GENERAL INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 
TO THE 
FIRST SESSION 
OF THE 
'gSebicaf gollege, 
OF 
PHILADELPHIA. ' * 
By RICHARD KOCH, M. D., 
PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY, &c. 
PHILADELPHIA : 
KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS, No. 601 SANSOM STREET, 
1 8 6 7. GENERAL INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 
TO THE FIRST SESSION OF THE 
lifilmcimnw jHcbmtl (folhgeof 
BY RICHARD KOCH, M. D., 
PROFESSOR OP PHYSIOLOGY, &C. 
Gentlemen of the Medical Class: 
In the name of the Faculty of the Hahnemann Medical College, I 
bid you a hearty welcome to these halls. Those of you in whose 
faces we notice the impress of past friendship; whose features are 
yet fresh in the memory of most of us, whose kind remembrance of 
their former teachers is manifest by their presence to day, I greet 
with a “ welcome back againwhile such of you who are still stran- 
gers to us, and who call on your future teachers with a firm confi- 
dence in their willingness and ability to instruct you and to raise you 
gradually to their circle as colleagues, I hail, with no less sincerity, 
“ be welcome.” May he who rules the universe be with us and bless 
your endeavors to attain that knowledge of medical sciences, which 
is so necessary to, and inseparable from your future success as physi- 
cians ; may He send his aid to your teachers in their exertion to place 
you upon the platform of truth, to elevate you to the rank of scien- 
tific men, and to make you what we all ought to be, liberal and free 
thinking, but true “ Homoeopathic physicians.” * 
You, I know, are striving for these attainments, and we, I am con- 
vinced, will leave nothing undone to aid you in your efforts. But in 
order to attain these ends, you must throw off all prejudice, relieve 
yourselves of false impressions, place confidence in your instructors, 
and. then, with a clear head and a hearty will, grasp the truth of 
Homoeopathy, and you will anchor your ship in a safe harbor, from 
whence you may then sail, without further aid, to such ports as your 4 
own independent judgment, your free opinion and your liberated 
thoughts will direct. 
Gentlemen, it is not my purpose to refer historically or otherwise, 
to the manner in which Homoeopathic training has been conducted 
in this city; but as our School claims, by the transfer of the majority 
of its faculty from an older institution to this one, the appreciation of 
succession, allow me to link that chain. 
When the graduating class of last spring and some of the members 
of the present class met for the last time in the session, the valedic- 
torian, Prof. J. C. Morgan, impressed upon you the following words: 
“ It is your duty, as Homoeopaths, to earnestly cultivate all branches 
of our one healing art. Surgery, aside from its merely mechanical 
department, has no future save in Homoeopathy. For physiology 
and pathology also, I hazard nothing in saying, there exists no truly 
philosophical future but in the channels to which Homoeopathy in- 
vites, and points the way.” 
And again, at a meeting held but a few days before the one above 
mentioned, where the members of the “ Hahnemann Medical Instr 
tute” bade each other farewell, the able graduate of the class, Hr. 
Augustine Thompson, of Maine, concluded the farewell address 
thus : ‘'High on the virgin white of our starry banner, write : 
“Liberty, Progress, Science.” 
Let these three weighty words be the subject of a full considera- 
tion, and let us see how intimately they are related, and what bearing 
the one has on the other. 
I. Liberty.—When Washington and his brave army, by their 
patriotism and endurance, won the freedom and the political rights 
of the American people, the consequence was the privilege of self- 
government, which remains to this day ; when various reformers agita- 
ted the disputed and much abused rites and practices of religious 
bodies, the result was a liberty of conscience, the salutary effects of 
which upon morals are yet visible; when Kepler, Newton, Humboldt, 
and that host of savants revolutionized the erroneous sophistries of 
the dark ages, past prejudice perished, the world advanced into the 
glorious light of philosophical freedom, and became the play-ground 
for scientific research, and is so yet; lastly, when a Hahnemann for 
the first time promulgated those truths, so much cherished by all of 
us, the chains which bound medical men to the aphorisms of a Galen 5 
and others were broken, past empiricism was forgotten, and medical 
treatment received an impulse of progress, the effect of which is daily 
more and more apparent in the evident advance in all schools and 
creeds towards the abolishment of poisonous doses, blood-letting, 
blisters, cauteries and other barbarisms. Medical Freedom then com- 
menced ! Has it continued ? 
I am sorry to be obliged to state that the tendency of medical 
slavery is again to throw its bands around liberty of thought, around 
freedom of judgment, around honest convictions and experience. 
This evil spirit of bondage is stealing itself into our ranks by two 
separate paths; first, from the ranks of our open opponents, the 
Alloeopathic profession; and second, from our own ranks. 
The former is not dangerous and can be met openly, easily and 
decisively, provided we are truly prepared. In what does that 
necessary preparation consist? Gentlemen, in nothing else but a 
thorough medical education, and sound scientific attainments. Be 
assured that, whenever you are able to stand before your opponent, 
equal to him on any question in medicine; whenever you can meet 
him face to face and say, “I am your equal in learning, come and 
prove your point,” then he will not dare to throw out his wanton in- 
sinuations to injure you, nor will he feel safe in ridiculing you. But 
his lance will tell terribly on the ignorant, on the uneducated, on the 
quack. We hope, gentlemen of this medical class, that you will once 
dare to meet such opponents, and that you will not be intimidated 
nor enslaved by them. 
Now we come to meet the evil spirit approaching by the other 
patlv; the more dangerous one, because his base of operations is in 
our own ranks, and, therefore of a treacherous, faithless character. 
What! Bondage in the ranks of Homoeopathy! Are we to be told 
that because we do not think as we are told to think, because we do 
not blindly believe what we are ordered to believe, that we are 
not Homoeopaths? And this too by a Homoeopath, to an admirer of 
Hahnemann, who, in spite of persecution, ridicule and hatred, stood 
up before the world and dared to act the champion of reform, who 
exclaimed to his antagonists that they were slaves to prejudice! All 
this is preposterous! To force the profession to a Ijjindfold belief, 
by threats of excommunication, can only be thought of by those who 
fear an open investigation, who are not equal to others in research, 
in short, who are not able to convince. Excommunication is a shal- 
low argument. 6 
All disputed, unsettled and doubtful points in any science must be 
left to the free judgment and mature deliberation of every one. If 
we only believe what our former teachers inculcated and do not ad- 
vance in medicine, we fall back to the days of darkness, from which 
a IIarve}r, a Sydenham, a Hahnemann emerged. I will go even fur- 
ther than this and say, upon my own responsibility, that, although 
the aim of your present teachers will be to impart to you the theories 
and truths of medical science, and the purity of Homoeopathy to the 
best of their knowledge, belief and experience, yet far be it from 
their thoughts to compel you to adopt all blindly. No! After you 
have been educated here, we want you to criticize, to progress, to dis- 
cover. It is for such purposes, and not for a stand-still, that we 
propose to give a thorough medical irf&truction. 
II. This brings us to the second part of our theme: Progress. It 
is of course unnecessary to impress upon you, that we live in a cen- 
tury of Progress, not only in arts and sciences generally, but also in 
the art and science of medicine. And I ask again, who broke the 
chain of charlatanry in medicine at the end of the last century ? Let 
me answer by an altered quotation from Cowley: 
From these ancl all long errors of the way, 
In which our wandering predecessors went, 
And like the old Hebrews, many years did stray 
In deserts but of small extent, 
Hahnemann led us forth at last. 
The barren wilderness he passed; 
Did on the very border stand 
Of the blest promised land, 
And from the mountain-top of his exalted wit, 
Saw it himself and showed us it. 
Yes, Hahnemann showed us the promised land, where the science 
and art of medicine approaches perfection; he smoothed the path for 
us to reach it; he, with his indefatigable industry and courage, hinted 
to us the truth of Homoeopathy, and also, mark me, what Homoe- 
opathy is yet to be. Does that mean indolence ? Does it mean a stand- 
still ? Did he wish us to remain where he began, on the border of the 
promised land? No, never! If his spirit could speak to us with 
living tongue, he would exclaim: advance, progress and add to the 
magazine which I have collected for you. 
But if our mind is influenced and bound by men who profess to be 
pure Homoeopaths, because they do not go beyond what Hahnemann 7 
said, we will never approach perfection. If we reflect on such a doc- 
trine, we must come to the inevitable conclusion that its source is 
either indolence or ignorance. It is time to turn a cold shoulder to 
such a profession, and to stand upon the only true basis of true 
Homoeopathy, ''Liberty, Progress, Science.” 
It has been argued, that by making progressive efforts, we are apt 
to theorize on the explanations of the Homoeopathic law, and that we 
fall thereby into heresy. There is no such danger; simply because 
all our practical experience has bound us too strongly to our faith. 
Should, therefore, a theory in the path of progress enter our field and 
fail in practice, it will die its own death; should it, however, be con- 
firmed by it, see what we have gained—a new proof of truth. I 
believe in adopting the law ''similia similibus curantur,” not only as 
a proposition sanctioned by experience, but also as a truth confirmed 
by scientific investigations. These investigations have been attempted 
by Dr. v. Grauvogl and others, but succeeded only in part to the sat- 
isfaction of the profession. The field is, therefore, open yet; open for 
you, gentlemen. It is not sufficient for a liberated, progressive man 
to say, ''I believe in Homoeopathy;” he ought to be able to say, ''I 
know Homoeopathy, and, therefore, think it good.” This glorious 
point might have been reached long ago, but for an opposition by 
some, based upon the hypocritical plea of such a step being un-Hahne- 
mannian. Hahnemann was progressive, but they are decidedly retro- 
gressive. We should have reform and not revolution; we should 
preserve the old and add the new. 
But to come to the last part of my address to you. 
III. Science. Can we think freely on disputed points, or can we 
progress in the truths we advocate, without the knowledge of the 
necessary accessory sciences upon which Homoeopathy is based ? 
Can there be any answer but a negative one ? Although it has been 
publicly and privately advanced by some again and again, that Ana- 
tomy, Chemistry, Physiology and Pathology were not necessary accom- 
plishments of a Homoeopathic physician, and that any man could be 
a successful practitioner, provided he only knew our Materia Medica, 
I will fearlessly take ground against such a position, and try to con- 
vince you of the absurdity of such an assertion. I have never met 
a person yet, advocating indifference in regard to collateral medical 
sciences, who dih not lack that accomplishment himself. Gentlemen, 
it is one of the failings of mankind always to begrudge in others what 
they have not themselves, and I can fully comprehend why an igno- 8 
rant man battles against tlie advantages of attainment which another 
possesses. 
In the opinion of your teachers, the full understanding of the fol- 
lowing branches of medicine is absolutely necessary for a medical 
education, viz.: Anatomy, Chemistry and Chemical Physics, Physi- 
ology, Materia Medica, Toxicology, Pathology, with a full knowledge 
of Diagnosis, Surgery and Midwifery, together with the respective 
clinical instructions. Besides these, we think the comprehension of 
Homoeopathic Pharmacy, of Hygiene, of Botany, of the use and prac- 
tical results of the Microscope and Medical Jurisprudence as scarcely 
less important. It shall therefore be our aim to impart them all to 
you. 
Anatomy being the foundation of all medical knowledge, is proba- 
bly the most important, especially to a first-year student. Without 
it none of the other branches can be either learned or understood. 
You cannot appreciate the chemical composition of bone or any other 
tissue, if you do not understand its physical construction. You can- 
not follow your preceptor in his explanations of the acts of digestion, 
absorption, assimilation, circulation, secretion, excretion, calorifica- 
tion, procreation and nervous action, all branches of Physiology, if 
you are ignorant of the location and form of the digestive apparatus, 
the glands, the heart and arteries, the generative organs, and the 
brain and spinal cord. So in Materia Medica, it would be impossible 
for you to value, or undervalue, or compare a symptom, if you did 
not know whether it is near the pyloric or cardiac orifice of the 
stomach, or whether it is in the pharynx or the larynx. Without 
Anatomy you cannot be a pathologist, because you might be tempted 
to percuss the heart over the side where the liver is situated, or to 
diagnose an aneurism of the subclavian artery for a bronchocele. 
That, in order to practice Surgery, Anatomy is essential, must be 
self-evident; no fracture can be treated, nor the smallest operation 
performed properly without having the form, situation and structure 
of the part under the command of memory. Hot even Midwifery can 
be practiced without it, as the whole mechanism of labor is based 
upon the anatomical construction of the pelvis, the uterus and the 
foetus ; or, how is it possible to tell a flexion or descent of the uterus 
or a congenital hernia of an infant without understanding the topo- 
graphy of the parts. 
In connection with this word “topography” let me urge you not 
to neglect that branch of anatomy commonly called practical, often 
surgical and sometimes topographical anatomy. A thorough com- 9 
prehension of it can only be acquired in the dissecting-room and dur- 
ing the lectures on that branch. The opportunity you have to enter 
into that department fully, is this year better than ever before. The 
knowledge of descriptive anatomy only, without being acquainted 
with the regions of the human body, does not qualify you for sur- 
geons. Topographical or surgical anatomy is special anatomy prac- 
tically applied. 
Chemistry is hardly of less importance to the practitioner than 
Anatomy. Organic as well as inorganic Chemistry are, together 
with Anatomy, the bases of Physiology, and the interchange of gases 
and fluids, during the various processes of digestion, absorption and 
elimination, are a dead-letter to a non-chemist. Cantharides has, as 
one of its symptoms, coagulated, albumen-like urine; in proving it, 
how do you know that it is only albumen-like, and not albumen, if 
you do not know the chemical test fo*the latter? How would you 
find out, whether a discharge, when produced by a remedy, while 
proving it, is acid or alkaline, bloody or whether it contains pus, 
without the aid of chemistry or the microscope ? Is it possible to 
prove a remedy at all, without the knowledge of the collateral 
sciences, including chemistry ? Not only in materia medica, but 
also in the other practical branches are the proficiency in chemistry 
and the use of the microscope essential. Diabetes melitus can only 
be positively proven by a chemical test for sugar, only confirmed by 
the microscopic spermatozoids, Bright’s disease by the search for pus, 
some lesions of the Liver by the chemical test for biliverdin in the 
excretions, internal and external Cancers, all Tumors, Tuberculosis, 
internal hemorrhages, and a multitude of other pathological states 
can often be definitely confirmed only by the above means. 
Let us now examine the importance of Physiology, the science 
which gives life to Anatomy, practical utility to Chemistry, and is 
the pedestal of all other medical science. It is at the present "time 
conceded that the science of life cannot be divided, and that the 
varying phenomena of health and disease are governed by the same 
laws. In this way our general views of disease have been much 
simplified. We examine now the conditions of disease just as we 
study the other vital processes, mainly by the assistance of physical, 
chemical, microscopical, and other experimental means. 
It must be plain to all, that a thorough proving of a drug, to be 
relied upon, cannot be undertaken by any one, who, acting as super- 
visor, has no idea of the functions of man during health. Take some 
symptoms of any of our remedies, and suppose it has a frequent, hard 10 
pulse, how can you judge, if you are unacquainted with the number 
and strength of beats in health, or the physiology of the heart’s con- 
traction ; or suppose there is retarded or diminished menstruation, how 
do you know, without being able to represent to yourselves the 
quantity excreted in health, and the period when the flow is expected ; 
or how can you. detect the symptom of an increased flow of urine, 
when you are not aware that from 40 to 48 ounces is the normal 
quantity, and that this changes according to the season? Upon the 
same principle, increase or decrease of respirations, coughing, vomit- 
ing, the various abnormal ejecta, the flowing of tears, the healing of 
wounds and fractures; in short all pathological states are founded 
upon Physiology, and, as a symptom of a remedy is a pathological 
state, all provings are based upon Physiology, and the Homoeopathic 
Materia Medica is a nullity without it. We can never recognize the 
symptom of a drug as pathological, without being able to say with 
certainty, that it is not physiological. I wish to lay an emphasis on 
this last phrase, because physiological symptoms have entered the 
reports of provings as pathological more than once, and particularly 
lately. 
I wish also to draw your attention to the importance which the 
knowledge of that branch of physiology known as Histology, or 
minute anatomy of the tissues and cells, bears to the human organ- 
ism. It is the anatomical structure as well as the physiological 
functions of these cells and tissues, which plays so weighty—perhaps 
the first—role in all pathological changes. If this is so, must it not 
be of great for general practical medicine, and especially for 
the Homoeopathic Materia Medica, to understand the direct and indi- 
rect relation which the drugs may have to the different tissues, so as 
to enable us, after proving them on the healthy, and applying them 
to the sick, to give to the law of “ similia similibus curantur,” in 
practice as well as in theory, that firm basis which will forever pre- 
vent its overthrow ? 
If we do not understand an organ in its structure and function, 
how can we presume, when it is diseased, to have brought it back to 
its normal condition, without being obliged to admit that we did so 
blindly, accidentally, and that we were quite ignorant of how we did 
it? Where is the difference here between the physician and the 
quack ? 
One word yet on the necessity of being a pathologist, and of the 
value of diagnosis. The old and true, but much abused saying, that 
in Homoeopathy we do not strive to cure the disease, but the symp- 11 
toms of the patient, has not been generally accepted in the sense it 
was intended, but so construed that any one might, can, and usually 
does turn and twist it to suit himself. A pathological state is mani- 
fest to us by the symptoms expressed in the subject under treatment, 
and if a name is given to those symptoms, it is not for the purpose 
of selecting a remedy according to the name, but to express the pa- 
thological state of the patient; and just as the name of a disease clas- 
sifies the latter in pathology, so do the symptoms of that disease 
classify also the remedies, out of which we have to select the proper 
one, according to its modalities, or, if you please, according to the 
characteristic expression which the disease shows in the individual. 
In short, pathology and diagnosis teach us: 1. To individualize the 
disease; 2. To individualize the character of the disease according to 
constitutionality and disposition of the subject; 3. To individualize 
the remedy. 
I would also like to foreshadow to you the fact, that you will find a 
thorough knowledge of pathology and diagnosis a valuable aid in 
remembering the numerous symptoms of a vast number of remedies, 
because you cannot help connecting the symptoms of drugs with 
those of disease, and by remembering the latter, you grasp at once 
many symptoms of the former, and therefrom individualize your case. 
But not only for scientific reasons, and for your success in treat- 
ment, is it necessary to have a full understanding of diagnosis; your 
financial success will also depend upon it. Many of you will begin 
your medical career in the country, or in a small town, where no 
Homoeopathic physician is established; where, perhaps, you will 
have to contend with a number of Allceopaths, some of whom may 
have received a good instruction in all the branches of medicine. 
It will be your lot to establish Homoeopathy in such a place, which 
you will not be able to do, in the face of your opponents, if you 
cannot enter the field fully armed, that is, clad in science. Your lack 
of this is the only weak point of which your antagonists can take 
advantage in their action against you, and only then can they wield 
their weapon. The first question usually put to a physician by the 
friends or relatives of the sick, after having examined his patient, is: 
“ What ails him, Doctor ? ” Woe to you if you diagnose a consump- 
tion of the lungs as bronchitis, or say the asthmatic attack comes 
from emphysema, when it is due to a disease of the liver; and should 
you ever pronounce an inoffensive preputial “herpes’’ “chancre,” 
the best course for you to pursue is, to pack up your potencies, leave 
the place, and try somewhere else, or else take another course of 12 
lectures in a good institution. The charlatan alone, but no honest 
man can succeed without science. 
Medical literature is, at the present time, made up almost ex- 
clusively of auxiliary sciences, so that, in order to study medicine as 
one science, the collaterals cannot be avoided. When we listen to 
clinical instruction it is certainly, to say the least, some gratification 
to be able to look at the disease, according to circumstances, from an 
anatomical,-or chemical, or pathological, or therapeutic stand-point; 
and if we can embody them all connectedly in the diseased subject 
before us, we can flatter ourselves to rank among respectable physi- 
cians. 
It occurs, unfortunately but too often, that a student of medicine, 
after having heard but one course of lectures, and then practising 
upon the strength of his faint acquirements, becomes, in consequence 
of pecuniary successes, and sometimes satisfactory cures, possessed 
with the unfortunate idea that his slight attainments are sufficient for 
his future welfare. This seems so, because a young practitioner does 
not appreciate the word welfare in its proper meaning. Blinded, 
hither by financial or by unusual, and often accidental medical success, 
avarice and vanity seize him, and for a time, but only for a short 
time, he imagines to have attained his object, and his final aim — 
“ welfare.” But remorse soon follows; dissatisfaction with himself 
enters his soul; he sees his ignorance compared with others; and 
when that terrible dilemma occurs, where at the bedside of a fellow 
creature, over whose life and death he has the charge, he finds his 
resources exhausted, exhausted on account of his limited attainments, 
then his conscience-stricken self condemns him, and remorse is too 
late. The true welfare of a physician lies in self-contentedness—his 
misery in self-accusation. 
Now is the time for you to learn. Day by day do those who are 
obliged to spend their life’s force and energy in a toilsome and 
exhausting practice, find it impossible to review even what they 
have once learned, or to read medical works, in order to progress 
with the world. Once in practice, close examination and careful 
study cease, and what you do not learn now, is in future hardly 
attainable. But if a good ground-work is now built, studies can be 
continued with comparatively less toil afterwards, and although the 
language of medicine is ever changing and is particularly now 
assuming another appearance, the old principles learned once are 
ever available. 
The more the century advances in years, the more will be 13 
required of a scientific physician. He must advance with the 
century. How can he, if he feels himself not free from prejudice or 
enslaved by unworthy criticism, if he has no love for progress, if 
he has received no scientific educationf These three inseparable 
qualifications are necessary for a man to be a useful instrument in 
the great end, which not only the medical profession, but the whole 
of mankind are striving for, namely, “truth.” Without love for 
truth, the student is a parrot and the teacher a charlatan. Upon 
truth depends progress, upon falsehood and imposition the quack. 
Gentlemen, I do not believe to assume too much, in saying, that 
the graduates of this College will not fall into such errors. Let me 
give you the assurance, in the name of the faculty, that it will be 
their lasting endeavor to educate you scientifically, and be convinced 
that their aim is, to give you the advantage of instruction, with 
equal zeal in all branches, and to leave nothing undone, to make you 
proud of your profession. The only evidence of your appreciation 
of these endeavors which we ask, is industry. If you, as students, 
and we, as teachers, co-operate harmoniously, my brightest hopes will 
be realized. This College will then rise as a bright star in Hornoeo* 
pathy, and you, gentlemen, will be its satellites. THE 
HAHNEMANN MEDICAL COLLEGE 
OF 
PHILADELPHIA. 
]STo. 1307 Chestnut Street. 
FACULTY OF MEDICINE. 
Constantine Hering, M.D., . . 114 North Twelfth Street, 
Professor of Institutes and Materia Medica. 
Chas. G. Raue, M.D., 121 North Tenth Street, 
Professor of Practice of Medicine, Special Pathology and Diagnosis. 
John C. Morgan, M.D., .... 1700 Chestnut Street, 
Professor of Surgery. 
Henry Noah Martin, M.D., . . 526 Spruce Street, 
* Professor of Clinical Medicine. 
Richard Koch, M.D.,. . . . 33 North Twelfth Street. 
Professor of Physiology, General Pathology, and Microscopic Anatomy. 
A. R. Thomas, M.D., 1506 Chestnut Street, 
Prjfesssor of Anatomy. 
Lemuel Stephens, M.D., .... 616 Sansom Street. 
Professor of Medical Chemistry and Toxicology. 
O. B. Ganse, M.D., N. W. corner Twelfth and Arch Street, 
Professor of Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Children. 
A. G. Ballantyne, M.D., . . . 616 Sansom Street, 
Adjunct Professor of Natural Philosophy and General Chemistry. 
H. Ryland Warriner, Esq.,. . . 26 North Seventh Street. 
Lecturer on Forensic Medicine. 
C. H. Von Tagen, M.D., . . . 1135 Spruce Street. 
Demonstrator and Lecturer on Surgical Anatomy. 
J. M. Habel, M.D., 1506 Callowhill Street. 
Librarian. 
Wm. Wear, 
Janitor.