“THE COMING DOCTOR.” ANNUAL ADDRESS BEFORE THE 0 MASS. HOMOEOPATHIC MED. SOCIETY, 1870. By DAVID THAYER, A. M., M. D. M. M. S. S.; Pres. Am. lust. Horn.; late Pres. Mass. Horn. Med. Soc., &c. TAUNTON: PRESS OF C. A. HACK & SON, 1875. “THE COMING DOCTOR.” ANNUAL ADDRESS BEFORE THE MASS. HOMEOPATHIC MED. SOCIETY, 1 8 70. By DAVID .THAYER, A. M., M. D. M. M. S. S.; Pres. Am. Inst. Horn. ;late Pres. Mass. Horn. Med. Soc., &<■. TAUNTON: PRESS OF C. A. HACK & SON, 1875. ANNUAL ADDRESS. BY DAVID THAYER, A. M., M. D., BOSTON, Mr. President and Gentlemen : I congratulate you on the favorable circumstances in which we meet. Every year adds fresh evidence how surely and widely the theory of practice which we advo- cate is making its way to general if not universal accept- ance. The time has been when we were obliged to come up here “ armed and equipped to do battle for our cause. Like the Jew, when rebuilding the walls of Jeru- salem, we were forced to hold our implements of industry in one hand and weapons of defence in the other. Like our ancestors when surrounded by Indian foes, we went up to worship God musket in hand. Those days happily have passed away. “ The clouds that once lowered about our house are now in the deep bosom of the ocean buried.” The world always preserves that which really serves it. 4 The defeated captain at St. Helena was always ready to explain very clearly how Wellington ought not to have conquered him at Waterloo, but the great, busy world has no time to listen to the explanation. Sufficient it was for men in general, that Wellington did conquer. So with us. Facts have vindicated us. The witty poet cov- ered us with dainty ridicule. The rapier was so keen it was almost a pleasure to be stabbed by it. The grave essayist showed in how many points extinct quackery re- sembled Homoeopathy. The jokes flung at infinitesimal doses and dynamic power glittered like fire-flies on a summer evening, and they lived about as long. More bilious critics traced all conversions to ill-success in allo- pathic ranks and hope of golden gain in ours. We were all second rate men, to be sure, of no account as scien- tific explorers; men who would never have been heard of in allopathic ranks. But then they kindly gave us credit for just sense enough to make us guilty of deliberate im- posture. We were not so wholly fools as to be allowed to escape censure on the score of being dupes. Mean- while we remembered Jenner and Harvey. We recall- ed the fact that very little effort had ever been wasted on real quackery ; that in the history of our race it was a noticeable fact that mischievous errors had been rarely persecuted, while struggling truths almost always were. To this storm of envious abuse our complete and quiet answer was success. This is the most provoking of all retorts. It was of no use to compare us to Per- kins’ Tractors and similar ephemeral expedients, since of these allopathy had triumphantly asserted that they were all forgotten long before their inventors grew old, that in 5 ten years they were things of the past. Homoeopathy, on the contrary, cured millions, and could point to an exis- tence as long, at least, as any medical theory "known to history. “ Have you looked into Hahnemann’s Organon ?” said an intelligent and liberal minded clergyman to a self con- ceited M. D. uNo, but I will when you examine Joe. Smith’s Bible,” was the retort, which passed for excellent wit. Whether wit or not it was very poor science. The Koran would have been a fairer comparison, since our theory can boast as long a life as that of Cullen or Boer- haave, Abernethy or Broussais. As a student of moral phenomena, any one interested in mankind should inves- tigate the results of all creeds and delusions that hold millions in their chains. The true scientific explorer is bound to investigate Homoeopathy as a grave fact, not as the object of an empty jest. And our success will compel this. We may safely leave our cause with the intelligence of the century. The Quarterly Review once ridiculed the idea of a lo- comotive. The tory wit still makes fun of universal suf- frage ; but railroads and republics have survived the foolish wit, and science now sets herself to analyze and explain what pedantic bigotry laughed at fifty years ago. “ What,” said a conceited lawyer to Stephenson, when cross-examining him before a committee of the House of Commons, “ what would happen if a cow should get in 6 the way of your locomotive ?” and the pedant laughed as if he had settled railroads forever. “ It would be vara bad for the coo,” said Stephenson, in broad Scotch. The experience of Homoeopathy has been similar. Timid men trembled when our locomotive encountered fashionable ridicule. But we roll on fifty miles an hour, and it has meanwhile been “ vara bad for the coo.” We may well rejoice at this release from the disagreeable task of self defence. It leaves us free to survey the heal- ing art from the highest outlook, to glance over the whole field of our professional life in its amplest breadth. Into this survey we can carry one lesson taught us by the severe experience through which we have just passed, that is the lesson of a liberal toleration of all new ideas, a gener- ous welcome to all suggestions for improvement, whether they come from the profound thought of broad and far seeing minds or from the experience of practical men. Of the great Lord Bacon, Montague has well said, that “ he was willing to light his torch from every man’s candle.” This is the humility of true science. There must be no source so humble that we disdain to learn from it. An art, which owes the Jesuit’s bark and vac- cination to patient imitation of the lowliest of the race, cannot surely afford to leave unoccupied the fields from which it has gleaned so much. Though we owe the earliest study of anatomy, and the first treatises on that subject probably, to the wise Egyptians, still they were in the habit of carrying their 7 sick into the market-place and highway, and not allowing any passer-by to go on his way until he had contributed whatever knowledge his experience or his travels could furnish towards the sick man’s relief. Such was this Avise people’s ingenious method of adding to medical knowledge. And the picture, while it paints so graphi- cally the simplicity of early times, reads us also a lesson of making the best use of all opportunities. In this it portrays the humility of true science. “ They who first found the way of curing disease,” says Cicero, “ thought it to be an art that ought to be ascribed to the gods, which is the received opinion.” If we look back to the earliest history of medicine it is lost in the mists of superstition. The lavish gratitude of mankind deified the hand that cured them. A little later it is creditable to the human mind that the saviour of life was more highly valued than the de- stroyer of it. The Argonautic Expedition was not undertaken with- out the attendance of a physician, and when Machaon was wounded at the siege of Troy, the whole Grecian army trembled for his safety. He was very specially cared for, and Homer puts into the mouth of one of the Greek chiefs the sentiment: “ A wise physician, skilled our wounds to heal, Is more than armies to the public weal.” Still the estimate differs in different nations 8 At Rome all surgical operations were performed by freedmen or slaves, while Athens gave to the science of medicine so high a place, that the law allowed no slave and no woman to practice physic. With Hippocrates, practically speaking, the science of medicine began. He was the first scientific observer whose works have come down to us. And we may fairly have this boast, that no human science can show a finer genius for its creator, or a more masterly work for its foundation. What Plato and Aristotle are in philosophy, and Justinian in law, it is fair to say Hippocrates is in medicine, and that he deserves as high a niche in the temple of intellectual fame. For accurate observation, masterly analysis, profound insight, and, above all, unerring common sense, he ranked with the best minds of Greece. Where too, in the poets, ancient or modern, can we find a sublimer hymn to Deity than Galen’s lofty outbreak as he finished his essay on the structure of the human skeleton. “ In explaining these things,” he says, “ I esteem my- self as composing a solemn hymn to the Author of our bodily frame; and in this, I think there is more true piety than in sacrificing to Him hecatombs of oxen or burnt offerings of the most costly perfumes; for I must en- deavor to know Him myself and afterwards to show Him to others, to inform them how great is His wisdom, His virtue and His goodness.” 9 It is worth while to recall these things, because they lead us naturally to the remark, that in the first half of the historic period the physician almost monopolized science. Scholars regarded him as par excellence the sci- entific man. To this we owe the lavish panegyric which Parr bestowed on the physicians of his day. And this explains why surly and honest Sam. Johnson ac- corded them so high a place. In erudition, science and habits of deep and compre- hensive thinking, Parr contends that physicians took the lead of the three professions; and Johnson seems to have agreed with Sir Wm. Temple that physicians have more learning than the other faculties. To be sure a division of labor has taken place in our time, and the students of social science claim as their province much of that field which was once quietly surrendered to the physician. DUTIES OF THE PHYSICIAN. But guardians as we are of the public health, we must not wholly relinquish our place in these departments. A thousand occasions summon us to do our duty to the public. The water arrangements of cities, the warming and ventilation of dwellings and public buildings, the lo- cation and arrangement of hospitals, some portion of school government, the legislation relative to insanity, and that touching intemperance, the drainage of towns, the habits of daily life which favor or avert disease; all 10 these surely come within the legitimate sphere of the physician, and cannot be relinquished to any devotees of social science without recreancy. Among these let me specify that, in my judgment, the whole code of Massa- chusetts relative to the treatment of the insane needs thorough revision. It takes far too little care to preserve individual lib- erty. The press has called attention to different cases of cruel injustice in New York and Pennsylvania, under codes modeled like ours ; and such have not been wanting in this commonwealth. A disease not always to be clearly ascertained, and lia- ble to be often mistaken, is treated with a harsh and cruel rigor which the fundamental principles of our gov- ernment forbid even in the case of one charged with mur- der or any other grave crime. I need not dwell on a topic, so often and so well treat- ed on these and similar occasions, the character of THE GOOD PHYSICIAN. That tenderness and sympathy so necessary in the sick room, the patient attention to symptoms, the untiring watch over all changes, the loyal friendship and sense of justice, which refrains from experiments in a sick cham- ber ; the steady courage which chooses quietly between different methods of treatment, with no show of doubt or irresolution to alarm the sick man; the constant cheer- 11 fulness which inspires hope and doubles the power of medicines; the frank truthful reply when no hope re- mains. All these traits we recognize,, as well as a vigilant study of all new suggestions and discoveries, so that we may be sure to bring to our patient all the aid that hu- man art can furnish. Besides this, the kindly watch and word of advice on health which prevents more than we can ever cure. Then the courtesy towards each other, the full readi- ness to impart our experience for the direction of our fel- lows and the advancement of science, a reserve in mutual criticism, and jealous care for each others reputation,, standing as we all do in circumstances where one un- guarded or malicious word can work incalculable harm, the speaker meanwhile not to be traced, and beyond re- sponsibility. Of course we could spend hours in finishing this, portrait. These are but outlines, though in paint- ing a good physician what do we paint but a man of keen insight, a faithful and studious observer, and a candid pupil of nature, an independent thinker, brave to meet danger, cool in moments of unexpected difficulty, an hon- orable man, a true and active friend and a loyal comrade. Gentlemen: I am proud to say that we can find many in our ranks who could well sit for this portrait. OUR SYSTEM. My first duty here is to profess, in your presence; and I know with your hearty assent, our full and growing faith in our system. 12 We gather day by day fresh evidences of its sound- ness and its adaptation to the cure of disease. Every day shows its marked superiority to that Allopathic treatment, from which some of us have come up hither. In its powerful influence on disease; in its specific and easily guarded effects; in its slight interference with all other functions except those we seek to control; in its exclusive touch on diseased action, leaving the convales- cent nothing to get up from but the disease, no medicine to surmount; in its leaving the patient so free as to ordi- nary diet and his usual business; in its decisive action putting an end to disease, not merely hiding it, we recog- nize a vast superiority over all other schools. The expe- rience of every day only adds to our confidence, only increases our admiration for the resources of our art. Over some diseases, hitherto most intractable and beyond the reach of other methods, we have seen our school achieve a perfect mastery. The Hospitals of Europe and this country, the large experience of our rapidly growing numbers here, bear one testimony. Already we see the wide influence our career lias had in simplifying the methods of other schools, leading them to rely more on nature and dispense with the lavish use of nauseous, useless and dangerous drugs. We outgrow the contempt and infidelity of our times by showing results. We are content to rest our claims there, and to wait the verdict. Let the dispute as to the rationale of our practice go on; it is a useful investiga- tion of the laws of health and disease; it will help forward science, and meanwhile we point to experience as conclusive evidence that our method is efficient. Like a 13 score of problems in physics, where self-satisfied philoso- phy in former times presumed to dispute with experience, because it could not explain the hoiv and the why of the effect. In time a deeper insight sufficed to see the chain of connection between the'cause and the effect. A more devoted study at last wrenched from nature her secret. Science and every day experience were brought into agree- ment. So it will be by-and-by. We are only to work on and supply facts. In time the world will come to recognize another Bacon in Hahnemann and accept the laws which he announced. WOMAN. There is one question daily assuming increased import- ance. I mean the recognition of woman as a fellow- practitioner with ourselves of the healing art. Everything points toward the wider usefulness of wo- man. Socially, in literature, in many channels of philan- thropic effort, in that most important of all human concerns education, woman’s place has been generously recognized within the last century. Every year, and every great event, has contributed to bring her in closer and more important relations with the great moving world. It is not strange therefore that professionally, and even in civil affairs, her claim to share should be put forward. I am too frank, and too loyal to the great civilizing forces of society, not to confess in passing that I think she has rights and duties in politics. Further, with great questions of vital interest impending, my judgment is that we cannot afford to excuse woman from her fair share of responsibility in these matters. 14 Putting this aside, however, as not germane to our meeting, I feel that there are peculiar reasons why we Homoeopaths should lead the way in the recognition of woman’s rightful place in this profession. Our theory makes large account of the delicate and subtile forces that affect health and disease: We study these and ap- preciate them more than any other school of physicians. Now every man knows that close, cordial and inti- mate sympathy between patient and physician is one of the first requisites for successful treatment. There is no need to enquire why, but the fact is so. Every thought- ful man knows that there is often more complete sym- pathy between man and woman tbpm between persons of the same sex. No student of human nature but must have seen this in other things. Why should we not avail ourselves of it in medicine ? Again, full, frank confidence, almost gossiping confi- dence, a lavish communication of all facts, is often the readiest way to a correct diagnosis. We have the merit of acknowledging this principle more fully than any other school of practice. Hahnemann leads the way in appreciating its vast importance. Again, every one must see that sometimes those of the same sex will open their lives and hearts to each other far more intimately than those of opposite sexes. Any medical man, who has had to grope his way among half-hidden symptoms, and then from some brother or sister of the patient has at last got a glimpse of a train of symptoms or tendencies which clear up half his doubts, must appreciate this. Here again comes in the value in many cases for women as counsellors for their own sex. 15 Again liow idle to ignore the fact that, in a large number of cases, women advise women out of their own experience; men can only advise them out of their knowledge or inspection. Woman can in such case pre- scribe largely from personal experience. To argue that such aid in critical cases is of no use, or of little use, is simply absurd. It may be decisive in the treatment of -a critical case ; it must in all cases be a great help. The peculiar fitness of woman for the sick chamber, her natu- ral tenderness, even the delicacy of her manipulations I will not touch on because no one denies them. Another very special reason why we should welcome woman to our Society, and invite her to full fellowship with us in the study and the practice of the healing art, is the great help she will be as a prover of drugs. Most of our provings have been made by men, and the patho- genetic symptoms developed by these provings relate specially to men ; and we never can know all the powers of drugs till woman shall join in the very important work of drug-proving. And I venture the opinion, that the provings to be made by women will be quite as reliable as those made by men. Beside there are other and deeper reasons why her as- sistance in disease is of special value. In art and in domestic life, if there is any one thing that marks woman, it is her superior patience. As a copyist of the masterpieces of painting, woman’s pencil bears the palm. In the quiet struggle with the necessities of domestic life she bears right on, quiet and persistent, where man breaks down, or frets himself i 16 uselessness. This quality alone peculiarly fits woman for great usefulness in handling disease. But above all, and before all these peculiar reasons, I feel that woman holds one-half the brains of the race. Her recognition in medicine just doubles the chance of our improving the science. We cannot afford to excuse any intellect from helping to develope this indispensable science. Every one could see the folly of deciding that only one-half of the male sex should be allowed to touch the healing art. Of course we should see that possibly in excluding that half, we excluded a Hunter, a Boerhaave, a Jackson, or a Hahnemann. So in excluding women, who can say that, among the intellects of that sex, there may not some time appear those which will marvelously im- prove medicine ? It is miserably unphilosophical to in- sist on running any such risk. Science accepts help from every quarter, and shrinks from discouraging the slightest possibility of aid. I will not discuss the point more at length. But I desire to record my judgment, that our school especially, and all schools of really scien- tific medicine, must inevitably accept and encourage the participation of woman in the study and practice of our art. We cannot put back the current of the age, even if we would : only the bigoted victims of a narrow and timid philosophy attempt it. We are the pioneers of medical investigation, with minds “ open,” as the poet says, “to the sunny South” —receptive—pledged and taught to welcome new truths. We must accept the tendency of the age, recognizing it as true progress, not dreading it as rash experiment. The civilization which produced and welcomed Maria 17 Edgeworth, Mrs. Browning, Charlotte Bronte, Mrs. Child and Mrs. Stowe in literature, Mrs. Somerville, Maria Mitchell in science, Lucretia Mott, Mrs. Howe, Miss Dix, Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton in philanthrophy, will not support us in the presumptuous assumption that aid from woman is not possible. Woman can help in medi- cine. I will not chronicle the women’s names who have already done so here and in Europe, now as in past years. I only pledge Homoeopathy, I trust with your concurrence, to a ready sympathy with the age in accepting this new ally. ANIMAL MAGNETISM. There is another question which beckons us to its in- vestigation, Animal Magnetism. I have said that our school of practice recognizes most fully the wonderful influence, the controlling influence of those delicate and subtile forces that many men disregard or sneer at. When did a sneer deter or discourage the true student of nature, “ That man who finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything ?” If sneers could annihilate truth or smother its utterance where would have been our school and practice to-day ? I rather gravitate toward the attentive examination of that which superficial men scoff at. My experience has been that in that direction lie often valuable truths. Rothschild’s maxim was to buy when other men, in a fright, sold, and to sell when other men, delirious with hope, bought in. The shrewd millionaire’s maxim is not one of the worst to guide us in science. 18 A thousand trifles point in the direction of the mar- velous influence of one body over another, and seem to trace this to some electrical state. How often one person’s presence or touch is pleasant, while another’s is repulsive. Children and animals know by some instinct who are fond of them. The orator magnetizes his audience. Only some such explanation as this accounts for the otherwise inexplicable effect of a speech which, when read, is flat and lifeless. Only this will explain why one •earnest man’s words often are wasted, while, in the same hour, those of another stir them like a tempest. I might carry out this catalogue infinitely. We all know that the brain is an electric machine. If in disease we can stir it to action, the normal condition of the body returns. How is it else that will sometimes conquers disease ? How is it that will prolongs life days, after our me- chanical science would be sure a man ought, according to all known rules, to die ? Such facts point to a power hitherto little recognized and little studied, which of late years has largely at- tracted public attention. I am sure I have seen marvelous results from the use of this agent. I am as sure as I can be of any scientific fact, that some persons are especially endowed with this vital force, and, far more than other men, are able to affect their fellows. The evidence of these facts is so overwhelm- ing that to disbelieve is more credulous than to believe. It seems to me two duties rest on us as a profession. 19 As pioneers in the service of humanity and in the in- terest of medical art we are bound to lead the way in investigation. We are set to guard the public from mis- take and deception. We are also set to lead them into all truth which is of value in the matter of health and disease. Hence I deem it the duty of this profession to investigate this subject, unless we are willing to sink down into mere mechanics, mere nurses and compounders of drugs. We must vindicate our claim to belong to the scientific class by leading public thought in this matter, which so much interests them. It is not for us to select what we will study. As well might the night watchman se- lect what beat he will walk, and what crime he will watch. He is to watch every threatened point—to counter-work every criminal attack. So with us, the science of the age is to guard, lead and teach its own age. Of course therefore it must grapple with the problems which interest, the dangers which threaten, its age. Further, in my opinion this force holds within itself large means of helping us grapple with disease. We can use it to great advantage. We must not leave it to be misused, or perverted, or to fall into contempt because mis- used or misunderstood. We should adopt it and de- velope it, make all possible use of it, lift it into one of the recognized helps in our profession. I mention this as only one of the powers existing all around us, which have already often obtained popular ap- proval, and only wait scientific recognition. These we should study with candid and independent minds. 20 AUXILIA. Although we believe the only law of cure is the Hom- oeopathic law as expressed in the formula of Hahnemann, “ Similia Similibus Curantur,” we also believe that, in the treatment of the sick, this law applies chiefly in the use of drugs. While we all are fully imbued with this belief, we do not deny ourselves nor our patients, those valuable auxil- iaries, the various and multitudinous uses of the temper- atures, through the media of air and water; nor of exercise, peculiar foods, nor the soothing and helping in- fluences of electricity and animal magnetism. In the art of healing as in everything else, the end sought for is often attainable in various ways, and it is within the province of the wise physician to be rich in expedients—ever ready and equal to all emergencies. Let us suppose a case of internal inflammation—Pleu- risy if you please—an inflammation of the pleura. What is inflammation ? Hippocrates defines it as “ rubor et tumor cum calore et dolore.” What has caused the pleurisy ? A chill which has checked the free circulation of the blood at the surface, and increased it in the inter- nal part, the pleura, developing all the four proper- ties of active inflammation—redness and swelling with heat and pain, together with the more general symptoms, rigors, general fever, heat of skin, thirst, headache, with short dry cough, including the sharp lancinating pain in the chest, flushed face &c. The Homoeopath has already decided that these symp- toms indicate aconite, and we all have many times in our 21 practice verified its great value in this first stage of Pleu- risy. But the object sought is to relieve the internal local inflammation and the general symptoms,—in other words to relieve the internal congestion and promote the circu- lation at the surface of the body. Whatever method we adopt to effect a cure, we should follow nature. The good mother puts the patient in bed with hot bricks, and administers hot drinks, thereby promoting perspiration and restoring the cutaneous circulation and equalizing it generally. Thus the ill effects of the chill is overcome and the patient is thereby relieved. The Hydropathist plies the cold wet sheets with blankets, and administers large quantities of cold water internally, thereby promoting perspiration and restoring the cutaneous circulation and equalizing it generally. The Thompsonian follows his peculiar system, and doubtless follows nature in some degree, and thereby gives some relief to the patient. The Allopathic physician, when we were of them, used rubefacients, diaphoretics, and extracted large quantities of the vital fluids, by which, it is true, he relieved almost instantly the pain in the chest, and greatly increased the chances of a fatal termination of his patient. There are several other well known and popular meth- ods of treating this and other diseases which I have not time to enlarge upon, and only one which I will briefly notice, that is called the 22 It consists of a series of liftings of weights, light ones at first and successively heavier ones. This method is liberally patronized in Boston by some of our ablest and most intelligent men and women. This institution is not known as a hospital, but as a Gymnasium. Some cases of pleurisy are reported to have been cured by this method, in a much shorter time than was ever done by blistering and bleeding. The rationale of these cures, if they are to be credited, seems to be the determination of the blood to the surface of the body, which is always the case in lifting a heavy weight, as is indicated by the blush which reddens the face, and pervades the whole body during the act of lifting. The two cases of pleurisy referred to above are re- ported to have been relieved in less than an hour, by lift- ing no more than eight times, incredible as the statement may seem. There were also two cases of bilious colic cured, in a very short time, by this same method of lifting. In this treatment of bilious colic, often if not gener- ally caused by the passage of calculi through the biliary duct, the act of straining to lift a heavy weight is a most successful imitation of nature, who institutes vomiting in order to force through the ductus choledochus the calculus too large to pass with ease. Nature institutes vomiting in parturition for a similar reason. LIFTING CURE. 23 The lifting cure, for many affections, has in my opinion this superiority over some other methods, viz: that while it relieves the system of morbid conditions by equalizing the vital forces, it, at the same time, strengthens and in- vigorates the body. How often have we heard it said that horseback riding is the grave of dsypepsia ? While our school of practice recognizes and hails with delight all these helps, and welcomes every suggestion for im- provement, we claim that as there is one and only one laiv of cure, and that the Homoeopathic law, “ Similia Similibus curantur ” still, as therapeutists, we are not excusable if we neglect any of the auxiliary methods within our reach, to aid in the cure of disease. We do not regard them as belonging strictly to any medical system. They should he included in the regimen, with bathing, exercise, diet, &c. We conceive that, as pioneers, we are bound to adopt everything that promises help in the line of our duty as practitioners of the healing art, hoping that in our time may be fully realized by this Society, the spirit of our motto “certiorein medendi usum maluit.” The mischief of medical practice, since the time when it was recognized as a science, has never been written, nor adequately conceived by any one mind. So ruinous had become the uses of medicine in the hands of the “ regular practitioners,” that the common people often preferred for themselves and their families to risk the chances of disease, rather than the dangers of the Doctor. Was it not time that something should be done to put a stop to the evils of drugs in the hands of the professors of our art ? 24 These abuses were fast undermining the physical con- stitutions of the civilized race. The ruin they have wrought cannot be repaired in ten generations of absti- nence from Allopathy. So much is true in regard to the decay of the teeth alone, to say nothing of other tissues. We may form some idea of the extent of this evil if we remember that, to repair only the thousandth part per- haps of the dental destruction gives employment to about 9000 dentists in this country, and has established several Dental Colleges. Of course our Great Master gave us onl}r a principle, he could not apply it fully. It is our part to devel- ope its relations with all kindred truths, to fortify it with the most profound and extended examination, to ap- ply it as widely as possible, to verify the exceptions and make as precise, as is in human power, its exact limita- tions. It is true that Hahnemann lived long enough, and re- tained such rare activity of faculties as to enable him to complete, to a most wonderful extent, the development of his rules. But no life is long enough, no one experi- ence wide enough, to exhaust a science. If we "would honor our Hippocrates, we must plunge on and on, as fearlessly and as independently as he did, in bold scrutiny of nature’s hidden forces and partially known laws. The peculiar felicity of our present assured position in the scientific world is, that it leaves us leisure and opportunity to search further on,. and welcome to fair trial these newly discovered powers. If I were to choose a motto worthy of our origin it should be first caution, one of the marked characteristics 25 of Hahnemann, second courage, intellectual courage, a trait next to the other in his gifts. A rash Homoeopath would be a contradiction in terms. A timid one, one deterred by the doubts or sneers of those about him, would disgrace his school. Gentlemen: I have asked your attention to some mat- ters not often recognized at these meetings. I feel that they deserve investigation; whether all they seem to promise shall be finally accomplished no one can tell. But as watchmen and pioneers we must search and try. The sentinel’s eye sweeps the horizon to watch the first tiny appearance of danger. With like vigilance we hail the first revelations of scientific improvement. Coleridge says, in some one of his essays, that “ often- times popular superstitions, or what are thought to be such, are only the struggling rays and twilight of truths still hidden below the horizon.” No true student, he thinks, will despise them. It seems to me we should carefully study many of them. Disregarding the scorn of superficial men and the opposition of timid minds we should welcome every sug- gestion that promises to help humanity. In the interests of truth, for the advancement of sci- ence, for the relief of the suffering we are to be bold seekers and candid listeners. Let other men busy them- selves in explaining cause and effect; sufficient for us that, in some way, our great purpose is accomplished, to prevent and shorten disease and to make life longer and more comfortable. 26 We all remember the touching picture our poet Doctor has given us of the Soldier and the Physician in his “ Two Armies.” Most proudly we accept the flag under which he mus- ters us. Ours is the army That moves in silence by the stream With sad yet watchful eyes. Calm as the patient planet’s gleam That walks the clouded skies. Along its front no sabres shine; No blood-red pennons wave. Its banner bears the silent line, “ Our duty is to save.”