V VLf QUACKERY UNMASKED : A CONSIDERATION OF THE MOST PROMINENT EMPIRICAL SCHEMES WITH AN ENUMERATION OF SOME OF THE CAUSES WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR SUPPORT. By DAN KIXG, M.D "If quackery, individual or gregarious, is ever to be eradicated, or even abated, in civilized society, it must be done by enlightening the public mind in regard to the true powers of medicine." — Jacob Bigelow. BOSTON : PRINTED BY DAVID CLAPP. 1858. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 185S, by DAN KING, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. CiFT BERTRAM SMITH NOV 2G 1933 PREFACE. Believing the diffusion of intelligence to be the only means by which the errors and mistakes of social life can ever be overcome, the author of the following pages has endeavored to present such information as might assist every impartial reader in understanding and judging of the numerous medical schemes and means now before the public. The work has not been written so much for profes- sional, as for general readers ; and it is confidently hoped that no one who gives it a careful perusal, will fail to be improved, although, among so many mooted subjects, it cannot be expected that every reader will adopt the views and sentiments of the author : but if it awaken $ spirit of inquiry, which eventually leads to the truth, an important object will be accomplished. It has been compiled and written, at intervals of respite from professional labors ; and if the reader should find the same sen- timents advanced and nearly the same language made use of more than once, in the course of the work, the author hopes to be excused by all who are practically acquainted with the interruptions in- cident to professional life. In considering the sub- ject of Homoeopathy, he has made numerous extracts from the Organon, and several other works, which are of the highest authority with that order ; and he acknowledges himself also much indebted to a work entitled, "Homoeopathy, its Tenets and Tenden- cies, " of which Prof. J. Y. Simpson, of Edinburgh, is the author. 4 PREFACE. From the unsparing manner in which the au- thor has commented upon several kinds of quack- ery, some might be led to infer that he has been prompted by personal animosity. But such is not the case ; he has many highly esteemed per- sonal friends among those whose medical theories he wholly repudiates, and he entertains no ungene- rous feeling towards any individual, merely on ac- count of his professional creed ; but he has the cha- rity to believe that there are many honorable, well- meaning men, who have, some how or other, been led astray irjto the devious paths of empiricism. Yet the author would have been false to his own convictions, false to his profession, and false to the interests of humanity, if he had not given unreserv- ed utterance to the sentiments of his heart. And in offering to the public the following brief and imperfect sketches of some of the most prominent varieties of quackery, with a consideration of some of the causes which have led to their encourage- ment and support, he invokes the careful and can- did attention of the reader. The subject is cer- tainly one of importance, and deeply concerns every class and every individual in the community : and its examination should not be postponed to the moment of casualty or the hour of sickness, but should be made and settled in the quiet sunshine of health and serenity of reason. It is hoped, that from the hints here thrown out, many will be in- duced to examine more thoroughly, and under- stand more correctly, the true principles of medical science. DAN KING. Taunton, Mass., June 1, 1858. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page. Sketch of Medical History, ... 9 CHAPTER II. Homoeopathy — Its Origin, Principles, Attenua- tions, &c. Carbo Vegetabalis, . . 92 CHAPTER III. Homoeopathy — Carbonate of Lime — its uses. Only one article to be used at a time. Prov- ings, Homoeopathic Arguments, &c. . 44 CHAPTER IV. » Homoeopathy — Indications of Nature ; Bella- donna in Scarlatina ; Necessity of Attenuat- ed Doses ; best Dose always the smallest ; Common Salt ; Silex ; Arsenic, . . 59 CHAPTER V. Homoeopathy — Olfaction ; Extracts from Prof. Simpson; Considerations, &c. &c. . 75 CHAPTER VI. Homoeopathy — Testimony in favor of Homoe- opathy considered ; Different kinds of Wit- ness required to prove different matters ; Witches, &c. 87 b CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Homoeopathy — Development of Power by At- tenuation; " Small Dose, 7? by William Sharp, M.D., F.R.S., &c; Consumption cured by Dr. Nunez with the six thousandth Attenua- tion of Sulphur; the exact Remedy of Ho- moeopathy considered ; Danger of Homoeo- pathists who depart from the Rules laid down by Hahnemann, &c. ... 94 CHAPTER VIII. Homoeopathy — Amulets ; Royal Touch ; Per- kinsism ; Medical Experience often unrelia- ble ; Homoeopathic Cures illusory, &c. 4c. 110 CHAPTER IX. Homoeopathy — No uniformity in Homoeopathic Practice ; Libraries ; Influence of Homoeo- pathy upon Medical Practice, . . 127 CHAPTER X. Homoeopathic Theology, . . . . 134 CHAPTER XI. Homoeopathy — Its Changes and unsettled Con- dition ; Dr. Hering's Sentiments ; Worth of Homoeopathic Practice ; Anecdote by Dr. Mead ; Danger from Homoeopathy : Saliva of Boa Constrictor, &c. &c. . . . 147 CHAPTER XII. Homoeopathy in Europe, .... 157 CHAPTER XIII. Concluding Remarks upon Homoeopathy, . 166 CONTENTS. 7 CHAPTER XIV. Extracts from the Encyclopoedia Britannica and London Medical Circular, . . Ill CHAPTER XV. Hydropathy, . . . . . . 183 CHAPTER XVI. Thomsonism, 200 CHAPTER XVII. Female Physicians, 210 CHAPTER XVIII. Indian Medicine, 216 CHAPTER XIX. Eclecticism, 221 CHAPTER XX. Chrono-Thermalism, ..... 236 CHAPTER XXI. Natural Bone-Setters, .... 241 CHAPTER XXII. The Press, 247 CHAPTER XXIII. Female Influence, ..... 259 CHAPTER XXIV. Professional Discord, .... 265 CHAPTER XXV. Clerical Influence, 212 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVI. Vagrant Quacks, 283 CHAPTER XXVII. Nostrum Recommendations, . . « 287 CHAPTER XXVIII. Allopathy, 291 CHAPTER XXIX. The low Standard of Professional Acquirement, 301 CHAPTER XXX. The Insufficiency of Medicine to accomplish all that the Public require, . . . 307 CHAPTER XXXI. Reflections, . . . . . . 313 Regular and Irregular Practitioners in the Unit- ed States, 332 ftUACKEHY UNMASKED. CHAPTER I. SKETCH OF MEDICAL HISTORY. The early history of medicine is involved in much obscurity. Fable represents the healing art as a special gift from Heaven, and the first practitioners as having descended from the gods. For many centuries medical knowledge was con- fined almost entirely to the clergy. In the dark ages, when gross superstition held dominion over the minds of men, and polytheism peopled the universe with a multitude of deities, every dis- ease was supposed to be the work of some angry god, and the benighted sufferers sought relief by various superstitious rites and ceremo- nies, which were intended to appease the wrath of some imaginary demon. They offered sacrifices, 2 10 QUACKERY UNMASKED . made vows, did penance, and made use of amulets, charms, and exorcisms, hoping by such means to gain the favor of the gods. For cen- turies the art of healing seemed inseparably connected with that theological delusion, which so long held the world in chains. Under such circumstances, medicine could not be expected to make much progress ; but as superstition gave way, and reason and observation were adopted as guides, the profession improved, and made efforts to rid itself of its unprofitable alliance. It is probable that medicine received its earliest culture in Athens, Rome and Egypt : but so scanty and imperfect is its history, that we are often obliged to pass over whole cen- turies without obtaining any reliable informa- tion concerning its condition. But as there can have been no interregnum among diseaf efforts of some sort must have been constantly employed for the relief of the suffering, and thousands probably studied and labored, and de- voted their lives to the cause, and finally passed away without leaving any durable record of their efforts. MEDICAL HISTORY. 11 As we casj^bur eyes over the brief and fabulous pages of ancient history, almost the first reliable name * which we find, as we descend the scale, is that of Hippocrates, who lived less than five hundred years before the Christian Era. He dis- carded the doctrine of demoniac influences, and took a common-sense view of the subject of medicine. Being himself a lineal descendant of a long line of medical ancestors, he entered upon the profession early in life, and pursued it with ardor to extreme old age. He did all that it was possible to do, in his time, to purge the profes- sion from superstitious and false notions, and establish it upon rational principles. Perhaps this was the first bold attempt to rescue the healing art from the dominion of fanaticism, and place it upon the solid basis of truth and rea- son. It was his good fortune to lay the corner stone of this mighty edifice, upon which all the superstructure must forever rest. But the dark- ness that superstition and bigotry had spread around him, was too profound to be wholly dis- sipated by one luminary. The deep awe with which pagans regarded dead bodies, and their 12 QUACKERY UNMASKED. superstitious ideas respecting the existence of the soul, presented an almost insuperable barrier to the study of human anatomy, and under this embarrassment it is evident that medicine could only make slow and imperfect progress. For along period nearly all anatomical knowle was derived from the lower animals, and quently was only comparative. The study of the healing art has ah\ ; "the pursuit of knowledge under difficult] Although it has ever sought th< I of the whole world ; the whole world has often tin- obstacles in the way of its advancement, herculean labor of succefi ' merations, and the efforts of the most powerful intellect been required to bring the pr pre- sent condition. So much per- air- ed labor has never been be 1 upon any other subject. The medical inquirer has ever been obliged to labor, clad in armor. Ignorance, bigotry and superstition have met him at every advance, and it has been only by overcoming these that he could hope to succeed. Ae these have declined, medical science has MEDICAL HISTORY. 13 pied the ground. A knowledge of Anatomy laid the foundation for Physiology ; Physiology prepared the way for Pathology, and the Princi- ples and Practice of Medicine placed the experi- ence of the whole world under contribution. The- rapeutics claimed for her use the vegetable, mine- ral and animal kingdoms, the collateral sciences became cultivated as auxiliaries, and Botany, Mineralogy, Chemistry and Zoology became branches of medical study ; and from these Phar- macy sprung up to be the handmaid of Materia Medica. An inquiry into the laws of life and causes of death laid the foundation for Medical Jurisprudence, and the consideration of the in- tellectual and moral faculties built up a system of Ethics. So that now, medical literature em- braces a much larger field than any other pro- fession ; it may almost be said to have swallow- ed up all others. Whatever is valuable in his- tory is hers — the experience of more than two thousand years is open to her inspection and use — and all the improvements and discoveries that are continually being made in every depart- ment of science are submitted to her observa- 2* 14 QUACKERY UNMASKED. tion and advantage. Her whole history sho that she has ever readily appropriated to her own use every valuable discovery which has by any means been brought to light. She has gleaned and treasured up every important item of medical knowledge, and has become the grand repository of all that is valuable in the pro sion. Nothing has been omitted or reje that was worth prcscrvi her observations down to the present hour, and her archives to-day contain every has been known, or is known, tha knowing; and whatever she rejects, the world may rest assured is worthless. Call this the old practice, or the new practice, or by whatever name you please, it ' less the only true science of medicine. 1 founded upon the same principles of reason and common sense that all other sciences are built upon — it rests to-day upon those everlasting principles laid down by Pythagoras and Hip- pocrates, just as the science of Astronomy r upon the discoveries of Copernicus and Newton. It does not pretend to be perfect, and perhaps MEDICAL BISTORT. 15 it never will be. It does not promise always to heal the sick, and never undertakes to raise the dead, but it is probably as near what it should be as any other human institution, and contains within itself the elements of perpetual progress. The greatest minds and most culti- vated intellects have labored long and zealously in its cause. If they have not been seen in the desk or in the forum, it is not because they were less learned, or less worthy, or their labors less important; but because their forum was the silent chamber of the sick, and their labors consisted more of thoughts than of words. But if any wish to sec%their written history and ex- amine their printed tablets, we are not ashamed to show them ; they will compare favorably with the productions of any other class of men, and it is certain that no other class has ever exhi- bited so much disinterested philanthropy. Legitimate medicine has no secrets. Of all her vast acquirements, she withholds nothing from the public. All that she has collected, from all ages, and nations, and countries, is freely offered to all the world, and whenever required 16 QUACKERY UNMASKED. is bestowed upon suffering humanity, without money and without price. Quackery may dash its mercenary waves against her, and send its spray mountains high; but she will still pursue the even tenor of her way, unmoved by its fitful storms. She has for her foundation a rock broader and more enduring than Gibraltar ; the everlasting principles of truth and reason I the pillars upon which she rests; her dedicated to humanity, and will stand until "last shock of time shall bury the empi the world in undistinguished ruin." Having given a brief description of Regular Medicine, it seems reasonable to inquire, in next place, what is Quackery. In general it d be said to be the employment of an; ine or medical scheme which the regular profession rejects; it bears the same relation to regular medicine that counterfeit bills do to the genuine. Both are spurious and worthless, and each dishonored at the fountain-head — both are the off- spring of unchastened cupidity, and both aim to take advantage of the ignorant and credulous. WHAT IS QUACKERY? 17 If we search the history of quackery, we shall find that it consists of a multitude of pathies and isms — of pretended discoveries and great improvements. Each one has enjoyed its brief day of favor, and passed off to make room for others, perhaps differing in external appearance, but always of the same cryptogamian class and mushroom genus. We often hear persons declare that they do not know what to do, or what to believe, in re- gard to medicine, because there are so many different courses pointed out. If such people would just make use of the same common sense that they exercise in their every-day affairs, there would be no difficulty in the matter ; they would always come to a speedy and correct con- clusion. If one wishes for a guide in matters of law, he does not consult the newspapers, or take the advice of all the females in his neighbor- hood, but makes inquiry of some learned coun- sellor. If he wishes to know the value of some strange piece of metal, he goes directly to the goldsmith, and he does not think lightly of his opinion because the man may have pursued the 18 QUACKERY UNMASKED. same business for twenty or thirty years. And if the goldsmith decides that the substance in question is gold, he will not be likely to throw it away on his way home because the first he meets tells him it is nothing but mica. If one has a suspected bill, he goes directly bank, or some professed expert. But men will not always exercise the same commoi e in questions that relate to their life or health : \' often shut their eyes, and stop their < inst every legitimate source of information; \ will be guided only by their own morbid cur ty, or listen to the advice of the most in tent. An individual in whose general integrity they have no confidence, and whose opinion or word in any other matter is not confi worth a straw, is often taken as a guide in some deeply important medical question, without i misgivings. When we look around and see what ravages quackery in its multiplied and continu- ally multiplying forms is making among all cL es, we are almost ready to conclude that this is an age of extraordinary delusion, and that quackery never ran thus rampant before : bu WHAT IS QUACKERY? 19 we turn over the pages of ancient or modern history, we shall find that the same elements have been always in operation; the wild vaga- ries of the imagination have ever been at war with reason and truth ; and common sense has been taken captive by ignorance and fraud. Nu- merous false schemes, quite as empty and quite as worthless as those of Perkins and Hahne- mann, have appeared, raged, boasted, and made their converts, and finally passed away. In the early part of the sixteenth century, a man by the name of Paracelsus, a native of Switzerland, made his appearance as a bold em- piric. Like all others of the class, he set at naught and held in contempt and derision all existing medical knowledge, and announced that he had made a great discovery that was to su- persede all other medical means. And what was this pretended discovery? Something to purify the blood, or an infallible remedy for rheumatism, or scrofula, or consumption ? No, none of these; but an infallible Elixir, that would prolong human life indefinitely, and ren- der man immortal. But, alas ! this superlative 20 QUACKERY UNMASKED. delusion was doomed to a speedy refutation in his own person, for lie died at the age of 48 with his immortalizing elixir by his side. Be- fore his death, many tasted, believed, and drank of it — not to live forever, but to die like fools. All experience shows that mankind are ever more ready to believe pleasant falsehoods than disagreeable truths. Quackery takes advair of this proclivity, and therefore caters for the universal appetite. A perfect quack is a most obsequious sycophant — his medicines are ah exactly what the patient wants. They are m disagreeable, are perfectly safe in all cases, and always certain to cure. These are whal sick man wants, and therefore strives with all his might to believe, and often does come to lieve against the strongest evidence and clea] reason. The ancient quacks pretended to i their patients by the use of charms and and the modern quacks pretend to cure tl. by means often equally ridiculous and equally worthless ; and in each instance the intellectual and not the physical organs have been operated upon; and whenever any positive benefit has WHAT IS QUACKERY? 21 resulted from such proceedings, it has been ac- complished through the medium of the mind. Although quackery comprises men and things of all imaginary colors, shapes and conditions, from the coxcomb who dispenses sugar pellets, to the knavish Yankee who assumes the savage with his pretended Indian remedies, yet there are certain family traits which are common to them all. All pretend to be new and very im portant discoveries — all are bitterly hostile to the regular profession — all boast of their won- derful success and rapid increase, and all ar^ only so many different views in the same great panorama passing rapidly along, never to return Having made these preliminary remarks, 1 shall next proceed to notice individually some of the most prominent varieties of quackery that are now or have recently been actors in the great drama of medical delusions. 22 QUACKERY UNMASKED. CHAPTER II HOMOEOPATHY ITS ORIGIN, PRINCIPLES, ATTENUATION- ETC. CARBO VEGETABILIS. In Great Britain, when any particular k u i quackery gains a temporary ascendancy ( others, it is said to wear the bell Although 1 1 have no authority to settle questions of rank b that army, I suppose no one will object to plac- ing Homoeopathy at the head of the regiment for a single review; and if, after sundry marches and counter-marches, this company shall be found at the other extremity of the regiment, no one need be disappointed. Samuel Hahnemann has been called the founder of this sect. He wa> born at a place called Messein, in Upper 8 in 1755, and graduated at the Medical School at Leipsic at the early age of 20. During his p» pilage he seems to have imbibed a strong dislike to the profession, and instead of engaging in the practice of medicine after his graduation, he em- ployed his time in translating several German HOMOEOPATHY. 23 publicaeions, and contributing to various miscel- laneous works. After plodding along in that way nearly twenty years, he broached the scheme of Homoeopathy, and in 1796 published his first essay on the subject. It does not appear that he ever practised medicine as taught at Leipsic, but, after probably forgetting most that he had learned during the brief period of his scholar- ship, he broke out with a scheme of his own getting up, although it does not appear to have been made entirely of new materials. It is well known that, at the time Hahnemann was a pupil at Leipsic, medical science in that school was extremely crude and imperfect, and much of the theory that was taught him has long since been exploded. Many important truths had been es- tablished, but these were mingled with numerous false theories, and the clergy had not entirely released their hold upon the profession. Hahnemann probably bid for his text-books the writings of Galen, Sydenham, Boerhaave, Haller, Van Swieten and Oullen; Jenner was at that time in his early boyhood, and the great lights which have since illumined the medical 24 QUACKERY UNMASKED. world had not yet dawned. He appears to have imbibed the wild, visionary spirit of Galen, and like him to have manifested a haughty contempt for the doctrines and opinions of all other men. Instead of setting himself at work to correct errors, reform abuses, and enlighten and improve the profession, he cast it all aside at a single dash, repudiated all the truths that observa- tion and experience had established, and Bet at naught every principle of philosophy and com- mon sense. Bitterly prejudiced against all I had been taught him at the schools, and inherit- ing an intellect in the highest degree chimerical, he made a bold attempt to set up a scheme of his own. This was based upon two prominent ideas — the first of which is comprised in the Latin phrase, " similia si/nilibus curantur" — likes cures like. This did not originate with Hahnemann, but was embraced in the old adi which had been current for centuries before his time, viz., that " the hair of the same will cure the bite." Hahnemann amplified idea, and attempted to prove it by facta observations. He discovered nothing HOMCEOPATHY. 25 ly seized upon this old false proverb, and used it for the foundation of his system. Because laxa- tives sometimes cure diarrhoea, frost-bitten parts are sometimes relieved by being rubbed with snow, and a dose of senna sometimes cures colic, Hahnemann fancied that he saw his theory con- firmed. He forget another proverb, viz., " Like produces like in endless succession," and over- looked an established principle of philosophy which declares that (ceteris paribus) whatever increases the cause, increases the effect. His mind became riveted to this one idea, and he saw and heard nothing but " similia similibus curantur" It is impossible to conceive a greater absurdi- ty than is contained in this Homceopathic dogma* It is one of the wildest conjectures imaginable. The principle is contradicted by every rational thought and word and deed, throughout the world. Everywhere, in every vocation, and in every department of business, it meets with a flat contradiction. If the farmer's fields are too full of weeds, does he sow more weeds ? If the Boil is too wet, does he irrigate it ? If his team 3* 26 QUACKERY UNMASKED. is overloaded, does he add more by way of re- lief? If his wheels are blocked, does he pile the obstructions still higher ? No, common rea- son and common experience teach the very re- verse of all this ; he cuts up the weeds, drains the wet soil, takes off a part of the too heavy load, and endeavors by the most direct means to remove whatever obstructs his way. If the painter's colors are too dark, will he add lamp- black to make them lighter? or if they are too light, will he use whiting to make them darker ? If they are too thick, will he add more dry terial? or if they are too thin, will he add tur- pentine ? Applied to any department of busi- ness, the idea is equally absurd and false. Eve- ry rational principle in medicine is founded upon, and guided by, the same kind of common sense that is always employed by the farmer and mechanic, and is manifested in every department of domestic life. Having laid down his principles, Hahnemann set about making experiments upon himself and others in order to find articles which, given to a well man, would induce the disease or symptoms HOMCEOPATHY. 27 of the disease he wished to cure ; because, ac- cording to his doctrine, whatever would make a well man sick, would cure one sick and having the same symptoms. His theory of cure was this : " The medicine (he says) sets up in the suffering part of the organism an artificial, but somewhat stronger disease, which on account of its great similarity and preponderating influence, takes the place of the original disease, and the organism from that time forth is influenced only by the artificial complaint ; and as soon as the temporary effect of the medicine passes off, the patient is cured." This is the rationale of his theory. Now let us examine its workings. Take a case of epistaxis, which in common lan- guage is bleeding at the nose. Hahnemann's remedy is charcoal, which, according to his theo- ry, sets up in the system of the patient an arti- ficial action somewhat stronger than the original disease — or, to use his own language, " slightly aggravates the disease," and when the effect of the medicine passes off, the patient is to be cured. But how long must the patient continue to bleed faster than before, in order to be cured ? 28 QUACKERY UNMASKED. The effects of the medicine last, according to Jahr's and Possart's New Manual (page 565) just thirty-six days, and if the patient can hold out until that time, he will be sure to be cured homoeopathically. Take another case. A child is sick with croup - — he breathes with greac difficulty — he throws his head back and gasps wildly at every -ono- rous inspiration. He cannot hold out much longer, and the least aggravation of hii must destroy him immediately. But before lie can be cured or relieved homceopathically, he must swallow a medicine that will produce, at least, a small increase of the symptom- immedi- ately after it is taken. (See Organon of Homoe- opathic Medicine, page 204.] The articl- proper to be given are, according to Hull's Lau- rie, page 348, aconite, and sulphuret of potash. The effects of the former continue from one to two days, and of the latter sixty days. — [fi Jahr's Manual, pages 1 and 267.] So, then, after bringing separate parts of this fine theory together, we see that if the patient is not destroyed immediately by the small iji- H0MCE0PATHY. 29 crease of his disorder consequent upon the first homoeopathic dose, he may live, if he can, until the end of sixty days, when he will surely be cured homoeopathically. In like manner this ho- moeopathic principle of cure may be applied to almost any other disease with the like result. Now what man of common sense would think of conducting any kind of business upon such a the- ory ? What man, having a friend nearly stran- gled, would draw the cord a little tighter to re- lieve him ? What engineer, whose boiler was ready to burst, would let on more steam to save it ? As has been already stated, Hahnemann's sys- tem was based upon two chief principles. The first was his " similia similibus curantur" which we have briefly considered. Of this he did not claim to be the original inventor, but said that it had long been recognized and acted upon. But he did claim to be the first to discover that the power of medicinal substances may be indefi- nitely increased by dilution and trituration. The power thus imparted to medicines he called their dynamic power ; in other words, their strong or 30 QUACKERY UNMASKED. powerful power. Having settled in his mind this second principle, he proceeded to fix upon the details, and accordingly established the fol- lowing rules of attenuation. When the article to be used is a solid, he directs one grain of it to be mixed and pulverized with one hundred grains of sugar of milk — the rubl be con- tinued a long time. This is what Hahnemann called dynamizing — that is, making the article powerful. When this process has been continu- ed long enough, it is called the first attenua- tion. One grain is next to be taken from ; and added to another hundred grains of and dynamized as in the first instance. T makes the second attenuation. One grain next to be taken from this, and added to hundred grains of sugar, and the process continu- ed as before. By this rule, all the at are to be made. Hahnemann considered the thirtieth as the most proper for use. If the medicine is a liquid, the first attenuation is made by adding one drop of the tincture to one hundred drops of alcohol contained in a new vial; it is then to have at least one hundred HOMCEOPATHY, 31 shakes. The bottle is then to be marked 1, that is, the first attenuation. One drop from this vial, added to one hundred drops of alcohol in another new vial, with the hundred shakes, makes the second attenuation, and the vial is to be marked 2. One drop is next to be taken from the second, and added to one hundred drops of alcohol in another quite new vial, and after receiving its hundred shakes it becomes the third attenuation, and is marked 3. In this manner the fourth attenuation is made from the third, the fifth from the fourth, and so on up to any required number ; and as the power of the medicine is increased by every attenuation, it is generally thought most prudent to stop at thirty, as it might be unsafe to carry it farther — al- though Hahnemann did carry some of his as far as two thousand, but says he came very near killing his patient by giving him six or eight drops of this high attenuation. The rules for attenuation have already been given. Now let us suppose that the pharmaceu- tist — that is, the apothecary who prepares the medicine — in order to have a sufficient supply 32 QUACKERY UNMASKED. on hand to meet the demands of all his custom- ers, weighs out a single grain of chalk or any other article which he intends to attenuate only to the fifteenth degree ; now, how much sugar will it require to complete the process ? The computation is readily made as follows : 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 grs. -~— 240 grains in a cubic inch. = 4,166,66?, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000 cub. in. -T- 254,358,061,056,000 inches in a mile. === 16,381,000,000,000 cubic miles, -f- 263,900,000,000 cubic miles in the globe. = 61 globes. By this calculation, we see that the mass of sugar required to carry the process only to the fifteenth degree, would be sufficient to form six- ty-one globes of the size of the earth. The quantity of water or alcohol required to attenuate a single drop of any liquid to the thir- tieth degree, would exceed the utmost bounds of the imagination. If perchance a single drop of the juice of Pul- satilla, or any other medicinal plant, has fallen into the Atlantic Ocean, and the winds and tides HOMCEOPATHY. 33 have given it a sufficient number of shakes, then every drop of that ocean is more than a million times as strong as the thirtieth attenua- tion; and yet, according to homoeopathic rules, in order to give it sufficient dynamic power, one drop from this ocean would require further at- tenuation by being mixed with the waters of mil- lions and millions of other oceans. The whole quantity required to attenuate a single drop of any fluid to the thirtieth degree, would be more than sufficient to fill the orbit of Saturn, to blot out the sun and quench the stars. If it be thought that these statements are ex- travagant and untrue, any one may make the calculation for himself, or get any competent mathematician to do it. But if the thirtieth at- tenuation creates so much surprise, what shall be thought of the two thousandth ? Hahnemann once, at least, according to his own statement, carried the process thus far; but no mathema- tician has ever undertaken to give the result of a dilution of a single drop to that extent. No one has ever dared to attempt the computation — the whole universe would be quite too little, 4 34 QUACKERY UNMASKED. and infinite space scarcely sufficient to afford it room. In this contemplation we may be lost in amazement for a moment, but a little attention to the subject will show us that so much as a whole drop has never been attenuated to the thirtieth degree, only extreme fractional parts are carried forward to the end of the proc that at last an ounce of the liquor may not contain more than a decillionth of the drop first employed. Nearly the same result may be obtained in the following manner, viz. : Take a new vial and put into it one hundred drops of alcohol, then add one drop of whatever liquid may be required, give the vial one hundred shakes, and then turn out all except one drop. Quite as much as one drop will adhere to the rides of the vial after all has been emptied out that will run. Next add another hundred drops to this appa- rently empty vial, and give it another hundred shakes, and so continue the process up to the thirtieth time ) and the last hundred drops will contain the decillionth of a drop of the tincture first employed, if the process has been correctly performed. But whether it does or does not CARBO VEGETABILIS. 35 contain any of the medicine used in the begin- ning, is beyond the power of man to tell. Hahnemann assures us that the almost infini- tesimal doses of articles that have been consider- ed inert, do, after being prepared in the manner described, actually possess immense power. The following are the effects of one decillionth of a grain of charcoal, as stated in Jahr's and Possart's New Manual, page 111. "General Symptoms. — Pains with anguish, heat, despair, or followed by languor. Rheu- matic drawing and tearing, with lameness, espe- cially in the limbs, with distress caused by flatu- lence, or with stoppage of breath, when affect- ing the chest. Pains as if sprained in the lower limbs, or as after straining by lifting. Burning pains in the limbs and bones. Throbbing in the body, here and there. Ailments caused by strain- ing in lifting, and by riding in a carriage. Chro- nic ailments caused by abuse of cinchona. Mor- bid conditions like influenza. Cholera. Tremor and twitching of single limbs, in the day-time. The limbs go to sleep. Paralysis. Most of the pains come on during a walk in the open air. The limbs, early in the morning, after rising, feel lamed and bruised. Debility of the bends 36 QUACKERY UNMASKED. of the joints. Very weak, sometimes into faint- ing, early in the morning, in bed, or when begin- ning to walk. Sudden prostration of strength. Towards noon he feels weary all over, with dis- position to lean the head against something and to rest himself. Paralysis and complete col- apse of pulse in the Cholera Asiatica. Liable to taking cold. "Skin. — Formication over the whole skin. Itching all over, in the evening, after getting warm in bed. Burning of the skin, here and there. Itch, especially dry, like rash. Fine, granular eruption. Nettlerash. Herpes. Red- dish-brown moles. Aneurisms by anastomo- sis. Aneurisms. Painless ulcers at the tips of the fingers and toes. Readily bleeding, fetid ulcers, with burning pain, and acrid ichorous pus. Chilblains. Varices. Glandular indurations. "Sleep. — Very drowsy in the day-time, pass- ing off by motion. Falls asleep late, sleepless owing to restlessness of the body. Nightly raving of the fancy, with starting on account of anxious dreams. " Fever. — Chilliness and coldness of the body. Chilliness, evening and night, followed by flushes of heat. Intermittent fever, with thirst only during the chilly stage. Frequent flushes of heat. Night-sweat. Sourish morning-sweat. CABBO VEGETABILIS. 37 Typhoid fevers, with loss of consciousness. Col- lapse of pulse during an attack of cholera. Dis- posed to sweat. " Emotive Sphere. — Anguish and restlessness, especially in the evening. Dread of ghosts, especially at night. Little courage. Whining despair, with longing for death. Tendency to start. Irritable and passionate. " Sentient Sphere. — Sudden weakness of memory, periodically. Slow ideas. Fixed ideas. Confused head. Vertigo when moving the head ever so little, or after sleeping. " Head. — Headache from getting heated, or with trembling of the jaws. Headache with nausea. Nocturnal headache. Spasmodic ten- sion in the brain, or pain as from contraction of the scalp. Heaviness of the head. Oppressive headache, especially above the eyes, in the tem- ples and occiput. Drawing pain in the head, from the nape of the neck, with nausea. Stitches in the sinciput. Throbbing in the head, with rush of blood to the head, and heat in the same. " Integuments of the Head. — Tearing in the outer parts of the occiput and forehead, fre- quently emanating from the limbs. Painful sen- sitiveness of the scalp to external pressure. Lia- bility of the head to taking cold. Falling out of the hair, especially after a severe illness. 4* 38 QUACKERY UNMASKED. 11 Eyes. — Pain in the eyes from straining them by looking. Pain in the muscles of the eye when looking upwards. Itching, smarting, heat ; pressure and burning in the eyes and can- thi. Nightly agglutination of the eyes. Hae- morrhage from the eyes, with violent rush of blood to the eyes. Twitching and trembling of the eyelids. Near-sighted. " Ears. — Otalgia in the evening. Heat and redness of the outer ear, in the evening. Want of cerumen. Fetid otorrhoea. Stoppage of the ears. Ringing and humming in the ears. Swelling of the parotid glands. "Nose.- — Itching of the nose, with tickling and internal tingling. Scurfy tip of the nose. Frequent continued bleeding of the nose, espe- cially at night and early in the morning, with pale face. "Face. — Pale face. Gray-yellow comp] ion. Hippocratic countenance. Tearing and drawing in the fascial bones. Swelling of the face and cheeks. Crusta lactea. Herpes in the face. Ulcer in front of the ear and below the jaw. Eruptions in the face. Pimples on the face and forehead, also like acne. Swelling of the lips. Cracked lips. Pustules on the lips. Ulcerated corners of the mouth. Twitching of the upper lip. CARBO VEGETABILIS. 39 u Teeth. — Toothache drawing-tearing, or con- tractive, or gnawing or bubbling, excited by cold, warm, and salt things. Chronic looseness of the teeth. The gums are sore, suppurate, and re- cede from the teeth. Bleeding of the gums and teeth. " Mouth. — Stomacace. Heat and dryness or flow of water in the mouth. Rough mouth and tongue. The tongue is sore and difficult to be moved. " Throat. — Sore throat, as if swollen inter- nally. The fauces feel constricted, with imped- ed deglutition. Smarting, scraping and burning in the fauces, throat and palate. Sore pain in the throat when coughing, blowing one's nose and swallowing. Oesophagitis. A good deal of mucus in the throat which is easily hawked up. Sore throat, after measles. "Appetite and Taste. — Bitter taste. Salt taste in the mouth and of the food. Loss of appetite. Chronic aversion to meat, butter and grease. Desire for salt and sweet things. After eating, especially after milk, considerable disten- tion, acidity in the mouth and sour eructations. Sweat when eating. Very much heated by drinking wine. Confusion of the head and pres- sure at the stomach, after eating. Excessive desire for coffee. Excessive hunger and thirst* 40 QUACKERY UNMASKED. Dyspepsia, especially after the abuse of mercury. Even the most innocent kind of food causes distress. " Gastric Symptoms. — Raising of air, or bitter eructations. Rising of the ingesta and of the fat one had eaten. Heartburn. Sour eruc- tations. Hiccough after moving about. Gulp- ing-up of mucus, after eating. Nausea early in the morning. Constant nausea. Waterbrash, also at night. Hcematemesis. Gastric derange- ment after drinking vrine. "Stomach. — Pains at the stomach, in case of nursing females. Heaviness, fulness and tension in the stomach. Contractive or burning-aching cardialgia, with a good deal of flatulence and painfulness of the pit of the mach to the touch. Clutching and trembling in the stomach. u Abdomen. — Pains in the hypochondria as if bruised, especially in the region of the liver. Stitching pain below the ribs. Tension, pres- sure and stitching in the region of the liver. Splenetic stitches. The clothes press on the hypochondria. Colic around the umbilicus, when touching the part. Heaviness, fulness, disten- tion of the abdomen, with heat in the whole body. Colic from riding in a carriage. Pres- sure and crampy feeling in the lower abdomen. CARBO VEGETABILIS. 41 Pain in the lower abdomen brought on by a strain while lifting. Pinching in the abdomen, shifting from the left to the right side, with lame feeling in the thigh. A good deal of flatulence. Crampy flatulent colic, also at night. Incarce- rated flatulence. Rumbling and fermentation in the abdomen. Excessive fetid flatulence. The distress from flatulence comes on a«;ain after eating ever so little. Hemorrhoidal colic. " Catarrhal Symptoms. — Stoppage of the nose, or discharge of water, without catarrh. Violent catarrh, with hoarseness and roughness of the chest, tingling in the nose, with ineffec- tual desire to sneeze. " Windpipe. — Continual hoarseness and rough- ness. Morning or evening hoarseness aggravat- ed by talking. Catarrh and sore throat during measles. Tracheitis, witli tightness of the chest. Laryngeal and tracheal phthisis. Dry catarrh, with hoarseness and rawness of the chest. Cough, with titillation in the throat, or with raw and sore feeling in the chest. Spasmodic cough, also with choking and vomiting, three or four paroxysms a day, or in the evening, continuing a long time. Cough in the evening, before going to bed and in bed. Cough after the least cold. Painful stitches through the head, when cough- ing. Cough with expectoration of green mucus 42 QUACKERY UNMASKED. or yellowish pus. Suppuration of the lungs. Bloody cough with burning pain in the chest. Whooping cough. " Chest and Respiration. — Oppressed and short breathing, when walking. Tightness and oppression of the chest. Stoppage of breath caused by incarceration of flatulence. Painful beating in the head when drawing breath. Suf- focative paroxysms and paralysis of the lungs of old people. Pressure at the chest. The chest feels full, husky, oppressed with anxiety. Ily- drothorax? Smarting as from excoriation, sore pain and burning in the chest. The chest feels exhausted. Burning in the region of the heart, with rush of blood to the chest and palpitation of the heart. Rheumatic pressure, drawing and tearing in the chest. Brownish spots on the chest. Inflammation of the mamma?. "Trunk. — Rheumatic drawing, tearing and stitching in the muscles of the back, nape of the neck and neck. Itching pimples on the back. Itching, soreness and dampness of the shoulder- pits. Stitching in the small of the back when making a wrong step. Painful stiffness in the back and nape of the neck. " Upper Extremities. — Tearing and burning in the shoulder and shoulder joints. Drawing and tearing in the forearms, wrists and fingers. CARBO VEGETABILIS. 43 The muscles of the arms and hands feel relaxed when laughing. Eigid feeling in the wrist-joints as if too short. Spasmodic contraction of the hands. Lameness of the wrist-joints and fingers when grasping any thing. Fine, granular, itch- ing eruption on the hands. Heat in the hands. " Lower Extremities. — The lower limbs feel numb. Laming-drawing pain in the lower limbs. Burning, tearing and drawing in the hip. Rigid and crampy-feeling in the hip-joints, thighs and knees. Uneasiness and heaviness in the lower limbs. Aneurism on the knee. The knees feel stiff and go to sleep. Herpes on the knee. Crampy feeling in the legs and soles of the feet, and, at night, in the calves. Sweaty feet. Chro- nic numbness of the feet. Redness and swell- ing of the toes, with stinging pain, as if frozen." Now if homoeopathy is true, all the forego- ing symptoms and affections, with sixty more belonging to the same catalogue, which are quite too vulgar for common readers, are produced whenever a healthy individual swallows the de- cillionth of a grain of common charcoal, and these affections last thirty-six days. (See Jahr's and Possart's New Manual, page 565.) 44 QUACKERY UNMASKED. CHAPTER III. HOMOEOPATHY. CARBONATE OF LIME ITS USES. ONLY ONE ARTICLE TO BE USED AT A TIME. PROVIXGS, HOMCEOPATHIC ARGUMENTS, ETC. Calcarea CarLonica — Common Chalk. — This is an important homoeopathic remedy. The dose is one decillionth of a grain, and the effects last fifty days. The following are the affections in which it is employed, as laid down in Jahr's Manual, Vol. I., pages 119, 120. " Indications derived from the ensemble of symptoms : For persons of a plethoric or lym- phatic constitution, with a disposition to Menor- rhagia, cold in the head, and diarrhoea ; or else for individuals of a weak, sickly constitution. Sufferings caused by a chill in the water : Diffe- rent affections of children and of women who have copious catamenia : Evil effects from lifting a weight ; Suffering arising from abuse of cinchona ; Sufferings of drunkards : Gouty no- dosities and other arthritic complaints : St. Vitus' dance?; Epileptic convulsions (after the action CARBONATE OF LIME. 45 of cuprum) ; Hysterical spasms ; Obesity in young persons ; Physical and neryous weakness in consequence of masturbation ; Muscular weakness, difficulty of learning to walk, atrophy and other sufferings of scrofulous children ; Tu- mefaction and suppuration of the glands ; Caries, softening, curvature, and other affections of the? bones ; Rickety affections ; Spontaneous disloca- tions ; Arthrocace ? ; Polypus ; Encysted tumors ; Chronic eruptions ; Scabby and humid tetters ;: Scrofulous eruptions ; Fistulous ulcers ; Warts * r Chronic urticaria. Intermittent feyers, and fatal consequences from the suppression of those feyers by cinchona; Slow feyers; Melancholy; Hypochondria and hysteria; Delirium tremens ; Drunkenness; Megrim; Cephalalgia from chilly or after injury from lifting ; Fatigue of the head, in consequence of intellectual labor ; Scald- head; Falling off of the hair, also in parturient women, or caused by seyere acute diseases ; Fon- tanels of children, remaining open too long; Ophthalmia, eyen that arising from the introduc- tion of a foreign substance, or in scrofulous per- sons, or in new-born infants ; Blepharophthal- mia ; Spots, ulcers, and obscuration in the cor- nea; Fungus haematodes of the eye?; Amblyo- pia; Lachrymal fistula; Haemorrhage of the eyes?; Otitis?; Purulent otorrhoea, also that 5 46 QUACKERY UNMASKED. proceeding from caries in the auditory organs ; Polypus in the ear; hardness of hearing, also that caused by suppression of an intermittent fever by cinchona; Parotitis; Scrofulous swell- ing of the nose ; Nasal polypus : Anosmia; Can- cer in the nose ? ; Coryza, with slow establish- ment of the catarrhal flux; Coryza and chronic obstruction of the nose; Prosopalgia; Tetters and other facial eruptions: Crusta lactea; Odon- talgia, also that of pregnant women, or of those who have too copious catamenia; Difficult denti- tion in children, with convulsions; Fistulous ul- cers in the gums; Ranula ; Amagdalytis and other phlegmonous anginas; Goitre; Anorexia; Dyspepsia, vomitings, sourness, pyrosis, and other gastric affections ; Induration and other diseases of the liver; Taenia; Colic; Abdominal spasms: Scrofulous buboes; Obstinate constipation; Di- arrhoea of scrofulous children, or else during dentition; Diarrhoea of phthisical persons; Chro- nic disposition to evacuate often in the day : Verminous affections; Hemorrhoidal suffering? and bad consequence of the suppression of the hemorrhoidal flux; Catarrh of the bladder; Hematuria ? ; Polypus of the bladder : Urinary calculus; Weakness of the genital functions, dysmenorrhoea, and amenorrhcea of plethoric persons ; Leucorrhoea ; Metrorrhagia ; Chloro- CARBONATE OF LIME. 47 sis ; Sterility ; Abortion ; Cutting pains, too long continued after accouchement; Weakness, falling out of the hair, and other complaints of parturi- ent women; Odontalgia of pregnant women; Milk fever ; Excoriation of the breasts ; G-alac- torrhoea or agalactia; Ophthalmia, muscular weakness and acidity in nurses ; Chronic laryn- gitis with ulceration ; Chronic catarrh and ble- norrhoea of the lungs; Phthisical symptoms (tu- berculous phthisis); Curvature of the spine: Coxalgia; Spontaneous dislocation; Gout in the hands and in the feet, &c. &c." Here, then, are one hundred and twenty-five diseases or conditions, some acute and some chronic, differing as far as possible in their eti- ology and pathology, all to be cured or relieved by the decillionth of a grain of chalk. Carbon- ate of lime is one of the most abundant natural productions, and is found in a great variety of conditions. In its solid state it forms a consi- derable part of the crust of the globe, and in solution it is found to exist to some extent in almost all water. The best wells and purest springs hold more or less of it in solution ; it is even sometimes discovered in rain water. He 48 QUACKERY UNMASKED. who created the elements, and provided for man his food and drink, saw fit, for wise purpos to mingle carbonate of lime in nearly every thing which we swallow. The sick man swal- lows it in every glass of water, and in quanti- ties much larger than Hahnemann directed. And would it not be the height of folly to attempt to cure a patient by giving him a decillionth of a grain of the article, once in six or eight hours, when every spoonful of water that he swallows contains more than a thousand such doses, and when he has taken the same article every day of his life? Certainly, we should think that he had taken it long enough to cure him of any dis- ease that such an article was capable of curing. Nay, more; unless the disease existed in em- bryo, he could never have it at all, because he has used the medicine as a prophylactic from his earliest infancy, therefore he cannot possibly have any disease that carbonate of lime in such doses will cure. There is another consideration connected with this article. Hahnemann directs that only one single, simple medicine shall be given at a time. HOMOEOPATHY. 49 In his Organon, pages 319 and 320, he says: " In no case is it requisite to administer more than one single, simple medicinal substance at one time." Further, he says: "It is impossible to foresee how two or more medicinal substances might, when compounded, obstruct and alter each other's action in the human body." He further says: "Some Homoeopathists have made the ex- periment, in cases where they deemed one remedy suitable for one portion of the symptoms of a case of disease, and a second for another portion, of administering both remedies at once, or al- most at once; but I earnestly deprecate such hazardous experiments, that can never be neces- sary." Now what shall be done ? Nearly every ho- moeopathic remedy is a compound, and consists of two or more elementary substances. But if you had a simple elementary substance, how could you administer it by itself alone ? Say, for instance (which is not a fact), that aconite is a simple elementary substance, and you wish to give the patient one drop of the thirtieth atten- uation of this drug in a spoonful of water — you 5* 50 QUACKERY UNMASKED. give the patient aconite and carbonate of lime at the same time, and the quantity of lime in the spoonful of water exceeds the quantity of aco- nite more than a million of times. Give whatever medicine you will, in the purest common water, and you are giving it in conjunction with car- bonate of lime. If you were using ordinary doses of medicine, the inconsiderable quantity of lime in common water would not be a matter of any consideration; but if such infinitesimals act at all, they may be incompatible and counter- act each other. Hahnemann was the most inconsistent of mor- tals — he was not only inconsistent with reason and facts, and with every principle of phi] phy and common sense, but also often strangely inconsistent with himself. At one time he de- clares that large doses have little or no effect upon the system, because they have not been potentized by attenuation and dynamization. and at another time he says that all allopathic quan- tities of substances which may be used as homoe- opathic medicines are poisonous, and injurious in proportion to the quantity used. He who creat- HOMCEOPATHY. 51 ed the world and peopled it with living beings, wisely and benevolently fitted everything to their use. Accordingly he spread over the whole habitable globe, two substances, which were constantly required for human sustenance. These are carbonate of lime and common salt. The one seasons our drink, and the other our food. We swallow both in the first act of deg- lutition, and continue to use them to the last hour of life. The Most High, when he had fin- ished the work of creation, pronounced it all very good. But Hahnemann discovered that this declaration was untrue — he has discovered that these articles, taken in such large quanti- ties, are poisonous, and tend to ruin the system and destroy life. In his Organon, page 55, he says : a It was high time for the wise and bene- volent Creator and Preserver of mankind to put a stop to this abomination, and to command a cessation of these tortures." And again he adds, " It was high time that He should permit the dis- covery of Homoeopathy." And what are the remedies which this beatific discovery have brought to light? They consist in giving the 52 QUACKERY UNMASKED. same articles, in infinitesimal doses, to cure or obviate the effects of these large poisonous allopathic quantities. Can a man who assorts that two and two make ten, be sane ? or can a man who publishes such astounding absurdities, be in his right mind ? In Hahnemann's French edition of his Mate- ria Medica, no less than thirty-five pages are occupied in describing the effects of one mil- lionth of a grain of charcoal. It may be asked; How did Hahnemann ascertain that such nume- rous, such remarkable, and such contradictory effects were produced by such infinitesimal d of an article, which, up to his time, had been considered nearly or quite inert? He and his followers tell us that these facts have been certained by observations and experience. It may be proper, therefore, to examine the pro- cess by which these and other discoveries of the kind have been made. A number of individuals, say twenty, more or less, have been selected, and to each has been given a homoeopathic dose of charcoal or any other article to be tried. Each individual is HOMCEOPATHY. 53 told that the medicine is expected to produce marked effects upon him, and is requested care- fully to note down all his symptoms and feelings. Every physical, intellectual and moral pheno- menon that occurs in any such individual, after he swallows the attenuation, is considered as the positive effect of the medicine. If his face is flushed, the medicine has produced it — if he is inclined to sleep, the medicine has produced it — if he dreams, it is the medicine — if he is cold, it is the medicine — if he is warm, it is the medi- cine — if he is timid, it is the medicine — if he is courageous, it is the medicine — if his head, or eyes, or ears, or teeth, or limbs, ache, or if he laughs, or cries, or whatever else takes place in his person or feelings, it has been produced by the medicine. These are homoeopathic Provings, and by such means they ascertain by experience that the decillionth of a grain of chalk will "make the hair fall out" — pro'duce " pressure in the eyes, polypus in the ear, redness of the nose, yellowness of the complexion, eruptions on the lips, toothache, dry tongue, aversion to smok- ing, desire for wine, swelling of the stomach 54 QUACKERY UNMASKED. palpitation of the heart, ulcers of the legs and swelling of the feet," with a hundred other symptoms. Now suppose that, instead of the chalk, a few drops of pure cold water had 1 given to each of the twenty men in question, and they had been watched, and their symptom as in the other case — it might he shown, by the same kind of experience, that five drops of wa- ter did actually produce effi y nume- rous and equally important. Now this is the kind of testimony by which Homoeopathy is supported — ridiculous in its character, unreasonable in its nature, and din ly contradicted by all reliable experience. But whenever we attempt to show its lity and falsity, we are met by its advocates with certain stereotyped arguments which they appear to consider unanswerable. They tell us that the au- thors of great discoveries have always been op- posed and persecuted, and point us to Coperni- cus, Galileo, Herschel and Newton; and because these men met with opposition when they first announced those discoveries which subsequ observations verified, they infer that Hon HOMCEOPATHY. 55 thy must be true because it meets with opposi- tion. Now it must be a very poor case that is obliged to resort to so flimsy an argument for its support. It shows at once the want of tan- gible evidence ? when it rests its support upon such a futile abstraction. The cases referred to are in no respect parallel. Hahnemann was no more like Galileo, than like Alexander or Cae- sar. He made no discoveries of any kind — his similia similibus curantur being, as we have already seen, an old exploded maxim, and he himself assures us that this idea had been acted upon for many centuries. He revived this absurdi- ty, which had become nearly or quite exploded, and made it the basis of his whole scheme. But if the cases were parallel, the process of rea- soning would be altogether untenable, for it can never be supposed that every man who meets with opposition is in the right, nor that opposi- tion is any evidence whatever of the truth of any scheme that an individual may set up. This course of reasoning would make almost every- thing that is false appear true, and every truth a falsehood. The Alcoran and the Mormon Bible 56 QUACKERY UNMASKED. would each be proved true by the same course of reasoning. Their own argument, properly con- sidered, goes to prove the falsity of their doc- trine. The opposition to Galileo arose from a superstitious priesthood, which was wholly igno- rant of the principles of astronomy, and looked upon his announcement as a heresy which im- pugned the authority of the Scriptures. Igno- rance and superstition alone opposed him. As fast as astronomers became acquainted with his principles, they were satisfied of their truth. His early disciples did not, like Hahnemann's, consist of the ignorant, and the credulous, but they were thq. most learned philosophers and astronomers of Greece, men who had devoted their lives to the study of that science. The very reverse of this has been the case with Hah- nemannism: all the medical savans throughout the world rejected it as soon as they became ac- quainted with its principles; and if I am told that many people believe it now, I answer that many also believe in Ann Lee and Joe Smith. Another homoeopathic argument upon which its advocates appear to place great reliance, is HOMOEOPATHY. 57 founded on analogy. When we dispute their provings of great effects from little causes, or no causes at all, we are told that such things, though strange, are nevertheless true, and confirmed by analogous cases. They say, see how very little poison is capable of killing a strong animal — how little virus will produce the smallpox. They ask us to weigh malaria and measure miasma. If there was any force in this argument, we might show, by the same kind of reasoning, that a spi- der might spin a ship's cable, an ant overturn a mountain, and the smallest insect drink up the ocean. These men forget that the science and art of medicine should be governed and con- ducted by the same reason and common sense that are employed in every other department of business. They fly off in a tangent to the wild fields of fancy, without taking account of their own position. It, is true that a single spark may explode a whole magazine, and a single match may inflame the most stately mansion; and if Homoeopathy were true, a few drops of water (which all acknowledge is the right reme- dy) would be sufficient to quench the conflagration. 6 58 QUACKERY UNMASKED. It is not true that homoeopathic quantities of poison kill, nor that homoeopathic attenuations of variolous matter will produce smallpox. If Ho- moeopathy were true, the poison of the rattle- snake would be made stronger by dilution, and one millionth of a drop, commingled with the waters of all the oceans, would make the whole so strong that a single drop of that attenuation, either swallowed or smelt of, would produce in- stant death. If Homoeopathy were true, the drop of virus, which may produce the vaccine disease, should be attenuated by being mingled with a quantity of fluid sufficient to fill the orbit of the farthest planet, and its power to produce the disease would not be diminished but increased. Homoeopathic arguments never take effect, ex- cept upon feeble intellects ; they are so attenuat- ed as to produce no sensible effects upon any Bound minds. HOMCEOPATHY. 59 CHAPTER IV. HOMCEOPATHY CONTINUED. INDICATIONS OF NATURE BELLADONNA IN SCARLATINA NECESSITY OF AT- TENUATED DOSES BEST DOSE ALWAYS THE SMALL- EST COMMON SALT SILEX ARSENIC. A little attention may teach any one that Nature herself never acts homoeopathically. If a man has swallowed poison, or other offen- sive material, she endeavors to throw it off by violent vomiting, or purging, and to protect the delicate villas of the stomach and bowels by an increased secretion of mucus. If the subject is plethoric, she often relieves him by epistaxis, or haemorrhage of some other kind. If dust has fallen into his eyes, she washes it out immediately by spontaneous lachrymation ; or if the neces- sary amount of effete fluid is not conducted off by cutaneous perspiration, some of the mucous membranes, or the kidneys, or all of these, are exerted for its removal. Nor does she repudiate counter-irritation : an internal affection is often 60 QUACKERY UNMASKED. relieved or cured by eruptions upon the skin, by- boils, carbuncles or other local inflammations. Even the sore legs of old people may often be regarded as Nature's method of prolonging life by counter-irritation. These are some of Na- ture's resources; and when unaided she can spon- taneously accomplish her purposes, we would not interfere with her operations; but if she is not able to do so without assistance, rational medicine takes the hint, and endeavors to carry out her designs. But if the spontaneous efforts of Nature are excessive or unnecessarily pro- longed, we endeavor to moderate or restrain them. Whilst Hahnemann was occupied by his lucu- brations upon his similia simUibus, he discover- ed, as he thought, that belladonna administered to a person in health produced symptoms similar to scarlatina. Elated with the discovery, he pro- ceeded to administer it as a prophylactic, and found, to his great joy, that those to whom it had been given, escaped the disc- This ha trial confirmed him in his opinion that belladon- na was a specific in scarlatina. Just because HOMCEOPATHY. 61 the few persons to whom he had given the medi- cine did not happen to take the disease, he con- cluded that it must be a never-failing prophylac- tic. For a time, he and his disciples believed this to be a reliable discovery, and acted upon it with the utmost confidence. The idea spread, and was put to the test by physicians of all classes. Its insufficiency, however, was soon discovered, and trial after trial convinced all, who thoroughly tested it, of its entire futility a3 a prophylactic, and its value as a curative became very questionable. Still Homoeopathy held to the delusion, and refused to give it up. As of- ten as it was thoroughly tried, it failed, and yet the petty disciples of Hahnemann continued to ignore its failure, and to this day there may be some who continue to harp their groundless boastings. If Hahnemann's golden dreams had proved to be true, and future observation had confirmed his hypothesis, it would have been indeed a priceless boon. Physicians of every class and grade would have seized upon it with avidity — a thrill of rejoicing would have elec- trified the world — Hahnemann would indeed 6* 62 QUACKERY UNMASKED. have been the first Jenner — people of ev< name and nation would have delighted to do him honor, and the profession would have crowned him with its proudest laurels and given him a monument higher than the Egyptian pyra- mids. Unborn ages would have blessed him, and his fame would have endured forever. But, alas ! it utterly failed, and all the glowing anti- cipations of its author perished* "We have seen that the two principal features of Hahnemann's system were the similia simiU- bus curantur, and the infinitesimal dose. The latter seems to have been the consequence of the former. As one, in attempting to construct a machine for perpetual motion, soon finds him- self under the necessity of altering some part to make it agree with some other part, so Hahne- mann often found it necessary to change or modify some hypothesis to preserve the seeming harmony of the whole. According to his the- ory, he must give cathartics in dysentery, astrin- gents in constipation, narcotics in coma, emetics in obstinate vomitings, etc. Now a very little practice in this way would be sufficient to con- HOM(EOPAT^Y. 63 vince any one that such measures would increase the difficulties and aggravate the complaints they were designed to relieve. Under these circum- stances, he seems to have been driven by neces- sity to make the dose so small as not greatly to aggravate the disorder ; and this led him to the use of infinitesimal doses, by which means the system was left undisturbed to overcome its derangement by its own inherent recuperative power. JJnassisted Nature did the cure which Hahnemann ascribed to his potions. The infini- tesimal dose became a fixed principle with Hah- nemann, from which he never departed. In his Organon of Homoeopathic Medicine, page 204, he says, " This incontrovertible axiom, founded upon experience, will serve as a rule by which the dose of all homoeopathic medicines, without exception, are to be attenuated to such a degree, that after being introduced into the body they shall merely produce an almost insensible aggra- vation of the disease." In his Organon, page 289, he says, " The very smallest, I repeat, for it holds good as a homoeopathic therapeutic maxim, not to be refuted by any experience in the 64 QUACKERY UNMASKED. world, that the best dose of the properly select- ed remedy is always the very smallest one in one of the high dynamizations (+), or thirtieth dilution — a truth that is the inestimable pro- perty of pure homoeopathy." Hahnemann de- clared that " liquid medicines do not become weaker by greater and greater attenuation, but always more potent and penetrating." Accord- ing to him, also, succussion, or shaking, infinitely increases the power. He says, u Of l»tc years I have been compelled, by convincing experi- ence, to reduce the ten succussions, formerly directed to be given after each attenuation, to two." See Organon, p. 316. He gives this direc- tion, he says, in order to set bounds to the dynamizing process, lest the medicine should by too many shakes be made so strong as to be unsafe. Any one who wishes to try the experiment, can provide himself with thirty new vials, as directed in Hull's Laurie, page 51, and proceed to make the attenuations according to the rules there laid down. But if he attempts to carry a whole drop through to the thirtieth degree, with- HOMOEOPATHY. 65 out leaving any part of it in the lower stages, he will soon find it impossible to proceed. The ratio of increase being one hundred; a few mani- pulations will soon convince him of his ina- bility to complete the process. But if he car- ries forward only one drop each time, he can easily arrive at the thirtieth attenuation. Let the drop of medicine used in the begin- ning be whatever it might, of the deepest color or most virulent poison, no perceptible vestige of it will be found in the last hundred drops. No mortal can, by any sensible or physical signs, by any chemical tests or any medicinal effects, distinguish the vial containing the last hundred drops from another vial of simple alcohol. The quantity of the medicine in this hundred drops is only equal to that which would be contained in any hundred drops taken from an ocean of the size of the earth multiplied sixty-one times. But we are told that much higher attenuations are often used, and that the drops so obtained possess immense power. Can human credulity be taxed beyond this ? The idea surpasses the utmost stretch of the most gigantic imagination. After 66 QUACKERY UNMASKED. one wild effort to grasp it, we instinctively look around to see if we are in or out of the body. A friend of mine has a fine morocco case contain- ing eighty small vials — forty of these are filled with dry globules, and the other forty with a fluid, and labelled — one " opium," another " aco- nite," another " belladonna," &c. Now if the labels should be removed, and the vials disar- ranged in the case, no one could ever tell which was the opium, and which the aconite, or which the belladonna. We will analyze a case in homoeopathic prac- tice. A man is sick with some rheumatic affec- tion. The doctor visits him and leaves six or eight small white powders. The good woman in- quires what is the name of the medicine, and is told that it is natrum muriaticum. She cannot comprehend the meaning of the term, but con- cludes that it is some newly-discovered homoeo- pathic remedy, and therefore asks no further questions. Now let us examine this case a lit- tle. Natrum muriaticum, in common language, is common salt. Hahnemann's dose is one de- cillionth of a grain, and its effects last from HOMCEOPATHY. 67 forty to fifty days. The following are the dis- eases in which it is used by homoeopathic prac- titioners. (See Jahr's Manual; Vol. L, p. 386). " Allowing ourselves to be guided by the to- tality of symptoms, the cases in which this medi- cine may be used will be found to be: — Rheu- matic affections, with contractions of the ten- dons ; Paralysis of the limbs ; Scrofulous affec- tions; Enlarged glands; Bad consequence of vexation and anger : Weakness from loss of hu- mors and other debilitating causes, also that resulting from onanism; Hysterical weakness and syncope ; Warts ; Varices ; Intermittent fe- vers, also those which have changed their cha- racter from strong doses of cinchona ; Typhus fever ; Melancholy and hypochondria ; Sufferings from excessive study; Megrim; railing off of the hair in consequence of acute diseases, also in the case of parturient women ; Chronic ophthalmia and blepharophthalmia, especially in scrofulous individuals ; Amblyopia amauro- tica; Presbyopia; Otitis, with purulent dis- charge ; Coryza ; Crusta lactea ? ; Scorbutic affection of the gums ; Stomacace ? ; Dyspepsia, gastralgia, and other gastric affections ; Chronic hepatitis ? ; Flatulent colic ; Chronic constipa- tion ; Chronic diarrhoea ; Diabetes ? ; Chronic 68 QUACKERY UNMASKED. gonorrhoea ? Priapisnms ? ; Impotence; Dysme- norrhea; Amenorrhea; Dysmenia in young girls; Sterility, with too early and too profuse catamenia?; Leucorrhoea; Catarrh; Phthisical complaints ; Diseases of the heart ? ; Goitre ; Panaritia; Suppression of foot sweat, &c.