, when-
ever he has become  closely  acquainted  with it, and trivial as it
may  seem to many, whether the public are in  favor of one or the
other method of  medical treatment;  it must be extremely  impor- 
238
 tant to every lover of truth in general, if he reflects on the serious
 consequences which may arise from such a horrid superstition. To
 day, Hahnemannism may be considered merely as a medical doc-
 trine, to which as many, or even less, may fall victims than to any
 other medical doctrine or mode of  treatment; to-morrow, it may
 easily affect the welfare and happiness of mankind in one way or
 another, though not directly by its professional features.   The his-
 tory of man proves sadly, that credulity and superstition have been
 comparatively of almost greater and more lasting injury to the wel-
 fare and happiness of society, than truth has been of benefit.   Con-
 sidering the extended intercourse of the medical profession with the
 people, we assert that, besides the immediate injury of health and
 life, no medium exists, by which the spreading of obnoxious  super-
 stitions can be more promoted, and all the blessings of truth be
 more counteracted  and  annihilated, than by a medical doctrine
 which demands implicit belief in miracles ;  especially when they
 are seemingly supported by false or delusive statements.
   It is very curious, that in our enlightened age these evident
 consequences of the homoeopathic doctrine should have  been un-
 noticed so long ; though this Abracadabra is far more guilty  of the
 named  obnoxious influences, than its  innocent predecessor was
 in ages long past.  Let  people,  disposed to credulity  and super-
 stition from want of education, or a propensity to the extraordinary
 and marvellous, believe that  a privileged  class of men, or they
 themselves, can develope immense powers by certain manipulations)
 or any other processes so  easily performed, from an atom of flint,
 table salt, arsenic,  or any other substance; let these powers be said
 to belong to a new discovered  world  of potenzised, glorified and
 miraculous powers  or spirits ; let it be believed that these powers
 operate more absolutely and unconditionally than any power known
 to us in nature; let it further be believed that through the actions
 of these artificially developed  powers,  men can generate an im-
 mense number of bodily and mental disorders, from a small wart
 or pimple up to abortion, hernia, apoplexy, &c, from the slightest
 sensations of grief and affliction to suicide  and murder ;  let us
 admit the truth of all these mad and abominable assertions, plainly
 expressed by Hahnemann, and publicly admitted by his  followers
 as the highest wisdom and truth; and we shall soon witness again
the horrid consequences of implicit faith in all  kinds  of miracles
and witchery, which for so many centuries resisted and frustrated 
239
 the  blessings of an enlightening religion and  philosophy,  and
 which rendered the  human race so miserable.
    For those who might think us unjust or sophistical, notwith-
 standing all our quotations and remarks, we feel obliged to quote
 only one other assertion  from Hahnemann, which alone would be
 fully sufficient for our defence.  Speaking, in the introduction to
 the sixth volume of his Materia Medica, of the powers developed
 from metallic gold by triturating and diluting it twelve times with
 sugar of milk, he asserts: " that one  quadrillionth part of a grain,"
 (that is, a fraction  of a  grain, equal to one divided by one with
 twenty-four zeros), " is so powerful, that a person  suffering by me-
 " lancholy. despising life, and inclined, from insupportable anguish,
 " to  commit suicide, has merely to smell a few minutes of a vial,
 " containing one grain of the just  mentioned solution, and this
 " wretched being will, in  one hour, be delivered from his evil spirit,"
 (demon) « and the full love of life and cheerful temper will again
 " be  awakened in him."   Will homoeopathists, will these fanatics
 deny, that they implicitly believe in  witchcraft, when they believe
 such ravings as trustworthy facts ; or, if they do not  believe them,
 will they deny that they premeditatedly impose upon the public, by
 recommending this  " new art of healing," as the only  safe  one
 which rests  on " incontrovertible truth," and by proclaiming its
 author as one of the  greatest  medical geniuses and benefactors of
 mankind.
           " Once more Democritus arise on earth,
           " With cheerful wisdom and instructive mirlh,
           " See motley life  in  modern trappings dress'd,
           " And feed with varied  fools th' eternal jest."—Johnson.

   We must therefore  direct the particular attention  of all men,
 anxious to promote truth, and to check  the progress of credulity
 and superstition, in whatever   shape  they may appear, and under
 whatever pretext they may be palmed upon the public,  to watch
 minutely the farther progress of the homoeopathic  doctrine, and to
 enlighten those who are duped and deceived by it, if it should last
longer than may be justly expected and hoped. Thistaskwill be much
easier for them if they attend to the following last topic of our discus-
sion about the third  maxim of homoeopathia, and examine with
us, whether Hahnemann is in this maxim of his  doctrine also as
inconsistent with his  own statements  and suggestions, as we have
endeavoured  to prove him to be with regard to the  other two.
   Wc will therefore show, admitting  the truth of Hahnemann's 
/
                             240

experiments, statements and assertions, as premises of his conclu-
sions, that the latter cannot be correct, since his own statements
and suggestions contradict each other, and that we must, there-
fore, still more consider his  doctrine as the highest potenzised non
sense, or as  premeditated falsehood.
   To say nothing  of Hahnemann's impositions upon the public,
as  proved in the  preceding pages, every impartial reader will
doubt the veracity of a man who, calls the physicians of all ages
murderers, and who, while attributing  their cure of one patient in
several hundreds only to chance, because they neglected the maxim,
similia similibus curantur,  and also the virtues developed  from
drugs, totally disregarded both himself, during most of his practice,
and used larger doses of medicines  than most allopathists prescribe ;
and this too  without any clear indications.
   In the same year that Hahnemann first published his ideas about
homoeopathia in HufelanoVs Journal of Practical Medicine, and
nine years before he issued his work, Fragmenta de Viribus Medica-
mentorum Positivis, Lipsise,  &c. 1S05, he empirically used the most
powerful drugs, and in  much larger doses than were ever recom-
mended by any author on materia medica or therapeutics.  This
will be proved by his public statement  of his treatment of Kloken-
bring, an insane man, for whom he prescribed  twenty-five grains
of tartar emetic, to be taken at once, (see  Deutsche Monatschrift,
February, 1796.)  The year after his  first suggestions of homoeo-
pathia, (see  Hufeland's  periodical  just  mentioned, Vol. III. 1797,
p. 13S,) he published a case of colic, cured by  him, in which he
had administered within a  short time, according to his own state-
ment, Tartar emetic, Gamboge, Scammony, radix Filicis maris,
(one ounce daily for four days in succession),  Charcoal, Semina
CynoB., Colocynthis, Castor oil,  Tin, Iron, Semina Sabadillai,
Sulphur, Petroleum, Camphor,  Asafoetida, Epsom salt, Ipeca-
cuanha, Opium, Oil of Cajeput, and,  in addition,  the Arcana of
Nuffer  and Clossius for  the tape-worm, which contain the
strongest drastics,  and other  powerful  drugs  in  the  largest
doses : and  after he found  himself mistaken about the presumed
tape-worm, he prescribed powders, each of which contained four
grains of Veratrum album.—Still later, he mentions in the same
periodical, (see Vol. V. p. 40, s. 99), cases of influenza, for which
he had prescribed, to adult persons, the enormous quantity  of forty
grains of camphor to be taken  within twenty-four hours, and 
241
hfiteen grains el the same,  daily, for fourteen days, by  a  boy
twelve years old.  At that time he administered Ledum palustre,
one of his great homoeopathic  remedies, in  doses of six  or  seven
grains ! though afterwards, (see Mat. Med. Vol. IV. p.  176),  it was
proved by him to be so extremely powerful that he was obliged to
giveitonly in the quintillionth dilution! and so too with  other drugs;
powdered Peruvian bark, for instance, which he  says at that time
he prescribed by drachms.  One of two cases must be true;  either
Hahnemann then knew, as his fanatic followers assert, by long
experience, the salutary effect of his method generally, and parti-
cularly the beneficial effect of his small doses ; and  then  he is,
according  to his own verdict, guilty of repeatedly attempting or
committing murders,  because  he was conscious of his  detrimental
treatment, and yet used it to such  a shocking excess ;  or he thought
no more of homoeopathia at that time, than he would of a  vague
idea suggested by him to the profession, and  then he is guilty of
the greatest falsehood in stating his new infallible method to be the
result of many years thought, and of frequent experience at the bed-
side of patients.  This, however, could not be the case, even if we
allow him  eight  years, from  1797 to  1805,  because he was, as we
have stated,  almost  during that whole  period, a wandering phy-
sician, and not engaged in any permanent practice, and the largest
practice of eight  years, is certainly too short a time to  form  an es-
timate in regard  to any, and much less to such a medical method
of treatment.
  As  an  additional  specimen of the arithmetical exactitude ob-
served by homoeopathists, it may be stated that they asserted al-
ready, many  years ago, that Hahnemann had pursued his practice,
in accordance with his doctrine, for  upwards of 40 years, and  the
same is now stated publicly by the homoeopathists of this country ;
thus we  have read in the German Gazette of Philadelphia, that
Hahnemann  has practised homceopathia for  upwards of 43  years.
Of course, according to homoeopathic  arithmetic, 1805  deducted
from 1833, leaves 43!
  When  Hahnemann first began  to  recommend homoeopathia,
many  of  his prescriptions remained  intelligible and  within  the
limits of possibility : one grain of good  extract of belladonna dis-
solved in one, two, or three ounces of water, and given, according
to his first direction, in doses of a few drops, could at least be ima-
gined effectual, and have certainly proved so in  a few extraordinary
                            31 
242
 cases.   The same may be ascertained, with respect to many other
 drugs, by any judicious physician, who does not estimate the powers
 of drugs by grocer's weight, by ounces and pounds; especially to nar-
 cotics, which Hahnemann recommended formerly in similar doses.
 But what confidence can be placed in Hahnemann's statements, if,
 for  instance, he publishes in the year 1819, that he had often de-
 rived immediate  and permanent benefit from one unmixed drop
 of Bryonia  juice; a few years after he  asserts, that he seldom
 meets  with a case, in which one drop of the decillionth solution, or
 —~  part of one drop of the same drug, could be used without in-

jury, and that no case exists in which the undiluted juice would  be
 advisable;  and twelve years later he states, that the patient must
 smell only  of a sugar-pellet of the size of  a hemp or poppy seed,
 moistened with the decillionth solution of the same ! (see Kopp.
 1. c. p. 69.)   In  his Materia  Medica, (Reine  Arzneymittellehre,
 Vol. V. p. 122, 1827), he remarks, in regard to charcoal:  that no
 stronger developed virtue, (Potenzierung) of charcoal is required
 for  homoeopathic  use than the millionth ; three years after, (1830,
 in the last  volume  of  his Chronic Diseases, page 3,) he says,  of
 the same substance: " I have used for a long time (!)  the sixtil-
 lionth dilution,"—(there is, truly no little difference between one,
 and one sixtillionth part of one) ;—" until I have lately  found the
 " decillionth dilution the best with which to moisten one or two
 " small sugar-pellets,  which  answers  all desired  purposes;"—
 that is again, even admitting the fluid required  to moisten such a
 sugar-pellet, made of starch and sugar, equal to a full fraction  of
 one grain, a trifling difference between one with twenty-four zeros,
 and one.—We would advert here again, not only to the remarkable
fact that, by asserting the power or virtue to become  developed at
 the  eighteenth dilution, he has retracted all his former assertions in
regard to all dilutions of a lower degree, though he has  before re-
 peatedly recommended them  as infallible, but also, that he first
 prescribed charcoal in an immensely stronger dose in powder, and
afterwards  many million times weaker as a  fluid, which implies,
 that he foolishly  considers  charcoal not only as soluble  in alcohol
or water, but more  soluble than most  soluble salts, though it  is
notoriously one of the most insoluble substances in existence. In his
Mat. Med. Vol. I.  p. 445, the dose of the liquid extract of aconitum
 is fixed by him at  the octillionth dilution, and in Vol.  VI. of the 
243
  same work, p.  199, in  a note, he  restricts  this  dose  again for the

  same purpose to smelling once  of a sugar-pellet of  the  usual size

  and moistened  only with  the thirtieth  dilution  of the same drug ;

  and again,  in another place of  the same work, (Vol. V. p. 123) he

  speaks  of the  vigesillionth  dilution,  that is, one grain's weight
  divided by  10120.*


    * Hahnemann's numerous suggestions about  the  increased power  of all  natural
  substances, and especially of all drugs,  when properly shaken or rubbed down  with
  unmedicinal substances, are in themselves acontradiction, because, if from all natural
  substances a virtue or power becomes developed, sugar of milk, alcohol or acetic acid,
  cannot  be considered  as inactive, or as mere menstrua, since, by the  same process
  to which the drug is subjected, the virtue of the substance, improperly termed by him
  unmedicinal, will also be developed, particularly as it is known that these substances
  are not simple or elementary, and,  as he himself believes, that all substances are, more
  or less, compound.  Moreover, we  must remember his explicit suggestion, (see Chron.
  Dis. Vol. I. p. 209) that it will not be wrong if still smaller doses are chosen, since
  " it is impossible to give them too small"—also quite a novelty in regard to  the hu-
  man intellect as well as  to all experience, as no one can well imagine a power which
  can never decrease too much, for counteracting,  with equal strength, every degree of
  resistance. ^ Notwithstanding, Hahnemann says, page 213 of the same volume, " who-
  " ever willjiot imitate it exactly so, ( ! )  will leave unsolved this greatest problem of
  " the art;  he will leave  the most important  long lasting diseases as uncured, as they
  " were before  my doctrine appeared.  If it is not  done punctually (!  ) nobody can
  " boast of having followed my advice and expect any effect!" After some of his dis-
 ciples had publicly confessed that they were frequently unsuccessful in curing diseases,
 since it was impossible to  cure  the disease by  homoeopathic doses, though  the
 drugs were selected according to the prescriptions of homoeopathia,  (see,  for in-
 stance,  according to Dr. Kopp,  1. c. Dr. Hartmann,  in Archiv.  of  Horn.  Heilk.
 Vol. VIII.  No. 2, p. 36), the medical pope emitted a warning bull from his capitol at
 Coethen,  enjoining his faithful followers  " not to disgrace themselves by mixing  any
 " allopathic treatment whatever, but to execute the divine homoeopathic art pure  and
 " sincere." (See according to Kopp. 1. c. Archiv. f. h. H. Vol. IX. No. 3,1830—Wc
 are  told  by trustworthy men, that if patients apply  to him after they have followed
 the advice of some of his disciples without relief, Hahnemann, with the greatest in-
 delicacy attributes their failures  directly to their ignorance and  carelessness.  Pa-
 tients not relieved by his own treatment, seldom return to him on account of the  ex-
 cessive fees which they are obliged to pay, in advance, to his door-keeper before they
 are even admitted; one louis d'or is the least. If the patients submit, and continue to
 complain about the failure of his medicines, for which  they are also obliged to pay very
 high prices, he ascribes it to medicinal influence, to which they must have absolutely been
 exposed, or to a neglect on their part, &c. until they become tired  and apply to allo-
 pathists. Hahnemann's common-place explanations  to his infatuated patients, are said
 to be sometimes exceedingly ridiculous.  We find many specimens of that kind in his
 works.  Thus, in proving  the validitv of his maxim, similia similibus curantur, by burns
 cured with alcohol or spirits of turpentine, which  he likewise inconsistently places at
 once among his  homaopathic doses ; he applies it to politics, saying, (see Mat. Med.
 Vol. II. 2nded. pp. 18 and 19), " and thus we find the great truth confirmed by many
 " daily occurrences, that nature" (now so beneficial!) "intends to deliver mankind from
 " its wearisome evils by very  similar short ones.  Nations, sunk for centuries in gro-
 " veiling apathy and base slavery, elevate their minds, become sensible  to their hu-
 " man dignity, and again  free, after being trodden by the tyrant of the west into dust."
 Wc  cannot explain this sentence of the "  great genius," which is probably considered
 by his followers as the resumee of the greatest philosophical sagacity and Sterne-like
 wit—otherwise, than that he thinks, if a people is long trodden into  dust,  an immense
 virtue becomes dovcloped, in the same manner as if a grain of flint was rubbed down
 with sugar of milk in his  mortar.   It seems singular,  however, that this great  politi-
 cian considers an army of 300,000 well armed and  disciplined  men, with some hun-
 dreds of cannon, comingfrom the west, a homoeopathic remedy, to excite, by a salutary
 counter-and-after-operation, a quick, safe  and duiable cure—Depleiable and  high-
spirited Poland,  why didst thou not elect Samuel'Hahnemann thy general en chef!— 
244
  In respect  to  the  " unheard of niceties,"  of  homoeopathia, wo
must observe,that never since the healing art has existed, have all
drugs been considered  to  be equal in  strength.  The greatest
quack has thought proper to give different doses of different drugs,
as some may be administered by drachms or ounces, and  others
only bv grains, or even small portions of a grain. Much less would a
well educated physician consider it a trifle to  prescribe opium, bella-
donna, strychnine, &c. as  he would Epsom-salts, rhubarb, althea,
&c. without minute regard to the small fractions of a grain.   If he,
for instance, prescribed —th  part of a grain of strychnine, or  th
             r         24                                48
part of a grain of the arseniate of potassa, the ratio of one grain to
these fractions is respectively, in the first instance, as twenty-four
to one, and in the latter, as forty-eight to one.   He will also con-
siderately pay due regard to the age, the sex, the constitution, &c.
of the patient, and will increase or diminish  the  dose accordingly.
We may suppose that, whenever a judicious physician should wish
to administer a dose of such drugs  to  an infant, he will  reduce
it to  the  one   hundredth  part of a grain,  where,  of  course.
the ratio is as  one hundred to one.   But Hahnemann assigns no
reason why the  virtues of his drugs  begin to be developed only
at the eighteenth dilution, and continue  so  until the thirtieth,
without a proper scale of progression, or without any regard to the
particular circumstances  just  alluded to; he formerly allowed his
followers to choose, ad libitum, between the eighteenth and thirtieth
dilution, that is, between a dose of one with sixty, and one with
thirty-six zeros,  since this is  just as correct, according to the ele-
ments of allopathic arithmetic, as  that the  ratio  between  one-
fourth and one-twelfth, is as twelve to four, or  as three to one.  If
by the  development of the  drugs  the virtues decrease,  then the
ratios can be made inverse, and the ratio of the  dose formerly re-
commended by Hahnemann, is, to  the dose prescribed afterwards
by him, as  one with thirty-six zeros is to  one with sixty.   To
say nothing of our earlier  demonstration, that, in the very sense of
this doctrine, the homoeopathic doses must not be considered as
very small, but as immensely large, it is evident, that as all magni-
 tudes  are merely relative  and not  absolute, and depend therefore
 on their ratio to other magnitudes;  in the  case before us,  the im-
 mense difference of the number one with sixty zeros, and one with 
215
only thirty-six zeros, or the  absolute number of one with twentv
four zeros, is a mere trifle in the eyes of the same  men, who
assert that their opposers pay no regard to minutice.
  Hahnemann suggests no caution in regard to sex, age, &c.;  he
also is, and ever will be, unable to give a minute scale of the differ-
ent degrees of his dilutions or developed powers, even  in round sums
of millions, billions, &c. and much less in their intermediate quan-
tities, which must naturally exist, if the least regard be paid to such
important conditions.   Supposing the power to be developed only
at the eighteenth dilution ; if it increases, it does not increase from
its  first outset by jerks, but, as all powers in nature do, by a gra-
dual  and uninterruptedly  continued  progiession;  there  must,
therefore exist, relatively, an immense number of developed virtues
between the eighteenth  and nineteenth, between this and the
twentieth dilution, and so forth, which  Hahnemann would have
recommended for  the  circumstances named, if he could give  his
doctrine any consistency.  The total disregard of  these interme-
diate doses, and still more  the transition from the administration of
one drop of any dilution, to the mere smell of a pellet moistened with
the same dilution,  where  evidently the quantity of the developed
virtue applied becomes incommensurable, prove the vagueness of
all  things connected with this doctrine.
   No reasonable cause or experiment can be assigned, which can
explain why the same process, eighteen  times repeated, developes
no  perceptible power, but if the same process be continued, the power-
becomes immensely developed in the compound ratio of the dilutions
by  hundreds of drops and by the shakings  made; nor why in this
respect all substances are  alike, however different they may other-
wise  be, as, for  instance,  arsenic and table salt; nor also why the
doses of these medicines are not affected by  the differences  of sex,
age, &c; is it not impossible to imagine, how any  product of two
factors  can  remaui always  the same,  when one of them is con-
siderably changed, or both are altered disproportionately !—Even if
Hahnemann had  never explicitly claimed,  that the operations of
his developed drug-virtues were always absolute, unconditional, and
the same under all circumstances, in opposition to the  changeable
miserable vital  powers, these assertions would, merely from this
extraordinary disregard of all circumstances, considered by all men
so  important, follow as a  matter of course.  In Vol.  II., page 15, of
his Chronic Diseases,  Hahnemann ^prescribes 200  sugar-pellets to 
24f>
 be prepared by a confectioner, from one grain of starch and sugar ,
 in Vol. IV. page 338  of the  same work, 300 from one grain ; in
 his Organon, 3d edition, he orders 100 sugar-pellets to be moisten-
 ed with one drop of the developed solution; in the fourth edition of
 the same work, §283,  he prescribes 300 sugar-pellets, to be  moist-
 ened with  the same;—here the ratio varies from one to two and
 three.   In  the same manner he  advises  that two or three  sugar-
 pellets of the same weight and equally moistened should be  given,
 if one should not appear sufficient; as if his developed virtues were
 like the common orders of physicians, who  prescribe one or two
 table-spoonfuls of a medicine, or  from one to three pills, &c. not
 aware that his advice at once  reduces the immense ratio which
 exists between the 18th  and 30th developement of his atoms, or
 between one and  one  with 24 zeros, to the ratio between one and
 two or three!
   In his Organon, §278, page 194, he says,  "so  powerful  is the
 "development of the innate virtues of drugs, not thought of before
 " my time,  that in later years I have been forced, by convincing
 " experiments, to reduce the ten  shakes,  formerly  prescribed  to
 "be made  after each dilution, to two."—Here we would, ask and
 with reason: what part does the shaking take in the homoeopathic
 development of drug-virtues ?  Why must the  dilutions be repeated
 separately so many times, if the shakings are  so important, and
 why cannot the number of dilutions be less, and be replaced by a
 proportionately greater number of shakings; so that the firstdilution,
 made by twenty or forty shakings at  once, with or without a pro-
 portionate quantity of a non-medicinal substance, should be exactly
 equal to the ten or twenty dilutions each, made with two shakings
 only ? How can the same drugs, which Hahnemann considers to be
 so different  in their action on the living  human  body, that they
 make many different drug-symptoms; how, we say, can these drugs
be considered so  physically alike, that the virtuts of arsenic and
 nux vomica, of flint and table salt, (fee, are all developed equally and
 tothesamedcgree,(potenz)by the same number of;-'bakings, though
again, a few shakings more or less are considered  so immensely
important?  If there be such a great difference between the present
and former  number of pellets made from  one grain, and between
the shakings formerly prescribed  by Hahnemann and those he has
lately resolved upon ;  how many patients of Hahnemann and his
 followers then have been sent  to their long homes, by a treatment 
247
v
 formerly proclaimed infallible, with  the same bold and impudent
 charlatanism, as the improved mode is now recommended !  How-
 ever partial any one may be to this doctrine, infatuated homoeopa-
 thists  excepted who reject  even mathematical certainty, nobody
 can consider these different and grossly contradictory statements of
 Hahnemann, other than as the most absurd falsehoods.—Those
 who implicitly believe in miracles and witchery, who divest  them-
 selves of all dignity and of the noblest prerogatives of intelligent
 beings, by worshipping such a fool or impostor as Samuel Hahne-
 mann, those solely will admit, that a power developed from a
 substance might operate with great violence, if taken in the many
 thousand billionth part of a grain only in excess, but that neverthe-
 less the degree or potenz of a power twice or three times stronger,
 developed from the same substance, by the same process, might be
 given  under the same  circumstances without injury, nay ! with the
 greatest and most durable benefit, in allowing the use of two instead
 of one sugar pellet.   Reader, when such  men as Dr. Hering
 tells you, (see Concise  View, page 11,) "But Hahnemann was as
 "little confounded as  was Fulton.   For it is  indicative  of great
 " minds undauntedly to persecute a noble design, in defiance of the
 " whole world; the great idea becomes as  it were an element of
 " their souls ;" forget  for a while  that one of your countrymen
 has lent his pen to translate such stuff, and take a slate and pencil
 to compare these our statements, faithfully extracted and translated
 from Hahnemann's works, with any thing in  the world, and you
 will easily find that they are much more nonsensical, than if a lunatic
 should assert, that all the gunpowder which has  ever existed and
 now exists, is insufficient to blast a large rock, but that this may be
 done very easily by a power developed in this singular manner from
 one grain of it, whilst the power  developed by exactly the same
 process from two or three grains, or a much larger quantity of the
 same gunpowder, would make but little difference, and would not
 move an ounce of any additional resistance or weight from its place!
 If you can comprehend this, then you may, when sick, confidently
 smell of a sugar-pellet moistened with the thirtieth developed virtue
of flint or table salt; then you may sip with delight the homoepathic
chocolate.   Who would not again exclaim with us—"Helleboro
" opus est!"—but in large allopathic doses.—" Multa  cernunt arus-
" pices; multa augures provident; multa oraculisdeclarantur; multa
" vaticinationibus ; multa somnis ;  multa portentis."—Cicero. 
248
  In accordance with reason and experience we  may therefore
assert, that the homoeopathic doses and the developed drug-virtues
are absolute nonentities. Hence we cannot wonder, that not only the
statements of Hahnemann s opposers, who have either themselves
tried homoeopathic  prescriptions,  or have seen them tried by ho-
moeopathists, but also those  of honest  homoeopathists, who were
cautious not to deceive themselves and the public by withholding
the truth,  in secretly using allopathic medicines and doses,* vary
very much from the presumed infallibility of this method.  Besides
the many instances which we  have already stated, and the frequent
retractions and changes of Hahnemann himself, which we have
quoted from his works,  Dr. Gross, one of Hahnemann's disci-
ples, and one of the first and most distinguished champions of ho-
moeopathia in Germany, complains very much, (Arch. f. h. Heilk.
vol. viii. no. 3. p. 9. according to Dr. Kopp, 1. c.) that  the long
time required for homoeopathic cures, may be considered as a great
inconvenience.  The same periodical, devoted solely to the exten-
sion of homoeopathia in Germany, contains many statements where
homoeopathic physicians  have been compelled to recur to allopa-
thic treatment.
   To  say nothing  more  of the humbugs  and falsehoods pub-
lished  by bare-faced homoeopathists, though notoriously contra-
dicted by their own brethren, diseases like intermittent fevers, ge-
nerally so easily and safely cured by the physicians of any good
school, are confessedly treated on the homoeopathic method w ithout
success, by Drs. Gross, Rummel,  and Hauptmann, all of whom are
distinguished homoeopathic practitioners and authors; though these
diseases,  and their similarity with the symptoms of the drug-dis-
ease produced by Peruvian bark in healthy persons, must be con-
sidered as the very matrix of all the monstrous  and abortive  pro-
ductions of Hahnemann  and his doctrine.  .The  same  is stated
publicly  by other  homoeopathists, in regard  to pulmonary con-
sumption ; though  Hahnemann  considers it so easily, quickly,
and safely curable  by the potenzised virtue  developed from tin.
In a manner very unusual for him, though he  could not well evade
   * The Berlin Medical Gazette for 1832, and other German medical  periodicals,
contain many such instances; and in some cases also physicians, who pledged their
faith to their patients strictly to follow the prescriptions of the new healing art, either
 proved  by their recipes,  or have avowed to us,  that they commonly use allopathic
 doses.  The inconvenience of combining allopathic practice with homoepathic prini
 ciples has already been stated, as leading to the rudest empiricism. 
219
 it when introducing his " great truth" about the itch,  he  states
 candidly,  (Archiv. f. h.  H. vol. viii. no. 3.  p. 97,  according to
 Kopp,  1. c.) that in inveterate chronic diseases the treatment may
 last, on an average, from one to two years, before the cure may be
 expected.  Soon after he confesses again, in his last work, (Chron.
 Diseas. 1828, vol. i. p.  5 and 6. that  the homoeopathic mode of
 treatment  pursued by him hitherto, (that is, from 1805 until 1828)
 in conformity with the " law of nature !" has failed in all chronic
 diseases of any importance, (to whom is a disease not important.?)
 syphilis excepted, though this mode had  been used long and with
 the greatest exactitude,  and though the  patients themselves had
 also faithfully observed the minutest prescriptions, strict diet, etc.
 only the commencement of the treatment proved satisfactory, but the
 progress to recovery less so, until at last all hopes of recovery dis-
 appeared."  And he continues in precisely the  following words:
 " The  frequent relapses made at last the  best selected homoeopa-
 " thic remedies and the most appropriate doses the more useless,
 " the more they were repeated : they at last scarcely afforded any
 " relief whatever."—All these  statements  he made a  few years
 after his declaration, so  often repeated  by himself and  by all his
 adherents  and admirers,  (for instance,  Mat. Med. 2d edit. 1824,
 vol. ii.  p. 26. when he was already eight years in full labour with
 his " great truth;" and  in his Organon,  §§ 19,  65, and 156, ac-
 cording to Kopp,  1. c. p. 287.) that " nobody  will be cured from
 " his disease by any other but the homoeopathic method, in an easy,
 " quick, and safe manner."
  We must remark, that these confessions of  Hahnemann and  of
 his  most devoted disciples were made when he,  as we have seen,
 insisted upon the observance of strict dietetic rules, by which alone
 many of their patients  have  recovered.   As Hahnemann, in the
 last edition of his  doctrine, remits to his  patients a large part  of
 his former  dietetical prescriptions, we may expect from him,  in
future, much less favourable reports,  in regard to the frequency
of his  safe, quick, and  durable cures,  provided he lives  long
enough in " his youthful vigour," to benefit the world with another
" great truth," by which he will  be forced again'to repeal and re-
tract some  more of his infallible precepts and statements.—Minute
dietetical directions have been formerly the only and truly bene-
ficial part of the homoeopathic practice, and must have cured many
                             32 
250
who had long suffered from a rude treatment, which, disregarding
the great influence of many habitual and congenial agents, consi-
dered, next to the lancet, large bottles and boxes of medicine its
only resource ; rational medicine, however, has never regarded
strict diet as  consisting solely in starvation, as Dr. Hering (C. V.
p. 26) states: but in a proper selection and quantity offood, drink,
exercise,- etc.; a few obstinate chronic diseases of the reproductive
system excepted, where starvation must be recognised as the great-
est remedy.
   Hahnemann  being, as it appears from Vol. i. p. 189 of his Chr.
Dis. much annoyed by the reproaches of  his opposers, who attri-
buted the recovery of some of his patients solely to his strict diet-
ing system;  and many patients having become tired of abstaining
for years from their usual pleasures and comforts, he has resolved
to insist no longer upon these measures, which he formerly thought
so indispensable.   Dr. Kopp,  (1. c. p. 157) states, that  most  of
his homoeopathically treated patients objected to the severe diet-
etic prescriptions, though he could not dispense with them, being
the most essential part of the homoeopathic treatment.   The strict
diet must have been, moreover, too redolent of rational medicine
for Hahnemann, and particularly unimportant  to him, who was un-
willing to share with any thing the merits of his discoveries and the
unconditional salutary operations of  his developed drug-virtues.
—Reflecting patients,  treated  by  homoeopathists, and knowing
that they received only one atom of a drug every four or six weeks,
which was considered fully sufficient not only to combat a long
and serious disease, but  also to counteract  all external influences
 of nature, of the mind, and the many other vicissitudes of life, must
 also have thought it strange, that the restrictions from their usual
 innocent habits, nourishment, etc. provided these were not parti-
 cularly noticed as remedial substances, should be so necessary in
 support of the operations of atoms,  said  to be  omnipotent;  they
 must also have known the many facts acknowledged by  rational
 physicians,  that serious diseases sometimes disappeared and  were
 radically cured by a proper diet, without any medical assistance.
 Hahnemann, whose confidence began to decrease since he  pub-
 lished his work on Chr. Dis. and his false prophecies about the
 Asiatic cholera, was therefore anxious to give a new impulse to
 his doctrine, by making his treatment more palatable to his pa- 
251
tients : hence he  and his faithful  adherents now  released  their
patients from the inconveniences of a  strict diet; the remedial
agents excepted, particularly when  these are required to play their
part as scape-goats.
   Hahnemann's constant exertions  to discredit and reject all expe-
rience hitherto valued by the medical profession generally, though
he  himself adhered  to the rudest allopathia for the greatest part
of his professional life, are very remarkable,  and may  offer to the
impartial observer additional proofs, that his object is not love  of
truth and humanity, but only  petty egotism.   What otherwise
could have made him, as we have seen, so opposed to the use of all
external remedies; not only of bleeding, leeching, cupping,  but
also of  blistering,  injections, remedial  baths, ointments, cata-
plasms, etc. and even of the most important  and indispensable sur-
gical operations; as for instance,  the aid  of surgery for hernia
inguinalis, fistula  ani, etc. etc.   The admission of these remedies
would evidently not have curtailed the merits of his doctrine, and
would have been more worthy of a reformer of the healing art,
who is termed, by his missionary in the new world, " the first phy-
" sician who recognised it  as indispensable in every disease,  to
" regard man as a whole."
   Hahnemann's  course appears still more  absurd, if we read  in
§§ 287, 288, 289, and 290 of his Organon,  (4th edit.) among si-
milar correct remarks:—" Each part of our body, if possessed  of
" the power of feeling, can  receive the influence of medicines and
" communicate their powers to all  the other parts;"  and " even
" those  parts which have lost  their  proper  sense, for instance,
" the tongue and palate, which have lost their taste, the nose which
" has lost its smell, impart the power of medicines not less com-
" pletely to all the  other organs of the body.  Even the external
" surface of the skin is not insensible to the reception of remedies,
" especially of liquid ones," etc.*
  "The rogue and fool by fits are fair and wise." Singular enough! that here likewise
this extraordinary man is so adverse to truth  and common sense, that he cannot con-
ceal his anxious desire immediately to retract and to annihilate any truth which may
involuntarily have slipped from  his  pen, for he states on  the same page, that  the
resorption of mercury from frictions with mercurial ointment is very doubtful.—Is that
doubtful which has been daily confirmed for centuries,  by innumerable instances!
how does mercury enter the system of nurses, who have merely attended patients sa-
livated by mercurial inunction?  Such cases are known to many, and have occurred
und r our own observation. Is this metal, which so many times is distinctly found in
the large masses of saliva, ejected by salivation from mercurial inunction, and winch,
as trustworthy observers report, is even found in the blood and the bones of such  pa-
tients, perhaps in Hahnemann's eyes, merely a fiction of the " overrefined" chemistsl 
252
   We always considered the use of external remedies, even before
 the endermic method was known, as so highly important, that  in
 general  we would rather renounce all internal  than  all external
 remedies.   Many diseases of the  reproductive,  and especially of
 the lymphatic system, when the functions of the digestive organs
 are disturbed, and cannot bear medicine, as calomel for instance,
 without  difficulty, or with still greater injury, are  only to be
 cured by the external use of mercurial ointment, or similar medi-
 cated baths.  Hopeless cases of scarlet fever, the most dangerous
 affections of the brain after external violence, in typhus fever, in
 hydrocephalus, etc. are cured by cold infusions,  and by applying
 coverings of pounded ice to the head; not to mention the indis-
 pensable use of bleeding, leeches,  injections, blisters, etc.—Since
 the endermic method has been  adopted by the profession,  the va-
 lue of the external application of medicines is recognised still more
 and promises the greatest results.   If we consider  that by this mode
 the functions of the stomach, digestion, etc. which it is  so import-
 ant to preserve in most diseases, are no longer disturbed by medi-
 cines, and that these are reciprocally not so much changed in their
 chemical properties and effects,  by the action and influence of the
 digestive organs and all the different mightily decomposing diges-
 tive juices ;  we may justly expect from this method much greater
 and also  materially different results in the operation of drugs upon
 the human  body;  for  the skin, as an  excretory and assimilative
 organ, is, next to the lungs, the most important to the human eco-
 nomy ; and  being  so extensive  and so  rich in lymphatic vessels,
 nerves, etc.  it receives, more than almost any other part of the
 body, the greatest variety of immediate impressions from abroad.
  We should think that these considerations would have been much
 more  important to Hahnemann and to his adherents, than, com-
paratively, to other professional men. if the former were really
anxious for the improvement of  the profession, as  they would open
to them a new and interesting  mode of testing the correctness of
the homoeopathic maxim, similia similibus  curantur, by using en-
 dermically simple drugs for experiments on healthy persons.  But
no! our new prophet Samuel is worse than Mahomet, since the lat-
 ter has, at least, acknowledged other prophets); whereas the  former
 regards every thing not conceived by  his morbid fancy and  not
 hatched by  his miserable charlatanism, as false and worthless.— 
253
Thus he ridicules and despises also the use of the most powerful
and salutary drugs, for which the profession is so highly indebted
to modern chemistry,  such as  quinine, morphine, strychnine, etc.
saying  explicitly, on § 269 of his Organon, 5th edit, that " to use
" them is foolish, unless it is intended to destroy quickly the lives
" of men and animals."
   Instead of directing his attention to  the homoeopathic use of the
large stock of valuable drugs, which  the  profession already pos-
sesses, he has attended particularly, either  to substances  hitherto
considered by all chemists and physicians  as destitute  of remedial
properties, such as flint, sepia, etc. or to those useful only for domes-
tic purposes, as  table salt, or  also to those deservedly  considered as
obsolete, such as Drosera rotundifolia, Thuya  occidentalis, &c.—
This singularity becomes still more  evident, when we compare, in
his Mat. Med. and Chr. Dis.,  his trials with drugs, considered by the
physicians of all ages as the most powerful and efficacious,  with
those newly introduced and  picked out by him, from ancient and
obscure  authors on Materia Medica. Thus  he mentions only sixty
symptoms of drug-sickness produced by Rhubarb, seventy by  Digi-
talis, one hundred and seventy-five by Camphor, one hundred and
thirty by Iodine, seventy-five by  Stramonium,  four  hundred and
thirty by Arsenic, &c. but from his particular drugs, as Silicia, five
hundred and  sixty-five, Lycopodium eight hundred and ninety,
Charcoal nine hundred and  thirty, Table Salt eight hundred and
ninety-five, Sepia one  thousand two hundred and forty, and  from
his old pet and  scape-goat, Belladonna, one thousand four hundred
and forty.—Had he really intended to promote medical knowledge
and truth for the benefit of his fellow-men,  and not merely for his
miserable vanity and vile interest, he would have attended to the
drugs in general  use, and suggested a better mode of employing
them, to prevent many mistakes, so murderous in his eyes; this
course would have  afforded  him and his followers a field  of inves-
tigation, much  more ample  and honorable  than that  of  hunting
after new drugs, which will never be wanted, or which  are em-
ployed so seldom, that they.are not even mentioned in most phar-
macopoeias ;  as, for instance, Acetate of Manganese.
   But Hahnemann and his followers cry, facts ! facts!  and Dr.
Hering also exclaims, with his usual  pathos, on the last  page of
his panegyric,  " The Americans demand  facts, and on these we
" can confidently and securely rest for our support."  With this
implicit  reliance upon facts only, it must appear very strange that 
254
lihe same author has reserved for his never-failing new healing art,
in the cunning manner of his party, some very large allowances
in regard to some individual cases, which  may prove  unfavorable
to his homoeopathic treatment, remarking that " the new healing
*' art is not to be judged by its success in isolated cases only, but
" according to its success in general, its innate truth and the incon-
fil trovertible  nature  of its fundamental  principles."  It appears,
indeed, very  singular, that the same man, who denounces in the
most wanton and assuming spirit and language of his master and
brethren, all  theoretical reasoning in medicine, and even rejects as
•" learned lumber," all medical theories suggested previously to his
new professional creed, speaks, in the same breath, of innate truth
and the incontrovertible nature of its fundamental principles ! Any
one who  reads this and similar expressions, interspersed at random
for the edification of those, who either do not understand, or do not
confine their  attention when reading such a pamphlet, would really
think that homoeopathia rests more on the principles and dictates of
the human understanding than any other conjectural doctrine what-
ever, nay !  on the certainty of mathematical calculation itself, and
that henceforth, if men die before the age of eighty, unless killed
by accidental violence, it will be  only because  they did not apply
in time to a faithful homoeopathist, or because this  one  has made
some gross error in consulting his drug-and-disease-symptoms-dic-
tionaries.
   Having attempted to examine wherein the innate truth and in-
controvertible nature of Hahnemannism consists, we would humbly
ask the author of the Concise View and his brethren, if the public
is told not to rely on isolated cases with regard to their new heal-
ing art, but only on its success in general; in what manner this
success in general  could be incontrovertibly ascertained or substan-
tiated, when they decline to stand the test of isolated cases ?—
It may justly be expected,  that men who, with their implicit faith
in  their  master's dictates,  believe with him, that  before homoeo-
pathia existed, among hundreds of patients, only one was cured
by his good fortune; that men who worship tenets, opposed  to
all the  laws  of  the  human  understanding and  of nature,  as
oracles;  who deny all facts acknowledged  for upwards of 2000
years, although they are confirmed by  every physician of only a
moderate practice, <fcc, should  feel particularly obliged to prove
their  general success.  If homoeopathists object to many reason-
able customs and usages, and  substitute for them " unheard  of 
255
" niceties," they will nevertheless hardly succeed in changing th£

old custom, that in equit", the accused party cannot  be their own

judges, and  that  the  veracity of assertions  is  not to  be  decided

merely by those interested  in them, but by judges, witnesses and

umpires, who shall weigh conscientiously all the facts and circum-
stances of the case.

   In  our humble  exertions  to vindicate our  native and to benefit

our adopted  country, we  feel  particularly entitled to  ask for the

valid testimonies of  a general success of the  homoeopathic treat-

ment, as  we have  sufficiently proved  that the statements of its

success in Europe, made in  this country, are incorrect; and that

their  authors, if not  intentionally, certainly from party spirit and

from  want of sufficient information, substitute for  truth  their im-

plicit faith and  their extravagant fancies and hopes.   It would be

exceedingly  difficult for homoeopathists to prove the general success

of their method, even if many of  the largest  hospitals had been

attended exclusively  by  homoeopathists for at least twenty-five

years past;  but to  our knowledge, there exists not the smallest

public hospital  in the whole world, which is partly and much less

exclusively  confided  to  a homoeopathist.*   Many  distinguished


   * Since the above lines were written, we have seen a prospectus for publishing, by
subscription, the library of homoeopathia, signed by Dr. Hering and J. G. Wesselhoeft
of Philadelphia, and a supplement of these proposals by Dr. Ch. F. Matlack of the same
city.   It was to be expected that the author of the Concise View, which had at that time
already been published in Philadelphia, for  about nine  months, without being duly
noticed by the  profession, would  persuade himself that his pamphlet enjoys general
approbation from the American public, and would persevere in his usual manner to say
 summarily, that his new art of healing continues rapidly to  spread over the whole ot
 Europe, and particularly of Germany,  without referring to any other authority than to
 the few obscure men of his party.   But we could not have  expected that the Ameri-
 can champion of homceopathia, not satisfied with the aid he has offered to the admired
 doctrine by  his translation of the  Concise View into his  native  language,  should
 follow the same course in communicating statements to his countrymen, which he can
 only know from hearsay, and which he is unable to support by any reference to credit-
 able public documents.  It is true that a small homoeopathic hospital has recently been
 establishedat Leipzig; but as far as we know, not at the expense of any public autho-
 rity, as Dr. Matlack appears to believe.  About 2000 dollars had been collected from
 his friends and disciples,  for its erection, in  the year 1829,  at the celebration of  the
 50th anniversary of Hahnemann's graduation.  Up to the end of March, 1832, there
 had been received  34 patients in all, of whom 20 had been cured, 1 died, and 13
 remained under treatment, according to the statements of the hospital physicians,
 published]in the Jahrbuecher der homoeopathischen Heil-und Lehr-Anstalt zu Leipzig,
 No. 1.  That it is a private hospital is also evident by Dr.  Matlack's own statement,
 that it is supported by the voluntary contributions from patients restored to health by
 the new art.  Whoever knows the condition of Germany, and especially of Leipzig
 and its neighborhood, in regard to public benevolent institutions, will not believe that
 patients, who had to pay heavy fees for treatment, would after their recovery contri-
 bute to a private institution, which the poor do not want on account of the excellent and
 large public hospitals provided for them. Would Dr. Matlack, when joining perhaps
 with  some of his  colleagues in establishing a private hospital for about a dozen  pa-
 tients yearly, think that it will offer to the public satisfactory evidence of the general 
256
 medical authors, and among others Dr. Stieglitz, in his late work

 quoted  above,  have remarked, that  it never  has  been  minutely

 ascertained by unquestionable facts,  what medical  system, school,

 or method of treatment, has proved  to  be the most successful in

 curing diseases; still of course, every general mode of medical treat-

 ment, whether based on a distinct theory or not, from Hippocrates,

 Galen and Paracelsus, down to Brown, Broussais and Hahnemann,

 claims to be more  successful  than  all others.   Though we have

 proved by their own statements,  that in many diseases homoeopa-

 thists are less successful than other practitioners; although, in self-

 puffing, some of them excel even their  illustrious master; still, if we

 would allow  them  to be  relatively  more successful than others,

 they could not satisfactorily substantiate the same  by facts, until

 the  procentages of recoveries by all the  other methods  are exactly

 ascertained;  and as this has hitherto been impossible, or neglected,

 of course all the preferences  claimed  for  homceopathia, as well as

 for  any other  method  of  medical treatment, must  remain vague

 and undetermined.—A few voices from the tombs would soon settle

 all these professional controversies; but as they will forever remain

 dumb, there is  no other mode of  determining this important point,


 success of homceopathia] Still more void of all  truth is his statement, that the medical
 staff of the Prussian army is partly composed of a numerous body of homoeopathic phy-
 sicians.  It may be, that some few individuals of this corps, which stands high in the
 profession, secretly adhere to this medical superstition, but we can positively assert,
 and challenge the author and all his  homoeopathic brethren to prove the contrary, that
 in all the lectures and examinations in the Prussian universities, as well as in its
 military medical schools, not the slightest  regard is paid  to  homceopathia.   All the
 distinguished professors, chief surgeons and physicians in Prussia, publicly ridicule
 homceopathia, whenever they have opportunity to do so, as  might be expected from
 men so well educated.  This may be proved not only indirectly, by Dr. Hering's exceed-
 ingly ridiculous lamento,  in his Concise View,  that "the kings and princes of Europe
 "impede this new art by processes, penalties  and even  bayonets," but also by the
 Berlin Medical Gazette, Horn's Archiv. and other German periodicals.  It is likewise
 an error, that the King of Prussia  has ordered that homceopathia should be freely
 practised  in the  alms-house at Berlin; because, to our knowledge, no such explicit
 direction has ever been published, and the  large hospital, !a Charite, but not the alms-
 house at Berlin, is still the place where poor patients are treated ;  the public reports
 of the former however, contain not the least account of homoeopathia.  The latest
 regulations of the Austrian government again forbid homoeopathia to be practised in the
 army, after the trials publicly instituted at  Vienna proved abortive, as we have stated
 above.—We hope the publication of the complete library of Hahnemann's works may
 succeed.  Nothing would more  contribute, if they  are  faithfully  translated, to  do
justice to our statements and  remarks respecting this new art of healing, its author
 and his followers', and to open the eyes of the profession as well as of the enlightened
 people of this country  to this subject; though, in our opinion, there are very few, if
 any,  medical works, from which the medical student, the practitioner or any one might
 not extract  ten times as much good information as from  all Hahnemann's works
 together, the useful warning excepted, which they richly offer, showing how far men,
 who claim the confidence of the public to their  professional  talents and care, are led
 astray from all common sense, in neglecting and despising the safe ground  of human
 intellect and experience. 
257
  except  to try for  at  least twenty-five years all diverse methods of

  medical treatment, particularly those emphatically  recommended

  by the framers  of new  medical  systems, in  the same manner as

  homceopathia was tried  for a short time  in a military hospital, by

  order of the Russian government.   The governments of populous

  countries ought also to demand  yearly from  each  physician,  a

  minute report of his treatment in each case, with a detailed state-

  ment  of its  result;   they  also ought to  inquire  minutely  by

  what mode,  and by  what  physicians, those  have been  treated

  who died, without any previous violence,*  under seventy years of

^age.   Should such a course be enforced, and faithfully pursued for

  about fifty  successive years,  and  its  results  be  published  fre

  quently, with the  strictest  impartiality,  after  being canvassed

  and  reviewed by distinguished medical  colleges, then, but  only

  then, could we  conclude with some degree of probability, which

  method  was  relatively  the best, or rather which has proved to

  be  the least  detrimental.!   Single facts have  been and will ever

 be considered by the mass of the people as the strongest arguments

 in regard to professional acquirements, as well as to arcana or quack

 medicines. The economy of the living human body, its multifarious

 natural dispositions, the  great variety  and number of changes  in


   *  To the weekly reports of deaths in  every large city or county, containing  the
 different names of diseases, should be added, if not the names of the attending physi-
 cians, (which might perhaps cause a very beneficial competition;) at least, the method
 of treatment in short  scientific terms; thus for instance, scarlet-fever  or belladonna-
 sickness treated by a homoeopathist, gastro-enteritis by a Broussaisist, &c.
   t We say explicitly, "with some degree of probability," under the impression that,
 if medicine is not void of all certainty, the best method of treatment must finally  be-
 come evident by the improvement in the healthy condition of those persons, who punc*
 tually follow the advice of their physician in regard to the prevention of diseases, and
 also  by the relative majority of quick and durable cures, especially if the medical prac-
 tice  is founded on rational  physiological and pathogenetical principles.  With the
 latter restriction,  individual cases cannot offer any argument in respect to the acquire-
 ments and talents of  a physician. The greatest quack may cure patients, and the
most learned and  talented physician may lose some ;-r-non est in medico semper re-*
levetur ulasger.—Many methods  of medical treatment, however, the leading principles
of which are less  rational, frequently prove,  by  the natural talent of the physician,
provided he is well educated, more beneficial than more rational principles without
the natural talent of the physician;  homceopathia excepted, which is, as we  have
endeavoured conclusively to prove, nothing but the utmost methodus expectativa, or
the pure self-treatment of nature in diseases.    It is not the system, method or school,
which forms the good physician, but his general good education, his zealous love
for truth, his philanthropical devotedness to his vocation, and particularly his natural
talent, by which he will know best how to manage and to improve every method or
system, or rather by which he will best understand how to use or to reject them al^
together; a mode which, in the healing art likewise, cannot  be taught, but depends
on an innate disposition, which  embraces many peculiarities—Galen says therefore,
very correctly, "  multa sunt in  praxi, qua? nee dici nee sctibi possunt ;" and tli.e
expression,  " medicus nascitur" is no les-s correct than the old  proverb,  " poet*
'-fla^citur "
                                  33 
258
its conditions, the still greater multiplicity of all external influences
upon body and mind, the immense multitude of various combina-  ,
tions of all  those single influences, &c. will naturally produce an
immense variety of cases, all of which differ, more or less materially;
and  if the  most active physician should live thousands of years,
each hour might present to him new cases, in which he could not
honestly predict, with certainty, the beneficial or detrimental result
of a certain  treatment, or of a definite drug.
   Hence every enlightened physician will candidly confess,  that
the results of his exertions are uncertain, and excepting the absolute
action of a poison, there is no treatment, no substance or drug, which
will certainly cure a patient, or which, if constantly  applied for a
length of time to many,  suffering by similar or widely different dis-
eases, would not allow them to recover, (post hoc;) nay! would not in
some cases even promote a radical cure, by what we must term in
consequence of our confined means for minute investigation, chance,
(propter hoc).  This accounts for the  long continuance of so many
prejudices and errors with professional and unprofessional men, and
for the singular fact,  that people,  be  they ever  so much en-
lightened and  cautious  against impositions, when  not guarded
against such injuries by the wise laws of a good medical police,
c ontinue to pay high for all kinds of quack medicines.   We may
justly suppose that, unless the latter proved beneficial in some cases,
people would certainly not continue to use them, notwithstanding
the tricks of the venders.  Forced to resort in many cases  to quack-
medicines, in consequence of the bad state of practical medicine,
and of the charlatanism of many ignorant doctors, the people are
well aware that the medicine recommended for  cases, frequently
so palpably different, is like a chance in a lottery, in which blind
accident only throws out "to a few individuals the prize, but to a
" thousand the blanks," (see C. V. p. 28); do they not however often
 purchase blanks of physicians at much higher prices ?
   It is too  important not to repeat it here again : can a reflecting
 public consistently confide in a treatment called methodical, if the
 same remedies are prescribed in the same order from beginning to
 end, in cases and under circumstances widely  different; if they
 see their doctors depend upon certain empirical rules for all cases,
 or follow the prescription of their text-books more anxiously,  and
 without regard to individual circumstances,  than  an  intelligent
 tradesman would follow the rules of his trade ? Must it not be evi- 
259
dent  to all judicious  men, that they run much les^ risk of  being
sacrificed, or of suffering their strength and constitution to be broken,
when they leave nature to herself or take an innocent quack medi-
cine, than when they are, by an orthodox medical doctrine, or by a
rude empiricism, first reduced to the utmost by bleeding, leeching,
cupping, blistering, vomiting, purging,  &c, and afterwards, when
almost unable to digest the mildest food, are pampered with quinine,
bark, opium, &c,  or perhaps subjected to hazardous  experiments
with strong doses of such  drugs, as prussic acid, iodine, strychnine,
«fec.   Who can prove to them positively which system or method
of medical treatment offers  the least number of blanks in propor-
tion to the prizes ?  Will, or can veracious homoeopathists candidly
secure to them prizes only? How can this be, if they themselves
refer not to individual cases, but to general success, which they are,
and will ever be unable to prove? Does the author of the Concise
View really think, that his repeated assurances, for  instance on
page 25, " injury  cannot  indeed  result from a false selection ; for
" it is soon to be discovered, and  is free from all dangerous conse-
" quences to the patient,"  or when speaking of homoeopathic  doses,
on page 28, " When no relief whatever is  possible, they do no in-
" jury," &c, will or can make a favorable impression on any per-
son of  sound judgment? If he and his brethren discard all nega-
tive injury,  or the natural Consequences arising  from neglect, the
common sense of others will nevertheless consider it as highly im-
portant.  No vender of a quack-medicine would assert, if he under-
stands his business, that ituever injures but, is always beneficial, be-
cause, in doing so, he might expect that idiots only would purchase
his stuff, since most people would  judiciously conclude,  that what
can never do harm can also do no good.  Such outrageous puffs
will be ineffectual  with Americans, and may be told more success-
fully to the inhabitants "of Egypt, the  laird of  monsters, ami  of thf
" sanguinary gold-coast."—" The American people demand  facts,"
but certainly very different  ones  from those which homoeopathia
can offer, especially when its high-gifted adepts  renounce the test
of individual  cases, and advert to the investigation  of " its innate
'  truth, and the incontrovertible  nature  of its fundamental prin-
" oiples."  We have not the  good  fortune to be a native of this our
adopted country, but we think '; the ConciseView;' to be any thing
but courteous to this free and happy nation, since all its features
appear more calculated to  infatuate an uncivilized and superstitious 
260
 people, than to make a dignified impression upon the countryrneii
 Of a Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and so many others, whose
 brilliant talents and characters  reflect  the greatest honour  on
 their country.   If the Americans should  be contented with mere
 facts, without investigating whether these facts are only accidental,
 without any relation to,  or dependence upon, some existing cause,
 (statements sensu Jatiori); or without relying upon causes, as the
 necessary conditions of definite facts, (species facti,  or facts sensu,
 strictiori),  they  would be as credulous and superstitious as  all un-
 civilized people are;  they would have  remained satisfied with
 those  objects only which nature  has granted  them, and would
 continue to be  tributary for what the skill and talents of other
 people offer them.   But as they have long since  emerged from
 this state of infancy, and have attained the vigour of  manhood,
 they are not contented with  naked  facts only, but  are anxious
 closely to examine the different causes from which the true one
 is to be selected  ; desirous to ascertain the real connexion between
 causes  and effects,  they prefer rational  investigation  to  a rude
 senseless empiricism, in order to  become,  as far as possible, disen-
 thralled from the  chances  of accident, and to derive, from  the
 same cause, all other effects which its nature admits. In consequence
 of this rational course adopted by the Americans,, they have  de-
 vised a plan for  atmospheric electricity to  pass  down their dwell-
 ings without injury ; they have shortened the intercourse between
 distant places to a degree which would have appeared  to our an-
 cestors as a vision, and advance daily in  a manner almost unpa-
 ralleled in  the  numerous  branches  of industry and commerce.
 We confidently  trust, therefore, that, some doctors excepted,  not
 one American will henceforth be duped by homoeopathia, after be-
coming more intimately acquainted with the bearings of its max-
 ims, and the superstitious features of its practice.  People, deficient
 in common sense  and education, or  otherwise  disposed by their
 morbid fancy, to credulity  and superstition, may be dazzled by
 emphatic references to facts, and may, when gazing at the ascent
 of a balloon or a feather, consider it  as  a fact contrary  to  the
 laws of gravity ! fools may be imposed upon with the painted dial
 of a hollow plaything, when told that it will be as  useful  as  the
best timepiece, because it is a fact, that both coincide together 732
 times in one year,  at the minute and  second ;—a ratio which is
 much greater than many  rude  medical treatments or the use of 
                                 2(ii

  quack-medicines will prove to  be in proportion  to their failures J
  lunatics only will believe, if a mosquito lights on a rock, weighing
  millions of pounds, and this rock falls to the ground, that the mos-
  quito caused its fall!—Reader,you scorn or smileattheseextravagant
  comparisons !  take a slate and  a pencil, and the  most  simple
  arithmetical calculation will prove even the latter of these instances
  to be a  million times more entitled to probability, and, therefore,
  also, to the term/acf, than  that the thirtieth homoeopathic dilution
  of flint,  table-salt, arsenic, &c. or that even the 1500th dilution of
  sulphur  would  affect in the least any  mortal being upon  our
  planet!
    With reference to these remarks about the  reliance upon " ge-
 " neral success," we do not for a moment doubt that many patients
  will recover after a faithful homoeopathic treatment,  and  that, at
  the  next anniversary meeting  of the  respected homoeopathic so-
 ciety at  Philadelphia, the  duly verified reports of many marvellous
 cures performed by  homoeopathists, will have arrived from all quar-
 ters  of this country likewise, and even of cases where persons have
 been rescued from the very verge of the grave by this new art of
 healing.*   We confidently  expect, that, in general, more  patients
 will  be permitted to recover by this mode, than by  many  other
 methods of medical  treatment hitherto pursued  by some doctors.
 Many patients will be negatively saved by it, whose constitutions
 are strong enough to combat the disease  itself, but not the  addi-
 tional consequences of a medical  ill-treatment, generally ten times
 worse than the disease.t   The negative beneficial results of the
 homoeopathic treatment will  be still greater in  countries, where
   * Our anticipations expressed at the beginning of this year have not been realized.
 The first anniversary of this "beneficent society" passed over, at least without any
 literary eclat, strong enough to extend beyond the walls of the meeting-place of the
 homoeopathic propaganda  there.  We eagerly expect  the second anniversary, when
 the whole number of all the miraculous homoeopathic cures in the new world will be
 reported to the public.
   t Every  honest physician will  candidly confess, that in many cases, nature left to
 herself, restablishes even patients, considered as hopeless by them, and that often when
 he followed one of his colleagues in attendance, and credit was given to him for the
 cure, it belonged much more to the  well directed measures of his predecessor than
 to him, who only quietly awaited the effect of medicines given before.   As a very
 striking instance of the advantages of the methodus expectativa, we remember a phy-
 sician  of immense professional learning, but who had not the judgment indispensably
 required to  manage the extraordinary means afforded to him by his diligent researches,
 which were most favorably seconded by an almost unparalleled memory.  In conse-
 quence of his incapacity to select  from the stock of his knowledge the means proper
 for the individual case, he at last prescribed in all cases, almost nothing else but some
 gruel  of salep-root, arrow-root, &c, acidulated with phosphoric, or some other acid,
 and only differently colored by some other innocent ingredients.  He  however cured
many patients, and enjoyed great confidence in his extensive practice ; especially be-
cause  he, though very restricted in his judgment,  was  considered  to  be an extraor^ 
262
human life is every moment at stake, from the bad state of phai

macy, and the legal irresponsibility of the apothecaries, by which

the best prescriptions of the well educated and judicious physicians

are frustrated, and  even  frequently rendered  highly detrimental.

In this respect we are  zealous  advocates  of homoeopathia.  Our

remarks about homoeopathic doses show that, whatever may be

the  bearings of its  other  maxims,  it is  utterly  foolish to think,

that all the homoeopathists who have  existed, now exist and may

exist, even if the world  should be blessed with them for many cen-

turies to come, could do the least injury to any man, provided they

follow strictly the tenets and prescriptions of the third maxim of

their doctrine.   The eighteenth, and  still less  the thirtieth  dilu-

tion of any known drug, simple or compound, selected houroeopathi-

cally, enantiopathically, allopathically, or empirically, be it Arsenic,

Strychnine, Bohon upas,&c,  or a mixture of these strongest poisons,

would probably injure no living creature on our globe, from the

Mastodon, if it still should exist, down to the smallest  microscopic

infusory worm or insect, unless the  latter  might, perchance, be

drowned in the drop of liquid dilution, as in so much water or milk.

Hanging the term HOMCEOPATHIA, written in the same form

as the charm ABRACADABRA,* round the neck  or elsewhere, will

dinary wise man, by his ability to use exactly the printed sentences and words of the
many works which he constantly read ; and  because  also he judiciously avoided all
controversies about abstract subjects.  This and other similar men, remind us of the
late distinguished member of Congress, John Randolph of Roanoke, who on once
hearing one  of  his friends say of a man, justly celebrated as the greatest polyhistor
of this country, " there goes the American encyclopaedia;" replied, "ay! but it has
lost its index."—Such men are as necessary in the sciences, as laborers are for the ar-
chitect, they facilitate much the endeavors of truly talented men to promote the dif-
ferent branches of sciences to which they have devoted themselves—as physicians
they  mostly injure, likewise only negatively, or by neglect. They deserve all, when
departed from this world, the known witty epitaph,  " Hie jacet  vir summce memorise,
judicium expectans."
  * The history of medicine (see Curt Sprengel's and Hecker's works mentioned
above) ascribes the origin of this charm to Basilides, a heretic, who communicated
it to  Serenus Samonicus, father and son, who lived in the third century, under the
emperors Geta and Alexander Severus.  One of the two Samonici wrote a book in
verses, containing medical  precepts, under the title, " De Medicina parvo prctio
" parabili."  He expresses his prescription for the use of the Abracadabra, in the fol-
lowing hexameters;
               " Inscribes chartae quod dicitur Abracadabra,
                " Saepius et supter repetes, sed detrahe summain,
                " Et magis atque  magis desint elementa figuris.
                " Singula quae semper rapies et cetera figes,
                "Donee in angustum redigatur littera conum ;
                " His lino ncxis collani rcdimctc: memento :
                "Talia languentis conducent vincula collo,
                " Leihalesque abigent (miranda potentia) morbos.'
This superstition was intimately connected with a belief in the curative and protec-
tive properties of certain precious stones or gems, called abraxas or abrasaxas-stoncs,
in ./Eons, Daemons, and in magic formulae or figures, (termed by Plato, oV»j|xa<n<r|Loi)
which were considered as protective  against all kinds of diseases, dangers, &c. 
263
prove just as useful in curing all discuses, safely, quickly and du-
rably,  as was that  superstitious formula, which was,  however,
merely thought salutary in intermittent fever, and a few other com-
plaints.  And indeed if any government should resolve to expel
all  physicians,  as we are erroneously told  by some uncourteous
authors the Roman government once did, all faithful homoeopathists
may justly claim to  be exempt, from such a barbarous ordinance.
  If therefore, these  pages have no merit in any other respect, we
deserve  at least full credit from  the  homoeopathists for having
proved, as we natter ourselves, with artless but strict conclusiveness,
that  as active pliysicians, they  are the most ltarmless men
in the world.—But if common sense proves that, as medicine  has
existed for centuries  and still exists, it is based on  truths, which
have stood  and will stand the tests of reason  and experience, in
spite of all  the  encroachments of credulous  superstition and cun-
ning quackery, then it will also be evident that many cases require
the  assistance of those great means, which  merciful Providence
reveals  to man, whenever nature herself is  either not powerful
enough to remove the disease, or is inclined to injure or to destroy
 the patient.
   The positive injury ascribed to allopathic medicines  by Hahne-
 mann  and  his followers, and the avowed harmlessness of their
 mode,  may prove the true value of the former in comparison with
 the indifference or nullity of the latter; since it must be evident to
 every impartial man, that any thing in physical nature, which can
 injure, may, if properly applied, be highly beneficial, and vice versa.
 Hence, according to their  own verdict, we may justly charge ho-
 moeopathists with the very grave sins of omission, as we have tried
 to acquit them  of all acts of positive commission.   We must either
 deny the occurrence of many cases where the life  of a patient is
 exposed in a few hours, or even moments, to  the  greatest danger,
 from which he may be easily rescued by  proper aid; or  every body
 who believes that we must wait for the effect of medicine for weeks
 and months, must  also  admit that such  a mode will frequently
 produce great  and  irreparable injury from omission.   What, for
 instance, would a red-hot homoeopathist say in his defence, if in a
 severe case of haemoptysis, the patient expires by suffocation in less
 than an hour, and he has neglected  to prescribe the proper reme-
 dies recommended  by the profession ; and instead of  large bleed- 
264
ings, epispastics, injections, <fec, all  neglected by him as external
remedies, and instead of the beneficial use of dry table salt by tea-
spoonfuls, which he  considers an  allopathic remedy, and also as
"a crude article, possessed of a prejudicial character,''  (see Concise
View, page  14,) &c, he has administered  the thirtieth dilution of
an antipsoric remedy, and intended to repeat this dose after four or
six weeks, when  the counter-and-after-operation of the  first  dose
has ceased?  How can he justify his conduct, if instead of protect-
ing a man from the danger of a strangulated hernia inguinalis, by
a good truss and other judicious prescriptions, he recommends him
to smell every four or six  weeks of a sugar-pellet, moistened  with
the thirtieth developed virtue of another antipsoric; while the patient
dies miserably by his implicit confidence  in such horrid madness ?
What can he proffer for his excuse,  if in  a severe contusion of the
skull, the patient expires,  because the homoeopathist has neglected
proper aid, and instead of the  most effectual  and indispensable
internal and external remedies, such as large abstractions, cathar-
tics,  &c.  cold  fomentations and even trepanning, he  has only
administered now and  then  an atom of Arnica ?   And thus in
hundreds  of cases, the homoeopathist,  with  all his contempt of
" learned lumber," with all his " unheard of niceties," with all his
emphatic  proclamations of " no error is  possible,"  " injury  can
" indeed not result from a false selection," &c, will be the negative
cause of fatal cases, or of  the long sufferings of  a broken constitu-
tion, perhaps never again to be restored.   We have witnessed some
of these shocking cases, where men  in the piime of life deplored
too late their deception and folly.*

  * We have recently seen an extensive report of many trials with the homoeopathic
method in different diseases of horses and dogs, made at  the veterinary school and
hospital of Berlin, in presence of many students, and with the utmost  exactitude;
even homoeopathists assisted at these experiments, and the drugs were prepared by them.
According to this report, contained in the Berlin Medical Gazette, 1834, No. 14,  these
trials were instituted on account of the brilliant statements of many homoeo-and-iso-
pathic curesof horses and dogs, lately published by Dr. Lux, (English, Lynx,)veterinary
surgeon at Leipzig, in the first  volume of his work,  " Isopatik der Contagien, &c.
" or  Zooiasis," "oder die Heiluug  der Thiere nach den Gesetzen  der Natur,
(English, the cure of animals according to the laws of nature.)"  Though the cases
were selected at Berlin, similar to those of Dr. Lux, not one of them was cured; not
one confirmed the correctness of his statements even in the slightest degree.
  We have also read the report of the celebrated Dr. Andral, respecting many expert
ments with the homoeopathic method, publicly instituted by him, with  the greatest
exactitude, at the hospital " la Pilic" at Paris.   They likewise proved quite abortive,
(see  Bulletin General Therapeutique, May, 1834,  and United States Medical and
Surgical Journal, No. V., December, 1834.)
  The homoeopathists will probably say, that Dr. Andral has not talent enough tn 
265
     We invite the  attention of our indulgent reader, finally, to the
  following extract.   Samuel  Hahnemann, whose sensible remarks
  we are as anxious to quote, as we  are his ravings, says also very
  judiciously, on pages 11 and 12 of Vol. II. of his Materia Medica,
  2d edit., that if the  symptoms of a disease  have  disappeared
  after the use of certain drugs, or the patient has recovered after
  them,  it does  not follow that they have caused  it to disappear ;
  and  farther,  contradicting  in like  manner  his  own  assertion
  so many times repeated in  his works,  he  says, on pages 14  and
  15 of Vol. III. of the same work—" Is it not very foolish to ascribe
  " the consequences  to one power,  while  powers  of another cha-
  " racter were co-operating, which often principally, though jointly,
  " aided in producing the effect ?"   If we refer minutely to these
  suggestions, which, if impartially applied to the residts of all the
  tenets and prescriptions of homceopathia  hitherto known, would
  deprive them altogether of their value,  being at least much  too
  premature ;  and  if we combine them with the bold  assertions of
  Hahnemann, frequently cited, that among some  hundreds of  pa-
  tients, hitherto and now treated on the allopathic mode,  only  one
  has sometimes recovered by mere  chance ;  we may ask every
 impartial umpire,  what entitles him voluntarily to select  from  the
 records of medicine some scattered  cases  in  support of his doc-
 trine ? and farther, what reason has  he to preclude from his mode
 likewise the chances asserted to prevail in all other modes ?
    Hahnemann, in ascribing to himself the  discovery of the homoe-
 opathic action of simple drugs on the human body, and in assert-
 ing that none but his prescriptions admit positively a radical and
 safe cure, has of course precluded all other physiciaus before him
 from his discovery, and  from all belonging to it.   Abstracting,

 ascertain the " law of nature" and the " great truth" as well as they and their brother
 homoeopathist, the sugar-refiner so quickly made a doctor, and that the distinguished
 professors at the celebrated veterinary institute at Berlin, had also not the proper
 " lynx-eyes," to distinguish the symptoms in diseases of horses and dogs, since they
 only understand also, when animals, " exactly and expressly define the seat of every
 " symptom, &c. all the circumstances under which any complaint arises or disappears,
 "increases or diminishes, &c,  emotions of the mind  or  mental expressions, &c;
 " sensations of falling asleep, during sleep and on awakening; even the dreams and
 "the kind of them," &c. (See Concise View, pages 21 and 22.)—If every physician
 in the world should forget his sacred duty, and on exposing his patients to the dangers
 of such foolish experiments should find them incorrect, nay! if even Galileo, whom
 they graciously admit as one of the few  competitors of their great genius, (see Concise
 View, page 16,) should rise from his grave, and  fully explain to them the nonsense of
 their law of nature, &c.  they would  reply—"and yet it is true."—The negro can be
allopathically white-washed, more easily than they can be cured of their folly.
                                34 
266
therefore, from the many other objections which we have inferred
against the quotations of homoeopathic cures, as made before him
by men who were unconscious of his fundamental " law of nature,"
similia similibus  curantur: how could he quote those instances in
his behalf, as he cannot name  one single  case  among all  those
quoted, in which the supposed homceopathically acting drug has
been used after his mode, and in which all the restrictions and con-
ditions, asserted  by him to be indispensable, have been observed?
  Considering, therefore, that the salutary issue of the homoeopa-
thic mode is  likewise not quite precluded from mere chance,  of
which we may be convinced  by the fact, that many  also have re-
covered from  external and internal diseases, who were so fortunate
as to possess  neither an  allopathic nor a homoeopathic doctor ;—
and admitting that, among some hundred patients treated by al-
lopathists, one only escaped by chance; it is obvious that the num-
ber of patients who have  so escaped during many centuries, when
compared with the number of  patients treated by all homoeopa-
thists  during  the period of their existence  as practitioners, which
is less than twenty years, even admitting that they have not lost
one patient, would show it by far more probable that the homoeo-
pathic cures were made by mere chance, than the allopathic ones.
If therefore Hahnemann and his followers should still  admit, that
allopathists cure only one among some hundred patients, they
will all have to practise at least for about a century longer, with-
out ever losing one patient, before they can  free their cures from
the  equitable  reciprocal  reproach of mere  chance, and  before
they can  justly appeal to the  general result of their miraculous
and  infallible medical treatment!   How much less can homoeo-
pathists free  their fortunate  results  from the reproach of being
caused by mere chance,  if they avow, as we  have  seen, that their
mode  of treatment frequently fails, and  a  few excepted, none
among them  would be impudent enough  to assert,  that he has
never lost one patient, but by external violence or from old age.
Our  study of homceopathia  has made us  so familiar with  large
numbers, that we will try, from motives of curiosity, to elucidate this
assertion likewise by some arithmetical calculations, whereby we
will grant to  the  results of the homoeopathists the most liberal, and
to those of all other physicians the most unfavourable proportions. 
26?
   The  population  of Europe amounts to 189 millions; say of

Europe  and America  together,  200 millions.  Suppose, on an

average, that there  is  one physician  for every ten thousand peo-

ple, there would  be  twenty thousand physicians.   There are un-

questionably more in  America alone,  if  we  consider  the large

number of those graduated annually, and  that New York, with a

population of 240,000 inhabitants, has  more than 400 physicians.

Now admit that  every physician cures, only  by chance, one pa-

tient among 200,  he  requires 2000 patients  yearly to cure only

ten a year: in one century, therefore, the 20,000 physicians will,

at this rate, have cured 20  millions ; and in  less than half  the

time that the healing  art has existed, or  in  ten  centuries,  200

millions.   If there are 1000  homoeopathists,  (there  are certainly

not  so  many, and  not 100 who follow faithfully this doctrine) who

at the same rate  permit all their patients to recover,  that is, 2000

each, their  number will amount, in ten years, to 20 millions;  and

they could not,  in less time than a century, begin to prove their

mode  of treatment not to depend  upon the  same chance which

they ascribe to other modes.   But it is generally considered a

very unfortunate medical practice,  if in  one hundred  patients

ten  die.   The incurable Asiatic cholera even  destroyed only 33J

per  cent, at the highest average;*—2000 patients leave, therefore*


  * The United States again gloriously excepted !—We have already stated above,
that a North  American homoeopathist  has cured all his six hundred  patients, who
came under his treatment, after the beginning of September, 1832.   An allopathist,
Dr. David M. Reese  of this city, was not less  fortunate, according  to a letter
written to Dr. Nathaniel Porter, professor of the theory and practice of physic in the
University of Maryland, and published  in U. S. Med. and Surg. Journal, Number V.
Dr. R. stales, " During the  year 1832 I attended 432 cases, (of asiatic cholera) all
" of  which were  treated  upon  these general principles,"—(repeated  bleedings by
pounds, calomel by drachms,  and ice at pleasure)—" varying according to the circum-
" stances which, more or less, modify every case ; and of this number I lost but nine,
" every one of whom, in my own opinion, died for want of blood-letting, the time for this
" operation having passed before I saw them."—Who will doubt, if among 432 cases
of Asiatic cholera only nine  have died, and that every one  of the latter would have
been cured, had Dr. Reese been called early  enough, that all the world is very much
mistaken about this disease, if they consider it so dangerous.   It will  appear even less
dangerous than a catarrh,(which sometimes may change into a fatal bronchitis, encepha-
litis, &c.,)  to the physicians  in all other quarters of the globe, as soon  as they have
learned this infallible mode of treatment.—Dr. Reese, who ridicules all opinions about
the contagion of Asiatic cholera as fancies, has seen his treatment confirmed in the much
milder epidemic of this year, having lost but three of 101 patients; of course by the
same reason as quoted above in regard  to the  nine deaths.  Our German professional
brethren will be much amazed at these brilliant results, which they  could not attain.
We cannot conceive why (according to the public  reports)  this year so many  have
died from the Asiatic cholera as it has been much milder, and as those splendid results
of a treatment, so settled by this  uncommonly talented  and  happy practitioner, have
heen  known  to the medical profession of America since the last  epidemic;  for,
»fhe himself could not attend  to all cholera patients, his respected colleagues, in Nc 
268
at least 1800 cured in one year by one physician ; or 20,000 phy-
sicians will cure, in ten centuries,  36,000 millions of patients.—
Admitting, therefore, even that five times as many, or 98 out of a
hundred  patients of homceopathists recover, and that, from the
present moment, every physician should become a faithful homoeo-
pathist, almost  a whole century must elapse before the general
result could be  incontrovertibly proved to be in favour of homce-
opathia, if its votaries insist upon the ridiculous and contemptible
assertion,  that  of  200  allopathic  cures  only one succeeds by
chance.
   The real great truth, indirectly advanced by the homoeopathic
doctrine, consists in clearly demonstrating the ample means which
nature possesses  to cure  many  and  even dangerous diseases  in
man also,  if left undisturbed and without any interference what-
ever ;  and that  therefore  many cases, requiring the assistance  of
the healing art, may be cured much quicker and safer when phy-
sicians do not consider large doses of powerful drugs and an he-
roic method of  treatment,  always absolutely necessary.—Putting
out of view that no physician would obstinately pursue a mode of
treatment  which, in  all, or at least in most cases, would  prove
immediately noxious,  we would act as partial and unfair towards
homoeopathists, as Hahnemann does in regard to all  allopathists,
if we should question  for  a moment the honesty of all of them,
and the truth of all their statements.   Be the number of patients
suffered  to  recover  by homceopathists ever  so  small, a great
truth  could be  derived from  these  cases, which  would  prove
highly useful to  many physicians  of our time, if they were not
in  favour of a fanaticism,  much  more  noxious  than  the play-
things of a faithful  homoeopathic  treatment.   Many  would be
convinced,  that  thousands  who  might  have  recovered,  after
York at least, would have been anxious to pursue such a simple mode of treatment!
We cannot understand also, what the meaning of Dr. Rees's restrictions can  be
when he says, " treated upon these general principles, varying according to the cir-
" cumstances," &c, since  the conception of general principles would unquestionably
dictate, in many cases, a very different and even opposite treatment; the fact, that
he would not certainly abstract three pounds of blood from an infant child, nor admi-
nister to it sixty grains of calomel  pro  dosi, does not, however beneficial it has proved
to be, exculpate this mode from being merely  an  empiric one.   If both  the
American homosopathist and allopathist are correct; and who dares doubt it!__how im-
mense is the difference between a  dose of the thirtieth developed virtue of camphor,
copper, &c,  and repeated doses of forty grains of  calomel, &c.—Sed patet immani,
et vasto respectat hiatu !---Lucr.  What can  better prove the benevolent provision
of nature, in protecting life from the danger which naturally must arise in some cases,
from one or the other of both so diametrically opposite modes of treatment! 
269
merely smelling of a moistened sugar-pellet, have fallen victims
or escaped from death with a ruined constitution, by the prevalent
nonsensical opinion, that the only true guides of the physician are
symptoms and the results of post mortem examinations ; or by the
dominant prejudices, that every disease must be a genuine inflam-
mation, a plethora,  an  accumulation of bile, etc. and that there-
fore the blood, this very essence of animal life, and its noblest se-
creted fluids, are to  be  abstracted by repeated large bleedings ;
the sordes must be evacuated by large doses of calomel, cathartics,
etc. until all vital reaction, termed by them  inflammatory excite-
ment, becomes extinct!
   Many rude empirics, who now scoff  at homoeopathia, merely
from  self-conceit, without  any further investigation of it, would
perhaps, on a nearer acquaintance with  some of its  facts, pause,
and cease to drug their  patients with large doses  of powerful me-
dicines, and would soon become sensible, that it is still better to
adopt whimsical drug-symptoms and virtues, than either to combat
causes which are only supposed to  exist, or  if they exist, rudely
to destroy the substance and resources of life simultaneously.—
They would scoff not less if they were told, that an extended me-
dical practice  among all classes of people was conducted upwards
of thirty years, at least  with results not less fortunate than those
they claim, almost without bleedings, without spoonfuls of  calo-
mel, without large doses of opium, morphine, etc. and neverthe-
less, this fact  is true. Hence it is evident, that  they must  either
assert, with the homceopathists, that all  they prescribe can never
do any harm if it does no good ;  or if they  derive their fortunate
success from their  active mode of treatment, they must consistently
admit, that many of those patients, who recovered without it, would
have been materially injured by it.  To be sure, they could in re-
turn reply, with the same consistency, that many  who were saved
by their partial  and active treatment, would probably have died
without it.  But we should think, that a  medical  treatment, which
regards minutely the great variety of the diseases of all the systems
and parts of the human body  and the various and  important at-
mospherical and other  influences, which confidently  trusts to the
great assistance of the vital powers, he., must appear more accord-
ant with the laws and processes of living nature, and must there-
fore generally prove more salutary, than a partial and rude medi- 
270
cal autocracy!—We  should  also  think,  even  supposing the
numbers of cures and failures to be equal on both sides, and they
certainly are not, that it is still better  to run the chance of letting
the patient die, than of killing him.—Physicians who attribute
the recoveries of their patients to their mode of treatment and skill,
and all their failures  to mere  accident, will never become con-
scious of their errors, and never improve in their profession :  it is
principally the school of misfortune which makes wise men wiser ;
that physician only who soon forgets his cures, and remembers his
failures, will improve in knowledge and talent, though much grief
is added by this to his tiresome and arduous vocation.—Should it
be sufficient for medical  practice to  brandish the lancet and to
administer empirically some dozens  of remedies, then anatomy,
physiology, chemistry, etc* with  all  their collateral sciences, are
also merely  ornamental to allopathists, as they are to homosopa-
thists ; and  we may justly  presume,  that no patient exists, who,
knowing the bearings and probable consequences of both, would
not judiciously  prefer a homoeopathist, if he should require the
assistance of a physician.                               "
  The neglect of philosophical study, and of the treasures contained
in the writings of the great physicians of past ages, which, com-
bined with the progress of modern anatomy, physiology and che-
mistry, would have highly elevated the profession of our times, has
paved the way for homoeopathia. Conscious of this fact, let us thank-
fully acknowledge the consequences which even this unparalleled
superstition has indirectly promoted, and all the bles.-ings of rational
medicine will be again secured to mankind.   Rational  medicine
has always acknowledged, and  truly learned  and  talented physi-
cians have always observed, that the smallest dose of any medicine
may be sometimes too large, and  the largest too small, provided
that the limits of both are not imaginary, but marked by the laws
of nature, by  experience and common sense.  The salutary use
of mineral  springs, which  frequently contain only  very small
quantities of medicinal substances, have attracted  for many cen-
turies the reflections of the judicious physicians  in regard to the
efficacy of small doses; and severe chronic diseases, especially those
which, idiopathically or sympathetically, affect the organs and gang-
lions of the abdomen, have often been cured with small quantities of
digestive salts, emetic tartar, calomel, &c, by which, probably, in
the center of the animal functions, a >cries of salutary living electro 
271
chemical processes is excited  and entertained—We think that the
great discoveries in modern chemistry, especially those belonging to
the processes last mentioned, will promote still more the exhibition of
reasonably small doses of medicines, particularly in cases which are
not urgent; and we are confident and hope that, in this way, me-
dicine will soon be greatly and beneficially reformed. We regret that
this reform will be delayed by the discredit which must follow ho-
mceopathia, as soon as its  true bearings are generally known.
  Were it possible to prove incontrovertibly, that one single case has
ever been  cured by, and not merely after, the thirtieth developed
virtue of any substanceordrug, no apology whatever could be devised
for  the medical profession, if it should hesitate forthwith to adopt
homoeopathia.  None more than  ourselves would  then humbly
acknowledge our deceptive prejudices so long entertained, and none
would be more willing than ourselves, to atone amply for the injury
done, perhaps, in these pages to homoeopathists and their doctrine, by
our misled zeal for truth and the welfare of our fellow-men.—As a
physician, we must then hail such a state of things, by which,  in
the words of the ingenious and learned author on demonology and
witchcraft, " the ordinary laws of nature were occasionally sus-
" pended," though we could not consider it a blessing for mankind
to attain even the greatest age by homoeopathia, if, as would be the
case, the foundation  of reason and  experience,  in medicine as  in
other sciences, is destroyed, and a new era of supernatural powers
and miracles is  opened.  But until then, we will likewise faithfully
adhere to  the  other judicious expression  of the same celebrated
writer, viz. " Each advance in natural knowledge teaches us, that
" it is the  pleasure of the Creator to govern the world by laws,
" which he has imposed, and which are not in our times interrupted
" and suspended."
  We devoutly confess,  that we must admit much that we cannot
comprehend, and we  are  fully convinced, that if our knowledge
could be many  billion  times greater than it is, we would, however,
be still conscious that  it is  by far too little, distantly to comprehend
the fundamental law of nature, and still less, its eternal first cause.
—Medicine particularly has been, and always will be, more un-
certain and more subject to the influence of erroneous hypotheses,
than  most other conjectural sciences, because in animal, and par-
ticularly in human life,  the physical powers of  natural appear con
mooted with, and modified by, the laws of a higher and very dif- 
272
 ferent order of things ;  to these we feel that we particularly belong
 in the  few fleeting  moments, when the abstracted  mind  seems
 disenthralled  from the sway of physical nature, and becomes con-
 scious of its future better home.   It is owing to our total want of a
 clear conception what life itself is, and  wherein it essentially con-
 sists, that the healing art, more than any other, alternately advances
 and retrogrades, and that, notwithstanding the greatest discoveries
 and experiences made in it, one age bequeaths to another its self-
 created or inherited superannuated errors and prejudices under the
 cloak of truth.   But, nevertheless, rational medicine,  called  by
 Hahnemann allopathia, can justly boast of truths which have stood
 the test of upwards of a score  of centuries, and will  probably  re-
 main unshaken for ages.  Every honest physician, whose interest
 is not merely confined to the  bedside of his patients,  but who is
 zealous for truth, and fully aware of the destination of his arduous
 vocation, will  feel himself in  duty  bound to defend  the tenable
 ground  which Providence has  granted to the human intellect, and
 to the noblest exertions  of  the  really high-gifted benefactors  of
 their race, against the encroachments of any superstition and cre-
 dulity.   This  defence, however, will in medicine also be successful
 only by the great advantages which true  religious devotion, the
 means of an ample philosophical education, assiduous study and
 true love for that vocation offer; but not by a doctrine like Hahne-
 mannism, which despises all the laws of the human intellect and
 of nature, which substitutes for rational medicine the products of
 a morbid fancy and  the rudest  empiricism which ever  existed ;
 and which, as it admits of no cause which is not visible or palpable,
 would even not allow the existence of a God.
   If in doing so, with consciousness of our faithful exertions  for
 truth and  philanthropy, we should once become sensible of our
long cherished errors and mistakes, wTe will candidly confess them ;
 and when we arrive  at the  great cross-way which separates the
twilight  of our  earthly existence from  the brightness of eternal
truth, we may quietly exclaim with  Laplace, the Newton of the
 nineteenth century,  when breathing his last:—" all  we  know i?
" very little; but all we do not  know is immense." 
 

 
 
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