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A PRINCIPLE IN NATURE.
ITS SCIENTIFIC UNIVERSALITY
UNFOLDED;
ITS DEVELOPMENT AND PHILOSOPHY
EXPLAINED;
AND ITS APPLICABILITY TO THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES
SHOWN BY
CHARLES J. HEMPEL, M. D.
FOR SALE BY W. RADDE, 300 BROADWAY, NEW YORK,
AND 635 ARCH STREET, PHILADELPHIA;
OTIS CLAPP, BOSTON,
AND BY ALL THE
RESPECTABLE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED STATES AND ENGLAND.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by
C. J. HEMPEL,
In the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS, PHILADELPHIA.




CONTENTS.
PREFACE,  V
DEDICATION TO THE MEMORY OF H:AHNEMANN,.  xli
ESSAY I.
AN INQUIRY INTO SOME OF THE LEADING OBSTACLES
TENDING TO RETARD THE SPREAD OF HoMCEOPATHY,.........  1
ESSAY II.
A STATEMENT OF THE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES
OF THE IOMCEOPATHIC SCHOOL, AS SUGGESTED
BY A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF IIAHNEMANN'S ESSAY ENTITLED: SPIRIT  OF THE
HOM(EOPATHIC DOCTRINE,..   30
ESSAY III.
INDUCTIVE DEFINITION OF THE IIOMI(EOPATHIC LAwT
OF CURE,.......                 57




iV                CONTENTS.
ESSAY IV.
HAIINEMANN'S THEORY OF CHRONIC DISEASES,    72
ESSAY V.
PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF A CLASSIFICATION OF
DRUGS,.                                105
ESSAY VI.
CRITICAL RESUME OF OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS
CONTRASTED WITH THE THERAPEUTIC DOCTRINES
OF HOMCEOPATHY,.                       133
FINAL APPEAL,............     237




PR EF ACE.
THE immediate circumstances which have given
rise to the publication of this volume, are of sufficient
interest to be communicated to the reader. Indeed,
such a communication is rendered necessary, not so
much in consideration of the personal interests of the
author as on account of the honor and greatness of the
Cause to which he has devoted his best energies.
Two days previous to the last Commencement in the
Homecopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, the
author was removed from the Chair of Materia Medica
and Therapeutics which he had filled with honor to
himself, and with acknowledged advantage to the
Class and to the Cause of Homoeopathy. Not a single
complaint had been preferred against him, so far as he
knew. He was removed by a brief notice sent to him
by the Board of Managers, that the Chair of Materia
Medica and Therapeutics had been declared vacant.
The author's position in the Homceopathic School is
so public that an event of this kind could not possibly
take place without creating a sensation. lMoreover,
the Classes who had attended his lectures, were accustomed to regard him in the light of a standard-bearer.
They loved and respected him. They felt that the
great Cause to which they were anxious to bear testimony, was safe in his hands.  He was especially
entrusted with the business of initiating them into its




vi                  PREFACE.
glorious beauties, and they were willing, especially the
more intelligent members of the Class, to listen to his
teachings with confidence and respectful attention.
The author had been appointed by the Faculty to
deliver the Valedictory.  The paper was printed and
the students expected to hear a discourse that would
not be discreditable to the Cause or to the Occasion,
from  a teacher in whose integrity of purpose and
devotion to their best interests they could have, and
did  have, the  most unbounded  confidence.  The
Commencement took place, but the address was not
delivered by the friend whose- welcome voice they
expected to hear for the last time previous to their
final departure. The Board of Managers had separated
him from the flock of which, he had endeavored to be
a faithful shepherd.  The Commencement, instead of
being a scene of triumph, was more like a funeral.
All the true-hearted and enlightened students of which
this year's Class could boast, bade the author a final
farewell with a spirit of sadness and disappointment.
The author has become satisfied, after mature reflection, that his slaughter was inevitable. He had taught
a higher and nobler Truth, which his enemies were
determined to annihilate. During the author's connection with the College, the Classes had steadily increased
in number.  He does not claim -this success as the
exclusive result of his own labors; he is content with
sharing it with his colleagues.  But he does feel
privileged to assert, that his colleagues had confidence
in his honesty, in his devotion to the cause of Homceopathy, and in his ability to discharge the arduous
duties of his Chair to their satisfaction.  He feels
privileged to assert, that this confidence inspired them




PREFACE.                    Vii
with new hope in the declining fortunes of the Institution, and with new vigor in devoting themselves to
their respective Chairs.
In thus testifying in favor of himself, the author
disclaims every improper motive of self-praise. The
trying circumstances through which he has passed,
do not permit him  to remain silent, when he feels
confident that, in slaughtering him, the enemies of
Progress and Truth, have sought to exterminate the
germs of Life which it was his most anxious and pure
desire to scatter among the young gentlemen, who saw
fit to confide their medical education to our hands.
No, he must not remain silent. Honor, Duty, Devotion to the glorious Cause of true Science and 1Tumanity, yea, the very instinct of self-preservation, compel
him to set himself right before his professional brethren, and to exhibit in broad daylight the banner under
which he has made earnest, though humble efforts, to
promulgate the great Principles of our Science in a
manner that was intended to appeal, and did appeal, to
the highest Reason of every intelligent student of the
Class.
The author feels anxious, in making this public
statement, to separate every unessential circumstance
from the principles involved in the late events that
have convulsed our School. After having considered
the matter, in his own mind, in the spirit of Charity
and Common Sense, he has come to the conclusion
that the facts could not be presented in a perfectly
intelligible form, unless the whole Series were exhibited with all its intermediate links.  The author
would have to furnish details which, to some, might
seem personal, and, to others, trifling and irrelevant;




Vii1               PREFACE.
he has therefore concluded to allude to facts only in so
far as they bear upon the principles involved in the
great Struggle which he and his friends are now fighting, and which they are determined to fight to the
end. The great principles of philosophical Organization, of scientific Truth and moral Integrity underlie
the Contest that is now being waged in the Homceopathic School, and more especially in the Homceopathic
Medical College of Pennsylvania, by a band of manly
spirits against a Clique of secret mischief-workers, who,
in order to secure the triumph of their sophisms, have
to call to their aid the black arts of Intrigue and Slander. They will not succeed. The God of Truth is
doing battle for us, and we feel confident of achieving
a glorious Victory.
A new Era has dawned upon the tHomceopathic
School. Seminaries, where the new Science of Therapeutics is taught, are springing up in various sections
of our great country. The author's connection with
the oldest Homceopathic Medical College of America
has enabled him to derive many useful suggestions
bearing upon the character and organization of these
Institutions. It is with a view to aiding their operations and to insuring their success that the author
offers a few hints upon this subject, in the spirit of a
man who has made the Cause of Humanity the highest
aim and object of his endeavours.
Four points are particularly involved in the creation
of these Seminaries of the Future; they are
1. A JUST ORGANIZATION;
2. EFFICIENCY OF ALL THE CHAIRS;




PREFACE.                   iX
3. MORAL INTEGRITY;
4. UNITY OF DOCTRINE, LIBERAL AND PROGRESSIVE
TEACHINGS, AND A GENUINE LOVE OF THE TRUTH.
1. A JUST ORGANIZATION.
In our country, Colleges and Universities are generally under the control of a Board of Managers.  The
author has no advice to offer in reference to the
manner in which the financial affairs of these institutions should be conducted.  He simply claims the
privilege of reminding the members of a Faculty of a
Homceopathic Medical College that they are the
depositaries of a glorious Truth, which can neither be
comprehended nor taught by men who love place and
power, who truckle to the Rulers and are afraid of
being free and independent, vowing allegiance to no
other authority than that of God, and the dictates of
their own conscience.
On the other hand, he begs leave to remind the
Board of Managers of the sacred duties devolving
upon the members of a Faculty. If these gentlemen
are hirelings, they are unworthy of the trust confided
to their hands. If they are inspired by the manly
spirit of Reformers, they will never do less than their
duty; they may be disposed at all times to do more.
It would be well, if the Board of Managers were
themselves possessed of a sufficient knowledge of the
principles and facts of the great Science which tHahnemann's genius has revealed to the world, to be able to
appreciate the efforts of the Plrofessors, and to judge of




X                   PREFACE.
the character of their teachings, without having to
depend, for an opinion, upon the suggestions of outside parties. Such influences may tend to bias the
minds of the Managers in a wrong direction, of which
recent events in the bosom of our own School have
furnished abundant and striking evidence. In order
to prevent hasty and unjust measures, or injurious
changes, the Professors should not be removable
at the pleasure of the Managers; they should hold
their office during good behaviour, nor should they
ever be removed except for grossly immoral conduct,
or for evident incapacity to discharge the duties of
their office.
The second point which we desire to consider, is
EFFICIENCY OF THE CHAIRS.
In Medical Colleges which are more particularly
organized for the purpose of promulgating the great
principles of the homeopathic Science of Therapeutics,
the Chairs of Materia Meclica, Theory and Practice,
and Surgery, are invested with a,peculiar interest.
The Chair of Materia Medica and Therapeutics constitutes the distinguishing feature in the new organization, and may prove its glory or shame, according as it
is filled by a man who seeks to rear the new Science
upon the broad basis of Nature's nosological system, or
by a man who makes Homeeopathy to, consist in the
endless mass of trifles and baseless sophisms that are
even now supposed, by the uninformed, to constitute
the very soul of Hahnemann's great discovery.




PREFACE.                   Xi
A recent pamphlet issued by Messrs. Sanmuel A.
Jones, Jacob Reed, Jr, and Francis lEahnemann
Ehrman, has revealed the fact that the Chairs of Surgery and Practice in the Hom&eopathic Medical College
of Pennsylvania, were not filled in harmony with the
high and progressive principles of modern Science.
The lectures on Surgery are complained of as having
been deficient in anatomical accuracy, and the department of'operative Surgery seems to have been particularly open to severe strictures.
During the three years that the Professor of Practice
has lectured on this branch, not a single pathological
specimen has ever been shown to the Class. From
the teachings which the students have received from
this Chair, they could never have learned to distinguish
between an inflamed and a sound lung, an inflamed or
a healthy pericardium.  The students complained
bitterly and universally of this utter absence of every
vestige of Pathological Anatomy. The teachings were
moreover of an exceedingly roving character, and the
mass of remedies for every trifling symptom was absolutely shocking to the common sense of the Class.
Six and more drugs were mentioned for the cure of
bunions and corns.
These facts should not be stated, nor even be alluded
to in the remotest degree, if a broad principle, yea,
the very life of Homoeopathy, twere not violated or
endangered by such teachings. If such statements
seem personal, the author must not be held responsible for these personalities. He has been expelled
from  the Faculty of the College with an evident
design to inflict disgrace upon him before the Profession, and'to destroy the influence he exercised upon




X11ii               PREFACE.
the Class. Why was he thus expelled?   Personal
hatred and revenge had undoubtedly something to
do with the perpetration of this ill-advised act. But
there was another reason for it, which the Managers
have expressed to him in these words: "You did not
adhere to the teachings of pure Homceopathy." Yes,
the author was slaughtered as the representative of
a Principle; a higher, nobler and more scientific conception of the idea which Hahnemann has sought to
embody in his celebrated formula, " SIMILIA SIMILIBUS
CURANTUR."  It is as of the representative of a principle, that the author desires to speak of his former
colleague, the Professor of Practice; as a representative of this principle, this gentleman has discharged
his duties to the Class in a conscientious manner, and
he has lectured with as much efficiency as the principle, under whose banner he advocates the cause of
ILomoeopathy, would permit him to do.
This principle is the same superannuated idea of
Homceopathy which has exposed the Cause and its
advocates to so much unmerited derision; the brainless and heartless symptom-fabric which shuts out the
light of heaven, and seems afraid to exhibit its rags to
the public gaze.
If the roving and incoherent character of the Professor's lectures was distasteful to the Class, it is to his
peculiar mode of viewing the facts of Homeeopathy,,
that these defects should be imputed. The Professor
has been taught by the clique who seek to destroy our
beloved temple, to look upon the author as the homceopathic anti-christ; he regards his Materia Medica as
a horrid book, which the inquisitorial tribulnal, for
which he does the spouting and blaspheming-the Pro



PR E FAC E.                Xiii
fessor is in the habit of uttering frightful imprecations
at the bare mention of the author's work-should have
the privilege of burning at the stake. Is it a wonder
that the Professor, who repudiates the only reliable
and truly scientific standard, by which the value and
inherent truthfulness of drug-symptoms can be judged,
viz.: the contrasting them with pathological phenomena, considered as a coherent series; is it a wonder,
the author would respectfully ask, that the Professor of
Practice should drift about upon the sea of Pathology
without a helm or a compass to guide his course 
And again, if he recommends a dozen drugs for two
or even for one symptom, is not this meaningless, unscientific and positively disgusting symptom-practice,
the logical consequence of the emasculating doctrines
taught by the chief symptom-monger, who makes it
his boast and his delight to crucify the author as the
sacrilegious enemy of his synagogue.  What meaning
can symptoms have, if they are not to be weighed in
the balance of the everlasting and ever-true Pathology
of Nature 2 And how is a lecturer going to avoid the
necessity of mentioning half a dozen or more drugs for
one symptom, if this symptom is not to be judged as a
link of a logically-connected series.'
Is not the unceasing and truly frantic crowding of
new drugs into the Materia Medica of the HIomceopathic School another inevitable consequence of this
absolute denial of the physiologico-pathological relations of drugs? The time is fast approaching, when
the symptomists will want a dozen drugs for every
morbid symptom, and when the wild beasts in the
forests, and the man-infesting vermin will become
standing articles in their shop.




XiV                  PREFACE.
In regard to the Chair of Surgery, the author feels
justified in looking upon it as the type of what this
Chair necessarily must become, whenever and wherever
the homceopathic Law of Cure is interpreted as a petty
formula for symptom-mongers and globulists.  A few
pellets of the thirtieth potency of Lachesis have been
prescribed by this Chair in a case of epilepsy, to be allowed to act for a week, after the lapse of which period
the patient was to call again. Whether this dose was
prescribed in accordance with a well-settled conviction,
or, as has been shrewdly surmised by intelligent observers, for the purpose of spiting the author, the fact
is, that this prescription was put up in the Dispensary
of the Homaeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania,
in the author's presence, by the direction of the Chair
of Surgery.
The author is most anxious to guard against a wrong
construction of the motive which prompts him to
allude to this antiquated mode of prescribing homceopathic medicines. In his instructions to the Class, the
Chair of Surgery took every opportunity of promulgating the monstrous fallacy, that spirituality and smallness of dose are, in reality, convertible terms; that a
large dose, such as the first decimal trituration of
Arsenic, and spiritual or dynamic action, are virtually
antagonistic to each other; that a homceopathic physician becomes a gross materialist, unless he is wooed to
the vagaries of high-potential transcendentalism  with
all the blind and unreasoning faith of an orthodox believer. It is the spirit of such teachings which the
author desires to exhibit as a prominent obstacle to
sound medical education. This spirit is the product




PREFACE.                    XV
of an imaginative fancy, that mistakes a theoretical
shadow for a substantial reality. These dwellers in the
pretended region of spirituality, if they happen to fill
the Chair. of Surgery in a Homoeopathic Medical College, become forgetful of the stern duties of the Actual.
Their delicate and refined imaginations turn away
from operations with feelings of disgust. They avoid
the shedding of blood as a crime, as a vile and degrading thing; and, if under the pressure of public opinion, they are finally compelled to operate, they do it in
a slovenly and unscientific manner; rollers. and bandages, adhesive plaster, needles and thread, even instruments are frequently wanting at the very moment when
they are needed, and the operation is condemned by all
intelligent lookers-on as a lamentable failure.
Such results inevitably flow from the mistaken notions
of spirituality of potencies, to which the Chair of Surgery in the Homceopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania has been wedded. Instead of referring the beautiful idea of spirituality to the dynamic force which
every drug hides in its bosom, IRRESPECTIVE OF QUANTITY,
this idea has been exclusively applied to, and made to
depend upon, the small size of the dose, thus leading
to the mind and truth-perverting conclusion, that a
SYSTEM OF SPIRITUALITIES IS, IN REALITY, A SYSTEM OF
INFINITESIMALLY SMALL QUANTITIES OF MATTER.
The practical consequences of such fallacious doctrines of spirituality of potency, have been most disastrous to the Honmceopathic School; it cannot yet boast of
a single Surgeon of note, or even ordinary reputation.
If perseverance, zeal and an anxiety to discharge
the duties incumbent upon a public teacher, were suffi



Xvi                PREFACE.
cient to make thoroughly reliable operative Surgeons,
the Chair of Surgery ought to have been one of the most
successful Chairs in the College. The general principles of Surgery were ably expounded, and if all the
other essential requisites had been equally satisfactory,
it is questionable whether a single complaint would
ever have been uttered by a single member of the
Class. But theoretical teaching is insufficient to educate genuine, bona fide surgeons. If unaccompanied
by illustrative operations, it is as liable to vagueness
and errors on the part of the teacher, and to misapprehensions on the part of the student, as the study of
Astronomy would be without the telescope and the
starry heavens, or the study of Geography without
maps and globes. The author desires to give it as his
opinion, with all the emphasis of an earnest conviction,
that the peculiar tenets of the old-fashioned symptomatic
Homceopathy lead to a slovenly performance of the
duties of an operative Surgeon; to a careless study
of the severe and accurate knowledge of regional anatomy with which a Surgeon's brain should be stocked;
to a neglect of becoming thoroughly acquainted with
the improvements that are unceasingly introduced in
the department of Operative Surgery by the invention
of more simple and less dangerous instruments, by the
increasing facilities and safety in the use of ansesthetic
agents, by the undeniable advance towards a more
scientific and therefore more successful treatment of
the thousands of sores, wounds and injuries of every
description inflicted by the destructive missiles of
modern warfare; and lastly to a careless mode of diagnosing the very cases which are generally appropriated




PREFACE.                 XVii
by the Surgical Chair as coming within the pale of its
functions.
The next subject which the author desires to consider as one of the corner-stones in the organization of
a College, is
iMORAL INTEGRITY.
The success of any Medical College, and of a Homccopathic Medical College in particular, depends, in
a great measure, upon the confidence which the members of the Faculty have in each other's ability, integrity and devotion to duty. The author deems it his
privilege to dwell upon this point with especial
emphasis, inasmuch as he has had ample evidence of
the baneful effect which a spirit of disloyalty to the
interests of the concern exercises upon its growth and
usefulness.  The Homceopathic Medical College of
Pennsylvania has been beset from its first year by a
band of wily enemies, who were determined to destroy
it by every means in their power. It is a notorious
clique who, by dint of intrigues and artful misrepresentations, have succeeded in effecting the decapitation
of the author, whose doctrines threaten to eclipse, and
eventually to destroy their own flimsy fabric of shadows
and illusions. It is a well-known fact that a member
of the Faculty belonged to this clique, that he worshipped in their temple, prayed for their glory, and
was in all respects the willing tool of their ambitious
chieftain who sings with another high personage:
B




Xviii                PREFACE.
"Me though just right and the fix'd laws of Heav'n
Did first create your leader, next free choice,
With what besides, in council or in fight,
Hath been achieved of merit."
Every member of the Faculty of the Homceopathic
Medical College of Pennsylvania was opposed to this
self-constituted clique of homeopathic pretenders.
Every body who is at all acquainted with the history
of this College, knows that this clique have labored
for its destruction. Honor and strict moral integrity demanded, that no man should consent to accept a Chair
in the Institution, if his heart sided with its avowed
enemies, and his efforts in its behalf were subservient
to an ill-concealed desire that this clique and their
soulless teachings should gain the ascendency in its
lecture-halls.  At a recent meeting of the physicians of
this city, which had been called by the Board of Managers of the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, for the purpose of soliciting aid and advice in
behalf of their Institution, this clique dispatched to the
meeting one of their guns cocked and primed, and
ready to fire off a tremendous discharge against the
author and his Materia Medica, in the shape of a platforms
of princEiles.  The physicians who were present at this
meeting, and a majority of whom were favorable to the
Board, were not so utterly lost to the dictates of propriety and common sense, as this clique had been led
to believe; their infamous attempt was promptly and
decisively voted down, and the big gun withdrew, the
author trusts, with feelings of disappointment and
shame.




PREFACE.                 XiX
If the spirit of moral integrity rules among the members of the Faculty, the Class may always expect fair
and just treatment at the hands of their teachers. The
pamphlet of Messrs. Jones, Reed and Ehrman shows,
that this spirit has been violated by some members of the
Faculty of the Homcmopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania. These young gentlemen had been declared
entitled to an examination; they passed their examination in a creditable manner, and were black-balled
from feelings of personal revenge. Their case having
been laid before the St. Louis Hiomceopathic Medical
College, the Faculty of that institution empowered Drs.
Helmuth and Williamson of this city to examine our
rejected students on the branches upon which they had
been black-balled, viz.. Surgery, Practice and Obstetrics. One of them, Mr. Ehrman, having returned to
his home in the West, was unable to be present at this
examination, and applied for his degree in another
College, which was at once granted to him as a matter
of common justice; the other two, Messrs. Jones and
Reed, were subjected to a rigid examination by the
honorable gentlemen above-named, and were found
well acquainted with every branch upon which they
had been black-balled.  The certificates granted by
the committee to these young gentlemen WERE EQUIVALENT TO A FULL AFFIRMATIVE VOTE ON EACH OF THE
THREE BRANCHES OF SURGERY, PRACTICE AND OBSTETRICS.
In the case of these young gentlemen, may not
the Faculty of the Homoeopathic Medical College
of Pennsylvania be rightfully accused of having
violated the principles of moral integrity?  The
rejected students were well qualified in the branches




xx                 PREFACE.
where they had received a full negative vote; and
inasmuch -as their black-balling had been determined
upon witlh malice prepense, the dictates of honor and
humanity should have impelled the plotting pro.
fessors to inform these candidates for a degree, that
they could not be admitted, and that, if they should insist
tpon being admitted, they would assuredly be black-balled.
This would have been acting with manly frankness,
whereas the Faculty preferred acting a part that
renders them  amenable to the tribunal of public
opinion for their unjust conduct.
The last subject which the author desires to consider
in connection with the organization of a Homecopathic
Medical College is,
UNITY OF DOCTRINE, LIBERAL AND  PRO.
GRESSIVE  TEACHINGS, AND  A  GENUINE
LOVE OF THIE TRUTH.
A house divided against itself cannot stand. This
doctrine is particularly applicable to a College, where
the principles of our Therapeutic System constitute the
ground-work of the Science of Medicine. The Chair
of Homceopathy is the distinguishing feature in a
Homceopathic Medical School. The standing and the
success of such an Institution depend in a great measure upon the manner in which the duties of this
Chair are discharged. If this Chair is filled by a
petty symptom-monger, whose heart delights in the
baubles of an interminable fabric of nothings, the College must inevitably fail in winning the respect and
confidence of the Profession.  Such petty teachings
are lifeless and evanescent sounds, rather than vitalizing rays from the effulgent sun of Truth which has




PREFACE.                  Xxi
shone upon the dark chaos of Therapeutics through
Hahnemann's genius. The high duty of the Chair of
Homzeopathy consists in expounding the great law
which is to constitute the foundation of the Therapeutic System of the Future. The glory of this Intellectual Principle should never be tarnished by fanciful
trinkets and sophistical statutes, pretended rules, and
arbitrary laws, with which the Homcopathic journals
of the first period of Hoinoeopathy, and more particularly Stapf's Archives, were filled. It is in this particular that the old leaders of the Homceopathic
School have sadly erred. Losing sight of the great Law
of Cure; uninspired by its vast grandeur and regenerating power; unconscious of its deep meaning and soulquickening philosophy, they have dragged it through
the mire of their unmeaning symptomism, until it
has ceased to be an intelligible formula.
It has been the author's aim, during his connection
with the lHomceopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, to build up an altar in this Institution, where
the great Law of Cure should be worshipped as a Truth
of Nature and Nature's God. It has been his desire
to divest it of the trappings with which human pride
and cunning have bedecked it. He has endeavored to
inspire his hearers with a liberal and generous spirit
towards unessential routine-practices, whenever they
do not interfere with the dignity and successful operation of the law, and seem to constitute, in the feeble
and vacillating minds of thousands of new converts,
supports upon which their new faith has to rest. He
has ever been mindful of the great teaching: " A
bruised reed will he not break, and the smoking flax
will he not quench."  He has sought to develop the




Xxii               PREFACE.
law as a Principle, the ideal conception of which preexists in every human mind, and which it was his most
anxious desire to quicken into a perception that the
student might claim and feel as the outworking of his
own spontaneous mental energy.
He has been condemned for glorifying the law,
rather than its dogmatic human expounders. He has
been condemned for daring to assert the workings of
the law as illustrated by the records of the Old School.
The most interesting pages in Hahnemann's Organon,
are those where he quotes the experience of allopathic
authors as confirmatory of the validity of the law' SIMILIA SIMILIBUS CURANTUR."  Every rabid symptomist deems it his privilege to refer to these extracts
with a proud smile of triumph; but when the author
draws upon the same records which have furnished
Ilahnemann such splendid material for his own superstructure; when the author exhibits these very records
as a testimony in favor of Homcmopathy, and against
the validity of the law " Contraria contrariis"; when
he thus shows that the law of Affinity between drugaction and natural diseases, being a law which has its
foundation in the System of Nature, has been unconsciously, although partially, acted upon ever since the
Healing Art has existed, he is anathematised with a
virulence of hatred and revenge, that must convince
even the most careless observer of the utter moral and
intellectual rottenness of his opponents.
The author has cherished the hope, that the privilege
might be vouchsafed unto him of investing the Chair
of Homceopathy in the Homceopathic Medical College
of Pennsylvania with the dignity of a Philosophical
Science, upon which the temple of Therapeutic Wis



PREFACE.                 XXiii
dom might be erected as upon an everlasting rock. In
this effort he has been foiled by the machinations of
insane foes.
In the Homoeopathic Medical Colleges, the Chair of
Materia Medica necessarily holds a different position
from what it does in Old-School institutions. It is the
depositary of the precious Truth, the true comprehension and universal recognition of which, would inaugurate a new Era of health and bliss. If the medical
sciences are at all collateral to the Science of Therapeutics, they are assuredly so, when this Science inscribes the formula, "SIMILIA SIILIBUS," upon the
frontispiece of her temple. It is but just and proper
that the Chair of Homceopathy should represent the
character of the therapeutic doctrines of the School,
and that the clinical teachings should harmonize with,
and be corroborative of, the principles which it is the
legitimate business of the Chair of Therapeutics to develop as a logically-coherent System. So far from this
eminently essential unity having existed in the.IHomoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, the teachings of the Chair of Homceopathy have been constantly
assailed by one member of the Faculty with open denunciations, secret machinations, and horrid anathemas.
The consequence is that the College is now given over
to the ruthless fury of its foes, from which it can only
be rescued by the consummate wisdom and devoted
union of its friends.
The author's labors have not been in vain. He
knows that he has scattered some seeds which have
fallen upon good ground, and will bear rich fruit. His
recent work, entitled, "A  New and Comprehensive




Xxiv                    PREFACE.
System  of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, arranged
upon a Physiologico-Pathological Basis," has been received with distinguished favor by hundreds of our
most intelligent physicians. A work of this positive
character cannot fail to excite bitter enemies as well as
warm friends. It has received the commendations of
some of our leading journals. The Evening Post, of
New York, begins an extensive notice of the work in
these terms: "This work  of Doctor Hempel is the
most complete and philosophical exposition of the doctrines of the Homceopathic School of Medicine that
has appeared in the English language; and the whole
subject is presented in a form enabling the reader to
comprehend the principles upon which it is founded,
and the mode of their application."
In  the Evening Bulletin, of this city, the Author's
work has received two exceedingly flattering notices,
one of which begins with the following paragraph:
"We have here in the form of lectures what is evidently a very
complete work on the lomceopathic Practice of Medicine. A cotemporary of the highest respectability, in a review evidently from
the hand of one perfectly familiar with the subject, claims for it that
it is the most complete and philosophical exposition of the doctrines
of the lHomceopathic School that has appeared in the English language, and that in it the whole subject is presented in a form enabling the reader to comprehend the principles upon which it is
founded, and the mode of their application.  Dr. Hempel admits
that many errors or wild fancies have sprung up in the theory of
lHomceopathy; that trivial matters have been most elaborately
pushed into a thousand still pettier details, and that a mania for
discovering new remedies has induced practitioners to introduce the
most ridiculous substances into the Materia MnIedica. Dr. iHempel
is evidently enough a straight-forward, practical man, and one desirous of putting his peculiar practice of medicine in its most useful
light before the world."




PREFACE.                        xxv
And ends with these lines:
"Those who would trace out the action of these principles in minutest detail, with full accounts of individual cases in which they
have been used, should refer to this book. Even the general reader
cannot fail to find much in it which is truly interesting, and physicians
of every class of practice will find its researches extremely valuable."
In a note sent to the author by one of the founders
of the Homceopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania,
the author's work is spoken of in these terms: "I
observe with delight your noble effort to establish the
right arm of homceopathic science on something like a
rational basis."
Even journals not belonging to our School, have
given favorable notices of the work.  In the College
Journal of Medical Sciences, published in Cincinnati,
a very fair notice has been  given, from  which the
author begs leave to quote a few extracts.
"This work presents a more complete, scientific, and satisfactory
exposition of Homceopathic Therapeutics than any other in the
English language, and will be read with more interest by those not
of the homceopathic faith than is usually felt in the works of that
class of physicians."
" Professor Hempel has re~fused to yield up his manhood or reason
and become the blind, unreasoning follower of the leader; and this
independent, honest, manly avowal of the Professor's opinions, while
it may give offence to a few of the more straight-laced partisans of
Homceopathy, will many times over redound to his greater credit
than the little advantage which could accrue from the too frequently
adopted course of attempting to aid a cause at the expense of Truth
and Science."
"In his professional labors, as well as in the publication under
consideration, Professor Hempel has shown himself to be very progressive and liberal; and has done much to remove the foolish notions which have obtained in regard to symptom-hunting, infinitesimal doses, etc."




Xxvi                  PREFACE.
"Some eight years ago, Dr. HIolcomb of this city, (now of Waterproof, La.,) published a book on the'Scientific basis of Homceopathy;' IIempel's Materia Medica will aid to complete what Dr.
HIolcomb commenced in rooting out, and what Dr. Hempel has very
properly styled the'balderdash,''childish verbiage,' and'baseless. speculations,' arrogantly dignified by the term law, by those
who have written homceopathic works."
In a letter sent to the author by a member of the
Faculty of the St. Louis Homceopathic College, he has
been favored with the following information:  "We
are anxiously looking for your second edition of THE
Materia Medica of the Homceopathic School; we have
made the same a text-book in our College, and do every
thing in our power to circulate a work which does so
much credit to its author and the Cause."
An eminent Western physician, formerly a member
of the Faculty of the Cleveland Homceopathic College,
in a letter which the author received from him last
year, speaks of his Materia Medica as " an incomparable work, a monument more durable than brass, a
work of the highest importance, and more especially
commendable for its philosophic explanation of the
Homceopathic Law."
The author has received many proofs of the satisfaction with which his recent Materia Medica has been
received by the preceptors of our students. In some of
these letters he has been alluded to as "a new Hahnemann;" in others, his work is referred to in less extravagant, but equally commendatory language.  In a
letter dated Nov. 24, 1859, to S. A. Jones, M. D., one




PREFACE.                     XXVii
of the three rejected students, his preceptor has favored
the author with the following testimony of his' approbation of the work: "Tell Dr. Hempel from  me, that
his Materia Medica has, already, done more to make
Homeeopathy respected by scientific men, and also by
the Allopathic Profession, than any thing ever produced
by the Homceopathic School."
In a letter sent to the author by Dr. RMeurer, of NewAlbany, Indiana, the following passage occurs: "Your
recent Materia Medica has invigorated my spirits; your
article oni Aconite is alone worth the price of the book."
All the intelligent graduates of our Institution have
hailed the publication of the author's work with unalloyed pleasure.  Dr. Putnam, of Utica, may speak for
them all. In a letter to the author he writes:
"I have minutely examined your Materia Medica, and would
earnestly recommend it to the iommeopathic Profession as a safe
and reliable guide in the treatment of disease. Plain and concise
in its teachings; admirable in its arrangement; thorough in its
history of the effects of drugs, both in symptoms and their pathological influence; pure in the laws and principles of HIomceopathy;
it recommends itself to every intelligent practitioner. It is just the
work required, and its publication has been hailed with delight,"
The author craves pardon for mentioning these and
similar facts in reference to himself. Deadly enemies
seek to destroy the good he has done, and he is compelled to defend the Cause in which he is engaged,
even at the peril of appearing egotistical. He has
simply desired to do his duty. He has ever been
found at his post. He has never missed a lecture from




Xxviii             PREFACE.
the beginning to the end of the course. He has even
given extra evening-lectures which were elaborated
with great care, and upon which considerable thought
was expended by him in developing and demonstrating
the great truths which they were intended to establish
as facts of Nature and of Reason. These lectures were
listened to by large and attentive audiences of physicians and students, and were calculated, as the author
has frequently been assured by the Class, to elevate
the character of our School.
Nevertheless, in spite of his honest and persevering
efforts in behalf of this College, the author has been
expelled by the Board of Managers upon the charge of
not teaching pure Homeopathy. HE HAS BEEN EXPELLED WITHOUT A HEARING, WITHOUT A WHISPER OF
COMPLAINT HAYING EVER BEEN UTTERED TO HIM BY A
SINGLE MEMBER OF THE BOARD. Late in the evening, at
eleven o'clock, and only two days before. Commencement, a note was left at his front door, simply declaring
the Chair of Homceopathy vacant.
It is with a feeling of joy and honest pride that the
author refers to the numerous testimonials of heartfelt
sympathy which he has received from a number of our
Graduates who have honored his lectures with their
presence. Many of these letters contain bitter strictures
against the members of the Faculty who have been the
cause of so much complaint during the present as well
as during former Sessions. The author is unwilling to
promulgate these denunciations except before; a Committee or a Court properly authorised to take cognizance of such facts. He is unwilling to sully the
pages of this work with a history of the bickerings,




PREFACE.                       XXiX
the criminations and recriminations that have characterised the intercourse between the Board of Managers
and the Faculty; he is unwilling to expose the
blunders, the follies, the assumptions and prevarications that have given rise to unceasing difficulties and
altercations in the bosom  of our School.  He desires
to cover these bitter memories of the Past with the
mantle of Charity, and to bury them forever in the
sea of Oblivion.
The author begs permission to lay before the reader
some of the testimonials that have been sent to him,
and which show that his teachings have made a deep
impression upon his Class. A nucleus has undoubtedly
been formed, around which the School of the Future
will gather in increasing numbers, until the shadows
of past and present wrongs shall have flitted away.
The following is an extract from a letter sent to the
author by a gentleman who holds an eminent position
in the Common School Department of this city:
During the winter of 1857-8, it was my good fortune to be able
to hear many of your inspiring, masterly, and instructive lectures
upon the Materia Medica; and the wonderful charm with which you
clothed a subject that, in other and yet able hands, was always dry
and distasteful to me, attracted my attention and admiration so much,
that, in the midst of exhausting and varied labors, demanding active
days and almost sleepless nights, I missed but few of your lectures;
and I can bear testimony to the electrifying effect, that your eloquent
and weighty words had upon the class of that session. Although I
had often attended lectures upon various medical and miscellaneous
subjects, I never beheld the same enthusiasm prevail, the same
amount of effective teaching done, or the same all-pervading and
constantly sustained sentiment of admiration for the lecturer, as was
exhibited in your class. No one could attend one course under you
without perceiving, in the suspension of your labors in the good




xxx                     PREFACE.
cause of Homceopathy, a loss for which no man in America can compensate. All who have had an opportunity of knowing your worth,
must attest the truth of that statement.  It is a pleasure to me to
be able to make this assertion, when an expression of it can do no
good to me, and when the only object I can have is to assure you,
that you bear into your retirement an admiration of your talents,
and an affection for your person, that the aspersions of the envious
cannot take away; and that neither falsehood nor malignity will extinguish. This much I have deemed my offering at your private and
family shrine, from the seclusion of which you can, as heretofore, do
the good cause some service.
How the managers, who used the knife in the recent fatal operation, imagined that the College could survive any more than could
the human body when brain and heart were excised, will always remain a mystery to the students, who generally have the best opportunities of judging rightly, and who well knew thatall of the malady
that had to be complained of was located in another part of the
Homceopathic body, and mostly in the surgical region.
In an extensive communication, sent to the author
by one of the most respected Graduates of this college,
who is now residing and practising in South Carolina,
the following allusion occurs to the author and his
labors:
"And now, in conclusion, let me tender you my heartfelt thanks for
the real pleasure your lectures afforded me at the time, and the lasting benefit I have derived from them. Without the least desire to
flatter you, I regard it as a privilege to have an opportunity of testifying to your unbounded popularity as a medical teacher, and also to
the universal feeling of esteem which pervaded the class. While many
of the Professors were honored and respected, you, most unquestionably were beloved. And if proof of your popularity had been
wanted, it could easily have been found in the close and marked attention which prevailed, and in the.crowded lecture-room during
your daily ministrations..If, moreover, we remember, that this was
the case with a branch which is always regarded as dry and uninteresting, the most sceptical must admit that, in order to secure such




PREFACE.                      Xxxi
marked attention, the subject must have been ably handled, and presented in the most attractive form. The future of the College was
often the topic of conversation among the class, and the general impression prevailed that nothing would arrest it in its downward progress, but the infusion of new and vigorous elements. In a word,
we regarded your appointment as a lucky hit, a pra6tical carrying
out of the principle:'The right man in the right place.' Of one
thing I am quite certain; if the Graduates of 1857 and 1858 could
be assembled together, the opinions I have expressed regarding your
services to the College, would be indorsed without one dissenting
voice. I trust that the true interests of the College are in the
hands of those who will pause and reflect, before they precipitate
the long looked-for catastrophe. But, should it be otherwise, and
the tomceopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania be doomed to
annihilation, thank God, there yet remain two other Schools of
learning, whither the student of Ilomceopathy, pilgrim-like, may turn
his anxious thoughts. But, whether you again occupy the position
of a medical teacher, or give your undivided attention to practice,
I shall ever regard you in the light of a benefactor. And that God
may prosper the right, and confer on you his choicest blessings, is
the sincere wish of a grateful pupil."
Another one of our most respected Southren Graduates has favored the author with a communication in
reference to our College-difficulties, from which the
following paragraph may be quoted as an illustration
of the opinion entertained by the Class concerning the
author and his teachings:
"Of yourself, as a Professor, you, Doctor, stood first in the ranks.
Your proficiency as a lecturer, and teacher of lHomzeopathy, was
admitted by all, and spoken of at all times, without one exception,
in terms of the highest praise. Your indefatigable zeal and great
earnestness were appreciated by us most highly. Your lectures,
written after years of research and laborious study, were received
by us as words of gold as they came from your mouth, to be treasured up against the day of need; though your exertions have been
given to us, and not only to us, but to the whole homceopathic bro



Xxxii                   PREFACE.
therhood, in a volume whose value cannot be over-estimated. It is
used by every physician I have seen of our School at the South; and
more confidence is placed in it as a guide to select a drug homceopathic to a given disease than in any work which has yet been published. Can the Managers of our College suppose another man of
such well deserved reputation can be found to take your place?"
A Rev. Gentleman from the State of Georgia, who
graduated  in our College as Doctor of Medicine, and
whose intellectual and moral worth was respected by
both the Faculty and the Class, has favored the author
with the following expression of his opinion:
"During the last two winters it was my pleasure to attend your
lectures on Materia Medica, and you must allow me to say that to
you I feel indebted for any knowledge I possess of the power of
drugs.  No work of a similar character (not even Hahnemann's) is
so well adapted to impart a clear, full, and comprehensive knowledge
of the subject. I allow but few days to pass in which I do not refresh my memory by perusing some of your truly scientific lectures.
I neither envy the wisdom, nor the taste of the man that does not
relish them; for it establishes beyond all controversy a want of that
mental, if not medical culture, that renders true science as obscure
as were the teachings of the Lord Jesus to a bigoted Pharisee.
One of our most esteemed Graduates from  New
Hampshire, writes in a communication to the author:
"I have enjoyed your Materia Medica much, and as I read page
after page, seem to live over again the time when I sat and listened
to your voice as it grew fervent and eloquent in elucidating the difficult theme you have chosen. For one I have great reason to be
grateful for the care and labor you have bestowed on the subject, and
which has resulted in bringing the Materia Medica before the Profession in a more attractive form than ever before."




PREFACE.                     Xxxiii
And in another letter from the same gentleman,
the following testimony is awarded to the author as a
teacher of Homceopathy:
" Your interest in the welfare of the College; your earnestness as
a lecturer, and your knowledge of Materia Medica rendered you to
me an efficient instructor.
"To me there was something higher and better in your teaching
than the history of drugs, and the enumeration of symptoms; something that came home to every thoughtful student's mind, and served
to lift him above the perplexities of study into higher regions of
thought, where he could more or less distinctly behold the system of
HIomceopathy occupying a place in the great economy of Nature.
This influence the students all felt and were grateful for.
" The duties pertaining to your chair, are onerous, and I know of
no man who could discharge them better or more satisfactory than
you do."
The following interesting letter has been sent by a
Graduate from Western New York, a gentleman whose
scientific attainments and deportment as a student were
an universal theme of praise:
"I believe your conception of the Homceopathic Law of Cure
to be the only true one. This, I have proved to be such in my own
practice, having followed it to the letter.
"Not long since I was called to prescribe for a case of Hiemiplegia; the symptoms of which, (as you had taught us,) pointed to
Aconite.  I gave four powders of the 2d trituration, at intervals
of ten minutes, and in one hour from the taking of the first dose the
patient was permanently cured.
"I have also during the past winter, successfully treated many cases
of acute pneumonia, one of which, I will give you a brief history of
I found the patient completely prostrated, the attending symptoms
were: violent inflammatory fever, headache, excessive dyspncea,: acute
pain in the chest, short hacking cough, expectoration of pure blood,
scanty and highly colored urine, &c. These symptoms pointed to
a




xxxiv                   PREFACE.
Aconite, demanding active treatment. Therefore, I prescribed Aconite tinct., five drops in a glass half full of water, a teaspoonful every
half hour, and the disease was arrested.
" These cases prove that your theory is correct, and purely homceopathic. I can give you cases, were it necessary, in which other remedies were used with equally as good success.  See Amer. Hom.
Rev., Vol. 2, No. 2, November, 1859, for treatment of two cases of
Sciatic Rheumatism according to your theory, (page 93).
" I have heard several of our best physicians make the remark, that
your work on Materia Medica, and your theory of administration
of renmedies are the best known; and also, that as long as we had
such men as Dr. Hempel in our Colleges, Homceopathy would rise,
and its disciples be crowned with greater success.
" An Allceopathic physician, recently converted to Homceopathy,
and who is now a member of the Oneida Co. Med. Soc., informed me'that he had not only read, but followed the teachings of your
Mat. Med., and that he had not failed in the treatment of any case
since he had become the possessor of your book; and also, that he
was perfectly charmed with the clearness and precision with which
each group of symptoms were portrayed.'
" In the winter of 1853 and'59, I was a student at the Hom. Med.
College of Philadelphia, and during that time, I had many conversations with my fellow students in regard to your lectures, and in no
instance could I find one of them but what was pleased with your
course of instruction, and none but what was anxious to have your
book before retiring to their homes."
From  Pennsylvania the author has received a letter
by one of our Graduates, full of noble aspirations and
encouraging advice.  He makes mention of the author
in the following terms:
"You teach true Homceopathy and believe in improvement; you
do not succumb to any man's opinions, unless they are in accordance
with reason and scientific experience.  You do not believe, as some
old fogies do, that Homceopathy emanated, full-fledged and perfect
from the mind of Hahnemann, and that to take from, or add to it,
would be:an unpardonable sin.  Your doctrine of size of dose, is




PREFACE.                     xxxV
also the only rational one, viz., to use medicine in all potencies, and
to give just enough (no more nor less,) to cure disease. In a word,
you occupy the position or ground, which must eventually become
the basis of our Science. I have to-day spoken with Drs. R*****
& Son, of Harrisburg, on the subject, and they entertain the same
opinions. So does the intelligent part of the Profession at large.
You have nothing to fear, even if for a short while the smoke of
persecution should darken your view. The motto of God's creation
is continually onward, nor can anything remain in statu quo."
Most of these communications, which the author has
selected from among a number, are voluntary offerings,
induced by the recent expulsions.  The style in which
these extracts are written, and the sentiments pervading them, show that the writers are gentlemen of a
high order ofintellectual and moral perceptions. They
were, without an exception, regarded as the leading
men of the classes to which they respectively belonged.
It is but natural that the preceptors of our students
should take a deep interest in the recent occurrences.
One of them, in a letter to the author concerning these
events, expresses himself as follows:
"It is needless for me to say anything concerning yourself and
the principles of Homceopathy as expounded by you; the records
of the past speak for themselves. Your acknowledged ability as a
physician, and the fearless manner in which you have expounded the
truth, have placed you not only in our first ranks, but also among
the first ranks in the Profession in Europe."
In other communications from distinguished physicians of our own as well as other States, the action
of the Board is characterised as unwise and ruinous.
In one of them, the following allusion is made to the




Xxxvi              PREFACE.
author's teachings: "Permit me to say here, that my
students last year and this, have all spoken' in the
highest terms of your lectures, and will not feel kindly
towards the Board that has put you out of the lectureroom."
The author has been shown a letter from Canada,
addressed to a professional gentleman of the States,
where the following passage occurs: "All of the physicians of Canada that I have heard from, are in favor of
Dr. Hempel."
Have the author's labors in the Cause of Homeopathy been fruitless? It would be easy for him to
show by statistical evidence that hundreds of physicians have become converts to Homceopathy through
the channels which his numerous publications have
opened to inquiring minds. Physicians know that
the author's publications constitute, even to this day,
the staple of many Homceopathic libraries. No longer
than about a month ago the author received a note
from an eminent physician, formerly connected with
the Medical University of Geneva, N. Y., who became
a convert to our System through the author's late
Manual of Homceopathic Practice. He writes: " For
at least ten years I have been trying to believe that
any science existed in Homceopathy, but it was quite
impossible. At length I was so fortunate as to be able
to procure your Manual of Homceopathic Practice,
which appeared to me a rational treatise upon Medicine, since which I have made it one of my principal
text-books."




PREFACE.               XXXVii
In presence of these and numerous other expressions
of confidence and devotion, the author cannot refrain
from doubting the wisdom of the late acts of the Board
of Managers. He is aware that the foul birds of night
would fain make this Institution their abode. The
author exonerates the Board from all responsibility in
hit removal; at the same time he begs to remind all
the thoughtful friends of our Cause, of the caution
which is required in constituting laymen the depositaries of the sacred principles of our Universal Truth.
A perception of this Truth, in all the effulgent radiancy
of her glory, implies a degree of expansive intellectuality and freedom  from  dogmatic prejudice which is
only possessed by the chosen minds of the profession.
The author inclines to the opinion that enlightened
and generous physicians should be the managers of a
Homceopathic Medical University; or, if a board of laymanagers are deemed essential, their management should
be strictly confined to tlhe financial interests of the concern
WITHIN THE LIMITS OF CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER AND RESPONSIBILITY.
It was with high hopes, and with the solemn determination to do his share towards raising the Homceopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania to the highest
rank among the Medical Institutions of the world, that
the author entered upon the discharge of his duties as
Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. It was
understood that he should be perfectly independent in
his Chair, and that he should not be held responsible
for his teachings to any man's dictation. It was on
these terms that he accepted the appointment. He
brought to the discharge of his duties a fair share of




Xxxviii            PREF A C E.
experience and practical wisdom; a thorough knowledge of his subject; an exalted love and a compresive grasp of the doctrines he was expected to teach; a
practical and theoretical knowledge of the wants of a
medical class; and last, though not least, the certainty
of being able, at no distant day, of relieving the College
of its crushing indebtedness. His noble father-in-law,
George Coggeshall, Esq., whose heart was with this Institution, and who was convinced that, in the author's
hands, it must eventually attain to the dignity and
influence which this first and oldest of the Homceopathic Medical Colleges of this country should possess,
offered to come forward with a considerable sum of
hard cash as a beginning in the good work of emancipating the Institution from the prospective clutches of
the sheriff. He had endowed the Chair of Materia
Medica by will with the sum of eight thousand dollars,
to be paid immediately after his demise, (the old gentleman is now in his seventy-fifth year,) and he had left
the College a large estate to be held in trust by one of
the present Board of Managers. There were only two
conditions attached to this legacy; one was, that the
author should remain a member of the Faculty for life
or during his pleasure, and that he should have the
privilege of nominating his successor; and the second
condition was, that no part of this legacy should be
invested for the benefit of the College without the
author's advice and consent. It has been the noble
old gentleman's desire to leave his mite towards the
relief of human suffering and the elevation of his fellow-men.  He felt that the author was thoroughly
identified with his views and wishes, and that this
splendid legacy would not only be safe in his hands,




PREFACE.               XXXiX
but would be judiciously and profitably applied to the
high purposes for which it was intended.
Alas! the machinations of the author's enemies are
enjoying a temporary triumph, and the battle of Truth.
and Humanity against the demon of false Ambition
and unholy Egotism will have to be fought outside of
the College-walls. It is not fair and manly argument,
that this rotten Clique desires; brutal Power, Persecution, Denunciation, Intrigue, are the weapons with
which it fights the champions of Truth, Justice, Liberty, and of the Institution whose mangled remains are
now bleeding in the dust. The author loved the College; he devoted himself to its interests; he looked
upon it as the incarnation of the glorious Doctrine to
which he has vowed his strength of mind and body..
Will the Profession forsake, him in this struggle of
Light against Darkness l Or shall Progress and Reason
vitalize the seeds of Truth which his enemies seek to
stifle in the germ. The Profession will have to take
sides in this struggle. - It is for them to decide whether
they will fight under the black flag of Ruin, or under
the bright banner of a glorious Triumph.
May we ask the kind reader to receive this volume
in the spirit in which it is offered? We have desired
to present the great subject of which it treats, in the
light of a philosophical Science, inviting the attentive
explorer of Nature's Temple of Wonders to deep and
solemn meditations. Those who expect to find the
pages of this volume filled with the usual clap-trap of
rodomontade, in which the unfortunately numerous
class of specious reasoners in our School delight, will




xl                 PREFACE.
be sadly disappointed by the character of our work.
But all those who desire to have their minds quickened
and refreshed by earnest thought and consistent argument, may open this volume with the assurance that
they will find their expectations gratified to the full
extent of our ability. We are prepared for the abuse
of some, whose praise we should have to consider as
discreditable to our good sense, to our penetration and
integrity of purpose; on the other hand we confidently
trust to the impartial forbearance of the many pure
and noble spirits of whom our School can fortunately
boast, and to the judgment of an enlightened and just
Posterity. We have no fears that this book will be
laid upon the shelves. It will be read by the present
and by future generations. We say this not in the
spirit of a boaster, but in the spirit of one who has felt
the truths he has spoken, in his inmost soul.  These
truths are not the passing sound of a day, but the
voice of ages. Like Newton's pebble on the shores of
his own unfathomable ocean of Mind, they should be
regarded as mere outlines of God's great handiwork of
Wisdom: Homceopathy. Friendly Reader, be pleased
to bear with our apparent presumption; we mean all
this without affectation, and humbly but honestly believe, that, by pursuing the vein we have struck, other
more penetrating minds will be led to vaster and more
useful results.
CHARLES J. HEMPEL, M. D.
PHILADELPHIA, MAY, 1860.




TO THE
OF
HE   sb,:C:FBPN:E1f  A    A k iF  N T  
IN dedicating this work to the Memory of ilahnemann,
we are inspired by a profound sentiment of reverence for his
transcendent genius, and of heart-felt gratitude for the blessings he has bestowed upon his fellowmen. At the same time
we are admonished that his followers cannot evince their devotion to the great Founder of our School in a more earnest
and effectual manner than' by continuing to tread the
path of inquiry which his own high Reason has illumined
with the light of Wisdom. We are satisfied that the greatest
disrespect that can be offered to Hahnemann is, to confine
his great discovery within the limits of a literal formula.
All progress is at an end the moment this literal dogmatism
crushes out the spirit of free inquiry. In the name of the
emancipated genius whose rays have warmed the desolate
and gloomy page of Therapeutics with their life-quickening
power, we protest against the iron rule of the letter, which
is the rule of Pride and Fanaticism. We protest against




xlii               DEDICATION.
keeping the Science of Therapeutics fettered by the authority
of self-constituted cliques, Societies, Conventions.  And
we protest more especially against perpetuating the gross
absurdity of sacrificing the Law upon which the homnoeopathic Edifice is founded, to the accidental technicalities of
our practice. We protest against excluding any longer the
dictates of Common Sense, and the prerogative of Free
Inquiry from the boundaries of our Science. We claim that
every man should be privileged to appropriate as much of
the Science of Homceopathy as he can comprehend and has
use for. Any man who, in the course of a free, honest, and
manly inquiry, feels bound to adopt just so much, and no
more, of this great Science, is a better Homceopath than the
full-fledged Pharisee who worships the Temple rather than
the Truth that should be glorified in it. If we have succeeded in showing that the Science of Homceopathy is as
liberal and progressive as Nature; that it is a Truth not belonging to any one man or set of men, but that it is heavenborn, resting upon eternal foundations, shedding its vitalizing rays upon all minds, and enlightening each according
to the measure of its capacity: we shall believe that we
have done our'Cause some service. If we have ever erred
in seeking to impose our own perception of the Law upon
others equally honest, but less anxious to generalize its
meaning, we pray that abundant opportunities may be
afforded us to convince every man who has suffered at our
hands, that no man's heart can beat more warmly for the
heavenly aspirations of universal Freedom in all its legitimate pursuits, than our own.
The few past years which we have spent in the bosom of
scholastic dogmatism, have been amply sufficient to exhibit
to us its loathsome garb full of holes like the cloak of




DE DICATION.                  xliii
Anaxagoras, through which Socrates beheld the vanity of
its wearer. Alas! who are the men that profess to be the
standard-bearers of orthodox Homceopathy? Who can see
and hear them without being disgusted with their pretensions,
unsupported as they are by any of the manly qualities that
should adorn a physician's heart and mind? By their fruits
ye shall know them. Symptoms, infinitesimal doses, hypothetical potencies, microscopic globules still constitute the
alpha and omega of their therapeutic wisdom. Not a single
effort is made by these shadowy abstractionists to regenerate
the collateral Sciences of Medicine from the high stand-point
of our central Truth. When the universal world of Science
is making gigantic efforts towards an unveiling of the world
of Causes, these obscurantists of the nineteenth century
delight in fastening their fungi to the sunny temple of Wisdom
as the genuine offspring of the inspired Goddess. We are
satisfied that, if Hahnemann could now make his voice heard
among his disciples, he would express feelings of contempt
for the stunted proportions of the orthodox Homceopathy of
the day. Let this relic of the past be gone for ever! Let us
have the Science, grand; progressive, universal as Nature,
and bounded only by the limits of Mind. Then, and only
then shall we be heard with confidence and respect as members of the great Brotherhood of Physicians.








OBSTACLES TO HOMEEOPATHY.
AN INQUIRY
INTO  SOME  OF THE LEADING  OBSTACLES
TENDING TO
RETARD THE SPREAD OF HOM(EOPATHY.
IN unfurling the glorious banner of Homeeopathy, we
should be guided by the spirit of Truth, and of devotion
to a noble Cause upon whose triumph the elevation of
Humanity to a higher state of freedom  and happiness
must, in a great measure, depend.  We rejoice at every
advancement of medical Truth. Our doctrines are spreading to the remotest land-marks of Civilization.  Our
brilliant achievements in the domain of Therapeutics,
and more particularly in the treatment of acute diseases,
are winning for us the confidence of the people and the
respectful regard of such of our professional opponents
as are not insensible to the dictates of Justice, Propriety
and Common Sense.  In the presence of this mighty
forward-movement of our Cause, we can hardly refrain
from interrogating the distant future regarding the prospects of an universal recognition of our law of cure. It
may seem chimerical to expect to see the banner of
Homoeopathy wave over every medical school; nevertheless, if the law of cure, which we profess, is one of the
eternal laws of Universal Order, it must eventually
1




2               OBSTACLES TO THE
constitute the therapeutic formula of every practitioner
of Medicine.  It is one of the highest objects of our
endeavour, as it should be that of every true-hearted
homoeopath, to hasten the realization of this universal
medical revolution. A full and philosophical perception
of the homceopathic law is one of the conditions of success
in this struggle against Old Physic.  This perception
enables us to analyse the influences which tend to oppose
the progress of our Art towards a final and universal
acknowledgment of its truth.  An inquiry into these influences, if conducted in a spirit of impartiality and with
logical consistency, must result in great good to, our Cause
which we believe to be the Cause of Truth. We beg the
privilege of offering on this subject a few plain and
practical suggestions, referring more particularly to the
difficulties with which the comprehension of our doctrines
and their application to practical interests are beset.
For the sake of convenience, and because our investigation has naturally led us to this arrangement, we shall
embody this subject in the following series of propositions.
Our developments must necessarily be brief, and iiay seem
mere indications of the truths which we desire to discuss.
In our first proposition we shall allude to the opposition
that all new ideas have to encounter.
Secondly, we shall endeavor to show that the confusion
which prevails in the homceopathic ranks, as regards education and natural capacity, operates against the practitioners
of our School, inasmuch as their opponents hold each of
them responsible for the failures of their weaker brethren.
In our next proposition we shall take the liberty of
examining in the crucible of criticism the mania of proving
with which the Homceopathic School seems afflicted. This
proposition will lead us to examine next




SPREAD OF HOlla0EOPATHY.                3
The just claims of the physiological treatment of diseases
which seem to be underrated or even ignored by such
members of the Homceopathic School as style themselves
the HIahnemannian homceopathists par excellence.
These considerations will lead us, on the other hand, to
show that, although the excesses to which the physiological
treatment has led our opponents, cannot be charged upon
homceopathic physicians: yet the latter have not as yet
weaned themselves from  the technicalities of this false
system of physiological Therapeutics; we shall likewise
show that the use of these technicalities, in explanation of
the clinical facts and theoretical principles of our own
School, produces confusion and misapprehensions, and
interferes with the expansion of our doctrines into a philosophic System which is bounded only by the limits of
Truth and Nature.
In our next proposition we shall allude to the difficulty
of selecting a homceopathically-specific remedy, which is
far greater than the revulsive systems of the Old School.
In our seventh proposition we shall take occasion to show
that the views which homoeopathic practitioners have entertained concerning the spirituality of drug-forces, have led,
in many minds, to a subversion of the natural relation of
the facts of Ilomceopathy; the Transient and Accidental
have been made the Permanent and Essential.
In our next we shall allude to the incompleteness of
Hahnemann's own explanations and definitions as an
obstacle to the progress of Homceopathy.
And lastly we shall briefly allude to the universality of
the Homceopathic Law by tracing its cosmic origin and
relations.




4        OBSTACLES TO HOMCEOPATHY.
All new ideas have to encounter opposition which waxes
fiercer in proportion as the reforms proposed affect the more
vital interests of Society, or penetrate to the more deeplyhidden abuses with which the social mechanism is tainted.
The history of Medicine, of political Government, of social
and religious Institutions, sufficiently illustrates the truth of
this proposition. It is unnecessary to corroborate it by
facts with which whole volumes might be filled and which
have been referred to by the advocates of new ideas, usque
ad nauseam, in public addresses and printed works, as
proofs of the intolerance with which the enemies of progress
have always sought to prevent the most useful improvements, and to extinguish all aspirations for a more expansive truth, and a more exalted freedom. We have assigned
to our first proposition a place in the Series, simply because
the constitutional tendencies-of human nature render this
antagonism to progress an inevitable, yea, a providential
fact. For, what is this antagonism when looked at in the
light of high Philosophy? Is it not a principle which
pervades the Universe, a constituent of Divine Order? We
call it centripetal force in our solar System, conservatism in
the political and social life of Man, orthodoxy in Religion.
Will anybody complain that the centripetal and centrifugal
forces; that Desire and Conscience; that Liberty and Law,
are the motor-powers of Creation? Their union constitutes
the matchless harmony of worlds, as it would constitute
man's cloudless happiness upon earth and in heaven. It is
their disunion and antagonism which is so frequently fraught
with untold misery. What is Desire without Conscience,
but a wild fury which may seek gratification in torrents of
blood and the conflagration of cities? And Conscience
without Love, has it not consecrated the auto-da-fes of the
Inquisition, and sanctioned the heartless cruelties of our
Puritan forefathers?
Yet, why should we repudiate the Conservative Principle,
were it ever so tyrannical in political Government, ever so
fanatical in Religion, ever so dogmatic in Science, ever so




AVERSION  TO NEW  IDEAS.                5
pedantic in our Academies?  In Europe, its contrary endeavors have led to the legal recognition of Homceopathy;
and, in this country, they will assuredly lead to its recognition in the conventions and lecture-rooms of our opponents.
A death-like lethargy would seize upon this Humanity, if
the conservative principle were not continually endeavoring
to arrest the development of the human mind. These
endeavors provoke counter-endeavors which must continue
until Truth shall have triumphed over all opposition.
It is very probable that, if this time ever comes, we shall
no longer call ourselves Homceopathists, but Physicians.
The name Homoeopathy is of human origin; the Science is
divine, but the name is human and transient. The name
has served as a rallying-cry to the champions of this vast
reform, and it is the name as much as the facts which the
name is supposed to represent, that has excited bitter opposition. Truth Divine is nameless, because it is infinite.
Names are more or less of a partisan, sectarian character,
and will lead to opposing movements and organizations,
until the human mind shall have been born again of the
Spirit of Eternal Good.
The acknowledged inefficiency of our established systems
of education, and the consequent inadequacy of our young
practitioners to worthily uphold the banner of our School,
results in great injustice to the cause which we are advocating. There are those among us who are qualified by
education and experience to cause HTomoeopathy to be
respected by her opponents; but as long as the heavenly
law which we teach and which is our guide in the practice
of our Art, is not backed by our superior skill in the collateral Sciences of Medicine, the ethereal truths of Homceopathy will remain imperceptible to eyes that are accustomed
to recognize no realities but those of matter; even as, in the
ordinary walks of life, persons of low mental capacities,
pugilists, rowdies of every description, have no respect for




6        OBSTACLES TO HOM(EOPATIY.
the most transcendent genius, for the sublimest poetical
talent, unless the man is possessed of muscular power
superior to their own, and able to perform the honored
offices of skull-smashing, shoulder-hitting, and the other
tours de force which this class of persons delight in. Let
a commanding General in the field be ever so skillful in
planning strategetical movements and combinations; if he
is suspected of cowardice, if he is not prepared to head the
forlorn hope, to be the first man in the breach, or to plant
his flag with his own hands in the midst of the enemy's
intrenchments: his soldiers will lose their confidence in his
ability, their morale will sink, they will fight with a sulky
and careless indifference. The superiority of our law will
not avail us, unless the fighting forces at our command, the
collateral Sciences, are made available in our struggles for
the new medical Gospel. The education and experience of
the few among us cannot possibly counter-balance the ignorance of the many. WVe should all endeavor to become
Chemists, Anatomists, Surgeons, Obstetricians. Even if
we concede that the bulk of lomeeopathic physicians are
better educated than their opponents; still it is of importance that the balance should be much more largely in our
favor than it now is. If an Allceopathic surgeon renders
himself guilty of malpractice, the great artists of whom
the Old School can so justly boast, are not held responsible
for the ignorance of their brethren; the conservatism and
routine of ages protect them in the enjoyment of their
well-earned laurels. But let an lomceopathic practitioner
commit an oversight, or even meet with a pardonable mishap, and we are all set down as a pack of dunces that no
respectably-educated physician can associate with without
dishonoring himself. Hence we owe it to ourselves, in
sheer self-defence, to make the most heroic efforts towards
the acquisition of every Science which belongs to the curriculum of medical studies.
Another obstacle to the progress of lomceopathy is the




SYMPTO Mi-M ANIA.                  7
symptom-mania with which our School is afflicted. The
solemn and important business of proving drugs which was
conducted by the great discoverer of Homceopathy with so
much devotion and genuine heroism, and which is still
continued with equal perseverance by many of his followers,
more especially in Germany, has dwindled down to a trifling
system of symptom-hunting. Many of our recent provings
must elicit smiles of incredulity from both friends and
opponents. Can we expect to make sober-minded people
believe that plants which have been used by our fathers
and forefathers in unmeasured quantities without ever
causing any serious embarrassments to their constitutions,
will yield whole lists of reliable drug-symptoms when.
proved with the twelfth and thirtieth potencies? No clearheaded Allceopathic physician whose -mind has been trained
to logical reasoning, and to the severe business of observing
phenomena cas they are, not as they seem to fancy's vision,
will ever be made a convert to our Sysstem by such provings;
nor will a Homoeopathic physician whose mind is not biassed
by the tyranny of dogma or by the pride of faction, be able
to peruse these latest offsprings of our pathogenetic literature, without confessing to his inner soul that a woeful waste
of ink and paper is involved in the publication of such
provings.
In the long run, all such parasites will be weeded out,
and the useful plants alone will adorn the life-garden of
Homceopathy. But for a time they may give us trouble
by diverting the weaker minds among us from the severe
realities of Fact to the flimsy visions of Fancy.
Professor Henderson of Edinburgh has started another
doctrine regarding the proving of drugs which seems to us
destructive of all Truth and scientific Order. In his reply
to Professor Simpson, he uses this language: " On Hahnemann's rule of giving only a single medicine at a time, Dr.
Simpson makes some choice remarks, indicative, as usual,
of the greatest ignorance of the subject he writes about.




8        OBSTACLES TO HOM(EOPATHY.
Opium, says he, contains twenty-one ingredients, and yet
Homoeopaths prescribe Opium, while they pretend to give
medicines singly. Opium, we reply, is a single medicine,
because it has not been artificially compounded, and because
it has been proved just as Nature gives it; and proving
bestows unity, in the sense of showing what this natural
compound can do, as distinguished from other natural compounds. Proving is the essence of singleness in Homeeopathy; so that, if Opium, Arsenic and Mercury, mixed
together, were proved upon the healthy body, this artificial
compound would thenceforth be a single medicine."
It is evident that unless the combination of drugs is
governed by some law as yet unknown to us, the doctrine
laid down by Professor iEenderson, must lead to chaos.
The combinations to which simple drugs may give rise, are
as boundless as the wildest fancy; it would be utterly
impossible to determine their range of action by provings;
the Science of Therapeutics would become a fiction, and
disorder and doubt would rule in a department of human
interests where light and law are not only indispensable,
but alone worthy of, alone in accord with, the wisdom of a
merciful Providence. No cunning of man can make single
what, by the laws of Nature, is not one, but two; a chemical
compound is an unit, because the combination of its elements
is governed by a law; Belladonna is an unit, because the
Belladonna-principle, whatever it be, combines the constituents of the Belladonna-plant into a distinct individuality
which is ever the same, and virtually remains the same, in
every clime and country. By our provings and by clinical
observation we have determined, that these distinct drugindividualities hold specific curative relations to pathological
individualities, which are as undeviatingly the same in
every clime and country as the drugs which may be
regarded as their material types in nature. A pathological
condition is essentially a simple state. A symptom, as
such, may indicate fifty drugs; but as part of a condition
froma which it derives its character, its meaning, its quality,




PROVING OF MIXED  DRUGS.                 9
it is only met by the drug which, in its integral unity,
corresponds with the integral unity of the pathological
disturbance.
Who has ever seen an Aconite and a Belladonna group
of symptoms mixed up together as pathognomonic of
the same unitary disease? If the symptoms of Phosphorus
and Arsenic should occur together in the same affection,
we might be justified in prescribing both these drugs at
alternate intervals; but what monstrosity in Pathology can
possibly be imagined which might have to be met by the
provings of an equally monstrous combination of drugs?
God be thanked that, amid all the confusion which the
mischievous genius of human pride and folly has conjured
up in the domain of Pathology, the IDENTITY OF DISEASES
AND THAT OF DRUGS have been established and are universally believed in, as immutable Facts. The truths which
Hippocrates taught, are still truths to us, and in after-ages,
our Skoda's and Rokitansky's will still be the great painters
of Disease.
The mania of proving drugs and multiplying symptoms,
has led
Fourth, to another most disastrous mistake on the part of
homoeopathic physicians: they seem to lose confidence in the
healing energies of Nature. Our symptom-hunters must
have a remedy for every little pain, twitch, pimple; they
mend broken-down constitutions, renovate worn-out tissues,
vitalize decayed nervous systems, rejuvenate old age, and
for aught we know, work miracles and raise the dead. We
do not know of anything more pitiable in Medicine than
the heartless symptomism which, at one time, was supposed
to constitute the very soul of Homoeopathy. An eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth, has been translated by the
symptomist into his favorite formula of "symptom  for
symptom."  We cannot for the life of us, discover anything
grand, anything soul-stirring, anything truly progressive
in the writings of purely technical symptomists. Symptoms




10       OBSTACLES TO HOICEOPATHY.
are valuable, indispensable; one symptom often constitutes
the chief morbid indication, and this one symptom may
occupy a prominent place in the pathogenesis of a certain
drug, and thus lead to the knowledge of the only agent by
means of which weeks, months and even years of suffering
may be arrested. No reasonable man will ever find fault
with the honest efforts of experimenters who seek to give
us reliable symptomatic delineations of drugs or diseases;
what is considered improper, and what should be denounced
as a piece of impudent quackery, is the childish infatuation
with which many of our literal symptomists seem possessed, of covering symptom by symptom. The number of
those who decry the recuperative efforts of Nature, is
diminishing from day to day; but the progress of our
doctrines is still suffering from the misapprehensions to
which Hahnemann's teachings regarding the inadequacy of
Nature's powers to cure diseases, have been liable. Ah,
would that we could do justice to the high medical intelligence of this great Reformer! Would that we could show,
how his penetrating and generous genius softened down the
rigid dogmatism of his literal teachings! Would that we
could witness the tender spirit, the accommodating charity,
with which he heeded the instinctive whisperings, and even
the acquired wants of his patients! ilahnemann'was no
pedantic tyrant; his exalted genius never ceased to recognize the rights of a suffering creature; in the sick-chamber,
where he presided, the patient reposed upon the bed of
hope, of gentle and accommodating care; the faith which
burnt in tHahnemann's soul, made him a truly Samaritan
physician, in spite of the apparent dogmatism of his
writings. Alas, the spirit has fled, the letter only has
remained; in the hands of his petty imitators it has served
as a means of degrading the doctrines of our School from
the sphere of Reason and Humanity to the limited horizon
of a Clique.




DOUBT IN  THE POWERS OF NAiTURE.   11
Let us not forget under what circumstances Hahnemann
gave utterance to the inspirations of his genius! If he
denounced the curative efforts of Nature as impotent without the existence of Art, what proofs had he ever had that
this sweeping proposition was not strictly true?  Hlad
Nature ever had a chance to show her skill? The Expectant Method was not then in vogue; on the contrary, the
human organism was treated like a laboratory, where the
chemist might carry on his operations regardless of the
vital properties of the tissues. Against these murderous
onslaughts Nature was indeed powerless, and Hahnemann,
impelled, if you please, by the rigidity of system, and by a
burning faith in his own truth, could not well entertain
any very great expectations of Nature's powers. Nevertheless, he denied these powers in theory rather than in
practice; the very fact that he would feed a patient on
sugar of milk, allowing a single infinitesimal dose to act for
days, weeks and even months, shows that his practice gave:
the lie to his doctrines, and that faith in the restorative
energies of Nature constituted one of the pillars of his
system.
Besides this negative physiological treatment, there is a
positive treatment which is commonly termed the palliative
treatment, and the object of which is to restore the integrity
of physiological functions by physiological agents and influences. Symptomatic purists repudiate in a great measure
this eminently legitimate method of relief.
Instances of physiological treatment are the treatment of
burns by the application of heat, and the treatment of a
frozen limb by the application of ice and snow; Marshall
Hall's ready method in cases of asphyxia, surgical operations, the use of emetics or cathartics for the purpose of
expelling poisonous or otherwise injurious foreign substances; the use of Chloroform as an anesthetic agent, or
the use of Morphine as the means of lulling pain and
procuring sleep.




12       OBSTACLES TO HOlMaCEOPATIHY.
If the question were asked: What are the boundaries of
palliative treatment? We should answer: the good sense of
the physician. The object of palliative treatment is to
palliate pain, if we cannot cure; or to effect a cure by
simple palliative means, if they are sufficient for that purpose. There are many simple derangements which can be
more conveniently reached by palliative than by curative
means.
A diarrheea induced by a change of water on the journey,
may very frequently be stopped by a glass of brandy and
water.
A man of active exercise being suddenly confined to a
sedentary mode of life, on ship-board for instance, finds
that his bowels become constipated. Is this constipation a
disease requiring medical treatment? By no means; a
simple injection after breakfast, a Seidlitz powder, a little
rhubarb, or any simple agent which may readily operate
upon the patient's bowels without causing any unpleasant
complications, may be all sufficient to remove the difficulty.
Homoeopathic physicians generally recommend Nux under
these circumstances. But your Nux will fail you in thousands of cases, or it will be so slow in its operations that it
is more than doubtful, whether it had any agency whatsoever in the ultimate restoration of the physiological equilibrium. Here it seems reasonable to remove a greater evil
by substituting a smaller one, provided we are certain that
the lesser evil is of limited duration, and, in reality, no evil
at all.
The use of physiological palliatives may seem justifiable
to a physician in the case of patients with whose constitutions he is well acquainted. A lady patient, for instance,
of upwards of seventy,'had a fierce attack of cardialgia, a
most intense burning and sore pain in the epigastrium.
The attack came on late in the evening, and had been
caused by slightly overloading the stomach at supper. The
extremities were cold, the pulse almost collapsed, the
patient had frequent vomiting of bile with distressing




NEGLECT OF PALLIATIVES.                 13
retching. For an hour we tried the remedies which seemed
best calculated to afford relief, without any effect whatsoever. We then instituted the following process of reasoning
in our own mind. " The patient and the family are alarmed;
the former is actually apprehensive of death. I know that
the cramps will not last more than a few hours, even without any treatment, and I am morally certain that, if I can
give this lady a few hours sleep, the disease, in the meanwhile, will run its course, and the patient may wake free
from pain."
Acting upon this suggestion, we dissolved a grain of
Morphine in an ounce of water, of which the patient took
twenty-five drops on a little sugar, and in half an hour
another dose of the same size. Very soon she fell into a
sound sleep, from which she woke perfectly free from pain,
in her usual health.
Here is a paralytic old man; he is recovering from his
attack, but as yet unable to leave his room. Being of a
nervous temperament, he is apt to fret and worry himself into a state of the most perfect wakefulness. Ten
o'clock arrives, he cannot sleep; he fidgets and moans, and
prays for sleep; all in vain, "tired Nature's sweet restorer,
balmy sleep," refuses to alight upon his drooping eyelids.
Give this poor man a small dose of Morphine, and in very
many cases it will prove a blessing to the exhausted frame.
Hahnemann was not by any means averse to the use of
palliatives. In his introduction to the pathogenesis of
Camphor, he emphatically recommends this agent as a
palliative means in the treatment of epidemic influenza. His
words are: "During the febrile stage of epidemic influenza,
Camphor may be used as a palliative. It is a most valuable
palliative in this disease which runs a short course; but
the medicine has to be administered in repeated, and increasing doses, in the form which we have recommended
(spirits of Camphor). Camphor does not shorten the course




14       OBSTACLES TO IHOM]aEOPATHY.
of the disease, but moderates its intensity, and thus secures
a termination uncomplicated by danger."
In the introductory chapter to Opium, HTahnemann
admits the use of palliatives in the following argument:
"If Opium removes some cases of cough, diarrhoea, vomiting, sleeplessness, trembling, and so forth, they are trifling
cases which supervene quite suddenly in persons whose
health is ordinarily good. In such a case, a hacking cough
originating in a sudden cold; a trembling arising from a
sudden fright; a diarrhoea occurring in consequence of a
sudden fright, cold or some other trifling cause; a retching
occasioned by a sudden emotion, loathing, etc., may sometimes be arrested by Opium quite suddenly. All that it is
required to do is, to suppress these derangements for a
short period, in order to enable the previously healthy
body to keep down all further inclination to similar disorders, and to preserve a state of health by its own inherent
power of vital reaction."
While the patient's consciousness is suspended by Chloroform, the surgeon performs his most formidable operations. Are we to deprive ourselves of the great advantages
which the rational use of physiological palliatives may
afford? Is this logical? Is it doing justice to our patients?
Can w6 ever expect to convert allopathic physicians to the
doctrine that the occasional use of a poultice, of a warm
foot-bath, of a little Morphine, of ice to the head, coldwater bandages, and a variety of other perfectly simple
physiological means, is in contravention of the laws of
Nature? Can we expect to make reasonable people believe
that purely hygienic and dietetic means are not very
frequently the best and only means of cure? All these
means exist outside of our therapeutic law. They do not
interfere with it; on the contrary, they facilitate the
operation of the forces by means of which we cure diseases.
What a deal of contumely and useless controversy we
might have saved ourselves, if we had never wilfully, and




ABUSE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL TERMS.    15
certainly very stupidly, abandoned the strong positions
which we have a perfect right to occupy in common with
our opponents. The time was when a homceopathic physician would have been denounced by the purists of our
School for allowing his patients the occasional use of a
little Cologne-water, or the sight of a flower on a toiletthble. To hold a smelling-bottle under the nose of a fainting
lady during a fit of hysteria, would have been considered
a violation of the rules. We have learned better; the time
has come when every enlightened homeeopathic practitioner
will strenuously, and on every occasion, vindicate the use
of every rational means which may afford relief to the
sufferer.
A great obstacle to the spread of our doctrines among
the more prominent physicians of the Old School is the
fact that, although we have rejected the essence, yet we
have retained the technicalities of the Physiological School.
With the revulsive or counter-irritant treatment as a
therapeutic system, we have nothing to do; we have
nothing to do with old-fashioned issues, setons, blisters,
cauteries; we utterly repudiate the abuse of drastics of
which allopathic physicians render themselves guilty. Yet
we talk of stimulating the liver or the stomach, of purifying
the blood, strengthening the nervous system in the same
sense in which these expressions are understood by OldSchool practitioners. A man who has been in the habit of
stimulating the liver, as he terms it, with five, ten, and
even twenty or thirty grains of Calomel, cannot reasonably
be made to believe that the same effect can be obtained
with the one-quadrillionth of a grain: And even, if we
succeed in shaking his scepticism by the doctrine that our
small doses operate upon organs in conditions of functional
derangement analogous to the morbific properties of the
drug, and enhancing the physiological susceptibility of the
organ to the action of the remedial agent: nevertheless he
may find it difficult and even impossible to admit that this




16       OBSTACLES TO HIOMXIEOPATHY.
difference in the relation of drugs to diseased organs is
sufficient to' account for the resulting cure.  We cannot
demonstrate the action of our drugs by palpable experiments; nor would our theoretical reasonings convincingly
account for the mystery of a homceopathic cure, if the
cure itself were not a palpable and undeniable fact.
The Physiological Therapeutics of Bichat and his
followers, among whom Broussais occupies the most prominent rank, are tainted with a radical vice. The Physiological School does not discriminate between drugs and
aliments. Both, drugs and aliments, nourish the tissues.
Drugs are assimilated like aliments. If the stomach does
not digest with sufficient ease, its digestive powers are
sharpened by a tonic; if the nerves are unstrung, they are
steadied by some sedative; if the blood courses too rapidly
through the vessels, its impulse is slackened by some
depressing agent.  The cardinal idea upon which the
whole structure of Physiological Therapeutics seems to
rest, is the employment of drugs as the direct regulators or
modifiers of the physiological functions of the organism.
This system denies the existence of diseases; diseases are
simple alterations of the physiological functions, and, as a
consequence, drugs remove these alterations by the simple
processes of addition or subtraction.  It must be a difficult
task to convert to our System minds that have become confirmed in this method of classing drugs and aliments on
the one hand, and diseases and physiological functions on
the other, in the same general categories, with the simple
difference'of a little more or less, a little more saliva from
Calomel, a more rapid digestion from Peruvian bark, more
urine from Squills, more cutaneous action from Sambucus;
without admitting any essential difference between the
aliments which preserve the integrity of the normal functions, and the drugs which retard or accelerate, or, as the
doctrine is pleased to express it, modify or regulate them
according to the fiat of the therapeutist, whose wisdom, in




FALSITY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 17
this delusive system, supersedes the Providence of Nature
and its God.
Physicians wrho have become wedded to the revulsive
method of treatment, must necessarily consider it a most
laborious task to employ specific remedies for definite
groups of symptoms. How much easier it must seem to
reach some morbid process by clearing out the bowels or
by blistering the skin. And then, think of the accommodating facilities of polypharmacy: mix half a dozen drugs
together, and make sure of one or two of them at any rate.
We are not thus favored in our practice. The more thoroughly a homoeopathic practitioner is imbued with the
spirit of his practice, the less he will be inclined to use
more than one drug at a time. To him, pathological conditions are hardly ever more than simple units; they may
evolve successive groups of symptoms, but as we penetrate
more deeply into the mysteries of physiological functions
and their abnormal changes, we shall find that an essential
identity pervades the different groups of the Series, and
that, with proper management, one, two, or at most three
different drugs will meet all the requirements of the case.
WVe cannot effect a cure unless we employ the remedy
which is specifically adapted to the disease. A case of
paralysis which indicates Aconite, will not yield to Nux;
and if Corrosive Sublimate is required, Aconite will be
found wanting.
Trousseau and Pidoux's statement that " the idea of
specificity prevails in the Materia Medica as it does in
Nosology," is emphatically true in Homoeopathic Thera.
peutics. Every drug is a specific agent, in specific rapport
with specific forms of disease. A revulsionist is never
haunted by these specific relations. In his lazy and comfortable routine he goes the rounds of his drastics, his
sialogogues, his sudorifics and emetics; and if he has tried
every means in his power to make the patient spit, sweat
or urinate, his chapter is closed and Nature must do, or
rather undo, the balance. How, we ask, can we account for
2




18       OBSTACLES TO HIOM(EOPATIEY.
the operations of our drugs by the false physiology upon
which the therapeutic edifice of the Old School is based?
We have seen that the therapeutists of the so-called
Physiological School ignore the specific principles of drugs.
In this respect homoeopathists are the antipodes of the
former. It is one of the cardinal points of our doctrine,
that every drug is the representative, or substratum of
some specific force which may be made to act as a curative
agent upon specifically corresponding pathological conditions. Indeed, it'is by means of this force that our cures
are supposed to be effected. The abuse of this doctrine has
conjured up another obstacle to the spread of Homoeopathy.
Hiahnemann invented the processes of trituration and
succussion with a view of detaching the dynamic drugforce from its material substratum and, by this means,
enabling it to act with more freedom and power. The socalled high potencies which have been introduced of late
years into the Iomceopathic School, are regarded by their
advocates as embodying, in a most eminent degree, the
dynamic forces of drugs. The doctrine of potentization,
or development of drug-force has become such a prominent
feature among the characteristic attributes of the lomceopathic School, that its natural relation to the fundamental
law of cure has been almost subverted in consequence.
By its enemies, our practice has been styled the "Infinitesimal Practice."  A homeeopathic physician is one who
uses infinitesimal doses. We often hear it said that "my
doctor practices iomoeopathy; he gives little or no medicine." Not only lay-people, but physicians will permit
themselves, in their blind fanaticism, to denounce as no
homoeopaths such of their professional brethren as employ
more massive doses. It is a sad fact that the great law
upon which alone the whole structure of Homoeopathy rests,
has been overlooked by the unreasoning partisans of the
potentization-theory.  We say, by the unreasoning partisans




FALSE VIEW  OF POTENTIZATION.                19
of this theory; for there are many members of our Brotherhood who entertain views of this theory, which are perfectly compatible with common sense and with the most
philosophic comprehension of our doctrines.
Is it true that these infinitesimal doses are alone entitled
to the attribute of spirituality? Does not a large dose act
by virtue of the same spiritual or dynamic force which an
infinitesimal globule is supposed to possess? Is the living
human personality less spiritual than a microscopic blooddisk?  The majestic ocean less spiritual than a thimbleful
of its foaming waves, or the resplendent day-star less
spiritual than a wavelet of light?  We believe that the
doctrine of dynamization is capable of a philosophical interpretation; but to assert that a globule is more spiritual
than a grain-dose of the first trituration, for no other
reason than because the former is less in bulk or contains
an infinitely smaller amount of the material substratum of
the drug than the latter, is, in reality, substituting a doublerefined materialism in the place of an enlarged and philosophical spirituality. It is time that we should endeavor
to rescue the law which is alone eternal and divine in our
therapeutic edifice, from the mass of hypothetical trifles, in
the midst of which it has almost been forgotten; it is time
that we should make the study and philosophical comprehension of this law our most important business; it is time
that our allopathic brethren should know that a man
may be a HIomceopath without abjuring common sense;
that he may be a student of Nature, a worshipper of Truth,
yea, that he professes a doctrine which is as infinite and
eternal as the Providence who operates by means of it.
Let us dwell with grateful hearts upon the immense
service which Hahnemann has rendered to the Healing Art
and to the cause of suffering humanity, by that simple and
yet all-important contrivance, fractional doses. By means of
this simple process, the most intense poison is transformed
into a gentle and safe healing agent which may be ad



20       OBSTACLES TO HIOMXCEOPATHY.
ministered even to the nursing babe without injuring its
tender frame. Truly may it be said of the HTomceopathic
agent that "the lion and the lamb shall lie down together,
and that a little child shall lead them."  Look at Arsenic,
a poison so fierce that Hufeland, Dierbach and other great
lights of the Allopathic school obstinately refused to use it, as
harboring disorganizing principles in its bosom, which might
undermine the organic life of the pulmonary apparatus,
and even destroy these important organs by consumption.
Hahnemann appears upon the stage of a suffering world, and
by one flash of genius, he converts the fierce lion into a
gentle lamb, the harbinger of health and peace. A heavenly
truth had illumed his mind, and henceforth even a poison
is transformed into an agent for the restoration of man's
tottering health.
Yet in this business of dividing and subdividing drugs,
we must not go too far, lest the ethereal forces of the drug
should utterly elide our grasp, and the desire of instituting
a rational inquiry into the principles of our Art should be
superseded, in the minds of our opponents, by a wellfounded amazement at the credulity and, as has been said,
shameless impudence of the practitioners of Homceopathy.
Every physician has a perfect right to prescribe the ten or
the forty thousandth potency, as long as he is honestly
desirous of testing the curative virtues of these incredibly
small quantities, without endangering his patient's safety.
But the results of such experiments, if successful and satisfactory, should not be obtruded upon the great public, until
they can be substantiated by a weight of testimony which
the most inveterate scepticism might find it impossible to
repudiate. We would admonish physicians, and especially
all younger members of the craft, to banish even the shadow
of levity and rashness from this sort of experimentation.
Our testimony on the trial of the late Dr. King in Canada,
has been assailed by some parties, because we asserted that
Homceopathy does not mean a System  of infinitesimal




FALSE  VIEWS OF  POTENTIZATION.                        21
doses, and that a homceopathic physician may give any
dose of medicine which, in his judgment, the case may
require. Being asked by the Attorney-General, how large
a dose of Arsenic a homceopathic physician might give, we
stated that we had given as much as one-fifth of a grain
every four hours, for two  consecutive  days, in cases of
Asiatic Cholera and  miasmatic  Intermittent Fever;* and
that, so far from  ever having seen any ill effects from  such
treatment, we had, on the contrary, cured our patients; we
added at the same time that we had pursued this treatment
* NOTE.-It is proper to state that the first time we prescribed one-fifth of
a grain of Arsenic, it was purely accidental. During the second Choleraepidemic we very frequently used the first decimal trituration of Arsenious
acid, making little powders at random, of which one was taken every two or
four hours. We never noticed the least perceptible aggravation from these
powders in the cases of Cholera where they were used. These cases were
characterised by a sudden outbreak of the disease, sudden and excessive
prostration, extreme coldness of the skin, sinking pulse, deathly sickness
and burning at the epigastrium, collapse of the features, a feeling of anxiety,
violent thirst and, in most cases, enormous and frequently-repeated evacuations,
having an offensive, cadaverous smell, and resembling a homogeneous
mixture of dirty water and excrementitious matter. If our memory does
not fail us, the Arsenic proved curative in all such cases. We remember
one family in particular, where the father, mother and two children were,attacked in this manner at the same period.  They took the arsenical
powders every two hours, and were quite well again the very next day.
Some years ago, when we happened to triturate arsenic, we felt curious
to ascertain the exact weight of the arsenical powders which we had used
with such eminent success in Asiatic Cholera; and it was not till then that
we discovered the enormity of which some of our brethren declare us guilty.
These powders, small as they are in bulk, weighed exactly two grains,
being equivalent to one-fifth of a grain of Arsenic.
In many cases of miasmatic fever-and-ague we have successfully used the
same dose, when smaller quantities would fail us.
We have used the same arsenical preparation, at the rate of one dose a
day, in cases of virulent impetigo of a chronic character, when the skin felt
habitually rough, thick'and dry as parchment; when it showed a tendency
to ulcerate, crack and bleed; it broke out in inflamed patches which would
burn like fire, exude a moisture and finally became covered with darklooking, bleeding, ulcerated crusts. It is not often that we use an arsenical
preparation of this size; but we have done so, and with perfect success.
Is this a crime, or what is it?




22        OBSTACLES TO HOMCEOPATHY.
only in extreme cases, and that we had never been obliged
to resort to it in cases of nausea from pregnancy.
This testimony has been assailed, simply because we
claim for every homceopathic physician the privilege of
using one-fifth of a grain of Arsenic in cases, where his
judgment may dictate the use of such a dose. One-fifth of
a grain of Arsenic is not a poisonous dose. What say
Trousseau and Pidoux, page 312, of their classic work on
Materia Medica and Therapeutics?  "One grain and threefifths (eight centigrammes) of arsenious acid, taken at one
dose in health, have caused in us a general feeling of stimulation which we may compare to the excitement caused by
strong coffee. The most remarkable phenomenon is the
production of an unusual vigor of the inferior extremities
which permitted us to take long walks without fatigue.
We insist upon this symptom which was likewise experienced by Masselot, and is expressed by him in these terms:
" Very great aptitude to walk."
We would ask: Are these effects those of a poisonous
dose? In many persons, one grain and three-fifths of
Arsenic may undoubtedly give rise to a powerful reaction.
But what a difference between this dose and the one-fifth of
a grain!   From  the experiments instituted by Professor
Trousseau and Pidoux, we derive the conclusion that it is
impossible to lay down an uniform rule regarding doses,
and that, in practice, a large margin must be left to the
discretion and judgment of the physician. We are informed
by Professor Trousseau, that Boudin, who is physician-inchief to the most important military Hospital in France,
and whose experience in the use of Arsenic most probably
surpasses that of any other practitioner living, has given
Arsenic, in fractional doses, at the rate of three grains and
three-fifths a day in cancerous affections, and that he has
continued this medication for six weeks in succession, day
after day, without exciting the least untoward symptom.
Trousseau mentions this fact as a proof of the immense
advantage of prescribing drugs in fractional doses.




FALSE VIEWS OF POTENTIZATION.    23
Is the experience of such men to go for nothing?  Can
we reasonably expect that they should listen to what must
appear to them fables concerning the wonderful results of
our infinitesimal doses, if we obstinately and childishly
refuse to pay any heed to the brilliant results of their own
medication? Is it in itself criminal to prescribe a massive
dose, if the restoration of the patient's health requires it?
May there not be just as much danger in giving too small
as too large a dose? Let us remember that the settlement
of these questions may involve our position in society; let
us remember that the facts which are involved in this discussion, may be presented to a jury in a case of malpractice.
Supposing a physician should treat a case of miasmatic
fever with fifth-of-a-grain doses of Arsenic, as he very
properly might, and his patient should die; what would be
his fate if some relative should sue him for malpractice and
the jury should make up their verdict by the dim rushlight of a few abstractionists?
Or supposing the physician should employ in the same
case the two thousandth potency of Arsenic, with the same
unfortunate result, and the jury should depend for their
opinion upon the solid men of our School, who deal in doses
that have a taste, smell and color? It is plain that this
matter may become a serious affair, and that it is of the
utmost importance to the practitioners of our School, that
some uniform standard in regard to doses should be agreed
upon as a legal basis in cases of malpractice. A homceopathic practitioner should recognize but one standard of
doses, and that is the whole range of potencies from the
crude drug up to the highest dynamization. We hold that
every physician is entitled to use any potency he pleases;
he may use it inappropriately, mischievously, and he may
be held amenable to the law for the injury he inflicts
through his carelessness or ignorance in the use of high or
low doses; but the use of high or low doses as such, be it
the two hundredth potency or the fifth of a grain of
Arsenic, is his sacred right, a right that should ever be




24 GENERAL DEFINITION OF HOM(EOPATI[Y.
strenuously defended by every enlightened physician, and
which no independent practitioner will ever allow himself
to be dispossessed of by over-bearing and meddlesome
dictation.
Let us close this first chapter of our work with a fleeting
glance at the spirit, philosophical unity and comprehensiveness of our doctrines. We cannot do full justice, on
this occasion, to a subject of such magnitude and importance; we shall review it in all its bearings in proportion
as we progress in elucidating the definitions, and penetrating to the foundations of a philosophical analysis of the
great Science which is now struggling for, and must
ultimately secure a universal acknowledgment and triumph.
It is no disrespect to Hahnemann to say, that his teachings
on the subject of Homceopathy are not complete. The
most perfect enunciation of his great doctrine: that diseases
are cured by similarly-acting drugs, is found in his admirable Essay, entitled "Spirit of the Homoeopathic Doctrine,"
and forming part of the second volume of his Materia Medica
Pura:
" There is no agent, no force in Nature," writes Hahnemann, "that is capable of morbidly affecting a person in
health, which does not likewise possess the faculty of curing
certain morbid conditions."
"Inasmuch as the power of curing diseases, and that of
morbidly affecting persons in health, is found indissolubly
united in all drugs; and, inasmuch as both these powers
emanate from the same source, viz.: from the faculty inherent
in every drug, of dynamically affecting the condition of the
organization; whence it follows, that their action upon
organs in disease takes place according to the same indwelling law, as their action upon organs in their normal
condition; we finally infer that it is the same drug-force
which effects a cure as that which develops morbid symptoms in health."
Farther than this, the discoverer of EIomoeopathy has




GENERAL DEFINITION  OF HOMCEOPATHY. 25
never penetrated in his explanation of the homceopathic
law. A drug cures a disease if and because it has power to
develop a similar morbid condition in healthy tissues. It
effects this cure, because, according to iahnemann's teachings, the drug-disease being more powerful, more intense
than the natural malady, the latter absorbs the former.
vWe shall show, in the course of these lectures, that this
teaching has been sadly misapprehended by HIahnemann's
followers as well as by his enemies, and that, so far from
implying an absurdity, as it is made to do, it, on the contrary, expresses this great truth: that the homeeopathic remedial agent cures the disease, because the drug-force embodied in this agent is in relations of affinity to the natural
disease superior to those which exist between the disease.
producing agent and the physiological tissues.
In our explanations of the homceopathic law, we shall
endeavor to penetrate a step farther than the illustrious
Founder of the Homceopathic School has seen fit to do.
We shall show that itahnemann's doctrine concerning the
essential identity of drug-force as a disease-producing and
a disease-curing power, is depending for its truth, for its
vitality, for its scientific exactness, upon the cosmic fact: that
the forces which create drugs, are the very forces -which develop diseases in the physiological tissues. This is the
foundation of Homneopathy. The doctrine, as enunciated
by Hahnemann, constitutes the formula of homceopathic
Art; the doctrine as expressed in this other proposition,
constitutes the formula of homoeopathic Science.
Look at the panorama of Creation; do we not behold
Homceopathy interwoven in its foundations? To our sensual
eye, the external facts of Creation are alone perceptible; but,
abstract the contemplating mind from these material phenomena, and dwell upon the mysterious mechanism of the
forces which evolve them as the ultimate results of an unceasingly-creating Endeavor.
Let us designate these forces as mediate principles. They
constitute the active or organizing forces of the great




26 GENE RAL DEFINITION  OF H]OMCEOPATHY.
Whole. As viewed by man, finitely, the act of Creation
consists in the evolution of germ-forces, according to fixed
laws, into concrete individualities. All germ-forces are inherent in the surface of the planet: they constitute recipient vessels, passive forces or forms of power. The act of
Creation is continued indefinitely by means of the forces
which we have alluded to as the mediate principles of the
Supreme Creator. We may likewise designate them  as
cosmic principles or essences, in contradistinction to phenomena. The concrete form, which is a reality to the physical
senses, is, in truth, a phenomenon; its existence is phenomenal, for it passes away. The cosmic force, the creating
principle, is the only real thing; the living essence which
is, and does not perish.
Applying this doctrine to drugs, we say that every drug
results from the action of a cosmic force or mediate principle upon a corresponding germ-force. Both these factors
are embodied in the.drug so fully and perfectly that their
presence is sensibly perceived, in various degrees of intensity, in every part of the drug, or, at any rate, in those
parts which, properly speaking, constitute the drug. In
some cases, this may be the root; in others, the seed; in
others again, the bark or flower. It is from the presence of
these two factors that every drug derives its characteristic
properties: from the germ-force, its physical properties, its
weight, color, taste, odor; from the cosmic force, its poisonous and dynamic properties, its power to affect definite
tissues of the organism in a positive, definite manner.
Here, now, we stand upon the threshold of the great mystery, a comprehension of which requires our most thoughtful attention; we mean the mystery which Hahnemann has
so significantly and yet so problematically announced in
the formula' Similica  Similibus  Curantur."  How and
why is it that every drug affects the living organism, in a
definite manner? The answer to this question involves a
philosophical solution of this other question: What is
Homceopathy?




GENERAL DEFINITION OF IOM(EOPATHY. 27
After the great Cosmos had been fully prepared for the
reception of man, man started into being. In him the work
of Creation was summed up. In him the cosmic forces and
the germ-forces of Creation culminated.  Hence it is that
the philosophers of Egypt and Greece applied to the human
organism the poetic and eminently significant appellation of
Microcosm, or little universe. By his living or internal organism, man is in relation with every cosmic force of the
Universe; by his bodily or external organism, which, of
itself, is a mere house of clay, man is in relation with every
germ-force of his planet.
Applying this doctrine to the sense of sight, we say
that man may see every visible object, existing in him
ideally; the object itself, when met by the eye, awakens the
idea to consciousness. " Seeing" is no more nor less than
a conscious impression, the archetypal idea of a thing roused
from its slumber, and flashing through the mind as a conscious reality.
A drug affects the living tissues in a similar manner.
Every drug is represented in the human organism by a
recipient faculty or potency of a specific character, which
may be aptly designated as a morbid property.  In the
normal condition of the organism, the various morbid
properties which the Creator has inscribed upon the living
tissues, and which, if there be unity in God's System, must,
of necessity, correspond with the germ-forces of drugs,
remain unperceived; the physiological harmony of the
organism over-rules their development. But if a drug be
made to act upon the tissues, the morbid property or properties representing the germ-forces of the drug, will
become manifest derangements, more or less of an external
character, somewhat in the nature of traumatic injuries,
not affecting the internal vitality, and speedily terminating
of themselves.
When man is sick, it is not the drug, but the cosmic
factor which produces the drug, that develops the corresponding morbid properties of the tissues into an actual




28 GENERAL DEFINITION OF HOMGEOPATHY.
disease. Hence diseases may be defined as morbid properties developed into pathological activities by specifically
corresponding cosmic, forces. A development of this kind
can only take place in abnormal conditions of the organism,
such as exposure to wet, draughts of air, excessive heat,
exhaustion in consequence of over-work, watching, etc.
Now act upon this cosmic factor, which is here subverting the physiological unity of the organism, by means of a
corresponding drug which derives from it its own dynamic
properties, and the inevitable result will be, provided it is
not too late, that the cosmic factor will gradually be absorbed
by this drug-action or influence, for which it has of necessity
a much greater affinity than for the life-principle of the
tissues; the organism will be freed from the hostile invader,
the harmony of the functions will be restored, and Hahnemann's teaching will be verified: THAT THE AGENT WHICH,
AS A COSMIC FACTOR, DEVELOPS THE DISEASE, WILL CURE
IT WHEN ADMINISTERED IN THE FORM OF A DRUG.
Descending into the ultimate physiological life of the
organism, we may now show how the brain is to the tissues
generally what the great Cosmos is to the Microcosm; how
the cosmic factors or forces of disease, acting upon a point
in the cerebro-spinal or in the ganglionic system of nerves,
cause their presence to be sensibly perceived by the respective morbid properties distributed throughout every tissue,
yea every fibre of the organism. We can here only allude
to these facts which will be more fully expounded in the
progress of this work.
As earnest and thoughtful homceopaths it behooves us not
only to do justice to the routine-business of practice, but
to develop the Idea which originally gave rise to the foundation of the Hlomceopathic School. Let us continue the
attempt to develop a doctrine, and to suggest a corresponding practice of lHomoeopathy, which shall secure for her a
name among the Medical Reforms of this and of all future




GENERAL DEFINITION OF HOM(E OPATHY. 29
Ages. Our successors may complete this work which may
prove to be the work of generations.
Let us act unitedly, with hearts animated by high hopes
and aspirations, and with a single eye to the glory of our
Cause.
lHomceopathy is something more than a mere Art, the
exercise of which may afford us a good living and a position in Society. Let us remember that the medical systems
of the day are the systems of man, which pass away and
are forgotten; whereas lomeeopathy is the System of God
which never passes away, nor is forgotten. Written upon
the pages of Nature, lHomceopathy invites us to study and
to apply her laws without prejudice or conceit, with the
wisdom of serpents and the innocence of doves. If we
pursue our studies in this spirit, Hlomceopathy will unfold
to our inner souls the glorious harmonies of the Divine
Government, even amid the agonies of the sick-chamber,
and will dispose us to worship its behests, in pleasure or
pain, as the fiat of Infinite Love.




30       ANALYSIS OF HAINEMANN'S
A STATEMENT
OF THE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES OF THE HOM(EOPATHIC
SCHOOL, AS SUGGESTED BY A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS
OF HAHNEMANN'S ESSAY, ENTITLED:
"SPIRIT OF THE HOMCEOPATIIIC DOCTRINE."
HAHNEMANN is undoubtedly the best authority from
which a statement of his doctrines can be obtained. In
our previous dissertation, we have alluded to his Essay,
entitled "Spirit of the Homoeopathic Doctrine," and forming part of the second volume of his Materia Medica Pura.
This Essay is likewise published in the collection of his
lesser writings. It presents the most logical and concise
enunciation of the doctrines of Homoeopathy, which Hahnemann has left to an admiring posterity. We will give a
synoptical view of the reasonings embodied in this publication, and accompany our statements by such remarks as
the subject may call for.  Our great object is to teach
Homceopathy. In order to attain this object, we shall have
to take every opportunity of expounding our own teachings,
and elucidating the doctrines of the great -Founder of our
School by repeated explanations.
" What life is," writes Hahnemann, " can only be inferred
from its phenomenal manifestations; no conception of it
can be formed by any metaphysical speculations a priori;
what life is, in its actual essential nature, can never be
ascertained or even guessed at, by mortals.
"Life cannot be compared to any thing in Nature save
to itself alone; neither to a piece of clockwork, nor to an
hydraulic machine, nor to chemical processes, nor to
decompositions and recompositions of gases, nor yet to a
galvanic battery, in short to nothing destitute of life.
Human life is in no respect regulated by physical laws




SPIRIT  OF HOM(EOPATHY.                31
which only obtain among inorganic substances. The material substances of which the living organism is composed,
do not follow the laws to which inanimate material substances are subject; they are regulated by the laws peculiar
to vitality alone; they are themselves animated just as the
whole system is animated. Here a nameless, fundamental
power reigns omnipotent, which suspends all tendency of
the material constituents of the body to obey the laws of
gravitation, of fermentation, putrefaction, etc., and renders
these constituents subordinate to the wonderful laws of life
alone; in other words, maintains them in the condition of
sensibility and activity necessary to the preservation of the
living whole, a condition almost spiritually-dynamic."
In this paragraph, Habnemann proclaims himself a vitalist, a believer in vital forces; let us now examine what
views he takes of the nature of disease.
"As the condition of the organism," writes Hahnemann,
" and its healthy state, depend solely on the state of the vital
force which animates it, so is the altered state which we
term disease, simply an alteration of the vital sensibilities
and functions, irrespective of all chemical or mechanical
principles; disease must consist in a dynamic change of the
vital condition, whereby a change in the properties of the
material component parts of the body is afterwards effected.
This change is a necessary consequence of the morbidly
altered condition of the living whole in every individual
case."
In this paragraph Hahnemann takes the ground which
every philosopher who believes in the existence of a vital
force, is logically obliged to take, that disease is an immaterial, abnormal change in the condition of vitality, of
which the visible material changes in the tissues are unavoidable effects. Hahnemann explains this still further,
when he goes on to say that,
"The exciting causes of disease act by means of their




32        ANALYSIS OF'HAHNEMANN7S
special'properties on the state of our bodily vitality in a
dynamic manner, very much as a spiritual cause would do.
By first deranging the organs of the higher rank, a dynamic
alteration of the living organism, an altered sensibility and
functional activity of each individual organ and all of them
collectively, are induced, whereby, secondarily, an abnormal
alteration of the fluids and of all the secretions must necessarily occur, the inevitable consequence of the altered vital
character which now differs from the healthy state."
itahnemann goes on to say that "these abnormal matters
which show themselves in diseases, are consequently mere
products of the disease itself, which, as long as the malady
retains its present character, must of necessity be secreted,
and thus constitute a portion of the morbid signs or symptoms; they are merely effects, and therefore manifestations
of the existing internal ill-health, and they do not react, as
disease-exciting substances upon the diseased body which
produced them, although other, healthy individuals may be
infected by them."
We may here observe that some of the lower animals seem
to constitute an exception to this rule. It seems to be a
well ascertained fact that certain reptiles, when very much
enraged, destroy themselves by their own bites. We may
likewise refer to Ricord's successful demonstration of the
fact, that the virus of chancres and the matter of gonorrhcea, are both capable of reproducing these diseases upon
the bodies from whence they were taken. In order to ascertain the true character of a suspicious ulcer, surgeons
inoculate some other part of the body with the secreted
pus; if of syphilitic origin, a chancre is reproduced. These
facts, however, do not militate against HIahnemann's original position that diseases, in their origin, are dynamic derangernents of the organic vitality.
HIahnemann continues: " We readily perceive that these
dynamic derangements of the organic vitality which we
term disease, since they are nothing else than altered sensa



SPIRIT OF HOM(EOPATHY.                 33
tions and functions, can only become known to the understanding by an aggregate of symptoms.
"Inasmuch as diseases, being dynamic derangements of
the vitality, are manifested solely by alterations of the sensations and functions of our organism, that is solely by an
aggregate of perceptible symptoms, this alone can be the
object of treatment in every case of disease. For, on theremoval of all morbid symptoms, nothing remains but
health.
Here we must pause, and consider more attentively the
extraordinary position taken by Hahnemann in this and
similar paragraphs against the dogmatic routine of centuries.
Let us glance for a moment at the last paragraph which
we have quoted from Hahnemann, where he teaches the
broad and unqualified doctrine, that the removal of the
symptoms implies a cure of the disease.
Of course, if there are no morbid symptoms, a person is
either well, or else the disease with which he is afflicted, is
an abstraction to all intents and purposes; for how are we
to diagnose a disease without any perceptible symptoms?
This is a sheer impossibility, unless we resort to clairvoyance or to similar modes of diagnosis which do not admit of
positive demonstration, and must, therefore, be considered
as unreliable. A disease without symptoms cannot be diagnosed, and is therefore beyond the reach of treatment.
If we now ask the question: What are symptoms? We
shall find that every perceptible phenomenon which indicates an abnormal condition, or by means of which the true
character of an abnormal condition may be ascertained, constitutes a symptom or morbid indication. All subjective
abnormal sensations, pains of every description, constitute
morbid indications. Eruptions, swellings, abnormal secretions of every kind, every possible functional or organic
disorder, constitute morbid indications. Percussion and
auscultation yield morbid indications in the shape of physi3




34 HAHNEMANN'S SPIRIT OF IOM(EOPATHY.
cal signs. It is not only the privilege, but the duty of a
homceopathic physician to avail himself of all the resources
furnished by the stethoscope, for the purpose of arriving at
a correct diagnosis.
Symptoms, as iHahnemann very justly observed in the
last mentioned paragraph, indicate the internal disease, by
which he means the altered or abnormal condition of the
organic vitality. When isolatedly considered, without reference to the general abnormal condition of which they
simply constitute the outward manifestations cognizable by
the senses or by the understanding, they may be placed side
by side in numerical order, like the words in a dictionary,
without any logical or internal unity. In order to remove
or wipe out these symptoms, it was the fashion with many
of the older followers of Hahnemann, to select a drug for
such a purpose, which numbered among its pathogenetic
effects, by which we mean effects produced by proving the
drug upon the healthy body, as nearly as possible a list of
symptoms that seemed similar to the symptoms of the natural disease. They termed this method of selecting a drug:
covering the symptoms. If one drug was not sufficient for
such a purpose, two were chosen, and given in alternation.
Now, is it not evident to the simplest common sense, that
this mode of proceeding failed to take cognizance of the
great and most essential fact: that these symptoms derived
their specific value and meaning not from their mere form,
as expressed by words, but from their connection and relation to a general pathological condition or state? If we
say: nose, eye, mouth, ear, and thus enumerate a complete
list of all the parts of the human body, we do not designate
a living human personality; it is the indwelling life-principle that groups these parts into a whole, and gives them
character and expression. Nor do we obtain a correct
and clear diagnosis of a disease by simply drawing up a
numerical juxtaposition of the symptoms. In many cases
the symptoms are so eminently characteristic that it would
be considered absurd, even by an uneducated layman, to




VALUE OF SYMPTOMS.                   35
consider them merely as symptoms, without inquiring into
their pathological meaning and connection. Everybody,
for instance, knows what is meant by small-pox, scarlatina,
measles. These, and a host of other eruptive diseases, are
well known; their identity has been preserved for thousands of years; the symptoms by which they manifest themselves, in other words, their pathognomonic signs, have
been found to be the same in all countries and ages. Hence,
we infer that these diseases are, each of them, something
distinct, something specific, sui generis, and that the totality
of their phenomena should be considered with reference to
the essential principle which develops them in the tissues.
This doctrine of the pathological unity of the symptoms
of a disease, is equally applicable to every other disturbance
of the physiological functions. A pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs, for instance, is not merely an aggregate of symptoms, but the aggregation of the symptoms
depends upon an internal unitary condition of abnormal
vitality. Symptoms, therefore, should never be considered
without reference to the pathological condition of the vital
organism. It is this condition alone that imparts a definite,
unmistakable character to the symptoms, and enables us to
discriminate between these and other apparently similar
symptoms, which, nevertheless, may differ from the former
in all their essential features. How easily may a common
eczema be mistaken for varioloid, if the shape and appearance of the eruption are our only diagnostic signs; or how
easily might we mistake a syphilitic bubo for a common
glandular swelling, if the internal character of the disease
and the character of the accompanying ulcer were not carefully considered. The symptomatic branch of the Homoeopathic School has undoubtedly erred in neglecting the
pathology of diseases. We shall hereafter examine the
contrivances and shifts which the symptomists have resorted to as substitutes for this most essential item of the
great Science of Therapeutics.




86 HAI NEMANN'S SPIRIT OF HOMIEOPATHY.
We have seen that Hahnemann defines disease as an abnormal condition of the vital forces of the organism, and
that, according to his teaching, a cure has been effected
when all the perceptible symptoms of the disease have been
removed. Let us now proceed a little farther in our consideration of the Essay which we have taken as our guide
in the study of the fundamental doctrines of lHomoeopathy.
Hlahnemann goes on to say, after teaching that, "on the
removal of the morbid symptoms nothing remains but
health:"
"Now because diseases are only dynamic derangements
of our normal vitality, they cannot be removed by man
otherwise than by means of agents and powers which likewise are capable of producing dynamical derangements of
the human health; that is to say, diseases are cured dynamically by medicines.
"These active substances or medicines effect the cure of
diseases by means of the same dynamic powers by which
they are able to derange the vital condition of the organism
in respect to its sensations and functions, and to produce in
this organism dynamic changes manifested by certain morbid symptoms, the knowledge of which, as we shall see,
affords us the most trustworthy information concerning
the morbid states that can be most certainly cured by each
particular medicine.
"There is no agent, no power in Nature capable of morbidly affecting the healthy individual, which does not at
the same time possess the faculty of curing certain morbid
states.
"Inasmuch as the power of curing diseases, and that of
morbidly affecting persons in health, is found indissolubly
united in all drugs; and inasmuch as both these powers
emanate from the same source, viz.: from the faculty inherent in every drug of dynamically affecting the condition
of the organism, whence it follows that their action uppn
organs in disease takes place according to the same indwelling laws, as their action upon organs in their normal




PROVYNG  OF DRUGS.                   37
condition: we finally infer that it is the same drug-force
which effects a cure as that which develops morbid symptoms in health.
"Hence we shall find that the curative power of medicines and that which each of them  is able to effect in
diseases, does not become manifest in any other way more
surely or palpably, and cannot be ascertained by us in any
more perfect manner than by the morbid phenomena which
medicines develop in healthy individuals. Hence, if it is
sufficient to have before us a list of the peculiar morbid
symptoms produced by the various medicines on healthy
individuals, all we require to do is to institute a series of
pure experiments to decide what medicinal symptoms will
always rapidly and permanently cure and remove certain
symptoms of disease, in order to determine beforehand, in
every case, which of all the different medicines known and
thoroughly tested as to their peculiar symptoms, must be
the most certain remedy in every case of disease."
These few paragraphs suggest the consideration of two
important points in the doctrines of the Hoinoeopathic
School; we allude to the proving of drugs upon persons in
health, and to the existence of a dynamic principle or force
in every drug. Let us devote a few moments to a more
minute examination of these interesting subjects.
Previous to Hahnemann, regular provings of drugs were
not deemed necessary to secure a perfect adaptation of the
remedial agent to the disease. The pharmaco-dynamic properties of drugs were generally known only from some accidental cases of poisoning, or from the effects produced by
an excessive dose of the drug, which constituted, after all,
a peculiar species of legalized poisoning. One drug was
simply known as an emetic, more or less mild or severe in
its operations, but still only as an emetic; another drug as
a febrifuge; another as a sudorific; another as a diuretic;
another again as a rubefacient; another as an antiphlogistic; and these unsatisfactory generalizations led to, and confirmed the exceedingly speculative practice of former times.




38 HAHNE MANN'S SPIRIT OF tOM(EOPATHY.
The Healing Art, it strikes us, consisted simply of the few
very general and very vague operations of bleeding, sweating, purging, vomiting, salivating, stupefying, stimulating
or blistering the patient; and the scorching satire which
the keen genius of Moliere has inflicted upon the dogmatism
and the self-sufficient pride of the profession, in his "MALADE IMAGINAIRE," howsoever humiliating this imperishable monument of wit and comedy may appear to all superficial and truth-dreading followers of iEsculapius, must,
nevertheless, be received as a permanent protest of the insulted sense and the wounded sensibilities of humanity
against the barbarous empiricism which had been enthroned
in the schools as the goddess of medical truth, and was
worshipped by an infatuated and ignorant multitude as
heaven's sublimest inspiration, and the prerogative of unapproachable and mysterious genius. It is true, a great
many, and, indeed, all the noble spirits of the profession,
had recorded their condemnation of the blind empiricism
and sweeping generalizations of their art.  Boerhaave,
Sydenham, iuxham, Hoffmann, Girtanner, Ialler, had expressed their dissatisfaction with the uncertainties of Medicine and the fanciful theories of her professors; but no
positive and radical reforms had ever been proposed by any
of these writers, and it must be admitted that the first signal
revolution in the principles and practice of Medicine, whatever value may otherwise be attached to it by its friends or
opponents, dates from the period when llahnemann proclaimed the doctrine: that a cure can only be effected by
means of drugs which are capable of producing, in healthy
organisms, a train of symptoms exactly similar to those of
the natural disease.
In order to oppose a series of natural morbid symptoms
by a similar series of drug-symptoms, the symptoms which
the drug is capable of producing in the healthy organism,
have not only to be known with perfect correctness, but in
their totality. The natural group of symptoms is beyond
our grasp; the laws of life and the influences by which they




PROVING  OF DRUGS.                  39
happen to be disturbed, are the determining causes of this
group, and regulate it according to their own sovereign
pleasure. But the artificial group, or the symptoms which
the drug contains, as it were, within the recesses of its
structural organization, and which it is the business of the
prover to develop in a regular series, are more or less subject to his control, and their exact and complete evolution
depends a good deal upon the arbitrament of his own judgment. For, he has to determine what substances in Nature
constitute, properly speaking, drugs, and from which of
them such symptoms can be elicited as have a positive, unmistakeable therapeutic value; he has to determine whether
those whom he desires to associate with himself in the business of proving, enjoy sufficient health and energy to bear
the privations and fatigue which the trial of drugs involves,
and are not exposed to influences that might impair the action
of the drug or produce before the observing reason a train
of adulterated or factitious symptoms; he has, furthermore,
to determine in what quantities and order the drug which
is to be proved, is to be taken, in order that its true physiological action may be fully and correctly developed; and,
finally, he has to watch the changes which are taking place
in the organism during the trial of the drug, with persevering and discriminating attention, lest the drug should be
credited with symptoms which are attributable to altogether
different causes. The proving of drugs, therefore, involves
a variety of eminent qualities of which the prover should
be possessed: sound health, a discriminating judgment, a
perfect absence of that species of vanity which delights in
producing a vast array of symptoms at the expense of
truth, and a noble enthusiasm which is not afraid of systematically inflicting pain and distress upon the bodily frame
in the service of the holiest cause, the cause of suffering
humanity.  WVhen Hahnemann first instituted systematic
provings of drugs, he was surrounded by a band of devoted
disciples who, under the leadership of their master, made
it their sacred duty to sacrifice their comfort and risk their




40 IIA HINEMANN S SPIRIT OF HOMEOPATHY.
very lives in the noble endeavor of building up an authoritative, universally acknowledged Materia Medica upon the
incontrovertible basis of positive experimentation.  His'Materia Medica Pura, with the magnificent provings of
Aconite, Belladonna, Cinchona, Mercurius, Nux; Vomica,
Ignatia, Pulsatilla, Ipecacuanha, and a number of other
drugs will be looked upon by the remotest posterity as a
monument of careful and just observation of the physiological action of drugs upon the healthy organism. And,
more recently, the provings and re-provings of a body of
Austrian homeopathic physicians deserve to be mentioned
as instances of brilliant devotion in the cause of true medical science. Every symptom which these various provers
have recorded as the positive effect of some drug, bears upon
its face an undeniable expression of the truth; and the complex of the symptoms of a drug reveals with unmistakeable
accuracy its peculiar sphere of action as a therapeutic agent.
The efforts of these provers, among whom some of the
boldest and persevering experimenters are physicians of
what we have deemed it our privilege to designate as the
Old School, have been commended by such men as Trous:
seau and Pidoux in the most flattering terms. The proving
of drugs upon persons in perfect health is universally recognized by physicians of every School as the only safe method
of determining their therapeutic properties by their healthdisturbing powers. If some members of the homeeopathic
brotherhood have rendered themselves guilty of censurable
extravagances in this business of proving, lIomeeopathy as a
Science, should not be held responsible for their aberrations.
Let us now examine the second point which constitutes a
prominent feature in Hlahnemann's doctrines, viz.: that every
drug contains a characteristic force or principle which is
essential to this, and to no other drug. What is it, for
instance, that distinguishes Belladonna from Aconite?  We
may answer: the external appearance, the shape of the
leaves, the color and shape of the flowers, and other natural




DYNAMIC PRINCIPLE OF DRUGS.                41
properties. But a homoeopathist inquires farther: Do these
distinguishing properties depend upon a purely external
combination of atoms, or upon an indwelling principle or
power?  WVe answer: If these properties depended upon,
or rather, resulted from a chemico-physical combination of
atoms, what is it that maintains, develops and perpetuates
this peculiar order of atomic combination?  Supposing
every plant to be composed of Carbo, Oxygen, Nitrogen
and Hydrogen, we ask: by virtue of what force or power
in Nature is it that these four principles are united, in one
case, into a peculiar order resulting in Stramonium; in
another case, resulting in Belladonna; in another, in Aconite;
in, another again, in the rose or tulip; in short, resulting in
every case in some plant characteristically distinct from
every other?  We say that there is inherent in every drug
a force or power constituting the essential or, if you please,
life-principle of the drug, upon whose presence in the drug,
whether organic or inorganic, its atomic combination and
characteristic properties depend.  It is by means of this
principle, which Hahnemann designates as a dynamic force,
that homceopathic physicians act upon a corresponding
disease, and effect all their cures without disturbing the
organism.
Having critically examined the provings of drugs, and
inquired into the existence of a dynamic force or principle
in every drug, we are prepared to continue the study and
consideration of Hahnemann's Essay on the Spirit of the
Homoeopathic Doctrine. Hahnemann goes on to say:
"If we ask experience what artificial diseases, as elicited
by provings, can be beneficially employed against certain
natural morbid states; if we ask experience whether a cure
may be expected to ensue most certainly and in the most
permanent manner
1. "by the use of such medicines as are capable of producing in the healthy body a series of symptoms different
from those exhibited by the disease to be cured,




42  IIAHNEMANN'S SPIRIT OF HOM(EOPATHIY.
2. " or by the employment of such as are capable of existing in the healthy individual an opposite state to that which
is to be removed; or
3. "by the administration of such medicines as are capable
of causing a condition similar to the natural disease before
us: experience declares indubitably in favor of the last
method."
The first of these methods is designated by iHahnemann as
the allopathic; the second as the antipcathic or enanthiopathic;
and the last as the homceopathic method of treatment.
In regard to the first of these methods, Hahnemann teaches
that, inasmuch as every medicine possesses an action different
from that of every other, and inasmuch, according to eternal
natural laws, every disease causes a derangement of the
human health different from that caused by every other
disease, it is evident that a drug-action developed allopathically, cannot meet a natural morbid action from which it
must for ever remain distinct, as a parallel line can never
touch the other, were both indefinitely prolonged.
The so-called derivative, revulsive, or counter-irritant method
is one of the methods adopted by the Allopathic School.
As man became better acquainted with the operations of the
nervous system, he sought to bring the treatment of diseases
more in harmony with the eternal principles of Nature. It
was observed that an internal pain would sometimes cease
with the appearance of an eruption or boil upon the skin; or
that some lingering disease, a weakness of the stomach, an
oppression on the chest, a chronic headache, a lingering
fever, debility and so forth, would disappear spontaneously
with the breaking out of a sore, or of some eruption upon
the chest, head or extremities. These observations gave rise
to the so-called derivative or revulsive method of treatment.
As long as this treatment is not carried beyond its true
boundaries, it may be a legitimate mode of affording relief.
There cannot be any reasonable objection to a warm poultice,
a pitch-plaster, or even a mustard-plaster, as long as the




ABUSE OF REVULSIVE TREATMENT.   43
sufferings of the patient are really palliated by such simple
applications; but when the principle of counter-irritation is
made the basis of a compact system of treatment, it then
leads to results which are justly condemned by every friend
of man as frightful aberrations of an insane and barbarous
Science. Will it be believed by an enlightened and refined
posterity, that the great and sacred purpose of the Healing
Art, which is, to alleviate, and not to inflict suffering, was
ever sought to be attained by scorching a man's back with a
red-hot iron, or burning his skin by a slow fire?  And yet,
these practices which are now repudiated by every truehearted physician, were once the fashionable tortures which
the cruel genius of man had devised for the relief of the sick.
In regard to the second or antipathic method, Hahnemann seeks to demonstrate its insufficiency by the following
line of argument: " The antipczthic method cannot effect a
prominent cure of the disease, because the malady must
soon afterwards recur in an aggravated form. According
to a wonderful provision of Nature, organized living beings
are not regulated by the laws of unorganized physical
matter; they do not receive the influence of external
agents, like the latter, in a passive manner, but strive to
oppose these agents by a contrary endeavor. At first the
living human body is indeed changed by the' action of
physical agents; but this change does not remain permanently as in the case of inorganic substances; on the
contrary, the living human organism develops by antagonism a condition which is the opposite of the primary
impression.
"Hence a medicine whose action is contrary to the
disease, can suspend or alter the morbid symptoms only for
a short time; it must soon give place to the antagonism
which pervades the living body and produces a contrary
state, that is to say, a state opposed to the delusive state of
health effected by the palliative remedy. This secondary
state constitutes an addition to the primary affection, and




44 HAHNEMANN'S SPIRIT OF HOM(EOPATHY.
is consequently an increased degree of the original disease.
Thus it is that the original malady is always aggravated,
after the palliative medicine has exhausted its action."
The celebrated formula " Contrarica Contrariis Curantur,"
is the formula of the palliative method of treatment, designated by Hahnemann as the antipathic system. This system
must necessarily have been the first method of treatment
that man stumbled upon in the infancy of his understanding.
When disease broke out in the world, the probability is
that a good many persons had to be sick, before the idea,
that a curative relation exists between poisons and diseases,
dawned upon man's infantile reason; and when a first
perception of the uses of drugs finally developed itself in
the human mind, by what other principle could man have
been guided in their application than by a principle of
antagonism?  He knew that, when feeling cold, he could
neutralize the cold by warming himself; or that, when
feeling hungry or thirsty, hunger and thirst would disappear after eating or drinking.  Was it not natural that this
daily experience should have been applied to the use of
drugs in diseases, and that, if the bowels, for instance, were
constipated, man should have selected for the removal of
that constipation some drug which he knew produced the
opposite effect-?  Indeed, this became the general principle
of cure so far as it was applicable. Medicines were prescribed that had a tendency to produce effects contrary to
those of the disease.
This principle, which has been perpetuated under the
well known formula of " Contraria Contrariis Curantur," is
liable to serious objections. One of the principal objections
is, that it is impossible to find a contrarium to disease.
What is the contrarium of a sick-headache? Of colic? Of
pneumonia?  Of paralysis?  Of pleurisy?  Diseases have
no contraries, and the principle " Contraria Contrariis," is
therefore, at most, a theoretical sophism. But even in cases
where the principle might have been applied with a show
of reason; for instance, in a case of diarrhcea or constipa



ABUSE OF PALLIATIVE  TREATMENT.   45
tion, it was soon discovered that the use of a contrary
medicine frequently had the effect of aggravating the condition of the patient, and rendering his complaint more
obstinate in the end. It was seen that the principle " Contraria Contrariis" is a perfect rule, when a palliating effect is
to be obtained; that it applies perfectly to the common
processes of life; that hunger is satisfied by food, thirst
quenched by drinks, cold is removed by heat, and heat
tempered by cold; and that, by all these palliative gratifications, the organism is strengthened, and the harmony of
its functions preserved. But it was likewise perceived that,
when this principle was elevated to the rank of a curative
law, it became a dangerous fallacy. "In chronic diseases,"
writes Hahnemann, "which constitute the true touchstone
of a genuine Healing Art, the injurious character of the
antagonistic remedy often displays itself in a high degree,
since its repeated exhibition for merely illusory curative
purposes renders it necessary, that it should be administered
in increasing doses which are often productive of serious
danger to life, or even of actual death."
"There remains therefore," teaches Hahnemann, " only a
third mode of employing medicines in order to effect a
really beneficial result, to wit, by employing in every case
a medicine that has power to e:cite of itself an artificial
morbid affection in the organism similar to the actual case
of disease.
"It is not difficult to perceive what are the laws of
Nature, according to which the only appropriate cure of
diseases, the homceopathic, takes place.
" The first of these unmistakeable laws of Nature is: the
living organism is incomparably less capable of being
affected by natural diseases than by medicines.
"A multitude of disease-exciting causes act daily and
hourly upon us, but they are incapable of deranging the
physiological equilibrium of the organism; being resisted
by the activity of the life-sustaining power within us, the




46 HIAHNEMIANN'S SPIRIT OF HIOMLEOPATHIY.
individual remains healthy. It is only when these external
inimical agencies assail us in a very aggravated form, and
we are especially exposed to their influence, that we contract disease; but even then we-do not become seriously
ill, unless the organism is disposed, by virtue of a peculiar
inherent predisposition, to be affected by the morbific cause
in question, and to be deranged in its health.
" If the inimical agents in Nature which we term morbific
agents and which are partly physical and partly psychical,
that is, pertaining either to the bodily or spiritual range,
possessed an unconditional power of deranging the human
health, they would not leave any one in good health on
account of their being so universally distributed; every
one would become ill, and we should never be able to obtain an idea of health. But since, upon the whole, diseases
are only exceptional states of the organism, it follows that
it is only in consequence of a particular predisposition that
the individual becomes liable to being affected by morbific
causes, and the organism becomes capable of being disturbed
by disease."
Before proceeding, we desire to call the reader's attention
to the fact that iahnemann, in this paragraph, admits the
existence, first, of morbificforces; secondly, of morbidpredispositions; and thirdly, of conditions favorable to the development of diseases. These teachings will prove valuable to us
in our subsequent exposition of the homeeopathic law.
Let us proceed.
" It is far otherwise," writes iEahnemann, "with the artificial dynamic agents which we term medicines. Every
true drug acts at all times, under all circumstances, on any
living body, and excites in it the symptoms peculiar to the
drug in a perceptible form, provided the dose is large
enough, so that every human organism must always and
inevitably be affected by the medicinal disease, which, as is
well known, is not the case with respect to natural diseases.
"All experience proves incontestably that the human
body is much more readily affected by medicinal agents




DRUG-DISEASES SUPERIOR TO NATURAL DISEASES.  47
than by morbific principles and contagious miasms; or,
what amounts to the same thing, that medicinal substances
possess an absolute power of deranging human health,
whereas morbific agents possess only a very conditional
power, vastly inferior to the former."
This circumstance enables us, according to Hahnemann's
further teachings, to employ drugs for definite curative
purposes, in obedience to a second natural law which
lTahnemann expresses in the following proposition: " A
stronger dynamic affection permanently extinguishes the
weaker in the living organism, provided the former be
similar in kind to the latter; for," argues Hahnemann, "the
organism, as a living, individual unity, cannot receive two
similar dynamic affections at the same time, without the
weaker yielding to the stronger similar one; consequently,
as it is more disposed to be more strongly affecteJ by the
medicinal affection, the other, similar, weaker one, or the
natural disease, must necessarily give way, or allow itself
to be cured."
ilahnemann, as if foreseeing the objection which would
be raised against this mode of explaining the operation of
homceopathic agents, adds:
"Let it not be imagined that the living, organism, if a
new affection be communicated to it by a homceopathic
agent, will thereby become more seriously deranged, or
burdened with an addition to its sufferings, just as a leaden
plate which is pressed upon by an iron weight, is still more
severely bruised by placing a stone in addition upon it, or
a piece of copper heated by friction, must become still
hotter by pouring upon it water of a more elevated temperature. No, our living organism does not behave passively; it is not regulated by the laws that govern dead
matter; it reacts by vital antagonism, so as to surrender
itself as an individual living whole to its morbid derangement, and to allow this derangement to be extinguished
within it, when a stronger affection of a similar kind, pro



48 HAHNEMANN'S SPIRIT OF HOM(EOPATHY.
duced by an homceopathically-acting agent, takes possession
of the organism."
Hahnemann had undoubtedly an intuitive perception of
the therapeutic truth which he desired to convey in this
paragraph.  A  superficial reader may misinterpret his
meaning; to him it may seem as if Hahnemann taught the
doctrine that the organism, after the introduction of the
homceopathic agent, is assailed by two inimical forces instead of one, and that the effect of this double assault is to
induce a more decided, a more intensified reaction of the
vital power, which results in triumphantly expelling both
the natural and the artificial morbific agents from the tissues that had been invaded. If a medicine is administered
in accordance with the principle of contraria, this intensified
reaction of the organic vital force, in a specific direction,
does not ensue; in order to secure this result, the remedial
agent has to be administered in accordance with the law of
similarity of action, which secures a more specific depression of the vital force, and a corresponding reaction in an
opposite, curative direction.
This explanation seems to us incomplete, and not only
leads to serious misapprehensions, but furnishes plausible
grounds of attack! It seems shocking to common sense to
think, that, in order to rescue the sinking organism from
the enemy that prostrates its functional power, we must
depress this power a little more in order to excite it to
renewed and more vigorous efforts of reaction. Supposing
we see our friend attacked by a highwayman who has
almost succeeded in bringing him to the ground, Would
we think it an effectual method of endeavoring to relieve
our friend and save his life, by adding our blows to those
of the enemy?  Or would not the instinct of friendship
prompt us to assail the robber?  We shall endeavor to
show that a similar process takes place in achieving a homceopathic cure. The medicine, so far from assailing the
depressed vital force, on the contrary assails the depressing
morbific agent, not as our enemy, however, but rather as a




DRUG-DISEASES SUPERIOR TO NATURAL DISEASES.  49'
friend; not violently, brutishly, but by the power of affnity.
The medicine having a more direct, more positive, more
definite and more circumscribed power of action, exercises
a corresponding influence upon the morbid process that is
going on in the tissues. It absorbs and neutralizes, by
virtue of a superior affinity, the morbific principle, by concentrating and localizing its disorganizing agency within
positive boundaries. These boundaries are the impression
which the medicine, as a drug, makes upon the tissues. It
is an impression more specific, more direct, more positive
than the similar impression made by the natural morbific
agent; it is an impression of a more external order as it
were, ihaving power to absorb, to localize, or to externalize,
so to say, the internally-acting morbific agent. This is not
an act of force, of violence, but the result of a process of
attractive affinity as it were; the internally-acting natural
morbific agent is in closer affinity with the externallyacting artificial morbific agent, or drug, than it is with the
tissues of the organism; and it is this union between the
natural morbific principle and the drug that secures the
restoration of the organism to a state of physiological harmony. Why is a homceopathic cure supposed to be the
result of a spontaneously-acting restorative power of Nature, the vis medicatrix Natura?  Simply, because it is not
attended by any of those violent, -convulsive medications
and reactions which characterize the Old School method of
dosing. The homceopathic agent acts as a gentle friend,
quietly, without an effort, without causing the least disturbance. The only sign by which the patient is made
aware of the helping presence of the medicine, is the relief
which he experiences from his pains. In many cases, where
the sensitiveness of the tissues to remedial influences is not
only unimpaired but remarkably keen, this relief is sometimes so perfect, and seems such a natural event to the
patient, that this apparent spontaneousness of a cure is the
best evidence of the reality of remedial action.
The power which the artificial morbid affection, or the
4




50 IIAHNEMANN's  SPIRIT OF IIOM(EOPATHIY.
drug-disease, or drug-impression rather, possesses over the
natural morbific agent and its disturbing influence in the
tissues, is so specific, so positive, provided the drug impression is exactly similar, or homoeopathic, to the natural
disease, that, according to Hahnemann, a very small dose,
even an infinitesimal globule, is sufficient to secure a return
of the vital organism from the abnormal to the normal
condition. This doctrine he expresses in the concluding
paragraph of his Essay, in the following language:
"As the human organism, even in health, is more readily
influenced by drugs than by natural morbific agents, this
influence is felt in the highest degree by an organism which
is properly -predisposed by disease, provided the artificial
drug-disease is homoeopathic to the natural malady. Hence,
the smallest dose of the remedial agent is sufficient for a cure;
for the spiritual power of the medicine: does not, in this
instance, accomplish its object by means of quantity, but by
_potentiality and quality; a larger dose might be injurious, for
this reason, that a larger dose does not only not overcome the
morbid affection more certainly than the smallest possible
dose of the appropriate, or, rather, homoeopathically-administered agent, but likewise imposes a complex medicinal
disease which is always a malady, though it runs its course
in a shorter time."
Here we have an unmistakeable allusion to two doctrines
of the Homceopathic School which are peculiar to Hahnemann and to his original followers; we allude to the doctrine
of Small Doses and Medicinal Aggravations.
The doctrine of medicinal aggravations naturally followed
from Hahnemann's peculiar mode of accounting for a cure
in accordance with the law "similia similibus."  The primary effect of the homceopathically-administered agent is
to produce an aggravation of the original symptoms, not by
a quantitative increase of the malady, but by an intensified
focalisation or polarisation of the reactive energy of the




MEDICINAL AGGRAVATIONS.                  51
vital force. The doctrine teaches that the aggravation of
the morbid symptoms is only apparent, and theoretical
rather than real. What is real in the homceopathic cure,
is the increased intensity of the vital reaction. This it is
that the homoeopathic practitioner seeks to secure in administering his homoeopathically-chosen agent; the aggravation
of the morbid symptoms is a secondary, incidental, and not
by any means absolutely necessary accompaniment of a
homeeopathic cure.
In this, as in many other points of doctrine, homceopathic
practitioners have been guilty of a strange perversion of
ideas. Some have gone so far as to assert that a cure by a
strictly-homceopathic agent, is impossible without a previous
aggravation of the morbid symptoms. WVhat an infatuation!
How easily are the doctrines of a truly philosophical mind
belittled, distorted, and misapprehended by his technical
followers! The bugbear of homceopathic aggravations isbeginning to be stript of its terrors. WVe have become
convinced that in many cases, what was supposed to be a
medicinal aggravation, occasioned by the medicine, was
nothing more than a natural development of the disease
caused either by too small a dose or by the non-homoeopathicity of the medicine.
However, we do not desire to be misunderstood. Aggravations of the morbid symptoms do occur under homeeopathic
treatment. In some cases they may be avoidable; but in
other cases they are either spurious, or of a critical nature.
Genuine aggravations are of rare occurrence. What seems
an aggravation, is very frequently a series of analogous
drug-symptoms running a parallel-course with the pathological series, with which the former may be unable to
coalesce. A variety of causes may prevent this necessary
identification of the drug-disease with the natural malady.
The distance between these two series of phenomena may
not have been adequately measured, or, in the nature of
things, it may have become insurmountable. Peculiar idiosyncrasies, the character of the morbid diathesis, or an




52 IHAIINEMANN'S SPIRIT OF HOUIMEOPATIHY.
inherent want of affinity, may prevent a union between the
drug-action and the natural disease.
Supposed aggravations are, very frequently, critical evolutions of the morbid process. In such a case they may be
unavoidable, nor may it be possible to effect a cure without
them. After taking a few doses of the homoeopathicallyselected remedy, a patient who is afflicted with chronic
asthma, may be attacked with a violent paroxysm which,
so far from being a medicinal, and, therefore, avoidable
aggravation, may be a critical evolution of the pathological
process without which no cure could have taken place.
A manifestation of this character may occur in a case of
chronic hsemorrhoids, neuralgia, hemicrania, diarrhcea. The
apparent aggravation may be of a critical nature, originally
superinduced by medicinal agency, but nevertheless inherent
in the nature of the physiologico-pathological process as an
inevitable condition of a cure.
Regarding the doctrine of small closes, suffice it to say that
all intelligent and independent homoeopathic practitioners
of the present day consider it their privilege to employ the
whole scale of our preparations, from the tincture up to the
highest infinitesimal dose.
Through some unfortunate twist in the argument, homceopathic practitioners have presented the subject of infinitesimal doses in such a manner as to convey the impression,
that these doses and llomoeopathy mean one and the same
thing. If Homoeopathy has been styled the " Infinitesimal
Practice," it is, because homceopathic practitioners have laid
undue stress upon the size of the dose. It is a common
belief, among the uninformed laymen as well as among
physicians, that a disease is not treated homoeopathically
unless the dose is exceedingly small. We often hear
patients who employ allopathic physicians, exclaim: Our
doctor practices Homoeopathy, he gives little or no medicine.
It is undoubtedly true that a medicine which is specifically
homceopathic to the disease, will sometimes manifest curative




SMALL DOSES.                     53
results, even if it is administered in a very small quantity;
and it is quite natural that homceopathic practitioners, carried away by the startling and extraordinary character of
this phenomenon, should have made the infinitesimal size
of the dose a prominent feature and logical consequence of
their peculiar system of practice. Outside observers have
accepted this sign as the characteristic badge of Homoeopathy. It was no business of theirs to set professed
homceopaths who ought to know, right before their own
law and the public. If homceeopaths were forgetful of the
great fact, that Homceopathy does not mean either small or
big doses, but a System of Practice, where the curative
action of a remedial agent depends upon its inherent capability to affect the living tissues -similarly to the natural
disease, and to overcome the latter by virtue of a superior
affinity existing between it and the action of the drug; if
homeeopaths, we argue, were unmindful of this cardinal
truth, or were disposed to hide it under a bushel, and to
cover it up with all sorts of fanciful and childish baubles:
why should the public, especially the professional public,
who may have looked upon the homeeopathic intruder with
invidious eyes, trouble themselves about informing the
homoeopaths that they had inverted the natural order of
things in giving such extraordinary prominence to the
theory of small doses, and leaving others to find out for
themselves the basis upon which the Divine Architect of
Nature had erected the homceopathic edifice. It is not
without difficulty, or without exciting hostile passions, that
this grievous error can now be corrected, and that the law of
therapeutic affinities can be rescued from the mass of absurdities by which its dignity and glory have been tarnished.
The smallness of homoeopathic doses has been the object
of a good deal of ridicule at the hands of allopathic physicians. How can it be otherwise than that a globule of the
two-hundredth, or even of the thirtieth or twelfth potency,
should-call forth the derision and contempt of men who are




54  IAHNEMANN'S SPIRIT OF IHOEOPOPATHY.
in the habit of dealing out mercury to their patients by the
pound. The more philosophical minds, among the physicians of the Old School, begin to see and to admit the propriety of small doses. "We do not belong to the number of
those," say Trousseau and Pidoux in their classical work on
Therapeutics, " who fancy they have done with iahnemann,
after invoking Arago's authority, in order to prove that the
decillionth portion of a grain is to a grain, what an atom
which is almost invisible to the naked eye, is to the mass of
the sun. The quantity of pestilential or variola-virus which is
required to kill a man with the plague or variola, is undoubtedly very small, nor do we know whether Arago has ever
sought to determine its weight or volume with reference to
any known body.".Even palpable chemical quantities may induce striking
reactions; the remarkable sensitiveness of Iodine to starch is
well known to us all.
Nature herself delights in working out stupendous results
from microscopical beginnings. Look at the marvellous celldevelopment of plants. According to an approximative calculation, twenty thousand new cells are formed every minute
in the bovista gigantea, a fungus which is met with in European countries.
By filtering the juice of a ripe grape, we obtain a clear,
watery liquid. Already after the lapse of half an hour, it
commences to become turbid, to develope gaseous vesicles,
to ferment. After the lapse of three hours, a grayish-yellow
layer, or yeast, collects on the surface of the fluid, which,
under the microscope is seen as numberless little plants.
Millions of these form in a few hours, a cubic inch of yeast
containing upwards of a thousand millions.
We read in Schleiden's Life of Plants, that an East-Indian
nettle, the Urtica stimulans or Urtica crenulata, causes by its
mere contact a frightful swelling of the arm for weeks. The
Urtica urentissima, on the island of Timor, is called by the
natives Daoun Seton, (devil's leaf,) because the pains which
it causes by simple contact, continue for years, and amputa



SMALL DOSES.                      55
tion is often the only means of saving life. These terrible
effects are produced by a quantity of the poison equal to the
one-hundred-fifty-thousandth of a grain.
"It is doubtless," writes this beautiful and philosophical
poit of Nature, "it is doubtless characteristic of a rude age
and low degree of culture, to measure the value or importance of a thing by its large or small size; this measure
cannot be applied to the most essential and most valuable
thing known to us, to the human mind, which cannot be
determined by feet, inches and lines. It is only to a sensual
nature that the physically large appears imposing; the more
cultivated man endeavors to learn to know the objects of his
contemplation in every direction; from a complete knowledge
thereof he will derive an opinion concerning their essential
or non-essential character, and frequently he will find that
that which has the smallest dimensions, is of the utmost
importance."
Need we call the reader's attention to the fact that man,
who is created in the image and likeness of the infinite, is at
first nothing but a rudimentary vesicle, which can only be
seen through a powerful microscope? Why then will our
allopathic brother insist upon railing at our small doses,
instead of railing at his own ignorance and at the grossness
of his perceptions?
In concluding his interesting Essay, which we have adopted
as the foundation for our own argument, llahnemann writes
with the glowing faith of an honest and enthusiastic reformer:
"There is no case of dynamic disease, whose symptoms can
be discovered in great similarity among the positive effects of
a medicine, which will not be rapidly and permanently cured
by this agent. The diseased individual can be freed from
his malady in no more easy, rapid, certain, reliable and permanent manner, by any conceivable mode of treatment, than
by means of the homceopathic medicine in a small dose."
The death-struggle, old age, and organic destructions of




56  IAIISNEMANN'S SPIRIT OF HIOM(E OPATHY.
vital parts do not come under the operation of the homceopathic or any other law of cure.
So far we have endeavored to furnish a statement of the
received doctrines of Homceopathy; according to these
doctrines, the formula " SSimilia Similibus Curantur "' simply
means the combating or wiping out a natural morbid impression by acting upon it by means of an exactly similar
or corresponding homceopathic medicinal impression. These
doctrines leave out an important stone in the foundations of
our therapeutic edifice; they are perfectly sufficient as a
definition of iomoeopathic Art; they still leave the philosophic mind to inquire: how do you prove the reality of
the homceopathic law as a law of Nature?  How do you
account for this law? How do you demonstrate it to the
consciousness of an inquiring mind as an inherent truth of
the reason? Let us now attempt to answer these questions.




OMMEOPATHIC LAW  OF CURE.               57
INDUCTIVE  DEFINITION
OF THE
HIIOMEOPATHIIC LAW OF CURE.
MEDICINE must either have come to man by revelation or
by the slow process of observation. It is not probable that
Providence ever revealed to man the uses of drugs by any
other method than that of experience. If he did possess
such a revelation at any time, it is certain that all traces of
it have disappeared, and that, as far as existing records bear
us testimony, Medicine is emphatically a science, which,
under the over-ruling Providence of God, has been developed by human reason, and is enlarged and perfected more and
more, by a more accurate perception and.a more universal
unfolding of the facts which constitute its legitimate domain.
We can easily imagine that, at one period, in the first ages
of the world, man must have been totally ignorant of all
distinction between poisons and nutrient substances, and
that, not being possessed of instinct, which, to the animal,
is a perfectly safe guide in the'selection of its food, he may
have mistaken the deleterious berry of Belladonna for some
pleasant fruit, or a poisonous mushroom for an innocuous
vegetable. The probability is that man frequently allowed
himself to be deceived by appearances, and that he was frequently beguiled into the notion that what seemed beautiful
and attractive to the eye, must be pleasant and useful as an
article of diet.'Reason tells us that experience and observation were man's first guides towards the acquisition of
knowledge, and that his first initiation into the properties
of poisons must have been the fruit of painful and fatal
mistakes. But a knowledge of the properties of poisons
did not, by any means, imply a knowledge of their uses as
medicinal agents. The fact that poisons are possessed of
therapeutic properties must have been suggested to man by




58      INDUCTIVE  DEFINITION  OF THE
his gradually unfolding reason. Although confirmed by, it
was not primarily derived from, experience.
To the physiological physician as well as to the uneducated
layman the broad classification of all created substances which
are in relation with, and subserve the purposes of the human
organism, into drugs and hygienic agents, must seem sufficient, so far as the physiological or pathological life of the
organism is concerned. HIahnemann has made this classification one of the corner-stones of his great System. Trousseau and Pidoux adopt the same classification in their Treatise of Materia Medica and Therapeutics.
"Every drug," say these brilliant writers, "has positive
properties very different from those which characterise hygienic agents. These modify health, drugs modify diseases.
In order to sustain health, the former enjoy properties
which are agreeable to a healthy, and disagreeable or even
hurtful to a sick man. In order to cure diseases, drugs, on
the contrary, enjoy properties which are disagreeable or
hurtful to a healthy, and useful or even agreeable to a sick
person. Hence, there is the same opposition between a
drug and a hygienic agent as between disease and health,
or the same repugnance between a drug and a healthy.man
as between tliments and a sick man. In order to establish
these two propositions, we evidently select two well-defined
types, viz.: a drug possessing in an eminent degree the unpleasant and hurtful properties of its class, and an acute,
specific and serious disease developing in the organism this
strange change which seems to ingraft upon it, for a shorter
or longer period, a life entirely different from the ordinary
vitality.
"Hence, for -the same reason that the disease calls to mind
the drug, and assists us in finding it; the drug enables us to
trace the disease, and: protests against the disease being confounded with a purely accidental physiological disturbance."
It is impossible to draw the distinction between medicinal
and hygienic agents with more clearness and force than
Trousseau and Pidoux have done in this paragraph. The




HOM(EOPATHIIC LAW  OF CURE.               59..concluding lines are, moreover, fraught with a momentous
truth. As the disease calls to mind the drug which is peculiar or specifically adapted to it, so does, on the other hand,
the drug enable us to trace the disease. Let us remember
that this proposition is taught officially in every Medical
School of France, where Trousseau and Pidoux' Treatise is
used by order of the government as one of the official textbooks of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. As the disease
calls to mind the drug which is adapted to it, so does the
drug enable us to trace the disease.
What is the meaning of all this?  How does the drug
enable us to trace the disease?  In other words, in what
manner or by what signs does the drug reveal to us the
disease with which it is in curative rapport? There is but
one way in which this result can be accomplished by a drug.
It is by provihg the drug upon the healthy organism. The
drug-effects thus produced by pure or positive experimentation indicate the pathological condition with which the drug is
in curative correspondence. Does not Trousseau and Pidoux'
teachings tacitly, or by implication, admit the law of similarity?  WVhat would be the use of proving a drug upon
the healthy, unless it is for the purpose of finding out the
disease to which the disease is homceopathically adapted?
Trousseau and Pidoux praise Hahnemann and his disciples for the persistent efforts they have made in endeavoring.to determine, by positive experimentation, the therapeutic
range of every drug; yet all the magnificent contributions
to the Materia Medica Pura which Hahnemann and his followers have furnished, simply reveal to those gentlemen the
existence of an additional cathartic, anti-phlogistic or diuretic; the idea of a specific homceopathic relation of drugs
to diseases does not, as yet, seem to have dawned upon their
minds..Nevertheless, their teachings must appear precious
to every intelligent friend of our Cause.
The drug not only enables us to trace the disease with
which it is in therapeutic rapport, but it protests against




60      INDUCTIVE  DEFINITION  OF THE
the disease being looked upon as a simple physiological disturbance.
This teaching of the celebrated Frenechmen requires an
explanation at our hands, which will show that it is likewise
precious to the homceopathic inquirer.
At the period when Trousseau and Pidoux published the
first edition of their work, the Physiological School flourished in all its glory. Broussais was its most ardent champion. He held his Cliniques at the Val de Grace, one of
the largest military hospitals of Paris, during the first invasion of the cholera, in 1831.  His great treatment consisted in giving ice and applying leeches. As many as one
hundred and eighty of these little monsters were applied
in a single case at the same time. Patients were literally bled
to death.  Such a ferocious consistency of doctrine had
hardly ever been witnessed before.
What is the doctrine of the Physiological School to which
Broussais had vowed allegiance? The Physiological School
is founded upon the anatomical theories of Bichat, according
to which tissues and organs are each endowed with a somewhat independent vitality which may be depressed or unduly excited by adequate causes. Inflammation, according
to the Physiological School, is simply an excess of vitality;
rheumatism, for instance, an excess of vitality in the fibrous
and muscular tissues; scrofula is a simple modification of
the lymphatic vessels; insanity, a simple exaltation of the
cerebral functions. Thus it is that, according to the doctrines of this School, diseases cease to be pathological conditions, and are reduced to the rank of simple physiologial
disturbances, which are to be met simply by physiological
means. A state of vascular engorgement, or hyperemia as
it is termed, is sought to be counteracted by leeching or
cupping the offending part. If the bowels are torpid, and
this torpor arises from  a deficient action of the great secretory organ of the bile, the liver is chastised for its want of
functional activity by a few grains of Calomel, which are
supposed to have the effect of stimulating this viscus to




HOAMEOPATHIC LAW, ACTIVE PHYSIOLOGICAL METHOD. 61
greater efforts in the business of pouring a sufficient quantity of bile into the bowels and properly keeping up their
peristaltic motion. The physiological physician holds the
organ responsible for the non-performance of its functions,
and tries to modify its functional power according as his
theory may lead him to apply stimulating or depressing
agents for such a purpose.
We are anxious to convey a clear perception of the
fundamental error upon which the superstructure of the
Physiological School is erected. The Physiological School
denies the existence of that which constitutes the life and
essence of the Science of Therapeutics: the removal of
diseases by means of specifically-adapted medicinal agents.
There are two classes of physiological physicians, one
class comprising those who employ drugs, and the other
class those who do not employ any. The method pursued
by this latter class, is designated as the Expectant Method
of treatment. Although these two methods, the active
drugging or dosing method and the passive or Expectant
Method, seem to be not only different from, but opposed to
each other, yet a closer examination will show that this difference or antagonism is only apparent, and that both these
classes of physicians practice their art in the same spirit,
though not in the same manner.
Why do Broussais and his followers employ an active
medication? Is it for the purpose of curing the disease?
By no means; it is simply with a view of modifying the
physiological life or activity of an organ or tissue. For
this purpose they seek to make an impression upon it by
means of a substance which ceases to be a medicinal or therapeutic, and is converted by them into a simple physiological agent, differing from true hygienic agents by its
quantitative, not by its qualitative power. What need have
the physicians who swear by this philosophy, of therapeutic agents? Disease being a purely accidental alteration
of the physiological functions, the Materia Medica becomes
an useless classification of names for pathological abstrac



62     INDUCTIVE  DEFINITION  OF THE
tions, not for essentially distinct, abnormal conditions of
the organic life; in the hands of these gentlemen the Materia Medica:is a waste leaf in the great book of Nature.
Both hygienic and therapeutic agents are merged in
physiological. If the stomach craves food, we feed it on
meat and vegetables; but if this craving should exceed the
ordinary limit; if it should become excessive, a disease in
fact, though not so considered by the physiological physicians, bread and meat may not be sufficient to gratify the
unceasing demands, physiological demands, of the stomach.
This excessive desire for food is gratified, not by bread and
meat, but by Opium and Alcohol. Opium and Alcohol are
administered as physiological, not as therapeutic agents;
they stop the excessive craving for food more energetically, more positively and absolutely than ordinary hygienic
agents are capable of doing. If the salivary glands secrete
too much saliva, the physiological physician does not look
upon this abnormal secretion as a disease, but as an excess
of physiological action; and forthwith he proceeds to apply
suitable means to restrain the excessive action of the organ.
A little Opium or Alum  may moderate this undue desire
for physiological action. In the dictionary of the physiological physician, the term "Therapeutics" is expunged.
He does not recognize medicinal agents as such; he believes
in Mercury, Opium, Tartar emetic only in so far as they are
capable of modifying the physiological functions of an organ. Hygienic and medicinal agents are not distinguished
by any essential differences; they only differ quantitatively;
they hold physiological relations to the different organs of the
body; only that these relations are more marked quantitatively, not distinguished qualitatively from the physiological relations existing between ordinary hygienic agents and
the tissues.
Diseases and purely physiological conditions are confounded in the same way as hygienic and medicinal agents:
A disease is a physiological state, only more marked, more
developed, as it were, than the ordinary condition of the




HOM(EOPATHIC LAW, ACTIVE PHYSIOLOGICAL METHOD. 63
organ. A diarrhoea, for instance, is supposed to arise from
an excess of physiological action in the liver; salivation is
an excess of physiological action in the salivary glands; a
pain is an excess of nervous sensibility.  The idea of " disease," disappears entirely amid these definitions. The organic life is always right; there may be too much or too
little of it, but it is always strictly physiological, and Pathology is a grand Illusion.
If we have succeeded in conveying a clear impression of
the spirit and general philosophy of that portion of the
Physiological School, which delights in active medication,
we would ask: in what way are the different sections of
this portion of the School distinguished from each other?
In what way are Brown's incitability, Rasori's counter-stimulation and Broussais' irritation distinguished from  each
other?  Is not the spirit which prompted these distin.
guished founders of Medical Schools, the same in each? Do
they not all revolve in a vicious circle?  Do they not all
overlook the important fact that physiological and pathological conditions differ in their very essence?  Do they
not all look upon the physiological life of the organism as
a line which, when straight, is equivalent to health, and
whose deviations from  a straight course indicate a corresponding absence of health?
It may seem very strange to the reader that this should
not be accepted by us as a correct and sufficient definition
of health.  If health is equivalent to a straight line, disease
must be a deviation from its straight course. There is no
possible objection to this definition, provided it accounts
for the causes of these various deviations.  Iere it is,
where the Physiological School is utterly at fault. It does.
not account for these deviations; it accepts them as accidental disturbances of the physiological equilibrium, without suspecting that these disturbances are essentially distinct
from the normal life of the parts, and that they are the
results of a morbific action, distinct in its essential properties from the action of the ordinary physiological forces of




64     INDUCTIVE  DEFINITION  OF THE
the organism. Let us keep our minds' eyes upon this imimportant distinction; we shall have to revert to it in a few
moments, after having previously glanced at the second
portion of the Physiological School, comprising the physicians who are averse to giving any medicine, and who consider it the acme of Art to let disease run an undisturbed
course to its natural termination.
If disease is simply an alteration of the physiological
functions, distinguished from the normal standard by a little
more or less of functional activity, why should an active
medication be pursued at all? Why not leave the affected
organ alone?  Why not trust to its own recuperative
energies for the restoration of its functional equilibrium?
Even Hippocrates had observed that diseases generally run
a course, and reach a natural termination; why not take
advantage of this natural law and pursue a course of treatment towards the affected organ altogether different from, or
even opposed to, an active medication?
Such a course of reasoning gave rise to the so-called
Expectant Method which is now extensively practiced by
some of the foremost men in the Old School, more particularly in Vienna. This method is undoubtedly preferable to
that adopted by the other branch of the Physiological School,
inasmuch as it does not interfere with the reactive endeavors
of the vital force by entailing medicinal diseases of longer or
shorter duration upon the organism; the whole aim  and
object of the expectant treatment is to remove or palliate
every obstacle to an undisturbed course and natural termination of a disease. Hence, no Medical School has done
more towards a perfect knowledge of the visible nature
of diseases than the Expectant School. All the resources
of the crucible, of the stethoscope and the microscope have
been brought to bear by the expectant physicians upon
the study of morbid changes in the tissues. This very
anxiety of obtaining a perfect knowledge of the pathological
changes in the tissues, prevented them from resorting to
active treatment. A little gum-water, a simple tea of elder



HOMCEEOPATHIC LAW, EXPECTANT METHOD. 65
blossoms, an infusion of mint, or some similar preparation of
very feeble active powers, were the extreme boundaries of
the therapeutic expectant treatment.
Nevertheless, although these two branches of the Physiological School seem to operate in opposite directions, yet
they are animated by the same spirit, and start from the
same basis. Each branch looks upon disease as a physiological state, a state either of depression or exaltation of the
normal vitality, which should be remedied by purely physiological influences, positive influences according to the advocates of active, negative influences according to the advocates
of passive medication. Neither School acknowledges the use
of medicinal substances as therapeutic agents; nor does either
School believe in the existence of diseases as pathological
conditions differing essentially from the normal physiological
life of the organism.
The expectant doctors do not pretend to be in possession
of any therapeutic method; they are satisfied with counting
up the number of their dead and cured, and proving to the
world, by a simple process of addition, the superiority of
no-treatment over Calomel and Opium. Their coadjutors
at the other extreme, who delight in active treatment, have
no better grounds to claim for it, than a woeful oversight of
the essential difference between Good and Evil.  If we
desire to have a clear perception of the fallacies of the
Physiological School, we have simply to apply its doctrines
to the moral sphere. If disease and health are not essentially distinct, Good and Evil differ only quantitatively, not
in essence. Avarice is only an excess of economy; frenzy
only an excess of enthusiasm; hatred only an absence of
love; every evil passion is only the excess or absence of
some Good.
This species of philosophy is based upon a fallacy. It is
not true that Good may become, by development, an Evil.
A good man may become better by the growth of goodness,
but not worse.  Good is capable of indefinite development
and expansion; it never turns to Evil by obeying its inher5




66      INDUCTIVE DEFINITION OF'THE
ent destiny of undying growth. On the other hand, Evil
can never change to Good by simple modification. No,
there must be an essential change of state; pride cannot
possibly be converted into humility by a simple accommodating modification; there must be a complete, a radical,
essential change of-state. So in regard to normal physiological functions; they never become abnormal by simple
addition or subtraction; such a change can only take place
in consequence of some essential alteration in their ordinary
modes of existence. A man who has ordinarily a good
appetite, may not have quite as good, an appetite on some
days as on others; or the appetite may even be wanting at
certain periods. This diminution or momentary absence of
the appetite may be regarded as a simple, physiological
modification of the condition of the,stomach, for which
nothing need be done except to take a little more active
exercise, or to do without much food for a day or two. On
the other hand, there may be an occasional:extraordinary
craving for food, which may regulate itself without employing any uncommon measures against-it. It is unnecessary to adhere pedantically to a,doctrine in reference to
these points.
If there is distress in the stomach, with other symptoms
of derangement which cannot, by stretching argument and
imagination ever so far, be traced to an intensifiedl action of
the normal physiological life of the stomach):we are forced
to look upon these abnormal phenomena as manifestations
of an essentially-altered or pathological condition of'the
organ.
A correct understanding of the doctrines of our own
School seems to hinge upon a full comprehension of:these
radical fallacies of the Physiological School: Can a thing
be good and bad at the same time?  Can the vital force,
the inmost life-principle, upon whose integral action the
physiological harmony of the organism depends, be at the
same time corrupt and incorrupt?  Can its essence be at
the same time tainted and untainted? If this were possible;




HO'MEOPATHIC' LAW, REMOTE CAUSES.  67
if the inmost vitality could be vitiated by disease, how is it
to be restored to a state of health? The essence of life in
man must needs remain intact; a disturbance of the physiological functions must result from some'other cause than an
abnormal alteration of the essence of life in man. Such an
alteration would be tantamount to death; it would assuredly
lead to death, which, in such a case, could only be prevented by a miraculous interference of Providence.
What we term disease, is, therefore, something essentially
different from a purely physiological derangement of the
functions. A pathological condition must be the result or
product of some cause different from, and opposed to, the
physiological integrity of the organism.  Hahnemann makes
frequent allusions, in his Essay entitled: Spirit of the
Homceopathic Doctrine, to the existence of morbific causes
which he terms the natural causes of diseases, but whose
influence is not perceived by the organism as long as this
organism exists in normal conditions of atmospheric impressions, exercise, temperature; if these conditions cease to
operate as defences to the organism, the morbific forces
which surround us on all sides, and are continually seeking
to subvert its physiological integrity, are manifestly perceived in the tissues.  These manifestations of morbid
action in the organism take place under a variety of circumstances, such as: a draught of air, retrocession of
the perspiration, fatigue, exposure to dampness or keen
winds, starvation, the use of bad food, insufficient ventilation, and so forth. From time immemorial, Old-School physicians have designated this order of causes as the remote
causes of disease.
"But," asks Siegel, in an interesting publication which
has made its appearance quite recently in Austria, "is the
removal of the external remote cause necessarily followed
by the restoration of health? Is the inflammation caused
by a cold, cured by simply arresting farther exposure? Is
the person whose life had become apparently extinct under
water, restored by simply drawing him out of the water?




-68     INDUCTIVE DEFINITION  OF THE
Of most diseases, the external exciting causes are either
doubtful or entirely unknown; in almost every case they
have ceased to act before a physician's aid is invoked to
counteract them; their suppression or removal is a condition of cure, but cannot be considered the highest object
of treatment. For this reason, physicians have gone a step
farther, and sought to remove the internal proximate cause
of the disease.  Any one who knows that the internal
essence of Nature, and hence the internal proximate causes
of disease, are inscrutable, will comprehend that this method has led physicians into an endless labyrinth of errors
from which no Ariadnean thread could lead them back;
for an unbridled fancy carried them far beyond all the
boundaries of observation and logical sense. The principle'tolle causam' is either practically insufficient or unsafe."
The principle "i tole causam," "remove the cause," has been
the favorite maxim of physicians from the earliest period
of Medicine to the present time. Does it not seem  as
though a cure could not be effected unless the cause is
removed from the tissues? We are approaching the solution of this mystery; let us cast a last inquiring glance at
this wonderful page in the great book of Nature.
We are surrounded by morbific causes which act upon us
imperceptibly, as long as the organism preserves its physiological integrity in conditions suitable to its harmonious
life. Hahnemann and Common Sense believe in the existenceof these causes, concerning the inmost or essential
nature of which we know little or nothing. This, however,
is immaterial; we know that these causes exist, and that
they are instrumental in developing pathological alterations
in the tissues. A development of this kind cannot take
place, unless the morbific forces are enabled to act upon, or
invade the tissues. They derive this ability from the existence of corresponding morbid predispositions, or morbid
properties inherent in the tissues, yea in every fibre of the
organism.  These morbid predispositions have likewise
been alluded to in IIahnemann's Essay.




HOM(EOPATHIC LAW, COSMIC FORCES.  69
How could a bone, for instance, ever be fractured unless
a liability to fracture constituted an inherent property of
the osseous tissue? This liability is a morbid property,
which, if developed into an actual state in consequence of
some accident, becomes a manifest or actualized surgical
disease.  Every tissue, yea every fibre of the tissue, is
endowed with morbid properties corresponding with the
morbific causes which seek to invade the organism. In
our first Essay we have termed these causes cosmic forces, or
the mediate principles of disease. Hence the actual development of a disease depends,
I. Upon the existence of a morbific force;
2. Upon the existence, in the tissues, of morbid properties or predispositions corresponding with the nature of the
morbific force; and
3. Upon the presence of conditions favorable to the
action of the morbific force upon a corresponding receptivity of the morbid properties in the tissues.
Disease, therefore, may be defined as a morbid property
developed into an active pathological state by the influence
of a corresponding morbific force.
So far we have drawn one side of our therapeutic picture.
There remains another side to be drawn, after which our
work will be completed.  We shall avail ourselves of
Trousseau and Pidoux' powerful aid in building up this
portion of our argument.
Let us recall to our minds the radical difference between
drugs and hygienic agents, and the remarkable proposition
laid down by these writers, that, as drugs are peculiarly
adapted to diseases, so do diseases recall to our minds corresponding drugs. We have insisted upon this proposition
with great force. We have shown that there is but one
way known to us, of determining the disease to which
the drug is specially adapted, and by which, on the other
hand, the drug is recalled to mind; it is, to prove the drug
upon the healthy organism; in this and in no other known
way, can we approximately determine, by a comparison of




70....INDUCTIVE DEFI..NITION  OF THE.
the effects of the drug with the phenomena of the disease,
vwhat drug and what disease, are in therapeutic rapport.
In thus experimenting with drugs, upon healthy tissues,
we are struck by a remarkable similarity between groups of
drug-effects and groups of pathological symptoms.  In
many cases this similarity amounts to an actual identity of
phenomena.
How is this?  Whence this striking resemblance, this
occasional identity of drug-effects and pathological phenomena? Let us briefly endeavor to answer these questions.
First we had this trinity of facts: ]Morbific causes acting
upon morbid properties in the tissues, and developing diseases. Here we have another similar trinity of drug-forces
acting upon recipient germinal principles, and developing
drugs. The drug-forces are active cosmic principles of the
same order as the morbific forces, and, if we may judge by
the similarity and occasional identity of their effects, drugforces are identical with the forces which develop diseases
in the tissues.
We say that the drug-forces are cosmic principles or
agents of the same order as the disease-developing forces;
the germinal principles inherent in the planet, correspond
with the  morbid properties in the tissues, and drugs correspond with fully developed diseases. If this be generally
true, we have a perfect right to infer from this general
truth, this most particular application: that a drug which
has power to develop in the tissues an approximative
image of some particular disease, is in therapeutic rapport
with it. It seems to us that this inference is irresistible,
and that the legitimacy of the homceopathic law, as a law of
Nature, is fully made out by the series of arguments which
we have endeavored to present.,
If a drug which is thus shown to. be homceapathic to a certain disease, is made to act upon it, what must be the unavoidable consequence?  Hahnemann has stated it again and
again in his remarkable Essay::the drug acting more positively, more definitely, more concretely as it were than the




H]OM(EOPATHIC LAW, AFFINITY OF DRUGS.          71
disease, will determine the action of the morbific principle
of which it constitutes, so to say, the material embodiment
or substratum, towards itself it will absorb or neutralize this
principle, withdraw it, as it were, from the inmost vital tissues, and enable the vital essence to successfully react
against the disease-producing invader.
Homoeopathic physicians have been stigmatized as a band
of atheists and infidels. Or, rather, llomoeopathy has been
branded as a System of Infidelity in disguise. Why is
this? Is it because they cure disease without inflicting additional suffering upon the organism?  If the old law of
cure reflects the spirit of true Religion, then indeed are we
infidels; but if the new law reflects this spirit, then are we
Christ's disciples. We believe in gentle and humane proceedings;, we do not believe in inflicting punishment upon
a suffering organism. Is this contrary to an enlightened
faith in God's Providence?  We believe that Evil exists
for the great purposes of man'sregeneration.  Of what use
would be the actualization of Evil in the life of Humanity,
if it did not lead us to discover and to love the ways of
Truth-and Goodness? God has implanted morbid properties
in the tissues, not for our punishment, but in order that their
development may lead us to investigate, and live in accordance with, the laws of health.  Our doctrine teaches us that
one of these great:laws is the fundamental and universallyprevailing PRINCIPLE  OF AFFINITY. Who does not delight
in relations of affinity? Is not affinity the condition of
freedom?  Is there any true happiness outside of a genuine
affinity, socially, intellectually, industrially?  This same
law of affinity applies to the treatment of diseases.  No
drug. can act upon a disease, with which it is not in relations of affinity; it is this affinity which makes the homoeopathic agent invincible in its struggle with Disease. Let us
leave to the Old School their contraries, their antagonisms,
their counter-irritants, their red-hot cauteries; and let us
continue to conquer Disease by the magic power, and to
win the confidence of the world, by the discreet and generous exercise of our humane and gentle Act.




72           HAHNEMANN S THEORY
HAHNEMANN'S
TIHEORY OF CHRONIC DISEASES.
HAIHNEMANN who was strenuously opposed to speculative
theories in Medicine, and who combated the pathological
doctrines which were in vogue at the time when the great
Idea of Hoomceopathy flashed upon his mind, has bequeathed
a doctrine of Chronic Diseases to a startled posterity. By
his own statement the homeeopathic edifice was not complete without it. Hitherto the homeeopathic remedies which
were then known, had been chiefly employed for the cure
of acute disorders. Here the superiority of the homceopathic treatment over the old-fashioned exhibition of nauseous
mixtures, violent diaphoretics or expectorants, pretended
anodynes and sedatives, injections, ointments, fomentations,
fumigations, vesicatories, cauteries, issues, and especially
over those everlasting purgatives, leeches, bloodlettings,
methods of starvation and other medicinal tortures, had
become an incontestable fact. In the treatment of chronic
ailments, however, HEomeeopathy was not equally successful.
Hahnemann found that a chronic disease was not radically
cured by the use of remedial agents which did cure an acute
attack. The chronic disorder was at best only palliated by
the use of these agents. A momentary paroxysm might be
hushed up, but an unfavorable state of the weather, a
sudden and violent emotion, an irregularity in diet would
frequently cause the disease to break forth with redoubled
intensity, and to challenge the skill of the practitioner.
"This result," writes Hahnemann, "occurred in the
treatment of all great, chronic, non-syphilitic maladies,
even when it appeared to be conducted according to the
precepts of Homceopathy, as far as this Science was then
known. First, the treatment was satisfactory; then it became less favorable, and finally hopeless."
We have no doubt that Hahnemann spent many a sleep



OF CHRONIC DISEASES.                  73
less night in endeavoring to fill up the gap which this
unsatisfactory result in the treatment of chronic affections
left in the superstructure of Homceopathy. Here is a case
of asthma, where Ipecacuanha, or Nux, or Lobelia seem to
have effected a cure. The patient remains well for a time,
when all at once some accidental exposure, a fatigue, a
change of climate bring the paroxysms back again, perhaps
with redoubled violence.
Or we are called upon to prescribe for what seems a
simple cold, with some signs of congestion in the lungs,
some aching, pricking or burning pains in the chest, scanty
expectoration of a frothy mucus, some creeping chills,
weakness. It would seem  as though a little Aconite or
Phosphorus ought to cure such an attack without any difficulty. But behold, our remedies fail of making the speedy
impression which we had a right to expect. The course of
the disease is protracted from day to day, and even from
week to week. New pains make their appearance as a
development of the original attack. At one time it is a
stitching pain which attacks the patient all of a sudden,
without any apparently satisfactory cause. At another he
is suddenly alarmed by an oppression of breathing; then
again the chest feels numb, and at other times the heart
palpitates from the least exertion or mental excitement. It
is evident that there is some secret enemy lurking in the
background, whose insidious endeavors countermine the.best-directed efforts of Art.
Let us endeavor to identify ourselves with the mind of
the great Reformer at this interesting period of the history
of Ilomoeopathy. He felt that he had been laying the
foundation of a great work; a work which, in the language
of the classic poet, would be more durable than brass,
" monumentum sere perennius;" but the superstructure was
not yet completed; the internal unity of the work required
the additional cement of a more deeply-penetrating and
more comprehensive Science.
The sameness of the paroxysms, the order and regularity




74    HAHNEMANNI7S CHRONIC DISEASES.
in their occurrence, the important functional and organic
disorders which an apparently trifling affection would sometimes develop in its train, led IEahnemann to suspect that
these various paroxysms or groups of symptoms, which
superficial practitioners would sometimes allude to as so
many distinct diseases, were in reality manifestations of the
same internal, deeply-hidden, hydra-headed enemy, a sort of
primitive disease lying hidden in the inmost recesses of the
organism, and, as a chronic miasm, tainting every avenue
that leads to the mysterious laboratory of vitality.
"I had reached this point," writes iahnemann, "when
my investigations and observations upon non-syphilitic
chronic patients led me at once to perceive, that a previously existing itch, which they often confessed to have had,
was the cause why many diseases that appeared to be separate and original maladies, could not be cured by homceopathic treatment. All the subsequent sufferings dated from
the period, when the psoric eruption had manifested itself.
In many of these chronic patients, who were unwilling to
confess that they had had the itch, or who had been too careless to heed it, or had no recollection of it, I often discovered,
by careful inquiries, that vestiges of the itch had shown
themselves upon their bodies from time to time, in the
shape of small pustules or tetter, as so many infallible signs
of the chronic contagion.' These circumstances, coupled with the fact, that psoric
eruptions which had been removed by evil practices or by
some other cause, were evidently followed, in otherwise
healthy persons, by chronic ailments having the same or
similar symptoms, as has been observed by other physicians
as well as by myself, in an infinite number of cases, left no
doubt concerning the internal enemy which I had to combat
in my medical treatment.
"This internal enemy," continues iahnemann. "I shall
designate by the general term psora.  It is an internal
disease, a sort of internal itch, and may exist either with
or without an eruption upon the skin. Little by little, I




MULTIPLIED  FORMS OF PSORA.               75
discovered more adequate remedies against this internal
disease, from which sprang so much suffering. From the
relief which I obtained by their employment in cases where
the patient had no recollection of the itch, I inferred that
these resulted from a psora which had been communicated
to the patient in the cradle, or in some other way of which
he had no knowledge. By carefully inquiring of the parents or old relatives, I discovered that my suspicion was
well founded."
Before proceeding farther, let us endeavor to extract the
vital juice, the quintessence from these teachings of the
great Founder of our School. This doctrine, as expressed
in these paragraphs, is, that the vital organism is tainted
by a -primitive miasm, to which he applied the name Psora,
which is the Greek for itch, but was not employed by
Hahneminann in this sense.  This internal disease, which
lahnemann designates by the term psora, may, in favorable conditions, by which we understand conditions favorable to its development, by a fall, a sudden fright, exposure, starvation, etc., develop itself into an active form.
By gradual observation, as well as by theoretical reasoning,
Hahnemann came to the conclusion that {"the milder as
well as the more extensive and even the most inveterate
chronic diseases owe their existence to this internal psoric
miasm."
Most cutaneous eruptions; disorganizations, from the
common wart to the largest sarconiatous tumor, from deformed nails to ramollissement of bones and curvatures of
the spine; nose-bleed, varices, haemorrhoids, hsemorrhages,
menstrual disorders, night-sweats, chronic diarrhcea or constipation; neuralgia; chronic ulcers and inflammations;
marasmus; abnormal conditions of the sexual instinct;
mental derangements; hysteria, hypochondria, and even
great epidemics, such as the typhus of 1813 and Asiatic
Cholera, are nothing but "partial manifestations of one
primitive psoric miasm, in which they all originate, and
whose innumerable symptoms form but one integral disease,




76    HAHNEMANN' S CHRONIC DISEASES.
and ought therefore to be regarded, and treated, as part of
one and the same derangement."
"A  few homoeopathic remedies," writes Hahnemann,
"will cure even an epidemic typhus like that of 1813, in
every patient infected with the disease, though each patient
may exhibit different symptoms, and may seem to be
afflicted with a different malady."
We may here remark, incidentally, that this teaching
bears very hard against those who take symptomatic differences as their only guides in the treatment of diseases. At
the same time, this proposition embodies a striking refutation of the charge that Hahnemann is the father of the unmeaning symptomism which some of his followers have
sought to palm off upon the profession as the legitimate offspring of Hahnemann's own doctrines.
Hahnemann does not say at what period of human existence the internal psoric miasm first became embodied in the
inmost tissues of the living organism; he simply informs
us, in his Treatise on the Chronic Miasms, that the existence
of this internal Psoric Principle became manifest in the
earliest period of man's history, by certain morbid appearances upon the skin, and that, in the course of ages, the
itch-vesicle became its most universal and most natural representative. We make this statement in anticipation of
what will be found more fully and more conclusively related
by Hahnemann himself, in the paragraphs which we shall
quote from the first volume of his Chronic Diseases, in a
subsequent part of this Essay.
We repeat that Hahnemann evidently took the existence
of this internal psoric principle for granted. We have every
reason to suppose that Hahnemann considered its existence
in the inmost organism co-eval with the creation of man;
that, at first, it existed as a latent principle, perfectly harmless, because undeveloped; and that it first assumed a concrete form in the ancient leprosy, the origin of which is
veiled by the impenetrable mists of antiquity.
The morbid conditions which we have enumerated in pre



HISTORY  OF PSORA.                  77
vious paragraphs emanate, not from the primary, but from
the secondary development of this primitive internal psoric
disease. Its primary development first resulted in the various forms of leprosy to which allusion is made in the
Books of Moses, and which underwent gradual modifications
until the itch-vesicle sprang from this ancient disease.
On the twenty-fifth page of the first volume of the
Chronic Diseases, Hlahnemann furnishes the following short
historical sketch of the psoric disease: "According to the
most ancient historical writings which we possess, psora
existed almost fully developed in the earliest ages of mankind. Several varieties of psora have been described by
Moses three thousand four hundred years ago. At that
time, however, and ever afterwards, among the Israelites,
psora appears to have especially infected the external parts
of the body. This was also the case among the Greek barbarians, afterwards among the Arabs, and finally in the
uncivilized Europe of the Middle-Ages. It is not my
object to relate here the different names by which the
various nations have designated the more or less malignant
forms of leprosy (external symptoms of psora), by which
the external parts of the body became variously disfigured.
Names are of no consequence here, since the essence of this
miasmatic itch is every where the same.
"In the Middle-Ages, Europe was visited for several
centuries by the frightful psora of the occidental countries,
in the shape of a malignant erysipelas, called St. Anthony's
fire. In the thirteenth century it again assumed the form
of leprosy. The Crusaders brought this latter disease along
with them. By this means, leprosy spread in Europe more
than it ever had done before, for in the year 1226 there
were in France about two thousand houses for the reception
of leprous patients. Nevertheless, psora spreading farther
and farther in the form of a horrible eruption upon the
skin, found at least some external alleviation in those means
of cleanliness which the Crusaders had brought along with




78    HAHNEMIANNN S CHRONIC  DISEASES.
them from the East, such as cotton or linen shirts which
had been unknown in Europe heretofore, and the frequent
use of warm baths. These means, together with an increasing refinement'and more select nourishment, succeeded, in a
couple 6f centuries, in diminishing the disgusting appearance of psora so as to reduce the disease, towards the end
of the fifteenth century, to an ordinary eruption, the common itch.
This milder form of psora Iinfected a far greater number
than the leprous patients were able to do, whose frightful
appearance caused them to be avoided by everybody.::The
itch-vesicles'scarcely; appear, and may be kept concealed;
but being' constantly scratched open in consequence of the
intolerable'itching, and the fluid'being spread over the skin
and over the things which are touched by such patients; the
infection takes place the more readily and certainly, and
affects a larger number. In this way psora has become the
most contagious and the most universal of the chronic miasms. 
In this short sketch lHahnemann describes the development of the psoric disease as it takes place in a'direct line
as it were, from its internal basis towards its specific cutaneous form or ultimation upon the skin. The internal disease being roused from its quiet slumber or latent condition
by some adequate circumstance, the use of improper food,
starvation, want of cleanliness, exposure, instead of ravaging
the internal organs, is' compelled, by the' vigor of an unenfeebled vital reaction, to confine its disorganizing action to
the skin, and to embody itself fully, and without interfering
with the integrity of the internal organism, in some cutaneous alteration which' henceforth becomes a vicarious substitute or representative for the internal disease. This internal disease, although tainting the organism to its foundations, is quieted by its external symbol which may enjoy a
comparatively harmless existence upon the skin without
causing serious constitutional disturbances.




SECONDARY  PSORIC  DISEASES.              79
From this primary or orderly development of the psoric
disease, the secondary development differs in all essential
particulars. This secondary development, arising from the
artificial or otherwise abnormal suppression of the. original
eruption which Hahnemann looks upon as the -vicarious
symbol of the internal disease, is fraught with danger to the
preservation of the organism. We have seen that, accord.
ing to Hahnemann, most of the known chronic diseases
should be considered symptomatic manifestations of this
secondary development of the primitive psora.
Hence we have a twofold development of the primitive
psoric disease: a primary development which may be defined as normal or useful to: and a secondary development
which should be' regarded as abnormal or: -injurious to, the
internal health.
It must' be apparent, from what'we -have said lthus: far,
that Hahnemann's psoric doctrine has been strangely
misapprehended. Those among his opponents who have
only glanced at an occasional extract from the first volume
of his Chronic Diseases, have sought to spread the belief,
with an inexcusable and somewhat unscrupulous levity, that
iahnemann regards the suppression of the itch-vesicle as
the chief cause of most chronic diseases. This childish
imputation renders those who perpetrate it, obnoxious to
the legitimate suspicion of intellectual obliquity and incapacity, or of wilful and malicious misconstruction of an
universal, startling and eminently novel doctrine. 
It is true, Hahnemann inveighs in the most positive Ianguage against the' violent' removal, by pufir:ely:':ext.rhal
means,- of the itch-vesicle. But why?  If we desire to
criticise this' teaching, let us do it with a full comprehension
of its meaning. Why does Hahnemann repudiate the violent suppression of the itch-vesicle as a dangerous and
eminently irrational proceeding?  H tie condemns this practice because he regards the vesicle as, the'vicarious manifestation of an internal -disease which,' if its natural,
primary progression towards an ultimate development




80    HAHINEMANN' S CHRONIC  DISEASES.
upon the skin in the shape of the characteristic vesicle, is
prevented, is compelled to invade the internal viscera, or
to develop more inveterate, secondary cutaneous affections.
A great fact is enunciated in this doctrine of psora; a
fact of vital importance to a proper comprehension of this
doctrine specifically, and of the homceopathic doctrine in
general. This fact is the existence of a Psoric Mi'asm.
Here again, two factors present themselves to our minds
as elementary constituents of this miasm. In other words,
the psoric miasm is not a simple, but a compound principle,
both cosmic and individual. It is ]Hahnemann who teaches
this doctrine which we accept as a fundamental truth, the
universal recognition of which is intimately blended with
the progressive unfolding and ultimate triumph of Homceopathy.
The cosmic nature of this principle may be inferred from
its paroxysmal manifestations in great epidemics. We have
shown that this is Hlahnemann's doctrine. As a cosmic
principle the psoric miasm exists even when not manifesting
its terrific power in the form of a desolating scourge, like
typhus, cholera, yellow fever or some other plague. Such
manifestations can only take place in suitable conditions of
climate and atmosphere; in times of war or famine, when
the poisonous exhalations which are eliminated by the disorders of human Society, become fit vehicles for the
destructive agency of the miasm, and enable it to invade
organisms endowed with a specific receptivity for its influence.
This receptivity constitutes the second factor or element
of psora. Hlahnemann contends that there is hardly an organism existing which is not more or less tainted with this
disposition to psoric diseases. In the great Cosmos the
psoric miasm exists as an active, disease-creating force; in
the individual it exists as a mere potency, a passive or latent principle which, in certain conditions of the organism
may be excited into a specific, pathological process characterized by phenomena of a peculiar order.




SUPPRESSION  OF THE ITCH-VESICLE.   81
We have now reached a point in our argument, where
HIahnemann's doctrine concerning the violent suppression
of the itch-vesicle becomes an intelligible theory. This itchvesicle is regarded by llahnemann as the most common and
most universal manifestation, upon the skin, of the internal
psoric potency or predisposition. This external sign represents, for the time being, the internal disease, which remains
hushed up as long as the external symbol is localized upon
the skin, not, however, beyond a reasonable period of time.
If this external symbol is wiped out by violent means,
the cosmic miasm which had found means to excite the internal latent predisposition into a manifest, active pathological disease, will obey the law of reactive development
inherent in its nature. It will invade the internal viscera.
After many painful and frequently fruitless eftbrts on the
part of the injured organism, the life-force may succeed in
re-establishing some anomalous eruption upon the skin,
which may again hush up the internal disease while the
eruption lasts.
It should be stated in this connection that this secondary
eruption is much less fixed; that it is more readily suppressed by evanescent causes, and that it affords much less
protection to the internal organism.
Our object thus far has been to expound Hlahnemann's
doctrine of the psoric miasm and to vindicate the illustrious
discoverer of the Specific Healing Art from the childish imputation, that he regards the suppression of the itch-vesicle
as the immediate source of most chronic diseases. Those
who state his great doctrine in this petty, technical manner,
overlook the universality of the principle involved; they
reduce the fruitful and comprehensive conception of a gigantic intellect to the contracted matter-of fact perception of an
ordinary pill-vender.  It behooves us to refer these idle
gossips to first0 principles, and to inform them that Hahnemann's psora first means an inherent receptivity for disease,
and secondly a cosmic miasm which has power to excite a cor6




82    HAIINEMAN-NS  CHRIONIC  DISEASES.
responding receptivity of'the organism into an actualized
pathological disturbance.
The essential correctness of this doctrine is not invalidated by accidental inaccuracies in the number of miasms
which Hahnemann regards as the primary sources of chronic
diseases. Of these miasms he enumerates three: th'e psoric,
the syphilitic, and the sycosic. The psoric miasm is symbolized by the itch-vesicle; the syphilitic miasm by the chancre, and the sycosic miasm by the cauliflower-exeresence.
There is no necessity of confining one's self to these three
miasms. Instead of three, we may adopt an indefinite number. The recent doctrine of dyscrasias is undoubtedly" akin
to Hahnemann's theory olf miasms. We may have the tubercular, the carcinomatous, the arthritic, the rheumatic, the
haemorrhoidal, the herpetic and other miasms. We may
adopt a miasmatic principle for every distinct eruption,
acute or chronic. Such modifications do not conflict with
the essence of iEahnemann's doctrine: that chronic diseases
are miasmatic in their nature; that these chronic miasms are
cosmic principles, inherent in the constitution of created
Nature, and that they have power to excite, and do excite,
corresponding receptivities in the human organism into concrete diseases, whenever the conditions in which the organism
happens to be placed, favor such abnormal developments.
Ilahnemann speaks of this receptivity, which the living
organism manifests for the influence of miasmatic morbific
forces, as an internal disease, or rather predisposition to
disease, which remains latent until it is made manifest to
the senses by adequate development. Modern pathologists
speak of it as a diathesis, a constitutional disposition to
peculiar pathological derangements.
So far Hahnemann and modern pathologists seem to
agree. A dyscrasia, too, may remain latent until excited
into a condition of actuality or activity by adequate causes.
These causes are various.  The continued use of improper food, a want of cleanliness, irregular habits, exposure to dampness or currents of air, excessive mental or




REMOTE CAUSES OF DISEASE.                 83
physical labor, a sudden burst of passion, silent grief,
anxiety, care: these and other influences constitute so
many circumstances in which the constitutional predispositions to disease may germinate and sprout like so many
rankling weeds, invading every tissue, vitiating every secretion, poisoning the blood, and prostrating the nervous
power.
In building up this argument step by step, let us direct
our attention to the fact, that the operation of the causes
which we have enumerated, has been admitted by every
pathologist who has ever offered a theory of disease. Their
existence is self-evident. From time immemorial physicians have been in the habit of cautioning their patients
against exposing themselves to draughts of air, and of
admonishing them to keep their feet dry, to avoid all sudden changes from warm to thin clothing at the beginning
of summer; to sleep in cool rooms; to keep their houses
well ventilated; to indulge in frequent ablutions, to observe habits of regularity and moderation in eating and
drinking; to take active exercise in the open air.
In regard to this point, there is no disagreement between
Hahnemann and pathologists generally. Both admit the
existence and influence of this order of causes. The agreement extends even farther. Old School pathologists have
designated these causes as the REMOTE CAUSES of disease,
which act from a distance, not as immediate principles or
forces, but as conditions favorable to the development of
disease.  Hahnemann frequently illustrates his general
teachings concerning the psoric miasm by referring to
these remote causes of Old School pathologists as opportune
conditions of morbid development. Hence the term  " Cause
occasionales " has been very aptly applied to these conditions
by many writers.
These remote causes of Old School pathologists are sufficient to account for the supervention of disease in given
conditions of the organism; but they do not explain the
continuance or progressive growth of a state of disease. A




84    HAHNEMANN'S CHRONIC DISEASES.
young lady, overheated by the dance, with her face flushed,
and with drops of a warm moisture streaming down her
bare neck, exposes her heaving frame, with its pulses
wildly throbbing, to the cool evening breeze near an open
window, inviting the treacherous cajoler to fan her burning
skin with its cooling kisses. Little does this unfortunate
victim of a frenzied passion dream, what a price she will
have to pay for this delusive comfort. The pneumonia
which may result from this exposure, may neither be prevented nor can it be arrested in its course, by not continuing the exposure. A few minutes may be sufficient to fan
the fire of disease in this youthful frame, and to prepare
for it a couch of suffering and an untimely dissolution.
No theory which a purely chemical or physiological view
of diseases can suggest, will ever be found sufficient to
account for this apparehtly disproportionate subversion of
the vital harmonies of the organism. How can it spring
from such a seemingly trifling cause?
This fact is explained by calling in aid another series of
causes which pathologists have been in the habit of designating as the PROXIMATE CAUSES of disease. These proximate causes are the internal, innate predispositions to
disease, to which allusion has been made in previous paragraphs. In this respect Hahnemann and pathologists generally are likewise agreed. Hahnemann designates these
proximate causes of disease as internal diseases, of whose
existence man remains unconscious, and which, therefore,
to all intents and purposes, may not exist, until, through
the operation of some remote cause, the internal potency or
predisposition is roused into a state of active and progressive manifestation. Once thus roused, a pathological condition is grafted, as it were, upon the physiological life of
the organism, obeying its own laws of order, antagonistic
to, and therefore tending to subvert the normal life, and
becoming a fit subject for careful and persevering observation. Hippocrates, and in more recent times the adherents
of the Expectant School, have made it their chief business




PROXIMATE  CAUSES OF DISEASE.               85
to watch the natural course of diseases, to observe and to
investigate the regular unfolding and relation of pathological phenomena, and to make the Healing Art consist in
removing, by the use of inoffensive palliatives, phlegmloosening infusions, gentle stimulants, mild laxatives or
tonics, every obstacle to the spontaneous march of a pathological series, from the beginning to the acme and down
again to its natural terminations.
Here let us pause, and before continuing our argument,
let us give prominence to the fact, that Hahnemann agrees
with some, and disagrees with other pathologists of the
Old-School. He agrees, if not in terms, at least in essence,
with those who believe in innate, constitutional predispositions to disease. He certainly agrees with the advocates of
an innate diathesis, with this difference that he generalizes
the specific forms of this universal diathesis under the
comprehensive designation of psora, whereas other pathologists speak of the arthritic, lithiatic, scrofulous, tubercular,
cancerous, hemorrhoidal diathesis. The term diathesis seems
to refer more particularly to abnormal vital action; whereas
the term dyscrasia implies more especially an abnormal
constitution of the vital fluids, and is a- favorite technicality with the humoral pathologists.
The difference between Hahnemann and the pathologists,
with whom he seems to harmonize in a general sense, is,
nevertheless, fundamental and fruitful of the most opposite
results. The advocates of diatheses and dyscrasias hold
the living organism responsible for this abnormal existence.
"We do not care for this innate predisposition; the organism has no business to give itself up to it. These joints
have no business to obey the laws of this arthritic diathesis.
We shall undertake to stop this license, and to suck out
this inflammatory action by means of a dozen leeches or a
blister."
And here comes our friend of the dyscrasias, who is
bound to sweep out the Augean stable with his drastics, to
die the blood with his saline mixtures, or to starve out the




86    IIHAHNEMANN'S CHRONIC DISEASES.
vitiated humors by feeding a poor patient on a few spoonfuls of broth for days and weeks. Theories and names may
have changed, but the treatment of diseases is continually
revolving in a vicious circle. Under whatever flag a pathologist may deem it convenient to circumnavigate the dark
waters of the medical Erebus, he steers his course by the
same compass, propels his bark with the same motor-power,
and seeks to avert the dangers, or to combat the terrors of
the gloomy abyss, with the same offensive and defensive
weapons.
The great boast of modern Medicine is the physiological
treatment of diseases. Considered in the light of Reason,
the Physiological School is a baseless system which ignores
the very idea of diseases. The physiological physician
looks upon diseases as a physiological state, with the simple
exception that this state is either more or less than in its
normal condition of existence. Fever, for instance, is an
excessive action of the circulatory apparatus; not an essentially diseased condition, but an excitement resulting from
an excess of normal vital action. The physiological physician, if consistent with himself, has to reject the existence
of proximate causes of disease. Some remote cause, an
accidental exposure, over-exertion, an excess of food and
the like, deranges the physiological harmony of the organism upon the principle of plus or minus, excess or deficiency
of vital action; and the treatment consists in a simple process
of addition or subtraction. If there is too much vital action,
we reduce it by means of sedatives or antiphlogistics; if
there is not enough of it, we excite it by means of stimulants, or support it by appropriate tonics.
Another branch of the Physiological School, the Expectant School, leaves the disorder to itself. The adherents of
this School, being perfectly acquainted with the course and
natural terminations of diseases, deem it unnecessary and
ill-advised to interfere by positive treatment. They cannot
possibly conceive of a method of doing better by their




POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PHYSIOLOGICAL TREATMENT. 87
patients than by allowing the disease to run its course..
Positive treatment can only complicate matters by compelling the organism to bear the double burden of an artificial
as well as a natural infraction of its laws. The active physiological physician punishes the inflamed lung by reducing
or counter-irritating vital action; the passive physiological
physician, acting a more humane and, as it seems to us, a
wiser part, permits the inflammation to extinguish itself in
obedience to the law of growth and gradual decline, which
careful observation has established as a condition inherent
in the nature of the inflammatory process.
Either branch of the Physiological School, the active as
well as the passive, is founded upon a Negation, whereas
every Medical School should be founded upon an Affirmation. The Physiological School denies the great fact, which
is accepted by the very instincts of Reason, that disease is
something essentially and fundamentally distinct from normal life, just as much so as Evil is neither an excess nor a
deficiency of Good, but something radically distinct from,
and opposed to Good. Would it not be deemed an absurdity, if we were to argue that a wicked man may become a
good one by substracting a little from his wickedness day
after day? By this means he might finally cease to be
wicked; he might be said to be in a condition of negative
goodness, which is something far different from the positive
goodness that delights in scattering kindnesses along the path
of life with an unwearying hand. It certainly must seem
tantamount to a repudiation of common sense in Medicine,
to regard typhus as the result of a gradual arithmetical subtraction from the sum of health. Why should not pneumonia or meningitis be the result of such a process of
subtraction in every case? Why should there have been
this fixedness in the laws of disease? This immutability in
the course and character pf every disease which has been
known to this woe-stricken race from the dawn of history
to the present period? Is all this the result of accident,
any more than the unchangeable uniformity with which the




88    IAHNEMANN'S CHRONIC DISEASES.
physiological functions of the organism are carried on day
after day, and year after year, among the different races of
mankind?  We argue that diseases are conditions fundamentally and essentially distinct from the ordinary physiological conditions of the organism, and that they are
governed by laws which are antagonistic to the vital laws
of our being. An organism, if sick, would perish unless
restored to health; on the other hand sickness may overtake an organism existing in perfect health. The case of
persons who drag sickly bodies along to a comparatively
old age, does not conflict with this general proposition;
they live but little, and they are able to resist the onslaught
of disease because, instead of being intensified in one focus,
it is scattered over a period of years.
iEahnemann accepts diseases as facts. He abstains from
indulging in speculative theories regarding their inmost
nature, and he condemns in unqualified terms the various
attempts which have been made by different pathologists, to
explain diseases as humoral entities or as physiological
accidents or anomalies. We are sorry to confess, that even
his friends have misapprehended the true aim and meaning
of the severe and intensely-logical criticisms which his
fruitful and powerful pen has left to posterity. In showing
the absurdity of the medical theories which were in vogue
at his time, does he mean to deny the sublime privilege of
Reason, of investigating the laws of health and disease within
the boundaries of philosophical reflection and observation?
Is it possible that a gigantic intellect which has enriched
Medical Literature with an "Aesculapius in the Balance,"
"Value of the Speculative Systems of Medicine," and a
series of other Essays that excited the attention of the
world when they first appeared in Hufeland's Journal,
should have been so inconsistent with itself as to inflict
unsparing denunciations upon the very attempts which the
Discoverer of Homoeopathy saw fit to renew or, if you
please, to imitate? What man more than Hahnemaln has




DISCOVERY  OF THE PSORA-DOCTRINE.  89
vindicated, and availed himself of, the claims of human
Reason? The Understanding analyses, the Reason builds
up the synthesis of facts, and determines the formula of
their mutual relation to, and dependence upon each other,
in the great System of Nature and Mind. The law "Similia Similibus Curantur," professes to group every curative
relation of drugs to diseases under its far-famed banner,
and must be looked upon as the most comprehensive
utterance which has ever emanated, in the domain of Medicine, from the depths of Reason.
How then, we ask, is it possible that Hahnemann should
have been right in all things save that which he regarded
as the crowning glory of his eventful life! " Ever since
the years 1816 and'17," writes this ullustriouls man, "I
had been employed day and night in trying to discover the
reason why the homceopathic remedies, which were then
known, did not effect a true cure of the chronic diseases. I
tried to obtain a more correct idea of the true nature of
thousands of chronic ailments which remained uncured in
spite of the incontrovertible truth of the homceopathic
doctrine; when behold! the Giver of all Good permitted
me, about that time to solve the sublime problem for the
benefit of mankind, after unceasing meditation, indefatigable
research, careful observations and the most accurate experiments."
The solution is, that all chronic diseases are traceable to
three miasms, and that a certain order of drugs have been
especially designed by Nature to counteract their deleterious agency in the human frame.
The psora-doctrine of iEahnemann burst upon the world
like an evanescent meteor, with a flash, a sound, a few convulsive throes, and, after a brief flicker of recognition by
his more enthusiastic friends, was permitted to glide into
the bosom of oblivion as an impracticable speculation.
Unfortunately, the doctrine was proclaimed to technical
minds; the great truths which underlie its literal teachings,
remained concealed from the public gaze, and it is left for




V0    HAHNEMANN'S CHRONIC DISEASES.
posterity to raise its voice in defence of the great Departed,
and to claim a more respectful attention and a more philosophical interpretation for the inspirations of his genius.
We have shown that Hahnemann views the psoric miasm
as a compound principle, namely, as an individual receptivity or potency inherent in the constitution of every
created organism, and as a cosmic principle or force inherent in the constitution of the great whole.
We have likewise shown that lahnemann's internal
potencies or receptivities of the living organism for disease,
and the proximate causes of former pathologists mean the
same thing, and that lIahnemann agrees with former pathologists to the extent of recognising both, remote and proximate causes, as indispensable factors in every pathological
development. Here lHahnemann and the pathologists part
company, the pathologists plunging into a maze of physiologico-pathological delusions, and Hahnemann elevating
himself into a region, where the Causes of Diseases and the
Causes of Drugs flashed upon his mental vision.
Let us endeavor to identify ourselves with his searching
intellect; let us endeavor, for a few moments, to penetrate,
and, if possible, demonstrate the inherent reasonableness of
Hahnemann's general doctrines regarding chronic miasms
with such arguments as Reason and Observation may suggest to an inquiring mind. In conducting this argument,
we bespeak an emphatic recognition of the right to offer
suggestions of the pure Reason; let us remember that
worlds have been discovered in the Astronomer's closet,
and that the rule of a coarsely-applied Baconism is repudiated even in the Positive Sciences.
With Hahnemann and the pathologists generally, we
accept the proximate causes of disease as realities inherent
in the living tissues. Hahnemann alludes to them as latent
diseases, or capacities for disease, which may become excited into a state of active development in suitable conditions of the organism. The fracture of a bone in conse



GOOD AND EVIL.                     91
quence of a fall or blow, implies an inherent capacity for
such an accident. This capacity was not created by the
fall. It existed prior to the fall, as a simple potency inherent in the essential constitution of the bone. The fall, or
that which gave rise to the fall, the orange-peel, the ice, or,
horrendum dictu! a quid of tobacco, operated as a remote
cause, a simple circumstance or condition of change from a
passive, abstract and formless to an active, concrete and
definite state of existence.
The spirit of this illustration applies not only to the occurrence of accidents, but to. the development of diseases.
The lungs could not become inflamed unless a previous capacity for inflammation existed as an inherent potency in
the pulmonary parenchyma. We regard a proposition of
this kind as proven by the instincts of common sense.
What would become of man, if he were not protected by
these capacities for Evil?  God has placed them in the tissues, yea in every fibre of the organism like so many faithful sentinels guarding the precious treasure of health and
peace. They are His helpers in the System of Education
which he is pursuing with His children. In man's mate,
rial, intellectual and spiritual nature, these capacities for
Evil exist like so many sign-posts warning him away from
all violations of God's laws by sensations of pain, by
feelings of anxiety, shame or remorse. Without inherent
capacities for disease, the laws of health and the conditions
of a perfect manhood would probably never be investigated
or practically applied. We are not aware that these teachings conflict with any religious creed that is founded upon
an intelligent reading of the Scriptural text. Man, as a
finite being, must necessarily err; he has to achieve a life
of beauty by means of bitter experiences, mistakes, disappointments. Sin may lead him to holiness; a fall may enable him to rise to a state of exaltation; the race itself may
be perfected by the upheavings of revolutions, by the crimes
of governments, by the calamities of war and pestilence.
How far it may seem proper to the Creating Power, to allow




92    HAHNEMANN'S CHRONIC DISEASES.
the exercise of freedom, can only be determined by the actuality of events. It may certainly be supposed that man's
freedom is overruled by the Supreme Wisdom in a manner
which is at once compatible with the essential nature of human freedom and with the infinity of Divine Power. In
order that these capacities for Evil may remain undeveloped, as if not existing, the remote causes of development
must, in the first place, become inoperative. If man is
still afflicted with diseases; if his moral nature is still defiled; if his mind is still engulphed in an ocean of doubt,
anxiety and care, it must be because the conditions in which
he has placed himself, favor the development of these capacities for Evil into an organized life of moral, physical and
intellectual antagonism to heavenly Truth and Goodness.
We have reached the second stage in our argument.
These inherent capacities for disease, or these internal
diseases, according to IHahnemann's designation, are met by
corresponding principles in the great Cosmos which may be
regarded as the reservoir of forces that move this living
organism of ours. Hahnemann alludes to these principles
as miasms. By miasms he understands semi-spiritual forces
of a nature akin and, at the same time, antagonistic to, the
vital force. Hahnemann mentions these miasmatic principles as the originators of chronic diseases and of devastating epidemics, the psoric principle being the most
universal of them all. We have already. remarked that
the substitution of a number of miasmatic principles in the
place of psora, would not invalidate the general consistency
and correctness of ilahnemann's theory.
Inasmuch as Hahnemann traces the origination  of
diseases to the agency of these principles, we may apply
to them the designation of Morbific Forces.
If these forces may develop an epidemic typhus, or
pneumonia, we certainly may infer from this general result,
that they may originate isolated cases of typhus or pneumonia.




.MORBIFIC FORCES.                   93
And if they may develop typhus or pneumonia, why
should they not likewise be able to develop other diseases,
inflammations, nervous derangements, disorders of the
digestive apparatus or of other systems?
What do we know of the nature of the vital force or
forces which animate the human orgamism?  What do we
know of the nature of the force or forces which descend
upon the sunbeam into this ultimate plane and, by means of
the atmospheres as vehicles, develop out of the soil of our
planet the magnificent panorama spread out in countless
forms of magic and mysterious beauty before the contemplating eye of the philosopher?
Not even a headache or an attack of dyspepsia could be
explained as a purely physiological condition.
The Chemist may analyse, the Microscopist may examine,
and the Physiologist may set up formula after formula: it
is neither in the crucible of the laboratory, nor-in th6 focus
of the microscope that the phenomena of disease will ever
be traced to their originating cause.
There is a lamentable looseness, a heart-sickening superficiality in the reasoning of chemical physiologists. W7Vho
does not peruse with pleasure a work like Lehmann's
Physiological Chemistry? And yet what attentive reader
is not continually shocked by the chaotic confusion which
obscures its explanations, and by the readiness with which
the very things that were to be proven, are taken for
granted? Who is not painfully startled by the utter insufficiency of the teachings of the Chemico-physiological
School in their application to the treatment of disease?
Look at lithiasis! Urinary concretions may consist of
uric acid, earthy phosphates, or urate of ammonia. We will
thank the Chemist for this analysis. But does this analysis
account for the cause of the disease? Does it suggest an
appropriate treatment?
Let us take Lehmann as the exponent of Sherer's theory of
the formation of urinary concretions. Sherer assumes that
"the vesical mucous membrane may acquire a condition




94    IIHAINEMANN'S CHRONIC DISEASES.
within the bladder by which it predisposes the extractive
matter to the formation of acid."  Here the previous existence of a pathological process is evidently implied or taken
for granted. And it is upon such a basis that this distinguished chemist builds his theory of the gradual formation
of urinary concretions; first, a fermentative process is going
on in the vesical mucous membrane; next the peculiar composition of the concretion, whether uric acid, earthy phosphates
or urate of ammonia, is made to depend upon the character
of the vesical mucus and upon the nature of the fermentative process induced by it. Every progressive stage in the
chemical combination that is going on within the bladder, is
depending for its existence upon some primary pathological
action which is loosely mentioned at first, and ultimately
ignored, amid the ruins of the furnace and the crucible.
The phenomena of disease cannot be accounted for upon
chemical principles, nor do the ordinary physiological
movements of the organism afford a satisfactory explanation for abnormal changes that seem to be governed by
causes antagonistic to the common laws of vitality.
In view of this inadequacy on the part of the Chemicophysiological School, to account for the occurrence and
course of diseases, and to suggest appropriate means of
treatment, we consider ourselves entitled to the conclusion
that there exist, as constituent principles of the Cosmos,
disease-begetting forces which may invade the organic tissues in opportune conditions of receptivity, and excite
their inherent capacities for disease into manifest, concrete
pathological derangements. The phenomena by which these
derangements are characterised, and the morbid products
to which they give rise, fall within the range of sensual
observation and analysis, but it behooves an enlightened
Reason to trace their dependence upon causative forces and
to determine the means and the method for their radical
extinction.
We claim that one of the important points which Hahne



FINAL  CAUSES OF DISEASE.                 95
mann has sought to press forward in his theory of chronic
diseases, is the fact that there exist primitive forces of disease,
to which he has assigned the name: ilfiasms. He informs
us repeatedly that he looks upon these miasms as semi-vital,
semi-spiritual or dynamic forces, holding a sort of intermediate position between spiritual and material. These forces
of disease constitute FINAL CAUSES which, together with
the remote and proximate causes of pathologists, make up the
trinity of forces upon which the existence of diseases, and
a philosophical comprehension of the tenets of our School
depend.
By REMOTE CAUSES, we understand external conditions
or circumstances favorable to the development of diseases,
such as exposure, want of cleanliness, improper food, insufficient supply of fresh air, etc.
By PROXIMATE CAUSES, we understand the inherent, con.
nate susceptibilities of the tissues for disease generally, and
for the various specific diseases in particular, and
By FINAL CAUSES, we understand the morbific cosmic
forces which, by their action upon the inherent susceptibilities of the tissues in opportune conditions or circumstances,
develop these passive susceptibilities into active and manifest pathological states, characterized by abnormal phenomena of a peculiar order.
The essential nature of these morbific forces is as yet
unknown to us, as much so as the essential nature of the
vital force or forces. We become conscious of their existence and specific nature by the characteristic manner in
which they affect the tissues of the living organism. It is
by studying these phenomena; by observing their progressive development and relation to, and dependence upon
each other, that we have become enabled to classify diseases, and to lay the foundation of the great Nosology of
Nature.
Hahnemann's doctrine of the Chronic Miasms enables a
homoeopathic physician to establish the homoepathic edifice




96    HAHNEMANN S CHRONIC  DISEASES.
upon a scientific basis. These morbific forces, at the same
time as they develop diseases in the tissues, develop drugs
in Nature. The innate capacities for disease, which we have
designated as the proximate causes of diseases, exist in the
surface of our planet as so many germinal principles or
forces, which the cosmic forces, to which we have applied
the designation of final causes, may develop, in appropriate
conditions of soil and climate, into concrete forms. Thus
it is that we are indebted to the agency of these cosmic
forces for the glistening Digitalis, the dark foliage and
azur-panicles of the Aconite, the treacherous berries of the
Belladonna, the fetid Hyoscyamus, the luxuriously-rankling Stramonium, and indeed for every drug which is
really and truly designed by Nature as a remedial agent.
Hahnemann is emphatic in teaching the doctrine, that every
drug is the embodiment or substratum of an immaterial or
dynamic force which must needs be of cosmic origin and
which, by means of the heat and light of the sun, and of the
atmospheres as its vehicles, is enabled to communicate its
vitalizing power to organic germs and to effect their progressive growth, until they reach a state of maturity; or
which may cause immaterial molecules to aggregate into
distinct,organic substances characterized by specific physi-.
cal properties of color, taste, smell, weight.
It is from the in-dwelling cosmic factor that every drug
derives its power to affect the living organism dynamically.
Even inorganic drugs come under this law. The difference
between gold and silver arises from the fact, that the cosmic
force which causes the aggregation of elementary molecules
into the substance "gold," is essentially distinct from the
cosmic factor or force which causes the aggregation of molecules into the substance "silver."
This then is the law:
"EVERY DRUG DERIVES ITS DRUG-POWER FROM THE PRESENCE OF A FORCE INHERING IN EVERY MOLECULAR ATOM
OF THE DRUG. IT IS THIS POWER THAT MORBIDLY AFFECTS
THE ORGANISM  IN  HEALTH, AND  IT  IS  THIS  SAME




METHODUS MEDENDI OF DRUGS.                 97
POWEt THAT CURATIVELY AFFECTS THE ORGANISM IN DISEASE."
We have said that this drug-force is in reality the cosmic
factor or force which creates the drug.
By Creation, in this definition, we simply understand
development, a development of pre-existing germinal principles by means of cosmic forces.
We believe these drug-forces to be identical with the
final causes of disease, from the fact that, when drugs are
made to act upon healthy organisms, the same phenomena
are developed which characterise the phenomena of disease.
The only difference is that drugs, acting externally, develop
these phenomena in a more positive, more certain, more
limited and definite, or more material manner as it were,
whereas in disease, the cosmic force adting upon the inmost
susceptibilities of the organism, develop the phenomena of
disease in a more diffusive, more uncertain, more immaterial
or dynamic manner. This is the reason why the drug-disease, if in perfect accord with the natural disease, is capable
of overcoming it. All the internal forces of Nature incline
to manifestations in the outer world; this is an universal
law of order affecting every inmost germ, principle or force.
The forces of disease obey the same law, and, if a more
external, more material plane is presented to them, which
is specifically analogous to their nature, they leave this
more interior plane, and progress further towards the more
external and therefore more material plane which the drugelement undoubtedly affordS. A cure upon homceopathic
principles is simply a withdrawal, or a progression, of the
morbific force from the internal organism towards the external semi-material drug-disease.
iahnemann conceived the idea that it was only to chronic
diseases that this theory of morbific forces applies. We
have endeavored to show that this theory is the basis, upon
which the whole structure of Homoeopathy rests. Unless




98    HAHNEMANN'S CHRONIC DISEASES.
we admit final causes, we could no more account for the
origin of drugs than for the existence of pathological conditions.  Both derive their being from the action of these
final causes which act as inseminating principles, developing in Nature drugs out of germinal principles, and, in the
human organism, corresponding diseases out of the capacities or susceptibilities for disease, which the Creator has
implanted in the tissues as sign-posts constantly and watchfully warning man against all deviations from the road that
leads to physical and spiritual harmony, and to the ultimate
accomplishment of his glorious destiny.
WVe have said that all morbific forces, after invading the
internal organism, tend to some ultimate, external manifestation which shall protect the internal organism. Sometimes this ultimate manifestation is an eruption in the shape
of a rash, pustules, papulae, spots, ulcers; at other times it
partakes of the character of a salutary reaction, such as a
diarrhoea, perspiration, a profuse discharge of urine. Whenever this external natural manifestation of the internal disease is prevented by artificial or accidental causes, the morbific force will develop the internal disease, be it an inflammation, a simple congestion, an organic disorder, a spasm,
much more tenaciously than would have been the case, if
no such obstacles to a spontaneous external manifestation
had existed.
Let us apply this doctrine to some of the cutaneous diseases to which Sulphur is specifically related as a homeeopathic agent, and more particularly to the itch.
iHahnemann looks upon the itch as an internal disease
which is hushed up, for the time being, by the external
eruption. This eruption he regards as a vicarious sign, a
substitute for the internal disorder. If the eruption is
suppressed by violent means, the internal disease is compelled to break forth as an active condition, developing in
one, paroxysms of asthma; in another, consumption; in
another, a chronic sore throat; in another, dropsy; in another, heaTt-disease; affecting each organism according to




REMOVAL OF MORBIFIC CAUSES.                99
the measure and quality of its inherent susceptibility for
disease. Hence Hahuemann argues against the external
application, in cutaneous affections generally, and in scabies
in particular, of all such agents as might have a tendency
to suppress the eruption in a violent manner.
Tolle causan! remove the cause! Hahnemann has been
the first and only therapeutist who has ever complied with
this supreme demand of every rational system of the Healing Art in a comprehensively scientific manner. Here we
have a morbific force ingrafting itself upon a corresponding
capacity in the tissues, and developing this capacity into an
active disease. Remove this force, this causative factor of
disease, from the living organism; separate its connection
with the capacity for disease, this other passive, recipient
element in the pathological process, and we shall have
effected the recovery of our patient.
We have reached the last stage of our argument.
We are told that the law which homeeopathic physicians
have inscribed upon the banner of their School, flashed
upon Hahnemann's mind at the time when he was translating the article on Peruvian bark in Cullen's Materia Medica.
He thought that Cullen's manner of accounting for the
specific virtues of Peruvian bark in fever and ague was
incorrect or insufficient, and that this agent most probably
cured fever and ague because it was capable of producing
a similar disease in healthy organisms. History has recorded the gradual building-up of the homceopathic fabric
from this simple beginning. HEahnemann at once went to
work, constructing a Materia Medica in accordance with
the new therapeutic law which had dawned upon his
Reason. He instituted provings with a number of drugs
with a view of determining their homoeopathicity to known
diseases, but he soon found that a simple parallel between
drug-symptoms and pathological phenomena was insufficient




100   HAINEMANN'S CHRONIC DISEASES.'
to establish the scientific character of his new System of
Therapeutics.
In dwelling upon this subject and seeking to invest the
formula which he had adopted as the basis of the homoeopathic Healing Art, with the dignity of a universal law
founded in Nature and Reason, Hahnemann was led to
assert that " the forces which cause diseases, are Zikcewise capable
of removing them."  If this be true, it follows as a corollary
to this general proposition, that the forces which cause
particular diseases, must be capable of curing them. We
have seen that Hahnemann at first applied this doctrine of
causative forces to chronic diseases, and that he admitted
three distinct orders of morbific forces in which all known
chronic diseases originate, we mean the psoric, the syphilitic and the sycosic miasms.
How do these same forces cure the diseases which they
are respectively capable of developing in the living organism?  By means of drugs, whose active powers are in their
essence identical with the forces of disease. Under the
name "Antipsorics," Hahnemann has set apart a number
of drugs which he deems especially fitted for the business
of curing chronic diseases.. It is readily seen that this
mode of defining the relation of drugs to diseases not only
applies to chronic, but likewise to acute diseases. We are
not anxious to thrust Homoeopathy upon our allopathic
brother; but the coherency and unity of the argument
impel us, with an irresistible force, to this enunciation
of the facts and the philosophy of Hahnemann's deep
teachings.
WVhat a unity in the System of Nature! It is in this
unity that the Hlomoeopathic Edifice has its being. Drugs
are the products of the same forces which, when acting
upon the innate capacities for disease in the organic tissues,
develop the facts of Pathology. The causative force which,
by stimulating a germinal principle in the soil of our
planet, develops the Belladonna-plant, may, by its action
upon the innate capacities for disease in the organic tissues,




ATTRACTIVE AFFINITY.                  101
develop the pathological derangements which the Belladonna-plant is especially designed to cure. In order to
determine what these derangements are, we institute systematic provings with suitable quantities of the drug upon
persons in health. We likewise avail ourselves of the sad
records of Toxicology.  Results thus obtained  afford
approximative, although, in most instances, certain indications of the specific relations of drugs to diseases, which
become established curative relations by the evidence of
clinical experience.
This, then, is the final condition of a cure: to act upon
the morbific force which has ingrafted itself upon a corresponding capacity in the tissues, by means of an agent
which, in Nature, constitutes its material substratum  or
product. If the connection between the morbific force and
the receptivity of the tissues has not become indissoluble,
the morbific force will go to this drug in obedience to the
great law upon which all the harmonies in Nature and
Society depend, the law of ATTRACTIVE AFFINITY.  The
morbific force withdrawing itself little by little from the
recesses of the organism, will descend into the circumscribed
plane of the drug, and will be readily expelled by a disembarrassed vitality. In this pathological process, the disease
is not conquered by an opposing force; its withdrawal from
the tissues is an act of free obedience to the law: that, in
Nature, superior affinities control affinities-of an inferior order.
The affinity which identifies the morbific force with its corresponding drug, or the natural disease with its corresponding drug-disease, is more specific, more positive, more
pointed and precise, and therefore more spontaneous, than
the vague, diffusive, unsupported affinity inherent in the
morbid capacities of a resisting organism.
This exposition of Hahnemann's doctrine of Chronic
Diseases, and of the spirit and philosophy of Homoeopathy,
with which this doctrine is inseparably connected, may be
fitly concluded by a brief allusion to a few points of prac



102   HAINEMANN'S    CHRONIC DISEASES.
tice that have been introduced as characteristic elements
of the lomoeopathic School by the adherents of this
System.
lHomceopathy has been nicknamed the Infinitesimal Practice. The use of infinitesimal doses and more especially of
the little globules, has been supposed, to constitute'an indispensable accompaniment, yea the distinguishing badge of the
homoeopathic Healing Art. In this respect, a homoeopathic
practitioner enjoys the same privileges that are enjoyed by
physicians of the Old School. They may give little or no
medicine, or a large quantity, as the necessities of the case
and the views and habits of the practitioner may determine.
One homcoeopathic practitioner may give a microscopic globule
as a suitable vehicle of the drug-force, with which he seeks
to influence the morbific force in the tissues of the organism;
whereas another physician may deem it necessary to employ
five, ten or more drops of the tincture of an agent which he
supposes to be in specific curative affinity with the pathological condition of the organism. Every intelligent homceopathic physician considers himself entitled to the instruction
he may derive from the numberless cures that allopathic
practitioners have made with large doses. The question
with him is, was this drug in specific affinity with the
case? If so, I claim the privilege of availing myself of this
example as an additional confirmation of the Specific Healing
Art. It must be our endeavor to build the homceopathic
edifice upon a basis that shall be broad enough for every
legitimate development of the great Science of Therapeutics.
" Let it never be said of the Homoeopathic School that it is the
cradle of a one-sided, illiberal, exclusive dogmatism; we
recognise no dose but that which cures our patient, no
"similia" but that which is engraved upon the tablets of
Nature, and no limits to its application but the infinite
boundaries of Truth."
Homoeopathic practitioners are usually very cautious in the
application of ointments or washes to eruptions.  The reason




DANGER OF SUPPRESSING ERUPTIONS. 103
is embodied in the developments which we have presented
in this Essay. The practitioners of our School are inclined to
regard eruptions as symbolic representations or vicarious substitutions for an internal disorder might attack the internal
organism, if the external sign should be suppressed by
violent means.
Every physician knows that, in acute cases, the sudden
disappearance or the non-appearance of the eruption may
prove fatal to the brain or to some other vital organ.
Has not the incautious suppression of a chancre or of a
gonorrhoeal discharge led to the development of constitutional
and frequently incurable disorders?
Has not the drying-up an old sore by means of an astringent wash resulted in apoplexy?
Has not the suppression of an acute rash by means of the
mercurial ointment entailed incurable spasmodic paroxysms,
asthma, St. Vitus' dance?
Has not the violent removal of scaldhead by means of
washes and ointments resulted in hydrocephalus?
And does not Professor Schoenlein of Berlin inform us, in
his published lectures, that the suppression of scabies may.result in vertigo, rheumatism, amaurosis, paralysis, neuralgia
of the extremities and abdominal nerves, epilepsy, chlorosis,
mania, inflammation of the joints, more particularly of the
hip and knee-joints, tuberculosis of the lungs and stomach?
Nevertheless, let it be understood that there is no statute
in the Homoeopathic School forbidding the external application of tinctures, ointments, liniments, in all suitable cases.
No enlightened allopathic practitioner would seek to suppress
a chancre by cauterization, if he should feel satisfied that the
virus had been absorbed by the general current of the circulation. From whatever point of view these practices may
be advocated or rejected, the laws of Common Sense and
the results of Experience appeal with equal force to the
practitioners of all Schools.
Hahnemann advises the external use of drugs in a variety
of cases. He recommends the external use of the tincture




104        PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF A
of Thuya or of Sabina in cases of figwarts. Arnica is
applied by all homoeopathic physicians to bruises and contusions of the muscular fibre; the concentrated tincture of
Aconite-root to sprains, especially with laceration of tendons
and ligaments, where the injured parts are very much swollen
and inflamed.
Speaking of the alcoholic tincture of Camphor, HIahnemann recommends it as an external application in erysipelatous inflammations. We quote from the fourth volume
of his Materia Medica: "In erysipelas, where the rosecolored inflammation spreads in rays, and momentarily disappears under the pressure of the finger, Camphor, the local
application of which to the skin occasions a sort of erysipelas, may prove useful, when applied externally, in
sudden derangements characterised by erysipelatous inflammation, provided the symptoms of the internal malady are
similar to the effects which Camphor is capable of causing."
May we live to see the day when the interests of the
living lumanity shall no longer be sacrificed upon the
altar of Theory, or trodden down by the iron hoof of
Egotism! Truth must rule in Medicine as in all things;
but while we are engaged in building up her Tabernacle
among men, let us adorn her altars with the graces of
Love!




CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS.               105
THE PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF A CLASSIFICATION  OF DRUGS.
Until Hahnemann appeared upon the world's stage, Medicine was in reality nothing but a chaotic mass of speculative
theories of the most dogmatic character. Medicines were
administered upon no better grounds than some hypothetical
notion concerning their curative virtues, and these virtues
were determined by the System of Therapeutics that happened to be in vogue. The humoralist, for instance, in
whose system all diseases arise from a deterioration of the
humors, had his incrassants, his diluents, his inviscants, his
deobstruents, his detergents. The medicines which were
arranged under these and other heads, in the philosophy of
humoral pathologists, were again made subservient by Brown
and Rasori to their peculiar theories. Brown classed drugs
agreeably to what he conceived to be their stimulating
properties; stimulation was the great object of all medical
treatment in his hands, and the quantity of incitability,
with which the tissues were found endowed, yielded him a
standard by which the curative adaptability of remedial
agents to a given case might be determined. Hence all
agents became remedial in his hands, food, alcohol or opium;
for all of them were capable of stimulating the tissues.
According to the doctrines of this most crushing dogmatist, every disease is essentially a state of debility or asthenia,
and stimulation is, in every case of disease, an appropriate
proceeding. The whole Science of Therapeutics is reduced
to a knowledge of the quantity of stimulation that may
be required in each case.
Rasori, in obedience to his famous doctrine of counterstimulation, had to classify drugs into hypersthenisants or
inflammation-exciting, stimulating agents, and hypo-sthenisants or inflammation-combating, depressing agents. Tartar
emetic being possessed of an extraordinary power of depress



106  -    CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS.
ing the pulse, was considered by the School of Rasori as the
type of hyposthenisants. Mercury, Digitalis, Aconite were
likewise classed among the order of hyposthenisants. Ityposthenisants or counter-stimulants mean one and the same
thing. Antimony is a counter-stimulant because in inflammation, which is considered as a state of stimulation by the
School of Rasori, the pulse may become depressed under
the action of this agent.
jLadnnec, the father of the Specific School, whose name
has become so brilliantly identified with the stethoscope,
introduced another system of classification, after Brown,
which still finds favor with a great many practitioners of
the Old School. Arranging medicines with reference to
specific diseases, the character of every medicine was determined by the syllable anti, which was placed at the head, or
by the syllablefuge at the end of some pathological name,
against which the medicine was supposed to act. Hence we
have anti-phlogistics, or medicines against inflammation,
among which the Old-School considers blood-letting, in its
various forms and degrees, as the paramount remedy. Antibilious medicines or medicines against bile; anti-scorbutic,
or medicines against scurvy; anti-syphilitics or medicines
against syphilis. We have likewise febrifuge medicines,
or medicines which drive away fever; vermifuge, or medicines which expel worms. It is perfectly correct to say
that a medicine, which expels worms, is a vermifuge, or that
a medicine, which successfully combats inflammation, is an
anti-phlogistic. But it is radically false to consider a medicine a vermifuge or an anti-phlogistic under all circumstances, and to group a certain number of medicines together,
as by a decree of Fate, in one category. The consequence
is that a physician, who accepts this kind of classification as
correct, will treat a case of fever and ague for which he supposes Quinine to be a specific, according to the teachings of
his Materia Medica, with increasing doses, until the patient
falls a victim to this dreadful practice. Quinine is bound to
cure this case; if five grains will not do it, ten may; and if




SPECIFIC SCHOOL.                  107
ten will not accomplish a cure, twenty, thirty or an hundred
must. The sad consequences of this awful practice to human life and happiness, are incalculable. Woe unto the
poor frame that falls into the hands of a specificist who delights in Mercury. He is bound to salivate his patient.
He commences his butchery with five grains without accomplishing his results. Ten grains, twenty grains are given,
all in vain; it never occurs to this deluded monomaniac
that, by virtue of some peculiar idiosyncracy, salivation, in
the case of this patient, may be impossible. Speaking of
this case to his colleagues, he exclaims in utter amazement:
I never saw such a constitution; Mrs. So-and-so cannot be
salivated; I gave her fifty grains of Mercury, and her mouth
remained as dry as a chip. Yes, so it did; and her bones,
her joints, her synovial secretions, her whole reproductive
system; what becomes of all this? What does the miserable dogmatist care for the rheumatism which desolates his
patient's joints?  /Vhat does he care for her neuralgia;
what does he care for her languishing and prostrate condition, her falling hair, her sallow complexion which has taken
the place of the fresh bloom of youth; her waning strength,
her dropsical bloat, her cold and clammy skin? What does
he care if the patient dies, so that she dies secundum artem,
by the dreary rules of a medical theory?
Every physician may hear of these things in his professional - intercourse with Society. He may hear of young
girls whose menstrual functions have become arrested.
Secale or Aloes, being emmenagogues, so written down
in the books, must bring about the menstrual secretion.
But Secale may not bq the remedy, and the poor girl has
to be poisoned for the honor of the School. The menses
will not make their appearance, but symptoms of poisoning
may, from the most horrid uterine spasms to gangrene of
the extremities.
And yet, a beautiful and life-restoring truth underlies
this system of specific drugs. We shall see as we proceed
in the study of our subject, that a drug, which is not spe



108        CLASSIFICATION  OF DRUGS,
cifically adapted to a disease, cannot possibly effect a cure.
The mistake which the specificists of the Old-School commit, consists in taking a name for the basis of their specificity.
It' is not names, but states, pathological conditions characterised by definite symptoms, that should constitute this
basis. A pathological condition which requires Nux vomica for its remedy, will not yield to Ipecacuanha or any
other drug. This law is as fixed as the starry heavens.
In this determination of the specific relations of drugs to
specific diseases, consists the whole Art and Science of
llomceopathy.
It seems unnecessary to continue this criticism  much
further; we will only mention, for the sake of completeness,
that the Physiological School, of which Bichat is one of the
most illustrious founders, and Broussais the most brilliant
and logical architect, has indulged in another classification
of drugs, in accordance with its own peculiar views of tissues and functions. In this School we find our sialogogues,
or drugs which promote the secretion of saliva; our emmenagogues, or drugs which restore the menses; our cathartics
and drastrics, drugs which promote or compel the peristaltic
motion and consequent evacuation of the bowels.
The classification adopted by the practitioners of the Physiological School, seems to be more logical, than any that had
been introduced by other pathologists. It is suggested by the
functions of the different organs, the classification being
generally determined by the most prominent effect of the
drug. Mercury, for instance, is termed a sialogogue or salivasecreting drug, because a more copious secretion of saliva
is the chief symptom among the various effects of Mercury.
But is this the only effect of this implacable enemy? Does
not Mercury destroy the alveolar processes, the gums, the
bones, the mucous membranes? Does it not destroy the
plasticity of the blood? Does it not induce ulcers on the
sexual organs, swelling, inflammation and suppuration of
glands?  All these diversified effects of Mercury are promi



ACCORDING TO TISSUES AND FUNCTIONS. 109
nent disorders of this formidable poison, and are not in the
remotest degree alluded to by the term sialogogue.
Or take Aconite, another drug of an extensive range of
action. How will you classify it in accordance with its
diversified symptoms? Oldcl-School physicians term it a
narcotic, and some of them now go so far as to consider it
an antiphlogistic, because the primary effect of Aconite
consists in depressing the pulse. But Aconite might likewise be classed among the sudorifics, for it promotes cutaneous action in fever; or it might be considered as a
diuretic, for it increases the flow of urine; or as a sedative,
for it quiets the restlessness of an agitated nervous system;
or as a tonic, for it restores the sunken energy of the system in fever or nervous diseases; or as an emmenagogue, for
it brings back the menses, if they are suppressed by exposure to wet or by fright; or as an errhine, for it restores
the secretions of the Schneiderian membrane, after they
had become suppressed by a cold. There is hardly a category in which Aconite, and indeed many other drugs of a
comprehensive therapeutic range, might not be classed with
all due regard for scientific accuracy.
It seems perfectly proper to class drugs with reference to
certain tissues or organs. Some drugs act more upon one
organ or tissue than upon another, and there are drugs
which act so prominently upon one organ or set of organs,
that they may be classed with a good degree of propriety
with reference to this particular organ or set of organs.
Secale, for instance, may very properly be considered as a
uterine agent, on account of the prominence of its action
upon the uterine fibre; Aconite may be set down as a cardiac remedy, because it affects the movements of the heart
in a very characteristic manner; Digitalis and black Snakeroot may be ranged among the cardiacs for similar reasons.
Pulsatilla has a marked, action upon the synovial membranes; Arsenic upon the liver and stomach; Mercury
upon the gums and salivary glands; Nux vomica upon the
medulla oblongata; Opium, Hyoscyamus, Belladonna and




110        CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS.
Stramonium upon the brain. Cantharides act upon the
bladder with more exclusive intensity than any other
known drug can boast of.'
A natural mode of classifying drugs would undoubtedly
be the following. Inasmuch as every drug must necessarily act upon definite points in the living organism, upon
distinct localities, this peculiarity should not be lost sight
of in a natural System of Classification. We might refer
to this peculiarity as the anatomical character of the drug.
Another standard of classification would then be the
physiological character of the drug, or the manner in which
the functions of the affected organ are modified by it.
And lastly we might consider the pathological character
of the drug, that is to say, its relations to definite pathological conditions as indicated by the physiological action
of the drug, or its action upon healthy tissues.
Every drug should be studied from this trinitary point
of view as an anatomico-physiologico-pathological entity.
In our recently published System of Materia Medica and
Therapeutics, this order of studies has been strictly adhered to.  We have endeavored, from the toxicological
and pathogenetic effects of a drug, to trace its relation to
the organic tissues which it affects; next, we have presented the physiological action of the drug as manifested
by symptoms, and lastly we have established parallel series
between the pathogenetic or drug-effects, and the pathological or morbid symptoms in the case of every drug.
The inherent defects of the classifications of drugs which
Old-School authors have adopted, each from his own point
of view as regards the nature of diseases and the primary
or physiological action of drugs, are admitted by such men
as Trousseau and Pidoux, whom we consider as two of the
most philosophical and independent therapeutists of the
Old-School.  They say, speaking of alterative  agents:
" We are doubtful whether there exists a single agent in
the Materia Medica that could be rigorously classed in a




HAHNEMANN'S SCHEMA.                     ll
single category. It is assuredly proper to class Opium
among the stupefying agents; but, on the other hand,
Opium excites the circulation; it is a sudorific, an aphrodisiac, an emmenagogue.  Iodine is not exclusively an
alterative; it has likewise excitant and emmenagogue properties. Gold is an alterative, but at the same time a powerful tonic for the stomach. The complex composition of
cod-liver oil renders its classification uncertain and embarrassing. By its chemical principles (iodine, bromine, etc.)
it naturally belongs to the class of these alteratives, whereas
its most characteristic therapeutic properties assign it a
place among the analeptic tonics. These remarks are made
for the double purpose: of showing the difficulty or rather
the vanity of classifications; and of impressing upon practitioners the importance of not losing sight of the complex
properties of drugs, and of being ever mindful of the fact,
that drugs are like two-edged swords, and have various
properties, one of which it may be necessary to use in cases
where the other properties might prove hurtful, and would,
therefore, have to be neutralized.
In iahnemann's Materia Medica Pura we are presented
with a list of the symptoms that characterise the action of
drugs upon healthy organisms. The symptoms are grouped
with reference to the anatomical regions of the body, giving
us the symptoms of the head, special senses, digestive,
urinary and  sexual organs, of the respiratory system,
extremities and skin, and finally the fever-symptoms and
those of the mental and moral sphere. Characteristic peculiarities in the action of drugs are pointed out, whenever
they occur, in special paragraphs at the foot of a page.
In this arrangement the relation of drugs to special
diseases is not indicated by the illustrious Discoverer of
the Homeeopathic LaW. We are prepared to assert that
this omission was not the result of an accidental oversight,
but the logical consequence of the manner in which Hahnemann saw fit to apply the idea of homoeopathicity to the




112        CLASSIFICATION  OF DRUGS.
treatment of diseases.  Hlahnemann having become disgusted with the pathological vagaries of his cotemporaries,
and being thoroughly convinced of their untenableness and
their mischievous character as therapeutic generalizations,
repudiated pathological doctrines altogether as unnecessary
in the practical business of healing the sick.
We say that he repudiated pathological speculations; he
did not repudiate Pathology as a natural Science. He did
not say that, because the treatment of acute and chronic
diseases had been based upon speculative notions concerning
the essence of such disorders, measles, scarlatina, small-pox,
inflammations ceased to be definite morbid conditions,
characterised by specific pathognomonic signs and subject
to special laws of development from the period of incubation to their final disappearance the organic tissues.
Hlahnemanl  did not say that the causes, course and natural
terminations of diseases should not be carefully observed
and investigated by medical practitioners. If his own
applications of the new law of cure were incomplete, this
very incompleteness resulted from his perfect and penetrating knowledge of the pathological speculations of his age,
and of their destructive influence in the domain of practical
Therapeutics.
Would that we could contribute our mite to securing a
just appreciation of the teachings of his great genius! His
own followers have distorted them by their childish extravagances. If Hahnemann repudiated pathological speculations,
they repudiated the very Pathology of diseases, If he taught
that symptoms are the only reliable guides, in the treatment
of diseases, for the selection of a remedial agent, they taught
that symptoms constitute the alpha and omega of disease.
Hahnemann repudiated names, but he never discarded pathological conditions. Halhemann never said that asthma was
not something essentially distinct from pneumonia, or that
pericarditis was not something essentially distinct from
hydrothorax. Speculate as much as you please about the
essential nature of diseases, but do not base your treatment




METHOD OF RECORDING SYMPTOMS.  113
upon mere speculative theories. Was lEahnemann wrong
in denouncing the pernicious practice of his cotemporaries,
who sacrificed the living organism to a System, a Doctrine?
Hahnemann was an eminently practical philosopher; to him
the Art of healing diseases was a practical business, and the
only practical foundation upon which, according to his judgment, this Art should build its temple, was a careful and
comprehensive knowledge of all the perceptible symptoms
of a disease. For, argued Hahnemann, if the perceptible
symptoms have disappeared, the patient is either well, or
else all further treatment becomes impossible, for the simple
reason, that the indications for treatment are wanting.
To this very simple, and, to our mind, very conclusive
mode of reasoning, it has been objected that a patient may
be afflicted with a disease of whose presence he is not conscious. A patient may have an aneurism of the aorta and
may suddenly die of this disease, without having suspected
its existence. What will you do in such case with your
symptom-theory? Well, nothing. But what do you propose to do in such a case with your pathological speculations?
Do you not see that, in essence, Hahnemann's doctrine is
perfectly correct, and that all.. legitimate medical treatment
ceases, the very moment the indications are wanting?
Yet, faults have been committed in applying Hahnemann's
rule, that symptoms are the only reliable indications of
treatment. The genius of the new medical Era which he
-was commissioned to inaugurate, over-shadowed him, enlightening his judgment, and enabling him to seize upon
the prominent traits of the pathological tableau, and to
adapt to them a corresponding drug-disease with an unerring certainty. In this respect, his disciples were less fortunate, because less favorably endowed. Hahnemann, who
could not transmit his genius, was anxious to transmit a
substitute for the inspiration which guided him in practice.
The drug-symptoms having been carefully ascertained by
provings upon the healthy organism, the question necessarily occurred: What are my disciples to do with all these
8




114        CLASSIFICATION  OF DRUGS.
symptoms?  How are they to be used in the treatment of
disease?
In order to attain this end, the first duty of the physician
according to  [ahnemann's instructions, is to take a record
of all the perceptible' symptoms of the patient's case. In
his Organon, Hiahnemann gives full instructions concerning
the best mode of proceeding in this first step towards a cure.
They are so minute that they almost seem pedantical. The
list of the questions which the physician is directed to put
to the patient, extends over several pages. An idea of the
strictness and minuteness with which the examination of
the patient is conducted, may be gathered from, a single
paragraph of the Organon. We will select the eightyninth paragraph as an illustration.
How often have the bowels been evacuated, and what was
the nature of the discharges?  Did the whitish discharges
consist of mucus or faeces?  Were they painful or otherwise? What was the precise nature of these pains, and in
what part were they felt? What did the patient throw up?
Is the bad taste in the mouth putrid, bitter or acid, or what
kind of taste is it? Does he experience this taste before,
during, or after eating or drinking? At what part of the
day does he feel it in particular? What kind of taste was
connected with the eructation? Is the urine turbid at first,
or does it only become so after standing awhile? Of what
color was it at the time of emission? What was the color
of the sediment? Is there any peculiarity in the state of
the patient when he sleeps? Does he sigh, moan, speak or
cry out? Does he start in his sleep? Does he move during an inspiration or expiration? Does he lie on his back
only, or on which side does he lay himself? Does he cover
himself up close, or does he throw off the bed-covering?
Does hewake easily, or does he sleep soundly?  How does
he feel on waking? How often does this or that symptom
occur, and on what occasion?  Is it when the patient is sitting up, lying down, standing up, or when he is moving
about? Does it come on merely when he has been fasting,




METHOD OF. RECORDING SYMPTOMS.  115
or at least early in the morning, or simply in the evening,
or only after meals, or, if at other times, when? When did
the shivering come on? Was it merely a sensation of cold,
or was he actually cold at the time? In what part of the
body did the patient feel cold?  Was his skin warm when
he complained of being' cold? Did he experience a sensation of cold without shivering? Did he feel heat without
the face being flushed? What parts of his body were warm
to the- touch? Did the patient complain of heat without
his skin being warm?  How long did the sensation of cold,
or that of heat, continue?  When did the thirst come on?
During the cold or heat, or was it before or after?  How
intense was the thirst?  When did the perspiration come
on? Was it at the commencement or at the expiration of
the heat? What space of time elapsed between the heat
and the perspiration?  Was it when sleeping or waking
that it manifested itself?  Was it profuse or otherwise?
Was the perspiration hot or cold?  On what parts of the
body did it break out? How did it smell? What did the
patient complain of before or during the chill, during or
after the heat, during or after the perspiration?
We have reason to believe, indeed we know by abundant
testimony, that Iahnemann, in his intercourse with his patients, did not indulge in this prolix mode of investigation.
The lists of questions which we have presented, is scarcely
one-fourth of the whole interrogatory. It is undoubtedly
true that the practitioner is not directed to go over this
whole ground in every case, and that he is allowed the privilege of selecting from among the whole number, such quest
tions as seem to bear more particularly upon the patient's
case. Nevertheless, from excessive scrupulousness, or beguiled by the novelty of the proceeding, by the desire of
originality, or even by an innate and habitual pedantry,
physicians very frequently exhausted their patients by such
endless interrogatories, and very soon gave rise, in opposing
minds, to the suspicion, and finally to the open charge, of
quackery.




116       CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS.
Knowing the symptoms of the disease, the physician then
applied himself to selecting a remedy from among the whole
number of drugs, whose effects upon the healthy organism
had been ascertained more or less completely by a number
of provers. On'this subject, the Organon likewise contains
ample instructions, which may be found recorded in a series
of paragraphs from ~ 150 to ~ 202 of this extraordinary
work. According to these teachings, in order to cure a
sick-lheadache, we have to prescribe a medicine that shall
produce an exactly similar headache in a healthy person.
Or, in order to cure an inflammation of the lungs, we have
to give a medicine that shall cause an exactly similar disturbance of the pulmonary apparatus in a healthy person.
And so with all other diseases, no matter what organ,
tissue, or part of the body may be affected.
In order to prescribe a medicine in accordance with the
principle " LIKE CURES LIKE," it is evident that we have,
in the first place, to be acquainted with a medicine that
shall be capable of developing, in the healthy organism, all
the symptoms of the natural disease. We cannot employ
this medicine until we have first tried it upon a number of
healthy persons; in other words, a number of healthy
persons of both sexes, and of various ages, temperaments
and constitutions, must have swallowed a sufficient portion
of the original drug, in order to develop all the various
effects which it is capable of producing in the human organism. As long as these effects are not exactly known, no
homoeopathic physician can administer a drug in strict
conformity with the law " Similia Similibus C'urantur."
There are grave difficulties in the way of a literal fulfilment of this rule. Many diseases cannot be reproduced in
the human organism by artificial means. Of this number
are the various cutaneous eruptions, eruptive fevers,
chronic hereditary taints, enlargements of organs, arthritic
deposits, effusions into the cavities of the brain, chest,
abdomen, glandular indurations, schirrous disorganizations,
consumptive conditions, malformations. A great many of




METHOD OF RECORDING SYMPTONS.  117
these diseases can be, and have been, cured, and yet no prover
has ever yet succeeded in developing similar diseases by
mere drugs; it is not probable that, howsoever far a single
man's devotion to Science may, now and then, be carried,
a number of men will deliberately consent to poison themselves systematically for a long time, until their constitutions shall have become so thoroughly impregnated with
the poisonous drug that external or internal disorganizations must result from these alterations of the organic
vitality.
We have seen that, according to the usual mode of
understanding the term "Similarity," and appling his formula "Similia Similibus," to the treatment of diseases, a
physician has to proceed in this manner: All the symptoms that a patient complains of; the various sensations ot
pain which he experiences; the various eruptions, pimples,
blotches, tubercles, tumors, etc., which are seen upon the
skin; the color, smell, consistency and frequency of the
urinary and alvine evacuations; the abnormal phenomena
of the nervous system generally; the symptoms occurring
during sleep, such as dreams, startings of the limbs, or
body, etc.; the period of the day when the pain is felt,
the side of the body where it is felt, the conditions and
situations in which it is excited, aggravated or diminished;
all these symptoms have to be recorded with the most perfect minuteness on a sheet of paper, commencing at the head
and ending at the feet, after which a remedy has to be found
in the Materia Medica which shall present the same array of
symptoms, and, if one cannot be found which is exactly
similar, then the next similar, and for the remaining symptoms another remedy, so that the group of symptoms which
the natural disease presents, is covered, as it is termed, in its
totality, by the combined symptoms of the remedies employed in this case."  Those who desire to be acquainted
with iHahnemann's own teachings in reference to this matter,
may consult his Organan of Homoeopathic Medicine, from
pages 143 to 154. They will there find it stated in sub



118       CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS.
stance that disease, in a therapeutic aspect, consists in a
certain numerical arrangement of the symptoms, and "that
a cure is effected by means of a drug which is known to
have produced these very symptoms in a healthy person,
when taken by the latter in a sufficient quantity and for a
sufficient length of time."
These external symptoms are, according to Hahnemann,
all that we can ever know of diseases; the internal connection of the symptoms, the internal state of the organism, of
which these symptoms are merely the outward manifestations or perceptible signs, must forever remain hidden from
the searching reason.
According to this system, if strictly adhered to, a pain
would be a mere pain, no matter what its pathological
character might be; it might be more or less severe, more
or less permanent, more or less screwing, boring, stinging,
and the like; but whether it be a purely nervous pain, or
indicative of inflammation, tubercular disorganization, suppuration, or of any other morbid process, would remain a
matter of secondary importance.
If the idea of symptomatic similarities were rigorously
pushed to its extreme consequences, we should not only
have to reject the received nomenclature of diseases, but
we might even have to discard the morbid conditions for
which such nomenclature is intended. Inflammation would
become an obsolete technicality. Typhus, jaundice, rheumatism, paralysis, spinal irritation would cease to be definite
functional disturbances of particular organs or tissues. The
outward signs of diseases; pains, such as the patient feels
and describes them; eruptions, such as they appear to the
untaught eye of the layman who distinguishes them merely
by their color, shape or by the accessory symptoms of itching, gnawing, burning and similar subjective sensations:
would constitute the chief object of study and the limit of
treatment.
It never could have been Hahnemann's idea to degrade




ANTAGONISMI OF OPINIONS.               119
the Science of Therapeutics to the mechanical business of
taking a record of symptoms, and of adapting to them a
parallel record of drug-effects.  His doctrine of Chronic
Diseases alone is sufficient to disprove this absurd charge.
What a boundless space does this doctrine open to speculation! How does the doctrine of symptomatic similarities
apply in cases where the symptoms are few, ill-defined, and
where the physician is nevertheless expected to afford
relief or even to effect a cure?  In cases of amaurosis,
chronic asthma or diarrhoea, paralysis, spinal irritation, we
are very frequently baffled in our treatment. The idea of
a psoric principle looms up in the back-ground. But how
are we to determine the remedy which corresponds with
this peculiar form of psora? Is it Sulphur, Lycopodium,
Calcarea, or what is it?  How many homoeopathic practitioners would agree in such a case? Every physician
would give an opinion in accordance with preconceived
theoretical notions or predilections. We should have the
Sulphur men, advocating the imprescriptible rights of their
facile -princeps of the anti-psorics; Lycopodium would be
represented by others; Dulcamara or Calcarea might have
their advocates; Arsenic would undoubtedly hang out its
dark flag, and a plean would be sung to Lachesis by its
worshippers.
Talk of unity in a council of homceopathic physicians!
Such unity might possibly exist among a few who are
thoroughly conversant with the resources and boundaries
of their Art; with the cause, character and terminations Qf
diseases; with the inherent rights and necessities of the
physiological organism; who have full confidence in each
other's ability to cope with disease, and who entertain a
just and generous appreciation of each other's experience
and manhood. But there is no more unity among homoeopathic physicians of the ordinary standard of education and
professional character, than there is among allopathic physicians of a corresponding position in the Profession. On
this point we challenge contradiction.  We care not




120        CLASSIFICATION  OF DRUGSo
whether this statement pleases or displeases our professional brethren. It is a statement based upon personal
observation as well as upon the testimony of practitioners.
In some, but in comparatively few cases, it has been our
good fortune to meet physicians in consultation, where
unity of views concerning the treatment to be pursued was
not the result of superior dictation or experience, but of a
spontaneous exchange of opinions. In medical societies the
same difference of opinion frequently prevails. In discussing a particular case of cough, of diarrhcea, debility, marasmnus, or of other diseases, we have often heard six and
even more remedies proposed by as many members assembled in solemn council.
]Hahnemann knew as well as any other man, that in the
treatment of mental diseases) it is frequently impossible to
obain from the patient's own lips an intelligible account of
his sufferings. Little children are likewise unable to relate
their sensations of pain. And how  are we to become
acquainted with the symptoms of patients laboring under a
fit of apoplexy, or seized with tetanic convulsions, with the
delirium of typhus, with acute hemorrhage from the lungs,
or some other acute disorder where a total or partial loss of
consciousness incapacitates the patient from giving an account of his condition? In many cases of disease, a long
and detailed examination of the patient is either impossible
or dangerous. It would be cruel, and indeed impossible, to
subject a patient seized with acute asthma, or with the oppressive anguish of pericarditis, to an orthodox cross-examination after the fashion recommended in the Organon.
"What physician who is sent for in the dead of night to
arrest an hemnorrhage from the uterus or lungs, will stand
idly by, and, while the life-pulse of his patient is ebbing
feebler and feebler, amuse himself with taking a record of
all the principal and accessory symptoms of the case?"
What more positive indication does the physician require in
such a case, than the state of the pulse, the temperature of
the body or its -extremities, the appearance of the features,




INSUFFICIENCY  OF SYMPTOMS.               121
the expression of the eyes, the character and rhythm of the
inspirations, the relaxed and exhausted condition of the
uterus? The immediately determining causes of the attack
may very readily be inquired into.
If the old-fashioned method of taking a record of all the
perceptible phenomena of a disease, be the only true, or
rather the only admissible mode of establishing our diagnosis, and determining our choice of a suitable remedial
agent, what is to become of the brute creation? Are our
domestic animals to be abandoned to their fate when sickness overtakes them? Is veterinary surgery, a most interesting portion of the Healing Art, to be abandoned, unless
we can apply to the dumb animal the interrogatory prescribed
by the Organon?
The Homoeopathic Law is essentially true; it is the law
of cure inscribed upon the tablets of Nature. But the
manner in which it.has been, and is being applied by those
members of our fraternity whom we have taken the liberty
of ranging under the general appellation of symptomists,
or practitioners who prescribe by mere symptoms, is not
true; it is not scientific, and does not commend itself to the
regard of the philosophical minds of other medical Schools.
The original mode of delineating, as the Organon terms
it, an image of the disease, has now been very generally
abandoned by Hahnemann's followers. In diagnosing a
case of disease, every characteristic symptom  should of
course be correctly observed by a homoeopathic practitioner,
and a remedy should be chosen with reference to these
symptoms, not in the pedantically-minute manner which
was considered essential to homoeopathic practice by the
first promulgators of our Art; but with the spirit of a
philosophical faith in the identity of drugs and diseases,
which causes every disease to be characterised by a few
striking, unmistakeable symptoms, and which causes every
drug to likewise affect the tissues in a positive, identically
uniform, unmistakeable manner. It is owing to the essential identity of drug-action, and to the essential identity of




122       CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS.
pathological conditions, through all climes, ages and nations,
that homceopathic practitioners have been enabled to establish the curative relation of most of their important remedial
agents to diseases upon the reliable basis of actual experience
and repeated observation. The HIomceopathy of the present
day differs from the Homceopathy of former times in this,
that every enlightened and educated homceopathic physician
now considers disease not merely as an aggregate of symptoms, but as an abnormal condition of the vital force, which
has to be acted upon by a drug in an integral manner; the
perceptible symptoms merely serving us as guides in selecting the specific drug for a specific disease.
The original provings of Hahnemarn which are recorded
in the four volumes of his Materia Medica Pura, stand out
in bold relief from among the ponderous mass of symptoms
which have been piled up by subsequent experimenters.
Thousands of these pretended drug-effects are utterly
worthless and should be expunged without mercy or hesitation. They only serve to complicate and disfigure the drugpictures which Hahnemann and many of his heroic disciples
have bequeathed to us and still continue to perfect for our
use. We might quote thousands of symptoms from Hahnemann's Materia Medica Pura, from  the provings of the
Austrian and other Prover's Unions, and from the isolated
provings of many German, English, French and American
provers, which are so precise and so perfectly characteristic
that they reflect the pathognomic signs of diseases even to
the unexperienced eye of the layman. Any one who will
take the trouble of perusing our recently-published System
of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, will become convinced
of the perfect symptomatic correspondence existing more or
less between every drug therein mentioned, and some particular disease. We should have to copy the whole work,
if we would furnish full illustrations of this statement.
The action of Aconite upon the cerebro-spinal and ganglionic centres is characterised by such well-marked and




SPECIFIC  ACTION  OF DRUGS.              123
unmistakeable symptoms that it is next to impossible to
mistake its use in neuralgic and inflammatory affections,
Its action upon the portal system, upon the biliary functions,
upon the special senses is self-evident to every observer
endowed with ordinary intelligence and furnished with
the necessary requisites of anatomical and pathological
knowledge.
Who does not see the specific uses of Belladonna in
affections of the brain, of the dermoid tissue, of the womb,
reflected by its pathogenetic and toxicological action upon
the normally-existing organism?
Look at the toxicological action of iHyoscyamus, Stramonium, Opium, upon the brain.  Are not the cerebral
diseases, with which these agents are in curative relations,
shadowed forth in distinct outlines by their poisonous
effects?
Who will deny, on perusing the pathogenetic effects of
Pulsatilla, that the genius of this drug presides over affections of the synovial membranes, of the gastric sphere, of
the urinary and sexual systems? And who will deny that
the curative relation is, in almost every instance, indicated
by the peculiar action of the drug?
Who that knows, can mistake the stools which require
Ipecacuanlha, for those over which Rhubarb or Arsenic
exercises a regulating control?
The vomiting which will yield to Ipecacuanha, is as
unmistakeably indicated by the action of this agent upon
the mucous lining of the stomach, as is the vomiting which
will yield to Arsenic, Veratrum, or Nux vomica, by the
peculiar action of either of these agents.
No intelligent observer can mistake a Corrosive-Sublimate
dysentery for one that requires Aconite, Arnica or Nux.
Even syphilitic affections are distinctly reproduced by the
action of Mercury upon the healthy tissues.
We desire to state most emphatically that those who deny
or overlook the absolute value of drug-symptoms; their
identity, in numberless cases, with the pathognomonic signs




124        CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS.
of diseases; the peculiarities which very frequently characterise their action; their occurrence or disappearance in
certain positions of the body, or at a particular period of the
day: are not inspired by the genius of the Homceopathic
Healing Art, and must ever fail in doing justice to its lifesaving behests.
But let it be remembered, that symptoms, although each
may convey an intelligible meaning, have very frequently
to be combined, like the words of speech, into a phrase,
which no longer expresses an elementary idea, but represents
an unitary group of elements, that may occur again and
again as a natural disease, and may occupy a legitimate place
in the Science of Nosology.
A physician who is ignorant of the law of order under
which this group exists from the beginning to the end of
its course, cannot possibly do justice to the therapeutic
requirements upon which the gradual removal of this group
depends. If diarrhcea was a prominent symptom  of this
group, the constipation which may subsequently set in, may
be regarded by an ignorant practitioner as a morbid condition, whereas, in the light of Reason, it would, perhaps,
appear as a physiological change, spontaneously and necessarily superinduced by the re-awakened vital reaction.
Or an excessive craving for food might be succeeded,
under proper therapeutic management, by a temporary
indifference for almost any kind of nourishment. So far
from requiring any special treatment, the best treatment,
under such circumstances, might perhaps be not to give any
medicine, or, if medicine is to be given at all, to continue
the same remedy which had induced the change, in small
doses, and at lengthened intervals.
Continued menstrual obstructions may be succeeded,
under proper treatment, by a profuse menstrual discharge;
or habitual constipation may result in diarrhoea, both the
menstrual discharge and the diarrhoea being true physiological changes which should not be interfered with by
medicinal influences.




SPECIFIC RELATION OF DRUGS.              125
A practitioner who is sufficiently enlightened by education and experience, to discriminate between physiological
changes which are attributable to normal vital reaction,
and pathological conditions which, although apparently
differing from the original disease, may be simple developments or symptomatic transformations of the pathological
process whose essential unity may not be changed by the
/apparent evolution of new symptoms: such a practitioner
very frequently succeeds in conducting the treatment of an
apparently complicated and deep-seated disorder to a successful termination by the use of one or at most two
remedies.
There is hardly a disease which has not yielded to the
exclusive use of one remedy in the hands of a skillful and
enlightened  practitioner.  We know  that meningitis,
typhus, scarlatina, uterine affections, etc., have yielded to
Belladonna; pneumonia to Phosphorus, Aconite or Squills;
rheumatism, dysentery, phlegmonous inflammations and
acute congestions of almost every organ or tissue to
Aconite. Bryonia has cured many a case of rheumatism;
Pulsatilla has removed inflammations of the synovial membrane.  How  many cases of liver-affection and their
remote consequences have disappeared under the exclusive
use of Arsenic. Nux claims an exclusive and specific
share in the successful treatment of many forms of gastric
derangements. Look at that host of disorders which may
be traced to lymphatic engorgements as their starting-point,
and where Mercury alone has afforded permanent relief.
We may be pardoned for relating a case, where Ipecacuanha effected a very fine and even startling cure. A little
girl was attacked with vomiting, supposed to have been the
consequence of over-eating. The children had had a party,
where ice-cream, oranges and cake had been quite abundant.
For a week after the vomiting, the child seemed drooping
and restless, although she was playing about the house and
was even taken out of doors on one occasion. A rash




126       CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS.
broke out upon her back, thighs and abdomen which we
were told looked like measles, but was evidently symptomatic of some internal irritation. The rash which did not
incommode the patient, soon disappeared, after which the
symptoms of mucous irritation became exceedingly marked
throughout the whole expanse of the membrane. Oppression on the chest, with wheezing and rattling in the airpassages and constant desire to hack; very frequent alvine
evacuations, loose, often slimy or watery, or looking like
stirred eggs, at times greenish or dark, and having a most
penetrating and cadaverous smell which saturated the
child's clothes and infected even the clothes of those near
her; irregular action of the bladder, occasional dysuria,
with discharge of a deep-yellow urine; occasional distention
of the bowels and more especially of the. hepatic region;
extreme emaciation and prostration; the tongue was coated
with a thick layer of a grayish-yellow mucus; the child
seemed to feel very sore about the chest and sides, for she
screamed out when touched a little hard; her lips and the
corners of her mouth were very sore, cracked and ulcerated;
her breath was foul; every evacuation from the bowels was
preceded by severe colicky pains and rumbling of flatulence,
though the attacks of pain were likewise experienced between the evacuations, and were accompanied by spasmodic
twitchings of the corners of the mouth and a deathlike,
blueish paleness of the face; at times the little patient
would feel cold as ice from head to foot, after which a
burning fever set in, with a deep, circumscribed flush on
one cheek; occasionally the child, who was an exceedingly
intelligent little girl, complained of headache, and was remarkably restless and irritable; she would not remain quiet
five minutes, and had to be changed about constantly day
and night; there were distinct evening and night-exacerbations of all the symptoms, and every other night the
paroxysms seemed to be particularly severe.
The child had been sick for about three weeks, when we
were sent for. During this period she had been under the




SPECIFIC RELATION OF DRUGS.               127
treatment of other physicians of our' School. When she
was first taken sick, she took a few doses of Calomel.
When we first saw the child, at ten o'clock in the evening,
we found her with a burning fever whibh had been preceded
by a deathly pallor' of the countenance and an icy-coldness
of the whole body. From what we then saw and heard of
her case, Arsenic seemed to be an appropriate remedy.
Accordingly, we prescribed Arsenic, but did not discover
any material change in the symptoms when we called again
on the following morning. A careful examination of the
case then induced a conviction that, if this child's life could be
saved, Ipecacuanha was the agent that alone would accomplish such a result. We therefore determined to put the little
patient on the use of the first decimal attenuation of Ipecacuanha, of which we mixed five drops in half a tumblerful of
water, with directions to give the child a swallow of the
mixture as often as she called for a drink. Under the use of
this agent the child improved steadily and satisfactorily; the
stools lost their offensive smell, became more natural and much
less frequent; the urinary secretions became quite regular,
and the death-like pallor and the burning heat disappeared.
After the Ipecacuanha had been continued for a week, with
an occasional dose of the first decimal attenuation of Aconite,
the cough assumed a paroxysmal form, and seemed to proceed from the larger bronchia  At one time the little
patient seemed threatened with suffocation.  She kept
pulling at her chest in the region of the bronchi. The
tincture of Iodine was now administered, at the rate of
three drops in half a tumblerful of water. Almost immediately after taking this drug, the child breathed with more
ease, the wheezing diminished, she was able to lie on her
back, and to sleep quietly. This improvement continued
until the child was so much better, after a fortnight's treatment, that our professional attendance was discontinued.
We ought to state that, a few hours after taking the Iodine
the child coughed up a long fragment of artificial membrane.
In treating and describing a case of this kind, we deem it




128-       CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS.
our privilege to give it a name. Why should not such a
logically-coherent group of symptoms have a name?  We
may name it Capillary Bronchitis or Bronchial Croup.
We likewise deem'it our privilege to trace the physiological connection of the morbid phenomena; for a proper
comprehension of this fact not only conveys a more lucid
perception of the character of the disease, but likewise facilitates the choice of the remedy. In the present case no attentive and intelligent observer could have failed to regard
the pneumogastric nerve as the seat of this deep-seated and
far-reaching disorder. Having determined the pathological
character and the anatomico-physiological locality of the disease, the selection of specifically-corresponding remedial
agents becomes, comparatively speaking, an easy task for
those who are in possession of an adequate knowledge of the
pure effects of our drugs. Among the group which seemed
to bear upon this case, Ipecacuanha occupied a prominent
position. Aconite could only have been recommended as
an intercurrent remedy; the curative sphere of Iodine necessarily commenced at the point when the irritation became
concentrated, as it were, in the bronchi and in the larger
bronchial tubes.
This case may furnish an illustration of the manner in
which we have been in the habit of teaching Homeopathy
as a Science and an Art. A knowledge of the pathogenetic
effects of drugs is insufficient to enable a practitioner to select a specific remedial agent in a given case with perfect
satisfaction to an enlightened Reason. The drug-effects derive their therapeutic quality and significance from the tissues involved; from the nervous centres and their ramifications upon which the drug acts; and lastly from the relation
they hold to natural diseases. This doctrine may not have
been that of llahnemann's original disciples, but it is in accordance with Science, and professional minds must sooner
or, later adopt it as the basis of a true system of Therapeutics.




ARE LARGE DOSES ALWAYS AVOIDABLE?    129
The old-fashioned orthodox treatment of syphilitic affections with infinitesimal doses of the homeopathic agent fails
most signally in many cases. Practitioners who have any
experience in the treatment of these diseases, agree that the
syphilitic and gonorrhoeal virus have very generally to be
neutralized by larger doses of the specifically-indicated remedy than is required by other diseases. A purely symptomatic treatment in such affections is very frequently impossible.
If we desire to cure our patient, and cure him radically and
permanently, the specific remedy has very frequently to be
administered in large doses. We may illustrate this statement by the following case:
A man was infected with the gonorrhceal virus. After
having been quacking around town for six weeks, he appliedcl
to us for help. HIe was afflicted with chordee, stricture,
horrid cutting and tearing pains when urinating, and continual discharge of a thick, greenish-yellow mucus which
stained the linen. There was much pain along the spermatic chords, and in the lumbar region on each side of the
spine. We commenced the treatment with five drops of the
strong tincture of Cannabis sativa, to be taken in the course
of a day, and to be increased each day by one drop until the
number of ten drops was reached. By that time the patient
felt very much relieved; he had been improving up to this
time every clay; the discharge had become milky, the urine
flowed much more freely and the chordee had disappeared.
We now kept him on the use of ten drops a day without
effecting any perceptible change. Being satisfied that Cannabis was still the remedy, specifically adapted to this case
of gonorrhceal poisoning, we increased the quantity to fifteen
drops to be taken from morning to night in three doses.
The improvement then recommenced, and continued under
the use of Cannabis which was increased by one drop every
day, until the patient took twenty-five drops a day. In the
course of six weeks the cure was completed; it was thorough and has proved permanent. We have had frequent
9




130        CLASSIFICATION  OF DRUGS.
opportunities of seeing the patient during the last year; his
health has been perfect all this time.
What would have become of this person in the hands of
a physician who, instead of increasing the dose from ten to
fifteen and gradually to twenty-five drops, would have resorted to the twelfth or thirtieth potency? We have tried
this kind of practice in former years, and we can affirm under oath that it has signally failed in almost every case. In
the few cases which we have succeeded in curing by such
means, it is our decided impression that Nature, and not the
medicine, or professional skill, effected a cure.
We know that the soluble Mercury will cure primary
syphilis. Years of experience and actual experiment upon
the healthy living tissues have demonstrated this fact.
Among the pathogenetic effects of Mercury, the primary
chancre, balanitis, glandular swellings in the groin, constitute prominent symptoms. But it is not only to primary,
but likewise to secondary and tertiary syphilitic affections
that Mercury is frequently found adapted. Yet, with few
exceptions, we do not find the symptoms of the secondary
or tertiary forms of syphilis delineated among the physiological effects of Mercury.
Why, then, if the symptomatic similarities fail us, are we
justified, as homceopathic practitioners, to use Mercury for
the more inveterate forms of syphilis? By a very simple,
but perfectly legitimate mode of reasoning.
Knowing from actual observation, what secondary and
tertiary developments of the syphilitic disease may arise
from the primary invasion of the virus, and having, moreover, ascertained from actual experiment upon the healthy
tissues, that the primary invasion of the mercurial disease
is, in all respects, marked by the same symptoms as the
primary form of syphilis, we have a perfect right to conclude that, if the mercurial disease were developed to a
sufficient degree of penetrating intensity, it might very
frequently assume the same forms which characterise the
secondary and tertiary forms of the syphilitic disease.




VAGUE CEHARACTER OF SYMPTOMS.   181
Hence there is no reason why the mercurial disease should
not very frequently have power to neutralize the more inveterate forms of syphilis, even caries, chancrous ulcerations of
the throat, nasal cartilages, etc. In thus treating these
syphilitic developments pathologically without the assistance of symptomatic similarities, ignorant or prejudiced
practitioners are exposed to the danger of committing
grievous faults, by confounding the natural disease with
the supposed drug-symptoms. This fact has been strikingly illustrated by a case of secondary syphilitic ulcerations of the throat which occurred in one of our Colleges
and was mistaken for mercurial ptyalism.
NVe have a perfect right to say, that it is not always
either necessary or possible to select a remedial agent
symptomatically.  We may prescribe a medicine upon
purely pathological grounds with perfect certainty. If we
know that the starting-point of true inflammation is an
irritation of the capillary terminations of the ganglionic
and cerebro-spinal systems of nerves, and that the action of
Aconite upon these systems starts from the same beginning;
we infer that Aconite will prove in curative relation with
phlegmonous inflammations, even though they should not
be found delineated among the provings.
One of the cardinal defects of many of the recent contributions to our Materia Medica is the frivolous and uncertain
character of the symptoms which are, furnished by their
authors as reliable effects of drugs. We do not intend, on
this occasion, to single out any one particular drug among
the number either in terms of praise or censure. But we
deem it our privilege to record our emphatic dissent from the
manner in which the glorious edifice of the Science of Therapeutics is continued to be defaced, distorted and belittled by
the mischievous industry of an oligarchy who "pay tithe of
mint, and anise, and cummin, and omit the weightier matters
of the law, judgment, mercy and faith."




132     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED
" These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other
undone.
"Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a
camel;
"Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter,
that the outside of them may be clean also."
WVhat is now needed like the new manna, that shall feed
the children in the wilderness or quench their thirst like the
water from the rock, is the light of science which shall reveal
the therapeutic character of the drugssymptoms that have
been piled mountain high, like Ossa upon Pelion, until it has
become an absolute impossibility to ascend its dreary heights
without wasting one's energies, like the fabled daughters of
Danaus whom a merciless Fate had doomed to fill water into
bottomless pouches, or like the painstaking Sisyphus engaged
in the thankless task of rolling his boulder to the top of the
hill without ever being permitted to reach the summit. We
have drugs enough wherewith to heal all curable diseases.
These continued additions to our Mater Medica in the shape
of thousands of trifling, unmeaning symptoms, without any
pathological importance simply tend to create confusion,
and beget a lurking desire to get rid of the trash as fast as it
makes its appearance upon our records. The professional mind
will never allow itself to be forced to revere such shadows as
substances; these things have sprung up like weeds in the
outer court of the temple choking up the avenues to the
shrine of Truth. Take heed; your idols will be forgotton
and forsaken, and " your house will be left unto you desolate."




WITH THE DOCTRINES OF HOMCiEOPATH:Y.    133
CRITICAL  REISUMET  OF  OLD-SCHOOL  THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED WITH THE THERAPEUTIC DOCTRINES OF HOM(EOPATHY.
THE object of all treatment is to cure diseases.  It is in
the mode of achieving this object that not only single practitioners, but whole systems differ. As regards the Homoeopathic and Allopathic Schools, these differences are absolute,
because arising from fundamental differences of opinion
regarding the nature of diseases, the relation of drugs to
diseases, the physiologico-therapeutic forces of drugs and
indeed every single fact which enters as an active element
into the methodus medendi of remedial agents.
All enlightened and humane physicians, howsoever much
they may differ in their doctrinal opinions and in the practices resulting from their respective theories, agree, that
there exists one best, shortest and safest road to the cure of
every curable disease. This Ideal of Therapeutics appeals
to the scientific Reason as the solemn privilege of suffering
man, and may be looked upon as a problem, the solution of
which, if presented in a formula of universal applicability,
would constitute the crowning glory of the Healing Art.
WVhen the partisans of the Specific School sought to classify drugs with reference to diseases upon the ground that
certain drugs are the necessary, inevitable neutralizers of
certain specific pathological conditions, they must have
been impelled by this noble aspiration of every humane
physician's heart and common sense. What else but an
intense confidence in the scientific accuracy of his therapeutic edifice, could have led Hunter to praise Mercury as
the infallible specific for the syphilitic infection!
Yet the Specific School has committed grave and even
fatal mistakes. Looking upon disease as some parasitical
growth in the organism, it had to be destroyed by some
agent specifically hostile to it  If a small quantity was not




134     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED
sufficient, a larger quantity had to be given. If ten grains
of Quinine would not arrest the fever-and ague paroxysm,
twenty, thirty or more grains had to do it. The radical
vice with which this System is tainted is as fatal to its
inherent reasonableness as the omission of pathological
considerations proves fatal to the scientific dignity of a
purely symptomatic Homoeopathy. The Specific School
ignores the existence of certain vital susceptibilities, practically at least, without which diseases could not possibly
become actualised conditions in the human frame. These
susceptibilities may be definite in number, and their concrete developments may form a series of pathological
derangements which it may be possible to group into
distinct nosological Systems; but be they ever so much
subject to precise laws and amenable to the rigid requirements of a scientific formula: they can never be forced into
submission to the dogmatic abstractions of a scholastic
theory. These susceptibilities are specific in their nature,
obeying inherent tendencies to definite manifestations, and
holding specific relations of affinity to the disease-begetting
forces of the Macrocosm, as well as to the disease-healing
forces of drugs. The law of order, under which these'
susceptibilities to disease exist, imposes upon every therapeutist the duty of ascertaining by positive experience and
observation the quality and quantity of the medicinal influences to which the morbid susceptibilities of the organism
will accommodate themselves in perfect freedom.  They
must be willing to receive these influences; the living
organism must be willing to consent to be impressed in a
particular direction. If it should demand the impression of
Belladonna, we cannot satisfy the demands of the organism
by the impression peculiar to Stramonium. The organism
demands the impression of Belladonna, when it is under
the influence of a disease which is represented, in a lower
or more external range of action, by the Belladonna-drug.
Drugs represent, in a lower sphere of existence, the diseases
which they are specifically able to cure; or the same idea




WITH THE DOCTRINES OF HOMCEOPATIIY.       13 
may be expressed by saying, that the organism, in a higher
order of existence, appropriates or assimilates such elements
of the lower drug-life as are in specific agreement with its
own physiological quality and power of appropriation.
How beautifully are these same truths expressed by Trousseau and Pidoux in the following paragraph, which is probably read by thousands without the remotest suspicion flashing upon their minds, that Nature's Science of Therapeutics
is shadowed forth in dim outlines in these eloquent words:
" It is the organism which, stimulated by aliments, draws
from them the varied substance of all its parts. It is this
same organism which, stimulated by drugs, draws from them
their properties; the organism develops and vivifies them;
the organism impresses life upon them, a life modified in
various ways. The organism assimilates or appropriates
unto its own nature something of these strange forces.
They pass into its tissues, and are elevated to the higher
order of organic life. It is not by juxtaposition, but by a
process of intussusception that these drug-elements become
transformed. The drug-action is received by the internal
organism. A living mirror of the properties of these poisons, it may be said that, through them, the organism is
successively changed to Opium, Mercury, Antimony, Cin.
chona, Belladonna, and so forth. In other words, it is
Opium, Mercury, Cinchona, Antimony, Belladonna elevated
to a superior order of activity representing or reflecting the
essential properties of these substances which the living
organism has momentarily impressed with a higher vitality.
There is nothing metaphorical in this mode of reasoning;
it is suggested by the most rigid interpretation of physiological laws. We have reached the foundations of Therapeutics. Vitalism elevates Toxicology from the low regions of
crucibles and retorts, where it has so far remained confined,
to the very bosom of the living organism, and, without
repudiating the past; on the contrary, profiting by its accumulated knowledge and experience, it invests our Materia
Medica with the dignity of a physiological Science.




136     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED
What a mass of important conditions is implied in this
paragraph, among which that of affinity between the quality
or character of the drug and the state of the organism,
hold a prominent rank. Indeed, how is an expression
to be conveyed to the organism, for which it does not manifest an adequate receptivity   A drug, Opium for instance,
may be made to act upon the healthy organism in such
quantities that all the properties of this drug may be imaged
by the susceptibilities inherent in the living tissues, in a
coherent and comprehensive series of morbid sensations,
derangements of functions or alterations of tissue.  This
Opium-disease may be said to have been forced upon the
organism; such an artificial disease is of short duration.
Unless the vital resistance should be absolutely and permanently overcome, the artificial disease is very soon wiped
out by the natural reaction of the organism.
Yet, even in a case of drug-poisoning or drug-proving,
no drug could even make a temporary impression upon the
organism, unless the organic fibre were endowed with an
inherent power to receive, and the sensorium with an inherent
power to perceive the action of the drug. The impression
conveyed by the drug, must be ana7ogous to the character
of the organic susceptibility; not even a corrosive poison
could alter the normal condition of tissue unless this tissue
were fitted by an inherent receptivity of a corresponding
order, to be impressed by the deleterious agent.
Relations thus established between the tissues of the
healthy organism and the physiological properties of drugs,
may be said to be of an external order; they do not affect
the internal vitality.
The internal vitality cannot be reached or impressed by
the physiological properties of drugs in the same sense as
this vitality can be disturbed by the morbific principles of
the cosmos. But even these principles may surround the
living organism, and seek to disturb its harmonious vitality,
without being able to make the least perceptible impression
upon it. This can only take place after the organism has




WITH THE DOCTRINES OF HOMCEOPATHY.       137
been previously prepared for such a change, by a corresponding modification of the physiological conditions upon
whose integral preservation the continuance of the normal
life of the organism depends. WVhen the organism is exposed to draughts of air, to the blasts of a damp and raw
north-easter, to the pernicious effects of uncleanliness, deficient ventilation, unwholesome nourishment, disturbing
passions or any other influences naturally opposed to its
physiological integrity: the morbific forces of the cosmos
become enabled to excite the morbid susceptibilities of the
internal organism into pathological conditions analogous to,
or, as Trousseau and Pidoux express it, reflected or represented by, the physiological properties of drugs in their
more material order of existence.
We cannot sufficiently impress upon the minds of those who
seek to become initiated in the sanctuary of therapeutic
wisdom, the law which constitutes the corner-stone of her
temple: " THE PHYSIOLOGICO-THERAPEUTIC FORCES OF DRUGS,
AS WELL AS THE MORBIFIC FORCES OF THE MACROCOSM, CAN
ONLY ACT UPON ANALOGOUS RECEPTIVITIES IN THEE TISSUES
OF THE LIVING ORGANISM."  This law of Affinity is the
supreme and eternal law of Order, not only in the domain
of Therapeutics, but in every department of physical and
spiritual life. What, if Hahnemann has seen fit to designate
this System of Physiologico-therapeutic and Pathological
Affinities by a name of his own invention  Is the System
any the less founded in the bosom of Nature, because human
genius has applied to it a name?  This name may be
changed; so far it has subserved the important use of a
banner or sign, under which the partisans of the new
doctrines have swelled their numbers even unto legions.
Unfortunately, the divinely-pure and true which the name
was intended to perpetuate by its symbolic baptism, has
almost been suffocated by the mass of technicalities that
have been presented to a bewildered world as the alpha
and omega of Homoeopathic Therapeutics.
A great revolution is impending over the Homceopathic




138     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED
School. The era of Homceopathic Science is to be inaugurated, which will shed its blessings upon the sick, even
though its symbolic name should become a thing of the
past.
Truth Divine is not bounded by a name. Wroe unto the
miserable fool who should seek to confine the Infinite of
Truth within the rigid lines of his own conceit! She will
assert her privilege of boundless expansion with -a power
that will crush all human opposition, and wipe out the
last vestige of pride-begotten theories and idle speculations.
All language is symbolic; it has been an instrument of
deception. We claim that the definitions of our Science
should be precise, logical and comprehensive; they never
can attain to this ideal perfection, until the leading minds
of the Homweopathic School make it their business to force
the Goddess from all earthly fetters, and to enable every
worshipper to offer his incense at her altar, unalloyed by
the adulterations of deceitful pride and egotism.
If the noble and generous spirits who may still be found
in our School, even here, in this very city, where a few
petty and contrasted dogmatists have planted the iron hoof
of an unmeaning and frivolous conservatism upon the neck
of Homoeopathy, should feel disposed to unite in the good
work of redeeming her from this deadening yoke, they
may derive encouragement from the words which were
written to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia:
" These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that
hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth;
and shutteth, and no man openeth;
"I know thy works; behold, I have set before thee an
open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little
strength, and hast kept my word, and. hast not denied my
name.
"Behold, I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan,
which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I
will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to
know that I have loved thee.




WITH THE DOCTRINES OF HOMCEOPATiY.    139
"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also
will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come
upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
"Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast
that no man take thy crown.
"Hinm that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple
of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write
upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of
my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of
Heaven from my God; and I will write upon ]him my new
name."
HEomceopathy does not require a new name of human
origin, but a new quality, a new order of development.
What she needs is to be lifted out of the slough of human
cunning and evanescent symptoms into the region where
phenomena are governed by unchanging laws.
Her temple is not built by the hand of man; God laid its
foundations in the framework of Nature. It is not given to
any man to shut or to open it; every honest worshipper
enters it by his own door; some remain in the outer court;
a few only are permitted to enter the holy of holiest; the
great crowd enjoy the blessings of the new Truth. This is
their mode of worshipping.
But there are those in the Homoeopathic School who constitute the Synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and
are not but do lie. These are they who smite their breasts
in the public places, crying out, I am holier than thou.
They are those who trade in the old fashioned symbols, in
orthodox wares, in unmeaning charms and rituals, in foul miracles; they are those who persecute and crucify the living Lord.
These are the Synagogue of Satan who seek, by cunning
and brute power, to substitute the worship of a lie for the
worship of the eternally-living Truth. Verily, their house
shall be left desolate.
If the law of Similarity or Affinity, which Hahnemann




140     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
has proclaimed as the natural law of cure, is universal in its
application, it must necessarily have power to supersede the
various therapeutic principles which have checkered the
medical schools previous to the introduction of Homceopathy.
Remedial agents) if administered under the new law, must
not only be capable of achieving every curative result which
the therapeutic processes of the Old School can legitimately
claim as their own; but they must be capable of achieving
all this good more directly and more thoroughly than the Old
School is able to do. In order to decide this question with
philosophical accuracy, let us subject the leading doctrines of
the Old School to a more detailed examination. A cursory
analysis will be found sufficient to determine the bearing of
the new philosophy upon the animus and object of the old
method.
ASTRINGENTS.
Astringents, such as alum, oak-bark, tannic acid, nuts of
galls, catechu, kino, perchloride of iron, lead, etc., are used
by Old-School physicians for the purpose of producing a
contraction of the capillaries or interstitial spaces in the
organic tissues.  Their use is indicated, according to the
Pathology of the Old School, in local inflammations of
recent origin, ophthalmia, sore throat; in discharges from
the mucous linings of the eyes, nose, bowels, urethra,
vagina; in cases of local hsemorrhage arising from the accidental or intentional wounding of a blood-vessel.'They
are likewise used for the purpose of arresting chronic
vomiting as a symptom of digestive weakness; or for the
purpose of drying up a sore, or in chronic inflammatory
irritations of the skin, uterus, bladder. A very weak solution of sulphuric acid is very frequently used in inveterate
herpes; the sulphate of alumina and tannic acid are resorted
to in chronic metritis, etc.
Astringents, and more particularly the mineral and vegetable acids, are likewise used by Old-School physicians in




ASTRINGENTS.                     141
some forms of scorbutic disease, the common sea or landscurvy, purpura haemorrhagica, etc., where they are supposed to act by restoring the coagulability of the blood,
and by removing the atony, the permeability and friability
of the tissues.
It is scarcely necessary to remark that in using astringents, allopathic physicians are guided by the suggestions
of common sense and experience. The enlightened practitioners of the Old School should not be held responsible
for the foolish practices of their reckless or uninformed
brethren, any more than the intelligent members of our
own School should be charged with the absurdities of those
who so frequently disgrace it by their acts and published
records. No sensible Old-School practitioner will dry up
an old sore which has become an issue of vital importance
to the preservation of the organic or animal life. No sensible Old-School practitioner will apply astringent washes to
an eruption which the vital reaction has thrown out upon
the skin as a means of relieving the internal organism and
freeing it from the danger of dissolution. Such practices
are repudiated by the philosophical teachings of the School.
It is not to these that our remarks have reference, but to
the general principles which determine the use of astringents in Old-School Therapeutics.
In certain irritations of an evanescent character, and
circumscribed in their action, the palliative influence of a
simple astringent may be sufficient to effect a temporary
contraction of the capillaries and fibrillary interstices, during
which the vital reaction may gather up its forces and permanently overcome the tendency to an abnormal condition
of the parts. In a common sore throat, for instance, a weak
gargle of a solution of Alum has very frequently been found
sufficient to remove the difficulty in a very short period,
without the use of any other means.
In hundreds of other cases the use of a wet-bandage has
effected a speedy and permanent contraction of the capillaries of a sore throat, of a bruised muscle, a sprained joint,
without resorting to any other treatment.




142     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
In all such cases, astringents effect curative results by
their primary action upon the tissues, which is opposed or
antipathic to the existing pathological process.
This sort of palliative treatment is perfectly justifiable in
all cases, where it is evident that a simple palliation of the
symptoms is all that is required to afford permanent relief.
There are local derangements of such a superficial or other.
wise idiosyncratic character that palliative means not only
mnay be, but frequently are superior to the employment of
strictly curative agents. In many cases of rheumatic sore
throat, or chronic rheumatism of joints or muscles, palliaLive means have effected cures or afforded relief, when the
use of drugs in accordance with the ordinary rules of the
Healing Art, seemed utterly powerless. These results have
likewise been witnessed with the use of palliative tonics.
A glass of brandy and-water has very frequently arrested a
diarrhcea which seemed to resist all the ordinary therapeutic
agents.
We once treated a patient for a peculiar form of mental
derangement. He was a master-builder, and, at one time,
had to be exposed for a consecutive number of days to the
rays of a broiling sun.  The result of this exposure was a
painful sensation of fullness on the top and back part of the
head, accompanied by a deep and irresistible melancholy
which gradually resulted in a fixed disposition to suicide.
Sometimes the patient would leave his bed in the night,
take his razor, feel of the edge, and, after having been
absorbed in the deepest reverie for a few minutes, he would
close the razor and return to his couch. His movements
were carefully watched all this time. He admitted to his
wife that he did not see how he could live any longer,
and that this pressure upon his brain was killing him.
He passed into our hands after having been suffering in
this manner for a year or more. We treated him with
small and large doses of Aconite, Belladonna, Opium and
other drugs that seemed indicated by the etiology and the
few symptoms of the disease, without the least perceptible




ASTRINGENTS.                     143
change.  The patient insisted upon being cupped, and
having his brain relieved of this pressure.  The cupping
was accomplished without our knowledge or consent, and
from that moment the patient felt better; the pain and pressure left him; he bought himself a farm, and enjoyed good
health and perfect rationality while attending to his rural
employments.
The local depletion here acted as a physiological means
of relief; the physiological action happened to coincide
with the therapeutic result; in other words, the mechanical
emptying of the vessels was sufficient to enable the inherent
contractility and irritability of their tissue to work out their
normal vital results.
This patient acted on his own responsibility and obtained
relief by his exceptional mode of proceeding. But suppose
a case of this kind should occur in a physician's practice,
and the medical attendant, after many fruitless attempts at
a cure, should come to the conclusion, with malice prepense,
that local depletion might prove beneficial to the patient,
and ought, therefore, to be resorted to; would it be a crime
on his part to apply a few leeches or cups? If such a case
should occur only once in a physician's lifetime, it would
still be his privilege and, we contend, lis duty, to avail
himself of these physiological means with a single eye to
his patient's welfare.
The perchloride of iron, if applied to a bleeding vessel,
is very frequently sufficient to effect a permanent closing of
the wound by its primary astringent effect upon the fibre.
In cases where the hoemorrhage is not the symptomatic
result of a general pathological condition, but arises from a
purely external injury, the external application of this
astringent will arrest the hemorrhage, if the vessel is of a
sufficiently small calibre. In such a case, the astriction is
equivalent to a mechanical closing of the vessel, nor is such
a closing attended with any injurious results to the general
constitution.




144     OLD-SCIOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
The Itomceopathic Law occupies a central sphere within
these peripheral measures of simple expediency. Round
about the Idea of therapeutic Affinity, palliatives may
group themselves and may be used by intelligent physicians
within the boundaries of palliation, without interfering in
any degree or manner with the curative action of the homceopathic remedial agent. We cannot get along without
palliatives. The thousands of patients who come to us in
the course of a year from the Old School, are too deeply
imbued with the propriety, or even with the necessity of
palliatives, to comprehend at one bound the feasibility of
doing without them. If the question were asked of us:
Could mankind at once pass from the palliative Therapeutics of the Old, to the strictly curative Therapeutics of the
New-School?  We should unhesitatingly answer: They
could not. This impossibility is clearly shown by the very
fact, that the transition from the Old to the New is very
gradual, in Medicine as well as in Science, Law or Religion
generally. Where then is the propriety of denouncing the
use of palliatives, which act simply as physiological agents,
without encroaching upon the domain of legitimate Therapeutics?
The inconvenience which materially interferes with the
therapeutic action of astringents in the hands of Old-School
physicians, is very concisely and yet comprehensively stated
by Trousseau and Pidoux in the following words: "If the
application of a local astringent is not continued, and if the
reactionary movement is permitted to succeed the immediate
and antivital impression, phenomena contrary to those which
characterise the primary action of astringents, occur. In the
place of the primary fibrillary contraction of the organic interstices and capillaries, in consequence of which the liquids
are expelled from them, the exhalations which they hold,
are dried up, and a coldness, a paleness and a well-known
sensation of corrugation and condensation is produced: we
shall have an increase of redness, heat, sensibility, thickness




ASTRINGENTS.                     145
and firmness in the tissues; by virtue of this instinctive
vital reaction which, if suitably directed and measured,
constitutes the vis medicatrix, an excess of vascularity and
of all the organic acts which flow from it, soon follows in
the place of the tonic spasm that had wiped out the vascularity of the part and weakened all the organic acts connected with it as necessary consequences."
This law of action and reaction being admitted as a
fundamental law of physiological order, Old-School practitioners are evidently exposed to the danger of having to
continue the use of astringents in a given case longer than
the organic vitality may be found willing to receive the
physiological impression, or to respond to it by a corresponding therapeutic result. Many of these astringents, it
continued beyond a certain limit, may even produce serious
constitutional disorders, among which "dyspepsia, a temporary suppression of the secretions, a decrease of volume in
the beats of the heart, emaciation and atrophy " are prominent indications.
We have reached the radical defect of allopathic Therapeutics. The therapeutic effect of drugs is determined by
their primary or physiological action. In diarrhoea, for
instance, an astringent is used because the primary effect
of this class of agents is to constipate the bowels. In constipation, on the contrary, a cathartic is administered,
because the primary effect of this class of agents is to relax
the bowels. If a few doses of the drug employed should
not prove sufficient to overcome the morbid condition, there
is danger of the therapeutic result being the very opposite
of the physiological action of the drug; the diarrhoea in
the one, and the constipation in the other case, may become
more inveterate, instead of being moderated or replaced by
opposite normal conditions of the bowels.
In pursuing a course of treatment, where the therapeutic
result mnay, and eventually must become antagonistic to the
physiological action of the drug, the practitioner acts contrary to the dictates of Nature and Reason. Reason tells
10




146     OLD-SCHOOLT THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
him that, by acting upon a pathological condition by means
of an agent which has power to affect healthy tissues in
a similar manner, the resulting therapeutic effect will
eventually be antagonistic to the pathological condition,
and the patient's health will be restored.
If a patient is afflicted with constipation as a prominent
symptom among a group like this: emaciation, sallow
complexion, excessive dryness and lividity of the skin,
prostration, thin and somewhat accelerated pulse, difficult
and scanty micturition, loss of appetite, pale color of lhe
tongue, sleeplessness; a wise practitioner would reason
thus: If I knew a drug capable of- developing a similar
group of symptoms by its action upon healthy persons; or,
in case the nature of his mind should be such as to lead him
to the region of causes and to suggest the following more
philosophical, but essentially identical process of reasoning:
If I knew the drug whose physiologico-therapeutic, or, as
Iahnemann has termed it, dynamic principle, is identical
with the cosmic force which, by its action upon recipient
susceptibilities in the tissues, has produced this pathological
derangement, I should administer this drug with a tolerable
degree of certainty, if the case is at all curable, of effecting
the restoration of the patient.
The probability is that this train of reasoning would lead
him to administer Lead, not in massive doses of ten or
twenty grains; there would not be the remotest necessity
for such enormous drugging. One tenth, or perhaps one
hundredth, or even one thousandth, or ten thousandth of a~
grain, if repeated at suitable intervals, and for a sufficient
length of time, might prove amply sufficient to develop
therapeutic results antagonistic to the pathological condition and to the physiological action of the drug. The
lead disease being more concrete in its character, and existing as it were at the periphery of the organism, would offer
to the cosmic principle which, by its invasion of the internal organism, had developed a malady corresponding in its
essential character with the lead-disease, an additional and




AST R'IN GENTS.                 147
more external plane of development, to which the internal
disease would' tend by virtue of an inevitable necessity.
This necessity is imposed by the workings of the universally active law of affinity. Every internal principle of
Nature as well as of Mind is impelled, under this law, to
tend towards, and materialize itself in corresponding kindred forms or external conditions of existence, until all
development has reached its foundation in the Ultimate of
Nature or Art, whence the materialized principles react
towards, and upon, the world of Causes.
In the domain of Pathology and Therapeutics a similar
development takes place. All internal diseases tend toward
some specific manifestation upon the skin in the shape of
an eruption, a critical sweat, an ulcerative process; or the
development may tend towards some other critical manifestation, a sediment in the urine, or a copious discharge of
this fluid, a diarrhoea, an attack of hhemorrhoids, or some
other discharge from one of the orifices of the body, the
meatus auditorius, the nostrils, the vagina.
This natural therapeutic process is the very method
which all wise practitioners seek to imitate, in curing a
natural disease. They seek to create an artificial disease
which shall have power, by virtue of an inherent and superior affinity existing between it and the natural malady, or
rather the cosmic force which develops the pathological
phenomena, to effect a gradual localization or absorption of
the internal disease, and a corresponding and progressive
disembarrassment of the organism from the hostile intruder. We have shown in many passages of this volume
that such a cure is only possible through the instrumentality of the vital properties of the tissues, viz.: receptivity
for drug-action corresponding with susceptibility to the action of
kindred morbific forces.
If our words should reach an allopathic brother, we would
beseech him to consider this matter with an unprejudiced
mind. Let not the fear of being` suspected guilty of the




148     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
homceopathic heresy, frighten him.  Homoeopathy is a
mere sound which should not intimidate honest hearts and
earnest minds. Let him remember that this name has been
strangely abused, and that the Science which has given
birth to infinitesimal doses, is something distinct from
these unheard-of ultimations. The Science is divine; the
Art is human. Brother, wilt thou deny Truth, because the
dwarfish minds of her pretended worshippers have narrowed down her infinite proportions to the dwarfish conceptions of their own stupid idolatry?  Do not thus sin
against God and his suffering creatures.
Let me advise thee, my friend. If, in a case of abnormal
condition of the digestive system, thou wouldst like to see
the therapeutic results of tannic acid harmonize with the
physiological action of this drug, let the pathological condition for which the acid is to be administered, be analogous
to its primary action upon the tissues. Do not prescribe it
for diarrhcea, in the expectation of arresting this weakness
by means of the astringent action of the acid; but prescribe it rather for constipation.
But here again, the constipation has to be of the same
character as that which tannic acid is capable of exciting.
Opium causes, and will therefore cure, constipation. So
will Mercury. But the Opium constipation is characterised
by blackish, hard stools, which may even have a carbonised
appearance. The constipation which will yield to Mercury,
is essentially depending upon a deranged condition of the
biliary system, or upon a deficient secretion of the pancreatic fluid. The stools are pressed out in the shape of
hard, loosely-coherent balls, which may be lined with a
little intestinal mucus, and generally have a dark-brown or
greenish color; their odor is not very offensive.
In a case of constipation, where Tannic acid is to manifest curative results, let the following indications guide thee
in the choice of this agent: A sour stomach, a sallow complexion, with tendency to emaciation, and coldness and dry



ASTRINGENTS.                    149
ness of the skin; a dyspeptic tongue which looks as if patches
of the lining membrane had been peeled off here and there;
the alvine discharges are perfectly dry, deprived of intestinal mucus, pale-looking, hard, and are expelled with considerable effort. In prescribing Tannic acid in a case of this
kind, do not let the infinitesimal globule scare thee out of
all propriety and the manliness of Common Sense! Let tht
infinitesimal globule remain corked up in its little glass-vial,
and try one-tenth, or one-hundredth or'one-thousandth of a
grain of the acid ground up with an adequate quantity of
sugar of milk. Two or three doses a day may very speedily
effect a marked change in the condition of the patient.
In all cases, where astringents are to be used, the pathological condition should be strictly analogous to the primary
action of the drug; the result, in all possible cases, will be
a therapeutic change antagonistic to the original condition
of the organ as well as to the inherent physiological action
of the drug. It is upon this principle, which is the true
intent and meaning of the formula " Similia Similibus Curantur," that the constipation in painters' colic, and, as a
consequence, the colic itself, has been cured by repeatedly
administered large doses of the Sulphate of Alumina, after
every other means of treatment had proved utterly abortive.
In conclusion let us repeat that there are cases where an
astringent may be safely and rationally used as a palliative,
although even in these cases it may sometimes be possible
to reach a curative result more speedily by means of a specifically-adapted therapeutic agent. Among such cases we
may number a simple local phlegmasia, such as a common
sore throat, a sprain or contusion, accidental wounding of a
vessel, and blennorrhcea of the lining membrane of the va —
gina and urethra, where we are perfectly certain that the
discharge results from a local weakness, a loosening, a
sponginess, a sort of physical atony of the organic tissue.
In all cases of constitutional disorder, or in cases of local




150     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
derangements depending upon, or resulting from constitutional causes, astringents, if indicated, have to be selected
with reference to the analogy existing between their primary or physiological action, and the character of the pathological condition. From this analogy an opposite therapeutic effect will result in all possible cases, where the mode
of administration is regulated in conformity with the requirements of constitution, idiosyncracy, age, sex, and every other
condition upon the careful consideration and fulfilment of
which, the successful issue of the treatment generally depends.
Trousseau and Pidoux admit the existence of such cases
in the following paragraph, page 171, of their Treatise of
Materia Medica: "The physiological action of astringents
may result mediately in exciting and developing vascularity
and all the acts depending upon it, in consequence of the
movement of concentration and stoppage which the astringent substance occasions. This sort of therapeutic effect
does not claim our attention in this chapter. Indeed, astringents are never resorted to for the purpose of developing
such results. We have more direct and infallible means,
our epispastics, irritants and rubefacients, by means of which
an increase of vascularity can be obtained. If this result is
to be procured mediately by the application of an astringent, we resort to the application of cold."
And further on, page 694, we read the following interesting and highly suggestive remarks: " The action of cold is,
to a certain extent, sedative; but this immediate action is
followed by an opposite action, which is denominated reaction. This abundant return of life which, in a part exposed
to cold, succeeds the sedative effect produced by it, is nothing else than a spontaneous excitation of this part; in the
same manner as the decrease of temperature, and the sort
of asthenia which are observed in a part exposed to a very
high temperature, are nothing else than a spontaneous sedative depression of the vitality.  By studying this law of
vital spontaneity, physiologists might have been led to a
solution of the difficulties which their insufficient theories




ASTRINGENTS.                    151
of animal heat have not enabled them to overcome. For
it is not correct to say, that the lungs are enabled to resist
the increasing cold of winter by absorbing a larger amount
of oxygen; or that animals are enabled to bear the heat
of summer, in consequence of a more abundant cutaneous
exhalation. These two facts can only be accounted for upon
the ground of a spontaneous vital reaction. By virtue of
the immutable laws which govern the vital equilibrium of
the organism, it opposes to an external heat, a spontaneous
sedative depression, and to the external cold a spontaneous
excitation. This observation displays in a most striking
manner what has been- termed the vis conservatrix et mecdicatrix of Nature."
The law of action and reaction stares every intelligent
observer of the movements of Nature in the face. It is a
law ruling not only the movements of matter, but also those
of mind. A violent and abnormal stimulation is very generally followed by an opposite depression, and vice versa,
an artificial quiet of mind or body is frequently followed
by an -uneasy restlessness or nervousness of the brain and
bodily frame.
Yet no advantage is taken of this law in the treatment
of diseases by the practitioners of the Old School. IThey
seem to overlook the second element in the process of
medication, the element of reaction.  We grant that in
many simple and evanescent cases of indisposition, the
primary action of a drug may develop a curative result;
but the scientific formula upon which the Healing Art
rests as a coherent system of practice, excludes the idea
of a primary antagonism of drugs to diseases; the antagonism exists between the therapeutic result and the pathological condition, and is entirely due to the fact, that the
physiological or primary drug-action is in superior affinity
of similarity with the nature of the morbid process.




]152    OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
ALTERATIVES.
By alteratives, Old-School practitioners understand a class
of drugs which depress the vitalizing power of the blood
and fluids, diminish their plasticity and assimilability to
organic tissues, reduce the power of the blood to feed acute'
or sub-acute inflammatory conditions, and, perhaps, have a
tendency to neutralize morbific principles which an abnormal state of the vital fluids may have evolved. This last
supposition, although speculative, comes within the definition of an alterative.
The two leading alteratives are bloodletting and the
mercurial preparations. Alkalies, Iodine, Bromine, Arsenic,
Gold and Platina are likewise classed in this category of
remedial agents.
One of the'principal consequences which the persistent
use of an alterative may entail, is the ruinous effect it may
have upon the constitution. If the malady is exceedingly
chronic and deep-seated, or exceedingly acute and correspondingly dangerous to the life of the patient, as in hepatic
engorgements, heart-disease, croup, dropsy: the use of a
powerful and deeply-penetrating alterative, such as Mercury,
may entail unspeakable sufferings upon the miserable victim.
It is needless, in this place, to describe the destructive
effect of alterative doses of Mercury; its disorganizing
action upon the gums and teeth, upon the salivary and
other glands, upon the maxillae, the mucous membranes,
the nervous system; how it taints the springs of life, and
transforms the bloom of youth into the cadaverous pallor
of a decaying organism.
The alterative action of Mercury is very frequently
resorted to in the treatment of acute inflammations after a
venesection has been previously instituted. The habits and
individual views of the practitioner determine in a great
measure his peculiar course of treatment. In ophthalmia,
rheumatism, pleurisy, pneumonia, laryngitis, meningitis,




ALTERATIVES.                    153
and inflammation of internal organs generally, Mercury is
depended upon as an alterative. After the disease has
disappeared under this kind of treatment, the effects of the
drug frequently continue in the organism for a long time,
sometimes for life.
In instituting a course of alterative treatment, the theory
is that the depressing influence of the medicine upon the
physiological functions of the organism will be sufficiently
strong, and last long enough to prevent the local morbid
action from  deriving sustenance and support from  the
general processes of vitality; and that, the local morbid
action having been extinguished, the vital force will eliminate the artificial morbid action without any difficulty.
This theory takes three things for granted:
First, the willingness of the natural morbid action to
yield to the action of the drug;
Secondly, the power of the drug-action to overcome the
natural-morbid action; and
Thirdly, the power of the vital reaction to eliminate the
medicinal disease.
In regard to the first point:  The willingness of the
natural morbid action to yield to the action of the drug,
we have no difficulty in showing, that the natural disease
can only experience this willingness towards an agent possessed of a specific power to invite or excite it, a powerthat is possessed only by one, and byno other agent in a
corresponding degree. This fact is admitted without reserve by Trousseau and Pidoux, whom we quote more
frequently than other allopathic Therapeutists, because they
are, in our opinion, the most philosophical writers of the
Allopathic School of the day. The curative action of
Mercury in syphilis is accounted for by these gentlemen in
the following argument: "What a marvellous contrast!
Mercury excites in healthy tissues an alterative, anti-plastic,
ulcerative action; and in tissues which are corroded by.
syphilis, it rekindles plastic and restorative energies.




154     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
What was a cause of destruction in health, becomes a
cause of restoration in disease; it is the same process of
irritation which produces opposite effects. IHow can these
opposite effects be attributed to the same modifying agent,
if it were true that this agent acts irdependently of the
organic vitality, or as a, mere antidote which neutralizes the
poison by forming with it an inoffensive compound? If
Mercury could indiscriminately produce an ulcer or a cicatrix, it must have power to do so out of itself, and the same
cause must be capable of producing two opposite effects.
This is not so; these effects are developed by the organism
impregnated with Mercury. In curing syphilis with Mercury, we hide certain morbid dispositions or tendencies
which this agent possesses the power of exciting into an
active manifestation, by impressing upon them certain properties inherent in its substance, and which may therefore
be termed specific: provided no occult or cabalistic sense
is attached to this term. Every natural body has its own
specific virtues or properties which it possesses exclusively
to any other. Mercury enjoys no privileges in this respect.
Tonics and emollients, wine and water, are, in this respect,
specifics whose action is as incomprehensible as that of
Mercury."
In another paragraph, these instructive writers use the
following language: " What is remarkable in these altera-,tive medications, whether general or local, is that each
morbid diathesis, each morbid product, has its own appropriate alterative which may be designated as a specific,
always providing that this term is not to be understood in
an empirical sense which would supersede the essential
attributes of a physician."
And lastly, we may quqte another paragraph which likewise shows, that Trousseau and Pidoux are wide awake to
the idea of a specific relation of drugs to diseases: "It is
a long time since, that Dr. Bretonneau, our teacher, has
shown that caustics differ from each other as phlegmasiae;
that, like these, each caustic has its own specific or charac



ALTERATIVES.                     150
teristic action; that the burns which each caustic produces,
are distinguished by their form, their course, their duration,
their peculiar sufferings, cicatrices, etc.
"The incontrovertible idea of pathological specificity,
necessarily carries along with it the idea of therapeutic specificity; this is evidenced by the alterative treatment, not only
in the agents employed, but likewise in the diseases where
they are used."
Does it not seem strange that men, who proclaim  such
doctrines with a most admirable and fearless consistency,
should hesitate to range themselves under the banner of
Homoeopathy? Where is the difference between their remarkable doctrine  "In curing syphilis with Mercury, we
hide: certain morbid dispositions or tendencies which this
agent possesses the power of exciting into an active manifestation, by impressing upon them certain properties inherent
in its substance, and which may therefore be termed specific;" and Hlahnemann's doctrine that " natural diseases will
yield to similarly-acting drug-diseases, provided all the con..
ditions of an internal specificity are rigidly fulfilled?"  The
only difference is that tIahnemann, illumined by the sun of
an exalted Reason, has been able to generalize the doctrine
of specificity whitch Trousseau and Pidoux have only seen fit
to apply to a few exceptional cases, such as the use of Mercury
in syphilis, Bark in fever-and-ague, Iron in chlorosis; and
that he has applied to this universal generalization the name
of llomceopathy, or the art of healing diseases by means of
drugs acting similarly to the pathological process.
In regard to the second point: the power of the drug action to
overcome the natural morbid action, we shall likewise be able to
show, that Trousseau and Pidoux's mode of reasoning paves
the way for an elevated and philosophical comprehension of
the homoeopathic doctrine of Affinity.
After having shown that the idea of specificity should not
be treated as a speculative abstraction, but as a concrete




156     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
reality, implying a practical relation of mutual attractiveness
between the remedial agent and the disease, they apply this
general doctrine to the action of Mercury in the following
significant paragraph:
"Mercury, which is regarded as the type of specifics, is
not exempt from this general principle of reciprocal attractiveness or assimilability.  The healthy organism  has to
consent to the physiological action of this drug, and the organism affected with syphilis, has likewise to consent to it.
There is no more chemical action in all this than there is in
the processes of nutrition or conception; and it is proper
to say, with the most perfectly systematic logic, that, in
order that Mercury should act, the organism of a syphilitic
patient has to conceive the properties of Mercury, in the
same manner as it had to conceive the syphilitic virus in
order to contract syphilis. But the syphilitic virus acts
more penetratingly upon the organism than Mercury; for
it partakes of the nature of the organism; is one of its
products, and a more intimate morbid poison than any
other. Mercury, on the contrary, does not thus taint the
organism in its essence; it modifies for a time the process
of nutrition, the secretions, etc., and reaches, in this manner, the alterations which the syphilitic poison produces in
these functions. These symptoms induce the supposition
that the principle of the disease has struck invisible roots
deep in the vital principle itself, that is to say, in the
latent vital sphere which is already concentrated in the
germ; which is the seat of the diatheses, is diffused
throughout the organism, and constitutes the ever bubbling spring and the unceasingly active source of each
special function. Mercury, an agent not homogenous to
the human organism, does not seem to be able to penetrate
to these first beginnings of the syphilitic disease; or, if it
does penetrate thus far, it lacks the power to identify itself
with the organic life-principle, like syphilis. This may be
transmitted by the act of generation; the mercurial disease
cannot. Hence we might say that Mercury attacks the




ALTERATIVES.                     157
symptoms, not the principle of the syphilitic disease. Even
in this respect it is a marvellous specific; but is it true that
Mercury cures all the symptoms?"
How can we help admiring the labors of men who prove
such powerful auxiliaries to the advocates of Homoeopathy?
How suggestive is this paragraph to the thoughtful student
of Homoeopathy!  The specifically or homceopathicallyaldapted agent pursues the disease to its fountain-head, yet
remains external to it, and thus is enabled to act towards it
as a guide or channel of development, or as a means of
progression from the more intimate recesses of the living
organism towards some more external and therefore comparatively harmless plane of existence. In reality, the
medicinal agent acts upon the disease as a means of transformation from a semi-vital or dynamic condition into the
semi-material, and therefore more external, more concrete
and absolutely limited drug-disease. It is only thus, indirectly or mediately, that the initial principle of the disease
can be reached by the drug; and it is in this sense that
Trousseau and Pidoux have to be understood, when they
teach the doctrine, that the drug cures or removes the
symptoms without affecting their causative principle.
The idea of healing diseases, excludes that of force. The
malady must incline to the drug in perfect freeldom. Have
we not shown again and again that the homeeopathic agent
wooes the disease as a conjugal partner as it were, upon
whom it. seek to impress, and does impress, by a process of
conception (to use the language of the French authors), its
own specific character, and that the result of this process
of reciprocal identification is the restoration of health?
This would be the perfection of alterative treatment which
Trousseau and Pidoux are obliged to adopt as the rigorous
consequence of their own definitions.
The fact that Mercury does not cure every form of syphilis,
but that the Nitrate of silver is required in some, Iodine in
other, and Aurum still in other cases, corroborates the




018     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
doctrine of true specificity, at the same time as it destroys
the cabalistic notion of the specific virtues of drugs against
pathological abstractions.
In regard to the third point: the power of the vital reaction
to- eliminate the medicinal disease, the advantage is in all
respects on the side of the homoeopathic agent. It assimilates with the disease without any of those violent revulsive
or reactive perturbations of the organism which characterise
the allopathic method of cure, The integrity of the organism is not impaired in the least by the homoeopathic agent,
first on-account of the smallness of the dose, and secondly,
on account of the superior affinity or reciprocal attractiveness between the drug and the disease. As soon as the
drug-disease and the natural malady have become identified;
or, in other words, as soon as the drug-disease has succeeded
in impressing its own character, form and mode of existence
upon the natural malady, the vital force reacts against this.externalized and materialized disease without any difficulty,
spontaneously and irresistibly, eliminating it from the tissues and effecting a cure, provided a cure is possible.
How often does it not happen that the allopathic alterative
treatment is followed by incurable or even fatal derangements of other organs! Fatal enteritis has resulted in cases
of croup or pneumonia from the alterative action of Mercury. The medicine takes effect in the lining membrane of
the bowels, sets up an artificial irritation upon which the
natural inflammatory process engrafts itself by a process of
metastasis, thus giving rise to a monstrous compound against
which the vital power, already prostrated by the original
disease, is unable to react.
An incurable dropsy of the bowels has resulted from the
alterative action of Mercury in hydrocephalus.
How often has the liver been found fatally disorganized in
cases of fever or nervous diseases, where the alterative action
of Mercury was expected to effect a cure!
Alas, alas, what a page of horrors the chapter of Mercury




ALTERATIVES.                   159
will form in the history of Medicine! No man, woman, or
child need fear to accept a dose of Mercury from the hands
of a homnceopathic physician. There is no danger of salivation or ulceration, whenever Mercury is administered in accordance with the law " SIMILIA SIMILIBUS CURANTUR."
Rheumatism to which Mercury is homceopathically or specifically adapted, in the sense in which Trousseau and Pidoux
use this word, will yield to the direct action of Mercury,
without the circuitous route of salivation, purgation, and the
like. But then we have to discriminate. It is not enough
to say: inflammatory rheumatism. Mercury is no specific
remedy for this pathological abstraction. It is only a specific remedy for certain concrete forms of this pathological
disturbance. No physician who is acquainted with the
exact therapeutic boundaries of the various drugs constituting the homceopathic Materia Medica, would give Mercury for inflammatory rheumatism of the joints, when the
parts are swollen, hot and dry, exceedingly painful, of a
bright-red color, and if the accompanying fever has a decidedly synochal type. Here, where general bleeding and
leeches would be resorted to by an allopathic practitioner
as his first anti-phlogistic, a homceopathic practitioner would
probably give a few drops of Aconite in a tumblerful of
water; though, in many cases, it might be necessary to use
Bryonia or perhaps Belladonna.
But there are forms of rheumatism, where the joints are
swollen and stiff, somewhat tender to pressure, with aching
pain, and only moderately -hot, the fever having likewise a
mild type, a simple erethism rather than a fully developed
synocha. If this form of rheumatic inflammation should be
decidedly worse at night; if it should improve rather than
exacerbate by movement; if the parts should show a tendency to be bathed in perspiration, without any relief of
the pain; on the contrary, the pain increasing with the perspiration: we may rest assured that the use of Mercury in
moderate doses, from the tenth up to the millionth part of a
grain, and even higher in many cases, distinguished by




160     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
marked sensitiveness to the influence of this agent, will cure
this form of rheumatism without a single symptom of alterative action.
Mercury may cure dropsy, but not any form of dropsy.
If it is in specific homoeopathic rapport with a special case of
this disease, we need not resort to salivation in order to effect
a cure. As in a case of syphilis to which Mercury is homceopathically adapted, so in a case of dropsy with whose pathological character it corresponds as its homceopathic antitype,
Mercury acts upon the initial principle of the disease, and,
by draining the sources from whence it flowed, removes the
perceptible effects without doing any violence to the organism.
In order to be able to use Mercury in this perfect manner,
we have to be thoroughly and integrally acquainted with
its action upon the healthy organism, and with the origin
and development of the pathological Series which it is
intended to extinguish.  As long as this knowledge is
imperfect, our curative methods must be tainted with corresponding imperfections.  A  mere juxtaposition of the
symptoms of the pathogenetic and the pathological Series,
without tracing them, as far as we are able, to a causative
beginning, is the most -illusory of all methods of treatment.
By this method we may stumble upon the right remedy
and effect a cure, upon the same principle that a blind man
may feel his way through a crowded thoroughfare without
running against any obstacle; on the contrary, arriving at
his journey's end by a super-abundance of good luck or, if
we please, by a special favor of Providence. But, for all
that, the blind man does not see light, and it would' be
utter folly to conclude that, because he has made one successful trip in a state of utter darkness, through moving
crowds, and alongside of gutters and ruts, without tumbling
in, or otherwise injuring and disabling himself: the blind
pedestrian should be imitated by those whom Nature has
gifted with seeing eyes. This is what the symptomists of
the  Homceopathic School require of those who insist upon
finding their way through the labyrinth of Disease, by the




ALTERATIVES.                     161
rays of light which the collateral Sciences are shedding
through its dark chambers.  They have their labor for
their pains; nobody will either believe or imitate them;
their glory, is waning, and in a little while their sun will
have set forever.
It is especially in chronic affections that the alterative
treatment of the Old School subjects both the patient and his
physician to great inconvenience. In slight and evanescent
cases, or even in uncomplicated acute inflammations, where a
single close of Calomel may be sufficient to divert the course
of disease from its natural channel, the alterative treatment
may not seem so seriously objectionable, provided the physician has every reasonable certainty that this modification
will hasten and facilitate the favorable reaction of the vital
force, and bring about a cure.  But in chronic inflammations or nervous derangements, where the alterative treatment may have to be continued for weeks and months, the
continued use of alkalies, of mercurials, or of iodine preparations, may prove highly detrimental to the constitution. In
very many cases, patients never recover from the chrofic
effects of these poisons. Their assimilative system is ruined,
and every organ suffers more or less from  the pernicious
consequences of this abusive treatment.
All these inconveniences and dangers disappear under the
use of homoeopathic agents which are endowed with a specific power to alter the morbid action of a tissue or organ by a
direct curative influence; not by the circuitous route of derivative action in other adjoining or otherwise sympatheticallyconnected organs. A homoeopathically-specific agent may
be repeated once or twice a day, or every other clay, without
the least fear of entailing an incurable medicinal disease upon
the constitution. These scanty repetitions may be abundantly
sufficient to effect a cure, if supported by suitable hygienic
means. A first favorable impression of a true specific may
very frequently be prolonged indefinitely as it were, even to
the termination of a disease. A  first dose of Aconite, in
acute inflammations has often been found sufficient to break
1 1




162     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
down the morbid process. Many a case of meningitis,'even
after the hydrocephalic stage had fully set in, has yielded to
one close of Belladonna, unless our records belie us.
"Physicians," write Trousseau and Pidoux, " are not sufficiently mindful of the fact, that the properties which
inhere in the living tissues, are sufficient to effect the resolution of engorgements the moment the first retrograde impulse has been accomplished. When we bleed, in a case of
pneumonia, we imagine that we remove mechanically the
excess of blood in the lungs. Such an idea cannot enter
the brains of any person who has some knowledge of Physiology; but, after the bleeding has been effected, an obstacle to the accomplishment of the nutritive functions in the
pulmonary tissue has been removed, and the subsequent
resolution takes place by means of the vital properties inherent in the pulmonary tissue, without the physician being
henceforth obliged to interfere with farther treatment."
If these doctrines are even taught by leading allopathic
physicians, why should Hahnemann's careful precepts concerning all unnecessary dosing remain unheeded? If it is
admitted by allopathic philosophers that a single bleeding
may cure acute pneumonia, it is evident that a case of
chronic inflammation, if curable, may be favorably acted
upon by the first dose of a specifically-adapted remedy
which, if repeated at suitable intervals and in appropriate
quantitative and qualitative relations to the disease, may
gradually bring about the restoration of the patient's health.
However, we cannot insist with sufficient emphasis upon the
importance of assisting remedial action, in all chronic cases,
by adequate exercise in the open air, the use of water in
various ways and degrees of temperature, regularity and
moderation in eating and drinking, and compliance with
every rational hygienic means necessary to the furtherance
of health.




REVULSIVES.                      163
REVULSIVES.
The revulsive method of treatment has been invented in
opposition to the old-fashioned mode of the humoral pathologists to account for the use of evacuants of various kinds,
such as emetics and purgatives; and for the application of
irritating agents to the skin, such as blisters, setons, issues
or even the red cautery.  "Revulsion" is a new term invented by the solidists in explanation of the therapeutic
methods which the adherents of Galen's humoral pathology
had been in the habit of resorting to, without probably ever
dreaming that the ruthless hand of system-mongers would
some time or other pull down their time-honored fabric of
"peccant humors," and substitute in their places the "vital
properties of the solids."
If a sick-headache is cured, or is supposed to be cured by
the use of a cathartic, we effect this cure by a process of
revulsion.
If a sudden rush of blood to the brain is arrested by a
mustard foot-bath, or by the application of a mustard-plaster
to the soles of the feet, or to the calves of the legs, we again
effect a cure by a process of revulsion.
Or if a pain is removed by the application of a blister or
of a pitch-plaster, it is to a process of revulsion that the
patient is indebted for his relief.
The revulsive processes are sometimes carried by OldSchool physicians to a fearful extreme. In inflammation of
internal organs, such as the lungs, the bodies of patients are
converted by some practitioners into an universal sore.
Velpeau treats an incipient diffuse inflammation of the abdomen by covering this whole region with a blister; and
Gendrin resorts to the same mode of treatment in cases of
pleurisy and pneumonia: he covers the whole chest and sides
with a blister, no matter at what stage the disease may have
arrived. The wonder is, that patients can be found willing
to submit to such barbarous treatment.




164     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
Issues were resorted to by the humoralists for the purpose of drawing out the peccant humors. Solidists are very
willing to use issues, but they deem it a proof of intellectual
imbecility, if a practitioner does not resort to them for revulsive purposes, or for the purpose of diverting the natural
morbid irritation into this more concentrated, external
channel, thus affording an outlet to the disease, and protecting the internal organ from its devastating presence.
Moxse and the red eautery are used even now by physicians of the highest rank. Strange that at this period of
civilization, men of a high order of intellect and education
can be found willing to allow their bodies to be mutilated
by such tortures. The newspapers have informed us that,
last year, this atrocious treatment was inflicted by BrownS6quard upon Mr. Sumner, the United-States Senator from
Massachussetts, for the purpose of removing, by this violent
roasting of the living tissues covering the ganglionic and
spinal centres, the chronic cerebral irritation which a violent blow upon the head had caused.
Some of the more progressive physicians of the Old
School have abandoned the theory of revulsion for another
which commends itself to the more careful attention of homoeopathic practitioners. This other theory is the theory of
Substitution which has been introduced by Trousseau and
Pidoux, and is regarded by them as the really philosophical interpretation and practical application of the homceopathic law of cure. They admit that the homeopathic edifice is based upon a truth; but they accuse Hahnemann, and
more especially his disciples, of having been led away from
the original perception into a maze of fanciful theories and
ridiculous technicalities. Although founded in some respects, yet this accusation is evidently based upon an incorrect or imperfect perception of the spirit of Hahnemann's
great doctrine.
According to Trousseau, no artificial disease can be substituted for a natural malady, unless the conditions to which
we have already adverted in the chapter on "Alterative




REVULSIVES.                      165
Treatment," are fulfilled. The diseased organ must be
found willing to receive the artificial medicinal impression,
and this willingness is approximatively determined by the
degree of analogy existing between the natural and artificial
series of pathological phenomena, or rather between the
natural and artificial pathological conditions of which they
are respectively the visible manifestations. This admission
is most precious to a homceopathic practitioner, for it shows
that the professional mind is travelling in the direction of
that great Principle in Nature which Hahnemann has been
permitted, by a merciful Providence, to perceive with one
flash of genius, and to use as the corner-stone of an entirely
new, unheard-of, and radically-regenerating System of Practice.
Unfortunately for the patient, the new definitions do not
mend his fate.  The means of substitution are the same as
those of revulsion. The same everlasting issues and blisters; the same processes of evacuation by emetics or purgatives; with this difference that hereafter, the issue or seton
is a substitute for the natural disease, with spoliation or loss
of substance, a spoliative substitute; and a blister is a substitute for the natural disease by transposition, a transpositive
substitute.  These refinements of classification may tickle
the vanity of an author, but they certainly do not induce
any material change in the aspect of the established system
of Materia Medica and Therapeutics.  These innovations
agitate the minds of practitioners, stir up the reasoning
faculty, excite the love of research and the perception of its
necessity, and thus, as a final result, they liberalise the stubborn and naturally obdurate and proud minds of physicians.
But this is all the good these new doctrines accomplish, and
even this is very trifling in most cases.  We are acquainted
with professors in medical universities who prate in the
style of Trousseau and Pidoux about substitution, without
having lost one atom of the fanatical and persecuting spirit
with which they oppose, and seek to exterminate, the adherents of the homceopathic Healing Art.




166     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
Revulsives may be considered in two categories: Irritants
and Evacuants, the latter being again subdivided in Emetics
and Purgatives. This classification, although somewhat in
the gross, is amply sufficient for our purpose, which is
simply to contrast these processes of medication, and their
therapeutic results, with the homeeopathic treatment of the
affections, where the revulsive method is indicated and
generally resorted to.
IRRITANTS.-What is particularly annoying to an allopathic practitioner, is the want'of certainty with which
revulsives are used. A very simple irritation, of evanescent duration and of a rheumatic character, may readily
disappear under the use of a mustard-plaster; but if the
whole parenchyma of an organ is involved, the revulsive
process may either fail or may involve great suffering to
the patient. A chest made raw by a Tartar-emetic blister
externally, when the lungs are inflamed or otherwise badly
diseased, is a condition of things that may well excite
pity, even in a physician whose heart has become hardened
by the rigidity of an inflexible routine.
The application of a revulsive irritant to the skin takes
place upon the principle that a more powerful, but less
dangerous, artificial irritation, at a convenient distance
from the seat of the natural disease, will absorb it or
diminish its violence. Old-School Treatises on Therapeutics indicate the circumstances under which, and the manner
in which, this class of revulsive irritants should be used.
In this department of allopathic Therapeutics, physicians
may proceed wisely as well as foolishly. The art of treating
diseases by revulsive action, is regulated by laws, the violation or neglect of which may be the cause of much mischief.
In some cases an irritant, applied to the skin, has caused a
severe eruptive disease. Croton-oil, the mercurial ointment,
or even a common plaster of Burgundy-pitch, have given
rise to a most intense eczema which afterwards left a chronic
disposition to a similar eruption. In the Paris hospital




REVULSIVES.                    167
Necker, a blister was applied to the thigh of a young
woman who was afflicted with rheumatism. Soon after a
vesicular eruption broke out around the wound, which
spread over the whole body, and was accompanied by a
tolerably violent fever. The febrile irritation and the eruption abated gradually, but a pemphigus made its appearance
that lasted a couple of months and only yielded to the persistent use of Corrosive-sublimate baths. In the case of an
old lady who was afflicted with neuralgia of the temples
and side of the face, Professor Trousseau applied two
ammoniacal blisters. A few days afterwards, an eczema
broke out upon the forehead, which very soon spread over
the face, neck, arms, and only disappeared after persistent
treatment.
It is a well established fact that the application of a
blister, in the case of children whose skin is either naturally
sensitive, or had been made so in consequence of an acute
inflammation of some important viscus, such as the lungs,
bowels or liver, has resulted, in innumerable instances, in
the breaking out of hives or some vesicular or pustulous
eruption, from which the patient had never suffered before,_
and the first appearance of which entailed a chronic tend.
ency to a recurrence of such annoying disturbances.
It is befitting that homceopathic practitioners who undertake to criticise the use of revulsive irritants as instituted
by Old-School physicians, should do so justly, and with a
knowledge of the principles upon which their use is predicated. Although we regard the use of such agents, even if
conducted ever so discreetly, as a bungling imitation of the
curative efforts of Nature, yet a vast deal of good sense may
be exhibited even in the application of these crude therapeutic means.
The suppression of an habitual discharge from the vagina,
perhaps with engorgement of the vaginal mucous membrane
and of the neck of the uterus, may result in most serious
constitutional disorders and even in local pulmonary, cerebral or other disorganizations. A prudent allopathic physi.




168     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
cian would not undertake to suppress such a discharge by
astringent injections or by cauterization, until he had previously established an artificial outlet upon the upper arm
for the morbidly secreted fluids. With this outlet, the
physiological reaction may go on undisturbedly in spite of
the suppression.
If an habitual catarrhal discharge from the nose should
become suddenly suppressed, and this suppression should
result in acute inflammatory irritation of the lining membrane of the frontal sinus, attended with a distressing,
heavy, stupefying, aching or burning pain, the inference is
perfectly legitimate that, if the catarrhal discharge could be
restored, the distress in the frontal region would cease. An
allopathic practitioner will at once betake himself to administering an errhine, such as powdered Hlellebore or Mercury, in the expectation of inducing the frontal irritation
to resume its former seat.
In order to controvert the revulsive practices of the Old
School, there is no necessity of attacking the principle of
revulsive irritation. The minds of Old-School physicians
have become so completely identified with this mode of
reasoning, that it would be more than a Herculean task to
effect a diversion from this central doctrine, which is
planted firm as a rock in the domain of Old-School Therapeutics. Moreover, an important truth is at the foundation
of the doctrine of revulsive irritation.  Experience has
demonstrated, that in hundreds of cases a mustard foot-bath,/
cups at the anus or on the thighs, have restored a menstrual
or hoemorrhoidal discharge, which had become suppressed
in consequence of some accidental exposure or of a sudden
and violent emotion. These therapeutic results cannot be
denied, nor would it be wise to deny them as the legitimate
effects of these physiologico-therapeutic means of cure.
Again, it cannot be denied that a remedial agent cannot
possibly effect a cure without setting up some specific irritation which is peculiar to it, and to no other agent. This
is true even in the case of a homceopathic agent, with this




REVULSIVES.                     169
difference, that, in the case of a specifically-adapted, homceopathic agent, the irritation, excited by it, becomes theoretical rather than actual, on account of the smallness of the
dose with which a homceopathic physician is permitted to
operate in effecting his cures. We have it in our power to
meet our allopathic brother upon his own ground, and, if
he love consistency, and desire to know and practise the
Truth, to compel him with his own weapons to surrender
to our friendly arms.
We should say to our brother: Apply thy revulsive irritants; the principle of revulsive irritation is a good one;
but then, apply it in accordance with thy own doctrine:
that both the organism and the morbidly-affected tissues
must consent to receive the impression which the revulsive
irritant is intended to convey. The action of the revulsive
irritant must be in agreement with the character of the morbid irritation. Is not this the doctrine of the distinguished
physician of Tours?
Having reached this point in our argument, we might
perhaps continue: A Tartar-emetic blister is applied to the
chest in a case of pneumonia, because the artificial inflam-~
mation induced by the blister, is supposed to be in agreement with the pneumonia, and to be able to act as a
substitute,- a succedaneum  to the natural disease. This
substitution, however, is incomplete in many, and perhaps
in most cases. There are, however, specific means capable
of exciting an irritation in healthy tissues, that would act
as a perfect substitution, if applied to the natural, corresponding disease. In many cases of acute congestion or inflammation of the lungs, instead of irritating the skin with
the Tartar-emetic ointment, irritate it with the tincture
or the pulverised root of Aconite. Or if exudation of
serum into the pulmonary parenchyma should have begun
to set in, irritate the skin with the root of Bryonia; or
at a later stage, after the process of hepatization has been
completed, apply a suitable preparation of Phosphorus to
the external walls of the thorax, in such a manner that




170     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
the diseased organ shall not fail to perceive the action
of-the artificial irritant.
Now watch the effect of these irritants, every one of
which is in agreement with the special inflammatory condition of the pulmonary organ, which it is intended to
hush up. In, proportion as the natural disease begins to
_perceive the action of the artificial irritant, the process of
substitution goes on without any violent signs of reaction
or even pain. For the agreement between the internal
and the external disease being perfect and absolute, the
least possible quantity of the external irritant will be
found sufficient to secure a favorable reception on the
part of the internal malady. The malady will soon perceive
the action of the remedy as a welcome friend; instead of
opposing it, it will give itself up to it, hail it as a conjugal
partner, identify itself with it, and allow  the reacting
organism to again obey its own integral physiological
laws. This result would be the very perfection of substitution by means of revulsive irritation; it would be a
perfect, absolute and spontaneous submission of the natural
disease to its specific revulsive counter-irritant.
Aconite, Bryonia and Phosphorus are revulsive irritants
in homceopathic affinity with the pathological process that
we seek to hush up in the pulmonary organ. We mean
by this that these three agents are respectively endowed
with inherent dynamic properties, specifically capable of
exciting certain latent morbid predispositions of the pulmonary apparatus into manifest conditions, respectively
resembling the pathological states which we had sought
to remove by acting upon them  with Aconite, Bryonia
or Phosphorus, as the case might be.
We may state it here as our opinion, that the morbid
predispositions which the Creator has deposited in the
tissues, yea, in every fibre of the tissues, are of a compound order, and that each of these morbid predispositions
or susceptibilities has an internal as well as an external
principle. The cosmic morbific force, when acting directly,




REVULSIVES.                    171
acts upon the former, and when acting through the drug,
acts upon the latter. We offer this theory as a hint or
suggestion, which may perhaps lead to other more useful
and more tangible statements.
Let us again advert to the acute catarrhal discharge from
the nose, the suppression of which was supposed to have
caused an inflammation of the lining membrane of the
frontal sinus. Instead of seeking to restore the catarrhal
discharge with powdered Hellebore or Mercury, act upon
the Schneiderian membrane with the pulverised root of
Aconite. This, too, will cause a spasmodic sneezing and
a profuse watery discharge from both the nostrils and eyes.
But this Aconite-irritation being strictly analogous to, or
possessed of the power of absolute identification with the
pathological process of the frontal sinus, the revulsive irritation will necessarily result in a perfect and spontaneous
substitution for the natural disease. Our allopathic brother
will doubtless admit, that this is consistent reasoning. He
need not be troubled about the term  "homceopathic."
Words, and especially names, are convenient and even
useful, but the ideas which these words are intended to
convey, constitute the most important part of the argument.
"Not those who cry unto me: Lord, Lord, shall enter the
kingdom of Heaven, but those who do the will of my Father
that is in Heaven."
Snuff up the pulverised Aconite-root in a case of suppressed catarrh, with inflammation of the lining membrane
of the frontal sinus, and watch the extraordinary difference,
ceteris pcaribus, in the results which follow the Aconite, and
those which follow the Hellebore. In both cases there will
be spasmodic sneezing and a profuse discharge of waterfrom the nose and eyes; but the action of Aconite will be
succeded by permanent, and very often perfect relief; whereas
the action of Hellebore will only effect a temporary and
withal a very superficial palliation of the patient's sufferings.
Why is this?  The reason is obvious.  Snuff up the
pulverised Aconite-root in a state of health, in sufficient




172     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
quantity,)and repeating this proceeding at suitable intervals.
What will be the result?  An inflammatory irritation of
the Schneiderian membrane, of the conjunctiva and of the
lining membrane of the frontal sinuses; in one word, a
group of phenomena that might be very aptly designated
as acute catarrh. The powdered root of Hellebore will
either fail of producing such a state of things, or else only
a very feeble and imperfect representation of it; an evidence that there is no similarity, no agreement, and therefore no curative relation between the iHellebore-irritation
and an acute catarrh of the lining membrane of the frontal
sinus and of the mucous expanse lining the orbital and
nasal cavities.
We will furnish one other illustration of the doctrine that
a revulsive irritant can only realize the idea of revulsion in
its perfect integrity, on condition that it should be in homceopathic affinity with the disease.  Suppose we have a case of
inflammation of the bladder.  If it is purely- rheumatic,
with great soreness in the region of the bladder, swelling
and heat of this part, continual and ineffectual urging to
urinate, or voiding of a few drops of a blood-colored urine,
not without distressing straining; chilly creepings mingled
with, or followed by heat; headache, constipation and the
other constitutional symptoms which are generally present
in this form of cystitis: an allopathic practitioner, besides
using emollient applications directly to the affected region,
would most probably resort to the use of revulsive irritants
at a convenient distance from the inflamed organ, where he
might still depend upon a relation of active sympathy between the latter, and the tissues to which the irritant is
applied. A suitable locality for such a revulsive irritation
might be the inside of the thighs. Without calling in aid
a sympathetic relation, the revulsive irritant would utterly
fail of its object. If Trousseau's doctrine be correct, this
sympathy depends upon an inherent specific fitness, in the
revulsive irritant, to induce a spontaneous willingness on




REVULSIVES.                      173
the part of the diseased organ to receive the impression
which the therapeutic agent seeks to convey and to substitute
in the place of the natural disease.
In a case of rheumatic cystitis, is a mustard-plaster endowed with this fitness? or a blister of Cantharides?  We
think neither. They may aid to some extent in diverting
the original disease from its locality, but they are not destined to overcome it.  This can only be accomplished with
a positive directness, and with a degree of certainty which
may be said to amount to infallibility in all uncomplicated
and curable cases, by means of a revulsive irritant that is
capable of producing a similar inflammatory process in the
healthy tissues. Experience has shown that, among all the
known irritants, Aconite is the one which fnlfils this condition in a supreme degree. In a case of rheumatic cystitis,
irritate the skin with the tincture of Aconite-root, and the
substitution of the artificial for the natural disease will very
speedily commence, and, by continuing the irritation for a
sufficient length of time, will soon reach its completion and
terminate in a perfect cure.
But supposing we have a case of cystitis of a more serious
character, with considerable involvement of the brain, furious delirium, horrid burning and cutting pains in the region
of the bladder, swelling, intense soreness and dark redness
of this region; hurried, jerking and wiry pulse; coldness
of the extremities, vomiting, and other constitutional symptoms: Aconite would cease to be in agreement, as a revulsive irritant, with this form of inflammation. Now, if an
external irritant must needs be used, take a fly-blister and
apply it to the inside of the thigh nearest to the region of
the bladder, and watch the effect of this sort of medication.
As soon as the natural disease begins to perceive the artificial
impression, it will gradually give itself up to it, until, the
substitution of the latter for the former, or rather the identification of the natural with the artificial disease, has been
accomplished.
Why will Cantharides concquer this most virulent and




174     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
dangerous form  of cystitis with so much apparent ease?
Every allopathic practitioner is aware that this poison is
capable of producing a form of cystitis resembling the natural disease both symptomatically and as a coherent pathological unit. Hence the perfect agreement between the
natural and the artificial malady; hence again the absolute
power which the latter possesses over the former in all
pure, uncomplicated and curable cases.
Having thus endeavored, and we believe endeavored successfully, to show to our allopathic brother, that the homceopathically-specific remedial agent is the perfect embodiment of this doctrine of revulsive irritation, we now beg'him to heed our advice in regard to the quantity in which
the homoeopathic irritant should be, and alone can be employed, without danger to the patient, and with the certainty
of a successful result.
Let us re-state the fact that the external artificial disease
is in perfect agreement with the internal malady, and that,
therefore, the impression which is to be conveyed by the
former to the latter, is perceived much more quickly and keenly
than it would be, if this perfect agreement were less perfect
or entirely wanting. Does it require a great stretch of the
reasoning faculty to infer that, if the percipient sense of the
internal disease is so much the more readily and acutely
excited by the external, specifically-agreeing agent, a comparatively small quantity of this agent is sufficient to
quicken the impression it is to convey, into a conscious
state of the sensoriurn? If the quantity were too large, it
might do more than is required of it; it might substitute
itself for the natural disease with an unnecessary violence,
and set up a train of artificial symptoms which a more
moderate and more judicious use of the specific agent
might have prevented.
More than this. If our allopathic brother should feel
disposed to give heed to these arguments, he may be encouraged, by the success which attends the process of




EMETICS.                     175
medication advised by us, to still further believe that, in
the vast majority of cases, there is no sort of necessity for
applying the revulsive irritant externally; it may be applied internally, in a very small quantity, sometimes by
inhalation and at other times in the shape of a powder,
which is simply the medicinal agent ground up with sugar
of milk; or in the shape of a watery solution, containing
one or more drops of the tincture to ten or twelve tablespoonfuls of water. In innumerable cases, even this quantity may still be lessened. It is by this gradual process of
experimentation that Hahnemann was led to divide and
subdivide his doses in the incredibly-minute quantities
which have been so aptly designated as infinitesimal. His
disciples have outdone their master with an absolute fury
of childish imitation. No physician is obliged, in order to
prescribe a remedy agreeably to the spirit and principles of
Homoeopathy, to adopt all the vagaries of a few enthusiasts
who prefer dealing in fanciful originalities to propagating
and expounding the substantial truths of Homoeopathy.
Baubles may do for babes and miracle-mongers, but the
many true and honest seekers who desire to be made
acquainted with the deep philosophy of our doctrines,
should not be misled by the false appearances of startling
trivialities, or by the arbitrary rules of self-styled leaders.
EMETICS.
In cases of poisoning, or when noxious foreign substances have to be expelled from the stomach, the use of
emetics is common to practitioners of every School of
Medicine. It is dictated by Common Sense, and takes
place outside of the boundaries of our therapeutic law.
All that we desire to accomplish is a simple evacuation of
the contents of the stomach by means of an emetic which
not only acts speedily, but has no injurious effects upon the
coats of the stomach. Such an emetic is the Sulphate of Zinc.




176    OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
In the good old time of the humoral pathologists, emetics
were chiefly administered for the purpose of expelling
"peccant humors" from the stomach and duodenum. The
presence of these peccant humors was revealed by the
sticky and foul coating which lines the tongue in certain
forms of disease, and extends over the mucous lining of
the stomach and adjoining portions of the intestinal tube.
These doctrines and gross practices have been abandoned
by all thoughtful physicians. Emetics are still used as
before, but more discreetly, more humanely as it were, and
under the safe-guard of principles that are far more satisfactory to the scientific Reason of this age.
It is especially on account of their revulsive and sedative
action that these agents are employed by Old-School physicians in inflammatory diseases as well as in derangements
of the nervous equilibrium, characterised by sur-excitation
and requiring to be combated according to the physiologicotherapeutic notions of the dominant School, by the calming
or rather depressing influence which generally follows the
violent perturbation excited by the immediate operation of
an emetic. We know that this condition is characterised
by a feeling of faintness and prostration bordering on
syncope; the patient looks pale, the pulse is feeble and
excited, the temperature of the skin is depressed below the
normal standard, the cutaneous exhalations take place more
profusely, the sphincters are relaxed, and the vital functions
generally seem to approximate a state of dissolution.
An effect of this kind may likewise result from a copious
venesection, with this difference that bleeding entails a loss
of substance which the organism finds it difficult to repair,
whereas no such loss is incurred by the simple operation of
an emetic.
The therapeutic effects which are sought to be reached
by emetics, are: a depression of vital action in inflammatory diseases, more especially in inflammatory derangements
of the stomach and bowels, especially when bilious symptoms predominate; and secondly, a state of relaxation and




E lETICS.                    177
depression of the nervous system  in cases of excessive
exaltation or spasmodic irritation of the nervous centres.
The question with a homoeopathic, and indeed with any
other practitioner is: Can these effects be reached without
resorting to the violent and distressing concussions of the
animal frame without which the act of vomiting, when
excited by an emetic, cannot be performed?  Can these
effects be reached more safely, more permanently, without
exposing the patient to the danger of eventually being made
worse instead of better, by the operation of the therapeutic
agent? For, we should not overlook the precise character
of the sedative depression which-an emetic produces in the
circulatory apparatus and in the nervous functions. This
depression is in reality the primary effect of the drug, and,
by virtue of the immutable law of reaction, will and must
inevitably be superseded by the opposite condition of stimulation, malaise and restlessness of body and mind. The
therapeutic advantages which seem to be obtained by the
administration of an emetic, are illusory rather than real,
and every honest practitioner of the Old School will be
disposed to admit that this class of agents has very frequently disappointed his expectations.
Nevertheless emetics effiect cures. NVe will allow Professor Trousseau and the School'which he represents, to
account for their curative operation, after which we shall
have no difficulty in showing that the therapeutic doctrines
of this brilliant and really distinguished medical philosopher
are summed up in Hahnemann's great law: "SIMILIA SIMILIBUS CURANTUR. "
In a case of gastric irritation characterised by a thick
coating on the tongue, foul taste and perhaps fetid breath,
acid or foul eructations, pain in the epigastric region, loss
of appetite, a desire for acidulated beverages, a slight degree
of irritative fever, physicians of every School would undoubtedly administer an emetic. The humoralist would administer it for the purpose of expelling the saburral impurities. A Brunonian would argue: I must give an emetic
12




178     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
in order to stimulate the action of the mucous membrane
of the stomach, for it is the want of stimulation that causes
all this gastric difficulty. A Rasorian would probably administer his hyposthenisant; he would undoubtedly snuff
an excess of vital action which must be put down by an
emetic.
None of these doctrines are acknowledged by the modern
French School of Substitution, which would advocate the
propriety of using an emetic, in this case, upon the ground,
that an artificial gastric irritation has to be substituted for
the natural disease. The terms of this substitution are the
same which we have endeavored to explain in the chapter
on alteratives: The diseased tissue must be willing to
allow the artificial disease to substitute itself for the natural
malady. This willingness is never the result of force, but
is excited by the perception of an agreement existing between
the two morbid conditions, the artificial one being the
stronger of the two by consent, and thus having power to
effect an identification of the natural disease with the artificial disturbance acting as a more concrete, more material,
externacising substitute. This is virtually Trousseau's doctrine of the curative action of drugs. What difference, we
would ask, is there between this doctrine and Hahnemann's,
except that iahnemann. has seen and taught the fullness of
this Truth?
"In our opinion," says Trousseau, " we have to deal with
a form of gastritis; the emetic, which is always a topical irritant, acts by irritating the mucous membrane of the stomach,
where it excites a therapeutic inflammation that becomes a
substitute for the existing inflammation. In such a case,
Ipecacuanha and Tartar emetic have each the same special
relations to the lining membrane of the stomach, that exists
between the Nitrate of Silver or the Sulphate of Zinc, and
the mucous membrane of the urethra in a case of blennorrhagia."
It is not enough to say that the artificial disease becomes
a substitv_te for the natural malady; every special natural




EME TICS.                    179
disease has its special substitute. Thus we see that Trousseau agrees with Hahnemann not only in the GENERAL
PRINCIPLE, but also in its particular applications.
In the second volume of the Materia Medica, lahnemann
relates the following case of gastric derangement, or gastric
irritation as Broussais and Professor Trousseau would designate it, which yielded at once to a very small dose of Pulsatilla: " A man of 42 years, of feeble constitution and pale
complexion, who led a sedentary life, had been indisposed
for five days. The first evening he was attacked, without
any perceptible cause, with nausea, dizziness, and eructations. Next night, about two o'clock, he was troubled with
sour vomiting.  The subsequent nights, the eructations
were exceedingly troublesome and violent. The fifth night
the eructations were both fetid and sour; he felt as if the
food lay in his stomach undigested and raw. The head felt
empty, enlarged and gloomy, with sensitiveness of the brain
to the least noise. The patient was of a quiet and amiable
disposition.
Supposing this case of gastric irritation had been treated
with Ipecacuanha, Tartar emetic or some other emetic,
instead of Pulsatilla, would the natural disease have responded to the invitation proffered by the artificial irritation, to yield itself up to it as to a substitute? No, indeed,
and for the simple reason that it is with the action of Pulsatilla alone, and with the action of no other drug, that this
peculiar form of gastric irritation was in agreement. The
reality of this agreement is determined or revealed by the
positive experimentations that have been instituted with
Pulsatilla upon persons in health. A knowledge of the
pure effects of this drug, obtained by such means, shows the
therapeutic diseases which the drug is capable of exciting,
and, as a consequence, enables us to decide with what natural diseases the artificial or therapeutic diseases of the drug
are in full agreement, and for which these latter can therefore be accepted as substitutes by the former.
Pulsatilla, on the contrary, would have no effect upon




180     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
a form of gastric irritation which would require the
Ipecacuanha-irritation  for its specific substitute.  The
indications here might be: thick grayish coating, and
vivid redness of the tip and edges of the tongue; paroxysms of vomiting of mucus and bile occurring especially
at night, at more or less regular periods, with death-like
pallor of the countenance; drops of perspiration on the
forehead, coldness of the skin and feeble and fluttering
pulse.
Then again we might be obliged to exhibit the powder
or tincture of Nux vomica in cases of gastric irritation
arising from abuse of alcoholic stimulants, or from the
excessive use of food, or from the use of heavy and indigestible food. A leading indication, in such a case, might
be a sort of spasmodic retching and straining, which might
continue even after the stomach had been emptied of all its
contents.
Veratrum album and Arsenic would be required in other
forms of gastric irritation, and Tartar emetic still in another,
each being characterised by peculiar phenomena distinguishing its action from that of every other similarly-acting drug.
By what means could we ever succeed in substituting
an artificial for a natural irritation of the intestinal lining
membrane, characterised by a thick, foul, yellowish coating
of the tongue; foul taste; thirst; bitter and offensive eructations; flushed and dark-sallow complexion; chilliness,
followed by heat and dryness of the skin, fullness, hardness and increased rapidity of the pulse; heat and soreness
in the intestinal canal; secretion of a dark, offensive urine,
which deposits a thick, bloody-looking sediment; dizziness;
violent frontal or general headache; extreme restlessness,
and occasional paroxysms of nausea and vomiting of a
bitter, green and yellow bile?
We ask: What more befitting and more effectual substitute for this natural bilious irritation of the intestinal
mucous membrane could be found than the root of Aconitum napellus?  Try any, other substitute in the place of it.




EMETICS.                      181
You may effect a violent perturbation of the digestive
apparatus by means of Ipecacuanha or Tartar emetic, but
the disease will not respond to it, yea, it may remain
immoveable and more deeply rooted than before, in consequence of the additional shock which has been inflicted
upon the vital reaction by means of a heterogeneous drug,
administered in large and violently-disturbing doses.
Although all these drugs, if given in sufficiently large
doses, act as emetics, yet we have seen from Professor
Trousseau's own statement, that the act of emesis is not
necessarily required to secure their therapeutic results.
They cure the natural gastric irritation by substituting each
its own special irritation in the place of the natural disease.
Considering the perfect agreement which exists between
each special natural disease and its corresponding artificial
one; and considering that this perfect agreement secures
a more perfect, a more spontaneous obedience or yielding
on the part of the natural to the artificial irritation: we are
inevitably led to the conclusion, that it will require a correspondingly small amount of artificial irritation to make a
curative impression upon the natural disease.  How far
this amount or quantity may be reduced within the limits
of perceptibility, no theory can determine. This has to be
decided by actual and careful observation. There cannot
be the remotest doubt that, in this respect, homceopathic
practitioners have been guilty of the most extravagant
assertions as well as of the most unpardonable and reckless
mistakes; but these blemishes upon the literature of the
Iomzceopathic School do not efface the great truths of the
Homceopathic Law, nor do they impair the validity of the
experimental Fact: that comparatively small doses of a
specifically-adapted remedial agent are sufficient to wipe
out, or as Professor Trousseau will have it, to substitute
themselves for, their specially-corresponding natural disease.
In the case of emetics, this doctrine likewise applies to




182     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
the nervous derangements for which they are generally employed as curative agents. Let us suppose a case of irritation
of the great nerve of respiration, which may have resulted
in one of the various well-known pathological disturbances
described in the books as spasmodic asthma, singultus, angor
nocturnus. The doctrine is, that each of these affections has
to be cured by means of a specially-corresponding artificial
irritation being substituted in its place. In one case this may
have to be effected with Ipecacuanha; in another, with Nux
vomica; in another again, with Lobelia inflata; or in another
case, with Aconitum napellus. If this substitution of a
specially-agreeing artificial irritation in the place of the
natural disease is the condition of cure, we would ask: what
has the act of emesis to do with this process of substitution?
The original disease is not characterised by vomiting.
Why, then, should the artificial irritation be complicated
with this violent perturbation of the organism? The act
of emesis is simply lugged in in obedience to a blind routine.  May there not be substitution without revulsion?
You may be disposed to say: No. But we affirm that there,may be; thousands of other witnesses have experienced and
affirmed the same fact; and enlightened men like Trousseau,
or like Professor Wood of the University of Pennsylvania,
ought to be indicted by'the tribunal of Common Sense, if
they should neglect to promulgate, or, what would be still
more reprehensible, if they should absolutely deny this
great truth.
How much suffering might be spared to mankind, if the
leaders of the Medical Profession would only act consistently with their own doctrines!  Homoeopathic practitioners need not hesitate to accept the new-fangled doctrine
of Substitution, WHICH IS SIMPLY I]OM(EOPATHY IN DISGUISE. But let them insist upon the postulates of this
doctrine being adhered to by its professors. See to it that
this doctrine is not mixed up with the heterogeneous dogmas
which are still held sacred in every wigwam of allopathic
Councils. If your allopathic brother wants to cure a case




EMETICS.                     183
of nausea upon the principle of subsitution, show him how
this can be done without lugging in the act of emesis. Of
course we suppose a case of nausea, not depending upon the
presence of a noxious substance in the stomach, that has to
be removed. Nausea may be of a purely nervous nature,
resulting from a fright or from some other sudden, violent
or otherwise unpleasant commotion of the nervous system.
We know that diarrhcea, cold perspiration, spasms and convulsions may arise from  similar causes. We have cured
cases of nervous nausea of long standin g with a small dose
of Aconite, whereas the whole legion of emetics might have
proved powerless in removing the distress. The drug-disease, or drug-impression, or drug-irritation, if you please,
was in perfect agreement with, and therefore spontaneously
acceptable as a substitute, to the natural disease.
Lastly we may be permitted to advert to the fact that
bilious irritations of the intestinal lining membrane occur,
which, if treated in accordance with the rules and indications furnished by the doctrine of substitution, would preclude the artificially-excited act of emesis as a violation of
its tenets.  Mercury will cure certain, forms of bilious
irritation of the stomach and bowels, and yet Mercury is no
emetic. A case of bilious irritation characterised by a
grayish-yellow coating of the tongue; pale color of the
substance of the tongue, with slight redness and soreness
of its tip and margins; dryness and foul taste in the mouth;
nausea and occasional vomiting of bile; dryness and sallow
color of the skin; slightly hurried, but soft pulse, with
chilly creepings followed by an increase of the normal temperature; sensation of weight in the epigastrium; fullness,
uneasiness, and unnatural heat in the bowels; constipation;
secretion of a urine highly charged with yellow bile; and
a variety of other constitutional symptoms, such as dizziness, headache, sensitiveness of the scalp to pressure, etc.:
will yield to a few very small doses of Mercury, without
any artificial vomiting or purging.
If, in such a case, a believer in the doctrine of substitu



184     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
tion gives Mercury in doses large enough to induce catharsis, he substitutes that for which no substitute was demanded; for
the original disease numbered among its phenomena constipation instead of diarrhcea. The act of catharsis is dragged
in in obedience to a time-honored routine, not by virtue
of a high and unimpeachable mandate of an enlightened
Reason.
CATHARTICS.-The horrible abuse of cathartics which
darkens the page of humoralism, has fortunately ceased.
Miodern physicians of sense hardly ever use cathartics except where their use is rendered necessary by the nature of
the case, or dictated by a rational principle of therapeutic
wisdom. A cathartic may be required in cases of poisoning;
or for the purpose of softening impacted fieces which, if
permitted to remain, might act as a local irritant, and, by
interfering with the circulation, might superinduce annoying
or even serious engorgements, or otherwise inconvenience
the patient in a useless and avoidable manner.
As a general rule, homceopathic physicians use cathartics
in all cases where the necessity for a removal of excrementitious matters may be predicated upon the plea, that the
accumulated mass acts as a mechanical obstacle or irritant.
In most cases this removal is readily accomplished by
means of an enema, which may consist of mere water,
tepid or cold as the case may be; or of a mixture of tepid
water, sweet oil and salt. It may be necessary to use ingredients having a cathartic effect upon the intestinal secretions. The impaction of fteces in the pouch of the rectum
may very frequently require any practitioner to resort to
such drugs as Colocynth or Jalap in the shape of an enema,
that will break down the hardened mass and enable the
contractile energies of the fibres of the rectum to expel it.
In displacements of the uterus, and in cases of protracted
labor it frequently becomes a matter of absolute necessity
to clear the rectum of its contents by means of a loosening




CATHARTICS.                    185
enema. The neglect of this simple proceeding may cause
unnecessary suffering to the patient, and may even entail
distressing and, frequently, irremediable consequences; we
need but allude to recto-vaginal fistula.
The abuse of cathartics, which was universally prevalent
among allopathic physicians at the time when Hahnemann
first began to criticise the therapeutic methods of the Old
School, induced a dogged and most unphilosophical opposition to their use in the minds of the original adherents of
our System. Cathartics were condemned without reservation as injurious, unnecessary and positively disgraceful
means of cure. Homoeopathic physicians would allow patients to remain two and even three weeks without securing
an evacuation from the bowels. We doubt whether, at this
period, a man who advocates the propriety of such proceedings, would dare to lay claim to the possession of common
rationality. This rigid dogmatism is no longer adhered to.
The introduction of cold or tepid water as a physiological
agent, has secured. an easy, eminently useful and efficient
means, even to practitioners who are still haunted by the
old terror of cathartics, of securing an evacuation from the
bowels without the least detriment to the patient.
It is especially in constipation that cathartic medicines
have been abused by practitioners of former years. Fortunately for the patient, the more enlightened physicians of
the present time repudiate this practice as injurious and
contrary to common sense. And in families whose medical
attendants are still disposed to cling to the old flesh-pots,
the instinctive sense of the sufferer rebels against the outrageous violation of Nature's laws by the untimely use of
cathartics. The law of reaction, as a permanent and universally-prevailing law of the living organism, is too well
known, not to appeal to the simple understanding even of
an untutored layman. In most cases, a regular action of
the bowels can be secured by perfect regularity in taking
one's meals; by the frequent use of cold water as a bev



186     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
erage, more especially by drinking a few tumblerfuls at
night before bed-time, and likewise in the morning after
rising; by taking as much active exercise as the necessities
of one's daily business will permit; by prompt obedience
to the calls of Nature as soon as the intimation is perceived; by making it a practice to attempt an evacuation
of the bowels at a regular hour every day, after breakfast
or after rising from bed, and by resorting to such dietetic
precautions as will favor the action of the bowels. A simple
diet, free from all unnecessary heating spices, and consisting of a suitable combination of meat and vegetables, with
the latter predominating, especially in summer and in the
spring of the year, is eminently more conducive to persons
whose bowels incline to be torpid, than large quantities of
fat meat seasoned with pepper and other heating condiments.
In the present condition of Society, when the iron rule of
Necessity is the law of life for millions of the human
family, it is impossible to suggest rules of diet, exercise and
other hygienic means to which every human creature might
conform. Much that is recommended by physicians as
necessary to the preservation or restoration of health, must
forever remain theoretical to the poor who are held in
bondage in crowded factories, where the pure air and the
sweet light of Heaven are measured out to them by snatches,
as an extra enjoyment to which the enslaved son of toil has
no legitimate claim. The poor laborer who has to work in
the rain, in the hot sun, exposed to the pernicious influences
of damp and cold cellars, and to all the keen and sudden
changes of temperature that are so apt to occur in certain
seasons of the year, cannot heed the most kindly-meant
advice about exposure; nor can the professional man who
is doomed to lead a sedentary life, listen to a long rigmarole
of precautions against the pernicious effects of a want of
exercise. Even physicians have it not in their power to
accommodate themselves to the rules of hygienic wisdom,
which they consider it their duty to recommend to their




CATHAnTICS.                    187
patients. Rules may be laid down, although a physician
can scarcely ever expect more than an approximative compliance with his suggestions.
When treating of astringents, we have shown that their
use in constipation as an idiopathic affection is superior to
that of cathartics. Symptomatic constipation does not
require any special treatment, except it should become
troublesome and lead to secondary consequences. In such
a case, however, we may fall back upon cold water enemas.
Constipation may depend upon, or rather may be symptomatic of, a variety of pathological conditions. It may
characterise or, as an Old-School pathologist would express
it, result from a deficient secretion of intestinal mucus;
from a deficient secretion of the pancreatic fluid; or the
liver may not furnish a sufficient quantity of bile; or this
fluid may be prevented, by mechanical obstacles in the
ductus choledochus, from being poured into the intestines in
sufficient quantity to maintain the peristaltic motion of the
bowels, without which the expulsion of their contents becomes impossible. Mechanical difficulties may prevent this
expulsion. A stricture at the Sygmoid flexure may prevent
it. It may be prevented or rendered difficult by hYmnorrhoidal tumors, by schirrous degenerations and sthenosis of
the rectum, by stricture of the anus and other obstacles.
If the pathological condition that recognises constipation
as its most prominent symptom, were exactly known; and
if we were likewise acquainted with a drug capable of
reproducing the exact likeness of such a pathological condition, the successful treatment of constipation, in all curable
cases, would be a comparatively easy matter. In the first
period of Homoeopathy, the investigation of the pathological
conditions of which the symptoms constitute subjective manifestations, was decried by many over-zealous homceopathic
physicians as an unnecessary, and indeed censurable undertaking. Morbid processes not immediately perceptible to
the sensual eye, were supposed to be beyond the ken of




188     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
mortal beings. They forgot that the eye of tReason is, in
many respects, a visual organ far more penetrating than
the bodily camera obscura. The perfection of Therapeutics
seems to depend, first, upon a correct knowledge of the
character of the internal pathological change, as well as
upon an accurate appreciation of the subjective phenomena
relating to, or characterising this change; and secondly,
upon a correct answer to the question: What drug is in
perfect agreement with this natural series of phenomena,
and with the pathological changes in the tissues to which
they are referable.
Various conditions have to concur in order that the
expulsion of the ftecal mass may take place at regular
periods. The intestinal glands and the mucous lining of
the bowels have to secrete a sufficient amount of fluid;
the pancreas has to provide its normal quantity of juice;
the bile has to be poured into the duodenum in regular
order and in just proportions, to contribute its share to
the maintenance of certain indispensable physiological properties of the tissues, irritability, contractility, without which
the expulsion of the faecal mass could never be effected.
It is evident that if any of these conditions remains
unfulfilled, the regularity of the action of the bowels must
be more or less interfered with. In order to prescribe a
suitable remedy for constipation, it is not enough to say
constipation; we have to include in this term the accompanying conditions, and endeavor to have a full perception
of its specific form or character, by tracing it to the peculiar
or specific alteration of tissue to which it belongs as a
symptomatic manifestation.
Some time ago we had to prescribe for a patient suffering
with the following derangement: The patient had taken
cold which had induced a temporary diminution of the supply of bile, necessarily resulting in constipation. A moderate fever was present. The patient complained of headache,
dizziness, coated tongue, weariness, and a sensation of fullness in the bowels. Castor-oil, jalap, and rhubarb had been




CA&THARTI CS.                  189
swallowed by the patient in considerable quantity when we
arrived. The bowels were very much distended, soft, and,
on pressure, a noise was heard similar to what is sometimes
perceived when treading on boggy ground. The bowels
were evidently filled with a soft mass which could not be
expelled, for the simple reason that the irritability of the
muscular fibres of the bowels had been suspended in consequence of a deficient supply of bile. The indication, therefore, was to relieve the liver from its momentary torpor, in
order to enable it to resume its secretory functions, and to
furnish its regular supply of bile to be amalgamated with
the contents of the bowels.
There is but one drug known to us, so far, capable
of fulfilling this object in a manner to suit the existing
case. This drug is Aconite.'Accordingly we administered a few drops of the first decimal attenuation, equivalent to about one-third of a drop of the concentrated tincture, to be taken in tablespoonful doses every few hours.
One dose of this solution had hardly been swallowed, when
the curative indication was fulfilled; the torpor of the liver
was removed, the secretion of bile, and the consequent irritability of the muscular fibre restored, the peristaltic motion
was carried on in the usual manner, and the whole torrent
of the liquefied excrementitious mass came away to the
great relief of the sufferer.
In a case of this kind, the irregularity in the bilious secretions would be self-evident to any person by the sallow color
of the skin and face, by the yellowish coating on the tongue,
the sticky and unpleasant taste in the mouth, and the yellowish tinge of the sclerotica. It is exceedingly convenient
and customary among both physicians and laymen to account for such a change by a supposed torpor of the liver.
In our patient's case the harmonious evolution of the
physiological phenomena was restored by a single dose of
Aconite with an almost instantaneous rapidity. At one
time the law was laid down for a homoeopathic practitioner
that he must not reason about such phenomena: Be satisfied




190'   OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
with curing your patient; a knowledge of the precise nature of the pathologico-therapeutic process that has been
going on here, does not make the cure any the more perfect
or satisfactory.
We argue differently at this stage of our Science. We
argue that no human authority will ever prevent physicians
from desiring to penetrate more and more deeply into the
play of the vital forces and to be more thoroughly acquainted with the causes and inmost nature of the remarkable change that the normal functions undergo in disease.
We contend that the more intimately we are acquainted
with this change, the more certainty we shall acquire in
restoring the vital processes to their normal condition.
When, in a case like that of our patient, we trace the
existing group of symptoms to torpor of the liver, our
scientific reason is not exactly satisfied, howsoever much
the popular reason may be. We desire to account for this
torpor with more definiteness, and we trace its initial cause
to a torpor of the portal capillaries. It is in these vessels
that we locate the seat of this whole difficulty. The reabsorption of the bile into the general current of the
circulation is owing to the stagnation in the portal capillaries. The suddenness of these stagnations likewise accounts
for the vascular erethism; the sensation of fullness in the
bowels, and their distension are likewise explained by these
engorgements of the portal capillaries; and the rapidity
with which a small dose of Aconite developed its curative
results in this case, is abundantly explained by this pathological theory. No known drug possesses the extraordinary
and specific power to depress and extinguish the irritability
and contractility of the capillary tissue, that we know to be
inherent in the Aconite-root; and hence we argue, that no
known  drug  possesses the extraordinary power which
Aconite can claim, of restoring these physiological properties when they are injured by cosmic influences. According to the doctrine of substitution, Aconite effects a
cure by developing an artificial irritation in the portal




CATHARTICS.                    191
capillaries more powerful than the natural disease, and
therefore taking the place of, and hushing up the latter.
We need not again repeat our own mode of understanding
this doctrine which we regard as the Homoeopathic doctrine
grafted upon the physiological therapeutics of Bichat and
his followers, and which may serve as a forerunner to the
ultimate establishment and full recognition of Nature's
System of Therapeutics based upon the Science of Life and
Disease.
A constipation depending upon a diseased condition of
the pancreas, is characterised by different phenomena, and
requires a far different treatment from a constipation depending upon a diseased condition of the intestinal lining
membrane, or upon deficiency of the nervous influence
furnished by the pneumo-gastric. It is not only eminently
proper, but it is absolutely necessary that these differences
should be carefully studied by every practitioner who
desires to lay claim to the possession of a scientific education. Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology! how can any man
expect to become a Healer of Diseases unless he has fitted
himself by the acquisition of these Sciences for a deep,
comprehensive and truly philosophical study of the SCIENCE
OF THERAPEUTICS! No class of physicians stand in greater
need of a correct knowledge of these collateral branches of
Medicine than the practitioners of our School. Precision
is the absolute requisite of success in treating diseases in
accordance with the specific doctrines of our School. A
homceopathic practitioner can never elevate himself above
the degrading platform of a symptomist or of a blind and
unreasoning routinist, unless he is able to account to himself and to an intelligent public for the fact: that the very
essence of Homceopathy consists in administering a drug
which shall affect the living tissues in such a manner, that
the drug-disease constitutes an exact reflex of the natural
malady, forming with it a perfect oneness in the eye of
Reason. How is it to be expected that such a problem




192     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
should ever be solved by any man who is not thoroughly
acquainted with the structure and the physiological functions and relations of the various parts of the human body?
Pathology must forever remain a chaotic wilderness without
such knowledge, and the great Science of Therapeutics falls
a prey to Empiricism and a degrading Routine!
If there is any truth in the modern doctrine of substitution as taught by Professor Trousseau and his School,
cathartics should only be administered in conditions of the
organism which they are capable of superseding by virtue of
a spontaneous agreement. There must be similarity of action
and, as far as may be, symptomatic similarity; otherwise
the agreement fails, and substitution becomes an impossible
abstraction. Hence it is, that DIARRHCEA is the true curative
indication for the therapeutic use of cathartics. And here
again we should have to ascertain the special form of diarrhcea, with which each cathartic is in therapeutic adaptation.
This would lead every logically-reasoning mind to perceive
the necessity of proving drugs upon persons in perfect
health; else how are we going to find out what special
form of cathartic irritation inheres in the physiological
action of the drug? It is by this sort of experimentation
that the specific uses of Aconite, Mercury, Rhubarb, Arsenic,
Veratrum album, Chamomilla, Pulsatilla, Jalap, and various
other drugs, have been determined.
If a patient should be attacked with watery stools, having
very little, or else a greenish, or dark-brown, or bright
yellow color; and if these stools should be attended with
a sensation of warmth in the bowels, heat and perhaps
soreness at the anus; some chilliness followed by feverish
flashes; a little sickness at the stomach; headache and dizziness; some dryness of the skin; slight acceleration and
increased fullness of the pulse, loss of appetite, weakness,
lowness of spirits: we may rest assured that the only substitute which we can successfully offer for such an attack,




CATHARTICS.                      193
is the peculiar cathartic irritation which the Aconitum
napellus is capable of exciting.
Or, if the diarrhoea should be watery, of a bright-yellow
color, excoriating the anus, with a marked odor of bile, and
every discharge is preceded by pinching pains in the bowels,
attended with a feeling of chilliness creeping along the spine
and perhaps down the extremities: no better substitute can
be depended upon than the corresponding irritation which
Mercury is capable of occasioning in the intestinal canal.
Or, if a patient should be suddenly attacked with enormous,
dark-looking, liquid or semi-liquid evacuations, having a
cadaverous smell, attended with sickness at the stomach,
coldness of the skin, sinking of the pulse and extraordinary
prostration; or, if the discharges should be particularly
troublesome at night, occurring very frequently, and consisting of small quantities of badly-smelling mucus and
blood, attended with excoriation of the anus, great prostration and a deep feeling of illness pervading the whole
frame: the Arsenic-irritation will prove the specific substitute, nor will any other artificial irritation be accepted by
the disease as a substitute, for the reason: that the sensorium
does not perceive its character as such, simply because it does
not exist.
In this way we might go on showing how the Ipecacuanha-irritation is characterised by yellowish or greenish
discharges, of a slimy consistence, having a most penetrating
and offensive odor, the discharges being preceded by severe
colicky pain, and attended with sickness at the stomach,
death-like pallor of the countenance, coldness of the skin,
and sinking of the pulse.
How the Rhubarb-irritation corresponds with bilious discharges having a strong, offensive and sometimes sour smell,
consisting of mucus and fiecal matter, and attended with a
sensation of shuddering and a painful urging to stool even
after the bowels have been relieved.
These and similar facts are fully stated in a well arranged
System of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, and may be
13




194     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
abundantly and satisfactorily studied in our recent work
which, we trust, will prove the harbinger of a new Era in
the literature of our School.
In thus developing artificial cathartic irritations for purposes of substitution, there is no earthly necessity of giving
a quantity of the drug large enough to induce actual diarrhoea, a sort of counter-diarrhcea, as it were. May we request
our allopathic brother to heed this lesson? It is with the
fact " IRRITATION," of which the symptom " diarrhoza" happens to be the most prominent manifestation, that we have
to deal. The successful substitution of an artificial irritation for the natural one does not depend upon the quantity
of the material drug, but upon the qualitative relation between the dynamic forces of this drug and the essential
character of the natural disturbance. If the agreement between these two orders or principles of action is perfect,
the substitution may be effected with a comparatively small
quantity of the drug. We do not demand of our allopathic
brother to at once subscribe to all the vagaries of the extraordinary high-potential transcendentalism which has flashed
upon the Homceopathic School like a meteor from an unknown sky; we simply wish to ask him this question in a
spirit of honest frankness: Have we not put forth sufficient
arguments to cause any unprejudiced practitioner to consider
the propriety of comparatively small doses; to admit their
legitimacy, and to believe that they may produce satisfactory
therapeutic results?
And lastly, if there is any truth in the doctrine of substitution, we would inquire of its advocates, many of whom
are enlightened and honest seekers of the truth:  Does not
this doctrine utterly condemn the customary treatment of
dysentery with either Opium or cathartics? The action of
Opium  is evidently no substitute for the morbid irritation
characterising dysentery; nor can carthartics be depended
upon for such a purpose as a class. We do not write a
Treatise on Pathology or Practice; but we feel authorized




TONICS AND  STIMULANTS.                 195
to suggest, without violating the laws of logical reasoning,
that a dysenteric irritation of the rectum is something very
different from  the irritation caused by Jalap, Rhubarb,
Scammony, and many other drugs of this order. Outside of
the tincture of Aconite, Mercury and Corrosive Sublimate,
which affect the lining membrane and the capillaries of the
rectum similarly to the manner in which these tissues are
found altered in dysentery, very few, if any drugs correspond
integrally with the ordinary forms of dysenteric irritation.
Arsenic, Arnica, Nux vomica, and one or two other drugs
may produce conditions which may act as substitutes for
certain exceptional forms of this disease.
TONICS AND STIMULANTS.
Tonics and Stimulants constitute a class of remedial
agents that have been used by Old-School physicians, the
former on account of their strength-restoring and renovating
properties, and the latter, on account of their supposed power
to excite the vital faculties to a more intense degree of activity. In no respect has the law of reaction which governs
all living organisms, been more systematically violated or
ignored than in the use of these agents. The School of
Broussais has especially been guilty of the most unaccountable extravagances in this respect. If the vital functions
seemed depressed; if any organ seemed to perform its appropriate functions sluggishly; if the secretions were not sufficiently copious: the functional powers had to be excited by
a so-called stimulant. The alimentary canal, the nervous
system, the circulatory organs, the genito-urinary apparatus;
the liver, the glands, the skin, every organ and tissue of the
living organism was subjected to the spur of stimulants
whenever their sinking vitality seemed to be in need of this
artificial excitation.
The most superficial observer must be aware that the
living forces of the organism cannot be impressed in the




196     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
same manner as we make a mark upon soft wax. The forces
of life are endowed with a reactive endeavour upon the exercise of which their very existence is depending. If a stimulant is given, the object undoubtedly is to quicken or excite
these reactive energies; at the same time we should not
forget that, in administering stimulants, the law of reaction
will bear against them as it does against any other substance
introduced into the living economy.  The living tissues
appropriate of these substances, aliments or drugs, just so
much and no more; nor can they assimilate that which is
not in perfect agreement with their physiological or pathological necessities. If a stimulant is administered which is
antagonistic to the nature of the depression we desire to
overcome, the vital laws will undoubtedly react against it
in the end, and a characteristic symptom of this reaction
will be an increase of the original depression.' This observation is even true in regard to the ordinary stimulants
which we are in the habit of using in daily life. Coffee,
wine and brandy may stimulate the vital energies for a
while, but this artificial stimulation will soon be superseded
by a sense of dullness, heaviness and weariness of the physical frame as well as of the mental faculties.
In very many cases these simple stimulants may answer
the purposes of stimulation without being followed by any
signs of an opposite condition of depression. If the constitutional vigor is unimpaired, it may be perfectly proper in
most cases to quicken the vital energies by a little wine,
ale or brandy, if excessive physical fatigue should have
induced a feeling of exhaustion. In cases of starvation, a
few drops of wine may be the very best means of rekindling
the vital spark. A sudden state of debility characterised
by anxiety and palpitation of the heart, has very frequently
yielded to the moderate use of a little Port-wine or brandy.
There can be no possible harm in applying a little Colognewater or the spirts of hartshorn to a lady's nose who happens
to be seized with a fainting spell, if this attack is a mere
evanescent disturbance of the nervous equilibrium. None




TONICS AND  STIMULANTS.                 197
but heartless and brainless dogmatists could object to such
a proceeding. All that the vital reaction needs in such cases
is, to be quickened by the slightest stimulation, in order to
be continued in its integrity.
All such simple cases of nervous depression may be
treated by physiological means or as physiological conditions.  Strictly therapeutic agents are not required for
their cure. It is in states of the organism characterised by
continued and inveterate debility that these agents have
been abused to the great detriment of the patient, and
without any regard to the laws of vital reaction. These
conditions of debility were generalized by Brown under the
name of astlenica, by Pinel under that of adynamia.
The bitter principle with which a variety of drugs are
endowed, has always been considered by Old-School pathologists as eminently fitted to raise the sinking energies of
the animal economy, and more particularly of the digestive
system. Gentian, the root of Columbo, Nux vomica, Ignatia,
etc., belong in this category of bitter medicines or Amara.
Cinchona-bark has always held a leading rank among the
so-called tonics in  Old-School Therapeutics.  Professor
Sundelin, of Berlin, whose work on Materia Medica and
Therapeutics is very justly regarded as an admirable exponent of Old-School wisdom, defines the therapeutic powers
of Cinchona-bark in the following language: "The general
operation of Cinchona-bark consists in the increase and
exaltation of the tone of the irritable fibres and of the
fibres of the vessels; hence, by its use, the pulse becomes
fuller, stronger and more regular, and the muscular power
is increased; also in the general augmentation of the cohesion of the organic mass; hence it counteracts a tendency
to liquefaction and disintegration, diminishes profuse secretions proceeding from atony of the extremities of the vessels,
and of the secreting surfaces and organs; it improves generally the crasis or combination of the vital constituents in
the tissues or blood; and lastly, it consists in the augmen



198     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS- CONTRASTED.
tation of the vital energy of the sensible system.  By
the last mentioned property it restores sensibility, when
defective, or abnormally increased, and it restores the reactive faculty of the nervous system to its normal condition,
and augments the influence of this system on the muscular
fibre and on the reproductive system."
The quintessence of this somewhat metaphysical statement
is briefly expressed in the doctrine, that Cinchona-bark is
inherently possessed of a power to impart strength and
vigor to the organic tissues. It is supposed to be possessed
of an essential property to increase the tone of these tissues.
Hence, the designation of tonic, conferred upon that whole
class of drugs which, like Cinchona-bark, are supposed to
exalt the tonicity of the fibre by virtue of an inherent,
essential property of conferring an increased elasticity and
vigor.  XVe must again and again warn against these fallacious and mischievous doctrines of Old-School Therapeutics.
Meat and vegetables nourish the fibre; out of their constituents the vital forces assimilate the material wherewith the
thread of life is spun. With this material the waste of tissue
is repaired, and the exhausted energies of the organism are
restored and strengthened to renewed efforts. The introduction of food into the stomach at proper periods and with
due regard to the natural appetites and tastes of the organism
is attended with a sensation of delight. When the stomach
craves food, the imagination dwells upon the savory viands
which some hospitable hand has prepared for us, with a
feeling of exquisite satisfaction. This satisfaction is still
heightened by the actual introduction of the food into the
stomach, and is continued throughout the subsequent process
of assimilation, provided it is carried on in normal conditions
of the organism. Prospective pleasure, actual delight and
subsequent invigoration of the vital energies constitute unfailing accompaniments of the normal process of nutrition.
In this process there is no primary and secondary action;
a feeling of invigoration or stimulation followed by the
opposite sensation of depression. After partaking of whole



TONICS AND STIMULANTS.                 199
some food in adequate quantities and at suitable periods, man
feels refreshed; a new vigor is diffused through the weary
tissues; he is enabled to resume his labor with a fresh supply
of strength. Food acts upon him as the heavenly dew does
upon the drooping flower. His eye flashes with a new life;
his heart beats with more firmness and regularity; the skin
shines with a more dazzling transparency; his countenance
is resplendent with new hues of health; a quickening moisture bedews his tongue; life seems rekindled in the milysterious laboratory of the absorbent system.
Now turn to a drug, yes even to the drug which OldSchool therapeutists have immortalized as their most precious tonic. Will Cinchona-bark invigorate the tissues?
Will Cinchona-bark satisfy the cravings of hunger?  Will
Cinchona-bark supply the place of nourishment? Try the
experiment; feed the tissues on Cinchona-bark, and what
will be the consequence? Ay, the consequence will be
that, after the first feverish stimulation of the tissues has
passed away, the organism will lapse into a state of depression corresponding with the previous stimulation; the secretions will become altered, the feverish firmness of the
peristaltic motion will be followed by relaxation and an
unnatural increase of the alvine evacuations; the excited
cravings of the stomach will be succeeded by indifference
to food; the natural and pleasant moisture of the tongue
may be superseded by a layer of slimy mucus and an unpleasant alteration of the taste; the pulse may flag, the normal temperature may sink below its natural standard.
Here is action and reaction, exaltation followed by depression. The vital functions positively refuse to be whipped
into an artificial stimulation. Food alone is adapted to a
normal, drugs are adapted to an abnormal, vitality. It is
because former physicians have overlooked this cardinal
distinction between aliments and drugs, that they have
fallen into the horrid practices which would have transformed this bleeding Humanity into a living incarnation of
misery and woe, but for the inherent power of resistance




200     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
with which man has been enabled to bid defiance to the
onslaughts of his deluded medical advisers.
It may seem strange that we should charge physicians
with the indiscriminate use of food and drugs as articles
appertaining to the same category. Who would be bold
or silly enough to maintain the doctrine that bread and
Cinchona-bark, or meat-broth and Laudanum  are things
essentially endowed with the same faculty of preserving
and developing the normal powers of the organism? Such
doctrines are not formally taught, but they are practised.
If the healthy stomach craves food, bread and meat will
satisfy the craving, and the organic functions will be carried
on with renewed vigor and a continued sense of delight.
This is natural, healthful stimulation which will be perceived as such by the special organ as well as by the
universal organism, until, in due course of time, the craving
is felt again, to be again gratified by another supply of
nutriment.
But here comes a poor invalid whose stomach refuses to
perform the office of digestion in a normal manner. He
has no desire for food; the stomach remains indifferent to
food even after the interval usually allotted to the performance of the process of digestion, has elapsed. He applies
to his medical adviser who happens to swear by the teachings of the Physiological School, this crowning delusion of
Therapeutic Science. This learned gentleman explains the
case to him in this plausible manner:
My friend, that stomach of yours is rebellious against law
and order. In the morning, when well-behaved stomachs
experience a relish for bread and butter, or for a muttonchop or steak, it obstinately refuses to care a farthing about
hominy, fried potatoes, or any other delicacy of the gastronomical art. Nor can it be tempted by a sumptuous dinner
or by the delicious sweetness of the tea-table. Very well,
this is a spoiled stomach; a stomach that is not satisfied
with the ordinary food of mortals. It wants an extra-dish,
an extra-relish for its dainty appetite, something very con



TONICS AND STIMULANTS.                 201
centrated, something penetrating, something that will reach
this appetite which seems to have retreated to the hidden
recesses of the stomach, as if disgusted with the ordinary
means employed for its gratification.  Let me feed this
dainty appetite on a mess of Quinine; it will take to Quinine; it may loathe bread and meat, but it will assuredly
yield to the seductive allurements of Quinine.
And so here goes Quinine, five grains. Wonderful to
relate, after a while, the stomach seems to show a faint willingness to put up with the ordinary diet; but this illusion
is soon dissipated by a return of the former disinclination
to being fed on cabbage and potatoes. So here goes another
dose of Quinine, ten grains. It is that stomach's business
to digest its regular allowance of bread, meat, and vegetables; and if it does not accomplish that business willingly,
we must coax, or, if necessary, drag it into obedience.
Quinine is resorted to for this purpose.
But alas! behold the vanity of human calculations. After
having swallowed the Quinine a few times, the patient informs his physician that the article does not agree with him,
that it causes an oppression, a feeling of heaviness at the
stomach; that it makes him thirsty, causes dryness and
stickiness of the mouth; that it makes his head feel full
and dizzy; that it interferes with the motions of the bowels
and proves otherwise detrimental to the animal economy,
disturbing the sleep, conjuring up heavy and anxious
dreams, causing irregularities and a tumultuous restlessness
in the heart's action, and depressing instead of exalting the
mental condition.
Ah, the deluded routinist had ignored the all-important
fact that this anorexia, this morbid indifference to food is
not simply an absence of the normal appetite, but the presence of some positive Evil, in the same sense as drunkenness is not merely the absence of sobriety, but the presence
of some positive vice.
What can we do or say to impress the reader with this
most egregious error of physiological physicians who view




202     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
disease simply as an excess or a deficiency of the normal
condition? Anorexia is an absence of hunger, bulimia an
excess of the normal appetite. Fever is an excess of vitality
in the circulatory apparatus; rage an excess of cerebral
action. Ptyalism is no longer a disease; it is essentially a
normal action of the salivary glands, except that there is
too much of it, and that this excess has to be counteracted
by direct means.
Here we have reached the dark cavern whence the demon
of Magic sends forth his lurid flashes along the horizon of
old-fashioned Therapeutics. A patient complains of dryness and soreness in the air-passages, and of a dry, wearing
cough. Forthwith his allopathic adviser orders him  the
syrup of Squills, because Squills will whip up the sluggish
glands of the treacheal lining membrane; stimulated -by
Squills, these glands will secrete more than their normal
amount of moisture. And yet the patient will not feel any
the better for this excessive secretion. On the contrary, the
chest will feel weak, exhausted; the respiration is less regular and' steady; the whole body is suffering from the drain
which the artificial stimulus is exciting in the tracheal
mucous glands.
Why is this? Why should the other tissues and organs
be held responsible for the waste which is going on in the
air-passages?  There is no difficulty in explaining this
mystery.
Let us view the action of Squills as it is viewed by allopathic physicians. Let us admit, for' the sake of argument,.
that Squills stimulate the mucous glands of the bronchial
lining membrane. How is this stimulation effected? By
the agency of the brain. It is through the brain that this
stimulus is enabled to act. It is the brain that first perceives
not only the presence, but likewise the object of this stimulus.
True to its mission as supreme provider and distributer of
vitality, it at once goes to work furnishing the tracheal
glands with functional power to appropriate this stimulus.
The brain is not a reasoning organ; it is simply the labo



TONICS AND STIMULANTS.                 203
ratory where a supply of functional power is prepared
for every organ agreeably to its demands. If the organ
demands much, much is given. If it demands more than it
should consume, the excess is ministered to it at the expense of the general economy. If an overpowering stimulus
is applied to the tracheal glands, an exorbitant amount of
secretory power is furnished to these glands by the common eliminator of vitality, the brain. Now considering
that the human organism is an unit; considering that the
nervous power of this organism is an unit, and that under
this unitary distribution of nervous power to every tissue
and organ, a legitimate amount falls to the share of each;
does it not follow as a matter of course, that an excessive
supply in one quarter must be followed by a corresponding
impoverishment of the whole structure?  Can you tap the
bark of a tree, and cause, the sap to flow year after year
through this outlet without depriving the other parts of the
plant of their nourishment and finally causing their decay?
What a mockery to call this gradual extinguishment of the
organic life a process of stimulation! In the positive sciences,
realities have been substituted for fictions, and even, if the
former technicalities have been preserved, the definitions
have been altered in accordance with the demands of scientific Truth. Even the learned astronomer may still use the
popular expression: the sun rises and sets; but he has long
since abjured the false method of calculating the movements
and determining the phenomena of the starry heavens upon
such a fallacious basis. Not so the physician. Hee not only
talks of stimulating the liver, the stomach or brain; of depressing the heart's action, of thinning the blood or thickening other vital fluids; but he erects upon these deceptive
appearances whole systems of medical treatment.
The doctrine of tonics is one of these false doctrines.
Iron and bark are supposed to add tone to the fibre and to.promote the plastic power of the blood. As in the case of
Quinine, so in that of iron, physicians have been deluded
by appearances.. They have mistaken the evanescent stimu



204     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
lation induced by a few doses of iron for a permanent bona
fide exaltation of the vital forces. And yet, when examining the action of iron upon the tissues, we find that the
true action of this agent is the very opposite of stimulation
or increase of tone; we find that this drug really causes a
retardation, contraction and jerking of the pulse instead of
the undulating fullness which the pulse should exhibit under
the influence of an harmonious and natural stimulant, such
as bread or meat. We find that iron causes a pappy or
slimy taste, a coating on the tongue, lassitude, constipation,
all of which are so many symptoms giving the lie to that
false doctrine of stimulation and increase of tone, which,
like a funeral pall, has been overspreading the intellectual
regions of Medicine.
All good physicians have felt and admitted that the doctrine of Tonics and Stimulants is a physiological abstraction
rather than a scientific truth.
"If you feed a vigorous man on the analyptic tonics, (or
tonics which tend to restore tissue) such as iron, broth,
venison, fibrin, osmazone and other kinds of nourishment
containing a good deal of azote, he will soon be troubled
with plethora; gradually the digestive functions will become
impaired, and a number of morbid' conditions will develop
themselves; inflammatory irritations, hsemorrhagic effusions,
and excessive diminution of all the secretions and exhalations, gravel, gout, debility, diminution or loss of the intellectual, sentient and motor powers, and as an ultimate and
remote consequence of these conditions, collicquation and
marasmus.  iHence, in order that analeptic tonics should
develop therapeutic effects, they have to be given to persons whose assimilative energies are weakened, or whose
blood has lost a portion of its reorganizing elements. In
healthy and robust individuals, the physiological or immediate effects of analeptic tonics, so far from being advantageous to their health, would only cause morbid symptoms.
So true it is that drugs do not admit of any rigorous classification, and that they may exhibit different and even




TONICS AND  STIMULANTS.                 205
opposite properties in various conditions of system and
according as they are administered in larger or smaller
doses."
These reasonings are presented by Trousseau and Pidoux
in their classic Treatise of Materia Medica and Therapeutics.
It is evident that, in the minds of these gentlemen, analeptic
tonics are such with reference to the peculiar states of debility and loss of substance which they remedy, and that
they do not deserve this appellation from any inherent power
to impart strength. In further developing this idea, Trousseau and Pidoux continue:
"Nevrosthenic tonics (or tonics which impart strength to
the nervous system) are still less capable of manifesting the'quality of their curative powers by their action on healthy
individuals. These are the amara, and at the head of the
list Cinchona-bark. In order to manifest their power, they
have to act upon a disease or an enfeebled organism. How
could they impart vital resistance to those in whom the
vital energy has suffered no diminution? Let these agents
be administered to persons in whom the vital resistance has
been weakened; in whom the nervous functions manifest a
disordered action, such as betokens a serious shock to the
vital principle, and it will soon be perceived with how much
certainty and promptitude the organism will raise itself from
a state of prostration, and will resist the disorganizing influence."
The same truth is strikingly expressed in the following
paragraph by the same authors:
"It is almost unnecessary to repeat, that analeptic tonics
do not exercise any marked physiological action upon persons in health, and that, if this action is at all perceived,
the character of the therapeutic action cannot be inferred
from it. Hence, if these agents are to manifest their therapeutic influence, the organism has to be in the same pathological condition resulting from deficiency of substance,
from some primary insufficiency of the organizing elements
of the blood."




206     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
We have been prompted by a double motive to quote this
paragraph. It shows that drugs are not in harmonic relations with the organism in health, but with the organism in
disease; and it likewise affords proof of the looseness with
which the fundamental questions of therapeutic Science are
treated even by the most brilliant thinkers of the Allopathic
School. According to this paragraph, the therapeutic action
of drugs cannot be determined by the manner in which they
affect the healthy tissues; and yet, in the introduction to
their Treatise of Materia Medica, Trousseau and Pidoux
proclaim the proving of drugs upon persons in health as the
only safe and reliable method of determining their therapeutic uses.
The proving of drugs upon healthy organisms may be
degraded to a mechanical routine-business, the real object
of which is over-looked. This has been too frequently and
too strikingly the case with many of our recent provings.
The chief aim of provers seems to have been to produce
long lists of symptoms, many of which are not only trifling
and irrelevant, but the unmistakeable products of a morbid
fancy. The true object of all physiological experimentations with drugs should be to determine their exact sphere,
quality and mode of action.  The action of every drug
upon the living tissues is necessarily definite and limited,
and characterised by symptoms which, if essentially inherent in the action of the drug, are readily distinguished by
every unbiassed understanding as effects of the drug. By a
curious perversion of the relation of means to ends, the
business of proving, which should have been regarded and
dealt with as a means of obtaining a knowledge of the
therapeutic action of drugs, was made the end; the proving
of drugs became an established institution in the Hornoeopathic School; nobody imagined that, if a knowledge of
the therapeutic virtues of drugs should ever become accessible to us without any previous provings, such provings
might become superfluous; and the important fact that all
drugs were originally proved for the purpose of ascertain



TONICS AND  STIMULANTS.                 207
ing their specific relations to given diseases, seems to vanish
from professional minds. We may undertake ever so much
to explain away the fact, that homceopathic Therapeutics
have not only regard to symptoms but likewise to the
pathology of diseases: most of the recent provings which
have been published in our Journals and in the Transactions of the American Institute, bear evidence that the
business of finding symptoms was uppermost in the minds
of provers, and that their scientific adaptation to pathological conditions was a matter of secondary importance. WVe
are satisfied that this multiplication of trifling symptoms
has given rise to an eminently unscientific treatment of
diseases, and that one of the glaring defects of this treatment, in the hands of a number of our practitioners, is the
unnecessary complication of medicinal agents in acute as
well as chronic cases. It is a fact which could be substantiated by abundant testimony, that twelve, fifteen and more
drugs are frequently used in cases where a perfect cure
might be much more speedily and satisfactorily achieved
by means of one or two drugs. Thus it is that from the
extreme of a rigid and dogmatic specificism, which chained
a disease to its iron yoke and, upon the principle of saignare,
purgare et clysterisare, and then re-saignare, re-purgare, re-clysterisare, and finally re-re-saignare, re-re-purgare, re-re-ctysterisure, a practice which Moliere has laughed to scorn in his
inimitable comedy of the " Malade Imnaginaire," subjected
the disease to a preconceived, speculative mode of treatment, in the full confidence that the human theory was the
offspring of an infallible Reason, and that, if there was fault
any where, it rested with the unyielding stubbornness of
the disease and its apparent unwillingness to accommodate
itself even to the most consistent and persevering use of
drugs which Theory had set apart as specifically designed
for its overthrow: our practitioners have rushed into the
opposite extreme of a baseless symptomism, a thing of
shadows and a fabric of trifles, in which the glorious grandeur of Medicine can no more dwell than the flitting spasms




208      OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
of a puppet-show can represent the mysterious play of the
grand passions of Humanity.
The specific virtues of Iron in chlorosis afford a striking
illustration of the inherent vice of the old-fashioned doctrines of the Specific School, and a simultaneous confirmation of the inherent truthfulness of the idea of specificity.
The essential character of chlorosis is supposed to be a
diminution of the blood-globules and of the normal quantity of iron which is one of their elementary constituents.
What causes this diminution of the globules, is a matter of
no consquence. An additional quantity of iron must be
supplied, and the shortest way to do it, is to administer it
in substance. This very simple proceeding is based upon
the supposition that the ferrugineous molecules will attend
to their business as all obedient servants should do, by
filling the vacant places of the blood-globules as vital ecements of a vital fluid.
Unfortunately this dream of the specific curative virtues
of Iron in chlorosis has been dissipated by the disappointments of clinical experience. We know that chlorosis has
remained uncured in spite of pounds of Iron, and that, after
the most persevering, but ineffectual treatment with all sorts
of ferrugineous preparations, chlorotic patients have very
frequently been cured by a change of climate, a pleasant
journey, or by some unforeseen joyful occurrence.
If chlorosis remains uncured under the use of Iron, it is
because Iron is not specifically adapted to the inmost nature
of chlorosis in this particular case, or because its curative
action is interfered with by hostile idiosyncrasies or other
conditions requiring different remedies, perhaps another
system of medication, or physiological and moral influences
of a peculiar order.
"Iron," say Trousseau and Pidoux, "acts its part in the
process of blood-making. Its normal and constant presence
in the blood-globules is a sign of its functional necessity.
This presence in the globules and in the vessels where they
are formed, presupposes Certain hmematosic energies whose




TONICS AND  STIMULANTS.                  209
existence depends more especially upon this metal. These
energies correspond in a superior range or degree of vital
activity, with the chemical properties of Iron.
"The same may be said, in another respect, of the sodaconstituents in the blood. As special chemical stimulants,
they correspond with other homologous properties of a
higher order. They do not constitute the efficient, but the
co-ordinate exciting cause of these properties. They may be
regarded as a species of condiment which is always present,
always necessary to the regular accomplishment of the
unceasing generative processes taking place between the
elements of the blood, or between the blood and the various
organic tissues.
"The blood-making properties of Iron are, in their way,
something analogous.
" In order to re-make the blood, Iron does not act by mixture or juxtaposition, but by intussusception or generation.
Clinical experience proves this fact day by day, by showing
that  the diminution of Iron is not the cause, but one of the
effects of chlorosis, and that its reappearance in the globules
is not the cause, but one of the effects and signs of the cure
of this disease. For him who properly apprehends this
fact, the question is settled. Nevertheless there are people
who admit the fact and still persist in asserting that Iron is
the specific remedy for chlorosis. If a diminution of Iron
is only a sign and effect of chlorosis, how can an increase of
this agent cause the absence of chlorosis?"
Iron cures chlorosis by stimulating the prostrated haematosic powers of the vessels.  Small quantities, even the second or third decimal trituration of Iron may accomplish
this result better than large quantities of the crude drug.
Iron cannot effect this cure except in cases where the prcperties of Iron, or the Iron-force, are analogous to the nature
of the hsematosic properties of the blood-vessels. This is
the doctrine of the distinguished authors of the classical
Treatise of Therapeutics and Materia Medica. The idea is
that the physico-chemical properties of Iron, if transformed
14




210     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
into physiologico-vital properties in the department of h]ematosis, would become inmostly identified with the hsematosic properties of the vessels, and that a cure of chlorosis,
in any given case, depends upon this perfect identification.
What a fool-hardy logic to even breathe the name of Homoeopathy in connection with this argument! Let there be
any-quantity of Homzeopathy involved in it! We do not
object to the thing so much as to the name. It is the name
that shocks our delicate nerves.
If we could present our ideas to the world without clothing them in our peculiar technicalities, we should most
probably find more willing ears among the more enlightened practitioners of the Old School. The name excites a
suspicion that the Homceopathic System is a thing of human
origin as other medical systems have been, and that the Homoeopathic System is not what its advocates claim for it:
the God-created System of natural Therapeutics.
If Iron were the specific remedy for chlorosis, chlorosis
could not possibly be cured without Iron. This seems undeniable. No therapeutic agent could be substituted for
Iron in the treatment of this disease. If a chlorotic patient
is cured with swallowing any of the pharmaceutic preparations of Iron, it is because there is a living force in the
blood-vessels and in the blood which, so to say, represents
the Iron, draws it to itself, and appropriates it as the special
condition of its activity. This living force is weakened in
chlorosis, but it may recover its energy by some spontaneous
change, and one of the effects, conditions and signs of this
restoration is the return of the normal proportionof Iron in
the blood.
These and similar doctrines are taught by Trousseau and
Pidoux throughout their great work. Does not every homceopathic practitioner see that the spirit of Homceopathy is
embodied in these and kindred teachings? Does it escape
the observation of homceopathic practitioners that, when
Trousseau and Pidoux teach the doctrine of homology or the
existence of superior impressibilities in the physiologico-vital




TONICS AND  STIMULANTS.                 211
sphere, specifically corresponding with the natural properties
of drugs, these gentlemen teach the very doctrines which
Hahnemann has promulgated with so much power and brilliancy? The formula " SIMILIA SIMILIBUS" means in reality
that a drug cannot affect, as a curative agent, the abnormal
sensibilities of a higher sphere, unless the properties or forces
which are peculiar to the drug, if elevated to this higher
sphere of vitality, become identified with the abnormal sensibilities of the latter. And this again may be translated into
the received technicalities of our School: a drug, in order to
be a remedial agent in a given case, must have power to
develop analogous morbid phenomena to those characterizing derangements of the higher or more internal vitality.
"If," argue Trousseau and Pidoux, "a curative result is
obtained in chlorosis by means of Iron, and the blood-disks
and the Iron which constitutes an element in their composition, are gradually restored to their normal quantity, the
same process is taking place as if they had been regenerated
spontaneously, without the aid of ferrugenious preparations.
Why should, at a given moment, the Iron which is contained
in the food, prove insufficient to a chlorotic patient? Does
food nourish the tissues by simple juxtaposition? Has not
food to be assimilated? Has it not to be transformed by the
organism, impregnated with, and minutely united to, the
organic vitality? Is it the Iron which, of its own power, restores to the young maiden this warmth, this fruitful and
quickening impulse in the vessels, this flow of life, sentiment
and motion which seems to raise her, in a few days, from a
-lower to a higher condition of existence, and which re-animates every tissue and viscus in the order in which they had
been developed in the embryo, and in which they are
related to each other in the full-grown being?
"Do we display in this statement the: properties of Iron
or those of the chlorotic organism?  We do not display
either, but a genuine generation taking place in the midst
of the perpetual movement of the blood at every point of
an immense network, which expands its meshes every
where as the reservoir of the hsematosic process should




212     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
do. This process takes place universally in the circulatory
apparatus. Where there is a blood-vessel, there blood is
formed at every point of the vessel, or an act of its formation is accomplished. Can he who has observed only
once, with the eye of a physiologist, this spectacle of a chlorotic patient undergoing a perfect metamorphosis under the
influence of Iron, deny that the progression of this cure is
a true evolution of the organic life?  This cure consists in
the reciprocal vivification of the Iron by the blood, and of
the blood by the Iron. A property of the Iron is transmitted to the blood by an act of generation as it were.
This implies the existence of vital energies in the organized
liquid, which are to the crude Iron what the phosphenes are
to the light. These energies languish in chlor.osis, and are
vitalised by the Iron."
Trousseau and Pidoux show with great force of argument
that, if Iron cures chlorosis, it is by virtue of some specific
analogy of the properties of Iron to the morbid condition
of the hlematosic properties of the blood-vessels.  In
their theory, Iron acts as a purely physiological agent, in
the same way as food supplies strength to the exhausted
fibre in obedience to the normal play of the physiological
life of the organism. This theory may be said to constitute the outer court of the homoeopathic edifice. It does
not fully meet the demand of the scientific Reason which
desires, in its comprehensive sweep, to embrace the world
of Causes within our fundamental law.
We proclaim the doctrine that, if in chlorosis, the blood
is diseased, impoverished, this condition is not a physiological but a pathological result. Pathological conditions result
from the operation of morbific forces upon kindred receptivities in the tissues; physiological conditions from the operation of vital forces upon the normal vital properties of the
organism. It is not with these vital properties that the Iron
deals, but with the morbific forces and their pathological
results. If the nature of these forces and of their action
upon the tissues is not akin to the dynamic forces of the




TONICS AND  STIMULANTS.                 213
Iron, a cure of chlorosis by means of Iron is impossible;
some other agent will have to be administered which fulfills
this perfect condition of analogous action, and develops in
the affected tissues an artificial disease, external to the natural malady, more material and for this reason more limited,
more definite and precise, more positive, and, therefore,
stronger, as lIahnemann has been pleased to term it; stronger
in this only sense, that it has more power over the natural
disease than this has over the vital properties of the tissues.
The effect of this superior influence of the drug-disease over
the natural malady, in all possible cases, is the gradual withdrawal of the natural malady into the lower, grosser, or
more material sphere of the drug-disease, and the consequent
restoration of the tissues to a condition of vital integrity.
It is astonishing to what an extent the minds of the Profession have been held captive by the delusive theories of
medical Schools. No two men have admitted this more
freely, and shown it more conclusively than Trousseau and
Pidoux. Yet their practice is not what their teachings
might lead us to infer it should be. So true is it, that unless
a man is born again, he cannot enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. The understanding alone ig insufficient to restrain
us firom the perpetration of habitual wrongs.
Will physicians ever be prepared to admit that the
strengthening and stimulating effects of drugs are merely
apparent, not real and lasting? Trousseau and Pidoux may
inform us in one paragraph that moderate doses of Arsenic,
when taken by them in health, caused a feeling of stimulation similar to that which is caused by coffee. And in
another paragraph they may inform us that Arsenic produced in them a remarkable feeling of vigor in the lower
limbs, enabling them to take long walks without feeling tired.
Are these effects of the Arsenical poison real, or are they
illusory? The Arsenic-eaters of Styria at first experience
similar effects from the poison. But after the organism has
become accustomed to the Arsenic, and is afterwards deprived of this false stimulant, symptoms of an Arsenic



214     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
cachexia make their appearance, which Trousseau and Pidoux sum up in these words: "Great indifference for all
their surroundings, anxiety for their own persons, gastric
derangements, anorexia, sense of repletion in the stomach,
vomiting of glairy mucus early in the morni ng, with ptyalism; pyrosis, spasmodic constriction of the pharynx, difficulty of breathing. These effects can only be removed by
resuming the habit of eating the poison."
What a folly to assign stimulating or fortifying properties
to a substance which undermines the constitution by impairing every vital function! Would you call brandy a stimulant because it will steady a drunkard's trembling hands;
or will you call Opium a sedative if it quiets the restless,
wandering fancy of one who had previously destroyed his
mental harmony by the abuse of this poisonous drug?
Such definitions would be an abuse of language, and can be
advocated with no more consistency than the exploded
astronomical illusion, that the sun rises or sets.
Genuine vigor can only be imparted by elements which
the organic life can assimilate as new tissue in the place of
the worn out fabric. These elements are comprehended
under the general appellation of aliments, food. It will
even be found that in this respect the organic vitality has
its choice, preferring one kind of food to another. These
preferences are referable to the individual taste, to the inherent physiological attractions and repulsions, to the essential physiological sympathies and antipathies of the vital
economy. One organism prefers meat to vegetables; another
vegetables to meat. Again, one organism prefers beef to
mutton and veal; another, on the contrary, prefers mutton
and veal to beef. We might particularize still farther,
saying that one organism loves the meat rare, another well
done; one with, another without gravy; one broiled, another fried; one roasted, another boiled. And so, in regard
to vegetables, we shall find that one digestive system delights
in things which another rejects; one, for instance, craves
potatoes which are regarded with the most perfect indiffer



TONICS AND STIMULANTS.                215
ence by another. One loves spinach which another dislikes,
whereas this one may delight in cauliflower for which the
other has no particular attraction. It is upon these facts,
which man should respect as so many revelations of the
wise Providence of Nature, that a physiological hygiene
should be based.
Even the caterpillar may teach us lessons of wisdom in
this respect. Guided by an unerring instinct, it will crawl
to its leaf, nor will it assimilate food which is not in harmony with its low organism. Has man imitated, or, we
should ask, has he done as wisely as the humble caterpillar?
Ah, the humane physician may well shudder at the amount
of crime which the brutal ignorance of man has perpetrated
against his own kindred in the simple matter of alimentation. Are the delicate whisperings of the infantile organism
heeded even in our day and generation?  They may be
among the more refined classes of Society, and while man
is still a nursing babe. But as soon as the light of Reason
begins to dawn in the chambers of his mind, the growing
man becomes divested of the privilege of eating what he
likes; the law then is, for the vast majority of our race:
You must eat what is set before you, and it is even considered manly to be able to eat, swine-fashion, anything that is
put upon the table.
WVe grant most readily that in the present condition of
the human race, when all tastes are perverted, all instincts
falsified; when man has become a myth unto himself; when
hereditary interests and a dogmatic conventionalism have
superseded the eternal principles of truth in every department of man's social and political fabric; we grant that,
under these circumstances, a wise and discriminating supervision should be exercised by the educators of the human
race over the assimilation of food. But we would enjoin
consistency in this respect. We would repudiate the horrid
and tyrannical agrarianism which assigns food to the human
organism without regard to its native capacities for appropriation. Both quantity and quality are of vital importance.




216     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
" What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will..
he give a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a
serpent?" What is the use of these sublime teachings, if we
do not even apply them to the ordinary wants of the organism? "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall
find; knock and& it shall be opened unto you: For every
one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth;
and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."
Have these' sacred revealings been heeded in the development of man?  We are told that the Bible is -not a book of
Science. True, the sacred volume neither teaches Astronomy nor Physiology; but it binds the philosophical seeker
of Truth by a supreme law of order. It commands him not
to give a stone for bread, or a serpent for a fish. It commands him not to teach a fasehood in the place of a truth;
not to enact a purely human in the place of a divine ordinance. It commands him to cast an exploring glance into
God's mysterious Economy, not for the purpose of deriving
from its fathomless revealings a confirmation of his own
sophisms, but in order that the harmonious evolution of its
phenomena should teach him rules of wisdom and goodness
in the management of his own interests.
We charge upon those who make it their business to investigate and interpret the laws of the living organism,
an ignorance of the correspondential fitness or adaptation
which regulates the relations between the nmovements of this
wonderful mechanism and the surrounding universe of created things.  We would utter this charge against our
brother physician in the spirit of kindness which should
and does animate those who take a sincere and abiding interest in the welfare of humanity, even though they should
differ in their views concerhing the best method of promoting this high and noble end. Encouraged by this spirit,
we charge upon our brother a want of appreciative discrimlination in the use of drugs. We admit that the human
economy may lapse into states of debility which may have




TONICS AND STIMULANTS.                  217
to be counteracted by remedial agents; but where our
brother has erred and still persists in erring, is in the indiscriminate use of so-called tonics, such as Iron and Bark, as
being inherently possessed of a power to neutralise a state
of debility as such, without reference to the determining
cause and character of this depression of vitality.
If a patient has become exhausted by repeated venesections, by excessive nursing, or, by the loss of other important fluids, the judicious use of Iron and Bark may gradually resuscitate the sinking powers of his prostrated organism. But these curative results, are not effected by these
precious agents by virtue of an absolute power to create
strength, but by virtue of the specific adaptation of these
agents to the various disordered conditions of the reproductive system consequent upon excessive and continued losses
of important vital fluids. If the blood, for instance, has
become watery in consequence of excessive bleedings; if
symptoms of cedema have developed themselves; if the
patient complains of feeling debilitated; if the least exertion causes a clammy sweat to break out upon the skin; if
he has lost his relish for food, is no longer refreshed by
sleep, and, in place of the former firmness and rotundity, the
muscles hang about him like so many flabby, feebly-coherent
bundles of fibres: Peruvian bark may prove a most efficient
agent in removing these symptoms of decay, and restoring
the primitive vigor of the reproductive functions. But, because Peruvian bark will manifest curative results of this
order, it would be rash to conclude that it is possessed of an
absolute power to increase the tone of the fibre. It will
remove states of debility occasioned by particular circumstances and characterised by such symptoms as we have described. The capability of effecting the removal or neutralization of such states, is a positive power inherent in
Cinchona-bark; but this agent has no power to preserve,
develope and still farther exalt existing conditions of vital
strength and harmony. Here it is where Old-School physicians have erred, and still err; in concluding that, because




218      OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
Cinchona-bark will remove a state of weakness, it is possessed of a power to create strength in the same sense as
bread and meat are possessed of an inherent power to preserve, develop and exalt the organic vitality.
Why then is Peruvian bark a tonic? or rather, why does
Peruvian bark act as a tonic? We desire to repudiate most
emphatically the received phraseology that Bark Is a tonic,
and we therefore repeat the question: Why does Bark act
as a tonic-?  Ay, it acts as a tonic because it is possessed of
an inherent power to produce states of debility; because it
is possessed of an inherent power to disorganize the reproductive functions; because it is possessed of an inherent
power to vitiate the secretions; because it is possessed of
an inherent power to impair the nervous energy, and to
depress the normal temperature of the organism.
Cinchona, therefore, is essentially inimical to the organic
tissues, and if it removes debility of a peculiar order, it is
by virtue of an essentially inherent power tpo cause corresponding conditions in the healthy tissues. Yet let us be
mindful of the distinction which enables the drug to exercise its curative powers. The drug-disease or drug-force
invading the organism from without, as a purely external
principle, is, on this account, more circumscribed, more
limited, more positive as it were, more emphatic and therefore more capable of absorbing the corresponding inimical
principles diffused through the inmost tissues, than these
principles are capable of appropriating and thus subduing
and destroying the physiological powers of the organism.
The fact that all drugs are, of themselves, inimical to the
organic vitality, has been overlooked by the framers of our
Materia Medica.  Hence it is that tonic and stimulating
properties have been assigned to some of them.
Yet there is no stimulation any more than there is an
increase of tone. The stimulation is only apparent and
therefore deceptive. If a small quantity of Opium is made
to act upon the brain, it may seem to excite symptoms of
stimulation; but in reality, the drug acts as a poison, as a




TONICS AND STIMULANTS.                 219
depressor of the cerebral life. The Supreme Vital Force,
perceiving the danger, at once comes to the rescue and
enables the brain to repel the invader. HIence the combat
between the brain and the poison is necessarily characterised by an appearance of stimulation which will be superseded by a state of depression as soon as the inimical principle is subdued.
If then China is to act as a tonic, it can only manifest
such virtues when made to act upon states of debility characterised by an order of phenomena or derangements similar to those which Cinchona is capable of producing in the
healthy tissues. We are in the habit of designating this
similarity as a relation of homeeopathicity between the
action of the drug and the character of the pathological
disturbance. Upon a similar basis homeeopathic physicians
predicate the brilliant results which are achieved by Bark
or its alkaloid Quinine in the treatment of fever and ague.
The curative virtues which this agent manifests in the
treatment of fever and ague, have been a puzzle to OldSchool therapeutists. Even the distinguished Pereira designates the relation between Cinchona-bark and fever and
ague as mysterious and incomprehensible. "The diseases,"
says he, "in which this remedy manifests the greatest therapeutic power, are those which assume an intermittent or
periodical type. Now, in such, the methodus medendi is
quite inexplicable; and, therefore, the remedy has been
called a specific, an antiperiodic, a febrifuge. But the more
intimately we become acquainted with the pathology of disease, and the operation of medicines, the less evidence have
we of the specific influence of particular medicines over particular maladies. Some diseases, however, are exceedingly
obscure; their seat or nature, and the condition of system
under which they occur, or the cause of their occurrence
being little known. There are also many medicines the
precise action of which is imperfectly understood, but which
evidently exercises a most important, though to us quite
inexplicable, influence over the system. Now, it sometimes




220     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
happens that imperfectly known diseases are most remarkably influenced by remedies, the agency of which we cannot
comprehend; in other words, we can trace no known relation between the physiological effects of the remedy and
its therapeutic influences. This incomprehensible relation
exists between Arsenic and lepra, between Cinchona-bark
and ague. But though this connection is to us mysterious,
(for I do not admit the various hypotheses which have been
formed to account for it,) we are not to conclude that it is
necessarily more intimate than that which exists in ordinary
cases."
Reader, fancy yourself on board a vessel without compass
or rudder, drifting about upon an unknown ocean in the
midst of ten thousand perils from which there is no escape,
yea, which you have sallied out of port to encounter and
overcome. Your situation on board this vessel would appear
much less desperate than the situation of a man like Pereira
who navigates the uncertain and tempestuous sea of disease
under the dark banner of Empiricism. What! is this confession of absolute weakness, of an utter absence of law and
principle, the result of the accumulated erudition of ages?
What, is it true that the more we know of the action of
drugs and of the nature of diseases, the more we become
convinced of the utter absence of all fixed and determinate
relations between remedial agents and diseases?  Ah, if
the learned man had inferred from his unceasing disappointments thatthe existing systems of treatment, and the conflicting theories with which his mind had been inundated,
had no foundation in truth, or only a very slim and partial
foundation, he might have done justice to himself and to
the cause of therapeutic Science. But Pereira went farther.
He included in this unqualified denial of all law and principle in Therapeutics the law of Homoeopathic Affinities.
The only doctrine that might have furnished a solid and indestructible basis to his therapeutic edifice, is declared by
him the offspring of a wild and absurd fancy.
A most desolating empiricism is proclaimed by Dr. Paris,




TONICS AND STIMULANTS.                221
the present Head of the English Royal College of Physicians,
as the fate of Medicine. According to this eminent oracle,
Medicine is " incapable of generalization," and lomceopathy
is a humbug!
Can it be true that there is no definite relation between
remedial agents and diseases? Is it to be supposed that in
the living harmony of things, the nature and uses of drugs
should be governed by chance and unphilosophical routine?
The stars speak to us of harmony; the phenomena of Chemistry depend upon positive laws; the movements and
instincts of the brute creation are regulated in a most
orderly manner, and the physiological functions of the
human organism constitute an harmonious play of beautifully co-ordinated forces; but woe unto man, if sickness
strikes him down; then he steps out of this marvellous
System of light and beauty into the night of Chaos and
Chance; then man is no longer made in the image and
likeness of his Maker who is himself the Supreme Type of
Order; then, when he is most in need of help, God casts
him away upon the desolate shores of Empiricism and
Chance, a victim to the proud and pitiless dogmatism of the
therapeutic theory which happens to be, for the time being,
the idol of a besotted crowd. Can this be so, friends?  If
our children are sick, do we not nurse them all the more
tenderly? And why should not our heavenly Father do
the same to us? "Consider the ravens; for they neither
sow nor reap; which neither have store-house nor barn;
and God feedeth them. tHow much more are ye better than
the fowls?"
And again: "Consider the lilies how they grow; they
toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
"If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the
field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more
will he clothe you, oh ye of little faith?"
Are we not taught in these heavenly accents that man is
the particular object of God's Providence? If this be so,




222     OLD-SCHOOL \THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
how utterly destructive of the very idea of Providence would
be the fact that the treatment of disease is not regulated by
positive and unerring laws! IDoes not Reason, do not the
very instincts of the heart force upon us the belief that the
treatment of disease cannot possibly be depending upon
Chance, but that it ought to be conducted in the same manner in which God conducts the business of his Universe and
of the Humanity which He had created for His Glory?  If
God has provided for this Humanity, he must have provided for the wants of the sick man in a manner commensurate with his supreme Love and Wisdom. The treatment
of disease must therefore depend upon laws that are just as
fixed and just as accessible to the inquiring Reason as the
laws which govern the change of seasons or the movements
of the stars.
It is our pride and pleasure to proclaim the gladsome
tidings that this law, which the finger of Omnipotence has
engraved upon the tablets of Nature, has been read, interpreted and promulgated to a startled world by Hahnemann.
We claim for Hlahnemann the merit of having discovered
the God-created law of the Science of Therapeutics, and of
having laid the foundation of a Materia Medica which the
intelligent advocates, under whose fostering care it even now
presents such admirable developments, will eventually rear
into a fabric as logically-coherent in all its parts as any
other natural Science. It was in translating the article Cinchona, in Cullen's Materia Medica, that Hahnemann was led
to the discovery of the therapeutic law, which will not only
cure existing diseases with an unparalleled and hitherto
unknown certainty of result and brilliancy of success, but
which, in the course of ages, will change the character of
diseases, will render them more amenable to treatment, and
will finally contribute more powerfully, perhaps, than any
other social improvement, to the utter extinction of this
formidable scourge,
We claim that Homceopathy is a God-created Science
interwoven in the mysterious framework of Nature, and




TON ICS AND  STIMULANTS.               223
that lHahnemann's flash of genius perceived and deciphered
the divine handwriting upon her eternal Page.
It was in translating the paragraph, where Cullen accounts
for the curative virtues of Cinchona-bark in fever and ague,
by the existence of the bitter principles and the consequent
tonic properties with which this agent is endowed, that the
thought darted through Hahnemann's mind: May not these
specific curative virtues of Cinchona-bark depend upon
facts of an entirely different order? May they not depend
upon the fact that Cinchona-bark is capable of developing
in the normal tissues a condition resembling in all essential
characteristics a paroxysm of fever-and-ague?  And forthwith llahnemann instituted an experiment on his own person for the purpose of verifying this intuition. After
swallowing on several successive days a quantity of Peruvian-bark, he experienced a series of abnormal sensations
which represented a paroxysm of fever-and-ague as nearly
as any natural disease can be reproduced by artificial morbific influences. The chilly creepings, followed by flashes
of heat and subsequent perspiration, and the accompanying
phenomena of congestion and gastric irritation which are
usually present during an attack of fever-and-ague, were
reproduced by Hahnemann with sufficient exactitude to
justify the conclusion, that Bark cures fever and ague not
because it is capable of producing a similar disease, but
because this power of producing a similar disease evidences
the existence of a peculiar affinity between this agent and
fever-and-ague, an affinity so characteristic, that no known
drug is capable of developing similar evidences of affinity
with the same striking truthfulness of delineation. Hence,
in consequence of this remarkable, and we may say, exclusive
uniformity between the physiological action of Bark upon
the normal tissues, and the pathological condition usually
described as a paroxysm of fever-and-ague, we designate
the relation existing between this artificial or physiological
disease on the one, and this natural or pathological disease
on the other hand, as a specific relation appertaining exclu



224     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
sively to the two factors Bark and fever-and-ague.  It is
true, we can show specific curative relations between Arsenic and fever-and-ague, or between Ipecacuanha and ague;
but a careful examination of these different forms of specificity will satisfy us that they cannot be substituted one for
the other, and that each of these specific relations is a relation sui generis, and, therefore, exclusively or specifically
curative of a peculiar order of,,cases.
Specific curative relations exist between every drug and
corresponding diseases. These relations have been determined by the most careful experimentations upon the
healthy. Allopathic physicians have had the generosity to
acknowledge that, in this respect, Hahnemann has initiated
a new Era in the history of Medicine. They have imitated
his brilliant example by instituting provings of drugs
equally distinguished for the self-sacrificing devotion with
which they have been conducted, and for the splendid results which they have yielded- to the practical physician.
How long will it be before such splendid provings as
Fleming has published to the world, will supersede the use
of the lancet? Long before he instituted his experiments
with the root of Aconite, Hahnemann had demonstrated the
extraordinary, or rather the specific antiphlogistic virtues
of this agent. The lancet has had its day. If we can but
induce our Old-School brethren to try the curative virtues
of Aconite in simple acute inflammations, where the lancet
had been deemed necessary heretofore, and where depletion
was followed by a momentary abatement of the pain and
febrile excitement: physicians of every School will soon
abjure the lancet as an inheritance of the dark ages of the
Past.
The gloomy records of Toxicology have become instructive lessons through the instrumentality of IIomceopathy.
How much suffering has been relieved by Mercury under
the operation of the beneficent law: that every drug will
remove functional or organic disorders for which it has a
specific affinity by virtue of its inherent power to produce




TONICS AND STIMULANTS.                22.5
similar derangements in healthy tissues I To the homceopathic physician the power which Belladonna possesses in
so eminent a degree, of exciting symptoms resembling
inflammation of the brain, or cerebral typhus, is a means
of saving human life in cases where so much of it is sacrificed, we mean in meningitis and cerebral typhus. If any
physician still doubts the specific curative virtues of Belladonna in the old-fashioned Sydenhamian scarlet-fever, the
scarlatina lsevigata, let him first consult his toxicological
records and convince himself of the power which this agent
possesses of producing all the pathognomonic appearances
of this disease, the scarlet efflorescence of the skin, the
violent angina, the cerebral congestions wvith the sparkling
and glistening eyes, the intense fever and thirst; and next,
let him try the virtues of this drug in a fair case, where a
cure is not an impossible thing from the start: he will soon
see the enemy quail before the power that stifles the life out
of him step by step.
With the discovery of Homceopathy a death-blow has
been struck at the blind rule of Empiricism. Henceforth
the exhibition of a drug is no longer dictated by routine, it
is the act of a conscious Intelligence. Homceopathy was
inscribed upon the inmost nature of the Mind, when the
fiat of Creation first called man into being. It is there, in
the constitution of the human mind, that the great LAW OF
HOMaOPATHIC AFFINITIES AND SIMILITUDES was first read
by the genius of Hahnemann. How simple this law, how
beautiful, how irresistibly at one with the universal architecture of Nature I Man was created with a stainless organism, but endowed with a capacity for disease. As long as
he continued to live in the conditions of harmony which
the inspired Record designates as a paradise, these varied
capacities for disease, these morbific germs remained undeveloped; man was not even conscious of their existence.
To all intents and purposes he enjoyed perfect health. But
the law of suffering was inscribed upon the order of his
growth. Whether voluntarily or involuntarily, man trans.
15




226     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
gressed the laws upon the perfect obedience to which, the
continuance of health depended.
The capacity for disease, which heretofore had been a mere
potency, a passive latent faculty as it were, becane an actualized condition, a concrete pathological state manifested to
the observing understanding by positive symptoms, signs, or
phenomena. Whole Nature was blighted by the curse. The
same act or series of acts which developed disease in man,
developed drugs in Nature. For, Nature too was endowed
with a capacity for Evil which, in Paradise, remained in a
state of perfect quiescence. There could be no unity in God's
System; all faith in his over-ruling Providence must become
extinct, if the diseases which spring from capacities or potencies, with which the human organism was endowed from
Creation, did not meet their counterpart in Nature. Drugs
in Nature, and diseases in man, are effects of the same cause,
effects of the same act or series of acts violative, on the part of
man, of the original conditions of paradisiacal harmony. The
fetid IHyoscyamus and the maddening Belladonna are no
paradisiacal creations, they are subversive manifestations of
Nature's creative power; they are distinctly traceable to the
same influence or series of influences upon the operation of
which, the development of diseases in man depends.  If
drugs generally correspond with diseases; if drugs generally
are related or adapted to diseases; if drugs generally are in
curative rapport with diseases, this general correspondence
certainly implies a correspondence of particular drugs with
particular diseases.  If one of the first consequences of
man's transgression was inflammatory rheumatism, this transgression must have affected Nature in a corresponding
manner, developing her inherent capacity not for inflammatory rheumatism, but for the representative sign or
symbol of this disease, which alone could be developed
out of Nature's soil. We care not, what or how many
diseases were the fruit of man's transgression; as many
there were, as many corresponding drugs must have been
developed out of the fruitful bosom of Nature. We have a




TONICS AND STIMULANTS.                 227,
right to expect this correspondence, this adaptation of drugs
to diseases from an all-wise and all-merciful Providence.
It was by subjecting whole Nature to this universal Curse,
that its deathly blight has been mitigated, and will eventually be removed from this afflicted Humanity. For it is
found that drugs, which were the result of a transgression
of law in Nature, act upon the diseases which were the result
of the same Cause in man, as counter-balancing, neutralizing,
in one word as curative principles. The morbific influences
or essences which develope diseases in man, tend more powerfully to their corresponding drugs, than to the physiological
tissues of the organism. All we have to do, in order to
secure the removal of a given disease, is to first determine
in our own minds, what drug is typical of, or is specifically
related to, or corresponding with, (all these expressions are
intended to mean one and the same thing,) this given disease. We determine this correspondence approximatively
by investigating the effects of various drugs upon the
healthy tissues. This is what we mean by proving a drug.
By means of these provings we have constructed a grand
series of artificial drug-diseases which, when made to act
upon that other grand series of pathological diseases, will
wipe them out, hush them up, absorb or neutralize them in
all curable cases, whenever the artificial or drug-disease constitutes the exact, positive, or specific counterpart of the
natural malady. Only a comparatively small quantity is
required to effect this object, a quantity sufficiently large to
extinguish the natural disease, but too small to develope
medicinal symptoms in the organism.
Let us continue the work so nobly begun; let us make
every effort to spread the Cause which we are advocating in
the interest of suffering HEumanity, and the time will be
when Medicine, instead of being a Science of curses, will
become fruitful of blessings and of joys.




228     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
SEDATIVES, COUNTER-STIMULANTS, ANTI-SPASMODICS, ANTI-PILOGISTICS.
The homoeopathic treatment of diseases fulfills all the
curative indications for which the Old School prescribes its
sedatives and counter-stimulants, its anti-spasmodics and
anti-phlogistics, with more directness and certainty of a
favorable result than was ever vouchsafed to physicians
who still recognize the ancient formulas. We cheerfully
admit that immense improvements have been introduced in
the allopathic treatment of diseases with these various
classes of agents. The horrible abuse of Opium as a means
of subduing pain' or spasms, and the frightful abstractions
of blood which disgrace the annals of allopathic Therapeutics, are repudiated by all intelligent practitioners of the
present day.
Among the sedatives, those which may be ranged in the
category of physiological agents, are used in common by a
large number of both homceopathic and allopathic practitioners. One of these physiological sedatives which has
acquired a world-wide reputation as a therapeutic agent, is
cold water. Its use as such has been reduced to a system
in hydropathic establishments. It is not the province of this
work to either criticise or advocate this extraordinary innovation in the domain of Medicine. We simply desire to
point out the virtues that water possesses, of soothing an
excited state of the nervous system or of the circulatory
apparatus. In some cases, cold, and in other cases, tepid or
warm water may be most suitable to the condition of the
system. All surgeons admit, and have had abundant evidence of, the therapeutic virtues of cold water in cases of
injuries. The continued application of cold-water compresses, not only mitigates the pain, but moderates and
may even keep off inflammation; it prevents extensive
sloughing, subdues hsemorrhage, and favors the healing of
the wound.




SEDATIVES.                    229
In fever, frequent sponging with cold or tepid water, according to the patient's own inclination, affords a most exquisite feeling of relief. What physician would refuse a
refreshing draught of cold water to a poor fever-patient who
is burning up with heat, and whose parched tongue sticks
to the roof of the mouth for want of a drop of cooling moisture? There was a time when the rules of Art required a
physician to suffer the patient to die rather than to allow
the smallest quantity of cold water. Heating beverages in
abundance; but cold water from Nature's own pure fountain? not a drop; perish the bold innovator who should
dare to pit Nature against human Art.
In the treatment of chronic phlegmasise, with predominance of an arthritic or rheumatic type, numbers of
homoeopathic practitioners resort to the application of coldwater bandages to the affected part. In sore throat, in
chronic irritation of the bowels characterized by a sensation
of heat in the abdomen, fullness and distention, urging to
stool, occasional or habitual discharges of mucus from the
rectum;
In chronic irritation of abdominal organs generally, with
heat and soreness, aching and pressing pains, unpleasant
sensations of fullness and weight;
In chronic constipation; in irritation of the spinal marrow, with soreness, burning and stinging pains in the
region of the spine, lameness and weakness of the back,
sensitiveness of the vertebral column to pressure or even
contact; in chronic inflammation of joints in persons
afflicted with the rheumatic or arthritic diathesis: the
persistent use of cold-water bandages to the seat of the
irritation is very frequently attended with great benefit to
the sufferer.
A cup of tea, may act as a sedative. Although tea is a
common beverage, yet it has a marked action upon the
nervous system. It causes a sensation of increased mobility
of the nerves, a feeling of restlessness in the brain, attended
with some nausea, lassitude and a want of steadiness in the




230     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
joints and firmness of the muscles.  Excessive physical
exertion, watching, more particularly when accompanied by
exhausting mental labor, may give rise to this group of
symptoms. A cup of black tea, of moderate strength,
diluted with a suitable quantity of cream and sweetened
with sugar, or, if more in harmony with a person's taste,
without any of these ingredients, will be found endowed
with admirable soothing qualities in this condition of the
system. If we should feel disposed, with Broussais and his
followers, to regard this condition as a state of irritation,
we might say that tea relieves it by substituting its own
artificially-excited irritation in the place of the former.
Among these physiologico-therapeutic sedatives, Coffee
occupies a prominent rank. Coffee causes a sensation of
stimulation, an increased feeling of warmth with some traces
of vascular excitement, restlessness, a sensation of wakefulness in the brain, a feeling of trepidation in the muscular
structure, which, in violent cases, may amount to a spasmodic twitching; these symptoms may be complicated with
a feeling of oppression on the chest, palpitation of the heart,
anxiety. If such a group of phenomena should occur as
the result of some suddenly-operating cause, a violent
emotion, an unforeseen excitement: a little black coffee
sweetened with sugar may be of great benefit to the person
thus disturbed.
We have known a few dessertspoonfuls of black coffee
quiet spasmodic twitchings of the extremities, with involuntary weeping and sobbing, resulting from an operation for
cataract.
Wakefulness from excessive nervous excitement, may yield
to coffee.
In all these and similar cases it is evident that the physiological harmony of the organism is restored by virtue of
the perfect agreement existing between the natural and the
artificial irritation of the brain and nervous system. Account for this process of restoration as you please, upon the
principle of substitution, [for this doctrine will do as well as




COUNTER-STIMULANTS.                  231
any other]: what is undeniable in all such processes of cure,
is the existence of an agreement, a relation of attractive
affinity, or, as Hahnemann has termed it, of homceopathicity
between the two conditions.
" Counter-stmulation, is another term for sedative depression. Any remedial agent may be regarded as a counterstimulant that is endowed with some specific power' to reduce
inflammatory action. Digitalis and Tartar-emetic are the
two leading counter-stimulants in the system invented by
Rasori. The former counter-stimulates the excessive action
of the heart, and the latter is especially commissioned to
counter-stimulate inflammatory action in pneumonia and
rheumatism.
The doctrine of counter-stimulation rests upon an essentially wrong perception. Inflammatory action is not a state
of stimulation; on the contrary, it is a state of depression of
the vital force. We might as well regard an earthquake, a
volcanic eruption or a hurricane a stimulation of the physical
forces of the globe. If the regulating Principle of these
forces had not been impaired or embarrassed for the time
being, these violent explosions of inferior currents would
not have occurred. Would you call the phenomena of a
drunkard's rage a state of stimulation? Does not this rage
demonstrate the actual weakness of the moral energy which
in a healthy condition of the organism, would have prevented
such violent exhibitions of disordered cerebral action?
If the vital force had not been embarrased in its action as
a regulator of the physiological movements of the organism,
would such dangerous engorgements of the pulmonary vessels have been permitted to take place? Such doctrines
prove the astonishing superficiality of medical philosophers
who measure pathological phenomena by what they appear
to the sensual eye, instead of looking at them with the eye
of an enlightened medical intelligence. So far from counterstimulating the heart's action or the pulmonic circulation, we
have, on the contrary, to apply means to relieve them of the




232     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
depressing influences by which they are held bound. Tartaremetic and Digitalis may accomplish this purpose in some
cases; but there are other agents that will do this still more
effectually. Aconite, Squills, and other drugs may have to
be used for such a purpose. According to the doctrine of
substitution, we have to set up an artificial irritation in the
affected tissue, with which the natural disease may become
identified in such a manner, that the artificial disease will
take the place of the former, extinguish it as it were, and
then yield up its own claims to the newly-kindled vital
reaction.
From whatever side we look at the doctrines of our OldSchool brethren; if we look at them rationally, with the
eyes of medical philosophers, we are irresistibly driven into
the very vortex of Homceopathy. How can we substitute
the Tartar-emetic irritation for a-natural inflammation, unless
we are acquainted with the exact form and nature of the
irritation which Tartar-emetic is capable of exciting in the
pulmonary tissue?  This knowledge can only be obtained
by careful experimentations upon healthy living organisms.
From what we know of the action of Tartar-emetic upon
sound lungs, we have a right to conclude that there are few
cases of pneumonia, with which it is in exact therapeutic
adaptation; that the Tartar-emetic pneumonia is most probably governed by a peculiar medical constitution of the
atmosphere, and may occur as a miasmatic disease rather
than as a mere accidental disturbance of the physiological
equilibrium.  Professor Trousseau speaks of a particular
type of pneumonia, where the antimonial preparations acted
with remarkable success, and which was characterised by
marked symptoms of gastric irritation, diarrhcea, vomiting.
The presence of such symptoms would undoubtedly complete
the Tartar-emetic group.
These remarks apply with equal force to the use of Digitalis, Aconite, Squills and all the other so-called counter-'
stimulants of the Italian School. In all cases the successful
treatment of diseases, so far as the physician is concerned,




ANTI-SPASMODICS.                  233
depends upon, first, an exact knowledge of the nature of the
natural morbid process; secondly, upon a correct knowledge
of the nature of the morbid processes which the various
drugs are capable of exciting in the tissues; and thirdly,
upon a correct solution of the question: Which among
these artificial morbid processes holds curative relations to
the existing disease?
We have shown again and again that these curative
relations are determined by a perfect agreement between the
two factors concerned in the therapeutic process, or, in other
words, by the absolute adaptability of the natural to the
artificial disease.
Our principle of cure is broad enough to cover the whole
range of indications for which Old-School practitioners
employ their Anti-pascamodic,. Here again, both homceopathic and allopathic practitioners use the same means of
arresting a purely nervous spasm not depending upon
alteration of tissue or functional disotier of some important
viscus. The momentary inhalation of a little ether may
dispel an hysteric swoon. It would be absurd to resort to
systematic medication by therapeutic means, in order to
arrest an evanescent and superficial irregularity of the
nervous currents, which may be remedied by sprinkling a
little cold water upon the person's face or chest.
In spasms accompanied by alteration of tissue, or symptomatic of some serious visceral irritation, homceopathic
practitioners follow the same principles of homceopathic
adaptation which guide them in the treatment of all other
diseases. The question to be solved is: What drug can be
offered as a substitute for the natural irritation?  What
substitute will this natural morbid process accept in perfect
freedom?
Homceopathic practitioners are physicians. If a spasm
or convulsion is symptomatic of an acute pulmonary or
cerebral disease, they apply remedies that act specifically
upon this disease; with the disappearance of this cause, the




234     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
symptom will likewise cease. In meningitis the remedies
for meningitis are applied as indicated by the peculiar
symptomatic form of the disease; in pneumonia, we resort
to the means required by the special form of this disorder:
Belladonna, Hyoscyamus or some other drug in the one;
Aconite, perhaps Belladonna, in the other case.
In hysteria, Valeriana, Asa fetida, etc., are not given
indiscriminately. The character of the spasms, their origin
and form, their specific relation to the brain and genitourinary system,. and the peculiar modifications excited by
the spasm in the circulatory apparatus, are carefully inquired
into; the co-existing gastric disturbances, if any are present,
are likewise observed with scrupulous care, and a remedy is
applied of whose correspondence with the existing group
of symptoms a previously instituted full experimentation
upon persons in health has given satisfactory evidence.
Epilepsy, the various forms of chorea, tetanus, are treated
in a similar manner.
In tetanus Homceopathy claims a decided triumph in the
successful manner with which this frightful disease is met
by Strychnine. It is well known that Strychnine affects
the spinal centres similarly to the manner in which they
are affected in tetanus. The symptomatic manifestations
correspond so perfectly in some of these cases that a case
of poisoning by Strychnine might very frequently be confounded with an attack of tetanus.  "SIMILIA SIMILIBUS,"
or, as Professor Trousseau would have it, "SUBSTITUENDA
SUBSTITUENDIS," is the formula of cure which governs the
use of drugs in all such cases of irritation, from the slightest
abnormal mobility of the nervous system, from the slightest
rise of vertigo, from the slightest blush of a rush of blood,
or from the slightest tremor or fluttering of the heart, to
the most frightful paroxysm of tetanic convulsions.
And this same law likewise governs the use of antiphlogistics in cases of inflammation. With the bickerings of a
few narrow-minded practitioners of the HIomceopathic School




ANTI-PHLOGISTI CS.                 235
who would fain excommunicate a man because he may deem
it necessary, once in a life-time, to apply a few leeches, or
cups, or even to draw a few ounces of blood from a vein,
we have nothing to do. There is not a lHomceopathic physician living who is not prepared to assert that, when Hahnemann proposed the Aconitum Napellus as a specific remedy
for all ordinary acute inflammations, the death-knell of the
lancet had sounded forever. There are Homoeopathic practitioners of acknowledged ability, of, decided intelligence
and large experience, who advocate the necessity of a sort
of mechanical emptying of the vessels in cases of plethora
where the homceopathic specific agent is prevented from
acting, on account of the over-distention of the vessels.
This may be an unfounded theory; but it is a small matter
at best, which does not by any means interfere with the
fundamental principles of our Art. We know that capillary engorgements are the primary seat or starting point
of inflammations, and that this pathological condition is
met perfectly by the Aconitum napellus. This agent restores the irritability of the capillary tissue; the engorgements are dispersed and a blow is given to the inflammatory
process which most generally results in a cure.
Why is it that the Aconite-root has this extraordinary
power? It is because of the faculty inherent in this agent,
to affect the capillary tissue in the same manner that we
know it to be affected in inflammation. In inflammation,
the vital properties of this tissue: irritability and contractility, are impaired; and when this tissue is acted upon by
Aconite, the same effect is manifested. Hence, in accordance with the principle of substitution now universally
recognized by all intelligent allopathic physicians, the artificial irritation, induced by Aconite, has power to supersede
the morbid inflammatory process whose essential locality is
the capillary system,
Upon the same principle Aconite will manifest curative
effects in all acute and even chronic affections which can be
directly traced to capillary torpor, a deficiency of the vital




236     OLD-SCHOOL THERAPEUTICS CONTRASTED.
properties of irritability and contractility. Acute congestions, apoplexy, plethoric conditions of various organs, of
the brain, heart, lungs, bowels, womb, etc., may be favorably acted upon by Aconite.
Moreover let us remember that capillaries are distributed
thiroughout the whole frame, and that capillary engorgements upon which Aconite has a curative influence, may
occur in every part of the living organism. Hence it is
that Aconite manifests such a remarkable specific action in
bilious derangements which are so frequently traceable to
engorgements of the portal capillaries.
Aconite is not the only inflammation-combating agent of
which the homoeopathic Materia Medica can boast. Belladonna is specifically adapted to inflammation, if the capillary engorgement can be traced to a deficient supply of cerebral stimulus.  Bryonia is more particularly adapted to
inflammations of the serous and muscular tissue, if exudation threatens to set in, or is actually present. Phosphorus
is in agreement with pneumonia in the last stage of the
disease, when the parenchyma has become hepatized.
We areh not writing a treatise on Pathology; we have
simply endeavored to expound to our friends as well as to
the inquiring minds of the Old School, the fundamental
principles of our great Science. If we have succeeded in
shedding a single ray of additional light upon the sublime
subject of lIomceopathy; if we have succeeded in convincing the philosophical minds of the Old School that Homceopathy is a Science well worthy of their attention: we
shall deem this result a sweet reward for our labor, and an
encouragement to further efforts in the vinyard of Truth.




FINAL APPEAL.                   237
FINAL APPEAL.
IN concluding this volume, we desire to address a parting
word to the friends of our Cause and more especially to the
physicians who labor for its advancement with honest and
brave hearts. The time has arrived when we should be
prepared to take proper steps towards organizing a comprehensive SYSTEM OF MEANS for the thorough study of a
Science which is undoubtedly destined to elevate future
generations to a higher state of physical, intellectual and
moral culture. Heretofore all the Good that our practitioners have been able to accomplish in behalf of the new
Truth, has chiefly been the result of individual efforts. The
inherent attractiveness of the homceopathic Healing Art,
and the brilliant successes which our statistical records continue to chronicle in public and private practice, are speaking witnesses in favor of our System, leading thousands to
our banner in all the walks of Society from the hut of the
poor to the palaces of crowned heads. It has now become
our duty to endeavor to meet the confidence reposed in us
by a higher preparation for the exercise of our noble Art,
than we have hitherto been able to achieve.
Ours is a high and solemn task. We are not only practitioners, but reformers of the Healing Art.  More than
this. We have enlisted in a Cause which does not profess
to be a Reform of the Past, but a prophetic Announcement
of the Medicine of the Future. In this respect, the promulgation of Homceopathy is distinguished from any previous
innovation of medical theories or practices. Homoeopathy is
not a Reform, but a Discovery.
On this occasion we desire to enter our solemn protest
against the great wrong of confounding Hahnemann with
the common multitude of medical Reformers. Hahnemann
has not reformed any thing. He has laid a foundation,
upon which the Science of Therapeutics will be erected by




238               FINAL APPEAL.
future generations as upon an everlasting rock. Heretofore
her appeals had remained unheeded.  There had been
systems and opinions, but no Science; empiricism  and
routine, but no Art. Hahnemann did not reform existing
abuses; he discovered the Law of Cure as it is written upon
Nature's Eternal Page; he proclaimed the law; he showed
its applicability in all cases, where mechanical or palliative
means are not imperiously demanded by the condition of
the sufferer; he constructed a new Materia Medica, the logical consequence of this law, which will hereafter, like a
heavenly beacon-light, illumine the dark ocean of Therapeutics and enable the skillful navigator to pilot his frail and
storm-tossed bark into the haven of Rescue, where he may
deposit his precious freight upon the sunny beach of
Recovery.
Friends, we desire to impress upon your minds the sub.
lime grandeur of our position. We are no tame reformers.
We are laborers in a new vinyard, ploughing a new field,
sowing a new seed and reaping a new harvest. May you
never lose sight of this radical distinction which separates
the philosophical thinkers of our School from the orthodox
followers of our ancient God. May the spirit of the new
medical Gospel descend upon you in all its unfading beauty
and regenerating power. May you be blessed with a full
perception of the great Truth that a new Intelligence has
shone upon the dark page of Medicine, and that Homceopathy is not simply a formula for a different use of drugs,
but a new Philosophy in Medicine, based upon a new order
of Perceptions and Relations and involving the very Principles which not only govern the phenomena of Material
Order,. but determine the physiological harmonies of all
living organisms.
What is this assimilative power which enables a living
tissue to appropriate unto itself elementary principles
analogous to its nature, and necessary to its preservation
and development? What is this faculty inherent in every
organ, to discriminate between its own necessities and those




FINAL APPEAL.                   239
of its neighbor?  Why does not the liver secrete the
gastric fluid, or the stomach bile? What is this marvellous
and mysterious power of adaptation which permits an acrid
poison, like the bile, to be kept in a delicate pouch without
irritating its tissue? Or why is it that the gastric fluid,
which will dissolve the most solid food, will not harm the
membrane that secretes it?
What an instructive lesson we are taught by these beautiful phenomena of physiological adaptation and use! Why
should our allopathic brother feel offended, when we tell
him that he has never understood this lesson of elective
Attraction and Affinity?  It is even so. The great Law
which governs the harmonies of physical Creation; which
determines the sublimest manifestations of man's spiritual
nature: love, frendship, patriotism, devotion; which causes
every mind to gravitate towards, and delight in, kindred
objects of thought and practical use; this great law of
Attraction, Election, Affinity, constitutes the God-created
basis of Nature's Science of Therapeutics.
Behold the great Truth which Eahnemann has proclaimed
to his Age! As aliments correspond with the forces of life,
so do drugs correspond with the death-harboring forces of
disease. And as the forces of life will only assimilate that
which is homogenous with their nature, so will the forces of
disease only incline to elementary principles which are
analogous to their own essence. Is the promulgation of
this Truth a mere Reform, or is it a Doctrine, a new Gospel
of Redemption from disease?  Under the old law drugs
were made to harmonise with the forces of life; the forces
of disease were ignored. Under that law, Compulsion is the
watchword. If the liver is torpid, it must be whipt up by a
large dose of Calomel; if a patient spends sleepless nights,
he must be made to sleep by a powerful narcotic.
What is the method under the new law? If the liver is
torpid, do we resort to compulsory means in order to overcome its sluggishness? Guided by the new light, we know
that it is not the physiological life of the organ that is at




240               FINAL  APPEAL.
fault; but that this life is prevented, by the interference of
hostile principles or forces, from manifesting its harmonious
evolutions. It is with these hostile forces that we deal; it
is these hostile forces which we seek to overcome, not by
compulsory, but by attractive means. We act upon them by
means of agents, to which they can incline in perfect freedom; with which they can assimilate as with their own kindred; yea, with which they are irresistibly moved to assimilate, in obedience to the great law: that elementary principles will form new unions when brought under the influence
of more powerful, more specific affinities.
We ask you again: Will you be content with being
classed among stale Reformers in the presence of the glorious results which the new law is working out for suffering
man? In the name of Justice, Common Sense and Humanity, what is it that Hlahnemann has reformed? If, under
the old law, a sluggish stomach, slow to digest or unwilling
to assimilate its normal proportion of food, is inundated
with a flood of emetics, stimulants, tonics; and if, under the
new law, these scenes of violence are superseded by the administration of a remedial agent which is accepted by the
morbific element without opposition, in obedience to an irresistible ATTRACTION OF AFFINITY between this element and
the remedial force; are this gentle hushing of disease, this
apparently spontaneous deliverance of the afflicted tissues,
this tender regard for their physiological unity, a mere reform of the rude violation of life which the old law inflicts
upon the offending organ?
We ask again: Are they a mere reform, or do they constitute features of a new doctrine integrally and radically
opposed to the medical doctrines of the Past in principle as
well as in practice?  Why then should we be called Reformers when we are apostles of a new and hitherto unheardof Truth?
If existing abuses disappear before the law of therapeutic
Affinities, it is not because our efforts are directed against
these abuses; it is because this Evil, like all others, obeys




FINAL APPEAL.                   241
the universal law of submission to its opposite Good. The
nauseous compounds of the old law become obsolete absurdities in the presence of the gentle, but magic powers of the
new Truth; if the sick organism is spared the tortures
which the cruel mockery of the old law had devised for its
relief, this deliverance is not so much effected by an inflexible logic as by the simple presence of a positive Good which
causes its opposing Evil to flee henceforth and forever into
the abyss of Oblivion.
Should we not, as men who are animated by the same
high sense of duty that inspires every honest-hearted missionary of a heaven-born Truth, endeavor to send forth upon
the world's stage a band of young champions amply fitted
by a most thorough acquisition of the material sciences, and
by a generous and expansive comprehension of our doctrines,
to do battle for this great Cause? On this subject we desire
to communicate the outlines of a System of Studies which,
if carried out with the energy and honesty of purpose that
the greatness of the subject demands, will elevate the character of our School, in the course of time, far above the
common standard of medical Institutions.
The insufficiency of our present system of medical education is a great obstacle to the ultimate triumph of lomoeopathy. No young gentleman, even of the most transcendent
talent, can study Medicine by attending two courses of lectures. Hiomoeopathic physicians, instead of being superior
to their allopathic brethren in all the collateral Sciences oI
Medicine, have actually been suspected of neglecting these
as irrelevant to the practice of their Art. It would be unwise to assert that the Homceopathic School has not been
guilty, in the beginning of its career, of neglect towards
these collateral branches of Medicine. This neglect, however, was an involuntary, and, we may say, inevitable con.
sequence of the manner in which Homoeopathy was first announced to the world.
16




242              FINAL, APPEAL.
Hahnemann's denunciation of pathological systems, has
been misinterpreted as an actual repudiation of every
attempt to establish the Science of Pathology upon a
basis of Truth. The symptoms of a disease were supposed
to constitute the only indication and the only object of
cure. Although it is undeniable that, without a careful
observation of the symptoms, the selection of the specific
remedial agent is impossible; yet, on the other hand, it
is likewise undeniable that this selection, if made to depend
upon the literal and numerical comparison of symptoms,
may be made, in a large number of cases, by persons who
have little or no knowledge of Pathology. Hence, the
study of Pathology was neglected by the original followers
of Hahnemann.
Surgery was likewise neglected in the beginning of our
Art. Hahnemann taught that many malformations, and
even functional disorders, which had hitherto been treated
by surgical means, might be removed by antipsoric treatment. We have indeed saved hundreds of limbs which
allopathic surgeons would have been obliged to amputate.
What homoeopathic physician would think of exsecting
a portion of the nerve for the purpose of curing a purely
functional neuralgia?  It is related by Dr. Mott, that
several English surgeons of eminence once treated a case
of neuralgia of the tibial nerve by amputating the leg.
The pain ascending above the knee, the thigh was amputated, and finally, when the pain approached the hip-joint,
amputation at this joint was not only proposed, but actually
carried out. The patient was an interesting girl of eighteen,
and soon perished in consequence of this horrid butchery.
A jury of enlightened and humane physicians would have
consigned the perpetrators of such atrocities to the State
Prison.
Nevertheless, although surgical operations become far
less frequent under homoeopathic treatment, homceopathic
physicians may be called upon to perform the most formidable operations in Surgery. We may have to extirpate




FINAL APPEAL.                   243
tumors, amputate limbs, exsect bones, ligate arteries in the
case of aneurisms. Not to mention the beautiful and truly
restorative operations of rhinoplastic and orthopedic Surgery, which require not only anatomical and physiological
knowledge, but an amount of manual dexterity that can
only be acquired by persevering practice and study.
An important reason why the collateral Sciences have
been neglected, is the vast amount of labor that had to
be bestowed upon the perfecting of our System of Treatment.
We had not only to build up our Materia Medica, but a
corresponding System of Practice, and the united endeavors
of the scattered disciples of Homoeopathy seemed hardly
sufficient to achieve this great work.
But the aspect of things has changed. llomceopathic
physicians have discovered that they cannot isolate their
System from the achievements of their allopathic brethren,
and that, so far from being in opposition to any of the
collateral Sciences of Medicine, it is, on the contrary, a
therapeutic edifice, in the construction and development
of which they are all deeply interested;.
lHahnemann's Materia Medica is simply a collection of
provings, detached symptoms of drug-action whose bearing
upon corresponding pathological conditions has to be determined by investigations of a new order. What is a system
of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, or rather, what should
it be?  After studying his Materia Medica, the student
expects to know what remedies will lead to a cure in a
given case, and why and how these remedies will cure certain diseases more directly than any other remedial agents
can do. A system of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, if
philosophically and comprehensively constructed, is an
Organon or organic text-book of the Healing Art.
We may be permitted to ask the question: What is the
natural order of studies which will enable a young practitioner to successfully treat a case of pneumonia?  An
answer to this question will afford us an opportunity of
giving the outlines of what we consider a course of medical




244               FINAL APPEAL.
instruction befitting the dignity, comprehensive vastness
and practical importance of the Science of HIomceopathy.
In order to fit himself for the management of a case of
pneumonia, the student has, first, to acquire a knowledge of
the anatomical structure of the lungs; secondly, a knowledge
of its physiological functions; thirdly, he is made acquainted
with the nature, cause, course, and natural terminations of inflammation generally, and of inflammation of the lungs in
particular, and lastly, with the therapeutic and physiological
means of restoring the diseased organ to its normal condition. These four points naturally determine the creation of
four chairs in a Medical School, the chairs of Anatomy, of
Physiology, of Pathology and Pathological Anatomy, and
lastly of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. The business
of the chair of Pathology is logically confined to an elucidation of the origin, course, natural terminations, and pathological alterations of diseases both before and after death,
which may be demonstrated upon the cadaver as well as by
specimens made of wax or papier mache. The Theory and
Practice which is appended to the chair of Pathology in
most Medical Schools, should constitute a special department,
the chair of Clinical Medicine. For the purposes of this chair,
Cliniques and Hospitals are indispensable adjuncts to every
Medical University. Students of Medicine are not in a condition to profitably attend instructive clinical lectures until
they have obtained a satisfactory knowledge in the other
four chairs. It is the business of the Clinical Professor to
acquaint students with the details of the sick-chamber in so
far as they refer to the management of a case; with the
proper conduct to be observed towards the patient and his
attendants; with the method of establishing a correct diagnosis, of selecting the suitable remedy and adapting the dose
to the nature of the malady and to the susceptibility of the
patient's constitution; the Clinical Professor shows upon
what facts the practitioner has to depend for his prognosis;
~e teaches the method of watching the action of drugs in,:




FINAL  APPEAL.                   245
given case, of determining the character of the changes which
may take place in the symptoms, of discriminating between
the natural developments of the disease and the modifications
superinduced by remedial influences; in one word, the
Clinical Professor applies the teachings of the lecture-room
and thus completes the therapeutic edifice.
It is evident that in regard to Obstetrics and Surgery the
same order of studies should be instituted; first, anatomical
structure; secondly, physiological functions; thirdly, abnormal changes; fourthly, therapeutic agents, and lastly, clinical medicine.
Do' not these varied requirements imply an orderly arrangement and a progressive succession of studies? Now
look at our Colleges, and what meets your eye but confusion and chaos? The student has to be hurried in two
sessions through a mass of scientific matter Which it seems
almost impossible for the brightest intellect to encompass
in so short a space of time. The consequence is that our
Mott's and Pancoast's have to go to European Universities
in order to complete their education. Not because our
students are deficient in natural capacity. We can boast of
names that rank as high in the medical Profession as any
names living or dead. All we want is opportunity; give
us opportunity, and we will furnish you the men; from our
Colleges men may go forth which posterity will honor as
the standard-bearers of Medical Truth. In order to accomplish these results, we want a higher, a more comprehensive, more logical, more natural organization. Not two,
but four Sessions seem naturally indicated by the mass and
orderly arrangement of matter, a full knowledge of which
is indispensable to every well educated physician.
During the first Session, the student should confine himself to the study of elements, the elements of Botany,
Natural Philosophy, Inorganic Chemistry and Toxicology,
and the anatomy of the bones, muscles and ligaments. The
study of French and German should likewise be pursued.
During the second Session, these studies are continued




246               FINAL APPEAL.
upon a higher plane; in Anatomy, for instance we add the
anatomy of the viscera, lymphatics, blood-vessels and nerves;
the rudiments of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, the elements of Pathology, Surgery, such as the reduction of dislocations and fractures, the application of bandages, etc.,
may be taught; the anatomy of the pelvis, the mechanism
of labor and the simple operations in Midwifery, such as
turning and the application of the forceps, may likewise be
explained.  The study of French and German is to be
continued. 
In the third Session we go into Organic Chemistry, General and Special Pathology and Morbid Anatomy, Physiology,
Special and Microscopic Anatomy, Surgical Anatomy, Operative Surgery of the highest grade, the higher departments
of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Proving of drugs, Diet
and Hygiene, Physiology of Utero-gestation, etc.
And in the fourth Session we add Comparative Anatomy,
Rhinoplastic and Orthopedic Surgery, Analytical Chemistry,
Comparative Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Clinical Medicine, and Practical Midwifery, Medical Ethics and Jurisprudence, Critical History of Medicine, the Philosophy of
HIomoeopathy, Universal Synthesis of the Medical Sciences.
It will be seen that, according to this plan, the students
would be arranged in four Classes, which might be respectively designated as the Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior and
Senior Class. No student should be graduated from a lower
into a higher class without previously passing a rigid examination in presence of the Faculty. If the Sessions were
extended to six months, four or five lectures a day would be
amply sufficient for a complete course, thus leaving the student abundant time for exercise, private reading, dissections.
The only obstacle to the realization of this plan may
seem the additional expense involved in a protracted course
of studies. Let us inquire. The expense for two full courses
of lectures at most colleges, including board, is about $500.
If our plan were carried out, the expense would not be much
greater. The Freshmen might pay $30 for the course, the




FINAL APPEAL.                   247
Sophomore $40, the Junior $50 and the Senior $60; this
would make $180 for the four Sessions. By some suitable
arrangement, board might be reduced to $3 per week, which,
in the course of four Sessions, would amount to $312. In
this way the whole expense would be about $500, as it is at
present. Thus, for the same amount of money, a young
gentleman would be able to acquire a medical education such*
as no Medical School on this continent is now able to offer;
a diploma from such a College would be a title to respect;
its graduates would have access to professional positions in
the Army and Navy, and the opponents of Homoeopathy
would be compelled to conclude, that gentlemen of such undeniable attainments in the collateral branches of Medicine
cannot possibly adopt a System of Therapeutics, which is
not in accord with the dictates of Reason and the laws of
Nature. / We are aware that the innovation which is here
proposed, is as radical and vast as it seems to us called for
by the exigencies of the times and the urgent wants of the
Profession; but what a triumph, if a homoeopathic Institution which is regarded with supercilious contempt by the
Oligarchy of allopathic Therapeutics, were to initiate a Reform that would tend to elevate the intellectual and moral
standing of the whole Medical Profession I The object is
worthy of our noblest efforts; let none of us be found
wanting.
We could easily show that the whole homceopathic Profession, and indeed all warm and honest friends of our Cause
might be induced to take an active interest in such an undertaking. The capital required to carry it out, might be
represented by shares of stock bearing interest, and the
amount of the shares be fixed at such a low figure that
even those whose means are limited, might be enabled to
invest a small amount in a Cause which, if representing the
great Principles which its advocates contend it does represent, is not only worthy of support, but if supported unitedly,
energetically and wisely, must eventually triumph over all




248              FINAL APPEAL.
opposition. There can be no doubt that, if a living income
could be secured to the teachers, the ablest men in the Profession would come forward to take their seats in the Board
of Professors, and to work with cheerful hearts and minds
for an Institution in whose success the hopes and wishes of
so many friends are centred. In such a School, representative of the united wisdom and highest endeavour of our
Brotherhood, we should be personally disposed to take an
active and abiding interest.