Homœopathy: Past and Present.

Nothing particular happened in 1755 when young Hahnemann was born. The earth did not commence to revolve on a pin instead of its own axis; nor is it recorded, that the human race forgot to dine in recognition of the birth of the infinitesimal, and the high dynamization of the meat in a hot summer. He was as much trouble as other babies; a microscopic scrap of dead baby skin did not clothe him, neither did a crumb feed him.

To few men is genius given. Some shine in their youth, and vanish like a snuffed-out candle; others, dull at first, burst forth in light when past their youth. But true genius shines ever as in Hahnemann; quacking the Baron before he knew aught of

¹ This account is taken from the Popular Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Lancet and other reliable sources.

² Pope on Criticism.

page 6 medicine, and quacking the world when he had failed in medicine. His genius now inspired him with the idea of a quack medicine, which he happily called "Pnœum" (I suppose from the "breath of life,") This account is taken from the Popular Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Lancet and other reliable sources. which he sold at an "enormously high price," and the sale of which he carried on for some time with considerable profit. Why do Fate and the analytical chemist oppose and expose genius? After he had made a little fortune out of "Pnœum," some horrid man of the 'old school 'showed that the "Breath of Life" was only Borax; and the fraud, being exposed, ceased to pay.

"But, Doctor, I suppose dear Mr. Hahnemann discovered Borax? He was such a clever man!"

Madame, I am sorry to say he did not; Borax was introduced into medical practice by the Arabians, used by the Hindoo physicians, and mentioned by Paulus Ægineta, an ignorant fellow of the 'old school, 'who lived in the 6th century.

Genius, however, is not thus abashed. Borax, though cheap, still cost something; what if the substance sold could be bought yet cheaper? 'He determined to treat his patients in future without any medicaments whatever, except perhaps a little powdered sugar; even the sugar was given merely for the purpose of keeping up in the patient's mind the firm belief that each powder contained a particular dose of some medicine.'¹

But selling powdered sugar fraudulently as medicine, even at a high price, appears to have been soon discountenanced; and, moreover, sugar cost money: how then shall we estimate the height of a genius, which enabled him to sell water and foul air at famine prices, and in such a manner that the sale was not permanently stopped, as was that of the "Breath of Life;" but enriched him, raised him to the proud position of sole inventor and manufacturer of that" well-known and recognized science"² Homœopathy or Hahnemannism; and also enabled himself, as well as persons in future generations, to sell water at £25 a gallon—a smell of a phial at a price, and Homœopathic physicians to get paid for recommending it. Surely this was a great man! certainly he was a genius!!

In fact, after various vicissitudes of fortune in the above- mentioned frauds, in 1810³ he brought out his book entitled "The Organon of Rational Medicine." The Government found it desirable to protect the public, and, in 1820, prohibited him from dispensing medicines; and thereby, from his inability to have them prepared by druggists, obliged him to give up his practice.⁴

There his pretensions received support; and in 1835, when 80 years old, he was authorized to practice Homœopathy, and died eight years afterwards. He was a person of great purity of morals, and, at the age of 78, married a young French girl for his second wife.

Such was the education, such the course of study, such the quacking tendencies, the high morality, and the life of this "Prodigy of Philosophy and Learning."

Now this is true Homœopathy, for it is that of Hahnemann." The Heaven-inspired Apostle of Homœopathy," having spent much of his life in the libraries of his patrons, and in translating books for a living, was well read. Thus, he was acquainted with the works of Hippocrates, who wrote 2,300 years ago, for he quotes the following passage, incorrectly,² and in Greek only, which few of his readers could understand:—"By likes disease is produced, and by the application of likes patients are cured of their ailments; as by vomiting, vomiting ceases." Hahnemann, however, neglects to quote the following from the same section:"Give the patient," suffering from suicidal mania,"a draught made from the root of the mandrake,³ in a smaller dose than will induce mania." 'Hippocrates then insists in strong terms, that, under certain circumstances, medicines will have a different action from that which is common to them; and he further makes the important remark that, although the general rule of treatment be "Contraria contrariis curantur," the opposite rule also holds good in some cases, namely," Similia similibus curantur." It thus appears that the principles of Allopathy and Homœopathy were recognized by the author of this treatise.'⁴

Neither does Hahnemann deign to take notice of Aretaeus,⁵ who recommends "For the callous protuberances of the face, the ashes of vine branches, mixed up with the suet of some wild animal, or of the Barnacle goose: for like in the unlike, as the ape to man, is most excellent." Thus, as wine produced these protuberances, the vine was the cure: or, as the vinous face had projections, so had the vine and the goose; while the wild passions induced by wine were simulated by the wild animal; and thus, occasionally, Likes cure likes.

It was, however, unkind of so learned, honourable, and well- read a man, not to give credit to Dioscorides, who lived in the first century, and, on a truly Homœopathic principle, recommends bugs as an antidote to the bite of the asp; while others write that, when drunk with vinegar, they eject leeches.¹

Now these are the strengths of the Homœopathic medicines:—¹⁰

"For the information of your correspondent signing himself 'Caution, 'I am pleased to be in the position to state that there has been no change in 'Homœopathic Pharmacy.'"¹ In fact, an alibi in medicine, ´ la Mr. Weller, Senior, is "the best dose, and one most generally used" now in 1878.

Now, if every human being on the face of the earth took a "best dose" of Homœopathic medicine every second for 100 years; and if there were a million creatures of the animal world to each human being, each of which similarly wasted a similar term in a similar occupation, it would require 210,000 centuries of years for these people and animals collectively to consume one single half-grain of the medicine, say charcoal, common sulphur, or table salt,² the whole of which will lie on the extreme point of a penknife. The price the 'Homœopathic chemists 'would charge for this single half grain of common salt, &c., would, at their present rates, amount to a trifle of about 250 billion tons more than 3,875 trillions of tons of golden sovereigns. No wonder they say," we should as soon think of entering into a controversy on the merits of small doses as we should over the laws of gravitation."³

The late Sir James Simpson,⁴ showed that if one entire grain of medicine (say of common table salt) were thus diluted, the quantity of fluid required would form an ocean 140,000,000,000,000 (one hundred and forty billion) times as large as our whole planetary system: or if a solid substance were used, so that a single globule might contain a⁵ part of a grain of the remedy, the original matter thus diluted with inert matter would be equal in weight to 140 billion round masses extending from limit to limit of Neptune's orbit; or to many hundred globes each with a radius extending from the earth to the nearest fixed star;⁶ or that one grain of a drug divided into decillionth globules ("the best dose"), and arranged as 20 globules to an inch, would form a continuous line of such a length that light, which travels at the rate of nearly two hundred thousand miles in a second, or six millions of millions of miles in a year, would require more than 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000⁷ of years to fly along it. Light, which travels the 93,000,000⁸ of

¹ Letter in Argus, 17th April. 1878.

² All Homœopathic drugs.

³ Letter in the Argus, 20th April, 1878.

⁴ The Lancet.

⁵ One decillionth.

⁶ The Encyclopœdia Britannica.

⁷ One hundred thousand sextillions.

⁸ Ninety-three millions.

page 12 miles between us and the sun in little more than 8 minutes, and which can encompass this globe in the eighth part of a second, would require this inconceivably, incomprehensibly long space of time to travel the length of this line of globules, which altogether contain but one single grain of the drug.

"The dose of a Homœopathic remedy can scarcely be made so small that it shall not be able to relieve, overpower, indeed completely cure and annihilate the pure natural disease."¹

"The smallest dose of tincture of sulphur of the decillionth dilution can seldom be repeated with advantage even in robust patients oftener than every 7 days.""Sulphur of the decillionth dilution can rarely be taken or smelt at shorter intervals than every fourteen or fifteen days."

"The diminution of the dose essential for Homœopathic use will also be promoted by diminishing its volume, so that if instead of a drop of a medicinal dilution we take but quite a small part of such a drop for a dose . . . . For this purpose it is most convenient to employ fine sugar globules of the size of poppy seeds, one of which, imbibed with the medicine and put into water,² constitutes a medicinal dose, which contains about the three hundredth part of a drop, for 300 such small globules will be adequately moistened by one drop of spirits of wine.³ The dose is vastly diminished by laying one such globule alone upon the tongue, and giving nothing to drink."

"It is especially in the form of vapour, by smelling and inhaling the air⁴ that is always emanating from a globule impregnated with a medicinal fluid in a high development of power, and placed dry in a small phial, that the Homœopathic remedies are most surely and most powerfully exerted. The Homœopathic physician allows the patient to hold the open mouth of the phial first in one nostril, and, in the act of inspiration, inhale the air out of it; and then, if it is wished to give a stronger dose, smell in the same manner with the other nostril more or less strongly, according to the strength it is intended the dose should be; he then corks up the phial and places it in his pocket-case to prevent any misuse of it, and unless he wish it he has no occasion for an Apothecarys assistance in his practice.⁵ A globule, of which 10, 20, or 100 weigh a grain, impregnated with the thirtieth shaken up⁶ dilution and then dried, retains for this purpose all its powers undiminished for at least 18 or 20 years (my experience extends this length of time), even though the phial be opened a thousand times during that period, if it be protected from heat and the sun's light This is much preferable to every other mode of administering the medicaments in substance by the mouth. All that Homœopathy is at all capable of curing (and what can it not cure beyond the domain of mere manual surgical affections?), among excessively chronic diseases that have not been quite ruined by Allopathy, as also among acute diseases, will be most safely and certainly cured by this mode of sniffing.⁷ I can scarcely name one in a hundred out of the many patients that have sought the advice of myself and my assistant during the past year, whose chronic or acute diseases we have not treated with the most happy results solely by means of this sniffing.⁷ During the latter half of this year, moreover, I have been convinced (of what I never could previously have believed), that, by this mode of sniffing,⁷ the power

¹ "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

² The dispensing vehicle.

³ Alcohol.

⁴ Aura.

⁵ See previous account of his life, on page

⁶ Potentized.

⁷ Olfaction.

page 13 of the medicine is exercised upon the patient in at least the same degree of strength, and that more quietly and yet just as long, as when the dose of medicine is taken by the mouth."¹"A patient even destitute of the sense of smell may expect an equally perfect action and cure from the medicine by sniffing.²"¹"The alteration of the degree of strength,³ by a little, may be effected by shaking the phial in which is the solution of the single globule with five or six smart jerks of the arm before each time of taking it."¹"There are, however, Homœopaths, who carry about with them on their visits to patients the Homœopathic medicine in the fluid state, and who yet assert that they do not become more highly strengthened by shaking⁴ in the course of time; but they merely show their want of ability to observe correctly. I dissolved a grain of soda in an ounce of water mixed with alcohol in a phial, which was thereby filled two-thirds full, and shook this solution continuously for half an hour, and this was in strength and energy equal to the thirtieth development of power."¹

Another Araratic assertion, i.e., the part of a grain produces half as much effect as the part of a grain! What wonderful eyes the man had!

This fellow was not infinitesimal in his assertions.

"By careful observation and experimentation," Hahnemann "had discovered a truth not to be refuted by any experience in the world, that the best dose of the properly-selected remedy is always the smallest one in one of the high strengthenings by shaking¹ ( or the thirtieth dilution) as well for chronic as for acute

Thus, of common salt and charcoal, the dose is the 1 or 2 decillionths of a grain; of camomile, 2 quadrillionths of a grain; of nutmeg, 2 millionths of a grain, &c., &c.; and he goes on to say,"Who can fail to perceive in this instance the infinite superiority of the (Homœopathic) treatment by means of remedies of similar action over the wretched treatment by opposites (contraria contrariis) of the antiquated ordinary school of medicine."²

The Homœopathic imposition was, no doubt, greatly assisted by the use of unintelligible, and, to the lay mind, astounding words to express simple things. Thus, 'To be shaken 10 times before taken, 'is, in Homœopathic Tuttenham 'Dynamize by 10 succussions 'Rub 20 times in a mortar, 'becomes 'Potentize by 20 triturations; "Let him smell the well-shaken, weakest medicine, 'reads 'Administer a single olfaction of the potentized decillionth dilution ., '&c., until we do not wonder that the public is overwhelmed, dazed, and thinks there must be something in it.

Hahnemann was compelled to reduce the dose of his medicines so that they could produce no effect, for, when he gave them in active doses, they increased the disease; as, should opium be given in an effect-producing quantity in a case of apoplexy, the patient would probably never wake again. To continue his theory it was therefore necessary that the dose should be powerless.

In a letter from Dr. Croserio, of Paris, to Dr. V. Bonning-hausen, of Münster (N. Archiv, 1, 2, p. 31), there are a few particulars respecting the practice of Hahnemann up to the period of his decease, of which the writer assures us he was often a witness. After enumerating the infinitesimal doses given, he says,"If he gave a powder to be taken at once in a spoonful of water, that was always only milk-sugar. Even in acute diseases it was rare for him to give more than one spoonful once in the 24 hours. But on the other hand, in order to quiet the patient or his friends, he gave frequent doses of plain milk-sugar. Hahnemann appeared, in the latter years of his practice, to employ his whole dexterity in diminishing the dose more and more. Hence he latterly employed sniffing³ very frequently. In chronic diseases, happen what might, he never allowed this sniffing to be

¹ Dynamizations.

² "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

³ Olfaction.

page 15 repeated oftener than once a week, and he gave, beside, for internal use, nothing but plain milk-sugar; and in this manner he effected the most marvellous cures, even in cases in which the rest of us had been able to do nothing."

It is sad to know that so bold an asserter was only second in the degree of his extravagancies. Hahnemann is nothing to Swift as an imaginative author; for the latter describes a man, who" had been 8 years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in phials, hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw, inclement summers."¹ But, then, Swift lived about a century earlier than Hahnemann, and history relates that it is always the early bird that gets the worm. Yet Swift did not make money, whereas Hahnemann did, 'as he was an honest man.'

Rhases wrote on Professional Impostors.²"The frauds of impostors," he says,"are more numerous than could be contained in this whole work. Some of them pretend to cure epilepsy, and having made a crosscut in the back of the head, they extract from the wound something which they hold in their hands, and thus impose upon people. Others in like manner cause it to be believed that they extract a small lizard from the nostril. Some remove imaginary films from the eye, which they previously introduced. Others create a belief that they suck water from the ear with a reed; others that they extract worms from the ears or teeth. Why should I mention those who introduce pieces of bone into wounds and ulcers, and afterwards extract them? There are others who make a man believe he has swallowed hairs, glass, or the like, and then, tickling his throat with a feather and making him vomit, they exhibit the substance in question as if it had been brought up. There are some who undertake to collect all the infirmities of the body into one spot, and then extract them. Thus," he adds,"they often do much mischief, and sometimes are guilty of culpable homicide."

Thus Hahnemann was not even the first impostor.

"But, doctor, they sometimes perform wonderful cures."

"Not so, madam; but being, by the agency of their touts, often called in to patients who are at the crisis and turn of their complaints, with the false and usual Homœopathic cry of 'given up, 'they receive credit which is not their due. The fever is at its turn; the croupy fit is past; an internal abscess bursts; the natural tendency of all disease towards health, and a little essence of Homœopathic talk—not infinitesimal in quantity or assertion,—suffice to constitute miraculous cures, which an honest man

¹ "Gulliver's Travels:" Jonathan Swift.

² Ad. Mansor vii., 27, Paul. Æg.

page 16 would scorn to claim. Perhaps in no way can a reputation be more easily made than in these said-to-be-despaired-of cases. If they die, 'the Allopaths killed them; 'but should they recover, 'Ego Cæsar." 'Did nature die when Hahnemann was born?

With regard to medicines, this scientific Prince shows himself again a genius, in the form of a master plagiarist: he enumerates¹ about 47 different drugs without acknowledgment of their discoverers; yet of these, nine were written of by Hippocrates 2300 years ago, and the rest by other ancient or previous authors. Having thus taken these drugs, he proceeds to appropriate them as his own: so much so, that, in subsequent Homœopathic books, his name is written after them, in the place that custom gives to the discoverer. Take Aconite as an example, which is written thus:"Aconite (Hahnemann):"² and present Homœopathic physicians and their supporters are in the habit of asserting that Hahnemann discovered Aconite; that it is a purely Homœopathic medicine; and that, if a rational physician order it, he is filching from the Homœopaths. Such a supporter may be surprised to hear that Aconite was known and written off by Hippocrates 2300 years ago; by Dioscorides, Theophrastus, and other later authors, whose works have come down to us. But particularly by Von Storck, who, in 1763,³ published his essay "On the Internal use of Thorn Apple (Stramonium), and Monkshood (Aconite)." Thus the use of the drug lay open to this honest man.

"But," says some charming Homœopathica,"perhaps Hahnemann never heard of your Mr. Von Storck." Oh! yes, my dear madam; for the simple old thief quotes⁴ Baron Von Storck on the use of Stramonium, when it fits in with his Homœopathic ends; but it was not convenient to quote him from the same book about Aconite. Neither, madam, is there, in this respect, so far as I know, one among his disciples more honest than his master.

Neither does Arnica belong to the Homœopaths: it was mentioned by Marcus Herg, introduced into and grown in England by Mr. Miller in 1759, and largely used by Dr. Collen in 1771, and subsequently: Rhus, by Hippocrates: Belladonna⁵ was described by Theophrastus, Galen, Dioscorides, Servitor, &c. Space does not permit the relation of the history of numbers of other drugs popularly supposed to belong to Homœopathy; and, if it did, it would be tedious as a twice-told tale. Aconite has been chosen as an example, simply because it has been most

¹ "The Materia Metlica Pura," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

² "Jahr's Manual of Homœopathy."

³ Hahnemann was born in 1755, and first published on Homœopathy in 1796.

⁴ "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

⁵ Deadly Nightshade.

page 17 filched by the Homœopaths. Hahnemann filched Aconite, just as Acetic Acid has been foisted as a new idea and universal cure upon an ignorant public, when it is written off as a remedy by Pliny, Galen, the Greeks, the Arabians, Dioscorides, and Avicenna; while Celsus, who lived in the 1st century, prescribes "a sponge squeezed out of vinegar¹ as an application to relieve the swelling and heat of the gout, and for other medicinal purposes."²

The poacher then proceeds to remove from his prey the domestic names, as far as possible, and masks them from ordinary recognition under Latin, Greek, or contracted titles. Thus, common table salt becomes "Natrum Muriaticum;" Sulphur,"Hepar Sulph.;" Rhubarb,"Rheum;" Rue,"Ruta;" Cinchona bark,"China;" Elder,"Sambucus Nigra," &c., &c., ad nauseam, till their own mother would not know them.

"Poor Cupid, sobbing, scarce could speak,
Indeed! Mamma, I did not know ye:
Alas! how easy my mistake!
I took ye for your likeness, Chloe."³

Having thus stolen other people's children, and given them new dresses, he gives them a new character, so that each one has many pages of symptoms; and this is the way he went about it."We now find it best to investigate the medicinal powers even of such substances as are considered weak; and the plan we adopt is, to give to the experimenter on an empty stomach, daily, from 4 to 6 small globules of the thirtieth⁴ dilution of such a substance moistened with a little water, and let him continue this for several days."⁵ Having given a globule to the healthy victim, who was not unfrequently a mere paid agent living at a distance⁶," "all the sufferings, accidents, and changes of the health of the experimenter during the action of a medicine are solely derived from this medicine, even though the experimenter had observed a considerable time previously the spontaneous occurrence of similar phenomena in himself." Thus, if the experimenter take common table salt, or charcoal in a dose of such a fraction of a grain as contains 60 "O's," more or less, and presently break his neck or blow his nose, this" accident is solely derived from this medicine." These medicines must therefore be more dangerous than one might think, judging by the amount of "nothing" in them.

The result of this kind of scientific observation is very instructive, not to say amusing, if it were not that the lives of men and

¹ Acetic Acid.

² Dr. Adams in P. Æg.

³ Prior.

⁴ Decillionth.

⁵ "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

⁶ "Jahr's Manual of Homœopathy."

page 18 women are the stakes of this trifling; yet compensation may be found in all things, and it is something to know that, if¹" he does not bear a joke," or is afflicted with "liveliness and activity of mind," angustura bitters are essential. Should he be "discouraged," a little silver² will set him up. If "he imagines he smells a corpse," bark³ happily removes that impression. By the way, bark is a useful drug: it can cure 48 pages of symptoms, similar and dissimilar, it matters little which. Oh! wonderful science, which cures with the same medicine the woman "who smells a corpse" and the man who "builds castles in the air," or who "forms a number of plans which he would like to execute," and is called Homœopathy! In truth a perfect science!! Indeed, a worthy science!!!

Nor does Homœopathy scatter her lively discourse or good advice with niggard hand. She is the handmaid of lovers, and of domestic felicity. Were it not for heaven-inspired Homœopathy, how should we know that we should give them both aconite, when She makes reproaches;" when "he exclaims, that his beloved has this moment sung the difficult passage which he had just executed himself;" when" she has fears and apprehensions, accompanied with entire absence of courage;" (happy thought! go together through a churchyard at 12 p.m. sniffing a globule of the decillionth of aconite); or,"if he have confidence and energy of character, or despair," you still give him Aconite; it's all the same. So, also, if she make" loud moans and lamentations, bitter complaints and reproaches;" have "great anxiety, accompanied with trembling or languor;" if "he has doubts about recovering;" if "she makes moans and lamentations arising from the apprehension of her death being near;" if she should "mention when she is to die;" should she have "fear of men," or "hatred of men," "dread of ghosts;" or should she have "vehemence, headstrongness,⁴ quarrelsomeness, sensitiveness with ill-humour to be offended with the least joke;" if "noise and music" (say a deranged hurdy-gurdy)"are intolerable, and make him feel sad;" if "he is absorbed in thought," or has "silent grief and care:" in fact, whatever is the matter with him, to the extent of similar classic sentences filling 17 pages, what a relief to know that in any case you can cure this quarrelsome couple! Pour in your Aconite; let them together sniff at a globule in a phial, and he and she forgive and forget in the way they 'all do it.'

But should the mood change, and he have "thirst for beer; nevertheless it has a disagreeable taste; violent thirst after the

¹ "Materia Medica Pura," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

² Argentum.

³ China.

⁴ Sic.

page 19 disappearance of the heat, especially for beer with a white tongue:¹ thirst especially in the morning for beer, and desire for spirituous drinks." What, then, shall we do with him? The incorrigible old scoundrel wants or drinks beer, disagreeable beer, beer, and still the cry is beer: after which he calls for "spirituous drinks." What shall we do with him? The benevolent Homœopathic tout administers five-and-twenty noughts of Pulsatilla,² and he is never thirsty for beer again. Oh, Sagax! oh, Pudor!

Or he is away; and she has "ennui, she feels lonesome;" or "it took her an hour and a half to fall asleep;" she is "not disposed to do anything;" or she is "exhausted, and becomes very nervous from playing on the piano for a short while, with painful, oppressive anguish of the chest;" or "is cheerful and sociable;"while he "inclines to hum a song to himself," and "is resolute and courageous:" what about this couple? Why, says some ignorant Rationalist, a husband will cure the girl, and he is the man."Sir," says the Homœopathic saviour of our lives,"none of this frivolity; they each require a sniff of an invisible quantity of carbonate of soda; that will take the 'lonesomeness or cheerfulness 'out of her, and 'the courage and humming 'out of him."

'But "should she frequently look in the looking-glass, and imagine she looks wretched,"³ what, then, Mr. Rationalist, will you recommend her lover to give her? 'Why, sir, certainly a compliment and a k . . . 'No, sir! the billionth part of a grain of Natrum Muriaticum. 'Which, being interpreted, Mr. Homœopath, is Common Salt. 'Sir! how dare you vulgarize our medicines!! you have triturated and succussed my potentized dynamization!!! 'Ah! what a complete science it is!!

Or should Amanda have "an itching of the left arm, inducing a desire to scratch," some vulgar gallant might hint at a flea, and praise his knowledge of the chase. Avaunt! thou heathen and ignorant one!"A drop, containing the one one-hundred-thousandth part of a grain of rue is, in many cases, more than sufficient for curative purposes."⁴

And after he who did not catch the flea, and she whom the flea bit, have been some years wedded, see what an advantage Homœopathy is in the education of their children. Should Charley have" speedy loss of appetite by eating," or Maudy

¹ Sic. I am not acquainted with this brand.

² The common meadow anemone, or windflower, introduced into the "Edinburgh Pharmacopœia" through Baron von Störck in 1779, or earlier.

³ "Jahr's Manual of Homœopathy."

⁴ "The Materia Medica Pura," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

page 20 "itching of the internal angle of the left eye," or Eva "itching in a wart on the finger," in all these cases, how nice and simple to know that they will at once be cured by a sniff at a twenty-years-in-bottle globule, containing the part of a grain of common wood charcoal,"which will cause a medicinal disease exceeding in strength the original affection."¹

But—horrible thought—should Ethel "push away from her" . . . . But we must quit these noble pastimes, else the paper may be clogged with the potentized decillionth dilution of classical quotations of this" well-known and recognized science."²

The Homœopaths may say,"This is not our Homœopathy." That may be so with "Bastard Homœopaths;" but I never knew a shuffler at school who could not invent some new excuse. This is Homœopathy, real Homœopathy, by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann, their prophet and their guide, whose bust figures so freely in their shops; and these results, called 'Provings, 'are constantly referred to as guides to treatment and the action of medicines in the "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia of 1876."

Having thus described a lot of nonsensical symptoms, Hahnemann proceeds to give, by assertion, a Homœopathic character to the medicines. Thus (to keep to our former example), let us assume that, when a patient is feverish, he advises aconite. Now, when the body is feverish the temperature, as shown by the thermometer, is increased; thus, that aconite should be the Homœopathic remedy, it should have the power of raising the temperature of the body of a healthy man. Yet this is not its property; for when so taken,"the pulse sinks, the skin is cold and livid;"³ in fact, aconite acts on the system as a direct heart-depressant, is antagonistic to fever, and, when used in that state by" Homœopathic Physicians," is an instance of the falsity of their assertions and of their treatment; an example of more theft from the maligned 'old school, 'and particularly from Baron von Störck, who wrote on the internal use of aconite when Hahnemann was only seven years old; and from Dr. Collen, who wrote on the power of aconite in acute and chronic diseases, when Hahnemann was 10 years old. Opium is another drug to which Hahnemann gave a specious but false character, that he might call his use of it "Homœopathic," &c., &c.

The Great Prophet says:—"In no case is it requisite to administer more than one single simple medicinal substance at one time."¹ This enlightened man was not only ignorant and assertive, but also inconsistent and contradictory, for he recommends the use of opium, which is a compound drug composed of "morphia, codeia, narcotina, papaverin, paramorphia (thebaica), narcein, meconin, meconic acid, opianine, besides extractive and fatty matters."² Now, what an awful Homœopathic effect must a single sniff of the dynamized one-sixty-noughtieth part of a grain of all these dreadful substances produce! It must be enough to end the walking powers of "the most stubborn unlaid ghost,"³ and make him seek safety from the poisoning Homœopath in his ancient corpse. The very water, in which the Homœopath gives his "suspicion," is formed of two elements and a medium, commonly electricity; a flash of lightning is a pimple compared to the Homœopathic effect produced by the potentized⁴ electricity in a drop of cold water, which is thus no doubt capable, Homœopathically, of effecting "the most marvellous cures."

Again, coffee and tea are Homœopathic medicines; and under no circumstances are to be drunk when Homœopathic medicine is being taken,⁵ else a mixture of drugs is affected. Now, coffee consists of 15 substances, each being compound.⁶ No; Providence did not intend man to take, in health or sickness, a single elementary substance, for it is not possible for him to do so under any circumstances. The Homœopath does not do it medicinally; he only pretends to do so, well knowing that the pretence is false; for when he gives a globule, the mass of it is composed of milk-sugar, which, while being a second ingredient in the dose, is itself a compound substance; and, to complete the mixture, water is added, making the third ingredient, and being again a compound substance. Again, in their tinctures is contained first the drug, a compound substance; then alcohol, a compound substance; and this is to be taken in water, a compound substance.

Or should a man take a glass of pure wine, whether in health or as a medicine in disease, is he swallowing a single drug? No; he imbibes a whole shelf of the chemist's shop." Water, vinous alcohol, butyric alcohol, amylic alcohol, several aldehydes, acetic ether, capric ether, caprylic ether, &c.; perfumes, essential oils, sugars, mannite, glycerine, mucilage, gums, colouring matters, (ferments), tannin, carbonic acid, tartrate of potash, acid of potash, tartrates, racemates, acetates, propionates, buty-rates, lactates, citrates, malates, sulphates, azotates, phosphates,

¹ "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

² Mulder.

³ Milton.

⁴ Strengthened by shaking up.

⁵ Hahnemann.

⁶ Payen.

page 22 silicates, chlorures, bromures, iodures, fluorures, succinates with excess of acid, potash, soda, lime, magnesia, alumina, oxyde of iron, and ammonia." All these are contained in pure red wine.

Yet I have before me a Homœopathic prescription, of course by only a "Bastard Homœopath,"¹ for vichy water. And this is what he ordered, Homœopathically, as a "single substance" for his "poor" patient:—"Carbonic acid, bicarbonate of soda, bicarbonate of potash, bicarbonate of magnesia, bicarbonate of strontia, bicarbonate of lime, bicarbonate of protoxide of iron, bicarbonate of protoxide of manganese, sulphate of soda, phosphate of soda, arseniate of soda, borate of soda, chloride of sodium, silica, organic matter, and bituminous matter." But then, no doubt the patient was directed only to sniff once a month or so on the outside of the room in which the bottle stood.

And now about our genius's theory of disease. Here also, he seems to have been very mixed, as was his custom on all points. The Prophet first says:—"In a word, the totality of the symptoms must be the principle, the sole thing the physician has to take note of in every case of disease." "The collection of symptoms is the only indication, the only guide to the selection of a remedy." "Everything of a really morbid character that the physician can discover in diseases, consists solely in the sufferings of the patient and the sensible alterations in his health; in a word, solely in the sum total of the symptoms."² This theory Insurance Companies appear not to appreciate or adopt.

Now, we poor ignorants of the 'old Rational school 'think it necessary to know more of a disease than such a set of symptoms as those previously quoted from Hahnemann's works. We think it necessary, for example, to examine the lungs, the heart, &c., by listening to their sounds to be aware if the former have holes in them, or otherwise; and in the latter, whether the valves work naturally, &c., all of which is as certain to the rationally and thoroughly educated medical ear as if one saw the organ laid open before one. Not so Hahnemann. He did not want to know whether she had typhus fever, or what was the matter: he only wanted to know if" the pimple on her nose itched," or "on which side she lay," for he says:—"The Homœopathic physician does not entertain the foregone conclusions devised by the ordinary school, (who have fixed upon a few names of such fevers, beyond which mighty nature dare not produce any others, so as to admit of their treating these diseases according to some fixed methods,) and does not acknowledge the names 'gaol fever, bilious fever, typhus fever, putrid fever, nervous fever, or mucous fever.'"¹

Yet, while he thus distinctly enjoins that the external" symptoms are the sole thing the physician has to take note of;" and also, that "the Homœopathic physician does not acknowledge the names of typhus fever, &c.," he presently directs him,¹"when speaking of the disease, to say to the friends for convenience, 'a kind of typhus, &c.;'" and, moreover, has, at the end of his "Materia Medica Pura," an index of all the diseases named in his time. What can the man, (I beg his pardon,"The Great Spirit,") mean, unless it were necessary that the charlatan should proclaim that everything in his shop was different from, and superior to everything in the "old store" over the way; but he still found it compulsory to sell soap and candles, which, however, he would call Smegma mundi muliebris tabellœ,² and Lucernce Candidœ,³ respectively. It is not to be wondered at that the "Professor" should not know much of disease, for the Baron and Duke, with whom he chiefly lived during his studying days, could never have had many of the complaints peculiar to men, women, and children; neither could he have made many post-mortem examinations on them, and thus proved the truth of his opinion. Moreover, the practical groundwork of his medical education in anatomy, physiology, and pathology was not attainable by translating books for sale, on the money produced by which he was mainly dependent.

Hahnemann's early education in the natural history of disease being thus deficient, he, as far as he could, prevented diseases from having a natural history, the clever scheme of an unprincipled and ignorant quack. It was another illustration of Mahomet and the mountain. Similarly it was his tenet that no crisis, no turning-point, ever occurs in disease; all that happens is due to a sniff of one of his 20-year-old globules, and improvement results solely therefrom. He taught that the natural tendency of all disease is straightway to death.

This doctrine, if credited, as it seems to be, by some persons of high perceptive faculty, and, shall we say, of exalted olfactory powers, was calculated to lead to the easy attainment of an unmerited fame, and the rapid filling of money bags; for though, of course, many patients died unassisted against their disease, still some would certainly recover; for we of the 'old school 'hold that the natural tendency of all disease is towards health; and, since Hahnemann arranged to call some mild disease "a kind of something dreadful," it was not difficult to assert the frequent performance of Homœopathic miracles.⁴

The first charge of slander to be brought against "the Divinity" is that of opprobriously calling the ordinary practitioners-in-medicine by false names; among which, that of "Allopath" was and is the most common. Now, this title infers that, while Hahnemann chose to bind down his school to the practice of the treatment of disease by "Like" remedies only, the ordinary practitioner had bound himself down to treat disease only by "Contraries;" an assertion as false as Hahnemann and his system. The ordinary practitioner gives himself no name, reserving the right of treating disease in any way that may be shown to be serviceable; and until he gives himself some such contracted title, it is a slander for a Homœopath to assert that such is his mode of practice.

Now, what are we, and how should we be styled? We are disciples of 'the medicine of experience; 'as is the British lawyer of the law of precedents and experiences. We are 'Rationalists, 'open to the conviction of the treatment of disease by any mode shown to be efficacious. To quote Dr. Adams, LL.D., when defining ancient medical schools,"The sect, called the Rational maintained that it is the duty of the physician not to neglect any collateral science or subject. They therefore inquired sedulously into the remote and proximate causes of diseases; and into the effects of airs, waters, places, pursuits, food, diet, and seasons in altering the state of the human body, and in rendering it more or less susceptible of morbid changes. Looking upon general rules as not being of universal application, they held that the treatment ought to be modified according to the many incidental circumstances under which their patients might be placed. They freely and fully availed themselves of whatever aid they could derive from experience, analogy, and reasoning. Hippocrates, Galen, Aëtius, Oribasius, Paulus Ægineta, Actuarius, and all the Arabian authorities, may be looked upon as belonging to this, sect."

Thus, what there is good in Homœopathy, &c., as taught by Hippocrates and other authors during the last two or three thousand years, we gladly accept; but I am not aware that any good thing has emanated from Hahnemannism; which, on the other hand, has done more to injure the fair science which it defaced than aught else I know of. Homœopathy has been a common thief, plagiarist, and slanderer of those who begot the science of medicine—who nurtured her tenderly, and raised her to her present perfection of maturity.

But before all, if you please, we are of the 'old school, 'just as we may be of the Ancient University of Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, or Dublin; not that that infers that the 'old school 'does not advance; and it would be just as false to say so, as that these universities do not advance with the age; for in the van they march, as do we. We are of that 'old school, 'from which Hahnemann and his followers filched everything in their system and practice that is true, or worth knowing. We are of that 'old school 'of which Homœopathy was a diseased and baneful excrescence; now, however, happily excised from all connection with its honest parent by the sharp stroke of the knife, wielded by the British Medical Association at Brighton in 1851, which, in the face of the facts of Homœopathy, passed the. resolution,"That it was derogatory to its members to hold any intercourse with Homœopathists;" from which day this sect "has been ostracized by the profession, and branded as aliens to whom no professional countenance could be shown."¹

We are of the 'old school 'in the sense in which the British Constitution is old, in which almost all that is good is old; and, while having the advantage of all that is old, we now lead the van in the discovery of means of relieving the sick, and in modes in which the Homœopaths, by their tenets and self-imposed rules, have never had, and never can have, any part.

And what is this 'old school, 'which these Homœopaths deride and slander; and who are its founders and supporters? This ground we tread with humility! Take off your shoes, we enter a holy shrine! Bare your head, for more than 2,000 years the temple is sacred to the relief of pain, the saving of life! Around its inner walls behold the offerings to the god of means, by which the interior of the body is known almost as if seen, the lofty fruits of the study of the 'old school! 'Here are enshrined the stethoscope, the ophthalmoscope, the laryngoscope, the otoscope, the microscope, the sphygmograph, the medical thermometer; in the discovery of any part of which the Homœopath has had no share, for Hahnemann declares that

¹ Dr. Wyld, Vice-President of the London Homœopathic Society.

page 26 "everything of a really morbid character that the physician can discover in diseases consists solely in the sufferings of the patient, and the sensible alterations in his health."¹

His physician resolved to save him; and, at the risk of his life, told the king that his son was dying of a broken heart, because an insuperable obstacle intervened 'twixt him and the object of his passion Said the king," Who is the object of his passion?" "My wife," replied the physician; and when Seleucus implored Erasistratus to give up his wife to the prince, Erasistratus asked the king if he would do so if he were so situated?" Would to heaven this were the case!" answered the king;"I would not only give him Stratonice, but my whole kingdom, if that would save his life." Then Erasistratus told the king the whole truth, and the prince, the fair Stratonice, and several provinces of the empire 'lived happily ever afterwards. 'Presently he devoted himself to anatomy. He first systematically dissected the human body, and described the brain and nerves more exactly than any of his predecessors. He classified the nerves of sensation and locomotion; and, it is said, almost stumbled on the discovery of the circulation of the blood. He was remarkably averse to blood-letting and purgatives, relying chiefly upon diet and regimen, bathing, exercise, friction, and the most simple articles of the vegetable kingdom for the restoration and preservation of health. He wrote several works on anatomy,

¹ "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

page 27 practical medicine, and pharmacy;¹ the Cyrcnean physicians, reckoned among the most eminent in the world; Dioscorides, a Greek physician of the 1st century, and the author of a celebrated work on the materia medica, particularly valuable botanically; Celsus, a Latin physician of the 1st century, whose work on medicine is an inexhaustible source, both medical and surgical; Galen, A.D. 130, a highly educated, travelled, and most successful Greek physician, who laid the foundation of a just theory of sensation, and of the peculiar animal functions of the body; Serapeon, an eminent physician of Alexandria in the 3rd century, who occupied himself chiefly with inquiries into the nature of drugs; Avicenna, or Ebn-Sina, A.D. 980, the first among the Arabian physicians, a man of high education, who attained to great Eastern success and reputation; Theophrastus Paracelsus, A.D. 1493, who enriched science, particularly in chemistry and medicine; Harvey, A.D. 1578, of Caius College, Cambridge, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, who discovered the circulation of the blood; Borelli, A.D. 1608, of the iatro-mathematical doctrine; Sydenham, 1624, M.D. of Oxford, who advanced medical science by his works on the "History and Treatment of Acute Diseases," "Epidemic Diseases," "Gout and Dropsy," &c.; Hoffman, 1660,"The Morning Star of the Reformation of Medicine," who referred the effects of vitality to the nervous system, and published a work entitled "The System of Rational Medicine;" Cullen, 1710, a celebrated Scotch physician, who wrote on "The Practice of Physic," which, amidst all the recent fluctuations of opinion on medical theory, has retained its value; William Hunter, 1718, who left to the University of Glasgow his museum, valued at £150,000, £8,000 to set it up, and also £500 per annum for its maintenance; John Hunter, 1728, of Oxford and St. George's Hospital, who left a museum of upwards of 10,000 anatomical and pathological specimens, now in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England; Darwin, 1731, of St. John's College, Cambridge, a highly-successful physician, who wrote on the laws of organic life; Von Störck, who in 1763 published his essays on "The Internal Use of Thorn Apple and Monkshood (Aconite)," and "On Pulsatilla;" John Brown, the forerunner of Darwin's system of the "Spirit of Animation or Sensorial Power;" Jenner, 1749, the discoverer of vaccination, and saviour of the lives and beauty of our wives and daughters; Parry, 1760, great in pathology, and the forerunner of the present theory of inflammation; Sir James Y. Simpson, Bart., 1811, the discoverer and introducer of chloroform and of acupressure, who received from the French Academy of Science the

¹ "The Popular Encyclopaedia."from which, as well as from other sources, the account of many of these, our ancestors of the 'old school, 'is derived.

page 28 laureateship and gold medal, with the Monthyon prize of 2,000 francs, awarded for "most important services done to humanity." And if, O Hahnemann! these ghosts, objects of thy slander as representatives of our 'old school, 'sit not "heavy on thy soul," I call for Ferguson, Paget, Burrows, Humphrey, Murchison, Laennec, Rokitansky, Astley Cooper, Abernethy, Darwin, Trousseau, Carpenter, Greenhalgh, Richardson, Andral, Brinton, Farr, Seguin, Pavy, Hebra, Spencer Wells, Wünderlich, Virchow, Watson, Martin, Strieker, Pereira, Underwood, West, and a host of others, all of whom have conduced to the advance of medical science and the relief of human suffering. Such are the men at whom the quack-medicine-vendor, the decillionth-sniffing-inventor and his disciples dare to sneer as the 'old school!'

On the other hand, on the maligning and Homœopathic side is Hahnemann, of "Pnœum" memory, the great plagiarist and slanderer, followed by a disorganized crowd of "Bastard Homœopaths." Nor do I know of one Homœopath, whose name as a philanthropist, philosopher, or scientist of any kind, can be mentioned. Some there have been, no doubt, who, as "Bastard Homœopaths," have been prominent in the shoal of their 'similar 'small fry; the most pushing of whom will be presently named. But no Homœopath, so far as I know, has, by his original work, benefited mankind one iota; though some have profited themselves much, as has also Mr. Holloway by his "Indisputable Pills and Ointment." Where are their classic schools of medicine? Where their professors of world-wide fame? Echo answers, where? To complete the Homœopathic list, therefore, as it was commenced, so it must conclude with the name of Hahnemann.

"There is no likelihood between pure light and black darkness; or between righteousness and reprobation."¹

Nor does this "Prince" cease his "evil-speaking, lying, and slandering," at calling his teachers and masters by false names; he continues his false-witness, and makes it subservient to personal puff and self-interest. Thus, he asserts,"by opposite medicinal symptoms (antipathic treatment) persisting symptoms of disease are not cured."²"The other remaining method of treatment, the Homœopathic, by means of medicines with similar symptoms, is the only one that experience shows to be always serviceable."²"Much more frequently than in the course of nature, an artificial disease, caused by the long-continued employment of powerful, inappropriate (Allopathic) medicine in ordinary practice, associates itself with the old natural disease, and the chronic patient now becomes doubly diseased."

"It is just in this way that violent treatment with Allopathic drugs, &c."²"From what takes place in nature the physician

¹ Ralegh.

² The "Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

page 29 may learn never to treat diseases with other than Homœopathically-selected medicines, whereby he will be able to cure them; which he never could do with heterogeneous (Allopathic) remedies that never cure, but only destroy the patient." "These inroads on human health, effected by the Allopathic non-healing art, are of all chronic diseases the most deplorable, the most incurable; and I regret to add that it is apparently impossible to discover or to hit upon any remedies for their cure, when they have reached any considerable height."¹"But the vital force shows itself most indisposed to allow the salutary action upon it of the sulphur; and even shows manifest aggravation of the chronic disease, though the sulphur be given in the very smallest dose; though only a globule the size of a mustard seed, moistened with tincture of sulphur of the decillionth dilution,² if the sulphur have formerly (it may be years since) been abused, by being given Allopathically in large doses. This is one of the lamentable circumstances, that render the best medical treatment of chronic diseases almost impossible; among the many that the ordinary bungling of chronic diseases by the 'old school 'would leave us nothing to do, were there not some mode of getting over the difficulty." And what is Hahnemann's remedy for this awful disease produced by the poisoning ordinary practitioner?"In such cases we have only to let the patient smell a single time strongly at a globule the size of a mustard seed, moistened with metallic mercury of the decillionth dilution,³ and allow this sniff⁴ to act for about 9 days."¹

And so his false-witness and puff, asserted in the usual quack fashion without a particle of proof or argument, runs on ad nauseam to the extent of being contained in about a quarter of the paragraphs of his book. But "we are not to be dejected by the slanders and calumnies of bad men, because our integrity shall then be cleared by Him who cannot err in judgement."⁵

But what of Homœopathy now? In a word, there is no such

¹ "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

² See page 10.

³ See page 10.

⁴ Olfaction.

⁵ Nelson.

page 30 thing: it is dead, defunct, extinct. It is true that there are persons who call themselves 'Homœopathic physicians; 'but they have no part with Hahnemann, who wrote that Homœopathy comprised the following points:—

1. "Disease consists solely in the sufferings of the patient and the sensible alterations in his health."¹ This Dr. Ruddock²-has negatived, for he now prescribes his remedies under the 'old school 'name of the disease. This system is filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school.'

2. "The morbid symptoms that medicines produce in healthy individuals are the only thing wherefrom we can learn their power to cure disease." This Dr. Ruddock has negatived, for he now prescribes "prepared chalk" for poisoning by oxalic acid. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school. 'No doubt these Homœopaths have cause to fear the coroner, should they persevere in their infinitesimal and absurd theory in such cases. For what is the Homœopathic antidote for oxalic acid? This —?³ They know nothing about it, and have nothing to suggest.

3. "The curative power of medicines, therefore, depends on the symptoms they have similar to the disease." This Dr. Ruddock has negatived, for he now prescribes iodide of potassium for lead colic. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school.'

4. "In order that they (Homœopathic medicines) may effect a cure, it is before all things requisite that they should be capable of producing in the human body an artificial disease as similar as possible to the disease to be cured." This Dr. Ruddock has negatived, for he prescribes aconite for fever. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school.'

5. "Pure and careful Homœopathy can cure all important and serious diseases." This Dr. Herring⁴ has negatived, for he says,"We are frequently called upon to cure symptoms which we are either unable to imitate in our provings, or which we can only reproduce incompletely." Also, in so many words, by Dr. Wyld, Vice-President of the British Homœopathic Society:—" In cases of this kind" (i.e., of consultation with a rational practitioner, for which he is contending),"one practically admits that his system has failed."⁵

6. "The dose of a Homœopathic remedy can scarcely ever be made so small, that it shall not be able to relieve, overpower, indeed completely cure and annihilate the pure, natural disease."¹ This Dr. Ruddock has negatived, for he prescribes 30 grains of chloral hydrate for sea-sickness. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school. 'On such a dose Hahnemann remarks,"I must here observe that this essential rule (an unnecessarily large dose) is chiefly transgressed by presumptuous tyros in Homœopathy."

7. "The smallest dose of tincture of sulphur of the decillionth dilution can seldom be repeated with advantage in robust patients oftener than every seven days, even in a case of itch. Every external treatment of such local symptoms, the object of which is to remove them from the surface of the body, as, for instance, driving off the skin the eruption of itch by all sorts of ointments, &c . . . . has been the most prolific source of all the innumerable named or unnamed chronic maladies under which mankind groans; it is one of the most criminal procedures the medical world can be guilty of, and yet it has hitherto been the one generally adopted and taught from the professorial chair as the only one." This Dr. Ruddock has negatived, for he prescribes sulphur ointment externally. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school.'

8. "Sniffing² is much preferable to every other mode of administering the medicine in substance by the mouth." This Dr. Ruddock and the "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia" have negatived, for I am unable to find that they prescribe "sniffing" at all. Thus, they revert, without acknowledgment, to the practice of us of the 'old school.'

9. "The alteration of the degree of strength (potentization), by a little, may be effected by shaking the phial in which is the solution of the single globule with 5 or 6 smart jerks of the arm before each time of taking it." This is negatived by the "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia," which says," These diluted preparations have been called indiscriminately dilutions, attenuations, and potencies; but since the latter term involves a theory, it will not be employed in the following pages." Thus, they revert, without acknowledgment, to the practice of us of the 'old school!'

10. "By careful observation and experimentation, Hahnemann had discovered a truth, not to be refuted by any experience in the world, that the best dose of the properly-selected remedy is always the smallest one in one of the high dynamizations³

¹ "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

² Olfaction.

³ i.e., The most diluted of all.

page 32 (or the thirtieth dilution), as well for chronic as for acute diseases."

Drs. Pulte and Epps (to change the authority) negative this, for they say,"In regard to the choice of higher or lower attenuations, we consider Homœopathic, legitimate and useful, all strengths¹ from the stronger or mother tincture² and first trituration up to the highest dilution." Thus, they revert, without acknowledgment, to the practice in perceptible doses of us of the 'old school.'

Of 51 remedies recommended by Dr. Ruddock to be purchased in a "handsome mahogany or fancy-wood chest, adapted to his Homœopathic Vade Mecum," 22 are taken from Hippocrates 'list of 2,300 years ago. Thus he reverts more than his supposititious master to the practice of us of the 'old school. 'Not that Dr. Ruddock removes their aliases: Chalk is "Calc. Carb.;" Sulphur is "Hepar S.;" Tincture of the common Marygold is "Calendula;" Cuttlefish³ is "Sepia;" in the usual insinuating and pseudo-scientific manner.

11. "In no case is it requisite to administer more than one single simple medicinal substance at one time."⁴ This is negatived by a prescription now before me of a leading Melbourne Homœopathic practitioner, in which are ordered Podophyllin, Nux Vomica, and half a pint of water. In another is ordered our preparation of Ergot in 60 drop doses; in another our ordinary doses of Quinine and Morphia. Thus, these persons revert, without acknowledgment or recantation, to the practicc of us of the 'old school.'

12. Hahnemann says:— "Homœopathy administers no emetics, no purgatives; drives off no external affection by external means; prescribes no warm baths; applies no Spanish flies; but gives with its own hand its own preparation of simple uncompounded medicines, which it is accurately acquainted with; never subdues pain with opium, &c." This is negatived by Dr. Ruddock, who (perhaps under the influence of the Coroner) recommends, in poisoning by arsenic, an emetic, a dose of castor oil, poultices, and fomentations. In his list of drugs to be supplied is "cantharis," i.e. Spanish flies, both as an internal and external remedy. He orders sulphur ointment for the itch; while Drs. Pulte and Epps⁵" do not hesitate to declare that they consider Hydropathy the handmaid of Homœopathy," and prescribe some kind of hot or cold bath or compress in the treatment of each disease; and in croup recommend a warm room, steam, hot cloths to the neck, and a

¹ Potencies.

² Usually much stronger than ours of the 'old school.'

³ Composed chiefly of Lime—see Dioscorides, Galen, Celsus, Aetius.

⁴ "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann."

⁵ "Homœopathic Domestic Medicine."

page 33 hot bath. They also advise 60 drops of laudanum in an ounce of brandy for snake bite, as well as ligature,¹ sucking the wound,² and ammonia. These remedies are filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school, 'and are strictly opposed to the principles of Homœopathy; for Hahnemann, in his "Organon," says:—"It is not useful, either in acute local diseases of recent origin, or in local affections that have already existed a long time, to rub in or apply externally to them an external remedy."³"When the rational physician has chosen the perfectly Homœopathic remedy for the well-considered case of disease, and administered it internally, he will leave entirely to irrational Allopathic routine the practice of applying com-presses of herbs or fomentations with various plants, &c." "Every external treatment of such local symptoms has been the most prolific source of all the innumerable named or unnamed chronic maladies under which mankind groans; it is one of the most criminal procedures the medical world can be guilty of."⁴

"That some erring physicians, who would wish to be considered Homœopathic, engraft some, to them more convenient, Allopathic bad practices upon their nominally Homœopathic treatment, is owing to ignorance of the doctrine, laziness, contempt for suffering humanity, and ridiculous conceit; and, in addition to unpardonable negligence in searching for the best Homœopathic specific for each case of disease, has often a base love of gain, and other dishonest motives for its spring; and, for its result?—that they cannot cure all important and serious diseases (which pure and careful Homœopathy can), and that they send many of their patients to that place whence no one returns: whilst the friends console themselves with the reflection, that everything (including every hurtful Allopathic process!) has been done for the departed."" Every physician who treats disease according to such general characters, however he may affect to claim the name of Homœopathist, is, and ever will remain in fact a generalizing Allopath; for, without the most minute individualization, Homœopathy is not conceivable."" It is impossible that there can be another true best method of curing dynamic diseases (i.e., all diseases not strictly surgical) besides Homœopathy, just as it is impossible to draw more than one straight line between two given points. He who imagines that there are other modes of curing diseases besides it, could not have appreciated the fundamental character of Homœopathy, nor practiced

¹ Recommended by Haly Abbas, an Arabian physician; as also stimulant applications, as onions, &c.

² Recommended by Dioscorides in the 1st century.

³ The "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia" gives 5 different modes of making ointments, taken from the "old school."

⁴ "Organon of Rational Medicine," by S. C. F. Hahnemann.

page 34 it with Sufficient care; nor could he ever have seen or read cases of properly-performed Homœopathic cures; nor, on the other hand, could he have discerned the baselessness of all Allopathic modes of treating diseases, and their bad and even dreadful effects, if with such lax indifference he places the only true healing art on an equality with those hurtful methods of treatment, or alleges them to be auxiliaries to Homœopathy, which it could not dispense with! My true, conscientious followers, the pure Homœopaths, with their successful, almost never-failing treatment, might teach these persons better."¹" Perfect and complete in itself, it leaves no point of doctrine unexplained, no technical detail untouched, no adverse argument unanswered. A critical essay might indeed be written to indicate, and perhaps to refute, the author's peculiar physiological notions." ^{2 3}" Thus Homœopathy is a perfectly simple system of medicine, remaining always fixed in its principles, as in its practice, which, like the doctrine whereon it is based, if rightly apprehended, will be found to be so exclusive, (and in that way only serviceable), that, as the doctrine is pure, so must the practice be also; and all backward straying to the pernicious routine of the old school (whose opposite it is as day is to night) is totally impossible; otherwise it ceases to deserve the honourable name of Homœopathy." "I am, therefore, sorry that I once gave the advice, savouring of Allopathy, to apply to the back in itching⁴ diseases a resinous plaster to cause itching, and to employ the finest sparks in paralytic affections.⁵ For, as both these appliances have seldom proved of service, and have furnished Bastard Homœopaths with an excuse for these Allopathic transgressions, I am grieved I should ever have proposed them; and I hereby solemnly retract them:⁶ for this reason also, that since then our Homœopathic system has advanced so near to perfection, that they are now no longer required." "And yet the new sect, that mixes the two systems, appeals (though in vain) to this observation, (i.e., the anti-Homœopathic stimulation of almost-drowned or frozen people,) in order that they may have an excuse for encountering everywhere such exceptions to the general rule in diseases, and to justify their convenient employment of Allopathic palliatives, and of other Allopathic trash besides, solely for the sake of sparing themselves the trouble of seeking for the suitable Homœopathic remedy for each case of disease: I might almost say for the sake of sparing themselves the trouble of being Homœopathic physicians, and yet wishing to appear as such.

¹ Translator's preface to "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

² Alas! poor Yorick.

³ "The Organon of Rational Medicine," by Samuel C. F. Hahnemann.

⁴ Psoric.

⁵ Dr. Ruddock orders galvanism for paralysis.

⁶ The italics are Hahnemann's.

page 35 But their performances are on a par with the system they pursue; they are nothing to boast of."

Poor old Hahnemann! What a shocking old ignoramus or swindler you were! or else, Drs. Ruddock, Pulte, Epps, and others, what Bastard Homœopaths are you—false to your prophet, false to your theory! Alas! how, 'twixt two stools, has Homœopathy melted like snow in the sun. For if Hahnemann be right, Homœopathy, as written of and practiced at the present time, is the greatest fraud of the day; for it slaughters its thousands. If Drs. Ruddock, Pulte, Epps, and Co. be right, Hahnemann was a fool, a charlatan, or a rogue; and slaughtered his thousands. But if Hahnemann be the exponent of Homœopathy, and these present 'Homœopathic physicians 'do not practise Homœopathy, while, with faces brazen as their door- plates, calling themselves 'Homœopathic physicians, 'then, in the words of their leader, these "Bastard Homœopaths are not much to boast of." And yet, O Hahnemann! they put your bust in their chemists 'windows. However, it is not in the least like you, according to the portrait of your feeble head, published in your "Organon:" a fancy bust to advertise a fancy science: yet may they still treat your bust, as they have your theories, and cry,"Off with his head, so much for Hahnemann."

"After these expressions by Hahnemann with reference to Bastard Homœopaths, &c., need I say that his books are not to be purchased in Melbourne; though their chemists keep great store of Bastard Homœopathic works?

Thus, with theory scuttled, sails carried away, pirates on board, all lost save slander, Homœopathy appears the emblem of

"That fatal and perfidious bark,
Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark."²

For in the matter of slander and false-witness, there is little falling off. Hear Drs. Pulte and Epps:³—" Aconite is the principal remedy in the commencement of the treatment of lumbago,⁴ and does more than the leeches can accomplish; a

¹ Jonathan Swift.

² Milton.

³ "Homœopathic Domestic Medicine."

⁴ Rheumatic pains in the muscles of the back." Since Von Störck's experiments were published in 1762, aconite has been generally and often successfully employed, particularly as a remedy for obstinate rheumatism."—Woodville, published in 1790.

page 36 means which the practitioners of the old school so often apply in such cases." I have read many books, referred to more, and practiced many years, yet never have I heard nor read till now of leeches being applied for lumbago. Yet the slander is well calculated to defame us of the 'old school, 'and to puff Bastard Homœopathy.

Again, under the treatment of inflammation of the lungs, say they:—"In the beginning of this state give china;¹ particularly if the patient in the early part of the disease, under Allopathic advice, had been bled." I have never in my life seen any patient bled for inflammation of the lungs, and but a few times altogether.

These persons also have an article on salivation, with the suggestion of the False, that this is often met with. In the whole course of my life I have never yet seen a patient medicinally salivated, nor even affected by mercury, beyond a slight tenderness of the gums: the giving of mercury to this end is not now in vogue; yet the suggestion no doubt pays 'Homœopathic physicians. 'For myself, I scarcely ever order mercury, having no faith in it, except in one disease. Errors I can understand, ignorance excuse, where brains or opportunity are deficient; but slander is indefensible, and robbery a crime which no honest man would commit.

"But, doctor, the 'old school 'slanders the Homœopaths too!"

No, madam; we take no more notice of them than of aught else that is false as Homœopathy; in no scientific book of ours that I know of, is Homœopathy mentioned, still less slandered. Slander is an element of Homœopathy, not of the 'old school. 'We work for the advance of science. For myself, I shall speak no more of them. Dynamization, decillionths, filchings, and slander! Faugh!

The present race of 'Homœopathic physicians 'appears to be capable of two things; the first, slandering the 'old school, 'as described above; the second, copying the 'old school. 'Their knowledge of the human body in health and disease, (such as it is,) is copied from the 'old school; 'all of their medicines of value; their doses; their external applications.

"But, doctor, onion poultices are excellent things, ar'n't they?"

Madam, they are an obsolete and nauseous way of applying warmth and moisture: better done by spongio-piline, linseed meal, &c. This remedy is filched, without acknowledgment, from Dioscorides of the first century. They no doubt are an advertisement of the Homœopathic presence, for they affect a neighbourhood to tears.

"But their chopped raw beef is good?"

Another remedy, madam, filched, without acknowledgment, from us of the 'old school, 'and described at length by that great French physician, Trousseau.

"But their Hydropathy, doctor?"

Introduced, madam, 2,300 years ago, by Hippocrates; employed by Celsus, Galen, and many famous physicians during the middle ages. The 'water-cure 'of the present day was organized and carried out by Priessnitz, a Silesian peasant, in 1829; and, under Drs. Wilson, Johnson, and Gully in England, and other physicians of the 'old school 'abroad, has attained to considerable fame.

To continue: not only does the "Bastard Homœopath" of the present day copy us in all these matters, but he seems to be afflicted with a kleptomania of the most omnivorous kind. Take their "British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia," published in 1876, as an example. This book is of the same binding, in material and colour, as our 'old school'" British Pharmacopœia," published in 1867; it has the same paper, the same type, the same arrangement, and the same words, paragraph after paragraph. It says:—"In identifying the plants used as (Homœopathic) medicines . . . . where the medicine is officinal in the 'British Pharmacopœia of 1867, 'the Committee have accepted the conclusions arrived at by the compilers of that work."¹"In supplying tests for identifying and ascertaining the purity of various substances, the Committee have largely availed themselves of the 'British Pharmacopœia of 1867.'" Many of the chemical substances used in Homœopathy are employed, also, by the 'old school; 'and since the majority of these are best prepared on a large scale, it has been recommended that they should be obtained from the manufacturing chemists."¹" Throughout this work, the weights and measures are those that have been adopted by the 'British Pharmacopœia;' and the system of volumetric analysis, which is often referred to, is that for which full details are published at the close of the same work."¹"No one should pretend to make Homœopathic medicines who is not thoroughly versed . . . . in making all the ordinary preparations employed by chemists;"¹ thus they cannot even educate their own chemists."No attempt has been made to teach botany . . . . natural history . . . . or chemistry."¹ Can these 'Bastard Homœopaths"² do nothing but slander and copy the hated 'old school?'

Now, this is a short sample of how the British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia of 1876"accepts the conclusions arrived at by the

¹ "The British Homœopathic Pharmacopœia, of 1876."

² Hahnemann.

page 38 compilers of the British Pharmacopœia of 1867;" but of such is that book largely composed.

This is, indeed, a "well-known and recognized science."

"But, doctor, their medicines can do no harm?"

This, madam, is not so. We find that the 'Homœopathic physicians 'differ from their chemists as to the strength of their medicines: the one says the strength of a preparation is the one fifty-thousandth part of a grain to the pint of water, the other nine and three-fifths of a grain to the pint.¹ Their "Pharmacopœia" says:—²"Hitherto the mother-tinctures³ made from fresh plants have varied greatly in strength." We know that their mother-tinctures are frequently much stronger than ours of the 'old school. 'We know that several people have been poisoned by these medicines; by Homœopathic camphor, strychnine, &c.;⁴ and we know that the infinitesimal dose is not now essential to Homœopathy, as it was to Hahnemann, in spite of his thunder, lightning, and excommunication.

While, however, these are historical facts and strong evidence of the dangers of Homœopathy, the following analyses of Homœopathic medicines show conclusively that Homœopathic patients live on sufferance; that medicines, containing powerful drugs, differing from the proper strength in every sample examined, are unreliable; and that the Homœopathic chemists who prepared them are incompetent.

I submitted to Mr. William Johnson, Government Analytical Chemist, a solution of Arsenicum Album (white arsenic) 3, ⁵ (bought from a leading Homœopathic chemist in Melbourne), which should contain 9 3/5 grains of Arsenious Acid to the imperial pint,⁶ or 1 grain in 1,000 drops. He states that it contained a quantity "equivalent to about 12 grains to the imperial pint," or 1 grain in 800 drops; and is therefore 25 per cent, above the standard.

Cosmo Newbery, B. Sc.¹

Technological Museum Laboratory"

June 7th, 1878.

Thus, of fourteen Homœopathic preparations examined, bought from the most prominent Melbourne Homœopathic chemists, and bearing their names, not one was prepared according to the receipt; some being greatly too strong, others containing almost none, or none of the drug. The conclusions to be derived therefrom, I leave to the public.

In what, then, does Homœopathy consist? Certainly not in small doses, for they are not essential; certainly not in "dynamization," for it is discarded; certainly not in the administration of one 'single substance, 'for it is not attempted; certainly not in "likes cure likes," for Hahnemann's so-called 'provings 'were ridiculous, if not fraudulent; certainly not in the discovery of new drugs, for Hahnemann and his successors have but filched, without acknowledgment, from the 'old school; 'certainly not in the accuracy of the compounding of their drugs, for all analysed are incorrect; certainly not in the practice of Hahnemann, for the present sect has forsworn everything that Hahnemann pretended to be most essential to his system.

This chaotic state of Homœopathy may account for the strange fact that you can keep no Homœopath to any one Homœopathic point, for it is untenable; while the mass of them know almost nothing of the pretensions and changes of a system as "fixed in its principles"⁴ as the entire absence of principle will permit.

But, to sum up, we find that Homœopathy was commenced in fraud, continued in slander, and sustained by filching, false-witness, and ignorance; and that all of Homœopathic 'science 'that remains, is its bastard representatives clinging to slander, the last rag of the Homœopathic skirt. Them, lovers of the false and fair, like Circe's swine, I now leave to frolic in their native mire.