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NEEDS OF THE
HOMEOPATHIC MATERIA MEDICA
THAT IT MAY MEET THE DEMANDS OF THE
SPECIALIST IN THERAPEUTICS
AN ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY
OF THE County of NEw York, MARCH II, 1908
ſy A \ A BY
, ANY º
J. B. GREGG CUSTIS. M. D.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Beresford, Printer,
City of Washington.
THE NEEDS OF THE HOMOEOPATHIC MATERIA
MEDICA THAT IT MAY MEET THE DE—
MANDS UPON THE SPECIALIST
IN THERAPEUTICS.
MR. PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE
HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL SOCIETY
OF THE COUNTY OF NEW YORK :
I can assure you that the honor conferred by an invita-
tion to address this organization is fully appreciated, es-
pecially when asked to speak upon a subject which I con-
sider the most important that confronts our School at the
present time when there seems to be so much doubt and
pessimism. The reason for our existence is that we pos-
sess a Materia Medica established, developed and used for
the most part only by ourselves. Possibly I realize more
than you do that the members of this organization have
greater opportunities for the further development of the
Homoeopathic Materia Medica than is at the present time
possessed by any other organization in the country. You
have a college fully equipped and fairly endowed, in
connection with hospitals which present greater opportu-
nities for observation and study than those open to any
other organization in our land. That the Government,
with its laboratories and hospitals located in Washington,
may, in the future, afford a greater opportunity is my
dream and hope, but at the present time, with the facilities
already referred to, with the Rockefeller Institute and
other endowed institutions devoted to investigation, New
York is the center from which more can be reasonably
expected than from any other place where our School is
established.
2
I am not here to criticise nor find fault, but I frankly
tell you that the general impression throughout the coun-
try is that personal ambition, natural jealousy and the
peculiar conditions which have made the leading profes-
sional men think that they must in eight months earn suf-
ficient to maintain them during twelve months of the
year, have interfered with the personal development of this
vicinity, and that the institutions referred to above would
not have been so exclusively devoted to the study of ob-
jective symptoms and conditions, the physiological proper-
ties of drugs alone considered, and the investigation of the
unwarranted claims for the treatment of constitutional and
epidemic diseases by specific remedies would not have
exhausted the resources of the institutions which should,
in part, have been directed to the study of the effect of
drugs on healthy people, and the recording of subjective
symptoms which would lead to the recognition of the ef-
fect of the drugs studied before organic changes, which
most of these institutions alone recognize, had resulted
from their use.
If I can make plain what is required, arouse you to an
appreciation of your advantages and to a recognition of
your obligations, I shall be more than repaid for my trip to
New York, and in return, I promise you every assistance
that can be given from Washington, the seat of the United
States Government. The Government has been slow to ap-
preciate what might be gained by working with us, and, be-
cause of that slowness, I have said but little during the
past year, and have been criticised for that reason. But
the leaven is working, and I rely upon the future to justify
my efforts in the direction of the improvement of our Ma-
teria Medica to meet the scientific requirements of today.
Members of Congress who pass upon appropriations for
the several scientific departments of the Government are
being more and more impressed with the inconsistency of
providing such large amounts to be expended upon the
3
study of the diseases of animals and plants, the investiga-
tion of the causes of diseases among them and the remedies
to be applied for their treatment and cure, and almost noth-
ing for the study of diseases affecting human beings or the
investigation of remedies recommended for their use. Per-
sonally, I can see that without our initiative the Govern-
ment has been unconsciously laying a foundation upon
which the most ambitious physician can build. The data
of the Agricultural Department will form a basis for much
of our future work. It already has proven our law without
any recognition of the value of the results on the part of
the investigators. The field is about fallow for the
planting of the seed that will result in the establishment of
a bureau which will put our school on the scientific basis
which we have always hoped for.
The title I have chosen for this paper might indicate
that I intended to make some apologies for the present con-
dition of our Materia Medica, but this is farthest from my
thought, as I could not consistently apologize for, nor un-
favorably criticize, an armamentarian which has stood the
test of our predecessors for more than a hundred years; an
armamentarian that has never failed me in my thirty years
of practice. As it stands today, I, speaking for myself
and for many of my professional friends, would not erase
one line, because it stands for, and represents, the every-
day language of the provers who were of the same clay as
the patients whom we are called upon to treat; and because
it puts us in closer touch with those who require our ser-
vices than it possibly could if all muscle pains were called
myalgias, liver pains heptalgias, and groin pains appen-
dicular colic.
Its value as it stands, and its possibilities, can be appre-
ciated, and the best results obtained only by the use of
remedies in accordance with our law and under its indica-
tions, by those who have grown familiar with it by con-
stant reliance upon it in their practice. Those who use it,
4.
not only in the treatment of disease, but also for the pur-
pose of verifying their diagnoses of disease, have had such
uniformly satisfactory results that they are ready to meet
the demand that has arisen for specialists in therapeutics,
a term which I apply to those who, because of their famil-
iarity with the Homoeopathic Materia Medica and the
physiological and chemical properties of drugs, as well as
their ability to judge of the claims made by those who use
other forms of therapy, possess the greatest skill in the
treatment of disease by remedial agents furnished by the
vegetable, animal or mineral kingdoms of nature, whether
with or without mechanical or material adjuncts.
We must acknowledge that there is a natural demand
upon the part of all men for the relief of suffering by
means of medicine internally administered. The history
of every nation verifies this claim, and no tribe of Indians
has yet been discovered which did not have a medicine
man, and often, though much of his power is ascribed to
the efficacy of incantations and his reputation increased by
his ability to make a noise, members of the tribe, either
with or without his knowledge, have used roots and herbs
for the relief of their sufferings. A physician who re-
cently returned from investigations in Alaska told us that
the curly-headed medicine man of the aborigines of that
country relied wholly upon noise and incantations, but the
members of the tribe always carried with them what they
called a “medicine" or “sneeze root” as a protection
against cold resulting from the exposure to which they are
subjected, and that, so far as he could tell us, that root was
the only medicine with which they were familiar.
All animals instinctively select certain plants to relieve
them from suffering incident to their errors in diet, or over
indulgence in their passions. The fact that nature has
furnished such potent remedies and such effective antidotes
to poisons, animal, vegetable and mineral, is a sufficient
argument to prove the necessity for a thorough knowledge
5
of her storehouse of remedies and the benefit to be expected
from such knowledge. Again, when nature's remedies are
promptly applied the results obtained are more beneficent,
effective and conservative than those which represent me-
chanical, mental or hygienic methods alone.
In our discussion tonight we will confine ourselves en-
tirely to the therapeutics which is based upon the peculiar
properties of substances furnished by nature, whether from
the animal, vegetable or mineral kingdom, and we will
presume that every one present not only accepts, but be-
lieves in, the law of similia similibus curamtur as a guide
in the administration of drugs or on their derivatives in the
treatment of disease. This starting point is absolutely
necessary because, without some standard upon which to
base our judgment, any discussion would be fruitless. We
further presume that every one present, because of his or
her scientific associations and familiarity with the litera-
ture of today, accepts the fact that drugs and chemicals
retain their more subtle properties far beyond the ken of
the microscope and, in many instances, of the methods of
the laboratory, and that these properties can best be dem-
onstrated by their effect upon living organisms. The most
familiar examples are sulphate of copper and corrosive sub-
limate. -
The therapeutist, and more especially the homeopathic
therapeutist, of today, must of necessity recognize the won-
derful progress made in the collateral branches of medicine,
and must benefit by everything which has been achieved
by science. He does this for two reasons. First, because
it is his duty to his patient to recognize cases where the
chemical properties of drugs are required, where the physi-
ological possibilities are applicable, where mechanical or
electrical measures may be of value, or where surgical
interference can be tolerated or used in the mitigation of
suffering or the prolongation of life. He must recognize
that the life of each individual is limited, and that, fre-
6
quently, the effort of nature to prolong it is too painful for
human endurance, and that poison and foreign substances
must be removed by means adapted to the peculiar condi-
tions existing. Secondly, because it is necessary in order
that he may not expect too much of his remedies, and,
thereby, be discouraged when he meets with failure.
Skepticism and medical nihilism, so common today, are
the result of failure to appreciate the possibilities and im-
possibilities of the prolongation of human life, which is
limited in each individual as it is in each product of human
mechanism. -
Each individual, with the best of care and the most
favorable environment, has a limit beyond which no skill
can carry him. Most of his limitations are the result of
heredity, a thought not popular today; environment, not
always a matter of choice, and accidents beyond control.
When they are recognized by physicians their results can
be modified. No methods for this have ever equalled those
laid down in Hahnemann's organon. He not only pointed
out the effects, but furnished the remedies and the provings
of them, all of which before another decade will be lauded
in the books of our so-called regular physicians, who have
already taken our hepar sulphur and our calcarea ostrearum.
Every one admits the necessity for the oculist, if for no
other reason than the skill required in the use of instru-
ments necessary to correct the errors of refraction and the
use of such delicate instruments as are frequently called for
in operations. The best results cannot be obtained unless
the instruments are in the hands of those who are, through
constant use, familiar with them. I have been told by
oculists, that after their prolonged summer vacation, they
have been obliged to practice for a considerable while
before the opthalmoscope will give them the clearest defi-
nition of the retina.
We recognize that the best results from surgery can be
7
obtained only when knives are in hands which are con-
tinually bloody, and, as all of us are not ambitious in that
direction, we cheerfully step aside when the shedding of
blood seems to be necessary.
As a physician whose highest ambition is the curing of
disease believes that the best results are to be obtained by
studying the effects of drugs upon the living does not care
to spend his time in the dead house, so he is glad to leave
pathological research to those who are more familiar with
the use of the microscope and the scalpel, and is ready to
acknowledge the skill and the necessity for experts in
clinical diagnosis when the methods alone familiar to such
experts are required.
He is willing, too, to admit the necessity for the gyne-
cologist when he recognizes that, as the result of venereal
disease, either innocently or not acquired, the case justifies
the lamentable unsexing surgical operations, although he
is convinced that the necessity for most other operations
could be avoided by careful selection of remedies in ac-
cordance with the indications already so satisfactorily
recorded in our works on Materia Medica, and that by
their use much of invalidism among the women of the pres-
ent day would be avoided. * * *
After the great amount of liberality and humility shown
by the acknowledgment of lack of skill in the use of most
of the instruments of precision and of the knife, you will
not be surprised that the therapeutist should claim that it
is the result of his observation that the personal qualities
which predominate among the specialists referred to unfit
them, in a measure, to appreciate, or at least they cannot
spend the time required to familiarize themselves with, all
the fine distinctions which enter into a differentiation of
remedies required to meet the many phases presented by
diseases, modified as they are today. The therapeutist
freely offers his services, which to the Homoeopathic spe-
cialist gives the advantage over all others who are admit-
8
tedly without knowledge of the peculiar effects of remedies
upon the organs to which they have their special attention
called. The possibilities for assistance are equal, the re-
spect of each for the other should be equal, and the reports
of cures and results of one or the other should have equal
weight, depending upon the experience and reputation of
the one making the report.
It is as hard for the therapeutist to believe in the re-
ported prevalence of appendicitis and the wonderful results
following its surgical treatment, as it is for the surgeon to
credit the disappearance of mammary tumors following the
administration of the Homoeopathic remedy. But it should
not be difficult for the surgeon to see that the patient whom
he received from the hands of the consistent prescriber and
whom he leaves under his care, makes a more satisfactory
recovery than is shown in the case of those who are loaded
with drugs prescribed upon a specific basis, and that a
greater number of mammary tumors so removed do not as
frequently reappear in any form when the patient is treated
homeopathically than when he is left to unaided nature.
With this rather prolonged introduction, I hope it will
be easy for you to understand the purpose of my paper, but
to make my meaning more plain, I will give a few ex-
amples. t
Because of the customs of the day the sight of an ex-
pectant mother fails. Her husband, in accordance with
custom, takes her to his oculist instead of to the family
physician. Upon examination he finds certain peculiar
appearances on the retina. He suspects renal disease. He
may or may not discover the condition of pregnancy, and
may or may not prescribe a remedy. The important point
in this case is the differentiation of the remedy suited to
the case, and it frequently depends upon the ability of the
one called upon to prescribe to distinguish between mer-
curius corrosivus, phosphorus or argentum nitricum. Ex-
perience has taught us that the majority of cases where
9
albuminuria is discovered early in pregnancy, even though
the appearance of the retina is that requiring phosphorus
in males or nonpregnant women, mercurius corrosivus gives
much better results than phosphorus; while, if the impair-
ment of vision appears near full term, the case is more
readily met by phosphorus, and convulsions thereby averted
by its use. But again if, regardless of the appearance of the
retina, we have a large amount of urine with a proportion-
ately large amount of albumen, argentum nitricum is more
frequently called for, and, under its administration, the
vision will improve along with the disappearance of the
albumen and the general improvement of the patient.
The need of the Materia Medica, that it may meet the
demands of the specialist in therapeutics, in this case is
that, should he be consulted by the oculist as often as he in
turn consults the oculist, there should be new provings of
each of these drugs by a corps of observers, of which the
oculist should be an important member. The differentia-
tion may be found in a more accurate description of the
appearance of the retina in patients under the influence of
one or the other, or the day books may show the constant
appearance of a concomitant symptom which may form the
basis of the differentiation.
It gives me pleasure at this point to acknowledge the
great debt which we owe to the National Society, the
O. O. and the L., for having first brought before the pro-
fession at large a method for the reproving of the drugs,
and having presented to it, largely at its own expense,
the first volume representing the systematic effort to im-
prove the Materia Medica. I refer to the proving of bella-
donna, which will always remain as a monument to the
industry and energy of Dr. Bellows and be more appreciated
as time goes On.
Diseases, the presence of which formerly justified an
unfavorable prognosis, have had this prognosis reversed by
the prescription of remedies which covered the totality of
IO
the symptoms of the patient. I have in mind the cure
of tubercular iritis by byrata iodide, prescribed because of
the diminutive stature of the patient and glandular con-
ditions present. I am aware that cases have since been
reported as cured by tuberculin, which I suspect was
homoeopathic, not isopathic, because of its preparation
presenting a toxin rather than the identical product of
the disease. These remedies should also be proven with
an oculist as one of the corps of observers. This espe-
cially refers to the study of toxins, antitoxins and serums
generally. Children still die of diphtheria, in spite of
antitoxin. The death rate from tuberculosis has not been
lessened to any great extent because of the discovery of
tuberculin, and yet good has followed its administration
in many instances. The reports of cures by the use of
pyrogen are as well authenticated as are those of the cures
following the administration of the antistrepticoccus serum,
or the products of erysipelas.
We must have a basis upon which we can individualize
the patients requiring this form of treatment, not using it
in each case as an experiment or as a dernier resort. Our
observation convinces us that these remedies are resorted
to by those who do not have clean medicine cases and who
have not tried the Homoeopathic remedy selected even ac-
cording to the keynotes so thoroughly verified. * * *
Surgeons recognize certain constitutional and acquired
factors in the etiology of disease, and in most conditions
classified as belonging to their department they use as pre-
scriptions certain specifics. We hear much, even among
those of our own school, of the value of the mixed-pill
treatment and others equally as unscientific. The student
of Materia Medica has demonstrated that the bone decay
and other manifestations of specific disease are frequently
met by other remedies; that fluoric acid and the potashes
in potency give more rapid results than are obtained by the
routine methods too frequently adopted. The old Homoeo-
I I
pathic surgeons, such as Gilchrist, Franklin, Hellmuth,
McFarland and McClellan, and some of your local Surgeons
of today, have learned that hypericum will frequently
relieve the pain of a severed or shattered nerve more
quickly than will morphia and without the nauseating
effects so frequently following the administration of the
latter; that symphytum will relieve the shock of broken
bones and hurry the union; that arnica will not only
relieve the soreness, but prevent suppuration at the site of
a blow, and that calendula will prevent the formation of
pus in wounds of doubtful cleanliness.
The proving of arnica, as we have it today, leads us to
prescribe it in many cases which might become surgical,
and in others that are far removed from the surgical realm.
The traumatism of grief, of remorse or the sudden realiza-
tion of financial loss, has produced symptoms similar to
those laid down as indications for the use of arnica, and
good results have followed its administration. Effusions
resulting in paralysis have been absorbed by its use. What
the Materia Medica needs to satisfy the requirements of to-
day is a reproving, with the surgeon as one of the observ-
ers of the provers, and as one of the critics of the day
books.
I might give as equally apt illustrations in regard to all
of the remedies mentioned, not forgetting sulphur, which
is so frequently called for—I am almost afraid to use the
phrase in this presence—in cases presenting a psoric dia-
thiasis, where we have recurring fevers or inflamed edges
of wounds which refuse to heal, no matter how thorough
the drainage, how aseptic the dressing, or how persistent
the classical treatment. * * *
There is no division recognized as requiring specialists
whose members are more arrogant, self-satisfied and dan-
gerous than the gynecologist. The class of diseases claimed
as belonging to them gives greater opportunity for the
benign effects of Homoeopathy than does any other, as many
I 2
women will testify. And yet I am willing to admit that
there is no part of our Materia Medica in which the Home-
opathic prescriptions are more in need of support. Sepia,
because of the sensation of goneness experienced in the
epigastrium, the desire to cross the limbs, the sensation of
the pad in the rectum, whether or not accompanied by the
brown saddle or the spots on the forehead, has caused more
patients to tolerate certain degrees of prolapsus or flexion
of the uterus, allowed them to perform all their duties
without impairment of any function, than has the gynecol-
ogist by his operations of ventral fixation or of suspension.
I can readily realize that the authors of the text books
which are most frequently consulted are pardonable in not
believing my statement, but I cannot pardon the gynecolo-
gist who has gained his clientele by association with our
school, who will not insist upon nor aid in such reproving
of sepia as will prove or disprove the statement which I
have made.
I could make equally as strong a statement as regards
helonias, patients requiring which are always, in their own
language, “conscious of the womb,” or of lilium tignium,
which has symptoms hard to distinguish from those of
sepia, the one having the throbbing heart which is felt all
over the body, while the reflex of sepia is only in evidence
by occasional heart throbs. The other differential symp-
toms you are too familiar with for me to recount. Did
time permit, I could make it plain to our gynecological
friends why they do not receive more patients from the
therapeutic specialists, and I could, further, show them
how they could have better results in curing many of their
patients without radical operation than they have sub-
sequent to the most brilliant evidences of their skill, of
which they are most justly proud. The functions of the
pelvic organs must be conserved if domestic happiness is
to be considered by the physician. The simple prolongation
of life for a limited time without regard to usefulness,
I 3
influence or the maintenance of the higher reasons for
existence, are all to be considered. What is to be the
result upon subsequent generations when so many will
propagate their species without appendices, or when men
spend their lives with unsexed wives, is horrible to
contemplate. The man or woman who is not whole,
either because of loss of tonsil, ovary or appendix, cannot be
wholly normal in thought, in appreciation of all their ob-
ligations, or in their judgment of the action of their more
or less fortunate companions. Nature offers remedies to
prevent these catastrophies. If I were not afraid of being
called an enthusiast I would claim that our Materia Med-
ica as it exists today, with the addition of the hygienic
means which are based upon rational grounds, and cleanli-
ness which is covered by aseptic measures recognized by
all, will meet the requirement. Yet I plead for a further
study of all the remedies already mentioned, as of all others
which may be suggested, in order that their efficacy may be
recognized by those physicians upon whom the truth of our
law has not yet been impressed.
The grand division of the practice of medicine has left
the mental diseases to the alienist. What has been accom-
plished through the careful administration of Homoeopathic
remedies can be seen by reference to the reports of the
Middletown Asylum, under the care of Dr. Talcott. I
have no doubt that equally good results are still obtained,
and that methods have not been changed, but I have not
been favored with recent reports.
The neurologist, too, can aid greatly and be greatly
assisted by careful observation of results in his specialty
by prescriptions based upon the subjective symptoms of
the Materia Medica as it exists today, and by furnishing
from the pathological laboratory the results of the com-
parative study of the effects of diseases of which they are
sure of the etiology, with the effects on the brain and
spinal cord of such remedies as strychnia, zinc and the
I4.
salts of potash, when taken in lethal doses, as well as the
effects of the loco weed, salts of potash or other poisons
upon animals, when pushed to the fatal issue.
This is one point where the Government investigations
can check the pathologist or aid us in adding another leg
to the stool upon which our prescriptions are to stand. It
is a mistake to think that the enthusiastic therapeutist
ignores the value of the three-legged stool which is so
familiar to the tyro in Homoeopathy.
While those of our profession who devote most of their
attention to the study of the heart and lungs have a most
fertile field in the investigation of remedies such as squills,
ipecac and phosphorus, which, in the minute doses of our
school, seem to have results similar to those ascribed to
them by our competitors, and still greater opportunities if
they would aid in the study of the day books of future
provers of iodine, stannum, lycopodium and sepia. I be-
lieve that did they carefully observe these books, they
would not think that the death which was not averted, or
the life which was not prolonged by the use of tuberculin,
was a visitation of providence, and that all had been done
when that remedy had been injected secundum artem, and
would be able to explain why the potencies of digitalis so
often quicken the pulse of forty-eight and fifty, and why
the generally considered incurable heart lesions following
rheumatism correspond so nearly in sound and accom-
panying subjective symptoms to the phenomena presented
by the prover of kalmia, and are so frequently cured by
its use.
I believe I have referred to all the recognized fields of
specialism excepting that of the clinical diagnostician,
who generally retains for his own treatment diseases of the
blood and kidneys; and in doing this he shows great
wisdom, as he has at his command instruments and
methods with which he can more accurately determine the
results of his prescriptions than is possible for any other
I5
specialist, with the exception of the oculist. If the subject
were not too serious for slang, I would say that the im-
provement of the Materia Medica is “up to him” more
than to any other member of the profession. He claims
that, by accurate analysis of the urine, he can diagnose the
possibility of effusions, locate faulty digestion, assimilation
or metabolism, and, in many cases, distinguish between
primary and secondary kidney disease, as well as diseases
affecting the bladder alone; and, in addition, to be able to
determine the character of the recognized fevers.
If his claims are true, and I am inclined to think they
are, certainly I have found him of great advantage in veri-
fying a diagnosis based upon clinical symptoms, and in
strengthening the position of the plain doctor; then, cer-
tainly, it will require less study and observation for him to
point out the constant symptoms that follow the adminis-
tration of any drugs to the healthy person, or to show the
deviation from the normal secretions of any individual who
is subjected to the test required for a proving. The most
lamentable fact is that most of those who are experts in
this line of study are apt to use the prescriptions which
emanate from the same sources as do the delicate tests
which they rely upon in making their diagnoses; and that
if the amount of urine secreted is deficient they are pleased
when it is increased by theobromine, apocynium, etc., no
matter what results to the patient, not realizing that the
proportion of constituents is more frequently restored, and
the volume of urine passed later reached normal under the
administration of apis when indicated, arsenic when re-
quired, or when cantharis is prescribed because of the
peculiar sufferings of the patient. They are pleased when
the odor of iodoform departs from the test tube, showing
that aczetone has disappeared after the alkalization of the
blood, rather than see the sugar and aczetone diminish,
after prescription dependent upon the individualization of
the case. I have records which cannot be questioned con-
I6
firming the truth of this statement, and also all that I have
ever claimed.
As this paper is simply suggestive, I will not weary you
by multiplying these examples, but I hope I have made
plain the possibilities which surround you and the admo-
nition that “from him to whom much is given much will
be required.” I cannot, under circumstances which you
all know exist, let the evening pass without saying some-
thing about the teaching of Materia Medica in our colleges,
which is thought by many to be faulty and to be the cause
of the slow growth of our institutions. That the glamor of
surgery, the display of knowledge on the part of the teach-
ers of all the specialties referred to above, have absorbed
the interest of many of our students, cannot be denied.
That our therapeutists of the past have not been as practi-
cal as they should have been, is a lamentable fact. That
there has been some intolerance of the rights of others, I
will not deny. That the charge of credulity might be
made against them is possible, but certainly their credulity
has not been greater than that shown by those who have
followed the fads and fashions of the last three decades.
That there has been too much expected from the chairs
of Materia Medica I suspect is one of the causes of partial
failure. There is not a specialist in this room who will
admit that a recent graduate is qualified for admission to
his exclusive society, and yet each specialty is represented
on the faculty of all colleges. All teach the technique of
the most delicate operations, from the removal of the lens
in case of cataract to appendectomy, and yet you will not
concede that the graduate is capable of extracting a lens
or removing an appendix. Notwithstanding this, which
is an admitted fact, you expect the student who gradu-
ates to be a master of the art of prescribing a homoeo-
pathic remedy. Or the teachings of the college lead him
to expect so much from himself as a prescriber that he
becomes discouraged at his failures, and feels justified in
17
yielding to the demands of the patient for the gratification
of his whims, or yields to the arguments of the commer-
cial doctor. If the teachings were confined to the key-
notes of the remedies, as to how to differentiate cases
presenting several keynotes, to a concise resumé of the
preparation, properties, chemical, physiological and thera-
peutic, of the drugs, with their clinical applications as
practically used at the bedside by the majority of Homoeo-
pathists, the student would not be appalled by the ten vol-
umes of the encyclopedia any more than the surgeon is
frightened by the array of tomes on his preceptor's shelves.
If the teachings referred to above were strengthened by
demonstrations in the clinic, and the student afforded the
possibility of observing the results of the prescriptions in
the hospital, he would be encouraged to extend his studies
further by association with those who have already earned
their right to be called specialists; and if he possessed the
peculiar qualifications necessary for the absorption, appre-
ciation and successful use of the armamentarian presented
by our Materia Medica, he would, in from three to five
years after receiving his diploma, be in the same position
with relation to our specialty as others are when recognized
as oculists, surgeons or clinical diagnosticians.
I cannot understand why the study of Materia Medica
cannot be made as interesting as that of any other part of
the curriculum, especially if the chair be connected with
one devoted entirely to clinical therapeutics. That such a
chair is necessary because of the peculiarities of our clin-
ical methods there can be no doubt. That every active
practitioner, even though he recognizes that the best pre-
scriptions are made when the diagnosis is, to a great de-
gree, ignored, always associates a certain group of remedies
with the condition which gives the name to the aggrega-
tion of symptoms which we dignify with a title, is well
known. Consequently the teaching of clinical therapeutics
should be given to a distinctive chair, the teachers in the
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chairs of practice should leave the prescription of reme-
dies absolutely alone unless they are prepared to differen-
tiate between the remedies of our Materia Medica which
are most frequently called for.
To my mind, Mr. President, believing, as I have stated
before, that we can continue our separate organizations only
as we teach, use and develop our Materia Medica, I think
we all should impress upon the colleges the necessity for a
more practical teaching of the application of the remedies
with which we are all familiar ; and I would further im-
press upon you the necessity for clinical demonstration of its
results, in order that the students may, from their entrance
into the college, begin to think on a homeopathic plane,
classify diseases under groups and remedies, and be more
and more imbued with the ever-living truth embodied in
the shibboleth of our school. Let every alumnus of every
college seek to improve his alma mater so that he can con-
scientiously refer the prospective student of medicine to
Her care.
Under these conditions there will be no room for pes-
simism nor fears for the future, and we all shall have the
consciousness of giving some return to the world for the
great opportunities that have been offered to us.
Mr. President, those of us who, whether fortunately or
unfortunately live at the capital of the nation, have oppor-
tunities for observation not enjoyed by those who live in
the hustle and bustle of this financial center. We have
time to realize how each division of humanity, with its
special qualifications and instincts, even when prompted
by similar motives, manifests itself in ways that are anal-
agous. When hope is present in one we see it in all ;
when scepticism enters the field distrust is shown in the
financial world, doubt in the religious world, and uncer-
tainty in political circles. We find that the medical world
does not escape; that nihilism is rampant among the old
school and that pessimism has affected some of our own
I9
school; in fact, I am afraid has affected some of those
whom I now address. But, adopting part of a recent ad-
dress, I admonish you that we must take account of the
great progress in education, in the general dissemination
of information, and especially of the underlying increased
capacity for discriminating judgment.
If we do not take advantage of the opportunities within
our grasp ; if we do not cherish the great store of estab-
lished truth that is embraced in our Materia Medica; and if
we do not ourselves develop the provings which represent
the accumulation of our labors for more than one hundred
years—all of the honor and credit which belongs to our
School will be taken from us, and those institutions which
exist because of the demands for knowledge of the physio-
logical action of drugs will add to their records the details
of subjective phenomena which form the characteristic of
our provings. Much of the opposition to our School has
arisen from our study of such symptoms, but they form a
part of our Materia Medica which the specialist cannot
under any circumstances dispense with.
We cannot claim that our Materia Medica is perfect,
but we do insist that perfection can only be attained by
the continued provings of remedies upon healthy people
in order to gain subjective symptoms, the value of which
cannot be overestimated in the differentiation of drugs as
applicable to given cases of disease. Notice, I say cases,
not diseases, and the results gained by the continued use
of remedies which we have at hand have been so satis-
factory that a more general use will insure results which
will far surpass those of our competitors.
We all recognize that unless provings are conducted on
lines adopted by the American Institute of Homoeopathy,
their findings cannot be used in the treatment of disease,
in accordance with the law of Similia. Experience leads
us to believe that scientific provings will give such pictures
of the phenomena represented by the symptoms resulting
2O
from disordered function, germ invasion, or septic poison-
ing that all scientific physicians will appreciate, the benefi-
cence of nature in her wonderful provision to compensate
for the faults, follies and supposed necessities of advancing
civilization. If we make our claims good, the recognition
of the law of Similia as well as all of its corollaries, is
assured.
There can never be any union of the Schools until the
authenticity of our Materia Medica is recognized, but we
cannot expect such recognition unless we submit to the
test made possible by the scientific progress of the present
day. In fact, if we realize the peculiar obligations of our
profession we must make such tests under such conditions
that the results cannot be questioned by any scientific
critic or physician, and, until such tests are complete, or
the assistance of our School as critics or helpers in tests
made by the Government or the recognized institutions
supported by endowment is formally declined, we cannot
demand more recognition than we already have.
The fact that we are independently making efforts to
raise the standard of our provings is sufficient reason for
our holding on to all of the separate organizations which
we now have, and any member of our organization who
will sign any agreement to recant as to his faith in the
works that are recognized as our standards is entitled to an
epithet beyond my wish to express.
In the wholesome fear of the presiding officer's watch,
let me, in common with most speakers of today, in a few
closing words, give hope as to the future.
It is impossible to comtemplate the financial ruin of the
country, because of its great resources and the necessities
of man which will always be present; or the possibility of
anarchy in place of our political system, because there is
enough of the colonial spirit shown in our early history re-
maining to insure its perpetuity. The spirit of true patri-
otism, the spirit devoted to the attainment of human rights,
2 I
of personal liberty and of regard for law, civil as well as
national and state, taken in conjunction with our marvel-
ous and wonderworking industrial development, will not
permit it.
It is equally impossible to conceive of the destruction of
Homoeopathy or the failure of its eleemosynary institutions,
so long as there is even a small body imbued with the
spirit of its founders, who could have no greater monument
to their unselfish devotion to humanity, untiring zeal in
the pursuit of knowledge and wonderful comprehension of
all the needs of mankind, than is shown in the Materia
Medica Pura and Chronic Diseases of Hahnemann, the
repertoires of Bonninghausen, the manuals of Jhar, the
guiding symptoms of Hering and the encyclopedia of
Allen, not to mention many other smaller but not less
valuable works.
Again thanking you for the kindness of your invitation,
and the courtesy of your hearing, I hope for great fruit
from this evening's meeting.
J. B. GREGG CUSTIS.
Filmed by Preservation 1880